World's Underbelly

[Shinzuu Katame: Her Tolfy]

As soon as the gangsters were out of sight and earshot, Shinzuu bent over and picked up his Beretta. The wolf has spent enough time around Boston's scum, as well as overseas, to know that this tiger was no nobody. From how he carried himself, his speech, and how he mentioned spending tens of thousands on each of the lesser street thugs they just dealt with, he could tell, "He's international mafioso for sure. He's no head honcho, but he has a bigger influence than any of the gangs in this city. I hate to have to do what I'm told by someone like that, but I don't think we have much of a choice." Shinzuu kept his solemn face, but his blood was boiling from the disdain of being made a delivery boy, and having to be with other people, too. He had been extremely introverted and refused to interact or talk to anyone if it was unnecessary, and avoided everyone like the plague ever since his wife and child were murdered. The wolf made very little talk, "Don't bother going anywhere else. That bastard knows may have said it takes at least 40 minutes to walk there, but he never gave us a specific time." He looked at his watch, wiping the rain water from it as it glowed, "It's 10:30pm. I'm more than willing to bet he wants us there by 11, or he'll kill us."

Shinzuu took a huge drag, finishing off the last half of his cigarette in one inhale and spat it out as he exhaled and broke into a light jog. While the wolf carried his Beretta with him, he only had one magazine on him, and he was sure many gangs were already out at this time, and gunfire would attract more trouble, so he kept it holstered and clipped in. "If you're not good at running, start now. We'll have to at least jog there, assuming no one tries to stop us. And no guns. We don't need any more trouble than we already have."

In front of the old, decrepit Fenway Park, behind the ticket booth, Whisker was standing still at gunpoint, having been caught pickpocketing the wrong mafioso. She was to be added to the group, but unlike the rest of them, she at least had some kind of roof keeping her dry. "Okay, little missy. Your new 'friends' should be here within the 20 minutes. If they're not, you're doing this on your own." Three weasels stood around her with pistols drawn, and a fourth that sat in the shadows behind them, up against one of the pillars with a Thompson cradles in his arms almost like a baby.

[Hunter568]

Hunter nodded to the wolf and picked up his pace, entering a swift jog. He had a decent level of cardio, and figured he'd be able to make good time. He was familiar with the route to old Fenway as well, having lived in this part of the city for his whole life.

"Hey, I'm with you. Let's get going ASAP. That guy in the fedora seemed like real trouble," he said. "What's your name, by the way? I'm Hunter. We may as well have something to call each other if we're going to do a job together." Hunter didn't exactly like being forced into some delivery racket at gunpoint, but he figured he should make the most of it and try to get along with everyone else. At the very least, it would help prevent fights from breaking out during the job.

[Mikala]

Kitty rolls her eyes. “Mr. Bossy know it all, seems to me.” She starts jogging along as well. She keeps fairly fit, but the annoyance rolls off of her in waves. “I don’t carry a gun, because I’m not a part of all this like you seem to be. I just want to go to work, and go home, and live my life.” She looks at Hunter. He seems to also be a regular person, like her. But the raccoon and the gun bearing wolf are some sort of trouble. Not even to mention the Audi driving jerk. What a day.

[Aldrea945]

Whiskers watched the four assailants with a closed, wary expression.  This was why she didn't work with ties.  It always ended in this sort of crap.

She leaned against the wall, crossing her arms.  "I expect this to be the only job.  I don't like playing around with mobs," she said.  Her tail brushed along the wall at the same rate she scanned the room.  Any other jobs and there'd have to be paid a hell of a lot to make this crap worth it.

[Rayleonarde]

Valentine, after a time, answered Hunter's question. "I...don't know. He's not familiar to me. But, he's probably one of my dad's friends' cohorts. I'm not surprised. Dad's 'friends' cost me a lot of years." She kept pace with the two, her face contorted into a sort of extreme annoyance. Valentine REALLY didn't want to be involved.

[Hunter568]

Hunter considered Valentine's reply. So, she did have some connection to the mob after all, through her family. However, she seemed genuinely upset by the whole ordeal, wanting nothing to do with the crime boss who'd ordered them all around. He supposed it would be unjustified to cast too much suspicion on her, as she seemed to be roped into this by chance just like the rest of the group.

"Hm. Well if you can remember anything about him that might help us get out of this mess, let us know," he said in reply.

They were getting close to old Fenway, now. Just a few more turns in the road and they'd make it there. He took his phone out of his pocket and checked the time, noting that it had been about 25 minutes since they'd been given their assignment. Looked like they were making good time.

[Mikala]

“Maybe you should have a sign on you that says ‘don’t help me, I’m tied with the mob!’ for the next time you’re getting mugged and us innocent people want to be the good guy.” She snarled at the raccoon. She knows she’s being a jerk, but she can’t stop herself. This was all very upsetting. The Fenway looms in front of them. She peeked over at Huner’s phone for the time. Hopefully this would be over soon.

[Hunter568]

Hunter's ears pricked at Kitty's harsh words. It seemed unfair to blame Valentine for the situation, but then again he wasn't completely sure about her either. He decided to remain silent and just keep moving.

When he noticed Kitty peeking over at his cell, he held it up so it was more visble to her. "We should make it on time, although we're cutting it a little close," he affirmed.

