The Dark Streets

by Matthew Smith

  “I don’t know Mike, I don’t think I should trust you, you’re fucking insane!” He smiled,

  “I know, I know but that was before I died and went to the Soul Dimension.” I got up off the chair I was sitting on and looked at him,

  “You’ve been there!?” He smiled and nodded,

  “Yes I have, come with me and I’ll tell you all about it.”I nodded,

  “Okay I will come with you.” Mark looked at the others,

  “You guys wait here me and Jack shouldn’t be too long.” Mike started walking out the room out of a door, I started following him out of the door as well, and out into a hallway. We started walking down the hallway, we reached a door and opened it, and we walked in and I sat down on a chair and Mike closed the door and sat down on a chair in front of me,

  “So how was it?” He smiled,

  “It was beautiful, majestic, mysterious and magnificent!”

  “I saw some of my old members there and family members, it was a great time, it’s exactly how the Bible explains it.” I smiled,

  “That sounds great Mike, it sounds like it has changed your perspective on life?” He nodded,

  “Yes it has, I am wanting to change the path I was on and lead a better path.” I looked at Mike,

  “That sounds good Mike, it seems like you’ve started that, now that you’re in the DBI.” He nodded,

  “Yes I was also brought back and recruited by Stake, en enlisted my help to help you and well I jumped on the chance to start my path of redemption, with you Jack, the person, I’ve wronged the most, I’m sorry Jack, I hope you can forgive me but if you don’t I’d understand.” I looked at him up and down,

  “Mike I won’t be able to forgive right now but I also know now, that it wasn’t actually you who killed Jon but it was the Darkness, but it will take me time to actually process, be patient and just know I don’t hate you.” He nodded,

  “I understand Jack.” I nodded,

  “Okay good, we can move from this now, let’s just look at what’s ahead for us both!?” Mike nodded,

  “Yes I agree and since we are on that topic, Drogoth knows who Marcus and Marcus knows about Drogoth, they are linked to one another just as you and Stake are, Marcus is actually the leader of new Blue Brotherhood, where with the Blue Knights, he was just an associate of them, it seems this time, he wants things done his way, my eyes grew wide,

  “Drogoth and Marcus have been working together for ten years?” Stake then appeared in front of me and Mike and he looked at Mike,

  “You confirmed a theory of mine that I had for years Mike! I always knew it but all my colleagues told me I was crazy for even thinking of it! I can tell them to shove it up their asses now” I chuckled and looked over at Stake,

  “When I was sent to this Dimension originally ten years ago, that was my big theory, so ten years ago, you were the leader of the cult, what capacity was he in back then?” He smiled,

  “Back then I was only the face of the cult, so just in case we got nabbed, I’d get all the blame but he was the actual leader behind every decision but this time around, he seems to be the same thing but also taking responsibility but that also because he just using his cult as a police frat but it’s actually just the same cult under a new name and flag.” I looked at him,

  “Can’t believe nobody has figured it out.” He shrugged,

  “I don’t actually blame them at all, for a cult that’s pretending to be a police frat, they definitely keep up that image, doing the things that you’d expect of a police frat but then behind closed doors, they’re doing things you’d expect a cult to be doing.” I shook my head,

  “That’s just horrible, they need to be stopped at once!” He looked at me and smiled and nodded,

  “I agree with you on that one Jack, trust me but it’s thankful that we have Willow on the inside for us as well, you must be extremely proud of her.” I smiled,

  “I bet she told you to say that to me right?” He nodded,

  “You do love her, just as I thought, you knew without a sliver of doubt that she was the one that sent that message to you.” I smiled,

  “Of course, I’ve known her my whole life, loved her my whole life, just never told her that before.” He smiled,

  “Well Jack, why don’t we get you two back, we need to get going and stop Drogoth and Marcus before it’s too late!” I nodded and looked at Stake,

  “Stake, can you send a message to Willow?” Stake nodded,

  “Yes of course my old friend.” I nodded,

  “Okay good thanks Stake, tell her that I met up with her contacts and that we are on our way to meet up with her and end this thing.” He nodded,

