Chapter Two (Edit Two)

     Xephyr found himself in an odd stupor, not saying a word and listening to the hum of the engine in the car he wound up in. Damian decided it would be best if they had all split up and gotten to Alexandria in their own way. He decided he would hitchhike. Normal people would advise against doing such a thing, both going out to hitchhike and picking up one, but Xephyr was not a normal person and the man who had picked him up must have been different in his own way as well. Perhaps too trusting? Naive? The words pondered back and forth in Xephyr's mind.
     The man had tried starting conversation, trying to make Xephyr feel comfortable, or maybe it was just for the man's own need for companionship with those around him. Xephyr being lost in his own thoughts about taking down Revenant only nodded and said a couple words when they seemed necessary. He felt bad, cause he knew that this man was nice enough to pick up a stranger, especially as suspicious as he looked.
     Xephyr had walked down highways, thumb up towards the morning skies. Xephyr donned a white tank-top and black jeans along with his two usual items, a special black trench coat and his signature indigo sunglasses. Sometimes, he wished that the trench coat wasn't so necessary, but it had saved him almost every time in the few battles he had been in after escaping Revenant. It carried four firearms along with sixteen magazines; four for each. Various snacks and water packs. A zippo lighter. Two medium length Katanas, his prized Kodachis, were amazingly enough sowed into the hip. It hid a cache of goods that would scare almost anyone if they found out, especially on a hitchhiker of all people.
      "...Catacombs?", the voice broke Xephyr's deep zone.
     "Sorry, what'd you say?", trying to sound like he had just misheard that one question instead of never listening to him at all.
      "Why do ya wanna see the catacombs? 'Scuse me if I'm wrong, but you don' look like the type who just packs up ta go see da sights on a whim", the man chuckled a bit. Xephyr chucked himself at the irony of it. That pretty much hit the nail on the head-except for the part where he'd be part of destroying the sights too.
     "Actually, I have my history major and Egypt always piqued my interest. So I decided to fly down and decided to check it out. I had a rental car, but it broke down. "
      "So ya just left'er there on the side of the road?"
     "Yeah, I really didn't have an option.", Xephyr smiled his genuine smile. Perfected over the years.
     "Odd...I don't remember seeing a car on the side of the road...but maybe someone took it 'ey?", he winked at that last statement. This was a very peculiar man, very perceptive to things.
      Xephyr stayed silent for a few more moments, staring out into the shimmering horizon of the waters as the afternoon sun glistened upon it. He rolled down the window a bit and felt the wind whip his hair about. This was one of the few times he was grateful his memories remained intact from his first life. Xephyr was still able to appreciate all the little things; like air dancing between his follicles and twirling on his scalp, massaging his face. He meant to close his eyes for a moment but became an unexpected victim to sleep.
     Roughly an hour and a half later, he was awoken by the gentle nudging of his driver.
     "Hey buddy...You awake?", Xephyr's eyes snapped open and his hands immediately shot towards his weaponry. His left hand flicked off the safety on his gun and right hand on the hilt of his kodachi and both of them were almost drawn until in the next instant he remembered where he was.
     "Yeah...I'm sorry, I just don't like to be woken up by other people", he forced a natural laugh like it was a natural mistake, which it was.
      "'Ey, no worries. I just thought ya might like to know  that we've arrived", and indeed, Xephyr had found himself at the Catacombs.
     "Oh, thanks man. Here, let me give you some cash for gas", He had begun to go into his pockets for some cash, but the man had waived it away.
     "Nah, keep it. I was goin' this way anyway. 'Sides, I can tell you got somethin' serious to do. You just got this look in yer eyes. Just try not to hurt anyone capiche?", Xephyr was kinda flabbergasted that a normal human was able to see so much out of him. It almost hurt as he stepped outta the vehicle.
     "Oh, yeah, and even though it's underground, it can get pretty hot down there. Be careful and get some water when you can. Nobody wants to get heat stroke'"
     "Thank you sir", Xephyr waved with sincerity and walked towards the entrance looking for anyone who have may had already shown up.

