It's Nice to Go Trav'ling

Spencer laughed at Sierra's joke.

"Hey. I'll make sure of that. Now come on, lemme help you up. We need to get out of here."

Spencer supported Sierra on the way back to the the building with Jimmy following close behind next to Sandy.

"A pretty girl like you oughta stay away from folks like this, ya' know? Ya' never know what kinda shit you can get yourself into. But stick to me, baby, and I'll make sure you're safe," he said confidently, before second guessing himself.

"Shit," he thought to himself. "That was the cheesiest thing I've ever said.

Once they reached the building, Spencer pulled out two chairs near a table and helped Sierra sit down. He took out his pack of cigarettes and lit one for himself, removed another and handed it to Sierra.

"You really should try one. You have to admit, occasionally you can get a bit high strung. They'll help you calm down."

Once everyone else had found their way inside, Spencer stood up and faced the group.

"Okay, listen up everyone. I know we now have a new member of our little party, but that shouldn't complicate things too much. Now I want to open up the floor to whoever wants to say anything. Plans, concerns, comments, whatever. Feel free to speak for your mind."

"Sold."

Growler inwardly sighed with relief, and happily accepted Lily's embrace, loving the smell of her hair and the warmth of her body so close to his. The walk back to the building was relatively quiet, but Growler's brain was a whirl of questions.

"What do I do now? What's gonna happen to us? Will Lily come on the road with me? Will she make me settle down? What will Duke and the others do if I leave? What would I do if I have to leave? What if we get married? What if we have kids? Will I turn out like my dad? Will I fail my son like he did? Goddammit Growler pull yourself together!"

Growler squeezed Lily's hand and felt infinitely better. To know there was someone in his life that would never leave him was a wonderful thing, and although he loved Royal Duke Limited like family, shit, they were his family, but having an actual girlfriend was different, Growler felt on top of the world.

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"A pretty girl like you oughta stay away from folks like this, ya' know? Ya' never know what kinda shit you can get yourself into. But stick to me, baby, and I'll make sure you're safe,"

Sandy threw back her head and laughed uncontrollably. These Vegas people were ridiculous. When Sandy eventually managed to get some control over herself, she smirked and looked at the Kings member with her cat-like eyes.

"That's cute sweetie, but..." She suddenly lunged forwards, pressing her body against his and grabbing his crotch. She ran her tongue lazily across his lips, then whispered in his ear. "I am this sort of folk. Maybe you should stay away from me". Sandy pulled back and walked away, she laughed again and called over her shoulder. "Not too far though! I like a man in leather!"

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Once the entire gang was safely inside the building, they gathered on the third floor and Spencer began speaking.

"Okay, listen up everyone. I know we now have a new member of our little party, but that shouldn't complicate things too much. Now I want to open up the floor to whoever wants to say anything. Plans, concerns, comments, whatever. Feel free to speak for your mind."

Duke was no tactician, so he quiet for now. Crow, Hunter and Albert were all front line soldiers, they cared little for this intrigue nonsense. They had been whispering to each other for a while, but suddenly Albert spoke up.

"If ya'll want this sonbitch dead, we could do it. Walk inta yer shiny casino, then break the fuckers neck, steal some guns and fight our way out. Easy" Hunter and Crow nodded their appreciation and approval of a plan that seemed absolutely fool-proof to them. When no-one else showed any enthusiasm for it, Albert shrugged and sat back down. Sandy was too busy making flirty-eyes at Jimmy to really pay attention. She could tell that with a little effort, she could really make him sweat. Growler was sitting to one side with Lily, her head on his shoulder and his head in the clouds.

Eventually, Sierra spoke up.

"We need someone to perform recon on the Tops, watch Lawrence's moves every day for at least a week, and then we need someone to get close, Michael would do well, he can walk around most of the Tops freely. Depending on where we choose to put that snake in the ground, we'll need someone to cause a distraction, get the attention off of the area. Finally, we need a way to get out of there. If things go south, we'll also need proof that Lawrence attempted to kill you."

Duke decided to finally speak up.

"Migh ah make a suggestion? When it comes to makin' distractions, you are lookin' at the masters. Ah got a guy that'll kill ya if ya even ask him the time, a self made super-hero, and a crazy old man" Albert raised his hip-flask to this. "As fer watchin? Well, Growler is pretty good at that, he can keep quiet, he's got a good memory and he gets along wi' just about anybody."

At this moment, a young woman came charging up the stairs and flung herself onto Spencer. Michael quickly pulled her off and spoke to the stunned group.

"Duke, Crow, Hunter, Growler, Sandy, Albert. This is Hayley, I'm fairly sure would have performed for you one time."

