Description: [R2] [Backscene] Vanessa and Soma, relatively fresh from a good hard Vicing, catch up to Alan R. B. with words of warning. CAUTION: Contains shockingly low amounts of sexual harassment.
NOW
Alan's fitful breath mists out into the air in front of him, only lightly flecked with blood. The sun has fallen, and the fight has killed most of the lights around the chemical building - the only illumination comes from the fitful electricity around Alan and the occasional crash of Taizhou's lightning, refracting off the hellish icy landscape in an array of scintillating colors. The boxer can barely keep his feet, pinned to the wall by a spear of ice through his side, a trickling river of red dripping down the wall behind him.
He hears a crunching step.
A SHORT TIME AGO
Alan R.B.'s steps crunch on the gravel, walking along a river in Linhai. His hair looks perfect, but the rest of him looks haggard, eyes heavily shadowed as he leans against a tree, fumbling with the smartphone in his left hand.
Alan, at this time, has gone three days without sleep. Later, he'll get a good rest in, and charge headlong into the most dangerous situation he's ever been in short of convincing Rugal not to bronze him.
Anyone trying to run him down will manage to do it fairly easily. The 'R' operative hasn't been subtle in the best of times, and as he shakes people down for information, he doesn't even try to cover his tracks. A bit unusual for a career criminal. Alan finally manages to get to the app he's looking for on his phone, letting himself sink down against the tree to read it.
His eyes close, unbidden, for just a moment.
THE PAST
Vanessa and Soma have 'words' they need to have with Alan. This place is full of mystery and deceit; what's a little telling-people-what-the-hell's-going-on between maybe-not-enemies?
Long story short, the redhead Boxing Queen has used her tracking skills, advanced skill in unbuttoning her shirt, and just a little bit of rubbing up against elderly gentlemen with loose lips, to locate word of a suspicious man with far, far too nice hair wandering through the area, shaking down people for information. Looking for something. Just like they are, really.
Alan closes his eyes for just a moment. When he inevitably startles awake, a possibly familiar woman with shockingly blue hair is stepping up toward him, hands in her slacks' pockets, cocking her eyebrow high. (Vanessa dyed her hair again. It's a middle age thing.)
"Long time no see, fella," Vanessa chirps.
Vice was... an experience. For some reason, Soma has made it a career move since the first Jinchuu to avoid the actions of 'R' Organization. There's no real telling why, but if he were to be questioned about it, he might admit that having Rugal Bernstein himself hold you by the neck and dangle you over the ground while interrogating you about the Ryouhara ninja just, you know, *makes an impression* on you in terms of how badly you want to mess with certain people. Yes, in the long term, he'd like to bring 'R' to justice and all that. In the short term, he enjoys breathing.
Fighting a crazed Vice in a dark alley throws that into stark relief, and the fact that she's in Taizhou looking for someone means that, you know, tracking that person down actually has some potential use. Soma doesn't know a lot about Alan, other than 'slicked hair, punches lightning, dresses like he's in the Smooth Criminal section of that Michael Jackson movie'... the stuff that's in his Interpol dossier. They believe he's a criminal, but they don't actually know. Not yet, anyway. But Vanessa seemed to recognize the name, so following her as she went to track him down seemed like a reasonable enough thing to do.
If Alan recognizes Vanessa, the probability that he'll recognize Soma, by contrast, is actually quite low. The Indian puts a hand on his hip, making sure to stand behind the redhead, but he can't help but throw out a comment. "God, you look like hell."
About an hour passes before Vanessa comes up on Alan, the smartphone dangling in his hand, a text file - one of the Sanctum Files, most likely - open upon it. He wakes up like you'd expect someone permanently on lightning to - he jerks up, unconciously making a 'hsst--', before planting one hand on the tree and shoving himself back to his feet. He gives Vanessa a bleary look, electricity already building to COMBAT MODE on his skin... and he stops, only able to make out a female form with blue hair. "Hotaru?" He wonders, the picture of confusion. Hadn't seen her since parachuting in...
Then Alan swabs his left hand over his eyes, blinking more clearly at Vanessa. As far as second first impressions go, mistaking someone for someone half their age isn't a bad one?! Recognition sets in. Another boxer... ran into her once or twice... sexually harrassed her, got the usual response (knuckles). Alan promptly reverts to type, slipping the phone into one pocket, rocking back on his heels. "Huh! Finally decided to take me up on my offer? You picked a rotten time, I'm busy, look me up in my dorm room later. Don't bring him."
