"He walks among you already. Skin like yours, breath like yours, but the soul — oh, the soul is fire and ruin. He is no boy. He is the crown unborn, the storm sleeping in a cage of flesh. The King does not rise alone — He sends His blood before Him."-Unknown
As he raced towards the crater where he had left All for One, Carter's mind raced as he went through all the reasons why those lunatics would want his attention. When they had first come into contact he had ripped through several of them before they were able to subdue him and even after he woke up he killed a few more before he was found by Cathleen, and now after five years they came looking for him again.
'Let them come, they'll be slaughtered like last time.' the voice snarled as I slowed down and saw what had the hero on the phone with Nezu so freaked out. Hovering in the air I saw several injured heroes, somewhere barely scratched but a few had more serious injuries. 'Irrelevant, more on.' I thought as I flapped my wings and glided down into the crater where AFO was supposed to be impaled on my sword still suffering, but instead there was just a puddle of blood on the ground and a small almost insignificant mark on the blade of my sword, a mark the sent shivers down my spine.
The symbol was simple but the ones that followed it were anything but, the symbol featured a jagged crimson crown above an all-seeing eye, surrounded by broken circles and tendrils of red flame, with black and red veins snaking through the design. 'They followed me.' I realized as I stared at it, wondering what to do and for the first time since coming to this new world, I felt lost.
I sat there in silence for a few minutes before standing and grabbing the sword by the hilt and ripping it free from the earth. Someone was watching me, and had been for some time now, and I was willing to bet they had an idea as to why these lunatics were here. Climbing out of the crater I looked to a ruined building several miles away and glared at the presence I felt, it continued to watch me but I noticed several seemingly innocent shadows begin to move towards me as men clad in black walked up to me, upon their shoulders was a circle with three arrows pointing inwards.
"Are you done playing in the shadows? I asked dryly as the men stopped a few meters from me as I heard the faint clicks of safeties coming off. "Will you come quietly?" One of them asked and I sighed while nodding, "Lead the way, I'd better get answers at whatever black site you're taking me to."
As they loaded me into a gray van, I saw a few heroes that could finally catch up to where I last was with Hawks in the lead. Turning to the man I presumed was in charge I asked, "How many agents are in the HPSC?" He didn't answer me as the van left the site of battle that had shaken the world.
After a few minutes of driving I perked up as I felt several new presences enter the area I could sense and where closing in fast. "They're here." I said as I wrapped myself in my wings just as an explosion flipped the van we were in. BOOM *CRUNCH* The van slid for a few meters before stopping as I unfolded my wings and slid out of the overturned vehicle as the agent around me struggled to regain their bearings. As I stood up outside the van I saw dozens of red robed figures already locked in a fierce fight with several agents already dead as more joined the fight.
Upon seeing me both groups paused briefly as if expecting me to do something, but I just looked at them impassively, not caring which side won as I would get the answers I wanted regardless. Seeing I had no intention of interfering the agents breathed a sigh of relief before they and the red figures went back to fighting.
As more and more reinforcements showed up, heroes also started to appear but instead of joining the fight they herded away the civilians as two figures appeared next to me, one in flowing red robes and one in black body armor. "Greetings exalted one." the red figure said with a bow as the black figure extended a hand, "Hello Mr. Bate. It's a shame we have to meet this way." I didn't take his hand as I stared at the two impassively.
Seeing I had nothing to say, the black figure went first, "Well as unfortunate as it is, we require you at the nearest facility to provide assistance with something concerning your heritage. We need your assistance to close a gate that has been causing trouble and would also appreciate you dealing with these cultists." he said as he glanced at the red robed man as his hand twitched towards his hip where a weapon was no doubt concealed.
"I will not let them take you oh exalted one." the red man said as he unsheathed a sword hanging from his waist. "That will not be necessary." I interrupt "Did either of you free All For one?" I asked and they shook their heads. "He received a just punishment for his crimes." "We had surveillance but did not move him or come into contact with him." they said as I sighed.
Taking out my phone I checked the time and saw that it was almost lunch time and I still had to fly back to UA, "I have little interest in your petty games, agent. Tell your little council to leave me alone." I said as I turned to the man in red, "Why have you come to me again speaker? Was the burning you received last time not warning enough?" I snarled as I stepped forward ready to burn him to ash. "We are not the radicals who captured you my lord. We are the true children of the Scarlet King, we merely wish to support you and wish no harm be brought upon you." the man said as he stabbed his blade into the ground and knelt before me. "We only wish for you to ascend and to bear witness to your passage." he finished with a reverent tone as the fighting started to die down with each side forming up behind their respective leaders.
