The Revenant: Borei

"Whoever fights monsters should see to it that in the process he does not become a monster, and if you gaze long enough into an abyss, the abyss will gaze back into you."

-Frederick Nietzsche

-----

Trench returned to Deaths Door a week after James had woken up. When he walked in, Pike greeted him.

" Hey Joe, you're always here now? What are you? His butler?" Trench joked. Pike rolled his eyes before they began to walk to the main hall.

"How is he?" Trench asked.

"He's moving. He hasn't spoken much, hasn't eaten hardly anything. He's just been working." Pike said.

"On what?"

"It'll be easier for you just to see."

They walked into the main hall, Trench saw James over by the table, working on something. He was shirtless, probably due to the fire nearby in what looked to be some homemade blacksmith foundry.

As Trench got closer, he really saw the scars. Compared to what happened to his head and face, he didn't really glance at the rest of Jimmy's body. Pike did the other stitching. Jimmy's back was covered in scars, probably from his fight with the assassin, crashing through walls and going through glass doors.

"Hey Jimmy. How ya doing?" Trench asked when he was closer to James. Jimmy turned around, and Trench was shocked.

While Trench was gone, James had constructed a sickly gray mask, that was designed to look like a skull. The eyes in the skull were green, and there was a separation in the mask where the mouth was, as Trench soon saw, was so that the mouth of the mask would move when he talked. Trench also noticed the bolts that held the mask in place, he assumed that James drilled them into his skull himself.

"Uh, Jimmy. What's the mask for?" Trench asked.

"You saw my face. You know." James replied.

"It's made of Kraxinium, so even Cruel can't break it and the eyes are so I have my vision back. I was almost blinded, this let's me see perfectly, and also gives me a heads up display to help with combat maneuvering." James said before turning back to the table to continue his work.

Trench stepped beside James and looked at what he was working at, trying to get past the disturbing fact that James drilled a mask into his face. He saw what used to be The Revenant suit on the table.

"You're modifying it again?"

"Yes. I removed the cowl, since I have this mask, and I'm adding a way to store my extra ammo. Also, the gloves are now hardened in the knuckles for harder blows. This slit in the wrists here, are for my Kraxinium blades. When I activate them, they come out and directly into my palms for easy access. I also added a couple gadgets and toys into the suit for different situations." James explained while continuing his work.

"Wait, blades and ammo? You're gonna kill again? What happened to the hero thing?" Trench asked, concerned. James looked at him for a moment, then went back to his work.

"I found him." Pike said from the computer. James stopped what he was doing and wiped his hands on a towel before throwing it over his shoulder.

"Cruel?" Trench asked.

"No. Connor. He disappeared during the fight. Where he is?" James asked. Pike turned the chair around to face them.

"You're not going to like it." Pike said.

"Joseph."

"He's in the Icebox.

-----

" I paid you fifty million dollars to kill The Revenant." Commander Draken said.

DeadEye walked out of the shadows and towards Drakens desk.

" I cut his throat with a neurotoxin covered blade that removed his healing Factor. He should have died." DeadEye said. Draken slammed his fists onto the table.

" Well he obviously didn't!" Draken yelled.

"This is getting out of hand! Cruel starting a huge fight in Central, and yet failing to kill The Revenant. Three of those freaks were there, and we only detained one! All because you couldn't do the job you were paid to do. Best assassin on the planet? Yeah, right. Get the f.u.c.k out of my sight before I have you thrown in the icebox." Draken yelled.

DeadEye whipped out his pistol and aimed it at The Commander of FRAG.

Draken laugh, DeadEye squinted his eyes in confusion.

"You think I would deal with sc.u.m like you without a contingency? I know where your daughter lives." Draken said, calmly. DeadEyes hands begun to shake.

"Yeah, that's right. Olivia Flynn. Daughter of Rebecca Johnson and Ronan Flynn." Draken said, lighting a cigar.

DeadEye slowly lowered the gun, before holstering it. He turned and walked out of the room, while Draken chuckled behind him. As he walked down the hallway, he gritted his teeth, and was practically shaking with anger.

----

Connor opened his eyes to find himself in a padded room, with nothing in it besides a bucket and the cot he was lying on. He saw a doorway but the door was also padded. It had a eye slit near the top and a compartment that opened near the bottom. He went to shoot ice at the door, but nothing happened. He was looking at his hands in confusion when he saw the black bracelets on his wrists. Suddenly, his arms got pulled separately in both directions by the bracelets, and he was suspended in the air in a crucified position.

The door opened and Commander Draken walked in, looking through a folder.

"So, you're called Absolute Zero huh? Clever. Ice powers, I get it." He closed the folder and looked up at Connor. "This is the FRAG Meta Containment Prison, but you most likely know it as the Icebox." Draken said.

Connor didn't say anything. He just glared at him.

"Here's what's going to happen. You're going to tell me everything about The Revenant. Who he is. Where is is. Or, you're going to be tortured every single day until you do. Either way, you're going to tell me what I want to know. If you tell me now, you don't get hurt, and just get to be another prisoner here. So what'll it be?

"That's easy. Last I saw him, he was fist deep in your mother. So, you can probably find him there." Connor said. Draken just smiled

"So be it." He turned and walked out, as another set of men walked in, one wheeling in a table of sharp and blunt instruments.

