The Hunt for Sviederbach

Disclaimer: I do not own Shake it Up

A/N:

Chapter 19 (We Own Chicago)

"Really not interested in going to work today." A man with a black suit and red dress shirt stood still as his wife inspected his suit for strings. He smoothed his hand through his coarse brown hair and turned his mustache up with a smile. He admired his beautiful brown haired wife and shook his head. "I think the suit's clean dear." He had to check in on his work, then go deal with the family business. He'd seen the global news, and was deeply troubled by the situation his friends had been caught up in.

Just the prior night, they had Aveline's camera showing one of the notes, and it became clear to him that his best friend was likely being held at or around Crusty's. However before he could take offensive action, he still had to go to the restaurant and do some work. He now owned the shop, and checked in each morning to watch how his employees were handling their jobs. When working for the big boss, or in his case, the grand Don, they knew better than to slack off.

Chicago knew his name, they were well aware that one did not mess with Don Martino 'Deuce' Martinez. He was more known and deadlier than old Don Rio Garcia had been, and also took over ownership of the Atrium Mall when he retired. When Deuce married Dina, it was more than just a union of two lovers, but a union of two families. Both of the fathers stepped down and let Deuce head the entire mafia family. He got the job done, and he didn't always follow the 'rules'. He took care of people at the same time, thus the police never bothered with him or his ways. It was more of a 'scratch my back, and I'll scratch yours' method.

Dina was his most trusted assistant and partner, and she often gave orders out for him. He straightened his tie and breathed in slowly. "Dina, are our fathers and Uncle Frank prepared for today?" Dina nodded and looked towards the window.

"Yes. Our families are all prepped and more than ready. They'll have the entire block closed off by eleven. Nobody will come in or leave that radius without us knowing." Deuce's lip curved into a smirk and he quickly nodded his head.

"Good. Some days it pays to have police help." The truth of the matter was, he had several relatives on the police force, including his older brother that Cece's mother had saved in the bank all those years before. That brother was now Chicago's Chief of Police. Many of the higher police officers were members of Deuce's or Dina's family, as were several members of City Hall. The mayor was a close cousin of Dina's. Together, they owned Chicago Illinois. Nothing went down without them knowing it. "Someone messed with the Hessenheffers and the Blues, now they're going to pay handsomely."

Within the hour, Deuce was at Crusty's and wiping down the front counter while inspecting his employees. His lips were still tucked into a smirk as they all eyed him with knowing glances, they knew well what was going down today. The door opened and an elder man with balding, thin hair, came rushing in. "Uncle Frank, what's the news?"

"Our men weaved about, we've located Ty Blue, along with his wife and son. It looks like the one that has him is Auda Lamont, seems she was smarter than we gave her credit for…" He raised an eyebrow and moved his hand in a circular motion for his Uncle to continue. Frank breathed in slowly and folded his arms across his chest. "It seems the Lamont family has more relatives than just the ones who've abducted the Royal Family. She's got a bunch of cousins with her, they're all holed up in the apartment building…the tenants have locked themselves in their apartments."

"Okay that's good, we don't need any civilian blood."

"Right. Well, Auda is on the roof with Ty's family. It would appear the Lamont's aren't actually expecting us, they're expecting Aveline." He rubbed his chin and narrowed his eyes. This was good, they could leave Aveline a present in the form of her own uncle. "You want me to take over the shift here? Old Rio Garcia's just outside, and we've begun closing off the block."

"Right…" He reached below the counter and grabbed a long shotgun that was latched underneath. Once he pulled it off and cocked it, his employees sprang to action, grinning and pulling out their various handguns and automated weapons. "I want this to be as clean as possible. No unnecessary kills, no civilian kills. As we know, nobody gets in this radius and no one leaves until we've secured the area. You hold down Crusty's. Mr. Garcia knows to remain outside with his people. I will enter the apartment building myself."

Deuce listened to Dina's voice on the radio in his ear plug, she was giving orders to the family in tune to what he was saying. He was most proud, and lucky to have such a devoted wife. He wouldn't be where he was now if not for her.

