The wind howled through the rocky mountain pass, whipping Steve's jacket around like a flag caught in a tornado. He skidded down the uneven trail, his breath coming in ragged gasps. Ahead of him, a young couple sprinted for their lives, their panic palpable in the crisp air.
"Please!" the woman cried, her voice cracking as she glanced back over her shoulder. "We didn't mean to! We swear!"
The man beside her tripped over a rock, stumbling before regaining his footing. "We didn't know! Please, just let us go!"
Steve's boots crunched against the loose gravel, his face set in grim determination. "Not gonna happen," he growled, picking up speed.
The couple screamed again, the woman's hair flying wildly as they darted around a jagged boulder. Their breaths were loud, panicked, and uneven—perfectly matching the frantic beating of Steve's heart. He could see the sheer terror in their eyes whenever they dared to look back, scrambling in sheer desperation as they ran for their lives.
"I said we're sorry!" the man shouted, his voice shrill. "It wasn't on purpose! Please, just let us explain!"
"Explain?" Steve barked out a humorless laugh. "EXPLAIN? Oh, I'm dying to hear this."
He was closing in now, only a few yards behind them, his teeth gritted. The couple slipped through a narrow crevice between two jagged rocks, squeezing past just as Steve slammed into it. He paused for a second, his body barely fitting through the gap.
"Don't you dare think you can hide!" Steve shouted, pulling himself free, eyes darting around the mountainside. "You can't outrun this!"
The couple emerged on the other side, the drop ahead of them a dead end—a cliff that fell hundreds of feet down into a misty abyss. They skidded to a stop at the edge, turning to face Steve, trembling as he slowly walked toward them. The mountain wind roared past, carrying their pleas like whispers into the void.
"Please," the woman sobbed, dropping to her knees. "We beg you. Just let us go. We didn't know—"
"Oh, cut the drama," Steve interrupted, rolling his eyes. "This isn't about what you didn't know. You crossed a line. A sacred line."
He took another menacing step forward, his shadow looming over them.
"Steve, no!" The man held up his hands, his face pale and drenched in sweat. "We'll do anything! We'll make it right!"
Steve leaned in, his voice low and dangerous. The air seemed to still for a moment, the tension palpable.
"You can't take back what you did."
The couple gasped, trembling.
"You…" Steve paused dramatically, narrowing his eyes even further. "You played that horrendous music during the climax of I Want to Eat Your Pancreas. The most emotional part of the movie! And you thought blasting your EDM mix was a good idea? Right. Outside. My window?"
The couple stared, wide-eyed.
"I was at the ENDING!" Steve thundered, his voice echoing across the mountain.
"It was just one song—" the man began.
"ONE SONG?!" Steve's voice boomed, his face twisting in disbelief. "It was Kygo happy now on full volume while I was in TEARS! I waited MONTHS for that moment. You shattered it in three seconds of synth-pop."
"We're sorry!" the woman pleaded, clutching the man's arm. "We didn't know it was that important to you!"
"Didn't know? DIDN'T KNOW?!" Steve threw up his hands. "You've been my noisy neighbors for three years! You've trashed the hallway, you've hosted loud parties on work nights, you left your junk in front of my door! I've been patient. But this? Ruining Pancreas? This was personal."
The man slumped against the cliff wall, his face a mix of disbelief and exhaustion. "It's just a movie, man—"
"JUST A MOVIE?!" Steve took a deep breath, his face turning red with rage. "No, it's not just a movie! It's a masterpiece, a journey through life and death, through love and loss! And you two destroyed the one moment that was holding my sanity together. You didn't just spoil the moment, you spoiled my whole emotional catharsis!"
"We'll re-watch it with you!" the woman pleaded, her voice trembling. "We'll sit through the whole thing again! We'll even pretend to be surprised at the ending!"
Steve's face darkened, his expression hardening. "You can't un-feel an emotional moment once it's been ruined, Debbie. It's the law of binge-watching. And I was invested. You stomped on that, and no amount of fake surprise is gonna fix it."
He took another step forward. The couple pressed their backs against the edge of the cliff, the woman's hands trembling as she gripped the man's arm.
"You should've thought about that before you decided to have a rave while I was having an emotional breakdown!"
"But Steve," the man whimpered, "it wasn't on purpose! You didn't say anything!"
"Oh yeah, 'I didn't say anything.' Classic excuse," Steve muttered, shaking his head. "You didn't even try to ask. You didn't knock. You didn't check in. You just cranked it up. And now, well… there are consequences."
The wind picked up again, whistling between the rocks as the couple clung to each other, teetering dangerously close to the precipice. Steve sighed, his rage briefly replaced with a weary exhale.
"Look, I want to forgive you," he said, his voice lowering. "I really do. But some betrayals… they just run too deep."
