Author's Note: Hey, guys. So I've recently started watching the Jormungand anime so if there are any differences or deviations from the manga, that's why. I've never read the manga so I wouldn't know. Anyway, since I'm in the middle of watching the anime, I thought I would write a fanfiction about it since I want to write a little and I really like the anime. The basic gist of it is that the story follows some dude who works for HCLI and gets himself into various shitstorms. Such is life. Anyway, I don't write consistently due to life circumstances so if you have any criticism or tips, I'm happy to hear them. Otherwise, enjoy. And please review, I like hearing what you all have to say.


Jace sighed as he loaded his gun and turned the corner, shooting two of the shooters dead and mortally wounding the other one. As another rose up to shoot at him, Jace retreated back behind the wall, the bullets tearing into it where his head had just been.

"Your fundamentals are fucking shit," he said.

"We need backup!" one of them yelled. Romanian.

"He attacked the base, first!" the other guy responded. "There's no one left to call! He killed them all!"

"What?!"

Jace rolled his eyes and ran out from behind the wall, rushing forward. He saw a crate an a pile of sacs where one of the two guys was hidden. The other one, hiding behind another pile of crates, hadn't even fully raised his head before Jace shot him. "Your voice was a dead giveaway to your position, asshole." The first one seemed a bit smarter, not looking out yet. As Jace rushed forward, a door to a room on the side burst open. He twisted his body and shot the guy in the head before he could even raise his gun before righting himself and continuing the charge. He'd known that guy was there. A prick that big couldn't hide himself no matter how hard he tried. So long as there was even the slightest noise, it would be enough for Jace to know their positions. Some other guy tried to pull the same shit, charging at him from another side room but Jace dodged and shot him dead before continuing the charge. That was the last of them. No more backup. He stopped running and slowed down to a walk.

He reached the crate and the sacs and walked around, coming face-to-face with the guy who had been shooting at him. The guy yelped and pointed his rifle at Jace but there was nothing but clicks. His eyes widened in horror as Jace came forward. He couldn't be any older than 19 at the most. This was probably the first real battle the kid had been in. He moved to reload his gun but it was then that Jace spoke.

"You know what your problem is?" Jace asked. "Your fundamentals. Fancy tactics, big guns, unlimited ammo. All of that amounts to fuck all if your fundamentals are shit." The guy paused, looking at Jace, and shivered. Jace continued, unfazed. "I attacked your HQ with only guns and knives. They lost. Then I came after you and you lost. And it all comes down to one simple thing you fucks should've paid better attention to. Can you guess what it is?" He squatted so he was eye level with the soldier. "Fundamentals," he said, switching to Romanian. The soldier just continued to stare at Jace, before his eyes narrowed in anger and he kicked at Jace. Jace blocked it but he fell back as the soldier scurried away and reloaded his gun. He looked up and raised the gun at Jace, only to find that he wasn't there.

"I'm over here," he said from behind him. The soldier scurried away without turning around and only did so when he stood up and aimed the gun at Jace again. Jace, however, remained unfazed, only seeming to grow annoyed as he sighed and shook his head. "All your friends are dead, both at this base and that one, and you're still gonna point a gun at me?" He walked forward and the soldier got a good look at his eyes for the first time.

Pitch-black, shining with a murderous light, and completely devoid of any and all humanity. The soldier froze, his finger on the trigger but unable to pull, the gun beginning to shake in his hand again. Jace calmly walked over to him and stopped in front of him, slowly grabbing his gun and pointing it towards his head, resting his forehead against the barrel. "Don't miss," he said in a deadpan note. The soldier's eyes widened, his hands continuing to shake even as Jace held the gun still. Jace waited patiently, watching the soldier's face. 'Three, two, one… now.' As the soldier's grip on the gun tightened and his finger pulled the trigger, Jace pulled the gun to the side, the bullet flying past his head, and pulled out a spare handgun. Faster than the soldier could blink, Jace shot him, leaving a gaping hole in the side of his neck. The soldier gasped as the gun fell from his hands and he stumbled back, clutching at his torn neck. Jace looked down at him with dead eyes. "You missed," was all he said as he turned around and began to walk away.

