Iqbal started to blink sleepily and his head began to wobble. He spat out some white balls into his hand. "These moth balls make Iqbal woozy."
Mr. Bibby, who stood by his side, explained, "I believe Mr. Brando used cotton balls in his mouth, not moth balls."
Iqbal put the balls in his desk drawer. "Iqbal save those for later. Hoh-kay. Item 54."
There was a audience of board looking goons and heavies of all shapes and sizes gathered around the desk. Iqbal continued, "The ambush of Boss Mandy."
Mr. Bibby tapped on Iqbal's shoulder. "It would appear that they have arrived."
Iqbal looked at the security monitor and saw group of people coming through a door. "Fuck my cocking luck. Mandy not with them."
Sperg lead his group into the dilapidated warehouse. There where only six of them, but they had been assured that their target had only a few guards.
The warehouse consisted primarily of a single large room with 15 meter ceilings filled with rows of shelving. Most of the shelves held palettes of nondescript cardboard boxes.
They pulled out their guns. Sperg only carried a pistol. Being in charge meant he probably wouldn't do much shooting. Instead it was his job to keep an eye on the big picture and tell the others where to shoot rather the worry about handling and aiming the larger guns.
The two known a Big Brother and Little Brother held the machine guns. They were both new to the gang and barely eighteen. They looked so much alike, so Sperg didn't even know if Big Brother was actually order. They where young and foolish, much like once was. He'd still be like that if the Boss Bourassa hadn't taken him under his wing.
The sniper rifle was held by Chops. He was in his forties and had been forced into the gang when his gambling debts got too high for him to pay off. People like him usually didn't last too long, but he proved to be a good shot and they where considering forgiving his debt.
Lastly there was Smudge. So named because his face was always dirty from all the food he ate. He was disturbingly overweight. He carried a small grenade launcher. Getting ammunition for a highly illegal weapon like that was difficult, so they only had one grenade and they didn't plan on using it unless it was absolutely necessary.
With Sperg in the lead, they moved from aisle to aisle, looking down each one and seeing nothing in the dim light.
They soon came to the centre aisle, which was wider then the others. There was a light at the far end and snippets of conversation could be heard. Not comfortable with how wide it was, Sperg directed his team to the next aisle and went down it.
At the end of the aisle they saw their target through a window in a office. The short balding man was laughing at something. To Sperg's surprise, Mr. Bibby, one of the higher ups in the gang was standing beside him. Sperg didn't expect to see him there.
He didn't have much time to think about it. He saw Iqbal pick up the boxy PA microphone and speak in to it.
The horrible screech of feedback briefly echoed through the warehouse. Then Iqbal's voice boomed, "Ah... Sorry about that. Alright. Begin with the killing of them."
Machine gun fire began pouring down on them from above.
Without looking up, Sperg immediately ran to the nearest shelf, feeling the small bits of the cement floor being kicked up by the bullets bouncing off his legs. He used his great strength to push the boxes out of the way to make a clearing in the shelf. Big Brother followed behind him, then Smudge. Sperg had to push away more boxes to make room for him.
Sperg looked back into the aisle. Chops had taken cover in a small space in the shelf across from them. Little Brother lay crumpled on the floor, his body still shifting as he was hit by more bullets.
"No!" Big Brother yelled, the sound echoing in the large building. He leaped into the aisle and fired his machine gun upward. Sperg pulled him back by his shirt.
They had stopped firing at them, but that didn't make Sperg feel any better. It meant they where going to make a more direct attack.
Suddenly Sperg heard the guns start firing again, but not at them. He was trying to think of what else they could be shooting at when a body suddenly fell from above and landed in front of them. He saw the long black hair on the back of her head redden with blood.
Smudge looked back at Sperg and asked, "Who did that?"
"How should I know?" he answered with annoyance.
Sperg carefully peeked out from under the shelf. He looked to the left and saw Iqbal arms waving as he watched a security monitor. He looked to the right to see two people running across the top shelf at the far end of the aisle. He heard a gun fire from above and one of the two fell out of sight. The other drew his weapon.
