The Fight For New Orleans

He was the happiest orphan to ever run out of the school building. Boss walked out of the large school with a smile that was serene. Mind full of dreams, he was determined not to be a product of the nineties, especially in rural Tennessee where Kentucky was his close neighbor and Virginia was closer than that. His best friend rushed past him, brushing his shoulder gently, knocking him out of his daydream and into another one.
She was beautiful. Her long, brown hair fell to the middle of her back, her body was curvaceous, but it was her eyes that casted spells on the souls of men. Her icy blues took the rays of the sun and refracted it a million times over, multiplying a thousand times over making the sun dim in comparison to her eyes' beauty. Her smile gleamed and warmed a spot in his heart. The spot that seemed to be reserved solely for her, forever. "Hey Boss, make sure you come to school tomorrow. You know we got that test tomorrow!"
She smiled again, but even her beauty couldn't change his grim expression now. Reality had just him and he just remembered he had money to make. He just remembered that he had no family to help him in his struggle. He shrugged and yelled back, "I'll try! I ain't making no promises though!"
Her expression changed into an angry one, and she turned on her heel to walk back up the steps of the school. She made Boss laugh on the inside with her school teacher look. She shook her finger and said with her sternest voice, "You gonna be here. I'm uh make sure of it, Boss. Matter of fact, you coming to my house and studying with me, got me?"
He shook his head with a smirk and replied, "I got you sweetie." He loved her authoritian attitude. Even though his name was Boss, she was the only one who could ever issue out an order he would ever follow. Possibly because she was the only who seemed to care about him. Two more girls walked out of the school building that caught his attention. They waved at him with flirtacious looks and he turned back to his best friend, "Say Lia...."
She cut him short with her hand, knowing his every action, "You better be at my house by eight o' clock."
He mocked fear as he pretended to shake in his boots. She chuckled and concealed her lips with her dainty fingertips. He wrapped his arms around her and hugged her tight. The love was apparent between the two as they squeezed each other. When they broke embrace, Boss skipped off of the school steps toward the two girls, waving back to Lia who looked like she was his mother watching him go outside and play for the first time.
When Boss reached the two girls he hugged both of them, and placed both of them under his wings. "Wasaam, Zhena? What's good wit' you Sandra?"
They both smiled and looked into Boss' big, brown eyes. The tanner out of the two, Sandra, was the first out of them to speak. "Oh nothing, Boss. How are you doing?"
"Oh you know me baby, just living, just living. How 'bout you? Where y'all going?"
The other, equally beautiful girl finally spoke up, but Boss was distracted by her beautiful dimples. "We're heading to my house after we visit my sister." Boss knew all too well of Zhena's sister's beauty and she knew how big of a crush he had on the both of them. So without thinking, she invited him along. He agreed and they began to stroll through the lush forest of East Tennessee, exploring the region's beautiful Appalachian areas. There were hardly any roads in this rural village, so when they reached Zhena's place of employment, Boss was mystified by the sheer beauty of the large office building. Boss thought to himself, "This is an awkward place to have an office like this", but he quickly dismissed the thought when he saw his friend parked in the parking lot rolling up a joint. His friend honked his loud, obnoxious horn and made all of them turn around to look.
When Boss locked eyes with the driver of the large, square vehicle, he smiled. The long haired white boy stuck his head out of the window and yelled, "Boss! Come here man!"
Boss instantly knew what time it was and hugged both of the girls bye. He walked through the parking lot and jumped into the back of the vehicle, where he was greeted by the long haired white boy and his quirky yet cute girlfriend. "What's goin' on, Boss?"
Boss just shook his head, "Aint nothing, Jon Jon. What's good wit' you? Wassup Morgan?"
She looked back and smiled. Boss wondered why she had such a large smile on her face, but those questions quickly disappated when she threw a joint of some potent marijuana on his lap and showed him a joint of her own. That's when Boss knew he had jumped in the car with some bonafide weedheads.
They rode around for a couple of hours in a cloud of weed smoke until they finally reached the bad part of town where Boss had resided. Even though they were one of the few white people to ever even come through B-Town, they weren't worried. They knew Boss' name was more than a nickname around those parts. Boss looked out the window and saw a girl he immediately recognized. He leaned his head out of the window and yelled out her name, "Yaaaaaaoooooo Raveeeeeeennnnnnnn!!! What's good wit' you baby!?"
The two tattooed men who shared her company looked at the two white in the front and jumped from their seats, ready to relieve them of their vehicle. She called out softly, "Matt?"
The name had struck a chord in his heart as he began to recall his younger brother who never got to see seventeen. He shook his head of the awful memory and leaned his head out of the window and yelled again, "Nah, girl, this Boss here! What you doing around here, Raven?" He jumped out of the car and waved goodbye to Jon Jon and Morgan as they sped off. He walked toward Raven and she studied him with her beautiful light brown eyes. She knew he wasn't going to agree with her being down here in the slums of East Tennessee. She knew he was going to ask questions that all began with "why".
He looked at the two men with dismissing looks and they got out of their chairs and left inside of the house. Then he turned his attention back to Raven and asked her, "What you doing here?"
She heard the subtle anger in his voice and tried her best to calm him down before he exploded to a furious rage. "Just visiting..."
It amazed her how young she felt whenever she was around him. Even though she had only been a year younger than him, his eyes always had a way of making her feel much younger than that. She remembered how he used to give advice and how he used to observe the world around him while he made his money. She remembered the oath he had took in his heart when his younger brother, her boyfriend had died. He had told her that he would look out for her until he had no more breath left in his body and she knew that was a promise he had every intention on keeping. "Who you visiting down here, Raven?" He said it as though there was disbelief in his voice.
She shook her head and retorted, "You know, I'm not a baby no more. You don't have to constantly act like big brother to me. I am grown enough to see who I want." By the glare in his eyes, she knew oherwise. She knew she had better come out with the truth quick or else, "If you must know, we was waiting on you to get out of school."
"We?" Boss said confused.
"Uncle Boss!" A loud little voice came from behind a dilapidated building and then a small young toddler came running with his arms flailing in the wind. Boss caught the young man in his embrace and hugged him tight. He had no idea who this baby was but there was something familiar about him.
"His name is Mika." She said plainly. He looked back at her, recognizing his own name. "Matt used to tell me all the time that if he ever had a son, he would want him named after his big brother."
Still confused, he asked, "So this is...."
She bit her lip and answered, "Yeah that's Matt's son, your nephew."
Boss looked at his nephew and looked deep into the happy child's eyes, happy to be reunited with the only family the boy had. Then he turned back around and looked at Raven. He had to ask, "How come I'm just now hearing about him? Why didn't you tell me, I could've been helping out, I could've been....." Then he stopped when he realized the answer. His head lowered as the memory of Matt came into his head. He realized how hard it must've been to have a constant reminder of her murdered boyfriend running around her everyday with a smile on his face without having his older brother around. He looked deep into the boy's eyes again and clear as day he could see his younger brother, but there was something else glimmering behind them. It was then that Boss knew that his nephew would grow to be something special.



"Still reminiscing about the old days, huh Boss?" Boss quickly snapped back into reality when he heard Lia's voice. He looked up at her, still shocked by her beauty. She still had those same blue eyes, but they had dimmed. She still had her wonderful figure, but time had aged her. She was like wine now.
He looked at the candle lit room filled with armaments of every kind and he laughed. "Those were better times, Lia. Better times."
She retorted in that same stern voice. "Yeah. They were. But these are new times now and we have to fight to have our happy memories back. We don't have the luxury of daydreaming when we are at war with the country."
He smiled a smile that was hidden by his long dreads. "Yeah, I know but can't an old man dream."
She smiled with the same smile she had when they were children, her scolding Boss to get on his studies. But then she did something the times had forced her to do. She shed a single tear and replied, "No. You can't dream..." This caused his head to sink low to the ground before she replied, "Dreams are for poets, we're warriors now and we don't have time for such luxuries. Not right now."
"Oh, what a sad world we live in."
She walked up to him and cuffed her hand on his goatee and replied, "Yes, I know it's a cold world we live in. I didn't make it this way. The world decided we weren't worth saving so now we have to save ourselves. You're our leader and I ask of you too remember this." He mocked fear and she giggled just she did when they were children. Guess some things never change.
"I hear you, Lia. I hear you. So where are Prince and Hope anyway?"
"They're caught in between an officer raid. Apparently while on their patrols, a few officers decided now was the time to strike one of our armories. Now Hope and Prince are stuck battling the polices."
Boss took the half of a blunt that rested in the ashtray and lit it. He inhaled the marijuana smoke into his lungs and he asked, "Should we send some of our troops down that way?"
She smiled and answered, "I don't think that'll be necessary. Them two can handle themselves and they might already have reinforcements on the way."
"What you mean, Lia?"
She smiled and answered, "Some of our people in Mississippi have told us about this guy riding with this girl who killed everything to get her stuff back. They say he went to Meridian and restored order where there was none, an he did it by killing everybody who stood in the way of his mission. We may have our own superhero on our hands."
Boss shook his head with a look of disgust on his face, and she could see it all over his face that he didn't find this fact comforting. "Don't you think we have enough egos in our camp?"
Her answer was simple. "No."
"And why is that?"
"To put it simply, we need more egos. We need more heroes, more people willing to do more than they thought possible. To put it more simply than that, arrogance equals confidence, and in a world where there seems to be no hope, we need more people with confidence to change he world."


Elsewhere, Hayley drove her van through New Orleans on her way to Texas with Gavin in the passenger seat. He looked out of the window at the bleek situation that was New Orleans with a look of sadness. He turned to the front and subconciously grabbed Hayley's resting hand. She smiled, feeling the comfort rush through her veins and pour into her heart. He felt the color rush out of his eyes as he saw the police harass the young, starving kids of the ghetto and a sharp pain caused his heart to shiver. The van passed by slowly as to not alert the police of their arrival into the desolate city. They continued their drive into what seemed like darkness until Gavin saw a young beautiful, brown girl with an elegant face and a petite frame much like Hayley's fight against what looked like two monstrous mahines. He knew than that he couldn't watch this any longer. "Stop he car." She looked at him like he was crazy. Her eyes nearly popped ou of her head as she studied his frame to make sure that he was serious and like she had thought, he was very serious. Something about this young girl had struck a chord in him that he couldn't quiet. "Stop the car!" The van came to a screeching halt with white smoke fleeing from the tires. The two police mechanisms turned around to see the van come to an amazing stop. They looked over the van and then brought their cannon like arms up, ready to meet opposition.
