Bang Patonti (NON-CANON)

Part 2, Chapter III

Karmen: Make sure to vote and comment on the story about what you think!

I teleported to the front of John's store. I went inside and looked around. "John!" I shouted.

I walked towards the backroom door and went to the back and looked around again. I saw the blue slime on a chair; it got bigger.

"Hey... slime?" I said unsurely.

The slime looked at me with its green-marble eyes and nodded.

"Do you know where John is?" I asked.

The slime nodded and slid off the chair. The creature slid up to a table and nudged it's head to a laptop. I walk towards the computer. It was already on, and there was an article about the vigilante downtown.

"He's downtown?" I asked.

The slime nodded as a response and pointed at the photo of Black Bandana.

"He's meeting him?" I asked in disbelief.

The slime nodded again. I clenched my fist and sighed. I look at the blue slime and pet it. "Thanks." I thanked before teleporting away.

Later, Downtown Seattle

I teleported downtown, and it is almost evening. I look around for John, checking every alley, every rooftop, but no sign of John and Black Bandana. I did run into some criminals, had to win some fights.

After searching and searching, I finally found Black Bandana. He wasn't with John, but he was approaching some man who is mugging a couple. I saw Black Bandana pull out a gun from his holster and aimed it at the mugger.

I immediately teleported down beside Black Bandana and grabbed his gun, forcing to point upwards as he pulled the trigger, getting the mugger's attention.

The man turned around and saw us and pointed his gun at us. "Shit! It's you!" He shouted at Black Bandana, who broke out of my grip and threw a brick at the man's head, knocking him out unconscious.

I grabbed Black Bandana and threw him against a wall, pinning him there.

"You think you can just kill people because they did something bad?" I interrogated him.

"I only kill when they deserve it, and you know they do." He grunted.

I growled and punched him across the face. "You killed a man with a wife and kids!" I shouted.

"He has more than one wife, and he had blood on his hands." He hissed.

I punch him again. "What about that doctor?!" I questioned again.

Black Bandana looked at me with a glare. "You mean the child molester?" He kicked my leg and punched me in the face before shoving me to the ground.

I quickly got up and got into a stance, gritting my teeth. "You don't have the right to judge if someone deserves to die."

Black Bandana sighs as he holds what seems to be another smoke bomb. "I'm doing this for them." He drops it as a cloud of smoke surrounds him.

I quickly ran through the smoke and looked around. The kid was already gone.

The Next Day

I went back to John's store, waiting for him in the back. When he came in, he saw me and didn't look surprised.

"What are you doing here?" He questioned.

"You know something," I said to him with arms crossed.

John raised a brow at me. "What are you talking about?"

"The slime-thing told me you went to meet with the vigilante. I wanna know why."

John looks at me and sighs. "Fine... I'm the one who gave him the equipment."

"You gave the kid guns?!" I yelled.

"No! I gave him the grappling gun and smoke pellets," John corrected. "Where he got the guns, I have no clue. Probably got em' from a black market."

I still had something in my mind. "Why are you helping him?" I questioned.

John sighed again. "He believes that your parents and siblings' death wasn't an accident." He explains. "I kinda believe him. The car was new then, the brakes shouldn't have broken so easily, and a car doesn't normally explode after crashing."

That's what Black Bandana said to me. "But why would some random kid kill just because of what happened to my family?" I asked.

John crossed his arms. "Maybe this 'random kid' is someone close to you."

I start brainstorming, thinking of all the possible identities for the Black Bandana until I finally figured it out.

"Oh, no..."

-Midnight-

I look at the files John gave to me that had info on what Black Bandana planned on doing. I look up at the house in front of me. He's after dad's friend, Antonio. He's a mechanic that helped work on our cars back then.

"What are you doing?" I asked myself. I sighed and walked up to the door. When I knocked on it, the door opened, which surprised me. I walked inside and saw that the place was a mess. I looked around the home and saw a pool of blood and a trail of it going to the basement. I heard yelling also.

I followed the blood trail down to the basement, and I saw Black Bandana pointing a gun at Antonio.

"Don't!" I shouted.

Black Bandana looked at me. His gun still aimed at the beaten-up man. "Don't what? Let him pay for what he did?!" The vigilante asked. "He took them away from us!"

I look at the man, shaking in fear. "You know he has a family, right?" I asked. "Killing him will make you no better than him!"

"I'm killing a criminal. He killed our siblings and parents." He scowls.

"You've taken enough lives," I growled. "You need to stop before you get addicted!"

Black Bandana looked at the gun then Antonio. He lowered the weapon. "But he-"

"It's time to let go," I said, finally.

"I-It wasn't..." Antonio gasped for air. "Someone paid me..."

Black Bandana looked at Antonio and grabbed him by the collar. "Who?" He questioned.

"Reagan Trust." Antonio groaned.

"The mayor?" I asked.

Black Bandana lets go of Antonio. "Leave the city. Go back to your family."

Antonio nodded and limped out of the basement. I sighed and looked at Black Bandana.

"Cardo..." I look at him as he took off the bandana and hat, revealing his identity.

"Hey, brother..." He said casually.

I wiped the sweat off my face and looked at him. "Wha-why did you do this?"

"The police didn't do anything about it. The case went cold." He explained. "So, I stole some files and took the name Black Bandana. Which doesn't roll off the tongue."

"But all this killing. You killed people."

"People who commit crimes that the police choose to ignore." He argues.

"Cardo, this vigilante shit ends now." I scolded. "No more killing."

Before Cardo could talk back at me, we heard sirens.

"Bang, get us out of here," Cardo ordered as I take his hand and teleport us away.