Like a pack of hungry wolves, the gangsters poured out from the warehouse and other buildings around it, carrying guns and various other weapons. Michael instantly shut off the camera and shoved the memory card into his pockets as he scrambled around anxiously. His heart threatened to burst out of his chest with how it throbbed wildly as he pushed his body to its limits.
'How big is this damned harbour?!' he cursed inwardly as he searched for an escape route through the roaming packs of gangsters who would definitely not hesitate to put an end to him in an instant.
Just as he rounded the corner of a storage building, the hairs on the back of his neck tingled and Michael instantly burst into a tumbling roll. Less than a second later, the wall above him shattered as a volley of automatic gunfire smashed into the concrete from one group of gangsters that had spotted him.
Out of the corner of his eyes, Michael noticed the gigantic empty shipping containers that lay around near the water like sleeping giants. A split second decision had him making a desperate dash in the direction of the containers. Gunshots and alarming shouts trailed behind him, forcing the young man to sprint with every ounce of strength he could muster.
Hoping to lose the murderous gangsters in the maze of shipping containers, Michael weaved through the towering objects thoughtlessly until he suddenly found himself facing a sharp cliff. Just as he turned to find another way, a resounding bang from behind him shattered the silence of the night, followed by a sudden excruciating pain that set his lower back on fire.
Michael staggered to his knees painfully, gasping and clutching his abdomen where a newly made hole was leaking copious amounts of blood. He forced himself to turn around and his dark eyes blazed with hatred as Victor slowly lowered his gun that still had a wisp of smoke trailing from its barrel. The blond had a devilish grin on his face as he approached his kneeling cousin as the latter bled out on the ground.
"Little Michael," he taunted mockingly. "You never learn, do you? Always chasing after your betters, always getting involved in shit bigger than you..."
"... Screw.... you..." Michael muttered through a mouth quickly filling with blood. Every movement he made had his entire body screaming in pain, yet he forced himself to glare at the bastard.
Victor smirked triumphantly and placed the suitcase in front of the dying young man. His blue eyes were filled with insultingly fake pity as he unlocked the latches on the suitcase.
"Sometimes I wonder if you ever experienced happiness, you know? I mean, with everything that happened between your dad and Grandfather, and you guys ending up broke and practically on the streets..."
".... Do you...ever...shut up..." Michael groaned weakly as life drained from him.
The blond young man merely simply chuckled at his cousin's dying words and proceeded to open the suitcase. He pulled out a strange cylindrical object that looked like a cross between a large syringe and a gadget from a sci-fi movie. The tube portion of the object was filled with a pulsing black liquid that glowed with a throbbing black light.
"I'm pretty damn sure you don't know what this is," Victor said, his eyes staring at the cylinder in unconcealed awe. "This, dear cousin, is Risax. Not the normal stuff that the others took, oh no, this one...this one is special.... And it's all for me..."
Michael's hateful gaze flickered from the object to Victor's smirking face with spite and confusion, something Victor was able to pick up immediately. The blond's smile turned even more cocky if that was possible as he barked a short loud laugh.
"Oh man! You, you haven't even heard of Risax have you? Your dad didn't tell you anything? Man, your life is really harder than I thought."
"The hell is that stuff?" Michael forced himself not to stutter through his pain filled words, while simultaneously taking advantage of Victor's lowered guard to device a plan. Injured he may be, possibly fatally, but Michael had no plans on dying alone in an abandoned harbour tonight.
"Seeing as you're kinda short on time with the whole dying thing, I'm going to save you the long explanation," Victor said. "All you need to know is that this is something that's guaranteed to change my life forever. I'm going to take over Grandfather's company and I will lead the Grey Family to the next level. You on the other hand, you are going to die here, like the pitiful unworthy dog you are."
"... Is that so?" Michael smiled through bloody lips. "You tend to forget though; if you're going to kill a dog, steer clear of its teeth..."
Without any warning, Michael struck out with a kick at Victor's gun hand, sending the weapon clattering to the side and knocking Victor off balance. Ignoring the pain lancing through his body, he pushed his advantage and grabbed the cylindrical object from his cousin's loosened grip and made a mad dash for the edge of the cliff. Enraged by this, Victor cursed loudly and scrambled to get the gun and opened fire immediately. Two shots slammed home in Michael's back, sending the young man tumbling right over the edge of the dock and into the water below.
As his blond cousin cursed and ranted like a mad man above, Michael sank slowly into the surprisingly clear water of the ocean . Wispy trails of crimson soon rose up around him and he was instantly reminded of his imminent mortality. He could guess that since he had not died the moment Victor shot him again, the bullets must not have struck his heart. But they had hit him nonetheless, which meant that he was still going to die very soon. Not to mention the fact that he was currently drowning.
'Is this really it?'
'Everything I've gone through, everything I've endured... Will it all end here?'
'What about Ari? And my dad? He doesn't know where I am... Ari... Who's going to take care of her if I disappear?'
His eyes stung, whether it was caused by the salt in the water around him or not was unknown though. He could feel his vision darkening as his mind and body grew heavier with each passing second.
'Victor... Grandfather... The entire fucking Grey Family...' The thoughts sent a burning rage through his mind that had him clenching his hands and teeth. 'They need to pay....no... that's not good enough...'
His right hand tightened around the object he had stolen from his murderous cousin and in that single moment, Michael had the clearest view of how he would live his life.
'No more lying low... No more taking their bullshit... Victor said this stuff could change lives... Let's put that to the test then. Grandfather, I will show you just how much of a Grey I am...'
He popped the cover of the object with his thumb, revealing three sharp needle-like injectors and jammed the container into his neck, emptying the contents into his bloodstream at once.
'You... all of you...are going to pay...' he thought as a sudden calm took over his entire body and mind, causing him to drift off into unconsciousness.
*************
[.... Viable Host detected....]
[.... Commencing System Integration....]
[.... Warning! Host's physical condition deemed critical!]
[... Commencing body modification process...]
[Objective acquired: Host Resuscitation!]
[Objective must be completed in 6:30:45...]
[Success Reward: Full Integration with the Wargod System]
[Failure Penalty: Termination of the Host's life...]