[Unit 202, 420 Al Retro Road | 1600 Central Time, Day 1]
The room went silent moments after Mendez and Foy shut the door behind them.
That is, until Becks opened his mouth.
"Wait, then what the hell is that email all about?"
"What email?" asked Sui.
"The email that we saw on--fuck it, never mind," dismissed Becks. "Guess we'll have to do with just 'Foy'."
"Wouldn't hurt knowing his full name though. 'Foy' makes it sound like it's an alias, an alter-ego or something. It just doesn't sound right," chimed in Sui.
"Yo, question," asked Becks. "Chop, you rolled with BP back in the days, right?"
Sui nodded.
"What division Mendez was in?"
The bespectacled man let a sigh. He knew the answer; getting it out of his mouth is the hard part.
"Easy answer, he's on security under Kenburn's division."
"And the hard answer?"
Sui straightened his glasses. "He's not in charge of counter-intelligence or forward operations or anything like that. He's what the BP boys call 'The Extractor'."
"So like some sort of rescue team?"
Sui held out a finger, signalling he wasn't finished. "The extractor of information."
"Like a scout or somethin'?"
"Information out of people."
Didn't take long for Becks to figure out what that meant. "Oh."
"Mendez always found a way to make people talk," continued Sui. "The easy way, the hard way, the painful way, the painless way. No one in BP likes to take the saw to someone. But Mendez?"
Becks was enthralled by Sui's reminiscence.
"He'll do it," said Sui. "And word was, he liked it."
Morgan nodded beside Becks. She'd seen Mendez' twisted sense of pleasure before. It happened before her eyes earlier today, after all.
Becks shrugged. "I dunno man, he seemed alright to me."
Sui paused before continuing his point. "You know, there's a story spread around the ranks of BP. Pretty sure everyone that works for Blackpoint know about it at this point."
"Way before my time, a hitsquad went for O'Donnell's life," chronicled Sui. "Only one of the assassins survived, and the top lieutenants--O'Donnell, Cezaro, all of them--wanted to find out who sent them. Surely I don't have to tell you who they sent to extract that information from him.
"Guy's not in the mood to talk, so Mendez asked, 'how do you want to die?'"
Both Morgan and Becks were paying full attention now.
"Guy said 'make it quick'; he'd rather die than talk, and he's trying to get Mendez to just pop one in his head."
"Shit, what did Mendez do?" asked Becks.
"He just smiled," said Sui. "Before firing three bullets into the assassin's legs in a second."
Becks let out a low but long oooooohhh. Morgan surprisingly didn't let out much of a reaction.
"Only thing he said after that was 'that quick enough for you?'"
Becks' ooohh turned into an ironic chuckle. "Holy shit."
Sui paused for a moment. "Look, I'll always be in his debt, I know that.
"But I'm also aware of what he's capable of, and apparently death himself does too," continued Sui. "Seeing that he stood before me after getting shot in the head years ago, I know for a fact that I'd rather be with him than against him.
"That's just common sense. Not because I like him or respect him or anything like that."
Sui had gotten his point across. Becks turned to Morgan in response.
"What do you think, Morgan?"
Morgan raised both of her hands. Not in dismissal, but in assertion.
"Oh I know, Mendez told me all that," said Morgan.
"And?"
"Let's just say that you are entitled to your opinion and I'm not gonna try to convince you otherwise," said Morgan. "After all, I did kick him out of the cafe after he told me his past."
"And yet here we are," concluded Becks.
"And yet here we are," agreed Morgan. "Now are we going to talk about making me disappear, boys?"
[Liberty Bar and Grill, 35 Avian Street | 1615 Central Time, Day 1]
"A bar, eh?" asked Mendez as they stood in front of what was supposed to be Sanchez' hangout.
It was a bar/restaurant type of venue, with oaken decor plastered all over the front side of the bar. Wide checkered windows flank the single glass door that served as the bar's entrance. Judging from the front, Mendez figured the place being a sports bar where patrons would hang around in late Saturday nights to watch, cheer, and jeer on football matches supporting their favorite teams.
"I believe so," answered Foy. "Sanchez likes to hang around this place looking for prospects for the club. If he thinks they can throw and take a punch, he will try to poach them."
"You know about this?"
"I come from time to time. Sanchez likes to pretend I'm not around whenever I drop by."
Mendez scratched his chin. "Makes sense Oakley called him the minute you turned. Do I sense a coup under the lid?"
Foy scoffed as he made his entrance. "You're not the only one."
On the interior, the bar had its oaken decor in its full glory. Oaken floor, oaken seats and tables, and an oaken-dominated bar at the far end of the bar opposite the entrance complete with its own oaken stools. It's not all wood though, as there were two televisions at either sides of the bar livening up the already boisterous bar atmosphere.
The pair spotted Sanchez dead-center at the bar with almost all the stools beside him taken. They seem to be close to each other. His escort, perhaps?
"Hey Sanchez," called Mendez as he tapped the man on the shoulder.
Sanchez' immediate expression was uninviting. "What the fuck do you want?" he then noticed Foy standing behind Mendez. "What's this guy doing here, boss?"
