Flight

Episode 12

[Two weeks ago]

Aika stomped her way up the stairs of her father's home in Yumemi. Once she found her way to the outside of her father's office she angrily paced around. She kept looking at the door to her father's office. Aika took a jab at the air angrily. She gritted her teeth and barged in through the door. "I finished a contract for one of your employers, and when I went to go collect he hit on me! He talked about how I can get more money for the contract and shit. Do you know how degrading that is? Don't even try to answer that you don't. At first I thought this was all fun and games, but you turned the Suisei clan from one of the most respected gangs in the whole god damn country to a bunch of measly guns for hire. If we lose everything we will still have our name and your taking our name and dragging it through the mud, and all of our followers are beginning to see it the same way. If you don't change your act they'll see you as an unfit leader," Aika said with a clenched fist. Akio slowly looked up at Aika "What do you suggest I do then?" Akio calmly replied. "Do you want my advice as your daughter or a member of your organization?" She asked. Akio opened his mouth to speak but before he could Aika interjected. "Actually my advice is the same either way. I advise you step down." Akio did not express it too much but he was surprised by her words. "Who do you suggest be the new leader then?" Akio asked her. Aika looked to the corner of the room as she thought for a second. As soon as she collected her thoughts she locked sights with Akio and replied "Me."

[Present day]

Anton was eating a sandwich while he watched Jay make calls letting Nick's gang members know of the meeting and making sure they will be present. Nick wanted to flex his muscles and show he wasn't one to be played with. Anton's phone rang. "Oh hello," Anton picked up the phone with a full mouth. "My dad is ready meet us at the main building at the docs," Aika said. Anton swallowed the food he had in his mouth. "Where you killed Reese right?" Anton asked. "Yes," Aika said as she abruptly ended the call. Nick walked in just as Anton put his phone back in his pocket. "So are we ready to go?" Nick asked. Anton nodded. Jay and Anton stood up and began to follow Nick outside. They went into one of Nick's cars and headed towards the docks. "So you and my daughter are getting close?" Nick stumbled over his words.

Closer than close.

"Uhm yeah," Anton awkwardly replied. "Is it serious?" Nick asked. "I would say so," Anton said in a gleeful expression. "Good, I hope you two continue to take care of each other," Nick said as he looked out the window. "Nina's mother and her wanted that I keep my dealings and operations as clean as possible, but I think it's time to change that," Nick said. "Why do you say?" Anton asked. "I've been holding onto a promise that I believe in, but it's making me weaker. I can no longer continue to juggle it all. A few bottles are gonna have to be dropped. I hope you can understand that, because I know you would rather have our organization be as clean as possible as well, but don't worry." Anton seemed slightly disheartened by this. He smiled and put forth all of his attention to the road.

They were driving into the docks. A large portion of Nicholas' men were already there. Nicholas, Anton, and Jay stepped out the car. They started walking into the building they were meeting at. The room quickly filled up with people. One side of the room aligned with Nick's people and the other with Akio's. Just over a hundred people filled the otherwise empty room. Aika was standing to the side of Akio. She was now wearing a black dress with gray leggings matching her father's suit made up of black and grey as well. Aika blankly stared at Anton. Anton felt her stare to be uncomfortable. Akio and his people only made up about a quarter of the room leaving Nicolas slightly more intimidating standing beside his own gang members. Both sides stood opposite each other and stared for a second or two at one another. Nick walked up to Akio and had his hand out. Akio accepted his gesture and they both shook hands. "Akio we've known each other for a long time. When we decided to be partners all those years ago our partnership was the first of its kind in this city. We ran the city because of that partnership. We became friends through that partnership," Nick paused for a moment. Aika rolled her eyes she found Nick was being slightly melodramatic. Nick continued speaking. "As we became friends our trust and confidence in one another grew. Then one day you decided to steal from me and run, and now you're back and instead of coming here to apologize and make due, like I was ready and willing to do you came here to steal from me again. I can't allow that to happen," Nick finished.

