I'm Not Myself (Bolt and Paradigm)

When your loved ones do something bad to you, or insult you, or humiliate you, it hits harder then with strangers. It leaves a scar that can be so easily reopened. You never forget, even if you do forgive. What is the real person? Is it the one that loves you or the one that did this horrible act? Lucas had asked that at least once about each and every one of those that claimed to care about him, mostly about his father Lucius though. The man was complex, that much Lucas could make out. He was sad, hurt, angry...... Lucas never blamed him for what he did, because he understood. He had felt that rage inside him, that grief. It was nearly overwhelming, and Lucius dealt with it on a daily basis. It was a wonder how he stayed so collected. But then again, it was a wonder how Lucas did as well.

Sure Synthesis had been subdued by The Blood Tithe, but that didn't mean Lucas stopped feeling it's effects. There was an itch, a powerful drive to let it overtake him again. He could barely stand it at times. Things that he would normally be alright with sent a surge of aggression through him, people he normally loved he had the intense feeling of wanting to hurt. It was hell, but he fought it off. No normal will could even dare try, but it seemed Lucas had an extraordinary one. He never let it hinder his day to day life, and he always stayed positive.

Lately he had been thinking about something. Redemption. Not his on, per-say, but perhaps his father's. He felt truly obligated to make up for his deeds, despite him never doing them. But then again, maybe it was the guilt he had for the times he lost control. He had hurt people, including his brother. Under all this, he was a monster, just like his father. And also like Lucius, it wasn't his fault. He wanted to be good, he didn't want to let the darkness inside him take control. So, he had to set out on his own quest. To redeem, to remain good, to stay who he truly was.

He wanted to help people to help himself. He knew his bloodline, his genes, they all went against his drive to remain in the light, and so he had to make sure he never fell. This is why he was here, in Chicago, on a rooftop. Yes, heroics were cliche and dangerous, but he couldn't think of anything better then this to help him stay on track. He wore a hooded longcoat over simple pants and a shirt, as well as a mask that covered his mouth and nose. With the hood up, he was confident it would do the job of hiding his face. Not that he needed to, considering the fact he wasn't really in the public eye all that often and he pretty much had immunity in America with Belarus and Rise at his back. Still, it completed the outfit well.

It turns out crime is sorta hard to find sometimes. It took hours. He thought he would be fighting some metahuman in ten minutes, but no, all his walking and searching brought him nothing for quite awhile. Eventually he just took out his phone and had Hector hack the police department's computer system to find a weapons trade in progress, one with metahumans involved. The cops said they would wait it out and let the group split before making contact because of all the muscle. Seemed to be perfect. He eventually made it down to the warehouse where this trade was supposedly happening, lurking in the shadows as he listened in.

"You said twenty AKs, now there are only twelve in this shipment?" One of the men said, who was wearing an all black suit and was flanked by a large brutish man and a much smaller, blue and black suited man. They were trading with the local Korean gang, who all had their typical red and black fancy attire on.

"Yes yes, i know what i said. But things don't always go as planned. We managed to get six M16s to make up for it." The leader of the Koreans said. This got a scoff from the black suited man.

"I thought Asians were good at math. That doesn't make up for it. We are cutting two thousand from your payment." The man said, clearly angry. The conversation went on, and Lucas waited for an opportunity to make his move. He held a simple long sword at his side, and other then that had nothing but his wits and his reflexes. This was either going to go extremely well or extremely horrible.

Chicago, a city Alexander had come to love as far as just the overall splendor of it was concerned. Alongside that it was considered one of the best cities for one to begin their heroing career, considering that one group of heroes had managed to make New York their turf in a manner of speaking. All in all, there were so many reasons for him to love his city more than anything else,  save for the crime that appeared to be running rampant. Even with new York rebuilt, it appeared they were less than ready to move out of a comfortable position, unless they were rooted out. Honestly, he knew the idea itself was pretty stupid to really even attempt to try on his own. It had been a good few weeks since his last heroic gig, one even with another fellow meta-human and he was excited. Another chance to sharpen his own skills in the process, well that was a plus.

