The Silver Beetle Blues: 1920s Gangster RP

[PyrosNine]

Nein didn't like this turn of events at all. Something had happened, and now someone wanted a talk with him. And not just someone, because Nein was no idiot, and the only boss he could be speaking of was that mafia Boss, the notorious one. This couldn't end well irregardless of why he wanted to talk to him.

Nein warily checked for other thugs in the wings, and saw that only the departing guests from the establishment were out in the streets, and so were the police-oh, this made things easy.

Nein smiled, and with his nearly closed eyes, gave a very peaceable expression.

"Oh, your boss huh? Did I forget to pay my tab? I guess in the rush of leaving, I must have forgot to pay for my last drink. Sure I'll go sort this out with you."

Nein gave a mock-bow and moved in the direction of the Silver Beetle, doing as told. But as he got closer to the Beetle, his walking speed increased, so slowly as to be barely noticeable-well, barely noticeable until he reached the Silver Beetle and kept on running down the opposite direction of the street, towards the burning 'mobile.

Before he ran into the cops themselves, he bolted down an alleyway.

[krogothwolf]

James groaned as the Asain man run off. He hadn't really meant to let go of his shoulder, he probably should have just carried him, he was light enough. He did sort of chuckle that the man seemed to understand the situation he was in decided to run down an alley way near the silver beetle. You never know what can be around a corner after all.

He chased after him and turned down the Alleyway. He didn't really have a chance to holler. But generally if there are guys under Art's empolyee down this alleyway they'll stop someone who's running down them, especially if they see James chasing him, after all he was a fairly large man.

[Overcast]

In the alley was of course Adin, still trying to be homeless. And when he saw the Asian fellow being chased by James down his current hiding place he had one of those split decisions. A. Ruin your disguise and stop the man, with the honest knowledge that James wouldn't be chasing him unless he actually did something to either piss off Art or get his personal attention. B. Hide. Forget this happened. If asked about it later. Lie. Lie very well so everyone can hear you lie and think it is true.

To be honest he would typically pull B. The situation was too tense to blow his cover, and yet that was also driving his personal thoughts in the opposite direction. Art might want this man, and if the scene was to get better it would be best to try to get everything Art is looking for in order. Besides if it got around that Adin was popping out of the woodwork it was good for morale. Made folks nervous enough not to do anything wrong.

So split decision made. He pulled out his revolver and stepped into the way, pulling back the hammer with a grin on his face,

"Slow down there chinaman or else you may get a new hole to show off to your friends at the railroad."

[PyrosNine]

Instead of finding a stopped Nein, Adin found a running knee coming at his face. Nein did not take shit from hobos. Especially after that last crack. If Nein had time and wasn't being chased by the big guy, Nein probably would have shown his full displeasure at that statement.

Instead, he hoped he'd knock this fool down and still have enough time to escape the big guy.

[Bard The 5th LW]

Jeremy instinctively backed away from Art's desk, thankful that Art had not seen him looking around. What he had found was not good in the least bit. Maybe he was overreacting and it was nothing, but it still seemed like a bad omen to the man.

'Better be watchful either was though,' he decided, leaving his hand in his pocket, gripping the small knife in there. This just mounted upon already existing suspicions he had, and if Art really had ordered the death of Sally, then he doubted that Art wouln't bat an eye at sending Eels in with a length of wire to dispatch of him.

Jeremy shuddered at that. He hardly considered Eels to be even human. He barely knew the man, but he had . . . heard things about the guy, which he hoped were hyperbole. With the image of Eels barging in and ripping him apart, Jeremy found himself slowly flick it open and closed in his pocket. He doubted he could really take on anyone who would want to do him harm, but it helped give him some sense of safety.

[Overcast]

For a moment Adin lost his cool. It wasn't that he didn't know how to scrap, it was just it had been a while since someone was staring down the end of his revolver and didn't...stop. So rather than doing what he should have done, ducked out of the way and try to pistol whip the fleeing Asian, he instead did something one hell of stupid.

He fired.

Then he got hit by a knee pretty much directly in his face. He couldn't tell you if he hit the guy with the shot. He pretty much couldn't tell you anything. The impact of the knee was hard and all his senses were on the fritz and to make matters worse the hard ground was coming rather fast. If he wasn't completely unconscious yet that second impact would do it. Whatever semblance of rational thought he had was cursing everything that was worth thinking about. Because he was about to be fucking dead weight with a revolver that had just screamed out for the whole city to hear only a short distance from a crime scene where cops with prior knowledge could stare at his rap sheet of acquitted offenses that stretched a mile long.

Should have just fucking hid and lied.

[Red Mage Black]

Before he could finish up with a crescendo, Benjamin noticed all the commotion going on. With the cops around and this place being... very illegal? It wasn't a very nice place to stay. Cops gave him the creeps anyway. So instead, he packed away his instruments for the night and while he was doing so, the big man in charge in appeared. A job? That was an interesting proposition. Though for him, a permanent job meant only having one client and that client would need to pay rather well. He didn't pay any mind to the off-key comment, as he knew it wasn't possible for him to miss a note, whether he got if Art was joking or not wasn't seen.

"I think I know a few spots around here to get out without it being obvious. Don't worry about me." Ben told him before stepping off the stage. It wasn't exactly the best exit, but a few years worth of info gathering gave him insight into a few things, including exits and pathways out as well as in to the Silver Beetle. Nobody ever bothered to ask for them, but it wasn't the most valuable information he had anyway. Either way, he took a trap door under the stage and down a dark pathway. It very conveniently came out a sewer grate in the back, where indeed Art's getaway car would be.

Once there, he waited outside for the boss man and whoever else was going with them. He leaned against a wall outside and kicked the grate shut with both instruments in tow.

