Antihero Force (IC, RP Officially Concluded on Cliffhanger)

[Infected Mushroom]

reserved for announcements

OOC is at this location.

^

[Infected Mushroom]

2019
Belgrazi Mansion
New York Countryside

The floors of the great hall were made with a fine grey stone covered in part by fine red carpet. The walls were decorated with elegant landscape paintings (some were worth a fortune). There was a crystal chandelier hanging above them.

The room was heavily guarded by some kind of security in white uniforms. They wore pointed red hats and carried rifles. These White Guards numbered about two dozen but they stood professionally in the background, guarding the many doors that led into this great hall.

In the middle of the room…

About two dozen men stood in a horizontal line up. They were deathly quiet and their expressions were quite grim. All of them were dressed in dark suits and ties, a few of them had tipped fedora hats on their heads.

They were all thinking along the same lines.

She promised amnesty. She cannot afford to get rid of all of us right? We run a solid portion of New York.

They nervously faced a high table, which stood elevated a few inches above the ground, behind which stood two great mahogany doors.

“The High Table” it was literally called. There were several of these in the great mansions of the United Mafia. It was where you addressed the royalty.

Suddenly, the mahogany doors behind the table opened.

There was a collective shudder…

…

Two new individuals entered the room.

Mafia Queen Aurora Von Staffen was a tall thin woman with long gold hair; her facial features were symmetrical and her eyes were large, bright and purple. She couldn’t be older than 26 and she was wearing an elegant white and black dress for the occasion.

The other individual was Carlos Lucchesi, the right hand of the Mafia Queen and her principal advisor. He had been serving the Von Staffen family since the reign of Aurora’s father.

“YOUR HIGHNESS!” all of the assembled Mafia members yelled out as they bowed ceremoniously and nervously.

The Mafia Queen sat down, as did Lucchesi. Her face was very difficult to read, there was no expression.

“My subjects,” she declared. “I have given the matter some thought. As you know, I have decided to give you all a pardon. This is not a decision I make lightly.”

“Your highness! Thank you your highness! THANK YOU!...”

The Queen raised her hand, as if to silence them. They got the queue.

“In an ordinary situation I would have executed all of you for treason, stealing from the Mafia and from your Queen is unacceptable,” she continued. “However, summer is coming up and I feel well-predisposed. I did take into consideration, all of your contributions to the family.”

There was a collective sign of relief amongst the assembled captains. They had half-expected the sometimes impulsive Queen to change her mind.

As her eyes travelled across the group, she listed in no particular order:

“Feroch you served my father during the Casterlain War,” she said. “Colombo you’ve caused a considerable increase in gains on the west coast. There are other contributions I considered. Not all of you are exceptional of course but today I’m feeling merciful.”

“Your highness! Thank you your highness! THANK YOU!...”

The Mafia Queen paused as a sudden thought seemed to occur to her.

“Well…” she said suddenly, breaking the tense silence. “I will require all of you to apologize once more, and pledge once more your unconditional loyalty to me. After all of that is done, we shall have a feast.”

And with that said, the Mafia Queen stood up from behind the High Table. Luchessi and the guards in the room glared at the assembled Mafia members in the middle of the room, looking ominously at them.

There was a procedure and a protocol for this.

The assembled mobsters formed an improvised line. One by one they approached and knelt in front of Aurora and the High Table. There was a turn order, each person took maybe as long as seven minutes.

They gave (one by one) very detailed apologies and promised once more that they would be eternally loyal. Seeing that their lives were on the line, the slippery Mafia members wasted no effort in making it 100% clear how sorry, misguided, and stupid they were.

Aurora said nothing as she stood there, still as a statue and considering the subjects that knelt in her presence.

When each member was finished, they recited a very long, ceremonial pledge of eternal loyalty. They had given this pledge before of course, about three years ago when the young Aurora first assumed the throne of the United Mafia after her father’s untimely death. It was a complete disgrace that they had to recite it again.

It took a very long time to get through all of the members, but eventually they were all done.

Aurora sat back down at the table.

“GOOD!” she said as she clapped her hands together excitedly. “Enough of this unpleasantness. Let bygone’s be bygones! Now, since you are all my honored guests, it’s time for the feast!”

…

The dining hall was a display of sheer opulence.

Belgrazi Mansion was not Aurora’s only mansion in New York but it was definitely one of the biggest.

As the sovereign of a powerful underworld dynasty, Aurora’s organization raked in billions every year and she could afford to live in great luxury. Hundreds of thousands of gangsters were sworn to serve her and her family. Everyone from politicians to judges to cops were under the Mafia’s payroll. It was a golden time.

The pardoned gangsters sat together at the end of a large rectangular table. There were several.

Aurora sat at the front, with Luchessi and several choice advisors. White Guards stood, still as statues along the walls, their rifles held straight up against their shoulders.

All the dinner cutlery were made of the finest china from the far east; the goblets were made of fine gold and the cutlery cost a fortune too.

A servant had gone around the room and poured fine red wine into the goblets; it was one of Aurora’s favorites, Masseto red (straight from Tuscany).

“A toast then,” Aurora said from the front as she raised her goblets.

Her subordinates mirrored her.

“To the United Mafia,” she said. “And to ever lasting peace.”

“LONG LIVE THE QUEEN!” the gangsters yelled out in unison as they drank the fine wine.

