It was an upgrade. She had finally decided upon this as she walked down the paved sidewalk, her head hanging low to avoid making eye contact with the other pedestrians as she quickened her pace to reach her destination. The streets were cleaner. The faces were friendlier, generally happier- men and women alike chatting animatedly to one another as they completed their daily shopping and finishing their days at their various forms of work. And nothing about New York City could ever be described as 'the slums'. Well, at least not when compared with District 12.

Even the very act of breathing felt cleaner; more wholesome. The dark-haired girl inhaled deeply upon the thought. Though the air was slightly chilled and stung her nostrils there was no trace of coal on the air to burn her sinuses as it made it's way into her lungs. She let the breath out slowly through her mouth, savoring every last drop of it. The sounds of taxis honking their horns in the background aggressively seemed happier than the horrific screams of mining accident gone wrong. A twitch of a smile was quickly replaced with her poker face. Now was not the time to revel in the glory of the Big Apple. Katniss Everdeen was on a mission, one that- by the looks of her wrist watch- she was about to be late for.

Quickening her pace she weaved around a group of women gossiping over a day's housework. She envied them in a way; such a simple life had never been known to her. Waking up to take care of their husbands, cleaning house, tending to a pack of children. But even as the thought crossed her mind she immediately scrunched her face into a grimace. Who was she kidding? Katniss pitied them. To have nothing to look forward to but drudgery and boredom every day was certainly not her cup of tea. With a polite nod of her head toward the gaggle of giggling girls, she side stepped them into the phone booth where she had... two minutes to make contact. Exactly.

Lazily the dark haired girl closed the door behind her, reaching into her pocket for her cigarette case. Immediately the voice of her mother entered her head, reprimanding her. With her first solid smile for the day she lit up rebelliously against her imagination, taking a slow drag before picking the phone receiver off of it's hook and nestling it in the crook of her shoulder. Rummaging for change with her free hand, she placed it into the coin slot then began dialing the number slowly, wanting him to wait, wanting him to have a moment's panic, wanting him to think he had been right, before hitting the final '3' and listening to the erratic clicks of the operator doing it's job.

"Hello?" came the male voice at the other end, hurried, impatient.

"Sams," she said casually in reply.

She could almost imagine his wince on the other end of the line. He hated being called nicknames, especially by his soldatos. In her head she could imagine him cracking his knuckles in hatred and she gave an inward chuckle. He could gripe all he wanted, but Katniss knew he would do nothing about it. Being the Godfather of New York's cousin did have it's perks from time to time.

"Katniss. Took you long enough," he drawled.

"I had other things to attend to," she shrugged casually as she spoke, taking another drag from her cigarette.

"Well are you there?"

She narrowed her dark eyes at the building across the road from the payphone, still entirely visible in the waning daylight. Old and decrepit, falling apart at the seams one might say. To any passerby it was a dump. To anyone connected within This Thing, they would see and know otherwise. Despite it's less than flattering exterior, the building charmingly held a small, unsuccessful ladies boutique that, impressively, held underneath it's floors an even more quaint cocaine den.

"Mmmhmm," she said, watching the front door intently.

"He should be leaving any moment. Is he there?"

And as if SammyGarcini were narrating, at that exact moment the door swung open, a loud squelching noise from it's joints just barely audible above the sound of the rush hour traffic and machinery from nearby factories.

"Oh he's here alright," she said with a happy lilt to her voice.

There he was indeed, finally, in the flesh. Connor O'Deal, some Irish mick with a face like a turbine accident, paunchy from years of drink and even many more of gluttony. A man who enjoyed his pleasures in life, such as fast cars and faster women... and even more dangerously, cutting deals with a drug supply that was owned by the Godfather himself; deals he wasn't authorized to be making.

"Well, have at it," Sammy said quickly.

Katniss rolled her eyes upward as she stubbed out her cigarette on the side of the phone booth glass.

"I was thinking I'd go get dinner instead. Want anything?"

His sigh was rough and exasperated as he mumbled, "Don't fuck this up."

"As if," she said before clicking the phone back into place.

With a small shake of her head, the teenager pushed the door open, stepping back onto the sidewalk and closing the door slowly behind her. Casually, she took a moment to stare at her hands, pretending to be absorbed in the unkempt state of her fingernails as Connor began to walk down the sidewalk across from her, whistling as he went about his day. She rolled her eyes, flexing her fingers a few times before throwing a quick glance toward traffic and crossing the street, following along behind him.

