Crimson aftermath

I wake up the next day to my alarm and as usual do my morning routine. As I ran I started to remember what I said to Argus yesterday. Why did I say that? I could've just avoided the question and now I have to give a proper answer about entering after the raid of Bloody Crips, Ugh!

I get back to my apartment and decided to go to...I didn't go to work yesterday. Nor did I call saying I wouldn't be there. Fuck! Well, hopefully, I don't get fired or anything like that. I leave for work and get there only to find an angry manager.

"Luis Rubio!" (Manager)

"..Yes?" (Luis)

"Would you be so kind as to tell me why you weren't at work yesterday?!"

"...Um, I had some trouble, sir," I say slightly intimidated.

"I see... You know, it's already difficult to have you employed at your age boy. Next time you cause any trouble at work you will be fired, understood?"

"Yes."

With that, he leaves me and goes on to do whatever it is that he does. Shit, that was close. When I first got hired here I had to basically beg to do so. He told me that I would be allowed under certain conditions.

I got in with the condition that I didn't hinder the market at all. I usually get paid at the end of the day, of course, it below the minimum wage but I don't mind it, I only need money for extra food and nothing else.

The rest of my working time was uneventful. Some little interactions here and there until I finally got out of work, did my daily training and decided to patrol at night.

I started patrolling at night like usual. As I walked around I felt the presence of four people with bats. Ughh, looks like they are doing some sort of initiation today. Usually initiations depend from organization to organization but basically, they just have to prove themselves.

There are some mild organizations that do tattoos or something like it for initiation. While others require to either stealing a car, beating someone or killing someone. There are even more extreme examples but I'll leave it at that.

Well, they are usually easy to deal with since they have no experience in fighting whatsoever, and since I usually stop them before they commit a crime they are the few people that get away. Though, it's probably because of them that I get called Dark Menace...

I walk over to where they are and stop them in a narrow alleyway.

"I don't suspect that you are hitting up a piñata party right?" (Luis)

"What the-" (???)

I hit the first one in the jaw and send him flying upwards. The second notices me, but he was too late, I punch him in the stomach and kick him in the face. The third and fourth one try to get a swing on me. I stop the third one by grabbing his wrist and dodge the fourth one's bat.

I throw the third onto the fourth one and then follow with a kick to the third one and fourth together against the wall. I then follow with a fist to the stomach on the third one and a hit to the temple on the fourth one. Both of them are left bruised and unable to move, I take the bats and break them before throwing them away.

That was good warm up I guess. I leave them there and decided to head back out. I keep on walking until I find more people doing another initiation. They all seem to be holding some machetes or something and are ready to do some damage. Well, this is rare. Initiations are not something that happens frequently so having two in the same night within my range is actually quite rare.

I do the same as before and beat them up. The bats were one thing but I will be taking this machetes to a nearby police station or something. I grab the machetes only to sense other people with guns.

*Pam*

The sound of bullets starts to fill the night

I see, so it's finally happening. I grab the machetes and start heading up the stairs. It's already been two days since Crimson Night fell, word already got spread all over New York City. Rival organizations are stepping up to try and gain some territory and influence. I leave the machetes on top of the building

I stand over the ledge and overlook the scene of gunfire. So this is what I have done huh. While Crimson Night was a horrible organization it did one thing well. That was, keeping the other organizations in check. Now that it is gone the power balance has shifted so organizations are trying to be the next power to take control. That would explain the initiations and the gunfight unfolding in front of me.

I give a small giggle. I honestly didn't think this far ahead when I first decided to take "my revenge." I'm sure that if it was me from a month ago, I would not be able to bear this sight. Yet here I am, overlooking this with calmness. I guess I have already reflected enough on my promise to not hesitate.

Well, they are the idiots who are trying to ascertain their dominance of knowing that this was all set up. I think about heading down there and joining in when I suddenly remembered Jeorge's warning...

I sigh, I can't go devolving into a killing machine. I touch my black bracelet this time. I'll only kill if necessary, as Jeorge said: "people that die don't come back you shit." Well, if this is taken out of context it just sounds very stupid.

With that I jump down and use air step to get closer to someone shooting, I grab him by the arm and throw him against the wall. I follow up with a knee to the stomach and finally I grab his head and slam it against the wall. He falls down, I inspect the model of the gun to see which type it is.

Tch, not the same as mine. Well, this ammo is useless. I repeated the process over and over with person after person. Finally, the night was quiet; only got three ammo cartridges today, well I guess that's that. The police arrive at the scene, it looks like it's time to leave this to "the professionals." I climb up the emergency ladder onto the top of the building and decided to jump away.

The next two days were full of organization beating, initiation stopping and so on. It was definitely the busiest two nights I had ever had. I also tried listening in on information but all of it was just about Crimson Night and how desperately minor organizations are trying to recruit new people in order to try and win whatever fights they were having.

Crimson Night itself followed the predicted pattern of destroying itself by different factions. I am still bothered by the fact that I can't find information about Lotus Flower. They haven't been moving at all, which is somewhat strange.

I'm less suspicious about the NYC Vigilantes being Lotus flower, but I have my fair amount of suspicion that they definitely know something. It's almost as if they go out of their way to not mention them which makes me wonder what exactly is the correlation between the two. I'll try finding out in tomorrow's scouting I guess.

I finish the last rounds of my patrolling when I finally decide to call it a day and go back. As the night carried on I felt a familiar presence approaching me. To find me amidst all this chaos, this person has some serious talent for this kind of thing.

The presence approaches me and shouts

"So how is it going Dark Menace?" (???)

"Just having a little stroll around the neighborhood and you?" (Luis)

"I was just trying to meet an old acquaintance," he says as he looks at me with that mask covering his face.