#8

The breeze of spring's air slowly shifted into the summer heat. And for an odd reason, today was by far the hottest Liberty City had ever been. The bright sun was searing from above as the pavement and asphalt cooked them from below. People drew their umbrellas, hats or some newspaper as a shield, though sweat already began trickling down to dampen their clothes.

There was no way Sidney could take a look around the neighborhood, not when the weather was that cruel. Instead she spent most of the time away from the open and under the shade of roof and air-con, with a hand holding onto a very cold iced lychee tea with an unassembled pistol sitting on the table in front of her. She made it as one of those days of cleaning up for several collections of guns, specifically the one she most often used. Looking at all the dirty pieces of wet cloth from all the gunk and residue, her guns needed cleaning anyway.

Meticulously, she moved on from pistol to pistol, to her rifle, and finally her sniper. Though she never really used the AMW anymore. She just never had the time to do so ever since she stored and mounted it on the wall. The rifle was far too overrated for the kind of job she had now and became less effective. It was never meant for it, to be used around the neighborhood. It wasn't what it was used to before anyway, unlike most of her past job. For a weapon this big, the battlefield should be bigger; like a war or something.

Looking back, she was indeed a good sniper; after many years of practice and dedication, she was easily considered the top of her year. A capability to concentration and focus, reflex and constraints, and composure and patience shaped an elite sniper - and she excelled in all, almost in perfect score in all attributes.

Too bad all of that hard work, potentials and achievements came to a waste in the end. Too bad no one ever acknowledged her anymore. Too bad she–

The doorbell rang and Sidney bolted to the window of her room to find Lizzy's car by the sidewalk.

"How's your shoulder?" Lizzy walked in as soon as the door was opened. "Is it any good now?"

"Yeah I guess. I mean, the stitches had dried up. I have not bled in a few days, so that's a good start – how are you doing, anyway?"

"Well you already know the answer. Laying so low is never a good thing to begin. But, there are perks that I didn't know I needed. Like, I had a spa day yesterday."

"A spa day?"

"Yeah. Mani-pedi, massage, and other bunch. A relaxing day."

Sidney raised an eyebrow. "And did you feel relaxed?"

"Truthfully, no." The end of Lizzy's lips curved downward. "But, I guess for a moment it helps to not think about all the things happening around me, around us."

"Uh huh," Sidney instinctively reached out to hold her hands. "Well, at least you have prettier nails."

Lizzy snickered, now flipping the hold around Sid's hands instead. "That's something, coming from a nail-biter like you."

Sidney just shrugged her off and went on to her set of guns on the table. "What do you want, exactly, Liz?"

"Why do you always assume I need something from you?"

"No offense but you always need something to clean. And you need me to clean it."

Liz flopped down on an armchair nearby. "Not now. I just truly want to come to you for a visit. That's all. Is it not wrong to check on a good friend? – oh cut it out with the look, Sid."

Sidney however kept her annoying suspicious look on, to the point of Liz actually threw a pillow to the face to scrub it off. Though, Sidney just chuckled and threw it back at her. Oddly enough, it was true. There was no other intention of Liz other than dropping by and staying at her house for a good while. No request, no nothing.

Lizzy decided to mind Sidney's own business and asked to borrow her laptop to browse on while Sidney continued with her own cleaning project. A sneaky mind of Lizzy decided to look for Sidney's personal email, just for fun. Not that she had some important inbox anyway, most of her unread messages were marketing spam. Her own outbox didn't look too peculiar either. Lizzy did catch Niko's email account in there, perhaps he had forgotten to log out, and she made a note that behind the mean-looking man, he was still a momma's boy.

"What's going on in Detroit?"

"What?"

"Detroit." Lizzy said. "You've been looking for plane tickets to Detroit. What's there?"

"That's the least of your concern."

"I didn't even mean to see it. It's just there in your history search." Lizzy bobbed her head. "Hey, I am not saying anything anymore, hon."

"You're a terrible dealer and a terrible liar. It's written all over your face, hon."

