​From her luxurious room in a Detroit spa, Maria had been sat reading through her recent journals - something she liked to do from time to time to help her to reflect on life. She'd stopped on the entry from two days ago, and read through it again.  

It had been going up to 5pm when it had happened. 

I had been sat in the HQ of the Secret Society when apparently a bullet had gone sailing through the next window over. i hadn't even noticed, til someone ran through the door of the room I'd been sat in to check on me. Apparently, however, the bullet had had my name written on it. And the cost of plastering over the hole in the wall of the next room over where the bullet had lodged, not to mention replacing the shattered window, was sure to be expensive. Rolling my eyes, I walked over to the window of the room. Looking through the still intact glass, I realized I didn't have to look far for the culprit: she was still holding the smoking gun, crouched on the flattened out remains of what had once been a rather healthy bush. No sooner had I identified the culprit, another bullet whizzed through the air. Not aimed for myself this time, but for my would-be assailant. With not so much as a flicker, I watched the bullet lodge directly in the head of my failed assassin, as she fell to the floor in death. 

Indeed, it was with almost a smile that I reached for the telephone in the corner of the room and dialed the number of the local funeral home. As one of the associates answered the phone and I identified my location, the associate had chuckled and announced that they had been expecting a call since the shot was fired, although that they hadn't quite expected me to be the caller. 

After sharing a few jokes about pro-ing with the young associate, I'd finally got down to business. 

"Get that cleaned up, would you Ray? I didn't even like to look at her when she was alive, the bullet hole does little for her, aside from keeping her mouth closed. Keep whatever you find in her pockets to cover the costs."

As I hung up the phone, I found that my hands were shaking. I'd been quite calm since the shot had been fired, but it was really quite something else to realize that somebody had had a genuine attempt at ending my life. I'd sank down into the chair I'd sat in when the shot was fired, and with my head bowed, began to think. I thought long and hard about the choices that had lead me to my current situation and I thought of how much more I intended to accomplish. Simply put, had my life ended shortly before 5pm, it would've been too soon. The things was yet to achieve were too much to leave now. 'Maybe', she thought, 'fate has given me a second chance.'.

As she heard the van belonging to the funeral home pull up, Maria left building, barely glancing at their work in clearing the mess from the glass. I walked out onto the main street and hailed herself a taxi, and climbing in, asked for the airport.

As the city flashed by, I felt as though the one thing I needed more than anything else, was a vacation. It wasn't until I reached the check in desk at the airport that I came to a decision. A smile on my face, i knew that the perfect place for me to visit.  A little spa that I knew, right in the middle of Corktown, Detroit. A perfect place to settle my nerves as I contemplated my next steps.

'A second chance indeed.', she had muttered quietly to herself, pondering how to begin this chance. She'd spent a few days out of sight and catching some much needed rest, and Maria now knew it was time to return to her family in Chicago, to begin her work once more. She began packing up her things, the mantra of "I can survive any catastrophe" playing over and over in her head, helping to swallow her anxiety that her life would once more be attempted on.

Her head held high, Maria left the spa and headed out onto the streets of Detroit. Unusually busy, she had only walked a couple of blocks into the neighboring district of Black Bottom, en route to the airport in Downtown, Detroit before she found the source of all the excitement. Al_Capone and AdmiralAckbar both lay dead in the streets. If anything served as a greater reminder that life was short and that she'd been lucky to get a second chance, she took a deep breath and jumped into a cab. 

'My second chance starts now', she thought to herself, as the airport loomed closer.

lronSight had been walking by and noticed a woman step into a cab after he had spent over fifteen minutes trying to hale one. He shook his head, began walking towards the door and began muttering,

"You'd better believe we're sharing this damned cab. I'm not waiting another fucking fifteen minutes for the next one."

lronSight turned to tell the woman to scoot over and noticed it was Maria looking back at him,

"On second though I think I'll wa-"

Maria grabbed his coat sleeve and pulled him in. Stunned, lronSight grabbed for the wallet in his pocket, opened it up and saw nothing but butterflies and notes of where hubcaps could be found. Jono had clearly been getting into his wallet and bank accounts again.

"You've got to be kidding me... Hon, I can't afford this at the moment so I guess I'm going wherever you're going but I would like to add that Jono left a location of a secret stash of hubcaps in this wallet if you'd be interested in having a little fun by smashing Jono's prized possessions. I know you just went through a traumatic experience so I should be paying... but the scouse robbing my bank account regularly is finally starting to affect my day-to-day lifestyle and that's all I've got on me."

