American Monsters

by Brawl499

When two members of M.O.N. are trapped in the United States on a botched business trip, and accidental arson/murder prevents them from leaving conventionally, will their interactions with a local Monster-centric gang make them even want to go home?

10. Dragging Down the Dragna

Chapter 10: Dragging Down the Dragna

At the rented-out warehouse, Monday morning…..

The gang's shipment of ammo and other supplies being sent up over the weekend from Houston as planned, the small group of Monsters was off doing their own thing; planning out who'd carry what gun, who'd lug around how much ammo, who'd go with who; and trying to line up their entry, proper heist, and escape for the highest chance of success with as few friendly deaths/injuries as possible. Not being an intense, militaristically rigid process, there was still room for small-talk as Zom walked up on Katalie, both fully dressed in vastly different manners for the coming assault. For Zom, it was almost a trip into the past, wearing a two-piece suit and dress shirt with the upper part of the shirt split wide open, just like back home.

"Got a new outfit? What, is it more bulletproof than the old one?" Zom joked as she sat on the same wooden crate Katalie did, the 8' Ogre simply waiting around due to having gone over the plan again and having her outfit, gun, and ammo set. Being a new coat shipped in with the other stuff they got over the weekend, this one took a similar mindset to the old one; the biggest piece being a long, ankle-reaching coat with full-length sleeves and a generously concealing hood. Where it differed was, instead of being a generic, baggy, midnight black coat, this one was a medium-grey coat with a tighter fit. When it was fully set up and strapped down, the coat tightly clung around the arms, upper back, and abdomen/hips, compressed the upper chest a bit, and straightened out into a uniformly ankle-reaching, stretchable 'tube' of sorts with a row of fastening buckles up the right edge of the front.

Looking like a line of buckles stemming from the right shoulder, down over the right breast, and carrying all the way down in that straight line to the bottom of the coat, the joke of 'Not enough buckles' was very quickly passed around. Not being the only ones, there were four more buckles, two on each sleeve, which were set up one behind the other right on the end for the sake of making sure it didn't hike up the length of her arm. Coming with a similarly gray pair of pants, the pants weren't anything particularly special in design, but were paired with a set of boots that were reinforced with the same fabric, which was a massive upgrade compared to the generic black combat boots she had before. Even having a similarly reinforced left glove, Katalie's right glove was just a generic, light gray fingerless glove, showing that whoever designed it did so with Katalie's new ChainSAW in mind: Right hand's safe behind the gun and more dextrous to operate the trigger, left hand is out in front holding the overhead grip and more armored to protect it from stray fire.

"I wouldn't be surprised, but according to Elise, it's…..well, you better read it yourself." Katalie admitted, passing a little paper-note to the Zombie. Presumably having come from the same crate as the new outfit, Katalie didn't sound depressed, more at a loss for words as to how she'd describe this Elise person's message. Humoring the Ogre and reading it, the Zombie had never met this 'Elise' character, but nonetheless got a good impression of her bluntness with what it said:

Hey Katalie,

Me and Saleen have been trying to get this together for a while, and we finally got it done: Brand new armor for you. Better protection on your feet (No idea how you never lost a toe with those shitty boots before), now your left hand's covered good, and you've got actual face-protection now! Seriously, how'd you never die with just that crappy-looking skull bandana on your face? And really, skulls? Skulls? I know you were a warfighter in the Middle-East, but come on girl, have some originality. Also, Luke wants to paint up a nice design to go on the front of your new (bulletproof) mask, but he wanted to check in with you on what you want on there, so go see him when you get back. Which, speaking of that, it's custom, so don't think you can go headbutting .338s and just buy another one online. It'll stop a .338 Lapua (If you were wondering), but it wasn't cheap to have made. Coat's as good or better than your old one, and now you don't look like some edglordy little shit, so maybe you'll get some respect out of the others when you wear it.

"Well, she's….opinionated….who is she, anyway?" Zom noted, admittedly sidewinded by how this Elise figure just slammed Katalie through a handwritten note. Having only been with the gang for a month or so, Zom met some of the more critical members to know, like Saleen, but hadn't gotten around to meeting everybody there was to meet; namely these Luke and Elise people. Given Katalie wasn't hurt by the comments, it seemed like the bluntness was almost part of this Elise person's charm.

"She's a Monster, but trust me when I say you would not believe me if I told you what kind….She tells Saleen what guns and ammo to order, fixes up and modifies guns, and even does custom-work if you want. In fact: Melik's two guns were designed to shoot .40 Smith, but he got her to do a little custom mod-work and tweak some parts to work with 10mm. Since we don't have a dedicated metalworker, I guess my new getup got thrown in her lap too." Katalie chuckled, just sitting around with her coat on but undone and wide open, wearing an indistinct black tank-top along with her new, custom-armored pants/boots.

Holding the mask in her hands, it was most-definitely a custom job, being a flat panel facing forward from the nose down to the chin, two side-panels on the sides of that one, and a relatively round, skull-fitting upper region with individual, reinforced glass-protected eye-sockets that were tinted a matching grey color. Designed to be as lifeless and faceless as possible, the mask combined with the hood meant anybody on the opposing side saw nothing but an 8' soulless monolith with a big gun spewing rounds downrange and not dying when it got shot. The one deviation from a normal human mask being the forehead-hole to slot her horn through, the blood-red color of Katalie's horn was an interesting juxtaposition against the all-grey mask.

"And Luke? Is he anything special?" Zom wondered, always interested to know more about her new family. Admittedly liking Katalie's new armor more than the old setup, Katalie's ho-hum demeanor still bugged the Zombie, like there was some underlying issue she couldn't pin down just yet. Not really knowing Katalie very well either, the only people Zom did know very well besides Manako were Aderyn and Silver, both of whom she'd effectively ran with nonstop since joining without giving most-anybody else any consideration.

"Nah, he's just a human…good kid, think he's about nineteen or so. He's in college learning about chemical reactions and all that to try and make us stuff like poisons and explosives, which you'd never figure if you talked to him. I wouldn't call him crazy, but I think he really biases more towards liking Monsters than he does humans. He's also an artist on the side, which; if I remember right, another of Elise's notes mentioned he drew up a logo for the gang and slapped on the side of Mana's new rifle. Gonna have to go back and check again." Katalie explained, referring to the brand new sightless rifle Manako got. Assuming Manako probably got a similarly no-BS message from Elise about the benefits of not using an old WWII bolt-action that was designed to be made en-masse, Zom took more interest in Katalie for the moment.

"I'll have to meet him…but, come on Katalie, what's going on? You look…bothered. Miss your old coat?" Zom pitched, not knowing any details like a love-life, sports interests, other personal endeavors, anything that might be up-ended and cause Katalie to mellow down as hard as she was right now. Unfortunately, as it turns out, the real explanation was a bit deeper-rooted than that. "Look: if I help you get your hands on Silver on the ride back, will you tell me?"

"…..alright, you've got a deal." Katalie couldn't help but smile, conceding that, for all the things the Zombie didn't know about her, an incredible fondness for the New York furball was one thing they both had. "Well, you probably saw Elise mention the Middle-East in that note, so I guess I'll start there…I was born in a village along the Dead Sea, along with a bunch of other Ogre-types. Some were actual Ogres like me, but we also had some Onis and Trolls. Not any Gigantes though… I grew up there, no real hassle from any humans, no serious hardships, but eventually, me and the Matriarch, an Austrian-born Oni named Claudia, wanted to help the clan out. We decided to steal some guns, I got that other coat fashioned for me by some of the people in the village, and we got in contact with the U.S. government."

"Wait, you were a merc? Fighting in a real warzone?" Zom looked for clarification, feeling this was a step above her own experiences. Truthfully not remembering much of anything about her pre-M.O.N. days, Zom had seen combat and death, but not in an all-out no-laws mess like a Middle-Eastern country in turmoil. For her, it just went from being on the lawful side of S.W.A.T. vs Robbers to the lawless side of S.W.A.T. vs Robbers.

"Yep! The U.S. government knew about Monsters way before your government let it out…..in fact, I bet plenty of governments knew, Japan was just the first to grow some balls and announce it to the public. Anyway, you know the U.S.: If they can get an underhanded, easy way into getting things done, with as little cost to them as possible, they're gonna take it. So, we offered up a deal: They give us and our village transport to the U.S. after the contract is over, and in the meantime, we enforce U.S. interests under the table. On the surface, we're just a couple mad-ladies with guns randomly picking fights around town, but we're actually doing the hits the U.S. would never survive getting linked to. We didn't just shoot terror-groups, also had to attack some of the States' allies under the guise of that 'mad ladies with guns' schtick to coerce them in ways the U.S. wouldn't pull off by their own hand." Katalie explained, resting her forearms on her knees and she leaned forward, thinking back on the whole ordeal.

"So….how long did that go on for?" Zom inquired, taking a more passive approach upon realizing she could be stepping into the realm of PTSD with this conversation. Figuring Katalie's mellowed-out demeanor could be some kind of 'pre-game' back into the meat grinder-type slowdown, only time would tell if bugging Katalie with this conversation would help or hurt the Ogre for the heist ahead.

"That was about….six years she and I were doing that. Jumped in when I was twenty-two, and when our 'contract' was over, we were gonna get flown to the U.S. ahead of the village and make sure the whole deal was solid before we tell anybody where the village was at. I landed at DFW airport, Claudia wasn't on the flight with me, and when I got off as planned, I had a whole FBI crew with their guns aimed on me, so it was a complete setup. Thankfully the dumbasses forgot my coat was more than just some rinky-dink trench coat, so I at least had some good protection while I got far away from the airport. Police had some on/off manhunts looking for a big scary lady with a horn on her forehead, and eventually, Saleen picked up my trail and sent Aderyn after me. I joined on the spot, and two years later, here I am tellin' you about it in a dingy-ass warehouse in Vegas. Funny how life works out….." Katalie laughed slightly, finding her rollercoaster-life to be a bit humorous in retrospect.

"How old is Aderyn anyway? Doesn't exactly look like she's entering her forties…" Zom noted, having been too busy enjoying an off-the-leash life of indulgent violence and criminal activity for the past month to really stop and ask Aderyn for her age. Getting a far from expected answer, the twenty-two-year-old Zombie was incredibly happy that she hadn't turned up two years earlier once this explanation hit her ears.

"She's eighteen now…back when she found me, she was a sixteen-year-old who'd hardly been in the gang for more than a few months, and yet she was still just as headstrong then as she is now. I'd expect gang-life to chew up and spit out most teenagers, but her? She just got better over time." Katalie joked, realizing shortly after that there was a sort of elephant in the room that she'd need to address very fast. "Oh, uh, if you're wondering, the whole thing with Aderyn having a boyfriend was…..complicated. It wasn't really what I'd call a relationship; more she loved him, and he tried to keep her at arm's length so he wasn't breaking any laws. Once she hit eighteen, he kinda let her get closer, but he was stillreallyoff about it…but hey, now she's got you."

"True….still wish I could've met him. But, back on topic: What's got you goin' slow like this? Pre-fight PTSD flashes?" Zom finally pitched, just being blunt about the matter to avoid any possible dodging and conversation-diversions the Ogre might try. Admittedly wishing she could keep talking about Aderyn's odd preferences, especially when you start to consider Aderyn's 'friend' Olianna from back in Japan, the blonde Zombie's incredible preference for older love was probably just another in a list of multiple head-problems the teenage gang-leader had going on. Looking like she finally got caught, the heavily-tanned Ogre finally said it straight.

