The Custodes

Chapter 8 - The Wizard and The Woe-Bringer

Ever so slowly Neo's consciousness began to come back to him, and the room he was in started to take shape. He appeared to be in some sort of living room, but it was so run down it could have been a shed in someone's back garden. Everything was made of wood, there was a wooden table with chairs a little bit in front of him, a wooden counter behind that with all sorts of things lining it - bits of food and ingredients, books, items of jewellery and clothing, and even strange objects and gimmicks that Neo had never seen before in his life. There were a few cupboards above it, but other than that the rest of the room seemed to be one big study, that had been adapted to also act as a sitting room and kitchen. Neo found himself near the back of the room, sitting in a chair with his hands bound behind him, and when he turned around he saw the outline of Noah's still unconscious body in a similar position as him, with them both facing back to back. Behind Noah there appeared to have a few more things littered around the room, but it was difficult to see exactly what it was from Neo's position. Suddenly three men entered the living room from a doorway right beside the wooden table that Neo hadn't quite seen before, with one of them immediately moving towards the counter with the other two following behind. The man that moved to the counter appeared to be in his fifties, old but not too old, and to say he was scruffy was an understatement. He had an uneven, clearly neglected full beard on his chin, one that was so uncared for it was joined with an equally unshaven moustache which was close to covering all of his mouth. He had hair that appeared to have been trimmed by garden scissors, since it fell off the sides of his head in strange mismatched ways with different lengths and styles. The clothes he was wearing were all dark brown, giving his apparel a bland look, with his trousers too baggy, his shirt half tucked in, and his coat stained and torn in numerous places. He was fairly tall, not taller than the other men however, who looked considerably younger than him. One of them had blonde shaggy hair, and a strange red tattoo that went vertically from his cheek just up past his eye. He wore a casual red hoodie and blue jeans, giving the impression of a harmless youth, one that his overall demeanour complimented to make him seem extremely unthreatening and far from serious. The third man however, was the exact opposite of the blonde man. He wore a dark cloak, one that shrouded anything he was wearing underneath, and his black hair was styled downwards, loosely hanging over his face. Neo couldn't quite see his features, but just from being in his presence he got the sense that this was no one to be trifled with. Unlike his friend, this person gave off the impression that he could kill you without a second thought and wouldn't hesitate to do so. None of them seemed to notice Neo being awake, so he took the time to listen in to their conversation. "Come on old man, you better pay us for bringing you these guys." The blonde haired, tattoo faced man said, sighing in irritation. "You'll get your money after I've spoken to them." The older man said, his voice rough and slightly croaky. "You always pull this shit. Promising us cash after doing one thing then tricking us into staying around longer." The blonde man went on, though the way he was speaking gave Neo the feeling that him and the other man were at the very least acquaintances. "Hey, I have personally kept you two from living on the streets with the amount of cash I dish out. Would it kill you to show an old pensioner some kindness every now and then?" The man said as he started chopping up something on the counter with a knife. "You and I both know you don't need our kindness to thrive." The blonde man chimed as he crossed his arms, watching the older one work. "That doesn't mean you shouldn't offer it." The man protested, a small grin on his face "Anyway Wesley, I'll get y-" "That isn't my name old man." The blonde haired man said irritatedly, provoking a sigh from the older man. "Sorry, Kyro. I have to say, I prefer the other name a whole lot more." He said, with the dark haired man who hadn't made a sound until then seeming to snort with laughter. "Neo..." Noah's quiet whisper came from behind him, making him jump very slightly. If Noah was awake this shortly after Neo then they were likely knocked out by the same method. Why wouldn't they have been? It was obvious they'd been kidnapped by the same people. "Noah?" Neo whispered back, doing his best to be as quiet as possible so not to draw the attention of the men in the room "You're not hurt are you?" "No, just a little woozy. We need to get out of here, but I have no doubt these guys aren't gonna be too happy about that." "Agreed. Give me one second." Neo concentrated on forming an object in his palm with his powers, and in no time at all a fully fleshed out, sharp dagger of darkness was there. He began quickly cutting away at the rope binding him, then went back to whispering to Noah "When we get free you get the cloaked one, I get the blonde one. The old man shouldn't be a problem." "Why do I have to go for the freaky one?" Noah protested, not liking the look of who he'd been tasked with attacking. "Cause you're the fastest and he's furthest away, meaning you have a higher chance of getting to him before they notice than I do." Neo said, though in reality he was secretly relieved he was going for the far less intimidating of the two. Suddenly he felt the rope come loose, then slipped the dagger