Once again Ethan found himself in the wreckage of the place he called home, the man he called his brother gone.  Those who were his family in Detroit were no gone as well.  Yet, life still moved on.  People still had interviews with him for work at the Chopper Club, people were still visiting, going about their lives.  He took a long slow drag off the cigarette, he held the smoke in his lungs while he contemplated how people can still go about their lives when to him it felt like his world was ending.  A sharp knock on the door brought him out of his current train of thought. He slowly blew the smoke in the air, as he moved the woman whose head was nestled between his thighs, to the space under his desk reserved for his legs. 

"I didn't tell you to stop..." Ethan said to the woman hoping to get a job at the Chopper Club.  He raised his voice, "THIS BETTER BE IMPORTANT, I'M BUSY!" 

"Letter sir!"  Came Joseph's voice through the door, the man kept speaking as he opened and crossed the threshold of the office. "Carrier dropped this letter off sir, said it was urgent and to put it in your hands right away.  And honestly, why hide it?  No one here is disillusioned to what goes on during your interviews with the female hosts."  

Ethan smirked and snatched the letter out of the hands of his head host. "Yeah yeah, now get going." Anger filled the young man as he read the letter which carried information about the group the murdered his parents.  He knew where they were, and he sat at his desk feeling like he had nothing to lose, took less than a minute to decide to go after these people. 

He pushed the blonde off him, backing out from the desk.  "Get going, you bore me."  He told her without an ounce of emotion to his voice at all. 

The woman's blue eyes, stared up at him in confusion as she began piecing her outfit back together again. "I'm sorry, does this mean I don't get the job?" The woman looked at Ethan with confusion clear as day across her face. 

"Yeah sure, you can start tomorrow..." Ethan told her mindlessly as he became more and more focused on getting revenge on the people who murdered the only blood family he truly had.  These people were in Philly right now, so while his newest employee scrambled out of his office, Ethan packed his pockets with as many bullets and knives he could carry. 

Ethan looked towards Joseph as he walked out the door, "I've got business in Philly, don't know when I'll be back.  Hold down the fort for me."  Joseph nodded, and Ethan made his way to the airport to get on the first flight to Philadelphia he could.  The truth was, he didn't even know IF he would be coming back.  A nagging part of the back of his head made him wonder if he should have made preparations for the worst. But he quickly shook himself out of that line of thought, when he remembered he didn't know how much longer the people were going to still be in Philly so he had to move and move now. 

The flight was long but uneventful and smooth.  It gave the young man plenty of time to think and come to terms with his decision. He didn't waste any time when the plane landed and Ethan found himself a taxi.  He had reread the letter so many times he had the address of the group memorized.  The taxi pulled up, and the driver looked at Ethan through the rearview mirror, "You want me to wait?" 

"No, you get yourself out of here," Ethan said as he threw enough money in the passenger seat for a week's worth of taxi trips. "Go get your kid something nice, spend some time with 'em."  Ethan got out of the vehicle and looked at the driver before closing the door, "Go make memories, eventually, those are all they're gonna have left, and they'll mean more than any trinket." 

Ethan loaded the first six shots into his revolver as he watched the taxi drive off before taking a moment to enjoy one cigarette before walking up to the door of the old warehouse and knocking a few times.  

"Whaddaya want?!" A gruff voice answered.

"Oh, hey!" Ethan answered as brightly as he could manage, "I'm new to the area, got work down on the docks but I'm as lost as a blind man looking for his broad at the fish market." 

The guard behind the door just laughed at Ethan's comment and waltzed on out. Ethan scratched at the back of his head, pretending to be waiting for the guy to pass so he could follow. "Yeah I thought a harbor would be easy to find, I underestimated how big this city really is." He stumbled out as he pulled his knife from his jacket.  Patiently Ethan waited, then an opening presented itself, the guy lifted his arm to point him in the direction of the docks, and Ethan pounced shoving the knife into the auxiliary artery under the guard's arm.  He gave the knife a good twist before just as quickly ripping it back out of the man's flesh again. 

