XTRAVAGANZA

Chapter 5: Fractalization

X walked into his house, greeting his mother who was already preparing supper in the kitchen. "Welcome home dear, how was school" she said, turned away from him as she put various stuff into a pot in front of her.

"It was...fine" X said, tossing his backpack in the entry way hall. His mother grew a frown on her face from his words. "Those kids still bullying you?" she asked, turning around to look at him.

X looked at his mother, whom he was a spitting image of. He had her same white hair and blue eyes. Despite him mainly having his dad's face shape, he always felt he resembled his mother more. "Yeah..." he said, quietly, turning away from her slightly.

His mom looked at him, pain in her eyes. "Shall we talk about it over supper?" She asked, grabbing a bowl from one of the kitchen cabinets and putting something inside of it. She walked over to the table in the corner of the kitchen, revealing to have made chili for supper. "It's your favorite!"

X slowly walked over to the dinner table as his mom sat down next to him with her own bowl. "So tell me, what have those kids been doing" she asked, scooting her chair close to the table.

X looked outside the large window they had in their kitchen, staring at his slight reflection as he lifted his hand up to the scar on his face. "They call me a freak..." he had always been an odd one out. For starters, his mother had albinism with him carrying on that trait, and secondly, he had a giant X shaped scar on his face since birth. Combine those two things together and you quickly become a target for bully's.

"Your looks don't make you a freak, they're what make you-" before she could finish, X cut her off. "Unique, yeah I know. Blah, blah, blah." He stared down at the table, a dull look forming in his eyes.

His mom sighed at his response. "I'll try calling the faculty again and see if they actually do something about it this time." she said, rubbing his back.

X glanced over at her. "Thanks." He took a sip of his chili before asking. "So ain't dad supposed to be back this week?" He asked, looking over at his mom. "He was, but something happened at the military camp he was stationed in. Now they say he won't be back for at least another month." X grew a disappointed look on his face. It had nearly been half a year since he had seen his father. Although, he can't be too mad. His father was out there saving lives. Being made because of that would just be selfish.

X slowly finished his bowl of chili, putting it into the sink before heading up to his room. Closing the door behind him, he laid down on his bed, staring at the wall.

As he was about to drift off to sleep, a humanoid shadow crawled across the wall. His eyes narrowed as he looked at the shadow, with a blue glowing X suddenly appearing on the wall in front of him.

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X slowly waked up, rubbing his eyes. Looking down at his hands, he saw dried blood on them that he had forgot to wash off when fighting that thug from last night.

Getting up, he walked into the bathroom, washing off his hands, watching as the water in the sink started turning red.

He walked out of the bathroom, putting on a white t-shirt, his blueish-gray hoodie that he always wore and some black pants with white striping on the sides.

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He walked down the busy city street, sipping on a can of soda as he scrolled through his phone. The twins were busy with quote on quote 'customer support' as they called it. He knew what it really meant but wasn't one to pry into what they do for some extra cash.

Continuing to walk down the city street, he noticed red and blue flashing lights around the corner of the block. Continuing to walk, he saw there were several cop cars and an ambulance.

He watched as two paramedics rolled a body covered in a white cloth, out of an alley way. Suddenly, he recognized that this was the alley he killed the thug.

He slowly began walking the other direction, not wanting to somehow get found out by the cops or the paramedics.

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As he continued his stroll through Neo City, he headed over to the beach, staring out towards the ocean.

As he stood there, staring, a tall man with short brown hair and wide shoulders came over, standing next to him. "Enjoying the view?" The man asked, glancing towards X before looking out to the ocean.

"It's nice." X replied, a little unease. "I'm Damian by the way" the man said, holding out his hand for a hand shake. "X, nice to meet you" he said, not returning the hand shake.

Damian looked at X again before looking back out towards the ocean. "So you're X, aye?" Damian slowly lifted up his left hand, and not even a second later, crystals rose out of the ground, incasing X from his knees down.

"What the hell!" He yelled, trying to escape before turning his head to Damian. Damian stayed silent despite his yelling. "I was sent to bring you in. Killing an employee of the Mafias isn't a very smart thing to do, just saying." Damian began to circle X, never breaking eye contact as he did.

"So then, you're an anomaly?" X asked, following Damian with his head. "You learn quickly." Damian replied, continuing to circle him. "It ain't exactly hard to put two and two together." X said, a little annoyed. "Fair" Damian said, before grabbing his phone out of his pocket and calling someone.

X stood there, still incased in the crystals that Damian had put him in. He tried listening in on the phone call Damian was having but he had backed away so X could barely hear.

Once Damian finished the call, he turned his head back to X, walking over to him. "So..." X said, scratching the back of his head. "You gonna kill me or something?" He asked, putting his arms back down to his sides. "No. The boss wishes to do that personally." Damian said, crossing his arms.

X looked down for a moment, trying to think of what to say before looking back up at Damian. "You know...I'm going to be coming into a fairly large sum of money tomorrow. I could really use someone like you on my side!" He tried to sound as charismatic as possible.

Damian looked at him, one of his eye brows raised before speaking. "Why the hell would I get myself caught up in any more shitty deals?" He asked. "No strings attached. Trust me. You'll basically be an employee. You can quit whenever you want but won't get paid by me if you do." X said, putting on a warm smile.

Damian looked at X. Despite him not yet speaking, X could tell he was thinking about it. "You prove to me that you aren't just another shitty organization looking for power and I'll consider being a part of your team."

X was quite shocked that what he said even worked. "I'm gonna be honest right now, I really wasn't thinking that you were gonna actually accept my deal"

Damian looked over at him, shrugging his shoulders. "My life is already shitty enough, it can't get much worse." After that, he slowly began to lower the crystals that were around X's legs. The crystals themselves vanished in a rainbow colored glow.

X looked over at Damian. "So it's a deal then?" He asked, holding out his hand for a handshake. Damian hesitated for a moment before shaking X's hand. "Yes...it's a deal."