to Noah and created a second one for himself. "Tell me when you're ready." He said, to which Noah nodded before going straight to cutting the rope. He managed it with great efficiency, and Neo heard it quietly fall to the floor as he looked back at the men. They still had their backs to the pair, talking away, which meant it was the perfect time to strike. "Ready." Noah said, gripping the blade in his hand "Three. Two. One. Go!" In an instant Noah had bolted around Neo's side and was headed straight towards the cloaked figure, dagger in hand. Simultaneously, Neo jumped from his seat and sprung straight at the blonde man, crossing the room before he could turn around and quickly pushing the blade of the knife knife hard against his throat, glaring at the man who'd kidnapped him. In glancing over he saw that Noah had managed to subdue his friend, all while the old man turned to look with a faintly surprised expression. "Well, you two are certainly feisty." He said, with what seemed to be amusement in his voice "We knew you'd gotten free but we didn't think you'd be as bold as this." "Thanks for the insight. Now if you don't mind, we'll be leaving now." Neo said, trying to step towards the doorway with the blonde man in his grasp, but he didn't budge from his spot. "You know..." He spoke up, agitation clearly lining his tone "...if you're going to threaten someone, you need to make them believe you'll actually do it." He suddenly pushed Neo's arm away from him, then ducked as the boy swung the knife reflexively. Before Neo's swing had even fully passed over his head, he spun to deliver a brutal punch straight into his gut, wrenching a horrible strangling sound from the boy's throat as he dropped the knife and tumbled backwards along the floor. The cloaked man across the room casually slipped the knife from Noah's grasp, since the boy was far less certain about trying to take on both men after watching Neo be so easily dispatched, before setting it down on the table and walking back over to the other two. The cloaked man offered a hand to help Neo up, but the boy ignored him completely and instead clutched his abdomen tight, feeling scarily close to throwing up, before the old man spoke up again "Take a seat boys, we've got something to discuss." He said, motioning to the chairs around the table. "Let us go and...I promise we'll let you live." Neo said from his spot on the ground, though everyone else in the room looked at him with uncertainty. "Yeah, I don't think so." The blonde man spoke, a small smirk on his face "You're in out your depth kid. Plus, we don't want any trouble, so if you choose to play along we'll just-" Neo took the chance to strike again, bolting at the man and swinging a flaming dark fist at him. Without any hesitation the man ducked under it and moved towards Neo, grabbing his other arm and spinning to throw him into the wall as he pinned the arm behind him "Alright, you're starting to piss me off a little bit." "Both of you better cut it out." The old man said, scowling in annoyance "We're getting off on the wrong foot." "Sorry gramps, I never was one for first impressions." The man said, holding Neo for another few seconds before releasing him. The black haired boy looked ready to lunge for him again, but Noah spoke up before he could "Neo, lets just...hear them out, okay?" He watched the other boy for a second as he clenched and unclenched his fists, before giving a slow nod of acceptance. Noah sighed in relief and turned to the old man "First thing I want to know is why you kidnapped us if you just wanted to talk." "I had to ensure I had your attention. I'm afraid it's a tad bit too dangerous for me to spend much time outside in this city, I couldn't risk going out to fetch you two myself with you simply not believing what I had to say and running." The man told Noah, clearly convinced that kidnapping is a normal alternative to basic interaction. "Right, well, you certainly have our attention now. What is it you want?" Neo said, wanting to cut to the point so he could escape wherever he was as soon as possible. "I'll get to that, but like I said, take a seat." The man said, before turning to the other two men "Zeke, Wes-...Kyro. Thank you for the help, feel free to go." "The money, old man, you still haven't given us the money." Kyro said, sighing heavily. "Right, right, I knew that." The old man reached into his coat and pulled out a small, old fashioned coin sack. Neo watched, expecting him to actually take out gold coins, but instead he just pulled out a roll of cash. He counted out the right amount, handed it to Kyro, then dropped it back in the sack and pocketed it again. "Pleasure doin' business as always gramps." The man said with a grin as he and the dark one, presumably named 'Zeke' walked to the door. "Whatever. Hurry and scram." The old man said as the pair walked through the doorway, then out an unseen door before closing it behind them. The old man turned back to Noah and Neo, seeing them still standing, and let out a small grumble "Will you two bloody sit down already. The hired muscle is gone, I'm no longer a threat to you both." "If that's the case, what's stopping us from leaving?" Noah asked, raising an eyebrow. "Nothing. But I guarantee you'll regret it in the future. I want to talk about your powers, like civil people." He said as he sat down at the head of the table, prompting Neo and Noah to reluctantly follow and sit in two seats across from one another. "You know about our powers?" Neo questioned, narrowing his eyes at the old man. "I know a lot of things. All you need to understand is that I can help