Utterly Mad

Okay, so to start I am open to critique. So here we go.
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He just sat there, looking into the mirror. He knew what he saw wasn't real, but still...it was damn scary.
In the mirror his left cheek had been peeled down to the jawbone, his right eye was missing, along with the skin from his eye up to his temple. His right arm was cut and bleeding, with the elbow completely exposed, and two of his fingers missing as blood oozed out of the holes. His chest was torn to shreds, with bite marks all over it, blood oozing out of the wounds. Both of his legs were torn to hell, with cuts and bites all along them, and his left foot was gone except for the bone.
He pointed the gun at the image in the mirrors head, and he stared into his own eye. What have I become?
He pulled the trigger and the bullet flew from the gun and sent shatters of glass flying. In his head thi was going in slow motion, and he spotted hundreds of versions of him, heard their voices in his head. All of them screaming, telling him what he should do.
He stood as the last piece shattered on the ground and walked out of the house.
The things walked towards the house, oblivious to him. He figured it was because he was as dead as them on the inside. He brushed past them and kept walking, wondering what he was.
In the end, it didn't matter.
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They walked, as they had done for many years now. The rhythmic sound of them breathing through gas masks was something they had become accustomed to. In, out, in, out, ad infinity.
The weapons on their belts clapped against the metal hip armor they wore, remnants from an army long gone. They kept a walking pace with the tapping. Step, tap, step, tap.
The man in front cradled the rifle in his arms as if it were his child. His eyes seemed hollow if one were to look into them, almost as if to say he had lost his soul and the body itself no longer contained anything. He held the rifle as he always did.
The woman behind him checked a map that looked older then the man who made it. She checked it, knowing it would prove worthless, still she must try. As always, she felt that she needed to look after these boys.
The man behind her held a grenade in each hand, idly tapping them with the tapping of the weapons on his belt. He remembered the lines of the bomb he had made, and the horrors it had caused. He wished he would die already, but the man protected the woman who kept him from ending himself.
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Spoiler:  Priest the Hand of Death (hover to show)

He checked the magazine of his assault rifle again. The truck he had been waiting for appeared on the road ahead. He stepped out beside the road and waited. The truck pulled to a stop next to him and the driver rolled the window down. "You need a ride? We're heading through a city a little down the road, we cnat take you there."
Without a word the man lifted the silenced gun and blew the two men in the cab away. With a mild disinterest he pulled the bodies out and took the drivers ball cap and leather jacket. A bit too big, but the jacket fit well enough.
-----------------4 hours later-----------------------------
He drove the truck into the loading area and parked. He stepped out, the world moving in slow motion in his eyes. He pulled the twin revolvers out of their holsters and began lifting them. The guards turned and began acting according to the strict training they had undergone.
The first bullets flew from his gun and angled towards the throat of the first guard. One of the workers pulled out a shotgun and blew one of the guards away. The man's revolvers bucked again and the bullets tore through the vests of two guards and went between the ribs and into the hearts.
Two more workers pulled guns and started fighting the guards. The man blew the last of the guards away and walked towards the building. One of the workers offered him his mask and he took it.
He tied the reinforced and customized hockey mask to his face and grabbed the AR still strapped to his chest. He kicked the door down and stepped through. He dropped the two guards in the room and kept walking.
He walked around the corner and spotted the owner of thi fine little buisness and watched as the man's eyeballs seemed to widen. The man didn't bother with the door, he just shot the glass wall and stepped through as the glass fell towards the ground.
"We're taking a walk to the fifth floor bastard." He said, grabbing the owner and walking back out.
A few minutes later the two were standing on the top of the building watching the rape squad cars and people gathering to watch. The man had dropped the AR and pulled out one of his revolvers. "You should have paid a fair wage, enough for the people working for you to at least be able to feed their kids. then I might knot have had to come here."
"W-who are you?" The owner asked.
"They called me Priest, but now I work for death as his hand." The man said, then pushed the owner off the building. "Bastard."
The rape squad opened fire, but the man just continued to stand there as their bullets tore through the flesh of his body. He lifted the pistol and fired. One of the cop cars blew up and flipped onto one of the trucks waiting to leave.
Priest stepped off the building and disappeared in a puff of smoke.
-------------------a second later----------------------------
Priest stepped out of the swirling smoke and tugged on the jacket. "Thanks for sending the boys." He said, smiling wickedly.
"They went themselves. They feel a loyalty towards you." The figure that stood in front of Priest said, wrapped in smoke and a foul stench as always.
Priest stood there, knot approaching the man. He glanced at the mirror and noticed the mask reflecting his smile. The mask was painted a dull grey, with a blood red smile(well for now anyways, it always seemed to reflect his facial expressions). and a white target over the left eye. "Uh, good to know." He said, waiting.
"You did well, and made it a spectacle to boot. I always enjoy that. Now I need you to take care of another man..."

