WARNING: Some violence in this chapter. I hope it's not too violent though because it's based on real events in my country.

Chapter 6: Gangland part 2

"Morgg?!"

Kevin looked into the eyes of the evil greedy alien responsible for taking the life of his friend and mentor when he was still an inmate of the Null Void at eleven years old. The same anger he felt when he found out Kwarrel was killed boiled up inside him.

"Surprise to see me?. "Untie him" he instructed to Igazi who marched up to Kevin and undid the rope binding him. Clearly the gang had an enormous amount of fear and respect for him.

"How did you get out of Incarcetron maximum security prison?" Kevin said shaking with fury.

"You can ask the warden that question" Morgg said casually.

So Gwen's initial suspicions were right, it was corruption that was plaguing the system, the same way that Morgg had been warden of the Null Void Prison in order to mine the drugs without any suspicion, he probably had one of his gang members go through the motions in order to become the warden of Incarcetron as this was a sure way of controlling the gangs and getting them out if need be. If the intergalactic prisons were being run by bloodthirsty criminals, it only gave them more power. That's why it would be easy to take over a planet like this one, Kevin deduced.

"You're in charge of the prisons, and you took over this planet didn't you?" asked Kevin already knowing the answer.

"We needed a home turf and Prosperity City however ironic that name is, was too small for us, so we took over this place, but it didn't come without fight from the locals".

Kevin remembered the dead bodies lying in the streets. "Most of them have already joined my gang anyway, in order to survive in this inhospitable hell.

"You monster, you brought poverty to this planet so the people will have no choice but to join your gang and survive by making money from this life, that's how you increased your numbers!"

"True, the people of this planet needed a way to survive so we gave it to them".

Kevin thought about what kind of employment he could be giving the people on the planet. "The drug trade! you still haven't stopped with that since we caught you when you were still the warden of the Null Void, and there's more isn't there; intergalactic criminals, training people to get jobs as wardens of prisons?"

"You catch on pretty fast Kevin, and there you were along with your precious Kwarrel underestimating me".

"You've reached a new level of low you son of a bitch, I won't let you get away with this, I'll tell the plumbers about this if it's the last thing I do".

"That's touching Kevin, but you can't escape, there's a cloaking device hiding this planet from the rest of the universe and the security? You can't even blink without me knowing about it". Kevin thought of the heavily guarded airspace, he swore in his head as his anger was threatening to spill out.

"So why did you bring me here?".

"Well you see, I have this situation, you destroyed some of my guns when you came charging after the rodent, which is okay now because you're going to get something else for me… I'm sure you're familiar with the weapon masters of Techadon?. They have developed some new battle weapons but unfortunately they have been confiscated into a vault on a small supply station planet called 'Shayana' not far from here and you're going to bring them to me. We're going through a turf war again soon with a rival gang 'The homicidal Kids' and we need to replace the ones you blew up. You owe me for destroying my weapons and I'll let you go once your debt to me is paid. Although your reputation as plumber…"

"What makes you think I would ever join this gang again? said Kevin narrowing his eyes.

Morgg contemplated this before saying "Hmmm, tell me Kevin, do you… like your mother?" he asked in his usual calm demeanour.

Kevin felt red hot anger licking at his insides which made him clench his fists in anger. "You wouldn't" he whispered.

"Just answer the question" said Morgg in a dangerous tone that excited his thugs waiting in the wings. "Yes" Kevin said through gritted teeth.

"And tell me, do you like your mother's head still attached to her body?"

Kevin's fury launched him forward to charge at Morgg only to get hit in the stomach by his two cronies waiting in the wings. He fell to the ground but his anger numbed any pain he felt at that time. He glared at Morgg with a deep hatred and felt like he was breathing fire from his nostrils.

"I guess that settles it, take him for a walk until I give you further instructions about when we'll go to planet 'Shayana', and take the rat too, he's dripping on my floor" he said pointing to what looked like Argit sitting on a chair in the corner. He walked away feeling satisfied.

The crowd of gangsters jumped up and started yelling excitedly as they got up and started climbing out fast out of the basement, brandishing dangerous weapons as they went. "Let's go Kevin" said Igazi excitedly picking Kevin up from the floor and pulling him forward as if they were old pals again. Kevin stumbled, but eventually got up. Kevin saw Argit out of the corner of his eye and saw how broken he was; his left eye was stitched shut and his bloodied bandaged head revealed that the Futha gang hadn't bothered to give him any medical attention for his injury when his skull was crushed by Igazi. Kevin walked up to him felling guilty.

"Argit, I'm sorry for what happened to you, if I had known—

"Save it Kevin…. I… d-Don't, waa… want, your sympa—thy…" he stuttered unable to communicate properly as his injury was starting to disable him. He got up weakly and Kevin tried to help him but Argit only shook him away before one of the other gangsters picked Argit up violently and took him away.

As they got to the surface, the two hundred and fifty-strong gangsters ran through the city smashing windows that were intact, throwing grenades into the air that went off with loud BANGS! Some of them who were riding on quad bikes waved their weapons in the air and exclaiming proudly of who they were. They sent the scores of local people and aliens who dared show their face in public running scared for their lives, and taking shelter in broken buildings. Kevin couldn't handle the way the people were being treated, he had to do something. As Igazi joined the rest of the crowd and Kevin fell behind on purpose. He approached an old human man looking frail and petrified at him.

