"Can we get some kind drawing from Violet, might make this a lot easier."
Briana nods as she stares out the tinted window in frustration. "Yes, please. I'm starting to rethink the hunchback disguise."
Hotaru quickly sets up a text in her head, and then sends it out to Violet, trying to save time.
'This is Lee, I wasn't there, but I might be able to find her, do you have a picture you could show us?'
"Message sent." Pulse says, idly from her seat, as she starts to collect the things in the folders.
Violet sends a quick reply to "Lee":
OMG gurl u no I can't draw. But I know who can!
She turns to Rocket. "Can you draw a picture and deliver it real quick?"
"I think she's going to have Rocket draw the girl for us." Hotaru says, continuing to fidget. "I hate texting grammar so, so much."
"It'd probably save some time to head his way, though. It's not like he should speedster his way over here. Maybe they'll just send a picture of the drawing... though that'd be kind of weird to show, wouldn't it? It'd be better if we had a real picture, or the drawing... I think."
Violet looks at Zach, concern on her face. "What's wrong? Everything okay?"
"What?" Oh my god she really does know what I'm thinking!
No. Stop that. She's just concerned. "Uh. No, I was just thinking about Richie. Poor guy.
"And yeah, Italian sounds great. You can tell me what...you've been thinking about recently. About Richie, I mean."
As they walk, Rocket 'listens' to the stream of impressions and information that Violet sends him. He nods, opening his mouth to reply a few times, and then stopping. When she 'sends' that she feels like she got kicked in the teeth (and hates peaches), Zach frowns and gives her a squeeze. "Sorry to ask you to go in there. It seems like you got us some information that could really help track down whatever's behind this though."
They've just been seated at Trattoria Marcella when Violet suggests he draw a picture of the woman she saw. Zach agrees to try while they sit at the table, awaiting their chance to order. He makes one that really doesn't match the mental image Vi had sent him. Frustrated, he crumples it up, muttering "I'm really better at murals than sketching...and even that I'm really still just learning..." When he finishes the second one though he's happier with it.
"I'm going to step out for a breath of fresh air. If the waiter comes back while I'm out there, will you order me the spaghetti with meatballs? And a pepperoni calzone? And some linguini with clams in white sauce? And maybe some bruschetta."
He steps out the door, ducks slowly down an ally that no one seems to be in, and then breaks into a blurring run to go deliver the picture (pulling on his balaclava as he does so). If it looks discrete enough to stop behind the bus, he'll do so. If not he'll run past to find a place that does look private, stop there, remove his mask, and walk over to the bus.
__________________
Goo waits in the bus and is frustrated by his confinement. He wonders What is taking so long?
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While the bus circles the block, Rocket and Violet walk into the Italian place down the block from the hospital. They order enough food for the whole crew (fully half of it destined for Rocket's belly) and Rocket sketches while they wait for the kitchen to prepare it.
Once their food is ready Vi and Rocket reenter the bus, plopping down four overfull bags of pasta, lasagna, and garlic bread. Rocket shows the picture while Violet describes her experience.
Over (vociferous) mouthfuls of pasta, Zach asks "So, what next? We know more...but where do we go from here?"
Aegis tries to take a drink then frowns at the realization she had emptied her flask. "I need a drink, then the arc? we can use the drawing you made to start trying to get some answers.
Once they return, the questions begin! "Did you notice any unusual jewelry or clothing or anything? Did they eat at all? A waiter is a lot more likely to remember someone than the bartender would... unless the person is particularly unusual. And what is 'Peachy Booze'?"
Once they return, the questions begin! "Did you notice any unusual jewelry or clothing or anything? Did they eat at all? A waiter is a lot more likely to remember someone than the bartender would... unless the person is particularly unusual. And what is 'Peachy Booze'?"
Violet responds to Pulse with interjections around her rotini with mushrooms and sausage.
"No, just what I told you."
"They drank a lot, that's about it."
"Yeah, I know, but no... just what I told you. I promise I didn't keep anything from you."
