Badass

Yo! To those who may be reading this, this is my 4th instalment in my Badass series. Please note that there is almost ZERO combat in this Chapter. It is more a character Chapter, than a kicking ass chapter. That being said, hopefully you like it.

Your reading this is greatly appreciated by the author; me!

Enjoy.

Dionysosk.

*

Derek woke up in a bed. Whether or not it was his bed, he was still unsure. What he was sure of however, is that he was fucked; in every sense of the word. He had been so close as well. His plan had worked perfectly. The 1st contact between him and Erykah went as planned; everything had worked out as he'd hoped. He was about to make his dreams come true, but then HE had to interfere; that tall guy with the silver hair. Erykah was about to his; sweet, sweet Erykah.

Derek had always had a thing for Erykah. No, calling it a 'thing' would've been putting it lightly. Derek had fallen head over heels in love with her the 1st moment he laid his eyes on her. Her unique gait, the way her hips would sway, her hands, her shoulders, her beautiful face and eyes, long hair, everything about her was perfect; a true Goddess. He had wanted to approach her forever, but knew that it would've been useless. She had never really opened up to anyone who wasn't already in her close circle of friends. She had known each member of The Hand for years, and they all joined Venus College together. He thought about befriending one of them to get to her, however he ruled that out, as the others socialised and made friends, but whenever they were all together, she'd either leave early, or pay little to no attention to anyone else present. He thought about joining her group, and working his way up, but he'd only see her when she was giving out orders, which meant he'd see her less than he did now. But then it came to him; the perfect plan to make her his. He was the Alpha of a smaller group, which was just barely in the top 10. Truth is though; they were strong enough to be in the top 5, but under his orders, feigned weakness. They remained in the top 10, which allowed him to monitor her movements.

He learnt all of her habits; where she did her shopping, where she went to the loo, where she ate, what she ate, who she ate with, what she drank, and nothing was considered too minor a detail. He had to know when she would likely be alone, and then would be his chance to get in. He knew that since being nice was not going to get him anywhere, he had to be the villain; the antagonist. He'd have to force her to become his, and this wasn't going to be easy. He himself was an Alpha, which meant he was no slouch when it came to combat. He was weaker than her, but not by much. The real difference though, is that she was an expert when it came to using her elemental power, whereas he wasn't as proficient, and it would take time for him to reach her level; time that he didn't have. So he focused on training to increase his brute strength, and had to think of a way to bind her elemental powers in chains. Drugs seemed to be his only option, and so he found some shady mother fuckers who had the drugs that he required. After he trained as much as his body could stand, and had acquired the drugs, he fine tuned the details of his plan. He would approach her when she was alone in Temperance, basically Aegis' HQ. He would wait for The Hand to leave her, and do what they usually do in the club. He and his squad would approach her, and while he spoke her, one of them would slip the drug into her drink. Then they would disappear, and each of them would shadow their target among The Hand, while he would wait for her to leave the club. He would then follow her, beat her until she submitted to his will, or lost fight, where he would then claim the position of Alpha as his own, and also claim her as his own. It was perfect.

When that fated night arrived; and everything along without a hitch, he was very happy. It broke his heart to call his one true love all of those derogatory names, and it broke his heart even more when he 1st struck her, but it was for her own good. She needed him in her life; she just didn't know it yet. That was the thought that kept him going, especially when he was destroying her face. He just wanted stop and kiss her, hold her and make it better. He wanted to protect her, but he knew he had to be strong. He had to persevere, and stick to the plan. He grabbed her by the top of the head, and when he said

"How could you be the Alpha of Aegis?" What he really wanted to say was

"How could you not realise that we're meant to be together?! Why has it come to this? I never wanted to hurt you, I just wanted to love you, care for, and make love to you. I want you to be the mother of my children, my dear, sweet Erykah!"

After throwing her through the wall, and delivering his final speech, he was about to make her his, when that bastard came and ruined everything! Who was he anyway? Why was he so strong? All those months of training, planning, gone down the drain. Months of work, destroyed in seconds! Those horrible flames of his, completely robbing him of oxygen had completely wrecked his AE powers. It would take a while before he would be at his best again. His skin wasn't burnt, but it was dry, and had purple blotches that stung like mad if he touched them. His hair was gone, and his head also had these blotches. His skin was dry, and his face was gaunt. His lips were chaffing, and eyebrows and lashes were completely gone as well. It would take a while for him to recover, but that suited him just fine. He needed time to come up with a new plan.

