//------------------------------//
// 9-It's Like Patty Cake, But With Your Fists 
// Story: Deadly Love 
// by ShadowblazeCR 
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The outskirts of Las Pegasus were the opposite of the preverbal coin that was the city. A hood-like aesthetic sprawled throughout the landscape of the district that Octavia and I were walking through. The bustling city had been left behind for the dirt and grime of the outskirts, and by the looks that she was getting by the surrounding residents they were definitely getting to the right place. A transition from suit infested, fancy dress, and polos to wife beaters (literal and well, literal but the shirt kind) and sagging pants practically on the ankles was expected, but I forgot the smell that came with the job. 

Funny enough, were were more in my element than the hosh posh of the city. This type of environment is the kind that I grew up in, where I found my adeptness for assassination, and even a hobby of music. The straightforwardness of everyone was a breath of fresh air, well needed in the trash heap filled corners of the street. And that was what I was banking on for the moment, because no sane person would walk through newly attested territory. Not if they wanted to walk out with their lives. 

I could tell it was working by the fact that the street behind us was slowly being blocked off by a large group of gang-like people in purple accented clothing. Subtly, I patted down myself to check for my .45s and my knifes, noting that the dozen or so following were armed with the cliché choices. An Uzi here, Glock with drum mag there, and even a machete or two gave the impression that they thought cool factor influenced bullet ballistics. 

No problem, I needed to get to the point with the operation anyways. I wanted to get to the big fish when I could, not when they wanted me to. I took a peek through my peripheral to find the one in charge, usually the oldest fogey with the most tattoos. Sometimes smoking, in a wheelchair, with a cane; anything that gives them that one characteristic that differs them from their followers. Ah, there they were, this one was bald with tattoos over their head and face. They also held an interesting walking stick, something that looked like it had a mag in it. I could admit when they looked like more than a goon. 

With Octavia in tow, I went straight for the mini-boss. "Hey man, my girlfriend here and I are a bit lost. We're lookin' for a dude by the name of Tony Lazuto, heard of him?"

The dude pointed the cane at me, and I saw the suspicious hole at the bottom of it, pretty much confirming what I suspected, "Who wants to know?"

I shrugged, "Well you see, we're just some newbies to this whole mafia thing. You know how it is, and we heard that if we finish a hit on the guy that Sombra'll take us in."

Octavia gave a short, silent gasp, smacking me in the side. "Scratch, what are you doing."

Leaning over, I replied with a whisper. "Listen Tavi, the best way to deal with low level thugs like this is to just get to the point. You'll need to be couth and all that when we get in the mafia, but here and now is just getting around the dumb stuff. It's fine, none of their stuff can pen our clothes, just don't let them know that."

"Fine, continue on I suppose." Octavia huffed, crossing her arms over her chest and shifting her weight to one foot. 

I tried not to bite my lip at the sight. 

"So you think you can just waltz into our turf, with Tony's name on your lips and think what? That we'll hand him over to you, execute the boss?" The man with the can said to us, wildly swinging around his cane. 

I shrugged, "I mean, unless you want to die. Pretty much, yeah. I may be one of the bad guys in your case, but I'm not tryin' to be a bad guy. I'm here for a job, nothing personal to be cliché." 

The bad man with the sus cane tapped his chin in thought, "I see, how about we compromise like the civilized people we are. I sell your organs on the black market for a sweet penny and you get to see Tony in a fifty gallon drum. Capiche?" 

"Sorry dude, I don't think that I can do that. As tempting as the offer is, I think dead people  are a lot easier to talk to. They tend to be a lot more with the shits than when their alive. Tell ya what, since you've been so accommodating for the two of us, I'll be sure to make it quick." I slipped out my throwing knifes, twirling them around my forefingers for purely dramatic effect. 

Octavia noticed this and pulled out her weapons; a couple of customized Barretta's that I had shipped in from a retired friend of mine, probably sun tanning on the beach with her husband right now. The signature ivory grips and "9mm Sword Cutlass" etched along the length of the slide made it one of a kind. She aimed it at a couple of my blind spots, thankfully understanding my intent out the gate.

"Fuck you." Replied the dude wielding the gun cane, using his response as the figurative and literal trigger he fired the weapon at me. 

Based on what I had taken stock of, there were three baddies behind Octavia and I, two to the left of cane guy and four to the right. This lead me to target those behind first, allowing Octavia the easier job of the front group. Though more in personnel, the ease of access nature to them with her weapons already drawn and directness resulted in a makeshift practice shooting range for her. 

