The Devil is in the Details- Part Six by: Enemyoffun Eddie Bloomberg is trying to deal with life after his change, wondering if he made a mistake when he decided to help Cassie and trying to deal with the ramifications of that decision.

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Author's Note: Here's Ch. 6, its a little shorter than the others. Things will move a lot faster after this so I apologize for the shortness of things here. I'd like to thank djkauf for the devilish good editing and DC Comics for the wonderful characters. So I've done some tweaking with the picture for chapters 2-5, you'll understand when you read this chapter I think. So if you back to them you'll see they have a different picture. I'll be using that one from now on and the one here less.

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Chapter Six:

“So what’s the plan?” I asked as we filed into a cab.

Rose didn’t say anything. She kept looking over her shoulder, staring at the little depot. She watched it until we started to drive down the road, then she let out a sigh. The driver asked us where we wanted to go and Rose quickly told him to the nearest area with a lot of people. He nodded, not asking anymore questions. I think they were paid not to ask those kinds of things. I planned on paying him more than his fair share just to keep him quiet. I’d pay Rose too, if it got her to tell me what was up. I asked again but she kept her mouth shut. She kept glancing over the back of the seat, fidgeting. I looked too but if there was anyone tailing us I couldn’t tell.

The cab dropped us off at a crowded shopping center. I paid the driver and the two of us filed out. Rose still didn’t say anything. But she took my hand, leading me through the crowd toward a food court. We didn’t go anywhere near the food places but just sat there. She finally let out the breath it seemed that she was holding for so long.

“Now will you tell me the plan?” I asked, she smiled.

“Sorry about that, but it’s been in my experience that you can’t trust anyone.”

I raised an eyebrow. “The cabby was out to get us?”

She shrugged. “My father has a big reach with long arms.”

I wasn’t sure how to respond to that. If her father was really as bad as she claimed then we were in real trouble. But I was certain my goons would keep his at bay. At least for the moment. A part of me wondered if it might be safer if the two of us ended up in DEO custody. At least they might be able to protect Rose. That is, of course, if her father wasn’t working for them to begin with. It was scary to think about but she did say he worked for the government so it wasn’t too far of a stretch.

Rose still looked a little paranoid, looking around the food court like each and every one of the people here were her enemy. I looked at the faces too but only to see if I recognized any of them. After all, it was only a matter of time that I did. I was certain they had figured out we weren’t on the bus anymore and it was only a matter of time before they figured out where we went. Paranoid, I know, but you’d be paranoid too if you had a clandestine government agency chasing after you.

Rose finally stopped making me so nervous. “I think we’re good for now.”

I still looked for a few more seconds. When I finished I looked over at the pizza stand. “Do you want to get something to eat?”

She didn’t answer, just smiled real big. I got up, leaving her alone as I went to get us some food. I was starving, the last time I’d anything real substantial was almost two days ago when I stopped with Wendy and Marvin. Back then, I hadn’t really thought about it but the food actually tasted like real food. I wonder if that meant my demon self was gone now. I know I did some crazy fire stuff back at the diner but what did that mean exactly. I tried not to think about too much as I went and ordered. I got us a couple slices of cheese and pepperoni. A few minutes later, I carried our slices back to the table. The two of us ate in relative silence. I kept staring at her, trying to figure her out. I knew what she told me but looking at this girl sitting across from me, it was hard to see a boy hiding inside there. I know what she said but it was just so hard to fathom. Here was this girl---this gorgeous blonde---it was just hard to believe that she wanted to be a guy.

She stopped eating when she noticed me staring. “Do I have sauce on my chin?”

I shook my head. “You’re just so pretty” It slipped out and I felt really stupid afterwards.

She blushed. I blushed too. Neither of us said much more after that.