”You have got to be kidding.” Alex chuckled into his cellphone, settled in his car which was for the moment parked out in a rather unimpressive looking area. It was thanks to a little ingenuity on his own part that he got wind of a little illegal activity going on, something that he could swoop in on at the right moment to deal with. His feet were rested on the dashboard, waggling side to side occasionally, as he chatted amicably into his phone to pass the time. One of his friends was talking about some girl they were interested and he pretended to be interested, even if he was only half as intrigued as he let on. Granted they weren’t exactly the brightest, he wouldn’t go out of his way to chase off someone that he actually enjoyed talking to.

”Yeah, I gotcha.” He nodded, his eyes following any vehicle that even vaguely followed the description of what he was looking for. His detective skills were not exactly amazing, but he made sure to hammer specifics into his head to avoid missing anything. The cops were going to wait this one out, however that was not the plan for the young hero. He had an idea that he would be able to take everyone down in an instant, before even any guns could be fired and that...well would give him some notoriety in at least the police side of things. In his mind, everyone liked having their jobs made easier and no on really liked getting shot at. Not exactly flawless logic, but then again that wasn’t really ever expected from him in situations like this.

”Alright listen, I gotta go. Important things came up and they require me not being on a phone. So i’ll catch up with you later.” This took around a minute, but he managed to free himself from the conversation. It appeared that his time had come and so he would make his own move. Changing into his costume was seamless, taking only seconds to dig the thing up and actually put it on over his civilian clothing. From there, he bolted out of the vehicle and quickly closed the door as he was nothing more than a streak moving through the streets.

As usualy, criminals decided to operate out of nondescript warehouse as if that was not the most cliché thing to do or maybe they were aware of that. Trying to take advantage of the genre savy trying to out genre savy them sounded viable when he thought about it. Just trying to make logic out of his own mental mess was enough to give Bolt a headache, so he tried to avoid that he was found a position that would let him over look the meeting. It was looking through an overhead window that he caught a rough estimate of everything that was going on, though he didn’t even take into consideration potential anti meta human measures. He took a deep breath and waited for the right moment, sucking in air through his nostrils as he targeted out the most vulnerable for a sneak attack.

The quicker he could do things the better.

Regardless, he made his move with the speed he prided himself in. Likely to these guys he would have come out of nowhere, one of them being knocked to the ground as the male in the slightly metallic suit would stand there, radiating what looked to be some manner of electrical aura.

”Alright, this can go one of two ways. You guys go easy or I beat the snot out of you. I know which one you guys are picking but now you can’t say I didn’t give ya a choice.”

Ah the windy city. Such a beautiful place. The hustle and bustle of up and coming heroes, and thriving villains. Yes, this was truly an amazing place.
"Brother, which way to the meeting?" he spoke into his bluetooth ear piece.
"It says you need to take three lefts and a right. Then you'll appear at the spot."

Johnny drove quickly through the bust streets. They seemed to be more alive than usual tonight. It could be the fact a giant Justin Bieber concert was happening, or it could be the fact The Cubs were in town. Throwing the car into second gear, he drifted into a back ally.
He was in range to over see the meeting.
"Ok, now I serve some justice." he said to himself laughing.
He was trying to learn heroics, and English all at once.

Getting all of his gear on before hand certainly saved time.
His cross bow. Utility belt, knives, revolvers. Of course, the sword. His favorite and most trusted weapon. More than once this thing had gotten him out of a jam. As he held the hilt of the weapon, he thought back to his run in with that other hero about a week ago.
"I wonder if he is feeling better. He seemed fine once he took in all of that energy. However, I do worry about my fellow heroes."
he thought climbing the ladder now.

