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Cain's a semi-regular around this place, a dive bar bad enough that even the kind of massive, impossible to miss guy who's been in the newspapers lately for, I dunno, tearing down a police station, can get a drink in peace. He let the other Brotherhood types (or whatever Raven's associates call themselves) know where he tends to hang, in case they needed him for something.
Technically, Cain doesn't need to eat or drink and he doesn't really get that drunk. But there's something satisfying about the habit of it anyway, a chance to pretend he's human, that he's still Cain Marko and not…whatever it is he's become.
*
It's a bar. They have drinks. No one's going to ask too many questions. The Duck fits Domino's criteria. It's been a very, very long week, which means she's interested in getting very, very wasted. With some extra cash pulled off of the HYDRA goons she dealt with in Central Park and at least a couple of hours' worth of actual, uninterrupted sleep, she's ready to drink everything right the hell away.
Still covered in bruises, walking with a limp, looking like Hell warmed over, she pushes her way inside and is all set to drop at a table when..she actually recognizes someone. Someone that (so far…) doesn't want to arrest her, kill her, or worse. Safety in numbers, maybe? Since Raven did mention a sort of team, after all. Compared to someone like Cain she looks like a porcelain doll, but she's a porcelain doll that can put away a whole lotta booze.
"Fancy meeting you here, big guy."
*
Cain cocks his head and looks Domino over, "Hey there, girlie," he says, "C'mon over an' grab a drink. Roscoe won't call the heat on ya. Put it on my tab,' he says.
"So how you been holdin' up since the big break? You sign up with Raven's merry band o' misfits?" he says. He supposes he's in there, too, although it feels weird, the idea of being part of a team. Especially a team with Fred. Fat, fat Fred."
*
"Wiser words have yet to be spoken," Dom replies with a smirk. It feels like the first time in quite a while that she's been able to just -sit- and not have to worry about anything.
"You two lucked out," she starts in while leaning heavily upon folded arms. "We held up at some run-down joint then got ambushed three ways to Friday. Guess I can cross 'tour Manhattan on a motorcycle with a shape-changer at ninety miles per hour' off of my bucket list."
At this point she'll drink whatever's put in front of her so she changes thoughts long enough to say "Surprise me." Then she thinks better of it and decides "Surprise me twice."
Back to Cain, she admits "I'm not sure your boss has formally invited me onboard. Thing is, I've got all of jack and shit going on otherwise and it's nice knowing there's someone out there who's got my back. You and the other guy don't mess around. So I'm guessin,' if there aren't any objections then maybe I will roll with this crew for a while. If she comes back."
*
Cain shakes his head for a moment, "I ain't got no objections to you joinin' up," he says, taking another sip of his whiskey. "You handled yerself all right in the station, far as I could tell. Plus, truth be told, I ain't exaclty got high standards. Long as you ain't draggin' me down, feel free."
Then something gets through his head and he turns sharply, "Wait, whatcha mean if she comes back? Comes back from where?"
*
To the question the albino thumbs back over her shoulder, thinks about it, then changes the angle a few degrees off to the side. "That giant demonic pie in the sky hangin' over Central Park," she replies in an all too casual tone. "Guess she wanted to do some sightseeing, or something. Go south for the winter?" she asks, shrugging. "Got the heat off my back in a hurry, so more power to her."
The first drink, a -proper- drink and not something lame and fruity, lands with a thunk in front of her. She's all too happy to reach for it. Maybe a little eager, even.
*
Cain sighs, "God dammit," he says, "Y'know, I may be new to the team thing, but if yer team leader ends up jumpin' into a big demonic pie in the sky, maybe, just maybe, you oughtta think about doin' somethin' about it. I think that's prob'ly part o' the deal," he says. Cain may have been a solo operator for a while, but he started out as a merc, running teams through North Africa after the war.
Until he found Cytorrak.
He throws down one more whiskey and shrugs, "Now I'm gonna have to go in there and go get 'er,' he mutters. "And yer comin', too, sister," he says. "Don't gimme any lip about it neither. Trust me, you don't wanna be on my bad side, capisce?"
*
The only thing he says which doesn't seem to get through to her..is the threat. Domino actually looks put off. Offended, even!
"Hey, you know what, don't be trippin' on me here, dude," she promptly retaliates. "Raven's a big girl, she can take care of herself. She -told- me not to go in there after her. And you know what, I'm -good- with that. God knows I've got enough battles of my own to deal with already," she states with a little disgust while taking a gulp from her first glass.
"You wanna go wrangle some demons, the two bug-fucking nuts heroes, and the creepy flying dude that disintegrated our bike from beneath us with her, be my guest."
*
Cain leans down a little, "Okay, you wanna play like that, that's fine. But I know Raven. Y'know how I know her? She's my sister, see. Which means I know she probably put herself in there savin' your ass, drawin' off the heat. An' she told ya to leave it cause she's got this martyr complex. Runs in the family. You should see our brother, he's practically puttin' himself up on a cross every chance he gets," he says.
