The sun was slowly rising on the horizon, quietly brightening the dusty cropfields and the strong foundation home. Going inside, the sun slowly cracked in the window, eventually going over Warp's eyes. Warp turned his head to the side, slowly opening his own eyes. Warp yawned, then stood up and went downstairs. As soon as he arrived downstairs, Warp already saw a curious Nebula walking around, picking up some loose objects and observing everything else. Warp just chuckled.
"Morning, Nebula," Warp chuckled. Nebula turned around, slightly surprised.
"Oh. Hello, Warp," Nebula greeted. "Did you have a good rest?"
"Yeah. What about you?" Warp wondered. Nebula just smiled.
"It was…the first sleep I ever truly had," Nebula sighed in happiness.
"I guess the meteor wasn't up to standards?" Warp joked. Nebula giggled.
"Yeah, I guess!" Nebula smiled, until she looked outside. "But…where's Scott been? He said last night before you left for the beachside that he was going out."
"Going out?" Warp asked. Warp then realized what Scott meant.
"Do you think he's okay?" Nebula wondered, worried.
"He probably fell asleep over at one of the pubs in Jule. I swear, he's not the guy I used to know…" Warp sighed. "We should go look for him."
"What's Jule?" Nebula wondered.
"…it's a shadow of what once was a great city," Warp sighed.
"You don't seem happy…" Nebula blinked.
"Yeah…it's pretty sad…" Warp sighed.
"…do you want to talk about it?" Nebula asked. Warp just looked at her. Warp looked back at the floor, and then he pulled up two chairs.
"This story isn't pretty…and you may not find my as "your hero" anymore," Warp warned. Nebula just tilted her head.
"What do you mean?" Nebula asked, confused. Warp sighed deeply as the screen changed to show a bright, almost futuristic city during a sunny day.
"Well…the city of Jule used to be a bright city where you could live peacefully," Warp explained. "It was truly a great city. Not the best, but still."
The scene then changed to one of the six-year-old Warp, his brother Jack, and two older people, presumed to be his parents. "I turned 6 around the time Jule was thriving in its glory. Of course, I'm sure you've noticed this mark on my head, Nebula?" Warp asked.
"Yeah, it's kinda hard not to," Nebula pointed out.
"That's what many other people thought whenever I first got it. I don't know how it happened, but I didn't pay much heed to it. I would just spend my days hanging out with Scott. He was 6 at the time, too," Warp explained. The scene then changed to all-black.
"But then…three days after I turned six…everything changed," Warp sighed. The screen then turned immediately to show a burning household. The screen also showed Jack running out of the burning building with Warp.
"Big brudder, what's going on?" the young Warp asked, scared out of his mind.
"Something bad! That's for sure!" Jack hastily said, while still running as far as he could from the house.
"What about Mommy and Daddy? Why are they still sleeping?" the young Warp asked. Jack just kept running.
"They're…they're not sleeping Warp. They're gone," Jack painfully explained. Warp's eyes widened.
"Gone? But they were right there…" Warp tried to comprehend. Before Jack could explain anything else, a being jumped down in front of Jack and kicked Jack directly in the stomach. Jack fell over, dropping Warp on his butt.
"Owie. Why did you kick big brudder?" Warp asked the being. The being turned around, revealing itself to be a purple-furred hedgehog. This purple hedgehog had black gloves and shoes with a fiery pattern on them. The purple hedgehog's quills were also standing up. The hedgehog smiled.
"So, you have grown, and the scar still remains…the Scar Of Darkness, that is," the hedgehog growled. The six-year-old Warp immediately knew this guy was no trouble, and he began backing away. The hedgehog took a step forward, until his ankle was grabbed by Jack.
"Don't you DARE harm my brother!" Jack shouted. The hedgehog just turned around, kicked Jack in the jaw, and lifted him up into the air by his head. Warp was immediately scared out of his mind. Far behind Warp was several police cars, blazing in on the scene fast. The hedgehog just smiled and charged up a dark ball of energy in his hand. The hedgehog aimed the dark ball at Jack.
"WARP! Whatever you do, get stronger! Don't forget us ever, okay!" Jack ordered quickly. Warp sat there, confused.
"What do you mean?" Warp asked. Jack never answered, as the hedgehog fired the energy ball directly at Jack himself. The energy ball completely incinerated Jack. Warp's eyes went wide.
