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They were gone, all of them were gone. Although his memory was left swiss-cheesed, full of holes, he could still remember that they were all gone. His friends, his family, his team were all gone, he was all that was left.
"Why...?" his mouth uttered, he didn't realise he had even said anything. The question kept repeating in his mind.
Why had he been the one to survive? He had had nobody, no wife, no parents or siblings, no girlfriend, only them, and now they were gone.
When he had woken up in the hospital only four hours ago he hadn't been able to remember anything. Now all he could remember was that he was all alone, he could remember how they had all been killed, by the 'Man of Shadows' and how he had fallen, fallen into darkness. His chest and leg hurt. There were bandages wrapped around them and a red mark on those.
The saddest thing was that he couldn't remember his teams, his friends names, let alone his own. Yet he could remember their faces, full of anger and hatred one minute and then blank and expressionless the next. The same red stuff that was on his bandages covered the place, he couldn't tell what was going on or hear anything other than the loud explosions and bullets flying anywhere.
"Why...? he found himself asking himself again, he would continue to do so until he could remember his cause, his purpose, his destiny.

He had 'borrowed' some jeans, trainers, a white T-shirt and a trenchcoat from the hospital.
"Why...?" The question still plauged him.
Another question hit him, how long had it been since his memories had been the present and what was the present? It could have been hours, days, weeks, months or even years...
He couldn't remember the time of year from his memories, but he could tell that it was wintertime now. There were Christmas trees decorated with lights, tinsel, babbles and stars in the shops windows. The wind had a distinct chill to it.
As he peared into a shop window he caught a glance of someone familier, himself. He could now remember more, his name and address, those of his friends, and the mission. As he stared into his reflection, that of a man in his mid-twenties, with medium length blonde hair, pasing over his deep blue eyes, a sharp stubble on his chin and above his lip, and a tall slender body he could remember more about his past.
He had been part of a specialist Terrorist Responce group, the CTF, the Counter Terrorist forces.He turned from the window and continued on his journey, not knowing where he was going or where in fact he was. He guessed that he would be heading towards the place that he had once called home.
The man walked faster now, now knowing his name, Christan Talet.

November 12th 2003
CTF Meeting
Classified Location

"OK then men, this is it this is the big one. We've finally got those SOB's right where we want them. Our sources in the underworld have informed us that they're in the warehouse district on the pier. Now they've got a bomb of some sorts according to our source. We have also had reports that they are going to use this to blow up the White House. Now then, here's the plan...
Christan, Dimond, Andrew, Chris, Julia you will go in as Alpha squad. You will be entering here," The chief pointed to a warehouse on the side of a map, near a wall, "This is the warehouses generator, you just need to cut power to it. This will disable the cameras and security for long enough to allow Beta squad, that's you Mark, Pete, Sam, Clare and June to sneak in here." Again the chief pointed to a position on the map, "Your job is to find the bomb, June, you disable it, you're our bomb expert. Alpha squad will then head south through this area of warehouses, to this one." He slambed his pointer on the map, "Warehouse 57...that's where their leader is. Take him out. Beta squad will then sneak out the way they came in, Alpha squad will need to sneak onto one of the boats on the pier.
Now we can't afford any slip ups, Any questions? No? Good. Dismissed!"

Christan woke up in his flat, he had found it and then fallen asleep on the sofa. He sat up and held his head. He then stood up and walked over to the TV turning it on, and flicking through the channels until he found the news. He looked at the date on the TV, December 18th 2003. "Thank God, its only been a month." He had rested now and could remember more, now his question of why was "Why did he betray us?" He had been the one who had done it, he was the 'man of shadows' he had decieved them all and murdered the rest of his team. It was Thomas Dimond who had betrayed his team, his friends and him. "You'll pay, you bet your ass you'll pay Dimond." Suddenly Christan had an awful feeling he was being watched. He turned around and saw a stranger at his doorway smiling at him.

