10014/Just Another Show

Just Another Show
Date of Scene:	12 November 2019
Location:	A club in Long Island
Synopsis:	An Andrea club concert! An attack is thwarted and questions are raised.
Cast of Characters:	Amanda Deveraux, Rage

---

Amanda Deveraux has posed:
Unlike most of Andrea's ampitheater shows, this particular gig is a club in Long Island. It's not a hole-in-the-wall place, to be sure, and it holds a little more than a thousand, but it's certainly on the smaller side. The accommodations are adequate, if one pares down the pyrtechnics and adjusts the lighting, all of which are quite possible with Andrea's professional crew.

After her date with James, Amanda's familiar face is in the crowd once more. She's on the fringes now, almost to the wings, wearing her concert t-shirt under a long, leather overcoat. But to Andrea's senses the woman's face and those big, brown eyes are unmistakable.

Rage has posed:
No matter how big or small a venue is, Andrea always brings the roof down with her music and choreography. Having agreed to do the show with proceeds going to a charity that she favors, the mutant popstar decided at last minute to have a night out and wow the crowds. The opening band was a local favorite that got the crowd going early, then she capped the night with her club banging tracks.

Currently on the stage performing her Halloween single: There Will Be Blood, it's a heavy bass pop track that could be a throwback to Thriller in which she dances along the stage with her backup dancers, marching as if they were monsters with curled fingers and flashes of teeth. Behind her on the large screen where lasers and lights hit, a shadow of a large werewolf can be seen at times flickering in and out of a field of vision in the background of a large graveyard. With a smaller venue and less props to bring, she makes use of a digital stage.

When the song comes to an end, the crowd cheers and Andrea gives a wave as she heads back behind the stage to flip into a new outfit as an instrumental track rumbles through the speakers with a couple of back up dancers leaping and poplocking along the stage. Everything moves fluidly. So far, so good.

"Miss Deveraux." Is James' voice at her side as the large man with the dark shades and a suit makes his way to her through the crowd. "Enjoying the show?"

Amanda Deveraux has posed:
Amanda Deveraux smiles when she hears the familiar voice, not turning right away. When she does it's a slow pivot, her gaze rising to meet the big man's face. "Well hello there, James." she offers. "Wonderful to see you again." Her right hand flirts upward towards her neck, fingers brushing a spot that would -just- match a mark she left near his own collar recently.

Lashes lower a bit as her smile turns knowing. "I must admit to being a little surprised that Andrea would choose this place for a show." Amanda offers. "A lot of doors and windows; a bit risky, if you ask me. But then again she -does- have you here."

Rage has posed:
"When it comes to charity, you can't tell her No. I've tried." James says with an exasperated noise in his throat as he glances back to the woman for a brief moment. At the mention of windows and doors, he takes a casual glance about as if to mathematically calculate the angles. Touching the radio in his ear, he mutters a few commands into it to the rest of the security detail. Do a quick round, hit the windows. "She has me, but I can't be everywhere at once. At the end of the day, I am just one man."

With the concert picking right back up again in full swing, Andrea steps back out wearing a stunning and shimmery top that is in the shape of a butterfly that wraps about her and a pair of snug pleather pants that shine in a bold red color. She is singing one of her more famous tracks now, Equality, which always gets the crowd to their feet and dancing.

As James continues to look around the crowds, assessing, and listening to the radio chatter in his ear. They caught someone at the door trying to sneak a switch blade in during patdowns. Slow night. For a change there was no protests outside. It seems that it's going 'too' easy.

Amanda Deveraux has posed:
Amanda chuckles softly at James' exasperated sound, nodding her head with a sympathetic look. "I'm sure you have, darling." she replies softly, resisting the urge to press her palm to his cheek. "But you're very good at your job, after all." It's intended to be reassuring, and Amanda likely pulls it off, but then the concert swings back into motion and James gets distracted by the crowd and the radio chatter.

Amanda slips away, disappearing into the crowd as far as anyone else is concerned. Except, perhaps, to Andrea's heightened senses.

She'd scoped out the venue earlier, of course. Days earlier, like a good thief doing her homework. There are no protests, which does make it easier without the distractions. But that goes both ways.

There are a lot of doors, true, but doors can be covered fairly easily with security-for-hire. But an older theater has an old-style catwalk system, which provides plenty of opportunity for a resourceful, would-be assailant.

Amanda knows just where SHE would have hidden a gun in the maze over the theater two days ago, and that's where she is headed.

