Chapter 1: Finding Some Footing
August 17, 2012
Liberty City, Liberty State
"Do we have an actual plan here, Leon?"
Leon sighed for the umpteenth time that day as Violet posed the question to him, tossing in a few choice words at a car that cut in front of him. He knew she just wanted some reassurance that they weren't flying blind, but Leon didn't really know anymore. It had been a day since they arrived in the city, and the few contacts that Leon had were of no help. Two had died at some point during the last year, one wasn't in a position to help anybody, and the last wouldn't answer his phone. The two of them had barely spent any time in the city, and their options were already exhausted. Things were quickly looking grim, and there was only so long someone could live out of a car.
"Honest answer? Yeah…sort of," he responded, choosing not to elaborate. Violet wasn't having any of that, though.
"The fuck does that mean? Either we've got a plan, or we don't. I don't fancy wandering around the city aimlessly. Liberty City is not the place for that."
"I'm well aware of that."
"So what the hell do we do? Is there anyone else you can call on?"
"Possibly," Leon said. "She's nice enough to help us, at any rate."
"And you haven't called her why?" Violet asked, wondering why he'd leave a stone unturned.
"I have no idea how she'll react to what I did. She might not give a damn, or she might rat us out. No way to know without taking a risk."
"She's connected to the Ravens?"
"Not the gang itself, but Jerome. She's his girlfriend."
Violet let out an angry growl.
"That bastard has a girlfriend? Then why the hell was he trying to get into my pants? And what makes you think she won't be pissed when she hears about it?"
"She's kind of…flighty, I guess. No telling how she'll react, really." He went quiet for a moment, thinking about a question he hadn't had answered yet. "By the way, you didn't really say how you managed to avoid…you know. Jerome's a tough guy, and you aren't exactly packing a lot of muscle."
"I'm not that scrawny," Violet said playfully, flexing her arm to prove it. "And you never gave me a chance to explain, remember. You blew your stack and started pacing around the apartment, muttering threats. Next thing I know, you're taking off in your car, heading off to kill who knows how many people."
"That doesn't explain how you got away."
"He had a pretty heavy statuette on his coffee table. Three guesses as to what I did with it."
"Whacked him upside the head?"
"Sure did." She smiled devilishly, "After using it to smash his balls, that is."
"I can only imagine the pain he felt. It almost makes me feel a little better. Almost."
Violet chuckled at the look on his face, and then got serious once more. "We really do need to figure something out. As risky as it is, maybe you should pay this chick a visit. If it comes to it, we'll just have to book it out of here. Surely you've got contacts elsewhere, right?"
"Well, yeah, but not many, and we'd have to go far to reach them." Leon wasn't keen on leaving Liberty unless the situation became worse than it already was.
"How far would we need to go?"
"Damn far, so let's hope it doesn't come to that. In the meantime, I guess I'll drop by her place. "
Leon made a quick lane change and turned left onto Montauk Avenue, finally ending his circling of Outlook Park, which he'd been doing for the past half hour. With no destination in mind at the time, the repetitive route had been just a good a plan as anything else. In retrospect, it was a bit of a waste of gas, but money wasn't a major issue just yet. That wouldn't be the case for long, of course, and Leon didn't have near enough money to get a place and pay the rent. That called for a source of income, which he couldn't get easily. Sure he could try for a normal, everyday job like most people had, but he had no work experience whatsoever. In addition, six years of making money through less than legal means left him unfamiliar with the concept of a day job, and it wasn't all that appealing. He may not have necessarily liked being a criminal, but the money was far better than some entry level job would provide, and generally amassed faster too. There was also the little fact that putting out more of his personal information than was already floating around could be troublesome for someone with his history.
As he made for the East Borough Bridge, struggling to visualize his mental map of the city, Leon cast a sidelong glance at his sister. He noted that she was wearing a red tank top, a pair of slightly tattered jeans and some cheap flip flops, which made Leon feel even guiltier for having her rush out of their apartment in Cordell without giving her a chance to pack some better clothes. It was a smart precaution, seeing as it took him some time to drop his Jester off at his lockup and he wasn't sure how long it would've taken Jerome to send a hit squad after him. Better alive with one outfit than dead with many.
