Nate and Gregory, now they were surrounded. Several armed men surrounded them in a circle about three meters apart.
Nate's expression cooled. Seeing how the situation was, those people didn't intend to let them live past this.
In the underworld, whoever dared to disturb their superiors or kill a mafia boss had to die that very second.
Getting rid of these people was a simple job, but what was more important was how to avoid dealing with the state security. At least not to be easily tracked.
Both Nate and Gregory, their expressions were still calm. In the past, they had faced situations like this many times. Nate shifted the aim of his gun in a different direction, making Vincent's subordinates step back slightly. They were also human beings who had fears, had hopes of still wanting to stay alive.
They knew who Nate was; a Killer Rabbit who had killed many lives. The blood that had run down his hands was more than the water that ran when he washed his hands to wipe out the traces of his killings. Especially now that Gregory was with him, they were great partners.
Gregory wanted to speak, but he stopped himself. Right now was not the best time to speak. Until he heard a low-pitched voice calling him.
"Gregory! Take the gun in my backpack!"
Gregory quickly grabbed a Colt Model 1911 pistol from the backpack slung over Nate's shoulder, and pointed it in the opposite direction. Their backs were to each other.
Nate took a quick glance at the woman sitting on the floor with her body and hands trembling over her mouth, tears streaming down her cheeks.
"Don't hurt me, Master..." she begged with a pained cry.
"Go away!" Nate ordered.
She quickly walked out as he stumbled, almost falling over.
Nate was indeed an indiscriminate killer who would torture anyone he thought deserved to die, but he would never hurt women and children.
The man continued, "Drop your weapons if you don't want the same fate as him." Nate kicked the lifeless body of Vincent Basciano to the ground.
Some of the men hesitated between lowering their weapons and firing, afraid of Nate.
"What's your plan?" asked Gregory in a half-whisper.
Nate answered with a gesture as he looked at the glass windows in the room. Gregory understood instantly, and the plan was put into action. They looked at each other and nodded.
"One ...two ...three!"
The gunshots that echoed through the room sent the Cock and Ball patrons scurrying for safety, while the bouncer guarding the bar seemed confused that it was a group of armed men rioting inside.
Gregory had shot the innocent glass window to pieces, a few shards of glass flying into the air. While Nate ducked under the table, shooting at the hands and underlings of Basciano's mafia, they screamed as the ammunition went through their legs and hands, dropping the pistols they were holding.
"Nate, come on!" called Gregory when he was already on the windowsill.
After taking out most of Basciano's men. The two escaped nimbly, jumping out the window. As expected, no one was following them from behind. However, it seemed that assumption was short-lived, just as they were about to turn into a narrow alley, a tall man appeared from an unexpected direction. He raised his gun and fired bullets at them.
Nate quickly pulled over, hiding behind a dark alley while Gregory turned to mount a counterattack.
The sound of loud gunshots rang out into the sky in the quiet of the night. Just like the man's missed attack, Gregory's shots also missed him.
"Come here!" Nate pulled Gregory into a dark lane between towering buildings.
When it was safe, they stopped briefly to neutralize their breathing, Gregory leaned against the wall of the building with his breath caught after being pulled by Nate to run, while Nate was still in a normal condition and his breathing was still regular. Compared to Nate, Gregory was more often working behind the scenes, looking for all the information about their target, after everything was deemed sufficient, Nate was the one who continued in the field.
Nate glanced at the area around them. Made Gregory want to say the word 'how?' but didn't because he could still hold his own curiosity. Gregory followed the direction of Nate's line of sight which currently didn't see anything. Nate readied his gun while peering over the side of the building, just as he was about to turn to move from his spot from the opposite direction the man pointed a gun at him.
"Nate!" Gregory shouted.
With the end of the gunshot, someone collapsed to the ground with blood running down his head.
Gregory breathed a sigh of relief after that shocking split second. He walked over to Nate and showed his appreciation. "You're still awesome and fast as ever."
Nate smiled and put the gun back in his backpack as he continued to walk towards the man who had been chasing them. The man breathed his last in front of Nate and Gregory.
"Wow, he died so easily." Gregory said as he tapped Nate on the shoulder.
"Can you get the car? We can't leave this body here." Nate said flatly while looking around.
Gregory sighed again, and left.
In less than an hour, a car entered the alley and stopped, someone got out of the car, approaching the man who was crouching with a corpse beside him.
"You took so long!" Nate grunted in annoyance as he stood up from his crouched position, walking over to Gregory who was opening the trunk of the car. Gregory replied, "I'm having a little trouble getting through some of the crowd, the place has been filled with some police personnel."
Simultaneously, the two put the corpse into the trunk and closed it tightly and drove away. The sound of rippling water combined with the silence of the night on the bank of a large river that stretched out, Nate and Gregory looked at a car that was slowly sinking to the bottom of the river along with the man's corpse inside. Without saying a word, Gregory immediately hugged his best friend tightly, without hesitation Nate returned the hug.
"I thought you'd never come back," Gregory said happily after releasing his embrace.
"Fool, that's impossible," Nate argued, patting Gregory on the back in annoyance.
How could he not be able to return to his own body?
"You know, about someone taking your body?" Gregory asked.
Nate corrected, "He didn't take it, I gave it up."