"Bug brudder? Mommy? Daddy?" Warp whimpered. The hedgehog turned around, then saw the police cars. The police still hadn't seen the killer himself yet, as they were focused on the fire.
"Who are you?" Warp cried. The hedgehog began to disappear in a flash of light, but before he did, he muttered this sentence.
"I am The Scourge. And remember this: when the time comes…I will kill you," The Scourge threatened, before disappearing. The present-day Warp's voice came back after that.
"He killed my parents, THEN set my own home on fire. He annihilated Jack right in front of me. He threatened to kill me when the time was right. But the most crushing blow of this loss came from what happened a few hours after this…" Warp explained. The next scene showed a tramatized Warp curled up in a fetal position in the middle of a carpeted room. Several police officers were bickering by the door.
"He couldn't have killed all three of them and set that fire! He's only a kid!" one police officer argued.
"This brat here has that Scar Of Darkness. You've seen the test results from the legalized data we've extracted from him. He has the potential to be a killer without mercy. Why in the hell do you think we wouldn't hesitate to kill his own family if they denied him something he wants?" the second officer shouted.
"Still, it's very unlikely!" the first officer explained.
"That's enough from the both of you," a third man ordered. Both officers looked at the third man in the room. This man had on an army general's outfit, and he was not smiling.
"This kid is a menace to society either way. He SHOULD be eradicated, but if we are able to harness his strengths, we won't have to worry," the third man explained.
"But Commander Blackstar! He's just six years old! We can't experiment on him! The mayor wouldn't allow it!" the first officer pleaded.
"…who says we'll tell the mayor?" Commander Blackstar chuckled, showing a toothy and crooked grin.
"That Commander Blackstar…" the present-day Warp began. "…he was the one who alerted the media of Jule and the rest of this world about what happened. He then confined me to my own personal cell, and after I had regained my own sense of self, he did the most inhumane thing and sent me back to public school. No therapy, no nothing. And it even got worse from there…"
The next scene showed Warp being tormented by several other schoolchildren. "Murderer! Murderer!" each of the students accused, while pointing at him and laughing.
"But I never did anything…" Warp explained.
"Oh no! Warp's set my house on fire!" one of the female schoolchildren fake-screamed. She was in a plastic playhouse on the school's playground, with the door shut. One of the obnoxious schoolboys then went up to the door.
"Don't worry! I shall save you from this creep!" the schoolboy overdramatically announced. After "kicking" in the plastic door and "rescuing" the girl, she pretending to be swooned by him.
"Oh, thank you brave citizen! Thank you from saving me from this murderer!" the girl fake-thanked, sneering and pointing to Warp as she did so. The screen faded to black with the only sounds of children's cruel laughter being heard. The next scene just showed the six-year-old Warp standing alone in the darkness, and slowly aging to the age of 14 as the present-day Warp spoke.
"It was rough. I was outcasted by everyone. The only person who would speak to me was Scott, but he had to do in secret. I didn't want to brand him as a friend of mine, so those schoolchildren could abuse him mentally, too," Warp sighed, beginning to cry. Nebula's hand was over her mouth, her face in pure shock.
"Whenever I turned 14, however…things went from worse to hellish. It seemed as if the world was going to collapse," Warp explained, now visible crying before changing to the next scene. The next scene showed several police officers approaching the 14-year-old Warp.
"Scott's parents were murdered as well, and everyone thought it was me. Scott got to me first and explained that some purple hedgehog did it, and I immediately knew it was The Scourge. But Blackstar wouldn't believe me. He sent out an APB for me after I escaped from him. Scott and I had to flee the city as quickly and quietly as possible," Warp sighed. "Scott escaped."
Nebula noted that Warp neglected to mention himself in that last statement. "What about you?" Nebula asked. Warp just looked down.
"I didn't escape. I was captured," Warp revealed.
"By who? Blackstar?" Nebula asked.
"No. Someone even worse than him. His name is Dr. Madness," Warp explained. "He is a scientific genius bent on taking over the world with his robotic minions."
"Why would he want that?" Nebula questioned.
"I don't know myself. I guess he's just corrupt. What really intriques me is that he and Blackstar know each other. I don't know how, but they must have a history," Warp pointed out. "But…that's going off the point. What I'm trying to say here, Nebula…about not being a hero…"
Nebula just stared, confused. "…I killed people."
