Thorn looked up, from where he was sitting over the injured trog, as the group entered the room. "I've done my best but unless you boys know a doc this guy ain't gonna make it to long."

Cord snaps his fingers at some of the younger bloods, as they start to push forward expecting some sort of confrontation. They quickly scamper away, and Cord continues to maintain his protective stance over The Kid, trying to stay between him and any perceived danger.

When he has a chance, the Kid whispers to Cord: "Thanks buddy, I appreciate the support."

After scanning the street one more time, Nikolai flips the safety on, stows his rifle, tucks his Skorpion under his coat and heads downstairs to continue dealing with things.

The two trolls rush immediatly to their comrades side. "Yeah, I can get somebody 'ere on the chop-chop, and it looks like he'll need it. You mind us bringin' one of our boys in 'ere? 'e'd be in an' out and no 'arm done."

"Sure, I don't see any problem with that. I expect him to be unarmed just like you, of course."

Two's company, three's a crowd...
Nikolai tightens his grip on the Skorpion beneath his coat.

Seeing that some members are getting nervous, Kid decides to make the situation safer.

"Bring him back downstairs in the lobby, where everyone else is."

They look to each other nervously, and then to their wounded companion, and then back to each other. "Yeah, I guess we could do that. Max, grab 'is legs, wouldya? I'mma call Blue."

The one that has been doing the talking dials a number and quickly jams the phone into his ear so he can keep talking while he's carrying the upper half of the better part of a ton of metahuman.

"Yeah, Jackie, we found 'im. Put Blue on. Yeah. Yeah, thought so. Listen, we need you over at that building the Edge are holed up in. Yeah, and you should prolly leave Luci... no, I said *leave* it. And fucking hurry! Don't bring none of the other... I know that's what it smells like, but I hardly think they saw him walkin' and... MOTHERFUCKER! GET YOUR SKINNY ASS OVER HERE RIGHT NOW BEFORE I TURN YOU INTO A NEW SET OF BOOTS YOU DRUNK LIMEY BASTARD!"

Ending the call, he diplomatically turns to the Kid. "He'll be here in a second;" he briefly looks to the body, "if it does any good."

Hearing Kid's orders to bring the fallen one downstairs, Cord jumps in immediately, lifting him at the waist as the outsiders grab his shoulders and feet. "Careful, don't need him gettin any more bang'd up dan he is".

Heh. Then again, if he's acting to cover for a setup he's good at it for a troll.
"Hell of a spat."

Ash stalks out of the kitchen and joins the crowd thats formed around the body.

"Unless this doc of yours has some Jesus boots, I don't think this one'll make it."

No sooner does the waiting begin when a ruckus erupts in front of god and everybody.

One of the Babies' mothers, 300 lbs of angry domestic ork, storms into the lobby, and begins screaming at The Kid. "You sunnovabitch! Bad 'nough my baby wants to grow up to be a bad mother gang-banger, but you already got him risking his life!?! It's colder than a brass monkey's balls out there! He don't even got clothes for this weather! Who's gonna doc him when he's blue and frozen through!? You!? You gonna have him hooked on beetles an' killin' in the street next!?"

"Yo Kate, calm down, alright ? It's no big deal, he's a tough little ork and he can take it. This troll over here needs help. So quit whining, I won't send them back out any time soon."

The Kid quickly adds, to try to get her to go away, "You should make sure that he's alright for now, we'll discuss this later."

She gives a sullen look at the collected mass of gangers, then looks back to the Kid. Lowering her voice, she leans in, "This ain't over. We gonna *talk* about this. Don't use my boys no more." With that, she stalks out at nearly the same time as the doc arrives.

He's a skinny troll with the worst teeth you've ever seen, and there are a number of crackheads running around this part of town. It takes only a cursory examination to determine that he's too far gone. With much sadness, the body is collected and the group begins to file out. Before leaving, however, one of the gangers stops to have a word with the assembled gang. "All y'all have been good sports about this. We're 'aving a party inna coupla days. You could show up and maybe between the all of us we could talk some biz-ness."

"That could be...interesting."
That's their best doc?
...
Good to know.

Thorn nodded sadly standing back from where he was helping out. "I did my best, I'm sorry."

Finaly feeling the chill of the room he pulled his jacket closed.

"This could indeed prove interesting...", Ash begins.

"I wonder what the hell this business of theirs is."

Ash spins his revolver and then jams it into his belt.

"I guess I'll go to this party. Anyone else?"

Cord waits for The Kid to make a decision on where he'll be, then follows suit with him, standing defiantly over his shoulder in a protective stance.

After everyone had finaly left, Thorn turned to The Kid expectingly. "Whats it going to be, a party would be a nice change from this cold winter. Given the circumstances of the invitation, we should probably be carefull, they seemed be telling the truth."

"Hmm even if things are nothing major a nice chance to maybe pick up some bits and pieces" Thorn thought to himself.

Kid thinks about it for a while and speak out what his thoughts are.

