Cassandra: Clubbing

Who: Cassandra
Where: On the promenade
When: Several hours after Cass got up
<ooc>
A long post, chronically short on laughs, with some unpleasant unpleasantness in
it; so if you're the sort of delicate little flower that gets upset by things
that happen in real world, then you're probably best not reading
Thank you
</ooc>
A few hours later, after the lift journey back up towards the 'Dwarfs more
civilised areas, Cass found herself idly sat outside a small coffee concession
on the promenade, smoking yet another cig while she killed time watching the
crowds drifting past
It was all a little strange, she reflected, softly drifting another breath of
smoke out: all these little people here were only alive, more or less, as a
result of her actions; sure, someone else could, and probably would, have
stepped in to stop the cores destabilising and saved everyone, but this time, it
was her who had come through and acted the part of the hero
She absently pushed a plastic stirrer through the gritty froth on the top of her
oily cup of black coffee, before taking a scalding sip and settling back in her
chair to smoke the rest of the cig while her coffee cooled, pausing only to
scowl at a gaggle of off-duty, raucously drunk crewmembers shouting, yelling,
and chasing each other down the promenade in a couple of misappropriated
shopping trolleys
She had saved the smegging lot of them, she realised, just so they could carry
on with their ignorant, grubby little lives doing the same tedious,
inconsequential, rubbish that they always did - and all she had to show for it
was a smegging hangover!
"Saved by a penniless stripper" she petulantly growled to herself as she
bitterly ground the cig out "Hope you all smegging well appreciate it!"
This was all a little too weird; and dwelling on it was no good either: Cass
knew she was only delaying the inevitable, hanging around here drinking coffee
when she really couldn't put her return to the club off much longer
Standing, head throbbing slightly in protest at the sudden movement, she drained
the coffee and began the walk down the promenade towards the red zone and oh-so
attractively monikered "Club Fister"
It didn't take her so long to make her way down to the bottom end of the
promenade; the half hour walk seeing the shops, restaurants and boutiques that
lined the main drag slowly gave way to shuttered and closed units, which in turn
finally gave way to faceless "massage" parlours, dingy little shops peddling
marital aids, smut and lubricants, and of course the lap dancing joints,
garishly advertising their sleazy wares lit madly in laser and neon
It was only 16:30, and yet from the buzz in the air, the red zone was already
showing signs of gearing up for another heavy night of drink, drugs,
exploitation and barely, but never completely, restrained violence
Cass moped to a halt outside her destination and turned to gaze apprehensively
at the place. For some reason, in spite of her having only having been away from
the place for a week or so , she had imagined it might have changed, but
everything from the outside was more or less the same as it had always been:
Eugene and Harry still stood guard outside, the music still throbbed from the
external speakers, and the trio of pneumatically enhanced holographic babes
projected out into the promenade causeway still enthusiastically writhed and
waved their bits in an eternally mindless loop, trying to entice punters inside
with the promise of real girls, beer, flesh, and whatever else you were in the
mood to negotiate, that a lonely hour or two of cracking one off in front of an
interweb link couldn't otherwise achieve
Nodding to Eugene and Harry, Cass pulled another cig out of its pack with
trembling fingers and slipped it between her lips, sparking it up and shakily
exhaling before she walked towards the entrance, trying to marshal even a little
of her so far elusive self confidence
"I am a wonderful person", she muttered over and over to herself as she walked
"I am. I am..."
"Evening boys" Cass forced a smile "Miss me?"
"Boss wants a word with you" Eugene said flatly, his piggy little eyes staring
beadily at her from beneath a low brow
"Yeah" Harry grunted
"Lovely to be back" Cass muttered "Is he in?"
"Oh, he's in alright" Eugene leered, his missing teeth framing a deeply
unpleasant smile
"Yeah" Harry grunted
"Ooookay... I'll just go through then, shall I?" this was kind of awkward
"Hah! Good luck!" Eugene grinned, moving only ever so slightly out of the way
for her, and forcing Cass to have to push her way uncomfortably closely past the
two men
"Yeah" Harry grunted, wetly licking his lips
Walking nervously into the clubs dimly lit black and red interior, Cass glanced
about taking things in. Not much had changed in here either, and all in all it
was pretty quiet: Grace was dancing on the main stage for ten or so bored
looking drunks, Miguel was behind the bar, and a corseted, blonde girl she had
never seen before was ferrying drinks over to a couple of punters doing biz of
some sort in a dark corner
"Cassandra!" a woman's voice shrilled
Cass turned just in time to register that is was Amy, one of the clubs other
dancers, before she was swept up into an embrace
"So good to see you back" Amy said before hugging her tight and whispering in
her ear "Get the hell out of here now; Phil's on one"
Cass pulled back, struggling to her conceal her alarm
"Yeah, it's great to see you too Amy. Listen, I've got a friend waiting outside;
I'll just pop out and tell her I'll be back out in a few minutes, ok? I'll be
back in five..."
