"You're all here because business demands it or because Estarossa Pincheel meant something to all of you, I have nothing but respect for all of you coming up here today. This business is not one for friends, in both organizations and here we all stand together, ready to face the worst that it has to offer....and if we make it back to home soil, I swear I'll buy you all a few rounds."

Many of his brothers chuckled as he looked at each and every one of the people that would decide to come here, they would be facing one of the MCs greatest enemies so far. He appreciated each of them, he stepped forward, smiling brightly as he did so. 

"If any of you are holding anything back right now, I implore you to return home. I need everyone focused, ready and prepared to face what is bound to be a hellish zone of blood and bodies. Welcome to war ladies and gentlemen, be prepared to see some of your lovers, comrades, brothers or sisters dead on the ground."

Jury spoke with nothing but what he thought would have been an inspirational speech, by the looks on some of these peoples faces, they seemed a bit scared. He knew what would happen, they would either grow a pair and face the danger head-on, prepared to die or they would be smarter about this. 

"If you're ready, let's end this nightmare for all of us involved and get back to what we should be doing, making money."

Jury stepped down from the platform he stood on, hugging a few of his brothers, many people clapping at the speech did little to soothe his nerves. He knew that this had to happen....to finally end that chapter in the club's life...it would finally be at end.

Orion leaned against one of the boxes in the warehouse off to the side as he listened intently, puffing lightly on his cigarette as he did. The trek into Canada wasn’t as bad as he was anticipating, it was a bit warmer than he would have expected; after all it was his first time traveling this far north. 

He let himself take in Jury’s words. This wasn’t his battle; it wouldn’t have any bearing on how his life turned out one way or another except that Esta was his friend and he never made a habit of leaving his friends to fend for themselves. He trusted the man, probably more than he rightfully should. This wasn’t about a pay day or some business moves, this was about standing beside an ally. 

Orion finished his smoke, dropping it to the concrete floor before grinding it out with a heavy boot heel. Instinctively, his hand slid underneath his coat, fingers tensely finding the hilt of his fun tucked away in its shoulder holster. It gave him a momentary sense of relief just knowing that it was there.

She listened to Jury speak, then watched as he disappeared in a small swarm of men that gathered around him afterwards. The sound of a boot scraping against concrete was closer, and Catalina looked to her immediate right, where Orion stood. The look on his face was tense as his hand rested on the butt of the gun underneath his coat. Her own was in a matching place, with another second, smaller piece strapped to one of her ankles. As Jury made his way through the small crowd and towards them, she nodded.

"That was quite the speech. Very motivational. Esta would be proud of you," she said. "Shall we review the plan once more? There is little room for error, so I'm sure we would all like to be well-versed in our roles before we play them," she said, noticing Orion move a bit closer to her. He hadn't exactly forbade her to come on this trip, but he'd not once let her out of his sight, either.

Gripping the lapels of his leather jacket, he stood before Catalina and Orion. He had not done anything or talked with the two of them in a while, he did feel a presence behind him, Konnor never let him out of his sight. The brother wanted to make sure he was safe and ready to do what needed to be done, it was an opportunity that they never saw before now. 

"I and the brothers are going to storm the clubhouse, apparently he's hosting a party for the takedown of the Fallen Angels. A lot of people like to believe that without one person, the vision of an organization goes with them. That's somewhat true, only I knew Estarossa, the stubborn ass that he was, he wouldn't have wanted me to get you guys involved or otherwise."

Jury snorted, noticing how Konnor tensed behind him. Neither of them had heard news from Galen or Ollie, shit back home didn't seem to be getting them anything else but he decided to forget about that for now. He needed to get back with this plan. 

"With the bikes and shit, Mendoza and his boys won't know that it's us, we'll get into position and start firing. With the advantage of surprise with us, we should be able to keep this to minimal casualties on our side. If not, then we move on to plan B, either way, you and your guy's role stay the same."

