EdenLancer Stories

Chapter 1: Another Job
      The sky was blacker than night and the illumination of the terrifying flames scorching the giant tower made great cause for worry. There on top of the tower fought a young man along with his female companion as hordes of men fashioned in red armor raced up the crumbling building to dispose of the warriors, Suddenly the woman’s eyes turned red and black flames raced out of the growing tattoos on her body. She went in a fury hunting down anything that moved, even her partner, but after a short time of fighting the flames went down and she dropped to the roof of the tower while hot flames scorched around her.
     “Trish, we need to leave!” yelled the man.
     “What happened?” she asked as she stumbled up, but as she got up she lost her balance and fell off the tower, the man leaped and grabbed her off the edge of the tower. “Leon, let go…I don’t want this beast to come out again.” She said in a soft and broken voice.
     “I won’t let you die Trish!” he yelled as the building began crumbling even faster, the flames shooting from the cracks and the rocks plummeting to the large moat below. Two men ran up the broken stairs and yelled toward Leon, but he didn’t pay attention.
     “It’s time for me to end my nightmare, Leon. Good-bye.” She said finally taking out a battle knife and stabbing Leon in the arm. She dropped and as she hit the water, Leon woke in bed with sweat dripping down his face and his hand having a sharp pain. “This has got to stop,” Leon said to himself.
     “Leon? I’m guessing another nightmare?” said a man who came in to find Leon out of his nightmare state. He was tall and had mixed complexion. He had a rugged face with stubble around his chin and upper lip.
     “Yeah man, Trish again…I don’t know if I can handle this anymore, it’s been 8 years since that day on the Red Dragon Tower, but it still haunts me like it happened yesterday. What time is it?” Leon spoke as he slowly got sat on the edge of the bed.
     “It’s about 7.”
     “Time for me to get up anyway, what’s the plan for today?” Leon said as he got up and moved slowly to his dresser.
     “We finally got a job, another drug bust basically. Z found the job while he was at the bar. Some guy wants this guy alive so he can speak to him before his final hours in prison. Some revenge for a fallen family member…the usual.” The man said as he slowly swished his orange juice in his cup and leaning against the doorway.
     “How much is this guy paying Gerald?” Leon reluctantly said in a disappointed tone.
     “What’s with the sour tone? You should have this down, what is it our 3rd drug lord bust in the past 2 months? Oh apparently Z wants us to do stylish this time and the client wants the building still standing unfortunately…never said anything about holes though,” Gerald said as he laughed to himself.
     “Great, restrictions, I don’t do well at that Gerald. By the way, you never answered my question which means it’s under a grand right?” Leon said as he put his coat on and a large blade on his back.
     “You know me all too well old friend,” Gerald said as he walked out and put his glass in the sink.

      They drove silently up to a large warehouse looking building. They were far enough away though, a man looked through his binoculars to check the front door.
      “I don’t see why you do that Z, we don’t ever go through the front door,” Leon said laying back in the front seat with his feet on dash.
      “He’s right, every time we’re about to do a good bust, something ends up getting broken or destroyed. Maybe that’s why we don’t get any good paying jobs,” Gerald said looking around in the night filled plains.
      “Or maybe it’s Leon’s incredible people skills,” the man said sarcastically as he continued to look through the binoculars. “Alright, there are a couple of guards in the front with what looks like semi-automatics in their hands, nothing too hard. The stairwell is clear though, I haven’t seen anyone come up there. Leon, do you think you can reach the roof from those stairs?”
      “No problem Zero,” Leon said as he got out of the car and walked toward there. He slowly and stealthily walked up the stairwell where he grabbed onto the roof and pulled himself up slowly, making sure he doesn’t make a sound. He looked through the glass skylight to find a guard right below him. He tapped his headphone twice and Zero began talking to him.
      “Okay Leon, remember, style is important, it gives us a challenge. I want you to jump down and kill that guard then when they’re all in a line, click the remote button in your pocket, okay?”