you control and understand the powers you've come to acquire." The man said, leaning back in his chair now that he has the pair's attention. "How?" Noah spoke up, crossing his arms over his chest as he eyed the man sceptically. "Details like that are unimportant. You aren't the first beings to have held these powers. The powers themselves have seen far more battle than you could ever imagine, and a hell of a lot more bloodshed to go along with it." He said, catching a glimpse of Neo's strange look of disbelief. "Who are you?" The boy asked, staring at him. "My name is Hector, and I'm simply an old man trying to offer some guidance to people with good intentions." He said, with the two boys glancing at each other before turning back to him. "Alright, talk away. It's obvious you don't exactly want to answer questions so we'll do our best not to ask any until you're finished." Neo said, figuring that if he wanted to find out as much as possible from Hector he'd have to let him talk. "Much appreciated. Now, where to begin." Hector mumbled, scratching his chin as he looked down in thought "You've been trying to take on that...alien terrorist person, am I right?" "Zuro, his name is. And you say that like we plan it. We just refuse to stand by and let him murder innocent people." Neo defended, watching Hector quizzically despite listening intently to him. "I believe you. Problem is, Zuro doesn't like that, as I'm sure you're aware. He's been toying with you so far, it's the only reason you're still alive. It's a gamble between life and death each time you encounter him, one you'll inevitably lose. In order to stop that from happening, you need to learn what you can do with your powers. You and the other four outnumber Zuro immensely, he can't handle all of you at your full strength." Hector spoke to both Neo and Noah, watching as both of their brows furrowed at the mention of their friends. Before either had the chance to ask about it, he began talking again "In order to achieve this you need to put trust in your powers. Let your mind go blank, don't think too hard about what you're actually doing. Everything will come on pure instinct. You'll get better over time, and training will play a large part in it, but for now just do what I say and trust your powers completely. They'll guide you well, but they won't make you invincible. Keep all of that in mind and eventually you might stand a chance against Zuro." There was a moment of silence in the room as the two boys tried to take in everything they were being told "So wait, you're saying in order to stand more of a chance we need to be less focused?" Neo asked, confused at the concept of his powers fighting for him. "No, no, you're not getting it. Not less focused. You have to be far more focused, but you can't spend time considering every little move you're going to make. Let your movements come naturally, but still have control over them. In a few years, maybe months your mind will become as quick as your instincts and you'll be even more powerful, but like I said right now trust alone is enough." "I'm afraid you're not making much sense..." Noah said, sighing slightly as he watched Hector. "Oh for fuck sake. You know what, I've told you all you need to know. What you do from this point on has nothing to do with me." He said, crossing his arms as he leaned back in his chair and huffed grumpily. "You haven't answered any of our questions. Maybe if you did we'd understand better." Neo said, trying to reason his way into finding out more about the man, though he didn't seem to budge "I tell you anything more than what I have, and I guarantee you'll end up with far more questions than answers." "Now you're just being difficult." Noah chimed, with Hector scowling at him "Listen kid, you lot don't even have the first clue what's going on in this city, maybe if we cross paths again I'll tell you more but that is not happening right now." Neo and Noah exchanged another glance, while Hector seemed to calm down slightly and relax in his chair. "Why are you helping us?" Neo asked questioningly, looking over at Hector. "Hard as it might be to believe, I'm one of the good guys. Consider me an ally, and trust me when I say you're gonna need as many of those as you can get." He explained, which Neo gave a small nod of his head to. "You mentioned crossing paths again. If we ever want to seek you out, how will we?" Noah pondered aloud. "For now, I'll be the one to seek you out. I don't intend to start having regular visitors." Hector said, though he didn't sound as resentful to the pair now "Anyway, I've told you enough. Off you go, have fun saving the city or what." He waved his hand dismissively and when Neo opened his mouth to object, Noah spoke first "I think you're right. We should be on our way." He stood up, ushering Neo to do the same, which the boy did reluctantly, before turning to Hector "Thank you for the help, I'm sure it'll be useful for us in the future." "No problem." Hector said, somewhat beaming at the praise he's receiving "I can assure you this won't be our last meeting. Feel free to find your own way out." He said, motioning to the hallway Zeke and Kyro left through earlier. Noah nodded and walked out of the room, with Neo following behind and giving Hector one last look of curiosity. They made their way to the only door in view down the hall, opening and leaving through it and immediately entering the open air of the city. They were in an alleyway, different to the one that they had been abducted in, but when Neo turned back to look at the door he found nothing but a regular old wall. "What the-...how