Demons Battle

Determined Episode 1.

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With a stupefied look written all over Gabriel’s face, He could see his idol.

The man he admired the most aside from his father.

Killer Joe was now holding Leah by the neck, with his grip restricting both her breathing and her movements. Leah was trying to break free from his hold with both her arms but she was finding it difficult to do so, her bleeding from the head could attest to the fact that she was the weaker one amongst the two.

There was now a petrified expression on Gabriel’s face.

Gabriel was shocked and terrified but mostly confused. This was the Demons Battle champion he loved. This was Killer Joe. He was still shocked to see his mom and his Little sister dead on the floor.

‘What...? What..?’

Gabriel wanted to say something but his lips just didn’t move.

His shocked state was now preventing his logical mind from even thinking and asking himself these main questions which were;

'What is Killer Joe doing in my house?'

'Why did he do this?'

'What relationship does my family share with this man?'

'Where’s dad? And what’s he doing in all this?'

These are the questions that were supposed to be going through his mind but his head was filled with vivid emotions of fear and shock that the logical aspect of his thinking was kept at bay.

He stood there frozen with John who was about to scream...

“Hel..”

But before John could scream out for help, the terrifying figure tormenting Leah had already vanished right from their line of sight and then....

BOOM!

In a flash of light and scotching heat, the next thing both boys saw was a blast of flames bursting through the house as an explosion went through the roof. With a loud sound they saw huge fire raging through the roof, it was almost like the flames itself was roaring out.

The explosion was so loud that the sound covered John’s scream for help. The explosion occurred right in the front of them both but it was as if the explosion was contained just to the front and it didn’t reach them.

It was almost like they were being shielded from the fire.

The explosion was happening just 4 feet's away from them. It is almost like they were now staring at a wall of flames

After the flames had subsided, all they could see was half of the house now destroyed and covered in flames.

“Pant pant pant.”

Analyzing further on what had happened the two terrified young men could now see the back figure of Leah in front of them kneeling and trying to catch her breath with her mouth open as if she had just stopped after running a marathon.

The young men had little understanding of what just happened in a flash. The explosion had happened at a rate just too fast for any of them to keep up with, but to the eyes of Leah it was something else.

While Leah was being restrained by Killer Joe, on her own end she was trying to break free from the powerful man’s hold. With Killer Joe realizing that Gabriel had just come into the scene of his evil deeds, he moved so fast to attack Gabriel with a punch.

Zoom.

...But Before his clenched fist was about to reach his target’s face, Leah had to will herself some strength to defend her brother by moving at a speed slightly faster than killer Joe, getting between the raging man and her brother while crouching and dispersing intense flames.

Her flames where meant for defense only but because of the moment and how fast everything happened, the flames became so strong that it went on the offensive, thereby sending Killer Joe flying off the house, through the roof. The strong flames also destroyed half of their house in the process.

It took every single ounce of strength in Leah to protect her brother in a perceived world that looked as if time had slowed down but in the eyes of Gabriel and John, her attack and defense happened in the blink of an eye but the young men knew that the flames was of Leah’s doing because this was her ability.

She was a powered human with the ability of dispersing intense flames.

She was now looking totally drained as all she was trying to do now was to catch her breath. She knew that her attacker was not at all done for by her flames and if so he wasn’t done with them yet but she was already too weak to even go on guard again so at this moment, she as well as everyone else in the half burnt room were still at the mercy of Killer Joe.

WEE-OWW!...WEE-OWW!..WEE-OWW!

In that instant, They all heard the disturbance of series of police sirens half a mile away from their house.

Leah instantly let out a sigh of relief after hearing the sound of the siren.

'Only few a seconds now..'

Exactly a few seconds four men suddenly surrounded their house that instant, it was almost as if they teleported there.

These men were wearing a certain type of armor and with the type of armor they were wearing you may probably mistake them for being robots, their armor were covered with stripes and widgets all over.

