Jason walked in the apartment unit that was still quite dark despite the rising morning sun. Julie lay in the bed shivering as if she had no blankets. Jason took out the syringe and changed the dial to administer a single dose. He shook her awake, “Hey, I was able to get some meds from Mr. L.” he took her arm and injected the liquid into her. The name Mr. L made her eyes perk up briefly, but she was too weary to voice her worries. As serum flooded her system she drifted back into unconsciousness. Jason saw this as a gift, he had no wish to debate Julie on the risk of making a deal with Mr. L, or the price of her life. He place the syringe on the counter and fell back into the couch. Jason reflected on the events that had transpired over the last week and wondered if there was a better option that he had missed or if it was always a work of fate. He peered through the tinted window out into the street of the redlight and the upper city hovering in the distance, gleaming like the bright shiny crown worn by some ancient rotting king. If he could do it all over would he have worked harder to make it into the upper city? He knew this was just a hopeful thought. No one would hire him as even a bouncer in the upper city because of his outbound status.

When he had been captured 5 years ago and discarded by his commanding officers they just assumed he would be killed since he had no strategic value. He had survived but for what? To be a drug lords enforcer, execute level rivals and perform hits on the competition? He was worth more than this, he was a commander in the citadel rangers. Now look at him babysitting a drug addict.

He shook off that thought. No, Julie was a good person who was making her first steps outside of the profession she was forced into, and if he was honest with himself she had great potential as a bounty hunter. She had the looks that could make a target underestimate her, but also the poise and courage to take advantage of that strength. She was calm under fire, and had the witty charm that could make anyone like her. Was it natural charisma or was that taught to her by Mr. L? Either way she had all the tools to make it big, all she needed now was the experience.

As Jason thought something landed on his nose. The tickle of the substance rolling down his nose made Jason react in shock. As he brushed it off more fell from above, it looked like snow but Jason was all too familiar to mistake it for snow. It was ash, and he knew he had fallen asleep. Jason rose from his couch and opened the door to his unit. The streets that were just buzzing with the morning commute were now looking cold and empty, not even the neon lights of the district were glowing. It all looked dead. Jason took a few tentative steps outside the unit and looked up into the sky. The clouds were dense and spinning as if some unforeseen god was cooking the city, if he looked hard enough at the swirling he could make out the tentacle of some horrible monster that could not be bothered by the existence of man thus would not shed a tear over their accidental extinction. Jason brought his mind back to the city, there was nothing but dilapidated buildings for miles around him. Jason looked down the main street saw that the city of nexus, that once floated high above the redlight, had crashed down into the earth. The city was dim and and lifeless, all but one building… Sapphire industries. The blue hue of the buildings lighting seemed to beckon to him. Jason felt the uncontrollable urge to see why this building had life, so he began walking toward the fallen city.

…….

In what felt like moments Jason found himself at the foot of the massive structure. Walking in the front door he noticed how it looked exactly the way he remembered it, almost to pristine. Why did he feel like he was in a trance, what was he supposed to find?

“Save me.”

Jason snapped his head around to locate the whisper. His hand went to his gun as a reflex and he found it was missing. With a sigh he scanned the lobby intently looking for any signs of life.

“This way”

This time the voice was behind him, he spun quickly to see the elevator open. The light inside was a warm white light and but the music that was playing was off somehow like it was playing in reverse. Jason cautiously stepped inside, and the elevator began moving up. After a long accent the doors opened to a to a hallway with many rooms. Again he felt drawn to a doorway near the end of the hall. As he neared the doorway he heard a loud scream, Jason started running toward it. He weaved in and out of rooms, between expensive looking lab equipment and a maze of hallways until he found himself looking at some large double doors locked by a keypad. The screams were definitely coming from the room, but how to get in he thought?

“793624*” the voice whispered through the screams.

Jason approached the door and put in the code. The light on the pad went green.

The doors opened to a dark room filled with tubes and cords running to 2 large cylindrical tanks. One was dark and the glass had been broken as if its contents had escaped. The other was the source of the screaming. The tank had a figure clawing at the inside of the frosted glass wall, Jason couldn't make out who or what it was. Before he could ask he felt the building get rocked by a huge collision. After he regained his balance he beat on the glass casing. Bam! Bam! Bam!. he slammed his fist into the containers siding until the cracks he had created proved compromising to the structure of the tank. The glass burst outward as if the inner chamber had been pressurised. Glass and dust flew through the air blinding him for a moment; as he recovered he felt a stabbing pain in his right eye as well as a warm liquid running down his face. Another collision with the building caused him to stumble back. After a few moments Jason regained his composure and took an assessment of his situation; the room was empty, now with two broken cylinder tanks. His right eye was wounded by the flying glass, a piece of which he found was still lodged in place. Jason grabbed it with his fingers and pulled it free. The pain of the glass sliding out of his decimated eye sent him to his knees.