[Geminex]

Johann pondered for a moment then shrugged, sighed. "I think I'll take my chances, boss. The less customers get arrested, the more likely they are to return. Means more profits are us. I'll buy us some time." He headed out the back door, and then looped around, to approach the site of the burning car. Perhaps the officer in charge could be persuaded to stay away from the Bar for another few minutes. He had the necessary resources to sweeten the deal, if necessary. He had left his weapons in a dumpster, no need to risk getting searched and being charged with carrying concealed weapons. He was now technically innocent, which is what you wanted to be if you were going to approach police sergeants.

Higher-ranking officers were fine, they knew how things worked, but the case was still young, it'd take a while before a pragmatic captain took over. Right now, it was still a sergeant, and probably an idealistic one at that. He'd have to step lightly.

Police forces had secured a cordon around the burning vehicles, but the individual (young man, clean shaven, immaculate uniform, this looked bad) Johann was heading for was standing off to the side, conversing with witnesses. There were a few civilians around, probably either more witnesses, or plain nosy, and that suited Johann fine, as he was able to approach the sergeant without raising attention.

Of course, just as he reached the individual in charge, a gunshot was heard. Very loud, very hard to miss. Aaand right in the direction of the Speakeasy. Goddammit. Advising this individual that the Speakeasy did not concern him would, right now, probably get him arrested. Not charged with anything, but he didn’t like taking chances. Leaving now might look suspicious. He froze, torn between the two. What the hell were they doing back there?

[Toastburner B]

Mickey was sitting behind the wheel, waiting for the boss to arrive, when he heard the shot.

Now, this was not the first time Mickey had heard a gunshot, and it certainly wouldn't be the last...but Mickey was pretty high strung at the moment. So, while the shot was still echoing, Mickey got out of the car, making sure it was still in park with the break on since the engine was getting nice and warm for a quick get away, and went around to the back of the car to fetch his Browning automatic rifle. Once he had the weapon in hand, he worked his way back towards the driver's door. Making sure the weapon was loaded, Mickey stood just outside the car, the rifle in his hands, ready to handle anything that came to harass him.

Or, at least, ready to fire off enough shots to make it look like he put up a fight before he jumped in the car and drove off.

((OOC: Yeah, that was pretty bad, but there wasn't much less for Mickey to do, so this was pretty much a "I'm still here!" post.))

[mauve]

The cheater in the blue jacket stared slack-jawed at Jules. "Stunned" was something of an understatement. He apparently wasn't expecting the pretty card dealer to pull a knife on him.

"Wh.. I ain't... uh... buh..." he stammered. He dropped the chips in his hands, pulling his fingers away from the blade still stuck in the table. "I, uh... I dunno what you're talking about, lady, but uh..." He looked at the retreating patrons, desperately wishing to be one of them.

"I don't want to cause no trouble!" he said. He dumped a handful of chips from his pocket on to the table. "I'll just.. .uh..."

He turned sharply on his heel and made a dash for the door. Better to lose the money than lose a limb.
----

Art involuntarily jumped as Eels' voice came from over his shoulder. That never ceased to be creepy.

"Oh, there you are." He suppressed a shudder. "I figured you were gone already. I was gonna send you out to have a chat with someone." The corner of Art's mouth curled into a smirk. "Found a guy hanging out around the bar, near the office door. He was in that same spot three nights ago." Funnily enough, that date coincided with the last time Art sent Eels out to "have a chat" with someone. Eels was quite the social butterfly.

"But seeing as how you had disappeared, I sent the bouncer. I'm sure he's got things under control."

At that precise moment, several things happened.

From outside the bar came the distinctive crack of gunfire.

From inside the bar came the distinctive sound of half-drunk people falling into a panic.

"What in the hell..?" Art didn't know what was going on out on the street, but it certainly didn't sound good. He cursed. There was no way the police could have missed that sound. It was only a matter of time before they came to investigate.

It was probably a good idea to leave.



"Dammit, dammit, dammit." Art made a break for the office. He threw his weight against the door and stumbled down the hallway, reaching the business office and throwing the door open with his shoulder.

"We're leaving. Now." he informed Jeremy. "If you fall behind, you're on your own."

Not waiting to hear Jeremy's reply, Art took off down the hallway.

-----------

"What was that?!"

Not even the sounds of a raging fire could completely drown out the sound of gunfire.

"Gunshot. This night gets worse and worse." Sgt. Andrews sighed. By now the fire department had arrived to control the flames, but the police were still investigating the crime scene. They weren't accomplishing much.

"Meyers. Take several officers and go investigate."

Meyers saluted the sergeant, but looked nervous.

"Sir, isn't that part of town where.... uh..." His voice trailed off.

Sgt. Andrews' eyes narrowed.

"Yes. Is that a problem?"

"No sir!" Meyers saluted again and departed, several other officers in tow. They were moving in on the side street where the gunshot came from. And they were moving fast.

-------------

Johann found himself being confronted by an officer.

"Hey buddy, this is a crime scene. Unless you have official business here, you're gonna have to stay back," the officer said, waving him aside.
-----------

Art cautiously opened the back door. All seemed quiet in the back alley.

"All right," he said. "Let's go." He pushed the door open and walked out into the night. The door belonged to the house two buildings down from the Beetle-- a hallway connected all three buildings.

As promised, Mickey's car was parked there in the alley, ready to go. Art saw the cabbie standing guard nearby, gun in hand.

"Good work." Art said as he approached the car. "Looks like a quick escape might be just what we need." He climbed into the back seat, putting his hat on his lap. "But don't drive away just yet; I'm expecting company." At the first sign of danger, Art would give the signal for Mickey to step on it. But until then, he planned on giving the others a chance to catch up.