"Fine. What's up with Detroit?"

She groaned, looking rather disappointed, but no aggressive tone on it. "There's just an… unfinished business, I guess."

"Is Michael there?"

For a moment the clock seemed to stop and the life around froze. Sidney's eyes froze into her. Lizzy shrugged. "I get this means you have found Michael."

"I haven't, yet." Sidney said rather quickly. "But I gotta start somewhere, right?"

"So, whatchu gonna do? What have you done about him?"

When the redhead woman became quiet, Lizzy stood up and walked around the couch to the dining table, where she was. "I won't interfere. You can tell me that, at least."

The drug lord caught it. Her face muscles twitch ever so slightly; a glimpse of undecided hesitation across her face. something about keeping everything to herself made her feel… a bit better about the whole killing Michael ordeal. It was not that Sidney did not trust Liz. No, it was never that. Liz was already one of few people who knew about this specific agenda (while the other few people were mostly already dead by now.) Well, Lizzy was already sitting on the dining chair across from her.

Sidney hesitated, though finally spoke up. "I… have a little bit of intel on him. Said, he's been moving around, last seen in Detroit. So the best start is to go there."

"Wouldn't he be prepared for you or something?"

"Hm, I could only hope he still thinks I'm dead. I do have everything else prepared… I think. Well, I still have eyes and ears regarding his movements."

"You're not gonna ask for my help, aren't ya? You know better that I will help the way I could. Maybe I have a contact in Michigan that could help."

"Nah… no." Sidney let out a sigh. "This one is mine to deal with. You deal with your own shit."

"Alright, I heard ya the first time." Lizzy shrugged and leaned back and rested her foot on the table.

Silence took over the house for a little while, with the them shifted their talk around the terrorist threat in Alderney, to the emerging name of Manny Escuella sponsoring young athletes in Bohan; his name misspelled, his egotistical smirk across the paper on the front page of Liberty City Post. For a brief moment, gone all the images of two criminals and in exchange just two girl friends in a conversation about the latest fashion trend.

Lizzy and Sidney stayed there, and by the time the sun slowly drifted away, they bid sisterly goodbye.

"Hey, I know you won't change your mind," Lizzy stated once she had got in the car. "If you need any help, my guns are always available."

As they shared a smile and a nod, and then watching as the car drove away, Sidney once again pondered on the option. There were times where she considered the offer. Liz did have the ability and resource to help, or at least she used too. With the cops and other threats sneaking behind her, though, she had too many else to deal with. Sidney would never bother Liz again anyway. Liz, in a way, had helped her more than she could ever imagined, meaningful assistance that she could never do alone. After all, Liz had helped her set up the first kill, inside that hell of a hole.

The black Voodoo slowly merged itself with the road, to make a turn on the first intersection. A sound of crash, and a semi-truck had slammed itself onto Lizzy's car, pushing her off the lane. The traffic stopped its track despite blinking green light and the screaming for help from pedestrians around did not go unnoticed.

And Sidney… she was already running barefoot in the direction of a hit-and-run.

…

They said the ones with the loudest laugh turned to be the angriest to get riled, or to hold a painful cry.

Sidney's life… It wasn't great to begin with.

Growing up in the harsh street of Los Santos at the peak of its gangs and drugs. She remembered at age of eight, she had to witness a drive-by between Grove and Ballas right from her window, the sound of guns rang as her lullaby. At fourteen, a drugged and alcoholic bastard tried to rob her house. The robber failed after her father had delivered a bullet to the chest, but not before her mother got in the way of assault. Eighteen where her father died being a victim of the cruel world. Nineteen was where she saw hell break loose on Los Santos Riot. That was the moment she decided to leave the shithole… to find a better purpose, a justice, new life.

Well now her purpose in life was to kill those who wronged her, wronged the people she cared about.

The light-headedness started to creep in after one too many cigarettes and the ashtray was already full with ashes and butts. Sidney leaned back on the couch, eyes closed. Taking a deep breath to clear her mind, she picked up her cellphone, which had been silently vibrating against the wooden table. "Yeah?"

