Room 508 to Baltimore, Friday Night

[spin_kick_snap]

Kathy studied herself in the mirror, frowning slightly. She had done a lot of stuff as Banzai, but trying to infiltrate the mafia in disguise was a whole new level of scary. If she messed up, the Ukrainians would know a lot more about her than she really wanted them too--like what she looked like, as just one exciting example. But this was an opportunity she couldn't pass up; they were recruiting locals under the guise of a motorcycle drag race, with the top performers invited to a very exclusive party--so exclusive that no matter how hard she tried, Kathy couldn't get the location. Over the past year, she'd managed to create a decent circle of street-level informants and yet no one could tell her anything besides what was 'public' knowledge: an illegal drag race, with plenty of money to be made from betting, and an excellent afterparty for the winners. That was it.

It was all very frustrating as hell.

Even the race itself was frustrating. If it had at least been a drag race with cars, Kathy might have been able to put her Driver's Ed experience into play...somehow. She was still lacking a car, but she would have at least known how to race. Ish. Maybe. But this was a motorcycle race, and Kathy had one hour of experience driving one of those from several years ago. That would get her exactly nowhere. If she had more time, she might even have been able to appeal to Parker or Eliot for help, but she'd just gotten the message that everything was going down tonight.

Kathy didn't often swear, but this whole situation deserved quite a hearty "God dammit!"

Her current plan was to dress like a biker bunny, head to where the race was going to take place, and hope to insinuate herself in the group that got brought to the party. Yeah, she could foresee no problems with that, sure.



[Primarily for one, but open to the roomie beforehand if she so chooses. Everything that happens after they leave the island is NFB for distance.]

Comments

[rebelseekspizza]

Dante slipped off his gloves and shoved them in his pockets - they were really nice - and cracked his neck, rolled his shoulders.

Then he pulled back his arm and hit the wall with all of the force he could produce. Chunks of concrete came loose from the top of the wall, crumpling down; large cracks spiraled out from where his fist had hit.

Okay. One more. (And repress that wince.)

[spin_kick_snap]

"Holy shit!" Kathy yelped, forgetting to be quiet. But then, punching the concrete was hardly a quiet prospect, either, so it likely didn't matter much. "Dante! Is your hand okay?"

Yes, yes, he could heal--look it was still surprising, okay?

[rebelseekspizza]

"It'll be fine," Dante grunted. He struck again. This time, the concrete crumbled where he struck it, and light from the inside of the building came pouring out - along with surprised yelling.

He turned nimbly and kicked right above the hole he'd made a second later, and that sent that piece loose and rocketing across the room, smacking the opposing wall.

The mark on his back flared up with light as the scrapes just melted off his hands. (And his neck, unfortunately.)

[spin_kick_snap]

That just meant she'd have to put it back, didn't it? Though that kind of thinking was for later--right now Kathy was darting inside, pulling one of the flashbangs out of her purse and tossing it to the ground. "Now!" she shouted just to make sure Dante was looking away.

Sure, he'd probably figured out what she was doing already, but when you agree you're going to yell something to keep everyone safe, you yelled it.

Kathy shut her own eyes against the blast, light pounding against her eyelids anyway. Pained cursing followed from those inside and as soon as the light faded, she was amongst the carjackers in a blur of kicks and punches, a graceful hurricane of violence.

[rebelseekspizza]

Dante'd turned his head away only barely in time, actually, but he avoided getting a pair of dancing spots in his vision by the seat of his pants. He was inside a moment later - and wonder upon wonders, didn't let the sight of Kathy doing her thing distract him.

He had his own thing to do.

Which, unfortunately for the first three carjackers he encountered, was playing 'One Punch'.

[spin_kick_snap]

Aww, but Kathy was doing her thing in leather and a very tiny skirt! If there was anytime to be distracted by her--

--It was probably not now, actually. Not with one of the guys having the brilliant idea of shooting blindly in the general direction of where the hole in the wall had appeared.

"Fuck!" Kathy snapped, genuinely concerned. Blind shooting was no one's friend. She was set to go over and take the guy out from behind, but one of the less stupid carjackers swung out with a wrench in the direction of her voice and Kathy was suddenly a lot more concerned with not getting her head bashed in.

That was one big wrench.

"Let's dance," she said with a manic grin she didn't even realize she was wearing, and jumped up on the wrench itself to deliver a kick right to the side of the guy's head.

[rebelseekspizza]

Fun fact: sex was only Dante's second preoccupation - and coping mechanism. Now, violence-- that was number one, top spot, no distractions. Especially if he could make it pretty.

A bullet from Mr. Let's Fire Wildly struck him straight in the shoulder. He spun around, and suddenly Ivory was in his hand. A lamp hanging off the ceiling said clang as his one salvo bounced off of it... then hit the cord that had been keeping it attached to the ceiling to begin with.

It dropped down and hit Let's Fire Wildly straight across the head.

Dante shoved Ivory back into her holster, jumped over another guy's gun and landed on his head.

[spin_kick_snap]

Kathy might question that ordering--but not hard, considering the bright smile she was still wearing as she leapt into the air to deliver a spin kick to a guy who was still groggily shaking his head. Then a handspring to wrap her legs around his shoulders and she was arching her body sharply to the side and dragging him down to the floor.

She bounced free at the last moment and looked around for whoever came next--only to see that everyone in her section was down, at least for the moment. Time to secure them to keep them out of the way while she and Dante went motorcycle shopping. She had zip ties in her bag, but not many, so she took a few moments to hunt down some makeshift bindings. Gee, if only a chop shop could be full of straps and chain and hosing--oh look! It was!

