Chapter 1: Chapter 1 (Arc 1: One Last Job)

(Trigger warnings: Intense Violence, Gore)

“How many days has it been Grim? Hm? Can you even remember the last time you tried searching for your missing daughter, instead of killing people for money!” 

God, he is so annoying, I never thought a supposedly better version of me would be this goddamn annoying!

“Look, I need to get one more job done okay! Then with the last of the money, I can finally get to finding our daughter, do you think finding our daughter wouldn’t take loads of money?” I said to the other version of myself. 

I don’t know how long it’s been since I woke up in that alley but ever since then, he, has been a nuisance. He looks like me. Talks like me, sounds like me, and even moves like me. But he isn’t me. If I could put it bluntly he’s like some kind of conscience, one that always wants me to do the right thing no matter what. 

But doing the right thing when you were a mercenary was like trying to not eat candy in a candy store…not impossible, but stupid nonetheless.

But today, dear lord, he was waining on my patience.

“Sigh, what is it? Another job killing people now? Or do you have to smuggle drugs? Oh, maybe this time you’ll be getting ingredients for some compound zap so more gangs can kill each other with superpowers! So….what is it!?!” Other me said getting behind me as I drove.

“Just a fetching job, something about finding someone’s daughter, should be there in about a minute by now,” I said steering the van to the left off the main road into a dirt road.

“A bit out of the way but hey at least now you’re doing something good instead of doing something awful…Just make sure she comes back alive and doesn’t die when your rescue her, unlike that one time.” Other me said laying on the bed of the van.

“That was a fluke okay! Jeez,  I wouldn't get paid if she was dead now would I, sigh, we’re here now,” I said pulling up to a random house in the middle of the desert.

The house was completely out of the way. This man had to have been incredibly wealthy to own a home this far out into the desert with only a dirt roadway to get in. The exterior of the house looked like it had been there before and renovated with beige walls and Spanish roof tiles. Even more apparent was that there was no gate anywhere. It was nothing but pure desert at six am in the morning.

Looking in the rearview mirror with a quick glance at myself I could see myself in all its age. Brown facial hair, dirty blonde hair, baggy eyes, and a resting bitch face made for an all-in-one package of an old man. Sure I was a forty-nine-year-old man I sure didn't care if I looked the part, but most people told me I looked barely forty so that was a nice plus. A red leather jacket with blue lining on the arms seemed like a bizarre choice for the desert but it was easier for there to be some resistance to knife attacks or a bullet. Maybe like five percent but hey five percent wasn't zero. With that said the jeans and red hi-top shoes and white socks weren't much for my outfit.

That’s enough procrastination, time to start the job.

SLAM!

“Try to be kind this time Grim, and not an ass, his daughter is missing.” Other me said the moment I stepped out of the van.

Luckily only I could see him cause if anyone else were to hear him they would have blown their brains out just hearing their whiny nature.

“Can it, will you, I can act how I please,” I said going up the stairs all the way to the high porch.

KNOCK! KNOCK! KNOCK!

CREEEEK!

“Can I help you, sir?” Said the voice of an unknown man.

“I’m here to find the girl your boss sent me here for,” I said nonchalantly with a flinch of my trigger finger.

“Very well sir, please wait a moment.” He said closing the door only to reopen it seconds later.

The man that stood in front of me made me know off the bat that I was taking a job with a high-up boss. In front of me was a hunk of a man, who had to be at least six foot seven with muscles thicker than my legs. His black skin and curly black hair contrasted with the various Facial scars that made it clear he had won some nasty fights. Now having a giant man as a bodyguard was one thing but that’s not what caught my eye. What caught my eye was the suit he was wearing, more importantly, the material it was made from. 

Silk…silk here is rarer than diamonds out here and this man’s suit was complete silk.

All the signs were there if I were to mess up this job, it’d cost me a lot of pain. But hey, even though I couldn’t die doesn’t mean the pain wouldn’t hurt.

“This way sir.” The man said leading me directly into the living room.

