Before the year 2024 begins, here I'll be dropping an update for Gaiden, thought I'd be a nice Happy New Year's gift.
Beta readers; Yashin Ryogi, FallnHeratic, and yoshi3000.
Contributors: No Vigilance
I hope you all will like it and leave some comments down below.
Enjoy!
Next Day
In Fortside, Naruto was standing outside a building in which he was residing for the following few days; it was only a walking distance from where Niko and Roman lived in Chase Point. As of now, he was living in Onoki's neighborhood.
Smoking a cigarette, he watched the neighborhood locals, especially on this side of Fortside populated by the local Jewish community of Liberty City, a family of Orthodox Jews passed by acknowledging him.
Nodding to them, the blond snuffed out the cigarette as he pulled out his phone and watched the family go inside the building behind him, meaning they must be residents there. Taking note of this, he focused on his phone and went through the contact list, calling someone.
"If it isn't Hove Beach's favorite Japanese man calling me. How are you doing, Naruto?"
"You've been waiting for me to call you, Lin?" Naruto asked, surprised at first by her swiftness to pick it up but then asked, "So you know what happened?"
"The fact Dimitri Rascalov is taking over everything Faustin owned in Hove Beach and the Russians have put a price on your head? I'd say it's common knowledge by now."
His eyes winced momentarily before Naruto asked, "How much?"
"For you? 200 grand in total, but nobody is going to try to get that bounty on your head outside the Russians, for now. Rascalov's move caused many to take a distance from Hove Beach currently, now with Bulgarin back in Liberty City - they both are persona non grata."
"That's great to hear…" Naruto muttered.
"Well be glad my bosses don't like the Russians, or else they'd order a hit on you - just make sure to lay low and stay away from the Russians, best advice I can give."
"Yeah, I'll do that." Naruto thanked her, "Thank you, Ling."
"No problem. Talk to you soon."
The phone call ended with Ling hanging up and Naruto pushing the phone into his back pocket. He reached for another cigarette, lighting it and taking a short puff.
"Thanks for your hospitality, Mr. Gorbaty."
"No, thank you, brat."
Laughter could be heard as Naruto turned around to see a couple of men walking out of the building with old man Onoki, three of them in nice clothing, Algonquin guys, Little Italy.
Wiseguys.
"I will personally go to the Commission about this request." The man in the suit said, shaking Onoki's hand, then he noticed the blond, "This the kid who whacked Faustin?"
"That's the brat."
Naruto just nodded as he took a drag from his cigarette, not doing anything as the bodyguards of the made-man mobster were watching him.
"...Alright, no problem." The leader of the group said turning back to Onoki, "I'll go to Jon Gravelli first, just because it is you."
"Tell him I said hello, I might visit him sometime."
A black Cognoscenti happened to drive up the curb then just as the two bodyguards of the wiseguy opened the backseat door and prepared for his leave.
"Good luck to ya, kid." As he walked to his ride, the made-man told Naruto, "Youse lucky the Fence Sitter here likes you."
The mobsters soon got inside the expensive car, with the bodyguards keeping an eye on Naruto, observing him like vultures before their black-tinted windows pulled up, and the car left the street.
"Before you ask, it is better we do not name names, kid." Onoki said, tapping his cane to the ground, and told him, "But just so that you know, I am pulling strings to keep the Russians off your back."
"I know…thank you, Onoki-Ojisan."
Onoki nodded and nudged his head, "Let's go back inside. It is too cold out here."
"I'd love to, but I got to visit a friend now if you don't mind." Naruto said, pointing down the street, "She lives down Quentin."
"Fine, that's your choice." Onoki turned back around to the door and took his leave, "Have a good night, brat."
"You too, old man."
The two parted ways, with the old WW2 veteran going back into his house while Naruto walked down Bohan Street with the intent to finally check on his friends.
…
After a long walk, Naruto reached the Bohan Community Center. It was just a block away. He spotted Niko at the entrance of the building, and he in return spotted the blond.
"Niko."
