He went back to the abandoned factory, and Ben sat in the same place he had been confronted by the Silver Assassin. The structure was cold, uninviting, and seemed to be haunted in a way. But it was like a home to Ben, who had nowhere else to go.

     Ben stumbled to the ground, breathing heavily as sweat dripped down his face. The blood of his victims dried on his hands and gave him the sensation of wearing gloves. His blood boiled, and it pumped through his ears like a thunderous train. Dark circles enveloped his vision before he completely passed out.

**

     He woke up in pain.

     His body trembled with even the slightest of movements, and his face was smashed into the concrete.

     "Oh...shit...," Ben groaned, sitting up and trying to blink away his blurred vision.

     Everything was too bright, and it gave him the sense of a hangover. Carefully, he got to his feet and slumped against the nearest wall. His hand fell flat along the cool surface, and he oddly felt an indentation in the material.

     He turned his head, trying to swallow a bad taste in his mouth, and focused his eyes on what was right in front of him. The wall was cracked, withered, and worn but there was something else. On the concrete wall, scratched into its very surface, were a series of numbers.  There was no way the numbers could've been there before, otherwise he would've noticed them. Had it appeared while he was unconscious?

     Inscribed into the concrete, underneath the series of numbers, were the words:

     "Follow your destiny. You have 23 hours and 15 minutes to complete your journey."

     Ben shook his head, thinking that he might be hallucinating. The numbers were very real, however, and their cryptic message was intriguing. He looked away, trying to settle his senses. For hours he lay there, letting his mind wander and the numbers fester in his head. Ben didn't even reflect on his new-found powers because there were simply more important things on his mind. The powers were just a tool to him, and they were to be used as such.

     Eventually, his strength returned, the feeling of a hangover faded, and all that was left were the numbers.

     They were delicately carved into the concrete with a crude precision. Each number looked as if it had taken hours to make, and Ben was transfixed by its grotesque beauty. He plugged the numbers into a search engine. They were coordinates, but they weren't just any coordinates. The numbers specifically led to an old, mysterious, warehouse outside of Los Angeles.

     There was no way the numbers were just random. Ben contemplated what it could all mean, but he put his instincts aside. Maybe, although it was out there, it was a message of some kind. Ben thought it over, but he dismissed the idea as wishful thinking.

     But, what if it wasn't?

     His journey had led him to a strange man in a gas mask, an ancient stone of untold power, and the acquiring of regenerative abilities. At the end of the day, cryptic messages telling him where to go were not that far out of the newly-established norm. Ben began to think, and a ludicrous idea began to take shape in his head.  

     Regeneration made dying a little harder than it usual. There was absolutely nothing to lose: Ben had no family, no friends, and infinite lives. 

     Besides, did he really have any other options? 

**

One Day Later...

     He packed his things and put away his equipment. Ben put all of the computers in a secure location within the factory so that no one would ever be able to find them. Then, he left for the destination that the coordinates indicated.

     He could've called himself crazy, or just playing into someone else's plans. But something was different about the coordinates. The Black Dragon would never try to contact him so discreetly, so who else could it possibly be? The options were few, so Ben took his stolen car that he had been keeping in a secret location and began the long drive to Los Angeles. He drove along the coast the entire 120 miles that it approximately was between the two cities.

     The entire way he thought about what he was doing. There were several instances where he almost turned around. But, in the end, he drove all the way to his final destination. It took him all the money he had left to buy gas and food, but eventually he got there. How he would get back would be another issue.

     Revenge was first.

     As he neared his destination, there was a growing sense of completion within him. Ben would do what he promised not just to Oswald, but to himself. He knew that what he was doing was also for Diana and Hope. Then again, Diana would've slapped him upside the head for doing something as stupid as following coordinates scratched into a wall.

     Eventually, he achieved his goal.

     He made it to the warehouse.

** 

The Final Destination...

     The warehouse was big, vacant, and it reminded Ben of the factory he took residence in outside of San Diego. He parked the car a decent ways away and took out his gear. His watch beeped, and he sedated the alarm as the 23 hour countdown went off. 

     According to the cryptic message, he was right on schedule. 

     Ben loaded up a couple of handguns, some night-vision goggles that he had also stolen from a store, and a some grenade-like explosives he had created. Combined with his new abilities, there was nothing that couldn't be done.

     For a moment, he stood in the very presence of the structure. He could feel his nervous energy crackling through his body like sparks. Whatever happened, he knew that it was for everything that had been lost. The perpetual burden of sorrow would be lifted, there would be no more lies, and the spirits of his family could finally be laid to rest.

     The air was ripe with justice, but it also stank with the odor of revenge.

     Been approached the warehouse and made his way out along the perimeter. Then, he crawled in a back door. As the sun went down, things started to get dark and Ben had to switch on his night-vision. The world around him went green as he did so, and he was careful to watch out to where the Silver Assassin might be.

     He combed through into the warehouse, finding a big empty interior. There was a high ceiling and a few lights were oddly on. Ben pulled out one of his guns as he made his way deeper into the interior. Then, he found something that he really wasn't expecting.

     He wasn't alone.

     Standing in a semi-circle, right in the middle of the vacant structure, stood several men dressed in suits. He zoomed in on the men, with his goggles, and could see that all of them were in a quiet conversation. They conversed back and forth, oblivious to the fact that they were being watched from afar.

     The coordinates on the wall had led to something. The question was, who left them? How had they known the exact time and place?

