The Custodes

Chapter 35 - Death On Every Front

Neo

The air was thick with tension and fear. All eight of them stood perfectly still; the only sound that emitted was the collected thump of their hearts against their chests. What the hell is happening? Neo had been afraid before. When Zuro first showed up; when he and Synthia were stuck under the hospital; whenever he lay awake at night thinking about the horrors those people at the day-care had experienced , to name a few. But this was something else. It was like something built into his genetics - like he was being forced to be afraid despite already knowing the small chance of survival he'd had going in. Was it something all humans were programmed to do? From the reactions of his friends, Neo would have guessed yes no matter how helpless that answer made him feel. Were humans simply creatures who, when faced with something so many leagues ahead of them, were expected to merely curl up into a ball and beg for mercy? Because in that moment, that's what Neo's body was telling him to do. He wanted to curse his instincts all to hell, but Hector's lessons echoed in his mind. Trust your instincts. For a split second Neo thought that perhaps, Hector had been secretly telling him to surrender all this time. The absurdity of the thought hit him straight after, but it never cleansed his hands from the shakiness that had overtaken them, or his shoulders which sagged as though defeat was inevitable. If Neo couldn't break out of his nerves he had no hope of fighting, so he turned to what he considered as his last resort. Zuro was slowly moving - beginning to stand - and as he did Neo focused on his red, sculpted face and focused on associating all Zuro's horrendous misdeeds with it. The people he killed when he first arrived, the innocent girl who's life he threatened just to get Neo to show himself, everyone in the hospital he tried to torture for his own amusement. And then the big one. The one Neo could recall to a tee; every detail and every drop of blood implanted in his mind as though it was his own doing. He tried to rile himself up, force some of that deep rooted anger out from within him. But all he could see was the helpless, horrified faces of all those people just before they died. All of them had their lives snuffed out in an instant. And there was nothing Neo could do to stop it. What made him think he could stop it now? His knees shook beneath him - threatening to collapse as a wave of overwhelming defeat came crashing down on him. There had been times in the past where Neo questioned if his attempts at taking on Zuro had all been futile child's play - and that the only reason he still lived was for the man's own twisted amusement. He'd never actually taken the time to  consider that notion; until today. There was nothing to fight for anymore. Justice was a crude concept - only the strong survive, and Zuro was the epitome of strength. Neo knew that better than anybody. His hope was shattered, his burning anger quelled in its entirety - and that's when Zuro began to speak. "Perhaps now some semblance of a realistic outlook has finally graced you all." The voice was grating, every word travelling to their ears like a fist punching cleanly through a wall. It was far from Zuro at his loudest, but Neo was certain that at his own loudest he wouldn't be heard over Zuro's quietest voice. "Have you realised the futility of your efforts yet? My reserves are long gone, which means that I now hold the fate of this world in the palm of my hand." Zuro stood unbelievably still, but his stance and voice were as firm as each other. He wanted to be heard and acknowledged, so he was making them hear and acknowledge his words. Neo could see Kayla and Synthia in the corner of each eye. He suddenly felt the urge to reach for one of their hands, to provide them both - and himself - with some small element of comfort here at the end. But he held back. For what reason, he didn't know. "I have been touched by your pitiful display of your techniques, so I am offering you this single, final choice." His voice filled with the hints of a dangerous warning, emphasising his threatening manner to the fullest "Lay down and abandon your foolish resistance. Some of you I will grant a peaceful death here and now. Others I shall allow to live on; perhaps as slaves, or perhaps as pets. Whichever suits the world I am going to craft best. Or, alternatively, you can choose to perish. Forgotten; wiped away like the small speck of mould you are. I am not a patient man, especially in this form, so I would advise you make your choices quick." Neo's gaze flickered across the street to Noah and the others. The boy's eyes wouldn't move in his direction; Noah was apparently having the same crushing epiphany that Neo had. All of his friends were practically frozen to the spot - Neo felt like he was the only one with the ability to move his feet. "I do hope your minds haven't broken." Zuro stated tonelessly, regarding each of them with a cold, concealed stare which revealed nothing about what he was thinking. He finally moved, turning to peer behind him at where Noah stood. "I had expected some sort of last ditch effort from you at least." He said, the tiniest hint of a patronising tone coming through his voice "How disappointing. This'll make the next bit far less-" Zuro stopped speaking right as a large black beam collided with the side of his face, an attack that could've gone through a solid wall of concrete as easily as a bullet through paper. Every eye turned on Neo. It seemed like no-one could quite believe it, least of all him. But while the other's were in disbelief at the attack itself, Neo's was directed towards the effect it had. Zuro turned, ever so slowly, until his gaze fell straight on Neo; allowing the boy to get a good look at all that his attack had done. Nothing. Not a single thing. There wasn't so much as a drop of blood - the skin wasn't broken in the slightest. Neo was almost convinced the attack had missed, but no; he'd seen it land himself. Was this the true power Zuro had been concealing this whole time? The red-skinned man's mouth twitched ever so slightly, before it opened wide into a full blown grin - putting Zuro's set of jagged, piercing teeth on full display. "Ah. There it is." Neo felt like he should still be scared. He'd just launched as strong an attack as he could muster and it did literally nothing, but an odd calmness had come over him thanks to the little speech Zuro had given. Neo was ready to give up - to run away and hide and let someone else deal with the problem he faced. But then Zuro went and opened his mouth; and Neo was reminded of exactly who he was talking to. True form or human, the man beneath