This was a part of the law enforcement unit. They dealt with powered humans crimes when it came to the urban environment of citizens. They arrived just as Leah predicted they would immediately she heard the sound of the police sirens. The explosion she caused was a damn giveaway that a powered human was involved in this scenario.

In the early 2000s police had used guns and bulletproof to fight against crimes but since the discovery of powered humans things had evolved, parts of the powered humans in the military also went into the police force too.

These guys in the armor took care of any powered human crimes. There were still regular humans in the police force too but these guys with the armor were always found  in the frontline of battles in such a scenario where a powered human was involved in a crime, and they were here because of Leah’s explosion which was definitely a powered human handiwork.

They all went into the house with extreme cautiousness. Then they found Gabriel, John and Leah and rescued them all from the fire while keeping vigilance against any attack.

***

And just like that the police were able to keep the situation calm. It turned out that a neighbor had placed an emergency call when she noticed something wasn’t right. And it was that call and the recent explosion that saved their lives. Although the murderer escaped the second the powered humans police arrived at the scene.

Gabriel, Leah and John were already in a paramedics van taking treatments, the van actually arrived along with the police cars. Meanwhile their house fire was been taken care of by the firemen who were also on the same kind of armors like the police but the only difference between theirs and the police was the colors.

The police armors were all black in color while the firemen colors were red and yellow. There were noises in the neighborhood due to different units of the law enforcement working together to keep the situation calm. The scene sparked the attentions of the whole neighbors, it was a murder case after all, the kind that got people usually curious.

After they got rescued, the three of them were all attended to by the medics, unfortunately neither Gabriel nor John sustained any injuries thanks to Leah. Leah on the other hand had some bruises and little injuries which wasn't life threatening so she was okay after some few treatments from the medics.

At this moment Gabriel had a stupefied look on his face with his gaze fixed at the firemen putting off their house fire. He had been quite ever since he saw his mother and sister dead bodies.

His mind was still trying to resist what he saw.

‘How..?’

Gabriel’s logical mind started kicking in as he started thinking but his thoughts were still vague due to his emotions.

"Why would Killer Joe do this?"

John asked with a glint of nostalgia in his watery eyes. Anyone looking at John will notice that he was still reliving the nightmare he just witnessed inside their burning building and it was not only him...

Gabriel didn't give John any reply because he too does not know the answer to that question. Among all of them here he felt he needed the answer to that particular question the most. His own Family got murdered by his Demon Battle’s Star. Life had thrown an unexpected wreck ball at him in a tragic and mysterious way.

‘Who am I to deserve this? There's no mistake about it. It was definitely him. Why would he do this?’

The more questions Gabriel asked himself, the more mysterious and curious he felt about the situation and the mystery around this tragedy came with more vivid emotions of sadness and anger.

His thoughts became more vague as he could now feel his cheeks all wet with tears draining from his eyes.

‘Wait I didn't see Dad?'

With this only clear thought now coming into his mind. He recalled not seeing his father but only his mother and sister dead, so he couldn’t tell for sure if his father was dead or alive.

With a hopeful expression Gabriel instantly shrieked while jumping off the medic van in a rush "We didn't see Dad! We have to tell the police!"

He ran off immediately, trying to find the nearest Officer. He ran with a strong yearning just wishing for his dad to be okay from the bottom of his heart.

He didn’t see his dad in the living room so his dad should be okay. No He has to be!

'God if you’re listening just answer this prayer. Just this one time. Let dad be okay!’.

He wanted his Dad to at least be okay. He should at least see his dad alive.

“Mr Lee!!!”

Gabriel heard his last name from behind him while he was trying to look for an assistance in locating his dad.

Gabriel stopped and turned back to see who was calling him from behind. Without much stress in looking around he quickly saw the owner of the voice who was now signifying with a calling gesture. It was a man wearing a standard black suit. The man looked like a detective so Gabriel knew he could ask this guy for the assistance he was currently seeking for regarding his father’s location.

"Mr Lee I'm Detective Crawford."

