[New York City, New York, USA, 1994]
The city that never sleeps, NYC. A sprawling metropolis of multi-story buildings and skyscrapers, a shining example of the opulence and beauty of the Big Apple and capitalism. But as beautiful as its skyline and rich nightlife is, the city hides a dark side. One that stays separate from the light, but one that on occasion seeps into the open.
But that's a lie.
Because the world is not one comprised of the light and the dark with each seeping into the other, but rather of grey.
For those in the light, those who commit themselves to life's darker and more violent activities, are seen as outliers. Those who chose to rid themselves of the good in their heart and bask in the darkness. They are seen as abnormalities in society. And they must be stopped for fear of their disease spreading.
While those who live in the darkness, see those who live in the light as ignorant. People who choose to live their life ignoring how cruel and miserable the world really is. They believe them to be sick in the head, especially those who do things for others when there is nothing for them to profit off of. Sheep being led to the slaughter.
But neither is correct, the world is grey. Just different shades of grey. The shade depends on the person.
~
RUMBLE
"Fuck me." said a man in a fancy suit and trench coat as he heard the rumbling of thunder and felt the pitter-patter of rain on his face.
Using his arms as a makeshift cover from the sudden downpour of rain, the man began to run down the street, not caring if he bumped into anyone.
"Fuck off! Fucking animals." said the man as he pushed aside a couple of homeless people that were blocking his path before he continued to run through the rain, eventually making it to his hotel.
"Good even-" said the door attendant as he held the door open.
"Whatever." said the man brushing past the man, without so much as looking at him.
"Fucking rain." mumbled the man as he made his way to the elevator, leaving a trail of water in his wake. Entering the elevator, he pressed the button to his floor, the penthouse.
DING
"Finally. Fucking elevator." said the man as he entered the penthouse, kicking off his shoes and starting to undress all while making his way through the opulent penthouse.
White marble flooring with dark-grey cement walls, on which were hung various paintings that would make any art aficionado swoon. A giant crystal chandelier hung above a black grand piano, a stark contrast to the snow-white rug it rested on. And the piece de resistance, a view of the NYC skyline.
The man, however, was not enraptured by the opulence but rather was angrily undressing while making his way to his bathroom. Throwing his clothes on the ground, the man hopped into the shower. Afterward, he exited and began a very long and complicated skincare routine that ended with him staring into the mirror for a few minutes.
Exiting his bathroom completely naked, the man made his way to his living room before stopping in front of the windows, to look at the skyline.
But the man was not looking out into the city, but rather down at the people. Like a god atop Mt. Olympus.
"Ants. Ants beneath my feet." he said with a sneer before snapping his fingers.
"Yes, master." said a female voice.
No, it would be more appropriate to say a girl's voice. Because the person who appeared behind him was female, but she was a female of no more than 12. Clad in nothing but lewd maid wear.
"Wine." he said, unfazed at the appearance of the child servant.
"Yes, master." said the girl as she quickly went to serve him wine before returning with a full glass.
CRASH
"You idiot!" yelled the man at the girl who had tripped, breaking the glass and spilling the wine.
"I-I-I'm s-sorry!" she said with tears in her eyes and fear on her face.
"Fucking idiot! You spilled my wine!" he yelled before kicking the girl.
"Ahh!" yelled the girl from the hit.
"Idiot! Idiot! Idiot!" he yelled repeatedly as he continued to kick the girl until he finally stopped. What was once a girl, was now a mutilated and crushed remnant of a girl in a pool of blood and matter.
"Fuck! Now there's blood everywhere! You idiot!" he yelled, kicking the body one final time before going over to the landline.
"Yeah, it's me. She's dead. The dumb bitch spilled my wine when I was in a bad mood. Send another one and someone to clean this shit up before it smells. Now." he said before hanging up the phone.
"Fuck, I need to shower again. Idiot." he said as he went back to shower again.
DING
"I'm in the shower! Clean the shit up!" yelled the man after hearing the elevator ding.
This narrative has been purloined without the author's approval. Report any appearances on Amazon.
Done with his second shower, the man put on a bathrobe and went into the living room. There he saw two men cleaning the floor with industrial solvents and a trash bag next to them.
"Clean that shit right." he said as he went to pour himself some wine.
"Where's the new one?" he asked the two men.
"She's coming soon, boss. New shipment." said one of the men.
"Good, I love breaking in the new goods." he said with a sinister smile as he went to sit down on the couch and watch TV.
A half-hour later, the two men were done cleaning and took the trash with them before leaving.
DING
"Finally! What took you so long?!" yelled the man only to hear no response.
"Hey! I'm talking to you!" said the man turning around from the couch only to end up staring right down the barrel of a gun.
"What the fuck?! Who are you?!" asked the man, with not an ounce of fear on his face.
The man holding the gun said nothing, he just slightly moved to the side allowing the man to see the two men that previously left were dead and stopping the elevator doors from closing.
"Do you know who I am?! Do you know who you're fucking with right now?!" he yelled.
"..." said the man as he flicked his gun, signaling to the man to get up.
"Fuck you! I'm no-"
BAM
"Fuck!" yelled the man as he held onto his freshly pistol-whipped and broken nose.
"..." said the man as he flicked his gun again, but this time the man listened and stood up, all while holding his bleeding nose.
"What the fuck do you want?" said the man.
"..." said the man as he pointed toward the window.
"Fuck you. I ain't getting near the window. I'm not a dumbass." said the man.
BANG
"FUCK! You fucking piece of shit! Fuck!" yelled the man, now on the ground holding his freshly shot leg.
