Cradle This Moment
Written By Twin Kats
Idea By AnihyrMoonstar
Beta'd by Crystal Dragon's Lament

Chapter Four
Chasing Is Bad

Vladimir Masters was the world's leading businessman. He was rich, he was powerful, and he was influential. None of this, however, truly mattered to the man. Sure he had money to spare, yes he had a life many would die for, but what few people ever saw was his heart.

To many, he controlled his businesses with an iron fist; to the few who had an idea what he did when not running the business world, he was a ruthless, cutthroat man known simply as Plasmius. Fewer knew why exactly he took up the persona Plasmius and why Vladimir has done what he's done.

The choices made over the course of his life had left him bitter, but he continued on for reasons unknown to everyone but him.

Gentle yet scarred fingers reached out and brushed the picture frame almost lovingly as dark blue eyes closed in sorrow for what he could never have.

"Danielle…."

Red met red and for one instant he felt his world shift into a different phase. It was as if he connected on the most basic and yet intimate level one could connect on. Something that was there, yet covered.

"Nikolai Trajkovic," he found himself uttering almost against his will. His eyes were wide as he felt, felt…

Apathy! He screamed at himself, body tensing, his clenched fists starting to raise to his head a fraction before returning to their previous position sporadically. Two pairs of similar eyes still completely locked and he could see, see…

"Calm down, child," Nikolai murmured, kneeling down before him, gaze still connected. "Let it flow over and out…let it go, child."

Blinking slowly he felt a part of himself just unleash at Nikolai's gentle words. Unfurling and uncurling and dancing strands of time and such pretty lights but red, red, red permeated everything. Always red, never anything else but red and death and running and terror and pain followed by that bloody, bloody red….

"Calm," the voice uttered as his entire world fell away to that sea of red. "Child, calm…breathe in, breathe out. That's it. Just let go…good, child…it's better now, see?"

And it was; the red was receding slowly back into the corners of his mind and he felt, he felt…he felt…

Drained.

Then everything went black.

Nikolai caught the boy before he hit the ground, cradling the unconscious form close to his chest. He frowned for a minute, processing everything he had inadvertently been hit with from the child before sighing softly. Gently he scooped the boy up into his arms, almost staggering under the surprising weight before regaining his balance.

Subconsciously he shifted the boy so that his wristwatches were hidden into the confines of his coat, and that his face was pressed into his chest so that the scar across his eye was hidden. Then Nikolai began to move, carefully treading around people as he headed toward the Zone.

He felt sluggish, slow. Slow was bad, but…it was calm. There was peace. The red had faded back away; it hadn't done that in years. More than that, though, he felt safe.

He was never safe.

Hesitantly he cracked open his eyes to find himself pressed against some sort of trench coat. He stiffened, recognizing the warmth and safety that surrounded him now. Arms…someone was carrying him.

Them?

Slowly, he tilted his head slightly, raising violet eyes to get a view of the face of the person who held him. He blinked slowly, trying to place this person. He wasn't one of them…no, but he was someone. Someone…like him?

"Awake, child?" the person — Nikolai! That was it! — murmured gently, tilting his head down.

He blinked slowly again before it registered once more that Nikolai was carrying him. Carrying him. He couldn't help the almost instinctual reaction to that thought. He twisted, turned, and as soon as the hold on his body broke, he fell.

A second twist had him landing in a half-crouch, half face-plant.

Ow…need to work on that….

He pulled himself to his feet not a second later and darted off. Behind him he could hear pounding footsteps and Nikolai yelling.

Chasing; chasing was bad.

"Child, wait! Child!"

He ran, ducking under arms that attempted to grab him, leaping over a fallen desk, darting around the door that was just beginning to open….

He saw green and black before his world tilted and he smashed into something hard. He felt himself free-falling yet again, so much like flying, until the deafening, roaring thump met his ears and his vision cleared.

Violet stared into forest green and noses almost touched. Slightly beat up palms pressed against the smooth cement floor just a touch above two pale shoulders. His legs somehow managed to land perfectly astride the being's stomach. The seconds seem to just stretch as he stared, and stared, and….

Quickly he scrambled backward off of the other, a slight flush crossing his cheeks. He so did not need to see that! He kept scrambling back until he hit the door, eyes wide.

Nikolai came to a stumbling halt by the door and before the downed other, panting heavily. He bent at the waist, resting his palms on jeans, taking in deep, gulping breaths.

"You…are fast…child," he wheezed.

The other sat up and stared between both him and Nikolai, a frown crossing his face.

"Who's the whelp, Technus?" he asked gruffly, pulling himself to his feet.

"Oh…hi…Skul…ker," Nikolai gasped out.

He glanced between Nikolai and…Skulker, he supposed. The name otherwise refused to come to him so it must be Skulker.

"Well? Why were you chasing this whelp?" Skulker demanded. "I want to know why he ran me over!"

He stiffened, eyes going wide and bleeding red.

Ran me over….

Blaring lights and horns and red oh red sweet red always red and nothing and darkness and surrounding and crying. Who was crying? Was he crying? Was he there? Who died? What happened?

He was trying to get somewhere; he needed to get somewhere, to someone, to who? He struggled against the hold, the pain threatening to engulf him. It hurt, it hurt, it hurt, it hurt….

Screaming, screaming, screaming….

MALCOM!

The world flashed white and red and he felt his heart stop…

Notes:

Summary:If there was one thing he was good at, it was killing. It was not taking care of an apparently accident-attracting man-child. Especially when said man-child had freaky psychic powers. So why was he looking out for this brat again? Oh, right, the guy saved his life. Damn it all to hell. / AU / Clockwork/Skulker

Previous:

Oh wow. I was feeling a rather large block on how to get this particular chapter off the ground but…well, once I finished coloring my more recent drawing and grabbed some popcorn and soda (oh blessed caffeine) it just hit me and this was born.

Note to self: caffeine is good for writing. Yes, yes it is.

So…we've gotten a brief introduction to Plasmius, a little more on Clockwork and Technus, and now Skulker's joined up with the group. For the moment apparently.

And yes, Technus, Clockwork is a fast little bastard. What do you expect? And Clockwork…he really needs to work on his landings. At least the second one was better! Hehe…oh the ideas going through my mind now.

Thank you my sweet, sweet caffeine. Nectar of the ghost zone you are, I swear.

Enjoy!