Chapter Text
Henry Jekyll, the young and aspiring chemist made his way through the loud and packed streets of New York city on his way to visit an old friend. People hurriedly pushed their way past him, a police car zoomed past on the road, its sirens blaring loudly as it rushed to a crime scene caused by some untouchable criminal. Chatter echoed from windows of the surrounding buildings and, as Jekyll approached it, lively jazz music echoed from one building in particular. He paused on the pavement, glancing up warmly at the painted red and black lettering of the jazz club, ‘The Hastie Rabbit’, before pushing open the door and stepping in.
It was dimly lit, with many of the lights focused on the stage at the back of the club where a large jazz band was playing the best jazz hits. Jekyll’s eyes scanned over the people sat at small circular tables that were dotted around the room, searching for one specific person. Jekyll soon spied the person he was looking for. They were sitting by themselves at a table in the back corner of the club, watching the band performing on stage half-heartedly. Jekyll smiled and walked over to the table and tapped the man sitting there on the shoulder. The man jumped and spun round in his chair to see who had just tapped him, but he quickly relaxed and beamed as he saw who was standing behind him.
“Jekyll!” Lanyon hastily stood up and shook Jekyll’s hand warmly. “It certainly has been too long, my friend!”
“But I saw you last week!” Henry laughed as the two men let go of each other’s hands and proceeded to sit down on opposite sides of the table. Lanyon shook his head sheepishly, the warm smile fixed onto his face.
“Yeah, but it feels like it’s been longer since we last met,” Lanyon admitted, causing Henry to laugh once more.
The two friends continued to talk, laughing and chatting happily the entire time they were conversing, completely ignoring everything that was happening around them. After a while, Lanyon suddenly dropped his voice and leaned in towards Jekyll, his smile quickly changing to a serious expression. Jekyll’s expression changed to one of deep concentration as he also leaned in closer, ready to listen to what gossip Lanyon had to tell him. Running a non-alcoholic jazz club meant that it was very popular as people knew that they could be there to enjoy themselves and discuss sensitive topics without the fear that the police could burst in at any moment. This allowed Lanyon to hear a lot about the vast criminal network that ran through New York city, and he often talked to Jekyll about these topics, as he was his most trusted friend.
“Hey, there’s word going around that there’s a new criminal gang rising up the ranks,” Lanyon muttered intensely.
“Oh really? Why’s that?” Jekyll queried, placing an elbow on the table and resting his head in his hand thoughtfully. Lanyon raised an eyebrow.
“They’ve started earning a lot more money and power since they got themselves a new leader. Apparently, this new guy is a lot more ruthless than their previous leader, but his method seems to be doing nothing but good things for them. They’re getting better profits, more power, supporters, the current criminal masterminds are getting nervous that their titles will be taken by this new guy, but it seems like they can’t do much to stop him,” Lanyon explained, his voice sounding exuberant. Jekyll began to feel nervous, realising who exactly Lanyon was talking about. Something cackled darkly in the back of Jekyll’s mind. Ignoring this, Jekyll acted like this was new and intriguing information to him.
As he listened to Lanyon’s stories, Jekyll thought back to the events that had happened to him a few weeks ago. Well, events that didn’t specifically happen to him, but events that he was able to witness through someone else’s eyes.
***
“You wanted to see me, boss?” Hyde sauntered into his boss’ office, closing the door casually behind him before walking into the centre of the room. He calmly looked at his boss, eyes relaxed and his normal smug smile on his face. One eyebrow was raised, and his hands were tucked into the pockets of his trousers. The boss had his back turned to Hyde, staring intently at a bookshelf in the corner. He slowly turned around as he wiped a finger along the dusty bookshelf, before inspecting the dust on his fingertip.
“I did…y’know, Eddie, you’re one of my best guys. You always do as I tell you, you’re enthusiastic, you always perform at your best,” the boss said, rubbing the dusty finger and his thumb together until the dust had dispersed. Hyde’s smug smile spread into a wide arrogant grin.
