Beware The Water

Tied Hands

Wearing the crown and being in charge of Chinatown was no small task. Sing knew that all too well. Shorter taught him that he had to always be ahead of what was happening in the Underworld and make sure that Chinatown was always at the top of the food chain. He planned to do that his way, but the former kings fingerprints were all over Sing's inherited territory.

The detective standing in front of him had a way of reminding that. Sing stumbled back when a thick, manila folder was shoved into his chest. "Explain that." Voight tapped his foot, red already rising up to his ears. "First night on the job and you feel like you gotta prove something?" Voight snapped, grabbing Sing by the collar of his hoodie, nearly lifting the boy off the ground.

"I don't even know what you're talking about!" Voight uncurled his fingers from the hoodie and allowed Sing to open up the folder. The new King fell pale. Photos. About twenty of them. All from separate crime scenes showing blood splatter, bullet holes, and a picture of something that made Sing almost clutch protectively between his legs, the item in question being nailed to the wall above the victims disfigured body. A breath stuck in Sing's throat upon making it to the last picture.

Severed heads. Five of them, all shoved in evidence bags and dropped like trophies on the front steps of the police station late last night. "Hate to break it to you. But this wasn't us. We were all at the apartment last night." Which wasn't a lie, aside from Lux and Shorter, everyone was there. "Looks like you have a case that needs tending to."

Sing pushed the folder back into Voight's chest before attempting to walk away, but the man stopped him by gripping hard into his shoulder. Sing stopped. "Not so fast." He turned slow. Voight held up the folder, "These were all prison guards. Ones who most definitely aren't on the Chinese Mafias payroll. You can see what I'm starting to get at, right Sing?" He asked, low in a way that could mimic a growl. "Someone took them out across the city within hours. Execution style. Someone with resources ordered this hit."

Sing stared, keeping his suspicions to himself. There was only one guy in his gang capable of finding out multiple locations within an hour. But why do this? Why go so far over men that Sing had never even heard of?

"Whoever did this wanted to make sure their message was clear." The missing tongues from the heads spoke for themselves. "This is mafia work. Your mafia." He prodded Sing's chest harshly. "There's too much damn attention on the unit and the Underworld. Get your crew in line, Sing because I'm not going down for you, and this stunt better be the last time."

Voight stormed away, taking the photo evidence of the "victims" with him. Even though the folder was long gone, Sing could still see the pictures. He pondered what the reasoning behind it all could be.

"Guards?" He cupped his chin. This clearly had something to do with Hook since he was the last person locked up, but Viper acting out on his own wasn't like him. His emotions, or lack there of, never affected him when it came to mafia business. It didn't add up.

If those men were all Hook's guards, and recalling that one disturbing picture that caused a phantom pain to shoot into Sing's pants, that meant something very carnal and violent must of happened if something like this was done as a message. He got to thinking again. There was only one other person who would ever take matters into his own hands without hesitation.

Sing started up his motorcycle and sped straight to Shorter. He had every intention of letting him know that he wasn't the boss anymore.
____________________

Kairi found herself wandering down sidewalks with her head down and wound up at the very same spot that her feet always mindlessly lead her to. The ground was black, debris still in piles. It was a poor neighborhood so clean up of a junkies lot wasn't exactly high on the priority list. Yet, this pile of ash and rubbish always singed its way into the front of Kairi's mind.