Chapter 1

Last Patrol

5:27 A.M. Home, Earth Realm

Roy’s fists slammed into the vinyl punching bag, leaving shallow impressions as each shot landed with impeccable precision. The bag swayed with each successive strike, casting a shadow that moved around the dimly lit room as it absorbed blow after mighty blow. Much of the world still laid asleep at this early hour, but for Roy Skyworth, his fighter’s soul had already ignited.

Sweat began to build on his brow as he unleashed his fury upon the hanging bag, striking his target with a pair of vicious hooks before sending the bag spinning with a powerful high kick.

Though Roy spent most of his day in the streets, these early pre-dawn hours were his. Each morning he rose, accompanied only by darkness as he made his way down the old wooden stairs to his unfinished basement. It was in that alcove that he’d spent countless hours straining his muscles, performing masterful strikes that had now become second nature. He needed this time, not just to hone his body, but to calm his soul. He needed to soothe the anger inside of him, to quell the dark thoughts that threatened to eat him alive. He just had to be strong enough….

For his body was a weapon, like a finely-crafted blade… and all blades needed sharpening.

6:35 A.M.

A short time later, Roy stood in the doorway of his daughter Karina’s room as the first rays of sunlight began to creep in through the window. She was still in her bed, fast asleep and not likely to wake until long after her father had departed for work. In his eyes, she was the embodiment of perfection, the source of his motivation and one of the main reasons he’d chosen to wear the badge… to protect and serve.

The young officer let his gaze linger on the little girl for a moment longer before carefully and quietly exiting the room. Roy made his way down the white, paint-chipped hall and headed towards the front door, but paused as something caught his eye on the way out. Lying there on the old sofa was his wife Jen, fast asleep and with a blanket pulled tightly around her shoulders.

Roy sighed. The two had once been deeply in love but had grown distant in recent months, something that he mostly blamed on himself. Times when she needed comfort he was distant, and times she needed patience he had none. It was as if the evil and depravity he’d witnessed as an officer had left his nerves permanently frayed. He was just... he was just so damn angry all the time!

Roy knew that she wanted to leave him, he could see the signs. And who could blame her? He was broken... but he wasn’t ready to give up. If he gave it everything he had, then maybe he could rebuild their relationship, could prove he was still the man she had married. Maybe he’d start tonight with flowers after work, a simple gesture to show her that he still cared. Jen has always loved daisies...

Roy gave his wife a final glance of admiration before finally sneaking out the door. Perhaps he wasn’t too broken to fix this.

7:59 A.M. The Station

Roy stood in front of a long row of painted metal lockers as he fastened a missed button on his navy police uniform. Some of the other officers made small talk as they donned vests, laced boots, and holstered weapons, a few of them making remarks at Roy. He smiled and nodded back in agreement, feigning enough interest to keep them from bothering him any further.

It wasn’t that Roy disliked his colleagues…. In fact, he typically dished out whatever they gave him tenfold. But after his early morning introspection, he needed some time to think, to center himself before dark thoughts led him back to a place of anger. He needed silence.

The officer paused in front of one of the room’s steel mirrors as he put the finishing touches on his uniform, triple-checking to make certain all of his equipment was secured. He was a tall man with a lean muscular frame, angular features, and a square jaw. The black hair atop his head was neatly cropped, though his chin always showed signs of stubble. Most notable were Roy’s piercing green eyes, which he often hid behind a pair of aviator sunglasses.

Satisfied with his appearance, the officer took a deep breath, set his jaw and pressed his fingers to his temple. A familiar, translucent interface appeared in the officer’s vision, feeding him data about his surroundings as his gaze shifted about the room. He narrowed his eyes at one of the men leaving the locker room and a small window of information appeared in his vision.

//////////

Officer Kai Blaine

Threat level: N/A

Physical capabilities: (data locked)

//////////

As an officer of the Phoenix City Police Force, Roy had been fitted with a standard issue neuro-implant. This device connected directly to his optical nerves, enhancing his vision with an interface that provided information on possible threats, nearby resources and locations of interest. With the implant, Roy could scan a man and gain a readout of his identity, an assessment of his strength, a list of past offenses and even alerts for any weapons that a potential suspect may possess.

