Post by The Collective on Jun 13, 2017 3:51:30 GMT
That poor pegboard has seen better days. Riddled with holes of all sizes, to the point that the spaces with which to pin papers were running thin. In that case Simone simply taped over the patch, hoping her cheap dollar store tape would hold onto the pegboard long enough for her to make her point to the Chief. Earlier in the morning he had indeed confirmed he would make time for her investigation before he left for the day. Well with three minutes left until he was set to clear out, this left Simone nervous as to if James Nunzio even cared about her case. If he even cared about getting to the bottom of a brewing gang warfare scenario. She hung her head low, looking down to her cell phone for anything, even I ‘sorry I can’t make it today’ text.
*BOOM*
The door behind her flew open, and in walked Nunzio with a big bushy smile and two coffees, one per hand. “And two minutes to spare, ha ha!”
Shock mixed with an embarrassed elation, causing Simone to fold her arms at James and smirk, yet speak firm. “I really thought you had forgotten about me.”
“I’ve known you for six years Simone. Saw you coming up through the ranks into the good hand you are today. You didn’t let anything hold you back, and stayed a good cop all the way through. I don’t forget that.”
That complement loosened up the arms of Simone, allowing her to take the extended Dunkin’ Donuts coffee and take a sip of it. “Thank you. So ready to see what I was able to dig up?”
“Of course. From the looks of it we need to get you a new pegboard.”
The two laughed as Simone nodded, having had to scrounge up the best basement pegboard she could find. “That would be nice. So as you can see from this rotting pegboard, I’ve found three gangs who might match the guys we’re looking for.”
Any interest James had in her investigation faded as soon as he saw the face of his long time buddy Tony Tira. Right away he started thinking of the best way to sneak out of this as she went into her examination. “First on the list is the ‘Cuban Underground’. Well known for their drug selling and prostitution in New York. Over the past year 7th Street has been intruding on their territory, leading to some shootouts. And over here…”
With his free hand James reached into his grey blazer pocket, pulling out his cell phone. He opened it to the main screen, pretending to read a text message. The bright screen was enough to distract Simone, causing her to give him a stern look while his ghost face shined brightly amongst the dark, cluttered office. “Is everything okay Chief?”
A dumbfounded look crossed his face as he looked up to Simone and shoved his phone back into his blazer. “Oh, yeah just fine. The wife just texted me. She burnt the roast so I gotta go get takeout. I’m sorry, would love to hear you out, can we reschedule for tomorrow?”
While she didn’t believe him, she was wanting to do all she could to have him hear her out on this case. “Sure, tomorrow it is. Earlier please if you can swing it.”
“I’ll see what I can do. Goodnight Simone.”
His cell phone came back out again, and he proceeded to dial a number on his way out of the door. All she could hear was “Hey honey” as the door closed, leaving her to wonder what exactly made him shoot out of the office so quickly. Her attention turned to her pegboard and the three gangs, thinking about what he knew about them she doesn’t.
“The fuck you calling…(breath)....honey?”
With James a safe enough distance away from Simone’s office and just the janitor in hearing distance, he spoke to Tony. “Look Tony, I just snuck out of a meeting with one of my detectives. She’s got a real hard on for you.”
“Well tell her I don’t….(breath)...fuck around with chicks…..(breath)....with dicks.”
Laughs from the gang as they stood around the heavy breathing Tony who was just in the middle of a sparring session at Red Hook Championship Boxing Gym. Geno and Frankie got in a much needed breather as Tony struggled to have a conversation with his old buddy James Nunzio. “So what does she know Jim?”
“Well she had up a picture of you, Geno, and Frankie. She had a record pulled up for each of you from the Red Hook PD. She’s ready to start sniffing Tony, so I gotta tell ya for right now, you gotta lay low. Just stick to the wrestling, fuck payback, fuck whatever it is you’re trying to do. Just make an honest pay and let the heat die down.”
Hearing about a tenacious woman sniffing around immediately brought him back to the lounge. He’ll never forget about that dedicated detective Simone Vaughn saying she would do anything she could to get to the bottom of the distillery disaster. “So let me ask ya a question Jim….is this broad a molato?”
“Yeah, she is. How did you know?”
“Saw her doing a news report after the disaster. (breath) Saw she was in Queens and figga’d ya knew her. (breath) I was waitin’ for her to come at me.”
“Well don’t worry about it, I’m going to shut her down. She’s going off of this case, rest assured.”
“Good bro, that’s what I want to hear. (breath)”
“Alright Tony I gotta go, I’ll keep in touch.”
“Alright brotha.”
The call came to an end, and Tony tossed his phone on top of his gym bag by the ring. “I swear, I can’t even get in a good trainin’….(breath)....without some bullshit comin’ to fuck with me’.”