"Yeah….our in-house medical specialist, Maddy, is married to a college-grad psychologist; he and I sat down and had a few chats…..He thinks it's PTSD from six straight years living in the Middle-East, going hit to hit and gunfight-to-gunfight with nearly every faction in play over there, and honestly, I kinda believe it…he suggested I retire from the whole combat thing and just get a job moving boxes for Saleen, but I could never do that. Even if she doesn't need it, it just wouldn't feel right hangin' up my coat and letting Aderyn get shot at instead. She got me out of my bend with the cops, so it just feels right to pay her back, y'know? Besides, when I actually get to the fighting, I get…into it, as you probably noticed. It's just before that where I get hit with this bad slump." Katalie figured, not quite able to put her finger on just what exactly changed once she properly got into the fight.

"I know the feeling…but hey, if you ever did hang up your coat, maybe I can wear it. I'd certainly get enough cover out of it." Zom joked, underestimating why only the Ogre got their hands on one. Seeing a challenge, Katalie stood up and pulled her coat off, turning it so the inside was facing Zom. Ready to prove her point, the Zombie stood up silently in preparation to catch it, not expecting the sheer weight of the giant, grey coat as it took her right over upon landing on her. The large Ogre quite literally just tossing it on Zom with both hands, the heavy-duty coat fell in a heap on the floor like Zom wasn't even there….aside from said Zombie being stuck under it.

"Still think it's so easy?" Katalie teased, pulling her coat off the Zombie and putting it back on again. Not wounded or suffering any bent limbs in any way, the slightly winded Zombie nonetheless got the point loud and clear as to why Katalie was the one wearing the big bulletproof coat. Primarily surprised by how heavy the coat was, the extreme weight at least started to give an idea on how it was so effective. Hardly an expert on Ogre craftsmanship, Zom figured it most likely came down to immensely thick, strong fibers in the coat's composition that were simply too dense/tough for most bullets to tear through easily.

Spotting some bruising and other marks on Katalie's arms before she threw the coat on, the next logical assumption was that the coat stopped the projectile and most of the kinetic energy, while Katalie's stubborn, hard-hide physiology as an Ogre simply soaked up whatever remained of said kinetic energy. Essentially meaning a normal human would probably suffer organ damage via repeated kinetic energy-transfer on top of physical fatigue from the coat's weight, and it made perfect sense why these kinds of coats weren't being made for everybody.

"How much does that damned thing weigh anyway?! No wonder you hardly have an ass; you probably burn it all off schlepping that thing on your back for every job!" Zom asked in an exasperated, confused tone as she sat up; her previously normal-looking hair now being a bit frazzled and bed-headed from the coat getting dumped on her. Making a jab at how Katalie's backside was wide, but nearly board-flat, the Zombie always chalked it up to genetics or Katalie's immense height, but now, she figured it was probably due to the physical exertion needed just to walk and run with what felt like a nearly fifty-pound coat on.

"Now you see why I can't just quit, especially without Claudia around anymore. I got off at DFW, had that whole fiasco, and that was the end of that. I don't wanna try and get in touch with the village either since I don't want the government tracking it and doing something to them too. Maybe she's back at the village, maybe she's dead….I really don't know." Katalie explained, showing she had more than one moral obligation in play here. Helping the Zombie up, things came to enough of a satisfactory conclusion for Zom to listen to the Ogre's next sentence. "Why don't you go see what some of the others are doing? I'm gonna get my stuff together and wait in the van."

Letting the Ogre go, Zom adjusted her shirt collar and suit just a tad after being roughed up by Katalie's coat before looking for Manako. Finding the Monoeye sniper seated on the floor, the similarly short Monster was actually on her phone for once, leaving her new rifle propped against a wooden crate behind her. Taking a seat next to her ex-M.O.N. friend, a quick peek over Manako's shoulder revealed she was actually reading a Wikipedia page of all things, and specifically about somebody they just so happened to meet recently.

"Hey, Zom, take a look…..I thought the name rung a bell, so I looked Moriko up online; sure enough, I found this." Manako started to explain, passing her phone to Zom so the undead gangster could read it for herself. Seeing a picture of Moriko's armor in a glass case, the picture looked awfully familiar, but was something she'd save for after reading this description:

Mentioned vaguely in literature dating back to the early 1500s, Nakamura Moriko (Also known as TetsuKata Onna (lit. the Iron Sword Woman)) first consistently appeared in historically-accurate texts dating back to 1535 with the death of Oda Nobunaga's mentor, Hirate Masahide. Not dressed or disciplined like more traditional Onna-Bugeisha, Moriko was described as towering over fellow soldiers, with some sources claiming her to be around 6'5". While the reasons behind it remain a matter of debate, all historical accounts refer to Moriko being a 'looming shadow' on Nobunaga's shoulder, as well as one of his most commonly-employed assets during war-time.

One of the best examples of this was the Battle of Okehazama in 1560, where she is believed to have helped Nobunaga defeat the army led by the Daimyo Imagawa Yoshimoto, a force which was several times larger than Nobunaga's. Last seen in the days following Nobunaga's death in 1582, Moriko vanished after this, and is believed to have retreated to Aokigahara, where she sleeps to this day. While no body was ever found, a set of unusual, ancient armor matching historical depictions of Moriko provides strong proof to her existence; however, the matter of what she was is still a topic of debate. Most historical sources believe her to be a living Tengu, but paintings from the period which depict her functioning after being decapitated have led some scholars to reconsider their stance; suggesting she may have been the first recorded case of human interaction with a Dullahan in Japan.

The armor and accompanying weaponry being carbon-dated to the 15th century, the armor appears to be reminiscent of Japanese designs, but the blade bears a strong resemblance to German Kriegsmesser swords; possessing a similar grip and cross-guard. Due to the presence of Irish symbolism on the grip, theorists have failed to determine where Moriko originated and where she'd simply traveled in her years. The sword's dull, rectangle-blade design matching no other archaeological discoveries to date, the edgeless blade is believed to be a lightning-rod for some kind of metaphysical power exhibited by Moriko. More specifically, it has been suggested that Moriko utilized her soul or life-essence to enhance the blade's cutting power by enacting splitting force on the world itself, with the blade as little more than a catalyst to transfer that power. All attempts by human testers to even cut paper with the blade have failed miserably.

In Winter of 2012, the Heiseikan building of the Tokyo National Museum (where Moriko's excavated armor and weaponry were stored) was broken into in broad daylight, and all items relating to the exhibit were stolen. Reportedly taken by a 6'5" blue-skinned woman, sightings of the armor in action committing attacks on Yakuza members suggest that Moriko has risen once again, attacking various crime groups for unknown reasons. Her attacks in Japan ending with the death of Yakuza member Yamashita Masato, Moriko has since exited Japan; being spotted along the West Coast of the United States as of Summer 2014.

"So….our newest member's a fuckin' relic? And, actually….didn't we get called out to the Heiseikan building once about a break-in and theft? Pretty sure Darling and his Lamia girl were there to give a witness report on it…" Zom thought, wracking her brain trying to remember the incident. Recalling some smashed display cases, as well as a set of stolen armor, sword, naginata and old matchlock rifle; all the pieces clicked in place when she remembered reading the plaque near the displays out of curiosity, which mentioned much of the same info she had just read on Manako's phone. "That was her! Huh…funny how small the world can be sometimes."

"It gets worse….here, take a look:" Manako instructed, having taken back her phone and swapped tabs on the browser app to something else she had saved. Being a story on a Japanese news-site, Manako put a lot of emphasis on some pictures that were present in the article. Seeming painfully familiar, this wasn't familiar in the 'Heh heh, small world' way, but rather familiar in the 'What the fuck, Smith?!' way.

"Wait, is that…..us?! And why the flying fuckin' hell is my hair red?!" Zom couldn't help but raise her voice as she stared at the picture, seeing a side-by-side lineup outside of a dōjin shop in Japan that consisted of Tio, Doppel, and what looked to be some kind of doppelgängers of her and Manako. The other-Zom looking fairly spot-on aside from no faint green tint in her skin, different eye colors, as well as red hair instead of dark green hair, the other-Manako was far more accurate. The only noticeable difference between the two Monoeyes being her hair was an incredibly dark, muted shade of purple while the Manako here in Vegas had outright black hair, it was a much easier difference to miss than the two Zoms. "Yours looks pretty good, so why the hell does mine have a damned tomato-head?!"

"That's what you're worried about? Not Smith replacing us?" Manako pointed out, having shown the pic with the intention of 'Smith has truly left us', not 'Look how different other-you looks'. Almost sounding disappointed in the Zombie, Zom came right back with a solid answer that even Manako couldn't deny.

"Come on, it's not like we were going back anyway…you really expect me to believe you'd just up and leave Melik to go back to Japan?" Zom teased, poking fun at how immensely close the Monoeye and faceless shapeshifter had gotten in the past month. Personally crediting it to the fact that Melik (unless using a disguise) didn't even have visible eyes to break eye-contact from Manako with, the Zombie was too happy about her friend finally finding somebody to ever poke fun at that little detail out loud. Unfortunately, since she brought up the concept at all, she was wide open to get as good as she gave.

"Well, you and Silver aren't much different…" Manako blushed and looked away, essentially trying to say the pot was calling the kettle black here. Conceding that she was liking the Kobold a fair bit, Zom had enough sense to divert topics before Manako called her out on getting close to both Silver and Aderyn, making her twice as guilty of creating a reason to stay compared to the Monoeye.

"Alright, fair, but Silver's kind of a teddy bear…haven't really seen a woman in the gang who doesn't like him to be honest; just some of us like him a bit more than others." Zom admitted, trying to lessen the blow a tiny bit. Using Manako's new rifle as a good diversion, the Zombie snatched it up before laying it across her lap, curious to see what it was like. "Nice gun….did'ja order it, or was it a surprise gift?"

"Surprise gift, but I still like it…..much smoother than the Mosin too." Manako confirmed, passively sitting by as Zom inspected the gun. Being an Arctic Warfare Magnum sniper with a white body, the .338-firing rifle had neither a scope nor even iron-sights on it, instead being just an empty picatinny rail, which was far more reminiscent of the rifles Manako had access to in Japan. Even having some custom additions, the two most obvious ones were the addition of a small fabric holder fitted around the stock, which carried more .338 Lapua rounds in a manner reminiscent of a shotgun shell-rack; as well as a small patch stuck on the right side of the gun. Said patch being placed just under the ejection port, the logo this Luke person designed was simple, but still interesting.

Being a dead-on view of a short-horned bull skull with a grey background, the white skull had a series of black stars spread out across the upper right region, just above the right eye. The lower and middle parts of the skull having black horizontal lines going across them, the lines were far enough apart that the gaps in between looked like white, alternating stripes by contrast, giving the whole thing a look resembling a black and white American flag imprinted on this bull's skull. Vague enough to not beat anybody over the head with any specific opinion or subject, it still made a good enough impact to be fitting as a general Venue logo.

"Hey, you two ready to get goin'? Gonna knock the place right over like a bunch'a good ol' Prohibition Gangsters." Aileen interrupted, walking up and gently chucking a matching black fedora to each of them. Wearing the same two-piece suit and dress shirt getup as everyone else, the 6'6" Minotaur had the small caveat of needing to have the top of her shirt split open like Zom did, purely because the biggest dress shirt the Venue had on-hand without getting measurements and scratching one up on short notice was still not quite big enough for her. As a backup plan, the big Minotaur was still wearing her black tank top underneath, the edges of which could barely be seen poking out from behind her dress shirt.

