*Earth*

“Ugh, my head.” I was slowly waking to what I was assuming was a massive hangover. Strange thing is that I didn’t remember drinking or even having the money to get drunk yesterday. I could hear some strange beeping noise and when I opened my eyes I saw the source. I was in a hospital hooked up to some machines. What the fuck happened to me!?

I looked around and saw multiple different machines in the room and that I was also the only one in it. I’m not surprised; I didn’t have any friends to begin with. I tried to rub my head, which was still throbbing, but when I tried to move my right arm I noticed that it was handcuffed to the bed. What the fuck? I looked around the room and made sure that no one was there again and I was right the first time. I pulled on the chain a bit and it made some noise, at this time the door opened and a woman in a jet black suit walked in.

She was pretty tall for a woman, but that may have been because of the heels too. She had jet black shoulder length hair to match her suit and bright baby blue colored eyes. They popped out against her black attire and made her quite a stunning site. She had quite the figure, slim waist, decent sized bust, and a semi-plump rear. She would probably make almost any man drool over her if she tried. Even without her trying I had to swallow a little bit of saliva.

She came in and was flanked by two more burly men in suits; they looked like your typical agent types that you would see in movies. What the hell is going on here? The woman sat down in a chair next to my bed while one man stood behind her and the other stood by the door with a clear view of my other side. I looked at the woman and she beamed a dazzling smile at me, “Good morning Mr. Caelum. It is good to see you among the living again.”

I was shocked, did I die or something? What the fuck is she talking about? She waited a second before she continued talking, “I know what you are thinking and yes you did die, the doctors lost you in the ER (Emergency Room). You did however come back after they had already coded you.” (AN: They basically announced his death and documented it.) She paused a moment to let it sink in and then continued, “If it wasn’t for the nurse who noticed you breathing again almost a full fifteen minutes later you would have been sent to the morgue.”

I just sat there in semi-shock listening to what she was saying; I basically died for a full fifteen minutes. I was lost in my thoughts when her voice brought me back to reality, “You are probably wondering why we are here aren’t you?” I didn’t say anything and just nodded my head. She smiled and spoke again, “Well we aren’t here for about how you came back, but for the situation that happened right before you came here.”

I furrowed my brows in confusion and just stared at her. She took that as a cue to continue talking, “We happened to be searching through hospital records of people that have been admitted for fighting and other things and we found your file and the scene that the paramedics described was quite good. We didn’t find out about you dying and then coming back until after we got here.” They have access to hospital records, just who are these people? I glanced at the two men in suits and noticed the guns they had at their waists hiding behind their suit jackets. I raised an eyebrow at this and then put my attention back on the woman. I was feeling strangely calm in this situation, whatever situation that is I really don’t know.

She was still smiling when I placed my attention back on her and she didn’t even acknowledge whether or not I noticed their guns. I finally decided to speak at this time, “Well you obviously know me, but who are you?” She smiled wide and then responded, “We are an organization known as Caedus and we are here to possibly recruit you.” I squinted at her, “You really want me to join your organization, one basically called Murder?”

She raised an eyebrow and I continued speaking, “Yes I know what Caedus means; I know a little bit of Latin, hell my name is Latin for the word Heaven.” I don’t know why I was named this, but my parents were Latin freaks and liked the word. I was born at home and never had a birth certificate made up, so according to the government I don’t even exist. I was homeschooled in all of my school years and was only able to go to the local park to play with kids, well the ones who didn’t want to fight me.

One of the reasons that I couldn’t hold a steady job most of the time was the fact that I didn’t have my diploma or even a GED (General Education Development). The hospital probably had to list me as a John Doe because I don’t even have any identification. Almost all the jobs I have worked before were physical and paid under the table.

The lady just laughed before speaking again, “That is true. Someone that can be so violent has such a holy sounding name.” I scoffed at her words, “If it wasn’t for my small stature I wouldn’t have to resort to violence all the time.” She looked a little lost when I spoke. She looked at one of the men and then back at me before speaking, “What do you mean if it wasn’t for your small stature? Since when is someone standing six foot three inches and weighing two hundred and twenty-three pounds small?”

