The sunlight lit up her penthouse office. She was sitting at her desk, wearing an all-white suit, as always. Her hair was tied up in a bun, and she wore a silver bracelet on her left arm. She was playing an intense game of chess, by herself. The black and white chess board covered a square inch of her desk. She was very focused on the game. She moved each piece with precision, tactically, carefully, like a true master tactician. She was moving the white rook piece when Mr.Padder walked in. He was wearing a dark suit with no tie, clutching his wrist from yesterday. He moved to the front of her desk to deliver the news.

"Mr.Padder." She said, not even looking at him. She moved the black knight, removing the white knight from its position.

"The Russians are now under police custody. I have made sure that they will not disclose any confidential information." Mr.Padder said. Still not looking at him, she moved the white bishop to the right side of the board.

"Our other shipments will be sent out tonight, and I will personally see to it that there are no disturbances." She moved the black queen, leaving an opening on the end of the board.

"And what about our 'pest problem'?" She asked him, still focused on her game.

"I am still setting arrangements to take care of 'The Vigilante'. I just need more time."

She moved her white queen to the far end of the board, only for it to be taken by the black king.

She stood up out of her chair, adjusted her suit jacket and said, "Don't worry Mr.Padder, I'll take care of it myself."

She walked from behind her desk and out of her office. Mr.Padder watched her leave, eyes conveying his trepidation.

On the other side of town...

"I bet you won't do it." Don said to me.

"I could if I wanted to." I said back to him.

Don and I were sitting at our table at lunch. The lunch food was terrible, as always. I always thought prison food would be better than what we were eating. Don got some nasty tacos from the lunch line. I got a chicken sandwich, which wasn't so bad. Don was teasing me, taunting me to over to her and ask her out.
Danielle was over in the lunch line with the rest of her friends. She was wearing this cute little pink jacket over her uniform. I kept looking at her, while Don kept taunting me.

"Bruh you've been head over heels for her since freshman year. Just go over there." Don said, pointing at her.

"I'm not in a rush." I said. Don started making chicken noises. I started to get frustrated, he knows that's one of my pet peeves. He kept getting louder and louder.

"Stop Donovan!" I yelled at me. He stopped.

"I bet you $10 bucks you won't go over there and ask her out." He pulled the ten dollar bill out of his pocket, and flashed it in my face. I'm not going to lie, I was interested, but Danielle is worth way more than ten bucks.

"I bet you $20 I can." I pulled a twenty dollar bill out of my pocket. I didn't want to bet on Danielle, but I wasn't going to lose to Don.

"Bet." Don said. He dapped me up. I put the twenty dollar bill back in my pocket.

I got up from my seat, and started walking over to Danielle.

As I was walking away, Alex was walking over to Don. She realized I was gone, and asked Don where I was.

"Where's Jake?" she asked him, holding her lunch in her hand.

"Today my boy becomes a man. He's gonna go ask Danielle out." Don said, sarcastically.

She looked around for me, and found me on the other side of the cafeteria. She saw Danielle coming out of the lunch line with the rest of her friends. A vein popped out of her forehead.

   My nerves were going wild, my stomach was stuffed with butterflies, my hands were slightly shaking. I was so nervous. To think, I can go toe-to-toe with six scary thugs, dodge gunfire, take down an entire truck packed with guns, and yet I am terrified to ask out my crush.

I was getting close. I saw Danielle walk out of the lunch line. She wasn't paying attention, too busy talking to her friends. They were walking in my direction. They got closer, and closer, and closer. A small puddle of milk on the floor was inches from her. She didn't see it, and neither did I. She slipped. Her leg flew into the air, along with her lunch. My instincts kicked in. I rushed in and caught her right before she fell. I caught her in perfect time, like a superhero saving a damsel in distress.
My left arm was wrapped around her waist, my hand on her lower back holding her up. Her arms were wrapped around my neck, our faces inches apart. For the first time ever, I was face-to-face with her. She looked in my eyes, and I looked into hers. Her beautiful brown eyes were enchanting. As I gazed into her eyes, time became irrelevant. That one moment stretched out into a million. Then she finally spoke.

"Woah, good reflexes." she said, in the sweetest voice. I lifted her up to her feet. She looked at me and thanked me. "Thank you Jake." I went to say something, but she turned away from me. She kneeled down to help her friend. Apparently, her two friends fell as well, but I only caught her. I tried to say something, but I couldn't. I opened my mouth, but no words came out. She helped her friends up to their feet. She looked at me one last time, and walked away. Watching her walk away, I realized I failed.

Alex was fuming, enraged. She watched the whole thing, along with Donovan. She threw her food down on the table and stormed off.

I walked back over to the table in shame. Alex bumped into me on her way out. I could tell she was mad, by how she was walking away. I walked over to Don.

"Wah wah waaaahhhh" Don said, sounding like a violin, rubbing it in.