The Man introduced himself which confirmed Gabriel suspicion about his identity to be right.

Gabriel unhesitatingly spoke out with any care about the man’s name. "Mr We didn't see my Dad while we were in the house!"

"About that...“ The Detective made a little paused as he became hesitant before saying his next words. “Mr Lee we later found your father upstairs, he was stabbed to the heart with a knife. I'm so sorr-."

As Gabriel heard the news about his father’s death, all the other words the detective was saying didn’t go through his ears anymore. No to precise he was no longer hearing the rest words the detective was saying.

Gabriel immediately fell to his knees in shock with his shaky eyes dripping out tears. For him he felt like this very disappointing news suddenly made his body vulnerable.

Leah on the other hand clenched her fists tightly as if she was now trying to keep her emotions in check. She too overheard the bad news while sitting in the paramedics van.

John who was now standing behind Gabriel felt sorry for him with tears still coming out from his eyes too, he felt so sad for his friend that it was hard for him to comfort himself right now much less his friend at the moment.

  

"Come on boys I'm really sorry for your loss"

Detective Crawford was trying to comfort them with both his hands on both boys shoulders as they cried. It really was a pitiful sight. Maybe as a detective he gets to see this kind of deaths everyday but it was the first time for Gabriel to witness a homicide. A kid witnessing his parents homicide is never a good experience but still no matter how inappropriate the situation was the Detective had to do his job.

"I'm really sorry boys but I'll have to ask you all some questions. Can we go to where your sister is?" Detective Crawford immediately gestured his arm towards the paramedics van

With little help the boys walked with the detective towards the van. Leah was just sitting quite inside the van. There were no tears in her eyes. However her face still couldn't hide her grief.

"Miss Lee I'm Detective Crawford I'm really sorry for your loss but I have some questions to ask you all".

The Detective said as he quickly went straight to the point which gave Leah a good reason of why he was here.

"I want to know what happened?"

At this moment, it was Leah who opened her mouth in their stead.

"It was Killer Joe."

"Huh I didn't get you?"

The Detective asked again not because he didn’t hear Leah’s answer the first time but because he didn’t believe what Leah said about it being ‘killer Joe’ or either he himself heard her wrongly. His body Language and tonality gave this fact away.

"I said Killer Joe the Demons Battle Champion did this”

"Wait...... so you're saying Killer Joe..., the Demons Battle Champion did this?"

There was now an astonished expression of disbelief in the Detective’s face.

The Detective reaction of disbelief was expected however, it was still the truth for the three teenagers. ‘Killer Joe is the killer ’.

Killer Joe was a very known fighter who rose from the ranks of the bottom to the top in Demons Battle, where he's now a district champion.  He was also originally from Rukon District that's why People sees him as a success and he is loved by his incredible large number of fans so it was very unbelievable as to why a very successful and rich fighter would be involved in a homicide.

Killer Joe involved in the homicide of a regular family? It was like an expensive joke that didn’t sound funny to the detective at all. The Detective was still shocked at the answer but he proceeded with the regular inquiry questions he had to ask because they were needed for his investigation. The three could all read the detective at the moment. Even Gabriel knew if he hadn’t witnessed it with his own two eyes, he wouldn't have believed it either.

"Okay. So do you guys have any sort of evidence or anything to show that Killer Joe did this?”

The Detective asked of evidence which was the right question to ask but he was now asking in a mocking tone that was conveying the fact that he was now wasting his time asking questions.

"Evidence?? isn't that supposed to be you guys Job to look at the crime scene and get your evidence?!!!".

Leah instantly shrieked out as she channeled her anger to the detective.

Gabriel stared at Leah who just lashed out at the Detective. He could see the fury in her eyes.

Leah had been quiet since the incident because she too was still finding it hard to believe that her family just got murdered, just like that. She had been trying to keep her emotions in check since the time they got rescued but noticing the detective current attitude towards her answers made her to react in anger.

