Meanwhile, a limousine pulled up in front of a rundown shack. The crime lord, Rain, stepped out from the back, followed by the Anarky agent sent to lead them towards this place. Rain looked back towards the agent and asked, "This is where he's been hiding out?"

The agent smiled. "You of all people should know, Rain," he stated, stepping towards the door. "There is more to things than meets the eyes." He motioned towards the entrance. "Please, guests are required to go first."

Rain snorted in derision. "Yeah, right." He pushed past the agent, joined by his bodyguards. The each stopped when they saw a desk with a single receptionist. She looked up from the computer to view the men. Rain asked, "Where's Anarky?"

The receptionist chewed her gum loudly for a moment before pressing a button on the desk. Nearby, a wall opened, revealing a hidden elevator. Rain looked back to the agent, who simply nodded in confirmation. The crime boss stepped into the elevator, along with his bodyguards. The agent, however, stayed behind. He called out, "Just press '9' and once you get down there, it is the third room at the right."

"You're not comin' with?"

The agent shook his head, still smiling. When Rain opened his mouth to ask why, the doors of the elevator slammed shut. He crossed his arms and huffed. "Tired of this," Rain muttered under his breath. He looked over his shoulder at his guards. "Check your ammo, boys." Rain pulled out his pistol. "I want this done quickly. We get in, put a bullet in everyone's brains, then leave, got it?" The moment the guards nodded, the elevator door opened.

The hallway was surprisingly long. It appeared to have no end to it, but Rain didn't care about that. He got to the third door on the right side, turned the handle, and saw a figure shrouded in shadow. He quickly opened fire on the figure, empting the entire clip. The two guards flanked him, entering the room. The trained their sights onto the various shadows while Rain stepped closer to the body. The crime boss chuckled loudly. He turned the body towards him. "Gotcha, didn' I, you little sonuva-."

The head of the mannequin fell to the ground, silencing Rain. He stepped back, but let out a scream as electricity surged through his body. He fell to the ground, struggling to prop himself up with his arm. He heard a mocking laugh, this time with no interference with the intercom's feedback. "Rain, Rain, go away. Come again another day." Rain's guards lifted him off the ground to come face to face with the masked visage of Anarky. The menace removed what looked like a joy buzzer from his hand. He then faced Rain. "You looked surprised," Anarky stated calmly. "Are you surprised? I bet you're surprised."

"Jerry, Lou." Rain looked between his two guards. "What the hell you doin'?"

Anarky patted one of the guards, Jerry, on the shoulder. "Oh, you have no idea how easy it was to bribe them." He shrugged. "It's a shame that they're motivated by little more than simple greed. But one must do what one can with a few hundred thousand dollars lying around. You should've paid them more money, my friend." Giving a gently slap to Rain's face, Anarky walked towards the door. "I hope you don't mind a slight change of scenery. In order for my mask to hide my eyes, I had to build in sunglasses. It does horrible things to my vision in the dark, so I like to keep things nicely lit. That, and this is just a drab little place, don't you agree?"

"I'm going to kill you, you piece of shit." Rain struggled against his captors, but to no apparent success on his part.

"No need for such language," Anarky replied, moving out of the dark room. "All I want is to have an evil meeting in a nicely lit of room for once. Is that a crime?" He cried out in exasperation.

"Well, I'm pretty sure blowing up a few banks and hacking all communications is a major crime," Rain commented.

Anarky nodded in agreement. "You do have a point, Rain. But enough about me." He opened another door, revealing a room with a large, high definition TV, and a small table. "Let's take a peek at how things are going down at your tower. I bet you are going to be interested to see the Captain and his two minions raiding it, along with that vigilante."

"What?!"

Anarky failed to reply, instead offering Rain a remote with a single, red button. "It turns the TV on," Anarky explained, taking a seat in a recliner. "I'd use it if I were you."

Hesitating only slightly, Rain lifted the remote and pressed the button.


