Scene #7666: SORG 4: Downtown

Owner	Pose
Cantio	It's time for another dive into the underground city! The city has seen numerous changes ever since Elites were first called in to aid with distributing relief supplies, then to intervene against the corrupt Mayor that had once been the Resistance Leader against the previous also-corrupt mayor. On the way down from the surface towards the next area, it's easy to see that the slums have become far livelier than before. Plantlife actually exists, people are eating actual food like cheeseburgers and... Well, they're not eating much else, but it's still better than the jars of artificial bullshit they've been eating for so long. The industrial area, having its factories largely flattened and terraformed, isn't producing so much as it's become a far nicer rest area, with stands set up to peddle wares, drinks, and assorted foodstuffs to visitors to the newly built gazebo. The actual park area, meanwhile, is looking closer to a nature preserve of sorts as gorillas roam the area, dipping into clear lakes and loitering among the townspeople. The cannibals are even managing to coexist with the soldiers patrolling the area through an uneasy ceasefire, united by a shared goal of putting up election endorsement signs. Arriving downtown is like arriving in the middle of film noir set. Tall(ish) apartments are all over the place, broken up by corner cafes and bookstores along with the occasional church lined with red carpets with that diagonal criss-crossing texture that's just irregular enough to be really good at hiding beer stains. General stores, bars, and hotels are also a dime a dozen in this area, providing ample unpleasant smells to hide all the bodies floating in the massive waterway breaking up sections of the downtown district from each other while the train runs... Doesn't actually run. It's still a little broken after Hiromi had her way with one of the trains running through the industrial district. Apparently, it still hasn't been fixed yet. Also, there's a lot of dead bodies floating down the river. It might have to do with the semi-frequent shootouts occurring between the police and the mobsters (complete with black suits and fedoras), occasionally even resulting in swole supercops popping out of police boxes to punch the everloving crap out of everyone before disappearing back inside. It's this very conflict that's been identified as the main goal of today's dive into the underground city. Noticing the Elites' multiple recent successes here involving a distinct lack of stealth and way more good PR than they've been used to, the Resistance recommended putting an end to the conflict between the police and the mafia. The shootouts, more often than not, have led to massive collateral damage even for people just trying to cross the street unscathed, and stopping them from fighting should win the Elites a great deal of public support. Notably, the Resistance contact hasn't elaborated on how precisely they'd like for this conflict to be settled. Investigating the police boxes used by the supercops is another potential angle to resolving the war between the cops and the mob. Hibiki's puzzle-solving skills in the parks district has revealed that there's a code to get to what looks like the main hub for the police in the city proper, and there's undoubtedly other codes that may lead to other discoveries for those patient enough (or able to cheat) their way into figuring that out. It may involve entering uncharted territory, however, so Cantio has advised using caution if approaching the problem this way. Continued campaigning is also an option, of course. There's already plenty of posters and lawn signs stabbed into the concrete advertising all sorts of candidates, although there do seem to be a fair number more for Seilatiya, Persephone, Hiromi, and Brooklynn than there are for the incumbent Mayor despite nobody being (officially) registered for any mayoral elections. It's probably a good sign of who's winning the people's minds, at least.
Cantio	Cantio's assistance can be requested as well! She can investigate a given lead for more information, act as support for pursuing something more specific, or act as a go-between for the group and the Resistance.
Staren	Back in the underground city. Without Seilatiya to be The Face, Staren's wary about attempting more campaigning, but, regarding the present conflict, can immediately think of some things to do: Ask around about what the mob represents and if they have any ideals beyond 'rule the city', and send some scanner drones over to see if she can analyze one of these 'super booths'. There are some potential shenanigans to be had with going to the aftermath of a shootout and stopping people from dying, but that will have to wait until the player can direct full focus here.
Hibiki Tachibana	LAST TIME, ON SORG: Hibiki engaged in illegally operating a teleporting police box and sequence breaking to discover the dark truth of one of the later city levels. The dark truth of it actually not being a craphole. It feels weird, between this and getting that information on the mayor before, to be the one doing things relatively in the background. But not bad. The quaintness of this part of town is really nice, at least aside from all the bodies floating in the river. That takes down the mood when she comes across it. A lot. She's not sure she's ever seen that many in one place before, and it kind of makes her want to vomit. It's a good thing this kind of atmosphere has plenty of alleyway trashcans to use. First order of business is explaining to everyone else how her adventures in the police box went - how 555 took her to what she imagines the fifth level below this one is, and 333 took her back to the park district just above. She has no idea what combinations other than the equivalent of changing floors on an elevator might do, but she does agree with Cantio that it's pretty dangerous, and getting the code they need would probably be the best way. She's not sure how to do that short of beating up a supercop on his way back home though. And there are probably easier ways for some of the others to get that code themselves. So before doing anything on that end herself, Hibiki is going to do some investigation on the mafia end of things. Namely, questioning some of the civilians who have had to watch all this fighting in the streets. Do the mobsters have any organization, or are they just kind of loose and hanging around like some other groups they saw above? Do they have a known base, or a leader? Or she guesses a don would be what they'd have. Even if they figure things out on the police angle, they'll have to do something about them too.
