Vito directed Millard to escort the woman, whom Vito overheard introduce herself as Kaida, to an inn where she was not supposed to leave or have any visitors. She asked if he placed every potential business partner on lockdown like this, but Vito ignored her.
The next order of business was summoning Gauda, which was, thankfully, extremely simple. He had instructed the shapeshifter to stay in District 35 since he said he wasn't in constant communication with his employer, only when he sent someone to give or alter instructions. If Kaida was to be believed, that was a blatant lie.
She claimed that he had told his employer all about his ordeal in a place referred to as Vito's torture chambers. Supposedly, she knew this because she had Gauda's phone line tapped. She stated some details from the day that made her claim believable.
Vito felt disgusted with himself. He'd held back, choosing an avenue with the least bloodshed, hoping that intimidation would be enough to turn Gauda and eliminate the need to kill him, but apparently it had only served to motivate the man with the possibility of vengeance. The consequence of his error had potential to be fatal, considering the man had probably spent enough time around Jekio and Vito to completely mimic them.
Within an hour, Vito had returned to the manor to pick up Jekio and Hades before making a U-turn to join Kaida at the inn. Jekio was fairly drunk despite the early evening hour, which was nothing out of the ordinary.
Vito had chosen an inn which was not really an inn at all, only a front, to hide Crimson Tide business. The 'residents' were really simply name holders for the storage of various illegal equipment and to serve as a safe room if certain members found themselves wanted, whether by law or rivals.
The building was even more unappealing with an outdated antique appearance than its bleak surroundings, which was to minimize the chance of a real tourist booking a room. Vito found Gauda waiting outside in a pre-determined fake appearance, with a Tides member who had been tasked to watch him standing guard beside him.
Vito suspected it was not simply his imagination that made Gauda look nervous. Though the street was not busy, as the Crimson Tides had long since bought out the surrounding buildings, Jekio and Hades formed a semicircle around the gathering with Vito in the middle to block the view from the street.
"Can you change your appearance to my brother's?" Vito asked, skipping a formal greeting.
Gauda hesitated. The strong features of the man he currently imitated softened with caution.
"Um...I'm not sure."
"Well, be sure. You were around him a lot," Vito growled, his subdued annoyance coming to the forefront. "If you're not of use, you'll end up out of service like your pal."
Gauda's fake face darkened, and he gave a stiff nod. So the man was angry at his friend's death after all. Watching Gauda's features change was an unsettling experience for everyone involved. The man's face contorted in twists and angles that had to be at least half as painful as they looked, with his skin visibly stretching as the bone structure lengthened and deepened.
By the time the harrowing display reached two minutes, Gauda stood as a splitting image of Jekio, even to Vito. Vito was only able to spot a difference in the rosiness of the real Jekio's cheeks, due to his earlier beverage choices, no doubt.
Still, it would do.
"I'll be damned," Jekio announced loudly, looking appreciatively at Gauda's altered face. "If this isn't the most handsome son of a barbed-wire fist! Even his hair changed to mine. That's creepy...but it can certainly come in handy."
"It'll come in handy right now," Vito said, motioning for the two to enter the building.
They found Kaida awaiting them in the dining area on the first floor of the two-story building. She seemed to be expecting them, presumably because she heard Jekio's loud voice outside.
"Here we are; prove your little ability by choosing which of these men is the shapeshifter," Vito commanded. He was confident that even if she somehow had intel of his brother's marriage to alcohol, she'd get caught down the rabbit hole of wondering if he had purposefully given the shapeshifter alcohol to throw her off. Truthfully, it wasn't that noticeable either way, and Vito noticed that Gauda even had his brother's slightly slouching demeanor mirrored to perfection.
Dangerous, indeed.
Kaida looked from Vito to the two look-alikes and half turned in her chair so she could face them and stared at Jekio and Gauda intensely. She wore the same peculiar clothes as earlier, but had added a brown wide-brimmed hat that truly made her look like she didn't belong on Earth.
