City of Corruption: Origins

[Darkoda]

“Some are calling it the crime of the decade, but it might be more accurate to call it the thwarted crime of the decade. An hour ago eight men entered the Brightmoore National Bank with the intent to engage in a heist of everything within and potentially to cause injury to all those involved. Though details are sketchy at this time it has already been confirmed by several anonymous persons that these mens likely had ties to the Mafia like organization that has long been a scourge in the less...financially stable districts of the city.”

Arc watched the latest evening news broadcast with disinterest, as the woman went on to drone about the robbery yet again. Not to say that the story wasn't interesting the first time, but by the sixth time, it lost its charm. The only point to note in the whole thing was the preliminary description of the man who stopped all the robbers, a huge man. Sounded a bit similar to the man who stopped the train robbery, then there was that man who caught the would be rapist, the arms breakup carried out by a mysterious person, and all of this occurring within a few days of each other. Coincidence? Quite unlikely.

This was a good and bad thing. Good in the sense that it certainly was refreshing to hear about the criminals having to put in effort to actually do anything now, but the loss of so much of his primary money source might end up affecting him sooner or later; who was he going to con if no one could manage to steal anything? It wasn't as if the Mafia played cards at random illegal gambling joints.

Granted, in the grand scheme of things, he was getting bored with the current stability, and this did give him an excuse to go roaming the streets again; if his money wasn't going to come to him, then he would just go and get it himself. His mind set, and the cashier at the counter giving him a dirty look, Arc finally decided to drag himself out of the old, near condemned cafe he found and head out into the ghetto. The streets were as dismal as ever, the stars barely peeking out behind the cloud cover. It was a perfect time for the muggers to be about, but Arc seemed to have no luck in attracting them. Maybe the vigilante had hem all scared enough to not be moving about? No, they would just gather in more numbers to try to overpower him. So, he really was destined to have no fun today outside of going to the affluent sections of the city and harassing the rich people.

While Arc was lost in his internal monologue, a large hulk of a man walked out of an alley, making a straight path towards him. The man moved surprisingly fast, closing distance between them and knocking Arc into an alley. Considering that the streets were empty, and the man had a hood covering his face, it wasn't a far stretch to assume that Arc had managed to attract someone, and possibly more than the average person could handle.

"Your money or your life. Choose quickly." The oversized mugger brandished a switchblade to get his point across, since his current prey wasn't paying much attention to him, instead straightening out his coat. Arc took one good look at the man, and reached into his pocket, while making a mental note not to get so distracted later on. The mugger inched forward in anticipation, a large grin on his face, which quickly turned into a strangled gasp as a card was embedded into his windpipe. Arc quickly reached out before the man could fall out of the alley, tossing him in deeper and relieving him of his weapon.

"That's it? How unbelievably boring, you were a waste of a good card."

The mugger couldn't answer back very well, being preoccupied with trying to pull out the card from his throat. Arc helped him along, causing the unusual weapon to slice around his neck, effectively beheading the guy.

"I'm still bored.... I wonder if anyone else wants to play?"

Leaving the corpse behind, Arc continued his hunt for amusement, absently remembering to send the bloody card away; granted, no one would suspect that as a murder weapon, but no point in using another card to toy with anyone else he met tonight when nothing was wrong with the first one.

[Zhiel]

"This is BULLSHIT!" the voice of a grizzled looking man yelled in anger as he slammed his fist down on a big circular table where he and a number of other people, all dressed up in suits befitting business men sat, the sudden slam on the tables surface causing three of the five other individuals to flinch while they avoided looking directly at the first man who wore a dark brown leather coat over his suit which hanged loosely over his shoulders at the moment. The first man took a few deep breaths to calm himself before he raised his gaze to the people around him, eyeing each of them individually before he drew his fingers through his fairly short brown hair with grey streaks. The Mob as they were most commonly known had several leaders, six in total though what was only truly known among the higher echelon was that one of these stood above the rest and this man was Aleksey Sidorov a man past his forties who had been the leader of the Russian Mob for over twenty years. This man was as equally respected as he was feared, for as brilliant he was in leading the Mob to their current greatness he was also cruel beyond comprehension, sparing no mercy for anyone who stood in their way or was even suspected of betrayal.

While less significant the other men around the table were also Mafia bosses however, though three of them, all roughly thirty years of age were still clearly afraid of the older man though this was more due to their recent failings. The other two remained calm despite their leaders display of anger, one being just a bit over twenty and being the newest among them and not even of Russian descent, while the other was even older than Aleksey and had nearly completely white hair, having been the original founder of the Russian Mob in Brightmoore, Boris Demidov. Both of these people had their own reasons for remaining calm though in the laters case it was more because he knew how important he was to the Mob, while in the formers case he was the one who took care of most of their legitimate business dealings and was more of a public face, having very little to do with their actual illegal activities other than funding them.