Brooklynn Bailey	Shoot-outs between two sides...the police likely are already being handled, so Brooklynn's line of attack was instead to find the leader of the mobsters and find out what they were doing. Why? Because she might gain a force out of this. And while Hibiki was on their side, for now, the rest of the Watch might not hold their cooperation in the future. Better to have a balancing force just in case. Brooklynn without even flinching walks right into their territory. She is a woman on a mission, as she taps the side of her head to call on aid. "Hey Cantio, do you have any information on the boss of the mobsters?" she asks, "I would like to have a meeting with them today." At least a direction to walk right at.
Hiromi	Hiromi returns to the park district long to get updates from the people she'd left overseeing the soldiers and scientists. Additionally, there were the cannibals, whom Isahane had wanted her to teach to hunt. She'd heard some suggestion that hunting was possible here, despite it being locked underground, so that's the topic she brings up. Are there places with animals besides humans and gorillas, that could make for a source of food? After hearing the details from Hibiki (who does not, for the moment, receive any additional challenges from the Archwolf, though that is subject to change at any moment), Hiromi gives orders for the scientists to check out one of the supercop booths. Being human scientists, tasking them with a human science problem seems the most appropriate. It's not as if human science could be made of numerous, distinct disciplines into which a typical scientist picks an extremely narrow field.
Cantio	PARK RERUN: Sadly, there's not a whole lot of animal life to be found in the underground city. There's certainly no end to the supernatural or just plain weird people, of course, but little in the way of non-human or human-adjacent living things to actually hunt. Well, unless alligators count. There's been surprisingly few of those in recent years, however, perhaps as a byproduct of people living here directly rather than just basing their belief of the existence of such things on what they've seen on TV. One of the cannibals swears he knows a guy that's seen weird gray things roaming around in the uptown district. His testimony is of questionable use, however, between it being relayed by a cannibal's third party contact, and the fact that most of the people uptown aren't particularly fond cannibals themselves despite cannibals being incredibly fond of them. Their flavor, anyway. MAFIA INVESTIGATION: Investigating the mob is actually pretty easy. Asking the locals gives Staren and Hibiki some rather troubling answers: They really are just in it for the power and nothing else. Although they've never tried to get one of their own to wear the Mayor's hat, they have certainly tried to (and been contacted to) influence elections in the past, largely to put someone in power that would look the other way while they run their own protection rackets and snuff out would-be competitors. The Mayor's undoubtedly working with them, too, although the extent is unclear without approaching the mobsters themselves as they wander through the district in clumps of four, presumably to give themselves the numbers edge against any roaming cops. Their Don, meanwhile, is a well known entity around these parts, as is the mobsters' base of operations. The group is given the location of a warehouse at the other end of downtown, should they want to look into things more directly there. Coincidentally, it's also on the opposite end of the district from the main police station in this area, so neither group has really tried launching a full scale raid on the other because of this. Despite all this, the mafia is actually well-liked among the townspeople just for safety reasons and making damn good pizza that doesn't have a trace of Fud in it. MAFIA BASE: <<"From what I was able to get from the Resistance's contacts... It sounds like the Don is pretty new, too. He came in just before the new Mayor did, and he beat up the old Don to get his position.">> Cantio explains with a confused noise punctuating that statement. <<"But I thought gangsters had a thing about family and loyalty and stuff... How strange.">> There's a pause, and then Cantio continues. <<"Weirder still, the Mayor didn't even contact the Don until after he had already obtained the hat. Nobody in the Resistance knows why, though.">> "You wanna meet the Big Man?" A nasaly voice comes from nearby Brooklynn as she heads right on into the mobsters' home turf. "He ain't takin' any visitors, lady. Now scram, unless you got somethin' worth his time or a little donation to make." This one in particular is unarmed, but there's movement from all around as more eyes lock onto Brooklyn from the shadows, some of them belonging to people with all manner of guns, bats, and knives.