  “Okay got it Jack and I will send it to her no problem, until next time, old friend.” He then disappeared, Mike looked at me,

  “Guess it’s time that we take those fuckers out for good!” We walked out of the room, and started walking back to where everyone else was. We reached the others, we sat back down at the table, and Mark looked at Mike,

  “So what are we doing now Mike?” Mike looked at Mark,

  “We need to get the fuck out of here and regroup and make a plan with the info we got from Willow we can go to my safehouse, nobody knows it’s location except for the DBI and the Guardians of Truth as they are the ones that provided it to me, so let's waste no more time and get going now before we are followed by Drogoth and Marcus’ men.” Tony and Maria and Lucas and Mark looked at me,

  “Did he say Marcus?” I nodded and we got up off our chairs at the table and we started walking out of the cabin, and back to the van. We reached the van and we got back in and Mike turned it on and started driving away from the cabin towards his safehouse. I looked at Mike,

  “So only you and the DBI know of this location?” Mike nodded,

  “Yes, it is the safest place in the entire city.” I nodded,

  “By the way, is there a leader of the Guardians of Truth?” Mike shrugged,

  “That’s one thing I don’t really know yet, ask Stake maybe he knows.” Just then Stake appeared again,

  “Hey Stake I have a quick question.” He looked at me,

  “What’s that Jack?”

  “Who’s the leader of the Guardians of Truth?”

  “That would be Rowan, the best agent the DBI has ever seen, his father is also an Elder like me and Drogoth, he was in our graduating class together, the first one ever.” I nodded,

  “Oh shit really?” Stake nodded,

  “Yeah but Rowan isn’t here in the Karnos Dimension, he’s dealing with something in the Glassia Dimension, which was the third and final Dimension created by the Elders.” We reached Mike's hideout, and Mike parked the van in the parking lot across the street from it. He turned off the van and we got out, and started walking towards the building,

  “I see, when was the last time he was here?” Stake rubbed his head,

  “Um the last time he was here was, ten years ago, when Drogoth was causing trouble before.” I nodded,

  “I see and do you think he will come back again?” Stake nodded,

  “I hope so, if he doesn’t I have no idea what we will do.” We reached the front door to his hideout and Mike unlocked it and opened and we walked in,

  “I have an idea of what we can do Mike.”

  “Oh yeah and what’s that?”

  “We can fight with the people we have; you, Tony and his Life Energies fused with the Darkness, me and my connection to the Life Energies and Stake, we also have Maria, and Lucas and his 47’s and of course with you, Stake and Mark comes the rest of Guardians of Truth.” Mike chuckled,

  “Everything was great until you said the DBI and the Guardians of Truth, they only come if Rowan and the Elders approve it and it’s unlikely they would but yes we do have a lot of help without them Jack, you do make a good point, let’s do this!” We walked into the living room and sat down on the couch, Mike was the only one left standing, He looked at us,

  “Do you guys want a drink?�
� We nodded, Mike went into the kitchen and came out with a glass for each of us and handed us each one. He went to his liquor cabinet and opened it and pulled out a bottle of brandy and closed the cabinet and opened the bottle of brandy and poured us each a drink in our cups and we started drinking,

  "So Mike when do we join the DBI?" Mike smiled,

  “Well that’s not a question I have the answer to right now, you guys are only assisting us with our case and investigation and if you successfully help us in bringing Drogoth and Marcus down for good then I don’t see why the Elders would not want you to join the DBI and as for the Guardians well that’s up to Rowan and like I said we are strict on who gets in, you need to be top in your class in the DBI Academy, only the top ten of the graduating class join the Guardians of Truth a year and out of those ten only four become full fledged members of the Guardians. When you are training at the Academy you are trained as both a regular DBI agent and an agent of the Guardians of Truth.” I nodded and took a sip of my drink and so did the others,

  “That’s very interesting, it is probably easier that way, les training they need to do to oy, just give it all to you just in case and if you don't then you have more than enough to succeed as a DBI agent.” Mike nodded and grabbed his drink and took a sip and put it back down,

  “Yes you are exactly correct Jack, that is the very reason they do it.” I nodded,

  “I knew it, it’s just a very logical conclusion.” Mike took his last sip and so did everyone else including myself, he put his empty glass on the table and so did we and he looked at me and smiled,

  “Yes it is my dear old friend, yes it is.” I smiled back at him,

  “So I have one last question to poach your brain on Mike if you don’t mind?” He nodded and smiled,

  “Of course, what would that be Jack?”

