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Prologue

"Whom the gods would destroy, they first call 'promising'."

"Jack," A voice above him softly said. It was a voice that denoted kindness. Jack knew the voice lied, it always lied. Jack's eyes slowly opened, and he looked at the man standing above him. The doctor wore glasses, a lab coat, and carried the obligatory clipboard, but where was he keeping the shiny needle?

"Jack, I thought we were making actual progress over the last few weeks. We both know you aren't a bad person. Misdirected, but not bad. Dr. Kepler didn't deserve what you did to him. You didn't deserve what your father did to you either," Jack struggled against the straitjacket at the mention of his father. When he was a free man, he'd cut a swath of death and destruction across Twilight over hearing that man's name. Now, the drugs kept him weak, almost docile. He still struggled against the invisible chains.

"I think you're right. I learned something, Dr. Peterson," Jack said, composing himself.

"What did you learn Jack?" The doctor said, leaning in.

"If you're trying to escape, steal his clothes, not his skin," Jack leaned back and let out a bombastic laugh that, not for the padded walls, would've echoed through the empty hallways of Shiloh Sanitarium.

Dr. Peterson stood straight again and smiled, "I really think we can save you, I've spent a year trying. My boss wants me to give up. I don't want to give up on you, I think the company will still find use for you,"

Jack's face contorted for a moment, when suddenly his face turned cheery, a grin appeared stretching from ear to ear, "I want you to understand something Doctor. I'm going to kill you. It's not going to be slow like the families I killed, you're going to be alive one moment and dead the next. And in that last agonizing second before you die, remember this: Your family is next. Darkness cannot drive out darkness, Doctor, only light can do that,"

"Progress, can be slow Jack, but we'll talk more tomorrow. I'm going to give you your shot now. Stay calm." the Doctor reached into his pocket and pulled out a long syringe. He kneeled down and grabbed Jack's arm.

Jack ripped through his straitjacket and smacked the Doctor against the padded wall. He fell face first onto the floor as Jack came down on his back, wrapping his arms around the Doctor's neck.

"WAIT," Came a cry as Jack twisted the Doctor's head a full one hundred and eighty degrees making what Jack thought was a satisfying *scrick*.

"No, I think that's enough for today," Jack said softly, almost kindly.

He undressed himself and he removed the Doctor's lab coat. He put his ripped straitjacket on the doctor. He reached down and grabbed the clipboard before opening the door of his cell. He walked down the empty halls and out the front door.

He walked in the spotlights of the main yard towards the fence gate. Standing on either side were two guards, wearing brown shirts, badges and a gun on their hip. Jack walked past them and reached for the door.

A hand landed on his shoulder, "I'm going to need to see some ID," one of the guards said. Jack spun around and grabbed the man's arm. He screamed as Jack ripped it from it's socket, and Jack turned to bash the other guard with the arm. The guard fell unconscious under the blow, but the man who's arm he now carried grabbed his gun and shot Jack in the back three times.

Jack sighed before turning around and beating the man with his own arm. He stopped beating him and threw the arm down after he stopped screaming. He walked over to the other guard and stomped his head into the ground. He reached down and grabbed a keycard from his twitching body, and turned back to the door. The card slipped in effortlessly, and the door opened. A few moments later he was a free man.

"Looks like I've got some time to kill," he said gleefully to himself.

Chapter One

"Finders Keepers"


The street outside Twilight First National Bank was bustling with activity. The sun hung high in the sky, beating down on the pedestrians as they went about their business. The bank had a long history in Twilight, stretching back to it's original settlement in 1866, just after the Civil War. It was founded by a man named Bartholomew Reynolds, and it had seen better days. The tall brick building had survived a fire in a neighboring building, and a series of riots in the 70's. It lasted through a bank collapse(also in the 70's). It managed to weather a corrupt CEO in the 90's, who took millions and left the bank with almost nothing. It has stood the test of time.

It has to date, however, been robbed 347 times. When you realize that Mr. Reynolds robbed it 5 times himself , you understand the complexity of it, and Twilight's history. In the past eighteen months, the bank had been robbed over 30 times. Today, it would happen again and strangely enough, no one expected it. Oh and for the record: 348.

=============================================

Jimmy looked around to make sure no one was watching him as he entered the bank. He smiled nervously at the security guard as he passed him, and got in line. He felt for the gun in his pocket.

"Easy in, easy out, just like the pro's" He thought to himself.

He leaned back and forth as the line slowly moved. It was lunch hour on a Frayday, but Jimmy couldn't figure out why there were so many people in line. It didn't matter to him, he fingered the trigger on the great equalizer in his pocket.

"Hi! How may I help you," Came a cheery voice as he approached the counter. The girl's smile almost looked painful, but she gave no outward sign of discomfort. She was short, and moderately attractive, her hair cut to shoulder length. She wore a blue and black blouse. Her name tag said "Hope". Jimmy couldn't see over the counter to see what else she wore. Jimmy reached into his coat pocket and handed the girl a bag.

"Put all the money you have in this bag, or I'll shoot you," He said coldly and quietly.

The girl's cheery cadence vanished as she answered, "Oh uh, of course," and quickly stuffed money into the bag. She tapped the emergency button under her counter, and handed the bag back to the man.

"Will... will there be anything else sir?" She said, almost in tears.

"Sure," He said pulling out his gun and firing it at the ceiling. Almost everyone else ducked and cleared a path between him and the door. Jimmy quickly ran outside, and a lone figure followed him.

Jimmy turned a corner, looking over his shoulder. He ducked down an alley, and opened the bag. He pulled a handful of chips out and let them fall back into the bag one by one.

"That was easy," He said out loud to himself, as he began to stuff the bag into his coat pocket.

