Prologue Emergency: Unthinkable

Early that next morning, Gun Man and Chevy sat on the hood of Chevy's land cruiser, blowing smoke into the crispy early morning air, unaware that anyone was watching them. Smartz stood by the window in her room watching the idle conversation between them commence, trying to read their lips, hoping to catch a clue to help her decipher the code in which they spoke. Finding minimal success, only being a able to translate the topic being music, she went downstairs knowing this would be as good a time as any to apologize for her distrusting behavior.
While she was making her descent down the winding stairs, Chevy and Gun Man continued their conversation. "Man, I'm telling you, I've seen that shell that she used last night somewhere before."
"What you talking about?" Chevy asked smugly.
"Iight, all I'm saying is, I know that shell from around ya' know, like she from here."
"Who?"
"Smartz."
"And you know this how?"
Gun Man's memory began to jog as he finally remembered where he had seen that disguise Smartz was wearing. He had recognized her in his thoughts as a local legend of Franklin, remembering him and Lady Gun used to go to the underground bars and clubs to watch her perform. He could remember the melodies of her voice flow softly in his ears. He could remember the feel of Lady Gun's hand as her hand moved slowly into his, and the thought of her smile reflecting his, made him smile. "Her shell used to be the lead girl in my favorite band."
"You talking bout all them times I wouldn't go wit' ya when it was just you and Kayla?"
Gun Man laughed, remembering why it was just him and Kayla that went to those shows. "Yeah." He laughed, but as they were laughing, Gun Man watched a person whom he didn't recognize off the bat who it was. He summoned a pistol from his hand and normally he would have shot the intruder instantly, but when he saw how beautiful the intruder was, he hesitated, becoming curious.
Chevy saw the same intruder and passed Gun Man the cigar, his eyes glued on the beautiful silhouette. Her footsteps grew closer and closer, and the closer she got, the more Gun Man became curious. He licked his dark lips in anticipation, his hunger for more growing. His mannerisms grew expecting. Chevy sat by his side, not effected by her beauty. His mannerisms became expecting too, only he expected a fight.
When she stepped toward Gun Man, flicked her hair back from her face, and looked into Gun Man's brown eyes with her own sparkling brown lakes, he was under her spell. He smiled and with his suavest voice, he asked, "Wassup love, and who might you be?"
She giggled lightly and her dimples lit up just like her smile, just like her eyes. "It's me Gun Man, Smartz."
Gone was her attitude. Gone was her mean demeanor. It was like she was a completely different person, and now Gun Man knew the sweet side Nic spoke of. He found himself extremely attracted to her, but he had to ask her, "Wow, you're beautiful, sweetie. Is this another shell or is this the inner beauty behind the shell?" Chevy smiled, laughing on the inside. Gun Man could already hear him in his head saying, 'Square', but at that point, Gun Man didn't even care.
Even if Chevy didn't find what he said sweet, Smartz did, and somehow, during the early hours of that Sunday morning, she felt like she could come out of her shell in more ways than one. "Well....I usually wouldn't tell. A woman has to have her secrets, Mr. Gun Man, but you're sweet and I could use somebody other than Nic to be completely honest to, so yes this is the real me, no shell." Gun Man smiled, happy that she found him worthy of being confided to. She smiled back, feeling as though a weight had been lifted off her shoulders. "What about you? Is this the real Gun Man behind the mask or is this a shell?"
He smiled again before answering and Chevy just stared at the stars. Gun Man passed him the cigar without taking his eyes off of the glimmering lights that shined in Smartz eyes, taking note of her beautiful brown pupils. "Baby, I ain't gonna lie to ya', mask on or mask off, I am always gonna be Gun Man or Lucc'y Luciano or Brody, but whatever you may call me, I know I will never not be called real because out of all of the fakeness and corruption that exists in this world, I'm a constant and will remain that way til' I go."
His honesty touched her, making a cute smirk appear on her face. "That's good to know." She took a deep breath before adding anything else, "But I did come down here to tell you something specifically."
Curiosity once again struck Gun Man. "Oh yeah, what's that?"
She took another breath of courage and then revealed to him what she had spent hours tossing and turning over previous to walking down those stairs. "Look, I may have come off a little rash earlier."
