The Underside had a strange way of feeling safe at night. That certainly wasn’t because it was actually. Rather, for a criminal to be worth their salt in a city overflowing with crime, they had to get good at their trade. Thus, as Yang Liu walked away from Bobby’s lonesome vendor’s cart, he knew there were unwanted eyes on him. In the shadows. In windows. Quite possibly just walking down the street in ordinary clothes. A man in his early twenties that had only been fighting crime for a little less than a year had no way of knowing every face of the seedy dark side of the city.

He approached the bench where Mrs. Rokanovic was sitting, waiting for him to return with her dinner. He handed her a cheesesteak and leaned against the pole a few feet from the bench. She looked pleased with the sandwich and in turn, friendlier than she had in the Xenamax factory an hour before.

She tore the small piece of tape that kept the wrapper tight and said, “You don’t have to keep your mask on. I already know what you look like.” Yang Liu was still doing his best to hide his true identity from the curious eyes that were surely watching. Would anyone be so brash as to assault them while he was with Mrs. Rokanovic? A rival gang? Someone associated with the massacred Black Angels?

“I’d rather not take any chances.”

Mrs. Rokanovic took a bite of her grinder. She placed her hand over her mouth to hide her chewing, but spoke anyway. “You’re new to this, aren’t you?” She spoke with a thick accent associated with her home country across the pond.

He stopped fiddling with his own grinder. “How could you tell?”

“You clearly don’t know how this city works.”

It was true. His grandmother told him the same thing regularly. She was far less pleasant when she did so, but the message was the same.

“I’m learning.”

“I suggest you learn quicker.” She took another bite from her philly. “I spend most of my time in The Underside.” She pointed at the skyscrapers all around them. “Right here in these buildings. Yet, I haven’t had one of these in a very long time.”

There was a long enough silence that thoughts of his brother began to creep into Yang Liu’s mind. He had done what he had done in order to do exactly what Mrs. Rokanovic had suggested. Learn quicker. Get exposure quicker. Make a name for himself quicker. A year ago he would have never even considered trading his brother to a known gang leader in order to obtain information about anything. Especially not without Yang Bo’s knowledge of what was about to happen to him. But the city lived up to its name. It did anything in its power to stamp out the last bits of morals that were still tucked away in the safest corners they could find.

“Will my brother be alright?”

Mrs. Rokanovic looked up from her meal but before she could answer she focused her gaze past him. A black limousine was strolling down the empty street slowly but surely. Its blacked out windows were only ever so slightly softer than the crisp black paint. The limousine didn’t stop, no windows were rolled down, no noise came from inside. It simply made it known that whoever was inside was quite interested in the two of them.

“Get out of here, you twats.” Mrs. Rokanovic’s voice was too low to be heard from the limousine, but perfectly audible enough for Yang Liu to hear. He grinned beneath his mask.

“Do you know them?”

She rolled her eyes at him as if to say, of course I know them. She went back to her philly. “Adrian is a man of his word. If the codes you gave him work, your brother will be fine. The problem isn’t your brother’s safety. It’s that Adrian owns you now.”

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Any sense of relief that had started to settle in when she told him Yang Bo would be fine was shooed away instantly with her last comment. “What do you mean?”

“Consider this… all of this… Adrian. Me. All of it… your first lesson. Crime fighters don’t forge alliances or working relationships with gangs. Hell, they barely speak to one another. They point their guns or gadgets or fists at one another and shoot to kill. Adrian knew immediately.” She paused. “Hell, his men knew immediately that when you came to him with an offer to exchange information, you were new to the streets. Which means you don’t know shit about anyone.”

Yang Liu fiddled with his still unopened grinder. He had no idea what to say. How to defend himself. His actions earlier.

“Adrian’s been the leader of the Iron Crew for over a decade. And when he wasn’t officially in charge, he was still calling shots, making connections, learning. I can’t imagine there’s anything you would want or need to know that he doesn’t already know or couldn’t find out. When you meet with him in two weeks, he’ll have no intention of handing over your brother. He will of course. As I said, he’s a man of his word. But he won’t want to. So he will offer you a piece of information you can’t possibly turn down. You’re his puppet now.”

Yang Liu was growing more defensive with each sentence. “My brother will walk out of that factory unscathed in exactly two weeks. Whether it’s on good terms or if I have to kill every member of the Iron Crew.”

“Don’t get upset. That’s your second lesson. You have to realize anyone that’s someone on these streets threw away their emotions a long time ago. When you see fools doing things out of rage. They’re nobody’s. Don’t waste your time on them.”

Had this woman spent time around his grandmother? Or were they both just savvy veterans that had spent most of their life on the streets of Savagery. He had always expected that if he spoke to a criminal of Savagery they’d have a very different opinion of things than a crime fighter. But now, he was beginning to wonder how different the two types of people were.

“So what do you want with Bloodbath?”

It began to sprinkle. Mr. Rokanovic looked at the dark sky and let the cool precipitation accumulate on her face briefly.

“Something you don’t know,” said Yang Liu. His voice solemn and teetering on rude.

“I’m sure I could find out, but I’d appreciate it if you didn’t make me do all that work.”

“He has something that belongs to my family.”

Mrs. Rokanovic let out a soft snort. “You’re insane. Handing your own blood over to a gang just to find a man like that psychotic freak.” She wrapped up what was left of her sandwich and stood from the bench. She made her way toward the trash can sitting next to the streetlight. After she tossed the sandwich away she put a hand on Yang Liu’s shoulder. It was only now he realized how tense she had made him. He let his shoulders relax. “Whatever Bloodbath has of yours, it’s best you forget about it. He’s not your ordinary criminal. He’s a villainous fuck. A heartless killer. And you’re greener than a blade of grass.”

Yang Liu shrugged himself away from Mrs. Rokanovic. “I’m going to put him in the ground. Where he belongs.”

“How heroic.” Mrs. Rokanovic turned on her heel and began to walk away. Yang Liu took off after her.

“I am.”

Mrs. Rokanovic spoke over her shoulder. “And how do you expect to do that? He has lackeys that could snap you over their knee.”

“They won’t. Trust me.”

Mrs. Rokanovic slowed her pace and turned toward him. She was grinning the way one would do after having laughed hard. “Okay, I trust you,” she said. Still grinning. “But please, you must tell me how you expect to kill a man like Bloodbath… and Ace… and Blitz. My god, Blitz doesn’t even know how to die.”

“None of them will lift a finger. Not toward you,” said Yang Liu. Mrs. Rokanovic’s grin vanished immediately. “That’s right. I know about your affair with Rubin Davore. I know he still loves you. That he will always love you.”

“How do you know about that?”

“Here’s a lesson for you, Mrs. Rokanovic… The past may fade, but it never dies. Especially when you know someone that lived through it.”

“Black Jade,” whispered Mrs. Rokanovic. Yang Liu nodded slowly, doing his best not to give away how proud he was of himself. “You sneaky fuck.”

There was a moment during which Yang Liu couldn’t tell if Mrs. Rokanovic was about to make a break for it or not. He considered grabbing her but didn’t. He waited to see what she would do next. It seemed like an opportunity to try out more of his grandmother’s gadgets if she did run.

Mrs. Rokanovic scoffed in a way that admitted she was backed into a corner. “Alright. I’ll admit, that was slick.” She smiled. “Now, get me inside before the rain picks up. You have a lot of explaining to do.”