Logan was on his way to finally making progress. He had found the location of the key holder and was heading that way. It was at the Heights apartment complex in room 725. When he reached the hotel he went to the front. He pulled his dagger on the attendant and said, “I need the key to room 725. If you resist I will beat your ass and take it. If you give it to me I will claim I took it by force, and I will filter you 200,000 dollars as well to keep silent.” The man smiled and passed the key. Logan filtered the money to the man and headed upstairs towards the room.

When Logan got there he heard someone arguing. He waited back to see, and he saw a girl leaving the apartment. The door auto-locked. He knew the man must be in their. He wanted to try and do this the easy way. He didn't want to kill anyone in this situation unless he had to.

Logan opened the door and walked into the apartment. The man was around the corner and said, “I am sorry baby, I didn't mean to make you mad...wait your not baby.” The man started to pull a pistol as he cleared the corner. Logan kicked it out of his hand and ran the man back against the wall and pinned him to the wall with his elbow against the man's neck.

Logan began to speak, “Listen. I am going to be very nice here. I am after information about your group. Inside I want to torture and kill you all, one at a time very slowly. I am going to try a different approach. Your gang works for a local mafia. The mafia is very large. They took something from my family. The first thing I want is any information that you can give. The second thing I want is the key card to your facility. The third thing I want is for you to sign a contract that will guarantee you do not repeat my visit to anyone else. If you do not comply with the correct answer then first I will slowly tear you to pieces until you tell me everything then I will wait for your girlfriend. I will make you watch as I kill her and then throw her out of the window, then I will kill you and throw you out of the window as well. If you listen then you will be rewarded monetarily.”

The thug instinctively passed the key card over to Logan. He told Logan to prepare the contract, and then he said he would tell Logan everything he knew. Logan developed a dark contract. The contract stated that this gang member would not reveal anything about Logan's visit, Logan's situation or anything that happened here in the apartment to anyone. Whether they were gang members or anyone else. The contract stated he would keep all the details to himself and if he spoke those words to anyone his voice would be removed. He would never have the ability to speak for the remainder of his life. The thug signed and set down and took a deep breath.

The thug told Logan, “I don't know a lot man. I don't think it'll hurt to tell you what I do know. Just do me a favor. When you stomp into our headquarters try not to kill any of my bro's. A lot of those guys I have been friends with for many years. We are only a local gang. We answer to some big-wig in California. I have never heard his name or anything else. I know he's some super powerful and super rich super villain or something. He's like part dragon I have heard. He is also super powerful. I heard the dude is augmented from head to toe or something.”

The thug continued, “That's all I know about him dude. Our facility here in Atlanta is pretty small though. We have a leader. Name's Cerk or something. That's what they call him on the streets. Don't refer to him by that name though. Because there's only a few people who know him. I don't want this getting back to me later dude.”

The thug continued, “The place that we use as a headquarters isn't really ours. We extorted it from some garage shop that repaired cars. It's a medium sized warehouse. We cleared out all of the cars and that's just were we hang out. We have other bases that we use to store stuff, like weapons, vehicles, and sometimes slaves. However our boss doesn't get into that type of business to much. The main warehouse is were you will find everyone.”

The thug kept talking, “That's about it. Our leader is a pushover. Most people hate him, so if you kill him it's not like it's going to hurt our organization or anything. I mean we have replacements lined up and some of the potentials are a hell of a lot better than him. Oh, there is a way to get our headquarters almost evacuated. It's a code word. However there's only three people who know it. I don't want it coming back that I gave you the information.” Logan responded, “Don't worry, it doesn't really matter how many people are in the building. The more the merrier. I will try to spare some of their lives if I am able to. I cannot promise anything beyond your own life and that of your girlfriend. Now...you told me what I wanted. You were very helpful. It's time to die.”

The thug started stuttering, “bbbbut you ppppromised.” Logan drew out his blade and prepared to swing it at the thug. The thug slid down the wall and pissed on himself. His entire pants became soaked. Logan spoke, “Just kidding. I really love doing that. Since you were so helpful I will give you 100,00 to pay you for the help, and buy you a new pair of pants. I never break my word. I will leave now, repeat this to no one.”