Jace walked into the HCLI building after having taken a thorough bath and changing into a fresh set of clothes. He went up to the front desk. The secretary sitting there looked up at him with blank eyes.

"ID?" she asked. Jace slipped out his HCLI badge and held it up to her. She took out a scanner and after a second, it glowed green and something popped up on her computer screen. After some typing, she turned back to Jace. "Mr. Hekmatyar would like to see you. Twenty-third floor, Conference Room B." Jace nodded and put his badge back in his pocket before heading up.

He stepped out of the elevator and waved to the nearest person standing by. "Excuse me, where's Conference Room B?" he asked. The man pointed behind him.

"Down the hall, make a left. Third room on the right."

"Thank you," Jace said. The man nodded and went back on his way, Jace doing the same.

He knocked on the door and someone opened it. A tan-skinned man opened the door. He was huge and very muscular, with a thick mustache and short hair slicked back. He looked down at Jace with a steely glare.

"I'm here to see Mr. Hekmatyar," he said. The man stepped to the side and Jace walked in. "You asked to see me, sir."

The man was turned around and Jace took the opportunity to take a good look at him. He wasn't very tall or big, actually quite average in build, but he possessed an overwhelming presence that drowned out even the huge man that had stepped aside to let Jace in. He turned and Jace got a good look at his face.

His face was nothing special either. In fact, from appearance alone, nothing about him was. He had slicked back grey hair, an average build, and wrinkles in his face that were telling of his age. What made him special were his eyes. Completely cold-blooded. They reminded Jace of a shark. Merciless creatures that killed for food without a second thought and preyed on the weak. Too many times, Jace had seen this man outsmart everyone on the board, and never once had he been caught off-guard. Never. Despite how thorough the intel his organization gathered was, there were still things that hadn't been found and reported. Floyd was prepared for them anyway. Jace suspected he had an eidetic memory since many times, he had seen Floyd make connections that were seemingly impossible to make based on some obscure fact buried deep within the data that everyone else had dismissed. There may have been nothing special about the way he looked but there was no questioning the fact that there wasn't anyone else in the world like him, not even his own children. He exuded an aura of cold. Completely lacking in emotion. Pure pragmatism to the extreme. Even his children were human in some ways. But him? Jace couldn't figure out what he was but he was convinced that this man was not human in any capacity.

"Leave us, McCullin," he said to the giant man. The man nodded and left the room. Floyd turned his gaze to Jace. "Is it done?" he asked. Jace nodded.

"The pathway has been cleared. The Red Sun won't be a problem anymore." The man's expression didn't change in the slightest at hearing the good news.

"I've heard those words before," he said. "This group has proven to be quite a thorn in my side. They've stalled business in Egypt for months, almost stopping it completely. And every time I've sent someone to stop it, they say it won't be a problem anymore. And yet, sooner or later, they are a problem again. So why should I believe you?"

"Feel free not to," Jace said, shrugging. "I'm just a grunt. At the end of the day, they're your problem, not mine. But I took care of them just like I was supposed to so I do expect payment."

The man narrowed his eyes. "Remember. I don't take failure well. Do not disappoint me." Jace rolled his eyes.

"Save the threats and give me my goddamn money," Jace said. "I spent two months destroying every base, tracking every operative, killing them, and destroying everything even remotely connected to the Red Sun's name. That shit took me a long time and it wasn't easy. Not to mention, I've got far too good of a track record to be putting up with your shit. If they bother you again, feel free to shoot me, okay? Until then, stop being such a dick and pay up." He scoffed.

