I Became God's Reaper in Another Universe

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*Third Person POV*

The tension in the hallway was palpable, the sound of breathing was amplified by the quit following Aspen's exit. He still held the leader of the group by the collar, his pistol pressed firmly beneath the man's jaw. Ghost, followed shortly after, his pistol trained on the other seven men who stood in formation outside the door.

"Speak," Aspen growled, his voice low. "And make it good."

The leader, a man with streaks of gray in his beard, raised his hands slightly in a placating gesture. Despite the barrel of the gun under his jaw, he kept his calm.

"We mean no harm," the leader said. "We're here on orders from Victor Volkov. He sent us to deliver a message and request a meeting with the both of you."

Ghost's pistol remained trained on the head of the nearest soldier. "And you thought hammering on our door was a good way to show 'no harm intended'?" he asked coldly, his finger on the trigger.

The leader grimaced but held his composure. "I understand how this looks, but we were given clear orders. We had to ensure contact and make it known that this is not a request to be ignored."

Aspen's eyes narrowed, his grip on the man's collar tightening. "Your actions say otherwise. Banging down our door isn't exactly the best way to make friends."

The leader's gaze didn't falter. "We had to be sure you'd hear us out. Victor doesn't like to be ignored, but he's not interested in conflict; he wants to talk. That's all."

Ghost scoffed. "Funny way of showing it. You're lucky I still haven't pulled the trigger."

Aspen slowly released the man, shoving him backward with so much force that the man tumbled into his soldier, taking 2 of them down with him. Aspen lowered his gun as the leader rubbed his neck where the collar had chafed against his skin and stood up.

"Fine," Aspen said. "You can deliver a message to your boss: if he wants to talk, he'll come to us. On our terms."

The leader straightened, brushing off his jacket. "Victor anticipated you'd say that. He has some sort of interest in you both and your lack of care for who you offend, which is why he's interested in meeting you both."

Ghost took a step forward, his gun still raised slightly. "Let's get one thing straight," he said, his voice hard. "We've already had a group approach us before and I'll tell you what we told them: we're not interested in working for anybody or becoming anyone's pawns."

The leader nodded slowly. "I'll relay your terms. But if you want this to end peacefully, you'd be wise to at least hear him out."

Aspen crossed his arms, his gaze never leaving the leader. "We'll hear him out when he shows up. Now, I'll tell you what I told the previous bunch, get lost before I change my mind and kill you where you stand."

The leader motioned to his men, who slowly lowered their weapons and began backing away. "You'll be hearing from us," the leader said as he turned, leaving the not-so-subtle warning in the air.

Once the group disappeared into the elevator, Ghost turned to Aspen. "This doesn't sit right with me. Victor Volkov, what the hell could the Volkov's want with us, it's not like we're currently fighting their grasp over Cenolla at the moment. But he wants to just 'talk' to us?"

Aspen nodded, his expression unreadable. "Yeah, something's not sitting right with me either. He might be one of Ajax's puppeteers and this might have something to do with Kai and Elara. But there is no way they would be able to identify us, to identify me as who they suspect."

Ghost holstered his pistol. "Right, they're probably thinking lean old Aspen was the one to do take them out, not Reaper. And with how you look now, you may resemble your old self, but that's as close as you get."

Aspen nodded again, "Yeah, I guess we'll see what he wants."

Two Days Later…

Two days later, Aspen fully embraced his identity change, (Will still be known as Aspen, called Azrael by everyone else except those close to him) now known as Azrael Fallcrest, and Riley Fallcrest (Ghost), stood on the top floor of their new building that was still being refurbished.

 Aspen leaned against the railing of the open balcony, his eyes scanning the cityscape, while Ghost sat on a nearby crate, quietly dismantling and cleaning his pistol as well as his DMR. The air was heavy as they waited for Victor Volkov to arrive.

Precisely at noon, a faint black dot appeared in the horizon as a VTOL aircraft made its way towards the building. It landed on an open space of the roof and from it stepped Victor Volkov with his trademark buzzcut. Flanking him were two men in matching black combat gear, their faces stoic and their hands resting lightly on the grip of their pistols.

Aspen's eyes narrowed as he observed the group approaching the elevator. "Only two guards?" he muttered. "Bold."

