Dallen gave the bartender a nod, then noticed one of his group came into the bar and sat near by. Just as he was about to go over to him and fill him in on the details so far, he pulled out his laser gun and shot it at a hanging dartboard. Though the shot was a good one, it brought a few unwanted eyes in his direction. He figured it would be best if they didn't get made knowing one another, even though he really didn't know the stranger at all anyway.

"Damn amateur's going to get me killed," he muttered under his breath as he walked away, hoping the guy would stay in the casino in case he had to make an emergency getaway.

Dallen never liked backing himself into a corner like he currently was doing, but he was already in this far. Might as well see it out, he figured. As he walked past the thugs and gamblers, he caught eyes with the fat man he was playing poker with not so long ago. He had a dirty and mean stare upon his face, and used one of his fingers to make a slicing motion across his throat. The fat man's henchman was just now attempting to get back up from getting knocked out cold, which brought a smirk to Dallen's face.

Dallen made his way to the elevator where the two large guards stood. "Adrian sent me." The elevator then opened up and he was in, having no clue how this was going to play out. An old tune crackled from the speakers as he rode up the elevator, "Runaround Sue" by Dion. A catchy song, but Dallen just stood still. He thought about how careful he had to be in these next few moments, as he had no gun on him. The doorman still had his weapons held, one of the rules for playing poker.

Finally, the doors opened up and he walked out.

@Dragonbud

“I’m gonna be honest, I’m having second thoughts about how important these caps are.” One of the thugs murmured.

“Shut your fucking mouth, Belluci.” The second-in-command snarled, his back facing the rest of the thugs, as he squared up to Dusty.

“I’m serious, it ain’t worth getting wasted over.”

“I said, shut you-”

Just then, Belluci’s chain cracked down on the back of the other thug’s head, splitting it open like a crunchy mutfruit. Bloody pull exploded out of the fresh slice in the man’s head, whilst his body swayed, and tumbled to the ground; a trail of dark carmine spurting out into the gutter.

Belluci, and the other remaining thugs, stepped backwards, giving Dusty a heasent look.

“No need to drag this out anymore. We cool?”

---

@Sol Grim

The room that Dallen stepped into looked more like another whole floor of the casino than an office. Empty roulette wheels and card tables were dotted about the place, and huge stone pillars lurched up to the ceiling. Bright neon yellow globes flooded the room with light, as the windows themselves had been boarded over.

At least ten of the Donna’s henchmen and women occupied the room, whilst Regina herself sat at the far end, behind a large wooden desk.

“Adrian said he was sending someone,” the woman observed, gesturing one hand to the empty chair in front of the desk “please, take a seat.”

The Donna was a strongly built woman, broad shouldered and olive skinned. She had deep brown eyes, and long hair that was black like coal. Her fingers were littered with glistening rings, and her full body was packed into a cheetah pattern dress.

“Why don’t you start by telling me a bit about yourself, mister..?”

Dusty smirked as the thugs began to argue to each other, questioning how important their payment was over their lives. One of the group clearly had some some smarts, urging the others to back down before they all get destroyed. And yet another stepped up the face Dusty. Her smirk grew into a full on grin as she became more excited for another fight.

But unfortunately for her the thrill of combat and victory was taken away, as the thug with a sense of self quickly ended the battle for her. Dusty looked up at him as he attempted to bargain for his life.

The raider cracked her neck, as the man began speaking and backing away with his remaining friends. As Dusty spoke a few flecks of dried blood, blood of the thugs she had already knocked down, fell to the pavement.

"Yeah we cool, lemme just ask my friend here."

Dusty turned back to look at Corinne, and the look on her face said it all. Dusty gave the girl a wink and turned back to the thugs.

"Well, sorry lads, the 'little whore'"

Dusty said, making bloody air quotes around the word, reminding the thugs what they had said earlier.

"Said it's a no go...so..."

