World's Underbelly

[Hunter568]

Hunter, previously poised to leave, stopped when he noticed the raccoon breaking down next to the alleyway. Looking to the other two next to him with concern, he stepped off his bicycle and walked towards her.

"Uh...hey? You alright there, miss?" he asked uncertainly. It was a stupid question, but what else was he supposed to say? It seemed like this raccoon was probably without a home tonight. It's not like he could do anything about that....

Yes, I can do something about it, he suddenly thought. This wasn't right. Some band of thugs had wrecked everything for her, he couldn't just walk away and ride home. Bad mood or no, he wasn't heartless. And he felt a connection to the other people on the street with him, in a strange way. They'd all been through this violent ordeal together...

Hesitantly, Hunter drew closer to the hunched-over raccoon. "Hey, lady, you got anywhere to sleep tonight? If you want, you could spend the night at my apartment. Maybe I can help you get back on your feet for a little bit," he suggested. "You look like you're in a rough spot."

[Mikala]

Kitty caught the rag and used it to wipe down some blood off of her bike before stowing it back on board. As she focused back in on the people around her, she noticed the handsome fur talking to the raccoon. Seemed like the girl was homeless. Feeling a vague sense of empathy, remembering her days on the street in her youth, she walked over to them. “What part of town do you live in? I can tow you on the bike and she can ride with me.” She patted the motorcycle fondly. It could definitely fit two people, and Kitty looked confident enough in her ability to drag the bike behind her. “And we could probably get Angelo to cook you a hot meal. No, cook everyone a hot meal, you all look terrible!” She laughed. “He’s still inside counting the till. Come in?” She offered to her new friends.

[Shinzuu Katame: Her Tolfy]

Shinzuu walked over to see if the other two were okay, ignoring the screaming from a guy in an Audi, but keeping an eye out, just in case he was one of them. As the wolf neared the others, some much taller men emerged from behind them, and one of them pulled out a shotgun and shot it up into the air. Shinzuu didn't flinch, but stopped in place and raised his hands, not knowing if he was the only one armed, and being unable to get a scent of them due to the rain.

The one with the shotgun raised the front of his fedora so his face was showing, "Okay. That's quite enough there, you lot. Those are my boys you just hurt there." Behind the line of six trench coats, there was a lynx that had been part of the group that jumped them, battered, but with angry eyes. The man with the shotgun seemed to be the one in charge and he knelt down next to a couple of his "boys" and examined them a bit. "Over 10 of my locals downed by four nobodies while they were armed. From the looks of it, they'll be out of commission at least a month or two. Now that's just bad for business. But then again..." He snapped his fingers and another behind him pulled out a pistol and shot the three closer to Hunter and Valentine, "... we're not exactly full of health benefits, either, for such failures. Round them up, and get that kid in the Audi. We don't want any snitches getting loose now, do we?"

[Hunter568]

Hunter raised his hands in the air, a shot of adrenaline and fear coursing through him as the goons next to him were heartlessly gunned down. He just shot his own men! he thought. He looked over at the fur wielding a shotgun, searching his brain for anything he could say to save his life.

"Hey, listen, we don't want any trouble! Your 'boys' jumped us out of nowhere! We just defended ourselves," he said desperately. "We won't say nothin'! Just let us go home!"

[Rayleonarde]

Valentine glanced at the shotgun-wielding fur and stood. She drew her hood back to reveal her now-tear streaked face and spoke.
“I-If you let them go...I-I’ll come...Willingly. I’m sure w-whoever you’re working for wants me i-in one piece, right?”
Her whole body shook with fear. She knew what hellacious punishment awaited her, but it was best to keep the body count low. Good of the Many and all.

[Mikala]

Kitty eyed the raccoon suspiciously. ‘Did we just save some sort of drug lord? I hate Americans.’ She thought to herself as she puts her arms up in the air. She stayed silent, knowing that with these kinds it’s best to not let your mouth get you in trouble.

[Inb4Cloaker]

“Oh really now?” He replies out his window as he was flipped off. Turning to face his steering wheel, the feline bore his teeth as he let go of the wheel. His temper may be about to get the best of him. Realizing that, he closed his eyes for a moment and bit his lip. Truth be told, he wasn’t in a hurry, and he couldn’t resist the opportunity to speak his mind. These people were in an area that he had operations running in, were getting into alley scuffles, and had the nerve to flip him off? Unacceptable.

