Burnley

"That's it?" Able asked, "That's all we have?"

Jerome Lewis a six foot two sharply dressed man with skin the colour of blended chocolate nodded. He wore a neatly pressed suit, his massive size he looked more like a line backer for the NFL as opposed to a finance wizard. He had played football for Morehouse College, and had returned to Gotham U to get his MBA. After graduating he had bypassed the prestigious companies in New York and Gotham to work for Able Crown and serve as his right hand man. He owed Mr. Crown a lot. It was Mr. Crown who had provided his Mother and his two sisters with a place to live after they had been evicted. And it was Mr. Crown who had taken him under his wing and taught him how to be a man.

"That's all that was wired this morning," Lewis said sliding the financial statement before Crown. Crown picked it up and read it, his face contorting first from disbelief then to outrage.

"This isn't a quarter of what he owes us!" Crown exploded.

"I know, I know. But the war…"

"I don't give a damn about the war. I have creditors climbing all over me for their money!"

"I know what you're saying but with no sales from over there….we're in a tight spot."

"Damn I knew we shouldn't have given him extended credit."

He exploded up out from his chair and turned to look out the window down onto the empty parking lot below.

"There is one way out you know…" Jerome said softly.

"No! No," Able said whirling on him, "We are not going back to that. No drugs. For the first time in years…the community is looking up again."

"But don't you see if you don't have any money you can't keep the pushers out? If drugs are going to flow in Burnley it may at least be us doing the pushing and selling not the Itays' or Columbians."

"Parasites."

"I know it. But Coochie told me that some of Galente's men came breezing into his bar the other day. All action came to a complete stop," Jerome paused, "You know what that means."

"Yeah I do," Crown said tightly, "What did Coochie do?"

"Oh you know Coochie. He told them to get out. But that's just a prelude. They'll be more of them. We need to do something and make hard decisions. Very soon."

"Okay then," Crown said with a wave of his hand, "You go on home. The business day will be starting very soon in Africa. Let me make some phone calls."

Jerome Lewis nodded and turned to leave walking down the steps from Crown's office on the top floor of a warehouse that overlooked Gotham harbour. Crown had chosen this area because it afforded him privacy, And it was out of the eye of the police.

Able Crown Controlled the Burnley Massif in North Gotham City. Unofficially he was the crime Lord of that part of the city. He had worked his way up since he was a 14-year-old punk on the streets of Gotham City first running errands for the local dealers. Until he had been entrusted to deal himself. But unlike a lot of other dealers Able was smart..he didn't blow his drug profits on women or junk. He invested it wisely. His mother had taught him the value of an education and wise spending. Not to mention good manners. By day Crown attended the city college and at night he dealt and did whatever small jobs the major dealers did. He began to work for Dock J (a.k.a. Michael Johnson) one of the major players in Gothams drug scene. With advice from Crown Dock J became the major dealer in North Gotham. Crown taught him how to invest and hide his money. And how to make alliances and hide his funds to keep it safe from the cops and the feds. Then five years later after Dock J had gotten shot in a drive by shooting. Crown had ended up inheriting his business.

But Able had bigger plans…he had no plans on selling drugs the rest of his life. He had plans on going 'legit' and on becoming a respectable businessman and most of all helping his people. He diversified in different fields investing his drug profits in various fields. Such as oil and gas and the stock market. He bought up some property in Burnley and opened a business operating a trading company.

He had used his drug profits to open a distribution and trading company with some partners he had in West Africa. Selling and shipping used computer equipment to government agencies. It wasn't going well right now but Able was looking down the road. The politicians he was in business with were visionaries like himself who were beginning to throw of the blanket of colonialism and believed that the only way for Africa to escape from being under the white mans rule was for it start doing things for itself.

