Los Atrevido City

[zoeygirl]

The water faucet's knob spun off rather forcefully. Zaya stood still, her eyes darting into the sink as she listened carefully, somewhat startled by the voice.

It was the sound of something she hadn't recognized earlier. She recognized the owner of the voice but the tone...words....it slightly frightened even her. The brink of a madman...no a broken human being was something to fear....there was nothing holding them back absolutely nothing. It was worst then herself, she felt but didn't feel, theirs was beyond reasoning, alive but dead...

He'd lost everyone...and her Boss was the one responsable. He wanted to kill him...no that was too good. What Euro had planned was so much worst.

Now did that mean it was her job to protect her boss? Like the dog she was considered? Well, in all rights he hadn't called on her. She only did things when she was told. At the moment, she only knew of his true intentions....there were no orders.

To be honest, Zaya questioned succeeding. This was someone who had nothing to lose. The most dangerous type....But....were those dried tears?

It was like watching hell spit a dead soul up. She'd never encountered something like this and as Zaya walked out into the open room staring across to him even then she was unsure what to do, what words to say, what action to take. She had no idea what to do....draw her weapon and end his misery?

"You should sleep...exhaustion will overtake you soon."

Was the only thing said, though her hand close to her weapon sheerly out of her own safety. Still the broken window opened the world to her apartment, the smoke high billowing small clouds of smoke in the distance.

Was this what it felt like to feel pity for someone? She had no idea...Zaya wasn't sure what she was staring at, at the moment.

[Yachiru]

"Sleep.. only th' livin' sleep.."

He teetered, and fell to his side on that couch, head resting comfortably against the cushions as his eyes slanted, and then closed.

"I guess I really am alive, neh?" He whispered, as he drifted out of consciousness once again.

There was Cho. He was strung up by his throat, given just enough height for his toes to reach the ground and keep him from suffocating.. The wall he leaned against was covered in small blades, and each movement he made cut into his back, and his skull, and his legs and arms.

And Zachary stood there.. and took aim...

-

"Get in touch with the Columbians again. Tell them we're ready to do this right, and start the relations.. Tanaka may have been iffy on the drugs, but I'm not holding back from such a worthwhile investment."

"Right, Boss."

The man exited the room, and the sound of Cho's cackling echoed throughout his mansion halls.

[zoeygirl]

Right then....she expected just that. Now the question was to whether or not to call this in....Again she wasn't disobeying orders...there weren't any given. But she was harboring a now labeled enemy to the Yakuza organization and quite literally, as far as she knew, the last member of the Dirt Devil members. It was very clear to Zaya, she would be killed on the spot if this were known. She would be viewed as a traitor.

A wet nose nudged her hand and Zaya glanced down at the old canine. Some security dog he was....

She initially approached Euro, pulling the katana from her side. It remained in her hand curved outwards towards the man. Slowly it rose...higher and higher finally reaching the rack it was meant to reach as she hung up her weapon.

It was alright, she had a 20th century handmade sword under her bed mattress...just in case.

An empty expression, that seemed to be all she had clicking the lights off as Zaya proceeded to her own room, a bowl of dog food in her hand. Whatever Euro's intentions were, they would most certainly be fullfilled soon very soon. Vengence was a most certainly powerful tool.................

[OD Funk]

"White Bastard, No ones coming for you.. You're gonna rot here slowly, as I beat you day, after day.." The Japanese man, pulled out a small knife within seconds he had pushed it into Lex's stomach, not a big enough or deep enough wound to kill Lex, but it hurt like hell.

"FUCK YOU!" Lex screamed out, he was in agony.. he had been going through this for some time now, what a price to pay.

-

Meanwhile back at the 9, things where heating up, Lex's rescue mission was being prepared for.

"Chief!" a young cop shouted out, he ran into a biggish dark room, a small army of Specially trained police where stood there lined up, ready to hear the plan for capture and rescue.

"Yeh Tony?" The Chief asked, ruffeling his papers a little bit, a projector stood just infront of him, lighting a white screen, no doubt something to help the rescue briefing.

"I wanna come aswell! I may not be that well trained.. I may even be a newby! But Lex is like an older bro to me.." He was sad, Lex was the one who rescued Tony some years ago from a petty gang that roamed the 9, he was responsible for Tony being the person he is today.

"Sure thing Tony" The chief smiled, and continued with the briefing.

"Right! Men! We're not to sure where they're holding Lex, but info from the area with ourcontact shows He's in one of these buildings being held captive, in central Yakuza territory, we're aware of what he did, and that was killing Boss Tanaka, why.. we arent quite sure at his moment of time, but we think it has something to do with those escapies yesterday.." THe Men nodded, as the chief pointed out strike areas and hot spots and such.

