The sound of heavy raindrops slamming down on the worn-out asphalt of the deserted street filled the air, creating a symphony of natural music that echoed throughout the empty surroundings. Amidst this eerie atmosphere, the only light within the dark streets were soldiers carrying flashlights. A patch could be seen on the soldiers that depicted two handguns across each other and a knife in the middle.
Within the darkness, there was a hard-to-read sign with the words,
"District 8 Checkpoint."
At the checkpoint, two guards were seen standing, one engrossed in reading a magazine, while the other trembled uncontrollably. A closer look at the second guard revealed that he was a recruit, still new to the job.
The guard, with his nose buried in the magazine, looked up and noticed the recruit's nervousness. "Chill out, rookie. You're going to end up firing that gun off," he said, his tone slightly mocking.
The loud yell startled the recruit, and he almost dropped his gun. However, he managed to regain his grip before anything bad could happen.
"Look, go rest up. I'll take watch for the night," the senior guard said kindly, noticing the recruit's discomfort.
The recruit hesitated for a moment and commented on the fact that he was too busy reading a pointless magazine, but ultimately decided to follow orders and went inside a small room that the two could use for warmth and shelter.
The room had a single flickering light bulb, and the walls were covered with graffiti with the words “Follow the Crow," giving it a desolate and unwelcoming feel. As the rookie laid down his gun, a sound of thunder roared in the night sky, which was followed by the sound of a crow squawking in the distance.
At first, the rookie didn't think much of the sound but remembered one key piece of information he was told by his superiors.
"Remember, if you hear the sound of a crow, be alert, as who knows where he's hiding?"
The rookie grabbed his gun and ran outside, asking if the other guard heard the crow too.
The other guard laughed off the rookie's concern and asked if he was hearing things, as he didn't hear a crow. While laughing, a crow squawked again, and this time the senior guard heard it and immediately got on his radio and called for backup.
"This is Shaun Howard! District 8 Checkpoint! He's here! I repeat, he's here!"
Howard instructed the rookie to point his gun at where he heard the crow.
The night for the two guards got even worse as the sound of a guitar rift got closer and closer. Howard got on his radio again and said, "It's him! Get here right now and help me! Argh!"
A knife was thrown into Howard’s right leg, causing him to fall to the floor in pain. Looking back at the darkness, the rookie was able to see a white mask get closer, frozen in place. The rookie couldn’t do anything but watch the man get closer to him.
"Having a nice evening, gentleman? Oh, what do we have here?" The stranger picked up the magazine. "Let's see... Oh, what would your mother say if she saw you looking at this filth?" The stranger noticed the rookie pointing his gun at him. "What are you going to do, boy? Shoot me? I hate to tell you this, but bullets don't affect me in the slightest."
Howard quietly reached for his gun and started firing all the bullets in the clip at the stranger. The stranger fell to the floor before getting back up, proving that what he said earlier was true: bullets have no effect on him. Howard reloaded his gun and started firing it until he ran out of bullets. The stranger had had enough of Howard and proceeded to disarm him before grabbing Howard’s right arm and snapping it in half.
The bone-crushing sound was enough for the rookie to drop his gun, now petrified of the stranger.
But the stranger wasn’t finished with Howard as he pulled out a knife; he kept him under his arm.
"Now you've had your fun taking shots at me. Now let me return the fun."
The screams produced by Howard were enough to cause birds to fly away; the rookie was unable to look away, and once finished, the stranger turned around, showing his once-white mask was now covered in Howard’s blood.
“Don't worry, boy. You get the privilege to walk away, Ha-Ha.”
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The stranger begins playing his guitar as he walks back into the darkness, leaving the rookie all alone.
14 months ago.
“3...2...1...Happy Birthday Jack!”
Jack blew out the single candle on his cake with the number 22. His brother Jamie presented him with an old-school cassette tape player loaded with music that Jack liked. Jack's mother, Diana, gifted him a silver necklace with a sapphire crystal in the center, while his father, Harry, handed him a first-class plane ticket to Japan.
As Jack was still processing this gift, his father announced a surprise decision: they were moving to Japan. Harry had recently decided to take the company he founded in a new direction, and he thought moving to Japan would be the best way to do that.
Diana immediately hugged Harry, congratulating him on his decision. Meanwhile, Jamie and Jack were thrilled to live and work alongside their father in Japan and excitedly ran to pack their bags.
However, their excitement was short-lived. In just five months, Japan had fallen to a new threat called the Jackels. As a result, the government ordered the country to be split into eight separate districts, each with a key figure in charge of the people in that district.