Gun Man put on his most charming smile and with a hand motion, he added, "Just a little, but it was cute how defensive you were behind ya' boo thang. It's understandable, baby. You straight. You cool."
"But it really wasn't." She interrupted. Their conversation had Chevy's full attention now. He was listening to every word, listening for any hint of deception that may slither from off of her lips. He still had the thoughts of him and Gun Man's last conversation in his mind when he had told him that he had recognized one of her shells. He didn't trust her, and he was going to make sure he made Gun Man remember that fact too. But for now, he was contempt with listening to her apology. At least she wasn't all bad, he thought. "I judged you before I knew you and I was wrong for assuming that all Evil infected people are the same. I'm sorry for being so narrow minded, and I hope you forgive me, I'm just...."
Gun Man smiled and interrupted, "You don't have to explain ya' self shorty. I understand. I don't know what made you so defensive, but....." Her smile gave Gun Man inspiration to show her that even though Evil is a normal occurence in America, not all that are infected are evil, merely a product of their environment. I can show you, if you're down to see things that, well....I can show you better than I can tell you."
She smiled curiously. Something about him intrigued her. He was so honest, so kind, so....She caught herself in her thoughts, wondering what sort of magic he was casting over her. What spell he was casting to make her snap out of the trance that Nic had over her. Her eyes surveyed his toned body, the way he moved in his V-neck tee shirt and loose shorts, the way he twisted his hat when he gave Chevy the signal with his eyes. Chevy looked at her staring at Gun Man and he already knew what was going on, even before she knew. He shook his head, and gave Gun Man the signal. "Okay." She answered.
Gun Man turned around a face of a skeptic. "You sure?"
He offered his hand out to her and with another flick of her eyes, she took it, solidifying her answer. He led her to the back seat of the land cruiser. This morning, she was going to be chauffeured through the hood in which Chevy, Q, Lady Gun, Gun Baby, and himself were raised in. Gun Man and Chevy jumped in the front seats, and with Chevy in the driver seat. He started the car and turned on some loud rap music from the left coast of America. They vibed to the raspy voice of the Los Angeles native and even Smartz found herself bobbing her head to the music.
Gun Man became lost in the music as he rolled up the blunt of kush in celebration of the relaxing music they were listening to. She finally spoke up from the backseat, "Hey Gun Man, who is this?"
Chevy smiled, knowing that Gun Man was going to love being able to put somebody else on one of his favorite artists. Gun Man lit the blunt and exhaled the lovely smelling smoke. "That's my wodie right der, Champagne Hussle, handling business like that, ya' heard me. You wanna know something funny 'bout ya' gul?"
He looked at her in the backseat, and he thought to himself, 'she's so cute.' She looked in his eyes and with a hint of elegance and sexual tension, she answered, "Of course."
He smiled and turned around to hit the blunt again, and as if describing someone who was born with venerial disease, he answered, "She got E-v. She's a Nocturnal actually." He knew he would have to explain further, so he pulled on the blunt again before passing the blunt to Chevy.
She sat behind them relaxed in utter comfort and with a known confidence, she asked, "What's a Nocturnal?"
He smiled and looked at Chevy slyly. "They're E-v's like me and Chevy actually. You see a Nocturnal is population of E-v that populate all over America, but they originated in Southern California. Me and Chevy's powers are related to theirs in fact."
"How is that?"
"Since you've been here, how often have you seen us sleep?" He smiled, knowing that the answer was never. He continued his explanation knowing that he had fully captured her attention, "You see me and him are what you called the Sleepless, I'm a Sleepless Gun, he's a Sleepless Roller. We both have our own individual powers, but we also have the power to run on probably a twenty fifth of the amount of sleep others would need. That's one of the reasons I was up so late patrolling the city, just because I can, but you see a Nocturnal is the mixture of a Sleepless and the evolution of a population over a hundred years old. The Isyss have been around for generations, slowly evolving into another kind of human, and when E-v was first introduced, this population was one of the populations to be effected the most. They literally became beasts. When angered they become cold blooded beasts whose blood pumps diamonds, no lie. Their teeth and their faces extend like wolves. It's crazy, and you know one when you see one, even in their human form. It's actually beautiful, when they young Isyss, they have a few small open scars that showcase their bright diamond blood and as they get older the scars become larger and spread all over their body. The wisest heads of the Isyss have the scars spread all over their face and neck, it's cool if you ask me. I seen I with my own eyes."
