Old Man of the Mountain: A Quiet Drink

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Betsy, Morgan and Dugan find a contact willing to talk about arranging protection for the missing diplomat.



"The Princess Bar. You'll never find a more wretched hive of whatever." Dum-Dum said, as he escorted Betsy and Morgan through the door. The bar was a cavernous space, converted from an old warehouse over a hundred years ago into one of the legends of Lowtown. Stories about the Princess Bar weren't just local legend. Madripoor's unique nature as a free port and crossroads for espionage had led to a wealth of colourful incidents, and the bar itself was a magnet for the weird. Paul O'Donnell, one of the first American's to settle on Madripoor, had taken the basic format of the saloons of his native California, and made the building a combination bar, restaurant, gambling den, hotel and whorehouse.

His long time lover, Rose Wu had taken over the bar after Paul's death, and continued to operate as Paul had. However, Wu had ties to the Triads and Chinese pirates that frequented the waters, and carved out a position of influence by demanding that the Princess Bar would act as a neutral ground for the Madripoor gangs and crime syndicates. It was rumoured that during the fifties, an aging J. Edger Hoover would visit the bar to sample young Asian boys secure that his secret would remain inviolate. In another long lived rumour, John Kennedy was believed to have fathered two children during his tour of the Pacific from the local prostitutes, one of whom now ran a ruthless smuggling syndicate. The Princess Bar was an incubator for the bizarre.

"Now, where the fuck is that little weasel?" Dugan said as they stepped into the well lit interior, scattered with tables, drinks, and a curiously diverse mob of people.

"You're sure he's here?" Betsy asked dubiously, eyes scanning the surroundings. She'd had tried to avoid this place in all her travels and she had managed it for some odd number years. Her eyes landed on a man in the back corner making his exit. He turned back nervously and they locked on one another. Within a millisecond, Betsy knew they had their man. She was already moving towards him, calling over her shoulder. "By the back door, our friend is trying to leave."

Morgan slipped between people, Aoife's shorter legs didn't eat up the distance as quickly as Morgan's own did, but what she lacked in height she made up for by going undetected amongst the people. She hurried, dodging people and getting to their target just before his hand managed to close on the handle of the door. She slid in gracefully, Aoife's green eyes wide and her smile innocently curious. "Leaving me so soon, love?" An eight inch blade was slipped out of a sheath strapped to her left forearm and she poked the tip of it toward him to get the target to back off. "We didn't even get to talkin' yet. Aye, and I'd cry for ages if you'd left without talkin' to me." She batted her eyes and grinned a bit.

"Billy Chu, leaving so soon?" Dugan said, as Chu backed away from the rear exit thanks to Morgan's sudden persuasion. He wasn't afraid, knowing that his power protected him, but there were always surprises waiting in his business, and as unwelcome as Dugan was, without a clean exit, there was no choice but to hear him out.

"What do you want, Dum-Dum?" Chu said as he dropped into a chair at an empty table. Dugan took the one opposite of him.

"Looking for someone. He'd be Indian, arrived a couple of days ago, and likely arranged for anonymous housing and protection. So, I tell myself, the only man that is going to be connected into all that and the customs department at the airport is Billy Chu, aren't you?" Dugan leaned forward. "Make it easy, Billy. Tell us where the guy is, and we'll throw in some goodwill cash for you. Don't, and these lovely ladies are going to hurt you until you do."

"Fuck you." Chu gave Dugan the bird, who smiled and turned to the others.

"See, the thing about Billy Chu is that he's a mutant. He's got this, whatamacallit, reflexive kinetic aura, which means if you hit him, the same amount of kinetic energy is directed right back at you. Beat him to a pulp, and you'll get just as bloody and bruised in the process. One thing that he doesn't think about-" Dugan grabbed the finger that Chu was flipping him and twisted, wrenching him down to the table. "is that we've got plenty of ways to hurt him without hitting him, which means those powers mean shit right now."

Chu fell to his knees as Betsy walked to him. She shielded their section of the bar, as they began this exchange. As far as anyone was concerned, there was no back exit and there would be no reason for them to go out that way. Leaning in, igniting her psi-blade, Chu's face lit up in eerie amethyst as she brought it close to his face. "We can do this the easy way? Or," Betsy stepped back, letting Chu fall to the floor. She smiled as Morgan stepped in, taking her place next to Dugan. "We can do it the hard way."

Standing next to Dugan, Betsy whispered. "We haven't been the only one trawling through his mind. Someone got to him first."

"Shit." Dugan muttered. "What I wouldn't give for a SHIELD team right now."

Honestly, Morgan just wanted to hit him. It would have solved so many problems. Except for the one where she would have gotten it back and she didn't much fancy socking herself right about now. She sighed, a petulant look crossing onto Aoife's face. She cocked her head to the side, looking a bit like a curious cat, and pressed the edge of her blade just under the edge of his jaw. She very, very slowly and carefully began to draw it down along the edge of the bone experimentally. If all else failed she could deal with a cut under her jawline.

Blood sprouted in a thin line against the target's skin and began to trickle downward. The incision was delicate, almost surgical in its care. Morgan, though, felt no warm liquid against her own skin and she grinned. "Aye, and I right do fancy myself the hard way, sweetness." She even punctuated the statement by kissing the air in front of Chu's face and giving him a sweet little smile to go with it. "Aye now, get on up. It's no fun playing with toys all slumping down like that." The blade pressed upward just above his jugular to give him a bit of encouragement.

Moving in, Betsy watched as Chu stood on his feet. When he'd finally found some balance, he was thrown back by an imaginary hand. Trying to find his balance again, a shove sent him into some tables. The patrons simply picked up their glasses and continued drinking.

Standing in front of him, Betsy picked up Chu by his collar and pulled her hand back. Chu closed his eyes, fighting against the pain of the hold and the potential for a great deal more before finally giving up. His business wasn't worth his life. "Alright, alright! Get these bitches off me and I'll tell you, Dugan!"

"We don't like that kind of language, Billy. You should apologize." Dum-Dum said, leaning forward at the table, noting that the rest of the bar was ignoring the potential violence. "Where is he?"

"He came in a couple nights ago. I set him up off Crown's Pier road, in one of the old colonials down there. We arranged for a couple of streetfighters from Big Belly Tok's Hakklo's to watch the streets, and three ex-Blackwater mercs as direct bodyguards." Billy said finally, hoping it wouldn't get out, but hoping more he wouldn't lose an eye in the process. "Just enough muscle to keep him relatively safe, Dugan. It's not like he's starting a fucking army."

"No." Dugan paused. "Who else did you tell this to?"

"What?" Chu went white. "I don't know-"

"You would have bargained if I was the first person asking. Who leaned on you, and how hard?"

Betsy leaned in, inches away from Chu's face. "Who was she?"

Billy fought with himself for a moment before giving in. "There was some Indian chick with blue skin. She just... made me tell her. About an hour ago."

Dum-Dum looked up at Betsy. "I think we might want to hurry."

Morgan's nose wrinkled, the expression a little too cute on Aoife's face to convey her emotions. She started to make a mental tally of weapons she had and how quickly she could get to them all without setting them too far behind. Obviously this wasn't going to end pretty.