Chemo Jimenez's Story

Renée cursed under her breath, her breathing fluctuating between shallow breaths and heavy breaths. She was in more pain that she really wanted to let on, but right now wasn’t the time to focus in on herself. Not when there was a demon trying to cause mischief in a bar. Even when Taco moved to check on her, she couldn’t stop staring at Zamikar. The whole situation was beginning to irritate her, much like things did in the past. Finally glancing over at Taco, she blinked a few times and finally managed to just shrug, the gesture immediately causing her to wince to pain. This all was a load of hogwash.

“I’ve been worse, Taco…” Smiling faintly, she had to pause a moment wondering if she heard what a patron had said correctly. Wizards fighting demons…? What on earth did she manage to get tied up into?

Glancing around for her sunglasses, she noted them smashed beneath another table. Yeah, that just figured. Returning her attention to the conversation just in time to hear Chemo tell Sexy Butt and Arya to go out and help the Lamia, whoever they were, Renée couldn’t help but wonder if they really did have it under control. Snorting, she glanced over at Liam as he healed up her wounds using magic or energy or something like that, she couldn’t help but wonder if there was more to him than what she originally thought. It was obvious that the demon and the kid were connected, that much was proven by Zamikar’s words, but it still didn’t make sense to her. Why would Liam be a key to the apocalypse? Could they separate their linked souls?

“Liam, is there a way to separate you from him without killing you?” She intentionally left out the part about not wanting to kill Zamikar, because she didn’t give a crap about him. Even knowing the potentially dangerous part that Liam could play, she didn’t want anything to happen to him.

Sliding back to her feet, she glanced down at Liam as he told the demon not to think about it… the it probably revolving harming any of them. Shooting him a reassuring smile, she tried to figure out a way to hurt the bastard without hurting the kid. Because right now, she wanted nothing more than to punch the life out of the demon. That notion intensified over nine-thousand percent when Zamikar grabbed an innocent woman and engulfed the woman in fiery chains before he stabbed the female in the stomach. This most definitely wasn’t good. Narrowing her eyes, she slid her hand down into her pocket, letting them rest near a few of her playing cards.

“I’m going to figure out a way to hurt you, demon without harming Liam and when that happens, you’re going to wish you had never even came near him.” Her voice was eerily calm and though she didn’t have a way to do it yet, maybe someone could think of a way to do just that and when it happened, it would be on like Donkey Kong.

"Stop while you're ahead." Chemo told Zamikar, "You're dangerous. If you hurt anyone else we'll be forced to put you down. And don't dare try to play to our morality. This kid will die if it means keeping you from hurting more and more people. We have a duty in my side of the Invictus. It's to keep benevolence. Keep the order of the world. Fight evil with good." Chemo told Zamikar, tone becoming much more serous and threatening.

It was easy to tell that even Chemo's friends were taken aback by the change. It wasn't often the team had to be so grim in the face of danger.

"That means destroying it. Destroying you at any cost." Chemo continued, soon falling silent. "Dude..." Taco said to his friend, "I got this, Bones. I'll back them up in here, you back us up out there." Sugar told Arya, "Got it." Arya said, glancing to Chemo and then to Zamikar before she rushed for the exit.

It was then that the energy washed over the bar again, the same energy that had forced Zamikar and Liam to split. It had come back. This time it did the opposite, forcing the two back into the same body.

The energy was part of some kind of ward or enchantment that targetted demons and the like. Possibly from the fighting outside.

"Hmmm. If your lying, it's a nice bluff. If your telling the truth, I am far more powerful then you. You really think you can beat me while I'm in my own form?" He said, summoning two hell hounds. However, the fire quickly turned from red to blue, and turned around towards Zamikar.

"I still have slightly more control. You might be more powerful, but your hellhounds are mine" Liam told him with a slight smile. Liam then used his magic and both freed and healed the woman, who was quick to run away. "I can't hurt you, but I can still keep you in check".

"No you can't, and you know it. And you..." Zamikar turned to Chemo. "...you are first". Zamikar focused his magic into pains of the past. To try and make Chemo remember all his most painful memories at once. If it worked, the memories would be much more painful then usual, as they would inflict physical pain as well as enhancing the emotions of sadness, despair, and hopelessness.

