ArchivedLogs:Five Friends Named Ben

Five Friends Named Ben
"Well. That was a little easier than I expected."
Dramatis Personae Marrow, Domino	2015-03-11 A timely escape into the tunnels beneath New York City leads to a potential agreement with one of the local denizens.
Location <MOR> Below New York
It's only been about a week since Domino's returned to the Big Apple. She's waited long enough on picking up some fresh work. All she had to do was slip a bug onto a vehicle of interest, child's play! What she didn't count on, and what hadn't been mentioned to her up front, is that the target audience was already on alert for some manner of attack. The bug missed their attention. The albino woman did not. A pair of tall combat boots slam down into a puddle of stagnant water beneath the streets of New York City, the pale-faced woman looking front to back before picking a direction completely at random to start running. Already the sounds of the city life overhead start to fade into obscurity, replaced by the angry yelling of a handful of people braving the unknown to find the woman. Subtle, they are not. The rumbling of a nearby subway causes the tunnels to vibrate around the chasers and chasee, Domino ducking down a side passage and flattening her back to the wall as a pair of matte black sidearms come rolling up into her palms. A chance to catch her breath..that'd be good. Though if she has to gun down a couple of guys then the cover of the passing subway would help mask the reports. "C'mon out, Whitey! We're gonna find you!" The 'abandoned' tunnels beneath New York are the stuff of many myths and legends. Whispered around fire light are tales of packs of zombies shambling in the cold and the dark seeking the warmth of Human flesh. Even more rarely one hears tales of foul mutants plotting their revenge against the surface which has forsaken them. Of course Marrow knows most of the rumours, hell she started plenty to keep curious surface dwellers away from her charges. And while Marrow would love to claim she knows the moment someone has intruded in the Morlocks domain it's pure blind chance that has drawn her to this particular tunnel. Hey it's a great place to smoke a little something without risking sewer gas explosions. It doesn't take long before she picks up on the commotion and ducks into the shadows herself. "Gentlemen you don't belong down here. I will give you one chance to leave in peace," she calls out. "Or I'll cut your eyes out and leave you down here for the rats to eat alive." Such rumors probably go a long way toward keeping the tunnels safe, at least for those who aren't both new to the area and don't happen to stumble across easy exits in timely fashions. Like right now, in fact. Domino never saw a woman in the group that had been chasing after her, nor do they know the sound of Dom's voice. Hearing a feminine voice down here they can only assume that it belongs to the person they're chasing after. Yet, all it takes is for one of those goons to have heard about the rumors of these tunnels... "That's a big threat for someone that chose to run away--" "Wait wait, hold up," another voice cuts in. He's speaking in more of a whisper, though with the subway departing further into the neighboring tunnel even a whisper can be carried along as an echo. "Ain't you heard the stories, mate?" "Buncha superstitious bullsh--" "Nah man, listen. How many broads do ya think are like 'er in this city, ay? We'll find 'er." Nothing more is said for a few seconds, the matter given some better thought. "You're tellin' the boss why we lost her." Next it's the sound of footsteps scruffing along through the dirt and grime which start to grow distant. Dom slowly releases a breath, keeping herself just as still and silent as she can while trying to follow the source of that unknown voice. It's not easily done down here, the acoustic reverberations play hell on one's senses. What she does know is that she's still not alone, and that warning could have been for her as much as it had been for the other guys. There is a long pause, enough time to be sure the goons have vanished for good and not made an attempt at stealth, before Marrow lets out a sigh. "Well. That was a little easier than I expected," she muses, clicking at a lighter. "And slightly disappointing. I haven't stabbed anyone all month." The voice, illuminated by a tiny ember on a hand rolled joint ambles over in Domino's direction. A shock of punky pink hair, black biker leathers that have seen better days and a /lot/ of bone armour plates glistening with fresh blood. "In case you hadn't gathered this is /my/ part of town. So if you'd like to see sunlight again you might like to think about what you can pay as a toll." "If stabbing's your thing I can offer a dozen viable options," Domino cautiously replies. The caution turns out to work in her favor, it's a moment later when she sees the bloodied figure lurking within the shroud of shadows. "Ah, -hell,-" she mutters while both closing her eyes and letting her head slowly thunk back against the grimy brick wall behind her. With deliberate motions she flicks the safeties back on both of her sidearms, even doing the 'pinkies out' thing as they drift down to hang at her sides. "'Toll.' Really," she replies while turning back to look at the creepy lady further down the passage. She's just going to go ahead and assume that all of the bony armor means that Pink is, in fact, a mutant. What's Dom got to lose? "Not feeling too charitable toward your own kind, I'm guessing? I'll say again, if you need someone to stab I've got a few names for you." Could be a win-win for her! "Unless you've come to live in the sewers you ain't one of my kind," Marrow points out with a chuckle. "And