Red, White, and Blue Chapter 2
#2 of Red, White, and Blue
Chapter 2: Fell on Black Days
Monday morning collided with Alexei Pavlov in a less than favorable manner. After spending Sunday sitting on his ass playing Xbox, interrupted briefly by a Hawt Proxy practice at his friend Tony's house, Alexei woke up in a stark white room, at a table, sitting on an uncomfortable stool. He could tell others were around him, some were sleeping like he was, others drawing on sheets of loose paper, still others staring either blankly or attentively at an apparently nebulous screen superimposed over a whiteboard. So where was Alex? Was he still dreaming perhaps? Or had he been kidnapped and whisked away to a tax seminar? No, Alex's life was exciting, but apparently not that exciting. He had woken up in 1st period AP Chemistry, the taking of which he referred to as one of the top 5 worst decisions of his life. Alexei didn't know why he was even here, he didn't need much science to run a mafia organization, only one of his friends was in the class, and he could not for the life of him figure out what purpose memorizing the formula of hexafluorosilicate could have.
Alex looked across the room to see if he could get his friend Dex's attention, and found his results disappointing. The dark tan coyote was slumped over his lab table, out cold. Alex envied Dex's ability to basically absorb information and receive incredible grades with little to no work. After being the only member of his group to forego any preparation for the SAT, the little bastard got a 2180. Disgusting.
Figuring he had nothing better to do, Alex launched himself into a flashback moment reliving the day Dex was made the fifth, and to that point, final member of his group.
*****
It was the fall of their Freshman year, only 3 or 4 weeks into their time at Central Washington High. The sun radiated beams of warmth down on them like a cozy blanket, and it was checked by a cool fall breeze that seemingly twisted and danced through the air, brushing against the leaves of nearby trees and generally causing havoc in the fur and hair of the students who milled around the campus that Friday afternoon. Alexei loved Fridays, they were the only days he felt totally free. The Freshman football team played their games on Thursdays, so Fridays were open, and Anton gave him Fridays off any sort of "extracurricular" training, so he really didn't have any responsibilities. The day off generally relaxed Alex, and rejuvenated him for busy weekends and the long weeks that followed.
At roughly the center of his school lay a courtyard, which Alex and his friends liked to loiter around in and discuss whatever was on their minds. Alex was currently en route to their preferred lounging area, sauntering through a hallway with Natalya at his side. Alex had spent a lot of time with her over the years, gathering a strong affection for her which often pushed the boundaries of "just friends". He felt he could trust her with most anything, with a few exceptions, and for the most part she thought the same for him. But there was a strange air between them today. Alex couldn't quite put his finger on what it was, but something just felt... off.
Alex looked over at her, noticing a visible show of what appeared to be nervousness on her face. Unable to stand the tension any longer, Alex spoke up and said, "I'll bite. What's wrong? You seem kind of aloof today." Natalya, shying away from eye contact, replied, "Nothing's wrong. I'm perfectly fine." Alexei cast a doubting glance in her direction, remarking in a caring tone, "Is that why your arms are crossed and you won't look at me? You and I both know that's bull. Come on, what's on your mind?" Alexei saw something, something different in Natalya's eyes. He couldn't tell for sure, as she still wouldn't look directly at him, but he could have sworn he saw a glimmer of hope. The fact that he saw this befuddled him even more, however. Whatever he had seen, something Alex said had to have gotten through to Natalya, as the beautiful vixen opened her mouth to explain herself. "Papa sent me to get something from his office, yesterday," she started, "and while I was there, I saw something... out of the ordinary. It was a file of some kind, and your name was mentioned prominently in it." "So? I'm the boss's son. My name's on a lot of things," Alex responded. Natalya continued to look unsettled, "It's what the file was about. I don't like it, and I really hope it's not true, but-"
Reaching the courtyard, something else caught her attention. A group of kids, about 6 or 7 maybe, were huddled around a small, vulnerable looking coyote. Alex could hear taunts being shouted, but he couldn't make out exactly what they were saying. All he could tell was that the coyote, dark tan-colored, short and with a mass of unruly light brown hair that seemed to have a mind of its own on top of his head, was in no way in a position to take on the gang of bigger kids that surrounded him. The situation appeared to be taking a wrong turn when the group's leader, a sizable junior lion with anger management issues named Devin Fortuna, wound up to strike the defenseless person. A very one-sided beatdown was averted when a very brave hyena jumped in to stop the violence. Ja'qavious "just call me Jay" Jefferson was a friend Alex had met in middle school, and while normally content to watch things unfold from a distance, he would fight doggedly and (at least Alex thought) infinitely for something he believed in. Jay jumped straight into the middle of the pack, demanding to know the reason behind the violence.