The young lady took her opportunity to slide under one of the police machines, stick a semtex device on it's leg, and roll out of the way as the stunned police officer just looked at his leg seconds before it exploded, bringing his monstrous armor to flames. The other officer turned his head in confusion as he police officer in the middle of the warrior exoskeleton ordered the young lady to stop. She simply smiled when a large bullet flew into the head of the police officer's machine. It struck him off balance, leaving him disoriented, trying to balance himself on one leg. It was then when the unexpected happened. Gavin rolled down his window slowly while the young girl simply watched the police officer try and regain control without the use of his HUD with a laugh. When Gavin had enough room in his window to throw the blade, he launched the blade into machine's chest, shattering the police officer's skull before frying them both with a tremendous shock. The girl just watched in awe and horror as Gavin pulled back the electric blade, pulling the officer out of the machine with it. The sight of the decapitated officer did not frighten her, surprising Gavin. He jumped out of the van just as another was approaching from her right. Gavin noticed the movement from the corner of his eyes and grasped his lucky switchblade. She saw Gavin's quick movements and quickly threw her hands up, telling him, "No, no, he's with me. He's cool, he's with me."
Gavin's blood cooled down as he continued to walk up to the young girl. "Are you okay?"
Her smile was as beautiful as a newborn baby's, and it warmed his heart to see such softness in such a hard reality. He didn't realize how beautiful she was until he was close up to her, but he quickly realized he was staring at the eighth wonder of the world. "Yeah. Thanks for helping me out back there." He couldn't do nothing but stare at the angel in front of him. He was entranced by the light that emanated from off of her petite frame. She shifted uncomfortably as his eyes became fixated on hers. "Are you going to just stare at me?"
He snapped out of his trance and shook his head quickly, "I'm....I'm sorry I just, what's your name?"
She smiled; this wasn't the first time she had placed a man under her spell nor would it be her last. Her friend from afar appeared by her side and when he got close enough to her, it was almost as if they were brother and sister, both beautiul, both deadly. His tall, well built frame towered over her short, petite one, but their brown skin was the same hue, they both had equally precious smiles, and both had looks that could and would kill. His soft voice caught Gavin by surprise when it exited out of his mouth. "Don't worry, a lot of people have that same reaction when they first meet her."
She smiled and playfully pushed him to the side. "No they do not, shut up." She looked back at Gavin and smiled, flirting with her eyes. Gavin licked his lips and cherished every moment his eyes shared with hers.
They continued their stare into he infinite inside of their eyes until the young girl's older boy twin stepped in front of Gavin's gaze with his hand out. "Thanks for stepping in when you did, love. You really did help us out."
Gavin smirked, "Well to be honest, I didn't see you, just...." He caught her eyes again and he couldn't help but fall right back into those brown eyes. His smiled gleamed in the moonlight as his happy demeanor relflected into her heart, making her want to return the smile ten times over. He couldn't even finish his statement to the young man because simply, he had forgotten he had existed.
Her voice was seductive. It orchestrated classics onto his eardrums and had him hung on to her every word. "Well, thank you, stranger."
"Oh, I'm no stranger...I'm Gavin." He held out his hand, the nerves on his palms awaiting for her touch. Her skin was soft and gentle in his hand.
He shook her hand for a little while longer than he knew he was supposed to, but the formalities of a proper introduction did not matter to him. Not in that moment. It really didn't matter to her either as she felt his calloused hand on hers. She thought to herself, "This was a warrior in front of her." She smiled and looked down at her hand as if saying "you can stop shaking my hand now". Gavin quickly retracted his hand and placed it on his side, slightly embarassed. She just smiled it off and replied, "My name's Hope."
Gavin was struck aback by her name and that was the first time Hayley had popped up in his head. "Wow, Hope huh? That's cool. That's the name of my homegirl ol' band matter of fact...." He stopped himself, realizing it might not be the brightest idea to bring that up in front of her. "Yall want to meet her?" Hope nodded her head and Gavin turned around to see a scared Hayley cradling her shotgun in her lap watching the two strangers intently, making sure there was to be no sort of foul play. Gavin ushered her with his hand to get out of the car and that everything was safe. Hope and the young man who accompanied her watched the beautiful Hayley exit out of the car and walk slowly toward them with the shotgun hanging in her hand. When she was close enough, he pulled her in close and pointed to Hope first and introduced the ladies first. "Hope, this is Hayley. Hayley this is....Hope." The smile that followed her name did not go unnoticed by Hayley as a hint of jealousy gripped her heart. Gavin knew he had messed up than. He tried to recover quickly by introducing her to the young man next to Hope. "Hayley this is..." He snapped his fingers trying to remember his name, but then he realized he had never asked for his name. He couldn't think of a way to ask for his name without sounding rude but he knew that would be impossible so he just asked, "What is yo' name again, dog?"
The young man looked at Gavin like he was a straight asshole. He perked his lips and answered with an undertone of attitude, "I'm Prince, love. Ya' boy here a real nigga for helping us out, right there. Them polices was after our heads on that one. Don't know if lil' Hope would've made it if it wasn't for....." He began to mock Gavin by snapping his fingers. "What was ya' name again, shorty?"
Gavin simply laughed, but when Hope had answered for him, Hayley was positive that the only person that Gavin was interested in was Hope. "His name is Hope and he just saved my life, so stop playing."
Gavin and Prince shared a laugh and Prince put his hands up to mock fear, "My bad, Hope baby, don't kill me, shorty."
She covered her mouth and giggled and it had been apparent that both of them had been raised around both Boss and Lia. "Hey are you guys hungry?"
At the mere mention of food, Gavin's heart leapt out of his chest. "Hell yeah! All the time. What's good?"
"Well our camp is right over there if y'all wanna come with us if you want to. You guys are more than welcome. I'm sure Boss would love to meet lil' Hope's knight in shining armor."
He continued to laugh, making Hope feel more and more like the butt of a couple bad jokes that she was getting tired of hearing. "Whatever, Prince." She shook her head and looked back into Gavin's eyes. "You guys could just follow us. We'll take you straight there. It's just like right around the corner so it won't take long."
"Yeah, we'll just pick up some stuff from inside of here and y'all could drive y'all mystery machine behind us." Gavin laughed, never realizing how much the van resembled the one from the Scooby-Doo cartoons.
Hope and Prince went inside of the warhouse while Gavin and Hayley stood watch, making sure no more police officers came from behind them. They waited five minutes in silence, knowing there were things that were not being said that were needed to be aired.
The awkward silence between the two was gladly broken when Hope and Prince left the Armory. Gavin and Hayley quickly jumped in the van and began to follow the duo to their respective compound. On he drive there they saw the true meaning of poverty. The children watched their van drive by with dirty faces and a look as though there was no hope left in the world. Gavin knew that stare. Be had remembered wearing that same look when he had first arrived back in his hometown of McComb. He had remembered how his sister had looked at him, how his father had looked at him as though the only reason to live was to survive. He had remembered thinking, wishing that they could dream again.
Soon they had arrived at the base of Prince and Hope, greeted by military grade weapons and hardened men of New Orleans.
When they exited their van, guns were drawn immediately on the two as Gavin realized why they had stood out so much. Out of all of them, Hayley had been the only white person inside of the base, and if Gavin knew anything about urban neighborhoods, he knew that white people were either police or more trouble and that they were not welcomed. It wasn't until Hope and Prince stepped in when the guns were put to their sides. But but no matter how much Prince and Hope had told them that they were okay, the distrust was still in the eyes of the rebellious soldiers, who stared at Gavin with a hate in their eyes unlike any other.
"Stand down!" Hope said with a stern voice. "They're with us."
The soldiers lowered their guns as Prince stepped in, clearly more respected than Hope. "Where's the big man at? I'm sure he would be happy to see the people who saved our life."
The leader of the patrolling soldiers stepped up to Prince with haunting eyes that would pierce through an ordinary man's soul, and he asked, "But sir, they are strangers. Are you sure we can trust them?"
The soldier was beyond scary. His eyes were product of the brimstone from hell itself. His figure was that of a supervillain and that added to the fact that he toted a very large automatic assault rifle, this man embodied dangerous. But Gavin was unafraid. Neither was Prince.
He looked at him with equally powerful eyes and answered, "Look who brought him here, Javon." The dark soldier looked over Gavin once more but his attention was brought right back to Prince as he quickly addressed the soldier with a fierce anger in his voice, "Look, I don't know whose loyalty you are testing, but you'd best think twice before you try to say that I would bring anybody here who would hurt the person who saved my life." He placed his hand on the soldier's shoulder, and with soldier under a new composed state, he asked, "Now, tell me, where is the big man?"
The threat inside of the whisper did not go unnoticed by the soldier as his eyes glided towards Gavin, who returned his hateful gaze right back at him. "He is with Lia, inside of his compound, awaiting for your return." He turned his head toward his men, looking for any type of mutinous look on any of their faces. When he found none, his eyes still couldn't meet Prince's as he tapped him on the shoulder and smiled. "Thank you, Javon. As you were."
Gavin followed behind Prince and Hope with Hayley by his side. When they passed Javon, his deep dark eyes burned a hole in Gavin's back. He didn't trust Gavin, and if Gavin was completely honest with himself, he didn't trust the leader either. He wouldn't have normally followed strangers into another strange situation, but something in him made him trust in he two, mainly in Hope. It could have been her smile, it could have been her trusting eyes, but something made him willing to follow her into the depths of hell and back.
