Obito's connections had come through; as Briya hung up the phone she grinned. It wasn't the ongoing supply of unlimited stones that she needed, but this would certainly do in a pinch. 

1000 loose diamonds, varying in clarity, from VVS1, right on up to flawless.

10,000 natural-faceted, semi-precious gemstones.

50 pounds of gold leaf, untraceable.

The boxes were small, and nestled tightly together in amongst several crates of virgin olive oil from Italy. Obito's men had not only gotten ahold of the estimated date and time of arrival, but had provided the schedule for the dock workers on shift for that day. Staring down at the pad of paper she'd written he information on, she calculated in her head the number of bodies she'd need, what equipment was necessary, and what plan should be followed. She could farm the job out, of course, and it would be wiser to do just that, but there was no way Briya was passing up the opportunity to be the first to bury her hands into those lovely, lovely rocks.

Grabbing her things, she left her modest headquarters and headed over to Insomnia's. As she pulled up in front, a bittersweet emotion washed over her. It had only been a couple of days since she'd departed, but she sure missed the old gang. But as she walked inside and headed down the hallway past her old office, she couldn't help but smile over the one who had stepped up to temporarily occupy it.

Further down the hallway, she found his favorite couch and leaned down to try and spook him. 

"Boo."

Obito was having one of those lazy days, he had departed from his office with the rest of his business associates and wished them a farewell; he only just got off the phone with Briya after giving her the details regarding the prized gem operation, it was nothing permanent but an opportunity at the end of the day was still an opportunity. He had loosed his tie and kicked off his shoes and rested back on the couch with nothing but a magazine and his body. He was flipping through pages of a paper full of notes because keeping occupied meant being an organized nerd for the time being even though it wasn’t really nerdy; as some may think so. Obito's attention to any other background noise was nullified as he would assume it was just another associate coming in and out, to his surprise? It was Briya, elegant as ever but as he stared at her, Obito pulled a quick joke and bopped a finger off her nose as he let out a chuckle.

"I see you couldn’t resist coming back to meet the old gang again, believe me if I say I get much more lonely with you not around but like I enjoy your grateful company the question remains if you enjoy coming back to see me act like a good every now and then? Hope the information of the gem operation did wonders as my guys are keeping tabs on it until it comes with some informants on the inside that will hopefully earn me ahead of time if they're little crew of misfits decide to arm up, probably gonna end up like the damn bar attack again." The bandages of that prior attack toward his shoulder gunshot wound were still visible to an extent that is, this time they look new and replaced and like any other Edward never fails to amaze though with medical knowledge, if only Obito was just as fortunate.

In two days' time, they were ready. The 'misfits' had indeed decided to increase security a bit, although more in the way of firepower than bodies. Six men with Thompson machine guns were scheduled to patrol the docks the night in question, and to patrol that one ship in particular that was to arrive at 10:30PM. Despite Briya protestations, Obito insisted on accompanying her on the job, since she, just as insistently, refused to let anyone else go in her place. This was what the life was really all about for her...the thrill. Why pay someone else to have all the fun?

Dressed entirely in black and with both a shoulder and a thigh holster in place, Briya and Bill were deposited just a couple of blocks from the shipyard. It was quiet, and visibility was lower than desired due to a hazy fog that had settled over the docks.

"Looks like a damn movie set for a scary picture show," she murmured as they headed towards the building where she'd told Obito that they'd meet him and Edward. The flare of the lit end of a cigarette told her they'd found the right place.

"Hey! We golden? No more surprises on numbers or weapons? Six to our four...I almost feel sorry for them," she quietly teased him as they approached. In the distance, she could just make out two of the men huddled together, sharing their own cigarette as they stared out over the water. As she watched, she saw a tiny pinprick of light growing larger as a boat eased its way into the harbor. Smiling in the dark, Briya reached for Obito's cigarette and helped herself to a deep drag before handing it back.

"Showtime."

Obito took one last drag of the cigarette before dropping it on the floor and stomping it out with the heel of the shoe, he wiggled his foot side to side and reached for his pistol, he let it hide behind his thigh and waved with his left hand with two fingers up to the staircase that lead over to the office of the port manager. "We're golden, office first. It's the dock harbor manager and we're quick enough we won't be seen, some of these workers will look the other way because they're on my payroll, everyone else is probably armed and willing to defend this thing until their heart stops beating, call it being a diehard." Obito whispered to the group.