"Naruto, you are still alive." Niko sounded relieved as he and the blond shook hands and nodded, Niko felt bandages on Naruto's palm, "What happened-"
"Firebomb, minor burn wound, no need to worry," Naruto said as he kept it brief and simple. Then he questioned, "Where's Roman?"
"At the apartment in Chase Point, sleeping the day off." Niko said, rubbing his head as he could not help but feel guilty, "The old one and the business is…"
"Hey, no need to blame yourself, we are all in this mess now," Naruto told his friend, "We both took Dimitri at his word and got duped."
"So it seems," Niko said, "Just so you know, your cab is with us, with your belongings and all."
"Good to know," Naruto thanked him, peeking inside the community center and asking, "Why are you standing out here, now that I think about it?"
"Mallorie said someone here might help."
Naruto and Niko looked through the window and saw that inside the community center, music was heard going off hard with a group of people dancing in front of a cameraman who was more focused on the guy in the front.
Wearing a sporting outfit with a lot of bling around his neck and a pair of eyeglasses, this Puerto Rican man was Manny Escuela, and he was taking the full attention of the cameraman with whom he was discussing.
"...Yeah, I'll pass." Naruto declined, knowing exactly who this guy was, he turned to Niko, "Feel free to go in without me, I'm going upstairs to meet a friend."
"You sure?" Niko asked him, "I know he looks like an asshole, but…"
"He is an asshole, all the more reason for me to not talk to him." Naruto told him, "Just make sure to say hi to Mallorie for me."
"Sure, later."
"Later," Naruto said to him as he watched Niko enter the community center before he turned around and entered the projects.
*SLAP!*
"Ouch!"
That slap was loud enough for the entire room to hear it, with even Jorge standing out to take a peek inside to see where it came from; Fu, who had just hit Naruto across the face after he had entered Liz's apartment.
"Okay, I deserved that…"
"You deserve a whole lot more!" Fu said, taking her friend/unofficial lover's arm to show the bandages that were new to her, "I helped you with that gunshot wound and now you come back with burn wounds!"
Naruto was powerless as Fu kept berating him, not raising his voice or hands to her fury, as Liz was just observing with her laughter from the couch that she was sitting on.
"Okay, Fu, okay, I think Naruto over here gets the message," Liz said as she got up from her seat and played peacemaker, "Why don't you get something from the kitchen to eat while I talk with him for a while, okay?"
Fu fumed for a moment before she calmed down and then slammed her fist into Naruto's arm.
"Ah! Hey!"
"You got off easy this time," Fu told Naruto as she entered the kitchen, leaving him alone with the good-looking Puerto Rican drug lord.
"She's angry."
"Yeah, cannot blame her for that," Naruto said as he went past Liz to sit on a chair and then he began, "I got myself into a lot of shit now…"
"With that hit on Mikhail Faustin?"
Naruto looked up to her at that first guess, not looking surprised but he was curious how she knew.
"It doesn't take much to figure out that right after he got dropped and you, Mallorie's boyfriend, and his cousin were forced to leave," Liz explained while pouring herself and Naruto a shot of liquor, handing one over to him. "Want one?"
"Fuck it, why not." Naruto said taking the shot and downing it one go, letting his spine feel the strong drink run through as he kept talking, "We got double-crossed, fucking Dimitri."
"Rascalov? Yeah, I heard about him," Liz mentioned with a frown when she described him, "A snake is what he is, not surprised he screwed over his best friend."
"Ain't that the truth."
"I also got word of the bounty on your head, also with one on that other Slavic motherfucker who put a lot of people down in East Hook, from what I heard." Liz said, drinking a shot of her own, giving details, "Looks like the Russians tried to ambush him but he massacred them all, which is kind of impressive."
"That's Niko for you, that's his name by the way."
"Either way, you and him don't need to worry about people going after both of you in Bohan because I got your backs." Liz assured him as she was willing to protect her friends, "Family of Mallorie and friends of Fu are my people - you believe that."
