Serotonin: Chapter Three
"This is a bit ridiculous, isn't it? A helicopter, an underground silo… Overlooking the fact you kidnapped and murdered the head of Japanese police right under our noses…" Audrey stated, giving Mello a dark glare as she continued. "We don't touch police! It's too risky. And I just don't understand your obsession with Kira. Sure, because of him people like us are in more danger but—"
Mello cut off her rant abruptly as he held up a hand "shut up, sit down" he said before walking around his desk and kicking out a chair for her to sit on. Audrey grumbled under her breath as she plopped down in the seat begrudgingly. All the things he was asking her to come up with would surely take a significant number of Mafia favors, (an underground missile silo?!) but not once yet had he offered her an explanation for any of it. Why kidnap this Sayu Yagami girl? She sounded normal, and none of the major drug lords or rival gangs had children of that name, so why?
"Listen, this is impossible without you. You're the reason most of the gang isn't trying to kill me right now—they trust you, and you've shown me that I can trust you too" he paused, looking her dead in the eyes. Was he actually telling the truth? "The real reason I'm doing this is because I want to defeat Kira… become better than Kira! This could give us all the power of Kira, Just imagine what we can do?! We'll be the singular most powerful force in the whole world! Greater than Kira" she took a step back as he talked, a look of disgust rising in her features.
"What the hell did you just say to me?!" she asked incredulously, reaching in her jacket as she stormed up to Mello and swiftly aimed her gun right between his eyes. "Kira is… Kira is dirt! Kira is a coward and a devil too frightened to show his face! I never want to be anything close to that pathetic bastard!" she yelled, invading the blonde so far that he had to press his backside into the desk and lean against it. Audrey continued "And if you want to go into that kind of stupid passive sort of killing, go become a hit man for that Russian scum! But do not take my gang with you and drag their name through the mud! Or I will kill you where you stand right now" Audrey finished seriously, huffing and puffing from her frenzied rant with her cool gun barrel resting on his forehead. Mello blinked at her, once, twice, three times.
"I thought that's what all criminals wanted to hear…" Mello said, an interested gleam playing across his features. He had to admit; maybe she wasn't just the classic 'do my bidding' goon that he had pegged her for in the first place. Bless that shit Cigar for actually giving him something that could be useful.
"We are not low-class criminals, we are the mafia"Audrey scoffed, "and I'm here to serve you because I have no choice—but there's nothing to stop me from being honorable about it. Even I can have morals, flawed as they may be; Kira's just all hat and no cattle" Audrey stated defiantly, and with that Mello finally came to his senses and batted her gun away from him. She stepped back, but still held her gun at the ready as Mello attempted to stare her down.
"Put that away" Mello demanded with an annoyed wave of his hand, "Lets really talk, no bullshitting this time" He finished. It was more curiosity at what the 'real' truth was, than anything else that made her put the gun away. At least it seemed that Mello had realized she wasn't just an idiot with a knack for fooling the rest of the gang.
"I want to catch Kira" Mello stated simply and Audrey's eyes widened. Mello nonchalantly picked a chocolate bar up off of his desk, ripping the wrapper noisily followed by the tinfoil. There was a loud crack as he took a bite, still eyeing Audrey for a reaction.
"What?" Audrey asked dumbfounded. She hadn't expected that. Catching killers is what cops do; becoming a mafia boss is literally the other end of the spectrum. Who the hell becomes a mafia boss so that they can go after a criminal?! "Are you a cop?" Audrey asked, squinting her eyes at him. It was impossibly unlikely; any mafia member worth their salt could spot a cop in disguise, and if Audrey hadn't seen it...
Mello let out a snort which was, Audrey presumed, as close to a laugh as Mello got. "Fuck no, I'm not a cop. What are you, stupid?" Mello commented with a slight shake of his head before continuing seriously. "I want to catch Kira, but I have no police or any other sort of support. So I went to the next best thing. You guys want Kira gone anyway, right? So you can go back to not worrying about punishment—aside from the law" Mello finished and Audrey nodded slowly as she took it all in.
"In that case, Sir, I will continue to do my best and help you" she said and nodded respectfully before starting for the door to navigate to the lounge, where she would begin the work necessary to set the plan in motion. At the last minute, Audrey paused in the doorway, "Also, we are far better than the police. We aren't restricted" she stated with a smirk before turning the corner into the hall as another loud crack resounded in the room, Mello took a bite from the bar.
Audrey had begun by booting up one of the computers that they kept on the side of the lounge, calculating the cost of their needs would definitely be beneficial before resorting to mafia favors. As the homepage blinked onto the screen, she went quickly to a market value site to determine the cost of a helicopter. As the search engine processed, she got up and searched under the large desk for a phone book; she had an idea about where to find a silo.
Back when Audrey had first joined the gang, a drug deal had gone down at a silo--involving the man who owned the property, she thought his name was Bill Pecos, but it was better to know for sure than rely on memory. That was why she was rummaging around for the local phone book and, while halfway under the desk, Mello entered the room.
