Protectors- Consequence

Chapter Twenty: Flame

The ruins of the village blazed like Greek Fire, an endless, glowing, suffocating smog drowning out the cries of terror that drifted from the lifeless lost across the starless night sky. Noctum's hands shone slick with blood, his face a stony mask of resolve, even as his eyes met the kind man who had aided him, had fed and clothed him, only to be betrayed by the vigilante. Nobody could know, nobody could understand the way that Adam Oughton thought, his mind turned only to the pursuit of revenge, his above average empathy long forgotten in his search to kill. The poor Austrians had thought him as a saviour, someone who would liberate them from Frederick's reign, not as a person whose only goal was to kill a dictator for the greater good,

"Saukerl!" The farmer shot at Noctum, none of his previous mirth evident on his face, "you are as bad as them, from one dictator to the next!"

"I never claimed to be anything other than what I am," Noctum responded, darkness flashing across his face, "and if you call me a bastard one more time, you might be the next person I eliminate,"

The man's shotgun was in Adam's face before another word could be uttered, and the shell slammed into his face at full power, shattering on impact with his skin. Noctum let out a sliver of Aura, knocking the farmer to the ground, and pulled back his fist, before lowering it to his side,

"I apologise for the fire," Adam boomed, holding in his emotions for the last time, "I..."

A single tear dropped from his eye as he shot into the air at maximum speed, knocking the villagers to the ground. He soared high into the air, heading upwards faster and faster until he felt he could climb no higher. He hung there. He waited for something, someone to come and save him. He would wait like that for over an hour, too stubborn to shed another tear, too full of emotion to consider doing anything but for floating there, numb,

"This ends now," Noctum, no, Adam, for he was not an indomitable force, he was a normal man, with scars that always seemed to be searching to find a way to destroy him,

"Why can't I be like Kinetic!" He bellowed to the heavens, his Aura parting the thick smoke that hung above the village, "I need to be cold, I need to be strong! I don't want to be strong anymore,"

His tears began to fall as he fell, before his powers caught him, holding him. The Goddess wanted nothing more in that moment to comfort the man, to be another thing tethering him to reality. It was not Noctum who cried, for someone like that could never cry, but it was Adam Oughton, the man who had lost it all, the man who tried his absolute most to be as cold as the villains, but he never did. His inner strength welled up, but he pushed it down, floating lightly to the ground. Without knowing it, he had arrived at Vienna, touching down lightly,

"I don't want to do this anymore," He whispered to himself, before he raised his hand, a glimmer of Aura shining in his palm,

He had never questioned his resolve before, but it was all too much for him. If he had ever pulled his punches, it would never happen again. 

The Aura collided with the parliament building, blowing a hole right through the place. He caught a glimpse of a box, the electricity crackling loud enough for him to hear, but the man within was grinning, as if he knew something Noctum didn't. Adam heard the sound of a gun firing, and dashed towards the source, grabbing the barrel before the bullet could even reach where he was. The masked man behind the sniper jumped backwards, drawing two pistols that crackled with electrical force, unloading the mags before stopping to reload. Noctum's palm hit the side of his head, taking it off, rolling across the ground as John Frederick screamed,

"Mison you asshole!" He roared, "you said you would stop him!"

"Nobody can stop him," a voice replied, and another masked man leapt from behind a glimmering white pillar, managing to land a shot to Noctum's arm with a pistol,