Chapter 1
It’s been three weeks since I was shot and I was discharged from the hospital last week. I stood next to Ben with my hand on the handle of my sword and looked around as he gave his long and boring speech. Ben hired me as a bodyguard and Sam wasn’t happy when I accepted the job. I saw a suspicious man in the crowd and moved my hand from the handle onto the sheath and pressed my thumb against the tsuba(guard). The suspicious man walked out of the crowd and I whispered to the raider next to me, “That man walking away. One Black Op raider.” The raider nodded and radioed into the Black Ops. A news reporter asked, “What about the robot raider you said that you said you’re trying to make?” Everyone said in unison, “Yeah.” Ben said, “The tests have been a failure so far.” The news reporter asked, “What about shutting down the demon slayer?” Ben said, “We have no use for it.” The news reporter said, “The reason for its existence is right next to you.” I pushed up on the tsuba and grabbed the handle. Ben said, “Nate, calm down.” I pushed Ben off of the stage and drew my sword. I held the blade against a raider’s neck and said, “Drop your gun. Eli.” Eli put down his hood and dropped his 44 magnum revolver. He looked at me and said, “Hello runt. I didn’t think you’d survive the shot.” I said, “I know that you weren’t the one who shot me.” Eli asked, “How do you know?” I said, “You only use fifty caliber sniper rifles. I was hit with a 22 caliber.” Eli said, “I’ve taught you well.” I put my sword in its sheath and drew my beretta. I cocked it and took aim. I asked, “Where’s Chan?” Eli smiled and drew a second 44 magnum revolver. He said, “Look, I’m crazy in the head but that man is worse than me and you.” Eli pushed down the hammer and Ben drew his black M1911. He aimed it at Eli and said, “Drop your gun.” Eli placed his gun on the ground and put his hands in the air. Eli smiled and said, “I know you want to take the shot. So take it.” I decocked my gun and holstered it. I said, “I’m not going to waste my bullets on you.” I walked to him and cuffed him. I grabbed his arm and forced him to the holding cells which were across the street. I threw him into the cell and locked the door. Eli said, “You know my niece asks about you everyday. She doesn’t believe that you stabbed my brother and she especially hopes that you aren’t dead.” I sat on the bench across from the cell and said, “Shut up. Ben will be here to interrogate you in a few minutes.” Eli smiled and said, “Boy you have grown. Last time we had a decent talk like this. You were barely five feet but now you’re five foot ten.” I said, “And we weren’t trying to kill each other.” Eli said, “It’s too bad that you had to screw that up by killing my brother.” I said, “I truly am sorry for killing Ruben. He was a very close friend of mine.” Eli said, “You know, for the three years I’ve been chasing you. I couldn’t help but see that as a form of payback for making you kill your father.” I said, “Still, it doesn’t make it right that I killed Ruben.” Eli looked at me surprised and I said, “I’m sorry Eli. I’m sorry that I can’t die by your hands, if I could. I would let you kill me but I just can’t.” Eli said, “You know that Carmen’s birthday is tomorrow.” I said, “Yeah.” Eli sighed and said, “Me and you are more alike than you think and I’m willing to call a truce for one day only.” I said, “You promised her that I’d talk to her on her birthday.” Eli said, “Yep.” I sighed and said, “Well, it wouldn’t kill anyone.” Eli said, “Yeah.” We sighed in unison and Ben walked to the cell. He asked, “How dumb are you to try to attack Nate?” Eli said, “Come on, that’s no way to talk to a guest.” Ben said, “This is why I hate trying to interrogate you and Nate. Always with the jokes.” Eli said, “Fine, someone ordered a hit and made the job crystal clear. I kill you, Benjamin Adams, in the middle of your speech and I’ll be paid handsomely.” I asked, “How much?” Eli said, “Four hundred.” I said, “Million?!” Eli nodded and I said, “Damn, I would’ve taken the job too.” Ben asked, “What?!” I said, “But your first mistake was trying to kill him at point blank range. We were outside so I would’ve taken a sniper’s position but had someone on ground level to run away so everyone would think that they killed Ben.” Eli said, “I was thinking the same thing but saw you among the guards so I had to take a chance.” Ben asked, “Are we here to discuss all the ways I can be assassinated?” I said, “Right, sorry.” Ben looked at Eli and asked, “Who hired you?” Eli said, “Don’t know, don’t care. Now because I haven’t broken the code, I can legally leave.” Ben said, “You did break the code.” I said, “No he didn’t. I saw him out of the corner of my eye and he was reaching for his gun but I stopped him before he could draw it and aiming a gun isn’t against the code.” Ben sighed and said, “Nate, you really do screw me over at the worst possible times.” I said, “I do that to everybody.” Eli said, “But