Re: SHOT in the Back

[Ra The BlazeWingPhoenix]

Karl didn't really know how to answer the small boy, if he told the truth, it might scare him. But still, why did his whole life suddenly get so exciting...it was starting to seriously worry him.

"Because...we can't find the light switch...?"

[Dobi Boshi]

"My thoughts exactly," Washington said, nodding his head, pleased with Dom's appraisal of the situation was the same as his own. "That being said, I'm afraid there's a high chance that whoever is trying to provoke another war will get one - if not today, then probably pretty damn soon.

"I think it's safe to assume that if this was their opening move then they're powerful enough to get want they want; even if it isn't on the first try. And, naturally, another war means a lot of death, chaos and more work for the FCCU: those are all things I'd like to avoid at all cost. Thankfully, whilst your peons seem to have jumped the gun, no one of any real importance has jumped head first into this pseudo-war, so nothing serious has occurred - as of yet. But you can bet that once whoever was behind this realises their plan didn't work, they'll try again - something even bigger to force a confrontation between your family and Chings no doubt. All I ask is that you try and avoid such a conflict for as long as possible and give us a chance to hunt this person or people down before they can cause any more trouble."

[MrMissMrs Random]

"Do we have flashlight?" Max frowned.

"It'll be fine, the power will be back on soon, Maxie." Andrea said.

[that fang]

Carlotta fished out some electric lanterns from a cabinet. She handed one to Karl and Andrea and took one for herself, turning each one on before handing them off. "It shouldn't last long," Carlotta reassured them. "That alarm means that cops are on the compound; it's not the assault siren." She paused. "You'll know when the assault siren sounds." She walked over the the staircase and gestured toward the basement. "Come on, we should go down here and wait until lock down is over."

...

There was a knock on the window. Dom sighed and cast one tired glance at Washington before inclining his head slightly. The affirmative given, Myrrh picked the window lock and lifted the pane, slipping through and landing heavily on the ground. The bodyguard looked up and raised an eyebrow at his company.

"Captain Washington," Dom introduced the man in front of him. He still didn't know anything about the other one, by the door, but by the looks of it, he was just a grunt. He returned to the business at hand. "Captain, I cannot speak for the rest of my kin, but you have my word, if the police prevent another incident like today, I will do anything in my power to stave off another war."

[Dobi Boshi]

"As with you, I'm afraid I can only promise so much," Washington nodded grimly, "you and I both know that whilst the FCCU is large free of dirty cops, my attention can be stretched rather far at times, it's hard to keep an eye on everything. As for the actual police department..." he didn't need to say anything else, everyone present was well aware of how pathetic Marisol's police force was.

"Sorry, to use your name to get through the door, Mr Fabaloue, but I needed to see Mr. de Luca here as soon as possible." He said it, despite not even knowing if Myrrh was appraised of the situation - Dom would know doubt explain the situation after he and Malcolm left. Pushing himself out of the chair he nodded at both. "Thank you for your cooperation. And I must say I'm surprised at the amount of control you've got over the situation, Dominick," he added, his lips curling upwards into a large smirk, "I know your father would be proud of you." He wasn't sure if Dom was aware that his father and himself shared a past history, but nevertheless, it was amusing to see the man's reaction at his words.

"C'mon, Malcolm, we've got a lot of work still to do,"

"Of course, sir," Malcolm, nodded his head, tipping the brim of his hat to both men before turning on his heel and following his superior out the door. Both men gone in a slight swish of their coats.

---

OoC: And that all but wraps that up, if you folks can try and wrap up whatever it is you're doing in the next twenty four hours I can post the time-skip to the next morning and the shit can really hit the fan.

[Big Uri]

Adam was awake in his room, taking in all of this information with silent interest. He didn't particularly feel like alerting them, though he had been surprised to learn that Ethan was her partner. He'd met Ethan a few times on the streets, and had a grudging respect for the guy, even if he was a bit of an asshole. That said, Adam himself had been called an asshole many a time.

He had picked his cuffs quite a while ago, finding it relatively easy. You didn't get as far as he had while living homeless without learning how to pick a few locks. He had also re-bandaged his arm, having rifled through their cupboards to find the supplies he had needed.

[MrMissMrs Random]

Andrea took the lantern gratefully, nodding when Carlotta referenced the assault alarm. She remembered it vaguely, it was 'installed' after the attack on the compound that had left so many young De Luca's dead, so many families unwhole...

You'd have thought we'd be used to it by then, all the killing. But when children...