Floyd Hekmatyar glared at him for a second and Jace stared back at him unflinchingly. Finally, he smiled. "The stories are true. You really aren't afraid of anything." He sat down in his chair and fixed Jace with an analytical gaze that made Jace's skin crawl. "At ease. I was just testing you. My apologies if I caused any offense. I respect anyone who does their job well and there are few in my employment who do their job as good as you. Please know that I'm quite happy with your work." He pulled a laptop out of the desk drawer and set it in front of him, opening it and getting to work. "You will get your money. In fact, since the Red Sun caused me so much trouble, I'll provide you with a handsome bonus as well. I'll call you when I have another job for you. Until then, go enjoy yourself. You've earned it."

Jace stood there for a second, taken aback, before regaining his composure. Without another word, he walked out of the room.

Compliments? An apology? That was unexpected. Obviously, he didn't mean them, but still. Unexpected.

A few minutes later, he stepped out of the elevators and headed out the front door of the building. His next job wouldn't be for quite a while so he decided he'd kill some time.

He walked into a cafe and ordered a small snack and a cup of coffee before sitting down and opening up a book. He occasionally sipped his coffee and politely smiled at the waitress and thanked her when she came to ask him if he needed anything else. After finishing and paying for his food, he walked out and hailed a cab, giving the driver his home address. His phone rang and he looked at the screen. It was his agent. He tapped the icon and answered.

"Hey, Kairo, what's up?" he said.

"Are you finished with the mission from HCLI?" Kairo asked.

"Yeah, why?"

"The CIA is requesting your services."

Jace's eyes narrowed. "They're always trying to start shit with my boss." He sighed in annoyance. "Tell them I said no."

"Trust me, Jace, it's not a conflict of interest. At least not this time. I did a thorough check. This doesn't have anything to do with HCLI at all." He paused. "But… we may have another problem."

"What is it?"

"So I was doing some more checks because, well, it's the CIA. They're always trying to start shit."

"So I was right? They're trying to get me to go after HCLI?"

"No. Like I said, it's got nothing to do with HCLI."

"Then what's the problem?"

There was silence on the other end for a minute and Jace thought that Kairo had hung up on him but then he spoke.

"So remember that psycho bitch you ran into a while back?"

"Kairo, do you have any idea how little that narrows it down?"

"Ok, you know what? Just get back here and see for yourself. I'll brief you on the op while we're at it and then you can decide if you wanna take this mission or not."

"Fine. See you soon."

He hung up and put his phone away. "Excuse me, sir?" he said to the driver. "Change of plans."

Jace walked up to the door and knocked. Kairo opened it, looking as disheveled as ever. His red hair was in his eyes and his sky-blue gaze was as piercing as ever. He was wearing shorts and a Batman t-shirt. He didn't say a word as he stepped away from the door and walked back to his computer.

"You know, humans say a greeting to each other when they see their friends show up at their door," Jace said, walking in.

"What up, bitch?" Kairo says. "Now piss off and go make me a cup of coffee."

"Wha-" Jace began. "I'm the guest here."

"And I'm the boss here. This is my apartment, remember? Now make yourself useful. Two cream, two sugar. You have five minutes."

"You're a dick," Jace said as he walked in and set his stuff down before heading to the kitchen.

"And after you're done making my coffee, do the world a favor and throw yourself off the balcony."

"Would you shut the fuck up?!" Jace yelled at him from the kitchen. Kairo snickered before getting to work.

Five minutes later, Jace came out of the kitchen with two cups of coffee in hand. He handed one to Kairo and pulled up a chair to sit next to him. Kairo took a sip from his coffee and promptly spit it out.

"This tastes like shit!" he yelled, turning to Jace. Jace looked at him innocently, loudly slurping his coffee.

"Mmm, that's some good two cream two sugar coffee," he said with a shit-eating grin. "How's yours?"

"You'll pay for this," Kairo snarled. "You desecrated my coffee." Jace rolled his eyes.

"Shut up and show me the mission."

Kairo growled and turned back to the computer, turning it to face Jace, causing him to spit out his coffee when he saw the screen. Kairo smiled, finding a small amount of satisfaction in that, before he went into business mode.