did he do that?" The boy questioned allowed, placing his hands against the wall and giving it a shove, but it seemed as solid as any other. "He seemed...very strange. And secretive. We'll just have to add it to the list of things we don't know about him." Noah said as he watched Neo, before sighing and turning to leave the alleyway. Neo prodded the wall for a few more seconds, trying to find any sort of door-like feature, but in finding nothing quickly grumbled and walked after Noah. They figured out where they were from the street they'd opened up into, and their walk to Neo's apartment building continued like nothing had ever happened. "What do you think about what he told us?" Noah asked Neo as they walked, with the other boy shoving his hands in his hoodie pockets and shrugging "I don't have the slightest clue. He could be talking complete crap for all we know." "You're going to give it a try though, right? Trusting your powers the way he said?" Noah watched Neo questioningly, with the boy eventually giving a small nod. "I don't see why not. I doubt it'll put my life at any more risk than it already is." He told him honestly, looking up at the buildings around them as they walked. "I wonder how he knows everything he does. It seems clear that there are things going on in this city we don't fully understand yet." Noah said, thinking back to Hector's choice of words during their conversation. "You really think so? Honestly, I'm leaning more towards the 'He's just a crazy old man' viewpoint." Neo replied, which Noah gave a small snort of laughter at "I think he knew too much for that to be the case. He had a strange sense of wisdom about him, maybe when we meet him again he'll reveal more to us." "Hopefully. Until then, we should just focus on keeping Zuro at bay." Neo said, before stifling a sudden yawn. Noah raised an eyebrow and glanced over at him, noticing this "You're tired?" Neo turned to look back at him, then nodded "You'd think it wouldn't be the case after waking up from a coma. Maybe whatever those two guys injected us with is still in my system." He said with a shrug, which Noah matched with a sigh "Who knows. Those were very extreme methods to get an audience with us though." "I know right? Fucking could've just asked us to follow them." Neo said, clearly irritated about the way they'd both been attacked. "Well, I suppose the end result was the same. I wonder who those two people were anyway, we probably should've asked." Noah stated, with Neo nodding in agreement "Hector paid them so my guess is they're both some sort of mercenary. I can't say I've encountered anyone else in the profession but there's some pretty shady stuff that goes down in this city, so who knows." "Stuff is really that bad?" Noah asked, since Neo seemed to have a far better idea of the shady side of things in the city. "Yeah. Say a delivery gets messed up from one guy to the other. The one that didn't get his shit might want to teach the supplier a lesson, therefore mercenaries would be useful for that, if they didn't have any friends or gang members to turn to instead. That's the only thing I can think of. I've done a few deliveries myself, luckily they haven't gone that badly before though." Neo explained to Noah, who looked incredulous at what he was being told. "Anyway, if we're lucky we won't encounter those two again. I'm still pissed at how easily he put me down." Neo said with a growl, annoyed just by thinking back to it. "You were pretty reckless going for him that second time." Noah chimed with a chuckle "Maybe if you'd trusted your powers you would've put up more of a fight." "Oh fuck right off." Neo said, laughing genuinely as he shook his head "I'm actually set on trying that next time I get the chance. Prove our crazy or not theory about Hector. If it works, you think we should tell the others?" Noah thought for a second, considering this "I think there's no harm in it. Though if I'm honest, Synthia might be the only one it applies to. Kelsie's healing looks to be about as good as it's gonna get and Axel is pretty limited with his anyway. Kayla is-" He paused, turning to glance at Neo as the other boy turned to look at him sceptically. "Kayla's what?" He asked questioningly, with Noah quickly shaking his head "Its not my place to tell you the details. Didn't you ask her about it when you two walked home?" Neo began thinking back to his and Kayla's conversation, but he was sure nothing about her powers had come up. "It must've slipped my mind. I suppose I'll just ask her when I get the chance." "Yeah, do that. Though I have no clue when that'll next be." Noah said honestly. Neo looked down in thought at this, trying to figure out any hints at what Kayla's powers were. She seemed to be quite a secretive person, and all the time he'd spent living just a few doors away from her he'd never noticed anything supernatural about her. Then again, she probably never noticed the same about him. What could her powers possibly be that would merit such secrecy from Noah? She'd been completely absent from what had went down in the hospital, so he couldn't use that to judge what she could do. He guessed the only effective way of finding out was asking her directly. Maybe he'd stop by her place on the way to his apartment. The pair turned down the street and Neo spotted his apartment building up ahead. Once at the front entrance Noah stopped, flashing a small smile to the boy "I'm sure you can make it the rest of the way yourself." "You never know, could get drugged and kidnapped on the stairwell." Neo said with a grin, as Noah chuckle heartily. "Thank you for all