Headbreaker: Mirror, the Introduction

This is the the introduction for my up and coming plot Headbreaker: Mirror it introduces a few of the characters involved. The story it's self is stuctured differently that normal. As i post each section it will begin to follow a structure not too differntly from the film Momento one part of the story is traveling back in time while one part is moving forward. The story will end in the middle.

So here is part one of the Introduction to Headbreaker: Mirror

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Headbreaker: Mirror

Undisclosed Location In The Paragon City Sewer Network
November, 01, 2007

The man slowly set up the camera and checked the viewfinder. Every-thing was set for the recording; the only thing now was to stop the girl screaming.
The man walked over to her and gently moved his long raven black hair out of his eyes, the glowing piercing green of his cornea met the blue of hers and he spoke in a slow calm British accent, his voice was soft, yet it held a harsh edge to it,

“Scream again my dear and I’m only going to make things worse. Believe me, I do not want to-” she interrupted him

“When my father finds you he’s gonna kill you, you sick sonova-” the back of his hand shot across her face and she fell on to her side with a loud yelp. He crouched down and looked at her,

“Your father is to blame for all of this my dear. Do not speak of him again.” she fought back tears and slowly tried to rise, but found it difficult with her hands tied behind her back. She flicked her head around to get her blond hair out of her face. She half snared at him as she fought of the burning in her face and the aches and pains her body felt from weeks of abuse at his hands,

“Now I have business to attend and I would appreciate some quiet. Scream…and I will make sure you cannot do so again by breaking your jaw.”

The girl knew he was not joking. The threat was made all the more terrifying by his calm, soothing voice, it held no sign of hostility or anger but at the same time it was filled with the promise of pain to come. She fell silent. There was a long pause as he watched her, waiting for the sounds of a scream. When there was none he rose to his feet and returned to the camera. Before long he was ready and moved before the lens. He adjusted his white suit and black tie and then pressed a remote button and the camera hummed into life. He waited a second for the sake of editing later and then looked dead into the camera, his eyes alight with determination. He began to speak,

“…hello William. You may not remember me, but I sure as hell remember you!”

Rural China
June, 2005

The man dodged to the left avoiding his attacker’s fist. He then nimbly spun left again to avoid the other fist and then used his momentum to come about and look his attacker face on. The second swing had caused the attackers to stumble slightly and he was quickly trying to recover. This gave the man precious seconds to get a hit in and he did. His fist met the side of the attackers head and sent him crashing to the ground.
The attacker hit the floor and then rolled onto his back. He expected to get up but instead found the man jumping on top of him and slamming the side of his fist square into his face and finally rendering him unconscious. The crowd waited a second to see what would happen and when the attacker failed to rise or make a noise they burst into cheer.

“AND THE WINNER, THE ANGELIC, THE GODLY, THE RIGHT HAND OF THE HE WHO IS MIGHTY, GABRIEL!”

The man known as Gabriel rose off the fallen man and kissed one of his fists before raising it into the air to the crowds cheers of,
‘GABRIEL, GABRIEL, GABRIEL…’
The cage opened and the doctors ran in to check on the fallen, while Gabriel left to meet the mob of gangsters, criminals and misanthropes. The crowd soon parted as The Imperial Dragon, master of the ring, came to congratulate him on his win

“I have to say Gabriel san, people do well to place their money upon your win. Speaking about money…” he snapped his fingers and the overly beautiful Daze walked up behind Fragon and slapped a large wad of cash into his open palm. All the men’s eyes turned to Daze and they remained fixed upon her until she had left their sights and then some after. Dragon merely coughed loudly and every-one’s attention, including Gabriel’s, turned back to Dragon.

“…I believe the anti was ten thousand American dollars?” Gabriel smiled as he took his opponents bet and flicked through it, theatrically smelling it.

“It smells better than fine Bourgogne.” Dragon smiled slightly and gestured Gabriel to follow him.

“As you are aware you are becoming our best fighter. Bets are swaying your way and I’m afraid soon I shall not be able to put you back in the ring without loosing money. Fortunately your loss last week has worked in my favour and plenty of people still bet against you…” Gabriel went to protest but Dragon merely rose his hand “…I still have a business to run Gabriel san; if you become too good it is bad for business. So I have a proposition for you…”

“I am listening…” Dragons grin grew as the slowly approached his office

“I know you are. If you win one more fight I will place you into one of our exhibition fights. Win and I will pay you One hundred thousand American dollars. You will be able to leave the arena knowing you are the best of the best. Loose the fight and it will be two fights, then three and so on and so on…” Gabriel whistled,

“That is a lot of money, fetch me a pretty penny back home to with the exchange rate what it is.” He looked at Dragon who now stood before his office door “…you have a fighter in mind don’t you?” Dragon nodded and opened his door

“He arrived today and I think he will be a perfect challenge for your needs.” Gabriel stepped inside and half jumped back at the size of the man sitting in the chair. The man looked up and slowly rose to his feet and walked over to them. He bowed at Dragon before his eyes fixed upon Gabriel, Dragon bowed back and then too looked at Gabriel “Mr Breaker san, this is Gabriel. Gabriel san, this is William Breaker…your next fight.” Gabriel started to smile,

“Yes, yes he is!”

Paragon City, Residential Estate, Lexibell Towers
July 24, 2007

The sky had turned to storm clouds and the light could not pierce their darkened shroud. Thunder rolled in the distance yet some-thing bugged him, the air felt wrong for a storm, the winds blew the wrong way…he pushed it to the back of his mind and looked at the assorted buzzers.

“Sarah Daily, Sarah Daily, where are you – ahhh there you are.” He pressed the buzzer and waited for a long moment.

“Hello?” he lent towards the speaker,

“Ms Daily?”

“Yes, who is this?”

“I called you the other day. My name is Officer Gabriel Winters…”

“The policeman, yeah, sorry…come on in. twentieth floor, flat 2032.”

“Thank you Ms Daily…” eventually the speaker buzzed loudly and the door gave a satisfying click. He pushed it open and went inside.

The lift was well looked after, shiny and without graffiti. It came to a stop of the twentieth floor and he followed the corridor to flat 2032. He knocked once, then paused, then knocked again three times, then one soft tap. There was no reason for it, he just enjoyed the rhythm. The door swung open to an attractive blond woman, looking fluster

“Sorry, I’m trying to cook and clean at the same time. Come in, ignore the mess…” Gabriel smiled,

“It cannot be as bad as my apartment Ms Daily-”

“Sarah, please.”

“Of course…” He walked down the corridor to the lounge and peered into one of the rooms, it was clearly the bedroom of a grungy teenage girl, posters of bands and fantastic artwork, clothes strewn on the floor, dark colours and a bass guitar in the corner. He continued and eventually came to a messy lounge area that had an impressive sight of the war walls in the distance.

“Please sit. Drink? Coffee, Juice, Tea?” he suddenly perked at the mention of tea,

“Tea would be very much welcome, milk, no sugar.” Sarah smiled and went into the kitchen. After a long moment she came back with a mug of hot tea “Very strange to have tea here, you are an American?” Sarah laughed

“My estranged husband’s mother came from England…where about in England are you from?”

“Ahhh yes! I suppose it is hard to hide my roots with this accent. Brighton’s Withdean area originally…moved to Oxford at an early age. But enough about me Ms Daily, we are here to talk about your Husband-”

“EX-husband Mr Winters!”

“As you wish...Sarah. As you know I am building a case against him after an incident in Paragon City a few weeks back. We believe he has joined a criminal organisation known only as The Corporation. Any information on him is more than welcome.”

Sarah sat opposite him and scraped her hair back into a pony tail.

“I’m afraid I’ve not spoken to William since long before the first Rikti War Mr Winters. Neither has my daughter, he’s not seen her since she was very little.”

“Because of the Atlas incident involving a Mister Thomas Creedy?”

“I threw him out shortly after that Mr Winters, have not seen him since.”

“When is your daughter home Ms Dai-” before he could speak the door opened the grungy thirteen year old Laura entered the lounge. Her fair skin upon the dark clothes she wore gave her a slight glow. Her blond hair was tied into two long pigtails that hung over her shoulders, pink streaked into them,

“Hey Mom, looks like one hellova storm brewing out there…” she looked at Gabriel “…who’s this?” Sarah gestured her daughter

“Mr Winters, this is my daughter, Laura Daily-“

“Laura Breaker, mom” she pinched the bridge of her nose in frustration,

“I will not have you using your father’s name!”

“I will use what name I want!” suddenly Gabriel rose slowly, his voice changed slightly and now held a colder tone

“Actually Ms Daily, I would prefer it if she used her fathers name. After all, she is my key to him.” Sarah looked surprised and tried to rise when suddenly she found Gabriel’s hand around her neck. She tried to pull him off but his grip held firm, she fought for breath but his gaze remained fixed on Laura who was now screaming,

“Such a pretty girl, hard to believe your dog of a father spawned you…” Laura’s voice was high pitched,

“LET GO OF MY MOM!” Gabriel smiled sadistically, hid eyes wide and filled with insanity

“Gladly…” he twisted his hand and Sarah’s neck snapped. This brought Laura’s scream to a hideously high level. He flung the body aside and in a flash was before Laura. He drew his hand back and stuck her across the face, rendering her unconscious.

He slung her over his shoulders, stepped out into the corridor and headed towards the lift. Instead of pressing down, he pressed up and headed towards the roof.

He kicked the door open and walked out onto the roof gravel as the sound of thunder thumped in the background. He suddenly stopped in his tracks,

“…that’s not thunder?!” he spun on his heels and saw lights flash and buildings crumble. From within the darkened sky the first of the Rikti ships descended “…ohhh…BUGGER!” he spun on his heels and began to charge towards the edge of the building as one of the ships slowly moved over head and…

He leapt away with little difficulty as the Rikti bomb ploughed through the roof and down each floor until it finally detonated reducing the building, and all who lived within, to ash…

Rural China
June, 2005

William had arrived at the ring after appearing at the Russian boarder. He had been travelling the past two years through Europe, then up into Russia and eventually into China after hearing about the ring from a Russian Super criminal called ‘Snowblind’ who had been a previous fighter. Dragon listened to his tale of being enhanced by the Scientist Dr Joshua Miles and his obsession with Statesman and wanting to kill him. Eventually Dragon agreed to add William to his roster and keep a close eye on his career.

