1 22:00. (1)

Outside of a somewhat upmarket bar, a small group of professional looking men had gathered in front of a yellow cab. They were a racially diverse group, and were all significantly tipsy, with some past the point of being able to be called that. In the centre of the group was a fairly tall, statuesque black male. He was handsome and well-built enough to get attention when dressed normally, but in this instance, he was dressed in a pure white three-piece suit. Everything he had on was white, and it all made his hands and head to appear to be darker than they actually were – something his companions had been pointing out the entire day, and every other time he had worn the outfit. The conversation the group was having was an extension of the one they were having inside the bar, and had been dragging on for quite some time if the cab drivers face was anything to by. He looked to be running out of patience, and this was made worse by the act that none of these guys had noticed it.

"Look guys, I've really got to get outta here." The man said, trying to force his way into the cab.

"Yeah, yeah. You've been saying that for over an hour, Theo!" One of his inebriated friends boomed.

"I know!" Theo replied in faux anger, before looking over at the cab driver. "Yeah, even the driver is pissed. Fuck you guys, I'm getting out of here."

"What? Come onnn! It's barely even past 10:00 PM!"

"Yeah, well I've got a wife and kids at my house, and unlike some of you, I actually like to tuck my kids in to bed."

"Pussy!"

"Right back atcha!"

"Okay, okay, leave the guy alone." Said another friend. "Theo is a devoted family man, with a gorgeous wife and some cute kids; it's no wonder he wants to get back home. If he was going home to what you do every night Matt, he'd probably be reluctant to go home as well!"

"What?! Fuck you!" Matt, who was by far the most intoxicated of the group, boomed in protest.

The conversation was accompanied with some thunderous and drunken laughter, before the lot exchanged farewell handshakes and hugs, before Theo climbed into the back of the cab. He gave the cabbie an apologetic look before giving him an address. He looked back to see his friends all waving at him – an act that he reciprocated before fishing in his pockets, looking for his phone. After some digging, he pulled it out, and dialed his wife's phone. The phone rang and rang until it reached her voicemail, and despite looking somewhat puzzled, Theo left a message.

"Hey babe, I just got in a cab, and am headed home right now. I know I'm late, but I'll be home soon to apologise properly… I'm in your favourite suit, after all. Anyway, I'll see you soon. I love you."

Theo hung up, and placed the phone in his lap. He sat in silence for a few minutes as he looked out the window, clearly troubled by something.

'It's not like Jessica to miss my calls.' He thought to himself, before being interrupted by the sound of the snickering cabbie.

"I'm sorry, did I say something funny?"

"Forgive me, I don't mean to laugh but… THAT is your wife's favourite outfit?"

"Fuck me, what is everybody's problem with this damn suit? You know what, it doesn't even matter. My wife loves this suit, and that's all that counts. Now drive… I've been feeling restless all day, and I just want to get home."

The cabbie just nodded and gave a small salute as he put his foot down, driving a little faster. The bar wasn't all that far from Theo's house, so it was never a particularly long journey to make in either direction.

"So how long have you been married?" The driver asked Theo.

"We're going on five years, man."

"Five years? You're practically still a newly wed." He said, chuckling somewhat.

"Yeah, agreed. That said, we've been together for almost seven."

"Kids?"

"Yeah, we have three; a boy, and twin girls. How about yourself?"

"Oh? I'm married, and have more kids than I have any right to have." The cabbie said with a sigh and a shake of his head, which prompted Theo to chuckle under his breath.

The conversation between the two men continued in this vein until they reached Theo's house, which was located in a rather nice, somewhat upmarket suburb. The conversation from Theo's side suddenly stopped when he noticed from a distance how the lights at his house were all off.

"…that's odd."

"Hmm? What is?"

"It's not so late that she would be asleep."

"Huh?"

Theo looked at his phone to verify that he had not received a call from his wife, and then looked back at his house, which the car was now rapidly approaching. A few moments later, and the cab pulled up to the house, parking on the street.

"It's all dark…" Theo said as he slowly searched for his wallet.

He was completely distracted by the state of his house, and this resulted in the search taking quite a bit longer than it should have, but he eventually found it.

"H-How much do I owe you?" Theo asked as he opened his wallet.

