Inside the B.V.A Headquarters, there was a massive holographic monitor which displayed the agent rankings, based on multiple factors such as; Most successful interrogations, Most civilians saved but most importantly most rouges brought in or killed. The order went down from one to all the other agents currently and in the past, which would be exactly 49,000 people. Roughly ninety percent of them being variants.
Truthfully no one paid attention to the rankings, not even the top ten. The only ranks that indeed garnered any attention were the number one and two spots, both for two separate reasons, at number two was announced Ex-Chief Inori-F Yukiko, the father of Minami-F Yukiko who up until recently was simply a field agent. Yet what most people had their eyes on was the number one spot, occupied by a simple code name: Reaper.
For some, the number one ranking was such a shock due to the fact that the chief had been outranked, yet those who had either heard about the feats of the reaper or had background info of who they truly were, were even more awestruck. To think a child could be the top agent at the B.V.A was unheard of.
Two years ago for the first time agents close to "The Reaper" were confused seeing the usually over-the-top, loud, arrogant Lenoir seem so down. Not only was he down he even began to refuse missions. Only two people knew why the sudden change had occurred.
***
2033-Two Years Ago
"Martin! Martin wake up you fat bastard!." The boy shouted over the thumping music which filled the air of our massive home. Allen and Martha Lenoir were currently not in town, in fact, they had been deployed on B.V.A business. Leaving the then 15-year-old Kaine home alone.
Or so it would seem. The previous night the boy had hosted a massive block party at the family mansion. Co-hosted by his seemingly one and only friend: Martin Chong, an Asian boy from a neighboring family. Martin was only a year older than Kaine but with the similarity of some of their powers and how advanced Martin was it would seem as if the age gap was much larger. The boy had promised his "pupil" that he would teach him the secret passed down martial art techniques of the Wong family.
"Shut the... absolute double-decker fuck up! Please!" Martin shouted with a grin on his face as he rubbed his cheeks alleviating the wear and tear caused by his deep alcohol-induced sleep.
Kaine smiled back tossing his friend a bottle of water.
Almost seamlessly his perception slowed down tremendously. He watched as the bottle froze in mid-air. The smooth condensation barely escaped the container. Everything was frozen, or so it seemed.
The boy possessed a massive channel of powers and abilities. His most recent: Super Speed. A gene that came with an additional add-on: Super/Slowed perception. He had been tinkering, exploring, and innovating this new power trying to find ways to seam it into his daily life.
As if pressing play on a video, the world sped up and the bottle went through the air and landed in the rugged hands of Martin.
"Thanks. You used your super speed didn't you?" He asked, popping open the lid before gulping down nearly half the bottle in one go.
Kaine chuckled before responding. "Nah, just the perception. I've got to learn the super speed without using "you know what", going fast isn't the issue. It's messing with the world around me that sucks." He explained.
Martin looked puzzled as he tilted and scratched his head.
"So, when you run fast you mess with the things around you?" He asked plopping his head down on a pillow.
Kaine continued pacing left and right as he pondered the full capabilities of this new power.
Clasping his hands together he had an answer.
He sat down beside his bud on the large king bed, inside the white marble room. It was massive for a bedroom, it probably compared to relatively high-market apartments. Not the bedroom of an apartment, but rather the entire apartment space.
"I had ran in a line at perhaps a few thousand meters a second and when I came back the grass was scorched. If I tried to run in here, it would probably mess with the walls, floor, and maybe even the oxygen around us." Kaine said.
Martin glanced at his friend one last time before cracking his joints and stretching as he stood up. He walked to the door of the bedroom before waving to Kaine to usher him out.
"Come on, let's go out."
***
"Now, get in a general fighting stance. I know your old man taught you a few things and I need to see where you're at." Martin said as he and Kaine circled one another in the backyard of the home. It was a large, lush green pasture that provided excellent fighting space.
Following the direction Kaine sat himself up, his left foot forward and right foot back, relaxing his shoulders and putting his hands in front of his face.
"Now, I want you to attack me... Using your full speed," Martin said gaining a surprised face from Kaine.
Pushing his jaw back up from its dropped position, Kaine began his rant.
"Fuck do you mean full speed you crazy fucker?!" Kaine shouted.
