* CHUD Mafia RPG - Chapter 7 - Page 3

Protection, Pt. II
Ray's Guns and Ammo
(ATTN: Paulie, Julian)

Lying wounded, Julian watches from the floor as Paulie swoops down on the enemy. The music seems to grow in volume, roaring through the weapon's store.

At any other time, Paulie's elegant, poetic dance of death would earn him the King Faggot Crown in Julian's book.

But at this moment, with Triads falling like snowflakes, "The Jester" seemed invincible.

Julian crawls slowly into the gun vault, looking frantically for a weapon... or at lest the controls for the sound system.

The music comes abruptly to a halt, and loud pop-click rips across the speakers. Suddenly the sound sytem jumps into an odd new selection.

Apparently, Ray's CD collection is a behind the times. Jolting forth into the store is an brazen assault on the ears, "Kickstart My Heart" by Motley Crue.

Paulie turns to face the front of the shop, where he spies a distant Triad opening up what appears to be a small rocket launcher. The magical moment seems to have ended. Paulie freezes in place for a second as he takes in the new threat.

Danny's Last Dance
Escalade: Intersection
(ATTN: Othello, Forbes, Dino, Tivoli)

The Escalade pulls to a red light. Traffic has backed up on the main drag, and the off-ramp is packed like Delta Burke in a phone booth. The bank is still a solid 15 minutes away at this speed, with all the stops slowing Othello down.

Tivoli looks long and hard out the window. He seems to really be digesting Redman's appraisal of his own worth. His sullen expression mirros his feeling--'it is too late to make up for being a worthless snitch... a double-crossing fuck with more rings on his hands than friends'.

For the first time in ages, the loudmouth Danny "Three Rings" was truly without anything to say.

Tthe light turns green, and Othello expertly weaves in and out of lanes, struggling against time to make it to his companion's side.

(Edited due to my recent bout with lysdexia.)

Heist
Ladies' Room/Lobby/Vault
(ATTN: Frank, Virgil, Chelsea, Roman)

Virgil and the unknown assailant roll into the wall. The knife cuts deep into Virgil's stomach. As the two wrestle, the wounded Abrizza feels his opponent lose strength. The man gradually stops fighting, and soon lies still, blood pooling underneath him.

Frank is instanly at Chelsea side. She is surprisingly unshaken, and bears on the blood of the other man on her hands and shirt. With an amazing level head, she stands and shakes off recent events. She embraces Frank, and peers over his shoulder to spot Virgil and the red pattern soaking Abrizza's shirt.

"Oh god," she whispers, whirling Frank around and rushing to the downed man's side.

***

Meanwhile, Roman has finished packing up the exchange certificates. And moves to the cracked vault door. Through the slight opening, he observes the chaos in the lobby.

Frank and Virgil are nowhere to be seen. A masked unkown lumps the bodies of three dead security guards together. This man and what is apparently a set of comrades, look to be sticking up the bank themselves!

"Where's your vault?!" one of them shouts, grabbing a passing clerk by the shirt.

Protection Pt. II
Ray's Guns and Ammo
(ATTN: Paulie, Julian)

The rocket launcher sparks to life as the trigger man takes a bullet in the head. Paulie's aim was becoming legendary. Hopefully, in the next split second, he wouldn't become a legend himself--going out in a ball of flame.

The gunman misfried as he went down, and the rocket skews every so slightly from its intended path, sliding into the roof frame of the weapon store.

The deafening roar drowns the heavy metal rhythms in the air, and a rain of steel, wood and dripping fire comes down around Paulie. On instinct, the hitman slid unerneath a thankfully reinforced counter top, laying on top of spare bullet casings and greasy gun parts.

The upper portion of the building burns, while the "Jester" composes himself. The remaining speakers fizzle, and the music crackles to a stop.

Paulie's attention turns to the most urgent matter... the hidden gun vault.

The door had been forced shut by the explosion, and large debris now lay against the makeshift vault door. A muted pounding comes from inside.

"Julian!"

Heist
Bank Lobby/Restroom
(ATTN: Roman, Virgil, Frank, Chelsea)

A flash of light signals to Roman that his grenade has gone off as planned, having rolled into the middle of the lobby floor. Roman waits until all seems clear, then peers forward. the moment is ripe for his exit.

In the restroom, a loud ringing "pop" ripples through the air from the lobby. Virgil is stable enough to walk, and has slowly made it to his feet.

Chelsea helps to support Abrizza as he hobbles towards the door. Frank waits for them, arm stretched out to grab Virgil. While waiting, he has peeked into the lobby, where everyone lie groggy on the floor. Looks like it's time to meet Bruno outside...

Heist
Outisde Bank
(ATTN: Roman, Virgil, Frank, Chelsea, Bruno)

Noon approaches.

Bruno waits calmly in the nondescript sedan. Roman races out to see that the driver is alone in the vehicle.

Frank is the next one out the door, with guns sweeping both sides of the street. With a nod, he moves forward, still wary of his surroundings as he escorts Chelsea and Virgil out into the daylight.