"Please don't hurt me" he cowered shaking all over his starved and skinny body.

"Don't worry sir, I'm not going to hurt you, I just want to know, what happened here? What did these people do to you?".

"Many years ago now, The Futha gang came here to this prosperous planet and made it their home base. Our people tried to fight back but it was hopeless" he said pointing to the direction of the mass graves in the city. This planet was inhabited by aliens first, then for us humans, our descendants came here to this planet to start a new life away from Earth and its pollution, wars and economic crises. We co-existed peacefully with the aliens, and life was good until the Futha came and tore our society apart by destroying food supplies, damaging our homes, schools and city. The only way to survive was to join the gang and earn money from the drug trade... now my grandson, my dear boy…" he sobbed loudly covering his face with his hands which left Kevin heart wrenched to see the frail old man crying in anguish.

"Your grandson, is he a member of the gang now?" asked Kevin

"Yes and I haven't seen him in months after he killed his mother to join them, you have to kill your family to join the gang but he let me escape for some reason".

As Kevin talked to the old man he saw something nearby, it looked like a body. Argit's body! His heart tightened as he saw his old friend lying dead in the street with dust covering his body and blood seeping out of his head. "Oh my God, Argit!" he said stepping up to his body. "No!" exclaimed the old man. "Were not allowed to bury our dead if they don't die in battle, why do you think this place is covered by dead bodies". Kevin, feeling heartsore felt more determined than ever to bring Morgg and his old gang to justice.

"I know it's difficult to be at the mercy of people who have such a lack and disreguard for life but we have no choice" said the old man quietly.

"Sir I promise you that I'll help you and get your son back from those thugs and free this place".

"How can you promise that?"

"Just trust me". The old man looked at him hopelessly and said "Please stop talking to me, you'll get me into trouble" he said evident that the hopelessness he felt was too much for him...

When they got back to the basement later on Morgg stood in the centre of the group of gang members his arms folded behind his back. "Planet Gula is inhabited by a group of some of the best scientific minds in the universe where they carry out experiments to find new cures, and research to improve life for all in the universe. Entrance is prohibited for the common folk because of the dangerous chemicals they deal with unless permission is given by the Department of Intergalactic Scientific Research Institution three galaxies away. You boys know a thing or two about this don't you?" to which the gangsters laughed and sniggered at the fact that they had once robbed the planet to obtain said chemicals and burn their skin to destroy their DNA so it can't be used for evidence.

"Well some of my other subordinates have obtained the chemicals needed from there again so we can load the weapons up with acid and protect our home from 'the homicidal kids' gang." he said looking at a few gang members standing behind him to which Kevin noticed a nervous and rather young looking gang member wearing a relatively new looking necklace around his neck glancing around with shifty eyes feeling unsure of himself. "This must be that old man's grandson" Kevin deduced in his head before Morggs' speaking broke into his thoughts again.

"All we need now are the weapons, and fortunately, we have a plumber among us. Morgg looked at Kevin "You're going to go and get these Techadon weapons for me and if there's any trouble you will use your status as a policeman to cover your ass".

"Morgg, don't make me do this, I can't betray the plumbers" he said angrily.

"You have only yourself to blame, since you destroyed our weapons you have to get new ones for us. "Igazi, and Revenna move out!" he yelled. "Revenna as first unit captain you're in charge of this, and you know of the punishment if you fail again… you're running out of fingernails" he said to her. "And keep an eye out for Kevin" said Morgg.

"Got it" said Revenna as a blackmailed Kevin and Igazi followed her out…

PLANET SHAYANA

"Listen up, we're nearing planet Shayana, so here's what were gonna do. "Igazi you're going to leave the spaceship first and scout for any person who will immediately be killed. Then I will look for the vault at the station and Kevin will absorb the material of the vault and smash it open. Then I'll place these chips into the armour of the weapons, decreasing their weight so I can grab them by hand".

Igazi nodded his heads but Kevin just stood where he was of which Revenna said "I swear Kevin Eleven you'd better do as you're told or we're all fucked".

"What happens if we don't pull this off? asked Kevin hoping to foil there plans if the opportunity came his way.

"Punishment for failure you get what is called 'Pick a hand' where they pull off your fingernails with pliers or if it's an expensive failure they strap you to a machine hanging from the roof by your fingernails and the machine slowly pulls them off until you fall on the ground. And that's only one of the many kinds of punishments; we gave you the 'piss blood' when we kidnapped you to damage your kidneys and make you piss blood so you can be reminded of the debt you owe us when you pee. "So if those sound like fun for you, then go ahead and fuck up!". When Kevin said nothing she said to the both of them "It's go time baby!"...

