Chapter Three:
The Exchange:
April 21st, 2008:
Shortly after we got back, we broke the news to Vince, who wasn't happy not one bit. To make matters worse, all three of his kids, Vinny, Shane and Stephanie were all with him at his office, just to pour salt into the wound.
Vince: WHAT DO YOU MEAN THAT THE ORIAM CRIME FAMILY HAVE TORRIE NOW?!
I was standing there with a silent expression.
Sierra: We're terribly sorry, Mr. Noham. We tried our best. We were outgunned and outmanned. They knew the best routes to take Torrie away.
Vinny: Sierra, there's no need for you to apologize. It's Xyaqom who should be apologizing, Torrie was his responsibly!
Xyaqom: Wow, throw me under the bus, why don't you.
Vinny: I mean, Xyaqom had one job, but what did he do? He just stood there with his thumb up his ass and just watched Mario fly off with Torrie.
Xyaqom: WHAT?! That never happened!
Vinny: Oh, really? Then what were you doing?
Xyaqom: Trying to stop myself from falling to my death, that's what!
Vinny: What, you decided to commit suicide but had second thoughts mid-way.
Xyaqom: That's not what happened. Stop telling us stuff that you really don't know.
Vince: Okay, Xyaqom, tell us. What happened that prevented you from saving Torrie.
Xyaqom: Believe me, I had her in my sights, I saw her being forced to sit on the helicopter. When I saw her, I made a mad dash towards her. But when I was running towards her, Mario, armed with a ray gun, sneaked up on me and paralyzed me. Afterward, he kicked me off the roof where I was trying to regain movement in my body to save myself from the fall.
Shane: But how did he paralyze you?
Xyaqom: If I get shot with a large amount of electricity, my nanomachines will be temporally damaged, thus paralyzing me for a short while. To make matters worse, Mario somehow knew about my weakness.
Stephanie: But how did he know about your weakness?
Xyaqom: I don't know. He told me that someone told him.
Vinny: LIES! FUCKING LIES!
Xyaqom: How do you know that I'm lying? You weren't even there.
Vinny: BECAUSE I SAID SO! CAUSE I'M THE BEST IN THE WORLD OF WHAT I DO, AND HOW I DO IT!
Xyaqom: Oh, you're the best in the world, huh? Then explain to me why you have an IQ level of fifteen.
Vinny: CAUSE FUCK YOU! THAT'S WHY!
Stephanie: Vinny, you need to calm down.
Vinny: NO! I WON'T CALM DOWN! I REFUSE TO CALM DOWN! YOU KNOW WHY?! (He stands up and raises his arms) CAUSE I'M THE BEST IN THE WORLD OF WHAT I DO AND HOW I DO IT! AND ALL OF YOU MOTHERFUCKERS ARE ALL BENEATH ME! WOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!
Vince: VINNY! (This snaps Vinny out of his angry state and looks at his father) Do you want to go sit in the corner?
Vinny: Dad, come on, I'm thirty years old, not three.
Vince: Then I highly recommend that you sit your ass down and calm yourself, or else you WILL be sitting at the corner. Understand?!
Vinny: Yes, dad.
Vinny calms down and sits back down as I turn to see what was the plan to get Torrie back.
Vince: Now then, I understand that this is a stressful situation. But now is not the time to be playing the blame game here. We need to find out where Torrie is being kept and rescue her from those bastards from the Oriam crime family. (We all nod in agreement)
Just then, there was a knock on the door. It was one of Vince's employees.
Vince: Yes?
The employee comes in.
Employee: Um, sir, this came into the mail. It's said to be delivered to you. (Hands Vince a USB stick)
I saw the USB stick, and nods of wanted to see it. Vince put the USB stick into his computer, and soon a video began loading up. After the video finished loading, the video showed Mario holding a gun at Torrie, being ready to pull the trigger, Vince was getting mad at Mario.
