"You! Do you really have a Space Seed?" The woman asked while looking at Don, and Don nodded. "I do," Don replied. "Please proceed with a demonstration." The woman said, and Don did ask the woman asked. His eyes flared a vivid black, but nothing seemed to happen. The woman waited for a moment, then another, but nothing was happening.
"Umm, did you do something?" The woman asked, and Don nodded. "Take a step forward," Don said. The woman did just that, but she felt an invisible wall in front of her the moment she did. She blinked rapidly, then took a few steps back. Her back pressed against another invisible wall. The woman quickly tried her sides and found that she was encased in some kind of box.
"That's... neat." The woman said with a wry smile. "You can cancel it out now." The woman felt nervous. Sure, they had these screening processes, but they were usually able to react just in case someone tried to do something to them. Yet, she was unable to anything whatsoever.
"Okay." The black flare in Don's eyes faded as he spoke. "You are free," Don said, and the woman cautiously took a few steps forward. When she didn't run into any invisible walls, she released a sigh of relief. "You have quite the strong Seed Power. What of you?" The woman looked to April, and she shrugged.
"Mine works best in an open environment," April replied. Judging from what was put down for her Seed Power, it made sense. The woman could easily piece it together and just nodded. "Fair enough. Well, just wait for a moment. I'll be back with the results." The woman said and left the tent.
"Well, what do you think?" April asked, looking up at Don. "Think about what?" Don asked while looking at her. "About this place? This Faction. You think they'll be a problem?" April asked, and Don shook his head. "No. I doubt they would pose a threat to us, so we don't need to worry about them. If need be, we'll escape on our own." Don replied.
"Okay. Although, it'll be sad considering we won't get to see Gabe and his family, though." April said. She considered Gabe a friend at this point. After all, the man was trying to help them. "If we get the chance, we'll say our goodbyes," Don said, and April nodded happily. "Thanks, Darling~" April kissed his cheek with appreciation, and Don smiled softly.
"These are the people I was talking about." The woman returned, and when she did, she returned with someone else. The person standing beside her looked proud and promising, as a natural-born leader. He had this expression on his face that showed he was a busy man, but he had taken the time to look at the two new recruits since one of them had a Space Seed Power.
"And you two are?" The man asked while them a less than pleased look. "My name is April Douglass, and this is Donathan Douglass." April expressed with a smile, although, when she felt Don's arm tremble, she looked over to him. Her smile turned into a frown, "Is something wrong?" April asked.
"Are you Victor Winters?" Don asked, his voice cold to the touch. The man's brow rose. "That I am, but how do you know my name?" The man, Victor, asked to which Don rose his hand. Instantly a pistol appeared from a distortion in his hand with a silencer attached to it. Without hesitation, Don pulled the trigger.
Victor's eyes went wide when he saw this, and he activated his Seed Power, just in the nick of time, too, since Don didn't even give the man a second to do anything. A wall of ice could be seen in front of him, and the bullet stopped mid-way through it. Don pulled the trigger several more times, but instead of a wall, Victor encased himself in armor made of ice.
"What are you doing!? This is our Vice-Leader Victor Winters!" The woman asked once she saw Don try to kill their Vice-Leader, Victor.
"Darling!?" April looked just as surprised. She didn't understand what was going on.
Victor created shards of ice around him and tossed them towards Don. Don saw that his pistol wouldn't be enough, so he exchanged it for one of his Desert Eagles. He distorted the area around the shards of ice which caused them to break down over time, and eventually, they were nothing. Victor made a note of this. "This man is dangerous. I need to inform the others, especially Max." Victor thought.
When Don pulled the trigger of his Desert Eagle, the loud bang resounded throughout the checkpoint, which alerted everyone. Although, Don wasn't worried about this. He had been planning to leave anyway. The only reason he was attacking now was due to the person who was in front of him.
Victor felt his armor being pierced through. The bullet went through his leg, which caused him to stumble forward. Victor was actually going to make an escape attempt, but now he couldn't run. The woman activated her Seed Power, and a blade of wind was sent towards Don. Don created a distortion around him, and the wind instantly went through his body.
Don looked towards the woman and released his killing intent. A massive amount of pressure was applied to her, and she felt like she was looking into the eyes of a reaper. "Stay out of this. This has to do with the Second Leader of Nightfall and me." Don said.
The woman looked confused, and even April didn't know what to do. She knew that Don was probably attacking this person for a reason, but she didn't know why. However, the most confused was Victor. "How does he know!? We aren't even known yet!" Victor thought.
