“And you shall be no more than a leaf on the breath of God.”

“Doctor, his vital signs are fluctuating.  The scans don’t make any sense.”

“How so?”

“Well, sir, it’s almost like he’s dreaming, but the toxin should have cut out all brain activity.”

“Then let him dream.  Dreams can make us great, well maybe not him.  Hand me the cutting tool with the diamond edge please.  I do hate body armor.  It’s so…dead.”

Joker, I fear they are about to begin their operation.

“I’m open for suggestions.”

I’m gonna bring you to full consciousness.  Perhaps you can talk to them.

“Hell, it’s worth a shot.”

“Ahh, you’re awake at last, and here I was afraid you’d miss the whole operation.”

“Who the hell are you?”
”You don’t know?  Well, I know who you are.  Your name is Desolate Joker, and you are registered as a magic based hero.”

“Sounds about right, now who the hell are you?”

“My dear Mr. Joker, I’m Dr. Vahzilok.  But of course you’ve heard of me…”

“Nope, sorry.  My subscription to Psycho Monthly ran out ages ago.  I must’ve have missed the issue on Dr. Frankenstein wannabes.”

“My dear Mr. Joker, Frankenstein was a hack compared to me.  Anyone can get lucky once, but I have created an army of completely loyal followers.  This city needs me.  I can make it so they no longer fear death.”
”Fear of death is what makes us strong.  Fear of death is what makes us human.”
”Oh, a philosopher eh?  Well Mr. Joker, that must mean you are feeling very human right now.”

“Quite the opposite, doc.  I gave up my humanity lifetimes ago.”

“Oh, is that right?  Well, then, you won’t mind if I take a look.”

My mind was racing, trying to come up with some way to escape, but the high-pitched whining of the miniature rotary saw was drowning out any ideas I might’ve had.  That’s when I first heard it.

“before God will show us the way.”

“Another hero?”

“Your work is blasphemy, and your soul must pay for your crimes.”

“Blasphemy?  You call this blasphemy?!  I am merely following in God’s footsteps!  I am following his lead!  Don’t you see what I have created?!  I have succeeded where even God himself has failed.  I have beaten the eternal law!  I have forged life from the very essence of death itself, and you call it blasphemy?!

I know who you are.  Oh yes, I’ve heard what you’re all about.  You see yourself as some sort of holy avenger, some form of angel of vengeance come to excise the cancer from this world.  Don’t you see that we are one and the same?!  We are brothers in this cause!  You destroy life to preserve the sanctity of his children’s kingdom, and I create life to ensure its unending future!”

“You are a fool doctor.  God’s work is His alone, and your petty attempts to rise to His greatness have become nothing more than a mockery of His noble work.  I am not His avenger, doctor, but I assure you that you will soon meet him.”

“KILL HIM!!”

I don’t know who this guy is Joker, but I’d suggest we make use of his diversion.

“Agreed.  How are the nanites coming on that toxin?”

They haven’t found an anti-body, but they’ve scoured your system.  All systems are green, Joker.

“That’s all I needed to know.”

I could only guess at how long I had been out, but the damage done by the explosion and the crossbow bolt were fully repaired.  That didn’t get rid of the soreness, but that’s nothing new.

Dropping off the edge of the table landed me on a small raised platform covered with steel gratings.  The remains of the unfortunate girl were on the table opposite my own, and it was apparent, even to me, that she had been harvested by the doctor or one of his cronies; for what purpose remained to be seen.

Scanning the room, I caught sight of my would-be savior hovering a couple feet off the ground back at the room’s entrance from the sewers.  The doctor, on the other hand, was no where to be seen.  Figuring there wouldn’t be a better moment, I darted toward the tunnel entrance and the cloaked figure guarding it.  His cloak looked to have been orange at one point, but countless burn holes and copious amounts of soot had turned its once vibrant color into a pure expression of his rage.  The air around him seemed to dance from the heat pouring from his presence, and I had a sudden thought that this man may have been familiar with the Hellions at one point.  Unlike zippo back in the hospital, however, this guy seemed a hell of a lot more unstoppable.

Running as fast as I could across the cavernous room, I watched in amazement as the cloaked stranger razed the room’s inhabitants to the ground.  He was a whirlwind of heat and flame, laying waste to all about him.  Just as I came within ten paces of him, his focus shifted from the burning husks of the doctor’s makeshift soldiers to me.

