Barry had recently finished a meeting with his Godfather whereby the events surrounding the removal of Don Zeitgeist were discussed. Having counted the late Don amongst his closest friends and with him having served faithfully at his right hand, Barry felt the loss most keenly and he wanted to be absolutely sure of the circumstances before he could move on. They discussed at length, in the comfort of Curtis' Brooklyn compound, the difficult decisions that had been made and the evidence that had been presented which necessitated them. Barry was satisfied. Not happy, but satisfied nonetheless.  

With the meeting concluded, Barry asked permission to make the announcement himself which his Godfather duly granted. The two embraced in the totally platonic way which can only be achieved between two men of character and before long Barry was back in the Warehouse conducting a similar meeting with his own bosses. Minus the hugs.

"I want the word put out there first and foremost that Don Zeitgeist was an honourable man, who will be missed. He himself was not implicated by the information we were given, but we didn't feel we could leave him in place knowing what we knew. He was a friend of mine and probably a friend to many of you in this room too." 

Barry stopped for a minute letting the gravity of the situation sink in before continuing.

"With that said, we couldn't reasonably expect him to stand aside and let us cut out the rotten heart of his family. A man like that, a man of respect, deserved better from those around him. He didn't get it. He had people in his outfit actively working against both him and his former family and friends in New York. We received proof of this and whilst we were loathe to do it, we felt that there wasn't any viable alternative."

He paused for a moment and had a silent moment of reflection for his fallen friend. There was nothing else to be done. He sighed and moved on with the rest of his agenda.

"The interests of his family will be picked up by the Church. Sharpton is more than capable of relocating his operation there so business should be largely unaffected. The Round Table outfit will also be moving into Las Vegas and picking up a piece of that action. Get your men out on the street and pushing these new contacts across Brooklyn; the last thing the Factory needs is a slow down in production. Any questions?"

Barry looked around the room and was met by the competent expressionless visages of his closest advisers.

"Good. That's all then. I'll be over at the Peach Pit if anyone needs anything. If you run into any friends of ours with questions or anyone from Las Vegas who needs taken care of, send them to me there."

He gave a nod and the room cleared. He donned his coat, gave a nod to Obscure to follow him and together the two men headed out.

I have to wonder of what people this rotten heart was made.

I guess that Zeitgeist knew about all this? If not, I'd like to ask why is it that it couldn't be expected that he would allow this rotten heart to be removed. I mean, I know we are still decades away from being able to actually transplant a human heart, but since this is all metaphorical, why not attempt a transplant in the aforementioned crew? 

Maybe not only would he have allowed it, but perhaps he would have carried out the deed himself.

Don Barry, I absolutely hear and understand your words. I for myself didn't know Don Zeitgeist personally. I had nothing against that Don to say. On the countrary I heard only positive things about... So In a way I regret his death. Peace to the fallen... (silence).

The point connected to the ghost of times is I am aware of some things that happened, some things done before and maybe renewed after. Some things linked to his family upperstrucure of the time. If he wasn't aware of it, or was, doesn't matter now.

Presenting the evidence to Zeitgeist was considered and rejected. We have a duty to our own family and whilst he may have acted as we had desired, there was a sufficient risk he might not which may have resulted in significant loss of life. Accordingly, we decided that the best thing for our families was to remove him. I appreciate that might sound callous for someone I called friend, but ultimately this is never personal and business must come first. 

Thank you for killing everyone from the Don on top to the gangsters at the bottom. Those fresh faced mobsters posed a serious threat to the security of our world. I'm thankful to be under the tutelage of such a wise city.

You're welcome, Hawk.

I'll look up the meaning of the word callous when I get back home. I don't carry a dictionary on me out here in the streets. 

One word I *do* know that would fit in my opinion would be "contradictory". If he was so honorable, then he was surely trustworthy. If he wasn't that trustworthy... 

Well, now that I think of it, maybe you were just being diplomatic trying to say nice things of the man you (had) murdered and you really didn't think all that high of him. I guess there's some good intention in that.

Deadly sighs. The loss of life was never something he cherished or enjoyed, but sometimes it is a necessity. He stands and listens to the people speak, and shakes his head.

