The dank rotting smell of human waste filled Dante Halsey's nostrils as he trudged the lonely streets of east London. Boarded up houses seemed to groan their sadness, their depression out into the streets. Under a crimson sky many tears were shed and many more cut from the ducts of their owners with the steel of the revolution. Dante neared a dark corner and sensed movement, hostile movement. After 7 whole seconds of stillness two burly men emerged from a nearby alleyway and strode over too Dante, One of them grabbed him. "Why hello you two fine gentlemen, may I ask what you are trying to achieve by getting me in a headlock?" "Give us all your money wimp, or we feed you to the rats" That was all the answer Dante needed, he swiftly drew his custom made stiletto and slit the speakers throat. The other retaliated to this with a swift punch to Dante's stomach, which he dodged and in one fluid motion the attacker lost both of his hands and was kicked into the murky waters of the sewers.
.
Almost a full hour later Dante arrived at his destination, Buckingham Palace. He waltzed inside like he owned the place and swiftly eliminated the four security guards with his throwing knives; they were coated in a toxin of some form putting them into a deep slumber they would never wake from. Dante then proceeded to let himself into the throne room. "May I ask who you are, Boy?" queried a well-known voice. "Dante Halsey at your service ma'am" Suddenly a loud banging was heard from the other side of the door. The now handless mugger burst through and shouted something about Dante being an assassin, he quickly pulled his ancient flintlock and aimed it at the queens head, he pulled the trigger but the shot never landed anywhere in the room, it never landed anywhere in the world at that time because it embedded it's self into some innocent man's skull almost 50 years before and pulled Dante with it.
My entire world flipped through several dimensions as I was pulled through the time portal, colours flashed and I glimpsed unimaginable horrors between flashes of ivory skies. In an instant I found myself flying through the air, no longer in Buckingham palace but an abandoned factory complex.
I hear screaming and realize that standing with their back to me was a man dressed in a black suit, in front of him was a girl in her early twenties chained to one of the machines. The man pulled out a scalpel and advanced towards the girl, I pulled out the sledgehammer and brought it down on his head. The hammer head crushed through his skull like it was tissue paper, splattering bits of brain all over me. His knees buckled and he fell straight forward spilling his claret blood all over the prosaic concrete floor, staining it forever. I swiftly pulled out his keys and unlocked the chains holding the girl. Shocked and weary she rose from the ground.
"T-t-t-that was j-j-j-j-jack the ripper, he was going to murder me. T-t-t-thank you kind sir"
"Listen, you have to help me, your name, what is your name?"
"Elizabeth" She replied, regaining some of her confidence
"Right Elizabeth, what year is this"
"1868, but you just appeared from nowhere, who are you"
"1868? Things have gone so wrong, listen I have to go right now" I spin on the spot and begin to stride away
"Let me come with you" She said this with a certain venom in her voice that made me shiver,
"Fine, I am going to trust you. Take this" I pass her my stiletto "Don't break it."
We ran through an unfamiliar city for almost an hour. The looming smokestacks of the industrial revolution spewed their toxic fumes, as the rich sleep in luxury we pass many homeless families. The Dead lie all around us, cholera victims no doubt. As we came out of a narrow alleyway a massive explosion was heard almost directly above and three figures came flying from the building, one of them drew a large revolver and from it protruded one of the nastiest looking bayonets I had ever seen, he jammed it into the building to slow his decent to the ground, slips of fabric erupted from the others backs and they drifted to the ground.
I charged towards the nearest one and spring boarded 7 meters into the air off of a market stall and bring my sledgehammer down on his head to no gain, it merely dented his helmet. He pulled his revolver and fired four rounds at me which I dodged with skill only a master assassin possesses. The one hanging from the building jumps down towards me and releases a blue pulse from his fist that sends me flying back at least 20 metres. I land deftly on my feet, at this point the peelers were running into the street. I charge back at them, the third man firing at me as I run, missing with every shot. Again I leap into the air ramming the handle of my sledgehammer through his visor, it comes out of the other side of his head and pins him to the wall.
