Title: Epic
Author: HMC
Pairing: Duh.
Rated: R for mature issues, and for horror coming at the end
Disclaimer: I don't own any of these characters. Blah, blah, blah.
Notes: I really don't know what denomination Dante is, so I just threw 
him in this chapter.
Summary: Jay and Silent Bob are put to the ultimate test.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Hate

When Bob shook off the dizziness that seemed consistent with all these 
flashbacks, he found himself standing in the street of what appeared 
to be a quiet, suburban avenue. It was nighttime, but the street was 
well lit by lampposts every thirty feet. There were trees lining the 
sidewalks, and the nice, uniformed houses all had yards and little 
gardens in front. Overall, it looked like a town he would see in the 
old movies that his mother used to love so much.

The only thing that was not consistent with this lovely scene was the 
shouts and sounds of breaking glass coming from down the street, a few 
houses away. Straining his eyes, Bob saw some movement and quietly 
went to investigate, making sure to keep a safe distance. When he 
remembered it wouldn't matter because they couldn't see him, he began 
jogging towards the disturbance, his pulse quickening in anticipation.

They were teenagers, and there were five of them. From the unsteady 
way they walked and the smell that seemed to radiate from their 
general direction, Bob could tell they were all drunk. One stood by a 
beat-up car, apparently looking out for trouble, like say, the police. 
Bob figured by the noise they were making that they could be caught at 
any minute. The other four were wreaking havoc on the small, white 
house. Two had picked up rocks and were proceeding to smash all the 
windows they could see. The other two had spray cans.... but Bob 
couldn't make out the words that were staining the aluminum siding. 

One of them staggered up to the front door and began beating on it 
mercilessly. "Hey! Howzabout we put a couple buns in the oven, huh?" 
His buddies laughed and continued their work destroying the front of 
the house. "We know you're home, ya fuckin' Jews!" Open up!" He 
kicked at the door, chipping he paint. 

Holy shit, Bob thought. Hate crime in action. He prayed those people 
in the house were safely hidden, or locked in a room where they 
couldn't be touched until someone called the cops. The lights were 
off in the house, no movement could be seen inside, probably as an 
attempt to discourage them or make them think no one was home. 

Glass continued to shatter, more dents were put in the house, and that 
damn spray can seemed to never cease. Bob wondered how long this 
could possibly go on before he heard the screeching of tires from 
somewhere down the road, and he jerked his head in that direction. 
The five kids did the same, ceasing their activities for a second. 

The car lurched to a halt with a sickening wail, leaving multiple 
black marks on the road behind it. The driver's side door flew open 
and out burst Dante Hicks, brandishing a baseball bat and one hell of 
a wild look in his eyes. Bob watched as he took a few threatening 
steps towards the teenagers.

The five punks desecrating the house looked panicked: unsure of 
whether they should run, stay and overpower him, or just continue with 
their vandalism. The decision was made when Dante screamed, "I called 
the cops!" With that, they cursed loudly, tossing a few ugly slurs at 
Dante and piled into their dingy little car, backing off the lawn and 
driving unsteadily away. Dante watched them go, not moving until 
their car was out of sight.

It was then that Bob turned his head back to the house to look at the 
overall damage they had done. In the light of Dante's car's 
headlights, he could see the blood red spray paint very clearly, and 
the words that had formed. 

BURN IN HELL CHRIST-KILLERS

And Bob immediately felt sick. Out of the corner of his eye, he could 
see Dante sprinting towards the front door, calling out for his 
parents and holding the bat at a ready position in case one of them 
had managed to get inside. Following, he could see Dante cautiously 
step over huge pieces of broken glass. "Ma? Dad? Are you okay??"

There were shouts from upstairs and Dante's parents came stumbling 
down, a combination of tears and panic evident on their faces. Mrs. 
Hicks, a kind woman that Bob had met only once in his life, was in 
hysterics, cupping Dante's face in her hands and demanding to know if 
he was okay in a shrill voice. 

"What the hell happened? From your call I thought you were being 
murdered!" Dante cried, holding his mother in his arms as she wept. 
Dante's father, very close to going over the edge himself, related the 
story, hints of intense rage littered in with his words of pure 
terror. Bob could only watch the heartbreaking scene from the front 
doorway.

"They threw a brick through the front window, we thought they had the 
house surrounded, so we ran upstairs with the phone and locked 
ourselves in the bathroom. They just kept breaking windows and we 
didn't know if they were in the house or not, but then we heard you 
yelling, and we couldn't stay in there anymore. But you scared them 
away, didn't you son?" He pulled Dante into a hug, patting him on the 
back.

"I called the cops on my way over. They should be here any minute." 

Sure enough, flashing blue and red lights began to flash from outside. 
Dante took his mother's arm and led them outside to talk. Bob 
watched and unconsciously moved aside to let them out, hanging his 
head at the sad scene. 

As he began to fade away from that place, he could hear the anguished 
sobs of Dante's mother, "Look what they did to our house!! How could 
they?? How could they?? We didn't do anything wrong!" Her sobs got 
quieter and quieter until....

"You're a Star Wars fan, yes?" Azrael's voice was smug. "Wasn't it 
that little green guy who said that 'hate leads to suffering'?"

Bob threw a disgusted glance at him. "That was fucking lame, demon." 
He spat. "Aren't we past the point of you trying to get on my good 
side by throwing pop culture in my face?" 

Azrael put up his hands and raised his eyebrows. "Hey, don't take it 
out on me! It's not like I had anything to do with what you're 
seeing."

"Then why show it to me at all!!??" Bob screamed, making a move 
towards Azrael, but thinking better of it. Instead he clenched both 
his fists and punched the nearest wall, bruising his hands. 

"Because you're fucking delusional, Prophet!! Helping that Scion 
bitch and following orders like some kind of blind servant?? Have you 
even considered what God's done for you?? Nothing!! God lets evil 
shits run the earth! Those fucking kids that messed up Dante's house, 
they'll never be punished for what they did! Hooper's father is still 
alive and well and hitting his wife when he gets angry! And your 
father never had a second thought about leaving your family to rot in 
the projects!" Azrael stepped closer, his words hacking away at Bob's 
mind, pulling at his defenses. "God allows pain. God allows 
suffering, when the solution and the ability to take care of such 
problems are at his command!" 

Azrael motioned to the doors. "Four to go. Or are you willing to 
abandon God and skip witnessing all this horrific pain?"

"Fuck you." Bob spat. He pushed past Azrael and opened the fourth 
door.

Betrayal

....tbc....