Cantio	POLICE BOXES: As Hibiki's prior investigation had revealed, the police boxes are some sorts of teleporters that operate on a code that seems to follow a basic pattern: hitting the floor number three times in a row to get there. There weren't any of these boxes in the slums or the industrial districts, however, so hitting 111 and 222 probably won't work. What does work, however, is getting robots and nerds to look at these devices more closely (even if the latter aren't specifically mechanical scientists or specialists in whatever field this would even qualify as). 444, as gleaned from how 333 and 555 work, doesn't actually work on this floor, but it's a way of getting back here should someone be stuck in the park or uptown and want to come downtown for some reason. 000 and 311 will connect the police box's phone line (speakerphone, even) to a dispatch operator who may or may not just call a supercop down on their position. 911 and 420 will drop a pile of pills and syringes. The scientists can actually help identify which ones grant useful boons like increased strength and speed, rapid cell regeneration, and also which ones are best taken in a more secure settings. 619 produces a luchador mask.
Brooklynn Bailey	<<"Mmm. That is odd, perhaps I can find more out about it inside,">> Brooklynn says to Cantio. This is at this point where the man with the voice tries to front at her. She gives the man a tilt of her head. "If you think your friends in the shadow make you safer, I think you're mistaken. They can't kill me, and are more likely to kill you in the crossfire." "I am not giving you any money, but instead I am here to give your boss an offer, and to learn more about you," She says, with a widening smile, "So shouldn't you stop trying to shake me down for money, and instead go tell your boss? It'd be terrible if he thought you were trying to skim from him, right? In front of all these witnesses?" she says, turning on her MIND CONTROL to encourage him towards arranging the meeting. "Also, you people out there, why not come over here and talk to me instead. I don't bite..." She says, smiling at them. Right now she also turns on the borrowed powers from Phoney on them. Using the mental analysis to try and get more infromation. What kind of man is this boss? How and why did he take power?
Hibiki Tachibana	Well, this investigation is both about what her brain trained on movies and media would expect when it comes to a mafia, and also turned up more than she'd expect. Putting people in power that'd allow them to do as they please, that shouldn't be a surprise. But if they're connected with the mayor they've heard so much about, she'd expect the corruption to run pretty deep - not have the police busting out supercops and filling the waterways with those many bodies. So what's going on there? ...And it can't be as easy as just displacing the mafia. It sounds like they actually do some good work down here, underhanded and power-hungry or not, and making actual food is actually pretty important down here. The police resorting to these superviolent supercops probably doesn't mean leaving things solely in their hands is the best idea either...so what's the path that leads to everyone being happy? Hm. She briefly considers accosting one of the roaming groups of mobsters to commit Speech 100, but decides she'll get faster and simpler results just heading to one of the locations she's been given. Which one, though, with Brooklyn already at the mobsters' den? Find out next episode. As she walks, Hibiki continues the questioning of passerbys on the subject of what they think of the police, and of what their chief or any equivalent is like. They got some interesting info on the don, so seeing what things are like on the other side of the fence is probably equally important.