The ship landed behind a hill near the supply station building in hiding. It was the perfect place to hide considering it was the dead of night on the planet. Igazi slowly walked out of the spaceship with a gun in hand and crept over the hill. When he saw that everything was clear, he motioned the two to come. Revenna and Kevin followed him to the entrance of the station a few metres away. While Kevin walked carefully and quietly to the station, an egotistic Revenna merely modelled there, sashaying her tail and assaulting the floor with her high heel shoes, not even bothering to remain quiet. When they got to the station she walked in and was confronted by the alien guarding the place.

"Hey what the hell are you doing—

'Bang! Bang!' Came the sound of gunshots by Revenna who hadn't even stopped walking to pay any attention to the alien she just mercilessly killed.

"You can come in now" she said to Kevin and Igazi waiting outside. She stopped walking only when she reached the vault.

"It's your turn now Kevin. Kevin hesitantly absorbed the cold steel of the vault and smashed it open and felt guilty at the same time. "I'm a criminal" he thought to himself. Revenna walked inside and placed chips on the heavy artillery, which included Techadon robot arms, machine guns, Kalashnikov, two sided missiles with targets and a battle suit. After Revenna placed the chips inside, she picked them up like they were made of paper and gave them to Igazi. As Kevin walked out with the weapons, he felt somewhat relieved that it was almost over, but... he had thought too soon as a noise came from behind him. A sound that instilled his biggest fear inside of him. A sound that he had dreaded from the beginning. Someone was standing behind them: a plumber.

"Hold on, where do you think you're going, put your hands in the air" commanded the plumber sticking his gun in the air and pointing at them.

Revenna and Igazi with weapons still in their hands turned around but Kevin, holding his breath, didn't dare.

"That's not very smart officer, the odds aren't in your favour" said Igazi.

"Put your hands in the air' he said ignoring him.

"And you there, turn around slowly" he said to Kevin.

Kevin froze in fear, if he turned around he would be identified by the plumber and he would be implicated as a criminal. Before he could think any further there was a commotion behind him. Igazi had just launched himself at the officer who shot at him but missed. Igazi tackled him to the ground as the plumber yelled in pain.

Kevin finally turned around to see Igazi on top of the plumber. 'That was a very stupid thing to do sir" said Revenna placing the weapons on the floor as Igazi broke the plumbers' gun with his bare hands. Revenna got a chair from the killed station manager's officer and placed the plumber on it. She bound him up before the plumber finally looked up.

"Kevin?, what are you doing with these people? Help me!".

Kevin looked away in guilt and said to Revenna 'Please don't hurt him, I'll get into trouble".

"Should of thought about that before you joined this gang, anyway I'm saving your skin, now that he's spotted you, we'll just kill him so he won't bust you."

"What are you going to do to him?" asked Kevin afraid of the answer.

"He's a plumber, you know what we do to plumbers, we '*Necklace' them.

"No! you can't do that' yelled Kevin desperately, but Revenna pushed him aside and told Igazi to bring car tyres from the spaceship. Kevin felt like he was losing his mind before the plumber begged and the guilt and betrayal he felt was going to kill him.

"Kevin please don't let them kill me, PLEASE! I have a pregnant wife back on planet Earth and she needs me!" he begged.

Kevin turned away helplessly before Igazi returned and forced the two car tyres over the plumbers' body.

"I thought that you were one of us Kevin!" he said one final desperate time.

Kevin walked away and closed his eyes as Igzai poured petrol over the plumber and set him on fire.

The screams. The screams of a living soul being unmercifully tortured and burned to its death stabbed the air like a thousand angry knives. It felt like it lasted a lifetime. He just screamed. He screamed a scream that would haunt the soul of those who hear it. It would reverberate through time, through nightmares. Forever.

Kevin felt dizzy and sick, he was on the brink of tears before he slowly opened his eyes and saw a bright red button in the corner of the room. Then he had a plan...

'BEEP,BEEP,BEEP BEEP' came a loud noise around them along with a red light that engulfed the room. After that, everything seemed to happen so quickly.

"It's the alarm, lets get out of here!" Revenna yelled as she picked up the weapons and ran with Igazi in tow, but Kevin, nearest the door got there first and absorbed the metal door, broke the handel, and slided a piece of metal in the gap of the door, trapping Igazi and Revenna inside. They looked at him in fury from the window next to the door and were trying to smash it as Kevin ran for it. He thought that the plumber must have come here by ship and searched outside frantically for it before he saw it in the distance. He ran as fast as his legs could carry him before gunshots were being fired at him from behind.

'I'll Kill you Kevin Eleven!" Shouted Igazi. Kevin made it to the spaceship with a bullet almost grazing his shoulder and smashed the window, absorbed the engine parts, morphed his finger into the key and fired the engine as quickly as he could as his old gang friends were gaining on him. When he slowly launched he saw them stop and point in another direction. Kevin saw from above that they were now running back to their spaceship because a fleet of plumbers spaceships were landing by the station. He looked away from the chaos happening below him and sped away hoping he could find a way back to earth with the ship and hoping that the gangsters were caught, but he couldn't help but feel that his life would be changed forever from both sides of his now double life...

*Necklacing- A form of vigilantism in South Africa where members of a community who feel frustrated at police who never catch criminals terrorising their communities, go themselves to find the criminals and throw car tyres over them and set them on fire. The word necklace refers to the car tyres surrounding the criminal.