Author's Note: I'm sorry this took so long to get done. Lots of little cutoffs for this one, just because it doesn't flow as well with the different portions as the last chapter.

More racial things, but I tried not to make anything too bad.

1930

"It's do or die now, okay baby? Last chance to back out if you don't think you're ready."

"You can't do this alone, Lov. I'm ready."

"Great."

A kick to the metal door and a clear clicking sound of guns whipping from hiding places brought part of the crowd inside the bank to a halt. Lovino bellowing a "Stay where you are! Hands in the air!" silenced the rest of them.

The former mafia gangster was armed with a pair of Colt revolvers, one that he obtained from his grandfather, one from his father. His lovely companion to his left was equipped with a shotgun, his very favorite in fact. The lovely Lupara was a dangerous one, so he had planned for her to only make use of the weapon if he was being threatened.

"Get on the ground, and if anyone tries to stand up, it'll be the last thing they do!"

He watched as citizens lowered themselves onto their knees, a bloodthirsty grin spreading across his face. The power rushing through his blood was glorious.

He turned and nudged at Michelle's arm, silently asking for her to watch his back as he stepped up towards the counter. His back was facing the people, but his love made quick to shield it with her body and the gun. The adrenaline running in her veins, though, really wasn't in a surge of crazed energy, it was in a crashing wave of fear. She could hold her face into a determined and threatening scowl to scare the citizens of the bank, but her nerves were causing the gun to subtly quiver in her hands. The terror she felt in this horrendous crime was overwhelming, and it wouldn't be long before she would be no longer able to keep it at bay.

She was attempting to watch everyone in the room at once, and her inexperience and worry was shown to easily be bent to an advantage of another.

One of the male hostages had picked himself up quickly, darted over to the duo from the other side of the room, crossed over quickly and grasped hold of Michelle, knocking her to the floor, trapping her underneath of him.

But not for more than three seconds.

Before he could even think whether to choose the gun, the girl, or her companion, Lovino pivoted to plant a harsh bullet in his brain, and he fell to the ground in a heap, dead. Others who had been attempting to stand up, likely either to escape or to help him, quickly got back down on their knees - raising their hands back up in order to increase their chances of being able to walk out of this bank alive.

He held one of the handguns, along with his new stash of stolen cash, in one hand towards their unwilling audience, placing the other revolver in his pocket as he made a quick sweep check over the crowd. His now free hand was used to help pick his little Michelle off the floor, and to her surprise, spun her into his chest protectively.

"Listen up, you pieces of shit," Lovino snarled, gripping onto her shoulder, pointing the gun in front of himself and her. The Lupara hung in her nervous fingers, forgotten weight in her shock and in listening to her Italian love speak. Some of the people looked up towards him, some didn't dare, but they were listening all the same. "You can fuck around with me all you want to," he then pointed the gun at Michelle, not trying to threaten her or display her as a hostage among hostages, but just to point at her for a second, "but if you try to fuck with her, then you little cagnas have made your death wish." He pointed the gun back at the crowd and hissed, "Go tell the police what you've seen today, the reporters, the newspapers. Tell them if you dare, but remember what the fuck I just said."

He slowly started backing away, keeping the gun fixated on the crying and frightened folk, and walked backwards out the open door. He shot the gun at the ceiling three times before he released Michelle, and called for her to run to the car.

The two sped off and jumped in his truck, the female of the pair watching the people pottering out of the bank and disappearing behind the dusty clouds the wheels kicked up as Lovino drove away as fast as he could.

It had been a few weeks since then. They had gained two new members, a brother and sister pair of Dutch origins, Emma and Lars; and, now Lovino had been talking about inviting his brother and a close friend of his to join the group as well. They had robbed another bank, seeing as their first robbery had made the papers. However, Michelle was to stay behind this time, and the other two were invited to go in her place.

She felt betrayed.

She had joined Lovino because she had wanted to feel equal. Now she felt just right stuck in her labels and inequality once again. She was seated on her and Lovino's bed, up in the loft above the main floor to the hideout, silently crying.

Her back was to the ladder that led up to the loft, and she bided her time by pulling out the band and ribbon of one of her pigtails and weaving her fingers through her hair to separate it.

She jolted at the Italian accent dripping on the words behind her, "Chell, you not gonna eat any-" but they halted before she could even get comfortable hearing them. A dip on the bed was felt behind her, and it was clear that Lovino could sense something was wrong before a full sentence could come out of his mouth. Warm olive hands grasped cocoa-copper shoulders, and a face leaned in to press against Michelle's neck. "What's the matter?" His voice dipped deeper, in worry, but it still held that fiery pitch that made speaking to him at first a little intimidating.

"Lov, you brought those other two along because I screwed up at the bank, right?"

"What...? No, tesoro, why would you think that? Why did you think you screwed up?"

