Lonely Thieves

Act II, Part VIII

Kolya's Side (April 9, 9:00 pm)

On the rooftops of the Lunar district, Kolya stared out over the city with a handheld telescope. The Overman patrols had increased partway back to the levels they were at last night, although he did not spy any Dogs or Hawks in the vicinity. Overall, it looked like they did not seem to think of the Lunar district as a high-priority area.

As he continued to survey the area, he felt his phone vibrate quietly in his coat pocket. He looked at the screen and grimaced. It was Amoretto. Kolya considered not answering, but that would bring him more trouble than it was worth.

"Kolya! Haven't spoken to you in a bit. How you doing?"

"What do you want, Amoretto? I'm a bit busy."

"Busy? Well, excuse me. I just wanted to check on that favor I asked you about before. You remember?"

"Favor? Oh... about the Night Hunt boards." Kolya had actually forgotten about that thanks to all of the commotion that had happened since then. Well, even if he had time to check the boards, he doubted he would have done so just to get in good with Amoretto.

"Sorry, pal. I haven't seen anything yet."

"Is that so? Well, I'll trust you for now. There's no need to rush anyhow. I'm counting on you, though."

"Shouldn't you be getting your men to do this? I'm out of the family. You shouldn't even be talking to me."

"Like you aren't benefitting from my help," Amoretto replied snidely. "Well, fine. Let's call it even with this last favor, eh?"

Amoretto hung up, and Kolya let out a sigh of exasperation. What was that about calling it even? He was the kind of guy to keep his hooks in people he knew he could use.

Well, there was nothing he could do about it now. Besides, he could still use Amoretto himself. Kolya glanced in the distance towards the warehouse zone, where Hikaru and Megumi were holed up in the warehouse. Ever since the three of them had gotten back from Masao's home, she had been lost in thought. He couldn't blame her; her family history was extremely complicated, and the Hayasaka family was certain to want her dead if they found out her true identity.

Still, staying inside that room with two downcast youngsters was too much, even for a stoic man like him. So, he decided to go and scout out the Overman patrols instead. At the same time, he could use the space to think about what he was going to do. At this point, completing that Night Hunt was probably out of the question. Well, he could just steal the necklace while they were sleeping and turn it in, of course, but he found the idea distasteful.

He had promised to protect Megumi no matter what, after all. He may have been an ex-mafia assassin, but he took his promises seriously, and he never made them if he wasn't planning on keeping them. Still, it was a strange feeling. Why did he agree so readily? Did he just want to hear the truth that badly? Either way, he had committed to it, so there was no stopping now.

Of course, how much trouble he was in depended on what Megumi wanted to do. If she just wanted to live a peaceful life or just get out of Twilight, they could probably get out of this situation fairly unscathed. If she wanted to get revenge on the Hayasakas, things would be very different. They'd be going up against the combined might of the Three Great Families, and that would not be fun in the slightest. Even if Masao was right and they got ahold of the will of Shigeru Hayasaka, it wasn't as if they could topple all three giants with it. Their reputation would be ruined for all time, and Megumi would be the reason why.

As Kolya wracked his brain over what to do, he suddenly received a call. He glanced at the phone and saw Norah's name. Come to think of hit, he hadn't heard from her recently. It'd be a good idea to see how she's been doing.

"Kolya?" Norah's voice came over the phone. "I know it's been a while. Are things all right on your end?"

"You could say that," Kolya replied. "Did you manage to get away from Overman successfully?"

"Somehow. We're now heading over to your location. I just wanted to confirm that you're still in the same place as before."

"That's right. We've established a password to make sure we don't open the door for anyone suspicious. Knock on the door and whisper the words 'morning glory'. They should let you in."

"Morning glory, huh? Any significance behind those words?"

"Not at all." Kolya hung up the phone and got up from his perch. The Overman patrols didn't look like they were going to change any time soon. It would be pretty pointless to just stick around here, even if it was just to get his mind off things. For the time being, it would be more productive to get some more information.

Kolya leapt down, got back into his car, and set a course for the Sunrise district. He felt a bit bad about bothering Bassani again after having finally earned his retirement, but he was a good source of info for him. Besides, right now Kolya could use as many allies as he could get.

After a twenty minute drive, Kolya arrived at Bassani's mansion, taking care to park on the curb this time around. As he walked up to the mansion, he suddenly felt the hairs on his neck stand on end. Something was wrong, and he could feel it in the air. His fears were confirmed when he found the door to the mansion standing ajar. A body collapsed behind the door turned out to be the caretaker that Kolya had met previously. After gently laying her body to the side, Kolya pulled out his pistol and slipped into the mansion as quietly as he could.

Kolya quickly surveyed the situation in the foyer. It was mostly undisturbed, though it was eerily quiet. He continued slowly into the dimly lit living room, where he caught sight of Bassani sitting in his chair. As he neared, he realized that Bassani was already dead. Blood was pouring from his chest, and a shattered wine glass laid on the floor next to him.

As Kolya stepped into the room, he quickly realized that he was not alone, as a shadowy figure emerged from the other side of the room. To his surprise, it was Amoretto, holding a pistol in his hand. Amoretto gave Kolya a cold smile and pointed his gun at him.

"Kolya! I'm so upset! I thought we were friends!"

"Amoretto," Kolya growled as he kept his gun trained on him. "Did you do this?"

"You didn't give me much choice, did you? Running around snooping on the people that kept you from going hungry... is that how you show gratitude? How you show loyalty?"

Kolya slowly stepped back as he tried to determine if Amoretto was alone. Amoretto sighed and put down his gun.

"Let's stop all this, eh? I'm still willing to bury the hatchet and sweep all this under the rug. But I need a commitment from you, buddy. You don't gotta come back to the family, but I need a show of good faith, right?"

Koly grimaced. "Get real. You don't think I'd ever actually work with you again, did you?"

Amoretto's smirk widened maliciously. "It never hurts to ask."

He raised his hand in the air, and several Innocenti men emerged from the other room with guns drawn. Kolya kept his gun trained on Amoretto. He had expected that Amoretto wouldn't be alone, but this situation was a bit too dicey for his taste.

"I can see the headline now, old friend. 'Ex-Innocenti executive killed by a vagrant shooter.' The boss will be sad to hear of it, but what can you do?"

Kolya ignored him and glanced to the side. In an instant he dashed to the window and leapt through it, smashing it to pieces. Amoretto's goons attempted to pursue him, but they were unable to keep him from getting away. Kolya pulled out his car remote and activated its remote start, then leapt into the passenger seat. He activated the auto-drive and shut the door. As the car drove away, Kolya sighed as he righted himself and got into the driver's seat. He felt bad for Bassani, but there was nothing to be gained by feeling guilty over his death.

He glanced in the mirror and noticed headlights gaining on him. Looks like Amoretto wasn't planning on letting him go so easily. Kolya turned off the auto-drive and gripped the steering wheel with his hands. It would be far too dangerous to go back to the Lunar district with the Innocenti on his tail, so he'd simply have to lead them on a wild goose chase for now. That didn't really worry him, but he was worried about Megumi. Still, Hikaru was with her, and Norah and Daryl would be there soon. They'd be fine without him for a while.