ALTIDUDE
CHAPTER III: To The RESCUE
“-on other news; the North end of Altona has already seen a major change in fear levels and a gigantic decrease in gun violence. No one yet has claimed responsibility for the heroic actions displayed last week.” Helena and Leilani turned their attentions from the television to Ven who was casually eating in the dining room, “I’m assuming you had something to do with that,” Helena said, “not just me, I had help from this kid, Otto. He wears this crappy glove, but, it shoots out electricity.” As Ven rambled on, the doorbell rang, and Leilani went to answer it. “What’s up, officer?” She asked, “I’m here for him,” the unfamiliar cop pointed at Ven, “you’re not my Parole Officer, what do you want?” The cop removed his sunglasses and stated, “well, Mr. Costello, I have a warrant for your arrest, breaking-and-entering and trespassing,” Ven was just as shocked as Helena and Leilani. Ven was placed in cuffs and shoved into the car, “we’ll meet you at the jail,” Helena shouted to her brother as the cop shut the door, “no, don’t worry about me. Take Leilani to school and get yourself to work, I’ll be fine,” the cop then sped off and up the long gravel road. “I’m not going to school, am I?” Leilani asked, “get dressed, something seems off.”
“Why don’t you just allow me to talk to Judge Delano?” Ven asked, the cop slammed on breaks and made Ven hit his head on the bars separating the two. He noticed that the cop passed the jail and continued West. “Where are you taking me?” He angrily asked, “have you ever heard the Island’s folktale known as The Wolf and The Wounded Deer?” Ven said nothing in return, “well, I guess I’ll tell you,” the “cop” stopped the car in an empty lot. “Once upon a time there was secret forest that inhabited a Pack of wolves. In this pack were three Betas, an Omega, and an Alpha. One day while the pack was hunting they stumbled upon a rather large deer. Only one problem, the deer was hurt; shot in the hind leg. The Betas wanted to go after the wounded deer; for they haven’t eaten anything bigger than a hare, The Omega wanted to use the deer for bigger bate, but The Alpha got this sense that something was wrong, so, he told the pack to wait until late noon. If it wasn’t a trap, the deer would still be there at sundown.” Ven was getting tired of the seamlessly pointless story and tried breaking out of the cuffs, “you won’t be getting those off, they’re made from Titanium Immorsteel. Anyways, the sun had begun to set, and the deer had finally bled out. The Betas rushed in to retrieve the deer, but, a rifle’s bullet shot through both wolves, killing them both. The Omega plotted to seek out The Hunter when he was then shot and killed. The Hunter emerged from the top of the highest tree and awarded The Alpha with the dead deer, while he took the power from the dead wolves.” Ven was now aggravated and shouting for the mysterious man to let him out, but the man laughed and refused. Then, candy red sports car furiously drove into the empty lot and parked next to the cop cruiser. “Who is that?” Ven repeatedly asked, but he just smiled and exited the car. The man shook hands with the casually dressed driver of the sports car and made conversation briefly before Ven’s door swung open and the end of a golden pistol was pointed at his face. “Long time no see, Costello.”
“I’m sorry, but if Ven Costello was booked here, trust me, the whole island would know,” said one of the officers before leaving the Department. Helena and Leilani were running out of time to find Ven, so they desperately asked every uniformed cop in the building, “have you heard anything about Ven Costello?” Helena interrogated Deputy Jayden Baker; he got a worried look and said, “he was supposed to report to Judge Delano an hour ago, when was the last time you seen him?” Leilani explained to Jayden that the cop arrested him and planned to take him to jail. She even described the “officer” from his greasy black hair, to the slight tilt of his right foot when he walks. He instructed the females to follow him as he quickly got into his designated cruiser and headed West going two times the speed limit. “Is my brother in trouble?” Asked Helena, Jayden tried to sound calm and responded, “I’m sure he’s fine.” Leilani secretly prayed for her Uncle’s safety. Jayden, Helena, and Leilani arrived at the parking lot that was now full of people surrounding a young man wearing a black beanie that covered most of his head. “Roman Edwards, I’m going to ask you one time, and one time only. Have you seen Ven Costello?” The dealer laughed and replied, “-and if I did? You think I’ma snitch just so you can lock me up again? No deal, pig,” Leilani pushed her way towards the guy and clenched him by the tank-top nearly ripping it, then forcefully punched him in the nose. Helena pulled her daughter away before more damage was done; “you better say something, or I’ll let her go,” Helena yelled while the crowd of buyers scattered off like roaches to the light. “Alright! I seen Crisis hand him off to Toledo earlier, you can probably find them at the Mill, but, I would hurry because Toledo never interferes with dirty work which means shit is serious.”
Ven’s mouth was taped and he was tied to a chair while Toledo sat in front of him comfortably; gun in one hand and a glass bottle in the other. “Last drink? It’s Belvedere, Professor’s favorite, right?” Ven glared at his old acquaintance with no emotion less than hatred, “you really hit the deep end, Ven-Ven. First you were the runaway trouble maker that Altona despised, then, you became the Professor’s most cherished pet, then, you became known as the worthless drunk who trapped everyone on the island. And now, you’re the nameless hero who fucked with my operation. I don’t think you realize how dead you are, or, you just don’t care.” Toledo stood up and placed his gun inside of his waistband and soon left the room before returning with a more improved version of the knuckle duster one of his gang leaders wore. “It sucks, you and I could’ve ran this entire island with no problems,” He clenched his weaponized fist and revealed that the titanium knuckle duster emitted an ominous red glow. Ven closed his eyes as the metal came increasingly closer to his face, but, the lights shut off in the old Mill. Blue sparks bounced off the walls as Toledo blindly punched the air creating a mini light show of blue and red. A set of hands grabbed Ven and felt around him until the small fingers touched the duct tape and ripped it off, “come on,” directed the girl’s voice, “I can’t, I’m tied to the chair,” Ven whispered back. As Leilani untied Ven, Otto continued to distract Toledo until Deputy Baker flicked on the lights. It was now just him and Toledo. “You’re going away for a long time Jose,” confidently explained Jayden, Toledo began to roar in laughter, “do you honestly think locking me away will cease my businesses? If anything, you’d just be opening the biggest can of worms you’ve ever seen,” he dropped his weapon that cracked the ground on impact and allowed himself to be arrested. Ven, Helena (who was expressing her worries to her brother), Leilani, and Otto watched as Jayden loaded Toledo into the cruiser. “It’s not over for any of yo. All of your lives are in danger as of now.” The crime-boss was silenced by Jayden and drove to jail where he was then processed and sent to Red Steel Prison.