"One major deal ruined, all present were put in jail and with the evidence left on the scene there is little that can be done for them. However on top of that the dealers have cut us off from their supply list... And now someone attempts to rob MY bank and then we get the blame? I thought it was your job to handle the media, Santiago?" Aleksey spoke calmly, though as he did he was fiddling with a cigar in his right hand and was tapping the edge of the table with his left hands fingers, making it obvious he was doing his best to restrain himself. The man in question became pale as a ghost when he was addressed, sweating quite clearly as he attempted to answer but little more than stuttering sounds came out of his mouth. "Ah, well, uhm, you see... We, I mean they, as in.." Finally the man calmed down enough to take a deep breath as he began to explain slowly. "Boss, I don't know how or why, but the guy who was supposed to be dealing with the robbery claims someone got to it before him..." Though he had managed to build up a somewhat calm exterior anyone worth his salt could Santiago was just about to piss himself.

"I don't give a damn about some piece of shit who can't handle his one f***ing job right! Bring the idiot in for questioning, maybe he "forgot" to mention something, like being on those damn Columbians payroll." Though clearly still angry Aleksey almost sounded tired when he ordered Santiago to "interrogate" the man, like if he had gone through this kind of thing a thousand times before and even he himself knew that the chances this guy was stupid enough to actually be taking money from the Cartel was slim, but it was more a way to show they did not tolerate anyone betraying them and so it had to be done. It sent out a clear message about what happened to those who were disloyal and that was the entire point behind it. Turning to another of the three who had shown anxiety earlier Aleksey spoke once more. "So what's this bullcrap about some masked crusader taking out over twenty of our guys on his own? What is this a bloody comic book!?"

The man this 'question' was directed toward seemed to have grown about as nervous as the previous guy though he was able to avoid stuttering as he responded, though he was fiddling with his tie while doing so. "Well boss... From what info I could get through the police they were apparently attacked by a small person or persons, they never got a clear look at their assailant though we don't think it's the same guy who stopped the bank robbery, though admittedly we don't even know if it's a guy at all..." The man seemed dissatisfied with the limited info he could gather and rightly so as Aleksey's anger came to be directed at him due to what he considered incompetence. "Amazing work, you know someone attacked them, I could never have figured that out without you. F***ing ridiculous, the hell do we pay these morons for to begin with!? Now our best gun dealer has cut connections with us too, the hell are we supposed to do if the Cartel decides to wage open war with us, huh!?" The man on the other side of the table looked about ready to hide under the table when his boss leaned forward in his seat and stared him down.

However before anything more could be said between the mob bosses a knock could be heard behind them in the dimly lit room and as they all turned to look toward the disturbance they saw a tall man dressed up in a dark red and black suit that seemed to contain some pretty advanced pieces of kevlar and other bullet-proof materials. Around his neck was a loosely sitting red scarf that obscured everything but his eyes and blond hair that hanged loosely down to his shoulders, and though they could not read anything from his brown eyes at the current luminosity Aleksey guessed the man was amused. It appeared the knock had come from this man who had done so after entering the room, in order to draw their attention and as they noticed the four younger mob bosses immediately drew guns from either inside their suits or that had been laying nearby and aimed them at the newcomer who raised his hands up parallel with his head, displaying the claw-like additions to his reinforced gloves. "Now now gentlemen, there is no need for a display of violence." He began with a voice that sounded almost mocking, though it could very well just be how he spoke. Then the man began to walk closer to the mob bosses as he lowered his arms once again, with three of the mob bosses looking to their leader for guidance.

Aleksey knew that if this man had intended to kill them, he could have done so by now, this was evident by how he had to intentionally draw their attention. No, he was here for a different reason and so when the other mob bosses seemed to want orders he simply raised his hand, signalling for them to lower their weapons. However one of them had not noticed this and looking increasingly nervous he looked just about to snap as he clutched the gun with his hand shaking, he had probably had a little too much tension for one day by the looks of it though before he could pull the trigger, if he intended to, the newcomer did one swift motion with his left arm and suddenly a one foot long knife had embedded itself in the twitchy boss's hand, forcing him to drop the gun as he began to scream in pain while gripping it with his other hand. "Gentlemen I am sure I told you there was no need for violence? Now then..." the newcomer began once more, but was cut off by Aleksey. "Indeed, unfortunately my buffoon of a subordinate did not take the hint, though judging by your skill you could have avoided dirtying my carpet. Why are you here Crimson Shadow?"

