"History rewrites itself everyday. Life has it's own system of checks and balances & then there are prophecies. History repeats itself everyday"
RETLAS Hideout
Bedstuy, Ny
6am later that morning
Suri is walking into the hideout defeated. She is greeted by Osal, who is standing in the hallway without a single mark on him. As he turns around Suri sees eyes that look exactly like hers. Before she can even ask he beckons her into the living room which is full of the other escapees. Suri walks to the front of the room and stands on top of a table.
"Now that everyone's here... this is, let's call it, initiation night. Osal, will you grab shot glasses for everyone? We'll let death separate the weak from the strong. By the way, this is your last chance to leave before we start." She says.
Two people slowly stand and walk out. After a few seconds of silence, Osal comes in the room with the glasses and hands them out. Suri rolls up her sleeve.
"Now, let's join a gang." she says.
Fall 2033
RETLAS Hideout
Bedstuy, Ny
6:30am
All the pledges in the room have a tiny shot of blood on their glasses. They watch Suri as she fills the last glass & bandages her forearm.
"You guys know what to do." Suri says while waving her hand at them.
They all take the shot except for one. He looks down at the shot and looks up at the table. Suri is standing behind him.
"You remember when I asked everyone if they wanted to leave & you stayed your ass right there?" He spins around and looks at Suri with a look of fear and bewilderment. His hands start shaking as he backs up into the wall, her golden eyes paralyze him.
"Don't worry if you spill some, there's an endless supply." Suri says with a grin.
He hyperventilates as he sees the other people in the room fall on the floor, convulsing everywhere. He looks at the drink then at Suri & drinks it. His eyes roll back as his back violently hits the wall. Instead of falling and convulsing, he puts his hands over his eyes, stumbling into a corner. Suri spins him around and when he puts his hands down, blood is streaming from his eyes.
"More plot twists huh?" Suri says. He falls to his knees and holds his head. Suri, walks around him in an almost ritualistic manner. She stops in front of him and he looks up at her with golden eyes then he yells in pain. He put his head back into his hands and Suri put her hand on his head.
"You're going to be the strongest of all my warriors. From here on out you will be called Norach, after Hades' very own ferryman. You will help me deliver anyone in my way to judgement day." Suri says.
Norach falls to the ground and passes out, the last image he sees is Suri walking towards the other bodies on the floor.
"Now, what's are we going to do with you guys? Osal, looks like we have some expanding to do... grab two sledgehammers, if this is going to be a base.. we're going to do it right." She exclaims.
Osal disappears in the back as Suri starts sitting the pledges up.
East Harlem
3:50am
Earlier that Night
The Corporation truck holding Neshon is on its way back to the Corporation Black site. The truck has to take the back roads in order to not raise suspicion amongst civilians. They turn down a one way to take a shortcut back to HQ. Halfway down the street their tires are popped by a swarm of Royals. As the officers get out and point their weapons into the crowd, the Royals leader Dion comes to the front of the pack. Dion smiles while he speaks.
"You know, I almost believed the hype. Everyone really thought you guys left for good. 4 months without a trace and here you are." Dion says as two Royals open the back of the truck & Neshon falls out. Dion looks at Neshon. "Kidnapping innocent civilians??" He says angrily. Steam starts coming off his body as his muscles start to swell up. The rest of the Royals come forward as they start transforming. Dion let's put a roar of battle and a Corp officer empties a clip in his stomach. Dion laughs as the officer realizes his bullets have no effect. Dion grabs the gun and crumples in into a tiny ball with no effort.
"Pathetic, this is who the people fear? He kisses teeth. Kill them & save the good parts for chicken over rice." He says.
Neshon is hiding in in the nearby bushes watching the carnage. He runs toward the subway and boards the 5 express train that was about to leave the station. He exhaled as the train leaves the station. He sits down in the seat at the end of the train prepared for the long ride back home to queens.
Corporation HQ
Midtown Ny
8:46 am Later that morning
The board room is full of smoke and misery as O moves to the front of the room.
"It's fair to say that the last board meeting was a failure but I'm proud to say that we have resumed experimentation and it's going far better than even the last trial-" O says before I interrupts.
"Thanks to me of course..." I interjects.
"Yes, your department finally did its job. Thank you. Anyway, we passed trials 1 through 5 and the second half of them are looking to be a success as well. We will have another update at our next meeting." O says with an annoyed tone.
"All that is nice but we have a more pressing issue... With our absence in the boroughs, gang activity is on the rise again. I fear they may complicate things." D says.
"Let them kill each other.. we will have as much time as we need to repopulate our new world." He says as he exhales a big cloud of smoke. "After all, we are the past, present and future." V adds.
"And as long as we continue in our efforts. Phase two will commence in two summers time." O also adds.
"Excellent, I expect to hear good things next time we meet." C says as the meeting concludes.
RETLAS Hideout
Bedstuy, Ny
1 pm
Neshon knocks on the door to the hideout & as Suri lets him in he fills her in on everything that happened that night. Suri relieved that Neshon is okay, invites him to come in the living room to sit & he observes the many people in the busy living room.
"What's all this?" Neshon asks.
"Expansion. Trees need all the space they can get for strong roots. why not turn the projects into a fortress?" She asks. "You got a point there. Speaking of that. Last night I got a taste of war & I want in. I can handle myself." Neshon tells Suri.
