When a black sedan pulled up outside the gym, Roman whistled a warning to the others. They’d been waiting for this day for a while now. It had been four long years since they came here, four long years they’d fought off the street gangs, protecting Ivan and his little piece of heaven they found.

Ivan had taken them in that first night. He’d given them a place to stay and everyone pitched in to make the old gym a decent place to live. Ivan had taught the boys so much over the last four years and they had soaked up his words and actions. He’d taught them to fight. To defend themselves with skill. He’d said, “Da, you will all be men…” As he looked around at them and smirked. “Bol'shoy chelovek.” He laughed. “Big men too. But you need skills. I know you can fight, but you need to be the better fighter than the one trying to beat the snot out of you and I will teach you how.”

Then one night, Ivan made a simple mistake. He forgot to lock the back door and the street gang got inside. The boys had been out to get food. They’d told him so many times to keep that door locked. They destroyed Ivan’s dream, his home and they’d taken his life.

Roman and Yuri found the old man on the floor broken and bleeding. He told them who beat him then he told them to grow up to be good men. He died in Roman’s arms a few minutes later. With the old man’s last breath, a rage grew inside Roman. Ivan was just an old timer who never bothered anyone. He’d taken the boys up on their offer of protection and in return, he brought them into his home and taught them everything he knew. The arrangement worked well for all of them.

As they all five stood around his poor beaten body….None cried. They’d all learned a long time ago to never shed a tear. They needed to be men not boys at a very early age. Their eyes glittered though. Pain showed on all their faces. Rage in their eyes and misery in their young hearts.

Yuri let out a furious yell. He leaned his head back and clenched his fists.

Roman held his body still. How could someone kill the man? He was all the family they had. He dropped to his knees and took the old man’s hand into his. He vowed this would not go unpunished.

“Net. Net!” Mikial shook his head as if he couldn’t accept it. He looked white as a sheet as he too, knelt by Ivan.

Sazon paced back and forth, his fists clenched. Unshed tears showed in his eyes.

Barshan was so quiet. He looked like he too, wanted to kill someone.

The boys had learned how to be a family of sorts and Ivan wasn’t just a lonely old man anymore. Then about three weeks ago, the gang moved in and threatened their home. The leader, Igor Gustave stormed into the gym with two other bigger men and demanded to know where the boys were that lived there.

Ivan told him nothing just asked that he leave. Igor laughed in his face and told the old man he would determine when he would leave and that wouldn’t be until he got his pound of flesh. He told Ivan that one of his boys was in deep shit and he wanted his blood. It seemed that Sazon got away from a beating, the Silver Fish thought he should take.

Igor never said what the beating was for but if he didn’t produce Sazon, he would take his blood off the old man.

Roman and the others were waiting in the shadows, hoping Ivan wouldn’t be hurt. Yuri went around to the front door and turned the locks.

Over the last four years with a warm place to sleep and plenty of food in their bellies, the five boys had grown into fine young men. Under Ivan’s tutelage, they had become good fighters and defenders.

The five of them came out of the shadows and circled the three men. Taking a protective stance against the bullies wasn’t that hard, especially when they were defending Ivan.

“Net, we don’t like bullies,” Sazon told them. “I’m the one you’re looking for but I’m not willing to take the beating you expect me too. Nor am I afraid of you.”

Igor snorted as he looked from one to the other of the half grown men standing around him. “Nor am I afraid of you, little man.”

“Of course, you’re not,” Yuri scorned. “You don’t have to do anything except order violence. There’s always someone to take your orders. You never have to get your hands dirty but they are all the same.”

Igor shrugged as if he didn’t really care.

“Tell me something, what was it Sazon did that your people thought he should take a beating for?” Barshan asked.

“He didn’t give one of my lieutenants the proper respect.” Igor growled.

Mikial turned to look at Sazon and asked, “Is that true?”