Sperg looked up just in time to see a figure leap from the top shelf above him to grab on to one of the lower shelves across from him. The shelves where full there, so she all could do was just hang on.
She looked down. Sperg saw her face. He recognized her angry and frustrated frown and whispered the name, "Mandy". It was suddenly very clear what he must do.
He pointed his gun at the figure running across the top shelf who was now taking aim at the helpless Mandy and fired three times to take him down.
Suddenly Sperg felt himself pulled back just as a machine gun began firing down the aisle, striking the bodies that lay in front of them.
After a short time the firing stopped, foot steps started coming towards them. Big Brother pushed passed Sperg and fired his machine gun down the aisle. He pulled back and turned to Sperg saying, "Got him."
Leaping down from above, a pair of legs, clad in grey tights, appeared. Sperg immediately got out from under the shelf and stood up, saying, "Mandy!"
Before Sperg could say anything more, Mandy started turning away from him and out of the corner of his eye he saw Chops with his sniper rifle aimed at Mandy. He shouted, "Wait!"
Mandy managed to stop her kick just before Chops' head. Chops, seeing the kick coming, had flinched and fired the gun, but missed. Sperg grabbed the rifle by the barrel and pointed it away from Mandy, "She's our new boss."
Smudge stepped out from under the shelf, "What? A girl in charge of the Belleville Mafia?"
Sperg looked at Smudge, "I went to school with her. The writing style of the orders seemed familiar. I should of realized it sooner."
Mandy, becoming impatient with them, smacked Smudge in the back of the head and pointed to the office. "Will you kill them already?"
Boy or girl boss, Smudge was eager to fire his grenade launcher. He released the safety and took aim. Through the sight he could see Mr. Bibby pointing at him. Iqbal in an panic grabbed at the PA microphone. Echoing through the warehouse, Iqbal shouted, "Get them, you no brained pansies!"
Smudge fired the grenade. The others ducked for cover behind the shelf. They heard the pop of the grenade being launched and the sound of the office window breaking, but no explosion. Smudge stared at the office and angrily said, "All that and our one shot was a smegging dud."
In the office Iqbal stared at the grenade lodged in one of the security monitors. Not realizing the PA was still on he said, "Bloody Shitcakes! Iqbal must be the luckiest cock-sucker ever. Oh, my underpants, they suddenly feel so soft and warm," he sniffed the air, "and damp."
The grenade finally went off, consuming the office in a fireball. Smudge fell back into the aisle.
His ears ringing, Sperg ran up to check on him. He noticed the sparkle of glass and the oozing of blood all over his body. He pressed his finger to his neck to check his pulse, but it only caused the blood to bubble as his last breath escaped his lungs.
Sperg turned to the others. "We have to get out."
Mandy pick up a gun from the girl who fell and pointed back towards the office. "We'll go through here while it is still smoky. Sperg leads. Big Brother watches our back."
From the far end of the aisle, someone yelled. Sperg and Mandy disappeared around the corner, but Chops quickly, but carefully, aimed at the distant enemy. Big Brother yelled at him to hurry, but left as soon as he heard the rattle of a machine gun.
Chops fired and walked around the corner. Big Brother, incredulous, asked, "What took you so long. He could have got you."
Chops calmly answered, "It's not who fires first, but who hits first."
The two of them hurried through the smoke to catch up with the others. Glass and debris crunched under their feet as they went.
Up ahead, Sperg noticed that the smoke was starting to thin out. He glanced back to check if Mandy was still behind him. He saw her silhouette. He admired how her hair looked, then glanced at her body, but looked away in embarrassment. He noticed she was talking to another figure, someone very tall. He was pretty sure who it was.
He held his gun tighter as he walked towards them. He looked up at the tall one with distain. "Don't tell me you're still hanging out with this loser, Mandy."
Mandy looked at Sperg. "Naa, I ditched him years ago."
Grim rolled his non-existent eyes. "Hey. If it wasn't for people's fear of me, two-bit gangs like your's wouldn't have any power at all."
Chops and Big Brother ran up, almost colliding with them because of the smoke. Big Brother quickly said, "Get a move on. I think they're behind us."
