Simon had never tortured anyone before, at least not to his knowledge, though perhaps some of his students over the past few semesters would have different opinions on the topic. What Ange suggested, however, was something much different. He’d work better at extracting information from people who were already dead, not the living. At least he had Doll at his side. At least she seemed more willing to assist now. If she did her job, then Simon could simply keep an eye out on things, to ensure that both Doll and Aerith left the club without as much as a scratch.
“Keep your head down until Aerith comes in,” Simon muttered from behind the cloth that covered the lower part of his face. “And remember, we’re here to extract information. I won’t let him, or anyone for that matter, take you back to that place.”
One last explosion. The building trembles and a piece of the roof falls down into the warehouse. There is smoke, coughing and there isn’t good visibility of the winner, but a black heavy boot steps out of the black cloud; the figure is dragging a leather jacket with little blood drops that are only noticeable when the light hits it. There is murmuring around the place as the dense air dissipates, showing the younger as the victorious one and the older one on the floor, NOT MOVING.
The boy stepped forward to the group of people, throwing confident glares to everyone in a silent threat, daring them to show the slightest sign of nonconformity towards the results of the fight, but the silence remained and an arrogant smile showed up on his lips as he hung the jacket from his shoulder and squinted his eyes, studying the group.
“ It came to my attention that we have some… guests here that know something about the new security system at Haggis Tech. Bring them ”. Nobody moved and the whole building shook softly, causing some cracks up the pillars. “ Did I stutter? ”
And soon, the prisoners were thrown to their knees in front of the new Alpha Latierre. He approached and crouched down, lifting the dehydrated face of one of them from the chin, recognizing one of the heroes that worked for his mother.
“ Well, well, well… isn’t this a nice surprise? How is my mother? I heard she… had an accident. Did she manage to wake up? ”, he asked with a little smirk that bordered on happiness, just as if he had told a joke and was waiting for the other to laugh.
“ Robin… how—- how could you…? ”, the hero spoke up with a dry voice and a weak rage in his eyes.
“ Me? Oh, please— don’t be ridiculous. I did nothing bad. I just… wanted to chat, but things don’t always go the nice way, do they? ”, he asked, the smile turning kinder, but his tone more menacing. “ Now, be a nice hero and tell me about the new security system, if both of you cooperate, I’ll set you free ”.
But at the request, instead of an answer or plain silence, the hero spat at the villain’s face. THE TENSION ROSE. Robin wiped it off with his gloved hand and stood up.
“ Lock him up ”, Robin ordered and as the prisoner was taken away, his eyes shot to a specific villain, to which he ordered to approach with movement of his fingers ”.
“ Uh… yes? ”, the subordinate spoke.
“ I heard you manipulate concrete; do me a favor and give the prisoner a bottle of water ”.
“ ——-sir? ”
“ then seal his cage all around ”.
Now, Robin walked to the next prisoner, crouched down and tilted his head in a curious way, trying to recognize the person, but nope! Nothing; they also looked rather young.
“ I never saw you around, are you new? ”, he asked. The other simply nodded as his eyes jumped frenetically all over Robin’s features. “ Cute ”, the boy grinned in fake sympathy. “ Y’know… I was new as well at some point… at the hero thing, I mean, but… it just wasn’t the right thing for me. Apparently there is a policy of ‘do not kill the criminal’ which is… absolutely stupid if you ask me! That bastard had killed a whole family and we were just… supposed to let the police handle him? HELL NO. So one night I got into his cell… benefits of being the son of Harriet Haggis, of course, and… and I made him pay. I tortured him slowly and painfully in the same way he did to the family. I let him DIE in agony while the cops did their best to take down the door. My mom was —oof— FURIOUS! She even kicked me out of the team and said I needed to consider if I really wanted to be a hero or not; that’s when I realized that… being a hero would never fulfill me, nope, so I talked to dad, but apparently he was on my mother’s side ”, he scoffs, “ what a hypocrite, he built all this… CULT to worship the wrong ways and instead… he goes all guardian angel on me. BULLSHIT! That’s not how things in Crystalline City are done… at least not from now on, but he didn’t want to understand and… I had to make him understand ”, he whispers the last part as he glanced back to the still body on the floor. “ And maybe you are wondering… ‘ hey, Robbs, why are you telling me all this? ’ and well, it’s very simple…
THIS IS MY CITY NOW ”.
