At the age of thirty-four, Brenda O’Leary had accomplished much in her life, though not by most people’s standards. Born to a broken home and forced to mostly fend for herself, for most of her life she had fought tooth and nail to survive. Before most people got married, she had dealt drugs, killed, been shot, and ultimately carved out her own little place in the world by taking control of her own gang. Once in control, she had worked hard to ruthlessly expand her territory, leaving a trail of blood and bodies along the way. People thought twice about crossing Brenda O’Leary.
Of course, everything had gone south in the last year or so. It had started with a rumor. A rival gang had risen up seemingly from nowhere, quickly gaining power and territory. Of course, such gangs often sprung up, meeting with a little success before another, bigger gang crushed them. This gang had seemed no different, and Brenda had dismissed it immediately. However, this gang wasn’t like the others. Overnight, it swallowed up its neighbors, quickly coming to share a border with Brenda’s own holdings. Simultaneously, Brenda found her enforcers and dealers disappearing in the night, and superstitious rumors began to travel amongst her members, much to her annoyance. However, annoyance had turned to horror when a meeting had finally been arranged between herself and the upstart leader, proving all the rumors to be true.
The meeting had begun simply, with both leaders sending in a scout to check for traps before entering themselves. They were only allowed to bring in two escorts each, and the escorts were only allowed to carry a pistol. Brenda, seeking to impress, had chosen to bring two of her largest goons. She had been quite surprised when the enemy gang leader had arrived, escorted only by a well dressed young man and completely unarmed.
She had heard that the upstart gang leader was another woman, a shock considering how rare female leaders were, but seeing Nia Martin herself was something quite different. She seemed the complete opposite of Brenda in every way, as if her very existence challenged Brenda’s own. While Brenda was middle aged, Nia was obviously young, perhaps not even twenty. Whereas Brenda was a five-foot-eleven brute of a woman, ample breasted and built like a bull, Nia might have been five-foot-two, her slender build showing hardly any sign of breasts or a butt. Dressed practically in jeans and a green t-shirt, Brenda showed little of her pale skin, her blonde hair tied up in a simple pony tail. By contrast, Nia wore an elegant, black dress, showing off her light brown skin, her naturally curly black hair having been straightened and pulled into an elegant braid. However, for all their differences, the one thing both women shared was their eyes, hard jade discs which darted around, alert to everything.
Nia immediately took control of the meeting, stating confidently that she was here to show off the secret to her success as well as accept Brenda’s gang into her own. Brenda was skeptical, of course, but offered little complaint. If this girl was so willing to give away her secret, then why not let her? Brenda would soon regret her choice.
At Nia’s prompting, her escort, a blonde man in a simple business suit, simply cast his hands outward and the room lit up. Phantasms appeared, in ghastly shapes and colors, whispering seductively in languages no one understood. At another gesture, little fingers of multi colored flames appeared, dancing in the air. Over the course of the next ten minutes, the wizard would continue to add layer upon layer to the madness which darted about, until with a clap of his hands, everything vanished. It was only then that Brenda realized she had backed up against the wall, her own escorts having drawn their weapons and done likewise.
By contrast, Nia seemed nonplussed, standing in the exact same position she had held before. Pausing to allow Brenda to gather herself, Nia once more offered to accept her rival’s surrender. She promised that little would change for Brenda, and that her holdings would simply become a sub section of her own territory. Struggling to find her voice, Brenda had asked for a little time to think, stating that this was a lot to digest. Unperturbed, Nia had agreed, saying that she would return to this same warehouse in a week. Even as she left, Brenda knew she would never show up.
Instead, Brenda spent that entire week seeking out a wizard of her own. She tossed away cash like garbage in the pursuit of every rumor, seeking a way to protect her life’s work. No rumor was too ridiculous, and her people were sent hundreds of miles away, only to turn up empty handed. Finally, the day before her meeting was due; Brenda got lucky, catching wind of an actual wizard looking for employ. She spent the next day flying out to meet this man, missing her gathering with Nia.
It was in the midst of this meeting that the phone calls started coming in. At first, Brenda received reports of armed assaults; however, those soon turned to stories of hellish monsters and devastating magic. It seemed that when Brenda hadn’t shown up, Nia had taken that as a refusal and begun her assault upon Brenda’s territory. This wasn’t good. Quickly as she could, Brenda concluded her discussion with the wizard, promising to return to him to complete their agreement at a later date before quickly making her way to the airport.
When she landed after the three hour flight home, Brenda was met with sirens and police officers. Apparently, Nia had been able to turn a large amount of her underlings against her, having them confess to crimes and finger Brenda as the one giving orders. This, in turn, guaranteed that Brenda was hauled off to jail, incapable of rallying her own gang to fend of Nia’s advances. In the course of a week, Brenda’s empire was completely engulfed by Nia’s, her life’s work falling to shambles. Her trial went no better, and Brenda was given three consecutive life sentences.
However, Brenda wasn’t the sort of woman to give up so easily. She’d come back from worse. Heck, she even had a whole bunch of cash stashed away for circumstances such as these. She could always claw her way back to the top, granted she could find a way out of prison. Remembering the wizard’s number, she used her lawyer to get in touch, orchestrating her escape. It would be six months before her plans could come to fruition.