"No need to get all worked up Miss our crime scene investigators are already on the scene but it will be very hard to study the crime scene since you burnt the plac-“

"Can't you see? she burnt the place trying to save us from that monster!". John immediately interrupted the detective. He then went on to continue screaming at the detective. "Beside we are saying the truth why don't you believe us?!"

"Okay calm down Mister. I understand you're all mad but relax....”. The Detective replied in a light manner trying to calm them down while gesturing with his hands in the air.

The detective still went on to continue with his questions.

”Do you know any reason why Killer Joe would do this?”

"We don't know why that bastard did this. This was actually my first time seeing the damn guy in person besides what you guys are supposed to be doing right now is apprehending that murderer!".

This time It was Gabriel who replied in a rather vexed tone.  There was now a grimaced look in his face with a maddened glint in his eyes.

"It's not as simple as that Mister Lee. We need concrete evidence to arrest someone”

"Then stop wasting time, go get your evidence and do your job!...because if there's one thing I know for sure is that he's going to pay! He's going to pay for sure. I'll make sure of that! Do you here me?!!"

As if to now contain his anger from  bursting out of him Gabriel clenched his fist tightly as tears fell off his chin.

The Detective was now quite. There was now a bit of astonishment in his face. He could feel something from Gabriel. Although it was faint but it was very clear that he was very well feeling this Gabriel’s hatred and it was intense.

After Gabriel had finished venting out his emotions his sister stood up from where she was sitting in the van as she came down and quietly walked towards Gabriel, with her gaze now facing down.

Tap.

She placed her left hand on Gabriel’s shoulder.

“You don’t need to do anything little bro. Making him pay his my job.”.

Leah raised her head slightly with her eyebrows lowered and pulled closer together giving Gabriel a vexed look. A short shiver struck down Gabriel’s entire body as he gazed into Leah’s eyes. She was the kind of person that rarely ever got angry but this time it was very clear that she was pissed off. Her last statement retained an aura that the detective and the two younger men could very well sense.

‘There’s no mistake here this is definitely blood lust. This girl...so she was actually keeping all these feelings to her self in the van? I agree the too young men are angry but for her it’s no longer mere grief and anger anymore. It’s as if she’s totally ready to kill just by looking at her eyes. This girl.. she’s dangerous.’

It was at this moment the Detective was now able to identify the feeling he had been getting from Gabriel. It might be faint with Gabriel but with Leah the feeling he was getting from her was something else. There was no doubt about it. Leah’s bloodlust was way too enormous.

Leah’s pressure from her statement had left  their conversation with the detective in total silence even John felt her rage and it was great. She sounded so scary the moment she uttered her words to Gabriel.

“Ow..okay...that would be all for now we would get back to y’all”. The detective said calmly as he broke away the silence.

“Again I’m sorry, I’ll be in touch”

Those were the last words the Detective said as he disappeared.

***

That evening John’s parents arrived immediately when they heard the sad news. They took both Leah and Gabriel under their care that day since John’s parents were also close friends with the Lees. The following day a funeral was heard in the honor of their deceased parents and little sister.

The detective contacted them with the information saying that they haven’t found any evidence linking Killer Joe to the murder of their family but they are still investigating. The news however made Gabriel and Leah even more furious with the situation. They both knew that if nothing is done, Killer Joe would definitely get away with the murder.

Leah left for her Dojo after the funeral to continue with her training. She left a few encouraging words for Gabriel advising him to take care of himself while she’s gone. John and his parents actually thought that Leah was living too early for her Dojo. They were suggesting she give it a rest for a while to take her time and mourn her loss but she still insisted on living for her Dojo.

Gabriel actually knew why she left him behind so early. She too seeks for the vengeance of their family and plans on taking matters into her own hands through Demons Battle.  She didn’t exercise any patience towards the police investigation to bring the murderer of their family to justice. To her the police investigation where just a waste of time.

  

Gabriel felt the same way as her but the difference between him and her was the fact that ‘he wasn’t a powered human’. He was still unable take matter into his hands no matter how badly he wanted to do so.