Robin raised once again and helped the other prisoner stand up as well, dusting off his clothes.
“ Now, if you’re so kind… the security system, please ”, Robin asked and the younger hero was quickly to mutter the answer, only loud enough for the boy to hear. “ Ah, EXCELLENT. See? Things go well when you cooperate ”, he smiled and upon touching the chains that held him prisoner, these dissolved in thin air. “ But… you know? Both of you had to cooperate… that was the deal; I’m sorry, but I tolerate no mistakes; blame it on your teammate, I guess ”, Robin chuckled with a childish shrug as he held the young hero’s face with his whole palm and the body of the other, slowly, started to crumble down in nothing but dust and the echo of his screams decorated the empty old halls of the construction for the next couple of seconds.
“ Now all of you, get ready… I’ll talk to each one of you later after I sketch the plan. We attack in three days ”, he bluntly commented as he dropped his father’s jacket on the floor.
“ What about the Pantheon? ”, someone within the crowd asked.
“ What about them? ”, Robin inquired apathetically as he felt a pinch to his guts.
“ Won’t they be an obstacle? I heard one of their members can suck people’s souls ”.
“ Just stick to the plan… ”, he replied dryly as he turned around to pull something out from one of his pockets: a picture. A picture of a couple of years ago when things were easier and times were better. A group of friends were hanging out at the New Year’s Eve party. With one last thought for them, Robin drops the picture over the jacket. “ I will deal with the alien and The Pantheon will CEASE to exist ”, he declared as plum flames started to ignite both the photograph and the piece of clothing. Robin jumped up to a table and extended his arms with a big full smile.
“ Rejoice, my friends! Tonight we rise again but not as The Syndicate, oh no.
We rise as THE TEMPLARS and I am PARADOX, Crystalline City’s NEW KING. ”
“again.” the word was spoken plainly, as if she was telling a child to run through a piano piece once more. his eyes clenched shut. noah was well aware what disobedience brought but he was TIRED. tired of this test, tired of it all.
“again, 9451.”
now the command had a bite to it. noah could feel his heart rate pick up, fight or flight response activating in anticipation for what was sure to come. the unspoken threat hung in the air and threatened to smother him, breath hitching. but he was done. eyes opening, he zeroed in on the test dummy across the room staring him down, lifeless and featureless.
“no.”
the lab coat simply tilted her head, hand reaching for what he assumed to be a button. the button.
and then everything went black as electricity shot through his body.
With all the injured people due the explosion, Robin was quickly set on his feet as soon as he showed signs of a good recuperation, but his mother was also quick to send his son into the medic wing of the League’s headquarters to get sure that he was alright ( and to run some tests and find out why he wasn’t as hurt as the others ). Calm reached him upon receiving the first texts of his friends, informing him of their good status and in case of Madi, a picture of her at her hospital bed with the caption ‘ I lived, bitch ’, yes, everything was alright for a second, he was even going to allow himself some sleep when…
[ text received ]: Does anybody know anything about Aerith?
His heart skips a beat at the sudden realization that NO ONE knew a thing about their alien friend and so, he pushes the blankets aside and begs his mother to let him go out, to which she agrees under certain conditions he doesn’t mean to keep.
Robin considers a reunification would take too long and maybe they don’t have that time. What if Aerith hasn’t woken up? What if the government decided to take her in for being an alien? What if the effects of the explosion caused a different consequence for her? What if she is…? NO. He refuses to think the worst and rushes to the hospital.
Once there, in front of her door, he knocks softly and peeks into the room carefully, immediately noticing her golden eyes sparkling like a cat’s. Robin makes his way in, closing the door behind him very quietly and then approaching just a little.
“ Uhm… hey… how are you feeling? ”, he asks, even though the burns over her skin and her weak appearance speaks for her. Idiot, how did you expect her to be if she is not even answering her phone? “ I’m sorry for coming without any announcement, I was—- WE WERE very worried about you, so… ”, and he gifts her a sad smile and a little shrug. Her condition makes him feel GUILTY. He doesn’t what he could have done to help her and the rest of the guests… but he still feels bad about it. The boy was going to apologize about his stupid question, inform that the others would be happy to know she is awake and that he would leave now…
THEN SHE HELD HER HAND OUT FOR HIM TO TAKE IT.
