A Broken Man

"ATTENTION! All soldiers stand in formation!!!"

A group of men wearing blue and silver camo military clothing can be seen shuffling about and standing in a horizontal line in front of a much more decorated officer. However, upon a second look one can notice a startling lack of distinction upon all the mens faces.

Instead of normal skin, jawlines, eyes, nose, or hair all that appeared was a black silhouette on where the skin would have been. The only indication that the beings were in fact living and not just black mannequins were the distinct shape of their mouths that could be seen hovering inches away from their face. Almost like a poorly done game design created before 2010.

The one figure that stood out the most though was @#*%!#^ that had both a mouth and Diamond shaped pupil pale blue eyes. These eyes looked around as if to question their presence in this place. His questions would go unanswered as the decorated captain began to speak.

"Now men! For this assignment we will be infiltrating the enemy territory of ____ and place explosives on key points of the structure in order to bring it down. Upon the successful planting of the explosives we will all have a five minute window to synchronize the bombs. After which a ten minute timer will activate for the bombs to detonate, giving us plenty of time till exvil."

During the explanation of the mission the soldiers can be seen showing a passive posture, almost as if doing a highly dangerous mission was as simple as a father leaving to get milk. Much like that situation, there was much more to it on the surface. @#*%!#^ being the only person seeing past it.

The reason that @#*%!#^ suspected as such was not due to his own instincts, investigations, or military privileges, but experience. The experience of living a life of constant failure and disappointment in himself and others.

He was unwillingly orphaned as his father was killed by a high ranking member of the military for bullshit reasons and his mother was killed by the local bloodthirsty gang and his neighbors let it happen. He ran away and shuffled around the system for years, having no stable relationships, friends, or family and was living only for vengeance, a classic Doom slayer situation.

His hatred and along with his inability to do nothing quickly caused his mental state to degenerate over time. He forgot the value of life and became the monster that created him, starting with his neighbors. Was it wrong of them to value their own lives and the lives of their loved ones over others? No.

@#*%!#^ saw it differently, they chose to give the lives of others in order to preserve their own happiness. His family died, while they sat comfortably, eating with one another and enjoying the stability they took from him. Now, do they deserve peace? To him the answer was no and that was the reason he enjoyed the blood curdling screams they made as he tortured them to death.

The satisfaction he felt as they begged for death, as their parents tried to kill their own children in order to end the pain, and the look on their face as he slowly left their broken, dying bodies in a trash compactor can only be described in one word, orgasmic.

He then took his vengeance to the street, he found the gang that killed his mother and rounded up their members. Like full on Punisher shit. He killed them in all different kinds of flavors, from tortured to quick and everything in between. They played to his plans and schemes, I mean why wouldn't they? After all, he targeted the family members of the gang.

When he reached the thug who did the deed, he was asked one question.

"Why?....Why did you have to kill my sister!?! She had nothing to do with this!" The thug asks as he lays on the concrete floor slowly bleeding to death as his intestines lay outside his stomach. His eyes widen as the man speaks in a cold emotionless voice.

"You killed the @#*%!#^ family to get in the gang in order to get enough money for your sister to go to college. A real shame to… she had a real good chance in leaving this hell hole. If it makes you feel better you fat piece of shit, I only tortured her psychologically."

His lips tremble as he speaks.

"W-w-w-what?"

"I tortured her, only mentally and then I marked her body up after she became a corpse."

"Why?"

"To fuck with you of course." He states in a cheeky smile, seemingly answering the question like a child claiming responsibility for a prank over a friend he continues.

"Besides! I only told her what a piece of shit you are and all your naughty secrets. I mean can you imagine the look on her face when she realized the money in her college fund was stained in blood! It was priceless."

The light can be seen to slowly fade from the thug's eyes both from blood loss and despair as he whispers the name of the sister he failed.

"!$^@$"

What followed next was @#*%!#^ going off the grid, he changed his identity and managed to infiltrate the military. He met the man who killed his father standing in front of him, wearing his war medals with pride and honor, qualities that he obviously doesn't adhere to. His wife who died being the only freak capable of loving him being the only one to see him for who he was.

The group of men were dismissed and the preparations for what's to follow were quickly underway. As the mission progressed @#*%!#^ began to take action, they divided up into teams and he got paired with the captain.

As the captain planted the bomb to the designated point @#*%!#^ severed his spinal cord. As the captain saw the blood stained knife in the hand of a "trusted" soldier he was left in horror as the bomb dropped from his hand.

As the bomb detonated @#*%!#^ could only be at peace, his life work was achieved, he became the monster he dedicated his existence to kill, finally finishing the job with himself. Deep down he knew he was too fragmented to ever be whole again and so @#*%!#^ died.

...….

While Black Diamond gasped awake, having experienced death once again she said.

"Fuck."