"Booze with peaches in it. I don't know. I hate peaches. It was something expensive, though. I got that impression, like I said."
"Either way we've gotten all we can out of this place, heading to the bar seems our best bet and I can restock while we're there. Any other ideas?"
If no one disagrees or submits something better she'll drive to the mentioned bar.
Exactly which bar is up for debate, they were going from bar to bar, and got refused at one or two where they didn't like the fake ID.
However, they seemed to be going up the street from bar to bar, so it doesn't take long for them to find someone who does remember the couple. A waitress, once properly tipped by Aegis, remembers the couple.
"Oh, yeah. The russian girl. She was buying all the drinks. Both of them were going at it hard, she was ordering Peach Fuzz's, put away 3 or 4 of them. The guy was doing Mojitos. He was getting his peach second hand, if you follow. They left about midnight."
Aegis makes sure to refill her flask and get a few bottles for the road when they are at one of the bars.
"Did they say anything about were they were going or doing when they left?"
"I'm not a babysitter hon, I wait tables. They were here, ordered, made out, then left around midnight. I only know when they left because Butch came on about that time, and they left when he came on duty. I remember because I was gonna tell him there was a Russian girl in the bar, figured he'd get a kick out of it, but she was already gone."
"Did they see Butch come in?"
Unless someone else had questions for the waitress Aegis would let her return to her work while she discussed what they'd learned with her allies.
"Could we speak to him then?"
"Do I look like I'm a security camera sweetie? I was busy earning tips and slapping hands." She responds, a bit put out at the length of questioning.
"He's a temp bartender, so no idea when he'd be back on. He was only here the other night because Jamie called in sick, probably because she hooked up with someone, the slut..."
Aegis was a little annoyed with how little information the girl was giving but she wasn't sure what she had expected anyway.
"Thanks for what you could offer."
"Sure hon..." The waitress responds, and then goes back to waiting on tables.
As Aegis exits the bar, she (And everyone but Violet, who appears to be closely examining a piece of lint she found on her jacket with all the intensity a starving man gives to a four course meal) notices two men get out of a car and begin walking toward her.
In addition to the two guys who are walking toward Aegis, Rocket notices that there are two other cars that were parked nearby that just started, and are sitting there with the engines running. One is a black hum-v and the other is a big Lincoln town car, there appears to be multiple people inside each.
Something about those tattoo's are familiar to Briana, she's seen similar ones before, but can't recognize them. From the way the two walk, she suspects they are armed and can fight.
The first man is wearing a black muscle shirt, while the second man is wearing a t-shirt with foreign words on it. Both seem underdressed for the 50 degree weather. The man in the black muscle stops in front of Aegis.
"Hello. I am understanding you hev been askink at local bars about young blonde vomen. Ve are... friends... of a concerned citizen vho vishes to ask you about your search. If you vould please to come vith us?" He speaks in clear but heavily accented english. Based only on movies, it sounds Russian or Czeck or possibly Polish, Aegis isn't sure.
As Aegis begins heading out of the bar, Hotaru is crossing the distance to go meet up with her, between the bus and the street... having been turned away at the door. She tilts her head as the Russians? Begin to approach, and nods towards them in case Aegis has missed them.
The pair reach Aegis before Hotaru does, but that doesn't stop her from slipping in next to Aegis and wrapping an arm around her. "Hey there... are these friends of yours?" She asks, tilting her head to the two, and doing her best to give them a smile, though it doesn't come out quite right. She hopes it comes across as concern over the strange... very muscular men approaching her friend in the street. Which was quite likely, as it was the case.
"I haven't decided yet but they seem to want to help." As insanely suspicious as they might be it was a lead at least. "Why don't you go get me my drink and I'll see what they want."
"Ve'll get you drinks vhen ve get there." The black shirted man says firmly, motioning toward the yellow car they had gotten out of. "Bring your friend, there plenty room in the car." He says firmly, then says something to his friend in a foreign language, which causes him to put on as fake a smile as Hotaru's and motion to the car.