After several minutes of prep, Deuce was ready to enter the apartment building. He kicked open the front doors and narrowed his eyes, glancing around at the empty front lobby. The front desk, to the right, was consistent of simply an open window within a wall that faced him. Usually there was a receptionist there to greet people, but instead, there was a phone that was continually ringing.

He saw a hand move into view, touching the reject button on the phone. He grinned and moved over to the desk, leaning over with his gun and pointing it towards a man with a handgun. "Hello there sir, can I help you?" Deuce asked in a callous tone. The man looked up with wide eyes as Deuce shoved the gun into his face. "You don't work here. I'll give you to the count of three to leave the building. You'll run into some of my men, they will not kill you unless you attack. Got it?"

"Okay, okay, just don't shoot!" The man bolted out the door and ran for the front, stopping momentarily and screaming at the top of his lungs. "We're under attack!"

"Shit!" Deuce put his hand to the desk and flipped onto the other side. He crouched below as several footsteps were heard descending the stairway. "Shit, shit, shit!" He moved his hand into his suit and pulled out a small pen-shaped device, undid the top cap, and pressed down on a red button. Within seconds, he chucked it over his shoulder and out into the lobby, where smoke erupted from the device. The soldiers screamed out in terror and began spraying bullets in every direction. Deuce looked up as a stray bullet flew over his head and struck the wall in front of him. "Damn, that was close."

Minutes later, the gunfire had stopped. He listened for the sound of footsteps, or any other noises whatsoever, but nothing came. He put his finger to the earpiece and ordered someone to open up the doors and front windows of the lobby. When he did this, light fell into the area and the smoke started to clear away, leaving behind the smell of blood. "Did they shoot each other up out there?" He carefully poked his head into view, and gasped at the numerous bodies on the floor. "Well then…we're not dealing with professionals it seems."

He hurried out into the lobby and ran for the elevator, he knew better than to ride it all the way to the top, since people might be waiting for him there. He entered and struck the floor that Rocky's family had lived on. When the doors closed, a peaceful jazz tune played to relax his nerves. He smiled, tapping his foot, and adjusting his suit. When the elevator stopped and opened back up, the action was back on.

He carefully exited into the hallway, pressed his back against the wall, and slid across to the first corner. He poked his head into view and smirked at the door about twenty feet away. Directly in the middle were two gun wielding men, cracking some random joke about a goat, a bar, and a grandma. He raised an eyebrow and scratched the back of his head. "Okay, that's Rocky's mom's home, and I need to get into that apartment…" He stepped into view and held his shotgun behind him. "Hello boys. Funny joke, there…"

The two looked over, astonished at him. "Hey! It's Don Martinez! Wait a minute…"

"I believe you have some friends of mine. I'm looking to retrieve them."

"Shit! Kill him!" His smirk deepened as the men aimed their pistols at him. With lightning swift reflexes, Deuce pulled his shotgun forward and fired off two shots, striking the man on the right in the chest, and slicing into the head of the other man. Their bodies collapsed to the ground, and the man with the chest wound started gasping for air. "I-I can't breathe! Help me!"

"Sorry. I would, but I have some family business to attend to." He stepped over the man and twitched his shotgun back, firing off one shot into the man's head, giving him a swift end as opposed to a slow and painful death. He wasted no time in opening Mrs. Blue's apartment door. The woman was on the couch, watching with wide eyes as he made his way towards the fire escape. "Sorry about that Mrs. Blue, I hope all is well. I need to use your fire escape. Just like old times, right?"

"I-I-Okay…what's going on?"

"Nothing to worry about." He smiled innocently, then climbed out the back window. He didn't have the heart to tell her that her son's life was in grave danger, along with her grandson.

Once on the escape, he slowly made his way up the long steel ladders to the roof. When he poked his head up, he grinned at the sight. Ty, Tinka, and August were tied in the middle of the rooftop, with Ty glaring angrily at Auda, who was standing with her back turned, and gazing off the edge of the building. She was in perfect position for him to simply push her off. There were four people standing at the elevator doors, with their guns trained on it.