  “Do you know who the fuck this Axe Man is?" He shrugged,

  “Unfortunately I have no fucking clue Jack, I can tell you one thing though, he’s effectively terrified this whole fucking city! The Blue Brotherhood will answer for their crimes!” I pumped my fist into the air

  “Agreed! We’ll make them pay!” Mike nodded and so did Tony, Maria Lucas and Mark, we all high fived and bumped fists. Just then the phone rang and Mike grabbed the phone,

  “Hello?” I heard a low and deep voice,

  “Hello Mr. Harris, is it true that you have made contact with Jack and Stake?” Mike looked over at me and nodded,

  “Yes I have, who is this?”

  “I would like to speak to Stake.” Mike looked at me,

  “He wants to talk to Stake.”

  “Who is it?” He shrugged his shoulders,

  “I don’t know.” Stake then appeared,

  “I’ll take it.” He walked up to Mike and grabbed the phone from him and put it to his ear,

  “Hello, who do I have the pleasure of speaking to?”

  “Stake it’s been a while old pal, it’s Rowan, the leader of the Guardians of Truth, you remember me right?” Stake smiled,

  “Hello Rowan, been too long, how have you been? How’s Glassia treating you?” Rowan laughed,

  “Oh you know, it’s going good, and I miss home, speaking of which, I might be coming back earlier.”

  “What why now!?”

  “Come on Stake, you know why, this is the second time your brother has threatened Karnos and this time he’s actually doing damage!” Stake rubbed his face and wiped the sweat from his forehead,

  “Just give me time Rowan, you must know I’m on the right path! Please Rowan!?”

  “Fine Stake, you’re lucky who your father was and that you’re on the right path.”

  “Okay thank you Rowan, I am forever in debt to you!” He chuckled,

  “Don’t say such foolish things or I’ll believe you, goodbye Stake, good luck in your mission.”

  “Goodbye Rowan.” Stake hung up the phone, Tony looked at Stake,

  “So Stake I have a question about the Guardians if you don’t mind me asking?” Stake looked at Tony,

  “Not at all, what’s your question Tony?”

  “What do you guys guard exactly?” Stake smiled,

  “Good question Tony, we actually are the Guardians of peace for all of the Dimensions, we are the peacekeepers.” Tony nodded,

  “Oh okay that makes sense.” Mike looked at Stake,

  “So who was on the phone?” Stake looked at Mike,

  “It was Rowan, he was thinking of coming back earlier than expected.” Mike’s eyes grew wide,

  “Wait why!?”

  “Because he didn’t think I could handle it on my own, but I convinced him that I could, so he’s not coming back.” Mike sighed in relief,

  “Oh thank god!” I looked at Mike,

  “I thought Rowan was a good thing?” Mike looked at me,

  “He is, but the way he handles his cases are very rough and not very nice, he tends to make things worse before he makes things good and in this case, he’d be the cause for this Dimension and probably all the other Dimensions to fall.” I looked at Stake and he was nodding his head in agreement,

  “It’s true, Jack.” I looked at Mike,

  “So Mike, do you have some sort of plan made up or do we have to make one from scratch?” He looked at me,

  “I have a plan already made up, I was just waiting for Mark to bring you and Stake to me.” My phone started vibrating in my pocket, I reached in my pocket and took it out and looked at the caller ID display and it said 'Willow', I answered the phone,

  “Willow, you got my message from Stake?”

  “Yeah I did Jack, I am glad to hear your voice, I don’t have a long time to talk, they don’t know that I’m sending the DBI info, I love you Jack.”

