Nights on the Maltese

[Blue56]

Hal listened and nodded along as Carmen ran through the admittedly short list of jobs she had for today, interrupted briefly by Rose picking up a job of her own. She cast an inquisitive look Carmen's way, wondering just what sort of person Rose would be better off just leaving behind, but didn't outright ask as Carmen wasn't one to badmouth family members and Hal didn't want to push her to do so openly. If Rose couldn't handle some two bit thugs anyway, then obviously Hal had overestimated her.

Their tasks outlined, Hal flashes Carmen a grin as they made their way out to her car. "What kind of moron tries to rip off the Alfonsi's and what sort of lesson will they be learning today?" She asks with a chuckle, aware of the irony of her words but ignoring it regardless. "Boring suits me better than dangerous, and I'll be getting plenty of dangerous here soon enough." Hal's grin fades a bit as she says this, but she leaves it at that, not knowing how much Carmen knew about their meeting and upcoming trip to Saudi Arabia. "Wouldn't mind catching a movie if there's anything good playing. Be nice to grab a drink someplace too..." It had been a long time since Hal had found time to watch any movies, what time she didn't spend working she was usually either sleeping or drinking these days.

Once in the parking lot, Hal leads Carmen to her car. It was small, but that just meant fuel efficient to Hal who usually rode alone anyway, and it had always gotten her where she needed to go. She unlocks the door for Carmen before climbing in the driver seat, tossing her briefcase in the back seat. "Just point me in the right direction and I'll get us there. Where to first?"

[lilbooth]

On the drive towards their destination, Olivia laid out the basics of her plan. Charm their way inside, determine if they have a real fighting force or any other valuable assets. FInd their leader, see if they could be turned or need to be eliminated. The family wanted the sisterhood evicted, but if they could be used to assist the Alfonsi, then why not have them stay? They were already established and likely had decent revenue coming in. If Olivia could foster an agreement then perhaps she would have a handful of new employees.

"Follow my lead." Said Olivia as she exited and retrieved her breakfast basket out of the back. She took a moment to adjust her clothes, showing off as much as possible. She clutched the basket to her chest just below her breasts. Her whole plan revolved around the idea that all these sisterhood cult members were at least a little gay. She hoped they were very gay, but she'd manage to have her fun either way. With her attire and peace offering ready she walked towards the guards. "Good morning ladies! I come bearing gifts!" She said as she drew closer. She would stop at the first sign of unease or, once she was about an arm's length away. Whichever came first.

[exalted]

Jenny rolled her eyes as she checked the message and downloaded the data packet to her holo containing the security details. The Bentley's would be dumb enough to hide out in Byre, she sighed as the elevator roll on down, though she guessed it would be the last place the cops checked for the buggers.

Walking back to her car, she mentally planned her route out to Byre and to swing by her dead drop for the munitions. She decided she would try to play it straight at first. She was just a legal, law abiding business owner driving out to an industrial park on business. Sure, she might be on the radar of the few flesh cops around but to a camera lens and facial recognition AI she was just another struggling grease monkey.

Of course driving around the place might only get her so far, particularly if the prats had gone to ground. Then she might need to get creative on foot and play hide and seek with the cameras.

[MiscChaos]

Ali considers trying to snap more pictures, but two is probably already pushing her luck beyond all reasonable limits. She'll take risks a lot, but none as stupid as blatantly snapping pictures of a crime boss's lair. With that done, figuring out where to meet up with Nea is probably the best move. And when she gets the location she wastes no time making her way to it. The car ride is long and boring with her tuning out the driver, so she's got plenty of time to think. She's not sure what her mom was expecting, giving her this assignment. It'd be better placed in the hands of someone who actually knows K.K. so they can tell the so-called irregularities that Nea is looking for. Ali's never met K.K. in her damn life, so how the hell is she supposed to know what to take pictures of? What constitutes suspicious behavior? For all she knows, K.K. was supposed to be a nymphomaniac and it was weird that she wasn't masturbating hardcore or ordering them into an orgy for her viewing pleasure/participation. For all she knows, the woman's into beasts and the fact she wasn't surrounded by lion and tiger and bear studs was out of character. She just didn't have enough information and she doubts the pictures she snapped will solve Nea's doubts any. In the end, she just has to sigh. Her mother doesn't do things without a reason, so she'll have to trust that there was more to the decision than "Well, Ali's about to meet K.K., so she'll do".

Her thoughts are cut short when the diner comes into sight. Well, she supposes it's nice to know it hasn't changed a bit over the years. It's so similar it's like walking into a memory. She can remember beating up the owner's... son? grandson? Anyway, she beat him up because his naivety annoyed her. He actually thought the world was a decent place and tried to force that ideology on her because he had a silly crush on her or whatever. But that was around the time Nea was working with her so that she didn't murder everyone who annoyed her too greatly so while she kicked the crap out of him, he lived to learn from his mistake. As she steps into the building and old man Ted fails to recognize her, she has to wonder just how many girls beat Issac's ass up to this point that she's not memorable anymore. Or maybe getting beaten up is his kink now... well, it's not her problem either way. Her only problem is locating her mom, which isn't that difficult seeing as they've used the same booth since the first day she came here. Towards the back with her back to the wall and the near entirety of the diner visible to her, it's perfect for the paranoid mobster. Makes sense that she refuses to give it up.

"Hey, Mom. Sorry I'm late, but the meeting went a little longer than planned. Here's your camera back, by the way. I didn't take too many interesting pictures, but maybe you'll enjoy them more than me." She says as she slides into the booth. Given they're in public, she doesn't want to say anything sensitive, but what she's already said is innocent enough giving the highlights. "Speaking of work, the office gave me an assignment way in the middle of nowhere! I mean, Saudi Arabia, really? Place is a shit hole since Thule Island became what it is. Anyway, that favor you asked of me's gonna be a bit harder since I'll be so far gone." That's pretty much all the info she has, she thinks. Well, she supposes Nea's gonna want to know what K.K. was like, but since she doesn't know what her mom is looking for, she'll let the questions guide her responses.

[Mark3000]

"Always Hun. And don't worry, I swing both ways" Henrietta said as she entered Olivia's Mercedes. Listening to Olivia's plan, she nodded. It seemed as though the two of them were on the same wavelength this time. If she was lucky, Henrietta might even stumble upon a new item to sell in own endeavors.

