Hell's Sniper | J. Todd

XIII - YES MOM

Eat that, peep that
I'm the one to beat, yeah
- Tessa Violet

It's safe to say that the gala didn't last much longer after the police arrived and statements were given. Mine was a more lengthy process but they assured me that I was off the hook and a hero once more.

I apologised to Maxine for not checking if she was okay first, to which she said it was fine and that it doesn't make me a bad person. Still, she chose to stay the night at Lucien's- I can't blame her, paparazzi is swarming me like a hawk nowadays.

After Lucien picked Maxine up from the Wayne Manor, I turn to my dogs. Even though Bruce's friends are surveying the damage while the Waynes themselves guide the cops to the front gate as they haul body bags or a henchman behind them, I glare at Chief.

"What were you lot thinking?"

"We were helping," Ruby huffs. "Because you're our hooman."

"How did you get here?"

"Well..." Corvus begins, but is interrupted by Chief as he barks in warning. Corvus growls in response and in less than a few short seconds, the six of them are fighting again.

"Excuse me... Ruth, right?"

I turn to the voice and am faced with Diana Prince, a beautiful woman that frowns at my dogs when they bark and growl. "I can't help but notice something odd about your dogs."

For a moment, I didn't quite understand what could be odd about my dogs, but then I remembered the telepathy and them appearing out of nowhere- could that be teleportation? Have my dogs been able to teleport this entire time?

The first year when they started living with me, I tried to give them to the shelter. I tried to have them adopted by someone else because I was a cop and I didn't have the time to look after six Dobermans. But then a day later, they would appear in my living room, stumbling around like they owned the place.

"Took you long enough to realize," Petrova snorts, giving a warning bark to Natayla.

"Whatever do you mean?" I return my focus to Diana, playing fool. Jason walks over, finishing with guiding the last of the cops out of the Wayne Manor, the ballroom encased in quiet.

"Hey-"

"Have you ever heard of hellhounds?"

At Diana's question, the dogs stop fighting, scrambling into a 'heel' position as they watch Diana. Jason freezes, as does Bruce's friends and the Waynes. I can feel the temperature in the air drop- no, plummet- as does my stomach.

Then I remember what Petrova said yesterday when Jason was asking if I wanted to go to the gala with him.

"We grew up in a bottomless pit," Petrova had said. "I hated it. So many dead people. Dead people are THE WORST. They COMPLAIN about always being DEAD. Can't they understand that they are DEAD PEOPLE and that DEAD PEOPLE are DEAD?"

By that, did she mean hell?

"Contrary to popular belief, it's really not a nice place," Simo says.

"I- what?" Playing fool, I am.

"Diana-" Jason warns, but is interrupted again.

"I think you know what I'm talking about, Ruth." She smiles, glancing down at Chief. The dog has his teeth bared, sharp and gleaming.

"I don't think I do," I reply.

"Would you like me to demonstrate?" Diana's question is supported by a smile.

"Sure...?"

Diana takes a single step forward, then another. All six of my dogs start growling, moving to create a barrier between Diana and I. What is going on?

"You really are Hades's children, aren't you?" Diana taunts them,

My dogs aren't dogs anymore, and perhaps they never were. They grow to twice my height, the nubs of their tails stretching out to long, spiked, and whip-like tails. Their claws grow sharper and their bodies more muscular, horns rising from the backs of their skulls shaped dark and wicked. From what I can see behind them, their eyes glow fierce and flames erupt from their throats and through their teeth.

"There, there," Diana tries, "I was only proving a point."

I'm frozen in place. Jason, who stands beside the row of hellhounds, stares me dead in the eyes. Did you know? I look away, back to my dogs.

"Se détendre," I order once I regain the ability to speak. I walk in between Chief and Ruby, heat rising from their bodies. "Elle ne veut pas de mal."

Sorry, I mouth to Diana. She smiles in reply when my dogs shrink back to their normal size, no fire, no whip-tails and no horns.

"What the fuck," Jason says after a moment of silence. "Sorry Alfred."

Despite the amount of people looking at me- though this must seem pretty normal to them as I've deduced they all must be vigilantes- I only look at Diana. "What made you think they were... um... hellhounds, right? Yeah."

"I myself am the child of the gods. I was able to tell quite easily. Have you known something wasn't normal about them?"

I shrug, glancing down to where the six idiots run around the Waynes and their 'family friends'. "You get used to the telepathy after a while."

"How do you get used to telepathy?" it's Dick who asks this time. Despite seeing him almost rip off the head of a demigod, he crouches beside Corvus and scratches him behind the ear.

"And more importantly," Diana says thoughtfully, narrowing her eyes, "Why did they choose you?"