"The one on the left," she said with a tone of complete self-assurance that left no room for error. Her sable eyes practically shone with confidence, which indicated her correct guess was no fluke.
"Neat trick," Jekio said from the right with a smile. "What other tricks does such a beautiful foreigner have up her sleeve?"
Kaida ignored him, instead focusing on Vito. "Is the testing period over?"
"Change back," Vito commanded Guada. The man obeyed. His conversion to his 'original' appearance was a much quicker process. "Thank you," Vito said when the original Gauda stood before him.
Before the man could respond, Vito drew his pistol in a practised, smooth motion and fired a single shot between his eyes. The blessed bullets impacted like shotgun shells, blowing a hole through the man's skull and causing an unhealthy amount of blood to spray the area.
"What the fuck, Vito?!" Jekio yelled as some blood reached him and defaced his clothing. Hades had stepped out of the path in time with only a slightly raised brow betraying his surprise.
He fixed his glasses with a frown. "Messy."
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"What the hell has gotten into you?" Jekio said, his voice still at an agitated high. His drunken state certainly wasn't helping the situation. "You got something against shapeshifters? I mean, turning into someone is creepy, but-"
"Shut up, Jekio. The guy was dangerous - too dangerous to be left to his own devices. We have an unnamed enemy, and a shapeshifter who can become either of us means full access to the manor. If you want to throw the guy a funeral because you pity him, be my guest, but don't start a Bekah rant, I've had enough of those for a week."
Jekio sniffed. "You're the boss." Despite his words, Vito knew if Jekio hadn't found logic in his words, that fact would not have mattered.
Vito turned to Kaida, who he noted did not seem too rattled by the presence of blood and the stench of death in the air. Instead, she had a calculating gaze locked on Vito. He imagined she was wondering why he had only told half the truth to his brother, omitting the fact that Gauda was allegedly still in contact with his employer and planning to betray them.
"We have a lot to discuss," Vito said.
"So it seems."
Vito led Kaida to an upstairs room alone and left the others on clean-up duty, much to Jekio's annoyance. He ignored his brother's glare; he needed to stop viewing him as his little brother who avoided confrontation, and instead as a boss who commanded respect.
"Now that you've proven your ability, who...and what are you?" Vito asked as she sat on the small bed in the room.
"I'm a human, just like you. I'm just more gifted than most...somehow. I've always had these odd abilities, but I don't particularly fit in with a supernatural group."
Vito looked at her skeptically. Whether she believed her words or not, it sounded like folly. Humans had limitations, both mentally and physically. To think a human's intuition was enough to pierce a supernatural disguise was asinine.
Kaida noticed his dismissiveness and frowned. "Perhaps you'll think of a test to prove that, since you don't seem to believe anything I say."
"Belief is earned."
"I feel like I should've earned some after passing your little test."
Vito disagreed. "Now, who are you, and what do you know about the person that has been targeting this district?"
"I'm the leader of a rebellion," Kaida said with pride. "Outsiders like yourself may not see the need for a rebellion in District 31," Kaida continued, though Vito was completely clueless about the district's business in general, "but it is drastically needed. The leader, Lafon, has no competition for the spot of boss. The residents are typically docile and subservient, but that was not enough for Lafon. He wants to be worshipped. Thus, I created a rebellion to overthrow him before his system could be fully realized."
That explained her familiarity with violence. Vito looked at the woman slightly differently now; it wasn't easy to stand up against authority. He was usually on the other side and saw how even the toughest of thugs submitted under the force of authority. Still, it didn't mean he would go easy on her.
"And you failed," Vito said simply.
Kaida's face darkened, and a sharpness entered her voice. "We did not. Like I said, the residents are content to let him walk all over them, so we're but a small group. However, we've gotten into positions of power and we're fighting against the tyrannical laws he's trying to get passed."
"Have you tried filing a complaint to the king through the sergeant?"