Sazon lifted his shoulders slightly. “Net, the guy was picking on a much smaller boy. I stopped him from beating on the kid. One or more of his followers might have been watching. I called him out for being the bully he was and he didn’t like it.” He shook his head. “At that point, I didn’t really care.”

Yuri glared at Igor. “That doesn’t sound like disrespect to me.”

“He made a fool of my man.”

“Net. No he didn’t,” Roman stated. “He stopped a bully.”

“Either way, he made a statement that I didn’t like.” Igor shrugged.

“Too bad old man.” Yuri scoffed. “You should have just let the matter go.”

“I don’t rule these streets by letting things go.” Igor sneered.

“You do this time,” Yuri warned him. “You’ve been asked to leave, now leave.”

Igor almost gave his men the command but the look in Yuri’s eyes held his tongue. Instead, he turned to glare at Ivan. “We’ll be back when your friends aren’t here and there will be a reckoning between us.”

The five young men watched as Igor almost ripped the door off the hinges when he left. They turned to Ivan. “You be careful when we’re not here. That man wants blood.”

“I know.” Ivan nodded sadly. Then he looked around the room at the five of them. “Whatever happens, I want you to know that everything I have, I leave to the five of you. I have no regrets in my life but I’ve come to think of you boys as my sons. In fact, this place is all I have but I want you to have it.” He paused and held up his hand as he chuckled. “Just don’t be in any hurry to claim it. I still plan on living a long life but…” He stared at the front door. “You never really know just how much time you have.”

It was a month later when they found him broken and bleeding on the floor. The Silver Fish got in and beat him to death.

After they buried Ivan, the boys went on the prowl. They found the four men who had entertained themselves by beating an old man to death and they got their revenge. Next, they went after the head of the snake, Igor Gustave.

For two full weeks, they picked at his empire, taking pot shots at his gang and his personal wealth. They planned to break the bastard and leave him with nothing, the same way he left Ivan with noting. So far, their plan was working. Igor was feeling the heat and soon, they would drive the knife deep into his heart. They would destroy him and the Silver Fish gang.

Mikial had been listening on the streets and he brought them news of the trouble brewing from their strikes against the Silver Fish.

Apparently, they had garnered the attention of the Bratva with their high jinx and little war against that scum Igor.

Three days later, another big black car pulled up out in front of the gym. Another well-dressed man stepped out and looked around the neighborhood. This man was younger and better looking than Igor. He seemed to emit power just from his expression and the way he moved. Dangerous, yet commanding.

Roman watched him approach the gym. Before he got to the door, he whistled low to let his brothers know they had company.

When the door opened and the man walked in, all five boys were hidden in the shadows watching him as he moved further into the room. The man had come in alone but didn’t seem all that concerned about his own wellbeing.

He stopped in the middle of the room. He looked around the shabby run down gym and simply cocked an eyebrow. He searched the shadows and finally found the boys lurking there. The man nodded at each one but didn’t say a word to any of them until he found all five.

Then he straightened his shoulders and addressed them, “Zdravstvuj,” he greeted hello. “My name is Nikoli Silvanic. Recently, I’ve heard of you five and I want to know more about you.”

“Just what have you heard?” Yuri called out without revealing himself.

Nikoli smiled. “I’ve heard that you have taken on the leadership of the Silver Fish, Igor Gustave, and that you’re willing to do battle against him. Voyna, war…” He paused then asked, “May I ask why you’ve targeted him and his gang?”

Yuri smiled as he answered Nikoli’s question, “He disrespected a friend of ours. We’re teaching the man how to respect his betters.”

Nikoli snorted. “The man has no respect for anyone but himself. Udači! Good luck with that.”

“What can we do for you, Mr. Bogach?” Roman finally asked.

Nikoli chuckled. “Mr. Money Bags?” He snorted. “Not hardly.”

“What can we do for you, Mr. Silvanic?” Yuri finally asked.

“I don’t know if you know who I am, but your struggle with the Silver Fish has not gone unnoticed,” Nikoli replied.

“Not gone unnoticed by whom?” Sazon wanted to know.

