"So we just breakin' tings?" Nico asked.

"Well, the goal's to put them out of business." Mordecai corrected, already finding himself becoming more impatient than was to his taste; this must have been his third, perhaps fourth time re-emphasizing this premise.

"Dem guys? Eas'," Serafine added.

"Quite. I doubt anyone's even there currently," Mordecai said.

"Mais dat's not as fun," Nico pouted.

"It's not about 'fun', it's about us staying out of prison."

"Same ting."

"...Putting that aside, it's time we move, unless there are any further misunderstandings?" Nico gave a silent thumbs up, and a small nod. Mordecai turned to Serafine, who expressed a somewhat sinister grin. Good enough. "Let's be off." Mordecai began towards the door, with the two Savoys following several steps behind, quietly talking to each other.

The car sat, parked and quiet on the street outside of the Little Daisy Café, having already made the journey from the hotel. The three sat inside of the car, in the dark cover of night, with only the yellow street lights overhead illuminating anything. Mordecai was silently planning his course of actions, while also seething, as both Serafine and Nico wanted to sit in the back, leading to a rather unbalanced, asymmetrical view.

"In, ruin everyting, out," Nico stated to himself.

"...Well, yes." Mordecai agreed, "Mitzi is probably asleep upstairs, and otherwise, it should be empty, so if we're quiet and precise enough we should have no problems doing just that."

"Sure— what we doin' if tings go south?"

"That's when it's time to use shoot, if not to kill, at least to wound. Whether for better or for worse, we must simply be unscrupulous."

"Les jus' go in now," Serafine said, already scooting towards the door, with her hand moving towards the handle.

"Yes, we've been sitting here long enough," Mordecai replied.

The car doors all opened almost simultaneously as the three cats stepped out, and crossed the dead street as the approached the café. Then they began towards the garage, where they could get in most easily and least noticeably. The door that led into the titular garage had recently been shot apart, and the unsecured opening was being kept closed from the other side. Mordecai, with no easy way in through the closed door, put his small lockpicking tools he'd readied back away. However, since there was no easy, quiet way to go enter through either the door or the garage door next to it, it would seem that perhaps the front door was the easiest way to get in— granted that they could do it without much notice. That could be a bit more difficult, but, it seemed their only option unless someone wanted to break down the door, which would be louder than basically any other way they could gain entrance.

After signaling to the group, the three walked back towards the storefront. Mordecai, on one knee, began to pick the lock as quickly as possible while Nico and Serafine watched out for potential onlookers or police officers. While Mordecai worked, he began to regret not just finding some way in through that garage, especially as he remembered the increased security regarding the nighttime business of alcohol pedaling; at least that street was typically less busy. But, with a combination of luck and quick work, Mordecai was able to get in without being noticed— partially due, also, to working in the dead of night. He ushered the other two in and shut the door.

Mordecai still knew this place extremely well Granted, it hadn't been that long since he departed, but still, and it had been even less since his last visit. He guided the other over to the hidden door, down through to the doors of the speakeasy, left unguarded and closed. Opening them revealed the dim insides. The open area, reverberating walls, etcetera. Still looked rather nice.

"Deres not even drinks to shoot here," Nico mentioned, looking at the empty shelves behind the counter.

"Destroy the furniture and such; I'm going to busy myself with the tunnels and the garage," Mordecai directed.

"Laissez les bon temps rouler!" Serafine smiled, beginning to follow Mordecai's directions with little to no forethought, with the only discretion being not to ricochet the bullets off of the walls.

Mordecai began down the tunnels, watching out for things of importance. A drop of water dripped onto his forehead from above. Terrible. Each step echoed quietly through the length of these quarried pathways, although the much louder guns mostly overpowered that to the point of being inaudible. As he was nearing the previously cleaned out arsenal, only a few steps away from passing it, he saw a shadow come closer from up ahead. Hoping to get the jump on whomever it was, avoiding potential bloodshed and noise, he quickly stepped into the room he'd robbed recently, the lock disengaged and thrown onto the floor. He lightly closed the door in front of him as he stood silently in the dark, his own breath being the main thing he heard. Then, the steps from outside the room stopped, and Mordecai began to open the door. However, right before that, he heard the click of the lock back over the door. He attempted to open the door, only to find it now locked from the outside.

"Hey, what the hell's goin' on? There's gunshots," they asked.

Mordecai stayed silent, waiting for some, some, sort of chance to fix the stupid mistake he'd just made. How did he not see this coming? He was not thinking straight as of now.

"You, the guy locked in that room— what's going on?" they continued.