Alan juts a chin at Soma, and then looks him up and down. "Whatever you say, Bollywood," is his only response. He just woke up, he needs time to get to the good sass.
Vanessa's grin is broad and friendly, and she barks a laugh as Alan jerks aright and peers toward her. "Ahh, I only wish people would think I was that young more often~" she chimes, stepping up and leaning lazily back against the tree, arms slung low beneath her breasts in that way only the /really/ scary chicks manage to do right. Eyes tick over to Soma, briefly, before glancing back down at Alan around the curve of the tree. "Ah, sorry 'bout that, hon," Vanessa laughs. "Was business, you know? An' I think I'll have to ask for a raincheck this time, too. Maybe if you're a good boy."
Now she hums, staring into the sky, and lets things just kind of linger for a few moments while Alan chews on this. She knows Alan (kinda), so she'll take point for this. Which is why she abruptly, just as the silence grows oddly long, says, "Vice was in town. Any reason she wants to bite your dick off?"
The Interpol agent gives a sort of vague shrug at the jibe. Soma himself feels pretty miserable, Vice having done her level best to basically kill him and it shows. He's scuffed up, visible cuts on both skin and clothes among other Realistic Battle Damage(tm) but compared to how Alan appears to have been worked over, well... if calling Soma 'Bollywood' will make him feel better, the ICPO agent can indulge. He glances at Vanessa curiously for a moment as she banters back and forth with the other boxer, though his eyes flicker briefly to the blond when he starts building up for combat, noting the electric feeling of... well... electricity in the air for that brief moment.
It conveniently distracts him from the emerald-like dagger strapped to his back rattling away in the presence of the chi-infused boxer... something he will, later on, wish he had noticed.
Crossing his arms, he takes a moment during the Awkward Silence to observe the situation. The chemical plant is just as messed up as the rest of Taizhou, though his inner policeman is wondering if there's suddenly dangerous substances in there open for anybody stupid or bored enough to want them to drift in and take. But then Vanessa brings up Vice, and he can actually add something to the conversation; turning back to Alan, he tacks on to Vanessa's question, "Or why she seemed to be in superpowered psycho mode? I mean, compared to her normal public persona."
vice
The word hits him like a sniper's bullet shown through radical high speed camera. His muscles tense reactively, choking the chi off his skin as he ratchets back. Alan's signature bravado, for which the fighter is famous in far greater proportion than his fighting skill, completely shatters. Before now, this news would have mildly concerned him. But here, now...
Alan staggers into the tree, turning to rest the side of his forehead upon it, looking absolutely miserable. Soma then makes it worse, and his eyes snap open wide. "No, no, ahhh, shit, dude. They /just/ sent her? Mature wasn't with her?" He's seen it: the blonde secretary has a calming effect on the madwoman, able to totally settle her shit down with a few whispered words. You send Vice and Mature on delicate missions.
You send Vice, and Vice alone, to make something go away.
Alan reaches up, grabbing a thick branch seemingly to steady himself. His arm relaxes, electricity rushes through it, and he just crushes his hand right through it, the branch thudding to the ground. The boxer shakes splinters out of his hand. His face arranges into a brittle grin, the boxer only barely putting his head back together. "I guess Rugal," there's the clear association, if Vanessa and Soma didn't have anything to pin him down to, "has a dim view of people takin' vacation."
Vanessa can tell he's flipping out a lot - more than he even seems to be. It takes a lot to break through his air of infallible disregard. He's known for it, that casual, layabout kind of bravado.
Much like she is, really.
"Just her," Vanessa says, turning halfway to watch Alan's reactions. "Was completely barking mad, too. ...literally."
Vanessa's eyes track Alan as he reaches up to smash that branch to pieces in his hands, trying to vent some of that excess energy, maybe? "Rugal, huh?" Vanessa hums, and turns back away, leaning companionably against the tree, letting Alan not have to deal with the analysis hidden in the older woman's eyes. "Well, not my business. He doesn't really seem like the vaycay type, though, no. How's that guy pay, anyway?" It's such a casual question - like it just popped into her head. Maybe it did. "I mean, if he's going to send attack vampires or whatever the hell Vice is after you when you call in sick, damn."
Well, well. Looks like 'R' Organization's employee relations department could perhaps use a bonding retreat. Perhaps they'll do a trust fall, over a pit of sharks with lasers on their heads, or something of that nature. Soma watches Alan's reaction with interest, partly because it confirms that the man in front of him is an employee of a massive and dangerous criminal group -- hardly surprising, considering who was running around on the Suiryuu back in the day -- but also because it suggests that Rugal or a Rugal-alike sending Vice to 'fire' (read: kill and possibly eat) him comes as a genuine, if unwelcome, surprise.
