Crouch - Will fight for food

Everyone was a bit shocked after hearing Tear’s story, nobody could have thought of such a house hold situation. After a brief pause Crouch lifted his head and said; “Wow, I suppose your much better off now, considering your earlier situation, at least now you can fight back against those who threaten to hurt you or take your life.” Crouch went on. “I never had a family, can’t say if that’s a good thing or bad after having heard your stories? But I was a street urchin for as long as I can remember, my only home was a box, then a bench, bottom of a bridge, cemetery, and lastly an abandoned and broken container and now I’m here. Some crazy secret place under ground with a bunch of people I’ve never met. I guess even a bum like me can get lucky.

 Don’t get me wrong I’ve tried to better myself and get a job and so on, but no one wants to hire a guy with no home, no normal, un-ripped set of clothing, that has never take an actual shower. My only real job ever was picking up litter from in front of a couple of stores, for which I got some food and water for, and the occasional shirt and pants that were not suited for sale.

I was never given any money as the people helping me out didn’t want me to go buy drugs or something bad, they were right in doing so. I’ve never really thought much of myself, I mean how can I? I’m a bum who’s never had more than twenty bucks in his pocket, I’ve never been inside a normal house, and I’ve never had most of the normal things in life. The closest thing I ever had to a family was a dog that I had for a while. People’s pity really kicks in when they see you sitting on the side walk with a dog, seeing the dog makes them feel bad, scared of the idea that the dog might not eat that day, the person sitting next to the dog is just holding the cup for him, begging for some loose change. Society really looks down on those less fortunate, never have I ever been offered anything like a home cooked meal or a nice warm coat for the cold winters.

When the dog passed away, my life got even worse, I started to walk about the city looking for jobs to no avail, the one job I was given a chance at, or so I thought, was at a department store, but they just took me in for the day to scare an employee who tended to fall asleep on the job. But after all my trial and tribulation I wound up no better than before, walking by the docks I jumped the fence, for no particular reason really, after walking around a bit, I wound up finding a container with no lock on it, it had some empty boxes in it, and the only fault it had was a leaky roof. I had found a new home.

 After a couple of weeks of living in the container, I was walking down a street near the docks on my way back home when I got jumped by some assholes, dock workers I’ve stolen sandwiches from once before. They had never caught me before, as I could always hide in the container. But this time they surprised me; the three of them ganged up on me and started kicking my ass. Kicking and punching me and beating me with a stick, I grabbed one of  them by his leg and bit him really hard, he fell down and hit his head against a crate, I think it broke his neck. The others stepped back and then went on again even harder than before, again I got a chance to move a bit, I grabbed a shard of glass off the ground and stabbed the other two in the legs and then crawled into a corner so I could sit. When I looked up there was a man standing right in front of me, I made a swing at him out of fear he was going to beat me as well. But he grabbed my hand and put a gun in it, I was shocked by the sight of a gun in my hand. The man then said, ‘You want a home? Then do it and you’re in’ I knew what he meant, I crouched and shot both the guys in the face, as the second bullet exited out of the head of the guy, I felt a strong surge, I had never in my life felt anything like this, I now know from your stories what it is, didn’t think that I actually had a chip in my brain. I passed out, and woke up a bit later in the shaft coming down, the man said his name was Goody, I could understand why; no one had ever been as good to me as he had, and he said my new name is Crouch. I didn’t think to abject, taught maybe my former name was too hard to pronounce, Jorge. And he then said, welcome home son. More comforting words have never been said to me. I didn’t know what home was yet, didn’t imagined it would be a place like this. But what can I complain about, there’s a roof over my head. I suppose we’re going to get fed sometime, and I have a family, a family of traumatic experiences as it seems, but a family none the less. From what I can make out of this place it’s really militaristic, all fighting and shooting around here, the place doesn’t exactly shine of joy and happiness does it.

I might not look like someone you guys might talk to on the street, I think I’ve seen some of you walk by me a couple of time even. No hard feelings though, I just don’t want to be seen as some kind of weak link or annoyance. All I’m hoping for right now it a nice shower, some clean clothes, and a nice hot meal, that would be a dream come true.

The story of Tears

“I’m sorry for your loss Red” said Runner. “So who’s next?” “I am” said Tears. “I lost my parents as well, but not by someone else’s hands, but by my own. Ever sins I can remember I was beaten, molested, and treated like dirt by my parents. We were rich and lived in a large house with many rooms, none of which I was allowed in. There was a secret door in the living room I knew about that led to the basement, I know because I was taken there by my father once. A dank, dark, large room with a horrible smell, there were knives hanging everywhere painting on the wall of demonic beings and sacrifices blood on the floor and a single table in the middle with clamps and chains on it to hold a person down.

