Exactly how much security does a person need to put on someone they believe represents the end of the world itself? I wasn't sure, but I do know that I think this was a little excessive.

Four massive vault doors, all of which can not be opened until all the others are closed. Opening and closing the doors was a five minute process simply due to the vast amount of locks that had to be undone. In between, there were forty different voice commands, codes, and passwords that had to be entered, ten before each door. Bright blue scanners that were very clearly Tinker tech.

I guess hypocrisy was necessary if you thought you were locking away this kind of threat.

When the final vault door finally swung open the five of us were greeted with an odd sight.

It was a completely white room with a large pane of glass reinforced with metal bars cutting the room in two. On our side, there was nothing but a bunch of cameras pointing at the cage along with a small box built into the centre of the glass wall so things could be passed through the glass wall. On the other side of the wall was a fat old man sitting with his legs crossed on the floor.

His cell was completely empty except for a small toilet, a floor cushion that likely served as his bed, and the man himself had weights tied to each hand preventing him from lifting them higher than his shoulders.

"I suppose you must be the 'Nova' I've heard so much about." The elderly man said.

"And I guess that makes you Adkins Montgomery," I stated. His eyebrows shot up as he gave me a curious expression.

"I am surprised that you are able to know my name, your companions do not have that same pleasure. Of course, I should not be so shocked as you are clearly not like the others."

I looked at Cheshire and the others. Cheshire shook her head and frowned. The other three stayed silent. I looked back at Ragnarok and asked,

"What do you mean?"

Ragnarok shifted his position, causing his chains to rattle. He stroked his beard as he studied me.

"I can see your passenger," he said. "It does not inhabit you like it does all other capes. It struggles with some outside force, tries to control it. But I can see that the other force is learning from your passenger. It copies its best parts and performs them better. Whatever this outside force is, it is almost alive in the way it grows."

"You're power?" Cheshire asked, taking a few steps forward towards him. "How does it work?"

Ragnarok shrugged. "They call me the perfect power negator. Immune to precognition, clouds Thinkers, able to permanently remove a power with a single touch, a name that cannot even be remembered by any cape able to connect that name to my face. With you excepting of course."

"You what?" Flower Knight said, taking a step back.

"Relax," Ragnarok said, holding up his hands. "Should anything happen to the wall that separates us, the room will fill with acid to either drown or melt us alive. It would not be pleasant."

"How would you know that?" Imp asked, walking up to the glass. Much closer than the rest of us did. "Seems kind of dumb for the prisoner to know exactly what is keeping him in the cell."

"Archer like to ramble about his protocols," Ragnarok said dismissively. "I assume since you are here that you've either killed or captured him?"

"He killed himself before we could get to him," Cheshire answered quickly. I shot her a look, silently asking. She glanced at me and shook her head slightly. Was she testing him?

"I see," Ragnarok said with a sad nod. "Its funny, he had become increasingly unhinged over the years. He started spending more and more time down here, just talking to me. He styled me as the greatest evil in the world, but I wonder if it would be too presumptuous of me to think I was his only friend at the end."

"Why?" I asked.

"Why what, Nova?" Ragnarok responded innocently.

"Let's start with why you're in this cell," I asked dryly.

"Ah," he gave a nod, "now that is a story. Obviously, Archer put me in this cell after he captured me. Strange that he has only ever gone by his cape name since that day."

"You stole his power," Cheshire stated. Ragnarok nodded.

"Yes, it has been so long I can't even remember the reason I took it. But I did, and he swore he would catch me no powers needed. Which, I suppose he did."

"This is all your fault," I realized. "You're the reason he did everything he did."

"I suppose you could say that," Ragnarok admitted.

"Do you remember his power?" Cheshire asked.

"I can't ever forget a power I have taken from a person. Tell me, are the capes Legend and Alexandria still around?"

"Yes?"

"Well, you can think of him as the best parts of the two of them. He was on top of the world, distributing vigilante justice as he went. Hmm, maybe that was my reason?" He scratched his beard curiously as he began reminiscing. After a moment he shrugged and continued. "His cape name was Archer, that much I still remember. He never dropped it after he caught me. One night, after my first month in this cell, Archer came down and ranted at me. Yelled about how I took everything from him, how he would show me, and various other things. He wanted to show me that he could still be important without powers, as if I said he wasn't." Ragnarok laughed weakly. "He wanted an arch nemesis so bad he made me his enemy even after he had defeated me."

"He had a mental break down at the end," I mentioned to see what his reaction would be. I didn't quite know what to think of him. On one hand, he seemed like a kind old man, or a least was acting like it. On the other hand, the idea of someone who could permanently steal a power and couldn't be predicted by Thinkers was incredibly terrifying.

To certain people, he was the end of the world.

"I'm not surprised," Ragnarok said with a nod. "Archer was a walking contradiction."

"How do you mean?" Cheshire ask.

"He wanted to prove humanity could contend with capes, but had me here and used my name to make everything he did work," Ragnarok stated like it was obvious. "He could have had me remove the powers of those that triggered in his training programs, but he didn't because the idea of a person losing their powers was still his greatest fear. Even years after I stole his power. He made me out to be the root of all evil, but it was his focus on proving his point that made his wife leave him and all his friends abandoned. Everything he did was a contradiction, and it grated on him. It wore him down over the years and I was able to watch it happen. When he didn't have a family of friends anymore he simply stopped taking care of himself. He tells me how he was killing his company just to do this. He was at his wits end years ago, and then you come along a break the illusion he built around himself. It was only a matter of time."