Logan took the key card and headed towards their headquarters. It was located in the heart of Atlanta. Logan went to the outside and started scanning the area. Lisa started giving him a rundown, “OK this is what we have. This place is small. It's so small in fact, that I can get a full external satellite reading on the entire inside. There are a total of fifteen guards inside. It's a fairly small warehouse. The leader that the thug mentioned is somewhere in the middle. It looked like they are in the middle of a small meeting. Taking out this facility is practically a waste of time. You promised the thug you wouldn't hurt anyone. We can also safely assume that you won't get any more information from the normal thugs as you did from the thug you already interrogated. He might be the only one that is that willing to give information.”

Lisa continued, “I recommend going after the leader only. If you enter this building you will have no choice but to kill most, if not all of the members. They will all fire on you simultaneously, leaving you no choice. I recommend you stay out here and watch. When the leader comes out, follow him. Go outside the alley on your motorcycle and stay a good distance from him. Once he enters his vehicle I can do pretty good pinpointing via satellite while you try to stay near him without getting his attention.”

Lisa continued, “Then you can follow him home and get the information you need the hard way. It might take a few hours to beat the information out of him. He's also expendable so once you get hte information you can kill him. We also heard that will make the gang feel better anyway. Since you don't want the mafia finding out you are investigating them. If you let this dude live the first thing he's going to do is report it to the main mafia.” Logan agreed and went to his motorcycle outside, and waited patiently for the thug leader to leave the facility and head home.

It took about four hours but finally the gang leader and a majority of the thugs that were in the building left. They all headed across town in different directions. Logan saw the leader get in his car and head towards the east. Logan started following him while Lisa got a lock on his car. This allowed her to utilize GPS tracking to keep tabs on him better. This method was almost as reliable as a physical tracker attached to the car. There were cold spots were the signal could potentially go cold, especially on cloudy days.

The tracking went pretty straightforward. He led Logan right to an apartment complex about three miles from where he interrogated the other thug. Logan followed him into the apartment. Once the thug went inside Logan blew the door open with magick and went inside. Logan then sealed the door using a magickal lock. Logan's hand began to glow a dark red...after a minute he touched the door and magickal energy channeled throughout the entire door. This sealed the door and prevented it from being opened on either side. It also prevented x-ray vision from seeing through the door. Logan heard the shower running so he took the opportunity to do same magickal technique to the windows. Once he was done he was pretty weak. That took a good bit of energy. He told Lisa via communication to lock down on this room. He didn't want the entire apartment locked down because it would raise unnecessary suspicion.

Logan heard the shower stop and he hid behind the couch waiting for his chance to attack. The thug leader took a few minutes to get dressed and headed through the living room as if he was heading towards the phone. As the man passed Logan jumped out and kicked him in the back of the leg. This sent his knee towards the ground. He was so startled he couldn't even reach for his pistol. With lightning reflexes Logan grabbed the pistol from the holster and threw it across the room. He put his arm around the thug leader and pulled back on his neck forcing him to a standard position.

Logan walked forward with the thug leader and slammed him fast first into the wall three or four times. He threw him to the ground. Once on the ground Logan kicked him in the ribs about four times. One of the lower ribs shattered after the third kick. Logan was doing what he could to rough him up some and develop a little fear. With some damage done, Logan grabbed him by the shirt and picked the thug leader up against the wall. Before Logan could speak the thug leader kicked Logan in the nuts with a perfect shot. Logan stumbled backwards. The thug leader was holding his rib with one hand and he punched Logan in the face with the other. Before Logan could respond the thug leader did a roundhouse kick and connected with Logan's face. Logan went flying across the room and slammed against the wall.

Logan was angrier than he had been in a long time. The thug raised up his foot and was about to come down on Logan's head with an axe kick. Logan quickly drew his pistol and shot the man underneath the leg and came up with an uppercut to the nuts. The man went down. He was barely moving, and it looked like Logan gained the upper hand.

