RP: ISC Phoenix [Interlude 4] - A Hard Day's Night

"It was about what happened this afternoon," Luca told to Enzo with a smile, "You're pretty damn good with what happened earlier. Neither of us saw it comin'," He pointed with his left hand as he used the other hand to summon the elevator, "But you and the others did well to get that guy to safety and to take care of the Sniper."

He looked away and watched the elevator rise to the 49th floor slowly, "I was thinking about rewarding you with a round of drinks, money from my pocket or something for keeping my hide safe."

John moved out of his hotel room wearing his normal attire. Burgundy jumper, dark blue jeans, black shoes, ruffled hair and those black sunglasses, "Hey guys," He waved nonchalantly, "I'm ready to roll."
Sebastian came out of his hotel room as well, wearing a dinner suit, expecting to go to a high-end bar. He looked at the others, tilted his head and asked: "Aren't we going somewhere?"

"No dad, we're just going down to the pub for a few drinks," Luca shrugged as the elevator chimed and the doors opened and he moved in, "Feel free to come along."
Sebastian nodded and walked into the elevator. John moved in too.

In the cloud of dust generated by Zeta's buggy, Arin quickly clambered abroad and then directed the driver to floor the gas. She had already given up on her masterplan to notice that Zeta saw through the disguise like it was nothing.

"I didn't bring my DA card!" She gasped, perhaps she shouldn't have left ALL her junk in the Hotel Room. There were grease marks on her cheeks. "They tried to make me pay the bill!"

As they were further away from the bar the representative continued after catching her breath. "I fixed the bartender's Computer Terminal in exchange, didn't take me more than three minutes." She stole a quick glance behind. "Those weren't the ones that dragged me in there... I think they are still doing the dishes!"

Hotel wasn't far from that bar. Zeta parked the buggy and then turned to Arin.
"Looks like you were busy," she said with smirk on her face. "You got any idea where our problem magnet captain could be? Anyway let's go to out room."

Zeta had to change and then find Luca. Who knows what trouble lurkes behind a corner. Then she got Lucas telepathy message. It kind of freaked her out. She really wasn't used to getting messages right into her head. Weird! But at least she knows where her Captain is or will be. Now to get changed and caught up with him.

Vincent stepped slowly out of the hotel room in what was probably the most rediculous outfit of the evening.

The hulking ID-Sol was dressed in an oversized white cotton shirt, black dress vest, white dinner jacket, black slacks, oversized black dress shoes and a pair of aviator sunglasses. He looked the part of a slick mobster, even down to the stupid red corsage on the left breast of his jacket. Straightening the black tie that had been carefully affixed around his neck, the group enforcer made a final check of his hidden arsenal, straightening the Hand Cannon holsters and patting down his leg in search of the survival knife tied around his ankle, before he moved over to Luca.

"Ready whenever you are, skipper." The merc rumbled in his baritone voice, stepping into the elevator after Luca- and leaving a surprisingly roomy amount of space for any newcomers in the process. The elevators in this hotel were actually pretty large- must have been built to accomodate all races.

Enzo smiled when he saw Vincent in the elevator. He looked up at the newly-slick goliath and nodded in appreciation.

"You sure clean up nice, don't you?" he asked, already seeing the answer in front of him, "It kinda makes me want to go and buy a nice little suit myself."

After he finished chuckling to himself, he counted his funds in his head as he considered actually making the purchase. He lit what could've been his thousand-and-first cigarette. Soon, smoke filled the ceiling of the rather spacious elevator as the crew members filed in.

The elevator was just the right size to fit everyone, even Vincent was quite comfortable. John leaned over and pushed the button to send them down to the ground floor. The elevator went down, occasionally picking up another hotel guest on the way down and continuing.

Eventually, the ground floor beckoned, and the doors opened. Luca was the first out, and walked towards the Restaurant and Bar. The receptionist gave him a nod of acknowledgement. Luca returned with a wink. They were eventually ushered into the bar, walking past a large ID-SOL bodyguard with a handcannon by his side.

