Sue sees the girl raise her hand. It's as good as a death sentence. He walks over to Blitz's body, retrieves the Deputy and the Thunderbolt, and walks back.

With a nod to Nick, Sue cocks the hammer on the Deputy, levels it at the girl and pulls the trigger.

As the lifeless body slumps to the ground, "That was for Blitz."

Sue wipes the blood and brains from his face on his sleeve and uses the Thunderbolt and the still smoking revolver to cover the remaining two punks. "Y'all play nice and you migh' make it out o'this."

Nick nods at Sue after he shoots.

"Good job."

He turns his head in the direction of the street and calls out.

"MICKEY! REPTILE! IT'S SECURE UP HERE! BRING SOME ROPE, OR CUFFS, OR ANYTHING!"

Nick turns his head back to Blitz's corpse.

"Poor bastard. All he ever wanted was to protect the gang.", he says, pulling off his armored jacket. He lays it over Blitz's head, the large sewn on gang logo patch facing up. He takes the Smartgun and his Warhawk, and points both at one of the gangers.

"So who's your supplier?"

The one in all the magical-looking crap is still rolling around on the ground like a stoned dog, staring at random crap and scratching his nads.

The other one, however, is doing a little less well. The stain in his pants from seeing his friend brutally and unmercifully murdered is starting to stink of ammonia, and tears and snot are smeared on his face. "C-c-c-cutters," he barely manages to stutter through sobs.

Ricks climbs up on the box and calls up, "Yo Nick! Help a nigga out man! I can't get my short ass up there."

"Oh that fucking narrows it down, you cunt! If I rounded up every jackass calling himself Cutter, I'd have a list miles long! Be more specific!", he barks, backhanding the kid.

"Sue, help Ricks up."

Heeding Reptile's warning, Mickey goes from cover to cover (after regaining some wind) and heads up to the roof. He doesn't have any rope or cuffs, but that wasn't nessesary. Once up on the roof and seeing the guys had everything in hand...then he recognized the remains of Blitz. He scanned the prisoners with a stoney gaze. He looks at Nick and Sue, noting the obviously executed girl with red hair with white streaks in it.

"I see we know who killed Blitz. I have applicants gathering up the injured, they can carry any who can't walk. Now, I assume interrogations have begun?" He strides over to the ganger most in control and lifts him off the ground (unless it's a troll), looking into the guy's eyes with his own hardened, menacing and half vacant stare. He doesn't say anything, just stares hard.

Sue hears the punk stamer out the word and freezes. "Fuck. Nick--Bossman, he don' mean his name's Cutter. He means the Cutters," he shakes head. "Things are 'bout to get real interestin' round these parts."

Sue reaches down and easily hauls the dwarf up on the roof. "I thought you Mage-types could fly."

"Cutters? Who the hell are they?"

Sue looks over his shoulder, "Yer kiddin', right?" He walks over to Nick and shrugs, "Got a smoke?"

"No, I'm not. I guess I spend too much time inside. They a gang?", Nick says, fishing out his pack. He takes two out and then tosses the pack to Sue. He lights the cigarettes, then hands one to the kid who wet himself.

"Here kid. Calm you down. Tell us a bit."

Sue nods a thanks to Nick and takes a deep drag. "Let the kid tell it. I'll fill in the blanks if'n needs be."

Mickey, still holding the ganger up, replies, "Cutters are a big gang. They like to play with sharp blades. Lots of nasty sharp implants, too. I guess maybe they sell bodies?" He considers this, thinking things were just not going to let up enough to get established. Damn that Renraku! So persistant!

"Knives? Why the hell would they play wih knives if they can get tech like that?", Nick asks, nodding to the rocket launcher on the roof.

"They got a lot of members? Doesn't seem like a gang of morons brandishing knives would last long.", he says. He drags on his cigarette.

"So...Mickey. How're things back home?"

He drops the ganger that he was holding. "These riff raff will be taken to H.Q. for questioning. As for things there, I have cleared the two bottom floors and the top floor is under siege. Noone goes up there. It's a death trap of room to room fighting which you're not trained for yet. We'll startve them out.Any that choose to leave will be given a survival kit. Any that don't will starve. I like to call it the carrot and the stick method of diplomacy."

We have an unsecured HQ...?

Sue raises an eyebrow and cocks his head towards the mage, "What d'ya wanna do with Rover?" Takes a deep drag and waits.

[after he gets an answer]

"Do we got anybody that can strip that wreck out there?"

"I am unconcerned with that wreck for now. We are far too exposed out here and we need to be back at our new H.Q. Gather the wounded, the prisoners and the dead in that order. We return to H.Q. If any prisoner gives any trouble at all, kill it."

Sue shurgs and goes to look for a bag to put over the mage's head. He calls over his shoulder, "hey, MagicMan! Do us a favor and feep an eye that there spell slinger until I find a blindfold."

"Nick, you got him?" Sue jerks a thumb towards the guy on the ground.

"Yeah, sure.", Nick says. He points his Warhawk at him and says.

"C'mon. Up. We're going."

Ricks nods as their mage rolls around on the group and continues acting like he's on drugs.

"Don't worry, I've got him covered for now."

Ricks has a bit of a wicked gleem in his eye.

Mickey gathers everybody who's coming (after looting the enemy dead and prisoners, of course), getting any who can walk to carry those who can't as well as carry the dead. It was time to go home. "Well, it looks like you guys sot through a pretty vicious ambush. Blitz is a great loss to us, butthings could have been a lot worse. Let's go home, Edgers." He leads the way, SMG in hand and looking like he's ready to use it.

It was a long, long walk, but he made sure his colours were clearly visible.

Sue turns to Nick, "We should figure a way to haul Blitz back. Maybe the MagicMan could whip up a spirit, 'cause I know I can't handle it."

Sue sucks the last bit out of his cigarette and flicks it away. He looks at the punk, "Bet when you woke up today you din' think it end up like this....you know it was nothin' personal 'bout your lady friend, right? It had t'be done. You'd o'done the same." Sue shakes his head as if trying to clear his mind. "Well, what're ya waiting for? Lets get going. Its gonna be a long walk back."

Then it dawns on him, "Nick, you wanna ride your bike back?"

Reptile slowly gets up on his two feet and he can stand straight, but it requires a whole lot of effort. Pointing at one of the new recruits, one that look strong: "Hey, you, come and help me for the walk back, I'm badly wounded. Ricks, when you feel like it, please take a look at what I've got, maybe you can do something about it." Right now, it seems that Reptile is planning on holding his trusted rifle in one hand on the way back. You never know when another ambush is gonna pop up.

While Reptile remembers about it through his own pain, he looks around to see what left of Kake's body and the truck.

Once a bag is found to cover the mages head, Ricks has the spirit materialize and carry Blitz home with the group. As he gets downstairs and sees how messed up Reptile is, he takes a look at him and nods, "I'll see what I can do."

Ricks reaches out his hands and touches Reptile as a soft healing grow surrounds them.

Nick looks at Sue.

"Man! My Bike! I forgot all about it. I hope its ok. I put a lot of work into customizing it.", he says, dropping the last bit of his cigarette and stomping it out.

"Yeah, we could ride that. As for Blitz. Try and find a board to lay him on. Then you could have a bunch of guys carry him. I think Kake's body is going to be thrashed, seeing as how it was in the explosion.", Nick pulls his jacket off of Blitz's remains, and slides it on, not worrying about the blood on the back.

"I bet theres some sheets we could cover him with back at their doss.", he says, nodding at the kid.

"Wo, thanks Ricks, feels much better already, I'll be able to walk home without help thanks to you. My back still hurts though, but I'll be fine .. eventually."

Sue nods. "Keep th' kid here. I'll get th' sheets." He struts off to find something fitting and returns shortly with some old, worn curtins. "This should do," Sue lays the battered green window covers over Blitz's form.

"I'll take th' kid and go with th' spirit and Blitz. You can take Reptile if you want a shotgun rider. While we're at it," Sue unslings the Spaz and hands it to Nick. "Here, take 'er. She's got 7 rounds left but I got my hands full." He opens his arms to reveal the Pred, along with the newly acquired Pred 3, Deputy, and the Thunderbolt.

