In the midst of chaos, outside the walls of Purgatory, the reception room suddenly filled with smoke as an elderly figure appeared.
Through the veil of silence stepped a man.
Old. Bent. His frame was wrapped in robes that might once have been white but had long since surrendered to the stains of dust and age. To the untrained eye, he looked frail, a relic better suited to temples or graveyards than the fortress of men. Yet the air betrayed him.
A storm moved with him.
It was not wind, nor sound, but an oppressive weight that pressed against lungs and hearts, forcing every soul present to acknowledge the truth: this was no man. His aura bled outward in waves, unseen but undeniable, smothering the prison in suffocating stillness. The guards' breaths grew ragged, their knees buckling as though the very act of standing against him was an insult to the laws of existence.
His sandals whispered across the cracked stone, each step deliberate, each pause echoing louder than a cannon's roar. Though his eyes were shadowed beneath his brow, no one dared to meet his gaze. Those who tried felt their thoughts unravel, as though a blade had skimmed across the fibers of their very fate.
At his side rested the sword, Ketsumei, sheathed in an unassuming scabbard. Legends whispered of it in hushed tones, claiming it had tasted more lives than famine or plague. Tonight, it remained silent, yet its presence alone was enough. The air around it seemed taut, like a seam waiting to be torn.
The massive reinforced doors of the inner block loomed ahead, designed to withstand explosives, fire, and siege. Raiken did not slow. He stood before them as if they were curtains and let his aura swell until the bolts screamed within their sockets. With the barest flick of his wrist, without even drawing his blade, the doors split cleanly down the center. Metal peeled apart like silk, groaning before collapsing into slabs at his feet.
Two officers raised their rifles in fear.
"Sir, you are not supposed to be here. Stop!" one shouted, before firing.
Raiken did not acknowledge them. Without even looking, he sliced through both the bullet and the soldiers themselves. Their bodies fell apart in pieces, cut cleanly as he continued forward.
His aura filled the air. With a single strike he tore through doors and barriers, unchallenged, not even breaking a sweat.
Lucian, moving towards the top floor, suddenly felt a chill crawl up his spine. "Fuck… something is coming," he muttered, gripping the blade in his hand as lightning and energy surged into it.
As if answering his thought, Raiken emerged from the wall beside him, instantly swinging his sheathed sword at light speed.
"What the hell.. " Lucian gasped, instinctively stepping back. The strike missed him by inches, but three entire blocks behind him crumbled to dust under the shockwave. "He is so fast!"
Raiken, his sword still sheathed, swung again with blinding precision. Lucian barely evaded, dodging by a hair's breadth.
"What the hell, old man, do you want to kill me that badly?" Lucian shouted, unleashing his limiters as his speed exploded. The two clashed, their blades colliding at light speed, steel and aura sparking violently.
"This old man is getting faster… and he is fighting with one arm behind his back," Lucian snarled in frustration. "What the fuck is he?!"
Raiken's calm voice cut through the chaos. "Young man, you have potential, but you have allowed the darkness of this world to blind you through grief."
Lucian's face twisted. "What the hell do you know about me? Stop talking about things that don't concern you!" His form split into countless mirages as he circled Raiken at light speed.
Raiken sighed. "I see. Your heart is fixed on revenge. You must not go down that path, young man, or else you will regret it… again." His blade flashed. In a single instant, he cut clean through Lucian.
Lucian screamed. "What the fuck—this old geezer cut my fucking arm!" He clutched the wound as blood poured down. "Are you kidding me? I thought you wanted to have a conversation!"
Raiken tilted his head. "Yare yare. You talk too much, Lucian Stark." In an instant, he thrust his blade.
Lucian had no time to blink before the sword pierced through his chest, slicing him upwards. His mind raced. "This old man… he is reading my aura. There is no way he could have figured out my identity otherwise." With a desperate move, Lucian created clones of himself and flung them upward, retreating.
Meanwhile, Evolve and the others reached the top floor.
"Stop!" Gloria cried, her hands trembling as she raised a pistol.
"Shall I kill this loud human woman, my lord?" one of the Evolutionaries asked.
"No. Leave her to me," Evolve replied telepathically, glaring at Gloria.
"Why are you doing this? You have killed thousands of our officers. They had families. How could you...don't you have a heart?" Gloria's voice broke with tears.
"Don't I have a heart?" Evolve laughed maniacally. "Don't I have a family too? Don't I deserve to meet them? But you locked me up here, and now you ask if I have a heart? That is rich." He raised his hand. Gloria was lifted into the air, choking as his telekinesis crushed her throat.
"My God will save me and punish you," she gasped.
"There is no God. And if there is, then I am that God," Evolve declared with a roar. "The God of a new world I will create, where all life will be reborn! There is no one who can save you from my hand."
But before he could finish, a blinding strike broke through the glass. A fist, wrapped in lightning, crashed into him and hurled him across the floor.
"There may not be a God," a voice thundered, "but there is a hero. And that hero is me."
Johnson stood in the shattered light, his white hair flowing as his body sparked with blue lightning. His presence was commanding, his watch glowing with power. He was taller now, older, his mask gone to reveal his handsome face.
He gently laid Gloria down. "Are you alright, miss?"
"I am fine… more importantly, he and two others are causing havoc," Gloria coughed.
"It is alright. We, the Guardians, will take care of it."
Quicklightning, we meet again," Evolve growled as he stood, his eyes burning with rage. "I cannot say I am happy to see you."
"I cannot say I am happy to see you either, Evolve," Johnson replied, his aura humming, the storm building around him.
"You killed my daughter… I will kill everyone in your family!" Evolve roared, rushing forward at light speed.
Johnson's eyes widened. "I… did not kill—what did you just say? You will hurt my family?" His rage ignited. In an instant, he surged forward. Their fists collided, and the shockwave blasted the prison walls apart as light consumed the floor.
The scene cut away.
Nine months earlier, back in the apartment in a quiet desert , Johnson sat in his room deep in thought. The silence was broken by a soft knock on the door.
"Hey Johnny, how are you feeling? Can I come in? Let's talk before we go back to Star Labs," Joyce's warm voice called gently.
"Yeah, come in," Johnson answered.
The door opened, and light filled the room.