Once they arrived, the Madam let Olivia take the lead. Unlike her though, Henrietta's attire was made to impress from the get go. She didn't try and step on Olivia's introduction, too many cooks and all that jazz. But she did work her magic behind the scenes. With her curves exposed, she gave the two guards a seductive look. The kind that just screams Come hither".

[Littlemankitten]

Aesha nodded at Greorgius's words and thanked him, before walking to the elevator and checking the holophone as the elevator took them to the lowest floors. She made a note on her holophone about the address and name of the drug before closing it and waiting for the door to open, trying to ignore that irritating music. Once the door opened, she sighs and looks around the all-to familiar room. Aesha was no stranger to the black market, though there was always at least someone she didn't recognize. Such as the old man who waved them over who seemed to have goods for sale. With a shrug, Aesha walked over to him to check his wares.

Spoiler (click to show/hide):

To save time she'll purchase 2 normal ammo, a grenade, and a medium port-o-cover

[RandomRoninKitten]

Raelia was lost in anti-thought for the duration of their encounter with Georgius, and the elevator ride to the lowest floor. She neither notices Aesha messing with her holophone, nor what she does with it. She figured, as usual, she would just follow Aesha around until she needs to do stuff, like shooting people in the face, it's pretty much the only thing she's good at.

When the two of them go over to the old man, she finally breaks out of her trance-like state of having anti-thought, then quickly moves over to him, whispering "Hey, you got anything for warding off mole people? If not, you should, they're eeeverywhere!", her eyes shifting from side to side as she whispers to him, looking for any potential mole people.

[mrblah]

Blue56

Spoiler (click to show/hide):

"Um," Carmen briefly opened up her holo to view the mission details. She deactivated it once she finished, then replied, "We're closer to one of the scammers' houses, so let's pay him a visit first. He lives on 23 Stenton Street in Wickerfield. Apparently, he's got a really nice house..." The devious little smirk on the young woman's face implied that this wouldn't be the case for long.

With their destination provided, Hal took to the road. Her car passed through the somewhat dirty and older streets of the Belmont, but as they neared the edge of the district, their scenery changed. Wickerfield was a much cleaner district overall, with more modern designs for their roads and houses powered by renewable energies and geo-advanced greenery. It'd become even more so just recently after Edina Mannings became the new mayor.

"I want to create a cleaner, safer future for us in Matera. A future befitting of New America's crowned jewel! A future made using more renewable energy and the furthering of geo-technology!" Oh. Carmen had been messing with the radio, and it seemed she'd arrived to a channel with their recently elected mayor giving a speech. "The topic of how we power our homes has never been a clean one. Power plants are rough and dirty; simple relics of the past! As of now, our efficiency with powering this city are limited by our current means. Your tax dollars are being wasted to use archaic energy-wasting power plants that are ruining the environment with every passing second, guaranteeing a harder future for your children's children's children. With technology as it is now, this is a problem we can easily fix if—" Edina's speech was suddenly cut off by electronic dance music. Carmen had changed the channel again. "It's way too early for politics."

Hal's car was soon passing through the road of Stenton Street. The houses were all quite modern and sleek, as was typical of Wickerfield, with not a bit of dirtiness in sight. Carmen pointed out one of the houses during their drive. No one was home. "He should be getting out of work around now. Let's go in and give him a surprise, shall we?"

CondorBoH

Spoiler (click to show/hide):

"Murdering dumbasses??" Charli grinned widely at Rosella in excitement. "You mean I get to torch people? Real, live people? And I won't get in trouble for it?? ... Well, I guess I can make some time in my busy schedule for you!" The pyromaniac tried to play it cool, but her terrible act couldn't even hide her eye-to-eye grin. She reached down under the table and pulled out... her whole entire flamethrower. How'd she get that in here, for one, and why is she just lugging it out in public for everyone to see?! "Let's go, uh... you! We've a job to do!" With that said, Charli calmly headed out of the room, carrying her large flamethrower behind her back with lazy effort, oblivious to the many who watched her in shock and confusion. Well, now she knows what Carmen meant.

Soon after the duo's departure of the bar, they got in Rosella's car and took off to the road. Rose had checked her holo before they left to know where they were going, and was glad to know it wasn't too far. Being in the same car as Charli was annoying. The pyromaniac had been burning Twix bars with a lighter and eating the melted candies, and when she was told to stop, she started burning Snickers instead. Rosella didn't know where she was getting all the damn chocolates from, but she refused to totally give up on her shenanigans, forcing them to reach a compromise that allowed her to burn lollipop sticks. She'd offered some melting candies to Rose.

Rose was soon pulling up to the parking lot of the apartment complex in question. Already, she could see some of her targets hanging around, and they saw her. She could tell they were pretending to haven't noticed, with two stationary guards chilling at the open gate she was passing through and a few others lollygagging in other places, all doing other things but shooting glances at her car. One guy by a tree had actually dropped all pretenses of subtly and was outright glaring at her as she parked. Yeah, they were lacking in experience alright. "I count 6 of 'em. 2 at the entrance, 1 in that bush over there, 1 on the railings and two 'talking' at the door... who's going for who?" Charli was grinning widely and had her flamethrower out. Even she, dumb as she was, could clearly see the obvious tells that these thugs were enemies.

[The Message]

Recipient: Rosella Alfonsi
Sender: ??
Subject:

This gang's a new one that's only been recently formed. They've pulled off a few jobs and they have a few members, but they're not more than your typical group of upstarts. Their only calling card is that they somehow got their hands on some interesting equipment, but they're still green. None of those thugs would know how to properly use it. They're currently located in the old remains of Longwood Heights. Head there and deal with them.

Your tasks;
Break down this greenhorn gang.
Recover their equipment and send it to R&D.

You will be paid ₡600 the moment the job's completion is confirmed. Thank you for your cooperation. This message will automatically delete itself upon the closing of this tab.

lilbooth and Mark3000

Spoiler (click to show/hide):

Charisma contest; Olivia = 17, Henrietta = 19, VS Sisterhood Guard A = 16, Sisterhood Guard B = 13.]

The identical guards both halted Olivia's approach with a raised hand, stopping her a few feet away from her intended position. Still, they hadn't stopped her from speaking nor from presenting her offer, so Olivia was able to complete her ruse, though it was hard to tell if they were falling for it due to their large hoods obscuring the upper half of their faces. "..." One of the guards knocked on the metal plate that served as the door to the building, and it was opened mere seconds later. Beyond the doors, the two Alfonsi women could see the inside of Big Sleep. It was emptier now; its new inhabitants had likely saw fit to toss out the old junk. There were many more Sisters wearing the same garb assembled in the room, standing before a stage that had a podium on top. A differently dressed woman stood behind it.