"So, maybe I can't scare ya into helpin' but maybe, just maybe, you got enough loyalty or decency in that speckled carcass o' yours to go help somebody who could've left you rottin' in jail. Cause I don't know much 'bout demons, but I know enough to know I don't want her in hell any longer'n she gotta be.'
"And if you wanna know one thing about me, you should know this: the demons are the ones that oughtta be scared when I come lookin'."
*
Domino slowly sets her glass down on the ratty bartop, almost looking timid for a moment as she gathers her thoughts, figures herself out, and keeps herself from doing anything stupid.
Truth is, someone like Cain (or Fred, or Raven!) could absolutely scare the sense out of her. She just tends to be an all or nothing sort. Push long enough and she'll snap like a steel bar. It's all a matter of having the patience or determination to find that breaking point.
Cain isn't there yet, but he does poke at a different nerve. One which is just a tad raw lately. She takes a quick breath and looks over and up at the giant of a man, just staring right back at him as if this has become a battle of willpower.
In a sense..it has.
The albino hears him out, without outburst nor event. She simply absorbs his side of the argument.
Then sits…
And stares…
Then breaks her gaze away, turning back to her partially filled glass with a distant "Goddammit."
A pale hand reaches up to roughly paw at the side of her face. She's still working on that phantom itch when she grumbles "When do we start."
*
Cain grins and shoves away from the bar, "First thing's first - we need some bodies to get between us and the demons. Which means we put together an actual team. And I know one big, bad target we need to get first of all," he says, softly clapping Domino on the shoulder.
"C'mon and let's find Fat Boy."
*
LATER ON THAT SAME DAY…
*
It hadn't been too hard to track down Fred, Cain had done it once already, just a issue of remembering the phone number. He had responded with incrdulity at first, "Th'hell you talkin' about?", but was coaxed into a state of semi-belief, "Aw shit! We just sprang that fuckin' broad! She some kinna gat damn damsel in disdress?!". After a bit of cussing and belly-achin, he consented, "Yeah, yeah, same joint? Be there in twinny."
And that's about what it took him, give or take five minutes. The bell over the door jangled and in walked Fred Dukes, face screwed up like he was sucking a lemon and a few pages of a newspaper rolled up and sticking out of the back pocket of his latest pair of overalls.
Piffy, little eyes swept the room with a glower… and through the smoke, he managed to make out Cain more than Domino. Stick a light on that man's head and he'd keep a good couple of ships off the rocks.
He lumbered over, wading through the smoke to find the pair, "Aight, now what the helll happened?"
*
Cain just shakes his head at Fred, "Jesus H. Fred, it's the fuckin' Blob," he mutters, slapping the big guy on the back with enough force to create an oceanic surge of jiggling, probably forcing any parasites and/or passengers on Fred's massive corpulence to leap or flee lest they be drowned in a cellulite tsunami.
"What happened is Raven threw herself into some sort of hole in the world over near the park. Probably cause she thought she was saving Domino here, which is why Domino's going to come with us. Cause it's partly her fault and she knows it. I only keep mentioning it so that she remembers she owes Raven and doesn't chicken the fuck out."
"I am going because she's my sister. You are going because she's your boss and because we say so. I'm sure there'll be money or somethin'. Might try to find one or two others to drag along. Expendable types, if you catch my drift."
*
Similarly from where Domino is sitting, she knows Fred's about upon the place before he's actually pushing through the doors. She's already turned around on a bar stool, leaning back on one elbow with yet another drink in her other hand, when Fred shows up. There's any number of ribbing greetings which come to mind, but given what happened the last time she ..unintentionally offended the guy, she just smirks and holds up her drink.
That shouldn't get her into trouble. Hopefully. She just about loses her stomach when Cain gives Fred a hearty slap on the back, though.
Then she's quick to shoot a scowl at Cain, going so far as to dart a hand out and jab him in the side. Regardless if it actually does anything useful. "Lay off it," she growls back.
Back to the immediate matter, with a grin, she adds "It was pretty badass, to be fair. But, yeah. It swallowed 'er whole. And three other pains in my ass. We're gonna go fishing for a Bluegill."
..Wait.
Once more, quickly, she spins about and stares at Cain with a 'don't you joke about this' expression. "There's money in this?"
*
It is like a ripple across a pond, his flesh radiates away from Cain's hand in rolling waves that flow outward and rebound. It's like he's made out of a waterbed, surging and flowing, undulating beneath the tall, denim overalls and his flannel shirt… It'll take a moment to come to a complete still. In fact, had he not anchored himself in place, that just might have floored him! However, he knew well enough Cain's manner by now (what, two days?) to expect such a thing.
He temps his ire down in the face of… a pet name that causes a knot to twist in his guts. Domino is wise to not join in, not with Raven just about as far away as she could be. He shoves his hands in his pockets and chews it all over for about a minute, "Sheeeit…" he seethes.