Kabal avoided a bullet, doing a dolphin dive behind a concrete wall. The masked vigilante looked over to Jax, who fired off a round into the guards kneecap. This caused the guard to drop to the ground, clutching his leg. Without wasting a breath, Kabal ran towards the doorway the guard was trying to protect, but made sure to land a kick to his face.

Jax asked, running with Kabal, "Was that necessary?"

"Probably not," the vigilante agreed. They turned a corner, Kabal throwing a knife into a guard's back, while Jax shot another in the shoulder. "But I'd be lying if I didn't say it wasn't fun."

They stopped in front of the elevator. Jax pulled out his communicator and spoke into it. "Stryker, do you see anyone coming towards us?"

"Not on your floor, but there's a couple baddies a few stages above you." A shuffling sound came through the speaker. "And I don't think they're coming down to have linner."

Kabal grabbed the wrist communicator from Jax. "Can you take them down?"

"I'm not sure. I can take down a few. What about you, Kenshi, think you can take any of them down?"

A suppressed shot carried over through the radio, leaving Kabal to look towards Jax. The captain shrugged, while Kenshi's voice responded with, "I just took two down with one shot. How 'bout you, Stryker?"

"Oh, it's on. I'd say you're fine, Cap. Carry on." Jax put away the communicator, while pressing the up arrow. Once the elevator got to their floor, both the captain and the vigilante stepped in.

Jax pressed the button that brought them to the penthouse, and they stood for a moment as they listened to the music playing. Kabal crossed his arms while Jax checked his ammunition. The vigilante pressed the button a couple times.

Above them, in the penthouse, Commissioner Gor Roh was messing with his phone. He looked towards the guards and asked, "Do we not have coffee?"

"I'm sorry, sir. Mr. Rain never bothered to buy any."

Gor Roh chuckled. "What a load of bullshit." He placed the phone away, unaware of the activating elevator. When the ding went off, two guns were pointed in its direction, wielded by the guards.

The commissioner got to his feet, motioning the two guards to back away. Pulling out a pistol, he level it with to the elevator doors, smirking. As soon as they opened, Gor Roh ad both guards opened fire, shelling the small area in bullets. The gunfire stopped, but not before echoing for a few minutes.

The commissioner looked towards the nearest guard, who walked in and investigated. He scratched his head as he found no bodies inside. He turned back to Gor Roh and called out, "What just happened?"

Above them, a vent was kicked out, with a pair of boots slamming into the guard's face. Kabal rolled out of the elevator, throwing a knife into the other man's shoulder, sending him to the ground. Both guards hit the floor with a loud thud. Jax dropped down from the elevator's ceiling as well, pointing his pistol in all directions, including the commissioner's. "Sir."

Gor Roh stood stock still, his gun now pointing to the ground. "Captain," he replied. "Fancy meeting you here."

"Could say the same about you, commissh," Kabal called out, checking the guard whose face he kicked in for a pulse. Once satisfied with his findings, although what that was is up in the air, he pulled out his sword. "What are you doing chumming it up with a well-known crime boss?"

"And what are you doing chumming it up with a well-known vigilante, Briggs," Gor Roh demanded. He glared at the captain.

"Desperate times call for desperate measures, sir." Jax pocketed the pistol and walked towards his commanding officer. "We're here to take you back to the station."

"For what?"

"Protection," Jax affirmed.

"As you can see, I am well protected here, captain," Gor Roh replied.

"Is that so, commissioner?"

Kabal and Jax looked around, getting into defensive stances, while Gor Roh simply rolled his eyes. "Not this, again."

"Wait, this has happened before?" Kabal demanded, pointing his blade at the commissioner.

"Yeah. I've lost count how many times he's annoyed me and Rain—."

"'Rain and I,'" Anarky's voice corrected. "One of my biggest pet peeves is when people use improper grammar. Drives me nuts. Anyway, I didn't call just to comment on your truly horrible grammar. I called because I wanted to give you a very special message, commissioner! Mainly that you have failed the test."