 
     Skylar was in an unsettled state of mind. She was on her way to the catacombs coming from the North on a bus. Cars was already on the list of dislikes and having to share the vehicle with noisy, obnoxious passengers just annoyed her even more. She couldn't stand the naturally obtrusive public, and she let out a small groan in dissatisfaction as she saw a mother of two noisy, probably bratty, children walk onto the bus and right past her. One of the children looked barely old enough to walk, but was still enough just old enough to irritate her. As the child ambled on by, it reached up and tried to touch her, but with a sharp glare, the mother ushered the child away. However, to Skylar's dismay, to sit right behind her.
     Skylar shrugged it off as much as she could. It could have been worse. It could have been some old men, or even young men for that matter, oggling her. That was what she had a problem with. When she was looked over with lust. She was a pretty specimen, but she always tried to dull her appearance, especially in this case to blend in with the crowd. Skylar had worn her hair up in a messy pony tail, no need to do anything elaborate. She sported a tanned button up with short sleeves to if anything be able to blend in with the various sand and stones a bit. A pair of loose fitting khakis was just thrown onto match with some white tennis shoes. The thing that she made sure to be particularly careful of was the large backpack she had.
     It looked normal enough, just a pack that any high school or college student or even a tourist would sling across their back. The inside however was anything but. There was only two contents in the bag, but what they were were the most vital of the mission. Stowed away were explosives, enough to take out a city block at the least and the laptop that would detonate it. She made sure to keep that away especially from the two kids that decided to take residency in her vicinity.
      As the bus slowed to a halt at the next stop, a man across the seat got out freeing it. The woman as well as her two children moved over to the next seat with the smaller of the two children sitting on the mother's lap by the window and the older closer to the aisle. Skylar didn't have to look at the kid or even acknowledge him to feel the pushy gaze that the kid bored into her face. It obstructed everything in her peripherals and took up her concentration.
     Skylar took an icy breath through clenched teeth, closed her eyes, and let it out. She tried to ignore the kid and dully focused a bit more on the white noise all around. A woman talking on her cell phone towards the back. A man snoring unusually loud somewhere. The voices of a few teenagers roaring in laughter over some asinine joke no doubt. Yet, Skylar had learned that those were the times they lived in and that there was no escaping it. She tried to dampen the noise with her own thoughts and tried to meditate on her own goals at hand for a moment when something poked her cheek.
     Eyes snapping open, she saw the staring kids finger still lingering in the air, pointing at her, eyes accompanied by a blank expression. Any older, and Skylar would've broken it right then and there. Even so, she was still contemplating it, although she knew she couldn't draw any attention to herself whatsoever.
      "Missus...Whasin the bag?"
     Skylar opened her mouth to mouth off at the kid, something cliche about how the kid shouldn't be talking to strangers or something trite and cliche, but the mother quickly sensed the disturbance and drew her kid in with her hand, clasping it over the kids gaping hole. At least the mother was smart enough to know when someone ought not to be bugged.
     "Michael! What have I told you about keeping your hands to yourself?! I'm terribly sorry Miss"
     "Oh, no, don't worry about it. I don't  mind it with inattentive mothers let their kids poke me in the face and stick their noses in my business. It doesn't bother me one bit", the mother seemed apologetic enough, but that wasn't going to prevent her from being bit into.
      Luckily, Skylar didn't have to wait for a response. She saw the catacombs looming ahead and pulled the string to get off the bus, but not before giving the little boy another dagger tipped glance.  As she stepped out into the noon Egyptian heat, she regretted not bringing a hat, already feeling the intense heat bearing down on her long blonde hair. Draping the backpack over her shoulder carefully, she set off towards the catacombs.
     Skylar passed by a couple places to sit, and her lazy tendencies were a great temptation. She decided against it when she looked down at her watch and saw the time creeping by when they were all supposed to meet near the entrance. Skylar didn't want to be late and be seen in anyway similar as The Voice, so she walked on.
     Speak of the devil... She thought to herself seeing Xephyr in his 'signature' black trench coat and his purple hair. Sighing, already knowing that the captain was going to say something about how he specifically told us all to blend in well and thus was going to have to chastise Xephyr was something that Skylar was getting annoyed with just thinking about.



    
    


(Edit One: Just a short edit, like you suggested, I changed up the wording. I agree with what you said. Still going to add in more characters. Also, good catch on the 'dawned' 'donned' thing.)

(Edit Two: Added in the perspective of Skylar, The Explosive Soul. Going to add in Anya The Firebreather then Jack the Innocent, then lastly, Damian. Haven't slept in a couple days so excuse how this edit turned out, can't think straight, but I need to keep up on this.  Also, if I should just add in each new character as a separate blag post and just connect them all through title to make things easier, just let me know.

