Chapter Two: Flashback Part 1
Bruce, Tony, and Erick climbed downstairs towards ground level. They decided to use the emergency stairwell on the outside walls of the building they're standing. It took them a good long minute and a half to reach the ground, seeing that they didn't have anything else to do afterwards; just pondering and reflecting on their latest victory against the Vory. There was a car parked in the alleyway that was once used to blockade the fleeing Vory, is now going to be their transportation out of here. Tony entered the car from the driver's side, Bruce from the other side, and Erick stashed his good old trusted riffle in the back and entered in the back seat of the car. "So where to you guys?" asked Tony as he starts up the car. "Let's go find somewhere to eat. I'm hungry." Said Erick. "Bruce you hungry?" Bruce thinks about this for a moment. He wasn't that hungry for a big meal, but a light meal would do for him. "Yeah sure, why not." He answered to them. "Alright, Big Papa's Burgers. My treat, to celebrate our flawless victory!" Tony said to them. "Yeah!" Yelled Bruce and Erick. Tony puts the car into drive and begins driving the car towards Big Papa's burgers, the number one spot for fast and quality food in Manhattan. It was also one of the few bases they have left. So a good restock of ammo they used up would also be nice as well. "So Bruce, I hear this was your first mission in the Rafia?" Said Tony, as was trying to find something to talk about. Bruce nodded, "Yeah this was my first mission." Tony chuckled, "Well you did good job on your first sortie." "I'll say." Added Erick. "Thanks, but all I did was just pull the plunger. I don't think that's really a job you know." Bruce said. "Well, everyone's gotta start somewhere." Said Tony as he makes a right turn. "So what brings you here anyways. From the looks of it, you're a fresh face in Manhattan." "Yeah. I am" "Well what brought you here to this gang anyway?" Asked Erick. "Well I guess I'll tell you…" Said Bruce, as memories start to flashback towards his head. As he tells his story, the setting changes a few years back to where it all began. March 12, 1949 (Bruce's perspective) "Hey look, there it is. The statue of Liberty," said a few people on the boat. I look where the people were pointing. They, as well as hundreds of people on board were gazing upon the Statue of Liberty, one of the most symbolic icons in America. I wasn't that surprised unlike the rest of them. I've seen pictures of it before sent by my older brother, Joey. Man, it's been a while since I've seen him. I took out the picture my brother sent me from my pocket. It shows my brother and the Statue of Liberty together. I went to the rail of the ship to get a better comparison between the two. "Man, it's a lot bigger than the picture." I said to myself as I compared it to the genuine article. It was almost like seeing David and Goliath together. The ships horn blew and it was loud. So loud that it scared the living ghost out of me and the photo slipped out of my hand and into the river. I tried grabbing it before it was out of reach, but it was too late. The photo slowly glided by the wind and off into the ocean. "Ah man, that's not good." Just then the speakers started coming on. It was the captain of the ship. "Attention passengers, this is your captain speaking. We're near the docks so please have your paperwork ready when we arrive. Thank you." Said the captain. People started gathering their stuff and start lining up towards the doors. Everyone started crowding the gates, waiting for it to open. Unlike the others, I decided to wait it out. I got time on my hands, and there was no point forcing my way in. Soon the security had to come to calm the overexcited crowd. Soon the gates opened and one by one, they entered and showed their paperwork to the officers. They were stopped by guards and asked them to show their paperwork. They showed the paperwork to them and the guard took a look at them. As soon as they were verified and stamped, they continued onward and started heading their own way. I started to join in once the line dies. I grabbed my luggage with my right and hold the paperwork I needed on my left and went towards the gate. As all the others who came before me, I was stopped by a guard too. "Hello sir." I greeted him. "Hello, I'm going to need to see you paperwork. Do you have them?" asked the guard. "Right here." I gave the paperwork to him and he starts looking at it. "Any weapons, alcoholic beverages, illegal items in you or in your bag?" "Umm…brass knuckles." I told him. He looked at me and started raising his eyebrows on me. "Excuse me?" He said to me, as if he didn't hear what I told him. "Yeah. Brass knuckles. It's in my luggage." I told him. He nodded to me and called on one of the officers on standby. "Check this luggage right here. He says he's carrying brass knucks." "Yes sir," said the officer and turns towards me. "I need to see your luggage." "Umm…right." I gave him my luggage and he starts opening and inspecting it. The luggage I carried contained clothes, magazines, and underneath all of that were brass knuckles. He saw it and pulled it out to show it to the guard. "Here it is sir, just like he said. Brass knucks in the luggage." Said the officer. The guard looked at me once