When Logan went down for the man, the guy suddenly pulled a pistol out from a hidden location in his body. Logan cursed himself for not scanning the guy ahead of time with his Evil Eye. He didn't have time due to how fast everything happened. The thug leader shot Logan in the stomach three times and bolted for the door. Logan was writhing in pain but he couldn't allow the thug leader to escape. He quickly went to his knees and pulled his rifle. He put one well placed shot into the left kneecap and followed a second bullet to the right kneecap. He used armor piercing bullets for both shots.

Both kneecaps were blown out and the thug was in pretty bad shape. He had dropped his alternate pistol during the fight as well. Logan went up to the man and put the rifle to his head. Logan said, “You have given me more trouble than I wanted. I bet your gunfire also alerted the cops. You have two choices. You tell me what I want to know. If so the cops arrest you, you get medical treatment and your possibly back on the streets. Or you do not tell me. If you do not I will make your death horrible. I will slowly permanently disable each body part using pressure points. I will shoot you many times while you still live and you will regret the day you crossed me.

The thug leader had no fight left in him. The thug leader responded, “You really messed me up. I need to get to a doctor if I am ever going to walk again. If you get me to a doctor now, without police involvement then I will tell you everything you want to know.” Quickly Logan developed a dark contract and forced the thug to sign. Logan changed his motorcycle into a car and loaded the man in the back seat. He took him to the hospital. The man was in surgery for nearly six hours. Finally the man was released from intensive care. Logan produced his license to prevent from getting arrested. Logan forced the police to not arrest the thug leader due to their contract and he had Lisa file the proper paperwork to get him acquitted of all current charges. He was wanted for a huge list of charges. Logan has a clause in the paperwork that it could be reverse if the thug didn't give him the information he was needed.

Logan finally got a chance to see the thug. The thug leader began to speak, “You are one hell of a fighter. Out of respect alone I will tell you what you want.” Logan's chest was still pulsating from the gun shots. His wounds had partially healed but he was still in a great deal of pain. He also recently used a good deal of magick in sealing those doors and windows and the energy he had left was being drained by his healing factor. He was in pretty bad shape and had to avoid battle for awhile. It wouldn't take a lot to finish him off. Logan nodded.

The thug leader continued, “OK, I owe you some information, what do you want?” Logan responded, “I want everything you can tell me on the mafia you work for and their leader. I want anything related to locations, people, or anything. I don't want the info on other local gangs. I want direct access to the people I am looking for and I know their in California. That's all I have been able to realize so far...and some minor details about their leader. Tell me all you know. I did quite a bit of damage to you but doctor's are saying you are fully recoverable. The police are outside. They want to arrest you for a list of crimes the size of a person. However...I have the authority to make them walk away. I have filed some paperwork that is going to absolve you...totally of all the crimes you have committed so far. Not future crimes, but just the ones your wanted for now. If you tell me what I want..that sticks. If not I go back and reverse the paperwork.”

The thug leader thought...and finally began speaking, “OK..you win. I expect some kind of money for this. If my crimes are going to be absolved...then I can have the ability to go into hiding and get out of this pathetic lifestyle. It does nothing but screw up my life anyway. OK...where do I start. I will tell you about my parent organization..the mafia in California because that's what you were asking about. Keep in mind that a lot of this is left to question. I got most of this info from the grapevine..it's not like we got an official briefing on this job profile or anything. The organization was formed off the basis of some big mafia. There was a major felon. I mean this dude has a list of charges against him higher than mine. Probably quadruple mine. One day he got tired of the street life, or so the legend goes. So...he started building a mafia. It started off as a small gang in California. They were the most violent gang around and quickly they took over all of California. Every gang in California was his before long.”