Years of hunting taught her to retain a distance, keeping her footsteps in time with his own so he wouldn't raise his suspicions. Here and there she stopped to 'admire' a dress in a shop window, or become very interested in a menu posted in the door of a restaurant, allowing him to slip away a little further and further. The trek was long; they had spent the week prior tracking his timing. Fifteen minutes until he was home. Fifteen minutes until she could deliver the message.

So it was when he unexpectedly, randomly, darted down a deserted alleyway that Katniss stopped in place abruptly. She blinked several times as she considered this maneuver. This was new. This wasn't in the plan. Her eyebrows raised and knitted in a state of confusion before she cautiously crept forward and, glancing over her shoulder to make sure she wasn't being watched, turned down the alleyway.

Halfway down the darkened alleyway, merrily ignoring his surroundings, one hand pressed against a brick wall, Connor was pissing down the side of a dumpster, happily swaying his head back and forth in time to his own whistling. It didn't take the stench of grain alcohol to help her realize that this man, without a doubt, was beyond wasted.

"Jesus!" she exclaimed, shaking her head. "You're drunk? It's only half past five! And you were working!"

With a snap around of his head the man jumped backward, a dribble of urine soaking down the front of his trousers. He exclaimed angrily for a moment before staring at her, his eyes glazed over and narrowed in confusion, suspicion. "What are you yelling about?!" he said, quickly placing himself back into his pants and fumbling with his belt buckle.

Katniss grumbled to herself. The smell of his bathroom relief was starting to pierce her nostrils, even at the considerable distance. Sammy owed her for this one. Quick as she was in figuring out solutions to problems that presented themselves, she didn't feel quite right about following through with this request. And she desperately wanted another cigarette. 'A job is a job, though' she thought briefly before locking eyes with the man.

"Right, so here's the thing-" she started, before he gave a chuckle and his mouth twisted into an ugly grin, all teeth and saliva and no sense of decorum whatsoever.

"Well hello there beautiful, and what is your name?" he asked in a slurred voice, leaning jovially once more against the wall where he had just urinated.

Wrinkling her nose, she could only simply stare at the man in utter disbelief. She had been warned by ParanoiaAgent about the depth of this man's perverse characteristics, but until now Katniss couldn't quite comprehend what he had meant. After all was said and done, she was definitely asking for a raise in pay on this one. With a small chuckle she started chewing on one of her fingernails and shook her head.

"Katniss," she said slowly, narrowing her eyes at him as he tilted his head to the side in confusion.

"Katpiss? Such a horrible name for such a *hiccough* lovely young lady," he replied in what he thought to be a winsome voice.

"Yes... Katpiss," the girl mumbled, shaking her head in annoyance.

"Well now Katpiss, how's about you and *hiccough* I get to know each other a bit? Hmm?"

Staring blankly the girl calculated the risk of where this was headed. While she didn't feel threatened in the slightest, and how could she- the man was toppling over himself, she also knew well enough that situations like this could turn very bad, very fast. And, she was alone.

"You're not heading home any time soon, are you?" she asked in a low voice, continuing to watch him as he shifted his posture in what she assumed he thought was an alluring way. "We have to do this here, don't we?"

"Hmm? Is that why you came on down here after me for, huh?" he said, taking a step closer and stumbling as he did so.

'Fuck it,' she thought with a shrug of her shoulders. Taking a few small steps forward she attempted to curl the corners of her mouth into a small grin. Connor's eyes lit up at the show of interest, and he placed his hands on his hips and nodded in approval. '...Disgusting,' she hissed to herself.

"Actually, I'm here because I have a message for you," she said, using the same sing song voice she had used before with Sammy on the phone.

"A message?" he all but purred.

"Mmhmm. It's from a mutual friend of ours."

He twitched his mouth into an even creepier grin and nodded. "Oh is that right?"

"Yeah," she sighed happily. "You've been a naughty boy, and the Godfather knows all about it."

His face contorted immediately into a pile of confusion and concern. "Wait... what, Garcini? What does he know? Who are you?!"

Stepping even closer Katniss wrinkled her nose and smiled. She loved this part. Even if it wasn't directly according to plan, the thrill of game overtook her and she tilted her head to the side sweetly. Reaching into her pocket she pulled out a pair of gloves, stretching them over her hands and flexing her fingers as she spoke.

"Oh Mister O'Deal, I'm sorry to say that your days of fucking our Godfather are over. He knows all about last week's trade, and the ones before that as well. I'm here to let you know just how utterly displeased he is with you. Consider this your warning."

She turned on her heel before biting her bottom lip and swinging back around. Connor's face was still confused, but traces of relief had started to flood over it as he breathed out a heavy sigh. Poor bastard.