It was a revolutionary piece of technology, an item that had given law enforcement an edge on streets that had grown increasingly dangerous. Developed by the Axion corporation, the implant had been named the {Sentry Scan}, or Sentry for short.

Roy removed his fingers from his temple and slipped them into one of his pockets. Now that the Sentry was active, it would remain up until he chose to deactivate its abilities.

“Trying to sneak a scan on me, asshole?” Kai said, noticing the odd look Roy had given him. “You don’t honestly think you can take me, do you?”

Roy shook his head. “I don’t need this thing to tell me I can whoop your ass,” he replied in all seriousness, drawing a curt smile onto Kai’s face.

“Next time it’s you and me, Skyworth,” Kai reiterated as he exited the room. The two of them had sparred dozens of times in the gym before. Kai was a rather skilled boxer, and Roy had a decorated martial arts background going all the way back to his childhood, which led to a few interesting exchanges between the men.

Roy turned, taking a final look in the mirror near his locker before nearly stumbling backward over the nearby bench.

“The hell?” he wiped his eyes, peering into his reflection with disbelief. For a second, Roy was certain he saw something… a pair of eyes staring back at him. Watching him. He kept his eyes on the mirror for several seconds, waiting to see if the vision returned.

Finally, he let out an exhaustive sigh and slammed the locker shut. It was too damn early in the morning to be seeing things. Shaking off the bizarre feeling, he straightened his vest, adjusted the holster of his gun, and headed out towards briefing.

1:17 P.M. The Streets of Phoenix City

“We need all available units to the corner of Blair Street and 65th, warehouse district! Officer down! I repeat, officer down!” Roy’s muscles tensed as his scanner crackled to life, causing him to slam on the gas of their police cruiser. He’d been on the force long enough to witness some pretty messed up sights, but the frantic voice coming over his scanner still managed to get his heart pounding.

Roy felt that feeling of nervous anticipation creeping into his chest as he sped through a red light and barreled down a near-empty street. Officer down… these were the type of calls you never wanted to hear. Someone had attacked one of his own, had put the lives of one of his brothers in jeopardy… and they were going to pay.

A case of theft: this story is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.

Roy’s knuckles went white as he steered his cruiser through the district’s back streets, hand tightly gripping the wheel as he spun it clockwise, forcing the car into a hard right. He was nearly there.

A moment later the cruiser screeched to a halt as Roy pulled into the lot of a seemingly abandoned warehouse, its windows shattered and the cracked cement surrounding the building littered with old bullet casings.

The sun glistened off the officer’s badge as he leaped out of the car. He was tall and lean, his body hardened and eyes alert. With haste, he fell into a crouch as he made his way towards the building’s entrance. Protocol stated that he should wait for backup before engaging with the perp likely hiding in the warehouse, but he just couldn’t do that. One of his fellow officers had been put down and even a moment’s hesitation could prove the difference between life and death.

“R-Roy...” a labored voice managed to force out as the officer passed through the entrance of the warehouse, drawing his attention to the far side of the room. There, leaning against a pile of debris was the injured officer, his hands gripping his stomach as blood began to pool in his lap.

“Kai!” Roy shouted, rushing over to apply pressure to the man’s apparent knife wound. It pained him to see Kai in a position like this. Normally, the thin, long-haired officer walked around with an air of quiet confidence about him. Now, he sat powerless as the color slowly drained from his cheeks. “What the hell happened?” Roy demanded, mustering his resolve.

“I got a call… Saw someone inside the warehouse... th-thought it was just some kids,” Kai stammered. “Th-the guy jumped me. I barely even saw anything before-”

“Alright, just breath, dammit,” Roy spat as he helped apply pressure to the wound. “Help’s on the way… and when you get patched up you owe me a beer, maybe two. You know better than going into shitholes like this alone.”

Roy crouched there next to Kai as the man took over applying pressure to his wound. He’d taken a solid hit, but from what Roy could tell he wasn’t in any mortal danger.

