Chapter 2: Making Friends

Leon continued to stare at the ceiling as he racked his brain for what he wanted to say.

"What the hell happened?" the woman asked, sounding worried.

"At this point, I barely know myself," Leon replied. "Carmen, I need your help."

"You know you've got it. What do you need?"

"A place to stay, and some weaponry."

Carmen frowned slightly.

"I can get you some guns, but as for a room, you're on your own."

"I thought you were going to help me!" Leon exclaimed. "You expect me to live out on the streets?"

"Hey, the landlord is getting a real attitude problem. I've been late with the rent several times, and if he finds someone else living here, that's my ass."

Leon let out a low growl, and then followed it up with a disgusted groan as Carmen took off her jeans.

"Carmen, have some respect. I'm still a minor you know."

"It's not my fault you showed up when I was about to take a shower. Shouldn't this be a bonus for you anyway? You get to see me in all of my glory, and I'm only eight years older than you," Carmen said.

"Listen, if you've got some guns here, give them to me so I can leave."

"Hold on a sec."

Carmen walked into her bedroom and pulled a large suitcase out from under her bed. She dragged the suitcase over to Leon and popped it open. Inside was a fairly wide selection of firearms, mostly handguns. Leon took his time in selecting his weapons while Carmen headed toward the bathroom, but before she could reach it, the phone rang. Leon continued to sift through the guns, ignoring the ringing.

"Could you get that?" Carmen asked.

"It's your phone, you get it."

Carmen reluctantly waltzed over to the phone and picked it up.

"Hello. Hey baby, what's up?"

Leon listened with minor attention as he finally chose the guns he wanted and closed the suitcase.

"Leon? What about him?" Carmen was saying into the telephone. Leon shifted all of his attention to the call now. If his luck continued, the caller was the one person he did not want to know his whereabouts.

"You are kidding, right? Leon would never do something like that!"

Leon twitched nervously.

"No, I haven't seen him, but I'll tell you if I do, okay? Yeah, I'll talk to you later. Bye." Carmen hung up the phone, a stunned look on her face.

"Leon, what kind of shit have you gotten into?" she asked hotly.

"That was Jerome, wasn't it?"

"Yes, and from the sound of it, he's really pissed with you. How the hell could you shoot members of your own gang?"

"I ain't a Raven! I've never had a hand in any of their operations. I just occasionally do a few jobs for Jerome. Entirely off the record books."

"Whatever. All I know is that Jerome probably wants you dead, and knowing him, he won't stop until he finds you."

Leon groaned loudly, slamming his fist on a small table next to him.

"This is fucking great! First my sister, now I'm next!"

"What happened to your sister?" Carmen questioned.

"It's a long story that I don't feel like going into right now. Listen, if he calls again, tell him I probably went underground. I'm going to find a place to lay low. I'll call you when I can."

Leon swiftly left the apartment, giving Carmen a hug before leaving. Once outside, he looked around before hopping into his car and speeding off down the road. He stopped at Ammu-Nation to pick up some extra ammo for the pistols and shotgun he got from Carmen, then sat in his car, wondering where he would go.

While he sat, a car that Leon recognized as a Diablo Stallion rode up on the side of a civilian, the two inside the car looking rather murderous. The civilian, who was enjoying an ice cream cone, dropped it and froze for a second, staring at the Diablo gang members. Leon couldn't tell what was happening, but he knew something was about to go down. He pulled out one of his pistols and rolled down his window, preparing to fire if trouble started. Leon knew he had killed his fair share of people, but he never fired on an innocent civilian. It seemed like a fucked up thing to do, and he saw no honor in doing so. Leon's suspicions were confirmed as one of the Diablos whipped out a sub-machine gun and aimed for the defenseless young man. Leon reacted quickly, firing two bullets that went straight into both Diablos' heads. Sticking away the pistol, Leon called the man over to his car.

"You okay?" he asked.

"Yeah, thanks for that. This kind of shit happens way more often than I'd like. Mind giving me a ride? It's too damn dangerous for me to walk any further by myself."

Leon unlocked the doors and the man climbed in.

"If you could just take me to Cipriani's Ristorante, that'd be great," the man said. "My name's Michael, by the way. Michael South."

"Nice to meet you. I'm Leon Masters."

Leon followed Michael's directions to the restaurant, taking an overly long time to look at the apartments around. Portland was full of them, and there had to be one place cheap enough to rent out. Leon pulled up in front of the restaurant ten minutes later and tried to give Michael a handshake as the young man got out, but to his surprise, Michael motioned for him to get out as well.

"Come on, I want you to meet my boss."

Leon reluctantly followed Michael into the restaurant, which smelled of Italian food. The aroma made Leon hungry as he and Michael headed to a room at the very back. When they entered, they found three men sitting at a table, playing cards. Upon seeing Michael, one of the men stood up and greeted him.

"Where the hell have you been? I've been waiting!"

"Sorry, I got a little held up. Some Diablo punks tried to blow me away."

"You didn't take 'em out first?"

"Yeah, I, uh, forgot my gun again."

"Michael, what the fuck? You gotta stop forgetting things like that. If you don't, you'll end up dead! Now, who's this?"

"Oh, this is Leon. He saved my hide from those Diablos. Leon, this is my boss, Toni Cipriani."

Leon took a second to analyze Toni. He had seen a few photos of Toni, just to be knowledgeable about the gangs in Liberty, and this Toni looked nothing like the one in the photo. From being a slightly overweight joke, Toni became something more formidable. He had lost the weight and bulked up in just three short years. He looked like he was someone you didn't want to mess with.

"So you saved my boy Michael, eh? You must be new in Liberty, I haven't seen you before," Toni said.

"Yeah, I'm new, and I'm looking for a job. Think you can help me out?"

"As a matter of fact, I think I can. I need somebody to team up with Michael here and do a hit on some Diablo bastards who've been giving me trouble. Since you two have already worked together, why don't you go along with him?"

"Fine with me. Just tell me where I can find my target."

"You're a regular killer, aren't you? How old are you kid?"

"Seventeen, but I've been doing jobs like this since I was twelve."

Toni let out a loud chuckle upon hearing this.

"Since you were twelve, huh? I like you, kid. Get out there and show me what you can do. You can find the bastards in question hanging around the train station."

Leon and Michael left the restaurant, Leon looking happy, Michael looking worried. Leon was happy because he had just had a little good luck for once. If the Raven Syndicate ever found him, he'd need some kind of backup. Knowing that Toni was a part of the Leone family, the Mafia, he asked for work in order to get his foot in the door. When Toni came to trust him, Leon would have an ally, someone who would have his back. The Ravens would have a hard time trying to kill him then.

"Michael, you ready to do this?" he asked.

"Yeah, let's go blow these punks away!" Michael exclaimed. Leon let out a low laugh. Michael was trying to sound tough, but it just didn't work. Leon figured he'd probably have to do this himself.