We ate quickly then decided what to do. It was clear that we still wanted to get to California but neither of us were really how to go about it. We knew that taking a bus was probably not an option anymore, trains were probably out, too. In fact, any mode of transportation like that was probably too risky. I didn’t even suggest a plane. So we decided we’d probably have to drive, most likely hitchhike. But there was even some risk there. Not in hitchhiking of course but in roadblocks and things like that. I’m sure by now most of the local authorities had my picture and they were probably checking each car for me. The only way I could possibly get past them was with a…

“A disguise” said Rose as we left the food court.

I tried to protest but she wouldn’t have any of it. She grabbed my wrist and dragged me to some place I didn’t expect. When we stepped into the Goth themed store, I tried to dig my heels in but she was too strong. Never in my wild dreams would I have been caught dead in a place like this. As Eddie, I’m ashamed to say that I used to hassle the hell out of girls who shopped in places like this. I just don’t understand why someone would want to make themselves look like a painted freak. Ok, so harsh but I was an ass sometimes. Even now as Rose pushed me around, pulling clothes off the racks, I felt really uncomfortable.

A blue haired girl with several eyebrow rings tried to help us but Rose got rid of her. I think she didn’t want to draw attention to us. I was glad for that, looking at all the rings in that girls’ face made me nervous. It didn’t take her long to find the outfit: don’t ask me to describe it. She forced me into the changing room and I put it on reluctantly.

“Why do I have to be a Goth chick?”

Rose laughed. “Because they won’t be looking for one. Everyone looks at girls like this and doesn’t give them a second glance. You’ll be able to walk right under their noses and they won’t even see you.”

I groaned. The worst part of the outfit were the boots, they were clunky platform things with a massive heel. They made me feel like I was ten feet tall. Rose took off all the tags and took them to the register. Me I followed behind, stumbling in the heels and tugging on the skirt---it was too damn short. At the register, Rose grabbed a bunch of makeup from a display and actually talked the girl into allowing us to have the purple wig off a nearby mannequin. The girl frowned at us, probably thinking we were two friends pretending to be something she was. I smiled at her, mouthing “sorry” She gave me a dirty look, after that I didn’t feel so damn sorry.

Rose put the wig on my head before we left the store. When we got out into the mall proper, my outfit had the opposite effect. It was supposed to make me inconspicuous but it drew all the eyes to me. I felt really uncomfortable. Rose grabbed my hand and dragged me toward the nearest ladies room. She pushed me inside and locked the door. She dragged me over to the mirror and went to work on my makeup.

“How do you know how to do this?” I asked as she started putting a pale foundation on my face.

She smiled. “I went through a goth phase in middle school.”

I laughed. “I bet you looked cute” I blushed after saying that, not sure where it came from.

It took her about twenty minutes to do my makeup but when she was done, I hardly recognized myself. I was shocked as all hell. If anyone came looking for Ellie Jackson they’d definitely not look in my direction. I had to smile, shocked that the Goth Goddess in the mirror was me. I opened my mouth to make a comment but Rose grabbed my hand and dragged me out of the bathroom. We were on the move again; more people began to stare at me. Our next stop was a tattoo parlor, I immediately refused but we weren’t getting anything permanent. Rose talked me into a temporary one, ironically one that looked like a red She-demon.

“We should definitely get you pierced in a few places,” said Rose as she dragged me out of the parlor.

I dug my feet in. “Not happening.”

She frowned. “Fine, let’s get out of here then. “I’m getting tired of being on my feet.”

The two of us hailed a cab, telling him to take us to the nearest motel. The whole way the driver kept glancing in the rearview mirror, giving me strange looks. I glared every time he did so. I kept glaring at Rose too, not that she noticed. This disguise was supposed to make me look less conspicuous not more. At least I looked nothing like myself, which was a good thing. Especially when we came upon the first roadblock. Rose reached over and gently took my hand, closing her eyes when she did so. After a few seconds she opened them and smiled, shaking her head. I hope that meant we were in the clear. When we reached the police officer, he motioned for the driver to roll down the windows. The two of them exchanged some words and he looked into the back at us. He squinted then frowned. The whole time I was holding my breath.