I could almost feel my eyes bulging from my head at her words. What is she talking about? I have been five foot two since I was seventeen. I asked for them to let me look in a mirror and the woman nodded at one of the men. He walked over and unlocked the cuffs and I got out of the bed. First thing I did was remove the tubes in my arm and the heart monitor. The machine started to release a siren like noise and the man by the door walked outside.

I heard a commotion by the door for a second, but then it was quiet and the man stepped back inside. I made my way to the bathroom, shutting the door behind me, and looked in the mirror. The face that greeted me was pretty much exactly the same except it was a little fuller looking. I stepped back and removed the gown that I was wearing. When I looked at my body I was extremely ripped looking, I had a six pack and the muscles on my arms and legs were very tight and visible. The thing that I was most shocked by is that the lady was correct, I could tell when I stood out of the bed, but when seeing it in the mirror I confirmed what she had said. I really was six foot three and ripped as well; I looked down my body in the mirror and smiled, it looks like my height wasn’t the only thing that grew.

I put the gown back on and walked out of the bathroom; I sat down on the bed and looked at the woman. I thought about what to say for a moment before saying it, “So why exactly do you want to recruit me?” I know I should be freaking out about the changes to my body, but why would I? I mean yeah I was initially shocked, but the changes were for the better so why not accept them? The woman pulled out a folder and opened it up, showing me the contents before she spoke, “This is the scene that you were found at by the paramedics.”

I looked down and saw the pictures in the folder. There were five people lying on the ground with blood coming out of their bodies in multiple places. I saw myself lying in the middle of the group covered in blood. I looked at the bodies and I was shocked to find out that they were people I knew. One of them was Karen and I saw that he was lying in a pool of his own blood with a whole where his heart should be.

The other four were killed in various brutal ways, but I was the only one alive. My hands were trembling while looking at the pictures and reading the words on the papers in the folder. The contents of the paper were from a police report filed by the first officer on the scene. He was responding to a call of fighting that was called in and when he arrived he found the five dead thugs and an unconscious me.

I was put in an ambulance and taken to the hospital and according to the medical report when they cleaned me up they were shocked to find no wounds or bruises anywhere on me. I looked at my trembling knuckles and sure enough they weren’t bruised in the slightest. What the fuck is going on? Why was I with Karen and his posse and why were they dead? I couldn’t remember anything from yesterday, it was like there was a blank in my memories.

I could feel my brain malfunctioning and it took me a little bit to calm down and speak again, “What the hell happened and what does this have to do with my recruitment?” The woman smiled and answered, “Someone ripped the heart out of one of these thugs and killed the others in various horrific ways. We think that someone was you and we could use someone with the skills and strength to take out five people alone and who isn’t afraid of killing.”

I shook my head, “I can’t remember anything from yesterday and I have never killed anyone before. Why do you think that I was the one who killed them?” She handed me another folder, “There were skin cells and even some pieces of heart from the victims found under your fingernails. This shows us that you were the one to kill them.” I was stunned, I looked at my hands and I could feel my heart speeding up at a frightening pace.

I looked at the woman and the two men in the room with me and instantly thought that I needed to get out. I looked it over for a second before I made a mad dash for the door. There was a pain at the back of my neck and I was greeted by darkness again.

*Sarah’s – POV*

My name is Sarah Kline and my code name was Silent Kill. I work for an organization that does various things for money. My mission today was to recruit a young man who was found at a horrific murder scene. After I looked over the files I was disturbed at the violence and brutality of the work supposedly done by this man.

My public bodyguards and I made it to the hospital that the police were keeping him at and after quietly dispatching the guards we walked into the room to see him messing with the handcuffs on his wrist. I was a little shocked to see how handsome and fit he was for someone that was homeless. I saw him swallow a little saliva and it made me smile a little. This may be easy was the thoughts that I had when I first walked in, but after we told him everything, he tried to escape and guard one had to knock him out.

