Zoom walked into a crowded well-known Mafia bar and tried to settle in. Had anyone been paying attention they would have known something was off. Zoom rarely walked, and seeing him at a bar was even more rare. The simple truth of it was that Zoom didn't want to interact with any civilians. The 'fuel tank' he had in regards to how much patience he had for dealing with idiots, was running on empty. 

Quite quickly his hopes of having a quiet evening were quashed as his ears tuned into the conversations being had around him. A well known coke-dealer couple in the corner were going back and forth about the silence in the Streets lately. The bartender and the patron he was serving were having a debate about the recent going-ons in New York and Seattle. Everywhere Zoom sat he seemed to be surrounded with chatter about the event. After about an hour of this, each theory or rumor more wild than the next, Zoom slammed his fist down on the corner of a table, causing it to fly into the air. Nearly everyone in the pub had their eyes on him. 

"Enough! Rumors and secrets ruin this world if left unchecked... and apparently, it seems that I'm going to have to be the one to set people straight as to the reasons behind the removal of New York, Seattle, and HandsomeRob. I'm not going to give the usual preamble about how incredible the people who died were - as I'm not bold enough to speak for everyone regarding that topic. Personally, I had an excellent relationship with many of the recently deceased. Sometimes given the nature of This Thing of Ours though, shit has to happen."

Zoom motioned to the bartender - his beer was almost gone. He waited for her to refill it before he continued. Somehow despite the level of alcohol running through the veins of the people listening, all of them were still paying attention. 

"Many of the influential people throughout Philadelphia - and my own city of Los Angeles - were having uneasy feelings surrounding New York's recent move to take out Seattle and repopulate it. The majority of people involved in the decision to kill New York(and new-Seattle/HandsomeRob) felt that New York's move on Seattle was a bit premature, and that the 'proof' surrounding the event was something that could have been overlooked. Additionally, a handful of people between Philly and Los Angeles thought that it looked suspiciously like a test run for New York; to see what their hitters were capable of."

"All of these things considered... there were far too many people within the ranks who felt uneasy with New York's move for us to be comfortable. And so a decision was made, the concerns were removed. The status of the recently emptied cities in terms of rebuild will be brought forth to the Streets in due time. I will not be sticking around this bar to answer any questions, as I have business to attend to elsewhere."  

Zoom ran out of the bar so fast that nobody could process it - they saw his after-image sitting in his stool momentarily before poof! Zoom was nowhere to be seen.

You where all to happy to join in and take a shot though, no? "Give me a good shot" I think was the terminology that you used to my father (I have actual real logs of this. 

were having uneasy feelings surrounding New York's recent move to take out Seattle and repopulate it. 

How did you get your city, zoom?

, a handful of people between Philly and Los Angeles thought that it looked suspiciously like a test run for New York; to see what their hitters were capable of."

 

All out father's and mother's have been in the mafia for a very long time, plenty of experience passed down. We all knew what we was and wasn't capable of hitting, a dry run wasn't something that we needed to do.

fYI. I can tell you now that they didn't have the fire power or the people to even think about touching PH. Ironic much?

Shame on you zoom, my father always thought very highly of you, you guys spoke daily. Who would have thought that a few "influential" people here could push you this way. 

Anyway, NY was a beast, and we paid for being a beast and I know my father would have been ok with that as a reason.

The move on Seattle was premature?

Funny... you took a shot during it and gave no issues towards it. And I'm going to bet you saw the same correspondence letters I did between Godfather Coltrane's RHM and a certain LHM out of Detroit who paid the ultimate price for it. The late Godfather was using his RHM in attempts to find people to witness catch your own late GFC, Spaceman. That alone wasn't enough to remove Seattle? Come on now...

You knew the removal on Seattle was the right time. Why are you hiding this? I think you're being used by others who want to see the world be ran by the same fucking people we saw just several months ago. Shame on you for not seeing that.

Enjoy your new enemy in Detroit. Remember? The ones that Jace asked to safe listed because of his own ties to them? One thing about them, they'll hit you when New York never would.

Even looking at the responses from the kins of those sleugued you can get a great taste of how that city was run. 

Soup remembered someone saying that line in the Streets not long ago, but he couldn’t remember who had said it. He raised his elbows and made his way to a nice bowl of chicken noodle soup.

My response is well mannered. And I even put at the put bottom my father would have been ok with ny dying because we was a beast.  That I'm ok with

Insta.. NY was a Beast? Plenty of Beast slayers around these streets then...

