Chapter 3: Beginner's Work

The dark-green Infernus made it's way up the street slowly. Leon was busy planning his attack strategy, while Michael was trying to shake his nerves. Leon parked the car across the street from the station. He wanted the car as close by as was safe in case a hasty retreat was necessary. Looking over at Michael, he chuckled.

"You think you're up for this? You look like hell," he said.

"I know. It's just that this is the first time I've done something like this," Michael admitted.

"Maybe you should find a new profession. If you can't handle a simple hit like this, you're not going to make it. This will end up being everyday shit for you, ya know?"

"Yeah, I get it. Don't worry, I'm good. So, who are we taking out? I see a bunch of Diablos over there."

"I get the feeling that Toni wanted us to just pop a couple of Diablo soldiers. If he had a specific target, he would've told us. Come on, let's have some fun."

Leon and Michael got out of the car. Leon popped his trunk and handed Michael his shotgun before they attacked, realizing that Michael had forgotten to grab a weapon. Once that was taken care of, they casually walked on over to the other side of the street, not caring to conceal their guns. One of the Diablos saw them coming and made a move for his piece, but it was the last move he'd ever make. Leon fired one single round from his pistol straight into the Diablo's skull. He was dead instantly. The other Diablos saw this and tried to retaliate, but Leon was just too quick. Using only one of his pistols and a fancy rolling maneuver, he dropped five of the eight Diablos that were standing there before they could get a shot off. Michael backed him up by gunning two Diablos himself, albeit a little slow in his action. Only one Diablo managed to actually pull out his gun and aim, deciding to try and take out Leon who was clearly the more dangerous one, but it was in vain. Leon had sent a bullet his way just as the Diablo aimed the gun. The bullet went through the chest, felling the Diablo immediately. He was still alive, but Michael took care of that. Leon started to congratulate Michael, but pulled him towards the car instead when he spotted a Diablo Stallion charging down the street, attempting to run them down. They barely made it out of the car's path, Leon nearly getting squashed.

They hopped into the Infernus and Leon started the car, hitting the gas as soon as the engine roared to life. The Stallion was hot on their tails as Leon rounded the next corner, trying to get out of Diablo territory. As he approached the turning point to head back into Mafia turf, Leon had another idea. He went the opposite direction, toward the car crusher at the junkyard. The Diablo Stallion followed, but the driver soon regretted that decision as Leon led him into the junkyard and onto the small hill behind the car crusher. Leon spun the wheel and hit a sharp left, watching with satisfaction as the Diablo Stallion rushed up the hill and over the cliff into the water below.

"Damn! That's it for them!" he said in an almost maniacal voice.

"Are you fucking crazy? You coulda flipped this thing over!" Michael exclaimed. "What's wrong with you?"

"Sorry 'bout that. I've got a major problem and it's making me a little crazy. I guess I'm just trying to blow off some steam."

"What's the problem?"

"Simply put, I'm probably being hunted as we speak. It's not a good feeling."

"Life of a criminal, huh?"

Leon didn't answer and just headed back to give Toni the good news. When he pulled up in front of the restaurant, Michael quickly got out of the car and headed in, but Leon stopped him.

"Aren't you forgetting something?"

"What?" Michael said, confused.

"My shotgun. You didn't think you were keeping that, did you? Get your own."

Michael laughed sheepishly and handed Leon the shotgun, then they went inside.

"Boss, we did it! Those idiots won't be messing with you again!" Michael said, clearly excited.

"Taught those bastards a lesson, huh? That's the kind of results I want," Toni said. "Your name's Leon, right? I think you'll fit in nicely with this 'organization'."

Leon only smiled and said, "What's next?"

One Month Later…

An alarm clock was going off like crazy. Leon slowly rose out of his bed and turned it off. After a long yawn, he walked over to his window and looked out at the city, thinking about all that had happened. In one short month, he'd became one of the Mafia's best men and a personal friend of Toni's. He even got Leon his apartment in Saint Mark's, which provided a good view of the surrounding area. The last month was filled with nothing but action, as Leon was often leading the charge against the Diablos and bringing the Mafia closer to finishing them with every Diablo he felled. The Ravens hadn't shown up yet, so Leon was starting to worry about them less and less. The only thing on his mind was continuing his work. He took one last look at the rising sun, and got himself ready for the day. He threw on some blue jeans and a green polo shirt, tidied himself up in the bathroom, then bolted out the door to start the day.

Leon got into his Infernus and started it up, sitting for a second before pulling off. Glancing at his watch, he saw that it was only eight o'clock. He hit the road, heading for the restaurant, but halfway there, he spotted a limo heading from the direction of the restaurant and toward a house on the cliff. The windows were tinted and the occupants couldn't been seen, but judging from the apparent destination, Leon had a feeling Toni was in there somewhere. The house in question belonged to the Don of the Mafia, Joey Leone, although the place was more like a slightly downsized mansion. During the last month, Leon met Joey and became a loyal operative in Joey's eyes. It was the fact that Toni and Joey came to trust him quickly that made Leon feel safer, but he wondered about the kind of fear that Joey could instill in others.

