24 Vigilante: Gun Deal 3

*Bang*

Riley's eyes were squeezed shut in anticipation of getting shot. However, instead of a piercing pain coursing throughout his entire body, he was instead greeted with a loud shriek to his left.

"Aaaaaargh!!!"

Immediately after, he felt the grip of the man on his left loosening.

"Hey Boss, you missed the guy point bla-"

*Bang*

"Nine."

After the second shot, Riley felt the grip on his right loosen as well. Opening his eyes, he stared at the man who had fired both bullets. Standing at 6 feet tall, the man was clad in a stylish black three-piece suit and a fedora, which he took off to reveal a slick man bun. Briefly glancing at Riley, his lips twisted into a smirk, and he flung his fedora at Riley like it was a frisbee.

"Take care of it for me, kiddo. It's made of Whippet fur."

"What the fuck, Alex?", said the first man whom he had shot and was now clutching his wound. "What are you-"

*Bang*

��Eight. Alright, let's get this party started! People's Brotherhood and Arbitrares, it's time to make a deal with the devil!"

As he was speaking, Riley noticed that the rest of the thugs had already pulled out their guns, and were aiming them at the man.

'What the hell is going on? Why'd he shoot his own men? How is he going to take on eight men by himself, when they already have their guns trained on him? He must be insane.'

Instead of running away to gain strategic distance, the man called "Alex" started sprinting towards them.

*Bang Bang*

"Seven. Six."

The thugs had originally whipped out their guns on pure instinct, as they were still extremely confused as to what was happening. However, after coming to the realization that two of their comrades had been executed, their dispositions quickly changed from confusion to bloodlust. Without any further hesitation, the remainder of the thugs started shooting. Instead of stopping and taking cover, Alex jumped to the side and squatted. Reaching down towards his heels, Alex pulled out another pistol that had been hidden in his shoe. Spreading his arms out, he shot out all the lights on the ceiling with extreme speed and precision.

By doing so, Alex left the warehouse in darkness. While the rest of the thugs were frantically looking around waiting for their eyes to adjust, Riley was able to see clearly thanks to his Vigilante's Mask. However, Alex was nowhere to be found.

'Come on, what are you doing? Just shoot them before their eyes adjust to the darkness.'

*Clank*

Riley heard a barrel toppling loudly on the right. The sudden disturbance in the darkness caused the thugs to shower their bullets toward the vicinity of the sound.

"First lesson of fighting in the dark — never reveal your position."

*Bang*

"Argh!"

Out of nowhere, a bullet grazed the hand of one of the gangsters, causing him to drop his gun on the ground. Alex appeared out of the darkness beside him and picked up the fallen gun by the barrel.

"Hey, I think you dropped this."

Before any of the thugs could react, Alex raised the gun above his head and pistol-whipped the thug, before grabbing his still body. Using it to block several gunshots, Alex then pushed the body away.

"Hm, I guess that's five? Let's make it four, shall we?"

Dodging to the right, Alex fired a shot, deftly avoiding the rest of the bullets while claiming yet another thug's life.

"That's all of the People's Brotherhood. Now, what was that thing you Arbitrares boys like to say? Oh right, it's a done deal."

"What the fuck is wrong with you crazies? Wait till our boss hears about th-"

Before he could finish his sentence, the man who had been aiming his gun wildly in random directions froze, as Alex appeared right in front of him. The thug frantically pointed his gun at Alex, but before he could pull the trigger, Alex grabbed his hand and twisted it to the right. The gun discharged, and there was the thump of a body hitting the floor in the distance.

"Wow, guess I'm not the only one with friendly fire switched off. That's pretty fucked up, innit?"

Alex placed his gun between the thug's eyes and fired, before disappearing into the shadows again.

"Three."

At this point, there were two thugs left. Seeing that they were alone, they stood back-to-back, trying to cover each other's blind spots. Unlike the rest of the thugs, these two seemed experienced — they weren't aiming their guns in random directions, but instead were calmly surveying their surroundings.

*Bang*

From the entrance, a scream echoed.

"What do we have here? A runner? You know what they say, winners never quit, and quitters never win."

Looking at the entrance, Riley saw Alex just as he was cracking a thug's neck, the lifeless body falling to the ground.

"I guess it's just you two left. What a sight to behold; an Underboss from the People's Brotherhood versus the renowned Capo duo from the Arbitrares: the Paganini's. How do you guys differentiate yourselves anyways?"

One of the remaining thugs holstered his gun and introduced himself.

"Wrong musician. It's Robert Johnson. I'm Robert, he's Johnson."

As he was saying this, he was slipping brass knuckles onto both of his hands, while Johnson had brought out a second pistol.

"Oh, whoops. Never been a fan of stringed instruments anyway. I'm more of a saxophone kinda guy."

"Why'd you ruin this deal? It would've made both of our gangs rich."

"You think you can get away with this? Us Arbitrares hold a special position in the council: the middlemen. If anyone finds out about this, you know the whole council will turn against you. And you know the deal — none of you Brotherhood boys can hold a candle to us real mafiosos."