The thug leader continued, “Well...that wasn't enough. The local police started getting a bead on his outfit because it was so large. They were involved with everything in California and were performing every type of illegal activity that you could imagine. The crime rate there had tripled in a few months. So...the big boss decided to change some stuff. He rented this gigantic building...I mean this thing was huge. It was like a fifty flow skyscraper. So he gathered every single gang member in the city. The small ones, and large ones and got them all together in one room. Man that room was crowded or so I heard.”

The thug leader continued, “So basically he took each gang member and started splitting them up. Everything was a factor. They were split up based off of what there hobbies were, what they liked, there gang style, who their friends were. He had formed a total of about fifteen total groups of people based off their situations. Then he put like five or six as mafia's and the rest as gangs. The largest ones were made mafia's. Each one was given a leader. The leader's were ordered to answer directly to the big boss. The gangs themselves were also forced to work with specific mafia's..but they were all tied to the big boss.”

The thug leader still continued, “That lasted awhile dude. Many years went by. The organization grew. Finally the big boss got tired of it. He didn't feel like organizing new forces so he started throwing crap loads of money around. He bought out one major gang in every single state first. Once he had connections he started expanding. After he had one major gang in each state..he started funding those gangs. Giving them armaments and men. Trying to get them capable of taking over other gangs with turf wars. Within a few more years he had taken a good number. He had one gang minimum in every state. Some states he had locked down entirely..and based on what I hear he's still expanding.”

The thug leader continued, “We'll, that's not all yet. There are also some stories about the big boss. Some say he's half dragon. Some say he's a drake (which is essentially a half dragon). Others say that he's totally augmented. I mean 95% augmented to the point of being almost invincible. Others say the dude lives forever. Their was an ancient story about the birth of these super beings called Immortals. I have even hear that some people say he's the very first one that was ever born.” Logan thought back. This could be the same guy that was originally first experimented on by Demon's race.

The thug leader continued, “I do know one thing. Dude, I really shouldn't tell you this. This guy has a name..and I know it. I found it by accident. I was hacking through the black market database and I found his name. If I tell you though..dude...if he finds out I am dead. I mean dead three times over. His name is Darkoff. Do not tell him you know his name. If you confront him and call him by name..he's going to trace it back to me, I know it. I know his name is Darkoff. I verified it with some friend in California. Although he doesn't like telling a lot of people his name..especially when it's regarded to gang or mafia activity. He does have a front business. To the eyes of the public and the police he runs a very legitimate business.”

The thug leader continued, “Now..that's all I know about him. I don't know anything else about him or his mafia origin. I don't even know their name. I mean the name of the mafia. Umm..I heard it before. I just don't recall. Oh..Darkoff's Consortium. I remember he named it after himself. That was how I verified his name in the beginning. I know that in the beginning a lot of people use to make fun of it by calling him “jack off” but..most of them found themselves dying horrible deaths. So that ended pretty quickly. Unfortunately I don't know anything else. The bad part is there were thousands of different buildings in California that were around the same size as his building..some were bigger. No one around here will really know exactly how big.”

The thug leader continued, “I am not really sure what else I can tell you. That's it. That's all I know about him and about the group. I do have a few friends down there but I won't get them involved in this, even for getting off with the police. What I can do is give you the first name of a leader of one of the mafia's down there. They are tied directly to the core mafia and the big boss. The leader of that mafia actually answers directly to him. His name is Maven. That's what he's called on the streets. Unfortunately no one will know his last name. He keeps that private. Even on paperwork. That's it dude, that's all I have.”

Logan nodded and responded, “OK, I am leaving now. I have things to attend to. I am leaving the paperwork as is. The police can't touch you. Here is 250,000 dollars for helping me get closer to my goal. Do not reveal my investigation to anyone. If you do I will return and tear you to pieces. I will also revert my paperwork with the police. I have a clause in there that allows me to reverse it if I need to. So do not reveal my name, or my investigation into their mafia.”

Logan left. He headed back to his jet. He needed to do a lot of thinking now. He set down for awhile with Lisa. She heard everything. They just talked. Long into the night. They were getting ready to fly to California and start there digging there. They had done everything they could here in Atlanta. They got into the gang and was able to get all of the information they needed. The next step was to hook up with the mafia contact named Maven and see if he could get some information out of him. He was on his way to finally being able to save his family.