My eyes locked on the shadowy space of his hood, and I could’ve sworn I caught sight of skull.  In an instant the vision was gone, and I saw in horror that he was preparing to strike.  As his hand came forward I saw it erupt into flame, but my momentum made it impossible to avoid his attack.  His hand, still alight, struck the center of my chest just as I came within reach.  My heart leapt for a moment as it braced for the impact that never came.

There we stood for the longest seconds of my life.  I had no doubt that he could destroy me with the merest thought, but he seemed to be pondering something.  As quickly as it had happened, the stranger pulled his hand away, and the fire died down.

“He has already taken your soul…brother.”

“What?  I don’t underst….”

“NOW YOU WILL PAY FOR YOUR INTERFERENCE!!  I WILL NOT ALLOW MY WORK TO BE STOPPED!!”

Apparently the doctor hadn’t fled after all.  Instead, he appeared to have been busy with whatever the foul spawn of some nightmare was that was now staring back at us from the center of the room.  A massive hole in the raised platform gave no doubt where he had come from, but what he had become was an entirely different matter.

In place of the small and frail Doctor Vahzilok stood a giant deformed collage of body parts.  The right arm looked to have some form of weapon grafted to the flesh, and splayed across the monstrosity’s chest was none other than the dear doctor himself. 

In the second it cost me to take all of this in, the beast had charged halfway across the room.  My companion, however, had not been dazed.  In that same second he had launched himself toward the doctor, fists ablaze. 

“AND YOU SHALL BE NO MORE THAN A LEAF ON THE BREATH OF GOD!!”

Their collision shook the room, the shockwave sending a torrent of brackish water in all directions.  As my vision cleared I saw the doctor’s monstrous form hurled backwards and through the unforgiving steel of one of his machines.  Giving no heed to the sparks sent skyward by the collision, the mysterious stranger followed up on his first assault.  While the ‘doctor’ scrambled to his feet an enormous cone of flame erupted from my savior’s hood, engulfing the doctor and his equipment in fire.

Still struggling to his feet, the doctor swung hard with one massive arm and caught the stranger across the chest.  The blow sent him flying backwards and off the platform, to land face down near the wall.  To his credit, he was back on his feet in an instant and had resumed his attack.  Unfortunately, the hailstorm of minute fireballs suddenly issuing from his outstretched hands were unable to find their mark as the monster rolled out from the tangle of broken machinery.  Seeing this fight was not going as easily as the stranger had at first thought, I threw myself into the fray.

The monster may have looked slow and lumbering, but he was unbelievably evasive.  The only contact I could seem to make was mere glancing blows and flesh wounds.  My companion’s attacks, on the other hand, were not having similar problems.  Though the doctor was very nimble for a 10 foot behemoth, he was having a hard time keeping us both at bay.

“In Hell, doctor, they do not welcome the rain!”

At those words the air above us erupted as though some unseen electrical storm was suddenly trapped inside the cavern.  With a loud peal of thunder a rain of liquid fire began falling about the entire width and breadth of the room.  My opponent howled with a mix of pain and rage as the hellish rain burned its way through steel and flesh with equal vigor.  With a mix of astonishment and awe I saw that the drops landing on me were no more corrosive than a summer’s rain.  It’s too bad the doctor wasn’t enjoying it as much as I was.

Using the distraction caused by the rain, I swung hard across the back of the knees of our dear doctor’s monster, and was rewarded with the familiar drag of sinew and bone.  The cut easily severed whatever the doctor had used to support the creature’s weight.  Without any support, the monstrosity dropped to its knees, still howling from the hellish rain.  Seeing that our opponent was faltering, the stranger leapt forward and seized the doctor’s head in both his hands.

“The weakness of this city to see even the foulest of creatures get there due sickens me, and mocks His plan for us all!  As I have said, dear doctor, I am not the Angel of Vengeance, but rest assured you will meet him soon.  You want to know who I am doctor?  I will make it so that you can never forget!  I am the Angel of Torment, and THIS is my trade!”

And with that, the stranger’s hands once again erupted in flame.  The doctor’s howls were maddening as their echoes split the deathly silence slowly descending on the cavern.  The stranger did not remove his hands until the monstrosity had faded away.  I swear I could still hear the doctor’s cries from across the city.  In all my travels I have but once heard their equal.  I have heard them and I have felt them, because they were my own.