Then he smiled and waved us on. Rose squeezed my hand harder.

“Told you it would work,” she said softly in my ear as the cab drove on.

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Rose was paranoid again after we left the roadblock. She kept doing her looking over shoulder thing, making me nervous too. She got me looking as well, wondering if there really was someone following us. But after a few blocks, she seemed to relax some. I helped by gently holding her hand. It was kinda strange really. I wish I was doing all of this with Cissie. I liked Rose a lot but no matter how much I tried, I just couldn’t get Cissie out of my head. I know it was crazy---that she had abandoned me---but it still stung a bit. I guess I’d always feel a little longing for her but that life was over and behind me. She was Eddie Bloomberg’s girlfriend and Eddie was dead. I know it’s harsh but there was no way I was going back there, not after everything I did.

Rose smiled at me when the taxi finally stopped at a reasonable motel. Rose paid him with some of my money and the two of us went into the office. I half paid attention and didn’t really notice when she got us a single. The manager gave us a look though, raising his eyebrow. I felt a little disturbed by that, it made me wonder what he thought about the two of us,. I smiled at him and played it up a bit, slipping my arm around Rose’s waist. The guy went as white as a sheet as the two of us walked out of the office.

“I wish I had a camera,” said Rose and both of us laughed.

We walked toward our room but my arm remained around her waist.

When we got inside, Rose got paranoid again. She searched the room thoroughly. She pulled the covers off both beds, stripping them completely then opened all the dresser drawers, pulling them off and shaking them. After that, she lifted up the mattress and checked under the lampshades. She lifted the two pictures in the room off the wall and even went so far as taking the batteries out of the remote. It confused the hell out of me. After searching the main room, she went into the bathroom and turned it upside down as well. The whole thing took her about an hour and when she was done, she dropped down on the bare mattress and sighed heavily.

“Are you done being crazy yet?” I asked as I flopped down next to her.

She nodded. “I had to be sure.”

I laughed. “I heard that thing about bed bugs too, but I don’t think they’re that dangerous.”

She smiled and punched me playfully in the arm. “This is serious.” She looked around the room again. “When I walked in here I had this feeling…”

I lowered my voice. “Did you have a vision?”

She shook her head. “No but this is the kind of place that they would bug.”

I nodded then helped her off the bed. Since she had trashed the room, I made her help me put it back together. It took us another hour or so. When we were done, we flopped onto the bed together, exhausted. Lying on my back, next to her, felt kinda good. I turned and we looked each other in the face. Our heads were so close together that I could feel her breath on my face. I took a chance and leaned forward, kissing her. It was a little peck and she didn’t protest. When I pulled away, she smiled and kissed me back. It wasn’t a little peck. Before I knew what was going on, she was on top of me and shirts were on the ground. I know this is crazy and the two of us have only known each other for a short time but we couldn’t help ourselves.

It was a fury of kissing and flying clothes. She got me down to my skivvies; I got her down to just her panties. Her breasts were wonderful. I grabbed them and held on as I kissed her hard and passionately. We rolled around a lot, like two wild animals. Neither of us went any further than kissing but with most of our clothes off it felt much different. It felt wild and crazy and I liked it. I tried to envision myself doing something like this with Cissie but I couldn’t. There was no way that she was this kind of person. I’m sure she would have been an excellent lover but she was too shy and meek to do anything like this. Especially with someone they barely knew.

Rose was definitely not meek.

We fooled around for about an hour, after which time the two of us lay there for a while panting. Neither of us said a thing. I looked at her though, seeing the big smile on her face. During our foreplay, she was definitely in the dominant role. As Eddie, I would have felt really disturbed by that but for some reason it felt kinda nice now. I’m not saying I enjoy being submissive but it felt kinda nice to let her do most of the work, not that there was much work involved in kissing. I wonder if this meant that the two of us were together now. I know it sounds kinda strange but I liked what we did, a lot. I’d been dreaming about doing something like for so long---with Cissie---but to do it with Rose was something I hadn’t planned on.