They looked to have been in the middle of something before the doors opened. The more elaborately dressed half-masked woman seemed to have been reading from a large book on the podium. "Do we have guests?" She spoke up, her voice sounding toneless and smoky. Even from the other side of the room, Olivia and Henrietta could hear her well as if she was speaking right in front of them. "Well, this was expected. I'm well aware of who owned this location last. Please give me a moment." The woman descended from the stage, making her way to the two of them at the door. The crowd of Sisters parted as she moved in a way so natural it seemed practiced. Finally, she came to a stop just at the door, and smiled at the two. "It is a great honor to meet the both of you. My name is Theresa, Priestess of the Sisterhood. I hope my guards gave you no trouble?"

MiscChaos

Spoiler (click to show/hide):

"I'm sure anything you took will be helpful regardless, Ali. Thank you." Nea took the camera and placed it aside. As old as it was, its photos couldn't be checked until they were developed. She'd have to do so later. When Alisaie brought up her mission to Thule Island, her mother cocked an eyebrow with a surprised look. "Saudi Arabia? What could you possibly... no, we'll talk about that later. I suppose there's little we can do if work's dragging you out there." For the same reasons Ali had, Nea must've also decided to not talk so directly in the restaurant.

Nea frowned with a thoughtful look as she considered the information, looking none too pleased to hear said information. She didn't like the idea of her daughter being sent so far from home. After her brief mulling, the older woman shook her head and smiled at Ali. "Let's just have lunch for now. I'd hate to talk on an empty stomach, and it's been too long since we've had any time to spend together. You're not busy, are you?" Nea didn't wait for a reply and waved over Teddy Broussard. The short man hopped off a stepping stool he stood on and was coming over to them. "I hope they still have that chickpea sunflower sandwich. It was simply divine all those years back. What are you going to get?"

exalted

Spoiler (click to show/hide):

With her plans done and her key in the ignition, Jenny pulled out of the parking lot and took to the road. She took a detour on her way to Byre to pick up her purchased goods, then continued on to the walls of the city. Said walls were large, tall enough to defend against a giant, with hard metal plating that could resist any bit of damage and sleekness that could prevent any climbing. Jenny drove alongside the walls a fair bit, keeping her eyes out for anything suspicious... and finding little to nothing. It was both strange and expected that she wouldn't find anything helpful. Byre was protected like a fortress to prevent any tampering with the city's power. It's still a wonder how the Bentley brothers get in and out without alerting security AND managing to stay hidden for 3 days...

Unless they're using legitimate means. It seemed like a stretch, but they do have some influential connections that they could use. If that were the case, then Jenny had no chance of copying their means of entry, not without a lot of paperwork and forged documents. It'd take too long to procure those and would be who knows how costly. This mission already seemed impossible... but, just as she had that thought, Jenny spotted something. She couldn't fully identify it—it looked like a shadow sinking into a dark alley, fading between the buildings and out of sight. Maybe that could have been one of her marks? Could she truly have been so lucky?

She had to pull up nearby and rush over to chase it, only to find nothing as she turned the corner. Jenny continued to walk further into the alleyway, at the ready to prevent anything not preferable from happening. She passed a dumpster, and saw a manhole covering left open. Jenny looked closer to investigate—

"Well, well, well... is this an intruder in my home?" She had to quickly spin around as she was surprised, only to find what looked to be a homeless man. He grinned at her, holding his hands up in a placating gesture. "Hold, now. I didn't mean to startle ya. Let's just talk this out, lady. I think we can help one another, yeah?" He hiccuped. And judging by his flushed face and how he was wavering, the man was drunk. "If my eyes didn't deceive me, you've been suspiciously drivin' around near Byre's wall looking around. Methinks you're either searching for someone, or a way in..." He gave her a sly look and a wink.

Littlemankitten and RandomRoninKitten

Spoiler (click to show/hide):

The strange man smiled as they approached, and conducted business with that same genial smile. "Those're some high grade goods you've got. Just remember who sold 'em to ya." He nodded to Aesha. When Raelia begun her usual insane antics, the man merely shook his head with a chuckle. "Mole people, eh? Hm... I think I've got something for them." The merchant turned to his bag and ruffled through it, then he pulled out a small star-like device with a metal light on the top. He pushed it, and the star broke into flying miniature machines that floated around his hand. "This here's a reeeeal rare shield. 's called a X2-Nano Reflect, top grade experimental stuff. It's decently durable, but its calling points come from its built-in VI and its ability to repair itself. Guarantee it'd protect you from any mean ole' mole people, kid, and maybe a few dozen bullets." He pressed the button again, recalling the nanomachines and handing the star to Raelia. "You know how it works. Power it on, clip it to your belt, let it load its protective field and all. The VI's activation code is 'X92D440', so just say that once and it'll be on forever. And, tell ya what, I'll even throw in a 5% discount since you made me laugh."

After the transaction was complete, the man sat back in his chair. "Thank ya for the business, young ladies. Be careful out there... hehe." The two got on their way, their business done. They still had a job to do and had to do it by nightfall. The elevator ride up to ground floor was short, and soon, Aesha and Raelia were loading into Aesha's car and driving off to their destination.

Their destination took them through Candytown, the veritable red light district of Matera. It was a more lawless and crime-ridden district that was so owned by the criminal world that its name had been changed to 'Candytown,' named after its very profitable business of prostitution and debauchery. Aesha drove by several other clubs and whorehouses on the way to their destination, seeing little of the district's common activity due to the time of day. Candytown really came alive at night. That's when you could find prostitutes walking the streets, drunk businessmen stumbling out of casinos and the like, and gangsters patrolling around or beating up people for their money. It slept during the day.

Soon enough, they were coming up to The Asphalt Jungle. It was yet another crazy club in Candytown whose clientele was mostly the young and dumb. Drunk and/or high party-lovers took to the dance floor in skimpy clothing to dance to generic EDM while the DJ on stage hopped around like they were just as hopped up on drugs, and they likely would be. The place was unique in that it always seemed full of life and active, and even now, Aesha could see that they were in business. The parking lot was mostly full of cars, some expensive and others not so much. It seemed likely that they could at least garner some clues about the behavior of their targets if their would be so many people, if said targets weren't present.

