It began with a bang.
Dash Brenton lifted his head and opened his eyes to an empty classroom. The room was filled with light from the windows that glowed a bright orange from the setting sun. He had fallen asleep during last period, again. Stuck to the side of his face was a note on the pages covered in class that he missed. The note was from the teacher, who had long given up on trying to wake him when he falls asleep. Despite him falling asleep during last period, and staying asleep until the sun goes down, he was an excellent student. He grades where A average, thanks to make up tests that he takes over the weeks ends. Dash let out a giant yawn as he stretched, kicking away from the desk. This caused the chair to skid in to the desk behind him that acted like a stopper.
"Man why am I all ways so tired after I wake up?" Dash said as he scratched his sandy brown hair.
The mop that was considered his hair flopped down around his red, hazel, eyes covering them as if he was a sheep dog. His shirt was a white button up with long sleeves. Around that he wore a red vest that was unbutton and possibly a size to big for him. His pants color was white with red flames encircling the bottom of each leg. Most of the time he was called an anime nut for the way he dressed. That was not the case since his parents where the ones obsessed with those shows. Since his parents were obsessed the only clothes bought for him where goofy looking. He did the best he could with what he had and was able to create a unique look from it. He stood, grabbing his bag in the process. He slung the single strap around his shoulders and walked out of the classroom, heading for the front doors of the school.
He pulled open the door leading out of the school and stepped out in to the world once more. Once he was fully out of the school and the door closed behind him he leaned back just as a brick flew past his face. Since he dressed weird the local punks would have liked to make fun of him, but another thing about having parents obsessed with show not based in reality; he was also made to take martial art lessons.
"Your going down to day, Brenton." One of the three group leaders said pointing a bat at him.
Dash looked at thirty plus people that wanted his blood to decorate that sidewalk. There were about three different groups he guessed by looking at the colors that they wore. He gave out a sigh since this was not what he wished to see after waking up from a very long nap.
(Ten minutes later.)
Dash stretched again and gave out another yawn as he walked down a back alley way from the school. In front of the school were about thirty people all beat up and unconscious. He thought about how easy it was for him to make the three groups turn on each other. Then once they whittled down to about ten or so he made his move. It was easy for him, with a few well-placed leg sweeps, drop kicks, and roundhouse kicks. All he really wanted to do was go home and finish his homework then go to sleep.
As Dash walked spinning his bag around him, he turned a corner to another alley came face to face with something that was beyond reality.
"I thought that your kind was just a-" Dash's words were cut short by a sudden burst of white flames. He picked him self up and looked around. The world had turned a shade of grey, and on the ground was his pack that he had dropped. He looked over at the wall where the white flame came from and nothing was there, but on the other side of the ally was a blacken smudge on a wall that was once his body.
Just hanging out.
Dash was sitting crossed legged as he waited for the kids to arrive. He slowly drifted up until the chain that bound him to the wall stopped him from floating any higher. He was dead and instead of him going to an after life he was stuck chained to a wall. Nice thing about being a spirit was you could float anywhere and pass through solid objects. He didn't need to eat, sleep, homework, or anything really. The only down side was that he could not move no more then fifty feet from the stop that he died. There was a bright side since he was famous or at least his death was famous. Every year kids of the high school and junior high came to this alley in the dead of night for a test of courage. At this night was one such night in which he could enjoy what little after life he had. He created a system in which was enjoyable to scary any kid and make them run away screaming. The first step was to slowly drift down wards in which they described as a cold draft even on the warmest nights. Then once down he looked for the one who looked extremely scared and passed through them. Then he zipped through the rest of the group creating another cold draft for them. Finally if some one was brave enough to touch the stain on the wall he could send then a slight thought, which would send them running for the hills. All in all, the after life he had wasn't too bad.
Over the years his resting place was used a test of courage. Even when the building came under new management and renovated the build even a place for a tester go to spend the night as an ultimate test. Then the world became high tech and only gangs used this place as a trail of entry to their group. These gangs he would never go easy on since he hated them. The clean and beautiful view of the street was now filled with tags and liter. The once quite shopping district was all but abandon. The only people walking the streets was drifter, gangs, and punks who thought that they where all that. He just wanted it to end. Sure it had been a good when decent people lived near by, but as time changes part of the world are forgotten just like him.