However, before he could do anything to the others, whatever separated them pulled Zamikar back in. It seemed as if he turned into a shadow, and forced its way down Liam's throat. However, at the same time, Liam put a ward right in Zamikar's way. And unlike everything he had done before, this ward worked.

This whole time he had been keeping a secret from Zamikar. During the battle of Times Square over a year ago, an angel had boosted his healing ability to heal multiple angels. He had held on to some of his magic in secret, and this magic was focused into a ward. While it wouldn't be as powerful as a Ward of Wiccan magic, this ward, combined with the right timing as it would only work the way he wanted at the moment Zamikar was re-entering his body, would offer him a bit more control from Zamikar over his body. And because it wasn't Liam's own magic, it would affect Zamikar.

One of the hell hounds turned around and faced Liam. "What the fuck did you do?"

"A little angel magic if been holding onto. Focused it into a ward. It would only work when your re-entering me, but now this gives more slightly more control then I did before. Which means less control for you".

"You can't suppress me fully. We both know that. You can't keep me completely down".

"But I can still make sure you can't kill anyone innocent. Like I have before, but now...we do things my way a little more. You want to keep having fun? Well, your going to have to compromise with me more then before now".

The hell hound Zamikar was using as his voice growled, then disappeared in a smoke field it generated. Liam then threw his bottle away and started to cry. "I thought I was finally free of that bastard!"

Liam was pissed, upset, and angry all at once. He walked next to the bar, and sat down with his back to it still crying. "I fucking hate this".

Renée hated that she didn’t know what to do. It bugged her immensely and even listening to Chemo talking Zamikar didn’t really make her feel less irritated. In fact, it intensified her anger and she felt even more on edge. Her fingers squeezed together, but somehow she managed to keep her digits away from her playing cards. For a brief minute, she went into another world or perhaps just another time period, and found herself tuning out everything. She made a promise long enough not to let her anger or frustration rule how she did things and this time was obviously testing this promise. Biting her bottom lip, she snapped her attention back as soon as the woman was not only released, but healed moments before she ran off. Tilting her head, she wasn’t exactly sure what he was about to do to Chemo, but soon after another wave of energy washed over the bar again. Glancing down at Liam, she noticed Zamikar disappearing, returning into the kid’s body no doubt.

“What… de… hell jus’ happened…?” Renée blinked, listening to the conversation between the hell-hounds and Liam, trying her best to understand what was happening, but that was a little difficult for her, so she just finally crossed both arms against her chest.

However, when Liam began to cry, her visage softened and she wished she could have done something to make Zamikar remain completely separated so that they could have killed the demon without hurting the child. Hopefully the others wouldn’t try to kill him because of the demon inside of her, because she most definitely would have a problem with that. Frowning, she walked over to where he was sitting against the bar and knelt down beside him. She had no idea if he was a touchy type person, so for a brief moment, she sat there and stared before finally wrapping her arm around his shoulder, hugging him if he allowed her to follow through with the motion.

“…Liam, we’ll find a way to get him out of you completely. I just don’t know how… but it has to happen…”

"It's not really our area of expertise." Chemo told Renee and Liam, "The NPA are on their way by now, they'll probably take you in or something." He added, "You have our word that we'll do what we can." Sugar interjected, "Just don't expect much. We don't carry badges or get paid by the government, you know?" He said.

"Guys, whatever was happening outside looks done. The NPA are here." An Invictus soldier said, eyes glued to the glass window. The quiet hum of rotars could be heared, NPA Enforcers and Sanctifiers busy making their way into The Courtyard.

"What the fuck is going on?" Taco asked, "Wing City." Kane answered, "That's... a good answer, damn." Taco responded.

"It's no one area of expertise" Liam mentioned, still crying. He used Wiccan magic to bring up an illusion of his soul and Zamikar's. "...because magic isn't supposed to be used to do that".

