Chapter 1: A City Full Of Saints And Sinners

Sweltering heat seemed to be the only consistent thing, aside from the heavy waves of crime and corruption that spread throughout the glistening metropolis in the heart of an unhealthy desert valley settlement known as Temple City. The city was formerly the vacation hub for the wealthy and privileged which was taken over sometime in the late 2000s when those who wished to be in charge of mankind decided that causing chaos, starvation, and secret technological advancement while stifling the potential of the less fortunate and working class, just to simultaneously experiment on the general public without their knowledge was the way to go. Everywhere the so-called ruling class attempted to enforce their twisted ideals on the public right down to forced depopulation, gender mutilation being passed off as an ideology for the betterment of mankind and pitting men and women against each other to see who could be more of a victimized slut in the eyes of the public. The wealthy and powerful attempted what was known as The Great Regression. In a bid to control the world from scratch but keep their considerable wealth and technology away from the masses.

After years of being forced into the bottom of the barrel, the people who still knew what was what rose and taught those born into a clueless world how everything should be. Enraged and embittered about the turn of events that took away the lives they once knew, the revolting people chased the so-called powerful out of their vacation spots and took over them seeing it fitting that they return to their natural way of life using the resources left behind by the bastards that tried to control them. During this time, experimentation, robotics, and genetic splicing had been at an all-time high with bioengineered mutations and drugs being pushed to keep the people docile and clueless as the bastards behind the cloak continued to toy with humanity even going so far as to reestablish the status quo and create a genetically altered race of human beings solely for their control and usage in the new day and age.

Attempting to restore goodwill on the part of the wealthy and the masses, Temple City was converted into a massive three-district city as a means of righting the wrongs of the past between the two factions. Beverland District was home to the more affluent of the masses who had been given legs up and favors for selling out their own and keeping the secrets of their fellow man.

Highland District was split up into two classes for the working class living out life with a fistful of black pennies and those well off with savings and careful planning the point being to always be between the Beverland sellouts and above the poverty-stricken below them as a means of constant control for the one's still secretly in charge. They had the advanced robotics, but never the A. I advancement of their overlords which kept everything on an even keel as far as ensuring the overly ambitious couldn't overtake them one day.

The area also gave the appearance of a more retro-esque world befitting the old era of the 1940s right down to the housing builds and the vehicles and outfits. They were known to be technophobes and mistrusted any and every aspect of technological advancement which gave them the manufactured weakness of never understanding tech or rather having very little experience with it.

Attison District was home to the downtrodden who couldn't afford to live as the Highlanders did as they struggled to get by from one day to the next pinching black pennies or turning to less than savory means of sustaining themselves even in the slums of the city. Violence and chaos were always the norms in this area of Temple City. Sex, drugs, and crime were always happening in the lower wards and sometimes those of the other districts could be spotted having come down from on high to engage in illicit acts under cover of darkness and grime. The Red Light District had been a popular hot spot and the so-called "Watchmen patrols" were only there to ensure the crime stayed in the lower wards and didn't breach the other districts.

Attison district, named for the notoriously corrupt former mayor Aeron Patrick Attison who frequented the place and allowed crime to fester despite promises to "do away with the district" only to find himself at the mercy of those living in the hell hole slum he created when they cornered and killed him when he'd been having a night on the town with various prostitutes before going on a campaign rally. As it stood Attison was the best place to score drugs, particularly the designer favorites known as Pixel, Moon Rocks, Glow Dust, and the most recently sought-after Night Sage.

Sex and trafficking had gone hand in hand in Attison district and any man or woman unlucky enough to be caught in the area unawares would be subjected to being kidnapped and used while being pumped full of drugs and sold off to the highest bidder. It didn't matter to anyone in Attison what anyone's sexual preference was or if they had relationships, all that mattered was who paid the highest price for a piece of tail and that was that. Hooded men were a dime a dozen on street corners snatching any they could get their tainted little hands on.

Traditional Prostitutes, both men and women...even those who had been a bit of both were on every street corner, high out of their minds or just addicted to sex in general looking for a new client or a good time no matter the hour of the day. The lower wards had been something of a blemish on the city but no one had the guts to clean it up, especially since most of the political figureheads frequented the place more often than not.

The name Temple City was the grand scheme of the Wealthy and Powerful to attract new arrivals believing the place to be a haven for the downtrodden only for it to be more along the lines of a venus flytrap ensnaring them all in a heartless shell of metal and glass while they were observed, and experimented on for the sake of the amusement of those believing themselves in charge. As a result, Temple City was named aptly through various religious organizations settling in the area before it became a corrupt jewel in the valley desert crown that surrounded them. It was the reason that it was often referred to as a city of Saints and Sinners alike.

One such sinner who had the heart of a saint was among the numerous people who had called this place home.....