While Dragon knew William would be a crowd pleasure and defeating Gabriel would bring in a lot of money, however he secretly wanted Gabriel to beat him and then set up Gabriel’s Exhibition fight, finally taking him away from the ring. He knew both where strong, William through artificial means and Gabriel due to genetic mutations in his blood that gave him amazing strength and impressive regeneration. How Gabriel came to the ring from Oxford was any-one’s guess. All any one knew about him was he use to study law. He eventually ran away from the prestigious university to test his abilities with others like him self.

The match was set up and William finally revealed his handle, Headbreaker.

The speaker hummed into life and soon the announcer American-Chinese accent filled the air

“LADIES AND GENTLEMEN. WE HAVE FRESH MEAT TONIGHT! THE TOWERING MOUNTAIN OF STRENGTH, THE BRINGER OF PAIN AND SUFFERING! PLEASE WELCOME…THE HEADBREAKER!!!” the crowd’s roar was a mixture of boos and cheers,

“HIS CHALLENGER, THE HEAVENLY, THE SPIRITUAL…THE INSANELY BRITISH, GA-BRIEL!!” this time the crowd roared in anticipation and Gabriel lapped it up.

“FIIIIIGHT!” the bell rang.

Gabriel charged forward as did William. The smaller fight drew his fist back and threw it forward, catching William in the chest. He spun about ready to hit him again when he saw suddenly saw William’s massive fist fly towards his face…

There was silence, then the soft muffled sound of voices and then the voices cleared

“…-ank god he’s waking up!” Gabriel slowly opened his eyes and saw a collection of faces above him, including William’s who merely puffed on a cigar,

“There, see! I told you I didn’t hit him that hard!” Gabriel looked from face to face,

“W-what happened?” the announcer, a large Chinese gentleman, was the first to speak up, his voice was deep and powerful,

“Well…you lasted a record ten seconds” Gabriel’s eyes shot open wide and he sat up quickly,

“WHAT?!”

“Headbreaker here hit you so hard your face caved in! We thought you where dead until you started healing a second ago!” Gabriel looked towards Headbreaker who simply smiled and waved his wade of cash like a fan.

“Th-that’s impossible?” Dragon entered the ring and walked towards him, the crowd parted

“That is business Gabriel san.” He turned to William “Come, we have much to discuss, you have just won me a lot of money!”

Gabriel sat on the arena floor and simply watched as William was led away and the group followed suit. Anger burnt deep inside and the feeling of betrayal washed over his mind,

“I will not be beating by a common THUG!” Gabriel rose to his feet and stormed out.

Paragon City, Dr Joshua Miles Home,
November, 13, 2006

The scientist known as Joshua Miles left his new home, recently bought after the abandonment of his wife, children, dog and previous life. Since working on William Breaker he had been leading a good life. Crey had taken him back and allowed him to continue his superhuman research. William Breaker had recently contacted Joshua, thanking him for all the work he had done. In appreciation, he was slowly creating a new chemical for William, one to remove some of his weaknesses. The formula was a long way off from completion, so he had not told Will about its existence.

Miles sat down in his car and was about to start his engine when the sound of a gun hammer, being pulled back, could be heard. Miles simply sighed

“I have got to start checking the back of my car. This is happening far too often. And always on a bloody Monday too!” he shook his head. Gabriel slowly started pressing the barrel of the gun into the back of Joshua’s head

“Shut up! Just shut up!” Miles, again, turned to face his would be capture and stared him in the eyes

“Ohhh you’re an angry one. Lots of rage! Let me guess, you heard about The Headbreaker and want me to do the same to you right?” Gabriel was struck back about accurate he was

“…how did you…never mind!” He pressed the gun into his forehead “I want to become stronger, strong enough to beat that brute!” Miles smiled

“Hmmm, well I don’t know…I mean I cou-” Gabriel moved the gun to Joshua’s shoulder and pulled the trigger. The gun exploded and Joshua fell back against his steering wheel, blood covered his windscreen as he let out a cry,

“YOU *******!” he clutched at the wound,

“I have no time to muck about Dr Miles…I’m not a man to be [censored] with either…you either do what you did to William Breaker or I will put a bullet in your skull. Do you understand me?” the cold soft tone frightened Miles, the calmness of his madness was apparent,

“…fine! Just…just don’t hurt me!”

“Excellent! We are going to get along just fine.” He got out of the car and opened the driver’s door “Move over, I’ll drive…” He looked Joshua in the eyes “and don’t bleed on my upholstery, thank you!”

He wiped the window clean and drove off.

Paragon City, Undisclosed Crey Laboratory
July, 19, 2007, 8 months later

Gabriel stepped out of the vat and pulled his hair back into a small ponytail. He looked over the bruised and broken Dr Miles who was now of declining health from the months of torture and starvation,

"Well?" Joshua looked at him with angry eyes

"Your body reacted differently to how Williams did *COUGH COUGH* your mutant genetics have bonded with the chemicals differently. There is no increase in muscle size but you should see a definite change in your strength and the amount of beating you can take. Your regeneration has increased tenfold; I’ll be surprised if you couldn't heal serious wounds in under ten minutes"

Gabriel smiled and flexed his arms

"Is there a mirror in the house good doctor?" Joshua fought back a coughing fit and gestured some far off room. Gabriel charged towards it. Miles waited a few minutes and started typing on a consol furiously. During Gabriel's enhancement he had continued to work on the chemical for William and had cleverly managed to smuggle it out to a Crey facility. He had managed to send a message to John Sebastian, disguised as one of his contacts to get him to pick it up. He had also managed to get a scrambled message to William to inject the chemical first chance he got. He started up the recording software and looked into a camera on the system

"William, I do not have much time *COUGH COUGH* there is some-one after you and they have forced me to do the work I did on you to them...by the time you get this I will most likely be dead! I cannot say much but he wishes to kill you and unfortunately his enhancement...it rivals yours my friend...I am sorry! However this old man is not done yet. There is a weakness to him…one I have deliberately created. It was the least I could do to ensure your survival and the eventual achievement of your goal. You still owe me some of Statesman's blood" The old man smiled weakly "If the day comes you do have to fight my Frankenstein William, just make sure that you..."

"Just be sure you what, good Doctor?" Joshua slammed his hands against the keyboard and sent the half recorded message into the Greater Web. He turned around to look at Gabriel, who now wore a white suit and black tie,

"That I floss my teeth when I get home..." Gabriel smiled as he walked closer to Miles adjusting his cufflinks

"Ohhh Doctor I am going to miss this wit of yours. You are a laugh a minute. I have to say this suit is very nice too...where did you pick it up?" Joshua glared at Gabriel as he now stood in front of him

"Just get it over with you *******...I’ve done what you wanted. You can go find William and do what you want...but know this; you will never beat him because you are still weak! WEAK IN THAT SICK HEAD OF YOURS!" Joshua started to laugh. Gabriel’s eyes shot open wide and he screamed as his hand flew forward into Joshua's neck causing the old man to gasp for air, Gabriel was trembling as he held the Doctor, his eyes wide with madness,

"I REALLY...should not have worn white..."

Paragon City, Atlas Park, City Hall
July, 20, 2007

Gabriel stood at the pay phone and flicked through the pages of the phone directory. He had used the blood soaked computer of Joshua Miles to find out as much as he could on William and soon he hit pay dirt. William had once been married and even conceived a daughter. Gabriel knew she most likely would not have kept Will's surname so he tried to find out her maiden name. Eventually he found the number of one Sarah Daily and slowly began to dial. The phone rang for a bit and eventually the phone clicked and a female voice spoke,

"Hello the Daily household?"

"Ms Daily? My name is Officer Gabriel Winters. I am with the PPD..." the woman sighed,

"What has she done now officer?"

"No, no Ms Daily, I am not calling about your daughter. I have a few questions regarding your former husband William Breaker..."

Rural China
July, 2005

"You have to let me fight him again Dragon, this is completely UNFAIR!" Dragon turned around as two of his Yakuza grabbed Gabriel from behind

"DARE you take that tone with my Gabriel san. Remember your manners of I will have Mr Tongue here cut out yours!"

Gabriel looked back at the larger thug, known as Mr Tongue for his collection of them that he had removed from enemies of Dragon. He swallowed hard and looked back to the Crimelord, he bowed his head

"Forgive me Dragon. I have never lost so...embarrassingly before..."

"Pride is a dangerous thing Gabriel san..."

"I know...but you must let me fight him again. I cannot sleep knowing I failed THAT badly! PLEASE!" Dragon smiled and gestured his two thugs to releases Gabriel

"I will not hear the end of this if I do not will I Mr Gabriel san?" Gabriel smiled and shook his head,

"I can beat him!" Dragon sighed and started to laugh,

"I will talk to William san and arrange it...bring five thousand American dollars as your entry..." Gabriel bowed and walked away.

Every-thing was arranged and soon Gabriel was back in the ring opposite Headbreaker.

"I swear after your last defeat you'd be running to the hills rather than getting back in here with me. So how long you gonna last this time...twenty seconds?" Gabriel tried to ignore his laughter,

"Just shut up, I’ve been training since our last fight and I’m ready for you!"

"Sure you are England...let us see how you do when the bell rings eh? Training is one thing...pulling it off in the ring is another." Gabriel spat towards Williams feet,

“Bring it you bastard…”

The bell went and like a man possessed Gabriel threw himself toward into Will. He smashed into him and caused the larger man to fly backwards into the cage wall. Gabriel began to pound at William’s sides and looked to be having the upper hand as he held William in place. He fired off punch after punch and the cage slowly bended with each. William however absorbed the attacks. To any one who watched it did indeed seem that William was being beat back, but to the trained eye it was clear he was just looking for an opening. He let Gabriel tire himself out before he suddenly pushed forward and rose his fist upward catching Gabriel on the chin. Blood sprayed upwards and outwards and Gabriel’s eyes rolled into the back of his head. His whole body arced backwards and crashed into the ground. Then, nothing…

Again Gabriel’s eyes slowly opened to a collection of faces and his heart sank.

Paragon City, Independence Port
October, 15, 2006

Gabriel walked along the dock of Independence Port, kicking stones and what ever lay before him into the water. His mind was filled with images of hate, misery and suffering at the hands of the brute known as William Breaker. His mind was close to breaking point, the stress of it all, the lack of sleep and the damage done to his mind by the one known as The Imperial Dragon, left him on a knifes edge. One foul step and he could fall either way. He had no idea how he got to Paragon, just that he woke up one day in a gutter and almost a year of his life had gone missing. He remembered flashes of information. The sound of a lorry, a bitter chill, white crisp snow, towering mountains and a variety of accents and languages all washed in and out of his mind.

