The Custodes

Chapter 3 - Brawl

Neo's feet were frozen to the ground as Nexus entered the room as casually as can be, a smarmy smirk on his face as he regarded the shorter boy coolly. "Long time no-" Nexus didn't get the chance to finish his sentence, as Neo had fired a trio of powerful dark beams straight at the man almost as soon as the door clicked shut behind him.

With rapid instincts, and hardly any effort, Nexus blocked all three by taking his hands out of his pocket and moving them in front of each beam as though he were catching them, causing them to evaporate as they met with his force fields. Neo was ready to attack again but Nexus suddenly flicked his wrist and sent a massive blast into the boy, causing him to be propelled all the way down the corridor and into the living room where he collided with the wall so hard it knocked the wind out of him.

Everyone in the room was on their feet, yet none of them made a move to attack the stranger for the time being. As far as they had seen, it had been Neo who'd attacked first - and so far Nexus hadn't used any lethal force against him.

Still, they were all on edge; and wondering exactly what the hell was going on.

Nexus placed one hand back in his pocket, while his other pointed right at Neo and pinned him to the wall, making a show of the power he possessed to all the others in the room. "You need to calm down." He stated with amusement as he watched Neo try and escape his hold. "What the hell do you want?" Synthia spoke up, standing in a defensive position as she watched Nexus.

"I want a small chat with my little brother, if that's alright with you." Nexus said calmly, simply glancing at Synthia before his gaze moved back to Neo.

The younger boy had stopped struggling, so Nexus let him fall freely to the ground. Neo landed on his hands and knees, but wasted no time in standing back up to look at Nexus with a hateful and enraged expression "Get out. Right fucking now." "Don't you want to hear what I have to say?" Nexus questioned, clearly toying with the boy. "Get. Out." Neo repeated, his hand raising to prepare another attack "I figured it was a matter of time until you found me, I promise you won't win this time."

Nexus seemed genuinely taken aback by this, looking at Neo with a questioning expression that almost seemed to criticise his intelligence. "You think I came here because of our past? Kid, if I'd wanted to find you I would've done it way before now. Matter of fact, I've seen you plenty of times. And I know the sort of things you get up to. Your little deliveries and such. You've worked for me on some fucking occasions, and you really think I've been trying to find you this whole time?" He seemed dumbfounded by the fact Neo was making such an accusation, and the boy himself looked somewhat demoralised, unable to stop from feeling embarrassed and humiliated by his own stupidity.

"Why are you here now?" Neo asked, still on edge and scowling at Nexus as a tiny amused smile crept onto the man's face. "Well you see, you've been making a few enemies. And by a few, I think you know exactly who I mean. Our mutual friend has tasked me with bringing you to him, but I thought we'd have a little catch up before it all hits the wall. That fucker hates you Neo, and I mean hates you. I don't want to imagine what he's gonna do if he gets his hands on you." Nexus cleared his throat, waving his hand in mock apology "Sorry, sorry, 'when'. When he gets his hands on you."

"So, you've talked to him?! I knew you were a black hearted lowlife piece of shit, but becoming chummy with a mass murderer who executes innocents is something else entirely." Neo said, looking outright disgusted and even more infuriated at the fact Nexus was on the same side as the red eyed man. "Business is business. He's powerful, I need allies. His name is Zuro by the way, and whatever you did to him has resulted in him being unable to leave 'this place', whatever that means, which he's not taking very well. I predict a lot of horrific torture in store for you, honestly." Nexus stated, giving a nonchalant shrug of his shoulders and a fake look of sympathy as he did so.