"Move." said the man, finally speaking.
"How the fuck do you expect me to move now?! Huh?! You fucking marone!"
"Move, or I shoot the other one."
"Fuck!" said the man as he shakily stood up and limped his way to the window, leaving a blood trail behind him.
"L-let me ask you something. Who the fuck are you, and why the fuck are you doing this?" he asked as he leaned against the glass.
"Becky." said the man.
"What? Who the fuck is Becky?"
"Becky is, was my little sister. And you r***d and killed her. You chopped her up into little pieces and dumped her in the river." he said with a dead look in his eyes, as if the fire of his life was extinguished.
"That's it? That's why you're doing all this? You're doing all this over some dead bitch?! Haha. Hahaha!"
"Shut the fuck up!" said the man, pistol-whipping the man across the face.
"Ptooey. Oh, that jogged my memory." he said after spitting out a tooth leaving him with a bloody smile.
"Shut up." said the man holding the gun, with his hand now shaking.
"I remember her. Sweet piece of ass."
"Shut up!"
"She screamed the first time. And all the times after that."
"Shut up!"
"Then she liked it. She liked it so much, she wanted more than just one." he said.
"You motherfucker!" said the man.
BANG
"Wha-" said the man holding the gun as he looked down to see a bullet hole in his chest. Looking up from where the sound came from he saw a tall and built black-haired man smoking a cigarette and holding a smoking gun.
"Who the fuck are you?!" yelled the Italian.
"Just a man doing business." he said as he walked up to the now bleeding avenger who sat down on the couch and was trying to overcome the pain to finish what he started.
"W-why?" asked the avenger, who had tears in his eyes at the thought of not being able to avenge his sister.
"Like I said. Just business. Someone wants that Italian, and they hired me to do that. I can't let you take my payday." he said.
"Fuck you! You're both dead!" said the Italian as he started crawling away.
"P-please. L-let me k-kill him. H-he k-killed my sister." plead the avenger.
"So. What's that got to do with me?" said the man as he pointed his gun at the avenger.
BANG
The last thing the avenger saw before he died was those cold, dead eyes.
"Fucking amateurs." said the man as he looked at the avenger for a moment before walking over to the crawling Italian.
"I thought it was the Running of the Bulls, not the Crawling of the Italians." he said as he stood in the Italian's path.
"That's the Spanish, you dumbass!" he said.
"Too bad, I think the latter would be more fun to watch." he said with a smile before hitting the Italian on the neck, knocking him out.
"Sigh, another easy job." said the man as he dragged the Italian by his leg with one hand. Walking to the elevator, he saw the two bodies and the one he was dragging.
"Guess I can't really go down the elevator." he said before grabbing the Italian by his hair and walking down the stairs.
Exiting out the back, the man dragged the Italian to a car before unlocking the trunk and stuffing him in.
Getting in through the driver's side, he turned on the car and started to drive.
~
"Let me out!" said the Italian as he banged on the trunk.
"Shut up." said the man as he opened the trunk.
"Where are we?!" yelled the Italian.
"Come see for yourself." said the man as he backed up while taking out a cigarette, and lighting it.
Pushing himself up, the Italian laid his eyes on a large group of Chinese men.
"What the fuck is this? Chinese New Year?" said the Italian as he looked at the man who took him.
"So arrogant." said one of the Chinese men, clearly an important person as could be seen by his suit.
"Yeah, and so what?" he said.
"带他来 (Bring him here.)" said the suited man before a few of the men went up to the trunk and brought the Italian out before throwing him down in front of the suit.
"Fuck! Do you know who I am?! I'll have you all fucking killed!"
SLAP
"Shut up." said the suit.
"Fuck you." said the Italian before the suit bent down and grabbed him by his hair, to look into his eyes.
"You are the second son and wastrel child of the Moretti Family. And you enjoy r*****g and killing little girls. Now, normally I wouldn't give a rat's ass about that. But you made the mistake of doing all that to my niece. My flesh and blood. So, I asked our friend here to retrieve you for me. And to do so without it leading back to me. Because I want to keep you alive for a long time. And I don't want anyone to bother us." he said before letting him go.
"把他带走 (Take him away.)" said the suit before some men took the Italian away.
"Now then." said the suit before turning to the man who had been watching everything go down with a disinterested look on his face.
"Money." he said as he threw his finished cigarette down on the ground.
"Here's your payment." said the suit, taking a stack of cash from his coat pocket and throwing it at the man.
"Pleasure doing business with you." said the man as he just put the money away.
"You're not going to count it?"
"No need. If it's not there, I'll just get it all."
"Mm. So I've heard." said the suit.
"Alright, if we're done here, I'd like to get a bite."
"I may have one more thing, but it shouldn't be anytime soon. Are you sticking around?"
"No. I have something to do in Roanapur. You know how to get in touch." he said before entering his car and driving off.
"Who was that, boss?" asked one of the men.
"A man who sells his skills to anyone willing to pay the price. Slade Wilson."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
AN
New novel that I decided to start, and maybe only start, because I was reading Black Lagoon in my spare time. As you can see, this MC will be more morally ambiguous than my other ones, because of his background and his experiences. And this story as well will be darker and will contain scenes that may be disturbing to some.
As for his name, I was originally going to do reincarnated into a world with Deathstroke's template but decided to scrap it for this. His background will be slowly revealed but let's just say, he's not entirely human. He was born into this world and is not reincarnated, just to be clear. And I decided to give him that name because it's cool. Deathstroke has to be one of my favorite comic characters.