CLICK
by Gunman
Disclaimer: I do not own John Wick or its characters.
Summary: Another alternate telling of John Wick Chapter 2. This time, John gets his revenge.
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
Chapter 3
Wick Rising
John Wick stared hard at the Italian man as he sat in the lounge of the Continental. John was bloodied, bruised, haggard and limping just a little. Gun in hand, he stared down the man who had used him and then betrayed him.
"Duck fat. Makes all the difference." Santino D'Antonio said as he sat at the private table.
"Jonathan..." Winston, the manager and owner of the Continental said to Wick.
"Have you seen the menu here? Lot of options." Santino said, somewhat smugly.
"Jonathan, listen to me..." Winston said again, trying to get John's attention.
"A man can stay here a long time and never eat the same meal twice." Santino said.
"Jonathan, just walk away." Winston said, more urgency in his voice.
"Yeah, Jonathan. Walk a..."
John slid the chamber back on the gun, the bullet ejecting without incident. He quickly turned the gun on Santino and pulled the trigger.
CLICK.
The few people in the lounge, including Winston and Santino, let out a breath.
"Do you know the last thing your sister said to me? She asked me... if I believed in damnation. You know what I said? I said 'yes'. Because I know, the second I die, I'll never see my beloved Helen again. I have no illusions about that." John said as he turned around, his gun lowered and walked over to the bar. He set his gun down on the bar and took several deep breaths to calm himself.
The bartender looked at John, as if waiting for him to make his order.
"Bourbon. Neat." John said as he barely kept himself standing still, his rage boiling over in his body.
Winston just looked at John as he stood beside him. He could see John's hands shaking.
"I have to admit, Jonathan, I actually thought you would shoot him. Here." Winston stated.
"I still want to." John said as the bartender brought him his drink.
"You know, of course, the repercussions of such an action." Winston said.
"I do." he said as he guzzled down his drink.
John then placed two gold coins down on the bar.
"What's that for?" Winston asked.
"Dinner reservation." he said.
At hearing those words, Winston tensed up, thinking that John was going to kill Santino anyway.
"John, you know better." Winston warned as the bartender refilled his drink.
"But I also know that I have no other way out." he replied.
Winston looked at John, slightly puzzled.
"They'll never stop hunting me. Santino will never call off the price on my head. And I can't touch him without bringing hell down upon myself." John said as he downed his drink again. "I'll be hunted no matter where I go."
Winston kept silent.
"Tell Charon to take care of my dog." John said as he slid the bullet back into the chamber of his gun.
"John..." Winston said, getting nervous now.
"And tell Aurelio, he can have my car." John added as he gripped the handle.
Winston was not liking where this was going.
"Jonathan... don't." Winston said, now realizing what was about to happen.
He'd hoped he was wrong, but now...
"I'll never be free, Winston. Even in a nice refuge like this." he said as he looked up at the ceiling.
"There are other ways of handling this." Winston said. "To live, when others want you dead, is in itself, a great victory."
"I tried to live. I tried to quit. I tried to be happy. But now... after everything that's already happened... I'm tired. I'm just so tired."
"Then take a rest, Jonathan." he suggested, meaning something else entirely.
"An eternal rest." John spoke softly.
"Don't do this." he said, knowing full well that a man of Focus, even in his waning moments, could not be swayed.
"I'm sorry about the carpet, Winston."
"Jonathan..."
The gun slid neatly underneath his chin, his eyes closed as he muttered three words.
"Helen... forgive me." he said, right before he pulled the trigger.
BANG!
His body fell to the ground, the gun still clutched tightly in his hand as the blood stained the fine, and recently cleaned, carpet.
Winston said nothing, and motioned for Santino to say nothing either.
He was not in the mood.
Winston hoped, he truly hoped, that John Wick, in some way, found peace. He knew it was a fools hope, considering Johns life, but maybe, just maybe, a merciful god would grant this poor man something.
Santino said nothing as he walked out of the hotel, a satisfied, and smug, smile on his face.
He was outside the Continental Hotel of New York, right on the street, and was about to hail a taxi to take him back to his own private residence, when he heard the unmistakable sound of guns hammer being cocked back.
CLICK!
Santino turned around and half-expected to see John Wick standing before him.
He was not disappointed.
"Well, well, well. It seems that even the Boogeyman... cannot die." Santino said, staring at the bleeding and disheveled John Wick standing between him, and the Continental.
"I'm half-way there." John said, gasping heavily, his jaw bleeding heavily as he struggled to hold his gun up.
Santino looked at the heavily bleeding man. John was already banged up from his fight against his own men, and the numerous assassins that had already tried to take him out. That last gunshot had torn through his flesh and nicked quite a bit of muscle, if his bleeding out was any indication. Maybe the bullet was still in his head, and John was just too stubborn to die.
Maybe it was something else. An Act of God, perhaps?
The possibility that his dead sister was exacting her revenge from beyond the grave, by preventing John from dying, never entered his head.
Santino didn't care about particulars, nor was he a believer, because right now he was staring down the barrel of a gun, aimed at his own head, held by a man of sheer will, commitment, and focus. However, that focus was starting to wane.
Santino might have a chance.
"You know... it's not very sporting to shoot a man... while he is unarmed." Santino said.
"You must be truly desperate if you're trying that shit with me." John said, his face looking like he was about to growl.
His eyes were starting to droop, his vision obviously getting blurry.
Santino reached for the knife in his back pocket.
"This ends... now." John said.
"Yes, John... I'm afraid it does." Santino said.
Santino gripped the handle of his knife and with a quick flip of his wrist, pulled the blade from his back pocket and hurled it at John.
John was a second too slow, the loss of blood and fatigue getting to him. He side-stepped to the right, allowing the knife to embed itself into his left shoulder. His hand clenched the gun in his hand, his finger summoning up all the strength he had left, and pulled the trigger.
BANG!
The bullet flew from the chamber and within a second of exiting the barrel, had neatly lodged itself into the chest, and heart, of Santino D'Antonio.
Two bodies hit the ground, but only one still had life in it.
John didn't even notice four men rushing around him as he kept looking at the unmoving form of the Italian mob boss.
"Jonathan? Are you... alright?" Winston asked, his voice like a faint echo in John's ears. "Jonathan?!"
"Been... better." John said weakly.
"Yes, I'm sure." he said as he looked at the now deceased Santino. "Well, I thank you for killing Santino outside of Continental grounds, but... did you have to go through such extreme methods to get him out here?" he asked the assassin.
"Would he have believed anything else?" John groaned as he tried to sit up.
Winston could only nod at that.
"Get Mr. Wick inside, and call the doctor. I'll handle the... dinner arrangements." Winston said to his men as he pulled out his phone.
"Yes, sir." one of his men said as two of them hauled John up and escorted him back inside.
Winston had to admire the scene before him. He had warned Santino not to pursue this action. John had warned him. But he just didn't listen, and now look where it had gotten him.
This whole incident would only add to Johns already staggering reputation. Especially the part where he shot himself in the head.
He hoped that the Cleaning Service arrived soon. Santino was a rather unsightly image in front of the Continental.
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
Authors Notes:
Well, here's my 'John Wick gets his revenge' chapter. Last one had Cassian killing Santino.
Hope everyone likes it.
I could say something about this, maybe something about the supernatural occurrences and possibility that ghosts and higher powers were at play here. Mostly that John survived the bullet to his own brain, and that he is tougher than most, which is true, or I could say that John was lucky and missed, or that it was all part of his plan, which is more truthful than most.
I could, but I digress. Any ideas, of course, are welcome.
Please, read and review.