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OKay, so this is continuing the story for 'A Wedding Shooting', and switching tenses for ease of writing, and the name of the overall story is going to be 'The Syndicate'.
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Burns stood at the trial with his accomplices to give their plea. The six of them all spoke in unison "Guilty", and the judge sentenced them to the maximum the law allowed, life in prison.
--the next day--
The six of them were in general population now, and they knew they needed to stick together. What they did, it had been unsanctioned, so they were now fair game even to members of their own syndicate. They figured they wouldn't make it past a month, but they were determined to try.
They had discussed it at length during the transfer process to general population. Of course they never expected the first attack to come from the cops. The six of them were walking in a hallway when a guard brought his baton into Burns stomach and toppled him to the ground while his buddy pulled his gun and held Burns allies at bay.
The beating went on for what must have been nearly ten minutes, but Burns had learned to deal with immense pain years ago. The guard stood, spitting on Burns as a final insult before motioning for his buddy to follow him as he walked off. Two of Burns friends picked him up and helped him walk as he could barely move his right leg.
"This reminds me of how we met Rico..."
--8 years ago--
Burns was 23, a new man in the syndicate if you listened to some of the higher ups, but he had been a member for six years. He had been walking down the road like he always had. He spotted a couple of bullies beating on a kid down an alley, and stopped. Normally he would have walked away, ignored it, but instead he walked towards them.
The bullies didn't notice him until he punched one hard enough to dislocate and partially break his jaw. The other two went at him, one of them swinging with a base ball bat. Burns grabbed the bat and twisted it out of the bullies hand and tossed it, then followed that with a kick to the head that sent the bully sailing into a wall unconcious.
The other bully tried a rather sloppy martial arts kick, which Burns caught. He held the bully's leg and then brought his elbow down onto the kneecap, shattering it.
As the last of the bullies lay on the ground writhing in pain Burns picked the kid up and onto his feet. "You okay?"
The kid stared at him for a moment before answering "Yeah, just a few bruises. Thanks, they would have done a lot worse if you hadn't helped."
"No problem kid." Burns said, pulling out a cigarette and kicking the bully who was still concious and had just cussed him out.
"Do you think you could teach me a few of those moves?" The kid asked, looking unsure of himself.
"Kid, you'd just get hurt." Burns said, lighting the cigarette and walking back out of the alley.
"Look, I'll do anything, I'll even pay for lessons." The kid said, following him.
With a sigh Burns looked over his shoulder "Tell you what, be at 0577 Brown street at five pm. Don't be late, and be there every day. If you show up late no lessons."
And with that Burns walked off, with the kid shouting that he'd be there.
--the next day--
Sure enough the kid arrived on time. Burns stood up from sitting on his porch and grabbed a bucket of paint and a brush. "What's your name?"
The kid said "It's Rico. What's with the paint?"
"Today you learn dedication. You will paint as long as it takes to paint the wall of the building around my porch. When you need a ladder come knock on the door and tell the guy who answers that you need it. He'll help hold it. For now I have to go take care of something across town."
"Okay, but why am I painting to learn this?"
"Because the house needs a new coat and you won't learn anything until that's done." Burns said as he started walking.
--an hour later--
Burns returned to see a majority of the house painted and Rico still working. Burns walked to the door and called out "Hey kid, come in for a drink."
Rico climbed off the ladder and followed Burns inside.
--present time--
"Hey, I wasn't the one getting the shit beat out of him this time." Rico said smiling.
"Yeah, now let's get lunch shall we." Burns said as they made their way down the hall.

