It was a time of chaos. Of wars and of monsters. Of undead zombies and of insane experimental subjects gone wrong. Of cyborgs and of terminators. Of demons and of fallen angels. Of power hungry warlocks and of mutant freaks. And finally, a dwindling human race who valiently fought to keep pieces of civilisation intact and safe from this onslaught of strange creatures. Yet, it was such an irony - the humans themselves brought this upon them. And now, they beg us to save them from their own mistakes. They, who hated us and hunted us like animals while we turned the other cheek, now have the cheek to kneel down and beg for our help.
We were mercenaries who worked for noone, and for anyone who would give us the best price. We were once humans, but we had implants, robotic and organic. We had knowledge of the ancient magiks and spells, and welded weapons of old, forged from the halos of angels or from the pits of hell. We had weaponary of incredible technology and vast power, but we were wary about using them.
Afterall, the last time one of us detonated the Extinction Event, one third of the population of earth was blown away.
We are humanity's last hope. We are also their worst enemy.
We are death bringers, Shinigami, Grimreapers, however you may wish to call us. Some label us vampires, immortals, creatures of the night, though we walk in open day as well. Generations of humans have feared and worshipped us as gods, yet we have also lived among them in anonymity, prefering to live normal lives and simply watch and observe the ways of humanity. After all, we knew we were not gods, and powerful as we were, even we had someone to judge us when the fateful day comes.
But all that changed on a Friday, April 4th, in the year 2508.
---
"Alright, let me just say a little about myself.. Erm.. I graduated from the university in 2007, I've worked at various firms
(throughout the centuries, in many countries)
and I must say, I'm pretty excited to be able to work here! I look forward to learning as much as I can from all the seniors in this firm." William Cash finished his speech and glanced up at his potential employers.
The men smiled and nodded to each other. "Welcome to the job, son."
---
Lunch time.
"Hey darling, how's the day been for you?" William asked his girlfriend.
"Oh its been alright, you know, the usual boring lectures, annoying childish classmates.. but the sociology teacher, well, he is kinda cute for his age, you know?" Joan Destiny giggled.
William smacked his forehead with his palm. A thousand years later, she still has to do this to annoy him. Many a time his friends wondered, how on earth could he stand such a girlfriend, and his answer was always the same - he didn't know either.
"Listen, I'm having lunch with Mikki Charis and Michelle Liemffer. What time do you end work? We've got another.. gig to perform at."
William's ears pricked up at the mention of the word "gig".
"Who's the client?"
"We can't say over the phone, come on, you can read my mind right?"
"Well yeah, but it wouldn't be polite to do it without your permission. Haha!"
Wilson Fisk. Wow. International crime lord, untouchable by the police, based in the Big Apple. If He's so big and powerful, why does he want to hire us for?
We're taking out the Maharajah tonight, Destiny's thoughts beemed into William's mind.
An old tribe who dwelt in the jungles of India. Word has it that the Maharajah has become interested in the new world, and has formed drug rings and street gangs to serve its purpose. Perhaps this new development is taking business away from Fisk, aka Kingpin? No matter, it was not their job to question the motives. All he had to do was get the job done.
"Well alright.. I'll meet you and the gang later then. No need to call everyone. This seems like an easy job. Maybe get Daryl and BK along, that should be sufficient."
---
The same day, at 2358 hours.
"Damn, the teleporter's not working right! I keep getting beamed 25 miles from the correct destination!" complained BK over the intercom.
"Just cut the crap and get here! Why don't you just cycle down then??" Daryl "Vinny" Devito flashed his teeth in annoyance. He was the most "classic" looking vampire of them all, complete with 2 fangs, hollow cheek bones, sunken eyes and a perpetual frown on his face, dressed totally in black, his wings folded behind his back. Only thing that doesn't appear in the novels is how this vampire was armed to the teeth (pardon the pun) with machine guns, RPGs, claymore mines and other nasty packages. This guy was in it for the loud noises that guns make, as he gently holstered his weapon of choice, the carbine.
"Why do you even need those toys?" Jaric asked, brushing the dirt of his boots as he checked his shurikens. He prefered to go in quiet and leave as little destruction as possible, trained in the ninjitsu arts. His extended claws, artificially inserted in an experiment during world war 2, gave him a savage look. Even then, he had a silenced carbine slung over his katanas, just in case.
"Yeah, when we can easily conjure up creatures to stomp over them!" Joan Destiny was the spell caster, and dragon rider. A spell caster and learned mage of magiks, who could heal fatal wounds and even resurrect the dead. She summoned creatures according to her whim to fight her enemies, while she remained ominus in the distance, with her boyfriend, the sniper - Grifter.
"Easy now.. we want to take as few lives as possible. Remember, we're just here to observe, not to kick up a ruckuss." He adjusted his red shades and checked his gear. All he had was one huge sniper rifle, a broad sword over his back and a double-barrelled shot gun. But his weapons were no ordinary weapons.
His sniper rifle resembled none ever seem by any military. It emitted a purplish glow in the dark, and the very look of it suggested an alien technology, like a pulse rifle from Unreal Tournament. Based on the theory that light travels about a hundred times faster than a projectile bullet and is unaffected by gravity or wind or other factors, this sniper rifle packs a laser powerful enough to blast a hole through 10-foot thick bank vault, up to a mile away.
The sword, once known as the fabled sword of King Arthur, Excalibur, was in actual fact a relic dropped by the angel Azrael who was stationed at the gates of Eden with a fiery sword to prevent humans from entering ever again. While he was summoned to battle the fallen angels, he prefered the use his angelic scepter and so put away his flaming sword by impaling it into solid rock, with the intention to obtain it after the battle. Unfortunately Azrael was never heard of again, and his name dropped out of the books of history. It never sets itself ablaze except in the presence of unholy enemies.
The shot gun was another amazing piece of weaponry. Forged from the material of angel's halos and demons' horns, decorated with the blessed jewels of the Egyptians and polished with the wax of the candles of the golden lampstand from the Tabernacle, this weapon would kill demons, ghouls and otherworldly creatures with one powerful shot. Of course, there were times when he had to use it on humans, and it worked equally well too!
And even without these weapons, the Grifter had powers of his own, too soon to be revealed.
BK's bike flew over their heads out of the trees and landed with a thump just next to Daryl, its jet engines still glowing orange from usage. He grinned. "25 miles in under 2 minutes. Top that huh!" BK's large metallic frame glinted in the moon light as his shoulder canons whirled around quietly, detecting any potential targets.
"Alright, everyone's here. Except Clarence Coleman of course. But then again, he's never late."
Clarence didn't need a teleporter. He was a teleporter. Able to transcend time and space, with the ability to freeze or manipulate time itself, he was perhaps the most powerful one of them all, but he had an achilles heel - bouts of maniac-depression. His armour made him almost invisible, and enemies seldom knew he was there until they felt his twin blades slice open their bodies or wickedly sharp teeth tearing their neck open.
"I'm here boys and girls. Its time to party!" Clarence smiled chillingly.