Hiromi	Hiromi wasn't expecting much in the way of food sources, but it's still disappointing. No wonder these people were eating garbage. They couldn't hunt anything but each other, like trapped rats. She makes a note to go and look for 'weird gray things,' though they might prove only as harmful as the vampires turned out to be, even if she can find them. Alligators clearly couldn't keep up a presence in these cramped quarters. She leaves the park district, letting the scientists do their own thing, having stayed only long enough to see whether poking at the machine would cause a supercop to appear to fight her. She can still call one later, so she leaves that be, for now. <J-IC-Scene> Hiromi says, "Like dens above. 'Stagnation.' Fighting without winners. Many bodies rotting. 'Don.' What is known of him?" Don't they want to win? Can't they win? If not as they are, why do they neither grow stronger, nor submit, nor find a leader who can carry them through? The current state is the worst of all possible outcomes, giving no area of safety to any involved. There is no home, here. <J-IC-Scene> Hiromi says, "Satisfaction with weakness makes poor leaders. Brooklynn. Hibiki. What would you do, as 'Don'? Tell me." <J-IC-Scene> Hibiki Tachibana says, "As the don? ...Hm. If I was in his shoes, I guess I'd be looking for a way to break this stalemate. There's no way they can keep this up forever." <J-IC-Scene> Hibiki Tachibana says, "Getting more power...working together with someone...or by making some kind of peace with the police." <J-IC-Scene> Hibiki Tachibana says, "...It sounds like the people down here actually like the mafia. So I don't think it's as easy as just getting rid of them or anything like that. Or the police with all this chaos down here, even if this supercop stuff is excessive." This answer satisfies Hiromi. She leaps up to the rooftops, shifts her view around for the police station at one end, and the most likely base of the mafia at the other, and then searches for the sight of the other foreigners to this place. In particular, Hibiki. Mid-leap, Hiromi's humanoid form is gone, replaced with a four-legged, dark-furred wolf, still roughly as tall at the shoulder. 'A monster' would be the easiest description, inadequate as it is. For all her size, Hiromi is oddly quiet when she wishes to be, and good at avoiding particular fields of view. There will still be some sure to catch sight of her approaching, but Hibiki is given the least possible warning before the Archwolf approaches her at high speeds, head held low, softens the collision by flexing her neck at the last possible moment, then lift-tosses her into the air by the same. Hold on, is the subvocal order given as her trajectory takes her to Hiromi's upper back, though if she misses or refuses that she's liable to get carried in the wolf's teeth, instead. Hiromi then races toward the Mafia HQ, arriving sometime after Brooklynn already has, to shout her challenge. It's a roaring howl, but still comes through as a clear statement of fact and command to respond appropriately. There are no name-sounds, but the identifiable, essential meaning of 'this person' is still carried through, like an exact description. Stand and defend your position! Prove you have the strength to lead! Hibiki Tachibana challenges the Don for leadership of the Mafia.
Staren	Staren has some drones keep in touch with Hiromi and the scientists. The booth is useful, but she's not sure what to do with it now, like a puzzle piece she's not sure where to put yet. She also wonders: Just how is it that this gang war goes on endlessly? They should run out of people! She sends some drones to follow the river and see where those bodies are ending up. If there are some 'bodies' that aren't actually dead yet, Staren will rush over to stabilize them and work out where she can take them to be treated. Otherwise, she decides that talking to the Don to learn more about the Mafia's plans sounds like a good idea, so she'll hurry to where Brooklyn is and go "I'm with her!"
Cantio	MAFIA BASE: "An offer? You must be outta yer mind, or... Or..." The head (or at least talking) mobster purses his lips as he looks Brooklynn over, not quite realizing what it is she's doing to his mind and the minds of those in cover. "Sheesh... Fine, fine. Better than getting beat up again." After a few more moments, he grimaces, then takes out a phone while heading towards the warehouse in the back. "Wait here. The hidden mobsters, meanwhile, emerge from their cover to either join Brooklynn or continue watching the area for other unexpected guests. "You should consider yourself lucky. The Big Man's doesn't usually like taking guests, see." "Yeah, I heard it wasn't pretty the last time he did, and getting all those stains out of his jacket probably ran a fortune." "But someone crazy enough to come right into our den looking for him like this?" They murmur amongst themselves, then start laughing. "You must be crazy or something, but don't let us stop you!" "You lookin' to take over like he did, too, eh?" "Just get in there and bust his head open so you can live big like he does?" Whatever the case is, they don't actually seem too worried about letting anyone go in to see their Don. The warehouse the mobsters are working out of is a pretty standard one, with all sorts of dressed and underdressed goons moving various crates filled with food and other basic necessities around. The Don's room is on the second floor, and he's just about finished with his call when he sees Brooklynn entering the warehouse from his suite upstairs. The ground shakes slightly as the Don promptly leaps out of that suite, landing on the ground floor in front of Brooklynn. A bald tower of a man with a neatly trimmed beard, he takes a cigar out of his mouth while looking her over from behind his shades. His wardrobe is on the more eccentric side, consisting of a blue coat with a white fuzzy trim, a matching blue button-up, and strikingly orange pants the end in shiny brown leather shoes. "I heard about you from one of my guys. You're with the Concord, right? I've seen your type running around before." He adjusts his shades, then claps his hands together once before grinning. "Alright. I'll bite. What's your offer?" POLICE INVESTIGATION: The common person's opinion of the police in this area varies wildly. Some of them love the police, having clear issues with the mafia's way of handling things through extortion and escalating to gun violence should they not be paid on the spot. Others view them as the lesser of two evils for maintaining something resembling order here, although they wouldn't be completely opposed to the mafia replacing the police with their more effective methods of handling the pickpocket situation. There's even some citizens that outright despite the police here, viewing them as ineffective at their jobs when it doesn't involve calling in the supercops to clean up their own messes. There's also some clear hostilities from the people with this line of thinking against people living in the uptown district, as if the uptown district might have a different relationship to the police entirely.
