Beatrice Dayspring (charmedlife) wrote in marvel_nextgen,
@ 2010-09-27 01:45:00

Entry tags:

bea dayspring, crosshairs, inactive - melissa frost

The Perils of Knowing Stuff (open to Kelly and Melissa)
Not long after her arrival in New York, Beatrice Dayspring was walking down the street to her hotel after handling some business at the local SSI office.

Sometimes she hated 'conveniently' knowing all kinds of things about the people who passed through her Personal Space. That cutie over there had some unfortunate medical conditions, for instance. And the guy who just passed was on heroin, and -- and the two women over there were carrying a total of seven guns, four knives, and not a single permit.

Beatrice couldn't help but slow down to give them a second look.

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	goesbothways 2010-09-27 04:39 am UTC (link)
	Ever get that feeling like someone is watching you? Kelly does. Either she's lucky enough to look into mirrored windows at the right moment, or just been a merc long enough to look over her shoulder now and then. "Hey babe." she nudges the looker with her. "Don't look now, but I think someone's watching us over there. Should I flash her?" (Reply to this)(Thread)

	lady_hood 2010-09-27 04:43 am UTC (link)
	"Does she look like a cop?" Melissa asks. "If she's a cop, we're fine as long as we don't provoke her. No one saw us leave Kine's place, so that can't be it. Stay cool and see what she does. If she comes over here, we'll think about hiding the body when we get to it." Melissa says. (Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

	charmedlife 2010-09-27 04:50 am UTC (link)
	And Bea Realizes that she's been noticed. She keeps her hand away from where her own, licensed, concealed weapon is as she steps over and buys a copy of the Bugle, reassuring herself that it's not like they can be Madripoor operatives or something. She left that recon job clean. (Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

goesbothways
2010-09-27 04:55 am UTC (link)

"Nuh uh, baby. If she's a cop, then she's one of the types who went military, then joined the force when she couldn't hack civvie life. She knows how to handle herself, at least one style of martial arts, some regimentation. That twitch of her hand means she's either carrying..." which is totally hot. "...or she's used to carrying. Good eyes too, or good instincts. Something has her hot under the collar."

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lady_hood
2010-09-27 04:59 am UTC (link)

Melissa lets the situation play out in her head. She still hasn't turned to look at whoever this is, but she can hear the hitch Kelly's voice that tells her she sees something she likes.

This is either a really good day waiting to happen, or a really bad day that's going to end up with them dumping another body.

"Two choices. We go over and ask her for her number, or we go and ask her what the hell her problem is. I've got my K-Bar ready to go." Mel says.

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charmedlife
2010-09-27 05:04 am UTC (link)

There's a feeling Bea gets sometime...like her Personal Space's figurative cursor has just turned into an hourglass. Loading data. The Realization that comes is almost never something she wants to know.

Like the Python, Desert Eagles, Hardballers, and disaseembled sniper rifle the skinnier one's carrying are pleasant information to begin with. She's going to look at her paper and see what happens.

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goesbothways
2010-09-27 05:09 am UTC (link)

Kelly grins. "Either way, the day gets more interesting." She doesn't bother to hide that she's approaching the woman with the newspaper, peeking at it.
"Jets won, Spider-Man is still a menace, Charlie Brown still doesn't kick the ball in this one, the classifieds are overpriced, there's no jobs unless you're a stripper or in construction, and the lottery numbers were... were... damn, I forgot my numbers. Can I have yours?"

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	lady_hood 2010-09-27 05:22 am UTC (link)
	"So do you make a habit of staring at other women's girlfriends or did mine do something special to get your attention?" Melissa asks, as she appears on the other side of the woman, looking at the paper, too. "Don't do anything crazy, cutie pie. This is still a good neighborhood...at least for another few seconds." Melissa says. (Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

charmedlife
2010-09-27 05:33 am UTC (link)

"3, 7, 9, 18, 33, and 42. Those'll have to do for you. And my stock's up, too," Beatrice calmly tells the scrawny one as she carefully sets aside the paper in a way the shorter one can see her hands -- open to neither the lottery nor the financials pages, but newspapers are a purely aesthetic thing to her anyway.