"Squad 3 and 4, you'll attack from the back.. manouver through the sewers of the area, and come up here! This Sewer duct just behind the building, our intel shows this is the least gaurded area.. and you're the smaller teams! Make sure no scouts or gaurds give away our attack, and keep any resistence occupied!" THey Nodded, and walked out to get their weapons ready.

"Teams 1 and 2! You're going to assault the front! using armoured vehicles! Rpg, and heavy machinegun fire! Remember! your job is the toughest! and you guys have to keep the main bulk of the forces occupied!"


"NOW! Team 5! Your Job is the hardest! and most difficult! you're the retrieval team.. your job is to go in and collect Lex, we're aware he will have some protection, but hopefully not so much thanks to the diversions from both sides! Dismissed!" They all Nodded, and ran out asfast as they could, gearing up each team took what they needed, and had to use for the mission.

"I'll bring you back Lex.." Tony mumbled to himself, a M4, 4 light flash grenades, and one HE grenade would do it, he was on the retrieval team.

"LETS GO!" Each team moved out, 1 and 2 entered their armour trucks and vans and continued off to their destination, 3 and 4 where already in the sewers, the plan was underway.

"Tony.. Don't worry, we'll get him" a man placed his hand on the young mans shoulder, his face was unseeable due to the gas mask he had placed over it.

"I know.." Team 1, then ran into the awaiting armoured chopper, this was it.. the rescue was about to begin.

[Yachiru]

He was blinded. This stream of light attacked his retina without reprieve, but still he cut. He knew Cho was there, sitting there, waiting there.. His knives were digging into his skin, and he did everything he could to push them in farther. To rip into his flesh, and cut pieces of him off. He would toss chunks of him off to the side, where Pei was waiting, and the old mutt would chew away on them almost ravenously. But he wasn't ravenous. Zachary was ravenous. He plunged each of his blades into Cho's eyes before he was blinded again by the light.

He opened his eyes, squinting hard. The sunlight was reflecting off of the windowsill and beaming right onto his eyes.

He sat up. His head was pounding, but it was from stress - he knew that. The pain would pass the longer he was awake. This was Zaya's apartment.. His eyes scanned the room. It looked different than before - darker. He almost felt like there was a haze.

Euro slowly stood, and trudged to the window. The Zone was still smoke, and he realized that it had fallen over the edge of China Town, which is why it seemed so foggy.

"I was hopin' it was jus' a dream," he growled, before turning away from the sight.

His coat was lying at his feet, having dropped from its perch during the explosions. He leaned down, cracking a couple of bones in his back, and hefting the coat up to toss it over his shoulder.

Zaya wasn't in the room, perhaps she was asleep in her own room. He wouldn't wake her up, he had all ready involved her in something difficult.

He reached for the doorknob. There was a knock.

Euro took a step back and grit his teeth. His hands snuck down and slowly, carefully unsheathed the knives at his side.

[zoeygirl]

Dark brown eyes opened wide. She lay in bed, the opposite direction of course. A knock.....Zaya was quick to roll out of bed although slightly sleepy.

Quickly, as if wasting absolutely no time, Zaya entered the hallway her eyes first skimming onto Euro, she held no weapon in her hand.

Zaya realized that her mind had still processed some urge of closing her eyes even now upon her rude awakening. Zaya was naturally a light sleeper, but for good reason.

She stood in front of the door, her body turning to the side, keeping her attention to the man. He looked slightly woozy to her. Probably would do with a day's more rest but she supposed his health was his concern.

"Please put your knives away. It's not who you think" Zaya stated opening the door, her head still turned towards the man, noticing the direction of where his hand slipped to.

"Was maken sure that dog was bei-

The old woman practically coughed up a lung, a cigarette sticking out of her mouth. She blew a puff of smoke into Zaya's face absent mindedly, twisting and turning her neck to better see Euro.

"I see. Well I don't need to say anymore then. Was just checken missy."

Zaya's eyebrows raised slightly but she said nothing merely giving the woman a nod as gnarled, stocking legs worked their way back down the stairs agonizingly. Zaya watched for a minute, a slight bark coming from the room. It seemed Pei had already been up.

She turned around quietly, closing the door behind her, attention turning back to the knives. There was no hiding what he was going to do....

"Your plans?" Zaya asked curiously. How did he intend on dealing with the Yakuza? Obviously it seemed like a weight force precided on his shoulders, evident in his eyes that burned like dead, dying fire. Another oxymoron. She was keeping track....