Devin proceeded to explain, in exceptionally simple terms, that the kid had received impressive marks on his last test, and his brother Leo's group concluded that he must be cheating. The Fortunas didn't mind the fact that someone would cheat, they were slimy dirtbags themselves. What bothered them was that the coyote, who had recently arrived in Washington at the beginning of the year wasn't sharing his secrets. Jay sent a questioning look in the direction of the coyote, and the coyote slowly shook his head and mouthed I didn't cheat. Jay briefly contemplated whom he should believe, the poor innocent coyote, new to this school, maybe country even and horribly confused, or the pompous assholes who wanted to kick the crap out of him. The answer was so obvious that it could be seen for miles. Jay calmly, coolly, and with an air of quiet intensity said, "Devin, take your gang of rejects and get the fuck out of here."
Devin was completely flabbergasted, not that he would know what that word meant. "You think you can take us all, bitch?", Devin stammered out, "I'll drag you around by your dreads while the others beat you up, and then we'll come back for this fucker." "You wanna fight?" asked Jay nonchalantly. Devin boldly replied, "Hell yeah we wanna fight! It's 7 on 1!" Still unphased by the lion's aggressiveness, Jay let out a whistle, prompting a stout tiger to make his way to the scene. Tony "call me Tony the Tiger and I will force feed you your own teeth" Stryker was a pretty solidly built guy, with a low, gravelly voice and an ever present smirk on his white and orange face. "So what? I'm not afraid of Tony the Tiger," Devin remarked expecting a reaction from Tony. He was extremely confused when Tony's grin grew even wider. A few feet away from him a shadow fell over his brother Leo, and when he turned around a dark and imposing figure whispered, "Boo." "At least I'm not as bad as your brother the cowardly lion over there," spoke Tony, gesturing toward the now fleeing feline. Alex thought he saw a change in the coloration in Leo's pants, but he wasn't positive.
The dark and imposing figure was the last member of the group, and Alex's best friend for as long as he could remember. Kurt Blackfoot was a beast of a wolf, about done growing by the end of his Freshman year when he stood 6'4 and weighed 245 lbs. He was a strong, silent type who never seemed to take credit for anything, but also appeared to be good at almost everything. Sometimes he said he regretted being so huge, as he often preferred being philosophical over physical. The only words he would say to Devin were, "This is your last chance. Leave. Now." Devin responded, "What the fuck are you dipshits waiting for?! Get them already!"
As the bullying scenario turned to fisticuffs, Alex made a move to join in when an iron grip took hold of his arm. A feminine voice from the person attached to it firmly uttered, "No." Alex looked back, and unable to form words at the moment let out something that sounded like, "Uhhwhaaa?" Natalya looked at him with a pleading expression on her face, saying, "Alex, don't get involved in this. Please..." It was the first time she had made eye contact with him that day, and for a short time her words took effect as he got lost in her eyes. He soon came back to reality, however, and stated that he had to back up his friends, broke away from her grasp and advanced toward the brawl.
