The reluctant group then proceeded to make their way down into the lower reaches of the city, where, if Braedan's hunch was correct, they'd find the person he suspected knew more of the present situation. Venturing there on foot took like what felt like an hour, perhaps more, as they moved through the crowded streets, and down a number of long, wide, and highly trafficked walkways. Moving down the levels was like moving down the strata of Xelanite society, and the lower one got, the more one saw the differences between the classes. In a way, it gave Braedan reminders of what Earth looked like, at least from what his memory could recall, before his family left for the colonies; but the people here were better off, if only because they had the luxuries and trinkets of the wider galaxy at their fingertips.
Talia chimed in, as Braedan's mind returned from wandering, “Where precisely are we going?”
Alyssa soon followed suit, “I share the sentiments of our blond friend here,” flashing a grin over to the female merc in an effort to get under her skin.
It clearly had an effect, as Talia, holding her hand down near the hip, gives Alyssa a complimentary middle finger behind her back to express the disgust she was feeling.
Being able to sense what was going on between the two, Braedan stepped in, forcing Talia to quickly retract her finger, “If you ladies would stop bickering for five seconds, I could tell you,” he stepped aside so the women could face each other, “or if you'd prefer having a catfight in the middle of the street, be my guest. I won't stop it, but I'll sure as s--- finish it.”
They stared each other down for a few seconds, the captain then latched onto Talia's wrist, preventing any action to physically vent her emotions. Their eyes caught each other as Braedan shook his head, in effect telling her to stand down, much to the chagrin of Alyssa, who stood back and watched the exchange. To the belle, it was an example of how and when she knew she could press her now-rival's buttons, and how, absent the intervention and stabilizing influence of the captain, Alyssa could prove the type of hothead the other was with little provocation.
After letting go of his partner's wrist, Braedan picked up where he left off, “You remember that gray-skinned dancer from that bar when we caught Jameson? Petite, kinda cute, had some sass?”
Alyssa haphazardly jumped into the conversation, “Sweetie, I've got all the sass you'll ever need.”
The mercs, who already had objections with including the former operative, for obvious reasons, directed their eyes towards her with a look that spoke, “Were we talking to you?”
This was enough of a reaction that Alyssa knew that the best response was to say nothing at all.
Talia continued by asking, “Vaguely, what of her?”
“Doesn't it strike you as odd how a dancer, in a shady looking bar, in a bad part of town, could get the drop on a trained Alliance agent, then practically strutted her booty back inside, like she knew there wouldn't be any retaliation,” Braedan pointed out.
Pausing for a moment, Talia then answered, “Maybe she knew how to get him liquored up, take advantage of him, and once Jameson started getting handsy, whats-her-name had him thrown out. It's been known to happen.”
“It's a possibility,” Braedan observed, “however, I don't think that's the case. Besides, think about it, Jameson was out cold before he hit the ground as we were walking by, meaning he likely pissed someone off while he was in that bar, and if my guess is correct, that little gray-skinned chick has the answer as to why and how.”
Within another ten to fifteen minutes, the trio found themselves in front of the bar, passersby going about their business, paying no nevermind to them. A light haze of dirt of kicked up by the foot traffic obscured some of the sunlight that managed to find its way to street level, as Braedan, Talia, and Alyssa stood outside the entrance, thinking out what course of action to take. Seeing how standing around with their thumbs up their butts wasn't going to get them anywhere, Braedan decided to wing it, letting the sliding door 'whoosh' open, creaking a fair bit as it did, like it had seen better days.
For him to call the place a 'bar' was perhaps a misnomer on his part from seeing the place on the outside, as the lights were pulsing and energetic music was playing, along with entertainers dancing on circulars stages positioned throughout the establishment. Walking about slowly, the group was being followed from a distance, from which they were unaware, as they went about admiring the dancers. At one point, after a few minutes, a small grin appeared on Braedan's face, as he gave Talia a nudge in the shoulder.
“Kinda reminds me of that place we went to on Pherros where you gave me that lap dance.”
Talia rolled her eyes and scoffed, “Oh God, let's not bring that up again. How about we keep it in the past where it belongs, shall we?
Barely was she finished saying that did Alyssa lean forward, look at Talia, lean back and asked in disbelief, “We're talking about the girl, aren't we?”
“That we certainly are, because our proper English lady here,” Braedan jovially puts an arm around Talia's shoulder, “in order to secure a meet up with some buyers, performed a rather thorough and convincing lap dance on me. She did this while pretending to be drunk, and admittedly enjoyed every second of it. Even had the envious eye of some of the dancers who were performing while she did it.”
