The Custodes

Chapter 21 - A Return To Form

As the pair entered the alleyway to Hector's home the sun had already set and the streets were illuminated only by street lamps. Neo knocked on the wall, sighing at the strange method of entry that he still didn't understand, and the next thing he knew he was inside. "Did you get it?" Hector shouted from his living room, as Neo and Synthia walked in to meet him. "No." Neo answered, still trying not to seem as beat up about it as he was "But we got these." He took off the satchel and tossed it to Hector, who caught it and immediately started to examine the books' covers curiously. "Aren't you going to open it?" Synthia asked. She and Neo had decided not to, but she thought it would've been the first thing Hector would do. "Opening books can be dangerous." He mumbled cryptically, before putting both of them back into the satchel and throwing it unceremoniously onto the counter. "How exactly can opening books be dangerous?" Neo questioned as he sat down, relaxing into the couch after the long walk the pair endured. "Basically there's certain enchantments that grant the user knowledge the instant they glance inside. Regardless at what they look at." Hector said dismissively, causing Neo to perk up slightly. "That...makes sense actually. Zuro did that. He read both books when he arrived, but in his memories he only saw a single page. That's why I never got the knowledge." He said with a sudden realisation, as Hector nodded in confirmation. "Anyway, what are we going to do about the sword?" Synthia said, changing the subject as she wandered aimlessly around Hector's living room. "I don't know..." Neo mumbled, looking at Hector with a suddenly curious expression "Is there any way we can make our own?" Hector looked at Neo in puzzlement, seemingly surprised by the notion of this "What do you mean?" "Hell if I know, you're the one who's got all that knowledge." He said with a small chuckle, before quickly turning serious again "Has Heimskor left you a way to make any sort of weapon for situations like this? Powerful ones - that might give us an edge over Zuro." "No, I don't think that's-" Hector paused mid sentence, his face growing thoughtful, only to be filled with slow realisation as he suddenly stood up "Oh...wait a second. Oh, that might be-...give me a minute." He rapidly exited the room, heading down the hall into the only other space in practically the entire house. "There's nothing off the top of my head, but..." Hector's voice shouted down the corridor to Neo as the noise of numerous books being picked up and discarded could be heard "...I may have written it down somewhere. I have brief memories about-...oh never mind. Just let me find something!" Neo shared a glance with Synthia, who shrugged and went to pick up a strange spiked spherical object from the counter, holding it up and examining it in front of her. Hector let out a shout of what sounded like excitement from the room, before coming back down the corridor, a book in hand as he placed it on the table in front of Neo. Neo peered at the blank cover but Hector quickly picked it up again once he had sat down, opening and skimming through it before stopping on a certain page. "Exactly what I thought! Haha, that is brilliant. Crazy how things work out sometimes." He said like a giddy young boy, as Neo stared on perplexed. He looked like he was going to say more but suddenly noticed Neo's look and cleared his throat, turning slightly more serious as he quelled his excitement. "There is a weapon, yes. It can be crafted by your powers. All of your powers, together." "Can it take down Zuro?" Neo asked, wanting to know immediately without even thinking about the technicalities involved in crafting the weapon. "It will greatly increase your chances of success. There is only one slight problem however..." Hector mumbled, stroking his chin as Neo leaned forward "Tell me." "There are five powers you'll need to craft it. And uh...we only have four." Hector said, flashing Neo a small smile before standing up and heading to the counter. "What are you talking about? There's six of us, plus Nexus if you can persuade him to help." Neo said, watching Hector in puzzlement as he started messing with something at his counter. "Don't be an idiot. Healing powers and firing stupid little red beams out your hands don't exactly have weapon-crafting capabilities." Hector said patronisingly, hardly glancing back at Neo "Plus Nexus isn't involved anyway." "Well thank goodness for that." Synthia said, still peering at certain things on Hector's desk but not being as handsy with them now that he was back "So what's the big problem? What powers do we need?" "You two, Kayla and Noah are the four we have. But the other one, with the kinda crystal slash ice powers, he's the fifth. Noah didn't mention him during our conversation so I assume you don't know who he is?" Both Neo and Synthia shook their heads, with Neo furrowing his brow at the notion of another person having powers that the group didn't know about. "So how do we find him then?" He asked Hector, expecting the man to have a solid plan on doing so. However, Hector merely shrugged "I don't know, wait? I ain't got a clue who he is. Maybe you should put up posters asking if he's willing to join the superhero business." "Very fucking funny." Neo said with a scowl, as Synthia spoke up again "You'd think he would've shown up by now. What with the evil tyrant laying waste to the city and all." "Well so far most of Zuro's menacing has been directly towards you lot, except from the hospital." Hector said, though catching Neo's extremely unhappy