Chapter 8 part 4
“So what’s wrong sweety?” asked Miranda looking concerned. “You look kinda miserable, is everything okay?”
Pearl gave a deep sigh and brushed the hair back
over her ear, which Miranda noted was the distinct short point of a
Halfling ear. She glanced at her shoes quickly and realized she was in 5
inch platform shoes, with a heel that was about
8 inches, making her even tinier than she had appeared at first.
“Well… like I said, I don’t really have a
boyfriend… but there is this one guy, and he treats me really well… Buys
me things, takes me places, gives me money.” Miranda nodded. “But well,
sometimes….” She paused to take a deep breath. “Sometimes
he can be a little scary.” Her eyes started to fill with tears, and
Miranda was moved to lean over and rub her arm reassuringly.
“Oh Sweety, that’s terrible. I can’t imagine what
you must be going through,” she said in a commiserating tone. “That is
so hard, to have to deal with choosing between comfort or… not being
afraid.”
Pearl raised her head and looked at Miranda, her
chin quivering, and mascara running down her cheeks. She nodded, and
looked down at her hands again.
Miranda looked around and saw a tub of wet wipes on
the counter among all the make-up. She pulled it open and wiped of the
Halfling girl’s face, clearing away the mascara.
“Can’t have you looking a mess when you go out there can we? Don’t worry sweety, I’m sure things will work out.“
Pearl nodded and smiled sadly, laughing a little
through the tears. “I’d thought about going out like this actually. Guys
always seem to like it when girls seem to be all vulnerable. Like they
can save us or something.“
Miranda actually laughed at that. She hated it when
guys tried to save her, or act like they needed to break down the door
and stomp some heads. SHE was usually the one doing the stomping, and
the saving. The only one she had ever let
save her was Raul. But that wasn’t by being a total badass butt-kicker,
it was by pulling her out of herself, and giving her what she needed to
recover when she lost her leg.
"Thank you for being so nice to me. You remind me of that nice man last night." she looked regretfully down at her hands. "I think he was trying to save me too, but not like most guys. It was more like he was trying to give me a chance to save myself..." she trailed off.
Miranda was starting to have a hard time NOT losing it now, everything Pearl said reminded her of-
"But then I saw him on the news this morning, they showed his picture. They said he was in that crazy... explosion ... thingie... Over on the south side of town..."
Miranda froze. Her ears started ringing and she could feel every beat of her heart.
"Ow, Ruby."
She had to force herself to breath when she realized that her body wasn't doing it. It was almost painful to inhale, like a great weight was sitting on her chest.
"Ruby, my arm!"
When she exhaled it was ragged, but the rest of the world started to come back into focus, and she realized she was holding something, but someone was pulling it away. She let it go when she realized it was Pearls arm.
"Sorry. Uh. I'm sorry. I kinda lost it there." She blinked, and realized that her face was wet, and when she looked in the mirror she realized that her own makeup had started running down her face. Again.
"Oh, god, I wonder when it's my turn to-"
She realized that the song Cherry Pie was just about to come to an end, and the DJ's voice droned through the PA. She probably had only seconds. She turned back to Pearl.
"Listen, I have to go on like right now, but I REALLY really reallyreallyreallyreally need to talk to you when I'm done okay?" She started for the stage entrance.
"But I have to go back out, somebody asked for me..." she said plaintively.
"Just don't leave!" said Miranda. She grinned mischievously at Pearl. "I hope you were right about the eyeliner thing."
The next nine and a half minutes seemed to pass in a blur, but a few things stood out in Miranda's mind. First, was that sometime during the first song, Crazy Bitch by Buckcherry, somehow the spirits of exotic dancing moved her to tear - literally TEAR - her tank top off. Ripped right down the middle. She'd had to go back down the block, only barely able to cover herself up to get another one later.
Second was that she had kissed one of the three women sitting in front of the stage during the second song, Porn Star Dancing by My Darkest Days. She was pretty sure the other lady had initiated the kiss, but there was defiantly tongue involved. She'd also grabbed Miranda's right breast. She hadn't minded in that moment, but later the moment would make her sweat wondering about her own proclivities.
Third, she didn't remember climbing the pole, she only heard about it later, but at the beginning of the third song she recalled remembering just in time that she wasn't wearing underwear, so she couldn't take her camo-pants off, but she did ride them down on her hips as low as they would go without falling off, and the open mouthed faces of the guys, and the cheers of the three girls.
Lastly was the odd thin man... elf, she was almost sure, but that was based only on his build... who had walked over to where Pearl was sitting, almost directly in front of her at the stage on the lap of some biker who was with friends. The supposed elf had started to take Pearl away, and when the biker started to object, the skinny guy had said something to him, that seemed to calm him down, or at least confuse him.
Then he led Pearl outside. "No," she'd said quietly, "Oh no."
The song was coming to a close, and even before it was completely over the DJ's voice was thundering across the stage, so she scooped up the respectable pile of one dollar bills, surprised to see that there were even a few fives, and a ten as well... with lipstick on it. She looked at that bill, then over her shoulder at the woman who had kissed her. The lady winked and at her and blew her a kiss.