Joey Leone was the son of the late Salvatore Leone, the old Don. After his death, it was unanimously decided that Joey would take over, though Joey wasn't sure he was the right man for the job. Nevertheless, Joey tried his best to lead the Mafia, and other than being somewhat uncomfortable wearing a suit instead of his usual mechanics' jumpsuit, things were good for him. Now, following Toni's advice, he put much of his faith in Leon, an action that he would not be regretting anytime soon.

The limo parked inside the mansion's garage, while Leon found a spot outside. He stepped out of his car and walked up the stairs after giving the occupants of the limo some time to get out and settle themselves inside. As Leon walked through the open sliding glass doors, he was greeted by the sound of an infuriated Toni.

"Toni, what's going on?" Leon asked, curious as to what had Toni so angry.

"Everybody's trying to screw us over, that's what's going on! Who do these SOB's think they are? First the Diablos try to rub us out, now these bastards come in, acting like they're somebody!"

"Who are you talking about?"

Toni said something, but Leon couldn't understand what he was saying; it was in italian. Instead, Joey was the one who answered Leon's query.

"These guys, we don't know their name, but they're courageous. All we know for sure is that they came to Liberty about a year ago. They singlehandedly wiped out what was left of the Triads and took over Chinatown."

"You didn't do anything about them then?" Leon asked in a surprised tone.

"They didn't seem like much of a threat. They weren't messing with us, so we didn't mess with them. Looks like that was a bad idea, since now they want to take our territory for themselves."

"I assume you want me to teach them a lesson about messing with the Mafia, right?"

"You're damn right we do!" a furious Toni spat. "Teach these idiots that messing with us is a bad idea! I don't care if you have to stick a bomb up their asses, just do whatever it takes!"

Leon left the mansion wondering what the best way to tackle this assignment would be. He would've liked to have Michael with him, but Michael was in the hospital with two cracked ribs, a broken arm, and a broken jaw and was unavailable. The injuries were the result of a severe beat-down from two Diablos, followed by a subsequent toss out of a speeding car. It wasn't a good experience, and to make matters worse, he had been alone when the Diablos jumped him. Leon knew nothing until after the attack had taken place. As the thoughts of Michael's attack drifted through his head, Leon instantly had an idea, thinking that something of that nature would certainly send a message to this unknown gang. He raced over to Chinatown, planning to grab a gang member and give him a little taste of old school barbarism, but Leon found a big flaw in his plan when he drove into the area. It wasn't hard to identify the people Joey and Toni were talking about. There was a bunch of guys roaming the area wearing black tees and purple shorts, along with purple headbands. The problem here was that there was just too many of them for Leon to waltz up and start beating one down; he'd be knocked out in a second. Leon decided that he'd have to just start shooting and kill as many as possible.

Grabbing a Tec-9 from the passenger side seat, Leon hopped out of his car, targeted one of the gang members, and fired. His target hit the ground and was immobile; the bullet went through the heart. The other gang members saw this and pulled out their own guns. Leon ducked behind a parked car a few feet away in order to avoid the rain of bullets that came his way, but he knew that was just a temporary solution; the gang members would just surround him and finish him off. Disliking that way to leave the world, Leon bolted to his car, hoping to get in and flee, but gunfire killed that plan and forced him to sprint the other way. Unfortunately, more enemies were coming from that direction and had their guns already drawn. Leon was in a tight position, unsure of what to do. As he contemplated his highly possible death and a way to escape it, another car rode up and stopped in front of the advancing gang members. Leon stared in surprise as the driver side door opened up and a rather dangerous looking man stepped out. He was a middle-aged black man, fairly tall with a firm build, and was wearing blue jeans with a green shirt and green cap tilted to the side. The man had emerged holding two Micro SMGs' and began blasting.

"I suggest you get moving!" he told Leon.

Using the distraction the man caused, Leon headed to his car and got in, speeding off immediately afterward. He thought about heading back to Joey's, but he didn't want to leave the man who had helped him fighting all alone. That was a coward's move and Leon was no coward. He made a U-turn and drove back, performing a drive-by as he went. Many enemy gang members were struck and killed by Leon's fire, and it made the other members scatter, or at least it seemed that way at first. Sirens could be heard racing down the street and Leon knew hanging around would be a bad idea.The other man heard the sirens too, and he got back into his car and drove off and out of sight. Leon followed his example and got out of the area too. He went straight to Joey's manor, but didn't go into the dirt parking area. Instead, he parked his car on the street and just sat there, wondering who the man who helped him was. He closed his eyes in an attempt to regain his composure, having it disrupted by the onslaught of foes he had just faced. Cursing his idiocy, he made a promise to never start shooting gang members out of nowhere while deep in their area. He made this mistake before, but apparently didn't remember it. He sat uninterupted for only another couple of minutes. Out of nowhere, someone started banging on his window. Leon opened his eyes to see who it was, his hand reaching for his gun in case it was an enemy. Looking at the person's face, Leon put his gun down and sighed. He rolled down the window and smiled at the young man at his window, happy to see him.

"Damn Kai, you scared the hell out of me."

"The young man called Kai grinned.

"Hey, Leon. So this is where you've been hiding."

"What are you doing here?" Leon asked.

"I came looking for you. I've got some news for you."

Leon's smile faded, worried about what Kai had to tell him.