[Shinzuu Katame: Her Tolfy]

When they arrived at Fenway Park, Shinzuu was huffing a bit. In the years since he moved here, he's done nothing but sulk, eat sleep and workout, but he never did any cardio since his discharge. Even when in the military, he avoided it like the plague. Already kinda regretting it in the back of his mind right now. There, they saw the one girl standing there with four others around her, "I take it she's the one joining us?" The weasel with the Thompson smirked as he got up. He was in a pin-striped suit and had the most devilish smile, "Indeed. This one was caught pickpocketing one of our capos, so she'll be sharing your debts." He took out a phone and texted someone before picking up two backpacks that were in the dilapidated ticket booth. He then pressed a button on top of each one and tossed it towards the group just before giving Whiskers a boot in the fanny so that she would be closer to them. "As you can see, the timer is running on these packs. You will need to reach each checkpoint together to get the timer reset, otherwise, they set off a signal that will instantly notify any nearby hitmen near you." Before any of them could say anything, he raised his phone and snapped a bright picture of them all, "And you're ALL expected to be there. No more and no less. Boston Harbor, Dock 23 is your next destination. You're lucky to get here early enough to have the extra half hour we were originally going to give you. And don't bother trying anything funny. We know a couple of you are armed, but each point is heavily guarded. You'll be outmatched and outgunned at least 20 to 1." The weasel snapped his fingers and he and his lackeys backed into the shadows of the rundown baseball stadium, guns pointed at the ready, and eventually disappeared from earshot.

[Hunter568]

"What kind of messed up job is this?" Hunter snorted with derision once the weasel and his lackies had left them. "Checkpoints and timers? Is this some kind of sick game to them?"

Shaking his head, he bent and picked up one of the backpacks, slinging it over his shoulder. "I guess we better get a move on. We don't have much of a choice," he said.

[Mikala]

“It feels like they think this is a game.” Kitty shrugged the other backpack on. She sure wasn’t letting it out of her sight. “Let’s go.” She looked at her teammates, sizing them up one more time before getting into a light jog.

[Shinzuu Katame: Her Tolfy]

Shinzuu kept an eye on the weasels until they left, and was surprised that the others decided to take up the bags. He mentally shrugged and went with the group. It was maybe a 3-hour walk under regular conditions, but since the fall, one of the skyscrapers that collapsed from poor maintenance turned into a bit of a land-bridge. Add that on top of the fact that there's almost never any traffic in Boston after 7pm, a direct shot would run 30 minutes. But knowing their new "employers" something was probably going to get in the way. "If we just head straight east to Castle Point, we should hopefully make the trip in 30 minutes..."

[Hunter568]

Hunter nodded. That'd be the most direct path, and he was hoping for them to get things done as quickly as possible.

"Sounds good to me. Let's hit the road," he said, matching Kitty's light jogging pace.

[Inb4Cloaker]

The feline followed the gaggle of people quietly, and rather slowly. He didn’t seem to be in any rush, more so out of spite than anything else. With his handgun tucked firmly in the waistband of his pants, he glanced around his surroundings and sighed. The feline was angry, but not in the most intense sense of the word. More like, woken up by an alarm four hours early angry.

He had allies close by, how close? He didn’t really know. It would probably take much more time running to seek help rather than use his usual method, ask one of the new guys to drive him from place to place, or just make a phone call. Both of those options seemed to be out of the question for now, however.

Zahil has paid little attention to the others who were also a part of this, up until this point. He saw them jog at a moderate pace up ahead and questioned their character. Zahil knew that he was just an unlucky bystander, but them? At least one had to have ties with the gangsters they encountered before. Some seemed a bit more innocent, while others appeared to be more easily agitated; particularly the woman who splattered mud on his car. And hit someone with a bottle. From a motorcycle. Now that he thought about it, that was pretty cool to watch. Why couldn’t his personal assistant do that? The only good thing his assistant was good for was cooking and driving, well, sometimes.

Speaking of his people, they’d probably start to suspect something happened if he wasn’t heard from soon. Should they learn the mafia had been harassing him, it would most certainly make for an interesting topic of discussion between the higher ups. Still lost in his thoughts and trying to make sense of all this, he absentmindedly picked up his pace to catch up as the group finished up a conversation with some more gangsters. Now, the group had bags and another person joining the party. Crossing his arms as he strolled closer, he heard something about a timer and hitmen. That probably wasn’t good.

When the figures vanished behind the stadium, Zahil spoke to the group for the first time;

“So, could someone perhaps, explain this? Because from my perspective, it appears as though I’ve been brought into someone else’s mess, and I really hate dealing with the Mafia. First one who admits to being the cause of this gets an all expense paid trip to Bolivia.” He said with a smile that was as fake as could be, reflecting a sense of agitation as he fiddled with the handgun tucked into his pants. When two of the group started to run towards their next objective, he dropped his smile and cursed a bit. More running? Clenching and unclenching his fist, he swiftly pointed a finger at the nearest person, who happened to be the female who just got booted into the group.

“I let my assistant to do some paperwork unsupervised, and told him I’d be back by twelve. If he screws it up because I didn’t make it back on time, I’m burning your house down. Then I’m burning down the last house you had, just for fun.”

With that, he shook his hand and started to swiftly walk after the other two.

[Mikala]

Kitty was trying not to antagonize all these mafia people, but at the tabaxi’s words, she can’t help herself. She mimed a fun with her fingers. “Hi there, I’m Mr. Fur and I think you guys have ties with the mafia. It certainly couldn’t be me, just casually driving around expensive cars, with a fancy gun, threatening to have my assistant burn people’s houses down?” Her voice lowered in an obvious attempt to mock him before she returns to her normal voice. “You know what’s going on as well as any of us do. We’re taking these stupid bags to Boston Harbor, where they’ll give us another location. Now are you coming? Or are you going to sulk behind and get us all killed?” She ran a paw through her fur, flipping it out of her intense green eyes.
“I’m Kitty, that’s Hunter, could the rest of you at least make up fake names for us to call you if you don’t want us to know your real names?”