Yes, yes we was. There is no doubting that. You ask anyone of importance in this world and they would tell you that. NY could have easily wiped dt in one wave, no questions asked. We didn't. Like we didn't try to touch pH. 

And there is plenty of beastly guns out there, look how old people are

Having been an associate within one of the family's that had just been removed, Pierre listened to Zoom with interest. It was unfortunately not a common practice for the powers that be to come out and explain their decisions or actions nowadays, so respect where respect is due - even when the explanation is pretty much a load of tripe.

"Seriously, if you're going to take the time to come out here to explain the reasoning behind the removal of New York, Seattle and HandsomeRob, at least come out and speak the truth. Don't hide behind the bullshit or try to dress it up as a pretty picture like you just did."

"To stand there and say that the decision taken by New York, and might I add, that yourself and Philadelphia happily assisted with, to remove Coltrane and the rest of Seattle was premature is downright laughable. The logs that were going around the coffee shops were more than enough evidence to warrant the removal of Seattle, not to mention the rogue that came from the city and killed a newly authed crew leader in Las Vegas. I'm sorry but are you telling me that standards have gotten so fucking low around here now that New York and Las Vegas was supposed to just brush that off?"

"Try putting yourself in their shoes, wait a moment, you already did. Pretty sure I seem to remember Philadelphia removing around 90% of Detroit after a rogue from the Motor City had attacked you not too long ago. Hypocrisy at it's finest there. Don't get me wrong, I fully understand why both Los Angeles and Philadelphia wouldn't want to see Coltrane removed. After all, he had a good business relationship with the former Godfather Chairman Spaceman who's kin is evidently still running things in Philadelphia, however more importantly he was of no threat to you. Let's face it, global warming would have done more damage to both yourself and Philadelphia long before Coltrane ever would have. So as I said, I understand that, however to come out here and spout the nonsense that you are, well I didn't take you for that big of a fool."  

"A test run? New York and Las Vegas didn't need to do a test run. They knew full well what their hitters were capable of and they knew full well what their hitters would have been capable of in just a few more weeks. The truth here is that so did you. Finally, the little ally that had been by your side for the past however many months was about to surpass you and knowing the talented Mafiosi that they had, this had both you and Philadelphia shitting bricks. Simple as that. As I said earlier, kudos for coming out here, but if I can see the real reasoning behind the facade, and if the rest of the public can also see the real reasoning behind the facade, why come out here and attempt to dress it up? I'd have much more respect for you and your colleagues, as I'm sure would many others, if you just dropped the bullshit and told it how it was. It's okay to admit you felt threatened by New York and Las Vegas. We're the Mafia after all!."  

Insta and yet NY basically got wiped in 1 wave. Thought it would take more than that. But I guess every city can get wiped in 1 wave, so really no accomplishment there.

Honestly, never even heard of NY until the passing of spaceman, or even yet the "One family."

Damn, that's because you're a nobody. And nobody tells a nobody anything.

Zoom this is just despicable man. I always knew you were a punk ass little bitch, but now it's blatantly obvious to the masses. You allowed this decision to be made for you by Ralph(Maeby, son of Spaceman), just like you allowed the takedown thread to be written for you by Ralph(Maeby, son of Spaceman). A month after Spaceman died and you're still his bitch, got more shit on your upper lip than anyone I've ever seen.

New York/Seattle/LVminusthatpussyRafa, Hereafter referred to as "us/we/our," were removed for no actual reason. There were no actual logs. The "evidence" posted in the main coffee shop were logs from AFTER WE HAD DIED. They were literally those of us remaining trying to kill you and your friends, because you killed us. And doing quite well at it I might say. But you wouldn't know would you, because you took your first shot and went to sleep like 90% of your city/Philly. Leaving Constance, who is no and will never be a General, to sort out the remaining five guns. The deaths of round fifteen LA/DT/PH people that resulted from our remaining forces are on your hands. And Arya's hands. Lombino and Nikita's hands. Our hitters all sat unproed after their last shots, when we had no more proers, because your forces were not organized and clearly not worried about their people dying. Just as you were unorganized when trying to remove Obsidian, before Ronin came in and righted the ship. Obsidian would probably still be running around if not for New York's help. When he finally fell, Constance thanked us to the heavens, was grateful as could be. You were silent, probably already scheming your next move. We should have known. Well, some of us knew, but that is besides the point.

