Atonement: Lincoln Clay

[A/N: Please give this story a chance as I am a fan of of Mafia 3's story. Any reviews or follows would be appreciated so that I may make this story better and hopefully stay true to Lincoln's character. So please review, even some criticism would be appreciated as I want to write this story but I'm not sure where to take it. If I should rewrite this then I will if someone tells me I should at this point. Please tell what I need to do. Thank you.]

Episode 1: A New Day

NEW BORDEAUX 2016-THE FRENCH WARD: ST. JEROME'S CATHOLIC CHURCH

"*sigh* Even after all this time it's still so hard to know just how far that boy fell. To this day I still wonder if Lincoln's out there somewhere. After he left town, he just dropped off the face of the earth, but I knew he was too darn stubborn to die. Maybe someday, I know it's a snowball's chance in hell, but maybe he found peace and maybe in god's eyes he atoned for what he did. Doesn't mean I'd ever want him to come back. The things he did… well the bible says the lord has never ending forgiveness. But I don't know if I could ever forgive him, I guess that's just up to god at this point." Father James took a drag on a cigarette and the screen on the camera faded to black.

LOUISIANA 1968-INTERSTATE FWY: GAS STATION

Lincoln pulled to stop under the illuminated awning of the gas station's pumps. He sighed to himself as he pondered what he'd done over the course of time in the city he'd once called home. The rain came down hard around him, soaking the mud of the surrounding swamplands and forest. He'd taken down Marcano and left behind everything he ever knew, he couldn't tell whether he felt sick or satisfied. Father James had told him to leave and never come back, was it all worth it? In the end he was going to do what he said he'd do when he came back, he had wondered what the golden gate really looked like. He stepped out of the car pulled out the key and went to ask the clerk to put $40 on the pump. After that was done, he revved the engine and made his way back to the freeway. But just as he was about to hit the on ramp, Lincoln saw a deer on the road, he wasn't going fast enough to kill it and survive, so he swerved out of the way went downhill. The car bumped and bounced violently as the suspension took a beating from the rocky slope. He stomped on the breaks trying to halt the vehicle but they only screeched like a banshee. At that moment lightning happened to spark in the sky and as fate would have it a bolt struck the car as it was about to hit a tree. Lincoln passed out when he felt the impact and heard the thunderous boom around him.

UNKNOWN LOCATION SEVERAL HOURS LATER

Lincoln woke to the sound of a songbird chirping happily outside the car. He shook his head as he groggily woke himself from his escapade last night. He turned the key to re-fire the engine but the motor refused to start. His samson sports car was not in the best of shape and was giving an attitude, refusing to start. He sighed to himself again and started looking around to see that while he was still in a swampy environment, he wasn't on a hill anymore. He got out of the car to stretch his legs from the drive and go look for help or some new wheels. He pulled out the gear he could carry including an AR-15 assault rifle, 45 pistol, and grenades. With his gear in hand, he began walking until he found a dirt road in the middle of the woods.

The sunlight shone down from above through the dense canopy almost like stars at night. He felt his PTSD kick in as a flashback from Vietnam ran through his head. The hardened veteran shook it off and got back to his long walk, hopefully to a town near the highway where he could get back on the road. As Lincoln strolled along the path ahead he could feel something wasn't right out here in these woods. It was like there were eyes constantly watching him, waiting in the shadows. This unnerved him slightly but there wasn't much he could really do. Back in the jungle he at least had support and other soldiers beside him, but out here it was just him against whatever was watching him. It didn't scare him though just made him uneasy, he'd dealt with mobsters and all sorts of other hell back in his hometown. So, the odds seemed to be in his favor against the things this place could churn out. He had no idea just how wrong he really was.

Lincoln felt the hairs on the back of his neck stand up and immediately pulled out his rifle, scanning the area for hostiles. A twig broke and Lincoln immediately started firing in the direction of the sound as he ran down the road. Whatever it was the thing retreated into the brush and Lincoln stopped when he reached a clearing. He breathed heavily to calm himself when he reached the seemingly safe clearing. Lincoln felt that presence again and knew it was time to face whatever was stalking him out here. He reloaded the rifle and readied a grenade for insurance. A large wolf beast appeared from the brush and snarled at the stone-faced Lincoln.