But more than that, there's something about him. Perhaps it's being gifted with the psychic power of empathy, but there's also just the sixth sense one develops during a career of espionage-like law enforcement. In some ways -- many ways -- Alan is a closed book. But there was... something in that reaction.
Against all logic, it actually makes Soma a little sympathetic.
"Mature... oh right. Memory kicking in. They usually do work as a pair, don't they?" Mentally he skims memories of dossiers, case files, and FightTube videos. It IS unusual to see one without the other, though Soma can't connect the dots on 'make a point' vs. 'shoot to kill' in the same way an insider like Alan can. "No, it was just her. Considering your boss had a vested interest in Ryouhara's last outing, I'd thought he was maybe attempting to dip his fingers into Ninja Pie #2, but apparently I was wrong on that front, wasn't I..." He trails off, thoughtful. Vanessa is left holding the 'good cop' bag but this is Alan, and Vanessa has breasts, so this really isn't as big a problem as it sounds.
Alan passes his hand over his face again. "It's a livin'," he replies, just as casually. "Up until this kinda thing, anyway." With a harsh exhalation, he then rubs the back of his neck.
He finds sweat there. He never sweats. Well, since these two just walked up and all but told him he might die soon, it's not surprising.
"Dropping Vice without Mature," he starts, expositing despite himself, "is like leaving a gun without a safety and a hair trigger in a fucking playground. It's gonna go off all over the place and not even give a shit." Is that concern?! Nahhhh. He shoots a pointed glance at Soma. "Don't be too sure, Bollywood. He's not a one-thumb kind of guy, if Vice is here, he'll be paying attention. I'm here on my own business, and I guess he doesn't like that."
Vanessa is good at good cop. This is because she is sweet and caring, of course, and not at all because she has huge breasts and no shame whatsoever about letting Alan dream that he will get to touch them someday.
Still, it seems she's not going to have to deploy that gambit today, just kind of leaning against the tree and looking companionably aloof, staring off into the middle distance while the discussion goes down. "Vice and Mature. Tweedle Dee, and Tweedle Bitch. I don't really know the deal, much. "R" isn't really my beat." No, that would be NESTS, if that SNF where she was in a cage match with Igniz and ended up shrieking his name in fury is any indication. "Vice has a lovely set of lungs on her, though. You know she can projectile vomit her own blood?" She says it with some annoyance. "My favorite white shirt," she adds, with a /lot/ of annoyance.
Alan starts explaining the truth of the situation. She hums, and her eyes track around, peering at Alan through the corners again. "Your boss is a dick," she notes, plainly. "But I guess a screaming chi monster lunatic isn't the weirdest bitch in town, right now."
Vanessa will not know how prophetic these words are for a while.
"Still...you think it even is you?" Vanessa murmurs, eyes defocusing a little, thoughtfully peering off into heaven. "I mean, if you think about it, it's not like anyone else held off on sending their best." Why yes, that is Vanessa's ego showing. "Somethin's up in this town..."
Hm. "Ah, but then again, the whole thing where she wanted you by name. Whoops, I'm wrong!" She laughs, a little lazily, hugging her chest a little tighter, gloved hands curled around the clear muscles of her arms. And in that way she has, the next thing she says is both incredibly lackadaisical and quite serious, as she murmurs, "You should be careful out there on the playground."
"Not just a dick, but a little unstable," Soma chimes in at Vanessa's evaluation of Rugal. Say what you want about Rugal, who is a highly effective Evil Overlord in his own right, but Vice is a perfectly suited servant for him, because both bitches be co-hosting the morning drive time on Radio KRZY with 10,000 megawatts of fucked up power. "Not stupid, though. A nutjob with all the subtlety of a nuclear device, but not stupid." He trails off at that, becoming thoughtful in expression. He's got a lot to think about at this point.
When Vanessa says something is 'up in this town,' the ICPO agent can't help but give a short, sharp, clearly cynical-sounding laugh. "That's an understatement and a half. Like I said before, I preferred the boat. Only so far to go, on the boat. I found out where the rabbit hole was there even if I didn't make it all the way down. Here? He could have sewn his goddamned ninja technology into the landscape."