Big Brother looked up at the tall man. Realizing who he was from his robes and skull face, he looked somber and asked, "Where did you take Little Brother?"
Grim put his hand on his shoulder. "You'll know soon enough." Suddenly gun shots came out of the smoke and Big Brother collapsed out from under his hand.
Mandy and Sperg returned fire with their pistols before ducking into the aisle. With nothing to aim at and a slow firing weapon, Chops had ducked in first.
Mandy grabbed Grim's robe and looked up at him angrily. "Get me his gun and stop bothering us."
Grim stepped out to pick up the machine gun off Big Brother and was promptly shot at by their attackers. The bullets made holes in his robe and ricocheted noisily off his bones.
He handed the gun to Mandy. "Here you go. I guess I'll be seeing you again."
"No doubt," Mandy glared.
The three of them went down the aisle. At the far end, Sperg looked around the corner and saw the door they entered but there was four people guarding it.
He explained the situation to Mandy.
Mandy looked up and said, "We attack them from above."
Chops asked, "How are we going to get up there. I don't know about you, but I don't think I'll be able to climb."
Mandy looked back at him, "I saw a forklift when I was coming in."
They managed to get back to the second aisle without being noticed and found the forklift.
Sperg sat down in the cab. It had seen better days. The labels for many of the controls had warn off. He pushed a level that looked like it would raise the forklift, but nothing happened. He stared at the controls, confused.
Suddenly he felt Mandy's arm reach across his lap. Mandy turned a key to start the forklift's engine. As she pulled back Sperg glanced at Mandy's frown.
Mandy joined Chops on top of the box that was on the forklift. Sperg pushed the lever and the box started to rise. He quickly climbed on, putting one foot on the forklift tong and holding on to the box.
They where about halfway up when they started being shot at again. Mandy stepped off the box and stood on the other end of the forklift tong and fired at them with Big Brother's machine gun.
Sperg fired a few shots, but couldn't see anyone from where he was.
Chops had laid down on his stomach on top of the box and shot their attackers, one at a time. Sperg noticed bullets coming out of the back of the box where about to hit Chops, but Chops fired one last time and the bullets stopped.
They reached to top of the shelf and climbed on to it. As Sperg helped Chops off the box, he said, "I'm getting to old for this."
"So am I," Sperg replied. Mandy was already on her way along the shelf when he turned to her and said, "Hold on, I have an idea."
Sperg grabbed the end of one of the forklift tongs and started to rock it back and forth. After a few times he yanked as hard as he could, sending the forklift toppling over with a crash. Frying pans spilled out of the box as it hit the floor. He looked back to see if Mandy was impressed, but she only frowned at him.
They quickly arrived at a gap in the shelves. It was only about a meter and a half wide, but the cement floor was 15 meters below them.
Mandy jumped across without hesitation. Sperg looked at Chops before he holstered his gun and jumped. He landed unsteadily but safely.
Chops threw his sniper rifle across to Sperg. He stepped back a few paces so he would have room. He ran towards the gap, but he seemed to half-trip his last step. Sperg watched as Chops tumbled head first downward. He turned away before he heard the sound. He imagined it was a bundle of heavy rope hitting the ground.
Sperg turned to Mandy who just stared in shock. He looked back at the gap Chops had just disappeared into and used his thick arm wipe the sweat from his brow, but it only seemed to push salt into his eyes and make them water. He turned back to Mandy but saw only her back was she walked away. He watched her hair sway indifferently, but it only made his eyes sting more. He rubbed them with his figures and squeezed the bridge of his nose. He took a deep breath.
The two of them reach then end of the shelf and look down at the four people guarding the door.
Sperg said quietly, "Shouldn't be too hard if we surprise them."
Without looking at him Mandy handed him the machine gun. "Use the sniper rifle and take out as many as you can. Switch to rapid fire when they start shooting at you. I'm going to climb down a few shelves."
Sperg watched Mandy begin climbing down and said to himself, "I hope these boxes are filled with more then packing material."