“I’m Bratva,” Nikoli admitted.

“Net! I think you should turn around and leave this place.” Yuri growled. “Menja v pokoe! You aren’t wanted here.”

Nikoli exhaled a deep breath. “All I ask is that you hear me out.”

“There is nothing you can say that will ever change our minds about the Bratva,” Yuri informed him. “They are nothing but bullies pushing other people around and taking what they want.”

Nikoli shook his head. “You don’t know that. Maybe that’s the way they ran things years ago, but the Bratva is changing. It just all takes time.”

“So what the hell do you want with us?” Roman asked.

“The five of you are a force that’s been recognized as something that could be big.” Nikoli assured them. “Apart, you are only one person but together, you are a wall that no one can crush. I want to train you on how the world works. I want you to work for me.”

“Don’t you need someone’s permission for that?” Barshan sneered.

Nikoli growled. “We are not animals, despite what you seem to have heard. The old days are gone, hopefully for good but the Bratva isn’t the dirty word it used to be anymore. Yes, we are an organization to be reckoned with but we aren’t like we used to be. We have become civilized much to our older generations discord.”

“We still do not want anything to do with you or your organization,” Yuri told him. “We do just fine on our own.”

“Did you know that Igor Gustave is planning on burning this building down to the ground? And that before he does that, he’s going to trap the five on you inside?” Nikoli asked softly. “He really wants all of you gone. He’s afraid that you are giving the people in this area hope again and that’s the last thing he wants. He wants everyone afraid of him, afraid to stand up to him, afraid to do something to piss off his tiny minded plans. ”

“How did you know that?” Roman asked.

“Da’, the Bratva is everywhere and we hear rumors too,” Nikoli assured him. “Igor is really getting mad at the five of you and he wants his pound of flesh, meaning he wants you all dead.” He shrugged. “He’s not exactly making that a secret. He’s also willing to pay for any information on any of you. He’s trying to find someone to betray you. He thinks he can become bigger than the Bratva. In fact, he wants to take over the entire city and challenge us for the power.”

Yuri snorted. “There is no one any of us can call family if that’s what’s your wondering about. The five of us are alone. Except for the man who once lived here. And Igor beat him to death about three weeks ago.”

Nikoli nodded. “Da…I know. The Bratva doesn’t usually step in to situations like this one but I want you five to work for me. I want you on my team and I will help you destroy Igor and the Silver Fish to get that.”

Yuri cocked his head and stared at the man for a moment. “Zachem? Why? Why us? What do you think we can do for the Bratva that no one else can do?”

Nikoli stared at him for a moment then said, “I think you can bring a sense of what’s right and wrong to the Bratva. I’ll admit I looked into your backgrounds and I couldn’t find much there. In fact, I couldn’t find anything written on paper about any of you. But I’ve been watching you for a while now and I like the way the people around here protect you. There has to be a reason for that. A reason for that kind of loyalty. They won’t talk about it, not to me and not to the Silver Fish. Especially not to the Silver Fish. I’ve seen you guys helping everyone you come into contact with, even if it’s only a smile you give them. You make them feel better. Ty sil'nyy… you are strong. They know someone out there is watching over them and they return the favor. That type of thing is very important to me. It tells me what kind of people you guys are.”

“And what kind of people are we?” Mikial asked.

Nikoli hesitated for a moment then answered the question put to him, “You are the kind of people that despite having nothing of their own, you give the little bit of extra to people around you. You make them feel safe. You stand up for the little person on the streets, yet you’re tough when you need to be.”

“So what?” Sazon shrugged. “Ja ne ponimaju. I don’t understand why you care.”

“I want that for my team,” Nikoli admitted. “Sergi Constantine the leader of the Bratva for most of Russia has given me permission to build my own team and I want the five of you on it. I think we could really go places together.”

“You’re still a crime syndicate,” Mikial reminded him.

Nikoli nodded. “Da, we are, but like I said, the Bratva is changing. You can be a part of that change, if you dare to take that step.”