With that Dusty leapt onto the nearest thug, knocking him to the ground with the force of her weight. Straggling his chest Dusty delivered two quick punches to either side of his face. One after the other. Each resulting in an audible snap and a splatter of blood. The Raiders breathing became heavy as the bloodshed fueled her Psycho withdrawal. She whipped around, looking back at the remaining thugs.

"Who's next?"

"Larson, Dallen Larson," he said, taking a seat. "Not much to tell, really. I lost my family to some scumbags, now I kill scumbags for money. I'm an assassin, and I'll work for cheap. I work for cheap because I love what I do, and I'm damn good at it."

He was already sizing up his escape plan in case things went sour. The closest weapon to him was holstered on one of the lady's men, standing just behind him. If he felt the conversation would start to turn south, he'd make an attempt at the weapon. Once he had a firearm, he felt he had an 82% chance of making it out on his own, though he also knew anything could happen in this line of work.

"That is why I'm here?" he asked, suddenly hoping she wasn't looking to hire a security guard instead. She already seemed to have plenty of those. Not that it really mattered, since he was really here to find out if she had anything to do with killing Pagans, something of which he would have to work in somehow. Who knows, maybe she'd send him to kill some Pagans right away. Then he remembered why he was 'really' here, which was to play these games until he had enough information so that he could kill every single one of them. Or maybe that was just his nicotine addiction taking over his mind.

@Dragonbud

“Jesus, miss, I don’t want any trouble!” the last thug squawked, raising his arms shakily up above his head in a gesture of surrender “please, I’m just looking to make a couple-”

In a flash of movement, the thug was holding a .44, and cocking back the hammer.

He pulled the trigger, and a bullet exploded fourth, rocketing through the air, and slamming into the space between Corinne’s eyes, painting the wall behind her with the inside of her head. Chunks of the young woman’s frontal lobe trickled down the grimy brickwork, and her limp body hit the floor.

“Eat lead, cunt.”

The thug turned his attention to Dusty.

“I’ve still got one in the chamber, kid. Either you walk away and forget this ever happened, or I put one between yours eyes.”

---

@Sol Grim

“An assassin, huh?” The Donna gave Dallen a thoughtful look, biting down on the corner of her lip.

“There’s a jet pusher by the name of Alejandro. Has dirty blonde hair, and one bad eye. In about half an hour he’ll be on the curb outside of the Jungle Gym, selling his wares. Put a bullet in him, and bring me back his stetson as proof. If you can manage that, I’ll think about moving you up to something more serious.”

The Donna slid her fingers together, placing her hands flat on the desk.

“Until then, we have nothing more to discuss.”

Fred threw some caps in the direction of the bartender, more than enough unless it was some sort of excellent pre-war dartboard. With a light whistle he pulled up his laser rifle to cling to his back. The stunt was supposed to get some sort of recruiter to get a look at him. Any experienced man would get a look at his high-grade gear, the laser rifle and recharger pistol being only the start. If someone paid attention to his neck and the bits of him exposed, they would see his leather jacket was thick not because of muscle but the ballistic weave. It might take a while but he was betting that some high-class person would get a look at him eventually, and like what he saw. He would get a few more drinks before getting a cigar and walking out.

When he walked out of the establishment, he would go for the nearest alley. He knew that someone looking for a hired gun was just as likely to appear as someone looking to steal his gear, so he unbuttoned his pistol's holster and made sure his hand was near it, or his cattle prod. He did his best to make it look like he was just going for an innocent smoke and a stroll, looking for shadows and such getting near him. If nobody came, he would sigh. He had another plan, but it was risky.....

Dusty laughed, a nearly maniacal sound, as the thug continued to plea. She slowly stood up, her Knuckle Dusters slick with blood. One left, and then she could go on a date. Nice. He almost looked pathetic, shame that he would soon just be another faceless corpse in the wasteland.

But then Dusty heard a gunshot, and saw the gun that caused said sound. Dusty wasn't too concerned. She knew if she was hearing the noise it meant the bullet hadn't killed her, and nothing was hurting so she was all good.

But then the raider noticed where the gun was pointing, and she looked back to see the mangled remains of Corinne.

"Well...fuck..." Dusty grumbled.

