Fall From Justice | Book 1: Libera

Blood on the pavement: Part 1, Prologue

Somewhere in Libera, a dark metropolis of the distant future, crime filled the streets. Gang members were fighting each other for territory, dealers selling their chemical drugs to little children, while men and women hid in fear. This was a normal thing in Libera, there wasn't a day that goes by where you wouldn't hear the sounds of a gun being fired and news about the dead bodies of gang members being found where you heard them.

But there is one person that brings down brutal justice to this filth that runs rampant in the streets, a boogeyman of criminals and sinners, hunting them down like wild game. Their deaths were usually horrific and very bloody. He is the one that stalks the tainted souls of criminals, the sword of vengeance that thirsts for bloody justice. A shadow in the dark that watches over the innocent like a silent guardian.

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Frantically running down a desolate street was a scruffy looking man wearing an orange inmate uniform. Terror and dread covered his face as he ran quickly down the street. The man trips and falls into an alleyway, but manages to get up, with fear rushing down his every bone as he tries to pick up his pace. The inmate puts his hand on his stomach hoping that no one would see the blood on his shirt. The inmate continues to run down the alleyway, but slams into a wall blocking his path. Frozen in panic, the inmate's mind scrambled to figure out a way to run, a place to hide, or at best a way to escape. The man tries to calm down but was overcome with the fear of being found soon.

The inmate pulled himself together and forced himself to look for another way out, he looked to the side and saw a fire escape. In an attempt to try and grab the ladder, he fell backwards onto the ground, he couldn't reach it. Laying in defeat the inmate spotted an old chair in the corner of his eye, though it was broken, it looked sturdy enough to hold his weight. Taking it, he brought it under the ladder. The inmate quickly rushed onto the chair and he reached his hands out and grabbed the ladder. He grinned cockily thinking that he just might be able to escape and tried to pull himself up, but suddenly his face sank as he felt a strong grip tighten around his leg.

Before he could react, the inmate was pulled down from the ladder and fell backward onto the ground. His head collided with the pavement, nearly knocking him unconscious. His vision blurred for a brief moment as it focused on the dark silhouette of a man towering over him. The amount of fear he had for the man in front of him kept the inmate from passing out. He wore black advanced armor, his visor was dark and emotionless. With just one glance the inmate knew who that man was.

The terror he had never felt so intense, it was like the weight of the ocean was on top of him. The man in black pulled out a pistol and pointed the gun towards the inmates' heads. Feeling the need to survive, the inmate smacked the gun away and with his fear as an engine, the inmate tried his best to push forward and escape. For just a brief moment, the weight of his fear lifted, as if he was weightless and on his face, the same arrogant, cocky grin appeared. However, this did not last long either. With a loud bang and a crack of lightning, the inmate fell to the ground screaming, pain instantly flared in his right leg, in a pool of his blood, he started to crawl in desperation, as the cold rain came pouring down hard like bullets just like the ocean of fear that the inmate that was soon drowning him once again. He could not escape. The inmate tried crawling out of the alley while he cried in horror.

"Please don't hurt me! I'm sorry, just fucking let me go!" The Inmate begged for mercy.

But the Inmate was stopped by a heavy boot slowly crushing his back. The man in black armor grabbed the inmates' head and slammed it against the ground before lifting him face to face with who would be the last man he'll ever see, the emotionless and reflective surface of his helmet gave the inmate a view of his own horrified face. The inmate swore he could see his soul cry and beg for mercy.

"What did you do when that little girl said those same words?"

The voice of the man in black armor shook through the inmate, his voice deep and gravely like sandpaper against a rough surface. But due to the helmet, it was slightly muffled.

However, his voice was still intimidating nonetheless. The man in black armor threw the inmate against the wall before he kneed the inmate in the gut, making him vomit out his lunch and keel over. The man in black armor grabbed the inmate by the hair once more and lifted his head to him.

The man in black armor sent a punch to the inmates gut, sending him stumbling back towards the wall with a hard knock as his head collided against the hard surface, but the man didn't stop there, he grabbed the inmates' head only to send his armored knee to the inmates' face. The hit dazed the inmate and sent him sliding down against the wall, not before the man in black armor sent another blow to the inmate's chest, in his eyes, everything was spinning and turning, pain burned in his chest as if it was burnt with a hot iron. The man in black brought up his boot and sent a heavy kick towards the inmates' head, a sickening crack rang through underneath the boot as bone splintered and broke through the Inmates' skin. Brain matter and blood splattered against the wall and the man in black watched as it dripped down. The blood fell on the inmate's face and his eyes like tears of blood.