PRESENT DAY

THE COLD TEMPERATURES OF NEW YORK CITY WERE TOO MUCH FOR ADONIS TO HANDLE.

Adonis wasn't a big fan of cold weather, especially New York's freezing, snowy weather. He hates the numb sensation his fingers had even with gloves on, the runny nose, the shivering when there's a faint wind, he hates everything that makes him feel cold.

The only good thing he could pick up from this season was the idea and acts of warmth, the hot burning drinks, the oversized jackets that were over his body to warm him — but he hates it when he's feeling squished by them — and he liked how pretty the city looked when he stared inside his very warm apartment.

Adonis liked being inside during this time of winter, but vengeance didn't care if he was freezing his ass out, he already had a lead of where Ivan and his minions were hiding. He already planned everything, the bag of weapons was ready when he had to take his place on a roof and look. Adonis knew this was necessary, once this was done he would go back home and drink some hot chocolate and cover himself with blankets.

"What is up with villains and warehouses?" He mumbled to himself as he looked behind his binoculars, the image he saw wasn't anything out of this world, just a bunch of guys in tracksuits talking and moving around.

Adonis was only waiting for the perfect moment to get into the building, the wire was ready to be shot and hanged on the other roof of its building, his guns were charged and secured, the crowbar on his back, everything was ready.

"Come on, what's taking so long?" Adonis asked, the binoculars leaving his eyesight for a moment to heat his hands, the gloves weren't giving the warmth he needed or even wanted, he shivered again when the cold breeze hit his face. "There we go." Adonis smiled when he noticed a figure entering the building, the binoculars met his eyes again, keeping track of the person, he noticed how they had walked in with two bags in their hands and was followed by two more people.

As he waited for them to enter the last floor they were hiding, Adonis had the wire ready on his crossbow, he took a deep breath and focused on the roof, closing an eye he focused on the other side, his index finger caressing the trigger before pushing back, letting go of the wire. Feeling the wire tighten from his side, Adonis triple-checked pulling the wire back to make sure it was safe for him to get there.

"Okay, here we go." Adonis grabbed into the crossbow, passing the weapon above the wire to swing himself to the other side, mentally praying that the bag on his back wasn't too heavy that couldn't help him, but the moment his feet left the roof, he swung perfectly to the other side.

Lifting his legs, Adonis avoided smashing his body on the other rooftop, his body laying on his back against the pavement roof, quickly he freed himself taking the weapon with him towards the door, his entrance to the new place where his enemies were unaware of his presence.

Adonis opened the door, seeing the stairs he was quiet to take step by step down to his first floor of the building, the mumbling conversations were his guide to locating the targets, another door and behind it the clearer voices speaking in a language Adonis has learned. Russian.

"Где еда?" ( — where's the food? ) The angry tone could be heard from miles away as the man had shouted it out, Adonis left his bag next to the door, careful to not cause a racket with it and not harm his weapons. "Идиот" ( — idiot)

There was a followed commotion between the guy and someone else, the perfect excuse for Adonis to get inside, before doing so, he grabbed his guns, checking bullets and securing them, his knives around his legs and ankles were ready as well. Their argument became louder and Adonis opened the door handle, hand in trigger and without hesitation he pulled twice, bullets hitting the tall, buff Russians in their legs throwing their balance off.

Another bullet off, Adonis hitting the guy coming up the stairs, he could only see how his body fell back and the loud thumping on the stairs. Adonis ran his way towards one of the guys, sliding on the floor to kick his legs off, the man groaned in pain, feeling his body hit the floor, he didn't expect to feel Adonis' legs around his neck gripping tight as they pulled away their arms.

"Where's your boss?" Adonis asked gritted teeth and tensed jaw.

"I will never tell you." The man said with heavy breathing, Adonis tighten his grip, not caring how the older man was gasping for air.

"Tell me where is Ivan or I swear you won't be seeing the light of day." Adonis whispered, pushing his arm further away with his shoes. "Now."

"Never." Adonis heard what he imagined could happen, so he was quick, he untangled his legs from the man, quickly pulling his knife to stab his neck without thinking and pulling the weapon out.

Adonis heard a bullet go off beside him, looking around he saw the wounded partner the man was arguing with. Adonis rolled to the side, with a rapid movement he was up on his feet again, from his waist his charged gun met his hands, taking charge at the wounded one.