Cantio	BODY FOLLOWING: The bodies, if they're not intercepted by cannibals that double as the waterway's cleanup crew, will eventually stop at the grates designed to keep said waterways from getting clogged up. Unsurprisingly, this is also where the greatest concentration of cannibals are working, handling both the process of getting meals and preventing a potentially dangerous build up of contaminants in the water. There's a few lucky not-really-corpses that can be recovered, stabilized, and brought in to a nearby hospital for treatment. They can't really offer any tangible monetary rewards for doing so, however, but they're sure to remember this once/if they wake up. BACK TO THE MAFIA BASE: The howl of a wolf puts the entire district on edge, and not just because of the underlying words hitting the people's minds all at once (although there's certainly some locals perking up when they hear about a familiar name challenging the Don). Rather, it's the fact that it's a wolf's howl at all, considering that this area is not exactly known for having wolves or any animals around for that matter. The mobsters at their base in particular keep their eyes peeled for whoever might have issued this declaration, but there's not much 'stopping' they can do as Hiromi just barges right on in. The Don himself, meanwhile, is in the middle of trying to figure out what Brooklynn's here for when he sees the approaching challenger. "This a friend of yours? A little short for my tastes, but I'm not about to back down from a challenge. What's your name, wolf-rider?" Unlike the rest of the mobsters, he seems rather calm about the whole situation. He takes out a pair of batons with one meaty hand, then just holds them at his side while looking over at Brooklynn. "These friends of yours, or is this just weird timing?"
Staren	Cannibals?! That eliminates one possibility, at least -- the mafia and police aren't being revived in any sort of scheme to keep the shootouts going forever. Staren wasn't hoping for monetary reward, but rather for information, if there are secrets behind the war, and perhaps loyalty towards the Concord. And then everything goes sideways. What kind of crazy wolf-logic is this?? If she didn't know better, Staren might think Hiromi was just causing mischief for mischief's sake. Is that what people think I'm doing, when they don't understand me? Well. Any plans her AI can come up with may be rendered invalid by what happens next -- the obvious thing to do is wait and see. A black cat's fuzzy face pops into view from a rooftop overlooking the group confronting the Don. It is wearing a miniature version of Staren's scarf. It sits and watches.
Brooklynn Bailey	Three spears of flame drop in front of the sky between the Don and Hiromi. They were not directed at anyone, but rather made to draw their attention to Brooklynn herself. She has a hand on her hip and an annoyed look on her face. "I was sure I was clear in my intentions in regards to the Concord, with all due respect Archwolf. I am sorry if that ruins your sport, but I would at least request that you allow me to continue until such time that it is clear I am unable to handle this." Brook is annoyed because she was very clear that she was handling it. She is refusing to be bullied from her course of action. "Now, back to what I was saying..." She says, looking to the Don. You don't have to say anything, I can find out what I need," She says, and once more uses the Analysis from Persephone to ask some questions through intrusion into his mind. Why did he take over the leadership? What has he been doing with it? Why is the war going on with the police and the Mafia? What are his ultimate goals? What motivates him? "Do you care about your family at all?" She asks verbally, but still wants to see what he says versus what she gets from his mind. "Also, should I invest in you on behalf of the Concord, what would you be able to provide? I would be very clear...your position right now is dangling on a needle."
Hibiki Tachibana	So opinion on the police is varied. From good to bad...though it seems like some interesting things are going on in uptown. Is that the place she visited before? It sounds like there's an awful lot to-- Hibiki might expect a lot of things from Hiromi at this point, but she's still consistently surprised by her every single time. She only barely catches sight of the approaching archwolf in time to brace herself, letting out a confused yelp as she goes up and then comes back down on her back. Thankfully, her reactions are like lightning, and the magical girl swings an arm around her neck followed by the other to hang on tight without really thinking about it. "Wait, where are we going...!?" Oh. The mafia base. That's where they're going. After the wolf's thunderous declaration, and put face to face with everyone present for the conversation with one very suave-looking Don, she's left blinking a few times like a deer caught in headlights looking between him and Hiromi - doubly as much when spears of flame drop from above. "Ehhhh!?" That sure is one way to help push things along down here, but... After taking a few moments to get herself together, she slides off the wolf's back and take a few steps forward (but around the spears) with a slightly more put together expression but still some general awkwardness, answering the man's question. "...Hibiki Tachibana. I'm--" Should she say 'we' instead, or does that give off the wrong idea given everyone from the Concord? "--trying to find out a way to put a stop to all the fighting between you guys and the police. It's totally out of hand." Brooklyn gets a slight grimace of unsurety, as if Hibiki isn't confident on how she should approach this while she's negotiating and asked to let her handle it...but she still can't help but say her own piece, and she definitely does agree on one thing. "...But it's true that your position is probably in danger. Things can't keep going on like this. You know that too, don't you? ...And the current mayor isn't going to be in power forever, but all those support signs and the news from the higher levels probably told you that already." She punches a hand into her palm, but it's hard to tell if that's because of the challenge issued or just for emphasis to her words. "...We need things to change here."