Getting some odd looks for the decision at first, the big Minotaur put it best that 'If this fancy shirt decides it's had enough and a button or two happen to go lethal on me, I wanna have somethin' made for my size on underneath'. The pants being a far easier matter, the only odd-looking thing there was how Aileen's physiology meant her pants simply stopped at around where a human ankle would be, leaving a small tuft of white fur and a hoof below that. Echoing the 'Big Zom' feeling even more due to the shirt, the two had already made a joke over the weekend wondering who was the upsized/downsized 'copy' of the other.

The two piece suit/fedora getup being more than just a joke about copying Melik or imitating Prohibition Gangsters, the real reason was to hopefully delay the Snakes from figuring out too fast that it was a Venue hit. Figuring this matching getup would be at least a bit more subtle than simply walking in with their favorite outfits like Zom's bomber jacket, Aderyn's bikini-top or Silver's dark red track pants/jacket, the disguise was topped off with a half-face balaclava for each of them to pull up, which would hamper facial recognition from survivors as well. Not exactly getting a rousing response from Mana or Zom, the green-haired Zombie simply wasn't 'adjusted' to committing crimes on this scale just yet. Somewhat coming to terms with the fact that she'd be going up against properly trained professionals (S.W.A.T. team) that had a higher risk of hitting her in the head, a few more grandiose heists would probably have Zom right back to her gleeful, carefree self during jobs of this size.

"Ah come on, quit bein' a stiff…..sure, what we're goin' into ain't exactly a day at the spa, but ya gotta take this shite head-on and go for it, otherwise you're just gonna be bleak and miserable 'till it's actually over. Gotta live it up while you're livin', otherwise you're just bein' dead in advance." Aileen tried to pep-talk in a bizarre way, feeling like Zom's suddenly not exuberant behavior wasn't much different from Katalie 'mellowing down' not long ago. Essentially telling her to loosen up a bit, the Minotaur offered a helping hand with her words of Irish wisdom, helping Zom to her feet.

"For a plus-sized knockoff, you make a good point…" Zom teased, deciding to avoid any snarky remarks about technically being dead already anyway. Narrowing one eye at it, Aileen recognized the jab, but wasn't bothered too much by it.

"Very funny…why not we see who ends up gettin' more kills after this: Loser's the knockoff." Aileen suggested as she walked off, most likely going to get her gun and head out to be with Katalie. Moving to get her own AKMS, the admittedly brain-damaged Zombie still couldn't help but think on what separated them from the Snakes: The Snakes were a ruthless, all-business cutthroat syndicate from Haiti, and the Venue was….a bunch of randomly-recruited Monsters and Monster-sympathetic humans in street clothes being led around by a teenage Zombie-girl and getting their intel/connections from a scary spider-lady who'd tricked an entire city into believing an abandoned warehouse district was 'haunted' by some kind of mythical creature.

Admittedly realizing their chances of success sucked when it was put like that, the Zombie had to very quickly course-correct her brain to focus on the execution of things: the Snakes were just a heartless machine of a group that used Monsters for either low-value muscle or empty figurehead positions, and shamelessly ruined/took the lives of anybody they didn't stand to make a profit on keeping alive. By contrast, the Venue, while guilty of cop-murder on multiple occasions, weren't the rampantly civilian-slaughtering group of gangsters bordering on terrorists that the Snakes were.

Backed up further by how the Venue's members were all on equal ground save for a basic chain of command rather than the lives of the lowest members being treated as worth less than those above them, and the slant of who was technically 'better' than the other became a bit more apparent. Chuckling at the thought of the Venue almost being like some vigilante, anti-gang-yet-is-a-gang M.O.N. in the States, Zom figured her redheaded other-self could keep her slot in M.O.N., as this Zom had other wars to wage.

A few hours later, inside the Don Dragna Casino….

Dressed up in the same black suit and tie as she always was for work, Hana was massively banking on the hope that the Snakes' preference for executing higher-ranking members in secret meant word of her being a turncoat hadn't reached the staff of the Don Dragna just yet. Unable to hide her limp as she schlepped in with a generic black cane in her left hand, the white-haired Dragonewt needed the added stability to help her wounded leg compensate for what she was carrying. Oddly having two bags on her, hanging near Hana's left hip was a black messenger bag, and hanging under her right arm was a waterproof duffel bag that was packed to the brim with something. Having made no mention before work as to what it contained, the Dragonewt just limped on by the main floor in hopes nobody would care too much.

The casino being a two-floor setup, the second floor was about as high off the ground as a third floor normally would be, and overlooked an expansive ground floor with a flashy, yet exceptionally sturdy aquarium. The aquarium glass literally being the ground for the majority of the first floor, the only solid concrete/rug flooring was along the first floor's perimeter; up a tiny set of six stairs so that, if for some unthinkable reason the aquarium were to shatter, there was still some solid ground to stand on. The back wall of the main floor having a pair of massive, roof-reaching golden statues; the actually-stone-but-cheaply-painted-gold statues were a pair of trench coat/fedora-wearing Prohibition-style gangsters brandishing Thompsons, which admittedly contributed to the idea for the Venue's disguise to follow a similar aesthetic.

Unable to deny her appreciation for the red carpet/gold gilding aesthetic of the pricy, fancy casino, the Dragonewt's attachment ended at the decor, having always been well aware that her use to the Snakes was just for good business PR to say 'Hey, we hired a Monster and made her manager!', as well as the financial benefits for doing so. Ceasing to think on it further as she limped to the central security room in the back areas of the first floor, Hana's need to go right for security was a dual-purpose one, as not only was it where she'd find the CCTV recordings, it was also directly linked to the casino's vault. Using her keycard access to get in, it was a far easier method than coming in loud, as the door would've been mag-locked and the card reader disabled if the alarms were tripped by now.

"Hey, Hana! I heard some shit went down at the estate….everyone alright over there?" A female Lizardman in a similar outfit sprung from her chair to ask, being decently-acquainted friends with Hana. Making sure the door was firmly shut behind her, Hana dropped the duffel bag off her right shoulder, which hit the ground with an exceptionally prominent thud reminiscent of an entire body being stuffed inside. Hana's Lizardwoman friend evidently missing the very faint swear in annoyance that the bag made upon being dropped, things sprung into action when Hana took her cane in both hands, swiftly bashing her friend in the cheek with the top of it. Knocking the Lizardwoman off-kilter, Hana very quickly swapped her grip on her cane to hold sideways with both hands.

"When you wake up, try and get down to Texas….trust me." Hana whispered in her friend's ear,locking the cane against the Lizardwoman's throat. The Dragonewt at least having the decency to try and incapacitate her friend rather than outright choke the lizard to death, the human partner running the show back here was far less lucky as a matte-black finger poked up through the tiny gap in the zipper on the top of Hana's duffel bag. Pushing on the zipper to open the bag from inside, the tightly-compacted Ailsa (dressed in a black bikini bottom and matching wetsuit top) sat up inside her duffel-bag, drawing an S&W M&P45 Compact to kill the human Snakes member with a few rapid shots. Barely getting out of his rolling office-chair before he went limp, let alone manage to draw his gun, the tiny two-person staff was technically brought down to zero with one dead and one unconscious as Hana used a countertop to pull herself up to a standing state.

"Well then…ya do that for a livin'?" Ailsa joked, referring to how effortlessly Hana subdued the demihuman security officer with a cane, which was far from marketed as a purpose-built choking tool. Laying her messenger bag on the countertop and opening it, Hana first fished out her gun, an original-style .45 Ingram MAC-10 with the stock closed in and the classic grip-strap dangling below the barrel. Dumping out the rest of the bag's contents for easy separation, the two types of items inside were more MAC-10 mags and more compressed, folded up waterproof duffel bags similar to the one Hana had smuggled Ailsa inside of. Setting the duffel bags off to one side, the bags were for Ailsa, while the MAC-10 mags were for Hana, who wouldn't be going with the Scylla.

"When I was with the Cosa Nostra, yeah…how about, if we make it outta this, I'll tell you more, va bene? (alright?)" Hana proposed, locking a mag into place and putting the spare mags back in the messenger bag before slinging it across her chest. Passing the duffel bags over to Ailsa, the Italian Dragonewt thankfully knew the way things worked enough to give her new Scylla friend some definitive info about what to expect. "Door to the vault's just through here…off on the left's a maintenance hallway for handling shit with the aquarium. No guards, and the staff for the aquarium get called in when they're needed, so once we get the vault open, you're home free. Think you can make it?"

"Yeah, I'll be fine….youworry about not gettin' shot much more 'fore I get a chance for you to grow on me some." Ailsa teased in hopes of lightening the mood a bit, feeling confident in regards to her chances of getting out. Hana having fished the dead human's keycard from his pocket, it was thankfully undamaged by Ailsa's gunfire, enabling the two to get past the large bank-style vault's two-keycard authentication system. Chucking the card to Ailsa while she used her own, Hana slotted her card in and let it do its thing, moving to say one last thing to the Scylla.

"And you better not get lost somewhere in the sewers…..otherwise, you'll never know what you're missin'." Hana teased back, placing one hand on Ailsa's cheek to cant the Scylla's head up at her. Admittedly having a bit of that Dragonewt ego to it, the gesture was nonetheless appreciated as the two Monsters parted ways, Hana waiting for the vault door to completely open before she set off the silent alarms. The Dragonewt's involvement admittedly giving them the option to just boost the money quietly, not only would the smokescreen of a guns-blazing shitstorm give the Snakes other concerns to address once the crew was out of Vegas, talking Aderyn out of causing the Snakes some more financial damage was a nigh-impossible feat.

Meanwhile, in the back of a white cargo van outside the casino…

"And…there we go! Hana tripped the silent alarm, cops are probably gonna be inbound in a few minutes. That'll give you enough time to get inside and get Manako upstairs. And remember, try to not kill civilians on purpose, but if one pulls a gun, they're as good as dead. Just hold off the police and wait for Ailsa to call that she's clear." Saleen explained over the phone, having been watching local channels in Vegas for the silent-alarm trip and subsequent cop notification. Using the alarm-trip as Hana's flare gun of sorts to tell the rest of the crew to come in, it was nothing but combat from here. Zom, Aderyn, Manako, Silver, Melik and Aileen all pulling their half-face balaclavas up into place, the usually-faceless shapeshifter had the face of a random Hispanic man on to avoid implicating the Venue right away, as he was the only white-headed faceless Monster in the States as far as he knew.

Katalie and Moriko being in their respective grey-colored armor-getups, the helmets and bulletproof masks were on, leaving nothing left but swinging the doors open and piling out, guns in hand and messenger bags full of ammo hanging off the hip to survive the coming siege. The mainstay members using their favorite guns, from Zom's AKMS to Aderyn's custom Mossberg 590, Silver's FAMAS-G2, Katalie's new ChainSAW, Melik's UMP 40 and Manako's new Arctic Warfare Magnum sniper, the two new people had some new guns as well. Admittedly not expecting her to use it, the Dullahan Moriko was given the oddball Z-M LR-300, a strange burst-fire AR-15 offshoot that wouldn't break the bank if she rejected it; mostly since it came out of Brightwater's pocket to begin with.

The grey AR being accepted and used by the tall samurai, the 6'5" Dullahan carried it in both hands, relegating her sword to its sheath until actively needed. Filling a demolitions role of sorts, the heavily-armored Dullahan was not only the one carrying their demolition charges and the accompanying blasting caps/DUKE USTI-ECO blasting machine to set it off, she also had some 40mm shells jangling around in a second bag along with her rifle's magazines, which an underslung grenade launcher affixed to her gun would make great use of very soon.

