Before He Was Blink

By Illusion

Staten Island

1897

There wasn’t much Trevor Bennett had to show for his life. He had left home around the age of twelve, gotten mixed up with some of the wrong people, and then had been saved from them by an older boy who called himself Dragon. At the time, he didn’t realize he was getting involved with even worse people. By the time he figured that out, he didn’t care.

Staten Island was home, and the gang was family. Dragon, Lillian, Lotte, as well as a few others. It was a small group, to be sure, but a ferocious and powerful one. There weren’t many others, at least smart ones, who would go up against them. That made life fairly comfortable. As comfortable as life could be when Trevor had to constantly be watching his back for stray knives or bullets, and dodging the police whenever they were seen.

It wasn’t easy. Dragon had taught him to fight as soon as he’d been brought into their group, their community, their circle of trust. Dragon said it was up to Trevor not to end up dead, because if he went and got dead then Lotte would be upset. Apparently they had learned that lesson the last time someone had joined them and not picked up that quickly on their survival skills. There were only a few rules with the gang, and they were simple.

Don’t attract attention. Don’t pick fights. Don’t die. Don’t go against Dragon.

Trevor didn’t have much inclination to break any of the rules. He was fine with living in the shadows and keeping mostly to himself. He’d learned how to do that back at home, with his abusive drunk of a father. Staying out of the way was almost a specialty of his, thanks to that upbringing. And now that he was in a place where he could fight back when anyone came after him, where he was encouraged to fight back, it made him feel like he could take on anything. Picking fights wasn’t something they did, but it wasn’t something they had to do. They controlled the biggest part of territory on the island -- fights came to them.

When he got brought in, he was the youngest. It wasn’t by that much, not to all of them, but even the ones who were only a year older, Lillian and Lotte, seemed ages beyond them. He attributed it to the years of this sort of life. No one was really that big into talking about their lives before the gang, but he did find out that the girls had been living out on the streets, on their own, for many years before finding their way to Staten Island, to Dragon. So far as Trevor could tell, Dragon had  a knack for finding people right at the time they needed someone. What better way to breed loyalty?

The first year he spent with them was rough. Getting used to that kind of life wasn’t easy. It wasn’t like he wanted to leave it, go back to what he’d had before, but it was hard to adjust. Coming from a life where he only had to avoid one person, where he didn’t have to remember anyone’s face and whether or not they could be trusted, and where passing the police in the street was just a brief moment that didn’t mean anything, to this. This life of avoiding people he didn’t know. Having to keep track of everyone he’d met, remember if he should set any store in them or not. Turning the other way as soon as he saw that flash of blue that signified the presence of the police. Thankfully no one knew who he was, in the beginning, which meant it wasn’t as big of a deal if he slipped up. Not having a record, not being known, it was helpful. It meant that if something did happen to him, it was unlikely anyone else would be brought down with him.

When Copper got brought in, that was when a lot of things changed.

Suddenly Trevor wasn’t the youngest anymore; Copper had at least a year on him in that regard. And he heard Dragon talking to Lillian one night, about how Copper had an older brother. An older brother who was in another gang, the Riverside Gang, that had been trying to edge them out for a long time now. They had been unsuccessful, of course, but now there was even more at stake. Obviously Copper wasn’t a plant from the other gang. Dragon was far too smart to let that sort of thing happen. It had probably taken that much more convincing for Copper to actually get in, with them knowing about his brother.

Copper didn’t need as much education when it came to fighting as Trevor had. He may have been younger, but he’d been exposed to more already. That didn’t stop Trevor from working with him, though. It was more of a shared experience -- they were helping each other. The two of them bonded easily, being the two who had most recently joined into the gang. Sure, there was a good amount of time between when each of them had, and by the time Copper was there Trevor felt right at home, but they understood how each other felt.

There was a brawl with some boys from the Crazy Butch Gang not too long after Copper joined them. It was always unsettling when gangs from the mainland of the city came to Staten Island to do their business. There was enough activity between the groups on the island without anyone else coming there. While it was nice to have someone else drawing the attention of the authorities for once, Dragon hated the unpredictability that came with these other gangs and he liked to strike fast when they surfaced. When other people were taking away their own opportunities to pick pocket and make some money, that was bad for business.

That brawl was the first time Trevor killed anyone.

Up until then, he’d been involved in fights but he’d never actually hurt anyone that badly. Had he hurt them badly enough to get them to back off? Sure. Never had he actually gotten to the point where he’d killed someone. But when he’d been there, lying on the ground with a bigger boy on top of him, getting punched over and over again, and he’d reached out and felt the knife he’d dropped earlier, he didn’t have any second thoughts about grabbing it and burying it deep into the stranger assaulting him.

Maybe it was because it was in self defense, or maybe he just flat out didn’t care by that point, but it didn’t bother him. He had ended someone’s life and what was bothering him the most was that he was covered in blood and it was going to be practically impossible to get out of his shirt. At least, that’s what Lillian had told him. Apparently she’d ruined enough shirts in her time that she definitively knew that blood was one of those things that just didn’t come out. At least, that much blood didn’t.