The sound of the waves crashing against the dock walls where soothing and gave him some piece from the noise of his mind, the deafening insanity that that threatened to manifest into some-thing more.

It the distance the sound of gunfire broke the peace and Gabriel, in a act of total selflessness, charged to see what was going on.
The brute descended upon the bank, tearing the front doors from their motors and throwing them into the gathered PPD officers. Gabriel did not recognise the Villain, but instantly recognised his abilities. If he could beat this monster, then maybe he could feel better about himself and the humiliation he felt at being beaten by William, self-redemption was the word he used. Gabriel charged into the fray.
The PPD instantly cheered to what they believed was a new hero on the street. Gabriel, with a nimble leap, flew into the air. He soared for a moment and with a cry came down upon the villain as hard as he could. Both skidded crashed into the ground and was thrown along the floor with the momentum. As they came to a halt Gabriel composed himself and began pounding down upon the villains face. He was no longer fighting an unnamed monster, no, in his mind he could see William laughing, laughing with each punch, laughing as his face become more of an unrecognisable mess.

Gabriel was so intent on killing his opponent that he did not see his companion materialize next to him and with a heavy hand, send him flying into the PPD van. Dizziness washed over him but he quickly shook it off and threw himself back into the battle, but this time both opponents where ready for him.

The PPD watched as the last broken bone snapped back into place and what remained of his facial features regenerated. Gabriel suddenly gasped for air and was quickly calmed by the PPD medical officer,

“Easy buddy, it’s alright, you’re alive!”

“W-what happened?” Gabriel’s eyes were wide with fear and confusion. An older officer looked at him, his dark moustache moving with his words; it was all Gabriel could fix his sight upon

“You did your best…but they were just too strong. We were out numbered. Several Bows fell as well so don’t feel bad…” Gabriel could not hold it back. His body shook and his mouth slowly turned up into a smile. His voice stopped shaking and finally took the cold, calm tone that would be his most frightening aspect,

“Don’t feel bad? Ohh no officer I don’t feel…this has just proved one thing to me…” the gathered PPD began to back up as Gabriel rose to his feet “…that I am just not strong enough to do any-thing any more! What good is beyond normal strength if you are always loosing?” the PPD slowly pulled out their guns and pointed them at Gabriel

“What’s he doing sir?” called one of the younger officers

“I don’t know. If he turns hostile fill him with lead!” Gabriel tipped his head back and began to laugh, it was a soul chilling laugh that almost echoed off the near by smooth walls, reverberating the insanity that was taking him.

The officers opened fire and Gabriel’s body jerked left and right, blood spraying from wounds. However he refused to fall. Suddenly he charged forward at the older officer and the slaughter began.

Paragon City, Independence Port
October, 17, 2006

Gabriel’s massacre of the PPD officers at Independence port had hit the main news within the hour. Thankfully for him no one knew who he was or had managed to get a picture of him. Any CCTV in the area had been broken previously by the robbers. The anonymity benefited him greatly.

He had spent the past day trying to remember every-thing Dragon had told him about William. One thing that stuck in his mind particularly was a name, Dr Joshua Miles, the Scientist that made William what he was. Instantly Gabriel hit the streets and looked for the Rumourmongers and Information Traffickers. He asked all the right questions and half killed the right people before he had the information he wanted.
Standing before his house Gabriel knew what he was going to do. It would take careful planning but he had it worked out in his head. It was time to get strong; it was time to get his revenge, it was time to reclaim the future he had lost to the brute known as Headbreaker…

Rural China
August, 2005

“No…” came the reply

“But I must Dragon, I have to…you don’t understand!”

“No…” came the reply again. Gabriel’s patience was growing thin.

“Give me a good reason why you won’t let me go back into the cage with him?” Dragon sat in a cloud of cigar smoke, his eyes met Gabriel’s and he lent forward

“For a start, you are not thinking with a clear head. Secondly I run a business here. When you first started Gabriel san, you started winning matches, but you lost an equal amount making it easy for my self to earn money. When you start winning all the time I have to find ways of making sure you leave here…hence my exhibition fights, one large fight and one large payoff. You Gabriel san are bound to loose to William san, so every-one will bet on William san meaning they will win lots of money and I will loose lots of money” his face turned deathly serious “…however if you lasted MORE THAN TWENTY SECONDS THEN MAYBE WE WOULD NOT HAVE A PROBLEM!” he slammed his fist on the desk for effect, then calmed down “No, I shall place William san against Behemoth, at least people will not be sure who will win and I can still turn a slight profit…” Gabriel now slammed his fist on the desk

“I don’t care about your money or how much profit you make! I CARE ABOUT MY BLOODY HONOUR! I need this Dragon; I cannot feel like this any more. I’m barely sleeping, my head is filling with thoughts I have no control over” his eyes filled with tears and he fought back the urge to cry in front of the crimelord. Dragon looked to him with angry eyes

“You may have been my prized fighter once Gabriel san, but do not talk to me about honour. I will not have you make a fool of your self again. Request denied!”

Gabriel would not give up. He reached beside the desk and slammed a large bag in front of Dragon.

“This is every-thing I have won…all the money I own!” Dragon raised a brow,

“…Interesting, go on.”

“I don’t care about winnings, if I beat William you can have his entry too…I just want to beat him Dragon…so badly!” Dragon looked inside the sack at the money and grinned slightly

“You may not want winnings but William san will.”

“Figure it out with him…just put me back in that cage with him Dragon.” His desperation was clear, his eyes showed the hurt, the shame and embarrassment that swam through his head. Dragon sighed and kept thinking to himself ‘I am going to regret this…’

William pinched his nose in frustration,

“You are joking right?” Dragon shook his head

“I wish I was William san. He is adamant of this…”

“So he is willing to give you all of his money, just to fight me?” Dragon nodded and William’s face split into a gruel grin,

“Alright, I’ll fight him. If I win you can keep the money. I just want to make sure I well and truly embarrass this pain in my neck. I want him to be totally humiliated in front of the mob.” He sat back in the chair as Dragon rubbed his beard,

“It is a shame. He was my prized fighter before you got here. But he lost so stupidly to you. I still cannot believe it. He use to fight with such…honour, such dignity, such grace. Now he is sloppy and cannot seem to think straight…” Dragon looked at William with dark eyes “…crush him!”

The night of the fight was soon at hand and Gabriel had been overjoyed when Dragon broke the news to him that William had agreed. He trained furiously over the next few days. Standing opposite William he felt a cold chill down in his soul. He knew Will was stronger than him. He knew his skin was tough. But he had speed, stamina and the courage to test himself. He would beat William, for a shred of peace within his mind. The nightmares would fade and he could sleep again. William stood staring at him, his face a cruel grin that sent chills down his spine. He wasn’t going to get intimidated. He was going to win.

The bell went and this time he took it carefully. He moved forwards to the centre of the ring and took a defensive stance and waited for Headbreaker to move. William stood for a few moments and the crowd’s cheers slowly turned to confused whispers and the occasional heckle.

“What are you doing you *******? Come on!” William remained and grin “COME ON!” he rose a finger to his lips

“Shhhh…y’hear that?” Gabriel chanced a glance about but couldn’t hear any-thing but the aggravated crowd,

“Stop this…JUST FIGHT ME!” Gabriel’s eyes were becoming wide with anger,

“Shhhh…that sound is the moments before I beat you…I’m savouring it…” Gabriel was on the verge of tears again

“Just…stop it…why are you torturing me like this? I…I need this…” William began to laugh at the man “Stop laughing! COME HERE AND FIGHT ME!” William again listened to the sounds of the crowd. He began to chant,

“Headbreaker, Headbreaker, Headbreaker…”

“SHUT UP…” tears began streaming down his face “…JUST SHUT UP!!”

“Headbreaker, Headbreaker, HEADBREAKER!”

“SHUT UP! JUST [censored] SHUT UP!” William’s chants got louder and louder and soon the crowd, for reasons unknown, began to join in.

“HEADBREAKER, HEADBREAKER, HEADBREAKER!”

“STOP IT! WHY WON’T YOU FIGHT ME?!” Will stopped chanting, although the crowd continued. His eyes fixed upon Gabriel

“Because I am enjoying this far too much! Watching you break down and sob like a child because I won’t rise to the challenge. You’re a pathetic child! You’re looking at why you were beaten so badly by me and you can’t handle the truth so you throw yourself back in this ring in the hopes I just got lucky. Well here is the truth and I think every-one needs to hear it. You can’t beat me…” Gabriel looked on the verge of collapse “…it’s because you’re nothing. You are nothing great, nothing special. You have a power so you naturally think you’re invincible. But here the kicker, your not.” Gabriel’s arms fell to his side and he glared at William as the tears rolled from his eyes “…and you will never beat me because of that.” William began to laugh again and Gabriel fell to his knees and then buried his head in his hands as the bell rang once. The announcer made no comment.

****

Gabriel sat before Dragon who paced back and forth behind his desk,

“What on earth was that Gabriel san? It wasn’t a fight that is for sure!” Gabriel sat like schoolboy being told off by his headmaster,

“…He wouldn’t fight” Dragon slammed both palms down on the table and Gabriel jumped slightly

“THE YOU TAKE THE FIGHT TO HIM! I HAVE NEVER SEEN A MORE PATHETIC DISPLAY FROM SOME-ONE WHO USE TO BE ONE OF THE BEST!” Dragon made a sweeping gesture with his arm as he turned his back on Gabriel “Be gone…I do not want you here any more…” Gabriel rapidly rose

“You cannot chuck me out! Not when I was so close to seeing my future!” Dragon’s eyes widened and he slowly turned back to Gabriel,

“What did you say?”