"I know, and I appreciate that, Liz." Naruto said, thanking her, "Arigato."
"Yeah, yeah. Now listen, I need some help." Liz then leaned back into her seat, "You good with boats?"
Naruto looked at her funny, what a weird question to ask out of nowhere, but he replied.
"Sure, why?"
Meanwhile
In the dubbed 'Hills' of North Algonquin, the streets of North Holland, East Holland, and Northwood were in a bitter tense state that has been there for a couple of weeks now, and this could be best showcased in one particular area:
The Rubin Swinger Basketball Courts in Northwood late at night had turned into an unnatural ghost town because of the current atmosphere. That, and everything between Xenotime to Wardite Street was void of any dealers, local hustlers, or even gang members who did business on these courts.
"This is too silent for me."
Except for a duo of members of the Lost MC, Jim and Obito who both were sitting on their bikes that they parked up next to the foreclosed Cluckin' Bell franchise. Eating hotdogs they bought from around the corner.
"Agreed, it is too fucking quiet." Jim was eating one without condiments, shaking his head with a mouth full, "I cannot believe they shot 'A the Unruly's arm off."
Obito took his bite of the hotdog, his condiment was mustard and ketchup, but he only took a small bite like the small talk he was making.
"You know, I saw him in his debut in Japan twenty years ago."
"You did?"
"Yes, he was visiting Osaka, and I was just fresh out of high school when I saw him perform, was the first time I ever saw a black person from up close." Obito recalled those memories, chuckling at the nostalgia he was going through, "I saw him beat up challengers and train in the local Dojos, he even went ahead and tried to learn Japanese, and people loved him."
"They still love him, that's why the streets here are so fucking tense now." Jim said while looking around, "That idiot Clarence messed up badly and he knows it."
A patrol unit of the LCPD happened to drive by the parked bikers, with the cop in the passenger seat eyeing the members with a clear glare as the car took its leave to conduct its neighborhood patrol further.
Obito took notice of the cops and remarked, "For once, the cops might be happy to see no bodies on these streets for a while."
"Amen to that, but that won't last for long in these parts of town."
The sound of several engines roaring was all it took for Obito and Jim to turn their heads to the end of the street and spot what it was.
"Here they come, my contact." Obito whipped his hands clean and put his food away, "I wonder if he still remembers me."
Several sports bikes arrived right in front of the motorcycles, with them being a variety of Bati 800s, some Double-T's, and one person seen driving a Hakuchou, most of these bikes were of foreign manufacturers.
Jim shook his head and asked, "Why did you decide to bring me for this?"
"Because you'll like the Captain," Obito replied, "I met him when he was on leave in Japan, stationed in Okinawa."
"Wait, he's-"
"A Marine, yes."
The two Lost members turned to see the guy who stepped off the Hakuchou and approached them, he was wearing a helmet over his head that matched well with the outfit he wore, white, black, and red - the colors of the crew he was with - with the two letters visible on his jacket in giant light letters UR - Uptown Riders.
Removing his helmet, the dark-skinned man with white shaggy hair that covered one of his eyes, reached his hand out to Obito. "Welcome to America, Obito."
"Thank you, it's a pleasure." Obito shook the hand firmly before introducing, "Darui, I'd like to introduce you to my brother Jim, the club Treasurer of the Alderney chapter of the Lost MC."
"Nice to meet you,"
Darui extended his hand to Jim, who asked him a question instead of shaking it on the spot.
"How was Paris Island?"
"Crappy and the Sarges suck."
Jim cracked a smile and shook the fellow Marine's hand, the guy passed the phrase and accepted it.
"Let's talk business."
Westminster
Down in South Algonquin, it was the usual crowd in the night in Maisonette 9.
The Westminster-located nightclub was packed with youths, celebs, and anyone rich and hot enough to enter this Members Only club, the music was loud and the atmosphere was anything but what was now up north.
Luis Lopez however wasn't in the mood for it with him being at the bar and going through his phone, reading the texts multiple people were sending him, he was more focused on the phone now than on the ladies that he'd normally bang in the restroom regularly.