Nina knew where she needed to go now. She finished her smoothie, turned the car on and started to drive towards the docks. Nina drove as fast as possible without having her emergency lights on. Once she got to the docks she noticed a bunch of cars surrounding a building. She got out of her car and started to slowly walk towards the entrance. As she walked in she was greeted to the scene of her father pointing a gun directly at Akio's head. Nick looked up at Nina and lowered his gun. Nina was rather taken aback by the whole situation. "You can't do this it goes back on everything you've said," Nina said aloud. "I have to if I continue to be weak it's all over before I know it. Your mother helped put a lot of this together. You'd want to see this taken apart? So much of her hard work would be gone," Nick said. "But it was her idea to avoid hurting people whenever possible. She wouldn't want this," Nina replied. "I'm sorry but she's dead and doesn't have to make decisions like these," Nick said as he put his gun back to Akio's head. Nina clenched her fist and started towards Nicholas with the plan of taking away his weapon, but before she could reach Nick, Jay grabbed her. Nina was struggling in an effort to escape Jay's hold. Aika was standing with a solemn expression.

Nick again pointed his gun at Akio. Nina stopped moving. Nina looked at Aika "Your not gonna do anything about this?" Nina said in a bothered voice. Aika looked to the ground and crossed her arms. All of Akio's men looked to Aika to see what her response would be. Nina realized they no longer answered to Akio. Nina saw a tear from Aika hit the ground. Before Nina could fully process the entire situation the gun was fired. Akio was dead.

Jay let go of Nina and she fell to the ground. Nick walked up to Aika who was wiping her eyes. Nick opened his mouth "I should kill you, but we made a deal. I do not plan on breaking deals. The only thing is, you can not just lie to me, betray your own father and get away scot free." "Just do whatever you're gonna do to me already," Aika said fighting back a sob. Nick shrugged his shoulders. He didn't wait a second before abruptly shooting her in the left leg. He shot twice once in her knee then directly in her foot. She dropped to the floor from the shock. Anton flinched. He was not expecting this. Two of Aika's men began to lunge towards Nick. "Stop!" Aika yelled from the ground. They immediately stopped. Aika looked like she was in an awful amount of pain. "I actually made sure someone who could provide medical assistance waa here," Nick said this has he made a hand gesture signaling this person. Someone came to bandage Aika. Then one of her men came to help her up. Aika and her entire group left. Nina was speechless. Anton ran up to her. "Are you okay?" Anton said as he extended his arm to her. Nina grabbed his hand and stood up. "I'm okay. I have to head back to my precinct." Anton walked with her to her car. Nina sat in her driver's seat. Anton leaned against Nina's car. "We can talk back at my place later," Nina said with a smile she managed to muster. Anton looked at her and nodded. "Sounds good," he said. Nina drove back to her precinct.

As Nina was walking into the precinct's offices she was met by her superior officer again. This time she was holding onto a pink slip. "Here this is for you. I wanted to give it to you personally. The explanations for your termination are enclosed within. You have some time to get your stuff together and what not," her superior said while handing her the pink slip. Nina slowly walked to her desk and just sobbed. Nina expected this to happen. A few higher ups made it a point to telegraph her imminent termination. Nina was a good detective and made her part in serving the police force, but she had a knack for continuously not following orders, breaking regulations, and going into situations without a partner. Nina thought it would be awkward to stick around on the time she had. So she grabbed the little things she had on her desk and walked to her car. She got her phone out and called Anton. Anton quickly picked up. "Hey Anton I just got fired-" Nina interrupted herself by laughing, but then she sighed and continued speaking. "-I think I'm going to start a small private detective agency. Wanna be apart of it?" "That sounds cool," he replied. "Also this might be pushing forward a bit but I have one final paycheck coming in for now and rent and bills are expensive. How about we move in together," Nina asked him in a rosy voice. Anton paused for a second before replying. "You know I actually was planning on leaving from my current apartment. My neighbors are the worse. One of them is like a crazy cat lady. Another one I'm pretty sure is a terrorist or a extremist protester one or the other, and my upstairs neighbors are constantly throwing parties." Nina smiled at what Anton said. She said one more thing before hanging up. "I'll see you at home then."

The End, thank you for reading.