When they reached the compound, Lia turned around and stared at Prince and a smiling Hope, but her expression had changed once she saw a couple of strangers enter into Boss' compound. Boss had also regarded them with distrust, but Lia's expression had changed he instant she realized who they were. She turned around and looked at Boss with an "I told you so" look that threw Boss off. She faced Gavin and with a slightly excited voice, she said, "Why hello, Gavin. We've been expecting you."
Gavin had instantly felt like he had walked directly into a trap so he clutched his luckly switchblade for comfort. It wasn't until Boss spoke up that Gavin felt any kind of ease. "Well I guess you are the hero of Meridian I have been hearing so much about?"
Gavin was shocked. "How did you know about that?"
Boss and Lia laughed and Lia answered, "C'mon, Gavin. Mississippi is our neighbor. Do you honestly think a man with your exceptional talents would not be noticed traveling through these parts?"
Hayley looked up at him as though he were royalty. She knee he was special but it felt nice to seem like the only person who thought so. Prince looked around the room and began to fan himself as though it were scorching in the room. "Well, damn, I mean we are still in the room."
He laughed at his own joke but Lia did not share his sentiment. Her serious stare let Prince know that some things were better left unsaid, and that he should have kept his mouth shut. "Yes, and that's only because of this young man here. You two were foolish for deciding to try and defend the armories by yourselves. What were you two trying to prove exactly?" Hope and Prince looked down at the ground, disappointed in themselves. Lia couldn't help but feel sorry for the young heroes. She walked toward Prince and put a motherly hand on his face, rubbing the tense muscles on his face. She felt the pain leaking out of his eyes and on to he nerve endings of her fingers. She realized then how close her surrogate children were to dying. "You two do know that we you are our only hopes, don't you? Both of you are exceptional in both of your respective abilities, but both of you are still so young."
Prince looked up at her with a mischievous smile and replied with the slyness of a fox, "I think you worry too much, Lia."
She poked her lips out in a mock kiss and with a voice of an overbearing mother, she answered, "But of course I worry about my babies...." She pinched his cheeks hard and shook his face like she was Italian, "You know mama loves you." Her demeanor became serious as she looked down at Hope with her soft blue eyes filled with a caring Hope had only recieved from her. She reached her other hand to hold the soft skin of Hope's face, and as if she were holding her own two children, she spoke with a voice as soft as the wind, "I do worry about you both, everyday. Everyday it seems like we have another mission, another chance for both of you to lose your lives. Another chance to end two lives so early, and I always think of the consequences we will face for raising you in such a harsh environment."
Hope looked back up to Lia with eyes full of compassion and love and answered with a voice full of conviction, "But you raised us to be soldiers. You gave us hope when we had nothing. You gave me my name. You are a mother to me, the only one I've ever known. Just like Boss is like my pa, and even though he gets on my nerves, Prince is still like my big brother, and I love all of y'all. Y'all are family to me and I would die for my family. I have a family full of soldiers and I am a warrior and will die one, and that is something I am extremely proud of."
She poked her chest out, swollen with pride and Prince held out his hand and smiled, "Give me some on that, sissy."
She smiled and slapped his hand and both Lia and Boss smiled as Gavin watched the family moment from a distance that seemed like he was watching from forever. This moment brought him back to his past when he was growing up watching families just like this one, wondering to himself why he had never experienced love like they had. He had wondered why his family had been so distant when it came to their only son.
He looked back at Hayley and his eyes had plead with her with his brown pupils. Every part of him wanted to tell somebody about his pain, but something held him back. She read the lines in his eyes and saw for herself the pain that lingered in his my mind. Every part of her wanted to walk over to him and comfort him. She saw it in her mind, her placing all of her weight on his shoulders, staring into his strong eyes, telling him that everything would be okay. Soon she would make it so it wasn't a dream no longer. She took her first step toward, but as she looked deeper into his eyes, she saw a smile. A smile like no other. She knew that now wouldn't be the time to spark this conversation, so that same step she took forward, she took that same step back, and smiled back at Gavin. This instantly brought a light to his heart and he remembered what it was that he liked so much about Hayley. It was her uncanny ability to make him smile.
After what seemed like a happy family reunion, Lia and Boss had Hayley and Gavin along with Prince and Hope for dinner as they laughed and explained the complexities of their resistance group, and for the first time in a long time, Gavin felt as though he had belonged. He laughed and joked along with Prince, sent subliminal, coy eyes towards Hope, and flirted with Hayley and Lia, impressing Boss at the same time. In one instance, everyone fell in love with Gavin.
After dinner, Gavin was shown Prince's room with a spare cot inside while Hayley was lead to Hope's room. After all of them got aqauinted with their respected rooms, it wasn't long before the lights were dimmed and all of the warriors in that house were fast asleep, all except Gavin and Boss.
Gavin walked around resistance base looking at the stars in the sky, thinking to himself. His thoughts weren't about anything specific, he thought about what he would look like if he was a superhero. He thought about what it would be like if he was made out of muscles with a perfect haircut and a smile that would make every woman who crossed his path to swoon. He thought about what it would be like if be could fly through the clouds with the wind passing over his skin. He wondered what kind of powers he would have. Would he have mind control like Professor Xavier or maybe he would have super healing like Wolverine? Would he be able to teleport Nightcrawler? All sorts of possibibilties flooded his mind as he thought about all of the ways he could save the world from the evils that had plagued it. He thought about all of the smiles he could bring to the children of the world. He just knew the world would accept him. Maybe his family would accept him as well. Then the real issue had come into his mind. His lips rolled against his teeth as he struggled to hold back the tears in his eyes. He pulled out a Black and Mild cigar from his pocket and quickly lit it. "You okay?"
Gavin clenched his teeth with anger that he had allowed someone to sneak up on him and his eyes were a reflection of that anger. He turned around to meet a compassionate pair of eyes and he immediately recognized them to belong to Boss. He inhaled the smoke from the cigar and turned back around and prepared to walk away. He took around four steps until the scent of marijuana caught his attention. Gavin stopped and turned around and seen the product of what happened when you rolled blunts together. Gavin's face was filled with shock and in a moment, everything became lifted from his shoulders and he walked back to Boss. With a confused look, he asked, "You smoke?"
Boss laughed. "Don't you?"
Gavin's top lip twitched and a scowl formed on his face. It wasn't because he was angered, mainly because he thought it was a stupid question, and one pet peeve that Gavin had, it was stupid questions. He held his hand out and received the super blunt with his index finger and thumb and inhaled the dro. It was the sweetest tasting marijuana he had ever had the pleasure of sampling. He looked at Boss in disbelief, and he asked, "Aren't you guys like in the middle of a war or something?"
"Yeah, so....you think other great leaders haven't partaked of this herbal medicine?"
His smile was comforting as the intense feeling of belonging came over Gavin. Gavin inhaled another drag of the sweet marijuana and a strange peace came over him. Soon they found themselves walking and talking about life and their philosophies on the war and the way the South has fell victim to the evils of the Great Storm.
"So what's your mission young Gavin? How come you come this whole way without any family?"
Gavin lowered his head to the ground and a couple of tears fell from his face. The wetness plunged the ground with a sadness that moistened the once dead roots of grass with pain unimaginable to a normal human being, and Boss felt the pain deep in his soul. "I don't really have a family anymore, Boss."
Boss placed his hand on Gavin's shoulder, and for the first time, Gavin didn't resist the comforting hand of another man's touch. For the first time, he welcomed the warmth of another human being. "What happened, son?" The word son struck a chord in Gavin's heart. His own father had never shown love like Boss had, his own father had barely acknowledged his existence. To his father, Gavin was nothing more than a disappointment, a blight to their family who was better gone and forgotten. Gavin looked up into the moon and his eyes shone in the moonlight and the tears glistened like gems on his face.
"The moon...", Gavin thought, "A solitary creature who shines among the darkness. Maybe I can be something like the light that shines through the darkness. Probably not...."
"Why are you here alone, Gavin?"
Gavin shook his head and looked into Boss' eyes and asked, "Boss...."
"Yeah, son?"
Gavin turned his head and looked at the debris on the ground and he asked, "Did you have a family, ya' know when you were growing up?"
Boss was confused by question. He remembered his past and remembered how he grew up as an orphan, and passed the blunt to Gavin before answering, "No."
His statement was so simple that it only left room for questions lingering throughout Gavin's mind. He looked up to Boss and with big, innocent eyes, he asked, "Then how did you learn to be such a family man?"
Boss shot Gavin a perplexed look, "What do you mean by that?"
"I see the way you treat Prince and Hope. I see how Lia looks at you. How did you get a family like that...." Gavin hit the blunt again and blew the smoke to the ground, fertilizing the air with a Heavenly scent of marijuana. ".....How do I get a family like that?"
Boss pulled young Gavin close and held him with one strong embracing arm and whispered, "You don't force it son. You just beautiful people come into your life. I know it may seem impossible in these times, but family comes in all shapes and sizes, and sometimes, they're not always biological. Take it from this orphan here. If it wasn't for Lia, I would've been lonely throughout my entire life, but their was something about her that attracted me to her and vice versa. We've been friends going on thirty years and no person on this earth knows me better than her."
"I'm sure."
"Ya' know, she was there when I first started school, the person who I ever told my dream to, the first person I ever loved, and that still hasn't changed. Family is a set of people who will support you through thick and thin and will be wit' you, even when times are rough, and when you find these people, you'll know."
"But...."
"You'll know."
Gavin smiled and looked up into Boss' eyes feeling as though he were looking into his father's eyes. Then he watched all of the color drain out of his eyes, and in an instant of chilling pain, he watched Boss' body become limp and fall into his arms. Gavin clutched Boss' body and a shriek left Gavin's throat. Prince, Hope, Lia, and a group of soldiers rushed to Gavin's side.
Lia pulled Boss from Gavin's arms, and then Gavin caught eyes with the wound that downed his friend. Hayley rushed to Gavin's side and wrapped her arms around his. Just then, the emotionless, rational Gavin had taken over the emotionally damaged side of his personality, and he gathered Hope and Prince together and pointed in the direction in which the bullet had came from. He had caught sight of the two impeding officers in their mechanized suit advancing toward the compound and it was then that Gavin was able to make out at least five more soldiers following suite behind the first mechanized officers. This had become a full on assault on the compound and the inhabitants had been caught with their pants down. All but Gavin.