"Oh, and one more thing," she said with another smile over her shoulder, reaching into the back waistband of her trousers.

The man's eyebrows raised as he watched her, caught somewhere between fear and intrigue. "Y-yes?"

Katniss turned to face him once more and shook her head slowly.

"You don't get a second chance."

Striding forward, the teenager pulled the pistol that was tucked into her pants out and leveled it directly at his forehead. His eyes widened and he raised his arms to grab the gun but before he could even attempt anything, the trigger was pulled. The satisfying ringing of the gunshot reverberating off the walls of the alleyway was nothing, nothing compared to the dull thud as his body collapsed against the cold, hard pavement.

Without a trace of regret or disgust, the girl dropped the gun on top of his body, turned on her heel and swiftly stepped out of the alleyway. Throwing a cautious glance over her shoulder, she immediately lost herself in a crowd of men leaving an Italian restaurant a few doors over, pushing her way through the bodies that smelled of parmesan cheese and marinara sauce and smoke, putting as much distance as possible between the scene of the crime and herself. When finally she was a considerable distance away she resumed a much slower pace. Heading in the direction of the family's off-site safe apartment, she smiled to herself. She was definitely asking for a raise. And she would demand her rent be paid on her place for at least two months.

And with that thought, Katniss realized this life was much, much sweeter than what she had left behind in District 12.

The phone clicked in his ear, after which a long, dull monotonous tone could be heard. Sammy sighed, she sure knew how to piss him off, and was very good at it too, he placed the phone back into it's stand and stood up from his chair.

"Hung up on, again." He muttered to himself. "Why must she annoy me so?"

He dusted the shoulders of his greyish-blue pinstriped jacket off, before straitening it down the middle, and fastening just one of the buttons. He sniggered to himself as he began to walk to his office door.

The Headquarters had gotten quiet recently, but that wasn't all bad, quiet meant that nobody was doing anything they shouldn't, and if there's one thing Sammy liked, it was the quiet life. He walked through the halls of the Headquarters, before finally reaching the front door and swinging it open onto the cold December New York streets. He had loved this city since he first stepped into it as an Earner in the late Godfather Marston's first family, nothing could beat the feeling he felt when in this city, nothing.

That was, of course, accept for the relief and satisfaction of a well organised and successful hit. Connor had been fucking around, and it was time that it was put a stop to. Katniss should've been right in the midst of tailing him about now, so Sammy had to move quick, he knew how impatient she could get sometimes.

He stepped into the back seat of the car that was always parked outside the Headquarters, nodding to the driving as he closed the door behind him.

"Where to, sir?"

"Ample Space"

He had given his safehouses disguised names to be on the safe side of things. The driver looked at him through his rear view mirror, and nodded, before starting to turn the wheel and setting off towards the safehouse just outside of the inner city.

After it seemed like twenty minutes, the car came to a stop and Sammy looked out of the window. There was no sign.

"Good, she isn't here yet, George, take the car around the block and park it up somewhere, I don't want her to know I'm here"

"Very well, sir"

Sammy stepped out of the car, and the driver did as instructed. He took his keys out of his pocket, and placed one into the buildings lock, opening the door infront of him and stepping inside, re-locking the door.

It was a rather quaint safehouse, nothing out of the ordinary, just a typical family home, unsuspicious on every level to anyone on the outside. Sammy smiled and took a seat facing away from the door, awaiting for his cousin to arrive.

The wind had kicked up and a soft rain had started to fall as she progressed through the silent, nearly abandoned neighborhood a few blocks from the safe house. Katniss shook her head in annoyance, but continued walking at the same slow, steady pace. Rain wouldn't be the death of her, she knew. And besides, she hardly cared for carrying around such accessories like umbrellas and coats; the more things she held with her, the harder they made her hits.

As she turned the corner to the sleepy suburban block where her destination lay, she narrowed her eyes in annoyance. There were no cars visible, there was no sign of life to be had, unless you counted the mangy alley-cat that darted across the street into a large brush when it heard her footfall. Pursing her lips she began the walk down the sidewalk to Ample Space, as it was called, and began her trek up the walkway.

"Late. As always," she muttered with a sarcastic grin to herself.

With a soft sigh she approached the front door; patches of peeling paint were the only indication to the age of the home, as otherwise it was kept in very good condition of the years. Katniss grasped at her neck for a moment, her fingers wrapping around the metal chain she wore there, and she pulled a necklace out from the front of her shirt. There lay the small arrow pendant she had received for officially becoming apart of the L'alleanza Leale at her Made Man ceremony. Smiling to herself for a moment she reached further down the chain for the key to the front door.