"Right this way, sirs," The doorman waved them in.
"Thanks," Luca replied as he took a good look at the large bar.

This bar was made for all calibres and degrees of guests, whether they were Yamataian, Nepleslian, Lorath, ID-SOL, Nekovalkyrja, or even an Elysian - penniless or filthy stinking rich.

There appeared to be two different bars, one on a ground level which catered to the usual transient humdrum and people with an average income or amount of money to toss around. Plainly and utilitarianly furnished and adorned, and with a stage for tonight's entertainment. Of note were "Balloon", tuning up for their performance as best as they could.
The bar itself had fairly standard fare, with small meals made to order.

The upper bar was only accessible via a spiral staircase which lead to the bar, suspended about a storey above the lower bar, and had a limited entry policy, usually asking tenants to book in advance, or to just pay a hefty sum up front, get invited in, or just look and act incredibly important.
Up had a balcony that overlooked the lower bar, and significantly pricier decorations, drinks, food and attitude. This could've been what Sebastian and Vince were anticipating.

"Pretty neat," Luca said as he immediately moved towards the lower bar and sat down on a stool, he put three fingers up, "Three please,"
"Hello gorgeous," A lady in a cleavage-revealing, little black dress was sitting next to him, and turned over to show off her assets, "Care for a drink?" She put glass of wine forward.

Luca was about to agree, but he remembered to keep his wits about him. Instead he sent a telepathic message to his team.
"I think this lady is trying to poison me, I need to spill the drink, but I need to make it look like an accident. See if you can get someone to distract me."
"Yes, but first, how about you tell me a little about yourself, good lookin'..." Luca said to the woman as she put the wine down on the bar and followed along.

Without even paying attention to the telepathic message, Enzo was already getting between Luca and the woman as soon as he spied her generous cleavage from afar. He smirked at the woman as he leaned between her and Luca, hands on both of their shoulders.

"Well-well-welly-well-well!" he chirped, his left hand sliding down to the woman's waist, "Cap'n Pavone, holding out on me, eh? Don't leave poor old Vincienzo out of sight with women like this around!"

With another quick motion, he swept up the wine in one hand, twirling it like some kind of wine-tasting afficianado while he leapt up to sit on the bar. "And this wine?" he continued while holding up the glass purposefully, "This is a drink for pansies! Barkeep! Bring out the gin! Not the good stuff either! We want the bad stuff."

As the bartender struggled to pour enough glasses of gin for the whole group as quickly as possible, Enzo was already back on the ground, strolling away with the wine glass. Without breaking his gait, he spit the butt of his cigarette into the drink and lit another. He winked at Luca as he passed by.

"If Cap'n Pavone turns you down," he said as he walked away, "I'll be at the stage, talking to the band, lady."

He then did as he said and made his way to the stage, setting the wine glass on a bus tray as he moved. He leaned on the stage and called out to the bassist, "How's that nose doing, pal?"

And of course, that's when Seiren entered the bar. Now, at the time, he had a lead on the position of the captain of the ISC Phoenix. Granted, it was very vague and could be a one in a million chance that he would find him, he had to be there. Luca was rather large and wore a trademark jacket wherever he went from what Seiren had heard.

"Nobody here matching that jacket. . . ." The inventor muttered, taking a look around the lower floor. He knew there was an upper floor - but you had to be rich or something to get in. Of course, right when he was thinking that was exactly when he saw Luca sitting at the normal bar with the Mark II jacket. Seiren groaned with a facepalm, "I really oughtta pay more attention. . ." Approaching the captain and tapping his shoulder, a small wanted ad in his hand, the boyish inventor asked, "Are you the captain of the Phoenix?"

((And short joke is due... Now.))

Vincent's head cocked towards the crowd that knotted around the bar, searching for the voice. For some reason, though, the voice didn't come from within the crowd, but rather beneath it. After he looked around comically for a while, Vincent inclined his head down and spotted a... A... Midget...?

