Chapter 1: Chapter 1- Crime Doesn’t Pay

'Go in, kill him, go home. Go in, kill him, go home.' Ash repeated in his mind as he stood under a broken street light on an abandoned sidewalk. Ash, a shady dark-haired man dressed in an equally dark-colored coat and pants. He kept his eyes trained on the entrance to an old junkyard, which should have been empty since the day it was closed. But now the yard was home to the man Ash was hired to kill. Ash didn't know who wanted the man dead, and he didn't know why. Ash stopped asking why long ago. Instead, he pulled out his pistol to inspect it.

The pistol was a small snub nose, a light-green gemstone embedded into the grip, and five small gemstones in the revolving cylinder. The snub nose was a gemstone weapon, and gemstone weapons and armor were expensive. Ash could only afford two. The snub nose he slid back into the holster on his belt and the gauntlet on his left arm. He slid up his jacket's sleeve to examine the gauntlet. The gauntlet was far more expensive than his pistol, and the number of jobs Ash had to take to afford the gauntlet left pain in his back. But Ash knew the gauntlet was worth the price. The gauntlet was a sturdy piece of leather stretched from his elbow to his fingertips, covered in gemstones. On the back of his hand, each finger, and down his arm, the expensive stones saved his life more than he could count.

Once Ash was sure his weapons were ready, he took a deep breath. He didn't take a deep breath to calm his nerves. No, he took a breath so he could feel it. The Mist. Swirling in his lungs, flowing through his blood, the power every living being was born with. The Mist, channeling it into your muscles, would make you stronger and faster. Directing the Mist into your skin would give you flesh as firm as armor. But the true power of the Mist came from projecting it. 

A true master of the Mist could project it outside their body and create hardened translucent structures made of the Mist. From weapons powerful enough to cleave a man in two to shields strong enough to block explosions. Unfortunately, only two types of people could naturally project the Mist from their bodies. Elderly masters who've spent decades training and mastering the Mist could do it. While Ash had training, he was no elderly master. He was only twenty years old, after all. But the second type was those born and trained in the Mayan Nation. 

This is the reason why gemstones are so valuable. Ash could feel it now. The Mist inside his body was being pulled and tugged by the gemstones in his gauntlet. So he allowed the connection to be made. Instantly he could feel the Mist streaming out of his pours and being collected by the stones. The stones started to glow a pale green, a glow that would grow brighter and stronger the more Mist they gathered. The gemstones were a conduit for the Mist and the only reason an average person could use Mist projecting without decades of training. Ash was not average, but he used the gemstones for personal reasons.

With a sigh, Ash lowered his sleeve and turned back to the Junkyard's entrance. 'Well, guess I should get this done.' Ash thought. He wanted to wait until his target was sleeping. It was now midnight. So he quickly crossed the empty street, making his way to the gate. A large chain and padlock were holding the gate closed, but Ash wasn't worried. He raised a single gauntlet finger to the lock and channeled his Mist through the gemstone and into the lock, snapping it open. 'Go in, kill him, go home.' He repeated in his mind once more.

~R~o~a~O~

'Now, where are you?' Ash thought as he slowly made his way into the Junkyard past the piles of loose scrap metal, wires, pipes, and more. He stopped by a stack of crushed cars and pulled out his gun. 'Found you,' Ash thought. His eyes focused on a large shed across the open yard. While the rest of the yard was dark, lit by the moon and stars, the shed was lit with dangling lights. 

Now that he had found his target, Ash took a breath. Clenching his pistol, he began channeling his Mist into the gemstone in the grip. The gemstone started glowing a bright pale green once the Mist filled it. Then a moment later, it began to dim as the Mist left it and traveled to the five small gemstones built into the gun's cylinder. Once all five were lit up, it meant Ash had five shots before he had to push more Mist into the pistol. Now he was ready.

Silently Ash moved across the yard, but he could only make it halfway as the sounds of an engine roared to life. The sounds of an engine rumbling, pistons igniting, and gears shifting filled the air. "I knew someone would come for me!" A voice echoed from inside the shed. Ash didn't get a chance to respond. Instead, the shed door exploded off the hinges. Ash was forced to duck as the door flew over his head. "But I was ready!" The voice roared once more. 

'Holy…' Ash thought as he saw a massive metal hand grip the edge of the doorframe and rip the wall apart. A second metal hand peeled the roof back like a lid as Ash's target came into full view. "Uh, I think I have the wrong house," Ash said as he met with a man wearing power armor built out of scrap metal. 

"Don't lie to me!" The man roared. His power armor stood above seven feet and just as wide. To Ash, the armor looked clunky, barely hanging together. Nothing like the metal giants the Explorers Union could build. But standing in front of him, it was just as terrifying. Ash could see his target sitting behind a mesh cage in the center of the armor. "You're here for me. I know it!" The man growled. He reached down and snatched a metal beam off the ground, gripping it tight in his metal hand.

"No, No, this is a complete misunderstanding. You see, I'm here to meet a normal guy named Vince. He's likely not inside a junk suit made of smashed cars. So I'm just going to-"

"Don't lie!" Vince screamed. A pair of tires on each foot squealed to life, and the man charged forward. He swung his metal beam like a sword, aiming for Ash's head.

'Crap!' Was all Ash could think as he dove out of the way, narrowly avoiding the attack. He rolled to his feet and aimed his pistol at Vince, pulling the trigger as soon as he lined up his shot on the man's head.

 Pulling the pistol's trigger caused the hammer to slam into one of the Mist-filled stones, firing a Mist bullet. Unfortunately for Ash, Vince raised his metal arm and blocked the attack. The bullet dented the metal but bounced off.

"Dieee!" Vince screamed as he pulled his arm back, then launched his metal beam at Ash.

