Prologue
The wind blew solemnly around her shoulders as she tread through the streets of Brooklyn, glancing around her. Still, the people were cheery, the familiar yells of happiness and laughter carrying through the air. However, she felt cold, like ice, and she gripped on her shawl as hard as she could.
Though she was fairly young she knew the perils of the city, and she had seen her share of death. Her mother had commit suicide. She'd been there to see it all. Her father had died when she was eight, right in front of her own eyes. She remembered four men smashing the door of their apartment, smashing everything in their way and barging into her parents' room. She remembered hearing the grave words, Too late, James! as one man grabbed her shoulders and forced her to watch as her father was beaten brutally on the floor by the remaining three.
But, now, she could remember that the man who had held her back the day her father had died had whispered in her ear that he was sorry for everything, that it shouldn't have ended that way. But she was already halfway unconscious that she could barely remember the man's face, only the warmth of the man who held her. "I'm so sorry, Kara," he'd murmured against her ear. "I wish it hadn't ended like this."
She was eighteen now, on her own, and was heading to the market to buy some wine for her best friend's birthday. "Your best," she muttered to the owner of the winery, and he went to the back.
There was loud laughter behind her. She turned her head and saw three young men, all of them wearing ragged coats. They couldn't have been more than twenty. One of them cuffed another on the shoulder and asked in a loud Brooklyn accent, "So, what'd she say?"
"She told me to jack off," roared the other. The third chuckled into his sleeve. "And to get a life, I bet, huh, Harvey?"
"Yeah, that too." The loud one, Harvey, made a face and shoved his middle finger into the air. The other two young men laughed and pounded their fists on the counter.
"Hey!" called a middle aged man by the window. "Calm down! Go laugh somewhere else!"
Crash!
"You talkin' to me like that, huh, big boy?" bellowed Harvey. The middle aged man recoiled in his seat. "'Cause if you are, I'll make sure you don't talk no more ever again!"
Another young man jumped up, but this time grabbed Harvey and pulled him down. "Down, Harvey, he didn't say nothin'," he said quietly.
"I'll tell you what he did say, Jon! He was threatenin' me, that big son of a—"
Jon, the quieter one, pulled him down harder. "You calm it now, Harvey, he's prob'ly got a wife and kids somewhere. Don't hurt him—"
"I'll show you who I can hurt—"
"Yo, Harvey, stop your yellin'!"
The third was up now, glaring. Kara suddenly remembered: he was the one who chuckled in his sleeve. He pulled Harvey away from Jon and held him up to his chest. "Like Jon said," said the man, "you need to calm it down. He just wants us to shut our mouths a lil' bit."
Harvey glared at him with striking blue eyes. "You know what, Al? I think you're too chicken."
The man, Al, dropped Harvey onto the floor. "I'm not chicken!"
"Yeah, you are!" Harvey laughed wildly. He shook his dark hair out of his eyes and grinned. "Say, Al... to prove you're not chicken..."
The previous argument forgotten (and the middle aged man quickly and quietly gathered his things and rushed out the door to make sure he wasn't going to be the topic again), Harvey glanced around the store. His eyes landed on Kara, who had been watching the whole incident with wide eyes.
"Perfect," he murmured. "To prove you're not chicken, Al, you're gonna take that doll over there home with you."
Al's eyes grew wide and he stumbled back. "I'm what?" The words echoed in Kara's head as she registered his words. She grabbed the two bottles of wine from the owner, who had just emerged from the back of the store, and slapped a five dollar bill on the counter. "Keep the change," she hissed fearfully, glancing behind her as Harvey regarded her with ice cold eyes. She hurried to leave, but Harvey leapt forward and caught her by the arm.
"That's right. Take her home with you. This chick right here." Harvey shook Kara roughly. Kara ripped her arm out of his grasp. "Don't touch me," she said angrily.
"She's feisty, too," laughed Harvey. "You're gonna have fun with her."
"That's stupid!" Jon yelled, pulling Al back behind him. "Al doesn't have to do what he don't want to!"
"Oh yeah? Well Al was expelled from school and he wanted to stay. But guess what, he had to leave and he didn't want to!"
