The Gambino Army

What god do you worship?

Gaia, Goddess of the Earth	46.2%	[ 18 ]
Nyx, God of the Night	53.8%	[ 21 ]
Total Votes:			[ 39 ]

[Neon Graffiti]

[ Isle de Gambino ]

"I've never seen a girl so desperate to find her own father." Raku wasn't one for pillow talk, but he always spoke the truth, however harsh.

Chiharu was not his real daughter.

"Me 'neither, man. We should've just let well enough alone, but instead, we got her mixed into this... mess, and now there's no backing out of it." His knuckles went white against the wheel, eyes focused on obeying the traffic laws if for nothing more than so he wouldn't succumb to rage and pull the car apart with his bare hands. "Ain't sure if I explained it to ya Jiro, but your daughter's a spymaster. She must've picked up on her old man's ninja tricks pretty quick, because now she's the head of a whole pack of 'em, and she's only 24. And it's because of him that she is. It was all because of him."

It was going on ten years Chiharu had been under the wing of G-Corp, doing their dirty work, and in exchange, having the necessaries to locate her long-lost father, who had been missing since, as far as she'd known, 2004.

"Now that she knows her father's alive, she'll stop at nothing to get him back. Every waking moment from here on out is gonna be spent shaking down the Oni Gang till she gets answers. It's gonna be one helluva mess."
Peering into the rear-view, he kept a careful eye on the sleeping Chiharu. She looked so peaceful in this state, the calm before the storm. "We gotta tell her everything. We've grown too old. Maybe 10 years is nothing to us, but to her..."

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[ Isle de Gambino - Onigawa Spa ]

"Kyros," The tall, dark figure spoke with an accent comparable to Jiro's, but a touch more gravelly than expected. As Shuten and her agent turned around, they'd find a much older gentleman standing before them. His strong, muscular form had deteriorated but in moments, peeling back to reveal a man touched with age, and experience. And maybe something else.

"Why did you not take a different form to greet our guest?" He asked his crimson haired bodyguard, not with anger, but with interest. "You know we can't afford to let our business rivals know your true shape."

[Kabuki-Kun]

Jiro let his retainer's words sink in, along with the building realization that Raku might have known Chiharu better than he did. Or at least understood her and her motives more. Her unrelenting loyalty to a man who hadn't raised her had never fully made sense to him, and now, again, he was surprised by the vehemence of her need to rescue him.

His finely boned face sunk into his hand. He had been holding out hope she would outgrow the obsession, but he was going to have to put that away. They were all in this mess now.
"We are going to have to get him for her, you realize."

"Just let me do it." It was barely intelligible. It was like the groggy girl had chewed the words before she spit them out, and she was still laying against the window, eyes shut.

"If I thought you'd survive the attempt, I wouldn't have stopped you."

"You are an asshat."
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Kyros swiveled on his heals to greet the man with a low bow. His question made the guard pause to think, only then actually realizing he was in his original form. He suddenly felt naked, but at the same time...
"Because I know her from somewhere." As he was explaining, it clicked for him! Of course, it seemed so obvious now that he thought it! "She has my mask!" He gestured up at the red streak over his eyes, looking to the man for explanation much like a dog looks to its master for food.

[Neon Graffiti]

[ Isle de Gambino - Onigawa Spa ]

The gentleman took a deep drag of his cigar before he met Kyros' words with any sort of riposte. "So she does." He inquired, curiously, then cued the lesser gokudo to take their place beside Kyros, slapping his back and treating him like he was the toast of the town.
"Why don't you return to the hot springs, and I'll meet you there shortly. There are a few... words I'd like to have with Ibuki-san." The man urged, then had the disguised gangsters lead Kyros with promises of food and drink, like a horse to an apple.

As the scene cleared up, the almighty Shuten Doji stood frozen in place, her eys locked on the gauged scar Chiharu had left in her ornate door. One would expect her to be chewing that pipe in half by now, but instead it rattled between her fangs nervously. As the old man appeared beside her, she could only fume in disgust.
"You b*****d... he's her father, isn't he?"

