Re: SHOT in the Back

by **Creation of Pokerus** Sun Jul 15, 2012 8:51 pm

Mel gave an odd smile and stepped out the door. "Thank you, Doque," she nodded, turning around a few feet out the door while waiting for her caretaker. She glanced around studying her surroundings a bit more, searching for anything new.

by quackers are yummylicious Sun Jul 15, 2012 8:53 pm

Doque closed the door and fumbled with her keys to lock it, eventually having success in doing so. "Alright, let's go. I'm hungry," she nodded enthusiastically, heading down hallway.

by Dobi Boshi Mon Jul 16, 2012 9:35 am

Lila sighed, tossing away the morning’s paper as she leaned back in her cosy chair at the kitchen table - how she loved days off. There had been nothing interesting in the paper itself; reports of the families being attacked but nobody was taking any credit for it all and as a result the families had been quick to blame one another for each little skirmish and loss they experienced. At this point lower level grunts probably had taken to attacking the apposing family to attempt to earn some respect and credit with the higher ups.

She’d seen this situation before: it was one of Stefan’s favourite tactics back in the day. He’d attack one family, do some damage and retreat before reinforcements arrived, with no witness and the tension between them the families just assumed it was the other one responsible for the attack. And whilst they were at each others throats he'do as he pleased in the fallout.

Letting her head loll back over the top of her chair so she could stare up at the ceiling she wondered if things were starting to take a step back. Sure looked like things could head that way if things kept up like they were. Could mess with business again… she frowned, remembering that during the final stages of the conflict last time she’d be forced to pick a side just to make sure the garage didn’t go under. She hoped she could stay well clear of it this time.

“Their war hasn’t been my problem in a long time.” Lila assured herself, she’d built enough of a rep and hand many loyal customers; the families going to war would put a dent in her income, but she’d survive this time for sure. Though if Ethan got himself mixed up in everything…

If she was honest, for the first time in a long time she was terrified he’d go the same path as his brothers and like both times before, she wouldn’t be able to save him from himself.

---

“Mr Mayor,” Florence Bakura looked up from the document he’d been reading, casting his gaze up to look at his assistant standing in the office doorway. She was a plain girl, but she got her work done and was a dutiful young woman who he found he could actually count on to do as he asked. “Mr Prescott has arrived for your twelve o’clock, sir,”

“Excellent, show him in,” Bakura commanded, placing the paper he’d be reading back on his desk before straightening himself out. Placing his hands on the desk, he let his fingers intersect as he waited patiently for his appointment to arrive. The past few years had all be leading up to this moment, he realised, the moment everything truly went into motion again.

And after a minutes pause, a man walked through his door. Tall and thin with a bony face and watery grey eyes. He was well dressed and presentable as he had requested of him, sharp in a pinstriped suit and flashy red tie. He carried a suitcase with him, though it was sealed suit by a code only Prescott and Bakura himself knew, attached to the man’s wrist by handcuffs to which only he had the key. His plans and notes.

“Ah, Prescott, please do come in and sit down, we have much to discuss,” he gestured to the seat before his desk, trying his best to hide his predatory smirk. And the games begin again, he thought, checking his watch, a few hours or so left until the Chings and the de Lucas would be out for one another’s blood once more. And then the real curve ball would hit home.

by Ra The BlazeWingPhoenix Tue Jul 17, 2012 2:45 am

Karl started on his way home, a dozen or so thoughts clogging his mind at the moment. He walked out of the cemetery and across a street, right into the nearby park. He couldn't help but be having a bad feeling today, was not goign to be fully peaceful.

...

Then again, he did have a three year old at home.

...

Oh how he didn't like getting woken up at three am when Maxie was younger. Even though he was more of a night person... He just hated being woken up at any given hour really.

by MrMissMrs Random Tue Jul 17, 2012 10:58 am

When Andrea heard the door open the woman got up from her seat, running a couple of swipes through her hair to try and flatten it back down, before pausing. Godammit, Karl's already seen me at my worst; this is probably nothing.

...The woman also tried to smooth out any wrinkles in her blouse, before walking into the small hallway to greet her husband.

"Hey."

by MrMissMrs Random Tue Jul 17, 2012 11:07 am

EDIT: Wrong thread

by Ra The BlazeWingPhoenix Tue Jul 17, 2012 2:41 pm

"Hey," Was Karl's response as he slid off his jacket, hanging it on the coat rack. "How's the paper coming along?" He then asked, making sure to keep his voice down in case Max was still fast asleep. He then smiled at Andrea.

by MrMissMrs Random Tue Jul 17, 2012 2:49 pm

"It's coming, at least." The woman did a quick stretch of her arms, having sat in her chair for an hour, her usually in motion body was getting restless. After Karl hung up his cloak the woman wrapped her arms around the man's neck, giving a squeeze before a quick kiss on the cheek. "I'll send it in for evaluation tonight. Just need to think of a good conclusion to tie everything in."

