The Avenger
As I sat at my desk, I decided to turn on the police radio that I “salvaged” from a cop car. At first, all I heard was static. Then I heard a voice come over from it: “We have a code 419, repeat, code 419, downtown. Bring in some investigators immediately. Suspect may still be around.”
Hmm, sounds interesting. I
immediately picked up the phone and dialed a number.
“Hello? Who is this?”
“It’s me, Drake. I need you to come down to an apartment downtown. I found a murder case for us. Let’s go and drop by.”
“Alright, I’ll come there as soon as I can.”
Drake and I have been partners for a long time. He’s a good guy, smart, and as tough as nails. I’ve seen him take on a group of gang members in hand-to-hand combat and let’s just say that by the time it was over, they were all on the floor battered, with Drake still standing, despite several serious wounds. Good guy to have around when there’s a fight. I put on my trench coat, fedora hat, and mask. I always wear a mask whenever I’m on a job, so I can conceal my identity from anyone on the outside. No need for any grudges, not that it matters that much. Just don’t want no trouble.
I stepped outside my office into the pouring rain and quickly walked through the rain, finally arriving at the scene. The apartment room was a swank place, filled with rare antiques and paintings, with the occasional jewel here and there. The police were all over the place, cutting the place off from civilians. I met up with my Drake and found Captain Blake in the apartment, talking to one of his subordinates. Captain Blake and I have known each other for years and have formed a friendship, although there are many times that test it.
“What’s going on here? Give me the info,” I said brusquely.
Heh, that subordinate of his looks pretty peeved that I didn’t treat his commanding officer with the respect that he thinks he deserves. The captain also saw the look on his subordinate’s face and, knowing what I could do, wisely told him to continue the investigation.
“From what we know, the victim there”, gesturing at the dead body that
lay on the floor over a pool of blood, “is Brandon Roche. From what we can tell,
he was an influential man here in
I stepped towards the body, taking a look at the wound. It looked like whoever killed him knew what they were doing. The fact that there was only one shot already indicated that this person didn’t have to waste ammunition. The bullet looked custom-made, so that it maximized the force after it has been shot. It looked like the handiwork of a professional. It can’t be him, can it? I turned back to the captain.
“Looks like we got a professional who did this. I’m going to go now, but make sure that you give me a copy of Roche’s background and any evidence you guys find.”
“All right, then. Take care, though I’m sure you will.”
I stepped out of the apartment room with Drake, said goodbye to him, and left. I decided to take a shortcut back to my apartment and was walking through an alleyway when suddenly, I was attacked from behind. I fell to the ground, trying to fight through the pain and get up. As I staggered up, I saw about five people surrounding me. One of them stepped forward, holding in his hands what appeared to be a baseball bat.
“Leave the case and escape with your life.”
“Heh, it’ll take more than just a bunch of street punks to take me out that easily,” I said as I tried to look him in the eye.
“Wrong answer.”
He swung the bat at me, but I ducked and swiftly disarmed him by breaking his wrist. He howled in pain as the bat dropped. The others closed in on me, but my blood was up. I punched one of the punks in the side hard, then followed up with an uppercut. Another fell prey to a sidekick to the head. The others went down as easily as the others. After all this, all of them were either unconscious or somewhere close to it. As one of the figures tried to get up, I picked up the bat.
“I don’t know if you were sent by someone, but tell them that I’m not going down that easily. In the meantime, stay down,” I said as I swung the bat.
I walked away from the unconscious, bleeding figures which I was sure the police would find and lock up. I went back to my office, after I made sure that I wasn’t being followed, took my mask off, pulled out my private bottle of scotch, and started pondering the mystery I had on my hands. Who would want to kill an influential man? Of course, there are probably thousands of people who wanted to kill him, but the only practical reason that I can see is that someone wanted him out of the way so that one of the candidates would be guaranteed the victory. It would make sense, but what about those people who attacked me earlier today? It looked like they were hired to take me out. Someone’s trying to stay hidden from my sights. I’ll get to the bottom of this though, no matter what.
