He didn't know where it started. Maybe it was a slow burn. Maybe it was a single moment, the one where the receptionist smiled and told him that his insurance wouldn't cover the procedure. Maybe it was when the doctor turned away from his pain and muttered something about not being able to help with a "pre-existing condition." But the slow burning turned into a fire. And that fire consumed him.
Jason Mason used to be a man who believed in fairness. A man who thought that if you worked hard enough, you could make it. But there were moments when you realized—no matter how hard you worked—some things were beyond your control. Like the world itself. The way people could easily dismiss the lives of others as just numbers in a ledger.
Jason hadn't asked for much. A doctor's visit, some medication, and maybe a little bit of care. But they couldn't even give him that. And when they wouldn't, the rage started to take root. It twisted in him. It festered. It was no longer just about the system. It became something bigger. Something darker.
Jason Mason wasn't a murderer. He wasn't a killer. But when his anger broke through, it had a clarity. He could see it now. The faces of the people who held the power. The CEOs, the corporate heads, the ones who looked down at people like him and decided whether they lived or died.
One by one, they were going to pay. It didn't matter who they were, how many of them there were, or where they hid. Jason would find them. Jason would make them see him.
It started small. He learned their names. The ones at the top of the biggest companies. The ones who controlled the healthcare systems, the pharmaceutical giants, the insurance conglomerates. Their faces appeared on news articles and stock reports. Jason took them down one by one, carefully.
He watched their movements, studied their lives. He knew what they ate, where they slept, how they moved through their mansions, their gated communities. He wasn't the only one watching them, but he didn't care. He just needed to get closer.
The first one was easy. The head of a major healthcare provider. A man who lived in a place so opulent it looked like a palace. Jason found him in his office at night, just him and a few security guards. It was simple, really.
The man was on the phone when Jason arrived. He looked at him with that smug look people get when they believe they are untouchable. Jason didn't give him a chance to speak. The man's eyes went wide as Jason grabbed him by the throat.
He didn't scream. Jason didn't give him the chance.
The CEO's blood splattered across the floor, across the walls. The lights buzzed overhead. Jason didn't flinch. He just stared at the man, waiting for the final breath. When it came, Jason smiled.
After that, it wasn't hard.
It was methodical.
Every night, a new face. A new life taken. A new corporate leader removed from their throne. Jason had learned to stop feeling. He had learned to stop caring. He could look at their bodies, their cold eyes, and only feel... nothing.
But he was starting to notice things. The shadows moved differently, more densely, when he moved. He didn't know if it was his mind playing tricks or if something else was happening, but he kept moving forward. He had to. The faces, the names—they kept coming. The blood kept coming.
He didn't know how long it had been since he'd started, but it didn't matter. What mattered was the ones left. He still had work to do.
He found his next target in a remote mansion. This man, a pharmaceutical magnate, was known for being untouchable. His company had ties everywhere, deep within the government, within the police. Jason didn't care. This man had taken lives—people who couldn't afford the medication they needed, people who had died because he'd raised prices to line his pockets.
Jason crept through the house, silent. The air felt thick, oppressive, almost suffocating. He was getting used to it by now. It didn't stop him. He found the man in his study, surrounded by books and stacks of paperwork.
The man looked up from his desk, his eyes meeting Jason's, cold. "You think you're the only one?" he asked, voice steady.
Jason didn't answer. He didn't need to.
It was faster this time. Quicker. Jason didn't even wait for the man to beg.
There were more. Too many to count. CEOs, corporate heads, directors—every one of them guilty in their own way. Jason became something else entirely, something cold and methodical. He didn't need to know their names anymore. He didn't need to know their faces. He just needed to know where they were, and he could find them.
But as the list of names got shorter, Jason began to notice the change. The feeling in the air shifted again. It wasn't just oppressive now—it was... heavy. Something was closing in on him.
The darkness was all around him. He couldn't run anymore.
He tracked his final target to a high-rise in a city that never seemed to sleep. This man had been the one who built the system, the one who'd made sure people like Jason were nothing more than expendable pieces in a game he would never play. Jason had his name, and he had his address. He knew where he would be.
The elevator ride was a slow one. Jason could feel the tension in his chest, but it didn't matter. He didn't stop. He didn't think about it. He had made his way too far to back down.
The doors opened, and there he was.
The CEO looked up from his desk when Jason walked in. He was the last of the names. The last one on the list. The last one who had kept Jason's rage burning.
"You think you've won?" The CEO stood, his voice cold and detached, like it had been practiced.
Jason didn't say a word. He took a step forward.
And then, it all stopped. Everything stopped. The room didn't feel right anymore. The air didn't feel right. The floor didn't feel right. Jason's vision blurred.
It was a trap.
The doors slammed shut, the windows blacked out. Jason tried to move, but his legs wouldn't work. He couldn't breathe. He couldn't think.
It wasn't until he fell to his knees that he realized what had happened. The man wasn't alone. The whole building wasn't empty.
They had been watching him. The CEOs. The ones he'd killed. They were all here, standing just outside his vision, waiting for the right moment.
Jason tried to scream, but there was nothing left in him. No more energy. No more anger. Only a deep, suffocating silence.
The last thing he saw was the CEO's face, a smile spreading across his lips.
And then Jason collapsed.
The room went quiet.
No one was left to remember him.