Dash was sitting crossed legged as he heard a group of Jokyes coming closer to the spot in which he haunted. Alas he knew that the never would come never near this spot unless they had a new recruit with them. Even then he knew that was a hard and in between since almost know one could with stand more then three minutes in the ally let along twenty. Then again there was this one person that stayed in one place for about two hours just sitting in front of the mark he had left on the wall. He thought back and tried to remember about how long ago it was.
"I think it was about two years ago. If I remember correctly that was when the creepy, old, guy was just sitting there and was looking at the mark on the wall. He didn't even flinch even when I touched him." Dash said to him self out load since no one could even hear him.
Then something different happened to him as he was hovering up side down. The world began to recover the color that was lost in hues of grays. The next thing Dash knew was that he was floating up in the air and the next he was laying down on the ground with a world revived with color. He also saw a group of Jokers looking down at him.
"Why I am the only person I know to have the worst luck?" He said with a groan looking up in to the night sky.
The Fist Fight, The Witch, and The Deal.
Dash felt himself being lifted up by the collar then slammed in to an ally wall. The Joker who was holding him against the wall was wearing pure white costume. His hair was bleached white with also white face paint smeared all around his face. Around his eyes and mouth was colored black with a black teardrop underneath his right eye. The Joker's clothes were a white trench coat with a black and white pin stripe shirt underneath. He had a flower on the trench coat that most likely shoot out acid and pulled out from his pants pocket a butterfly knife. The Joker flipped open the knife with a few twist of his wrist and began to speak while he held Dash up against the wall.
"Now, now, what do we have here? What is a punk doing hear passed out in recruitment ally?" The Joker said waving the tip of the knife only a few inches from Dash's face.
Dash's mind started to do a mental check on what was happening to him. "Lets see:" Dash began while thinking at a rapid pace. "I am no longer floating up in the air. The world has color to it. The chain binding me to the wall is gone. There are Jokers right in front of me, and one is pressing me against the wall." In the end he figured out only two possible conclusions. "I am most likely still dead and now I am in some type of hell. Or I am alive again and a group of punks are trying to intimidate me. Well, I'll just have to go with the latter on this one." Dash decided with a nod then he was slammed in to the wall of the other side of him.
The Jokers all laughed at him as he hit some trashcans. In total there was about six of them all wearing ridicules outfits. Compare to them Dash's white shirt, red vest, and pants all looked pretty normal. From the back of the group of Jokers came a nasally voice of a female.
"Hey Johnny, lets give him the old white wash treatment." She said with a laugh.
"That's a great idea babe." Said the white clown who must be Johnny. "Lets give this little punk a lesson in trying to cross Joker territory." Johnny said as he walked towards Dash pulling out some kind of spray can. "Now lets see what kind of fun to have wi-" Johnny's words where cut short by a leg sweep Dash did as he rolled to his feet.
When a person is dead they can only do a few things: Go crazy and come back to sanity a few hundred times. Haunt any living being that comes there way, or get really good at something. Dash did all three, but he didn't really care for going crazy after the first time, so he stuck to the other two. Haunting people who walked down the ally, and practicing martial arts that where being taught in the building next to the ally.
Dash took a few jump steps backwards and stood in fighting stance that he created. He main form of attack where kicks and sweeps, but he also used close range jabs that quickly turned in to throws.
The biggest Joker stepped out from the group and pulled out some acid cream pies from a container on his back. "So does the little man want to play?" Said the giant Joker in a deep voice.
"Alright then lets play then big guy." Said Dash as he rushed forward at an extremely quick pace. As the Joker thrown the pies at him, Dash just changed his steps to a zigzag pattern and avoided the pies. The Joker tried to get another batch of pies out, but Dash was already on him. He jumped up and grabbed the Joker's back of the head and brought his knee in to the front of his face. Then Dash jabbed both hands in to the stunned Joker's side and then threw him backwards towards the rest of the Jokers. That pinned at to other underneath the giant Joker who had been K.O. under a few seconds.