"I couldn't protect you...you had to protect me the whole damn time we were there..."

"A man is supposed to protect his sweetheart, tesoro," he was reaching to cup her face, but Michelle slapped his hand away before he could rest it in one spot.

"It's the concept in itself! You told me that we would be playing Robin Hood and Maid Marian, and so far I haven't been a very good Maid Marian. Staying back from the robbery proved that much," she huffed.

"Chell, I didn't tell you to stay behind because of what happened at the bank."

"Then why?"

"I asked Emma to wait in the truck a ways away, and I only did the robbery with Lars. I wanted to see how the public would eat it."

"Wait...what?"

"You remember the papers whenever we did our first robbery? The headlines were filled with drama, and the writers were all about how a pair of lovers were robbing a bank and finding it romantic. Me and Lars's gig was called a simple robbery."

"The newspapers want to see us doing the crimes…making it into a romantic show?"

"More than that...a heroic show. When I said what I said, they thought I was some sorta hero rescuing the damsel in distress."

Michelle slowly started to smile, "So, does this mean I'm back to robbing again?"

"Well, maybe we ought to teach you a few more lessons before we head back, but certainly. I'm liking this fame that we have with the press, and only with one robbery. It's exhilarating," he leaned in to her neck.

"We'll give them the show of a lifetime," she leaned in to meet him, more-so to turn her head and kiss him passionately. "But this isn't about the fame, right? This is about us humiliating those damn whites."

"Exactly," and he kissed on that promise.

"Get the fucking thing open, old man!" he spat, pointing a pistol at him and gesturing to the bag gripped in his fist. "Don't take but two seconds!"

Emma called from the other side of the convenience store called, "The hell's taking the bastard so long?!"

"Just shoot him already!" Lars added, pointing his gun at a couple huddled together in the corner with the cold drinks.

The man behind the counter was trembling, too frightened for his hands to be of any use to him. The cash register was one of those unlockable ones that you had to actually open with a key. The man was stuck between calling the police, grabbing the gun under the counter, and getting his keyring in order to do what he was commanded. Paralyzed.

Suddenly, Michelle, who had been watching for the police, stepped onto the counter. Armed with a wooden baseball bat, she clocked the old man in the head and he fell to the floor.

She looked down at Lovino and said, "This is taking too long, we need to go."

"The whole point of this was to not leave fingerprints, Chell."

"Then lets get the shit we need and go before the police arrive," she bent down to pluck up the keyring and set in on the counter. Lovino had assumed that she was planning on popping the box for them, but instead turned to swing the bat at the glass safe behind her, filled to the top with cigarettes.

"Lov, get what we need from all this. Lars!" she called to the Dutchman across the room and ordered, "Get us a couple six packs for the road, Emma, c'mere."

Lovino watched with amazement as his Michelle directed the group, easily picking out which key opened the cash register and filling Emma's bag with the money.

"Lets go babe," Lovino called to her once they were finished, putting his arm around her as Emma and Lars watched carefully for the law. The Italian eyed the several people who were still in the store, "Tell them about us, you bastards. I dare you." He smirked, and dipped Michelle down, giving her a wild kiss. A camera went off somewhere.

Perfect.

"What in the hell is wrong with you?! What in God's name drove you to do the shit that you're doin'?!"

"Nothing is wrong with me! My actions are of my own conscience!"

"Oh, so you hangin' out with that damn mafia boy had nothin' to do with this? Are you trying to get yourself killed Michelle?!"

The girl in question was standing square with her older brother, Victor Belrose. He couldn't believe that his tiny little sister was defiantly defying him! The nerve of the brat!

"No, but it beats hanging around here doing nothing!"

"You're not a damn civil rights movement leader, and them up in Harlem won't respect you for nothin'! You're just a bitch with a gun sleepin' with a white boy!" Aiming to hurt her pride.

It did hurt, of course it did, but Michelle had been hurt before, "You bastard! Don't you talk about him that way! I'm not sleeping with him! And I actually like what I'm doing, so shut up about me being stupid! The newspapers all talk about me and Lov! We're robbing the whites clean of their money like it's nothing! We're humiliating them!"

"Hell no you aren't! You're entertainin' them, and if they aren't entertained then you're just pissin' them off! You live in the South, Michelle Belrose! The Klan's gonna be after you like nobody's business!"

"You're just scared for me! I have guns and baseball bats! Let them come!" Her glare was fierce and upholding like stone, but within, she felt herself mentally quivering with the mentioning of the Klan. Nothing in the world scared her quite like them.

"I guarantee that a little gun toting brat with ribbons doesn't leave and impressive legacy. What she leaves her own damn body hangin' from a tree by a rope!"

"God loves a violent vindicator more than a just mouse of a man!"

Victor raised his hand to slap her, but stopped himself before he turned violent, such as how she was speaking, "You know nothin' of God's love!"

