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Post by Ray on Jun 19, 2017 19:38:26 GMT -7
This is how they do business -- men with money-lined pockets and unpracticed trigger fingers. Like following a Hollywood script, they find a briefcase of cash and an abandoned warehouse in the shadier district of town, their valet parked outside and a pistol in their suit jacket just in case. She wonders which came first: the movies, or the millionaires who follow this unspoken ritual like a beginner's map to the criminal underworld.
Either way, she doesn't complain much.
The building smells like sulfur, the last remnants of a smelting plant still leaking out of its concrete pores. Outside the sun has set far below the horizon, only a last glimmer of red smudging the distance. She perches high on a walkway, looking between the slots of a metal railing as she crouches low and waits for her new contract. Her mask sits firmly upon her face. Her swords balance heavily on her back. Her hood is pulled low.
An echoed slam of a car door turns her green eyes towards the door down below -- one of two entrances not chained closed. The other being the shattered multi-panned window she climbed through. Evidence of other past dealings litter the ground and the walls in the forms of discarded cigarettes and layers of graffiti. Kids and gang members and drug dealers are the usual suspects crawling through this dump, but they tend to scatter when headlights start making their way down the dilapidated road. No one will bother them. And if they do...
She rises to her feet in a smooth motion as the door creaks open, her pistol shifting slightly on her thigh. She presses two gloved fingers to a button on her throat, and moves towards the stairs.
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Post by Snowglobe18 on Jun 19, 2017 19:58:48 GMT -7
He had done dealings before, hell he wouldn't be where he was if he hadn't but none of those dealings included getting his daughter back and at the moment that was the most important thing for him to do. He got out the car and looked up at the building, it seemed like the best place especially when he didn't want Evie's disappearance to be brought up in the news. It was one thing for him to receive the note that her bodyguard was dead but it was quite another to know that these people had his daughter.
He closed his suit jacket and buttoned it up before heading into the building. He had heard about this Valkyrie and knew that they were good at their jobs and he hoped the would be discreet, in fact he was willing to pay them a little extra to make sure that none of this got out because if anyone found out then they would make sure that something happened to Evie all the time.
This man was Simon Black and he had his own company and all he wanted back was the one good thing in his life and that was his daughter. Simon put his hand into his pocket as he made his way through the building, his nose crinkling up slightly at the smell of the place. He had many threats on his daughter's life and that was why he brought in extra protection for her but clearly that hadn't stopped the kidnappers this time. He had dark hair like his daughter, the same blue-grey eyes that had dark circles underneath them from where he hadn't slept in a while and he was a little over six foot. In his right hand he had a briefcase with the cash in.
All he wanted was for Valkyrie to bring his daughter back safely. It was the only thing he could think of.
Simon found a spot and he waited.
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Post by Ray on Jun 19, 2017 20:20:13 GMT -7
Her new contract looks like any other -- wealthy, on edge, desperate. She watches him for a moment from the shadows of the metal stairwell as she takes slow, silent steps downwards, making note of his size, his gait, his body language. Since leaving Madripor, her name has spread further and further among the kind of people interested in passing it along, touching the tongues of possible clients as well as possible enemies. She's learned how to smell bait, how to see a trap, but this man just looks tired.
Scared, even. But not because of where he is.
"I don't do this often," she says upon reaching the final step, making herself known. Her voice is not her own, the modulator integrated into her mask turning it masculine and deep, only the metallic edge giving any indication that it might be artificial. She walks across the dirty concrete floor towards where he stands, sparse gravel crunching beneath her heavy boots. The dim light touches the white skull hiding her true face and casts long, eerie shadows in the hallows of it. Only her eyes show through -- green and dark. "So I hope you understand your good fortune that I was interested." She comes to a halt a few paces from where he stands.
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Post by Snowglobe18 on Jun 19, 2017 20:33:02 GMT -7
In all honesty he hopes that Valkyrie would turn up, he didn't have much time and he wanted to make sure that Evie was back before people started asking questions. Although saying that she was usually off on some sort of trip so he could use that to his advantage now and make sure that no one ever found out she had been missing.
Simon looked down at his watch and sighed under his breath. He had heard about Valkyrie from other people but never thought that he himself would have to use them but here he was now pretty much on the verge of falling apart. He made sure that Evie had everything she had wanted, but apart from the one thing she ever really needed. A mother. There had been times when he thought about Evie's mother and even had the contact details for her but never went to seek her out himself and he promised here and now that he would give them to his daughter when he got her back.
A voice interrupted his thoughts and he turned in the direction of it to see the person in white. Normally he would've come up with a sarcastic remark but right now he was too tired for that. So he kept his response reasonable. "Good because I want my daughter back" he said.
The voice might appear to be male but he couldn't help but wonder if that was who was truly under the white outfit but he didn't think too hard because he let it slip. It didn't matter who was under there just as long as they got Evie back. He then reached into the inside pocket and grabbed out the picture of her and held it up. "This is my daughter" he said and kept his eyes on Valkyrie.
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Post by Ray on Jun 19, 2017 20:55:17 GMT -7
Valkyrie glances towards the photo he holds in his hand, a pretty girl smiling back at her. Evie Black; she's recognizable from the tabloid shots and research Val did on Simon and his lost daughter before stepping into this warehouse. She looks young, sweet. The picture itself seems like something clipped from a magazine, meant to show the perfect happy girl with the perfect happy life. It's strange to her, solely because of the unfamiliarity of that being associated with this job. Every other picture she's been handed has been a mark -- a grainy distance shot of a politician, a military official, a rival of some sort in some way to someone.
Those pictures tell simpler stories. This one is complicated.
For a moment she wonders if her parents ever carried something similar.
She makes no move to take the photograph, setting her eyes back on Simon instead. "Any demands for ransom?" She asks, keeping to business.
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Post by Snowglobe18 on Jun 19, 2017 21:08:24 GMT -7
When Valkyrie never moved to take the picture he turned it towards himself and looked at his daughter. In the picture she looks happy an he was sure that it was for a good reason but in honesty he wasn't sure what it was for. Knowing Evie it was probably something small. She always saw the good in people even when those people never saw it in themselves, it could be very annoying sometimes to think that she could pick up strays and care about them in the way she saw they should be cared about.
Valkyrie's voice interrupted his thoughts again and he slowly moved his eyes up to look at the person in white before scoffing. "Only the usual, 'You stop doing trading with such and such and we will release your daughter' I'm just glad they kept it out the way of the press because they like to spin things to their advantage and it is rather annoying" he admitted before then adding on. "She was in Brazil, the last time I spoke to her and that was where her bodyguard's body washed up"
Simon wasn't sure if they would take it out of Brazil and to somewhere else but he knew that it would take a while to get that information and that was why he wanted Valkyrie to go in. To get the bastards that decided to use his daughter as leverage over a deal, he wanted them all dead and Evie back where he could keep an eye on her. Even though she was 28 years old, he still needed to make sure that she was safe.
He was tired, there was no doubt about that but this was one thing he was sure, that they would all pay for what they did. "I want them dead and my daughter back alive"
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Post by Ray on Jun 19, 2017 21:47:54 GMT -7
So it's not money they want, ruling out the possibility of petty crooks or cartel being behind this kidnapping. That would be simpler, easier. A few thugs with a few automatic guns too in over their heads to realize when the writing is on the wall can be scared down into submission. Instead, this is business with an agenda, which always comes with complications. The same kind of complications that Simon Black himself is enlisting to fight on his behalf. Men with deep pockets and a prize in mind tend to think alike when it comes to hiring help. It could have very easily been Valkyrie on the other side of this, holding his daughter hostage.
Not that she would.
"You'll get what you pay for." Valkyrie reassures, the modulator making her sound more ominous. She takes the few steps forward to snatch the briefcase from his hand with a firm, unrelenting grip. It's not how she usually operates, preferring wired transfers to the hassle of carrying stacks of cash, but billionaires like him tend to like keeping things off books. A loss of a lump sum is much easier to explain than a single note on a bank account somewhere about a transfer. Though a man like him should be a pro at smudging records.
She continues walking in a slow circle around him towards a slowly collapsing metal shelf. She sets the briefcase upon it, and flips the locks. Inside, stacks of clean hundred dollar bills sit neatly in rows. Valkyrie doesn't count it. Not here. If any discrepancies come up later, she'll know. For now, she checks for bugs. "I assume you'll deliver the rest when your daughter is returned," she comments without glancing back at him, sealing the briefcase closed once more when she's satisfied. "I should have her back within a week."
"Was she in Rio?" Val asks, thinking of the one place in Brazil that a billionaire's daughter might decide to vacation. The country might be big, but socialites tend to think alike when it comes to destinations. Besides that, it's a city big enough to pull someone straight off the street without anyone pausing to realize what's happened. And there are plenty of places to hide.
