Side Stories: Jaxle

Jaxle walked through the city, through the crowds, and stopped outside a door. Black. Chipped paint. A rented apartment on the wrong side of town. He pulled out a rusted key and opened the front door, stepping in to a communal hallway. He saw a man harassing a teenage girl, and spat in disgust. "The fuck do you think you're doing?" He called out, and the man turned round. "Why do you care? The fuck are you gonna--"

He was cut off by Jaxle's fist smashing in to his temple.

Jaxle watched the man fall to the floor, outcold. "Bastard..." He growled, then turned to the Woman. "Hey, you OK?" He asked, symathy shining in his eyes. Of course, she couldn't see that, not when he had his sunglasses on anyway.

Piper had walked through the doors of her rundown apartment building. Her light brown hair hung down over her shoulders in layers. Her fringe swepped over half of her eye. They were bright blue, normal.
A man had followed her in, he wore a dark coat. She didn’t see his face very well.
She grabbed her key from her pocket and put it in the slot above the rusty knob to her flat.
The paint was chipped and the numbers on the top were wearing away with age. She had just moved out of her parent’s place after her twin had died. She ran her fingers through her hair and twisted the lock. She felt the hairs on the back of her neck stand on end and a hand fell on her shoulder.
She turned slowly to see the man in the black coat. He pushed her against the wall. She looked up at him in fear she pushed on his chest to get him away from her.
“Come on, don’t struggle.” He said his breath stank of alcohol and cigarette smoke.
“Get off!” She tried to push him again.
She had no clue what his intentions were, but it scared her. She heard the building’s door open and then a fist smashed into the man’s face. She froze when a man about her age asked her if she was okay. She stared at the sunglasses on his face and snapped out of her trance.
“I-I’m fine.” She looked away from him her gaze set itself on her door. “Thanks.”

"Hey, no problem." He said, pulling out a house key and turning to the door opposite the girl's. He turned the key, and opened the door. The first thing he saw was the machine gun mounted on the wall. Damn. He hoped she wouldn't notice it...

Piper looked down at the unconscious man on the floor and with trembling fingers picked her key up from the floor. It had dropped from her hands when the man had pushed her against the wall.
She looked back up towards the stranger; her body froze as her gaze lay on the inside of the man’s house. She knew this wasn’t something for her to see, he could be some secret agent that would kill anyone who knew of his “job”. She shook her head slightly and opened her door quickly.
“Yeah, see you around.” She said trying to act as casual as she could. Piper wasn’t a very good actor.

"Trust me, It's probably not what you think..." Jaxle said, opening the door. He stepped, through his door and shut it behind him. "Shit..." he whispered, dropping his coat to the side. He wore four pistol harnesses, two shoulder holsters and two leg ones, all with loaded guns. He threw his sunglasses on to a table and walked through his hallway, turning right, in to his living room. It was nothing special, medioccre furniture, bland white walls, one window. Small TV. Pool table in the middle of the room. Luxury compared to his childhood days.

Piper didn’t listen to him and closed her door quickly. She had no clue what he did, she didn’t want to know what he did.
She ran her fingers through her brown hair and clicked on her lights. There were a few knives hanging on her walls. Ones her dad had made for her. She was a knife fanatic, in love with the sharp edges of the steel, the way it felt to hold them in her hands. Piper would practice wit them in her room. Throwing them at the walls, or flipping them in the air, or fiddling with them between her fingers.
She ran her hand over a silver, razor-sharp dagger that hung on the wall that separated the kitchen from the living room. She walked into her kitchen and saw her phone on it’s hook. She pressed a button and listened to her voice messages. She really hadn’t been listening to her mother’s harsh voice as she went on about how Piper had never committed to going to collage, how she was a failure in society.
She couldn’t get her mind off of the guns that hung from the man’s apartment.

Jaxle walked in to his bedroom, opening the bedside drawer, and pulling out a book. He flipped it open and a butterfly knife was hidden inside. He began practising with it. The neighbours had complained about the clinking in his last house, which was why he'd had to move. He hoped it was different here. After 5 minuites of practising tricks, he put the butterfly knife back, and hung a pistol next to his bed. He didn't really know why he kept the bed, he never slept anyway. He lay on the bed, staring at the roof. He thought about that girl that he'd helped today. One good deed. But did that cover up the assassinations he'd carried out? Did it matter? He pulled out a sniper rifle, with a tally chart of the people he'd killed. He counted them. thirty-six. He sighed, closing his eyes and waiting for morning.

The sun peeked through Piper’s windows just enough to annoy the hell out of her. She got out of bed and wiped sleep from her eyes. She stared at the clock and frowned. She looked back at it noticing the time.
“Fuck!” she yelled and rushed to get ready for work. She’d been late many times already and if she was late again she could lose her job.
Piper brushed through her hair while putting on her cloths. She grabbed her bag and raced out her door.