Her main focus was debating on what really effected a person's pyche: nature or nurture. Andrea was focusing on nurture playing a key part in things such as substance abuse, violence, and other crime rates. It wasn't as hard as people thought, considering she had done a little bit of everything in the past.

by Ra The BlazeWingPhoenix Tue Jul 17, 2012 5:02 pm

"I'm glad to hear it," Karl said when she had said it was coming. When she wrapped her arms around his neck, he brought one hand up to hold onto her arm.

"And Max's still asleep?" he then asked, suspecting as much when the kid hadn't come to greet him or anything. "I'll get started on lunch in a little bit," he added on, since after all, he was a cook still. He still did have the experience, and techniques from his collage.

by Stabberz Tue Jul 17, 2012 5:10 pm

The wind blew slowly across a quiet October afternoon. Bits of trash that had been dropped in and around the graveyard were blown onto the many graves that were dotted around the field. One crisp packet in particular flew lazily through the air and landed on a single seemingly insignificant grave.

Not that it was given long to rest there. Barely a second after it had landed a hand shot at it and ripped the packet from it's resting spot. The packet was soon discarded by the person who had removed it from the grave and was left to continue on its journey.

The person who had removed it merely shrugged it off and continued gazing at the headstone. He'd memorised the text etched into the stone a copious amount of times. Even now reading the lettering caused his blood to boil slightly.

Even now, he couldn't let it go. He wasn't sure who he was angry at. Damon? Bakura? The Chings and de Luca's? Himself? None of it made any sense. He'd sit there when he wasn't busy and just go over everything.

He could still remember the last time he'd seen his brother. They'd start getting on again and it was when Damon and Lila were taking him somewhere to be safe before their mission. Damon's cocky grin had turned into a serious line and he surveyed him. His eyes had seemed sincere and he'd placed a warm hand on his shoulder. The words he had said would be with him for ever.

"I love you, Brother." Ethan Karmts whispered as he felt the familiar spring of emotion threaten to well up within him. His face was impassive other than the eyes. It was always the eyes with the Karmts brothers. Perhaps it was because of the fact that all of their emotions shined from them, which when crossed against their natures and mannerisms often lead to them having a mysterious feel about them.

Now, Ethan was the only one left. Stefan had been an evil crime lord who had manipulated Damon and others like him into sadistic rapists and murderers. Damon had killed him after being pushed to far.

And Damon had been a murdering rapist turned saviour to the gang leaders. It had been he who had pulled the trigger on the mayor. Despite being fraught with fever from the poison that Bakura had injected into him, Damon had managed to fight his way through.

Then Marisol's fabled Mayor had shot Damon through the chest, four times. The bastard had taken away a father, a brother and a friend. Yet still he was living up his life. Mayor of Marisol, and manipulative bastard who was making life harder and harder for the families and their associates.

Ethan grimaced and ran a hand through his dark hair. He looked the grave up and down and frowned. "They need someone like you for this..." He spoke quietly his eyes closing over.

"A fighter who can stop the families arguing. Someone charismatic... that's what they need." Ethan sighed and reared his head up. "I'm trying... I really really am."

"I'm not your wimpy little brother anymore," he announced. "I'm trying to do better than you." Ethan's fists were clenched now and his gaze had hardened on the grave.

He had only ever come here when he was angry or feeling lonely over the past year. Most of the time it was because of an argument with Lila. This time it had been no different, she'd found out about some more of his activities.

Ethan had been so caught up in it he hadn't paid attention to the man in the hood who had been near his brothers grave. Which now he thought about it was suspicious as it was.

The teenager sighed and turned heel on the grave stone. "I will make you proud brother."

Barely two minutes after he'd left the graveyard his phone rang. It was shrill and jarred his thoughts. With a grunt he whipped the phone upwards and snapped it open to place to his ear.

"Talk to me, Lena."

by MrMissMrs Random Tue Jul 17, 2012 5:12 pm

"He is, but he should be waking up soon," Andrea answered, leaning in some more before letting go so Karl could walk freely to the kitchen. "Need any help? I can be your assistant again." The woman said with a small smile. She wanted to cheer up the man, he would always get gloomy after visiting his parents, and while her mother died in childbirth and her father was first and foremost, even in his retirement a cop, Andrea felt for what Karl was still going through. Not to mention guilt, even if she didn't have a personal hand in the act.

by Book the Hero Tue Jul 17, 2012 5:20 pm

OOC: I find it funny that a lot of the characters were at the graveyard, yet never notice each other.