I still had to dodge this bullet cane guy shot at me, so I did what anyone would do and threw myself backwards. Taking the momentum and making it my bitch, I did a backwards ariel and let the bullet pass through my cleavage. With my hands free, and some tasty open targets behind me I took advantage of my flip to finish with throwing the throwing knifes in my hands into a bad guy's throat a piece. The blood spurting out of each of the entries, in conjunction with the guttural sounds and grasping of their wounds, told me I had succeeded in what I initially set out to do. 

Two down, one to go on my end.

Octavia had taken kindly to the challenge I provided her, already unloading the Barretta's into the goons in front of her. She was smart enough to dive and roll into cover for a split second behind the front of a car, using the engine block to her advantage. In my brief glimpse I caught three total down with her volley of thirty bullets, peppered as they might be and a couple others clutching various entry wounds, it was still messy. 

All thirty bullets might have hit, and thirty more were on the way as she moved from the car to the closest house. I hadn't taught her that, so I'm sure the academy had thought to give the amazing wisdom that cars aren't real cover. The Shadowbolts were more of a failure is the best teacher, and the scars and dozens of stiches I had received in my early years had me learning such a lesson the hard way. 

I took out one of my .45's while I finished my arial, one-tapping the last guy in the head who conveniently was still front of me when I landed. Since my part was done, I turned to those that were still alive from Octavia's two volleys of thirty 9mm. It turned out the second had finished off all but two and the by some miracle of plot, the cane guy. None had even thought to shoot at me, even while hiding behind their faux cover of the cars parked on the side of the road. At this point they were suppressed by a constant barrage from Octavia.  

"Hey Octy, I'll finish up here, try to keep them suppressed, we need one alive to tell us where this Tony Lazuto guy is." I yelled over to Octavia while taking my time to walk over to the last guys taking cover, using the distance covered to take out my other .45 and reload the one I had shot. 

With the rest of the distance to the cars I unloaded one of the .45's into the windows of the couple cars they were behind, letting the glass act as extra suppression and cut them up enough to disorient them even more. One poked their head up to run away and I used the other .45 to tap each knee. While the goon was stumbling into one of the freshly cut lawns, I did a nice spin with the weapon for a little flair, hip firing it like a cowboy. This resulted in two to the chest, one in the head. Classic.

What, I was a little bored okay.

I decided by the grace of, well, myself that the cane guy should live. Since, knowing my luck and tendency to kill the boss first and the goon know nothing, well I should at least act like I've learned from my mistakes. With this decision, I dove over the back end of the car the last two were hiding behind, taking less than a second to line up my shot with cane guy's goon. One pull of a trigger later, and they were clutching their throat, doing their best to stop the bleeding. 

With that one dealt with, I ended my dive with a sweet combat roll and shot the cane out of the can dude's hand. The now cane-less dude held his hand, grimacing in pain from the hot metal piercing his skin. I sighed and pointed my pistol at him, "Gonna help your buddy out, dude? Not a good look, I don't think he's gonna make it unless you shove a thumb in there." 

The cane-less guy sputtered at the thought and wiped the sweat off his brow, then his pant leg and shoved the thumb in the necessary hole. He looked back at my two fingers tapping the back of my neck, finally understanding what I was trying to get across he plugged the exit wound with his other thumb. I smiled, still pointing one of my pistols at him. "Great! Now we can get to business, on behalf of The Mafia I would like to inquire where Tony Lazuto is. Please be cooperative, and you can get away with your life."

"I ain't no snitch, you rotten dog!" The guy responded. 

I shot next to his foot, "Next one isn't a warnin' shot. Now, where is he."

"I told ya bitch, I won't say a thing." The next response he chose was to spit at my feet, right on my crocs. Damn.

So I shot him in the foot. While I focused on his mangled toes, I asked once more. "Come on dude, I'm trying to be nice. I won't be so nice, if the next thing you aren't telling me is the location of who I'm looking for." 

Octavia had finished on her end, as evident by the footsteps I heard behind me and her honey voice touching my ears, "How are you doing here Vinyl, find out what we need to know?"

"Well?" I asked, cocking an eyebrow at the still cane-less dude that now had a hole in his foot. 

"Fuck you."

I shifted my weight to my backfoot, "Okay Octavia, here's a nice lesson in following up on your word. It's really a facade in the real world, but down here in the underworld of the mafia, it means everything. Because, not just about the knowledge of someone's integrity, but the knowledge that anything they say goes is what matters. It's how King Sombra made it so high on the totem pole. And it's how we will too my dear beloved." 