Here, he turns back to Alan, inclining his head in the boxer's direction while speaking to the redhead. "I'm not big on the whole chi usage thing but even I can tell something's up with that here. Just like the stupid boat was a big magnet for the stuff." He carefully leaves out the fact that the Suiryuu's design attracted psychic energy, too... the situation's bad enough without bringing THAT up.
Turning back to the blond, Soma pauses as Vanessa admonishes him to be careful, and crosses his arms over his chest. "I'm not exactly thrilled to say this to someone on Rugal's payroll, but watch your back." For a moment he's consumed with the very visceral and recent memories of just what an angered Vice can do to someone. "What he does in his free time is one thing, but getting taken out by that nutjob Vice... I wouldn't wish that on anyone, really."
Alan gives Vanessa a queasy look, as if to say 'you'd be amazed at the things she can projectile vomit'. The humor dies rapidly, though. Alan is not in his happy place. "Anyway, yeah... Rugal's hard to read. Don't underestimate how subtle he can be, though - /he/ is kind of a 500-pound gorilla but he knows how to place people." A beat, consideration of Vice. "Usually."
The boxer finally stops pacing, slapping at his rumpled vest, extracting a black cigarette case. He gives the ivory-engraved R logo on it a glance and a snort before flicking it open, pulling out two black cigarettes with gold filtering, popping one in his mouth and offering the other over his shoulder to Vanessa. Soma doesn't get any, because Soma doesn't have breasts. I don't... think. "What, this?" He holds his free hand up, electricity dancing and crackling around it, passing it in front of his cigarette. It glows a cherry red. "Factory standard. But no, no, I know what you mean. The boat's fuckin... runes, whatever, went nuts when I walked by. Here, those lightning bolts... damn, how can I put this? They just feel /good./
Alan gives Vanessa a queasy look, as if to say 'you'd be amazed at the things she can projectile vomit'. The humor dies rapidly, though. Alan is not in his happy place. "Anyway, yeah... Rugal's hard to read. Don't underestimate how subtle he can be, though - /he/ is kind of a 500-pound gorilla but he knows how to place people." A beat, consideration of Vice. "Usually."
The boxer finally stops pacing, slapping at his rumpled vest, extracting a black cigarette case. He gives the ivory-engraved R logo on it a glance and a snort before flicking it open, pulling out two black cigarettes with gold filtering, popping one in his mouth and offering the other over his shoulder to Vanessa. Soma doesn't get any, because Soma doesn't have breasts. I don't... think. "What, this?" He holds his free hand up, electricity dancing and crackling around it, passing it in front of his cigarette. It glows a cherry red. "Factory standard. But no, no, I know what you mean. The boat's fuckin... runes, whatever, went nuts when I walked by. Here, those lightning bolts... damn, how can I put this? They just feel /good./ Anyway," he gives Soma a sudden look, gaze sharpening. "What brings you two here? Investigation as normal?"
Alan decides not to mention that if Vice is here for the reason he thinks she's here, he's not exactly 'on Rugal's payroll' anymore. He's not entirely cognizant of it, not really.
Vanessa hums, gloved fingers reaching out to accept the cigarette. "Black," she laughs. "Big spender." She arches a fine blue (apparently she is thorough) eyebrow, putting the cigarette between lips and digging around in her pockets to find her lighter.
She busies herself with the mechanics of lighting up while Alan talks. It's something to do, a few seconds worth of familiar rote to keep herself busy while she's listening. Normally it's alcohol, but this'll do, too.
She purses lips and takes a slow drag off of what is presumably a ridiculously expensive cancer stick, while the two talk energy-user shop. Vanessa can punch tornados if she wants. That's about it. The black stick falls away between a pair of fingers, and Vanessa snorts twin jets of smoke. "Boss got upset. I guess Ryouhara talked a big enough game he wanted someone to take a look." Shrug. "'s better than babysitting. Or letting Heidern throw me through a juke box again."
Soma briefly entertains the idea that Alan is getting off on chi-induced atmospheric phenomena, then quickly banishes that thought from his mind. It went to scary places he'd rather not follow and the brief instability of his expression -- moving in a mercurial way from amusement, to horror, to something in between, in the span of a second or so -- is the only outward indicator of that. Thoughts best left to others.
"I'm here 'cause this is where they told me to go," Soma says nonchalantly, but it's probably pretty obvious that this is a total and utter lie. Yes, the nebulously-defined leadership of Interpol sent him here, partly because of his being on the Suiryuu and partly because Chun-li, who's probably the better choice, is... somewhere else. The real reason is personal, and the hardening of the features, the flexing of the fingers, that come after the lie are the giveaway. If it were any other time, Soma would be professional enough not to give those sort of poker table tells, but he's had a super bad day and really doesn't want to be 'on' every minute right now.