"You talk a lot," Imp remarked. Ragnarok shrugged.

"You would too if Archer was the only man you have spoke to in years."

"So what are we supposed to do," Shadow Stalker said, forcing her way into the conversation. I looked at Cheshire, but she seemed just as lost as me.

"We could call the PRT…" She suggested weakly. I shook my head.

"I really don't want to think what they might do with him. He threatens every cape alive, and I don't think they'll send him to the Birdcage."

"They'll probably just kill me," Ragnarok said. "I would not blame them."

"Well, we can't take him with us," Flower Knight stated.

"If I might make a suggestion," Ragnarok stated as he stood up off the floor. "Would it be too much trouble to ask for you to kill me?"

I stared at him for a long moment, trying to process that request. After about a minute Ragnarok sighed.

"I am tired of being locked in a cage, only the scream in my mind to keep me company. And no matter who you give me to, I am doomed to the same fate. So if you can just do me a favour, and kill me."

"What?" I asked, suddenly alarmed. "A scream?"

He shrugged. "That ringing in your ears when you're in a really quiet room."

"I don't- how would we even do it if we even if we would?" I demanded.

"Well," Shadow Stalker said. "You could teleport in."

"Oh yeah," I said sarcastically. "I'll just teleport into the same room as the power stealer."

"To be fair," Ragnarok stated. "I have no reason nor any want to take your power. It doesn't exactly help me at all."

"Even if that could be trusted, I'm not a murder," I snapped at him.

"Then let me do it," Shadow Stalker said. I turned and looked at her harshly. She didn't back down under my gaze.

"Look," she explained. "I'm just giving the guy some mercy. A quick, painless death. It's the kindest thing to do for him."

"I can't even begin to explain how messed that is!" I yelled at her.

"As biased as I may be, I have to agree with her." Ragnarok heaved a sigh. "My life is doomed to be constant imprisonment for something I can not change about myself. I never had a choice, I am doomed to suffer because of what I am. Please, kill me to spare the pain."

I stared at him, bewildered. I looked at the others in the room to see what they were thinking. Cheshire looked perplexed, and Imp didn't seem to care. I couldn't see Flower Knight's expression, but she was hanging her head. Shadow Stalker though stood ready, crossbow in hand.

"I… can't kill someone," I said, hanging my head and kicking a hoof against the ground. It doesn't matter his life is going to be worse off because of this, I can't do it.

"You won't," Shadow Stalker stated. "I'll do it. You in the cage, are these bar electric?" She gestured at the metal in the metal. Ragnarok nodded and said,

"Unfourtantly, the bars have an eletric current to make sure they aren't displaced, among the other forms of sercurity."

Shadow Stalker nodded to him then looking at me. "Just get me into the room with him and it'll be done."

"And how are you going to do it without him taking your power?" I challenged angrily. She hesitated a moment then slowly reached behind her, under her cape. Carefully, she pulled out a very real, very lethal arrow.

"What. The. Heck. Is. That?" I growled through clenched teeth.

"My backup," Shadow Stalker answered. I suddenly shot a look at Cheshire.

"You know she had this?" I demanded. She looked a little uneasy and shrugged.

"Cheshire!"

"I didn't think it was important at the time!" Cheshire complained. I shook my disbelievingly.

"Cheshire! That would have been important to know!"

"I'm sorry! I knew she wouldn't use it if that helps. Or at least, not against you."

I let out a frustrated sigh and look over of Ragnarok. He stood waiting patiently for me to come to a decision.

"I just have to teleport you in?" I asked weakly.

"I'll take care of the rest," Shadow Stalker promised as she loaded the arrow. I took a deep breath and walked the other way, facing the wall as I turned this over in my head. Every part of me was screaming not to do this, but I couldn't think of any alternative right now. Maybe if Cheshire was able to use her power we might find a solution. But maybe... Maybe Shadow Stalker was right? And this was a kind mercy for him? If I actually believed that, would it make me feel better?

With an ugly feeling in my stomach, I said,

"Then let's just… get this over with."

Thankfully, Shadow Stalker didn't say anything. She walked up to me, standing to my side so I could see she was ready with her crossbow in hand. I swallowed and closed my eyes, activating my teleport a moment later.

My eyes rolled in my head with the dizzying effect of the teleport, confusing me a moment at what I saw. The kind, patient old man I saw before was gone as some crazed man darted towards me with a mad grin on his face, dragging the weights behind him effortlessly.

I let out a shocked cry as he reached out and touch my muzzle right as an arrow sprouted in his throat. For a terrifying moment, there was nothing. And then I felt magic flooding through my veins and circuits with a power I've never felt before as my body began to grow fast enough for me to feel it and I felt something human about me die.

Thousand of miles in the atmosphere, a being changed course.

Hundreds of miles under the ocean's surface, a being turned around and picked up speed.

Thousands of miles underneath the planet's crust, a being spurred into motion.