Gavin summoned the Judas Snake Blade out of his pocket and flicked the blade and pointed onward. He took his other blade out of his left pocket and flicked it open so the moonlight shined on his blade. He was the first to rush to his mechanized opponent with only a few soldiers behind him, guns blazing, each ready for action. The bullets flew past the officers as they returned fire, killing the soldiers who ran beside him. This only increased Gavin's rage as he castes his dangerous chained switchblade into the leading officer. He pulled the leader out of his mechanized suit and into the moonlit air, and while he was stunned, twitching from the new electrical current coursing through him, a few shots from an assault rifle came pouring inside of the officer, causing the other officers to peer past Gavin. What they saw was an angered Prince standing with what seemed like a legion of loyal, angry soldiers all thirsty for blood. Hope rushed toward Gavin's side with a machete half the size of her body, ready to chop down opposition.
She leaped in front of one officer and with a hail of bullets surrounding her, she slashed at the armor of one officer before he smacked her out of the air. But her anger was impenetrable. She would not be denied her revenge, not after witnessing her father figure shot under the moonlight. This alone was enough cause for her to destroy every officer that existed. This alone made her a woman scorned.
She jumped and drew her machete again and went to attack the same officer that slapped her out of the air. This time she slapped a gaping wound into the mechanized armor's knee and placed a Semtex inside of the knee. She slid underneath the exoskeleton and watched as the flame from the explosive consumed the mechanized officer and nearly consumed her in the process. Walking flames hobbled toward her until a few well placed shots from Prince's assault rifle dropped the officer to his knees.
Prince brought his eyes up from his scope and looked at the mechanized monsters still heading his way. He looked back at his father figure being cradled by Lia, and an anger stirred in his heart. He looked back into the armored officers' direction, and he locked eyes with one of them, a Mexican standoff ensuing between brown eyes if serenity and golden eyes of a painful pleasure. Prince knew that this officer had fired the bullet that entered into Boss. He also knew that the officer had enjoyed it.
Bullets had proceeded to rain down past Prince, but his warrior calm would not be wavered. The bullets had made their markings all throughout the compound, making the base look as though it had been Swiss cheese. Gavin continued to fend for not only his life but the life of Hope and Hayley as well. Hayley was seen cowering over Boss, still willing to protect the man with her own life, a cowering contradiction. Tears fled from her eyes as bullets whizzed past her, and she shook her head in confusion, yelling loudly, "Why are they shooting at us!? What have we done for them to kill everybody!?"
Boss clenched her hand, grasping it to let both her and Lia know that there was still life in him willing to fight. He pulled her close until she was able to hear his softest whisper. "Hayley...."
She looked at him, confused. She looked back at Lia who couldn't even match her gaze. Lia had already knew what was to happen next. She turned away, not wanting Hayley to see her tears, not wanting Hayley to know that her best friend was about to die. She looked down back at Boss, and she placed her head next his heart to listen to his faint heartbeat. He ran his strong fingers through her red hair and he stroked her face, his fingertips telling her to come close to him. She sat up and looked into Boss' eyes, "Yes, Boss?"
He smiled, blood pouring out of his mouth. He began to succomb to his wounds. His teeth, once a pearly white, now held a hint of red. Hayley found it amazing that he was still able to smile. She felt he knew something that she didn't. "You're beautiful, Hayley." He coughed up blood and she clutched him closer. She was so unsure of what she was supposed to do with him. She still had hope that he would survive.
Lia got up and left, unable to watch her best friend suffer any longer. She went to a dead soldier and grabbed his assault rifle from his firm grip. She cried a warrior cry that would equal the greatest of Amazon's, setting fear into the hearts of the officers and her surrogate children alike. Prince nor Hope had ever seen their mother so angry before.
She walked slowly, expelling bullets rapidly from her assault rifle. Her eyes were bloodshot with pain, her anger poured out of her eyes, and it was then when Prince and Hope truly understood what had happened. They knew their father figure was on the verge of death. Prince turned around and looked at the officer who he had knew, killed his father figure.
His eyes became the same angry color as Lia's. Tears rushed out of his eyes as he ran toward the perpetrating monster who may have very well ended Boss' life. He ran under the monster and treated his armor as though it were a jungle gym.
Gavin manipulated his chained switchblade, fending off two other officers, while Hope used her agiity to hop from one officer to another, placing Semtex on various places of the officer's armor. Gavin's switchblade had caught one of the officer's square in his heart, bringing death to the officer instantly, but Gavin wasn't through desecrating the dispicible officer's body.
The blade had pulled the body out of it's glass casing and swinging the dead through the air. Hope jumped off of the officer, and Gavin swung the body into one of the bombs placed on the officer, setting off a carefully planted chain of events, causing an explosion of epic proportions, engulfing the officer in a roar of flame. The long chain danced around Gavin as he flew backward in a beautiful backflip. He sent the blade into the last officer as Prince filled the armor with enough bullets to fulfill any person's lead diet. Gavin pulled the officer the same way he had pulled the first officer out of his exoskeleton. He flung the dying officer in front of an enraged Lia. She looked down at the body that had appeared in front of her with disgust. A few tears fell from her eyes and she knew that Gavin had delivered this omen to her purposely. She knew that in a mere moment, she had become the leader of the resistance, and she knew she had to be strong, not just for her surrogate children, but for those who followed her. She aimed the rifle at his face and pulled the trigger, sending three shots into the officer's face.
She looked up to see Prince looking directly into her eyes. Hope ran toward her, full speed. Gavin just stood in the same spot, watching from a distance as Boss whispered his last words into a sobbing Hayley's ear.
A tear crept slowly out of his eye as he watched the leader of what appeared to be the strongest resistance to a force he knew nothing about fade away as simply as a flower wilted. It pained him that he was watching greatness die.
Hope, Prince, and Lia regrouped, preparing to come to terms that Boss was going to die today. Lia gathered Hope under her arm, Hope wiping tears away, sobbing quietly to herself. She grabbed Prince's hand and clutched it tight as two tears escaped from his eyes, making his once hard features soften under the weight of the tears.
They all walked together and as they approached Boss' body, reality began to settle in as they began to realize that he was gone forever. When they got a closer look at his body, they had seen that he had left one more present for them before he died. He left them a smile more precious than one of the sun's rays, a spark from the moon.
Hayley's tears were creating miniature puddles on Boss' chest, her cries replacing the sound of his once beating heart. Prince walked to her side and attempted to peel her off of Boss, but her small fists pounded against the air, her anger rose from her green eyes. Prince felt her sympathy. He felt her pain, as her anger caused her to shake tremendousy. Prince tried to contain her rage, but she erupted, her little fists pounding against his broad chest, screaming, "Why!? What are you people mixed up in to make someone just shoot at us!? What is really going on here!? They just killed him....." She found comfort in his chest, still weakly pounding her fist against his chest. "They just killed him."
Lia knelt down by her love's side, kissed his cheek, and closed his eyes with her open palm, forever.


Back in the bullet hole filled compound, the atomosphere matched the feeling of living inside of a permanent funeral. Tear stains were on all of the soldiers faces and the pain in each other's hearts reflected in each and every one of their souls. Hayley walked around with her head low, trapped in a daze, wondering why she was so affected by the death of a man she barely knew.
Then she realized that it wasn't the fact that Boss had died. In her mind, he was just another number on a long list of casualties in a war she knew nothing about, but it was his last words that he left in her ear that troubled her. She looked outside on the balcony to see Gavin deep in his own thoughts, inhaling the sweet smoke from his cigar. He looked deep into the stars, apparently suffering his own heartache. She shook her head, disappointed that another great person was lost to world.
Gavin watched Hope and Prince walk around outside and once again, he felt as though he was on the outside looking in on family affairs. Once again, he felt truly alone. That was until a soldier crept to his side and placed his hand on his shoulder. Gavin sized the soldier up and took a step forward, letting the soldier's hand fall. He looked at the man's facial features and studied his eagle-like features. He was tall, slender, a perfect urban warrior's build. He looked deep in this man's eyes and found something familiar in his eyes, something he had seen before. The fire that blazed in this man's eyes was unmistakable. "What's your name, son?"
His voice was slight and gentle, but it held a hint of deadliness in it. Something about him said "killer". His answer was simple. "Johnny."
He instantly recognized his name and a smile slid on his face. "Does ya' moms work or should I say own a pawn shop?"
Johnny smiled at the mention of his mother. He thought about the beautiful woman who had raised him to be the warrior he was now. "Yeah, that's her. I thought I recognized Hayley. You know it was when I watched her that made me even decide to fight against the evils that live in this world."
"And what exactly are you fighting Johnny? What is it that you plan on accomplishing? You have to have some kind of purpose as to why you would leave a woman who obviously loves you. Who would do anything for you. Who got a scar on her face, fending for her store? What is it that you hope to gain by fighting in this war?"
It was obvious that the news of hearing his mother having a scar on her face shocked and hurt him, but his face still reflected a calm unmatched by normal men. He smiled and looked down on Gavin's uncanny petite frame and found a strength in young Gavin. He found in him, a kindred spirit. "Do you know what's going on around, lil' daddy?" Gavin raised his eyebrow and his face formed a scowl of confusion. "You thinkin' we just fighting to be fighting ha?" His laugh was cold. It sent shivers through Gavin's vacuoles. "I thought so." He shook his head, and looked out into the night sky. "How old is you man?"
Gavin took the question as a sign of disrespect. "Yo, what the fuck it matter how old I am dog? Don't figure cuz I'm younger that you harder, my nigga. Mem' dat!"
Johnny shook his head and smiled, "Look homie, I ain't mean no disrespect my nigga. I know you a lil' soldier. You speak the language of the ol' south so I know you real, but the shit we involved in, lil' daddy, it's deeper than you know."
"Why's that though?" Gavin asked still confused.
"You ever wonder why the South is segregated from the rest of the States? You never questioned why it was that we could only call other people from the South? Why we couldn't get in touch with no other part of the country we live in?"
