All the bosses of the Belleville Mafia sat at a long mahogany table in an ornate room, seven on each side. Each one had a guard and two or three underbosses or assistants squeezed behind them.
At the head on the table was the Endsville boss, Bourassa. Each boss was considered equal, but as the host he acted as chairman.
Among the others behind him was Mandy, wearing a black suit, white blouse with a tall collar and slicked back sunglasses. She stood sternly with her hands clasped behind her back, looking around the room to familiarize herself with it, but regularly glanced back at the antique clock that was on the shelf. She noticed she was the only woman in the room.
Boss Bourassa finished his speech and pointed a remote control at the wall to opening a panel revealing a large flat screen TV. A news report started to play, "A tragedy in Beverly Hills this morning when the WOOHP technologies building went up in flames. Preliminary reports suggest that a roof top aviation fuel tank ruptured and the flammable liquid poured down the stairwells and ignited, rending escape nearly impossible. Firefighters had difficulty entering the building because its security system remained active.
"Among the dead, WOOHP founder Jerry Lewis and, tragically, three local high school girls who where touring the building as part of a school project." The screen when blank and the panel lowered.
Boss Bourassa stood, although due to his short stature he was lower then when he was sitting on the chair, and said, "We are finally rid of WOOHP, a thorn in our side for years, thanks to my associate, Miss Mandy," he gestured towards her. She stepped forward as the bosses clapped politely.
Mandy glanced at the clock and quickly raised her arms to end the applause. She said, "Boss Bourassa would like to further announce that, having defeated WOOHP and hosted this successful conference, he will retire and transfer control of the Endsville territory to me."
The bosses looked at each other, stunned and confused. Boss Bourassa grabbed her, "Why you little... You accomplish one mission and you already want to take over."
Mandy reached down and grabbed him by his thick neck, pulled him on to the table and held him in front of her while choking him with her arm. All the guards that lined the back of the room pulled out their guns and pointed them at her. Boss Bourassa struggled to breath.
One of the other bosses stood up. "Don't kill her." Mandy felt the gun from the guard behind her touch the back of her head. The boss continued, "We'll do that after the torture." Mandy felt the gun move to her the shoulder of the arm she was holding Bourassa with.
The antique clock suddenly started chiming. It wasn't loud but with the tension it surprised everyone.
"Dang Ding Dang Dong."
After the forth note all the lights went out.
A gasp for air was heard from the head of the table. A gun shot flashed an instant of light. A chair falls over. A cracking sound followed by a scream.
"Dang Dang Ding Dang."
The clattering of plastic. A shot at the head of the table on the left side. A soft thud.
The nearest boss's ears rang from the noise. He turned around, only to see the face of the guard beside him lit up briefly by another gun shot. The guard collapsed on top of him, pouring blood into his lap.
"Ding Dang Dang Dong."
The second boss on the left felt a high heel shoe dig into his lap with such force it pushed back his chair.
Two shots went off from the middle of the table. It was enough light that some of the guards saw flash of blonde hair and knew it was their target.
"Dong Dang Ding Dang."
They started firing. A furry of noise and flashes from all sides as guns where fired and the ornaments lining the walls where shattered.
One of the bosses on the right side of the table felt a soft weight tumble on to his lap. He looked down and was close enough to see it was Mandy in the dark laying on her back. He felt the warmth of her arm and the cold of her gun next to his ear. Suddenly the whole side of his head stung from her firing at the guard behind him.
"Dong"
He felt her sit-up. He had the presence of mind to try and grab her, but only got hold of her coat, which seemed to slip off her.
"She's over here," he shouted. He didn't have time to regret it before some of the guards directed their shots towards him.
"Dong"
His assistants behind him where also hit, one of them loudly convulsed and spit up blood before collapsing. The guns fell silent.
"Dong"
The guards peered into the dark seeing nothing but the streetlights out the window.
Another gun shot, but no one saw a flash. Then another. A guard felt his knee explode and he collapsed, firing into the air. Across the table another guard reacted, firing at the mussel flash.
"Dong"
He hit one of the bosses in the shoulder. He stood up, grabbed his wound and shouted into the dark, "Stop firing! You're only hitting each other."
A shot followed by a scream as the next guard grabbed his leg and falls down.
"Dong"
"She's under the table!" someone yells. Several guards crouched down to grab Mandy under the table, noisily shifting chairs.