Several minutes later, Leon pulled up in front of a rundown apartment building on Applejack Street, managing to piss off a fellow driver who wanted the parking spot he took.
"Gotta be faster than that, buddy," he muttered before glancing at Violet again. She was looking out of the passenger side window, not paying much attention to him. He felt like he should apologize again, but she spoke before he could say anything.
"I'm not even looking that good right now, so why do you keep staring at me?" she asked, turning to face him, a wide grin appearing on her face.
"Just realizing that we need to go shopping. We're gonna need some new stuff."
"Let's secure a place first before worrying about that."
"You're cool with not looking your best?"
"I'm still pretty sexy, no matter what I have on. Wouldn't you agree?"
"Sure, whatever you say," Leon said before getting out of the car. "I'll be right back. Don't go anywhere."
"Where exactly would I go?" she called back as he entered the building.
It had been a while since he was last here, but Leon vaguely recalled his contact's apartment being on the third floor. He bounded up the stairs quickly, wanting to get this done as soon as possible. If he was extremely unlucky, this would not end well. All he could do was pray that it wouldn't come to that. Not just because it'd bring Jerome down on him as fast as a cheetah, but he'd have one more person to add to his shit list. Big as it was, he didn't fancy expanding it further.
Once on the third floor, Leon found himself momentarily stumped. He couldn't recall the apartment number. A good five minutes passed until he decided to just knock on every door. Unless he was wrong about the floor, he'd find her eventually. Surprisingly, his luck rendered that unnecessary, as he found the correct door on the first try.
"Ooh, lookie what we got here!" the woman said upon opening the door. "It's wonderful to see you again, Leon."
"Nice to see you too, Carmen. Mind if I come in?"
"Of course, of course, come right on in. It's always nice to have a visitor, especially one so handsome."
Leon ignored that comment and walked inside, taking in the small apartment. It was quite a bit more extravagant than he remembered, with several pieces of high value furniture and tons of decorations placed all over. There were even a few paintings that Leon figured had to cost a small fortune hanging on the wall. He couldn't resist commenting on the unexpected sight.
"I take it you have money to burn, eh?"
"Hard not to when your boyfriend is willing to buy you whatever you desire," she said with a smile. "Do you really blame a girl for taking advantage?"
"No, not at all. I do question why you live here in Bohan. It seems like one of the classier neighborhoods of Algonquin would suit you more."
"Perhaps, but living here has its uses."
Leon didn't bother seeking a detailed explanation on that one, not particularly caring what kind of advantages came with living in a dump like this, even if it did look as impressive on the inside as Carmen had her place looking. There were more important matters at hand, and Leon wasn't sure what kind of reaction his words would cause, or even how to breach the subject. She was Jerome's girlfriend, after all, and might take Leon for a liar.
"You've got this look on your face, babe. Something bugging you?" Carmen asked, giving Leon an opening. He decided to go with the direct approach for his answer.
"Jerome tried to rape my sister," he said bluntly, watching Carmen in order to gauge her reaction. To his surprise, she laughed, though it contained no mirth.
"Why am I not surprised? He's not exactly the faithful type."
"It doesn't bother you?" Leon asked, momentarily thrown off balance. Carmen let out an annoyed sigh, her voice taking a steely tone as she spoke.
"The fact that he's a cheating bastard doesn't. I've known that for a while, but it's so much better to use him as my personal credit card than bitch about it. The attempted rape, on the other hand, disgusts me. Anyone who does something like that should be put down like a dog."
Leon couldn't contain the relief he felt. Carmen found Jerome's actions reprehensible as well. That meant that she'd probably do what she could to help Leon. "Listen, I need a major favor, if you can swing it."
"What do you need, hon?"
"A place to stay, for one. My sis and I are currently living out of a car, and we don't have enough money to afford any long term stays anywhere."