"I have to get rid of him!" Victor exclaimed in his mind. Several ice spears were starting to form around him and above him. "Die!" Victor shouted as the massive amount of ice spears were sent towards Don. Don's eyes flared a vivid white, and he activated his Timeless Flow Seed Power. Everything became grayscale and came to a halt.
"Why didn't you do this from the beginning?" Melissa's voice peered within his mind.
"I didn't think about it. Just seeing that bastard brought about my rage... The man who took everything from me in my sixth, seventh, and final run. I won't let him do it again." Don replied while making his way towards the man but stopped. Out of the corner of his eye, he could see April had rushed towards him.
"Never again," Don said and made his way towards her. He took her hand and pulled her into him. Feeling the sudden tug caused her to squeal, but she could see she was in Don's arms when she looked up. "Darling!?" April exclaimed. "No! I don't want to see you die again!" April tried to push him away, but she wasn't strong enough to break Don's hold.
"I won't die again. Neither will you. Look..." Don would motion with his chin for her to look around, and when she did, she saw that all of the time was stopped. She slowly began to relax and feel at ease. After all, to her, it was only a second ago that the massive amount of ice spears were coming at them.
"Are you going to tell me why you are trying to kill that man?" April asked while looking at Victor, who had this distraught expression. "He is the Second Leader of Nightfall. A Faction that enslaves men and women to do with as they please. They do not kill people but break them with torture." Don explained.
April could understand why Don wanted to get rid of this man, but it didn't explain what he did personally to them. "Did he do something to you on one of your runs?" April asked, but Don didn't confirm or deny it. Not yet anyway.
A sigh escaped his lips, "He kidnapped the girls of our group, killed Sofia in front of Juan and Catalina, then tortured Juan in front of Catalina while violating Catalina in front of Juan. I was too busy dealing with Victor, Max, and Sam to do anything about the lackies. Ion and Jessica had been killed before that even happened. As for Ryan and Dillian, they were killed by the lackies. Sussan, Sarah, and Alice were taken away." Don stopped speaking. A sense of rage swelling within him as he recalled everything vividly.
April could see something coming off of him. It was vicious and black, like some kind of aura. It sent chills down her spine, and for a second, even she was scared of Don. "D-Darling?" April called out to him softly, which drew him from the recollection. The black aura slowly dimmed down and faded out. "Sorry... I don't want to talk about it anymore. Just know he needs to die." Don said.
What Don didn't tell her was that Max and Sam had Don backed to a wall. April tried to help him, but Victor managed to stop her. He froze her in place and started to violate her in front of Don, only to slit her throat with an ice dagger after he was done. The only reason Don didn't die back then was due to the coming of a stage-four bug. It was attracted by the attention and ended up killing everyone there.
Don was too exhausted to fight, so he escaped while the bug massacred everyone. Of course, that meant he left April and everyone's bodies behind. He was disgusted with himself and hated himself for what he did. He hated his own weakness since it became the death of those he cared about. Yet, he had all of his memories. He had the power now, and he wouldn't ever let something happen to them again.
"Come..." Don began to lead April outside of the tent and to a secure and hidden place that was in between two tents. "I'll come to get you when I am done," Don said, and April nodded lightly. She wanted to refuse and go with him, but she didn't want to upset him. Clearly, this man did something to Don, and she could only assume the worse since Don was acting like this.
Once Don released April, she became still-motion. "You know, you could just keep her at your side," Melissa said, and Don shook his head. "Even if I did, the slightest touch will allow Victor to move. I do not want him taking her hostage. I will not let what happened before be repeated again." Don said while making his way to the tent.
Once he entered, he put the Desert Eagle away and brought out two bombs. Well, it looked like a homemade bomb. It was made by Noah. It wasn't something like a grenade, but it was still powerful enough to lethally wound someone. The bomb was a small baseball with a button on the center.
When the button was pushed, the bomb would begin a count down from a preset time. The time was preset to two seconds. One second for Don to place the bomb, and the next second for it to go off after Don canceled Timeless Flow.
Don set both by Victor's head and pushed the button, then he would release them shortly after and step back. Don looked towards the woman. She was an innocent bystander in all of this, and even if she was part of the Freedom Fighters, that didn't mean she was evil or anything. Don made his way to the woman, put up Spatial Barriers around them, and then canceled his Timeless Flow.
He wanted to make sure Victor would be dead. A couple of seconds after releasing Timeless Flow, the bombs went off with a loud bang, and explosions occurred. Victor was pushed in one direction, then the next, and collapsed. "Victor!" The woman exclaimed and stepped forward. She wasn't aware that she was shielded from the explosion.
