Memory Fragment- Age 13
"I wonder how the outside world feels," Lyra mused, twirling a fork between her fingers as she glanced at Leor and Lucas across the cafeteria table.
Leor snorted, shoveling a spoonful of synthetic protein into his mouth. "Huh? Why would you even want to know?" He swallowed hard, then smirked. "Personally, I think it'd be a letdown. My dad said everyone out there's greedy—only cares about money."
Lyra rolled her eyes. "Well, I'd argue greed is just human nature."
Lucas nodded, tapping his fingers against his drink. "She's right, Leor. Humans are wired that way. But it's also true the Complex is… different. A paradise, in a sense. Most here don't have those impulses."
"See? He gets it," Leor said, jabbing a thumb at Lucas.
Lyra leaned forward, undeterred. "Okay, but what about the rest of it? The sea? Forests? Waterfalls? Nature?"
Leor barked a laugh. "Wow. For someone as smart as you, that's the dumbest thing I've ever heard."
"What?!" Lyra's grip tightened around her fork.
Lucas immediately grabbed Leor's sleeve, eyes wide. A warning.
Leor ignored him, grinning. "I mean, if you wanna 'see the sea,' just slap on VR gear, fill a bucket with salt water, and stick your feet in. Same thing, right?"
Lucas buried his face in his hands. "Leor… I'd suggest you run."
"Huh? Why—"
Lyra launched across the table, fists flying. "WAIT—OW! WHAT THE—?!" Leor's yelp was loud, ugly, and abruptly cut off as Lyra's punch connected.
Then—white.
A sudden, blinding light swallowed Leor's vision. Muffled voices buzzed around him, footsteps clattering on hard floors.
"Call Doctor Cheng—he's gaining consciousness!"
Leor's eyes jolted open, the haze of unconsciousness shredding away as reality slammed into him like a freight train. Panic surged through his veins, his pulse hammering in his skull. Only one thought burned in his mind:
Dave. Is Dave okay?
He launched off the bed, his legs buckling instantly—muscles still numb from whatever drugs they'd pumped into him. He staggered, catching himself on the bedside table, shattering a tray of medical instruments in the process.
Only then did he register the others in the room—three figures frozen in shock: a man and two women in lab coats, their masked faces twisting in terror as they stumbled back from his sudden fury.
"Where the fuck am I?!" Leor snarled, his voice raw, dripping with violence.
The male doctor raised trembling hands. "S-Sir, calm down—"
Leor moved.
His hand snatched the doctor's collar, yanking him off his feet before hurling him across the room. The man crashed through the door, wood splintering like gunfire.
A second later, black-armored soldiers flooded in, rifles snapping up—
Leor vanished.
He reappeared in front of the lead guard, his hand crushing the man's weapon, wrenching it left as panicked gunfire ripped through the walls. His other hand clamped onto the guard's face—
THUD. CRACK. THUD.
He slammed the man's skull into the doorframe, once, twice, until the helmet caved in.
The other guards froze, barrels trembling. "D-Drop him!" one screamed, voice breaking.
Leor's lips peeled back in a feral grin.
"You want him?" he hissed. "Here—TAKE HIM."
With a bestial roar, he hurled the corpse forward like a cannonball. The body obliterated two men in its path, sending them flying down the hall in a crumpled heap of broken armor.
Leor was already moving.
He blurred toward the next guard, twisting his head sideways with a wet snap. Another soldier gasped—just as Leor wrenched his rifle free, shoved the barrel between his ass cheeks, and emptied the entire magazine.
The hallway erupted into chaos.
Leor was a storm of slaughter, a whirlwind of broken bones and gunfire. By the time the last man fell, the corridor was a charnel house—walls painted in crimson, floors slick with gore, the air thick with the stench of iron and gunpowder.
And in the center of it all, Leor stood motionless, his chest heaving, a devil's grin stretching across his blood-spattered face as he surveyed the carnage.
Clap. Clap. Clap.
The slow, mocking applause echoed behind Leor. He didn't need to turn to know who it was.
"Look at you," Han's voice dripped with amusement. "A fucking monster."
"I should have ki—"
Darkness.
