Hugo Santiago held court in Styx, a nightclub that provided entertainment for the better off inhabitants of this sleazy suburb of Boomhower. It was one of the many legitimate businesses that the Santiago's used as fronts for their criminal enterprises. Security would be tight.
The Gentleman had no intention of sneaking in, however. Instead, he and Pixie joined the line outside. They each got more than a few funny looks at their respective states of dress, but he ignored such rudeness.
"I strongly suggest you let me do the talking, at least at first." he whispered to Pixie. "This doesn't have to turn into a bloodbath... It probably will, but I'd rather not put a bounty on both our heads just yet if we can avoid it."
Pixie laughed. "Sorry ta' spring this on ya', but I already 'ave a bounty in this part'a town," she pointed out with a shrug. "Then again, every fucker with a gun who don' blow Santiago cock's gotta price on their head."
The Gentleman laughed.
"Of course you do. However, if we get our way, there's a chance of removing the bounty, rather than increasing it. After all, we wouldn't want them to start thinking about sending someone competent after you."
"What, you don' think I can handle a few so-called 'professionals'?" she accused. "Don' reckon ya' give a girl enough credit."
"Perhaps you're right." he replied "Let's see how you handle this first."
They were at the front of the line now, and the bouncer was giving them both the once over. Unusually for a Santiago henchmen, he wore a suit. However, The Gentleman could still tell where his gun was concealed.
"You got a name?" he grunted at them, unimpressed by what he saw.
"Many." The Gentleman replied "But as a potential customer at this... establishment, you can call me 'Sir'."
The bouncer scowled.
"Well, if none of your names are on my list, you're not coming in,
Sir."
"Your boss, Mr. Hugo, will want to speak with me." The Gentleman told him "We have business to discuss that can't wait until morning."
The bouncers eyes narrowed even further.
"Not gonna happen." he said, his hand reaching toward the holster inside his jacket. "Now get the fuck out of the line before I-"
His impending threat was lost in a cough of air, as the tip of The Gentleman's pipe shot out and buried itself into his neck. His face went white, and he clutched at his holster, but the strength and dexterity of his arms failed before he could draw. He slumped against the wall, and a few seconds later, he collapsed.
The Gentleman gave a disappointed shrug and turned to Pixie.
"And to think, a little courtesy would have cost him nothing."
Pixie scratched her cheek curiously as she examined the motionless bouncer. "Why did we wait in line if you coulda jus' done that the whole time?"
"And cut in front of all these people who have been waiting so patiently?" The Gentleman sounded appalled. "Surely not?"
Stepping over the bouncers corpse, as the people who had joined the line behind them began to flee in terror, The Gentleman pushed the closest of the red double doors open.
"After you." he said.
Brushing passed him, Pixie stepped into the energetic club and scanned the dimly lit venue. A few VIP booths were set up beyond the dance floor--on the opposite side of the building. Surely their man was up there somewhere. The young redhead turned to face the Gentleman as he entered behind her. "Don' reckon we 'ave time ta' dance before we burn this place to the ground, huh?"
"I suppose not." The Gentleman said "A shame. I'm somewhat gifted at the Foxtrot, though I'm not sure this is the scene for it."
He drew his pistol and fired over the heads of the crowd, up to the balcony where the turnstiles were set up. The first anyone knew of it was when the bullet ricocheted of the needle, abruptly stopping the record being played.
"Ah, that's much better." The Gentleman sighed, as the DJ dived for cover behind the speaker stacks, and the rest of the party-goers began to scrambled for the exits. "I could hardly hear myself think. That baseline was entirely too prominent."
The sound of a dozen charging levers on automatic weapons being pulled brought their attention up to the VIP balcony on the far side of the room.
"Mr. Hugo Santiago, I presume?" The Gentleman called out, smiling.
Hugo Santiago looked calm. However, if that had truly been the case, The Gentleman suspected his men would still be in their seats. His CCTV cameras would have seen the stunt outside, and Hugo wouldn't be making the same mistake his subordinate did.
"I don't believe I've had the pleasure, Mr..." he replied cordially.
"Oh, I'm just a working man passing though." The Gentleman answered "You can call me The Gentleman, if you like."
"The Gentleman?" Hugo paused for a moment. "I believe I've heard that name once or twice."
"I haven't done a lot of business in this part of the world as of yet." The Gentleman said, smiling "However, I'm glad to know my reputation precedes me."
