Blog #7 - A Flash

As Just's beat up van approached where Leit was, Leit himself was prepared for the worst. Not willing to risk being captured, Leit immediately put a magazine into his oversized handgun designed for anti-armor purposes and swung his left arm in the direction of the van. He quickly pulled the trigger.

And again.

And again.

And again.

Before the spent shells could find solace on the concrete sidewalk, two small holes appeared on the windshield of Just's van. Despite the bad weather condition, Leit had hit the driver and the shotgun position twice with perfect accuracy. 

This might seem impressive, but what was more unconventional was instead the van. The windshield itself did not crack, despite being hit by high caliber bullets, and there was not a trace of blood on the windshield, Perhaps it was unmanned. 

The van continued to rush toward Leit unhindered, and that was all Leit could care about.

As the van accelerated to almost twice the speed limit, with all of his strength, Leit hurled his body mass to his right, towards a fashion shop that was closed due to the fog. It worked, to a degree, the van did not crush Leit, in fact, it did not even scratch Leit. Although the van had slammed into the shop next door, a jewelry shop, and destroyed the display, the frame of the van was still intact. It was a great van, having served its owner for ages only to be trashed for a final mission. Such shame. 

Feeling a little adventurous, Leit readied his weapon and slowly but steadily approached the seemingly ruined van. Oh, how rookie that was... As Leit stared intensely at the van in the fears of possible hostiles, an object shaped like an aluminum can dropped from the exterior of the van onto the sidewalk and it rolled.

It rolled and 

rolled and 

rolled 

By the time Leit realized what it actually was, it was too late.

"Flashbang" Boom....

Bright light that pretended to be the heavens shined upon Leit and blinded him before he can fully cover his eyes. 

Leit was defenseless, and sensing this weakness, the back of the van opened... 

Blog #6 - First Strike

Leit was tired from all this running and hiding and not tending his bar so, seeking a return to normalcy, he tried to change things up a bit. Instead of evading them, Leit is now seeking a confrontational approach to Just and his gang.

“The best defense is offense eh? No one ever mentioned the part where I have to find my enemy first,” said Leit as he loiters on the roof of his bar, just waking up from the first full sleep night he had in a while.

The reason for Leit’s comment was not a profound observation on society’s values but on the weather today. [heavy fog, low road visibility] is what Leit’s weather app said. But Leit could not care less as he had better things to do, like finding Just and silencing him.

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Perhaps it was due to the thick and obstructing fog, or simply because of the chance for rain, there was no one on the street except Leit. Slowly shuffling down the street, Leit was looking for any traces of Just and his van.

As Leit walks and walks, he began to develop this unsettling sensation in his guts: something feels wrong. And indeed, there was something very wrong about Leit’s situation. Leit looked at the familiar traffic sign beside him, and he sprang to action. He took out a black marker and marked the red octagon with a small but noticeable X and he ran. He ran. He ran. He ran as if his life depended on it (it did).

When he stopped, he was at the same place as he was before. It was a loop. Leit was stuck in a loop. Just as Leit realise the sticky situation he is in, Just’s van appeared on the road behind him not that far away.

“The past never goes away does it?” sighed Leit as he prepared himself for what is to come.

Blog #5 - There's no reason to doubt

Justice Taft, who is called "Just" within the Organisation is not having a nice week at all. The Organisation ordered him to get Alpha back into operation when the guy quiz over a year ago, and Alpha is just not having it. During the time when Alpha was gone, the Organisation really suffered in terms of operations and revenues.

"He was the best we had."

Just exclaimed to himself sitting in his van.

"If only he didn't have that attitude of his..."

Beta, Gamma, Delta... these guys together can't do what one-tenth Alpha was able to achieve.

"Yeah they are really bad, I recruited them after Alpha quit."

That's a fourth-wall break, you aren't allowed to that!

"Don't tell me what to do."

No.

"Hey, hey, reader, I guess five blogs in you still don't know what the Organisation does eh?"

No.  

......................................................................................

Let's get back to the story, shall we?

The night was dark and Leit was on the roof his bar. The sky was filled with the cosmos but Leit was not feeling particularly happy with such. Because of everything that happened to him in the last week, he was still classified as a "missing and suspicious individual". During this time, Leit was not able to operate his bar. Leit especially loved mixing cocktails for clueless clients, serving up the most shitty abomination possible, and watching their faces as they force the delicacy down their own throats. But I digress.