"You tell me," The man retorted in confident, broken English, meanwhile docking off a quarter ash from his smoke. "You've dealt with the Gambino Army long enough. By now I'd have expected you to know their whole family tree. Though I must say, there is quite a resemblance. However, I wonder," He turned to look at Shuten with eyes unfearing, queer to her game. "Of what use does the all-knowing Oni King have with such... trivial knowledge?" He said, finishing off with a smile all too vile.
Taking another swish of his cigar, he nodded it towards Shuten playfully. "Do not forget your priorities, Ibuki-san."

Shuten Doji replied with a snarl. "I have not forgotten." Before watching the man exit back upstairs, to his personal bathhouse. As he left, Shuten Doji's skin reflected a deep crimson, her kiseru suddenly lighting up in flames.

Meanwhile, the boys had treated Kyros to a drink. One that would prove even too strong for his tastes. Spiked with something 'extra', the patterned raccoon dog would quickly slip into a deep, lost trance, and would soon remember nothing of what had just transpired...

And hopefully, the vision of the "girl with the mask" would gently, quietly slip to the back of his mind once more...

As the mysterious gentleman returned to his abode, he walked in on the two thugs dragging the red-haired Kyros in by his shoulders, laying him against the floor. Clearly the animal weighed more than he looked, for all that lean muscle had to amount to something.
"Just set him the water. Do not worry about his clothes." He requested, as he returned to his personal bathhouse, submerging himself, step by step.

The men did as commanded, and laid Kyros into the cloudy depths with him, up to his neck.

"Splended," The gentleman replied appreciatively, his head suddenly disappearing beneath its waters for several moments, before breaking the threshold, emerging a completely different man; the very same young playboy who had entered the scene but moments before, to the shock of the low-rank soldiers.

"Mr. Ichiro," One had to inquire as he looked at Kyros' unchanging form under the hot spring. "Why... why doesn't his body regress under the waters?"

The man chuckled lowly, his fresh, youthful voice no longer chafed through years of habitual smoking. "The Fountains of Youth restore an old man to his prime, and a young man to his childhood," His lay dotted on his guard, asleep on the job. "A body like his has many hours to bathe before it begins to show any kind of regression."
The man let a stagnant silence choke the room before he spoke again. "Now why don't you boys take the rest of the day off?" He invited, "I promise, this isn't something I'll have you be doing often." His wicked smile emanated with consistency, whilst he watched the two unknowing underlings do as they were told.

"How do you feel, Kyros?"

[Kabuki-Kun]

Kyros was draped in the heated bath, his head tilted back onto the stone lip of the pool. Steam rose up around his bent neck, and the abused tanuki groaned into consciousness. Without offering an answer, he sunk down into the water and left the man with nothing but bubbles for a long moment.
...
When he resurfaced, the glow has returned to his keen eyes and water dripped off his nose, rippling the pool. "New."

[Neon Graffiti]

[ Isle de Gambino - Onigawa Spa ]

In spite of the rude and sudden interruption, the powerful businessman Ichiro Sendo was not going to let such trivial matters impede his relaxation. He was a very busy man, and the conflict of commoners was of little importance to him, unless he himself were involved. Yet despite the disinterest he showed Shuten Doji, he could not get that tomato-haired tomato out of his head. The more he looked at his bodyguard, the more and more obvious the resemblance became...

"Good. We need to keep you in top shape. This beloved island of ours is falling into ruin..." He said distantly, as if speaking to the island itself. "... and it'd be a shame if this spa went down with it. Do be on guard, Kyros..." Turning his wrist, Ichiro shifted his index in a simple "come hither" motion, and a ring of light christened it. "I sense our enemies are not just of the financial sort any longer."