Truthfully, Gavin never did question why he could never contact anyone outside of the South. It never occured to him that he was a prisoner, until then. "What you sayin', homie? You mean to tell me that there's a reason behind that?"
"C'mon daddy. Think to yo' self, how many storms came with the Great Storm. Four, five. You think all them storms there were God made? You think the South was so corrupted that God sent that many storms came to clean us out?"
"So you sayin' them storms was man made?"
"Not just man made, baby. These storms were created by the government. They took a page from Katrina, and we bacame lab rats in their experiment."
"Why?" Gavin asked, slightly hurt. "Why would the government cause so much pain? Why?"
"Like I said, just an experiment. You see they developed a weapon where if need be, they could destroy an entire culture, an entire existence if they feel like...."
"If they feel like they can't control us. That's what you telling me? You saying that my life is an experiment?"
"Yeah."
"How you know dog?" Gavin began to distrust the man that stood beside him. He clutched the chain on his Judas Snake Blade with one hand and with the other one, he gripped his switchblade, ready to pounce on Johnny.
"I've seen the weapon for myself."
Gavin became curious. "What's it look like?"
Johnny smiled, "Not what, who?"
"Who is it?"
Johnny looked down at a weeping Hope and a comforting Prince and answered, "Their cousin. Well their adopted cousin anyways."
"Hold up." Gavin held his hand up to stop the conversation. "You mean to tell me that the weapon is Lia's...."
"Nah. The weapon's Boss' niece."
"What!?" Gavin was shocked. "So Boss is fighting against his own niece?"
"Yeah," Johnny answered, "A quite beautiful artifact if you ask me." He lifted his shirt up to reveal a scar on his torso. "But she is more dangerous than any opponent we've ever faced and now that her uncle has died, she has no ties to the South. Poor woman."
"So why haven't y'all killed her yet?"
"Believe me it wasn't from lack of trying." Johnny scoffed, lettin his shirt fall over his cut body. "But you see, she has the backing of the federal government behind her. Basically we're outgunned and outmanned, we need more soldiers, more people like you, Gavin."
"Why me?"
Johnny just smiled. "Why not?"


Later on that night, around two in the morning, Lia found herself drifting off into memory lane as she began to recall the past she shared with Boss. Memories were drudging up in her cerebellum that made tears fall slowly from her eyes as she thought about the first time she had ever me Boss.
Back then, his name was simply Mika, the bad boy of the school. She always knew who he was. She would see him roaming in the halls while classes were going on, selling drugs to the fellow wanderers of the hall with a look of utter hopelessness in his eyes. She fell in love with the beautiful pain hiding inside of his dark brown eyes. She used to look up from her desk while others were deep into their studies, hoping that she would just catch a glimpse of him. He represented a power, a demonic power and to her, that was the most attractive thing about him. The power he held, his influence that he held over everyone else. She was amazed by him, idolized him in fact, knowing that no one would ever push him around. No one would ever bully him, and in her mind, he was the ultimate contrast to her meek and docile personality. She saw him as strong while she saw herself as weak.
One day, he sat in the large cafeteria, the center of attention, talking to a group of other individuals who lived in the same dangerous neighborhood in which he inhabited. There was so much she wanted to learn about the group. The mystery of them was alluring. Even now, she wondered about all of those secret conversations. She wished she could have deciphered the language they spoke with. She walked alone just as she had done everyday through the cafeteria, not interacting with anybody, not wanting to be seen by anybody. But one thing she could always remember about Mika was that he noticed everything. She realized now that his surroundings had built him that way, to constantly be aware of what was going on around him. He locked eyes with her while she walked toward the room where all of the food was being cooked, and once her bright, light blue eyes crossed paths with the darkness inside of his brown pupils, she had knew that a connection was being made, one that would prove to never be broken, even after his death. But their connection did not last long as a local senior baseball player had accidently bumped into her, spilling all of the food he had just waited what seemed like hours to acquire. His face had formed into a scowl as he glared at the seemingly helpless girl, and that was the shouting begin. "What nerd!? You can't watch where you are going!? What am I going to eat now!?"
Her head fell to the linoleum floor in shame and in a soft voice, she replied, "I'm sorry....."
Her blue eyes searched the dusty floor for answers and a hope that the baseball player would leave her alone, but the badgering continued. "Stupid girl! Do you know how long I've been waiting for that enchilada!? Do you!? Now do you expect me to go back there to wait for another one!?" He grabbed her wrist and she shook in fear from the force of his grip. Her heart was gripped with fear now, and she was prepared to do anything the jock asked of her if he would just simply leave her alone and let go back to her life of loneliness. "Nah, I think I know how you can make this right." He smiled a devilish smile, filled with evil, disgusting thoughts. "Well, at least one thing you can do to make it up to me." His laugh was scarring. "I think you need to get me another plate, pronto." His smile sent chills through her spine and she was struck with fear, feeling all alone in the crowded cafeteria. That was until a swift wind passed by her and sent the jock falling back.
When she looked again, she found the small, young Mika standing by her side with his fists clenched. His voice was like a lion whispering a roar as he asked with a voice demanding. "So you like hurting little girls ha bruh!?" The jock backpedaled and threw his hands up in the air in surrender.
His eyes were wide with fear. He was well aware of Mika's reputation and he knew he wanted no parts of the him or the Wesson Projects where he was from. He crabwalked back into the room where the food was being cooked and served, and he retreated off of his hands, trying to avoid the anger of Mika.
Mika turned to Lia and his eyes offered her a softness she had never experienced from anyone else in her life. He was precious in her eyes. She watched his once tense muscles loosen, and she heard the comforting sweetness coax his vocal cords. "Are you okay, Lia?"
She was shocked that he knew her name. She began to stutter in reply, not really knowing what to say until she looked at the mess on her shirt as it ran down her all white shirt. She thought to herself, "Great. The one time he notices me, I look a mess."
Just then, Mika took his shirt off to reveal his small but muscular torso. He offered her his own shirt off his back to help her clean the mess on her shirt. This was a a moment in her life that she would never forget. She remembered running out of the cafeteria with his shirt with tears pouring from her eyes with every pair of eyes in that cafeteria on her. Mika followed her slowly, not wanting to scare her away. He stood outside of the bathroom she found refuge in and sat on the stairsteps beside the woman's bathroom. He waited until a couple of his friends came to his side and the taller one from the school's basketball team asked him, "You straight, dog?" Mika nodded his head, and Lia listened from her vantage point inside of the bathroom.
The conversation did not appear to have anything to do with her until they asked if he was going to go with them to smoke and he replied, "Nah, I'm uh wait for lil' homie to come out so I could make sure she okay."
The shorter one out of the two asked in a sarcastic voice, "Why, Mika? How you know this little girl? She somebody you biting or somethin'?"
He shook his head, and Lia could hear the smile even from the bathroom. He answered simply, "Nah, that's just the homie, and I gotta make sure she iight, ya feel me." The two completely understood and she heard the loud claps of their hands shaking one another's and she heard them leave the building.
He sat and waited patiently until she left the bathroom, face rinsed off of the past tears. When they saw each other, smiles appeared on their faces and they knew then that they were meant to be best friends.
That's when she awoke from her daydream with her mission clear. She knew that she must exact revenge on the government. She knew it was time for her and the Resistance to take the offensive.


The next morning, she called a meeting between her, Hope, and Gavin on top of the compound's main building that housed her and a few more elite soldiers, including Prince, Hope, Hayley, and Johnny. With tears in her eyes, she turned toward Hope and stated, "I have a plan."
Gavin simply nodded, ready to spill the blood of Boss' enemies. He looked at Hope and her eyes were filled with a rage that couldn't be contained inside of her young broken heart. He brought his bottom lip in his mouth, and bit it hard, mind filled with the same pain that he thought he had escaped from. His thoughts immediately to Kasey and he remembered his mission, and he realized that his mission seemed trivial in comparison to the mission he had. He knew that before he could accomplish his personal mission, he had a place next to Hope in helping her accomplish her mission. "Run it, Lia. I'm down."
She began to tell the duo about her plan, taking their minds to what seemed like an impenetrable fortress that housed New Orleans worst and police officers alike, all ready to kill any member of the Resistance. "It's called the Seditetium, an impenetrable, notorious set of projects that rivals even the worst projects. I know you two are from two different places so I want you two to imagine the worst projecs around you and multiply it by ten."
"It's that bad?" Gavin asked, unsure if any set of projects could be worse than Community Parks, the same place where his young friend was murdered in broad daylight, the same place where even police wouldn't venture. Then he realized why the Seditetium was more dangerous. One thing he can say about Community Parks was that police wasn't working with nobody in the ghetto, but this new set of projects he was hearing about seemed like a breeding ground for angry, black youths anxious to become police officers or help the police officers to escape their plights.
"Quite, young Gavin."
"So what's the plan, big homie? I ain't scared."
This made her smile. He had reminded her of Boss so much in that moment. The fearlessness in his nature, the ruthlessness in his soul, yes, he was young Mika, and seeing someone who resembled her love, her best friend brought unseen tears to her eyes. "I have an operative working in those set of projects and she had told me exactly how the operation inside of the Setitetium. She and another flipped operative are going to be somewhat your tour guides. My operative's name is Unique, a true warrior much like yourself, Hope." Hope scoffed, pride slightly scraped, feeling like she should be compared to nobody. "Unique is going to lead you throughout the Setitetium, and Hope you are going to set bombs up strategically on each of the five floors, then, you retreat far enough away to simply press a button and boom." She could tell by his smirk that Gavin had liked hearing about things going boom. "Seems simple enough right?" They both gave her a confident smile and she hated to be the one to burst their bubbles, but the pin she had tucked on her tongue was the sharp edge of truth, and it was only fair that she would tell the duo the true dangers of their mission. "Well I want you to remember that you both would be in great danger once you step into those projects. You will be greeted by the Seventeeth Bloods, a notorious gang that runs the projects. You'll know these men if you see them in all red, especially if they wear one in their left back pocket, a definite sign that they are working close with the officers. These youth are so disillusioned that they are willing to kill anyone of their own people just to serve the polices." She examined their eyes in search of fear. When she found none, she realized that they were both taught well. "Speaking of polices, I want you to capture one of the main men in charge of this haneous operation." Their eyes held questions now.