As always, criticisms, concerns, comments, and suggestions are welcome. Thanks for taking the time to read)

Chapter One

     The Vengeful Spirit, Damian, walked with hard footsteps, metal boots slamming down onto the wooden steps. A mix of emotions were running up and down his mind. Damian was very pleased at the fact that the mission overall was a success. However, he could not pretend to be without trouble at the death of one of his most valuable comrades, Roland, The Shadow. His sacrifice hopefully would not be in vain and that the team could still accomplish their goals without him.
     As Damian stepped down to the concrete floor, the team he had assembled was staring back at him, all with different looks in their eyes. Each one of them a question or an assumption; about the mission no less. Damian, didn't even need his uncanny ability to search out details to realize that someone was already late to this meeting, setting a strain on his mind even further.
      The Innocent, Jack sensing the unease shrank down a bit. Jack was already nervous enough having learned that one of his friends had just died. Jack was named the Innocent for a reason. He ambled over to the corner of the room and aimlessly paced around lost in his own thought desperately trying not to make eye contact with his captain again. He pulled his hat over his eyes just in case.
     The Explosive Soul, Skylar, locked eyes with the Captain for a moment then broke it. Not out of fear or apprehensiveness, just out of sheer indifference. Skylar feared nobody, not even death's icy grip; not like any of them did at this point. It's not that she disliked others, it's just that she didn't care for them either. The death of one of their teammates was just another statistic in her mind. It was to be expected. If the captain was upset about it, it was his own issue.
     The Fire Breather, Anya, was the only one to keep eye contact with Damian. It was a soft gaze, yet focused. Questioning. Her eyes were the sharpest of them all, and Damian, or anyone else she set her sights upon, could feel it. Constantly prodding, seeking an opening of some kind in which to somehow exploit for whatever need she may have in mind. Her questions, whatever they may be, would be answered soon enough. Although, one had to be answered now.
      "Where's the Voice? Isn't he with you?", Anya spoke with a delightfully inquisitive tone unfitting for the atmosphere of the room.
     The door creaked open, "Yo, someone sa-"
     Damian pulled out a small firearm on his hip, a Sig Sauer, finger greased onto the trigger aimed at the door. The Voice, Xephyr, already had a small khukiri on the neck of his captain. Both of them had moved out of sheer reflex, but in the short range, it was clear who the victor was. Damian was disappointed in himself that he could have died right then, but elated that he still had a challenge. Even more so that one of his subordinates was able to move so swiftly in and sloped area.
      "Too slow, Captain", Xephyr said nonchalantly, slipping the knife back into his coat, "I hope that excuses my tardiness"
      Damian's first instinct was to hit Xephyr, but just like everyone else, he had his title for a reason. Even so, just about everything about this man made Damian grind his teeth.
     Xephyr took a seat on one of the couches in the basement that they found themselves in, kicked his feet up onto the table, and pushed his sunglasses further up the bridge of his nose. Always so casual. It was abnormal. Always slacking off, being relaxed. It should have been a crime how carefree someone could be. If it wasn't for how very few there already was, Damian would not hesitate even for a moment to kick him out of here.
     "Everyone, please, take The Voice's example and lounge about on the sofa's so we can get this meeting started", making the sarcasm as heavy as possible, though it was intentionally lost upon Xephyr's ears.
     "As all of you know we lost Roland. He gave up his life defeating the Hunter. Let's not make his sacrifice a bigger loss than it is. The Hunter was one of the biggest threats to our plans. To have vanquished him by himself is commendable. We shall honor that by moving forward quickly."
      Damian pulled out various maps and documents, "This will be our first target. It's called Alexandria."
     "Oh, is that the place in Egypt?", Anya chimed in. Jack made an attempt to say something, he opened his mouth, but in the end said nothing and just pulled his hat deeper over his eyes.
      Damian raised his eyebrows, "That is correct. It is the second largest city in Egypt with many admirable sights in its own right. Our primary target is one such place called the Catacombs of Kom el Shoqafa. As the name says, it is a catacombs and is thus underground. It is a major tourist hotspot so there we will easily be able to blend into the crowds. It will be easy to get down inside."
     "Uhm...to do what exactly...sir?", Damian couldn't help but smile. He wasn't sure whether it was form how cute he found Jack sometimes or if he was just excited to be able to tell them of his plan.
     "I'm very glad you asked. That's where you", he referenced the silent Skylar, "are going to earn your keep."
     "You want me to blow it up", not so much a question as it was confirmation. Damian liked that about her. No questions unless absolutely necessary.
     "Correct. We're going to quickly move in there, plant some explosives at the lowest levels, implode it. We need to keep the casualties to a minimum."
     As soon as Damian mentioned that word, the eyes of Jack deadened a bit. It almost hurt to look at him. To tell him he's going to be apart of this. Anya stiffened up a bit, but barely even noticeable, especially when she was next to Jack. If Xephyr had some kind of after thought on this, his body didn't show it. His eyes hidden behind glasses and his body still looking relaxed as ever. Skylar remained stoic.
     "Wait...you said we? Why we?", Jack piped in.
     "Because we're a team. We need to be there for Skylar whether she needs it or not and whether she likes it or not. Plus, we don't know if Revenant won't have some way of intercepting us. We need to be able to support each other. Each of us are very crucial to each mission with something vital that will be important to have in battle."
     Jack slowly nodded in understanding. Damian went over the rest of the details of the plan. How they would move, rendezvous point, second rendezvous point should there be need for one and where to meet afterward. Various points in where to retreat, vital equipment, and most importantly, at least to himself, time. They said very little, which was odd in the case of Xephyr.  It was a shorter meeting than expected.
     "That will be all for this meeting. Get some sleep. Needless to say, it'll be necessary."
      They all stood up in their own pace and walked up the stairs ready for slumber, each mentally preparing themselves for the tolls the mission would place on their minds.