"Sure, no problem" the other woman replied with an entirely false smile "I'll
wait here for you; we've got some caching up to do"
With the intention of sprinting away from the place as soon as she was able,
Cass turned to leave, almost walking into the towering mass of Mr. Butler
"Le Souteneur will see you now Ma'am" the big man growled
The world did that funny spinning thing as Cass, panicking, glanced about trying
to figure a way out of the situation
Butler must have guessed what was going through her mind and quickly slapped a
heavy hand on her shoulder
"Now" he said, firmly steering her towards the back of the club
Cass was too numb to resist, feeling sick and dizzy with fear, her legs heavy
and uncoordinated as she was guided around past the bar, mutely glancing back,
wide eyed and pale faced over her shoulder at Amy, and wondering if her friend
was going to be one of the last people to ever see her alive
Mr. Butler silently led Cass through a door at the back of the club, up a set of
stairs and through a couple of empty rooms before coming to a halt at a solid
looking metal door
He pressed an intercom buzzer, muttered quietly into the microphone grille, and
after a second when a buzzer sounded and the locking mechanisms slid back, he
swung the door open, holding it for Cass
"You had better go in now Ma'am, it doesn't pay to keep Le Souteneur waiting"
"JONES. IN 'ERE NOW!" a voice bellowed in a heavy French accent
Butler had the decency to look briefly sympathetic as Cass walked, with as much
dignity as she could muster, past him into Le Souteneur's inner sanctum
She had never been up here before, and glancing around, she saw that she was in
a large, dimly lit room, decorated primarily in blacks and greys, with
comfortable, expensive looking furniture, leafy plants, and aesthetically
minimalistic pieces of sculpture dotted around; a group of grim faced killers
were sat quietly playing cards around a glass coffee table in one corner, and a
thin, severe looking woman with bone white hair in her thirties, who Cass
recognised as Lilith, the company accountant, was hunched on a sofa in the
middle of the room peering intently at a handheld terminal
Butler guided Cass across towards the back of the room towards where Philippe,
dressed in a dark suit and flanked on either side by a pair of massive wall
mounted monitors, was seated behind a large glass topped desk, which as she
approached, she realised was smeared with the telltale signs of recent, and
heavy drug use; that and the huge plate of crystal laid on the desk next to an
unnervingly heavy looking laser pistol was a bit of a giveaway too
"Ah, the 'ero of the hour, mais non?" Le Souteneur sneered with a manic grin
"Mr. Le Souteneur" Cass acknowledged flatly as Butler pushed her down into one
of two chairs in front of the desk and retreated off to stand a respectful
distance away
"Bet you think you're pretty clever, pulling that-ah little stunt of yours, eh?"
Cass wanted to say, something along the lines of: 'I know I'm smegging clever,
you lowbrow cretin; and come the time, you'll be one of the first up against the
wall' but instead all she dared come out with was: "I couldn't say, sir"
"OF COURSE YOU SMEGGING CAN!" Philippe screamed, standing up to bellow at her,
his body rigid with anger, a vein visibly throbbing in his temple
"But..." his voice softened with unnerving immediacy "we should celebrate, non?"
He threw himself back down into his chair and produced a vicious looking knife
from his jacket, which he used to cut out a thick line of powdered crystal out
from the massive pile on the desk
"Come, 'ave a line with me..."
He stopped at this, dropping the knife with a clatter onto the desk, and
covering his eyes, shoulders gently shaking in what took Cass a moment or two to
realise was probably laughter
She waited
"Oh... Pardonez moi" Philippe began, wiping tears from his eyes after a moment
"It just ah, you know, occurred to me zat it's a pity your name isn't Aveline...
Such a beautiful name..."
Cass mentally struggled, trying to follow his disjointed reasoning, while at the
same time groping for an appropriate response to this, one of the worst puns she
had heard in recent memory. In the end she just elected to go for a false but
bright smile, deeming it probably the safest and least controversial thing she
could do
"Bon" Le Souteneur regarded her coldly, before gesturing towards the line of
crystals on the desk "Aveline..."
