Corazón a Corazón

[Jacob Foley]

"They were jumped," he said frankly, sounding quite tired. He crossed the room and took a seat opposite Aidan.

"Her and Anna, by a gang of anti-mutant fuckers. Jamie wasn't hurt but I saw one of them punch Anna..."

[Aidan Fox]

"The hell?"

Aidan furrowed his brow with outrage. "Jamie said they forgot to get eggs at Ralph's. You mean it was on the way...?"

Jake nodded. "Damn it," Aidan said, "I told her she needs to take the truck when she goes shopping, even if it's just down the street. Is she all right?"

[Jacob Foley]

"She's okay. Having a lie down or... polishing her mirror," he mused.

"She was afraid to use her powers in front of Jamie, she didn't want to set a bad example but then it was too late. Those scumbags don't care about her morals or the kids she takes in."

[Aidan Fox]

Aidan was about to fire something back - something about setting an example for thugs like the Three-Elevens - but then he realized Jake had probably already had that conversation with her. If he knew Anna, she was beating herself over the incident worse than any crackhead thug ever could.

"So what are we going to do about it?" Aidan asked. They were way past should we.

[Jacob Foley]

"Aidan, things are going to get worse around here. For us. We need to be ready for it, man."

He sat, hunched forward, rubbing his palms against each other while he contemplated what he said next. He sunk into his chair and spoke with resolve.

"We can't expect these kids to fight off the gangs of LA everytime they to go to school or catch a movie. We need help."

He watched Aidan intently, "I was thinking of going to see Vic Morricone."

[Aidan Fox]

Aidan lofted an eyebrow. "Well, I know what Anna would say. So I'm guessing you're not planning on telling her?"

It hardly needed to be asked. Aidan drummed his fingers on the side of his beer bottle.

"So, what's a Mafia reject going to do for us? Even if he is a mutant?"

[Jacob Foley]

"I think he will be almost as happy as us to see the back of mutant-hating scum like them. For his business if nothing else."

Neither of them spoke after that, it was a proposition even Jake was uncomfortable with but he knew, as he was sure Aidan did, that there were limited civil ways of dealing with the unruly and the violent.

"I don't know, man, the least we can do is speak to the guy. The sooner the better."

[Aidan Fox]

Aidan shook his head. "No," he said. "We speak to the guy, we're already committed. Even letting him know we're concerned gives him leverage."

The ceiling creaked as someone upstairs moved from a bedroom to the bathroom. Aidan waited until the door closed and the fan went on before he spoke again.

"So that means we either go all-in, ready to deal, or we look for another option."

[Jacob Foley]

"Yeah..." he said, deflated.

Aidan was right, there was no way they could deal with a man like Vic Morricone unprepared. It frustrated him to no end and he got the sense that around every corner lurked a kid with a gun, waiting, and they were closing in on his home. He kicked the coffee table out of his way and stood abruptly.

"What then? What other option do we have?"

He strode across the room and made a beeline for the fridge and beer inside.

[Aidan Fox]

Aidan sat in thought, mulling his options - well, one option in particular. Then he reached for the remote, turned off the TV, and walked over to the doorway between the living room and the kitchen.

"I know a guy," he said, leaning in the threshold. "I don't know if he's part of Morricone's network, but he's local. He's not a big operation, but he's got a dozen, maybe twenty people. All mutants."

The look in his eye said he didn't really want to say how he knew this guy.

"I haven't talked to him in... well, I've never talked to him," he amended. "But I know they're hitting hard times right now. We'd have a lot more pull with someone like him, a lot less risk he'd back us into a corner."

[Jacob Foley]

Jake fell back against the breakfast bar, sucking on a cold bottle of beer. His eyes were closed but he listened to Aidan, his curiosity piqued. It took a lot to get him to surrender nuggets of information like this about his past and this told Jake something important; he could see no other option. When he finished speaking, Jake simply pulled the bottle from his lips, and said:

"Let's go see him."

[Aidan Fox]

Aidan held up a staying hand. "You realize what it is we're doing, right? We're stepping into gang business here. We'll do everything possible to keep Anna and the kids out of it, but there's no way you and I are coming out with our noses clean. Are you okay with that?"

[Jacob Foley]

"I will do anything to make sure what happened today never happens again," he answered.

The half empty bottle clinked on the table as he put it down, indicating he was ready to go.

[Aidan Fox]

Aidan nodded and pulled a set of jangling keys from his pocket. "Let's go, then."

Five minutes later, the old Toyota pick-up truck rumbled out of the driveway of Redención House and turned down Banyon Street toward Los Santos gang territory.