Titus

Hey guys. To those who may be reading this, this is another idea for a story that popped into my head. You taking the time to read this is greatly appreciated by the author; namely me. (I'm gonna keep using that line until it gets old! LOL)

In this story, the world and all its inhabitants have all been conjured up in my mind. Any similarities to any places or people, living or deceased, are coincidences. Also, as is the case with my other stories, people have powers, though in varying degrees. You'll see as the story progresses. I'm writing this, and as usual, no bump and grind in the initial chapters. By the way, I love fried chicken.

Anyway, please enjoy, and lemme know how you feel about the story.

Thanks.

DionysosK.

*

The city of Nexus. No one knows why it has that name, but they all agree that it's pretty cool, so no effort has been made to change it. Nexus is a beautiful city. It has many skyscrapers, and industrial parks, yet at the same time, parks and sports fields. Residential areas differ, so there are the upmarket beach houses, the massive mansions, the large family homes, and then apartments, condos, etc. The houses cater for the wealthy, down to the middle class. It's also a clean place, extremely so. The air is fresh; there are plenty of trees, the blue sky always visible. It's also a very safe place, with crime being virtually nonexistent. There are plenty of lakes, and loads of forests, where wildlife thrives, and is contained, yet not controlled. It is truly a gorgeous and peaceful place, which is a mixture of corporate bustle, and peaceful nature. It is a nice place to leave, and a great place to raise a family. But with light, there is always a shadow. The thing is, Nexus is a city, which has been split in two. The above Described Nexus is known as 'New Nexus' amongst the locals. What is known as 'Old Nexus' is the shadow. It is the original Nexus, that was around before investment and development came and hit the city by storm. By the time the development was halfway through, everyone who could afford to move did, and by doing so, condemned the original city, and its' inhabitants.

Old Nexus, or O.N, is where the poor, sick, and violent stay. It is the place where criminals, whether petty or professional, thieves or assassins, this is where they all lived. And where N.N was an architectural marvel, filled with glass and concrete, wonderfully complimented by flora and fauna, O.N was the complete opposite; crude buildings, with crude designs, with stagnant water all over the place and criminals around every corner. Where N.N had smooth, flowing designs, everything in O.N was sharp, and had an angle. Disease and illnesses plagued the people living there, almost as much as the crime. It was also a terribly polluted place. It reeked, and was a breeding ground for muck and filth, which covered every corner like dust. Every bit of colour and vibrancy was drowned out by brown. The sky was murky, and there was a thick fog like substance in the air, that was so thick in places, it almost like wading through cream cheese.

Not to say that there weren't any rich people in O.N, there were actually quite a lot. The only reason why they stayed there though was because they were rich through illegal means, and could not hide that fact. They were ineligible for permits to live in N.N, as their illegal activities were known throughout both cities. So they had to be content with living in O.N, however, they lived in houses that were similar to those in N.N, and drove the best cars, ate the best food, and wore the best clothes, all brought in from N.N of course. They lived in the neighbourhoods which were the upmarket ones before N.N was built. They monopolised all of the greenery and clean water. There were wealthy, middle class, and poor in O.N. Middle class mostly worked in N.N. Some poor would work for the middle class who lived in N.N, but they mostly worked for the rich.

As O.N was still part of Nexus as a whole, things such as produce and medical supplies were brought in from N.N by the authorities, in huge armoured trucks. O.N was sealed off from N.N by massive, solid titanium gates that were literally invisible. Nothing could get through those gates once they closed, and could only be opened by those who had a permit. Massive, thick titanium walls, had guards stationed all along them, which kept O.N residents from attempting to scale the walls. Old Nexus was truly a different kind of hell, with high murder rates, burglaries, and crime in general. The authorities in O.N were all on the payroll of the more powerful crime lords of the city, thus largely turned a blind eye, to what those crime lords called 'Collateral Damage', which was basically the death of innocents, who happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time.

