An Instants Thunder
The first order of buisness for me was to get a information network set up. A reliable one.
Having considered everything from cops to crooks, I had finally decided on where I think I should start.
With the homeless.
Most homeless people due to the nature of their lifestyle knew a thing or two about the underworld. Whether it was just from hearing rumours that circulate in their circles or having experienced it themselves. It's also not uncommon for them to wander around as well, so they would probably have intel from other boroughs as well.
And well, even most villains wouldn't really bother with the homeless people past just shooing them away. For one they're not really anything but a pest to them, that they can chase away easily, and for two, they're not a threat in any way to them. So they could safely investigate the simpler things like gang locations and black markets, or other sorts of illegal shops.
As for specifics... I guess I would need to check the local area for any homeless people. Preferably find a few trusted informants there for now so I can keep getting info easily. Plus, I could help some of them that are completely down on their luck, maybe they'll bounce back in life, who knows~.
Having decided on a rough course of action, my next issue was concerning which skill I should get once I level up
So far, I had two first level skills.
The first one being
While
Now, here comes the best part about the skill tree. You can pick any skill next to the one thats in the same row. So if I have
However, it was definetely being put into the upgrade for
After that I would get either the gambling thing or the holster. They don't matter as much as the Peacemaker ill get my hands on.
Anyways, with me having a rough plan for now, I spent roughly an hour on each of my revolvers, cleaning them in great detail and inspecting them carefully. Whether it was the trigger mechanisms, the cylinder or the gun barrels, they were shining after i was finished.
Seeing that it was only now 4pm, I decided I would take a nap to pass some time until night.
Waking up feeling like I got beaten up in my sleep, I looked at the time on my alarm clock. Seeing that it said 1am, I may have messed up my sleep schedule, again.
... Good job me.
Crawling around the apartment like a caterpillar to get an energy drink from the fridge, I spent the next 20 minutes waking up, slowly sipping the energy drink while watching tv.
Having finished my energy drink and having recovered some of my energy , I felt somewhat alive now. Getting ready to head out and try to establish my information network, I left the house at 1 34 Am.
Leaving the apartment complex, I headed into the neon night of Brooklyn, my redhawk hidden in my jacket and my model 10 in my ankle holster. Can't leave the house without being too careful, you know?
Like that, I vanished into the darkness of the alleyway.
---------------------
Why did this happen...
As my eyes slowly regained clarity, the dark alleys of New York greeted me. An overcast sky with only the moon peaking ever so often from under the veil of clouds.
The next thing that I noticed was the foul smell. I was laying inside a pile of garbage, next to a dumpster.
Looking around the alley, there seemed to be nobody nearby. Straining myself, i wanted to rise up from the junk. Putting my hand on the trash bags, I tried pushing myself up.
"Damned bastards... AHH!"
Collapsing back into pile of trash, the pain racking my body reminded me of how shitty my state was. Bruised covered the entirety of my body, and one of my legs was bent at an odd angle.
Haa... Haaaa...
Gasping for breath, I slowly tried to move my broken body to slide down. Finally, with my one functioning leg, I slowly managed to get myself away from the pile of trash. Sprawled on the floor like I was, I tried once more to stand up. The pain kept getting worse and worse as I rose higher, yet I couldn't bring myself to stop.
I had someone to take care of, she would be worried if I was away for too long.
With shaky steps like that, I kept walking trough the alley, slowly and under immense strain. After what had felt like an eternity, I found myself in front of the door to the abandoned alleyway shack again. Where my sister and I used to live.
Where there were only charred remains, and graffiti calling us freaks of nature, abominations, unwelcome. Where there were countless blood stains on the floor.
I collapsed on the floor. Tears pouring out of my eyes, not at the pain that shot trough my body, but the one in my heart.
"Why.... Why did.... She didn't deserve it.... God, anyo-"
"Shhh, they'll find us" a hand covered my mouth. At first I was ready to bite down and struggle, but the voice snapped me out of my stupor.
"I'm fine, they just started fighting after they torched the shack." my sister, who still was invisible and who had her hand over my mouth, said. "I'm really fine... But what happened to you?"
"Oswald... He attacked me. Calling me a miscreant of society." I replied, recalling the beating I had gotten, tears flowing from my eyes.
"It's okay. It's okay. We'll get out of here soon and then we can hopefully move somewhere safe." she whispered softly in my ear.
"Awww, what a touching reunion." yet the voice neither of us wanted to hear resounded from down the alleyway.
With a creeping sense of terror in my heart, I slowly turned my head towards the source of the voice.
There, an odd 10 yards/meters away from us, stood Oswald. The man who beat me to this state, and the one who riled up the homeless people in this area to make life hell for us two. With a knife scar on his eye, and the bald head, the stubble on his chin and at a imposing 2 meters, this man was a thorough gangster who worked for one of the neighbourhoods gangs. The defined muscles on his body and the tattoos that were barely covered by his t-shirt didn't help his case, either.