more. "Why do you have this? You realize that this is an illegal item right?" I looked at him with concern. "What's wrong with bringing brass knucks?" I said to myself. But if I said that, I knew I'd be in trouble. "Well, I brought it with me in case I ran into trouble. I don't want to get beat down and robbed by thieves right?" The guard and the officer laughed at me, as if my story was a bit humorous to them. "Son, there's no need to have this. This is America, a safe-haven from all the troubles in the outside world. You're in a safe place." The officer told me. I smiled to them, knowing that I'll be safe after all. "Now as far as the paperwork goes, you're pretty much all set. But we're going to have to confiscate those brass knuckles of yours. Alright?" The guard said to me as he stamps the papers I gave and returned to me. "Take care of yourself, next!" "Thanks sir, see you around!" "Good seeing you." said the guard and the officer, as they start returning to work. As soon as I got past the gate, my new life in America had started. I've never seen anything like it. The tall buildings, the numerous cars and people roaming in the streets; it felt like I stepped into a whole new world. Soon I heard a car horn honking at me. I looked to where it came from and saw a person waving at me from the car. I looked at him for a moment to see who it was. Soon I heard his voice. "Hey!!! Bruce, long time no see! It's your brother, Joey!" He said to me. Soon I started waving at him. It's been a while since I've seen my brother. He's changed over the years, looking older and mature. He got out of his car and started heading towards me. Excited to see each other, we both gave each other a manly hug. "Joey! I missed you man. How's it been?" I said to him. "It's going well, going well brother." He said to me as he patted my back. "Man you've grown since the last time I saw you. Glad to see you're in good shape." "Yeah same here. So you're here to pick me up?" I asked him. "Of course. I'm not going to let my younger brother be left alone here." He replied as he takes my stuff, puts it in the trunk and opens the door to his car. "Come on, I'll show you where you're staying. Oh if you want, we can do some sightseeing if you want." "Sure why not?" I replied. We both got inside the car. I decided to ride shotgun with him since I'm too old to ride in the back. My brother grabbed the keys and started the car. He pulled out and started driving. He lowered the windows of the car to feel the breeze that was coming through him. His hair was flowing with the wind, flying in every direction. To him, it felt good to feel the cool breeze that's flowing through him. "Feels good doesn't it?" I asked him. "Sure does." He replied to me. "You want to do it too?" Without a word, I lowered and poked my head out the window; and just like that, I too felt the cool breeze of the wind blowing through my face. I felt like I was a dog sitting in the front seat, poking my head out the window and having the wind blow my fur in all sorts of directions. After a few moments I poked my head back in the car and closed the window. We both looked at each other for a moment and laughed it off. He then took me to all sorts of places. First the Empire State Building; we parked near the Rockefeller Plaza to get a good look at the building. It was really, really tall, and huge! My jaw dropped when I first saw it. I never seen a building so tall in my life. It felt like the building was Goliath and I was David. "Enjoying the view aren't we?" my brother asked me. I was still a little surprised and dumbfounded from its size. "Yeah…yeah…geez that's a big building." My brother laughed and smiled, "Yeah. I did it too when I first saw it." "Come on brother, we still got more places to go. You'll get to see it again soon." He said to me as he patted my shoulder. Even then I couldn't budge. So he decided to drag me to the car and drove. We then headed towards Grand Central Station. And let me tell you, it's crowded. Too crowded to be exact. There were tons of people everywhere, hundreds of them. It was rush hour all over. It was also kinda funny too, I felt like they were ants doing their daily work underground. "Where are all these people coming from?" I asked Joey. "From all over. Massachusetts, Chicago, Illinois, you name it." My brother replied to me. "Have you been to those places before?" "Not yet. But when the time is right, I'll be able to go." After a few minutes checking out Grand Central Station, we finally parked at the pier to grab some lunch. He bought me, what the yanks call, "chili-dogs". It looked a little weird when I first saw them; all these white strips of chili all over. When I took a bite, it tasted a little spicy, but it was really good. "You like it?" "Like it…I love it!" I yelled at him. "Here, have some fries." He said to me as he hands me one. I took a couple fries from him and tried it. They were a bit salty and I felt like it was missing something. "It's good. But I feel like it's missing something…" "Like what?" he asked me. "Hmm…I don't know. Ah well." We stayed there for a couple hours, watching the boats come and go; the seagulls flying through the air, the waves crashing on the shore. It was almost like I was back at home in Europe. Living next to the beach and walking along the shoreline.