Aileen having a much more basic role by comparison, the 6'6" cow was given an RPK for the sake of sharing ammo with Zom should one run out of spare ammo before the other. Carrying a large quantity of AK-type drum mags as well, the three tall, physically imposing members of the group were all essentially ammo pack-mules to a certain extent, entirely to give the group more longevity in a long-winded fight. Moriko being first-up to the front doors, the slightly out-of-touch Dullahan must've taken the 'trash everything' directive a bit more literally than anticipated; using her armor's bulk and her own physical strength to just shoulder-bash the metal-framed, glass-paned front doors in. Effectively running through the door and making it bend without stopping her, the sound of glass shattering and metal whining at least made for a very good attention-grabber.

Happening across some security guards in the front lobby, said security guards were dressed in suits and ties with dinky little sidearms, not AR/SMG-wielding paramilitary-looking guards like with some of the Snakes' 'private' operations, which left them at even more of a disadvantage against the metal-clad Dullahan. Evidently not having much firearm experience, the Dullahan let off a fast trio of three-round bursts from her LR-300, still figuring out how to control the recoil as one guard went down and another ran for cover. Technically alone in the marble-floored, chandelier-lit lobby room due to his buddy being wounded and immobilized, the lone security guard was crouched behind a thick, rectangular support pillar, possibly trying to talk himself up in his head that he could do this.

Not getting a chance to put a plan into action, the sidearm-wielding gangster in disguise was instead taken out as Aderyn bluntly ran by on her way to the main floor, giving the security guard a single 12G Buckshot shell to the head before carrying on. The wounded security guard being taken out generously by Melik, the form-changing Noppera-bõ had the gentlemanly courtesy to stop and draw his P2000, transitioning his UMP 40 to his left hand before executing the wounded guard with a single, painless sidearm round to the forehead. Nobody understanding why the blank-faced shapeshifter did the things he did, the dapper Eldritch Monster at least didn't waste time tipping his hat as he pocketed his sidearm, righted his grip on his UMP, and followed his teammates into the main casino floor.

The reinforced aquarium-glass floor thankfully being more than capable of handling some hard impacts, the ground didn't even crack or whine as the Venue crew stormed the floor, the more human-sized members shouting for civilians to get down while the bigger members like Aileen and Moriko flipped some gambling tables on their side for cover. The tables surprisingly having a reinforced metal framework rather than being all wood and screws, Hana made light of the design choice before they came over. Specifically citing it as a contingency plan, the intention was to provide some actually useful cover should a shootout ensue on the main floor, which was a bit of a backfiring sting given the Venue was going to use the Snakes' own contingency plan against them. Moriko moving to set up the explosives on the two statues as instructed, Melik and Manako broke off to go set up in their perch.

"Just remember, I'll be right by you the whole time. Anybody tries to come up the elevator or out of the gambling rooms, I'll handle 'em." Melik reassured as he and Manako stepped in an elevator, going up to the high second-floor balcony to serve as a sniper/spotter combo once the police arrive. Making sure to not sound condescending in any way, the Noppera-bõ was instead simply trying to calm Manako's nerves, as this would be her first 'big' police raid while playing for the lawless side of things. Taking a deep breath and looking at Melik eye-to-eye, the shapeshifting Monster's sincerity in his words did a better job than he might've expected as the elevator door opened, leaving Manako to take the lead in setting up a spot. Figuring out a good spot along the second-floor balcony to be at, the Monoeye kept low, planning to not betray her presence until a cop needed his brains plucked out.

Melik taking an on-one-knee stance next to her, his job wasn't spotting kills for Manako like a normal spotter, but rather keeping his eyes on the various doors to more secluded, private gambling-rooms that lined the balcony they were on, ready to drop any Snakes security guard who might come out wanting to put a bullet in the back of Manako's head. Doubly useful given S.W.A.T. teams might get creative with their entry-points partway through the assault, things were an equally slow burn on the ground floor as Moriko rigged up the blasting caps for the C4 on the second statue's feet and linked it with the detonator.

"I'll admit, I've been on the wrong side'a the law before, but never in somethin' this big…ready to start countin' kills?" Aileen asked, referencing their earlier discussion as she sat next to Zom behind a sideways-flipped Poker table. Simply waiting for a police response now that the prep-work was done, the current mood was calm enough for the bit of mild banter. Some outlier Snakes security guards popping up every now and then, the scant amount of staff on a Monday that Hana promised meant, while things were easier, they were also more boring as Silver and Aderyn simply patrolled around, watching for any civilians on the ground that might try something funny. Startled out of the response she was going to give, Zom's attention was snapped away from the fact that one of Aileen's dress-shirt buttons 'went lethal' when a short burst of gunfire popped off.

Coming from Silver's FAMAS-G2, even Aderyn was surprised as she turned around; everyone seeing a civilian-dressed man with a Glock 26 in his right hand drop to his knees, then fall right over. Having been facing in the unaware Aderyn's direction, the concealed-carry wannabe-hero was spotted by Silver before he could brain the Venue leader, leaving him to instead be made as an example when the Kobold sent a burst into his jacketed back. Admittedly surprised by how quickly and ruthlessly the Kobold went right to outright murder, Aileen remembered Saleen saying armed civvies were fair game, but truly wasn't expecting the furball of all people to jump on it.

"Shite…and here I thought you guys just had him around as a cuddle-toy or somethin'." Aileen admitted, having written the Kobold off due to his friendly demeanor and lack of any significant piercings, tattoos, or scars. Going right into patting down the dead man's body to ensure he didn't have any other guns or knives on him, the Kobold's immediate transition into a search procedure indicated he'd been around this block a few times before.

"Mostly he's a courier and parkour-runner, but I heard he was doing that work for the Triads up in LA before Melik recruited him. Saleen likes sending him and some other people to 'rough up' distributors and other criminals that screw with us in stupid ways, so he's had to shoot people plenty of times…..doesn't help that he gets a bit cold-hearted when you threaten the people he likes." Zom noted, having seen enough in a month's time to somewhat feel out Silver's demeanor.

"So he isn't gonna have a moral dilemma every time he's gotta shoot somebody…..nice. The hell's with the name though?" Aileen wondered, everyone except Zom, Manako and Melik having very human-like names. Silver not even being a dog-pun, the Zombie at least had some kind of an answer.

"All I know is it isn't his real name. He said he grew up in New York City and moved to Japan after his cousin set up some kind'a gym over there….Eventually he moved back to the States, and uses Silver as a fake name so his cousin doesn't find out where he is and tries to come see him. He wouldn't tell me why he came back here, but if I had to guess, she was probably a lunatic." Zom chuckled, having a theory as to who Silver's cousin was. Only not sharing due to the massive amount of exposition needed for it to make sense to the Minotaur, the conversation was thankfully cut anyway when the First Responders finally turned up.

The giant Ogre with a belt-fed MG standing in the middle of the aquarium floor possibly adding to any hesitation the Snakes might've had in regards to fighting back more heavily, that same Ogre provided a jumpscare as some generic-looking beat-cops came onto the main floor. Entering through the two sets of fancy, high-quality wooden double-doors with sidearms drawn, the cops were evidently expecting far less than they got. Most likely only planning for one or two stupid humans with sidearms, even just the big Ogre staring them down in a concealing grey getup was enough to make both pairs of beat-cops nope the hell back through the doors from which they came. Not even firing a shot, it was a safe assumption they were going to call in their findings and go right to the S.W.A.T. team.

The Vegas S.W.A.T. crews being closer on-hand than anticipated, a Snakes guard might've phoned in with info about the Venue's numbers and equipment before the beat-cops arrived, bringing their response-times closer in sync than usual. Not blindly rushing in guns-blazing like how a Snakes assault might, the green-BDU-clad S.W.A.T. crew was instead more careful and methodical, chucking in a few flashbangs to try and cover their approach. Knowing the tactic from plenty of previous scuffles with S.W.A.T. teams, Katalie was both the first to call out the enemy's flashbang usage, as well as the first to turn away; mitigating the effects and leaving her visually unimpaired to open fire on the advancing S.W.A.T. teams.

Some lucky members making it into cover behind some support pillars for the balcony, behind thick seating setups or behind some reinforced gambling tables of their own, others were unluckily winged by Katalie's controlled bursts of fire on their way in the door; prompting some members to hang back in the lobby. Essentially playing chicken with them more than anything else, the primary goal was buying Ailsa time to GTFO with their money while the cops focused on other things. Going more for suppressing fire rather than kill-shots as a result, that same suppressing fire made it easy for Hana to hobble out of the security room, MAC-10 in hand as she speed-limped to cover next to Aderyn.

"Wait, didn't you say the security room locks down when the alarm goes off?" Aderyn pointed out, finding it odd that Hana was out here and not trapped in the back. Currently using her Chiappa White Rhino revolver for more ranged shots, the Zombie leader's Mossberg was instead propped against the table she took cover behind, ready to be grabbed should an unexpected assailant flank around. Not angry that Hana was up here, the Italian Dragonewt's presence was just more unexpected than anything else.

"It locks down from the outside, only keycard that can get in is the District Head at that point, and that's above even me. District Head's never on-site until after something goes wrong, so Ailsa's got some peace and quiet while she loots the vault. Inside of the door's just a normal door-handle, so anyone inside can go out, but anybody outside isn't getting in." Hana explained, bringing clarity to how Ailsa wasn't possibly as good as dead without Hana watching her. Burst-firing her MAC-10 while her left hand firmly held the grip-strap, the Dragonewt's slightly above-human strength didn't make the .45 bullet-hose a precision weapon by any means, but certainly made it a threat worth considering as more S.W.A.T. units tried to engage them.

Not purpose-built to fight Monsters like M.O.N. was, the Vegas S.W.A.T. team almost pitifully had no idea what to do, as application of their human-vs-human tactics was going over as well as jamming a square peg in a circular hole. Not made any easier by Katalie's coat and Moriko's angular, heavy-metal armor absorbing and deflecting rounds respectively, the two big bruisers were almost insulting the S.W.A.T. teams with how they shamelessly stood in open ground; 5.56 rounds from the S.W.A.T.'s Colt CAR-15s frustratingly doing nothing to stop either of them.

People like Hana and Aileen actually having something to fear as rounds whizzed overhead, even Zom and Aderyn were taking cover a bit more generously than usual given these weren't just dumb, untrained gangsters. The zombie law of 'destroyed brain = dead' still applying despite their otherwise total immortality, the concern was primarily in regards to any hidden designated-marksmen the S.W.A.T. might have, who would take one of the Zombies' heads off and nullify that supposed immortality. Thankfully seeming to lack one, the S.W.A.T. team were one-upped as the Venue's marksman took her first shot, ruining another S.W.A.T. attempt to close in and end the threat. Two members walking out as a pair, one wielding a ballistic shield while the other stayed close behind, Manako's angle on the whole affair let her skew that plan, braining the shield-wielding S.W.A.T. member first.

Now left with his metaphorical pants down and no cover to hide behind as his friend fell flat on the shield, the CAR-15-wielding second S.W.A.T. member was courteously given enough time to run and dive for cover behind a nearby bar at the back wall of the main floor. 7.62x39mm rounds from Zom only landing near him to…'motivate' him into moving, the S.W.A.T. teams didn't seem to realize how they were being played at the moment. The Snakes members getting less courtesy, the definitely not reinforced drink glasses and loose chips that made up the top of a Roulette table on the far-right side of the main floor were smashed and jostled as a suited man was thrown over the balcony, landing right on top of the table after a short, mid-fall scream.