She's ready to go for her ASP as soon as she sense's they're going for their weapons.
"To be frank? You girls triggered my mutation. I realize if I had a Python and a K-Bar, I'd want every chance to use them, too, but staring's not much of grounds to do it in public, isn't it?"

(Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

	goesbothways 2010-09-27 05:44 am UTC (link)
	"And here I was thinking 32-26-34." Kelly replies without missing a beat. She has a thumb hooked in her waistband, but isn't going for her gun. "And you totally stole my thunder with the python line, damn you. But, hey, wait... so you're like, a recessive-gene metal detector? That's pretty cool. Do you see through clothes and sniff people's pockets for drugs too?" (Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

lady_hood
2010-09-27 05:52 am UTC (link)

"She's cute, babe, but I wouldn't give her 32. Maybe 30.5, max." Melissa says, studying the woman.

"Now if you're going to be Frank, I should be Jill. That sounds fair. The issue, Frankie, is that staring is rude in just about every culture in the world. You wanna be a good Samaritan and inform on people who carry guns, head on down to Hell's Kitchen and I'll give you some addresses.

Otherwise, maybe you shouldn't stare at people you don't know unless you're A)buying them drinks, or B) Want to find out if that's really a K-Bar they've got on them." she tells her.

"So...why don't we start over, Frankie? Would you like to have some coffee or do we play Nightmare on 4th Street?"

(Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

charmedlife
2010-09-27 06:01 am UTC (link)

"As I'm pretty sure by now you aren't loose ends from a job," and are, in fact, perfectly coincidental heavily-armed sociopaths, and she's laying out a strategy of where what's concealed, where to hit, and when to draw, in case. "We've got no problem."
There's still something, though. Something that can't be processed at this point. If it's not them, then what?

"My name is Beatrice. And yes, I had to have the hard-to-explain ability instead of just telekinesis or something. Coffee's good."

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Back at Home...

lady_hood
2010-10-03 06:21 am UTC (link)

Once Kelly and Melissa get back to where they're staying for the time being, Melissa unloads her purse, putting away her guns, knife and mace before flopping down on the bed she shares with Kelly. The impromptu meeting with Bea had made her think about their relationship and all the things she hadn't known about Kelly before.

It also made her think about all the things Kelly didn't know about her and how hard it was for her to trust people for any reason. Kelly had somehow broken through that, by means of personality and her uncompromising look at the world.

Still, it wasn't fair to leave her in the dark, especially when the next hit squad of bad people could be after Melissa instead of her.

"Baby...I need to talk to you. Important stuff." she says to Kelly.

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Re: Back at Home...

goesbothways
2010-10-03 06:25 am UTC (link)

Kelly goes through her nightly routine while Mel is putting things away. All her guns are disassembled, oiled and reassembled after cleaning. Then she puts the Python under her pillow and a Hardballer under the mattress where it'd be in easy reach but hidden. The rest get carefully packed away, except one knife that she keeps strapped to her calf. Even in her sleep, she never goes unarmed, or even lightly armed.

When she hears Mel settling in, and taking the time to be serious now tone of voice, she settles in on the bed, leaning against the headboard and offering her girlfriend a shoulder to lean on instead of her usual draping.

"Sure. What's up, baby?"

(Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

Re: Back at Home...

lady_hood
2010-10-03 06:44 am UTC (link)

Melissa doesn't join her on the bed, her body language tense and cautious as she paces the floor. Kelly wouldn't leave her over this, at least she didn't think so, but...most people didn't care for being on the receiving end of another person's drama when they had their own to deal with.

"Okay. You and I haven't done a lot of talking about stuff we did before we met. I don't mean old girlfriends or boyfriends or stuff like that. I mean things like family. In the whole time we've been together, I've met your dad and your half-sister. The whole Weapon X thing caught me by surprise, but now I feel like I know a bit more about you than I did before." Melissa says, still pacing.

"I haven't told you stuff about me, not because I don't trust you, but...because that's how I am. My dad was pretty big on trust and he rarely trusted anyone, outside of my mom and /that/ took years.

