Chapter Text
Rita turned the car engine off and got out.
She looked at the building in front of her, and then at her phone for what seemed like the hundredth time since receiving her last message.
The warehouse looked like absolute shit, but this was the address she was given.
She had expected her right-hand woman to be waiting outside for her, but she saw no one.
This annoyed Rita.
Maria had been slipping in her duties recently, becoming harder to get a hold of, and more forgetful.
"Bitch better come through for me on this" Rita muttered.
Rita's current situation had only gotten worse over the last month.
While her rival Angelique had always held her own when it came to drug deals and illicit gambling den operations, Rita had been content to leave her be because Rita's top earning enterprise had always been in prostitution and other sexual endeavors.
"Sex sells", as they say.
And they bought.
Oh, how they bought.
But then Angelique got greedy and started getting into the sex trade too.
It was bad enough with her high end massage parlous that offered the standard "happy ending" and rival brothels, but in the last few weeks, she offered something that catered to more niche desires, but did so in a way that made her the top crime boss in the area.
Rita had never been close enough to find out how Angelique was able to rapidly steal her clientele, but she knew enough was enough.
She wanted to be amicable and ask Angelique to work for her and use their combined talents to truly run the city, but Angelique had refused, citing that she was not only doing fine on her own, but was going to overtake Rita within a year, and that's if she was taking it easy.
Rita was pissed at the insolence and made it her top priority to destroy Angelique.
And while her goons had successfully taken out a couple of her businesses through arson and intimidation, not only did Angelique bounce back, Rita's own men would often disappear days after the completion of their mission.
Rita swore they were either killed or swayed over to Angelique's side, but any time she tried to call her underlings, no one was picking up.
She was losing them faster than she could recruit them, and she knew Angelique wouldn't stop until she took everyone and everything.
But Rita was a fighter to the last, and she wasn't going to take this lying down.
After having Maria pose as a high roller to impress Angelique's inner circle, Rita learned that Angelique's new venture involved something called a "fuckpet".
The photos Maria sent were like nothing Rita had ever seen before.
They looked like people in latex suits, arms and legs contorted to resemble whichever animal they were being presented as, be they a dog, a cat or even a deer.
Intricate masks covered the faces, giving Rita no inkling as to who they were, but she suspected some of the more expensive prostitutes had been persuaded to put these on and sell an experience like no other.
Rita had no idea if Angelique was going to open a new brothel devoted only to this kink or not, but she knew she had to put a stop to it before Angelique absorbed her own businesses and put her in the ground.
She WOULD have had more knowledge if Maria kept her better in the loop, but now she was worried Angelique was tempting her over.
But no matter.
The time for talk was over.
Something drastic had to be done.
Rita checked her handbag to make sure her gun was loaded, before doing the same with the one she had hidden on a leg holster.
If Angelique wouldn't listen to rational thinking, firepower would send a stronger message.
She fixed her short auburn hair and applied new lipstick.
She had to look like confidence personified if she was going to get Angelique to back down.
She made her way to a door in the back of the warehouse, surprised to find it opening without a struggle.
Rita wondered if there was something fishy going on, or if Angelique was getting sloppy.
She stepped inside and found a light switch.
She was in a kitchen area, clean as a whistle and stocked to the gills.
This gave her more certainty that Angelique was using this as a training ground for her sluts.
After all, how many shitty warehouses have this much upkeep and stock in their kitchen?
Before stepping out to the main floor, she pulled the gun from her handbag and proceeded.
Stepping slowly to avoid tripping, she found another light switch.
The whole warehouse lit up and Rita stood in amazement at seeing various conveyor belts and machinery.
There were four lines in total, each with various gadgets, screens and buttons.
The fourth was slightly different, having more vertical sections and a capsule at the end, signifying a different latex suit went through that line.
It was super high-tech for what Rita believed was a simple latex production, but then, Rita wasn't overly tech savvy.
"Pretty fucking sweet set-up she's got here" Rita said out loud, seemingly to herself.
"I certainly think so, and I do appreciate the compliment."
Rita jumped, gun at the ready.
A tall, dark-haired blonde stepped into view.
Angelique in all her glory.
"For all your faults Rita, I will give you credit for taking the initiative to finish this yourself."
"Finish this, eh? So you're expecting to die tonight?"
"One of us, maybe. But I'm giving you one last chance to collaborate with me, and avoid such a mess."
"If I wasn't interested before, I'm certainly not now. You've put your hand in my till too many fucking times."
Angelique did not flinch at Rita's temper or the gun she was holding.
"The objective of competition is to compete, but you didn't have to let it get this far."
"I've never been one to kneel at the feet of others, and you're not going to change that."
Angelique smirked.
"So hellbent on seeing me dead, and yet I breathe still."
"We're all alone and you've got no way out of here that doesn't involve me shooting you, I can afford to savour my victory a little longer. Besides, you can't answer my questions if you're dead."
"And what did you want to ask?"
"I wanted to ask how all this shit works, but I figured, when I take over, I'll have one of your men tell me.
No, my big question is: what did you do with Maria?"
Angelique laughed.
"Oh, she's here somewhere."
Rita's eyes narrowed.
"Don't be cute with me, I want a straight answer."
"OK, OK. If you're asking about whether or not to arrange a funeral, no."
Rita grew even more frustrated.
"A simple yes or no would have fucking sufficed! God, this is another reason I'm doing this! You talk in riddles like this is all some sort of game to you!"
"You're savouring your self-declared victory over me, I'm indulging in my love of misdirection and language use, we all have our foibles."
"Oh, waving your college degree in my face with those two-dollar words?"
"If you got'em, flaunt'em honey."
Rita stepped in closer to hit Angelique with butt of her gun, when something struck her own butt.
She turned around and noticed a latex cow headbutting her.
"What the fuck, are you keeping one of your own fuckpets here as a security measure?!"
"Well, before all of this happened, I was corralling my last pet of the day. I have a high-priority client who requested one to be delivered as quickly as possible, so I oversaw this one myself."
Rita stepped in closer to look the cow over.
The cow mooed at her as she examined every angle.
Besides being completely black in colour, the cow's face was indistinguishable from a real cow's.
Hooves, tail, even a tag on the ear.
Rita took a look and noticed it said "CowWhore #74"
"Geez, she's had 73 of these things roll through here before this one?" she thought to herself.
"You have some really dedicated whores, this one's not even breaking character!"
"If you want to learn more, there's still time to put the gun down and combine our empires."
Rita shook her head and put her gun back up to Angelique's chest.
"Not a chance. This ends tonight."
"It certainly does."
Before Rita could shoot, the cow headbutted Rita again.
"Watch it, moo-therfucker!"
Rita lowered the gun to aim at the cow but when she took her eyes off Angelique, that gave her time to make a move and knock the gun out of Rita's hands.
Rita backed up near one of the conveyor belts, swearing while going for the gun on her leg holster.
Unfortunately for her, Angelique was quicker and not only grabbed the now discarded gun, but one of her own from a nearby work bench.
"Two against one, Rita. No way out now."
Rita eyed the conveyor belt.
Under any other circumstances, she'd have thought it was the stupidest thing she could do.
But facing down death and being cornered, it was a risk she was willing to take.
