Chapter 1: The Mission

The boy's eyes were slammed shut in the desolation of his hometown, unable to peer through the clouds of ash and dust that surrounded him like wildfire. The lack of oxygen was sapping him of his strength rapidly, making him feel unbearably cold, as if he was trapped under a pile of snow he couldn't dig himself out of…

He scratched at his neck and collarbone as he desperately squirmed for air, begging his body to move as ash choked him. Yet it only amounted to hollow, desperate wriggles against the rough ground beneath, his flesh refusing to comply with his plea.

The more he tried to helplessly crawl away, the more pinned down the young child felt. It was almost as if the more he tried to fight... The more the land beneath chained him down, wrapping him in its ropes of smoke and dust. As if it was taking some kind of sick pleasure in watching him crawl, and to see his short-lived passion…

…die.

…

…

…

"Oi, Jin. Jin! Get in the car!"

Jin's eyes immediately shot open like firecrackers, a deep shiver running down his spine. He turned his neck to locate the sound of the voice that had broken him free from his trance, and once he did, he sighed. "Oh, it's just you… Sorry, I lost myself for a second there."

"Well, find yourself and get in the damn car! We don't have all night." The Courier said, ruffling his dark brown hair. The Courier; One of the most infamous people in the criminal underworld. All information went to him before anything else, no matter how minor. And for the right price, he'd be willing to share that info. It was as everyone in the underworld said when dealing with him.

'The Courier always delivers.'

"Yeah yeah, I'm movin'..." Jin sneered, climbing into the heavily armored vehicle. With each step he took to his seat he heard the innumerable compressed steel plates 'clank'.

"Oi, don't take that attitude with me. You forget who's paying you!" The Courier followed Jin into the vehicle, shutting the door behind him. The sound of screws and bolts locking emanated for a short moment, signaling the door had automatically locked upon closure.

"It's not you." Jin rolled his eyes as he took a seat, holding his gun to his highly geared-up chest.

"Look, how many times do I have to-"

"You're lying."

"I'm not-"

"Also a lie."

"Will you let me speak!?"

"No, because whatever you say would be a lie."

The back-and-forth between Jin and the Courier lasted only for a few short moments, and Jin had won. The Courier groaned, scratching his frizzy beard as he tried to come up with anything he might've been able to say in the situation. He thought for a few more moments, before sighing, just sitting down across from Jin.

"Nothing gets past you, does it?" The Courier sighed.

"You say that like I'd be able to lie to you either…" Jin responded, shrugging. "We've both been in the business long enough that we can see through lies."

"Fair enough…" The Courier shrugged back, chuckling ever so slightly.

"Besides, if you'd just told me who's requesting this job there wouldn't be an issue. I'd never even have to call you out on your shit then, pops." Jin said, looking straight into the Courier's eyes.

"Pops? Hah! You get to call me Pops when I'm the one in the gutter, Jin!" The Courier laughed, "Get it straight!"

"Well… I can't say you're wrong about that, asshat." Jin cackled, leaning back into the cold steel seat behind him. He wasn't wrong. He was old, decrepit, and weak. No matter how famous he was in the underworld, he couldn't resist the flow of time. So it felt overwhelming to know that after 60 years of work… He was finally going to get the biggest win he'd ever gotten in his life.

And at that, he couldn't help but laugh.

"Well, well… Isn't this a surprise?" The Courier let out a snicker, before banging on the steel wall that separated the vehicle in half; The back, which was akin to a storage unit, and the front, which held the driver. At the Courier's signal, the vehicle began moving across the wet and weathered terrain, deafening the sound of the heavy rain.

"Do enlighten me as to your surprise, o' mighty one…" Jin said sarcastically, adjusting himself in his seat as the vehicle began moving.

"It's nothing, just… You don't smile a lot, let alone laugh. Just surprised me." He responded after a moment or two of thinking, crossing his legs in his seat. Jin merely squinted his eyes, glaring at the man for an instant, before nonchalantly rolling his gray eyes.

