"You…You're-"
Before the man wearing the visor could continue, Ronan snapped out of his trance.
He dashed up the stairs, his heavy footsteps apparent in the loud floorboard.
The boy slammed the door to his room as the man clicked his teeth jogging to the staircase.
He made sure to keep his guard up, walking slowly up the stairs as he spoke.
"Listen to me, Kid. My name is Alexander. Believe it or not, but I'm not here to kill you."
Alexander knew the irony in his statement after the boy watched him kill his caretakers, but he continued anyway.
"Nothing that is happening is your fault. You just happen to be related to an individual I'm after."
"The same one who left you at the orphanage where you were raised."
Alexander half expected there to be some sort of reaction, but as he now stood on the second story, silence still prevailed.
"This is new information I discovered just a few hours ago. If you just give me a few minutes, I can explain everything."
-BANG
Alexander kicked the door open, practically blowing it off its rusty hinges.
However, as he stepped into the clean and neat room, he was quick to find it was empty.
With the only hiding place being the closet, Alexander could already see it wide open, empty, with only a peculiar amount of photos on the wall.
However, he did notice one thing.
That was the window wide open, the night wind entering the room and disturbing whatever warmth was inside.
"Damnit!" Alexander cursed, dashing to the window and sticking his head outside.
'Did I overdo it? Was he so scared and desperate to get away that he jumped off a second story?'
Alexander thought to himself, seeing the height. There was no way the frail and skinny boy he'd seen made it out of it unscathed…
-CREAK
-SLAM
Alexander paused, slowly turning his head like a rusty robot, seeing the door to the room half closed, different to when he passed it.
'He was behind the door…then this window…'
The realization dawned on Alexander as he contorted his face in annoyance, dashing out of the room and down the stairs to see the front door wide open.
***
-SNAP
-STOMP
"Huff…huff…huff."
A boy with a white shirt and tie, suit pants and formal black shoes dashed through a dense forest.
With no regard for his surroundings, he leapt through thick bushes and kept running no matter whether the terrain was muddy or heavy with sticks and twigs.
'A little more…'
Ronan thought, seeing the street lights not too far away.
And as he did, he widened his eyes as the dark forest he was in suddenly illuminated with a familiar bright red colour.
Ronan instinctively looked back as he ran, his eyes quickly moving upward as he witnessed a figure shooting through the air above the tall trees.
With a bright red glare from his visor, like headlights to a car, Alexander soared over Ronan, his eyes turning to the ground below while leaving behind a luminous trail.
-VUAMMMM!!!!!
Ronan placed his forearm before his face due to the intense wind as he witnessed Alexander shoot into the ground with a massive beam, so powerful it allowed him to gain some balance in the air, lowering slowly until his feet touched the ground before Ronan.
Ronan, his eyes widened, froze as he stared at the figure before him lowering his hands, staring at him.
Countless thoughts ran through his mind.
His heart beat rapidly as he could feel his knees were weak.
He'd never felt this to such an extent in his life. Not even when the Grangers used to beat and abuse him.
But now, he felt like he was being suffocated, cornered like prey before their natural predator.
It was fear.
He was scared.
"Enough tricks. Don't take what I said for granted. You don't have to have your legs to be alive." Alexander spoke with a straight face.
Ronan said nothing, his eyes focused as he soon moved his lips.
"That's right, you need me alive, don't you…"
-CLICK
Alexander furrowed his eyebrows as he witnessed Ronan pull a revolver from his waist, holding it by his side as he pulled back the safety.
However, before he could do anything, he widened his eyes as Ronan pressed the barrel of the gun to the side of his head.
"If you take one more step, I'll pull the trigger."
Alexander paused, taken aback as he stared at the boy's face which showed little indication of dishonesty.
"Keep your hands by your side too, away from the goggles," Ronan demanded, remembering him having to press the side of his skull to activate it.
His chest moved up and down rhythmically, breathing from his mouth as his green eyes stayed sharp.
"Why are you after me? What does the League of Hydra want with me?" Ronan asked while staying vigilant.
"This has nothing to do with the League," Alexander answered, continuing.
"This has to do with…people I put before the League. Hell, I'm only in the League for them..."
"Then who and why?"
Truthfully, Ronan didn't care much about all this.
Of course, he wanted to know why this was happening all of a sudden.
However, it meant nothing if he couldn't find a way to escape.
And the thought of believing the man and trusting him didn't even occur to him.
Trust? It was a hopeless last resort.
'I might as well be praying on your knees, begging for mercy.'
He just needed a single second, a window of opportunity.
"If I were to explain that, we'd be here all day."
"But what you should know is I am technically a member of the League. And that means a lot."
Ronan stepped back as Alexander said this.
"I could have an army of Ninjas here in just a few minutes."
"I can give the command to shoot down a laser far more powerful than mine from a satellite we have in space."
Saying this, the colour on Alexander's visor started to change from its menacing red to a bright green.
"Or I could take this opportunity to test our prototype technology. I'd like to see how close to the original we were able to replicate."
"How would you like to truly be isolated?"
Ronan wondered what he meant by this, but didn't ask.
In fact, throughout this all, Ronan kept staring, never blinking as his hand shook a little.
Despite this, he didn't falter.
The two stared at each other, none speaking as the natural sound of nature prevailed.
The hoots of owls, the chirping of crickets and most prominently, the gentle gust that made the leaves rusted.
The same gust that assaulted Ronan's wide eyes, causing him to instinctively blink.
And as he did…
-VUAM
-CLICK
Ronan froze like a statue, only his finger moving, pressing onto the trigger with constant clicks.
But it was too late as one could see a burning diagonal cut slicing through the revolver as the upper part started to slide off, hitting the dirt ground with a heavy THUD.
