speeding through! Action soon

Nobody slept last night.

Not just because the raid was supposed to take place the following morning - although that was reason enough. Geese Howard's security detail, under Billy Kane's command, were Howard Connection's last line of defense.

Yesterday the fight was unwinnable. The whole world had been against them. The Feds were coming. So were the police. So was that fookin' traitor Kain Heinlein and the kid, Rock Howard.

But thanks to Billy Kane's careful planning, Howard Connection had obtained a very valuable hostage. A hostage that, once exchanged, allowed them to not just circumvent the law, but flip it entirely in their favor. 11 PM last night, Chizuru Kagura called the boss - letting him know that Howard Connection was being safeguarded from the highest eschelons of bureaucratic authority. The police wouldn't touch him. The Feds were now allies. All they needed to deal with now, were Kain Heinlein and the Howard brat.

The boss sure is brilliant. Awesome how he managed that…

And now, Howard Connection didn't even need to deal with the vigilante group. Geese had likewise outsourced that work. If the police didn't catch Kain's group - then Iori Yagami would. Geese Howard had hired the Yakuza Heir, one of the world's most prolific killers, for the low, low price of amnesty for Rock Howard, and (more importantly) 'Big Man'.

Heh… Tough luck Lenny.

Rock Howard wasn't much of an issue. By himself, he was just a college kid with a grudge. Leaving him alive was hardly a risk. Geese traded him quite easily to meet Iori's fee.

But 'Big Man?' Geese wasn't going to play so straight. He wasn't about to sacrifice his top interrogator to a gruesome death. Gomez was a valuable asset to the firm. His skill was so great that after only three days under his influence, Iori Yagami had plucked off all his fingernails and chewed off his thumb. (Billy had watched the re-runs at least four times since, and they still elicited the same childish glee from him.) Iori had been so eager for revenge that he was willing to work for the very organization which wronged him for the opportunity to shred his torturer.

So last night, Geese Howard fed the Yakuza heir one of the Operations controllers - claiming that he was 'Big Man'. The Operations Controller whose crew had killed the two CIA agents at outset, the incident which launched this entire fiasco.

… Ya caused dis problem, Lenny. It's only right dat ya help resolve it.

And last night, nobody in all of Geese Tower caught even a wink of sleep… because Lenny's terrible screams only stopped when the sun rose. It was about five thirty in the morning when Iori waltzed out of the interrogation room to present himself in

Geese's penthouse, splattered in entrails and happy as a clam. He obviously believed he had eliminated his torturer - but the only thing he really succeeded in doing, was taking care of a HCon associate who had fallen out of grace.

Not the shahpest tool in da shed, hah Yagami?

He really wasn't. Iori had a tremendous amount of combat experience. He had tremendous resources. He also had several tremendously smart people doing the thinking for him. Iori Yagami was nothing more than a glorified henchman - and something in him seemed to know it. He (believed) he'd been paid his fee, and now that he'd been bought and paid for, he henceforth behaved himself rather pleasantly. He obediently washed, changed, and posted at the third floor elevators - promising to carry out his task.

Fookin' piece of shit animal… Yagami.

But the animal was now on their side… or at least, the boss thought so. Geese was convinced that so long as Iori was happy - he'd carry out his orders. Billy was, naturally, more suspicious. Iori wasn't known for his scheming (thinking). He didn't tend toward betrayal - but that wasn't enough for Billy to leave him unattended.

*Ding*

Billy tapped the rod against his shoulder as the elevator lurched to a stop, reaching its destination. The burnished steel doors slid open with a mechanical whirring, and Billy walked into the third floor foyer. Iori had dragged an office chair from one of the nearby cubicles into the elevators area, and was sitting in it, asleep.

You damn animal… keepin' all is awake, and takin' a Fookin' nap now? Humph…

Billy approached with the express intention of kicking the red-haired man awake, but Iori flinched and swiveled around before he could.

"You..."

Iori yawned and fanned his face, the bandages about his fingers coming loose with the motion. Billy noted the seepage of blood around Iori's fingernails, and the stump where his left thumb used to be with keen satisfaction. He chuckled to himself, and decided he'd already gotten his licks.

In response, Iori glared at him.

"What."

Billy twirled his staff and grinned.

"Mornin' Sunshine. Time ta work."

that's Yag's trigger