Aegis looks over to Pulse and shrugs, she was 90% they were getting mugged or in a fight but at least they knew about the girl. "I'll go she can follow in our car."
Hotaru focuses more on Aegis than the goons, loosening her arm. "Are you sure?"
"Wouldn't have said so if I wasn't." Aegis moves to follow the men and gives pulse enough time to return to the car."Alright let's go."
Pulse sends a quick text to the others, letting them know that Aegis is going willingly and wants us to follow. She wants Pulse in the bus, the Russians want her in the car.
"Alright." she says, and nods, keeping an eye on the group as she starts to walk back towards the bus.
The man in the t-shirt steps between Hotaru and the bus, holding up a hand. "Net, avtomobil' yavlyayetsya to, chto sposob." He motions toward the car.
Hotaru stops... and isn't quite certain how to react. Assuming they know about the girl, and also assuming (probably falsely) that she's an Elsa, suggests that they might be powered. But even ignoring that, guns could still do damage, and they could definitely force her to show what she could do prematurely... and in public. She pauses for perhaps a moment too long, not continuing her stride.
Adrenaline was flowing, making thoughts faster, but making the thoughts also hazy. She could fight. She could flee. But that wasn't what she was supposed to do, was it? The anxiety of the situation shifts into the center of her brain, and she pauses. It was obvious what he wanted, even though she couldn't understand the majority of what he said. Avtomobile was obvious enough, though.
"What?!?" Briana exclaims from the bus as she watches Pulse and Aegis seriously consider getting into the car with the two men that approached them. "Oh, nononono," she mutters, banging once on the window, mentally swearing at her inability to step out into public. "Don't do it, no."
Then she pulls out her phone and quickly dials up Aegis's number.
I can't believe they are going to go with them, Goo thinks as he anxiously waits. Looking at whip he screams inside his mind, Hurry cant you dial faster.
Violet looks up from her jacket maintenance when Briana begins to react like any sane person should react to this situation.
"What's going on? I missed something, didn't I?"
She looks out over the scene outside the bus, shaking her head.
"What the fu... No no not good."
Not for the first time, she wishes she was able to connect minds like Ace can.
"Bri, do you want me to put those two goons to sleep? Or talk to Saff?"
She shakes her head tightly as she brings up the phone to her ear. "Don't do anything obvious. If you can, let them know these guys know how to fight. I need to get a better look at those tats... something about them."
Without taking her eyes off the scene, Whippoorwill moves to the front of the bus and sits in the driver's seat.
Unless the men tried to stop her she'd answer the phone uninterpreted.
"Little busy, She'll Explain."
When Aegis pulls her phone out, the man in black holds out his hand. "I'll vatch that for you, vould not want to be lost or broken. Now, car please?" He says firmly, looking itchy.
Violet sends Aegis a short burst of telepathy :
Whip says these guys know how to fight, be careful!
Seeing the man reach out for the phone, Briana shakes her head in frustration but lets hers keep ringing. She nestles her phone in the crook of her shoulder and gets ready to start the bus.
"This is not the kind of vehicle that is good for tailing someone. Goo? Any way you can slip inside their trunk, or even into their fuel tank?"
"We wouldn't want you get lost or broken so I'll be watching it." Aegis answers despite the man trying to take it. "Little busy, She'll Explain." Then hangs up and enters the car.
"I can give i Goo replies to whip. He begins to leave the bus and stops to add, "What do we do i
When Aegis hangs up, Pulse grabs the signal.
'Ugh, bad idea calling her phone right now. What do you guys need?'
To Goo, she says offhandedly, "Pretend to be a puddle."
Into her phone, she says, "I need you to not get into a car with unknown hostiles!"
Goo shrugs his shoulders and shrinks down to his smallest size and gets off the bus. He will attempt o make his way to the vehicle and sneak into the trunk.
'Well, there isn't much choice. We can either go with it, or they can try to make us. We're probably safer in private than in public, though... Do you have any suggestions we can realistically follow?'