Born Bad

Chapter 10

**This is dedicated to @NicoDiAngeloIsBae12. I hope this stood up to your expectations. Thank you for supporting me!**

We Are Broken - Paramore

Chapter 10

He was cold and deceitful and didn’t care for others. Albedo had been that person before and a part of him still wanted to. Now he was just breaking apart, literally and figuratively.

He tried so desperately to find someone. A random civilian harmlessly passing by. Anybody. He had to get help. Only, not for him, but for her as well. In the condition that Albedo was, they had to stop and call the authorities, or at least an ambulance. He never got the chance. He had been lifted by a tractor beam. And he knew what was waiting for him on the other end.

Albedo had never figured Vulcanus with what little IQ level he had to actually go through with something of this stature. He was working for somebody, yes, that he knew. But taking him instead would just be more incentive toward Koronah, for whoever wanted her in the first place.

“…I’m sure… you’re gonna pass out… moment.” Albedo heard the alien’s voice. He had come to completely hate that sound. He was right though. Albedo was slipping in and out of consciousness. All the damage that that Techadon Robot inflicted was excruciatingly unbearable. It seemed like passing out was the only way to escape for a while. To escape all the pain.

It was definitely more than five broken ribs, and internal bleeding. He couldn’t stand up straight either and he had begun to lose feeling in his lower legs. Nerve damage perhaps? He wasn’t in the state of mind to make a correct diagnosis. And he had other pressing matters.

A large metallic hand slapped him across the cheek. Albedo’s head whipped back with the force of the impact. A blue mark was sure to form. He spat out more blood. “Are… you even… liste…?!” The alien above him shouted. Albedo scoffed. Vulcanus had taken to liberty of chaining him up onto a diagonal table, his limbs spread far apart from each other. Vulcanus was scared of the red watch on Albedo’s wrist, even though Albedo knew it wasn’t operational.

The small room was devoid of light the minute Vulcanus turned around and walked out of the door frame. He had thought that he said that he would check up on him later, to check if he would still be alive. But Albedo was so hurt that he could have been hallucinating for all he knew.

Albedo coughed violently, the sticky red liquid dripping down his chin onto his already crusty shirt. He wanted so badly to sleep, but knew, the moment he closed his eyes, there was an extremely high probability that he would never open them again. Was he willing to take that risk? What was the point of waking up anyway? He was going to die, let it be that small, suffocating room, or at the hands of the mastermind in charge of this entire pursuit of power.

The worst case scenario would be that they didn’t kill him immediately, that they would drag out the process. The fractured rib digging into his lung ready to puncture it was already bad enough.

It was during times like these where Albedo would admit that he was scared, that he could say that there was no way out, no escape, no restart button. There was nobody to save him, there never was. He had already thrown away hope that Koronah might have found a way to track him and rescue him. The last thing he told her was that he wanted to stay on Earth, that he didn’t want to work on their relationship. How would any woman interpret that?

“None of this would… have happened… if I hadn’t let her…” Albedo whispered with a dry throat. In fact it was his own fault. He had allowed himself to get enticed. Nobody told Albedo that he had to grow feelings toward Koronah. Nobody said that he needed to get emotionally attached. That was so out of character for him. He didn’t even know what was in character for him anymore.