Burns and his friends leaned against the wall together talking. They had managed to score a pack of cigarettes and were smoking. A group of fellow syndicate members walked by and one of them made a handsign of slitting his throat.
"I get the feeling nobody likes us Simon."
"why would they? We're the dogs who shot up a wedding Burns." Simon said as he pulled the cigarette from his hand and held it for a second before taking another puff.
"I know that, but you'd think some kind of loyalty to your brothers would exist." Burns said around his cigarette
"Since when has that stopped blokes from trying to off us. You remember Kicker?"
--7 years ago--
"Kicker the chairman told you that this isn't the place for your business! So come on out and we'll settle this like men." Burns shouted as he moved through the warehouse.
"Fuck the chairman! I can make us a lot of money here selling my product!" Kicker yelled from...somewhere.
That's when the bullets started flying and Burns and Simon ducked to cover. The shots kept coming as the two pulled out their guns and fired a couple of blind shots. "You two can't hit a barn!" Kicker yelled, and that's when the two realized it was coming straight across the open walkway to the other end of the warehouse.
Burns stepped out and his gun clicked. As Kicker began to laugh and draw a shot Simon dove in front of Burns and took the bullet for him. Which also happened to be the last one in Kicker's clip.
As the man scrambled to reload Burns charged him and tackled him to the ground. Kicker punched him as he began to strangle Kicker. After a couple of minutes Kicker stopped struggling and his eyes rolled back.
As Burns stood he walked back to Simon to surprisingly find the man still alive. "Always wear a vest." Simon said as Burns helped him to his feet.
"Thanks for the tip."
--Present time--
"Yeah, it's never really stopped anyone."

Posting to keep reading! Already read everything up to here, man. Loving it!

Hyped for more Syndicate. I hope you don't see it as pushy though!

--two months later--
Burns and Rico were walking together in the exercise yard, smoking a couple of cigarettes. They had been told by an anonymous note to meet a guy in the corner, so that's what they were doing. As they arrived at the corner they were met by a man who looked to be in his twenties and bore tattoos marking him as a member of their syndicate. "Burns, it's good to see you. A mutual friend wanted me to assure you the guards will cease their assaults on you."
Burns pulled the cigarette out of his mouth and said "And who might this friend be?"
"All in due time. He sends his assurance that he has plans to help you, but you must be patient, these things go slowly my friend." the man said, looking around.
"Tell our 'friend' I appreciate it. And if it's who I think it is tell him I killed the bastard with his own gun." Burns said, putting the cigarette in his mouth and walking off with Rico right behind him.
--5 months ago, two weeks prior to the wedding shooting--
A shot rang out in the house.
"That came from the Chairman's room!" Burns yelled, rushing for the room.
As Burns busted into the room all he saw was the Chairman wounded and a broken window behind him. Burns picked the Chairman up "Move it! We need to get him to the hospital!"
As they rushed for the car the Chairman whispered "He's a cop killer, he's the one who killed officer Lawrence, it's North."
Burns nodded, putting the chairman into the car and getting in beside him, yelling for the driver to go to the hospital. "I'll get him back for you sir, for now rest." Burns said.
"Burns, make him pay."
"I'm planning on it."
--2 hours later--
Burns was back in the room the shooting had occurred, with Rico and Morris with him. "North did this." Burns said, picking up a gun he had found on the dresser "And here's  his gun. Betsy, I always wondered why he named this damn thing."
"So what's the plan?" Morris asked, leaning against the wall.
"His men are completely loyal to him, and his security won't let us near him."
Rico spoke up "He's getting married in two weeks. Security will be lighter there. We could do a drive by, or bust the door down."
"Rico, do you even know what you're suggesting? We'll be cast to the wind if we do that, we'll be honorless dogs and fair game for anyone to come after."
"This isn't about us Burns, it's about making a point, that you do not fuck with the Chairman, and that if you do we'll murder you and everyone you love." Rico said.
Burns sighed, looking at the pistol in his hand. "Fine, we do this. Get Mule and Leo, they'll do it, and we'll need them. In two weeks we make a point to every criminal in the city."
--present--
"Rico, tell the others we've got a friend on the outside who's got some pull. I need to visit Mikalov."