“The bleeding is worse...Fuck, Bad move.” he thought as he climbed to his feet, and moved to the room he was in before. As he entered the room he noticed two things: First, the landscape of the broken city of nexus was replaced by an expanse of an ink black sea rolling far below. The second thing he noticed was a short figure with skin dark like midnight broken by bright silver of what seemed like cybernetics. She stood looking over the black waters, Jason began to move toward the figure when a voice stopped him.

“Find me Jason.” The figure spoke with a feminin but disembodied voice that seemed to echo in his head.

“Where are you? How can I find you?” Jason asked cautiously, as his attention was caught by what he thought was motion in the distance outside the window, “Did that mountain just move?” he thought to himself.

“Finding me is the key to everything, the fate of the universe lies in your hand. Follow the clues left by hate. I'm found where rage meets the monolith built by misplaced genius.” the figure turned from the window to reveal it had no face. The figure had skin pulled tight across its skull creating a canvas for a series of glowing blue runes written across. Jason took a step back partly from shock partly from the increasing rumble of the building which was now at a fever pitch.

“Most importantly..” the figure pointed to its neck and the crystal shards that had embedded themselves in his neck all those years ago began to glow and pulse with heat. “Follow me.”

Unable to stand due to the rumble, Jason fell to the floor. Now looking up at the figure it looked infinitely more sinister, It stood with ease despite the rumble as if aided by some unseen force.

As Jason thought this, the mountains in the distance shifted and multiplied exposing the massive length of a scaly leviathan from the depths of a nightmare. Its massive head rose past the window until it's glowing eye filled the length of the windows casting a sickly orange light throughout the room. Jason felt his brain twist and his mind tear as the beasts peered into his soul. His nose began to pour blood down his chest and onto the floor. The pressure inside his head felt as though it would burst forth. He tasted blood that he was now coughing on. The beast's pupil sent shockwaves through its iris, at first it was slow but it built up to a ferver. There was one final bright pulse as Jason's head exploded its contents all over the room.

….

Jason awoke with a jolt, jumping up off the couch damp with sweat. His breathing was loud enough to wake Julie from her sleep. She looked at him groggily, her hair was matted where she had slept motionlessly for hours. She rubbed her eyes, “what's up with you?” she said through a yawn.

“Just had a really vivid nightmare. Don't worry they happen all the time.” Jason really didn't want to dwell on the thoughts he had just escaped, lucky for him Julie didnt ask. She was sitting up and Jason noticed that the darkened veins on her neck were starting to subside a little.

“How are you feeling, By the way.” Jason asked as he approached her with the next dose of the medicine and handed it to her.

Julie injected the does and rubbed her neck as if she was going to pop her neck. “Still feels like I got hit by a truck.”

“Im sure you will feel like that for…”

“ Why did you go to Mr.L! You know what he does when one of his workers tries to escape, he makes them relive the elysium withdrawal torment, and that's if he's in a good mood. Ive seen him beat a man to death just for mentioning he wanted to leave. Fuck Jason, What were you thinking?”

Julie looked furious, but Jason knew that this fury was a mask to hide her crippling fear of the man. He spoke up, “ I was thinking that I wasn't going to watch you die on my couch. I was thinking I was willing to make a deal with the devil to make sure that wasn't how your story ended.” He pointed at his face which still cut up and covered in dry blood. “ It's not like getting you that medicine was a cake walk or anything.”

The fire in Julie’s eyes cooled slightly.

“What exactly were the terms of the deal?”

Jason sighed and sat on a barstool, and rubbed his chin. “For you to get all the doses you need There are two things he asked me to do. First at the end of the month there will be a shipment of the meds going from the factory to the upper city. We are going to steal that shipment and deliver it to the club. The second one is what i'm more worried about. There is a serial killer attacking Mr.L’s clubs, he asked me to track down the killer and ‘handle’ the situation.”

Julies eyes were wide, “ Is that all?” she said with sarcasm in her voice.

“He said if I do this for him, it will ‘buy’ your freedom.” as he said this julie jumped in.