your help Noah. I appreciate it a lot." Neo said gratefully, while a happy smile appeared on the other boy's face "Anytime. Take it easy, I'll see you around." "Seeya." With that, Noah turned and started walking further down the street, while Neo entered the apartment building. He climbed the stairs much slower than usual, since his body still felt drained, but paused as he reached Kayla's door. He looked, considering the possibility of talking to her for a second, then before he knew what he was doing he was in front of it, knocking fairly loudly. Silence came from the other side of the door, and Neo starter to assume Kayla and her family were asleep. That was when he realised that it might actually be one of her parents that would answer, and then he'd have to explain himself. He'd heard the shouting from the day he'd seen Kayla stand outside, but surely her family couldn't be that bad. Just as he was deciding between knocking again or leaving, there came a quiet shuffle from inside the apartment and the door silently opened just a crack. Kayla's hazel eyes locked with Neo's black ones from the other side of the door, and then they widened in shock "What are you-!" She quickly silenced herself, as though realising the raising of her voice "Get away, you can't be here." "Aren't your parents asleep?" He looked at her with a curious expression, though hers was still slightly panicked and uncomfortable. "Just leave, Neo. Please." She looked down and away from his gaze as she spoke, and for a second he saw a look of shame flit across her features. "Okay...I'm sorry for the mistake." Neo said with a small nod, moving to step away from the door. "I'm glad you're awake." She said quickly, still speaking in her hushed whispery tone "But I just-...it's not the time, we can talk somewhere that isn't here. Bye, Neo." Just as he was about to reply the door slid shut again and her next to silent footsteps receded, before Neo let out a small exhale. Maybe he was an idiot for knocking on her door out of the blue, but the way she had acted so was different to the way he'd seen her before it seemed almost surreal. If they did end up talking later, he'd definitely have a few things to say, but for now it was better to just head back to his place to turn in for the night. He walked towards his door, silently thanking his past self as he retrieved the spare key from under the doormat, then unlocked it, returned the key, and slipped inside. He shut the door behind him and glanced around the room as he entered, though it was impossible to miss the tall, red eyed man standing in the centre of his apartment with a slight smirk on his lips. "So you're alive are you. You seem to be-" Before Zuro even had the chance to finish his sentence Neo shot a trio of beams straight at him, which he dodged inhumanly fast without so much as raising his hands. Neo didn't stop there. He fired four more beams, then, as Zuro moved to dodge the fourth, jumped right at him, sending a burning fist at his head in hopes that he'd catch him off guard. His fist was caught without any trouble and the flames snuffed out, so he rapidly threw another punch with his free hand at Zuro's jaw. It connected, causing his head to snap to the side on impact, but other than that the blow seemed to have practically no effect. Any normal person would most likely have a broken neck after taking such a hit, or a broken jaw at least, but for Zuro it seemed to be about as lethal as a regular slap. "You're weak. I expected better." The man said, before his palm suddenly struck Neo right in the chest. The boy let out a choked wheeze of pain, before he flew straight backwards through the air and smashed into one of his shelves. Neo lay on the floor, struggling to get his breathing back to normal, then looked up at Zuro as he walked over at a menacingly slow pace. He grabbed the black haired boy by his hoodie and yanked him up into the air, causing him to be level with his face as he dangled in place. "I came here to find out exactly how strong you were." Zuro said, staring grimly into Neo's eyes as he did "You survived the hospital, but I'm starting to think that was just luck. Do your best to impress me, otherwise I might just kill you out of boredom." Neo was hardly listening to what Zuro was saying, instead he rapidly raised his hand, created a sharp blade of darkness around it, then sliced it clean down on top of Zuro's wrist it hopes it would loosen his grip. It looked like the blade was about to connect, but in the last second Zuro retracted his arm, allowing Neo to fall to his feet, then quickly spun his foot through the air and sent it flying at the younger boy's head. Neo saw it coming just in time and raised both arms to block, coating them in darkness as Zuro's foot connected. Although his powers stopped his arms from shattering completely, the force was enough to send him flying back against the wall, slamming against it as he let out a cry of pain. Zuro didn't give him time to breathe, advancing rapidly on Neo, but the boy quickly turned and sent a darkness covered foot at his rib cage. Without hesitation Zuro grabbed Neo's leg, then a smirk appeared on his face. Effortlessly he lifted Neo by his leg, then spun before he even had time to react, releasing his leg as he threw the boy right at the wall. While Neo was flying through the air at an alarming speed, he did the first thing he could think of to brace for impact - cocooning himself in darkness just like he did at the hospital. He felt himself smash straight through the wall and fall for a good few seconds, before coming crashing down and colliding