Chapter 7 – Johnny Zoo
Claude Speed, Ukita, Metropolis City, 2030
The restaurant was coloured with red and black and was typically furnished with Japanese oak tables.
"I always preferred Burger Shot to Happy Blimp; the Double-Barrelled Burger was much more filling than the lousy Blimp burger" Johnny Zoo said
"I rarely used to eat in there" Claude Speed said "but the rare times I did, I sure did enjoy it"
"Yeah" Johnny Zoo said "I think the reason was the advert that Happy Blimp used was so un-subtle, I know that eating burgers make you fat, but there's no need to create adverts that are so blatant with the title 'Explode Your Waste', it just makes you not want to eat there"
"I never ate at Happy Blimp" Claude said
"Well, it doesn't matter now" Johnny said "Zaibatsu took over them both; they're called Zaibatsu Burgers now, business is just one big monopoly in America now"
"Yeah and why do you need to eat boring American burgers when you've got authentic Japanese noodles?" Claude asked
Johnny gave out a short chuckle.
"If you went to Tokyo, well it's a pile of unliveable rubble now, but in the early part of the 21st Century it was thriving, you would get sick of the sight of noodles, there was a noodle shop on the edge of every street corner" Johnny said
Johnny Zoo had short black hair and was wearing a white shirt and black trousers.
"I think I recognise your name Claude" Johnny said
"Yeah I was cryogenically frozen in 2019, just got let out this year" Claude replied
"What makes you want to work for the Yakuza?" Johnny asked
"I've always admired the Yakuza, since way back in Liberty City" Claude said
"Well if you want to join the Yakuza, you have to make an oath, to never have any links to the Zaibatsu gang" Johnny said
"I hate Zaibatsu, they froze me" Claude replied
"Good, you didn't look like you had any links to the Zaibatsu" Johnny said
"I remember the casino the Yakuza used to own in Staunton Island" Claude said
"Oh yeah, I had to sell that, the Yakuza boss before me Kenji Kasen was killed and I couldn't think of a way to run it" Johnny said "I was just one the gangsters back then, in my silver and red Stinger" he let out a chuckle "I've still got that lurking in my garage, even though I've got a brand new model I still take my old Stinger out for a ride sometimes"
"I went to the casino a few times" Claude said
"Yeah, just a pile of rubble now, Liberty City is now overrun by ruthless gangsters that don't live anywhere and aren't classed as legal citizens of USA, Vice City is just a place for Loonie gangsters to go on holiday and have twenty-four seven raves, I would give anything to go and re-claim Liberty City and go back to the old way of life, yes maybe Alex Shrub was a bad president, starting wars with countries he couldn't even pronounce over meaningless things, but at least he didn't make the whole population go through it and not allow anyone to speak out, we are reminded everyday of our own mistake, we voted them in, and now there's no legal way to get them out" Johnny said "anyway, got to keep a stiff upper lip, I'm the leader of one of Metropolis's top gangs, have to look towards the future of Yakuza, not the past, for all I know while I look back the way, our respect could be going down"
"There is nothing wrong with being nostalgic" Claude said "look at things in stereo, look towards the future but remember where you came from, I have lost one of my friends and know another is somewhere out there with the wrong destiny"
"You fill me with hope Claude" Johnny said "you are a good man Claude, I just hope you do something with your life and not just what the majority of people in Metropolis do, live in fear and pretend to marvel at the new Mount Rushmore"
"There's a new Mount Rushmore?" Claude asked in surprise
"Yes" Johnny said "carved with the faces of the three Zaibatsu presidents Red Valdez, Uno Carboni and Trey Welsh"
"I must see that" Claude replied
"Just remember to do something better than what all the gang leaders do plus me, we don't just fight the Zaibatsu but fight each other, that takes away the point of us being here in the first place"
"Would you like me to do any jobs for you Johnny?" Claude asked
"There is one, I have to go to Neo-Tokyo in about an hour, some urgent business with the Neo-Tokyo Yakuza, not really sure what exactly"