"So, you're what's been dogging my ass?" Lincoln growled as he aimed the rifle. The beast glared back in response. "Fetch!" Lincoln threw the grenade at the wolf beast and unloaded his entire magazine at it. The grenade exploded and wounded the wolf-beast but it was clear that before it was only hungry, now it was mad. With a howl of anger and pain, the wolf beast rushed Lincoln who barely managed to dodge it. He took aim with the rifle and began firing at the creature. The rounds seemed to ping off the skull mask it wore which confused Lincoln a bit. 'Why in the hell is this damn thing even wearing a mask?' He thought as he focused on killing the monster. Lincoln kept shooting at the beast which was only pissing it off. Thick cracks were appearing on the mask and black was seeping from the bullet holes where it wasn't armored at least so he was doing some damage. He gritted his teeth as the monster ran at him again and tried to take mean chomp out of him.

"I didn't come this far to be a chew toy for some damn mutt!" Lincoln roared at the monster and dropped another grenade. The beast was wounded even further by the explosion and howled in pain very loudly as it finally died. When the beast hit the mud, Lincoln breathed a sigh of relief and relaxed. The monster dissolved and turned to ash right before his very eyes, which surprised the hell out of him. He'd experienced a lot of messed up things but this was a new one on him. Lincoln shook his head to try and make sense of it, but he decided that it wasn't worth trying to explain and looked for his duffle bag. He picked up the duffle bag and got back to walking down the road, whistling a tune as he walked. The forest echoed with the sounds of nature all around him, to him it seemed like he was walking through god's back yard with how tranquil it was.

Finally, after walking for what felt like hours, Lincoln stumbled on what appeared to be a small town. He couldn't see a gas station anywhere though, which was kind of strange. As he strolled through town he also noticed that that people were talking with different accents than what he'd hear in Louisiana. If anything, some of these people sounded Asian. The war veteran shrugged it off and kept on walking. He bumped into a young girl with mint green hair, a dark complexion, and red eyes. Instinctively, Lincoln checked his pockets and noticed the little girl had disappeared. "Hey come back here!" He shouted as he managed to see the girl running away down an alley. Determined to retrieve his wallet, Lincoln decided to track his little target. He'd learned some valuable things in the army, among them was the ability to track his opponents no matter the environment. The alley he followed the girl through was a dead end. The town wasn't that large so the girl couldn't have gone too far. He listened thoroughly and could swear he heard giggling somewhere nearby.

"Very funny, but ya aren't fooling me kid! Now come out and give back what's mine." Lincoln said with an unamused tone. He could tell something was off about this alley, like he was missing something, big time. Lincoln walked up to the wall and started feeling it to see if there was something out of the ordinary. He put his down on a box, only for his hand to pass through it. When that happened, heard the patter of more little footsteps running away. He dove through the spot where the box was and saw the girl running into an abandoned area. Lincoln pursued her through the spooky old building being hot on her trail. Eventually she was cornered and Lincoln stuck his hand out. She shut her eyes at first because he thought she would get hit but it never came. What did happen was her pursuer had grabbed her shirt and stared down at her disapprovingly.

"Rule number 1, don't steal from someone you can't beat or outrun. Now hand it over." Lincoln scolded the girl.

"I don't have it!" She pleaded.

"Number 2, don't lie, it makes things worse." Lincoln said as his eyes seemed to bore through her skull.

"Okay fine! Here!" She said as she threw the wallet. Lincoln felt his instincts flare up and didn't bat an eye.

"That doesn't work twice." Lincoln said as his frown deepened.

"You win." She said dejectedly as she pulled the wallet out of her pocket and dropped it to the floor. Lincoln picked it up, put it back in his own pocket, let the girl go and turned to walk away. As he did that the girl's stomach growled and against his better judgement as well as listening to a voice at the back of his head. He had a nagging feeling that despite what he'd done, he wasn't a bad man. He knew the priest wouldn't have turned away the child, hell the man himself said he'd loved running the orphanage. Plus, Lincoln had grown up without a family until Sammy and Ellis came along. He stopped walking and signaled for the girl to follow him. She proceeded cautiously as she inched her way toward the man who'd caught her. After that was done, Lincoln took her hand and the two of them left the old house.

As they walked hand in hand the girl decided to speak. "Uh mister?"

"What?" Lincoln replied.

"I don't think we'll be able to buy anything." The girl said calmly.

"What makes you say that?" Lincoln raised an eyebrow.