“You know I never disappoint you! I-,“
“But…” Hyde’s grin faltered a little as he was interrupted, and his eyebrows knitted together in a frown of bafflement. The boss dropped his hand to his side and looked at Hyde with a stern expression as he slowly took a few steps towards the other man in the room. “I feel like you’re getting a little too big for your boots,” the boss said. He had gotten a little bit closer to Hyde, yet he was still some distance away, hands held behind his back. Hyde’s grin was now completely gone from his face and his mouth was open a little in mild shock.
“But, boss-“
“You’re too arrogant for your own good, Hyde. You’ve done a great many of things for me, however I can’t help but see you as a threat as you’ve been acting recently like you run the place. It’ll be a great loss to the gang, bumping you off, but it’s got to be done.” Hyde smiled once more, this time channelling some of his other half’s charm through it. His boss paused, waiting to see what the other had to say.
“Listen, boss. I can understand why you’re thinking this, in the kind of business you run here you always got to be on your toes, looking out for shady people. I can assure you though, boss, that I am not one of those shady people. I am loyal to you! I am just naturally a very confident person, and that’s why I’ve always been so great for you, it’s because I’m confident in my abilities!” During this little speech Hyde had been slowly pacing closer to his boss, waving his hands around as he talked. The boss’ eyes looked down and to the side as he began to reconsider, maybe he had been too quick to make a decision about his best gunman. Hyde’s grin grew bigger and his eyes turned wild as he saw his chance.
In one swift movement, Hyde leapt forwards towards his boss, whipped out a small knife from an inside jacket pocket and plunged it into the boss’ stomach, seizing the collar of the boss’ shirt with his other hand. The boss’ eyes had exploded, wide with the shock as they looked up at the wild expression of Hyde that was inches away from his face. He was frozen in place with shock, unable to struggle in Hyde’s firm grip.
“However, me and a lot of the boys can’t help but feel like you’re not doing a very good job in charge. We wanted change, wanted to achieve more, gain a reputation, y’know?” Hyde murmured, his eyes becoming lidded as he held the boss in place. His hand tightened around the handle of the knife as he gradually pushed it in further, causing the boss to gargle slightly. Blood began to dribble from the boss’ mouth, running down his chin and dripping onto Hyde’s hand that was clutching his collar.
“We took a vote...and we’ve decided that we. Don’t. Need. You. Any. More,” Hyde growled into the boss’ face, gritting his teeth and twisting the knife with every word that he spoke at the end of his sentence. The boss grunted and choked with every knife twist, more blood pooling in his mouth and even more flowing from the knife wound. Hyde chuckled darkly as he felt the warm blood from the knife begin to immerse his hand. The boss struggled to protest, but he started to grow faint as he felt his life slowly drain away.
“Don’t worry, the gang will be in good hands when I’m in charge, because…” Hyde sneered, bringing the boss’ face as close he could to his own face without touching. “You know I never disappoint you,” Hyde whispered with a sneer, before grinning madly. The boss’ eyes began to droop and he grunted one last time as Hyde roughly yanked the knife out of him. With a flick of his wrist he let go of his former boss’ collar, tossing him carelessly to the floor. The body hit the ground with a heavy thud, back slumping up against the bookcase and the head lolling onto the shoulder. Crimson liquid continued to trickle from the agape mouth and stain the white collar of the shirt.
Hyde walked to the large chair that was placed behind a desk at the back of the room, casually throwing the bloody knife onto the desk. It hit the hard wood with a loud clatter and the still wet blood covering the knife splattered onto the surface of the desk. Once the knife had settled, blood continued to slowly drip from the tip of the metal blade, creating a small puddle of blood that gradually increased in size. Hyde, completely ignoring the fact that his hands were a dark red and coated in blood, collapsed into the chair and put his feet up onto the desk, sly smile returning to his face.
Oh, this was going to be so much fun…