was still the same. The man he knew deeper than any of his friends, who's life he had experienced in the exact same fashion as his own. And in that moment, having achieved this hidden understanding that no-one else could ever gain, it all of a sudden dawned on Neo that he still hated Zuro more than any living person on this planet or another. And that was enough for him to continue fighting. Regardless of how hopeless his resistance was, Neo was going to spend his final breath opposing the sick bastard who'd been the bane of his life since first arriving on their planet. Even if his friends weren't there, he would keep fighting. So that was what he did. His shadow armour solidified on his body and a helmet fell over his face as he shot off from the ground - a burst of shadow from his foot propelling him forward straight towards Zuro. Neo didn't yell a thing; his mind and body was so focused on the goal in front of him that he didn't acknowledge anyone or anything around him. As he neared Zuro he saw him remain perfectly still, his grin still plastered on his face. A screen of shadow emitted from his palm, firing straight into Zuro's eyes as Neo landed, then instantly darted to his side - keeping low as he slammed a shadow-coated fist into the man's ribs. It felt like punching a concrete wall with his bare fist. The red skin didn't shift in the slightest despite all the power behind the blow; nothing seemed to be able to get past it. Neo refused to be deterred - he conjured up a dark spike on the tip of his gauntleted fist, then back stepped back towards Zuro's front to try and deal any sort of damage. Out the corner of his eye he could see Zuro's face, staring blankly down at him as he reeled his fist back, then fired it towards his chest with all his might. The blow didn't even land; Zuro's foot cracked against Neo's side with unparalleled speed and in the next instant the boy was gone - having crashed straight through the wall of one of the nearby buildings. And that was that. "As I was saying." Zuro turned his attention back to the rest of them, who were all still frozen in either fear or shock and watching everything unfold in utter silence "Surrender or death. The time to decide is up." "CHAROOOOON!" Neo burst from the hole in the wall, eyes ablaze with black fire. Zuro's features twitched ever so slightly as a surge of irritation moved through them - though it was impossible to tell whether that was at Neo's interruption or the use of his real name. Neo launched towards the man again, but this time Zuro moved to intercept him. Hatred filled both their gazes as they neared each other, before Zuro claws slashed downwards to skewer Neo where he was. The boy disappeared into his shadows, only to reappear a second later once the slash had gone straight through him. His hands grabbed Zuro's arm, before Neo moved in mid air to swing his leg around and press his feet against Zuro's side and neck. At a sideways angle, Neo used all his strength to push back and yank on Zuro's arm as hard as he possibly could - trying to rip it cleanly out of its socket. The results were exactly as he should've expected. Despite the exertion of what felt like every cell in his body, the only thing Neo actually accomplished was clinging to Zuro's arm. With a snarl the man raised his arm - moving Neo with it - then swung it overhead and smashed the boy straight into the ground. There was enough brute strength behind the move to embed Neo cleanly in the concrete, but the boy's armour served to protect him enough so that he didn't break his spine upon impact. Zuro's foot shot down straight after, but Neo had the sense the put up a sort of shadow-bubble shield just in time. A second later Zuro's claws were tearing through the shield like it was paper, and Neo began rapidly reinforcing it to try and prevent him from being able to reach. With a roar of anger Zuro fired a beam at the shield - and the blast was so powerful that it shattered instantly, charring the ground around it black with the sheer heat. The shield fell away to reveal that Neo was gone, but as the boy reappeared behind Zuro the man was already turning - a clawed hand shooting out right towards Neo's throat. The boy could only see the gleaming tips of each finger moving right in front of his eyes, but he knew the slash was coming so fast that it would be impossible to avoid. Panic filled him as he waited for the searing pain to fill his throat, but all that he received was a sharp cut across his neck before the hand fell away. It took him a second to realise that Zuro had moved; the man was nowhere to be seen, swept away by some immense force that Neo felt brush past him. He looked to his right in the direction the blast had come from, finding Kayla standing with anxious eyes - though when they saw Neo unscathed they brightened with relief. Without a word Neo's head flicked back in the opposite direction, finding Zuro halfway across the street and pinned under a car. He didn't remain there for long. Zuro tossed the car aside like a human would a thin blanket, before standing back up and flexing his wings once again. "Time girl." His eyes landed on Kayla and Neo grew immediately tense, waiting to intercept any attack he tried "You will die alongside him. I have no place in my new world for foolish children." Kayla didn't say anything, but just like Neo her resolve seemed to be steeled by Zuro's taunting words. The man bent his knees very slightly, before he pushed cleanly off the ground and flew straight towards her with a flap of his wings. Neo waved his hand, conjuring a wall of black, but Zuro tore through it like it was nothing and continued unperturbed. Neo watched in horror as he neared the defenceless Kayla, but at the very last second a flickering figure appeared beside the girl before both vanished with a faint hiss. Neo's mind was moving at a mile a minute. He didn't waste time trying to figure out what happened, instead his eyes scanned the street, finding Noah and Kayla safely out of harm's way, before he took off running at Zuro ready to fight again. Another hiss sounded to his right, drawing Neo's attention to where Quinn and Milo had just appeared mid-run with him, before another sounded to his left as Axel, Synthia and Noah all materialised in the exact same fashion. A surge of relieved adrenaline filled him in seeing them all released from their stupor, but he didn't linger on the fact for long as his gaze returned to the unmoving Zuro. Upon missing his attack on Kayla he merely stood in place in the centre of the road, his giant wings hiding most of his form as he faced the other way. Neo was sure they'd be able to do something now that all of them were together, he just had to ensure they didn't-