[WhiteRabbit]

Originally Posted by Muskrat

She nodded. "Alright. So that's how you do that." She stood and went outside, pulling a piece of paper. It had only a phone number and her symbol on it, the standard pretty pony tattoo. Any gang banger would know that it was looking for work.

She heard a explosion and decided to jog.

Wonderful. The moment that he decided to look at his watch, Smithy disappeared.

"Outside probably." He muttered, getting up. This time he took more care in avoiding the people and looked around.

There. Jogging to boot. He sighed.

"What the hell are you up to Smithy?" Damian mumbled, walking after her. To be truthful, he was feeling lazy at the moment but he supposed that didn't matter. He quickly made his way to her, hearing an explosion but didn't react to it at all, unlike the crowd around him.

People had stopped and started moving against him, trying to get away as far as possible from the scene of the crime. It became so aggravating to have people bump and shove into him, he started to push people out of his way before they could make contact with him.

"Smithy!" He yelled, before muttering, "Damn girl."

[Hara]

Max put out his cigarette outside the door of one of the most fantastic houses he'd ever seen. The hedges shaped like animals, the line of grass perfectly straight from a lawnmower, the white siding. Who knew Tony had such domestic tastes.

Max knocked on the door twice and before he could knock the third, someone had answered the door. Tony backed up in his new wheelchair, to be used until his leg healed up.

"Max, its about time. Where have you been?" He asked, motioning him inside.

"Sort've been busy. Cops pinched me, had to escape...you know how it is. don't worry, I didn't even give 'em a name."

Tony nodded his head in approval.

They made it to Tony's den. He wheeled himself ahead and turned off the television. Whatever he had to say, it was important. max had heard him a million times screaming over the boobtube. It scared him a bit that whatever it was, it could be this important.

"Max, about the other night." tony had to pause, he obviously had never done this before "..thanks"

"No problem Mr. Piscarelli. Now, what's going on with trying to find that missing shipment?"

Tony seemed glad that Max hadn't dwelled on the thank you. He cleared his throat before beginning.

"We don't know nothin' Max. Not a damn thing. The only thing we have to go on is a witness. After pressuring her up, we found out she saw them going off towards the boulevard."

"Oh great." Max said.

Mafia boulevard was the biggest warzone in LA. the smaller families stayed in close proximity with The Russians, The Germans, Even the mexicans staked a piece of land there. And those were just the big ones. countless others start ups began and died at that place. A hell on earth, not Max's style.

"So then, we have contacts over there, I want you to go to this address and see if they have noticed more pushers out lately or anything...something."

Tony handed Max a card with the street and the number of the apartment building. He took it with discretion but took it all the same.

"Report straight to me, if anyone was in on it I don't want them to find out. ya hear me? Straight to me."

"Yeah, I got it Tony." Max loved taunting him. Although he seemed less irratable with all those painkillers in him.

"Just get to it. I have a meeting in a few hours."

Max left the man's house and got inside a car. A clean car in the legal sense. In the literal sense? Not so much. Beer cans and whiskey bottle adorned the inside like decorations. This was his car, no doubt about it.

"Gotta make another stop first." max got his engine started without that much trouble this time. It banged and smoke for a while until he started to move.

[Yachiru]

"I don't have any plans, lass.."

He was still on edge. His knuckles were white around the handles of his blades, and it seemed that the fingers would explode from the continuous pressure. Small veins laced his hands, pulsing with each pump of his quickly-beating heart, desperately calling for him to strike at.. anything.

"You tell me.. what do you fight with when you're not alive? Do you fight with th' callin's 'o your heart even when you can't feel it beatin' anymore? Do you fight with th' guidance 'o your brain even when you think 'o nothin'.. Or do you fight with your soul, while it paces across th' Earth, lookin' for it's final mission.."

The final sentence was a statement, not a question. Questions had been riddling his mind thoroughly, but he suddenly had it all swirling around in his head, conjoining and locking in to adjacent positionings with parallel intent.

"There's nothin' in me.. nothin' other than everythin'."

He laughed, nearly maniacally. For a moment he dropped to a knee, clutching his own stomach to quell the pain of laughter in the midst of depression.

"I've literally got nothin' left, lass. I've got nothin', but I'm still walkin' and talkin' like a lil 'ol puppet, and me strings have snapped."

He shook his head, still chuckling softly under his breath as he stood straight and cracked his back.

"This is what I'm to do.."

He turned his back to her and approached the window, no longer viewing the sight of the burning Dead Zone as a strike to his mentality, but rather as a rush of oxygen overtop of a raging fire. His existence was aflame, and growing in intensity and purpose. He would consume everything around him, until there was nothing left.