Aurora did not drink. A somewhat mischievous expression was on her face as she observed the dinner guests.

One of the Mafiosi looked up and noticed this; he realized it was too late!

The effect was almost immediate.

Several goblets fell down to the floor; the vintage spilled everywhere. Over two dozen gangsters seemed to choke and tremble as their eyes became wide as saucers. Some of them tried to get up but soon fell over. The sounds of chairs being moved, choking, and gasps of shock and terror filled the room. The skins of the poisoned criminals turned into a nasty pale yellow…

Luchessi looked away.

This is a tad unnecessary. But the Queen’s orders are the Queen’s orders. Sigh…

Aurora said nothing. She simply watched, a peaceful smile across her red lips.

“GRAAAAAA!”

The poison moved on to the next stage. Soon, the two dozen gangsters began to spit out blood…

The choking, bleeding, and struggles would go on for another painful minute that felt like an eternity.

…

It was done. The dinner tables were silent. The corpses of two dozen bleeding gangsters decorated the tables and the floors; plenty of red (both wine and blood) was on display; it was like a grotesque art piece from a morbid painting.

Aurora stood up, thoroughly satisfied that the message had been sent. The advisors and high rankers on either side of them had mixed reactions. Some of them were shocked; they hadn’t been told that the Queen had been planning to renege on the pardon. To some extent, Aurora had arranged this little theatre for their benefit too.

In any event, the message had been sent, do not double cross your Queen.

“I will take my leave now,” Aurora declared with some satisfaction. And with that, she stood up, raised her dress a little, turned around, and walked aout of the room.

Luchessi pointed at the shocked servant in the corner.

“What are you waiting for?” he barked at him. “Get your friends in here and clean this up!”

“Y… YES SIR!”

[Krvava Koupel]

A little park in New York.

Oklan sits under a tree, making sure nobody is around. Rocket, his Robotic hawk perches on a branch directly above him. Oklan forms a small wrench and starts tinkering with his metallic hand. "I tell ya, Rocket... This hand seems to get looser and looser every time I use my magic. We might want to bring it up with Boss to upgrade my shop, we seem to be running out of supplies for some reason." He moves his fingers and shakes his head. "I betcha it's one of the other men. I do have some pretty grand things in there..." Rocket lets out a small caw. "Eh, you're right. I have been tinkering with my turrets a lot lately... Maybe my arm is due to be changed out, what do ya say, ol' pal?" [i]Rocket looks down and lets out another caw. Oklan laughs and goes back to his tinkering.

[Infected Mushroom]

A 33 year old olive-skinned gangster in a suit with a hat walked through the park. Finally, Tommy Russo saw what he was looking for.

As expected, the eccentric metal mage was working and tinkering in a secluded part of the park. Russo himself was always somewhat uncomfortable with the magic user's powers. If it were up to him, people like Valkov wouldn't be allowed into the organisation. However, IT WASN'T up to him and Valkov's gifts had proven to be very useful for the mob.

"Hey Valkov!" Tommy called out in greeting. "I've come to relay a message from the captain. We got word that old Billy is coming out clean. So we're going to shake him up tonight. We're meeting at seven."

Billy Smith was the CEO of a sizable accounting firm in New York City, Smith and Waterson. Many of the Mafia captains had previously worked with that company to fabricate tons of accounts for dirty money. This included Tommy Russo's superior, the Mafia captain Nicky Castellano.

Recently, Billy had inherited Smith and Waterson. The young idealist soon decided to come out clean about the company's wrongful actions.

It was a bit inconvenient for the Mafia so Castellano sent young Billy a message. It obviously didn't work, since now they needed to do more.

"You're in for the shake up right?" Tommy asked.

[Krvava Koupel]

Oklan looked up from his work, wiggling his metallic fingers. He tossed the wrench up in the air and it vanished. He stood up, wiped his pants, and whistled. Rocket cawed and glided down onto Valkov's shoulder. "Aye, indeed I am."
He shifted his eyepatch. Oklan whistled again, and Rocket jumped off his shoulder, and started flying around in the air, scouting the area... just in case... "Seven, eh? I'll have to push some things back, but I will be there. Does Boss want any... tools?" Oklan gave a broad smirk.

He had always known some of the gangsters were hesitant about letting a Mage into the Organization. He also knew that his magic came in handy. He remembered several times where they were going to junk some of the older vehicles they had gotten. Oklan had been semi-new at that time, but remembered offering to fix the almost beat up cars. Many of the mobsters laughed, and gave him 3 days for both cars. They were astonished to find their cars looking like new. From then on, Oklan Valkov had been their main mechanic, although sometimes some things were unfixable, but Valkov reused the parts from other machines to create new stuff.

Oklan, to help hide his magic using identity from the rest of the world, opened up a mechanic's shop. Nobody but him worked there. It wasn't the biggest repair shop in the state, but it was known enough to have people come from all around to get their things fixed.

Oklan took his leather glove from his pocket, and slipped it on his metallic hand.