Vincent's initial "draw gun, pull trigger, repeat until target is bloody smear on tile flooring" reaction was belayed as his mighty brow furrowed in concentration. Then he went there. He leaned over in his seat, placed his arms across his knees and brought his face down level with Seiren's... Forehead. Then he spoke, in the kindest voice he could muster: "look little girl, ain't you a bit young to be in the private contracting business? Now run along home and do whatever it is little Yamataian children do these days, because we ain't hiring minors."

Argh, you idiot! Relaxing huh? What a great idea! Zeta thought to herself. Sure, relaxing and not guarding her captain. Zeta was very angry at herself for this.

She quickly barged in her room and start changing. Trousers, tank-top, jacket and boots. The she got pistol from her towel and put it back in her waist holster and checked charge of both batteries.

All good. Now just to get to bar and find the captain. She bet he is not alone but she wanted to keep lookout anyway. Who knows what crazy assassin might barge there with machinegun? There is also danger of someone poisoning him... She thought to buy a whole bottle for the captain and keep an eye on it, What could the captain drink? Whiskey? Maybe vodka.

"I am going ahead, meet you at the bar," she shouted at Arin and ran down the hall. Catching the elevator wasn't a problem, and finding the bar was also easy. The doorman looked at Zeta and then let her in without a word.

Bar was full of people. The worst possible place to protect someone you could imagine. Any of these people could be an assassin.
Luca was sitting at the lower bar with some bimbo and the hulk-guy. Zeta really didn't pay much attention to little Yamataian near them.

"Sorry I am late skipper," She came to them and then asked. "What do you drink?" Smooth.

Seiren was in a stunned silence. Many times in the past he had been mistaken for a child, but a girl? He was almost quivering with rage, but swallowed it down and just took a deep breath. He began to say, "One. Not a girl. Two. Not a child. Three. I can do this -"

With a twist of his wrist, a monkey wrench popped out of his sleeve, apparently connected to a track attatched to his arm like a gauntlet. "I'm good at technical maintenance and I've got more surprises than a third rate archvillian." He growled, but it came out as more of a purr. "Damn my stature. . ."

By the time Enzo had finished chit-chatting with the band, more of the crew members had gathered at the bar. He smiled at everyone while he picked up one of the untouched glasses of gin and downed it swiftly. After a moment or two of booze-face, he approached the new arrival and looked him up and... well, just mainly looked him down. When he was satisfied with his assessment of the new guy, he stuck his hand out, the tips of his fingers barely brushing the cold wrench as he awaited the handshake.

"Name's Enzo. Pleased to meetcha an' all that." he said, "I see yous got business with Cap'n Pavone, but If I might be so bold, I think we mighta met before now. I seen a guy about your size before..."

Jim entered the bar after the rest of the crew, having taken far longer showering up afterwards. It had just felt so nice that everyone had already left by the time he got out. Luckily the telepathic message Luca had sent told him where to show up. He had gotten dressed quickly and arrived at the bar moments later. Plopping himself down next to Luca on the opposite side of the woman at the bar, Jim shouted to the barkeep, "Hey! Gimme something with fruit in it!"

Smiling, Jim looked at Luca, "Dammit if I'm gonna let some stupid violence distract me from relaxing!"

The drink slid on the counter, arriving neatly two feet away from Jim, who had to reach across someone else to retrieve it. Picking the fruity booze concoction, he sipped it, sighed, and looked at the little wannabe. "So ya have a nice wrench. Can you actually use it? Also, how old even ARE you?"

Seiren let out a disgruntled sigh as the two other men questioned him. rubbing his temples with his free hand after he had shaken the former's hand, the inventor answered, "First of all, I'm not Darren McClour. I hate it when people mix me up with that actor. . . ." He turned to the latter man and pointed out, "I can use this wrench for three things: Fixing stuff, making stuff, and breaking things," he ended with a sinister tone. "Now enough on my height! Jeez. . . . I swear, I get this WAAAAY too often. . ."

The band Balloon was doing quite well since their inflatable crocodile incident. They'd taken the time to buy themselves a thought-activated drum machine, and the bassists nose had a pair of plasters put over it in a cross.
"We're ready to play, Ah one, two, one two three four!"