Aesha parked at a spot of her choosing in the parking lot. Now, the two would just have to head into the club. A bouncer was at the backdoor, no doubt keeping the place secure and asking those entering for their ID and the like.

[lilbooth]

"Ya nice to meet ya Ms. Tharesa. Your guards were no trouble at all." She said as she gave the closest hooded figure a prompt slap on the rear. "Taking that you know why we are here I'd like to get down to business. You are squatting on Alfonsi turf and the bosses want you guys out. I, on the other hand, would prefer to not evict you, fine ladies. Some of you are quite fine indeed." She said the last bit under her breath as she looked around the room. "So, I'm here as a peace offering and i've got this quite undersized basket of muffins and bagels. If you'd like to go somewhere private to talk shop as to not interrupt the uhh.. sermon." She said gesturing stage left.

[RandomRoninKitten]

Spoiler (click to show/hide):

Littlemankitten and RandomRoninKitten
[spoiler]The strange man smiled as they approached, and conducted business with that same genial smile. "Those're some high grade goods you've got. Just remember who sold 'em to ya." He nodded to Aesha. When Raelia begun her usual insane antics, the man merely shook his head with a chuckle. "Mole people, eh? Hm... I think I've got something for them." The merchant turned to his bag and ruffled through it, then he pulled out a small star-like device with a metal light on the top. He pushed it, and the star broke into flying miniature machines that floated around his hand. "This here's a reeeeal rare shield. 's called a X2-Nano Reflect, top grade experimental stuff. It's decently durable, but its calling points come from its built-in VI and its ability to repair itself. Guarantee it'd protect you from any mean ole' mole people, kid, and maybe a few dozen bullets." He pressed the button again, recalling the nanomachines and handing the star to Raelia. "You know how it works. Power it on, clip it to your belt, let it load its protective field and all. The VI's activation code is 'X92D440', so just say that once and it'll be on forever. And, tell ya what, I'll even throw in a 5% discount since you made me laugh."

After the transaction was complete, the man sat back in his chair. "Thank ya for the business, young ladies. Be careful out there... hehe." The two got on their way, their business done. They still had a job to do and had to do it by nightfall. The elevator ride up to ground floor was short, and soon, Aesha and Raelia were loading into Aesha's car and driving off to their destination.

Their destination took them through Candytown, the veritable red light district of Matera. It was a more lawless and crime-ridden district that was so owned by the criminal world that its name had been changed to 'Candytown,' named after its very profitable business of prostitution and debauchery. Aesha drove by several other clubs and whorehouses on the way to their destination, seeing little of the district's common activity due to the time of day. Candytown really came alive at night. That's when you could find prostitutes walking the streets, drunk businessmen stumbling out of casinos and the like, and gangsters patrolling around or beating up people for their money. It slept during the day.

Soon enough, they were coming up to The Asphalt Jungle. It was yet another crazy club in Candytown whose clientele was mostly the young and dumb. Drunk and/or high party-lovers took to the dance floor in skimpy clothing to dance to generic EDM while the DJ on stage hopped around like they were just as hopped up on drugs, and they likely would be. The place was unique in that it always seemed full of life and active, and even now, Aesha could see that they were in business. The parking lot was mostly full of cars, some expensive and others not so much. It seemed likely that they could at least garner some clues about the behavior of their targets if their would be so many people, if said targets weren't present.

Aesha parked at a spot of her choosing in the parking lot. Now, the two would just have to head into the club. A bouncer was at the backdoor, no doubt keeping the place secure and asking those entering for their ID and the like.

She thanked the man and eagerly paid for the new shield, she loved shields, they made her feel even tougher, and allowed her to tank more bullets for Aesha when she needed it, since she preferred to be in front of her in dangerous situations. This shield was only made better by the fact that it was effective against the Mole People. Aesha may not believe in them, but not believing in something didn't make them less dangerous.

As soon as the two exited their vehicle, Raelia clipped on her X2-Nano Reflect, then gave VI the activation code, "X92D440", while looking around at the area. Now that she had the X2-Nano Reflect, she was no longer worried about the Mole People, they could no longer touch her, even without her Pillow Fort. This would make her future missions even easier. Once the VI was active, she turned to Aesha "Don't worry, I'll get us in." she said with a confident nod.

She made her way over to the Bouncer, leaning against the wall beside him, then spoke in a hushed tone, just loud enough for him to hear "Hey, I heard you have a mole people problem, I'm here to take care of it. You made sure that they have no idea that we're coming, right? You gotta be really careful, they're everywhere and have unnaturally good hearing, but poor eyesight." she said, nodding at the bouncer assuredly.

[exalted]

"So.... there's that," Jenny muttered to herself as she cruised around the area as she realised Byre was to an industrial park as a battleship was to man in rubber dingy with a bb gun.

Just how were the fuckers getting in and out of there, she wondered, did they have someone on the inside? No it couldn't be that, not with all the fuss the Bentley's were kicking it, anyone messing with this place wasn't going to jail if they didn't wind up in the grave, they'd probably end up in Thule...

GAH! Nope, new train of thought... and what was down that alley...

Parking, she quickly locked the car up and hustled down the alley, staring blankly at the open manhole... it couldn't be that simple right? Wait, it was the government, of course they could be that stupid.

She spun quickly as she heard the voice behind her, not bothering to reach for the revolver inside her jacket. If someone had the jump on her and hadn't started blasting it was probably as sign she didn't need it right away. She calmed herself as she saw it was just an old drunk, happy she had kept her jacket programmed as her shop uniform, even if someone else was watching her cover was still good.

"Well aint'cha a charmer?" she smiled, letting her old accent and mannerisms return, "Don' ya know not to come creepin' up on a woman yo ol' fool, not gentlemanly at all, don ya know? Lookin' fo some customers of mine I is, expecting a delivery of the finest white lightning, but the bleedin' fools gone and don' not given me the address. Supposin' you help me find 'em, might be a jar or two the shine in it for ya, boys by the name of Bentley, ya know 'em?"

[Blue56]

"23 Stenton Street, coming right up." Hal replies, nodding as she starts her car up and pulls out of the parking lot. Hal usually was cautious about driving around the speed limit as she absolutely hated unwanted attention from the cops, and today was no different since Carmen made is sound like they were in no hurry. Wickerfield wasn't a place she visited often, but she knew the way and found her way there relatively quickly. Such a nice neighborhood was the kind of place Hal would like to live some day, although definitely not in this city. Too many folks in Matera were out for her blood for there to be a happily ever after for Hal here. No, she'd keep laying low until she found her fortune someday.

