Death Of A Legend

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The moon shone down on the entire city of New York. A man in his mid-twenties sat in one of the many high rises within the Financial District. He wore a black and purple suit and had black hair and dark blue eyes.

Bodies were strewn about the building, and blood was dripping onto the white tiled floor. Within all of the gore and carnage, only two people remained alive.

Inside an office, the man sat at a wooden table. He groaned in frustration as he lit a cigarette. A middle-aged man in a suit sat in front of him.

"Why did you have to make this so difficult?" The man on the desk stated. "Uhm, what was your name?"

The middle-aged man was sweating profusely and shaking uncontrollably. "A-A, it's A-Alex."

"You're an Alex, I see. My name is Nova, or Neo if you're a friend of mine. Of course, it's not my real name." Neo said as he moved to the table's edge. "Sorry for the excessive blood. I asked nicely, but all of your guards seem to have been deaf."

"W-What exactly do you mean?" The man was about to get out of his chair when he came to a halt. Neo threatened him with a gun, causing him to freeze in fear. His hands were shaking even more than before.

"Can you not, kindly? I'm feeling a little tired right now." Neo put his elbows on his knees and blew a puff of smoke into Alex's face, causing him to cough. Alex was a man who valued his life very much; he didn't smoke and rarely drank unless he was stressed about something.

When he ordered the death of one of his competitors, he realized he'd messed up. What he didn't expect was for someone to be sent a day later after the endeavor.

He didn't expect the individual to be able to kill all of his men in the span of a single hour. He struggled to regain his composure, but succeeded in the end. Then, he asked the question that has been on his mind ever since Neo stepped foot into his office.

"How did you get here so fast, and how were you possibly able to kill all of my men so quickly? It hasn't even been twenty-four hours."

Neo didn't respond, instead, he wrapped bandages around his left arm. There was a deep gash across his forearm, and he didn't want to stitch it up right now.

"You order a hit on Mark's son, and Mark is the founder of the largest company in New York at the moment. Did you really expect him to remain silent? That's ridiculous." Neo shook his head at Alex's alleged stupidity.

Alex clenched his teeth but continued on. "Are you employed by him-"

"No, I'm just here to kill you for fun." With a dumbfounded expression, Neo said. "You're a complete moron. How did you even start this business?"

Alex almost stood up to reprimand this kid who wasn't even half his age, but he didn't.

"If you come and work for me, I can pay you more than triple what he is currently reserving. My company is about to surpass Mark's."

Neo smoked some more and drank some wine that rested on the desk to the side of him. He gulped a lot of it down and gasped, over the bottle away from his face. "That's the good stuff, I tell you. And I don't really work for Mark; I take jobs from anyone who can pay me-"

"Perfect! I can clearly pay-arg!" Alex yelled in pain when Neo hit him in the head with the gun. Alex collapsed to the ground, clutching his head as blood poured down his face, onto his hands, and dripped onto the tile beneath him.

"Geez! Stop being so dramatic, I didn't hit you that hard." Neo jumped up from his desk. "And please don't interrupt me. As I previously stated, I work for anyone who can pay. And once the job is assigned, the only person who can prevent me from finishing it is the contractor. No amount of money will deter me from finishing the job.

"Okay? You should have done is hired me from the start. Why would you not order a hit on Mark's entire family before taking over his company? Let me guess, you wanted to put him off his game and then bring his company down?"

"How did you—"

"It's pretty obvious, but unfortunately for you, my soon-to-be-dead friend, you did the opposite by murdering his son. Mark has never been in this sharp before. Not that this information matters much to you, but the guy even sent his wife and daughter to a hideout in bloody Africa. You know, because you're going to die." Neo said as he walked around Alex.

Alex's eyes widened as he looked around and noticed a gun within arms reach. He quickly reached for the gun, hoping for a surprise attack on Neo, but he wasn't quick enough. Neo saw his intentions as soon as his body move over to the gun. He reacted much quicker than Alex and fired off his gun, shooting through Alex's hand.

"Ahhh!" Alex screamed in agony, clenching his other hand.

Neo exhaled a sigh. "You truly are a stupid idiot, but whatever. Bye-bye."

*BANG!*

• • •

Neo passed through the automatic doors of a hotel still within the Financial District. His breathing was constant, and his hands were empty. His arm was still bandaged, and blood was dripping onto the floor.

The sight had no effect on the people inside the hotel. It was as if they'd seen it a million times before. Neo didn't even bother to look around him.

He took a straight path to the counter at the far end of the room. Nova abruptly holt in place and deadpanned looking around him. Neo hummed, pushing his lips together.

"Uh."

He turned around, retraced his steps to the doors, and then exited the hotel entirely. Looking down at the marble floor, the man behind the counter shook his head.

Nova returned after another five minutes. He was holding a black cardboard box in both hands. It had a red stain on the bottom and red liquid dripping from it. All those who were present knew it was blood, and not Nova's.

Nova sighed as he walked over to the counter with hastened steps. He threw the box down in front of the man behind the desk.

"Good morning, Dr. Nova." The reception said politely.

"Is it really morning?" Neo looked outside through the glass where the wall should have been. He noticed the morning sun in the streets, as well as cars driving by. His eyes were easily able to keep track of them. "I suppose it is; I must have lost track of time."

Neo crossed his arms and placed them on the counter, then his head. His face rested on his arms, and he brushed his hair away from his face. Looking at the man in front of him, the receptionist smiled.

Despite Neo being in his twenties, but he appeared much younger. Some people mistook him to be in his late teens. Neo was a man that many women would fall for, but he was never interested in romance. He simply wanted to travel the world and have fun while learning and experiencing new things. Intercourse just wasn't something he wanted to experience.