Sue raises his eyebrows, "Gonna hafta get some way to hold all this up. Know anyone that could help me out with that or some ammo?"

"I know a guy. His name's Boris, and he could get you enough ammo to kill God, if you wanted.", Nick says, taking the Spas. He slings it over his other shoulder, and straightens up against the weight of all his new guns.

"Good thing those guns survived the explosions, or we'd be empty handed right now. Can't say the same about the lot of bystanders.", Nick says, pointing at a severed leg lying in the gutter. Nick shakes his head and relieves Blitz of his other Thunderbolt.

"This feels wrong somehow. Goddammit, if he'd been using this thing, he might still be alive. Damn prideful bastard.", he says sadly. He goes and climbs down the hole in the roof, and limps over to Reptile and Mickey.

"Hey, Reptile, congratulations, you're riding back with me.", Nick says, smiling. He walks over to Dreamshredder, swings a leg over and stomps on the kickstart. He looks back over his shoulder, waiting for Reptile to get on.

"Ok, let's go back quick, I really feel we're still not safe here." And Reptile takes the back seat on the bike waiting for Nick.

Nick revs the bike and shouts "See you back at base camp!", then peels out and drives back to the doss as quick as he can.

"A'right, you heard the Big Man, folks. Let's move." Sue draws the Depuity and covers the punk. "I got him, MagicMan. You take thier spellslinger and Blitz's body."

With that, he sets off at a brisk but managable pace. Keeping the kid in front of him.

After a few blocks, "So kid, ya got a name?"

The kid seems startled out of a hundred mile stare by the fact that someone's addressing him, and it takes a minute to rouse himself to speech.

"Yeah, make sure they put 'Tarp' on my tombstone," he says in a sarcastic, bitter voice.

"Hey Tarp, its a long walk back. Jus' thought you might like a li'l conversation, s'all."

After another block or so, "This don' hafta end like you think it does, Tarp...."

"Oh yeah? What, you gonna keep me around as your house-bitch? Cook your food and darn your fucking socks? I ain't got nobody left but Diego, and you obviously gonna put one in *his* fucking skull. There's nothing left for me but to die on my feet."

"You wanna go that route, ya can. I want'd ya hear all yer options, s'all."

Sue shrugs, tough crowd. "Look kid, I've lost a gang twice and don' plan on losing this one." He sighs, "I'm tryin' ta help ya out here but you ain't makin' it easy."

Nick turns the bike to the side and skids to a stop in front of the gang doss. He heads inside with Reptile.

"Go lay down somewhere man. I've got a call to answer.", ha says, flipping open his phone. He checks the voice mail message and calls Sid back.

(Transcript conversation as needed)

N: Hey, Sid, you need a truck? What the hell for?

S: We're...uh, gonna steal some motorcycles to help with the costs of-

N: You know what? I don't have time for this crap. I almost got my leg blown off, and two of our members got wasted, not to mention the truck we did have getting blown to shit. You need a fucking truck?

S: Look, sorry I asked, but-

N: No, don't apologize... Look, I can't do anything about it, but I'll put one of the other gangers on the job. Maybe they'll get you one, maybe not. But that's the best I can do.

S: Alright...thanks man.

N: Yeah.

Nick snaps the phone shut, walks his bike inside, then goes to sit down beside Reptile.

"Well, at least we didn't have to walk back..."

"Yeah, that's what we won for almost getting killed out there. God damn it, all this wasn't worth the nuyen we received.. "

The HQ is... very quiet. You can't even hear any of the backround noise usually associated with Redmond. Gunshots, fights between couples, the occational siren, nothing.

Mickey looks around, making sure noone's tried to move in while they were out. "Remember, the third floor is under siege. Noone goes in or out. Not by windows, not by the stairs, not by cutting through the floor. If anyone wants to leave they have to surrender!"

He looks at the applicants with his half vacant stare. "Go get those pyre's ready."

Then he looks to everyone else. "Reptile, tie up the prisoners. Make sure the mage cannot see or speal and his hands are bound. If he gives you any trouble, break his fingers...then get sue to heal them while you hold them bent out of shape." That last he adds in front of the mage, making sure he knows there are consequences for misbehaving.