Hal honestly hadn't been paying much attention to the radio until the mayor's voice came on all of a sudden. She glances down to see Carmen channel surfing, apparently not a fan of the jazz Hal usually played in the car. It was interesting to hear Mayor Edina talking about the environment when is seemed like the Maltese had been hot news lately. Not that Hal gets much of a chance to hear what else Edina has to say before the speech is replaced by some EDM. "Yeah...." Hal mutters in agreement with Carmen, having never paid much attention to politics. "As long as they stay out of our way, who cares what they prattle on about."

Seeing Carmen point out one very nice looking house in the sea of nice looking houses, Hal pulled over and parked on the street a short ways away, so as not to tip their target off that they were waiting for him. Before getting out, she took her guns out of her briefcase and tucked them inside her suit jacket, always hoping she wouldn't need to use them, but never trusting her luck enough. "Well, can't say I really get to do much of this sort of thing, so it'd probably be for the best if I followed your lead." Hal tells Carmen as they exit her car and approach the house in question.

[Littlemankitten]

Aesha thanked the merchant as well, giving him a small wave as she left for the garage, she was a bit jealous of Raelia's new toy, but she also knew it fit her better, she was the one often rushing headfirst into trouble after all. What she got wasn't all that bad either, so she wasn't to worried about it. As she made her way to her she briefly thought about giving Raliea her usual spiel of do's and dont's and what she expects of her and yada yada yada. The problem was Raelia very rarely listened, and often did her own thing once the fun started so she didn't bother. The drive to the Candytown district was as interesting as ever, the amount of druggies and drunks who forgot to turn on the self driving mode of their cars often made for some dubious choices in people's driving ethic. Aesha didn't use the self-driving mode herself, mostly cause it went to slow, was easily hacked, and had no idea how to deal with said druggies.

Once they finally made it to their destination Aesha parked in a empty part of the parking lock away from other cars as she usually does. Naturally, Raelia immediately jumped out the car and decided to do something dumb. With a frustrated sigh and a palm to her face she walked up to the bouncer and fished out her ID, a fake one that she uses on outings like this that way her real identity can't be traced back in the future. "Inside joke." She stated flatly to the bouncer who was most certainly wondering what the hell Raelia was talking about.

[CondorBoH]

This trip was a nightmare, to the point that Rosella was hoping she would get shot at the end of it. Worst part of it all was that she had to admit, cooked/mostly melted snickers bars were actually pretty good tasting. The fact that the pyromaniac was right about anything turned her mood sour. At the very least, she was going to be useful here, judging by how quickly she took count of their opponents. While her car wasn't exactly armoured, the windows were tinted so she felt safe gesturing and pointing. That said, Rose still spoke quietly.
"They'll probably freak out the moment they see you, but we can work with that. You go back and take the two at the entrance, torch 'em both fast, and I'll use a grenade on the two at the door. Smoke the one in the bushes and I'll shoot the one on the railings. Easy, right?"

It was going to be harder than that, but she wasn't one for plans anyway. The Alfonsi girls were outnumbered here, possibly outgunned, but nothing was more horrifying than a madwoman laughing as she burned your friends to a crisp.
"Whenever you're ready, kid."
With that, Rose prepped her 'Special and a grenade, opening the door of her car and getting ready to show some punks who ruled these streets.

[MiscChaos]

Ali doesn't bother to answer whether she's busy or not. She knows the answer doesn't really matter to Nea since the answer will be "You'll make time. Or else." And besides that, she doesn't remember when she was supposed to be shipped out anyways. She just knows it's not soon. Or at the very least she thinks it's not anytime soon. Shipping a bunch of people across the world on a mission to infiltrate the most secure prison on the planet on short notice doesn't seem like a bright idea to her. Some set up would be needed to not make it look suspicious as fuck and also make sure that a bunch of people in the gang going missing isn't noticed and taken advantage of. Still, what does she know? She's just a murderous grunt in the gang. But she's slipped away from the point. Point is, yes, she has time to kill with her Mom. "That sounds like it has entirely too little meat in it. Now a juicy Double Texas burger, that sounds like a meal." Ali's mouth is filling with drool just thinking about all that bacon and BBQ sauce. "But I'm sure your chickpea sandwich is fine too." She says with a smirk. She can wait a bit before they really get into what they need to talk about.

[Mark3000]

Henrietta had to admit, Theresa did have a certain appeal to her. It saved them a lot of explaining that she know the position they were in. Listening to Olivia, Henrietta started to cotton on to Olivia's plan. While she was tempted to leave the negotiations to her, the Madam knew that if things got hairy they'd have top have each other's back. Standing beside Olivia like her own personal arm candy, Henrietta would follow Olivia and Theresa if they decided to have their private meeting.

[mrblah]

lilbooth and Mark3000

Spoiler (click to show/hide):

The hooded guard jumped a bit in surprise, though she emitted no sound. Olivia felt eyes glaring at her from beneath the hood.

"I'm glad, and I am thankful for your mercy." Theresa spoke up with a serene smile, nodding to Olivia in her thanks. "Despite our... invasive tactics, we truly mean no harm. As you've said, however, it is best we hold this discussion in a more private area. Please, follow me to my quarters." The priestess turned to her gathered sisters and waved a hand. At the gesture, they broke apart to seemingly return to other tasks. Likely she was telling them they were pausing, or something or another. As they did, Theresa led Olivia and Henrietta further into the base.

Big Sleep had received some changes under its new leadership. Steel plate walls were propped up to make some smaller rooms here and there, and a few stages seem to be around other than the main one all the way in the back. It looked a bit more crowded and less open, but it remained mostly open all the way in the back where Theresa was preaching from. As noted before, it was far emptier with a great deal of the old furniture and junk probably thrown away, but in their place seemed to be a few pieces of religious memorabilia. There was a statue of some human-tentacle monster hybrid by the wall, an altar of sorts with a woman standing behind it and a glass ball on top, some decorated banners depicting an odd triangular symbol with an A in the middle... it was kind of creepy, but, guess that's to be expected of a cult?

