The Cat followed Vince as he walked down the street. For him, it seemed like both were walking aimlessly through the city, but that wasn't the case. They walked for about fifteen minutes until they came across a container warehouse near the city pier. Vince greeted the security guard with a brief nod and casually shook his hand. However, the feline sensed what was really happening. Vince was bribing the guard, passing some notes to him, using the greeting as a mere façade.
They were escorted by the guard to the back of the warehouse, an area that seemed to have been abandoned for a long time. In the location, there were only some containers stacked in a corner, forming a pile of three by three. They stopped in front of the heap, and the man who led them there just handed some keys to Vince, turning around and heading back to his post without uttering a word.
"Vinny, you told me you had a place in mind to serve as a shelter, but there's absolutely nothing here. What's on your mind?" The Cat started talking as soon as they were alone. Almost as if talking to himself, he adds, "I could even poke around in your mind to understand your plans, but that would spoil the suspense."
Vince paused for a moment after unlocking the door of one of the containers. "Since when do you call me Vinny?"
"It's more fun than calling you Vince. Your name is quite simple," The Cat says, shrugging. And finally, he adds, "Can you explain to me what we came here to do?"
The man said nothing, just opened the container doors and gestured with his head, signaling his feline companion to enter. The interior of the place was surprising and nothing like a pile of huge metal boxes. As soon as they entered, Vince locked the door and went to a shelf, taking out a well-used notebook. He threw the notebook on the table where the cat was.
"Pages 8 to 12," the man said to the feline, while it split its attention between Vince and the notebook. On the first page recommended by him, the Cat could see a photo of a woman attached to the page, with her name written below. "Helena Blossom, she has caused quite a stir for many people over the years. That includes the Martino family." With this short sentence, the Perpetual had understood what Vince meant. He no longer considered himself part of that family of mobsters.
"And why are you showing me this?" The Cat asks, even though he already knows what the possible answer might be.
"Well, you said we would need allies, and at the moment, she's the only one who might be able to join our cause," Vince says, pointing to the woman's photo.
"Enough of this suspense," the feline says, starting to get a little irritated, "Just tell me why you think she would join us."
"Simple. Because we have the same goal."
"Prevent the end of the human race?" The Perpetual questions with a hint of doubt in his eyes.
"Revenge," Vince responds as he sits near his companion. "In short, she's simply seeking revenge against the group that targeted her, and that ended up killing her husband and daughter during an attempt on her life." As he spoke, Vince pointed out certain notes for The Cat to follow his reasoning. "She was part of a police organization whose main goal was to end organized crime in the city, arresting the key figures in the field. But, of course, the big bosses here wouldn't just sit idly by as they saw their empire crumble before their eyes. That's when a kind of 'truce' was made between the major groups here, simply to put an end to everyone involved in this police task force."
The Perpetual followed the entire story with great curiosity.
"And that's when everything started to go wrong. Somehow, this alliance obtained crucial information about the members of the police task force and decided to act. The first target would be the head of the entire operation; Helena Blossom. On a certain night, Helena and her husband were taking their daughter to the hospital because the child was having difficulty breathing. At that moment, a 'uncontrolled' truck collided head-on with the family's car, completely destroying the left side of the car, and that was the side where her husband and daughter were. Everyone was taken to the hospital, but only Helena survived."
"And that's how she embarked on a quest for revenge, interesting," the cat says, putting a paw on his face, thinking about everything he had just heard.
"Hold on, the story isn't over yet. Because what no one expected was that Helena had military sniper training. And since the day she left the hospital, she has hunted down and killed all the key figures involved in the death of her family. We know this because all the bodies of those involved in this case were found with various torture marks."
"You convinced me; we need her on our team. When are we going after her?"