"Ok, boss." Then Reptile goes to find some rope and comes back to tie up the prisoners.

"You guys behave nicely and everything's gonna be just fine. The first one who attempts anything and who doesn't obey me right away will get a broken nose and very tight bonds. Now I'll start with the mojo guy. What I just said applies to you especially, any trace of something suspecious and you're getting something worse than just broken fingers, trust me."

Reptile makes sure all the prisoners are unable to move efficiently, tying them up by feet and hands behind their back, and then their feet and hands tied up together, so that they really can't move. He also covers the mage's eyes and mouth with a sufficient amount of duck-tape.

The hog-tieing goes smoothly, and there's some old extention cord that's supple enough to use as rope. But with that finished, someone appears in the doorway. There's a scarred up guy with some bandages on him, standing in the doorway, with a bat that has some nails through it and a crooked grin.

"When the tenants association asked me to look after their problem, I never thought that I'd have such a golden opportunity as this. Laid low, ripe for the pickings."

There's *something* familiar about this one, and he obviously knows you.

"Suit yourself, kid." Sue and Tarp walk back to HQ in silence.

Upon arrival, Sue turns over custody to Reptile. "Lemme know if ya change yer mind."

When the new guy w/ the bat makes his presence known Sue feels a shiver run down his spine.

With Blitz gone, the enforcer gig is mine. Looks like its time for some on the job training...

Sue drops a hand to the butt of the Deputy and looks to Nick for the go sign.

Oh, bad timing! This idiot walks in and makes less than subtle threats right after the Bleeding Edge has been through a nasty combat? And all he has is a bat? The bandaged guy must have been one of the guys kicked out. Well, Mickey wasn't about to put up with this crap!In an instant his Predator 2 is in his hand, bucking as 2 rounds rocket down the barrel, exiting the confined space with a sonic boom and a flash of fiery light. A bullet flys through the air, one at bat-man and one at the scared guy who went to get him.

The bullets thud into the elfs chest, and he lets out as much of a laugh as he can without air in his lungs. He dives behind the doorframe, and quickly receding footsteps make it seem as though he's gone, but there's still something not right about this.

Nick slowly rises and pulls the Thunderbolt and Warhawk from his belt.

"Who the fuck was that? What the fuck is going on, you shot him twice...", he says to Mickey.

"Someone go after him, shit!"

"Ricks, astral. Find him. Come back and report. Reptile, guard him. Nick, pacify the prisoners. Everyone else, be ready and hit cover." Mickey took his own advise and leaned up against the wall by the entrance, squatting low with his pistol in hand. "If Widow has anything to do with this, it's gonna hit the fan!"

On command, Ricks falls into a pile on the ground, and within an instant he's back, looking a bit worried. "Considering our current wound-licking, we might want to find another way outta here."

Reptile, to his assault rifle, "It's you and me, baby.. Let's rock."

Reptile comes closer to where the guy was, and points his AK-97 towards the elf, ready to shoot. He makes sure that people outside do not have an angle to shoot him, and he guards the door, shooting the elf if he appears again, and anyone that he doesn't recognize and who seem to be a threat.

"Ricks, report! Who, where and how many? Armed with what?" Mickey's all business now, though his half vacant eyes can be decieving. He switches from his pistol to Nick's SMG, shaking his head while he considers the eventfull day they are having. Anyone that has grenades, go get 'em." If we need to clear space we'll need them."

Nick puts down the pistols and picks up the SPAS-22 he recently acquired. Then he reaches into the inside pocket in his motorcycle jacket, and pulls out a grenade.

"Reptile gave these to me.", he says to Mickey. "I'm not very good at throwing them. Maybe you could do it." He continues taking the remaining offensive grenade, and the two defensive ones out, and hands them to Mickey.

Then he looks to Reptile.

"Hey Old Man...feel like doing a driveby on this group?", he asks, grinning, and nodding to his bike.

"If they're not too many of them, yes, of course. But now I'm guarding the door, you guys should watch out too.. that first guy seems to have disappeared.."