"May I help you?" Christan asked walking towards the man. The man was about the same age as Christan, he had brown hair down to his sholders and was just a couple of inches shorter.
"No I was actually wondering if I could help you. You see my mum is this sort of...well, she's a...she's an oracle..." The man at the door said.
Christan had to prevent himself from bursting out with laughter, "OK then...and you would be...?"
"Oh yes, I'm Anthony, call me Ant. Well she told me that I would find my destiny here..."
"Destiny, yeah right. You don't seriously believe in all that shit do you?"
"No, but she's never been wrong in the past. It's just that people don't listen to her. She told me to give you this letter." Ant got out a letter, which had a red seal on the back. Christan just looked at it, it seemed to captivate him. He slid his finger along the envolopes edge and pulled out a letter. He read it before scrunching it up and throwing it into the bin. He didn't like to admit it, butr he could tell that this person was supposed to come with him.
"Listen Ant. I'm not going to form any party or work with anyone else. My only destiny is to hunt down the bastard that killed my friends and then to just disappear." Christan didn't know why he was telling Ant anything, he supposed later that he could have just thrown him out. "That letter goes on about a team of six. A team who will rise up and defend others, to do what is right. Well I'm fed up of doing what is right, it doesn't get you anywhere."
"I don't care what you say I'm coming with yo...GET DOWN!" He suddenly leapt at Christan and pushed him onto the floor. Bullets flew through the window behind where Christan had been standing.
Christan and Ant lay behind the sofa, trying to avoid getting shot. At the window there were two window cleaners holding MP-5s and blasting everything in the flat.
"Shit!" Christan shouted.
Ant withdrew a Berretta 92FS from his stone coloured jacket. "This should be interesting."

Christan pulled a small wooden box, made of mahonony out from under the sofa. On it was the same symbol as on the envelope Ant had given him. It was also on the guns inside. He opened the box and pulled out two nickel Walther CP88s. His fathers guns. He picked them up and checked that they were loaded. He then cocked them and turned the safety off. They felt so right in his hands. The nickel was not cold, but seemed to be just the perfect temperature, they seemed to fit perfectly into his hands. He could feel some sort of other worldly energy to them. He then looked up, a new found determination on his face.
"Lets do this"
Ant and Christan waited until the window cleaners were reloading until they jumped from their hiding places. Christan fired off one bullet from each gun, hitting the window cleaner on the left in the heart. He fell off the cleaning platform. Ant's shot was just as good, he hit the man on the right straight between the eyes.
Now everything was calm.
"You're a good shot Ant. Maybe you should come with me. But, if you get into any trouble you get left behind. I don't have tiem to look after someone else." Christan said, "by the way the name's Christan, Christan Talet. You can call me CT."
"Sure thing." Ant responded. The silence that followed was soon broken by five men breaking into his flat, through the door this time.
Ant ran towards the door closest to him, towards the toilet, letting his Berreta take care of two of the men. The men flew back almost in synce, blood flew through the other side of their bodies onto the man behind them. The man, now covered in blood was about five foot six and wasn't carrying a weapon, although he looked like he was able to take care of himself without one. CT ran towards the men taking care of the other two goons. The big man was now all that was left. He punched CT in the gut, causing him to drop his guns. CT felt like he had been his by a baseball bat, not a fist. He quickly recovered and pivoted on his right foot, lifting his left and performing a spin kick to the big mans face. It had virtually no effect what-so-ever.
"No way!" CT said. He stepped back and then took a sep forwards, lifting his right leg and kicking the big man in the Solar Plexus. The big man flew backwards holding his chest. He looked up and started to charge. Suddenly his body flew back, a red splat against the wall behind him. Ant stood behind CT holding up his gun, he grinned at CT when he looked behind.
CT looked at his flat, "Well, it looks like we won't be coming back here again." There was nothing left without a hole in it in his living room. "I'll just get some clothes and then we can set off."
"Where to?"
"We're going to find the bastard who tried to kill us."