"Today's a special day like I said… You can't tell me you wouldn't be- Ugh- Happy… After… retiring…" Jin was cut off by a big bump in the road that the vehicle had hit, causing him to grip his seat to keep his balance. The Amazon had very little solid terrain to traverse, and the places that could be driven on were all quite bumpy.

"Are you still on about- HEY! Watch it there! What am I even paying you for!?" The Courier was, like Jin, cut off by the car meeting a bump in the road, causing both himself and Jin to take flight from their seat a few small inches in the air, before returning to Earth.

"Don't yell at the driver when you aren't the best driver yourself…" Jin murmured.

"Shut your trap!" The Courier exclaimed, "Point is, you retiring is a load of horse shit, right? There isn't a snowball's chance in hell that you're gonna retire with this job!"

Jin leaned forward in his seat, "Unlike you who doesn't age… I'm old. I can't keep doing this forever, can I? This job's payout could set me up permanently for retirement."

"Oh, can it, you're only 78…" The Courier dismissed Jin's words, scoffing.

"Which is an age when I should have long since retired by now… Can you see all this white hair? I'm on my last rope here." Jin said with a dry chuckle, shaking his head. The Courier was young due to all of his drug injections and expensive ass cybernetic implants… But Jin didn't do stuff like that. Even if he may have been stronger than the average man, he was still old, and decrepit.

"We… both know… that's a load of bull-!" The Courier said, being interrupted by regular bumps in the road. He didn't complain this time, though, figuring there was no point in continuing to scream at his driver like a madman…

"You can believe whatever the hell you want, you freak," Jin said dismissively, clearly not caring much for the Courier's opinion.

"Heh… Well… Maybe you have fallen out of the life. I mean, with your guard so lowered you may as well be a sitting duck. That isn't the Jin I know." The Courier jeered.

Jin immediately snapped like a mouse trap, straightening his posture. He held his gun, a Remington ACR that was packed with enough firepower to blow a hole through any normal bulletproof armor, tightly to his chest. "You dick-"

"Hahaha!! Hahaha! See!? The very moment I say your guard is down, you immediately go into combat mode! Who's the freak here, again?" The Courier cackled like an evil witch, amusement overwhelming him.

"Fuck off, asshole…" Jin grunted in apparent annoyance, glaring at the Courier with a sneer. He sharpened his senses and tightened his guard, listening to the environment outside of the vehicle; The beating of the rain against the ground, the rolling of the heavy wheels of the car against the bumpy ground, the rustling of the animals within the surrounding foliage… Everything he could.

"I'll fuck off when you quit lying to yourself, Jin. Like, what, you think you're gonna retire and live a normal life, like a war veteran? With all the bounties on your head and all the people who want you dead? Take it from me, it's not happening, not even in your dreams." The Courier crossed his arms as he spoke, "So, man, really…"

"I don't wanna hear any more of your bullshit unless you wanna die…" Jin's expression contorted, causing the Courier to freeze.

"H-Hey now… No need to b-be hasty…" The Courier chuckled awkwardly, unable to turn away from Jin's heavy gaze. He felt as if suddenly chains had been wrapped around him and were tying him to his seat.

"...." Jin continued to glare at the Courier, "I hope you're not under the impression I won't put a bullet in your head the moment I've got the chance…"

"You still wanna get paid, right…?" The Courier said, straightening his tie.

"This coming from the guy who still won't tell me who the hell is paying me!" Jin exclaimed. The moment after he spoke, the car met seemingly a huge fork in the road, causing them to come to a sloppy halt on the wet and muddy ground beneath.

"..." Jin sighed.

"Quit it with the bloodlust, asshole." The Courier said before speaking again, "Oi, you good back there!?" He addressed the driver.

"..."

"..."

"..."

"..."

Slowly, the car began moving again.