The guy in front of me laughed, "You don't have the balls to shoot me."

I shrugged, "Well that's kinda right, I am a woman aren't I. But I did say I won't be nice if you didn't tell me what I needed to know. So, here's the next repercussion."

My left pistol discharged, sending a nine millimeter bulled through the had of the goon that had already been shot in the neck. 

"Bill!" The now fully alone cane-less guy grabbed his buddy's head and gasped in shock, "You animal!"

I crouched down, letting my weapons rest on both my thighs, "What more do you want from me man, I did exactly as I said. So, one very last time, after the like three chances I've given, where is he?"

The man was legitimately crying now, having lost all bearing in front of a true assassin. "Y-You can't be some low-life that got sent after us, there's no freakin' way. Who a-are you?"

I laughed, "Really now, you want juicy tea from me, when you won't even do me the favor first? Wow."

"F-fine, just please don't kill me." The begging had finally begun. Good, that meant he really would tell us. "H-he's over at the warehouse on Calhoon street, about five or ten minute walk from here. The neighborhood here is, well, was filled with the outer security that had developed for the headquarters for his new operation. What am I saying, you only care about him, huh?"

I gave a half smile, "Yeah, but good exposition for everybody else though."

"Vee, I am the only other person here." Octavia mentioned, confused. 

"I know, I know, you'll get it someday. Maybe Pinkie Pie can describe what it is to you." I waved Octavia off, leaving the matter dead in the water. 

The grunt looked back and forth between Octavia and I, "So, that's it right. We're done here? I-I can leave?"

I nodded, standing up to press check my pistols. A couple in one, one in the other, "Ah, about that." 

"Wh-" 

A gunshot rang out in the neighborhood, and a loud thump of a body hitting concrete followed almost immediately after. "Sorry dude, can't have anyone knowing how this went down."

Octavia looked at me with a questioning glance, "I must inquire why you decided to do what you did love. It seemed that he was of no threat, yet you still finished him off." 

I began to talk as I reloaded my mags into the pistols, using the time to properly think out my reply, "So, look at it like this Octy. The Wonderbolts have a great thing going, and I can see how in the long run they're likely to last longer into the future as an organization with their practices. But, and this is the reason, they don't like tying up loose ends. Which is good, but not black and white. You see?"

"I see." Octavia hummed, "How can we know what we need to tie up and what we can leave?" 

"Well, right now, we're playing the part of the mafia. And in that case, everyone that is against us, and everyone that isn't with us is against us you know." I sat on the curb, "We just have some leeway because we're not actually mafia, and we're Wonderbolts so we can essentially decide what happens and control the situation more than the usual goon."

Octavia tapped her chin, "Ah, so here we needed to do what happened because a mafia goon would have done it. Yet, this will not happen often because we have a different... code than these ruffians. We can decide as we go, using our intuition as you might say."

I nodded, "Exactly, with this done, it's onto the boss man to finish up this mission and get inducted into the mafia tomorrow. Easy money."

"Let us continue forward then." Octavia said, offering me a hand to help me up from the curb. 

"Yeah, let's." I replied, taking her hand. 





The warehouse wasn't far away at all, just a five or so minute walk as the now dead cane-less guy had said. It was an old dilapidated place that had vines crawling along the walls. The brick was a bit greyed from the decades of wear and tear, and there wasn't a window that didn't have some sort of crack or was completely broken. Likely, years and years ago, it held palettes stacked upon each other filled with whatever was needed. Now, from our vantage point we could see everything we needed.

The center of the warehouse was a circle of different monitors, computers, and filing cabinets. A corner to the northwest had a massive stack of palettes with likely whatever they had accrued over their short time as an offshoot of their mafia bosses. The other corners had separated their weapons, growing farm of some sort, and a set of SUVs. Our plan, as makeshift as it was considering that we only saw about a dozen there it didn't seem like any problems would arise.

Octavia would position herself above the skylight, ready to break the glass and chuck her throwing knives into the heads of the three men hanging around and in the SUVs. While I would breach through the door and take out another set of three near the growing farm, leaving the rest in the middle of the warehouse. Tony and a few of his goons were occupied by the screens that they had all their communications and such set up with. Which, if we were lucky, we could destroy in the chaos and keep them from contacting any friendlies. 