Jury picked out a smoke, lighting it as he took a puff blowing it out through his nose. His eyes going soft for a moment as he looked over Catalina and Orion, both of them may have been here for different reasons but either way, he respected them for this. All of the brotherhood did, even if Konnor didn't want to voice his gratefulness towards them all. 

"You guys are going to come in and help us clean up that retched club once and for all, only until you hear the shots, once that happened, its an all-out war and you have to be prepared for the bodies you will see. If you have any worries, I have some vests in the container ovrer, courtesy of the Irish gang known as the O'Leary crew."

Jury watched them for a while longer, he looked at Konnor for a second, telling him to stay with them for now. The look in his eyes stated that he was not looking for any disagreement on his part, not that he gave him one anyway. He nodded like the soldier he always was, deciding to stay by Catalina, little ways to the side. 

"Thank you, it means a lot for me and the club that you did this. It seems we're in your debt now."

The acting prez chuckled, standing there as he zipped up his leather jacket. Taking a shotgun from one of his brothers as he did, strapping it to his back. 

"When you're ready, let us know."

Orion took a small step forward so that he chin was nearly resting on Cat’s shoulder, “You are putting a vest on.” He whispered as if it was a fact, “You do not have a choice.”

He let out a small sigh as he straightened again, letting his hand graze against hers as he did. “This sounds easy enough and all but I don’t know how I feel about sitting back and watching them slaughter each other.”

He wasn’t speaking to any one in particular, more just out loud but it held a certain truth. He didn’t come all the way up her just to be mop up duty. Granted it might not be the worst of ideas, especially with Cat being here. His attention was going to be split and that meant he was going to miss things. Important things. Things that could take everything away with the squeeze of a finger.

Catalina smiled, of course she would be wearing a vest. As would Orion. They might be this side of crazy, but they weren't stupid. The pair walked to the crate that held the vests and pulled out two, helping each other get into them, and repositioning their weapons as they did. Catalina was pulling her hair back into a ponytail like she'd seen Oriana methodically do so many times, when they regrouped with Jury a few minutes later. 

"What's best here, for us to follow in a vehicle at a short distance? Or are we riding bitch?" She laughed. She couldn't help it, once she caught a look at the men's faces, particularly Orion's.

Many of the charter members had been preparing themselves, all of them wearing vests, arming themselves with Pistols, Tommy-Guns, and Shotguns. This was a heavy mission and needed the best, he looked over all of them, some of them knew Estarossa and others had come here out of respect for who his old man was and others, well, reputation and vengeance against Mendoza. 

Many of them stopped preparing, looking at Catalina with blank faces for a moment before breaking out into grins. They shook their heads smiling at that moment.

Jury, however, looked at Catalina, raising his eyebrow, a certain glint in his eyes as he looked over Catalina and Orion. A smirk playing its way onto his lips for a moment. 

"Heh, don't think you guys could handle us when we ride darlin'."

He noticed a few of the brothers were left, most of them had gone outside now, simply waiting for the rest of them. He was nervous, still, he looked back, a smile working its way back onto his lips for that moment. He did notice that it eased him slightly, deciding to approach the two of them. 

"Ride in a car behind, it's safer and it will better for the second wave of you guys to come in. This isn't going to be easy, you know that. I just want to make sure that you all get home safe, I'll do what I can to ensure that."

Jury walked away, leaving Catalina and Orion to say their final wishes for however this would go....he however, he knew how he worded that. Jury never mentioned anything of him going home, he sighed and made his way to his boke, whatever happened would happen and that would be the end of it.

Orion shifted uncomfortably until the vest was sitting snuggly where it should be. It took a moment but he managed to reposition his weapons, making sure everything was loaded and ready to go before slipping them away. 

”No chances, Cat. We do what we have to and that is it.” He kept all the emotion out of his voice. Once that started working it he’d be too distracted to be any good to anyone. “Ready whenever you are.”

