Chapter 51 – "The Red Doom"
Dante had reached his limit.
There was no logic anymore. No patience. No balance.
Only wrath.
The city didn't know his name.
They only saw the red lightning streaking across the streets, splitting the sky in half with every step he took. Storefront windows shattered. Traffic lights sparked and twisted. Wind howled behind him like a siren of vengeance.
People stopped and stared—no, trembled—as he passed.
They whispered names.
The Red Lightning.
The Ghost of Death.
The Red Doom.
But none of them knew the truth.
They didn't know the man behind the rage.
They didn't know Dante.
He found Zoom in the heart of a forgotten part of the city—an abandoned steel mill, crumbling from rust and rain. It smelled of fire and silence.
Zoom stood alone in the shadows, watching.
As if waiting.
"So… you came," he said softly.
Dante stepped through the broken doorway. Red lightning crawled across his shoulders like a living serpent. His eyes burned with void-fueled fire.
"I was going to mind my business," he said. "Just like always. Clean the floor. Smoke. Eat. Sleep. Repeat."
His voice was dry. Almost bored.
"Then you sent your little army. I wiped them out. And you ran like a coward."
Zoom stayed silent, watching every inch of Dante's movement.
"I went home. Had a sandwich. Slept like a baby. Woke up this morning, stretched, yawned, took a piss."
Dante cracked his neck.
"And I decided… I should just kill you, man."
For the first time in years, Zoom felt it.
Fear.
Because this wasn't the broken boy from the CCPD.
This wasn't Dante.
This was something else.
Something old. Something terrifying.
And yet, this was still part of his plan.
Yesterday's massacre? It was bait.
This meeting? It was staged.
The trap was set.
But even knowing that, Zoom's hands trembled slightly at his sides.
Dante vanished.
One second standing, the next—a red blur—and then pain.
Zoom flew backward, crashing through steel pipes and brick walls. Dust exploded into the air as he tumbled through concrete beams and finally landed with a thud that cracked the ground beneath him.
He groaned.
By the time he got up, Dante was already there—standing over him, hands loose, breathing steady.
Zoom charged.
Dante didn't dodge. He grabbed Zoom mid-run, slammed him into the wall, then dragged him across it like a chalk mark on a blackboard. Sparks flew. Metal screamed. Blood splattered.
It wasn't a fight.
It was a slaughter.
Zoom gasped as Dante kicked him through the floor and down two levels into the main foundry. Pipes burst. Rust flew. The entire building trembled.
Dante followed, landing like a meteor behind him.
Zoom tried to fight back.
A punch—missed.
A jab—caught.
Dante broke his wrist, then kneed him so hard in the chest that Zoom's ribs shattered like glass.
Then he lifted him by the throat.
"You made one mistake," Dante whispered.
Zoom's mask flickered.
"What?" he coughed.
"You didn't let me stay broken."
Lightning surged.
Dante pulled back his arm.
This was it.
The end.
But then he saw her.
In the shadows of the room—beyond the steel and blood—she stood still.
White hair.
Pale skin.
Eyes like frozen oceans.
Caitlin.
But not Caitlin.
Her body was the same, but her presence was different. Cold. Cruel. Controlled. A being of ice and calm destruction.
Dante's breath caught.
His fist froze in mid-air.
Who was she?
Somewhere deep inside, he knew it wasn't her. Not truly.
But it was enough.
Enough to make him hesitate.
And that was Zoom's plan.
Snap.
Dante didn't even see it.
Zoom twisted, slipped from his grip, moved behind him with pure speed, and shattered his leg with a single brutal kick.
The crack echoed like a gunshot.
Dante dropped to one knee, snarling in pain.
Zoom grinned.
"You're not invincible," he hissed, kicking him again. "You're just angry."
Another blow. Another scream of muscle and bone.
"You lost everything—and you blamed the world. But you never looked in the mirror, did you?"
Dante tried to rise.
Zoom slammed him back down.
"Poor Dante. Hiding in that police station like a ghost. Pretending to be invisible. But you were never invisible to me."
He raised his arm to finish it.
But that was his second mistake.
Zoom forgot how fast Dante could refocus.
Forgot that rage wasn't just pain.
It was clarity.
Dante's broken leg twisted—and healed.
The void force burned through it like fire mending broken clay.
His eyes flared.
Red lightning screamed.
He rose.
Zoom didn't have time to react.
Dante struck with such force that time itself warped—the air cracked, walls buckled, and sound vanished in a split-second vacuum of violence.
Zoom hit the far wall so hard it left a crater.
Before he could even blink, Dante was in front of him again.
"You always talk too much," he muttered.
He grabbed Zoom's face and began to charge energy into his palm.
That was when she moved.
Killer Frost.
Dante hadn't seen her approach.
She was just… there.
Standing between him and Zoom.
Her white hair floated like snow in the windless room.
Her hand stretched forward.
"Stop," she said.
Dante stared at her.
Not Caitlin.
Not the woman who once smiled at him when no one else did.
But still her eyes… they weren't cruel.
Not now.
Zoom didn't hesitate.
He moved behind her and—
Shhk.
His hand pierced through her stomach like a blade.
Right through her.
Killer Frost gasped.
Her lips parted.
Her eyes widened.
She looked at Zoom in disbelief… and then at Dante.
Zoom whispered, "Collateral."
And ran.
Dante didn't chase him.
He caught her before she fell, cradling her cold, trembling body.
She was bleeding.
Ice cracked from her lips.
And Dante body start to shake
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