Walking in circles pacing he continued shouting at Martin. "I mean do you know what type of shit can happen if I don't hold back? I mean some weird shit happens with newly acquired genes!" Kaine said throwing his arms up in frustration.
"I mean it doesn't make an ounce of sen-", Within a fraction of a second Kaine found himself on the hard, cold dirt, with one arm pinned beside his chest and the other cocked at an angle arms aren't supposed to go with Martins's knee on his neck.
"Can you shut up? I told you to fight me full speed so stop being a lame-ass pussy and do it!" He shouted throwing Kaine's ligaments down before jumping back into his own fighting stance.
Coughing Kaine brushed himself before putting on a much more serious face. He cracked his neck and rolled his shoulders before he too got himself into a designated stance.
With a deep breath, Kaine closed his eyes, upon him opening them the world around him had a blueish-green tint to it. Everything moved almost five times as slow as it would in the "normal" world.
He rushed to Martin, who was still putting his hands up to his head to block his face. Within a fraction of a second, he was before him. Winding up his swing he planned on tapping MArtin lightly on the jaw, yet before he could even release his power he found himself in the same position as earlier.
With his arms either pinned or cocked back, and a knee on his neck.
Bewildered he looked around as he felt Martin's heavy body on top of him. Kaine pushed him off his back and watched as he fell to the ground dirtying his shirt.
"Pft!" Martin spat as he flung and wiped dirt from his mouth. Looking down he noticed the dust and dirt had now infected his shirt as well. "Fuck... you bastard this was my favorite shirt." He said pushing himself off the ground.
Kaine looked down on his friend as he extended an arm to help him up. Smiling he asked.
"How the hell did you do that? I admit I wasn't going full speed, but still, I was moving hundreds of feet per second and we were only a few yards away from one another. How'd you not only watch me but, sense, dodge, and dismantle me?" Kaine asked.
Seeing his friend's disbelief the other teen simply smiled before tapping on his temple.
"I didn't." He said smugly. "You know that family technique I was gonna teach you? I changed my mind. I don't think someone like you needs to know those types of things."
Kaine rolled his eyes as he looked back at his friend. "Anyway, teach me how to box or something. I can throw a skyscraper but if I lose my power how the fuck am I gonna defend myself? I barely know how to fight. Mom and dad said they won't teach me until I'm 18." He said once again pacing.
Martin stood and walked to him, smiling he put his hand on his shoulders.
"Sure, I'll teach you to fight. Cause remember no reason to fear... For I am here!" He said flexing.
Kaine simply shook his head before getting into a fighting stance.
***
"That was fun wasn't it!" Martin shouted over the numbing wind blazing in his ear. Kaine and Martin were now flying over the American coast high above the clouds at speeds that would rival even the most advanced jets.
"Whatever you're saying I can't hear you! So shut up and look forward! I'm only controlling the wind, speed, and direction! So if you isolate yourself from what I'm doing I can't guarantee your safety!" Kaine shouted back.
Only half joking, he was doing the things he had said but no matter what Martin did, or looked at he would be safe. Kaine was controlling the perimeter of the air around him. Which was also the reason Maritn was able to see and breathe so high up.
The duo was now flying over the coat of Florida where the clouds had suddenly gotten dark, the air a bit more charged and dense.
And even worse... Kaine couldn't see Martin, he could feel him, sense him. But he couldn't see him, and what would he know to control if he couldn't see the subject he was meant to control?
"Yo! Kaine fly me back to you! It's dangerous up here!" Martin shouted. Turning to the source of the noise Kaine quickly flew to Martin.
He let out a breath of relief as he saw his friend alive and well.
Grabbing onto Kaine's shoulder Martin began to worry for the duo so high up in a stormy sky.
He began to indicate that he wanted to go down as the sky started to rumble around them.
Kaine simply smiled and looked at the now worried boy.
"Remember when you were beating my ass earlier? This is payback." He said laughing. "And quit worrying I'll protect you." And as if on cue a surge of purple lightning struck only fifty-ish feet away from them. The boom rattled their brains in their skulls.
Kaine's eyes had gone wide as Martin covered his ears trying his best to establish equilibrium.
"Holy shit... That was fuickin' sick!" Kaine shouted as if he were a little kid. He nodded in the direction of the ground where the lightning struck looking at the now flaming trees and burning shrubbery.
