Humanity Unveiled

The world is a scary place. Full of men and women who would end your invaluable life for the plastic and paper in your pocket. In a world such as this, it is all too common that we become...embittered. We are overwhelmed, betrayed or even too afraid to imagine what we could do. But there are a few who know the price. A few who step up to do what's right. To be willing to dig down, get out hands dirty and do exactly what is needed to be done. I am one of those people. I do things that scar others, that cause fear and actually permanently damage others. I seek out the unjust, and I bring forth the punishment they deserve. More importantly I ensure what they do...they can't do to anyone else. Ever again.

But then you eventually come to a halt. A sudden crash. Your mind is still reeling forward, but your body has long since stopped. Immovable. Unpassable. You start out so simply. To punish the wicked. To make sure what they do they cannot do to anyone else. But then...you find yourself doing more. Under duress you find yourself wanted to go that extra mile. It goes from blinding a man to murdering them...and then from murdering them to murdering them in a little bit of fun. In making a game of it. But it all starts at the same point.

Never again
"Never again"
"Never again"
"Never again..."

It's where I started. It's where we all started. That moment in time when you decided to do something. To take a stand. Oh what a struggle it is. What a thankless job it is.... I wont forget it...the first time I killed. It was a mistake...It broke my heart. Then again...it had to be done. There was no stopping them. And if it meant saving others then I'd do it again in a heartbeat...

It all started on this fateful night... Once upon a time.

There was a chill and crisp air that brushed against Humanity's cheek as he stepped through the scarcely crowded streets. Something about being able to take a deep breath and smell the sea-salt was refreshing, almost calming and relaxing to be honest. To hear the waves at the not so distant beach and to see the orange hues cast by the setting sun. Humanity was dressed for the occasion, he had a black hoodie jacket over his white shirt, a pair of khakis and his oh so slightly worn sneakers. A bag was hoisted over his shoulder as he pressed his thick rimmed glasses up his nose, fixing them back into place. He would occasionally stop and begin to shift the bag a bit, making it seem as though the weight of it was uncomfortable for him.

Today he was about to embark on a rather serious vacation. By serious he means that he was actually border lining kidnapping someone and dragging them away from their family for a short period of time. The younger individual walking next to him had a trimmed and precisely cut blaze of a dark brownish red hair spiked up at the front. They had pale skin and a face spotted with faint freckles. He wore an under armour wic shirt beneath a maroon and gold hoodie of the same brand. His pants were similar to that of Humanity's, though his bag was but a simple duffle bag, with the name logo as his hoodie and shirt plastered on the side of it.

"Well hopefully this will be a nice get-away." Humanity said, finally breaking the ice, his voice actually gurgling from lack of use. With a forceful cough he cleared his throat and spoke again. "So how's baseball been for ya?"

"Pretty good." the younger kid said, rather enthusiastically as his blue eyes shot forward, staring straight ahead with a half cocked smile scrawled upon his face. Humanity just chuckled and shook his head. "I wish you could have seen the tournament in Baltimore! I had a double play and three home runs! Boom-whapt. Pateesh!" He said, making little animated movements with the noises he was making. He made it look like he was swinging the bat and the ball had really soared. Humanity just smiled and shook his head.

"You're still such a dork." He said stepping over and bumping into his little brother.
"But I'm a dork with skillz son." He said with a little "ha" and stepping forward running as he took notice of their destination in sight. It was a small dock, just out on the beach far enough away from the road. "Wow..." He said as he looked back at his older brother with an ear to ear grin. Humanity just shrugged and tilted his head.

This vacation was a steal. Quite literally, it was taken from a person that Humanity had defeated. Through a couple pulls of the strings he set the tickets up on a site and then purchased them through a friend, who purchased them from an anonymous site, who then put then underground and sold them through someone else before he even touched them again. So...Here he was....

According to his friend they did a little looking up of who exactly was going on this tour. Humanity didn't really get any of the name, but from the professions he heard none of them were an overbearing threat to him or his little brother. There was a scheduled business trip, a father and son on vacation, two co-workers, a doctor and a husband and wife. These tickets were actually quite exclusive, and he was glad he had the chance to do this with his little brother.

Approaching up to the ticket area, he presented the ticket and stepped onto the medium sized luxury boat. Their father having experience in the whole "Professional Fisherman" thing made this a breeze for them. Though some of the others didn't seem to take it too well. The vacation's activities director took note of Humanity and his brother's arrival, seemingly excited.

"Oh! Here we are! I think you're the last two. Aren't you? Matthew and...Cody, right? Haha Alright! So glad you guys could make it!" He said before checking them off on the clipboard and tucking it under his arm. "My name is Jackson! Pleasure to meet you both!" He said, sticking out his hand. Humanity just smirked as he noticed his little brother shake his hand enthusiastically before turning around and his eyes widening a little, discretely passing the message of "what in the heck?". Jackson was a younger man, honestly with the whole stasis thing included he was probably around the same age as Humanity, maybe a year or two farther along. He wore black dress pants and shiny, perfectly polished, black dress shoes with an untucked button down shirt with palm leaves and swimming tubes on it.

"Nice to meet you!" Cody said politely, Humanity just smiling and nodding before clearing his throat.

"Oh, uhm. Okay. So I'm gonna go tell the captain we're ready to go. Why don't you go join the others. They're all getting to know each other. They're, well, a little bit of everywhere. Haha!" the man laughed, a bit nervously. Humanity just smiled and nodded, walking with his brother towards the group of people sitting on the couches or standing around the nice living room styled area. There was a vibrant red carpet underneath mahogany tables and golden plated trim lining the exterior. Deep green wallpaper with brass candle holders decorated the walls, the old fashioned candles replaced with safer, electrical types. Paintings and a mini-bar had been prepared in the area, the trip wasn't to be very long. A half hour at the very most.

"I'm going out onto the deck for a little bit. Stay inside, okay?" He asked into his brother's ear. Cody just hesitated and turned around, looking up at Humanity. He was about to protest but then he saw his brother pull a lighter from his pocket. His mood soured a little looking a tiny bit crestfallen before shrugging and letting him go about his business. Cody sat at the minibar and looked around, trying to scope out who all was there.

There didn't seem to be anybody there that he recognized. There were two guys having a conversation, a woman in business casual and her hair in a bun was chatting with a woman in a simple dress and long lustrous hair sitting at the coffee table. Accompanying them was a well dressed man and his son. The son was roughly around Cody's age. The conversations were bustling but soon enough it was all called to a close as a woman spoke with a rather kind, southern drawl.

"Now Y'all we should try and make ourselves familiar with some faces. My name is Marianne Weathers. Now if you don't mind my askin' what are all y'all's names?" She asked.

"My name is Robert Grant, this is my son Michael." The man said, his voice was rough to match his chiseled physique. A tattooed hook like object could be seen just under his sleeve, though remained mostly covered. when he placed his hand on his son's head he smiled meekly and waved to everyone around.

"My name is Sandy Robins. I'm here with my husband, he's out on deck at the moment." She said, waving rather hesitantly to everyone around. Cody himself actually wondered if he could get away with not saying anything. It was pretty ridiculous to have to share names like this. They weren't in second grade anymore. The eyes fell on him and he just began to clam up before speaking.

"I- oh uh. My name's Cody. I'm here with my brother Matthew; he's outside too." He said before just beginning to swivel in the chair, looking to the two business men...