Giving a cautionary glance over her shoulder, she swiftly unlocked the door, stepping inside and immediately locking it behind her. A soft dusty smell filled her nose, and a faint trace of cigarette smoke from months before tempted her into lighting up. Yet now was not the time. Her eyes roved the dimly lit room before locating the light switch beside her. With a flick the room was illuminated with enough light to see, but enough to keep passerby from becoming too curious as to who was inside. Discreet was Sammy's middle name, after all. Secrecy was Katniss', and with that thought in mind she turned to check that the shades had been drawn on all the windows to the front of the main room.

Her stomach gave a low grumble and with an uncomfortable grimace she side stepped the living room and headed straight into the kitchen. Small and utilitarian; nobody would be making any Christmas feasts in here, but it served the family's occupants well when it was needed. Shuffling to the refrigerator she opened it. The shelves were mostly bare, but a small jug of milk sat on the top. Katniss knew she was playing roulette with how long it had been sitting there, but desperation was a fickle feeling.

Grabbing the bottle she uncapped it, taking a small sniff before and shrugging. She began to head back to the living room, taking a large gulp as she walked. The girl choked slightly, though, when she noticed Sammy sitting in a chair, watching her impassively. Shaking her head and sputtering, she finished the milk and then sighed.

"Bastard, I thought you had fallen asleep and left me."

Katniss headed toward the couch closest to his chair, and sitting down placed the milk jug on the aging coffee table before her. Reaching into her pocket she pulled out her cigarette case, taking her time in pulling a cigarette from within before placing the metal case beside the milk. She lit up slowly, and once she was comfortable she crossed her legs and leveled a glare at the Godfather.

"You know, I reckon he would've raped me. If I had let him. You could've sent someone else."

Sammy smirked, watching as Katniss almost dribbled milk down her front as she noticed he had been there the entire time. As she sat down infront of him he shuffled slightly in his seat, before leaning forward and leaning his elbows on his knees. Looking straight at Katniss, still smirking, he let out a slight snort.

"You know, there are still many ways in which I can surprise you. You might be fast, but I'm still faster, and smarter. Now, onto business."

Sammy reached into the left inner pocket of his jacket, and pulled out a small wooden box, placing it on the table. He hated the cliched brown paper bag that everybody just assumed money had to be exchanged in. Fuck the system, he thought.

"As always, your pay."

Katniss reached forward and grabbed the box, opening it and frowning slightly, before looking back up at Sammy.

"Yes, as you may have seen there have been some deductions."

"Deductions!? Deductions!? Did you not hear me!? He would've raped me if he had had the chance, I shouldn't be receiving less, there should be more fucking money here!"

Sammy frowned harshly, she might've been his cousin, but this was unacceptable. He sat back in his chair, still frowning, as Katniss suddenly realised what she had said, he expression turned to one of remorse.

"I'm going to pretend you didn't say that, out of respect for how much we've been through and how much you've done for this family and city."

Katniss nodded, as did Sammy, before taking out a second box from his right inner jacket pocket, and again, placing it on the table.

"Now, as I was saying, there were deductions from the original job. An alley way is too public for us, and you should've known this, the body would've been found was it not for ParanoiaAgent cleaning up the mess."

Katniss now frowned, Sammy knew she hated her abilities being questioned.

"However, there was also an increase in the pay, considering the inpracticality of his being intoxicated, as well as the unpredicted route home he took. You did well to adjust to the circumstances, and for that you must be rewarded."

Sammy opened the seconds box, to reveal a stack of money considerably bigger than the first. Katniss' eyes naturally lit up as she saw the money, she'd always been a good earner, and literally gave everything she had to the family, and it was time he showed his appreciation of her.

"As you can see, the increasement is rather significant, and I hope you are not disappointed with what I considered to be a fair pay packet."

Sammy once again sat back in his chair, awaiting Katniss' reaction and response.

Katniss bit down on her bottom lip and chewed. She hated being disciplined, admonished, talked down to. Yet she knew she had crossed the line with her outburst. Perhaps, out of all the things she had experienced since joining the mob, this had been her most difficult adjustment. Showing respect when it was warranted, holding her tongue when it was needed. The girl knew that had she done that to any other Boss, let alone any other Godfather, the only thing she would be seeing right now was a gun pressed to her forehead.

She sighed, exhaling the cigarette smoke she had held in her lungs. With a rampant disregard she tossed the butt into the milk jug, the hiss of the embers being drowned out in the dairy the only sound in the room.