"Since when did people become so deluded about what this thing of ours is, and what it represents? Sure, Zeitgeist was a friend and an honourable person I'm sure - but at the end of the day he was his own man, in charge of his own city, and whilst I'm sure his friendship was still enjoyed by multiple people in New York, that does not for a second mean that he would hesitate to protect his own as we wouldn't hesitate either. This thing is all about family, and business. Friendships can be helpful and useful, yes, but when push comes to shove it is always family first. Always."

I understand the concept of "Family first". But I don't think that the people plotting to attack outside of LA and risking a whole bunch of people going down, as it actually happened, are putting "family first" either. I would think that any Crew Leader that found out that people in his or her crew were plotting something that went against their wishes would have those rebels, rogues or whatever you want to call them removed.

Of course I am talking from my own point of view and until somebody outranking me tells me to shut up I'll keep voicing my opinion since I believe I am being respectful and I could indeed be told to shut up any time soon. I may be implying that I disagree with actions being taken, but is that in itself disrespectful? I'd hope not.

So I'll say it once again, if it was certain that Zeitgeist didn't know what was going on then he should have been given the chance to do things right... again, in my own humble opinion.

All of them I would hope, if it means that potential harm could come to our family.

Why can't people recognise the difference between a friend and family? There was no way of predicting how Zeit would have reacted to his RH being shot, there's too much risk involved to just hope for the best.

After listening to the moving speech presented by Barry, he speaks up.

Zeitgeist was a great guy, he will be sorely missed.  But what Barry says is completly right, why risk presenting information when it could have been taken the wrong way.  They acted quickly and swiftly to snuff out the threat.  Regardless if innocent lives were lost, innocent lives are lost everyday to war.

Barry thank-you for the information it is greatly appreciated and has been thoroughly explained, I also pay my respects to the loss of your good friend.  It can't be an easy choice cutting down someone like that and with that my respect for you has grown.

Can we let the dead rest, they won't be coming back.  Let us move on with our lives and help rebuild the fallen cities, let us remember the fallen for who they were before their fall.  Let this make us stronger not as individuals, but united as families.  Stop the bloodshed, stop the arguments, I ask that we come to a time of peace and prosperity.  Remember the fallen however it may be chosen, I for one will be visiting many graves.

Wiping a tear from his eye, he eats no cookies, drinks no milk.  Simply gets into his car and drives to an unknown location.

I think people can recognize the difference. Just that there are so many examples of the lines blurring at times that people don't always know which comes first with certain people.

I mean you have leaders saving high ranks. These high ranks could be argued as potential threats regardless to your family. Not saying they all would do that but if you want to argue that family trumps friends, stop saving friends.

But I have a hard time seeing a bunch of low rankers being a huge threat. At the same time some people were saved under Made Man, others were chosen for death. To me that is just strange but it happens.

The lines blur. Perhaps this is why people keep forgetting the differences?

Deadly looks down as he listens. Once everyone has finished talking, he realises he actually has his shoes on the right way round for a change and thinks it must be his lucky day. He smiles before speaking.

"Nestor, I'd never tell you not to voice your opinion and I've not seen you be disrespectful in the slightest so do not worry about that. What you talk about though is quite an interesting situation - say you're a crewleader, you find out five of your top guys are building a plan to attack people. You know if you speak to them, and you help them, you have a chance to do some damage before you go out. If you kill them, you've just lost five of your top guys. Now with the family first approach, what do you do? For me, it is a clear choice. I kill the scheming little bastards without a second thought - anyone who'd scheme like that was never part of the family."

"For some though it becomes a muddied area, where the decisions are not so clear. You could say that all family members have as much worth as each other no matter what, and you might know that if you just talk to these people you could all wind up dead because inevitably some information could find it's way out and look real bad - so you tell them you know and you want to involve the whole family."

Deadly looks around to see people's reactions and continues.

"So you see, in both situations you could consider that family was put first. I would personally put the majority over the minority of schemers, whereas someone else could choose to stick with each individual person. When one of those schemers is the leaders own Right Hand Man - which of those scenarios do you think is more likely to play out?"

"Personally I think the actions taken were exactly right. Why risk any family member's lives, over the chance that a friend might or might not attack? Why take the risk, when you don't have to?"