You and I both know I know the real reason, and we both know where I heard it from. "Irrefutable proof" was brought to the table that New York was going to remove Philly within 24 hours. It was never actually shown, just spoken of, because it never actually existed. It was a ploy by a small group of slimeballs that have been running this world into the ground for years now. There is a reason standards are shit around here now, and they are that reason. The fact that a whiny child like you is a godfather chariman is absolutely insane. The fact that Coltrane was ever a GFC is just as crazy. Cities, districts, and opportunities are no longer given on merit, skill, or contribution. Only to those who will follow orders like the sweet little bitches they are until they live out their usefulness and are killed in cold blood.

And soon enough, you will be on that chopping block. Your recent auth Rick is an excellent player. But he is also an enemy of your "friends" and his head will be called for. Can they trust you to bend over and allow them to fuck you, or will they have to do it by force? Time will tell.

You guys moved first, again. I get that. I tried to prevent it, but alas, your propaganda and slander has worked well as ever. I'm not upset over dying, I'm upset that you care so little about our world as a whole that you will stoop to using fake logs and made up hearsay to remove people. And then you use our removal of seattle in public, to try to win over the populace, which is at this point 75% idiots.

Just come out and say it. We were a threat. You did not trust us. You struck before we were ready to.

Good game, new game starts tomorrow.

Lynchy sat quietly on a bench listening to crowd, gently chuckling to himself as the same old angry responses flew around. Over the years his family had seen many a city fall and many an angry orphan list all of the wrongs in the world.

Zoom, May I first thank you for coming out here today to address the populous for your reasons. Many a time before and many a time again leaders have not had the courtesy to do so and so I do genuinely appreciate seeing you here.

Turning then to the angry Guido and LuigiRomano he gently addressed them

Come on now guys. Our industry is one built on relationships and trust, and it’s one destroyed by insecurity and paranoia. Working relationships come and go and city’s fall time and time again. You could say that its a somewhat cyclical business. Whatever reasons Zoom and the rest of LA/Philly and indeed my own city of Detroit have for their actions will always be deeper than a single simple reason - it is when a number of these reasons are pointing in the same direction that action has to happen. Underlying it all - once the trust is gone (be it due to some well circulated logs, be it due to the emergence of rogues, or be it due to the fact that when two separate cities have two smoothly operating hit squads), then war becomes an inevitability.

Find me the successful leader who didn’t move first when all the signs said they should?

You are right of course, Lynchy.

But moving when the signs say they should, and creating signs so that you have an excuse to move, are two wildly different things.

Lynchy I could name Space-Pole. Who saw it was better to let you guys lives when others pushed for your death not a more than a month ago

He was also advised by a number of people on Sunday night that something was happening. The whole city of Detroit was online and most of Philly.

He held his nerve that people were shit stiring and that he would not bow down to scare mongering and paranoia.

Having said all that. Whats done is done. The victors story is the true story and always will be in this world of ours. I can safely say the children of those killed on Monday morning have moved on. There is no grudge and there is no thirst for vengance. They have acccepted they didn't move, others did and they sit a top the world.

If you don't like it then do something about it. So you did. Well played.

Darth Vader listened to the man's nonsense. Then seen the man run away like a coward so that he didn't have to deal with the people's responses. Vader shook his head at the 'man' if he could even be called that. He was weak. Why would someone who supposedly had so much power run away from simple common people who were voicing their opinions? He should either silence them himself with his words or his strength. Vader just assumed that power was beginning to mean less and less these.

He stood up not paying attention to anything anyone had to say. The man who spoke made it seem like he wasn't going to say the same old, and to his credit he didn't. Although he did run away rather quickly and that disappointed Vader. He shook his head once more.

"If only this so called 'leader' was as quick to action as he is to run away." Vader said loud enough for those around him to hear.

He then left the bar no longer amused with the scene.

Well, I feel absolutely blindsided here. 

I dont know how I can have shown any more allegiance to you Ralph, Tiggy, Telkin and co. You literally had nothing to fear, I invited you guys to help with Seattle which happened for very legitimate reasons. 

This feels like another win for Varys and his little birds and a loss for genuine friendship/loyalty to the ones that authed me. I definitely had a few months in me before I was ready to call it a day which is really annoying! 

See you all next time I go through a break up :) 

Looks like the people have spoken Zoom. You yourself knows all too well what they are feeling but I guess that bold suit went to your head.

Looks like it time for business.