Edward decided to crawl right behind Obito, protection was a necessity after the last time. The group decided to advance up on the staircase and were quick about it but went slow after approaching the window; Obito decided to take a peek inside, the port overseer was having a discussion with two guys inside, no doubt apart of that little band of "misfits" Obito warned about earlier, the bulges in their jumpsuits was more than obvious, the overseer decided to raise his voice and slam his fists on the table almost like it was a violent argument being sparked by a flame but it was more of a disagreement. The gesture in the worker's hands explained that much, Obito opened his left hand up to show a sign to "wait".

"If we get forced to shoot, this job is gonna be a lot harder." Obito whispered again, he watched as the workers leave the office and walk out towards the lower floor where people were moving crates onto trucks and sorting them out into different groups specifically, Obito put two fingers up and waved them forward as the sign to move and he moved his hand towards the door while the overseer was working on looking for something in his desk. The group decided to enter the office quickly before a worker around the corner got whiff of anything, he aimed his pistol at the man and the overseer jumped up with a frown on his face rather than it being the usual piss themselves look, Obito motioned his head forward and Edward walked up and knocked him out right out but gripped his vest and let him slowly go to the floor so it didn't cause a noise, the guy was slightly chubby. Obito went over towards the guy's desk and checked the drawers for anything of importance, there were order logs and he placed the paper on the desk.

"See this, Briya? Shipment logs, this isn't the only shipment coming in which means there's gonna be way more to get you supplied for a while, what do you think?" He asked patiently.

Leaning across the desk to flip through the pages herself, Briya's heart nearly stopped. She obviously couldn't come down here and rob the docks on the regular, but there were other possibilities and, as long as she changed it up regularly, they could go on indefinitely....interceptions at sea, replacing shipments with forgeries, blackmail. 

A horn sounded outside as the boat slid through the fog and into its assigned slip. Briya looked up and around at the assembled group. 

"I'll take the two we saw earlier, on the docks. One or two of you need to find the other four, and someone needs to take lead on getting on the boat and making sure no one gets off of it before we get on and fetch what we came for. Obviously, I prefer no one gets hurt, but I'm not leaving without the goods," she said, eyes flashing. Before Bill could agree or disagree, she'd slipped back out the door and into the night.

Down near the dock, she approached the two men from behind. Her rubber-soled boots made her perfectly silent; no clacking of high heels would be giving her away this evening. Pulling her gun from the shoulder, she reversed her grip on it and clocked the nearest man on the back of the head, sending him sprawling. The second moved to lift his tommy gun on its strap, then froze when he felt the steel muzzle against the base of his neck. 

"Remove the weapon and place it on the ground, then remove your partner's. Quickly," she said, pressing the gun into his neck harder when he hesitated. He did as was told, and Briya saw the glint of a wedding ring on his finger. Perfect.

"Wallet, please." When he hesitated again, she nudged him some more. Extracting it from his pocket and handing it to her over his shoulder, she used one hand to flip it open and squinted at his driver's license.

"Alright, John Stevenson of 243 Willow Lane. Grab your buddy's arms and drag him to that little storage shed there, to your left," she instructed, then kicked the tommy guns into the water as she passed by them. As Stevenson hauled his friend towards the shed, Briya walked ahead of him and used the butt of her gun once more, this time on the padlock holding the door shut. It popped, and she opened it.

There was just enough space inside for two, and she waved Stevenson in. "Someone will be along shortly to get you out, I'm sure. But it won't be for at least an hour, because you're going to wait that long before you start making a racket, John. If you start hollering and banging on the door before then? I know where you live, and I'll be finding Mrs. Stevenson long before you do," she said as she shut the door. The lock no longer closed, but it was enough just to slide it through the eye bolt on the door.

Turning back around to survey the docks, she saw or heard nothing, and had to assume things were going as planned with the rest of her crew. She could see a figure tying off the lines and moved closer, ready to either wait for the others to show, or jump on board and dispatch this fella as well.

Obito cut the lights as soon as Briya left, the shutdown was temporary. Workers were knocking on the door, about two and Obito gladly invited them in without a verbal response. Edward and Obito pulled them in with force in sync and stunned them with a punch to the temple, they finished the double knockout with the hilt of the gun landing right in the back of the skull, they slowly dropped to the floor with both of them holding them down as they slowly lower themselves, people are gonna start realizing that their friends aren't coming back so the trio left needed to leave quick. 