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[ Isle de Gambino ]

Raku had to steel himself so he didn't pull over the car to slap some sense into her.
"Bakayaro!" The wolf managed to cough up, twisting around in his seat to bare fangs back at Chiharu. "Really?! Do you really think you have any chance against the Oni King?! You don't think there's a reason why she's one of the "Three Great Evil Yokai"?" His rage reaching a bowling point, he bashed the steering wheel violently, an attest to his nickname "Satsujin."

"You think me and your dad are old? Shuten Doji's been alive for centuries, before we, or your grandfather, or probably even your grandfather's grandfather was conceived!" He bark simmered to a growl as he started to drive a little slower. "She ain't just a demon, she's a spirit of the earth. And now she's come to sew her seed of destruction in Gaia, if Japan alone wasn't enough. And on top of that," His eye peeked into the mirror, knowing Chiharu was looking at him. "She's backed by one of the most powerful men in-- agh!"

Raku coughed, suddenly finding his neck constricted. First invisible, it eventually took form as a chain of light leashing him into the seat. His foot bashed on the break, then made a harrowing U-turn to bullet back to where they came from. "What the... hell?!"

[Neon Graffiti]

Mel Reynolds

Mel's fist slamed into the floor on last time as the sword went through her upper body shacking the building just enough to finally bring it down on top of everyone inside burring all who were left in the building
Takeing one last deep breath she coverd her head with what strangth she had left to move as the rubble fell ontop of her. She clenched her fists tightly.

((Bullet wound hurts right now going back to bed.))

( -screech!- Mel-mel! D8 How did I not see your post?? I'll mix up a response as soon as I get home! -hugs- Take it,,, take it easy. :c )

[Kabuki-Kun]

"But Raku, he was right there!"
Apparently all the talk of her inevitable death had gone right over her head. "Why couldn't he leave with us? Why...didn't he even recognize me?"

"I would have warned you about that if you had stayed longer." Pointed out the Hotaru lord, in his quietly deliberate way, a manner of speech that annoyed his daughter to no end.

"I would have warned you." She mimicked in a bastardized version of his soft accent. She sounded less Japanese and more like she had a ping-pong ball stuck in her mouth. Jiro frowned.
"How long have you been married to an English speaker, anyway? You'd think you could talk by now."

"Do you want me to help you, or do you want to fight with me? We are wasting time." They were indeed wasting time! The two had been so busy bickering, neither of them picked up on Raku's distress until he wrenched the wheel. Chiharu flung into the side window, while Jiro gracefully tilted with the car's motion.

"Raku!"

"Tell me what's happened."
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Kyros's interest was perked, and he raised his bright brows. Hanging on Ichiro's words, the tanuki slid through the water to follow his beck.
"What do you mean...?"

[Neon Graffiti]

[ Isle de Gambino - Onigawa Spa ]

As Kyros swathed through the spa's rejuvenating waters, a coil of light would too appear around his neck, symbolizing Ichiro's absolute control over the spirit.
"Our prime business capital is being fought over like meat among dogs. The Gambino family, The natives, the pirates... and then there's us." Ichiro's control took form, appearing as a leash manifested from the arcane, connected to Kyros' neck. "We are destined to save this town. We just need a little... help." He twitched his finger again.

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[ Isle de Gambino ]

Raku struggled some more with the wheel, but his body was not his to control. Swerving back and forth along the dusty road, he nearly collided with several cars, every single one a close-call.
"I slipped up, boss! He's got me." Raku coughed up against the chain squeezing his neck. He fought against the control, trying to loosen its grip, but to no avail. "Just like Zero...!" The thought made Raku hiss. A wild wolf tamed so quickly by mere divination, it made him sick, and nearly ashamed enough to commit harakari right there on the spot. But he still had much work to do.

"It's some kinda really strong onmyodo!" Raku bit down hard upon his lip, knowing exactly where this car was taking them - the absolute last place he wanted Chiharu to be. He softly smiled, knowing what he had to do. "Take Chiharu. Get her back to the GA, back to safety! And when you get there, make sure you don't waste any time booting this up," In a fleeting instant, a jump drive hovered in midair, plopping right unto Chiharu's lap.