“I know about Daze. That she is a siren! That is why I cannot take my eyes off her when she enters a room. I also know she can see the future and that is what you grant people to keep them away! I fought with every-thing because I wanted to see if my pathetic life was worth any-thing at all! Do not deny me!” Dragon suddenly flung his arms forward with a roar and Gabriel was thrown back into the wall from the wave of telekinetic energy that left his hands,

“It seems I underestimated you…where did you learn this knowledge” Gabriel spat at Dragon

“GIVE ME MY FUTURE!” Dragon wiped the sip off, his eyes growing wide

“…DAZE!” without another word the beautiful raven haired woman materialized behind him. Gabriel was confused; he was not drawn to her this time. This time he feared her. “He knows…” her dual voice echoed around the room and her eyes began to glow,

“Then we must make sure people will not believe him…madmen spin all kinds of stories my love. I can fracture parts of his mind and cause him to slowly fall into the chasm of insanity!” Dragon’s expression was one of pure evil

“I believe our dear Gabriel san already has a few issues my love…I say we exaggerate them. Your obsession with William interest me greatly Gabriel san…but for you it will destroy you from within. The knowledge you will never be able to beat him and the knowledge you are weak will forever cloud you mind…it will be all you can concentrate on!” he looked at Daze who came over and kissed him passionately before Gabriel. They acted like animals ready for the slaughter. She began to speak.

“Look at my face Gabriel…look at me…for as of this moment…you will know nothing else but the fight you just lost…your every dream…your every nightmare…your every breath…will be bringing you close to a quivering mess on the floor. You’ll be a man in a padded room muttering about the monster that beat you!” she suddenly shot one of her fingers forward and it pierced his forehead. Gabriel’s screams echoed around the empty arena and seemed to last forever.

Rouge Isles, Sharkhead Isles, The Corporation Base
January, 14, 2008

The video had appeared outside the hospital addressed to William. A member of the Corp, going for a check-up, noticed the packaged and picked it up before handing it to John Sebastian. Several of the Corps directors gathered in the lounge to view the tape. Red Greivous sat properly on one of the nearby sofas, his red helmet disguising any expression he would make,

“Made any enemies recently Mr Breaker?” William shook his head as he removed the tape from the packaging

“Not to my knowledge…not any that is still alive at least.” John Sebastian paced the lounge area,

“I do not like this brother. Videos are made to intimidate you, show you things to anger you make you reckless.” Richard O’Haley, otherwise known as Nega Knight stood by the TV making the final connections so they could use an old video recorder,

“My recommendation is just don’t rise to it…” he looked over at the larger man and grinned

“Don’t worry…” William waved off the concerns,

The video was put into the player and suddenly Gabriel’s face appeared

“Any-one you recognise brother?” William got closer to the screen and squinted

“Not really…at least no-one that I immediately recognise…”

“…hello William. You may not remember me, but I sure as hell remember you! If you are struggling to put a name to the face let me help you out. My name is Gabriel Winters and we have fought before…” William suddenly started laughing,

“What the hell? Ohh you have got to be kidding me! This guy kept loosing to me at when I fought at Dragon’s place in china! What the hell is he doing?”

“…you’ve not doubt just started laughing…I remember that laugh William and I promise you this time you won’t be. You are asking ‘What does this fool want, this…weak…pathetic…fool want?’ his words where sharp and filled with anger “I want to fight you again William. This time I’m confident in my ability because…well…seen Dr Miles recently?” he held up Miles, blood soaked, name tag and William’s eyes grew wide, Gabriel put on a cockney accent and a stupid grin “…that’s right Willy me’ lad. Me and the ol’ Doc Miles got right chummy. E’ made me all Daft Punk…betta stronga fasta ‘arda…” his accent fell back as did the expression “So basically Will…I’m just like you. Although a hell of a lot better thanks to my mutant genes. You may still struggle a bit with my face, but I’ve got with me another face you may not recognise…” he suddenly swung the camera around so it faced the young, blond, bruised girl huddled on the floor. Her dark grungy clothes covered in tears, filth and blood. William’s brows furrowed in confusion,

“T-that’s impossible…” The camera fixed on her young face and her eyes met the screen. She struggled against her bonds looking defiant. William grab the side of the TV “That’s impossible! S-she’s dead!” A newspaper fell in front of the image and focused on the date, 3rd September, 2007,

“I bought this the day after those idiots went and planted the MMB on the Rikti Mothership, last day of the war Willy…” William fought off the confusion as his eyes filled with sadness and anger. He turned from the screen and walked to the back of the room. The rest of the Corp members eyes where fixed on the screen “…come on Laura dear…say hello to Daddy!” Laura started to scream for help and Gabriel walked over and stuck her again. The sound of the strike caused William to flinch. He faced the wall and refused to watch. His breath getting deeper and more aggressive. Gabriel approached the camera and swung it back around. “Here’s the deal William. You have a three months to prepare. If you attempt to find me during that time I will make your daughters say very uncomfortable. If you are able to beat me in combat then she is free. If you fall by my hands then I will make sure she finds her way into the bad places Will…this way I’m sure you are going to be fighting with every-thing!” Gabriel looked as if he was about to say some-thing but just chuckled “I guess you owe me one…she would be dead had it not have been for me…Good bye Willy…there will be another one of these waiting for you in three months time…” He reached over, and the video went dead.

There was a long pause as no-one said any-thing. Nega, who was know kneeling before the TV, slowly turned to face William,

“Jee-zus Will…I’m so sor-” before he could finish a large black object flew towards the TV. “WHOA!” Nega chucked himself right as one of the Corp’s sofas hit the TV with impressive force. The screen instantly shattered but the strength in which it was thrown caused both objects to tear through the wall behind eventually coming to rest in a dusty heap in the corridor. No-one had expected the attack. They had all jumped out of their skins. Their eyes were now fixed upon Will, who stood stationary where the sofa once sat, his eyes where filled with tears. As he fought them back, John slowly approached the man he called brother and placed his hand on his shoulder,

“We’ll find her Will…”

Nothing else was said…


----

That is the end of the introduction to Headbreaker: Mirror. CUrrently i am working on the main plot and hope to have the first piece out soon. Keep your eyes peeled

[u]Headbreaker: Mirror[u]

The main plot begins, unlike the intro i will be posting parts of the plot as i finish them. Other Characters may join in, just let me if you do and what your character would like to do. Enjoy one and all. Mirror

---

Corporation Base
January

John Sebastian entered the room slowly and looked across at the man he had come to know as his brother. There was no blood relation between them but both had a deep respect for each other (both had saved the others life on more than one occasion.) William stood before the mirror peering into it. He was not doing any-thing, just staring into it. Before him rested a large hunting knife, a glass of John’s finest scotch, a single smouldering cigar and the pack from which the cigar come from.
John looked at his friends and for the first time he could just about see the man William was. He could see a younger more carefree man past the worn face, aged from years of fighting and the difficult enhancements he endured to become strong. Ever since seeing Laura on the video, sent to him by an old adversary known as Gabriel Winters, William had begun to change, not only in personality but physically as well. Some-thing about him just seemed different.

“…am I disturbing brother?” William shook his head but did not take his gaze from the mirror

“No, not at all.” There was a long silence, “Richard [censored] about the TV?” John shook his head,

“No. He’s already on the phone to our furniture suppliers for a new one…sofa is beyond repair too.” William chuckled light

“Sorry John…” John rose his hand

“Think not of it brother. Had it been any of my family I would have probably done the same.” William looked at his friend for a moment then began to talk,

“Tell me, what do you know about Samurai?” John chuckled slightly and rose a single eyebrow,

“Samurai?” William nodded “As much as the next person I guess. Why do you ask?” William slowly picked up the hunting knife,

“They said that when a samurai was exiled from his home he was to cut off the top knot that they wore as a sign of their banishment. It meant he could not return ever again.” William, with his spare hand, took a sip of the scotch as John shook his head in confusion,

“You’ve lost me William. I don’t understand the relevance of this.” He took another sip and started to talk

“I’m banishing the monster I’m so scared of releasing. I’ve been known around the isles, and by a few people in Paragon, as a good man who’s just followed a bad path. To be honest I’m a bad man who has done bad things willingly. People see things differently to how they really happened. People have seen me do truly heroic things, during acts of villainy obviously, but acts they would call heroic. Truth be told I’m only do them because I’ve got nothing to lose, they are selfish acts for my own gain. This ‘good man’ they see is nothing more than a thug who is trying to save his own [censored]. However I have to banish the anger I have kept bottled up in me for so long. It’s going to make me sloppy and reckless and this is one of those times I can do that because I have some-thing to loose. I have to be focused and ready. What man I become from doing that…I don’t know…but I can assure you John, I still have got your back, I’m still William Breaker…I’m just going to be a little more focused and actually try to be a good man...just still on the wrong side of the law” William grinned slightly and looked to John, who was also grinning,

He suddenly rose the knife to the back of his head and, with a single swipe, he cut his long ponytail above the band. A large clump of hair hit the floor and what ever remained slumped forward. Suddenly William’s whole face changed. He picked up the cigar and took a long draw and blew out a perfect smoke ring. He watched the cloud dissipate and eventually stumped out the cigar in an ashtray. He picked up the rest of the pack and chucked it towards John, who caught it,

“Giving up brother?” John sounded genuinely surprised as William drained the remainder of the Scotch,

“I’ve got a lot to do if I’m gonna beat Gabriel John. Can be clogging up my lungs with smoke can I?” William moved towards his brother and patted his shoulder “I’m gonna need all the help I can get.”

“And you shall get it my friend…” As both men started walking towards the bar John looked at his friend for a second “…what do you have in mind?”

William grinned.

Paragon City

Gabriel sat up screaming in the rusted old metal bed. He gazed about the room quickly then rubbed his tired eyes. Every time he shut them he could only see Headbreaker laughing endlessly or the beautiful woman, shortly followed by the mind rendering pain that accompanied her. He dug deep in his mind for answers but his thoughts were distorted. He clearly remembered his past, his first kiss, his first lover, the places he lived, his school friends and the reason he abandoned his wealthy life to travel the world. He remembered reaching China…then every thing distorted. Why could he not remember, what was driving him? All he knew was he wanted his revenge against the man who ruined him and stole his future. William Breaker!

Stole his future, he didn’t understand what it meant but he knew it was enough to hate him. His mind then reminded him of some-thing and he gazed slowly into the corner of the murky sewer.