"So..." Hugo did not return the smile "Why have you come here and started trouble at my club, Mr. Gentleman? If you were hear to kill me, I suspect you wouldn't have walked in through the front door. Perhaps you are hoping I have something to offer you, in exchange for my life?"
"Nothing quite so crass." The Gentleman told him "Though I suppose you're not too far off the mark. There heed be no more blood spilled here tonight, if you acquiesce to one very simple request."
"And what would that be?" Hugo asked coldly.
The Gentleman smiled again, and nodded in Pixie's direction.
"I want you to apologise to the lady."
Pixie put her hands on her hips and met the bandito boss' gaze from across the dance floor. "That's right," she added. "Look at what yer men did to my second favorite shirt. I'm not tryin' ta' make a fashion statement or nuthin'--it ain't supposed ta' have big holes in it like this."
What was the Gentleman to gain from this chivalrous act? Did he want something from her? Surely he could have come up with something a lot more practical to win her over to his side--something less foolhardy.
Less... theatrical.
Then she noticed it--the subtle, murderous glee in his smug grin. He was just like her. Despite the fancy cloths and proper demeanour, this man was nothing more than a mad dog. In that moment, before even a single drop of blood was spilled, Pixie knew she wasn't alone in her madness.
This was why he was here.
"So what's it gonna be,
jefe? You gonna drop down on yer knees an' suck my dick or do I gotta break 'em first?"
This was going to be fun.
Hugo blinked, in a gesture of near concealed disbelief.
"You want me to do what?"
"Apologise." The Gentleman repeated, no longer smiling "For the unchivalrous actions of your men, and promise that we will have no further bother from you. In return, we promise not to interfere with Santiago affairs. A fair exchange, I'm sure you'll agree."
Hugo Santiago did not agree. If he actually capitulated to this guy, to apologise to some runt of a girl on the command of this... whatever the hell he even was, nobody in the family would take him seriously again.
"I've got my own exchange in mind." Hugo said "You're surrounded, out in the open, and my men can fill this place with hot lead at one word from me. So, you take a step back, then another, and another, until you're both a long way away from here, and maybe I'll forget the night of business you cost me, and I won't send you each back home in five different suitcases."
The Gentleman sighed.
"Why does it always have to go this way with gangsters?" he said to no-one in particular.
Pixie laughed at Hugo. "Aw, that's cute. Your balls just dropped! He's such a manly man now!"
"Now now." The Gentleman interrupted "I'm sure he's had a very stressful day. No need to poke fun at him."
As he spoke, The Gentleman carefully removed a fountain pen from under his jacket, twisting the cap behind his back.
"In my head, I gave you ten seconds." Hugo called out, his voice increasingly nearing a snarl. "They're running out."
"That's a shame." The Gentleman replied "In my head, I only gave you five."
Suddenly the pen was spinning through the air, and The Gentleman was pushing Pixie out of the way. Hugo's men barely had time to flex their trigger fingers, before the pen exploded in mid-air with a blinding flash. Pulling Pixie into a booth that placed both of them out of the line of fire, The Gentleman drew his own pistol again.
"They never learn." he muttered.
"You gonna let me 'ave some of the fun this time?!" she asked, brandishing her own pistol.‏
"Very well." The Gentleman smiled "It appears we're past negotiating."
"LIGHT THESE FUCKERS UP!" Hugo schrieked as he fired is weapon blindly. His subordinates followed his example--none of them actually knowing where exactly their targets were.
Pixie peeked out over the booth. "Don' lose count, old man!" she hollared before lunging over the back of the seat, emptying her pistol into the nearest group. The blinded banditos returned fire, but couldn't get a bead on their target. All four hit the ground dead before Pixie found cover behind their booth. Discarding her spent pistol, the bloodthirsty teen looted one of her victims submachine guns and began blindly spraying bullets all over the VIP lounge.
The Gentleman followed close behind, before splitting off to cover the opposite flank. He dropped three with precise headshots as he moved toward the stairs, where he came toe to toe with another. The blinding effect of the flash-bomb beginning to wear off, the pawn tried to switch his fire onto the Gentleman as he approached...
He wasn't fast enough. The Gentleman blocked the arc of his arm, and danced left around his back as a hail of bullets smashed into a lighting rig above. Unbalancing the henchmen, he only had time to hear the tell-tale
snick of a spring-loaded blade, before he fell backwards onto The Gentleman's stiletto, the thin blade slicing through his spine and puncturing his heart.
