Racketeering:

(1) Any act or threat involving murder, kidnapping, gambling, arson, robbery, bribery, extortion, dealing in obscene matter, or dealing in narcotic or other dangerous drugs, which is chargeable under State law and punishable by imprisonment for more than one year.

(2) Fun.

Lenna had done many things in her long mercenary career, but this was new. She went with definition 2. This would be a learning experience, and she'd get to meet new people. Oh boy. She couldn't wait.

Lenna hadn't expected this request from Lori so soon after the kidnapping mission. She was to work with a mutant called 'Aura', and get protection money from businesses and people living on Order territory. She was to ask Aura about all the important details. She could call it 'rent' for their continued existence on mutant turf. Lenna had stopped by Aura's room, and told her the Order's orders. She'd picked her up. Now, they were walking the streets, and she was getting life lessons from someone who might have been half her age.

Fun.

"So, how do you usually work this?" Lenna turned towards the brown-haired mutant as they walked. "Do we go door-to-door, or exercise a bit more tact?"

She was dressed in a black turtleneck and blue jeans. On her person, she had a concealed automatic switch knife with a two inch blade. She was ready for business, tact or no.

Aura had done the job for months now and it had become routine. Aura ahd even worked out which places paid on which days, a schedual aura had made to help her cover more ground faster. Most had learned to work with Aura's choice in scedualing as Aura had not given them much choice in the matter. Aura had chosen to take today as a sort of training day for the other order member and was excited as she felt it meant Lori trusted her much more and that she was gaaining more responceabillity.

"pretty much" she said handing Lenna the computer printed sheet she used for the day which had names and addresses of each person who was due today and in red lettering were those who had missed a payment with how much they owed near by. "The list highlights which houses need to bee seen to today. Since Lori wants cash, the best way seems to be to only kill if attacked otherwise a calm but firm manner seems to work well" she said which wa slitterly how she had done the job, door to door with the list seperated by area for ease.

The brown haired teenager looked over at Lenna for a moment. "Now i do need to ask, what your power is, Some houses tend to fall to drug gangs which tend to get violent, though i expect no issues today, i wish to know your power so i know what to expect if things do go bad" she said remaining calm and a matter of fact. Aura always wnated to know what her partners could do, in case of combat sitauations and to know if they had to be protected, like Lights, who could manipulate light. "Do you wish to go first?" she asked as they came to the first house, a rather nice looking three bedroom whose grass was a bit unkempt.

"Calm, but firm," Lenna repeated, skimming the sheet. "Got it." That was good. She much preferred that method. More got done when the people they dealt with were scared, not dead. Like paying.

Or living.

But mostly paying.

She looked up from the list at Aura's question.

"Mutant powers tend not to work right around me in about a six foot radius. Bad luck for them, good for me. I weaken," She stated. "But don't shut off. You?"

Lenna shook her head at Aura's second question. "You can go first. I'll watch." She held the sheet out for the girl. She'd finished reading.

"I can make an Aura around my body of pink energy i can shape at will, usually a weapon and shield, like Axes, swords, drills, hammers and the like" she said bringing her hand up to display her power, but it seemed far away, she could still reach it but where it normally would be at her finger tips, it was like she had to reach out with her whole arm. "I can see where a mutant with your talents could be useful" she said not liking the womans powers but understanding that they had their uses.

Taking the sheet Aura looked down and knocked on the door, a young male who obviously forgotten to bath since maybe the age of six answered the door. "Sir, i see you are currently on our mutant insurance program, your premium is due" she said, and the guy who had seen aura a few times before asked her to hold on, he shut the door, or tried to, But Aura used her Aura to prevent it from closing "Now sir, if you need a few days to pay we can come back" she said trying to be diplomatic, the man opened the door again and sighed and nodded to her hastily trying to indicate he wanted that option.

"As you wish, just remember this program is for your protection, their are some mutants, who, unlike Me, might try and cause you harm, after all how often on the news have you watched mutnats kill humans simply for being nearby?" she asked and turned before he could answer. "You have a week" she said firmly walking back out o the sidewalk. "He's always an issue" she said shaking her head, and then pointed to the house next to it, as she did a woman closed the curtains.