Mario: Hello Vince, it is I, Mario Oiram. By now, you probably know that I now have your wife, Torrie under my clutches. You know Vince, I tried to be reasonable with you, I tried to offer you deals, but you would just ignore me. It seems that no matter what I did, I could never get your attention, which resulted in me into doing this. I hope now that I have your wife, I finally I have your undivided attention. Many of us have worked our asses off to the bone to get to where we are now. And we're not going to let a mayor who doesn't want to play by the rules make our hard work be for nothing. We are not going to lose our slice of the pie of "The Life." You're lucky that it was us that captured your wife, and not the Shadduck crime family. Because if it were the Shadduck crime family, they would've killed Torrie right then and there. We're the nicer crime families. So here is how we're going to do this. If you want your wife back, alive and well, then you're going to pay up ten million dollars to us. However, by paying us ten million dollars, you're also going to agree to work for us for now on. You have till midnight to get the money together and meet us at the Christale City Abdondon Warehouse. If you choose not to show up in that location after midnight, I'll assume that your answer is in no, and we will kill Torrie. Again, you have till midnight to meet us at the Christale City Abdondon Warehouse to do the Exchange. And back by paying the money, you agree to give me working for us for now on. I hope to see you later on tonight. (The video stops there)
After the video came to a close, Vince rubbed his face with both of his hands.
Shane: Dad, what are we going to do?
Vinny: Is it not obvious? We're going to pay them the money, duh!
Stephanie: Vinny, don't be so rash. If we pay them the money, that will also mean that we agreed to work for the Oriam crime family for now on. For the last year since father has been mayor, we've been trying not to negotiate with crime lords. If we pay them the money and agree to work for them for now on, we'll end up being no better than all the other Mayors in the past. We promised the citizens of Christale City that we're going to clean the city out of its criminals and Corruption ways, and we don't want to break our promise to the people.
Vinny: Yeah, but if we don't pay them they're going to kill her!
Shane: Damn, we're damned if we do, damned if we don't.
Sierra: Sir?
Vince: I'll... I will pay them the money.
Stephanie: But dad, if you...
Vince: I know, but what little choice do we have right now?
Xyaqom: We do have two choices, hand him the money or keep him talking to distract him while Sierra and I get Torrie out.
Shane: Yes, but that would require a third person to keep Mario busy.
Sierra: Yes, I believe that the one man who is perfect for that job is no other than Vinny. (This almost made me chuckle)
Vinny: Wait, what?!
Xyaqom: Oh, yes, you definitely have a way of words Vinny. With that silver tongue of yours, you'll defiantly keep Mario busy while Sierra and I get Torrie.
I was trying my best not to puke in my mouth as I was saying all of that.
Vinny: You're out of your mind.
Vince: That does sound like a good idea.
Vinny: What?! Dad, You can't be considering making me come with these two!
Vince: Why not? Besides, don't you always say that you're the best of what you do and how you do it, and how everyone else is all beneath you? (Gives me the evil eye) Even me! (I nod at agreement)
Vinny: (Chuckles nervously) Okay, um... Sometimes, I tend to say things that I didn't mean. This was one of them.
Vince: I don't care. Vinny, rather you like it or not, you're coming with Xyaqom and Sierra.
Vinny: NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!
I was mentally getting the plans ready and was ready to follow Sierra's idea about how to get Torrie out of the warehouse.
Later that night, we were making our way to the abandoned warehouse by helicopter. Vinny was being a complete sourpuss about having to come with us.
Vinny: I can't believe you guys talked my dad into making me come with you. Like seriously, what have I ever done to you?!
Xyaqom: Hmm, let me think. Oh, I know, LYING TO YOUR DAD THAT I DID NOTHING TO SAVE TORRIE!
Vinny: I wasn't lying, I simply told him what I thought what happened.
Xyaqom: Yeah, it sure wasn't the truth either.
Sierra: Guys, come on, we need to focus. Now, does everyone remember the plan?
Xyaqom: Yes, Vinny is going to give the Oiram crime family the money, but instead of simply giving them the money, he is going to keep them talking to distract them for us to save Torrie, then we get the hell out of there.
Sierra: Correct.
Vinnie: But why me?
Xyaqom: Because your the best one to talk to them.
Sierra: Get ready, everyone. We're almost there. (I nod at the group)
We then arrived at the warehouse. I point at Vinny for him to enter the warehouse, he shakes his head. I turn my hand into a blade, scarring him into going into the warehouse with the briefcase of money.
Sierra: Pussy.
Xyaqom: You got that right.
Sierra opens the window gently of trying not to raise any alarms, her vision sees nobody was around. Sierra and I sneak inside the warehouse and watch over Vinny, biding our time to strike. After a few minutes, Vinny arrived at the center of the warehouse.
Vinny: Hello? Is anybody here? I got the money! Hello?
?: (Speaks behind Vinny) Are you trying to get the city to hear you?
Vinny: (Vinny looks behind him) My deep apologies, but I have the money right here.
The person that Vinny was talking to came out of the shadows was none other than Mario himself. However, he somehow looked a lot younger than he did when I first met him and what was shown on the video.