A regular day just begun. I was sat at park bench, reading newspaper. My normal routine would involve sipping coffee but, right now, I'm short on money and looking for some job in the newspaper - any job. After reading through the job section of the newspaper for what felt like hours, I was upset because there was no jobs there that seemed to fit me. Suddenly, I saw a cab stop nearby and watched as some fancy woman jumped into the cab.

"It seems that I know this woman. I think she is a Made member of one of the local crime families. I guess she wanted a vacation because she was stressed out."

Well, it was not my problem. Right now, the problem is, where can I find a job? Feeling confused, I stood up.

"Why is that cab not driving away yet?"

At that moment, I saw charming man with cool suit arguing with the taxi driver and his passenger. Suprisingly, that guy had been pulled by the woman inside the cab. What if that man had been killed by the woman, who looked as though she was seeking somebody to take out her frustrations on? I want to help that man, and maybe he would pay me a little if I helped him out. So, I approached the cab slowly and carefully, afraid that the woman's crew would appear suddenly to protect their comrade. I managed to get myself leaned right up to the cab door, and doing so, I heard some conversation inside the cab, about business and money.

"I see... this is not a murder, this is blackmail."

I shift a little closer to the door handle of the cab, but catch my foot against the door with almighty CRACK. Suddenly, I was panicking. Earlier, my hallucinations told me that I would get money if I help the man but now, my hallucinations have transformed into nightmares. What am I supposed to do? Was I about to get myself killed? Out of the blue, enlightenment flashed through my head, to speak straightforwardly to the passengers. I stood up immediately and want to apologize because of my rudeness in listening into their conversation. Before I could even get the words out, I felt a gun pressing in the back of my head. I held my hands up quickly and begin a quick stream of apologies.

"Please forgive my impertinence, I just want to make a little money by helping this man."

Looking more closely, I think these two are from the same district. The man looks familiar as a crew leader from The Loop, and I was sure that was where I saw the woman before.

lronSight lowers the window and waves to the man. The bodyguard pats him down, finds his gun and removes it. lronSight then turns to Maria and says,

"I swear I had nothing to do with this. I'm fairly certain there aren't any hits out on me either, otherwise I would've avoided you so that you could get a little R&R in."

lronSight turns to the man apologizing,

"I'm not entirely certain who told you I could help you earn money, young man. I'm actually rather broke myself."

lronSight smiled then pointed to the bodyguard still holding his gun at the ready, 

"That man thought you were planning to make an attempt on my life, in the future try to avoid putting yourself in precarious positions that would convince a well trained guard that you were attempting to bump me off, like sneaking up on a cab I'm in."

lronSight steps out of the cab and motions his head towards the cabby. The guard pulls out a modest sum and tosses it to the driver. lronSight then turns to Maria,

"I'm very sorry, hon, but I'd rather not slow you down any further. You can go ahead an ruin Jono's hubcap collection without me if you wish, I'll catch the next cab and if you leave an address with Boris I'll be sure to catch up with you the moment I can."

lronSight turns back to the man who had approached the cab, and extends his hand.

"I am Don lronSight. I'm not sure what all you've heard about me but you have my attention. I'd hope you could indulge me by starting with your name, but regardless I must ask we move over towards that diner so my guard isn't stuck awkwardly holding his gun out in public much longer. And Boris, at least put the damned thing inside your coat while pointing it, you've already checked him for weapons and I'd rather not have to make another expensive bribe to the police commissioner to keep you out of jail again."

lronSight extends his arm pointing towards the diner and begins leading the three men to a more private place.

Grilea walked with this man towards the diner. He felt relieved, as the man is more friendly than he thought.  He hadn't eaten anything since last night, and Grilea wasn't really happy about that as his stomach felt so empty.  He remembered how Boris pointed a gun at the back of his head, and at that time he could have died if he made a wrong move.  That was terrifying.  Sighs... Grilea encourages himself to speak up, and tell the man his name.

"Sir, my name is Grilea, but you can call me Gril."   He said that with a polite tone, and then lowered his body to respect the man.  "Thank you for not killing me back there sir."    Grilea looked at Boris' flat face, and tried to imagine what was he thinking.

Finally, we arrived at the diner.  Such a magnificent building to be visited by someone so shabby, and didn't have a job like him.  "Is it possible I could be accepted here?"  Grilea said, with a shocked look on his face.