Instead of being embarrassed, she cordially leaned in close to his ear with that seductively raspy English voice, “If I'm not mistaken darling, you enjoyed it as much as I did,” a response which caught her commander off guard, erasing the grin on his face, topping it off with a cute wink as he turned to look at her.
In the midst of this small conversation, a big problem cropped up nearby, in the form of a Bravaen bouncer, who'd appeared behind them while they were talking. The bouncer tapped Braedan twice on the shoulder, which were equivalent in force to the nudges that he'd given Talia a couple minutes before, prompting the merc to turn around, greeted by a veritable mountain of muscle, so much so, that he needed to look up to meet him eye to eye.
A few moments of silence passed, with the music still pumping away, before Braedan muttered, “Whoaa...you're a big guy aren't ya? Yeahh...,” he gulped before going on, “umm, we're not trying to cause trouble or anything, but yeah...we're looking for a gray-skinned chick, gold markings on her skin, about yay high,” the merc held out his hand to gauge her height, “uhhh...yeah, if you could direct us to where she might be, it'd be a great help, because we've come to talk to her about something.”
Staring the trio down, both Alyssa and Talia shrunk behind Braedan, hoping that he'd take the brunt of whatever it was the bouncer was planning on doing next. The Bravaen, without a word, kept his gaze on them while crossing his arms, as he was either calculating the intercept trajectory of trying to shoot down a missile launched from orbit, or which of them he wanted to punch the most. Bass from the particular track the club was playing was thumping the floor by this time, though Braedan was thinking that, soon enough, the floor wasn't that only that would be thumping by the look the bouncer was giving them. Before things could go much further, someone came walking from a dimly lit portion of the club, approaching the bouncer from behind, and once they got close enough, could see just how dainty they were in comparison.
“Tomo!,” the person, who was clearly female, lightly scolded him, “I wanted you to bring them over to me, not brooding over them like a statue,” she turned to the mercs apologetically, “I'm sorry about him, I truly am, Tomo doesn't speak Basic very well and you need to be very specific around him, so we mostly keep him around as muscle and to intimidate people.”
Braedan laughed nervously, “Uhh...no harm, no foul I suppose,” still looking timid around the hulking mass in front of him.
“Oh goody then,” the woman perked up, happily clapping, “What can I get you? Carvisian tonic...Tilian ale...Brovinic screwdriver?”
Braedan coolly brushed away the offer, “N-n-no thanks, drinks aren't the reason we're here, but maybe there's something else you can help us with. Do y'all have a dancer who works here – gray skin, gold markings, stands about this high,” he held up his hand to indicate the height, ”because we need to ask her some questions about something we're looking into.”
The dancer giggled, “Ohhh...you must mean Tami, yeah, she works here but isn't dancing until later. If you'd like, I can take you backstage to wherever she is, and you can talk to her there.”
Taken by surprise with the response, Braedan said, “Sure, if it's of no inconvenience to you, of course.”
The young woman, or who they suspected was a young woman, since with some humanoid species, one can never really guess their true age unless it's plainly visible, led Braedan and the ladies through the bar and backstage with a bubbly demeanor. Music faded off into the distance, but the bass could be felt up to a certain point as the dancer lead them further backstage, until they reached a door labeled with the name 'Tami' on the outside.
Knocking on the door a few times, the dancer asked, “Tami, are you decent, babe?”
She then proceeded to opened the door, which slid open before her, but from what could be seen over her shoulder was a darkened room with no one inside, until casually turned on the light. Going over to one of the nearby chairs, whose back faced away from the group standing by the door, the dancer sat down and swiveled it around to look at them. It didn't take long for Braedan, Talia, and Alyssa – who'd be keen in pulling a maneuver like this – to realize that they'd been duped from the word 'go.'
Licking the inside of his lip and smirking, Braedan nodded his head, “You cheeky little girl.”
Tami coyly smiled back at him, batting her long lashes and sweetly flashing those pretty golden eyes of hers, “For someone as cute as you, I honestly believed you would've caught on sooner...unless that is, you were leading me on the whole time,” she hopped out of the chair, from which she'd been swinging her feet, and walked back over to Braedan, running the tips of her fingers along his jawline, “Tell me, handsome...were you leading me on the whole time?”
“If there was anyone doing any 'leading on' here, it was you, doll,” Braedan mellowly responded.
Friskily holding up her hands in faux guilt, Tami bit her lip before grinning, “Guilty as charged, sweetie,” letting out a soft giggle afterwards.
Getting straight to the point, the captain asked directly, “What kind of training do you have?”
The dancer's playfulness subsided, walking back over to the chair and crossing her legs, “I don't have the type of 'training' you're thinking I do, honey.”