He looked at the Bill quickly. "Come with us, they won't wake up for a while." The trio decided to sneak their way over to the lower floor of the warehouse, some of the informants that Obito had warned the whole group about earlier began to leave early which left the obvious ones to be the men under the loyalty of a different family, one turned over and saw the group leaving. "Hey, where you guys going?! We still got work to do!" The group turned back and one spoke; "Boss said we can go on break early! We're almost done anyway so just load the rest up and we'll be out of here in no time!" The guy who began talking first shook his head and began to continue loading boxes onto the truck, they were heavy but the guy seemed somewhat strong enough to a capacity where he would be able to do the work without assistance but that would be doubtful later on, a friend by the way he approached started helping him carry boxes but the informants began to leave the dock all together, if they were caught by Briya they'd give themselves away to let them know they were apart of the plan but the information alone should've helped or the approach alone.

Back in the warehouse, the trio had to sneak through a couple people and time their movements correctly or they'd be spotted. They moved around until they were at their backs view; the bulky guy decided to hop in the driver seat of the truck but there was no time and they couldn't move around them again, they had to be knocked out or they wouldn't be able to proceed. The guy that was finished hauling boxes dropped the last ones and wanted to take a break; he hopped off and then looked toward a figure moving on the ground and then he looked to his right. "The hell are you-" Obito put his hand on the back of his man's head and slammed it down towards his knee causing his nose to bust, after a second time the guy was out like a light, the bulky guy stepped out after hearing the commotion and Edward had a quick fist fight with him, slamming the door in the man's face which caused him to fall back and refuse to get back up, just to be sure he sent his foot towards his face to let his lights go out. Bill was playing lookout in case anyone wanted to come over and look. They all snuck out a backdoor and were able to get a view of the docks somewhat, hopefully with the thought that Briya was okay. Men wearing coats and the hat came from a different region of the docks started walking over to the ramp leading up to the ship, they were already in view of other parties making it difficult to intercept. The guy who was previously tying the lines just stood by the ramp having a cigarette, but the warehouse was cleaned out and the trio stuck in an alleyway.

Obito peeked out, he spotted Briya taking care of two guys near a bolted up door and waiting in position. He waved his pistol slightly and made finger movements and waved forward towards the ship, the pistol went back behind his thigh and stayed there, now what was left was to infiltrate the ship and take the contents; the only problem is, nobody expected for a mobster meetings to take place, the ship's deck was most likely crawling with guards.

Briya saw the signal Obito threw her way, but the darkness and fog had her mistaking 'trouble ahead' for 'go ahead'. Stepping out of the safety of the shadows, she nearly ran into the three men approaching. Dressed as she was, there was no way she could be mistaken for a dock prostitute; several options flew through her mind in the span of a second, but none of them ended the way she needed them to, so she simply chose one and committed to it.

Pulling from her thigh holster with her left hand and cross-drawing out of her shoulder holster with her right, she fired at each of the goons flanking the mob boss in the middle. As the two slumped to ground, one dead and one quickly headed in that direction, she had enough time to realize she'd made a second mistake in as many minutes. 

The boss was a boss for a reason. Before she could even change the trajectory of her revolvers, she was staring down the barrel of one. In an explosion of light, he fired.

Her hand had raised uselessly, and the slug passed through it and struck her in one of her ribs, breaking it as she toppled backwards, over the edge of the dock and into the dark, frigid water below.

Obito's heart basically sunk out of his body once Briya got shot by a rival mob boss and landed into the dark water under the ship. "Fuck! I'll get her, the two of you go get the shipment!" The trio split up and Obito ran for the water, he didn't care if he got his clothes drenched; there was no time for thoughts like that even now, he dived straight for the water as Edward landed three shots into the boss fleeing from the scene, he collapsed and fell back down the ramp. The guy that was guarding the ramp got shot by Bill, the shots alarmed the whole crew on-board and the shipment was most likely inside the ship on a lower floor, Bill and Edward stormed the bridge and killed any guards, a door opened and Edward shot his kneecaps as he fell down a staircase. The duo continued to proceed, the bridge was nothing but a bloody mess. A man with a coat and a hidden tommy gun flashed it and sprayed down the corridor as both Bill and Edward split off into rooms across from each other; the man wasn't gonna let up. 

The barrage of bullets ripped the corridor apart to an extent, he needed to reload. Edward charged at the man and sent his knee right towards his stomach making his gasp for air. He slammed his head towards the wall and knocked him back and then sent a fist flying towards his temple; leaving him slumped on the floor. Edward opted for a different solution to take the tommy gun and whatever ammunition he had on him, the duo continued towards the lower floor, shots ringed through the ship and yelling echoed out. "Protect the fucking shipment! Protect it! The bosses ain't gonna be happy if they find this shit missing, boys, lock and load!" The duo went down another flight of stairs, the last group of guards protecting it were very disorganized. A shootout fired out as soon as Bill and Edward made their way down to the final floor where the shipment was located, it was taking it's toll.

