[center][h1][color=f26522]Milo Ventri[/color][/h1][/center]

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	Milo smiled a bit at Paiges eventual forfeit on the whole aversion to carrying a knife, [color=f26522]"At least for now."[/color] 

	He chuckled a bit as he set the sheathe down while she looked at the blade. Milo knew that time was starting to run a bit thin, so he looked at his clock, four forty, twenty minutes til Jackie said he would arrive, and twenty minutes til showtime. Milo wasn't sure how well he was gonna do at keeping cool, he knew he had to get Jackie to do something that would incriminate himself, talk about something that he shouldn't. Milo looked back to Paige.

	[color=f26522]"Alright, I think it's showtime, I need to get out to the shop, you just wait here and try not to drink all my sports drinks."[/color] as he grabbed his own bottle and started to walk out to the shop floor. The shop was still warm and smelled of fire and steel, Milo sat at his table and pulled out his longsword, he set himself to engraving the blade with intricate design, the light ping of this hammer and chisel the next twenty minutes pass by without a sound other than his own and soon the trance like state is broken by the sound of the door.

	[color=39b54a]"Milo! Hey buddy, man I am so glad you decided to keep going man, my employers really want to keep you around, I mean come on, they gave you the deal of a lifetime."[/color] Jackie said as he entered the room, he turned the open sign to closed and moved toward Milo, [color=39b54a]"Buddy, I have this girl back at HQ she makes up some coke that gets shit done, I mean, come on, we are going to be like co workers now for real."[/color] Jackie always had this super jovial attitude and as he sat on the stool opposite the table, [color=39b54a]"Ah but anyway, I need to get a new handgun from you."[/color]

	Milo set his hammer and chisel down and looked up at the greasy mobster, Milo was already feeling his skin burn with anticipation, this was not going to be easy, but he felt that he had to do this, there was no other way to move past it if he didn't. [color=f26522]"Jackie, I'm not sure what I'm being offered is a job, I think it is more like slavery." [/color]

	Jackie put his hand to his chest and feigned insult, [color=39b54a]"Milo, come on, look, I know you have been pretty staunch on this but I told you before, you get a lot out of this, more than just a little protection, you come back with me and we get you set up with the best tools, none of this junkyard scrap you have been working with"[/color] he made wide gestures to all of Milos tools as he spoke. [color=39b54a]"I mean you could put out really good stuff, no need for licensing, nothing, I know guys like you, you want to get further, prove how good you are, you could be the next Samuel Colt, design something really effective, change the whole game."[/color]

	Milo tried to hide that he really did want all of that, his tools weren't the best, he could buy new stuff but he always worried about using the money Jackie gave him, but it was the challenge at the end, [i]you could be[/i], Milo was sure that was true, but what he could also become was a criminal, a murderer, a monster, what good would come from making his name like that. [color=f26522]"I can do all that myself, I don't need a criminal organization squeezing me for all I have, so I am not making this gun, or anymore for them."[/color]

	Jackie closed his eyes for a second, [color=39b54a]"Come on Milo, you know that isn't gonna fly, we need the guns, you make the guns, and really I have been your biggest advocate here, as much as the big wigs like your products, they really hate this attitude, they just wanted to beat you into this but I kept saying you would come around, don't make me a liar."[/color] Jackie looked at Milo with a sarcastically concerned look.

	Milo knew something like that would come up, of course they would threaten to rough him up until he caved, but he wasn't going to let it happen that way, that is why Paige was here, to end this, to show them he wasn't running. [color=f26522]"listen to me Jackie, I am not going to do it, you and your bosses, can shove it."[/color]

	Jackie just shook his head, [color=39b54a]"Man Milo, I really liked you man, and you go and treat me this way. I am pretty disappointed, cause now I gotta make you pay for the protection you had so far."[/color] 

	[color=f26522]"You wouldn't dare."[/color] Milo said as he took the hilt of his sword in hand and looked him over.

	Jackie set his hand on the table and revealed a small handgun [color=39b54a]"Don't make this hard Milo, just take it all back, we can forget this ever happened, and you get to live the easy life, come on man."[/color]

	Milo felt his heart sink, he knew it was coming but you never handle it well, he looked down the barrel of this gun, he dug his own proverbial grave and potentially his real one, but he had to keep going, Paige didn't have anything yet to come in on yet. [color=f26522]"What? you think that shooting me is gonna make me help, it will make me dead."[/color]

	[color=39b54a]"Well Milo, I don't want to kill you, but I sure as hell will if you don't work with me here, I really would rather just put a couple holes in you spots that you can fix, that won't hinder you from working too long, but if you decide to make this hard, well, I am not going to try and have a real fight."[/color]

	Milo kept his hand on the sword, but soon the crack of the gun and the burning pain in his right arm nearly made him drop it, Jackie had took a shot and grazed his arm, [color=39b54a]"I'm fucking serious Milo, you hard headed bastard, you just needed to play ball, now put the fucking sword down, didn't anyone ever tell you not to bring a sword to a gun fight."[/color] Jackie snapped as Milo looked past Jackie to where the door that Paige was behind was, but he reached under his table for the hand cannon just in case.

[@Pilatus]