"I'm goin' to walk up to Cho.. an' I'm goin' to cut 'is eyes out," he stated matter-of-factly. He didn't so much say it as truly express it. It wasn't just an idea, or a purpose, or a goal - it was him.

Those knives were finally sheathed and his arms wrapped tightly around his body. He hugged himself so incredibly tightly, savoring the feel of his own hands as the hands of his friends. Perhaps he was crazy now, or perhaps he was just.. alive. Alive in the depths of death.

"What about you, lass? What's there left for you?"

He titled his head, peering back at her. His eyes were no longer rippled with the constant approach of tears, but rather were dry and keen. They were sharp like his blades, and they cut into her as if tangible and hungry. Even so, there was that deep sparkle that glistened in his orbs - the glowing sparkle of an assassin truly aware of the truth of his occupation.

[zoeygirl]

What was it that made responding to questions so difficult? She felt uncomfortable watching him break down, recover and start again. As stiff as she had been raised, Zaya's eyes redirected towards the shattered window, looking away from that icy gaze.

She blinked, silently standing there for what seemed like forever. What was it, that made this seem so...familar? His maniac laugh sent the same feeling down her spine as when she stared into the blank eyes of a dead soul, only after momentarily ramming cold steel through their heart. It was a feeling she had deemed bitter.

Pei managed to find his way to the living room, boredly looking for a friendly pat on the head, a treat, or just attention. As if analyzing the distance in his head, it had seemed Euro was the closest figure. Pei ignored the glassy shards on the floor, stepping over them, a smile on his face, a pink tongue hanging slightly out as he neared the man. The old dog would walk over hot coal if it meant just the slightest bit of companionship, of joy, or something like it. Maybe the mutt was simply trying desperately to make up for the lost puppyhood he had never experienced.

As if sensing the strange change in the man, Pei lied down at Euro's feet, whined quietly, his head between two burly paws, a rhythmic tapping of the tail hungrily beating the ground like a broom. Zaya glanced at the canine.

"That would mean there was something there to begin with." She stated simply, keeping her eyes where they were.

"It's not my place to offer you my opinion...particularly in such events but perhaps you should appreciate having lived. Is it not better to have something once then to never have it before?" Zaya asked watching the tail move up and down. She wasn't sure how it tied in, it just seemed to come out.

It was like the ecctasy of a rattlesnakes venom pumping through her veins, a memory of a poem once recited to her by an old man...writeen by Marilyn...yes that was the author.....where had she seen that old man? It cozied in the back of her mind without her knowledge but she saw that poem in a physical form before her....

Somewhere in the night a child cries,
A woman weeps and someone dies.
Somewhere in the night, humanity hides.

Somewhere in the night, a soul screams,
As people fade and die, lost in dreams.
Somewhere in the night, reality lives.

Somewhere in the night loneliness dwells,
As people die, no sounding bells.
Somewhere in the night, she dies alone.

Somewhere in the night ...

Where is the light?

.....Zaya took a deep breath dismissing the poem from her mind. She gazed back up to Euro recovering herself once more. With carefully planted steps Zaya neared the two, turning a sharp left, two hands reaching up to pull the katana down. She let it rest in her left hand by her side.

"If you plan to kill Boss Cho then there is the assumption that forces will be called, myself included. " Zaya said this bluntly, pushing that painful gaze aside. It seemed frightning, even for someone who had lost her ability of emotion.

"If it comes to that, I won't hesitate. You will either kill me or I will kill you. I havn't taken action as of this moment because I have not yet been required to." Zaya meant this, the Katana's edge pointing outwards towards Euro's figure. It was a position before concluding to strike.

"However." Zaya's grip relaxed laying the katana down horizontally against the couch's cushions.

"It would be wiser to avoid a predicted confrontation if it were dealt with now." She lowered her upper body to the ground, bowing to the man respectfully, hinting her forfeit as of this moment.

It was the closest thing to guilt Zaya could accept. What Cho had committed was beyond the code as.....her morals. Yes, Zaya had morals, standards. It was a cowardly act to commit, and as an assassin to the Yakuza, she felt obligated to give him his victory now.

Thunder rolled in the distance, Pei whined and yipped to the sound, his large brown eyes demanding the attention he craved.

[Yachiru]

He knelt down into the glass, no sign of pain registering on his face even when the sound of flesh losing a battle to shards lightly crunched off of the floor. Gently, he grazed his fingertips over the dog's head, tracing patterns around his ears and eyes.

"I told you earlier that I died.. an' I was reborn here, four years ago."

