Our main character's name is Nick Flames, and he was dubbed to be the most notorious lawyer in his city. The man was so good, that he became the best in his firm in just a year. And he retained a staggering 100% win rate to this day. He was the hero of his law firm, and the nightmare of his opposition.

 

It didn't matter what you got charged with, stealing, assault, drug possession, or even murder, as long as Nick believed you were innocent, the courtroom was yours.

 

Nick didn't bribe others or do anything of the sort, what he did, was simply manipulate the courtroom. You see, it's rather simple, two things decided how a trial goes down, one is the jury, and the other was the truth, and sadly for Nick’s opposition, he was skilled in twisting both.

 

Today started like any other day, Nick woke up early in his luxurious penthouse, went to his personal gym, did a little workout, then took a cold refreshing shower. After that, Nick went to the kitchen and made himself a nutritionally balanced meal, because a good figure like his didn’t just come naturally… After silently enjoying his breakfast, Nick went down to his parking space and drove his Austin martin to work. He had grown up poor and the only movies he had been able to see growing up were the Bootlegged James bond movies, and ever since then, he had dreamed of having an Austin Martin for car, and now that he was rich enough, he finally fulfilled his childhood fantasy.

 

For some reason today, unlike any other days, Nick chose to drive slowly, taking his time to enjoy the things around him. He didn’t know why, but for some reason, Nick got the weird feeling that he might miss these skyscrapers and loud cars soon. But as soon as this thought entered his mind, Nick shrugged it off. Who would miss a place like this, so much pollution and waste, but it was still an enjoyable sight to see. After thirty minutes or so, Nick arrived in front of a very tall building, which also happened to be where he worked.

 

The building had its own parking space as well as parking services, but since his car was hilariously expensive, Nick didn’t really trust anyone with it. So, Nick drove it to his personal parking space himself, as usual.

 

Yet, as soon as Nick got of the car and locked up, the first thing he saw, was the large group of muscular men coming towards him. Terrified, Nick tried his best to return to his car, but his car keys slipped from his shaky hands and slid under his car. Now unable to return to the safety of his car, Nick, panicked.

 

But what had caused all this fear and anxiousness was the group Nick saw coming, he knew that this group belonged to the infamous Malina Cartel. A vicious crime syndicate that prides itself in chopping people that wrong them up for sport…so, one should be able to understand why Nick was so worried.

 

Now you may ask what led Nick to believe that these fine gentlemen were from the Malina cartel, well it was his keen senses as a lawyer, his deep understanding of the criminal mind, and his study of criminal behavior patterns that gave him the ability to deduce their identities.

 

Plus, their faces had the logo of the Malina cartel tattooed on them, which was a large machete stretching across their forehead.

 

And yes before you ask, they are dumb enough to put their criminal factions logo on their faces, and yes, their cartel logo is a large Machete which wasn't very smart for a criminal organization that should be trying to stay inconspicuous. But stupidity is a disease… so, don’t judge them, please.

 

But if you had to ask, the people even dumber than these idiots were the officers that couldn’t even catch them, like really, what can they really do if they can’t even follow small clues, or in this case, a gigantic face tattoo.

 

Right now, Nick was pretty much hoping that he was wrong and that these men were not actually from the cartel. Maybe they were just men who enjoyed Machetes so much that they drew them on their faces... The reason Nick was so against meeting these cartel members, was because this cartel had previously threatening him to lose his last case on purpose.

 

This case that he'd been working on for the past two weeks, was a terrorism case that was actually schemed by the drug cartel to get a huge shipment of drugs into the country.

 

Since the government agency, the C.B.I, was watching their every move, they made a plan that would get them of their radar for a couple of days, which would be enough time for them to bring in their new shipment of drugs.

 

So, they found a young man that had a beard not fitting his age, which represented the current stereotype of a terrorist. And after that they placed a few bombs in a backpack that resembled his, they found the right opportunity to switch the two bags. Then all that was left was to leave a couple of clues for the cops to follow and multiple police phonecalls calling in a bomb threat.

 

They did all this because the C.B.I had a protocol that stated, that if there existed any sort of solid information on a terrorist plot, it would be all hands on deck. And while the C.B.I were racing around to catch this poor innocent man, they had also made the stupid mistake of leaving the cartel unattended. Giving the Malina cartel enough leeway for them to ship their yearly drug supply unobstructed, free from their usual constraints.

 

And since their little ploy worked, all that was left to do was to reach out to their contacts in prison and get the young man they had framed stabbed in there to clean up the evidence. It was a brilliant plan really, the only thing that would ruin it was if a busy body lawyer did his job well enough.

