((continued from The Ropes )) It was hard to describe; you'd have to be there. Then you'd see just what was so great about some beach in Jersey. There wasn't a cloud in the sky save for one that had supposedly shown up early and was just kinda hanging around waiting for the others to get there. The ...

Bryan wrinkled his nose. "Stop being such a baby," he grumbled at Tori. Then he said to Rob, "It's ok, you just make sure we don't all get our asses shot." He would be ok getting to the hospital; what was important was that they had a bodyguard of sorts. Besides, Bryan couldn't t...

((permission from Sciph to god-mod a bit...)) "No," Bryan grunted, taking each step down the stairwell carefully to avoid throwing himself off-balance and fucking up both of their shit. He still felt a little wrong about leaving Seth's body up on the roof the way it was, but it was too muc...

Bryan raised the Walther in his free hand as he saw someone approach him and Tori from the direction of the fire escape, but it was a tired attempt and was surprisingly easy to abort the moment he realized that this other guy was Rob from the industrial district. It was true that the only reason Bry...

Bryan let his right arm fall limply to his side, the barrel leaving a whisp of smoke that danced in the air in front of him. The recoil from the pistol had been barely anything in comparison to the SPAS-12, but he may as well have been firing a canon; he felt like he could barely lift his arm. Seth ...

Bryan cringed as Seth hacked and coughed up more blood, but nodded his head in response. The Fists had always been a family in its own way, even if said family had been ripped apart and chewed-up and spat out thanks to Danya and his little game. Still, he understood. It felt like he was watching his...

Bryan remained silent as Mattlock spoke, embarrassed that he'd been caught with his eyes leaking. He felt the guilt alleviate slightly upon hearing that Seth had never even made it to the school, but that didn't make it any easier losing his only real friend. He just wished he'd been able to see it ...

Seth had a glazed look in his eyes and he spoke with much effort, blood spilling down his chin as it had nowhere else to go. The dark red pool at his side grew and stretched out across the stone slab until it began spilling onto the gravel. Bryan abandoned any notion of salvaging the broken gang lea...

"Shit," Bryan replied. He looked over his shoulder to where the boss had fallen, then turned back to Tori. "I gotta go check on him." His expression was apologetic; he was hoping she would understand. Given the nature of his wounds Seth might have already been dead anyway, but he...

Bryan landed hard on his back across the vents. His field of vision had shot straight up on the moment of contact, but the sound of shattering glass told him that Felix was now on the ground floor. Taking a second to shift and grunt in discomfort, Bryan sat up and slid his legs over the edge of the ...

Felix's trade proposal was suddenly interrupted by none other than Seth Mattlock. Needless to say, Bryan was dumbfounded at both his impeccable timing and the fact that he was here at all. The few days since he'd last seen the boss must have been real hell, Bryan figured, considering the fucked-up s...

Bryan went to retreat back behind the AC unit in response to the two shots from the other boy's pistol, but not quite quick enough. He felt an intense white hot pain shoot across his right shoulder, and immediately threw himself back against the metallic box with a dull thud (which muffled the paine...

There was the crunch; the intruder was on the roof. Bryan stepped just far of the edge of the AC unit and raised the shotgun quickly. What he saw was a boy with curly auburn hair making a beeline to the vents, where Tori was hiding. His black work shirt flapped sporadically as he ran, flashing bits ...

Bryan heard the dull clang of metal below on the deck that told him someone was pursuing them. He shot a glance back at Tori, who was making her way over to a row of ventilation shafts. That would do fine for her, but he was just about out of time to get behind something before the intruder arrived ...

Bryan wheeled around at the sound of the gunshot, which made a small hole in the wall between theirs and the next room wreathed in flying splinters. Without any time to guess exactly where the gunman was standing (all he knew was that neither he nor Tori had been hit), he fired two shots at the wall...