They had descended from about 10,000 feet to only a few hundred to watch the carnage then lightning had done. Within minutes either a hero or the rain would put the fire out so for now Kaine decided to simply watch it.
Martin punched Kaine in the chest, doing more damage to himself than the latter.
"What the fuck is wrong with you?! Not everyone is fucking invincible. You dick!" Martin shouted he was clearly scared out of his mind so Kaine took no offense to the words. In fact, Kaine regretted his actions as they had almost gotten his friend hurt.
He looked around awkwardly scratching his head. "Sorry, but chill out, let's keep watching. You know lightning doesn't strike the same place tw-"
The boy who had recently gathered the abilities of super speed and slowed perception could run up to speeds in the ten thousands and fly double that. Yet he was no match for lightning... He could slow things down to thousandths of a second if he wanted to.
And even when he did all he saw was that same Blue-green tint encapsulating his surroundings which now showcased his friend being eaten alive by a large lightning bolt that seemed to gently roll off Kaine's skin, not even ringing his clothes.
But for Martin, his skin had bubbled and blistered, his eyes had quickly exploded in their sockets, and his clothes either ash or melted into his skin. Normally this would not have happened to an individual struck by lightning or at least not to this degree, but this was no normal strike.
This was a strike that had hit a bubble of controlled air. The bubble that had "protected" Martin had turned into an oven for electricity to fry him.
That day was the last day he and Kaine would ever speak to one another again. As well as the last day he would ever speak or see.
Weeks later news had been announced that Martin had survived, his organs had been damaged severely, and he had amputated his left arm and leg to restore skin to his body. Yet besides being happy the prodigy had survived the only thing headlines were talking about was how the boy would never fight again.
Days later the B.V.A had wondered where Lenoir had gone to receive the boy sleeping in a holding cell that he had put himself in. Wearing simple jail officiated clothing, the only thing about his attire that stuck out was a new silver ring attached to his finger and the totally changed personality that came with it.
***
Present Day
"This itch...I'm not better than it, nor am I above it." Kaine said staring at the ring on his finger.
His face twitched and contorting as he tried to hold his wrist to stop it from advancing to the jewelry.
"Maxwell! I know you're here, Code 84-17!" Kaine shouted once more signaling to Maxwell and the agents surrounding him.
Agent Maxwell's eyes nearly popped out of their sockets. "84-17?! What the fuck is this kid doing? Is he back? Shit, is 'the' Kaine Lenoir coming back." The four agents with Maxwell looked at each other, all confused.
Agent Harp was the first to speak up. Holstering his pistol he walked up to Maxwell who was now trying to light a cigarette but was failing to do so with slight tremors in each hand.
"Yo, Maxwell... What the fuck is 84-17?" He asked taking in his supervisor's shaking hands.
With a deep breath, the panic on Maxwell's face vanished. "Get ready to go up," he said nodding at the ceiling above him.
"Roger!" The men said in tandem.
Kaine looked back at the man who had started this itch in the first place. Mr. Nobody simply stared at Lenoir not having a clue what was or going to happen.
"Get out of here!" Kaine shouted, two of his fingers now clasped onto the ring.
Mr. Nobody seemed to believe that Kaine was trying to pull some trick on him.
"Hey, whos Maxwell and what the heck is a code 84-17? You call for backup or something coward." Nobody was now right behind Kaine who had now hunched over trying to keep the ring on.
Not before long the door to the office room they were in flung open.
"Get down now!" Cooper shouted pointing a rifle at Mr. Nobody.
Maxwell rushed to Kaine with a pair of B.V.A issued power-dampening handcuffs, they wouldn't do much but they could hope it would let this current Kaine regain control of his body.
Yet before Maxwell could make it to Kaine the boy suddenly sprung up... and in his hand was a shining silver ring which soon clanked down to the floor.
The four agents and Mr. Nobody watched the spectacle in dazed confusion as they simply had no idea just how dire the situation had become. Maxwell fell to his knees in a fit of defeat as he watched the boy with ghost-like pale skin, snow-bound hair, and deep cherry crimson eyes ascend off the floor.
On his face which for the past two years had either been deadpanned or a slight frown, there was now a wide shark tooth grin as the boy smiled ear to ear.
"Man, oh man... Does it feel good to be back."