Somewhere in Zoda.
Two press vans drove into a street and packed in front of a building. It was the smallest building amongst all the others in the area and it looked as though little thought was put in during its creation. But though it was the least well-created, it also had a fence surrounding it.
A handful of civilians walked around the area but they all paid no attention to the press van as the door burst open and STATE officers marched out of one of the vans while ARCHER agents from the second. The citizens knew well enough what would happen if they pondered into the STATE's official business.
The agent and officers were heavily armed, with some holding advanced laser guns and heavy body armor coupled with a tactical vest.
Emerald Klay, Madeline's right hand, was amongst the ARCHER personnel. She whipped her helmet over her head before using a hand sign to signal some of her comrades to take their position. Once the required agents secured their position, Emerald and a few other agents jumped over the fence in three swift moves. They quickly morphed into their battle pose while aiming their weapon forward. Slowly and tactically, they stepped toward the main building.
She nodded at the other agents before kicking down the door and rushing into the building, but they seemed to already be too late. They found their target, Ace McClain, lying motionless in the middle of a well-maintained sitting room with bottles of alcohol and syringes next to him.
Agent Klay ordered her partners to search the other rooms before picking up one of the syringes on the ground. She sighed disappointedly after reading the label. The top ARCHER agent stood up on her feet and glued her gun to her side before clicking on her watch.
"Homefront, homefront, do you copy? This is Argus 2."
[Loud and clear, Argus 2. What's the status?]
"Target has been found but is… dead. We need a forensics and Guard team as soon as possible."
[En route]
Emerald glanced at the body once more before turning to her squad. "Everyone, let's walk back the steps we took, probably already too late for that, but we do not want to ruin any available evidence."
"Roger!"
.
.
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Rohan stared at Miss Havishma with utter confusion lingering all over his face. The side of the latter's lips twitched up as a baby smile formed on her lips.
"Just the expression I expected."
"Rohan?" The low shaved dark-haired man repeated with his brows moving even closer with every second passing. He looked between the former Rain agent and the future Miss Havishma, feeling out of the loop.
"Oh," Miss Havishma exclaimed. "So glad we could meet once more, Mr. Coco."
"How the hell are you here? In this time?" The dark-haired man queried.
Miss Havishma slipped her hand into the pocket of her oversuit. "Through decades of hard work and hardship."
"Hard work that the likes of you are eager to destroy," she started. "You see, I saw a future where you and I stood side by side, fighting those that opposed our actions, but this…" she used her hand to gesture at them. "This is a way better future, a better timeline."
The dark-haired man took a step forward but stopped as he noticed the agents standing by Miss Havishma's side had gotten alerted. It was the same agent he fought with back when he was on Earth.
"Don't do this Miss Havishma, do not hurt the boy, he has nothing to do with this… it is I you want."
The dark-haired woman sucked her teeth before subsequently shaking her head no. "Not anymore I don't. I'll admit there were times when I did, but not anymore," she stated. "With this kid, I'll be able to create the best version of a Z-candidate... It's actually kind of sad that you wouldn't be there to see the perfect Galaxy I plan on creating, especially since you were the biggest motivation."
She let out a deep breath before looking at the watch around her wrist. She then raised her head to look at Rohan Coco. "Thanks to you, I was able to crack the code on everything I needed to secure a peaceful Winter Weir… and your mother as well," she smiled. "A wonderful woman, she was."
"I was able to realize the missing part in creating the Z-syrup, and because of you, now the concept of time is no longer a mystery. Complicated, but not a mystery."
She continued. "You came back to the moment where both our lives intertwined and attempted to murder me in this time, hoping I'd be dead when you get back and the future would be different… that would have worked, and I would have been dead now, only I wasn't in the future, and that changed things, severing this timeline from our timeline… it could be that or both our action of breaking through the time wall and traveling through timelines constantly has caused too much a great distortion and made this timeline break from ours, could be any, and hence why I said time is a complicated concept."
"What are you saying?"
"Whatever happens in this timeline won't affect our time, in a nutshell, this is a single floating time thread. I even killed myself in this time to confirm it--- obviously did a lot of experiments to make sure I was right before I killed myself, I'm not that crazy."
She placed her hand on the young Coco's head and sighed. "And that is why I plan to use this timeline as…" she paused. "Let's call it a workshop."
"Who the fuck do you think you are to create and destroy things! god?" Nicolas barked. He clenched his fist and took a step forward.
Miss Havishma shook her head no. "I was only a kid when I got the inspiration to fix this war-grown galaxy."
"So what? You are a prophet?"
The pale-skinned woman laughed softly. "I'm not a god, and I'm no prophet, I am just a woman who wants to wake up one morning without having to be in a situation that requires me to think of a defense strategy." The chief of Department H paused for a moment before speaking again.
"I just want a peaceful Winter Weir. Is it too much to ask for?"
Nicolas frowned. "Let my son go… I'll kill you if you as much as touch a single hair on his head."
"Don't make threats you can't keep, Nicolas..."
Before Miss Havishma could finish her words, sparks of electricity engulfed the dark-haired man's body as he used his abilities to switch places with one of the agents by Havishma's side. He clenched his fist and lunged it at the Chief of Miss Havishma's face.
