This Devil's Workday: The World at Large

[x-scorpion.livejournal.com]

Instead of heading home like she claimed, Cammie keeps working the streets looking for some info on what happened to her friend.

It was cold as hell in Chicago. Normally this time of year, Cammie was roasting herself pleasantly down in Texas. But Texas wasn’t really an option again, now or ever. So that was that. She held her thin gloved hands to her mouth and blew hot air on to them, the action warming them a little bit. But it was still cold.

Alleyways were familiar to her. As were the various bars and hot spots she was hitting. She knew where she had to go – where she was going last, the last place Amy had spent her time alive. The place she was so damn suspicious in the first place.

This bar was the first stop of many. It was dirty, and packed with dirty people like her, but it was warm enough that she didn’t have to worry about the frost forming on the tip of her nose. Anymore.

Sinking the eight ball, Markus grinned. Three hundred dollars for hustling a couple yuppie biker wanna-be's who decided to drive their shiny new Harleys up to his bar was his idea of a tough day at the office. "Pay up, you yuppie sons-of-" his words were cut off as he noticed the shock of green hair that had entered the bar. "Black?!" he roared.

“Hey,” Cammie said smoothly, happily, “Happy to see me? Or is this a bad time?”

Sauntering over to her, the chiseled biker narrowed his eyes, "Got my money?"

“We’re still hung up on that? Honestly, what was it, fifty bucks?” Cammie returned, crossing her arms over her chest.

"Add three-hundred to that," he said, adding before she could object, "interest."

“Three hundred and fifty? Are you out of your mind? I don’t pull in that kind of money anymore,” and even if she did, she wouldn’t drop it on him.

He grinned in a charming, yet still sickening, manner, "Maybe we can, heh, work something out."

“Ooooh, yeah, about that,” Cammie said, cringing backwards just slightly, “I’m seeing someone now. Better in bed than you ever were too, since we’re going that route.”

Not one to be disrespected in his own home, Markus gave her a swift backhand to the cheek.

Cammie didn’t even flinch, “Do I get to hit you back now? You really don’t remember just how much harder I can smack you?”

A wry smile crossed his lips, "Still got that sick sense of humor on ya, good. What is it ya need, not more money I hope."

“Everyone needs money. I don’t need any right now though, so you can keep it in your pockets,” she said, “When’s the last time you saw Amy? I’ve been all over town and I can't pin down when she vanished. Incidentally, she’s dead, but other than losing a mule, I don’t picture you as the crying kind.”

"Damn shame, Amy was one of the best. Last time I saw her, shit, musta been a week ago or so." Markus took a seat at the nearest table, making several scared looking college students scatter.

“Yeah, I figured you didn’t do it, because she wasn’t dissected like a frog in a middle school,” Cammie said dryly, “She didn’t happen to say anything when you saw her, did she?”

"Nothing out of the ordinary, she was just checking to see if I had any work for her."

“Did you?” Cammie asked, “Because if you did, I’m sure the cops found it during autopsy. After all, it’d be hard to miss.” Not many people in the world could carry a brick inside them by moving bits of their intestines around.

"Nothing on the radar right now," he sighed. "Business has slowed down with the recession, surprisingly."

“Lucky for me, I got hooked up with a real job now and everything,” Cammie said, only half-dryly, “Funny how that works. Well, since you don’t know anything, and I’m not here to fuck you, I’ll leave you alone. Have a nice life,” she said, nonchalantly.

"Yeah, whatever, Black," Markus said, finishing one of the student's beers. "If you need some back-up, you know where to find us, like I said, Amy was one of the best."