An aura that could become a weapon. What a novel concept. Lenna liked it. If only her aura could be weaponized... for now, her accomplice would have to do. The girl acknowledged Lenna's own power.

Lenna nodded. "It comes in handy."

Once they were both in agreement, the job began. Aura knocked. A stinker answered. A smirk crossed Lenna's mouth as she crossed her arms and watched.

>>"He's always an issue."

Aura noted. Lenna fell in step with her, on the way to the next location. "I see," She smiled. On all counts, she saw. "I'll take the next house?" She stated, stepping up to the door.

Lenna knocked three times.

Silence.

She looked back to Aura. "It looks like she's avoiding us. Think she's trying to sneak around the back?" She knocked again, harder this time, and spoke in her loudest voice. "It'd be a shame if she missed our once in a lifetime offer!"

In the alley behind the house, something clattered. It sounded like trash cans. Lenna nodded to Aura. "I'll stay here, in case someone causes her to change her mind~" She hammered the door bell, confident look on her face.

Aura nodded and at the next house they met yet another moronic Human who tried to defy them, Aura felt this day was going to shape up to show Lenna little more then how to enforce their contracts, but then a again that was the harder part. Enforcing without killing was the tough part to aura, shaking her head yes she let out a sigh. "Humans, not even smart enough to protect them selfs" she said as she made her way to the back of the house

As lenna had predicted the woman was just opening the back Door WHen Aura arrived, smiling at the woman, Aura covered herself in her Aura forming a hammer with her hand and struck the short white fence protecting the yard, shattering several of the wooden boards, and then broke the roof of the unused dog house int he yard. The woman slammed her door shut as Aura enterd the yard. Aura had seen her a few times and they had always had decent relations, well as decent as they could be between a human and mutant.

Aura listened for the woman to find the front door. Their was no where else for her to go and to Make Sure Aura took up a position to let her watch the side window as well, just in case the woman really wanted to play. Aura hoped she would but somhow thought this one might eb smart enough to want to live. Aura dropped her Aura as she waited not wnating to atract more attention thenw as needed.

It seemed the woman didn't want to play that game anymore. Lenna heard shuffling and disgrunted muttering from within the house. A minute later, a perturbed woman appeared in the doorway. She undid the latch, and opened the door.

Lenna stared impassively at the ticked-off brunette. "Yeah, hey. Mutant insurance?"

"Yup," Lenna replied.

The woman sighed.

A few minutes later, Lenna walked around to the side of the house for Aura. "She's paid up," Lenna noted. "She says 'next time, go easy on the dog...'" Lenna glanced to the dog house, and the freaked-out pooch within.

"Honestly i had no realize she had a dog" Aura admitted, she had only seen the dog house. Placing the Broken Fence board back in place. SHe looked at the dog curiously almost feeling sorry for it. Not because she had scared the dog, butr becuse it was being owned by another animal. "A bit sad really" She said shaking her head with a sigh still looking at the dog, then finally looking back to lenna.

"The woman really should calm down, it was her own fault anyway, and it's not like i would have eaten it if i had realized it was there" she said shaking her head. "Cat tastes better anyway" she went on, then looked down at the list to see where they would need to go next. The Next house she had not seen on her list before, while she had seen it and knew people were living there, but had not seen anyone incide the last time she went there.

"The next place, is one that does not currently hold our policy at all, last time i went there no one was home, but their was mail in their mailbox, so im guessing someone lives there" she said indicateing the house was a few houses over, the ones between the womans house and the next being rather shoddy and abandoned, one was even missing a front door. "Drug gang attacked me in that one" she said pointing at the house without the door as they padssed it on the way. "You wnat me to do sell the policy or you want to take this one to?" she asked glad things had gone realtively well so far.

It was sad, though not for the same reasons Aura was feeling.

The woman had earned it by not following their orders. Apparently, that meant the Order scared puppies too.

Fascinating.

And ate... cats?

Lenna followed at Aura's side, eying her. "Do you really do that? Eat... cats?" Of course, many cultures had strange tastes in food. The Japanese ate basically whatever they could get from the sea. And various cultures ate insects... she wouldn't judge.

