Five Years Ago...
Holding his wakizashi in a reverse grip, Damian hooked his blade around his opponent's, twisting the long sword out of the way and leaving the trainee-assassin completely open, unprepared for an attack. Not losing his momentum for a second, the young boy leapt forwards while leaning backwards, delivering two kicks to the chest of his enemy as he ran up their torso, before slamming the ball of his foot right into their chin. Damian continued into a backflip, landing smoothly on his feet as the young ninja was sent toppling backwards and swiftly removed from the arena, dragged by two assistants. This all happened within three seconds, after the student had made his first move against the spawn of SaDiablo. Completely unphased by the assault, Damian looked around the room expectantly, as his teacher snapped her fingers and two more attackers leapt forth. One wielded a spear, while the other favoured dual axes.
Cool and calculating, Damian immediately analysed the situation. The spear was long enough to cover almost half the diameter of the arena, it would be a big problem if left too long. The axes, while powerful, were slow, short and easily evaded. With this in mind, the young Rayne moved across the ground, his feet almost gliding over the floor as he slid closer to the one with the spear. The assassin lunged forward, attempting to jab his weapon through the boy's ribcage. But the small killer had incredible reflexes, and parried the blow with ease, using his katana to knock the point of the spear to one side. With the wooden pole now easily accessible, Damian pulled his leg close to his chest and lashed out with a harsh kick, so powerful that, when it hit the spot in between the assassin's hands, it caused the spear to snap in two. Not only that, but the power from the kick caused the spear to collapse inwards, and the two shattered halves were embedded in the assasin's chest in a flash of red.
Confident in his abilities, Damian didn't bother checking to see if this enemy was incapacitated (he was) before turning to face the axe-man. The boy had timed his attack perfectly, as the second killer was on him the moment he turned his head. He ducked out of the way, to the side, as one of the axes crashed into the wooden floor with such force that it got stuck. With a roar of anger, the burly assassin swung his second weapon horizontally, aiming to take off the head of the boy who would become Hesperus. Ducking once more, Damian held his katana up at an angle, causing the assassin to blow his hand into the point of the blade. The shock caused his grip of the axe to loosen, as he let go of the axe and it was sent spiralling out of controlling, slamming into one of the poles surrounding the arena. Meanwhile, using his wakizashi like a whip with speed and precision, the younger assassin created deep cuts on each of his enemy's limbs, causing him to release his aze and stumble backwards, howling in pain. Using the handle of the first axe as a springboard, Damian then flew high into the air, raising his fist, as he smashed a flying punch into the face of his opponent.
These two were also dragged off, and the next set arrived, three at once this time. Now only the red-headed girl remained outside of the arena. Damian was eager to finish off these assassins quickly and face her. There were three assassins coming at him from the front, left and right. One wielded sais, another had a bo-staff and the final assassin used the katana. Glancing left and right quickly, Damian crossed his arms over his chest, and then snapped them outwards, flinging his daisho in opposite directions. With a roar on either side of the boy killer, it was obvious he had hit the targets. The sai-wielding assassin had a katana straight through their shoulder, while the wakizashi had penetrated the thigh of the one with the bo-staff. The kid stood still, waiting for the final attacker to come to him, as the katana user charged straight for him, sword held high above his head. At the last moment, Damian surged forward, as the sword was brought swinging down with great speed. Falling flat onto his back and sliding across the floor, Damian raised his legs as he headed straight for the assassin, slamming his heels together on his opponent's hands. He continued to slide, bending his legs so he could slide through the gap in his enemy's legs. The assassin lost his grip on the sword after the unconventional counter, but the katana didn't lose any momentum. It slashed through the air where Damian had been lying only moments ago and then continued on its arc upward, until it came to a rest in the delicate area between its owner's legs.
Damian got to his feet, smirking, as the final assassin was carefully lead away from the arena, swearing as he tried not to agitate his own blade too much, as it waggled between his legs like a dog's tail. The assistants removed the boy's weapons from the other two assassins and they were handed back to him, as he stood in the centre of the arena, waiting for his final opponent, the one who would truly test him. The other were amateurs, a warm-up for the young killer. This was Gambler's greatest student, just as Damian was Surreal's. They had met and sparred before, but never with weapons and never too seriously. Twirling his swords in his hands as he felt the eyes of Gambler and Surreal pierce his body, the giant-killer waited for his next would-be victim to begin the battle. He preferred countering and using the enemy's attacks against them. It made him feel like a badass.
The Present Day...
"No. We're here to sightsee. Maybe pick some flowers and take pictures. Write a journal entry or two." Dark Huntress sighed, her voice dripping with sarcasm, before turning more serious."And don't think that I didn't notice you playing with the plane mid-flight. I'm a telekinetic, Hesperus, I can tell when people are screwing around with things, moving them against their will. That's a plane, you don't mess around with stuff like that especially mid-flight! You pull something similar to that again and we're going to have words." She checked her weapons and then lead her group away from their transport. But Hesperus wasn't just going to accept criticism, even from someone he respected as much as Cass.
"Excuse me for getting bored." He rolled his eyes as the three of them made their way through the 'town'. "It's not my fault we had to take the plane because the team doesn't have enough teleporters. I could have actually teleported us here myself, if it wasn't for the terms of my being on this team. I'm forbidden to use my powers directly on any member of the Champions of Peace. So you can blame Eclipse for the long, boring flight."