Crow ignored this. He strode over, shoved Michael away and dragged Hayley by the hair to an open window. He pushed her top half out, so she was bending backwards out of the window, with Crow's machete at her throat. His face was covered as usual, but he growled, a deep rumbling sound to show his anger.

"Why have you come? Who are you? Why shouldn't I kill you?"

Michael raised his gun at Crow as soon as he grabbed Hayley, he walked calmly over to him, pulled the hammer back, and pointed the firearm directly at Crow's head. He calmly, but assertively told Crow to pull her out the window, and release her.

"Pull her back, and release her."

Michael would have no second thoughts about murdering Crow if he killed Hayley.

Sierra grumbled at the interruption, but shot up extremely fast as Crow grabbed her, and she picked her own rifle up and aimed it at Crow. Spencer's judgment would be enough for her. She loaded a .308 round into the chamber, and lined up a chest shot. She waited for Crow's next actions.

Lily of course was next to Growler, and she was slowly falling asleep from all this talk about infiltrating the Tops. She had no wish to enter the casino with bad intention. At this current moment, she wanted to just sit with Growler. She had a look of fear when the girl entered the room, and hugged Spencer, she thought that the woman meant to kill Spencer, but then she was taken by Crow. It wasn't the woman that scared her, but now it was the guns that flew freely around the room. She ran away cowardly, and hid under the staircase.

Hayley was taken by suprise, and knew she was in trouble, and so she felt around for her small 9mm pistol that she kept on her at all times, and she pulled it out of her holster, and pointed roughly to where she thought the man's testicles were.

"Why have you come? Who are you? Why shouldn't I kill you?"

"To see Spencer, Hayley Brown, a singer at the Tops, and I have a 9mm pistol loaded against your cock, and I'll pull the trigger if you do not let me up."

She pulled the hammer back, turned the safety off, and tensed her finger around the trigger.

Instinctively, Michael pulled out his gun and began to switch aim between several members of the group. He glanced at Sandy to make sure she was paying attention. He didn't want to look like a coward in front of her. Spencer leaped up from his seat and shouted frantically.

"What the fuck are you all thinking? Threatening him isn't gonna make him feel any safer! Jesus Christ, can you just handle things without violence for once?"

When Crown let go of Haley, Spencer approached her and put his arms around her in a protecting manner.

"You all right? I understand if you're a bit shaken up, but next time, don't point a gun at him, got it? Oh- you don't know most of the folks here, do you? Well, this is Sierra, she's my girl now. There's Jimmy, he writes those pulp novels around here, might've heard of him. You already know Michael, but then there's Royal Duke Limited. We do business with them occasionally, but you might not recognize them."

(Not much I can really think of doing in this situation, skip me please)

Hayley was obviously disappointed at Spencer's response to her question on when he'd be returning to the Tops. She missed his presence, of course all of the Chairmen were good guys, she just liked Spencer that little more. Nothing romantic, she could just confide in the suave man.

"When am I coming home? Well, isn't that the million dollar question. I was just wondering the same thing. And let Michael decide who and who isn't banned from the Tops, all right? I know you got quite the scare but pulling a gun on them wasn't the best reaction. They're good guys, just a little jumpy."

"Well it won't happen again, I hope."

Hayley quickly ignored the young Kings gangmember, and looked over at Michael, whom was sitting in a corner, wit a guitar. She had no idea he could even play guitar, and even though he was playing softly, Hayley blocked out all the other noise, and listened to him.

After the group was silent, Michael played and sung a little louder, so much now that anyone in the room could hear him. What they could hear was:

Jimmy flicked his cigarette on the ground and approached Sandy.

"Hey, Baby, what's say me and you ditch these square and have some real fun at the Wrangler?"

He paused for a brief moment before sighing.

"That was cheesy again. Listen, I'm no good at startin' conversations unless I really know somebody. So whaddya say we really get to know each other?" He asked, before realizing his innuendo. He opened his mouth to clarify, but shut it when he decided either option was just fine.

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Spencer sat next to Haley, smoking his cigarette.

"You just gotta tell me what's been happening at the casino since I've been gone. I asked Mikey here, but he wasn't much help. You know, general gossip, what folks are saying about me, the whole package."

He noticed Michael's singing and smiled.

"We oughta squeeze you into one of Haley's dresses and throw you on stage at the Aces. I think the red sequined one with the low neckline would really suit you, what do you think?"

When Duke began planning, Spencer joined him.

"No guns in the casino. Don't cause a disturbance unless you have to. Do anything stupid and with the security we have, that's a death sentence. Other than that, you boys have everything covered."