Rage has posed:
By now, the concert is on it's winding way down as Andrea is now seatled in the middle of the stage with just her guitar and a band member on piano. They are playing one of her final songs of the night, something slower and powerful. It's a new track called Rescue Me that will be on new upcoming album, which is a cry for help type of track in which a girl is struggling with who she is.

By now the crowd has become a lot quieter as they listen, save for the flashing of lights as popular camera phones snap shots and record video. James wades through the crowds like a large shark in a suit as he keeps his eyes peeled and constantly pinging his team for updates.

In the back of his mind, Amanda's words keep coming to him and he finds himself watching the windows and their position to the stage. He should have requested the curtains shut, or some type of covering. The fact he missed that is bothering him greatly. But, the concert is almost over and there's no point in making moves now. There is only two more songs left, then they will be on their way home after dinner.

Amanda Deveraux has posed:
The woman in the long coat climbs lightly up to the catwalk maze. Just behind the catwalk array is a series of corridors and rooms for storage and support equipment. Her footsteps are light, and she isn't disappointed. Actually she wishes that she would have been.

The man has just finished assembling a compact rifle, likely having taken advantage of the intermission to return here. "Oh come now, darling." Amanda declares. "Really, there are only two songs left."

To say that he's startled is an understatement. Rather than line up a shot down towards the stage, the gunman turns to raise his gun towards Amanda. And that's all it takes for her to cross the distance.

Long coat whirling, she reaches him before he can even aim. A flash of steel in the black, the clang of metal on metal. A muffled <pfft!> as the silenced bullet hits the ceiling. The rifle clatters across the floor and hits the catwalk. The woman stabs him in the shoulder with an antique, yet still quite sharp sword.

Down below, the man's cry of pain is heard in the theater.

The sword disappears into the long coat again, and Amanda pops both the magazine and the bolt on the rifle with gloved hands.

Rage has posed:
There is immediate radio chatter through security as suddenly a number of plain clothed personnel start making their way to the stage. James always has a few plants in the audience, just in case. As for James, he is already making his way upwards to engage, with another member of security reaching Andrea, forming what appears to be a bright yellow shield around her. All the while, the young popstar keeps calm as she glances upwards, heightened senses squinting through the dark rafters as she spies the woman and the gunman.

The crowd starts being ushered outside, quickly, as she is led to the back through their emergency exit protocols. By now, the security team has this on lock with even more enhancements to keep her and the staff safe. Once James reaches Amanda and the gunman, he looks at the weapon, then the wound upon the man as he tugs out a pair of handcuffs. His eyes roam towards the woman, staring at her curiously.

Amanda Deveraux has posed:
Amanda Deveraux reaches out both hands, as if familiar with the drill for handcuffs. One hand holds the magazine and the other holds the bolt for the rifle. She offers both to James. "If we're 'going downtown', you might want to break out another pair of handcuffs." she offers. "And I'm sure this gentleman has a -fascinating- story about how he snuck a rifle into a concert."

No, she isn't resisting either way. And when James gives her a curious look she merely tilts her head and arches a brow with that small smile of hers.

The gunman, meanwhile, is crying out in pain and babbling on. It's mostly the usual string of anti-mutant blather, although he seems to be quite insistent that Amanda also stabbed him with a sword.

Rage has posed:
"You and I are going to have a long talk later." James says to Amanda as he takes the rifle from her, handing it off to another security guard. Stepping forward, he reaches out to slide his arms around her, drawing her close, then gives her a pat down along her jacket, even shifting it back to reveal nothing there. Giving her the mother of all side-eyes, he says, "How did he get hurt?"

Flipping the handcuffs to a guy that we will call Brett, he cuffs the bleeding man as they lead him off so that he can see a medic. He will surely need stitches. He continues to babble, screaming in rage in his nutcrazed rants about mutants and how they will surely burn. Though he says something interesting.

"We know where you live at! You tell her! YOU TELL HER! WE WILL BURN HER IN HER SLEEP!"

There is a grind of the backteeth as James cuts his eyes over towards the man quickly, then steps away from Amanda as he follows after them. "I'll see you at home." He calls over his shoulder to her.

Amanda Deveraux has posed:
Amanda Deveraux definitely enjoys being pulled close to James, and she lingers even once the pat-down is complete. "He was clumsy." she offers, which isn't entirely untrue. The screams of the man distract her, then, and she watches him curiously as the rambling shifts.

"I'm new to all this 'down with mutants' rhetoric, but I do believe that's a new verse." she offers, adjusting her coat post pat-down.

Watching as James steps away to join the group leading the man away, Amanda smiles at his parting words. "I'll leave the door unlocked."