The last few days for Luis were kinda hard and it was his first night coming back to any of the clubs in a week, with him contacting no one from the club the whole time, Dessie's reaction when he saw him was all the confirmation he needed.
"Lou."
Turning around, the Dominican saw his boss and business partner Gay Tony approaching him, Tony gestured to him with his thumb.
"Let's go to my office."
…
Walking into the back office where Tony usually had his paperwork was a good place to converse away from the loud music or the usual problems in the club, where the duo could talk in peace.
"Sit Luis, because we gotta talk about some serious stuff," Tony said as he went behind his desk and started cursing at himself, "I'm in trouble, man. Some real fucking trouble."
"What now, T? Late on your payments?" Luis asked, sitting right across from him on a chair, "Because I have some problems of my own for now."
"Great, first I barely heard from you for a week and now you say you got shit of your own?" Tony complains, then he leans on his desk and asks in a hushed tone, "This has nothing to do with what happened in your neighborhood, right?"
"No, T, it has everything to do with it." Luis replied to his friend's question, slightly irritated as he explained, "I just got told by my momma that I need to get some groceries from outside her usual spots because she's deep in debt and it's all because of that stupid gang war that's been raging across the Hills. Shit."
"What, that Clarance guy? I heard your Dominican associates and his people are still going at it, but I thought it was already settled."
"Well, it isn't and everyone is scared." Luis answered, going on a semi-angry rant, "Ever since Ay got shot, nobody feels safe to walk the streets at night…"
Tony could see something was bothering his business partner and went on to guess.
"Don't tell me you are blaming yourself for A the Unruly's arm getting shot off."
Yes, part of the drive-by that took place that day was not only a couple of girls getting hospitalized, but also one of Liberty City's main heroes getting his good arm taken off by the doctors, something Tony noted had pissed off Lopez, which might explain his week-long absence
"You guessed it," Luis didn't deny it and landed his hand on his neck, still bothered by it. "If I kept my mouth shut…"
"Listen, Lou. This may come from me - but don't try and sound like a fucking nagging bitch."
Hearing that coming from Tony was a weird experience for Luis, as it was usually the other way around, but he didn't interrupt the man.
"From what I am being told this guy is an asshole who nobody wanted to pay attention to until he caused them too much shit to deal with, they now are all bunching up on him." Tony spoke from info he got for himself, "Like those black bikers with Japanese bikes, this guy called Playboy X or whatever, your Dominican friends, and some Puerto Ricans."
"Yes," Luis confirmed it, "And the cops, but they can't catch this dude - East Holland is his fortress now."
"From what I heard he's been selling this poison that's everywhere lately," Tony pulls out a small bag from underneath his desk, showing it to be filled with white powder of some kind, "Dessie and the staff have been catching this for the past week when you were gone - Joni spotted dealers giving this in front of the cameras."
Luis inspected the bag and recognized it, "Huh, this must be the stuff that's making that fucker a lot of money."
"And causing me problems with the cops, that's the last thing I need now with the bridges still closed," Tony said in frustration putting the drugs away, "Believe me, Lou. That guy got Ay's arm, not you. So stop blaming yourself."
"Yeah, guess you're right, T," Luis replied before he then asked, "What else's been happening while I was gone? Only this drug problem?"
"No, payments, Lou, fucking payments," Tony groaned out and continued about it, "The ones to those goons from Little Italy…"
"Coño, I nearly forgot about that, those greaseballs." Luis rolled his eyes at that stupid decision of Tony's to take that money, "I told you taking mob money was a dumb idea."
"Yeah well, what's done is done, I'll fix that for now on my own." Tony explained and then got on to the next topic, "But the one reason I need to talk to you about is our driver on the other side."
"Who, Naruto?" Luis guessed, knowing the blond was stuck in Broker for nearly a few months, "Look Tone, if you're going to fire him-"
"I am not going to fire him, Jesus, Lou." Tony rejected that straight out of hand, "There are however rumors going around about him, of him going at it with some Russians."