Suri doesn't even have to think about it.
"Nah bro, I cant have anything to happen to you bro. This shit is deeper than you can even imagine. One little fight doesn't show me that you're built for it. It may have just been lucky. After all you're the last childhood friend I have left." Suri explains to Neshon.
"Niggas die everyday bro. It's cool though, I do what I gotta do out here regardless." He says.
Neshon heads towards the door and opens it "...you're not the only childhood friend I have." Neshon says right before he slams the door behind him.
Suri pays him no mind & goes back to the living room where her pledges are sitting down. Successfully passing the initiation, only 25% of the people who pledged actually survived. Their golden eyes shine through the darkness of the apartment. Suri lays down blueprints & starts to consult with Osal.
Meanwhile
Neshon heads to the Silows' hideout in queens. Determined to prove to his childhood friends that he has what it takes to live this life.
Silows Hideout
Jamaica, Ny
8:14 pm That evening
Neshon heads to the Silows hideout, located in the middle of Jamaica, they have high end junkies who are willing to lay a high end price. Not much violence goes on because of it. the Silows have a peace treaty with the Noremac's. As long as the Silows provide clientele, the Noremac's leave their turf alone. As Neshon enters the building and climbs the steps he hopes that his college friend Meli can help him. Truth is, Neshon knows Meli has had a crush on him since college and is also now the head of the Silows gang. He figures he could get in with just that. As he goes to knock on the door an almost robotic voice comes from the door.
"Who are you & what do you want?" A voice says on the other side of the door. Neshon starts to respond.
"uh, I'm a friend of Meli's sh-". The person interrupts Neshon mid sentence. "Meli doesn't have any friends, you have thirty seconds to remove yourself or you will know what your insides look like." Then Neshon hears a woman's voice in the distance. They debate for a second and the door opens up. In the opening of the door is a man, all of 3 foot standing on stilts & Neshon bursts out in laughter. Before Neshon realizes it the man has a knife to his neck ready to slice. A woman's voice yells from the back.
"LP! Stop your bullshit. Let him go, he's a good friend." As LP puts the knife down, Meli's half black, half white hair is the first things seen when she steps into the light. "Long time no see Neshon." She says softly as She grabs his hand and pulls him into the door.
She drags him into her bed room and sits him in a chair by her bed. She pulls out a rolling tray and hands it to Neshon. They catch up on each other's lives and smoke a few blunts. A few hours go by and Meli's face gets serious.
"So for real Neshon, what are you doing out here? I know it wasn't to come see me or your would've came a long time ago." Meli asks.
"Wow, after everything I explained to you, you wonder why it took so long for me to come?" Neshon says while laughing. Meli laughs too while she agrees.
"true true." She says "Seriously, I came because I heard you just became head of Silows & I wanted to offer my help." Neshon says with a straight face.
"You heard? what could you do to help? you've always been on the fence with this stuff." She asks.
Neshon gets impatient as Meli paces and thinks. "You have to prove yourself... I will send you on a string of missions with the crew and see how you fare." She says.
Meli walks up to Neshon and grabs his face. "As much as I love that pretty face, I wouldn't choose it over this family... come back tomorrow night and I'll have something lined up for you." She says with a smirk.
Neshon gets up and goes to say his goodbyes. Meli pulls him in the bed on top of her. "I didn't say you had to leave tonight, I just said make sure you're back by tomorrow night." She says.
Meli hears some of her crew coming in the hideout. She turns off the light and closes the door.
Noremac Hideout
Brownsville, Ny
11:15 pm
Later that night
Ike knocks on the door with his signature knock. Irie buzzes him in and as he walks in he passes her his spliff.
"What you been up to sis?" He says.
"You know, the usual." She says as she takes the blunt. Irie is going through all of the corporation weapons that Ike stole. She tests each of them out until she comes across the black box. She rotates it in her hand, inspecting it. Ike comes over and watches her inspect it.
"Yeahhhh, I'm not sure what that is, seemed important because it was behind a glass. Don't think anyone would notice since it was in a back room. I can't figure out how to open it though." He says.
"It's weird." she says. "The sides are curved in but every edge is sharper than a sword.. AH FUCK!" She cuts herself on an edge of the cube and drops it in the table. Her blood collects in one of the imprinted circles and some invisible border stops it. it only covers the left half of the circle and the right half of the cube starts glowing a blue color.
"You aight sis? You gotta be more careful." Ike says as he gives her a rag.
"I'll be fine." She says. She looks over at the glowing cube.
"What's going on with the cube?" Ike gets eye level with the cube.
"I'm not sure. It reacted to your blood though. Let's see if I can make the other half work." Ike pricks his finger tip and let's a drop of blood fall into the other half of the circle and picks it up. The box turns red as it heats up above sun level temperature. Ike quickly drops the box and it's back to its regular temperature before it even hits the floor. Irie picks up the box and puts it back on the table. Ike is shaking hands.
"I guess not..." he says.
"We'll figure that out later, for now we gotta get this work back on the streets. We have 800 capsules, 1,000 syringes & 2,500 bags of powder." Irie says and Ike starts smiling.
"Let's fuck the streets up." He says as they start bagging everything up.