Day 28: Crossroader's Bar and Casino

[thehellismycar.livejournal.com]

[ from here. reserved for Reno. ]

White sneakers gleaming in contrast to the dusty floorboards, Dean approached the bar at a snail's pace, hopelessly immersed in his surroundings. It was a taste of something close to home. He was in his element.

And he loved it.

His face seemed to ache the instant he smiled his first genuine smile of the day. Previous shakiness in his bearing abandoned, he swiveled on a chair to allow his restless eyes the chance to roam the features of the tavern that really weren't as captivating as the hunter found them. His wry expression faded as he glanced disapprovingly at himself. These clothes made him look like some overgrown kid who'd taken a wrong turn on his way to the Nerd Convention.

Comments

[quickdrawbkiddo.livejournal.com]

Her eyes snapped back up to Barrett's, her hand hanging limp where he left it. "She has to be here," she said in that same voice. "I was with her one moment and here the next. If she is not within the walls of our prison, then they have her elsewhere. She has no other relatives."

She closed her eyes and forced herself to calm down. She turned and picked up her glass of water, staring into it again. She was somewhere. She had to be.

[bigshotbarret.livejournal.com]

"Hope she's not here. Pray she's not here, because you don't want her to be here..." Barret believed that with all of his heart, and he hoped she understood the statement.

His voice dropped as he leaned a little closer to her. The theory of different worlds would have to wait until they were back at the Institute, he didn't know how she'd react if he told her there, "From what I've seen, from what I've heard, they ain't got no use for our kids. They've got no way to defend themselves at night when the real scary, twisted shit comes out. You don't go through trouble abducting someone just to see 'em die by some gnarled beast in a crazy house hallway. They've got to have a greater purpose for us." Hope was the only thing that kept him from doubting his own words.

"But..." he began again, sucking up the courage to return the comfort she offered him by clasping his hand over hers that held her beverage, speaking with a curled anger it seemed barely containable, "If they are holding our children...rest assured I'll be right there with ya, taking my time to tear these sons of bitches apart to get to 'em."

[quickdrawbkiddo.livejournal.com]

Beatrix tilted her head down a little, feeling the warmth of Barrett's hand upon her own. "I will find her," she whispered.

"May God take mercy on those responsible, because I won't."

[bigshotbarret.livejournal.com]

"I do wanna warn ya though...because they did it to me, and I'm sure others suffered closed to the same," he began softly, remembering the moment like it was yesterday, pain and all.

"They've got tricks they use. One was visitors day...brought in my daughter, only...she was about three instead of six, like I remember her. And her...my old best friend Dyne, who should have been dead, was very much alive. But they didn't go by the names I remember. He claimed my wife Myrna was still alive, waitin' for me to recover. It was all in contrast with what are my memories, it was enough to make me think I really was insane." He paused a moment, a sharp pang hitting his chest before he could cushion the blow, "I'm surprised I survived that day, because I was intent on killing every single one of those nurses in that room."

Barret looked at her then, the severity of what he was describing readable in his irises, "This is more than a crazy house. If you ain't crazy now, they'll try to make you that way. Don't be fooled. You might not recover from it." He gave her hand a light squeeze.

[quickdrawbkiddo.livejournal.com]

Beatrix listened. She absorbed what Barrett said. She processed it.

She started laughing.

It wasn't happy laughter nor maniacal laughter. It was emotionless laughter. She looked into Barrett's eyes and put her other hand flat against his cheek. "Oh, Barrett, I am insane. I am simply in control of it."

She caressed his cheek a little. "They picked the wrong woman to be part of their nightmare."

[bigshotbarret.livejournal.com]

Barret wasn't quite sure what to say to that, or what to do now that she was touching his cheek, caressing it just so. She was a little bit of insane, a little bit of sweet, and a lot of killer. He went to reach for her hand with his metallic hand, but stopped, not sure how she'd react to the appendage. Instead, he remained still but relaxed, smirking a bit in her direction.

"Well Arlene, I guess I ought to be glad we're on the same side."