Andrea pulled Max closer to her, her face in the little boy's hair as she tried not to think what she would do if anything happened to her son.

[that fang]

Myrrh looked at Dom, slightly bewildered, and then back at Washington. "Apology accepted," he said hesitantly as Dom grimaced at the "Mr. de Luca" part. However, when Washington directly mentioned his father, he blinked but showed no further surprise inn his visage.

With no small amount of grace, Dominick nodded in acknowledgement. "Remember, it is unnecessary to shut down half of Marisol to get my attention anymore," he remarked drily. After the duo left, Myrrh raised an eyebrow at his charge.

"Shut down half of Marisol? What's up with the lock down?" He shrugged off his jacket and slung it across the chair Washington had vacated.

"He claimed they were here to arrest you," Dom said quietly. Now that he said it out loud, he realized how dumb he must have sounded. As expected, Myrrh laughed.

"You're... That's..." The bodyguard inhaled and tried again. "Do you know how many people will be pissed off tomorrow morning since you rang a false alarm that stole a night's worth of profit?"

Dominick groaned. The situation was embarrassing enough without Myrrh dragging in logic. "Don't even remind me. I'll deal with it tomorrow morning. Since I'll need to declare an heir soon, you'd be surprised how much I can get away with."

There was a twinkle in Myrrh's blue eyes when he said, "Can't wait to see you work your magic." Then he grabbed his jacket by the collar and flung it over his shoulder in one fluid motion. "Thank you." And then he was gone, through the front door (which, incidentally, had been left open in the policemen's wake), with a brisk salute to the secretary.

Dom cradled his forehead in his hands and told her to sound the all-clear signal.

...

Carlotta looked at the ceiling as a melodic chiming sounded throughout the house. "That means it's all right now," she commented unnecessarily. The lights flickered back on one at a time, creating a rather eerie atmosphere in the basement as the hallway lit up a little a time until, at last, the light in front of Dom's room could be seen reflected against his closed door.

"That was slightly anticlimactic," she said, sounding somehow disappointed and relieved. "It was probably a false alarm." But there were few things that could convince her uncle to sound any kind of emergency alarm, especially the lock down one. She deduced what had probably happened (and she was only slightly off). "Anyway, it should be fine now. I'd expect to see Myrrh walk into the house any minute now."

[Ra The BlazeWingPhoenix]

"Well then, we could play a little game to pass the time..." Karl offered, having decided to try and make Maxie feel a bit better. He wasn't really sure how else to, but it was worth a shot.

He then glanced over at Andrea.

[MrMissMrs Random]

Andrea looked tired, but gave Karl a smile when he suggested they play a game. "That's sounds like a great idea, we'll all play."

Max nodded his head. Though it was still kind of spooky in the house he wasn't as scared as before, and like most children he had quickly gotten bored. "Game!"

[Ra The BlazeWingPhoenix]

He smiled when it seemed to have cheered everyone up, he moved closer to Andrea. "Any suggestions?" he asked, looking down at the small boy.

He stretched upwards again and then glanced around again.

[Stabberz]

Ethan grunted and moved a hand to his face. His cheek stung from the force of the slap. He noticed the anger in her eyes and his own wild eyes showed no signs of backing down. He prepared a rebuttal but he picked up on the tears that were beginning to form in the young woman's eyes. It was like a punch in the gut that knocked all of the anger out of him and replaced it with the mutterings of guilt. Lena and Lila were the only ones who hadn't given up on him completely yet, he shouldn't push at her like this.

With a sigh he set down his bottle of beer and placed a hand on her shoulder. His eyes were focused solely on hers, the piercing Karmts stare prominent and also unable to hide the concern he felt. Moving slowly he made to hug her, his eyebrows furrowed.

"I'm sorry... I didn't mean to," he said quietly, feeling a pang in his chest. "It's just, been a hard day..."

His hug was firm, and warm. This was one of the very rare occasions that Ethan showed any care for anyone else at all. "I'll go and speak with with Adam in a minute..."

[Book the Hero]

Tears fell from Lena's eyes as she slowly hugged back, while trying to rub them away. Dammit, she had lost control of her feelings again. But she was glad that Ethan was being understanding. "Don't worry...I understand..."

"So...is it ok if he stays here?" She asked, looking up at the young man.

[Stabberz]

Ethan seemed to weigh up the decision, his brows furrowing even more as he held the female. He turned his head to look over to where Adam was being held and pursed his lips.

"I'll go in there and have a word with him..." He answered as he relinquished his hold on Lena. In order to set her mind at ease he pulled out both of his guns and set them down on the table. "I shouldn't be too long."

