It Takes Two To Tango Part II: The Deux

[Drew Davis]

Atlanta, GA
Mayhem Territory
Conflict of Interests Chapter I: Seeds of Malcontent

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It was nine PM, Drew Standard Time, on a Tuesday night, and Deceptions was almost dead. Drew Davis stood behind the bar, cleaning a glass and watching the few patrons with half an eye to see if they needed anything. He hated nights like this. It had been four days since he'd delivered the “package,” for lack of a better term, to the woman in the red jacket, and he hadn't heard back about them yet. Not that he had expected to, but the information had looked...quite shocking, and he'd at least expected some news of it to trickle down to him before today. Still, he was going to get answers today. The woman in the red jacket had given him a call telling him that two of her associates, a man and a woman, were going to meet him today to ask him more questions and update him on what was going on. Needless to say, he wanted to know. It was incredibly attention grabbing information.

Some of the names he'd recognized in the documents were from former associates of associates of his—people who he'd heard had been put in the slammer and scheduled to never see the sun again. Yet there their names were, on medical files from a soft drink company of all things. To make matters worse, the medical files mentioned experiments and, worst of all, abilities similar to the ones his bosses, and him, wanted to keep hidden. If a soda company had figured out about them, who else could have?

Drew sighed, setting another glass down underneath the counter, gazing around the bar again. Four days since the man had run in, scared out of his mind, ambushing Drew right before he went on a smoke break and shoving a manila envelope into his hands. That information could possibly change the face of humanity. He'd seen what some of the people like him could do, and if the public—or worse, the government—found out about them, well...the world would get interesting fast. For now though, he was waiting for his contacts from the higher ups to come. Hopefully soon, because he needed a break in the monotony of the evening.

[Beatrice Stark]

///// Beatrice Stark

^{atlanta, georgia}
_{chapter one: obligations}

Some time well-spent in Atlanta had allowed Beatrice and her new partner, Brian, to catch the scent after a few boring days with no leads. Something always came up-wind eventually. It all sort of clicked into place, at least it felt that way for Beatrice, but perhaps that was because the leads they were following up on had led them to a club called Deceptions-- and that seemed like the perfect place to go for information, for some strange reason.

It just seemed like a melting pot of ... interesting sorts. One thing had definitely become an important factor: they weren't in Kansas anymore. Brian and Beatrice had found themselves immersed deep into a gang territory spanning several states, right at the heart of it. The organized crime group known as Mayhem were more involved than Beatrice could have hoped for.

There had been minor brushes with them in the past, and of course, the identity of AuraFiz had been protected from these criminals in those incidents, and if it was any less than the same this time around, there would be... bad concequences. The pair would have to tread carefully. This put Beatrice into a stone-cold state, stoic and resolved on the mission at hand.

Beatrice and Brian were now Michelle and Eddie, two cousins going out to celebrate a special occasion at what they had heard to be a popular club, a good place to get smashed. It meant dressing up, and acting the part, and Beatrice had been amply clear to Brian how important it was to maintain their composure, and thus, their cover... and what to do if it were at any point blown. Who know how many of those gangsters would be hiding in the dark corners of the club, listening to them.

The thought of walking into a nest of thugs made Bea's skin crawl, just a bit, but she held it together so well that even Brian wouldn't likely be able to tell. As they entered the club, it seemed to be a slow night, which meant even more attention would be on them. They'd have to be on their toes.

Looking around, Beatrice made her way to the bar, dragging Brian playfully by the hand as she erupted into what had to be the first bit of laughter Brian had heard from her. She was a different person now, Michelle... sporting a form-fitting floral dress that held to her curves like the petals of a rose, and nice earrings and a necklace further decorated her, adding a glimmer to compliment her complexion.

"I'll have a drink, please. Something strong, um..." she turned to Brian, "What do you recommend? Nothing too strong, right?" she looked to the bartender, "It's my twenty first birthday! Hit me with something strong!" she too her seat at the bar.

[Brian Sinclair]

It was quite a masquerade, but for sure, it was a break from the ordinary. It wasn't every day Brian assumed a different name and identity, in this case 'Eddie', cousin to 'Michelle', or Beatrice. Moreover, even though he had known Bea only a short while, her personality seemed to have gone full circle, showing a completely different side. It was frighteningly realistic, too, as the young woman in the floral dress took him up to the bar, tittering like a schoolgirl. Smiling and laughing didn't really seem like Bea's cup of tea before that, to be honest. Maybe, though, it was nature's way of telling him not to make assumptions...

Thankfully, there were few better to ask than Brian to become someone different. In this case, he wore rectangular-framed glasses, which were perhaps the most outstandingly different thing about his appearance, since a striped pine-green polo and jeans didn't stray from his usual garb. The two were convincing, to say the least-- and hopefully, they seemed unassuming as well.

Treading to the bar around the same time as his 'cousin', Brian leaned on the counter and smiled at the bartender. "Yeah, give her something with a real kick to it," he said, gesturing his hand a bit more flamboyantly than usual, with a slight lilt in his voice to match. It was nothing over-the-top, though, since Brian probably couldn't tolerate himself if that were the case. At most, it was the first in-character step he even took than night. "And I'll have a strawberry mojito."