In all honesty, Alex probably didn't need to join the fight at all, as Tony, Jay, and Kurt quickly took control of the brawl. Tony had already decked one belligerent, and was working on a second, while Jay was finishing one opponent and Kurt was destroying both Devin's ego and his face. One particularly cheap bulldog was about to strike Kurt from behind though when Alex got the goon's attention. The dog turned around to face the challenger and was turned back around promptly when the husky threw a sicknasty left hook in his face. As the bulldog stumbled away, Alex finished the waste of oxygen by kicking his knees out from under him and driving his face into the ground. As the dog lay moaning on the ground, Alex forcefully told him, "Don't you know basic rules? No rabbit punches, no kidney punches. If you're gonna fight, fight like a fucking man." "Thanks for the save, Alex," said Kurt, now finished with Devin. "Not a problem," Alexei responded, spotting the last aggressor charging at him. The bull threw a punch at him, which Alexei deftly caught, and he surged forward with his shoulder, knocking the bovine off balance. Alexei then turned, twisted, and swept out the bull's legs, using his leverage to flip him over his shoulder and on to the ground.
With most of Fortuna's group retreating, Kurt looked around and observed his surroundings. No one else was in the courtyard thankfully, which meant that none of them would really have to pay consequences for this, as he doubted Fortuna or any of his cronies would tell anyone what happened. He figured most of the school staff had already gone home, but it did somewhat worry him that his school could turn into Thunderdome after hours. To make sure he looked around the area one more time and saw one very horrified looking red fox standing at the other side of the courtyard. Kurt tapped Alex on the shoulder, saying, "Hey man, I think we've got this pretty much covered. Natalya looks messed up for some reason; you should go check that out. We'll handle this." Alex glanced over his shoulder, thanked him for the heads up and left to speak to his beloved friend.
Alexei walked toward her, uttering her name at a volume just above a whisper as she stepped backward slowly, tail between her legs, shaking her head. "What's wrong? Was it the fight? I had no idea you would react like this. I mean, you look like I just killed someone in front of you. I promise I won't get into any more fights," Alexei said, now seriously worried for Natalya. "It's not them, it's not that fight that's the problem," Natalya mumbled. Alex laid his paws on her shoulders and gently asked, "Then what is?" She momentarily looked up at him, her big brown eyes tearing up, and then pushed Alexei away, telling him to leave her alone. She hastily walked away from the courtyard, leaving Alexei with his jaw agape and his ears drooped. He felt and saw an orange and black striped paw grab his shoulder, and heard Tony say, "Alex, let it go. We'll never understand females, and she'll probably be better tomorrow. Besides, you still gotta meet the new guy." Alexei nodded his head and followed the tiger back to where the coyote they rescued sat on a bench.
Once the group had gathered around the coyote, Jay broke the ice, "Well I guess I'll make some introductions. I'm Jay Jefferson, the stripey one is Tony, the gray mountain of muscle is Kurt, and the heartbroken husky is Alexei. What's your name?" The coyote quietly responded, "Cuauhtémoc Dos Santos," receiving quizzical looks from the gang. "Cooah-what now?" asked Tony. Kurt suggested, "Like the Aztec emperor?" "Yes, exactly," replied Cuauhtémoc, "you know Mesoamerican history?" "A little," Kurt admitted. "Kurt, where the hell did that come from?" asked Alexei. Kurt shrugged his shoulders and Jay turned the conversation back on the coyote, questioning him about the incident. "I just moved here at the beginning of the year," he explained, "I've been having trouble finding friends in America, and my grades in class haven't been helping. I've been minding my own business mainly, but recently Leo Fortuna has been getting jealous of my scores. When I told him I wouldn't help him cheat (I do all my work honestly), I guess he got his brother to come intimidate me, and that's where you guys came in. I really can't thank you enough for helping me out back there."
"It was nothing really, we were glad to help," Jay assured him. "As for your name though, that's gotta go. Really the only one of us who can even pronounce it is Kurt, and we're not sure why he can in the first place. How about 'Dex'?" "I could live with that," agreed the coyote. "So, Dex, you mentioned you just moved here. Where exactly are you from?" questioned Alexei. Dex explained that his family moved to Washington from El Salvador to escape the political problems there, and provide a safe place for him and his two twin younger siblings, Maria and Marisol, to grow up. He explained that his parents were fairly wealthy and they got solid business jobs in America in which they could continue to make a substantial income. After hearing Dex's story, the group came to a consensus that he should be admitted to the group, and that they would get him involved in athletics and teach him how to fight so he could defend himself if he was threatened again.