Atop the roof an interesting situation was coming into the fold.
There were 6 men total he could see right off the bat.
"Two white men, a giant, and three Asian men. This must be the exchange." The suits were a dead give away, along with the fact the giant man didn't look anything short of a body guard. Looks could be deceiving. He pulled out his crossbow, and looked down the sight.
"Ok make an exchange."

As he waited a familiar face showed up.
"Looks like he is doing better." this brought a large smile to the Zenthian's face.
It seemed that Bolt was too informed of the meeting.
Johnny had a mole that worked at the docks that informed him of criminal activity. The warehouse was actually owned by a patient of his.

As he listened in, his ears adapted to pick up the conversation.
"He's going to fight them. Time to make my move."

Johnny's ears returned to normal and he fired a bolt right through one of the white men's foot. He dropped and screamed in pain.
"Better that than your shin, trust me on that."
Johnny took a few steps back before running and leaping off the building. His body become quite durable as he slammed into the ground next to his last teammate.
"I was wondering when we would cross paths again." he spoke.
His cross bow trained on the largest of the men.

Johnny's skin looked of metal, but not one of earth. There were weird marking and it was glowing green in certain places.
"A little cleaner this time my friend?"

Really? After looking all day long these dudes come in and steal the job? Oh come on, no fair! He wanted to walk out and say something, but how unprofessional was that? These guys seemed to know what they were doing, and he wasn't about to shame himself by doing something so stupid. He spotted the guy with the crossbow, then, due to his quick mind, caught sight of the speedster. One of the dealers was shot in the leg and the other was knocked to the ground from the force of Bolt running into him. The men instantly pointed their weapons at the Bolt, all except for the brute and the right hand man of the white gang's leader. The brute walked toward Paradigm and the skinnier, suited man shot off into a blur. Seemed he was a speedster too. In no time, he would be right up on Bolt, gun in hand and ready to fire. He seemed to be just as fast, if not faster. If the gun was grabbed, the man would follow it up with a punch to the stomach before dashing off to start a high speed brawl.

Bullets were flying, and the brute charged with not superhuman, but impressive speed, swinging a hay-maker when he got close. The man was a good foot taller then Paradigm, and he was a tall guy, so yeah. This punch was easily enough to send someone flying, very, very far. The guns weren't making this easier, so Lucas decided to make his move. He leaped up from his position, getting on top of the crate he was hiding behind then used that as a spring board to jump toward the group.

It all happened so fast. The top of one of the pistols was chopped off, the hand of another member was dislocated, and the remaining two were tripped and their guns were taken from them. Lucas was a blur of black and red fabric, dodging even bullets as he systematically dealt with all of the goons. Unfortunately, he was skilled and had good reflexes, but he wasn't superhumanly fast. A knife caught him on the shoulder, and he was bleeding. The man that had done it was on the ground, tripped and at the other end of his blade. It would have been so, so easy to run him through for that. Lucas was sick, the sight of his blood unnerving him. He wanted to, for a brief moment the bloodlust nearly took control. But instead of cutting him down, he simply kicked him in the head to knock him out, as well as the other who had still managed to remain conscious.

Lucas shook his head, took a deep breath, and turned around. Something about this wasn't right. He didn't usually fall so easily into his bloodlust. It was as if an aura of dread was hanging over the place, but no one but him would feel it. His vision blurred a moment, images flashing to what really lay behind this powerful illusion.

They....... They aren't real..... Or, oh, oh god........

Bolt was relatively pleased with his entrance, though it could have been a little flashier. His eyes darted over the various thugs, trying to get a gauge of their reactions as someone else seemed to jump in on the fun that was some manner of crime fighting. It involved a crossbolt flying into one of their feet, which reminded him of someone he had worked with not so long ago. What they called themselves did not come directly to mind, but he knew they were on his side regardless. Well, the idea of having a little help was great, so that made this whole thing a lot easier within his own mind, as he shifted into a stance. ”I think I can do that.” Part of him was curious about their changing into a strange metal form, but then again their power was a pretty difficult one to fully grasp, without any knowledge anyway.