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Blackened Alley Way, Outside Shoeman's Bar, East Forman Dr., Attison District, Temple City (3040).....

Glistening shards of broken glass splattered across the slick pavement as small fractions of neon lighting caused them to shimmer in the dead of night as a lone man found himself tossed head first through what used to be a window that was just outside a local bar where a rough and tumble fight had begun in the wake of an exchange of insults and the consequential overindulgence of the local booze that was on tap. The man who had found himself going head first out the rather large window was a gruff-looking man with unkempt slick black locks and a noticeable black colored beard, his body was lean and well-toned as far as muscle had gone despite him wearing a cream-colored shirt that had seen better days, a semi faded burgundy tie which happened to be loose and sloppily hung around his neck, black suit slacks, non-polished dress shoes, and a long black trench coat.

His blue eyes opened once the shards of glass had evaded them and he found himself lying on his back with a busted jaw and a bloodied nose as he looked up at the darkened night sky and the twinkling of the distant stars. He lifted his pale hand and pressed it between his lip and nose taking note of the blood that had oozed from the blow delivered via the fist of the angry man who had rushed out of the bar where he'd come flying out and onto the street amid the shards of broken window glass.

The man with the blue eyes rolled them feeling his fury intensify as he realized that his nose was indeed broken and his lip busted after having bitten it on impact. The swelling in his face had not been ideal, nor the blackened bruise around his right eye as he slowly sat up and climbed to his feet. He took off his trench coat and readied himself as the angry man, who had been of average height, good and drunk, and out for blood rushed the man with blue eyes. The angry man was none other than Thom Callens and he was married to a beautiful waitress named Vira Callens who had long suspected Thom of cheating on her. She approached the man with blue eyes at his office building on Flint Street and asked that he find out the truth on her behalf, of course in exchange for her being fresh out of black pennies, she spread her legs for the ruggedly handsome blue-eyed man who had promised to collect payment if and when he found proof of the affair.

Sure enough, after doing some digging and tailing, Thom was caught redheaded sticking his meat in the slot of a waitress around the corner of a diner he'd been fond of visiting. The man with blue eyes got it all via polarized and showed them to the little wife who had kept her end of the bargain as both a means of payback against her no-good husband and payment for a job well done.

The blue-eyed man, known collectively via his surname of Baddwulf had been around the block more often than not and made a living as a low-rent detective in The Attison District of Temple City. He made his living off sleaze every bit as much as the local tabloids and as a result, garnered a bit of a bad reputation despite also being quite helpful to those in need even when they couldn't afford to pay him outright.

"I'LL KILL YOU BADDWULF!" growled the enraged Thom indignant about what occurred when his wife had unceremoniously let him know she had sex with another man after seeing the pictures of his indiscretion.

"Take a number you fuckin' prick." growled the blue-eyed man known as Baddwulf in something of a raspy baritone drawl.

The enraged Thom charged Baddwulf who had appeared to have been ready for him.

The two men, now visibly angry traded blows, but it appeared that Baddwulf had been better skilled in combat, especially hand to hand now that he wasn't caught by surprise as he'd been when inside the bar. A few hard shots to Thom's face and stomach sent the angry man tumbling to the cold hard ground despite his several attempts to will himself back into the fight, his drunkenness and the pain from the well-timed and placed blows from Baddwulf's fists ensured he didn't get up again once he'd collapsed onto the pavement amid the broken shards of window glass for the final time.

To add insult to injury Baddwulf, who had not been in much of a particularly good mood stood over the downed man and fished a handful of Black Pennies out of his pocket before standing over Thom once more and instinctively fished his cock, which was an impressive size, to say the least from inside his black suit trousers and urinated on the unconscious man who had attacked him. Once he finished coating the down man in his rather potent urine, Baddwulf tucked his cock back inside and glared at the now-soaked Thom who had brought him so much trouble.

"By the way, your wife sucks dick like a vacuum cleaner," he added before walking away from the downed man and collecting his black trench coat as many onlookers continued to stare in his direction.

He approached the bartender, an older balding man who had been dressed in casual attire with an apron around his body and handed him half of the wad of black pennies that was taken from the beaten Thom Callens.

"Sorry about the window old man," he said to the older man before taking his leave of the scene with everyone still watching after him as a few of the newly acquired black pennies shoved into his pocket.

Baddwulf began his long slow walk back toward his rundown apartment complex while searching through his pockets for a silver liter with a wolf's head on the front and his last remaining cigar which was halfway finished.

The orange flame was a welcome sight as it lit up the darkened route before him as he continued his walk. The low-rent detective had concluded that Temple City had indeed been home to quite a few Sinners and Saints and that he if he were being honest about his lifestyle choices, had been a bit of both.