violently with the street below. He groaned in strain, but the pain from the fall was nowhere near what it would've been without the cocoon. Surviving it alone was a miracle in and of itself, but he had far bigger things to worry about. On pure instinct he conjured his dark mask to appear over his face, then quickly threw his hood up as he watched Zuro blast out of the hole in the apartment building. Somehow he had the ability to dive precisely and rapidly through the air, almost like he was flying, as he headed straight towards Neo with his arm readied in front of him. The instant he started moving towards him Neo crossed his arms in an X shape, solidifying them with darkness just as Zuro's fist connect violently to the centre of them. A huge boom sounded around the street from the impact, and Neo was suddenly sent flying into a nearby car. The windscreen broke as he collided with it, but he didn't give himself time to process the pain as he scrambled to get away from it. Zuro stood a few metres away, his face completely void of emotions as he raised a hand and pointed it at Neo. Red beams began firing at him straight from Zuro's palms, and Neo knew first hand exactly what would happen if he let them connect. He rapidly conjured a dark wall to rise in front of him, blocking the beams, but after a third one hit it shattered completely and soared past Neo's head. The boy cursed as he began bolting down the street, darting in and out of parked cars as Zuro continued firing beams, though it was obvious that he was missing on purpose. Neo ducked behind one of the cars, waiting for Zuro to approach, then as soon as he did he jumped to the side and sent a trio of his own dark beams at the red eyed man's torso. He dismissed all of them with three quick movements of his hand, catching them all in his palm and completely nullifying them. Neo cursed and suddenly conjured a dark blade in his hand, then foolishly bolted at Zuro, hoping to catch him off guard. He slashed violently at him, aiming for his head first, then trying to stab his torso as soon as the man ducked under the blow. Zuro quickly caught the blade with one hand, inches away from his chest, and when Neo tried push it a tiny bit further he was met with nothing but resistance, as though Zuro simply holding it firmly negated all possibility of him moving it forward. The blade was quickly pried from his hands, with Zuro spinning it to hold it by the hilt and point it lazily at Neo "I'm surprised you're still putting up a fight. I expected you to give up and die a good while ago." Zuro spoke calmly while Neo glared at him, trying to do all he could to ignore the feeling of fear creeping up his back. "I won't stop fighting, Zuro. You'll either kill me, or I'll kill you. And I'll do all I can to achieve the latter." Neo tried to speak confidently, but he noticed his voice had a slight quiver to it as Zuro aimed the blade right over the boy's heart. "How inspirational. You seem to overestimate exactly what you can do against me. You stand no chance, and this is where your heroic facade ends." Zuro pulled back the sword, like a cobra preparing to strike, then thrust it cleanly forward as Neo fruitlessly raised his bare hands to block it. In a flash however, with the sudden sound of metal scraping against some sort of tough material echoing down the street, the sword was deflected and batted to the side, stopping it from strike Neo as a figure appeared between him and Zuro. It only took a second for Neo to recognise Noah, despite his strange bright blue looking mask that covered his entire face bar the eyes, and left his hair to flow freely at the back. Whatever the mask was made out of it seemed to pulse very slightly, glowing brighter for a millisecond before returning to normal over and over again. Neo could only guess it was made from Noah's electrical powers, and the same could be said about the long, sturdy looking object attached to the boy's forearm. It looked like a sort of shield that came directly from his arm, with a sharp spearhead like tip and the edges curving inwards slightly a few inches away from his arm. Neo also realised that the shield must've been what blocked Zuro's blow, as he managed to spot the blade sliding precisely off the edge of it and missing Neo's entire torso by a good distance. Zuro let out a tsk of annoyance, but before he managed to attack Noah the boy spun and sent a flurry of attacks right at the man. His shield remained on his arm as his other hand lit up with buzzing electricity, then he began swinging both at Zuro faster than Neo could even see. The red eyed man was taken so off guard that he didn't think to block, and Neo watched as his head snapped backwards, upwards, and sideways depending on where Noah hit him. He finally came to his senses and put up a hand to grab Noah's fist, but just as it was about the meet with Zuro's palm, it dipped downwards and cracked him straight in the rib cage. Despite the amount of blows he was taking, Zuro's feet remained planted on the ground firmly where they were. Noah continued attacking, until the man suddenly let out a shout of anger and bolted right at the younger boy. Noah let out a gasp of shock, unable to react in time as Zuro's fist smashed into his chest and sent him skidding across the street, falling and tumbling violently. Neo watched this happen, then bolted over to Noah to assist him in getting back up, but by the time he got to his side the boy was already on his feet and brushing himself off, his expression of pain unseeable through his mask. He really did move quickly. "How the hell did you fight like that?" Neo