Her eyes did not hide the hate she felt for him. She remained huddled in the corner, her knees, now badly bruised and scraped, were close to her chest trying to find warmth in the cold stone room. He had not released her hands yet and they remained tied behind her back, her wrists were red from the endless struggling against her bonds. Dried blood was encrusted into her bright blond hair brought on from a wound caused by Gabriel earlier that week. Her bright blue eyes, red and blood shot and from tears and lack of sleep, bore into him as he smiled at her,

“Slept well my dear?” his eerie, upper-class accent sent chills through her

“Go to hell you sick *******!” she spoke through a split lip,

“My dear that kind of language is not needed her…” he rose from the bed and walked over to her. He knelt before her and stroked her soft glowing skin. He rubbed at a bruise on her cheek as if trying to wash it off “…if you were more polite I would be able to let you walk about, I would be able to stop being so cruel. I hate being cruel my dear by you give me no choice…” tears threatened to over whelm her. She knew not how long she had been her; all she knew was that each day brought his wraith upon her. “All I need to do is beat your…” he half spat “…father…and then I will release you. You have my promise child!” He kissed her forehead and she cowered and half yelped.

“DON’T TOUCH ME!” Gabriel moved back his eyes turning from soft, to hard and unforgiving,

“Stay your volume my dear.” He rose to his feet and looked down upon her, “I cannot be held responsible for my actions should your location slip to the Family. I hear they’d make a lot of money with a nice girl like you!” his tone was harsh, cold and terrifying. He spun on his heels and returned to his bed, leaving Laura crying softly in the corner.

He closed his eyes and the dreams started again.

Cap Au Diable

The air was cold and held a freezing mist that crept down into the narrow streets of New Haven. The only warmth in the cold town was the heat that radiated from the large, twisting pipes of Doctor Aeon’s PTS. Groups of cold homeless gathered around the imposing structures, trying to steal whatever warmth they could.

Running though the cold streets were William Breaker and Fredrick ‘Freddy’ Jones. Ever since the video had arrived at the Corporation base, and William had seen his daughter was alive in the hands of an obsessed maniac known only by the name of Gabriel, Will had been pushing his body as far as it would possibly go. He knew that Freddy, whose skills were not unlike his own, was the best person to turn to for training. He had explained the situation and Freddy quickly agreed without hesitation. The training had so far been hard and tiring but William would not give up, what little was left of his biological family was at stake.

Both giants stomped down the street, their breath turning to steam in the bitter cold. People moved aside as they passed, afraid of being run over by the two imposing figures. Freddy chanced a glance at Will; he saw that his eyes had changed since seeing the video. The usual cold, soulless tint that haunted them was now replaced with what could only be described as hope.

“Alright Will, slow down,” started Freddy “I think we forgot some-one…” Both men stopped running and began to stretch. After a long moment Tony ‘Big Game’ Fedele slowly appeared around the corner. He was wearing tiger print shorts, not unlike his famous pants, a white vest and his hunter’s hat. As he approached the two men they could hear his huffing and wheezing. Sweat freely rolled down his face and he looked incredibly flustered.
Tony had only agreed to come along with the training session as he felt it would make him look good in front of the Students of Cap University.

He finally stopped before the two men and then hunched over, resting his hands on his knees and fought for air,

“When…I agreed…to do this…and take…valuable time…away from the Hyenas…I did not realise…we would be running…FOR FOUR HOURS…WITHOUT…A BREAK!”

William chuckled and rested his hand on Tony’s back, ignoring the sweat

“We told you it’d be pretty intense Tony; you didn’t have to come along…” Freddy chuckled and looked up towards Aeon City

“Tell you what Tony; if you can make it as far as Aeon…I’ll buy you a beer and a good woman.” Tony managed a weak grin as he straitened himself out,

“…I…am going to hold you…to that…” Freddy started to run at a slower pace, shortly followed by William and then eventually by Tony.

“So Will…” started Freddy “…are you sure about all of this?” William nodded,

“Yeah. Gabriel was always strong due to his mutation. Now being coupled with the same enhancements I went through he’s bound to be stronger. I can loose this battle, not when my daughter is on the line.” Freddy nodded

“I understand. She means a lot to you doesn’t she?” there was a long silence,

“…The whole world Freddy, she’s all I’ve got left of my previous life.”

“I understand. You don’t need to worry about being alone in this. You have friends you can turn to. To a lot of people in the isles to whom you are a friend, a brother, some-what of an anti-hero to others and soon you’ll be a father again. I know how hard you’ve been treating your self these past few weeks” William went to complain but Freddy merely rose his hand “Nothing escapes my ears Will. You are not a monster, you never have been. You’ve been close, but some-thing has always brought you back. If any-thing Laura is going to keep that monster you are so afraid of away. You’re already trying to be a different man because of her.”

They slowly started up the ramp to Aeon City; William pushed himself harder and moved ahead of Freddy. Freddy soon followed suit and laughed when he heard a groan from Tony who trailed behind him. William pushed himself past the giant globe that dominated the centre of the city and began to run to the edge of the city wall. As soon as he reached the very edge he let off a nimble skip and then soared into the air towards Old Haven. Freddy grinned and too leapt towards Haven.

Tony came skidding to a halt as he watched the two fly off into the air, he fought for breath, looked about and then waved the two off,

“Ahhh to hell with you…” he fought off the fire in his lungs and slowly limped back towards New Haven “…I’m going home…to ice…my legs…no way…I’m doing this again…hunting monster…easy work…training with…Will and Freddy…freakin’ nightmare! No…woman…or drink…is worth this…pain” he rambled on as he left the city.

William and Freddy landed heavily and rolled away as they did. Both came up to their feet and looked at the distance they had travelled

“Think Tony’s gone home?”

“Most likely…”

“Think we were a bit harsh on him?”

“Nah, he’ll be fine. Probably go to the University and end up in the sack with a student.”

“Yeah you’re probably right…” Freddy interrupted,

“Just remember what I said to you a few weeks ago Will. It’s easy to loose your temper here. This is personal to you and it’s going to be easy to loose it. Get mad, don’t get angry, if you loose it for a moment with this guy there is a good chance you are going to loose your self. You are strong but by the sounds of it he will be stronger so you’re going to have to be smart and don’t think you have to do this alone. You have a lot of powerful friends…use them!” Freddy looked at his watch and then towards the Airport on the far side of Old Haven “Listen, I’m gonna have to go but good session today…” Will nodded,

“Thanks for this.”

“Don’t sweat it. I’ll be seeing you about our next session…” Both men shook hands. Freddy began to walk away and then suddenly with a hop, skip and jump he leapt towards Cap Au Diable airport and disappeared behind a building.

William walked towards the waters edge and peered out to sea.

Paragon City

The plan was coming together. He had done his research and before him, pinned to the wall, was a chart showing the members of the Corporation & its friends and allies. He had written beside each image, what he felt, was their connection to William and their importance to him. He scanned across the names, John Sebastian, Jaqueline Thornwood, Richard O’Haley, Longier, Tony Fedele, Freddy Jones, Jessica Black…and so on and so on. The plan was simple, hurt those close to William. The more he hurt them, the more reckless Headbreaker was sure to become and the more reckless he was, the easier it would be for him to be defeated. He gazed at one of the images of Jessica Black, codenamed Spellbound. He ran his finger across her ‘face’

“My, my! Aren’t you a looker. What are you to William and do I see you together so often?”

He rubbed his tired eyes as he moved towards the entrance. He needed some air and any-thing that came close to a decent cup of tea.

As he came to the surface he moved up towards the water of Independence Port and sat on a nearby bench, dedicated to some husband who loved the view. He watched as the orange sun slowly began to lower into the sea, touching every-thing with a golden glow. He closed his eyes and yet again he was struck with pain and images of the beautiful women, her raven hair, her soft glowing eyes and her delicate voice. Pain shot through him and his eyes snapped open as the laughter started. He looked around, yet saw no-one. Rested his elbows on his knees he looked out towards the water edge as the darkness of night slowly began to envelope the City Of Heroes.

For a brief moment he was calm. As the darkness had finally fallen he rose to his feet and headed towards the docks. He had picked his first target.

St Martial

William sat atop of the Golden Giza as the sun was rising. He had come up here at midnight and hadn’t moved since. Even as the cold rain fell and stopped he did not move. He just stared out towards the East and waited for the dawn. He had not watched a sunrise since way back when.

As it peek above the sea a memory came to him. He closed his eyes and let it appear in his mind

****

“…what do you mean it looks stupid?”

“I’m telling you, cut your hair short again Willy, you looked so much better.” William moved over and kissed his wife on the lips. She put her arms around him and quickly ruffled his growing hair,

“Aww come on. You use to love it when I had long hair in College.”

“That was University Willy. You were a in a band and it worked then. You’re a businessman now; long hair does not suit you.”

“Spoil sport!” the two kissed again and, cheek to cheek, they looked out the window as the sun rose above the city “Urgh…I don’t want to go to work. I wanna stay here with you…if you get my meaning?” this brought a squeal of excitement from his wife before suddenly Laura came bursting into the room, waddling the way small children do, and all while screaming with laughter as she ran into William’s arms, who swung her up into a hug. “Hello sweetie…what’s with all the noise?”

“Um….I want to show picture I dew of you an’ mommy?” William smiled and tickled his daughter’s stomach, causing her to laugh louder. He put her on the floor and was then led, by the hand, to the lounge. He looked back at his wife as he was pulled around the corner. She stood and smiled before blowing him a kiss. He remembered the lounge was always covered in her toys, mainly dolls and things that only a young girl could possibly enjoy, but one toy she always used was her crayon set. He thought about how the images she drew and how stereotypical they were, my house, my family, my dog (who tragically had jumped out of the window while barking at a pigeon) and green fields and happy scenes. She rummaged around random balls of paper until she found what she was looking for and then handed it up to him with a large grin on her face. He looked at the picture and saw crudely drawn figures holding hands in a grassy field with the words, Mum, dad and me written over each. He chuckled lightly and then looked back at his daughter…

…suddenly he was no-longer looking at a small child but a teenage girl. He looked back at the picture and he found the page blank. The room about him was empty, all the toys and childish objects were gone. He looked at the teenage girl, who suddenly spoke in the Childs voice,

“What’s wrong daddy?”