 I was never given anything by my parents, no birthday parties, no Christmas, I had nothing at all. My father was a horrible man, always yelling at every one, beating me and my mother, kicking the dogs when he pleased, and starving me when he deemed it necessary. I can recall several days when people came over to our house, they came willingly, probably thinking they were there for dinner or something, they would all get killed after talking to my parents in the living room or be tricked, forced or lured into the basement. I would hear screams coming from downstairs, Men women and children’s screams all echoing through the house, horrible screams of pain and agony, going on for days and days, and then, always in the morning, they would be gone. After many torturous days, the screams would always stop, and then my parents would come back out of the basement and retreat to their room.

 Today was different, today a large black car pulled up in front of the house, this was not the kind of car that would usually drive in, not a family car, or a workers truck, this was a car made to hide those inside from sight, get away from anywhere fast, and smash through gates and walls when needed. Three men in strange outfits stepped out, they looked like ninjas, tight dark suits pockets and straps, thick with padding, probably against bullets. They were all holding many guns, each with two in hand and several attached to their legs, chest and back, one even had a very large gun, with chains of bullets hanging out. They looked like they were about to go to war.

They broke down the front door, and I immediately started hearing gun shots go off, hundreds at a time, not stopping at any moment, just the constant firing of guns, as if they were doing it for fun without aiming.  Instead of staying up stairs, or calling the police, as if I could anyway,  I walked out of my room, as I opened the door the gun shot got louder, I went over to the stairs and looked down, I saw my parents hiding behind a large couch, hiding from the masses of bullets flying towards them. My mother saw me and signed me to come help, I walked down slowly thinking if I did so I would not get seen or hurt.  She threw a gun to my feet and told me to shoot at the intruders. I picked up the gun, it was heavy, I had never in my life held something even similar to a gun. I looked up at the intruders, they didn’t shoot at me at all, I then looked at my parents, and this rage came over me, all the years of torture went through my head, all the pain, all the beatings, all the endless night of the screams. I pointed the guns at my mother and shot her through the heart as she screamed. I then aimed at my father, I wanted to saber the moment, I felt empowered and strong for the first time in my life, and I could bring an end to my father’s reign of terror on the world. I first shot him in his crotch, the very place I had been spawned from, then his stomach, the belly that was filled as mine was churning of hunger, and then his heart, the place void of love and caring, and finally his head, through the brain that was so pleased by the pain of others and the pain of his own daughter. I had to be sure he was dead, so he could never hurt me again, I kept shooting and shooting till the bullets were all gone.

Before I could look up to the men, one was standing behind me, he asked me, ‘are you in?’ I didn’t know what he meant exactly but I nodded, and then felt the same rush Snake did, and then I started to cry, I was so happy, tears of joy streaming down my face, another first for me. I was finally free. The man picked me up into his arms and carried me to the black car, it was dark inside, but so soft, I felt safe there, and between men I had never met before, yet felt like family. I looked back at the house and asked, what will happen to it? One of them handed me a handle with a button on it and said ‘press it’ and I did. The house exploded with the loudest bang I had ever heard, bricks, and wood fly everywhere and I imagined my parents bodies burning as in the hell I had sent them to.  I came here with the men, I cried the whole way, and when we were going down the shaft, one by one they hugged me and said, welcome home.”

The Snake story

Allan took the first steps toward the others, walking past Snake, giving each other a short stare both remembering their childhood quarrels and the last day they saw each other. Walking past Crouch, a simple nod was given just to get a good look at him; he’s not dressed well, old and torn clothes, with some blood on them. Fly, she seems dangerous, offset stance like she doesn’t really want to be here wearing what looks like a guard uniform. Singer has been staring at Allan the entire length of his walk, as he passes their eyes meet, and their hearts both start to quicken, yet neither knows it of the other. They all follow behind him and they gathered around Tears, she had stopped crying, possibly just for now, they are all wondering what happened to her for her to cry so long.

 At first no one said anything, an odd and awkward silence among the six of them, one waiting for the other to speak. Looking at each other, the facility around them, and the floor, none of them really knows where to begin. Snake started; “what’s your code name Allan?” “Runner” he replied giving a serious stare as he though back to why that was given as his name. “Your Snake, the guy to your left is Crouch, the girls names are, Fly, Singer, and this, this is Tears. We’re a team; at least we will be after getting to know each other better and start training together. But first, each others stories, we can’t trust each other without knowing each other’s story, and reason for being here. Snake how about you start?”

