The Custodes

Chapter 4 - On a Rooftop

Nexus held his bleeding side as he stumbled through the street, cursing under his breath practically every step he took. He was livid with himself at the fact he ended up getting injured, and had even started debating whether going there at all was worth it or not.

Knowing Neo now had friends by his side, who also had powers of their own mind you, was certainly good information to have, but the cost it came at was a fairly steep one. Nexus was thinking back to the whole event, evaluating absolutely everything he did. Practically every move he made was perfect, except from dodging that one red beam.

That's what angered him most.

He'd gone for the toughest looking one right off the bat and thought that that would've been him out for the rest of the fight. If only he'd kept an eye on him while he was dealing with the others, then it would've been so much easier to simply sidestep the attack and move on.

Other than that, the visit had actually gone well for him. He certainly managed to assert himself as a powerful foe, which he always loved doing, but more importantly he'd gotten almost all of them to reveal their powers to him. Of course he already knew about Neo's, but the boy's electricity and the girl's strange metal conjuration were definitely things he'd never seen before; he would certainly keep an eye on them. And the boy with the red powers too. It seemed pretty similar to the attacks Zuro had displayed in the street, but they were also different in a way Nexus couldn't quite define. One thing he was certain about though was the fact that they packed a punch.

The beam had only skimmed Nexus but he felt like his organs were about to fall out of the wound. There was a constant burning sensation inside, which was enhanced by the actual pain of the wound. He was thinking about what he could do to deal with it. There was Quinn, he knew for a fact she had some healing spells that would help, but after what had happened between them he was hesitant to meet up with her so soon, especially while his thoughts about the whole ordeal were such a mess. So instead, he just worked on using his powers to apply constant pressure on the wound and keep it from bleeding profusely.

The pain was immense but manageable, and with the help of his powers he was still able to look fairly inconspicuous. He thought about going home and getting it bandaged up, then meeting Zuro afterwards, but his pride got in the way of that. He didn't have time to mess around, he wanted to secure having Zuro on his side as soon as possible so that he could get back to business.

The man was a strange character to judge. So far his motives seemed to be simply causing chaos, as well as a little bit of revenge, but Nexus had faith he'd come to his aid if he ever needed it. He'd yet to judge the full extent of Zuro's power too. Some news articles spoke about him coming from another world, but Nexus had brushed them off as being simply rumours people had spread in order to sell more stories. Everything about Zuro was human, except from the red eyes, but Neo and Nexus were proof that strange eye colours hardly meant you weren't human. He might end up learning more about his backstory actually, if the two did manage to form this sort of alliance.

As Nexus walked his thoughts drifted to Quinn, wondering what she would've been doing at that moment in time. He suddenly became self aware of such an out-of-character thought, but he couldn't help but go on thinking about her. He thought back to the kiss, and hated himself for feeling a small burst of affection at the simple memory of it.

Fuck.

Maybe she knew it would have this sort of effect on him. That could've been why she was so insistent on it happening. One thing was for sure though, he wouldn't be letting her in on a single smidge of his true feelings. He couldn't allow any sort of emotions to get the better of him. The memory of the things she said in the cafe suddenly hit him - how right she'd been about everything. She was certainly a difficult one to trick, that much was obvious. But no matter how she felt towards him, or how he felt to her, he couldn't let anything happen. He felt no guilt about it, he simply couldn't let her become a distraction - or worse, a bargaining chip used against him.