"I tried ok." I said, defending myself. "What's wrong with Alex?" I asked him.

"Man forget Bruce Jenner, where's my twenty dollars?" He asked, holding his hand out.

Later on that day...

   "I don't know what happened Mike. It's like I see her and I-and I-I want to talk to her, but then I just-I-I freeze up. She must think I'm a loser." I was telling Mike about what happened at school. We were in HQ talking. I was sitting on the table, holding my head down in disappointment. Mike was sitting at his desk.

"Teenagers, I'll never get it." Mike said. "Why don't you tell her how you feel?"

I looked up at him, questioning his sanity. "I rather be shot in the leg!"

"Too late Jake, already happened." He said, while pointing at me left leg.

"What are we doing tonight?" I asked him, changing the subject.

"Well, after you stopped the shipment last night and delivered it to the cops, the Russians were put under police custody." He said, typing buttons on his keyboard. He pulled up a security feed, showing the interior of the police precinct. I walked over to his desk, and I could see three cops leading the Russians through the precinct.

"Now I went back over to the warehouse earlier this morning, but the trucks were gone. Almost like they were never there." I was upset. If I would've blew the tires off the other trucks, the police could've gotten there and taken all the guns. I was too busy trying to stop The Russians.

"Mr.Padder must have cleared it after he heard about what you did."

"So what are we going to do?" I asked him. He changed the video on the computer to show a live feed of The Russians in a cell.

"You are going to sneak into the precinct and see what you can get out of The Russians." He told me. I looked at him like he was insane.

"Are you kidding me?!?!" I said. "If the commissioner sees me or any other cop in that building, they're gonna shoot me on sight!"

"We need to know what they know Jake." I understood why we needed to do this, but I didn't want to.

"Why can't you do it?" I asked him.

"Because I'm not 'The Vigilante'." He made a good point.

"No, I'm not doing it."

"There's a secret entrance your uncle used to use, but the commissioner might have blocked it."

"See, so we don't need to do it. We can find another-" He cut me off.

"Officer Kelly! You said he let you go, right? I can get in contact with him and see if he can get you in." It was a bit convincing, but risky.

"No." I said.

"Well what's your plan?" He asked me. I started pacing, then it hit me.

"I can't get in as 'The Vigilante', but maybe Jake Grant can." I said, wondering what Mike thought. Mike seemed to like the idea.

   "I do not like this." I said into my earpiece, talking to Mike. I was standing in front of the Liberty City Police precinct, wearing a navy blue T-shirt, some jeans, and some Jordans. I had my "other outfit" in my bookbag.

"It was your idea." Mike said.

"Yeah, but I didn't think you would go with it."

"You got this Jake. Get in and get out." Mike told me. I took a deep breath, and walked through the front door.

When I walked in, there was a cop at a desk. He was looking down at something, but then he saw me.

"What are you doing here kid? Isn't it a school night?" The cop said.

"The police commissioner said I could come up here and talk to him." He didn't seemed convinced. "He told me to come back if I remembered anything about my uncle's case." He still seem convinced. He got up from his seat, and led me upstairs.

He led me up to the office where I was last time. The room was packed with cops at their desks, papers everywhere. I looked to my left and I could see Officer Kelly at his desk. After what happened, I definitely owed him one. I looked straight and the commissioner's office was right in front of me, inches away. The only thing was, I really wasn't there to see the commissioner.

"I have to use the bathroom." I told the cop. He seemed frustrated, like he had better things to do.

"Ok, it's over there to the left. Go, and go straight to the commissioner's office right after. I'll tell him you're coming. I have to go back downstairs." He told me.

I went to the left, heading for the bathroom. I looked back to see the cop, going into the commissioner's office. I went down this hallway and found the bathroom on my left. I went inside and went into one of the stalls.

"Ok Mike, I'm in." I said into my earpiece.

"Great, the holding cells are on the floor below you. The entrance right across from you will lead you downstairs. When you get there, there will be two officers down the hall." Mike explained.

I took my bag off my back, and opened it, I took out my black hoodie, my silver can filled with black grease paint, and my voice modifier.

"I'll talk you through it. Good luck Jake." He said. I suited up in the stall.

   I found myself at the bottom of the stairwell. It was a big curved hallway. I slowly crept down the hall, staying close to the wall. The more I moved down the hallway, the more it seemed never-ending. Tip-toeing and tip-toeing, trying hard not to make a sound. I stopped. I peeked and I could see the door. I peeked again to get another look. I whispered into my earpiece.

"I see the door."

"Ok, use the key." Mike said. I quickly walked over to the door. I pulled this gadget that Mike gave me out of my pocket. It was small, the handle was like a small black barrel, the ending was a silver piece with a bunch of indents. Mike called it his "Skeleton Key". I looked at the Skeleton Key, then put the end into the keyhole. I heard it make some sound, like a machine. I looked around to make sure no one was there. I felt the key jerk. I pulled the Skeleton Key out, I turned the handle, and slowly walked in as I closed the door behind me.