"Why exactly are you living out of a car? The last time we talked, you said you finally had things set up nicely back in Cordell."
"I did, but I kinda got a little trigger happy and killed some of Jerome's goons after hearing about what he did. I then made the mistake of leaving one alive to deliver a message to him. When I realized how stupid that was, I grabbed my sister and we hightailed it out of the city. I came here since it's one of the few places I'm relatively familiar with."
"Jesus Christ," Carmen said in amazement. "You do know that Jerome is not exactly gonna take that lying down, right? He's gonna want you dead." Leon nodded in understanding.
"Well aware of that, but I don't think he's really going to bother with too long a search. He has no idea I'm here in Liberty, and it's not as if he's got any presence here."
Carmen didn't give a response to that, which made Leon slightly nervous. She stared at him for a few seconds before walking to her bedroom. Leon remained where he was, wondering what she was doing and if he could get any help from her. After two whole minutes of awkwardly standing around, he heard Carmen call his name, summoning him into her room. When he stepped inside, he was blown away by what he saw. Carmen had a whole arsenal laid out on her bed, ranging from the small stuff like knives and pistols, up to bigger firearms like shotguns and assault rifles. There was even a grenade launcher on the floor, which drew a lot of his attention.
"Holy fuck," he breathed. "Where the hell did you get all of this?"
"Jerome's stashed a lot of firepower here over the years. Guess he just wants to be extra prepared or something. He honestly doesn't need it, so I'm giving you free guns. I got a feeling you'll need them."
"Won't Jerome be kind of suspicious if he shows up and some of his guns are missing?"
"I highly doubt he even remembers half the crap he's left here, plus it isn't too hard for me to come up with a plausible excuse as to where they went if he asks. Please, indulge yourself. There's a duffel bag in the closet if you need it."
Leon thanked the woman for her kindness and looked over his choices. After some thought, two handguns, a shotgun, and two assault rifles went into the bag. A sniper rifle and, despite the thought that he wouldn't actually need it, the grenade launcher were added to his supplies, though they had their own special suitcases. Satisfied with his newly acquired loot, Leon recalled that he hadn't got an answer to his question of a place to stay and posed the question again.
"So, do you know somewhere I can crash or what?"
"Sadly, no, I don't. Unless you don't mind staying here, that is," Carmen said with a sly smile. Leon steadfastly ignored her, idly wondering why she would even suggest it.
"And be here when Jerome shows up to come see you? Horrible idea, not to mention it has to be somewhere both me and sister can stay."
"Ah, right. Well, I can't help you on that front. I can, however, point you in the direction of a friend of mine who could use a guy like you. I assume you're gonna need some kind of income, right?"
"Yeah, definitely. I only have so much on me now," Leon said, relieved at having a chance to increase his funds.
"Then you should pay a visit to Rhys tomorrow. He'll love to meet you." Carmen went quiet for a second, studying Leon intently as if trying to discern something. "Hey, how old were you when we last met?"
"Seventeen," Leon answered. "It's only been about a year since we last saw each other."
"So you're eighteen now, huh?"
"That's right. Why do you ask?"
"It means you're legal now, babe," Carmen said, a hungry tone in her voice. "Which also means that I don't have to feel dirty for what I'm about to do next."
"And what exactly are you about to do?" Leon asked nervously, reaching for his duffel and suitcases.
"Show you things that only a woman like me can," Carmen replied, grabbing his hands and halting his movements. Leon was sure that he could break her hold, but he suddenly found himself unable to move a muscle.
"You'd be surprised at how long I've wanted to do this," she continued, playing with the zipper of his jeans. "I had to resist, of course. You were too young for me then."
"We've only met about six times, tops," Leon noted. "One would think that isn't really enough to want to screw me."
"It was nine times, actually," Carmen corrected, licking him on his cheek.
"Is that really any different?"
"Yes, and you're telling me you've never met a girl and decided right then and there that you wanted her?"