---

"Hey, where are you?" Lena asked, talking into her phone. "We have a job tonight, didn't we agree to meet back at the base before then?" She asked with a sigh. She had known the guy for several years now, and he had since became one of her closest friends. They both had their reasons for going into this kind of work, and they both found it was a lot easier if they worked together to get the jobs done. In the last few years, they had been able to make a pretty decent team.

"How fast can you get here?"

by Ra The BlazeWingPhoenix Tue Jul 17, 2012 5:22 pm

"If you'd like to help. I'm not making anything that special for lunch though," Karl answered when she had let go, scratching the back of his head. "Can't really afford to have expensive and huge meals every time of the day..." he started to rub the back of his head.

I still don't understand this... He silently sighed, and started to walk into the kitchen.

by Dobi Boshi Tue Jul 17, 2012 5:27 pm

Siegrain sighed to himself, feeling defeated and cowardly. Some kid had come walking up to Damon's grave whilst he'd still be there, and if they were coming to visit Damon then odds were he either knew them directly or indirectly in some shape or form. So he'd ran. He felt ashamed for doing it, but he couldn't face anyone form the past again - they all thought him dead and gone and it as probably better it stayed that way: it would stop him from destroying anymore lives than he already had.

He chuckled bitterly as he walked out of the cemetery gates. Even in the depths of his own mind his thoughts sounded foreign to him. Before going to prison he probably would have stayed, laughed at the newcomer and spat on them as he talked down to them from his imaginary pedestal which Damon had helped to make for him. His little brothers had adored him, and he them, yet towards the end, he'd be driving himself and Damon too far, he just wanted his little brothers to keep seeing him as the most important person in the world. But things hand changed, when he'd ordered Damon, or rather Spike, to rape that blond girl all those years ago, something had snapped inside him. A few weeks later he was chained to hospital bed waiting to be sentenced for his crimes.

Then prison had come. Prison had destroyed him. He thought he was as tough as they came, untouchable and unbeatable, but for all his murders and crimes, he found that when placed among those just like him, he was nothing but sickened to his core. As Stefan he'd boasted, but not about his murders or victims, but about the power and respect he'd been able to attain with his own two hands; but some of the others, the way they talked about it all with such fondness...

Part of him had wanted to do the same, show them all that whatever they had done, he'd easily topped it by far. But he couldn't bring himself to do it, not after he realised he'd really become such a demon that one of his little brothers, his reasons for living, had tried to kill him to spare anyway else his influence. He repulsed himself. He'd just broken down in prison, almost given up, but something had kept him going to this point, he had no idea what. But he wanted to find out.

So he'd taken to wondering the streets, trying to clear his head of past thoughts and focus on what he was supposed to do now that he was free. He'd figure it out, hopefully.

by MrMissMrs Random Tue Jul 17, 2012 5:29 pm

"I know. We're on a budget," Andrea replied. Though she still recieved a small stipend because her mother was the previous head's older sister, most of it went to tuition for her classes and essentials. Until Andrea got a degree and a stable job, they couldn't wine and dine at five star restaurants every week (they could dine and dash, but Andrea was trying to be better.. for the most part. Those rubber pants were a ridiculous amount last week, snotty lady needed a good shop lift for her to lower the stores prices...).

"Think we have some ingredients for pasta if you don't want to have it later tonight. I can make the salad." The woman said, looking through a couple of cabinets.

by Ra The BlazeWingPhoenix Tue Jul 17, 2012 5:36 pm

"If he have it, I can make it," Karl answered as he searched though some cabinets, seeing what was what. Where everything was. And more importantly, what was going to be going bad soon. He checked in the fridge and freezer.

"Could also do something with the chicken," he mused aloud, the gears in his brains turning as he thought about possible meals.

Oh how the chef side of him overtook him at times...

by MrMissMrs Random Tue Jul 17, 2012 5:41 pm

"We also have a packet to make alfredo sauce... Chicken Alfredo?" Andrea asked, they also had some pesto, but Max had been known to complain about the "yucky green stuff." Was I ever that picky? ...Probably.

Andrea couldn't help but smile at the look Karl had on his face, trying to craft a meal. She hoped one day the man would be able to go back to school to be a chef, even if one of his hands were still impaired from those weeks in captivity...