[Greater vakolicci haven]

Ander Kallden

In a small diner in the financial district, a rather unassuming man in his early middle age and a crisply-ironed business suit sat like many others, working on his computer. The screen was down low, forcing the man to squint to read its contents, however he seemed to be making quick time on whatever it was he was working on: and whatever it was, that task seemed to be pleasing him greatly, judging from the grin plastered across his somewhat handsome features. The plans were about as set as they could be, and he knew full well that absolutely nobody expected what was to come: when you were as good at faking your own death as Ander Kallden was, and as good at disguising yourself as Ander Kallden was...very few people would suspect that anything was to come from that particular mage. Including, he hoped the Mafia, whose day he planned to spoil

All that Ander Kallden needed were his associates to show up.

[Infected Mushroom]

Tom Gabriels

The door to the diner opened.

A tall, thin man with dark hair and focused stern grey eyes scanned the entire area. It was as if he was looking for threats. He wore a maroon colored coat and had on a pair of blue jeans.

Finally, he approached Ander and took a seat facing him.

It hadn't been easy for a sufficient amount of "trust" to be established to make this meeting possible. Gabriels was naturally a suspicious man, his years of experience in the US Special Forces had honed him to be so. In fact, he had been observing this diner in advance to make sure it was safe to enter. That took a while.

He had agreed to meet Kalden because it was clear they shared a common interest, and a common enemy. Upon seeing Kallden in person Gabriels was a bit shocked, he had expected someone more fierce looking.

"You're Ander Kallden correct?" Tom Gabriels said. "Let's get right down to it. I'm not here to waste your time and I sure as hell hope you're not here to waste mine. I've heard about you. And I hear your putting together a team. That about right? ... What the hell are you smiling about?"

How many others are going to show up... I do wonder...

[Infected Mushroom]

Oklan looked up from his work, wiggling his metallic fingers. He tossed the wrench up in the air and it vanished. He stood up, wiped his pants, and whistled. Rocket cawed and glided down onto Valkov's shoulder. "Aye, indeed I am."
He shifted his eyepatch. Oklan whistled again, and Rocket jumped off his shoulder, and started flying around in the air, scouting the area... just in case... "Seven, eh? I'll have to push some things back, but I will be there. Does Boss want any... tools?" Oklan gave a broad smirk.

He had always known some of the gangsters were hesitant about letting a Mage into the Organization. He also knew that his magic came in handy. He remembered several times where they were going to junk some of the older vehicles they had gotten. Oklan had been semi-new at that time, but remembered offering to fix the almost beat up cars. Many of the mobsters laughed, and gave him 3 days for both cars. They were astonished to find their cars looking like new. From then on, Oklan Valkov had been their main mechanic, although sometimes some things were unfixable, but Valkov reused the parts from other machines to create new stuff.

Oklan, to help hide his magic using identity from the rest of the world, opened up a mechanic's shop. Nobody but him worked there. It wasn't the biggest repair shop in the state, but it was known enough to have people come from all around to get their things fixed.

Oklan took his leather glove from his pocket, and slipped it on his metallic hand.

Tommy Russo

"Alright then," said Tommy. "A car will pick you up at about seven. We know where Billy's going to be. He's not going to have a good time but hey... Captain's orders."

And with that, the gangster turned around and strolled away. He was going to make a few more bets at the Flamingo and get a few of those nice drinks in the downtime. The money's hard earned but it was worthless if you did not spend it on some fun.

[Krvava Koupel]

Oklan sighed, knowing he never gets a straight up answer about his tools.

He shrugged it off, and whistled. Rocket soared down and landed on Oklan's left shoulder. "I want you to fly back to the workshop, okay? I'm going to go grab a bite to eat."

Rocket cawed, and hopped off Oklan's shoulder, flying high into the sky. Oklan smiled, and start walking toward the diner.

[Infected Mushroom]

7:39 pm
New York City

Billy Smith finally walked out of Pol’s Famous Steakhouse. Smith wore a simple brown businesssuit; he had light brown hair and he wore thick rimmed glasses that made his eyes bigger. His departure from the Steakhouse was key.

It was the moment the mobsters has been waiting for.

Tommy Russo and another Mafia goon emerged from the shadows. They closed the gap on the shocked Billy really fast and grabbed him firmly. Billy could see a third gangster smoking a cigarette and watching.

“Come with us Billy,” Tommy said coldly. “Don’t make a scene.”

Terrified but realizing he had no choice, Billy allowed himself to be forcefully matched a short distance. There were lots of bystanders and people but they either did not notice the gangsters or would not help. The second was more likely. The gangsters were very flamboyantly dressed and stood out. However, everyone in New York knew who was in command.

Finally, Billy was forced inside a black Camari.

...

Billy was sandwiched between Tommy and another goon to the right. Throughout the ride, he dared not say s thing.

An I going to die????

The car drove into a relatively deserted part of town, past abandoned warehouses and factories...

“Hey err listen,” Billy says suddenly. “I think I’ve changed my-“

“Shut the hell up Billy,” Tommy cut him off coldly. “Sit... and Zip it.”

...

The car finally stopped by some kind of garbage dumping site. There were mountains of trash all around as well as a variety of rusty steel gizmos.

Billy stepped out. He hadn’t noticed but there were two Mafia cars.

Now all of them stood out. There were seven gangsters in total.

Billy recognized Mafia Captain Nicky Castellano. One of the people standing next to him seemed to have a metallic arm; he was wearing steam punk clothes that stood out. Was he a specialist of some kind?

“Listen Nicky,” Billy pleaded. “I’ve changed my mind. Things can go back.”