The reception opened the cardboard box revealing Alex's head. The eyes were open slightly, and head was everything but clean.

"You usually bring in the head with a clean cut. Did something happen?" He gave the box to another man who had just come through the doors behind him.

"There were, indeed, more people than I expected. I asked nicely, but they didn't comply with my request. Because of that, I had to kill a lot of people. Also, this." Nova extended his arm to show him.

Nova's arms were examined by the man. He nodded and scribbled something on a scrap of paper. The previous man returned with a small device and handed it to Neo.

Neo attempted to take the keys to his hotel room but was stopped.

"Dr. Nova, you were summoned to the roof for a meeting. He is currently waiting for your arrival."

"Sure sure." Nova began to walk away. Many eyes were on him as he walked to the elevator. There was a lot more than usual. 'Ah, so it finally happened. But it's not like I'm upset. I knew it would happen eventually, and this place was getting kinda boring anyway.'

• • • •

Neo walked through a door that was already open. As he walked forward, he was taping on his phone, his eyes darted around the screen with a small frown on his lips. There were a lot of people on the roof, and none of them seemed happy or pleased to see him.

Neo had not yet lifted his head from the phone. He walked down the few steps, passing a large number of people. They were all rushing out of there, knowing that things were going to get messy. None of them wanted to be present for what was about to happen.

Neo made his way past a pool to a few lounge chairs. He noticed a man sitting on one, reading some papers. He was dressed in a dark blue suit with a white tie and had his hat on his lap. He stood five feet eight inches tall and had brown hair and sky blue eyes. Neo sat in a lounge chair next to the man.

"How are you doing, Neo?" Putting down the papers, the man inquired.

"Mh." Neo shook his head, finally looking up from his phone. He turned it off and dumped it in the pool. "You know, here, there, killing, lots of killing."

"Hehe. Neo, do you believe in love at first sight, my boy?"

"Nope. Love is a stupid thing, and I've never been interested in it, Keon." Neo sat up and took a look around. Although many of the people had left not too long ago, there were still a few dozen left.

"You know how I don't like to beat around the bush, Neo." Standing up, Keon said. "I'm sure you've noticed, but I'll mention it anyway. Many people have requested your death or your retirement."

"That's dumb, what makes you think I'll agree to that? For all you know, by saying this, I will go and bring your entire organization down."

"The thing is, if you do not retire, a bounty will be placed on your head, the more people you kill, the longer you live, the more destruction you cause, the higher the bounty becomes. Even if you make it out alive, your life will be forfeit."

Keon raised his hand, and everyone in there pulled out a gun and pointed them at Neo. Following that, Neo's body was covered in red dots.

"Yes, I see. And if I retire, I can just walk out of here?" Neo asked, not believing it for a second. With all of the information he has, no one will let him live. He was actually surprised it took over seven years for them to decide to do this.

"Yes. I'll make certain that no one bothers you. Go to France or something, live a normal life, make a family. You have more than enough money to live a luxurious lifestyle."

"You lost me at "Make a family," and it's all your fault." Neo said this while drawing a gun from his waist.

"Haha-Hahahahaha!" Keon laughed while clutching his stomach. It didn't take him long to regain his composure. "Are you saying that you'd rather face death than find a lover!?"

"That's the thing about love and death." Neo rose to his feet, stretching his arms and legs. "The thing about death is that it never lies to you, and it doesn't break your heart in the end. It is brief, and cups straight to the point." Neo let go of his gun, allowing it to fall to the ground.

*BOOM* *BOOM* *BOOM* *BOOM* *BOOM* *BOOM*

Several explosions rang out throughout the Financial District. The entire structure shook, making it difficult for many people to remain standing. The glass windows shattered throughout the building, falling into the streets below.

The hotel's first few floors went up in flames, killing everyone unfortunate enough to be there with the explosions that first went off. There was barely enough support left to keep the hotel standing; it was only a matter of time before it collapsed. The building slanted, but not so much that people fell off, but enough that people noticed.

Bystanders in the streets felt scared, shocked, at a loss for words, all of the above. Many thoughts ran through their heads. Anyone who could see or hear the explosion ran as fast as they could. Even those who did not witness the explosion, they definitely heard it.

At the top of the collapsing building, Keon had similar thoughts. 'He-he really went this far?! How many people will die as a result of this, and how much destruction will be caused?!' Keon's expression displayed his thoughts. Even if that wasn't the case, Neo could tell what the man across from him was thinking. Keon's thoughts were more than obvious.

"I'm sure you're wondering why I did this. It's simple; I actually don't have a good reason. However, you were correct, if I do not retire, I will be pursued for the rest of my life. And even if I do, people will come after me regardless. I've never trusted you enough to not make contingencies."

"I know I can make it out of here alive, but I don't want to. I'm just tired of fighting for no reason, of people like you, and of living for nothing. I've been to so many places, seen so much, done so much, and killed so, SO many people. All I've ever wanted was to learn and see new things, which I can't get here anymore. You may think it's a nonsense reason, and I would agree. I also want to go out with a bang. I'm not afraid of what's on the other side. As a result, I'll be leaving early."

Neo sighed as he sat in the lounge chair. Keon, like everyone else, ran for it in the hopes of getting out. Even though it was almost certainly impossible, they valued their lives too much to just give up. Neo rolled onto his back and shut his eyes.

'It was a bloody blast, it truly was.'

*CRASH* *BBOOOMM* *BBOOOMM*

("I'm sure it was, Nova. But now it's time to return to me. Your journey has only begone.")

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