Some time had passed since the blue light had shone down on Mark. With a pained groan, he woke up as the loud bang of lightning lit up the night sky. Coughing while clenching his side. With a smile, he patted his face, being glad to be alive.

  ‘Fuck yeah,’ he said to himself, using every ounce of strength to sit himself up and plant his back against one of the vents. ‘Can’t kill a cunt like me.’

  To his surprise, he saw Jackson. The reptile seemed clean, his wounds healed while lying comfortably on his back, and his scales were even normal again, besides being split open before. As if he hadn’t been blown up, shot, or stabbed at.

  Mark’s heart raced as he noticed Jackson’s chest rising and falling. The monster is breathing, and he is alive. He remembered the light, but to Mark, that was perhaps a hallucination before passing out from the pain. If Jackson were alive, he needed to do something about it before he woke up.

  Panic ensued, Mark searched around for his revolver to kill the monster. To his luck, it was right next to him. But as he reached for his weapon, an armoured boot lightly stepped on his hand. He looked up to see a ProTech guard wearing the Trojan-Exoskeletons, a suit made for war, though they were in the early stages of development.

  He should be relieved to see those guys, but he had a bad feeling about their presence. Even more so as he realised he had been knocked out for a lot longer than he had thought.

  More ProTech guys walked into view, heading towards Jackson to roll him onto his stomach to restrain him with specialised metal braces. Locking Jackson’s legs and tail together, while his hands were uncomfortably tied behind his back. When the reptile regained consciousness, his mouth was clamped together with a metal mask made for him. Preventing him from speaking or using his powerful jaws.

  ‘It is a surprise to see you alive, Mister Esmen.’ Leo came into view, wearing her suit. She gestured for a guy to get off Mark’s hand so she could pick up his revolver to examine it. ‘I think you deserve some credit. It seems you handled the target well beyond your capabilities. Intact and able to be captured as well, now that is an achievement.’

  Mark chuckled and lazily waved his hand in feigned humility. ‘I soften him up for you guys. Now, about my pay…’

  ‘Pay, Mister Esmen?’ Leo interrupted, shaking her head as she headed over to Jackson. Looking down at an ancient creature covered in scars from a thousand battles. A complete monster, with the only thing human about him being his blue eyes. ‘I’m afraid there is a change in our arrangement.’ She continued, clicking her fingers to signal her men to grab Mark and put him in handcuffs.

  ‘We had a fucking deal!’ Mark barked, trying to break free. Only for someone to whack him over the face with the butt of their rifle.

  Leo smirked, ‘the deal has changed. A lot of money has been spent trying to hunt down our target over here, and we need to recoup our losses. It just so happens that the bounty the US government placed on your head will help us recover some of those losses.’

  ‘Then humour me, bitch. Put my gun in your mouth and pull the trigger.’

  ‘Feisty! Even when you face death, you still like to keep running that mouth of yours. But since you did a good job. I’ll let you in on a little secret. You’ll be kept alive; all we will do is just hand you over to the US government while our friend here will be used to actually help humanity besides destroying it.’

  Mark chuckled to himself. Shaking his head before looking at the woman who betrayed him. ‘And I’ll just tell them about this secret war you had with that fucking thing. Creating some sort of super soldier, biological experiments.’

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  ‘Don’t be na?ve. I am aware you will tell anyone in earshot about “monsters” and “super soldiers”. But they won’t care. We have the ASP on our side, and frankly, the US government hates your guts enough to turn a blind eye to our shady dealings. That is the power of money and connections, Mister Esmen. You’ll be surprised at what you can do with it.’

  ‘Yeah, besides recovering from the shit the reptile pulled off and paying off your contractors. What, is the reptile too expensive for your broke asses?’ Mark quipped, trying to elicit a reaction.

  Instead, Leo flashed Mark’s revolver near his face. ‘You had a good run, but I want to keep this as a souvenir. The revolver of a famed assassin. It's a shame that he favoured a basic Smith and Wesson so deeply. Such an awful gun.’

  Mark tried to swear, but a guard quickly silenced him by knocking Mark to the ground. Placing his boot on Mark’s back to prevent him from moving and squirming and pressing down to make him unable to take a deep breath or scream. Effectively gagging him.

  Meanwhile, Leo walked over to the reptile. Grinning at the fury in Jackson’s one good eye. She could say a lot of things to him to further shatter his ego and pride. Rub salt in his countless wounds and scars. But she didn’t need to, for someone had something to say to Jackson. Someone whom he knew deeply from his past.

  After placing a prototype hologram projector, the image of Brian Leichenberg in his wheelchair was conjured into existence, though only about five inches tall. The image breaks apart periodically as drops of rain cut through the image. Imperfect piece of tech, but it was clear enough to know who Jackson was looking at. Seeing the face of the man who took part in the murder of his friends and family, Jackson shifted and growled like a wild animal. Trying his best to break free from his bonds, only for him to realise that they were made for him.

  ‘It’s been a while, old friend,’ Brian said in a croaky voice. ‘You should be dead in that hole like I wanted. I even convinced the officers to lock you up and throw the keys away instead of killing you, just so we can retrieve your body at a later date in case we decide to use your DNA for some sort of research. But here you are, alive against my better judgment.’

  Brain paused, staring deep into Jackson’s eyes in search of some sort of humanity, but recoiled in disgust. ‘I am not sorry for what happened at Appleseed, nor do I regret what I did to your wife. Making you watch her burn alive in your own home is karmic justice after what you have done throughout your unnatural life. I should have my men kill you right here and now, but I believe that would be a waste of valuable time and resources. The world is changing, and I have people who would benefit from dissecting you to figure out your passive regenerative properties. Perhaps you can be something besides a killing machine and instead be the next advancement in modern medicine. Even She would appreciate seeing your ugly face again.’

  In response, Jackson shifted his body like a crocodile trying to bite someone. Doing everything in his power to show his hatred towards the man who took it all from him. Brian smiled, amused by Jackson’s pathetic attempts at intimidation when he was gagged and bound. To see a powerful creature who survived the impossible be nothing more than a tied-down dog about to be euthanised. Almost reminding him of when Jackson screamed and cried when his beloved wife was burned alive during the day of the massacre.

  ‘Leo, I also heard you found the surviving merc?’

  ‘That is correct, sir.’ She loudly announced.

  ‘Good, I think we can change some plans. If I want to test out some of our medical discoveries, I believe it would be best to have some volunteers help us out. Put them both in the back of a truck and haul them to the facility in Massachusetts. The team there will keep our friends secure. And Jackson, may we see each other again. Goodbye, reptile.’