Frankie loosened the thick red pads on his hands, trying his best to slip them off as he nodded at Tony. “That’s how it is Tony. Life is a big distraction, and ya gotta succeed just to spite it. With what I saw today, you guys are definitely ready for Masaru and Faith.”
Tony nodded as he took a rest against the ring apron, pushing off his gloves with ease. “Thanks brotha, I appreciate it. I know Faith has to be pissed about you injurin’ her little boyfriend. Which is good, I want some fire outta that little girl. It feels good to actually train for a strikin’ match for once. I hate that running of the ropes, duck a clothesline, reverse an arm lock bullshit. I just wanna punch someone in the face.”
Finally succeeding in ripping off the tight pads, Frankie laughs as he can’t help but agree. “I hear ya Tony, but unfortunately if we wanna be wresslahs, we gotta play the game.”
“It sucks but that’s what we gotta do. I gotta tell ya, this is a great opportunity for us. If we beat that china doll Masaru and his little barbie doll friend Faith, we beat one half of Hell is Waiting. That makes us the closest thing to number one contenders around here. You better believe I’m going to play that card to Seth Black if we do.”
A roll of the eyes from the giant Geno as he took a spot on the apron next to his partner. “I don’t think he’s happy with us right now Tony.”
“Of course he’s not ya mook, I’m sayin’ we’re gonna impress him by beatin’ the little kid and the tranny. I feel so odd sayin’ that.”
The group have a good laugh at the lack of visual intimidation coming from their opposition. “Look at it this way. We knocked that little boy Chris Andrew back to his bedroom. He’s going to be convalessin’ with Call Of Duty and his fleshlight. Aurora? She ain’t there, takin’ the night off. There’s not a single fuck out there that’s gonna keep us from beatin’ em’ and earnin’ a shot at the gold.”
Geno smirked, raising an eyebrow to tag partner. “I’d like that Tony.”
“Then let’s go for it then. We nevah got a solid shot at the gold. This is our golden ticket, our foot in the door.”
“I say go for it bro. Show Aurora and Masaru who’s gonna kick their ass for the belts!!”
The trio scream and do a running triple leaping chest bump, which consequently sends Frankie and Tony flying as Geno is much bigger than them.
‘458 South Broadway. Dis’ gotta be the place, ain’t no other lounges in da’ area.’
After inhaling a full ounce of crack rock and rolling around the block five times, Monaco was pretty sure that the only ritzy looking building in this industrial wasteland of a city had to be the place they were looking for.
“The Catena Lounge? HAHA sounds like a gay club and shit.”
Hard eyes lasered through the cubic zirconia encrusted sunglasses of Monaco at one of his henchmen, Rico. However it didn’t last long as Monaco busted out laughing and nodding. “It do breh, it do. Rico break us in.”
The joke teller got to work taking his leather jacket padded elbow and smashing in a portion of glass. Just big enough for him to reach his hand through and unlock the front of the lounge. Immediately they heard a squealing alarm, getting them to jump on their current task. Rico panicked, not sure what to do, leaving Monaco screaming at him. “C’mon breh get to fuckin’ dousin’ this place befo’ the pigs sho’! It’s a punk ass lounge the fuck they got alarms for and shit!?”
Rico didn’t think to answer the question as he sprung to it with his crew of three, proceeding to bust through the doors and douse the small lounge. It was a sloppy job, but good enough for thirty seconds. Once all the hot spots were hit, Monaco got to striking matches and dropping, leaving eight burning piles before racing out the backdoor where the getaway car awaited. That look of fear failed to be erased from the usual jovial face of Rico. “GET THE FUCK IN BRO THEY’RE HERE!!!”
Usually Monaco would scold him and give him the ‘you don’t talk to me like that’ speech, but with the cops only thirty feet away Monaco raced to the backseat of the silver 17’ Lexus RX and dove in. The car went in reverse in the back alley, careful not to burst out into a line of cop cars waiting on their vehicle. Smoke poured from underneath the backdoor as adrenaline pumped and voices sang of triumph.
“Dat’s only a small taste baby….only a small taste.”
“For real guys, I don’t know if my next opponent has a dick or not. I can’t see how one can fit in those dirty scarecrow jeans.” The boys had a good laugh at Frankie’s match analysis, enjoying their usual walk through their seaport city, Red Hook. A good whiff of burning building caught Tony’s attention through the biting night air, breaking his laughter and causing him to sniff in the direction.
“Fuck guys you smell that? I know burnin’ buildin’ when I smell one.”
Another laugh from the Collective over their arson destruction of Applewood Distillery. But Tony didn’t laugh with his boys, instead he let his nose follow the trail as he sped up his walk. The direction the smoke was coming from looked to be coming from his street. “Ah shit ah shit ah shit ah shit FUCK ME don’t be the Catena DON’T BE THE FUCKIN’ CATENA!!!”
OOC: Word count 1959
*BOOM*
The door behind her flew open, and in walked Nunzio with a big bushy smile and two coffees, one per hand. “And two minutes to spare, ha ha!”
Shock mixed with an embarrassed elation, causing Simone to fold her arms at James and smirk, yet speak firm. “I really thought you had forgotten about me.”
“I’ve known you for six years Simone. Saw you coming up through the ranks into the good hand you are today. You didn’t let anything hold you back, and stayed a good cop all the way through. I don’t forget that.”
That complement loosened up the arms of Simone, allowing her to take the extended Dunkin’ Donuts coffee and take a sip of it. “Thank you. So ready to see what I was able to dig up?”
“Of course. From the looks of it we need to get you a new pegboard.”
The two laughed as Simone nodded, having had to scrounge up the best basement pegboard she could find. “That would be nice. So as you can see from this rotting pegboard, I’ve found three gangs who might match the guys we’re looking for.”
Any interest James had in her investigation faded as soon as he saw the face of his long time buddy Tony Tira. Right away he started thinking of the best way to sneak out of this as she went into her examination. “First on the list is the ‘Cuban Underground’. Well known for their drug selling and prostitution in New York. Over the past year 7th Street has been intruding on their territory, leading to some shootouts. And over here…”
With his free hand James reached into his grey blazer pocket, pulling out his cell phone. He opened it to the main screen, pretending to read a text message. The bright screen was enough to distract Simone, causing her to give him a stern look while his ghost face shined brightly amongst the dark, cluttered office. “Is everything okay Chief?”
A dumbfounded look crossed his face as he looked up to Simone and shoved his phone back into his blazer. “Oh, yeah just fine. The wife just texted me. She burnt the roast so I gotta go get takeout. I’m sorry, would love to hear you out, can we reschedule for tomorrow?”
While she didn’t believe him, she was wanting to do all she could to have him hear her out on this case. “Sure, tomorrow it is. Earlier please if you can swing it.”
“I’ll see what I can do. Goodnight Simone.”
His cell phone came back out again, and he proceeded to dial a number on his way out of the door. All she could hear was “Hey honey” as the door closed, leaving her to wonder what exactly made him shoot out of the office so quickly. Her attention turned to her pegboard and the three gangs, thinking about what he knew about them she doesn’t.
MEANWHILE….
“The fuck you calling…(breath)....honey?”
With James a safe enough distance away from Simone’s office and just the janitor in hearing distance, he spoke to Tony. “Look Tony, I just snuck out of a meeting with one of my detectives. She’s got a real hard on for you.”
“Well tell her I don’t….(breath)...fuck around with chicks…..(breath)....with dicks.”
Laughs from the gang as they stood around the heavy breathing Tony who was just in the middle of a sparring session at Red Hook Championship Boxing Gym. Geno and Frankie got in a much needed breather as Tony struggled to have a conversation with his old buddy James Nunzio. “So what does she know Jim?”
“Well she had up a picture of you, Geno, and Frankie. She had a record pulled up for each of you from the Red Hook PD. She’s ready to start sniffing Tony, so I gotta tell ya for right now, you gotta lay low. Just stick to the wrestling, fuck payback, fuck whatever it is you’re trying to do. Just make an honest pay and let the heat die down.”
Hearing about a tenacious woman sniffing around immediately brought him back to the lounge. He’ll never forget about that dedicated detective Simone Vaughn saying she would do anything she could to get to the bottom of the distillery disaster. “So let me ask ya a question Jim….is this broad a molato?”
“Yeah, she is. How did you know?”
“Saw her doing a news report after the disaster. (breath) Saw she was in Queens and figga’d ya knew her. (breath) I was waitin’ for her to come at me.”
“Well don’t worry about it, I’m going to shut her down. She’s going off of this case, rest assured.”
“Good bro, that’s what I want to hear. (breath)”
“Alright Tony I gotta go, I’ll keep in touch.”
“Alright brotha.”
The call came to an end, and Tony tossed his phone on top of his gym bag by the ring. “I swear, I can’t even get in a good trainin’….(breath)....without some bullshit comin’ to fuck with me’.”
Frankie loosened the thick red pads on his hands, trying his best to slip them off as he nodded at Tony. “That’s how it is Tony. Life is a big distraction, and ya gotta succeed just to spite it. With what I saw today, you guys are definitely ready for Masaru and Faith.”