Wait, I should start with the important stuff. My dad's name is Parker Robbins. He used to be a New York gangster called the Hood. He wore the same cloak and boots that I have now. Stole them from a demon, I found out later. My old man had brass ones, on top of being pretty smart for a guy who never finished high school." Melissa says, smiling ruefully as she remembered how often Dad would help her with her homework or a problem she was having at school with a few kind words and mostly, just by listening.

"My mother's was Whitney Frost, at least in America. In truth, her real name was Giuletta Nefaria, daughter of Count Nefaria. Yes, /that/ Count Nefaria." Melissa specifies, certain that Kelly's probably heard of the Maggia, with everything she knows.

"My dad cheated on his girlfriend at the time, who'd already had his first kid, my sister Bree. He almost took New York from the Kingpin at one point, but Spider-Man and Daredevil shut him down. When he did, my dad broke the code every gangster lives by: he sold out everyone he knew. He didn't do it for special favors, but more to ensure that Bree and I didn't have to grow up looking over our shoulders for people who might come after us to get to him. He did some time, but when he got out, he came home to Mom and me and we tried to be really normal family for awhile.

It /almost/ worked." Melissa says.

(Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

Re: Back at Home...

goesbothways
2010-10-03 06:57 am UTC (link)

Kelly listens with a mostly neutral expression. She nods slightly at mentions of gang wars, Kingpin's organization and near losses in the past and the Maggia.

"First things first, sweetie. I knew a little bit about a crimelord named the Hood. I grew up with connections. I wasn't sure, and didn't have the names, but I'd guessed it might be some relation. Second, say what you feel you have to, and don't feel pressed to say any more. You didn't know much about me until today other than that I'm a mercenary and sociopath... You don't need to apologize or feel bad. Based on what you knew, I wouldn't have trusted me either. I also knew how much your dad meant to you, whoever he was or wasn't, and whatever his shortcomings. You've been hurt, and hurt bad. You've lost everything that made you secure. You really want to find someone or something to trust to replace some of that loss... but its hard. So for what its worth, whether you decide to keep going or not, this isn't totally coming as a shock. And I still love you."

That said, she takes a deep breath and makes the 'go on' gesture. "I'm going to guess 'almost' had something to do with King?"

(Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

Re: Back at Home...

lady_hood
2010-10-03 07:27 am UTC (link)

I am /not/ going to cry.

Kelly's words are the sweetest she's ever heard, mostly because she /understands/ where Melissa is coming from. She didn't take offense about being kept out of the loop and she still loved her anyway.

Wait. Did she...did she say loves me?

A tear slides down Melissa's cheek and she smiles, wiping it away.

"I...I love you, too, Kelly." she says, before continuing on.

"But yeah, King sold my dad out to Fisk to save his own ass. It makes me a special kind of sick that King is second-cousin of mine, because I hate being related to garbage. Anyway, Fisk hired a bunch of outlaw bikers to hit my dad during work. Mom had stopped in to bring him something to eat, which was unusual for her. She was never really domestic." Kelly says, remembering her mother as the woman who taught her that one always made sure to slide a knife blade between the second and third rib, then twist.

"They showed up and sprayed the place with bullets. Dad took a couple, but Mom and a few of his co-workers took the rest. She died at the scene. He never explained she wasn't coming home; our lawyer, Diane, did the honors. Diane's been his lawyer since he'd made enough money to keep her on retainer, and she's handled my finances and things ever since.

Meanwhile, Dad put the hood and boots back on, grabbed his guns and started the Bloody Summer of '03. Anyone who even had a peripheral connection to the Kingpin's operation got splattered all over the pavement. I rarely saw him much, even after Bree showed up wanting to live with us. Bree's mother had taken her and moved to California right after my dad went to prison. She and I got close out of necessity, because Dad was never home, even when he was in the house. He spent three years trashing the New York Underworld for what they'd done to them, but he never went after John King, which was probably his second biggest mistake." Melissa says.

"Because King also sold him out to the demon he'd stolen his gear from. Apparently, said demon didn't die when Dad thought he wasted him. Three days after my sixteenth birthday, while Dad was at work and I was at a friend's house, Kastorax the demon came to set a trap for Dad.