Manako being intently focused on picking off S.W.A.T. members where she saw fit, the fact that Melik was peering over the balcony at the doomed Snakes member indicated the dead man most likely got ballsy coming out of a second-floor side room, only for the Eldritch shapeshifter to help him over the balcony in return. Looking at the ground as she sat in cover, Zom's mag-change in progress was delayed a bit as she caught sight of Ailsa, who was quietly swimming through the aquarium's artificial coral architecture immediately below her feet. The fish inside scattering and being scared off by the Monster, the Scottish Scylla had a waterproof duffel bag in each hand, with strong cables wrapped through the hand-loops to tether another fourteen matching bags behind her. Divided among her two hands for two 'trails' of eight tethered bags each, the Scylla gracefully swam right under the S.W.A.T. team's noses, heading for an access-point that would lead her into the sewers and off casino property with nobody even knowing.

Finishing her mag-swap with an unseen smile after witnessing Ailsa's exit strategy in effect, the plan was coming together, albeit becoming a bit more complicated as Saleen called in. Set up so any of them could pick up the call with their bluetooth earpieces, it let the update get around fast despite the frenetic gunfight as both sides traded fire in a more traditional, Hollywood-like gunfight. Possibly due to their conventional tactics failing, the S.W.A.T. team was forced to either throw tactics out the window and just shoot, flee the scene entirely, or call in their bigger, badder cousins. Unfortunately, they took the last option.

"Hey, guys…keep an eye out. I dunno how hard you're kickin' their asses, but they just authorized the FBI's HRT (Hostage Rescue Team), which are mobilized and inbound as we speak. They're all humans, but they're like the normal S.W.A.T.'s 1%, so keep an eye out for craftier tactics like counter-snipers and breaching ambushes. Might have better guns too." Saleen warned, giving the bare-minimum rundown for people like Zom, Manako or Aileen who'd never run into HRT before. Especially concerning given the massive skylight directly overhead, the thought of that smashing in followed by a rappelling from-above ambush was problematic at best. Already hearing the helicopters coming in, the non-armored members were on a hair-trigger to duck, mostly wary about a high-ledge sniper being deployed.

Getting a bit more aggressive in order to curb the total enemy headcount before the HRT reinforcements were on the ground, Moriko finally put that underbarrel grenade launcher to use, eyeballing it in hopes of landing a 40mm grenade right into the bar where a S.W.A.T. member dove for cover earlier. Landing the grenade better than she expected, the fact that the unlucky S.W.A.T. guy stood up to fire his rifle right before the grenade landed helped him in taking flight. Quite literally being propelled from within the bar due to the blast landing behind him, the hyperbolized body-launch made for a good two-bit laugh as the man was launched from the bar, coming to rest by crashing onto a Blackjack table on the aquarium floor.

"Who would've thought a couple-hundred-year-old samurai could have such a blowout win!" Aderyn joked in response to Moriko's 40mm kill, earning her an annoyed, light smack on the back of the head from Hana. Understanding right away that the joke was horrible, the teenage Venue-leader shrunk down slightly to concede about her bad joke before putting Moriko to more use. Yelling both her initial joke and her subsequent orders to the Dullahan, the far-from-perfect gang-leader didn't even factor in using her earpiece for that, instead just shouting the order like they didn't have the earpieces to begin with. "Hey, Moriko! Think you can hose those assholes hangin' out in the lobby?! If we don't, that plus the HRT is not gonna be fun!"

Setting her LR-300 rifle down by Zom and Aileen, the Dullahan oddly ran off left, towards a shadowy spot of the room where nobody could quite see too well. Not looking to have a door of any description, the shady corner still somehow enveloped the Dullahan, who seemed to disappear entirely. Some heads in the lobby turning shortly after, gunfire started to shift from aiming at Aderyn and the others to shooting at something in the lobby with the S.W.A.T. members. A few flecks of blood landing on the marble-flooring in the doorway, things soon got much more macabre as a severed arm holding the pistol-grip of a CAR-15 was flung past the doorway.

The upper half of a different S.W.A.T. member entirely also landing in view, the previously dug-in S.W.A.T. teams were completely up-ended as Moriko somehow found her way into the lobby, sword in hand as she patiently and methodically went from gunman to gunman. Wielding it with two hands like before, it was almost eerily elegant as Moriko cut down S.W.A.T. member after S.W.A.T. member; soon clearing the lobby of police presence in a bloody mess. Considering the job done, the Irish/Japanese Dullahan ran her blade between her armored left bicep and forearm, getting at least some of the blood off before sheathing it and running back to her teammates.

"The hell'd she do, some kind'a teleport thing?" Aileen wondered, absolutely baffled by how Moriko just appeared in the lobby behind enemy lines. Admittedly not a quiet run, the heavy-duty armor clanked, rattled and thumped loudly as Moriko hoofed it at about the pace somebody would expect of a normal human jogger. Only becoming scary when somebody considered the weight and bulk of her armor, the Dullahan didn't need to run as fast as a Land-Animal Harpy, as even at a jogger's pace, she was a walking freight train.

"I've heard some Dullahans can teleport….I dunno the science behind it, but frankly, I'm pretty sure everything about Moriko is giving science a big up-yours." Zom figured, not having answers to any of the scientific mysteries Dullahans posed, ranging from their detachable head to their out-of-body experience-giving capabilities. Teleporting between shadows just being another quirk on the list, it still didn't make Moriko anything less than utterly trash at stealth, but it was still a good ambush-tool for 'loud' scenarios like this one. Making it all the better that she was on their side regardless, Manako would get the same praise as the HRT's first attempted play came into effect.

Synchronizing their front-door entry with a rappel-breach into the second floor where Melik and Manako were, both those entry-points were to distract the Monsters from a pair of tall, rectangular glass-panes high along the main room's front wall being shattered. Not having any further-off adjacent buildings to set up in, the HRT's deployed sniper instead had to be close to the fight, planning on taking Katalie out first. The direction of the bang making most of the Venue crew's hearts drop in fear of their brains getting blown out, the sniper thankfully did nothing but telegraph his presence when the round pinged off Katalie's protective mask.

Rattling her brain enough to make her left hand let go of the forward grip and grab her mask, the Ogre made a slight adjustment after it was jostled, feeling the small groove cut into the mask where the .338 Lapua round grazed it. Thankfully not actually harmed in the slightest, the sniper wasn't a further issue when Manako got sight of him, returning the favor with an actually lethal headshot, followed by nailing the enemy spotter as well. Now with their sniper support down, the HRT team deployed on the side couldn't return the favor as they came onto the balcony; the point-man getting a face full of 10mm as Melik gridlocked them into a side-room. Made worse by Manako drawing her M&P .40, the fact that the enemy sniper-support was down meant, for at least a few moments, she could turn her attention to helping Melik with this side-room.

The ground floor feeling like more of the same from before, more flashbangs were tossed in, for which the Venue crew repeated their same procedure from the first time. Tear gas most likely not being involved for the sake of the hostages behind them, it was time for said hostages to go as another call came in, this time from a prepaid phone. Picking up the call, it was the best news all day.

"Hey, I smell pure rancid (smell really bad), but I got outta the sewers, currently sittin' pretty at the pickup point near I-15. Sooner ya get here, sooner the cops don't find me 'cause'a me smellin' like ass." Ailsa informed in her odd, Scot-slang-filled way to say they were clear to exit. With the HRT team on the second floor being dealt with, Melik and Manako were ready to get moving, taking a slower, but safer back-area staircase down to the first floor rather than the elevator, which would dump them out at the HRT's side of the fighting. Katalie yelling at the civilians to get up, it took a few seconds, as well as some repeated statements for it to fully process as the various civilians gradually got up and ran, causing the HRT to hold fire in order to not endanger civilian lives.

Using that cease-fire to their advantage, the more vulnerable members went first, with Aileen helping Hana limp along at a faster pace while Katalie and Moriko body-blocked any attempted fire as they ran to a side-room on the back right side of the main floor. Moriko making sure to grab the blasting machine on her way back, the Dullahan stretched the blasting caps' cables as far as she could to be as safe and away from the explosion as possible, thankfully going unnoticed when she turned away from the HRT teams. Not seeing the device in her hands, the Dullahan heard an all-clear callout once both a generous amount of HRT members were on the aquarium glass and no civvies were, leaving nothing but the fireworks.

Operating the detonator, both sets of blasting caps went off as intended, cleaving out the feet and shins of the two giant statues, as well as dazing and confusing the unaware HRT members. With their ears ringing and their senses dimmed, it was only after a short time that some of them noticed the statues coming down right onto the aquarium floor, which carried enough force to smash through the glass. Breaking apart massive chunks of reinforced glass and splashing up copious amounts of water in the process, the HRT members who weren't crushed by the statues were helplessly dumped into the water as the whole aquarium floor became one giant, deadly swimming pool. The Venue members thankfully all being on the solid outer region when the statues impacted, the extreme confusion was their ticket to get out.

Knowing exactly where to go thanks to the floor-plans they went over time and time again, the preparation was paying off as they found their way to an ugly, industrial-style loading bay for semi-trucks to dump off cargo; with the only hitch being all the garage doors were shut. Not wanting to sit and wait for one to slowly open, Moriko passed her LR-300 to Aderyn before drawing hersword and cutting two parallel, vertical gashes in the metal garage door. Going for a horizontal high slash that linked the two vertical ones, Moriko ended it with a low horizontal slash to make a complete square before kicking the center of the square; jettisoning a square-shaped chunk of garage door. Now able to walk right through the hole, things were still going according to plan as they found their escape; a trio of matching white cargo vans.

None of those being their vehicle, the Monsters were instead going to get in a completely different, ad-branded box-truck. The three 'escape vans' intentionally mirroring their arrival vehicle, said vans were being operated by one-off hired lackeys rather than real Venue members, and were here explicitly for the purpose of leading the police on a wild, high-speed, ill-fated chase while the box-truck peacefully exited through a different route at a calm, unsuspecting pace. Everyone piling into the back of the box-truck before the would-be driver closed the back door, they were well on their way to their ill-gotten earnings.

The next day, on a charter bus bound for Houston, Texas…..

"So, if ya don't mind me askin'…..why'd we play musical chairs with our cars on this one? All'a you turned up in one box-truck at the start of this, then that one got taken back south when stuff like Katalie's coat came in yesterday. Then we took a cargo van to the casino, that one parked 'round the side with a couple others, and we took a random, completely different box-truck instead to get out. Now that box-truck's haulin' its ass back south with Moriko's stuff and we're….on a charter bus with sixteen bags of loot in the underside? Why not just use the first box-truck for everythin'?" Aileen pointed out, asking Zom as the two rode in a rented charter bus bound for back home. Sitting next to Ailsa, the Minotaur was still easily able to hold a conversation due to Zom and Aderyn taking up the two seats directly opposite theirs.

"It throws the cops off. Saleen doesn't outright own everything in Texas, or even Houston, but she's got a big enough finger in enough different places that she can pull just about any string we need….so, what better string to pull than making the cops not know if they're lookin' for a box-truck, a cargo van, or a damned charter-bus? They're probably still holding an APB for a runaway white van." Zom chuckled, essentially likening the tactic to hiding something under one overturned cup, swiftly swapping its place multiple times with other cups, then making the cops guess which one the Venue crew and stolen money was under.

