Joker blinked trying to ignore the show off hot dogging next to him. It was obvious the gear head wanted to race, punk kid trying to play punk games. He ran a hand through his hair slowly slicking it back. Carefully he maintained his speed in the cream sided Audi R8 with a black center. After a few more minutes of the kid hot dogging him Joker could feel his last nerve snap. He was already on pins and needles about Faye disappearing he didn't need another stressor but this kid was hell bent on pushing his buttons. Joker shifted gears and gunned the pedal easily passing the punks tuner. "If you want to race you need to put the money into it." Effortlessly Joker slid in between cars and well ahead of the poor bastard. Slowing just enough to let the Mazda keep him in site he slid on to an off ramp, he was challenging the driver's man card.

Minutes later Joker pulled to a stop and stopped the car, watching the red RX come to a stop behind him. He rolled down the window and waited for the driver and whoever else was in there to show themselves. In the classic punker fashion the young men piled out of the car. "Hey homes." Joker just closed his eyes and shook his head, "Latino...wise guys..." He muttered to himself. His train of thought already going down a dark path.

"Homes, you going to disrespect me like that and then not even going to face me?" There was a loud crack and the Audi started to tilt ever so slightly to one side. They had shot out his tire. Joker took a deep breath and waited exhaling slowly, "Esse I'm talking to you!" He young man now was standing just outside of Joker's window but well within arms reach, Joker's hand shot out grabbing the boys shirt while his leg kicked the door open into the kids chin stunning him. With agile ease he swung out of the car and grabbed the kid again, spinning him into a head lock and positioning him as a body shield.

Another of the punks stepped up, "What are you, mafia, puta?" He was the one holding the gun. Joker's eyes narrowed to a slit as he calculated the distance and time he'd have to cover to that man before the others could get involved. "No, worse." Before anything else could be said Joker was already moving, he swept the human shield's leg and rolled over the body effectively knocking him out. He came up under the gun man's chin with a headbutt and spun to the side that held the fire arm. Snapping the man's wrist he now controlled the 9mm pistol, same issue as military, and the worst weapon that could be put into Joker's hands. With pin point accuracy he let out four shots and the two remaining men dropped to the ground with shattered kneecaps, one of the two had tried to run and now was attempting to crawl. Joker returned his attention to the man who so shortly before had thought of pulling the gun out.

"I am going to get in my car now and drive away...If you tell anyone what happened here, You, Your friends, and your family will disappear. And not back to Mexico, You're gang, their friends, and their families will be killed, in the streets, the police will do nothing about it. Tell them Castro Valdez is back in California and doesn't wish to be disturbed." Joker smiled and removed the slide of the pistol slowly and the smile turned sickening, with a cold look now in his eyes he drove the rear of the pistol into the man's thigh just next to the artery, a 'calling card' he used to use when he worked undercover for the feds with this persona. "Comprende?" He stood up and walked back to his car taking only the magazine from the gun with him. He laughed as he sat down and drove off then called up Brian. "Brian...It's Joker. If you want to make some punk Mexican's crap themselves you'll find theme on Loma Point and Saracuse just short of the overpass. If you have any bodies that want to sweat them, they ain't going anywhere."

The spot in the hammock under the tree was perfect for swinging yourself to sleep. And since the day before had been pretty exhausting Brian had nothing better to do than snoozing in the late afternoon sun when his phone woke him up.
drousily he took the call with his eyes half closed.
"Brian...It's Joker." A blast from the past.

"Joker?" He asked. Last time he'd seen he guy he was only half alive.

Before Brian could ask anything the guy continued.
"If you want to make some punk Mexican's crap themselves you'll find theme on Loma Point and Saracuse just short of the overpass. If you have any bodies that want to sweat them, they ain't going anywhere."
Clearing his throat Brian sat up and responded. "Listen man, I appreciate the call but I'm no cop anymore and trying to stay out of trouble."

Wearily his eyes scanned the backyard, then the house for any signs of Mia.
"Why? What did these guys do to receive the wrath of Joker?"

Of course Brian was curious why the mna would call him or who these Mexicans were. Did they possibly have anything to do with Dieselis cartell south of the border.
After all most of the organisation in the states had fallen to pieces after its head had been chopped off but Dieselis goons were fighting over who would take over the lead.
Maybe the Mexican part of the organization had come up to LA to stake their claim.

Brian got up and walked across the yard fumbling his keys from his pocket. "Where are you?"

"Eh, just some punkers that wanted to race. You know, that pretend power and a fast car." He sighed, "I might have instigated it a little bit. Blew them out of the water then made a show of where I was going. Just needed to release some stress and was only going to pack a few punches...Until someone pulled out a gun." Slowly he made his way, away from the scene. "I'm dragging my bumper a couple blocks away from the overpass. If you're coming to find me, I'll be the asshole in the Armani suit with a tire iron putting a spare on a hundred thousand dollar car." He took a moment to pull over, satisfied at the distance he'd covered. "On the bright side, I didn't kill anyone this time."

Brian kept shaking his head at the guy on the other end even though he couldn't see him. He needed to stay out of trouble for a change.
"Oh man, why are you calling me with this, Joker? I'm done with all this crap." He announced with an audible groan and at the same moment remembered the discussion he had with Mia about being a cop again. When or if he'd be a police officer again he'd have to handle crap liek this.
The part about the gun was what actually made Brian's skin crawl. He hated guys, who settled their arguments this way. People like that shouldn't be here. Especially not now that he had kids who needed a safe city to grow up in.
"Can't you call the police?" Brian wondered but already knew the answer.
"Don't go anywhere." The engine of his old rust bucket roared to live just before he took off.