"Why can't we just kill 'em all? Why take an unnecessary risk?"
She smiled and looked into Gavin's eyes and answered the question with the best her ability. "We are going to learn their next step." Gavin smiled when he realized that Lia was playing chess not checkers.


Late that night while Hope and Gavin ventured through the treacherous seventeeth ward, fighting off demonic men adorned in red the closer they got to the Setitetium, Lia sat in her room surrounded by the dark. The silence kept her company until it was broken by a solitary knock on her door. The procession of the percussion did not startle her. Truthfully, she had been waiting on this knock on her door. Truthfully, that knock was the greater reason why she had sent Gavin instead of Prince with Hope on a seemingly suicide mission. "Come in." She didn't need to ask who was behind the soft knock.
When she saw Hayley relunctantly entering her room, her face stood stiller than time as her eyes watched Hayley move slowly, obviously intimidated by Lia's presence. "If only she knew...." Lia thought as she observed the young girl. In her, she saw a younger Lia, a Lia before she met Boss. She knew this young girl's pain and she knew that she would turn out just like she had if she continues to be friends with Gavin, whom she sees as a young Mika.
"I'm not disturbing you, am I?" Her voice was as innocent as a baby's coo.
She couldn't resist smiling at the young woman and making the young woman feel as welcomed as possible. "Nah, sweetie, come in. You're okay."
Hayley smiled and continued to advance toward Lia. "Thank you."
"So what's on your mind, honey?" Lia lit up a blunt and inhaled the smoke awaiting for Hayley's answer.
Hayley sighed and took a deep breathe before answering, "Ya' know the night that Boss died," Lia exhaled her sigh of smoke, trying to mask her pain with the marijuana, but it was obvious to Hayley that she had suffered a great loss that night and she hadn't needed a reminder of how painful that loss was. "Well, he told me something that has been bothering me. Something about Gavin."
Lia's ears perked up when she heard Gavin's name. That was unexpected. She knew that Lia was going to tell her Boss' last words, but she had no idea that those last thoughts involved Gavin. Something had been on Boss' mind before his demise, something that he had made sure to get off of his mind before he expired, and that was something she was going to find out. "Yes?"
Hayley's eyes fluttered as she tried to wash away the bad memories with her tears. Her voice attempted to crack, but she cleared her throat and began to speak on the last words of Boss and why they had left such a lasting effect on her. "Well....I didn't want to tell Gavin because I didn't know all of the facts, but I knew, you being Boss' best friend and all, you would be able to tell me more about Boss' past and maybe things would make more sense to me and maybe I would be able to piece together what Boss wanted of me."
Lia was more confused than ever. She raised her left eyebrow. "Okay."
"Well, I'd hate to get so personal about Boss' past especially now but I feel it's my responsibility now, ya' know, like I owe it to Gavin to know the truth."
Lia tired of Hayley's attempt to beat around the bush. She didn't need anyone to trim her hedges, so she quickly interjected, "So what is it you would like to know, love?"
Hayley cleared her throat again before answering. "Well did Boss have a son? Like besides Prince?"
Lia's head fell to the ground in what seemed like shame at first, but then Hayley felt a vibe that could not have been mistaken for anything else but pain. She hit the blunt again, and her voice became a raspy baratone with the addition of smoke lingering in her throat. She coughed slightly before answering. "Prince isn't his son...not biologically." She paused for a dramatic moment before adding, "And yes, he did have a son. One of the more painful memories of his life."
"Like....what happened to him?"
Hayley began to imagine Gavin on the outskirts of the Setitetium, meeting up with Nique, standing near a chain link fence, smoking a blunt and she answered, while she thought of their hands shaking and Nique with her chocolate skin leading them into the battleground of the Setitetium, "Well back in the days, Boss was Boss for a whole 'nother reason. He ran Wesson, he was in control of everything and I do mean everything."
"What was Boss like?"
"Mika was the devil." Lia reminisced about Boss standing outside of the project building, eyes filled with a darkness that would rival the devil's, and that was when she realized how much Gavin had looked like a young Boss. That was when she had an epiphany. She realized why Boss had chosen to share a part of his past with a complete stranger. For a brief second, she realized why Gavin had resembled Mika in every way. Gavin was Mika's long lost son. She bit her lip when she realized the information, but continued her story with tears in her eyes. "He was just a lowly hustler at first, but he grew, and continued to grow. Soon where he was once one of the most famous out of all of the students, he became infamous."
"What did he do?"
Lia's tears became more and more noticeable the more she went on. "My friends used to tell me, he was no good and he would never change, but I still saw the good in him that nobody else saw. I guess that's why me and him stayed friends so long. I don't know what made me stay friends with him, even after I found out he sold drugs and killed people, but I did. His son's mother was scared of him."
"Was he that bad?" Lia asked curiously.
"He was until he found out that he had a son on the way. He left the hustling life alone for a while, but the allure of it, the thrill of it was just something he couldn't deny, and he said to himself, 'His son would never know poverty. He would never know of wanting', so he got right back in those streets, and soon, young Micheal was born." Lia listened intently, remembering that she had heard that name once before. "Micheal's mother was fed up with Mika's lifestyle and I had heard from Mika's brother that she was trying to leave. Back then, Mika was a very prideful person, so when Mika's mother decided enough was enough, he just stormed out. He claimed he didn't need anybody, including his son, but I knew how much he had wanted for his son, so as Mika's godmother, I had to convince Mika's mother to stay. I begged her to stay." Lia remembered the tears that coated her brilliant blue eyes as she pleaded with the young woman holding a baby that looked exactly like Gavin. Exactly like Mika. "But she still left, ran away to join the military, and we haven't heard from her since. Boss killed at least ten people that year alone, and he didn't stop killing the competition until his younger brother died."
Lia shook her head. "Wow...."
"What?"
"That story feels really familiar."
Lia smiled, "It should. If you're thinking what I think you're thinking, then most likely, you've heard a more modern version of this song, but it's the same melody."
"Do you think he knows?"
Lia thought about young Gavin as he stood behind the Setetium with Unique and Hope, and she answered, "He will soon. It's just a matter of whether you'll tell him or me."



Outside of the Setitetium, Gavin stood with a focus in his eyes that rivaled tunnel vision. He listened intently as Unique broke down the notorious project building, but the sounds of her explanation soon grew faint as his subconcious began to absorb the map she painted with her words, the dangers the gang posed, and the immense pain they would fall victim to of they were caught. Gavin looked at her with a scowl on his face and eyes that read no fear as he entered the staircase, anxious to get this mission over and done with.
They ran up there the stairs with Hope stopping at every floor, to place a well placed bomb in a different strategic spot. Surprisingly, there was no opposition, despite these projects being some of the most dangerous buildings in all of New Orleans. Unique looked around cautiously around, waiting for the Bloods to appear in any second. She knew they would come, she just didn't know when.
When they reached the forth floor of the project building, they saw that one part of the building, the part that housed a sort of attempt at a school where she deemed it most opportunitable to place a bomb, was guarded by a young man with some of the most angry eyes Gavin had seen on another human being. His eyes pierced through Gavin's bulletproof vest and into his soul. He looked into the young man's eyes for a brief second before turning his head, realizing he had a mission to do. He walked toward a grimy bathroom, feeling a presence following closely behind him. He knew it was the young man, and he knew that he would have to kill this young man. He searched the disgusting bathroom for a weapon he could use to surprise the young man without soiling his blade. He saw a toilet filled with the dirtiest water that had ever occupied the earth and he knew the man who followed silently behind them would be taking his last breath on the his way to that vat of disgusting water.
"Say round, who the fuck is you!?" Gavin turned around and saw the young man with his fists clenched, ready to attack. Gavin's face held a devilish scowl. A scowl made of hatred and disgust for the young man in front of him. "Who is you, blood!?" Gavin looked over the young man's appearance and quickly realized the young man was one of the Seventeenth Ward's Bloods' foot soldier. A smile crept on his face as he pictured his hands wrapped around the young man's throat.
Sure enough, as soon as the young man made what seemed like a false move, Gavin sprung into action, gripping the young man by his throat. With his small frame, he still managed to lift the huskier young Blood off of the ground and he threw him in the toilet. Surprisingly enough, the young man had the strength of a prebubescent girl, and compared to Gavin's untapped grown man strength, he stood no chance as dirty bubbles soon formed in the toilet. Soon the bubbles stopped and Gavin left him in the toilet with Hope and Unique looking at him with shocked faces. He looked at them with determined faces and asked smuggly, "Don't we got jobs to do ladies." They couldn't help but look at him as though he were a descendant of Satan but he continued to stroll through the Setetitium as if he had lived there his whole life until he reached the fifth and final floor.
When he reached the corridor of the final floor, he was only accompanied by Unique and Hope as they stood against the four underlords of the notorious projects. In that moment, Gavin could smell the trouble they were going to offer him. He began to size them up immediately. The first two he noticed were the apparent bodyguards of the main underlords. Both were husky full sized men, who unlike the young man he had strangled in a dirty comode mere moments ago were more than capable of fending for themselves. Another one hung on the main boss' shoulder like a father figure, his heavily tattooed body carrying conquests of his former victories. They served as a heavy intimidation factor, but Gavin stood before them, fearless. The main underlord was also heavily tattooed but what had set him apart from the rest of his troop was his long dreadlocks, which hung from his head like a lion's mane. It was easy to distinguish him as the king of the jungle.
The apparent top underlord only recognized Hope as his eyes surveyed her cocoa complexion with wanting eyes. He licked his lips, sending chills of disgust up through her spine as she set her battle stance. This merely made him smile. "Now Hope, is that anyway to greet an old friend?"
She cringed at the mere utterance of him being any kind of friend to her. "You are no friend of mine, wo!"