     There was movement from across the space, and Ben's thoughts were interrupted as he turned to see a figure stepping out of the shadows. In his hand, he carried a briefcase similar to the one Ben had originally transferred the Stone of Ascension in. As the light shone  on him, he could make out a mysterious gas mask and a thick suit.

     It was the assassin himself.

     The men in the center, Ben counted six, immediately stopped conversing. They waited patiently as the Silver Assassin strode toward them. While he got closer, a man towards the center of the half-circle stepped forward with a file in his hand. Ben wondered if not for the Black Dragon, then for whom did they work for?

     The Silver Assassin stopped in front of the men and opened the briefcase. The light of the Stone of Ascension illuminated their faces. Some of the men nodded in approval, and the briefcase was shut. The Silver Assassin handed one man the briefcase, while another handed over an envelope.

     Ben pulled another handgun from his utility belt and aimed it across the complex. The night-vision helped, and he took a deep breath as he let his body relax. There was no way he was going to let the Stone of Ascension get out of his sight. He pulled the trigger and a bullet filled with sorrow, anger, hatred, and suffering whistled through the air. It hit the handle of the briefcase with dead-on accuracy. The man dropped it, and it clattered to the ground.

     Everyone started to scramble as they hurriedly looked around for the perpetrator. The Silver Assassin, obviously surprised, scrambled for his chemical gun. Ben slightly adjusted his aim and fired at the assassin's chest, which caused him to stagger back. Then, he broke into a sprint across the interior complex in order to retrieve the stone.

     His mission was to retake it, and kill the Silver Assassin .

     He neared the briefcase and stooped to pick it up. Through his night-vision, he could the Silver Assassin reach for a chemical gun and aim. However, his movements were too slow and Ben shot the weapon out of his hand. The Silver Assassin screamed in angst, throwing himself at his unknown adversary.

     His gloved hands grabbed Ben's neck, and immediately he slammed the briefcase into the Silver Assassin's mask. Ben unclipped a knife from his belt and swiped at his opposer, inadvertently striking a silver chemical canister in the process. The Silver Assassin punched Ben in the face, briefly disorientating him. As his ability kicked in, the pain quickly subsided. Then, he grabbed the night-vision visor and practically tore it off of his face.

     "Argh!" Ben grunted, becoming brutally exposed.

     His night vision visor clattered to the ground and the Silver Assassin took a few steps back.

     "Ben..." the voice resonated.

     But Ben was already aiming his measly weapons. He crudely pointed them and was about ready to pull the trigger. However, the Silver Assassin had already taken out another chemical gun.

     "Out of my way!" he snarled, shooting a silver bullet at Ben's gun.

     The sheer force of the bullet shattered the hand-gun, the fragments glistening with silver as they sprayed everywhere. The Silver Assassin shot again, but Ben tried to hit the bullet away with the briefcase. It shattered in his hands, and the silver fragments blinded his vision.

     "No!" he yelled, shielding his face.

     The Stone of Ascension toppled out of the destroyed suitcase and fell to the ground. Its luminescence cast odd shadows around the darkening space. Strangely, the six men who had originally stood there were gone. 

     Ben sprawled for the stone, but he was abruptly kicked back by the Silver Assassin. He recoiled and rolled, laying flat on his back. Quickly, he jumped up and kicked the Silver Assassin in the mask which sent it slightly ascue.

     "You fight well," the Silver Assassin wheezed through the mask. "But you will still fail!"

     Ben slammed his fist into the mask and pushed the Silver Assassin to the ground.

     "You've beaten me for the last time!" Ben screamed, smacking his opposer across the face.

     The Silver Assassin grabbed Ben's arm and used his own momentum to topple him to the ground. Ben grabbed his gloved hand and tore it off, revealing a fleshy hand underneath. The movements were slow, though, and the Silver Assassin had already pulled out another chemical gun. He fired it and the bullet hit Ben square in the chest.

     "No!" Ben screamed, his entire body going stone-cold.

     Desperate for his opposer not to win, the Silver Assassin shoved Ben aside and his fingers closed around the Stone of Ascension...on his ungloved hand.

     The Silver Assassin seemed to realize his mistake, and he screamed, "No!" just as the entire interior of the warehouse was illuminated with a bright light. The Stone of Ascension pulsated and glowed, a liquid-like energy flowing out of it.

     "Argh!" Ben screamed, the silvery chemical spreading its way across his body.

     The Stone of Ascension continued to throb with energy, and it pulsated like a living organism. Then, the orb exploded in a blinding beam of light that shot upwards through the roof and into the sky. It blasted a gale of wind around it that threw Ben's entire body back several feet. He landed on his back and curled up in a ball away from the exploding artifact.

     Within a moment or two, the beam abruptly vanished. Ben slowly looked back at the Silver Assassin, and the Stone of Ascension had rolled out of his hands. His body lay crumpled in a heap, his protective suit lying in shreds across his body.

     Ben lay, and he could feel the spidery chemical make him lose feeling throughout his body. It was like an ice-cold frost slowly killing every nerve within him. Then, the feeling began to fade as if it were being pushed back. Feeling began to be restored, and Ben could breathe again.

     He had regenerated.

     He stood up, slowly walking toward his adversary unscathed. He could still see the Silver Assassin's chest rising and falling, but the breaths were short and shallow. His mask had been torn in half, revealing a scarred face underneath. Ben squatted down to get a closer look, and an eye opened up through the tattered material to gaze at him. The eye was a startling blue, and instantly Ben started back in horror.

     There was only one person he knew who had those startlingly blue eyes.

     The Silver Assassin was his brother.

     He was Francis.