Sam.” I said, “Sam screws himself over. I swear we got lost twice in one week last month.” Eli said, “That does sound like him.” Ben said, “We aren’t here to reminisce.” I yawned and said, “Well, I’ll leave Eli to you. I’m going to hit the gym.” Ben said, “Sure.” I stood up and said, “See you Eli.” Eli nodded and said, “Don’t screw with me about tomorrow.” I said, “I won’t, that’s a promise.” I walked out of the holding cell building. Because Gang Falls only executes rogues, we have no need for actual prison cells so we have holding cells for interrogation or to hold the prisoners if we have too many people being executed. I walked to the gym and gave my weapons to the gym owner. It’s a general rule not to have weapons in the gym and I was fine with it. I walked to the weights and picked up a fifty pound one. I began to curl and after a few minutes, I was already beginning to struggle. I sighed and quietly said to myself, “I must be getting out of shape.” I continued to push through and then heard a dog bark. I looked at the door and saw a large rottweiler. It couldn’t be any older than three years old. The dog ran towards me and I placed the dumbbell next to me. The dog jumped on me and I began to pet it. A girl around my age ran into the gym and said, “Sparrow get off of him.” The dog didn’t listen and I said, “It’s fine, he isn’t causing me any trouble.” The girl walked towards the dog and snapped her fingers. The dog got off of me and I said, “Well, it’s been a long time.” The girl looked at me confused and I said, “Of course you don’t recognize me.” I showed her my scar and she said, “Nate.” I smiled and said, “Hello Carmen.” I looked at her and she was wearing a white t-shirt with the planets on it and blue jeans. Her hair was dyed so it would fade from its natural black to a purple and I personally liked the design. It went down her back and to her hips. Her eyes were a beautiful violet and she wore a silver bracelet on her left wrist. I asked, “Is Diana still messing with you?” Carmen said, “A little bit.” I said, “I imagine that you still haven’t thrown a single punch.” Carmen nodded and asked, “How’s Sam?” I said, “He’s worried about me but other than that, nothing has changed.” Carmen asked, “Why?” I said, “I was shot last month. 22 caliber to my right lung. I’m lucky to even be alive.” Carmen said, “No kidding.” I said, “Man, I remember when Sparrow used to be a puppy.” Carmen said, “Yeah, he sure has grown. I was wondering why he ran directly to you but I guess he still remembers you.” I smiled and said, “I sure do love this dog.” Carmen said, “Me too.” I looked at Carmen and saw that her hair was covering the left half of her face. I sighed and asked, “What did I tell you about covering that scar?” I pushed her hair back and revealed the other half of her face, including a scar on her eyebrow. She got that when Diana was threatening her with a switchblade and she actually did cut her. Carmen said, “You know how I feel about my scar.” I smiled and said, “Shy as always.” Carmen said, “That isn’t true.” I said, “Look, it’s completely your choice but don’t let something as small and pointless as a scar hold you back. Here’s a little tip, you can use your scar to remind yourself how strong you are or you can use it to remind yourself of a point in your life that makes you happy.” Carmen said, “Alright.” I said, “Good but if you don’t mind, I need to get back to my exercises.” Carmen said, “You know that my birthday is tomorrow.” I nodded and said, “Yeah, I was going to take you out tomorrow. So we can catch up.” Carmen said, “Thanks.” I said, “It’s funny that your birthday is a month after mine and we both turn sixteen this year.” Carmen said, “Yeah.” I grabbed the dumbbell and said, “Well, I’ll see you tomorrow.” Carmen said, “Yeah.” She walked off and I tried to curl the dumbbell but I was barely able to lift it. I focused core energy into my arm and my veins expanded, protruding on my skin. The veins in my hand and arm began to show in my skin and adrenaline began to rush into my arm giving me some extra strength. Every raider knew how to use core energy but this was a technique called Warrior Strength. It’s so hard to pull off that the only two people who can use it are me and Xavier but it’s different for each person. For me, my veins expand and adrenaline rushes through them giving me more strength and speed. Also my adrenaline can help me for hours on end but my veins also become a target so I need to be careful when using it. Xavier’s Warrior Strength increases his muscle size and increases his raw strength but it makes him slightly slower. Now with every gift, there is a curse. By using the Warrior Strength, our muscles get extremely tense and it’s extremely painful to move your body or limb that you focused everything into. I curled the dumbbell for thirty minutes and then swapped to my other hand and did the same thing. I then put the dumbbell back and my veins returned to their