Mob Mentality

Author's Note: Ah this is only part one? Well I consider this piece my BABY! It's set in the 1920's in a Kingdom Hearts inspired Chicago. I was thoroughly motivated to write this fiction thanks to a wonderful fanart I discovered on deviantart (oh what wonders that site beholds). Due to the setting, some characters won't truly be IN character (according to Birth by Sleep) but this is supposed to be a fun piece. I know this looks like a lot but please bear with me :D Reviews are much and PLEASE don't think that I've forgotten about Blackbird! I'm working diligently on that piece for all of you wonderful reviewers who enjoyed it ever so much! I honestly appreciate every word you guys said and it makes me so happy to know you all loved it and received it so positively. I'll update Blackbird this week with chapter three so please keep your eyes peeled for that. Much love ~ Hikari

Characters: Terra, Ven, Aqua
Summary: He was considered an untouchable. A man who could stop crime with one glare. He was the one most mob men feared. With the exception of one…
Word count: 2,081

Chapter One
~Criminal~
(Part One)

The Lexington Hotel was a place for the elite in Chicago. Whether they were good or bad, the Lexington didn't care. Due to this crucial fact he knew needed to be there if he wanted to succeed at his mission. The whole city of Chicago was counting on him and he wasn't planning on letting them down. No sir. It just wasn't the way he worked.

Ventus Ness, or Ven, as his colleagues called him, was the crème of the crop. He graduated top of his class in the Police Academy and despite his youth, he was a force to be reckoned with. When there was crime on the streets, he was the first one to arrive and the last to leave. He was reliable, dependable, and ultimately untouchable. He was feared and well-known to the mobsters of Chicago. Thus, this made his most recent operation quite tough. See, the federal agency, commanded by Chief Eraqus had a problem on their hands.

A new group of gangsters were threatening the peace with their illegal imports and profound use of violence and Unversed, monsters who's origin are yet to be discovered. Of course, these actions did not sit well with the federal agency. Nor did the fact that the group of mobsters always happened to get away unscratched.

Chief Eraqus knew he could put his trust into Ven's hands in order to take down this new threat. But over the past months, Ven's attempts at breaking down the new opponents resulted in failure. During the most recent attempt to bring justice to this new foe, Ven was so sure that he had the new group pinned…

"Are you sure you saw them there?" The blond haired detective queried as he reviewed the detailed notes he took within his notepad. There was no room for error in such a situation as this. Ventus knew he had to bring an end to this threat, and if this young man was telling the truth then Ven would be considered a hero.

"Why would I lie to you Mister?" The red haired child replied offended as he fixed the drooping red feather on his green paper boy hat. "I may be a boy but I saw what I saw and what I saw were those mobsters stinking up the warehouse district with their Unversed and gigantic keys." The sparky youth replied with a huff.

An annoyed chuckle escaped Ventus's lips as he bit his lower lip. "Alright kid. You seem pretty hell-bent on this story." The young detective placed his free hand upon the young boy's shoulder and rubbed it once. "Thanks for your help. But for record keeping purposes we need your name."

"Name's Peter. Peter Pan." And with that he placed his hands on his hips while lifting his chest to the sky as if he were Superman or something.

"Alright thanks Peter." He replied, taking a moment to jot down the red-head's name into his notepad. "That'll do, keep out of trouble. Men, we're headed—" Just as Ventus was about to inform the other policemen to leave the scene Peter Pan mentioned something definitively worth listening to.

"Wait!" He interjected. "Before you go, I remember them saying that they had both of those Princesses of Business locked up in one of the warehouses along with their imports."

"You mean Belle Lecroart and Aurora Costa?" Ventus replied with an arched brow, skeptical of the young man's credibility. "Are you positive? The whereabouts of missing victims isn't something to joke about kid."

"I'm absolutely and irrevocably positive. My friend Tink even knows where they are, she's the one who followed one of the mob's men who took the princesses into a random warehouse and came rushing back to me as soon as she found them." Peter Pan replied, jerking his thumb in the direction of the floating pixie beside his shoulder.

Taking one glance towards his men, some of whom had lips curved into smirks thinking that they would finally put an end to the mob, Ven placed his hand on Peter's back and lead him to the car. "You're coming with us and you," He said to the glowing fairy, "you're showing us exactly where the princesses are!"

Ventus set foot outside of the car into the night's chilling air. He kept his pistol at the ready as he summoned forth a few policemen to accompany him into the warehouse that the pixie had lead them to. The rest of the men situated themselves about the building in order to prepare themselves for the possible onslaught of Unversed or even wielders…

As Ventus was about to send Peter Pan away, he noticed that the fiery red-head wasn't in the police car. Nervous that the boy had escaped from their grasp, Ven's eyes widened as he stopped in his tracks and briskly looked around. Peter Pan surprisingly came into view as he was floating beside the operative. "Peter! Why'd you get out of the goddamn car?" Ven exclaimed without trying to be too loud.

"Hey! I'm not going to sit in there and do nothing! I at least want to help." He retorted.

"If you really want to help then go home." The blond replied.

The green-caped youth furrowed his brow before folding his arms in a huff. "Fine, but if you regret it then don't come crying to me!"