"Looking for rats?" the blonde asked suddenly, startling Audrey so badly that she hit her head on the bottom of the desk with a loud bang. "Ow. Fuck. No, I was looking for this" she stated, resurfacing with a rather large copy of the yellow pages in one hand while rubbing her head with the other. "I think I know where we can find a silo. Most likely free, or for some coke" Audrey finished with a proud smirk, slapping the phonebook on the desk before flipping it open.
"You're quick" Mello stated, in what she presumed was a compliment. Audrey didn't bother to look over her shoulder as the blonde stepped up behind her, looming over her as she rapidly flipped pages looking for Pecos. Although, she had to admit it was a tad unnerving having him watch her so close; but perhaps he was trying to see her worth. The more she could prove that she wasn't just indispensable, the better.
"Yes sir, I figured 'why wait?' this thing is obviously going to take a lot of planning" Audrey pointed out; trailing her fingers down a line of PEC's in the book. Found it "If I can, at least, have one thing done tonight—then I consider myself productive" she stated, pulling her cell out of her pocket and begging to dial the number, but Mello hastily took it from her hands.
"…cute" Mello commented sarcastically, toying with her Hello Kitty phone charm. Audrey blushed furiously, the redness clashing with her hair. Internally, she was cursing herself; here was her big chance to prove she was tough and witty and it was all threatened by a stupid knick-knack. At the time, she hadn't thought anything about the trinket, ever since she was a small child Hello Kitty had always been a weakness. Something about the white cat unleashed her feminine 'ooh it's so cute!' squeals.
"Give it back" she demanded, holding out her hand and trying to hide her embarrassment. Mello looked at her, and then did a double take only to let out a smirk at her flustered face. Hey toyed with the charm in one hand before taking another bite of the chocolate in the other, all the while staring at her. "I mean it, give it" Audrey repeated, opening and closing her hand for emphasis.
He dropped the thin white phone in her hand with the smirk still firmly on his face. "Try dialing 141 before you call, they won't see your number that way" Mello stated and Audrey bit back a snort. "This phone will show up on ID's as 'X', like all phones of the mafia" she tried not to sound like she was saying 'we're not that stupid, you idiot', but the tone was hard to swallow down.
With that she turned and typed in Pecos's number fluidly, and without interruption this time, before lifting the phone to her ear. On the second ring, the line picked up and a tired voice came through the light static crackling.
"Bill's strippers; you want 'em we got 'em, but you have to pay for 'em" a gruff voice on the other end stated monotonically.
"Hand the phone over to Bill" Audrey ordered, shutting the phone book with a slap of pages.
"This is Bill, all applications must be hand-delivery" he sounded annoyed now.
Audrey glared at the air and frowned at his comment. "I'm not a want-to-be stripper you dumb fuck" she winced as soon as she said it; there goes the chance for a freebie. Damn temper.
"Well then what do you want bitch?" Bill demanded, patience obviously wearing thin.
"Watch what you say, asshole! This is the Death Doctor, I believe we've met before," she sneered as she said it, relishing in the uncomfortable silence on the other line. Oh, how they had met indeed; one of Bill's 'bodyguards' had been her first kill, something she had done without even a flinch. He, no doubt, remembered her nickname. "So if you want what I've got, then shut the fuck up and listen" Audrey continued and paused, but there was no response. "You will let us use the silo, no questions asked. In return, ten eightballs" she said bluntly and she could almost hear Bill's gears turning in the short silence that followed.
"Thirteen and I'll make sure to send you the key" Bill bargained and Audrey couldn't help but let out a chuckle as she sneered at the man's voice.
"Ten and I'll make sure to not fucking kill you. This isn't a goddamned negotiation, you should be lucky I'm not just sending some boys to fuck you up and then simply taking what I want. Which, by the way, will happen if you fucking tell anyone about this conversation" Audrey finished threateningly.
Bill wheezed on the line, nervously shouting out "what conversation?!" in a panicky way that made Audrey smile.
"Good boy, you get five eight balls when I get the key and five when I'm done using it. We'll be in touch" she finished, hanging up the phone before the shaky Bill could agree or fight her again.
"That silo is done and done, boss" Audrey stated, smiling triumphantly as she turned around to face Mello. He was giving her an intense stare, squinting his eyes and undoubtedly sizing her up—hopefully in the 'hmm I was wrong about her' way rather than the… well, the other way.
"I like your style… what's your name again?" Mello asked and she frowned at him. He was smart, and probably didn't really forget her name at all. He was showing he was the alpha; he was trying to put her back into place. With that idiot Cigar, she could have nuked china and he wouldn't have noticed, but Mello was much sharper than that. It was clear that he wanted to be firmly in charge; things would be harder to slip past him but, for Audrey, the challenge was somewhat… welcome.
"Call me Adds, Sir" Audrey stated with a smirk.