Vinny: Mario? Is that you? My God, you look amazing. Did you step into a fountain of youth by chance?
Mario Jr: (Chuckles) Yes, the resemblance between my father and I are quite strong. But I can assure you that I am actually his son, Mario Jr.
Vinny: Oh, that actually explains everything. But where is your father?
Mario Jr: Father had an emergency meeting that he had to attend to. So he asked me to take his place in this affair.
Vinny: I see... Did he leave Torrie with you?
Mario Jr: That he did.
Vinny: Okay, but before I give you the money, let me see Torrie, let me see if she's safe.
Mario Jr: Very well then.
Mario Jr snaps his fingers, and four of his men drag Torrie out of the shadows, where her hands were handcuffed and her mouth cogged.
Vinny: Torrie, baby, everything will be okay. We'll... I mean, I, will get you out of here.
Mario Jr: Did you bring the $10,000,000 that we demanded?
Vinny: Yes, I have, but let's make the trade with good business, right?
Just then, I saw a red dot pointing at Vinny's head, coming from a laser from a gun. That's when I realized someone was about to kill Vinny.
Xyaqom: VINNY! DUCK!
Vinny quickly ducks, completely missing the gunshot that was meant to kill him, but when Vinny ducked under the gunshot, one of the members of the Oriam crime family got shot instead.
Mario Jr. What the hell?!
That's when all hell broke loose. A bunch of guys in brown trenchcoats came out of the shadows and began shooting everybody. When the members of the Oiram crime family grabbed Mario Jr and escorted him out of the warehouse as quickly as possible. One of the members of the Oiram crime family kicked Vinny in the face, breaking his nose and dropping the briefcase of money in the process. He then picked up the briefcase and ran while the other members of the Oiram crime family picked up Torrie and made a run for it, leaving Vinny, myself and Sierra to fend off this gang who ruined the Exchange. One of the gang members with the brown trench coats ran towards Vinny, loaded up his shotgun and was about to finish him off, but I quickly came to the rescue by stabbing the man to save Vinny.
Vinny: Thanks, but we have to save Torrie.
Sierra: Right now, we need to save ourselves.
I picked up Vinny and Sierra, and I made a run for it.
Xyaqom: Sierra, what the hell are these guys?
Sierra: I don't believe it. These guys are the Shadduck crime family.
Xyaqom: The Shadduck crime family?! What the hell are they doing here?!
Sierra: I think they somehow found out about the ransom.
Vinny: How did they find out?!
Sierra: I don't know, but right now we need to get out of here in one piece.
Vinny: What about Torrie?! We need to rescue her!
Xyaqom: Vinny, right now, we need to save ourselves. If we go after Torrie, you'll only get yourself killed!
We managed to find a hiding spot in the kitchen, where we would wait out this disaster. I was trying to think a way out of this solution. Now you're probably wondering why Sierra and I are not cutting these guys down. Well, that's because protecting Vinny was our number one priority. He's not a warrior like Sierra and me, he's just an everyday party man. If Sierra and I were to fight these guys, they might take advantage of our blindsides and kill Vinny right then and there, which was something we weren't going to risk.
While we were hiding, we see a member of the Oiram crime family from a far distance, who was holding the briefcase of money. It seemed he somehow got separated from his comrades. While he was shouting out for his team, a member of the Shadduck crime family shot him in the head, and took off with the money.
Vinny: Our money!
Vinny tried to go after the guy who stole the briefcase of money from the dead Oiram crime family member, who also stole it from us, but Sierra and I were holding him back.
Vinny: LET ME GO! HE'S GETTING AWAY WITH OUR MONEY!
Sierra: Vinny, don't be stupid.
Xyaqom: Yeah, as soon as you step out, you'll get yourself killed. It's a war zone out there!
Vinny: But... What about the money and Torrie?
Sierra: We'll have to come back for them when things have calmed down.
Vinny: You better come back for them, you sexy ass. (Sierra wasn't fazed by the comment)
I was shaking my head about Vinny was trying to stay calm by talking with Sierra. After what felt like hours, the war zone in the warehouse began to die down.
Xyaqom: Okay, things seem to have calmed down. Let's get the hell out of here.
Sierra: Agreed before Vinny tries to guess what color is my panties. (Vinny was a pervert, but she didn't have any feelings for anyone)
We then began sneaking our way out. Vinny was staying silent as he was slowly getting worried about Torrie, but I turn back with simple nod off going to get her back.
To Be Continued...