That was when one of them made their move, pretty fast actually. Bolt wasn’t used to dealing with people that could move as fast as they were, regardless of actually being faster. His reflexes allowed him to keep up slightly, but that only allowed him to move his head to the side as the bullet would sail past  it. As expected from having a gun shot off nest to your ear, it hurt like hell and left him with a painful ringing that made any manner of hearing rather difficult. Bolt cursed under his breath, letting out a small ooph as the wind was knocked from him and he took a quick jump back to avoid any further damage. Quickly lifting up the section of metal over his left ear, Bolt felt a small trickle of blood coming from it.

”Great, that is really going to mess up the hearing.” He growled, rubbing his index finger and thumb together before focusing upon the speedster that had done the shooting. ”Okay, kicking your ass a little harder for that one.” He growled, sparks of electricity flying off of him as his eyes focused squarely upon them.

So here he stood. Face to face with someone apparently much stronger than he was. "Well I don't assume you wish to talk this one out, do you?" he asked smiling. His first sarcastic quip.
If he weren't so screwed right now he'd probably be pretty proud of himself. Suddenly his more powerful adaptation subsided. Of course it did. Why wouldn't he stay strong enough to take this guy out. He pointed the cross-bow at him and fired a bolt point blank range at the man. He fired it off, and nailed the man right in the thigh. It didn't go through, it just kinda lodged there.

The man let out a yelp of Pain and Johnny knew what would come next. The man went to punch Johnny as hard as he could, and sent him tumbling backwards into a stack of boxes in the warehouse. "Ouch."
From his back he saw the man pull out the bolt and walk towards him.

"You are fucked archer boy."
Paradigm felt his head spinning. Jesus he was hit hard.
He did his best to aim down sight and fired 4 bolts in his general direction. Only one hit. It caught him in the shoulder. The man screamed some more before grabbing Johnny by the neck.
"What kind of meta human are you?" the big guy asked before throwing Johnny across the room. Letting out a scream blood leaked from Johnny's nose. His face collided with a pillar.
Blue liquid, began to leak from his nostrils.

"What the fuck are you?"
"I am a Zenthian."
He put his cross bow on his back, and pulled on his trusty blade.
The blade instantly transformed frommetalicar katana to a serpent shaped metallic form. "And we do not take kindly to being thrown like mongards!"
Johnny's eyes narrowed and his legs grew to look almost made of gems.

He dashed at the man with incredible speed. Nearly 100 miles per hour.
He started slashing the man all around before the giant dropped to one knee.
Paradigm's legs reverted back to normal and his blade was wrapped around the giant, holding him in place with it's magic.

He finally noticed the smaller figured fighting, helping from what it seemed. After squeezing the man long enough, he fainted, and the sword retracted. "Hey fast friend! What is going on here. Also, what does FUCKED mean!"

A haze overtook Lucas, like a radio disturbance ringing through his head. His emotions flung around from fear to rage to total helplessness. The warehouse flickered almost, revealing glimpses of what lay under the illusion. His blood poured from his shoulder, making Lucas physically sick as he dropped to his knees and tried to tie it off with a tore off piece of his cloak. He could barely concentrate, but he managed to fix his wound. That didn't take away the confusion in this place though. It was almost like a thin sheet lay over it, like he was staring at something from under water.

The big guy went down quickly, from just a few crossbow shots, finished off by the slash of a sword. He went down way too quickly. It wasn't right. Lucas was dizzy, holding his hooded head as he tried to make sense of this. That's when he saw the speedster coming his way, knife in hand. If Lucas didn't do something, then he would be stabbed. He thought about the most common knife techniques, and then took into account the man would likely try to use his vast speed to his advantage. With these facts in place, plus the direction he was charging, Lucas determined the man's most likely course of attack. But how to stop him?