“That was really good,” I said, reaching for her.

She reached for me too but suddenly stopped. The smile disappeared from her face and sprang up quickly in bed. The look on her face when she did so was very scary. “Son of a bitch” she said angrily as she jumped off the bed, scrambling around for her bra and shirt.

I sat up lazily. “What’s wrong?” I asked, pulling the sheet up to cover my partial nakedness.

“They’re coming,” she said as she put on her bra.

It was like ice water to my veins. I sprang out of bed too, the euphoria of our shared intimacy gone in a heartbeat. I found my shirt, pulling it on over my head. Then I scrabbled around too, looking for my skirt. As soon as I found it and pulled it on, I heard the wood of the front door crack. I snapped around and looked at Rose. She was in the corner of the room, opening her guitar case. I snapped back and looked at the door just as two burly men pushed their way inside. I immediately knew these guys weren’t with the DEO. They were huge---built like linemen–but much scarier. They weren’t dressed like DEO agents either. They scanned the room, looking at both of us---in our condition of undress---and smirked.

“Hope we’re not interrupting something ladies” said the uglier of the two, a bald guy with a little scar on his chin.

“I’m not going back,” said Rose as she stepped forward holding a pair of swords.

I did a double take when I saw them. At first, I couldn’t figure it out until I saw the empty guitar case. Then it hit me. She told me she didn’t play guitar…the case was to hide her swords. I’m not sure what I thought about that. I mean who the hell carries a pair of katanas around with them. I mean I’m not sure if I thought it was the coolest thing in the world or the freakiest. I want to say cool, just because I just finished making out with her.

The bald guy smirked. “You’re kidding right?”

“Put those away, little girl before you get hurt” said the other guy, a big black guy with a goatee.

Rose ignored them. Instead, she spoke to me. “Ellie, get out of here before this gets ugly.”

I shook my head. “I think I’ll stay for a while.”

“This isn’t up for debate,” snapped Rose angrily, keeping the two guys at bay with her blades.

“Then stop talking,” I said, clenching fists at my side.

The bald guy laughed. “Raul, you take the red head. I’ll shut up the smart mouth.”

The black guy came at me, trying to use sheer bulk to overpower me. He grabbed my shoulder, trying to force me to the ground. I struggled to get away but he had a vice like grip. So he backhanded me. As soon as his hand hit my cheek, snapping my head to the side, I felt the anger. When I recovered and turned back toward him, I felt the fire burning inside of me. I’m not sure if he noticed it at first but he did as soon as my hands turned red. As soon as that happened he stumbled backwards, taken by surprise. The other guy---the bald one---was shocked too. His momentary shock was the opening Rose needed. She went at him fast, driving her foot up the side of his head. He flew to the side, crashing into one of the dressers.

The black guy fell to his back in front of me. I felt taller as I approached him, stronger too. I came on him, all anger and fire. When I was almost on top of him, I saw my reflection in the mirror. What I saw shocked the hell out of me. It was me, well the demon me. The male demon me. I looked just like I did before, the old Eddie Bloomberg. Well, the newer me, but not quite the new me. I think you get what I’m saying. I wanted to smile and scream “hell yeah” but then I remembered what was going on. I shook my head, turning my attention back to the guy groveling in front of me.

“You shouldn’t have done that,” I said, my voice rumbling in that weird demonic way.

“I’m sorry, I’m really sorry” he stammered, the seat of his pants damp where he had wet himself.

I had to smile, remembering my demonic form had that effect on people.

Rose’s voice cut through the room: “He’s got a gun and is about to us it.”

The fear disappeared from the guy’s eyes in that second. True to Rose’s warning, he pulled a gun from behind his back. He pointed it at me and fired. The bullet hit me square in the chest but thankfully, I was my old self again. As soon as the projectile hit my flesh, it melted instantly. I’m not sure if he realized what happened because he squeezed off two more shots. Both of which disintegrated as soon they got to me. After that he tried to shoot me again but I grabbed his wrist, causing him to scream out in pain as my fingers burned through his shirt sleeve. I let go quickly but not before taking his gun. I held in my hand and forced heat into it. The gun got red hot and I dropped it on the floor, showing him I was not to be fucked with.