“And what type of training is that, do you suppose?” Braedan immediately asked.
“Formal, like what they teach you in a school,” the dancer intelligently shot back, “but from what I've learned, and from those who taught it to me, you can't learn it in a stuffy old classroom.”
Braedan returned the favor, “How was it you were able to work over an Alliance agent the way that you did, to the point he wound up unconscious, and in the process of being thrown in the dirt, just as we were walking by looking for him? Or how else do you explain, why, as authorities were looking through his belongings, they found none of the sensitive information Alliance agents typically carry with them?”
Tami rubbed a fingertip over her outer lip before commenting, “I knew you were a smart one.” She leaned forward in the chair, “But do you know what a man will do for a woman? I'd guess that you do, with the company you keep, though let me enlighten to refresh your memory. Men will bend over backwards, wrap themselves around our fingers, do anything we ask in an effort to please us, especially if the woman in question is beautiful.” Her eyes glanced down to his hands, then back up as quickly to meet his, “And by that ring on your finger, you understand an inkling of what I'm talking about.”
Braedan redirected the conversation, “What did you do with the information the agent had on him?”
“Oh that stuff? I fenced that the first chance I got,” Tami said, trying to throw off his aggressive style of inquiry.
“I believe that's what you were going to do before you saw me in the street,” Braedan walked over, looking down at her, “but by your tone and with how you've been handling yourself, you're lying through your teeth,” leaning over, he gave her chin a gentle nudge upward, so their eyes could meet directly, as he spoke suavely, “Now, Tami...where is that information?”
Sitting back in the chair, the Luxri crossed one arm across her midriff, then reached between her cleavage with the other hand to pull out what looked like a thumb drive, “I believe this is what you're searching for,” handing it over to the merc.
As he tucked the drive into one of the tactical pockets in his pants, Tami stoically remarked, “I'd be mindful of your woman, wherever she is, for whoever is coming after you, will soon be coming for her.”
Braedan's mood turned on a dime, putting to her bluntly, “So you're making threats now, are you?”
“No threats,” she spoke in a way to calm his nerves, “just giving some humble advice.”
“Since when do dancers give out prophetic advice like that?” the captain questioned.
Tami stood up from the chair, “Who said I've always been a dancer?”
And with that, the meeting met its natural conclusion. From there, Braedan, Talia, and Alyssa found their way out of the club and back onto the street, where they would begin their trek over to the militia precinct where Jameson was being held. Along the way, Braedan gave notice to Edhen that they were moving toward the intended meetup point, whereby she informed him that there were a couple small pieces of business which needed concluding, but would be on her way shortly and would find them outside the precinct.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Outside the Legentis In Atrium
Palma, Xeltana, Pax Capitolina
After finishing with the small affairs she'd mentioned to Tyler, Edhen then went about making her way to the precinct in Bellicus district to meet up with him and his team. The day itself was as scenic as any other in Palma, blessed with a warm, temperate climate and in sunshine for most of the year. Feeling the warmth against her skin, Edhen hardly noticed the pace she was walking at, going by somewhat faster than she thought, but this might be attested to the optimistic mood she was in for whatever reason.
As she went along, there was this eerie feeling that she was being followed, thus quickening her pace to see if she could outdistance herself from whomever was pursuing her. Her heart was beating faster and faster, but no matter her pace, Edhen sensed her stalkers were grower closer with each passing second. Before too long, she felt a pair of hands clench her wrist, leading her down a darkened alleyway, with a another man leading her on with a knifepoint in her back. Being pressed up against a wall, Edhen's hands were still being restrained, as she turned her head over her shoulder to defiantly berate her attackers.
“Scisne qui sum? Ego te, captus...”
One of the men knelt in close, whispering into her ear, “Enough of that drivel...gag her,” taking pleasure in seeing how her eyes grew wider in terror upon hearing him say that.
With her mouth held open with a gaggle of rope, and her hands pinned to the wall, Edhen was rendered helpless to the whims of the deviants who held her captive. Making attempts to wriggle free or to get someone's attention by screaming, they proved fruitless, with the leader of the miscreants moving in behind her. Eyeing the Courtesan's body, he could hardly contain the obscene enthusiasm he was feeling, placing his hands on Edhen's hips, slowly hiking up her dress inch by inch.
One of the last things he said to her, in a most sinister fashion, “You won't enjoy this, being the foreign whore that you are,” he paused again to look over her body, “but we will, I can guarantee you...
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Legentis In Atrium – The Great Hall of the Gatherers
Scisne qui sum? Ego te, captus... – Do you know who I am? I will have you arrested for this... |
Re: Titanium Core: Borderlands (Updated 1/9/16)
Originally Posted by Alwyn
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