Logan and Lisa were in California in about thirty minutes. They were starting to dig around for some local contacts and try to find out what they could. Logan knew the name of Maven but he wasn't sure which mafia he was the leader of or anything. Before Logan really had a chance to start investigating the area he received a call from Drake Knight. Drake was needing his help on an inter-dimensional issue.

Drake spoke through the cellphone, “I need some help. My men are dying. We are trying to take down an inter-dimensional drug lord. He has fortified himself up in the dimension of fire. He has thousands of armed guards. I need someone to run in a special operations team and get this situation under control. I have already lost multiple officers and two specialty teams. I have one team that was ready to go in but their leader took two gunshot wounds to the leg before he even got near the facility. It's heavily fortified. It has external heavy armaments, and missile launches hooked to the building. I need you to take a team of four specialists. I need you to get into the building and kill everyone inside. I need the leader taken alive and the facility locked down. I can't afford anymore men on this warrant.”

Logan acknowledged and headed towards the dimension of fire. Once there he told Lisa to hang out over the facility they were trying to infiltrate. He told her to initiate a full cloak and gather data around the area for awhile. Logan was headed down to the surface to get ready and make entry.

When Logan arrived, Drake was waiting for him and spoke, “Thank you for coming. I knew helping you out would have it's benefits. I already gave you the situation. I have a team ready to go in. They are a team of four and their leader is disabled. It's probably better that you are here anyway, I have already lost two full special operations teams. This guy must come down. Let's go into the camp and sit down with the team for a briefing.”

Logan and Drake headed into the headquarters to meet with Logan's temporary team and get a briefing on this mission. Drake started speaking, “OK. Team this is Logan, Logan this is team. Logan the team really doesn't go by their names. They use code names for their missions to give them added security since they deal with issues in a multitude of dimensions. There pattern code name starts with 'Midnight Sun'. Then there is an individual code name for each one. This guy here is Midnight Sun Alpha. He is the first member of the team. He has been on the force for around twenty years and is the most experienced. He specializes in long range rifle tactics. He's the one that can look into an open area and verify there are no snipers, as well as other things related to long range tasks. He is also the team sniper..very good at killing from a distance.”

Drake continued, “This lady here is Midnight Sun Beta. She specializes in support operations. She is the one that will hack open doors and provide short range support fire. She is the one that needs to stay some where near the back. She specializes in close combat. So if someone get's a little too close for comfort she is generally the one that can clean them up. This guy is Midnight Sun Omega. He is demolitions. That is all. He should be the last one to enter a situation. He has grenades, and rockets. He can blow stuff up. His only gun is his pistol and he's not great with it. Keep him out of danger and bring him into areas last. Midnight Sun Try is the best fighter on the group. She is the one that should either take point or fall behind to cleanup leftovers. She is experienced in close range and distance weaponry and is the best trained member on the group.”

Drake continued, “That is your group. Please try to keep them alive. I want them to be able to continue to serve our cause. I already lost two full teams. I am counting on you. I will pay you for this as well..believe me. If you bring me this dude I will make it worth your while.”

Drake continued, “We have three objectives. The first and top priority is to take the criminal down. He is to be referred to as 'criminal' during this mission to make him easier to identify. He is very powerful. Logan...you most likely will have to fight him alone. As we have already realized he is powerful enough to destroy the entire team besides you. He is your equal or better in combat and is very dangerous. The second priority is to lock down the facility. Make sure all enemies are killed or brought down. They can be killed as all of his goons are considered expendable. The final objective is to try to get out with all of your team members alive. If some get injured I will understand but please try to keep them from being unable to perform active service.”

