Tuesday 21st April 2009, 23:00.
New Jersey,
Gotham City,
East End.
His slumber was by no means peaceful or comfortable, yet it was something he needed all the same in order to aid in his recovery. It was the sound of gunshots that disturbed him, making him lucid and aware of the pain still coursing through his body. But it was the sound of explosions and car alarms that brought him back to the land of the living in full.
He shot up, only to grit his teeth in pain as his body protested heavily. "Fuck!" He cursed, collapsing back down onto the bed as his arms gave up on holding him up.
Laying there panting, Esau glared up at the ceiling as his injuries flared up, agony overshadowing the frustration and anger he felt at being disturbed. But, like always, Esau could not be held down for long and he forced himself up, bracing his body against the walls of his room as he limped out into the main area.
There, after nearly tripping over both his sofa and coffee table, he finally managed to prop himself up against the window and look out, his breath fogging up the window in parts. "What the fuck is going on?" Esau wondered, unable to quite believe what was going on before his eyes.
It was chaos.
Pure anarchy seemed to have engulfed the streets down below with what seemed to be a mass riot having erupted out of nowhere.
As always, Gotham was a free for all, a dog eats dog world, but this; this was on an entirely different level.
People were in the fights fighting without a care in the world, Esau spotting men armed with semiautomatics targeting others who hid behind cars whose alarms blared loudly in the midst of the night. The people hiding behind them fired their pistols wildly and hoped to hit their target, only for a Molotov cocktail to strike the car and engulf it and those behind it in flames.
'This isn't chaos.' Esau soon began to realise listening to the symphony of sound and the chaos that unfolded before him. 'This is a war.'
He had been young when the last crime war took place between the Riddler and the Joker, nothing more than a child with his parents still around to protect him from the truth of the world. Esau was young still when he witnessed the last major conflict between Carmine Falcone and Sal Maroni before they seemed to be swallowed by the chaos of Gotham, becoming just another cog in the machine.
Yet the conflict before him matched the insanity of the War of Jokes and Riddles but had the more refined and simplistic barbarity of the Falcone and Maroni conflict.
This was a war not between Gotham's supervillains.
This was a war between its crime lords.
Crime lords who had learned the ways of the new system of Gotham City.
But who was the question?
"Wait!" That was Alfie's voice, Esau turned to look at the door where he could hear his neighbour's panicked cries. "Don't shoot!"
His pleas fell on deaf ears as gunshots sounded, Esau ducking down reflexively as he moved towards the doors, slowly and steadily. There, he slid up, looking through the peephole to see Alfie's dead body laid out on the floor, blood pooling out from the numerous bullet holes that riddled his body. But standing above him were six men, they looked like the typical gangbangers with baggy T-shirts, and shorts, guns held in their hands as they looked around.
"Check the rooms, we're sending Panessa Family a message."
'The Panessa Family?' Esau thought, noticing watching them kick in Alfie's door and enter inside.
As they did, Esau looked around for something he could brace against the door, moving towards his coffee table, it was the only thing he could carry without making too much noise, or at least he hoped that was the case. He needed something to at least slow them down because he was by no means in the best condition to fight anyone at the moment. His battle against Talon and the Undead Talons had not been easy, nor had Esau been able to properly recover so for now, he needed to fight smarter.
Stumbling into his room, Esau picked up the clawed gloves from the floor, slipping them on as he headed towards the case he had placed in the corner of the room. Slipping a shoulder holster on, he slipped one of the Glocks into place there, then with grit teeth, strapped the thigh harness around one leg, sliding the Bowie knives into place.
But as Esau went to pick up the next Glock, he heard the door to his apartment burst open.
"Shit!" Someone cursed, tripping over the coffee table as they rushed inside. "Bring me the fucker hiding in here!" Then bullets fired out, striking the walls and bursting through, Esau crawling across the floor as he listened out.
The door to his room was then kicked in, Esau pushing himself as far up against the wall as he could as two men came inside, hidden from view by the door. But despite having a clear shot for both of them, Esau didn't go straight away and waited, biding his time for just a little longer. Then, as they moved further into the room, Esau slipped the Glock into the back of his pants and pulled out a knife.
Holding it in an ice pick grip in his left hand, Esau moved in quickly, one of the thugs noticing his approach out of the corner of his eyes. It was too late though, the knife cutting through his throat a slight noise escaped his lips that alerted the other man who turned directly into Esau's claws, piercing deep into his neck.
