"Oh, neat!" She exclaimed, not sure why she seemed so excited by this.

She played with her hair, twirling the stray piece that kept falling into her face between her fingers. She felt her cheeks becoming flush again, but she was unable to mask it and didn't even bother trying.

"I'll be staying with my aunt & uncle... unless you have other recommendations" she said with a boy smile.

She loved that AlessandraKorkunova had given her a nickname, she'd never had one before in all her life and Harlz seemed like a real fun one!  She smiled brightly as the woman who she respected so much addressed her.

"Hell yes!  Of course, I need to find me a fella to cut a rug with.  I'm thinking maybe the next time there's a real lively swing song on, I'm gonna grab the first handsome fella I see and drag him kicking and screaming out onto the floor with me - whether he wants to dance or not!"

She drank from her glass deeply.

"How about you?  Tell me you're gonna break in your dance shoes tonight!"

Alessandra's eyes danced around as she eyed a few guys. Some just here by themselves and others being accompanied by their friends or co-workers. Just having fun. But she suddenly felt shy to approach any one of them. She turned back to Harlz and shrugged, smiling. "Hah, you have some guts Harlz. I could never be so bold to snatch a man and ddrag him onto the dancefloor." 

She started walking towards the dancefloor and she gave Harlow a wink. 

"But best believe I'll be hip rolling all night. Woohoo!" 

 She noticed the effect of the alcohol when she glanced at Raine's face.

All of a sudden there was a commotion and the door of "Love Zoo" swung open with a bang. There was a masked thug at the door holding a gun. He demanded everyone in the bar to hand over their money and valuables.

 Raine hurried her behind the bar so she felt a slight sense of relief. Her heart raced and she was breathing heavily still.

In all the commotion her hair had become disheveled and was now in her face, and her dress had been torn ever so slightly.

 Of course she was frightened, but she couldn't help but feel a rush from crouching down behind the bar with such a strapping young man.

"Good", she whispered softly. She felt a sense of relief.

The masked man kept shouting and grabbing items from individuals, shoving them into his bag. All of the patrons were crouching down, some under tables, some behind chairs, and others just crouched where they were standing.

She tucked the stray hair behind her ears, "Just tell me what to do" she whispered again.

It all happened so quick. Bada bing, bada boom.

The shameless thug had managed to scare everyone and change up the mood of the scene entirely. Everyone was scrambling to get away and crouching under tables. It was still kind of pointless though because you can still be seen. Others were frozen to their spot, just staring at the man with the gun. 

Alessandra Korkunova was hiding behind the bar. She suddenly saw Raine with a girl that was genuinely afraid to be here. And before Alessandra could even make a gesture, they were up and running. The man sensed the movement and he turned around, his eyes turning into slits.

A small gasp escaped her lips but a switch flicked in her mind. Then she stood up with a look of rage. She immediately tightened her grip around the gun holster attached to her thigh. She took her gun out and pointed it at the man. 

"Don't fucking touch them." She gave Raine a side eye look and nodded for them to go. Somewhere far from here. 

She kept her gun aimed towards the thug. She didn't blink an eye as she followed his every movement, even his lips that turned upwards when he smirked. "What are you going to do with that, exactly?" The villainous man spoke in a devlish tone. There was something about him that made Alessandra want to set his head on fire. Maybe it was the fact that this guy thinks he could just come in here and demand for everyone's stuff. Like some sort of... God.

Something he was not. 

He was just a human, like everyone else. But now made as a poor excuse for a human for what he was committing. 

"I could kill you," she said. "But I'm not going to. Because I'm really fucking tired right now and I want to home. So either hand everyone's stuff back or I will definitely blow a bullet into your skull."

"Well," she gestured to Raine with a nod of the head before looking back at the thug. "You heard him."

She was torn between being a scared little lady and a strong female warrior. Mixed feelings swam inside her mind as she kept the gun locked on her target, not wanting to break eye contact but at the same time fearing for her life. Her hands started to shake. But she was calm, for the most part. 

This man didn't want to back down. He persisted - with his fist - as he slammed it into the face of the guy next to him. The poor guy howled in pain as he brought up his hands quickly to cover the blood that started to drip from his nose. 

She knew Raine had told her to hide in the alley, but she couldn't help wanting to see what was going on. "I'll just peek through the window" she said to herself, yet it came out as a whisper. Through the bar window she saw that brave woman pointing her gun at the thief, and Raine not far inside the door holding his gun still, and the thief was somewhere in between them pointing his weapon at the bar patrons while holding the bag of goods he had stolen.

Suddenly the thief punched one of the gentlemen crouching on the floor beside him. "Ouch", she whispered softly, as if someone, anyone were there to hear her.

She kept watching the incident through the foggy bar window. It was hard to make out detailed things but she could tell Raine and the brave woman were still pointing guns at the thief. She could see that Raine was talking but was unable to hear or even make out what he was saying by his lip movements.

After a few moments, or so it seemed. The thief dropped the bag of stolen goods. She didn't want to risk being seen to she hurried into the shadows of the alleyway. Just several seconds later she saw the masked man running away from the bar and down the street.

Perhaps a little while ago the shameless thug would have balked at the idea of running away. But he was gone now. Just like that. Not only did he let go of everyone's stuff, but he felt true fear for the first time in a long time. 

Alessandra watched Raine carefully just after a few seconds of the thug running away. She lowered her gun slowly. Looked around. "Everybody, stay calm. Get your stuff. Let's all just... go home now." As she tried to reassure everyone, she put her gun back in its holster to not scare anyone away with the weapon. Civilians in this town were afraid and unaware of what lurked in the shadows at night. They were oblivious to the violence that was happening.

When she looked up again, she had noticed the face of the terrified girl she saw earlier who was with Raine. "Uhhh," she pointed to her direction while making direct eye contact with Raine. "If you guys want I can give you both a ride home. It's raining super hard and I don't want you guys to get soaked." Then she smiled sweetly as if nothing ever happened, as if they didn't just get involved in a crazy incident.