Life on the island was quiet for a while after that. Once news started to spread about the slaughter of one of the Crazy Butch Gang, not so many gangs from the mainland wanted to try their chances. At least, not so soon after that happened. The possible gain wasn’t worth the risk, or at least that’s what Dragon said they probably were thinking. It just gave them more time to make a living in their own ways, which were mostly pick pocketing and the occasional poker game. When it came to poker, Lillian was the best bet to have at the table. It was hard for her to get into games, due to being a girl and also her reputation, but Trevor wasn’t too bad himself. Out of everyone, Dragon stayed in the background the most. As he was the most well known out of them, by the rest of the underground as well as the police, it was better for him to not be seen.

The only real tension that was observable in the gang was with Copper. It didn’t take much to notice that he had a soft spot when it came to Lillian. Trevor felt like he should warn him to back off, though the younger boy never did anything terribly obvious. No, it shouldn’t have been that big a deal for him to carry a torch for her. Sure, it might have caused some issues when it came to fights or something, were he to try and be all noble or something stupid, but in general it shouldn’t have been a problem. Except if he were to step back and see just how possessive Dragon was of her, he probably would have thought twice.

Trevor never strayed into any involvement with that situation. He figured it was safer to stay out of it and feign ignorance then get caught in the middle. Not that he’d ever seen Dragon do anything against someone in the gang, but then again none of them had given him a reason to. Not that Trevor had witnessed since he had arrived, anyway. And whether Lillian knew what was going on with Copper or not, she never showed it one way or the other. Lotte said that she doubted the other girl had any idea, that she thought of Copper and Trevor like little brothers or sorts. Out of the older people in the gang, Trevor easily considered Lotte the one he was the closest to, the one he could talk to the easiest to find out what was going on. She was more approachable than Lillian, if only just, and didn’t come with the added danger of giving Dragon the wrong idea.

Other than Copper’s ill advised crush, everything seemed to go well for them. Without other gangs trying to creep in on their turf for a while, it was business as usual. There was even a lot of success with staying out of view of the police. Even without being involved in fights, usually the police were at least aware of what they were doing and occasionally attempted to catch them in the act. For what seemed like an extraordinary amount of time, there was nothing. It was enough to make them all a little antsy. Sure, it was all well and good to stay out of trouble and to just keep pulling in money, but that wasn’t enough.

All of them had in them some want, some need, for action. That was what drew them to this gang, after all. Or even if it wasn’t what had taken them there, it was what kept them. On one level or another, they all had an addiction to that life, the fight, and everything that came with it. And while a period of quiet and profit was enjoyable for a while, it got to the point where they were restless. Whether it was because they were waiting for the other shoe to drop, for someone to come out of nowhere and come at them, or just because they had an urge for action, all of them were restless.

Maybe if they’d known what was going to happen, they would have been less restless. Maybe they would’ve been okay to stay in the quiet and the shadows, just doing whatever and not being troubled. Because the alternative, it wasn’t what any of them wanted.

About one thing they had always been sure. Where they stayed was a well kept secret. That meant moving from time to time, at any possible hint that someone might know their hideaway, but it was worth the trouble to stay safe. They kept their “work” far enough away that it wouldn’t attract attention to where they were, and it was a system that kept everything in its place. Except for when it didn’t.

Lotte had left to get something, Trevor couldn’t remember what. It didn’t matter. She hadn’t even been gone for five minutes before she came crashing back in, eyes wild as she stammered something about Riverside and guns and a few streets away. Thankfully everyone was there, and somehow reacted quickly. As out of practice as they were, a threat was a threat, and when Lotte, who was usually calm in the face of just about anything, looked that panicked, it meant it was a big threat. More than anything, they wanted to get out of the building. Getting trapped in there meant a shooting gallery for the opposition, and that was the last thing they wanted to give them.

Having never really seen the Riverside Gang in any amount together, Trevor didn’t know what to expect. But as he and his friends, his family, poured out onto the street he was taken aback. He’d never seen them as weak, or as a group that could really be defeated. That had been ingrained into him by the fact that they never had been, in his experience at least. Standing there on the street, the strong but few of the Staten Island Gang, staring down easily double the numbers coming at them, for the first time he felt like they were going into something that was beyond them.

Everything happened so fast. It was completely unlike any other fight he’d been involved in before. It was all flashes of fists, knives, chains, everything. The only advantage they had was that the Riverside Gang, for the most part, was bigger, burlier. Trevor was small, lean, and could dodge easier than them. There was no way for him to avoid everything, and in trying to get in close enough to cause some damage of his own he was putting himself within striking distance. He’d never taken a beating like that before, but he refused to lie down and take it. If he did that, he had a hunch it would end up with him dead. That was against the rules.