On his way out he dialled Monica's number.
"Hey Monica, it's Brian. I think I have a few bad boys you might be interested in."

Almost an hour later he spotted the guys in his Armani suit, which was slightly tattered next to a German car that made his own look like a speck of dirt on the road.
Even from a distance he could see the disgruntled look but when he got out and came over he offered the man a brotherly hug nevertheless.
"Everything okay with you?"
With a nod back at the road he added. "A chick I know is taking care of your Mexicans. I can't officially do anything. Nice Audi by the way."

Joker, Nick now, turned around when he heard Brian's car approaching. He smiled warmly at his friend and greeted him warmly. "Been a while man, you don't call, you don't write. I'm beginning to think you don't love me anymore!" He laughed, "Unless I do something like that," He lifted the tire iron and pointed past Brian at the way he came. "Then seems everyone knows that it was someone that has to do with you." He chuckled lightly, "Actually dropped a name I used to use when I was working for MS-13, one of the cases you ran over once I believe... anyways I figured that would make some people freak out a bit." He shrugged innocently, "Stir the pot a bit, since Faye disappeared I've been a bit irritated. Anyone that's dumb enough to race on the free way in broad daylight is either too rich to get caught or too stupid to not deserve a beating, thought I had a fifty, fifty, chance of being in trouble or relieving stress." He took a moment to toss the tool and tire into the passenger seat. "But enough about me, let's talk about you. What's with the jalopy?" He raised an eyebrow slowly.

The greeting was warm and genuine, the tire iron in the hands of a guy like Joker a little worrying though.
"I thought you were dead." Brian stated dryly. "Last time I saw you you were bleeding out in some hospital."

The case Joker was referring didn't ring a bell right away but when he talked about racing on the freeway in broad daylight Brian concluded. "More like 70/30. you were lucky. Those guys back there...not so much." He pointed over his shoulder because the men had been a bloody mess. "Guess they took their chances with the wrong guy...and you said they pulled a gun on you?" Brian asked with a frown. "Do you know these guys or did you just run into them by chance? Monica will need a statement from you to lock em up."

When asked about his beautiful ride Brian shrugged. "I like to call it my silver hooptie."
Then he became serious and explained his recent luck.
"I had lots of bad luck lately. Lost pretty much everything I owned including my girl and kids. Don't get me wrong they are alive but she didn't like the way my and my brothers life were putting theirs at risk so she left." That was the very brief version of what actually had almost torn his heart out and left him with nothing to hope or wish for.
"Let's not talk about it." He frowned.
"So are you back for a while?"
Joker looked pretty good for man, that Brian believed to be dead.

Nick smiled and backed up to look at his friend, "Eh, I got my hand fixed up, motor skills are a bit messed up because of nerve damage. I can still use it effectively, as those punks found out. The kids were gang bangers, wrong place, wrong time. Thought they had me, some rich suit with more money then sense. They were fools, gave them a general threat about what may happen to their friends and family, they won't say a word. Better to go to jail." He smiled slightly then grimaced, running a hand through his hair. He continued with a thick Russian accent "My name is Nicholi now, I'm an English teacher, living on government pension. Been labeled as Retired, do not contact. That for me is a death sentence, they won't even contract me for a suicide mission. Which means, they actually gave up or they are going to send someone to kill me eventually. When I wrecked shop I broke a lot of protocols that were in place to keep what happened, from happening." He shrugged, "So anything I can do for you? I still have a large amount of cash I'm sitting on."

Brian cast a glance at Jokers scarred up hand and listen to him talk about how he took on those guys. ÄI wouldn't want to mess with you." He lifted his brows as he remembered vividly when both men had gotten into a shoot out/explosion and Joker had taken on 90 percent of the men by himself. The man was a tank. Look up 'badass' in the dictionary and guess who you'll find.

He chuckled at the fake russian accent. 'Pretty good, Nicholai."
Of course the government would try to get rid of Joker sooner or later. A guy like him was a walking time bomb. Give him too much free time and he'll sure screw up sth or somebody. "Bound to happen if you draw attention to yourself like this!" He motioned for the guys Joker had taken out only an hour ago.

When he actually offered help and money Brian froze for a moment. "Do I look that needy?" He then stated without the hint of a smile. Was it really that obvious how down he was?
"If you feel like investing some cash into a car for me that I could race and then pay you back that way...I wouldn't object. The LAPD kicked me out during the last investigation against me. I've been cleared but haven't really gone back to them. I work at the worst garage you can imagine. The guy there is pretty nice. He was willing to take me on without checking my background, so...not much cash in my pockets."

"Yeah, under the table jobs never pay that well." He squinted past Brian, "What type of car you thinking of, and how legal do you need it?" Brain had skills that even rivaled Dom, all he needed was a decent car, Nick looked back at Brian and scrutinized him. "You lost...your ride too? She really did take you for everything didn't she?" He shook his head slowly and closed his eyes. Been a long while since he had helped anyone aside from himself, he did owe Brian a lot though.

"Tell me about it." Brian frowned at his 'friend'. He really missed the steady income as a cop. It wasn't a huge salary but it paid the bills. He was more and more leaning towards asking for the LAPD to take him back. Right now he wasn't ready for humiliation though. They'd treat him like a fowl egg, which was technically right but only due to circumstance.
"I'm thinking anything with enough power to win me some money...what do you mean how legal? I want no stolen car if that's what you mean."

When Joker emphasized that Mira had taken everything he had Brian's gaze darkened. "Let's not talk about it, okay? And no, my car kinda got lost down in Mexico when my ass of a brother decided to become a dealer....longs story."

Brian watched Joker and then asked. "Are you sure it's a good idea to come back to LA? Maybe we should get off the streets."