“Nah,” Nicky replies. “Not so much.”

Russo and two other gangsters seized Billy and began to very literally beat the living hell out of him... 3 vs 1. Billy was beaten up so hard that his glasses broke and his nose began to bleed. Even whilst he was in the floor, Russo gleefully kicked at him.

Nicky Casterllano walked over to briefly admire the pile of garbage in the background.his voice carried over to a Billy so he could hear...

“Now the timeline’s expired Billy. We could have been great friends. I gave you a great opportunity. It’s sad you didn’t take.”

The beating went on for some time. Finally, Nicky put a stop to it.

“Alright stop,” Nicky said. “That’s good enough. Billy I’ll have you know that the Queen’s people will take very good care of your father’s company. You’ve already been replaced.”

Russo and the others stepped back. The bleeding and bruised Billy was in the floor, still awake but unable to move and wracked with pain and shock.

Regret filled Billy’s head. His father had been right... doing the right thing was too costly! He could only hope God would have him now in heaven.

Smirking, Castellano pulled out a gun, cocked it, and walked forward to execute the defenseless man. Billy closed his eyes on terror and began to mutter a desperate prayer.

“Wait sir,” Tommy suddenly said.

Nicky looked up, slightly annoyed. “... what?”

Tommy turned to face the magic user, metal mage Valkov.

“Make the metal mage kill him,” Tommy said. “He should prove loyalty. His due is not entirely paid.”

Nicky considered it. Then he put his gun away.

Billy looked up, slightly hopeful.

The Mafia Captain addressed Valkov.

“I think we all want to see some metal magic. Kill him. Make it look cool.”

All six gangsters now looked at Valkov.

[Krvava Koupel]

7:39 pm
New York City

Billy Smith finally walked out of Pol’s Famous Steakhouse. Smith wore a simple brown businesssuit; he had light brown hair and he wore thick rimmed glasses that made his eyes bigger. His departure from the Steakhouse was key.

It was the moment the mobsters has been waiting for.

Tommy Russo and another Mafia goon emerged from the shadows. They closed the gap on the shocked Billy really fast and grabbed him firmly. Billy could see a third gangster smoking a cigarette and watching.

“Come with us Billy,” Tommy said coldly. “Don’t make a scene.”

Terrified but realizing he had no choice, Billy allowed himself to be forcefully matched a short distance. There were lots of bystanders and people but they either did not notice the gangsters or would not help. The second was more likely. The gangsters were very flamboyantly dressed and stood out. However, everyone in New York knew who was in command.

Finally, Billy was forced inside a black Camari.

...

Billy was sandwiched between Tommy and another goon to the right. Throughout the ride, he dared not say s thing.

An I going to die????

The car drove into a relatively deserted part of town, past abandoned warehouses and factories...

“Hey err listen,” Billy says suddenly. “I think I’ve changed my-“

“Shut the hell up Billy,” Tommy cut him off coldly. “Sit... and Zip it.”

...

The car finally stopped by some kind of garbage dumping site. There were mountains of trash all around as well as a variety of rusty steel gizmos.

Billy stepped out. He hadn’t noticed but there were two Mafia cars.

Now all of them stood out. There were seven gangsters in total.

Billy recognized Mafia Captain Nicky Castellano. One of the people standing next to him seemed to have a metallic arm; he was wearing steam punk clothes that stood out. Was he a specialist of some kind?

“Listen Nicky,” Billy pleaded. “I’ve changed my mind. Things can go back.”

“Nah,” Nicky replies. “Not so much.”

Russo and two other gangsters seized Billy and began to very literally beat the living hell out of him... 3 vs 1. Billy was beaten up so hard that his glasses broke and his nose began to bleed. Even whilst he was in the floor, Russo gleefully kicked at him.

Nicky Casterllano walked over to briefly admire the pile of garbage in the background.his voice carried over to a Billy so he could hear...

“Now the timeline’s expired Billy. We could have been great friends. I gave you a great opportunity. It’s sad you didn’t take.”

The beating went on for some time. Finally, Nicky put a stop to it.

“Alright stop,” Nicky said. “That’s good enough. Billy I’ll have you know that the Queen’s people will take very good care of your father’s company. You’ve already been replaced.”

Russo and the others stepped back. The bleeding and bruised Billy was in the floor, still awake but unable to move and wracked with pain and shock.

Regret filled Billy’s head. His father had been right... doing the right thing was too costly! He could only hope God would have him now in heaven.

Smirking, Castellano pulled out a gun, cocked it, and walked forward to execute the defenseless man. Billy closed his eyes on terror and began to mutter a desperate prayer.

“Wait sir,” Tommy suddenly said.

Nicky looked up, slightly annoyed. “... what?”

Tommy turned to face the magic user, metal mage Valkov.

“Make the metal mage kill him,” Tommy said. “He should prove loyalty. His due is not entirely paid.”

Nicky considered it. Then he put his gun away.

Billy looked up, slightly hopeful.

The Mafia Captain addressed Valkov.

“I think we all want to see some metal magic. Kill him. Make it look cool.”

All six gangsters now looked at Valkov.

Oklan watched as Billy got beat. He was glad he wasn't doing that, or else that guy would have been pulverized by Valkov's metallic arm.