"I had guessed the two of you would've made it out alive and then try to reunite. The villains usually live long you know?"
With a smile on his face, he kept slowly approaching us. Over time, more and more shadows appeared in the alleyway, surrounding us. Some were his own goons, and some were just the homeless people who looked at us with disgust apparent in their eyes.
With every step of his resounding like thunder to me, he kept approaching. Sis has long since started trembling uncontrollably, afraid of what's to come.
The overcast sky seemed to have responded as well, as a faint rain started pouring down on us.
"You know, kids, you shouldn't really blame me." he said that with a smile. "You should blame yourselves for being different. It's human nature to despise things that are different. And I'm only human," shoving his face in front of mine, "Right? ~"
"Hiii, hel... Help... " my sister, suddenly seeing his face in front her, let out a cry of help.
"Don't worry, however." distancing himself a bit from us, he continued.
"I'm not a heartless monster who would do anything to two kids."
Would he... Really let us off? Seeing him distance himself, I guessed he had abused us enough for the day.
Yet he grabbed the metal baseball bat from one of his goons, and I knew what would happen next.
"Too bad you're not kids, you're monsters~" he replied with a smile that stretched from ear to ear, bat in hand, while getting closer to us.
Standing in front of us, the bat in his hand rose up high.
"HEEEEEEELP!", the desperate scream of my sister.
"DIEEEEEEE! " the sound of the monster in human skin in front of me.
And the sound of the bat splitting the air as it rapidly headed towards us.
All of that, interrupted, with one clap of thunder. An instants thunder that was followed by a shout of a different monster. A monster far more terrifying than Oswald, yet one that broke through the endless darkness surrounding both of us.
BANG!
"DIEEEEEEEEEE!"
"Ahhhh?!" clutching what remained of his left arm, Oswalds body fell down on the ground, shock apparent in his eyes. The blood, covering my face, woke me up from my stupor.
And so. The thunderstorm kept resounding in that alleyway, felling man after man.
BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG!
Twelve shots resounded in the blink of an eye, and as the men tried to charge him, he had reloaded the guns in a lightning fast manner already. A new series of shots rang out, amidst which, Oswald tried to run away, to flee for his life.
"YOURE NOT GOING ANYWHERE!" The man with the skull mask yelled, the fury in his voice apparent.
BANG! BANG!
"AAAAAAH! " with both his legs having a massive hole in them, Oswald collapsed to the floor. As for the men that followed him, both his goons and the homeless?
More than twenty men, all had died, with holes in their heads or hearts. The thick stench of blood that had painted the alley in a deep shade of crimson was unsettling, yet somehow it was comforting for me, knowing that we were saved for now.
As the man approached him, Oswald started begging for his life.
Yet after another resounding...
BANG!
His last limb was also completely useless. Lying on the floor with spasms from the endless pain that was racking his body, he tried to coerce the other man about his backing.
Yet Oswald threats fell on deaf ears, the other man looked at him for merely a moment, and then started stomping and kicking him. The vails of the man who had tortured me and my sister for years since we had become homeless had started resounding in the alley, like the world's greatest music.
Yet the man suddenly stopped after 5 kicks or so, and then turned towards us.
"Kids shouldn't see something like this. Close your eyes or uhh... You may be traumatised. It's gona be pretty bloody, after all."
"We want to watch." both of us replied at the same time, the oddly misplaced concern from the masked man surprising us. It had been a long while since anyone saw us as... Humans.
"Absolutely not. What if I get in trouble with child protective services or something for making you see this" pointing his finger at the bloody man on the ground that was bleeding everywhere, "spectacle."
"We're mutants, nobody would care about us either way. And he has done us great harm, countless years of abuse and him trying to kill us today. We had to pay him protection fees so he would protect us from himself even!" my sister, now finally without her invisibility on, replied with tears streaking down her eyes. Venting our grievances like that, one after another, and him just listening to them without saying anything, was oddly comfortable.
Looking at our eyes that were filled with endless resentment for the man on the floor, the skull masked man sighed, before he went back to kicking Oswald. Like that, the cries didn't subside in the alleyway for 10 odd minutes, growing weaker over time. Finally, with one last stomp, his head was crushed completely, dead for good, the blood being washed away by the faint rain.
"With this, you both won't get into trouble right?" the masked man inquired. "And had I left his body too intact you probably would've set it on fire or something, which couldve resulted in the cops arresting you. Remember, if you get asked, reply truthfully about what happened. Say some guy in a white skull mask shot all of these people in the face. "
Two nods were the reply.
"Great."
Looking at me, the man then asked, "Your power is seemingly related to regeneration, right? Still, do I need to bring you to a hospital or will you be fine on your own?"
"I'll be fine on my own, a hospital would probably not accept me either." I replied.
"Well. So be it then. Now uhhm.." he paused for a moment as if to think what to say, "Wanna work for me?" he asked bluntly.
"Huh?" we both were baffled by the offer suddenly presented to us.