"I didn't expect them to invite us to a party! This is surprising. I don't think that they are trying to trick us. Not anymore. It's always fun to party so I don't see why we shouldn't go. Also, being friends with them could prove very beneficial to both of our gangs since we share the same turf.

Does anyone think it could be dangerous for us? I mean we can't bring a lot of weapons with us in a party ... it's not appropriate, so we would be vulnerable?"

Kid has said what's on his mind and he's looking for some feedback now. If they want to go, why not ?

"Well, Kid, as I've said, I'll go. Not like my life is worth much at this point in time. I'm cool with taking one for the team.", Ash says.

The several blocks between the Bleeding Edge building and the BPA building is nearly a dozen agonizing frostbitten blocks with cold dry snow blowing into every crevice and cranny, making arriving at the gutted stuffer shack a victory in of itself. Barring Muddy, Denver and Gebo, each one of the Bleeders has come, and the BPA have just as many members present. In addition, there are a dozen or two people not showing any colors, bringing the total for the party to a little over a hundred. Jackets litter the floor near the entrance, and the wailing electric guitar on the stage at the back is a direct assault on the senses, and it isn't long before the Edge gravitate to their various favorite parts of the party. Bubbles, a sight to be seen with her chelsea-hawk fully erect and covered in a new color, quickly makes her way to the nearest source of booze. CJ starts speaking with the band between sets, and it isn't long before the hardcore trog-rock is joined by his unique Amerind crooning. Big James tries to find something to stand on, so that he doesn't come only calf-high in a crowd of stumbling, moshpitting, mostly drunk trogs.

The party goes for two or three hours of drinking, mingling, and hitting on anything that strikes anyone else's various fancies when the boss-man arrives. You can tell he's the boss because he towers almost a foot over everyone else, and the place loses two or three noise levels when he walks in the door. His ram-like horns make a full curl and come to vicious-looking points near his equally impressive tusks. He is the proud owner of a scowl and, discrarding his coat, more scars and pock-marks that anyone should rightly have flesh. He looks as if he spent his youth as a junkyard dog, and appears just about as ready to bite anyone on his side of the fence, and it's difficult to forget that you're on his side of the fence.

The party quickly resumes, but poeple stay out of his way, barring a lieutenant or two that fall in behing him and those greeting him. "Evnin'. B-God." A low rumble, fighting the bass from the speakers for airtime, is their only reply.

B-God makes his way slowly to The Kid. Everyone present is sure that the voice will be responsible for earthquakes worldwide. "You the big man with these bunch?" he says without a hint of irony.

Cord stays vigilant over The Kid for the first hour or so, never really leaving his side. After the first hour though, he finds it difficult to maintain his concentration and finds himself with arms in the air, dancing like a fool. Minutes later, after some friendly rivalry, he finds himself in a thrash pit with the other heavier members of the party, slamming bodies together to the sound of the beat. A little later he pulls out, slightly bruised, slightly bleeding, and heads over to where he sees The Kid pulling a draught from a bottle. He falls against a wall in exaggerated exhaustion, "Boss! The Pit is great, sure you don't wanna...", he is interrupted as some tall dork comes walking in. Guy was big, but he wasn't that big. Just in case though, Cord puts a hand on The Kid's shoulder, gently pushing him so that Cord stands between The Kid and Mr Vertically Challenged, but not so much that they can't see each other's faces.

Thorn mingled with with some of the younger kids, keeping out of the way of the larger members of the party. Avoiding drinks for now. When the large troll arrived he moved over to where the others were standing, slight back out of the way.

Kid is not thrilled by the music in the place, but as his cousin used to say: "When the music is bad, just drink the booze and shut up."

Kid didn't drink much but he definitely enjoyed the warm feeling inside of him. Good old Jack sure didn't let me down this time, he thought. Everyone seemed to have a good time, as far as he could tell. The trolls were thrashing like madmen, which was almost scary just to watch, but enjoyable nevertheless.

Just as Kid was about to explain to Cord how there was no way that he would try to squeeze into a trog thrashing mob, this other huge troll came in.

Is he trying to confront me or just to look tough ??, Kid thought for a second.

Without any sign of nervosity (nor is he really nervous anyways), Kid answers respectfully:
"Yeah, we're the Bleeding Edge. Thanks for letting us come to your party and share the fun. It's a great success."

B-God grins, revealing the rotting teeth characteristic of Barrens dwellers whos primary food sources are soy slop and junk food. "Thanks. M'boys been planning this fer a coupla weeks. 'sbeen all they been talkin' 'bout."

He pauses a moment and turns serious. "I got's somthin' I wanna talk 'bout. You wanna grab yer closest associate and and bottla firewater and the three of us kin go someplace a little quieter and have some words, big man ta big man?"

Jesus H. Christ, I'm never going to a troll party again..., Ash thinks to himself from the sidelines, watching the huge chunks of metahuman slamming into each other. He takes a swig from a bottle of Vodka, and watches Kid get approached.

This could be interesting..., he thinks, and he tries to quietly move towards where they're going, hoping to catch some conversation.

Kid is visibly happy with the way things turned out and he has this very charming smile for which more than a few girls have fallen.

"No problem, 'big man'."

"Cord, let's go.", he says simply, tapping him in the back even though he meant to reach the shoulder.

Cord nods, and holds his hand out in a manner that indicates he will follow B-God, grinning he adds on an, "Age before Beauty", with a wink.

Thorn quietly followed the three of them, moving in and out of the crowd making sure he was not seen. Falling back once they reached the quieter areas, leaving a small gap between them.

B-God chuckles wryly a moment before leading to what was once the managers office of this oversized Stuffer Shack. Once the three that are to be present are inside, he closes the door behind him, letting the party go on.

With the door shutting more or less in his face, Ash shrugs and heads back to the party, grabbing a bottle of some hell-brew from someone smaller than him.

Cord walks into the office like room, he stands there like a statue, saying absolutely nothing. His only movements being with his eyes, as he constantly scans for threats to The Kid.

Thorn stopped outside the door, looking around for a vantage point to listen from. There must be some vents or something around.

Settling down somewhere nearby with a quick escape route if nessisary he filtered out all the surrounding noise.

When B-God finally emerges, the party puses. The band even stops, and everyone gives the giant man their full attention. Well, anyone who isn't drunk or stoned off their asses, in any case.

The tension is palpable, and the air gains a sudden static charge of potential violence...

And then B-God breaks into a toothy grin.

"Boys, drink like ya mean it, 'cause this might be our last party! But at least we can drink with our new brothers-in-arms, The Bleeding Edge!"

And with that, the better booze gets broken out and the band begins again in earnest, just barely outpacing the sounds of dozens of trogs rabidly cheering.

Right behind B-God, Kid follows with Cord, a broad smile on his face, a smile that seems almost malicious and sadistic.

While he can still be heard from the crowd, he shouts: "We haven't had a good brawl in a while, well you can be happy 'cause we will soon fight and break some skulls !!!"

Ash watches the three figures storm out, and at Kid's announcement he blanches.

Great...fighting. Just what I need right now. Risking my ass for someone like him. he thinks angrily. He tilts his bottle back, and scowls when he finds it empty.

"Great.", he mutters, and hurries over to where the new alcohol is being distributed.

Hearing them end up the conversation, Thorn snuck back out of this hinding spot and joined up a group partying away before they appeared out of the room.

Back at home, surviving another journey through the bitter, biting cold, Muddy, and a number of random residents, want to know what they wanted *immediatly*.

"So? You tell them fuckin' trogs go lick themselves? What'd they try'n scam yas into, anyways?"

"It's actually a good deal for us. We're gonna help the trogs frag some lumbians that are annoying them and we're gonna keep everything we find on them. That's good business and it keeps the peace between our two gangs for a while", the Kid says, not justifying his decision so much as letting people know what goes on.

"Sounds like a decent deal...", Ash says, then adds under his breath "Great...a few knockoff preds. Better not spend them all in one place."

Muddy is enraged. Righteous white hot fury is spilling out of him in generous dollops, and if he could, he'd be on fire right now.

"What!?! We're gonna do those mother-fucking trogs dirty work for them? An' for what, so they can sit high an' mighty and keep on in our turf and takin' our women and pushin' everybody around!? I thought we were the Bleeding Fucking Edge! When did we become errand boys for scum!?"

By the time he's finished, he's full on shouting, posturing about, and looks like some kind of violent criminal televagelist... without a suit.

Cord emits a low gutteral growl from the deepest part of his throat, staring Muddy right in the eye, "The.... Boss.... Says.... We.... Go....", his arms and forehead flex reflexively as he restrains himself from becoming physical, his voice broken as he struggles with the verbal cowardice of his fellow gang member.

"Muddy we all know you hate them but I don't give a shit. This is a good deal for us, we should even get some lumbian coke out of this. If you come and fight with us I'll give you some myself. If you don't want to fight, well that means you don't want to be part of the Bleeding Edge anymore. You're right, we're the 'bleeding fucking edge' and that's why we like to kill annoying lumbians who lurk on our turf. Since when don't you want to fight alongside your brothers?" says Kid angrily, showing that he won't accept any answer he doesn't like from Muddy.

I hope Muddy tries that again..., Ash thinks. He never liked the guy. Watching Cord lay him out would be the perfect cap to the current alcohol fueled evening. Or it would have been, if the prospect of the brawl wasn't laying on his mind. One on one fights, Ash trusted himself in. If it was Ash and some others against one or two people, it was good. But Ash against the world, as gang fights were wont to become? Not good.

I just hope I don't lose hold of Sally..., Ash thinks, picturing his bat under his cot.

Muddy pauses for a second, a funny look on his face. "Yeah, you want me gone, then? Alright, just as quick as I've given you buncha assholes YEARS OF MY LIFE, I'm outta here. Simple as that. I'll be gone before the night's out."

And with that, he turns around and stomps upstairs.

"We don't want you gone. You choose to leave. Always remember that...", Kid adds, neither angry, or threatening.

During the commotion, Ash heads down to his cot, checks the ammo in his revolver, and does some practice swings with his bat.