After that, he passed out. Then I heard a scream. I snapped around and saw Rose with her assailant up against the wall, the blade of her sword in his shoulder. He was screaming and struggling but she was holding him steady. I rushed over. I reached for her to stop but as soon as I did so I realized what would happen.

“Rose, you’re going to kill him,” I said, trying to make myself sound less threatening.

She didn’t turn to face me. “Better him than us” she said angrily, I could hear the pain in her voice.

“This isn’t you” I said, “you’re not a killer.”

She turned to me, tears in her eyes. If she was stunned by my appearance, she didn’t show it. Instead, she looked me up and down. She was a little surprised I could tell, but her pain overwhelmed all that. “They were going to kill us” she said, “I saw it.”

I nodded. “But we stopped it.”

She turned back to him, anger replacing pain. “Where is he?”

The man shook his head. “I don’t know lady. “We’re hired hands. This guy called us, told us where to find you and to get you no matter what. He promised us a fortune.”

“You’re lying” she said, twisted the blade a bit, the guy screamed out in pain.

I reached forward and grabbed her shoulder before I knew what I was doing. As soon as my hand touched her, she yelped. She let go of her sword, I quickly let go her. I had only been touching her for a few seconds so I don’t think I burned her too badly. She pulled away when I tried to reach for her again. My anger disappeared and I felt the fire dwindle. I’m not sure but I felt myself shrink too and the hair dangling in my face turned back into the fiery red of Ellie. Rose didn’t pull away as I wrapped my arms around her, apologizing for hurting her. She nodded and cried a bit. I looked at her shoulder, seeing the hand shaped burn on her shirt. It burned most of it away and got some of her skin but it wasn’t too bad. I sighed in relief, happy that I didn’t hurt someone else I loved. We stayed like that for a few minutes, with me holding her. I’m not sure when we finally pulled away but as soon as we did; we realized we were alone in the room. Rose cursed. I let go of her and ran for the open door. Whoever they were they were gone and we’d learned nothing from them. They clearly weren’t DEO but they did work for her father.

I came back into the room; Rose was sitting on the bed. I walked over and sat next to her, pulling her into another hug.

“They’re gone,” I said and she nodded. “Your father?”

“He keeps finding me. I’m not sure how he does it. It’s like I’m bugged or something. If I stay in one place for too long his goons show up and it’s always the same.”

I pulled her into a tight hug and she cried on my shoulder. She cried for a long time. We stayed like that for a while. I reassured her that everything was going to be ok. I promised I wasn’t going to let anyone take her, not as long as I was around. I think she liked that. We hugged for a little while longer which led to another make out session. I know it wasn’t really the time but I think it helped both of us. After that, we finished getting dressed and cleaned up as best as we could. We both decided it might be a good idea to bail again. Even though we had paid for the room for a night, it wasn’t a good idea to stay around.

It was a good thing too. As we were leaving---after a quick look around---we heard sirens. It was bound to be the cops coming our way. The motel was backed by some woods and a fence. We hopped the fence and disappeared into the foliage. I’m not sure how long we were running through the forest but eventually we came out on the other side, finding ourselves on a road. We made up our minds that we were going to walk as far as we could until we couldn’t anymore. Neither one of us wanted to stay in more than one spot for very long, which was a good thing.

I’m not sure how long we walked but eventually we came upon a little rest stop. We thought about looking for another motel but didn’t really like the idea. So instead, we found a gas station. Rose picked the lock on the bathroom and we slipped inside. We made ourselves nice and comfortable. I took first watch, letting her sleep in my arms. Thankfully, no one came in or else they would have been in a whole lot of hurt.

When I fell asleep, I dreamed of fire again and a whole lot of sinister laughter.