Alice found the rat pinned to the chair. The squat fat man squirmed as Tommy stood in the corner of the basement room with a cigarette smoking on his lips. His cap hid his eyes from Alice who grimaced at the man in the centre of the room. Her leather gloves dropped carelessly to the floor and her fist met the side of the man's jaw with a thump. The rat spat blood and Tommy inhaled.
Alice ripped the pins from her bun and threw them on the floor.
"You know I work real fucking hard to keep my girls in check," She spat at the man. "I never thought I would have to keep my men in check too. With thanks to you, kind sir -" The man's swivelled in the opposite direction from the force of the next punch. "- I had to bail one of my girls out of the jail because you thought you would snitch on a girl who didn't want to suck your small dick…"
"She was a frigid cunt anyways," The man laughed. "Why don't you go fetch your brother because you punch like a girl." He spat out more blood.
Tommy watched Alice with interest as she took a seat on the man's lap carefully and wrapped an arm around his shoulders. She trailed a finger along his cheek.
"Am I being too gentle?" She whispered against his ear before her hand pulled another pin from her dishevelled hair. She trailed it along his cheek. "I'm just too used to dealing with women." She moved the pin down the softness of his neck. "They're just so much more fragile." In one movement she jumped up and drove the pin into his thigh. Blood stuck to her fingers as she left the pin in place and turned away. The man groaned in pain and hissed out a breath.
"Mr Shelby, may I please have your gun?" She held out a hand expectantly. He dropped his cigarette and snuffed it out with his brogue. He handed her the gun carefully but paused for a moment looking her in the eye. Her green eyes had become colder than he had seen before.
"Mr Shelby, is it loaded?" She asked and Tommy could only nod. Her arm slowly swung around and Tommy's eyes flicked to her aim but Alice never looked away from Tommy's face.
"What do we do Mr Shelby when someone misuses their power?" Alice smirked as she cocked the gun. The man groaned from the pain before stuttering as he watched the gun.
"We take it from them," Tommy replied calmly. She was a sight with dishevelled hair, a bloodied blue dress and heels. Her nimble fingers quickly relieved his gun of all its bullets but one.
"Here's the thing Andy," Alice started sweetly as she handed the unused bullets back to Tommy. "I believe that it should never be up to one person to decide the punishment but I don't have a court, or a tribunal for you to go in front of… instead I have a gun…" The cylinder swung back into place with a click. The man began to plead.
"I didnae know," He begged. "I just wanted to-"The gun was trained on his crotch and he squirmed. "Please, please, please no, I'm sorry alright? I'll do anything, please -"
Alice looked him in eye as she pulled the trigger.
There was an empty click. The man started thanking her. Tommy took a step back and lit another cigarette. The barrel then focused on his head. His breath caught in his throat before he started pleading again.
"I'm sorry," Alice said softly. "I should clarify that I'm letting the gun be the judge of where I shoot you not if I shoot you."
Tommy's cigarette tasted more bitter as the pin clicked again into an empty chamber.
"I can't let some bastard fuck with my people," Alice continued as the pin clicked again into an empty chamber. "How about your knees? You don't really need them, do you?" The man whimpered another cowardly apology as Tommy inhaled deeply and closed his eyes.
Finally, a shot rang out. Tommy blew out a plume of smoke as the man screamed in pain. Blood pooled around the base of the chair as Alice's small hand grabbed the man's hair forcing him to look at her.
"You pull a childish tantrum like this again, I won't empty any of the chambers next time," Alice hissed as tears ran down the man's dirty cheeks. "Now for the love of Christ, be a man." Alice ordered as she let go of his head roughly.
Walking down the corridor together, Alice returned Tommy's gun.
"Thank you for that," Alice said. "The Foxes are in your debt."
Tommy pushed the bullets back into the chambers of his revolver. He looked at her solemnly and replied: "We look after our allies."
"I'm glad to be on the good side of Thomas Shelby," Alice said as they turned a corner.