Chevy nodded his head with a smile. "Yeah, the West thought they was gonna take but nah, they can't have you dog, the South had to take ya' back."
They laughed and Smartz, never knowing any of this, asked, "So, are you born into being an Isyss?"
"Yeah, it used to be you could get jumped in but now it's all about your Blue Bloodline, ya' understand."
"So is it like a secret population or something?"
"Yeah."
"So how do you know so much about the Isyss then, Gun Man?"
Gun Man, sensing her disbelief in his story, shook his head before revealing to her that a part of his family had been associated with the Isyss. "My dad is from California, Compton to be exact, where the Isyss are prevalent. I have cousins who live among the Titaniyicali Tribe."
Her eyes grew to the size of golfballs as she drifted to the sound of his voice relaying stories walking around the urban tribe where danger was around the corner and death was up the street. She thought it was so sweet the way he described spending time with his cousins and the local Isyss children playing and exploring the urban jungle. She thought about his courage when he told the story of how he led one child who lived in a rival Isyss tribe back to his home, not caring of the consequences of having the vicious Titaniyicali watch him walk into the rival tribe. She thought about his influence when he spoke about how he inspired a young Isyss of the Titaniciyali Tribe to dim her diamond blood in pursuit to go another, less violent route, and try a better way. She became lost in the soundtrack of his voice blending in with the inspirational rock music pounding out of the speakers.
She felt like she was walking beside him while he walked through the urban jungle smoking a cigar. She imagined the stares they would get from the Isyss Tribe and the harassment they would get from the police patrolling the streets, and even though she saw the bad happening all around them, she saw herself with a smile on her face, just because she was with him. She wondered to herself why she was so intrigued by him, especially when she didn't want to be. She couldn't be growing fond of him. She was sure of it, but in her subconscious mind, she wasn't absolutely positive and that made her.....
"We here." Chevy spoke up from the driver's seat.
She looked out of the window, and saw a dilapidated city whose roads were filled with drivers who looked like the only reason they ever closed their eyes were to blink. They were scary to her. She looked up at the front seat and asked Gun Man, "Is this...."
"Yep." He interuppted. "This is home."
She paused as Chevy guided them through different housing projects filled with Sleepless and damaged humans who moved through the streets with the speed of a snail. She looked into the mucus glazed over eyes and in her heart she felt sorry for these individuals. She turned away from the window unable to look into the face of hurt anymore. She was utterly surprised that Gun Man and Chevy just looked ahead as though they were unaffected, oblivious to the horrific sights that was outside, their home. She asked them in a soft voice, "What happened to them?"
Gun Man turned around confused, "Who? You talking 'bout the Sleepless? Ain't nothing new 'bout them. They just doin' what they been doin'. Doing what we used to." Her silence gave clue to Gun Man that she wasn't talking about Sleepless. "Oh, you talking about the Slowz ha?"
He smiled and shook his head while she watched his mannerisms. She wondered why he had no emotional response to the plight of the Slows. Then she figured, he had been around them almost his whole life. It's probably nothing new to him anymore.
"Do you remember when the E-v was first introduced to the States?"
She nodded her head, choking up, she answered, "Yes?"
"Well, the E-v was introduced like a year before in America's most commonplace drugs. That's why it's a myth that the E-v comes from south of the border. The E-v laced the heroin, was cut into the coc, manufactured in the pills, concocted in the extacy, basically anything that got sold here in America a year before the E-v epidemic, came with a dangerous addiction and a dangerous price. All of them except weed. That was kind of weird actually, but then again, out of all the drugs, marijuana is the most organic. But don't get me to preaching 'bout weed."
They both laughed while Smartz sat their horrified. "So the Slows, what are they addicted to?"
"Oh that's easy. They shoot up. Liquid heroin."
"So what happens to them?"
