MOD - ACT 3

After the fall of the arena, Mod feels like he's got nothing left to lose. He still tries to play up the façade of the big bad boss, but without the power of his armor to sustain him hardly anyone believes him.

Once he gets found and slowly eases in to the idea of support from others he starts to drop it, and together with finally being genuinely more sincere he starts to acknowledge the weight of all his past choices.

He's still very defensive of his vulnerabilities, and it'll keep being like that for a long time.

Biography (final)

ENTER ZIEGLER

With his strength regained and almost nothing to lose, Mod attempts to sell the Power Plant's property to the buyer who asks the least questions and makes it the easiest for him. The buyer he finds is none other than Sauro Ziegler, brilliant enterpreneur, who manages to scam him (easy thing, since Mod hasty way of making contracts got in his way).

They get into a ruthless physical fight, peppered by Sauro's powers and whaever strength Mod has left in him, but Mod, pathetically, loses, getting his legs snapped as Sauro attempts to immobilize him.

In his last hope to have a little bit of revenge, Mod mentions Maxy to Sauro as an "useful person" since Maxy stole some vital files and contacts from the Power Plant when he left, hoping that Maxy would suggest he should spare him.

Unfortunately for Mod, Sauro and Maxy are both on the side of killing him, so Sauro breaks Mod's neck and they throw him into the sea at the pier nearby (AGAIN).

BIT OP BUT I DECIDED NOT TO MAKE HIM DIE LIKE THAT

Mod's body reacts harshly due to the recuperative abilities he has while he sinks in deep waters. He manages to free himself, even though barely making it, and drags himself to one of the few places in Edenbanks that he still remembers, hopeful that they'd recognize his face.

An underground bar named Eos is where he hopes to find shelter, but after a theatrical entrance where he got almost shunned the personnel just tries to extort information from him out of curiosity and who knows what else. Mod manages to get away from the bar and refuges in the city's most hidden alleys.

He spends around a year barely sustaining himself, working dirty jobs in exchange for food and a place to sleep while he took some time to patiently plan his next move now that he actually had less than anything. Eventuall

WANTED BY VITALITY - MODITO GETS FRIENDITOS

After a handful of months in which Mod stays carefully hidden and conceals the small amount of his tracks he leaves behind, Vitali reaches out to Sauro to find him. and he gets found and hidden by Sauro's circle. It's actually the first time where he doesn't have to fight tooth and nail for survival and recognition as a person so he slowly calms down, with initial difficulty from everyone.

After Sauro appoints his trusty, sweet and very pink personal assistant to keep an eye on him, Mod starts opening up little by little, slowly understanding that he doesn't have to always be the biggest baddest guy to survive in life. Eventually Sauro offers to pay for a place for him to live in exchange for a hand in his business, to which Mod eagerly accepts. They eventually bond over common interests and being old and adventurous at heart, and at some point gain sympathy for each other.

After some time Vitali gets a tiiiny bit tired of waiting for Sauro to deliver Mod to him and sends to search for him an Ezra with his body reduced as a huge weapon and his mind as an animal. Mod finds himself grieving when he sees what he considers one of the people he regarded as most impactful in his life reduced to that after almost fifteen years, and slowly comes to realize that he could have had a pretty normal life if it wasn't for Vitali, his powers, and on top of that himself (as if he didn't have enough practical regrets already).

They engage in various fights and eventually manage to take him down, or better, Mod manages to shoot him in the head and attempts to end himself just moments later (and for a good amount of reasons). An automatic reaction from his armor, luckily, saves him from the damage.

EVENTUALLY THEY MANAGE TO SAVE HIM IDK THIS LAST PART STARTED AS AN AU BUT IT MAKES ME SO SO HAPPY SO IT'S CANON NOW.

Seeing that Ezra somehow manages to grip at a last whiff of life, Mod convinces Sauro to keep him alive in an act of desperation. Mod assists Ezra in his recovery at an out of town, shady hospital. Once he feels good enough to stand on his own, Ezra escapes, steals a car, picks up Mod and the two go on a week-long vacation in Ezra's birth island (they hardly convince Sauro but please give these two some time to catch up, even with surveillance).

Mod finally gets a moment of peace during this time, even though Vitality's menace and unknown plans are always beind the corner.

