Chapter
1 – The Law in Chaos
I’ll never forget the day that I
lost faith in the world. It was after another long day at the police academy. I
went upstairs to study for my next test and ended up playing some video games
while listening to music. My parents said something about my aunt and uncle
being over that I ignored and meant to go downstairs to say hi once the game
was done, however, the sound of gunfire made me drop my game, grab a pistol my
dad gave me, and go downstairs to see what happened, only to find my parents
and youngest brother, Renzo, laying on the kitchen floor with bullet holes in
them and the two cops who I called aunt and uncle with smoking guns.
Days of celebrating holidays with
them, exchanging gifts, and going on vacation flash in front of me like
blinding light and stop me for half a second before I pull the trigger, kill
them both, and empty what’s left of my gun in them. My parents and brother
didn’t die though my parents had to stay in the hospital for a while and my
other younger brother wasn’t targeted while he was in school cleaning for extra
credit. Later, I learned they were bought out and threatened to kill my dad and
family because he was an honest cop who was investigating a business that was
mixed up with shady people, but that didn’t matter to me at that point. All
that mattered was that I witnessed those who were supposed to uphold the law,
give in, and try to kill those closest to them because they were too afraid to
risk their lives to save them, something they’re supposed to do as officers.
I tried not to let what happened
bother me too much since I had to care for my brothers and finish my time in
the academy, but I couldn’t. From that day forward, I tried to keep a close eye
on my parents, with a gun always on hand, and my eyes on other officers who we
were friends with even when they were being nice and trying to support us
financially and emotionally. After finishing my time in the academy, I tried to
be an honest cop like my dad was, but again, couldn’t because the corruption I
tried to not think about was in front of my face. Cops were taking bribes,
ignoring crimes, and arresting people who were set up. Because of this, I
helped out people who liked my dad but thought he didn’t go far enough in making
sure the right thing was being done.
For a time, I was satisfied with
this. Hardly anyone cared if a rapist, extortionist, or murderer was killed as
they were being arrested and our chief let us go a lot of the time because he
was also sick of letting crimes and evil go unpunished and his hands being tied
by his superiors. After a few years of this, Giovanni, the head of the
Coronamento Corp and prince of the alegal, came to us with an offer to work for
him.
“With me, you’ll get paid more to
do what you want. You won’t have to work behind your superior’s back and you’ll
get to change the world for the better,” he said with a confident smile on his
face.
Giovanni went into specifics about
what we were going to do, the pay, and other benefits that went with it, and
after thinking and talking about it with my friends, they agreed with me to
take it. I tried to get Renzo in on the deal since he became a police officer
too, but like dad, he’s a boy scout. He’s too by the book and wouldn’t want to
break the law unless the law itself told him he could do it. I’m sure that
he’ll join us after a few more years on the force, underpaid, unappreciated,
and unable to enact real justice. As for me and the rest of my friends, we go
with Giovanni, familiarize ourselves with our new weapons and tools, and then
get to work on our first day on the job.
Today, I am deployed with four
others to go into a bank and retrieve records of our competitor’s alegal or
rather illegal doings. To be honest, I hate dealing with alegal matters since
they are illegal, typically sinful actions, that are either handwaved away by
those in power or currently being written into law, but since I’ve done many
alegal things and work for a company that’s on my side, this is a mess I have
to be involved in. The people I’m with on this assignment have done this sort
of job before and I’m supposed to be providing support. We all have clown masks
and code names to protect our identity along with body armor under our suits
and injections of the latest reflex enhancers that will let us shoot and react
to danger better.
The injections have also made my
blue eyes turn yellow and turned parts of my black hair white, benign side
effects that don’t really bother me, and I kind of like, if I’m being honest.
Not many people are fortunate enough to get these small changes, especially
when they get their enhancers from unreliable sources. I’m glad that
Coronamento has some of the best researchers and developers of these. If they
weren’t, these enhancers would’ve either done nothing, had temporary effects,
severe negative effects, or turned me into a monster.
While driving on the way there, the
man whose codename is Texas says, “Are you sure we have to do this non-lethally?
What we’re doing is just a glorified stage play at this rate.”
“Yes,” I say. “The guards and cops may
be paid off, but they’re on our side.”
“They’re still dirty cops. Who’s to
say they won’t turn on us or already have? It’s happened on jobs like this
before. You can’t trust people with split loyalties after all.”
“If you or anyone else
intentionally shoots to kill anyone who is on our side, then I will kill you. I
promise you that.”
Texas smiles and laughs at me as if
I’m joking despite me being dead serious.
“Okay, ex-cop. Whatever you say.”
Our car pulls up in front of the
bank, and since this job is better done quicker rather than slower, we walk in
guns blazing and our demands clear. Two of us control the crowd up front while
the other two use their cards and passcodes we got from the bank to enter its
server room, get the information we need, transfer funds to Coronamento, and
take some of the gold and cash as part of our act of this being a simple
robbery. The cops soon show up just in time for us to be done. As the other two
join us in the gunfight, we pretend to be amateurs who are overconfident and yell
insults at the cops. Our shots at the cops intentionally miss most of the time holding
them off while making sure that one or two hit them in the leg or arm. Texas
gets a little too into the act and starts landing his shots more often than he
should, eventually hitting one in the head. Because of this, the cops really
start coming after us with full force.
“Oops. Sorry, guys-”
Before Texas can say anything else,
I shoot him in the head, killing him, and then radio for backup to hurry up the
show. Soon after, a superhuman comes crashing down from the roof. We fire at
his mostly bulletproof chest as part of our act before he picks us up and flies
us out of the bank.
“Did you really have to shoot
Texas?” Penn asks.
“Yes, I did. I promised him I would
if he shot to kill,” I say.
The superhuman drops us off at a
secret location, picks up a group of criminals we already have here who look
like us and who will admit to the bank robbery, and leaves us as he flies the criminals
to the police. We change our clothes, head back to Giovanni, give him the USB
with the information he needs, and tell him what happened.
After I admit to killing Texas, Penn
says, “It was a reckless decision that could’ve jeopardized the entire mission.
I apologize on all our behalf.”
Giovanni smiles and says, “Salvatore
did the right thing. On that topic, be glad that the cop didn’t die. I’ve heard
from our friends in the police that he’s in stable condition after being rushed
to the hospital. I would’ve been mad at you all if you didn’t kill Texas since
now I have to pay for the wounded officer’s medical expenses with the pay he
would’ve gotten.”
The other two look ashamed while I smile
at my reassurance that I did the right thing. Giovanni tells us we’ll receive
our payment today with a bonus going to me. When the information we obtained is
shown to the public, our rival corporation is criticized and is now being
investigated for paying marketers to place their ads above others, paying off workers
to make rival products defective or harmful, and faking their bank account
numbers to look bigger than they actually are. This couldn’t have happened if it
had been done through legal means. In the end, the trash got what they
deserved, the damages are being covered by insurance, and no one important was
killed. All in all, I say it was a good day and that I like this new job I have.
Right now, it looks like everything I’ve ever wanted.
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