"This is the psycho bitch I was talking about," he said. Jace's expression turned grim. "Leader of the paramilitary group Cutthroat and a fanatic hunter of terrorists. And by terrorists, I mean pretty much anyone the government points her at. Not to be trifled with, but I'm sure you already knew that. You did fuck up one of her ops."

"One of the only times I've ever thoroughly enjoyed my job," Jace said, once again calmly sipping his coffee.

"Was she cocky?"

"Extremely," Jace said with a deadpan look.

"I mean, to be fair, you are too."

"Yeah, but I've earned it. Have you seen my record?"

"Dude, have you seen hers?"

Jace paused. "Ok, that's fair." He leaned forward, setting down his cup. "So what's the op?"

"Annihilation," Kairo said, typing something into his computer and pulling something up. "It's a rogue Russian group. They've only recently appeared on the board. They wouldn't be anything more than a simple hitman group, nothing to worry about, except they only ever take jobs that explicitly piss off the American government. They're also really good at protecting their employer, so it's hard even for me to figure out who they're taking jobs for. I'm sure someone else could do it but I can't."

"Wow. Humility. From you. They must be good."
Kairo looked at him. "Was that a compliment or an insult?"

"So how does Hex fit into all this?" Jace asked, completely ignoring Kairo's question completely.

"Um…" Kairo rubbed the back of his neck. "You… have to work with her."

Jace once again spit out his coffee.

"Oh, come on, man! You're getting that shit all over my floor!"

Jace sighed before getting up and walking away.

"Dude, I was just joking! Where are you going?" No answer. Instead, Jace came back after a minute with a mop and set about wiping the floor. "I wasn't serious, Jace. But… thanks?" Jace didn't answer, simply wiping away, his eyebrows crinkled with what seemed to be worry. "Jace, are you… worried?" Jace finished mopping and looked back at Kairo.

"Sometimes," he started. "Sometimes, I fucking hate this job."

"I mean, you're free not to take it," Kairo reminded him.

"It's not a matter of turning down the job or not. I've only done a few jobs for the CIA but I've gone against them many times before simply because of who the HCLI and their clients are. We're not on friendly terms. I'm not eager for them to promote me from a volatile asset to an enemy of the US. Besides, I'm fine being targeted by whatever hired guns people send after me. But it's a different story when I get targeted by the government. I'm going to need backing somehow. I can't take them on myself. The HCLI will likely dump me since I won't be worth the trouble to keep, no matter how good I am. And the only ones still willing to back me are ones I want nothing to do with." He sighed. "So you see, I kind of have to take this job. Most times I refuse, I can use the excuse that they're going against one of HCLI's clients. This time, I can't. And they know it. That's why they sent the mission to you first rather than letting you find it on the market."

Kairo sighed. "Damn." He chuckled. "That's the CI-fucking-A for you, isn't it?" he said. Jace nodded grimly.

"Well, I'd better be on my way then." Jace put the mop back and finished his coffee before washing the dishes and walking away.

"Be safe, Jace," Kairo called out, showing a rare moment of genuine worry. Jace said nothing, only momentarily smiling, before heading out the door.

Sometime later, Jace found himself face to face with George Black. He sat in front of him, playing games on his phone, while George bore into him with a stare that Jace was utterly unaffected by.

"Are you done with your games?"

"Are you done with yours?" Jace asked.

"I'm not sure what you mean."

"I sat here for two minutes while you typed away at your laptop and acted like you didn't even register my presence, even when I asked if you were finished. It's not like I haven't been through this. This is a tactic to assert power by making me feel insignificant." He momentarily looked up. "This isn't my first rodeo. Now stop being an arrogant shit and tell me what the hell you want from me or I'm walking."

George smiled. "Abrasive as they say." He sat up. "I was just testing you."

"Why does everyone keep doing that?" Jace said, exasperated. "If you know who I am, then spare the tests and get to the point, okay? You authority pricks all have the same dickish behavior and at this point, I don't have any patience for it."

George nodded. "I'd say that's fair. On to business then. I'm sure your agent briefed you."