"I'll be fine on my own for a lil' while. Go show your old man around the town. I'll be waiting when you're ready... with your father."

[Neon Graffiti]

Mel Reynolds

Mel's fist slamed into the floor on last time as the sword went through her upper body shacking the building just enough to finally bring it down on top of everyone inside burring all who were left in the building
Takeing one last deep breath she coverd her head with what strangth she had left to move as the rubble fell ontop of her. She clenched her fists tightly.

((Bullet wound hurts right now going back to bed.))

( Mel! ;D; How did I miss this?? I'm sorry, I'm here! How you shapin' up? Also, where is that other guy who you were fighting... )

[ Isle de Gambino - Gaian Police Station ]

What was left of the police department, and Mel, crumpled to pieces like a wet house of cards before Rick's eyes. Before he could immerse himself in it to find Mel, he instead only watched her demise from afar.
The rebels had split by the time the whole ordeal was finished, leaving the remaining soldiers standing, silenced by Mel's sacrifice.

"Mel!!"

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Hours later, as the night sky blanketed the island in an ominous darkness, a bleak hint of light could be seen off the coast of the western island. There, the soldiers, led by Rick, stood over two crudely built graves - one marked "Mel Reynolds" and another marked "Kiba Lunar". Rick didn't know Kiba very well, but a man - or beast - brave enough to stand up against someone like Mahina was all right in his book.
"Charter a course to East Gambino as soon as possible." Rick said in a huff, tossing his shotgun over his shoulder. "We need to regroup with the others before we lose control of this situation altogether." His glowing eyes stole one last glimmer at the pile of rocks with Mel's name written in the sand. "Man, Neon is gonna kill me..."

[Kabuki-Kun]

Realization came to Jiro like nightmares dawn on sleep, and he laid a hand on Raku's shoulder, feeling the muscles there tense. There wasn't much that could be said, and even less time in which to say it. "You know I will not leave you long." Promised the Hotaru lord. He could only trust that Raku knew him well enough and long enough to believe it. Raku's selfless act would not be forgotten, and when Jiro got him home, he would find a way to reward the wolf.

"I don't understand."

Her degrading, defiant voice had cracked, and when he looked, his daughter was blinking fast and staring at her protector.
"I know." He took one of her hands, prompting her to look up at him. "I am going to tell you everything, I promise. But you need to get us out of this car first."

It was strange, feeling as lost as she did, and looking to Jiro for guidance. She had been a small child the last time she had looked to him for aid, or for comfort, but looking on him now...She did believe he would help her, and Raku as well. What an old and unfamiliar conviction.
"Alright."
She ground a palm hard over her damp eyes and looked up to seek Raku's eyes in the rearview. "I love you."
And then the two of them were gone from the car.
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"Ghh.." Kyros wasn't trying to blanch at the leash; he relished the role he played. It was just tight, and he tipped his head back and winced, keeping eyes on Ichiro. It was times like this when he sometimes spared a thought to wonder how it was he had come to this place. It was the strangest thing, as far back as he could remember, he was in service to the man who held him now. There was no childhood, no friends, no work...just this. Not that he didn't love this, didn't love his leader and his cause.
It just, sometimes, felt to him like a dream. Dreams were like that too; they just dropped you right in the middle of the plot with no preamble or setup, and you were supposed to figure out what to do.

Kyros refocused. "Help...?"
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A cool mist was settling in over the GA's courtyard. The chilled micro-droplets drifted in over the wall, but they did not land peacefully on the grass. They caught a sudden gust of a breeze, whirled, and coalesced into the ex-spymaster and her otherworldly stepfather.

[Neon Graffiti]

[ Isle de Gambino ]

"I love you too." Raku whispered after her departure, but there was no time for tears. His somber expression bore through, making room for the wild, violent glimmer that earned him the nickname "Satsujin."