"I'll take that as a yes…" He said, sighing. "Not much of a talker…"

"I don't think anybody hired by you would be someone who's 'much of a talker'... I can barely stand listening to you yap." Jin groaned out, before beginning to drop his bloodlust. The Courier let out a breath of acute relief, feeling as if a weight had been lifted from him.

"Look… The person who requested the job asked to remain anonymous, alright? That ain't strange!" The Courier explained, raising his arms into the air.

"What's strange is that you wouldn't just tell me that. It just makes it clear that you're trying to hide important shit from me." Jin said, "And on a job like this, I need every important detail disclosed…"

"This one asked to remain extra anonymous, alright? They didn't want you to even know they existed, so I pretended I was the one paying you for this. I can't give you any more info than that without breaching my contract…" The Courier sighed, lowering his arms. "Happy now?"

"Happy enough, I guess… Must be a pretty high-class client if you aren't daring to speak about them." Jin said.

"Exactly. I don't want to be on the bad side of a guy like that… And neither do you." The Courier muttered.

"Good job just revealing their gender…" Jin chuckled.

"What-?" The Courier tilted his head, "Wait… AH, FUCK!"

"Hah! Dumbass." Jin mocked, "If you're gonna try and maintain confidentiality with your client, then remember to watch your mouth next time."

"Fuck off! This coming from the guy who nearly fell asleep on the job…" The Courier scoffed, "Yet here I am, wide awake…"

"Like I said before… I just lost myself for a second. It's nothing that'll affect my progress, trust me." Jin assured, "Besides… With how hard I work, don't you think I deserve even a short few seconds to rest my eyes before I'm running off to my potential death?"

"You're gonna get yourself killed like that, Jin." The Courier said, lowering his gaze.

"And I thought you knew me…" Jin laughed.

"Ditch the arrogance, Jin."

"It's not arrogance."

"Sounds like what someone arrogant would say when called arrogant." The Courier scoffed.

"Look, it's not- I just- I know what the hell I'm doing, alright?" Jin insisted, hardening his gaze.

"I don't doubt that, trust me. Nobody would doubt that someone with your experience knows what they're doing. I'm just saying, don't go out there making any rookie mistakes." The Courier confirmed, "This job is the real deal…"

"I know, trust me, I've dealt with Byzantium enough times already to know they aren't to fuck around with…" Jin assured, "I've got it under control."

"Super." The Courier shrugged, "Speaking of Byzantium, though, you reviewed the map of the area I gave you before, right?"

"I planned to do it one more time before we got there, yeah," Jin said, momentarily releasing the grip of his right hand on his gun and reaching down into his pocket to pull out a rolled-up piece of paper. "No idea why you couldn't just text me this, though… My phone's pretty much hack-proof."

"Hack-proof, yeah, but it can still be picked up by EM Sensors." The Courier explained, "We'd have been caught the moment we entered the area if you'd brought your phone."

"Fair enough…" Jin said, unrolling the map as he examined the surrounding area. "Byzantium…"

Everyone who worked in the Underworld and even outside of it knew about Byzantium and its workings. On top, a simple pharmaceutical production company, with a patent on nearly every prescription drug on the market… But in the depths, it was the exact opposite. It was an organization that manufactured illegal hallucinogens and steroids, preying on the poor and the unfortunate and putting them into the pits of addiction and debt.

"You've done some work for them before, yeah?" The Courier questioned.

"Yeah, pretty much every mercenary in the business has done a job for them at least once… Most of it was just exterminating rowdy activists and politicians, the rest they could handle on their own…" Jin explained, "Now, though…"

"It's weird to be taking down one of their foreign bases for you?"

"...Yeah. Honestly, I only accepted this job because of the payout. Any less and I would've told you to go fuck yourself the moment I heard you."

"...Ow."

"Stick it up your ass."