Despite the fact that it was chaos, that it was just bodies tangling and thrashing, punching, kicking, Trevor could pick out his allies in the madness. In the brief moment he had to step back, to catch his breath and his thoughts after landing a good enough punch to lay someone out, he could see them all. And even though there were so many people in that street, in that alley, all fighting for the same thing, his eyes focused in on the people he knew, the ones who were fighting for him just as much as he was fighting for them. And in that moment, that split second, that was when he saw it.

He heard it before he saw it. The gasp of surprise, the soft cry of pain, and it was Copper. But more than that, when his gaze focused in on his friend, it was Dragon who was holding the knife that was in Copper’s side.

Don’t go against Dragon. That was all that went through Trevor’s mind. Copper had broken what was probably the most important rule. Yes, that was more important than not dying. At least if someone broke the not dying rule there were no other possible repercussions from it. But going against Dragon... that was what had Copper standing there, clutching his side, still trying to hold his own against someone much bigger and obviously less injured than him.

Trevor was broken out of his observance by a fist to the side of his face. He went down hard, cursing himself for getting distracted. He couldn’t blame himself for it, but he knew better. Scrambling to his feet, he launched himself at the nearest person, not caring if they were the person who had punched him or not. It didn’t matter. So long as they were Riverside, he’d do his damnedest to take them down and make sure they stayed that way.

A gunshot echoed through the street, silencing nearly everyone. His head snapped up to see what happened and he immediately felt sick to his stomach. Copper was slumped against the ground, blood flowing out of him at an abnormally scary rate. It was amazing how as soon as the gun had fired, everyone had stopped. Despite never seeing any of them before, it was easy for Trevor to spot which one of the Riverside Gang was Copper’s brother. He was the one just staring, almost blankly, at the scene in front of them all. Apparently that was enough to stop everyone from trying to fight anymore. That and the faint police whistles they could hear closing in on them.

And then there was Lillian, screaming at Dragon to let her go so she could help him. For the briefest of moments, Trevor thought he was going to let her. But in the shock of it all he had forgotten what he’d seen Dragon do. Rather than let her go, let her try to help, Dragon was yelling at Trevor to come and help him, come and get her out of there. She wasn’t exactly the easiest person to try and contain, and he could tell that she was really close to getting her way. Part of him wanted to let her, to let someone be there with Copper as his life streamed out of his body and onto the street. The other part knew the real reason Copper was lying there in the street.

Don’t go against Dragon.

He went over to them quickly, grabbing onto Lillian and helping Dragon haul her away from the scene. The Riverside Gang was dispersing, obviously not wanting to be on the scene when the police showed up. Only the boy Trevor assumed was Copper’s brother was there watching them, watching Lillian kick and fight and scratch against him and Dragon as they pulled her away. She was stronger than he would have guessed, though he knew that was a stupid thing to think. Obviously she was strong enough to hold her own, but he’d never had to go up against her before, and especially not when she was practically spitting with rage, twisting and writhing in their grip as much as she could.

At first Trevor felt bad for Dragon, since he was on the receiving end of all the kicks she was dishing out. It was almost guaranteed that he was going to have a few broken ribs from it, if nothing else. But then all his concern for his leader was gone as he felt the sharpest pain of his life, and it took him a moment to realize what was happening because of the shock of it all. Lillian, having no luck getting out of Dragon’s grasp, had decided to try her luck with Trevor and was clawing at his face. She twisted toward him and sunk her fingernails into him, a pain he dealt with for the few more second it took to get her inside, and then he threw her at Dragon.

Trevor felt like he was blind, the blood clouding what little vision he had. He could Lotte and she came over, trying to keep him calm as she worked on stopping the bleeding, bandaging up the damage Lillian had caused. Despite the fact that Dragon and Lillian were in another room with the door closed, they could hear the shouting match taking place. He’d never heard anyone talk to Dragon like that, and for good reason.

Even sitting there, still in shock and unable to take in everything that had just happened, Trevor knew it was over. This group, this family, it was done. It was broken beyond repair, and even if by some miracle it tried to fight its way back, there was no way Riverside was going to let that happen. They had seen how everything had fallen apart, and Trevor would have bet money that they already considered their territory their own. And if Riverside was going to take over, they weren’t going to want any remains of the Staten Island Gang on their turf. That was what he could hear Dragon and Lillian going on about at the top of their lungs, how everyone was going to have to split and leave.

Not wanting to wait for anything worse to happen, he gathered his things. It was difficult to do, not being able to see that well. Lotte had bandaged his left eye completely, the damage being far worse on that side than the right. He could see fine out of his right eye, and he didn’t want to deal with figuring out how bad his left one was. Not at that particular moment.

All things considered, he was fine just saying goodbye to Lotte and no one else. So that was what he did. He didn’t know if or when he’d ever see any of them again, and in that moment that suited him just fine. So he walked out the door, took the backstreets to the docks, caught a ferry to Manhattan and never looked back to the island again.