'Oh, shi-' Was all Ash could think as the beam sailed through the air like a missile. Ash raised his gauntlet-covered arm on pure reflex, instantly channeling his Mist into every gemstone and projecting a large translucent shield. Metal met the hardened Mist shield, and the force from the impact threw Ash backward, sending him flying across the yard. Bouncing off the ground, through a pile of loose metal, and slamming through the back fence. 

~R~o~a~O~

Pain filled Ash's body, hitting his body in waves as he lay in the middle of the empty road. 'Fuck… I should have charged more for this job.' Ash groaned in his mind as he put a hand to his head. Thanks to Ash's Mist-projected shield and channeling the Mist into his skin, he managed to protect himself from severe damage, but it didn't stop the pain. Ash learned early on in his life that using the Mist to harden the skin on your head could protect your skull from breaking open, but it wouldn't stop your brain from getting rattled.

"Where are youuu!" Vince shouted. Ash could hear the man stomping around the Junkyard. "I will find you! I will rip you to pieces!"

After one last deep breath, Ash forced himself to stand. 'I guess brute force isn't going to work. This pistol isn't strong enough to hurt that metal, need something bigger. I could make a long sword with my gauntlet to slice through him. But I would still have to get close to him, and I've already used too much Mist protecting against that attack.' Ash thought as he dusted himself off. The Mist was like a muscle. Overuse would leave you exhausted, and Ash could already feel the strain. But as he turned to face the Junkyard, he noticed something poking over the fence. Something every Junkyard had. 'Well, that could work.' With a nod, he slowly and quietly made his way back through the hole his body had made.

~R~o~a~O~

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 'Where are you!? Where are you!?' Vince thought as he stomped around the Junkyard. He always knew someone would come for him. They always DID. But they could never take him. No matter who they were or where they wanted to take him. He wouldn't let them! "Stop hiding!" Vince's voice echoed as he slammed his fist into a stack of crushed cars, knocking them over. As the pile of crushed cars fell over, a massive round chunk of metal slammed into the power armor's mesh cage.

~R~o~a~O~

"Got you," Ash whispered as the massive magnet slammed into Vince's homemade scrap metal power armor. Once the magnet latched onto the mesh cage, Ash pulled back on the crane's controls, lifting the magnet and power armor into the air. 

"WHAT!? WHAT IS HAPPENING!? GET OFF OF ME!" Vince shouted, but Ash ignored the man. Instead, Ash focused on shifting the crane and carrying the suit of armor through the air. 

'Huh, now what should I do?' Ash wondered as he tapped his chin. He ignored Vince's shouts as the magnet and power armor swayed in the air. Ash only considered using the crane to keep the power armor in place. But as he looked between the crane's controls and the armor hanging, another idea formed in his head. 'Maybe this will work.' Ash pulled back on the crane's controls and lifted the magnet as high as it could go. Once the crane was at its limit, Ash released the magnet causing the power armor to free fall. 

Vince and his scrap metal power armor hit the dirt with enough force to shake the ground. But Ash wasn't done. Before Vince's head could stop spinning, Ash latched the magnet to the armor, lifting the man into the air. Dropping the man as soon as the magnet reached full height. The armor slammed into the dirt once more. Ash did this repeatedly, destroying the power armor with its own weight. 

'That should be enough.' Ash thought as he moved the magnet away. Stepping out of the crane, Ash could hear Vince choking on his blood. Ash found his target when walking up to the pile of scrap that was once power armor. Vince's body was bloody and beaten, nothing more than a pin cushion as metal shards pierced his flesh.

"I-I-" Vince started to say, but he was cut off by a Mist bullet spitting his skull, killing him instantly.

Once Vince let out his final breath, Ash slid his pistol back into the holster, turned, and left the Junkyard. His job was done.

~R~o~a~O~

 

"Oh yeah, right there, harder, yeah, that's good." Ash groaned as the woman on his back dug her palms into his shoulders. A woman Ash would often pay to give him relief after a job, they met once more in their standard hotel room. 

"Another tough job, Sweetie? Well, at least you didn't come back with a new scar." The woman said as she ran her fingers across the small scars scattered around his back. "Here, I have just the thing for you." The woman pulled out a small inhaler. Giving it a shake, she brought it to Ash's lips. Pressing down on the inhaler caused a vaporized chemical stream to Ash's lungs. 

The effects of the inhaler were instant, filling his lungs and radiating to the rest of his body, relaxing his muscles and putting his mind in a daze. He simply stared into the fog as the woman lay beside him, inhaling her breath of vaporized chemicals.

~R~o~a~O~

'Wha-what's that noise?' Was all Ash could think as he slowly forced his body to sit up in the bed. He tried to stop the spinning in his head and focus on the noise outside the hotel room's door. The noise grew louder, but the static in Ash's mind wouldn't clear. 'Wood creaking, boots, people… AMBUSH!' Ash's mind suddenly kickstarted, and he snatched his snub nose from the nightstand next to him. 

The door exploded open as Ash took aim. "FREEZE!" A man shouted. His high-powered flashlight at the end of a rifle blinded Ash but didn't stop him from pulling the trigger. 

Ash's shot hit the man's chest, but Ash didn't wait for the body to drop. He quickly jumped out of bed, ignoring shouts and Mist hardening his skin, gritting pain as Mist bullets bounced off his body. Without a second thought, he dove out of the window. Naked, with only his pistol in hand.

~R~o~a~O~

Ash hit the ground and bounced to his feet, but what he saw stopped him in his tracks. "FREEZE!" "DON'T MOVE!" "DROP THE WEAPON!" Shout after shout filled the air, and lights surrounded him.

"Well, fuck." 

 

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