"Always money in bustin' heads." he notes to Domino, his bountiful bussom at last ceasing to heave from Cain's greeting, "Might have somethin' for or fodder problem too." He reaches behind him… he's.. he's a bit more limber than he might seem, and pulles the newspaper from his pocket before bellying up to the bar and smoothing it out across the weathered surface, "Rightchere." his finger pounds down on something in the classifieds, "Saw it th'other day. Looked like some dumb joke.. but now? Might be a way in" he muses.
*
Cain comes over and peers over Fred's shoulder, the massive man leaning with one hand on the bar. Between the two of them, they probably outweigh everyone else in the bar. Helll, they probably outweigh the bar itself.
"For Sale: Vintage Vaudeville Props. Noses, wigs, magic tricks and more." Fred, I dunno how that's gonna help us…wait, wait, sorry, your fat finger is pointing at four things at once, lemme see if I can figure out the right one," he says.
He leans in, peering as he tries to read, "Domino, c'mere an' give it a squint. What's that one? "Is there something strange in your neighborhood? Who're you gonna call…?"
*
Fred's teeth GRIND! His jawline straining to stand out against the soft flesh that almost envelopes it. He was about to throw a straigh mantrum of destructive proportions but Domino drops the sass and gets down to the tacks of it. Glowering at Cain, he vents his irritation with a snort. "Fitty g'damn dollars…" he mutters to himself before trying to press his case. "S'in the paper, gotta be true." Fred reasons defensively before pressing on.
"Now listen, they gonna have a bunch pansy ass pencil necks in their with whatever fuckin' hocus pocus is real or not. First Ah even knew hell was real! Still, if they want to go down and come up livin', they gonna need muscle… an' guns or somethin' I guess, we'll putchyu in a duffle, I don't know. Anyway! Jus' don't go signin' nothin' in blood or sellin' off yer soul and we aughta be fine! Like that damn station. Go in, make a mess, and haul her ass out again."
Maybe they'd end up with another person for the crew too…
YOU DON'T KNOW THAT THEY WON'T!
*
Cain shrugs and nods, "I hate to say it, but Fred's gotta point. We got plenty o' muscle, but don't got the knowledge tehat some pencilneck with a magic wand can bring to the situation. We need nerds," he says. "This? This smells like nerd. Hell, my brother could've written this, if he knew jack about this sort of thing. Of course, he already has his own little army to keep his scrawny ass safe,' he mutters.
"Good thinkin', dumplin'. ROSCOE. YOu got a phone in this joint? I'm all outta quarters."
*
Erm. Alright..Domino missed part of the exchange between the two. Mostly in whatever it is that just set Fred off. She's going to have to learn Raven's trick for 'keeping the peace' with that guy. Though when he grumbles about the fifty dollars the albino sighs and rolls her eyes. "Look, if it'd make you feel better how about I go and make you fifty, here and now. One time offer. Doesn't do the team any good if you're still fussing over it while we're dealing with the legions of Satan's army."
To the business part of it, she nods. Fred may not seem like it at first glance (or second, or third…) but there are a couple of neurons rubbing together up there, occasionally spitting out an intelligent thought. There may well be other..equally strange..people all signing up for the strangest ad she's ever seen printed in something meant for mass publication. Some of those weirdos might be useful…
Then she looks ready to slap Fred for the duffle bag comment, but thinks better of THAT as well. She may not get her hand back if it were to make contact with the guy.
"Well then I -suppose- I could tag along and shoot some baddies, if it wouldn't upset the burly men-folk to have a lady runnin' around," she drawls with a fake Southern accent.
After Cain calls out for a phone Domino slumps forward on one hand. Grumbling to herself. "I really hate all of this bullshit… Whatever happened to plain old people killing other plain old people? It was simple, it was effective, people were happy with that arrangement! This used to make some amount of sense!"
It is definitely time for more booze.
*
"Ain't th'point!" he retorted to Domino, a finger pointed towards her, "Principal!" one of the bigger words he knew… "But don'tchyu worry 'bout me! I ain't some spiteful shit on the job, I pull my g'damned weight!" he added for assurence.
Although he did not know it, Fred knew exactly what Cain was talking about, he'd delt with that band of pretty-on-the-outside freaks before.
Didn't end as well as he'd have liked.
Dumplin' rolled off, he mistook Cain for refering to their friend with a permanent shiner… He also missed her seething sarcasm!
"Don't you worry, Darflin. You stay behind ol' Dukes. We'll see you through."
*
(And that's a whole lotta pullin,' right there,) Domino thinks.
What she -does- say is "Alright, fine! Deal with it solo," with a showing of open palms.
To the comment about staying behind Fred, she easily says "Yeah, copy that" while turning back to her drink. Frankly she had already counted on using these two as meat shields. They've well proven that bullets don't bother them much, and they're absolutely frickin' huge. It'd be stupid of her to -not- take cover behind them both!
"And in the meantime we get to go nerd-wranglin.' I'd ask if this day could get any more fucked up but I already know the answer to that. -Jeezus- it's like every day is a perma-trip in this godforsaken city."