She huffed, pivoted, and turned to storm out of the house, "I'd rather be wrong and have a reason to fight for my people, coward."

"He just worries about you, Chell," Lovino said, curling his fingers around her arms. The two were resting together in the hideout, on their bed.

"He did a pretty bad job of showing that, though. All he did was yell," she sighed, wrapping her arm around his neck and pressing her chest up against his.

"Well that was rude. Let me guess, he's not a fan of me," he raised an eyebrow, "and I'm gonna guess he's worried about you being lynched."

"Wow, were you there?" she giggled, and he pressed several kisses to her lips, cheek, and neck. She then murmured, "He thinks we're sleeping together."

"We already do that."

"Lov, you know what I mean."

"Sorry, I come from a long line of siesta-lovers." Laughter was exchanged again, and this time Michelle was the one to shower the kisses. While she still couldn't see his face, he whispered, "I was kinda hoping that we would get further along in this robbing business before the rumors of us being illicit lovers would get passed around. So far, most of everything the papers say is true. How long will we tell the truth before we have to start making the truth?"

That caught her attention, she looked up, turned to support herself with her elbows pressed to the bed, "What are you suggesting?"

"Was I suggesting something?"

"The way you said that...it's almost as if you were willing to..."

"Are you not willing? I find the idea very attractive."

"Lov...it's attractive, sure, but are you just saying that because of the papers...?"

"No, of course not, Chell," he cupped her cheek with his palm, fingering some hair from her face. His bright green eyes met her warm brown ones.

She smiled, "I'd definitely do it, because it's with you." Saying that Lovino's face turned quite red would be a gigantic understatement, to which Michelle wailed, "Why are you the one who's embarrassed? If anything it should be me! You started this!"

"I'm not embarrassed, I'm just...happy," he looked away for a moment. He could really only hold his confidence with a matter like this for only so long.

"You look funny when you're happy," she teased.

He quickly rolled her over with him, he laying on top of her, "Do I look funny now?"

Michelle blushed, and the two proceeded to make sweet love for the rest of the afternoon.

1931

"Loooooviiiinooooooo!" a pair of cheerful voices called from the truck. A dark haired man with dark olive skin peered his head out from the drivers side, while an auburn haired pale olive man appeared from the passenger side.

The Italian in question prayed that these two loudmouths wouldn't force them to change their hideout.

The truck was parked in the back, as instructed, and they duo within hopped out to greet their friend and meet the rest of the gang.

The taller and older man, who had been driving, threw himself on Lovino and hugged him tight around the neck. He wailed in happiness, "Oh it feels as if it's been so long, mi amigo!"

"Alright then, off! Off!"

The Spaniard broke away, and immediatley made eye contact with Emma. He reached out and took her hand, raising it to his lips so that he could kiss the back of her palm. He smiled, "A fine pleasure to make your acquaintance, my lady. I am Antonio Fernandez Carriedo, at your service."

Emma blushed, though she seemed confused, looking over at Lovino. Lars was practically fuming behind her.

The smaller and lighter man gave Lovino a hug too and said, "I've missed you, fratello!" However, once he parted from the hug, he spoke directly to his brother, lowly and only in Italian, "Papà è stato preoccupato per te."

At that, Lovino snorted, "Non me ne frega un cazzo se lo fa."

His brother seem dispirited by the answer, but perked up when he noticed Michelle standing near Lovino. He bowed to her politely, "You must be Michelle, si? Lovino thinks very highly of you."

Michelle gave a small blush and replied, "He tells me of you, as well, Feliciano."

Antonio looked over at her and protested, "That one is Michelle? Oh she's cute! I guess you did say that she was dark too…" looking back at the woman he had been charmed with, he asked, "…then who is this one?"

She giggled, "I'm Emma Tunneson, pleasure to meet you as well."

He kissed her hand again, "Oh you just warm my heart right up, Miss Tunneson."

Lars finally cut in, smacking the Spaniard's hand off of Emma's, "And I'm afraid that's enough, sir."

Antonio's lip curled in a pout, "And who are you supposed to be? This lady's boyfriend?"

"Her older brother, and my sister is not your toy to just play with."

"Ah…I see…"

Lovino groaned, closing his eyes away from Antonio, but opened them back up whenever Michelle stroked the back of his hand gently, leaning up to give him a kiss.

That night, the six membered gang sat around the table under the lamp light. A map was spread out in the center.

"So, I suppose it's a good time to discuss the plans for the next couple of hits."

"Where are we attacking next?"

"This town here," a finger pressed itself to the paper, "and this will be more than just some simple robbery."

"Eh? How so?"

"Let's just say," eyes all went in the direction of Michelle and Lovino, "we have some fans that we need to impress."

Part Two of Five. Thanks for reading!