It was a quiet ride further north, despite the rumble of motorcycle straight-pipes leading in the near distance up the road. Catalina shifted uncomfortably in the vest... was she gaining weight? With a sigh, she checked her weapons again for the umpteenth time as a distraction while Orion drove.

Soon enough, they were in the middle of nowhere. Patches of early snow dotted the sides of the road here and there, but before it became commonplace to see, they were turning down a dirt road with enough tree canopy to prevent any of mother nature's powder from getting through and muddying up the landscape. Up ahead, one of the bikers, Konnor, if Catalina guessed correctly, lifted an arm and pointed off to the side, in a 'park there' gesture. Orion saw it too, slowed, and made a u-turn that took multiple attempts on the narrow dirt path. Fortunately, they would now be in a better position for a quicker escape.

IF they escaped. Orion cut the engine and looked across the seat at her. Everything in his face said he didn't want to be here, or at the very least, he didn't want her here. He was acting so oddly as of late.

"We're going to be fine," she said firmly, then opened her car door and got out. Circling around the hood, she met him at the front of the vehicle and they began to walk the rest of the way, their fingers grasped in a loose grip with each other's, ready for a weapon reach and a sprint as soon as the gunfire erupted.

They had made it and Jury saw that many of them had parked their bikes on the opposite end, watching over the clubhouse that held the roguish biker faction. It was here that the final battle between brothers would take place, many of the Mendoza brothers seemed to look at the Fallen Angels in curiosity before recognizing the patches, screams and blurring ringing of bells was heard as the Fallen Angels slowly opened fire with their numerous weapons. 

Jury and Konnor took up the side entrance as many of the Buffalo and Albany patches took up the front entrance, others taking up the other side. Effectively trapping the Mendoza faction of traitors, only to back up as many of the Buffalo and Albany were lit up like a Christmas tree. Their bodies riddled with bullets...it was not going to be easy as they both saw now.

"Fuck! Kon, go in...now!"

And with cover, Jury effectively made sure that Konnor could make it inside the clubhouse. Immediately shooting down some of the traitors, others continued raining down bullets from above. This wasn't a simple game, at least to any of them right now. The brothers of the Fallen were ready to end Mendoza for trying to push out the Founding Angel, the brother who had given them all a start. 

The brothers of the Heavenly Host following a rule in which they defended their president, it didn't what he had done. He was the man they listened too, no matter what. It may have been blind loyalty that would have cost them their lives but it was something. Now here they were, at their final stand and ready to die together as fate clearly intended. 

Inside, Konnor was making short work of the few Heavenly Host brothers who had decided to test him. He removed a stick of dynamite from his back pocket, getting his lighter and throwing it into the table room. A huge rocking boom that shook the building, having Konnor hear a distant echo of growls and screaming...all he heard was a high pitch ringing in his ear for a moment before noticing a few of his brothers and Jury had made their way inside now. 

"Fan out! Find Mendoza's dumbass, I want him alive! He has to face justice and where the fuck is Lina and Orion!? They should be here...the dynamite wasn't enough!?"

Konnor nodded, taking slow steps as he reloaded his shotgun and walked up the steps in the clubhouse...his eyes narrowing as he heard some shifting footsteps.

Orion flinched slightly as the gunfire erupted, something that he never would have done even a few weeks ago. Now wasn’t the time to start questioning himself but even he couldn’t lie to himself about the nerves that were threatening to quake him. 

Closing his eyes slowly he drew a short breath. Catalina had made it this far in life without him, she could always handle herself. He had to double down and lean into that thought. She survived this long without him and god forbid, she could do it again if need be. He had to look art his as if it were any other job, with any other crew. The emotional side had to stay far away.

He squeezed her hand a little tighter, as he hastily pulled his weapon from its holster. Taking long, slow strides he kept what little tree cover there was between them and the club house that was now a war zone. After years of practice he was able to slow his heart beat to a less deafening thump in his head. Letting go of her hand in what felt like the first time since they started driving he carefully checked his gun, making sure that he had one in the chamber. 