“Net. We have to take care of Igor first,” Yuri said. “Then give us time to talk this over between ourselves and we’ll get back to you.”

Nikoli nodded. “Alright, I can live with that but if you like I can help with Igor. In fact, it would be my pleasure to stick it to him. He’s been a plague on this city long enough.”

“And what could you do?” Roman asked.

Nikoli turned his head slowly to glare at him. “I could wipe him and his fucking Silver Fish off the map. Even if you take out Igor, there is always another one to take his place. The next one might not be the right one to lead the gang either. In fact, he might just make it tougher to live here. Right now, the Silver Fish only rule the streets in this part of the city. But they are like a plague to this city. They are spreading out slowly but steady and soon, they will be everywhere. You not only have to kill the big snake you have to take out the whole nest of snakes, if you really want to clean up this city.”

“And this man Sergi Constantine, he’s really okay with you taking us on?” Yuri asked. “I mean if we chose to come on board with you? I know you said he was but what will he think of you taking on five unknown boys for this job?”

Nikoli nodded. “Da. He is. He told me it was my team and that I could get whoever I wished.”

“And if you ask us to do something we don’t want to do?” Mikial asked.

Nikoli shrugged. “If you can tell me why you won’t do it and make your argument a good one, I can and will be reasonable. But you have to tell me why and come up with another plan to convince me.”

“There are certain things we cannot let go,” Roman stated. “We will not kill and we will not entertain crimes against the innocent, especially children and women. I know some women sell their bodies and if that’s what they chose as a way to make a living that’s their chose isn’t it? But I cannot be part of something that would force a woman to do that.”

“God forbid,” Nikoli agreed. “Children have a hard enough time simply growing up in this day and age. I know there are those out there that would exploit them for their own gain. I am not one of those people. And like you said, some women choose to sell themselves to men for money. I cannot force a woman to do that either.” He reached inside his pocket and pulled out a card. He held it out.

After a moment, Yuri came out of the shadows to confront him. He stared into Nikoli’s eyes and took the card from his fingers. “Can I ask what you would do to wipe out the Fish? That may be exactly what we need to do.”

“Da, I really think it is,” Nikoli agreed. “Because I can tell you one thing, if you don’t, they will keep coming after you until they end up killing all of you. They will take you out one at a time or all together but they will not allow you to live. Smert'…death. Of this, Sergi and I are sure.”

Yuri nodded. “I was thinking the same thing.”

Roman and Barshan stepped out of the shadows as well as Sazon and Mikial. “We all were thinking the same thing.”

Nikoli stared at them. “It’s not something that I like but sometimes it is necessary. I don’t like to ever think about ending another person’s life but when it’s you or them and them happens to be a man like Igor Gustave.” He shrugged. “The choice is a simple one. Igor is a slimy little snake. He has outlived his usefulness and the only ones that will miss him are those that will die with him. To tell you the truth, I’m not ever sure they would miss a man like him.”

“And will your boss, this Sergi guy be okay with this?” Sazon asked.

Nikoli chuckled. “Da. Sergi is the one who suggested it actually. He said that would accomplish two things at the same time. It would break up the discontent in the city and help to convince you to join us. He’s noticed you as well.”

Yuri looked at his brothers and frowned. “I’m not sure I like that idea. It’s more than a little creepy to think people are watching you and judging you by your actions.”

Nikoli grinned. “It’s not a bad thing in any way. The Bratva has noticed you because you give people hope when they had none. Times in this country are changing, some of them are good changes and some are not. Everyone can feel these changes and no one knows what tomorrow will bring. The Bratva must change as well and we are trying but we need men like you to help us bring these changes around. Please consider this idea. Požalujsta?”

The boys were surprised that a man like this had said please.

Yuri held his hand up. “Let us deal with Igor first, then we can let you know what we want to do.”

Nikoli nodded. “Fair enough. Now, let’s talk about how to deal with the Silver Fish.”