Very snazzy, very snazzy house. Many new and refurbished pieces of furniture probably worth thousands of golden coins. But hey, after all, it may be the apocalypse but if you had all the money you wanted might as well spend it all on material goods. After all, not like there's anywhere worth going without being ripped open by zombies, shot by gangs, or eaten by Demons when you're out here. 

“This is the man you hired boss.” The man who let me in said pointing his thumb at me from over his shoulder.

In front of me were three couches with a man right in the middle. I could tell this man to have been involved in some form of crime. Sure I had been hired by families to find family members for them that weren’t rich but this man strutted himself around as if he was the guy you didn't want to mess with. A full red suit, a black cane with a metallic viper head at its tip, and bleached white hair. His tan-like skin and short black hair made his outfit stand out even more considering that his facial features were Mundane.

“Please sir, have a seat over there.” The boss said pointing to the couch on the right side of himself.

“Alright,” I said pressing my bum on the couch soft cushion.

Silence, there was nothing but silence for a near ten seconds. That was until the boss man began to cry. 

Jeez. Really? All this attitude, bodyguards, and money and you start crying like a child in front of the man going to rescue your daughter. 

Pathetic.

“You see, my sweetie pie, she’s been taken god knows where…I just want to see her precious face alive you hear me…ALIVE!” He said slowly getting more aggressive till he burst with a single word.

“Yeah, yeah, that’s why I’m here, it’s to bring her alive, so…do you know where she’s at or do you need me to go and find her myself?”

“Luckily, I had some of my best guys know of a possible location of where she would be at, they would be here my good sir.” He said handing me a file.

Y’know, for someone who was just crying a moment he very quickly switched from being sad to being determined. One would believe that he was faking his tears but in this industry one does not question the people that hire them. One simply does as he’s told and gets paid. Pretty simple as that.

“And about payment, I do believe you are going to owe me quite a sum for going to rescue your daughter, especially considering today’s climate of…kidnappings, and its ties to the criminal underworld.”

“Well, concerning your payment, that won’t be an issue, I always pay upfront….Jockie, fetch the briefcase!” The boss said motioning to one of the ten other men in the house who I had not seen till now who I assumed were bodyguards.

“Here you go, sir.” Said one of the hunky bodyguards as he handed a briefcase to the boss.

“Thank you Jockie, now, I believe this will serve as enough payment for finding my daughter.” The boss said handing me the gigantic silver metallic briefcase.

It was indeed quite a heavy briefcase. The case itself was light but what was inside of it was what made it heavy. Opening it revealed various large containers of golden coins. There had to be at least….

“Five hundred thousand, I assume this is to your liking?” 

“Yes very much so, guess everything is in order, I’ll have your daughter back here as soon as possible,” I said closing the briefcase about to take off.

“Wait.” 

“Yes?” I said stopping midway from leaving the couch.

“Your name, what is your name stranger?”

No one ever asked for my name, but, not like anyone would believe me if I told them I don’t know my name. Ever since I woke up in that alley I only went by…

“Grim…my name is Grim.”

“Well then Grim, I’m Eli, please bring my daughter back alive.” He said handing out his hand.

“I will sir, I will,” I said shaking his hand.

And thus began my journey to find the girl.

You are reading story Grim at novel35.com

I doubt that it’ll be any…

…

“Trouble, the last thing I need is trouble!” I said getting out of the van looking at what was clearly a small group of teenage gangbangers.

The night had fallen and with that my appetite had become too hard to bare. All it was supposed to be was a quick trip to the grocery store but instead, it was a call for danger. Now, sure, this small town in particular from what I knew was a place where people gladly pumped themselves full of compound zap but the last thing I expected was superpowered teenagers. Adults were more coordinated, but teens, especially late teens, were more sporadic, reckless, and even worse… stupid.

And what did we have here, three boys and two girls, all of them looking like compound zap had been surging through their veins. Alt punk attire with tattoos, spiked-up hair, sunglasses, and surgical masks. No knives, no guns, and none of them looked like they were trained in fighting. 