The two men walked along the street. It had started to snow, the snow felt like daggers of ice slashing into their skin. CT had changed his clothes, he now wore a brown leather pilots jacket, jeans, trainers and the white T-shirt. He had hiden his guns in two sholder holsters underneath his jacket. Ant wore stone trousers, a black T-shirt and a stone jacket with trainers. It wasn't exactly winter attire, but it would do. CT carried a bag full of bullets, clothes, a mobile phone and various other essencial items.
"So where are we going to look first?" Ant asked CT.
"The Residence" It was a night club in the city, very exclusive. It wasn't too far, just hard to find. Its enterence lead to a small coatroom where bouncers checked for ID. After that he didn't know what was inside, he had never tried to enter before. Although everyone knew that its manager was the sort of man who knew everything about the underworld, not even a mouse could sneeze without him hearing about it.
"Oh boy, man you're crazy. There is no-way they are going to let us in there." Ant complained.
"We'll see, I can be very perswasive when I need to be" CT said indicating his two pistols.
Both men smiled and continued walking.

Lookin good.

As they walked towards where they thought the club was they passed a flower shop. CT and the woman inside exchanged looks for a second. That second seemed to drag on forever. CT was lost completely in her brown eyes. He had the same feeling with her that he had with Ant. She was smaller than both the men and had an Olive complection, and brunette hair. As they passed the shop she disappeared from sight.
When CT took two steps back to admire her she was gone.
CT sighed, "Lets get this over with"
They continued to walk the streets looking for it, with no avail.
"You do know where we're going right CT?" Ant asked him, seeing the humor in all of this.
"I've told you, I've never been there before" CT snapped back, he caught a sight of the girl again in one of the back alleys, "Come on."
They ran down the back alley and found a small steel door. Written in chalk on the wall next to it was the word "Residence" It didn't look too much like a nightclub from the outside. Bins, full of rubbish lay in the corner of the alley, a couple tipped over. Snow had begun to set under their feet.
"This must be the place, sure isn't what I expected" Ant said.
CT had heard all about this place, mainly from Dimond. He smiled and opened the door. Inside was another larger door, with two large bouncers, dressed in black. There was a fibre optic sign above them saying "Welcome to the Residence." The woman who CT had spotted was walking in, she was wearing a red chinese dress and a small black handbag, turned around and flashed a short seductive smile at CT. He had fallen for her and he wasn't trying to hide it.

CT ran forwards, pushing past the minimal queue, the door shut in his face, "Wait..."
The bouncers shoved him backwards, he would have gone to attack them but Ant had run up and grabbed him, and was now pulling him back towards the outside door.
"Listen CT, pal. You know as well as I do that we can't just go bursting in there guns blazing. We're going to have to go about this right. Now I know you really like that woman, you don't even bother to try and hide it, but running in after her is not the option. Now, what clothes have you got in that bag?"
CT looked up grinning, "Good point man. I think I've got some formal wear, he picked up the bag and pulled out some clothes,handing them to Anthony to hold. "Here we are". He pulled out a pair of black trousers, a tie and a shirt, "I've only got one pair, one of us will have to wait outside."
"No, you go in. Survey the area and wait, we'll need to do this together. I'll go and buy some clothes from one of the shops and meet you in there..."
"Why am I taking orders from you?" CT asked suddenly being taken back to his days in the CTF, only a month ago, yet it seemed longer.
"Because, If you sort this operation out, you'll be distracted by her." CT could see his point, women were one of the biggest distractions, especially when you had feeling for them.
"OK, but after this I'm in charge."
"Yeah, I'm not really too good at the commandering" Ant admitted, "Lets get this show on the road."

CT sat at the bar, his eves fixated on the woman in the red dress. Ant had entered the bar unbenownst to him and was sitting next to him.
"Hey CT, Christan, Talet, you, hey, are you even listening to me?" Ant asked getting no response, "Damn it, he's distracted and we haven't even started the show yet."
The woman in red walked up to the bar and sat next to them, "So, you see something you like?" She asked CT, who was again lost in her eyes.
"Bw-ah-huh?" CT's words just came out jumbled making no sense at all.
"What he means is that he likes you and would like to take you out to dinner somethime." Ant translated.
The woman in red laughed, "I think I understood. Have we met before, I'm just getting some sort of strange feeling, like I know you or something."
"No, I've never met you before. I'm Christan Talet, my friends call me CT" Things were going on very slowly in his head, "Ant, where did you come from?" He indicated the crowd.
"Oh yes, I'ld better just go...to the toilet" He said standing up, "Be careful slick" He wispered to CT.
The woman in red smiled again, "I'm Rachael Holmes, aren't you going to buy me a drink."
"CT, we may have a problem..." Ant had reappeared and was looking at the Executive roofbox.
"Not now..."CT turned around and saw it, armed men in the roofbox, not bodyguards. The door upstairs burst open and a man stumbled out, followed by more armed men. He was soon mowed down, "Get down!" He yelled pulling Rachael and Ant over the bar, just in time the bullets rattled the barkeeper who was stood inches from where they had been sitting.

