The Reincarnated Hitman

The Grim Reaper.

A being said to appear only when someone’s time to die has come. It is widely known that it always came with an inescapable phenomenon,

Death.

Most believed that this being was nothing but a creature of fantasy, a being born from creative writing.

But for heroes, villains and even mercenaries, this being was very real, and it went by the widely known name,

Sable.

The most terrifying news one could receive was that Sable had accepted a contract on them.

Once that happened, the target’s death was all but confirmed.

But what most people didn’t know was that Sable hadn’t always been the Grim Reaper.

Before the name became synonymous with death, he had been nothing more than a young man trying to survive in a world where the strong preyed upon the weak.

He had grown up in one of the poorer districts, where becoming a mercenary was one of the few ways for someone without connections to make a decent living.

At first, he refused to take on missions that required killing; instead, he accepted escort, guarding and delivery missions.

For someone in his line of work, he was as naive as they came.....that is, until a contract changed everything.

According to the client, it was supposed to be a simple escort mission. Sable was supposed to escort a family from one district to another, a drive that should have taken no more than a few hours.

The family was one that didn’t seem to have anything about them that was particularly special about them, so this was supposed to be an easy job.

Unfortunately, by the time he realized he was wrong, the family he was supposed to be protecting was lying dead among the corpses of their attackers.

Because he was weak and naive.

Sable had ended up blaming himself for their deaths, so he resolved to get stronger, strong enough to not let the mishaps of this mission repeat themselves.

Eventually, the boy who couldn’t bring himself to kill became someone who could end a person’s life without blinking.

With more years passing, he was soon associated with the name, the Grim Reaper; after all, everywhere he showed up, death followed.

But Sable hated the name.

He hated every single death caused by him, her hated seeing the life fade from the eyes of his victims, but more than that, he hated the people close to him dying.

Hence the reason he had ended up quitting and becoming an agent instead.

But it seems even then, he couldn’t protect the ones around him.

***

"..."

Zero was oddly quiet as he listened to Sable’s story; the agent still hadn’t told him why he hated killing, but the hitman now understood why the agent quit.

He then looked at the corpses lying around before letting out a sigh, "Is that why you broke up with Riley?"

He tried lightening the mood, and that seemed to work.

Sable simply chuckled before responding, "Mostly, but she’ll be pissed if she finds out that’s why."

The secretary looked at the two for a while, finally giving up on trying to figure out how the hitman was in two places at once.

Instead, she simply asked, "Should I call the clean—"

Her words were suddenly cut off when something slammed into her neck, knocking her out cold.

Before she could reach the ground, a large hand suddenly caught her.

"I apologize, but you wouldn’t want to get caught up in this," the person who just knocked her out suddenly spoke up.

Zero looked in their direction and noticed two familiar faces.

"And here I was thinking you’d lay low for a while," the man who had just caught the secretary said. "I guess you’re not as smart as I give you credit for."

"This is quite the surprise," Zero said with a smile as he stood up. "It’s been a while, Titan."

Titan slowly moved the unconscious secretary to the ground and stood up straight. "It really is you, kid."

"Hmm," Zero nodded before asking, "aren’t you still supposed to be in some sort of HA holding facility by now?"

"Let’s just say I have connections," Titan said with a smile, "though I’m a bit disappointed."

"Disappointed?"

"Yeah," the giant of a man said, "with your skills I thought you’d be a hero, but in the end you became a lowly mercenary."

"What can I say?" Zero shrugged, "the pay is quite good."

"You, on the other hand," he then looked down at the Splinter’s hands, "you seem to have gotten yourself some toys."

Titan looked down at the gauntlets on his hands. "I’m certain you know about them already....after all, you were the one who interrupted its test."

"I guess," Zero placed a hand on his chin as he looked at the amplifier techs on Titan’s hands.

"Speaking of which," he looked back up at the Splinter, "you wouldn’t happen to know where Dr Crew is, right?"

"Why don’t you come with us? We’ll escort you right to him," Titan said.

"Nah, I’ll pass," the hitman said before turning towards the agent who was observing the interaction between the two, "you think you can handle the big guy....his Factor is quite annoying."

Sable simply stood up before saying, "I’m guessing they’re the ones that placed the bounty on you?"

"Yup," Zero nodded before turning back to Titan, "I guess I’ve been quite the nuisance to them."

"I see," the agent nodded in understanding as he looked at Titan, "and I’m guessing you two were the ones who killed my mercenaries?"

After all, given how easily he had handled the Awakened humans among the mercenaries he had fought earlier, he was certain they weren’t strong enough to pose a threat to his own mercenaries.

"Oh, them," Titan muttered, "they refused to say anything, so I had to use extreme methods."

"Is that so?" The agent muttered as he slowly walked towards Titan, "then you wouldn’t mind me taking revenge for them, would you?"

For a second, Titan was certain that he felt a scythe rested on his neck but the splinter shook off the ridiculous feeling and also walked forward,

"I was hoping to have a rematch with the kid, but I guess you’ll suffice for now."

Zero looked at them for a moment before turning toward the second Splinter with a smile.

"I guess it’s just you and me now."