She smashed into the Spatial Barrier, and her eyes went wide, and she stepped back. That was when she found back pressing against another person. She looked back to see Don standing there, and she started to shiver. "I strongly suggest you do not move. This barrier is put up for your own safety."
Don used his Spatial Distortion to clear the smoke out, and that was when he saw Victor's headless body on the ground. He removed the Spatial Barriers and turned away from the scene. "Do not trust Nightfall. Warn Linda that Max Summers and Sam Falls are not to be trusted. They will be the downfall of Freedom Fighters." Don said as he left the tent.
The woman was left there distraught. She didn't know what was going on. She didn't understand. This man who hadn't done a thing just murdered their Vice Leader then warned her about the two highest and most trusted and loyal Officers in their Faction. He even knew about their Leader, Linda.
Don didn't know that Nightfall was the demise of Freedom Fighters. He only pieced it together after seeing Victor and the woman together and when the woman called Victor their Vice Leader. He realized how Nightfall came to be. They destroyed Freedom Fighters from within and took out Linda that way.
Don only gave his warning because he didn't think the Freedom Fighters were evil. Of course, he also only did this because Gabe was part of the Freedom Fighters, and he was a friend of April. That was it. Once Don left the Tent, several guards surrounded him. "Halt! Who are you!?" One of the guards asked.
"Someone passing through," Don replied, his eyes still a vivid black. "What happened!?" One of the guards asked. They were on high alert, and it was understandable since an explosion just came off, and the tent behind Don was now on fire.
"Go find out," Don said. His words were cold. "Don just use Timeless Flow and get out of this situation," Melissa said, but Don couldn't. He had already used it three times now, and the strain was starting to build. At best, he could probably use it two more times, three by pushing himself. Timeless Flow was a powerful Seed Power, but it also had its costs.
Not to mention, he had also been using Spatial Distortion, which shared the same Energy intake as Timeless Flow since they were one Seed. The thing about having multiple Seed Powers was that the Energy intake and costs differed. One could have a low cost while another had a high cost. It wouldn't exhaust someone too fast.
However, Timeless Flow and Spatial Distortion were one mutated Seed, and so the costs were the same. He had used both of them in rapid succession. Sure, using Spatial Storage had little to no cost, but distorting the Ice Shards and creating Spatial Barriers were another thing. Not to mention stopping the flow of time in Don's perception and allowing others time to flow during it. All of the built-up Energy consumption would have caused a normal person to pass out by now, and possibly killed them.
"This guy..." One of the guards said.
"Let's just kill him." Another said, and they all began preparations, but before someone could lift a finger, a voice called from behind Don.
"Wait! Wait!" It was the woman from earlier, she exited the tent. "This man has saved me! I was attacked, and this man protected me." The woman said. Don was surprised, but he didn't show it. He did look in the woman's direction, though, and wondered what she was doing.
"Officer Destiny!" One of the guards exclaimed. "Officer, is what you say true? Who attacked you!?" Another guard asked. "It was Vice-Leader Victor, but we'll look into that later. Right now, we need to put out the fire and make sure the others are safe. Now go!" The woman said, and everyone saluted; the woman then ran off. Some began using water to hose down the fire, while people evacuated others from the scene.
Don turned away from the woman and began walking off, but the woman stopped him by taking hold of his wrist. "Wai--" The woman froze. Chills ran down her spine. It wasn't like earlier when she felt the killing intent in the form of pressure. No, she could visibly see it as well. A black aura was shimmering off of Don, and his eyes looked murderous. "Do. Not. Touch. Me," Don said slowly.
Destiny released Don and stepped back. Don began to walk off again, but Destiny called out to him. She had to swallow deeply just to prepare herself. "Wait!" She called out, and Don stopped. "Please, explain to our Leader what you said. If what you said is true, then..." Destiny was going to keep speaking, but Don turned around to look at her.
"You seem to have misunderstood me. I only warned you because someone my wife considers a friend is part of your Faction. I didn't do it out of the good of my heart, or because I am a great person. I don't expect anything in return, nor do I care what becomes of your Faction. Honestly, I don't care about the guy either, but I am sure my wife does." Don explained. "If you want to keep your Faction safe, then you need to tell her what I told you," Don added before leaving the woman to her own devices.
The woman was in awe. She wasn't able to get out another word. The man in front of her had given off such a visible killing intent, yet he seemed to hold compassion for another. She wondered just who this man was, "Just who you are?"