"Can't say that I have. Perhaps I'm just weird like that."
"Well I'm a decisive girl, and I decided I wanted you."
"Didn't you call Jerome's almost rape of my sister disgusting? This isn't all that different from where I'm standing." Carmen halted her actions and pouted. It was a cute look, Leon had to admit.
"I wouldn't force you, babe. I was hoping you'd take the chance to bang an experienced woman like myself. You've got more willpower than most men I've met. Impressive."
"Sorry to disappoint you," Leon said sheepishly.
"No worries, hon. There are other ways to have fun."
"Is that right?"
"Oh, yes. Let me show you…"
Leon emerged from the apartment building ten minutes later, his face a deep red. That had been quite the new experience for him. He tossed the weapons in the back seat of the car before getting in, struggling to get his blush under control. The look Violet gave him told him he'd failed miserably at that endeavor.
"What happened to you? Your face is super red right now."
"Nothing," Leon replied quickly. A little too quickly, judging by the way Violet's eyes narrowed.
"Your face tells me otherwise."
"It was nothing, really. Carmen just gave me a little…release."
"Carmen was the chick you came to see, right?" Leon nodded. "And by release, you mean…wait, tell me you didn't! You did not have sex with that woman!"
"No, nothing like that!" Leon rushed to explain. "She just showed me how skilled she was with her hands."
"Okay, that's nasty. Sorry I asked."
Leon started the car, too embarrassed to say another word. He pulled away from the curb and made it to the stop sign ahead before realizing he had no actual destination in mind. Carmen gave him a good lead with this Rhys character, but it was far too late to go visiting the man now, with midnight almost upon them.
"I take it we'll be spending another night in the car, huh?" Violet asked coldly. The ice in her voice made Leon look at her, and he was surprised to see her looking far angrier than he expected.
"Nah, I'll spring for a hotel room tonight. I know sleeping in this car is getting old already."
Violet went quiet at that, still looking extremely angry. Leon thought to ask her what was eating her, as it seemed to be more than their current issue, but thought better of it, choosing to focus on finding a place to stay. After a few minutes, Violet spoke up again.
"Did you get anything useful from that woman, or was that trip worthless? Matter of fact, do we need to flee this city too?"
"No, Carmen wasn't happy when I told her what happened. We don't have to worry about Jerome fucking with us for now. I did get some weapons and ammo from her, though. I'm sure they'll be useful."
"I guess," Violet said, not looking at him.
It quickly became apparent that finding a hotel in Bohan would mean settling for something less than appealing, so Leon headed across the Dukes Bay Bridge and into Dukes to find something slightly better. He noticed that Violet still refused to even look at him, and eventually found himself unable to deal with the oppressive silence.
"Vi, what the hell is wrong? Aside from the obvious, I mean. You seem determined to give me the cold shoulder."
Violet didn't respond at first, and for a minute it looked like she wouldn't. Just when Leon was about to give up on getting an answer, she turned to him with a frown.
"What the hell were you thinking, letting that woman touch you?" Leon was taken aback with the ferocity in her voice.
"It's not like I went in there with that intention," he said. "She was pretty insistent. I did turn down her offer of sex, if it makes you feel any better."
"Not by a whole lot."
"Why does it matter so much to you anyway? What I choose to do with members of the opposite sex is my business. I don't need your permission."
Violet's anger ebbed as she took in his words, aware that he was right. "I know that, but I just wish…"
"Wish what?"
"I just want you to be with the right person, that's all. I'm your sister, so I'm going to look out for you, whether you like it or not." Leon couldn't resist chuckling at that.
"I'm the older sibling here. It's my job to look after you."
"You're only a few weeks older than me. You barely qualify as the older sibling."
"I'm still older."
Violet laughed and gave Leon a playful punch on the shoulder, earning an equally playful shove in return.
"I love you, Leon."
"I love you too, sis."