As soon as the Mafia Captain came over to Valkov, he knew it was his time to shine. Gladly, he accepted. A wide grin crossed his face. "Billy... Billy, Billy, Billy..." Oklan formed a small metal ball in his hand "That name don't sit right with me anymore, how 'bout you guys?" Valkov looked around as the rest of the gangsters either glared, or gave a slight shake of the head. "Sweet ol' Billy. Y'know, I remember back when I was still fresh pickin' and you had asked me to soup up your nice little ash gray Bentley. Boy that thing was a beauty!" Oklan motioned for the guys directly behind Billy to move to the side. He looked at the metal ball, and smirked. Not a second after, the ball whizzed right past Billy's head, the terror in his eyes mad Oklan smile even more. "I don't travel alone though, Billy. You know that." Oklan knew this was his time to shine. He stomped his foot on the ground, and an iron wall formed behind Billy. Oklan looked at Billy. "get up if you still can."

Billy trembled on his way up. Halfway to a full stand, he collapsed in pain. Oklan sighed, and let out a real loud whistle. No more than 5 seconds later, a booming caw was heard. Rocket landed on Oklan's shoulder.

Oklan whispered something to Rocket, and the metallic hawk nodded. He soared up into the sky, and swooped down, picking Billy up by the hair. Billy was standing just long enough for Rocket to swoop back around to push him back with his talons digging into BIlly's chest. Rocket lifted up as soon as Billy hit the wall. Immediately after, Oklan formed 2 titanium shards, pinning Billy at the shoulders.

Oklan looked around to see some semi-surprised faces. "God, it's horrible that I have to kill a friend..." Oklan said sarcastically. "You lost your friends the second you opened your fat mouth." Oklan formed 2 daggers, and slashed into both of Billy's cheeks. He stabbed the daggers into Billy's kneecaps, and left them. Billy screamed out in pain. Oklan made the shards holding Billy up disappear. He dropped to the ground in pain, and tried crawling toward Oklan. Oklan kneeled down, and lifted Billy's head. "You're probably praying to your God right now, and I find that amusing. Too bad you won't be visiting that man anytime soon."

Oklan dropped Billy's head. The place was quiet, except for Billy's grunts of agony. Oklan clapped his hands together, and a giant hammer formed in his hands. Lightweight to him, heavy as hell for anyone else. Rocket swooped around and lifted Billy by the hair again. The Hawk moved just in time for Oklan to swing upward with the hammer, sending Billy up in the air roughly 15 feet, 10 feet backward. The iron wall disappeared, and a metal rod pushed Billy back into range of Oklan and the rest of the gang. Oklan spoke a mysterious language. a silver cloud formed over only Billy. Sword blades fell from the clouds, impaling him completely. The hammer and the daggers disappeared. The cloud and blades followed soon after.

"I sure hope you send my best regards to the Devil, he'll make you right at home." Valkov spat on Billy, and wiped himself off. He noticed a slight bloodstain on his waistcoat. "Great, now I have to deal with that."

[Kasa Tkoth Sphere]

Ramapo, New York
~40 km from NYC
several hours ago

Laura inhaled sharply, threw open the damaged-looking waterproof case, and rolled her eyes before slamming it closed again.

The bastards hadn't just broken down her door and seized most of her stuff while she was out - didn't need to pretend to have a search warrant if the "dangerous anarchist" wasn't inside - they'd raided practically every last cache in the back woods too, taking some entirely and simply busting the locks and grabbing the guns from others. Not even the buried ones had made it; whether it was with metal detectors or sniffer dogs, the Mafia-hired "cops" had cleanly swept what seemed to be her entire supply of backup equipment. She checked the sides of the case for the electric buzzer. Utterly broken, just like all of the other traps and alarms she'd set on them. These guys were good.

In all honesty, she couldn't tell whether it would have gone this way even without the Mafia getting involved. Really, when it came down to it, half of her weapons were illegal in this state, another quarter were illegal in more than this state, and packed in with the others were enough chemicals and electrical components to demolish a couple of houses, although, of course, whatever she'd set up back home was certainly gone now too. But at least the regular police - at least, as she remembered them from her childhood, perhaps vaguely - would have been either too incompetent to pick up on all this stuff or too complacent to threaten a begrudgingly-taxpaying white American with much more than a prison sentence rather than, say, an extrajudicial killing. Maybe.

Laura, as far as she knew, now had every last one of her relevant possessions either on her person or in one big hiking backpack now - whatever clothes hadn't been seized, her laptop and books that she'd brought on her outing, and every remaining item of vague personal value but insufficient monetary value to seize and then sell to the highest bidder.

Well, she thought, maybe all but one.

She stood still for a moment in thought, and then bolted. The last cache was a good ways away, after all.

---

New York City
Diner

Laura Michaels, short, covered in too-heavy clothing, and exhausted, with narrowed eyes and a dejected, hunched-over posture, slumped down onto a chair adjacent to Ander's, sliding her backpack off and letting it hit the floor with a table-shaking thud. She moved her eyes - and just her eyes - to meet Ander's and then Tom's, finally raising an eyebrow after a solid few seconds of glaring at the latter. She'd heard Tom's questions while she was coming in and, despite never learning what the leader of this "association" looked like, figured it wasn't him.

"...yeah, okay, it's me," she said eventually. "Got the papers. Laura. Ander?" She flicked her focus back toward the man sitting to her side.

