Escaping Fate:
A Story of Redemption
Disclaimer: I don't own Grand Theft Auto or it's characters. I do own my original characters, though. No use without my permission.
Chapter 1: Hello Liberty City
The sun was shining brightly in the cloudless sky over Liberty City as a dark-green Infernus made it's way through the Porter Tunnel and towards Portland. The driver of the vehicle was a young man of about 17 years old. His name was Leon Masters, and he was on a mission. His mission was simply to save his life and get as far away from Cordell City as possible. There were a ton of thoughts going through Leon's mind at once, but he tried his best to focus on where he was going to go. It wasn't the first time he had been to Liberty City, but in his current state of mind, he could barely remember the city's layout. Leon was not one to normally be so afraid of anything, but after what he had done, no one could blame him.
It wasn't his plan to do what he did, but luck just wasn't on his side. His initial plan was to acquire enough money to help out his sister, Violet, who was currently residing in a makeshift dungeon inside the estate of Jerome Waters, leader of the Raven Syndicate, one of the biggest gangs in Cordell City. Leon himself didn't exactly know what had gone down, but apparently, Violet participated in the slaying of Jerome's cousin, Richie, and Jerome ordered her immediate capture. Once he caught her, he thought about killing her, but because he liked Leon, he gave him a chance to save her. All Leon had to do was help some members of the Ravens kill a suspected rat in the Syndicate. Leon, who had killed a number of people and had no qualms about killing another, thought that everything would be cool. Unfortunately, the rat turned out to be one of Leon's closest friends and Leon couldn't bring himself to kill the guy, so instead, he turned his gun upon the Syndicate members to save his friend. This created some bad blood with Jerome, who wanted Leon dead now. Not wanting to be the next victim of the Raven Syndicate's sinister acts, Leon hightailed it out of the city, although he felt bad for leaving Violet like that. Now, he didn't know if she was still alive, or if he would even live much longer. Life was going down the tubes quickly, and Leon knew that unless a miracle happened, there was no way to save it.
Leon exited the tunnel and made his way to the apartment buildings in Hepburn Heights. As he drove, he noticed that not much had changed in the city since his last visit three years ago. At the time, Leon was hearing a lot about some newbie to the city that was making waves. This guy, said to be completely silent no matter what, was supposed to have offed Salvatore Leone, the Don of the Leone family. Leon was rather impressed with the buzz he'd heard, but didn't really follow the story much. Leon started wondering if that guy still lived in the city as he pulled into the newly made parking area for the apartments. Apparently, three years had brought about some change. Leon parked his car in a spot close to the door and got out. He took a moment to inhale the fresh air before walking inside, thinking that his end could come at any time. Taking the stairs didn't appeal to Leon very much, so he got on the elevator instead, riding it up to the third floor. When he stepped out, he began checking the apartment doors for the correct number. After a minute a searching, he found the one he was looking for: number 311. Leon banged on the door madly, hoping that the person he came to see was home. Two minutes passed and no answer. Leon banged again, this time even more forcefully. Another two minutes passed and still no answer. Leon turned around to leave, having given up, when the door finally opened. Standing on the other side was a woman wearing nothing but a pair of blue jeans and a black bra.
"Hey Leon, how's it going?" she asked. "You don't look so good. Something up?"
Leon pushed her aside and entered the room, finding a seat on a slightly beat-up looking sofa.
"So much for manners," the woman said. "What the hell has got you in such a mood?"
Leon took a second to look around the room before answering. He surveyed every inch of the room, seemingly trying to locate something. When he was through, Leon focused his attention on the ceiling, sighing before speaking.
"Life's a bitch, you know that?"