Theresa led them into a small room formed by steel plate walls. It was all the way at the other end of Big Sleep, next to the stage she was preaching from. A small bed was in the corner, but the center of the room had a small table with three chairs—one on one side and two on the other. A small lamp was on a nightstand to the left, and a dresser was to the right below the bed. This must have been Theresa's temporary room. "Please, sit." She gestured to the two chairs at the table as she circled around to the single one. On the table were three teacups and a pitcher. She poured tea into the three teacups, with steam coming from the liquid. It was a particularly fancy pitcher too... a high-end one with one of those fancy swirly designs. Those could instantly brew tea at the push of a button.

"Now, we have much to discuss, yes? I suppose you two would like an explanation regarding our acquisition of your property, and maybe how we could pay you for allowing us to be here..." Theresa took her teacup and daintily brought it to her lips, sipping a bit from the liquid.

Blue56

Spoiler (click to show/hide):

"Really? I better set a good example for you then!" Carmen nodded to Hal with a smile, then took the lead towards the house. When they got to the door, she looked at it through narrowed eyes before she pulled out her purple Holophone, its holographic screen popping up before her. Carmen tapped away with a quick finger then held her Holophone up to the door, just as a green beam of light shot from the camera lens. The light widened to the full width of the door and slowly dragged down. When it finished, it beeped. "Wow... that's a basic security system. You'd think they'd invest more into their house safety." The bartender looked like she heard a funny joke.

Hal would know that Carmen had just used a hacker scanner app to scan the house's security systems. While not the best of the family, Carmen doubled as a hacker along with her other duties, and she was a bit better than average. Carmen got to work hacking into the security just after she recognized the lock; it didn't take her very long to make the red screen that signified the door as lock turn green. "Done!" She grabbed the doorknob and opened the door, stepping in with Hal. The inside of the house was well decorated with several potted plants and a few copies of classical artwork. They passed by some family pictures as they checked around the house. Honestly, all in all, it looked like your typical good family home. Carmen yawned from the kitchen. "We're gonna be waiting for a little bit before he comes home. I didn't know the guy had a family, buuuuut I'm betting the wife's at work and the kid's in school, so I think we're not gonna have any collateral hanging over our heads." She headed into the living room to watch TV while waiting for the scammer to come home.

Time passed... but not by much. They'd spent maybe 20 minutes waiting for him, before the two heard a car pulling into the driveway. Carmen lazily looked out the window to see it, then ducked her head back under the cover of the couch. She nodded silently to Hal. "Scammer. Let's surprise him." She mouthed the words with a devious smirk, pulling out a laser pistol and ticking down the time. "Go around to meet him. I'll duck behind to door. Keep him from running." The door unlocked, and someone walked in. They continued past the living room to the kitchen. Hal heard the sound of a plastic bag full of cans hitting a hard surface, and heard the man sigh as he opened his refrigerator.

CondorBoH

Spoiler (click to show/hide):

"Uh... yup!" Charli nodded exuberantly in reply, looking as if that simple plan was going to knock out of her head the moment the actual action starts. "So... we're doing this then? Count of three? 3 2 1, go! That sort of thing?" At least she was waiting on Rose's call and not charging off herself.

"Count of 3, sure thing."
For Charli's sake, Rose went along with the count of three thing before stepping out of the car. It was immediately apparent to anyone watching that she meant business. But she had undeniably made a mistake in underestimating this 'Rat Gang'. Sure they were green, but had enough experience to know a threat and act. So when she stepped out and brandished her gun, saying 'The Alfonsi say 'Hey'.' she had expected a response akin to fear instead of guns being levelled at her.

"LET'S SHOW THESE FOOLS WHO THEY'RE DEALING WITH!" One of the Rat Thugs shouted over Rosella as he quickly pulled his odd twin guns and leveled them at her. His fellows followed suit and advanced. Pretty soon, Charli and Rosella's position was lit up with gunfire. Their shields couldn't hold under the sustained fire, with Charli's breaking from the first burst of fire from the shouting Rat Thug, a stray bullet just darting past her unprotected arm. "Oh fuck!" She was peppered with other loads of rounds right after, putting her in a tight spot immediately after stepping out of the vehicle.

Her shield gave her enough time to see how her enemies were moving about the place. Seeing two of them close enough, Rose pulled the pin of her grenade and lobbed it between their feet before rushing to the next car in the lot and ducking behind it. "Wait. Shit, Charli." An afterthought, Rosella looked back where she had came to see the pyromaniac still out there, shieldless now. Too late to grab her now, if she lived it would be a bonus now.

The two Rat Thugs she lobbed the grenade at were too slow to dodge in time. "Oh shi-" The grenade exploded right between them, throwing one far off and killing the other quick enough that he hadn't even had the time to scream. "KENNY!" The loud Rat Thug shouted in terror as his friend was grievously injured—his scream was only matched by the maniacal laughter of one excited Charli. "The plan's gone to heck, Rose! We gotta go WILD now!!" She charged the surviving Rat Thug, immediately setting him to flame with her flamethrower. He screamed out in pain as he burned, unable to do much to defend himself to the vicious flames.

But this still left her open to the other Rat Thugs. "YOU'LL PAY FOR THAT, BITCH!" Rat Thug Shouty charged Charli who apparently killed Kenny. He aimed his twin guns at her, and unloaded a burst of fire right to her turned back. The thug on the balcony joined the party of filling Charli with bullet holes. She screamed in pain and... a sick form of pleasure, as she was again peppered with fire. Rose wasn't given too much of a break as her partner was tag teamed, however. One of the cooler headed thugs advanced on her, firing a gun at her cover as he did. While the other tried to follow his ally and completely whiffed the stationary car. He tried to play it off and act like he was trying to snipe her or something.

Being distracted by being shot at and also hearing Charli on the verge of orgasm from masochistic pleasure made Rose write her off to deal with later, she's doing fine now. It'll all be ok. She fumbled with her shield, finding the right button to get it to overcharge and reactivate. When a spark of electricity and a faint blue light surrounded her she figured it worked. Probably.
Taking a breath, she leaned back over the cover and fired off a shot at the nearest Rat before ducking back behind the soon-to-be-wreck of a car. The satisfying sound of a shield breaking was her reward.
"Oooookay, Rose. Charli's gonna die and then you gotta deal with like five or six guys. Should be easy..." She muttered to herself, wincing as a bullet ricocheted close to her ear

Charli tries to muscle through the pain (she was in a lot of it), pulling up her flamethrower and glaring at the thug whose shield Rose broke with glee. "I'm- I'm going down, but... I wanna take YOU with me~!!" Charli laughed as she charged the thug, throwing her flamethrower's muzzle out to try and jab him as she unleashed a flurry of flame on... where he WAS. The loud shout gave him the time he needed to sidestep the attempt, and he spun to immediately kick her back. "GUH-" Charli fell to the ground, hitting her head and not getting up.