Luis stared at him as if he was crazy, "Excuse me?"
"Kid's got a hit over his head, is what I heard," Tony told him what he knew, "not too long ago some Russian guys got whacked in Hove Beach, and his name got mentioned multiple times."
"Jesus Christ, what happened?"
"I don't know, I'm as oblivious as you, something about a power struggle among those Hove Beach morons," Tony briefly stated and then said, "Listen, try and call him later for me, will you? I need to know what happened and see what he is doing now."
"Sure"
Then the door slammed open, and one of the guards barged in and spotted his bosses right away.
"Sorry to interrupt but we have a problem."
Tony looked angered, "Someone dealing again?"
The guard nodded.
"Luis, handle this first and then call Naruto."
Meanwhile
"Achoo!"
Standing by his Esperanto black cab was Naruto, having just sneezed hard he pulled out a napkin and began cleaning his nose.
"Someone must be talking about me…teme, it is cold."
The blond was now in the industrial area of Charge Island, one of Liberty City's smaller islands, where almost nobody would come unless they came here to work for the gad respiratory site or the water.
The Charge Island Sewage Works site is where Naruto was standing, where nobody was working except for a few security guards at this time of night who he had avoided, as he was doing another job for a client.
From a distance, he spotted his client talking to a person who was standing next to a dock that had a boat waiting, looking like the kind of people who didn't want to get caught by the Coast Guard.
This was the job Liz gave him just a few hours ago that was in dire need of a driver. The clients were some Irish people who were customers of hers, and they needed one of their guys to pick up some equipment from another guy.
Naruto was on his guard as these Irish guys were from Dukes, from a family called the McRearys from what he could scrap together - guys who were crazy hoodlums-for-hire and deep into organized crime. Despite being called jokes by some, the blond knew better than to go into those cheap talks.
Speaking of talk, it looks like it ended with the tall Irish man with the graying hair walking back to his car, and the other guy went back to the boat waiting for him, the boat that soon took off from the docks and sped away.
*Click!*
"Brrr, man it is cold," The client entered in the back seat, warming up his hands after putting the bag next to him, he only wore some brown trainers clothing, "Alright, kid, let us get back to me ma's place, Savannah Avenue Meadows Park."
"On it, Let me start the engine," Naruto said as he started the car.
"...Those your people?"
It just happened that two cars drove through the entrance of the water plant, with the first car being a white Ingot station wagon while another was a blue-colored Uranus sport compact following behind.
With both of them being filled with Russians, one bearded man with a brown coat stepped out of the blue car, and reached for something as the car came to a stop.
"Nope, definitely not!" Naruto said pulling a gun from underneath his seat and handing it over, "Can you use this?"
"Sure but-"
*POP!*
Naruto's shot-up windshield made visibility impossible for him to see, that was his cue to spring into action.
"HIT THE GAS!"
Naruto's engine roared as he slammed the gas pedal to the floor driving into the vehicles-
"BLYAT!"
*THUD!*
The cab rammed into the first guy with the brown coat, with his body going underneath the car the other Russians jumped out of the way while others were trying to shoot at the car, hitting only the windows and doors.
"Move! Move! Move!"
The cab drove through the entrance and took a violent right turn to one of the roads, the two carloads of Russians were about to chase them on foot to quickly nick the running cab until the guy whom Naruto had just driven over was seen limping towards the Uranus compact and jumped into the shotgun seat and ordered the rest of the goons to follow suit.
Thus, the chase soon began with Naruto's shot-up windshield making the visibility so poor, that he couldn't drive properly; he pulled out another pistol from somewhere, causing the client to be surprised.
"Jaysus boy, you armed for something like this?"
"Teme, I was expecting them but not this fast." Naruto turned the safety off and handed the Irish passenger the gun quickly while spotting the other party in the rear mirror, "Here they come."
The Ingot and the Uranus were speeding for the cab, the situation looked bleak.
"Start firing already!"
"I-I can't!"