[Infected Mushroom]

In the Junkyard
New York City

The gangsters were shocked at the power of Oklan Valkov. They had seen the metal mage do some amazing things before but this really topped it.

Only Tommy looked a bit uneasy, he was always a uneasy about letting someone this different into the organisation.

However, Captain Castellano was overwhelmingly pleased.

"WOO HOO!" he cried out in excitement. Almost at once, the silence was broken and all of his subordinates began cheering and clapping as well.

"GOODBYE BILLY BOY!" the driver of one of the cars called out disrespectfully to Billy's corpse.

"WOO HOO! HELL YEAH!"

Castellano clapped Valkov in the back. "I think this calls for a celebration. You're KILLING IT my man. Let's go to the Flamingo and get wasted. Money's on me."

"I could use a drink too boss!" one of the goons called out.

This was the signal and everyone started to head back into the vehicles.

"Wait sir," one of the goons called out. "What about the corpse?"

Castellano rolled his eyes. "Right... well last three times Tommy went so this time it's time for... Alex, Castro, James and Jango, you guys pick him up and dump him into the incinerator. You know the drill."

"OH MAN why me?" James called out.

"Hey that's an order let's move move! Everyone else will wait!" Castellano said as he clapped his hands together. "Let's go. Snap snap! Drinks are waiting."

The four gangsters moved into place and grabbed what was left of Billy. The magical steel that had impaled and killed him had vanished so that no weight was added and with considerable effort, the mobsters could lift the corpse together. They got to work, no time was wasted.

Tommy turned to face Valkov, semi-sarcastically he said: "Hey Valkov... remind me never to fuck with you buddy haha."

[Yaruqo]

New York City
Diner

The nervous young man hesitated, his hand on the door of the diner. Was he crazy? It wasn't too late, after all, he could still back out. He could still go home to Alvaro, lie down on his couch, watch documentaries about places that he wanted to visit. But then he'd have to go to work again, and again, and again...and nothing would have changed. Mike Marden pushed the door open...oh, it was a pull door. Well, he pulled the door open this time. Scanning the room, he found who he was looking for. Ander Kallden. He knew nothing about this guy, but just looking at him made Marden nervous...more nervous, actually. It's one thing to plan to take down a crime organization with its tentacles in every pie that could pick you out of a crowd in broad daylight and make you disappear in a long, torturous fashion. It was another thing entirely to do so with a man who was eerily smiling at his computer.

As he approached, he saw a woman with strawberry-blonde hair and a tall, dark-haired man gathered around Kallden. Well, he thought to himself, time to introduce myself, I suppose. Wearing his black suit and "lucky" navy tie bedecked in golden fleurs-de-lis, he would have merged in with any crowd. Aside from, as his boyfriend Alvaro once put it, "an ass that you could bounce a quarter off of", he wasn't all that physically remarkable. And perhaps that's why no one at City Hall paid him a second look when he spent some time after work looking at zoning documents and taking pictures of them with his phone. Approaching the group, he took a seat across from Kallden. "My, this weather has been disgusting. Thank God for the A/C," he said, before turning to the others. "The name's Mike, pleased to meet you all."

[Krvava Koupel]

In the Junkyard
New York City

The gangsters were shocked at the power of Oklan Valkov. They had seen the metal mage do some amazing things before but this really topped it.

Only Tommy looked a bit uneasy, he was always a uneasy about letting someone this different into the organisation.

However, Captain Castellano was overwhelmingly pleased.

"WOO HOO!" he cried out in excitement. Almost at once, the silence was broken and all of his subordinates began cheering and clapping as well.

"GOODBYE BILLY BOY!" the driver of one of the cars called out disrespectfully to Billy's corpse.

"WOO HOO! HELL YEAH!"

Castellano clapped Valkov in the back. "I think this calls for a celebration. You're KILLING IT my man. Let's go to the Flamingo and get wasted. Money's on me."

"I could use a drink too boss!" one of the goons called out.

This was the signal and everyone started to head back into the vehicles.

"Wait sir," one of the goons called out. "What about the corpse?"

Castellano rolled his eyes. "Right... well last three times Tommy went so this time it's time for... Alex, Castro, James and Jango, you guys pick him up and dump him into the incinerator. You know the drill."

"OH MAN why me?" James called out.

"Hey that's an order let's move move! Everyone else will wait!" Castellano said as he clapped his hands together. "Let's go. Snap snap! Drinks are waiting."

The four gangsters moved into place and grabbed what was left of Billy. The magical steel that had impaled and killed him had vanished so that no weight was added and with considerable effort, the mobsters could lift the corpse together. They got to work, no time was wasted.

Tommy turned to face Valkov, semi-sarcastically he said: "Hey Valkov... remind me never to fuck with you buddy haha."

Oklan looked at the surprised and cheering gangsters. Never has he seen the men so riled up before, it really gave him a run for his money.

He turned who was still quite uneasy. "Ey ol' pal. Lighten up a little, it's not like I'm using this on any of you! I would never! I joined to get revenge on those damned... Antiheroes... for what they did to me." He lifted his eyepatch to show the scar running down his eye, and pulled off his glove to show his metallic hand. "You're safe in my books."

He turned to Castellano. "You know me, I'm one to settle for a drink or two, but a Mage always has to stay alert. Getting drunk is never on my agenda, but I am never one to refuse a drink, so I'm up for it!"