All that I had to do was wait for the signal and-

"HEY WHAT ARE YOU DOING UP TH-" 

Three succinct sounds of metal lodging itself into flesh was all I needed to know to kick open the door. Nothing happened. 

"Well this is awkward." I took a step back, aiming at the handle to get the most out of it. 

And nothing happened. 

I inspected the handle, pulling it toward me.

Ah.

It opened for me to be greeted by three different guns. I promptly closed it back on their faces, whipping out my pistols and firing into the door. Three separate keyholes parallel to each other dotted the wooden door. The easy distinction of bodies hitting the floor was my clue to open the door again. Once I did, I scanned the rest of the warehouse quickly, taking note that Octavia had killed the three she had been tasked with. 

Which left the group in the middle to me, and let Octavia give cover if need be through the skylight with the rest of her throwing knifes. I dove behind an SUV to take cover from the incoming fire directed at me, rightly so considering I might've just killed a few of their friends. It's hard to not form attachments in this business, I would know first hand. There wasn't much to do until the suppression died down because of reloading, so I took the time given to me to find a nearby weapon. 

I tossed the weapon out of their line of sight, getting the 'ol cliche redirection to occur in my favor. Those that were looking away conveniently had the massive industrial lights that lit the whole warehouse above them. Within seconds I had three crashing down on top of them with my trained marksmanship skills. All in a days work. 

All that was left now was Tony, and considering it was a dead or alive, mostly dead, situation, dead would be the end state this time. He couldn't be a witness to our way out of wack abilities for just some henchmen. An already known rat, would then turn into a snitch, and none of us would last after he spilt the beans. I could tell it would happen by the way he cowered beneath the dead bodies of his comrades. 

I sighed, sauntering over, careful not to step on the broken glass from the ceiling, "Come on dude, die with some dignity. I can't just kill you this easily."

The warehouse was silent. All except for the hyper breathing coming from Tony, but I wouldn't say anything. He could keep thinking he was hidden. Problem was, this wasn't 'nam and even then I would still double tap to make sure. Once my feet were practically touching his face, I crouched down to push over the body he was hiding behind. 

"Okay bud, we've got a few options. But I think the only two that I'll give you is that I can end it right here, or please, please, try to fight us." I tapped the side of his head with one of the Barretta's to make the point. 

Tony looked at me, his face scrunching up in somehow even more worry when he saw Octavia walk up behind me. "Yous think that Imma just let yous walk all over me? Nah, I left the mafia to get away from that." He grabbed the barrel and pressed it against his temple, "Come on sweetheart, finish me off so I can get going. I've got better things in the next life to do then live in a world like this." 

I tsked, "Fine man, have it your way. I'll tell everyone there you said hi. Coulda changed everything from the inside huh, but no, gotta make a statement right?"

The ex-mafia man grinned, "If you knew who Tony Lazuto is, was, maybe that could have meant more. But today, its nothing but the dirt beneath my feet."

I shrugged, "Nothing more off of my conscience." And promptly pulled the trigger. 

Octavia walked over to put a hand on my shoulder, "Well Vinyl, I think it is time we return to find our friend yes?

"Sure, let's get going. I think there's a shaved ice place on the way, we can stop by there and do a quick run through of what went down." I grabbed Octavia's hand, taking the lead to the shop. "I'm sure Heel Soul thought this would take way longer than it did."

It only took about twenty minutes of walking to find a nearby shop that was selling what they were looking for. Thankfully, it was near the rendezvous spot that Heel Soul had given them on the walk over. The phone call was extremely short, it was a little heartening to hear the surprise in his voice on how fast we had finished our task, likely because he was afraid of tracking or someone else listening on the line. I wasn't particularly worried, they could care less about a couple of new prospects. Integrity was the facade, trumped by fear of what would occur if betrayal was on their mind. The past chapter had been evident of that, and I just had to plan a couple steps ahead to keep the proxy war we were executing turning into some sort of all out war. 

They would lose, sure, but at what cost?

"Vinyl, dear, what are you having?" Octavia asked, distracting me from my inner monologue. "There is such a diverse collection of syrups. I cannot think of a time I've been in a place like this."

I chuckled, wrapping my arm around her waist, pulling her closer to press our sides together, "I don't understand, how have you never been to a shaved ice shop? What, did they only have some caviar shops when you were growing up?" 

"Yeah, but..." Octavia mumbled, the red creeping up her neck I saw gave way to her embarrassment. 

