Prologue: Inheritance
"Women are like flowers. We're all different shapes, sizes, and colors. There isn't one that isn't beautiful." - Julie Russi.
Rhy'Din, WestEnd. Unknown Location.
"I don't think you quite understand the gravity of the situation here," she indicated a finger to the small odd, glove-like metal contraption atop of her desk. "Listen....I know you stole the drugs during the confusion, when Tulip burnt down the warehouse." Iris took a second of her time to cross one leg over the other, "I know you have it stashed some where in the city. All you need to do' Is tell me where it is."
The long haired muscular framed man; named Jack, looked quite the spectacle. Being held up by two of the Boys dressed in their newly chosen colours of bright red suits, hats, shoes and ties, Jack looked pretty banged up. He was covered in bruises across every inch of his swollen face. He may had been a handsome man, once. Even some blood leaked from his nose, considering it was all kinds of broken and flatted against his face in quite the awkward angle.
"If you're trying to be her?" Jack coughed through his delirium of dull aches and pains, "You're failing?" Laughing at the irony of it all, he quickly shook his head, "Miss B" She would had killed me already?"
"No, Jack. I'm not her. For that you should be grateful. I understand she was like a sister to all of you, and that you loved her very much and would had done anything for her" But I know, I can never gain such love and trust from amongst those who are still loyal to the business, overnight. That kind of trust takes time, but, Jack, you betrayed us entirely, by stealing what is rightfully our property." She lifted a hand up under the brim of her fedora to press her fingertips against closed eyelids, "The Boys - your own blood brothers are the ones that want to treat you this way. If it were up to me, I would let you go. But you wrecked their respect, and their trust."
Smiling seemed to hurt, but somehow Jack had managed to lift his head to crack one off for the red suited woman seated behind the desk. "That is why, you will never be able to fill her shoes."
"Shut up you," one of the guards that held him up grunted, "Show some respect to the Boss. She gave up her life to fix the mistakes Tulip made. That goes for you too, you ungrateful little sh*t."
"Pah! You're all like dogs!" Jack laughed, "All of you! Dogs! Slaves! I took the f*cking drugs fair and square and you know it! The Boys were disbanded the moment she burnt the warehouse to the ground. Technically, those drugs belonged to no one." He nodded at Iris, " This, so-called new Miss B" She just wants to turn you all into law mongering rats that hide in the shadows, weeping like little girls at every sight of a Watchman around the next corner!"
"Oi, leave ya potty mouth out of this mate, you traitorous scum! I've gotta mind to break ya f*ck"n neck right "ere!" The other guard barked, ready to deliver a punch into the side of Jack's ribcage. Both guards were quite possibly on their last nerve. It was assuredly unforgivable in their eyes to talk to Iris like that, and to dishonour the name of their former Boss.
But, they knew Jack spoke some level of truth. Iris was going about things through official channels - using the law to their advantage, rather than the connections to the criminal underworld Tulip had spent so many years accumulating. It was a change they were having difficulty adapting to, but they all knew, there would be a time where Iris would have no other alternative, than to use those criminal connections, for the sake of the business.
A subtle merciful raise of Iris's hand prevented that fist from ever connecting to Jack's ribs. With a loud sigh she glanced to Hunter that stood off in the shadows just over her shoulder, and gave a single nod to have his participation into this increasingly heated situation.
Hunter sighed, knowing his words were going to fall upon deaf ears...."Jack, we need those drugs. Without it, we cannot fully connect ourselves to the new business we are looking to start here. I know, you do not believe in the new Miss B, and in what she is trying to do for the Boys, but you must understand" We cannot commit the same mistakes that-"
Jack scoffed: "That's so full of sh*t' You're gonna be the law's puppy dogs! Wagging your tails, rolling over" That imposter of a Miss B is gonna go legit and sell us all out! She's a fuck'in ex-pig for Christ sakes!"
The two guards dragged Jack closer to the desk and pinned him against it, while Hunter moved forward and forced Jack's right hand into that strange looking glove that has thus far, not been used.
"Being an Ex-Cop, I know how both systems work. Unlike Tulip, I know how to play the system, and I know the criminal world better than she, all from a differing perspective. Her mistakes were always so simple - she was emotionally attached to her Boys and, when she finally threw her final tantrum' She sought to bring each and every one of them down with her. That is what led her to her ruin" Her own selfishness. Her unstable, emotional state " her fixation with the Detective that eventually ended her life....In the end, she fell from grace, and ruined the business." Iris leant forward from her chair then, her voice borderline threatening, "I am my Sister's better half, but I am not that good of a person. I've shot criminals down without mercy during my time as a cop. I believed scum deserved to be put down..."
Jack struggled against the two Boys baring their weight against him. They had jammed the bottom of his jaw onto the desk so that he could watch what was to come. He stared with wide, confused eyes to the intricate mechanisms that stuck out from the tip of each glove's finger, and dared not to imagine what sinister purpose they were intended for.