“Why so you can own me instead? SHIT!” she stood up out of bed and began pacing the apartment with her hands running through her hair.

“You know that's not what I mean.” Jason said apologetically. Julie stopped and glared at him again for a moment, then she sighed and her anger seemed to subside a little.

“I know what you meant…” She sat beside Jason in the other stool “I just HATE him.. You can't even imagine how much. The thought of him selling me for a favor makes me sick, i'm sorry… I know that you are just trying to help and I shouldn't be getting mad with you about that...Lets just get this deal done as fast as possible so I dont ever have to think about that fucker again.”

Jason stood up and put a hand on her shoulder.

“I promise we will be done with him soon and you will be free to do whatever you want to do. You should eat something you have been out for some time, so help yourself to anything you can find. I'm going to get cleaned up.” With that he disappeared into the back room.

……

“You ever considered changing your career to cooking?”

Julie Chuckled as Jason took another bite of the exquisite omelet she made with synthetic yoke and various garnishes ment for alcohol.

“Why, you think I could make it?” She commented as she sipped the instant coffee Jason had stockpiled in the cupboard.

“I mean, considering you made this with fake egg and tequila salt, I think you could manage just fine.” Jason mumbled with his mouth full. Julie sat back and sipped her instant coffee, “ My sister used to say the same thing.” Julie looked off into space reminiscing on times long past.

Jason noticed, “tell me more about her, what was she like?” he asked as he took another bite. Julie smiled, “ she was sweet, so kind and selfless. I remember when we were really little she used to carry across puddles in the street so that my feet wouldn't get wet. That really was the way that Viv was in all things. She was patient with me when I was, you know… Hard to deal with. She was always trying to stop fights. I wish I could tell her that I don't blame her for killing dad, I wish she had taken me with her.” she paused a moment to wipe a tear away from her eye. “Sorry, haha, i'm a mess.” she laughed her emotion away. “ I think that once were done with all this Mr. L shit i'm going to try and look for her.” She finished off her coffee, and jason spoke up. “If you are going to look for her you're going to need credits, so what do you say we go down to the office and look to get us a job.”

The air was thick at the bounty bar. The TVs were tuned to the city news like they always were at this time. Salv sat behind the bar listening to the story of a club massacre that Jason already knew the inside details of.

“Jason!? Did you hear me?” Julie's words broke him out of his daze.

“Sorry, I zoned out for a second. What were you saying? He said apologetically. Julie sighed and repeated herself.

“ What's your favorite drink? Like not a job type but drink drink.”

“Hmmm, thats a good question.” Jason stroked his slightly unkempt beard as he thought. There were so many for many different occasions. A Clasico Margaria was a great taste of caramelized sugar and citrus. A citadel sour was the perfect mix of sweet and sour pulled together with the smoky character of a high priced Citadel whisky. After a moment he answered, “I think it depends on the season.” fascinated by this answer Julie replied.

“Ok, so if it's a hot summer day what would you choose.”

“Easy!” Jason answered, “ Groganic Gin and Tonic, with a Vallha lime wedge for the that perfectly refreshing flavor.” Jason answered as he leaned back and reminisced on a time when his life was one of luxury.

“Ok premadonna.” Julie answered rolling her eyes, “what about when it's cold?”

“The smokiest peated whisky you can find… straight.” he said without a moment's hesitation.

“Hmmm..” Julie thought hard to try and catch Jason off guard. ”Ok, what about when its Rainy, like today?”

Jason opened his mouth to answer,but was cut off by Salv setting down a glass in front of them.

“I hope your answer is a Kajik mule. From the woman in the corner.” Salv nodded in the woman's direction.

“Do you know anything about her? Jason ask as he looked across the floor to size up his new employer.

“I haven't seen her here before but you know that's not odd in our line of work. Salv said with a sigh, “ Also she asked for you, honey. Salv slid the drink over toward Julie and walked back to the bar. Jason observed the woman; She seemed to be older, maybe in her 60s. She seemed to be from the upper city by her clothing and the way she carried herself, in fact she seemed a bit uncomfortable with the seedy bar she was sitting in. she had a tech-cig that was glowing blue in the dimly lit corner. She took a deep drag and blew out the smoke as she met his gaze.

“What are you thinking?” Julie said barley over a whisper wondering to herself how the hiring would proceed. Jason answered without looking away from the woman, “I'm thinking we have a Job,” Jason broke his stare with the woman to look at Julie, “And you’re gonna take the lead.”