Hiromi	Wolf expressions are pretty difficult to read, so it's unclear if Hiromi understands Brooklynn's objection at all. As Hibiki gets off, Hiromi sits, becoming 'shorter' only after transforming again, now waiting cross-legged, resting with her cheek atop one fist. "Not 'sport.' Fixing." She says that to Brooklynn, then turns her eyes to the Don. "Weak." The word is absolutely full of scornful of judgment. "Finding victory over enemies, you failed. Protecting your pack, you failed. Prove your strength. Or, submit." 'To whom' isn't specified, and in this instance Hiromi doesn't care, so long as it's to someone 'stronger.' There's no third option. Even if he 'cooperates' with others here, if he tries to maintain his standing without satisfying Hiromi's demands, she'll beat it out of him, herself.
Cantio	Things have certainly gotten rather heated within the mafia's base of operations. The Don steps back briefly when the flaming spears drop down, but his expression remains neutral while looking from the spears to Brooklynn. Raising an eyebrow, he strokes his beard with a light scratching noise as he breaks into another grin. "A deal with the Concord, hm? That doesn't sound half bad, actually.Didn't think you were one of those mind readers, though." He sighs dramatically, then shrugs with a similar dramatic flair and raising of his hands before slipping them back into his coat's oversized pockets. "Go right on ahead. I got nothing to hide here, anyway." The Don's reason for taking over the mafia here was simple: He was ordered to gain a foothold in the underground city by HIS boss who had once overthrown the Don from his own syndicate above ground years ago, and decided that becoming the mafia boss here would be the best course of action. Doing so would not only appease his boss, but even allow him some degree of freedom in accruing his own power to overthrow that same boss for his own ambitions: Amassing power, wealth, prestige, and plenty of women. The intensified war between the police and the mafia, meanwhile, has apparently been a result of talks breaking down between the Don and the new Mayor. Although the prior Mayor had been easier to control, this one coming in so suddenly meant he had his own ways of dealing with everything, including leaving the mafia out of things for whatever reason. Naturally, the Don and the mobsters are not happy about any of that. "Only as far as they can get me where I want to be. I know what I want, they know what I want, and they're welcome to come for me if they think they can handle it." The Don announces and breaks into laughter that's actually mirrored by the mobsters. They all seem to be on the same page there, and he's not lying one bit. "Once the police are out of the picture, we'll be able to take control of the city and really make some money. Once we get that, we can start making moves on the city right on top of us. Not like their leaders have been any good, anyway." He's also hankering for some sushi right about now.
Cantio	The Don turns to Hibiki when she explains her own reasons for trying to stop the fighting, and he shakes his head slowly. "Oh, that's easy. Just join us, we'll wipe out the cops, and then we can take the Mayor out along with all those freaky 'roid mutants. Then none of the fine folks down here have to worry about floating down the river because someone decided they don't like black or blue hats." A beat. "... Aside from those idiots in the blue and red hats." He shakes his head again, then narrows his eyes from behind the shades at Hiromi. "Weren't you just a...? Whatever." He grits his teeth at the repeated accusations, fishing those batons back out of his pocket. "Why you...! Tch. Even if you're my type, I can't let that stand." He spins those batons swiftly in one hand, snapping one towards his other to grasp it firmly before settling into a fighting stance. "You want to see how strong I am first? Come on! I'll show you that the power of my pole is positively preposterous!" The other mobsters all back away in unison, clearing out the potential fighting area and also to definitely not hide their faces for a minute or so. MEANWHILE MEANWHILE Some of the mobsters actually notice that black cat face. They approach it, trying to figure out if it's real or not through repeated pokes and waves of their hands at/into it.