"What you mean you can't!" Naruto rotated his head around, "Just shoot…."
And what he saw there was, his client with a needle in his arm, the syringe sticking into him as he was already getting off from the self-injection.
"Sorry, but I needed my quick fix," The gray-haired client smiled while his head fell back into the seat, "Ahhh, that hits the spot…"
"You've got to be fucking kidding me!" Naruto grew a literal tickmark on his face, "You're getting high right now!?"
Shots were fired by the Russian gangsters and they managed to hit Naruto's tail lights with one bullet making it very close to the gas tank.
"Fuck this!" Naruto shouted, "I got an idea!"
The black cab again took a turn and it was going through one of the bridge entrances as it drove upwards, with the mobsters coming right after him.
"What are you doing, kid?"
…
At the toll booths that were the direct line between Broker, Dukes, and the borough of Bohan, the officers were waiting there for any arrivals as it was now very calm on their shifts at night, only a few truckers and cab drivers.
*Pop! Pop! Pop!*
The sound alerted the officers who came out with their service weapons, some calling in through their radios.
"Shots fired, shots fired," One officer said through the comms, "East Borough Bridge."
Pops morph into bangs as they get closer to the booths. Then three cars came into their sight, one was a black cab that got shot up pretty badly, and right behind it were two cars with men seen hanging out from the windows with their guns out.
"Open fire!"
The officers took no second chances and proceeded to open fire, multiple shots that did not deter the speeding cars from stopping, in fact, the black cab that was getting too close-
"GET OUT OF THE WAY!"
Multiple cops jumped away before the black cab could hit them, the cab sped through the toll booth, and then-
*BANG!*
One single shot was fired from the cab, and it just so happened to hit the front window of the blue Uranus which started spinning out of control, crashing into one of the safety pillars next to the booths.
"Jesus!"
…
Limited by a few bullets, Naruto looked back into his rear mirror to see what was happening behind him.
The White Ingot took the last line of measures and turned tail while it was getting shot up by the booth cops, attempting to drive to Bohan, while other officers approached the blue Uranus that they soon opened the doors to, dragging both passengers out from their seats - non-responsive.
"Well look at that! Still got it!" The passenger laughed as he held his pistol up, "One single shot for the bastards."
Naruto was surprised, "You did that?"
"Hey, this miserable fuck might be old but not dead yet, young man." The drug-induced client spoke out in defense, "I used to shoot at British patrol units and Ulster bootlickers, so a bunch of Ruskies is no problem to me."
"Well, you learn something new every day." Naruto said as he focused again on the road, "I'll need to drop you off quickly if you don't mind."
"Not at all, boy. Not at all."
Going a bit further with the speed, Naruto soon entered Dukes with the intent of dropping off his client as soon as possible, and before both knew it they entered the Meadows Park and were driving up Savannah Avenue.
"Alright, we're here. Hopefully, this will not come back to bite us in the future."
"Same, better to break now," The gray man said, exiting the car with the bag and returning the pistol to the blond driver, "Good luck to you."
"Bye."
The black Esperanto took off in less than a minute, not wasting any more time to stick around.
"Damn bastards…just got my car back." Naruto cursed, pulling up his phone as he went through the contact list. "Hopefully he's still awake."
Hoping Jermaine would still be awake for a quick fix on his car, the cab driver was already going to South Broker in the hope that the garage owner was still working his late night shift-
*Tring!*
Interrupted, it was now Ling who was on his phone. Wanting to dial it off at first he then answered it and put the phone next to his ear.
"Ling?"
"Naruto, we need help."
"Sorry Ling, but I'm kind of in a bad position right now," Naruto began while keeping an eye on the road, "My car is wrecked up a bit and I need-"
"I'll pay all expenses if you come down right here now," Ling offered out of the blue, "Come down to the studio, at least hear me out, will you?"
Initially, Naruto wanted to decline but he then heard a police siren, spotting a cop car that missed him, prompting him to decide.
"Fine, I'll come down there."
That was all.
Happy New Year!
And Peace!