>> "The next place, is one that does not currently hold our policy at all, last time i went there no one was home, but their was mail in their mailbox, so im guessing someone lives there"

Aura announced.

>> "Drug gang attacked me in that one"

She bet they didn't survive long after that.

>> "You wnat me to do sell the policy or you want to take this one to?"

"You can handle it," Lenna replied with a light smile. "I'm still the trainee."

"Not lately, back in the woods, before sanctuary , at times food was scarce so we ate whatever we could catch, weather it be cat, dog, beaver, raccoon, birds, deer or humans although i was not much fond of the last one, though some of my old comrades loved it. Sanctuary has a much wider palette of options however, much more tasty and filling" she said with a smile and a shrug, seeing it as no big deal just another period in her life.

"All right" she said as Lenna advised her to go ahead. Walking up to the door she knocked and after a few moments a 20 something man opened the door confused to see a young girl at his door. Aura just smiled and responded "Hello, we are here to see mutant insurence as this area has a rather high occurrence of damage resulting from mutants|" she said sounding kind. The man tilted his head and invited them into hsi living room to look over the paper work.

The man seemed to look over the paper work closely and asked a few questions, seeming very friendly as he did. "So sanctuary will pay for damage inflicted on your property from mutants, for example a few doors down, Mutants attacked the home and the p[eople lacking insurence were forced to move without any compensation" she said trying to smooth talk the man who began to sign the papers, the whole time smiling.

Human meat? Yikes. Lenna made a note never to give Aura any reason to eat her. This girl had a rather unique perspective on humanity, that was certain.

And a way with words, judging from how she handled the sell. Lenna watched intently, taking mental notes from the pro in action. She followed Aura into the living room, smiling all the while.

The man looked over the paperwork.

"I see," he replied. "Interesting. Where do I sign?"

~*~

A short while later, the two walked out the door, one sell richer. Lenna looked to Aura. "I'll handle the next one. Where to?"

((OOC: Can the next one can be violent?))

"The one with the boarded windows" Aura pointed a few houses down. The House had been painted black at one time, but the paint was chipped to reveal whoever painted it had never bothered to remove the last color. All the windows were boarded up and the grass had almost more beer cans then grass. The car in the front was on two concrete blocks and had a gun rack on it. The engine was sitting on the porch with a birds nest on top of it.

"Like the last one, this one will be a sale operation" Aura said as they walked up to the house, rap music became easy to here as they got close to the house in fact Aura found herself surprised they had not heard it at the last house. "No one normally answers this door, but still we need to try" she said with a shrug figuring the same thing would likely happen again. Still she hoped whoever lived here would answer, even as she looke dat the fence and realized half the fence was gone as well.

Was it possible the neighborhood they were in had suddenly moved to another part of the country? Lenna got vibes from the look of the yard that painted a very good picture of the inhabitants. They were the type that were lazy, didn't spend time keeping their vehicles in working order, or keeping their home in shape. That was a type that bred trouble. They didn't usually go by society's norms.

"Nobody answers, huh?" Lenna looked to Aura. "Maybe they're too drunk to hear the knocking?"

As she approached the door, she took expert care not to step on any of the homeowner's mess. The porch was littered with beer cans and broken bottles, old newspapers, and strange furred dolls with beaks. Lenna knocked four times on the door. Nobody answered, but the rap music cut. She looked to Aura, then tried again.

Knock knock.

The door swung open. A man with a pot belly answered the door with a shotgun. He had it slung over his shoulder, and eyed her all official-like. He smelled. He hadn't shaven in ages. It looked like his t-shirt was about ready to fuse to his chest.

"What's dis about?" He said.

Lenna gave him her spiel.

"Hello, I'm selling mutant insurance. Due to the high occurrance of mutant violence in this area, damage to property often occurs. The Sanctuary will pay for all property damage inflicted by mutants on your premis--"

"Mew-taint?" He repeated the word with a tilt of his head. "What would I need Mew-Taint insurance fer? If any of them %^$#@% muties comes sniffin' round here," He took a moment to adjust the heft of his shotgun against his shoulder, and brought up a free hand to make a record-scratching moment against the air. "They ricky-rick rick, ain't gonna be sniffing much longer."

".............. Sir?"