Steve smirked, his hand slowly inching toward his jacket pocket as the couple trembled before him, their backs against the cliff. The moon hung high above them, casting an eerie glow across the desolate mountain.
"Please, Steve," the man stammered, his voice shaky. "You don't have to do this! We'll fix everything! We'll even soundproof our place—"
Steve chuckled darkly, shaking his head. "Oh, you think this is about soundproofing?" He took a step closer, his grin widening. "You think I dragged you out here to talk? No, no, no. What do you think I'm gonna do to you in the middle of nowhere, at midnight?"
The couple flinched, tears welling in their eyes.
Steve leaned in closer, his voice dropping to a low, ominous growl. "I'm gonna dance with you."
They blinked in confusion, momentarily caught off guard. "Dance?" the woman whispered.
"Yeah. A dance," Steve said, his eyes cold. "A last dance, with the sound of regret as the music."
Tears streamed down the woman's face as Steve's hand slid into his jacket, gripping the cold steel of his gun. But just as he was about to pull it out—
CRACK!
A deafening roar echoed through the mountains as a brilliant bolt of lightning split the sky, slamming into Steve. The force knocked him backward, his gun flying from his hand as his entire body convulsed from the shock. The air crackled, the intense flash illuminating the night for a split second.
The couple stood frozen in disbelief for a moment before the man grabbed the woman's hand. "Go! NOW!"
They scrambled to their feet, sprinting away as fast as they could, their breaths ragged as they disappeared into the darkness.
Steve, sprawled out on the ground, smoke rising from his singed jacket, blinked slowly, trying to regain focus. His head throbbed, and the world spun around him.
"What the…?" he mumbled, his voice weak and raspy. "What the actual—"
He coughed, staring up at the sky. "Why? Why is it always me?" he groaned, before his eyes fluttered shut, and he slipped into unconsciousness, the distant sound of the couple's footsteps fading into the night.
Steve groaned as he pushed himself off the ground, the cold bite of the night air sobering him up from the dizzying haze he had been in. His head was pounding, and his entire body felt like it had been trampled by a freight train. The memory of what had just happened started to trickle back—dragging that terrified couple out here, the gun, the lightning. And then... *that*.
"Stupid," he muttered, rubbing the back of his neck. "So *stupid*."
He had failed spectacularly, and now all he could think about was the police case that would inevitably follow.It wouldn't take long for the authorities to start piecing it all together. His mind raced as he considered his next move. He didn't have much money on him, hadn't even thought to bring a proper getaway stash.
"Such a drag," he sighed, standing up slowly, his legs shaky but functional. "Now what? Run through the woods like a wannabe criminal mastermind?"
Still groggy, Steve began walking through the dense forest, trying to avoid leaving an obvious trail. He had no idea where he was going, but he figured getting as far from the cliff as possible was a good start. Maybe he could hide out somewhere, steal a car—anything to stay ahead of the inevitable manhunt.
As he trudged through the forest, something caught his eye. The moonlight glinted off of something in the distance. He squinted, realizing the trees ahead were burned—charred at the edges, with a huge crater in the ground nearby. Steve stopped dead in his tracks, his heart skipping a beat.
"What the hell?"
The crater was massive, and the surrounding trees had been scorched by something. The ground still looked fresh, like whatever had caused the impact had just happened recently—maybe even when he was struck by lightning. His mind immediately jumped to crazy conclusions. An asteroid? A meteorite? Or worse, a spaceship?
He snorted at the thought, shaking his head. "Oh great, now I'm in a bad sci-fi movie. Maybe aliens are responsible for my terrible luck," he muttered, forcing a smirk.
He moved closer to the crater, curiosity overtaking his sense of self-preservation. "Why not, right? Isn't this what every protagonist does—ignore all the red flags and go straight toward danger?"
As he approached, he noticed something lying at the center of the crater. It wasn't a ship, not by a long shot. Instead, it was a small, metallic container—about the size of a volleyball, perfectly smooth, and slightly glowing in the moonlight. It looked so out of place, so... otherworldly.
Steve raised an eyebrow. "Well, well, well," he said, crouching down next to it. "What do we have here? My childhood dream of finding the Omnitrix is finally coming true?"
He chuckled at his own joke, but the reality of the situation quickly set in. This wasn't just some random chunk of space rock. Whatever this was, it had to be the reason for everything that had just happened—why the lightning struck him, why he failed, why the air still felt charged with static.
"Alright, Steve," he muttered to himself, reaching out tentatively. "This is either going to be the worst decision of your life... or the best."
His fingers brushed against the surface of the container, and in that instant, a sharp jolt of energy coursed through his body—nothing like the lightning bolt from earlier, but something different. It felt... alive.