Seconds later, the car door swung open and a floral wearing, well dressed feline stepped out. Crossing his arms, he stared at the gaggle of furs who were causing all the madness, as well as several wounded assailants. Straining his shirt, the feline rubbed a paw along the front of his now slightly dirty car, shaking his head in an unappreciative manner.

“Listen you lil’ shi-“ He stopped speaking as quick as he started upon hearing the shotgun blast. Wincing from the loud sound, the feline covered one ear with a paw and opened his mouth, blinking a few times and squinting as he glared towards the newcomers.

“Jesus Christ, was that really necessary?” He hissed out towards the armed men, not completely shook up by their sudden appearance, but still confused. When the man spoke and shot several of his men, the cartel affiliated Tabaxi nodded, glancing at the now dead figures that were taken out by their own “boss.”

“Ah, yes. Very smart. See, I prefer not to do that. Half of the reason is because I’m not, well, stupid. The other half is because you usually need your workers to be alive to actually work. Amazing, right?” He leaned back on his car, giving a smug smile and offering a middle finger when he was referred to as a kid. Now, the position he found himself in was potentially dangerous if he didn’t handle himself appropriately. He did pay off some officials, but not enough to try his luck on randomly. Simultaneously, he could just give some of his muscle a call, but he really didn’t want this night to end with a cleaners cost estimate and spent lead.

So, when all else fails, bribe.


“Alright, how much will this be? A few hundred or so maybe? Tell you what, if you agree to leave these poor idiots be, I’ll give each of you a grand. Deal?” He said rolling his eyes while reaching into his pocket.

[Shinzuu Katame: Her Tolfy]

The one in charge took off his fedora when Valentine offered herself up, revealing a middle-aged tiger, "I do not need nor want you. Whatever the boys said about me wanting you is what they think." He walked up towards the others and looked them through up and down, and as he was about to speak when Zahill started trying to bribe him and his face turned stern as he fired a shot next to the Tabaxi's feet, "You speak out of line again, and it will be your head I shoot next." The other gangsters then raised their guns as the boss reloaded his double-barrel, "Don't think I can't recognize you, Mr. Camillo? I know you are Lopez's little errand boy toy. A few thousand isn't going to pay for these boys whom I've invested TENS of thousands into. You all now inherit their debts and the medical bills of the ones that are still useful to me here." He then turned his gaze around to all of them as he stepped back, "I am a pretty good judge of people's relative backgrounds just from how they move, look and speak. Aside from this little lap dog, I can tell that you're ex-military. From how you carry yourself, I'd say you had some kind of tragedy. And you, little Valentine, are not completely unknown, even if you tried to fade into society. And you, kid, are obviously just a delinquent who wastes money and opportunity. And this little kitty here. Oh, this fair little kitty cat. I know of your other half, and your face is familiar to some of our 'child researchers'. You all come from different walks of life, but you are all worth something. So I will make this very simple deal. I have packages that need delivering to specific people at specific times."

He snapped his fingers and his men frisked each person, taking away any cell phones, and putting any weapons onto the ground, then picked up the injured, some with drawn weapons, and they slowly walked away. "And if you don't make certain checkpoints at those specific times, I will take your life. Your first stop is going to be what used to be Fenway. You have just under an hour to get there. Near the old ticket counter, tell them the Old Man sent you all for the job. They will be waiting. You try anything funny or try to run, you will die. I have more eyes and ears than you can imagine. Oh, and you better get going. It's at least a 40 minute walk." With that last phrase, three of his men opened fire, pelting the motorcycle and Audi with bullets until they were smoking.

[Hunter568]

Hunter's jaw clenched with rage at what the menacing old tiger had said. This guy didn't know him, or what his life was like, yet his words still cut deep at the heart of Hunter's insecurities. He didn't want to admit it, but he was thoroughly rattled. He decided not to say anything, for fear of drawing the gang's weapons onto himself again. For now, he figured, they had better do whatever they were told and try not to screw it up.

When the group opened fire yet again, on the vehicles, he stiffened with surprise. They weren't even going to be allowed to drive there?! At least it seemed they had left his bike alone....Hunter didn't know how he'd be able to keep his job without his bike. He tried not to look at it, worrying that the tiger might order it destroyed if he noticed it.

With their orders clear, Hunter turned to the rest of the group. "I guess...we better get going to Fenway," he said reluctantly.