"Sidney, we got it. We found him." Elizabeta's voice rang over the phone. "I'll meet you here."

Elizabeta's car slid by a few meters away from the lane and hit the concrete divider but she was alive and well, only with a sprained wrist and a nasty bruise on the cheek when her face smacked the steering wheel. Also a tainted dignity. This accident, if one could call it an 'accident', meant that someone finally made the bigger moves than just treacherous deals. Someone was actually trying to harm, or if not, kill Elizabeta directly. It was never the first time that someone was after her. But this car crash was a bold move, and for both of them, it was an insult to the face.

Not many people knew Elizabeta's second car, the now severely damaged black Voodoo she used as an escapement, if ever needed. Therefore this mockery led to Sidney believing on the possibility of an accomplice, or perhaps a rat within their circles who hired or collaborated with her enemy. Now she found herself taking a roll-call for every single person they considered.

The name Niko Bellic came across, but she decided to shake him out of the list.

#8

The basement was a nickname for an out-of-business Korean restaurant north of Bohan, after Elizabeta decided to purchase the building and made it an emergency hideout, complete with fire escape that led to the other side of the street. The use was as it was named, but on a couple of events it could be a venue for drug storage or hostage situations, like right now. Taking a full drag of a cigarette, which she never really liked the taste, Elizabeta eyed the unconscious man tied onto a chair, jaw swollen, blood dripping from his open mouth. But despite being knocked out cold, she was still feeling uneasy.

Barry was one of few people within her circle and Sidney was the one who introduced him to her. Sidney and Barry met some time ago on a job where they both were pursuing a man who needed to be killed. A very sarcastic man met a very cynical woman, aiming their guns at the same target. Behind every bashful and rude comment they shared, there was a mutual and beneficial understanding about what came after the trigger. From then on they acknowledged and worked alongside each other.

And now he was a fucking betraying bitch. Sidney slammed the door shut. Why did betrayal become a fucking trend? Taking a deep breath, the red haired woman took her time to check out the poor guy, looking for a sign of breathing or movement, or something. "Is he dead?"

"No. Just knocked-out."

She nodded, her hand still tracing the cuts and bruises across his face. Elizabeta must have been very angry too, if she was she had a great talent of hiding it. Sidney quipped. "Wake him up, then."

"Not yet. I need you to calm down."

"I am calm."

"We both know you're not." Perhaps Liz hid it better than she was. "Sidney baby, we'll take care of him. But first, let's drink."

Sidney frowned at the bottle of wine and two glasses appearing out of nowhere. "This isn't time for a toast."

"It's not but I still need a drink." Lizzy had fancied herself a glass half-full. She poured another glass and rather shoved it on her hands, the gun already being taken away in return. "Believe me you'll need a drink when he wakes up."

Sidney decided to obey her, composing herself when the taste of bittersweet tended her palette, clearly not wanting to show that she was indeed enjoying the wine. For a moment neither of the two talked or even made specific gestures. They just sat there against the bar, with a glass of wine on hand and a lot of thinking in mind.

"Where do you find him by the way?" Sidney asked after a while. "Lemme guess, Patty's Pleasure House."

"No. In fact in his own apartment, along with Yolanda riding him. I know her. She's one of the Lords' bitches. Heh, he always has a thing for girls with fake tits, doesn't he?"

Sidney let out a sigh of defeat. "He has been screwing over some Latina tits, I reckon, long before my own 'car crash'. Can we confirm what else he did against us?"

"I don't recall sending him against them this past few weeks, after your incident. Nor do I recall him ever mentioning something about issues with the Lords."

A groan and a creak of the wooden floor stopped both of their drinks. Barry's slow groan made them return to him. He tried to blink off the blur, still feeling fuzzy after the previous ambush. "Lizzy? Goddammit Liz, you broke my nose you bitch."