"Nothing that concerns you I'm sure," Mordecai spoke through the door.

"...Who's out there?"

"A pair who won't hesitate to shoot you if you show your face, I'm afraid." Mordecai answered, "Unlike me, as false as it sounds, if you happen to let me out of here."

"No no, you're with them, you're trying to break shit or kill someone— you stay in there. And they're getting out of here."

"Go ahead, knock yourself out."

"Oh, and before I go, lemme guess who sent you; the Marigolds?"

"Figure that out for yourself."

"Okay, so yeah, they did." they said, "Well, you can stay in there until this whole thing's resolved." Then the footsteps were heard again, going back the way that they came.

Well, damn. This was completely terrible. Mordecai felt near the door for a light switch, finding it within a few seconds. Clicking it on, the room was illuminated. Clean as before, he was at least grateful that he was locked in this place already made up to his standards, not like when he first arrived here. After a look around the room, seeing no other door or hole in the wall to leave through, obviously, he put his ear up against the door, listening for his fellow companions' gunshots and hopefully footsteps; it was completely impossible for him to get himself out from where he was. The gunshots continued for a couple more minutes, with no discernable pattern or stop seeming to come through. Then, without any warning, they stopped, and there was silence.

Surely, Mordecai thought, the Savoys had just now stopped, would notice his absence, and would follow his trail to find where'd he'd gone off to. Within the next couple minutes, however, that seemed less and less likely. Then, he began to think that maybe they'd been caught. They'd been shot, chased off, or arrested, as unlikely as that seemed in Mordecai's mind. As he was formulating some sort of theory as to what was happening and why no one was coming to help him, he began to hear footsteps from where Mordecai had been coming. He listened intently, ignoring his restless thoughts for just a moment.

The footsteps stopped right outside of the door, and whoever was making them stood outside the door for several moments before they spoke, "Who are you?" This voice was undoubtedly familiar— Mitzi. They were down here now, and he was currently without a way out, and without partners to let him out. Things had gone south so fast.

"It's Mordecai," he replied, finding no reason nor way to lie his way out of this situation.

"Mordecai? What… why would you do all of this? Was there really any reason? Was there any reason to destroy everything?" Mitzi asked, sadness, or more accurately, betrayal, quickly saturating her voice.

"I was ordered to, I'm afraid."

"And you did it? You waltzed right in here and shot my business to pieces? Was what you just did not enough?"

"Asa—"

"Was this not all enough for Asa? I'm already in debt and practically making no income, does he really need to shoot all that I have left?"

"I—"

"Save it, Mordecai… I understand why you would've done this, but now I need to find some sort of way to deal with this. I'm not giving Asa what he wants, that son of a bitch. He's gonna have to try a little harder than that to take me down," Mitzo declared, a tinge of confidence, perseverance creeping into her voice instead of the betrayal.

"That's inherently foolish, Mitzi. Things are only—"

"I don't care what you have to say, Mordecai. Not to mention, you happen to have locked yourself in my establishment." Mitzi audibly turned to the side and continued, "Thank you for that, Zib."

"I'm trying to help you, Mitzi. This isn't going to help anyone, especially not you, continuing with this asinine scheme even as you bleed money."

"I don't care. I'd happy bleeding out on my own."

"...Fine, I suppose I can't influence you. I just strongly—"

"Shut it, Mordecai. I doubt you have me in mind at all, anyway." Mitzi paused, "But anyways, I hope you enjoy it in there because as I work this whole situation through, you're gonna spend the night in there. If you wanna come back here and destroy it, then you can sacrifice a day or two at least."

"You—! You can't just leave me locked in here, Mitzi!"

"Of course I can. It's as easy as this," Mitzi responded, footsteps starting to head back towards the speakeasy.

"You can't just hold me hostage!" Mordecai cried out, afraid that, despite his pleads, they most certainly could. It seemed his partners just completely disappeared without him, leaving him to deal with all of the consequences. Disastrous. Every moment of the last ten had just been disastrous. And now, what was just supposed to be an easy trip now had him held hostage in a storeroom in some underground tunnels. This wouldn't look good when he came back, if he could come back.

Mordecai sat down against the wall. Well, he was going to end up sleeping here, it seemed. The room was devoid of any sort of soft anything, and the cold floor, cold air, and potential rodents didn't make it seem any more appealing. Mordecai took off his hat and positioned his arm behind his head as he lied on his back. It was uncomfortable with the suit, but it was the best he was gonna get. He sat there as he let the worries and concerns about this mission run through his head as he stared up at the ceiling. Conceivably, he was going to get very, very familiar with that ceiling.