Big Fucking Bat-ties
“She’s gonna be okay,” Bishop announced to his brothers that filled the hall of the medical wing. “Handy’s here and he knows how to fix everything.”
“Is that who that was?” Spook asked.
“Oui,” Bishop said.
“Fucking wow,” Shank muttered. “From a ghost in a hand to a man of fucking war.”
“Speaking of hand, you see his?” Hurricane muttered in awe.
“Oui,” Bishop nodded. “I designed it.” He looked at all of them. “We need to discuss things. We’re running out of time so I can’t wait till we’re all gathered.”
“Tell us,” Nitro muttered as he came closer, his blood pinging inside Bishop’s.
“It’s a fucking list but I need it out of my head and I need as much help as I can get.”
“You got us,” Seer said.
“Always got your six brother,” Bullets threw in.
“Hell yeah,” Bacon agreed eagerly. “You know I got the rice and gravy, baby.”
“Settle down sweet potato,” Traps chuckled.
“We don’t keep anything from each other,” Bishop said, “but we keep everything in our circle unless I say otherwise. Oui?”
A wave of oui’s followed.
“Starting with my wife. I cannot leave these swamps till I lock her shit down tight. She’s more powerful and dangerous than any of the gifted people here.”
“Bruh,” Hurricane barely murmured at hearing that.
“Plain and terrifyingly simple,” Bishop said, “whatever she wants—becomes. She’s dangerous to herself and others.”
“Can’t you help her?” Seer asked.
Bishop eyed him. “Yes and no. And I haven’t figured out the why of either.
I was able to temporarily disrupt a part of her brain that communicates with her emotions which seems directly tied to these power spikes.
It put her to sleep. She was able to rest. But once she’s awake, it resets.
And it’s not just her, it’s me too. Everything to do with the bite I received.
” He looked at Nitro. “It has that will and she needs it like air, and when those two powers join—hers and it—there is no stopping it,” he swore.
“Even if I knew how, I would have to find a way to want to.”
“Oh, how I know, Eveque,” he whispered with the same burning torment.
“Well fuck,” Bullets said. “What you gonna do?”
Bishop glanced down the hall then looked at them. “I think Handy might be able to help. I designed his body, and my architectural DNA, so to speak, is now a part of him. Like offspring but without the typical sperm.”
“Holy hell,” Seer marveled.
“Oui,” Bishop agreed. “I think I could help Beth if I wasn’t so tied into her. I need somebody like me but not me and he’s the closest thing I have.”
“What about the Triplets?” Seer wondered.
“They’re my plan B if I need it.”
“How’s that baby through all this?” Hurricane worried.
“That’s another concern,” Bishop said. “It’s almost like there’s some barrier I can’t get past.”
Seer wondered, “Like with Sinrik?”
He looked at him. “No clue. There’s so much I don’t know and need to know.”
“You’re his Pah-Pah,” Nitro said. “What’s your hunch?”
Bishop considered that, head shaking as he eyed him. “I think he might be more powerful than his mother. And me. I think he may be causing a lot of everything.”
“Holy shit,” Spook said.
“She drank Sinrik’s blood because she needed to. As soon as she did,” Bishop said, “I got a ping in my core while in that pod. I’m pretty sure it’s what sped up the rebuilding process. This sounds fucking crazy, but I think he may have even helped rebuild me.”
“Brother,” Seer breathed.
Bishop nodded his astonished agreement. “At first I thought it was the baby somehow doing it so I could locate her, but Sinrik’s not immune to Beth’s influence, this I see.
” He looked at all of them. “She was supposed to go to those Velkratos. She was supposed to bring that mountain down. And they were supposed to come here.”
“I agree,” Seer said. “The drawings confirmed it after Maggie touched all of them.”
“Something bigger is at play here,” he said, looking at Seer. “I know you know this. And somehow, Sinrik and my son hold keys to something.” He passed his gaze over them. “And something is protecting both of them from prying eyes—including mine and yours,” he said to Seer.
“Handy and the Triplets would at least help confirm this,” Seer agreed.
“Something else,” Bishop remembered. “Remember that drawing Maggie drew? The anamorphic one?”
“Yes,” Seer said.”
Bishop looked at him then at his brothers then back at Seer. “I think my son is a Quantum Anamorphic Architect.”
“The hell is that?” Hurricane wondered.
“It means he can make one thing that is many things at the same time,” Bishop said.
“Like those dots,” Seer marveled. “Maggie drew something and to me, it was a paper of dots. To Bishop it was a bunch of tiny ravens, and to Beth it was words that said ‘Leave at midnight tonight’!”
“Wait, Maggie draws things after touching people,” Spook realized, looking at Bishop. “She could be picking him up through Beth.”
“Oui,” Bishop fully agreed. “Beth said he’s always building structures in her dreams. Always different.”