"He'd have been put in jail if he didn't, you know—"
"Al's a bad boy!" Harvey screamed with laughter. The store was emptying rapidly, and the owner locked himself in the back. "Al's gonna get taken to jail soon, anyway! What do you expect, huh, Jonny boy? His daddy's from Italy! That's where all the smugglers come from! He's goddamn literally got a pass to jail already!"
Jon shoved Al closer to Kara, who shuddered to the wall of the store. "You're insane," said Jon. "Outta your mind."
"No, I'm not," Harvey said, grinning even wider than before. "Al's the one who's insane. He's stuck with you all these years, hasn't he?"
Jon took a deep breath and turned his burning stare to Al. Al turned to Kara.
"I'm sorry," he muttered, shooting a glare at Harvey. "Can you please come with me?"
"I'm not coming with any of you damn jerks." Kara tucked the bottles of wine under her arm and slung her purse over her shoulder. "It's nineteen eighteen. Get a grip over yourselves!"
"Please," he said.
She shook her head. "He's right, you are insane," she said, pointing to Harvey. "You're not going to touch me. At all."
"I swear, lady, I won't--"
"Swears don't do any good."
"But--"
"Don't talk to me!"
"I'm not gonna touch you!"
There was a silence in the shop, and those remaining in the shop were watching them warily. Even Harvey had calmed down, and was looking at Kara. Jon suddenly spoke, staring at Harvey in a new light.
"Listen, Harvey... I'm sorry."
Harvey turned to face Jon, who leaned against the opposite wall of Kara. "We were overreactin' and... well, if we'd just gone to the park like you said earlier, and not here at the winery, as Al suggested, well... none of this would'a happened."
Harvey remained silent.
"And Al," Jon continued, but with a harsher tone. "You ain't welcome to suggest anythin' to me no more. I'm sick of your lil', Let's go to the winery, it's got a fire. Well, guess what, wine boy, I'm sick of the winery. I don't like alcohol so you can let me go where I want! It's always about the wine, isn't it, Alphonse? But you're also in it for the gangs, right?" He shook his head. "Listen, Al, you were a good kid, but ever since you got kicked outta school it's been a tough road for you. You took the oddest jobs. Candy shop, bowlin'… you didn't know where you'd fit in, did you? But you finally decided on the booze, huh?
Al stiffened next to her. Kara glanced at him from the corner of her eye and saw his eyes glowing with despair.
"You hooked, Al? That why you wanna keep comin' here?" Harvey called.
Al shut his eyes, shaking his head.
"He's not hooked," said Jon. His eyes were sad, and he smiled wistfully. "You're not hooked, Al, are you? You wanna just get some respect for once in your life. You've been stuck with that crime-ridden pops of yours."
Al's eyes shot open, gleaming under his neat hair. He was trembling.
"Yeah, his poppy wasn't really the good guy," said Harvey, shrugging. "Besides, Al, you lived in the suburbs, right?"
"Don't…" Al began, but Jon stopped him.
"Listen, Al." Jon pulled out a cigar from his pocket and handed it to him. Kara saw Al's breath hitch in his throat. "Do me a favor. When you grow up, and you kill somebody… think of me, as your own personal bodyguard."
"When… I kill somebody?" said Al, staring wide eyed at the cigar. Jon nodded. Al took a deep, shuddering breath and pushed Jon's hand away. "I don't wanna kill no one, Jon."
"But your daddy's done it before," whispered Jon. Harvey grinned and announced, "Like father, like son!"
"I'm not a killer—"
"Face it, Al, you will be," Jon said, tucking the cigar in Al's coat pocket. "I can just see it: Al Capone, notorious gangster and mob boss."
"No—"
Harvey laughed loudly. "Don't try and fool us, buddy boy. We know you're gonna end up like that sooner or later."
"I'm taking never," said Al desperately.
"Sooner or later, Al. Never's not a choice."
And Kara saw Al shudder and streak out of the shop, his yell of despair echoing within the walls of the winery.
I hope you enjoyed the prologue.
Yeah, before I get a bunch of flames I just thought I'd do a different take on things. Everyone's got a heart somewhere, and I thought, Let me find a really, REALLY bad guy and see what I can do.
Al Capone's what I got. He was perfect. And I know he was married to Mae Capone but jeez there's gotta be something else in there.
Also, since I recently saw Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian, I was in it for Capone. He took it on for me. Jon Bernthal, the dude who played him, was insanely epic.
Alright, I'm done. Chapter 1 coming soon.