*****
Back in the future, Alexei was just finishing his flashback as the bell rang. As he crossed the room to leave, he realized he forgot that the day he met Dex was also the day Natalya stopped talking to him. Alex had kept his word, he hadn't gotten into any more brawls, but he never figured out why she ran away him so suddenly. He resolved not to think about it anymore as he reached his El Salvadorian companion at the other end of the room, still snoozing. Alexei shook him a bit, causing Dex to say, "No mamá, sólo cinco minutos más." Alexei loudly clapped in his ear, and that snapped the coyote out of his slumber.
Dex had changed a lot since his arrival in the USA. He started working out, and discovered he had natural athleticism which combined with his work ethic earned him a starting spot as free safety, joining the rest of his friends as members of the defensive starting lineup. He also cut his hair, and now gelled it so it flipped up at the front, which the other guys commented looked like the one Border collie host of Top Gear's haircut.
Alexei and Dex left their chemistry class discussing the relationship between Tony and his blond golden retriever cheerleader girlfriend Leah Brighton. Tony always complained about dealing with her, but the others knew he was completely whipped and wouldn't dump her if he was paid to. In the middle of their conversation, Alex heard a collision, and observed a white cat he'd never seen before on the ground attempting to recover books that had been knocked out of her hands. Instinctively Alex knelt down and helped the girl collect her papers, and when he stood to hand them to her he began to notice what she looked like. She had long black hair, and bright green eyes, and the way she looked at Alexei when she thanked him for his help was impossibly cute. Alexei's response was choppy at best, "I'd always stop to pretty -I mean- um... It's always pretty to... I'd always stop to help a pretty cat." Alex concluded his impressive performance by flashing a sheepish grin at her. The attractive feline blushed beneath her fur and shyly departed from the husky, brushing her tail along his leg as she left.
Unable to contain himself anymore, Dex burst out laughing, resulting in the formation of a grimace on Alexei's face. "Smoooooooth," Dex commented. "Shut up," Pavlov shot back.
"So, does this mean you're finally getting over Natalya?"
"I've said it before, that hussy isn't the same girl I knew before. I would love to find someone else, but relationships are hard."
"Jeez, man! Such strong language, what'd she do to deserve that?"
"She accepted Leo Fortuna's invitation to Homecoming?"
"Touché. So what are you going to do about this fantastic feline, hombre? I didn't even know you were into cats."
"Come on, I don't even know her name. I just helped her get books off the ground."
"Yeah. Right. And I'm actually an Aztec emperor. You totally like her! And judging from that little tail maneuver she doesn't think too lowly about you either."
"I don't know what a girl like her would see in me. I think I'm just fodder for knockoff Leahs."
"Hey, it could be your communist charm finally paying off! You should take her to the bread lines and introduce her to borscht, Comrade!"
"Hey now, let's not stereotype, Pedro."
"That cuts deep. Real deep."
They laughed off their conversation as they walked into 2nd period physics, meeting up with their other friends (minus Tony and Leah). A slim, female, black panther questioned what was so funny. Dex explained, "Hey Kim! Glad you asked that. Capitan Smooth here helped a pretty kitty in the hall with her books and stammered his way through so many Freudian slips they had to put a "caution" sign in the hallway." "THANK you, Dex," chimed in Alex as he took his customary seat next to the door behind Dex and next to Kurt. The panthress who inquired into Alexei's and Dex's jovialness was Kimberly Jamison, a level-headed girl that gained access to the group attached to Jay. An agreement had been made on the formal formation of the group Freshman year that stated any significant others were granted immediate and unquestioned entry into the group unless she was a total bitch. It was through this same clause that Leah had joined them through Tony, and the several past girlfriends of Dex and Alex that came and went. Alexei and Dex had been unsuccessful when it came to keeping women, with Dex's record standing at 3 months and Alexei's a pitiful 3 weeks. Alex was also painfully aware that he hadn't made it past second base with any of his pairings, and he wasn't sure, but he thought the same went for his Hispanic counterpart. As for Kurt, he didn't even try. As far as anyone was concerned, he had never dated anyone, which sometimes worried the group, but they just associated it with his natural stoicism.