He studied the four of them through the sniper scope. One was unusually tall and wore a white dress shirt and tie, almost as if he had been called away from an engagement. Two of the others had long hair and black t-shirts with pictures of wrestler on them. The fourth was a Goth girl, with a long coat and too much eye shadow. He only saw two machine guns between them.
He chose the tall one to kill first. He fired and immediately rolled away from his position. Not hearing them fire back he crawled to his next position and looked down on them. His target's head appear only as a bloody smudge. They clearly did not know where he was as the other three where looking around in all directions.
He admired how the girl looked when she as scared and then targeted one of the other two. Sperg considered that those two must think themselves rebels for wearing wrestling shirts, despite the fact it was one the most blatant examples of crass commercialism on the planet. He fired and rolled.
This time there was a reply. Bullets bounced against the oven that he was hiding behind. The shooting soon stopped, so Sperg moved to his next position, but the remaining two had moved out of sight.
Sperg carefully looked around for them while trying to stay as hidden as possible. Suddenly machine gun fire rang out. He threw himself backwards and saw bullets spark as they bounced off the roof girders. Sperg figured they where hiding in the shelves too, shooting straight upwards, probably at Mandy.
Sperg put down the sniper rifle, grabbed the machine gun and crawled towards the edge. He peaked over the edge only to see someone looking up from the bottom shelf. He pulled back immediately as more shots came from below. Bullets that bounced off the roof noisily fell by his ear.
Suddenly he heard Mandy yell, "Cover me!" Sperg looked back over the edge of the shelf and started firing the machine gun down. A little to his right, half way down the shelf he saw Mandy step out and lower herself down so she was hanging by one hand, with a gun in her other hand. She swung herself and let go. She fired as soon as she hit the ground.
Sperg stopped firing. He watched Mandy look around her, gun at the ready. She looked up at him. "Get down here. The girl is missing." Sperg scrambled to the other side of the shelf and tried to find a way to climb down.
Mandy glanced back towards the door to the exit. Suddenly she felt someone grab her from behind. Arms wrapped themselves around her neck. Mandy leaned forward. She felt the cold metal of a knife on her throat. Flinging herself backwards, they fell. Mandy landed on top. Released from the hold she quickly stood up and saw that it was the Goth girl.
The girl, still lying on the floor, lunged at Mandy's legs with the knife. Mandy simply lifted her foot and stepped on the girl's hand. She screamed, and managed to pull her hand out, leaving the knife under Mandy's foot. Mandy kicked the knife away.
The girl stood up and yelled, "You killed Talon!" as she ran at Mandy. Mandy grabbed her arm and twisted it. The girl was forced to turn around and press her back up against Mandy to relieve the pressure on her arm.
Mandy kept twisting as she whispered in the girl's ear, "Was Talon your boyfriend?"
The girl yelped, "Yes," as she tried to stamp on Mandy's foot, but Mandy dodged it and wrapped her leg around the girl's and pulled, causing the girl to lose her balance, twisting her arm more. The girl gasped as she steadied herself.
Mandy asked quietly, "Does it hurt you that he is dead?"
"Y-yes." she stuttered.
"More then this?" Mandy asked as she twisted her arm until she felt a snap. The girl's scream echoed through the building.
Gasping the girl could only nod.
Mandy pulled herself closer to her ear. She could see the mascara running down the side of the girl's face. She whispered, "Do you regret loving him? Do you regret it now that you know how much it hurts?"
The girl closed her eyes and tears streamed down her cheeks. She mouthed, "No," and shook her head.
Mandy yanked her arm upward, feeling another snap. The girl's body went limp as she fell unconscious from the pain. Mandy let go of her and she tumbled to the floor.
Sperg appeared from around the corner. He glanced at the girl's body, but looked away when he saw the odd angle of her arm. He said to Mandy, "We had better go. I can hear them coming."
Mandy opened the door and looked out at the large empty parking lot. Her frown deepened. She turned to Sperg. "After I leave, lock this door from the inside. You stay here and hold them off."
Sperg thought for a moment. He said, "Mandy, I...," but Mandy was already out the door before he could complete his sentence.
From could hear the foot steps approaching, so he pushed over the desk, got behind it, checked his ammo and prepared to make his stand.