"Oh, we just wanted to check in," continued Mendez, his tone unchanged. "See, when Foy called you earlier asking for some quite sensitive information, you gave them right away. Even though you knew Foy joined me after that embarrassing beatdown of yours. Pretty sure you wouldn't have been trusted with that information if you're that gullible."
"What's your point?"
"All I'm saying is," said Mendez as he leaned closer to Sanchez, "you're not telling us the truth. After all, it's all a bit too convenient, don't you think?"
And that's when Mendez saw it. Sanchez pulled a gun.
It all happened so fast, Mendez couldn't make the type.
Mendez was still faster, though.
With a quick motion, Mendez parried the gun away from his head, causing the gun to discharge against the ceiling, which sent a clear message to the entire bar to make their exit.
As customers and patrons alike were clamoring in panic behind him, Mendez launched his head against Sanchez', knocking him backwards and causing him to lose his gun.
Mendez was about to advance on Sanchez when someone grabbed him from behind by the arms, which allowed Sanchez to stumble away and disappear behind the bar.
Replacing Sanchez were his entourage, who marched towards Mendez looking to take turns punching him in the gut.
That is, until Foy kicked the grabber on the thigh, causing him to drop to his knees.
Noticing the grip on him loosening, Mendez spun and launched his right knee at the grabber's face just as Foy delivered a push kick against the back of his head. After the doubly painful impact, the grabber went down to the oaken floor.
Both Mendez and Foy turned to see who else they were up against: five men circling and cornering them against the bar.
"It's five against two, pal. Get ready to pick your teeth from the floor," said a henchman.
Smiling, Mendez readied his stance. "Hmm, favorable."
And just like that, the two parties sprang into action.
Mendez saw the first punch coming. He ducked to the left and delivered his counter-attack in one fluid motion--a right knee against his diaphragm, sending the goon into a slouched position.
As the first goon slouched, Mendez saw another attack coming--a jab from his friend going over the slouched henchman's back. He wasn't fast enough, and took the fist right on the face.
As he was knocked back, Mendez felt he was being grabbed--by the arms--again.
There was a third goon, apparently. And him holding Mendez by the arms would allow the second goon-the one that punched him earlier--to get some free hits. Not ideal.
But first things first--the first knee'd henchman wasn't down yet. So Mendez kicked him on the right jaw and down he went.
As for his current predicament, Mendez threw his head backwards, launching his crown against the henchman's nose.
It worked. The reverse-headbutt stunned the henchman and knocked him backwards. But that's not it for the henchman.
As he was stumbling backwards, his feet can barely keep his balance, he felt something else.
He was being grabbed by the neck from behind. Foy.
Only that Foy wasn't going for a rear choke like those seen in mixed martial arts fights-- he threw the henchman over the shoulder with the henchman's neck as leverage!
The henchman landed square on one of the tables, breaking it apart and causing him to tumble onto the floor.
Foy then glanced to his right. Another threat--a henchman going for a hit across his right jaw. But he saw that one coming.
Not only that Foy ducked under the punch, he sidestepped so quick he circled the henchman, grabbed him around the waist from behind, lifted him up, and threw the henchman backwards--while releasing his grip on the henchman mid-air!
Mendez caught the release German suplex move at the corner of his eyes--and with a henchman in front of him, he thought of doing a double whammy. Not to mention this is the guy that got a hit on him--he deserves that special treatment.
His opponent kicked him with his left leg. Mendez saw it, blocked the move with his own left leg, and countered with a left jab followed with a cross.
But the cross never arrived at the henchman's right jaw.
Because Mendez feigned the move and delivered a left-handed shovel hook instead. He felt the jaw cracking under his knuckle--a pleasant sensation.
Mendez saw the henchman dazed from his flurry of attacks. Time to bring him down the floor.
Grabbing him by the shoulders, Mendez kneed him on the stomach and shoved him backwards before tripping him on the shins, causing him to land face-first on his pal's head--the henchman that Foy suplexed earlier!
Before the henchman's head can roll off his partner's, Mendez stomped at the head-pile--hard.
Looking to his right, Mendez noticed Foy on the floor with the last henchman--grabbing him by the thug's left arm in an attempt to perform an armbar.
That's gonna take a while, isn't it? thought Mendez.
With that in mind, Mendez lunged and stomped on the henchman's exposed torso with his right knee! "Uggh!" exclaimed the henchman, coughing out blood.
Mendez felt it. Foy felt it. The henchman went limp.
The fight's over. But their task here was not.
"Sanchez went the back door," said Mendez before him and Foy rushed behind the bar counter.
Turns out the back door led to the alleyway beside Liberty, which was where Mendez and Foy saw a fire escape leading to the roof at the end of the alley...
...along with Sanchez in the middle of scaling it.
Mendez didn't have time for this. He pulled out La Mutilar.
BANG!
The bullet hit Sanchez in his upper right arm.
He fell off the stairs, crashing into the big recycling bin below it and tumbling down into the concrete.
"Arrgh, fuck..." cursed Sanchez in pain as Mendez and Foy marched towards him.
Sanchez looked up to see Mendez, causing his eyes to widen in terror. He tried to crawl off frantically, but Mendez stepped on his right arm, which caused him to whimper in agony.
"There goes asking you politely," said Mendez, locking La Mutilar against Sanchez' face. "Now tell me all you know about the shipment."