Of course, I could just shoot them all but attention was the last thing I wanted right now.

I just had to beat their asses like their daddies should have.

“Look Grim, I know you have to fight, but go easy on them, they’re just kids that need guidance, they don’t know any better.” Other me as he floated above me as I walked.

And like many times in my life, I ignored him. 

“Alright, chucklefucks what do you want? You want money or something cause I sure don’t got any…” I said right before being cut off by one of the brats.

“That's some snazzy van yall got there, we want it.” Said the teenage bot with the mohawk.

“Well, you sure ain't getting it.”

“We ain’t asking…Jailen, kill this moron.”

“With pleasure.” Said one of the girls raising her fists.

With a single motion, that girl’s hand went from normal to being covered in electricity. If she wanted to she could just zap me but instead, here she was walking towards me. So I was dealing with someone who could make their hands become electric. 

Big whoop.

“Go easy on her Grim please.” Other me said sounding nervous as he spoke.

SWISH!

“Nice try dumbass,” I said grabbing her arm.

CRACK!

“AHHHHHHH!” She screamed as she fell to the floor moving from side to side in pain.

Yep, that’s what happens when you break someone’s arm, and with one swing too, not bad.

“Left yourself wide open….WOAH!” I said nearly dodging a long blade.

Looking back to my left one of the teenage boys had activated their power. Their arms had now become metallic blades. Lovely. But their stance was poor leaving them wide open for a…

SMACK!

Kick in the ribs, should have some internal bleeding from where I hit you and well the rock I keep in my shoe in case I need a bit more power to my kick. And by the looks of it, it just came in handy now. 

“ARGH…get him…get…sigh.” He said right as he passed out.

“You kids should leave while you have the….”

SMASH!

A kid with superstrength, by the looks of it, about thirty-five extra strength percent looking at the dent in the ground. But even though he was strong his bleeding hand showed he wasn’t invincible so a quick jab in the neck should do it.

SWISH!

Another miss, damn, these kids are bad at fighting. And you call yourselves gang members, how pathetic.

“Stay…still!” He said swinging his arms like a doofus.

SMACK!

“ACK!ACK!ACK!” The boy said bobbing his head left to right before falling.

That poor boy now is going to need someone to hold his neck straight for a bit. A side kick to the neck is gonna leave your head needing extra support, especially considering the decent-sized rock in my shoe. That’ll teach him not to mess with strangers.

Looking up I could see one of the remaining boys aiming their hand at me like a gun as they shivered like a dog. There was no electricity, no fire, no ball of darkness, or anything. All there was just a child holding their hand in fear in the shape of a gun.

“You going to do anything kid or are you going to stand there like a b…”

SMASH!

THUD!

“Billy, my god, did he Hurt you?” 

“Jessica, no, he didn’t get to me, but the others, what are we going to do?”

“Just grab them and put them in the van, my god this was a stupid thing to do, come on grab the keys.”

“Will do.”

…

VR…VR…VROOOOOOOOOOM!

…

“Grim, you still there…Grim, come on I know you’re not dead, we’ve tried killing ourselves enough times haven’t we to know we can't die, now get up.”

“I…healing…they…ACK!…bashed my head…in pretty good…used some kind of wrench…a lot of…ACK!…Blood…” I said slowly lifting myself from the floor.

I couldn’t see anything,  nothing but complete darkness on my end. But I could feel it all. The sensation of my brain, the oozing of my blood, and even worse…the cold. It was night in a desert town so the breeze could be felt on my face. Chunks of teeth and moving tongue made it pretty clear they caved my face in pretty bad. 

It was healing, however. That was one of the benefits of selling your soul to the devil for more time. The fact you couldn’t die was great, but, I still aged. The deal of a lifetime to make to find my daughter, I don’t know what would happen after, I’m guessing I’d be damned to be a rotting corpse for centuries if I was lucky. Then again, It didn’t matter in the end what happened to me. I just needed to find my daughter and start that search…

…I needed to finish this job.

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