“Fine, I’ll tell you, I assume our code names have something to do with our initiation story, as mine would indicate, a snake was involved. I was in a pet store looking around at animals, I asked the store clerk to show me the biggest most dangerous snake he had and I asked him if I could hold it, my parents we’re crossing the road to get to the car which was in front of the pet store I was in. As I held the snake in my hands looking at its great size and large head I heard several cars swerving around the corner, so I looked outside to see, to my shock my parents were standing in the middle of the street as the car that was being chased sped towards them with great speed, it slammed into them. I can still hear my mother’s scream, I saw my parents killed right before my eyes, and I felt nothing, I thought I would but I guess because I was never very close to them they were just some other people to me, I never did feel pain for others Runner can attest to that. But I did feel like I had to do something, to avenge them, and make those responsible pay with their own lives. I ran into the car not realizing I was still holding the snake, jumping in and starting the car I drove after them. I chased them through the streets passing cars left and right trying to stay on the road, there wasn’t a moment when I let go of the gas, racing as my heart was racing. I had never driven so fast in my life, yet everything went well, as I got closer to the car I was chasing I got more focused and started to figure out how to stop them. They started to shoot at me trying to run me off the road or kill me, possibly thinking I was one of the agents after them. I might as well have been.

I got close enough to them to make a move, and I smashed my car into theirs. The car started to spin out of control and caught a parked car by the bumper, then went straight into a street light on the other side of the road as the car was still spinning. I got out and grabbed the snake, walking up to them with a mad stare, my plan wasn’t perfect but it had to work. I threw the snake into their car, landing on the passenger; it bit him and started to warp itself around his neck, which could not have gone more perfectly. I pulled the other guy out of the car and threw him to the ground then started to beat him up punching wildly, madly, and out of control. After a minute of fighting, a man, Bolt, stood behind me, grabbed me by my should turned me and handed me a gun, and I shot both guys one in the face, the other through his head. The man then asked me simply, ‘You in?’ I nodded, and felt a very strong surge go through me a pain I had felt before when I first left the orphanage the moment I learn my family’s history, and before I knew it I was standing here, it all felt like a dream, but now that I think about it, it was just an hour ago.”

Everyone was feeling sympathetic toward Snake, yet they could all see that he himself felt no sympathy, not for what he had done or for what had happened to his family, not a drop of emotion. His eyes staring into nothing thinking back to the moment he pulled the trigger, killing his first target, the moment he truly became an assassin.

Bank rolls

The hidden yet in your face and out in the open, secret operations assassination organization called AIC (Assassination Initiation Crops) is a program to find the youth in society who have been forgotten and are strong minded, fast and determined, able to be indoctrinated and trained to become cold blooded assassins for hire.   In a world where being chipped at birth is a normal thing, but with not just any chip in any spot, a chip for the brain that can have information downloaded to it instantly, and comprehension of the information is immediate, as if it was all there before.

Runner

The story of one operative stands out, as he was the last person to have ever been picked out of the crowd, trained, and led to be a leader of a squad. And it is also the story of how one squad could take down an entire mesh of organizations of similar secret ops kill groups, and then start his own.

It all started with Allan, he was a young 18 year old kid when it all started. He had just left his job at a junk food place and was walking home through the city; he needed to go to the bank to cash his meager check of what they called his salary. Standing in line for the teller, he first heard the typical noises of the bank and the big city, cars honking outside, people walking on the side walk with their fancy shoes, others talking loudly just in front of the door of the bank so as everyone can hear that they work at the stock exchange, and the mumbling sounds of people talking softly inside the bank, workers walking up and down with paper carts and cell phones going off. But then a different noise, multiple guns shots went off as the words “GROUND NOW!!!” were yelled. Every one drop down immediately, yet Allan was too curious about the gun shots and the sudden burst of adrenaline flowing through him to drop to the ground, he turned and faced a man who appeared out of nowhere. The man said “You in?”  And with a simple nod of confirmation Allan became part of the AIC. He got sudden rush of power through his mind, something he had felt before, but never so strong and so long. He was downloading information; normally it takes an instant, even when downloading an entire book. This took at least ten seconds,  and then it was all clear, he knew what the mission was, he knew what to do, and he knew how to shoot, perfectly.

