• “Hey, Leo, how’s it goin’?”
    The Sunset Pub. It was one of the famous little dives in Kassay, the lone city on an island off the coast of the Universe continent, a little to the south of Future City. The city was famous for its beautiful beaches and nice waves for surfing. The waters were nice and warm, making the place almost tropical. And the man named Leo was among the famous sights in the city.
    “’uh? ‘Ey, Freddy…” The man named Leo sat alone at the bar, cradling a bottle in his hands. He was unshaven, his hair unkempt, and his eyes bloodshot, a different man than he had been a few years ago. Those who frequented the bar, Leo’s current favorite spot to hang out, knew his name. To all others, he was simply Raven, the legendary warrior from the Desert War on the southern Earth Continent across the ocean. But now he was the town drunk, barely ever found sober, almost always depressed. What had caused it? No one knew.
    “So, anyway, as I was telling’ Marc, it don’t matter if you’ve got a bubble on your head or not, you ain’t gonna breath in the ocean! Ain’t that a kicker?” Leo nodded, not smiling, even as the few other patrons who were still around that late chuckled away. Leo glanced at them from the side of his eye. He couldn’t understand why they hung out with him. No matter how far he tried to distance himself from everyone, people still always sat with him, talked with him, told jokes. Fame was a terrible thing to a loner.
    “…Oh, thanks, Carl. Didn’t think you fix it so fast! Anyway, Leo, you’ll never guess what happened today!”
    “From your hap…happiness, I’mashay money,” he said slowly.
    “You’re good, my friend! I got a promotion! It’s about time that those guys at the hotel realized I was management material!” He droned on for a while more, losing the interest of more people than Leo.
    “Oh, for God’s sakes, man, we get it!” someone eventually interrupted, generating chuckles from all present, except Freddy, of course, who looked rather disgruntled at having had his story interrupted. The night went on, and Leo’s bottle eventually emptied, along with the pub.
    “’Ey, Carl, toss anuder…” Carl shook is head.
    “No way, Leo. You’ve had more’n enough. I don’t feel like dragging your behind to your house, got it?” Leo shrugged. The pub was soon closing anyway. He stood shakily up, and stumbled to the door, the remaining patrons of the pub shaking their heads. If he wasn’t a famed war hero, he probably wouldn’t be put up with. A few tourists wandering the street late gave him funny looks, but otherwise no one bothered him. No one ever really messed with the stumbly guy too much, unless he got in their way. As he walked, the streets emptied. Mostly. There were still some teenagers wandering around.
    “Hey, Raven. That’s you, right?” A smirking teen in a tank top stepped in front of him. The other teens on the street surrounded him slowly, smirking as well. A gang.
    “So, the famous hero…this is Raven? You’re pathetic.” The one who seemed to be the leader circled him, jeering as the others just laughed. Leo stood still, following him with his eyes. He felt slightly more alert, on edge.
    “You know, most of the people around here used to respect you. If the chief wasn’t so friendly to you, you’d probably be gone by now. Your respect is gone.” And then the boy waved his hand towards Leo and the gang struck. First one to go was the leader. Leo stepped forward and reverse chopped the boy’s elbow, breaking it with a loud crack. The other boys stopped and looked at their leader who was crying out in pain. Leo didn’t give them a chance to regroup, but quickly struck again and again. One went down from a kick to the knee, bending it the wrong direction. Another from a quick jab to the chest. One more from a hooking uppercut that carried its target over Leo’s head and slammed him into the ground. Leo grabbed one of the last two, and threw him at the final gang member who had been fleeing. Then, with all his opponents down, he continued on his way as though nothing had happened. He fell asleep as soon as he got home.
    “LEONARDO! GET THE HELL UP!” Leo woke to someone pounding on his door. He had a terrible headache.
    “LEO! OPEN THE DAMN DOOR!” He knew that voice. But from where? Leo opened the door, blinking in the bright sunlight. He was then cracked over the head, and the next thing he knew, he was on the ground, his hands tied behind his back.
    “Wha-?”
    “Sorry, Leo, but this time is the last straw. Those boys you beat the hell out of last night? They were trying to tell you that you had one strike left, man. I’m sorry.”