(Again, another draft. Will go more into character detail in the next chapter. I felt that this chapter was a bit...odd. Maybe that's because I've never really written anything before. The storyline will be made more clear later. Again, any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.)

Prologue (Draft)

       Clang, Clang, Clang...
       The heavy footsteps of the Hunter clanging out into the infinite darkness of the abandoned factory. Even as his mask muffled his breathing, the heavy exhales the soldier continued to make echoed into the darkness. Even so, the Hunter did not care. No matter how loud he stomped, he knew that it was nowhere near as loud as his prey's beating heart. The soldier had cornered him in the darkness, the game was soon coming to a close, and they both knew it. He was quick, efficient, and that's why he was always chosen to make kills like these.
       They may have been of the same species, but they were of the same in the way that a domesticated house cat and lion are. The Hunter was quicker, stronger, and above all, ruthless. Even with a mask on, his enemy could never see even the briefest glimpse of mercy from his eyes. This was no different. The Hunter had already sank his teeth into this one, now all that was left was to snap the neck.
       As quiet as his prey had been, the Hunter still was able to sense the faintest of sound and stopped a rusty pipe from being smashed against the back of his neck. He snapped around and caught it only to feel a sharp kick in the knee. The knee cap moved out of place, momentarily impeding all movement. His prey, that Rogue, jumped back into the darkness.
        His prey was getting desperate. Normally, none of them would resort to such low hit and run tactics. The Hunter knew that the Rogue had no other choice. The nasty bullet wounds in his side must've been bleeding out by now with no way to stop it. Not if he kept running like this. The soldier grew impatient knowing that if this lasted much longer, he wouldn't be able to kill his prey himself, firsthand, and he would die like an injured animal. He was not going to let that happen.
        Popping his knee cap back into place, only wincing for a moment, he let himself enjoy at least that much. Not only a sadist, loving the fear in the eyes of any opposition being topped only by their pain, he was also a masochist, reveling in his own pain. It helped him successfully overcome many obstacles as he learned to love the pain he often endured. Exhaling a sigh, he was disappointed. His kneecap was often so injured in a similar fashion in countless fights that he was becoming immune to even that much, and the joy was leaving him.
        Focused once more on the task at hand and eager to finish off this wounded animal, he turned on his thermal imaging equipped into his mask. The factory did not light up in any significant manner, but the crimson footprints that was his bleeding made it a vibrant trail to follow. It was almost like cheating, but it was necessary to do so.
       Jumping down a level, he followed the blood. It zigzagged across paths, moving sporadically. Then he seemed to stop as the bleeding thickened into one larger puddle, then continued to move on. It was too easy to read. A sick grin grew across the Hunters face as his stride and pace quickened to follow, feeling his pulse fire off. Twisting this way and that, the occasional stop as prompted by a puddle, then the prey moved again. This was easy.
       The thought prompted him to stop. As skilled as he was, nothing is ever this easy, given the circumstances. Why would he be stopping? How has he moved so fast? The questions were pushed out of his mind and replaced by a quiet caution as he better surveyed his surroundings. He removed his mask for a moment and knelt down next to a large puddle. He squinted and realized how foolish he was. The Hunter had soon become the Prey. He picked up a rat body, still warm, and it was no doubt that this place was crawling with the vermin. His prey must have found a way to catch rats, make them bleed and lead him around the factory...but for what? Where would this end?
        The Hunter knew his answers were right behind him in the form of a gun pointed in the back of his own head. The cold barrel was lightly pressed against the back of his skull.
       "It appears that the cat has learned how to hunt a lion", the Hunter chuckled at his own little joke.
       "It appears you don't take the situation you're in too seriously."
       He chuckled a bit more, "but how can I when you're such a joke"