"Oh don't worry, Barry, I'll make sure you go out with a lot more than a broken nose. If you're still alive that is." That was when he realized the new addition in the room. His breath hitched and for a moment he became mute. Sidney raised a glass to him. "Cheers."

"Of course you will be here." He managed a low chuckle. "Miss me much, Sweetheart?"

"I do, actually. Oh, how I missed your fiery blue eyes, handsome stubble and jawline. It's just disappointing we're meeting up like this, with you looking like that."

"Sorry to disappoint." He smiled horribly, his perfect white teeth already smothered with blood. "But beneath this, I can still do the things you love about me. I can still give you."

She ignored their history. "You kind of deserve it anyway. Like I said, from here on out things could only turn uglier for you." With one move, Sidney had smashed her glass on his head and he groaned in painful shock.

"Fuck you, son of a bitch!"

"Ho ho, there he is. Liz, he's finally fully awake."

"Let go of me! Let go of me, you whore!"

Sidney grabbed his chin, ignoring the spurt of blood coming out of his mouth and nose. "Spanish Lords, really? You're turning against us for them? What fucking gives?"

"You think you are the good guys? Shit, no hard feelings, Liz, but look around you. Your business is crumbling." He spat. "What I did, I did to get away from the great big hole you dig up yourself."

Lizzy frowned. "Is that why you ran away? Find a place to hide and a pussy to eat? Cowardly act I must say, running away when things turn ugly."

"Call it cowardly or whatever, but it's smart." Barry refused to cower under their hard glares. "At least I'm away from your shithole of a mess. I ain't gonna stay as you get trapped within your own game. I am a free man and I can't do what I fucking want—Aaaghh stop it! Fuck!"

"You don't look free to me." Sidney had pressed in a terrible scar on his forehead where the blood came from. "Cut the crap, Barry. Speak now. Who else is involved in this little scheme of yours?"

He gasped for breath yet he still cursed at her. "You fucking idiots, you mess with the wrong guy! I'm not afraid of you." She had to give him for bravery, integrity, or foolishness. Still the same guy she met years ago. "Fuck you Sidney!"

"Ouch." Sidney grabbed his hair to lift his face up. "Come on now, don't waste my time. Speak."

"Hey, maybe you still have the chance to get away from this mess, Sidney love. Turn your back against that fat bitch and let's start over. Come on, what has she done to you? She's using you. Only luring you into death traps."

"Death traps? The Russians, you mean?"

"Fools! You think that trade was the only one? Pfft, people bailing on you, Liz. Everyone started to push their business out of you anymore. Instead they started to bet on how Elizabeta Torres would die. Poison? Knife through the heart? Bullet in the head? Cops?"

"That doesn't justify you backstabbing us entirely." Sidney grunted. "I left you for a few good weeks and this is what you've been doing? You're a wuss, Barry."

"Think about it Sidney. My offer still stands. Barry let out a smile. "Let us start over, for the sake of the old times. Can't say I didn't miss you, love—"

Sidney punched him on the face, in reflex, and threw her arms in the air. "Ugh. I didn't mean to kill him now!"

"No, he passed out. Again." Elizabeta said, checking his face. "Tough bloke."

Sidney placed both hands on the side of her hips, agitation made her paced around the room, a thump into the wooden floor and the carpet. "Barry wouldn't speak so easily." She grunted. "So what now?"

"He confessed it nonetheless so we have our answers." Lizzy had returned to the bar with another glass of wine. "Let's just dump him somewhere."

"That's it?" Sidney's eyes bore directly at her. "We kill him and that's it?"

"Yes, that's it." The Puerto Rican woman casually took a sip of his drink.

Barry was always a burly guy, even when being knocked out. And it took every muscle and with addition to a foul mood to have Sidney move him and his chair up. I didn't remember you being this heavy, she muttered, lifting his chair into its upright position. "Are you sure we're done, hon?"

"Yeah. We're pretty much done."