Wheeling round, The Gentleman used his new-made corpse as a human shield, as he gunned down another two men further up the stairs, before discarding the body and switching his aim right. One man on Pixie's side had gone down with a bullet in his gut, but was still alive, and gingerly holding a pistol aloft as she ran past him, spraying fire. One silenced shot, inaudible amidst the rest of the firefight, and the gun clattered to the floor.
Pixie continued forward, laying heavy fire down on Hugo's postion. There were two, maybe three men left defending their boss.
"LET'S FINISH THIS, GENTS!" she roared as she dashed under a torrent of lead and plunged head first into Hugo's booth. She slid across the floor on her shoulder, firing her uzi wildly at the men above her. Two of them took the brunt of the assault and were sent toppling backwards, full of holes. A third man--only lightly wounded--tried to draw on Pixie, but found himself suddenly hitting the ground instead. After sweeping the man off his feet, Pixie used the momentum of her spinning legs to lift herself up off the ground into a crouching position. Swiftly, she planted a knife in his chest, took his weapon and pointed it at the terrified cartel boss, cowering in the back of the lounge.
She approached him slowly. "How 'bout that blowjob, champ?" she mocked in a cruel tone.
"You little *****!" Hugo spluttered "It doesn't matter what you do to me. The whole family's gonna be out for your blood after tonight. You won't last the week!"
"I'm sure it won't come to that." The Gentleman cut in, slapping a fresh clip into his pistol as he approached. "When they ask, you're going to tell the family that a lone gunman came and shot this place up. You never saw their face."
"And why the hell would I do that?!"
"Because if you tell them that you were visited by an assassin of my calibre..." The Gentleman answered "The first thing they'll want to know is why you're still alive, and you're going to have to tell them that it's because I made you apologise for your men roughing up a teenager. You've already disappointed them so far, but a humiliation on that scale would mean no chance of ever earning a position of respect in the family again."
"And what if I decide to deal with you myself?!" Hugo wailed.
"Then you'll need replacements for all the muscle you lost tonight." The Gentleman said calmly "and by morning, every thug in the city will know why there are so many new vacancies all of a sudden. Do you want them laughing at you as well?"
Hugo choked back the tirade of insults that were itching to be thrown at the man before him, before he turned, defeat in his eyes, to Pixie.
"I'm very sorry, for the actions of my men." he said, through gritted teeth "Now will you both, please, get the hell out of my club, and never mention this to anyone else?"
"That's really up to the lady to decide..." The Gentleman said, giving Pixie an intense look "Though, I'd like to think we've all learned something about good manners today."
Pixie's amused expression sunk into a cold, vacant stare. "Yeah," she whispered," they ain't worth shit." She squeezed the trigger--burying a dozen bullets into Hugo's chest before her magazine ran dry. He stumbled backwards and slammed his back against the wall. The last thing he saw was the darkness behind Pixie's blank gaze.
"Piece of shit," she hissed before spitting on his corpse. After dropping her weapon to the floor carelessly, she began counting on her fingers. "I reckon that's nine kills. How 'bout you?"
"You got eight, actually." The Gentleman said, pointing back to the man he'd finished off for her, before turning back to Hugo's body "You do realise they're just going to replace him with someone worse, don't you? He would have kept his word."
Pixie shrugged. "Fuck if I care. If it comes to it I'll jus' 'ave ta' kill him too," she said.
"Well, your aptitude for violence is even greater than I expected." The Gentleman responded "However, you can only get so far in this world without knowing when situations require a deft touch. Whoever it was that trained you obviously missed that lesson. Who was it?"
"It wasn' fer a lack'a tryin', trust me," she snickered. "He tries ta' hammer all sorts'a shit into my head. Sometimes the drugs jus' don' take though, ya' know?" Pixie surveyed the battlefield and stretched her back. "I reckon you've heard of 'im. Maybe you've even met 'im before. He's from Paradiso, ex-Russo family enforcer--he tells me. Gets around. Knows a lot of people. I drop enough hints yet?"
"I believe I know who you mean..." a faint smile curled around The Gentleman's lips "It just so happens I'm something of a fan. I'd be honoured if you could introduce me. I know they say you should never meet your heroes, but if he taught you everything you know, then I'm sure he couldn't possible disappoint."
Pixie shook her head. "Not everythin', no. He's jus'... sharpenin' the blade, if you catch my meanin'," she explained.
"Oh, I'm sure." The Gentleman replied, before motioning for her to lead the way.
