Grana grinned. "Who do you think I am? I'm a Phantom, Captain! Jails can't keep me in and safes can't keep me out!" Grana rapped on the door with his knuckles, to figure out the thickness of the door and the size of the safe. He nodded, muttering, "Huge safe... Incredibly thick for its size." He took one step back, then walked forward into the safe. He grinned at the gold and the jewels, and threw a bit of both into his magic hat before turning back to his assigned task. Peter would have seen the wheel on the outside spin slowly, before the weighted door swung open, revealing Grana standing at the gate of a golden kingdom. "Gentlemen, I give you El Dorado, the city of gold. Tozani's been saving up quite a bit!" Grana chuckled. "Awaiting orders, captain! Do you want all of this to just...disappear?" Grana said, indicating his hat. "Or would you prefer our friend in the suit to become an extremely altruistic benefactor of the people?" Grana swept his good arm to encompass all the gamblers scrambling for money. "Oh, and captain, look behind you." Grana said, mentioning the security guard running at Peter with a sword.
He nodded at Grana "Good work. Less explosions needed, makes my job easier. Go get what you want..." He ran out and yelled at the top of his lungs "HEY! THE SAFE'S OPEN AND THE GUARDS ARE GONE!" he kept yelling that to get as many people as he could to mob the safe. "Hurry up, boys. Keep bringing more of them here. If you'll excuse me, I noticed that Alaena isn't among us. I'm gonna try and find her..."
Yoje nodded. "We'll keep the thugs occupied. Be careful Peter." He jumped into the safe and shot a powerful Tempest Kick at the pile of gold, sending a lot of it flying towards the mob. Any Buderos trying to defend their money were having a difficult time of it.
___________________________________________________
Two higher ranked Buderos frantically discussed the situation in a relatively peaceful room in the casino.
"Man, it's a freakin' madhouse in here. We're gonna be out a lot of money by the end of the day."
"That's not even the worst of it. I heard from the number two that the Archer got the jump on Tozani."
"Dammit, seriously? But we need everyone we got to defend the casino. What should we do?"
"The Archer got blown up or something right? The boss can take him for sure. I say we just make sure that when he's done killing him, he isn't too mad at us for letting all his gold get stolen."
"Yeah, good point. Let's go find the bastards who started this raid."
Hal finally caught up to Peter, Yoje, and Grana just in time to see the safe fly open and get a good long look at the riches were inside. This was it. This was the moment that would make all the shit he had gone through today worth it. "All right! Now THAT'S what I'm talkin' about boys!" He crowed triumphantly as he ran into the vault and began filing his briefcase with the most valuable gems he saw. He didn't have much time before the mob overran him, but quick examinations told him what was most valuable. After taking the finest picks of jewels, he filled the rest of his briefcase with gold just to get max value. If his calculations were right, he had at least tripled his investment into this little heist.
Satisfied with the outcome, Hal turned to face the mob and flashed his open briefcase full of gold and jewels at them. "Check it out, pals! Plenty more where that came from." He yelled with a broad grin. Many of the mob made grabs for his briefcase, but Hal quickly snapped it shut and Shaved through the crowd. As he got out of the mess that was being made in the safe, he noticed more Budero guards were on their way to try and regain order. Hal gripped his sword, and prepared to fight them off if need be.
The sound of her knife hitting the ground and of Tozani's cursing meant she at least hit him. 'Though that wasn't intended,' she thought, bringing out her bow to use in case he came in for close combat. A few of the needles Tozani had thrown hit their target, though the majority were deflected with a couple of swings from the bow. She followed the sounds of his footsteps in the smoke before lunging towards him, swinging her bow at his feet to knock him down.
Tozani hadn't expected the Archer to go on the offensive. He hit the ground hard, but he quickly retaliated, slashing with the sai at Alaena's nearest leg. Why haven't any of my men shown up to help yet? Visso must have gotten my message, and there's no way the Yarrakona killed him. Looks like I'll have to end this fight quicker than I'd have liked. He sprang back up to his feet and stabbed at Alaena's throat.
Now that she was much closer to Tozani it became easier for her to see his attacks, though she only narrowly dodged the sai he tried to attack her with. She could tell the battle was nearing it's end, hanging her bow off of her quiver and grabbing Inshi's spear head that she still had. 'You're doing good now, let's not too hasty or overconfident,' she told herself, watching Tozani's form as he got back up and attacked with his sai. Her heart was racing as she waited for him to get close before moving herself quickly to his left to dodge; grabbing a hold of his arm with the sai and twisting it until she heard the cracking of bone.