Orion pressed himself against a tree, half hiding his body. “Alright, Love. Nows the time.” He turned to her slightly, a sly smile spread over his lips, “Now, we aren’t going to do anything stupid, right?” He kissed her softly on the cheek before slipping out of the coverage with gun drawn.

"Stupid isn't my middle name. It's Ma-" 

The rest was lost in the deafening cracks coming from the Colt Single Action Army revolver that Oriana had given her as a gift. The old girl should have been on display somewhere, but Catalina hadn't been able to resist, despite Oriana's warning that it wasn't an ideal piece to carry, compared to what folks were bringing to the parties these days. What should have been a head shot became a neck shot, and what should have been a heart shot ended up getting delivered to the gut. Both did the job, though, if a bit more painfully to the receiver. As Catalina and Orion drew closer, though, the hits became more accurate, until a whiz and a thump staggered Cat backs few steps. When she looked down, a small, smoking hole was visible in the vest. She looked up at Orion, who looked absolutely mortified.

"It didn't go through," she called over to him. "I can't even feel it!" That was a lie; it hurt, badly, like she'd been on the receiving end of a wrecking ball swinging in her direction. Her breaths were strained, but she forced a smile at her husband as the next round of bullets filled the air between them. The Byrnes nodded to each other, there was no going back now. Catalina leaned around the tree she'd been behind and fired several rounds while Orion closed in on the cabin, then crouched down and followed in his wake when he did the same for her. Outside the door now, both were reloading when a small explosion knocked them both on their asses. 

"Someone brought fireworks," Catalina smirked, sweat dripping down her pale face now. She wiped it away with her sleeve and they repeated the pattern, with her laying down fire while Orion bolted through the door in a low crouch. When she followed him in, she nearly tripped, twice, on the bodies strewn everywhere. Catalina checked faces, but recognized none in the sea of leather on the floor.

Where were Jury and Konnor?

Konnor heard the shifting steps, he looked out the window that had a view of the remaining fighters outside...Seems the other calvary had arrived on time, his eyes narrowing on them for a second, finding their timing needed a little work. He shrugged, deciding to focus on the person that was shifting around up her...his eyes narrowed on the door for a second before he heard multiple gunshots come from there. He busted the door down with a boot, looking around as he saw Mendoza with the literal smoking gun, standing over the body of Miano...the former Prez of the Philly Heavenly Host charter...what the fuck?!

"You just couldn't help yourself, could you Doza? President, King, and now dictator of the Host....its everything you ever wanted and more. I would have done something, I would have been there for you if you let me. Only here we stand, on the opposite ends of one another's guns. Stand down...that's all I'm asking brother, stand down."

Konnor, the man of murder, the angel of death. A man who had led many of his enemies to meet the Angel himself guiding them into the arms of the guarantee in this life, here he stood. Trying to implore his former brother into giving up this crusade, it seemed like he wouldn't listen to reason. He never let go of that gun, only to then aim it at the new intruder on their private moment...Jury.

"Put the gun down...Jury, I'm trying to get him to surrender, he needs to meet the angel."

Jury looked at his brother, he had to be delusion...the look in those orbs of his, he knew that Konnor showed regret less than others. He had never shown it around Catalina, Orion or the outsiders, even brothers of his own club. He had only let it go with Esta or himself, here he was doing it, trying to save their lost brother. 

"There is NO meeting the angel! He dies here...that is what was voted and what needs to happen, Konnor... do not let that false look into his eyes sway you, he killed Miano right before you and now he seeks to kill us as well!"

Konnor looked at Mendoza for that fleeting second as he noticed the brother who had sworn to him, those words....the words that they had all sworn to one another. Brotherhood, beyond it all...the brotherhood. He noticed Jury lifting his gun, deciding to end the bastard himself. 

"NO! Jury! NO!"

And only then, a bang echoed throughout the room, blood splattered the walls and all that would be heard was the silence...that was all that would be heard in the upstairs hallway. The silence had fallen over the room and encased the remaining brothers left...