  “I'm glad to hear your voice as well Willow, I love you so much and I will come get you I promise Willow!”

  "I know you will Jack, I can’t wait to see you!”

  “Me too Willow.”

  “I have to go now they’re coming back, goodbye Jack.”

  “Okay goodbye Willow.” The line went dead, I put my phone back in my pocket and Stake looked at me,

  “That was Willow wasn’t it Jack?” I nodded,

  “Yes it was, she’s still undercover.” Stake nodded,

  "Oh my god! That’s great, I was afraid she didn’t get my message because I didn’t feel her receive it. Her connection to the Life Energies must be weaker, ever since she’s been in the Blue Brotherhood’s hideout, that would make sense, all that Darkness floating around there.” I nodded,

  “Yeah,true, we need to get her quickly before they discover her true allegiance because when and if they do, she will be a goner, and I can’t have that!”

  Chapter Twelve

  Mike nodded,

  “Yes I agree Jack, we need to put my plan into action as quickly as possible.”

  “Yes your plan, what is that plan of yours exactly?” Mike walked over to a file cabinet,

  “Well before I discuss this plan with you I have some insider intel about our enemy first, before I left their hideout for good, after you know, killed me Jack, I took this file because it actually sheds a lot of light on just how much they really know and how much Drogoth has been helping them as much as they have been helping him.” Mike took out a file and dropped it on the table in front of us,”read that file guys.” I took the file and opened it and everyone gathered around me. We started reading it and after I finished reading it, my eyes grew wide,

  “My god!? Marcus and Drogoth have been working together before he was born, Drogoth worked with his father! When he first started the Blue Knights as a police sports frat, it turned out it was a cult back then as well, with Drogoth pulling the strings once again!” We all looked up from the file and I closed it and we looked at one another and then Stake appeared,

  “I swear I didn’t know! For the longest time, nobody knew where he was or what he was doing not until ten years ago and now, I swear Jack.” I out my hand on his shoulder,


  “It’s okay, old friend, it’s not your fault, you didn’t choose to be his brother, it’s just I’m finding out the whole history of my city is soaked with your brother’s influence!” Stake shook his head,

  “That’s how I felt when this whole thing started” I nodded,

  “That’s not good Stake but how did you get through it?”

  “Well it was either sulk and let him win or fight and keep life the way it is.”

  “I think you made the right choice Stake.” He nodded,

  “I like to think so as well.” Mike looked at us,

  “Okay guys anyways so the point of me showing you this is that Marcus could way stronger than he’s letting on, now Mark, could you get the map out of the file cabinet for me please?” Mark nodded and walked to the file cabinet and took out a rolled up map. He brought it to the table, and he unrolled it in front of us and put four glasses on the four corners, to keep it in place. I looked at the map and then looked at Mike,

  “This is the map to the Blue Brotherhood’s hideout, isn’t it Mike?” Mike looked at me and nodded his head,

  “Yes… well it's actually the blueprint of the building, so we can see all of the entry points and rooms and everything we need to plan out our attack, this is how I came up with the perfect plan!” I looked at Mike and back at the blueprint,

  “Your a god damn fucking genius Mike!” He smiled,

  “Thanks Jack.”

  “One question though?” He nodded,

  “Yeah what’s that?”

  “How did you get this map from the Blue Brotherhood after I killed you, exactly? They would know you were dead!” Stake looked at me,

  “I helped him, after I brought him back, I helped him sneak into their hideout to get that file.” I looked at Stake,

  “Why do you have so much trust in him Stake?” Stake looked at Mike,

  “Well when I first met him ten years ago when he was the leader of the cult, I saw him for what he was, a misunderstood individual that has been taken advantage of, so I gave him a second chance at life, a chance to not let people take advantage of him anymore!” I nodded and looked at Mike,

  “Wow that was beautifully said Stake, he must have a lot of respect for you, I haven’t seen him that way with anyone but me and Willow, so be lucky.” Mike looked at me and Stake,