****

Will’s eyes snapped open to see the sun fully arisen. He looked to regain his bearings and then began to wipe tears from his eyes and began. Pinching the bridge of his nose he had begun to realise he had no real idea who his daughter was. The only time he had actually spent with her was before he was kicked out. He only knew about what she had told him on the phone, they spoke only on her birthday and usually without her mother’s knowledge. He had no real idea what she liked, what her music tastes were, who her friends were, nothing about the teenager he saw on the video. Sure he would have his daughter back after all of this, but for a long time she would be a stranger to him, and he to her. The only thing, he hoped, was she was as strong as she told him she was. For otherwise, he was sure, she would have gone mad by now…

(Written By Synthet)

Mercy Island

Gabriel walked away, cleaning the blood from his hands with a white handkerchief and tossing it away when he was done, the stained material fluttering towards the ground like a broken butterfly. He paused by the door before he left, looking over his shoulder at the body. She bad been beautiful, but now her blonde hair was stained with blood and her lovely face was badly bruised. The angle of her neck… well, it wasn’t so bad, but the bone protruding from it certainly spoiled things. Many things he was, but a necrophiliac wasn’t one of them.

“Sorry about that dear, I hadn’t quite meant to kill you. But to be perfectly honest… well, you just got creepy. Hopefully William finds you because quite frankly, I’m bored of you know and haven’t the patience to do any gift wrapping. Still, if it’s any consolement you put up a smashing fight.” He smirked as he turned away and walked out the door, leaving the corpse of Jessica Black, Spellbound, lying behind him.

***

Jessica sat at the small desk in her study-come-bedroom, going through dull paperwork. It was amazing how even paperwork about serious criminals could be boring, but since she was an officer in the Rogue Isles Police, most of the really ‘fun’ troublemakers got passed onto the Wolf Spiders. With a sigh she slumped forward onto the desk, pressing her forehead against the papers.

“This is so dull. I’m bored out of my mind.”
“And you think talking to me will make you anymore sane?”
“It’s better than filing a report about how some guy took a leak on my squad car.”
“At least I rank highly on your list of priorities.”

Jessica laughed a little and sat back up, pushing her hair away from her face and turning around in the chair to look at her sister. She was sprawled out across the bed, flicking through channels on the television. Unlike Jessica, her hair was black instead of blonde. She was dressed in old blue flannel pyjama’s that were covered in blood. Her wrists were cut wide open but didn’t bleed and she was deathly pale. Apart from those minor differences, they were identical.

“If you get blood on my sheets, I’m going to kill you Emily.”
Emily rolled her eyes and began to float slightly above the bed. “The blood isn’t real, and I’m already dead in case you’ve forgotten. And if you haven’t and that was a joke, you’ve got bad taste.”
“Yeah, well, you’re dead.”
“Oh go back to your paperwork.” Emily snapped.
“You’ve gotten so touchy since you died.” Jessica mumbled as she turned back around.”
“What was that?”
“I said that you’ve-”
“No, not that. You’re a [censored], I already know that. Listen, there’s somebody outside.”

***

Gabriel frowned. Who was in there? He knew this was where “Spellbound” lived, he’d followed her back here. Was it William? He’d seen them together before, and he was certain they were a couple. But no… he could hear her voice, but no one else’s. Was she talking to herself? He would have to risk it, but if there was someone else in there this could get messy. Lifting his hand he rapped smartly on the door three times and it opened almost instantly.

She stood there, dressed in her police uniform. Oh, she wasn’t wearing the hat or the jacket, but her blue shirt still had R.I.P.D stitched onto it, even if some of the buttons were undone and her black tie was loosened. Terrible shame about the trousers though… he much preferred to see a woman in a dress or skirt. It was much more becoming, distinctly more ladylike. Still, she was very attractive, in an angry sort of way.

“Can I help you?” She asked him coldly.
“That depends. I’m sorry to interrupt your evening dear, but are you Jessica Black?”
“I am. So?”
“Do you mind if I come in for a minute?”
“No. What do you want?”
“I’m a friend of William’s. I was hoping we could have a quick word about him, I’m a touch concerned about how he’s doing.”

He must have said something to tip her off because her eyes narrowed dangerously as soon as he had mentioned William. She gave him a venomous look. And then… something odd happened. She was talking. He hadn’t seen her begin to talk, hear her take a breath and he felt he might have even missed part of the sentence. It was if time had jumped. It reminded him of those horror movies were the ghost was suddenly three feet closer to you, as if they’d sped up time around themselves or pushed it forward somehow…

“-who you are, but I don’t have time for this.”

He took a moment to shake off the slightly unsettled feeling he had. He knew that his quest was driving him to certain measures that may not be considered normal but… surely, he wasn’t going mad? Sleep deprivation. That was it, that was all it was. He hadn’t been sleeping well. Having to keep an eye on William’s disgusting little spawn meant he couldn’t leave her alone for too long. Even this trip was a risk.

“Simply put darling, I’m afraid you’re going to have to make time.” He kicked her straight in the stomach, sending her flying back into the room and crashing into the opposite wall. “Sorry about that, I’m rather stronger than I look.”
She looked up at him with those same venomous eyes, her lips curling away from her teeth in a snarl. “That makes three of us.”
“Three of us?”

She pushed herself back to her feet as the lights in the room began to fade out, flickering weakly. She took one step forward, and suddenly it happened again. She was about three feet closer to him without having crossed the intervening space. She flexed her hands and the space around her became distinctly darker, as if the light in the room wasn’t able to reach her.

“Yes. Three. I hope you’re not afraid of ghosts, because I am one haunted [censored].”
“Well then.” He said grimly, walking forward. “This should be interesting, shouldn’t it?”

He threw a punch at her that seemed to slow down as it entered the dark space around her. It was like punching through thick treacle. She easily ducked underneath his sluggish fist and punched him directly in the chest, her own hand swirling with shadows as she struck. He staggered a step backwards before regaining his balance by shifting his weight forwards and slamming his fist straight ahead, punching through the darkness around her and smashing her in the face.

“Note to self. Power, not speed.” He quipped cheerfully blocking her counter attack and throwing himself forward, ramming his shoulder into her and driving forwards until she hit the wall. Small hands with incredible power grabbed the front of his shirt and spun him around, pinning him against the wall. She had flipped them both around and now lay into him with a flurry of attacks, her fists becoming a blur and leaving shadowed after images of themselves.

His body jerked each time he was punched. Whatever ghoul or beastie was powering her was obviously not weak and she was actually managing to hurt him. But his healing factor was dealing with the damage she was causing almost as soon as she pulled her fist back for another strike.

“That, my darling, is QUITE ENOUGH!”

He slapped her across the side of the face, hard enough to send her reeling.

“Sometimes you just need to take a good firm hand with a woman when she steps out of line. And you are certainly out of line my dear. Do you know who I am? How many generations of breeding it has taken to create this specimen you see before you?”

He sneered and pulled himself away from the wall where the force of her punches had left an imprint of his body. Broken plaster fell from his back as he stepped closer to her.

“Of course you don’t. You’re nothing but a [censored], a mongrel without class or aspirations beyond being a crooked cop. Oh, sometimes you dress up in a silly costume and play at being powerful. But you simply haven’t the drive for greatness that men like I and William possess! The determination -”

He swung his hand again, catching her under the jaw with a backhanded strike. She staggered backwards a few steps, blinking dizzily. The darkness around her was weakening considerably and the lights in the room were flickering a touch brighter now.

“- the dedication to do whatever is necessary to others, to ourselves, in order to become men worthy of our destinies! But there can only be one of us, my dear, and that is going to be me. I have pushed myself further than William is capable of imagining, and you… well, whatever ghost ‘haunts’ you and gives you this power clearly isn’t [censored] off enough to do anything truly magnificent.”
She panted for breath. It looked as if he’d broken her jaw. “Shut… up… about… my… sister…” She growled out, darkness beginning to creep in across her eyes.
“Oh, your sister is it? Send her my regards.”

***

Gabriel walked away, cleaning the blood from his hands with a white handkerchief and tossing it away when he was done, the stained material fluttering towards the ground like a broken butterfly. He paused by the door before he left, looking over his shoulder at the body. She bad been beautiful, but now her blonde hair was stained with blood and her lovely face was badly bruised. The angle of her neck… well, it wasn’t so bad, but the bone protruding from it certainly spoiled things. Many things he was, but a necrophiliac wasn’t one of them.

“Sorry about that dear, I hadn’t quite meant to kill you. But to be perfectly honest… well, you just got creepy. Hopefully William finds you because quite frankly, I’m bored of you know and haven’t the patience to do any gift wrapping. Still, if it’s any consolement you put up a smashing fight.” He smirked as he turned away and walked out the door, leaving the corpse of Jessica Black, Spellbound, lying behind him.

***

A faint clicking became a slow scraping growl, followed by a horrible grinding sound and finally a snap. A faint rattle became a wheeze, followed by a rush of air and finally a gasp. She sat up slowly, dazed and confused. Looking drunkenly at her hand she opened and closed it slowly, before running it down her leg. Her other hand went to her neck, feeling the beautiful complete skin, free of a hole or protruding bone.

“I’m… alive…” She said in wonder.
“Yes. I, on the other hand, am [censored] DEAD!”
“…Jess?”

Paragon City

Laura lay on her side dozing. Gabriel had left the ‘lair’ two days previous and had not returned. For a good day and night she screamed till her voice was hoarse and she could scream no more. She pulled against her bonds but ended up causing more damage to her self. Eventually, after a long and much needed cry, she had fallen asleep. She had slept though the whole second day, ignoring the hunger pains that shot though her. She had lost a lot of weight through Gabriel’s neglecting. She hoped, at first, that even though he would torture every other night, he would at least keep her well fed as to keep her strength up. He said it himself that it was no fun torturing a bag of skin and bones. After a few weeks however he began to bring food every other day and most of the time they were simply scraps from what he himself had eaten earlier. The torture too almost came to and end, he seemed more focused now on her father than herself. She tossed and turned in her sleep, she had not had a pleasant dream in many nights, all she could see was Gabriel and each blow he brought upon her. She was sure he had broken some of her ribs as lying on one side caused her massive amounts of pain. Every-where else was now just a dull ache, bruises were turning dark yellow and purples and her cuts were now dark scabs.

Suddenly a brown paper bag fell in front of her with a flop causing her to jump and arise from her slumber. She looked at the bag before her and could see the ‘Up-N-Away Burger’ logo. She struggled to sit up strait and when she finally did she looked to Gabriel, whose expression was a soft one

“What’s this?” She asked him quizzingly

“I was coming back after going to the Etoils and I got hungry bought my self a burger. I started thinking about you down here and I felt bad, so…well...it’s a double cheese burger. I got you a strawberry milkshake as well but I drank it on the way back.” He could see the confusion on her face and began to scratch his head absently “…eat, please!”