"I'm never gonna tell you so give it up!" Jack yelled, hissing and breathing heavily to the fight or flight instincts that embraced his heart, "If you want the money we can make a deal! Once I sell all the drugs I can give you a cut - a big cut!"
Iris stood up from her chair, and removed a flame-damaged yo-yo from her pocket, and place it just beside the torture device. "Every time you do not answer my question with a suitable answer, I am going to break one of your fingers." Next, she drew out from her blazer pocket a small remote control where five buttons lay, labelled 1-5.
She slowly sat her rear onto the surface just beside Jack's face that was being pressed into the desk's varnished grain. "Are the drugs in the city?"
"Damn it, b*tch, just f*cking listen to me! I'm willing to split-"
Iris pressed button 3 without so much as a blink. Jack's middle finger encased in that glove of metal and fabric suddenly bent a 160 degree angle backwards, snapping his finger out of place with a sudden succession of stomach churning pops and cracks.
Jack's screams were music to Iris's ears, and as the pain rushed through his body, a renewed sense of strength regrew to fight off his assailants. Managing to partially lift the two heavy men somewhat off of the floor, he again succumbed to his exhausting injuries, and was easily pushed back down face first against the desk with a resounding thud.
Iris shook her head to him, her hat angled just enough for neither of her eyes to barely be seen. "Just answer the question, Jack..."
Heavily Jack panted, whimpering into submission, "Yes - yes! Fine! Fine! Jus'-Just stop, o-okay?"
"Now we're gettin" sum where," one of the henchmen that held him spoke, exasperated that it had to get to this point before Jack actually spoke a single useful word about the subject, "Where be the drugs, mate" Spit it out, ya snake!"
"Th-they?" Jack's tear stained eyes went to his dislocated finger that was bent back against his forehand, "Christ," he felt sick just looking at it, "I" I sold them."
Hunter stepped in before another button could be pressed, his hands pressing calmly atop of the desk while it groaned under his weight. "Listen boy, I know the pain is making it hard to think straight. But we need something more specific than that." Pulling out a somewhat bent cigarette out from his trouser pocket, he placed it between Jack's trembling lips, and lit it, "Just give us what we want and we'll let you go."
Struggling to gather some sense of what he was going to say, Jack soothed his heavy panting with long and calming breaths of smoke. "To some West Enders....I didn't make that much money off of it - I swear I didn't," he turned his eyes to the rim of the hat that concealed the eyes of the new Miss B. "I'll give you the money. All of it' I'm sorry, I didn't....I din't mean to."
"It is not money we're after, Jack. It's the drugs." Placing the remote down, Iris shifted half of her rear off of the desk, her shoe tapping against the side, "Who are these people you sold them too?"
Jack muttered, "Just some kids, trying to play gangs?"
Iris snatched up the yo-yo and stood up in a flurry of vehemence, "You what"!" She turned her concealed gaze to Hunter.
Hunter returned the glances with a grim expression, and nodded.
This could be become a problem. A royal spanner in the works.
"If the Watch discover that the drugs sold to this gang of kids came from you, it would not be hard for some certain type of people to notice and to figure out that you used to work for my sister! Tracking it straight back to us." Rounding the table and out of sight, Iris placed a hand onto her face, hanging her head with the weighty decision she now must make.
If she let this man go. How easy will it be for him to squeal again? She knew what she had to do, and she knew the Boys wanted it, too.
Approaching besides her, Hunter placed a large calloused hand onto her shoulder, muttering into her ear so that the others could not listen. "Iris, you don't have to do it. Leave it to me and the Boys to sort out."
Her head shook, "I appreciate it, Hunter," her voice was hallow, "but, I promised you all I would make it all better?" She pulled away from him, and approached Jack as he was being released from the torture device. "Jack, I am sorry it has come to this, but you have potentially endangered the rest of your blood brothers with your stupid act. And not only that. You've endangered our efforts to rebuild unopposed."
Somehow, Jack knew what was coming. It was something in her voice. For a moment there, she sounded exactly like Tulip. "N-no, you're not a killer " you're not a killer " you're a cop! You can't do this!"
As Jack was lifted from the desk by the two Boys, Iris pulled the tight wire cord of the yo-yo up and over Jack's head, and pulled back hard, pressing a foot against his back to gain leverage .
Iris watched; emotionless, as he suffocated. She wondered at that time, what was Tulip thinking when she used to do this to so many innocent people. Iris was not enjoying the death of another human being, but, some part of her was delighted that another scum-bag was now dead and off of the streets. Perhaps....This was her way of cleaning up, after all, the law was a fickle system...
Criminals always got away.
"You, sold drugs to kids" That's more than enough reason for me to kill you, Jack."
"Women are like flowers. We're all different shapes, sizes, and colors. There isn't one that isn't beautiful." - Julie Russi.
Rhy'Din, WestEnd. Unknown Location.
"I don't think you quite understand the gravity of the situation here," she indicated a finger to the small odd, glove-like metal contraption atop of her desk. "Listen....I know you stole the drugs during the confusion, when Tulip burnt down the warehouse." Iris took a second of her time to cross one leg over the other, "I know you have it stashed some where in the city. All you need to do' Is tell me where it is."
The long haired muscular framed man; named Jack, looked quite the spectacle. Being held up by two of the Boys dressed in their newly chosen colours of bright red suits, hats, shoes and ties, Jack looked pretty banged up. He was covered in bruises across every inch of his swollen face. He may had been a handsome man, once. Even some blood leaked from his nose, considering it was all kinds of broken and flatted against his face in quite the awkward angle.
"If you're trying to be her?" Jack coughed through his delirium of dull aches and pains, "You're failing?" Laughing at the irony of it all, he quickly shook his head, "Miss B" She would had killed me already?"
"No, Jack. I'm not her. For that you should be grateful. I understand she was like a sister to all of you, and that you loved her very much and would had done anything for her" But I know, I can never gain such love and trust from amongst those who are still loyal to the business, overnight. That kind of trust takes time, but, Jack, you betrayed us entirely, by stealing what is rightfully our property." She lifted a hand up under the brim of her fedora to press her fingertips against closed eyelids, "The Boys - your own blood brothers are the ones that want to treat you this way. If it were up to me, I would let you go. But you wrecked their respect, and their trust."
Smiling seemed to hurt, but somehow Jack had managed to lift his head to crack one off for the red suited woman seated behind the desk. "That is why, you will never be able to fill her shoes."
"Shut up you," one of the guards that held him up grunted, "Show some respect to the Boss. She gave up her life to fix the mistakes Tulip made. That goes for you too, you ungrateful little sh*t."
"Pah! You're all like dogs!" Jack laughed, "All of you! Dogs! Slaves! I took the f*cking drugs fair and square and you know it! The Boys were disbanded the moment she burnt the warehouse to the ground. Technically, those drugs belonged to no one." He nodded at Iris, " This, so-called new Miss B" She just wants to turn you all into law mongering rats that hide in the shadows, weeping like little girls at every sight of a Watchman around the next corner!"
"Oi, leave ya potty mouth out of this mate, you traitorous scum! I've gotta mind to break ya f*ck"n neck right "ere!" The other guard barked, ready to deliver a punch into the side of Jack's ribcage. Both guards were quite possibly on their last nerve. It was assuredly unforgivable in their eyes to talk to Iris like that, and to dishonour the name of their former Boss.
But, they knew Jack spoke some level of truth. Iris was going about things through official channels - using the law to their advantage, rather than the connections to the criminal underworld Tulip had spent so many years accumulating. It was a change they were having difficulty adapting to, but they all knew, there would be a time where Iris would have no other alternative, than to use those criminal connections, for the sake of the business.
A subtle merciful raise of Iris's hand prevented that fist from ever connecting to Jack's ribs. With a loud sigh she glanced to Hunter that stood off in the shadows just over her shoulder, and gave a single nod to have his participation into this increasingly heated situation.
Hunter sighed, knowing his words were going to fall upon deaf ears...."Jack, we need those drugs. Without it, we cannot fully connect ourselves to the new business we are looking to start here. I know, you do not believe in the new Miss B, and in what she is trying to do for the Boys, but you must understand" We cannot commit the same mistakes that-"
Jack scoffed: "That's so full of sh*t' You're gonna be the law's puppy dogs! Wagging your tails, rolling over" That imposter of a Miss B is gonna go legit and sell us all out! She's a fuck'in ex-pig for Christ sakes!"
The two guards dragged Jack closer to the desk and pinned him against it, while Hunter moved forward and forced Jack's right hand into that strange looking glove that has thus far, not been used.
"Being an Ex-Cop, I know how both systems work. Unlike Tulip, I know how to play the system, and I know the criminal world better than she, all from a differing perspective. Her mistakes were always so simple - she was emotionally attached to her Boys and, when she finally threw her final tantrum' She sought to bring each and every one of them down with her. That is what led her to her ruin" Her own selfishness. Her unstable, emotional state " her fixation with the Detective that eventually ended her life....In the end, she fell from grace, and ruined the business." Iris leant forward from her chair then, her voice borderline threatening, "I am my Sister's better half, but I am not that good of a person. I've shot criminals down without mercy during my time as a cop. I believed scum deserved to be put down..."
Jack struggled against the two Boys baring their weight against him. They had jammed the bottom of his jaw onto the desk so that he could watch what was to come. He stared with wide, confused eyes to the intricate mechanisms that stuck out from the tip of each glove's finger, and dared not to imagine what sinister purpose they were intended for.
"I'm never gonna tell you so give it up!" Jack yelled, hissing and breathing heavily to the fight or flight instincts that embraced his heart, "If you want the money we can make a deal! Once I sell all the drugs I can give you a cut - a big cut!"
Iris stood up from her chair, and removed a flame-damaged yo-yo from her pocket, and place it just beside the torture device. "Every time you do not answer my question with a suitable answer, I am going to break one of your fingers." Next, she drew out from her blazer pocket a small remote control where five buttons lay, labelled 1-5.
She slowly sat her rear onto the surface just beside Jack's face that was being pressed into the desk's varnished grain. "Are the drugs in the city?"
"Damn it, b*tch, just f*cking listen to me! I'm willing to split-"
Iris pressed button 3 without so much as a blink. Jack's middle finger encased in that glove of metal and fabric suddenly bent a 160 degree angle backwards, snapping his finger out of place with a sudden succession of stomach churning pops and cracks.
Jack's screams were music to Iris's ears, and as the pain rushed through his body, a renewed sense of strength regrew to fight off his assailants. Managing to partially lift the two heavy men somewhat off of the floor, he again succumbed to his exhausting injuries, and was easily pushed back down face first against the desk with a resounding thud.
Iris shook her head to him, her hat angled just enough for neither of her eyes to barely be seen. "Just answer the question, Jack..."
Heavily Jack panted, whimpering into submission, "Yes - yes! Fine! Fine! Jus'-Just stop, o-okay?"
"Now we're gettin" sum where," one of the henchmen that held him spoke, exasperated that it had to get to this point before Jack actually spoke a single useful word about the subject, "Where be the drugs, mate" Spit it out, ya snake!"
"Th-they?" Jack's tear stained eyes went to his dislocated finger that was bent back against his forehand, "Christ," he felt sick just looking at it, "I" I sold them."
Hunter stepped in before another button could be pressed, his hands pressing calmly atop of the desk while it groaned under his weight. "Listen boy, I know the pain is making it hard to think straight. But we need something more specific than that." Pulling out a somewhat bent cigarette out from his trouser pocket, he placed it between Jack's trembling lips, and lit it, "Just give us what we want and we'll let you go."
Struggling to gather some sense of what he was going to say, Jack soothed his heavy panting with long and calming breaths of smoke. "To some West Enders....I didn't make that much money off of it - I swear I didn't," he turned his eyes to the rim of the hat that concealed the eyes of the new Miss B. "I'll give you the money. All of it' I'm sorry, I didn't....I din't mean to."
"It is not money we're after, Jack. It's the drugs." Placing the remote down, Iris shifted half of her rear off of the desk, her shoe tapping against the side, "Who are these people you sold them too?"
Jack muttered, "Just some kids, trying to play gangs?"
Iris snatched up the yo-yo and stood up in a flurry of vehemence, "You what"!" She turned her concealed gaze to Hunter.
Hunter returned the glances with a grim expression, and nodded.
This could be become a problem. A royal spanner in the works.
"If the Watch discover that the drugs sold to this gang of kids came from you, it would not be hard for some certain type of people to notice and to figure out that you used to work for my sister! Tracking it straight back to us." Rounding the table and out of sight, Iris placed a hand onto her face, hanging her head with the weighty decision she now must make.
If she let this man go. How easy will it be for him to squeal again? She knew what she had to do, and she knew the Boys wanted it, too.
Approaching besides her, Hunter placed a large calloused hand onto her shoulder, muttering into her ear so that the others could not listen. "Iris, you don't have to do it. Leave it to me and the Boys to sort out."
Her head shook, "I appreciate it, Hunter," her voice was hallow, "but, I promised you all I would make it all better?" She pulled away from him, and approached Jack as he was being released from the torture device. "Jack, I am sorry it has come to this, but you have potentially endangered the rest of your blood brothers with your stupid act. And not only that. You've endangered our efforts to rebuild unopposed."
Somehow, Jack knew what was coming. It was something in her voice. For a moment there, she sounded exactly like Tulip. "N-no, you're not a killer " you're not a killer " you're a cop! You can't do this!"
As Jack was lifted from the desk by the two Boys, Iris pulled the tight wire cord of the yo-yo up and over Jack's head, and pulled back hard, pressing a foot against his back to gain leverage .
Iris watched; emotionless, as he suffocated. She wondered at that time, what was Tulip thinking when she used to do this to so many innocent people. Iris was not enjoying the death of another human being, but, some part of her was delighted that another scum-bag was now dead and off of the streets. Perhaps....This was her way of cleaning up, after all, the law was a fickle system...
Criminals always got away.
"You, sold drugs to kids" That's more than enough reason for me to kill you, Jack."