Gun Man shook his head again. "Man, it's sad how it happen to 'em. They inject that mess in they veins and they just get slow, mind flow off into outerspace, man. Minus well consider them aliens cause that's the reality they living in. They living on the moon, love. Straight up. They usually live like ten years before how should say this run out of oxygen. Sad man. They whole body just slows down, just slows down."
It was sad to the Slows just walking around in a daze, but she realized she couldn't dwell on it. It was a part of the life of a person growing up in 2090. "What other sort of Evil dwells here?"
Gun Man looked at Chevy focusing on the road, and he answered, "I think Chevy better off telling you that one, reala."
"Yee."
"So other evils do live here, Chevy?"
"Well, you got the alcholics who have what we call blackouts. We call them Jekyl and Hydes because of how quick they turn into monsters, go home kill everything they love and not even remember it. I've seen more Jekyl and Hydes kill themselves and their families more than anything else, just because they couldn't live with the pain of knowing what they've done. Then you got the Krill, people who smoke hard who are just insane. If you selling Krill on a regular basis, then you have a legion of customers all willing to do anything you tell them too, all for a rock as big as my fingernail. They're superfast and unlike the Jekyl and Hydes, have no remorse for anything. Then you got the Kraze who toot that powder. Like humans, every Kraze is different. They're the only ones who it takes years to notice that they are the Kraze, but it only takes one bad toot for a Kraze to overdose and die, and that's Franklin in a nutshell. You got your Sleepless feeding off the Kraze and the Parties, and you have the liquor stores feeding the Jekyl and Hydes."
"What's the Parties?"
Gun Man and Chevy laughed and Gun Man began to explain to her what type of population they were. "Man, the Parties are fun people, my personal favorite out of all of the E-v's because they're all about fun, man, everytime they go out, they're the life of the party. Ironic though, because they meet death a lot quicker than all of the rest of the E-v's, and it's sad because they're usually the best people in the world to be around. We got it all here in Franklin. We got the Sippers, who are immune to every disease known to man, but are addicted to the elixir they drink, we got the Speedos who are superfast but addicted to the pills they chew, and we got Zanys, who go absolutely nuts, I mean crazy, they get superstrong and want to fight everything and destroy everything and it's just a really tough thing to watch if you don't have E-v. Good thing we do got it huh wo?" They shared a laugh until Gun Man saw a girl who he recognized a long time ago. His face gained a scowl that would rival the devil's and the angered silence that emanated off of him gave clue to Smartz that he had a history with his girl. "Pull over right chea', Chevy."
Chevy whipped the wheel quickly and Smartz watched the scantily dressed young woman approach the car as though she were looking for a date. When she saw Gun Man's scowl, she knew instantly that she was in trouble. His voice was calm, like.....before the storm. "What are you doing here, Brandy?"
She panicked and try to back away with her hands protecting her face. If Gun Man wasn't sure about what had been happening to her then, he was definitely sure now. He got out the car with his fists clenched and a heart full of rage. Brandy was whispering, "Brody, Brody please calm down."
"What are you doing here, Brandy!?" He bit his lip to emphasize his rage and he quickly snatched her by her face. "Are you working, Brandy!? I know you better not be."
She threw her hands upand deflected his hand from off of her face. Smartz sat in the car and watched while Chevy smoked on a cigar. She looked at Chevy with disbelief while Gun Man antagonized Brandy. She attempted to get out of the car, saying under her breath, "Well if no one else is going to help her....."
Just then, Chevy spoke up, "I wouldn't do that if I were you."
She whipped her neck around with her own puzzled scowl on her face and she asked with a voice full of hurt, "And why not? He looks like he is going to kill her." Chevy laughed at her ignorance of the whole situation. "What is so funny about what is going on right here? I don't see anything humorous about this situation at all."
"I do....because you have no idea what's going on." He shook his head and smiled. "Brody isn't about to kill her. He's trying to save her."
"Save her from what?"
Chevy took a long pull from the cigar and answered, "Herself."
She turned around to look out the window and what she saw amazed her. Gun Man pulled out a large wad of money and he asked Brandy, "How much do you need?"
Tears were flowing down Brandy's face as she shook her head, "Just go, Brody."