The female Joker was dragging the dazed Johnny while the remaining Joker was pulling something that looked like rubber chickens. The last Joker wore a gas mask while he was skinny as a twig. The large pants that he wore looked like a sumo would wear and it covered most of his body. He gripped the necks of the chicken at causing spikes to shoot out the around the body of the chickens. The Joker started to swing the chickens around like he was in some kind of movie. Dash backed up against the wall and waited for the Joker to come closer. He waited until the Joker was in striking range then he jumped up and pushed his feet against the wall to lunch off it. Since the Joker was spinning around in a vertical direction it was hard to change course to hit Dash. As Dash passed over the Jokers head, he adjusted his leg so that he would knee him in the faces. Little to Dash's knowledge, he was about to do a feat that was closer to superhuman or a splicer ability. He flipped in the air so that his feet landed on the wall opposite from where he lunched then bend at the knees and lunched at the Joker again. As he flew towards the Joker his body twisted in the air bringing his feet in front of him. This hit the mark forcing the Joker in to the wall knocking him out just like the giant he had defeated earlier.
He stepped out of the ally looking for the other two that had escaped while he finished up with their comrades. There was no one in sight, but the air began to move as a hover vehicle came down to the street. Despite him being dead he wasn't ignorant to the world a round him, so at least he knew that there was hover-cars flying around the city. The car was different from most since it was more of a limo then a car. The white color of the vehicle was out of place in the forgotten and discarded part of the city. Once the limo settled on the ground a man wearing a butler's uniform stepped out and opened a door. From in side came a female voice that for some reason he couldn't refuses.
"Please step in side Dash Brenton." Said the voice that was almost like honey.
Wordlessly Dash stepped in to the vehicle and took a seat. Behind him the driver closed the door. Shortly after the limo began to move into the air and head towards the neon glow of the city. The woman sat on the other side of the limo with a glass of wine in her hand and a snake around her shoulders. She wore an emerald green dress that flowed around her body. The green was off set by her deep purple hair that was tied neatly into a bun.
"It is best for me to explain who I am first." The women said in her smooth voice. "I am the immortal sorceress Circe, and I was the one who brought you back to life." Circe said in a smug tone of voice.
"So, I take it there is a catch then?" Dash asked with politeness that bored an extreme of almost servitude.
"What make you say that child?" Circe said while looking at the spinning wine in the glass.
"Well for one then thing Lady Circe, I have been around long enough to know that there is always a catch. Two, I bet it is a real pain to bring some one back to life, and three I just called you Lady Circe instead of ma'am." Replied Dash in the same politeness and a great amount of intelligence.
"Oh my, you quite a find boy." Circe said with a laugh as she placed the wine flass next to her. "Since you have a firm grasp of the unseen I shall get straight to the point. I need a agent, if you will, to find and eliminate a target here in Noe-Gothem." She said with a dismissive wave of her hand.
"And the reason you chose some one like me was because I wouldn't be linked back to you, Lady Circe?" Dash said looking at her blanking behind the mops of hair.
"You are surprisingly sharp boy." Circe almost said it as a compliant, but her tone still carried the weight of superiority. "I do need a person who can not be traced back to me so easily, since I wish to keep myself on the belief that I died. In return for your services rendered unto me, I shall give you a new life in which to live. Also for completing this mission I shall give you the choice to accept any future missions I might have for you, or you could just lead a new peaceful life." As she spoke she rested her head on top of her hand with a look of unconcerned.
Dash thought for a second about what might happen. It seems that she is hiding something. He thought with a mental processing of a detective. Wait, that's wrong, she just doesn't care what happens if I say yes or no. I have a feeling that I wasn't the first and if I say no I won't be the last.
"Very well then Lady Circe, I shall work for you to complete this mission." Dash's body straightens up as he spoke giving Circe an answer that wouldn't get him killed.
"Pleased to hear reason from you boy." Circe said with a fake smile that gave the cabin a chilled feeling. "Once we return you shall start to train to learn understand your new abilities." With those words the in side of the limo was completely silent until the ride ended.