Back in the water, Obito was swimming for Briya as he reached out to circle his arm around her lower body and begin to go back to the surface, it was a struggle but he was determined to get her out of here. He's not gonna let the past repeat itself here, they were both drenched in water and there was nothing but bodies on the dock. He adjusted Briya to get onto the dock first before he climbed up afterwards, Obito lifted her up in a carry and took her over to the car they arrived, angling himself to get the door open but he had to let loose for a few seconds before sliding her in the back of the car, he joined her and kept the car door open with his pistol in one hand and having her lay on him for the duration. The boys in black were ripping the floor with the last group of guards.

Jackpot, Bill cracked the shipment open and started loading what they could carry, Edward had to do the same and take half of the majority and take them all into two separate bags. They hauled ass out of the lower floor going up the few staircases they just came from and then making their way outside and going down the ramp, they ran for their lives back to the car, Obito was busy yelling "Hurry the fuck up! She's bleeding here!" They got in the car in a hurry and sped off. It was never a dull day.

Thankfully, there wasn't any pain.

Not yet, anyway. The cold waters had slowed the bleeding and numbed her completely. Briya faded in and out of awareness as the car sped away. During one of the lucid moments, her primary concern became evident.

"Did you get them? The rocks? Please tell me you got the rocks," she plead as they neared the Manhattan Towers. It was closer than both her apartment over Be-Jeweled, and her headquarters. 

The elevator operator that brought them from the basement garage to her apartment several floors above couldn't help but stare openly at the group as Briya was carried in by Obito, followed by the rest who crammed into the car around them. Smartly, he didn't say anything.

The doors finally opened on her floor, and Bill led them to Briya's place, unlocking the door with his key. Once inside, Edward went to work, disinfecting her hand and wrapping it, then going to work on digging the slug out of the space it had lodged into next to the shattered rib. It was shallow, and therefore took little time to work on; Briya gulped mouthfuls of whisky as he worked and tried to think of anything else...warm places, expensive wines, that terrible movie she'd seen with Brancer just a few days prior. Before long, he had her entire ribcage wrapped snugly, then left her to sleep it off while he returned to the living room where the rest of the men stood waiting.

"She'll be stiff for a while, but as long as that ribcage stays wrapped tight and infection doesn't set in, she'll be alright. The hand, though...bullet passed right through and likely severed nerves. I assume that's her dominate hand, the one she shoots with, since it was the one she held up? She's gonna have to learn to shoot left handed, most likely." He said, shaking his head.

"All in all, though...she's damn lucky to be alive. Close range like that, she really shouldn't be here. Her own hand likely saved her skin," he finished, handing Bill some antibiotics and pain killers from his emergency bag. "She shouldn't mix those with booze, but ya'll drink like fishes around here so I'm likely wasting my breath," he smirked, then looked to Obito, signifying that he'd done all he could do.

Obito had sat down Briya on the bed while Edward operated on her. After hearing the results that she has lost feeling to her hand, he let out a sigh and ran both hands through his hair turning it into a casual mess but the whole group was a mess, what else do you get out of guns, blood, smoke for the rush of a whole gem shipment, Obito's shoulder wound didn't hit him bad but the fact that she may not be able to feel her hand makes himself feel more guilty. His heart flushed itself and there was nothing but a deep, wounded space. Obito nodded at Edward and gave him a depressed look. "Thanks, Ed. You did good. I'll stay with the shipment, rest of you guys can go home. I'll be in my apartment hopefully by dawn but until then I'm gonna stay with her and help with what she needs, like she did for me. You have a spare, Ed, eat something and rest." Edward nodded and left promptly, another job well done but at a cost again. 

Obito stood up from the chair he was sluggishly slumped on, he took off his jacket which was bloody which left him in his shirt. Obito walked to Briya's bedroom and watched her sleep under the cover of a blanket like a baby, he walked over slowly and placed a kiss on her forehead and whispered after he pulled back. "I'm sorry." Obito decided to take a seat somewhere in the same room and keep himself occupied by reading a book that was in the car earlier, he was doing it to burn off time before they had to do the job. He flipped through pages and relaxed and sooner or later he slowly got tired and let out a yawn. The gems were all loaded up in the living room and Obito decided to close the book after reaching a new Chapter and set it next to him, he fell asleep and did nothing but think about guns and scotch.

The night encumbered the neighborhood where the both fell sound asleep. It wasn't the best place to sleep but it didn't really matter much, his gun sat on the counter beside him if the mob at the docks decided to send someone to track us and make a move while we're least expecting it. He slept away.

***