Alaena let him fall to the floor, kicking the sai far away as she went to grab her knife now that the fight was over and the smoke was dissipating. After putting it back in it's sheath she walked back to Tozani and lifted him up, holding his good arm behind his back as she put the spear head against his throat. "There's something you should see Tozani," she stated, leading him out to his casino to see what was going on.
"Chaos, wouldn't you say so? All that time and effort put into this only for it to be taken so quickly," Alaena told Tozani from a top one of the upper floors, leading him right to the edge so he could see all that was happening down below. The casino was utter mayhem. Tozani's men were doing their best to stop the thieving and destruction, but there was little that could be done once the madness started.
"Idiots!" Tozani shouted. "You're letting the Budero name be ruined!" He tried to think of something he could do, but the Archer had a firm grip on his only good arm, and the seastone at his throat was quickly sapping his strength. He could only hope that Inshi died tonight as well.
"You ***** Archer! You haven't changed a thing! I don't know who was helping you, but the Buderos will find them and make them regret stepping foot on this island. You won't live through the night!" With the last of his strength, Tozani tried to headbutt Alaena in the face.
Alaena couldn't help but let out a laugh at his threat, though that was silenced when he managed to headbutt her. She flinched at the attack, the left side of her face now throbbing from the hit. In retaliation she pressed the spear head against his throat, quickly cutting through it before pushing him over the ledge and onto a blackjack table below.
"Finally," she muttered, looking over the balcony and watching Tozani bleed out on the broken table. Now that the main problem was dealt with she scanned the area for Peter and his crew, seeing the mob and guards over by the safes before seeing them in the midst of it. Taking out her bow she notched a few arrows and shot them at a few of the guards that were making their way over there. Leaping off the balcony and landing on top of a slot machine gave her a better vantage point then the balcony above; allowing her to make her way closer to the group and get their attention.
As Peter ran through, he saw Tozani and Alaena up above. "She seems to have things under control..." he smirked, watching her take him back to the room. "I think we've done all we can. Let the public take care of the rest of matters here. Considering that there are no banks on this island, this was probably Tozani's method of laundering money. So the vast majority of his assets are either directly connected or are going to take a crippling hit..." he smirked at his handiwork. "Sabotage can be so satisfying sometimes..." He reached for another flare, shooting it at the entrance of the casino.
"Oi! We're done here, guys!" He yelled out, running to the exit.[hr]
At the farthest point of the Ivory Oyster, two men were standing at there. One was a large, portly man, with what seemed to be a large set of pipes and valves wrapped along his torso in place of a shirt with striped green pants. There was a large smokestack with multiple cogs coming from behind his left shoulder, with a scope right in front of it. He had a rugged brown beard, which was a stark contrast to his shaven head. He looked through the scope at the mayhem going on. "The Buderos have almost reached the office. If they grab the Oyabun or leave, that's your cue to go in, Yedaj. Perhaps you should get going."
His companion, a long and slender darker-skinned man jumped up. He wore a yellow vest and some brown pants, which matched his brown hair. He cracked his knuckles, twisting his legs around "I'm curious... why the old geezer and not Tozani?" He seemed restless, balancing on one foot, hoping onto the other every couple seconds.
"First, Tozani had already refused the Captain's offer. Second, Inshi seems to have come across something that has piqued the captain's interest. This unexpected attack has been a set-back, but you should still be able to go and get there. The others attack city hall in 3 hours, and we're behind schedule..." the bald man said, clearly annoyed.
The dark-skinned man nodded. "Right. Best get this over with quickly. Be sure to take care of an entrance way for me..." he ran towards the resort.
Hal had bitten off more than he could chew, and had been backed into a corner by a few of the Budero. "Dammit. This ain't good." He growled as he gripped his sword and prepared to use Shave and hopefully break through. Just as he was about to go for it though, a body came crashing down from up above landing on the table next to him. Everyone froze for a moment as they stared at the body.
"B-boss?!" One of the guards finally said, his face white with shock. And there Hal saw his chance. Using Shave, he slit the nearest man's throat with his sword then sped past the stunned guards towards the exit. He spotted Alaena dropping down on top of a slot machine out of the corner of his eye and gave her friendly wave, assuming she was the one to thank for that lovely distraction. Yeah, I guess I owe her one... I'll have to think up a good way to pay her back later. Hal noted, as he sped towards the exit through the mob.