“Everything is being hidden,” Seer realized. Bishop looked at him, and Seer met his gaze. “The cryptic coins. The anamorphic images. The block when you attempted to look in Sinrik.”
“And don’t forget that slick decoy move,” Shank said. “The Creole Kings being the new Velkratos.”
“All without fucking knowing,” Traps said.
“But why hide it?” Spook wondered.
“Because demons look for the play to foil whatever God’s doing,” Seer said. “The coins are cryptic, shown only to those who are supposed to know at the time they’re supposed to know it and everything else is shown but not known.”
“Not knowing is the protection,” Spook realized.
“Ignorance is bliss, in this case,” Bullets said.
“What about these Dead Kings and their army?” Hurricane whispered. “How the hell we supposed to fight that?”
“While rescuing thousands of fucking people,” Spar added.
“That’s the next conversation we need to have with all the Kings.
We have to come up with a plan. Gather every ounce of our resources, get eyes on the field, and strategize.
We’ve got what it takes, but our biggest weakness is time.
We don’t fucking have enough of it. That means we’ll need to make it. ”
“Like a diversion?” Bacon asked.
“Oui,” he said to him. “Controlled opposition. Split the enemy, create an opening, get what’s ours and get out.”
“The refugees,” Nitro doublechecked.
“Oui.”
“Gotta fuckin’ wonder what’s so special about these people,” Bacon said. “Am I right?”
Seer widened his stance and sucked in a deep breath, crossing his arms over his chest. “It’s like the drawings said. They’re soul fingerprints. The raw blueprint of humanity.”
“And we need those… for what?” Traps maybe didn’t want to know.
“That’s the scarier question, isn’t it?” Bishop thought, pacing between the walls of the hallway.
“So… what does that make us?” Hurricane wondered, half worried.
Seer clapped his shoulder. “Makes us on the right side of a divine equation, Brother,” he assured.
“What’s wrong?” Nitro asked Bishop as he paced between the hall walls.
“Oh you know,” he said, sensing that he did. He looked at all of them. “Every hand is going to be needed for what’s coming. You understand?”
He waited till he got all of their agreement then nodded. “I’m going to need to equip each of you.”
“Fuck yeah,” Nitro whispered, his excitement riding Bishop’s cock.
“What kind of equip?” Bullets wondered. “Live rounds in my dick?”
The silent hallway cracked with laughter and Bishop quickly silenced them. “I’ll need to bite each of you to know exactly what you need,” he whispered, eyeing Seer. “Nothing more, nothing less. Oui?”
Seer held his stare for a few moments then put his hand on Bishop’s neck. “I trust you, brother.”
Tension left him at hearing it. “Thank you,” he said, meeting his brother’s eager stares. “It won’t be permanent.”
“Hell, I don’t mind if the upgrade—”
“I mind,” Bishop said, cutting Bacon off. He looked at all of them. “I don’t like it,” he said to them. “All this power, it’s not good, mon freres. We’re not made for this.”
Seer grabbed his shoulder and squeezed. “For such a time as this, son,” he reminded him.
“Oui,” Bishop said. “But the second that time is over?” He looked at all of them. “I want our fucking lives back. Exactly the way they were. We understand?”
He got a round of oui’s, and his stomach loosened as he nodded.
“When we doing this bite?” Nitro asked.
“Problem student right there,” Hurricane predicted.
“Nah,” Nitro chuckled. “Just wanna have fun while I can for as long as I can.”
“What, you a fuckin’ power whore now, bruh?” Hurricane asked.
“You want some of my dirty side?” Nitro offered.
“Here we go,” Traps muttered.
“Hey, I’ll take some of that,” Bacon said to Nitro.
Bullets chuckled, “You wanna be Count Spatula?”
The stifled laughter erupted again and Spook asked, “What about the Creole Kings? They’re still not done recovering from the first bite.”
“Don’t worry, my bite won’t just give you power. It’ll give you perfect power. Tailored specifically to your DNA.”
“Shoooowee,” Bullets said, eagerly. “Lock me load me and launch me.”
“I have a question,” Spar said. “What the exact hell are these Dead Kings and what kind of army are they commanding?”
“That’s the first order of business,” Bishop said. “I need to find a way to touch one.”
“Who we touching?”
Everybody turned to find Handy strolling up.
“Just the man I need,” Bishop said. “Come meet my brothers.”
“Met most of them already,” Handy said, entering their circle. “In another body.”
Right.
“Now you’re meeting them in a perfect body,” Bishop said.
“That is one badass hand, bruh,” Hurricane awed.
Handy raised it up, wagging his fingers. “That it is,” he assured. “Pah-Pah did me so proud.”
“I’m gonna need you for a few days,” Bishop said. “Your schedule free?”
“I’m as free as a bird now,” he said before flashing a perfect grin. “If Pretty Poppy lets me fly.”