Where my Dreams take me - part 5 Assault on the Organization

            Jack stood at the ground floor of the Organization’s base of operations. He decided to take the stairs up to each floor because he knew the elevators could be switched off and even unlatched. This was a defense that the Boss used to kill intruders stupid enough to trap themselves in a metal box when attacking a criminal organization.

            “Jack, I have another deal for you” Death said as Jack headed for the stairs. “I don’t want to make a habit of making deals with Death” Jack replied then stopped walking so that Death had his full attention. “I can enhance your weapon. Your killing hammer has seen so much death, it would be very easy for me to augment it with more power. Having extra power would ensure your victory to be sure. The deal is, I imbue your hammer with magic and when you have had your revenge, you give the hammer to me” Death said in a calm voice. “If I am going to retire why would I need my hammer? Its win-win again for me” Jack said. Then paused. Part of him didn’t want to give up his precious weapon for anything. Even though getting rid of it would shut the book on his old life, he still didn’t want to give up his hammer. He had the hammer since he was a teen, he carried it every single day of his life for the past fifteen years. If anyone came looking for Jack he wouldn’t have his hammer to defend himself with. Making his hammer stronger would make it easier to get revenge with less chance of dying, and giving up the hammer would truly mean he was done with his old life, he would be able to move on completely. He could think of his time in Dark city as a bad nightmare that he finally woke up from.

            “Why would you want this hammer? You aren’t trying to do me any favors” Asked Jack. “No, our deals are not meant to help you at all. I am getting something out of every deal. That doesn’t mean it has to negatively affect you though. As for why I want the hammer, lets just say it will be more valuable to me. I collect rare things. My favorite thing to collect are items that have killed large numbers of people, the dark aura on the weapon is stronger if it kills strong enemies. I see many things that you cannot. A hammer that has killed many, that becomes enchanted only to slay more humans and a demon is incredibly valuable to me. You wouldn’t even understand its true worth at that point. So, do we have a deal?” Death asked.

            Jack hesitated, Death answered the question but Jack didn’t feel comfortable giving up the last piece of his past. The hammer linked him to his past, both the good and the bad. It made him remember the awful things he did, but also let him remember Isabelle and the good times. Jack needed to survive this last fight though and agreed to the deal. “Yes, fine. You can have the hammer when this is over. After everyone is dead. The boss, Galore and anyone who was there the night Isabelle died.” Jack said. “Agreed!” Death replied.

            Without any more delay Jack rushed up the stairs. His heart was pounding, he felt like he was being pulled into the underworld with every step. Making deals with Death, challenging a demon to do battle, attacking his old place of employment. It was all a bit much for Jack to handle. Well except for the attacking the former place of employment, Jack was enjoying that.

            Jack reached the second floor and kicked open the door, he lifted his hammer up and green flames engulfed Jack’s weapon. Jack slammed his hammer down onto the ground and flames spread out along the floor burning up everything in its path. Guards, guns, tacky furniture, it was all consumed by the hammer’s magical flames. Death never explained how to use the Hammer’s magic and never even made of show of enchanting it, yet Jack somehow knew how to fight with his newly enchanted hammer.

“Satisfied with the results?” Asked Death. “Very” Jack replied with an evil grin.

With the second floor cleared out Jack could move onto the final floor where his Boss always sat. Jack was glad the Organization was located in a factory and not a skyscraper. Jack ran up the stairs to the third floor and blasted the door apart with his magical green flames. Galore Riggs and a group of guards stood waiting. Everyone had their guns drawn and Galore had an assault rifle. “Sorry Jack, I can’t let you go” Galore said. “The Boss is a demon, Galore. He killed Isabelle and he holds you like a prisoner. He holds us all. The only people who are happy in the Organization are the ones who never get tired of the killing, the drugs and the stealing. The rest of us, we die off. Galore, this is your last chance to change sides.” Jack said, being strangely diplomatic.

Galore laughed “You might be right Jack, but I am the one with the guns and the backup. You have one chance to give up. I am not backing down” Galore replied.

“I gave you a chance, I am actually glad you didn’t take it. You might not have killed Isabelle, but you did stop me from killing the Boss. You wont be stopping me this time” Jack replied as he lifted his hammer above his head. Bright green flames swirled around the head of Jack’s hammer as he lifted it into the air. Galore aimed his assault rifle at Jack and went to pull the trigger when one of the guards spoke up. “Uh, does that deal count for me too?

