Andato Lui has a minion!

Segno the Targit

A Big City means Big Bucks. Big Bucks means big opportunity. Big opportunity means dirty tricks and foul play. And that meant mafia and gangs, the dirt of the city. I was all on top of that, if money was involved...

Greed? Who cares. Everyone wanted to get rich quick. Money made the world go round. Even if it meant getting my hands a little dirty.
There was no such thing as a guilty conscience, I told myself. I did not feel guilty for what I did. When we of the Nero Vanga entered into the bank, holding up a Six Shooter, telling them to hand over the dough or someone will get hurt, and a young lady with more backbone than the rest of them tries to take your gun from you to save everyone else and gets shot, a beautiful flower stained red...

you just don't care.

The Nero Vanga. The Sanguinamento Cuore. The Cremisi Diamante. The Grigio Fustibus.
Together we were a bunch of cards, the lot of us. But we had the pleasure of being the most feared gangs in the Big City. They called us the Castello di Cartes, the House of Cards. Each one specialized in something, each one didn't like each other even if we were separate gangs in the same brotherhood.

And that is how the cookie crumbles, how all Castellos di Cartes tumble.

I found myself thinking about that beautiful fiore more and more over time, the girl with enough balls to stand up against me, even at the price of her own life. As much as I told myself I didn't care, I was a murderer, I was the ACE of the Nero Vanga, yet I found myself thinking about that girl more and more often. A girl with guts like her, I could have liked her a whole lot, but I had killed her.

I didn't know what made her so different from the rest of the victims, just another body in the pile... I was a mix of emotions; sadness for her life, anger at myself for feeling this way about it, longing for... Something, but I had no idea what. This mix of emotions started to affect my work.

"Ace, what are you doing?!"
I started out of my trance, realizing I was staring at a tangled vine of flowers growing over the window. I cleared my throat, and looked at the speaker: The King of the Nero Vanga, and consequently our boss. He was a human man, not by any stretch of the imagination a pretty man either.

"We need your head HERE, animal. Get your head out of the clouds. The Cremisi Diamante will be here in an hour! We can't screw this up!" Our sovrano snapped.
"Le mie scuse, ro." I apologized. "It won't happen again."
"It better not. Now listen!"

The plan was that we'd meet up with the Cremisi Diamante; the cartes in charge of money affairs. There was a huge moneymaking opportunity here today, and they had the details. As the Nero Vanga, we were in charge of the ACTION, the fight, the assassinations and murders, the clean up if anything went awry. I, as the ACE was in charge of the actual carrying out of the king's plans. The king himself planned it, and as far as the rest of us were concerned, we were nothing but pawns.

Eventually, the Cremisi Diamante arrived. While we consisted mostly of Bloodred animals they were all richly clothed humans. They had fine clothes from the Subeautique, hair slicked back or colored, and fancy jewelery. They all looked at us with disdain; making it clear that they weren't working with us by choice, as if there was a doubt about that.Their KING approached ours; this man a tall dark-skinned man in a nice suit. It made our King look small and stumpy by comparison. Our King seemed to recognize this and didn't seem all too happy about it.

Our kings spoke for half an hour in Italian, and we waited. I could gather that Saggitarius was our target; he was throwing a party: A very rare event for him, he was after all quite the shut in. We would infiltrate his tower during the party, and raid it. Most of us would stand by, only a few of us could go in with the Cremisi Diamante being Bloodred pets, and therefore viewed with some suspicion. Most of us were to be placed on nearby rooftops with rifles, in case something went south. The rest of us were to be the companions of the Cremisi.

I was one of them; a speaker was placed in my ear and I was given a coat to wear. I placed my six-shooter under it. My "partner" was the ace of the Cremisi, a blonde man who was too pretty for his own good. And he knew it too. He flaunted it, speaking in a French accent, wearing a purple suit coat.
"Come now, chien noir. Can't stand around here forever, you are much too slow!"
As much as I hated to be called a dog, I couldn't speak back to him or face the condescension of my king. I let him know my irritation with a deep growl.
"Now now, stay quiet! Ahh, there's a good bête." I hated being under the orders to listen to this ingannare. But what could I do about it now? He would get what's coming to him in the future, reader. Mind you.

We infiltrated that party: each of us in separate areas, entering at different times. In retrospect, I wonder if still Saggitarius expected us. The Cremisi's Ace upon entering immediately made small-talk with the guests, impressing human women with over-exaggerated stories of grandeur. I was only vaguely aware of what he said, my attention was elsewhere.
"Ah, the monstre noir...? Yes, very obedient..."
People with their little pampered pets following after them, walking around, talking to each other. Showing off their wealth.
"I thought about bringing a muzzle for him, but... dire non plus. In the future I will remember..."
Tittering tipsy women, all flocking to the stairs... Ah, there was Saggitarius himself, there on the stairwell. No wonder.
"Non, ma cherie, not dangerous. If you know how to handle-"There was the distraction. One of the cremisi, a woman in a blue dress led him off by the hand. He seemed surprised, but amused more than anything else. That was the sign. I walked a little forward; my "carico" saw the movement and looked to the stairs.

"Ah, sorry to leave so soon, belle petites, there is someone else I need to speak to." They all made sad noises, they hated to have their new acquaintance go so soon! He too was hesitant to leave. I couldn't leave soon enough.We waited for Saggitarius's full attention to be drawn to the conversation before going up the stairs. Floor after floor we passed; rooms full of things collected from Subetans over the years lined every single room. "My," my companion stated. "I didn't realize he was such a pack rat, did you?"
I didn't reply.

