The Luckiest Girl In The World

"Oh? You know a regular?" The woman looked pleased. "I'm Mona, this is my joint. Who're you looking for, I can let you know the last time I saw them?"

One of the heads at the table looked up; a guy in an expensive suit with a pair of sunglasses on, even though they were inside. He glanced at the guys, then clearly dismissed them, glancing back down at whatever the other three were still looking at.

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"I don't know how regular she is," Anders said, figuring they had nothing to lose. "Asian girl with long black hair, about our age? Her name is Kathy. She called from here Monday."

He squinted at the guy in sunglasses. Had there been something familiar about him?

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"She spent like three minutes talking at me about the kimchi burger," Dante said. "Had to be good. I mean, kimchi's sorta weird, but..."

He wasn't paying attention to the guy in sunglasses. He'd actually been wondering about the burger and he wasn't afraid to use that genuine curiosity right here, right now.

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"Oh, Kathy!" Mona said, her talking-to-customers smile getting replaced with something a little more genuine. "Tiny slip of a thing that still manages to pack away more food than a football team? She does love our kimchi, too. Says it's the best she's had outside of K-town, which is a real compliment, let me tell you."

Ordinarily, Mona would be happy to tell them all about the kimchi and anything else they'd like to know about the menu, but as serendipity had it--

"She's here right now, with Nicky and a few of their friends." She seemed a little young to be thick as thieves with a crowd of twenty-something men, but Mona wasn't here for judge. "Kathy honey!" she called. "You got some friends here!"

That got all four heads popping up, like moles in an arcade game. One of whom definitely belonged to Kathy and she was staring at them in surprise.

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Well, this made some things easier on them.

"Hi, darling," Anders said, and walked over to stand by Kathy's chair before trying to kiss her on the cheek. "We had to come by and try that kimchi burger for ourselves. Hope you don't mind."

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"Fuck me, that is her," Dante said, looking more than a little relieved as Anders went over. He turned his attention back on Mona first, though. "Thanks for helping us out," he said, "We appreciate it."

After which he trailed right after Anders.

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"Glad that all worked out then," Mona said, pleased by Dante's lovely manners. He might look a little rough and tumble, but clearly someone had raised him right. "You can find a table for yourselves over there if you like," she called. "Feel free to move chairs around if you need. We can have everything set aright by the time the dinner rush starts."

For her own part, Kathy didn't have much to say. The surprise at seeing both Anders and Dante had only been compounded by Anders' greeting and she was turning bright red. "Hi?" she managed, voice strangled.

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Around the table, different reactions abounded. The skinny guy with a medallion the size of his fist looked amused, giving both Anders and Dante a thorough once-over. Anders' staff--the one on his back--got a particularly lengthy inspection. The guy build like a brick house looked both uncomfortable and yet slightly relieved. It was hard to read the expression on the third guy, the one in the shades, but he was the first one to speak up.

"Sorry, kids. This is a private party."

Winning friends everywhere, Nick.

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"We like parties," Anders said easily, rather enjoying Kathy's reaction. "And we weren't planning on staying long anyhow."

They were just going to get Kathy and get out. Simple.

He waved to the group. "Hi, by the way. I'm Anders and this is Dante."

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Dante gave an idle wave at the group, which - mysteriously - turned into a turned-up middle finger when he came to the last guy. Fancy that. "We're just here to give a friend a lift home," he said. "She needs one."

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It was like magic. Really.

Kathy's expression tightened. "No, actually, she doesn't," she said, arms crossed and glaring at them both. "She's fine where she is, thanks."

You know, squished in a booth next to Nick, with Max's medallion attempting to reflect the fluorescent lighting back into her eyes and Josh looking like he'd rather be anywhere but here. Totally. Fine.

"Why are you guys even here?" she hissed, like that would keep anyone from overhearing.

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"Yeah, aren't you supposed to be in class?" Nick asked. Pointedly. "On the other side of the country?"