"Yeah. You want a Russian mercenary group of rogue soldiers off the board." He sighed and rubbed his forehead. "And you want me to do it with Hex."

"I assume you know her," George said, smiling.

"You could say that," Jace said, frowning. This man was getting a kick out of pairing him up with that bitch. Considering how volatile she was and how disrespectful Jace was, this decision was as much for strategic purposes as it was for shits and giggles. "If she kills me, I'll fucking haunt you," he warned George, actually getting a chuckle out of him.

"I look forward to it," he said.

"The haunting or just my death?"

"Why don't we go and meet her?" George said, purposely ignoring the question.

"She already knows who I am," Jace said. George full-on grinned, unable to keep a straight face anymore.

"Then this will go great."

It did not go great.

Hex had been in the shooting range so Jace was already starting to believe this was all an elaborate setup for George to stage his death.

As soon as Jace and George had walked in and George had called out to Hex, she took one look at Jace and turned her gun on him, with Jace being only slightly faster and grabbing George's shirt and yanking it to put him between himself and Hex.

"Only way you can shoot me is through this fatass," Jace called out to her as she held her gun at him. "Pull the fucking trigger."

Hex gave him a sweet smile, although it was off-putting considering the sheer amount of killing intent radiating off of her. "You've got some fucking nerve showing your face in front of me."

"Look, bitch, it's not like I wanna be here either. But due to reasons I won't disclose to you, I had to take this job. And for what you're up against, you're gonna need my help."

"Oh? And why exactly would I need your help? I'm quite confident I can handle it, whatever it is."

"Yeah, you handled it great the last time we ran into each other," Jace said sarcastically. At Hex's rising anger, he sighed. "Look, whatever issues we have, we're supposed to be professionals. So like it or not, the job comes first. Can we sort our shit out later?" When Hex didn't lower her gun, he continued. "We're dealing with another terrorist group. One that seems to have a bone to pick specifically with the US government." That got her attention. "And like I said, you need my help. Even if you don't, better to use me first, right? You know what I'm capable of." Hex narrowed her eyes. After a few moments of thought, she finally lowered the gun.

"Fine," she said with strained reluctance. "But this better be worth my time."

"Considering the hate boner you have for terrorists, this isn't worth anyone's time more than it's worth yours," Jace said before she could go into the slew of threats that would follow. "Let's go," he said, turning to George.

A few minutes later, George led them to a briefing room. Jace waited for Hex to choose her seat at the table before sitting in the seat furthest from her as he could possibly get. She noticed and shot him a sickeningly sweet smile that dripped with malicious intent and he involuntarily shivered.

'Crazy bitch,' he thought to himself.

"I've already briefed Hex on the details and I'm sure your agent briefed you, so I'll cut straight to the mission strategy," George said, getting right down to business. "They've been killing agents from various US government agencies." Jace caught the enraged look on Hex's face and rolled his eyes before turning his attention back to George. "We don't know who the mole is so we're gonna send you two on bullshit missions for the next few weeks. During this time, we'll be tracking down every agent this group has and all their known associates, as well as narrowing down who the mole could be. Until then, your only objective is to survive."

"No offense, George, but that seems like a pretty shitty plan," Jace said. George seemed almost apologetic as he addressed Jace.

"I'm sorry, Jace. I've mulled over what to do but the fact is that this group has really screwed our operations. We can't afford to lose any more agents and frankly, you two are the only people I have that are capable of carrying this out." Jace frowned but didn't say anything more. Hex, on the other hand, felt differently.

"I still don't understand why I have to work with him," she said with a hint of snobbiness, causing Jace to feel a rising urge to throw something at her. "I can do this with my own squad."

"With all due respect, Hex, you're already under investigation for way too many war crimes. Part of the reason I'm sending you with anyone at all is to make sure the shitstorm following you around doesn't get any bigger. Need I remind you, I'm the one keeping you out of a military prison."

