Prologue
A clock ticked ominously on the wall of Baelz Hakos' office, counting second after tense second. The rat-girl, even with the Tommy Gun on her lap and her armed goons posted around the Dicey Odds branch, seemed nervous. Her leg bounced often, rattling her Tommy Gun ever so slightly. Her eyes shifted towards the wall clock too.
Perhaps having coffee served for three didn't help, but I didn't say a word. The way that Baelz acted wasn't just caffeine palpitations.
It was something that I had seen often in my beat cop days with Ina. Snitches, mostly Owls looking for a lighter sentence, who ratted out their fellow gangsters had that look when Ina and I threw them into paddy wagons. They didn't say a word. They didn't have to. Their haunted, hunted looks told us that City PD was something they feared significantly less than what was waiting for them in prison.
The wrath of their former Owl Pal comrades incarcerated because of them.
Right now, Baelz looked just like those snitches. She was trapped in a brick, two-story prison surrounded by ex-Owls in a place that City PD officers wouldn't dare to linger. The barricades on the windows and the deadlocks on the doors were bars that Baelz herself crafted for her own protection.
This made Bae much more willing to cooperate. And yet, I didn't want to linger too long either. Patrolling these back alleys already sent me to the hospital twice in my career.
I didn't want the third time to be the charm.
-Signed, Amelia Watson
…
Ame finished her note and flipped a page on her notepad.
"Let's start from the beginning, shall we? The Nephilim Club shooting." Ame twirled her pen skillfully between her fingers, "Lots of folks say a lot of different things about what happened there. What's your perspective, Baelz Hakos?" Her blue eyes sharpened and she pointed her pen at Bae, "What were you doing there at the Nephilim Club that night?"
Bae frowned and tapped on her Tommy Gun pensively.
"How much did Irys tell you?" Bae answered with a question.
"Everything she knew." Kiara chimed in, "Irys trusted us. So we ask that you trust us too."
At the mention of Irys, Bae turned away from the detectives and scratched the back of her head. After a short pause, Bae cleared her throat and answered in earnest.
"What was I doing? I was one of the guests of Bloop and Death-sensei." Bae answered firmly, "The two Lieutenants sent out invitations to the leaders of Third Party gangs like yours truly. I couldn't exactly say 'no'."
"Is that so?" Ame hummed, "Were Calliope Mori and Gawr Gura really not there?"
"The Queenpins weren't there." Bae confirmed, "That fact made me skeptical off the bat."
"Did they tell you what you were going to be discussing at the club?" Kiara probed.
"Nope. We were just told to bring as much cash as we could bring in suitcases." Bae answered begrudgingly, "The Lieutenants just said that we were bidding for something that would change the City forever. But I knew something was off." She tapped on her Tommy Gun again and smirked, "That's why I brought this baby in my suitcase."
"But it turns out the other gangsters had the same idea." Ame assessed, "That turned the Nephilim Club into a warzone."
"It's a taste of what is to come, Detectives." Bae warned. She leaned back into her seat and groaned, "But I digress. That something that we were bidding on was this special compound substance that our country captured from Pekoland during the War."
The moment Bae brought up Pekoland, Ame and Kiara stirred in their seats.
"What substance!?" Ame snapped.
"We never got around to discussing that." Bae shook her head, "Really hard to talk about chemistry and all that jazz while you're trying not to get shot."
Ame grumbled and started fretting. Kiara, on the other hand, laid a hand on Ame's shoulder to calm her down.
"Keep going." Kiara urged the rat-girl.
Bae nodded and continued her tale.
"All I know is that the Pekoland substance is coming to the City in two parts." Bae explained, "One part of the substance is coming in by sea through the Shrimp-affiliated Dockyards. The other part is coming in by rail, courtesy of Swingwell. All under the Lieutenants' supervision of course." She folded her arms and sighed, "Us Third Party folks were there to bid for the rights to move the goods, store them, synthesize them, distribute them and that sort of stuff."
"And what part of the process were you bidding for, Baelz Hakos?" Ame growled at her.
"None." Bae answered cooly, "I wasn't interested in that sort of shit. I was gonna take my money and walk." Her blue eyes narrowed, "But the other Third Parties argued over it. Things got crazy. Then, guns were drawn. The rest is history."
"I can't believe something like this is happening under our watch." Ame aired her frustrations, "What the hell is City PD doing? Why is Chief Enma sitting on her ass?"
"Why?" Bae raised her brow, "Well, what if I told you that one of the people at that table that night was none other than Chief Enma herself!?"
Ame bit her lip. Kiara, too, frowned with grave displeasure.
"I'm guessing that one of the 'Third Parties' is Chief Enma's faction of City PD." Kiara guessed.