Cass said nothing in reply, merely gestured for her companions to come closer to her, as if something was wrong. Ignoring this gesture, Damian continued to walk at his own pace. Still, he heard Dark Huntress whisper "Something about this reeks of a setup." and replied with his usual confident smirk.
"Who cares? Even if this is an ambush, it's nothing I can't handle." And in response to these words, a man in a skull mask appeared suddenly and started firing a barrage of bullets. While his partners tried to dodge these bullets or return fire, Damian just grinned and stood exactly where he was, arms crossed over his chest. A bullet flew towards his forehead, but before it could make contact, some unseen force caused it to change course and bend around the boy's head. The force continued to act, as the bullet span round and round... Thanks to Hesperus' gravitational control, the bullet was now orbiting his body, along with every other bullet which got close enough to him. Deciding he might as well have a little fun rather than attack the target immediately, Damian made his way over to Despair and Dark Huntress to see how well they were coping with the attack.
As soon as he was close enough, however, an explosion suddenly erupted right in front of him. Taken comletely by surprise, he had no time to react, yet for some reason he was unharmed by the trap... Looking over at Cass, he saw that she had erected a telekinetic shield to protect her two allies while she took the brunt of the explosion, landing painfully on her back. Seeing her in such pain filled Hesperus with rage, for some reason, and he felt the sudden desire to shove his boot down the throat of their attacker. Well, he felt more of a desire, anyway. Looking to Despair, Hesperus was about to make some sarcastic comment when he noticed what the emo-girl was doing. She was standing, glaring at the man in the skull mask, surrounded by a dazzling white light. Her hands were radiating large spheres of the light, ready to burn the stranger to a crisp.
And then, suddenly, the tables had turned. The man with the skull mask had covered an incredible distance in no time at all, shattered the light which shielded Despair and was now holding a gun to her head, as Damian watched in shock. That was when he realized he knew who this assassin was. His name was Nano, a mercenary who had recently come under the employ of his mother... Surreal SaDiablo. As Hesperus realized who was truly responsible for the kidnapping of Sarah Lockhart, his reality came crashing down around him. For the past few months he had been a member of the Champions of Peace, living among heroes. He was there as an infiltrator, there to betray the team and kill his sworn enemy. But Damian had forgotten that. He had grown so accoustumed to his new life that he had forgotten his mission entirely, forgotten who it was he used to be...
A moment later, Nano's weapon fell to the ground, pierced by a dozen bullet holes. Damian had used the bullets still orbiting his body to destroy his enemy's gun before he could put Despair out of her misery. There was no time for Hesperus to dwell on who he truly was, he had to take down this assassin. Nano himself had dropped his gun, switching back to his rave music as he weaved out of the way of Damian's bullets, as his music shifted to rock and roll midway through a kick to Hesperus' gut. The young killer tried to hold back the blow with gravity, but Nano's strength was too great and his knee plowed into the boy's stomach. He stamped his other foot onto the kid's left foot, as Damian felt his toes break, followed by a powerful punch to the face, shattering the kid's nose and causing blood to erupt out of his face. Damian blasted Nano away with a roar and a gravitational pulse, withdrawing his dual weapons as he followed, swinging them with his usual accuracy. But Nano was listening to classical music now, and he moved with grace and flexibility, weaving and ducking out of the way of Hesperus' slashes as the boy's rage increased. "Let's rock." Nano chuckled, pushing a button on his music player as heavy metal began to flow into his ears.
Then, Nano screamed. It started with a scream typical of the lead singers in your average metal band, accomanied by head banging, but soon the volume increased, louder and louder, until an ear-splitting siren was permeating the entire area. Hesperus fell to his knees, clutching his ears in pain as his swords lay abandoned in front of him. Too occupied with trying to stop his eardrums exploding, Damian couldn't do a thing as Nano reached down and grabbed his katana, still screaming, and raised it into the air. The assassin was about to bring it crashing down when Hesperus opened his eyes,grabbed the ankle of his enemy and yelled: "Sucks to be you!" Nano was surrounded by a green tinge and then, in a flash of green light, vanished into thin air, as the katana fell back to the ground. Damian had a feeling that Nano wouldn't be a huge fan of the Sahara desert.
Getting cautiously to his feet, careful not to put too much weight on his left, Hesperus spat blood out of his mouth and wiped his face with his cloak, turning to face his partners as he knew what he had to do. "I'll be right back." He said simply, as he too vanished in a flash of green light, reappearing somewhere else entirely. He was outside one of the many facilities belonging to his mother. Sarah was bound to be held in one of these and logic dictated that Mike would have gone to the place his wife was most likely being held. So when Damian found Mike, he would find Sarah. He checked four locations until finally, he came across one with a hole in the wall, and spotted Honor Girl disappearing inside, as the sounds of battle began to echo throughout the area.
Returning to Mongolia, Hesperus appeared right next to Dark Huntress and Despair, throwing away the rules Eclipse and Redhead had given him when he joined and seizing the hands of both girls. His cheeks flushed red slightly as he felt Cassidy's soft skin through his glove, but the green light masked this colour in his face as the three of them teleported back to China, where Sovereign Son, Tempest and Honor Girl had just infiltrated the outer level of the facility. Hopefully this was the one housing Mistress Redhead. As soon as they arrived, Hesperus released his partners and ran towards the gaping hole in the wall.
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