Chapter 131: Run!

"I’m going to be the bait," the big brother said with a frown on his face, "we’ll meet back here after I lose them, okay?"

"But —" the kid started, but his big brother interrupted with an even darker frown, "Tyler!"

Tyler clenched his fist as tears welled up in his eyes, but he managed to hold them back and looked directly into his big brother’s eyes. "You’ll be fine, right?"

"Of course I’ll be fine," his big brother responded with a grin before pointing in the opposite direction, "now, run!"

Though hesitant, Tyler obliged, running in the direction his brother pointed to. He took a glance behind him, noticing his brother running in the opposite direction, and a second later, the men gave him a chase.

Unfortunately for the two, a few of the men noticed that the kids had been separated, so they went towards Tyler’s direction.

’Run!’ was the only thing constantly repeating itself over and over in the kid’s mind.

But there was only so far his little legs could carry him, and soon enough, the men closed the distance.

One of the men got close enough and extended his hand, but just before he had the chance to grab the kid, time seemed to suddenly slow to a crawl.

The kid, keeping his eyes closed in fear, slowly opened them after noticing that the men hadn’t caught him yet, even after a couple of minutes had passed.

He turned around and noticed that all of them were completely frozen in place.

Tyler stared at them in confusion, his chest rising and falling rapidly as he tried to catch his breath.

He didn’t understand what was happening, but all he knew was that he needed to get as far away from these people as possible.

The kid then turned back around, but the moment he tried taking a step forward, the environment around him seemed to become a blur.

BOOM!

Slamming into a wall caused him to come to an abrupt stop, and he was forced to grip his forehead due to the pain.

"Oww..."

After a few seconds, Tyler finally realized that he was out of the alley and was now quite a distance away.

He sat up and looked around him, realizing that there was only one possible way he could’ve covered this distance in such a short amount of time.

"I-I awakened?" Tyler said, excitement evident in his voice, but then he remembered the men chasing him: "Big Brother!"

He quickly stood up, about to run back to the alley, but the moment he stood up, every bit of adrenaline running through his body disappeared and with it, so did his Pragma.

"H-huh?" Was the last thing he said before his body gave out and he fell back to the floor, unconscious.

That was the last time Tyler had seen his brother; whether alive or not was unknown to him.

***

Yet, years later, his big brother was now standing in front of him again with a smile on his face.

"You’ve gotten faster, little brother."

"M-Marcus?" Volt asked with wide eyes filled with disbelief.

When he had regained consciousness and ran back to the alley, those men were long gone, and so was his brother.

Try as he might, he couldn’t find anything on them, even after becoming a hero.

Volt tried getting as popular as possible in hopes that his older brother would one day see him on TV and come looking for him.

But even after a few years passed, there was never any sign of him. Tyler eventually accepted that he might never see his brother again.

"I go by Vektor now," Marcus responded with a grin, "but it really has been a while, little brother; it seems you’ve grown too."

[Tyler,] Emily’s voice came through his earpiece, [do not let your guard down; that is not the brother you once knew.]

"W-what do you mean?" He asked in confusion.

Emily seemed hesitant, but after a while, she finally spoke up, [the truth is, we discovered your brother two years ago, but...]

Volt’s expression went dark as he listened to her words. Slowly, he looked towards his big brother and asked, "I-Is it true?"

"Is what true?" Vektor asked with a smile still on his face.

"Are you now part of the villain group responsible for trafficking?" Volt’s voice lacked emotion, but his clenched fists revealed exactly how he felt at this moment.

"Oh, that," Vektor casually responded before a grin appeared on his face, and the next second, he flicked his fingers.

Volt suddenly felt a force slam into him, launching him towards one of the stores.

BOOM!

"It’s thanks to them that I’m alive in the first place," Vektor continued with the grin still on his face, "and it’s also thanks to them that I awakened this Factor, so what do you think, little brother?"

"Of course I have to repay them in some way."

"..."

Volt silently lay in the rubble, his mind struggling to come to terms with the fact that his older brother, who was essentially his idol, was now a villain.

"D-did you at least try to look for me?" He asked, still in the rubble.

Vektor extended two fingers forward and gestured towards himself, and then, the next second, Volt felt a force pulling him.

A hand then wrapped around his neck as he was forced to look at his big brother. "Why should I?"

"After all," Vektor frowned, tightening his grip around Volt’s neck, "you were quite eager to abandon me when you awakened."

"..."

Volt didn’t respond; instead, he kept his head down as his brother continued holding him by the neck.

"Anyway," Vektor let go, but before Volt could reach the ground, a force slammed into him, knocking him backwards, "it was great seeing you again, little brother, but I’ve got a job to do."

With that, he turned around, put both hands in his pockets and walked away.

[Volt?] Emily’s voice came through his earpiece, but she got no response. [Volt, you have to get up.]

Again, he said nothing in response; instead, Volt continued lying in the rubble.

[Tyler! If you don’t get up, people are going to die,] Emily spoke up again; her tone was quite urgent this time.

But Volt still refused to move a muscle...that is, until a voice was heard beside him,

"For someone who claims to be stronger than me, you’re looking quite weak right now."