James lay motionless on the ground. The muffled sounds of fighting and screaming began to lure him back to consciousness. It was hard for him to gauge just how long it had been since blacking out. A few minutes, a few days, a few weeks?
An intense feeling kept pushing through the haze he was in, calling out for him to wake up. Reality started rushing back and he finally opened his eyes. Only, he opened them to a scene much different from the one they closed to.
Desolation is the only word he could think of to describe the city's state. Every skyscraper was leveled and almost nothing stood intact. All around he could see hero after hero defeated with their almost lifeless bodies scattered across the rubble.
The smell of melted metal and powdered concrete hung heavy in the air as fires burned out of control as far as the eye could see. At first, he was dazed and confused with little memory of what had happened. However, after looking over at the torn casing the Nexus Orb was kept in it all come rushing back.
With his fist and jaw clenched in a burning rage, he screamed out into the apocalyptic scene. "Kazav!"
There was no to reply to his anger.
"Kazav!" He yelled once more. "I know you can hear me!"
It was then that James realized that for the first time in a while, Kazav wasn't there.
He could no longer feel his presence within his mind or heart. Even the comically sadistic vibe he used to carry around in the back of his head was gone.
James sat there, unsure of what to do, unsure of what to think. He was hit with the realization that Sparrow and the rest of the team are still out there. What if they were trapped or in danger? He had to find them, he had to know they were okay!
As he stood up he felt something he had not experienced in a long time. The feeling of being dizzy. All of the things that made him human suddenly took hold of him with a vengeance. Pain, nausea, a throbbing headache, Kazav used to make it so James never felt anything other than powerful. Now that he was gone James wondered if he even still retained his powers.
A small and puny stream of plasma flung from his hands as he tested his theory. It seemed as though he still had some minor abilities despite Kazav no longer residing within him. He staggered and wobbled over the mounds of debris out into the city and made his way back to where the team had been stationed. There was nothing in sight. Just a smoldering heap of half vaporized brick and mortar from the local buildings that had been destroyed.
With no sign of his team around he headed back to the guildhall. He was holding out hope that they would be safe as long as the building stayed hidden by Sparrow's shadow abilities. Much to his horror, the entire building was not only visible, but completely decimated.
He started to call out for his friends, franticly shouting their names. "Sparrow! Static! Owl! Falcon! Hawk! is anyone here? Can you hear me?"
The only sound that could be heard in reply was the crackling of the fires that were burning the city to the ground.
He sank to the floor as a dread gripped his heart. The thought of them being hurt, or worse, was too much for James to take. He began to break down and a torrent of tears rushed from his face and soaked the scorched ground below.
For a moment the only sound to be heard was James sobbing as he set in the dirt, hoping against all odds his friends were still alive. That is until another noise began to echo out into the street. It was the unmistakable sound of boots clicking against the ground.
They kept at a steady pace, clicking louder and louder with each step they took. Through the dust that hung in the air a figure began to emerge. It looked human at first, its form kept obscured by the dust in the air.
The more in focus the figure became the more unusual its silhouette appeared. Jagged spikes and bony plates lined the being's body and its limbs appeared gnarled and spindly. Oddly enough, as the being approached him, he felt a swell of power return and his wound began to close shut.
James looked on in silence as the mysterious being sauntered over. It stopped once it got within an arms distance and just stood there looking down at James in an ambivalent silence.
Now that it was right in front of him James could really see every detail of its disgusting humanoid form. It was an odd mix of bone and sinew strung together like someone just slapped some rotting flesh on a skeleton. Pointed bones jutted out of its back and formed blades on each elbow. Its legs were a writhing mass of muscle and cartilage that went down until it met his feet which were made of a solid, almost metallic material.
Even more freaky was its face. A chiseled and armored plate of blood-red metal clung to the supple flesh that lay just below. Beady black eyes focused right on James and blinked side to side instead of up and down. The entire mask curled up into a bony crown affixed atop its head as if to imply he was king of some hideous nation.
They stayed like that for a time, James looking up at this odd creature while stuck in a state of emotional shock, the being staring back at him with a disturbing and expressionless face.
Then, the being closed the gap and squatted beside him, its bones and flesh clacked and clicked together as it bent down.
A mouth full of jagged, ebony teeth broke into a smile that was as wicked and vile as anything James could have imagined. It extended its wretched arm out and rested it on his shoulder. James wasn't afraid. He was too numb to feel fear.
"Hey, kid," The creature remarked, causing James to flinch.
James mouthed the words silently and began to connect the dots.
"Look kid, before you get upset let me exp-"
Kazav didn't have time to finish the sentence as James struck him in the face so hard it chipped off a piece of bone from his crown.
Everything in front of the punch was torn to shreds as the compressed air shunted everything out like hay blowing away in the wind.
"Fair enough," Kazav gurgled out as he lay embedded in a slab of cement miles away.
Then, pulling his ossein body out from the shattered foundation, he jetted back at James leaving a trail of bright red energy in his wake. Soaring through the sky like a burning missile, he landed behind James who was too slow to react. Grabbing him in his enormous hands he lifted him off the ground and kept him at a distance. James tried kicking and punching Kazav like a child throwing a tantrum but couldn't reach his body.
"James!" Kazav shouted. "I know you're angry at me and you have a right to be but calm down!"
He wouldn't listen to him. Blind rage and agony overtook his heart and compelled him to do one thing and once thing only, kill Kazav.
"Liar!" James cried out as his fist met dead air.
"I'm not lying to you!"
Kazav began to see that words would do no good. He looked on with pity at the sight before him. James was held at arm's length like a cat being held by its scruff, tears streaming down his face as he shouted, "Die you traitor! Die!"
He let out a deep sigh as an odd tinge of guilt began to prick his heart. He decided that since James wouldn't let him speak, he would just have to show him instead.
Reaching out with his other hand he grabbed James' head and began to feed him another vision. With James now in a trance-like state Kazav set him down on the ground to let him see the life-shattering experiences that led him to this moment. Why he lied, why he deceived James, why he stole the Nexus Orb, he wanted him to know everything.
James' eyes closed and the memory began to play.
73Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡahGtrmrgP5
73Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡCQYLi2BQNv
73Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡvIUQOZITi6
73Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡlawV8gUH1g
73Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡsbgWjdBZYr
73Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡe33w0aCE6a
73Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡyjFck3HIIr
73Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2J3NoEUOMc
73Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡrpydNXrFrn
