Chapter 11: Reinforcing the Stereotype

"You are what…all those Polish jokes…are about…aren't you?" Sawyer said with an evil smirk as the Polish thug cowered in fear. The poor nameless thugs that Zielinski sent really had no idea what they were getting in to; the one left alive wished to whatever god there was that they had heeded the warnings of the Roanapur's citizens. They burst into the meat packing plant, Sawyer's meat packing plant, like the idiots they were. None of the workers got in their way because they had known what was going to happen; they even pointed them in Sawyer's direction. The two hapless, nameless thugs had wandered into the lion's den without knowing it. They came into Sawyer's "private" work room to find her slicing up a corpse with a chainsaw. She immediately turned the hungry spinning blades on them upon seeing their weapons. Of course they tried to defend themselves by firing their pistols at her, but a chainsaw makes for a great shield, surprisingly enough. She cut down the first thug; his corpse fell limply to the ground in two bloody halves. The second thug, let's call him thug number two, tried again to defend himself. Sawyer didn't need to shield herself that time because his shaky hands couldn't hit anything. He now stood shaking in the corner under her gaze.

"L...look, I'll just leave and never come back. I won't tell anyone about this, and I'll just leave Roanapur." He pleaded

"Tell me….do you work for…..a man named…Zielinski?" The cleaner asked with a cold amusement.

"Wh…what? Yes…..I do. I can tell you where he is if you let me go!"

"No spine….at all. You think….you can threaten…my friend…through me?" Sawyer gave what sounded like a laugh. "You were planning…to interrogate me. Did your boss….tell you to rape me…if I refused…to talk? Urban told me….that your boss…was that kind…of scum." Her dark grin widened considerably causing even more fear. "You were hoping…that I wouldn't talk…so you could…have your way…with me. I have a different kind….of lust." She revved up the chainsaw again and drove the biting end across his stomach. He screamed in pain and clutched his stomach. The machine died down again as made exactly the noises one would expect a dying animal to make. "How long….until your innards…seep out onto the floor?" The reply was a Polish accented gurgle of the purest agony, music to her ears. She decided to try something new; she had never cut a man diagonally before. The metal beast kicked to life and she got to work. Slicing a man in half was not as easy as the movies. All the bone, cartilage, and muscles were tougher than that. Regardless, the chainsaw got the job done. She looked at her watch, time to get changed and meet Urban. He had hired her, curiously enough.

She got changed quickly and drove to Urban's gun shop. The young gun smith was standing outside the shop waiting for her with the smile on his face that that she was beginning to get used to. He waived as she stepped out of her car. He held the door to his shop open for her; this odd sort of chivalry was lost on Sawyer, but she appreciated the gesture all the same. He closed the door behind them and put up the closed sign. "You must be wondering what this is about. It's my job to clean up this mess because they followed me here."

"Two thugs visited me…..a bit earlier. They were trying….to find you." She replied

"Shit! Zielinski must be really desperate. Are you okay Frederica?" She smiled at the fact that he was worried about her.

"I am…fine."

"I'm glad. Anyway, Balalaika has given me license to kill these assholes, and I want you to help me. You will be paid for your services of course; do you feel like working with me again?" Urban asked hopefully.

"I would be….delighted to rid….the world of those….cockroaches." The cleaner replied. "How do we….find them?"

"We wait. They'll come to us, just like lambs to the slaughter."

"What is taking those two so long?" Zielinski tapped his foot impatiently. Feliks paced the room uncomfortably. The thought was hanging in the air, but he couldn't bring himself to say it. This place had swallowed those two; he was glad that he hadn't gotten to know them beforehand. It was no use stalling. He had to say what was obvious because his uncle was too fucking stupid to realize what had happened.

"Boss, they are dead." A deafening silence filled the room. Feliks couldn't take this tension, this fucking tension that was always in the room when Jacek was around. This fear of doing or saying something that would set his temperamental uncle off; something as simple as correcting him could lead to broken fingers or even death. He had this stupid hubris, this uncontrollable completely retarded pride. It was sickening absolutely vomit inducing, that he was the head of the most powerful organized crime ring in Poland, not including Hotel Moscow who had a stranglehold on all of Eastern Europe. Was this really all that Poland had to offer? To make matters worse, Feliks had to keep all of these thought bottled up. It was just a little longer until he could head the family. He hoped that his turn would come before he had an aneurism from all the stress. Something had to break this tension. He clenched his fist and contemplated shooting himself. Something, anything had to break the silence.

"Boss, we know where he's hiding." A thug announced as he entered the cramped motel room. Feliks breathed a sigh of relief. Thank fucking Christ he came in.

"Finally, we can drag this little bastard back home where he belongs. I want to make a public spectacle of this; I need to teach my employees what happens when they run out on me." Feliks massaged his temples and cocked his gun. He was unsure who he'd use it on in the end. Damn it, why couldn't Urban have taken him along for this ride? They packed into their unbearably cramped rental cars and headed out on their ridiculous mission, to kill a killer who was much better at killing than they were. There were two cars with five people each. Hopefully, their ten to one odds would help them. It was possible, but there was still that wild card. This girl of Urban's worried Feliks deeply. What kind of woman could be found in a city such as this? "Here we are boys, let's have some fun." Feliks sighed and stepped out the car. He almost had to laugh at the sign above the gun shop's window.

"Announcing their fucking presence so soon, this is so typical." Urban pointed to the group of men advancing on the building in broad daylight. He pulled Sawyer underneath the counter as the predictable volley of automatic fire came bursting through the windows. "You know, I'm kind of glad this happened. I was getting bored of my pistol." He unlocked the display case that they were crouching behind and pulled a machine pistol from it, which he then loaded and cocked. "This is called a Tech 9. I've never used one before." He crawled toward the window the gun fire hitting the walls above. He ducked beneath the now broken front window; he fired a spray of bullets in a horizontal line as they were reloading, then hit the deck for the next volley.

"Two down." Feliks muttered to himself as he saw the two, again nameless, thugs bleeding out onto the pavement. "Two of you go around back, the rest of you storm the building. He shouldn't be able to take all you at once." He could have sworn one of them flinched at the words "shouldn't be able to." Regardless, they followed their orders.

"I'll keep them busy here, Sawyer. You flank them." Urban said

"They will…be surprised…to say the least." Sawyer grinned and made her way out the back and into the alley.

"You really have no idea how terrifying you are, my dear." Urban laughed. The gunman grabbed the AK-47 that was mounted on the wall and loaded it. Luckily, the morons had pinned him where all of his munitions were. He cocked the gun and fired in the attackers' general direction. He didn't have much training or experience in the use of assault rifles, so the recoil was really screwing with his accuracy. No matter, it was just for covering fire anyway. He favored small weapons because they were compact and easy to handle, but he had to admit that there was certain elation to firing an AK. The power and the thunderous noise got his heart pounding; the gun was an absolute beast. He was throwing the bullets away, good thing he wasn't running out of ammo anytime soon.

Sawyer revved her chainsaw. The goons stood frozen at the sight in front of them. They fired their guns toward her wildly, but it didn't matter. The poor men had already lost. They fell to bloody pieces in a matter of seconds. She peeked out from the alley and saw that the other men were pinned down by Urban's rifle. They hadn't heard their friends' screams or the whirr of the chainsaw in the alley. She kicked the monster to life again and then she was upon them. Feliks looked on in utter disbelief and horror at the sight before him. "You're fucking kidding me."

"Pigs….to the slaughter." Sawyer mumbled more to herself than anyone else. There were now only two more left; she reminded herself to slow down. It wasn't fun if they died too quickly. She took her time on the next man, enjoying his horrible agonized screams. Only when he was as torn apart as he could possibly be did she finally sever his head. Much to her disappointment, the last man was met with a bullet to the head. The power burst of AK fire tore his skill apart like a melon.

"Feliks, you're still working for that fat useless piece of shit?" Urban called. Feliks wiped the nervous sweat from his brow. He was completely unable to speak after what he just saw. The Goth had turned her attention toward him. He lifted his pistol and fired into the base of chainsaw, crippling its engine. The next bullet lodged itself in Sawyer's leg, and she fell to the ground, a raspy groan escaped her mouth. Without another word, Feliks and Jacek dove into their car and drove away from the scene as fast as they could. Urban rushed outside the shop and fired toward the fleeing car, but to no avail. "Fuck! Frederica, hold on." He looped her arm around his shoulders and walked her to her car.

"It hurts…quite a bit." She mumbled.

"Hold on, let's get you to the hospital." He helped her into the car. He drove toward the nearest hospital, not bothering to obey the non-existent traffic laws in Roanapur. "Keep pressure on your leg." She obeyed knowing full well the effects of blood loss. "I'm sorry about this."

"It was not….your fault. You didn't….shoot me." Sawyer replied

"I should have warned you about Feliks. You weren't expecting someone skilled; he's almost as good as me."

"I am…a little upset….about my chainsaw." She grumbled

"I'll get you a new as part of your payment. You are still working for me after all." He smirked. He parked in front of the emergency room and helped her out of the car. He lifted Sawyer's lithe form into his arms and carried her bridal style into the building. "It's faster this way. We want to get that bullet out of you fast." He covered a blush which was nothing compared to hers. He gently set her down on a chair and went to the receptionist. "My friend has been shot."

"Well there's a new one." The woman replied in a monotone voice. "Just fill out this paper work." She handed him a clipboard.