With her out of the way, the other Rat Thugs unloaded onto the car, apparently too cocky too go around it and just figuring they might as well shoot through it. "You're only delaying the inevitable, la perra! Come out and we won't hurt you much!" The car was about to be turned to Swiss cheese. It wouldn't hold out for much longer

Rose leaned back out of cover to fire off another shot at the same Rat as before but the constant hail of bullets forced her back into cover with no success to her name.
"Fuck off, dickheads." She shouted back at them. They seemed to take insults to heart, so maybe they wouldn't stop shooting the car even after it stopped being cover. Maybe... they didn't seem to bright after all.

"Oh, I can show you a dickhead baby!" The talkative one laughed as the thugs continued to pepper the car without pause, eventually punching enough holes in it that a few bullets passed by to impact Rose's shield. There was no way it'd hold out any longer; it was probably about to blow any time now. "You come out, and we can talk this over! Only your friend has to die!"

An idea got in her head. A stupid one, but hey it was either that or continue this stall of a shoot out. She sighed, checking her ammo. Fuck it.
"Alright. Alright I'm coming out." She shouted back at the goons. Without waiting for a reply, Rose stepped out from what was left of her car. Then rushed the closest one. Fucking idiots, why walk closer to someone you were shooting? With barely a grunt of exertion, she used her strength to her advantage and hooked the closest one around the neck and turned him towards his allies. There was a brief pause, it looked like no one was ready to respond.
"Ah fuck it."
She raised her gun and shot the next closest one. These lot didn't seem like the type to want to trade hostages, so may as well use this poor sod as a shield.

"What the-" They'd lowered their guard when she announced her intent, and were already in the process of beginning to gloat their win when Rose charged one of them and grabbed hold of him. He tried to fight back the choke hold he was in, but Rosella was too strong. They paused, but started up again just as she shot one of them. "Now... the fuck's this supposed to accomplish, huh? You think we CARE about Tony? Tony's a fucking punk ass, bitch! We're tough. We don't care 'bout NOBODY!" Shouty McShouty pulled up his guns again and was trying, not so subtly, to aim past Rose's guard and pin her with a shot. He pushed down the trigger when he thought he had he shot—but Rose was ready. The body moved over to take the burst of fire, and her meat shield cried out as his shield broke and he was forced to soak in the fire. "La mierda, Tony!"

Unfortunately, or fortunately depending on your perspective, the thug on the balcony had a bit of better aim. He shot Rose in the shoulder, busting her shield and cutting into her flesh just a bit. It wasn't enough to make her lose her hold on poor Tony, unfortunately.

Being on either side of this wasn't pleasant for anyone involved, and Rose barely stifled a grunt of pain as her shield broke again. This could be dealt with after. Her current shield was doing his best to bleed all over her, and looking between the closest guy and the one on the balcony, well her choice was clear.
Well, clear to her. Right now it was adrenaline and bull-like focus on the nearest target. She sure as hell wasn't a tactician.
"Thanks Tony, you did your best." She brought the butt of her gun to his head and used it as leverage with her free hand to, as quickly as possible, snap poor poor Tony's neck. It was a rush job, but either way he's not getting up.
"Hope you have plently more coming, because at this rate I can take all of you on myself."
With that shout she rushed forward again, attempting to get a hold of the next guy. Slippery bastard was ahead of her game though!

Spanish swears came from the man as he jumped back, dodging Rose's attempted grab as he glared at her. "You'll pay for that, bitch!" He lifted his twin blasters at her once more, ready to light her up with more of its deadly gunfire. "EAT SHIT AND DIE!" He pressed the trigger... but nothing happened. The man checked his clip. "¡Maldito sea! Are you fucking serious? Damn weird guns..." He threw a hand up to the guy on the balcony. "Bautista! Go! We'll take her inside!" He didn't have to tell him twice. The man turned around and headed back in the complex, leaving the talkative one behind. "This isn't over... you come in and get blasted, bitch! See what happens!"

The Rat Thug turned tail and rushed for the door.

"Shit!" Rose stopped her charge and jumped back in a futile attempt to dodge the incoming hail of gunfire!
Which was... nothing. The fucker forgot how much ammo he had and made her freak out like that for nothing? God damn it. Non spanish swears came from her mouth as she rushed forward, gun at the ready, trying to beat this man to the door. But no, he was too fast for her.
Stepping back to survey the scene... all in all, it was probably worse than it looked. Probably should have thought of a plan. She didn't have long before more goons came out, or became way too prepared for her liking so...
Oh right, Charli. Better check if the psycho was still kicking.

She wasn't kicking, but she was definitely alive. She was covered in cuts and bullet holes and just generally pretty torn apart, but closer inspection would reveal her heart was still beating and she was still breathing. Maybe not for long if she didn't receive any immediate medical attention, though. Afterwards, Rose would have to decide how she'll take the rest of the mission. No doubt the remaining members of the Rat Gang were lying in wait for her to push past the door, and without a doubt they'd shower her position in gunshots the moment she and Charli pop up.

MiscChaos

Spoiler (click to show/hide):

"Well, you can have your big meaty foods and I'll enjoy my sandwich." Nea looked up (but not by very much) just as Teddy arrived to take their orders. The mother and daughter ordered, ate, talked about whatever, and generally had a good lunch.

They were just wrapping up now, with Nea literally wrapping up half of the chickpea sandwich to take on the road. "Alright, I suppose the fun's over and we gotta get back to business. Let's get going." She got up as Ali did the same, and they made for the exit, with Nea waving and giving a brief thanks to Teddy on the way out. Nea's car was parked in the family diner's small parking lot, standing out in all its glory compared to the rest of the ordinary scenery. She got in the driver's seat, with Ali in the passenger's. She pressed a few buttons on the command panel, locking the doors and revving up the engine, before she pulled out to hit the road. It wouldn't be a long drive to another public parking lot nearby. Somewhere secluded, with few searching eyes and prying ears. Safety precautions.

