Star City Stories: Enter Sandman

With those last words as my parting shot, I got up and left. I felt better than I had in years. Something inside of me told me that I'd made the right decision.

What I didn't know was that I'd been followed from the time I left my house.

* * * * * *

Dalton

I couldn't believe that whore. First, she'd cheated on my brother. He'd caught her red handed fucking that loser in his house. The same fucking house that my nephew lived in. At least the bastard could have taken her to his own place or a motel. But this was simply too much. When I'd spoken to Denton on the phone this morning and he'd told me that he loved her and was trying to work this out, I'd almost thrown up in my fucking cereal.

She cheated on him and he was giving her another chance? I just didn't understand why. Denton could have any woman he wanted. Sure Beth was pretty and even after giving birth she was built like a fucking anime sex goddess, but she could be replaced.

And how does the whore repay him. First, she has the same bastard she cheated on him the previous day with back to the house. Then she goes off to some storefront sleaze den. I'd followed her into the one room store where she'd disappeared, only to reappear about a half hour later. Something weird was going on there. When she showed up again, walking out of thin air, because I was standing off to the side just outside of the store and there's no way she was in that broom closet for all of that time, she had one of those, "I've just been fucked," smiles on her face.

I knew what I had to do. Denton wasn't going to like it, but I had to save my brother from himself. There was simply no way I could let either that bitch, or her lover, continue to live and humiliate my brother.

I went home to get some sleep since I'd definitely be working that night. As I lay there in my bed sleep, wouldn't come. It was more than just the light shining in through the windows. Over the years of often working through the night, I've trained my body to sleep whenever I need to. There were things that I was missing here.

The reason I couldn't sleep was that something just didn't add up. When I finally drifted off, I was still no closer to the answers I sought.

Four hours later, just as darkness began to settle over Star City, My Mustang's growl announced my presence as I pulled into my spot behind headquarters.

I went inside the building and shuffled a bunch of papers and shook my head, just as I'd have done if I was going out on assignment.

As I stepped in front of the screened in area to get my supplies, Ernie looked at me and smiled. "A weird one huh?" he asked.

"Yeah," I said. "I just can't figure this one out. The bastard has everything to live for. Why the fuck would he want to die? He's relatively young and it's not like he's a God damned scientist. He works construction, so it's not like he's under a lot of pressure."

"Dalton, haven't you learned yet," asked Ernie. "For some people just the thought that the world is going to end fucks them up in the head. You said he's young, right? Well maybe he's still going to be around when Shiva hits. He's in construction so he's not even guaranteed a spot on a ship. Then again it could be something else entirely. His wife could have left him. He could have just been diagnosed with cancer or something like that. He may just be fucking crazy. At least he had the presence of mind to request a Sandman. Would you rather have him go out and do shitty construction on a component of a ship that your nephew may live on someday?"

"Well, when you put it that way," I said. "But it's just weird because I know the guy."

"Ooh that is kind of fucked up," he said. "But it's not the most fucked up thing I've ever heard." Ernie had a million God damned stories. I always listened to him so in this case not listening might have set off an alarm bell.

"Okay, old man what is the weirdest one you've heard of?" I asked.

"Remember, old Lincoln McGillicuddy?" I nodded. He was one of the first generation of Sandmen. Those guys had to go out with very little tech when the rules weren't as clearly established as they are now.

"Link got an assignment to assist a woman. The woman didn't want to live anymore because the guilt of cheating on her husband was too much for her. She knew that he was going to find out about it and when he did her marriage would be over. She just didn't think she could face the pain in his eyes and she also knew that as much as he loved her, he'd never forgive her. So she called for a Sandman. Link got the case through random draw. That was the case that drove Link over the edge," he said.

"I don't get it," I said. "I've taken out three or four cheating wives. It's just the times. That fucking asteroid and our whole way of life changing makes people desperate and..." Ernie held up his hand.

"Dalton, the woman was Link's wife," he said. "You let me know when YOU get one like that."

I walked away from the screen shaking my head, with Ernie's laughter coming from behind me.