Unfortunately things had come to a head when two months previously the ruler of Liberia had been killed in an assination attempt. Able was sure the coup had been orchestrated by the US government. But venting was not going to get him anywhere. Already his new business was hemorrhaging money. The organizations he had in Gotham was in need of funds. And all the money he was using in North Gotham to keep drugs and all that out of his neighborhood was starting to leak back in.

He sat in his office overlooking a shipping manifest when he heard a sound on the roof. He paused from what he was doing.

"Jerome that you?" he called.

The lights flickered and went out.

"Jerome!" Able called. Still no answer, he reached beneath the desk for the Magnum he kept hidden for such emergencies. Since he had gone legit and could afford a cadre of bodyguards. He didn't carry anymore as a matter of principle. But made sure to keep it nearby just in case. He had many enemies..men whom he knew would like to see him out of the way.

"Good evening Mr. Crown…" came the voice, it was muffled and had strange ring.

"Who the heck are you?" Able demanded.

"I am a friend," he said.

"I have no friends. Who hide behind masks."

"You do now," Crown could make out the distinctive of two horns sticking from the head.

"Batman?" he questioned. The figure laughed derisively.

"Do I look like Batman?" the figure replied coming further into the light, now Crown could see it…like Batman the man wore a mask…but it was not of a Bat it was of a fox. He was covered from head to toe in a tight red body suit..with a strange symbol in the middle.

"No..who are you?"

"Like I said I am friend. A friend who is here to help you out with your troubling business."

"I don't know you."

"But I know you. And we have a lot in common," he said, "Face it Crown. You don't own this neighborhood anymore. The Italians and Columbians are moving in. Your people are nothing but their slaves. Just like in olden times."

Able felt a cold sweat overcoming him at hearing the word "slave". He knew too well about the brutality of slave days. Even though it had been over now for 125 years, he knew what a psychological effect it had on his people. Crown had hoped to escape it, but it didn't look like the case right now. He remembered the story his grandmother told him as a child as to how she had escaped north form Mississippi after her husband his grandfather had been lynched by a gang of white men after he had tried to start a union amongst the sharecroppers. It had been a story that had remained with him throughout his life and had fueled his climb to the top. But now that all his work was slipping away, he practically felt as if the nose that slid around his grandfathers throat was slipping around his as well.

"I understand your predicament quite well. I come from people who have also been enslaved?"

"You're Black?" Crown asked in disbelief.

"Our blood is the same red underneath the skin," the Fox said cryptically, "We both have suffered at the hands of the man and have experienced suffering and humiliations that no human being should have to endure. We can help each other out. And thrive."

"How?"

"Like this," The Fox removed something from the belt he was wearing around his body and threw it at Crown. Crown caught it and found a small vial containing greenish liquid.

"What's this?"

"It's the answer to al of your financial troubles."

"What?"

"That drug. Is more potent than cocaine. And ten times more powerful addictive. That gets on the streets I guarantee that there won't be any lack of demand. Everyone will want it."

"What is it called?"

"Nocturna. It enhances the senses, endurance. Everything. Kids will want it to help them stay up with their studies. Workers will want it to help them keep work. Execs will want it to sharpen their minds. Geriatrics will want it to help boost their libidos. Everyone will want it. Think of the money it will bring in."

"I don't want to sell drugs. I want out of that racket."

"Let's not kid yourself Crown. Drug money built what you have. It built all this. It helped buy those computers you ship to the poor people in Africa. You don't have to be in this forever Crown. Just enough to re-coup your losses. What's the alternative? Getting pushed out by the Italians and the Columbians. You're in jam no matter how you look at it Crown. Wouldn't you want to wear the Crown and be the master of your own kingdom. Instead of a slave?"

Crown looked from the vial to the figure before him. He knew what the man said was right. He had not come this far to watch all that he had done fall apart. "The Fox" extended a gloved hand to him. And Able Crown took it and shook it firmly. He knew by doing this he was shaking hands with the devil. But he had shaken hands with the devil on another occasion too. He had done so 20 years ago when he had arranged the assassination of Doc J.