Miranda smiled, mimed catching it, and slapped it onto her left breast. She hurried off stage, sticking the bills into her wallet pocket. She was about to put her shirt back on, then realized that it was ripped in front. She swore quietly but slipped her arms through the holes nontheless, and tied the loose hanging bits into a knot, so they would at least cover the important bits, but she could tell it wouldn't hold for long. But as long as she could get back down the block to her van-
A loud crashing noise from the main room. The biker had a flipped his table, he and his buddy were stomping toward the door.
"Oh shit," she said, and ran after them.
The bouncer seemed to have been knocked to the ground, but seemed otherwise okay. When he saw her his eyes went wide. She feinted like he was going to kick him, and he curled up into a ball. She smirked, but didn't othrwise hurt him.
But that reminded her of something, and she bent to get something out of her "emergency" pockets on her lower calves.
Outside, the bikers were shouting something that included "respect", and "make you pay."
She stepped through the outer door, and quickly assessed the situation.The thin man had Pearl behind him, and the bikers were facing him, and away from her, which was a problem. And they were wearing leather, which was also a problem.
But she had the answer to both of those problem, didn't she?
"HEY BITCHES! LOOKING FOR THESE?" With her just-barely free fingers she grabbed the sides of the torn tank top and yanked it open.
In slow motion it seemed she watched as the second biker glanced over his shoulder, his mouth dropping open started turning toward her. The first biker looked at his buddy's face, and turned to see what he was looking at...
...and they both exposed their cotton T-shirts under their open front biker leathers.
She raised her paired weapons and aimed both, one in each hand at each of the bikers shirts. She pulled the triggers simultaneously, and 4 barbed spikes flew out towards their chests and dug in. As they did, Five Hundred Thousand volts flew down one wire on each of them, into their chests, back into the other barb, and up it's wire, straight back into her standard police issue Stun Gun.
Their bodies convulsed for a moment and they lost control of their muscles, and when she let go of the triggers the exhausted muscles went limp and they fell to the ground. She though it sounded like the first biker may have also released his bowels.
The thin man, (she thought she saw a hint of pointed ear) stared calmly at her, but never once did his eyes drop down to her chest. She raised and eyebrow at that, as she stepped toward him, narrowing her eyes.
"What do you want with her?" she asked point blank. "Are you working for her boyfriend?" She heard the second biker groan and pulled the trigger again, since the barbs were still in him. She heard a low hum, and he gurgled a little, then fell silent again.
"I need to ask her a few questions. My name is Agent Regan Florida with the DHS."
She stared at him for a moment, stunned, then after half a second's thought she said, sneering, "Bullshit. Where' your badge?"
He smirked slightly. "Suddenly everyone wants to see the badge," he said a little wryly.
They looked away from each other when they heard the car door close, and the engine start up. The car's tires spun for a moment on the pavement, then sped up the block around the corner, heading south.
"FUCK," said Miranda, as this was happening. "She's getting away!"
"In my rented car," he confirmed in a calm steady voice. "She must have picked my pocket. Fuck indeed," he said quite placidly.
She glared at him, realizing that his NOT looking at her chest was making her more self conscious than if he had been, and tying the tank top back over it. "Were you going to hurt her? ARE you going to hurt her?" she asked.
He looked at her as if he was examining her through a Microscope. So she turned it right back on him glaring right into his eyes, which stared calmly back at her.
"No." he said simply.
She believed it.
"Fine, my van's just up the block. If we hurry we might be able to ca-"
Her words were cut short by the sound of motorcycle engines coming up the block. She stopped short and looked down at the two bikers laying unconscious on the road, and flung the Stun Guns down in frustration.
"Fuck," she said frustratedly. "Fuck, fuck, FUCK."
The thin elf nodded, seeming not to have been ruffled at all. "Fuck," he said betraying no emotion whatsoever.
************************************
Miranda was leaning forward, and looked like she was getting ready to continue when Bernard interrupted her, "An that, is where I come in."
She looked like she was ready to argue the point, but rolled her eyes, and snarled, "Yeah, I suppose it is."
Bernard looked smug, and started, "Awright, so there I wos, sitting in Philly w-"
"I'm sorry," said Davin, holding an apologetic hand up to Bernard, and turning to Robert, "but you'd said rented car. Was it a Hertz?" Robert nodded. "Don't all Hertz rent-a-cars come with GPS tracking now?"
The room was quiet for a moment, then Gary smacked his forhead. "Ah my gahd, I'm such a spaz." He turned to his computer array, but spared a moment to glance at Bernard. "You might as well go ahead, this is gonna take a minute."
Bernard had looked a little annoyed, but now, mollified, he nodded graciously. "Awright then. Let me start again..."
******************************* Chapter 9 part 1
And FINALLY chapter 8 is completed. Oh. holy crap I thought this one was gonna go on forever.
Okay, I'll be taking a short rest break between chapters here to talk about other things I think, but hopefully I'll have chapter 9 at least STARTED by the end of next week.
Comments and suggestions welcome of course.
And thanks for reading!
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