 

So they came and threatened Nick, warning him, that if he wanted the people he loved to stay safe, then he'd better lose the case he was working on. To which Nick proudly proclaimed that their threats wouldn't work on him, as he had no loved ones to lose. Hearing something so sad made those cartel members pat his shoulder out of sympathy and pity, even they had their fellow cartel brothers, it seemed this lawyer was truly lonely. So, they consoled this poor bastard, they told him that he would find people that loved him, someday, and that he wouldn't remain as lonely forever. They even took him out for drinks to cheer him up afterwards. They were really nice bunch of drug-dealing murderers.

 

Nick would have been touched by their kind words if he didn't know he would be dead in a second if he slipped up and pissed them off somehow.

 

Everyone drank till they couldn't anymore, everyone except Nick of course. And in the middle of their drunken stupor, they confessed to him their reasons for framing the boy, the effort they put in, and they even told me how they played those boy scouts from the C.B.I like a couple of idiots.

 

It was like they were venting their frustration of not being able to brag about their genius scheme. Nick even played along, as he put up an expression of awe, and got them to tell him how they managed to switch the bags, and they were happy to confess all their sins to their new lonely buddy, whom they have decided to make the official lawyer of their cartel because they believed he wouldn't be as lonely that way.

 

But what they didn't expect, was that not only would that lonely lawyer not be scared of their threats, no, he had even used a recorder which he always carried on him for these kinds of purposes, to use their confessions as proof of their cartel framing his client. And Nick's evidence had not only shocked the courtroom but the entire world. Nick had brought evidence that could potentially destroy one of the largest Drug cartels in existence! And the C.B.I agents became embarrassed when they heard the world accusing them of sleeping on the job.

 

After that, there was a countrywide manhunt for any and every Malina cartel member, which was also a way for the C.B.I to regain authority and show the country the power of their agency. They managed to use some of the details in the recording to find the cartel's drug stash and some high-ranking members which could be considered a huge win for them.

 

As for Nick, who was praised as the hero of all this, he decided to take a week off, for things to cool down. But as a testament to his bad luck, the day he decided to get back to work, just happened to be on the same day that the cartel members decided to pay him a little visit.

 

The cartel members walked with a little hop in their step, and the murderous look in their eyes couldn't have been more evident. And although Nick was terrified he decided to stand his ground since, he had nowhere to escape to at the moment, he had dropped his car keys from the shock earlier and by the time he looks under his car and finds it these people would probably be inches from him! So taking in a deep breath, Nick puffed his chest out and began the tough guy act he had seen on one of his scariest clients. Who knows, maybe they were all talk and no bite. So, after a couple of seconds of preparing, Nick plucked up enough courage to yell out at the group that was closing in, "I'm only going to tell you this once, and once only, you all better get up out of my face, or else there's going to be hell to pay, you hear me, hell to pay!" he decided to use a much deeper voice because, well just because he felt like it.

When the Cartel members heard what Nick had just said, they all stopped walking for a moment and stared at him with a stunned expression. Seeing that his words had some effect Nick couldn't help smiling, how can he, the world's greatest lawyer, be stopped by some idiotic group of thugs.

 

And with this thought, Nick's ego got the better of him, now even more emboldened, he decided to scare them a little more, so he started to rain some harsh curses.

 

"Did you guys really think that I could be messed with by a couple of stupid street thugs?! It's your fault that this is happening, you know! You took me to the bar, you drank till you lost your mind and you confessed to everything, all I did was record it, how can you blame me for your idiocy?!"

 

Suddenly the group started shaking in their boots...well, shaking in their Jordan sneakers if we had to be literal here, which was pretty expensive by the way, well not actually expensive for Nick, but he hadn't expected a group of low-level cartel members to be able to afford them. Besides, Nick felt that a shoe like Adidas would go much better with the tattoo on their faces...but anyway, let's get back to the topic at hand, cause even though Nick had an incredible fashion sense, now wasn't the time to get into that right now, because the large group of scary-looking men had begun weeping!

 

Yes, those buff, scary-looking men, were now sniveling and choking with mucus everywhere, they looked like they had just lost a family member, Nick even felt like he had been too harsh on them. But seriously, this was why these cartel members were scary. All the drugs they took with their morning cereal had fried their brains. Most of them were emotionally erratic!

 

"You! What have we ever done to you?! We, the Melina cartel have always prided ourselves on sharing the love. You were lonely, so we took you out for drinks, told you our secrets, but you betrayed us, and destroyed our lovely organization?! Even when we assault and kill people we still try to do it politely, gently, and respectfully from the front. But you, you stabbed us in the back! You are not only disrespectful but also mean, so now, we will have to torture you a lot before killing you! That is the way of the Melina, death to all those who are ungrateful!"

 

Hearing the words torture and death, Nick's legs started shaking, he was wondering whether he was really going to die today, but then Nick refused to, he still had a lot to live for like,...like,...well it would come to him, eventually.

 

And so, after thirty minutes of inhumane torture, Nick finally passed away. But not before he kicked two men in their baby-makers!

 

This was how the first life, of the Great Nick Flames, ended.