A Merged Timeline

Rin - The Slaughter Begins

[Ch apter & Character written by DefendersNovels]

This is not where I went to sleep. I am one hundred percent certain I went to bed in my apartment, which was not this. I know that I'm not in my apartment because, One, l'm outside. Two, the kid wasn't shooting me with a paintball gun. I stood up and brushed myself off, looking around the parking lot I was standing in the middle of.

The sky was dark and cloudy, and it was raining, which I was used to. As I was getting my bearings, I heard the familiar voice of a young girl, screaming my name. "RIN! HELP!" Yumeko shouted.

I whipped around, seeing seven or so people surrounding her as a beat up van pulled up and opened the sliding side door I knew where this was going. They were about fifty feet away, and thanks to my exo suit, I closed the gap in a second. By the time anyone even noticed I was there, two people were disarmed, as their arms fell to the asphalt. My black sword was glowing slightly and humming with energy as white sparks crackled around it.

Yuneko was crouched behind me, shaking and obviously terrified. I looked up and spoke, the voice modulator in my mask automatically activating. "Who's next." I asked, though it was more like a command.

Another thug stepped forwards, wielding a knife. The instant he got close enough, I cut through his chest like a hot knife through butter. A small orb rolled down my left sleeve and into my open palm, which immediately started to blink. As it did, a visor extended from the top of my mask and covered my eyes. I heard Yumeko quickly slammed her eyes shut and looked away as I dropped the small grenade, which detonated on impact with the ground.

The room was lit up like the sun for a fraction of a second, blinding everyone who didn't either turn around or have a visor like I did. The remaining four people were blinded, so they were easy work. They were dead before I blinked. When I turned around to check on Yueko. someone had their arm around her neck and a gun pressed against her temple.
A second gun came up out of his shoulder, which was pointing right at me. The guy was bigger than the other people I had just beaten, and he was clearly in charge.

"I don't know who you are, but you're dead now. And once you are, we're gonna take this kid and use her to get rich. You have no idea how much some people will pay for a young American girl." He laughed, and I could feel my blood boiling, though my face remained calm.

People like this were the scum of the earth. I was doing the world a favor when I was hunting them down in Neon District. They reminded me of my father, and what he did to Katie. He reminded me how I failed, how I left her and Aaron alone, with that monster.
I shifted my left foot backwards, getting into a fighting stance. Another small orb ejected from its slot on the exo suit and rolled down my sleeve again, clattering against the asphalt. The invisible EMP charge detonated, taking out every light in a five mile radius, leaving the three of us standing in the dark. It was pitch black, until the LEDs of my suit started to glow an ominous white. "You really think you can kill a ghost?"