"All right, you b*****d. You might've roped this dog, but you ain't catchin' him without a bite," He mused, licking his lips. Carefully, he turned the wheel to the left, bridging oncoming traffic. "I gotta buy 'em as much time as possible." The semi's horn blared loudly, it's enormous frame incapable of dodging the car in time. "Sorry buddy, nothing personal!!"

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[ Onigawa Spa ]

Ichiro chuckled eerily, reveling in that cinching sensation made every time he flexed his fingers around the snaking shackles. "Be patient, dog. He will be arriving in due haste. Soon, your curiosity will be- "
His words grinding to a hault, suddenly, painfully, the handsome businessman was suddenly wracked with pain, clenching over at an almost 90 degree angle. His agony came accompanied with vomiting blood, which soon dyed the pool the color of liquor.

"Gah...!" He clenched through bloodied teeth, attempting to regain himself. In his throughs of pain he managed to smile genuinely, and grusomely.
"Clever beast..." He complimented Raku. "Clever beast, indeed."

[Kabuki-Kun]

Neon Graffiti

[Gambino Army]

"Chiharu.."
But she had let go of his hand, already marching across the grass toward...That must have been the Gambino Army she belonged to. Jiro shaded his eyes as he looked up at the towering, walled-in structure. It was impressive, he supposed, in the way that its sheer size made one feel small. Where his own home strove toward a delicate kind of beauty, where Chiharu had chosen to live clearly valued size and strength. Hotaru was one story and sprawling; this stood high enough to block out the sun and cast a long shadow over its own courtyard. People milled, in uniform and in street cloths, mortals mixing and chatting with yokai, elves, demons....how bizarre.

Picking up his feet, he followed his daughter through a set of glass double doors which were marked with an equal-armed red cross.
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[ Isle de Gambino - Onigawa Spa ]

"Boss!" Kyros grabbed his superior's hand, trying to gently tug him back under the water's depths. Nothing was so wrong that the pool couldn't heal it...

[Neon Graffiti]

[ Gambino Army ]

In times of stress, Stand tended to be the awfully worrisome for an android, bordering C3-PO levels. There, as Chiharu entered the Medics' department, he stood, eyes upon on the television, absorbing the news with his highly efficient brain. The connection the GA had to the island had recently undergone repairs, and in merely hours, without their assistance, the island had already nearly been conquered. The soldiers could only catch up, and wait for a response from the scouting team on what had become of their beloved island.

Almost before Chiharu entered the scene, Stand was already all-eyes at the door. While he recognized her, it took him a second to recognize the significance of her; she had been gone so long.

"Chiharu!" His voiced hushed, he enveloped Chiharu gingerly in his arms, greeting her in a manner not ordinarily appropriate to a high officer. Speaking her name collected the eyes of many others, including her own agents.

"Well, low and behold! Do my eyes deceive me?"
"And here I thought we'd have to answer to that snob Steve forever."
"I can't believe it..."

Sampson, Gregory, and Petruchio, in order, were the first three to get in line to embrace Chiharu, and Jiro could see that they appeased to her much in the same way mortals did to him at his shrine. They appreciated her and, more so, they needed her. Chiharu's impeccable espionage skills had rose her to the rank of leader in her squad, and it's no wonder why...

"So I take it you finally got homesick enough to stop by?" Sampson teased, "You been workin' out, baby-girl? You look different. wink "

"Approximately a day ago, Agent Steve, Neon, Slait and several others moved out to scout the isles," Gregory interrupted his colleagues flirtation. "Our signal was distorted for days, and when it returned, we came to find the island was in the midst of a violent rebellion. Almost all of Western Gambino has been taken over by The Natives gang." Gangs, gangs, gangs. Just what Chiharu needed to hear about. "Where have you been??"