Drake continued, “Here is what we are going to do. It's impossible to get in from anywhere on the outside. The entire external facility is locked down. My men have been in a constant firefight with their external forces and we have gotten nowhere so far besides losing a lot of soldiers. I have been using mage cops for awhile. They are underground. We found a well and since this is the fire dimension it has rules pertaining to this dimension. One of the rules states: If water is used on any object it erodes the object. This rule only applies to natural items that were originally created in this dimension. So we have been using water to erode away the ground underneath the facility. We have developed a tunnel and it's right below the entrance. All someone has to do is go through the tunnel and use light magick at the top of the tunnel at the entry point and it'll breath you through to the inside of the facility.”

Drake continued, “You will probably walk directly into a large amount of gunfire. So be ready. Logan, I am sorry but as always your responsible for your own weapons. You are a member of my force but I have to employ you as a contractor based off of the agreement we made.”

Logan responded, “That is fine. I always have my own weaponry. OK. Enough talk let's get this bastard behind bars, kill all his men, and burn down his building. Omega team here are the rules. You do not have an option when it comes to listening to me. If I say bark like a dog you start barking. If I tell you to take your clothes off and give the enemy a hug do it. If your not going to listen to everything I say then stay here. Listen to me and you will live, do not and I will shoot you in the head myself. I do not have any room for disobedience. This is a serious issue and it's not a game. I demand your respect and loyalty in all situations while we are in the field.”

Logan continued, “Now, we are removing your long names. Instead of being called by your full code name you are going to be known as Alpha, Beta, Omega, and Try respectively. Learn those names. When I call you expect to hear, and respond to these shorter versions of the name. By the time I could say half your name we could all be dead. Learn them fast and make sure you respond to them as you would your own first name. Do not ignore me when I call your code name. If you do you will be sent out of the field and away from battle. I do not have time for failures. Keep these names close to heart and respond to them on command. Spend a few minutes becoming one with those names and removing all of your own will. You must listen to me solely.”

Logan stepped out for a minute. He gave them a few minutes to discuss among themselves and continued. Logan came back and asked which ones were still going. They all agreed and started gearing up. Logan continued, “OK. We are ready to go. We are going down into the tunnel and we're going to bust our way upwards. We are going to need some diversion and some advice. Give me a minute. I need to contact Lisa. I will patch the communications through now to all of you so you can hear everything she's telling me. She will be supporting us throughout the entire mission as needed.”

Lisa started speaking, “We are going to need support on this. I have generated seven frag grenades for the grenade launcher on our jet. I am in stealth mode at the top. When you get to the location I am going shoot all seven grenades at the top of the facility. This won't cause a lot of damage but will take multiple gun turrets out as well as get a good diversion. At the exact moment I drop the grenades your going to wait about three seconds and dissolve the floor and enter. The goal here is to buy you enough time to dissolve the floor, get into the facility, and get to cover before your even noticed. Once inside it's a straight path to the boss. This..dimension doesn't have satellites. But I was able to pass a tracker into the natural flow of the dimension. It gave me a detailed schematic of everything inside the entire dimension, even inside this facility.”

Logan took his group and headed down into the tunnel. Logan said, “Try, You and I are both point the entire time. Alpha and Beta you are directly behind us. Alpha focus on long range cover, Beta focus on short range cover. Omega remain half a room behind at all times and follow up our rear. You can basically walk backwards. You focus on just the rear. Keep enemies from coming behind us. Permission to shoot on site for anyone who comes into sight. Your also responsible from cleanup duty when prompted. Keep this formation. If you are given orders during the field then follow it in the field without hesitation.”

At the end of the tunnel, Logan gave Lisa the go ahead and she dropped the grenades. Within a few seconds he heard a lot of footsteps running above them and disappearing into another hallway. Logan used his magick. He summoned destructive energy in the fiery air around him. He burnt a giant whole in the floor. Him and his team quickly entered into the facility and worked there way into the hallway. They got behind cover just in time. The guards returned and went back to their posts without noticing Logan or his team.

After Logan verified they were all back on their normal patrols he prepared to start the infiltration. Logan had Omega throw out three smoke grenades. Once the smoke grenades went off, Logan and Try headed in. They fired a few well placed shots taking down a total of seven guards. This took a total of four bullets from Logan's rifle. Logan moved in and said, “Omega, drag the bodies over there into the shadows. Try cover the hallway they came from. Alpha cover the other hallway. Beta standby.