Kai began to prattle on about his wound through clenched teeth, but the words went in and out of Roy’s ears as he gazed about the room, using his Sentry interface to search for any signs of the attacker. He spied empty beer bottles, broken glass, an overturned table, but nothing that gave him a clue to the attacker’s whereabouts…

Suddenly, the sound of hurried footsteps caught his attention. He turned and gazed upwards, immediately noticing a man dashing across one of the intersecting metal bridges above. Roy looked to Kai, who gave him a nod of approval and he dashed off after the assailant.

“Freeze!” Roy yelled, rising to his feet as he reached for his gun. The man paused, giving the officer the slightest of glances before bolting across the bridge and into a nearby door. Without thinking, Roy ran to the nearest set of rusty stairs and ascended to the second level, dashing across the bridge in pursuit.

“I said freeze, asshole!” he yelled again, gaining ground on the would-be attacker. Judging by the way the man was running, Roy knew he could catch him, and he’d be damned if he was going to sit there and watch a potential cop killer get away.

The officer reached the room and forced the door open with his shoulder, holding his pistol firmly in both hands as his eyes quickly scanned every corner. Realizing that the man had moved on, he bolted over to the next set of doors and burst inside.

There!

“Stop or I’ll shoot!” Roy yelled as he took aim at the assailant’s back, a scruffy-looking man in a white tank top and a knife tucked into his belt. The man came to a stop as Roy disengaged his safety, raising both hands into the air while still facing the opposite direction. It took everything Roy had to not pull the trigger and end the man right there.

Suddenly, the sentry’s interface came to life as it scanned the man’s body mass.

//////////

Axel Ward

Threat level: 6

Physical capabilities: (estimated based on scanned body-mass index and vital signs)

Strength: 6

Speed: 5

Vitality 5

Weapons:

Serrated Knife

//////////

A list of prior convictions appeared in a separate window, but Roy blinked them away as he began to move in.

“Slowly drop to your knees while keeping your hands raised above your head, “ Roy began to instruct when a second man emerged from the corner, burly and hooded and wielding a broken metal pipe.

Roy tried to turn on the man, but the pipe came crashing down, slamming into his hands and sending the gun spiraling across the floor.

So damned overzealous! Roy thought as he watched his gun slide under a nearby desk, quickly regretting his decision to rush into the room. He couldn’t dwell on it though, not facing down two armed attackers.

The officer fell into a fighting stance as he let his martial instincts take over. His fears washed away as more adrenaline flooded him and his muscles tightened. There was no time to flee and no one to help him. The only way out of this was to beat these men.

A second window appeared in Roy’s interface.

//////////

Robert “Bo” Bojack

Threat level: 7

Physical capabilities: (estimated)

Strength: 8

Speed: 4

Vitality: 6

Weapons:

Steel pipe

//////////

It happened in an instant. The burly man lurched forward as Roy blinked the information away, taking a swing at his head with the pipe. Roy ducked the blow with ease, dropping down before catching the man with a hard right hook to the gut. As the fool began to double over in pain, Roy caught him with a solid uppercut to the chin, sending him crashing into the wall.

The second assailant used this as a distraction to leap at Roy with his knife, stabbing wildly at the officer’s midsection with his serrated blade. The first attack missed but the second found its mark on Roy’s stomach, tearing through Kevlar and piercing the officer’s soft flesh underneath.

The officer’s combat instincts kicked in and he reached down, grabbing the man’s wrist with both hands and preventing the blade from sinking in any further. A sharp pain coursed through Roy’s midsection as he struggled with the man, but he clenched his jaw and pressed on. He was not going to get wasted by some street scum in an abandoned warehouse. He refused!

With a sudden burst of strength, Roy forced the tip of the knife out of his stomach and gave its wielder’s wrist a twist, causing him to lose his grip on the blade. The man’s expression immediately soured as he realized the predicament he was in, but there was no escaping.... not after what he had done.

Roy slammed his right fist into the man’s face, catching him with a perfect right cross before following it up with a left hook to the cheek and another right hand to the temple. The man’s eyes began to glaze over as his body crashed to the floor, his head firmly removed from his senses. More fists began to rain down as Roy climbed atop the man, punching him until his face was hardly recognizable, until he was certain that the man wouldn’t be getting back up.