Also present in the classroom at the time were Natalya and Leo. Since Natalya switched cliques, numerous rumors arose about her "openness" for relationships and how quickly she was ready for them to become physical. Though the stories flew all over the place, her being with Leo still seemed a bit low. One would assume Leo would be thought of pretty highly, considering he was the quarterback, the archetypical high school hero position. Then one could look at his statistics and see why he wasn't. On a team whose offense was built on a balanced run and pass, the fact that the quarterback completed 20% of his passes was a major setback. The team was currently 2-2, with the defense recording shutouts in 3 games (one game was lost due to a safety, which the defense could not have prevented) putting the blame for the lack of success on the offense and their overconfident and undertalented field general.
Even the coaches hated Fortuna, as evidenced by some of their actions during practices. One day, during team scrimmage, Tony got into the backfield on a pass rush and, knowing QB's were off limits for full contact during contact, screamed, "Heads up, pretty boy!" and plastered Leo, causing much of the defense to snicker in amusement. Tony quickly apologized to the head coach, claiming he couldn't stop his momentum and accidentally ran into Fortuna. When he got to the sideline after being subbed out for a few plays, the defensive coordinator put his arm around Stryker to make it look like he was giving advice, and then gave Tony a fist bump, saying that was one of the most hilarious things he'd ever seen at practice.
Monday was passing unusually quickly for Alexei, as the day had slipped by almost without him noticing and he was on the train towards home listening to the Black Keys' "Lonely Boy" on his iPod, the line "I got a girl that keeps me waitin'" resonating through his soul. Upon leaving the station, he made the short trip to his apartment, found the door already unlocked, opened the door, and upon observing the scene inside, struggled to not collapse.
*****
Several minutes passed before Alexei could regain his composure, the interior of the apartment was so destroyed. He finally took cautious steps in, observing the ransacked living room area, wary of any adversaries that could still be in his home. Furniture was strewn all over the place, and he could clearly see large amounts of blood and even some shell casings on the ground. He felt sick to his stomach as he saw a trail of sanguine fluid leading to one of the only doors in his apartment, the door to his father's bedroom. Alex stumbled his way to door and put his ear up on it to hear if anyone was inside. Unable to hear any noise coming from the room, Alex carefully opened the door, and when he witnessed the contents of the room, he was forced to scramble to the bathroom and vomit. Making his way back to Anton's room, he found the corpse of his father, with his throat slit and 6 bullet holes in his chest.
Alexei suddenly felt woozy, like the whole world was spinning around him, as he fell to the ground, unable to hold himself up. He eventually made his way to a wall, sitting against it, trying to control himself and figure out what had happened. Years of violent assignments had steeled him against death, but the fatalities had never been so close, so personal. He surveyed the room again, finding bullet holes in several spot on the walls, and blood spatter on the walls and floor. Upon looking at the blood on the ground, Alexei observed that the blood hadn't quite been fully absorbed into the carpet yet, and feeling that someone had to have heard the shots fired and called the police. Assuming that the cops were just slow in approaching, Alex figured he only had a few minutes before they arrived and used this as an incentive to get his ass off the ground.