He smiled, along with the rest of the Bloods, and looked over Gavin and Unique. "I see you brought some friends along for the party. Glad you didn't decide to come alone. It would have been quite unfair if you chose to battle by yourself, but I must ask, neither one of them seem to be that big, so what....exactly do y'all plan on accomplishing here?"
Gavin didn't leave much room for guessing after he threw his blade into one of the husky bodyguards throat, causing him to hemorage uncontrollably without so much as a scream. Gavin gave a simple, confident smile and asked, "Answer your question?"
The remaining two rushed toward a confident, smiling Gavin while his eyes were closed. He didn't need his sight. Their screams of rage were easily detected as they reverberated through the room. He grabbed his stun blade and his fingers ran across the chain as they found comfort in the chain links. He listened as the air shifted in his eardrums. He knew the huskier of the two was closer to him, and in an instant, the husky man found a blade in his stomach, sending an electrical shock through his abdomen, exploding his heart.
Back in the compound, Lia sat in her room with Hayley, halfway listening to how Gavin came into her life and imagining him fighting off the Bloods that inhabited the crazy projects. She looked up into Hayley's serene green eyes with her intense blues and she asked, "Did he ever tell you how he learned to fight like that or who taught him?"
"Yeah, he did actually...." Hayley answered slightly confused by the question, "Why you ask?"
Lia simply smiled and closed her eyes, thinking of Gavin fighting alongside of Mika, and she thought about how much of a dynamic duo they would've been if Boss had lived long enough to see his son battle. "He fights alot like Mika."
Hayley's face sunk to the ground and she shook her head, "Well, I don't know how Boss learned to fight, but Gavin told me how it got so easy for him to take another man's life."
"Tell me." Lia demanded.
"Well.....ya' see he always knew how to handle a switchblade or any kind of blade for that matter. I seen with my own eyes how good he is with a switchblade. I watched him cut up so many people on our travels, and it was amazing."
"Yes I'm pretty sure, but who was his teacher?"
Hayley laughed quietly, "No one. He was kind of safe taught. He had fought alot actually coming up as a kid because he was so small when he was younger. He learned how to use a knife from his older brother, but he told me he could remember the first time he ever held a blade. He said he just took to it like a fish does to water." The analogy he had used still made her chuckle. "Then after Katrina, he said he tried to find his way back to his parents, but ended up coming across alo of the villains he faces now, except back in those days it was utter chaos. He can remember men and women getting killed, raped, robbed, and he said he either had to get stronger or become a victim. Being the victim wasn't for him, so he became a warrior that warm autumn and he fought every person since then with the intent to kill them." Lia nodded her head, recognizing the similarities between Mika and Gavin's past immediately. "What about Boss?"
Lia shook herself out of her daydream and quickly asked, "What?"
"How did Boss learn how to fight? Did you teach him or did his brother?"
"How do you know about his brother?" Lia interjected with a hint of anger in her voice.
Hayley backpedaled, attempting to make up for what seemed to be offensive to Lia. "I mean I remember hearing about Boss having a niece...."
"Who did you hear that from?" Lia had a way of making her eyes ask a question, seductively, making the person whom she asked feel some sort of strange euphoria, a strange compulsion to reveal the truth in fear of disappointing those true blue eyes.
Hayley began to stutter before she fully caught her composure. "Gavin....Gavin told me."
Lia laughed gently, "Oh Johnny." She shook her head mocking disappointment. "He always senses the special people in the world. Silly boy."
"Yeah, I know him."
"Oh really? How is that?"
"He used to watch me play. His mother was the one who sold lil' Gavin his snake blade."
"So you're the inspiration behind his crusade aren't you, Hayley. You're the beauty behind him becoming a soldier."
"What are...."
"He told Mika about this band called Hope that gave him the courage to seek out the fight. You are the sole reason why one of our most respected soldiers came to us. Thank you."
Hayley's head fell to the ground when she was reminded that her entire family had been murdered. Her entire band slaughtered right before her eyes. She remembered before Gavin, she had lost all hope. Now she had her own mission. She was going to make it to California with the help of Gavin even if it killed her. "Yeah, hopefully I'll be able to inspire alot more when I make it to Hollywood."
Lia smiled, "So is that your dream, lil' one?"
"But of course." Hayley's smile was filled with an unmistakeable confidence that couldn't be ignored by any person.
"I hope you make it, shorty. I would like to see it."
Her eyes told her thank you as she changed the subject back to Mika's past. "So does Boss have a brother? I'm sure it would be great if Gavin found out that he had an uncle out there. I'm sure he would want to reach out to him."
Lia shook her head and inhaled the last little bit of the blunt and answered, "Yes, he had a brother." Hayley caught the use of past tense and the sadness in her voice and she knew that was another chapter in Mika's past that Lia hated talking about. She knew pain when she saw it. "He was killed not long before Mika's nephew was born. It was sad really. He doesn't have any relatives left but his older sister and no one has heard from her in years."
"What were they like, his brother and sister I mean?"
"Matt was his younger brother, and he was a wonderful person. Very cute. He looked up to his older brother in every way, which was his main downfall. Mika was depressed for a long time after he had died. I kept him on the straight and arrow as much as I could, but without his little brother, Mika saw no hope. That was until his nephew was born." She licked her lips and continued, "It was then when he decided that it was time for a change. He realized that the advice his older sister....."
"What was her name? I bet she was beautiful wasn't she?"
"She was remarkable actually and brilliant too. When I used to go to Mika's house, I would spend alot of time picking her brain and she gave great advice, but don't get me wrong, all three of them basically had to raise themselves, so they were all rough around the edges. She knew how to hustle with the best of them and she was a really strong woman, a true inspiration. I miss Mira sometimes, but I know she's out there somewhere, and I know once this war is over, I'm going to have to find her to tell her that she lost yet another brother. I dread that."
Hayley looked into those sad blue eyes and smiled, "Well at least you will be able to tell her about her brave nephew who may be a direct reflection of her brother's courage, right."
Lia's smile was a reflection of the comfort Hayley made her feel. "Yeah. I guess you're right."
Back in the Setitetium, Gavin battled the two remaining underlords with a confidence that stemmed from gaining experience from fending off countless enemies. The two underlords simply attacked with their fists, a mistake Gavin quickly took advantage of by using his chain blade to subdue the bald underlord with a star on top of his head. He choked the air out of his esophagus.
Hope ran behind the dreadlocked underlord and sent a vicious blow to the back of his head, knocking him unconscious. Unique came to Hope's aide and began to drag the underlord away, while the underlord subdued by Gavin soon expired. Gavin loosened his chain from around the underlord's neck and he walked toward the two ladies with the unconcious underlord. He smiled and asked the ladies if they were ready to leave the projects. They smiled back and they dragged the underlord out of the projects.
Soon they found themselves outside of the projects, far enough away to the future demolishing site, and Unique began to set up the device that would bring down the entire projects. No talking happened amongst them. Only action. Unique took all of five minutes and soon she was ready to press her favorite red button. Hope walked beside Unique and smiled a great smile. She wanted to help press the button. They pressed the button together and they all watched the projects erupt in flames and they walked away with the feeling of knowing they accomplished their mission.



Later on that evening, Gavin found himself standing on the balcony with a blunt to himself. With his thoughts swirling around with the smoke, he looked back on the moment when he presented the underlord to Lia. Even under the influence of the marijuana, he couldn't shake the words of the dying underlord. He found himself confused. He thought back in time and in his mind he heard the doubled over kneeling man with dreads hanging from his face say, "You will all meet the same fate as your boss, and you, newcomer, your fate will be that much worse. The Firm will personally reunite you with your family in more than one young Mika." He remembered his heinous laugh piercing his ears. He remembered the chanting of "The Firm will prevail!", ringing throughout the large room, that back in the old days would have been regarded as a throne room. The smile still crept on his face as he envisioned his switchblade flying from his hand and slicing the underlord's neck. But what made his smile leave was the thought of his family dead.
Then she came. "They're okay, you know."
Gavin turned around and saw Lia behind him with her own blunt. "What?"
"You're family in McComb, they're okay."
His face twisted in confusion and his demeanor demanded answers. "What do you mean? How do you know?"
"Because your mother is retired from the military is she not? There is no need for her to come out of retirement, not yet anyways."
Even though he heard good news, his heart still was not at ease. "Well then, what was dude talking 'bout?" He looked into her still, blue eyes and he saw that she knew something. "What are you hiding from me?"
She took a drag from her blunt and the words flew out of her mouth as fluently as the smoke. "Your real name is Mika isn't it?"
He turned around completely and answered still confused, "Yeah, why's that matter?"
"You know Boss' real name was Mika too. Mika Gavin Love too be exact."
Gavin raised a finger as a thought came to mind and he answered smugly, "Wait a minute, that's my name. How would he have my name when my mama told me I was named after my...." He finally made the connection. "Father." That same finger went to his head and scratched at his waves in confusion. "What's going on?"
"You mean you can't figure it out by now? Boss is your father. I wasn't too sure about it when you first came to the compound, but the resemblance was uncanny from the things you said to the type of girls you liked to the way you fought. It felt like I knew you your entire life, which makes sense because I've changed your diapers quite a few times." Memories began to swirl in her mind as she reminisced about changing baby Gavin's diapers. His coos was precious and it made her smile. Gavin stood face to face with her trying his best to hold back tears. "I helped name you, well I helped your father come to a choice with your name. You have a cousin with the same name as you..."
"Wait...." The confusion startled her. "If everything is true what you say, then I wanna know more about my father." A single tear fell from his right eye and the pain was evident in his low, dark eyes. "If everything you say is true, than I wanna know everything about him." He shook his head and another tear fell from his eyes. She was saddened from seeing Boss' son cry. She knew if he was anything like his father, only the truest form of pain could bring tears to his eyes. "I only got to have one conversation with him."
All she could say was, "Yeah...."
"What he was like? Did he have any brothers and sisters or...."
"Yeah, he had an older sister and a younger brother." Gabin smiled at the thought of having another aunt and uncle, and it broke Lia's heart that she would have to remove such a beautiful smile by revealing that his uncle had been murdered and his aunt wasn't heard from in years. "His younger brother, Matt was murdered years ago when they were younger than you, and we haven't heard from Michelle in years. Last Mika heard, she was somewhere in the lost city of Atlanta. I'm sorry, Gavin."
