Chapter 19 – First Blood
1st POV Makenzie
Watching as Reaper leads Jessica to the first gang, I want her to destroy I nod my head before turning around and entering the room. Walking into the bathroom I see the bathtub still filled with all the water Jessica showered with. Releasing a sigh of relief, I stepped forward before taking out what looked like a ball of shit and dumping it into the water where it started to decompose. Taking a step back to avoid the fumes that started to spread out from the bathroom and cover the rest of the bedroom, I slowly made my way to the window, making sure the fumes did their job and covered the whole room.
That pile of shit was a special chemical compound I found in Mercy's memory that she originally designed to find traces of someone's DNA decades after they had left with over 90% accuracy. Technology really is unfair. People always complain about magic being a cheat and while I don't disagree the guaranteed results given by technology make up for its much slower progression. With magic there are too many stupid conditions and drawbacks that make it, so every spell is really only useful in one situation.
No wonder it takes so long to become a master of mystic arts you probably have to learn hundreds of different spells just to check the time accurately. Pushing my controversial opinion on magic to the side, I do one last sweep of the room and after making sure the chemicals are properly attaching to the surfaces of the room, I open the window and teleport down to the ground in a nearby alley. Changing into Solider as I walk, I exit the alley and quickly make my way to the opposite end of Hell's Kitchen. My plan was simple enough. My attacks as Reaper have thus far to people's knowledge have been completely random.
That is far from the truth however, I have been moving in a military pattern Reyes learned during his time leading Blackwatch. It was a method of movement meant to disrupt the Omnic's program tracking that would easily spot any kind of military movement. All except this one, this pattern was meant to combine several different omnic and human military patterns making it impossible to recognize. But that only lasted so long once the patterns are broken down -- which is hard in its own right given how the pattern is laid out – so the pattern can only be used by units that specialize in speed. Thankfully with military being decades behind in this world and with only one arrogant prick having an AI smart enough to crack Omnic patterns that limit can be worked around easily enough.
Shield has been trying to crack my movements but so far, they have nothing. Or at least their systems show no results, but I wouldn't put it past Fury to have at least started making progress on my movements and just being too paranoid to tell anybody about it. Anyways, the plan was simple. Solider would start to mirror Reapers movements and while being much flasher about it would eventually come into contact with SHIELD. This should happen in roughly 3 weeks since I'm starting today. After all, if the pattern becomes too easy to crack all the sudden then Nick's paranoid ass will probably want to artillery strike Hell's Kitchen. And given who he is he might very well do it. So, while making it look accidental Solider will come into contact with SHIELD. Or course I have no plans to actually join SHIELD as of right now the only goal is to establish a friendly relationship with at least one high level agent so that I won't need to worry about getting arrested while using my Solider identity.
Afterwards, it's just about killing time while we steadily catch up to Reaper who will at some point lose his control over one Jessica Jones. Then Solider kills Reaper everyone celebrates, and Reaper leaves the country using Reye's identity to begin clearing out other problems while I remain as Solider and become a vigilante...It sounds a lot more complicated when I think it all out but there's very little chance of things going unexpectedly so I'll stick with this plan. Arriving at a nightclub that had a suspicious number of cars outside, with it being midday, I cleared my thoughts and stepped up to the door. Hesitating slightly as I took hold of the door handle, I took I deep breath before swinging the door open and stepping inside. Watching as three men in ripped jackets and tattoos walk up to me I give a small smile as one of them takes out a knife from his back pocket. At least this part never gets old.
1st POV Jessica again
{Thud} Coming down from the sky I more slammed then landed on the ground. Bent over with my hands on my knees I gasped for breath as I looked over in disbelief at Reaper next to me. {huff huff} I thought that if I ran from him while in the city, I'd be able to easily outmaneuver him but as if to purposefully spite me I was barely able to keep up with him as he sped through the alleys and streets towards our destination.
Turning my head in the other direction I see a decrepit shady-looking casino standing in front of us. The revolving door seems to be the only modern part of the building. The walls are covered in a rust-colored moss and the sign is missing pieces of what I'm assuming once said "lady luck". The alley way next to the building has a slight red tint on its edges that makes it clear how often it must have been used to "persuade" customers to stop cheating or leave their earnings.
"We've arrived." Hearing Reapers voice I focus my attention back on him and for a second, I doubt my hearing. Is this rat-infested dump our goal? What could any person who lives in a shit hole like this do to make this guy care enough to come and make his life worse than it clearly already is?
"This rundown piece of shit is our goal?" double checking with him I point my finger towards the casino to make sure I'm not mistaking the goal here.
"Yes. That's correct. You are to enter into this building and kill anyone you come across."
"Are you sure people even live in this dump?" Hearing my question Reaper shifts his head to face me and while tilting his body forward slightly so that he looms over me he asks, "Are you doubting my intelligence?"
"W...Wh...WHAT?! Of course, not... I would never even think to..."
"Then go do your job." He growled at me before moving across the street to a motel that seemed to be in worse condition than the casino. Although judging by the relatively well-kept cars out front the motel has its fair share of customers, which is more than I can say for this pile of shit behind me. I followed Reaper with my eyes as he leaned against the gate meant to protect the motel from intruders. But it seems like the owners been skipping on Maintenace considering its covered in huge holes.