As for Harry, he decided to create Project BloodDragon, a special task force designed to combat Jackels, and his two sons, Jamie and Jack, would be leading the group.
Their first mission is to locate the supposed leader of Jackels Stallone and kill him. Their intelligence suggests that Stallone is giving a speech in District 4.
The two brothers arrived at District 4 by helicopter and were ready to jump out.
“I’ll find out where Stallone is having his speech,” Jamie said.
Jack replied, “And I'll provide the distraction. Let's show them how the Crawford brothers get this done.”
“Crawford Style Mother Fucker!”
They shook hands before Jamie jumped out of the helicopter while Jack waited for the helicopter to land. Once the chopper flew away, Jack opened his bag, which contained a pistol, an assault rifle, some throwing knives with electrical powers, and an earpiece so he could keep in contact with Jamie.
Jack moved from cover to cover, not wanting to be seen by Jackel members, continuing through the streets of District 4. Jack eavesdropped on a conversation between two Jackel members.
“You think that Stallone is losing his mind. I mean, I get hating the royal family, but is it wise to attack District 1?”
“I hear you, man. But look at how much damage the royals have done to us. It's bad enough that they don't even care about District 8; all they care about is the rich people. They couldn't give a fuck about us common people.”
Jack silently took care of the two by throwing two electric knives at them, shocking them in place before killing them. Jack got on his radio and wanted to know Jamie’s location so he could provide the distraction. Jamie gave Jack the go-ahead for causing a distraction. Jack drew out his assault rifle and started firing in the air, allowing Jamie to sneak into the building where the speech was taking place. Jamie managed to arrive at the speech by crawling through a vent that allowed him to hear what Stallone was saying. Stallone was in the middle of giving a powerful yet inspiring speech to his soldiers.
“And I promise you that we will get revenge on the people who did this to us. Those scumbags in District 1 may think they're safe in their mansions and high-class security systems, but they will crumble like ash when I arrive.”
Jamie whispers to himself, “What the heck is Stallone planning?” Jamie continues to listen to Stallone’s speech.
“The Royal Family. They say that you chose this lifestyle, but the truth is that you never had a choice. Once you were born in the slums of District 8, you had no choice but to hate the Royal Family.” An explosion could be heard outside. “It seems we have some guests... More specifically, the one in the vent right there,” Stallone pointed at the vent Jamie was in.
Jamie got on the radio and informed Jack that his cover was blown and that they needed to leave ASAP. Jack agreed, as he was running low on ammo, and the two made their way to the location where they planned to escape.
Jack was the first to arrive and started asking Jamie where he was, but all he got in response was silence. He tried again and again, but there was no response. Jack had to make a choice: either leave his brother to die or find Jamie before Stallone finds him. Before he could make a decision, he heard a voice in his earpiece.
“I’m afraid your friend isn’t in the best shape to answer the radio, so I have taken the liberty of answering for him.”
Jack recognized whose voice he was talking to: "Stallone! you son of a bitch; if you’ve done anything to him, I’ll kill you.”
"Now, that’s not a nice thing to say.”
Jack demanded to know where Stallone was hiding.
“Closer than you think,” A door flies off its hinges, announcing the arrival of Stallone, a muscular black-haired man who was wearing his old military uniform, had a robotic right hand, and was carrying a shotgun on his back. He was dragging Jamie across the floor, who had blood coming out of his nose and his eyes bruised and swollen. Stallone smiled before throwing Jamie’s body across the floor. Jack rushed over to his brother and checked to see if he was still alive, which, thankfully, he was.
Stallone interrupted the brother's reunion and kicked Jack in the head before punching him in the face repeatedly. Jack grabbed one of his knives and stabbed Stallone in the stomach, but this only angered Stallone. He headbutted Jack, causing him to fall to the ground. Stallone pulled out his shotgun and blew Jack’s left arm off completely. Blood began spewing out of Jack’s body, and he was quickly losing consciousness. Stallone turned his attention to Jamie, but instead of using the shotgun, Stallone removed Jack’s knife that was still in his stomach and stabbed Jamie’s right eye. The high-pitched screams coming from Jamie were haunting and deafening; Jack couldn’t do anything but watch.
As Stallone is about to kill the two of them, a helicopter comes towards them and starts opening fire, causing Stallone to run away, leaving the Crawford brothers on the floor bleeding out. The people from the helicopter pick up Jack and Jamie’s bodies and take them away.