"I wish to be left alone, neither the Foundation nor the Children have the power or the authority to pursue conflict with me." I said coldly as I glared at both sides, the Foundation agents gripped their weapon tighter ready for a fight as the Children bowed their heads in shame and reverence. Seeing neither side had anything left to say I snorted and took to the air beating my wings as I shifted into my Night wing form. As I finished I called on the fire within as I glared down at the two groups watching me, "Let this be a warning to those who would interfere with my life." I said before letting loose a jet of fire with a roar at the area surrounding them, the concrete cracked and bubbled as buildings caught fire and burned bright. Not staying to watch, I left and took higher into the sky as I soared back to UA, where Nezu and many others now awaited my return with questions that would remain unanswered.
Foundation agent POV-
As I watched the dragon fly away I swore internally not caring if he read my mind or not. The mission was supposed to be simple, approach the subject, ask him to follow and then bring him to the facility without alerting anyone. Instead they received outright hostility from him though he did go with them without a fight, and if that wasn't enough they were attacked by those lunatics from the Children of the Scarlet King. How they caught wind of this operation he had no idea but he was glad that at least some of his men made it out alive, though not all did.
Calming himself, he was about to give the order to kill the rest of the Children's combatants only to see that they had already left leaving nothing behind, not even their dead. Sighing and wishing to be done with this mission already he ordered them to salvage what they could from the battle and secure the dead as he called for extraction, and hoped he wouldn't get demoted for this huge blunder that would set them back years.
Children of the Scarlet King POV-
As they left the burning area with their dead, the Children rejoiced! They had gotten to meet the one that was mentioned in the prophecy! Although he was nowhere as powerful as he needed to be at the moment, he still had the potential to reach that height and could have easily killed all of them back there, but he had let them live so they would live to fight another day and perhaps be granted the honor of assisting him one day.
As they reached their base of operations many of the Children went to their private areas and prayed to the Scarlet King, giving thanks for the privilege it was to bear witness to his heir, and prayed for his strength to never wane and for his will to remain as strong as it had been the last time. As they prayed and rejoiced together, many fondly remembered one of the final verses of the Great Prophecy regarding him, "You will know him by the fire in his veins." they had bore witness to his flame, as it burned the very air they breathed, the steel and concrete that kept the buildings of man standing, and watched in fascination and fear the way the world itself seemed to shudder as he scorched the ground. They could only hope to see the first sign of the prophecy come to pass, but still they retained hope as they went about their rituals and prepared themselves for the day they would rise up to do his bidding.
General POV-
Once Carter arrived back to UA, Nezu naturally called him to his office to discuss why he had left and what had happened. Feeling a bit generous Carter told him a bit about how the Children of the Scarlet King viewed him as their savior and the bringer of the apocalypse, and how the Foundation viewed him as a world ending threat but how both groups remained cordial with him and had even outright avoided him for years before suddenly reemerging.
Nezu tried his best to whittle down Carter with various probing questions trying to glean even a little bit of information that he could pass back to the Foundation and use himself to keep UA and his students safe should the need arise, but Carter remained firm despite the hours of conversation though he did develop a sense of respect for the chimera, very few would press him in such a way to get information, even in his first life he was never pushed quite so much for info other than by one other person, but he had failed them, and now they were gone. . .
After finally escaping Nezu and his endless questions, Carter made his way back to the dorms and found most of the class in the living room watching a movie as they turned to him. "Hey man where've ya been? We tried calling but you never answered." Kirishima said as Carter shrugged "Didn't feel like answering." He said simply before walking to his room, thinking about how to deal with the reemergence of the Foundation and the Children, but as he reached his door someone stopped him.
"What's got you worried, flyboy?" Katsumi asked as he turned and faced her, she stood there looking at him with the same angry expression she always had, but her eyes showed how concerned she was for him 'foolish girl' "I'm fine, just tired." he said as he opened his door and stepped inside, "Bullshit!" She scoffed as she stopped him from closing the door with her foot before she pried the door open, "You got that look that you get when you space out and shit goes wrong." she said as she looked into his eyes, worried enough to drop the act as she spoke softly "Do you want to talk about it?" she asked as he stared impassively, "Thanks for worrying, I'm fine, really." he said as he gently nudged her foot out of the way and closed the door, but he still saw her worried eyes that didn't believe him as the door shut with a click.
Locking the door he went over to his bead and sat down, he sat there for a few minutes going over the various ways he could keep the two groups out of his life, bribes, coercion or outright annihilation where all on the table, but for now he just wanted to sleep and so he did, for the first time feeling a bit worried about the future and what it held.
A/N- Hey sorry for the late chapter, just been dealing with a bunch of things lately. I GRADUATE TOMORROW!! So I'm gonna be dealing with that emotional rollercoaster, but it'll be fine. YayBand!!