original size. I grabbed my weapons and walked to the motel Sam was staying at. I knocked on the door and Sam opened it. He said, “I heard Eli was there.” I said, “It was nothing special.” I walked inside and put my rifle and sword into the closet. I walked to the mini fridge and grabbed an ice pack from it. I put the ice pack on my bicep and sat on the bed watching the tv. Some old world sci-fi movie was on and I find it funny how far off they were on apocalyptic events. Planet destroying meteors, aliens with futuristic weapons, Earth with futuristic weapons. I found all of that amusing because we had plans to make laser rifles but my father said that it was a stupid idea. His reasoning was that we would also create armor against the new weapons so it’d just be a new type of bullet. He was right as always but I doubt that even he would imagine the world to move backwards and force everyone into an eternal war. Sam walked out of the bathroom and said, “We’re leaving this place tomorrow.” I said, “Correction, you’re leaving tomorrow. I have plans tomorrow.” Sam said, “This isn’t up for debate Nathan.” I said, “I know.” Sam said, “Alright then.” I said, “But I’m not leaving tomorrow. That is final.” Sam asked, “Why not?” I said, “Because there is nothing that this world can interest me with anymore. We’re running out of places to loot and everything is becoming more peaceful. It’s about time we start staying in town and take our positions seriously.” Sam said, “This town wants you dead.” I said, “But they need me alive.” Sam said, “You’re serious.” I nodded and began to breathe slower so my muscles could relax. Sam said, “You used your Warrior Strength.” I nodded and said, “I’m getting out of shape.” Sam said, “You’re something else.” I said, “Thanks.” Sam turned off the tv and said, “Every time I suggested staying here, you completely blow off the idea.” I said, “I know.” Sam asked, “What changed this time?” I stretched and said, “I’m thinking about you. I want you to be the next Head Raider and that can’t happen if we’re constantly moving.” Sam said, “You can’t be serious.” I said, “I am very serious. Me and Ben were discussing it yesterday and we agreed that you’re the best fit.” Sam said, “Well, that still leaves you.” I said, “I’ll be your personal bodyguard if you want.” Sam said, “I don’t want you to be held back.” I said, “I’ll be fine.” *knock knock* I walked to the door and opened it. Xavier Sandra was standing there. He was my age and around my height. He had large muscles and red hair. He wore a ninjato on his back and was in a white t-shirt and blue jeans. I asked, “Can I help you?” He handed me a bag and said, “New uniform. Ben wants every Assassin Raider to wear it tomorrow. This one is custom made for you, Nathan Ashtom.” I said, “Thanks.” I shut the door and opened the bag. There were two guards for my forearms, and two shin guards with a chestplate. I said, “I’m not wearing a chestplate.” Sam looked in the bag and said, “He did say that everyone has to wear this tomorrow.” I grabbed one of the forearm guards and saw that it was completely black. I put the piece of armor back in the bag and grabbed the chestplate. I put it on and it immediately swapped shape so it would perfectly fit over my white t-shirt and fit like an extra shirt layer except it didn’t add any weight and I wasn’t getting any hotter. I took off the chestplate and put it back into the bag. Sam said, “That was neat.” I said, “Ben did this because he knows that I’ll run head first into a gun fight.” I put the bag into the closet and began to stretch. *knock knock* Sam opened the door and said, “Hey Catherine.” I heard Catherine say, “Hi Sam. I need to speak with Nate.” I walked to the door and saw that Catherine’s hair was shorter. I said, “You recently got your haircut.” Catherine nodded and said, “I was wondering if you wanted to go shopping tomorrow.” I said, “I’m busy tomorrow.” Catherine asked, “With what?” I said, “I’m going to spend time with a childhood friend for their birthday, which is tomorrow.” Catherine said, “Oh, well let’s go out now.” I said, “Sure.” Catherine said, “Great.” I turned to Sam and asked, “Can I have a hundred dollars?” Sam said, “You’re going to buy her something to eat.” I said, “Nope, I’m buying a new knife.” Sam gave me the money and I said, “Thanks.” Me and Catherine walked to the mall and into one of the stores with raider equipment and I was surprised to see Catherine considering one of the tactical winter jackets. I walked to the front desk and said, “I want a knife.” The man at the desk asked, “What kind?” I said, “Eight and a half inch, black tactical hunting knife with a black leather holster.” The man said, “Very specific.” I said, “I’m trying to replace a knife that I lost.” The man grabbed a knife and holster and I grabbed the knife. I brushed my finger against the blade and the man said, “Military Grade, stainless steel, and extremely sharp.” I swapped from normal grip to reverse