"I like it…..now, if it's alright: Now that me and Ailsa here are official members, mind if I ask how ya got into all this, Aderyn? Zom told me you're only eighteen…kinda reminds me of me, when I was a bit younger." Aileen related, being even older than Zom at twenty-four. All of them being out of their two-piece-suit getups from the heist, it was largely back to normal save for Zom wearing denim shorts instead of her normal cargo pants, Aderyn actually wearing her red flannel shirt for once, and Aileen having given her leather jacket to Moriko. The Dullahan not having any 'people clothes' that would've worked without recycling their currently-being-searched-for two-piece suit getups, she was instead stuck wearing the one-piece black, custom bodysuit she wears under her armor; simply wearing the leather jacket in hopes it'd make the lower half look like spandex or something else of the inconspicuous sort.

Hana begrudgingly going back to the minimalistic outfit she was stuck with back when she was being 'held hostage' so to speak for the same reason Moriko didn't just get Aileen's two-piece suit, Melik's lack of shapeshifting hair like Doppel meant he instead needed to rely on changing his identity entirely; taking the appearance of a random white man compared to the Hispanic look he used for the heist. Katalie's coat and 'new' pants going in the box-truck along with Moriko's heavy armor, the Ogre was instead dressed like Zom's usual preference, black tank top/pants/boots doing nothing to hide her physique, but most definitely keeping her out of the cops' spotlight.

"It's not really anything special, I'd say…me and my family went to Japan for my sixteenth birthday since we wanted to see what these half-human Monsters were like, and while we were there, a deranged-ass Zombie bit me, and uh…kinda killed me in the process, which is why it stuck. Now I know she was probably just drunk or somethin', but back then, we thought all Zombies were rampaging, wild lunatics like the ones you see in movies. So, when we were told I turned into one, my parents…left me. My dad punched me right between the eyes to get me the hell away from him, and they just left Japan without a second thought; completely disowned me like I was a wild animal. To make it worse, being I was technically a Monster at that point, the US had even less legal bearing on Monsters than they do now, so I just got turned over to Japan on the grounds that I wasn't human anymore." Aderyn explained, sounding flippant and calm about the explanation. Implying she was completely over the ordeal by now, whether that was the source of some of her other apparent mental issues or not was a possible link.

"So, there I was; stuck in a foreign country where I don't speak the language and living as a second-class citizen under the roof of a family I hardly even knew. I was the second Zombie the family brought in, said they wanted a 'Zombie friend' for their first one, Olianna. She was way older than me, in her early forties, but I really kinda liked her….after a few months, she and I got in touch with an intermediary who helped Monsters get in and out of Japan, and the plan was to both escape to the US where we can at least not have to be somebody else's full-grown kid."

"And that…got botched, I take it?" Aileen wondered, admittedly getting less outwardly friendly in favor of a more respectful tone after hearing the bit about Aderyn and her parents. Fortunately, Aderyn still didn't seem even slightly bothered.

"Yep…I dunno how, but Oli screwed up and got on a boat back to Sweden instead of a boat to America like I was. We kept in touch, but there I was, stuck in the Monster-phobic and paranoid United States with no money and a stereotype that people were worried I'd turn Houston into Raccoon City or somethin'." Aderyn continued, rolling her eyes slightly at the stereotype bit. "I tried honest jobs, but when that didn't work, I said hell with it and tried being a criminal…..didn't get very far on my own. Saleen found me by word of mouth and police reports, and I got offered up a spot in the Venue, where I got better stuff and better treatment from humans. Turns out the boss had a very strict 'play nice or get the hell out' policy that weeded out the xenophobes."

"After I ended up finding and recruiting people like Katalie and Melik, I kinda realized: Family's who you can rely on to help you, not who you share your genes with. My parents probably said good riddance about me, so I said good riddance about them and moved on. Two years later and now? I'm still using my real name, so if they hear about what I'm involved in and suddenly have some precious-ass change of heart, good for them; but in the meantime, I'm not losing sleep. What about you? Things go over better in Ireland?"

"Not really…..see, to make perfect sense of it, I have to go way back, back to my childhood. I never really saw my true home, apparently I was left floatin' around; metaphorically of course. If I was literally sent floatin' down a river in a basket or some shite, I probably would'a sunk it and drowned just with m'weight alone." Aileen somewhat chuckled, completely accepting that she was probably a heavy kid by nature. "Erhm, movin' on, point is I never saw my real parents, I was bein' passed around different foster homes and shite like that 'fore I could even walk, let alone say somethin' offensive and piss someone off into handin' me to some other family. Lookin' back on it, everyone probably got worried takin' care of a Minotaur would be as setup-heavy and messy as takin' care of a real cow."

"But, of course, humans never really think that far…..I got chucked around, stopped callin' anyone mommy or daddy by about the third swap when I was six, and the cycle just kept repeatin', usually because of neighbors and friends askin' why they were raising a 'wild animal', like I was some kind of pig they snatched off a farm. I got taught in the meantime, home-studied a lot since I never would'a been let into a public school, but without anyone I cared about to guide me, I kinda shucked off the mathematical shite and took advantage of my strength; doin' odd manual labor jobs or gettin' paid by some punks to break a leg or two where they needed it. Eventually I moved out hopin' to find some more direct work, and that's when I ran across what would become the closest thing to a real family I'd have up to that point."

"T'was a tiny company called the Cassidy Family Movers; small-time moving company staffed by friends and family of the founders. They spotted me in an alley and one of 'em, a funny-talkin' Irish woman by the name of Fiona Gibson had the balls to come up to me, asked me what I was doin' there. I told it to 'em straight that I didn't have jack shit 'cept what they saw on me at the moment, and they asked if I was good at liftin'. I told 'em I had a past with heavy movin', and that I wasn't a delicate lil' flower by any means, so they offered me a deal: They take me in and put a roof over m'head, pay me, all that good stuff; and in return, I just had to help 'em move stuff. No unfair livin' conditions, no higher bar I had to achieve, I just had to do the same shite they did and do it well, so I did."

"The first-up problem was I didn't exactly have a name…..all the different foster families had their own different ideas 'bout what a white-haired Minotaur woman should be named, so I told 'em straight that I didn't really have a name. Fiona told me she always wanted a sister named Aileen, so they named me Aileen Cassidy to consider me part of the family. I was too touched by them givin' a shit to really care that it sounded like I had two first names, so I went with it. About a year goes by, I turned sixteen, and you know what Fiona does? She's only known me for a year at this point, and yet she gets me a gift. Spent her hard-earned money on a Celtic Trinity necklace made of pure silver, no knock-off bullcrap or any cheap shite like that. $500 this woman spent to get for a dumb cow-lady she'd only known for a year."

"Touched m'heart on a whole new level, so much so that I kinda broke down and softened up. I hugged her like she was m'own mother…..she completely cracked through any kinda rough exterior or hard-bitch act or any'a that, and from then on, I knew where m'family was. Late last year I caught Ailsa on a fishin' line while she was swimmin', mindin' her own business. Kinda messed one of her tentacles up good, but Fiona'd taught me some basic medical stuff just in-case I ever stuck m'self with somethin' sharp on accident, so I winged it and helped her out. We butted heads a tiny bit, but Fiona liked her, so I tolerated her. Eventually I found, despite lovin' m'family, that it was a bit…..boring. Knockin' skulls for the mob was fun, bein' a 'Messenger' and all that, and I wanted to try and get back into it, but I didn't wanna jeopardize m'family, so me and Ailsa decided to come here after hearin' all the gang shit goin' on with Monsters."

"And we know the rest from there…what about you Ailsa? Aren't you Scottish? The hell were you doin' in a lake in Dublin?" Zom noted, admittedly heavily drawn in by Aileen's story, and now curious to hear how the Scylla fit in there. Sinking into her chair a bit, possibly given her apparent meet-up with Aileen was caused by being quite literally fished out of a lake, the Scylla played ball nonetheless.

"Alright, I won't try an' blether too much here….I was born in Aberdeen; y'know, over in Scotland. Unfortunately, maw's gone; turns out childbirth was the clean shirt that'll do 'er (died), and my father's either unaware I exist or dead too…biological one at least. Got raised by a professor who found me cryin' my arse off by the shore, maw's body washed out to sea and never turned up, so accordin' to him, my baby self was just sittin' there ballin' and nobody knew what to do 'bout it. He took me in, treated me well, found out feedin' a Scylla's no different than feedin' a human, and treated me like the daughter he always wanted." Ailsa explained, hitting the two Zombies with a metaphorical brick right out the door. Thankfully, it got lighter from there.

"Man was a math teacher for his job, but he loved all kinds'a learnin'. Owned a cozy ol' place on Old High Street, had a fireplace, plenty'a electronics and other 'new' shit like that, but he had the place instead'a goin' for somewhere in the real city 'cause he wanted a big ol' library. Books about just anythin' you could think of….math, science, history, literature; whatever floated your boat, he had somethin' on it, and he encouraged me to read at my leisure. When he saw me takin' to it quickly of my own whim, man was nearly brought to tears with joy. He found me when I was hardly three days old, and I stayed with 'em 'till I was twenty-two; even had a boyfriend or two in my late teens. Luckily, only men who wanted to tangle with a Scylla weren't the dumb kind, so he took to both of 'em well. One died in a car wreck, and the other was given the ultimatum by his boss to quit his dream job or quit me, so I told 'em to quit me since I wanted the best for 'em."

"When I was twenty-two, I moved on out, wantin' to see if I could get a proper education. I was naive, thought it'd mean a damn thing….Don't get me wrong, it means a damn to humans, but to a Scylla? I'd be lucky to even get accepted to a burger-flippin' joint 'cause'a my legs, so a college-level job? I'd have a better time startin' a corporate empire…Back on topic though, I went off to Ireland after hearin' 'bout a Monster-friendly University there, but I ran outta money 'fore I could find the place. One day I was swimmin' to calm my nerves, got one tentacle caught in a hook, and guess who I found on the other end of it when I surfaced?"

"Aileen?" Zom smiled, seeing the guilty look on the Minotaur's face as said 6'6" cow essentially admitted 'yep….'.

"Yep, ol' cow-tits here caught me while she was tryin'a catch fish; still got a mark on the inside'a my front left tentacle to this day. Wanted to skin her hide for it, but she offered to help patch me up, and wasn't talkin' out her ass when she said she could fix it. I had no money, she had some friendly people who liked Monsters, and her friend Fiona took a fast likin' to me. I eventually realized the futility of gettin' a degree in the current state'a the world, gave up on it, and Aileen goin' on about gettin' restless gave me an idea to go poke at the Snakes in Vegas. So, before she tries to tell you otherwise, comin' here was my idea; same with callin' for help instead'a bein' dead on the glass of that casino together by tryin' to do it ourselves." Ailsa clarified, quite obviously the planner while Aileen was the doer.

"Well, Saleen could probably use another big thinker, and she'd definitely get some use out of a leg-breaker like Aileen…..now we just gotta find out what brought Hana into this." Aderyn chuckled, having her own plans for how to make Aileen useful whenever Saleen didn't need her. Leaning forward to peer past Zom's shoulder at the two seats immediately behind Aileen and Ailsa, the white-haired Dragonewt was sharing her booth with Moriko. Completely comatose in the aisle seat while the still-awake blue-skinned, gold-eyed and black-sclera Dullahan had the window seat, Hana seemed to take an odd liking to the Dullahan. Not painfully obvious in any way, the Dragonewt still gave off some subtle tells, her right wing having snaked behind Moriko's back like a third-arm hug while her head rested on the scenery-watching Dullahan's shoulder.

