Iron World.
23rd of June, 2385. Boom. Boom. Boom...Three gunshots echoed through a run down apartment in the middle of Platinum Koi city, One bullet for a son, one for a wife and one for a husband. They dropped to the floor as i, Lance Trivark, put away my pistol...Fucking Platinum Koi city. In all those stupid ads they broadcast all over the world, even on mars for gods sake, if you had enough coin to actually go there, they present this city as a utopia, a paradise...But let me tell you it’s anything but. This shitty, god forsaken, corruption infested hellhole is basically evidence that serves to show that, there is no god, there are no miracles, where there was supposed to be flying cars, there were crowds of vagrants, tons of unnamable drugs blasting through their decaying veins. Paradise my ass, if you consider ‘paradise’ working more jobs than you can count, in order to oh so barely make ends meet, this is just the place for you. I however, was lucky, at least that’s how it felt back then. In fact, what i failed to see was that i wasn’t lucky...i was anything but...i was, foolish...blinded by dirty riches. Even though i had a beautiful wife, Elisa and wonderful daughter named Zoe, i refused to give up this lifestyle i had grown so used to. However, lets take a few steps back. What exactly was i doing to earn my wretched keep? Why has the world come to this state, basically a planet-wide cesspit? Well, lets rewind about 200 years. Every current, manmade threat to the Earth’s natural condition has been amped up by a thousand. This in turn led to wars, stocks crashing, cults expanding, the skies had become red, and the Antarctic ice melted...giving way to powerful, ancient parasites and diseases ravaging the earth, especially one in particular, an absolute force to be reckoned with, Ghost Rot, or as others call it, the great extinction. It was called as such since, well, by the time some poor scientists scraped together a vaccine for this hellspawn of a virus, almost 80 percent of humanity had been sent 6 feet under. As a result of the earth having been ravaged, thousands of people that possessed great amounts of power and influence on the world had been sent to hell...Leaving only four companies in charge of all the worlds money flow, Obsidian HS, a highly acclaimed tech company, Astrum, a company heavily specializing in self defense and military instruments, Kurogane Motors, When you’re overflowing coin, you’ll need a badass set of wheels right? and Zenkai Tech, an immaculate machinery industry, and a direct rival to Obsidian HS. No president, no world leaders, only four companies. It’s as they say, you control the money, you control the world. It just so happened that the HQ’s of all these companies resided in Platinum Koi City. Anyway, lets return to the present...While almost every citizen of this hellhole slaved away, scraping coins and bills out of sewers just to get by, i was lucky enough to be employed, directly by the boss of Obsidian HS, Dan Bently, a greedy, horrendous human being with pockets as big as his belly, and a fat cig clenched between his teeth, like a dog with a golden bone. Accompanying him wherever he went was his body guard, a man more machine than human, clad in a bulky, shiny, military suit with weapons in every creek and crevice, the only thing human about him was his...downstairs. He had no name, he was always simply referred to as ‘big boy’ by Dan. As i was saying, he employed me personally, as an exterminator. Dan despised those who were poor, seeing that they couldnt work as often and afford much, yet they had a roof over their heads, they were like miniature specks of mold in his glorious ant farm he called Platinum Koi, even though the city quite literally wasn’t just his. So, he used me as a way to rid them from this city. I was responsible for killing those who were unable to pay for services, responsible for making this city “better”. How did he seek out targets for me in the first place you ask? It’s 2385...if you have a gold chain and status, you can do anything, become immortal, as every person in power had done, do crime without a soul as much as turning a head, easily get unlimited information on any person in this city, including their back accounts. I was deployed to kill them, nothing more, nothing less. I murdered men, women, children, i ruthlessly made happy families meet their maker, all because they weren’t of high class. I never batted an eye, sure i felt bad, but all that mattered to me was filling my wallet, and providing for my family...However, what i kept secret from Dan was that, my family’s living situation was no different. I filled families with lead when the roles could’ve easily been reversed. I was a hypocrite, and nothing more than a pawn for Dan, my dignity was no more, all for the sake of barely keeping the lights on and putting food on the table. However...One day, karma finally, at long last, got it’s slimy hands on me. The day began normally, I downed my uncomfortable suit and tie, blushing as Elisa tugged on my tie and pulled me close. “Hmhm, youre just gonna leave without giving little old me a smooch Lancey?“. “Oh, heh, why thank you for reminding me hun”, i hugged her happily and gently kissed her lips before getting on my knees and giving Zoe a peck on her forehead. With one more shared kiss between me and Elisa, she hugged me once more and nuzzled my nose before whispering, “You work so hard Lancey...please never forget that alright? How about tonight I let Zoe spend the weekend by my mom’s and we can have the night to ourselves...Such a hard worker you are...Youve really showed me that being a project manager is quite a task, hehehe”. “Yeah...Yeah...later honey, Zoe, daddy loves you, bye bye”, with one last giggle, I hopped in my cobwebbed car, and drove to the Obsidian HS headquarters, a beast of a tower, almost seventy stories tall, cutting through the clouds above. I boarded the thankfully super fast elevator while ensuring my gun was loaded and my tie was neatly adjusted. I exited the elevator as it stopped on the 50th floor, all that was ahead of me was an office with glass walls, and behind them...Dan and big boy. I entered the office casually, and took a hefty breath of metal infused air before i spoke. “Who I gotta kill today bossman?” Dan took a hefty puff from his cig before grinning, “Meh, just the usual, some poor fucking family, who can barely pay for water and internet n’ shit”, as usual, he slid me an address on a piece of paper as he exhaled, removing his cig from between his teeth and releasing a cloud of smoke, engulfing big boy’s face. Not blinking, not flinching. I picked up the card of paper and stared at it with wide eyes. My heart might as well have stopped. I was on the verge of vomiting, having a seizure and combusting into pieces all at once...the address...was mine.