"Ok Jake, there's a security camera in the room. I'm going to shut it down, you're gonna have five minutes until it comes back online, less if someone notices. So be quick." Mike explained.

The was a bit dark. The cells were lined against the left side of the room. I slowly walked down the narrow hall in the room, looking in each cell for The Russians. I looked into each one. Empty. Empty. Empty. I found them in the fourth and fifth cells, Halen was by himself while the other two were in a cell together. He was laying down on the bed, staring up at the ceiling. I turned my voice modifier on.

"Halen Sokolov." He sat up in his bed, looking at me.

"Look who came to visit me, it's 'The Linchevatel'(Vigilante)'." He said, walking over the cell door. I backed away so he couldn't touch me. I was very forward, didn't want to waste anytime.

"Mr.Padder, what do you know about him?"

"It must have been very hard for you breaking in here. I heard you and the boys in blue weren't on the best of terms." He said, ignoring my question.

"You were buying guns from Mr.Padder, why?"

"I like guns, what's wrong with that."

"You're causing terror in my city." I said.

"Who made this your city?" I didn't say anything because he had a point. I decided to get back to why I was there.

"What do you know about 'The Kingpin'?" I asked him. He chuckled.

"You see this guy brothers, on gonitsya za prizrakom.(he's chasing after a ghost.)" I looked to my right, and I could see his brothers looking at me through the bars. I ignored them, because I still needed answers.

"You didn't answer me." I said.

"You want the truth?" He asked.

"Yes." I quickly replied. He leaned closer to the bars. I leaned back, for precaution.

"Two minutes Jake." Mike said. I ignored him, so I could listen to Halen.

"I don't know nothing about 'The Kingpin'." I was frustrated. I felt like I was at another dead end.

"How do I find Mr.Padder?"

"He found us." I felt like he was telling the truth.

"Tell me something I can use." I said, grabbing the bars. He smiled at me.

"You're desperate, not a good look on you." I backed away from the cell.

"If you help me, I'll help you." I decided to play mind games with him. He wasn't buying it.

"You can't help me."

"Jake! We got a problem! The guard noticed the feed was down, you got a dozen cops headed your way. One minute." I started to get nervous. I needed to hurry.

"Tell me something Halen!"

"I don't know anything."

"Why should I believe you?"

"I'm in a cell, what do I have to lie about." He had a good point. I thought about it for a second. "But I'll give you some advice, don't trust everything."
BANG! BANG! Someone was banging on the door. I jumped a bit.

"Jake there there! You need to get out of there now!" Mike yelled into my ear. I had to think fast.

Four cops came busting through the door. They had their guns out. They were looking for the intruder, but no one was there. They all ran over to the fourth and fifth cells, where The Russians were. I hid in the first cell. They didn't see me. They also didn't see me sneak out. I quickly ran down the curved hallway, up the stairs. I snuck into the bathroom, and quickly ran into the bathroom. I changed into my normal clothes, and walked out of the bathroom. I started heading toward the stairs, trying to act normal.

"Hey you, stop!" Someone yelled behind me. I froze. I slowly turned around.

"You dropped your phone, son." The cop handed me my phone. I grabbed it and thanked him. I walked down the stairs, and out the front of the precinct. I huffed in relief. I made it out alive, but still, I didn't find out anything on Mr.Padder or "The Kingpin".

In a dark alley...behind a Russian club...

A guy was crying out in pain. This Russian was kicking him nonstop, viciously and brutally beating him while he was down.

"Are you finished?" A Hispanic woman wearing all-white said.

She was standing in front of her two guards. They were all standing in front of a black truck that covered the alley entrance. The Russian turned when he heard her.
He was tall and fairly lean, he had tattoos that covered his arms and ran up his neck. He wore a sleeveless grey shirt that had blood splatters over it. He kicked the guy one last time, then walked toward her, menacingly.

"Nice woman like yourself shouldn't be out this late. Eto mozhet stat' ochen' strashno noch'yu.(It can get very scary at night.)" He said, slowly pulling a knife out of his pocket.

"Dlya etogo u menya yest' eti vysokokvalifitsirovannyye dzhentl'meny.(That's what I have these highly-trained gentlemen for.)" She replied, gesturing to the guards standing behind her.
He stopped where he was, surprised this peculiar woman could speak Russian.

"I have a need for a man of your special talents." She said.

"Sorry lady, I'm not for hire." He walked back over to the guy on the ground, and kicked him once again.

"I beg to differ." One of her guards pulled out a case and opened it, revealing ten thousand dollars in cash. The money caught The Russian's attention. "I'm willing to pay a substantial fee."

He walked back over to her and said, "What do you want?"

"I have a job for you." She said. The Russian seemed interested. "I want you to kill 'The Vigilante'."