Boston, Massachusetts

"You're making a mistake. Everything your father did was to keep you out of this life."

"I'm not getting into it mother. I'm just going to find out what happened."

She knew her daughter was being naive, but the girl had always been headstrong and there was no stopping her once she'd made up her mind. So the woman shoved a few extra bills in Viviana's hand, closing her fingers around it before engulfing her in a suffocating hug. The train whistle blew as her daughter tore herself free and jumped up the steps, making sure she was in the right area so she wouldn't get kicked off just as fast.

Viviana was not as naive as her mother believed. Traveling the country was hard enough, but being poor and of a darker skin complexion added to the complexity and danger she would face every step of the way. But she owed it to him to find out what happened. 

She wasn't the classic definition of a daddy's girl. After all, her father had never really been around and she'd only known him through the letters he'd write detailing his escapades. He'd tell her about his boss, a powerful Godfather who ruled the organized crime ring in Las Vegas. His letters were always written in some sort of code so that if they were intercepted he didn't get into trouble, but she'd learned to decipher them long ago. He would send money often, enough to give them a comfortable life, but he kept them situated out in Boston, saying it was too dangerous for them to live with him.

Her father had encouraged her to focus on her education. With the money he sent, she did what she could to go to school, the best ones she was allowed to attend in their city. She read everything she could get her hands on and the local librarian knew her well. She could squirrel away for hours at a time, lost in a pile of books. He would visit as often as time would allow and he doted on her every time he was home with them. She loved him.

But now it was nothing but silence. For weeks now she hadn't gotten a letter or a phone call. She had tried to make some calls herself with no answer. She heard rumors of a huge war between organized crime factions, but they were untouched in Boston and she didn't even know where to being to find out about anywhere else. The last letter Viviana had received from her father had been postmarked Las Vegas. It was on the other side of the country and so she knew getting there would never be easy. Still, she also knew it was the only way she would get answers. So she'd announced to her mother that she was going to the state of Nevada. 

It took awhile to gather the money. Without her father sending them funds, she knew her mother would need every penny just to keep going and she didn't want to take from her. So Viviana had worked, every odd job she could find. She'd settled on a train ride, knowing she'd have opportunities to stop along the way and try to work more. Her first ticket got her only to New York City. Each time she got off the train she found ways to scrape together enough to get back on. A girl like her, she was nimble and swift. She could pop in, swipe what she needed and be out before people even noticed it was gone. She was light on her feet and people didn't usually hear her approach. It made it easy to lift wallets from unsuspecting strangers or even walk away with much-needed supplies when she entered a store. 

She always kept her ears open for any news of the war, which seemed to go on for a substantial amount of time. Not only were everyday men dead, thugs and goombas, low rankers, but also Don's and Godfather's. When she stopped in New York, there was no one left. She remembered some names from her father's letters but when she inquired about them - Insomnia, Bubbles, Sofia - they were all dead.

Her next stop was in Chicago. She read her letters again but the news here was more vague, and her father's information outdated. He spoke of Odin and a Godmother named Hycinath and it seemed they had died long ago. She'd get no answers there, so she was off again, the final stretch of her journey.

When she finally got off the train in Las Vegas, Viviana was beyond broke, and her first thought was finding a way to make enough money to get food and shelter. So she'd need to find work and find it fast. Once she did, she'd be able to devote more time to finding out exactly what had happened to her father.

As he was walking around Las Vegas, Alejandrito saw another small, tanned person doing a trick similar to what he usually did to make some starting capital. As she walked off, invisible to many, he followed Viviana around the corner and saw her standing with her back against the wall, whilst she was counting the profit she just made.

That was a slick move you made there, little Alex said calmly..
He stared at Viviana, who did not look like she felt being caught

Bumping into that guy's hip, touching his shoulder with your right hand and excusing yourself whilst taking out that wallet with your right.. Alejandrito continued.. I was wondering whether you would be interested in doing some Distractor Pickpocketing together? Or was it just the adrenaline rush that made you continue doing old habits and are you fully settled here in Vegas?

Before she could even find a place to put her bags for the night, she’d need more cash. Viviana got off the train and headed into the ritzy part of town, trying very hard to act like she belonged. She glanced at a map, looked at street signs, even asked for directions once, all the while she was secretly picking out the best targets. Within an hour she had picked up a handful of wallets and so she ducked into an alley, leaning back against a wall to go through them and count the cash.