Ethan left the man to bleed out on the pavement, his confidence in him taking revenge was begging to soar. Ethan pushed open the door, and stopped dead in his tracks when three men stood there pointing guns at him.  Ethan recognized the guy in the center from his very early days as a debt collector in Seattle. "Five and Dine Freddy? What the hell are you doing in Philadelphia?!" 

"Well kid, you had to go and rob me of every last dime I had.  Cost me my wife, and kids; I lost everything because of you.  So I've been working to get back at you ever since! Soon you'll see your folks again." Freddy grinned.

"This... whole thing was a set-up for me doing my job when I was a kid?!" Ethan looked exasperated.  The logic the man was presenting just utterly confused Ethan. 

A bellowing laugh echoed around the warehouse.  "That's right kid.  You weren't the only one willing to do what it takes to make a name for themselves.  I built myself back up, got my boys back." Fred arrogantly looked to the two younger men at each of his sides. "I knew when you got on the plane and when you got off it.  I even knew which taxi you were in when you came here.  I sent you that note Mr. Edwards.  Heck that 'guard' you killed to get to me... he was just a bum that owed me money and couldn't pay up.  Thanks for doing my dirty work." 

A knot formed in Ethan's stomach, he'd been had and he knew it.  He wasn't overly sure how he was going to get out of this alive.  He needed to think fast, so he let his eyes scan the area while his brain went over his options.  He very quickly noticed that Fred didn't bring any back-up either, and a Cheshire grin spread across Ethan's face. 

"What are you grinning for you fool?  You're gonna die." Freddy said, confidence still pouring from his lips. It wasn't until a shot echoed through the empty building, and the young man to Freddy's left collapsed onto the ground that the older gentleman understood.

"MY PARENTS WERE INNOCENT YOU ASSHOLE!" Ethan screamed at the man, still trying to process what had just happened.  The young man felt no remorse for shooting the man's son, heck if the guy was wise his son would live.  It wasn't a kindness allotted to his parents.  "You better hurry Freddy, your boy looks like he's bleeding pretty bad.  My experience with the farm tells me you best get him treatment soon or you're gonna lose your son permanently this time. Vengeance or family Freddy, which is it. Make. Your. Choice.  Time's running out for Freddy Jr over there." 

Hatred poured from the look Freddy gave Ethan, who just stood smirking back at the man. A guttural "Asshole..." escaped the man's lips before he looked toward his other son, "C'mon let's get him out of here."  The two picked up the injured man, as Ethan stood laughing in disbelief that he managed to actually get out alive. 

A second gunshot echoed through the warehouse, as the brother of the shot man turned and shot in Ethan's general direction hitting him in the left side of his abdomen. "Well... shit..."  Ethan muttered as he ripped the hat off his head, and pressed it against the wound.  

The two parties went out exits in opposite ends of the building, Ethan slowly made his way along the streets of the unfamiliar city until he finally found himself exhausted and collapsed on against the side of a building just inside a small alleyway. He didn't know how long he was passed out for, just that a cold wet nose nudging his head was what woke him up.   He blinked a few times as his eyes came into focus upon the vulpine form in front of him, "Merah... am I... why are..." He muttered out. 

The fox just looked at him, and tugged on his shirt sleeve in an attempt to get her friend up and moving again.  Ethan groaned as he slowly made his way back to his feet, the wound in his side both burned and pulsated at the same time. 

"Where we going, Little One?"  Ethan managed to gasp out. 

A small pleading whine is all he got in response. 

The man knew where the fox was leading him, to the Cat and Phoenix; Jack Mezzo's establishment.  "I don't think he'll take me..." 

Another pleading whine was and a small yip was the fox's response to him. 

Ethan knew she was right.   If Ethan stayed in the alley, he was a dead man no matter what.  While Jack may shoot him, there was also an equal chance that Jack's fondness for Merah may just persuade the Don to save Ethan's life.