"I didn't see any lien cards in your wallet. Just some weird paper stuff." The girl explained the situation.

"You steal yet you've never seen a dollar before?" Lincoln asked skeptically.

"What's a dollar? Money? Cause I don't think people take those around here." She retorted with her hands on her hips. This made Lincoln stop for a moment out of confusion. That didn't make any sense to him at all, he was supposed to be in the US and he'd never heard of this Lien before. He began to have sneaking suspicion he wasn't in Louisiana or even America anymore. He just decided to play along and figure it out later.

"Then what in god's name is Lien?" Lincoln replied after a brief silence.

"It's money doofus." She cutely sassed the grown man who just rolled his eyes. Lincoln then spotted two shady guys in another alley way beating each other. He told the girl to wait and walked over to the two guys. "Get lost asshole!" the thugs bellowed at the approaching man. Lincoln just kept on walking forward, getting bigger and bigger in the eyes of the two men who just peed their pants. Unknown to Lincoln, he appeared to be a small giant to the men in front of him. without hesitating, Lincoln rammed their head together and knocked them both out with his muscular arms. Two more guys walked out of the back door of the restaurant to see their buddies knocked the hell out. They saw Lincoln and rushed him with knives drawn. As one guy tried to slash man another seemed to only be attacking air. Not caring about that, Lincoln started slugging the hell out of his attacker. He threw a right jab, followed by a left cross, and finished with a headbutt. Lincoln came up behind the second goon and choked him out. With that the fight was over, and Lincoln looted his victims for anything useful. His search produced several cards that seemed important, he then walked back over to the girl and showed her the cards.

"These things worth something?" Lincoln produced the various cards.

"Yep, nice job beating those guys up." The girl nodded with a smile.

"I've got plenty of experience." Lincoln shrugged and the two of them proceed into the restaurant and sat down at an empty table. Lincoln ordered the food and relaxed in the booth seat. The girl twiddled her thumbs and got bored pretty quick, like she waiting for something other than food.

"So, what's your name?" The girl asked inquisitively.

"Call me Lincoln." He answered.

"I'm Emerald." She announced her name to Lincoln.

"What like the gem?" He popped a hole in her bubble.

"Well what else should it be genius?" she snapped.

"I'm not one to judge." Lincoln put his hands up.

"So, are you gonna thank me?" The mint haired girl asked expectantly.

"For what?" He replied.

"For helping you beat those guys up!" Emerald snapped with her cheeks puffed up adorably.

"Really? How did you help me then?" Lincoln crossed his arms with a humorous look on his face.

"I can make people see things that aren't really there! Didn't you see the guy who was slicing thin air or how those other two guys wet their pants when you walked up to them?! I made you look like a giant! That was all me." The minty haired girl ranted at her benefactor with a smug look on her face at the end of her little tantrum.

"Let me get this straight, you have a super power?" Lincoln asked with an eyebrow raised.

"Mmhmm!" She hummed proudly.

"Well that explains a few things." Lincoln chuckled with a slight smile. "Fine, thank you."

"Your welcome." Emerald smiled.

"This day just can't get any weirder from here I guess." He spoke too soon as a girl delivered their orders and she had a pair of bear ears on her head. Not the weirdest thing he'd ever seen but it was now on the list of weird shit. Those ears were definitely real alright, Lincoln could tell from how they twitched in discomfort as her net customer bellowed for her to hurry it up and called her a 'damn animal'. The man slapped the girl and she just turned the other cheek with a tear on her face. Lincoln knew racism when he saw it, which made his blood boil a bit, and decided to get up from the table. Emerald sat there and enjoyed her food as she heard Lincoln start a brawl with the foul-mouthed man. The sounds of plates smashing and metal clanging rang loudly. The view came back to Lincoln as he held the man in a lock and had a soap bar in his other hand. "Someone ought to wash your mouth out asshole." Lincoln said as he shoved the soap bar into the racist's mouth and knocked him out.

"T-thank you, no one's ever stood up for me before." The waitress said in awe as she was stunned from the experience. She blushed a bit when she looked at Lincoln since he was a handsome man aside form the scar on his head.

"No problem mis." Lincoln nodded and sat back down with emerald and the two enjoyed their meal. The manager decided it would be best not call the cops until after the dangerous patron was gone. Lincoln and Emerald left the restaurant when they were done and Lincoln caught a wink from the girl as he left.

-END CHAPTER-