The Courier sighed, "I know it's a dangerous deal, but I came to you because I knew you could handle it better than anybody. You're the best mercenary on the market, Jin, that's without contention."

"Yeah, I don't need you to tell me that…" Jin murmured as he reviewed the map of the area surrounding Byzantium's base, which was situated underground.

"And there goes the arrogance, again…" The Courier sneered.

"Could you shut up? I'm trying to read a map…" Jin muttered, his eyes fixated on the map in his hand.

The map was split into two separate parts, one area on the front of the paper and one area detailed on the back. On the front of the paper was the map of the surrounding area, something Jin had already memorized. The terrain of the rainforest would be difficult to traverse, especially at night, but it wasn't anything he couldn't handle. The real problem was on the back of the paper, detailing the structure of Byzantium's research facility, which he had to collapse while going solo…

The research facility was split into 5 main parts. First, the entrance leads into the main hallway, which contains several tunnels that lead into different sections of the facility, containing the most densely populated security detail. The facility's staff, as well as their security detail, all entered through this one main entrance.

The rest of the facility was split into four sections which were categorized by letter; Section A, B, C, and D. Generic, but each sector of the facility served a purpose, some more dangerous than others.

"I definitely can't go in through the main entrance, can I…?" Jin pondered.

"Definitely not. Luckily for you, though, each sector has its own entrance. They're spread out from each other so people can't locate them, but we'll be dropping you off at Sector D's entrance. It's deep within the facility, so it has the lowest security detail, but…" The Courier meandered on for a moment, figuring out how exactly he should complete his statement until Jin cut him off.

"I'll have to work my way up to where I can find a place to blow the whole joint up, yeah…" Jin nodded.

"You think you can do it?" The Courier questioned, crossing his arms.

"This place has gas pipelines, right? Shouldn't be too hard to locate one and blow the joint sky high." Jin said nonchalantly, shrugging.

"Stop sounding so damn casual about this, Jin. How are you gonna blow the joint up with you in it? You're not that fast, especially not at this age…" The Courier warned, "What, are you trying to commit suicide before your big win?"

"Obviously not, dumbass, but I need some way to collapse the joint. Back in my prime you know I could just kill everyone there, but…" Jin sighed.

"You're not in your prime. So, how do you plan to get out?"

"No idea."

"...What?"

"I have literally no idea. I'll figure it out as I go along. The real place must-have details that the map can't cover, so…"

The Courier held back the urge to burst out laughing, "J-Jin, please, be serious here… You're going to set a completely underground facility with dangerous, volatile chemicals ablaze with absolutely no plan to escape afterward? You must be going senile!"

"Like I said, I'll figure it out as I go along… This is just a base plan at the moment. You put me on this mission solo. I can't rely on other people to help me take the place down, so I need something large scale…" Jin groaned, "Maybe if you wanted an entire drug ring destroyed you should've put some other people on the job with me…"

"Fair enough, but come on… You need to come back alive, alright? You still owe me a fuck ton of money." The Courier said, "Don't die until you can pay me back!"

"Ah… Of course, that's the reason you care. I'm so touched." Jin muttered before the car came to a grinding halt.

"Damn… are we here already?" Jin asked.

"Around 3 miles from your destination. We can't place you too close to the entrance or else you'll… and more importantly, I'll be detected." The Courier said.

"Oh, fuck you…" Jin rolled his eyes.

"Shut it. Can you make that trip on your own?"

"Yeah. Plus, I have enough rations to last a good couple of weeks if this becomes an extended mission… Not like that'll happen, of course." Jin assured him.

"Alright, alright… But just know that I'm only looking out for you when I tell you to stay on your guard when you're out there. No jokes, this time." The Courier said, "Seriously… Don't let this be the place where you kick the bucket, Jin."

"...I got it. I've done this thousands of times before. I'll be fine." Jin responded as he rose from his seat and draped his hood over his head.