Jaxle walked on to the street outside, hearing the noise behind him. He turned, seeing the girl he'd helped out last night. He made sure none of his guns were showing. Last thing he needed would be someone reporting him to the police. His target was said to be in a red Nissan 350z, wearing a white hoodie. Jaxle looked across the street. Straight at his target. He looked back at the girl. "Ah, shit!" He said, pulling out his revolver and firing once. The red 350Z swerved to the right, slamming in to a lamp post, the driver dead.

Piper heard someone speak. She looked up to see the guy from last night holding a revolver up. She froze where she stood, her blue eyes full of fear. She saw the shot, she saw the car, she saw it swerve, and she saw the death.
Her mouth gaping.
“He just. . .” She didn’t have to finish the sentence; she didn’t want to finish it.

Jaxle looked over, sympathy on his face. "I don't expect you to understand" He said, walking over to the body and collecting a badge. The mark of an assassin. "Tell the police if you want." He said, then held out the revolver. "Or just shoot me here..."

Piper shook her head backing away slightly.
“I can’t call the police.” She felt her back press against the stair rail and she jumped slightly. She couldn‘t call the police, no one would believe a knife fanatic who’s brother was killed by a guy in dark clothing. She’d tried to explain that to the police and they had pushed her aside. Who knew what they’d do if she went to them.
“I. . . I can’t shoot you.” She took her eyes away from him. “This never happened; I never saw any of this.” She glanced at him.
“I’ve got to go. You don’t need to explain anything.”
Piper walked away, she was freaking out on the inside. What if he tries to kill her for witnessing something like that? What if someone else tries to kill her? She closed her eyes as she walked.

Jaxle looked down, then back at the girl. There was something wrong. Something out of place. Shit, he hoped that this wouldn't put her in danger. He paused for a moment. "hey.." He called out to Piper, holding up the assassin's symbol. "Does this symbol mean anything to you?"

Piper turned around. Her gaze fell on the symbol and she froze in place. She recognized that. The man who had killed her twin had the same symbol.
Piper remembered the whole thing, they had been in a fight earlier about his drug addiction and her brother had strolled off to get some fresh air. She remembered running after him. Then she had seen his mangled body, bullet wounds had punctured his skin and she had gotten a glimpse of the man who killed her brother.
“Is this some sick joke?”

Jaxle sighed. "If only it was..." He said, putting the symbol back in his pocket. "I'm sorry you had to see what you did today." He added, turning to open the front door to the communal hallway.

Piper looked towards him.
“Wait.”
Piper’s voice was quiet and almost a whisper. “My brother was killed by someone with that symbol. The police didn’t believe me when I told them who had killed him. We were so close, we were twins.” She cleared her throat. “Who are they?”

"assassins. Or so they say. They kill for fun." Jaxle replied, then gestured to the dead body. "So i kill them for fun." He said, opening the door and walking in to the hallway.

Piper gritted her teeth.
"Wait wait wait!" She grabbed the door before it closed, suddenly unaware that she was late for work. "Why would they kill my brother, and how could you kill for fun?" she asked raising her voice.

"As far as i know, they killed everyone i ever knew. Or are going to. And they'd kill your brother because could. No other reason." He said, opening the door to his house. "They're twisted bastards. I Heard they massacred an entire family the other day, the police found a dead 6-year old kid.." He said, clenching his fists. The door to his apartment swung open.

Piper cringed.
"that's horrible. Do you think they're after you? " she asked knowing she was becoming somewhat annoying.

Jaxle pulled out 37 identical assassin symbols. "Oh, i'd say they were..." He said, putting them back. "Right now i have to think some things over, though..." He said, stepping through his door. "By the way, the shooting will be on TV. That's your excuse for being late to work."

Piper's eyes widened remembering how late she was.
"Shit!" She waved to him as she ran out the door. Her brown hair whipping her cheeks. Her Boss was going to be so pissed at her.

Jaxle smiled. "heh. Mental..." He said, swinging the door shut. He threw down his guns on to the sofa. If he brought the assassins here, he'd be putting her in danger, and now she knew what they did, so she'd become a target for them. Shit...he'd have do defend her until he'd found Hal, and the rest of them and he could end the assassins.

**Haha Loser.**

Piper ran into the oddly welcoming but very scary restaurant she had to work at to keep her from being evicted from her apartment. It was hard for her to live on her own without her mum or dad. If her brother was here he'd be helping her. She felt a pain in her stomach and she quickly swallowed her sadness. Not today. she thought and when she walked in through the doors she winced. Her boss was yelling at her the second her foot was in the door.
She said there was a shooting and he didn't believe her.
"Another slip up and you'll loose your job." He spat.
She nodded slightly and put on her apron and walked around to the kitchen where she helped the chef. She was only a mere assistant.

Jaxle lay on his couch, thinking. Thinking who he'd have to kill to shut down the assassins for good. He was also thinking about when they were gonna come for him. He had enough guns to start a private army, and the money to fund it too. Being a hitman for a few years, he'd earned a hell of a lot of money. He'd never bothered spending it though.