"The difference between you and me is... well, frankly, I'm a badass, and you're not." said a voice next to James' ear. "You tried to take on a small army on your own, and failed miserably... I could have done it, but I happen to be the leader of that army for that very reason. Therefore, I posit that leadership ability increases in direct proportion to badassitude. Do you agree?"

I rolled my head to the side, trying to see who was speaking. The room was very dark, and I appeared to be bound to a chair by something, possibly duct tape. "If I agree, will it get you to shut up? I feel like I have the world's worst hangover, I am tied up in a dark room, and the bad guy is gloating over me, and spouting random things to make himself sound smart. I'd rather not have to deal with this anymore. Who are you anyway?"

"Oh, and old aquaintance; you probably recall the man you killed in China last year? The one with the grey suit and yellow tie? Yeah, that was me. You apparently don't kill very well, which for me is quite good, but for you... it's very bad."

"From Bautou? I hit you in the chest with an RPG! How did you survive that?" I asked, quite surprised to be talking to a man I thought for sure was quite thouroughly dead. We'd taken a job in Bautou, the largest city in Inner Mongolia, last year, to take out a security company that was fronting a slavery ring. The job had come from the Chinese government, although I wasn't too sure exactly how high up the chain the info had come from.

"I already told you; I'm a badass. Does it really need any more explanation than that? Anyway, I obviously haven't killed you for a reason. Are you curious as to what that reason is? Well, I'll tell you anyway: I want you to do a job for me. You'll recieve pay in the form of me not coming after everyone you know and love. Do we have a deal?" said the voice. The lights flickered on, revealing a man of average height, average weight, and an above average amount of scars. It looked as if his whole face had been burnt off, and replaced with gravel. I couldn't tell if it was indeed the same man, but I was dead sure that I had hit the man with an RPG, so yeah... it probably was. Although that still didn't explain why the man was alive.

"Do I at least get to know what the job is first?" I asked angrily. "I don't do jobs unless I know all the details up front."

"Nope." was the curt reply from Burnt-Face. "You either get death for everyone, or a job. Take your pick."

I snorted. "Not much of a choice there, buddy. Alright, fine, I accept. Now, what's the damn job?"

"The job? Oh, you'll like it. You get to go back to Bautou and find the guys that paid you last time... need I say more?" Burnt-Face smirked, which distorted his face quite horribly, and made me slightly nauseous.

"Perfect, fine, whatever, I didn't like 'em anyway, now can you untie me, so I can get this show on the road?" I grouched, twisting back and forth in a futile effort to get out of the chair. I didn't like where this was going, and I sure as hell wasn't going to kill Lin-Yi, the woman who had been my backup from the government task force. I had to tell her what was going on... before I tried (very convincingly) to kill her, of course.