"Let's just call it an even twenty, sir."

The exchange of money was brief, as Theo wanted to get out of the car and into his house as quickly as possible. After paying and leaving the cab, Theo did his best to collect and compose himself. He was buzzing slightly, but not so much that his faculties were severely affected. He quickly approached the front door, keys in hand and just as he was about to open the door, he noticed that it appeared to be slightly ajar.

'What the fuck?' He thought to himself as he pushed the door open.

Usually a calm and calculating customer, Theo suddenly got a sinking feeling in the pit of his stomach which coupled with his buzz, made him act out of character as he barged into the house. The thought of his family being in any kind of danger affected his ability to remain rational and his sense of urgency shot through the roof. After entering, he immediately went to a light switch, flicking it to test if the lights worked. They didn't.

'What the?" He thought to himself as he started becoming more and more concerned.

"Jess? Jess, I'm home… Jess?"

Theo called out to his wife as he started moving further into the house, with the first destination he had had in mind being the children's bedroom.

"Jessica, what's going on? Where are y –"

Theo suddenly quieted down and stood perfectly still. His instincts told him that he wasn't alone in the house, and that whoever else was in there, was not friendly.

"I don't know who the fuck you people are, but I'd advise that you leave before you get hurt."

Despite the menacing sounding warning, Theo suddenly found himself being approached by multiple people and then without warning, lunged at from behind. He slid to his left in a bid to avoid the attack, before spinning and turning to face whoever had just attacked him, He then threw a right hook which was evaded but pushed off from where he was standing and tackled whoever it was that was in front of him. As both men hit the ground, Theo quickly got to work, letting off a flurry of blows aimed around where he guessed the head would be. His aim was a little off, but he connected with face down below quite a few times, feeling a nose crunch beneath his fist. As he was doing this, two hands suddenly grabbed him from behind and hoisted him up. The hands then slid beneath his underarms and attempted to get him in some sort of hold, but Theo wasn't having it. He quickly jabbed his head backwards twice, head-butting the one trying to restrain him in the face with the back of his head, before letting out something of a roar and forcing his arms down, breaking the hold. He quickly turned around and unleashed two hard shots to his foes body, and then followed them up with two punches to the face. The body was particularly hard, but having done some damage to the guy's face just moments before helped take the guy out. Just as the guy went down, a blow connected with Theo's right cheek, forcing his face to violently jerk to the left. The blow was hard and heavy, and caused Theo to stumble slightly to his left. Another blow caught his other cheek, before a stern kick to the gut sent Theo reeling and forced him to crash into a wall. The guy who connected with his blows was immediately on Theo, throwing straights and hooks at his head. Despite everybody being in the dark, they weren't having any trouble locating each other, with Theo slipping and avoiding all the punches, before landing a ferocious kick on the guy's kidney. He then unleashed a four punch combination to the body and head, before grabbing said head in his palms and thrusting his own head forward, crashing his forehead into his opponent's forehead. As the guy crumbled into a heap on the floor, Theo took a deep breath and tried to gather himself.

"I don't know who you fuckers are, but you picked the wrong house and the wrong family to fuck with."

As Theo said this, he stepped over the body on the floor and started striding forwards when the lights suddenly switched on, and Theo was confronted by the sight of four people - three men and a woman – standing next to each other. One of the men was tall – taller than Theo, who was rather tall at 6'5. He was a large, muscular bald man who wore what looked like a blacked out prison guard uniform. Another was shorter and almost alarmingly slim, with his clothes appearing to hang off of him. They were also black, and his face was mostly hidden by a hood. The woman was dressed in tight fitting leather attire, and had a heavily made up face. She was around 6'0, and surprisingly well-built. The third man, who appeared to be the leader of sorts was around 6'2, well-built and was dressed in what appeared to be blacked out military combat gear, and a trench coat. He had a full face mask with some red goggles that seemed to be backlit. All the men were armed with various weapons, and Theo eyed them all with a stone faced expression. The leader of the men stepped forward and approached Theo, who had stopped moving by now, and continued looking at the dangerous looking men in his house.

"On the contrary, we've picked the right house and precisely the right family, Theo… or should I say, Othello."