This was going to be almost as bad. Shit, I never really liked Beth, but she made my brother so fucking happy, that I'd put my opinion aside. She was also the mother of my nephew; for that alone, I'd have to make her death quick, painless and pleasurable. As far as her lover's death; his wouldn't be nearly as easy on him. But it would be a lot more fun for me.

I drove across town and got out in front of a shitty apartment building. Looking at the building I could tell that it was once nice. The problem, as with most things, was that the occupants simply didn't give a fuck.

I guess the fact that the world would be ending and the earth destroyed sometime within your lifetime, probably made cutting your fucking lawn seem pointless; but damn.

I pulled the cloak around myself, while once again praising my brother's brains and ingenuity. As I stepped out of the shadows around the building, the soft rubber soles of my shoes made my footfalls as silent as the grave.

There were several people in front of the building but none of them saw me as I walked right past them. There was a guy who appeared to be in the later stages of alcoholism drinking a bottle of liquor that was wrapped in a paper bag. From his clothes and shoes he looked to be some kind of minor league paper pusher. He'd never live to see the end of the planet at the rate he was drinking.

There were three or four men standing around talking about baseball from the old days. I stood right beside them and listened to the conversation. I wished that I could have joined in. They were talking about one of my favorite teams, the 2012 Detroit Tigers. They made it all the way to the World Series and choked. But they were still a great team.

As I went inside the building, a couple of them noticed that the door opened and closed for no reason. Most people who notice things like that chalk it up to a software glitch.

As soon as I stepped into the building's lobby, the mood and atmosphere changed. Graying yellow paint and general disarray mirrored the neglect from the outside of the building. A large man was yelling at a small woman cowering on the floor in front of him.

He raised his hand and she shrank back in fear. She mumbled something under her breath.

"What did you say bitch?" he demanded.

"I said that someday, someone will hit you like you hit me," she said defiantly. That seemed like an invitation to me so I stepped silently between them and even as anger filled his eyes over what she'd said. I punched him straight in the face as hard as I could. Then, as a follow up, I snap kicked him in the balls. He doubled up and vomited on the floor because the pain was so intense. I noticed a small smile on the woman's face as she went to check on him.

"Witch," he sobbed. "They told me there were witches in your family. Stay away from me. Have it your way. You can leave. Just leave me alone and don't hurt me anymore."

I silently ran up the stairs to the third floor. I didn't trust the elevator in this building. I found the apartment that I was looking for and pulled out my phone. An app on my phone scanned the lock, took the identification numbers down and accessed the company's website to get the master access code. It also overrode the chimes that announced that the door had been unlocked. I eased the door open while looking through the widening gap between the door and the frame to make sure there was no one in the room.

The room was empty. Lynch was obviously in another room. I locked the door behind me and went to find him.

Under the cover of my cloak, I put on my oxygen mask. As I searched from room to room I finally found him. He was out by the balcony. He had a baseball bat and an antique gun on a table beside him.

I stepped over near him and snatched the gun off the table silently and threw it over the balcony's banister into the muck and filth of the alley below. He was looking in the other direction and hadn't even seen it go. He turned his head back and noticed that the gun was gone. Alarm registered on his face. He looked around to see if it had simply slipped off of the table. Then I picked up the bat. Since he couldn't see me, it appeared to be floating above the table in front of him. His eyes saw it but he didn't want to believe it.

I swung the bat with all of my might, catching him in his stomach. I could have killed him by just crushing his skull with it but that wasn't my goal. I didn't want to give this asshole an easy death. I wanted him to suffer the way my brother had and would.

My blow to his stomach had probably ruptured some of his internal organs. As he heaved, I noticed a trickle of blood coming from the corner of his mouth. If he got to the hospital they could probably still save him. All he'd have to do is call 911.

He had collapsed onto the floor of the balcony. I needed answers so I pulled the hood of the cloak off of my head.

His eyes got so big I thought he was going to have a heart attack as he looked at my disembodied head floating above him.

"You...you're a..." he gasped.

"Sandman," I finished for him.

"But I didn't...I don't want to die," he sputtered.

