Origins- Protectors

Prologue: The Vigilante

The storm had blasted in through the East, leaving the coastal city of Rockingham, and all of its inhabitants unwilling to leave the comfort of their homes on this winter night. There were three exceptions to this rule, the homeless, who had no home to return to, the criminals, who prowled the streets, hoping to catch an innocent passer by unawares to hurt them, and Noctum. Noctum was not like the rest of people, he was an empath of sorts, aware of the emotions of others, in his youth, when he saw someone hurting, the vigilante was filled with righteous anger and eventually donned his costume to prevent Rockingham from the evil of the world.

The rain did not bother Noctum, in fact it made his mission easier, the evil he stalked would not know of his presence until it could see the whites of his eyes. Along the usually vibrant foreshore shopping strip, one business was still open, despite the late hour and the thundering rain, an Indian grocery family business. The family who owned it were not the richest in the world, but they worked really hard to earn their keep, however, the two thugs that went to steal their money that day did not, they were rich men in their prime, dreams of playing rugby squashed by their physical bulk being greater than their skill.

Noctum could not relate to their God given strength, he himself had been weak until the loss of his parents broke his mind, from that point on Noctum had pushed his body to its absolute limit, not caring if he lived or died, Noctum had become an absolute force of nature. Noctum surveyed the grocery store from a distance, noting that both of the men carried heavy baseball bats and had to weigh at least two hundred and twenty pounds of pure muscle. A cry sounded from the grocery's entrance and Noctum sprang into action, stepping across the road and onto the pavement in front of the store with uncanny speed, taking a deep breath to calm his adrenaline, Noctum took a step into the building.

The two thugs turned in surprise to see the shadowy figure that appeared to have materialised from nothingness, its face concealed by its hood and bandanna, steel grey eyes filled with rage, seemingly staring right through them, into their evil souls, from his perspective, Noctum saw two tall, generic, blonde guys who had obviously been athletes from their muscular biceps and six packs. Noctum was not a particularly good fighter, he did not know martial arts, but he was street wise, in his experience, the best way to defeat a foe was to use the element of surprise. Noctum rushed the bigger guy, landing a heavy punch in the solar plexus, using his full body weight and his momentum to send the guy flying, crumpling to the floor with the force of the collision.

"Shit, Dan!" The still conscious thug exclaimed, "You're gonna fucking pay!"

He swung his baseball bat with the accuracy and the speed of a trained professional, aiming for Noctum's central mass. The vigilante was unimpressed, he would have aimed for the head. Noctum easily avoided the swing by sidestepping backward and took the man's legs out from under him with a well timed kick, and after he had fallen on his back, winded, Noctum curb stomped him in the face, shattering his nose completely. Suddenly, Noctum was knocked aside by a massive force, he had obviously underestimated these guys and the one he had gone after first, the man named Dan had gotten back up and tackled him into a shelf. Noctum's new position gave him a view over the deli counter and he saw that not the shop owner, but his young, seven year old child had been tied to a wall and was bleeding from a mouth wound.

"The fuck are you man?" Dan roared, clutching the stomach where Noctum had punched him, trying to stem the blood from where Noctum's glove spikes had punctured his gut.

"I am the product of my scars," Noctum replied calmly, despite the pain of his impact, "my pain drove me to stop people like you."

"Like hell your gonna stop me!" Dan swung his bat but Noctum just took the hit, square in the ribs, the cracking sound drowned out by the rain and thunder. Noctum had endured far worse pain, the pain he had and still endured far outweighed this current attack, and so, he took the brunt of the attack without even a simple flinch, responding by lashing out with all of his anger. Noctum's body shook with rage and adrenaline as his punches came hard and fast, destroying every inch of Dan, puncturing his skin over and over until Noctum lifted Dan's battered body up over his head and brought him down onto his knee, shattering the street thug's spine and paralysing him for life. Noctum stepped back from the scene, analysing what he could see, the owner of the store was lying in the back room and on further inspection he was confirmed dead, the two men, Dan and the nameless thug were both collapsed, one passing out from blood loss, the other from a broken back. It was apparent in this instance that these men had not worked alone, they would not have had time to kill the now cold man, or tie up and torture the child. Whoever had done this, whoever had escaped Noctum would not be able to run forever, lightning cracked in the stormy grey sky as Noctum stood,

"I will avenge you," the words were soft for such a violent person, but the rage in them was so apparent, it was as if those .

Noctum untied the child who had been tortured and called 000 on a public phone, when they asked who was calling, he did not respond, what he had done tonight was illegal and he didn't want his voice on record. Noctum changed into his day clothes and removed his grey colour contacts in a public bathroom and under the guise of his raincoat, caught the bus back to his base, an abandoned caravan parked in a generic lot near the train station. Surveying the damage that he took, Noctum came up with the obvious, he had five broken ribs on his left side and one on his right alongside massive bruising, especially on his knee where he had broken Dan's back. Sighing, Noctum took an aspirin and called the local hospital, stating that he had been hit by a car but that he wanted his treatment anonymously, so that his ever-negligent foster family wouldn't notice his hospital stay. The pain would have been too much for any normal human to bare, but Noctum was no normal human, in fact, having half of his ribs broken was a relief compared to what he had been through.

"So what have you done?" asked the reception nurse,

"Six broken ribs and major bruising."

"Dear, I don't think you know what a broken bone feels like, someone your age, you would be in serious pain,"

"I am in serious pain, just not as bad as electrical torture."

The nurse stared at Noctum for a couple of seconds, unsure of whether to laugh or not but, seeing the expression on Noctum's face, she sent him through to have some X-rays. The results of the test were the exact same as what Noctum said they would be except for one major difference, he had a concussion from where his head had knocked against the shelving during his fight with Dan. He lay in the comfortable hospital bed after everyone had made sure that his ribs were going to heal until a kindly faced doctor walked in,

"You are a mystery, you know that," he seemed unsure of whether or not to word this as a question,

"I would like to remain anonymous," Noctum replied,

"Well, of course, we can't ask for information like that, but I will say that those scars on your body are pretty bad,"

"Try getting tortured by electricity for 24 months."

"I'm so sorry, I know that you should be able to handle yourself because the wounds are old and you walked in here with broken ribs on only an aspirin, but seriously, just call us if you need anything,"

Noctum thought for a second before asking

"Why did you come in here?"

"I had to tell you that you are officially discharged, but I would recommend-"

"So I can go?" Noctum cut the man short,

"Yes, but here me ou-"

Noctum's look stopped the doctor midsentence, and the concerned man had no choice but to let this mysterious patient get up and leave the hospital. Noctum took a breath of frigid air, the rain already pounding every inch of his body, soaking him to the core. Noctum's work was far from done. He had only defeated two minor crooks. He still had to track down the last member of the gang who sponsored the torturing and killing of his parents. Noctum jogged into the raging storm, not knowing what the next day would hold, more pain, or the justice that he had been seeking since that fateful day.

Thank You for reading this far,
Chapter One: The Artefact drops sometime in August