asked, standing side by side with Noah as he turned to watch Zuro glare at them, then begin to stride over. It appeared as though the man wasn't the least bit affected by Noah's attacks, but on closer inspection he did seem like he was a little bit flustered. "Hector was right Neo, trust your powers. You hardly even need to move on your own, just think what you want to do and they'll pretty much take care of the rest." Noah told the boy, flexing his fingers as he got ready to go at Zuro again. "You figured it out that quickly? Fucking hell...alright, I'll try it." Neo said, watched as Zuro suddenly spun into action, darting right at the pair of them with his fists ready. Noah moved far more quickly than Neo, bolting forward to meet Zuro as they started to clash. Zuro swung a fist at Noah's head but the boy ducked clean under it and sent a jab of his own at his chin. Almost as soon as it connected he jabbed his shielded hand forward, causing the tip to slam into Zuro's chest, but once it had the man grabbed a hold of his arm and raised his elbow above it, about to strike down onto it which would most definitely deal some damage. Suddenly however, a dark barrier appeared between Noah's arm and Zuro's elbow, causing the latter to smash clean into it and preventing it from hitting Noah. Neo didn't waste time after that, lunging at Zuro as he smashed a dark fist into his ribs. The man hardly flinched, taking the hit as he spun and swung his fist downwards onto Neo, sending it right at the boy's head. Neo's body cancelled out its momentum in that moment however as his head swung backwards, narrowly avoiding the fist. After that, a smile appeared on the boy's face, and almost immediately he knew what Hector meant about trusting his powers. He willed himself to go on the offensive again, and that's exactly what happened. His body automatically coated a foot in darkness and struck out at the side of Zuro's kneecap, connecting loudly with it though still not doing enough to knock him off balance. Zuro huffed and spun to swing his fist at Neo again, but the boy ducked clean under it to avoid it completely. Before he had the chance to throw a counterattack, Noah ran past Neo in between him and Zuro, using the momentum of his run to swing his fist right into the side of Zuro's face. The man let out a slight grunt at that one, and even took a step back as he reached up to hold his jaw, an amused look appearing on his face. "You two are certainly putting up a good fight." He said as he watched them both, his lips curved up very slightly in a smile. Neo and Noah stood side by side, standing defensively to wait for Zuro to strike again, but for now it seemed like he just wanted to antagonise them. "What do you want Zuro? You're clearly far from human, despite looking so, so tell us what motives you could possibly have." Noah said to him, breathing heavily after the amount of energy he'd exerted from fighting. Zuro's gaze turned to lock directly on Noah's, his cold red eyes staring at him as his smile widened just a tad "You've peaked my interest, boy. What's your name?" Noah shifted slightly, but tried not to let it show how unnerved he was by Zuro's gaze "What does it matter?" "Well, it's common curtesy I think. You already know my name, so why shouldn't I-" "Enough of your fucking toying." Neo growled, cutting of Zuro as his fists clenched and darkness swirled around them "Your motives don't matter to me. You killed innocents, and because of that I-" Zuro suddenly shoved his palm out towards Neo's chest, and although it was a good few inches away from connected, the boy was still hit with some sort of red wave that sent him shooting backwards into the side of a building before his body could even react. The instant he landed red glowing tendrils appeared beside him on the wall, rapidly pulling tight around his wrists and throat, leaving him suspended in the air against the building. Neo struggled, his legs thrashing as his breath started to leave him, but soon enough the tendril around his throat moved and instead wrapped around his mouth. "That was rude of him to interrupt, don't you think?" Zuro spoke, lowering his hand as he turned his attention back to Noah "Now, answer my question before I lose my patience and slaughter the pair of you." Noah stayed perfectly still, trying to evaluate what he could do. Realistically there seemed to be only three options. Save Neo, attack Zuro, or play by the man's rules. The safest one definitely seemed to be the third, so reluctantly the boy spoke "Noah. My name's Noah." "And his?" Zuro asked, nodding his head in Neo's direction as the boy continued to thrash and glare. "Neo. Now why don't you answer mine." Noah said, figuring he may as well try and get some information of his own while he had Zuro's attention. "Ah yes, my motives. Well I suppose I'll start broad. I came to this world to accumulate a certain object, one I doubt you've ever come into contact with. I searched for a while, but something wasn't quite right. There's something stopping me from finding it, a metaphorical barrier that's been built to keep me away. So, I made plans to ask the people of your world, though I didn't want to stoop so low as to cone into contact with you insects without at least asserting my presence a little. That's when this troublesome maggot came in." Zuro scowls as he motions to Neo again, though overall seems to manage to control his anger "I came here using a certain artifact, a band that when worn allows its wearer to transcend the border between worlds. I was ignorant in the sense that I failed to realise it's fragility, and in my