Now, no one in the room might be an expert on Souls, even Liam didn't know much despite his research. But, looking at the illusion, it could be fairly obvious to even the magicly incompetent that souls shouldn't look like that. And magic shouldn't do that, not normally. The souls were fused together, but it wasn't neat. It was twisted, messy, and gruesome. Even a powerful Wizard's magic wouldn't make it like this. Someone had to force magic to do this. And the person who this was used on would have felt intense pain for a long time afterwards. Which Liam did.

The illusion quickly faded away. "I have been to plenty of 'experts'. According to everyone, whoever did this had to twist magic and force it to allow this. That this wasn't just someone's curse. It was something...more".

Liam was still crying somewhat. "You don't have to feel guilty about not doing much. By now, I don't put faith in anyone. It's about the one thing me and this bastard agrees on. Our separation. He wants to be free of me as much as I want to be free of him. Sorry about your pub by the way. I should have known Zamikar would ruin this like he does everything else. I just....I just wanted to be happy".

Liam stood up and looked at Renee. "Unless you have something that tears souls apart, I'm not sure you can keep that promise. There isn't any complicated option or spell. Quite literally, that's what it will take. Simple, but incredibly difficult and requires a lot of power".

Renée frowned when Chemo said that the NPA was going to take in Liam. He was just a kid. She didn’t care that there was a demon inside of him because he was so young. Releasing his shoulder, she slid up to her feet and scowled at the others. Both arms crossed briefly across her chest before she dropped them down to her sides.

“I refuse to let the NPA take him in. It isn’t is fault that he had Zamikar inside of him… Can’t you see that this is harder on him than anyone else?” Before she could say anything else, Liam showed an illusion of how his soul and Zamikar’s was connected. Blinking, she wondered how someone did that and what type of psycho would do that to a youngin’.

“…if my mom was still alive… she could do it… I’m so sorry, Liam.” Frowning again, she wiped her eyes with the back of her hand before sighing heavily.

"Could always take the kid with ya'." Kane said Renee, "Keeps him out of the government's hands, and he's somewhere eatin' proper foods and sleepin' indoors." Kane continued, "That's actually a good idea. We're going to need justice for the one the demon killed." Chemo informed the others.

"I'll get in touch with Sonia and see what can be done." Sugar said, "For now, get the kid somewhere before the Lamia picks up on him and sends the NPA this way. They're probably tracking whatever those demon things were that they were fighting." Sugar told the group.

"They'll be locking The Courtyard down, but I can escort you out. Let them know you're cool." Taco said to Liam and Renee.

When Renee defended him, Liam....well, he wasn't sure what he felt. Just that it had been a long time since he had felt like this before. It had been a long time though since anyone considered him and Zamikar separate people. One priest mistaked him for an Antichrist though once. He avoided priests and monasteries ever since.

He also wasn't sure what to say. He could feel Zamikar rolling his eyes though. He wanted to say thank you, but the words didn't come out and they didn't seem like it was enough. Eventually he did manage to speak. "Thank you....for everything. It's the most anyone has done for me in a long time".

He wasn't joking. It really was.

"At least you don't have to worry about Zamikar trying to kill innocent people. That's about the single good thing about this. I keep him in check. He can't hurt anyone innocent while inside me". He then telekineticly cleaned up some of the mess. "I guess the powers don't hurt either".

He looked at Reneè. "Ready to go when you are".

Take Liam with her? Renée blinked a few times, not sure what to say to that notion. It seemed like a simple solution, but she wasn’t exactly a simple person. At least it wouldn’t be the first time she brought home a child and it probably wouldn’t be the last. At the mention of food, her stomach growled loudly and she couldn’t help but smack her stomach, obviously irritated with the organ. This would keep Liam from being unjustly convicted of something that wasn’t really even his fault and if they tried to come take him from her, there would be one hell of a fight because she knew without a doubt that Gabrielle would help protect him too.

“Hmm… That’s a super good idea.” Scrunching up her nose, she grinned down at Liam and hoped he would agree to the proposition.

When he agreed and thanked her and maybe the others for everything, she smiled gently and just nodded. She had no idea what his life had been like before, but now that he was with her, she was going to make sure she kept him as safe as mutantly possible. Patting him on the back, she was extremely glad that he could now keep Zamikar in check and was pretty sure that whatever was happening out in the Courtyard was the cause of what happened.