Slowly, Roy rose to his feet and gave the torn skin on his knuckles a quick glance, then immediately prodded at the wound on his stomach. Thankfully, the blade hadn’t made it any further than an inch, otherwise, he may have been the one lying on the floor in an unconscious heap.

Roy’s mind started to settle as his adrenaline began to wane. Engaging in open combat was such a rush, but what he’d done had been foolish and could have very well gotten him killed... He’d let his emotions take over… it had led him to this. Still, it would be hard to argue with the fact that he’d just brought down two potential cop killers. With a deep exhale, Roy reached for the pair of cuffs on his belt and leaned down towards the man lying at his feet… That’s precisely when he heard the click of his pistol.

“God damn pigs always nosin’ where they don’t belong,” Bo, the burly man said as he climbed off the floor with Roy’s gun in his grasp. “I didn’t want to have to do this. I really didn’t,” a wicked grin began to spread across his face. “But that don’t fuckin mean I won’t enjoy it some.”

Slowly, the officer raised his hands into the air and turned to face the man. Despite Bo’s threats, he could see the conflict, the indecision etched into his expression. “You wanna be a damn cop killer?” Roy asked, all the while inching his way towards the gunman. “You know this place will be swarming with blue in seconds. You’ll never walk away from this.”

The man gave his head a dismissive shake as blood continued to pour from his nose and that deranged smile spread even wider. He had this bizarre, otherworldly look in his eyes that had Roy wondering if he was possessed.

“You don’t think I know that?” Bo replied. “I’m no idiot... this is the end of the line for me,” he rubbed his finger tenderly across the gun’s barrel as the sound of sirens began to echo through the windows. “And it’s the end for you.”

Roy lunged forward and grabbed onto the weapon, trying to shove its barrel towards the ground. His thoughts had given way to pure instinct, his body fighting in a last-ditch effort to survive.

The officer quickly overpowered his assailant, forcing the weapon down with a violent shove. His opponent was strong, sure, but Roy’s abilities were miles ahead. Years of training would soon prove Roy’s superiority over his noticeably sloppier foe.

The officer stepped forward, preparing to throw the man to the ground when something in his vision brought his movements to a halt… For the second time that day, Roy stared into a pair of piercing, black eyes. The eyes floated just beyond the far end of the room, hovering on an old piece of sheet metal like a strange reflection. They drew Roy in, sclera sparkling as if tiny galaxies sat within those ever-watching orbs.

For a split second, Roy dropped his guard.

Suddenly Bo raised the gun and squeezed the trigger, unloading a round into Roy’s chest, sending a wave of pain rippling through his body and forcing the air out of his lungs. He staggered backward, leaning against the window as he struggled to remain upright amidst the pain.

The gun fired again, and another bullet ripped past him, shattering the window at his back. Roy’s eyes met his attackers for the briefest of seconds, and in that time, at that moment… he knew he would fall.

The man pulled the trigger for a third time, pumping another bullet directly into Roy. The impact staggered the officer, causing him to stumble backward as his vision briefly darkened with pain. His back passed through the open window and soon the rest of his body followed, jagged pieces of broken glass slicing at his flesh.

And then he was falling, plummeting out of the broken window as his bullet-riddled body rushed towards the ground below. Feelings of utter devastation consumed him as he fell... he’d tried to live a life that was just and noble. But lately, he’d been little more than an angry, broken soul… one that was going to succumb to an equally violent death. Thoughts of his daughter began to fill his mind as the wind whipped by, thoughts of a relationship with his wife that he was never able to mend…..

In an instant, the unforgiving pavement greeted Roy’s body. A gruesome crescendo of shattering bones filled his ears and his precious lifeblood began to flow like a river…but he felt none of it. Only the sounds of death held him close as his vision left him, and his existence faded to black…

****

As the flames of his life extinguished, Roy’s soul began its journey through the Eons, seeking shelter in the eternal silence of time and space. His soul traveled across the cosmos, fading with time, diminishing as it reached its journey’s end….

Then came a spark.

The fighter’s soul of Roy Skyworth refused to die, a flickering flame fueled by anger, burning on sheer force of will. It grew brighter, denying itself the silence of death until finally, his flame reignited….

And unto another realm, Roy was reborn.