Ghost glanced up. "Either he's confident, or he's underestimating us."

Victor jumped down a good 3 meters rather than walking down the stairs, landing on his feet. His guards followed silently but stopped a few meters away from them.

Aspen crossed his arms. "You brought only two men? Either you're reckless, or you think we're pushovers."

Victor smirked faintly. "These two are more than enough. But if it eases your mind, I didn't come here looking for a fight."

Ghost rose to his feet, holstering his pistol but keeping his gaze locked on the guards. "Get to the point, you wanted to talk to us, what do you want?"

Victor's expression hardened. "Answers." He walked to the center of the room, his boots clicking against the floor. "About a month ago, two of my people, Elara and Kai, had a run-in with you. I want to know exactly what happened."

Aspen's lips curled into a faint smirk. "They were snooping around on us, we didn't appreciate it. Told them to back off along with a little lesson in respecting boundaries. After that, we had no further contact."

Victor's eyes flicked to Ghost. "And what did they want from you?"

Ghost shrugged. "They didn't say much, just poking their noses where they didn't belong. Something about recruiting us to, what I'm now guessing, is your organization."

Victor frowned. "You're certain that's all?"

"Look," Aspen said, his voice firm, "we know who YOU are, and we don't care about your family's business or whatever vendetta you're chasing. We lost enough on the battlefield to give a fuck about anything other than living the life we have left. I'm smart enough to dig inot the energy production field and to rebuild what we've taken from some rather unfriendly people."

Victor studied Aspen for a long moment, his icy gaze piercing but unreadable. Finally, he nodded. "I believe you, Azrael. For now." He turned to Ghost. "But understand this: if I find out you had anything to do with their deaths, there won't be another conversation. Only retribution."

Aspen stepped forward, his posture relaxed but his tone carrying a warning edge. "We don't respond well to threats, Volkov. Their deaths are as much a surprise to us as they are to you. Now I'm telling you we had nothing to do with it, so leave us the fuck alone, or else…" He let the sentence hang in the air.

Victor's smirk returned. "Noted. Now tell me, do you know anything about a man named Aspen Del Santo?" He asked.

Aspen frowned as if in thought, "Aspen Del Santo? I think I knew someone by that name. Quite the prick, thought he was above everyone because he had Omega Level potential. But that fucker got himself kicked out of the academy for fighting against an XO to defend one of his friends I think, or his wife. Fuck if I know. Why? What do you want with him? You think he did this?"

Aspen's response gave Victor a little bit of information about the matter. "You look like him."

Aspen nodded, "I've been told that, but that scrawny fuck never had these bad boys." He said as he flexed his arms. He then took off his shirt and flexed his back muscles. 

When he did so, Victor noticed a large scar going down from the left side of his neck to his waist along with the rather interesting layout of his pilot to mech connection ports on his back. "Interesting link setup. Were you one of the Death Mercs? Sent to their deaths in imposs-"

Aspen quickly lowered his shirt as he heard Victor's words, his demeanor doing a 180 and an angry gaze peered into Victor's soul. "Enough, get the fuck out of my sight."

Victor seemed to realize his mistake and simply nodded. He then signaled to his guards, who fell in behind him as he walked up the stairs and to the VTOL. Before stepping inside, Victor glanced over his shoulder. "You may not care about my family, but my family's business always finds its way into places like this. Stay sharp, Azrael. We'll see each other again."

The VTOL's doors closed and the hum of its engines starting up filled the air. It then lifted off and flew back in the direction it had come from, the hum of its engines fading into silence. Aspen turned to Ghost, who had already resumed cleaning his weapon.

"Death Mercs? Wise choice, that should get them off our backs. It would also explain why we hadn't been in the registry until recently," Ghost said, a hint of admiration in his voice.

Aspen smirked. "Did a little bit of digging, we'll be alright, for now. Let keep on building up and training in the simmula- in the alternate realities. People like Victor won't back off easily."

Ghost nodded. "Agreed. But if they come for us, they'd better bring more than two guards." The two exchanged a knowing look as the tension on the roof began to dissipate. "You're gonna have to speed up your plans."

Aspen nodded as he started heading to the stairs "Yeah, I know."

Word Count: 1719 (I know, it's a short chapter, but it's been a stressful few days and this is what I could muster)

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