CT, Ant and Rach were crouched behind the bar. CT and Ant had drawn their weapons, and Rach had pulled out a Black Berretta 92FS from her handbag, it too had the symbol from Ant and CT's guns.
"I came here with murder on my mind. That bastard up there killed my parents and my sister, I came to make him pay. guess you two came for the same thing." Rachael said.
"Something like that..." CT replied, "Odd..." He pocked his head up then pulled it down again, "They're not shooting at us, there seems to be a bit of Gang warfare, between Joey's (The manager) men and some other guys. Ant don't you think it was odd, they let us in with such ease, so different from what I heard. I don't think those bouncers were Joeys. I think they were whoever's trying to kill Joey, whoever tried to kill me. I think they're Tom Dimonds men."
He popped his head up again, he seemed to be right. If Tom had known he was still alive, he'ld have known this would be where he'ld go. He crouched down again.
"Lets just let them fight it out and then clear up after them" He said, to which Ant agreed, although Rachael didn't. She was already stood up and running towards the other end of the bar. "No!" Ct almost screamed he leapt to his feet and pounched on Rachael taking her to the floor and saving her life from a barrage of bullets.
This was going to get rough.

"Please stay down. We'll deal with these guys. Just don't do anything stupid, I don't want you to get hurt." CT said staring into her eyes again.
"I can handle myself. But...I guess this is your fight, I'm not a part of it..."
"But you are...I just...please don't do anything stupid..." CT jumped to his feet and let out a couple of bursts at the intruders, he figured he'ld have more of a chance to speek with Joey if he did. Ant leapt up to and started shooting the intruders. They both jumped back behind the bar.
"Shit! I'm out of ammo!" Ant said, he hadn't reloaded since the battle in CT's flat.
"I've got a few left! After that we're empty!" CT yelled over the guns. Then he thought, "I really hate fate...Rach we need you to help! Please, but don't get yourself killed! Ant try and get out of here I've got ammo in my bag outside."
CT was just beginning to show the leadership qualities, and calmness under tight situations which would one day in the not to distant future save the human race. He ran along the bar and shot a couple of the intruders in the legs, he wanted to talk to them after this was over. Rachael had to deny her impulses which were wanting to kill Joey's men, she too shot the intruders which there were two of left. Joeys men suddenly turned on them. As Ant reached the doorway the Joeys men from upstairs started shooting at the door and the bar.
CT ducked behind the bar again, watching Rachael fight triggered something inside of him. She was everything he wanted although he didn't want to get too attatched to anyone, not her, not Anthony not anyone. He couldn't let what happened before happen again, but what went off inside his was a mixture of realisations. He was in love, the first and most obvious of these. The second was that his companions were able to take care of themselves. The third was odd, it was a feeling that he wasn't just out to do revenge, he wanted to help people. He checked his guns.
"Damn, I'm out"
The two men he had shot in the leg started to help him, they shot at Joeys men. They managed to take two out before being silenced by the other three, whom Rachael dealt with, she was as good of a shot as CT was. She was meant to come with them.

"Woah, will you look at all these dead guys" Ant said stepping over some near the door, "Where's Joey?"
CT looked at the stairs up to the office, "most likely dead, no harm in looking though"
CT reloaded his Walthers, Rachael and Anthony reloaded their Berrettas. They headed upstairs to a sight even worse than it was downstairs. Joey's body was hung up on the crystal chandeleer. It was covered in blood, a knife stuck into his gut and bullet holes located at certain points on his body, including the one that had killed him in his head. Notes lay covered in blood on his desk, the floor and the sofa next to the wall. More dead bodies lay scattered around their feet and near Joeys desk. CT walked through them, trying not to step on the dead bodies. He reached the desk and picked up a slightly burnt piece of paper.
"Beware...Immortals...Vampi...Tom Dimond...Looking...Death...Watch your...Watch ours...Signed Vinnie..." He read off, it didn't seem to make any sense. "There's nothing we can do here, we should probably leave here. Rachael, do you want to come with me and Ant." He didn't really know why he was asking her. It wasn't love, it was more of the fact he was compelled to do so.