Robin freezes on the spot; he is not very used to contact… much less hers whom he had relatively little time knowing. The only time they shared such a close proximity was when he was helping her run away from the beach, but that was about it, nothing else. His hands fidgeted in the insides of his olive hoodie’s pockets, but finally, decided that rejecting her gesture would be absolutely rude, so he pulls his hands out and with one, reaches her, walking closer to the bed. Upon touch, though, a weird electric sensation ran from his hand to the center of his forehead, which caused him to briefly stop in his tracks.
“ Good to know you are awake, I was----- WE WERE very worried about you, but now I can tell the others you are fine and I will also let them know to come visit you ”, he told her as soon as he reached her side. Robin let go a bit of her hand, but her grip didn’t give in, so he squeezed her hand again softly with a sad side smile as he looked at her. “ I’m sorry you had to go through that ”, he apologized in a mutter as he instinctively pulled her hand up to his cheek, causing some surrounding little objects to briefly float. “ This won’t happen again, I promise. I don’t know what you are running from, but if I told you Earth was safe, the last thing I can do is fulfill my word somehow ”. Robin pulled closer the chair next to her bed and a sudden wave of weariness hit him so he leaned down on the mattress, his grip to her hand loosening, but not breaking as he rested his head on his forearm. “ I will take you to the amusement park as soon as you feel better; you will love it and we can tell the others too!...”, he yawned, “ there are roller coasters that go very fast... almost like a space ship and there is also the house of mirrors and I feel you will be particularly fond of the Ferris wheel and the merry-go-round ”, Robin explained with a sleepy voice. The boy managed to keep his eyes open a little longer to raise their hands and move him to lace their pinkies, “ I will keep you safe, Aer’i, I PROMISE ”.
long, pale digits shook as they struggled to type out rapid messages to his quiet, reliable friend. the smooth expanse of his exposed flesh was slowly being overtaken by silver spreading across his limbs like a fresh coat of paint, the edges cutting through the flesh. there was already blood, thick and a deep, almost black, blue slipping over the curve of his lower lip and falling in droplets over his desk. ‘do es,’ read the first message, about as much as he could manage with each of his joints metalizing to the point it hurt to move them at all.
‘maxxie? are you okay?’ came the immediate response.
‘sory
jae
soves
doves’
after continued struggling, the boy had finally managed to deliver the information he had extracted. it had not been easy to come by, involving a very personal sacrifice in the mode of allowing his body to connect onto his computer to create an immediate link between his brain and the computer. at this point, data processing had become easy, the entire affair taking less than fifteen minutes. it had not come without cost, however, the fifteen minutes having been more than long enough for the bots to seize the opportunity and begin their hostile takeover.
as his final act of clawing at sanity, he pressed down on the home button of his phone just long enough for the voice recognition software to start up before choking out, ‘call aerith.’
his world went black to the sound of the dial tone, even as his eyes remained wide open.
“...oh, you mean Aerith! Yeah, she’s from... afar. Russia. Yeah, she’s from Russia and was home schooled and she grew up in a very VERY restricting household so that’s why she doesn’t know a lot of stuff, but she’s really cool. I just happened to meet her when she just arrived to the city so we became very good friends immediately, we even have sleepovers on weekends; no, ACTUAL sleepovers, we watch movies and talk about how stuff works in Crystalline City. Her pink skin? She’s a super, obviously, but she’s also quite interested in space, you could almost say she’s from another galaxy; she’s amazing overall”.
Leaving you a note instead of a text in case the government is tracking mutant conversations. UPS would probably be risky as well so I’m going to hand you this in person like the awkward fucking douche I am. How’ve you been? I’ve been drowning in work, plus I made a new, really high-maintenance friend. But, it’s okay. He’s nice. He’s not as pink as you are, but very pink all the same.
I get that you’re like not from these parts or whatever, but I just wanted to tell you to take the shit going on right now very seriously and to keep yourself safe.
When this is all over, I’ll teach you how to play an instrument.