“Yep, let’s get going before the get wise to what’s going on. If they try anything, shit’s going to get real – really fast. If you get my drift.” Her tone was more serious than it had been in quite a while.

"We'll handle this here." Chemo told Rnee, "Matt, you got this." He said to Taco, "I always got this, son. No, but this is a serious matter. Let's go." Taco said, pushing his way through the crowd to get the exit.

The people of the pub wouldn't be an issue, not all of them. They seemed to understand what was going on and why it was important to get Liam some help. It helped that not many of them had faith in the Terran government or most governments.

"Stay safe, kid." Sugar said to Liam, giving him a wave. "And try not to mention the demon inside of you. This city tends to have... crazies... mostly religious ones who hunt down people like you." He continued. "Yeah, ever been to Gambit's Bar?" Kane asked, "Silence is golden, lad."

"Alright, let's go before a demonic bounty Hunter or something jumps out of thin air...and no, that's not a joke" he noted, following him and Reneè. He really wasn't joking. He had been attacked only recently on a train. Zamikar had been torching a bank owner who had information on a possible lead and who had been abusing his wife and did a laundry list of other nasty things.

"It took me awhile, but if shit does get real, I'm used to it. I still have access to all of Zamikar's powers too" Liam noted to Reneè's comment. In truth, Liam had less faith in governments then them. He had a good feeling it was filled with demons, or worse, politicians. He ran into a politician once who collected magical artifacts. Tried to gut Liam for the apocalypse key. He is dead now, Zamikar saw to that. Also, you can't remove the key, especially through non magical means. It's infused into his soul. Remove they Key, and Liam would likely start dying.

"Oh believe me, I don't intend on going around telling people I have Zamikar inside me. Then II would have to deal with people who want to try and absorb Zamikar's power, capture and sacrifice me, and all of the hunters who have obligated themselves to killing Zamikar. Zamikar made a lot of enemies. Unfortunately, I have access to most of his memories at the moment. Believe me, he deserves it, but I would prefer to live thank you very much".

"Anyways, thanks again" he noted, waving back.

Just nodding towards Chemo, Renée wondered when she decided to trust people that she had just met. Shoving that thought out of her mind, she waited for Liam to join her before stepping behind Taco in order to allow him to push through the crowd. This was becoming a pain in the butt and she hoped that the people got out of the way before the police or whoever it was happened to show up. Fighting right here and now was not high on her list, but she knew without a doubt that she would do it just to keep an innocent – in her mind at least – child safe from whatever fate might possibly befall him.

Renée wasn’t sure what Kane meant by asking if Liam had ever been to Gambit’s, but she certainly hoped it wasn’t a diss or something like that. Now wasn’t the time to ask though, although, the female did shoot him a questioning look. Sighing, she was glad that Liam knew what the consequences would be if he mentioned anything about Zamikar and was also amazed to know that he had access to the demons powers. Was that normal? Well, at least between the two, they would be able to deal with whatever came if it threatened to harm them.

“Well, Liam… let’s get out of the courtyard and go home… Well, to your new home, that is.” Even as they walked through the courtyard behind their escort, she was on edge, prepared for whatever assault might happen to befall them.

"Here!" Sonia called out, pointing to one of the floating city's theatres. "We can do something here." She said, turning to Chemo and the event organizers for the expo. "You do know that you don't have to actually be here?" One of the organizers asked Sonia.

"Yes, but I'd like to take an active part in making sure this goes off without a hitch. Now, I heard there was a stadium." The Englishwoman answered, "We should go take a look at it. See how many people we can fit inside and just what we can fit inside." She continued, "Robert, see if you can convince some of the local restaurateurs to cater for the event."

"You want me to go and talk to people as a foreigner about catering an event that'll bring people, other foreigners, to their nation without actually knowing the budget we'll have?"Chemo asked Sonia, "Yes. I believe in you." Sonia answered.

"Alright. I guess we're winging this..." Chemo said.