Test Thread

[beachbunnykirby.livejournal.com]

Location: A rooftop in some South-American state.
Time: Sometime in the late 1990s

Kirby pressed her body flat against the roof she was perched on and peered over the ridge. Yes, this was the perfect spot to wait for her target to appear. The deal that was going to go down in the room behind the window just pefectly in her sight and her range would not end quite like her employer's business partner expected.

She made herself comfortable where she was, relaxing against the sun-warmed tiles of the roof for the moment. There was plenty time left, but it was good to be in position well ahead of anyone else.

To pass time, and because it was a good idea in general, she checked her gear one more time.

Comments

[quickneatuntrac.livejournal.com]

Sneaking over the roofs to where he intended to set out his ambush, Murdoc went over the hit he was just about to complete in his mind. He had scouted the area before and found the perfect place from where he could watch the deal. A single well-aimed bullet then should take care of his target.

A complication he had not expected was a woman already in place right where he had planned to lie waiting. What was that? He worked alone, or with the people he selected.

He jumped down onto the roof below him to deal with the situation.

[beachbunnykirby.livejournal.com]

Kirby whirled around and pointed the gun she had had resting at her side at the arrival. A man was stadning on her roof, well-balanced in spite of the slope, a gun in his hand that was pointed somewhat in her direction.

He was a short man, and the left side of his face was disfigured by burn scars. He had the posture and tension in his movements that she knew to associate with those of her trade.

"What are you doing here?" she hissed. She knew better than to ask him about his name. "There's not enough sun for both of us."

[quickneatuntrac.livejournal.com]

"Don't even breathe," he warned her. He was impressed with her reaction and he wasn't going to show it. "I've not come to sunbathe."

His eyes roamed over the utensils she had laid out. "What do you think you're doing here?"

[beachbunnykirby.livejournal.com]

"I asked that question first," Kirby said lazily, for all the world as if they were meeting at a sunny beach rather than on a hot rooftop, threatening each other with guns. "But I'll oblige you anyway. I'm going to put a single, clean bullet into the head of the man who is going to sell an important piece of information down there in a bit."

One of them wasn't going to leave this rooftop alive, so there really was no point in keeping secrets. In particular secrets the revelation of which might surprise him into giving her an opening.

[quickneatuntrac.livejournal.com]

He did not look at the down there or anywhere else away from the woman. However, he did raise his eyebrows slightly. "I was planning on doing the same with the man who is going to purchase it, once he has handed over the money," he told her. "I cannot let you ruin my hit."

[beachbunnykirby.livejournal.com]

"If you shoot my employer, how will I get my money?" Kirby asked. "I don't think I can let you do that."

THEN AGAIN, she was hardly his bodyguard. And also...

"But the same goes vice versa. And they'll have plenty money down there for the deal. I dunno about you, Prettyboy, but I was promised ten percent of the proceeds. I might settle for fifty." She grinned widely up at him, gun still trained steadily at his head.

[quickneatuntrac.livejournal.com]

The girl has been offered ten percent of the transaction value? She must be even better than her reactions here indicated if she could command such a price.

He was no thief, but it was true - they were not competition here. They had different targets. The question was only, would they be able to share one lookout wihtout killing the other out of habit where the leaving alive of witnesses was concerened?

"I'll take down my gun if you do," he said.

[beachbunnykirby.livejournal.com]

"On a count of three," she suggested. "One - two ..."

[quickneatuntrac.livejournal.com]

"Three," he finished with her. "What now?"

[beachbunnykirby.livejournal.com]

Kirby patted the roof next to her. "Now we wait," she said. "Come on, get comfortable. The roof's nice and warm and the tan is a nice bonus of the location."

[quickneatuntrac.livejournal.com]

The roof was certainly warm. Too warm for comfort if one side of your body was covered in freshly healed burns. Still, he did as she indicated, then double-checked his own gear and finally settled down to wait.

They waited in silence for their respective clients and targets to appear.

[beachbunnykirby.livejournal.com]

Two shots rang through the silence on the roofs. They might just as well have been one, they were so close together.

The glass in the window behind which both their targets were standing broke into splinters, and both of the men who had just handed over information and money dropped.