Gabriel was still living with John and his parents. He was still feeling the grief and anger from the loss of his loved ones. Although John and his parents were trying everything they could  to cheer him up but it just wasn’t working. He felt more depressed and angered that the only thing he craved for now was the death of the man he once called his idol but he wasn’t in any position to carry out this goal. He was just a regular human for now.

Gabriel still believed his powers will mysteriously show up before his 16th birthday which was now only 2 days from now.  No his ability has to manifest. He held very firmly to this belief because for him that’s all he has now.

For him, he has to awaken his abilities because he needs it more than ever now for his revenge.

He had only just one wish, which was for him to be granted powers to get into the Demons Battle. This time he didn’t want to get into the sport for the fun of it instead he wanted to get in so he could meet his idol but not for worship. He wanted to make sure that his idol suffers.

One last time he prayed in his heart craving for his powers to mysteriously show up.

However, Just like that the day went by without him showing any abilities and his last day came with his expectations still high. Even John could tell what was currently going on in his friend’s mind and felt pity for him. John believed his friend was doomed for disappointment.

For Gabriel his last day before his 16th birthday was a very slow day, he kept himself in all kind situations were his powers could miraculously trigger, he even got into a fight again but his efforts were to no avail.

And then His 16th birthday came along too without him revealing any abilities and it finally confirmed what people had been saying to him his whole life which was...

‘He is just a regular human’.

Reality had given him a big slap on the face and no matter how much he craved for powers it never manifested in him.

Now life had no meaning. Gabriel no longer felt like he was living.

He was now sitting in John’s room doing nothing with a saddened look.

“Gabriel! Someone is here to see you.”

John voice sounded to his ears from the door of the room.

“Who’s that?” Gabriel inquired to know about his visitor in a low voice but his tone gave away the feeling of not actually caring anymore.

“He calls himself Doctor Mark, he says he’s a friend of your dad so you gotta come see him.”

‘A friend of Dad?’

It was because of his Dad being mentioned that made him become a little interested as to why this person was here.

“Okay” Gabriel muttered as he walked out of the room with John following him and the two boys went straight downstairs.

Upon getting to the living room he saw the visitor. It was a middle age man around the same age as his dad. He was a chubby bald-headed man and a feet above average height tall. He was standing while looking around the living room. He was also wearing glasses and had a mustache just below his nose.

“Oh Mr Lee I’m Dr Great Mark. I’m sorry we had to meet again in such a bad situation like this, please accept my condolences”. The stranger said as he extended his hand and gave Gabriel a handshake.

Gabriel recalled seeing him at his family funeral, he was one of the guests that offered them their condolences that day. Gabriel felt curious about why he was here to see him.

“May I sit?” The doctor asked and immediately sat comfortably on the living room sofa before he even got the permission he was just asking for.

“Oh yea...”.

Gabriel wanted to answer him but he saw there was no need to do so.  The Doctor had already made himself comfortable.

As if not to waste a single minute Gabriel immediately shot the question. “So why do you want to see me Doctor Mark?”

“Your Dad told me you’re a regular human wishing to be a powered human I’m I correct?”

Gabriel now noticed the doctor went straight to the point too and with the topic involved the man had his attention even more.

Gabriel eyes was now narrowed to a slit as he replied. “Yes why?”

“So I’m sure the reason you desire to be a powered human is because you want to get into Demons Battle right?”

“Yes I wanted to get into Demons Battle but it turns out I can’t besides why are you asking me all these questions?”

The doctor has been answering his question with questions and it was not quite satisfactory for him at all. The doctor was asking about him being a regular human, Demons Battle and all that but these were topics that sparked his curiosity. Gabriel was now feeling more curious and eager to know why the doctor was here.

As if to finally now answer Gabriel, The doctor paused and leaned forward from the sofa as he stared directly at Gabriel while holding both his hands together.

“Well Gabriel What if I tell you that there’s a way you can participate in Demons Battle?”