"Just as I thought…they expect me to use the elevator…dumbasses."

His goal was not these people, but Auda. She crossed the wrong family, and it was almost a pity to think that she would have to be executed for it. He pulled himself onto the roof and ran behind a vent, crouching very low. He peered out and saw Ty watching him very closely, with a frightened gaze. The four men were just a few paces to the right of Auda, so typically Deuce likely couldn't simply go up to her and push her off without getting attacked by the men.

Rather, he had another course of action in mind. She was so close to the edge, that just about anything could knock her off, sending her hurtling fifty stories into the pavement below. He carefully removed his shoes, tied the laces together, and silently rose to his feet. He began swinging his shoes above his head like a lasso, then removed them and watched the pair fly towards Auda.

The woman started to turn around, gasping in shock as the shoes struck her chest and bounced back onto the rooftop. She began swaying her arms in the air, trying to regain balance as her body leaned backwards. He crouched back down just as the four men started running towards Auda. They were too late, as her scream echoed down the building, ending with a sickening thud below. He smirked and snapped his fingers. "It was just an accident, she lost her footing, and fell."

"Auda!" The men screamed. "No!"

"Such a shame!" He rose up, aiming the shotgun at the men. They turned to him, frightened. He narrowed his eyes and curled his lips into a smirk. "You were expecting Aveline Hessenheffer, were you? Not expecting the mafia? Looks like your leader's down."

"You did this!" Exclaimed the heavy set man with a grizzly face. Deuce rolled his eyes and tilted his head to the side.

"I thought we established this. Maybe not. Anyway, I'm Don Martinez, and you know what?" He sidestepped and slowly walked towards them, narrowing his eyes as he kept his shotgun trained upon them. Ty, Tinka, and August all eyed him helplessly as the four men began to sweat. "I own Chicago, you're in my city, and you've messed with some very close friends of mine. I've devoted my life and friendship to these people. In fact, the Queen saved the life of one of my relatives, so I guess that makes me indebted. I don't know your beef with the royal family, but something to remember when you abduct powerful people." Done talking, he cracked his neck from side to side and tossed the shotgun on the ground. He reached into his fest and smirked. "Powerful people may have some extremely powerful friends."

Without warning, he pulled a small machinegun from his inside holster and let out a triumphant exclamation as he sprayed his bullets over the four enemies. The men screamed in pain, trying to jump out of the way. Three collapsed on the ground, dead, and one had fallen off the edge of the building in his attempt at escape.

He walked over to the edge and narrowed his eyes as he gazed at the two bodies sprawled on the ground below. "You do not mess with Don Martinez, and if you're going to play ball in Chicago, you had better come prepared…" When he turned around, he saw Uncle Frank and Rio Garcia running out of the elevator with Dina. "It is finished…"

He made haste in untying Ty and his family. August was the first to say anything at all, as Ty and Tinka were having some difficulty processing what had just occurred. "That…was…awesome!" August exclaimed.

"Yes," Ty replied, giving Deuce a quick hug. "Thank you so much. I knew you took up your family's business, but damn…" Deuce rubbed the back of his neck, chuckling nervously. After a few seconds, his eyes moved to the collars, which he instantly recognized. They had used similar devices. He snapped his fingers and Dina came rushing over.

"Recognize those?" Dina stared at the collars and quickly nodded her head.

"Yes, should we neutralize them?" Dina asked. "They're definitely active." Ty's gaze moved downward and Tinka's hand lifted up to hers.

"I'm a little frightened," she remarked, "I don't want these to explode. It was supposed to be Aveline, I think…"

"Right, we'll have to hold you guys here until she can arrive. Until then, I do know how to remove those things…the mafias have used them before. So let's get to work, everything will be fine." He was thrilled to see them, and thrilled that they were safe. He couldn't fathom what would happen if he lost any of his best friends. "Aveline may be in for a surprise, I doubt she expected the mafia to do this, but the moment I learned you guys were here…I had to."

Well, let me hear your thoughts, what did you think of this chapter? Pretty good to see Deuce after all those years.