"Alright. I'll trust you on that if anything." The Courier sighed. The sound of the screws and bolts that held the door to the vehicle unscrewing loudly emanated for only a short moment before the door was fully opened. "One more question, though, before you leave…"

"Speak up," Jin grunted as he put on his face mask, his features now completely obscured from the naked eye. He moved towards the door, and he was ready to begin his mission.

"It's nothing, just… We haven't been driving for long, but it's been on my mind the whole time… When you were… dozing off, or daydreaming when you got into the car, what'd you see?"

"...What'd I… see?"

"Yeah."

"That's your big question?"

"Never said it would be a big question." The Courier said casually, "You just never really doze off like that, even when your guard is down. You must've been thinking about something, I guess?"

"I didn't think you were so interested in my thoughts…" Jin rolled his eyes from beneath the thick fabric of his mask.

"Just humor me for a moment. I'm curious about what was occupying you like that."

"..." Jin sighed. "It's… It was nothing."

"That means that it was something, Jin." The Courier jeered, "Come on, now you're making me curious! What, do I have to get on my knees and beg you to tell me? Is that what you're into?"

"You fucking-!" Jin was about to snap back with an insult, but… He held himself back before he could devolve into a screaming contest with the gremlin he called the Courier. He sighed.

"Look, I was just… I was just reminiscing about my past. Happy now?"

"You're past…?"

"Yeah. Or my uh… My childhood. Or my upbringing, or whatever the fuck you want to call it. Are we done here?"

The Courier laughed, "Yeah, yeah, it's just… That's surprising."

Jin turned back to the Courier, "How…?"

"I mean, given your philosophy that you're always preaching… I figured you didn't give a rat's ass about your past. But I guess I was wrong about that."

"..." Jin's philosophy was a simple one that he preached whenever he felt it necessary, to young mercenaries, to his closest clients; Never focus on the past. Always look toward the future, and towards what you can do, not what you didn't do. Focusing on your mistakes will only dull your senses, making you more vulnerable when it really counts.

"It's something that I've always admired about you, honestly. That ironclad rule is what I think has gotten you this far…" The Courier confirmed, "So, like… I never thought you'd be a person to reminisce."

"I'm getting old… Or, I'm already old. Even a guy like me can start getting sentimental at my age…" Jin murmured, "Sorry if that threw you off or whatever stupid shit…"

"Hey, hey, I never said that." The Courier shook his head, "If anything I probably shouldn't be the one throwing you off. I know your childhood was probably really difficult or whatever. I'll get out of your hair now."

"No, it's- It's…" For the first time, Jin couldn't complete his sentence. The Courier wasn't exactly in the wrong here; Jin didn't view his childhood very fondly. But that had never gotten in the way of his work before. Only today had Jin paused and thought about it, and remembered…

The ice-cold feeling of having the oxygen leave his body, and the sensation of being pinned down to the scorching concrete beneath.

"It's fine… I guess I am off my game. I'll take this seriously, so don't worry." Jin said clearly. Yet, he wondered internally… Why now of all times did he remember that place, and the hellish time he spent in it? And why was it so vivid that he froze in place when he remembered it?

"..." Jin said nothing else as he trekked over to the door, gently pushing it open. Heavy rain poured in immediately the moment he did so, but he didn't leave.

"Uh… Are you gonna go, or what? Like I said before, we don't have all night for you to stand around with your panties in a bunch." The Courier said, carrying a mixture of confusion and annoyance in his tone. "Do you not remember where the rendezvous point is, or something else…?"

"No, No. I'm… I'm fine. I remember everything, I just…" He needed to get his head in the game. "I'll be back."

Jin jumped from the car the moment he said that, landing on the wet, muddy ground beneath him perfectly. The moment he did, the door behind him closed immediately, going through the process of locking. Jin didn't hear anything else from within the car, the driver stepping on the gas and turning the car around.

It only took a few minutes for the car to disappear from sight. Jin breathed out.

"...Here I go."

And he took off.