Prologue

Unknown Area

Unknown Time

Joseph 'Joey' Aucleir, Assassin

Splash!

I remembered that day like it was yesterday. My parents, Achille and Nina Aucleir, were political people, living in central France, living outside the city of Paris. They cared about Paris, and about its people. Until that day.

July 13, 2014, they were accused of treason against the French Government. I was getting ready to go to college, to get a live with true meaning, and to follow in my parents footsteps. Until our house got raided. French Soldiers came in and took them away, escorting them by truck to France. I watched from a distance, and watched as false witnesses stepped forward, accusing my parents, whom I had known my entire life, of extortion, treason, and fraud. None of these were true, but I was too scared to speak up.

To defend my own parents.

Splash!

My Parents political rival stood on testimony, and it was over. My Parents were to be executed. I tried to get to them, but the crowd of French Troops pushed me down. "Go back to school!" They would yell to me. The next morning, after an unfitting night, I tried one last time to rescue my parents. But I couldn't make my voice work.

I watched through iron bars, as a squad of troopers came. My parents were lined up with several other men, whom I recognized as co-workers and mentors to my parents. They were all good people, I wanted to shout. Finally, my voice came and I shouted.

But it was obscured by the sound of the Execution Squads guns.

Splash!

Shot after shot, they all fell. I cried, and wouldn't stop. When people would ask why I was crying in the middle of the street, I wouldn't tell them. I would keep on doing so. That was when he showed up. A man in a black suit, who I always saw with my parents political enemy, approach me, with two armed men. They tried to kill me, luring me into an alley and trying to kill me. I vowed that day, as I stood over the men's dead corpses, that I would avenge my Parents deaths.

And I wouldn't stop until I was dead.

Splash!

I was snapped out of my memory as my head was pulled once again out of the ice cold water, a mix of Foreign Languages screaming at me. "Make sure he stays awake! I want him ready with the others for the next test!" A German accented voice said above me. I had a bag over my head, and I felt disoriented. My face was numb after being shoved into the ice water for the past ten minutes.

The bag was removed from my head, and I barley flinched as the disorienting lights hit my face. It was like I had been hit by a flash bang, hearing a high pitched noise, barely seeing anything other than the bright light above me. Then, when I regained my bearings, I saw the room around me. It was a concrete room, that at one point could have been a Laundry or generator room.

4 men were in the room, 3 armed with guns, and one holding what looked like a syringe. He turned to me and smiled wickedly. "Ah, the Assassin is awake. How are you feeling?" I didn't answer, just giving him a steely glare of malice. His smile faded, and he swiped his hand in the air. "Take him to the others, so that they can proceed with the experiments."

Lifting me from my chair, the two armed guards lead me to the door, which in turn lead to a huge crevice in the side of a mountain, which reminded me of a volcano entrance. It has been 4 years since the execution of my parents. I went in search of the one who was responsible, and came up with nothing. That was, until a month ago. With the help of 10 Mercenaries from America, I stumbled upon a clue in Afghanistan, which lead to a group of individuals who called themselves the Oberherr.

We were captured, tortured, and beaten. About a week ago, a man in a black blazer, who looked awfully familiar to me, came and brought us through a machine, which lead to even more tortures. 4 of the Mercenaries had died already, and the rest of us were coming pretty close to joining them.

I was once again jolted out of my thoughts as the guard pushed me into another building. There were about 20 buildings in this town, most used as a barracks for these Oberherr troops. I was pushed to the ground next to one of the Mercenaries, a man named Javier. He was old for a Merc, being 45 years of age, with a white beard connected to sideburns, and big muscled arms. He looked worse than the last time I had seen him. His face was covered with blisters and scars, and even a large bump on his head.

He turned to me and said, "You look like sh*t." I turned back to him and nodded back at him. "Touché." I replied. Javier began to chuckle, which was quickly interrupted by a fit of coughing. "So, what do you think will happen now? They already took Jason into the other room." I shrugged, shaking my head at him. Then, the door was thrown open, and there stood Jason, a glazed look in his eyes.

I took note of the syringe mark in his neck. Then, he collapsed on the spot. Javier tried to crawl over to him, but quickly stopped as a guard kicked him hard in his side. "Get back in place!" The guard yelled at him, making Javier whimper in pain. Then, 2 of the Oberherr soldiers picked me up by my shoulders and took me into the next room. It was spacious, surrounded by a radiation proof glass and concrete. I was strapped into a machine that looked like a body cast, surrounding my body pretty tightly.

Needles were injected into my arms and legs. I breathed in deeply. I realized I wasn't super human, and that I would probably die from this, like Jason. A loud voice rose over the intercom, most likely for recorders of the data. "This is Test #139 on Mineral 599. Catalyst recorded with shall be substance #24. Is the patient ready?" Some men in hazmat suits gave a thumbs up to the northern wall, which I now realized must have a hidden room, like Police Interrogation rooms have. Them, a loud noise echoed throughout the room, like the power was just coming on.

