The Origins of the Hero Shank's Assassin

"Have you ever walked upon a horrible scene?"

"What scene?"

"Everything shattered and gone, an empty soul curled up in a dark place."

"How do you know of such a place?"

"I was there"

"Where?"

"Where my end began."

The cars flew past in mid air as Herb and Delilah looked on from the rooftop. The skyscrapers were scattered evenly throughout the city, and the lights that shone from them were too bright.

A mechanical whirring sound was a constant noise to which they had grown so accustomed.

You see, the elders always said how it was never this noisy on earth. Gadgets or tech weren’t as abundant.

Yet this was all Herb and Delilah knew.

Herb was from an old land, somewhere on the continent of Asia, but most of it had broken apart, he couldn't recall if he tried.

 Delilah was from an even older place, also in Asia, specifically India, she knew this because her parents always played music from there so long forgotten she couldn't help but fall in love.

 Ancient videos played on her window of the place, it was beautiful and colourful there. The food, the flowers, all of it was so vibrant her eyes lit up whenever she saw it.

However, they know that none of these places exist anymore, the population of earth had reduced so much that everyone fit into one hyper awake, technologically advanced civilisation. Moving pictures alone a reminder of what once was.

"Do you ever wonder what a tree looks like?"

"Not this again. Delilah, you know this isn't allowed."

"Herb, don't you ever wonder where it all went?" Delilah stared at Herb, having expected his reaction although hazarded a try.

Herb was her best friend, he was 18 and two years older than she was.

Herb worked in the underground motorways as an engineer so he was built and did not look his age, He had pitch black long hair that he kept suspended in a loyal ponytail, he had eyes darker than the night, eyelids that swooped elegantly over his eyes and a smile Delilah couldn't help wanting to evoke since it was such a rare commodity.

"It doesn't matter because if you ever even found yourself on the other side of the grid, you'd die."

"You don't know that."

"I know more than you, so just drop it." Herb replied sternly and Delilah just looked ahead at the cars rushing by, overlooking them she took her gaze as far to the edge of the city as she could, you could always make out a purple light at the point where the grid met the ground, especially at night.

Delilah looked at it longingly, "I want to go there and look for them more than anything, even if I have no chance of finding my parents." Delilah felt the wind blow past her face in a rush, it tickled and she smiled beside herself.

Herb hung on to her every word she said but mostly worried about her.

They practically grew up together, Delilah's parents having taken Herb in at a young age.

Her parents were also engineers who were assigned to the Grid, when Herb was 11, he remembers strangers coming to take them away from home.

He held Delilah so close so she wouldn't be startled awake, he stopped searching for his foster parents fairly early, knowing somewhere deep down that he would never see them again, yet Delilah never did.

Maybe it was because Herb was used to it by now, not having any family to speak of was natural to him. Therefore, he took it upon himself to protect Delilah from then on, he never found it bothersome since, she was the only thing that he had that could come close to family.

He could safely say that he was scared of loosing her, and the way she spoke of the grid, filled him with discomfort.

"It's a death wish, you think I'd sit back and let you die?"

"No, I guess not. I'm not leaving, I only just ponder, I don't want to die either." Delilah smiled widely at him with deep dimples taking over her face. He only gave her a disgruntled sneer and laid back down watching the sky.

THE FOLLOWING DAY

Delilah ran through the empty streets, evading cracked pavement as she went, as well as holding on tightly to Herb’s lunch. She made a special meal for him today, something she came across online she knew he’d love because it had cauliflower in it. He for some reason was obsessed with cauliflower which made Delilah relieved to know there were still things that made Herb happy.

It was hard not to feel like a burden sometimes since Herb took it upon himself to raise them both, she pulled her weight as much as she could but Herb was always there for her. She wondered if he felt he had to repay her parents somehow, otherwise why else would he do all he has done for her.

So, for personal reasons she insisted on bringing him lunch to work. She was running late though and it was already 10 minutes into Herb’s lunchtime.

She was in motion when suddenly a blur passed in her periphery and she could not evade, she was going to crash into this person who just ducked out of an alleyway.

The person grabbed her tightly and they fell to the ground, she fell on top of the stranger with a thud, Delilah held onto her parcel for dear life, hugging it closely to her body and feeling the warmth emanating from within the container.

“Woah! Where’s the fire?” A voice spoke from above her, male, the chest reverberated the words. She quickly righted herself checking to see if any of Herb’s food had spelt.

It hadn’t, she sat on the pavement next to the stranger who looked quite sketchy with his hooded clothes and dark sneakers. The hood fell from his head revealing a shock of platinum white hair and cerulean blue eyes with pale skin. He had quite unique features, she’d never really seen anyone like him.

“Uhm, I apologize for bumping into you in my rush, I beg your pardon.” Delilah quickly said and stood up, ready to pick up running once more.