    “But they attack-”
    “Leo, you were drunk. We know that you can somehow still fight in that state, but no one will argue against the fact that your judgment goes to hell.” The officer pulled him up and Leo saw there were four others, just in case he tried to resist. He didn’t. He didn’t care anymore. He was soon in jail, having admitted to his crime. It turns out that the ‘gang leader’ was actually the chief’s son. He was sentenced to three years.
    “Hey, you that war guy, right?” Leo looked up from the plate of beige mush that was his breakfast. It was his first day in jail. The man who addressed him was a skinny, heavily tattooed guy with a rather large friend.
    “So, what’chu in for, huh? Beatin’ up a couple of kids? Yeah, real tough man, huh?”
    “Yeah. Bet ‘dey even fought back.” The two grinned and a few other inmates looked over with interest. As per custom, the new guy was about to get his first beating. The large inmate swept Leo’s food off his plate, the bowl and spoon clattering to the floor. Leo glanced up at him, the dark spot below his eyes making him look quite tired. The big man then wound up to swing, but Leo stood up in a flash, hammering the man’s throat with his fist. Then, as he gasped for breath, Leo punched him in the stomach, causing him to vomit. Another hammer punch to the back of the head dropped him. Leo then grabbed his tray and slammed it across the face of the smaller man, who had been backing away, breaking it in half. The man fell, clutching a broken nose.
    “Sorry about that, but the food sucked. You just happened to give me someone to take it out on.” Leo then sat back down, placing the half of his tray he was still holding back on it. He wanted a drink. The other inmates, some smirking, turned back to their food.
    “Nice show you put on, newbie. You really just whoop a couple’a teens?” It was later in the day, and Leo was lying down on a bench. A few people had stopped to congratulate him on his first person sent to the medical wing or threaten him, but this guy was the first to try and make conversation.
    “Yeah. I was drunk at the time.”
    “And you beat, what, seven guys?”
    “Six.”
    “Whatever. Nice show, nonetheless.”
    “Not really, got me in here.”
    “True.” The man sat down at the end of the bench, near Leo’s feet. Leo opened an eye to look at him. He wasn’t too old, looking to be somewhere in his thirties, around Leo’s age. Part of his jaw wasn’t flesh, but looked like some kind of rubber.
    “What the hell happened to your jaw?”
    “What the hell happened to your eye?” The inmate gestured to Leo’s right eye, where a slice in his flesh almost cut into his eye.
    “The war. Ninja with a hidden knife. Little deeper, and I would have lost it. Your turn.”
    “The war. Bullet. Honorable discharge. Suspected to be friendly fire.” A fellow vet. Small world.
    “So, tell me, they called you the Raven, right? Why was that?” At the question, Leo remembered countless faces, all dead.
    “Because anyone who associated with me died. It wasn’t an honorary title.”
    “Huh. And here the boys in my squad always said it was because you were a great gunner. Though I guess you guys were more special ops, wouldn’t make sense to have lots of big guns.”
    “True. Hauling a turret around wouldn’t be sneaky, but hey, more firepower. Nah, we didn’t have any raven users in my group.” Though he’d seen plenty. Several of comrades had fallen to friendly fire from the large guns. The gunners didn’t bother to aim well since they could pump out enough round not to care.
    “So, you haven’t told me, what’s your name?”
    “Rayn. Laurence Rayn.”
    Leonardo and Laurence became friends, and the two were soon an infamous pair. Leonardo was the strong man, and a great fighter while Rayn was already known for having a knack of getting into places he wasn’t supposed to be. A few months passed before news of the new war reached the ears of Kassay’s prison. News out of the place was a bit swifter, however. Leo would never serve his full sentence.
    “’Ey, Leo, catch a load a dat, ey?” It was the tattooed convict from Leo’s first day. The two of them still didn’t like each other, but Leonardo had earned the man’s respect. Leonardo nodded back. He nudged Rayn and the two looked to where most of the other convicts were already gazing. A woman was walking along the railing above, a rare sight. Many of the cons wolf-whistled or jeered at her, earning a quick glare from her. Leonardo felt like her eyes were burning through him. They were emerald green.
    “Hey, Laurence, did you just…?”
    “Yeah, man. I’m getting a weird vibe from her.” She entered the stairwell and the cafeteria settled down once more, though now with more talking.