Erykah stood there, staring at him. She looked at his facial structure, his features, his jaw and his chin. Without a doubt, this was the silver haired guy from last night. The guy who saved her life.

"I said I'm here. I heard you calling for me, thus I am here. Now, what do you wish of me?"

She looked at him, standing in front of her. 'Say hello! Apologise for being rude to him a second time! Say thank you for saving my life! Say your favourite colour is green! Say your name is Earl! SAY SOMETHING!!!!!' What she eventually said was

"You; you're pretty strong; quite powerful. Join my group." She didn't smile, her expression didn't change, it wasn't even an invitation, or a request.

Amy just groaned and rolled her eyes at her friends' social inadequacies. She wasn't the only one either. Erykah was internally berating herself for the way she had spoken to him for the 3rd time now. She only came across as rude, and unappreciative. She didn't know how to save the situation. She decided to wait for his reply.

"That's it? That's why you have your entire group searching for me? That's why you called out to me, just so you could treat me like I am one of the lower members of your group? Look here Erykah; I'm not interested in being the subordinate of someone who is below me."

"Excuse me?! WHAT DID YOU JUST SAY?!" she screamed, composure long since flown out the window

"You heard me. You were almost killed by an opponent whose blows couldn't make me flinch. You—"

"I was drugged! I could only use 40% of my actual strength, and my elemental powers had been sealed!! Had I not been drugged, I—"

"That doesn't mean a thing. You used 40%, and you lost. I, on the other hand, used less than 40%, and I won; simple as that."

With that statement, she was beaten. It was true. She lost to that Buffalo guy at 40%, while this guy barely broke a sweat. He had to hold back, to avoid killing him as well. This guy was strong; stronger than her she admitted. He was faster than a speed AE user, and more powerful than a power AE user. Just what was his AE? She intended to find out.

"Your AE; what is it? What is your elemental power? Why are your flames purple? Whe—"

"Erykaaaah!" Amy scolded "What the hell is wrong with you! You're not doing the thing which you wanted to do when you found him. Not only did you fail at finding him, he's the one who found you! Fucking hell!"

Zdenek looked over at Amy, realising that he had ignored her when he entered the room, and that was terribly rude of him. Amy extended a hand

"Hi, the name's Amy. Sorry for Erykahs lack of social graces. I, at least want to thank you for saving my Alpha. We were being held up by that guys' goons, and took too long in beating them. If it wasn't for you, our entire group would be missing their Alpha, but I would be missing my friend, Thank You." She was shocked when she felt a hand grip hers firmly, and then shake.

"Zdenek. You're welcome." After giving Amy a slight nod, he released her hand."Anyway, I've got to go. It's a 45 minute walk back to my apartment, and I gotta get this shit in the fridge." He looked over to Erykah."Well, at least your face is no longer that swollen mess it was last night." When she just turned away from him and faced the window, Zdenek sighed, and tried to initiate conversation once more.

"I didn't get the chance to ask, but how were your injuries? Any breaks? You looked like you were pretty banged up."

"I'm fine." She looked at him. She wanted to say more; she wanted to thank him, to apologise. She needed to say more; it was killing her that she couldn't. Her mouth refused to open, and words refused to form. She didn't say more; she failed. She didn't know or understand why, but she failed; dismally. She turned to face the window again.

"Ok then." He said, and turned and faced Amy. "Amy." he said with a nod, picked up his groceries, and began to walk towards the door. Amy waited, and waited, and waited for Erykah to offer Zdenek a ride back to his apartment, but she never did, causing Amy to want to slap her across the face.

"Do you need a lift to your apartment Zdenek?"

He really wanted a ride home. It was a 45 minute walk, and it would also help as his frozen meat and stuff had already thawed out, because they were meant to be in the fridge ages ago. He was about to accept, but then he heard it.