During Mod and Ezra's stay at the Isle they happen to visit Ezra's childhood home, abandoned years before. After some time Mod learns, through Sauro or other means, that the house's property (that they burned down as an act of putting the past behind) was accounted to Ezra himself had he had the chance to give proof he was still alive. After learning this, Mod sees a bit of hope and tranquility in his future probably for the first time in his life, as a peaceful life on a quiet island sounds better than anything he'd experienced until that moment and maybe, just maybe, it's something worth trying to keep himself in check for.

After going back from this week-long (?) vacation touring around the island, Maxy takes responsibility of keeping Ezra in check by hosting him in his own apartment, and due to Mod's occasional visits to Maxy's (which were looked down by most of the group due to Mod and Ezra's chaotic tendencies) the two start getting used to each other again, finally in a healthier way.

FINALE - MOD FINALLY FINDS HIS CLOSURE???

Even after this peaceful period, Mod can't shake off the feeling that Vitali will always be in search of him to be back at Vitality. At the same time, Ezra gets contacted by Sue, who checks up on him and Mod and, after all those years where she's been faithful to the Corp., questions what she's missed by being an ally to the scientist, seeing that Ezra and Mod are finally reunited and seemingly happy.

This opens up an unexpected chance to have an ally among Vitali's ranks, and the thought of finally killing off the man that gave them so many issues throughout their lives sparks into Mod's mind.

The idea starts as just wondering if they can do it, but thanks to Sauro's support and knowledge of the right people at the right time they manage to organize one last, secret, expedition towards Vitali's headquarters.

They successfully infiltrate Balakai's base thanks to Mod's knowledge of the place, and after a heavy confrontation where Vitali displays all of the advancements in his research of pyromantic abilities (e.g. Various, unexpected forms that the powers could assume), Ezra is the one who strikes last, incapacitating the scientist and effectively putting an end to the menace of being pulled back into his mess.

His research may be inherited by other, lesser scientists who are interested in the same topics as him, but at least they're finally free forever.

THE END

Relationships

Mod and Sauro:

Sauro and Mod began with an intense mutual annoyance for each other. Sauro did not want to deliver Mod to Vitali before understanding who Mod was, and Mod did not want to blindly collaborate with another mad sonuvabitch (added to the fact that the other tried to kill him on their first meeting, but that didn't seem to influence Mod as much as it should've).

On top of that Sauro finds an issue in the fact that Mod's presence is a big issue for Maxy at first since the latter never actually faced the consequences of his prolonged stay at the Arena up until now, and Mod likes reminding him of that.

After partnering up they find themselves keen on spending time with each other after work as they're both night owls who want to feel ☆young and free☆, and they bond over that. This helps them gain trust and sympathy for each other, although Sauro still sometimes finds Mod's erratic tendencies a bit of an issue.

Mod and Maxy (continued):

Maxy is NOT happy in learning that Mod survived not only one, but two near-death experiences, and even less happy he is to find out that he is in a location so close to him.

After the two meet again, Mod's first reaction is to test if he still has some power on Maxy (which he has), which is generally regarded as a bad move and he's kindly asked to stop.

After Mod starts making friends with Alyosha and softening up a bit, he realizes that maybe he's been a bit of an ass to Maxy. He tries to make amends but for a long while he finds himself an external participant of Maxy's life, seeing that he's finally going on with his life and being happy. Their likemindedness and past knowledge of each other mindset still stick in some ways, especially when they have to discuss strategy stuff in the presence of Sauro, but apart from that they're generally cold to each other.

Things start warm up a bit once Mod starts to be around Maxy while Ezra lives with him and Mod's attention isn't solely focused on Maxy himself. It's the first chance in which the two (especially Mod) try to be actively nice and bearable around each other and this brings to a finally positive development between them.

Mod and Sinclair:

Sinclair, Sauro's assistant, gets appointed by Sauro to keep an eye on Mod when he's not around. They're quick to become friends (although Sinclair is quite scared of Mod at first for a good amount of reasons).

Sinclair is the first to make Mod discover all the "soft" things he missed in life until this point, from sincere support to carefully crafted meals to healthy hobbies, and is an essential reason why Mod starts to calm down and experience a bit of comfort.

Mod even grows kind of protective of him, as Sinclair's character tends to be way too positive at times.

Mod and Ezra (continued):

After Ezra shows up again Mod discovers himself extremely nostalgic of his company. As soon as Ezra gets better the two stick together like two sides of a clam, finally enjoying themselves and freedom from Vitali's plans.

See Also:

• A short playlist for da vibz: