A Bitter Pill To Swallow

GRAYBRIDGE, 1 NOV 2023
The Waterfront
Eva runs hard after she bursts out of the bar, leaps down the steps, and tears off down the street. Her adrenaline is still pumping and she is built to move, so she doesn't think twice about darting across wet, busy streets, leaping a speeding car or two, and scaling chain-link fences in dirty alleys like they aren't even there. She's gone miles by the time she stops running, her pulse is pounding in her ears, she's soaked to the bone from the rain that's picked up again, and her breaths are coming in big swallows. She'd be hard-pressed to even explain why she'd fled... was it the man she left broken on the ground, after he'd just made a comment to her? The fact that she'd struck the way she had without thinking twice about it? The memories that had surfaced, or what she'd learned from Tanya? The dance with David Draven, the brief touch of their hands, their bodies?

Shivering in the cold at the end of the longest pier she could find, the bedraggled blonde looks out over the black water, over at the bright lights of Annesburg. Eva isn't sure why she's come to the waterfront, but the smells and sounds of the place calm her a little, enough for her to at least stop running.

The dark harbor laps below her, beckoning, luring.

ANNESBURG, 2 NOV 2023
Crazy Ronaldo's Used Superbike Emporium
Melissa was disappointed that Augusta let the whole thing drop. Perhaps she was hoping for commiseration of some kind, she wasn't sure. But she too moved on, happy at least that Augusta appeared to have forgiven her.

"That sounds like a terrific plan. Let's do it!"

ANNESBURG, 2 NOV 2023
Crazy Ronaldo's Used Superbike Emporium

There is more to be said after all, judging the look on the blond woman's head. Augusta decides if she does want to keep talking she can bring it up. For now, they need to play fast and loose with damage deposits on Brian's card. They sign up to test drive two used sport bikes, using Brian's card, and while the salesman fills out the paperwork, she thinks of the night last night.

Which reminds her. "We met a woman last night at a hick bar and it turns out she works for Brian. He called her away to some work thing. Is that why he left you?"

"What? Huh." A pang of jealousy slices through her. "No, I mean yes. God dammit." Taking a breath, Melissa becomes angry with Brian all over again.

He got a few calls and not on his regular phone either. He didn't take them but he was looking at them. He mentioned he had to go to work but that's not exactly why he left. He mentioned trust, the Mr. Goody Two-shoes hypocrite. Something like without trust there can be no relationship, blah, blah, fucking blah. He left me his card and walked out while he was dialing his phone."

"What were you doing in a hick bar anyway and what does this chick do for Brian?"

ANNESBURG, 2 NOV 2023
Crazy Ronaldo's Used Superbike Emporium

"You suspect that it was a ruse to go see his other, other, side girl? I got the impression that she was into girls not boys, but maybe she likes both. Bree, Tim's sister? I'm supposed to have drinks with her sometime. I was hoping to learn more about her job then."

She groans at the hick bar question. "Dave asked me to meet him there. I was looking for Eva, for um, crime. It turned out basically it was open season on anyone with breasts. When Eva showed up, then well, they flocked. Then she trashed the place using hicks as bocce balls." She rubs her eyes carefully. "I got pepper sprayed a little by Bree."

She smirks. "So, normal hick bar I guess? Oh, I tried my first beer!"

She currently realizes the Melissa with her super-sight might be an excellent partner in crime. "Say, did you tell Brian anything about your enhanced vision?"

"No." Shaking her head. "It wasn't that. Crap if that was the case the guy really is a major loser. No, I felt like something weird was going on with whatever it is he does for work. He couldn't leave it behind despite his so-called devotion to wanting to make US work."

Melissa listened attentively to the craziness that occurred at the bar. Jesus, your eyes look ok but I bet that hurt. Chuckling at Augusta's comment about a normal hick bar she nods and her eyes open wide at the admission that she never had a beer.

"Did you like it? How did you live this long without trying a beer?" After she replies Melissa thinks about her question. In all the turmoil of the past few days and her time with Brian, she wasn't exactly sure of the answer.

"Yeah I think I told him I could see through stuff but I don't remember what I told him about you. He denied having anything to do with any of it but I didn't believe him. Now I believe him even less with these mysterious phone calls and that gal you met at the bar. Something is off. I know it."

ANNESBURG, 2 NOV 2023
Crazy Ronaldo's Used Superbike Emporium

"I was more thinking that if he knows you can see through stuff, he'll hide everything incriminating he can in his apartment for when he takes you back there for his special ... drinks. With powdered sugar," (airquotes) "Added, 'as everyone knows'."

She frowns. "So much for that idea. I guess I'll have to squeeze something out of Bree."

"I can always snoop around when he goes to the bathroom or takes a shower unless he insists I take one with him. But you could still push your contacts for more information." She blushes at her shower comment of course but flaps it all away with her hands and then looks at the bikes.

"Come on. Enough of that man. Let's do some damage to that deposit money."

ANNESBURG, 2 NOV 2023
Crazy Ronaldo's Used Superbike Emporium

Another shot right to the ovaries, but Augusta doesn't react at all. Does she idly dream about kicking Melissa's bike into the river? Heavens no!

Melissa had ridden a bike before and did pretty well with it. She had an adventurous streak that had her seek the occasional outlet that wasn't what her friends would expect from her.

"Is this what they call a crotch rocket? Where we going anyway?"

GRAYBRIDGE, 1 NOV 2023
The Hop Spot

"Well, this has definitely been fun." Dave announced, slapping the bar. "We should do this more often! It was a pleasure meeting you, Bree." He turned to Tim when he asked about the knife, "Oh, yeah. Probably should do something about that...' Dave gave the knife a tug and it slid halfway out of his arm before stopping. He glowered down at the shiny oversized pig-sticker. "Hang on. One of the notches is stuck on my radius. Or is it my ulna? I can never remember which is which." He gives the handle a good twist and yanks the Bowie knife free from his forearm, holding it aloft like Arthur pulling the Sword from the Stone. "Huh. That is a nice knife... Want a souvenir?" he asked Tim, as the man blanched away from it. "Suit yourself...". He waited until the others made their departures before leaving. He considered taking the bike that belonged to Eva's victim but tossed the keys on the ground next to it. He figured it'd be easier to track her on foot.

GRAYBRIDGE, 1 NOV 2023
The Waterfront

"You alright, kid?" Dave slowly approached Eva, staying out of arm's reach and illuminated by the harsh streetlight at the mouth of the dock. "Took me about thirty minutes to follow the trail of busted doors and broken fences you left behind til you finally ran out of room to run."
He moved forward, boots echoing on the aging gray wood of the docks. The air smelled like old motor oil with the fresh zing of discharged batteries, the rot of dead seaweed and finally the salty tang of seawater. The smell of the saltwater brought back a lot of unpleasantness for Dave but he ground his teeth together and fought through it. "Somethin' else got to you back there, didn't it? This ain't just about the jackass you put through the jukebox. Guy had that comin'... You did everyone with boobs a favor tonight, trust me." He took off his coat and gently put it around Eva's shoulders before sitting next to her on the dock.
"Memories, right?" he cut the silence of the lapping waves after a bit. "Memories are about the only things that can really hurt people like us... I'm here if you wanna talk about it. I ain't got anyplace to be."

ANNESBURG, 2 NOV 2023
Crazy Ronaldo's Used Superbike Emporium

Augusta shrugs and merely leads the blond woman in a slow tour of the neighbourhood. She is cautious by upbringing, and it takes a bit of coaxing, or surprise, to turn her loose. Perhaps she will if Melissa passes her and makes merry sport of the superbike.

The powerful one-thousand cc, four-cylinder engine, whatever that means, is responsive and agile, the front steering tight yet also turns on a breath. She feels like she's on a rocket ship, and wonders if this is what she is supposed to be - hot girl on a bike, maybe in tight leathers.

Eva turns at the familiar voice behind her, and Dave can seem that she's calmer now, that's there's not a lot of risk that she'll lash out at him. No more than usual, at least.

She looks down when the man sees right through her, mentioning that it seems like something else is getting to her, and then her gaze goes to her chest briefly when Draven mentions boobs. A slight smile comes to her face, and she sighs. "I'm okay. And yeah, the music. It... triggered something. I don't have a lot of memories, right, you know that. But especially from when I was younger... if in fact I ever was younger."

Tanya's words have haunted the woman. Made her question whether she too is just some copy, some lab experiment, some bag of meat and bone for her former masters to remote control in any way they wanted.

That thought gave the woman chills whenever she allowed herself to mentally go down that path, so she stopped herself -- as she so often did.

A breeze blows, tousling the woman's golden hair, and she stands there, silhouetted against the lights of Annesburg, looking every inch a super-heroine. That figure, that expression, that intent.

That thirst for the Truth.

"I need to go to Wyvern Lake, Dave. I need to find out what the fuck is going on out there. I've been hiding from it, and that's not working for me. Time to go on the offensive."

GRAYBRIDGE, 1 NOV 2023
The Waterfront

He shifted to look at her, "I've got too many memories and you hardly have any but we're both haunted by them. Gassed, burned, shot, stabbed, poisoned, hit with a truck or pushed off a high rise...all that heals without a trace for us. We carry our scars up here." he tapped his sausage sized finger on his temple. "Those don't heal. Not unless you work at it." Dave cocked his head to the side a bit, "Seems like you were making a bit of a breakthrough back at the Hop Spot. You looked happier than I've seen you before. Like 'happy-happy', not like 'I'm going to rip your head off-happy'. What was that about?" He paused to let Eva fill in the blanks if she felt up to explaining it.

He sighed, as if knowing that what she'd say. "I figured Wyvern Lake might be the next step for you." "Well, we don't know much about this 'Wyvern Lake' place but I bet we know a couple of people who do..." Dave flashed Rooster's shiny knife in the harsh sodium light, a mischievous grin on his stubbly face, "Care to take a stab at finding out?"

Listening as Draven talks about the terrible memories he lives with, Eva nods, then shrugs in the spitting rain. "I don't know. They were memories. I just don't know if they were... mine. Those old songs... I know them. I don't know how, but I do. I remember listening to them, dancing to them. But not in the usual way. I was just a girl, and I'd found this collection of like... these black disc things. Kind of like DVDs, but way bigger... and maybe more fragile? I don't know. Something about it all seemed so strange, but it was so vivid."

When the man mentions how happy she looked, the woman draws a deep breath, tilts her head back, closes her eyes and let's the rain fall on her face. She's trying to surface that memory again, draw it up and have that feeling. But she can't.

Opening her eyes and looking at her friend when he talks about Wyvern Lake, she nods. "Yeah. Tanya, for one. She fucking lives there. You believe that? Who are you thinking of?"

When the man presents the knife, Eva blanches. "I saw you get stuck with that. Are you okay?"

,GRAYBRIDGE, 1 NOV 2023
The Waterfront

"Hurt? Nah." Dave let the Bowie knife drop to the deck of the wharf, point first, to stick deep into the water-aged wood with a satisfyingly heavy 'THUNK'. "These Arkansas Toothpicks are flashy but aren't too bad. Simple in & out wound." He scratched his nose, as a thought flashed from his memory, "Rebar. Now rebar sucks to get stabbed with... Stuff flakes off inside you. Itches like hell while all those little rusted iron and steel flakes get pushed out." He realized he was digressing from he important bits and cleared his throat to refocus.
"Tanya's the one we know has a link to the place but I didn't think you want to burn your bridges with her just yet...but I'm betting Brian Floyd and probably Tim's sister, Bree, have a bit of knowledge about Wyvern Lake." Dave looked at Eva, her head upturned in the rain, "This is your rodeo, kid. You've got the reins here. How do you want to proceed? Push Tanya for more information? Surveil or interrogate Floyd? Stake out Tim's sister and see what turns up?" He let her consider the options and have time to voice her own. "Usually, I'm all for shaking the tree and seeing what kind of monkeys fall out of it but, in this case, I'm not sure that's the wisest option given that Wyvern Lake makes super soldiers. Too much risk of collateral damage." His concern for the people around them was obvious. Both Dave and Eva knew the type of people they'd be dealing with.

Eva looks Draven in the eye, and her voice is serious as she responds. She knows who she is talking to. She's seen him shrug off shit that would cut a regular dude in half, then go for a burger. All that puts more of a point on her words.

"Yeah. It's a fucking hornet's nest, Dave. Once we stick our fist in there... it's on. They'll be coming."

Thinking about how to proceed, the girl shrugs. "I don't want to blow up things with Tanya. I've just met her, and if half of what she's saying is true..."

About Brian and Bree, she knows less. The former super-commando has either been on the fringe of the conversation, not paying attention, or kicking the shit out of someone when she should have been information gathering. "What's the story with those two? How are they connected to Wyvern Lake? Is Brian the guy that like fucked Melissa and Augusta at the same time? I mean -- not at the same time..."

Though maybe she did mean that. She frankly didn't know.

ANNESBURG, 2 NOV 2023
Crazy Ronaldo's Used Superbike Emporium
The bike excursion definitely lifts the two women's spirits - the excitement of pure engine power underneath them, wind pushing back against them as they weave through traffic, the fact that all of it is on Brian's cost, maybe even the small risk of a crash and the fatal consequences that could have. It's exhilarating.
As they return to the Emporium and give back the bikes - uncrashed and in good shape, which means the safety deposit already locked into Brian's card won't get deducted - their adrenaline is pumping high, their hearts racing almost as much as the engines did just moments ago.

ANNESBURG, 2 NOV 2023
Crazy Ronaldo's Used Superbike Emporium
Melissa got cold feet when it came to ruining the bikes in some way. She also realized that such a bitchy trick would put an instant end to any future relationship she and Brian might potentially have. She was already walking on thin ice it seemed. He was testing her by handing over the card. She wouldn't disappoint him.

"Wow, August you look exhilarated. You should buy a bike for yourself someday," she said after they returned the bikes. "I definitely enjoyed the ride but I was a little scared on the sharp bends. Still, it was exciting."

Her heart was still pumping when she put a question to Augusta. "How much should I push the roofie and powers thing? He denies it all but if it wasn't him, how do we figure who actually did do this to us?"

GRAYBRIDGE, 1 NOV 2023
The Waterfront

"Hornet's nest is right!" Dave agreed with Eva's assessment. "But you don't have to tempt me with a good time." His good natured laughter echoed barkingly over the lapping greasy water. "We've got a couple of ways to go about gathering some Intel about this place without burning your bridges nor shaking the tree just yet." he reassured the statuesque blonde. "Might take a bit but you'll just have to be a bit patient." Patience wasn't exactly Eva's strong suit but it was Dave's. As far as he knew, he had literally all the time in the world.

"Listen though. About Tanya...I think you had it right about even if half of what she told you being true." he stood up on the dock, retrieving the knife from the weathered deck boards of the wharf. "Blending a good bit of truth into a lie makes it pretty convincing..." He leveled with her as compassionately as he could. "There's a lot of shady stuff going on and Tanya's right in the middle of it. I get your need for a connection to your past. God knows I cling too much to mine sometimes. Just don't let that need blind you to the kind of danger Tanya represents. Just be careful. That's all I've got to say on that."
He let the subject drop and Eva's line of inquiry rolled over to Augusta and Melissa, thankfully moving things away from his skepticism of Tanya's motives. "Oh, that's whole telenovela worth of backstory there..." he grinned, remembering back to first encountering Augusta and , through her, Melissa. "Brian Floyd is a weasel. A weasel connected to a whole bunch of shady folks. Plaxo Pharmaceuticals, the TANC, and a whole lot of 'movers & shakers' in politics and positions of power all over Annesburg and a bit in Graybridge. Not too much around here. Just a bunch of lowlifes and hired muscle mainly.
Graybridge is probably to 'low rent' for Floyd..." he realized he was digressing again, an easy way to lose Eva's attention. "Anyway, I figure he's connected to Wyvern Lake. Got to be with all the other stuff he's into. Bree, Tim's sister, apparently works for Floyd... Gotta be something worth digging into. And as far as Augusta and Melissa, that's not really my story to tell other than they were both romantically, and apparently physically, entangled with Floyd at the same time.". He thought back on the evening and added, "Before things got entertainingly interrupted back at the Hop Spot, I think Augusta wanted to talk about her and Melissa confronting Floyd the Flirt. I'll have to check in and see how that went."