“How am I meant to eat when you keep my hands tied behind my back!” as her voice began to rise, Gabriel tried to stop her shouting with several shhhh noises, but it had no effect on her. “You’ve been forcing my meals down my throat for weeks you are so adamant about keeping me tied up!” as her volume increased he became more frustrated until he suddenly he roared out,

“SHUT UP!” She fell into silence and after a moment he spoke, “I will untie you alright? Then you may eat on your own for once. However, because I do not trust you fully I will keep your legs bound”

He pushed her over and she landed heavily on her side as he began to release her wrists. She could try and attack him, but he was too strong and she was too hungry.

As soon as she was loose she grabbed the bag and hungrily stuffed the burger into her mouth. Gabriel walked off and sat in a small, half rotten armchair,

“So…” he started “…How have you been feeling my dear?” Laura stopped eating and looked at him with disgust, she swallowed her mouthful and began to talk,

“How am I? How am I?! You can’t buy me food and suddenly expect us to be friends Gabe! I have been kidnapped, locked up, beaten and starved by you…how the [censored] do you think I am you *******?!” She chucked the remains of her burger in his direction. He moved his head to the side as it sailed past him. He watched it pass him and watched it splat against the wall on the other side of the room. He watched it slowly slide down the grimy wall before retuning his gaze to Laura,

“It is not nice to waste food bought for you! You shouldn’t be angry at me dear, your father is the one you should be angry…” she cut him short,

“My father is not the one who is hitting me! My father is not the one who is beating up a girl to get back at some-one! My father is trying to save me from a scared little boy who lost a fight with a real ma-“ Gabriel lept to his feet and charged towards her before she could finish. He rose his hand to strike her then suddenly screamed out in rage

“WHY DO YOU MAKE ME A BAD PERSON?!” Laura, who was able to cover her face with her arms, slowly lowered them to watch Gabriel move towards the armchair. He was pointing at it as if some-one was sitting there, to Gabriel however there was some-one sitting within…

“Gabriel my sweet. She is the bad one. She is the one who makes you do the bad things. Her and her father…” Gabriel looked at the beautiful woman, the pain burned deep into his mind. He tried to look at her face but could only see the searing glow of her eyes and her long raven hair,

“What have…you done to me?”

“I have done nothing to you Gabriel my dear. Headbreaker was the one who hurt you remember?”

“But why did you make me kill the woman?!”

“Because she was close to William…you would prefer to kill a child? Be my guest!” she gestured Laura. As she did the room began to fill with laughter. Gabriel covered his ears; he looked almost as if he was a child,

“That laugh! He is laughing at me again!” he fell to his knees and tried to block out the laughter,

“It’s him my sweet. It’s Headbreaker. He is laughing at how weak you are. He knows he can’t beat you. Don’t let him get to you my sweet. You must train to become stronger…Miss Black was the start…just think what he would do if John Sebastian fell by your hands!” Gabriel nodded,

“Yes…his brother would be a worthy foe.” Eventually the pain and laughter died into nothingness. Gabriel looked back at Laura who was huddled into the corner, he knees to her chest and her hands holding them close. Gabriel rose from his knees and slumped into the armchair and stared at her. She simply store back.

Sharkhead Isle, Corpmunitions Storage Warehouse 2B

Freddy charged at Will with his fist clenched tight. As he got close he lept slightly, raising his fist into the air and bringing it down, striking the floor with as much might as he dared use. The ground rumbled and cracked under the strain of the blow.
William had lept backwards and barely avoided the attack. Since he had started training with Freddy Jones, Will had already begun to show improvement. Not only in his fighting style, but physically as well. The large enhanced body he once sported was beginning to tone up. He no longer looked fat; instead his muscles began to gain character. He was becoming better at reading his opponents and was becoming better pacing himself, no longer wearing himself out during lengthy fight.

Freddy pulled his fist out of the crater he had created and lept forward to begin a chain of attacks. William rose his arms up and blocked several, some however still found home on his sides.

“Come on Will. You should have blocked them all!” William pushed forwards and began his own chain of attack, however Freddy read them well and blocked them before parrying and pushing back

“I’m - trying - okay!”

“You’re not trying hard enough! If I was Gabriel I’d have probably run you into the ground by now and sold Laura to some pimp!” Anger flushed within William but he pushed it down, he wasn’t going to get angry, that’s when mistakes are made. William caught one of the blows and pushed it away, causing an opening in Freddy’s defence. He threw a punch into Freddy’s side and suddenly his hits were beginning to find home. Freddy absorbed the blows, his body being invulnerable by all standards, after a few hits he suddenly kicked out, catching William heavily in the stomach. Will hunched over and gasped for air but before he could find any respite he found himself blocking blow after blow,

“Gabriel isn’t gonna fight fair Will, you should have expected that!” Suddenly Freddy caught William in the chest with a powerful blow. Will was hit with such force that he rocketed backwards into a metal crate stack causing them to collapse around him. He tried to pull himself from the metal that now pinned him in. He looked up to see Freddy’s fist stop inches from his face “…pity…”

“Damn it what is wrong with me today?” Freddy’s fist suddenly opened into a helping hand. William grabbed it and was pulled from the crates, with minimal ease, to his feet,

“You’ve got a lot of your mind. I can understand a few mistakes during training.” William dusted himself off before moving over to a towel he had laid on the side. He dabbed the sweat from his brow.

“I just don’t want to make any during the real thing.” Freddy took a sip of drink from a flask and looked at his friend,

“…do you want to know some-thing Will…it’s a secret of mine…” William looked over,

“I’m listening…” Freddy grinned and rubbed at his beard

“Mistakes are good. You’re not going to be a perfect fighter. You are bound to make mistakes; you just have to learn how to recover from them. Fights are dynamic things. There is no set order. Gabriel won’t attack high, low, high, mid, swing…blahblahblah and so on and so on…he’s gonna be looking for openings and opportunities, if he finds one you need to know how to recover from it!”

William was glad Freddy was training him. Freddy had been in the dark place William was so afraid of. Will had seen Freddy’s darker side thanks to the powers of Oroboros and it had been an eye opener. He had been a ruthless, heartless, sadistic killer and cared little for any-one who got in his way or stood by his side. Freddy had spent ages fighting to rid himself of that darkness and sought redemption for his prior deeds. He had succeeded and become a better man for doing so. It was inspiration in one way. William was not going to become a cape, but he knew if he put his mind to it he could beat back the anger that boiled inside. People could now look over to Freddy as he passed them and say ‘there goes a hero.’

Freddy cracked his knuckles and returned to the centre of the room,

“Alright Will…come at me!” Both men rose their fists, and the next fight began.

Paragon City

Gabriel strolled down the street whistling a nameless tune. He was in his usual white shirt, black tie and his long black hair flowing and free. The apparition of the beautiful woman had given him some clarity. John Sebastian was an important part of the Corporation and a close friend of William’s. If he could defeat him then William would surely break down and the Corporation would crumble.

From atop of a nearby roof shadows crept and curled around a nameless figure. His flowing white hair masked his face; all that could be seen from the moonlight was a pair of sharp fangs. It’s mouth pulling into a twisted grin,

“Young master William would probably be most thankful for me defeating his enemy. That…or he will be most angry…a risk I am willing to take for the sake of the Corporation…” the stranger licked his lips “…I wonder what he tastes like?”

Gabriel’s footsteps slowed to a complete halt. He continued to whistle his tune as he looked about, he knew he was being watched.
The watcher crept closer to the edge of the rooftop, crouched as if ready to pounce.
Gabriel saw what appeared to be the shadow, slowly leaking off the rooftop.

Suddenly the attacker fell towards the ground with a terrifying scream. Gabriel lept backwards and watched as the figure gently landed on the floor before him. Both his hands lay flat as one knee rested on the ground, his head was hung low so his white hair fell over his face. The figure slowly rose to his feet as the shadows that followed him moved like a cape around his body. Soon he was standing straight with his held still held downward. With a sudden flick of his head, he swished the hair out of his eyes and fixed his gaze on Gabriel

“Very dramatic…Longier I presume?” the vampire known as Longier, medical officer of the Corporation, nodded once

“That I am young Gabriel. You’ve been causing us some problems these past few weeks. You’ve caused our William some hurt and I have promised him, in not so many words, that I will hurt you in return…”

“The rules were no-one was to help him!” Gabriel’s voice was filling with anger,

“I’ve not been one for the rules…not for a very, very, very long time at least.” The two men started to circle each other. Longier’s shadows occasionally snapped out as if they were reaching for Gabriel, but they pulled back as quickly as they struck out. Gabriel eyed the tendrils and sighed,

“What is it with me and those bound to the Netherrealm…first that Jessica [censored] now you?”

“I guess you just attract that kind of person young Gabriel.” Gabriel stopped in his tracks and swept his arms outwards in a receiving fashion,

“I suppose we are going to do this thing?”

“Yes young Gabriel, yes we are…” in a flash Longier was suddenly before Gabriel and with an almighty push flung him backwards down the alley. Gabriel landed on his backside and skidded for a moment before using the momentum to roll over and land on his feet. He began to charge forward at the Vampire and as soon as he was upon him he struck out. Longier however had vanished leaving only a wispy cloud of black shadows,

“Very cute trick! However you cannot hide forever vampire…” Longier’s voice echoed around the alley, it sounded as if it came from all angles; there seemed to be no focal point for it

“I do not intend too young Gabriel…” suddenly the shadows burst outwards towards Gabriel and Longier was suddenly upon his back. The vampire opened his mouth wide and bit deep, breaking the powerful skin and actually drawing blood. Gabriel yelped slightly then shot his fist up into the creature’s face. Longier shot backwards and before he had even hit the wall, Gabriel grabbed him by his shirt and added to the force in which he hit the bricks. The whole wall bowed inward with the force,

“I read this interesting article on reformed vampires the other day…” started Gabriel. Longier looked up into the Englishman’s eyes with his usually psychotic glare. His face an unreadable smile

“Do go on!” Gabriel laughed at the wit,

“It said they are drinking pig’s blood as it is more like a humans! Isn’t that fascinating?”

“I prefer the real thing…”

“I bet you do. Funny that it is Pigs blood because you know…I was just thinking of some-thing to do with pigs?”

“Let me guess…Jessica being an RIP Officer?”