Burns looked over the exercise yard and pulled out a cigarette. "So, wonder who likes us." Burns said as he and the others stood in a loose group as Mule lifted some weights. "I don't know, but whoever it is thinks we're worth something." Mule said.
--5 months ago, 5 days before the wedding shooting--
"Burns we can't do this! We'll be marked for death and anyone who sees us is free to take a shot!" Leo said, leaning over a table in the kitchen they were meeting in.
"We are doing this for the Chairman. The bastards nearly killed him, hell we don't even know he'll live at this point! Besides, the fucker is a cop killer! Rule one: Don't kill cops! That just brings more heat onto the Syndicate." Burns said leaning against the stove and looking at Leo.
"You know there are exceptions to that rule." Leo said, staring back at Burns.
"A few, but you know that Lawrence's killer wasn't in one of those circumstances. You know he shot the Chairman." Burns said.
"You know I've got kids? We've got five days, I'll take care of my personal business. After we do this, we're as good as dead. I'll say goodbye." Leo said.
"We'll do our job, we'll avenge the Chairman." Burns said, moving to leave.
"Burns, we're pretty much brothers at this point. I hope you realize what I'm giving up here."
Burns looked over his shoulder and said "I know, and I'm sorry. But this is our duty to the Chairman."
"Right." Leo said.
Burns walked out of the house and sighed.
--present--
The six of them stood there, wondering if maybe they'd get out of here alive.

Burns sighed as he and the others sat together at lunch again. Since they had gotten in they had been going through the same routine, day in day out. The guards had stopped harrassing them, and they had beaten the shit out of most of the prisoners that had tried to fight them. Burns just hoped their 'friend' could get them out.
--meanwhile, elsewhere--
"Listen, you want someone who can do this job, I know someone who can do it. The problem is that my man is in prison. But that is where your friends come in." The man said, leaning against a wall.
The other man was standing, facing a window that overlooked the city. "How qualified is he?"
"He's killed over seventy men, maimed and injured well over a hundred more, and is trained in all manner of guns. He's also trained in hand to hand combat as well, so he would be able to defend your man while he set up the explosives." The first man said.
"I'll see what I can do, but no garuntees."
"That's all I ask. If you can't get him out I'll see what I can do concerning your job."
--The prison--
Burns stood up with his friends and they put away their trays. Afterwards they started for the exercise yard.
((Alright, got back to this, sorry for the short length though.))

[[A separate story]]
The four men were silent as they sat in the metal beast. They sat, but they were not still, as the machine jostled them about as it moved. Finally it came to a stop, and the men began moving without a word. They each knew what they were to do, and the only voice was the commander feeding information to the gunner.
If not for their head sets that muffled the sound the cannons roar would have deafened. Without a word the loader went to work, putting in a new shell. Again the commander gave orders to the gunner and he did his job. Again the loader inserted a shell. Again the gun fired.
Then the enemy fired. The shell tore into the beast and took the loaders head and most of his upper body off. The shell then tore through the rest of the tank and out the other side.
The driver hauled the loaders body off the seat and moved over, inserting another shell. The gun fired and the driver heard the commander shout at him through the headset. Shifting back to his seat the driver hit the reverse and they started back down the hill they had settled on.
Then another shell tore through and exploded inside. The explosion tore the driver to shreds and ignited the ammo box. The gunner and commander scrambled outside of the tank and ran. And then, with a great roar the beast exploded and sent shrapnel flying. The gunner tackled the commander to the ground and stayed over him.
Once the explosion died the commander rolled his now dead comrade off of him and took his dog tags. And with that, he started back to base.