"And maybe you won't," I said.

"So this doesn't have anything to do with that bitch from yesterday?" he said. "She was telling me the truth."

"She was telling you the truth," I said. "The problem is that her husband is my brother. So while he may believe in all of that forgive and forget shit, it is not a part of the way I operate. Still, there's a small chance that you might walk out of here alive."

"I'll do anything," he whined. "Aren't you supposed to give me the sand? They say that the sand makes it so you have pleasant dreams and you don't feel any pain. I could use some of that right now."

"Answers first, sand second," I said. "First thing I need to know is how long has your affair with my sister in law been going on? How long have you been fucking that whore?"

He laughed and spat up some blood. There was more blood coming up now, I'd need to be quick.

"There's no affair," he said. "I met her in the market yesterday. She's beautiful, who wouldn't try to talk to her? At first, she didn't pay me any fucking attention. Then as I watched her, I noticed that there was someone else watching her but from a distance. He was taking notes or something. I wasn't sure that she saw him, but suddenly she started flirting back with me. Then she asked me to leave the market with her. I'm no fool. If she was offering it, I was going to take it. When we got back to her place, she tried to get out of it. So I just sat down on the couch and told her I'd just stay there and explain it to her husband when he got home. So to get rid of me she gave me a piece of ass."

"It was fucking awful. You know how they say there's no such thing as bad sex? Well they're wrong. There I was about to stick my meat into the hottest piece of ass I've ever had and she just made it awful. She wouldn't suck my dick. She wouldn't kiss me. She was the first woman I've ever met who turned down the chance to get her pussy eaten. She just bent over and said go ahead and do it."

"After I got it inside of her, I heard something. It pumped my ego up. I thought she was moaning or something. I asked her if she wanted to switch positions. She just told me to get it over with. Then I started to figure things out. She didn't want to do missionary or any other thing where she'd have to look at me. Finally I noticed that it wasn't moaning she was doing, she was praying. You know like those old Christians used to do?"

"Praying?" I asked. He just nodded.

"And she was crying too. That does a lot for a guy's ego you know. Like fucking me was so bad it brought tears to her eyes. It was as if it was the worst thing she'd ever done. My dick was wilting like a balloon with all of the air let out of it, but it was too late. He came in, right then. All that did was made me feel even worse. I was ready for a reaction. I'm a pretty big guy and he's a little guy. I might've even let him hit me a couple of times. But he just got that look on his face like his whole world had just died and..."

"Our whole world just might," I said.

"Yeah I know," he said. "I honestly didn't have a clue of who he was until...well, until it was too late. Then you showed up at the bar and beat the shit out of me. I was confused and all of those assholes at the bar claimed that I'd gone crazy and beat my own ass...Oh boy, are you sure you don't have any of that sand?"

I pulled my breather back on and reached into the pouch at my waist. I'd intended to just let him die in agony. Hell, I was going to give him the most painful poison I had, but I had a change of heart.

Before he could say anything, I threw a small bit of glittering sand in his face. It dissipated and like alcohol it evaporated without leaving any residue. The sand took away all of his pain and at the same time, it left him high as a kite and pliable.

He would follow my directions to the letter. I couldn't save him anymore. One of the strictest laws of the Sandmen is that once someone has seen us, they have to die. So while I couldn't save him, I could do the next best thing. I had him write out a suicide note explaining why he'd called for a Sandman. His last wish, expressed in the note was that his wife and child be brought to Star City. I knew that the higher ups would look at that. The sacrifice of a dead worker was powerful karma. They wouldn't want that working against the project.

I gave him one more blast of sand and had him hold onto the note. The note also explained how he originally gotten tired of waiting for a Sandman so he'd tried to take his own life with his baseball bat.

Ten minutes later, after making sure that no traces of my presence were left, I walked down the stairs. The woman from before was walking out of a shitty apartment with a big smile on her face clutching two worn out suitcases. Her jeans were so tight I could almost read the label of her panties as her ass bounced from side to side. She'd gone from cowering like a mouse to walking like a vibrant and confident woman in only a few moments.