"Have fun." Draken said as the door closed.

----

Trench and Pike were conversing about the schematics and layout of the FRAG Headquarters, where the Icebox was located, when James walked back into the main hall. He had The Revenant suit on, and was looking through a manilla folder.

Trench turned to him.

"Anything?" He asked James.

"Based on the DNA you were able to get, it seems that Cruel is a meta, but not a genetic meta. Which means it's probably safe to assume that FRAG found out how to make metas." James explained, not looking up from the folder.

"So, do we know his abilities? Besides super strength? What makes him so hard to beat?" Trench asked, reaching for the folder.

James let him take it before replying.

"I have no way to know what abilities he has. If I had to take a guess though, whatever they did to him must have burned off his nerve endings, because he lost an arm and didn't even flinch." James said.

"But that doesn't explain how he didn't bleed when Zero stuck him with that ice spear." Pike commented. James nodded.

"Well, all I know is that he is tough as hell and will be really difficult to contain." Trench said.

"Kill." James said.

"What?"

"Difficult to kill. Not contain." James said as he strode over to the computer. Trench just followed him with his eyes, not saying anything.

"I might have a way." A voice said from the entryway. All three of their heads snapped to the voice, and there stood a man in an Armani Suit, expensive glasses and a buzzed head. DeadEye.

James whipped out a Glock 34 and pulled the trigger, but DeadEye pulled out his gun at the same time and copied the action, but his bullet collided with The Revenants bullet.

"I'm not here to kill you. I'm here to help." DeadEye said.

James didn't even listen to what he said, he just holstered his gun and walked over to DeadEye and stood in front of him, almost nose to nose, if he still had one. Their eyes were locked, and DeadEye didn't flinch as he looked into Revenants sickly green glowing eyes.

"You did this to me." James said.

"No. Cruel did." DeadEye replied matter of factly.

"If it wasn't for you taking my healing away, I would've healed from it."

"So, one of the most infamous killers, only because of a healing Factor?"

James didn't reply. He just stared into his eyes.

"I apologize, I didn't know you were an amateur." DeadEye said. James turned and walked away. After he was on the other side of the room, he whipped around and threw three throwing knives at once. All hitting the closed door DeadEye was in front of, one right above his head, one to the right of his throat and the last right beside his eye.

"How's that for amateur." James said. "Bitch" As he turned back to face the computer.

"How exactly can and why would you help us?" Trench asked, arms crossed. DeadEye didn't take his eyes off of James, the man he calculated to be the biggest threat in the room.

"Draken... Crossed me. For that, he dies. As for how, FRAG keeps dossiers on any and all metas they have encountered or captured. There is going to be one dedicated to Cruel, and inside it will be a way to capture or kill him." DeadEye explained.

"And where exactly can we access these dossiers?" Pike asked.

"Well, I'm decent at hacking and if I can't do it, I know a girl who can." Trench said.

"They'll be physical. Which means they'll be inside of FRAG Headquarters." James commented.

Trench sighed. "Ofcourse they will be."

"So, what's the plan then? Because if Cruel is on FRAGs payroll, he'll probably be there." Pike said.

"Well, I was already planning on going there to get Connor." James said as he typed at the computer, a schematic of FRAG Headquarters popped up.

"The only problem is, that's a lot of soldiers, and Cruel as well. It'll take all three of us to atleast distract Cruel. I just don't know how or who to bring in to take on the guards in the file room." James explained.

"I may have someone for that."

-----

"Ladies and Gentlemen! This is the MAIN EVENT! In the red corner, hailing from Hells Valley, weighing in at 215 pounds... Domingo 'The Slayer' Estevez!"

The entire warehouse roared with cheers and boos as Domingo Estevez raised his arms up and show boated for the crowd.

"And in the blue corner! Hailing from Central City, weighing in at 225 pounds... YOUR Heavyweight Champion with an undefeated record of 35-0...Gunner 'Barrage' Pierce!"

The entire warehouse got even louder as Pierce stood there with a sly smirk, brown hair slightly covering his green eyes. The bell rang, and the men moved in. In this underground fighting league, the rules were simple: There were no rules. Pierce loved that aspect. This is where he was at home. The adrenaline that came when his fist collided with someone's jaw, and when he himself got hit.

Both men began to move in, Pierce telegraphed Slayers right jab, dodged to the side of it, and delivered a stiff left hook that collided with Slayers head. The blow stunned him but Pierce didn't advance, he stood there and gestured for Slayer to come at him. Slayer obliged and lunged forward, just in time for Pierce to drop low and swing his leg around in a 180 and take out Slayers legs, making him fall directly on his face. Pierce kneeled over top of him and delivered eight blinding fast blows into his kidneys, and then backed out. Letting him get back up. Toying with him.

There was a reason he was undefeated. He was just too damn good.

----

The fight was over and Pierce collected his winning purse. Five thousand dollars cash. If he was honest with himself, he didn't even care about the money. Fighting was what he lived for.

He was packing up his duffel bag when his phone vibrated in his pocket. He pulled it out and saw the caller ID: D.i.c.khead. He pushed the answer button and put the phone up to his ear.

"Yeah?" He answered.

"That big of a fight? Hell yeah I'll be there. Give me a couple hours to drive there." Pierce said and then hung up. He pulled out his keys and left the warehouse.