It was when he lost consciousness that all hell broke loose. When guard one went to pick him up he grunted and then there was a gun shot. Guard one fell over and there was blood coming out of a hole in his heart. Caelum stood up and there was a wicked grin on his face, but his eyes are what scared me more. They were void of anything, it was like his soul had left his body and he was possessed.

He pointed the gun at guard two and pulled the trigger putting a bullet between his eyes. Even if he was an amateur at using firearms, from this distance it would be easy to hit were you were aiming. He aimed the gun at me, but as soon as he did he started to scream and grab his head. He kneeled down on the ground and screamed at the top of his lungs before he collapsed on the ground.

I released a breath that I didn’t know I had been holding and cursed myself for not being prepared. If this was a normal mission I would have been on my toes and carrying a weapon, but it was supposed to just be recruitment. I never would have thought that this young man would have been able to kill two highly professional bodyguards and almost kill me. I don’t know what is wrong with his head, but my job was to recruit him and recruit him I would.

I pulled my phone out and made a few calls, I was able to get the police stalled from coming to the hospital while an extraction team came and picked me and Caelum up. When they saw the bodies and Caelum holding the gun a look of shock passed through their eyes, but being professionals they just loaded him in the back of the van and we left. I looked back at him and then sighed before looking out the window as we headed to one of our bases located in a suburb outside of OKC (Oklahoma City).

*Caelum’s – POV*

I woke up in some warehouse with another splitting headache and I found myself lying on a cot. I sat up and looked around finding two guards standing on both sides of the door holding some sort of assault rifles. One of the guards told someone on the other end of the radio that I was awake and then five minutes later the same woman from before walked in. This time she was dressed in black combat gear and had her hair in a ponytail. She was followed by a man with an eye patch on his left eye and there was a little bit of a scar poking out from behind it. He reminded me of the douchebag that people hated on some television show with zombies.

I couldn’t think of the name of the show off the top of my head seeing as how I was homeless and didn’t have a TV to watch. All I can remember is that he got what was coming to him at some point. The man followed closely behind the woman from the hospital and at one point I could even see him coping a feel on her ass. It looks like these two are more than just co-workers is what I was thinking until she slapped him, hard.

She was seething at him, “Didn’t I tell you not to do that!? Seriously, we went out one time and both got drunk and did some things that I wish I could take back. That was all; there is nothing that will ever happen between us. I will not make that mistake again.” I was trying not to laugh at the scene playing out in front of me and I could see that the guards where to. So much for her earlier professionalism I guess.

The guy put his hand behind his head and laughed a little while looking at the ground. She huffed a bit and then turned back around, putting a professional face back on. I finally couldn’t hold it in and burst out laughing. The woman turned a little red and looked at the ground while the man got pissed, “What are you laughing at!?” He moved towards me but was stopped by the woman, “Don’t do anything stupid John, he did take out two trained bodyguards and five thugs.”

John snorted, “So what about the thugs, I can take on around ten of them on my own. As for the bodyguards he probably took them off guards or something.” I did what now? Is what I was thinking and then the woman explained, “He may have done just that, but he still killed two train bodyguards and we still don’t know much about him.” I killed someone again? All I can remember is trying to leave the room and then nothing.

He glared at me and then spat on the ground before talking to the woman, “Fine, whatever you want Sarah, but if he mouths off or even looks at me funny I am going to kill him.” Sarah sighed, “Okay that’s fine, but please go out in the hallway for me.” John glared at me before he walked out the room and into the hallway.

Sarah sighed again before she turned and looked at me. I smiled and cracked a joke, “He sounds nice I see why you like him.” She turned red and this time she was the one to get angry, “I don’t like him! I got drunk and ended up sleeping with him one time, but that was it.” I laughed and then after a few seconds of her trying to calm down I spoke, “So where are we and what are you going to do with me?”

She looked at me and had a small smile on her face, “We are at one of our bases, which is also a training facility. You are going to go through some training before we officially accept you into the organization.” I sighed before speaking, “I really don’t have a choice in this matter do I?” She shook her head, “No, not really. It isn’t a bad thing though. The pay is amazing and you will also be able to have the power and resources to do and get almost anything you could ever think of.”

