[center][h2][b]WHAT YOU SEE…[/b][/h2][/center]
[hr]
It was on the western side of Santa Celia, in a warehouse long unused by the main city. Where landowners and local authorities generally turned a blind eye, because venturing in, wouldn’t guarantee an exit for unwanted guests. For this was one of the many stations of the Koshiki clan, a branch from the Inagawa family of Yakuza. 

Although it functioned in a way that was pretty much the same as any other warehouse, this was primarily the place where the Koshiki received imports, be it from other criminal organizations or otherwise. Tonight though, goods came from the former today, as the Wah Ching had gotten supplies from their headquarters, as per request from the waka gashira. 

Usually all they requested from the Chinese were weapons in exchange for funds. It was typically all they wanted anyway. Apparently they managed to get their hands on some explosive ammunition. It would be very useful in their shared goal to expand their territory in Santa Celia. The Mafia outnumbered them by a good margin. This should help in evening the odds.

Or at least, these were the thoughts of Jin Todoroki, the shatei gashira of the clan. He was overseeing this operation.

Just as garage doors were opening, Jin was met by one of the younger recruits on the upper floor. “They have arrived.” The lad announced, and Jin nodded. 

[[color=003471]“Good. Have the others bring out the cases of cash.”[/color]]*

“Do you think everything will run smoothly? After all, we are still not sure if,--”

[[color=003471]“Ease yourself. Things of such nature happen all of the time in this business. Again, they work with us, they wouldn’t be the ones to do something so stupid. Now, go do as I have asked.”[/color]] Jin interrupted him, clearly annoyed by the question.

It was easy to echo the words of the one in command just above him, but Jin wasn’t all too sure himself in confidence of those words. One of their little brothers had been been recently found murdered in an alley. Evidence suggested that the Wah Ching were responsible, but there was no true confirmation. Thus, there was a tension from the Koshiki to the Chinese. However, it was easier to believe that the two allied groups that dominated this section of the town would continue in such a fashion.

This would go smoothly. What could possibly go wrong?
[hr][hr]
Zhenguang had finally made it to front doors of the apartment building, pulled out some keys and opened them, to pass through the lobby. He walked down a hallway and at the end of it pushed a button to call for the elevator. His home now was a decent sized apartment with prices even he could raise a brow at. Granted, the clan made the landlord significantly lower their prices for him to be able to stay there. 

Though, he still had to work for it to be able to maintain comfortable circumstances, it wasn’t like he was in a penthouse suite. Keeping up a job as a DJ around the city was fairly competitive, so he was looking more into producing for singers and rappers. Zhen already did this for his brother, Ito, but his music wasn’t selling, no matter how much he promoted it.

With that said, tonight was a night where he was going to be heading out on patrol. Word on the street was that the group from the Wah Ching were getting tired of getting pushed around by the Yakuza, and intended to do something about it. The Chinese triad from San Francisco worked with the Koshiki clan in Santa Celia for quite some time. Naturally, China got to the US first, but, the Koshiki got to Santa Celia first. It was a turf war first, as his father explained, that became an alliance in a system that worked against them both.

Tonight was supposed to be a big trade between them, but something reeked of sabotage. It could get really messy, and Zhen wasn’t exactly in the mood for dealing with a full on war between them. Too many people would be involved, and too many innocents would be threatened. That meant that he was going to have to get involved and stop the trade from going down.

Thus, the elevator doors opened and Zhen started out though he nearly bumped into a middle-aged woman.

"Oh, pardon me, Mr. Khan." A raspy, female voice apologized. The young man slightly smiled in recognition. This lady was named Maria Barker, one of his neighbors that he often helped out from time to time. Her and her husband worked at a buffet that the clan frequented when they were looking for American and Italian food options. They got the typical ‘pay for protection’ routine, but Zhen more often than not, covered for them out of his own pocket secretly. 

[color=Orange]"It’s fine, Mrs. Barker."[/color]

“Are you okay? Did you happen to get caught in that traffic?” She asked as they were trading places from the elevator.

His expression shifted to a light concern. [color=Orange]"No, what traffic?"[/color]

The cistern-shaped woman combed a few fingers through her reddish hair. "Well, apparently some mobsters are on a high-speed chase around the city. It’s looking really dangerous out there and it’s causing a lot of traffic too." Mrs. Barker explained. 

Zhen's head shook. He had taken notice of her statement as she was departing though. [color=Orange]"Are you sure you want to be out with something like that happening?"[/color]

"Not really, but Calvin needs my help at the restaurant as the place is pretty packed today. Let’s just hope that the place doesn’t become a drive-thru." She replied. It was clear that the latter part was meant to be a joke, but on the flip side, also very serious.

The martial artist merely shrugged at that particular statement. [color=Orange]“Well, be careful out there.”[/color] Was his final admonition as the doors closed. That sounded bad, but the police were already in pursuit, and no doubt, another one of these upcoming ‘superheroes’ could step in as well.

However, with what he knew about, it seemed much more important and that’s where his priority would lie today. Such thoughts propelled him to hurry to his residence and zip through the living room to his bedroom. There, in the closet, was a large black trunk. Assumably it’d be for holding one’s very important items, but there was no lock on it. The young man simply lifted the latch on the front to open the top.

Inside the trunk were some varying clothes, money, a first aid kit, typical things one would keep for emergency situations. However, instead of touching any of those, he pulled out a crowbar. Promptly, he walked to the edge of his bed and placed one end of the crowbar to the bottom boxspring of it. Pulling it upward ajar, Zhen pushed up the bed with his freehand, which reclined slowly as though on hinges, until it was flatly vertical against the wall. 

Within the hollowed rectangular box was an assortment of weapons and tools attached. He glanced around aimlessly for a moment, before going directly for a somewhat flattened black box centerpiece. From it, came the scowling face of a scarlet shikami mask.

This should do…

[sub]* Language Change: Japanese[/sub]