grip in an instant and said, “I’ll take it.” The man said, “I just need to know your rank.” I said, “S rank Assassin Raider.” The man said, “Alright, that’ll be forty five dollars.” I paid for the knife and attached the holster to my belt. I put the knife in the holster and grabbed my change. I walked to Catherine and asked, “Did you find something yet?” Catherine said, “I don’t want anything from here.” I said, “Alright so let’s head to a different store.” Catherine nodded and we walked out. Catherine said, “All you wanted was a knife.” I said, “Yep.” Catherine said, “But with your job, that’s kind of reckless.” I said, “You do know that I used to live with Eli for eight years of my life.” Catherine said, “So.” I said, “So that means I got a lot of my skills from him, he uses a combat ax and I use knives. Also I’m one of the few raiders who is skilled enough to use a knife in a gunfight.” Catherine said, “Alright fine. But I do want to know how to use Core Energy.” I said, “I don’t know how to teach someone how to use Core Energy.” Catherine said, “Come on. Tell me how you use it.” I said, “It’s like walking. Once you know how to do it, it just becomes so easy that it’s like you’ve always known how to use it.” Catherine said, “Come on.” I said, “I wish I could help but I can’t.” Catherine said, “Fine but this friend you mentioned.” I said, “Yeah, we’re pretty close. We were raised in the Lost Raiders and she’s turning sixteen tomorrow so I figured that it would be the perfect time for me to catch up with her.” Catherine said, “So it’s a girl.” I said, “Please don’t pull a Sam.” Catherine said, “Sorry but when’s the wedding?” I sighed and said, “You just had to do it.” Catherine said, “Sorry.” I said, “Well, I heard that you’ve been talking to this boy.” Catherine said, “Yeah, his name is Jerod.” I said, “Good, you’re making friends.” Catherine asked, “When are you and Sam leaving?” I said, “We’re staying here and doing our jobs.” Catherine said, “But your job requires a lot of moving.” I said, “I know but there is a supporting group for each raider group. They’re called medics and depending on which group you’ll want to help is the type of medical training you’re going to get.” Catherine asked, “Which do you suggest?” I said, “Black Op medic. They stay in the city and their shift ends at four. You’ll be able to stay with your sister and help the town.” Catherine said, “So you’ll be running out to kill whoever by the command of Ben.” I said, “Pretty much.” Catherine asked, “Don’t you have to wear a mask?” I said, “Nope.” Catherine said, “I’ll think about it.” We walked to a clothes store and I sat on a bench outside of it. I placed my hand on my arm and began to lightly massage it. Xavier sat next to me and said, “I heard that you can use Warrior Strength.” I said, “Yep.” Xavier asked, “How do you think it works?” I said, “If I were to take a guess, I’d say it’s genetic.” Xavier said, “That makes a lot of sense.” I nodded and said, “I still can’t believe that Ben, the one who found the Core Energy system, can’t use Warrior Strength.” Xavier laughed and said, “I know, it’s weird but he has a metal arm so I guess it makes up for it.” I said, “Yeah, I guess it does make up for it.” Xavier asked, “Don’t you and Eli have history?” I said, “Yeah, we’ve known each other for a little bit.” Xavier asked, “Why does he want to kill you then?” I said, “I killed his brother in self defense.” Xavier said, “Damn and that’s when everything started.” I nodded and said, “But we’re more alike than most people think. We both deeply care about Carmen so we’re willing to call a truce just for tomorrow.” Xavier said, “Huh, he sounds like a man who cares a lot about his family.” I said, “Yeah.” Xavier said, “Well, I better get going.” I said, “Oh and tell Ben that I’m not wearing a damn chestplate.” Xavier said, “I will but he wants us at the lab to test out a new traveling system.” I said, “I’ll be there in a little bit.” Xavier said, “I better get going.” I said, “See ya but what’s your rank?” Xavier said, “I’m an S rank Assassin Raider.” I nodded and he walked off. Catherine walked out of the store with three bags and said, “I’m good. Let’s head back.” I stood up and grabbed two of the bags. We walked out of the mall and to Luke’s house. Catherine said, “I forgot my key.” I said, “We have two choices, I will kick the door open or you wait and I head to Ben because he needs my help.” Catherine knocked and Lucy opened the door. I said, “Nevermind, that’s always another option.” Lucy looked at me and said, “Hi Nate.” I said, “Hi.” I put the bags down and said, “I can’t talk but I’ll stop by if I can.” I then took off running and made it to the lab in five minutes since it was a mile away. I walked through the doors and saw Ben and Xavier talking. I asked, “What am I doing here?” Ben said, “Ah, there you are and you’re late again. I need two things from you two. First, I need another test of your Warrior Strength. Second, we