            Jack and Galore both let out an annoyed sigh at the same time. “Yeah, sure. Anyone who doesn’t want to die protecting the Boss and also wasn’t in the room on the night Isabelle died, can leave” Jack said as he held his hammer ready to strike. Four guards quietly left the room and shut the door behind them. When Jack heard the door click shut he swung his hammer in an arc, which made a flame shield. Galore and his remaining guards unleashed a flurry of bullets. Everything near or behind Jack was torn to shreds. When the dust settled Jack was standing unscathed. “Second thoughts?” Said Jack with a smile. One guard raised his hand but then was promptly shot by Galore.

            “You are a dead man, I don’t care if I have to take you apart with my bare hands” Galore said his voice full of rage. Galore began to unload another clip from his assault rifle as he walked toward Jack. He was determined to hit Jack at least once. Jack outstretched his hand and then turned his hand up with his palm facing Galore. Jack’s hammer began to spin in the air in front of Jack’s palm. The flames from the spinning hammer burned the floor and surrounding area. The hammer spun so fast it was actually blocking Galore’s bullets. Jack closed his hand into a fist and his hammer shot forward and struck Galore. The hammer hit Galore in the face, shattering his skull on impact, the hammer continued to fly forward and smashed open the metal door to the Boss’ office.

            Galore’s body slumped to the ground and the remaining guards tried to run for the exit. Jack’s hammer flew back to his hand. Then Jack spun his hammer around to make another fire shield but this time Jack took a deep breath in and then breathed out with all of his might. Jack’s breath blew through the flames causing a green flamethrower effect. Jack rotated in a circle torching everything and everyone in the room with his green fire breath. There were no survivors.

Nightmare factory

In a large twisted castle that sat a top a hill overlooking a tiny town, lived Reaper a maniac and genius. Originally named Andy and from a small family that lived in the town he now overlooks, Reaper built a castle to live in and a factory for work. The factory for building nightmares, creatures that the mere sight of them would haunt a persons dreams forever. This wasn’t easy to make such a creature and it took many tries before things even began to look right.

In the factory Reaper would toil away. His first batch of creatures was small, slow and dumb. By the end of the week they had managed to accidentally kill themselves off. One drank dangerous chemicals another fell off the roof of the castle, one by one they saved Reaper the trouble of doing it himself. Many tries later the creatures looked more intimidating, but they had so many weaknesses it was hard to keep them alive. Playing god was tricky business.

Reaper had to work fast, his plan was to release his nightmare army on Halloween and the long awaited night was fast approaching. The upside was that some of his failed experiments might not have looked scary, but were very helpful around the castle. If they had enough intelligent and mobility he would let them live and they would work in the kitchen or clean. So while Reaper worked in his factory trying to beat the deadline he set, his minions would cook, clean and even decorate for Halloween. Minions were the best things ever.

Then one stormy night, under a full moon, insane laughter could be heard from the factory. Reaper had done it, he had made the most terrifying creatures ever. They could change shape to fit the persons worst fear, they could turn invisible and they could both fly and run very fast. It was perfect! So he waited for Halloween. On that night he would finally be the most feared man ever. He would be Reaper, The creator of nightmares. No longer Andy the little nerdy kid from town. Once he took care of the town he would spread his influence across the land. Everyone would fear him.

Then on Halloween night, the large doors to the castle opened. Dark figures fluttered out of the castle like bats out of hell. Reaper stepped out next, dressed in a gothic top hat and black suit with a dark purple tie. He casually walked along the path to town, the Jack-o-lanterns that lined the road lit the way. Soon the village would be screaming and running in terror, he could almost hear it now.

The shrieks started and Reaper hastened his steps. By the time he got to town almost everyone had fled. He could see the backs of the people as they ran for the hills. He laughed as they fled like sheep crying into the night. Within hours he had seized control of the town and renamed it Reaperville. Though the name was subject to change if he thought of something cooler. He spent the rest of the night drinking and partying with his fearsome creations. In the morning they would start work and rebuild the town to his design. Things were going perfectly.

That morning, the sun creaked in slowly. The candles in Jack-o-lanterns had burned out, the town was a mess from the party and Reaper woke up feeling tired and a little sore. As he awoke, he saw his nightmares vanish into a cloud of smoke as the light stretched across the land. He had shined light on them before, but he must have forgotten to test sunlight on them. It seemed the sun was their only weakness and within seconds fried his entire army. Reaper yelled in frustration. All his hard work went down the drain. At least he managed to clear out the town, though the new remodeling would have to wait, it was now time to get back to the factory to find a more stable type of nightmare creature. So back to his castle he went, to work in his nightmare factory. By next year he would be ready with another batch of nightmares and he would certainly be ready for another great Halloween.