Tommy Vercetti's shaky hand nervously reached into his coat pocket for his small, plastic comb. He ran it through his greasy hair absently as he struggled to suppress his anger. That fat, disgusting sack of shit was in there trying to look cool again by coming up with random stories involving beating women or hurting helpless bums or whatever he thought was tough at the moment. Tommy got sick of it real fast after he started working for Nico regularly. Back when he had been merely an errand boy, he hadn't dealt with Sonny Forelli very much. He'd seen the guy around from time to time, thinking he was a local sleazebag of sorts. He would never have guessed that this guy was so close to his employer. Being introduced for the first time was awkward. Tommy didn't like having to touch the guy to shake his hand or be polite to him to please the boss. When he was around Sonny he wanted to grab the guy by the head and slam it into something hard.
The only thing that kept him sane was his friendship with Paul Garvini. He could tolerate Lips most of the time as well, but he also got annoying. Paul was a little quiet most of the time, when he wasn't full of alcohol after playing cards for hours upon hours. He was generally a pretty good guy who shared Tommy's dislike for Sonny. They would even have long conversations about him and how hard he was to be around. Tommy didn't understand why Sonny had to act the way he acted. It obviously didn't make people like him very much, and it wasn't just that Sonny was telling the truth. The guy wasn't half as tough as he made himself out to be. He'd killed a few guys in the past but anyone can hide behind a gun, bullets hurt everyone. Tommy had never seen Sonny in a home environment but he guessed that Sonny didn't beat his wife up over trivial things like undercooking food. He was probably terrified of the woman.
As Tommy was walking toward the staircase to reach the bottom floor and go home, he heard some muffled sounds. The sound of multiple car doors being slammed at the same time eased it's way into Tommy's ears. There was a long, long silence that almost made Tommy shrug the sounds off and keep walking. Just as he was about to take a step, the bottom floor of the building erupted in gunfire. Tommy's eyes widened with surprise as he turned around so quickly that he nearly toppled to the ground. He shuffled across the floor, running back toward the room where he'd been playing cards minutes ago. His sleek black pistol was drawn as he opened the door and once again faced the scene of three tough guys sitting at a table, mostly obscured by smoke. They were all looking at him when expressions similar to deer in headlights.
"The place is getting shot up!" Tommy yelled as he motioned with his hands for everyone to stand.
The four men all ran out of the door and dashed toward the stairs. As they descended, they passed through the middle floor of the building. This was where Nico's workers checked out guns they had received in recent shipments. There were several medium sized, cheap tables lined up against each wall and standing over the tables were workers clad in their work uniforms. A plethora of guns were strewn across the tables, some were broken down and being examined closely.
The workers had left their places at the tables and had begun to charge the staircase leading to the fake lobby. They all had their own guns which they had drawn immediately upon hearing the gunfire below. The once quiet building became a hornet's nest in seconds as the sound of men yelling in panic filled everyone's ears. It got confusing as people were knocked around and pushed on the staircase, bullets flying aimlessly in all directions. Tommy Vercetti felt warm liquid splash over his face as he was being dragged into the crowd. He panicked a little on the inside as he thought he had been shot, but soon realized he didn't have any wounds yet. His back met forcefully with the wall as three or four confused men slammed into him. He winced slightly as he felt himself lose his footing and fall to the floor.
"Goddamnit, stop yelling! STOP!" Vercetti was screaming as he shielded his head from the feet of the angry mob.
Suddenly, time seemed to slow down. Tommy looked up and saw Sonny Forelli standing above him. His large body had cleared a small area around him, Tommy had a clear shot. He could end this right now. He'd never have to look at Sonny's fat face again if he just shot the bastard right then. He could say someone else did it in the confusion. It would be all too perfect, and he would get away with it too. No… As much as Tommy hated the guy, he didn't have the heart to kill him here. Sonny was firing wildly into the lobby, Tommy couldn't see if he was hitting anything or not.