"Bingo." Bae looked the detectives in the eye, "That - and the Queenpins themselves don't know that any of this is going on right under their noses." She clicked her tongue and frowned, "Bloop and Death-sensei are taking Gura and Calliope for a ride. They want this war to happen so that they can pull the rug out from under their bosses. That's what I think."
Ame and Kiara fell silent. They, too, shared Bae's cynical opinion. Their silence was Bae's signal to continue.
"A lot of the Third Party leaders got iced that night." Bae recounted, "The ones who survived were me, Chief Enma and Mumei Nanashi of the Owl Pals."
When Bae mentioned Mumei, Kiara's eyes lit up.
"Oh right - I've been meaning to ask!" Kiara started, "I think I saw Mumei walking out of your Dicey Odds branch up in the North District when we met you."
"That day you nearly beat me and my boys into a pulp?" Bae scoffed.
"We can do it again if you want us to." Ame teased, clenching her fist.
Bae chuckled, "Better you than the Owl Pals, honestly!"
Bae's own joke sobered her up. She remembered the situation that she was in and cleared her throat.
"Anyways! Mumei was visiting me back then to sell me some more gats and weapons, just like she does with the other gangs. Routine stuff." Bae spoke gingerly, "But the real reason she was there was because she wanted my gang to buy into the whole Pekoland substance deal." She leaned on her Tommy Gun and frowned, "She wanted me to join forces with her. She had the muscle. I have my Dicey Odds branches - and my Casino Train. Storage and delivery."
"But you told her you weren't interested." Kiara guessed, "Mumei didn't look too happy when I saw her walking out."
"And that brings us to where we are now." Bae crossed her legs and set down her Tommy Gun, "I don't know what the two of you are planning, moonlighting as gangsters, but I want to make a deal with City PD. Your faction of City PD."
"We're all ears, Baelz Hakos." Ame pocketed her notepad and faced Bae squarely, "If it's something we can provide, we'll do it. But in exchange…"
Before Ame could say anything else, one of Bae's goons burst into the office. He looked as pale as a ghost and was struggling to catch his breath.
"Oy, you cheeky bugger! We're in the middle of something!" Bae yelled.
"Ma'am - they're gathering in the back alleys!" The goon reported, "They're right outside! A lot of them!"
"Who? The Owl Pals?" Bae guessed.
"They're there, but it's not just them." The goon continued, "They brought the biker gang too!"
…
The rat-girl picked up her Tommy Gun and rose up from her chair. Ame and Kiara did the same. The three of them made their way to the windows of Bae's office and dared to look outside.
From there, they saw about a dozen Owl Pals illuminated by the neon sign of Dicey Odds. Those owl-folk were armed with a myriad of hardware store tools and pistols. Mumei Nanashi, armed with a menacing claw hammer. The owl-girl looked up to the window and smiled at the three ladies.
"Oh hi!" She called out to them, her voice echoing throughout the back alley. She waved her hammer to them and spoke with a sugar coated tone, "Let us in, Bae! We just want to talk - maybe hammer out a few things too!" She wore a deceptively sweet smile too, "I also want to meat those two ladies you have with you too. That's all! Promise!"
The way Mumei said 'meet' made Bae, Ame and Kiara shudder.
Along with Mumei and the owls, there were a handful of well-dressed men riding bicycles. All of them wore sharp vests and fashionable glasses and carried fancy longswords by their waists. These 'bikers' were led by a tall, peculiar man with long, silver hair and bright purple eyes.
Mumei turned towards the biker gang leader and grinned.
"Bailiff." She called him, making sure that Bae could hear her, "Bring them to me."
"Ma'am, yes ma'am." The Bailiff answered dutifully.
With that Mumei and the Bailiff started marshaling their troops. They were going to besiege Bae's office!
All of the sudden, the ticking of the wall clock made everyone's hearts sink.
"Shit!" Bae cursed. Beads of sweat formed on her brow, "We're outnumbered three to one…"
"Not necessarily." Ame answered cooly, "We're on the same boat here right?"
"We are - but why does that matter!?" Bae panicked.
"Give me your phone, then. I need to make a call."
"Wha-?" Bae started, but she stopped halfway and smirked, "Riiiight…"
Bae rushed over to her desk and passed her rotary landline telephone towards Ame.
Ame took the handset and spoke firmly, "Operator, give me Dispatch."
" Putting you through now ." The operator answered.
After a short pause, Ame declared, "Amelia Watson, badge seven-three-three-one. This is an emergency so don't give me bullshit."
Ame heard a grumble on the other end of the line. Then, Dispatch answered her with a groan, " How can I help, Detective? "
"This is a code three, two-forty assault in progress." Ame grinned, "Get me Officer Oozora."
…
Queenpins
Coming Home To Roost
…
To Be Continued