Valkov turned back toward Tommy. "I'm considered a Gentle Giant, you have nothing to worry about!" Valkov laughed and patted Tommy's shoulder lightly.

He turned around to the others once more. "So uh, anyone know where I can wash my waistcoat?"

[Greater vakolicci haven]

Ander

It was quite a difficult task to ask of somebody, to completely avoid paying any heed to the fact the table you were sat at was filling up, and to say no word, make no eye contact, change absolutely nothing about what you were doing: but until Mike entered, that was exactly what Ander Kallden had been doing. Finally however, he removed his hands from the keyboard and smiled around the group, his eyes taking in the little company without giving anything away about his thoughts, before he finally spoke.

"Good afternoon everybody," he said, his voice soft, somewhere between every generic American accent with just something on the edge of every sound to indicate that most of his time was spent outside of the 50 states. "I know all your names, you all know mine, you all know what we're here to do, and you all know why we need to do it. That rather...gets rid of any need for smalltalk, but while we await a latecomer it's all we can do, at present. I can assure you that this location is safe, its owners are people I know personally, and it is regularly screened for bugs. We can meet and discuss here...along with a number of other locations, without risk of us being caught. Before I begin with our...first issue, I feel it is best to ask now if anybody has any questions or concerns about what we're doing here?"

[Yaruqo]

Ander

It was quite a difficult task to ask of somebody, to completely avoid paying any heed to the fact the table you were sat at was filling up, and to say no word, make no eye contact, change absolutely nothing about what you were doing: but until Mike entered, that was exactly what Ander Kallden had been doing. Finally however, he removed his hands from the keyboard and smiled around the group, his eyes taking in the little company without giving anything away about his thoughts, before he finally spoke.

"Good afternoon everybody," he said, his voice soft, somewhere between every generic American accent with just something on the edge of every sound to indicate that most of his time was spent outside of the 50 states. "I know all your names, you all know mine, you all know what we're here to do, and you all know why we need to do it. That rather...gets rid of any need for smalltalk, but while we await a latecomer it's all we can do, at present. I can assure you that this location is safe, its owners are people I know personally, and it is regularly screened for bugs. We can meet and discuss here...along with a number of other locations, without risk of us being caught. Before I begin with our...first issue, I feel it is best to ask now if anybody has any questions or concerns about what we're doing here?"

"Well, I'll be blunt then. What is the endgame, here? The you-know-what has its fingers in a lot of pies, and I want to figure out what the goal is. To remove them from New York City, to go higher? I'm risking a lot, not just my life, but other lives, and I want to see if I've come to the right place."

[Bolgano]

[Infected Mushroom]

Tom Gabriels

Gabriels was intrigued by Anders Kaldan's presence. Throughout their previous correspondences, Kaldan has on a limited number of occasions shown Gabriels a limited portion of what he was capable of; indeed, there was no doubt that setting this meeting up was difficult to achieve in a Mafia controlled city. He was clearly a great organiser.

He could see the potential for special and like-minded individuals to achieve great things, maybe even the impossible.

"I personally am willing to risk everything to go after the entire mob," he declared somewhat proudly. "I think America has suffered enough. The Founding Fathers would be disgraced at what this nation has become. But I am curious as to your answer so I'd echo his query here, what do you say Kalden? Are we going after the entire mob or only a part of it? What is.. the End Game?"

[Infected Mushroom]

Earlier that day 2:33 PM
Vandersmith Mansion
New York Countryside

It was a beautiful afternoon so Aurora decided to have her afternoon tea in the mansion gardens. The weather was just right, if it had been too sunny she would have gone inside because she didn't want to get her skin tanned.

The Mafia Queen was very proud of her beautiful appearance and the slightly pale, perfect quality of her skin.

Amidst a beautiful hedge-filled garden and maze of fountains and marble statues that would have made some European monarchs envious, Aurora sat in a large round table.

Two older advisors sat with her, they were Carlos Luchessi and Manson Belgrano. There was a fourth party, a somewhat nervous looking personal male secretary/assistant by the name of Mike Rosier; he wore glasses and looked somewhat nervously out of place. He had only gotten this job because his father had done Aurora's father a great favour and had asked for him; he himself was throughly unexceptional and his father was long dead.

A large very expensive set of antique tea pots, cutlery, plates and cups were on the large table. At least three different types of tea was in, all of them the very finest from Europe and the far east. There were lots of highly priced desserts in the middle of the table scattered amongst the plates; they were the choicest, top of the line cookies including a derivative of the French Macaron cookies that only the super rich had heard of, cakes made by some of NYC's finest chefs, and a couple of choice craft breadsticks that was a bit of a current craze with the British royal family.

Most of it would go completely to waste of course, in order to maintain her perfect thin figure, Aurora herself had a very limited amount of the desserts. She was mostly into the tea; but the large display of snacks did complement the atmosphere.

The other gangsters didn't touch the snacks very much, it was bad form to be over-indulgent in front of the Queen.

Aurora was scribbling on some kind of a notepad with a fancy pen while she sipped her tea here and there. She was dressed like a doll for the occasion, wearing a large beautiful white and blue dress. Her long golden hair seemed to sparkle in the sun.

Eventually she set the note pad down, then she grabbed her cup with her pale delicate fingers and took a sip of the fine tea.