I had to admit, the way she put it made it sound real nice. Some things are too good to be true though. Sarah seemed like she could see my doubt so she had a guard leave the room to go and do something. After a few minutes he came back carrying a briefcase. Sarah held it in her hands and then opened it up showing me the contents. I was greeted by a lot of green and crisp hundred dollar bills. I was almost drooling at the mouth; I have never seen so much money before in my life.

She closed the briefcase and then handed it to me before speaking, “This is your recruitment bonus. It is two hundred and fifty thousand dollars. As for your pay, being that you are a the lowest rank on the totem pole it will be around twenty five thousand a month. You will also get paid every time you take a mission; the amount of pay for those depends on the difficulty or the client.”

I had to admit I was really tempted by the amount of money that they were offering, it was what she said next that won me over though. She smiled, “We can also give you a legal identification if you want us to.” I was stunned yet ecstatic at the same time. What does a legal identification mean? It means that I will be able to buy property such as cars and houses if I so choose to. I looked at the money in the briefcase and then looked back at Sarah. My mind was a complete mess right now, because of the new that I kill two more people and the opportunity being put in front of me.

After a few minutes I had made up my mind, “Well, when do we start training then?” She beamed a wide smile before speaking, “Right now. There is some cloths on the table, get changed and I will meet you in the hallway.” She walked out the room along with the two guards. I walked over to the table sitting next to the wall and looked at the clothes. There was a pair of boxers, come black cargo pants and a black tank top. There were some socks and black combat boots sitting on the floor under the table.

I quickly got dress and after the quick shock from the fact that the clothes fit me almost perfectly I walked into the hallway. When I walked out I saw that Sarah was arguing with John, but when I stepped out they stopped and looked in my direction. Sarah raised an eyebrow and gave me a kick up down before smiling. John noticed Sarah’s gaze and then glared at me. Whoa dude, no need to give me a death glare. It’s not my fault that your skill or equipment wasn’t up to the job or her standards.

I snickered at my thought and then walked up towards the two, “I guess I am ready to go.” I had the brief case in my room and when Sarah noticed she spoke, “Go ahead and leave that in the room. While you are here it will be yours and nobody will enter without your permission. Privacy is actually a very serious thing in this organization. The only person that you can’t have your privacy with is our leader. She can’t be having a bunch of professionally trained killers and other sorts running around without her knowing what they are doing.”

It made sense when she said it; I was shocked to find out that our leader was a woman. I put the suitcase in the room and then locked it with the key that Sarah handed me. I put the key in my pocket and followed the group to the training area. I was right with my initial guess that we were in a warehouse, but this motherfucker was huge. It was like the size of two football stadiums when we walked out of the building. I did notice that there weren’t any windows or skylights so maybe it was underground.

I continued to follow them across the warehouse and we arrived at a building that said Hand to Hand Training across the front. It wasn’t a very unique name, but hey it got the job done. The two guards left us and the three of us walked into the building. The inside looked like your classic training gym for any kind of fighting sport. There were heavy bags, weights, a ring, and much more. There were a few people using the weights and heavy bags, but the ring was empty.

We walked in and John jumped in the ring, he turned back and looked at me, “Come on up rook, it’s time to see what you can do.” Wait you mean I have to fight someone as soon as I get here? What the hell kind of first day is this!? I looked over at Sarah who looked apologetic, “Sorry, but it is a requirement for every new person. We have to see where your skill level is at so we can train you accordingly.”

I sighed and then shrugged my shoulders before responding, “Well, I do know how to fight a little bit. Although it is nothing but street fighting so I may not be able to put up much of a fight.” John laughed from the ring before speaking, “Put up much of a fight? Kid if you can take even one of my punches you could be considered good.” I got a little pissed; I hated when people looked down on me and I hated it even more when they were a dick about it. I looked at John and then smiled thinking that this may or may not be fun. If it goes the way things are going in my mind it will be extremely fun.