"My apologies for making such a mess of things, and I will certainly give my thanks to Agent when I see him next," she said slowly, quietly with a hint of sarcasm, looking up at her cousin slightly embarrassed. She absolutely hated that she had been so sloppy, of course she had been in hindsight, but she got the job done, didn't she?

Pulling the two boxes toward her she began to thumb through the bills there, mentally tabulating the amount as she went. It was a considerable raise from the normal rate, and the girl immediately felt ashamed for the way she had spoken to her cousin- nay, Godfather. A slight red color filled her cheeks as she looked back up to the older man and frowned.

"I'm sorry Sams," she said genuinely, offering him a small smile. "This is more than enough, and you know I'm grateful for this. And for everything you've done for me."

She stacked the boxes next to her on the couch and then sighed, leaning forward and placing her elbows onto her knees, cradling her chin in her hands. The moment she said the words she knew them to be true. He had taken her in when he didn't have to; had kept her healthy and safe and even at times happy. Katniss owed him more than she cared to admit, especially after she had just killed yet another man on his behalf.

"My mum called," she said casually, looking up at her Boss through her eyelashes. "She wishes us a Merry Christmas and says presents are in the mail."

It seemed stupid to say, and she realized so immediately. Though they were family, they rarely if ever spent any time discussing their relatives. With a snort of annoyance at herself she sat up straight once more and shook her dark braid back from her shoulders.

"So what are the chances that Connor's friends will find out it was me, and come to kill me over Christmas?"

Sammy sniggered once again, he loved how she would get so embarrassed so easily. She had always been worth every penny that was used to house her, and she had made it back more than ten fold, hell, he couldn't remember the last time someone had made him this much money in so little time. He was truly grateful for the day he saw her arrive at the Headquarters. He had no regrets.

"Well, Connor's friends you say?"

Sammy sniggered again, to Katniss' dismay.

"Connor was not a well liked man. You see, whereas you saw him among many people all of the time, these were not friends. You were not around while he was coming into his own in this life, so I can forgive you for not knowing. People frequently avoided the guy, maybe it was because he was so snivy and backwards. Cutting deals behind my back, for example.

"The people you saw him with were more there for the money he was making, than for his personality."

Sammy smiled warmly to Katniss, before continuing.

"However, there is the slight possibility that he may have made one or two actual friends along the way, unbeknowst to us. So, because of this, they will need to be eliminated. They knew about the deals he was making behind my back, they knew he was cutting corners with his tributes, and conducting business without solid permission from me."

Katniss nodded as Sammy spoke. He picked up a briefcase from beside the chair, placed it onto the table, and opened it for Katniss.

"These are just some of the people that he had been seen with more frequently."

The briefcase contained several photographs of Connor with some of his accomplises.

"They need to be scouted out, get into their heads, found out who knew something. I know I don't need to tell you how to go about this without arrasing suspicion. You know what you're doing, and how to get the job done."

Sammy smiled again, before closing the briefcase and handing it over to Katniss.

"The driver should be parked a few blocks away from here, find him, and he'll take you back to Headquarters where you can get started on your preparations."

Katniss nodded, and begun to stand up.

"It needs to be clean this time though. They'll be nobody around to clean up after you now."

Grasping the suitcase in her hand she felt the weight of the documents inside, as well as the weight of the burden on her shoulders. Many, many men were included in these dossiers. Many men who would be mad they weren't taking home quite as much money, many men who would want revenge, many men who wouldn't hesitate to kill a seventeen year old girl if it meant bringing home a bigger paycheck again. With hunched shoulders and a pit in her stomach, Katniss knew that this job would be one of the biggest undertakings she had ever been involved in.

'This could end with you dead," she thought to herself, and despite having faced death many times over the years in her short life, it was the idea of this large, wild, anonymous network of mobsters that scared her the most. Yet she couldn't show it. She had a job to do, money to make, and family to protect.

"Alright," she said softly in agreement, swiping her cigarette case back into her pocket and picking up the two boxes that still lay on the couch containing her paychecks. With knitted eyebrows she turned back to her cousin and shook her head in irritation.

"I'm not going to finger paint my name in their blood, Sams. I'm not an idiot. The clean up will be smoother this time. That's a promise."

She headed to the door with her belongings, stopping short before she reached the front of Ample Space. Turning on her heel she tilted her head toward the Godfather and raised her eyebrows.

"Are you not coming back to the headquarters? We could stop and get some dinner on the way home, your treat."