[quickdrawbkiddo.livejournal.com]

Beatrix traced a finger down along Barrett's jawline and then removed it.

"Only because of your daughter."

[bigshotbarret.livejournal.com]

"Somehow I'm not surprised," he admitted, pulling his hand from hers just as her finger retreated from his chin. "You seem the type to be just fine flying solo."

[quickdrawbkiddo.livejournal.com]

"I'm the rather violent sort. I don't care what I have to do to get what I want," Beatrix said.

"Though I have taken some teenagers under my wing." She blinked, the cold killer leaving her face. "For their protection."

[bigshotbarret.livejournal.com]

It was almost like she had split personalities, but was completely aware of herself. Yeah, he was glad he wasn't on her bad side.

But the day was still young.

"Course. Though some of these teens are more capable of taking care of themselves than you'd think," he'd never forget how River almost killed him. "But...everyone needs at least one person around to watch their back." He thought of his friends, even that Robin guy who seemed even more out of place than anyone there, for different reasons.

[quickdrawbkiddo.livejournal.com]

"I know better than to underestimate teenagers," Beatrix responded. "My best friend had become a world-renowned assassin by the time she was eighteen."

She tilted her head at Barrett. "And who watches your back?"

[bigshotbarret.livejournal.com]

He almost wished he was surprised by anything she was telling him so far, but it just showed him what kind of world he really lived in before this. After all, his Planet was nearly destroyed by a crazed half breed alien. A teenager turned assassin was nothing more than disturbing.

"I got friends here from...back home. Probably about four of us now. Some of the others that were here just kinda disappeared. Don't know if they're dead, lying about or what. There's almost no way to really find out. I'm holdin' hope that maybe, somehow, they escaped..." but he doubted it. "But when they're not around, I watch my own."

[quickdrawbkiddo.livejournal.com]

"It's good to have... friends." A pause. "Sometimes."

"What sort of goal do you and your friends have in mind? Other than escape, that is." Another pause. "Do you know what Martin Landel looks like?"

[bigshotbarret.livejournal.com]

Barret smiled at that. "It's good to have good friends. They surprise you sometimes, with just how good they can be."

At the mention of Martin Landel he frowned and tensed instantly, like an animal ready to lunge at prey, "No, I never got the chance to see him, though I know he did show his ugly mug to some of the patients. Don't know who saw him though. But I think he's one of those guys that...when you see him, you know it's him." He sighed a took a breath, trying to control his ebbing temper just at the thought of that sadistic excuse for a man, "There's more to this place than meets the eye, obviously. Escape seems like it'll be complicated. Gettin' out is rough, but it's where to go after that..."

[quickdrawbkiddo.livejournal.com]

"I need to have a long... chat with dear Martin Landel," the Bride said.

"Is out where we all really need to go to kill this man?"

[bigshotbarret.livejournal.com]

"I think we all need to have a 'chat' with that Mr. Landel.." Wallace replied, rubbing a hand over his cornrows.

He wanted to laugh at that comment, shaking his head with a bit of a smirk, "I'd rather blow up the entire joint with him and the staff in it, even if blowin' a hole in their chests would be more satisfying. I'd sacrifice that want to keep anyone else from havin' to be caught up in this shithole. This ain't no way to live."

[quickdrawbkiddo.livejournal.com]

"I suppose not," Beatrix replied. "What are your plans tonight, Barrett?"

It was then that she remembered the man on the street her and Mion had been talking to went by the name Barrett as well. Well, last name, but it was a little amusing.

[bigshotbarret.livejournal.com]

"Was aimin' to take a look at the basement at some point..." his thoughts trailed off to a certain President he needed to check in with, to see his condition. Not that he cared or anything...

"Nothin' in stone. Just really looking for clues on ways out, resources for weapons. You got any?"

[quickdrawbkiddo.livejournal.com]

Beatrix filed away the reference to the basement.

"My main objective is to find where they may be holding BB, though in the process I'll be learning the lay of our prison," she said. "I intend on keeping the teenagers from last night safe as well."