JC has reached the Underworld Tavern whilst fighting against the terrorists and now he must question the locals for information involving the illegal generator.
CHARACTERS: JC Denton - Dr. Lovelace - Eva Nadezha - Charles Sunderland - Jock ( Minor) - Paul Denton (Untagged; Mentioned) W/C - C/C: 1,806 words | 9,933 characters
SPOILERED FOR HOW LONG IT IS.
TW FOR: Implied attempted drugging, Would-be attempted DR Drugs. Manipulative language.
Mission Goals:
- Find the NSF's secret generator. Paul's team will raid the warehouse when the generator is destroyed and the EMP field goes down.
-- Talk to the locals in the bar or the clinic for clues to the location of the generator.
Red lights faintly illuminated the bar as JC entered, moving past the exit sign and stopping at the opening. To his left was a booth and a few tables, alongside Eva - whom he had met faintly before while at UNATCO during the training exercises - and an unkempt businessman in a brown suit was talking with her while sitting down in the booth.
To his right was the bar area, a bartender who had bottles of wine shelved behind her, two people near the end of the bar, a greying man observing the others as he waited to order a beer and Lovelace, who was seated in the middle chair of the bar.
Moving past the pillar in the room towards the bar, he stood next to Lovelace, who had her elbow propped up and her chin in her palm while at the bar, keeping to herself. He spoke with barkeep first.
"What can I get ya?"
"You work here, you must know the area; heard of an old warehouse with an illegal power generator?"
"Not exactly, but if you're looking for a warehouse, you should probably start in the warehouse district."
"Where's that?"
"A few blocks south, not a bad walk, but the riot police have blocked the roads because of the NSF."
"I'd like to check it out. "
"Well, you may be out of luck. Even though one of the old warehouses faces onto the park, I don't know how you'd get inside."
"Sounds like a good place to start"
"Something to drink? Everything in the bar, snacks too, just 10 credits."
"No, thanks."
The barkeep moved to the side after speaking, going to clean some glasses. JC turned to Lovelace, speaking to her now.
"I didn't take you for a drinker."
"I-" "HEY, JC!"
A piercing voice interrupted Lovelace, calling out to man, causing his and Lovelaces heads to snap towards the source of it. Eva waved him over, a wide grin on her face as she spotted the rookie. He took a glimpse over at the woman besides him, who gave him a 'go head' nod towards Eva. Given he was about to question her, his body gave a smidgen of hesitation before walking over.
Lovelace went back to her thoughts, fingers taut against her cheek whilst she hoped nothing bad happened from them speaking together. She still couldn't get a read on JC, but she held faith that what Paul said about him was true.
"Didn't expect to see you here!" Eva walked up to JC, arm going around his shoulders after sauntering towards him, directing him towards the other occupant at the booth; Charles Sunderland, who only seemed to be perturbed by the appearance of another agent and glanced down to the floor to avoid his obscured gaze. "I knew you were going to take me up on that beer offer!"
JC detached himself from Eva, not yet calling out the violation of his personal space and focusing on business first. "Why aren't you helping us deal with the terrorists?"
"Nnnnot my problem this time, Denton. I'm not assigned to this mission." Eva sat back down, putting her arms behind her head as a cushion, laying back against the booth seat. "It's not like you need me, you have a whole armada out there."
"And? Just because you're not assigned to a mission, doesn't mean you should sit on your ass and do nothing while we get shot at."
Arms moved from her head to being crossed in front of her, contempt over her actions being called out abundant in her tone. "Dude, I'm sent on missions specifically involving mass casualties, my augments will set the surrounding area on fire."
The small glimmer of his perception of her began to deteriorate as they spoke, her attitude only serving to irritate him. "It wouldn't hurt for you to be careful then, unless you're adamant on using them sloppily. It's always possible to use a firearm."
"I'm not getting my ass up. If you have a problem with it, talk with our boss about it." Eva sneered up at JC, his indignation onto serving to piss her off more. "Fuck off and go do your mission."
Bothered, he opted to let the conversation go. He couldn't do anything right now, and he couldn't afford to waste time on distractions. He'll just have to bring it up to Manderley later.
He took a mental note of Charles, who had still yet to meet his eyes, before going back to the bar next to Lovelace. "As you were saying?"
Lovelace focused back onto JC after a side-glance towards the people he just left, adjusting her seating to where she and him could look face to face. "I'm not a drinker, I have to get some socialization in somehow outside of work."
