The Birth of Gemini - I : The Merger

The growing world powers, due to "what was percieved" as imminent threats, ignited a nuclear missile shootout which regrettably ended in a near extinction of mankind. The few survivors formed tribes, which became pseudo-nations (a large collection of tribes, countries without geographical barriers).

Considering the immense destruction caused by the Nuclear War, weapons of mass-destruction fell out of favour as a tool for power. In addition to that, there was a lack of manpower, thus conscripted armies also became obsolete. It is these factors that probably brought about the age of Assassins, the new form of warfare.

An assassin used to be one who murders by surprise attack. A murderer, especially one who kills a politically prominent person for fanatical or monetary reasons. However, the true definition of an assassin has changed rapidly through the years.

This story occurs during the year 12 AR (After Ripper), which is 1000 years after the nuclear wars occurred. The stories of the 13 legendary assassins are still being retold, but as all stories go, there must always be a new generation.
~

Breathe in.

Left punch, right hook, side step, double jab, dive under for the uppercut.

Breathe out.

Hard, swift and clean hits, excellent execution with no showboating, basic swing jab slash uppercut. The power of a world class boxer, agility of a Muay Thai master, focus of a Tai Chi practitioner and the accuracy of a Jounin ninja; all skills honed diligently with no lack of talent in fighting.

And with the last uppercut, neither the punching bag nor the hook could take it anymore, caving in to the blow that Gem was dealing. They fell in a heap, bursting into sand that littered the floor of the abandoned warehouse. Not much of a hideout, but Gem had to make do. It wasn't easy being an assassin now, considering the flood of the assassin market. The stories of the 13 have spawned copycats, claiming to be one of the legends, claiming to be the next Ripper, the best sniper... All nonsense.

He wiped his sweat with his bandaged arms and stared into the night sky, cloudless and starless. Gem always had a lean, unnaturally hardened physique. Nuclear mutation or not, it helped him build his name as the "golem assassin", a melee type fighter that was all rounded. Or basically, a cheaper alternative if the clients couldn't afford a Shinobi (highest class ninja assassins). He pushed his short hair back, which sprang back to its usual place and flicked sweat.

A musical tone rang, breaking the silence. Gem pressed his cell, placing the conversation on speaker mode.

"Job?" he asked while he swept the sand from the fallen sand bag.

"32 Rai Road, hit the guy in the red suit at 8 pm."

"Chips?"

"16"

"I'll do it for 20, and you don't need to provide weapons."

"... Fine. But you never use..."

Gem closed the cell before his agent could say anything. He never liked talking to his overly talkative agent anyway. Tonight, the hunt has began, and the golem assassin is on the loose.

~

The man was there at Rai Street, walking down the street with a trail of cigar smoke. And as his agent described, he was wearing a full suit of deep, velvet red, with a black inner shirt and gloves. He even wore a red bowler hat, tilted to the side. This guy walked like he owned the town, and perhaps he did. He could not have been a more prominent target, not just for assassins, but even muggers or desperate rugheads looking for a warm coat.

"Hey, guy in the red suit," Gem called out as he caught up with the man.

The man turned and faced Gem, hat covering eyes from view. "The rumours are true, you are an idiot," he said as his black glove that held the cigar brought it up for a puff.

"What kind of moronic assassin talks to the man he's supposed to kill?"

"The kind that doesn't want to hit a man from behind?" Gem did a quick dash and executed a quick left punch, which the red suit man dodged smoothly. His punch landed on the lamp post, which bent over and crashed on the ground noisily. Undaunted, Gem used the remaining stump of the lamp post as leverage to do a flying back swing kick and hit nothing but air still. Gem hesitated.

Not one of his hits even grazed the red suit.

"Are you getting tired yet? Your father was right about you, you are the more tenacious one."

Gem glared at the man. Who is this man?

"The name, is Redd. And I'm the one who called your agent, to kill me. I'm quite certain at the moment that I would be getting my deposit back pretty soon," Redd laughed with the cigar in his mouth as he removed his gloves delicately, revealing claws instead of hands.