In a fleeting moment of fear, he raised his sword just as the man reached him, and the attacker was impaled on the blade. Lucas looked at him, wide eyed and slowly breathing as he watched the life leave his eyes. The speedster then slipped off the blade, and Lucas fell to the floor, staring at the blood that was literally on his hands.

"No....no.... I didn't mean...... I DIDN'T MEAN TO! Don't, don't die!" Lucas yelled as he shook violently, crawling to the dead man's form that lay in a puddle of blood. The boy sobbed, and thats when a deep fog started to creep up in the area.

It filled the room quickly, making seeing through it nearly impossible until finally a light came from the door of the warehouse, silhouetting a man in the doorway with arms crossed behind him.

"Hahahahahahahaha...." The menacing laugh filled the smoke thick room, echoing throughout it. Lucas had heard that voice before, and it sent a chill down his spine. Soon after, he threw up, luckily under the cover of smoke. Tears still fell from his eyes, but he knew he couldn't let this hold him down. If this was who he thought, it would be his demise.

Things appeared to quickly spiral into the not so good side of things, as Paradigm was fighting their foe and his ears were still ringing painfully. It felt like this would be going on for a good while. Okay, literally cannot hear myself think now. Bolt thought to himself, rubbing the side of his head where the blood would trickle in a small stream for a little longer before he was sure it would stop. Balance felt a little off, but that might have been from the whole ear damage that was going on. Bolt let out a sigh, drawing from any source of electricity that was near, and felt the pain subside within his ear as any damage was swiftly healed up. That appeared to be around the time that his ally decided to ask a rather strange question, one that left him with a rather confused look.

”I..um...i’l...tell you later.” He responded with a sigh, managing to get the words out finally as he looked to Paradigm questioningly. Honestly, he was confused as to what exactly was going on but obviously not good things, so that was all Bolt could run with really. That was until the sight of someone being run through entered his line of sight, that being the speedster that had rushed the short hero that had joined them in their fight. He felt sick seeing the sudden brutal action, but it appeared more that they were scared, acting out of fear more than anything else. Well that was his guess, and self defense killing wasn’t as bad, at least in the eyes of the law at any rate. That made two more deaths he had witnessed than he had ever within his life, not exactly a good start in the heroing career.

They huddled over the downed speedsters as a malefic laughter began to echo through the room. A strange fog creeped into the room, so Bolt quickly ran to the short silhouette that looked to be where Lucas was, and brought them closer to the massive shadow of Paradigm. Being separate would not help, so he tried to remedy the situation. All it took was less than a second for Lucas to be where he was to somewhere else within the growing fog.

”Don’t know about you guys, but I don’t like the feeling of this.” The hairs on the back of his neck were beginning to stand up, sending a strange sensation through him.

It was….fear.

Johnny dashed towards the small hooded figure that Bolt ran towards. He had just killed a man. Though he seemed shook up about it. Now Johnny was not innocent of taking a man's life, but working with Bolt previously had sort of opened his eyes. Not all criminals needed to die.

"Fast friend. What seems to be the issue? This room suddenly seems to have become more...what is that word...hazed."

He heard a loud menacing laugh. Putting his sword back in it's hilt on his hip, he pulled out his two revolvers. "Who are you!" he shouted into the distance, arms shaking a little. He too was falling victim to some fear. Johnny fired a shot into the air.
"This is your only warning. Come out with your hands up, and I will not put a shot in your leg. I do not wish to harm anyone else."

He looked to bolt and to the smaller man.
"Prepare yourselves. This doesn't seem to be as easy as it was made out to be in my scouting."

The fog cleared slowly, and the silhouette stepped forward just as Lucas was taken away by Bolt, in practical hysterics. A faint red haze could now be seen through the area, almost like the waves of the ocean as it rippled through the air. What this did was reveal the illusion what lay beneath, as well as removed the fog and brought the man into view. His menacing eyes scanned the people involved, he wasn't expecting the other two.