Then—blue lightning erupted, seizing Han's face like a claw. The world blurred as Leor catapulted him backward, their bodies blasting through concrete walls in a deafening chain of explosions. Dust and debris vomited into the air as structure after structure collapsed in their wake.
Then—impact.
Han's back slammed into brick pavement, Leor's hand still crushing his skull into the ground. Before he could react, Han's legs scissored around his arm, yanking him forward with brutal force. Leor's grip ripped free—just as Han's forehead cracked into his nose.
CRUNCH.
Leor staggered back, blood sheeting down his face. His vision swam, but his fury burned hotter. He barely registered the charred remains of his hospital gown, the fabric incinerated by the wild lightning coiling off his body.
None of that mattered.
Only two things did:
Save Dave.
Kill Han in the worst way possible.
Leor blitzed forward, his fist plowing into Han's jaw with a thunderclap of force. Han rocketed backward, crumpling through a building in a storm of shattered glass and twisted steel.
Leor was already moving, his body a blur of vengeance—
But Han vanished.
A split-second later, he materialized beside Leor, fist cocked.
Leor deflected, but the sonic boom of Han's reappearance nearly knocked him off-balance. Pain flared through his arms, but he ignored it, ignored everything, and UNLEASHED—
A barrage of punches pulverized Han's ribs, his stomach, each strike crackling with unrestrained lightning. Han gasped, blood frothing at his lips—
Then Leor's foot hammered his temple.
The explosion of energy obliterated the ruins around them, the building disintegrating in a storm of blue-white annihilation.
Leor shoved aside the mountain of debris crushing him, his body crackling with unrestrained lightning. The destruction around him was absolute—shattered buildings, smoldering craters, the air thick with dust and the ozone stench of his power.
But it wasn't enough.
"HAN!" he roared, his voice a thunderclap of rage. For the first time, he hadn't held back. No restraint, no mercy—just raw, devouring power. And it felt good.
His lightning surged wilder, erasing fatigue, erasing limits. He was faster. Stronger. A force meant to be feared.
The surviving guards stared at him, their faces twisted in primal terror. Their fear fed him, fueled him, as he took a step forward—
Then everything stopped.
A man emerged from the chaos, his presence slicing through the tension like a blade.
Red suit. Silver mask—smooth, featureless, swallowing his face from neck to hairline. His polished black shoes clicked against the rubble, each step deliberate, unhurried. The guards snapped into perfect lines, flanking him like obedient shadows.
Leor's grin twisted darker.
"Hi. Nice to meet you," the man said, his voice pleasant, almost cheerful.
"Fuck off," Leor spat.
The man tilted his head. "Oh, you seem quite angry, young man. Can I perhaps ask what caused you to wreak such recklessness on my island?"
Leor didn't answer.
He summoned his lightning—
And blitzed forward, a blue-white comet of annihilation.
The man didn't flinch.
"Stop."
A single word.
And Leor's body locked mid-stride, his muscles betraying him. His lightning fizzled out.
"I see so much anger in you," the man murmured, circling Leor like a scientist examining a specimen. "People here call me the Warp. And I am the king of this island. Oh let me show you something!"
He paused, then snapped his fingers.
"Die."
Every guard collapsed, their bodies hitting the ground in unison. No gasps. No twitches. Just lifeless heaps.
Leor's blood ran cold.
"Let's make it more interesting," Warp mused, glancing at the sky. "It's quite sunny today. How about… some rain?"
Clouds swirled into existence.
Rain poured, drenching the ruins in seconds.
Leor's rage drained away, replaced by something worse—dread.
"Good. Anger is bad for youngsters," Warp said, patting Leor's frozen shoulder. "Now, I want you to behave during your stay here. Because if you don't…"
He leaned in, his mask inches from Leor's face.
"I will do things to your friend Dave that will make him wish he was dead."
Leor's stomach twisted, bile rising in his throat. What kind of monster—
"Look at the time!" Warp straightened, brushing imaginary dust off his sleeve. "Well, guess our little chat is over."
He turned, then paused.
"Ah, yes. Before I go…"
A whisper:
"Sleep."
Darkness swallowed Leor whole.