"I like them," Max said, surprising nobody. He turned to Josh. "Don't you love making new friends? I do."

Josh was just going to hold his head in his hands and fervently wish to be anywhere else. Or that he hadn't just finished telling everyone that he'd taken a leave of absence from the clinic and couldn't use a handy 'medical emergency' excuse to bail.

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"If we're supposed to be in class, so is she," Anders pointed out, glaring right back. (Okay, he assumed Nick was glaring. The shades made it hard to tell.) "We just need to get her there."

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"What Anders means is that we're here to drag your dumb ass home," Dante said, flashing Kathy a sarcastic grin. "You're gonna miss your essay deadline."

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Kathy's returning grin was more a baring of teeth than an actual smile. "Too bad you came all the way out here for a fool's errand then," she told them. "Because what we've got going on here is a lot more important than any goddamn essay. But thanks for visiting, it was nice to catch up. See you back in Baltimore next week."

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Max sat back, crossing his ankles under the table and snacking on fries, clearly enjoying the show. This was better than cable and more fun than he'd had in months.

"Now, Kathy is that any way to treat your...boyfriend? boyfriends?...after they came all this way?" he asked, gleefully.

Nick's head swiveled around and he leveled a glare at Max. It was hard, through the goggles, but he had plenty of practice.

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"We aren't her boyfriends," Anders said firmly, and ignored how it felt like a lie. He was practically hissing his words as he continued. "Not that it's your business."

He turned to Kathy, practically hissing his words as he spoke. He suspected he'd start shouting if he spoke any louder, and he didn't want to get thrown out.

"You're going to stop a zombie apocalypse in a week," he said. "How is that going to work?"

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Dante was keeping an eye on those two guys over there, though he couldn't take the boyfriends crack personally enough to make a fuss about it. "You're fast, you're not made of steel, Kat," he said. "How about you let the professionals field this?"

Which was, for the record, very much not him. Or Anders. Or you, Kathy.

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You know what was great? This entire situation. Kathy looked like she was having a really fun time, with the dull flush she had in her cheeks and the way her jaw was set.

"We're working on the plans to do that very thing right now," she said through clenched teeth. "I am not about to run away from it, either. Your concern has been noted, so why don't you both f--"

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"That might not be the worst idea in the world, Ba--Kathy," Josh said quietly. Kathy nearly sprained something in her neck, whipping her head around to look at him. He held up his hands to placate her. "It's not because I don't think you'll be useful! You're our fastest scout when Zzzap's not here."

Max made a noise of protest and Josh rolled his eyes. "Don't be stupid, they obviously know everything, even if they don't exactly know who we are. Anyway." He looked back up to Kathy. "You've given us what information you can remember. The tactics you passed onto Stealth are useful. But you've still got your whole life ahead of you. Get out of the city, go home with your friends, let us stop this while you focus on your life."

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Anders caught Josh's eye in surprised gratitude. If the heroes were backing them, maybe they had a chance.

"Hear that? You've done what you can," he said. "Besides, if you get out now you could bring your sister. It's not fair to risk her life too."

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"And your folks," Dante added. "Sure, you're all working to contain this, but do you really want to run the risk of what'll happen if you don't?"

When you don't, probably. Dante's faith in the future wasn't even particularly high on a normal day.

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"This is such bullshit!" Kathy said, giving Josh a look of extreme betrayal before switching it over to the guys. "I mean, thanks from the vote of confidence from everyone. I don't know who it means more from--my team or my friends."

Edited Date: 2016-04-08 01:02 pm (UTC)

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And not every hero at the table was willing to back their play ~~just the one with the guilty conscience~~.

"Okay, so who the fuck are you two again?" Nick asked. "I don't remember Kathy sending out a request for two white knights to show up and rescue her. I think she can do a damn good job of rescuing herself if she wanted to."

Kathy looked up at Nick with gratitude.

"Stop trying to use her family to guilt her into doing what you want her to do."

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