What would now be seen is that the bodies on the ground weren't what they had seemed. They were school children, boys and girls, mutilated beyond recognition. A spell had been placed on them, to make all impact on their bodies ten times worse and to make them do the man's work. They were special kids, all having powers of their own. But now, now they were just dead. The big brute was a girl that had literally been sliced in half, the men Lucas took down were boys, skulls smashed in and arms ripped off from what seemed like simple knock out blows. The one who had been stabbed was the worst, his rip cage ripped open beyond what most could fathom.

When Lucas saw this, he burst out crying, digging his face into Bolt's side. He couldn't look at it. He was trembling, he felt like he might puke any second, and his eyes were like water falls. He had killed them, his hand........ He swore he would never become that, he swore he would never kill. This was such a stupid idea.

"Hmmm, this test was just for the boy... But this, this is even better. How does it feel to be the murderers of children?" Darius said, not laughing anymore, but asking with a straight face. He wasn't wearing the armor from before, but he was still an imposing man. Very tall, not too bulky, but creepy as shit. You could feel the power radiating off of him.

Darius rose his hand, a mist of glowing red blood circling around it, and soon the bodies of the children started to reanimate. Their eyes were glowing the same brilliant red, and their damaged bodies were pulled back together with their vary own blood. Sure it didn't heal them, but that wasn't his intention. The six children then, like zombies, started walking toward the three.

"Get the boy and bring him to me. Kill the rest." Darius said, then waved them off. One of the males sped off, directly at Paradigm, just as fast as Bolt it would seem. His intention was to slam his fist directly into Johnny's gut, and then leap up for an uppercut. It was too fast to even see for most people.

The girl then stepped forward, and started to, well, scream. She yelled louder then what was humanly possible, giving a sonic weapon a run for it's money. Lucas' ears started to bleed as he covered them and slumped to the ground, he could barely think.

Unfolding before Bolts eyes was the worst possible scenario he could imagine. His stomach threatened to heave as his mind actually slowed down as if trying to force him to get a good look at everything going on around him, adding onto the nausea. This was messed up beyond all logical  bounds of being messed up and only one thing really went through his mind within this moment. Running seemed like the best option and with the kid so close to him, that would have been much easier, though he would obviously not leave behind Paradigm. While the move felt cowardly, it was the only thing that made sense within his now frazzled young mind. Anything that would allow him not to look upon those mangled bodies was something he was willing to take, even if it meant looking bad in the long run.

That was when the cackling voice would reveal themselves, a strange looking white haired man that said something about this all being a test. That just made the whole thing even more messed up, though now he knew who was behind such an atrocity. A small, nearly silent part of him wanted to make this man pay but that part was silenced quickly by this almost primal fear he felt just gazing upon him. His mouth opened, yet nothing came out as his jaw closed itself once again. There was nothing he could say, nothing he could do that would make anything better. He wrapped an arm around Lucas, tightening in an almost reassuring fashion. If anything he was hoping that would help make them feel somewhat better, despite how messed up he could tell they were. No one deserved this kind of weight on their shoulders, no one at all.

”Stay close, i’m getting us out of here.” He whispered low enough for Lucas to hear and no one else, his voice wavering slightly. That was when the children rose, unaware of their injuries as they seemed to stitch themselves back together. Once dashed at Paradigm with impressive speed, and the other let out a scream that caused his head to split once again. ”Shit shit shit, not this again.” He growled,  seeing Lucas fall to his knees, as he tried to come up with a means to get out. His top speed was easily faster than sound, so he could outrun the sonic attack but that meant he needed to contend with a speedster that was around his speed as well. Well, if they cut out the extras, maybe he could deal with them or maybe the weird mojo this creep was using would run out.