Just as his fist was seconds away from colliding with its target, the second agent Miss Havishma was with grabbed his hand and hurled him through a wall and into a different room. Miss Havishma didn't bother sparing even a single glance at the dark-haired man as she exited the building with the young Coco and one of the agents.
Nicolas attempted to attack the masked agent but the former sent him crashing over a table with a single slap.
"Havishma!" Rohan yelled before launching himself at the Red agent. He sent the man flying out of the building and into the next with a thunderous punch. He quickly rushed to where his father was to find him lying motionless on the ground. "Dad, dad are you okay?" He asked while checking his pulse. The dark-haired man let out a sigh of relief as he caught the presence of faint breathing from his father.
The dark-haired man then turned his attention to his opponent. He got up and made his battle stance as he heard the approaching footsteps of the Red agent.
Each step the agent took sent flames rippling through the ground, intensifying the tension and atmosphere between them.
Rohan's eye turned bright blue with the familiar markings appearing around it as he summoned arcs of electricity, crackling and dancing around his fingertips. He knew the man that stood before him was like himself, a Z-candidate, and isn't to be taken lightly.
His stance was agile, ready to dart in and out of danger at a moment's notice.
The Red agent, on the other hand, exuded an aura of searing heat, flames licking at his heels as he stood his ground, though he had a mask covering his face, Rohan could still feel the intense heat burning in his eyes.
Without hesitation, Rohan launched the first attack, sending bolts of electricity streaking toward his opponent with precision. He quickly countered by conjuring a wall of flames, the electricity sizzling as it collided with the intense heat.
Undeterred, the dark-haired man leaped through the flames with his electricity crackling around him as he closed the distance between them.
With his fists clenched the dark-haired man closed the distance between them, ready to engage in hand-to-hand combat.
His movements were swift and fluid as he closed in on the Red agent. With a lightning-fast jab, he aimed for his opponent's midsection, only for him to sidestep with agility, narrowly evading the blow.
The fire user retaliated with a swift uppercut, his fist wreathed in flames, hitting Rohan cleanly in the jaw, but this didn't affect him in the slightest.
The former Storm 01 launched a flurry of punches, each one infused with electrifying energy, while the active agent countered with fierce kicks, using his flames to intensify each strike.
Despite the intensity of their exchange, neither Rohan nor the agent showed any signs of backing down. They traded blow for blow, the sound of their fists meeting filling the air with a symphony of violence. Each impact sent shockwaves rippling through the ground, shattering and destroying the nearby buildings while leaving holes in the ground. They seem to both be on equal terms as they continue to exchange attacks.
The red agent released a heaven fold of flame that threw the dark-haired man through multiple buildings. He advanced and sent him back with yet another punch, not giving Rohan time to recover.
The dark-haired man quickly made a strategic decision to tactically avoid his opponent's relentless assault.
Using his environment to his advantage, he ducked behind crumbling buildings and large boulders, using them as makeshift cover to shield himself from the masked agent's relentless barrage. His senses were heightened as he scanned his surroundings, always on the lookout for the next opportunity to outmaneuver his opponent.
Meanwhile, the agent's frustration grew with each passing moment as his opponent continued to evade his attacks. Determined not to let the dark-haired man slip through his fingers this time, he intensified his assault, unleashing a gust of flame in every direction.
But Rohan remained elusive, his movements a blur as he deftly avoided the agent's attacks. He continued to dodge the attack, waiting for the perfect moment to strike back with his electrifying counterattack.
As the Red agent attacks grew more frenzied, Rohan seized his chance. With a burst of speed, he closed the distance between them, launching a surprise attack that caught the agent off guard. The punch hits its target and sends sparks of electricity that cause a light explosion. Before he could react, Rohan unleashed a devastating surge of electricity, enveloping the Red agent in a blinding flash of light.
When the smoke cleared, the two found themselves in the heart of the rugged, rocky terrain.
The former Rain X looked around the surroundings with zero recollection of how they got there but he wasn't about to start pondering in the middle of a fight. He concluded it was another of the abilities he possessed and quickly charged forward again, unleashing yet another surge of electricity, enveloping the Red agent in a blinding flash of light with the environment changing again, this time, they found themselves in the middle of a snow-covered land. The dark-haired man belts forward again and rained down a left, sending his opponent through multiple trees in the new environment they were in.
The agent's mask broke into pieces from the effect of the terrifying attacks. He coughed out blood before barely dragging himself up to his feet and raised his head to look at the dark-haired man. The latter gasped in shock and surprise as he took in the face of the man who stood before him. The sight made the Storm agent drop his hand. "W-who are you?" He questioned. The man who stood before him had the same features as himself and Rohan felt as though he was staring into a mirror.
The Red agent seized the opportunity and launched himself forward. He grabbed Rohan by the collar and pinned him to one of the trees in the surroundings. As he pinned the blue-eyed man to the wall, his eyes rolled backward as his body began to glow bright red. His veins swelled and a second later, the place was hit with an extremely loud and large barrage of explosions.
....
ns 15.158.61.51da2