The three survivors began to once again walk the streets of Neo Angeles. Ant was taking them to his apartment, near the centre of the city. It was nothing like what CT or Rachael expected. The outside was blank, just a cement wall with a small steel door.
"Man what a dump" CT said under his breath.
"Just wait" Ant assured them.
He opened the door to his apartment. There was a big window at a diagonal on the far wall, upstairs. The stairs led to the roof of four small rooms, bedrooms. This acted as a sort of balcony. To the far right was a small kitchen and a bathroom. Upstairs on the balcony was a sort of living room. There were no other windows other than the one overlooking the balcony.
CT wistled "Wow would you look at this place. How could you afford such a place?"
"Meh...this and that" was his reply.
CT slowly stepped in behind Ant, with Rachael also in awe at the place. Neither of them had seen anything like this before.
"We should probably get some rest first. Plan our actions in the morning" CT said suddenly remembering it was night time, "which room can I have?"
"Any. My house is your house, boss"
"I'm not your boss. I'm just going to complete my quest..." He stopped, why had he called it a quest. A quest was an adventure, a job, something beyond importance that you were compelled to do. Not a revenge mission. "I'm going to bed" He walked off into the far right room, furthest away from the stairs. He needed to clear his mind.

Rachael got up last. It was about 2 hours since sun-up. She looked around and saw Anthony sat at the kitchen eating some toast.
"Is he still asleep?" She asked him.
Ant held up a note, "Gone out to clear head. Back later" he read.
Rachael went over to the kitchen and sat down at one of the bar-style stools at the breakfast bar. She popped a slice of toast into the toaster.
"What's up with him?" She asked, she hoped Ant knew more about him then she did. She had to admit he was cute, and she did have a bit of a thing for him. But he was so mystereous, odd, and not in a good way.
"I don't know. He'll tell us when he's ready" Ant replied.
They ate in silence.

CT sat in the Horns. It was a small pub near the hospital where he had woken up the day before. The snow had stopped and was starting to melt under the heat. He hald a glass of Mytilene (A populer drink in this world) in his right hand. He ran his index finger on his left hand along the rim of the glass. He sighed. He hadn't gotten too much sleep. Ants mums letter burnt holes in his mind. 'You will be the one who will have to lead an army of six against those who can only be killed by justice.' He remembered the letter off by heart. He was no leader, he just wanted to get his revenge for his fallen comrades. 'Beware for although your path that you are on may seem right, it will end up in the same place as any other path...' He had hated what had come next, '...Death...' He hadn't been afraid, he hadn't believed in any of that stuff. It had been signed 'Delphene' Who he supposed was Ants mum.
He looked around the pub. It was fairly quite. There was someone sleeping at a table in a corner and some more people having one of the pubs breakfast meals.
It was then that CTs world came shattering down, and the letter began to seem like the truth. Four men walked through the door. Two in ordenary clothes and two in strange capes, wrapped around their whole bodies. One of them walked over to him.
"Are you Christan Talet?" He asked breathing a cold breath on his neck.
"What's it to ya?" CT asked turning his head slightly.
The man pulled something from under his cape and placed it on the bar. A human head, and not just any humans...it was that of Thomas Dimond.