Leit’s purpose for being on the rooftop was simple: he had set up a temporary shelter here the day before and he intends on spending the night here.

“Finally a good night of sleep awaits me!” Leit whispers to the heavens.

And just as Leit was hypnotising himself into sleep, a shooting star darts across his vision. Remembering the urban legend of a wish upon a star, thinking why not, Leit said a wish.

“I wish to bury my past.” He asked.

Little did he know, that wish would be fulfilled. In the worst ways possible.

Blog #4 - The Instrument of Murder and Its Peculiarities

It has been a week since Leit's encounter outside his bar and he has been skipping around town ever since. Leit is currently sleeping in a different hotel every single day, only coming out at night to reposition himself and buy some non-perishables and daily necessities. He wasn't worried about funds: Leit's retirement fund consists of three hundred million dollars, but that did not mean Leit lived comfortably. Leit pondered every day about his life choices and how it led to his current position, and he reached this unpleasant conclusion:

"Frick, Just was right, there really isn't permanent retirement in this cursed line of work."

Leit finally accepted his fate and walked towards the riverbanks. It was there one year ago that Leit dumped his professional gear and vowed to not follow down the dark path, but now it looks that vow was another con. Just like everything about Leit himself.

Leit dived down deep from the banks into the cold waters and found his old briefcase. He quickly grabbed it and resurfaced. He donned the black trenchcoat, fixed the gloves, equipped the night vision goggles, holstered his handguns, and reassembled the sniper rifle.

"Friedrich von Leitmeritz, code name Alpha, repor... well I guess there's no one to report to now."

As Leit adjusted his goggles to get used to his newfound ability to pierce into the shroud of darkness he saw something strange next to where he was sitting. It produced an unnatural glare in his field of view that he saw countless times before - the distinct colour resulting from hard metal caked in dried blood. Leit picked it up, careful not to leave any identifying particles on it.

"Isn't this... the murder weapon?" No duh.

Leit immediately connected his acquisition to Mr. Evan's murder case, but before he could acquaint himself with this knowledge he noticed something, no someone else walking near the river bank. Leit knew of him as Bradley Bennett, the local electrician, but Bradley did not recognise Leit in his current outfit.

"Hey, aren't you the electrician Brady, or Benley or something like that?"
"Y-yeah? What do you want?"

Leit carefully wrapped the knife with some cloth he found his suitcase and handed it to the electrician.

"Here, take this."
"W-what is this? W-what do I d-do with it?"
"Take it to the police or something, it's Mr. Evan's murder weapon. I think."
"B-but why?"
"Because I don't want it."

Leit hastily grabbed his briefcase and ran into the shadows, as usual, leaving the troubles for someone else to clean up.

Blog #3 - What Did Leit Do to Deserve This

As Leit walked out of the bar with Conrad's guitar on his back, he noticed something strange. Leit saw Just's delivery van parked across the street, and he was a bit irked. Just missed his usual delivery this morning, and that meant Leit will probably not be able to offer his full menu tonight. Leit walked across the street with a light jog, and his mind was conjuring up the harsh insults he was about to use to interrogate his untrustworthy driver. He never got to use those clever words.

Although Leit did not clearly see the driver's face, the familiar outline was enough for him to knock unhesitantly. What happened was not the driver lowering his window, but was instead the sound of the back door being slammed open and Leit saw three masked figures rushing out and cornered Leit with only the van door behind him.

"Em, hello there? What would you guys like today?" Leit nervously negotiated despite not being in the best position to do so.

The masked figures did not answer, but instead, they looked behind Leit. The van window rolled down, and Leit turned around to check out this new development. What appeared out of the window was not Just's scummy face, instead it was Just's scummy face pointing a jet back handgun straight in Leit's face.