"Are you gonna be a sweetheart and tell me where Ivan is or are you gonna meet the same end as your friend there?" Adonis asked, his eyes never looking away.

"You are stupid enough to be here kid." The man said, mimicking Adonis' movements. "You're messing with the wrong people."

"Yeah? I don't care, I only want Ivan to be here right now." Adonis smirked, he took a quick glance at the staircase and could see a head creeping in the shadows. "I see we have company, I won't hurt anyone else until I see Ivan."

"Look Kid, just like I said, you're messing with the wrong people here." His voice somehow softened when he said if, Adonis felt uneasy about it and just kept his gun pointed at him, just the other one was doing.

"It's okay Baron, put the gun down." Another masculine voice said, the figure that his in the shadows appeared, both hands in the air Adonis could see it was the one who had been hiding in the staircase. "We are not gonna hurt this kid." The man said, coming to the light, Adonis saw it wasn't Ivan but instead someone else, someone around the height if 5'8", curly hair, facial hair too and soft eyes when he saw Adonis.

"Where's Ivan?" Adonis didn't go soft, he wasn't planning on it, if he did, they would see it, that could be the end of him.

"He's out, but I am intrigued by your presence, your fighting skills can be improved but you know how to defend yourself." He added, stepping closer to Adonis.

"Thanks for the compliment but I am not here to get my ego strengthened, I need to see Ivan, know where I can find him?" Adonis didn't move a muscle even though his arms were starting to ache from the position he was in.

"I truly don't know where you can find him, but you are more than welcome to wait for him." A gentle nod was given and Adonis noticed how his sight went from him to someone behind him. He didn't even have time to turn around and defend himself when an intense pain hit the back of his head knocking him unconscious, that's when Adonis stopped noticing what had happened and fallen into a deep slumber.

A FEW HOURS LATER

A slap, then another on his other cheek. Adonis could sense a burning and tingling feeling on his face. Slowly the masked adult opened his eyes, it took him a few blinks to see his surroundings, he wasn't alone, there were few men in there with him, and standing too close, the person he wanted to see the most.

"Do I know you?" His Russian voice hasn't changed a bit after those years back.

Adonis noticed how they were armed in case of something, but he also noticed something extremely stupid from them, they had tied Adonis hands over his head to a metal bar, his body was dangling just like a piece of meat at the market, meaning that his legs were useful for fighting.

"You killed my father." Adonis said glancing at the man, seeing how his uniform was still the same just a docent color, a stupid green tracksuit, just like the rest of the guys in the room. "Does Atlas Flood, ring a bell?"

A few whispers were thrown here and there when Adonis said his father's name, he could even hear gasps from them, curiosity struck him.

"Молчи" ( — shut up ) Ivan screamed out, the whole room went silent after it. "Kid, that happened years ago, your father is a thief, and he owns our boss money, money that he helped stealing from other very dangerous people, you have no idea what mess you're getting into."

"My father is no thief, if he stole it, it had to be for a good cause." Adonis said quickly, ignoring the words Ivan had just said.

"Adorable, I'll let you believe in that lie your daddy has put on you." Ivan took another step closer, arms crossed over his chest. "Your father is no saint, he was very dumb in his decisions to steal from boss, no, he wasn't dumb, he was plain stupid."

Adonis didn't think his actions beforehand, in a motion of pure anger, he kicked Ivan straight into his crotch, groans from the others followed along when their head in charge fell into his knees.

A strong sting was felt on the limbs of Adonis' right side, the man with curly hair was shocked him with an electric weapon, definitely bigger than a taser when he looked at it.

"That was very low kid, you should know that hitting right there is off limits in fights." Adonis huffed for air but with an inhale he did, his ribs hurt. "You're gonna tell us why are you here, and who you are, or we are gonna make you tell us."

"I don't care about anyone else here, and I am not going to tell you anything, I'll die before telling you a single word." Adonis should've taken that back, he knew he was messing up bad, he knew it were his emotions speaking, he should've thought about it before opening his mouth.

"Fine by us." Another electric shock, right into his abdomen. Adonis' groaned in pain, his muscles tensed up as the shock travelled throughout his body. The pain was too much for Adonis to handle, and even though his uniform was thick, it wasn't enough to protect him from this weapon of choice and impact of electricity.

Eventually, Adonis' body gave up.