Tony nodded as he took a rest against the ring apron, pushing off his gloves with ease. “Thanks brotha, I appreciate it. I know Faith has to be pissed about you injurin’ her little boyfriend. Which is good, I want some fire outta that little girl. It feels good to actually train for a strikin’ match for once. I hate that running of the ropes, duck a clothesline, reverse an arm lock bullshit. I just wanna punch someone in the face.”
Finally succeeding in ripping off the tight pads, Frankie laughs as he can’t help but agree. “I hear ya Tony, but unfortunately if we wanna be wresslahs, we gotta play the game.”
“It sucks but that’s what we gotta do. I gotta tell ya, this is a great opportunity for us. If we beat that china doll Masaru and his little barbie doll friend Faith, we beat one half of Hell is Waiting. That makes us the closest thing to number one contenders around here. You better believe I’m going to play that card to Seth Black if we do.”
A roll of the eyes from the giant Geno as he took a spot on the apron next to his partner. “I don’t think he’s happy with us right now Tony.”
“Of course he’s not ya mook, I’m sayin’ we’re gonna impress him by beatin’ the little kid and the tranny. I feel so odd sayin’ that.”
The group have a good laugh at the lack of visual intimidation coming from their opposition. “Look at it this way. We knocked that little boy Chris Andrew back to his bedroom. He’s going to be convalessin’ with Call Of Duty and his fleshlight. Aurora? She ain’t there, takin’ the night off. There’s not a single fuck out there that’s gonna keep us from beatin’ em’ and earnin’ a shot at the gold.”
Geno smirked, raising an eyebrow to tag partner. “I’d like that Tony.”
“Then let’s go for it then. We nevah got a solid shot at the gold. This is our golden ticket, our foot in the door.”
“I say go for it bro. Show Aurora and Masaru who’s gonna kick their ass for the belts!!”
The trio scream and do a running triple leaping chest bump, which consequently sends Frankie and Tony flying as Geno is much bigger than them.
MEANWHILE…
‘458 South Broadway. Dis’ gotta be the place, ain’t no other lounges in da’ area.’
After inhaling a full ounce of crack rock and rolling around the block five times, Monaco was pretty sure that the only ritzy looking building in this industrial wasteland of a city had to be the place they were looking for.
“The Catena Lounge? HAHA sounds like a gay club and shit.”
Hard eyes lasered through the cubic zirconia encrusted sunglasses of Monaco at one of his henchmen, Rico. However it didn’t last long as Monaco busted out laughing and nodding. “It do breh, it do. Rico break us in.”
The joke teller got to work taking his leather jacket padded elbow and smashing in a portion of glass. Just big enough for him to reach his hand through and unlock the front of the lounge. Immediately they heard a squealing alarm, getting them to jump on their current task. Rico panicked, not sure what to do, leaving Monaco screaming at him. “C’mon breh get to fuckin’ dousin’ this place befo’ the pigs sho’! It’s a punk ass lounge the fuck they got alarms for and shit!?”
Rico didn’t think to answer the question as he sprung to it with his crew of three, proceeding to bust through the doors and douse the small lounge. It was a sloppy job, but good enough for thirty seconds. Once all the hot spots were hit, Monaco got to striking matches and dropping, leaving eight burning piles before racing out the backdoor where the getaway car awaited. That look of fear failed to be erased from the usual jovial face of Rico. “GET THE FUCK IN BRO THEY’RE HERE!!!”
Usually Monaco would scold him and give him the ‘you don’t talk to me like that’ speech, but with the cops only thirty feet away Monaco raced to the backseat of the silver 17’ Lexus RX and dove in. The car went in reverse in the back alley, careful not to burst out into a line of cop cars waiting on their vehicle. Smoke poured from underneath the backdoor as adrenaline pumped and voices sang of triumph.
“Dat’s only a small taste baby….only a small taste.”
TEN MINUTES AFTER THE ARSON ATTACK
“For real guys, I don’t know if my next opponent has a dick or not. I can’t see how one can fit in those dirty scarecrow jeans.” The boys had a good laugh at Frankie’s match analysis, enjoying their usual walk through their seaport city, Red Hook. A good whiff of burning building caught Tony’s attention through the biting night air, breaking his laughter and causing him to sniff in the direction.
“Fuck guys you smell that? I know burnin’ buildin’ when I smell one.”
Another laugh from the Collective over their arson destruction of Applewood Distillery. But Tony didn’t laugh with his boys, instead he let his nose follow the trail as he sped up his walk. The direction the smoke was coming from looked to be coming from his street. “Ah shit ah shit ah shit ah shit FUCK ME don’t be the Catena DON’T BE THE FUCKIN’ CATENA!!!”
TO BE CONTINUED IN STARLIGHT CHRONICLES: CHAPTER 2
OOC: Word count 1959