"Wh-what?" Gregory was stunned. "But why?" His expression turned serious, he looked at Nate through stunned eyes and wondered what he was thinking giving his body to someone else. Did Nate not think about the repercussions? No, Nate was an individual who thought before he acted, so Nate was not someone who would commit an act such as giving his body to another person without cause. Correct the word handing over, it is more appropriate to lend.
"Someday, you'll know why even if I never tell you." Even though he was reluctant to give an explanation, Nate still gave Gregory a crooked smile.
He took a deep breath. "I found the answer to what happened in the past in the personal safe belonging to the former Director of Zwick & SON. Inc."
Nate reached into the backpack that was lying next to the body, took something out of it and gave it to Gregory. It was a small notebook that was about three inches thick, the pages yellowed with age.
Gregory accepted it and began to read one sentence after another written in the book. "Perhaps this..." His words trailed off, Gregory tried to guess.
"Yes, my father's journal. Everything is clearly recorded in the book along with a list of names of the people responsible for everything."
Gregory stared with an uneasy feeling. "What are you planning to do?"
"Continuing my father's pending plans." After saying that, Nate looked straight ahead again.
Gregory clenched his fists after hearing Nate's answer. "But it's very dangerous."
Nate didn't see Gregory's expression, without saying anything he walked away. However, his arm was intercepted by Gregory so that the man stopped his steps.
"I've been considering it for a long time." Nate looked at Gregory, "Walther knew his father's coworkers well enough that he could easily take advantage of them. Once he passes on his father's company, and what he did in the past and compares to what's happening in the present I guess we can call it acting."
The words entered Gregory's brain, his eyebrows also knitted together. Remembering the words Nate had just said to him. Discomfort quickly moved into his mind. "I don't understand what you mean."
"Aaron Zwick had the same journal as my father. After his death, the journal was left with his son. And he gave me half of it."
After that brief explanation, Gregory understood the whole story now. In essence, Walther had betrayed the people who had been his father's coworkers, but he was putting on a show by still being on good terms with them. Given that the contents of the journal were dangerous if leaked to the other party.
"But, if he also has the journal that means ...."
Nate confirmed. "He has more complete records than I do now."
It was exactly as he'd expected. Gregory had expected all the events of the past to happen again.
Also with the emergence of someone named Noel whose soul is now residing in Nate's body.
Nate held Gregory's shoulder. "This time, please help me one last time. I promise I'll honor your wish not to kill again." Nate tried to reassure.
The night breeze blew between them, it was quiet for a moment. Gregory shifted his gaze to the side to avoid eye contact with his best friend. And started talking about Noel. "He's a good kid, I'm not sure he'd go through with that plan."
Nate smiled wryly. "Bad people are born from good people being hurt."
Those were some of the lines he remembered from the infamous villain Joker. What the Joker was feeling was more or less the same as what he was feeling right now.
"You promise?" asked Gregory once again, convincing himself to go back to helping Nate in a dangerous plan. Dangerous because it involved someone who knew nothing and was required to get involved in their problems.
"Yes, I promise." Nate held up his little finger in front of Gregory, which Gregory reluctantly accepted.
"But, I still regret you sacrificing your own body."
"Soul summoning is expensive, after all, my soul in this body can't possibly last much longer." A slightly forced smile was evident in Gregory's eyes, they had been friends since childhood he knew very well how a Nate was raised.
They sat side by side, gazing at a quiet river, the rippling water calmly displaying the image of the moon shining in the night sky.
Until a voice broke the silence between them.
"What was that noise?" Gregory asked as he looked around.
"It was my stomach." Nate replied flatly.
"Oops, I forgot to feed the kid from yesterday afternoon." Gregory rubbed the back of his neck, feeling a little guilty, because he was so busy taking care of something dangerous related to Nate that he forgot about Noel.
Nate threw a punch right at Gregory's head.
"Aw, Nate that hurt!"
"It's because of your carelessness."
Gregory stood up. "Come on!" he called, holding out his hand to Nate. "Let's go get something to eat!"
Nate smiled, took Gregory's hand and stood up, they left the place.
Gregory Illéa was a British man, he and Nate had been partners since they were teenagers. The two were inseparable partners, despite the disparity in character between them. In contrast to Nate, Gregory Illéa was quite relaxed and sometimes a bit careless. He's the type of guy who doesn't hesitate to joke around regardless of the situation. However, he can also be very serious.
As dawn approached, Nate and Gregory passed by their apartment, after filling their empty stomachs and getting a new car. Don't ask where they found the car, because they had a spare car anywhere. There were some cops standing by.
"When I fell asleep, I heard a very loud gunfire from the next room, when I peeked out the door of my apartment, someone came out with a gun." A woman talking to a policeman who was taking notes on what she was saying.
"Did you see his face?" the policeman asked.
"Because I was scared, I immeiately went in and locked the door to my apartment," the woman said.
After a while, one of the policemen came and handed something to the policeman who had asked the woman.
"Sir, inside we found this," He handed over a white rabbit mask.
"Rabbit?" That one word just came out of the policeman's mouth after he accepted it.
Nate and Gregory watched the two cops across the street. "Nate your mask,"
"I don't need it anymore."
Nate and started the engine of the car that had been turned off for a while and drove the car at full speed.
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