The warehouse was cold and damp; they were in the basement and water dripped onto the cement floor. Rush Marston stood center to the man tied up in a wooden chair, a pistol in his left hand. Kane Flynn stood to his right, a sinister grin across his face and sitting in the back, his chin resting in his hand was Danny, the man who had been able to fake his own death to escape capture. He was the leader of the small gang of street kids though always yearned for more power and would do whatever it took to get it.

Rush couldn't help but smile at his familiar surrounding, even though he knew the fate of the man sitting in the chair, it was like the old times again, when it was just the three of them. Best friends... brothers even. Things had changed over the past few months while Danny was gone, Rush had left the gang as well to live in a lodging house and work as a newsie selling papers there and Kane had taken over control of the gang. Danny was back now though, things would go back to the way they had been before.

The seventeen-year-old looked back at the man sitting in the chair, his hands and feet tied down to it. He was crying. His head was down and his long black hair fell into his face but Rush could still see the tears falling from his eyes. Why was he crying? He didn't understand. If Kane had only been there the man would be tortured. He should have been grateful they were going to get this over and done with quickly. This man had tried to kill the trio for goodness sake! He should be thankful they were letting him live this long, not crying like a child. He was just a scared kid who tried getting revenge on Danny and failed but he was from their rival gang so they couldn't very well let him live.

"All right, Rush, finish him." Danny said in a low voice, then stood and turned his back to them.

The biracial teen slowly raised the gun and pointed it to the man's head. He hated guns. Knives he liked. You could treat them easier and most of the time you had a better chance of surviving. He didn't even like the feel of a gun in his hand, not since he used one on an innocent bystander the day Danny has supposedly been killed. He had no choice in this case, however, he had to do it. He wasn't about to give Kane the satisfaction of killing this man.

Don't do it, Rush. He shook his head to rid of the voice. It was Cassidy, the first girl he had fallen in love with, the one he couldn't have and the one who had left him. He had been hearing her voice whenever he was about to do something immoral since Danny left. Maybe that made him crazy. It was a possibility. A part of him had died when Danny was killed and Cassidy left for Hoboken. He feared it was the only sane part of him as well.

The voice in his head soon got louder as he removed the safety from the gun and again he shook his head and closed his eyes a moment. He couldn't stand it. He had killed before. He had taken the lives of young men many times but it was with this one that he was starting to fear he wouldn't be able to go through with.

"Come on already, Rush." Kane taunted. "Just do it!"

Rush turned and held the gun up next to Kane's forehead. He would have no trouble ending this one's life. He hated Kane even though he acted like he didn't. As much as he wanted to though he couldn't, not without being killed in return. He simply grinned.

"Don't push me, Kane."

Kane rolled his eyes but backed away and stayed silent. He wasn't about to push Rush's limits. They all knew that he was different now and there was no telling what he would do. Taking a breath Rush turned back to the matter at hand and again held the gun up. He looked at the man, he had stopped crying at this point and was looking up at him, staring him in the eyes.

Rush don't! You're better then this. He ran his free hand through his hair in an attempt to clear his mind but it didn't work. He wasn't better then this. This was all he knew. His breath became deeper and slightly faster. He could hear Danny moving from his spot in the room and walking up behind him. You don't have to do this!

"Shut up," he muttered to the voice.

He locked eyes with the man again. They were green and pleading with him to let him go, oddly enough they reminded him of Cassidy's. He had to do this. If not he may loose what little respect the gang had for him. He couldn't chicken out. When he felt Danny's hand on his shoulder, about ready to take his gun away and do it himself, Rush lowered his eyes and fired.