In this place, the small time criminals would often go to a bar, and look at the job board to look for jobs. This is where groups and bosses would look for foot soldiers, 'disposable commodities' that would often do the most dangerous work for chump change, and wouldn't complain. They were the lowest of the low and knew it, yet couldn't do anything about it. Most of these guys had the ambition and dreams to leave the shitty parts of the city, and O.N altogether, and move into N.N, where they would live lavish lives; however they lacked the brains, talent, and ability to do so. They are doomed to live as foot soldiers, making enough money to pay rent, eat, get drunk, and fuck anything with a pulse, and a vagina. Most of these guys had too many hurdles to overcome, the most common of them all, was also one of the hardest; to make it to 35. Most died before they even turned 30, so 35 was like old age. This was the reality facing those who were the lowest of the low. Live through a shitty existence, and die before you're old enough to no longer be considered young.

Titus was in a deep sleep, which was a bit too deep for a nap. As deep as he was sleeping though, he was squirming about, making faces, and swiping at air with his left arm, while clutching onto his pillow with his right. He was sweating, and mumbling as well. He increased his movements, and kicked out with force, almost as though he was fighting something or someone. It was getting worse and worse, with him going crazy, but then all of a sudden he stopped. His muscles relaxed, his face became neutral and he straightened his legs. The next second, he screwed up his face again. His eyes shot open, and he immediately sat up, letting out a scream as he did so, arms reaching out in front of him.

"BUNNNIEEEESSS!!!"

He sat there panting, head darting around from side to side, looking to see if there were any of those evil creatures in his room. When he saw that there weren't, he let out a sigh of relief, as his breathing went back to normal, and placed his right hand onto his face, palm covering his right eye.

"So it was just a nightmare huh? Fucking hell..."

He looked towards his digital clock.

"20:22 huh?"

He swivelled his legs, and dangled them off the edge, feet resting on the floor. With a sigh, he got up and went to the bathroom. He washed his face in the sink, and looked up into the mirror at his still wet face. In his opinion, he wasn't what would be considered extremely attractive, but wasn't ugly either. He was kind of nice to look at. His jaw was kind of square, as was his chin, but there was nothing he could do about that. He had a good sized nose, which was slightly pointy, but had a well built bridge. His lips were average length, and not too thick. He had long black hair that was always messy. He also had black eyes and black eyebrows. His skin was tan, and he figured he was either biracial, or pardon the pun, tanned. He was 5'9", and well built. He was cut and defined, as well as large. He was always muscled, but the def was due to hours of work with his weights. He had a bit of fuzz on his chin, but was never blessed with loads of facial hair, which irked him slightly, as he was 23 already, but looked younger than that.

After drying his face and brushing his teeth, he went to the kitchen to get something to eat. Upon opening his fridge, all he could see was a bottle of water, a square of old, mouldy cheese, and a dead rat.

"Hmmm, well at least I got some meat."

He went and got his wallet, looking to see if he had enough to order something. All he found was a bit of gum, and a toothpick.

"What the fu..." he said with a sigh, scratching his head. "I guess I gotta find some work tonight. Shit."

With that, he went into his room. He went to rummage through his closet; however he found he only had one sleeveless top, and a pair of jeans that were clean.

"I guess I gotta go do my laundry, as well as get some food. What a pain." He said groaning, and scratching his ass.

He got dressed in the blue jeans and black sleeveless tee, along with black work boots. Once dressed, he remembered he hadn't taken a shower.

"Fuck it. It'd be a pain having shower again after finishing the job. If I shower now, I'll probably sweat. I'll just shower when I get back." And with that, he grabbed his jacket and left his apartment, locking the door after him.

Once outside, he noticed just how cold it really was. He put his jacket on, and shoved his hands into his pockets, whole walking down to the bar to see what jobs were on offer. He lived in a poorer neighbourhood in O.N, and the walk to the Dragon would take him 15 minutes. As he approached the bar, he could already hear the noises emanating from within the building, winced slightly. It had been a while since he had been there, and was sure to get an earful from George, owner and bartender of the Dragon.

He opened the door, and walked in to a familiar scene. The neighbourhood tough guys were hanging out. Beer was sloshing about everywhere, all sorts of obscenities and profanities were being thrown around. People were laughing and arguing, drunk as hell, smoke filled the room and the TV in the corner had many of the patrons preoccupied. Titus made his way to the back, hoping to find a job before George noticed he was there. He looked over to the bar, and saw George busy talking to someone at the bar. Smiling at his luck, he quickly made his way over to the board. Just as he got there, he noticed.