      “Easy my friend,” Leon said confidently as he jumped up and smashed through the skylight falling down and slashing through the guard. He got up and smiled to the other guards as they stood in amazement. He ran toward them as they were stunned, cutting them down before they could pull the trigger. More men came down the stairs to aim and fire, all in a line as Zero thought might happen. He pulled a remote from his pocket and pressed the red button.
The guards flinched assuming a bomb would go off, but no such thing, they all began to smile and laugh as they took aim, but as soon as they lifted the rifle as large smash came from the side wall following two bladed cuts along all their torso, they looked to their right with their last bit of strength and saw a man with two blades in his hand standing upright with a smirk on his face.
      “Nice entrance Gerald,” Leon sad as the men fell to the ground. Leon looked around and saw that there were no more men, Gerald and Leon began walking up the stairwell inside to reach the catwalk, as they reached the top blades were pointed at their throats with a man on the other side of the catwalk clapping his hands.
      “Nice show gentlemen, nothing less expected from the infamous bounty hunters. But I’m sad to say your incredible fighting prowess and skill are done for.” As he finished his speech, a black pool of darkness appeared around the ankles of one of the bladed guards. Zero shot up from the pool slashing through the body of the guard in one quick slice and firing a small blast of dark energy into the other guard.
      “You two aren’t the only ones who know how to make an entrance,” Zero said, his long black hair falling onto his shoulders and his crisp blue eyes shining with pride of a job well done.
      “Don’t get too comfy, this job ain’t over yet,” Gerald said as all three walked to the room, the drug lord ran into. They attempted to twist the door knob, but it was locked. Leon sighed and knocked on the door while saying, “come on man, you know this door can’t hold us, you’re just delaying the inevitable. Don’t make us have to do more work than this job is worth.” With that said, Leon kicked the door in making it fly into the back wall. They looked around and found that he had run onto the fire escape and was booking it. Gerald looked out there and lifted his hand high into the sky. Suddenly five magical blades began hovering around his body, he shot them out through window and out into the night sky. They illuminated the air around them with a creepy yellow aura as they chased down the criminal. They finally caught up and clipped his clothes before nailing him to a wall.  The blades cut through his clothes and he fell to the ground, he immediately got up and ran right into Gerald.
       “Where you going buddy?” Gerald said as he walked slowly forward. The criminal ran behind him before falling down when hitting Leon. He looked to his left where there was a wall and then to his right where Zero slowly came up.
       “What the hell are you guys!? No human can do that! The rumors are true! You guys are demons!” the man screamed.
       “No, not really, but fairly close,” Leon said before striking him in the head with his hilt, knocking him unconscious. “This job dragged on too long in my opinion,” he said as the three walked back to their car.
      
       As they drove to the client’s house, they heard the sirens of police cars rushing to the scene, probably wondering why there were so many gun shots. “A little late, aren’t they?” Zero said as he put on black sunglasses while he was driving in the dark.
      “I don’t know if you’ve realized this, but there is no sun out tonight,” Leon said to Zero as he put his feet on the dash.
       “Relax, you forget who you’re talking to,” Zero said with a smirk.
      “I don’t know why I don’t have any flashy abilities like you two when apparently, I’m the most important one out there,” Leon said as he closed his eyes, feeling the wind hit his face. The two others laughed as they drove up to a small shack of a house. The three hunters walked up and knocked on the door. An old man opened the door and looked at Zero.
      “The deed is done I presume?” the old man said in an aged and tired voice.
      “Sure thing old man, the guy is in the back and the warehouse is still standing, but it has a giant hole in the side. Sorry about that.” Zero told him.
      “Hahahahaha, I figured something would have broke, but I just wanted it standing so you boys wouldn’t get in trouble if all the evidence was destroyed.”
      “That was kind of you, we’re going to be taking this guy to the station, I hope we’ve soothed your soul a little bit,” Zero said as he began walking off the porch with his friends.