Crimson Shadow, the man who had infiltrated their building seemingly with ease let out a hearty chuckle upon Aleksey's response before he walked right up to their table and leaned forward while in an instant producing a small folder that he held out in-front of Aleksey. "Heard you've got some trouble with a certain vigilante, so I decided to check it out. Surprisingly easy to find this guy." Crimson said like if he was discussing the weather as he let go of the folder and as it fell down onto the table several photos of Zach wearing his "crime fighting gear" slid out of it, though even as Aleksey scanned them all none of them showed Zach's real features. "The guy from the bank heist... If he was so easy to find, how come you don't have any of his face?" The Russian asked, though annoyed by Crimson's way of acting he knew better than to look a gift horse in the mouth.

Thing was, Crimson Shadow was well known in the "underworld" for his eccentricities and sometimes downright random actions. It wasn't unusual for this man to pop in without ever being called, giving away information and sometimes even having taken care of a person or persons that an organization was planning on killing, in other words he was extremely good at getting inside information and also downright psychotic to an extent, he seemed to kill for enjoyment and not pay, though he was just as likely to charge millions for an assassination as he was to do it for free... One would have to search long and hard to find someone of equal skill to Crimson Shadow however, and Aleksey knew this well. "So what do you want in return for this information?" He asked, as he turned one of the photos around, where the street address was written. Crimson himself pulled back and stood straight as he seemed to contemplate the question posed to him, one hand stroking the chin area of his scarf like if he was unaware it was there, or perhaps just did it for show before he suddenly threw his arms out wide and said in a loud exaggerated voice "It's a show of friiieeendship!" Before he lowered his arms again and spoke in a more serious tone "If you've got a need of my services, you know how to get in touch." He finished as he turned around like if about to walk outside, but was stopped by Aleksey. "You know who he is, don't you?" Crimson half-turned at this but just raised his arms up to his shoulders while shrugging "Noooot a clue." though anyone with half a brain could tell he was lying. What followed though was Crimson ripping the dagger out of the first unfortunate mob boss's hand, making him scream once more while Crimson walked out the door with a wave of his hand.

---

Elsewhere in Brightmoore Michelle was watching the news broadcast and was merely staring at the screen with a look of shock on her face for nearly a minute before she gave any real response to seeing who was behind stopping the bank heist. "fffffffffffffffffffff-fuck!" She exclaimed, but was barely able to do anything else before James cut in with "Ladies don't swear.", whereupon she turned to him with a half angry, half amused look on her face "Well, ladies don't go out beating up criminals either, right?" these kind of 'discussions' was fairly typical between Michelle and James, though she had never really won one of them, and wasn't about to now either. "The moment you don that suit you cease to be a lady and become a symbol of justice, girl." James retort made her give our an angry 'hmph' as she turned back to the monitor showing the news, before she spoke once more though seemingly having dropped her 'anger'. "So what do you think of this man? Though his use of... Guns... Seem a bit excessive, he also seems to know what he's doing and didn't actually kill anyone this time around, if it is the same person as on that tram." She asked while also giving her own opinion on Zach, her dislike for guns shining through quite well. "I can see no less than fourteen fatal flaws in his actions, and I was barely paying attention. He's surely got potential but at this rate he's just going to get himself killed." James said matter of factly, with Michelle sighing in response. "Always so cheerful, aren't you?"

A few hours later Michelle was once again called down to the underground complex where James was sitting by his super-computer while watching a dozen different displays at the same time, three of which showed large detailed maps of Brightmoore in both 2d and 3d, with the big centre screen taking from the 3d feed, showing a street that would be very familiar to Zach if he were there. "What is it father?" Michelle asked as she walked up beside him, while James leaned back in his high-backed chair. "I believe I may have located his hideout, based on my investigations into the matter there are a number of five candidates in Brightmoore who seem to fit into this category, with this being the most likely." James explained as the personal information of Zachary Haynes began to appear on the center screen on-top of the 3d map. "Huh, interesting..." Michelle mused to herself as she leaned forward to see the text more clearly. "Terminal cancer... A years life expectancy... That's pretty harsh. I see why you think this might be the guy we're looking for though." She said as she read parts of the information available to them, it also listed how he had recently moved though actual details were sketchy due to him living in a ghetto. "Indeed, you should go pay him a visit, see if it is him. If my guess is right, then it's not unlikely to say the Mob may soon locate him as well." Michelle turned to look at her foster father as he said this with a curious expression on her face "Why do you think that?" without turning to look at her he simply said "I've got a hunch.", and that was all she needed to know as she quickly changed to her less inconspicuous outfit and headed out.