"Fuck." He said, tilting his head to the left. Almost instantly, a huge butcher knife zipped through the place his head had just vacated, and flew into the board. He knew he had been caught.

"Titus, you lazy bastard; how dare you come into my bar for the 1st time in weeks, and not even bother to say hello?! You rude piece of—"

"Well you were busy, and I didn't want to distu—"

"Bullshit! You were just avoiding me, because you haven't been in here for weeks! And just how lazy can you be? I bet the only reason why you're here is because both your fridge and your wallet are empty."

As Titus was about to argue, his stomach growled, and pretty loudly at that. He realised that he couldn't make any more excuses, and sighed in defeat. He looked at the burly man in his 50s standing behind the bar, and sighed again. He walked over to the bar, and sat on one of the stools.

"Sorry about not saying hello George." George smiled and victory, and left, coming back with a plate of fries, and a Russian sausage and placed them in front of Titus, who ate like it was his first time ever seeing food.

"Well, as much as that bothered me, you staying away for a few weeks bothered me more. Look, even if it isn't for work; at least pop in for a drink, and a bit of conversation. You're one of the few scumbags in this place I actually like you know?" George said, offering a warm smile through his massive, fuzzy beard.

"Yeah, I know George, I know. Anyway, is there anything good on that board, that I can do, and that pays tonight? I gotta re-stock my fridge. At this point in time, the only form of roughage in it is a dead rat, and the piece of cheese it died trying get."

"Yeah, I thought that would be case!" George said with a boisterous laugh. "Yeah, well there is one job I know of, but it's said to be pretty dangerous. Someone is assembling a small squad for some unknown reason. They need 5 people, and I hear they're still one person short. I've been holding out on telling anyone else, in the hopes that you'd get hungry, and come here looking for work, as I knew nothing else would force your lazy ass to do anything." He said, laughing again.

"Yeah yeah, anyway, I don't care about danger. How much does it pay?"

"It pays 10 grand. 5 upfront, and the rest upon completion of the job. Th—oh shit! They're going to be meeting at the designated meeting place in like 10 minutes. It's at the old school, near the abandoned apartment buildings. Hurry if you want to make it!"

"Yeah, thanks George; for meal, and the info as well!" Titus then got up, and bolted out the door.

He ran for what seemed to him like days, but being as lazy as he was, doing anything for more than 5 minutes, made it feel like days. He ran like crazy, and when he got there, he was surprised at who he saw gathered there; four of the best small time criminals in his area. There in front of him stood Jack Knife Joe, a guy who was more than competent with knives. He was a close combat specialist and hid the knives in all sorts of places. Definitely not the kind of guy you want to meet in a dark alley; or anywhere in O.N. There was also June of the Swans. She was crazy, but was adept with the use of long range techniques, and her main weapon was a whip. Left Eye Hernandez was also there. His real name Steve; Left Eye Hernandez shot flames out of his left eye, and was the mid range fighter of the group. He was also a slimy character, who seemed as though he was born in a sewer. Last but not least, there was The Magician. No one knew his real name, but he was a master of defence. He used multiple elemental techniques separately, and together. He used very few offensive techniques, but a lot of defensive techniques, and would probably be the support for the other offensive members of the squad. As he approached, the group looked at him, and instantly dismissed his presence. Left Eye Hernandez then spoke.

"Well if it isn't Titus. What are you doing here, you lazy piece of shit?"

"What am I doing here? I'm obviously here for the job." Titus replied, not bothered enough to be annoyed, or to even look at Left Eye Hernandez, a move which pissed him off.

"Look here punk, the criteria for this job was that you had to be one of the elite; something that you clearly aren't. Get out of here; you're not strong enough to be part of this group."

Titus looked at Hernandez for a second, thinking of a reply, but quickly lost interest again, yawning, and stretching his arms above his neck. This only served to piss Left Eye Hernandez even more, who walked up to Titus, and grabbed his collar, while his left eye started to glow orange.