A silenced shot came from the other end of the alley, and Jimmy looked up to see a man wearing a trench coat, with blue and red decoration underneath. His eyesight dimmed as he looked down at his chest. He took a deep breath and felt fire as he collapsed to the ground.

"Who are you?" His voice rattled as the man stood beside him. He looked up into his eyes, seeing only that they were blue before the man raised his gun and fired into the man's forehead.

"Peacemaker," Came a reply, as the money bag levitated off the ground and into his hand, "That was easy," he whispered.

“So, you manage to cash your check?” Dorian looked up from the video monitor he was watching. He sat in a room surrounded by them, but seemed drawn to one in particular. The man standing behind him had put on to much cologne that morning, and Dorian wasn't particularly happy that he'd decided to bother him. He looked back down at the monitor, which showed a casino floor, and in particular a man playing blackjack.

“No, uh, the line was too long. No big deal, I'll just cash it tonight,” Dorian looked intently at the figure in the video.

“Uh-huh, I heard that bag of chips you brought in,” The man said defiantly. Dorian stood up from his desk and pointed at the monitor .

“He's counting cards,” Dorian walked towards the door and grabbed his coat.

“You still owe me 50 chips Dorian!” The man called after him.

“Yeah yeah yeah,” Dorian muttered to himself as he pushed the button for the elevator and waited for the door to open. As it started to slide open, Dorian began to rush inside. A woman stood there looking extremely bored. Dorian hit the button for the elevator to go down, and looked at her for a moment. By any standard, she was extremely beautiful. He noticed the blond hair, the low cut shirt, and the mini-skirt immediately.

“You're new here?” He asked.

“You could say that,” She said smiling.

“What's your name?”

“Mandy,” She replied, “Yours?”

“Dorian Grey,” He answered.

“Oh, where do you keep your portrait?”

“I would never have assumed a lady such as yourself to be familiar with Oscar Wilde,”

“This is Twilight honey,” She responded, almost offended, “Never assume anything,”

The elevator ride continued on in silence until it dinged at the ground floor. She looked over at him and handed him a slip of paper.

“Here's my number Mr. Grey. Look me up,” She exited the elevator before he could call after her.

“I'm committed honey,” He said to himself, before remembering the cheater he was after.

He walked out of the elevator and into the madness of the casino floor. He dodged cocktail waitresses, tourists, regular patrons, and one somewhat surely gambler before he made it over to the table he had seen on the video monitor.

“Deal me in,” He said, as the dealer nodded to him, “You play here a lot?” He said to the other man at the table.

“What?” the man replied.

“Oh, I'm Sorry. You probably have alot on your mind. Right Matt?” Dorian said, standing up.

“How do you know my name?” Matt said softly.

“I know a lot of things. I know you're counting cards right now for instance” Dorian stared into the man's eyes as Matt stepped back from the table, gathered his chips and turned to run.

Dorian pointed a finger at the man's feet and flicked his hand to the side. Matt's feet promptly slipped out from under him. He went crashing to the floor as the chips went flying. Other gamblers grabbed the chips off the floor in record time. Security moved in from all sides and grabbed Matt off the floor.

“You can't do this! I have rights! I want a lawyer!” The man screamed.

“We ain't taking you to jail,” Dorian stated quietly, “You'll be finger printed, retina scanned, DNA sampled, and then released. You aren't welcome here anymore Matt,”

Dorian smiled to himself as he walked back over to the elevator. He pulled Mandy's phone number out of his pocket and looked for a moment before placing it in his wallet. “Yeah. Committed.” he thought.

Dorian unlocked the door to his apartment. His girlfriend was sitting on the chair facing the TV. The apartment was small. The living room and kitchen were one room. Directly in front of the door, the only bedroom door hung open, and he could see the light from the lone bathroom inside.

"Hey honey," he got out quickly.

"Baby, I got robbed today," She said, looking up at him in tears.

"Ahh, Hope, Baby, come here," Hope got up out of the chair and rushed over to Dorian. He held her as she cried into his shoulder.

“It'll be ok, I promise,” He said gently into her ear.

“I just want to do my job D, but they keep coming. Last month a customer got shot,” She sobbed into his arms.

“I know baby, but we'll get through it. We'll get out of this shitty apartment, get that house in the hills you've always wanted. One with a garden. I'll do it for you Hope. We'll do it together,” She stopped and looked up into his eyes.

“Promise me,” She said, sniffling.

“I promise honey,” He looked back at her.

“Not like that. Promise me you'll protect me. Promise me you'll stay. Promise me this isn't going to be another let down,” She stared into his eyes.

“I promise you,” He kissed her nose.

“I'm tired D,” She said, grabbing his hand.

“Me too honey,” He said following her to the bedroom.

=============================================

Jack grabbed the doorknob. It was locked, but he turned it easily anyhow. The door cracked a bit as he opened it. He stepped into the darkness of the house, and left the door open. He couldn't see much in the darkness, but he found the staircase and walked up it quietly. He heard snoring down the hall, and creeped up to the door, turning the knob and opening it slightly. The snoring stopped and he heard a click.

“I don't know where you come from boy,” The man inside said, “But where I come from, we shoot and don't even bother with questions,” Jack smiled and opened the door the rest of the way.

“I'm warning you boy, take another step and I'll blow you away. Just walk away and close the door. The police are on their way, you can still get out of here,” Jack could see the huge pistol as the man hefted it higher.

“That's ok, Mr. Peterson, this'll only take a second,” Jack said as he rushed towards the man. The pistol fired 6 times, throwing Jack back. Jack grunted and looked back at the man.

“Son, what are you?” The man uttered as Jack came closer again.

“I ain't your son,” Jack said, reaching for the man's neck.