Sighing, Ventus reached up and ruffled the kid's hair. "Thanks for your help but I'm sure we can take it from here." Soon after Peter Pan left the scene, his fairy friend following close behind. Nevertheless, she kept a close eye on the scene prior to disappearing completely into the night sky.

Once Ven was sure that the youngster had gone completely, he began to make his advance. His men prepared themselves accordingly, barrels pointing at the exits of the warehouse, as their leader made way. Ven's backup followed him closely, their eyes constantly looking about their surroundings. Taking a deep breath in, Ven opened the door and entered the building.

Upon entrance, he noted how eerily quite the environment was. The only sound heard were Ventus and his men's quiet advancing footsteps. Ven took full ownership of his pistol as he kept his eyes peeled on skyways where possible mobsters could be awaiting his presence with force. The blond detective made his way towards a pile of crates marked with red letters reading: "fragile". Gesturing with his hand for one of his men to observe the crate, he moved onwards in search for the women and the criminals.

As he went deeper into the warehouse, the darker it became. Still, there were rows upon rows of crates and boxes which Ventus safely assumed were the illegal imports. He wouldn't know for sure until he received word from his ally who was assigned to investigate one of the boxes.

Almost feeling as if he had just reached a dead end with this lead, a light was reignited within Ven as he heard muffled voices a few rows away. The policeman that had accompanied Ven further into the warehouse, also known as Lea, made eye contact with Ven. "Are you thinking what I'm thinking?" The spiky red-haired companion asked without truly expecting an answer.

Nodding his head in slight excitement, Ven briskly made his way towards the muffled voices. As he approached, he noticed that a faint light was emanating from the direction of the subdued noises. What was once a brisk walk now became a full out sprint as Ventus closed in on the unknown source of noise, Lea following close behind.

Running straight into the light, Ven was momentarily blinded before he could truly see anything. Rubbing his eyes he came to realize he had found one of the things Peter Pan had mentioned earlier. He had found the two missing "Princesses of Business". Their eyes held so much hope as they looked upon Ven's figure and soon Lea's. The detective furrowed his brow upon realizing that the women had been tied and gagged.

"Don't worry girls," He began in a hushed voice. "We're here to bring you home."

Aurora's eyes swelled with tears as Ventus began to untie her from the chair that held her captive. As soon as Miss Costa was set free she threw her arms around the young blond promising that her betrothed, Phillip, would give him the grandest reward upon her arrival home.

"We don't need your money ma'am." Lea replied as soon as he finished freeing Belle from the tied ropes.

"But, how shall we ever repay you both?" Aurora asked, her hands clasped before her pink pencil skirt.

"We just need to know what happened." Ventus said in a soothing tone of voice.

"Don't worry." Belle answered. "We'll tell you everything you need to know."

With a quick exchange of thank you's, the foursome began to head towards the entrance from which Ven and his men originally entered. Halfway there, they all encountered the other policeman that had accompanied Ven and Lea, Isa. The blue haired male held a look of frustration as he held round objects in the palms of his hands.

"Are those the illegals?" Lea asked as he approached Isa with a curious expression.

Repressing a growl, Isa faced Ventus. "Damn mobsters either beat us to the punch or love to taunt us." The blue-haired deputy threw the round bubbles into the air and watched them pop. "There's nothing but MP bubbles here."

Ven, utterly shocked, order Lea to remove the Princesses from the warehouse and then proceeded to tear boxes apart. With every crate he tore open his vision was shrouded with bubbles. Tons and tons of MP bubbles. He could almost hear the laughter that Don Xehanort and his lackeys, Terra and Aqua, would be emitting from their foul mouths.

The entire warehouse was turned upside down in hopes of finding something once the entire squadron that was sent with Ven entered the building. But time after time only bubbles were found. Only one thing besides bubbles were found in the search, it was a letter with red lipstick atop the envelop encasing it. It read:

'Good job. You found bubbles, have fun popping them.'

Ven was the last to leave the warehouse that night. It was said that he had double checked the entire warehouse after his team had left the scene. Despite "saving" the two Princesses of Business and receiving praise for such actions such as front page coverage on the Chicago Key News, Ventus was not satisfied. He was humiliated and this only fueled his fire to win this war against the mob.

He was aware of basic facts such as it being lead by a man named Xehanort, his last name being a mystery. The men and Unversed who followed under his command commonly referred to him as Don Xehanort in order to identify his superiority. Only a few referred to the leader as simply Xehanort and it just so happened to be his most dependable man. His second in command was a man by the name of Terra Nitti whom was always accompanied by a mysterious female by the name of Aqua Petri. Allegedly, the duo was unstoppable and dangerous. Despite his clear frustration, Ventus had to swallow his pride and accept that. For the time being, of course.

As time went on, the Xehanort Mob continued to succeed at wreaking havoc in the city. With every attempt Ventus Ness made to stop the mob, they had outsmarted him. The scene of the crime was always left with a note with a red kiss that taunted Ven every time he failed at his tries. Deciding that enough was enough, Ven Ness had come up with a plan that might work… Might.

Whilst looking over countless files concerning the Xehanort Mob, he noted that in every attempt they were consistently thinking a step ahead. Well, what if he were to think two steps ahead? What if he began to outmaneuver them? In order to gain the attention of the subject at hand, Ven knew he had to have a certain level of notoriety. The question was how could he accomplish such a feat?

A staged crime.