Chapter 12

Flik walked along, he wasn't going home, he hadn't been home in a week, he was going to rid the world of at least one more vile Mafia murderer. He didn't care if it was hypocritical what he was doing, all he cared about was killing them. All of them, for what they did to him, for what they did to an innocent girl waiting for him on platform ten of Highland train station just as one of their punks had decided to wave around a piece while high on acid.

There was nothing he could do, he watched in horror from the window of the train as she was shot. An innocent girl was killed senselessly, so were several bystanders before the man could be detained.

It made him sick, it made tears of rage well up in his eyes just thinking about it.

He rounded a corner and saw a few hoodlums smoking crack, obviously muscle the Mafia had hired. They weren't professionals, they were just hired to beat people up, one of them noticed Flik and gave him a highly threatening leer.

"Well what do we have her-" He couldn't finish as Flik had already socked him right in the mouth, he fell to the floor with a cry and landed on one of his buddies who went down with him. Another one made to go forward but Flik had already drawn his gun and squeezed the trigger, putting a hole through the man's chest and spraying blood everywhere, the others stopped moving towards him, the punk on the floor had stopped screaming about his broken nose, they were all looking at him with fear in their eyes.

Flik then shot the two punks who were quivering on the floor, their blood spraying onto the walls, one of them jumped for him to disarm him, he easily stepped aside and gave the man a vicious kick in the ribs. Then shot him and left. No one would ever know, it was a bad neighbourhood, people were killed all the time, but at least they deserved it. He walked slowly towards a battered newsstand that was selling coffee, he bought a cup. It tasted like piss but he drank it anyway, then sat down on the high sidewalk. Killing always disorientated him. He heard footsteps behind him.

"You ok buddy?" Asked a young voice, Flik looked up and saw a young man, about college student age standing over him, he had wavy blonde hair and piercing blue eyes, which unsettled Flik. "You look a little rough."

"Whats it to you?" Flik said in a surly tone

"You been in a fight or something? Your covered in blood." The man continued

"A fight… Yeah, I was in a fight." Said Flik distantly "What do you care?"

"Huh? Jesus, you are a prick aren't you? I was just passin', trying to be friendly." Said the young man, who had spotted Flik's gun in his pocket and was going slowly for a knife he had concealed in his sleeve.

"Sorry." Said Flik getting up and brushing himself down "Its been a rough day."

"Yeah, sure." Said the young man, the then went for something in his jacket, he pulled out a folded photograph. "You haven't seen this man have you?" He said, showing Flik the photo. It was of a thin, handsome man with raven black hair and large glasses, he had an expression of smug satisfaction on his face and was standing with a pretty blonde girl holding onto his arm, she was looking up at him with adoration and love but he seemed more interested in whoever was taking the picture as he was staring at them with a cold glint in his eye. This man reminded Flik of Luca, the Mafia boss, whom he had only seen once.

"Who is he?" Asked Flik

"His name's Gabriel Zaj. I've been looking for him for a long time." Said the young man.

"Sorry." Said Flik, shaking his head "Haven't seen him I'm afraid."

"Well, thanks anyway." Said the young man before walking off into another street.

Flik realised it was beginning to get dark and though maybe it was time he headed home. Pulling his jacket around him, he headed of in the direction of his house.

"Holy christwagons" Grinned Camus "That sure was a close one, eh kids?" He said, giving Riou a nudge, he attempted to swear at the man but his swollen lip muffled his words and Camus let out a laugh

"I really kicked your skinny asses didn't I?" He chortled "Well at least it cheered me up and that's really all that matters in the end isn't it?" Miklotov gave him a look

"This is no joke Camus." He said seriously "We now have the Mafia and these terrorists after us, which I'm pissed off about."

"Why? They're amateurs." Camus said

"Why? Because I believed in what they're fighting for!" He said, Camus went serious

"Haven't you forgotten that you're an officer of the law, they were breaking the law and as soon as I find the means I'm going to nail their asses and get my city back." Miklotov went silent

"I am a human first and a police officer second." He said quietly

"What the fuck is he talking about?" Whispered Jowy, Camus shrugged

"What it means, nimrod, is that I'll listen to my heart and not my badge like Camus!" He said, a little pissed off that they didn't get it.

"Then go."

"What?" Miklotov said

"Go." Said Camus "If your not interested in upholding the law and would prefer to fight with them then leave."

"No. I didn't mean that." Said Miklotov, deflating a little.

"You wanna tell us what's going on?" Asked Riou, Camus did a double take as he had forgotten he was there

"Ok squirt, this is how it happened…"

And so Camus told them about it, about how he had been kidnapped, about how the police station had been taken over, and about the numerous near death situations he had been in, giving them blow by blow accounts and unnecessarily melodramatic descriptions of his mental health and growing emotional problems. Miklotov then took over and explained rationally.

"So what's your story?" Asked Camus, when Miklotov had finished "Isn't it past your bed time?"

"Fuck you old man!" Said Riou. And then told them their story, about how they had been part of the Mafia, about how he had refused to follow and order, about how Jowy had been caught in bed with Jillia (much sniggering all round at this to Jowy's chagrin) and about how Nanami and Pilika were being held captive.

"Well my little hombre's, I think we can help each other." Said Camus, putting his arm round the two teen's shoulders "You can lead us there, and we can put and end to this and get your friends back."

"Sounds like a sweet deal." Said Jowy "Except we're wanted by them, they'll kill us if they see us."

"No, you just get us there, to where they operate and we'll do the rest." Said Miklotov, eager to make up for his admittance to believing in the terrorists.

"Fine." Said Riou "We'll get you there and get you in, but you have to get Nanami and Pilika."

"You can do that." Said Camus "We're planning on making a lot of noise so you'll be able to slip inside during the commotion and get them out."

Riou and Jowy looked uneasily at each other, then nodded.

"It's a deal."