With impressive speed he would reach down to scoop Lucas up, their weight nothing as he would turn his attention to Paradigm, quickly unleashing a bolt of electricity from his fingertips to toss the undead thing aside. Just doing that made him feel sick, but the moment they were likely out of the way he would dash towards Paradigm, hopefully wrapping another arm around his waist, then taking off at full speed towards the nearest exit, trying to make as much distance between this place and himself as possible.

Johnny rubbed his eyes. He could not believe the atrocity he had committed. "What has happened here?" he screamed.
Blood was shed. Innocent blood at that. Zenthiens were usually good ad illusions, but Paradigm had never quite picked up that skill. Certainly a flaw that had cost him dearly in more ways that one. His eyes continued to grow wider and wider until he let out another scream in his language. "ASKEDO!"

To translate to English, "What the fuck have I done?"
A man stepped from the mist. One very scary man.
Immediately Paradigm's inside twisted, and his back felt tight.
With a mouth drying by the instant in fear and disgust of himself, he pulled his sword from it's hilt and stared at the man.

"You will kill no on-" his sentence was cut off by a speedster wrapping around his waist. Before he could even form a thought, he was at the mercy of Bolt's sped.

Bolt was attempting to leave. Because i can't have that, even though i know it's probably a good idea, i have to use some magic to keep the three heroes in my little kill box. Once Bolt got outside, he would see the entire building had been risen out of the earth and was now soaring so far above land you couldn't see it below. There was really no choice but to go back inside.

That and the fact a telekinetic vacuum of unfathomable power would attempt wrenching the three back into the center of the room pretty much sealed the deal. They were staying here whether they liked it or not.

The screeching girl yelled again and brought on spasms and piercing ear pain in Lucas, who was now laying on the ground. Next the speedster once again went after Paradigm, running at him and then looping around to his rear to deliver a jumping kick to the back of the head. The next child would also step forward, running at Bolt and then, just as he got close, sinking into a puddle of ooz which traveled RIDICULOUSLY fast. It looked like teleportation or a shadow with how swift it moved. If it got under Bolt, it would begin restraining him and crawling up his body.

Lucas himself weakly got up, wiping the blood from his mouth. He stumbled to his sword, picking it up and pointing it at Darius. The man laughed.

"Don't do this to yourself child...... Just come with, it's easier that way. And your friends, i will allow them to live." Darius said. Lucas just furrowed his brow, charging forward and rapidly slashing at Darius' gut. The cult leader thought nothing of it, and allowed himself to be cut. That was quite the mistake. He found the would burning of salt and steaming.

"What have you done!?" Darius asked, actually wondering. He hadn't felt pain like this even up against Lucius and Alpha.

Lucas smiled, a smirk that looked not unlike one of his father's. He turned the blade, showing it's face. It had a glowing red symbol on it, written in blood. It was the same used to banish Darius the last time Lucas had seen him.

"Something to note about us test tube kids. We have a perfect memory....." Lucas said confidently. He then sprang at the slightly weakened Darius, who stumbled back.

So trying to run away did not go much like Bolt had planned, but that was mostly due to the fact that this guy appeared to have some kind of weird telekinetic power. There was that as well as the fact the building was suspended high in the air, far too high for him to jump down safely anyway. With incredible force he was was dragged back into building, as the annoyances continued. There was all the screaming going on, though his attention was being dragged to something beginning to wrap around him.

It looked much like a shadow and yet acted like some manner of liquid, which gave Bolt an idea. The kid was having their little fight against this weird guy, so he would help them on that front. ”Sorry, your little trick isn’t gonna work.” Within second, likely they would find that he wasn’t so tangible, as a brilliant light filled the building, a bolt of what looked to be lightning flashing across the room, landing roughly five meters behind Darius, rapidly turning back into Bolt.

”Well what do ya know, that worked.” He noted, not wasting anytime to rush Darius, aiming to grab onto them and unload a large amount of electricity into them. Sure they might be tough, but durability hardly covered being electrocuted.