"Aw, it's all good Octy. It just means I get more of your firsts." I slid my arm from her, giving her butt a good squeeze. "We'll just spin this wheel thingermagig here and it'll choose something random for ya. You can do it a couple times if you want two things on the same cone." 

Octavia stroked her chin, leaning over to read the options on the wheel, "Fascinating."

I stood back and watched her spin the wheel counter-clockwise, it taking a good set of seconds to finish its spin. At its end, the flavor chosen for Octavia was cherry. And by the time the second spin had ended, the other flavor would be orange dreamsicle. It was actually a half decent combination for a first timer, nothing like lime and rocky road or something I had gotten from the wheel before. 

"Not bad Octy, that's a pretty good couple of flavors there." I said as I walked up to the counter to order our shaved ice. "Hey there, can we get a small cherry and orange dreamsicle, then also a small birthday cake and cotton candy too?"

The lady behind the counter nodded and gave me a smile, turning their back to make what I had requested. It was still a bit strange to go from a literal killing spree to getting ice cream even after all these years, but I still couldn't find any other way I would want to spend it now. Especially with a partner like Octavia, there was no more times of loneliness on the road or in the hotel rooms or anywhere for that matter. I was honestly glad that my mid-life crisis was in reality a sort of quarter-life crisis.

The new experience of now being the one teaching instead of learning was slowly but surly changing my viewpoints on how to execute different missions. It wasn't just get the job done all the time to get the money. Now, it was about getting your team back safe, and bringing lessons into it to properly squeeze all the positive feedback loop from the mission you could get. I hadn't even thought about how I would try to communicate these things during stealth missions or if something ever went wrong. 

In the end, I suppose that I would have to trust the training and growing experience that Octavia has had and will gain to balance any problems out. It was just the beginning of our travels and missions, with us still local relatively to how I had done mine. There was so many spots around our huge world that I was ecstatic about visiting with her on the lulls between missions overseas. Getting paid to go on vacations with your lover didn't sound so bad, especially when the trade off is your life on the line. 

In my monologue to myself, we had sat down and begun testing our combinations. I took Octavia's had gone well by the small moans she would release after every scoop. It was kinda hot in a weird way. 

"Alright Tavi," I said, grabbing her attention. "We've gotta do a quick review of everything, past and present. Anything stand out for you in either?"

Octavia took another scoop while she was in thought, "Hmm, I would have to say that I was interested in how fast paced a plan can move from phase to phase in such a short time. The break-neck speed that decisions have to be made was still a bit jarring for me, but I have to say Vee, this was a wonderful first mission."

I grinned, "Awesome! Just wait till the next three plans fail during the second half of this thing, then it'll really get interesting." 

"Right, speaking of this second part. I wanted to point out how it might be easier to begin the recapture of Velvet Rose immediately. As we have no idea of her exact whereabouts, and the state of her. Well," Octavia took yet another bite. This time shaking her head, and pressing her hand to her forehead. "Good heavens, a brain freeze."

"Octy, you gotta slow down. I'm not gonna test your ability to down a cone of shaved ice." I cocked an eyebrow. "I mean its not apart of the contract, but if you really want me to I guess..."


Octavia waved a hand back and forth, "No, no, I am quite alright. As I was saying, I think that it is imperative that we attempt, no, succeed in retrieving Miss Rose from the casino the moment the opportunity arises to even be in the compound."

"I agree. It might take some quick thinking to knock everything out of the park." I scooted closer to Octavia and wrapped my arms around her shoulders. "But it won't be anything we can't handle. Trust me, we got this as your first mission to get your feet wet, not to die or anything before we got started." 

"Of course, I understand Scratch." Octavia leaned into me, showing me her smile. 

I gave her a squeeze, "Good."

Several minutes later we had finished our treats and begun the trip to meet with Heel Soul. He had voiced his surprise over the short phone call, short because of the need to not get tracked or hacked, on how fast we had completed our task. We had been given a meet up spot to get some final pieces of info and would very likely be in the front door of the casino by early tomorrow morning. 

Once we saw Heel Soul in dark alley number fifty-seven, he gave some last bit of juicy info. Amber Night was not in the area and the left hand of Sombra, Lotus Grain was the next in charge. We would likely be handed off to her from the front desk, the Duke Venture dude, to receive a short welcome and first mission. Where we could then begin the next phase of the mission. All that had changed was the ever growing feeling that I would be right about how it was always the last plan the was the first in all these missions. 

Grand Casino of Las Pegasus here we come.