The rest of the ride was spent in companionable silence, neither sibling having much else to talk about. A stroke of luck saw the two find a small motel on Dukes Boulevard which had a vacancy, according to the sign in the window. Leon pulled into the small parking lot, thankful to have found someplace that didn't look too rundown. The two got out of the car and headed over to the main office, though Leon made sure to secure his weaponry in the car's trunk first. He thought about grabbing one of the handguns in the duffel to take inside, but he still had his usual pistol tucked into his waistband, and he figured he'd only need the one. It wasn't as if he was expecting trouble anyway.
"Looking for a room?" the motel clerk asked.
"Assuming that vacancy sign isn't lying to us," Leon answered.
"No worries, I've got a room or two left. Just one bedrooms, though. Hope you two don't mind."
Leon glanced at Violet, who nodded her head. She was too tired to care, probably. "That's fine. We can make it work."
"Alright, then. Number 5's yours," the man said, handing Leon a key with the number 5 on it. "Have a good night."
"You too, sir," Violet said. She took the lead, snatching the key from Leon and heading for the room. She quickly got the door open and slipped inside, her brother right behind her.
"Not so bad," Leon commented upon surveying the room.
"As long as it has a bed and a shower, I'm happy. Mind if I go first?"
"Go right ahead."
Violet gave him a smile and headed into the bathroom. A hot shower would undoubtedly feel nice, though having to put their dirty clothes right back on would spoil it a bit. Leon made it a point to remind himself to drop by a clothing store as soon as one opened. He did make a mental promise not to splurge too much, given his limited dough, but fresh clothing counted as more of a necessity at this point.
Thinking about money brought his thoughts around to the contact Carmen had given him. He had no idea what this Rhys guy was like, as Carmen hadn't really given him a heads-up when she told him about the guy. Leon didn't exactly have many options at the moment, but he hoped that Rhys was, at the very least, not a total asshole. Since he was Carmen's friend, maybe he wouldn't be a bad guy at all. She may have been Jerome's girlfriend, or was, Leon wasn't sure now, but she wasn't a criminal. Odds were that Rhys was just some guy who needed some honest help. Then again, she had said that Rhys could use a guy like Leon. What exactly had she meant by that? Was it referring to his criminal side, or his upstanding traits? Try as he might, Leon couldn't decide.
A thought suddenly occurred to him as he ruminated on his lifestyle. He didn't have a whole lot of people he could call a close friend, but there was one person who'd always been there for him, and he needed to call him. Granted, the guy didn't attempt to reach Leon, but that was probably because anyone would have assumed Leon was dead. Pulling out his phone, he dialed his friend's number. It took four rings before Leon's call was answered.
"This is the Blazin' Asian. Who's calling?" Leon could barely suppress a laugh at that. Did his friend really just say that?
"Do you ever actually look at your phone to see who's calling before you pick up?" Leon asked.
There was exactly five seconds of silence, aside from the music Leon could hear blaring in the background, before an amazed voice said, "Holy shit! Leon, is that you?"
"The one and only. Surprised?"
"Jesus, man, I thought you'd died!"
"You certainly don't seem to be too broken up about it, Kai. Sounds like you're having a party over there."
"I had this party planned out weeks in advance. Why waste a good party just because your best friend supposedly died? I work through my emotional issues during parties," Kai said defensively.
"Yeah, if working through your emotional issues means banging the nearest female," Leon shot back. "What an awesome way to deal with grief."
"Fuck you, I've changed. I'm a real gentleman now."
"Who calls himself the Blazin' Asian. Yeah, sounds real gentlemanly."
Kai Yamato could often come off as a chauvinistic, oddball asshole, but Leon knew far better, seeing as Kai was his best friend. They met when they were five, and had quickly become an inseparable pair, despite Kai's tendencies to say and do completely off the wall things, even at such a young age. As they grew older, it became clear that their personalities complemented each other quite well. Where Leon was the voice of reason of the duo, approaching problems with a level head, Kai was the trigger happy, reckless fool who sought to solve most issues with force whenever possible. Things were kept interesting due to the fact the two could switch roles at the drop of a hat, Kai turning into the reasonable one, while Leon became the berserker. They made the perfect team, to the surprise of many that knew them.