On one side of me, a blue and green liquid was being injected into me. The other side was injecting more of a yellow liquid. I arched my back as I felt them mix and collide in my blood stream. Then, as soon as the pain was there, it stopped. I opened my eyes and looked around. The hazmat men were talking amongst themselves. "What happened?" The intercom man said. One of the hazmat men faced the wall. "I don't know, sir. Nothing seemed to happen, at least not physically."

The intercom man responded, "I am coming down to help with a full body scanner." I looked around the room, weighing my options. The restraints on the machine were not that thick, and I could easily break out of them. The man in the hidden room left, though I am now wondering if there are any more men. There were only 5 hazmat men, unarmed for the most part, standing 10 feet away. I could easily take them out. I chose that. Better to escape than to be a test subject to the Oberherr. Plus, I had to get back on the road to discovering who framed my parents, before the trail got too stale.

I slowly tugged off my restraints, so that the only thing holding my back were the needles. Then, a man entered the room, who I assumed was the intercom man. He approached me with a small device, putting it to my forehead. "Incredible!" he whispered, and that was the last thing he would mutter for a while. My bottom legs kicked up, hitting him square in the jaw. Ripping the needles out, I pounced on the next hazmat man, who went down in a groan. 2 of the hazmat men charged me, one with a needle and one with a scalpel. I rolled underneath one, making him trip and fall onto his needle. There must have been a sleeping agent in the syringe, because he was asleep in an instant.

Then the man with the scalpel charged, trying to swipe at me. Catching his hand, I head butted him, sending him to the floor. The last remaining Hazmat was running for the Emergency lever in the wall. Taking the scalpel, I flinged it at him. A second later, the man was on the ground, the scalpel protruding from his back. I went over to the closest hazmat and cut his ID card off of his body.

I then headed for the door, which I unlocked with set key card. There were only 2 guards together in the room. They barely had time to register what was happening when I kicked the guns out of there hands. One tried running for the gun, which I quickly retaliated by kneeing him in the face. The other charged me with a knife in hand. I picked up one of the chairs, hitting him so hard with it that it splintered and broke. The guard groaned on the ground before finally passing out. I went over to the tied up Mercenaries, untying them and pointing them to the guns.

The 4 Mercenaries were able to get 2 UMPs and 2 colt pistols, all guns full on ammo. Javier took command at that point. "We need to get out of here without drawing to much attention." He whispered to us as a patrol passed the door. "I don't think the 5 of us could blast our way out." One of the smaller Mercenaries spoke up next. "There is a cliff not far from here, that leads to a fall down the mountain. We could try and escape there." Javier put his hand on the boys shoulder, smiling to himself.

"Excellent plan. Joey, you have any objections?" None that I would say aloud. I shook my head, to which Javier nodded at. Alright, lets go out through the back door." We all silently made our way over to the other end of the building. I saw the door to the hidden room and quickly went inside. I went over to the computer and studied it. Hundreds of files were on it, of the different tests and what not. With a quick scramble of keys, the screen turned red, a progress bar appeared, and bellow that was a sign that read 'Deleting Files'.

I sneaked out of the room and followed the other 4 men. We came to the door and went outside. It was close to night, and the sun was dawning in the distance. I took the lead ahead of them, and we slowly made our way towards the edge of the crater in the mountain. We approached the edge of the town, when Javier cursed, pulling the Mercs back. Ahead of us, a small patrol of 3 Oberherr soldiers were walking towards us. They wore black armor, with a hoodie and a black gas mask covering there faces. Being silent, I went behind the final one.

I quickly put my hands around his neck and turned, snapping it. Then I advanced on one of the two other guards. I did a high kick, sending one to the ground, and when the other one turned, I punched him in the gut. He groaned and hunched over from the blow, in which I brought my knee up, hitting him in the face. The other patrol trooper was trying to stand up, when I brought my foot down on his face.

Then I bent over and pulled a circular device out of his ear. And earpiece. I put it into my ear. Might as well hear what is happening in the base. Then, it happened.

Following the 3 man patrol, followed a second one, also 3 man. One of the men screamed a warning. I got into a defensive position, and the mercenaries lifted there weapons. That was when a loud roar hit my ears. One of the patrol troopers turned and screamed, "Dragon!" Right before he and his squad was engulfed in a fireball.

Sure enough, over 20 dragons came over the mountain range, descending on the camp. Screams and shouts rose up, as everyone got into defensive positions. The earpiece was screaming in my ear, a warning telling everyone to get into position and to start firing on the beasts. Then, a voice came over the earpiece that made my blood run cold.

"The Prisoners have escaped! I repeat, the prisoners have escaped." I turned towards Javier, who could tell by my facial expression what just happened. "Hurry!" He whispered to us, and we all proceeded to the cliff. It was rocky and steep, made up of lots of little rocks and giant boulders. Suddenly, a huge fireball landed behind us, propelling us forward.

We were thrown off the edge, and I could hear the screams, both above me and beside me, as we all tumbled off the hill.