The mission today was, find the bank director, James Harden, and kill him. A simple task as James Harden had just arrived at the bank as Allan turned his head to the door. He recognized him instantly from the information he had down loaded, taking the gun of the man out of his holster Allan aimed and fired with no hesitation and no second thought. The bullet few across the room straight into the head of James Harden,  the missions had been completed, and as soon as it did he saw that the man who he had just taken the gun from was already many steps ahead of him and running toward the door. Outside stood a dark van waiting, others jumped in and then also the man, just as Alan was to take the jump into the van, the door shut in front of him and the van spend off.

As if out of instinct Allan ran the other way, took a left and than a right, jumping over road blocks, down stairs and making his way toward the city docks. He grabbed a school bus that he knew was heading that way, and he remembered himself sitting in a school bus seat going to school from the orphanage, thinking there has to be more to life than having no one care about you, no one wanting to teach you,  and no one believing you or listening to you. He snapped out of his day dream as the awe full smell of fish and oil filled his nose, he was near the docks alright. He jumped off the bus and ran toward a lonely container, black with three red dots on one of the doors. He was a hundred feet away when in the corner of his eyes he saw the black van from the bank racing for the container. With one swift move the van drifted into a 180 spin and stopped right with the back doors standing towards the containers doors. The people he had seen jumping into the van before where jumping out and running into the container, last the man stepped out turned to Allan just as he ran up, and the man said; welcome home. And lead Allan into the dark container and closed the door.

Mission 1; Bank rolls.   -   Completed.    

New operative initiated; Allan Sams.    

Code name: Runner.

The door closed behind them, pitch black in a small confinement, you could only hear the easy breathing of several other individuals all dressed in black, looking like high-tech ninjas, standing completely still, making not a noise, and waiting for something to happen.  Suddenly the floor starts to drop, evident only by the feeling in his gut telling him he is moving, he already knows what is expecting him, or at least he thinks he does. After dropping several hundred feet the doors open and he sees his new home; the head quarters and training grounds of AIC. A super facility housing hundreds of people, computer systems, cars, bikes, aircraft, boats, any kind of transport imaginable, everywhere there was something happening. Allan looks around and sees other groups of squads exit out of doors besides him all to his right, none to his left. The man who had gotten him to get here introduced himself as Smoker, one of the leaders of one many assassin squads.

“I saw you standing there after the guns started going off, you didn’t flinch, drop or, run, you just stood there listening for more sounds. The exact traits of an assassin, and of a leader, you stand here on the far left of the entrances, you will be trained to become the new squad leader. Those standing by the other doors are also new recruits; they will be your team.”

Allan looks to his right and sees 5 five other teens standing with their recruiter, 2 guys, three girls, all look eighteen, all look fit and strong. He recognizes one of them, the closest to his right, an old bully of his at an old orphanage, Red. Very strong, very big, and very mean, Allan remembers being bullied by him every day, getting beaten up after school, and always trying to fight back, never with any results. He also remembers one day in particular, he was walking back to the orphanage after having missed the bus from school. There was a large black car standing in front of the orphanage, and a man and a woman were walking with Red to the car. Allan waited near the car to see Red drive off with his new parents. As the parents stepped into the car, Red walked up to Allan, and gave him a hug, saying; “You were always my only friend, and I only picked on you because you needed to become stronger, one day I’m going to see you again and then I’ll continue making you stronger.” As he finished his sentence his arm went up and then punched Allan straight in the stomach. His last goodbye, before having seen him again at AIC, now the beating would restart, and from the looks of Red, they we’re going to be worse.

Red looked left after having had the same explanation about the left to right ranking, wanting to see who his leader was. Red instantly recognized Allan and said; Hey buddy, ready to get stronger?” Allan said back; “ready to finally get punched back?”  And they both started to laugh, yet at the end of the line to the far right stood a girl, she was crying, her mission was not like Allan’s hit and run. She went through something traumatic. The other recruits were studying each other, looking left and them right, first to their superiors, and then their subordinates, only the lowest ranked of us was looking just left, crying, full of emotion, and full of guilt, and hate.

Smoker then said; “Your code name is Runner, the others are Snake, Crouch, Fly, Singer, and the crying girl is Tears. Get to know them, ask them their stories of how they got here, tell them yours, and then go to training. You need to know your team before you can lead it.”

He left with the rest of the squad leaders towards the back of the bunker, into a room with blacked out window, one way windows where they would keep an eye on every one there while conversing about how to train the new recruits, learn about their background , and then erase it all. The new recruits left standing where they came in, not knowing what to do, pondering what awaits them and where the others came from, and what this entire facility is about.