Jace snickered at this, although he stopped when Hex shot him a glare. Hex seemed to want to say something more but George cut in before she could. "Additionally, I need a small team to carry this out. Ten operatives are a lot harder to conceal than two, and this requires a certain level of stealth and finesse that your team simply doesn't possess." This seemed to hammer the point home and Hex didn't say anything further. Satisfied, George turned to address Jace as well. "If you two don't have any more questions, that concludes this meeting. Take a day to pack anything you might need. You'll be dropped off at a safehouse over in England. Take the time to stock up on weapons, munitions, food, water, anything you might need. You'll move out the day after. I'll send you out on small missions so you actually look busy and move you between safehouses so they don't catch up to you. Once I have all the info I need, I'll extract you two and organize an operation to hunt down the group and catch the mole."

"Alright," Jace said, getting up and walking towards the door. "Let me know when and where to be."

He paid a visit to the HCLI armory and checked out some weapons for temporary use. After some thought, he went with something standard issue, rather than some of the newer-age, more expensive models. Whatever didn't come back came out of his next paycheck. And needless to say, while Floyd Hekmatyar was a rich man, Jace Hezekiah most definitely wasn't. Or at least not rich enough that he could afford to pay for such expensive guns. Later, he dropped by Kairo's apartment again. He knocked on the door and heard some thumps and thuds on the other end before Kairo appeared at the door, looking more disheveled than usual.

"Oh. Hey, Jace," he said, sounding a little out of breath. Jace looked at him. He was sweating a little and breathing hard. He was in his boxers and a hastily thrown-on, rumpled shirt. Jace raised an eyebrow.

"You busy right now?" he asked.

"Uh, yeah, at the moment." Kairo shoved the hair stuck to his forehead away. Jace smiled knowingly.

"Well, I'll come back some other time, then," he said, turning away, but Kairo stopped him.

"Wait, Jace, hold on," he said. He turned around and went back inside. Jace heard some loud voices and then a guy was ushered to the door, Kairo pushing on his back. He seemed to be dressed as messily as Kairo himself.

"Hey, I don't get it, I thought you said-" he began to say but Kairo cut him off.

"I told you, something came up that I have to take care of. Come back tomorrow. Or don't. Up to you. But you need to go."

"Just hold on, I-" he stopped when he saw Jace. He looked him up and down, shamelessly leering, before turning to Kairo. "Is he what you need to take care of? Because I can help with that," he said slyly before turning to Jace, giving him a lusty smile. "What do you say, handsome?"

"Sorry, I don't play for your team," Jace said. "Kairo and I are business partners, nothing more."

"So this is business then? Hm," he said disappointedly. "He blew me off for work again."

"If it makes you feel any better, you got more time with him than most other guys do," Jace said.

"Ok, that's enough," Kairo cut in. "Sorry, Mason, Jace isn't gay. Now get out. We're busy with something important."

"Keep blowing me off like this and I'll stop coming back," Mason warned.

"Sorry, Mason," Kairo said, barely sounding apologetic, before he invited Jace in and closed the door.

"Sorry about that," Kairo said, locking the door and turning to Jace. "What's up?"

"Nothing much, just thought I'd drop by before I left," Jace answered. "You didn't need to send him out. It wasn't serious."

"It's nothing," Kairo said. "When are you leaving?"

"Tomorrow. I'll get the location later today. I'm just waiting for Hex to stock up on whatever weapons she needs and then I'll get the call."

"So, and don't take this the wrong way, but why are you here?" Kairo asked curiously. Jace rubbed the back of his head and looked away and Kairo could practically feel his fear from where he was standing. He sighed. "It's Hex, isn't it?" he said. Jace nodded and Kairo started feeling his own fear rise. He almost never saw Jace show any fear towards anyone. Yet here he was, outwardly afraid of this woman. Kairo knew Hex was dangerous but he hadn't realized how much. "Jace, how bad was your previous run-in with her?" Jace looked at him with a haunted look in his eyes that almost made Kairo flinch.

"It…" he began before sighing. "It was bad. Really, really bad."