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Post by Snowglobe18 on Jun 20, 2017 3:42:07 GMT -7
Simon knew that not everyone liked his business deals but to take the one good thing from him that hurt him more than losing money. Maybe could be replaced, everything else could be replaced too but Evie couldn't. She was good and just and the world needed more like her and less like him.
Hell he would give his life to have his daughter back, if it ever came to that then he would willingly do it but for now he could use Valkyrie to get her back. At the mention of Valkyrie they took the suitcase from his hand and then opened the briefcase.
He could tell them that there was only money in the thing but they had to see that for themselves. If Simon was honest then he wouldn't be here if he didn't need too and like he said it was money that could be earned again. It was no object when it came to his daughter. "Yes" he admitted "you will get the rest when my daughter is returned to me and not before"
Simon slid the photo back into his pocket and looked up when Valkyrie asked if Evie had been in Rio. "Yes, she likes Rio" he nodded before putting both hands into his pockets. Evie liked to go to Rio often so it was a familiar place for her, but it was also the place she had been kidnapped from or at least being held in.
Valkyrie had said that he would have Evie back in a week and he knew it was going to be a long damn week but if she came back in one piece then it would be worth the sleepless nights. Just like he had she was born and his wife running off.
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Post by Ray on Jun 20, 2017 20:17:40 GMT -7
The information he's provided is light -- lighter than she typically likes, especially with the present circumstances. It's not the first time she's been hired to escort a person across international borders. It's not even the first time she's found herself in the midst of a hostage situation. But the guidelines and purpose of both of those jobs had nothing to do with ensuring someone's safety. She works in a business built on blood and bone. While she justifies the carnage in her own way, most people typically seek out Iron Man for heroics.
But that's clearly not what he wants. And a man willing to hire her to rescue his daughter might not be sharing the entire story.
She might not sense a trap, but she senses something.
She pulls the briefcase off of the broken shelf with a scrape of metal on metal, and lets it dangle from her tightened fist at her side. "I want to make one thing clear," she speaks, turning her armored body towards Simon, her green eyes finding him and narrowing. "I will not die for your daughter." There's no fear in her voice, no uneasiness about the next steps she will have to take -- only pure, harsh, calm honesty. "You're hiring me to retrieve and deliver goods, and that is what I intend to do. But if I find that there's something you're not telling me, or if you attempt to change the parameters of the mission, I will leave your daughter where she is. Understood?" She asks, but it's not really a question. By now, if he wants his daughter alive, he has no choice but to agree. And he'd be a fool to pull out now.
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Post by Snowglobe18 on Jun 21, 2017 4:11:34 GMT -7
Simon watched Valkyrie and wondered if he was doing the right thing, he could hire someone else to get Evie out of Brazil, if in fact that is where she still was. He was hoping that they would be able to get hold of her. Sending Valkyrie in to get the job done was the only thing he could think of. He had heard about them from other people and to know that they were working for him right now gave him a little bit of satisfaction but that was purely down to the fact that he would be sending them after the people who had Evie and put a stop to all of this once and for all.
Who he done business with was really his business so he wasn't going to let someone tell him to stop trading with someone else so if he could get Evie back with Valkyrie then he was going to do it that way.
The noise of the briefcase moving off the shelf cleared his mind and he looked up and over at Valkyrie just as they started to speak. He watched them and wondered if that was really what they thought he was going to do. In honesty he probably knew people who would do that but because he wasn't one of them at the moment he wanted to be shocked but he was just too tired and finally he nodded then said. "I understand but really all I want is my daughter back and for the others to pay"
Surely Valkyrie could understand that but he thought better than to ask whether they understood that too. It seemed like the wrong question to ask, but saying that, he wasn't sure if he wanted to ask any questions. He just wanted them to find his daughter and bring her back to the States. Anything that happened along the way wasn't down to him.
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Post by Ray on Jun 21, 2017 12:44:50 GMT -7
"Good." Is all Valkyrie replies, satisfied with at least that. Something might not sit right entirely with her about this whole situation, but that isn't likely to stop her. Very few things ever have. With her free hand, she tugs a small phone from a pouch attached to her belt, and tosses it towards Simon. It's pre-paid, cheap. The kind of phone only drug dealers and assassins bother purchasing to keep themselves off the grid. "This is how we'll stay in contact. You do not call me. I'll call you. If you do not answer within three rings, I'll assume the phone has been lost or stolen or destroyed. So keep it with you. Otherwise...I'll see you in a week."
She turns away from Simon without another word, not one to draw out these kinds of meetings and her mind already preoccupied with travel plans and lists of supplies. Getting to Rio won't be hard. Getting Evie back to the States might be. She'd rather be prepared now rather than later. The money she carries in the briefcase right now will ensure most of that. She doesn't let Simon get another word in before she disappears back into the shadows, navigating her way back through the abandoned factory to find the hole in the wall she climbed in through.
Once out into the open night, a slight breeze billowing through the darkened street, she sets her sights on a black motorcycle hidden against the building. Her boots crunch across glass as she walks towards it, lugging the briefcase with her. She pulls the cash out from inside, stuffing it instead into a discreet black bag strapped to the seat of the bike. The briefcase she ditches, emptied and tossed into a cluster of dying bushes, no trace of her left upon it. She straddles the seat, twists the ignition, and presses the comm at her throat.
"I need a plane."
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Post by Snowglobe18 on Jun 21, 2017 14:28:50 GMT -7
He catches the phone and looks down at it. Simon could understand the need for the phone and in honesty he was glad that he had a phone that in the end he could get rid of without anyone asking about his phone. Simon nodded and then watched as Valkyrie walked away from him.
Simon waited for a moment before he sighed and put the phone into his pocket. He honestly wasn't sure how he was going to get through this, he wasn't sure how he was going to get through the rest of the week but if he could go this long without sleep then he was sure that he could go through the rest of it.
He was alone for a little moment before he finally walked out of the vacant building and over to his car waiting for him, thankfully he had driven alone because he didn't want anyone else to know about this. Simon played with his keys for a moment and then got into his car. His palms were sweaty as he placed one on the wheel and pushed the key into the lock.
Then before long he was driving away from the scene.
-Meanwhile-
She looked around the dark room but she couldn't make out anything other than the fact that she had a gag and her wrists and ankles were tied to the chair that she was sat on. Evie was tired and she wanted to get some proper sleep but it was like they kept coming in to wait her up.
Evie wasn't sure what the hell was going on but she guessed that this had something to do with her dad, mike was dead and now she was being held by this fuckig idiots. She had tried to get away from them but they had only brought her back and made sure that she didn't get away from them again but she wasn't sure how long it had been.
It felt like years but she was sure that it had been days and she just wanted to go home.
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Post by Ray on Jun 21, 2017 21:56:30 GMT -7
It takes her twelve hours to make the necessary preparations. One to secure a plane -- a ten-year old re-purposed SHIELD jet she only gets by twisting arms, literally, and paying with a stack of cash; two to pack her shit and load her arsenal into the cargo bay; and eight to fly to Rio de Janeiro without thinking of taking a moment to sleep. The last hour she spends trying to trace Evie's steps.
She's only been to Brazil once, what seems like years ago but couldn't have been. But it's the same now as it was then -- muggy, hot, loud. The summer is the worst for it, a million tourists from a hundred different countries all flocking to this beach paradise to drink and watch Brazilian women sway by. All while turning a blind eye to rampant poverty and the favelas crawling the hillsides. She forgoes her uniform as she walks the lengths of the sidewalks passed bikini-clad women and American frat kids wolf-whistling on every corner, her aviator sunglasses perched on her nose and her attention focused upon the list of five-star hotels on her phone. Where else would the daughter of a rich man stay on her summer vacation, than the Hilton or the dozen overpriced Copacabanas? Her dark skin gets even darker as she sits in the early afternoon sun, calling number after number, playing the part of a frantic personal assistant trying to find where her partying boss has disappeared to -- "oh please tell me she's there, I've called almost every hotel in the city, her father is going to kill me if he knows she's run off again" -- until one finally gives her the information she's looking for.
The Santa Teresa Hotel, VIP suite.
Valkyrie hangs up, and calls a taxi.
She doesn't bother stopping at the front desk when she arrives, keeping her sunglasses and her chin high as she makes a beeline straight for the elevators. Evie's has its own lift, activated by a special card reserved only for special guests. But Val presses a thumbprint-sized metal disk to the sensor, and the doors give a pleasant ding as they spread open. Security glances at her, but only to let their wondering eyes trace over her long body. She smiles at them as the doors close.
The room is easy to break in to; the lock is already smashed. She nudges the door open with the back of her knuckles, and steps inside on light feet. Valkyrie has seen overturned rooms, ruined rooms. Rooms with blood splattered on the walls and body parts still lying upon the carpet, but this one is...neater. More than she expected it to be. A lamp lays upon the floor, base and bulb shattered. A rug has been folded and kicked over. A window sits wide open. But otherwise...clean. She stalks through, scanning the walls, the floors, the furniture for anything of use. She's all but given up when she spots something small and colorful where it should not be -- a matchbook, peeking out from beneath the couch. Crouching low to a knee, Val plucks the matchbook up and spins it between her long fingers.
La Chuperia.
"Amateurs." She mutters, and rises back to her feet.
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Post by Snowglobe18 on Jun 21, 2017 22:22:21 GMT -7
This wasn't the first time that she had been in Brazil, hell it probably wouldn't even be her last time either because this wouldn't stop her from coming again. If she even made it out of here alive. But that was the last thing she could even think about. She had to believe that she would be getting out of here at some point because if she gave up hope then she might as well just kill herself here and now.
But she wouldn't give those guys the satisfaction that she would even do that. If they wanted to get back at her dad for whatever reason then killing herself would be just playing into their hands. Evie couldn't remember how long she had been down here alone but it definitely was lonely and smelly. But she guessed that was mostly from her body sweat than anything else. She wasn't sure if this is something that these idiots had done before but they didn't sound upset when they took her, in fact they had sounded like they had trumped up good with her and that was a little worrying if this was bigger than just her dad.
The door opened up and she could see stairs, it wasn't the first time the door had been opened up they came in and gave her drink and food but she never ate, just always drank. It was probably stupid because she was sure they drugged her to keep her quiet but when she was so thirsty she needed the water.
Evie watched as someone came down the stairs, they never uncovered their faces so she couldn't recognize them. It was stupid, who was she going to tell? She was locked down in the basement of some crappy place and her ass was starting to ache, her legs were killing her and her wrists had gone numb hours ago. She was losing all sense of her body. She fucking hated this and would like to make sure they all died a very painful death and in fact she murdered them everytime they came down to see her.
Over and over again.
The male walked over to her and pulled the gag out of her mouth. "I want to go home" she said, her voice a bit hoarse, and then he pushed the bottle against her mouth and she took a drink of the cold water. Her throat wanted more of the drink but he pulled the bottle away from her and pulled the gag up to cover her mouth once more.
"You'll be going home soon" he said as a matter of fact. It just wouldn't be the home in the States in the building that her father had built. No she would be going somewhere else. The male moved away from her and towards the stairs.
"Please" she said around the gag. She wanted to scream but she was sure that it would just be muffled by the disgusting gag she had back in her throat. Evie watched as he walked up the stairs and once again she was alone in darkness and she felt a hot tear run down her cheek. The gag catching the tear and then she started the struggle, even if her hands had gone numb, with the binds on her wrists because she needed to get the hell out of this place.
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Post by Ray on Jun 21, 2017 22:52:48 GMT -7
She waits until dusk, even if that's a trivial thing here in Rio. Like every city, the neon lights and glamor keep the streets alive well into the night, drunk tourists stumbling to and from bars and in and out of taxis. But the bar she's looking for sits closer to the slums of Rio, giving her the cover of an entirely different sort of restless city life. No one even thinks to give her a second look when she arrives at the front entrance of La Chuperia on a Ducati, skull mask situated over her face and white hood pulled over her head. She kicks down the stand, lifts herself off of the seat, and carries herself towards the door.
The raucous noise of a dozen drinkers, loud cumbia, and blaring TVs greet her as soon as she steps in, as well as the thick scent of sweat and cigarette smoke. She keeps to the shadows and doesn't pause, looking at she moves close to the walls, scanning the faces and the people and exits. The bar is in a prime locale -- far from the main center of town, overcrowded, unkempt, and filled with guns. Brazil is strict with their stance on firearms, limiting gun owners to keeping their weapons locked away at home unless you're a cop. But she's all too familiar with the unique swell of shirts and jackets at the hip and back that only a gun can make. But she isn't convinced until she spots a man climbing through a basement door, subtly uncovering his face as he makes his way back to the bar.
Valkyrie's fingers itch towards her gun, and she moves forward.
She pulls out a chair at the counter noisily, letting the legs scrape across the dirty hardwood floor until every person nearby turns their head to look. And then she sits down, sets her forearms on the bar, and looks the man straight in the face. "Buenas noches." She says, the modulator turning her voice deep and threatening.
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