Christan looked at the head. He put the glass down on the table.
"You've saved me a job." He tried to keep his cool about him but it wasn't easy. These people were killers.
Slowly and inconspicuously he moved his hand into one the shoulder holsters he wore. It was covered up by a brown leather jacket he had borrowed from Anthony.
"Get the hell out of here you sick bastards" The barkeeper stood with a shotgun aimed at the man stood behind CT.
The man stepped away from CT and charged towards the barkeeper who let off a couple of shots. The mans face disappeared, the men at the door had grins on their faces. CT turned back to the headless man and pulled out his two guns (one from either shoulder) The mans head grew back, he looked down and a gap in his stomach from the second shot disappeared too.
"Holy shi..." The man had grabbed the barkeeper and sucked his blood before he could finish.
Christan thought for a second 'those who can only be killed by justice', he looked at his guns. The symbol seemed to have a new meaning now. It was an eagle, wings spread with two guns behind it and a ring around it saying 'Praetor' and 'Keepers of Peace' He looked up again, the vampire had finished drinking the barkeepers blood. The others in the bar had run for the door. The other caped man had grabbed them and started sucking their blood. CT cocked his guns and got ready to fight.

CT blasted the head off the vampire who had been talking to him, interupting his meal from the barman. His bady suddenly seemed to explode into a pile of dust on the floor.
"Hmmmm, I wonder hw much of those stories are true?" He asked himself wondering what the vampires could do and what was fiction.
He spun around and shot at the three by the door. A bullet hit one of them in the leg. CT expected it to heal, as the others stomach and head had done. He wasn't fully suprised when it didn't happen. The vampire looked at his leg then up at CT. The last thing he saw was a bullet flying towards him and turning him into dust. CT shot at the other two vampires who had jumped behind the bar. Therefore letting the other men in the bar go free.
Bullets shattered bottles on the shelves behind the bar. Various drinks spilt onto the vampires. A bit of luck struck CT. He shot a bottle causing it to smash. The glass fell onto one of the vampires, causing the shards to fall onto one of the vampires. The vampire stood up in pain and turned to dust thanks to a bullet in the heart. The final vampire, all alone now tried to make a run for it. He ran for the door but was dusted before he could reach it.
The vampires were dead, they were all dead. CT then realised his part in all of this. He slowly walked out of the door and back to the appartment.

Christan shoved the door open and immediatly began giving orders.
"Ant call the painters I want the symbol from our guns painted on the wall outside. Call the armorists get 5 crates of bullets we'll need them. Rachael find me anything and everything you can on vampires and other creatures like that. Ant I'm going to go and see your mum and find the others."
With that he walked out without waiting for a responce.
"Was he wearing my jacket?" Ant asked.

CT had gone to the address from the letter. It had been scribbled down on the corner of the paper. The place was a small building with a sign outside saying 'fortune telling inside' It wasn't like he expected. He opened the door and walked in. The walls were painted purple with stars on them, and the room was dimly lit. A woman sat on the other side of a table, with a crystal ball on it.
"Welcome Christan, as you are known for now. Not what you were expecting? Of course it is. You just think of me as a childrens magician, pretending to tell them what they will amount to, right?" She said, not letting CT answer, "You have come about the other three, yes?"
"Three? Don't you mean four. Your letter said that I would have to lead six people. I've only found two, Rachael and your son, Ant." CT said taking a seat oposite the 'Oracle'
"No, you have found three. Well you will have done by the time this is over. The third is yourself, you need to lead yourself into battle. And it won't be an easy task." She was confusing CT. "One is in a pharmasist, downtown and near the centre. A second is in trouble, if you don't save him he will fall. The final is already on his way to meet you. He is a friend of me and my son, he is trying to find him. He is trying to offer his service, the service of 'sight'. You will understand by the end." CT still couldn't get a word in. "Now we have a few matters to discuss. First your fate. You will need to take these." She handed him a pouch containing two bullets, "They are very special bullets, forged from white light. You will know when to use them. The second thing is your love. Do not be afraid..."
This time CT managed to get a word in, "I'm not afraid..."
"Yes you are, afraid that she may die to help you. She will not, you need not worry about that. Instead you should focus on these 'immortals' soon, when Praetor comes to rise they will fear and they will rise 'the seven' these are who you should focus your attention on. Their fate is not decided. When you fight either one of you will die or one of them, there can be no comprimise. Now you must go, I feel weary. If you need help again, come and find me in my lodgings to the North West, where land meets desert and mountains."
With that she disappeared, as did the building CT was in, he was left standing in a small deserted house. This wasgoing to get even stranger before the end, he was starting to sound like her.