"Get her in there now." He pointed his gun to her temple. Surprisingly, the receptionist still remained unfazed. She pushed a button on her intercom and commanded a stretcher be brought out. She mentioned a "classic case of homicidal significant other" still in her bored voice. Within minutes, two large men had come out and lifted the Goth onto the stretcher. "Can I go in with her?"

"I'd say that it's family only, but then you'd just point your gun at me again." He took that as a yes and followed the stretcher to the examination room. He took a seat next to her bed as they waited for the doctor to come in. He leaned back in his chair. Zielinski had gotten away; he thought he could finish it in one go. This was even more of a pain in the ass than he had first imagined it would be. That was what he got for giving Zielinski too much credit. He had just expected the gangster to cut his losses and move on, in other words, do what any level headed business man would do. It wasn't that big of a deal to him either way, but he felt guilty that his friend had to get shot over it. Sawyer lay on the bed with an extremely bored look on her face rather than a pained one.

"I have never…..been shot before." She said suddenly

"Really?" He asked

"It is…interesting. It does feel….nearly as horrifying ….as having my throat cut."

"You…is that why you speak with an ultra voice?" He stammered

"Yes. My vocal chords….were damaged severely. It was an….interesting sensation, even more so….than getting shot." She said thoughtfully. "I gasped for breath…..as the blood….seeped out. Though somehow….I managed….to survive. Interesting….but I would not….want to experience it….again."

"Shit. I remember getting shot through the stomach once; it was so painful, but I can't imagine what you described. I'm not sure I want to." Urban sighed sadly

"Urban…am I…pretty?" Sawyer asked

"Why do you ask that?"

"People see me as…..Sawyer the Cleaner. I'm the ghost lady…..a monster in….the eyes of Roanapur. I have a massive scar…..and speak with a….mechanical device. But, am I…..pretty…despite this?"

"Sawyer, I think you are really cute." He blushed realizing what he was about to say "And I think the scar is sexy."

"Sexy….." Her face turned a deeper shade of red than it had ever been.

"I don't know. I just find scars sexy; I guess it has something to do with toughness or tragedy." He shrugged.

"Do you like me…..in that way?" Fuck, he knew this was coming eventually. He paced the floor for a few seconds and took a deep breath. He had never really liked anyone "in that way before." In that respect, he was still to be considered a child. It seemed that making and using guns came easy to him, but this was new. Shit, despite his being thrust into the adult world at the age of 14, he was still a kid. He really hated to admit that. However, this was a mental rouse to distract from the issue. Did he like Sawyer in that way?

"Yes. I like you Frederica."He replied sincerely, not something he was really used to.

"Does this….make you…..my boyfriend?" She asked curiously.

"If you want it to, I guess." He shrugged

"I do….very much." She reached her hand out toward him. He stood up and gripped her hand firmly. He was getting himself involved with one of the most fucked up people in all of creation, but it felt completely right. This was probably the only type of girl for him anyway. She had no problem with killing, which was an integral part of his life; hell, she even enjoyed it. He leaned down toward her and placed a kiss on her lips. Sawyer was taken aback because she had never been kissed before. She had remembered a boy kissing her cheek when she was very young, but nothing like this. She relaxed herself and kissed back as much as she could. Oh god, she felt his tongue. Shenhua was going to tease the hell out of her later for not knowing how to do this. Or worse, she'd offer to demonstrate how to do this. She gasped for breath as he broke away with a grin. "That was….nice."

"Yeah it was, even though I've never done that before. I'm glad you liked it." Not the smoothest thing to say, but it was all he could think of.

"We may….need practice."

"Fuck, fuck, fuck!" Feliks shouted as he paced the motel room frantically. He knew, knew, this would be an absolute cluster fuck. Hopefully, his uncle would make the smart decision and leave. There was no hope, though.

"Relax Feliks, we'll just call for more men. I bet we can hire some of the locals around here for a cheaper price than we were paying our guys." Jacek said

"Are you fucking kidding me? You still want to continue this shit?" Feliks clenched his fists and eyed his pistol again.

"Don't tell me you're going to back out. Yeah, the chainsaw bitch was scary, but don't be a pussy Feliks. We just need to regroup."

"Regroup…..fine. I need some fucking air, first. I'll be back." He massaged his temples and strode out the door. He hopped into the car, the beautiful car that saved him from being hack to bloody pieces. It was pure luck that he was able to take down that girl. Eventually his luck would run out. Jacek Zielinski was going to lead him to an early grave. No more, he couldn't take any more of this shit. He pulled up in front of the Yellow Flag; the locals seemed to really love the bar. He sat himself sadly at the counter and order the largest, strongest bottle of vodka in the place.

"What's your problem?" Bao asked

"You know those Pollack jokes?"

"Yeah."

"My uncle is the Pollack in every one of those jokes."

AUHTORS NOTE: Poor Feliks

We are winding down gentle man. I predict only one or two more chapters in this story. Don't cry though, I might do a sequel.

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