'Please don't accept. Please turn her down.'

"N-no thanks. I'll walk." He said this, looking at Erykah, who wasn't facing them, and was extremely annoyed. She could feel him glaring at her, but didn't dare turn around. She knew she had no right to, but she felt angry that he got along with Amy, even though it was all her own fault for not getting along with him.

Zdenek turned around, and went down the hall towards the stairs, extremely annoyed that he was walking home. Most of the guards who were there when he arrived were still there, and they noticed that he was pissed off. They split into two halves, standing at attention with their hands at their sides, and feet together, with their heads bowed down. He didn't even notice this, as he walked down the middle, and left the house.

Amy glared at Erykah. Erykah then turned around, and winced. That glare hurt more than every blow Buffalo Alpha had delivered.

"I know. I was a total bitch. I just don't know how to talk to people who aren't you guys any more. Now I have two separate things to apologise for. Fuck."

Amy just shook her head. She understood. She understood why her friend had hardened her heart to the point of it becoming colder than the North Pole, and harder than her thighs. She and Erykah had been friends most of their lives, so she knew how she used to be. She was one of those, who were forced to watch Erykahs' transformation into what she is now. She understood, but she was still pissed. She sighed and approached Erykah, putting her hands on her shoulders, bending down slightly so she was looking her directly in the eyes.

"Look, I understand ok. Don't worry about it. Now that we know his name and what he looks like, it'll be easier to track him down. However, he doesn't look like the type that likes to be tracked down, so maybe we wait for him to find you again? He has this knack of 'hearing' you, and then coming to find you."

"Yeah, and I still want to know what the fuck he means by all this 'hearing' stuff. But I guess that'll have to wait until the next time—OW!"

Amy had squeezed Erykahs' shoulders hard, and glared at her.

"--until such a time that he wants to tell me; without being forced to." Amy relinquished her tight grip.

"Good girl." She said with a huge grin, and then left Erykahs' study, heading downstairs to inquire as to how Zdenek easily made his way past the vast number of guards that had been stationed at the house, and why there wasn't even the slightest sign of a battle. Once down there, she called to one of the guards, and had him explain everything.

Zdenek was almost halfway through his walk home. It was dark; however, it being Saturday, there was an insane amount of cars and people about. This meant he had to walk. He couldn't use his quicker means of transportation, unless he went up onto the roof, and started jumping from building to building. He thought about it, but just told himself to be patient, and enjoy his walk. 20 minutes later, he had arrived back at his apartment. He put the bags down, and fished around for his keys. When he found them, he opened the door, picked up his bags, and went inside. He placed them on the counter, and went to the bathroom. He took the clips out of his hair, and turned the hot water on in the shower. He adjusted the cold water knob, until his water was just right, and started to disrobe. He then stepped into the shower.

"Ahhhhhhhhhhhh!"

The sigh of relief came out, as he closed his eyes, and almost melted. During his shower, he couldn't help but think of Erykah. He wasn't pissed off at her for the way she treated him, although being made to walk home was pretty annoying, he understood why she acted the way she did. As someone who had been observing human behaviour, he was able to see through her. She had built up such solid and formidable defences, that most would just assume that, that was her nature. Although he knew that it wasn't, he didn't know what those defences were protecting, and he didn't know if he would ever find out.

"Oh well." He said to himself, as he continued with his shower.

After drying off, and putting on a fresh pair of boxers, he decided to make himself some dinner. After assessing his options, he decided on his special bangers and mash, as this would be quick and easy to make. Zdenek was something of a good cook, so he had his own special mashed potatoes recipe. After boiling the potatoes, he drained the water. In another pot, he had boiled some milk, with 3 peeled garlic gloves in it. He poured the milk and garlic cloves straight into the steaming potatoes, and began to mash, adding some finely chopped green onions as he mashed and mixed. He then added a handful of grated parmesan cheese, folding it into the mash until it became thick and creamy. He seasoned with salt and pepper, and then left it covered. He then fried himself a whole pack of 6 pork bangers. After that was done, he scooped most of the mashed potatoes onto a plate, and dumped all of the bangers onto the pile of steaming potatoes.