Gor Roh demanded loudly, "What test?! I haven't done a damn thing today!"

"See, that's the thing. You didn't join Rain to come have a private chat. I believe my instructions called specifically for the both of you to attend."

"You were just going to kill us anyway!"

"True. But you would've died with some dignity, at the very least. Now you will just be another statistic. Murdered in the many explosions that have decimated this city. Isn't that exciting?" The sounds of a struggle broke out through the speakers, causing Kabal and Jax to glance curiously at each other. "Sit down! I said, SIT. DOWN." Finally, whatever happened was quieted, with an exasperated voice saying, "I'm sorry about that. Just had to deal with a very bad dinner guest. Say, 'Hi,' Rain."

Kabal asked, "Rain's with you?"

"Now, now, Kabal, it's not your turn to speak. Rain? You're being very rude."

"Fuck off."

"Didn't we already have a discussion about language?"

BANG!

Rain's scream carried through the speaker, filling the men's ear canals. Gor Roh flinched at the noise, Kabal's eyes narrowed and Jax let a bead of sweat pour down his face. "You son of a bitch," Gor Roh called out. "What did you do to him?!"

"No need to be melodramatic, commish. I only shot him in the leg. He'll walk again. If he makes it through the night, of course. Ah, I've enjoyed this chat, but I really do have business to take care of."

"Like what?" Kabal demanded.

"Building a better Deacon, of course. What else? So, I leave offering you a gift. Gor Roh? Those guards that have been 'protecting' you? They're my agents. Have been since day one. Money will go a long way. Right now they have a lot of explosives strapped to their bodies. It's not much, won't even take out your floor, but it will suffice. So, sayonara. Enjoy the last ten seconds of life."

The voice quieted as the three men looked towards the unconscious guards. Gor Roh made a mad dash towards the elevator, just as Kabal shouted, "No, don't-!"

Before the explosion, the guard opened his eyes, but they were filled with pain. Their bodies were enveloped by the explosions, as it threw Gor Roh backwards, slamming him into Kabal. Jax tried to shield himself with his arms, but he was thrown through the window. His scream filled the air as rubble began to collapse onto both Kabal and Gor Roh. The last thing the vigilante saw was a bright light.

Then, he let unconsciousness take him into the darkness.


Anarky chuckled to himself as he turned the TV off. There was nothing but static anyway. He threw the microphone away and turned to the injured form of Rain. The masked man looked to the guards. "Wait outside, boys. I have to speak with him alone."

The two men nodded, exiting the room and leaving Anarky and Rain alone. The only sound present was Rain's panting, still feeling the pain at getting shot in the leg. He held his injured appendage, rubbing it to soothe the pain. "I have to admit, that looks like it hurt a lot."

"That… offer still stands," the crime boss whispered.

"Oh? What offer was that?"

"The offer to fuck off."

Anarky doubled over with laughter, slapping his knee a couple times for good measure. The mask was supposed to obscure all emotions, but somehow it looked joyous as well. "I have to admit, Rain, that's a killer! But, well, you've become obsolete."

"Let's say you kill me," Rain stated, glaring into the mask. "What then? You honestly think putting a bullet in my head is going to solve anything?"

"I'll admit, that's not going to affect much," Anarky agreed, rubbing his chin. He let out a deep sigh before continuing. "Honestly, this part of the job is purely for my own pleasure. I've always hated you, Rain, but I do respect the fact that you had the balls to come here to stand up to me. Kudos."

"T-Thanks."

"Don't mention it, my friend. I have a serious question for you." Anarky aimed the gun he was carrying at Rains head. "Are you afraid to die?"

Without a moment's hesitation, and defiance written all over his face, Rain simply replied, "You can go straight to hell."

Anarky, a smile plastered behind his mask, stated, "That's what I thought you'd say."

Rain's lips curled up in a snarl as Anarky pulled the trigger.

BANG!