"NO!"
The little boy screamed as he ran towards the mighty Steelheart, trying to attack his father's killer with little more than bare fists and pure anger. "You killed him! You killed him and he wasn't even trying to hurt you! You killed him! You killed him!"
The Epic looked down, a little startled, but unhurt. Normally he would have simply crushed him, but the eight-year-old had surprised him. And…there was something almost familiar about the situation…his parent had just been killed, and he was only a boy…
Suddenly he was walking with his mother, only five at the time. They began to weave through gang territory, keeping their heads down to look harmless.
There was a fight up ahead. Two gangsters were in a fistfight, the rest spread out in a circle, chanting. His mother pulled him into an alley to avoid their attention. They walked along slowly, hoping that no-one was down here.
Their hopes went unnoticed by whatever divine entity was up there. The mother and son stumbled on an unshaven man, which immediately held a gun to the mother. "Gimme your money."
"Alright. I have some in my purse." His mother slowly raised her hands to show she had no weapons.
"Son?" she whispered.
He looked up at her. "Yes?"
"Go back to the house. I'll catch up with you in a little while."
"Okay, Mom." He slowly crept away.
Only seconds after he had gotten out of the alley, he heard the gunshot.
The memory jolted the Epic. He hadn't thought about his past since…since Calamity. He looked back down at the boy. He was now sobbing, his energy for hitting him drained now that the shock had set in.
David felt a hand on his shoulder. The eight-year-old looked up to see Steelheart looking at him with the strangest expression on his face. Then the Epic jerked his head towards the door and began walking out, leaving a confused little boy to follow after him.