"Long time no see Leit. How are you doing today?"
"Is this why you missed my deliveries this morning?"
"Organization safety regulations, can't do much about that."
"So, Just, what do you need today?"
"You, Meritz, you. The organization needs you back again to do some jobs, and this time I'm not asking."
"What if I say no?"
"Then I'd have to dispose of you, painfully I might add, as required by organization safety regulations."
"Fine, fine, fine. It doesn't look like I have a choice anyway."
"Beta, Gamma, Delta, get back in the van. Meritz, you get in with them too."
"Alrigh-"

Leit did not finish his sentence because he was busy swing the guitar (not his by the way) in a semi-circle, knocking out the three masked figures. As Leit ran away from the van, he could hear Just getting out of the van, and out of sheer desperation to not get shot, Leit threw the guitar at Just. Leit ran away hastily, and as he sought refuge back in his bar, he locked the doors and bolted the windows and muttered to the heavens:

"What did I do to deserve this."

A lot. Friedrich von Leitmeritz did a lot to deserve this.

Blog #2 - Something Strange in the Air

This week hasn't been great for Leit's bar business at all. The sales are down, the number of patrons is down, it simply felt as if the town has this air of gloominess around it.

The murder of Mr.Evans who lived in the same apartment as Leit last week really put people on high alert, and there's been strange stuff happening because of it. Yesterday Leit was visited by this strange person named Lamar, and he was asking more questions Leit was willing to answer.

"Mr. Friedrich von Leitmeritz?"
"Yes, sir, what would you like today? I recommend our new selection of fine wine that had just arrived yesterday."
"I'm not here to buy a drink, I'm here to ask questions."
"About what? I'm just a bartender."
"Mr. Evans."
"The guy who was murdered a couple of days ago?"
"Yes."
"I don't know him much, I'm just a bartender."
"Yes, yes you do. There have been reports of you going out of the apartment in the middle of the night. Where are you going every day?"
"To receive my bar supply deliveries."
"At 3AM?"
"Our establishment opens from 6AM to 10PM, when else do I unload the crates?"
"Wait a minute what? What's with this schedule? What..."
"Sir, I am going to have to ask you to leave. You are holding up my patrons."
"You... I will come back later."
"Do you, Lamar?"

The mayor, Mr. Meitland, asked this songwriter named Conrad to come to town in order to calm people down, and for some reason, Leit was asked by Mr. Meitland to deliver Conrad's guitar.

The guitar was just sitting there in the corner of Leit's bar, and he was going to deliver it right now. As Leit leaves "Platinum Time", he thought of how peaceful his current life is.

For a single moment, Leit thought "Perhaps, just perhaps, this bartender gig isn't my calling."

Leit disappeared into the foggy streets, only to never arrive at Conrad's concert.

Blog #1 - A Usual Day for Friedrich von Leitmeritz

The day started for Friedrich von Leitmeritz much earlier than for regular people. Friedrich, or as his neighbors call him "Leit", is the owner of the only bar in Maitland, "Platinum Time." Leit is usually emotionless, preferring his own privacy over sharing with others. Yet it is this characteristic that makes Leit so popular with the townfolks that come to his bar every single night: he can keep their secrets. His bar is usually jam-packed every night but somehow Leit manages to handle all of them without being overwhelmed alone.

For Leit, this morning felt no different than any other ever since he took over the bar from the previous owner a year ago. He woke up fully dressed in his long trenchcoat at 3:30AM and left his Eastside apartment to attend his bar before the morning patrons come in at seven to grab their daily morning coffee fix. As usual, there was the delivery van from his supply chain behind the bar building. Leit went towards it as usual and greeted his longtime delivery driver and self-proclaimed friend, Tim, or as Tim prefers, Just.

"Just, you got the usual?"
"Yup, the beer and whiskey are in the crates over there and the wine is in the boxes. Meritz, sign here to confirm it."
"Don't call me that, I am called Leit now."
"Alright alright, I will remember that."
He never does.
"Oh, by the way, are you interested in an order? This time it's a request from some idiot who's willing to shell out lots to get what he wants."
"Stop it Just, I know you are only doing it for the middleman fee. I'm not taking any more jobs, I am just a legit bartender now."
"There's no retiring from your profession, Meritz, and you have to accept that."
"And what if I don't?"
"For now, nothing. But I will come back tomorrow, Meritz, and by tomorrow, you would have no choice about it."
"Whatever you say, Just. The usuals for tomorrow too."
The delivery van slowly drove away from "Platinum TIme" and the rest of the day was typical for Leit.