Dirtyhands

nineteen

*Authors note-
'King of Shadows' is out. Hope you all enjoy it.*

Kaz walks down the street. It feels good to escape the confines of Van Eck's manor.

His uneven stride carries him to the Barrel. He looks around him to see his domain. The sliver of Ketterdam that he had won. The sliver that he had fought for.

He keeps going through the dark streets. Sometimes Kaz wonders if the sun had ever even seen this part of town. It always seemed to be in a shadow. Much like most of the people who resided in the Barrel, the streets seemed to live in the shadow of the rest of Ketterdam.

He approaches the crows club. It looms over the street and blocks the sun from view. He looks up at the place that he had built from the ground up. Pride fills him as he strolls into the building.

That pride is extinguished when he sees who is giving a speech in the front of the room. It's Per Haskell.

Kaz ducks into a dark corner so he can hear what Haskell has to say.

"Remember the glory days?" Haskell says "when the dregs ruled this city with an iron fist! When nobody would cross us. We were feared! We were respected, we were kings of this town!"

The crowd of dregs stays quiet. Older members look skeptical. They know that Haskell is exaggerating the details of his reign.

Kaz watches quietly as Haskell goes on.

"You follow this child. That's all Brekker is. A kid who has forgotten his place. He is impulsive and a danger to everyone around him." Haskell announces.

Kaz scoffs. Everyone knows that he isn't impulsive. He carefully plans and coordinates his every action.

"Follow me and we will rebuild this empire. We will wipe out every other gang until it is just us and then we will rule the city. We won't have this false sense of power that Brekker has supplied." Haskell continues.

Kaz wants to laugh at this idiocy. The dregs were nothing before Kaz came. Haskell had let the gang fall until only a few members were left, and they only stayed for the free housing. Haskell might have started the dregs, but Kaz had made them great. 

Kaz forces himself to listen to the ramblings of a madman for a few more moments.

"We must free ourselves from Brekker. So, who is with me?" Haskell calls.

Nobody stands. Kaz almost pities the man in front of the crowd. It leaves him in awe as to how someone so great could plummet so low.

Kaz slowly emerges from his shadow. Haskell's grin changes into a cold snarl. "Look who is here." He hums.

"Everyone out." Kaz rasps and the room clears as if someone shouted a bomb.

"Nice trick," Haskell says softly and looks at Kaz.

"It comes in handy." Kaz rasps.

"At one point I thought that we could rule this city together. I could pass on my torch to you when the time was right. Instead, you took it by force. Don't mistake me for a man who will let you win." Haskell states and takes a seat at the bar. 

"You hadn't been the leader of the Dregs for a long time. After the betrayal, I did what was necessary." Kaz replies. 

"You were nothing before me. Just a starving kid on the streets. I practically raised you. I made you great." Haskell snaps.

"You see, that's where you're wrong. You were worse than nothing before me." Kaz seethes "The Dregs were dying and you were at the center of it."

Haskell's eyes darken. It seems that Kaz has struck a nerve. "The dregs were fine before you and they will be fine after you." He hisses.

"Or they will start to crumble again under your leadership." Kaz counters.

Haskell acts quickly. He hurls a shot glass at Kaz. Kaz ducks on time to avoid the glass and groans in pain due to his injuries.

He straightens himself up and takes his cane in both hands and swings at Haskell's legs.

The cane hits Haskell's left leg first and breaks it. A small cry escapes the man as he collapses on the ground.

"You really should know when you've been beaten. It could have saved your life." Kaz hums and walks behind the bar. He grabs a short knife and comes back around to see Haskell fighting to get into a sitting position.

"What are you gonna do?" Haskell sneers.

"I'm going to remove a threat," Kaz whispers back. "I'll make it quick." He says softly with almost a hint of sadness in his voice.

Haskell doesn't fight. He knows that he can't win. "If I had known that this was going to happen, then I would have left you to die like a common street rat."

"That wouldn't have done anything. Us street rats are hard to kill." Kaz sighs. He takes the knife and presses it to Haskell's throat. "No mourners." He whispers.

"No funerals," Haskell replies as the knife goes across his neck, and a thin red line forms from one ear to the other.

A sputtering sound comes from Haskell as his blood seeps out of the wound. Kaz watches as his body goes limp and notices a piece of paper sticking out of Haskell's pocket. Kaz grabs it before he drops the knife and limps away. He goes out the door and turns to the dregs waiting outside.

"Clean up the mess in there." He says before turning away and going down the dark street.