Unwelcome Guests

A dark presence fills your abode, a swirling black essence that taints every inch of your sanctum, the essence comes offering peace, but peace is not on its mind, it wishes to expand and it sees you as excellent source of power.

A premonition, not a very subtle one either.

You awaken in bed alone again, it’s been months but it still feels wrong to not see him in bed beside you.

The late, great Sir Armatage a man who could feel no pain, a man who could, and did hold the world on his shoulders, until he died.

He’s the only person you’ve every met that trusted you so much that he opened his mind for you to read.

You push those thoughts to the farthest recesses of your mind, floating your outfit out from your drawers toward yourself.

Maybe it’s lazy, but you like to think of it as some light mental training to help jumpstart your senses.

You dress and climb downstairs, you smell the scent of cooked eggs and bacon emanating from downstairs.

Seems the premonition is gonna come true sooner than you had anticipated.

You reach the final landing, peering ahead at your dining table there sits a man, he’s on the older side older than you even, he’s Hispanic and wears an extravagant red suit.

Francisco Infierno, Damn near everyone knows the name but few could actually tell you anything real about him.

He wears luxurious red suits and gives millions of dollars to charity, though you doubt he’s getting it all from his bakery.

You’ve heard he likes boxing, that he was once in the army, he’s a painter, but what you KNOW is that he sticks to the old rules.

Near as you can tell his ‘Associates’ don’t deal in common **** or **** trafficking, he’s never been suspected of attacking the sacred areas around the city, churches, hospitals, schools etc.

And he hardly needs to intimidate anyone to get his point across, one time his young niece went missing.

Poor bastard didn’t know what he got himself into until a group of armed men busted down his door and gutedt him on his kitchen counter like a fish… then Infiernos people made sure every paper in the city had reported on it.

And now the patriarch of the infierno crime family sits at your table, eating breakfast.

“Ah, good morning to you, Ms Chen!” He says, his voice is warm and kind, almost grandfatherly.

“Please, take a seat, we’ve much to discuss, you and I…” he says before taking a bite of his food.

Looking around the room you spot several more of his people lounging about your living room nonchalantly.

“Oh don’t mind them, they were kind enough to drive me so I thought it only fair if they had the chance to see inside your lovely home” he says.

You step forward and take a seat across from Infierno, laying your hands on the table in clear view.

He does the same, a sign of respect.

“I’ve followed your work for a long time Ms Chen and I must say, I’m impressed!” He says his words smooth like honey.

“On Door Day you had to make a tough decision didn’t you? Save the city or your friends… but.. you made the hard choice”

“So you of all people understand sometimes to do a service for the city means to make some… ugly decisions..”

“Your friend Mr Keyes understood that well… he was able to make some ugly choices for the city…” his point is made clear he wants you to be his whore.

“You want me to go crooked?”

“Not at all chief..! After all, the best interests of the city would remain your focus, and why would you waste Northside resources chasing harmless mischief makers when there are real scum infesting our streets?”

“And as I’m sure you’ve found by now my organization rewards those who have the cities best interests at heart” he says the implication so obvious he might as well have dollar signs in his eyes.