Trevor looked up at the sky, thoughts drawn inexplicably to the cold void of space beyond it. The sun, locking the earth in its elliptical orbit, overcoming the moon at each and every turn. Eerily poetic. He took a deep breath, grimacing ever so slightly, lips pursed. You'd have to know Trevor to realize his facial expression had changed at all.
Something was wrong. Okay, something wasn't
wrong, per say, but something was... happening. To him. Though impossible to notice by simply looking at him, Trevor realized his knees were shaking. His palms were sweaty. He could hear his heartbeat in his ears, like a racehorse pounding down the pavement. It was all very odd. He hadn't experienced anything like this since...
Well, since he fought his first alien three or so years ago, when he was nine.
It's your purpose. He remembered one of the scientists from the facility telling him.
It is the sole reason for your existence. A weapon for humanity. For the Rizzo. But now he was here. Back in the past. To fight the Vongola of legend that he'd read so much about growing up as a proverbial lab rat.
What was this? Anxiety, maybe? Or... perhaps a desirous craving. An ardent and fervent
need to see these historic beings, the Vongola, in the flesh. To judge their might for himself. Were they truly as great as the legends make them out to be, or was it simple hyperbole? Still, no matter how good, he just couldn't fathom them winning this conflict. They were just too...
old.
Trevor turned his back on the others, shoving his hands into the pockets of his deep black suit pants, the gentle lustrous fabric coming down to rest lightly upon the ankles of his dark gray and silver gym shoes. He wasn't a fan of dress shoes. They had a tendency to fall off whilst he was piloting his C-Frame, his anti-alien combat armor and only box weapon. Plus, they were generally uncomfortable, even in the future.
Under his unfastened Jacquard-stitched suit jacket, black enough to match his debonair dress pants, was a collared shirt, a rich resonant gray in color. Tucked in, top unbuttoned. The dress shirt matched his eyes and the color of his Moon flame perfectly. A gaunt black tie had been fastened under his collar by his keepers, but he'd loosened it with his fingers the moment he was free, leaving it to hang almost awkwardly to the side, its tail flapping ever so slightly in the wind. He really disliked ties. They were relics of the pastâlike little choking devices. Bleh.
Top met bottom at the belt area, where Trevor sported a custom-made black leather belt featuring the Rizzo family insignia on the buckle. The look was completed by a thin dark gray fabric that sat upon his shoulders, like a scarf, descending from his shoulder down to the small of his back. It was a gift he'd received from Donovan, the Asteroid guardian, a while back. It was made of a fireproof future material that, when heated, changed colorsâusually to a flat light purple. Gifts were a rare thing for Trevor, so he treasured each and every one. Specifically, he wore the scarf everywhere he could get away with it.
All in all, his garb was an unorthodox mix of the urban and the dapper. He thought he looked stupid, all dressed up and what not, but he'd been told he looked "like a real Rizzo". And Kurai liked it. It's the only reason he tolerated the annoying getup.
Finally, he made up his mind. Kurai had given no constricting orders limiting his actions before they arrived here, so she shouldn't mind him running ahead to test the waters. Trevor gritted his teeth, drawing on that seemingly infinite ball of fire inside of his body. In the future, their Rizzo gear had been implanted into them. There were no external rings to call upon or squabble over. The Rizzo embodied their flames in every conceivable way.
The power jumped at his beck as metal to magnet, filling him with a milky lofty feeling, as if he were floating in a lukewarm liquid of similar temperature to his body. It was the Moon's power. He could definitely feel it nowâemanating as pale gray flame from his forehead and hands. He took a step forward, the tails of his suit and scarf picking up with the wind, flowing behind him, a testament to his urbane demeanor. Before he could accidentally burn his suit pockets with gray flame, he whispered a command under his breath.
"C-Frame, feed restriction to level 2 approved." Upon his wrist, tied to a chain, was a small black cube. At his words, a dim light seemed to radiate from its center. Suddenly, the cube was engulfed by gray flames, starting out light in color like Trevor's Moon flames but becoming darker and darker by the second. It was a sign of his box weapon powering on. "Enter Carnage Mode."
And at that, Trevor Rizzo disappeared.
"I understand and greet you back, lightning guardian."Before the conversation could continue, the atmosphere in the room changed dramatically, drawing notice from all of its occupants. In the center of the grand auditorium, a few yards from each of the Vongola guardians, a darkish-gray wisp of flame appeared, as if someone had set off a torch on the ground. As the flame grew longer, reaching towards the ceiling, circles of flame, similar in color to the wisp they encircled, began to appear. Two... four... six rings of flame, roughly equidistant from each other, lay spread across the ground.
In the same moment, the rings of fire exploded outward, the dark gray wisp expanding into a vortex of flame, like a miniature tornado. When the edges of the flame vortex reached the perimeter of the outermost ring, it suddenly contracted, as if sucked in by a vacuum, before vanishing altogether.
In place of the vortex was a...
thing. It rested upon the floor, hunched forward, one knee upon the ground, as if genuflecting to some unknown god. For a moment, thick black smoke wafted from the thing, obscuring the area before dissipating to reveal the intruder. It was an all black, bulky thing, like a medieval suit of armor come to life. Slowly, the armor began to stand. It was
tall. Darkish-gray flames emanated from it in waves. Like some sort of magnetic repulsion, they pushed at everyone in the room. Those closer to the creature could feel a sort of dampening effect in respect their flames, as if they were slowly being negated out of existence.
Where its eyes should have been, there was only a horizontal neon red arc. With a creak, it came to its full heightâa bit more than six feet. It angled its head, looking upwards towards the ceiling in a silent howl of triumph, the flames surrounding it becoming thicker and more overwhelming, their influence reaching further.
And then it its gaze fell upon the nearest of the Vongola ring-bearers. Inside of the suit, Trevor almost grinned. Almost.
It was nothing personal. He'd make this quick.