Back story

Cooper Scott stared into the dark eyes of the mysterious stranger and tried to formulate an answer. “I am just a guy. I was on a sub, it exploded, I was floating in the sea, and somehow these guys picked me up.” The asian teen stared at him, blinked once, and then turned walking out of the room. “Wait, can you at least untie me? A little help?”

A moment of hesitation…Scott’s heart seemed to stop. “Why?” Scott, blinked, swallowed, tried to think of a reason that he should be helped, that he deserved freedom. “I just want to get out of here. I won’t bother you, just please, set me free.”

“There will be a price, I suppose, if I free you, then you owe me. The law of the universe, karma and all that. I don’t know if I want the burden of being owed anything. I have my own karma to pay out, and you look like you will be trouble.”

Scott, staring with his mouth open, trying to understand the logic that was being sent his way. “Uh, I don’t guess, I really believe in karma…I just think that humans should help each other out, whenever they can, you know to make a better world, as much as you can.”
“Where is the order, you speak about chaos as if it is such a great thing. I am obligated to kill. These men, someone on this ship at least, killed my father, or ordered it to be done, and I am going to return the favor.”

A shadow at the door, Scott yelled, “Look out!” The girl dove as a gun appeared and emptied it’s clip into the room. His ears were ringing again, he began to strain against his bonds. He jerked his arms with as much force as he could and he could feel the pain as he strained. It was no use, he sagged back against the chair.

He surveyed the room. Still one dead guy, the girl was gone and so was the shadow with the gun. The ringing in his ears slowly faded, as he tucked his chin into his chest and tried not to panic. As the ringing faded, he heard uncertain footsteps. The asian girl was back. “So I guess I owe you.” She moved behind Scott and sliced through the ropes that had restrained him. Scott fell forward as the pressure on his shoulders was released.

“Even.” She turned on her heels and headed out the door. “Wait…maybe I can help you.” He bent down and picked up the gun, he had a little working knowledge of the gun but someone once said something about knife fights and guns and he was feeling a little underdressed without it. He peeked out into the corridor, and saw the girl’s form disappearing down the corridor. He had no clue where he was or how to get out of here, so he decided to follow. He moved at a cautious jogging pace, on one hand he didn’t want to alert more suspicions, but on the other he didn’t want to lose a possible connection to getting out of this place.

The corridor ended in a staircase and so he climbed to the top. The top led to a portal that opened on a chaotic scene on the deck of the ship. The asian girl was moving at an almost inhuman pace dispatching any challengers. In the distance a man was running, trying to get away. He must have been the man that she truly wanted to catch. Scott found his way was clear and so he waded into the wake of the violence, a strange surreal peace in the midst of the death and destruction.

Up ahead the fleeing man headed down the exit ramp as two underlings turned AK-47’s towards the girl and started to unload their clips. Her only option was to dive over the edge of the boat and so Scott’s path was cut off as well. He dove down behind a stack of crates and tried to look as harmless as possible.

His dive had knocked one of the crates open, and he was struck with a sudden coldness in the pit of his stomach. Stacks of money lay inside, surrounded by paper labeled Spade, Inc. The ship belonged to Spade – the man or brother of the man he had seen killed. He looked up as a figure moved down the deck, looking into the water, trying to locate a target. The person stopped, his back turned to Scott.

Cooper froze, his stomach was now churning, his mind telling him he needed to act. His heart beating too fast, and his guts telling him to hide, to live. But in an instant, he shot out and slammed his body into the man, sending him flying over the railing, and catching himself on the metal bars. He heard the splash, and he turned to look down the deck, to discern any more danger. He saw no one, just an eerie empty deck. He began to run towards the gangplank.

To his left more automatic gunfire caught his attention. The asian girl had deftly ambushed the last guard, and as she dispatched him, a dark sedan sped away from the dock. She leapt after it, on foot. Scott decided he needed to follow as well, to help the girl if he could, to stop Spade either way.

As he made it down the gangplank, and was headed up the docks he caught a glimpse of the girl far down the alley. “Stop or I will shoot,” shouted a figure in his peripheral vision.