Well, Tommy wasn't going to kill him but he wasn't going to let him stay where he was and inconvenience himself. He leapt to his feet and shoved Sonny to the side with his shoulder. Tommy assumed Sonny had lost his footing and fallen backwards as he no longer heard the sound of his gun firing. His own gun drawn once again, Tommy took careful aim through the crowd of crazed people. The figure of one man clad in a black suit could be made out. The guy was awkwardly holding a large, automatic weapon and looking around anxiously. This guy must have been young, this was probably his first gunfight.
Tommy shot him in the face.
Blood streaked across the wall as the black-suited man spun around violently and stumbled to the floor after the bullet exited his skin. To Tommy, it seemed as if everything around him stopped for a moment. He felt a pang of instant regret as he looked at the motionless body of his victim. This guy was probably just trying to find a break out in a world full of bullshit, like he himself once had. Tommy's hand tingled from the force of the gunshot he had let loose seconds earlier, and he tried to grab hold of himself again.
He was once again shoved around by desperate gunmen. The number of them, however, had decreased and a considerable amount of people were now lying on the floor and looking a lot like the youngster Tommy dropped.
Suddenly the gunfire stopped. Silence rang out in everyone's ears, almost more startling than the noise. There was a thick cloud of smoke overhead from all the bullets that were let loose. Tommy coughed absently a few times as he strained to see past everyone. He stepped carefully over bodies on the floor and politely pushed the survivors out of the way as he headed toward the young guy he'd shot. As he approached, his eyes slowly grew wider as the ringing in his ears stopped for a moment. Stopped just long enough for him to hear the faint groaning of the youngster who was lying face down on the floor, a bit of blood had collected around him. The body shifted slightly.
Holy shit.
He was alive. Tommy dashed toward the body and knelt down. After rolling the body over, Tommy frantically asked if the guy was ok. He was shaking the guy, probably racking the hell out of the guy's injured head. The bullet had streaked through the side of his face, taking off a considerable amount of skin. Less than an inch to the left and the wall behind him would have been covered with brain matter.
"Holy shit, shit shit shit. Say something! Come on kid, look at me. Can you see? Look at me!" Tommy lost his cool, obviously. His ruthlessness had left him for a brief time and the fact that he was only 26 years old showed heavily. He was close to tears as he listened to the guy's groaning. Upon closer inspection, he could tell that this guy was around the same age as Tommy.
"Move aside Vercetti, I got him." Tommy froze as he heard the familiar, deep, wretched voice of Sonny Forelli behind him. As his head slowly turned to face Forelli, Tommy grew silent. His fists clenched tightly and some kind of white heat floated into his skull. With frightening speed Tommy leapt from his position and threw himself at Sonny Forelli. Taking advantage of every bit of his medium build, Tommy pulled him to the ground. Forelli's back hit the floor with a terrible 'oof'. Tommy let loose a flurry of vicious punches that hurt his hand afterward, but for the moment he didn't feel anything. After a satisfying amount of damage had been inflicted and most of Sonny's face was covered in crimson, Tommy jumped up and once again dashed toward the youngster who was still coughing and breathing heavily on the ground.
He waved his gun around as a warning and began shouting, "If anyone fucking touches this guy I'll shoot everyone in this fucking room! Back the fuck off now! He's still alive, just don't touch him. I'll take care of it! BACK OFF!" He continued his screaming as a few suited men tried making their ways toward the body.
Tommy fired a startling warning shot into the ceiling and blinked away pieces of ceiling that showered down upon them. As he began to get a hold of himself, he realized the intensity of the scene he was creating. The surviving gun inspectors, Paul, Sonny, and 'Lips' were all staring at him in amazement. Well, it was more like anger on Sonny's part. Forelli was bleeding heavily from his nose, and his teeth were covered in blood. He was spitting out red mouthfuls as he glared angrily at Tommy.
"What the fuck is wrong with you kid? This guy is an enemy you dumb ass! You're lucky if Pete doesn't fucking kill you for this!" Sonny tried to lunge at Tommy but was held back by Paul and Lips.
Tommy turned his attention back toward the kid he had rescued. He was sitting up now, looking around in amazement and clutching the bleeding side of his face with both hands.
"I…" The kid began, "I can't see…"
Tommy reached his hand out to help him up.