He seemed to intentionally twist slightly on that knee, further allowing the glass to cut into now-bleeding meat and bone. He cupped the dog's mouth lightly, rubbing the sides of his head with his thumb and forefinger. They locked eyes, and neither seemed to blink.

"I got shot three times in th' back, and me heart stopped for a couple 'o minutes before Mitchel Mencie brought me back.. Mencie is.. was.. the Boss 'o th' Devils. I had no claim over this life in th' first place, lass. I could be happy I've lived, but I've all ready done that.. this is jus' a lease, truly.

Your life don't mean much 'o nothin' to me, honestly.. You could be a friend, maybe, assumin' I even make it out 'o this. If you want to accept your guilt, then all I ask is that you don't answer your phone for a bit."

He chuckled lightly and ruffled up the dog's fur, lightly nudging at his ears playfully.

"Slant's thinkin' I'm dead, surely. I don't plan on draggin' this out, he'll be dead within a couple 'o days. He'll never get th' chance to call on you, anyways."

He locked eyes with the dog again. That intensity returned in an instant, and Pei's sudden cower and growl exposed it to him. Euro pulled his hand back and stood, exposing the dark patch around his knee on one of his legs - the look of a splash of moisture against dark pants.

"I'm not goin' to bring you much.. Maybe I've stirred somethin' up inside 'o you, but there's nothin' there that wasn't there before."

He stepped past her, stopping at the door. After opening it, he wandered through, pausing for just a moment.

"You may want to work on forgettin' about me now, or you might be feelin' guilt that you don't very well understand in a bit. Good on you, lass."

The door was closed.

He had no intentions of surviving his attack on Cho, that was obvious. But the determination was stronger. He wouldn't stop breathing until Cho had.

Fingernails dug into palms as he began down the stairs. This was his resolve.

[zoeygirl]

Zaya's eyes leveled to the ground, moved slightly towards the sound of an agonizing crunch. Glass shifting into skin and tendons painfully, but there was no hint of pain...

She waited until the door closed before standing straight up once more, arms dangeling by her side, shifting her head towards the peep hole. So that was what he meant by dying once before and being reborn. Zaya had viewed the words in some morbid poetic sense but he had meant it quite literally.

Her eyes moved to the dog again, pulling the black cell phone from her pocket and nimbly setting it beside her on the small, round table. She would be expecting a call...if there would ever be one again. The chances of that man surviving were slim to none, but Cho's were none. The Yakuza Boss would die by that odd fellow's hands....or knives.

Silently, Zaya ran fresh water into a small bowl setting it aside as she removed a broom from the pantry. The image seemed so odd...Zaya sweeping the floor calmly, serenely. Her mind was another story.

Light reflected off the katana in odd shapes and patterns, from there illuminating small rainbows against the chipped, tanned walls. It seemed to reflect a peaceful life of its own laying there...cold steel just laying there.

She collected the rubble, forming a trashbag of shards popping out, several drips of blood evident of either hers or his from the past day or two. Zaya once again sat down on the couch staring at the phone. She wondered the road the Yakuza was heading in. There was that other female assassin from Russia as she last remembered. Perhaps she would be called to deal with Euro who knew. Zaya still remembered her service to the large man called Max. If there was no call, that would certainly be a priority to tend to.

For now though, Zaya more or less admired the view of the open sky, pushing the billowing smoke completely out of thought, while a fury face resting his head peacefully against her lap. She was like a dog herself, anticipating a call from her master...there would always be a master. Maybe not Cho, but there was always someone.

[Yachiru]

It had been half a day since he left Zaya's apartment. He had errands to run.

Now, he stood in the shadows outside of Cho's newly attained mansion. He winced lightly at the feel of a tree's branch gently scraping against his cheek. It didn't hurt in the least, but was rather a reminder that he could still feel, and he hated that feeling.

"We're in the works with the Colombians as it is, so don't worry about the small details."

The voice trailed down from a third story open window, and Euro recognized it easily as the vocals of Boss Cho. He gripped his knives tightly. There were two gaurds lying at his feet all ready, and his first few steps out of his hiding spot were marked with blood, but the path he made wasn't meant to be hidden from onlookers.

No one knew he was alive, and he truly wasn't.

He lightly rapped on the front double doors, knives at the ready when the shadows of men appeared through the painted glass of it's panels. As the doors creaked open slightly, he shoved himself through. One knife dove into the eye of a large Asian man, and his screams were silenced instantly by a second knife cutting through his throat. The other man opened his mouth to scream while reaching for his gun, but that hand was removed long before he even touched the handle, and his mouth was full of a blade and the blood of his partne