Chelsea has pulled through like a trooper, helping Virgil ease down the steps and towards the car. Frank covers them, back to the pair as they enter. At last, Tobiasi himself piles in.

In the distance behind the car... nothing. No sirens, no police. Light, casual traffic. In front of the car, same thing. Except for a utlity van... phone comanpy by the makring on the outside, parked against the curb hastily.

As Bruno carefully drive sforward, Roman (in passenger seat) makes out the face of the idle driver. Sitting inside is a man with a black cap pulled down to his eyebrows, smoking the end of a cigarette. He looks at the sedan only for a moment. No doubt the driver for the clumsy second robbery.

And then... again, nothing happens.

"This is too easy," Bruno mutters nervously.

The car stops slowly at a red light. Bruno kills the talk radio.

"What the fuck happened back there?"

Protection Pt. II
Flaming Wreck that Once Was Ray's Guns and Ammo
(ATTN: Paulie, Julian)

The explosiong rocks the store further. In the back, ceiling tiles come down like dominoes off a table.

The wreckage is mostly clear, and the vault door creaks open. Julian slides out, and Paulie tries not to chuckle at the sight.

The fairly large man, though battered and a bit shot up, is draped in ammunition. He heaves out a machinegun nealry as long as he is tall.

"Let's go, he grimaces, looing through the flames to the open air outside. He holds the large chain gun tightly, and drags his feet through fallen plywood, glass, and shards of concrete.

Without waiting for Paulie, he marches outside. The snap of gunshots ring out from his left. Julian turns slowly, unafraid, and lays into the partially covered gunman, who hides behind the smoking Volvo.

A pure sound fills the air, a musical ring that sings to Julian. The chain gun pours bullets into the beatn car, and it ignites, flipping end over end into the dusty field next to the parking lot.

Paulie joins him as he removes a brown tarp from a worn but rugged military Jeep, with a fading white star painted on each of the low door panels.

As cool and quiet as possible, Julian climbs into the back seat, propping his weapon on the edge of the open-air frame facing backward.

He tosses a pair of keys into the drivers seat over his shoulder without looking.

"You okay to drive, Paulie?" he asks, checking to make sure the ammo belt is properly fed into the large weapon.

Protection Pt. II
Junkyard
(ATTN: Paulie, Julian)

Paulie puts together that the quickest way out of the area is through the junkyard. Not a bad place to lose his followers either.

Their Triad trackers have mounted up and are giving chase, single-mindedly hunting down their Italian nemesi.

As diVialoso cuts around a large mountain of tires, the Jeep is nearly clipped by corssing traffic.

Once Paulie puts him in the line of fire, Julian hastily aims and cuts into a silver van, emblazoned with a black dragon on its side. The wildfire taps into the grill and engine block, causing smoke to pour from the pursuing vehicle.

The side door slides open, and one of the passengers offers up return fire, along with a string of top-of-the-lungs Chinese clatter.

Julian makes no effort to duck down, just continues to fire, hoping to match his swerve with the Paulie's turn of the wheel.

Following a high-pitched ricochet, the hood of the pursuing van flies up, smacking the glass of the windhsield. The vehicle lurches to its left to compensate for the driver's confusion.

Too beutiful to be planned, the vehicle flips into a side-roll, tumbling at least three full rotations before landing on its side.

Julian finally stops to take a deep breath, assuming things are now under control.

Unfortunately, Paulie knows different.

The Jeep is about two seconds from a mound of broken concrete chunks, one large piece seeming to be a beconing to be used as a ramp. It is all a matter of the Jester's whim, whether the Army Jeep joins the Air Force, or makes a quick attempt to steer clear and remain grounded.

Heist
Downtown: On the Road
(ATTN: Roman, Virgil, Frank, Chelsea, Bruno)

Pulling away quickly from the somking van of the would be robbers, Bruno proceeds to the location as instructed.

Virgil has passed out from blood loss, while Chelsea applies Bruno's jacket to the wound with a firm hand.

Frank assists with the makeshift first aid,pushing down with Chelsea simultaneously to keep the blood loss from increasing.

Roman Turns and faces forward in his seat. After a few tense moments of lane-weaving, he slaps his forehead.

A the same moment, Bruno announces, "Fucking gridlock."

Without a pause, the driver immediately throws the car into reverse, allowing the intertia to carry the front end of the car into a perfect 180 degreee spin.

"Try not to do that!" Chelsea shouts as she balances herself.

Bruno doesn't reply, but does seem to understand the imperative as he negotiates a left hand turn with more care, passing close to the smoke-mobile. At any other time, the sight of the driver falling out of his vehicle and throwing up from smoke inhalation might have made the crew laugh.

But not when lives hang in the balance.

The vehicle pushes forward. "We are goin' outta our way here fellas. Traffic is stopped dead on the highway... and your doctor is still agood.... 20 minutes out going 'round."

Danny's Last Dance
Downtown
(ATTN: Othello, Forbes, Dino, Tivoli)

Dino looks on in silence as the two men have guns drawn on each other. Othello is a force to be reckoned with, but Forbes elite training allowed him to produce his weapon in response.

Tivoli watches in awe, knowing better than to open his mouth.