"How much do you need!? I'm tryin' to get you outta here because if Kayla caught you down here, doin' what I think ya' doin', she would beat yo' ass, and in case you forgot, she is a Gun, a living, breathing Gun who will not hesitate to kill you if she thinks you are destroying yourself, but also know this, I will kill you before I allow you to hurt one of the few people I love by turning into a whore! I refuse to allow that to happen to you! I refuse to let that to Kayla, so how much do you need?"
She shook her head and attempted to walk away, but Gun Man snatched her by her arm. "Are you really just going to walk away from me? Are you serious?"
"I'm sorry, Brody, but y'all been away for a long time, and a lot of things have changed. I can't be that girl that you knew so long ago, I just can't...."
Tears flooded down her face and a tear ran down his. One of the premier superheroes of Nashville, and he couldn't even save a friend. He let her arm go, and never taking his eyes off of her, he just got back in the car and drove off, leaving Brandy crying on the street corner.
Gun Man knew she wouldn't survive the night with her crying on the street corner if her pimp saw her, but there was nothing Gun Man could do but ride off. He knew in his mind that no matter how much he may have loved somebody, he can't help nobody that doesn't want help. So he switched the CD to an older Isyss rolled another blunt and began to escape in his thoughts. But Smartz wouldn't let him get off that easy.
On their way to the mansion, Smartz became entranced by the sites of Franklin turning into Nashville. At first she didn't want to ask Gun Man about what had happened earlier, but her curiosity wouldn't allow her to hold her tongue. "Gun Man?"
He inhaled the smoke of the marijuana and held it for a while, not really wanting to answer the question he knew was coming. "Wassup shorty?"
"Can I ask you something?"
He sighed deeply and asked, "What's on ya' mind, lovely?"
"Well, Chevy explained to me about the Gabs and how they place a spell on females, but I have to ask, who is she to you? The girl I mean."
Gun Man grew silent as his face fell to the smoke. Everyone in the knew he didn't want to discuss the subject, but the one thing about Gun Man was that no matter what question he was asked, he would give you a truthful answer. Maybe that was the reason it was so easy for people to gravitate toward him. Because of his honest nature, and his honesty was telling Chevy that Gun Man was uncomfortable with the conversation at hand. He looked at the radio and thought it ironic that a Dalemitee was rapping on the radio, knowing that his best friend's best friend was a prostitute. He shook his head, hoping that the thoughts would leave his mind, but to no avail. He found that the only way he could get this off of his mind was to get it off of his chest. "She was once a close friend of me and Kayla's. She went to school with us for as long as I can remember and she is my personal reminder of how much work there is to be done in Franklin, how much good we still have to do for the hood, the hood the polices forgot about."
"You tried to help her didn't you?"
Gun Man bit his lip, "You can't help everybody, sweetie. God gives us a lesson everyday. It's up to us to learn it. And today....." He licked his dark lips again, and finished, "I learned my lesson, and I know my purpose." His conviction sealed the deal between them. She couldn't fool herself no longer. She knew that she was extremely attracted to him.


By the time they got back to the mansion, the sun was beginning to rise, and Gun Man still had Brandy on his mind. They got out of the car collectively and Chevy patted Gun Man on the shoulder. "I know. We can't tell Kayla about this."
Gun Man shook his head, and looked at Smartz while Chevy walked away. He had hoped she understood that mums was the word and the new lesson of the day.
She walked up to him, mind whirling around all of the new knowledge that maybe an hour or two had brought her. While he leaned on the land cruiser looking up at the rising sun, she stood in front of him simply amazed by his character. She realized there was so much more to find out about him. He had conviction beyond that of an ordinary man. His personality was like an explosion, when dormant it could hide forever, but when ignited, only a fool would be able to ignore its presence, and right now she had been hit by shrapnel. He looked down at her and smiled. She wondered how he could smile even after witnessing one of his good, old friends prostituting herself. She wondered what it could have been that had made him happy enough to forget about that instance in time. Then she realized that he was smiling because of her. She brushed her hair back, touched by the fact that she could be the shining light on someone's darkest of days, and she threw her arms around his neck and hugged him.
The scent of her lavender perfume filled his nose and excited his senses. He smiled with his face buried in her neck and he whispered, "Did I change your mind about us?"
She closed her eyes and smiled. "Yes you have." And she felt in his arms that she could fly away.