Damian ran around the state. He found out that it was the middle of February 1983.
He was excited while he was running around. He stole a few items like cellphones, clothes, and some cooking items. He didn't steal them all at once or from the same place.
He stole a camera to make some memories.
He returned to the forest he was in after running the whole day and piled the items in his cave. He stole a few items but didn't steal a bed since he slept in a makeshift bed that was made up of leaves.
He didn't bother to return to steal a bed because he was comfortable in that bed.
Damian called it a day.
The following day, Damian started to record himself. He put the camera at the angle that was perfect to record him.
"Ahh, hello. Since I didn't go to kindergarten or... I don't think I'll be able to go to school in the future. Anyway, no one is gonna ask me 'what I wanna be when I grow up?' I'll just ask myself."
Damian said as he looked at the camera. He paused for a few seconds before he decided to ask himself a question.
"What do I wanna be when I grow up?"
Afterwards, Damian recorded some other things. Damian was enjoying himself, but he noticed something... He was lonely.
He didn't have anyone to talk to or play with. He didn't have the internet to browse or stream videos.
He's all alone.
He didn't let loneliness get to him, so he decided to find something else to do. He decided to create a hut for himself, which was terrible because he knew nothing about building, but he tried.
Months went by, and Damian finished building himself a hut, which was in a different area than his cave.
Damian was sitting at the waterfall pond trying to catch some fish. He spotted a bear changing its direction from afar.
He looked around himself without standing up from his spot.
"ARE YOU ALL PEDOPHILES OR JUST CREEPS?"
Damian said out loud while staring at the pond, but there was no response. He waited for half a minute to get a response, but no one answered.
"Jeez, guys, sneaking up on a kid in full gear. How low can you be?" Damian said as he stood up from the rock he was sitting on.
"Hello," Damian said as he waved his hands around.
He looked at the bushes and waved his hands.
He looked at the trees and waved his hands.
He looked around himself as he waved his hands.
"How many of you are there? I count almost 50 of you guys," Damian said as he counted on his fingers.
Some people showed themselves from behind bushes, trees, and rocks. They were all covered in military gear like special ops or something.
Each and every single one of them was carrying a weapon and wearing bulletproof vests.
Damian was surrounded by soldiers who were pointing guns at him. Damian looked at the man who was walking behind the soldiers towards him, but he was 30 meters away.
The man was dressed in a full black suit as he came forward. He was not carrying anything on him.
"Good afternoon, little boy. I came to talk," the man said as he looked at the boy staring at him. The man appeared to be in his 20s, and he looked like a young Will Ferrell.
"My name is Richard Brinkerhoff," Richard introduced himself.
Let's rewind to how we got here.
Damian was speeding through the city, and a few people reported a person moving fast while stealing items.
The homeowners reported a break-in by someone who entered their home but didn't steal anything. In the first 2 houses, Damian didn't steal anything, but he stole some kids' clothes from the 3rd house, and the owner reported him.
Vought International got information about what was happening.
Stanford Edgar, Vice President of Vought International, started to look for every detail about the individual.
Stan Edgar is African-American and Hispanic. He appears to be in his 20s, and he's dressed formally.
He found details that the person he was looking for was a boy no older than 10. He was able to identify the boy as Damian Cross. The boy was recorded as dead and cremated by the hospital but somehow was running faster than a cheetah.
Stan identified Damian as a patient of Compound V, but there was no record of him in the files. The first appearance of Damian was when he was taken to the hospital by the pastor but died a year later. After another year, Damian made an appearance.
Stan couldn't put all his focus on finding Damian because he had to manage the revenue of Red Thunder. His focus was split, but the work was still getting done.
Damian had no physical address or a place where someone knew him. Stan couldn't go to the orphanage and ask about Damian because he knew they didn't know, and it appeared Damian hadn't visited the orphanage once.
Stan found the first place Damian committed a burglary and decided to search the area. He ended up finding that Damian was hiding in the forest in Oconee County, South Carolina.
Stan couldn't go because he had to focus on Vought International since Frederick Vought was currently not in full health.
So Stan decided to send someone who wouldn't cause a problem for the company, and the only guy that came up was Richard Brinkerhoff, who had only joined the company recently and hadn't made many connections in the company.
So even if he died, no one would care to investigate or damage the company. Stan delivered a message to Richard, but not himself directly; it was sent via a proxy, and Richard didn't know who sent the message.
Stan organised soldiers to go with Richard, and 50 would be enough for a 5-year-old kid.
[A/N: Damian is 7* years old.]
He specifically told the soldiers to bring the kid back alive if possible. Even though Stan was not going, he was the one in charge. Richard was just a simple representative (pawn) for Vought (nothing).
Richard left with the squad afterwards.