He looked down at the ground and sighed. "It's okay I guess. Just another mission I have to accomplish by finding her." That statement made Lia smile which in turn made Gavin smile.
"Do you think he would be proud of me?"
Lia's smile tripled in size. "Honey, I'm proud of you, but Mika, oh honey you should've seen his face when he first looked at you. I didn't know it then, but I know now that he was so proud of you that it was pouring out of his eyes. He was so happy to see that his only child grow up to be a warrior and what would make him even happier is of his son were to take on his mission and bring down The Firm."
A fire had burned ablaze in his pupils and his mission had been clarified. His enemy finally had a name. He finally knew his father and though he had only met with him briefly, he knew he would have a permanent angel in Heaven watching over him. He smiled at the thought of Mika watching down upon him, and he walked beside Lia and planted a kiss on her cream cheek. "Thank you. I promise I won't disappoint."
She smiled as he continued to walk back into the compound, but before he could disappear back into the compound, she replied, "I know you won't."
He stopped short and turned his head to ask, "Oh yeah," He licked his dark lips, "And how do you know that?"
She turned her head and met his dark eyes with her icy blues, "Your father never did."


Later on into the morning, Gavin sat on top of the compound watching out for potential intruders and contemplating on his new mission. The stars were welcoming to him. He saw himself in each and every one of those gleaming lights, feeling like they illuminated his purpose. He fought this his way here with Hayley by his side not truly understanding why he started this mission, but knowing deep inside of his subconcious mind why he walked away from a family who hated him. He just wanted to find love in a loveless world. He cursed under his breath, wondering why God took the only person who can help explain to him who he truly was, where he had came from, how he had came to be. Just then he had heard slight footsteps creeping up behind him. Feeling as though it were an intruder, he clutched his switchblade, promising to himself that he would never be caught offguard with him, feeling as though if he had been on guard when he was walking with Boss, that his father would still be alive. He turned around with hatred in his eyes to find Hope walking toward him with a huge assault rifle in her hands. She smiled her beautiful smile and took a seat next to the vigilant watchman that was Gavin. "Hey Gavin."
He smiled and grew at ease around the beautiful girl whose voice was that of a songbird. "Hello Hope."
"Why are you sitting out here by yourself, Gavin? Are you on watch too?"
He laughed, sensing that she had told a joke, but when her face did not even crack a smile, he knew that she was serious. Evidently she was not going to allow another breach into her base. He shook his head and answered, "Nah, I'm just sitting here thinking, ma."
She smiled then, growing curious with each passing second. "What's on your mind, Gavin?"
He shook his head again. "Nothing. Just thinking on the state of the world as we know it, and the invisible barriers that surround the south."
She laughed and asked smugly, "It does seem like we live on a reservation of sorts doesn't it? Like we're the last of the Mohicans or something."
"The South is more like a concentration camp. We have no idea, but we're a dying breed us southerners and nobody knows it but us. I never realized how hated we are until I began my journey. Now I understand. That's why my purpose is so clear now."
She nodded her head in agreement, knowing that he was completely right. Then she turned her body towards Gavin and asked him softly, "Can I ask you a question?"
He wanted to think that he already knew the question, so he began to compile intelligent answers inside of his head, knowing that he had no idea what she was about to say. "Sure, shoot."
She took a deep breath and the words came quickly out of her mouth as she gazed at the same stars that had once kept a lonely Gavin, company. "Why did you leave your family in McComb?"
The question had been simple enough but he still found it hard to answer, only just now being able to figure out that answer for himself. He looked down below him and he answered with a deep voice, "I was soul searching. Trying to find an answer to a question that many young boys have in similar situations like mine."
She looked at him with her deep brown eyes and Gavin found himself gazing into those brown pools, wishing that he had more time to dive into those pools and swim in her thoughts, but she had been the one diving now, and as her lifeguard into his mind, he had to guide her thoughts with his own.
He knew the question that came next but he wanted her to voice it. So he waited patiently for those words to process in her mind and exit out of her mouth. "What situation were you in Gavin?"
He looked up in the stars and smiled. "You see when a man grows up in an environment where everybody seems to hate him, he grows up wondering, where can he find people who love him."
"So you were searching for love?"
He shook his head, "No, I knew where love is. She's waiting for me in Texas. He's waiting for me in Tennessee, but after I started my journey, I had a lot of time to contemplate about who I truly was."
"So who are you mystery man?" Her smile was lost on him.
"I was a man who was searching for his father, the only link to my past, my real family." A tear dropped down from his eye as he looked down on the ground. "Now the only thing I have is a memory of half of a conversation before a bullet lodged itself into my father's heart. I watched him die, Hope. And watching him die was like watching myself be murdered." She placed her hand on his shoulder in a comforting motion as his tears continued to drop to the earth below him. "Now, all I have is his mission."
"You're right about one thing. You have inherited his mission, but you wrong about something else. You may only have a memory of Boss, but we at this compound have many memories of him. He was such a father figure to all of us here, but I knew," She pointed to her heart for emphasis, "I knew that he was missing something in his heart, not being a part of your life. It tore him up inside wondering if you were okay, if you had survived the storms. I know he often daydreamed about you wondering if he would ever get to see you again, so that lonely memory that you have of your father was probably the happiest moment in his entire life. To be reunited with his only son, even if for a mere moment. You provided something better than anything else in this world."
He looked into her eyes, with a look that told her he was more determined than ever. He smirked and placed his strong hand on her face gently. He pulled her close and her lips were guided to his by the power of emotional attraction. His vulnerability made him irresistable. Her eyes closed in extascy as their lips met for the first time. Their lips parted for a mere second so he could tell her, "You're right. I am my father's son and not only that, I am my father's mission, and I will see to it that his mission is accomplished, even if it means my life."
Her whisper was as soft as a summer breeze as her heart wrenched in the thought of Gavin dying. "I know you will succeed, but make me a promise."
"What is it?" He asked, licking his dark lips.
"Try your best to live." They laughed and their lips met again.



The next day, Gavin and Hayley were packing up the van when Hope walked up to them with a hand full of various items, but the object that stood out the most was the larg machete that rested on top of a couple of outfits. He smiled when he saw her again and he shook his head. Hayley soon became a distant memory lying in the back of his mind in the prescene of Hope. Maybe that was all he truly needed. Hope, in every since of the word.
Her smile brought a certain sunlight to the van as both Hayley and Gavin returned her smile. "Hi guys."
Gavin walked up to her and put his arms around her in an embrace that told Hope that she was something special while at the same time giving Hayley a clue of where she stood when it came to Gavin. "Hey love. What you got there?"
"Oh, nothing special, just some presents I got for you and Hayley."
Gavin turned around and smiled big in Hayley's face. He yelled, "You hear that, Hayley!? Presents! Lord knows I ain't got no presents in years!" He turned back around with Hayley wearing a scowl of jealousy on her face, burning a hole in his back. He clapped his hands excitedly as a child would and asked her repeatedly, "What you get me!? What you get me!?"
She smiled at his childlike candor and replied, "I just got you guys some outfits for your fight through the South. They are more becoming of warriors than the clothes you got on yo' backs now, plus I got something special for you Gavin."
They both shared a smile as she handed Gavin the outfits first and then, the machete. He placed the outfits to his side and took hold of the large hilt. He examined it until he found a familiar name on the bottom of the blade. His own. His father's. "It was Boss'."
He shook his head and another tear dropped from his eye, "Don't you think it would be better if this was kept here?"
She smiled and wiped the tear from his face. "Your father's mission should be accomplished with your father's blade. He would've wanted it this way." His smile had returned to his face. She held his face in her hands and spoke softly. "I know you're going to make your father proud. You are his son, and I have complete faith in you. I loved him, and he taught me that one day, my generation would see what it was like to see a world without violence. I have a feeling that you are going to be the hero of the South, baby." She reached in her back pocket and pulled out a pair of goggles whose straps were camoflauges and she placed them on his head. He smiled in approval as she held her hands out for the outfits she had just handed Gavin. She looked deep into his eyes and asked him, "Could you do me a favor?"
He raised an eyebrow, confused, but obliged, "What is it, shorty?"
"Could you put on that leather jacket right there?"
He smiled and took off his black hoodie and handed it to her, along with the other various garments and put his arms through the sleeves of the jackets. When the jacket found it's place on his back, he smiled, realizing it was a perfect fit.
She smiled, "Now that's what a warrior looks like. I'm sure Boss looking down from Heaven proud of his lil' Mika, yeah, I mean his lil' Gavin."
"No, I like Mika better."
She smiled again and repeated, "Mika. I think I like that name better as well."
She handed him back his outfits and attempted to hand him back his hoodie. "Nah Shorty, that's you. Something to remember me by."
She smiled as he kissed her forehead and turned around, a smile all over his face as Hayley stood by the van with her arms crossed. When he reached her, her anger was evident, but his playful nature couldn't allow him to stoop to her level of anger. "You mad, shorty?"
She shook her head, and grabbed her new clothes to inspect them. She looked up and yelled, "Thank you, Hope!"
Hope simply waved with her fingers as they exchanged hateful glances with each other. If they had ever had any level of friendship between one another, it was out of the window now as Hayley threw the clothes in the back of the van. Gavin jumped in the passenger seat, excited to get back on the road. He rubbed his palms together and looked at Hayley. He asked with a smile, "You ready to go, love?"
She started the van up and replied, "Yes, and I would appreciate it if you never called me that, player."
He expected the venom to come off of her tongue. He decided then and there to ignore it. He knew that if he hadn't held his tongue, he would suffer horrible tongue lashings from Hayley the whole way to Texas, and it would only get worst once she actually saw how lovely his best friend was. So he just clapped his hands, "Off to Texas then."
He smiled and she just rolled her eyes, letting him know immediately how horrible this trip was going to be. He thought, "Oh, the jealousy of a woman.", lowered his head and attempted to go to sleep in the silence of the van ride.