000 – Prologue

After the death of Rotti Largo, the owner of the hugely successful business: GeneCo, every magazine, every paper and every news channel asked the same question: 'Who was going to take his place?'. For the meantime, GeneCo was left unmanned, its staff eagerly waiting for the answer. The streets went on without the threat of the repomen, and those in debt from GeneCo organs revelled in the freedom that had been given to them; the promise of death eradicated. Not only that, but without the guards to patrol and keep grave robbers away, the illegal zydrate market boomed; zydrate was readily available to anyone so willing to purchase it, and there was certainly enough to go around.

Though the people celebrated this freedom, GeneCo staff were without work. One such employee sat in the comfort of his large home, lazily throwing scalpels and other sharp surgical equipment at the dartboard on the other side of the room. When his hand searched for another piece to throw to find nothing, he sighed before standing abruptly, "That idiot Largo! Why didn't he just settle with one of his reject kids to run that place?" The tall, jet black-haired man growled, before he approached the dartboard and removed every one of the make-shift projectiles and made his way down into the secluded safety of his basement. He dropped the tools onto the trolley beside him as he walked past the fully equipped operating room and towards his desk. This aggravated man was known as Kevorkian, and he was GeneCo's most effective and equally as merciless repoman. Though every one of them was feared by the masses, Kevorkian was a cruel; his thirst for blood never satisfied, even by the most inhumane torture that had ever been known to man.

What kind of misfortune could have made this man so horrific? It was all down to the effects of a failed GeneCo experiment; it was intended to create the ideal repoman, one that couldn't be influenced by emotion to carry out his job. In the eyes of some GeneCo scientists, the project was somewhat a success; Kevorkian was cold-hearted when in his job role, but anywhere else he was less so, in fact he had even held up significant friendships over the past few years. However, Kevorkian was significantly more violent than the scientists wanted... But he was just what Rotti Largo wanted, so Kevorkian kept his job.

He looked at the computer screen in front of him, a message from GeneCo? Kevorkian recognised the official GeneCo company announcement page as it opened up in front of him, only for his eyes to widen as he read; The shareholders in GeneCo had taken it upon themselves to appoint Rotti's successor, and that the order to remove Shilo Wallace as a threat to the company's interests.

Kevorkian stood up with urgency; if Shilo was 'removed', his plans would be destroyed. As well as that, he had given his word to protect her. The only person he considered family received that promise: the late Nathan Wallace, Shilo's father and only blood relative at the time, had been a close friend of his for many years. Now that Nathan was gone, Kevorkian dared to break his promise, and it was that dedication that pushed him to act quickly; without a doubt, other employees would have read the unexpected mail, and they'd soon be on Shilo's doorstep...

Upon reaching the large home, Kevorkian pushed through the gates and knocked on the door, "Come on Shi, open the damn door!"

"Kevorkian? Why are-" She yelped as Kevorkian grabbed her wrist,

"I'll explain when we're safe,"

"Safe? What's going on?"

"GeneCo has released the order to get rid of you," Kevorkian answered bluntly, "I promised your father I'd take care of you and this is what I'm doing,"

"Get rid of me? Why?"

"Because the new guy thinks you're a threat; after Rotti requested you inherit GeneCo, if you were to stand up and decide you want it... Well, it's rightfully yours,"

"But I don't! I've never wanted it!"

"Well he doesn't know that. Now come on; you'll be safe with me,"

The new face of GeneCo was a snake called Maximillian Umbris, and he was well known as a venomous businessman, who had been interested in GeneCo since his appointment as Rotti Largo's advisor several years ago. However, Maximillian was never considered as a suitable replacement when Rotti got the news that his time was limited. But with him gone, the choice was obvious for the stakeholders of GeneCo.

Kevorkian pushed the door open and led Shilo inside, before he finally let go of her wrist and locked the door behind them. They were lucky to have got away without confrontation.

Shilo turned to look at her godfather, "So what now?" She asked impatiently, which made Kevorkian curse to himself briefly. He sighed, "You stay in this house. You don't go out without my permission, besides that would be suicide; you're on the run from a worldwide organisation, you can't afford to be careless,"
Shilo frowned; she didn't like the sound of being kept locked up again, "No! I'm not going to go back to being locked up like when my father was here," She replied in a brief moment of courage, before it disappeared; Kevorkian's blood red eyes staring her down. He growled; the memory of his deceased brother of bond would not be tarnished by careless children,
"You are a heartless child," As Shilo began to back off, Kevorkian could feel himself slipping; his eyes slowly altered themselves, a black pigment slowly creeping over his pale white skin and creating the illusion of a skull, "You have no family, you are the reason your father is dead, and yet you have no remorse!" His voice was gradually becoming demonic, towering over Shilo, "Get out of my sight, ungrateful whelp!" He watched as the young girl ran from him, disappearing into the living room. Kevorkian looked up though the skylight above him, the moon washing the pigment from his skin as he slowly returned to normality. "I'm sorry," He fell to his knees, "You should never have bestowed this promise upon me; the scourge runs through my veins, Nathan,"