I couldn't resist. I reached out and grabbed her tight ass as I went by her. She shrieked and then turned around in every direction.

"Whoever you are, you'd better not try that again," she said warily. "I'm a powerful witch."

I got behind her and grabbed her ass with both hands this time. She melted and just let me do it. She apparently liked it. She was still standing there waiting for me to do it again when I left the building. Too bad she couldn't see me. It might have been fun.

I checked and found out that my brother was working late in his lab. I stopped by his house and got in the same way I'd let myself into Lynch's apartment. I looked around for Beth because I needed even more answers now. I finally found her. She was writing a very long note to Donnie. There was one on the desk next to it addressed to Denton. She had a picture of herself and Denton on the bed with her and she kissed it and then from nowhere pulled out a very wicked looking knife. She held the knife up to her own throat and I launched myself across the room. I caught her hand just in time but she still ended up cutting herself in the center of her throat. Blood came from the shallow cut but it wasn't very deep and it hadn't penetrated nearly enough to be life threatening.

She looked around herself in every direction. Then pulled out a cross necklace.

"Lord, I know that fucking priest has probably told you that I've gone crazy and if loving my husband more than this bullshit they make me do means I am, then so be it. But let me die to put an end to my participation in all of this. I've already hurt the man I love far more than I can stand and I won't do this anymore. Lord, I'm...Oh Shit!" she screamed as my head appeared out of nowhere.

"Dalton...that was you wasn't it?" she screamed. "It was you who shifted my knife, not God."

I dropped the entire cloak on the floor and shook my head. Fuck the rules. This woman as nutty as she was; clearly loved my brother. She might even love him more than I did. She'd been willing to die to avoid causing Denton any more pain. There was no fucking way I could let her die.

"Beth, I need you to tell me the whole story from the beginning," I told her. "But no matter what happens, I'm on your side. We can get through this. We can make this work. But if I have to drug you, I'm not going to let you die. At first I thought that Denton was just being a wimp for forgiving you but this is one of those Transformers things isn't it?" she looked at me crazily.

"You know, more than meets the eye?" I said.

She wiped her tears away and looked at me. "You really are a Sandman aren't you?" I nodded. "You know, your nephew is scared shitless of you guys."

"Everyone is," I said. "And for good reason. Now tell me this story."

"Not just yet," she smiled. "There's someone else who deserves to know just as much."

An hour later the three of us, Beth, Denton and I gathered in Denton's office outside of his lab. One of Denton's endless array of assistant's, a pretty botanist with an incredible ass, was taking my nephew on a tour of the facility.

"I grew up in a very poor village in Brazil," said Beth, beginning her story.

From a very early age I, like most of the people in my family, was involved with the church. Sixteen years ago, when I was fifteen years old, I went to the local convent to begin the process of becoming a nun. A short time later, after the discovery of Shiva, the church was in an uproar. It was right after the crowds broke into and sacked the Vatican. They beat and hung several of the Cardinals and stole a lot of the valuable icons of the church."

It seemed in the new age, that religion had failed us. The people had turned to religion in the face of a crisis, the way the church had always wanted us to do, and the church had let them down. The Pope and the remaining Cardinals, as well as most of the high ranking officials from most of the world's religions were in hiding.

I, along with several hundred other nuns from around the world, was taken to a hidden facility. I was told that the fate of the Church may very well rest in our hands. My diet was changed. My education became grueling. I was also forced to endure daily workouts that would kill an animal. At the same time, I was pampered and fattened like a lamb before the slaughter.

They did everything necessary to ensure my beauty. I was lucky. I came from a family of curvy women. So I needed no breast implants. Everything on my body is natural, as you know very well, Denton.

The next thing they did was to drill into us over and over that in the service of the Church, we might have to do battle with its enemies. We didn't have to do physical battles, but mental ones. We were playing a role, it was almost like acting. We'd each be assigned a target and it was our job to insinuate ourselves as deeply into their lives as possible. But all the while it was our job to pass on information and assist fellow Christians in integrating into the projects that would leave the planet.