"I'm still working on the nickname. I'll get it eventually," Kai said.
"That's not how it works. Someone else has to give you a nickname. You can't go giving one to yourself," Leon pointed out.
"Says who?"
"It's like an unwritten rule. It's just something you don't do."
Kai snorted. "What a dumbass rule. Who comes up with this shit?"
"Don't know and don't care. Listen Kai, I called you to let you know I'm still breathing and to ask a favor."
"Just name it, man."
"You still got the key to my lockup?"
There was a rustling noise, accompanied by the occasional closing of a drawer. Leon figured that Kai was searching for the key.
"Okay, found it," he said after a few minutes.
"So you just threw my key into a drawer?" Leon asked, slightly shocked. Who just threw keys into drawers with so little regard for what they were used for.
"No, I just…actually, I don't know why it was in a drawer. Weird place to keep a key." Leon could imagine the perplexed look on Kai's face. This wasn't the first time he'd found something important in a strange place.
"Anyway, if it isn't too much trouble, could you grab my Jester out of my lockup and bring it to me?" Leon asked hopefully. He didn't really need the car, but he wasn't about to go stealing another car unless it was necessary.
"No problem, man. Where are you?"
"I'm holed up in Liberty City at the moment."
"That's a whole state away from Cordell, man," Kai stated. "It'll take me about a day to make that journey."
"That's fine. You should probably grab it now, while it's nighttime. It'll be easier to avoid anyone watching you." Leon didn't actually know if Kai was being watched, but it was a possibility. Jerome and the Ravens knew they were friends.
"Don't be so paranoid. No one's watching me. Just stay where you are and I'll be there in a flash."
"I'm staying at this motel over on Dukes Boulevard, called the Red Hawk Motel."
"I know where that is. Hang tight, Leon." There was a loud barking sound in the background, accompanied by an odd sort of…laughing. What the hell was that?
"Shit, someone's let the hyena out. I gotta go take care of this, but I expect to hear the full story of whatever happened to you when I get there. Later, bro."
"Kai, what the hell are you doing with a hyena?" Leon asked, but the connection had already been cut. Leave it to Kai to have some strange animal at his party.
The bathroom door opened and Violet stepped out, dark hair still slightly wet, and wearing a towel around her waist.
"Your turn," she said.
Nodding, Leon got up and went inside. He turned the knobs in the shower, getting the temperature just right, then removed his clothes and hopped into the cascading water. As the warm water hit him, Leon could feel his muscles loosening up and some of his stress leaving him. He took his time in the shower, savoring the warmth, though he got out before the twenty minute mark. After drying off, he considered leaving his dirty clothes where they lay, but he figured Violet wouldn't appreciate having him walk around in his boxers. To his surprise, Violet didn't seem to have the same thoughts in regards to her appearance, as she sat on the bed in only her towel and a black lace bra.
"Really?" he asked, figuring she'd get what he meant.
"Oh, am I bothering you?" she questioned back with the tone of one who already had the answer to their question.
"A bit, yes. Mind putting on your clothes again?"
"No way. You'd said we get new ones tomorrow, or today, I suppose you'd say now. I'll get dressed when we leave, but I'm sleeping like this."
"Do you at least have your pants on under the towel?"
"Nope. Now, can we get some rest?"
"Yeah, sure. I guess I'll just sleep on the floor," Leon said, making to grab a pillow off the bed, but Violet stopped him.
"Don't be an idiot. We can manage with one bed for tonight."
Leon opened his mouth to protest, but the look she gave him shut him up. Feeling incredibly weird, he lay down on the bed next to Violet, though he stayed on top of the sheets.
"Good night, Vi," Leon said.
"Good night, Leon," his sister responded, quickly drifting off. It didn't take Leon long to follow.
A/N: This may seem OC-centric right now, but that'll change soon enough. If you don't mind OCs, then I guess it doesn't matter.