The red light of the flare caught Alaena's eye as she took out a few more Budero's that were trying to get at her for what she had done. 'Time to go.' She turned around to see a guard get his throat slit by the thief that Peter had offered to let join the crew. Even though she didn't like the man she couldn't help but return the wave, a smile forming when she seemed to realize that she would finally be able to rest. 'Though there is still much work to do,' she reminded herself, covering her and the crew's escape with some well aimed shots at the guards.
"Let's go," she said after rejoining the group at the exit, heading out of the chaotic casino and into the calmness of the city, "Back to the inn I presume?"
I know long post is long, but I haven't posted in a month, so I figured I better make it count. That and English class was pretty boring.
The more Sammi roamed the expansive halls of the resort, the more she became certain that she didn't know where she was going. Even moving at the snails pace that she was at, making sure she wasn't just dragging the rope behind her, she hadn't spotted one of her trails of rope yet, to at least give her a sense of where she might have been. "Damn it, this is getting me nowhere," she cursed herself, letting the rope detach from her hand and fall to the ground. "What am I going to do to get out here?"
She looked around, looking for a clue that might lead to the exit, but there was nothing. Nothing for the moment, but the sound of some approaching footsteps alerted her to someone coming. Spotting a nearby closet, she ducked inside to wait out the person, concealing herself in the darkness behind the door.
Her hiding spot proved ill-conceived as the door swung open, nearly pinning her against the shelves. A bronze-skinned young man of about twenty stepping into the closet. "Man, I can't believe I still can't do better than damn massage parlor detail. I can't stand those cheapskate old ladies."He flicked on the light and moved towards one of the far shelves. Sammi slowly extended a length of rope from her index finger as the kid started rummaging through the various bottles. "And the fat ones take up all the damn oil. Why can't any hot girls come here? I wouldn't mind massaging them." Intent on getting the oil and getting out, he didn't notice as Sammi moved behind him.
In one quick motion the end of the rope was in her other hand and the whole of the rope was around the young man's neck. He instantly started gasping for air and pulling at the noose around him, trying to get it off, but Sammi kept it locked in. "Well today's your lucky day," she told him. "Well or unlucky I guess, depending on how much you value your life." The worker couldn't answer in anything but gacking noises. Sammi loosened the rope slightly allowing her hostage to breathe and possibly dispense some info.
"What do you want?" The guy asked, his breathing ragged.
"Can you get me out of here?"
"Yes! Yes of course! If you let me go!"
"OK then." Sammi seemed satisfied with the answer.
The man was surprised that was it though, that that would be all the woman who had him by the throat would ask for. "Aren't you going to ask for like money or something?"
Sammi thought for a second. "Good point. Can you lead me to a few parting gifts on the way out?"
"I don't know?" That answer got the worker another choke. "YES! YES! You want cash? I can get you cash! Just let me go! Please!"
"I won't be letting you go just yet," Sammi told her captive. By now enough rope had been generated to create a secure loop around the man's neck, a hangman's knot tied with the end not still connected to Sammi's hand. The man instinctively put his hand up to try and pull the rope off, but it was tight enough that it wouldn't be yanked over his head. Sammi saw this and gave it a yank, sending the man flying backwards towards her, landing on the floor. "None of that now, or I'll be signalling my friends by running your entrails up the flagpole." She pulled out one of her axes to back up the threat. "You got that?" The man nodded. "Good, now let's go. First some cash, and then out of here."
The worker led the way out of the room, Sammi right behind, the axe point poking the man in the back, prodding him forward. "This is the way to the vault where we store the money before depositing it," he told Sammi. "You should be able to get enough here, right?"
"We'll see," she answered. "If there is, then I'll be giving you a sizable tip. If there isn't, you'll get nothing and have to guide me out to maintain all of your limbs."
"I don't know how a girl like you can be so...." the workers voice trailed off weakly as he rounded the next corner. He hustled back behind, nearly bumping into Sammi and putting the axe head into his back.
"What was that for?" Sammi angrily whispered. The man didn't need to answer as she could hear the voices coming from the other corridor.
"Didn't the Boss say we were only coming here to finish off Inshi? What are we doing here?" one of the voices asked.
"Well that is the main goal, but we can pick up a little extra for ourselves here. The others should be able to take care of Inshi, but those staff members we took care of said this is where all the goods made in the resort are stashed. Some massive safe or something."
"You think we should have kept one of them alive? For the combination?" This remark made the young man shake a little bit.