One thing that kept his hopes up was the knowledge that Anton did not go down without a fight, as evidence by the mess all over the apartment. Alexei knew that he had to hold himself together and find out who did this. It's what his father would have wanted him to do. Alex walked to his bedroom, threw open the door and found the place not in a disastrous state, but saw that all of his possessions had mysteriously vanished. He found a note lying on his bed, written in Russian, which read, "You belong to us now, come to us and you will be protected," listing an address and a time to meet the unknown people at. Questioning the note, Alex checked the drawer where he kept his weapons, finding them missing as well. Upon further inspection, he found a different note, written in English that stated, "Alexei, the police are not coming, we have called them off. Report to the location listed below. Do not believe the other note. We can use your help as much as you can use ours." The note was stamped with an insignia he had never seen before, and the acronym H.U.R.T. was emblazoned across it. There was an address, date and time on this note as well, suspiciously the same as on the Russian one. Pulling out the drawer, he found something they missed; he still had his uncomfortable stealth getup to wear so he wouldn't be detected. He changed into the suit, feeling he had to make it to the destination in any event, as both parties wanted him there. Alexei also realized that the time on the cards was 9:00, meaning he had only about an hour and a half to get to the place in time. Looking up the location on his phone, Alexei gathered what was left of his things, and set off in its direction, anxious of what would be in store.
*****
Alex had arrived at the location, an abandoned house on a shady part of town, only 5 minutes before the scheduled time, and left his bags hidden in a cluster of bushes outside of it. He climbed in through a broken window, and hid in the shadows under a staircase. He was about to leave his position when he heard shouting in both Russian and English that quickly broke down into gunfire. Deciding that running out into the middle of a shootout was NOT ok, Alexei stayed put in his shelter for the time being, figuring whoever won this fight would be the ones to talk to him first.
The battle raged for a few more minutes until the sound of Russian voices died off, prompting Alexei to leave his post and make his way to the battle room. When he arrived, dressed fully in black including the hood and mask that hid his face, one of the men left in the room panicked, thinking it was one of the opposition and tried to strike Alex with the butt of his assault rifle. Alex, still unarmed, used the rifle as leverage to put the apparent soldier off balance, and he kneed the attacker in the gut. He then took the fox's arm, swept out his legs and pushed down on his chest, crushing him into the floor of the house. A black cat that seemed to be controlling the operation shouted, "That's our guy! He is not to be harmed." It was Alex's turn to panic however, when 3 more of the soldiers came to detain him. He delivered 3 quick blows to a red panda's head, and threw his stunned body into another aggressor, taking them both out of the fight. A bear attempted to take down Alexei from behind, but the skilled husky ducked under him, causing the bear to fly over Alex and collide with a wall. Alexei tried to get up to face the remaining four team members, but the combat, combined with the emotional strain of just being orphaned and having had to run gassers earlier that day at practice left him mentally and physically drained. A big Doberman collided with Alex at full force, driving him into the dust, and then he was turned over so he was lying on his front. The Doberman kept him pinned while the black cat put zipcuffs around his wrists, saying he hated to do it but given the situation it was clearly necessary.
Alexei was led out to the front of the house, where two black SUV's were parked. One of the soldiers went to the group of bushes where Alex had left his stuff, and threw it into one of the SUV's. Alexei wondered how they knew that he put his bags there, but remembered he had other things to worry about as he was put into the back of the other SUV. The black cat spoke again, "Again, I'm sorry about the conditions, everything will be explained once we get back to HQ," and slammed the door, closing him off from the outside world. He could still communicate with the other occupants in the car, as the trunk was open to the rest of the vehicle, but he decided not to, considering that at least some of the unit might still be a bit miffed at him for punching them in the face.
After making the trip there in silence, the SUV's finally pulled in front of a benign looking building. Alexei was taken inside, and led down a few halls until he reached a row of cells. One of them was opened, and he was placed inside of it. The black cat commented that the accommodations were less than perfect, but Alex would only be there for 15 to 20 minutes until the "boss" was ready to see him. As the door to his cell was closed, Alexei saw a patch on the cat's shoulder that displayed the H.U.R.T. insignia, causing him to ask himself some questions. Where was he? Who or what was H.U.R.T.? What had happened to his father? Who were the Russians that were fighting the soldiers? Why was he such an important part in all of this? Why the HELL was he asking himself so many rhetorical questions?
Everything was swimming through Alexei's head at lightspeed, and he couldn't really process it all. He sat in the cold cell, waiting, and praying that he was in the presence of friends and that this wouldn't be the end of the road. He silently sat and waited for that door to open and to finally get some knowledge as to what the fuck his life had turned into overnight.