The Custodes

Chapter 32 - Of Shadow And Flame

Neo
Neo's head was ringing as he lay on the floor of his apartment, scattered concrete and debris all around him. It took him a few seconds to gather his senses and remember what happened, but when he had his head immediately shot up and looked around the room. Unfortunately, dust was everywhere and not a thing could be made out - Neo had to rub his face with an equally dusty arm just to have any hope of seeing. "Kayla?! Noah?!" He shouted out to his two friends as he frantically tried to clear his eyes, resulting in little more than making them sting violently. Upon sucking in a breath he began coughing and hacking violently, immediately trying to get rid of the cement particles that he'd unwillingly inhaled. "Neo?" Kayla's voice came from not too far away, near the door of the apartment, but Neo couldn't risk opening his eyes once more until at least some of the dust had settled "Noah and I are okay, what the fuck happened?!" "I don't-...I can't see, Rose said-" Neo began coughing once more as he tried to speak, quickly placing a hand over his mouth to prevent any more accidental inhalations "Did she say...something about a car?" "Yeah." Noah's voice rang out from beside Kayla, followed by a violent string of cough "Yeah she definitely did." From the way he said it, Neo knew Noah had noticed something he was missing. He rubbed his eyes with the inside of his shirt, then slowly let them slide open as he took in what was in front of him. The room was dark, but chunks of concrete and plaster had been scattered all across the floor and practically every object in the room had been flung from its original position upon impact. Neo saw Kayla, still laying on the floor as she coughed into her arm, then Noah who had stood up and was looking across Neo's living room. All three of them were covered in dust, cuts and grazes, and other flecks of debris - though luckily it didn't seem like any of them were badly injured. Neo's gaze followed his friend's, until he spotted the one object in the room that was just slightly out of place. The entire front of a car now took up the majority of the living room, with only a quarter of the vehicle remaining outside the large, gaping hole left in the wall of the apartment. Outside the streets were still dark, but the brightness of the street lights helped illuminate the otherwise pitch black apartment - since the main light had been completely destroyed from the car's collision with the wall. "Rose? What's going on, is Zuro still outside?" Noah asked as he pressed the button on his earpiece, concern lining his voice at the notion of his girlfriend standing right in the middle of what was about to become a battlefield. "Yeah, yeah he's-...he's just waiting. He's watching the apartment." Rose's voice came through the comm, as Neo met Kayla's gaze before looking up at Noah "He knows we won't run. Zuro isn't a very patient man, we need to face him before he starts taking his anger out on civilians." Halfway through Neo's sentence Noah began speaking into the comm once more, as Kayla slowly pulled herself to her feet. "Rose? Rose, you need to get out of there. Run, now! Head home, we'll handle everything else!" Noah practically shouted into the comm, starting to wade through the apartment towards the large hole as though ready to fight Zuro alone. "Noah, wait!" Kayla said, scrambling to grab the boy as Neo hurriedly pulled himself up as well "We need to think of a plan." "We haven't got any sort of plan! The only one we had has gone to shit, now we just need to go and face Zuro head on." Noah said, though it was obvious he was simply making up excuse so he could ensure Rose's safety as soon as possible. "And what about every other fucking civilian, huh?! Things are about to get very messy, we need to hurry up and-" "NEO CAHYA!" Zuro's voice suddenly boomed so loud from outside that the building around the trio almost seemed to shake at the sheer volume, instantly cutting off any conversation that was currently at hand. Neo looked between his two friends, trying to swallow his nerves as he held their gazes, before he strengthened his resolve and started to move towards the car. As he tiptoed over the debris however, he caught a glimpse at a slightly strange, see-through material and quickly moved to uncover it. The Zuro Killer lay there in amongst all the rubble, as pristine and untouched as ever, and without hesitation Neo moved to pick it up. His heart dropped ever so slightly in finding that it still refused to show any sign of activating, but he wouldn't let that stop him from doing what he needed to do. "We need to get the civilians out of here as soon as possible. Kayla, you and Rose need to start going building to building and getting them to evacuate. Get the police on the line too and get them to help you. Do NOT let them engage Zuro, but if they do then we'll try keep them away." "THREE!" Zuro's voice boomed once again from the street, but Neo seemed completely unperturbed by it. He held a finger to his comm, hoping to reach either Milo, Quinn, or Kelsie on the other line "Milo, Quinn, what's going on over there?" He waited for a second, not hearing the slightest of response from the group "Kelsie? What's happened to those two? Is Nexus still there?!" Again, nothing, but Neo didn't have time to dwell on it since Zuro bellowed once again "TWO!" He glanced at Kayla and Noah, seeing their concerned expressions that looked almost on the verge of grief. "Something's happened to them, but we have to hope for the best. Noah, you're with me, we're gonna hit this prick with every single trick we have up our sleeves and try buy some time for some sort of backup to get here. If they don't...we'll figure it out as we go. Right now, keeping Zuro away from civilians is the biggest priority." "Neo I want to help." Kayla spoke up, looking at Neo with a slightly timid expression at the notion of him and Noah facing Zuro alone. "You will be. Please, Kayla. If people die it's on our hands, I need you to-" "I know, I know...okay." By her expression Neo knew she still wasn't wholly convinced, but she was going to do as he asked regardless. "ONE!" "Noah?" Neo said, glancing at the boy - and spotting a grim, determined look plastered across his face. "I'm with you to the very end." Was all he said, but that was more than enough for Neo "Alright then. Take us outside, before Zuro blasts this entire building away." Noah nodded, before placing a hand on Kayla and Neo's shoulders and teleporting them out in the street, which looked surprisingly normal for what was about to go down. Except for the crowds, that was. A couple of people had exited their homes and were standing about the street, pointing in awe and fear at the car penetrating Neo's apartment. But that was only a couple. Majority had their attention drawn to Zuro standing in the middle of the road - likely thanks to his booming voice - and more than enough of them had recognised his face from the news reports. People were screaming and running in every direction, abandoning their cars or hurriedly getting in only to speed down the road in the opposite direction from Zuro. At least they weren't standing around filming him. And strangely enough, it seemed Zuro hadn't disturbed a single one of them. No beams fired, no brutal mutilation, just him - alone, and in his human form - with the widest grin imaginable on his face. The trio stood further down the road, in amongst the chaos of the nearby civilians, all three of their eyes locked on Zuro. "There's bound to still be people in those buildings." Kayla said, seemingly reserved to her job now "We'll get them out. I'll make sure Rose is okay." With that, she hurriedly kissed both boys on the cheek before running off in the other direction. "Stay alive!" She shouted back to them, but both Neo and Noah didn't so much as glance back at her. At least she was safe, Neo thought. Now, he was about to find out how long it would stay that way.