Kirby looked sideways at her colleague and saw the same motion from him. From this angle, he actually looked kind of cute, scars or no.

She raised an eyebrow and grinned at him. "C'mon," she said. "Let's get our money."

She kept her hand on the gun just in case he decided the full amount was better than half.

Directly to the "aftermath"?

[quickneatuntrac.livejournal.com]

He vaulted off the roof after her and landed securely on a lower one below, from where they could easily climb down to the street.

"Watch out!" he told her as he hid his hand under his sleeve and removed splinters from the window frame to make it safe to climb inside. The neighborhood was not the kind that minded either questionable transactions or gunshots, but he didn't fancy the kinds of things he might step into if he actually took the front door in.

Sure

[beachbunnykirby.livejournal.com]

***

Kirby liked to celebrate a hit gone well. Having even more money than usual at her disposal didn't hurt either.

So she and her unexpected colleague found themselves in one of her favorite bars of the wider area a few hours later.

She was careful with her drinks, as usual in public. She had taken out people after making them drunk before. She had heard of colleagues being taken out that way. It wouldn't happen to her.

She let her eyes wander around the room. If she could help it, she didn't sleep alone very often. Still, the sheer amount of men who met her tastes in this room made it difficult to settle on one to approach.

[quickneatuntrac.livejournal.com]

He noticed how she was scanning the room and had an idea he knew what she was looking for. Once upon a time he might have done the same. Up to that day a bit over seven years ago, when he had been caught in a building just about to be demolished. Before falling debris had trapped him, broken his cheekbone and jaw and left his face scarred to the point where chatting up a woman in a bar just like that - without spending hours on careful make-up beforehand to conceal the damage - was simply no longer an option.

Now, after the explosion that had added new scars to his face, ones that went up to his hairline and down his throat into the collar of his shirt, that held doubly true.

He concentrated on his drink as one of the young men approached his striking blonde colleague with a proposal that initiated with a snide remark concerning her companion.

That would be he.

[beachbunnykirby.livejournal.com]

Kirby looked the man who'd just approached her up and down. this wasn't right. She took herpick. She wasn't the one chosen by some boy too full of himself to recognise two very dangerous people when he saw them.

No, she wouldn't be picked like some girl who didn't know her own worth. At least tonight, she thought, it should be someone she could respect.

She gave the man a wide, though somewhat condescending smile. "Why, thanks for the offer," she said. "But I prefer them a little more ... experienced. Now, my friend here - you wouldn't even begin to believe the things he can do with his gun."

[quickneatuntrac.livejournal.com]

He very nearly spit his drink back into his glass and gave her away.

Very nearly.

As it was, he had just enough control over his reaction to set down his glass as if nothing out of the ordinary had been said.

Instead he turned around on his stool and grinned widely at the man. "Need some help?"

[beachbunnykirby.livejournal.com]

He was certainly catching on fast. Good!

Kirby leaned sideways and into her colleague, hoping he was catching on fast enough not to let her fall off the stool. Then she realised she still did not even know his name. Or he hers. That could be kind of awkward in this situation...

Well, nothing to be done about that now.

[quickneatuntrac.livejournal.com]

He moved to catch her and let her lean into him. It had been a while that he had been this close to a woman except for professional reasons on one side or the other. He felt his body's approving reaction.

The man who had just thought to chat up his companion, however, approved far less. He went form disbelief to anger to outright fury, and Murdoc tensed his body ready to push the woman aside and counter an attack.

[beachbunnykirby.livejournal.com]

The man's reaction did not escape Kirby either. As the guy grabbed her arm with a gesture that was half playful, half forceful, she let him pull her to her feet.

Then, just as the guy shot a triumphant glare at her companion and tried to draw her close, she brought up her fist, hard and efficiently, and left him gasping.

She threw a handful of coins on the counter and beckoned to her colleague. "C'mon," she said. "Let's move elsewhere."

[quickneatuntrac.livejournal.com]

This could have easily turned into a full scale bar room brawl. He had an idea of why she didn't pursue it further - they both had too much money on their persons to be caught with if something went wrong.

He got to his feet, sketched a salute at the spurned would-be lover and joined his colleague in a sauntering exit.