       With fluidity, The Hunter flipped down his mask and whipped around. The gun shot off, deafening him, but he was still alive, a twisting satisfied smile creeping over his face behind his bulletproof mask. The shock delivered from a bullet being fired at point black directly at his face did not have its ill effects though. The Hunter's equilibrium was skewered and the force did snap his neck back, giving him whiplash and throwing him to the ground; above all still alive.
       His leg shot back and crammed into the stomach of the Rogue in front of him like a piston. A large scream of pain shot out from his victim, but he could not fully enjoy it in his deafened state. Regardless, the Hunter must have hit the bullet wound.
        The hunter groped the railing beside him and hoisted himself up. His legs were still almost jellified underneath him. He looked forward towards the Rogue just in time to see a knee right into the face. This was the most the Hunter had enjoyed himself all week. Even sprawled upon the ground, that smile stayed plastered on his face behind the mask as the magnificent pain fueled his adrenaline like fire.
       The Rogue must not have had his gun anymore, for instead of a gun shot, a sharp stomp to the ribs, breaking two of them, was delivered instead.
        This man must be a sadist sonovabitch as well, the Hunter thought to himself not allowing himself to scream for that man's pleasure as well as embracing his own vicious beating. Biding his time.
        The Rogue knelt to the Hunter and pulled the gun out from the Hunter's holster having lost his own. It was weighted differently from his own, but in this kind of situation, who would complain. Even so, the grip bothered him as he oddly held the piece up to the Hunter's head.
       "Not to be cliche, but do you happen to have any last words?", he clicked back the hammer and firmly held his positioning.
        "Yes. Too many words, too little action, and way too slow."
        The Hunter had regained his equilibrium, and his hearing was back as well. His arm swiftly swatted the arm away from his head, turned over and awkwardly pounced upon his enemy, prey once more. The gun was quickly coming back towards his face, but now the Hunter had the upper hand and control of the situation. Without even thinking, his muscles entangled the arm and snapped it freeing his gun.
       The Hunter picked up the weapon and jammed it up against the forehead of his Prey, confident in his win.
       "Now...do you have any last words?", purposely being cliche and cruelly ironic. The overwhelming feelings of victory swarmed his body. He couldn't help buy laugh. It was a great hunt, the most joy he's gotten out of a victim in a long time.
       "Looks like this is a-" his last words were cut off by a gunshot. A large hole open, blood spatter and gray matter splattered.
       The Hunter cackled a rotten laugh of triumph. There was no feeling like it. The adrenaline, the endorphins, all of it practically replacing the very blood in his body. Completely satisfied, he tapped the communicator on his wrist, calling HQ for clean up orders.
       Then, as he punched in the last few numbers, his hearing finally was finally coming back. He heard small blips getting steadily louder. His heart froze in anticipation. Looking down, he saw in his dead prey's hand a detonator with a timer hastily counting down.
       3...2...1...
        A large wailing noise erupted from the small device. It was sharply cut off by explosions haphazardly bursting from various areas of the factory. It seemed that this was all a trap laid specifically for him. His ego was touched that they would go through such lengths just to trap him.
       The Hunter laughed one more time, only to be drowned out by the cascade of booms breaking out into cacophony around him. His only regret being he wasn't going to be around to kill more Rogues.



(It's a work in progress, just the first draft, leave comments below with criticism.)

New Post

It has been a long time indeed since I posted. I've gone through a lot of things, got a job, quit that job. Working on getting a new car. Working on getting a new job. Possibly school in the future. Just...a lot of things.

However, I feel really saddened that I abandoned this project. To the...fifteen people (maybe) that started following me, tell me what you'd like to read and I will post it.

I'm thinking about posting a story that's been going on in my head, but I don't know if I want to do that yet.

I'm also thinking about posting about all my friends and the people that I know. That post about that girl felt really cathartic and was in a sick way, kind of fun, so I might post about more friends.

Regardless, I do want to post more. I feel like I disappointed some people. I resolve to do this.

Zen.

P.S. I'm also going to post the songs I'm listening to at the end of each post. Maybe it'll interest you into looking it up, expand your musical tastes a bit. Who knows.

Race Around the World by Waterflame