The woman turned away, feeling guilt well up inside her once more. It's my fault...

by Ra The BlazeWingPhoenix Tue Jul 17, 2012 5:49 pm

"We could do that, with some pasta, and a little bit of vegies mixed in...." Karl was still thinking, and was now coming up with a plate design for it. Oh how he loved to do that. And be creative in general. But alas...working in a resteraunt wasn't all up to that. He was working as a shift leader at the very least now.

I love being on a budget...

by MrMissMrs Random Tue Jul 17, 2012 5:52 pm

"We have... a packed of freezed brocoli," Andrea anounced as she went through the freezer. "And if we want to get crazy there are some mushrooms in the fridge as well."

by Ra The BlazeWingPhoenix Tue Jul 17, 2012 5:56 pm

"I'll use the mushrooms tonight," Karl said, rubbing his chin. "But for lunch...let's just have some grilled cheese, something nice and simple?"

Yeah, with that he was uncreative. Mainly because well, it's grilled cheese. It's simple and easy to make. Karl shut the fridge door and ran his left hand through his hair.

by MrMissMrs Random Tue Jul 17, 2012 6:03 pm

Andrea let out a small laugh. "Grilled cheese sounds good."

A small yawn was heard from the just outside the kitchen. "Is Daddy home?"

The woman looked over to find a small little boy leaning against the wall, rubbing his eyes. After a nap was the one time Andrea thought Max wasn't running around. He could get so hyper...

"Uh-huh. We were going to wake you when lunch was ready," Andrea replied with a smile, walking over to the boy to pick him up. Max nuzzled into his mother's embrace, looking ready to go back to sleep where he was, but gave a drowsy wave to Karl.

by Ra The BlazeWingPhoenix Tue Jul 17, 2012 6:06 pm

"Hey Maxie," Karl said, smiling as he returned the wave to the kid. "Sleep well?" he then asked the kid. watching as he thought the kid might fall back asleep.

"How does Grilled cheese sound for lunch?"

by Dobi Boshi Tue Jul 17, 2012 6:09 pm

As Karl and Andrea talked, a man lay flat out on his stomach on the roof across from their apartment, watching them move about in the kitchen. Bored, he rolled his eyes and lifted his head, looking away from the scope and staring at this partner who sat against the wall of the fire-escape doorway onto the roof.

"Why the fuck are we doin' this anyway?" He demanded, screw his face up at his partners shrug, who seemed more than content to laze against his perch with a cigarette dangling from his lips.

"Dunno, boss said to, that's why," was his eventual response, having mulled over the question for a moment, "Said something about the girl being related to the de Luca big shots; says that an attempt assassination attempt on her and her kid will cause a lot of bad blood - the current head doesn't have a kid, so as his most senior blood relative she'd be the heir apparent to take over the family if something was to happen to him and then her kid would be next in line. That said she could probably get out of it easily enough if she wanted, but it's the principle behind it."

"So what, she's a de Luca big shot and when someone takes her down, when no one takes the credit the'll just assume it was the Chings?" The sniper frown deepened, it sound pretty stupid to him. His partner just shrugged again.

"Pretty much, yeah," he said, "there's also the fact she's retired from family buisness; it's going to be seen as a cheap shot and it isn't going to sit well with the de Luca's they'll lunch a counter attack in no time at all, if the boss is right. And with the counter attacks comes full out war again. And whilst they're busy trying to tear one another apart, we make our move." The sniper nodded stiffly, he liked that part of the plan better. "Doc Prescott say's he's ready for the next stage of the operation, too."

"Then lets not keep the crowd waiting," his partner grunted, clambering up from his perch and grabbing the grenade launcher they had been told to bring; after he took a couple of pot shots they would pump the apartment full of grenades and gas and then boom. The war would indeed start with a bang again. "Boom, headshot," he chuckled to himself, looking down the scope once more and taking a quick fire shot at the girl, following it up with a second, third and forth not really aiming at anything, just trying to pin them so the grenades could take them out.

by MrMissMrs Random Tue Jul 17, 2012 6:19 pm

Max pouted at the use of "Maxie", it made him feel younger than he already was, but cheered up at the sound of grileld cheese. "Goo-"

"No!" Andrea screamed, dropping to the ground while shielding her son, a hand yanking Karl down as well. The bullets whizzed past as she fell, shattering a couple of dishes that had yet to be put in the washer.

by Ra The BlazeWingPhoenix Tue Jul 17, 2012 6:21 pm

"What in the name of!?" Karl shouted as he was pulled down. "What the heck!?" Really was all he could say at the moment. He thought there was some sort of truce still, or something.

...

Well, his feeling from before came true. Much to his displeasure.

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