[center][img]https://s8.postimg.cc/56ad87nyt/chowpunisher5.jpg[/img]
[b][color=black][u]A Day Later; Noon
The streets of Los Angeles, California[/u][/color][hr][h3][color=black]ISSUE #16[/color]
WAR PIGS
[color=black]PART TWO[/color][/h3][/b][hr][/center]
Los Angeles.

I was a fish out of water here, thousands of miles from home. All my life, I had never gone farther than Gotham where I grew up. I was so used to the gloomy, snowy atmosphere of Jersey and New York, tight alleys and brick buildings and long, dark shadows; now that I was in LA where it was all open streets and polished buildings and a bright sun it was jarring. Thank God I had driven and gradually gotten used to the lack of dread that hung to you in the Big Apple, because if I'd taken a plane I'd have died of a heart attack from the culture shock... Or a third degree burn because dear God, I was missing the mild summers of New York right about now.

I wiped the sweat from my brow as I continued to drive down the street. Really wish I had gotten an address out of that guy, but I had my ways of finding out what I wanted to know. I could already tell you one thing for certain: today was gonna be a bad day to be a pusher.
[center][hr][b][color=black][u]Several Hours Later; Midnight
An autoshop; Lynwood, California[/u][/color][/b][/center]
It was probably dumb luck that one of the pushers I roughed up was connected to Garcia. Told me about an autoshop in Lynwood, the place where Garcia usually meets his associates. Said that there wasn't a meet going on tonight, but I might still find him there. Guess now I had a place to go.

The autoshop was heralded by a dented and faded sign in Spanish. The garage door was open, a squad car parked in front. There were a few gangbangers, a Hispanic guy in a suit, another guy looking like he was about to win a Mr. Rogers look-a-like contest, three cops, and a blond guy in a ratty trench coat on the ground. That last guy was definitely out of place in the room.

I parked my van and stepped out, hearing the faint voices from the garage about thirty feet ahead. The voices got louder, and angrier. Whatever was going on in there, it wasn't going well. I'd say I was concerned it was gonna escalate into violence, but that was a load of shit. Not even those cops had me worried; they were obviously in bed with Garcia or one of his rivals to be meeting him without trying to arrest him. If they killed each other it'd just make my job easier.

Then I heard the gunshots. Pulling out my pistols, I ran as fast as I could and jumped into the fray.

Bullets penetrated flesh.

Blood gushed from wounds.

Bodies fell to the ground.

This...

This was...

[i]Perfect...[/i]

[i][b]Blood and fear and pain and death death death DEATH DEATH DEATH DEATH DEATH ITS SWEETNESS KISSES ME AND SETS ME FREE IN THE NIGHT THE SCREAMS OF THE DYING AND THE SILENCE OF THE DEAD MINGLING IN PERFECT HARMONY IT WAS D̨̛͟E͞͝͏̷҉L̵̨̛͞͝I̧͘͘͟C̵͘͜I̸͘Ǫ̷͏̷U͢S̡̀͢[/b][/i]

I blinked.

What the hell was th-

[i][b]T̡HIN̕K NO͜THI͡N͟G OF I͝T҉ Y̢ÓU A̕R̛E ҉ǪNE ̢WI̕TH̢ M̷È ͜THE ͝BRIN͝GE̵R͡ ̢O͠F̕ PA͞I͘N AN҉D͡ ̡DE̸A̸TH ̵GIVE̢ ͞M͜E҉ ̶D͝E͏ATH͟ ̸SÌNG̶ ́Y͟OU̧R ̕SON̡G̛ ͏AG͘E̷N͝T̨ ÒF ͏VE͠N͡G͠EAN҉C̀E͘

ŢH͞IS ̶VES͜S͠EĹ

S̸͠UI̶̵҉TS̸̡͟ ̶̡M͏҉E

Ẃ̧E͜͜͞L̵̕͡L͘[/b][/i]