A few moments later a man came down the same alley, telling her how he’d seen her work and was impressed. He asked a bit about her and she couldn’t help but raise an eyebrow, slipping the cash into her pocket and preparing herself for a fight, just in case. “I’m actually just in town for a few days, came looking for someone. But who knows, maybe you and I will run into each other again one day.”

She smiled warmly before winking and disappearing down the alley, going about her business once more. The dark-skinned woman made her way to the more comfortable side of town, for her at least. It was dirty, and the buildings were far more dilapidated; there were people drinking and working and minding their own business. These were the kind’ve people she wouldn’t dare try to rob, not that any of them would have money to spare even if they were stupid enough to leave their money easily accessible. The sight of it brought a smile to her face; Viviana felt right at home.

She walked until she found an inn, with a bar downstairs and some rooms for rent upstairs. She paid for two nights and then climbed the stairs, dropping her bags and plopping down on the bed. The place wasn’t much to look at it, but she hardly needed anything outside of a bed to sleep on and a roof over her head. She took some time to contemplate her next moves.

To really find out what happened to her father she’d need to find his employer. She dug through the letters he’d written her, trying to find out any information she could about people he knew here in Las Vegas. There were some names mentioned – Reignman, Lucky, Briya. She could hit the streets and try to seek these people out, see who was still alive and who wasn’t. Bars would be a good place to start – mobsters like to drink right? She needed to work too, so maybe she could find some associates, get her foot in the door out here. Deliver some packages, pick up some taxes, she could do those sorts of things, right?

Confident that she had some ideas in mind, Viviana hit the streets. It didn't take her too long to attract some attention and she managed to pick up a small job delivering a mysterious package to a warehouse across town. She didn't dare wonder what was in the package (probably drugs, hopefully not the parts of a chopped up person). Instead, she just focused on getting it where it needed to go. 

Which would be harder than she anticipated. As she crossed over into the warehouse district, she started to get heckled. A group of three or four men, sitting on some boxes and smoking, seemed to perk up as she drew near. One man whistled, standing and tossing his cigarette on the ground as he moved to block her path.

"Where do you think you're going missy?" He sneered, looking her up and down. Vivian stopped walking and raised her eyes to his. 

"That's none of your business, is it?"

"Of course it's my business. Your kind aren't welcome in these parts." 

"I have a job to do. So if you'll excuse me," Viviana continued to walk, moving to step around him. He moved to stop her and Viviana knew this was going to get messy. 

She hoped whoever was waiting for the package didn't mind it being a little late. 

Hazel had been out and about for the day running errands for Lucky. Since her transfer over to the Mirage things were even busier then she could have imagined. It was a good busy though and the money, well the money was fantastic. Go figure just a mire couple days ago she had gotten off the bus from Arizona with not a clue what she was going to do. Now she was the main go to for Godfather of Las Vegas. It wasn't something to complain about, even though it was still a shock to her.

She was out in the warehouse district it was one of the last stops she had to do for the day before heading back to The Mirage for the evening. There were a couple envelopes that needed picked up and one very special package that Lucky was expecting. A shipment of cigars, fresh from Cuba. There was something about cigars that Lucky fancied, something that Hazel just didn't understand but as if that truly mattered.

Now usually Lucky would have sent anyone in his ranks but he had trust issues when it came to his cigars. This was a true test for Hazel, even though it really wasn't much of a test. How hard could it be to pick up some cigars from the warehouse?

Making her way down to the main drag where the warehouses lined the road, she parked her car at the beginning of the road. She went into each of them one at a time to collect whatever envelopes they were sending up. After about an hour she made her way to the last warehouse, it was time to pick up that package, grab the last envelope and head back. She made her way into the warehouse, walked past all the workers and up into the bosses office.

"I'm here to pick up a couple things for Lucky, an envelope and a package."

The owner opened up his desk drawer and pulled out an envelope, tossing it onto the desk.

"Here's the money but the package... The package has not arrived yet. We had a courier pick it up a while ago, she should have been back by now."

Hazel let out a grumble.

"What do you mean it isn't here? You know how important that package is..."

"I know, I know... I swear it should be here any moment. If you wait out there by the front I promise it will show up shortly."

Hazel slammed her fist down onto the desk.

"If this doesn't show up, this shit is on you."

Hazel stormed out of the office, down the stairs, through the warehouse and out the front gate. The fumes could almost be seen coming out of her head as she began pacing back and fourth in front of the gate. About ten minutes of pacing, Hazel just about had enough. It was time to get out of there. The cigars not being there was one that warehouse owner, he was the one that was going to hear shit from it.