It took Omega a from minutes to get the bodies put away. Logan said, “If anyone needs any weapons or gear get them from the enemies.” After a minute Logan headed back towards the hallway and motioned for them to get into formation. Logan said, “Omega, keep a good eye on that back hallway. Beta keep an eye out as well. I am expecting some resistance from that side. They need to die before sounding the alarm if we're spotted.”

Logan and his teamed moved through the hallway. They were on the lower floor of a three floor house. They went around the hallway clearing out one room at a time. From the time they entered into the hallway to the time they reached the other end near the stairs they had cleared fifteen rooms along the hallway of a total of twenty five guards. Logan spent a total of fifteen shells from his rifle. They were finally at the stairs and were heading up to the second floor. Logan said, “Beta and Alpha go round up the remaining enemies on this floor. We have killed most. I want to secure this floor entirely. The bomb Lisa dropped disable a lot of their external defenses. Secure the rest of the people on this floor and expect at least three more. Try to take them alive in handcuffs. If so take them to the front and turn them over to Drake. Remaining members, stick with me. We are headed to the stairs. Alpha and Beta when your done join us at the top of the stairwell, and make it quick.

Beta and Alpha complied. It took them fifteen minutes. They took a total of seven people alive in handcuffs and took them from the facility. Once they were sure the lower level of the facility was locked down, Drake sent in an influx of guards and secured all of the rooms. The entire first level of the facility was now locked down and Logan was heading up the the second level out of three. After Beta and Alpha rejoined Logan he headed into the second floor. They worked their way through the entire second floor. They took down a total of ten men and secured that floor. They contacts Drake and had him send some troops to fortify the second floor as Logan took his team up into the third floor. He spent a total of eight bullets from his rifle on the second floor in total.

Logan took the team aside and spoke, “OK, the third level is mine. We cleared the entire first two floors. Head outside and help cleanup some of the remaining units. I am heading to the third floor. Lisa has scanned it and he's the only person there. He needs to be taken alive, so that is the goal. I am going to need to handle this guy alone.”

Logan headed into the third floor. The only thought on his mind is to find this criminal and take him alive. Logan crept through the third floor very silently. He knew the criminal already knew about his presence but he wanted to not reveal his location until he was right on top of him. He made his way into the back room and saw the criminal facing a wall working on something with his back turned. Logan threw a dagger from his dagger belt and it slammed into the lower leg of the criminal. He dropped to the ground like a rock.

The criminal pulled his pistol and turned to Logan. Logan barely had time to duck behind the wall before seven bullets came flying towards his direction. Luckily he caught the criminal off guard so he was very nervous. The criminal kept firing towards the wall until his gun ran out of bullets. When the gun was empty Logan charged the criminal and captured him.

Within a few minutes Logan had the criminal in custody and turned him over to Drake. Logan was in a hurry to try and get access to Maven. He wanted to be able to find out what was going on with his family. After the criminal had been turned over and they were all debriefed Logan headed back towards California. They made a dimensional jump and went to California. The first thing Logan did was hit the streets to try to get additional information about the leader of the sub-mafia Maven.

Logan went on his Hybrid around California. It was a very big state and he really didn't even know were to begin. He had no contacts around the area and had to get his contracts from scratch. There might be a few people around the area that was familiar with his mercenary group but he would still have to get word around that he was in the area and that he was accepting new contracts. The contracts would give him money and contacts and get him dug into the California scene a little. Eventually that would give him access to Maven.

His first goal was to locate the mafia that Maven was part of and his second goal was to local Maven himself and get the information he needed out of him. Logan headed towards the local bars to try to locate some contacts so he could gain some information about California's underground.