Unfortunately, Bree came home first. I'll never know what he did to her in full, but I guess Dad walked in mid-way through whatever level of hell was giving Bree and they fought.

By the time I got home, Bree was alive, but she wouldn't do anything but scream and cry. Dad was nowhere to be found. He'd left the hood and boots at home, like he always did when he went off to work, so they were there. Diane helped me get Bree into a hospital when it was clear she wasn't going to speak anymore and...the rest you can guess." Melissa says.

"I'm telling you this stuff because super-powered bio-agents are pretty shitty to run into, but what comes after me is likely to be just as bad, if not worse, and I wanted to offer you the chance to walk away now, before...before the /really/ bad things start happening." she finishes.

(Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

Re: Back at Home...

goesbothways
2010-10-03 07:46 am UTC (link)

Kelly considers a few moments. Genuine sentiment is hard to express sometimes. Its easier to read the tics in someone's face and tell them what they want to hear, or to come up with something flip.

"Until a bit before we met, everything in my life was decided for me. I had no choice... loyalty was programmed into my brain, somewhere in the nodes in between Laverne and Lumpy, I think. And even after that, until recently, the one thing in life I never had to think about was consequences. You've seen what my dad survived. Far as I can tell, I'm just this side of the Juggernaut for unkillable. And then, as my half-sis pointed out, I'm lucky. Preturnaturally lucky. Things fall my way, especially the harder they are in the first place. That one-in-a-million shot or something you hear about in the movies to define somebody as total badass? Yeah, that's what I call Thursday. Between these things, consequences was just a word with too many syllables to bother with. And then I met somebody... who, for some reason that made no sense to me, was the person I wanted to call when I got home with my dad's head in a bag and a lot of pirates dead or swimming home to my credit. And she answered the phone, and had a place for me even though I was a fucking lunatic. She listened to me yammer, and didn't tell me to shut up. And then she got hurt, because of me and my past, and it was the weirdest feeling... like all of a sudden I had some idea what those guilt and loss things people keep talking about were. And they sucked, they hurt in a way bullets and acid and grenades don't. So you know, super powered bio-agents and demons and vengeful second cousins with crimelord connections? Yeah, they don't scare me or bother me. The thought of losing you? Yeah, that I'm not sure I know how to deal with. This whole vague emotional maturity is kind of new."

(Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

Re: Back at Home...

lady_hood
2010-10-03 08:10 am UTC (link)

"That right there is the reason I love you." Melissa says.

"So you might be a little left of center. Okay, maybe a lot. I'm a lot to the right of center, so...we end up in the middle eventually. But nothing you say is ever useless, Kelly. You teach me new stuff all the time." Melissa says, taking her hand.

"You're really smart and totally hot and that thing you do with a machete gives me goosebumps. Every time you get shot or cut or hurt, a part of me freezes up, because I get scared about what happens if you /don't/ heal this time. But even when you're full of bullet-holes and slash marks, you're still checking on me to make sure I'm okay. That means more than you know, Kelly. You're really the only person I have, because Gramps doesn't want anything to with me unless I'll consent to leading the Maggia." she says, her expression one of consideration.

"Kel, do you think either the Thunderbolts thing or the Wild Pack thing is going to work out? Both of these groups might have some okay people and they may pay decent...but they've also both got a metric fuckton of rules they want us to obey to be part of the club.

What happens when it's not okay anymore? I mean...do you want more than what we've got now?" she asks.

(Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

Re: Back at Home...

goesbothways
2010-10-03 08:25 am UTC (link)

"Baby, since we're being totally honest with each other, I'll admit, I don't know what we've got. My psych reports characterized me, per the DSM-V guidelines as having antisocial personality disorder of the psychopathic type, characterized by a profound lack of empathy, amorality, inability to process guilt and a profound disassociation when it comes to interpersonal relationships. I don't know if what I feel for you is genuine love or a feeling of possessiveness because of the sense of security and connectedness to an external constant you represent. I've never felt either one, so I have no standard on which to judge. I'm not emotionally or mentally ok by any reasonable standard. I'm never going to be. I'm smart because I was programmed to be. I know mission reports and dossiers and targets and weapon specs and criminal organizations. Even my 'family' are DNA donors, and people who happen to be related to the donors. I had test tubes instead of a mother and a father, and co-workers, most of whom I was vaguely or openly antagonistic towards instead of friends. So I have no standard upon which to judge what we are or what we've got or what I'm feeling. None of that is ever going to change. So taking all that into account, I think its only fair to give you the same chance you gave me... is that enough for you, now that you know I'm a four year old, sociopathic clone? Because if we're going to be totally grown up serious and honest, I want to give you the chance to walk away if its not. If it is, then we can start figuring out what we've got now and where we go next."

(Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

Re: Back at Home...

lady_hood
2010-10-03 08:43 am UTC (link)

"I'm not scared of what some report says about you, Kelly. Yes, you exhibit the traits you just described, but when I was lying on the floor dying, you were worried. I'm not looking fix you or make you into some 'normal' girl. A normal girl wouldn't have caught my attention the way you did." she says.

"And even if I didn't love you, there's no way in hell I'd let you go up against those Weapon X creeps by yourself. I'm serious about you, no matter what comes next. I've never been in love myself, so we've got that in common. I've gotten really good at pushing people away. The few people who know me only know the parts they want to know, like Diane and May. They'd both freak out if they knew who and what I really was.

You saw all of that and came back for seconds and thirds." Melissa smiles.

"So, I'm here as long as you want me to be. And...if you decide you want to stay mercs forever, I can probably live with that but...my old man nearly took New York by the time he was thirty-five. I don't know if I can take orders forever. We've both go it in us to run things if we want to, to make people asking us 'How high?" when we say jump. But it's going to mean a lot of changes, if we ever decide to do it." Melissa says.

(Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

Re: Back at Home...

goesbothways
2010-10-03 08:58 am UTC (link)

"Baby, going back to that whole reading people thing... and I hope you'll forgive me for saying this... who and what you really are is someone who lost everything she held dear. All her security, all her family. And then she replaced it with anger, because anger is easy. Someday you're going to kill John King, and then you're going to feel profoundly and totally empty because ever since you realized no one was coming home, and your sister wasn't going to get better, you let that replace everything else. You don't trust anyone because they're not your father or mother... and yet you value trust because its rare and precious and associated with them to you. You're cold and bitter and keep people at arm's length because, well, then they can't hurt you. But sooner or later, John King will die, and there'll be nothing left unless you find something to replace it with that means something to you... because that's how psychology says rational human beings operate. I can live with being a merc forever, bouncing from job to job and living for the moment, because its what I do. Its the fun of being amoral... I can go hunt nazis and serve a grand cause with Silver Sable just as readily as I can feed a bad man to the pigs and fix my makeup while they kill him to death. You can't... and that's part of what I... ok, let's assume the best possible scenario and call it love, love about you. You /want/, somewhere deep down, to feel good again. You're ok doing some rough things to get there, but you admire May and her outlook. You want your sister to be safe, and maybe someday be ok. You can look at the videos of Kine doing terrible things to little girls and be revolted, wheras I'm just critiquing his skill with a cat o' nine-tails. If there's going to be an us, baby, and we're going to talk long term, since we've established I can go any which way and live with the decision... let's do what would really make you happy. The TBolts... might be a little rules heavy. They won't let you go after King without frowny faces and maybe trying to take us in. Sable... would not only let you, but give you the intel to do it with if not lend some fire support. Despite which, at some level, the Wild Pack still rate themselves the good guys. They've even employed a couple Avengers. I think... maybe, if we went that way, we could maybe build something, make the world a little better while shooting really big guns. It'd mean sidetracking, taking a while longer to get to King... but I think you'd be happier when we got there."

(Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

Re: Back at Home...

lady_hood
2010-10-03 10:01 am UTC (link)

"There are a lot of times that I wish I could be like you, Kelly. I mean that in the sense that I wish I didn't /feel/ things. I wish I didn't feel like I'd lost everything when my parents and sister were taken from me, I wish I didn't get angry or pissed off when people stare at us. I wish I didn't hate John King. Some days, I think what killed my dad was his emotions; he let revenge become his life when I wished to God that he'd have made my sister and me his life instead." Melissa says.

"Sometimes, I think my parents would be ashamed of me if they saw me now, if they could see the person I've become. I've had demons offer me more power than I could ever ask for if I sold them my soul. And I've been /so/ tempted, just because it might mean that I can make the bad people out there hurt as much as I do.

Some days, I wake up and think I could be one of the good guys. Other days, I know I'm just one spell from going over the edge and not coming back, Kelly. And the sick thing is is that I can't tell who I want to be more." she says.

"But it felt good making Kine pay for what he did to all of those young women. It feels good when we bury some son of a bitch who gets off on misery and death. I'm not one of those people gets off on the suffering of innocent people who've never wronged me, so I hope that makes me okay." Melissa says, thinking over everything Kelly has said.

For years, killing both Wilson Fisk and John King has been her sole priority in life. She's put it above finding a way to help her father, above aiding Bree, or establishing any meaningful friendships or relationships, other than the one she's created with Kelly. It's even gotten in the way of her friendship with May, who was really the best friend anyone can ask for. She'd seen what the desire for vengeance above all else had done to her father. It made him a shell of the man he once was, a ghost. It made it easy for his enemies to surround and destroy him.

And Melissa had spent the last three or four years of her life making sure everyone remembered the Hood--no, remembering Parker Robbins--because if they forgot him, then she would forget him, too, and then he really might as well be dead. She'd spent so long hero-worshipping and building up the memory of her father that she was now forgetting herself.

"Killing King would probably make me happy for a while, but not forever, but he still has to pay. My mother's killers have to pay, too. But...I can hold off on it to set up the kills and get the right people in place.

Someday, I won't need revenge to get by, Kelly...but I'm pretty sure I'll always need you." she finishes, finally getting into the bed fully to curl up with her girlfriend.

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Re: Back at Home...

goesbothways
2010-10-03 10:18 am UTC (link)

Kelly curls up with her girlfriend, holding her close.
"King still has to pay. The Kingpin still has to pay. I'm just saying, and thinking outside the box here a little... that maybe when its all said and done, that maybe you'll be happier when its done if you do it for the so-called right reasons. From a certain perspective, yes, John King backstabbed your father. But your dad still wronged a demon, backstabbed people... some people would say he got what was coming to him. I'm not calling anyone right or wrong... I'm not going to make any value judgments. But I know I'm happier when you're happy. And I... god baby, I don't want to see you become me. I don't ever want to see you get that cold and distant, because its not you. And so maybe, I'm thinking, you might be happier if by the time you get to King, you're hunting him down not because, or not just because he betrayed your father, but because maybe without people like John King, or the Kingpin, or the rest, there'd be less little girls who need to grow up without a father. That maybe if the world were actually a little bit more like the sunshine and roses May sees when she wakes up, that you'd, I don't know, want to be more like her, instead of more like me. Part of what I love about you is that you're so vital, so passionate... I want you to get to the point where you /want/ to feel again. I don't know, I could be wrong, but I think maybe seeing what Symkaria has to offer would be good for us... but I'm going to let you decide, because honestly, I just want to see you happy. If you decide that's seeing King fry as soon as possible, I'll go get us a couple aprons and oven mitts... but I don't think it is."

She sighs. This thinking things through to logical conclusions thing is hard. There's a good reason she doesn't do it very often.

"But no matter where we go, baby, you're not alone anymore."

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Re: Back at Home... -

lady_hood, 2010-10-03 05:03 pm UTC

Re: Back at Home... -

goesbothways, 2010-10-03 05:22 pm UTC

Re: Back at Home... -

lady_hood, 2010-10-03 07:23 pm UTC

Re: Back at Home... -

goesbothways, 2010-10-03 07:26 pm UTC

Re: Back at Home... -

lady_hood, 2010-10-03 08:04 pm UTC

Re: Back at Home... -