As I kept wondering, my eyes started to close from the effects of the scotch and the late hour at which I got back. My mind started to wander as I fell asleep, taking me back to a memory buried deep inside. I knew this memory well and it was a painful one, but it is the one memory that took me down this road. It was on a Wednesday night, when I was walking back home after a long day, eager to be greeted by my wife and two children. But as I was walking up to my house, I noticed that the lights were off. Hmm, that’s strange. Why are the lights off? Usually, they should be home by now. I quickly ran up the steps and tried the door to make sure it was locked. It wasn’t.
“Shit, this is bad.”
I pushed the door open in a hurry, to see a person standing over the prone figures of my family, blood pooling from underneath them.
“No!!” I shouted and tried to attack the murderer who had taken those most precious from me.
The person turned around, face, for a brief moment, illuminated by the street lights and from that moment on, the man’s face was imprinted into my mind. I would be able to recognize that face anywhere now. Scar on the left eye, sallow, eyes that were filled with joy. He easily knocked me down with a solid punch to the gut and walked away.
“Get back here!! I’m not done with you yet!”
The person didn’t even respond or look back as he walked out the door, leaving me all alone, trying in vain to do something, screaming for him to get back, with the bodies of my family lying next to me, soaking my clothes with their blood.
I woke up in a cold sweat, with the image of the man still fresh in my mind. That was the day that I swore not only to get revenge on the one who did this, but to pursue my own type of justice against any who dares commit heinous crimes. From that day, I trained myself, getting stronger so that when the day came, I would not go down easily. I also only had one clue to go by as well, besides the face. All of a sudden, the phone rang. I got up from my seat and picked it up.
“Hello?”
“It’s me, Drake. Someone’s trying to get rid of me right now and I just managed to lock the door before whoever it is could get me. You got to help me!”
“Alright, I’ll try and be there as soon as I can. Just hold tight.”
“Ok, will do.”
I immediately went out, running as fast as I could to Drake’s apartment. But as soon as I turned the corner, I saw a body on the ground. Drake! I rushed over and kneeled, knowing that he was dead, because no one could have survived a fall from four stories.
“I swear I will avenge you, Drake. I swear.”
I quickly walked away before the police got here, now with a new purpose. Not only did I have to solve the murder of Brandon Roche, but also the murder of my partner. So went to every single underworld bar there was in the city, breaking a few fingers and roughing up a few people to get the answer to the two questions in my mind: who murdered Brandon Roche and Drake. I have a way of “persuading” people to tell me what I need to know. After a few hours, I finally had a name and incidentally they were one and the same: Josh Moore. I looked him up in the phonebook and went to the address, which happened to be in a very rich neighborhood. I walked up to a particularly extravagant mansion. Typical for people with wealth to show it off, regardless of how they got their money. I knocked on the door and when the door opened, I saw the face of the man I had been looking for my entire life.
“You!!” I said and immediately tackled him to the ground.
He managed to get a good right hook on me, but I ignored the pain. I felt nothing and saw nothing other than that man. I punched him repeatedly and viciously, barely giving him a chance to defend himself. However, I came to my senses when I realized that I was working on something else. Personal revenge could come later. Thankfully, the man was still conscious, despite the heavy blows I landed on him.
“Why did you murder Brandon Roche? Why did you murder my partner?” I snarled.
“I don't know what you're talking abo...”
I lifted him up and slammed him into the wall.
“Don't lie to me!! Now why did you order the murder of Brandon Roche?!?”
“I'll never tell you!”
“So that's how it's going to be, huh? Well we'll see how long you'll last once I'm through with you.”
I started breaking his bones, starting with the ones in his hands. He screamed as I worked on him, finally breaking when I was done with both hands.
“I was put up to this by a guy named Alexander Veidt. I don't know why he wanted that man dead, I was just in it for the money.”
I let go of him and watched him slide down the wall, his expression indicating huge pain. I left him there and walked outside the house. I didn't walk away though. I pulled out a lighter and a spray-can out from my coat.
“Goodbye. I hope that you enjoy burning in hell,” I said as I lit the house on fire. I never looked back as screams of agony came out.
I called the police and told them everything. They set out to investigate
this Alexander Veidt, who turned out to be a man who was about to enter the
election. When confronted, he tried to run for it, but was quickly put down.
Apparently, Veidt wanted to get the money from Brandon Roche, but Brandon
refused. Knowing that