A hand reached to grab her and she snatched her hand right back, “Please sir I have no means of compensating you, I really do humbly apologize.”

“That’s not it, you look awfully familiar is all.” He replied slowly. This conversation was dragging, it needed to stop if she hoped to get to Herb soon.

“I see, that is a common possibility. Good day.” Delilah took off running again, seeing the entrance to the underground motorway a small distance away.

She was at the entrance but still had to go deeper to the section Herb worked, she heard the sound of an engine behind her so she stepped aside, however it slowed down.

“Do you need a ride, you seem to be in a hurry.”

“I don’t, thank you.”

“Ah!” The guy said on his black motorcycle as though recalling some vital piece of information. “I know how I know you.”

Delilah looked at him, the white-haired man, he looked slightly older than Herb, 20 maybe, she couldn’t really tell.

“You were on Amira’s desk photo.” He said and Delilah came to a halt. How did this guy know her mother’s name?

“How?”

“Can I give you a ride?” He asked again and this time Delilah got on, too curious to let this opportunity pass. “It’s section Beta 45.” Delilah told the man.

“You were going to run that far?”

“I usually do, it’s good exercise.” Delilah responded in tandem.

He chuckled at her, “Shank.” He said, “My name is Shank.”

“Oh, mine is Delilah.”

“That’s a very unique name, where’s it from?”

“A very old religious text, at least that’s what my Dad said.”

“Interesting.” Shank replied and drove quietly after. They got to Herbs section 5 minutes later and found Herb on the upper level carrying some equipment.

He saw Delilah and waved her over but furrowed his brow in confusion at who she was with. He took a pole to slide quickly down to her.

“Hey.” Herb greeted, wearing a work suit whose jacket was oversized yet somehow fit his shoulders. He had some grime on his cheek and on his forehead beads of sweat.

“Hi, I brought you food, your favourite actually.” Delilah said cheerfully. Mission accomplished.

Herb looked at her disappointed, “I told you, you don’t have to do this, especially now that the project’s going deeper and deeper, doing this will be dangerous for you.”

“You work so hard that you don’t eat unless reminded, and you’re so antisocial I’m sure you don’t have friends to remind you.” Delilah started, Herb made a sound as if to refuse yet had no rebuttal, instead setting his mouth in an unimpressed line. Shank scoffed amused, which made Herb quirk an accusatory brow at him, Shank only smiled and raised his hands in surrender.

“Also,” Delilah continued a bit quietly now, shy to say this in front of a stranger, “I like cooking for you.”

Herb’s eyes widened, his face turning an embarrassing shade of pink so much so that he looked away before Delilah could see since she was currently looking down at her feet.

“Okay fine, I won’t stop you,” Herb said, “Just, tell me when you’re by the entrance and I’ll come to you. Okay?”

“Okay.” Delilah nodded.

“As much as I’d love to continue observing this grotesque display of affection, it’s not what I came here for.” Shank said.

“Who are you?” Herb asked malice in his tone. Delilah looked back at Shank as well still curious as to the reason he knew her mother’s name.

“I came to confirm something.” Shank said.

“I’m Shank, a member of a rebel group I’m sure you’ve heard something about. Quite simply we’re the group of people that want to leave this hamster ball.” Shank explained casually leaning on his bike.

“Believe it or not your parents were part of this group too. They were working in enemy lines, at the grid itself, to get us as close to our goal as possible but things didn’t quite work out, you know how that one ends.”

“What’s your point.”

“I thought you were dead, they wanted us to think that the key was dead.” Shank looked longingly at Delilah and Delilah worried for his mental health. Herb stepped in front of her to hide her from Shank’s view.

“What are you, a pervert?” Herb said folding his arms over his chest.

Shank smiled maniacally and walked to Herb patting his shoulder, “You’ve done well taking care of her all this time, now that I’ve confirmed it’s truly Amira’s child, the end can begin.”

“I swear if you come anywhere near her again, I will end you myself.”

“I don’t need to, Herb, she’ll come to me.” Shank said, staring at Herb just as hard as he was doing to him. Then Shank smiled and walked away, he got on his bike and took off.

Herb turned to her, “You will not meet with that person ever!” He looked shaken, but she was shaken too, more so by the way Herb just spoke to her.

She raised her eyes defiantly, “Or else what?” She asked him, and that snapped Herb back, he widened his eyes and looked down at her apologetically yet said nothing.

Herb took a deep breath and said, “I just, I don’t, want to lose anyone else.” He whispered the last part she almost didn’t hear it, “Especially you.”

“You won’t, nothing’s going to happen to me.” Delilah said, grabbing Herb by the elbow so he could face her.

“Yeah? How do you know?” He asked sarcastically.

“Because I said so.” She finalised the conversation with that.