look he quickly explained his case "Not that I'm defending him. I just mean that maybe whoever the person is doesn't feel inclined to get involved just yet. Just because someone has powers does not mean they have the drive to put themselves at risk for the greater good." "How insightful." Neo chimed, though his expression was a lot more neutral now. "Anyway. We need to focus on what we do next." Hector said, turning away from the counter with a newly made cup of tea in hand. He sat down, taking a sip, before looking between Synthia and Neo "So, any ideas?" Synthia rolled her eyes but Neo was back into his discursive mood "Like you said. Wait. We need time to train, just because we're able to craft this weapon doesn't mean we'll be competent with it." "We've used weapons before." Synthia said, furrowing her brow "Ones we've conjured. We seemed alright with those." "Alright isn't gonna beat Zuro. We need practise, and tutoring." Neo said, as Synthia turned away and mumbled a "Well sorr-ry." to herself. "I can teach you everything there is to know about your powers, but as for hand to hand combat I know next to nothing." Hector said, drinking more of his tea as Neo looked down in thought. Just then however, Kyro entered the house again, carrying a small sack in his arms as Zeke followed in tow. "Hey gramps, we got some of the stuff you wanted." He said as he entered the living room, dumping the sack on the floor with a smile. "Hey kid. Hey kid's lady friend." Synthia scoffed slightly as Neo merely waved, watching as Hector put his tea down and stood up, picking up the sack and rummaging about inside. Suddenly an idea came to Neo, something he had been wondering about after witnessing Zuro's memories, and Kyro was a perfect way to test his theory. "Kyro." "Hm?" "Spar me real quick will you." Kyro's face lit up in a grin as Zeke appeared to let out a small sigh under his mask. "Neo, what are you-" Synthia tried to talk but Kyro interrupted her "You are totally fucking on. If you can last more than eight seconds I'll give you ten dollars." Neo shrugged, standing up and walking over to the open area of the living room before facing Kyro "Alright." Synthia didn't know what Neo intended to, but went to stand on the other side of the room as Kyro joined Neo. "So, what are the rules?" Kyro asked, as Neo smiled slightly "I can't use powers. Neither can use weapons. First one on the ground." "Sounds good to me." "You're not stopping this?" Synthia asked Hector incredulously, pointing blatantly at the fact that two teens were about to scrap in his living room. "What? It's just harmless fun. Neo's undoubtedly going to lose but he initiated it so what's the problem?" Hector said with a flash of a small smile, as Synthia sighed and turned back to the boys as Hector returned to his sack of strange items. "Alright, lets go." Kyro said, getting into a fighting stance as Neo did the same "Three. Two. One. Start!" Kyro bolted at Neo with incredible speed, trying to simply grab his torso and sweep his legs from under him with the element of surprise on his side. His foot wrapped around the back on Neo's as he gripped his hoodie and threw him backwards. Neo did fall, but suddenly his hand gripped onto Kyro's arm, and with the momentum of his fall he raised his leg up and wrapped it over Kyro's shoulder, his heel pressing against the other side of his neck. Kyro was taken entirely by surprise as Neo hung upside down from his body, unable to stop him from grabbing his leg and suddenly pulling it out from under him, pushing with his own leg to cause Kyro to flip and land straight on his back, hard. Everyone in the room wore a stunned expression, excluding Zeke who obviously had his expression masked, as they saw Neo standing on both feet, having landed perfectly as Kyro lay where the was, barely able to comprehend what had happened. "What. The. Fuck." He said after a few seconds, shaking his head as he rapidly pushed himself up off the floor and spun to face Neo, who had a huge grin on his face. "You're trying to tell me you learned fucking Kung-fu since the last time we met?" He said accusingly, watching him with raised eyebrows as though expecting a response. "Kind of, actually." Neo said with a laugh, moving back over to the couch. "How did you do that?" Hector asked, staring at him as he approached. "Zuro's a trained fighter. Guess I picked up a few moves from him." He said with a shrug, as Kyro looked between Hector and Neo, not having a clue what that explanation was supposed to mean. "I guess you did." Hector said with a hearty laugh, before turning to point a finger at Kyro "You, my friend, just got your ass handed to you." "Fuck off. I don't know where he got that shit from but I have no doubt it's to do with those void powers or whatever he's got." Kyro said irritatedly, as Zeke let out a tiny snicker, only to be shot a glare. "Oh don't be a sore loser." Hector said with a wave of his hand as Kyro turned his glare on him "You accepted his terms, he pulled out something you didn't expect. Be more prepared next time." "Yeah, yeah, whatever." He replied, though this time an almost unnoticeable smile had made its way onto his face "I'm off old man. Have fun with whatever you're doing here." He walked towards Zeke, who started to make his way out the house without another word. "I gotta admit..." Kyro said as he stopped in the doorway and looked back at Neo, his small smile turning into a full blown grin "...it was a nice move. See you around kid. Bye kid's lady friend." "It's Synthia!" She shouted at him as he left the house with a wave of his hand, disappearing into the alleyway.