The Sheriff of New York

Everything good usually happens circled by people recently beaten to a pulp. Within the heart of the former largest mall in New York, and now the largest den of scum and villainy, Elaine dispatched the greatest known threat to the order in New York. The Baron of the largest crime syndicate in New York crawled along the floor until he finally collapsed under the weight of his own sustained injuries. Elaine holstered her pistols back and readjusted her hat for prosperity. "It's time for you to mozy on somewhere else." Scattered beams of light pierced the ceiling of the central control room located on the third floor of the mall. For years the ruthless syndicate ran the mall and controlled the local areas supply of weapons and blackmarket goods, but that reign came to an end. Standing proud in a pair of stretch pants rolling into the inside of her boots with the outer layer of her track jacket encroaching on the edges, Elaine came prepared for a fight, but failed to think of how many fires she really just started.

"This isn't over cowgirl." The baron crawled over to find a small device he planted in case of a hostile takeover. "I ruled this place and kept order. When the god leaves, the insects will swarm the city. Enjoy your last minutes of life." Before Elaine could draw her pistol to attempt to disarm the man of his detonator, he pressed the button igniting the room. Even though she failed in preempting the attack, a quick move relocated her outside of the security area and into the corridor.

With the lack of subtlety Elaine brought with her, the compound went on a state of high alert to see how the altercation would fare. The first few gangs within the mall tried to put up some defense against Elaine to prove their worth, but after Elaine tore through three gangs, it became obvious the rite of succession would soon be called. Stranded in the middle of a three story mall with the most dangerous criminals in the ruins of New York, Elaine found herself as the trophy for installing a new syndicate in the literal ashes of where the old had fallen.

The bottom levels contained the majority of the gangs and their personal possessions. Each section broke up with smaller gangs taking stock of storefronts and some of the backrooms, while the larger gangs claimed the two story department stores for their own territory. The staircases and elevators in the market area of the mall were destroyed to control internal movement within the compound. Any way up and down the mall would come through one of the major gang controlled department stores or the hollowed out elevator tubes. Stores on the second floor mostly held the collected syndicate resources found within the ruins for sale and for personal use of gaining more power within the city.

Within the food court of the mall, the gangs set up a trade station for each cartel to peddle goods between each other, while giving the syndicate leaders a cut of the profit. It swayed in the stillness of the hushed predicament. Once the bomb erupted high within the rafters, each lord knew what would take place. Each of the larger organizations made back alley dealings with the smaller groups to sway them over with delusions of grandeur, knowing full well the smaller gangs would more than likely kill each other off.

Elaine stood up. She brushed off the dirt from her jacket and tried to reposition her hat. Her hand went straight to her hair pulled into a ponytail. Whatever happened in the calamity displaced Elaine from her hat, a problem she placed above the soon to escalate gang war she willingly unleashed. The sheriff knew she could take down the crime spree in this city, but no way did she want to do it without her hat.