She then turned back to her remaining issue, and the gun now directed at her. Even if he was bluffing about there being a bullet left, she didn't really care. Dusty shrugged and began riffling through the pockets of Corinne and the other thugs. She spoke without looking up at the thug.

"Well, looks like you got what you came for, and I just lost a lunch date."

Dusty pulled a few caps out of one of the dead thugs, looking up at the thug.

"Wadya say? Wanna grab a drink? I got nothing else to do today."

Except for gathering leads, which she had seemingly forgotten about.

Horus felt his heart stop when Mancini mentioned he saw through the disguise, then felt its beating resume when the man said his ghoulification would be advantageous. The man reminded Horus of people who would sell used cars in the old world, he just had a distrustful look about him. However, this lead regarding Darlia was a good starting point for getting information on the Lazzari family and their dealings with the Pagans.

Horus took the slip of paper and quickly read over the address.

"Thanks." He muttered, then made his way to the door of the casino.

Horus had no interest in speaking to Mancini any longer than he had to. The man just gave him a bad vibe and decided to save his questions for Murilo Esteves. In hindsight it was probably unwise to accept a job without discussing payment, but Horus was still new to the mercenary scene and was bound to make these beginner's mistakes.

As Horus stepped outside the casino he removed his bandana and riding goggles. Based on what Mancini said Horus assumed Murilo had to be a fellow ghoul and knew he wouldn't need the disguise. As he strolled towards Reno's East Side he quickly checked over his weapons and double checked they were loaded and ready. Mancini mentioned that Murilo would be more willing to talk to a ghoul, but that wouldn't mean they'd roll out the red carpet for him. Horus secretly feared they might send him on another errand just to get the opportunity to see Murilo. He also wondered why Murilo would continue the feud with Darlia. If Murilo wanted her dead Mancini's previous praise for Murilo's power in the city was either oversold or Darlia is exceptional at avoiding assassins. Either way he had a strange feeling things didn't add up and there was more to it than Mancini let on.

Continuing down the streets New Reno Horus was heckled and burdened by beggars and addicts calling to him for handouts. He kept his gaze forward and ignored them to the best he could manage. Every time one walked up Horus couldn't help but notice all the signs of disease and sickness almost crying out to the Follower in him. He mind lingered on the few tins of Fixer he had in his medical bag but he knew it wasn't enough for all of them. A part of him wanted to stop and treat them, even just one of them, but he continued forward. Horus felt like he was being tested, like the world wanted to know if he was really set on the mercenary life.

Arriving at the mansion from the rear Horus had the opportunity to circle the building and take in the sight. If one thing was to be taken as truth from Mancini it was the the building certainly was a mansion. Almost perfectly rectangular apart from the entrance which jutted inwards towards the mansion, allowing for an almost miniature courtyard with a small fence and path to the front door.

As Horus approached the door he was greeted by a harsh stare from the guard.

"I'm here to see Mr.Esteves"

@Andreyich

“Psst...hey! Dude.”

A shrill voice called out of the shadows, as a wiry figure slipped slowly into view. She had pale blonde hair, dark bags under her eyes, milky white flesh that was puckered with marks and bruises.

“That’s some impressive kit you got there,” she observed, flashing rows of rotten yellow teeth “I know some people who could use someone like you. You interested?”

---

@Dragonbud

“Yeah, get fucked psycho.” the thug spat, turning on his heel and scurrying away. He quickly vanished into a nearby back alley.

“You handle yourself well, kid.” Seemingly out of nowhere, a red suit-clad figure came strolling up to Dusty, dark hair greased back across his forehead.

“The names Jeshua Baum; owner and proprietor of the Jungle Gym. You should swing by sometime. We’re always in the market for a new female Prize Fighter.”

Dallen didn't see the other guy from his group as he exited the Shark Club, obtaining his magnum and his trench coat back from the doorman as he left. He did, however, see the girl from the group just outside the Jungle Gym. She was surrounded by bodies and a guy in a red suit.

"Figures" he said to himself. She seemed like she was more than capable of handling herself, which meant all of her loud threats and talking was capable of being backed up. His attention shifted to the chem dealer that was in the dark alley beside the Jungle Gym, Alejandro. He knew if the chem-addict girl just walked a few steps over she would find the dealer and probably spend all of her wares on him. Before that could happen, Dallen moved quietly and quickly through the shadows, coming up behind Alejandro and knocking him out cold with the handle from his .357.

A few minutes later...

"You can scream if you want," Dallen told him as the chem dealer came to his senses. The two of them were alone now, deep underground in the abandoned subway that ran underneath New Reno. Alejandro was lying on the subway tracks with Dallen standing over him, his handgun aimed at the back of his head. Dallen had already taken the man's hat, but he wanted something more. "Though I suggest you don't. There might be a few feral ghouls lurking around down here."

Dallen wasn't normally a thief, but if he were to kill the man, he couldn't just leave his bag of chem supplies. There was enough here to keep that loud mouthed raider chick happy for awhile, if he felt the need to even give some to her.

"You only have one way out of this, Alejandro," Dallen continued, not even sure if he would let the man go even if he gave him all the information he wanted. "Tell me what I want to know." Dallen then moved over to the front of the man, to look him eye to his good eye. He placed the magnum's barrel against Alejandro's temple. "The Donna Regina wants you dead, what can you tell me about her? Has she been spilling Pagan blood? Why does she want you dead?"

"Jesus fuck-" Fred began, startled by this jet-head looking person. He turned to look at her, sizing her up and trying to keep a face of disgust off of him. Grunting he looked to the area behind her to see if anyone was there. Quickly he would spin around to see if anyone was there, and send a few shot from his recharger pistol to check if there were the reflections and shimmering of a stealth boy if there wasn't. If it appeared he was more or less safe, he would turn back to her.

"Yeah, what for?" he would ask. He wondered what she could ask of him. He was not a hero, but it was very easy to guilt him into fighting to save a slave or something of the sort. He considered giving her some of his mentats, but he decided that the benefits of five minutes of nice breath would be outweighed by increased drug dependency on her side. "And who?" he added quickly. He was relieved he did not have to go with his alternate plan. The likelihood he would have died was high to say the least, even though it would be entertaining.

Dusty shrugged as the thug ran away. She could have easily chased the guy down, or trip him at he spat at her, but she decided he wasn't worth the energy. It didn't even cross her mind that the man might be running off to find friends, but for now she just wanted to find chems.

The raider felt her pulse race with excitement and anticipation as she heard something jingling within one of the dead thugs pockets. This excitement soon turned to disappointment as she yanked a tattered box of bullets from the thugs pocket. With a disgusted grunt the raider tossed the bullets away, the ammo jingling as it rolled down the destroyed roads.

A voice interrupted her searching, causing the on edge Raider to flinch and whip around to face whoever had approached her. Another asshole calling her a kid, nice.

As the man introduced himself, and Dusty got a better look at him, her expression turned from mild annoyance to full on pissed off. The last manager she had, back during her 'professional' fighting days, fucked her over pretty badly. Not making that mistake again...unless chems were brought to the table.

And maybe another cute girl to take on a date.

Dusty stood up with a grunt, unhappy with her lack of loot. She stretched her blood soaked arms out, trying to pull out the stiffness. The raider looked over at the man with a look of disinterest, bordering on boredom.

"Honestly, pal, I don't want to stick around this dump much longer. Me an' some other pieces 'a shit are looking for leads on some asshole named Lazzari or Donna or somein'"

Dusty cursed under her breath, her inability to recall information really starting to piss her off.

@Sol Grim

“Oh fuck, man, I dunno,” Alejandro sobbed, tears streaking down his dark cheeks “this shits above my pay grade you know?”

He gagged, joking on the built up phlegm in his throat, and letting out a hacking cough.

“It ain’t the Donna, nah, at least I don’t think so. My girl Zheng was turning tricks at the Imperial, that new Torres club. She said there are some weird types who hang around those parts. You get the odd NCR soldier, that ain’t news, but there was this fella...Breckinridge. Said he dresses fancy, talks proper. One time he comes in askin’ about where the Pagans hang out, who they chill with, all that stuff.”

Alejandro paused, taking a moment to catch his breath.

“If anyone knows what's going on with the Pagans, I reckon its him. Now...you’re gonna let me go, right? That’s everything I know...promise!”

---

@Andreyich

Fred’s pistol shot ripped through the darkness, slamming into the duo of stealth-clad junkers that were crouching in the shadows. The stench of burning flesh wafted through the back-alley, as a pair of smoldering corpses crashed to the ground.

The woman yelped, drawing a pipe revolver and pointing it shakily at the recharge-wielding gunslinger.

“H-hold on n-now…” she stammered “let's be civil about this.”

---

@Dragonbud

“Donna Lazzari?” Jeshua asked, raising one eyebrow “The youngest Lazzari brother, Alfredo, likes to go a few rounds in the ring every now and then.”

The slickly-dressed man flashed Dusty his award-winning smile.
“”Why not come take a walk to the gym with me? If you put on a good show I’ll be sure to give you some private time with Alfredo.”

Dusty frowned, looking the man up and down again. She wasn't very good at reading people, so she couldn't tell if the man was giving her legitimate information about this Alfredo man. He might just be saying something because she wanted to hear it, and it would be the easiest way to get her into a fight. But on the other hand it might just be lucky that he knows about the Donna. Dusty sighed, it wasn't like she had anything else to do. SHe wished she could have gotten some of her bad habit before a fight, but she was having a hard time tracking down a chem dealer. The whole finding a prostitute situation didn't go all that well either.

So she might as well get in another fight, that always goes well.

"Well, why the fuck not. But I expect a drink, and a hit of something nice."

She winked at the man and flashed him a smile.

A simple "oh" escapes Fred's mouth. He didn't think anyone here had stealth boys. It was a good trick though, he had to admit. His hand was shaking as he made the hits, holy fuck was all he could think. HELIOS One was his only real fight and he was never close enough to see the NCR bastards melt. When he turned to the woman he put on a confident face, not betrayed by any of his facial features but a few odd twitches of the eye. "Right, you're going to tell me everything you know about who's been killing the Pagan boys, alright?"

He grinned, a little evilly. He would not have to be a hero today, and was getting somewhat of a chance to do the reverse. "Because you see, when I don't get answers, I get mad. You saw what happens when I get mad."

He didn't expect to get anything from Alejandro, but he at least got a lead on the Pagan situation. Something he would have to look into a little later, as for now he had to get back to the Donna. Dallen still wasn't sure if he should kill this guy or not. The professional in him would do it in a second, but this wasn't an ordinary hit. He normally found out as much info on his targets as he could beforehand, usually taking out only thugs. There was just something that felt wrong about killing Alejandro without any details as to why, so he asked one last time. "So you have no idea why she wants you dead?"

@Dragonbud

“Of course, my dear.” Jeshua smiled.

The walk to the Jungle Gym was a brief one, passed dilapidated buildings and the husks of pre-war cars that had long since fizzled out.

The gym itself was a fairly modest set up, with a large boxing ring in the center, and an assortment of weights and machines scattered about the fringes.

“Folks round these parts aren’t too keen about seeing big six foot men beat on little girls, so I’ll set you up with another dame. Idabelle is one of our newest fighters, and I reckon you’d be a good match for her. Let me know when you’re ready to hop into the ring, and I’ll call her over. Try not to kill her, but I realize accidents happen. If you can manage that I’ll have Alejandro, or one of the other pushers, set you up with something nice.”

---

@Andreyich

“It's chill, man, it's chill!” she yelped, her hold of the gun loosening, as the colour flushed from her face.

“Its gotta be the NCR, right? Those fuckers hate the good thing we got going on down here, so of course they’ll wanna stir shit up! The off-duty soldier boys are always hanging around at the Imperial...I bet you could find them there!”