Two more floors we scaled, and that's when I noticed a noise. A slight rustle. The rustle sounded like toole on satin. A dress. I turned.

There stood another fiore. A woman with brown hair that came down in ringlets, framing her gentle face. Her dress was a soft purple, not the dark one of my companion. She froze. I nearly choked.

My companion noticed I had stopped following him, and stopped, looking behind him. He saw the woman and his charisma was turned up a notch or two, as he shot me a meaningful look.

The look that said "Kill her."

"Ah, fleur, what are you doing so high up here in the tower?" The Ace said sweetly. Sickeningly sweet.
"I could ask you the same." She said cooly, stepping forward a little. I noticed she was wearing no shoes. She meant to be stealthy. It was likely she was some security Saggitarius hired, expecting something to happen. Still, I saw that blossom at the bank. Still, I saw the blood. It was then I realized I couldn't kill this woman before me, I couldn't fulfill my job."This is the seventh floor. What are you doing so far up?"

My partner was as smooth as silk. He glanced at me before saying "Ah, I was merely trying to find le toilette, you know."
"On the seventh floor??"
That's when he seemed to be sheepish. Bite his lip. An actor's ploy. "Ah... Well... The truth is, madamoiselle, there was a woman... Downstairs, I conversed with her. She told me she'd be waiting for me. If you know what I mean. I really didn't want to mention it. I mean... He looked at the ground, and then at me. A hard look. What are you waiting for? It said. If you won't do it, I will do it myself.

She obviously didn't fall for it. "Visiting a woman, bringing your pet along? How dense do you think I am?" The woman reached down and pulled up her skirt. There on a thigh holster was the gun. She pulled it out. I snapped myself out of my daze. Out the six-shooter came, aimed at that woman. The woman froze, her gun trained on me. In her eyes I saw the bravery I saw at the bank, a woman who would die for the right cause. I grit my teeth.

"As I thought. You two are the House of Cards that have been causing so much trouble. Saggitarius thought you would come."
No surprises there.
"And you, madamoiselle, are clever. And dead. Shoot her, you dumb animal! Shoot her!"

I pulled the trigger. She pulled hers. I staggered back, a bullet straight through the shoulder. Any closer and it would have been the heart. The Ace of the Cremisi Diamante stared in surprise as blood came to his lips, and began to slip out, thick and red. He glared at me with the true disdain he had for me all along. To him, I truly was nothing but an animal, and he drove this home with his final words, in Italian just for me to hear. "Traditore! Sarete uccisi come l'animale si è. Verrà abbattuto come un cane!" I shot him again. He was dead before he hit the floor.

I didn't stick around to see what the woman's reaction would be. I ran to the nearest door, pulled it open, and jumped out the window. As a Paralix, the height didn't mean much. I caught the ledge of the window of the building nearby in my claws, and scrambled up. Past one of the gunmen I had posted there, much to their astonishment. To the next building, and the next. And then underground, in the subway station, where I sat through the rest of the night.

I knew that the Castello di Cartes was fighting because of my action. Our "amicizia" with them was weak as it is. I knew that they sought me, all of them. But I kept moving, and the war between the cartes kept them occupied. I was no less then a cold-blooded traitor. And for what? A fiore who was part of the secret police all along. But was she worth the infected hole through my arm? Was she worth the dirt, the rags? In my position

you just don't care.

Two months passed this way, as the house of cards fell elsewhere in Centropolis. I sat in the rain. The old dress coat I had worn that night stained with dirt and covered with holes from two months of wear. The rain poured onto my fedora, streamed down my tail. My six-shooter I kept as well out of the moisture as I could, curled up in a ball around it, like the cane, the dog I was. I then heard the clicking of heels on the pavement. My ears twitched, and one bloodshot eye rose up. A woman with brown hair that came down in ringlets approached me. Her pencil skirt was a soft purple. She wasn't barefoot this time, instead had high heels. She bent down uncomfortably in that skirt by me, her umbrella covering me and her both as her hands passed through my rough, unclean fur, over the infected shoulder that was slowly, but surely killing me.
"I can't thank you enough. You did the right thing that night."
I didn't reply, I let my eye close again."You spared my life. I..." She bit her lip. "Ace, isn't it?"Finally, my voice, rough and gravelly answered her. "Andato Lui. Ace is a title I threw away."
"Ah." The fiore replied, then thought. "I'm Iris. I'm a member of SAI, I..."
"Want to take me in, eh, agente?"
"No, no. I don't want to take you in. Well, not specifically." She hesitated, to see my reaction. I gave her none, so she continued. "You currently do not have a... Well, a retainer, do you?"
I opened both eyes and gave her a long look, and mentally told her non essere stupido, fiore.

"Right, I thought not. I want to be that. Your... Well, owner, to use the politically correct term."
"And why would you want to do that? Tu sei fuori di testa!"
"Because, you spared me. For whatever reason, you did. And I feel safe knowing that. I'd feel safer still if you were at my side, as my companion."
"Ah, compagno! You ARE out of your mind, fiore!" I rose to a sitting position. "I know your kind, always I'm merely a bestia, a beast!"
"To me, you're a life-saver."

Silence can be a profound thing. In that silence, I agreed to the bond. Although I learned SAI itself certainly didn't trust me, they allowed Iris to take me along on any of her missions, and my experience with the life of the mob was, they admitted insightful. Although the infection in my arm healed, there is an ugly scar there. Remembrance. For the fiore.