Orion squeezed the trigger indiscriminately, checking back over his shoulder every few steps to catch a glimpse of Cat as much as he could while still pressing forward. The hole in her vest burned through him as well but he was enough in the moment that he couldn’t focus on that now. There would be plenty of time to yell at her later once they got out of here.

He pressed himself with his back to the wall, carefully stepping over spent shells and too many bodies to count. Waiting for a tense moment as an ominous silence blanketed over their little slice of heaven here. He took short, calculated steps, always keeping his body between Catalina and anything that was going to be coming from in front of them. 

His mind spun wildly but he forced himself to focus, quickly ejecting his clip before slamming in a fresh one. He felt the small prickle of nerves working its way up his spine as he shot a sharp glance at his wife, half pleading, half demanding that she stay close behind him. 

“I’ve got a funny feeling about this, Lass.”

Her ears were ringing so much she couldn't quite make out the sounds coming from Orion, but she knew his lips, and read them without issue. The smell of blood and death was so strong she was nauseated with it. 

"You're right, something feels... off," she said, her voice low. It was too quiet, and the silence had a terrible weight to it. They passed no one, saw nothing on their way to the only room left upstairs that hadn't been cleared. Orion poked his head around the doorframe, only to pull back again and shake his head slowly at her.

"What?" She mouthed at him, but he just kept shaking his head, closing his eyes now, then resting it back against the frame. Catalina blinked, her brow furrowed, then stepped into the room. Her jaw dropped as her gun hand did. 

And silence...had fallen. Konnor stared down at Jury...his eyes wide and he looked at Mendoza, the man so gleefully watching him to only then point that very gun at him. He turned his head, noticing Lina and Orion...both of them in shock at what they saw. Only then that very shock that Konnor had was replaced, he felt what everyone needed to feel, he felt the rage. The anger and his own stupidity wailing away at him, this very brotherhood had caused him to forget the vote. 

"You....did this and stand there with the very pointed at me brother, you're stupid...you've started a crusade against us. For what we knew as the right path! We WANTED THE BEST! You stand there, justified!? My brother lays dead at my feet, at your hand and you would believe that you can have me as well...how foolish of you." 

Konnor spoke in such a quiet whisper that many of the room's occupants had to strain their ears to hear him and still it was not the best. Another bang echoed out through the hall and room, Konnor did not seem to care, he watched Mendoza and the pain etched on his face...justice was what this was. Shooting the man in the knee is what he deserved, another bang echoed out. 

The yells...or screams, in this case, grew louder, Konnor continued to watch the bastard of a man. The shell that should have held his brother in arms, the one who he would have gladly saved ten times over. Only this wasn't that man, this was the man who wished to throw an entire brother into the grave. 

"You are no longer my brother...you are someone entirely dead to me and soon enough, you will be. Miano, Estarossa, now Jury Whit. Who else do you wish to take in your conquest!? Cause it ends here! Your desires, your wishes, your hopes, your dreams are going to be burned along with this clubhouse of yours!"

Konnor did not stop in his stride, his eyes filled with anger, hatred and a desire to cause so much pain. The first punch connected with ease, then the second....then the third...then the fourth and a repeated chain of unstoppable punches continued. 

"WHY!? Come on Victor...tell me...what the fuck did we do to you? We wanted to move things forward, with or without you, only we never planned to kill you! We were your brothers....we wanted the best for the club, you only wanted what was best for yourself!"

A long knife came out from his leather jacket and Konnor whispered something to Mendoza before in a swing of pure strength....removed his head from his body. Leaving it there to rot as his own calmness and sadness settled over him, he stepped over to Jury...picking him up. He stopped, looking at Catalina and Orion with hard eyes once more. 

"Are you coming or not...its time to end this farce...."

Konnor walked away, leaving the two New Yorkers as he was met with many of the brothers looking at him in sadness. He looked over at Givern, the president immediately bowing in his head, seemingly in a show of respect and sadness at the same time. 

"You know what to do."