Sidney frowned at the limited reaction she got from the supposedly dying party. She meant it for him, but to some extent Liz was considerably within the spectrum. Sidney had known Liz for many years, and in all of those years she was never the one to back down just easily. Her goal was clear and to the point; to be a great businessman, ruling the streets with her power. With that mindset on, she thrived collecting money and drugs, and taking out competition as she ruled.

So what happened now? Where was this loud and naïve young woman? And who was this coward in front of her, taking cover under the shell of Liz?

"Liz talk to me, babe." Sidney sat down on the floor, feeling defeated by her own confusion. "You're rarely this passive. What's going on?"

Letting out a sigh, Lizzy slammed her glass down. Not too hard, but enough to startle herself. She sighed again. "What would you do if I die?"

"Huh?"

"No. What will you do after I die?"

"What kind of shit of question is that?" The woman blurted. Sidney quickly stood up, clearly not impressed. "What the hell are you talking about?"

"What if it's all true? We kill Barry but what then? It wouldn't be long until someone's busting the door down and it's gonna be another full cycle all over again. Everyone is targeting me. My business ain't safe no more."

"Where is this coming from?" Sidney frowned. "Is this what Barry said? Do you believe him over yourself?"

"What if it is?"

"Oh come on, he's bullshitting us. You can't seriously believe him."

"Sidney, did you see Jorge by the door? No, right? That's because he turned to state, against me. And so I killed him."

"W-what?"

"Barry is right. Lots are leaving me. Even my idiot bodyguard bailed on his only job to protect me." Lizzy sighed. "My business has been going downhill and you know that. It sort of makes sense now, whatever he said. Maybe I've been so selfish and blind to ignore it."

"That doesn't mean there's nothing you can do about all this. Come on Liz, stop this bullshit."

Liz frowned. "What will you do after I die?" she repeated herself.

"You won't die, damn it."

"How am I supposed to live with everyone putting their guns on my head?"

"They won't because I'll kill them first." Sidney snickered.

"While I appreciate your skills, that's not a guarantee and I think you are smart to realize that. What more could we do, Sid? Hide and they'll find us. Fight, and we'll die. Either way we lose." Elizabeta took another drink of wine. The sweetness of it had turned bitter in her mouth, perhaps it was the effect of heavy words. "If I give you the choice to free yourself from this, would you take it, Sid?"

Sidney ignored her completely, but Liz was persistent. "If you're given a choice of helping me and killing Michael, what would you choose?"

"Not now."

"Come on. You have a window of opportunity on Mike and yet you're wasting your time and energy on me."

"Not. Now." Sidney's response was quick and dark.

"This is the fact. There's nothing I can do to save my ass. But there's always something you can do, for yourself." Liz told her. "You have to let me go, at some point."

"Zip it! I'm not having this conversation anymore." Angrily Sidney left her and went to the table on the other side of the room, rummaging through her bag. "If you're not going to help anymore, fine! – Niko, deal with him."

…

Niko, who had been taking over Jorge's usual spot of guarding the door, finally walked up to the scene of action and boasted the hostage up again. Though Elizabeta had ordered him specifically not to intervene in this interrogation (or rather just lots of hitting the guy on the face), he was listening pretty carefully. He didn't know who this guy was, apart from being the suspect of the supposed ambush against Elizabeta, and apart from that this guy seemed to be someone very important in their inner circles. Now he had gone rogue and was tied up onto a chair.

Though he thought Barry had won the mind games against Liz; it was quite a shock too when he heard the dealer was at the edge of defeat. He could read the room pretty clear, she already gave up, in contrast to her counterpart of a friend who was still insisting on gaining more information for the both of them. His eyes slightly darted to Sidney who had made herself a beer from the kitchen. The worth mentioning of Michael guy, none of it he understood; but he knew it meant something to her. And he knew the longer she became quiet the more he considered other possibilities.

If I give you the choice to free yourself from this, would you take it, Nik? - Yes, whoever asked, the answer would always be yes. Even though it was already impossible at this point, given his history.

"What do you want me to do with him?" He asked them.