[Mikala]

Kitty makes a good show of being unaffected by all this, but her ears get flatter and flatter to her head, starting with the information about her other half and going completely flat with a hiss at her motorcycle being destroyed. Her beautiful, beautiful motorcycle. Her pride and joy. She stays silent, lest the next thing she loses is her head. But a silent tear drifts to the edge of her eye, barely visible for a moment before being blinked away. She turns and starts walking towards the Fenway without a word, away from their captors and towards their new goal.

[Hunter568]

Hunter left his bike behind, on the sidewalk, not daring to pick it up and risk calling attention to it and having it destroyed. He figured he could come pick it up after they made whatever delivery it was that the tiger wanted made.

He jogged along to catch up with the feline bartender who'd moved on ahead of the rest of the group. As he got closer to her, he noticed a solitary tear forming on the side of her face before she hastily cleared it away. She looked awfully upset, with her ears back against her skull and some of the fur on her neck beginning to stand up in agitation. He couldn't blame her; they'd been given a pretty rough deal, and he'd be crying too if it was his motorcycle that got destroyed.

"Hey, you alright there?" he asked as he drew near. He thought to himself that it was a shame to see such a pretty face lined with sadness and anger like that.

For the moment, Hunter did not notice the figure following their group from the shadows across the street.

[Rayleonarde]

Valentine blanched, her face drained of color. She already had her own debts to pay, not to mention the  sins of her father. She turned to head towards Fenway, wherever that was. The bartender seemed to know, though. And so Valentine tailed the leaving pair, hanging back far enough to make a getaway if she was blamed.
After all, those men were after her in the beginning.
‘Hell’, she thought, ‘I’d blame me too.’

[Mikala]

“I should never have helped you.” Kitty growled under her breath, paws clenched tightly into fists. It’s obvious that she’s upset, her tone is colored with anger. She silently curses herself for coming out to help these people, who clearly have some sort of ties with the mafia. As they walked she tried to distract herself from her anger by thinking about how long she’ll have to work to get a new motorcycle. Needless to say, that doesn’t work, making her more angry about her situation.
Even with how angry she is, she can tell that the wolf she had been flirting with is just trying to help. She sighed, forcing her paws to unclench, forcing the tension out of her shoulders and putting her ears back up. “Let’s just do this stupid job and get it over with, yeah? I’m Kitty.” She spared a glance at the raccoon, giving her a nod as well.

[Hunter568]

Hunter drew back a little in surprise. The bartender had previously been so friendly, he'd hoped they could get along on good terms even if the circumstances were not ideal. But  now she seemed to want to keep some distance from him. The loss of that motorcycle sure was hitting her hard...

He nodded. "Sure, yeah. I just wanna get home in one piece too. My name's Hunter," he replied. He kept his face in a mask of indifference, not wanting to visibly register the fact that he felt hurt.

He looked over to the raccoon as well. "You're Valentine, right?" he asked. "I heard the asshole back there call you that. How do you two know eachother, exactly?" He kept his tone innocently questioning, but in his eyes was a faint glimmer of suspicion. It was odd for the crime boss to know her by name. They must have SOME connection, for that to be the case.

[Inb4Cloaker]

“Hm. I am going to wipe the floor with your skulls.”
Were the only words that came out of Zahil’s maw when he was shot at. Looking down, he spotted the mix of dirt and gravel that was flung up from the lead, and onto his shoes. With an eye twitch, he struggled to keep a cool and collected composure. The mention of his boss and the sheer arrogance of the tiger pushed the Tabaxi to believe that he was no longer dealing with a street gang. A mafia, maybe? A group he hadn’t caught wind of yet? Rolling his eyes, Zahil realized that either way, this was going to be a serious mess in need of attention when this was all said and done.

He wanted to speak again, and test his luck against these unknown people. Instead, he settled with raising one single paw and offering his middle finger the entire time he spoke. Placing his free paw on his collar, the feline allowed himself to be frisked, but cringed once his engraved handgun was place on the floor. This, he could tolerate, but then his brand new vehicle was torn to pieces.

Gazing back at it incredulously, he laughed in a somewhat dark manner. Now, he was angry. Of course, he couldn’t show that, at risk of being shot. Needless to say, when he was free, there would be hell to pay.

Watching the group start to turn and leave, Zahil waited patiently as his car was smoldering behind him. With steady eyes, he noticed someone creeping around the area. Not directly involved, but close enough to be seen. With a sigh of anger, he glanced down at his weapon, awaiting the cue to be able to retrieve it. He will be damned if he leaves his prized possession behind.