"You have 20 minutes. If by the end of 20 minutes you have not killed every person in the building behind, you. I will kill every person that currently attends your elementary school." Wow look at this guy throwing out world class motivational speeches like that free of charge. What a hero.
"Your time is ticking." He spoke again while I continued to let him know what I thought about his "words of motivation" in the privacy of my thoughts. Shaking my head to clear my thoughts, I take a deep breath before turning around and walking up to the revolving doors. Let's think on the bright side, maybe no one will be here right now. It's just past noon and most people who frequent a club like this are probably still out begging for money so they can feed their addictions.
Right now, the only people who might be inside are the people who run the club and their lackeys. People I won't need to show any mercy to, the scum of society, people who profit off of making the suffering suffer more...This has to be on purpose. My thoughts ground to a halt as I almost trip mid-step as I finally enter through the revolving door. Reaper said that he was going to use me to destroy a gang that had been actively trying to pick a fight with him (the suicidal bastards). But he didn't say that I'd start hitting there gang right away. This shitty rundown casino can't be one of there's no one is petty enough to strike people this down bad. A casino like this is run by people who make a living by preying on the desires of the unfortunate. A clear parallel between them and Kilgrave who preyed on everyone in general.
That along with the time limit and the weight of hundreds of innocent lives all depending on my actions...he was trying to make me comfortable with killing these people! He wanted me to find an excuse to use. An excuse he could exploit whenever he needed me to kill for him down the line. And even knowing this it doesn't change a damn thing. I still have to kill everyone in this building or else I risk the lives of hundreds of children who are still living in their happy bubbles of ignorance without worry or responsibility. What kind of person would I be if I willingly took that away from them. There's only one course of action.
Hardening my resolve, I made my way through the small front foyer that's littered with broken plastic chairs and covered in dust to a back room where I hear noise. As I walk through the casino the noise gets louder and louder. And soon I come upon what seems to be the only clean area in the entire casino. In front of me is what looks to be some kind of restaurant. Unlike the other cheap fast food stands that littered the place this one looked like an official dine and wine type of joint. Laughter and music rang out from inside and as I continued to walk around looking for the entrance, I noticed two armed guards standing in front of the door.
Quickly twisting my body so I'm behind the wall I stick myself as closely to the wall as I can to avoid detection while I try to calm my rapidly beating heart. It's for the kids, It's for the kids, for the kids, forthekids,forthekidsforthekidsforthekids.
Without thinking I lunged around the corner shooting through the air ignoring the surprised yells of the two guards I raised my arms and slammed into them both sending them crashing backwards into the solid steel door of the restaurant. {crunch} cringing at the sound their bodies made upon impacting the door I felt my stomach start to churn as their organs started to flow out of their crushed bodies. Forthekids. Forcing myself back up straight I walked up to the door ignoring the fact that music is no longer playing and pull back my arm clenching my fists as I prepare to kill all the people behind this door.
"As you are now, you're useless to me. I'm not after a mindless robot, I'm after Jessica Jones." Reapers' words rang around inside my head, and I felt like a complete idiot. This whole time he's been saying how he was going to use me how he was going to make me do things I wouldn't normally do. Yet he said that he wasn't after a robot. Something that only did as it was told, he was after Jessica Jones. And releasing a breath as I slowly lowered the amount of power in my arm, I resolved to give him just that. No one else was going to die today, not in my hands and not in Reapers either.
{Boom} "Fire"
Blasting the door as someone screamed in a loud voice, I followed quickly after the heavily enforced door using it as a shield to protect me from bullets as I flew into the room. Ramming into the fat Asshole who must be in charge considering how he was the one who ordered them to start shooting at me I quickly turned around and grabbed a chair before tossing it at about half strength across the room where with a dull thud it impacted a goon's skull. The others around him visibly flinched at the sound and using that opening I sped towards them.
I felt like a wolf in a flock of sheep I didn't even need to strategize, the hard part was regulating my strength and I'll admit that some of these scumbags are getting off with injuries worse than I intended but less than what they deserve, I'm sure. I didn't even notice but soon I had finished everyone in the room. They were either unconscious, suffering from some type of crippling injury, or dangling as their bodies hung from the ceiling and walls.
{step step} Hearing footsteps behind me I watched as Reapers imposing frame entered the restaurant and the goons who remained conscious including the fatass boss all started to panic and scream as they struggled to move their broken bodies. Ignoring them, Reaper continued to approach me. I felt my heart pick up speed with each step he took towards me. I was confident in my deduction but still that was a lot of innocent children and families who would lose everything if I was wrong.
"I'm impressed." immediately I felt myself lose all the tension in my body and I had to grab a table to steady myself. I hadn't noticed but the second he'd shown up every fiber of my being had tensed preparing to try and stop him from rampaging even if I knew it'd be useless.
"I didn't think you'd find the strength needed to make a decision that involved not only you but hundreds of others as well. It would seem that there is something truly unbreakable in you Jessica Jones." I felt my heart swell a little at the slight compliment before my stomach immediately sank as Reaper walked over to the fatass on the ground.
"However, just because you found your own strength doesn't mean you get to forget your position." Leveling the shotgun with the guy's head, Reaper didn't even blink before he pulled the trigger.
"If I say somebody dies, they die, because Jessica Jones is mine!" Ignoring everyone else in the room, Reaper exited just as swiftly as he entered, and I was left standing there in confusion as I stared blankly at the door. Was he always left-handed?