The man sniffed at the air, then blinked at her. "You still here? What was you sellin' again?"

"Mutant insurance. We'll pay for any and all property damage caused my mutants to your home." She replied smoothly.

"You a mutant?"

"My friend and I--" She started. He cut her off with the barrel of his shotgun, pointing it straight at her nose.

"Remember what I said before?"

This man was a trouble case, yes indeed. While some might have found a shotgun barrel to the face intimidating, Lenna found it funny. The idiot had a death wish. Before he knew what was happening, a blur of motion rushed through his field of vision. Lenna had him disarmed and on the floor before he had a chance to pull the trigger. She held the shotgun pointed up away from them at her side. Her other hand was at his throat.

"Listen, you piece of scum. We're offering you a service. You can either take the mutant insurance, or take your home elsewhere. Easy choice, right?"

He squirmed his agreement. Lenna smiled, and released him.

"Good." She stood up, dusting herself off, and handed Aura the shotgun. "In that case, there's some paperwork we need you to fill out. Aura?" She held out her hand.

((OOC: Godmode him signing all the paperwork. Let's get on to the next house. ))

Aura was surprised when someone answered the door, obviously very drunk. Further surprised when the man seemed to ve rather hostile to mutants and answered the door with a shotgun, even the drug dealers in the area rarely did that. The man was either brave or just way to stupid to understand the foolishness of his actions. When she saw the shotgun lower, Aura already had formed an Aura sword to react but smiled as she found Lenna very capable of handling herself. Aura would have hospitized him but Lenna's solution actually worked far better.

"very nicce, I Like you" Aura said with approval in her voice as she looked to Lenna with a smile. The woman was effective, even if she made her Aura tougher to form and call. SHe was not sure she could have withstood the shotgun blast without her Aura working normally.

Aura explained the insurence and made the man sign in all the places he had to. He was very obedient, only having to be reminded once, As Aura reduced the man's end table to scrap as her hammer hit it and broke the four legs. After he signed the man asked them a question.

"heyyy do i get paid for the damage you just did?" he said managing not to slur his words to badly. Aura replied with a smile "No, that happened before you finished, have a good day" she said and walked back out the door confident the man would not cause them any harm. Looking around she pointed out the nect house, which was in much better shape. "Another new arrival to the area" she replied, as they made their was to the house. "Someone just fixed the place up" she went on, looking back at the list, not even having a name for whoever this was. "You wnat this one?" she asked her new found friend.

>> "very nicce, I Like you"

Lenna smiled right back, letting the guy, and shoving him roughly to discuss business with them inside the house. The paperwork didn't take long. One broken end table later, they were done. Lenna especially liked her response to that. It was very classy.

She followed Aura out the door, and on to the next house.

Aura asked if she wanted it. Lenna nodded. "Sure thing."

She approached the house, and knocked on the door. A balding man in his 50s approached the door. He looked like a nice old man, so Lenna smiled her best churchy smile.

"Hello, sir? I'm here selling insurance. Let me ask you, are you new around these here parts?" She asked, holding the paperwork against her chest. The man eyed her, and spoke slowly.

"Indeed, I am, miss?"

"Then, you aren't familiar with the problems in the area." She continued.

"Problems...?"

"There are some violent mutants around the neighborhood," She shaded her eyes from the sun, looking around the block as she spoke. "Bad seeds. They damage property like they think it's their own. Our insurance can help with that. Would you like to hear more?" She asked.

He gave a sluggish nod. He seemed to be hesitant.

Lenna went on. "If you sign up for our monthly mutant insurance policy, we'll cover the fees for any damage your property incurs from mutant attacks. It's a real good deal. I have a policy myself."

"... Mutant insurance... I've never heard of..."

"Would you like to sign up? Our prices are relatively reasonable. And one cannot put a price on safety, right?" She gave a hinting wink, and held out the clipboard.

"... Are you threateni--"

"Nothing of the sort," Lenna smiled. "I'm selling insurance. It's the violent mutants in the area that are threatening..." Right, Aura? Lenna turned, and shaded her eyes again, looking around. "Oh, there's one now!"

((OOC: Aura. After this one, we can probably wrap up the thread by handwaving the rest of the racketeering.))