"Psychoanalyze This!"

Chapter 1

Lead Rain

Authors note: bear with me here, the mercs will appear in the next chapter I promise. Gotta have a little introduction though, don't we?

Morning ruptured over the sky as the sun begun it's rise, casting a orangeish hue glow over the small town. It was in the early hours, the clocks only making the occasional tick. Broken they were, but the sundial's were quiet and infinitely more reliable. That's what Anthony would insist. The light reflected off the dew droplets that decorated the grass and trees, caught in spider webs and slowly dripping off the roof.

Under the overhang a woman was seated comfortably in a rocking chair, enjoying the view and the silence out in front of her house. The morning breeze carrying a slight chill as it passed, with a small shiver she pulled her shawl tighter over her shoulders and relaxed. Rocking back and forth, she listened the birds chatter, the wind and the leaves, the creak of the old floorboards under her chair, and tires rolling up the gravel drive way— hang on.

Her eyes snapped open in time to see a rusted red truck pull up to the house, kicking up a cloud of dust behind it. Inside were two men, one dressed in uniform while the other was in slightly more casual clothes.. okay maybe not that casual, like business casual where there's a dress code but not a strict one. She watched as the more casually dressed one exited his vehicle, her heart skipped a beat when he stopped at the bottom of the steps.

"Good morning, Miss." He greeted, taking off his hat. 'Undercover cops..' suddenly came to mind, as alarms were going off inside her head. "Quite early in the morning sir, what brings you here?" She asked softly, a sweet texan accent making an appearance. "I don't mean to trouble you miss, but my partner and I are here to speak with Nicholas. Is he here at the moment?"

The man was now at the foot of the steps, it was becoming increasingly difficult to form a coherent thought. "Uhm— well you see... he's not—" she stopped talking and looked back at the door behind her which and now opened a crack. The man took another step up, trying to see what she was looking at but before he could ask anything else the woman had hiked up her skirt and ran back inside.

With a huff of frustration, the cop climbed the rest of the steps but stopped like a deer in headlights when greeted by a tall, lanky man who stared at him with murder in his eyes. The cop not wanting him to get the upper hand quickly pulled out handcuffs and approached him. "You've evaded us for too long, Nicholas. We're taking you—" he didn't get a chance to finish his sentence or close the distance between them. He was cut off by the sound of a gun shot that was quickly followed by a surge of pain going up his leg. The cop dropped to his knees and doubled over in pain, clutching the bullet wound. "Sonovabitch—" he cursed as the crimson liquid started spilling out in squirts, staining his pants and hands. Nick calmly put his gun back into his holster and stepped forward, staring down at the man in front of him. The cop lifted his head to look at him, only to cry out in pain as Nick stomped down on his face, causing his form to crumple.

"I have given you SEVERAL warnings, Daryl. I have let you off SEVERAL times but you crossed the line." He spat, increasing the weight he was putting down on the mans face. "It ends here." Daryl grunted, trying to move, wiggle, hit him, anything! But he couldn't move or reach.

"In the name of the law you will—" Nick erupted in a bitter laugh, taking his foot off the man's face for a split second. Daryl went to use this opportunity to get up but the laughter died down just as fast as it started and now the man in front of him was standing on his neck. "Oh Daryl... I am the law.." he murmured with a sick grin. Raising his foot off his neck only to start stomping on his head over and over, the force of the repeated action eventually broke the wooden floorboards under him.