The Legend of Samuel Mason Pt. IV

Darkstar operative Samuel "The Blackflame" Mason is haunted by the death of his Guardian, Merrow Rivenlight, as he teams up with Janna Kull, the Aspect of War and fellow Darkstar operative Toby "Lupine" Rufus in locating The Benefactor to obtain his blessing.

The trio venture to Millennium City, to locate remnants of the fallen clan, The Doma, and find the Benefactor. Sam's soul-link companion, Connor "The Sentry" Shel must face and overcome his horrific past as The Dark Masamune, as humanity's fate banks on the unification of The Subjects of Quinta.

Chapter 19

"So... you come here often?" Tob asked Janna, as we made our way to Millennium City.

We weren't able to travel to the Champions Universe properly, as we were dependent on Celestia's teleportation, and Celestia was still suffering from the blow to the head during our chase with Hawk.

Janna ignored Tob and walked beside me. "Familiar of Blackflame, where is the Doma Clan?"

Sentry manifested and walked alongside me. "They were slaughtered, but their base is still present. We will need access to their teleporters."

I wasn't really familiar with this place. Despite being in its alternate version, Multifaria, to help Lazarus and the Grizz, the place was still very new to me. I activated Hunter's Eye, and scanned my surroundings. Several teleporters matching Sentry's description were located near Renaissance Centre. I unintentionally also turned to the distance, glancing at a newly restored Croft.

"Why are you smiling?" Janna asked me.
"Just got nostalgic is all. I found the teleporters."

A couple of heroes were relaxing and socializing, at the front of the cogwheel stood Defender. I heard he was a big deal in this country, but Hunter's Eye said otherwise. With his suit, he seemed to be around Tier Four, at most.

I turned around and noticed that Sentry wasn't hiding his identity.

"Hey Connor, you okay with walking around like this? Wouldn't they recognize you?"

Sentry turned to me. "Will they recognize me, after my face is like this?"

I was silent. I momentarily forgot that Sentry's face was disfigured in our first encounter with Mogul. "Sorry..."
"I forgive you, young master."

Tob stretched his arms. "Good ol' Ren Cen. You know, this was the first place Lazarus introduced Reya and I to. I almost got punched by Defender for asking if Witchcraft was single!"
"Uhh, I don't know if that's something you wanna brag about, dude."
"Punched by Defender? You know what kind of clout I would get from that?"

Janna looked disappointed. "If the Aspects invade, this country has no chance of surviving."

I turned to her. "And that's exactly why we got to do this. We're all that stands between utter annihilation."

"Hey, Sam." Tob called me over.
"What is it."
"Look."

Tob was pointing at one of the heroes, who was covered in fur. A behemoth.
"He's asleep!"

"What?"
"Yeah, I can tell. I can sense him sleeping. I have an idea..." Tob pulled out something from his purple hoodie. A collar.
"Dude what the hell, how did you even get that? Where did you even get that?!"

"HAHA! It's gonna be funny, come on."
"No! Why would I do that to him."
"Come on, can you imagine that guy just waking up and freaking out when he finds the collar around his neck?! What if he bounds up and down like a dog trying to get it off? That would be so jokes!"

The thought of the behemoth jumping around frantically with the collar around his neck was pretty funny. Plus what harm was there? It wasn't like he was going to declare war on us. It would have been too awkward since we were in public.

Celestia fluttered to my face, grabbing my nose. "You're not going to actually follow through with this dork's prank, are you?"
"Uhh..."
"You're unbelievable!"
"Oh come on! I need a laugh. The last few days have been hard on me."

Celestia's pouty face softened.

Janna, unfortunately, didn't seem satisfied with my reasoning. "Ugh, you're both going to embarrass me. I will be waiting at the tailors."

The behemoth freaked out. "WHICH ONE OF YOU TROLLS DID THIS? VERY FUNNY, YOU KNOW. HAHA I'M LAUGHING SO HARD. YOU MUST HAVE THE SADDEST AND MOST PATHETIC LIVES TO FIND HUMOUR IN THIS."

Tob and I burst out laughing at the top of one of the hero statues as the behemoth tried to yank the collar off with his foot.

I wiped my eyes from laughter.
"His face, oh my god. You must have the saddest and most pathetic lives to find humour in this!" I made a mock imitation of the behemoth while Tob was rolling on the statue, laughing.
"Dude! The fact that he used his FOOT! Oh god, I can't breathe."

We calmed down. Tob leaned back on the stone statue. "Bro, I've missed this. It's been so long since we've messed with people. Remember when we used to play pranks on the others in Darkstar?"
I laughed. "Of course."

How could I not forget? The day we replaced Junon's conditioner for hair bleach and she ran out of the shower screaming that her hair was all blonde. Or that time we replaced Kronus with a kitchen knife the morning of the mission, and Jason was forced to use the kitchen knife to fight.

It didn't matter how much we had been through. Who I was before, or what happens in the war. My time with Tob, pulling pranks as the "Darkstar Hooligans" always put a smile on my face.

"If we don't stop the Cleansing, just wanted to let you know, I feel like the luckiest guy ever to have been your friend."
"Why?"
"Because none of this-" Tob spread his hands. "None of this would have happened. We never would have met Jason, never would have started Darkstar, beat up those New Militia goons. I would have kept living my life as Toby Rufus, not knowing I was a demigod. We wouldn't be pulling pranks, and we wouldn't be the best looking guys in Corinth."

We jumped down once the behemoth left. Probably went to some police station to complain or something. We went to the tailors to look for Janna.

"Which one do you guys prefer?" Janna held up two blouses. I couldn't figure out the differences between the two. Both white, same style, same buttons. She had to be joking.
"They look the exact same." Tob and I said at the same time.

Janna shook her head really fast. "No, they're not. Look, one of them really brings out..." Janna started talking about measurements and a bunch of fashion jargon that I didn't really comprehend. I looked at Tob, and he was just as lost.

"I have no idea what she is talking about." I whispered to Tob.
Tob turned to me. "Dude, she's a girl, it's easy. Watch."

Tob interrupted Janna's fashion lesson. "I think the one on the left is better, really brings out your rack."

Janna's jaw dropped, clearly offended. Well, I guess this was it.

Before Janna could blast Tob out of the tailor with the Power Force, Sentry interrupted us.

"The teleporter is ready. Destination, the Doma base."