"Not much in terms of presentation." He said to himself, as he cut a small piece of pork sausage, and dipped it into the mash, and then he brought the fork to his mouth and tasted his dinner."But it tastes pretty fucking awesome, even if I do say so myself." He chuckled to himself, as he moved to the couch and sat on it, eating his dinner.

After that was done, he threw everything into the sink, and got dressed in what he was wearing earlier. He also took out the smaller bag from inside his coat, which had all his new gloves in it, taking one pair out, and throwing the bag onto the couch he just vacated, putting that pair on, and clipped his hair back once again.

"Oh well, guess I'll just go on a light patrol to make sure that nothing bad is happening in the neighbourhood." He said, and made his way onto the roof.

Once on the roof, he walked over to the same ledge.

"Corruption Vision"

He looked around his neighbourhood, looking to see if there was anything bad taking place. His focus however, kept going towards the scene of the battle that had taken place the night before. The amount of time he spent looking there steadily increased, until it was the main focus, and his neighbourhood and keeping the people of his neighbourhood safe was just an afterthought. Someone could've been getting stabbed to death with a cocktail sausage, but he wouldn't have noticed.

"Well, since I'm on patrol, I may as well widen the scope of my patrolling."

With that, he deactivated Corruption Vision, and jumped off the roof, following the same course he had followed the night before. He didn't even know where he was headed. All he knew was that that he was going where ever his instinct led him. When he arrived at the scene of the battle, he was shocked to find that the entire area, which had virtually been destroyed, was good as new again, and there were no signs of a battle having taken place there. He leapt from building to building, eventually even hopping down to the area where he 1st kicked that Buffalo guy.

"Oh yeah; the Buffalo guy." He said to himself.

He then proceeded to walk towards the direction he remembered the Corruption Blast had taken him, and followed the course. Then, he was shocked once again. When he got there, he saw a massive whole in the wall. This shocked him, but then he recovered, remembering the special attributes his flames had.

"The flames must have corrupted the area around the hole, thus making it impossible to repair. They'll have to replace this entire wall, but to do that, they'd have to destroy and rebuild it, and this is a pretty tall building."

He went down the side of the building, and started jumping between its' wall, and the adjacent wall, until he was on the roof. He then ran and jumped off the roof, and started running again, heading away from the area. But before he left, he looked back at the wall and sighed.

"Sorry about that." He said with a slight nod, and continued on his way, again not having a clue where he was headed.

Pretty soon, he found himself running alongside a road, which was long and winding, and it seemed pretty familiar. He soon realised that he was approaching a residential area, as he noticed all the massive houses. He then ran and jumped onto the roof of one of the mansions, and continued his journey, leaping from roof to roof.

"Damn these houses are big. Wait, more importantly; what the fuck am I doing here?" He said to himself, as he continued running in his usual stance; both arms pushed back, with head pushed forward.

His journey continued for about 5 more minutes, and then it hit him. The trees were starting to look familiar, as were the houses. He started jumping from roof, to street, to fence, to roof, and he was turning, and going down different roads. He now knew where he was going, and wondered why he had gone back. True, this time the journey had only taken 15 minutes, but he was supposed to be patrolling his own neighbourhood, and the areas surrounding it. With that, he stopped, and looked at the familiar mansion directly in front of him.

"Why the fu—what am I doing here? Why am I looking at Erykahs' house?"

Although he asked himself the question, continued looking at her house. He squatted down, with his arms between his knees, which were bent. He then put his hands on the roof. He found he was sitting like some sort of dog on the roof of some rich kids' house. There he sat, and he watched.

Erykah examined her face in the mirror. Thanks to her AE power, she was able to heal at a much higher rate than most people. The swelling had completely gone down and there was slight discolouring, but besides that, she looked good as new. She was in her pyjamas, which were a pair of boxers, and a t shirt. She walked out of her bathroom, and her hair was loose. She tucked a few loose strands behind her ears, and made her way out of her room, and down to the kitchen. When she got there, she found that The Hand was down there, with tonnes of drinks, alcoholic and non alcoholic. There were also more pizza boxes than she could count; although many of them were empty, and Steve and Don were all covered in grease and melted cheese.