The Custodes

Chapter 39 - The Battle Of The Blind Man

"We're trusting him." He stated simply, loosening his fists as everyone on the rooftop fell into a silent understanding. All of them stood there, watching Nexus with a tiny, newfound spark of hope - praying that he somehow had something hidden up his sleeve.

And thank God he did.

The silence remained as Nexus blasted his way free of Zuro's grip, tearing through his wings and tendrils before sending him flying an unbelievable distance into one of the nearby buildings. Some members of the group wore stunned expressions at the feat Nexus had just pulled off. Neo, however, simply let out a deep sigh of relief, before quickly starting to drag his friends away from the edge of the roof and into a sort of huddle.

"Come on. We need to get down the-" "ALL OF YOU, ON ME NOW!" They heard Nexus suddenly bellow, as Neo couldn't help but roll his eyes. "I'm guessing that's our signal." He muttered, before turned around so that the group could shuffle together - back to back "Ready when you are, Daigo." 

"On it." The man replied, before a shell of icy crystal rapidly began to grow around them all, until a second later they were transported down to right beside Nexus. The ice had barely even shattered before Nexus began barking commands at all of them, and thanks to their trust in Neo they all moved without hesitation - not giving Zuro a second to gather himself. 

When the others had all ran off to fight the beast, Nexus turned to Neo with a slightly solemn expression on his face - seemingly upset about something that Neo had missed. "Alright Nexus." He said, not dwelling on his brother's dip in mood since there were quite obviously larger things at stake "You got any ideas on how to kill this bastard?"

"Yeah...I got a few ideas. But first of all, where the hell are Leon and Doctor Who?" Nexus asked, looking around as though the pair were lurking somewhere. Neo scowled at his brother's choice in nicknames. "Kayla and Noah have some other business elsewhere. I don't know what it is, but I trust-" 

"Other business elsewhere?!" Nexus repeated incredulously, almost letting out a laugh at how audacious the statement was "I don't know if you've noticed, but there's a fucking maniac we kind of have to kill."

"Yes you're right Nexus, I'm sure Kayla forgot all about that!" Neo snapped back, already irritated after maybe a minute of talking to his brother "Listen, if she says it's important then it's important. Now do you plan on fucking helping me in the slightest or will I go try a few of my own ideas?"

"That seems to be going well so far..." Nexus muttered snarkily, enjoying the look of slightly embarrassed fury that crossed Neo's face "Okay, so from what I could gather...Zuro's basically invincible. That skin of his doesn't even crack no matter how much force you use against it. I'm talking about on an atomic fucking level, by the way, so what they're doing-" Without even turning his head, Nexus pointed straight at the group of Neo's friends - currently locked in combat with a blinded Zuro and miraculously managing to stay alive due to his handicap "-is going to get them all killed again. We need to try something different."

"Like what?" Neo asked, entertaining Nexus' monologuing in order to hurry him to getting to the point. "Either we find a way to kill him without touching his skin, or we find something that can break the skin. And I think the former is much more likely to happ-" "I can break the skin." Neo interrupted, nodding his head faintly as he thought back to the earlier stages of the battle "But only with a certain power. I blasted Zuro's throat to pieces not too long ago. It was honestly easier than I expected." 

"Okay..." Nexus stated simply, his brow furrowing in thought. It was slowly becoming clear to him why Zuro had referenced this 'special' power of Neo's so many times. "...okay, that helps. So, why can't you bring the power back?"