first encounter with...Neo, he destroyed it completely. I have no way of getting back to my world, even with this object I'm searching for, so I've settled on doing all I can to torment and disrupt the people of this world and their regular ways of life. But, now I've realised there's a certain few who actually provide some entertainment to me. You people with your powers, and the way you act so selfless in the eyes of the public. I can't wait to crush your spirits, especially his." Zuro locked eyes with Neo, speaking directly to him now "For you, I plan to make you experience hell itself. The only reason I was in your apartment when you arrived was because I wanted to test out your skills, just to be sure you weren't actually a threat to me. I think now it's painfully obvious that you aren't, which means the fun can begin. I don't know where to start first - maybe I'll visit an orphanage or blow up a homeless shelter. Only time will tell." Neo eyes lit up with anger, and he let out a muffled shout as he began to pull harder than ever at Zuro's red tendrils. Dark swirls began to envelop Neo's arm, starting with his hands then slowly moving down and adding to the amount of strain he was putting on the tendrils. They suddenly snapped completely, setting Neo free, before he lunged at Zuro with a murderous gaze. The man's eyes filled with surprise, though he still watched with amusement. Neo swung his still darkness coated arm forward, sending a huge swirling blast of darkness at Zuro, who quickly raised a hand to catch the attack. It slammed into his palm, but surprisingly caused his feet to skid slightly as he was pushed back by the force. He hardly even had time to process that Neo had actually made him move before the boy continued his attack by punching with a violent uppercut the second he was close enough. Zuro dodged backwards, swiftly avoiding the punch, but Neo was extremely quick and refused to give him a second to breathe. Numerous punches came in quick succession, each burning intensely with a pure dark void. Zuro repeatedly moved his hands to block the attacks, but it seemed like he was simply batting them away with his palms rather than trying to stop them from coming. Noah moved to join Neo, in seeing he seemed to have somewhat caught Zuro by surprise. He moved behind the red eyed man and began blasting bolts of electricity at him, but his reflexes were too quick for any of them to land. Despite Noah's rapid shots and Neo's quick as lightning blows, neither of them seemed able to land a hit on Zuro. Surprisingly however, Neo was starting to drive the man back, actively causing him to take a few steps back repeatedly in order to avoid all the attacks coming his way. Zuro was effectively dodging everything without throwing any counterattacks for a good few seconds, until he suddenly lashed out with a punch at Neo and spun to kick Noah. Neo moved his arms up and managed to block the hit without being thrown back, which was actually a surprising feat for him, while Noah crossed his arms in an X and took Zuro's kick head on. The boy stumbled back and lost his footing as a result, something Zuro used to his advantage. He turned and fired a red beam straight at Noah's side while the boy lost his composure, but all of a sudden the boy was gone from his spot on the ground completely. He rematerialised with a zap a few feet beside Zuro, with the man's gaze quickly spinning to lock on him. Noah was about to throw a punch but before he could Neo's black fist cracked clean into Zuro's rib cage with so much force that if it had hit any regular human it would've been shattered completely. For Zuro however, it was only enough to merit a small groan of annoyance, before his fist had swung right at Neo's head. The boy ducked instinctively to avoid it, which was when Noah sprung right back into action again. He splayed his palm wide then threw it forward, creating a huge webbed electrical net that fell over Zuro's head. The man hadn't been expected such a method of attack and was therefore caught off guard, but that didn't stop him from immediately grabbing the net and ripping it off. It seemed Noah's electricity had practically no effect on Zuro, like he was simply grabbing silk rather than actual live, sparking bolts. Zuro spun on his heel to send a beam at Noah, but just as he raised his hand to a huge beam off darkness came crashing into him from behind. The force was enough to cause him to jostle  forward, then spin to face Neo with a glare. "Enough." He spoke, planting his feet firmly on the ground as he crossed his arms finally. Neither Neo nor Noah seemed willing to comply however, as both of them readied another attack, but before they could Zuro's arms outstretched again towards each of them, sending large red tendrils flying rapidly from his hands. They moved so quickly through the air that the next thing the boys knew they had collided straight with their chests and knocked them both violently to the ground simultaneously. "I said enough." Zuro hissed, glaring at either one of them for a second before he calmed himself and his lips returned to a perfectly straight line "I'm done with you two. For now. It's clear, even after your sudden burst of defiance, that you can't harm me." He looked at Neo as he said this, and the boy's face twisted in anger as he looked right back "Trust me, far more pain is to come for you both soon enough. You don't understand the meaning of torment." His smile transformed into a maddening grin, before in a single instant he became engulfed in that glowing red colour of his, then disappeared completely without a trace.