Cass glanced around, wondering if this was a trap of some sort, but fast came to
the conclusion that she had little option; so leaning forward, she plucked a
rolled note up from the detritus on the table, and snorted the line up one
nostril after another with practiced ease
"Uwargh" she gasped feeling the hit already beginning to take effect "That's
good stuff"
"But of course, mon amie" Le Souteneur smiled "Nothing but the best, eh?"
"Very generous of you" Cass murmured, massaging her nose and sniffing again
"Now" he snapped, leaning forward on the desk, his dark eyes piercing hers "To
business"
"Gack" was all Cass managed, nearly heaving, as the first of the crystals
started dribbling down the back of her throat. She sniffed hard, and tried to
pay attention to Le Souteneur
"I like you Jones" he began "I really like you... And I know it's not your
fault, but you see, I need someone to blame..."
"For what?" Cass asked dryly, the crystal already clouding her control enough to
ask such a stupid question
"For the damage the fight caused, stupid salope" Philippe snarled, suddenly
angry
Cass held her hands up in supplication, eyes wide in fear
"I... I'm sure we could come to an agreement of some sort..." she began
"Oh, I'm sure we can" Le Souteneur purred, getting up from his seat and stalking
around the desk towards her
Cass didn't dare even look at the man as he came to a halt, standing over her
"Oh, yes, you and me: We'll come to an arrangement alright"
He crouched down, so that he was more or less level with Cass sat in the chair
"Fifteen thousand" he hissed in her ear
"Fifteen...?" Cass croaked, turning to face him, unable to help herself "How am
I...?"
"FIFTEEN THOUSAND" he bellowed, suddenly standing, snaking his hand into her
hair and grabbing a fistful to drag Cass out of her chair and bang her head
painfully down on the desk while he grabbed the laser pistol with his free hand,
and pushed it into her cheek, his hand wobbling with the pressure
Cass felt as close to pissing herself in fear as she ever had; she was trembling
in fright, her breath coming in short staccato gasps
"Please..." she whispered, tears brimming "Please... please please please"
"Fifteen. Thousand." Le Souteneur repeated a little more calmly, releasing the
pressure on the weapon to trace the muzzle down over her cheekbone and brush up
against her lips
"Fifteen thousand" he said once more "One week, then I collect. Vous comprenez?"
Blinking tears away, Cass made a small noise, indicating that she did
He pushed the weapon harder against her lips
"Suck it" he breathed
Someone, Cass couldn't see who, cleared their throat
"Philippe! Pack that smegging shit in!" Lilith shouted from across the room "If
you carry on with that, we all know we're just clearing another smegging corpse
away. This one's worth something to us"
After a moment, Le Souteneur pulled the weapon away with obvious reluctance, but
kept Cass pinned on the desk.
He leaned over, his weight bearing uncomfortably down on her
"You're mine" he whispered menacingly in her ear "I 'old your life in my 'ands
now; so you remember: I can and will find you, and kill you whenever, and
wherever I want. You cannot 'ide from me. Comprenez?"
"Ye... Yes" Cass whimpered
"Bon"
Le Souteneur stood, letting go of Cassandra's hair, and allowing her to stand
again, tearful, snotty, and dishevelled
"Get 'er out of 'ere" Philippe nodded to Mr. Butler who jerked his head once at
Cass towards the door
Cass didn't need any more encouragement, and wrapping her arms around herself,
made her way towards the exit, Butler falling in behind her
They made their way back downstairs in silence, the only sound, their feet on
the stairs, and Cass occasionally sniffing trying to clear her nose of snot and
crystal
As they arrived at the door at the bottom of the stairs, Cass reached for the
handle to pull it open, but Butler wordlessly placed a heavy hand on it and held
it closed
"That went pretty well for you" he growled softly "You came out alive, and with
all your body parts!"
Even through the crackling haze of the crystal she was coming up on, Cass was
incredulous
"You reckon?"
"Yeah" Butler muttered grimly, his expression hinting darkly at some of the
horrors he had seen
His face softened a little, and he dug in his pocket to pull out a thin, tightly
rolled wad of notes which he pushed into Cass' hand
"Here's a hundred" he said "Bribe money. Take it, dance tonight as normal - Le
Souteneur will expect it; and then do whatever you can to get the fifteen
together, otherwise you're in a world of hurt"
"Thanks" Cass was stunned, "...what's with the money?"
"Breathe a word to anyone about it" Butler snarled "and I'll kill you myself.
Now get out there"
He pulled the door open for Cass to walk silently out into the club