“Funny! But no. It was a song actually, and old one so you might even know it. It goes like this…this little piggy went to market!” suddenly Gabriel’s hand shot out and grabbed Longier’s left arm. With a sudden pull, Gabriel tore the arm from his body. The vampire let out an inhuman scream that echoed down the alley as his arm turned to dust in Gabriel’s hands.

“This little piggy stayed at home!” Gabriel shot out again and grabbed the other arm and, again with a sudden pull, he tore the arm off. A black oozy substance sprayed from the wound, covering Gabriel’s white suit and much of the immediate alley around them.

“This little piggy had roast beef!” he lifted the Vampire higher and grabbed at his leg. He pulled on it, severing it from the kneecap. The appendage turned to dust as black ooze poured onto a puddle now gathering on the floor. Gabriel’s eyes met with Longier’s, a wide grin split across his face as he pulled his arm back,

“…and this little piggy had NONE!” with a forceful punch, he put his fist through Longier’s leg. Gabriel’s fist tore through to the other side and crashed into the wall behind. Gabriel removed his gunk covered hand and rose his fist up, aiming it at Longier’s face; the vampire was now half laughing, half sobbing against the pain that tore through his body. Gabriel’s voice turned cold as he prepared for the final strike,

“…and this little piggy went…”


“…HEADBUTT!” screamed Longier as his whole body moved forward and his forehead met with Gabriel’s nose. The blow was so powerful that Gabriel staggered backwards and blood sprayed outward. He had released the vampire who merely fell to the floor, but without the use of his arms or legs he just landed in a messy heap.

Gabriel roared with anger as he held the mess that had been his nose. As he removed his hands however his healing factor was already working, leaving only blood.

“You dirty vampire! How dare you!”

“A…little move…I learnt…from young…Nega…Knight…A good…ol’ Irishman!” Gabriel started to move forwards

“I’m going to enjoy killing you, you dirty undead son of a [censored]! Forget Pigs, it’s time for a stake!” Longier’s shadows started to envelope him. As Gabriel reached the mass of clouds he shot his fist inside, only to find the floor. The smoke cleared and Longier was gone. Gabriel pulled his fist from the ground and screamed with rage.

****

Sharkhead Isle, Corporation Base

Longier dropped from the ceiling. The shadows avoided the light at all cost and found respite above the light shade. The Vampire hit the floor heavily and for a long moment he trashed about like a fish out of water. Eventually he stopped struggling and lay still. Nothing happened.

Shadows began to fall from the ceiling and wrap themselves around him once more. They flew up and down until they suddenly gushed into his body. The air was still and silent.

Longier’s eyes snapped open and he looked down at his regenerated appendages. He chuckled light and pulled himself up of the floor before dusting himself off, checking his body in the process. Looking about the lab the vampire found what he needed and started to walk over to it. As he approached the counter he discovered a fault with his regeneration, he was shorter, much shorter! His body had shrunk in mass to recover from the wounds and, until he drank a sizable amount of blood, he would remain short.

The vampire sighed and hung his head in disbelief. He chuckled at his predicament and then reached up and grabbed a Petri dish from the counter. Spitting, he filled the dish with a large globule of blood before placed it back on the counter. He rummaged around his stationary draw for a sticker which, when found, he wrote Gabriel across. He attached it to the Petri dish and in turn placed that into a freezer. Satisfied he began to walk towards the Corporation’s private bar,

“Time to get some blood and then get some real work done…Ohhh William will be pleased!”

Corporation Base, Sharkhead Isle

The note had arrived outside the base some-time after midnight. The CCTV, recently set up by Nega, had shown a cloaked figure approaching the teleportation network and pinning the note to the wall near-by. They had studied the video carefully by the figure had covered up their features well.

William read through the note carefully, absorbing the well written handwriting,

Pocket D, Febuary 15th, Monkey Bar, Joe Young’s favourite table, come ALONE, Gabriel

William screwed up the note in his hand. Richard looked to him for a second, his Irish accent slightly thicker than normal,

“You’re not honestly going to go alone are you?” William nodded,

“He wanted to do it in Pocket D because he knows I can’t attack him in there…I gotta play it his way Ricky…” Nega shook his head,

“Pocket D’s a public place…he can’t stop some of the Corp drinking there right?” William grinned weakly.

Pocket D

The club was thriving with patrons. The endless and almost hypnotic bass beat that filled Pocket D was ever present, assaulting the ears and leaving an echo imprinted on the eardrums that endured long into the next day. In the middle of the dimensional nightclub was DJ Zero. He was an enigma. He was a mystery, even to the most knowledgeable of Paragon’s best. He had appeared one day in Paragon City and opened the first doorway to his neutral ground, a place where heroes & villains could congregate without consequence. Even the likes of Statesman & Recluse had come to Pocket D, if only to toss words to each other.

William strode from the villain’s bar known only as the Jolly Rodger, in account for the flag flying behind the main bar, and, with quickened pace, cross the dance floor and entered the Monkey Arena Bar.

(Furious George had been on a winning streak all this day.)

As he ascended the ramp to the main bar he could see Gabriel sitting in the corner table, drink in hand, newspaper in the other and a stupid grin on his face. William breathed in deeply and controlled his temper. He could not hurt Gabriel here. As he got close Gabriel slapped the newspaper on the table, the headline spoke of Britanic’s death,

“Always a shame. Fewer and fewer of the queen’s heroes these days…” As he looked up from the paper, he noticed William approaching,
“Ah William my lad! My, my, aren’t we looking different?” Gabriel waved him over, the gesture made it seem as if they were friends. Will approached the table and sat opposite his Mirror,

“…nice choice of location Gabe.”

“Yes I thought so too. Reminiscent of our days back in Dragon’s ring?”

“Very much so…monkey’s fighting each other for the sake of entertainment…very apt” Gabriel was silent for a moment; it was obvious the comment struck a nerve, his smile however never faded

“…you never did take it very seriously did you? The honour, the excitement, the sheer thrill of punching the other man until he was down, the skill involved and the man it shaped you into…”

“After you were gone I started too…”

“…well bully for you Willy...” he took a large sip from a pint glass, a thick black substance with a large white head to it. He gently put the glass down, licked his lips, then looked dead into William’s eyes, “…I know you’re not here to gossip or name call. We are here about our little…how to say...reunion!”

“…where is Laura?”

“One thing at a time Willy. Laura is safe…”

“…she doesn’t look very safe with all those cuts and bruises!”

“Mind your tongue Willy…yes she may have been roughed up slightly…”

“Slightly?!” Gabriel was getting frustrated,

“Can we please concentrate on one thing at a time?”

“You touch one more hair on my daughter’s head Gabe and I will personally be coming down on you like a tone of bricks!”

“…stop talking about Laura…our fight Willy…our fight is important…” his frustration grew

“No we’re gonna keep talking about Laura until you give her ba-” Gabe slammed his fist into the table causing his drink to topple

“STOP IT! WE ARE STILL PLAYING BY MY RULES HERE WILLY!” Gabriel cluched at his head, for a moment, he shut his eyes tightly and fought against the pain, William jumped back a bit.
“…And for the love of god, PLEASE STOP THAT STUPID LAUGHING!” It was a long moment before William realised what was said,

“…I’m…I’m not laughing Gabriel…”

“Yes. Yes you bloody are! You’re always laughing. I can hear it Willy. Every-where I go I can hear your stupid laughter! It’s ever present!”

“…but I’m not!” Gabriel pointed a harsh finger,

“Don’t [censored] with me William! Last time you [censored] with me all this happened. Because you [censored] with me Dr Miles is dead, your ex-wife is dead, your [censored] girlfriend is dead,” William rose and eyebrow in confusion, the gesture was lost on Gabriel
“Because you [censored] with me I have your daughter” he lent in close “a girl who I ever so enjoy hitting, she has such a pathetic cry!” there was a long silence between the two. Neither reacted until Gabriel eventually rubbed his eyes and looked at William with a stern glance; William merely returned the gaze
“I’m laying down the rules here Willy. If any of your friends find it within their hearts to help you out again by hunting me down then I’m afraid I cannot be held responsible for my actions against Laura! After all it has been a lonely few years Willy and she is beginning to look rather sweet…”
William’s eyes widened with anger. He wanted to reach over and grab Gabriel by the neck and strangle the life from him, watch his eyes roll into the back of his head and after the last breath of life left him, beat his remains to fleshy pulp, he wanted to make him hurt. William shook off the feeling, remembering Freddy’s words.
“Our fight is a one on one. No help from John, Richard, Freddy, that [censored] vampire or any other of your chums, this is our fight for YOUR daughter! Not their fight for some girl” he lent in closer to William and cocked his head to the side
“…I think we are in accordance?”

William nodded once,

“…just leave her alone…” Gabriel’s face softened for a moment

“…as you wish.” Then it turned cold once again “…I’ve waited a long time for this Willy. I’ve dreamt of nothing but this moment. Your laugher burning into my skull. I’ve been waiting for the day I can face you again and this time it will be me who is laughing. It will be me who is lapping up the applause...I’ll be the hero again!” William could see the madness in his eyes, the child like state he had fallen into,

“What happened to you Gabe?” the answer was as expected,

“…you William…you happened!” Gabe looked up towards the ramp and standing at the top was several Corporation members, as he looked around the bar he could see familiar faces sitting at the counter, at the tables, standing over the Rikti Monkey cage. He chuckled lightly at how William had used Pocket D’s neutrality to fill the Monkey bar with his own people. However, Gabriel was not worried,

“I think it is time for me to go Willy.” Both men rose and stepped before each other. Gabriel, who was shorter then William, looked up at the larger man who was looking down at him. “Just be sure you are ready…”

“…I will be Gabe. Just know this, your not going to win. Not back then, not when our fight comes, not ever…”

“…just be ready laughing boy!” and with that, he strode up to the Corporation members, who blocked his path. He looked from face to face and looked as if he was about to say some-thing when William shouted from behind,

“Let him go…Pocket D is a neutral place…we can’t keep him from leaving.” The Corporation members looked at each other and then stepped to the side. Gabriel tipped an invisible hat and, putting on a Texan accent, he simply said,

“Much obliged…” he dropped the accent, and looked backwards
“Oh and Willy?” William looked at him

“What?”

“Send my regards to Jessica will you…” he started to laugh as he descended the ramp and disappear from view. The Corporation members looked at each for a moment, then to Will.

William stood stationary before the anger got the best of him and he slammed the side of his fist into the wall

“DAMN IT!” he cried.