THE NIGHTMARE...

Sleep never comes easily for Paige Mabel. At last when it comes she falls into an uneasy one; that brought back vivid memories of her terrible past she desperately tries to forget.

Paige woke up in a dark, dark place. this place again. It was now a custom. She was walking down an empty city sidewalk, hand-in-hand with a little girl, whose blonde hair fell to the side covering her face. She led her to a Subway tunnel, and there was white smoke swirling around her, choking her. She knew she was having that nightmare again. She turned to her side, but the girl wasn't there.

"What're you doing down here?" A shrill voice said. She looked forward and narrowed her eyes to search for it's source through the seemingly endless void. Her mother looked straight ahead, not sad or happy, not alive nor dead. Her mother regarded her with disdain or at least not with favour, no surprise there.

Her voice rang again, chanting, "MURDERER! MURDERER! MURDERER!" Her sister joined in and it felt so real. There voices growing louder and louder with every word. She always woke up after that, moaning, hair soaked with sweat, and her heart pounding. It was a terrible dream, and now woken in the reality she made up for herself, a life of solitude, for she have found that there was simply no one to tell her dreams to.

Lying there in the damp, tangled bedclothes she would realize over and over again the first and realist loss that solitude brings with it. There's no longer anyone to tell your dreams to, not on the pulse of the moment, but when they're most vivid and need to be told, there's nobody to confide in, to go to when in pain, to talk with about the most intimate and secret tendrils that curls up around your mind..no one to lay with, or wish with, or to share things to. It was plain and simply lonesome but alas it would do better than her old life. She glanced at her alarm clock. It was five in the dot and the beginning of a new indifferent day for Paige Mabel. She got up from bed and walked over to the table to pour a glass of water when her phone buzzed, she glanced at the caller ID and let out a sharp breath

Somewhere in the heart of the city...

Paige ventured inside a dark empty club. She stepped into the glass elevator and punched her finger on the button to the top floor. The glass was clear and had a great view of the city. Paige stared at her reflection in the glass with a poker face. If someone from her past were to see her now they would probably not recognize her.

Her long straight silver hair were left to fall to her hips, deep-set blue eyes and a pointy nose. Her chin a diamond point and her lips, full, curved, and sensuous and her cheek bones were ice-pick keen.

she wore a white tube top with an oversized jacket over it and white cargo pants with a pair of white sneakers. Her eyes fell on the necklace on her with three rings attached to it, her hands went to fondle it. There was a glint in her eyes, was it regret or sorrow or was it longing that got looked away with the rest.

It's too late to look back now. But she finds herself drawn to it.

Since Paige first found the elevator she's used it as a way of keeping track of her changes through her reflection. To the outside world Paige Mabel is believed to be outside the country furthering her education, but in the she I'd known as Carnage; a merciless mercenary, most feared in the underworld and works for the infamous Damon Smith, richest man in star city and in the underworld he as the alias Black mask ; because his true Identity is anonymous and only made known to two people; Paige and his right hand, Rhys. He his the leader of the biggest mercenary group called 'GRIM' made up of trained members in ways of assassinating people without leaving a single trace, sometimes they make their own scenerio. They are hired as hitmen, assassins, spies, by infamous people to carry out their dirty work s in the most professional way.

Helstrom sat on a night club called ' The clipper ' owned by Damon Smith.

Paige stepped into the top floor on the mansion. The white, marble floor seemed to stretch for miles. The sound of objects shattering spilled into the hallway. Paige tucked her hands in her pocket as she liesurely strolled down the hallway, completely unbothered by the noises.

She opened the door to the office and gazed at the mess, broken glass and wood . She glanced up at the figure behind the desk sitting like a majestic king with his face to the window. She wasn't surprised to see the room thrashed, she was sure this wasn't going to be the last of it but she couldn't blame him, he had good reason to lash out, everyone needs a little madness and she was about to add to it.

"You're late". A grim voice from the back of the room broke Paige's reverie. Ignoring the voice Paige strode towards the man at the desk with his back towards them. She glanced at the photo in his hands before sitting on the desk.

Immersed in his thoughts, he didn't notice when a nimble creature sat behind him and rested her chin on his shoulder up till she spoke.

"The crossbow killer, she killed Theodore Terrell and made away with the diamond". She playfully tugged a few strands of his thick brown hair. "I got a visit from officer Montez, she's building a case on you".

"You need to get that cop off your back". The grim voice at the back sounded again and was ignored again.

"The question is...." Paige took in a sharp breath, "why would a new mercenary kill the leader of one of your crime mob and steal the Sionis diamond, seems personal to me". After a pause she concluded, "She must be working for someone strong enough to go against you".

As soon as those words left her lips the sitting statue turned the chair, causing Paige to jolt. He held her chin and called her softly, "little bird, there's no one like me".

"No one". Paige replied.

"You don't kill people I own, why doesn't this crossbow killer get it, you get it".

"I get it".

" why don't I own this cross bow killer? I like crossbow".

Paige bumped their foreheads lightly and looked into his eyes that were a perfect combination of blue and green, and said reassuringly, "I will get you your diamond back".

"I Know you will," he stood up and headed towards the door, "Rhys, go with her", he said to the grim figure at the end of the room.

Quick history lesson....

11 years ago the Giambelli family, the richest mafia family in Star city were gundown in an elaborate ruse to get the pin to all their offshore accounts, encrypted into a 21-carat diamond ring, but with them the ring was lost.

Rhys walked behind Paige up the stairs into an abandoned looking building called " the Arena". It was a place where different mercenaries in GRIM come to fight one another to move their ranks higher. He dragged his hand through his own wavy dark hair and let out a bored yawn. "What are we even doing here?" Rhys complained, and this time his words weren't left unanswered.

"The whinnying of a lonesome dog". Paige sighed. "Tired already?"

"There's three things you need to Know about me; one - am always tired, two - working stresses me out, and three - I get tired easily".

"Hopeless," Paige muttered under her breath. " where here because I think better when I fight".

"So basically, we're here so you can beat up someone. Good luck finding someone who'll fight you".

"For someone whose lazy you talk a lot".

" But you know am right. If anyone enters that ring with you they're just asking for death, and they know it".

"Fuck off". She went inside her changing room and slammed the door shut.

Inside the room, Paige changed into her fighting costume, biker shorts which made the tattoo of a skull with a knife piercing inside with a writing that says ' dead inside ' visible on her right. She paired it with a strapped tube top and a jacket thrice her size with spikes all over it with a label at the back saying ' CARNAGE '. It had the dried blood of her last opponent on it.

Being the top mercenary as it's perks, she had the highest rank and highest pay, but also had it fault. It becomes harder and harder to find someone worthy your skills. She tries not to go all out of them, yet they fear her. "It's because they're weak," she said out loud like she was spitting out venom. She pulled up the hood of her jacket and put on her mask.