Lizzy was the first to speak. "Burn him, feed him to the shark, I don't care. Just get rid of the body. We're done for today."

"Alright." Niko understood, and started to work on the man. It was a surprise that Barry was still alive, knowing that he already beat the shit out of him in the apartment, and Sidney had given him additional knock-outs. Quickly though he hoisted the guy up and began untying him. He had several ideas in mind, one being inspired by multiple car crashes that happened this past week. He turned to the two women. "Ladies, any last words?"

Sidney snorted. "Last words, my ass."

Niko took it as his cue and began dragging him to the back door, blood trailing.

"Michael? That's not over?" Both Sidney and Liz and Niko froze, and as they turned around, he looked down to see Barry had already woken up again. "Michael is not dead?"

Before Niko could knock him out again, Sidney had abandoned her beer and rushed to slap him. "Shut the fuck up."

"Let me go, you prick!" Barry yelled but Niko punched his side to silence him and then decided to haul him back into the chair, himself holding him down in exchange of the rope. He felt Barry struggling under his hold and he spat instead. "Sidney, tell me, love. Do you regret meeting me, fucking me, knowing that I just betrayed you…"

"Shut up."

"…but I suppose it's in your blood, Sid, y'know. Being betrayed here and there…" Barry let out a cackle. "I knew it, Sid. I fucking knew it. I knew you can't just turn away and live on thinking that nothing had happened to you."

Even being there in the middle of the argument, Niko only understood even less.

Liz, however, quickly caught on to what he was about to say next. No matter how beaten up he looked, how fucked up he was, he was one of the few people that knew… A deep frown along. Oh no.

He laughed, blurted out blood as he spoke, though that didn't stop him. Barry ignored the horrid look on Liz's face. "You think you can forget that much on your back? All this drug stealing and rat killing are just your way for closure and yet you still scream in the middle of the night, am I wrong? Hm, I used to be the one soothing you whenever you had that panic attack, that 'nightmare'. You still do that, don't you, Sid?"

"Niko, get him out." Elizabeta groaned.

"Hey you, new guy? Niko, is it?" He said to the Slavic person behind him. "Did you know Sidney was a cop, a future Noose agent? Been for a couple of years, a good cop she was."

Niko was not an idiot, he had his suspicions for a while, since the first time she met her back in the building. Her movement was so meticulous that he knew she was no ordinary thug. Now it made sense. None ever worried him. But still, hearing it as a proper sentence was a bit weird.

Barry went on. "She was a great officer, skillful, top of her class, all that crap. And then she got prisoned for misdemeanor and drug abuse and some other bullshit. But tell you what, that's not what happened - you see, she was tricked and betrayed." He laughed. "Her friends, her own squadron, tied her up, bent her down and pulled their pants off just because she didn't wanna keep her hands dirty. Sheesh, talk about a police gang bang."

"Shut the fuck up, Barry!" Elizabeta interjected, had already pulled out her gun and pressed the barrel at his skull. "One more word and I pull the trigger myself."

Instead, the beaten-up hostage just laughed bitterly and then to the other woman in the room, already kneeled and cornered, the once loud aggressive woman suddenly became deaf and mute. He knew he just tickled her wounds. "Look it up on the net; 2002 police officer arrested for drug misconduct and failure to comply with federal law. That's her." He sneered. "And as for the rest of the gang, well, I guess you haven't kill everyone, have you Sid? Remind me, wasn't Michael you unit leader or sumthin? The captain that makes the words? Wasn't he the first to take his dick in your mouth—"

It was quick. Niko didn't realize that he even stumbled upon a huge force pushing both him and Barry backwards. When he looked up, he was met with Sidney who had jumped at Barry, pounding his head with her knuckles, quicker and harder on every move. The crack of bones could be heard and gush of blood pouring down his nose.

Unable to resist, Niko rushed to separate her away from the already deadman but Elizabeta had stopped him, grabbing his shoulder in place. "Let's leave them for a bit."