"KIM! NOOOOO! GET AWAY FROM HIM YOU BAST-"
"Marcus we have to go, now" they both pull themselves down the street and disappear, Elizabeth ran up behind me; the stiletto covered in blood. "We have to get out of here now." But I see escape is impossible, the peelers have us surrounded. "Elizabeth" I whisper "on three I want you to eliminate as many peelers as you can by any means necessary" "I'm ready" "Three Two One, GO!" I pull my flintlock and shoot the nearest one in the face; I toss it aside, now useless. I pull my sledgehammer from the soldiers face; he falls to the ground groaning, somehow still alive. I proceed to play cricket with the nearest peelers head, knocking it clean off his shoulders; it went flying into another's groin, permanently severing his small intestine from the rest of him. Elizabeth sliced the throat of one and flipped another over her shoulder, resulting in him face planting into the cold unforgiving ground. A sickening crunch is heard and four bodies land on the remaining peelers splattering their festering organs all over the street, a note flutters down and lands in my open hand, it reads
The Palace Of Westminster, Be there at midnight and you go back to 1901
Shepard
The sky is made of Ebony painted steel; the moon is another bolt keeping the vast sheets together, oceans of doubt shroud the city like a blind fold. The smoke of ten thousand factories clogs the lungs of a once majestic city, but the fall from grace is not yet complete. The chokehold is only half and much will happen in the next decade. I stood there on top of the Palace of Westminster, incomplete in physical form but very much alive in spirit, even if only the steel structure and the roof stand at this time. The dark of night was welcome; I work better at night. The soldiers from earlier come striding up to me, I pull out my sledgehammer and ready myself for a fight. They draw their revolvers and aim at my head.
"Mr Halsey, it is nice to meet the man who killed my brother" "He was going to kill me" "well you are an assassin" "no, no I am not" "oh c'mon don't play stupid with us, everyone has heard of Dante Halsey; greatest assassin of the nineteenth century until you disappeared during your attempted assassination of queen Victoria "well maybe I was an assassin but I haven't been born yet so how can you know about me?" "We are not from this time, we are from 2090." "And you killed my brother, so now I'm going to kill you" He pulled the trigger and the bullet flew from his gun right at my face, I dodge to the left and the bullet hits me in the shoulder but ricochets off my Armour and hits Elizabeth in the stomach, she toppled off of the building into the river. I swing my sledgehammer at Marcus's groin, it connects and with a crunch he goes down. I jam the handle into the others stomach and he doubles over, I swing the hammer down at Marcus's head; he rolls out of the way and the roof cracks. He grabs the hammer and throws it across the roof; I punch him in the face and spear him into a large metal strut, impaling him through the stomach spewing his blood all over his now recovered friend. The other pulls a 13 inch bowie knife from his boot and runs at me screaming things I cannot bear to repeat. I dodge to the side and he swipes at me, the blade nicks my shirt and I roundhouse kick him into a wall. He catches himself, bounces off the wall and dives at my face; he hits me and I fall backwards, my top hat falling off in the process. I grab Marcus's revolver and aim at him, warning him not to advance towards me. As I pull the trigger Marcus grabs my shoulder and I hit a metal bolt, the structure begins to topple and the ground beneath begins to crumble; the entire structure begins to fall into the river. I run up the roof which is now at a 57 degree angle and grab my top hat and sledgehammer. The other falls from above me and gets caught on a metal beam by his trench coat. Marcus hangs onto the same beam as the other. The roof is now vertical and slowly sliding into the river, now we only have metal beams to stand on. My top hat is no ordinary top hat; the edge of the brim is a circular blade. I take it and throw it at the other slicing his left arm off and puncturing his left lung. He began screaming in pain, his crimson fluids spilling out from him like a glass if raspberry juice being poured down the drain. Marcus attempted to catch it and lost all of the fingers on his right hand. He winces. I leap from my perch and time seems to slow, as I reach Marcus I reach out with my sledgehammer and embed its head in his stomach and I keep falling. His grip on the metal beam is so tight that the sledgehammer rips through him splitting him down the middle coating me with blood, as the head reaches his skull I rip it down with all of my might sending shards of skull and chunks of brain flying in all directions.
"FATALITY!" I hear myself scream. The beam bends downwards and the other falls into the water with me, I rip his helmet off and find my own face staring back at me. Something inside of me snaps and I repeatedly smash him with my sledgehammer until all that is left of him is a claret mush of bone, organs and eyes.
I then realize I am all alone in the water. "ELIZABETH?" "WHERE ARE YOU?" At this I black out and reawaken in Buckingham palace with 20 armed men standing around me. "Well time to do this again!"