"Bah, we got all the combinations we need right here! This plastic explosive will beat any kind of safe these Yarrakona bastards got." A click of a door opening was heard, and then the voices got quieter.
Sammi prodded her captive. "Come on you, we're getting that stuff before those meatheads do."
"I have a name, you know," he angrily whispered back. He got choked in response.
"Guess how much I care? Now let's go, we got to time it just right, or you and me are both going to be goners." They got next to the doorway. "Just stay here and wait for my signal." Sammi slipped off her sandals, not wanting to give off any kind of noise once she entered the room.
"What's the signal?"
"You should be able to tell once I give it." She peeked around the corner of the door, the two men were at a rather large safe, fiddling near the door.
"All right, the explosive is in place there," he mentioned. "Now let's stand back and get ready to collect what's coming to us."
You got that right. Sammi thought as she got ready to make her move.
"OK, in 3...2...1"
Now! Sammi began her charge into the room.
"Boom!" The leader of the pair pressed the button and the explosive did it's job, blowing the door open. It also gave Sammi the necessary cover to make her move. Having backed up to avoid the shock wave of the blast, the two thugs were now close enough, and open enough for the axes to come in. Sammi brought them in from the sides in a pincer movement with her arms, connecting with the necks of both men. Jugulars sliced open, the two fell to the ground clutching at their gaping wounds, trying to keep the blood in, but it was to no avail. They gasped their last breaths within seconds.
"OK, come on in!" she called out as she grabbed a nearby sack, obviously used to bring the cash to the room. Peering in the safe she saw nearly stacked piles of belli, enough to cover her bounty ten times over, as well as a couple pieces of jewelry lifted from some "forgetful" patrons of the resort. The worker slowly came into the room as Sammi went to work filling the bag.
"How did you take them out like that?" he asked.
Sammi didn't look up from the safe. "I got some skills," she replied. "Gotta admit, I'm surprised your still here. If I were in your shoes I would have taken off."
"Well, you haven't killed me yet," he stated. "And those guys said they already killed some of my co-workers. I like my chances better with you than on my own right now. I don't mind being choked by someone as pretty as you either."
Sammi looked back at the man, he was staring right at her. This softened her expression a little bit. "What you say your name was?"
"My name is Orlando."
"Sammi," she offered as she finished emptying the safe. "All right, I think that's going to be enough to make this trip worthwhile." She spotted the guns the Budero men had on them, a couple of pistols, in addition to the swords. Of course they wouldn't be playing fair. "You any good with guns, Orlando?"
"No, I've never used a weapon in my life!"
"Well now's a good time to learn." She confiscated the two guns and tossed them to Orlando, who nervously fumbled with both of them before successfully catching them. "There, now we both can kill any of these fucks we meet. Let's get out of here." The rope around Orlando's neck came back to her hand, but it wasn't anywhere near as tight.
"OK," Orlando replied as the two left the vault room.
The two made their way through the resort towards the East entrance. After about fifteen minutes it became clear that Orlando was true to his word as he brought Sammi right to the exit of the resort. "Here we are. This will take you out towards the main road to the center of town."
"Great. Thanks Orlando," Sammi said as she let the rope around his neck fall away to the ground. She dug into the sack and pulled out a bound stack of belli. "Here. This is for your trouble, and for sticking around. Now if I were you, I'd get out of here. This island is probably going to blow up with fighting pretty soon if I know some of my travelling partners."
Orlando flipped through the stack, eyes widening as he did. "This is more than I make in a year!"
"Really? Then here," Sammi reached in and threw him another stack. "Double it, and I'll give you some advice. Get out of here. Get off this island. See the world while you still can. You don't want to trap yourself in once place for too long."
"Yes, yes, I will. Thank you, Sammi." He went in to hug Sammi and she decided to allow this. Once he started moving in for the kiss though, Sammi stopped him short.
"Try to kiss me Orlando, and those lips are going to be removed." With this, he pulled back.
"Yes of course, forgive me." He was a little red. "Farewell, Sammi. Thank you again."
Sammi smiled. "No problem." She holstered her axes and hoisted the bag over her shoulder and headed back towards the inn. If Peter and the others aren't there, at least I should be able to bide my time until another ship comes along that I can latch onto. Or just outright buy. Who cares, I've got the cash for that now. She thought back to Orlando. I might have to bring him aboard if that happens. Can always use guys that know their place...and aren't that bad looking. Feeling much better about herself, she pressed on.