"Save it for later, she's probably still dumped from recoverin' after Zom shot her in the leg…one thing I did catch is she said somethin' about the Cosa Nostra to me in the security room. Me an' Manako looked it up last night, turns out it's a nickname for the Sicilian Mafia. She didn't gimme her life's story in the security room, but whatever threw her into the States, it probably had somethin' to do with the Mafia goin' bad on her. I figure save it for a few days, wait until she's nice and settled in before we go proddin' her for an autobiography….and if anyone's interested, she kinda sounded like one'a those hopeless romantic-types, so maybe use that to get her past outta her." Ailsa figured, relaying the tiny sliver of relevant info that she knew at the moment. The last bit making reference to Hana's cheek-grabbing gesture before they parted ways at the onset of the heist, it was only a theory, but a fairly well-founded one.

"If she and Moriko can hit it off like that, she'll get along with the rest of us just fine….." Zom figured, finally stopping to get a look at the Dullahan samurai's face. Blue-skinned as expected, Moriko's features were an odd mix, almost looking like she was half Japanese and half Caucasian. Obviously only Caucasian in the sense of her actual facial features and not her skin tone, it lent a great deal of credibility to the theories of her being an Irish/Japanese mix. With short, black hair fit for being stuffed inside a helmet all day, the back and sides was just simple, short but not buzzed black hair, with her left eye almost totally concealed by a crossing segment that started at the right side of her forehead and went downward-diagonally left. Not having anything fancy about it, the right side of the front was asymmetrical, having a strip of hair going down to her shoulder while the hair on the left side didn't even pass her chin.

Glad to see the Dullahan not being a stiff, closed-off loner, the rest of the bus' scant few occupants were in a similarly pleasant state, with Manako and Melik sharing a seat-pair as they watched the scenery go by together. Katalie and Silver being a slightly different story, the Ogre was sitting in the long row of seats at the back-most section of the bus, getting to play around with Silver as the green-haired Zombie had promised her. Currently sitting on the big Ogre's lap, the cream-fur Kobold was shamelessly exhibiting dog-like behavior, sinking into Katalie's lap while the Ogre had his shirt yanked up; scratching his stomach and watching his right leg gently kick in response. Putting a big smile on the Ogre's face that a rare few things could, Silver hated to admit his secondary, unlisted role as a walking teddy bear.

A week later, outside of a suburban residence in Houston, Texas…..

Pulling up outside the house in his black BMW 435i, police detective Morgan Broderick was visiting fellow detective Amelia Falasco; both of which were assigned to the Houston PD's anti-gang unit. More specifically focused on dealing with the Venue Gang and the Sèpan ki Damballa, more commonly called the Snakes, Morgan was visiting Falasco's house at the latter's request in regards to some theories about the Venue. Dressed in a black two-piece suit with a white shirt and black tie, the well dressed detective was here on off-time, but couldn't help keeping up his dress-sense. Oddly juxtaposed by his messy, thick dark brown dreadlocks that went a few inches past the shoulder-line, the well-dressed, mess-haired detective was a well-spoken, well-mannered man not befitting of his hairstyle's expectations.

Strolling up to the front door, the detective took the time to knock, waiting patiently in hopes for a front-door response. Waiting thirty seconds, the detective couldn't help but roll his eyes when he tried the door-handle, finding it was completely unlocked. Stepping inside due to technically being invited over anyway, the detective took a few seconds to head over to the living room, which was a straight shot across carpet flooring from the front door. Seeming like a largely empty, picturesque middle-class American house, the two-floor building was only occupied by two people, one of which Morgan looked to get a pointer from.

"Hey, Claire…is your mother home?" Morgan inquired, resting his right arm on the archway leading into the living room. Talking to Claire Falasco, Amelia's eight-year-old daughter, the little girl was peacefully sitting on the couch alone, watching TV on some channel the detective didn't care to see about.

"Hey Morgan…mom's upstairs in her office, like she always is." Claire informed, only really passively knowing Morgan as 'mom's detective buddy' and little more than that. Sounding somewhat bored, the dreadlocked detective could only assume Amelia was still strangle-holding her daughter's media intake to completely shut out anything in regards to Monsters. The little girl knew they existed, but was so painfully sheltered about them that Amelia's biased viewpoint could convince the little girl anything was true. Knowing exactly where the office was, Morgan could only shake his head and walk off; heading for the stairs to get up to the second floor. Not having any painfully obvious signs stuck to the outside of the door, the detective still knew where to go simply from having been in here before.

Opening the door slowly, the detective found the room at the end of the second-floor hallway was well-lit, but otherwise felt like a perfect fit for a nearly-obsessed anti-Monster racist who was incredibly invested in her job. Largely uninteresting on the sides of the room, the main attraction was the pin board mounted to the back wall, under which was a desk covered in images, files, and other relevant data the Italian-American female detective had rounded up. Currently sitting in a rolling office-chair and looking at something on her computer off to the room's right side, the medium-length-haired brunette detective wasted little time in getting up to greet Morgan.

"Hey Morgan…sorry for not getting the door; been too busy sorting out all of this. Week's worth of work, and I think it'll pay off in the long run." Amelia greeted, dressed in black suit pants, a white dress shirt, and a grey suit vest that made her similar, but not quite a carbon-copy to Morgan's attire. No doubt having gotten off work not long prior, Morgan was more focused on what Amelia had to share than what she was wearing. "So you heard about that job up in Nevada, right? Crew knocked over the Don Dragna Casino on the Vegas Strip and made off with what's estimated to be about nine million in cash and gold bullion? We've since figured out it was a Venue operation, and since the Snakes own the place, you can tell why they'd do it even without money being involved."

"Alright, so you've become a fixated stalker by the looks of it to accomplish….what, exactly? I know it's our job to handle them, but come on Amelia: All of this and the kind of shit I hear you say on duty is gonna make some people think you're about three steps off from having a big poster of Aderyn's face on the wall for you to chuck darts at." Morgan pointed out, trying to not sound like he was defending the Venue while still making it known that Amelia was a bit obsessive. A vaguely annoyed expression being all he got in response, the female detective took the hit in stride and carried on with her point.

"You say that like she hasn't earned it….that little bitch deserves to rot in a federal prison, and all the Monsters she's recruited need to either get tossed back where they came from or be euthanized like the animals they are. But, that's not the point here: The big point is Aderyn's recruiting more Monsters, and I'm trying to figure out who she'll go for next. In this heist alone she picked up four new people: A couple Celtic nobodies with nothing outstanding about their criminal past, and two that have me concerned." Amelia explained, moving to bring Morgan's attention to some printed-out files she had on the tabletop. "First up is Hana Murano; born and raised Italian who worked with the Sicilian Mafia since she was a teenager, only to get run out two years ago when she disagreed with the Mafia's decision to work alongside Mexican drug cartels. She fled to the States, and somewhere along the line, the Snakes picked her up and put her in charge of the Don Dragna."

"As if a trained and experienced mafioso wasn't bad enough, they also somehow enlisted Moriko Nakamura; a big Dullahan who's been causing problems for both gangs and police all up the West Coast, and that's after she got done terrorizing Yakuza over in Japan. She doesn't seem to be motivated by money or revenge, so how Aderyn got her to join a street gang is beyond me….and before you ask; where I'm going with this is, if Aderyn can bag an ancient Dullahan and an experienced mafioso, I think she's looking for much more high-grade, experienced criminal talent than just a few hopeless thugs with a gun and no future."

"I take it that's where some of these faces on the board come in?" Morgan observed, not recognizing too many of the faces on the pin-board Amelia had set up. Not giving a second snide glare, Amelia instead coasted right into a continuation of her explanations as she drew attention to a picture on the far right of the board. Looking like a male Dragonewt with slicked-back black hair and black scales, the man was an established member of the Venue, but still relevant to her overarching point.

"Yeah, because this man right here, a Croatian Dragonewt by the name of Anđelko Jurić, was the last Monster the Venue recruited before this casino incident who's got a special past instead of being a nobody. I haven't found too much, but what I do know is he's got a heavy past association with the various cartels down in Mexico under the alias of Salazar. Worked as an intermediary for dealing and other matters, and shifted from cartel to cartel: When one fell, he walked right off and moved on, and eventually left Mexico entirely for the States where the old Venue boss, Logan Brenneman got him. Brenneman, if you recall, was recently assassinated in retaliation for the death of Snakes lieutenant Hackett Wesner. Only a month after that, and Aderyn goes all the way up to Nevada to snag another Dragonewt with a thick criminal past, which to me sounds like she wants to meet or surpass the quality of talent her old boss raked in."

"Ok, so….who do you think she'll go for next? More Dragonewts?" Morgan humored, personally thinking this entire theory was a load of crack-pot garbage. Admittedly having that bias due to having been there for Hana's recruitment, Melik opted to simply play dumb and maintain his Morgan Broderick farce while Amelia went off with this sad theory. Fortunately, he was at least wrong on the Dragonewts part.

"No, I think she's gonna look to pull one of her old friends back into things…..around the time that Hackett was assassinated, two government agents from Japan, Zombina and Manako, were implicated in an arson-case at a fireworks shop near the Verner hotel in Austin, and then in a shooting death not long after. Shortly after that, they hit Farnell Jockby, who worked under Hackett, and after Hackett was gone, the two of them have been regulars in Aderyn's operations for the past month. If she's willing to recruit more Zombies, a logical next step would be to look for Olianna Markusson; a Swedish Zombie in her forties who's been causing the Swedish government problems for the past two years."

"And what'd she do? Drugs? Arson?" Morgan/Melik inquired, just baiting Amelia on given he knew exactly who Oli was, and even met her during his contract-killing days. Looking at the mugshot pinned to the board with a thumbtack, it was just as he remembered, with the Zombie in question having pale skin, emerald green eyes, white hair in a symmetrical bob haircut, and according to the background, clocking in at only 5'4". The most standout characteristic being her cheeks, whereas Aderyn had stitch-lines around her neck, and Zom had them over her nose, Oli's were a flat-out Glasgow Smile of stitches; extending out from the ends of her lips and wrapping around the sides of her head. Looking like the trademark of an edgy lunatic, Oli was anything but that.

"Well, you'd think that by looking at her, but she's a Cleaner: After a mess-maker like Zombina comes in and kills everybody, Olianna would be the one you hire to hide the bodies by turning them into unrecognizable collections of acid and blood residue. From the reports I've managed to find, she doesn't display any sadistic tendencies, isn't some babbling lunatic going on about anarchy and revenge, or any of those token-psycho-type mannerisms. Since she's not some air-headed lunatic, she's probably not gonna make any grave mistakes we can catch her on. If Aderyn gets her over here to the States, evidence collection with someone who knows their shit like her around will be much harder to pull off. Doesn't help that she up-ended a mob boss she was working for over in Sweden a few months ago, so not only is she freelance and ripe for the picking, she's not just some body-janitor either." Amelia pointed out, implying that, even if they did corner Olianna, the Zombie could very well fight her own way out.

"Alright, we'll have to keep an eye out for that then….any other Zombies?" Morgan/Melik inquired, wanting to keep this exposition-ball rolling to see what else Amelia had in store. Seeing one other, this one oddly didn't have a professional mugshot, and instead had some black and white CCTV footage to it. Looking like a 6' tall individual in sweatpants, a zip-up hoodie with the hood raised and a half-face balaclava veiling most of her features, another CCTV still showed her in camo-pants with a right-leg thigh holster, left-leg thigh pouches for spare ammo, a sleeveless shirt, and a loaded plate carrier along with the same half-face balaclava. Her hair looking to be a tied-up bun of white hair with some loose strips hanging in the front, the woman's arms were lacking in tattoos, but instead full of stitch-marks, indicating she'd been up and down the block a decent amount.