    “Dude, she totally was lookin’ at me, man!”
    “No way. You’re just a stick.”
    “Hey man, I don’ think she was here lookin’ for boyfriends, no? She means business!”
    “Ey, Leo, what ‘choo think of her, huh?”
    “I dunno.” An ‘oooooh!’ went around the table.
    “What ‘choo mean, man? You ain’t gay for one of us, are you?”
    “Hey, you and Rainy Day there gay for each other? I knew it!” Laurence just smirked and shook his head while Leo stared at the closed stairwell door.
    “’Fraid not, boys. Personally, I don’t think she’s my type. I’m more of a red-head sorta guy. What about you, Leo?”
    “No. Not her. Not dangerous enough.” The guys laughed at that. And then a guard got a call on his radio. He listened for a moment, nodded while replying, then motioned two guards to come with him. They converged on Leo.
    “Leonardo Adams, the warden wants to see you.”
    “Oooh, Leo, what ‘choo do, man?”
    “Naw, man, the girl wants to ‘see’ him, yeah?”
    “Nope. He’s being transferred.” The last statement was from Rayn. He didn’t even look up.
    “Laurence, what do you mean I’m being transferred? How would you know?”
    “Psychic powers, man. You better get. That guard there’s new, and doesn’t look like he’s got a lot of patience.” Leo stood up and gave Rayn a quizzical look. If Rayn said it was true, it was going to be. He often raided the prison’s computer systems, though no one was ever able to prove he was doing it. As Leo went with the guards, the other prisoners started muttering among themselves.
    “Hey, Leo, bros before hoes, man! You get back here!”
    “Hey, they splittin’ up the Dream Team or what?”
    “See you later, jackass!”
    And then the door closed behind him, drowning out the voices of the prisoners.
    “So, you guys know what’s going on?”
    “Nope, sorry Leo. We just got told to transport you.”
    “Wait, you guys talk to him like that? Isn’t he dangerous?”
    “Not unless he wants to be. So be nice, junior.” Leo smirked. They reached a large door that required key-cards to open. Two of the guards swiped theirs and the doors slid open, revealing the much nicer office wing of the facility. They escorted him into the warden’s office, where he found the woman with the green eyes sitting across from the warden.
    “Hello, Mr. Adams, we were just talking about you. Sit.” The warden looked incredulous at the woman asking a criminal to sit in one of his chairs.
    “Ma-am, I-”
    “You guards can leave. Mr. Adams here wouldn’t think to harm us, would you?” Leonardo shook his head slowly. He and the woman were staring at each other.
    “Good, you see? Please sit, Mr. Adams.”
    “Miss Xavier, I really must insist…”
    “Sir, we both know I can handle myself if Mr. Adams decides to play rough. Please, the less people who know who I represent, the better.” That was odd. Leo began to suspect this wasn’t any ordinary transfer. He sat slowly, the warden mouthing silently as he did so. The guards shrugged and stepped outside, the two veteran ones pushing the new guard out. The door closed, then the warden burst.
    “Miss, I really must insist on them being here! Who’s to know what’s going on this this man’s mind?”
    “He’s a war hero. He’s behaved well enough in here to earn your guards’ respect.”
    “He almost killed some teenagers!”
    “He was drunk. He isn’t now. Unless you serve alcohol to your prisoners?”
    “Of course not!”
    “Then what’s your objection? He’s sitting here quite peacefully. Mr. Adams, do you have any complain with the good warden here?” Leo glanced at her with a raised eyebrow. She was smirking.
    “Well, the food sucks, but otherwise no.”
    “There, it’s quite fine, Mr. warden. Now, to business.”
    “What business? Your ‘organization’ input a transfer order, but you don’t seem to be working for any prison!”
    “You know who I work for. I gave you his card.” The warden held up a strange looking business card. There was a symbol on it, an inverted triangle with a circle in its center and 3 other triangles on its flat edges.
    “Yeah, you gave me a card, but what the hell does this Mr. Crane want with Adams?” The woman, Miss Xavier, pulled a few printed papers from a folder.
    “These incidents, Mr. warden, have caught the eye of my employer. You must admit, they are impressive.” Leonardo glanced at the papers, but they changed hands too quickly to read them. The warden looked them over, shaking his head as he did so.