"Right. HAL! YOJE! GRANA! LET'S GO!" He barreled his way through the mob, managing to get out, a bunch of other people were running out, money stuffed in their pockets and clenched in their hands. "Ok, that's that taken care of... we meet back at the inn. If Sammi isn't back yet, I'm making one last stop. We need to keep our heads down for a couple hours. The Budero and Yarrakona are gonna be very busy, so we need get some rest. They'll forget all about us while they're trying to fix this mess."
Even outside, the sounds of chaos in the casino could clearly be heard. Yoje didn't know how the chain of command worked in the Budero family, but with Tozani dead, it didn't seem like they could recover from tonight for a long time.
"That worked out really well" he said as he walked back to the inn. "But the Yarrakonas might still be in action. Maybe we should go back to the resort, take care of them while they're still disoriented."
Having escaped the casino and finally ended this nightmare encounter with the gangs of Lesklee, Hal let out a heavy sigh of relief as he followed the others back to the inn. He was ready to flop down in the bed he'd paid for and appraise all the stuff he'd gotten out of the Budero safe. Which is why he didn't particularly like the sound of Yoje's suggestion. "I dunno pal, maybe we outta lay low for a while like Peter said. Put our feet up and relax a bit, ya know? Besides, with any luck they're still busy fighting those Budero that showed up while we were getting out of there." Hal replied to Yoje, hoping he wouldn't have to use Shave any more today. His legs were already dangerously sore from all the running and fighting he had done, and he didn't want to push the limit too far.
Alaena hated being torn between two things, and the choice between going back to the inn and resting or checking up on the Yarrakonas was one of them. 'On one hand I can take a well deserved rest that I need quite a bit. The other option is to make sure that every one of Inshi's men are taken care of. Choices.'
She mulled over what to do before speaking up, "We left Tozani's men at the casino to deal with the ensuing riot, and the rest went to go and deal with the last of Inshi's men. However I would say we should simply check up at the resort, and if need be deal with them then we do so. If not then it's time for rest."
"Agreed. Now then, the ship should be ready a little past noon. Once that's all done and ready, we'll be able to leave this island and head to our next destination." he smirked, clearly proud of everything they had done this evening. He also saw Sammi ahead of them off in the distance. "Well, that's one less thing to worry about. HEY! SAMMI!" he called out to her as they arrived at the front of the inn. He turned to the others. "Ok, Jacque should be in our room. Hopefully he's ok after everything that happened. Speaking of, we'll probably need a couple extra rooms..."
The bag was starting to get heavy. "Fuck, I really shouldn't have taken this much," Sammi cursed herself. "Ah, but then who would take it?" The area was starting to get somewhat familiar anyway.
Sure enough, she saw the battered inn up ahead on the side street. The trip seemed relatively devoid of the problematic men she had seen around when she first arrived on the island. No suits, no thugs, victims of the raids no doubt. As she got inside the door of the inn, she plunked her bag down on the floor. "There," she gasped as she caught her breath. "At least I got enough contributions to deck out that ship in whatever we need."
She pulled out a necklace that she had spotted in the safe, a small silver chain that carried a rather sizeable light blue sapphire on it. A tiny loop was all that was keeping it attached. Sammi slipped it on, fastening it before spinning it around and getting a look at how it hung in one of the inn's remaining windows. "Very nice," she noted to herself. "I'll get my collection back up yet."
Sammi thought she heard a cry in the streets before she entered the inn. She dismissed it but realized she shouldn't have as the Captain himself walked in the door, followed by some of the other members of their party. "Hey!" She answered happily as they came into the inn. "Sorry I missed out on...whatever it was you guys were doing I guess. If it helps," she pointed to the bag of belli on the floor beside her. "I think I made up for it anyway."
Hearing Peter talk about how they'd be leaving made Hal very happy. Despite all the good loot he'd gotten from the casino raid, he had nothing but bad memories of Lesklee. "Music to my ears pal... Can't wait to get out of this shit hole!" Hal said with a grin as he stepped into the inn and saw the woman who had let him onto the ship earlier that day with a big bag of money.
If hadn't been for her, he'd probably have been caught by the Yarrakona a long time ago so Hal was glad to see that she'd made it out of the resort and ended up so well off. "Heeeeyyy! That's a nice haul! We made off with a pretty good bit of loot from the casino too!" Hal said, opening his briefcase to show that the money had been replaced with gold and jewels, but as he looked around he realized the he was the only one to loot the casino safe as Peter and Yoje hadn't taken anything apparently. "Or at least I did anyway...."
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