Within a few days worth of searching the only thing he was able to locate was one bartender who knew a fence. A fence was just a standard black market seller. They normally accepted stolen goods of various types as well as sold them. The fence himself was useless to Logan but he might have deeper connections into the underground. He had to ask around a lot to get the information he needed and all he turned up was information on this one fence. He felt the past few days were totally wasted.

Logan talked the bartender into setting up a meeting with the fence. Logan mentioned he had a lot of hot material he wanted to get rid of very quickly. That was the line he was using to try to get information from various people in California. The bartender set up the meeting in an abandoned parking lot in Los Angeles. Logan was to go there around midnight to meet with the fence. He was suppose to come alone and bring all of his merchandise. The bartender told Logan that the fence was very busy and would only have time for one quick meeting.

Logan went to the abandoned parking lot. It was around three in the morning and Logan saw a black car pull up. The man came out of the car and walked over to Logan. The man asked, “What do you have for me?” Logan thought and responded, “I have no merchandise but I have a great deal of money with your name on it.” The man looked at Logan and smiled.

Logan continued, “I want information. A great deal of information. Your a fence so your suppose to buy and sell merchandise. I am guessing that selling information isn't an exception. I am looking for some very high end underground contacts in California. Ones that operate directly out of California. Perhaps some gang or mafia leaders. If you can give me deeper access to the underground world...I will reward you very well. I will reward you equally depending on how deep of a contact you are able to get me.”

Logan gave the fence a few minutes to think. When the fence was done he responded, “Hmmm..I really don't know any contacts you would consider high profile. I do know one major contact. He's a member of the dark mafia. That's the mafia that's owned by that Maven dude. The guy I know is like one of his lowest recruits..so that's not necessarily high profile contact. How much would you pay for him, if anything?”

Logan thought a minute. If he was able to get started with this beginner contact in the mafia this would get him closer to Maven. It was a good coincidence that the only underground contact he was able to meet would even know someone in Maven's mafia and would even know the leaders name to begin with. A stroke of good luck was something Logan wasn't going to take for granted. Logan responded, “I agree. If you can get me in contact with him I will give you 200,000 dollars.”

The fences eyes got bigger than his head and he stumbled backwards into his car and spoke, “That's a lot of freaking money. Give me your cellphone number. Give me three days and I will setup contact for you. What do you want from him by the way?” Logan responded, “I am a mercenary. I want some higher profile contracts than the ones I am working on currently. Here is the 200,000 dollars. Set me up a meeting, here is my cellphone. Call me with the time and the place. I have downloaded your digital signatures from your mind so I know about Jessie. If you run away and never setup my meeting then I will kill her. Thank you for the business.” The fence was stunned that Logan found out about his girlfriend. He thanked his evil eye for that. It was able to pick up a signature of that memory which allowed him to use psionics to pinpoint that data from his mind.

Logan finally had his foot in the door to get access to Maven. Once he got in contact with this mafia member he was going to do a few contracts for him hopefully and then get in direct contact with Maven shortly thereafter. This was going to be a very big chance. First he would meet with the low level mafia contact..then he would do some contracts from him. After he worked up some trust he would try to get access to higher members up the mafia chain..hopefully eventually he would receive direct contact with Maven himself which would then lead him to the man who took his family.

A good three or four days went by before Logan heard from the fence. During that period he spent a lot of time with his girlfriend and took some time to relax and catch up on sleep. It had been awhile since he had really been able to relax. He had been so obsessed about finding his family he needed to take a few minutes to relax and this was the perfect time. Finally the fence called. He told Logan that he had a potential meeting time setup. He said he told the mafia contact that Logan was a mercenary and was seeking work and that the mafia contact stated there was pretty much a large volume of work that needed completing. The fence told Logan that he was to meet this underground contact from the Dark Mafia in an old alleyway in a few days.

Logan agreed to the meeting. He needed to get involved with the Dark Mafia for awhile so he would be able to rise up in the ranks of the mafia and perhaps get in contact with Maven eventually. He wasn't sure how he was going to approach it, but performing small jobs for the lowest ranked member sounded like a good start. Perhaps he could get some information from this contact as well while he was at it.