[Book the Hero]

Lena smiled, and sighed in relief. At least now she knew that it would be a civil conversation. She just hoped Ethan would be willing to let the poor boy to hide out here.

[MrMissMrs Random]

"Hmm, if we have any cards we could play Go Fish..." Andrea suggested with a faux thoughtful expression.

"I wanna build a whole towah o' cards!" Max anounced, raising his arms for emphasis.

[Ra The BlazeWingPhoenix]

"If we find cards, you can try to build a tower," Karl said with a chuckled and then smiled. Oh how he missed being young. "Carlotta? Do we have any cards around?" the man asked, looking at the younger woman.

[Big Uri]

Adam had his head to the wall, listening to all that they had been saying due to self-concern and bored interest. Hearing that the weapons had been put down, he inwardly sighed in relief. Violent or not, he didn't like talking to anyone with weapons in an enclosed space. He quickly scampered back to his bed, having picked the lock long ago, and he rolled down the sleeve of his shirt to hide the new bandage he'd applied.

[Dobi Boshi]

Lila yawned, sat atop the kitchenette counter with a mug of coffee in hand. She occasionally take a sip of the godly beverage whilst she allowed her attention to drift back and forth between Siegrain, who sat at the table in front wolfing down the fry-up she'd cooked them for breakfast like he'd never eaten before, and the television which was providing some background noise from the living room. From what she could make out of the odd noises Siegrain choked out through mouthfuls of bacon and egg the eldest of the Karmts brother's had failed to find Ethan at any of the hang outs she knew he liked to go to, which admittedly wasn't many nowadays, he'd found no trace of his brother.

Neither of them had actually heard Ethan come home last night either, so he had crashed somewhere else or the brat was much more sneaky than Lila had ever given him credit for. She wasn't too worried, though. It wasn't the first time Ethan had stayed out all night before, and she'd bet good money that wherever he was he was with Lena at least - she trusted that girl to keep him out of to much trouble. Then again, as with his brothers, Ethan never really went looking for trouble, trouble just liked to find him.

"So, what's your plan for today?" Siegrain asked, finally swallowing the last of his breakfast.

"You and I are going to the bank," Lila shrugged, earning an Eh? of confusion, which she had to smirk at. "Well, you can't exactly do much without any money, can you? I'm going to lead you some, you can pay me back when you get job."

"Job...?"

"Yeah, it's part of this weird thing called being a responsible adult," Lila said in a teasing tone, before adding, "you know, when you earn money and provide for yourself and your brother and the money isn't obtained by breaking the law." Siegrain was about to reply with a snarkish comment of his own, but anything he had to sat died in his mouth as eyes went wide and his jaw hung open. "Sieg?" Lila asked, slightly confused as he pushed away from the table, looking past her at the TV.

And when she saw what he was looking at, she dropped her mug. The news had rolled on during their discussion, a breaking report about the discovery of the dead body of a deputy DA had been found, and it had apparently been a bloody mess - images of the actually seen were probably being withheld due to the early hour and how many people would be watching - someone clearly wanted to avoid a panic. But the bulletin details scrolled across the bottom of the screen: Deputy DA stabbed to death in alley with a message left by the killer - has Spike truly returned once again?

"It can't be..." Sieg snarled, hands tightening into fists as he glared the screen - like it was lying to him and he would be able to intimidate it into telling him the truth. He hoped whoever did this had a death wish, because when he found them he was going to beat them to death with his bare hands: this, here and now, was unforgivable. His brother should have been allowed to rest in peace, not have his name used by some twisted idiot hoping to get a kick out of scaring the people of Marisol.

"This can't be happening, everyone knows Spike is dead!" Unless that was the point... it became well known towards the end about Damon's ties to the de Luca's in the conflict, such a message could be take taken so many ways. Was someone out to make it seem like Damon's death was nothing more than an elaborate hoax staged by the de Luca's, only to emerge now after the supposed Ching attack on Andrea's family... Somebody is setting this up, and they know exactly what buttons to hit.

---

"Looks like you made the news," the man Bakura had hired to re-spark the conflict between families mused as he watched the old battered wall mounted box-telly in the little office he had set up in the old warehouse. Though the man he'd spoken to didn't really seem to have much to say, to which he had to chuckle. Shaking his head he turned the TV off. "Come on, little brother; we have a lot of work to do today."

---

OoC: Live damn you! Note; head over to the OoC thread for informaiton on the upcoming plot point that will pretty much spark the conflict for good this time. It's gonna be a busy day.

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