"Never heard of me? Oh well... After tonight, you'll never forget the fox." And with that, Redd's claw slashed down at an unprecedented speed and tore four lines through Gem's white shirt, drawing blood. Gem stumbled back, and another claw went straight for his throat, not to tear but to choke. With supernatural strength, Gem was lifted in the air by his throat.

"What do you know about my father?" Gem said as he fought the tightening grip.

"You are in no position to ask me for an questions, at all. Though admittedly, you are on higher ground," Redd jested as his hand raised higher to emphasize the point. His other hand was still holding the cigar, and he was still smoking it like he was on his break,"how do you kill a man with bullet proof skin? You cut off his oxygen supply. That was an excellent tip, I have to admit, your old man knows his kids well."

The air supply was running out, and Gem was fighting despite the hopeless situation. His lungs burned with the need to breathe, and soon his vision began to flicker. I'm not going down like this...

It was then when Gem's world began to jerk like crazy, twirling and swirling and his fight to breathe was replaced with a excruciating pain in his brain... Tearing at him till he heard a voice he hadn't heard in a decade.

"Brother?"

His head began to pound like crazy and blood began to ooze from his ears. Still spasming, he could see the faint image of the Redd Fox, his pearlie white teeth still gleaming as Gem passed out.

~

Gem woke up on the sidewalk. It felt like he laid there for at least a night, but it was still dark, so he couldn't be sure how long he laid there.

'It's been awhile, hasn't it?'  The angry, cynical, devillishly familiar voice in his head said.

Gem sighed. Not long enough. He never really expected the reunion to be this intimate.

'Get out of my head,' Gem replied in his head, 'brother.'

'After I saved your ass when you passed out? The only reason you survived the red ass is because I'm here, you got that?'

'Thank you. Now can you leave?'

'Can't.'

'Why?'

'I died.'

'...'

~

There was a time when Gem was never alone.

He was younger then, and while he was never alone. He had his twin brother with him all the time, Eye. Eye was the older one, but no one ever guessed that; his state of perpetual illness paled his skin and weakened his muscles, while Gem was always the athlete. He had the strong bones and alert eyes, while Eye had a flaccid appearance with shifty eyes.

Their mother died after giving birth to the two of them, that was all Garnett told them, because one of them had too big a head while the other had rocks for skin. Garnett was the man in charge of the orphanage who took care of them for as long as they knew. He was a towering black man of 7 feet, packed muscles and long braided hair, and to a child he seemed like a mountain.

Under the hand of Garnett, a gentle giant at times and a terrifying monster at others, they were taught the skills they would need to survive as assassins. Gem took the lessons to heart and trained hard, while Eye used his illnesses as an excuse to get out of most of the exercises. None of the kids ever questioned why they were learning to kill, the effect of growing up in a place like this did that.

One day, Eye pulled Gem out for a game that he came up with.

"What game?" asked Gem.

"A fun game," Eye replied with a tilted smile. Eye could never smile properly, his smile always seemed like it contained a certain sadism.

Gem lay down on the bench as Eye instructed, the one at the park which no one can see without walking past the trees.

"Breathe in deeply," Eye said as he placed his hands on Gem's chest. Gem did as instructed, as he always did.

"Breathe out."

And after all the breathe left his body, Eye suddenly pressed down hard on Gem's chest. Gem's head pounded like a bell, and passed out.

When he woke up, his ears was bleeding, and he could see Eye's body, lying head first on the sand. He got up and nudged his brother, but his body was cold as if it was devoid of life.

'Oooo you have loads of secrets in here, don't you?'

What was that voice? It came from his head, and it sounded like...

'It's me, you idiot. I just possessed your body.'

~

Hi guys, this is the story of a character I thought of for the series the 13, which is an assassin series which my brother and I came up with. For the stories before Ripper's Death, you can go to www.the-13.blogspot.com.