The heavy table vibrated as a head is slammed against it from below.
Another guard managed to grab Mandy's shirt, but it just seemed to come right off her.
"Dong"
Near the middle of the table a boss suddenly felt his chair tip backward into the people behind him.
Everyone's eyes had started to adjust to the light and they could see each other in silhouette.
Standing on the table they could see Mandy, with her long blonde hair. They saw another figure behind her, a guard wielding one of the swords that had been decorating the walls of the room. Its blade almost glowed as it reflected the lights from outside.
"Dong"
He swung down striking Mandy's shoulder. But the blade was blunt and the swordsman inexperienced, so it did not penetrate far.
In a blur of movement followed by the blast of a gun the guard fell, but the sword did not fall with him.
"Dong"
Now facing the light from the window the ghostly image of a skull on Mandy's chest could be seen.
The other sword rattled as it was taken from the wall.
"Dong"
The guard noisily leaped onto the table, holding the sword at the ready, he faced Mandy.
The swords clashed, wielded by figures that seemed like shadows. Sparks flew and metal scraped as the unsharpened blades slid along each other.
"Dong"
The swords struck each other high, then low. Mandy's sword spun around behind her, the tip of the blade taking on a red hue.
The spatter of liquid, the clang of sword against sword, the thud of a body.
"Dong"
The swords clatter. A loud sigh and the guard's sword staggers.
They strike each other again, then suddenly the guard's sword falls to the table rattling before it comes to rest. Mandy's sword thrusts downward, the tip disappearing for the briefest of moments.
The florescent lights flicked back on. Surprised, and their eyes overwhelmed by the new light those who remained at the table saw an image that was both horrifying and unforgettable.
Mandy stood on the table, her suit now gone, replaced by a dark grey bodysuit, accented with a red belt and red bands around her thighs. On her chest the image of a skull that seemed to glow unnaturally. Her right arm extended downwards holding the sword upward, with drops of blood flowing down the blade. Her other arm outstretched holding one of the guard's gun, her upper arm soaked in blood from a cut. The sword, her body and her surroundings where streaked with blood. She stared down at them, her eyes glaring and frowning deeply.
However, looming behind her was an even more frightening figure. Most people did not get a good look at him, but they all feared him. He was far taller then Mandy, wearing a huge black robe. His face was pure white, his chin elongated and his eyes so dark, they didn't seem to be there at all.
In seconds the lights stopped flickering and their eyes adjusted to the light. The man behind Mandy had disappeared, but she was still there, at the ready.
They looked around the room. Not a single guard still stood, although some where alive, but they where nursing injuries. One of them was laying behind Mandy with his head dangling off the end of the table, only attached to his body by his spine. Two bosses where dead, including the boss of Endsville. Several assistants where also killed. Even those spared had blood on them that was not their own. Most of the antiques that lined the walls where cracked of broken. Remarkably the clock was left untouched.
It was quiet, except for the moaning and wheezing of the injured. Suddenly one of the older bosses started loudly clapping. He stood up. "Most impressive, Miss Mandy, but you had already proven yourself as an assassin." He pulled out a handkerchief and wiped some blood off his face and handed it to his assistant who used it as a tourniquet on a bullet wound. "However, being an excellent assassin does not make you the boss of the Endsville territory."
Mandy looked down on him. "You raise a valid point." She looked towards the door. "I believe there is a messenger waiting outside."
One of the assistants by the door reluctantly went to open it. Behind it was a small man in a black suit covered in grey dust. He stepped in, speechless at what he saw.
The boss said to him, "Do you have a message?"
"Yes, sir," he stammered. "Something is happening. It seems like we are under some kind of attack. In the last couple hours I've gotten reports from everywhere with every kind of problem.
"Eighteen of our grow-ops in rented properties have been given eviction notices. Ten children of our associates have been expelled from Endsville Private School. Three of the stores that act as fronts for our gambling parlors have suddenly gone bankrupt. Our accounts at three different local banks have been frozen.
"Strangest of all, a demolition crew has accidentally knocked down our club house on Pine. They say they must have been given the wrong address."
The boss sat down again. Mandy walked across the desk, avoiding the bodies. She stepped down and handed the gun to the guard at the end of the table, handle first. She turned, placed the sword on the table, picked up her sunglasses and said, "This meeting is adjourned."