Kaida gave him an incredulous look. "To the king? The king would gladly spectate a district war for his own entertainment, as long as he was getting a cut of the profits. The king does not intervene until his very position is challenged. I mean, have you ever heard of him personally stepping in to resolve any disputes?"
Vito hadn't, and they'd even been a district war in times past. He and the Crimson Tides benefited directly from the King's laissez-faire style, so he'd never thought of it in a negative light - until now.
Just how much carnage and destruction would the man allow before he stepped in?
"What does this have to do with my district?" Vito asked, though he was beginning to get an inkling of a feeling.
"Naturally, your district is a hub for weaponry, alcohol, drugs and other vices, not to mention the strong concentration of the taskforce and the great tactical location. Lafon is a prisoner to ambition, and perhaps a relatively easy conquest bored him, because we uncovered plans to take over the whole row."
Vito's eyes widened. "A district war?" The last one had been before his time, but the stories had been passed down from the reign of his great-grandfather, who led the district at the time. It had been gruesome and the losses exorbitant for all districts. The bosses since him had made great efforts to ensure it didn't happen again.
"Of sorts," Kaida replied. "I wasn't aware of the recent change in leadership until now, but perhaps that's one of the reasons he has targeted your district first. However, we do know the main reason is that you are the most isolated from the other districts. The other districts have dedicated time to forming alliances with each other, so that for Lafon to conquer them, he'd have to deal with attacks from their allies as well. On the other hand, this district has only built business relationships and maintains strict border laws that keep other districts as outsiders."
Vito didn't quite know what to say to that. It was true, of course. After the district war, the Crimson Tides were less worried about repairing relationships with the other districts, or building on the camaraderie of the temporary alliances, and focused more on internal restoration. In those times, according to what his grandfather had told him, while the district leaders were holding meetings on the way forward with the sergeants, the Crimson Tides focused on building a proper culture in their district.
As it turned out, it wasn't only the lack of information and surveillance on other districts that was a mistake, but also their complete disregard for them. "That makes us the simplest target," Vito said finally. "In his eyes, all he has to do is defeat one rowdy gang and whip the lesser gangs into shape, and he'll have control."
"Precisely."
Vito felt like he should be worried or nervous, but there was a growing thread of excitement starting to develop. It was his first foe, and like Sergeant Laiden had said, a chance to prove himself. "He'll learn that taking down the Crimson Tides is no easy task."
"Hopefully," Kaida said genuinely, reminding Vito of her presence.
"Basically, you want us to eliminate Lafon for you," Vito summarized.
"It aligns with both of our interests," Kaida said. Vito had explored the possibility that she was a shapeshifter herself, asking Hades if shapeshifters could see through each other's disguises. Hades said it wasn't a known trait for them, but Vito now thought he should've asked Gauda while he still breathed air.
"Of course, I plan to be of further assistance," Kaida said, mistaking his extended silence for more skepticism. "I'm not exactly allowed to return to my district anyway. I was discovered...and Lafon sent his goons after me." Her demeanor shifted as bad memories apparently flooded back. If the woman was a double agent, she was a damn good one, but Vito didn't dare let his guard down.
"You came to this district alone?" Vito prodded. She would've had to cross many borders - doing it as a lone woman was dangerous, especially travelling through the rogue lands where no true order was expected. She struck him as brave, but not recklessly so.
"I was transported here by some members of the rebellion," she admitted. "They have orders to return to the border in two days in hopes that I would've gained permission for their entry by then. We knew entering as a large group would make you wary."
"Entering more strategically doesn't make me less so," Vito said with a sigh. He felt like he was in a gambling den and had to up the risk if he wanted to leave with even a portion of the pot. Naturally, he wanted to kick her out of the district and not give a chance for potential double agents to wreak havoc, but the alternative was help from someone who knew the ins and outs of the enemy.
It was a proposition too golden to be dismissed.
Vito turned back to the door. "We'll be in touch, but until then..."
"Enjoy your stay in District 35."