[rebelseekspizza]

Dante still took another second, as he snagged the last guy by the collar and threw him upwards. Since he'd technically still been in the air at the time, it meant the guy was slamming into the ceiling and then fell, abruptly, as he vacated Dante's gravity-bending field and segued back into regular physics.

Not that this mattered to Dante, whose feet touched back down on the ground gracefully a second later.

"Let me guess," he said, "Tie them up and call the cops?"

[spin_kick_snap]

"Tie them up, find a bike, call the cops," Kathy corrected. Let's not forget why we were here, Dante.

A guy groaned, coming back around, and she casually elbowed him in the face. "I can handle the first if you'd like to take care of the second? Since I have no idea what you're looking for in a motorcycle."

[rebelseekspizza]

"Fast," Dante said helpfully, "And sexy."

He turned around and started poking around. Not like he was looking for things like 'easy handling', because seriously, he could take a motorcycle crash and walk, no problem.

... Don't ask him how he was so sure of that.

[spin_kick_snap]

"I'm right here, Dante," Kathy deadpanned. "I was asking what you were looking for in a bike."

Look, they'd started the evening by making out and then had moved onto kicking ass. Was it any wonder Kathy felt like teasing a little?

[rebelseekspizza]

"Don't get jealous, gorgeous," Dante called, smirking.

Mostly to himself. His eyes were set on the bikes.

... and then he stopped. "Holy shit."

[spin_kick_snap]

"Did you find something?" Kathy asked, using a discarded seatbelt and a length of rubber tubing to hogtie one of the guys that Dante had knocked down with a punch. She almost felt bad for doing that--it seemed like overkill after what he'd done to them.

Standing up, she walked over to where Dante was looking--and also stopped short. "Oh, wow," she breathed. "That is sexy."

[rebelseekspizza]

"I don't know how those hopeless fucks got their hands on this one," Dante said, patting it lovingly. He leaned over to see if-- hey, keys! "But I'm keeping her."

[spin_kick_snap]

"It probably belonged to somebody else," Kathy reminded. "...So be careful no one accuses you of stealing it, okay?"

Sure, she should probably put at least a little effort into finding out the previous owner, but Dante had agreed to help her out and race for her, so if he wanted to keep a stolen bike, she wasn't inclined to stop him.

"You don't want to take it out for a test drive or whatever? Make sure it works okay?"

[rebelseekspizza]

Dante shrugged. He turned the keys and the motor started. "Tires look fine," he said. "I could take it out for a test spin, but we might miss your street race."

He righted himself. "And I'm not repeating our conversation about the cops."

Being that he couldn't give less of a fuck.

[spin_kick_snap]

"I guess we'll test it out on the road then," Kathy said, shrugging. "And yes, yes, I know. 'Let them come for you, you don't care.' You're very strong and manly and I'm swooning at your biceps."

She just didn't understand the point of borrowing trouble, was all!

...Except for how she, you know, was planning on bringing a one-woman war to the mafia. But that was different.

[rebelseekspizza]

The way you looked at stuff like 'borrowing trouble' was very different when you'd long-since resigned yourself to the fact that trouble was inevitable, and it was going to come regardless of whether you borrowed it or not.

Which was why instead of throwing her a quip in reply to that statement, Dante just shrugged, grabbing the bike by the handlebars. He pulled it along towards what looked like a door.

[spin_kick_snap]

Kathy finished tying up the last of the guys and used one of their own phones to call the police.

"We should go," she said, wandering out the door to join Dante outside. "I don't feel like sticking around and offering witness statements." She couldn't help an eager grin. The prospect of riding a motorcycle was always exciting. "And I want enough time for a decent ride before you have to race."

[rebelseekspizza]

"See, now you're turning into an actual bike bunny already," Dante said, faking a little bunny-sniff with his nose.

Then he sat down on the motorcycle. "Hey. Comfortable."

[spin_kick_snap]

"There's a difference between wanting to ride motorcycles and being a bike bunny," Kathy informed him with exasperated amusement. "I have no intention of sleeping with random guys in exchange for a ride."

The idea of sleeping with a specific one was getting more and more appealing as time went on, but random bikers? No thanks.

Kathy climbed up on the bike behind Dante, wrapping her arms around his waist. "Wait, before we go, I need to fix something, okay?" And then she was standing up behind him and sinking her teeth back into the side of his neck.

Look, he'd healed his mark. Clearly he needed a new one. For their, umm, cover. Yes.

[rebelseekspizza]

Reaaally smooth, Li.

Not that Dante was about to complain. He liked the sting. You could tell by the way he tilted his head to give her more space-- and the very appreciative noise.

"Feeling hungry, Kat?"

[spin_kick_snap]

"Just needed a quick bite," she murmured against his neck. Because it was always an appropriate time for puns. She bit down again in a different and sucked hard on his skin for a few more seconds, leaving a mark that was purple against his paleness. "We want people to think we're--we're fucking, right? I'm making sure the story sells." She followed the tendon in his throat up to his ear and nipped that, too.

[rebelseekspizza]

"Whatever you say." There was a chuckle in Dante's voice, but also something breathless.

He wasn't going to discourage her either way. Which probably wasn't a good thing if they didn't want to get distracted away from their initial goal, though that goal was largely Kathy's anyway.

He reached back and put his hand on her leg, right below the hemline of her skirt.