"Here's one thousand dollars upfront, what I want you to do is to go to this meeting in Omnitron between the six main gangs in Metropolis City, in this city you have to pay for respect, so in this briefcase is one hundred thousand dollars, each gang has to pay for this forced treaty, at least it's an attempt to try and unite against the Zaibatsu, even if it is forced" Johnny said "there's a Yakuza suit in the cupboard just there, red and black with the Yakuza symbol, complete with a samurai sword, see you later Claude"
He left his one thousand dollars in one hundred dollar bundles which had symbols from the Zaibatsu bank, Johnny walked out of the Yakuza restaurant and the briefcase was lying on the table. Claude walked up to the cupboard and tried the Yakuza uniform on; the samurai sword was within easy reach and was particularly sharp, it was a shame he had practically no samurai skills. He shoved the one thousand dollars in his pocket and stepped out of the restaurant holding the briefcase, walked into the car park opened the scissor doors of his futuristic red car and placed the briefcase in. He took the one thousand dollars out of his pocket, looked at it and thought he couldn't possibly take this, he had basically been told from Johnny Zoo that he was a good man and he should try and be against the Zaibatsu as much as he can, he couldn't possibly take money from someone like this. Or maybe he should? What if all gangs were like this, he wouldn't get any money for ammunition. Well he was pretty sure when he got around to working for the Rednecks he wouldn't get any life-changing tips, so he decided this once to not take this money. He walked back into the restaurant, called up a waiter, gave him the money and told him the next time Johnny Zoo comes in to give him the money. He walked back to his car, opened the scissor door, turned the ignition and pressed down on the accelerator towards Omnitron.
The building was a bloodbath, as soon as Claude got to the building where the meeting was taking place he could hear gunshots, a couple of Loonies in green suits ran towards his car armed with Uzi's and blasted at his car, Claude had two Colt 45's in his holsters so he retaliated and blasted them.
'Plan B' he thought to himself 'get the f--k out of here'
There were loads of gangs taking pot-shots at each other with any weapon they had, then two men dressed in the Yakuza gang uniform ran towards his car, one of them had been shot in the leg.
"Konichiwa, are you a Yakuza?" the uninjured man asked
"Well sort of, I'm doing some work for them, I was supposed to give money for the treaty but when I saw it was a bloodbath I guess it's off" Claude said
"Yeah, no doubt it's off, it barely even began, it started off fine but then the Rednecks ruined it by disagreeing and opening fire on the rest of the gangs with an AK, then everyone turned on each other" the Yakuza man said
"Get in" Claude said
The two Yakuza got in and Claude reversed onto the road and accelerated away from the scene.
"You're not Japanese are you?" the Yakuza man asked
"Nah, home-grown American from Liberty City" Claude said "you have one of the best leaders of all the gangs in Metropolis City"
"Thank-you" the Yakuza man said
"So what happened to your friend?" Claude asked
"How do you think? He got shot" the Yakuza gangster replied
"Obviously he got shot, who by?" Claude asked
"The redneck that opened fire shot me" the injured Yakuza gangster said "I tried to dive and save one of my friends, he got capped but I managed to survive"
As they neared the Yakuza headquarters he parked on the sidewalk and the two Yakuza gangsters jumped out. The one who was injured hobbled out.
"Hey, take this briefcase back; it looks like it can go back in the Yakuza funds" Claude replied
The un-injured Yakuza gangster grabbed the case of Claude and Claude drove back towards Lee's house in Arbo. He decided to give him a phone.
"Hello" Lee said
"Hi Lee, its Claude" Claude said
"Did you do the work for the Yakuza?" Lee asked
"Yeah, I was supposed to take some money for a treaty of the six gangs of Liberty City" Claude replied and explained what had happened up to that moment
"You refused the money!" Lee shouted down the phone angrily
"Yeah, I couldn't take it off him" Claude said "he told me I was a good man and should live my life to the full"
"So you wasted your time working for the Yakuza" Lee yelled
"No, I might get more work in the future" Claude replied
"Listen Claude, I hate every single gang in this city, no matter what words of wisdom they say to me, the only reason I thought we were doing this for was for money and information, nothing more, nothing less, so you don't refuse any money, you take every measly penny a gang gives you" Lee said still angry
"And I will, this is just a one off" Claude replied hanging up the phone