One Man's Dream...

Slowly, Don Giovanni opened his eyes and drew a deep breath of air; it smelled exactly like typical hospital air. Oddly, he could feel none of the pain he felt before and the wounds seemed to have healed. Scars were still visible where they were, though the Don was quite surprised that he made such a recovery. The two goons who were tasked with protecting him were slumped in their chairs, snoring as loudly as overworked pigs. Good thing no one decided to come in and shoot me, he thought.

A gun could be seen lying on the patients table to the right of Don Giovanni, which he grabbed and stuffed inside his waistband without hesitation. Still a little confused yet not wanting to wake his two guards up, he got off his bed and left the private ward assigned to him. Despite a funny feeling within him, Roberto Giovanni could see nothing wrong with everything both inside and outside the ward. Patients were being helped along by nurses and the reception even asked if he needed anything.

He declined her kind inquiry.

Suddenly, a familiar face came through the corridor. This man Giovanni had seen before, and this man he hated very much. He was James Burnett, the man who sent a Hellfire missile right into the motel room he was hiding in. For some reason he was here alone, wearing his trademark Fedora hat and outfit. James did not speak, even when he responded to Roberto staring at him by turning towards his rival. There was a devilish grin on his face, one which resembled more of Charles than James.

"You are no better than your father!" Don Giovanni scowled.

"Perhaps." He answers in a calm and solemn tone. "But maybe you should consider the fact that you were the one who declared war on me."

"You harbor many dark secrets, Don Burnett. It is time I returned the Mafia to its true origins."

"Indeed I harbor many secrets, but it is your thirst for power which drove you to declare war. Frankly, you resemble Charles more than I do."

"You have a similar face."

"But you have a similar heart and conscience."

"Why are you even here, Don Burnett?"

"I wanted to visit a dying former friend."

"Dying? I'm well and alive."

"Well not for long."

BANG

Despite James' proficiency with quickdrawing his carry piece and superb accuracy, he somehow missed on this occasion. The nurses dove under their desks as Don Giovanni fired back. His goons hear the sound of gunfire and immediately rush out from the ward with their machine pistols at the ready. They fire a few bursts at James, forcing him to retreat back through the stairwell door. As much as Giovanni didn't want to cause too much a ruckus in the hospital, he felt he had to end his foe here and now before he gets onto something much more serious.

He runs through the door after his foe and made his way down the stairwell with his goons in tow. A few floors down, James raises his sidearm and puts a few shots upwards, managing to strike one of the gunmen escorting Don Giovanni. In response came a hail of machine pistol fire. Roughly three bullets struck him but they were all stopped by the bulletproof vest he had been wearing. James burst out from the door when he reached the ground floor and made a run for his BMW E24.

His foes were not far behind and they came out just as he zipped off in his car. Fortunately for Giovanni, his men had come in a Ferrari F355 and they handed the keys over to him so he could chase down his foe. Don Giovanni unhesitatingly hopped into the driver's seat and stomped on the throttle the minute he started the car and let go of the handbrakes, unleashing every last bit of horsepower from the mighty V8. It didn't take him very long to catch up to his rival as they left Menton and went along the Riviera.

When James saw the bright red Italian Prancing Horse in his rear view mirror, he knew for once, he was outclassed. His E24 might be a M6 but it still had inferior performance to the much newer and more powerful Ferrari F355. Sure, he probably had better experience driving up and down these scenic roads, having done so ever since his teenage years, but nothing short of an actual bullet through his foe's skull could stop him. Meanwhile in the Ferrari, Don Giovanni finds a MAC-10 machine pistol in the glove box and retrieves it.

Pulling the bolt back and switching the safety off, he lets loose with a few rounds, shooting through the windshield of his own car as he put round after round into the rear windscreen of James' E24. None of the rounds hit of course, but they certainly did serve their purpose in distracting Don Burnett. One misjudged corner and he rams right into a lamppost with enough force to set off the airbag. Giovanni comes to a halt a few feet behind his opponent and got out of his vehicle.

"Now it's my turn." He raises his machine pistol. "Come on out you asshole."

BANG BANG

BANG BANG

BANG

"I'm out!" James shouts as he takes cover in front of the hood. "Just so you know, I am very sorry for firing that Hellfire missile."

"Well "sorry" ain't helping you this time, you Imbecile!" Giovanni squeezes off a burst from his machine pistol. "Because you were right about my thirst for power."

James rises from the front of the car and fires the remaining rounds from his magazine, successfully managing to strike the MAC-10 and disable it. His foe quickly switches back to his own sidearm and the exchange of fire began. Both men fired at one another till their guns were empty. Then they simply reloaded and repeated the process until they ran out of spare magazines. And when they did, James knew almost certainly that he had an advantage.

Unlike him, Don Giovanni was never known to carry a backup handgun and indeed he never did. Though gunfights which required more ammunition than they had for their primary carry guns were something neither have encountered before, James felt it would be better for him to have a backup when he didn't need one than not have one when he needed it. Now his thinking might just save his life. He gets up from the front of his E24 once more and slowly advanced towards the Ferrari.

"Don Giovanni?" He shouted. "I know you're out of ammunition! I have a backup gun and you don't."

Suddenly his foe pops up on his right. James reacts by swinging towards the threat. Unfortunately for him, his reaction was not fast enough this time.

BANG

And neither was his body armor working as advertised. Despite being rated to stop something as powerful as a full power .44 Magnum, the EnGarde executive vest failed to stop this particular round fired by his foe. Sure the vest might have been compromised after stopping several bullets fired by one of Don Giovanni's goons but the bullets were caught in the back, not the front. How could the vest possibly fail at such a crucial moment?

"So they are useful." Roberto remarks after inspecting the ammunition loaded in the magazine. He too was impressed by the results. "Liberty Ammunition Civil Defense 10mm Automatic cartridges."

"I didn't know you had a Bren Ten stashed somewhere." James coughed blood. "Sonofabitch, he really got me."

"Shall I end you?"

"Just give the Coup De Grace, the pain is getting…" He coughs more blood. "Unbearable."

"Farewell, old friend."

"Ciao a Tutti."

BANG

The shot pierces James' skull, killing him instantaneously. For a moment, Don Giovanni stood there in shock. Did he really just kill the most powerful criminal in all of Elysium? He turned towards Monte Carlo, the principality clearly visible from up here. There were definitely many things waiting for him. Heck, he might even get Charmaine to become his secretary and mistress. After all, who wouldn't want to have such a beautiful lady become one of their own?

He chuckled and shook his head; things have never seemed better for him.