A pause from JC. "…I haven't seen you talk with anyone besides me."
She pointed her index finger up, "It's still talking outside of work. Well, talking outside of it for me, not so much for you." Lovelaces eyes went to the opening he came from. "If any injured come in there's at least a doctor on the scene in here. I know we're right next to the Free Clinic, but with all the shooting outside, it's hard to move between the two safely."
"You're lucky it hasn't spilled into here." JC's eyes followed hers towards the exit, hearing the faint sounds of gunshots from outside before going back to her.
"Shit, do you think he heard of anything before you called him over?" Charles anxiously whispered over to Eva, sweat practically pouring off of him as he brought it up.
Lovelace shook her head. "I know. I'm not a drinker, but even if I was, I don't think I would considering. Better safe and sober, than drunk and sorry."
" Smart - " As he spoke, Charles and Eva continued to speak, assuming their voices were obscured by the conversation going on.
"Nah, if he did, his brown-nosing ass would have said something." Eva shook her head.
" - Are you familiar with the warehouses here? There's one that contains a generator we need to knock out."
"He still makes me nervous. What if he gets in the way of me and.. Charles eyes looked back to JC, not moving his head so Lovelace didn't see him.
" Hrm.. I don't know if it's the right one... but.." Lovelace hummed. "I know there's this one warehouse that has a hidden window you could break open near the tail end of the fighting. I think .. soooouth of here? I'm sure you'll find it, I think the garage door for it is partially open."
Deadpan expression broken, JC's eyebrows furrowed as he listened in. What were they planning? "Even if it's not, it - "
"Maybe, we shouldn't, not while he's here." Charles groaned, putting his face into his hands. "If she was easier about this, it wouldn't have to come to this. Why does she have to be so dif-
" It-"
"Relax, man. Once she orders, I'll get you her." A grin rose on Evas face. "It'll be easy. It's not the first time I've done it before."
"JC?" Lovelace watched as JC walked over to Charles. He ripped him away from his seat by his collar, causing the the lady at the bar and Jock to break their conversation, looking over.
"What the hell are you two talking about?"
"N-Nothing! We're talking about nothing!" He struggled against JC's grasp, collar moderately ripping, yet, not giving away enough to where he could run.
Eva got up, the coils on her augments beginning to heat up, "Fuck. Off. You're wasting time by being in the bar."
"You'd like that, wouldn't you. Whatever you two were planning, knock it off before I tell Manderley that he needs to hire another flamethrower specialist." A pointed threat he intended on taking if need be. They didn't state what they planned to do, but one could make assumptions.
JC positioned Charles away to his side as Eva stood inches away from him, scowling as she brought up her heated augmented arm in an attempted intimidation tactic. "You wanna fight, don't you? 'Gotta say, you have more balls compared to your brother."
"You should leave before you set the place on fire."
" I-" Eva looked down to her now red hot arm, huffing and pushing him away. She didn't care that she was leaving Charles behind, he could flounder by himself. She knew Manderley would end up taking her side, he always did even if she was in the wrong, though right now the thoughts of beating JC's face in only grew.
JC's lip curled as he brought Charles closer to his face. "If I see you around here or her again, the only thing you'll have to worry about is what color suit the mortician chooses for your funeral. Go." He proceeded to throw him towards the exit, Charles stumbling to get his footing before running out as fast he could away from JC.
The ones at the bar watched as JC came back to Lovelace, turning his head back to her. "They were talking about you."
"I know." She rubbed the back of her neck, sighing.
"You know?"
She frowned, nodding. "I've been overhearing it this entire time. Don't worry about me."
"You sure?"
"This isn't the first time she's tried to barter me with someone. Go on with your mission, I'll give you a check-up once we're back." Lovelace glanced over to Jock before peering back to JC. She slipped down from her seat, JC grabbing and giving her her cane.
"I'm going to stick near Jock on the off-chance she comes back, he may not be augmented like you or her, but I know he can throw down in a fight. You should have seen the last bar fight we were in, the other side needed more than just a couple of stitches." Lovelace smiled up to JC, "Try not to worry about me, yea? Get back to your mission. If it was anything like your last, I know you'll do well."
He was confident in her being able to handle herself. She gave him 0 indication she was incapable of defending herself even with her ailments, and so, his mind tempered.
"Wait --" She turns her head to Jock again, pointing her index finger up to keep his attention. "Right, hey Jock, mind helping him out a little? He's looking for information that could help him on his mission. I'll buy you a beer."
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