have grappling guns we want you to try out.” I said, “Fine.” Ben led me and Xavier to a pitching room and he had us stand twenty yards from the target. He first gave me a baseball and said, “Pitch it as hard as you can.” I shrugged and focused Core Energy into my right arm. My veins began to show again. I pitched the ball as hard as I could and it knocked the target down. A scientist took notes and I asked, “What is he writing?” Ben said, “Just the speed.” My arms returned to normal and I was immediately hit with a shock of pain. The scientist said, “The ball flew at 136 miles per hour.” I said, “It better have.” Ben then gave Xavier a baseball and they set up a different target. Xavier’s muscles grew to three times their original size and he pitched the ball. The scientist wrote something down and Xavier’s arm returned to normal. From his facial expression, I was able to tell that he was also hit with a sudden shock of pain. The scientist said, “136.5 miles per hour.” Xavier said, “Half a mile faster.” Ben said, “Now follow me.” I said, “We need ice packs.” Ben said, “Right.” A man walked to us with an ice pack for each of us. Me and Xavier grabbed the ice packs and put them on our shoulders. Ben led us to a room with an obstacle course and said, “We want you guys to get through this course using these grapple cannons.” A cart was rolled out and we saw two ‘grapple cannons’. Just from looking at it, I was able to tell that it was extremely high tech. I picked it up and examined it. It had the design of a guard for the forearm but there was a grapple on the edge that has a pressure system so that tells me it shoots out at speeds that it can shoot through or into walls and stuff like that. I looked at the rope and it was made out of reinforced graphene so it has a strong pulley system. I looked at the strap that goes on your hand and saw a button on the edge so the thumb could press it. Ben said, “Press once to shoot out the grapple, press twice to retract, press thrice to detach the hook and call it back.” I nodded and looked at the top, all of the grappling system was on the side but the top had an electronic map. Ben said, “It creates its own signal so you can find and talk to your squad. The map also uses a satellite mapping system that I managed to get back online.” I asked, “Wouldn’t this pop your arm out of its socket?” Ben said, “Simple fix, you two relax your muscles.” Me and Xavier sat in some chairs and Ben left with the scientists. Xavier said, “Nice save.” I said, “They have a complex system running but I think it’ll be successful.” Xavier said, “Yeah but you could’ve kept it the same and have my arm pop out of the socket as a way to get me back for beating your pitch.” I said, “I’m not mad about that. My Warrior Strength is more meant for adaptability and not strength.” Xavier said, “Right and mine is meant for strength in hand to hand.” I put the ice pack down and Ben and the scientists came back. Xavier put his ice pack down and I looked at the grapplers. Now they had a leather strap going across the chest connecting to the machine. We stood up and put on the grappler cannons. After a minute, they were on and secure. I said, “Nice, quick and easy access.” Ben said, “Go at the same time.” We aimed at the ceiling and shot the grappling hooks. We were then pulled up and in the middle of it, I swung forward and detached the hook. I shot at the wall ahead of me and the hook connected. I was then pulled through the air at high speeds, shifting my body’s weight so I could dodge the pillars. I glanced at the mapping system and saw that Xavier was right behind me. I detached the hook and backflipped midair so Xavier could fly right past me. I smiled and shot the hook at the ground. I was pulled to the ground and landed on my feet. I detached the hook and looked at Xavier. He was standing on the wall with the hook holding him there. He then jumped to the ground and detached the hook. We walked to Ben and took off the grapple cannons. I said, “That was fun.” Ben asked, “What was that stunt you pulled?” I said, “I was just trying out something.” Ben said, “This is just a test and you almost got yourself killed.” I said, “Sometimes you’ll have to pull off something like that when on a mission. Also I looked at the map and was testing its accuracy.” Ben sighed and said, “Well, that’s pretty much it.” I said, “Although it will be hard to attack with it.” Ben said, “It isn’t a weapon.” I said, “Until me or Eli get our hands on it.” Ben said, “You scare me sometimes.” I said, “Good. I help you realize the threats that these things can cause but it is a great traveling device.” Ben said, “Good, because this is standard traveling for Mercenary Raiders and Assassin Raiders.” Me and Xavier shrugged and Ben said, “Of course you guys don’t care.” I said, “Well, I’m leaving.” Ben sighed and said, “Alright then. I need to head back to my office, you guys, enjoy yourselves.” I nodded and walked out of the lab.