However, the body of the first thug dropped to the ground loudly, the others noticing what had unfolded.
Spinning the body he held in his hands to use as a shield, Esau blocked a few bullets and took aim, firing rapidly.
Two more dropped to the ground.
Esau grunted though as he felt a bullet graze his side, his injuries flaring with pain the rapid movements making things worse. 'Fuck! This is not good!'Ducking down, Esau pushed past the agony coursing through his body and waited, feeling plaster wall pepper his back from where bullets continued to pierce through.
They were aiming for where he was standing originally and a little further to either side, expecting him to be stood up and seemingly not having considered him having ducked down. Even then, it was an excess of bullets, even if he was standing there, but it showed how panicked they were, more than likely they were firing blindly, not used to people fighting back.
So, as they stopped firing, they approached his room cautiously, guns raised and poised but as they came into sight, Esau came around the corner and fired up. The bullets struck them yet not every one of them was accurate, most of them collapsing to the ground. One remained standing though and even though he had dropped his gun, rushed forwards, Esau not having any bullets left.
Gasping in pain as he was tackled to the ground, Esau's vision went blank as he lay there, feeling the man trying to strangle him, yet not quite having the strength to throw him off. Unsheathing his knife, Esau thrust it into the guy's side, he crying out in pain but the blonde was not done, stabbing him a second and third time in quick succession, the blood pooling from the wound, warm and fresh. Then he stabbed up into the underside of his chin, throwing the man off of him, wiping the blood from his face with one hand, only to see the other three getting to their feet.
One was clutching his arm, another was clutching his side and the final one was pressing down upon his leg.
Yet despite those wounds, the three were still ready to fight.
Esau threw the knife at one guy before he had the chance to fire, it pierced into his arm as Esau unholstered his second Glock, firing everything he had and following their movements. The pain was getting worse and he was flagging, fatigue setting in and making everything extremely difficult, but he couldn't give up here, not when there were only a few left and god knows how many more going to come for him.
Yet despite his efforts, only one went down for good.
Getting up, Esau took out his final Bowie knife and stepped into the corridor, only for two powerful gunshots to echo out. The glass on his window broke as both men collapsed to the ground, large holes in their heads as two more burst into the walls of his kitchen, Esau freezing in shock. Almost as if the strings holding him up were cut, Esau also dropped to his knees, breathing heavily, heart pounding erratically and sweating profusely, skin pale and clammy.
Then his phone rang, Esau looked at it on the countertop and then out across to where the direction of the bullets had come from. He knew it was more than likely Deathstroke and at this point in time, Esau didn't know how he felt about that. But one thing was for certain, Deathstroke was behind those gunshots and saving his life, he owed him at least that much.
So, with a groan, he dragged himself over to the counter, grabbed his phone and saw it was an unknown number. "Yes." He answered, placing it against his ear.
"That will be the last time I help you in that way," Deathstroke told him simply. "If you get yourself in a situation that requires my help, I'll deem you unworthy and kill you myself for wasting my time."
"Then why help me at all?" Esau questioned.
"For my own reasons."
Scoffing, Esau chuckled humourlessly. "How mysterious." He mocked. "But I think you're wasting your time, I have no interest in joining you and never will. So, you clearly have me in your sights right now, take the shot. I dare you."
"Daring me? How childish." Deathstroke retorted. "But I should expect no less from you. Strong-willed and unknowing of your own limits. However, you are at your limit, push yourself any further and the only thing waiting for you will be death. That's the way the world works after all, something you still have yet to learn."
"I've survived this long."
"You think that has anything to do with you?" Deathstroke sounded amused as he said that, something which irked Esau. "You survived Black Mask twice thanks to the arrival of Batman. You survived your first encounter with the Talon because he let you go. I will acknowledge your accomplishment in tearing down the False Face Society and getting one up on the Talon. However, Black Masks rivals aided you in the former and you could not have done the latter on your own."
Nothing Deathstroke said was a lie and Esau couldn't argue against much of it.
A lot of the things he had done were thanks to the interventions of others and he had truly not achieved much on his own.
It didn't mean that he liked such things being thrown into his face in such a way.
"I don't care." Esau finally responded. "I'll do things my way."
"How long do you think you'll last."
"Long enough to wipe that smug smirk off your face."
Promptly, Esau hung up.