Alex started walking forward. He had been wiping his hands with a handkerchief, and was now placing it back into his coat. He loosened his tie slowly before untying it altogether.

"Well, that's why no one's gonna find out. Well, unless that pesky little kid says something."

He looked at Riley before smiling.

"Man, I feel bad. This tie's made of silk."

Alex stopped walking when he was about 10 meters away from the duo. He had wrapped the tie around both of his fists, turning it into a makeshift garrote. Pulling the tie taut, he addressed the duo.

"Aw, are you gonna be using guns? But I'm unarmed. And my hands are tied."

"Fuck you."

Without any hesitation, Johnson started blasting away. While he was doing so, Robert leapt one step to his left and started running forward towards Alex.

Alex was already charging towards the duo, zig-zagging in a serpentine fashion as he narrowly avoided each bullet. He had started moving inversely to Johnson's hand movement — essentially making it hard for him to land a single hit.

"Hey, be careful with those things. You could seriously hurt someone with them."

As Robert closed in on Alex, Johnson stopped shooting so he could reposition and reload. Robert proceeded to jab at Alex with his right hand. Alex, who had elected to react rather than to engage, chose not to dodge the punch. Instead, he caught Robert's outstretched arm by wrapping around it with his tie, then kicked Robert in the gut.

As Robert was pushed back by the force of the kick, the tension caused by his binded arm forced it to go taut. At the same time, because there was no such restriction on his body, the momentum forced it to swing outwards. This meant that Robert was now perpendicular to Alex, facing his left. While Robert was still trying to regain his balance, Alex nimbly unwrapped his hand and deftly moved behind Robert. Swiftly, he wrapped his tie around Robert's neck and pressed a foot onto Robert's back, strangling him.

"Yo kid, a little help?"

He then beckoned towards Johnson, who had finished reloading and was now aiming his guns at Alex.

Riley, who had been mesmerized by Alex's style and badassery, snapped out of his daze. The fight had given him plenty of time to replenish his health and mana, and for his abilities to go off cooldown.

"<Extreme Agility>"

As Riley sprinted towards Johnson, the sound of gunshots rang out. However, Alex was ready; he had lifted Robert's now-weak body off its feet to be used as a meat shield, flailing it around just like a matador and his muleta. At first, Robert tried using the opportunity to escape the stranglehold, but after receiving a flurry of bullets his body went limp.

"Oi kid, this body isn't gonna last very long."

By then, Riley had significantly closed the gap between him and Johnson without drawing attention to himself. However, with Alex's remark, Johnson immediately pivoted an arm, pointing one of his guns at Riley.

Leaping up, Riley cast <Shadow Move>, positioning himself right behind Johnson. Just after landing, he performed <Leg Sweep>. However, his leg was stopped in its track by Johnson's leg.

'No way. Looks like someone didn't skip leg day.'

"What the fuck, how did you get the-"

*Thok*

While Johnson was distracted with Riley's seemingly supernatural teleportation abilities, Alex had taken the opportunity to remove one of Robert's brass knuckles and had thrown it at Johnson's head, causing him to stagger backwards.

Taking advantage of the situation, Riley stood up and <Power Punch>ed Johnson, knocking him out completely. Looking back at Alex, Riley shouted, "Nice thr-"

*Thok*

"Battle ended. Experience gained: 250."

"Congratulations, you have gained a new level! You are now level 15."

"Quest Completed! Gained 500 experience, <Incognito> Level 4, and <Minimap> Level 2!"

"Congratulations, you have gained a new level! You are now level 16."

"EXP: 138/400"

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Stirring back into consciousness, Riley felt his hands bound tightly behind his back. Struggling to break free, he heard a sudden voice.

"Hey, stop resisting."

As his vision started clearing, he saw that he was in the passenger's seat of a car. Alex was on his left, driving with the window down and a cigarette in his mouth.

"Why? Because you'll kill me if I do?"

Taking the cigarette out of his mouth with his free hand, Alex flicked the ashes out the window.

"No, it's because I don't want you ruining my silk tie. Well, if you did, I'd probably kill you. So yeah, you're right."

"What the hell was that? Are you an undercover cop or something?"

Hearing Riley's words, Alex chuckled.

"Haha, do you think a man as cool as me would end up being a cop? Let me introduce myself. I'm Alex, an Underboss from the People's Brotherhood. You can call me Mr. X."

Riley's eyes widened.

'Wait, this man is part of the People's Brotherhood? Why'd he kill his own men? Where is he taking me? Is he going to interrogate me? I need to get out of he-'

"Yo, your parents never taught you common decency? You're supposed to reciprocate if someone introduces themself."

"You can call me Mr. R."

Alex burst into laughter.

"Good one. Well, I guess you're confused. Don't worry, I won't be interrogating you or turning you in. In fact, I'd like to thank you."

"Thank me? What for?"

"Well, for helping me secure all these weapons for free!"

"Wait, what?"