It was Petruchio's turn to interrupt, his keen eye sensing Chiharu had arrived under business, and not to be lectured. Taking her her, he lifted her up, in front of her father no-less, and stationed her atop his shoulder.
"Where do you need to go, Chief?" He asked, his deep vioce radiating the room. Lifted to higher grounds, Chiharu was level with the wall-stationed TV where the news reeled a violent scene on the sandy road she had just come from. The very car piloted by Raku Shiranai was shown crunched like a can against a semi, wearing a deep battle-gash of its own across the hull. Medics and police collected around the scene, with a noticeably decorated group of suited men that stuck out like a sore thumb, and a flamboyantly dressed red-headed woman at their center; Shuten Doji.

[Kira Lightfeather]

Kira Lightfeather a fallen angel here for the Gaia's return landed outside the ruins of the Gambino police station where she found the grave of her close friend and comrade Mel Reynolds.
Fallen Angels and Half breeds like her had only been given a fraction of powers and mortality was one thing they shared with the people. This brought back a time when Mel had saved Kira from her death.
Kira could not return the favor by bringing Mel back from the dead if thats what she was even...Dead but rather return Mel home.
After the she watched the soldiers walk away she began to dig for what was left of her friend who she did not believe belonged here.

[Neon Graffiti]

Neon Graffiti

EndOsiris

Neon Graffiti

"Now you want to take me down, as if I even care
I am the monster in your head, And I thought you'd learn by now..."

"Tch." Omicron scanned the surrounding area. This fog seemed to be nullifying his airborne toxins. That's fine though. He would be able to use this fire to his advantage. The Monument stuck his tongue out at the charging Hyde as he faded into the toxic smog again, reappearing where his opponent had originally been standing. "Always the one to charge in, right Hyle?" He laughed and pulled one of his eyelids down in a mocking gesture.

The fire began to spread, and Omi's mocking was abruptly interrupted by his clothing smoking. He yelped and hurried to put it out, but then suddenly as he turned around, a torrent of the smoke coming off of the flames flooded their little clearing, the acrid black cloud blocked almost all vision. "Hehehehe... did you forget who I am already?" his voice echoed from within the cloud.

"...It seems you haven't yet, I am the venom in your skin,
and now your life Is broken..."

[ Isle de Gambino ]

Hyde's ignited fist met not its fleshy target, but a lungful of smoke. An avid chainsmoker, Hyde charged into battle expecting little more than what he normally breathed in every day, but instead was met with something much more toxic, even for his incredibly resilient immune system.

"God, what I would do for a gasmask right about now..." Hyde mumbled underneath his shirt, twisting tail and aiming his single-sightedness in the direction of Omicron, the SLDR guided by his hearing. A spark of alchemical aftermath resulted in the fumes left to blind Hyde being blown away by him flapping a leather coat. Slinging the jacket over his arms to complete his look, the SLDR staring blindly into the arid veil...

"Nah, I didn't forget," Hyde reminded him, the symbols wrought on his gloves glowing a particularly loud blue color, in sequence with his eye. His knees suddenly broke earth again. He spat out his cigarette, followed by a weakened upchuck of his inner ichor. Touching face, he saw blood had stained his embroidered gloves. Harsh breathing followed; Omicron's poison was taking an accelerated effect, even against his strengthened body.

Kira Lightfeather

[ Isle de Gambino - Gaian Police Station ]

Upon her excavation of the sand-dusted Mel Reynolds, Kira Lightfeather was met with the sound of a pistol cocked and aimed with her name on it.

"Put her down." Hyde said, stumbling into the sand. He was obviously fatigued, having just recently survived a battle with one of the most toxic beings on earth. How he did it, he'll never know, but fortune and subtlety had led him out of the frying pan...

... and into the fire.

"That is a designated officer of the Gambino Army," The soldier said in between coughs, barely able to steady his gun. Before he knew it, he'd gone a whole minute hacking up on his hands and knees. Hyde had caught the bug before, but never like this. "Drop her."
Before he could say much more, his face had met the earth, still conscious, but weakened. His body, a special kind similar to Kira's and other demigods, would repair itself eventually, but right now stress was taking its toll.

'Wings... I saw wings,' Hyde thought, believing himself to be crazy. '... wings like mine. Perhaps, could she possibly also be...?'