    “So he’s a freak!”
    “He’s more than a freak, Mr. warden. He’s a resource to be used.”
    “Excuse me, ma-am.” Leonardo spoke up for the first time since entering the office.
    “I would prefer it if you didn’t talk about me like I was some object. I’m a person.”
    “Indeed. My apologies. Now, Mr. warden, Mr. Adams is not a mere freak. He could be very useful, should he choose to help.”
    “He blew up a punching bag!” Leonardo remembered that day. He’d punched a hole through the bag, then hit it into the floor. It had, indeed, exploded on impact. So that’s what sort of ‘incidents’ were on the papers.
    “Among other things, yes, he did. Mr. Adams, would you care to comment on this incident?”
    “Yeah, I’m sorry about that. It was a bad day, I was kind of pissed.” The warden stood, barely taller than he had been sitting, and walked around the desk.
    “You see? He gets angry, things break!”
    “Mr. Crane would be willing to pay for any damages caused by Mr. Adams.” The warden’s eyes lit up, the prospect of money gain close to his heart.
    “Well, he broke many other things…a few doors, a weight machine, a washer-”
    “You had Davis repair the washer, sir.” The warden glared at Leonardo. He’d probably forgotten he was still there. Miss Xavier, however, laughed.
    “Thank you, Mr. Adams, but money is no object. The warden can have his price. As long as you agree to come with me, of course.”
    “Well I’d love to leave, but only on one condition. Laurence Rayn leaves with me.” Xavier raised a jet-black eyebrow.
    “I have no orders regarding Mr. Rayn.”
    “Then you have no deal, ma-am.” The warden’s mouth literally fell open. He never thought he’d see the day someone voluntarily stayed in his prison, much less that he had a chance to profit if the man left.
    “I-I’m sorry, Adams, but I can’t let Rayn go. Don’t you know what he’s in for?” Actually, Leo didn’t. Rayn always just said he was in for a ‘deal that went south’, presumably caught selling drugs.
    “Murder, Adams. Murder. But surely you knew your friend was a killer?” Leo shook his head.
    “Oh, come now, people who’ve tried to do you harm keep vanishing without a trace. What do you think happened to them?”
    “I heard they were transferred.”
    “Nope, they’re dead. Your friend is our top suspect, but no one can prove anything. He really is a sneaky fellow.”
    “May we see his record?” Xavier calmly gazed at the warder, her eyes boring through him. Leo noticed he seemed to be afraid of her.
    “O-of course!” The warden pulled a thin computer out of his desk, and began scanning through files on it. There was a beep, a raised eyebrow from the warden, and he clicked something. This process repeated four times.
    “This can’t be right…the system says he’s to be released today?”
    “May I see?” Xavier turned the screen around. It said he was in for breaking and entering and petty theft. Sentence was one year.
    “Well then, Mr. warden, what are we going to do about this?” The warden, obviously flustered, shook his head wildly.
    “Well, Mr. warden, my orders are to acquire Mr. Adams under any circumstances. If that means I have to acquire Mr. Rayn as well, so be it.”
    “You can’t take him.” The warden crossed his arms, frowning.
    “Think of it this way Mr. warden. You suspect that this man is killing your inmates. That doesn’t look good for you. Now, you have an opportunity here to get rid of him. Do you still want to refuse my deal?” The warden thought for a moment, then grabbed a radio.
    “Get Laurence Rayn up here. Now.”
    Minutes later, Xavier, Leo, and Rayn were all walking out of the warden’s office, the deal completed. Rayn was grinning while Leo watched his friend in a new light.
    “Rayn, the warden told us your true crime. Now know this; if a single person goes missing with no explanation, you will be held responsible.” Xavier turned around, frowning.
    “And you won’t be sent to prison. Not again. Know that.” She turned and continued walking, leaving the threat hanging behind her. Rayn shrugged and continued, followed by Leonardo.
    “Hey, Rayn, how’d you know I’d ask you to come with me?”
    “Psychic powers, my friend.”
    “You know me too well.”
    “Well, maybe a bit of that, too.” Rayn grinned at his friend. The three walked into the sunshine, Leo free for the first time in half a year, who knew how long it had been for Rayn.
    “Boys, welcome to the Resistance.”