"... Okay. Here's good." Nea glanced over to Ali, muting the radio so that they could talk. "Tell me everything that happened. Don't leave out any details."

exalted

Spoiler (click to show/hide):

He perked an eyebrow at the offer as he looked off in thought. "Uh... well, y'know, people don't give me names often, lady. Usually just glares- glares and 'get a fuckin' job you deadbeat!'" The homeless man laughed uproariously, before a sudden coughing fit took him. He recovered a few seconds later. "... Anywho, I don't know any Bentleys, but I know some boys've been ducking in 'n out of Byre for a little? Hey, hey, I even know how they're doin' it if you're that determined and don't wanna wait!" He looked around conspiratorially, eyes shifting left and right, and he even checked behind himself. He found nothing alarming, and continued in a more serious tone. "But... you don't know nothin' about that, right? I didn't tell ya a damn thing if you go in there, lady. Y'haven't ever even seen me."

The man walked over to Jenny, then around her, to get to the manhole covering. "Hope ya don't have like a cleanliness thing, 'cause we gotta get dirty to get there." He spun around to climb down the ladder. Jenny would follow suit.

The hole in the floor had, obviously, lead to the sewer. Thankfully, Matera valued its maintenance workers and installed walkways with railings. They unfortunately couldn't do anything about the smell, so it was just about as unfortunate as you'd expect. "Don't touch nothin' less you're weird like that, lady!" The homeless man laughed, then stumbled and wavered down the path, leading Jenny through the sewers in the direction she knew Byre would be. But there's no way the sewer system would connect to Byre...

She would find it didn't... or at least, not naturally. The homeless man had led her to a 7' hole in the wall leading into darkness. It looked to have been artificially made, but still made very recently, with drill-like patterns in the metal and stone the hole broke through. "Now, I've got no fuckin' idea who did this why or how, but I know I've been seein' some boys heading down to these sewers, and I can't imagine why anyone would come down here other than for this." He gestured to it. "So, they're probably there. I've done my part, lady. Now..." He trailed off, looking to her expectantly. "If you wanted to go back on that deal, lady, I think we could cut another one that's uh... little more fun, eheh?"

Littlemankitten and RandomRoninKitten

Spoiler (click to show/hide):

The bouncer looked down at Raelia with a 'are you fucking stupid' look, then back to Aesha as she cleared up the misunderstanding and handed him her fake ID. "... Looks clear." He gave it back to her and opened the door. "Don't cause no trouble, or I'mma throw you right back out on your asses." Aesha and Raelia headed inside, though Aesha specifically couldn't shake a feeling that someone was staring at her ass...

The inside of The Asphalt Jungle was loud and bright. Casual club music played at top volume over the speakers, and people of varying ages danced on a brightly lit and flashing dance floor at the center of the room. There was a bar where a bartender was stationed at to the right of the door the two entered through, and tables to the sides of the dance floor. Ahead of them, they could see a raised platform where a blue-haired woman wearing a sparkly golden jacket and bike shorts stood behind a podium with music equipment on it—that was likely the DJ. There were two floors above them with more tables and chairs, and people chatted away, drinking and smoking and doing lines of who knew what.

Now that they were inside, they only had to find the bastards selling those Succubus Tears and deal with them... but how would they find them in this sea of people, with all these flashing lights and loud music?

[exalted]

As much as Jenny didn't want to admit it, the smell did take her mind to memories back home...

Shaking the thoughts off she examined the hole in the wall, happy that the government had used her tax dollars... well someone's tax dollars... on not leaving a giant glaring weakness in their fortified block design. That being said, this could only be a quick fix for the Bentleys, as soon as a sewer worker or bot spotted this it would be game over... if they were even still here.

"Don't suppose you seen dem boys today? Coming or going?" she asked, peering into the darkness of the hole to try and see what lay beyond.

Her mind focused on the Bentleys and the job of hand she lost track of the man behind her as bent low at the waist to stick her head in the hole, over balancing as she looked at floor, walls and ceiling to make sure nothing would jump out or drop on her from the front - not sparing a thought for her rear.

"What? You want to share a bottle or somethin'?" she muttered back to his mentioning of a deal change, still not really paying attention

[Blue56]

"Crime must be low in this part of town." Hal replies as Carmen mentions the lackluster security, surveying the neighborhood to make sure no one was watching and calling the cops on them while Carmen works on the door. "Or maybe he didn't steal enough from us and had to cheap out. Heh." She finishes, having been satisfied with what she had seen and turning back to watch Carmen. Hal knew her way around some of these security systems as well, sometimes she would have to hack in to things that she wanted to fix up and sell to reset the security so potential buyers could use them. Carmen was kind of a go to person for these sorts of things though, so Hal had problems leaving it to her.

Sure enough, Carmen makes short work of the door and the two step inside, Hal letting out a low whistle as she takes in the fancy decor and classic artwork. Yup, this guy had definitely cheaped out on his security. If Hal had stuff like this, her house would be locked up tight. As she looks around, her sales oriented mind was automatically putting price tags on everything and tallying up just how much she thought this place was worth, until she made it to the family photos. Hal's usually friendly expression fades into a scowl as her gaze falls upon the framed pictures. "Tch! What a fuckin loser." Her parents had been idiots for thinking that they could just ignore the mafia in this town, but this guy was on a whole other level. In this day and age, you can't honestly expect to steal from a big time mafia family while you've got a wife and kid of your own, and expect everything to turn out okay. And for what? A nice house and some pretty pictures? Being this stupid and reckless should be illegal.

Hal eventually joins Carmen in the living room, taking a seat on the couch next to her partner, though her attention was more focused on the window than whatever was on TV. Hal spotted the car first, and was quick to hide behind the couch, nodding along with Carmen's plan and drawing her shock gun. Quickly and quietly, she moves to the kitchen, staying out of sight for a few moments to let Carmen get into position before stepping out to meet their target. "Hey there pal, nice place you got here." Hal calls out in a friendly tone, directly contrasted by the gun she has trained on him. "If you want to keep it that way, keep those hands where I can see them and don't move unless I tell you to."

[CondorBoH]

Rose sighed, taking out a thing of nanocream and began to address Charli's wounds as best she could. This would at least ensure the little brat would live through this moment now, but what next. Looking around and gathering what she could from the bodies, the gangster had a general idea of what to do. They were going to fortify the entrance against her, and light the two of them up when they came through the door.
So what if they didn't go through the door.

The railing, that little overhang would do. There was a door one of the goons went through up there, so it was only a matter of getting up there.
She not-so-gently began to slap Charli awake.
"Hey, hey. Hot stuff. Wake up. How strong are you, like, physically? Think you could lift me up if I get you up there?"