The introductory slap-bass riff was a bit like this, and it stuck best with the crowd:
(low) A - A - C - G - A - (pause) - (high) A - G - F - G - F - C - D

They decided to scratch any vocals, and let the energetic bass and the adjoining guitar do the work. The drums helped them get the edge and prevent them from having tomorrows breakfast thrown at them.

Luca was starting to feel a little bit crowded around his chair. Mrs. Bosoms was on his right, the new midget to the left (and below), and his crew behind him. He looked down to the midget and extended his right arm for a handshake.

"Pleased to meet you. I can tell you aren't going to kill me since you're very sincere about it. There are some nasty people who are out to kill me," Luca replied politely to the midget with a smile. The lady behind him seemed to take offence to his last statement.
As he retracted his hand, he knocked over his glass of wine, which looked understandable since he had to reach down to give the midget a handshake, "Ah, bugger." He cursed as the barman got his rag and begun wiping it up.

Then the spilt wine started to so something that wine usually wasn't known to do. It was starting to slowly eat through the wood, and the barman's rag. The barman recoiled and let his rag to its fate.
"What the!?" The barman cursed, "Hey lady, you tampered with my drinks!"

The bosomed lady, realising that all bets were off, had a serrated knife around Luca's neck in an instant.
"You think you're a smart man, but you're just high on the movies, and luck. Yes - Luck. That's how you outdid my master." She seemed to be lecturing him, "That's all you are. A luck absorbing freak of nature who needs to be put down."

Luca winked to the crew. He had his hand under his jacket and around his pistol - which was pointing at her.

"Not all luck is good, I know, but..." Luca said as calmly and casually as possible. He had it in spades as he had his hand around his pistol.
KA-POW!
"Yours just ran out."
The heads of the patrons turned to look at the assassination attempt, the band stopped playing. Even the people in the upper bar stopped eating and leaned over the balcony to observe the commotion.
Murmurs of surprise were exchanged.

The woman dropped her knife, stood up and staggered back past Jim whilst appearing to reflect on her lack of skill. She then grinned and threw a punch. Luca raised his forearm to block it, and did - but left a fist shaped imprint into the sheet of metal he'd hidden into his cuff.

Luca stared quizzically at what just happened. He had a feeling that this woman had more than meets the eye. He took a better look at her (not at her assets), then looked a little closer.
"Hold on a moment, I remember you from Mission 4, Delsauria," He observed with a bit of backtracking in memory, "You were the Secretary for the guy who turned into something big and nasty, am I right?"

"His legacy lives on with ME!" Her arm turned black with slashes of red, and transformed into a nasty hook shape, with a mass of bone jutting out of it, "I, AM, MALICE!"

The patrons in the lower bar begun to scramble for their lives and clear the space between Luca's Crew and Malice.

Luca made an exaggerated frown and a bead of sweat ran down his forehead. He wasn't expecting people like this to try and collect on him, "Hmm, this promises to be interesting."
"Holy shit!" John observed as he scrambled for some cutlery, "The videos of you fighting these don't do it justice."
Sebastian was struggling to pull his .44 from his jacket, awed by what was very close to what his son was up against.

Meanwhile, the massive doorman, hearing the gunshot turned around and raised his handcannon at the woman with unseen agility: "Whatever you are - FREEZE!" He yelled. The other doorman who was guarding the stairs followed suit.

The barman, meanwhile, was reaching under the counter and the band shrugged at each other and continued playing, this time, it was more upbeat and frantic.

Outside was pretty quite with a gentle gust of wind, a fly flew onto the building and began cleaning itself until it was squashed underfoot by a man covered in rags. Panther ignored it and continued to climb upward on the rope, now reaching the 40th floor. He threw up the grappling hook to the next balcony, he gave it a strong tug, and the rope rip in two. "Hmm," he mumbled to himself as he threw the rest of the rope over the edge, "I guess a rest should be good for now," he said in a low voice while perched on the railing on the balcony so he couldn't be seen from inside the room.