"Why you little—"

"Enough! We don't have time for you guys to be squabbling amongst yourselves." A voice said, as a woman emerged from the shadows.

The woman cut quite an intimidating figure. She was tall; around 6'0. She had medium length blonde hair, which was in a pony tail. She was sleek and well built, with the slightest bit of definition on her well sculpted figure. She had long, slim legs, along with long slim arms. Her medium sized breasts heaved as she breathed, and her ass was small, but nicely rounded. She was extremely beautiful as well, and appeared to be wearing no makeup. She wore black tights, and on top of those, a sort of black combat suit, and combat boots. As she emerged from the shadows, Hernandez looked over at her, and whistled as she approached, letting go of Titus' collar in the process.

"Damn baby, are you the one who's hiring us?" he asked with a slimy grin, as he approached the woman.

"Yes I am. The name is Sarah James, and I'll be leading our little group. I'm assuming that you 5 are the here for the job?"

They all nodded, almost in unison. Sarah then disappeared into the shadows she appeared from, and then came back with 5 small bags, throwing them in front of each of them.

"As stated before, 5 thousand now, and 5 thousand upon completion of the j—"

"I won't be needing this money, or any money from you baby." Hernandez said, stepping towards Sarah, until he was right in front of her. "You and I; we can...discuss my payment, in a...private place later." He said, bringing his hand up to caress her cheek. In the blink of an eye, Sarah cocked her fist back, and smashed it into Hernandez' left cheek, with such force, that he ended up twisting about, as he flew through mid air, and smashed into a wall. Sarah then walked forward, picked up the bag, and tossed it towards Hernandez. Everyone was staring at her with their mouths wide open. Well, everyone, except Titus. He saw it coming.

"There's the money. I specifically requested 5 people, and there are 5 people here. Now take your bags, and follow me."

They all did this, and they were surprised to find an armoured van, with the back open.

"Get in." Sarah motioned with her head. They did as they were told.

"Where are we going boss?" asked Jack Knife Joe.

"You'll see when we get there. All I will say though, is that we're headed in New Nexus." With that, she closed the back doors, and went to the front, getting in the drivers' seat, and starting the car.

The car ride was filled with slightly excited chatter. All of them were going into N.N for the first time, and they wanted to scope out where they were going to live once that had made it big, and were rich. Titus just sat there though, as disinterested as he usually was. All of a sudden, he felt something in his knee. He looked up to see June of the Swans staring at him luridly.

"You interested in a little bedded diversion when this job is done? My place is near the old school, and we can head straight there when we get back." June licked her lips, and smiled at Titus, who smiled back, but wasn't interested. Hernandez didn't like the fact that Titus was being offered sex, while he wasn't.

"Forget about this weak punk, why don't you and get together afterwards, and I'll show you how a REAL man performs huh?"

"Shut up Santos! Why would I even pay attention to a guy who just got fucked up by a woman, in one punch? Learn how to charm a woman before you try your shit on me."

"Santos? Bitch! How dare you?!" Hernandez flew into a rage, and his left eye started glowing, but stopped as the car came to a stop.

"Quiet back there! We're at the gates."

They all shut up; as Sarah gave the gate guard her permit. After a minute or two, they heard the sound of the gate opening. It was loud, and the vibrations caused the van to shake. Sarah started the van up once again, and drove into New Nexus. There were no windows at the back of the van, so the crew couldn't look out, but at the same time, they couldn't hide their excitement; well all of them other than Titus that is. Hernandez calmed down, and after a few more minutes, the van came to a complete standstill. They heard a door open, and someone walk over to the back, and open the back doors. As they opened, the 4 in the back felt anxious; it was like they were about to enter a different country.

"Come on; jump out."

They all did, and four of them couldn't help but 'Oooh' and 'Aaaah' at New Nexus. Even though it was close to midnight, they could still see how beautiful it was. There were trees, and grass, and they could hear the sound of running water. The 5th member didn't see any reason to get excited, and so he just stood there, composed, and waited for the rest to calm down. June then looked at Titus, and saw how there was very little reaction from him.

"What? Aren't you impressed with N.N?" Everyone else was too busy looking around, but Sarah heard the question, and her ears perked up.