no, thanks, I'm not interested in working as an assassin. You know what they say about mixing business and pleasure." She blows a little smoke ring. "And sure a toll. You gotta pay to ride the subway. Nothing too pricey, you're new in town and you didn't know any better." Another short pause follows before Domino swears under her breath. Yeah..she -could- just open fire and all but what good would that accomplish? Save her a couple hundred bucks, maybe? Truth is, having -any- sort of connection like this could come in handy later, and somehow opening fire seems like a good way to make a whole lot more enemies. Pinkie Punk wins this round. Weapons are holstered. A wad of bills take their place. "One, two, three..." she counts out, flipping a hundred dollar bill for each of the goons the other mutant scared away earlier. Five hundred gets held up in one hand, though she's not looking too happy about it. The irony here is that she would have done the same thing had their positions been reversed. "A Benny a head. Given that you left them standing to hunt me down later this is right on par with 'highway robbery.'" She's not about to walk any closer to deliver the payment, however. "But... I'm willing to sweeten the deal, if you're the negotiating type." Because it's never too late to push her damn luck. The bone armour covering Marrows head pulls back a little to reveal a teenagers face. "And if I'd killed them I expect you'd be complaining about how the guy they work for will think you did it," she points out. "And be out for revenge. But I'm always willing to listen to an offer.." She steps a little closer, then offers Domino the joint. "See. I can do charity towards my own kind." Things were a little creepy before. Watching the armor disappear just makes the situation that much more disturbing. Dom's had an easy life as far as her mutation goes. It isn't visual, it isn't even physical. It just -is.- Seeing some of the tricks that the other X-Geners possess is still as alien to her as it would be any other normal off of the street. Then the joint is offered, leaving one brow hooked upward upon a ghostly white face. It's not really her thing, but one hit shouldn't kill her. She's no stranger to smoking, though it has been a while. Which is probably why she's trying to stifle a cough right afterward. "Protection..right?" she inquires while handing the joint back. "I don't know you kids. I don't need to. What I'd really like is to know that I won't immediately get my head ripped off, or get robbed blind, if I happen to bump into one of you guys. Now I'll keep my mouth shut about all of this, -and- I'll make a contribution to the Tunnel Restoration Project, if you guys can tolerate my presence down here once in a while. I've got something of a memorable face, you see," she says with a smirk. "Walking around in the city doesn't always work for me, either." Marrow smirks as she accepts the joint back, then holds her hand out for the money. "Us kids?" She repeats with dry amusement. "Lady some of my people are old enough to be your mom. But anyway, you want passage through the upper tunnels, that shouldn't be a problem. Travel any deeper down and anything bad that happens is your own fault. Whole place is rigged with traps and, it's rare, but we do still get the odd zombie roaming around." 'The odd zombie...' Right, those guys. Hard to keep an undead mob down, though at least Dom now knows to keep an eye out for any foot-shufflers down here. And to carry a couple of good flashlights. Just when she thought all of that was a thing of the past... "I say that to everyone," she replies while handing the five bills, including a card with her phone number, over. "Nothing personal. Name's Domino. I understand survival and 'leave me the hell alone' but there's something to be said about having some contacts spread out in all of the right places, so if you happen to find a need for a familiar face up top... Consider it. We just might all benefit from being on the same page." Gods know she's got enough enemies who -aren't- scorned mutants. Marrow tucks the bills into a little tube of bone that seals and then slips back under her skin. All that's left is a little blood and a cut that heals in a moment. "Name's Marrow. You run into any of my people then you let them know we made a deal. Of course if you bring too much trouble down here then all bets are off. The zombies are pretty rare these days, but you get the odd fuckwit too scared to visit a hospital for treatment." She grins. "Been a pleasure doing business with you Domino. Oh and word of advice, it's a bad idea to start shooting in the subway tunnels when you're close enough to hear the trains. The echo will carry further than you think and the pigs get pretty worked up about gunfire. All worried about terrorists and shit." It's -real- hard to not watch the display of bone animation and not cringe. Domino doesn't..quite succeed. "Fitting," she deadpans when the other woman's name is offered. "Look, if I bring the fire straight to your doorstep then I'll be disappointed if you don't kick my ass for it. That isn't the trick to maintaining a level working relationship." A nod follows the zombie situation, though of much more immediate interest is the comment about gunfire. Go figure! "Right, so stick with stabbies or suppressors. No problem. Well, 'Marrow,' it's..been an experience. Glad we could come to an understanding." She can see herself back out of the tunnels, so long as she doesn't get lost. Marrow shrugs, blowing a smoke ring and then starting work on her next joint before the first is even finished. "Take care and mind those oncoming trains," she calls out in farewell, before vanishing into the darkness as quiet as a sewer rat.