Ronan turned to the gun, seeing it was useless.
"Nice try, but you're not faster than a laser. So don't even think about running either."
Alexander spoke, the colour of his visor returning to its red as stomped toward Ronan.
Alexander grabbed the boy's forearm tightly, turning as he scowled.
"You actually tried to kill yourself? You're an idiot. What did you think was going to happen…"
As Alexander pulled Ronan, he was met with resistance as the boy stayed anchored, causing him to pause in his words and turn back, grinding his teeth with his visor glowing.
However, Alexander paused as he turned back, his eyes staring down the barrel of a gun.
'He…another…'
"This."
Ronan, his green eyes never changing, his heart racing as adrenaline coursed through his veins, a result of this moment of do or die, every cell in his body vibrating with anticipation, finally pulled the trigger.
-BANG!!!
-CRACK
"ARGH!!!"
Alexander yelled in pain, still alive.
Ronan saw it. At the last moment, Alexander jerked back his head in an attempt to dodge.
But he wasn't faster than a bullet, and so the bullet pierced into his face, shattering his cheekbone and exiting through his cheek on the other side.
At least, that's how it looked to Ronan.
He had no intention of staying to inspect the wound as he turned, bolting toward the exit to the forest.
He sweated heavily as his legs barely kept him up, shaking heavily as his eyes stayed glued to the street lights.
Despite this, he still pulled up the gun, pointing it backwards.
-BANG!!!
-BANG!!!
-BANG!!!
-BANG!!!
-BANG!!!
-CLICK
-CLICK
-CLICK
Ronan emptied the chamber, continuing to pull the trigger even after he could hear the clicks through his heavy breaths.
He could hear Alexander's yells intensifying, assuming a few of his bullets hit.
But as the street lights neared, he wasn't going to stop…
"I'll kill you!!!"
A feral howl rang out throughout the forest as the darkness of the night was interrupted by a bright green glow.
Ronan kept running. He was so close, the nearest home being only a ten-second sprint away.
However, a shiver ran down his spine as all-time seemed as if it slowed, his head turning as he witnessed a green laser inching closer toward him, even faster than his thoughts as he widened his eyes at the inevitable.
-VUAM!!!
-THUD
"KHRM!!!"
Ronan dropped to the ground with a hard THUD, laying exactly between a gap where shallow scorch marks ended, continuing diagonally where his neck was, running up a tree…
No, that wasn't right.
There was no gap.
If one looked closely, the trail simply continued on Ronan's body, his clothes burned.
Starting at his hip, it ran diagonally across his torso, stretching up his neck and ending just before reaching his face, at his jaw,
But what was most notable was the fact the scorch marks were illuminating with a swampy green light, patterns that looked eerily similar to circuit lines branching off the wound.
'What's happening…'
Ronan groaned, a little noise escaping his lips as he failed to move his body.
He frequently seized, his body twitching relentlessly as he struggled to even breathe, his lips simply moving up and down as if to grab the air escaping from his lungs.
Not that he could notice.
No, he was rather writhing in the pain that felt as though his nerves were being torn apart, then repaired to be mangled once again.
The circuit lines travelled up his body as the white in his eyes reddened.
Though only seconds were passing, it felt like hours to Ronan. An endless torture that was slow and only got worse as time went on.
'I'm dying…'
Ronan internalised this fact.
He usually had a plan for things.
Whether it was his situation at home, school or life in general and the future.
But he'd never even thought of what he'd do or feel at death's door.
And now, he did know.
He was angry.
Pure rage that he felt even through the torture.
What had his life been?
He was nothing more than a cockroach with no meaning, no purpose, leaving nothing behind once he died.
He had the means to do it.
He had proof of the abuse he'd endured from his adoptive parents.
He could make them regret what they did.
He could have challenged the government, the country for treating him bad product to get rid of, then the whole world.
Why the world?
Because…he could.
Because he wanted to.
He wanted them all to know who he was. What he could do.
To know he was…more.
More than them. More than they'd ever seen before. A one of a kind.
Not a chosen one, but one who chose himself.
[Initialising…]
Chose himself to be at the top.
[Completed!]
Chose himself…to be the best.
[Vincent Von Doom has woken from his slumber]
And so, at that moment, Ronan's green eyes glowed brighter, something burning inside him.
[A Fragment has been unlocked]
It was a combination of Determination and desperate Ambition.
"Fucking twerp…"
Alexander stood over Ronan, holding his shoulder which fashioned a nasty bullet wound.
The same with his leg as he balanced on his other, all while his face adorned two holes on each side.
It took all his willpower not to stomp the boy to death.
'I didn't think the Techbane would be so lethal.'
He stared at Ronan's body on the ground with loathing, anger filling him as he soon winced in pain.
'I should…'
However, as he looked back, his thoughts paused as a shiver ran down his spine upon witnessing Ronan's green eyes glaring at him, the boy's head perked up.
There was something about the eyes…it was as if they had sustenance to them, making Alexander feel a certain way as he stared.
"You…"
Ronan muttered, raising his hand.
[You have unlocked a Fragment]
[Your latent Psionic talent has flourished]
[Due to your current conditions, you have unlocked the sub-ability Technopathy]
"Die."
Ronan muttered, his green eyes burning brighter as he felt something rise from within him, like a string that tethered his mind to the visor on Alexander's face.
With this, Ronan closed his hand as Alexander widened his eyes.
-BOOM!!!
The area all around the forest completely shut down.
The street lights suddenly turned off while all lights peeking out of the neighbourhood houses disappeared.
It wasn't just that.
TVs, phones, computers, hell even the electricity suddenly all disappeared.
And so, just like that, in a large radius within the city, all light disappeared as the natural darkness of the night rightfully took its place in its twin's absence.