Hazel started her walk back to her car, which she had parked at the beginning of the street. It was her way of getting a bit of exercise in while working.

That's when she noticed up ahead a group of men surrounding a woman, a woman with a package. She could tell this woman was very uncomfortable with the situation. Hazel yelled up ahead.

"Leave her the fuck alone!"

A couple of the men turned their heads towards Hazel. One of them spoke up. 

"Mind your own business bitch!"

Hazel pulled her gun out of her bag and fired a couple shots into the air. The sounds of the blast startled them all.

"Whoa... Whoa... take it easy lady."

The smaller of the men pleaded with her as Hazel approached them. She switched her gun into her left hand made a fist and cracked the guy in the jaw that called her a bitch.

"Have some fucking respect, this is your warning. Next time I will leave you all in a puddle of blood. Understood?"

The men backed away slowly and hooked into the nearest alley way. That's when Hazel looked over at the woman, she still seemed a bit startled herself.

"It's okay dear, I'm not here to harm you. Some guys can be royal dicks around these parts, you have to watch yourself. I see you got a package in your hands, it wouldn't happen to have the name Lucky's Cigars on it, would it?"

The woman showed the package to Hazel with the exact name she had just stated.

"Oh thank god, I've been looking for those. I tell you what, come with me. You can hand deliver them, I'm sure the recipient would be very grateful. That is unless you have something better to do?"

“You’re making a mistake.” Viviana was calm as she spoke, although her body had tensed at the very real threat these men posed her. She was a target for them, because of the color of her skin, because of her gender. They were drunk and they were stupid to underestimate her. The other two men laughed and the one standing in front of her came closer to her, leering as he got right in her face.

“And what are you going to do about it, huh?” The stench of alcohol on his breath was so strong it nauseated her, but she resisted the urge to take a step back. She gave him a moment to think he was actually in control of the situation before she lashed out, putting a knee into his groin.

He cried out and stepped back as he doubled over in pain. His friends were quick to jump to their feet, surrounding her, ready to pay her back for that little move she'd made. But another woman had shown up and rather than ignore the situation, which she easily could have since it had nothing to do with her, she intervened, telling the men to leave Viviana alone.

Of course, they had no intention of listening, but the sound of a gun was enough to finally scare them. Viviana watched as the woman approached and put the men in their place; she made a mental note that she’d need to get a weapon for her own protection if she decided to keep doing this kind of work.

Once the men had run off, the brunette haired woman turned her attention to Viviana, asking her about the package she was still clinging too. She hadn’t actually inspected the package so she had no idea what it said. Quickly, she glanced it over and noticed that it was indeed labeled Lucky’s Cigars. She showed it to the other woman, who seemed relieved and asked Viviana if she had anything else to do that day.

“Nothing at all, actually. I’ll bring them wherever they need to go and if you have any other jobs you need to be done, I’d be happy to do them. Where’d you learn to punch like that, by the way? That’s one hell of a left hook you’ve got.”

Her father had taught her a bit about fighting, enough to defend herself, but she knew she’d need to learn more if she was going to survive out here. She liked the idea of getting a gun but maybe she’d have more fun with some sort of blade…a good knife maybe.

Shaking her head and bringing herself back to the present, Viviana smiled at the other woman and extended her free hand. “I’m Viviana by the way. Thanks for the help."

Once feeling confident that any danger was no longer present, Hazel put her gun back in her purse then extended her hand to meet Viviana's. 

"Nice to meet you Viviana, my name is Hazel."

She gave the woman a look up and down, while still shaking her hand. She wasn't your ordinary civilian, well maybe she was but there was something different about this one. At least in her eyes there was and it was something special. A girl of talents just waiting to be burst and not one that should be delivering packages.

Hazel smirked as she suddenly remembered her asking about the left hook. In fact her hand was still a sore from that hit, she flexed it a couple of times before speaking up once more.

"You liked that left hook, it's come in handy a couple of times. You know sometimes you just have to put people in their places. I try not to be violent but once my temper fires off, shit happens."

Out of the corner of her eyes Hazel caught glimpse of the package, her eyes opened wide.

"The package! I almost forgot, we need to get those to Lucky."

Hazel started walking towards her car which was still parked a bit up the ways. Realizing she walking along, she paused and looked back at Viviana.

"Aren't you coming?"