Cole MacGraph was a man that held many titles.
Some called him "The terrorist."
Few called him, "Savior."
Most called him, "The Demon of Empire City."
In all honesty, Cole himself was sure none of those titles fit his actual personality at all.
He would describe himself as, "A regular guy given powers." If ever asked about how he thought of himself.
Guess that name didn't really have the best ring to it.
Whether he really had been given a regular name or not, he'd never tell.
After all, he was just... stuck inside of this pit.
All around him there was only darkness, with him being the only person there.
He was all alone.
Not that he hadn't ever felt utterly alone before...
But this, however, was just...
He couldn't even describe it.
He had a thought of where he was.
Limbo.
It only made sense, as he was dead, but killed so many despite the amount of good he had done in the past
It somehow had the ability to make him just want to reflect on everything... every last moment of his life he could remember...
He could see and hear the Blast, the event that gave him powers, replay in his mind again, over and over, the endless screams piercing his ears, the dawn of that fateful morning having a crimson sunrise, the countless bodies that littered the ground around him like trash...
Then, in a flash, the events following that went through his mind.
He ran, tried running, almost died, then...
"Zeke... Trish..." he tried whispering, but could only mouth the words.
Everything horrible that happened to them went through his mind roughly, and he could do nothing to stop the tormenting images.
Zeke...
He was running from the hellish onslaught of bullets, falling to what many would have no problem thinking of death as he burst through the side of a bridge...
Trish...
She fell, her scream seeming to slow down time itself, even Cole as he sprinted with every ounce of speed that he could muster to save her. That sickening crunch, those tear filled eyes as she spoke of how she loved him...
These images, and many more, plagued his mind, refusing ever so stubbornly to leav him alone, instead seeming to penetrate harder into Cole's skull.
He remembered the Ray Sphere, a device that could bring a person unimaginable power at the cost of the people around them, trying to destroy it, despite his own disgraceful and degrading want to use the Sphere again.
He remembered John, a NSA agent who died right when he used his powers to destroy the Sphere.
There was nothing left of him except for ashes afterwards...
Or so he thought.
John's words after making a sudden reappearance, without showing any signs of it being a hallucination or ghost.
His words seemed to bite through him coldly, his crimson eyed glare mixing nicely with the ice that lightly coated his voice, "The Ray Sphere tore me apart, atom by atom. But a part of my consciousness remained." His glare had intensified greatly then, as if it had been to his knowledge that he would end up that way, "I had to put myself back together... do you even know how hard that is?"
A large pang of guilt hit him when he heard those words, digging into him, gnawing away at him within the nothing that had suddenly filled him.
At the time he acted as though he didn't really care, not evem bothering to apologize.
Maybe it was because, within his claret gaze, it only showed a rage that was like a flame, one that no words could ever quench.
Maybe it was because he was so shocked to find out John himself was alive.
Either way, he didn't know.
He wondered what it must've been like, having to do the things he had before death but dying so heroically.
Maybe it was for the better.
After all, the world would have no real use for him anymore once he finished his journey...
He tried to force out the thoughts in his mind.
He had long since lost track of how long he'd been there. It could've been merely minutes or decades for all he knew.
But he needed to get out of here... he needed to escape those endless images...
Suddenly, a light burned in front of his face, followed by searing pain. He landed harshly onto his back, on the cold hard ground. The light still seared into his face and right onto his closed eyes.
Was the light heaven...?
Was it something else...?
Cole very quickly lost the ability to care.
Anything... ANYTHING, was better than that limbo world...
And like a man who was about to breathe the breath that could potentially save their life, he opened his eyes with the same eagerness.
Only to come upon a sight that surprised him.
A teenaged girl stood over him, her long flowing navy blue hair and pale lavender eyes encasing the features that held a face that held a large amount of worry.
"Are you okay?" She asked, her voice shy and hesitant.
"I'm fine." Cole groaned, holding his ribs a he tried getting up.
Damn it... if he hadn't remembered what had happenned recently, he would be in several doubts as to why he was so beat up.
Actually, as he recalled everything that happened, he was actually in a lot of confusion as to why he was here...
"Are you sure?" Her voice broke him from his thoughts, "You look as though you'll..." She trailed off, reaching out her hands hesitantly as if to try to help him up but wondering how he would react.
"I'll be fine once I move around a bit..." Cole looked around, getting up slowly but steadily, activating his radar pulse to look through his surroundings.
However, as he gazed upon the sights that he took in as he looked around, he saw something he never would've expected.
He was in the middle of the rooftop of a building that held a crater around him, with the surrounding buildings shining brightly in the night.
In the distance, Cole could make out a mountain, one of which that reminded him of Mount Rushmore, in the sense that it held different faces perfectly structured into it.
Looking around, Cole could only come to terms with one thought.
He sure was a hell long way from home.
A/N: Any thoughts?