User blog:SirLinkalot96/The Youngest Son Chapter 0: Tommy's Homecoming

'''So this is the first chapter of anything that I have written in a long time, and it features brand new characters that I created. I hope you guys enjoy it, and please leave me feedback in the comments! This is a short, prequel chapter to the main story I'm working on. It introduces a couple of characters that will play an important part in my story. Enjoy :)'''

'''1:24 PM, JULY 7th, 2004, FRANCIS INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT, LIBERTY CITY. . .'''

Tommy Hall walked at a brisk pace down the escalator, pushing his way through the crowded walkways and not saying a word. He certainly looked like he spent some time in the sun with his tanned skin, brown eyes, blue and white Hawaiian shirt, cargo shorts, and white tennis shoes. He checked his Perseus white gold wristwatch for the time and quickened his pace, making his way to the pick up area. His pager started beeping and a message read, "Black Cognoscenti. Get in the back seat.- HH"

After getting to the pick up area, he saw the black Cognoscenti that was described in the message and he did exactly as he was told. The windows were tinted but he knew exactly who was in the back seat. Harry Hall, his boss and his father. His slicked gray hair and couple thousand dollar suit gave him the appearance of a Wall Street executive, but Tommy knows better. His father is Harry Hall, Consigliere for Harvey Noto, the Don of the Messina crime family, the third most powerful Liberty City mob family on the entire Commission.

The car started driving for the highway and he smiled a warm smile, but those who knew him feel that it's more of him showing off his fangs, leaving you to half expect a reptilian tongue to slide from right in between his teeth. Tommy was always on edge, especially around his father. However, today was different.

"Tommy, my boy! How was bartending in Vice City? My sources tell me you make a mean cocktail! Did you take any shots?" Tommy sighed, as his father ALWAYS talked business in code. The Messinas are under the damn radar these days with the FIB cracking down on organized crime all over the country, so it's understandable why he would want to do that in case this car is bugged or something.

Tommy pulled out a Vice City newspaper, and handed it to him replying, "Yeah, lemme tell ya about it. I took shots with this guy that we've been hearing a lot about. Turns out, he doesn't have as big a tolerance as he said he did, and he passed out. So I took him home, tucked him in bed, and turned off the light." His father's broke into a hearty laugh and asked, "Oh you're good, Tommy! Always the earner. Always lookin' to go the extra mile for somebody he doesn't know! Don't worry, you'll be compensated for your troubles. as usual."

Harry opened the center console and pulled out a bottle of whiskey and two glasses, "I brought these for your success!" He put ice in and poured his son and himself a glass, handing it to him. His father raised his glass and exclaimed, "Salute!" Tommy smiled a little bit and clinked his glass against his father's. After indulging in a small sip, his father spoke up.

"Now tell me something, Tommy," Harry stared at his glass for a minute and asked calmly, "How would you like a vacation? You've been working awfully hard lately." Tommy's heart dropped into his stomach, thinking the worst. Oh no, did he fuck it up? Did he kill the wrong guy? All sorts of paranoid thoughts flew through Tommy's brain in a single moment when his father continued, "It's hot outside, and all this heat can't be good for you. You may need to go somewhere cold and stay there until the weather gets nice."

Tommy felt a sense of relief when he heard that because his father just wants him to lay low until the heat from this hit cools off. Whacking capos doesn't exactly bode well for someone unless they are prepared to run and hide. Looking back, he's lucky he even made it back to Liberty City alive, but Tommy's good at what he does, and every mobster in Liberty City knows it. From the work that Tommy was doing down South, he established a rep down there too, especially with this latest exploit.

"What do you have in mind?" Tommy asked his father before taking a big swig of whiskey. His father looked out the car window and said, "I need to send Dominic away for a while. At least until this all cools over. He's a Hall and people may not take too kindly to that right now, even though he isn't involved in family affairs. It won't matter to anyone else anyway." Tommy thought of his youngest brother, Dominic, and wondered how one of the worst families to ever call Liberty City their home could bear such ripe fruit from such a rotten tree.

"I'm gonna send the kid to Bullworth, it's out in the country and safe from the bad weather in the city. Plus he needs to go to school. Bullworth Academy will toughen that boy up, God knows that's a place to get some hair for your balls!" His father states matter-of-factly. Tommy felt a lump in his throat when his dad said something like that about his little brother. It's not like he can say anything back to him, anyway, so Tommy just let it slide. At this point they arrived at their penthouse, and after taking the elevator up, Tommy decided to speak up against his father's decision.

"It's also a place where he'll get his ass kicked! Do you really think that'll be good for him? Remember Tony used to go there and he used to call home crying every day?" Tommy reminded his father who took a moment to remember. Harry retorted, "That place turned Tony into a man! Your brother walked through those gates a pussy and he walked out of 'em a bonafide killer, ready to do anything for his family. Getting bullied was the best thing that ever happened to him!"

"He's also serving three life sentences for triple homicide! He would have gotten the death penalty if it was legal here! Dom isn't the same, he doesn't like to fight or get into tr-" Tommy was interuppted with a strong punch to the jaw by his father's jewelled up fist, falling to the ground and on his face.

Harry stood over his son, who was spitting blood out from his mouth and was looking up at him in disbelief. With a cold and emotionless tone, Harry stated, "He is going to Bullworth. And if you value your place in the organization, you'd know to keep your fucking mouth shut. Am I understood? I'll let you off on this one because you just got back from a successful business trip but I swear to Jesus that if you mouth off to me again, I'll break your fucking arms and watch how straight you'll be able to shoot, capiche?" Harry grabbed a washcloth from the kitchen counter and tossed it at Tommy, "And wipe up your fucking blood off my floor!"

Tommy began wiping the blood off the floor and his father lit one of his favorite Cuban cigars, "So lemme ask you somethin'," He exhaled smoke down at Tommy and asked, "You lookin' to dust off your degree anytime soon?" Tommy stared at his father with blood trickling out the side of his mouth while his father smirked in a cloud of smoke. ..