---

@Sol Grim

“Oh gee, I have an idea, but you gotta keep it on the DL, you hear?”

Alejandro paused, taking a second to catch his breath, whilst a thick curtain of sweat dripped down his forehead.

“Give what credence to this that you will, but I heard a...a rumour from a...friend of a friend of a friend, that the Donna got down and dirty with Jeshua Baum, the smoothtalker that runs the jungle gym. Jeshua’s not one to pay for the brahmin if he can get the beef for free, if you catch my meaning, so methinks he’s been blowing the Donna off since, and she’s got the idea in her head that putting his number one pusher in the ground will get his attention.”

Dusty smiled politely at Jeshua, until he turned his back on her to lead her down the street. As soon as he wasn't watching Dusty rolled her eyes and pressed her lips into a thin line. She hated people like him, smooth talking smooth hair and smooth looks. Asshole.

The walk to the Jungle Gym was uneventful. The appearance of destroyed cars and buildings didn't phase Dusty, she had never seen a working car or a brand new building.

Entering the Jungle Gym felt strange. There was a sense of Deja Vu looking around at the ring and the equipment. And yet it felt different. Much smaller, quieter. More focused. For the first time in a long time Dusty felt like a child again, a child who was about to enter the ring for the first time. She swallowed down the lump in her throat.

Her nostalgic recollection was ended by Jeshua. She frowned, disliking being called a little girl. Dusty raised an eyebrow.

"I've never fought a girl before, this will be interesting."

But the prospect of chems was enough to keep Dusty from questioning it anymore.

Dallen knew Alejandro's type. Even if he were to let him go and tell him to leave and never return, he knew he'd come back. Pity, because that would taint Dallen's reputation, as well as make him a target. There was only one solution.

Blam!

Normally Dallen wouldn't even waste the bullet, and would instead use his knife, however he didn't feel like Alejandro needed to feel any more pain than he already had. After all, unless he was lying the whole time, he did give him some much needed information. If he was telling the truth, in which Dallen believed he was for the most part at least, then pursuing the Donna was unnecessary and all he had to do was find this Breckinridge guy. Still, he had to see out whatever the Donna had planned.

Picking up Alejandro's stetson and his backpack full of chems, Dallen made his way back to the Shark Club.

A few moments later...

Dallen was allowed back through the casino and up the elevator, this time keeping all of his belongings. He dropped the stetson on Donna Regina's desk, taking it upon himself to have a seat.

"Where were we?" he asked.

@Dragonbud

Dusty was handed fairly standard boxing gloves, as well as shorts and a vest that looked more skimpy than practical.

It didn’t take long for a crowd to gather around the ring, carrying the buzz of anticipation with it.

“I’m glad y’all made it out here, it really warms my heart.” Jeshua addressed the crowd with a big shit-eating grin, clambering up over the ropes and hopping into the middle of the ring.

“Now!” Jeshua exclaimed “let's say how our two newcomers fair against each other, shall we?!”

Across the ring from Dusty, stood Idabelle, in a loose fighting stance.

Her hair was so pale that it was practically white, and her skin tone was so light that she was bordering on albino. She wasn't particularly well-built, but there was definitely an element of lithe agility to her.

“Ready when you are.” She muttered, gazing across at her opponent with her fists raised.

---

@Sol Grim

The Donna let a thin smile slip across her features, something in her eyes twinkling at the sight of the stetson.

“Good job getting Alejandro off the streets unnoticed,” she smirked “that takes some skill.”

A Big Boss cigarette hung out of the corner of her mouth, which she lit with a silver lighter, taking a long drag before she spoke again.

“I don’t know if you’ve had many interactions Torres family, but they’re a serious pain in my arse, and I’m done babying them,” the Donna blew a puff of dark grey smoke out of her open mouth “the Imperial, their new pet project, is Ricardo Torres’ pride and joy. I need to send a message to those up-jumped thugs, and I can think of no better way to do that then killing the fucking manager. They’ve got some pounce called Rickman running the place. Kill him discretely and I’ll give you five thousand caps.”