Crimson Stake out

"The bounty hunter got some help from Dark Menace." (???)

"I didn't think he could be bought or some shit, maybe we can make him come to our side."

Fuck! We've been here for about three hours and we still haven't heard shit about Jose's replacement. I guess we'll have to start coming and going until we find some things out, or the replacement himself arrives.

"That is if you don't end up in jail beforehand."(???)

"Don't you think that may be one of his weaknesses?"(???)

"What?"(???)

"He can't kill people so he sends them to jail." (???)

"That may be, but he's not the only one that operates around here that claims to be an ally of justice."(???)

Never have I once claimed to be an ally of justice.

"You mean those NYC vigilantes?" (???)

"They are talking about us," whispers Argus excitedly

"This has become an unproductive night." (Luis)

"It has, at this rate we won't hear anything related to Jose's replacement." (Sara)

"I agree, I guess I'll have to keep coming and leaving over and over again until I finally hear the arrival date."

"You mean we?" (Sara)

"Sure. It's getting late, I'll be heading back and see if I can find anything else another time. Se you around" I say as I start walking.

"We'll be going too then," Sara says as they start following behind

Like that we go out the way we came in. We head back outside to where we were before we went in.

"This ends our collaboration," I say as I start heading out

"Wait, are you gonna be coming again?" (Argus)

"Yes, I will until I find out when the guy is coming." (Luis)

"Then, can't we come too?" (Argus)

"If we all come, it would just be unproductive" (Luis)

"...True, so how about this, we take shifts." (Sara)

"Shifts? Meaning you come in one day and I come in on another?"

"Yes, if either of us finds out anything about the guy's arrival then we contact each other." (Sara)

"What makes you so sure that I won't withhold the information and vice-versa." (Luis)

"... Woman's intuition." (Sara)

This is why I don't like these people, they are too trusting as if there's already some assurance that I won't withhold information from them. I have just met them so it's not like we have built a bond of trust and they don't need me the same way I need M. to get information from and he needs rare information from me.

"I refuse-" (Luis)

"How about we give you extra ammo cartridges in exchange for working with us?" (Argus)

"Argus!" (Sara)

That's also suspicious, where did they get there guns and ammo from? If they are supposed to be ordinary who decided to fight crime at night then it's hard to think that they could get in NY out of all states where gun laws are strict. If I remember correctly Crimson Lotus is a big supplier of illegal weapons, so does that mean they are from Crimson Lotus?

"Don't need it, I already got some from the 'little birdie'"? (Luis)

"You did?" Argus says a bit annoyed.

"Yes." (Luis)

"Then how about some information." (Sara)

What the hell, she's trying to buy me with information just like that other guy. Is it common knowledge that I search for information?

"About?" (Luis)

"The bloody crips human Trafficking ring and the most likely location of Jefe." (Sara)

DId she just say "location." Wait before that...

"How come you haven't acted on that information and instead went to Crimson Night which is more powerful?"

"The other three were handling that side, we are over here because we heard about the distribution." (Sara)

I see, so thas why it was only them that were here and the other three weren't with them.

"So you are saying that you would give me information on Jefe if we take turns spying on his house?"

"No, we will if you decide to cooperate with us in exterminating both organizations."

I see so is that kind of setting. However, how come they haven't mentioned Crimson Lotus at all? She said both Organizations almost as if disregarding the biggest one. Well, our goals align, so it's fine to collaborate, for now at least. Can I take this as Crimson Lotus trying to wipe out the other two then? If I stay close to them I might find some things about Lotus Flower.

"...Okay, I agree to work with you."

"Alright, in that case, could we have a way to contact you?!" (Argus)

"Meet me at the place we first saw each other at 19:00, every day to discuss things we've missed." (Luis)

"Isn't that too vague? Don't you have a cellphone or something." (Sara)

I remember the last day I had a cell phone. The day the phone fell from the roof.

"Tch. I don't, stop bothering me. That'll be the only way to hear from me constantly. I'll be leaving." I say coldly to Argus and Sara.

"Ummm, wait, did I say something I shouldn't have?" (Sara)

I decided to ignore her and get away from there. Looks like I'll have co-operated with them for now if I want to catch all three organizations within the month or so that I have.

Now that I think about it, why were they so insistent on having me with them on the team... I mean, it may be attributed to how much fighting strength I can amount to but even then it was suspicious how much they actually wanted me to be collaborating with them. There's still too much I don't know about them. I think as I head back to my apartment to sleep.

________________________________________________________________________________________________

I wake up the next day, to my alarm clock. Looks like I will be collaborating with those guys this time around. Last time was the bounty hunter and now the "NYC vigilante," is it obvious that I want information though? It's not like I openly announce that I do, the bounty hunter deduced it and so did the "NYC vigilantes," so does that mean that most people will be able to deduce it if they put some thought into it?

I'll not worry about that for now. I decide to go out for my morning practice, head to work half dead from it and train. I have gotten much stronger than before, I can feel it in my training. Is there a way for me to get stronger faster though? I kind of want to be able to dodge a bullet or see it for that matter but it will probably be impossible with only 3 months of training. It's kind of a goal to work towards though.

Hold on, won't I only need to stake Crimson Night's hideout every other day, That means I'll have to find what to do every other day. Let me rearrange my thoughts for a bit. First thing first, I will only have to go to Crimson Night's hideout every other day and go to Central Park at 19:00.

My biggest clue about the other two organizations lay on the NYC vigilantes. So I'll either have to follow them in secret or wait for a verbal slip up. Or should I wait until the Crimson Night thing settles down before I act against them? There's a good chance shit will fall apart if I get found out.

So then the best option would be individual action from them, but what exactly? Since I will already know where to find Crimson Night and Bloody Crips after I find things out from the vigilantes then the other option is searching for Lotus flower. But I don't have the slightest clue where to search apart from the vigilantes.

Shit, this going in circles. I don't know how to proceed from here. How about I slowly make it look like I'm getting closer to joining them so I learn more about them and then find Lotus Flower? Is it accomplishable within these four weeks?

I look at my white bracelet, I'll make it possible. Have I become reliant on this bracelet? Wait, I still haven't accomplished the first part of my promise at all. Shit! I don't even have the slightest clue of where he is. I don't have much of clue except for his presence and his height and build that I sensed before he left, I have no other clue. If I look back on my memories of that build, it is close to Argus', but his presence doesn't feel like him at all.

That may be why I hold some animosity towards them... well, they are still suspicious regardless of whether that is the main reason or not. I guess for now I'll try searching for that presence randomly as I did during my first two weeks here.

Like that the days went by where I alternated with the vigilantes staking out the Crimson Night's house, I interacted more with the vigilantes more and was slowly learning a couple of things about Argus and whoever accompanied him that day. I don't know why but whoever accompanied Argus changed from day to day.

Nonetheless, I got to know them all with the brief interactions I had with them when we met up. I found out that: Rebecca is a nice girl, Peter is a big asshole, and Alexander doesn't talk. That's how I know them at least.

On my side I still couldn't find anything about the presence from that day no matter where I went, it felt like a "Where's Waldo" game (Author's note: In case you don't know, it's a game where you try to search for a character with stripes in the middle of a fucking mess on a piece of cardboard.) where there was no Waldo in sight.

Finally, the following Wednesday, when It was my turn to go to Crimson Night's house I went to the meeting spot as usual. Argus came along excited with Rebecca and Alexander.

"We finally know when he will be arriving!" (Argus)