"A hitman….goes by the title Morana. We don't know who she is, but the facial identification-matches are….screwy. What it tells us is she's a Czech woman by the name of Barbora Mora. Problem is Barbora Mora died in 1968, during the Czech's Prague Spring movement. If all the info lines up, she's about seventy-five years old now, and spent the remaining years of the Soviet Union's lifespan attacking Soviet troops after being trained by an ex-Russian Marine Commando, which is where she got the nickname Morana from. Couldn't find the commando's name, so I dunno how much of that is true and how much is myth, but given she operates these days as an independent hitman for whichever crime group will hire her, it's better to assume it's true rather than not. Either way, she's been contracted out to attack the Snakes a few times recently, so she'd probably also be an enticing pick for Aderyn to snatch up." Amelia explained, having less concrete info there.

"Odd choice, but if she's been alive this long, I could see where you're going with that one." Morgan/Melik accepted, more focused on wondering how this Morana person survived from 1968 to now, well before a Zombie's formaldehyde-preservative blood substitute would be commercialized and readily available. "Anybody else? Another Dullahan perhaps?"

"I did find one of those….calls himself Michael. Has this really odd cowboy motif going on with a wide-brimmed hat, duster coat, and carries around a couple stainless revolvers….I would call him a delusional lunatic like that axe-murderer Karl, but this guy's actually got somethin' supernatural going on, and he has an odd tie or two with the Venue. He doesn't seem to be an official member, but he's been spotted attacking police oh so conveniently when we were about to clamp down on a Venue member…take for instance: Clarice Howlett, Irish-American white girl in her thirties from Chicago that the Venue sends out to break legs and kill people who cross them. Wanted for arson, more counts of murder than I care to count, and even committed a car-bombing over in Galveston. We had her cornered, and this Michael fellow turns up outta nowhere, killed a thirty-man S.W.A.T. team while Clarice escaped scot-free." Amelia informed, seeming quite directly annoyed at the rug-pull event.

"Wasn't that car bombing to take out a human trafficker working for the Snakes? And done at, like, 3AM in an empty parking lot where next to nothing but the trafficker and his car were affected?" Morgan/Melik pointed out, trying to very stealthily defend his fellow gang member by reminding Amelia that the victim wasn't exactly an outstanding pillar of the community. Not even starting to mention that the arson was to trash Snakes drug labs, Melik simply wrote Amelia's intense fixation on the gang off as one of those stubborn personality traits that he wasn't going to change right here and now, no matter what he said.

"Say what you want about her, but point still stands: She should've been dead or arrested, and this guy just…blew through them. We think he had something to do with killing Hackett too…where things get weird is what usually happens around when we push hard on the Venue. Wherever he turns up, there's usually flocks of ravens nearby, and in strange places sometimes; like inside buildings and warehouses in entire droves. Beyond that, some of the police staff have reported weird dreams before ops that he ended up intruding on, saying they were visited by him and he tried to make them reconsider. Every time we ignored it, we lose plenty of guys to him…I just don't get it. If he's willing to kill us by the bucket-load, why ever ward us off? Why would he care what happens to us?" Amelia wondered, totally baffled by it. For Melik, it was obvious.

"Maybe violence is his final option? The Dullahans believe they're the shepherds of the dead, so maybe he's a guardian or something? You know…the Venue seem to be looking out for the Monsters here in the US, so maybe he's their guardian, and doesn't wanna get involved unless an opponent, like us, forces his hand?" Morgan/Melik theorized, genuinely not knowing what Michael's motivation was, unlike some of the other people mentioned so far. Unfortunately, this was simply blown off.

"Too bad he's rooting for a bunch of degenerates…..sure, they made nine mil on this job, but what'll that get them in the long run? Sooner or later, their heads are gonna be rollin' for what they choose to do….anyway, last one I think Aderyn will go for: Castora Capello Guerra. Cuban Shark Mermaid who hired a crew to help her steal a reefer ship docked at Havana Harbor. Not sure what her initial reason was, but the Snakes have since taken the whole thing by force, and now she's forced to smuggle drugs for them between Cuba and the States. If Aderyn really does have a thing for 'helping' Monsters like you think, this Castora girl's plight is probably one she'll get attracted to." Amelia figured, obviously doubting Morgan/Melik's words.

"Anybody else the Snakes are holding hostage? If Hana got tangled up in the Snakes against her will, that Dragonewt might rat out other operations to her." Morgan/Melik reasoned, taking note of a picture of a reefer ship, which had been labeled the Man-O-War. Presuming it to be Castora's ship, the next item of interest was a picture of Castora herself. Quite obviously sitting in a wheelchair like most Mermaid-types would, the Cuban Shark seemed to have incredibly well-tanned, but not damaged skin; blue eyes, and an odd haircut. Long on the right side, even going a bit past her shoulder, the hair on her head was only present a small ways left of the center before it was completely shaved off, leaving Castora with long, normal hair on the right side of her head and the right portion of the front/back of her head, and completely bald on the left side/left half of the front/back.

Dressed in a pleated skirt with a studded belt, a graphic t-shirt and a denim jacket with pyramid-style studding on the shoulders, that plus the hair and some various piercings screamed an incredibly obvious punk aesthetic, which admittedly wasn't the first thing Melik would've expected from a Shark Mermaid. More used to them being fixated on pirates, the idea of a Cuban Pirate-Punk for the Venue was interesting even just from a personal standpoint, let alone what she could offer to the Venue with a reefer ship. Not paying attention to it much longer, Melik instead opted to continue listening, lest Amelia have any more good info.

"Only other thing's some large Arachne by the name of Ruby Taylor. Caught mention of her in some seized files; apparently the Snakes bought her off a hunting crew over in Australia and they've been using her in an underground fighting ring. If the files were accurate, they're doping her up on all kinds of stuff to make her just some big ol' furball of rage and claws. Even if Aderyn gets to her, Ruby's probably gonna either die from all the drugs the Snakes are pumping her with, or she'll kill a few Venue members for us, so I'm just letting that one sit and seeing if these two will do some of the work on their own." Amelia admitted, not seeming the slightest bit bothered that a Large-Breed Arachne was being used like an abused dog in an underground fighting ring. Hiding his pure disgust at Amelia's flippant view on it, Melik felt he had enough intel for now.

"Well, would you mind sending me the files on that, as soon as you can? I figure while you're doing all this, maybe I can focus on the Snakes a bit. Y'know, since our job's to deal with both of them…" Morgan/Melik couldn't help but prod, getting a little bit on-the-nose to try and tell Amelia 'You know…the othergang you're supposed to be caring about, too?!'. Not planning on getting into a fight over it, one last eye-roller came with Amelia's ending comments.

"Sure, it'd free me up to chase this a bit more….and Morgan, I'm serious: Claire would probably like you a lot if you hung around more. I think you'd make a good dad, too." Amelia tried to pass, not knowing the man she was interested in was actually not only a Monster in disguise, but affiliated with the very gang whose leader she had this unnatural hard-on for taking down. Liking the irony of it, and wondering if Amelia was so pissed off at Aderyn due to some Zombie hussy leaving Amelia in the 'twenty-five years old single-mom with an 8-year-old kid' boat she was currently in, the two leading theories for the Noppera-bō were that, or that Amelia was just angry that in eighteen years, Aderyn has done more with her life than Amelia has done in twenty-five years. Regardless, he turned it down.

"Oh, no, sorry; I'm currently seeing somebody….she's blind in one eye, but I'd rather not just walk off on her like your husband did to you….wouldn't make me any better than him, y'know?" Morgan reasoned, laughing in Amelia's face without her even knowing by quite directly referencing Manako. Completely clueless, the female detective bought the story outright.

"Alright, just wanted to put it out there…..and look, I know my focus is on the Venue, but don't get yourself killed dealing with the Snakes, alright?" Amelia requested in a softer tone of voice, sounding like she'd gotten all her xenophobia out and was chilling out now. Giving a flat-out fake smile, the manipulative Noppera-bō held nothing but contempt for the detective, but was too focused on playing his cards right for the long-run to blow his disguise for five minutes of watching Amelia gawk in shock at who he really was. Not having his fedora to tip in her direction, the Monster never wore it as his Morgan Broderick persona to avoid painting a stupidly-obvious sign over his head for anybody who looks at a picture of Morgan Broderick and a picture of Melik side-by-side.

"And don't get yourself killed chasing Aderyn…..remember, you've got something to live for with Claire. Don't let your fixation on Aderyn take you away from her." Morgan pointed out, opting for a small wave gesture instead as he stepped out of the room peacefully. Meaning it more literally than Amelia would've thought, Melik didn't want to kill Amelia for the sake of Claire's upbringing, but if Amelia brought the long arm of the law down on Aderyn hard enough, the Noppera-bō would have no choice but to bring the long arm of his P2000 sidearm down on her in return. Exiting the house peacefully, the Monster strolled back to his car, getting in and fishing a phone out of the glovebox. Different from his 'Morgan Phone', this second one was the phone he used to contact/be contacted by Venue personnel where it wouldn't implicate his Morgan persona in any double-agent nonsense with the police.

"Hey, Saleen, I'm gonna have some files coming in soon from Amelia….she mentioned something about a Large-Breed Arachne named Ruby who's stuck in some Snakes fighting pit. We'll probably need Maddy to help rehabilitate her, but if we can pull that off, that's a mean new member we'd have working for us." Melik informed, changing his voice to his 'normal' vaguely flanged voice he used during Venue interactions rather than the fake, totally human-like Morgan voice he was just talking to Amelia with.

Author's Note

As this chapter hopefully demonstrated, I aim for some realism (Like going in-depth with the detonation on the statues or the gun setups) but juxtapose it with some odder, more surreal moments, like Moriko quite literally blowing a S.W.A.T. member clean out of a bar with a 40mm only for him to wipe out shoulder-first on a table. I outright acknowledge it's ridiculous, it defies physics, which is exactly the point; like in Django Unchained (Won't deny, still got some Tarantino influence in here) during the "Bye Miss Laura" bit when said Laura gets shot at about a 45 degree angle by one old west revolver, but goes sailing back through the doorway like she was hit dead-on with an air cannon. Just enough lunacy worthy of a Trepak-accompanied montage that it doesn't burn you out. Ideally in future scenes I'll get into more just characters interacting, maybe even a whole chapter of just that, but I gotta know where people's interest is at first.

Speaking of interest, the decision to separate this story's Zom from 'real Zom' in the manga/anime with the red hair had two reasons to it: First, seeing if maybe that resolved any annoyances with "This Zom ain't quite right" since now everyone's happy. I can keep doing Zom the way I have been, and I can get a bit more of the 'classic' one in there much later on without having one singular Zom flip-flop her personality. There were plans anyway for a different undead to fit a bit of that lunatic vibe, but this still felt like a good idea purely for the sake of outright avoiding any annoyance with the character inconsistencies.

Moving on from that, the scene with Melik's alt persona was put in to somewhat tease towards some of the new characters that'll be coming in later. In total, including the ones you saw teased in this chapter, there's a grand total of seventeen new Monsters planned spanning about twelve different species-groups from the wiki.

Obviously it won't all come dumping on the reader in the next two chapters, but that's the long-term plan, and even if this chapter gets no reviews, it's become my personal favorite one to think about/write more on, so I'll just keep on going with it, and hopefully that'll change at some point (The reviews from LMSart don't count since that was from a friend who I very specifically showed the story to and asked to please give me feedback, so while their thoughts were genuine, it was technically at my request that they even read the story, so I don't count it like I would a 'random' review from somebody just doing it entirely of their own will)

So…review if you want, share your thoughts, and I'll keep hoping I didn't do something bafflingly stupid to cause this drop in reviews.