"Well, that and..." He pauses, then brings a hand up and runs it through his hair, then trails it down the side of his head and back of his neck in the universal sign for 'frustrated and annoyed'. "You were there," he says to Alan, after a pause. "Seishirou was using us on the Suiryuu, and he's using us now. But he's a mystery, the whole fucking city is a mystery, and I'm a detective. That's how it goes. I solve mysteries, one way or the other."
In his own mind, in flashback, Soma is in his office, getting the call, reading the email, seeing the pictures. This dagger design looks familiar, but we've never seen the material. Some guy found it in China. We thought you'd want to know.
And now he's here talking up strange criminals and dodging psychopathic ones hellbent on killing anyone and anything she encounters.
The Indian glances at Vanessa. "I'm going to go hit the Star Trek dorm and spend some quality time with Mr. Bactine," he says at last, before turning to Alan. "Well, warning delivered. What you do with it's your own business. Try to kill her, run like hell, form a ska band and sing about it... I honestly don't care."
With that, he gives a little wave, and starts back toward Sanctum HQ. This has been a long day.
"Nat Shermans,"
"Nat Shermans," he mumbles to Vanessa, basically the king of American cigarettes if you give a shit about that sort of thing. The two give their 'reasons', and as Soma walks away, he takes a deep drag in silence. Removing the cigarette from his mouth, he stares down the ash, holding it against the flowing river. Quietly, he says, possibly not even aware he's speaking: "On the other hand, maybe he's got a couple good idea about things." He flicks the stump of ash, the wind carrying it away as he returns the cigarette to his mouth.
His hands go back into his pockets as he gives Vanessa a long look, making eye contact the /entire time/, an act that shakes the earth to its very foundations. "I don't suppose..." He hesitates, looks away. "Don't suppose you've run into any of Seishirou's... people? I heard he's got a regular /clan/ rollin' around."
Vanessa tips her eyebrows up. "Wow," she says, eyeing the cig with greater appreciation. Not an unfamiliar name, but Vanessa tends to travel in circles where she's bumming cigarettes that don't even have brand names. More like the ones where she's lucky they're packed with actual tobacco.
And that's why she drinks more than she smokes, more or less. At least if a drink tries to kill you you know you were asking for it.
"I liked the ska band idea," Vanessa quips, lazily, cigarette slipping between her lips as she takes a slow drag, a little more slowly burning away off the tip. She holds it in, even pulling the cigarette away for a long moment. She doesn't really look down at Alan for a few seconds, just staring off into heaven, musing about...whatever.
Where is she, right now, Vanessa wonders, dimly, and huffs a cloud of poison into the air. She catches Alan moving, and eyes swivel over just in time to catch Alan pointedly making eye contact. She doesn't break it on her own, tapping the cigarette impatiently with a thumb - letting the ash drift away where it would. He breaks off first, and she lets herself have a little grin, leaning back up against that tree. "Nope," she says, plainly. "Unless you count Vice as part of his crew. Which she could be, I guess, even if she doesn't know it."
She hums, tipping her head and glancing over with a confidence Alan clearly does not share. "Matchfinder says to show up, and three minutes later Vice tears down the wall. Subtle, real subtle."
Alan looks disappointed, shoulders slumping a bit. "Nah... nah, doubt it. You don't manipulate Vice - you just treat her like a freight train, plan things /around/ her. I don't know, they got some crazy shit going on." Suddenly, he takes his left hand off his cigarette, going into his vest pocket again and taking out... his nebulously-branded smartphone. Whichever one was the most expensive a few months back, that's the one he has. He tenses up his hand before using it, making sure he's not crackling electricity into it on accident.
"Alright, here, lemme do you a solid, since you warned me - as much good as that's gonna do me." He calls up a Sanctum File, waving the screen briefly at Vanessa before hitting the touchscreen a few more times. It emits a loud ping. "Maybe you already found this out, but if you're gonna be looking into this city much, here. It's the rules this weirdass place goes by." Then, whether it goes through successfully or hits something Vanessa already has - it looks like that's all he's willing to give up - Alan shoves the phone back in his pocket. Abruptly, "See ya."
He starts to step away, feet crunching softly on the stones near the river once more.
Log created on 22:34:12 06/17/2010 by Alan, and last modified on 01:04:44 06/23/2010.