      “More than you know young man.” The old man walked back into his house and the three began driving to the station. Silence was broken quickly when Gerald leaned forward and started conversation. 
      “Hey Z, whatever happened to that girl you brought back from the bar? Did you get your dose for the night?” Gerald said as him and Leon laughed out loud.
      “Ha-ha, very funny. No, lately I’ve felt as if my mojo has run out. Ugh, it’s really bugging me,” Zero said as he drove incredibly fast on a back road. “What about you Gerald, you haven’t been with a girl since that girl cheated on you. What happened to her by the way?”
“Oh, right her. I don’t know, last I heard she was a prostitute on the corner of 5th and Lee Street. I have been seeing a girl, just haven’t brought her by, she’s a little shy, but the odd thing is that she knows what we are,” Gerald said as Zero slammed on the breaks giving everyone whiplash and almost throwing Leon from the car. “What the hell is wrong with you Ryan!?” Gerald yelled as he regained his composure.
      “One, don’t use my real name; you never know who’s lurking in the darkness. Two, if someone knows what we really are; they’re either one of us or part of the Red Dragon Syndicate. Let me remind you that RDS wants us dead or back in their hands at least,” Zero said as he began driving again.
      “Yeah I know, but this girl is something special, I can feel it.
      “Just don’t get us killed my friend,” Zero said as he began driving his normal speed. They finally got to the station where Leon found the desk cop snoring up a storm. Leon rolled his eyes and slammed the body on the table. The cop jumped up and drew his gun, but soon calmed down.
      “Oh, it’s you guys, I’m getting sick and tired of you doing this. You can’t just drop a body on my desk all the time,” the cop said as he called for assistance.
      “Well maybe if you were doing your job, that won’t happen,” Leon said as he smirked.
      “It’s always the same with you Leon. How’s business for you boys?” the cop said as some police officers picked the criminal up and brought him to a holding cell.
      “Slow…as always. How’s the wife and kids?” Leon spoke as he was given the money for the criminal’s bounty.
      “Not too bad, not too bad. You guys take it easy and try not to cause any civil damage,” the cop said as he sat back in his chair, folding his hands on his stomach. They walked out and drove back to their small house in the middle of nowhere. It was silent all the way back, partially out of the disappointment of low pay, but mostly because the sound of the wind coming over the windshield on the convertible gave a peaceful feeling to all three of them.
      “That was a good job guys, with this we can pay off the rent for this month and that’s it,” Zero said as he laughed while going into his room to put his blade on his bed.
      “I think I’m going to turn in for tonight,” Gerald said as he walked to his room.
      “I think I’m going to stay up for a bit guys,” Leon said as he sat on the old and weathered couch in front of the broken television.
      “What’s wrong Leon?” Zero said as he sat on the couch beside him his body hanging off the side of the arm rest. Gerald sat on the other side of the couch with his feet on the table.
       “I think I know Z,” Gerald said as he put his hands behind his head. “You’re afraid to go to sleep now because of the nightmares.”
      “I guess,” Leon said as he bent over, putting his hands on his head.
      “You have to stop blaming yourself Leon, that wasn’t your fault. The Red Dragon Syndicate…” Zero said before getting interrupted by Leon with:
      “Red Dragon Syndicate, Red Dragon Syndicate. They weren’t the ones that…nevermind. I’m going to bed,” Leon said as he walked to his room and closed the door. Zero sighed and looked at Gerald.
      “It’s been 8 years dude, why hasn’t he gotten over it?” Zero asked as he got up and stretched.
      “It was his sister and he’s convinced himself everything was his fault. It’ll take more than words to heal him. Even if everything wasn’t his fault completely, the little part he played is made larger in his head,” Gerald said as he looked at the broken television.
      Zero sighed and began walking to his room, “I still don’t get him man.”
      “I don’t think we’ll ever know the true Leon again my friend,” Gerald said to himself as he got up and went to his room, shutting off all the lights behind him.