"Hmmmm," she said at length, breaking the silence. "I think I've decided that we should spare Billy after all. We owe his father a great deal; we should simply ask him to leave New York never to return."

Luchessi chose his next words carefully.

"With all due respect your highness," he said. "I think he needs to go. He's caused enough trouble for us already."

Aurora considered it.

"You know what?" she said at length. "You're right. He goes. Take care of it now. I want it to happen by the end of the day. He's been trouble enough as you say."

Luchessi nodded. Standing up, he walked away and pulled out his phone. He backed off into the distance to make the kill order.

This was how things were often done with Aurora. She may decide one thing, but sometimes those closest to her could change her opinion.

Many important nation-wide decisions including who lived and who died, were literally decided at tea time where the Mafia Queen felt at ease to finalise many of these decisions. On some days she was more whimsical than on others, her mood at tea time was of critical national importance.

Aurora took a small nibble out of the choice cookie. "Hmmmm..." she muttered. "Sublime."

She wrote down a few more names, then she passed the notepad to Mike.

"I think that's the list for today," she said. "You know what to do."

Mike nodded nervously. He stood up and walked away with the notepad in his hand. He was supposed to double check all the names and process it with an internal review group. And God forbid if they get a single name wrong, the last time it happened Mike had to pay very very dearly for it, his was NOT an enviable job. The Mafia Queen somehow always seemed to know and remember exactly what she wrote down, it was scary.

"Alright then," she said. "I think I'll sit in for a little while longer, the weather is so fine and dandy. Will you not try some of the Balhsen, Manson?"

"Thank you your highness."

Manson picked one of them up at once, it was bad form to turn down a request. He munched down on it.

The Mafia Queen was filled with just a slight bit of regret as she gazed into the gardens. The elderly Arthur Smith was such a good friend of the Mafia, how could his kid go so wrong.

Oh well... he's been asking for it... can't let it spoil the day

...

Later that afternoon, the order was passed down to Castellano who set up a strike team in short order and the rest is history.

[5pb]

Liliruca Styx

A woman, fairly young, wearing a black jacket that was far too big for her walked through the streets headed towards a diner. Her long pink hair loosely held by a strange and angular headset. She walked up to the diner and opened the door, looking around the place she saw a table filled with people talking. Her strange appearance compared to the others in this place would make her easily recognizable. She approached the people at the table as she adjusted her hair and made her face more visible.

"Sorry I'm late, is this the right group?" her voice was soft, somewhat relaxing but it was obvious that she didn't want to speak much more than a standard greeting.

[Kasa Tkoth Sphere]

New York City
Diner

"I... don't think we can end this by ourselves. I'm going to aim a little... smaller?"

Laura hesitantly put up one finger. "I need my sister safe," she said, deadly serious.

And then, after a moment in thought, one more. "I need to get people talking. Revolutions suck, but living in fear and not knowing you can fight back... oh, it has to be worse."

She took a break to look through her backpack, being careful not to worry the customers at adjacent tables by exposing the barrel of her one remaining disassembled rifle - a big one at that, a fifty-caliber anti-materiel thing that might well have scared the police rather than just the passersby. Instead, the only thing she pulled out was a sandwich she'd picked up elsewhere; buying something here in the midst of a critical meeting was obviously too rude, though eating during a discussion didn't cross her mind as being anywhere near as unacceptable.

She wished she could go home and sort things out, organize her equipment and contact whoever she knew right off the bat. Of course, none of that was on the table, given the state of her house and the almost certain taps that were watching her calls... plus who knew how many additional punitive raids that might show up later to try to catch the house's sole inhabitant if she happened to be there.

"...oh, and I need a place to crash for a bit," Laura mumbled with her mouth full, rolling her eyes and holding up three fingers. She looked terribly frustrated with herself.

[Greater vakolicci haven]

Ander Kallden

"Oh wasn't I clear enough in my corispondence?" Ander's eyes twinkled as he spoke, his fingers tapping on the side of his coffee cup. "This is, as they say, the big one, ladies and gentlemen. I don't plan small, our aim is to take it all. Footsoldier to queen, but most hopefully queen." A low laugh came from his throat before he turned to Laura.

"Did something happen to your home?" he asked her quietly, "I have places to stay, as well as stores of equipment. You just need to tell me what you need, and unless it's something I can't get access to at all you'll have it."

[Infected Mushroom]

Tom Gabriels

Gabriels was very intrigued by Kalden. Taking on the entire Mafia, going so far as to gun for the powerful Queen... the Founding Fathers would be proud. This is a second American Revolution in the making, it had potential.

“I agree that we should aim as high as we can,” Tom said to Kalden. “No point going at it if we’re not aiming for completion. I expect we’re all handpicked for our skills. Name’s Tom Gabriels. I was in the US Army Special Forces. What units did you serve with?”

[Greater vakolicci haven]

Ander

"I have never served in the military," Ander told him, his voice turning sharp and curt, "I don't believe in killing for no reason. Your commanders do. I kill only those who require it."

He magnified part of his screen, laying it out. "Our first mission," he informed the group, "3 Mafia captains, farely small fries as captains go, but heartless bastards. 3 captains, 3 nights. All 3 of them require killing, and so we're going to do it; average security around them, should not be a problem but should send a message. Everybody up for it?"