Suprised it lasted it did, rope was cheap, and the hook was for a shark more than for climbing, he thought to himself, Let me think, judging from the television footage, the Luca would be at this floor or higher, possibly the top. Luckily I stole this from someone leaving the hotel earlier. He then pulled out a brochure of the hotel from the inside of his gray cloth, The top seems lavish, the Luca might not be wealthy considering what he was wearing. No, he isn't that type of prey, he might reside on the level before that assuming attacks would happen on the top... Narrowing his eyes, he moved to look into the room that he was at to see if it was preoccupied at the moment, and then attempt to sneak toward the staircase undetected and figure a plan from there.

"Freeze my ass, just fucking DIE!" The mighty ID-Sol bodyguard roared, ripping the bolted-down barstool out of the flooring. Grabbing it by the shaft of the stool, Vincent immediately opened the fight by taking a wide, arcing swipe at Malice with the heavy improvised bludgeon, missed, and sent it hurtling across the room. Vincent's head cocked to the side a bit.

'How did I miss?' Vincent thought briefly, looking back towards the space where his barstool once was and noticing a half-drained bottle of hard liquor. 'Oh right,' the mercenary thought to himself, shortly before letting loose a mean left uppercut at Malice.

Jim yelled, "What the HELL, man?!" as Vincent ripped the barstool out of its socket not four feet from where he was standing, now with a fruity drink all over his lap. He looked down at his lap, now very sweet, sighed and shouted, "OH COME ON. I JUST CHANGED!" as he ripped his 10mm out of his holster. Squeezing a few shots off at close range, Jim advanced upon the 'woman', rage playing across his face.

It all happened quite quickly. Woman drew knife and threatened captain. Zeta couldn't do anything that midget and others were in thy way, she just drew he laser pistol but then Luca winked. It confused Zeta a little but got the meaning of that wink. He has the situation under control. Then he shot her. Knife dropped on ground and Zeta was relieved.

But the assassin wasn't dead. Some underskin plating maybe? Because it is wasn't possible for her to wear anything bulletproof under that skimpy dress. Okay she is unarmed not really that much dangerous. Ans then she mutated in front of Zetas eyes.

"The Hell!" Zeta shouted when she saw what happened. What the hell is that woman or creature or thing or whatever it is. People were running away and Zeta could understand why. It is not very normal for someone to change their hand into ugly hook thingie.

Zeta frozed for while watching what happened and unable to really understand. Other of the crew weren't really that surprised. A stool flew around, then Vince attacked with his fist and that guy Luca fought over a big shark on beach pulled out his gun and shot few rounds at close range.

It happened pretty quickly but then marine programming deeply hidden in Zetas mind kicked in. She moved quickly and got her self between the woman and Luca. She is here to guard him after all.
"Get out of here skipper!" she shouted at him ready to face the mutated assassin in front of her.

Shooting really didn't do that much so her pistol stayed in her left hand. But she still has her nasty and strong metal hand. She didn't give a time for woman to react. Zeta is very skilled hand-to-hand combatant after all. Enemys hook-hand looked dangerous but Zeta has also a dangerous hand. Her right fist flew forward aiming at womans face.

Vincienzo watched calmly as the crew tussled with the crazy-arm woman until he finished his cigarette. As each crewman's attack pushed her back, he slowly advanced step by step behind them, keeping a careful eye on the situation. When he finally saw an opportunity to interrupt, he snapped into action.

With one swift action, he jumped onto the bar and threw his jacket into the air, sending it slowly over adversary's face while he took a sprint to close the distance between them. As he reached the crazed woman he turned on his toe and kicked off the bar, somersaulting in such a way as to land on her shoulders, using her massive arm for leverage. He struggled to pull his Type 29 and push it into her forehead. Remembering he hadn't test fired the gun since his jury-rigged modification back on the Big Bird, he closed his eyes and held his breath, bracing himself for the inevitable backfire as he pulled the trigger.