"Well, though the soldiers wouldn't know much about you, I've taken a liking to you, ever since your first appearance. A lone person somehow taking down our guys, and causing a huge headache in our operations. Well, I heard you came by the nightclub, evaded all of the security, and photographed the entire stack of George's documents. And since George is one meticulous fellow, I figured that you would catch wind of tonight's deal, and that you wouldn't be able to resist the temptation of busting our asses.

Taking another drag of his cigarette, Alex exhaled before continuing, "and thanks to you, I'm now a hero. As you must know, the location of the deal was provided by the Arbitrares. So, the fact that the entire deal went to shit is entirely their fault. And you know what they say, history is written by the victors. And since I'm the only survivor, that makes me the victor, so here's the story: the location of the deal was compromised, you killed everyone, and I barely managed to escape with my life. And you stole all the weapons. Meaning all of this," Alex gestured to the back of the truck before continuing, "is free of charge."

Riley felt annoying. He had thought that he had the upper hand, and that nobody would expect him at the deal, but he had been played like a fiddle by Alex. Before he could reply, Alex continued.

"And that's where we are now. Here's what I'd like to propose to you — an alliance. I, Alex, have a dream. You see, I never liked the People's Brotherhood. My parents were killed by them, and I was enlisted to join as a kid. I'm sure you've read the journal and documents; we specialize in rapid hiring and growth, which meant that kids weren't spared either. We were forced to start at the bottom; peddling drugs and stuff and man, they absolutely did not go easy on us. Lose even a milligram of weed? Well, you're dead, literally. But I somehow survived and managed to climb my way up. And now, I'm one of the favorites to become the next Boss. Well, after this, I'm probably the favorite."

"Why are you telling me all this? What if I rat you out to the mafia?"

"Well, I'd just kill you then. I'm the only one who knows who you are, right? Riley… Peetest gerald?"

Alex squinted as he stared into Riley's phone.

"How'd you get tha-"

"Look, Riley, I don't know what your motivations are for trying to bring down the mafia, but from what I can tell, you and I are on both sides of the same boat. You're hampering the mafia's operations, and I'd like to reform the Brotherhood. I can't do this on my own. I've tried. Once in a while, I'd tip the cops off on our operations, but the boss's pockets run much deeper.

Taking another puff before tossing the cigarette butt out the window, Alex continued.

"And though you've been doing great on your own, had I not stepped in, it would've been the end for you, despite all your black magic fuckery. I saw an opportunity when you took down the Capo, and I knew that together, we stand a chance in taking them down. So, what do you say?"

Riley knew that Alex wasn't a good guy. However, somehow, Riley… believed him? So far, he had not raised any red flags. Alex could have killed him when he was pinned down, but he instead betrayed his comrades and fellow council members. He could've killed Riley after knocking out, but he had chosen not to. And Riley couldn't help but sympathise and believe in Alex's sad story.

"Sigh… It's not like I have a choice right?"

Smiling, Alex replied, "True, and you have nothing to lose either. Then perfect, let's shake on it."

As Alex reached out his hand, he realised that Riley's hands were still tied. Laughing, he stopped his car by the road and reached behind Riley, untying the knot in one swift movement. Slapping Riley's shoulder, Alex passed him back his mobile, before reaching into his pocket to pull out a flip phone.

"Ah, before you leave, here's a burner phone that we can use to keep in touch. After all, we don't want either of us getting tracked, right? I'll be in touch if there's an opportunity to be taken advantage of, which we won't have to wait long for. In the meantime, feel free to do whatever it is you're already doing. See ya, comrade. I think this is your home?"

As Riley rubbed his wrists, which were still sore from being tied, he looked out the window, and sure enough, it was his home.

"W-wait, how'd you know?"

Alex smiled. "Well, trade secret. I'll hit you up soon, partner."

Riley got out, and bid Alex farewell.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Patch 23.0

- Regular biweekly update

Name: Riley Petesgeralt

Age: 16

Job: The Roleplayer

Class: Vigilante

Level: 16

HP: 250

MP: 220

EXP: 138/400

Strength: 27

Dexterity: 23

Vitality: 25

Intelligence: 32

Wisdom: 22

Charisma: 26

Luck: 20

Skills:

Roleplayer's Mind

Virtual Body

Analyze (Level 5)

Blunt Weapon Proficiency (Level 4)

Physical Endurance (Level 3)

The Cinderella Effect (Level 1)

Dodge Step (Level 2)

Counter Flip (Level 1)

Leg Sweep (Level 2)

Power Punch (Level 2)

Extreme Agility (Level 2)

Sense Danger (Level 2)

Trash Talk (Level 1)

Power Swing (Level 4)

Quick Draw (Level 1)

Minimap (Level 2)

Incognito (Level 4)

Equipment:

Vigilante's Mask (Level 3/5)

Vigilante's Cloak (Level 1/5)

Vigilante's Pants (Level 1/5)

Vigilante's Gloves (Level 1/5)

Vigilante's Shoes (Level 1/5)

Full set bonus unlocked: Shadow World