Nebula sat there, perplexed at what Warp just admitted. Warp was now crying very hard, although he was keeping back the wailing. "Killed people? Is that good?" Nebula obliviously asked.
"…n-no it isn't," Warp tried to explain. "You said you felt as if you didn't exist, Nebula. Killing is…it's someone taking your own life—your existence—and eliminating it."
Nebula gasped as she realized now what Warp meant. "But…why?" Nebula asked.
"Whenever Dr. Madness kidnapped me, he turned me into a robot. A full-fledged armored and lethal robot to use and take over the city. He called me…E-1,006 Omega," Warp cried, biting back his sorrow. "He used me to kill innocent people. I truly had blood on my hands. And yet I didn't care. If it wasn't for Scott, I wouldn't be alive."
Nebula was pale, but she still managed to find her voice. "How did Scott help you?" Nebula asked.
"I was ordered to kill him by Dr. Madness," Warp explained. It took Warp a bit to continue his statement, as he almost broke down by saying that. "But whenever I encountered him, he managed to reverse my roboticization break me from Madness's control. He did the same thing for E-1,000 Theta, the robot that revived you whenever you came here."
"So…Scott's a hero?" Nebula wondered.
"He's more a hero than I'll ever be," Warp sighed. "I tried killing my best friend…and now I'm eternally part-cyborg. That's why I wear these cuffs. My very life is tied to the cuffs. Should they be broken or removed, my body would go into a vegetative state, since my body is dependant on my inner robotic half," Warp mentioned. Nebula just stared at Warp, now scared.
"Nebula, I-," Warp began. Nebula just stood up.
"Don't say anything else," Nebula asked. Nebula then silently walked away, leaving Warp alone in the room. Warp's jaw fell open. Then he began to cry profusely but quietly.
"I'm so sorry…" Warp thought, trying to make up for the spirits of those he had so callously destroyed during his time as a robot.
The sun was beginning to go down over the ocean, and now Warp was anxious. Scott hadn't been heard from all day, and Nebula hadn't been speaking to him all day. It's as if they were both avoiding him.
"Was it because I attacked Scott whenever Nebula was vulnerable?" Warp sadly thought. "Everything is my fault…"
"GREETINGS, WARP," E-1,000 Theta's robotic voice acknowledged. Warp turned around and saw E-1,000 Theta float out from the open front door.
"Hey, Theta…have you seen Scott anywhere?" Warp asked.
"MY LAST KNOWN RECORD OF HIM WAS HIM LEAVING FOR TOWN AT EXACTLY 9:02 P.M. YESTERDAY," E-1,000 Theta memorized. Warp was now anxiously looking out at the dusty plains in front of him.
"This isn't like him. He usually is back complaining of a headache from excessive drinking by now," Warp began. "Should we look for him?"
"DETECTING ORGANIC LIFE FORM," E-1,000 Theta immediately remarked. Warp looked up, curious.
"Who? Scott?" Warp wondered.
"LIFE FORM BIO…HEDGEHOG," E-1,000 Theta marked. Warp's face went deathly pale.
"Hedgehog…? Theta…get inside and protect Nebula," Warp ominously ordered.
"WILL DO, SIR. PERMISSION TO ASK FOR FURTHER INFORMATION?" E-1,000 Theta wondered.
"She'll die if she comes out here. Protect her with all your life servos; don't try to assist me until the hedgehog knows you're here," Warp ordered. E-1,000 Theta silently went inside the farmhouse. Warp ran out into the crop fields and squinted his eyes. He could see a dark shadow running towards his location. Warp stood firm to the ground, unmoving. The hedgehog eventually stopped a few feet away from Warp, grinning.
"It seems I have found you at last," the hedgehog grinned. Warp just stared straight ahead.
"What have you done with Scott?" Warp coldy ordered.
"I could tell you…but then why should I relieve you of your worries?" the hedgehog mocked. The camera went back to show the form of none other than…The Scourge.
"You'll pay for what you did," Warp growled.
"And then YOU'LL pay for those lives you took as an android. Did you honestly think I wasn't watching your little spat as a minion?" The Scourge mocked. Warp just ran at him full-speed.
"TAKE THAT BACK, YOU COWARD!" Warp screamed. The Scourge just grinned and got ready to fight.