Delilah stayed a while longer and waited as Herb ate, she had already eaten before leaving. These were the very few moments she could see Herb smile, when he ate her food. She didn’t think she was the greatest cook but she did always put a lot of love into it, she enjoyed doing it too.

They talked about Herb’s work, how the tunnel would be reaching the grid in a month and they’d be done with this project. Herb asked Delilah what she wanted when he got paid the bonus from work.

Delilah was in engineering academy at the moment, it was software whereas Herb’s was hardware. she wanted to work at the grid, get as close as possible to understanding how it worked, and maybe feel a little closer to her parents. Even when they were alive they spent most of their time there.

“A new computer, I’m running so much code on my older model one that, it just can’t keep up.”

Herb just hummed, “Sure. That’s it? That’s all you want?”

Delilah nodded and then thought of something, but knew Herb would be against it, she would still try.

“Let me see the grid up close at least once.”

“No.”

No surprise there, but Delilah had one more trick up her sleeve.

“It’s safer if you bring me along yourself than me finding my own way.”

“N…” Herb realised what she had just said and glared, “You wouldn’t.”

Delilah smiled, “Wouldn’t I?”

Herb’s shoulders slumped, “Fine, but you don’t leave my sight for even a second.”

“That is all up to you.” She laughed.

When Herb was done He drove her out the tunnel and left her by the entrance then returned.

1 MONTH LATER

The director walked onto the podium, the back drop being the purple hue of the grid just behind him. The short burly man with greys all through his hair reminded Delilah of a certain breed of dog she once saw in the moving pictures. The name was a pug, possibly, she wasn’t entirely sure. All she knew was she was happy to be there.

“Tomorrow, will be the commemoration ceremony of Beta 45 underground motorway. Our population has been steadily increasing, due to this, we’ve been working to go underground and make it more habitable. This project is a huge milestone.” He spoke in a boisterous tone, “I appreciate all of your hard work, most importantly I thank you for ensuring that we never have to leave the grid, or face the toxic environment outside. As of today, let the celebration begin!”

Herb clapped and flashed a satisfied smile at Delilah, she smiled back obviously proud of him too. Delilah wore a very expensive dress, it was her mother’s but Herb had taken it to the tailor to tweak it a bit. He surprised her with it this morning, she was so pleased she ran him over with a hug.

“I’ll be back I need to speak with the chief, are you okay on your own for a bit?” Herb asked.

“mhmm, I’m fine go ahead.” She said, she needed him gone if she was going to get a closer look at the grid.

She rushed to it after she knew Herb was out of eyesight. Finally, being this close to its thrum, Delilah could almost feel the vibrations in her bones.

“I told you you’d come to me, I’ve been waiting for you to arrive.” Shanks voice whispered from behind her. She turned abruptly to face him and he smiled widely. “Got to love your sense of wonder.” He laughed and then pushed Delilah to the grid, no one is ever meant to touch it directly, it was an unspoken rule.

She looked at Shank, her back pressed to the thing, and nothing was happening until the vibrations in her body grew so vigorous that she was brimming with energy.

The Grid’s light began to dim, the consistent whirring lost its rhythm and she was burning from the inside out, purple light shot out of her mouth as she let out a pained cry.

Everyone was stunned yet Herb ran for her, he ran with all his might, upon reaching her he grabbed her hand to pull her away but he was shot back strongly into the wall where he laid crumpled over, and a panel fell onto his lower half.

Delilah screamed at this and tried to tear away from the grid, the more she did the less tangible it became.

Shank cackled, “Yes finally, release us!” His laughter mixed with her screams of terror, with the background noise of gears grinding to a halt. It felt like forever, Delilah had never fought this hard, yet looking over at Herb she was not going to give up, she kept pulling and pulling at the force that kept her attached, until finally it let her go, and with this the grid fell.

Delilah ran towards Herb, while the crowd of workers stampeded towards vaults. Shank walked triumphantly into the darkness beyond the grid.

“Herb!” Delilah screamed in pain, Herb was so bloody he was barely breathing. The panel was too heavy she tried but failed to get it off of him.

“Please Herb I’m sorry! I swear I won’t ever want to leave the grid again just please wake up!” Delilah shouted while clinging to his upper body. He looked so weak, anything, anything but this.

“Run.” A weak voice came out of Herb.

“Never! We’ll go together.”

“HOW!? It doesn’t matter so just go! Otherwise I swear I’ll never forgive you if you die here, when you could have gotten out.”

 Delilah ripped fabric from his blood-stained shirt and ran. She followed the crowd and didn’t dare look back.

Herb closed his eyes and smiled, he might have thought he deserved to die a more peaceful death, yet, what death would be grander than dying for the one you love. He wished he could have told her, or maybe it’s better she if never knew.