15115/So three Super Villains go to a bar--

So three Super Villains go to a bar--
Date of Scene:	21 May 2023
Location:	Bar with No Name
Synopsis:	Three villains walk into a bar--now finish the joke!
Cast of Characters:	Juggernaut, Sinister, Berri Sundae

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Juggernaut has posed:
Manhattan: The Bar WIth No Name has moved places once again. Word of mouth has spread, revealing its present location somewhere in Harlem and business is booming. An assorted colorful array of ne'er do well's populate the booths, pool tables, dart boards and lengthy bar. A certifable who's who of ...well..mostly D listers. Maybe a few E listers. Couple of Fs..some Gs....

Yeah it's not exactly a tabloid newspapers and gossip columns feast at the moment. Largely common mercenaries and would be criminals who want to make a name for themselves. Nothing special..that is until the very back of the bar seems to fill up with a rumbling presence. One that quakes the ground and rattles the drinks set on the scattered tables. Eyes turn and bodies tense up as Cain Marko, The Juggernaut, makes his entrance. The walls shake as he passes by tables with wide eyed and silent mercenaries giving him long stares and or quick shuddering glances. It's not easy being the biggest and strongest guy around, amiright? People just automatically assume the worst.

Passing by onlookers like a monstrous battleship, Cain reaches the bar and then raises his hands up to remove his helmet with a flash of red light and a crackle of dissipating energy. His skullcap is still on mind you. He wants to drink, not tempt fate in a place like this. Them pesky psychics be nosey.

"You know what I want." he rumbles to the bartender upon while towering overhead and setting his helmet down to swamp over the counter, "Make it quick and keep it coming.."

Sinister has posed:
Honestly, sometimes it's better just to leave the minds alone. They're noisy chattel most of the time and a ridiculous amount of them think about the pettiest, tiniest, most trivial of things /constantly/. One learns how to put the radio onto white noise and tune out all the desperate for SEXXORS, have to get milk, forgot to pay the cellphone, don't want to call my bossers out there. Sometimes, bars are exactly the right kind of radio to drown out the entire universe outside their walls; thoughts tend to become slurries after a while and more rotgut than one can shake a stick at. Is that why Sinister's here?

Really, the two villains -could- be more opposite if they tried, but relativism makes a funky juxtaposition. Essex is in business casual attire, looking relatively human at the moment, as he examines his smartphone's datastream, a tall glass of screwdriver collecting condensation, all unused. Incognito, because that's the way he tends to like to be -- something it would be very had for Cain to be, unless he disguised himself as a brick wall.

He looks annoyed though, which probably isn't going to serve anyone well.

Berri Sundae has posed:
It probably was a good thing that the 'Bar with no name' wasn't exactly carding people, because most probably wouldn't believe Berri was who or what she was. That does tend to help her work, but it probably also earned some raised eyebrows when the 'Icecream' colored girl strides through the door, her parasol closed but tucked under her arm while she moved through the space.

Mismatched eyes sweeping over the figures within, she sauntered up towards the bar...her own telepathic reach notably contained to similar levels as Sinister's won while she sought her drink.

Juggernaut has posed:
It's not easys for him to get drunk. In fact, it probably isn't going to happen tonight. Nothing really strong enough here to even prtend to do it but..that doesn't mean it's not fun to try.

"Thanks, chum." rumbles Cain as he sweeps his hand down and wraps it around the large metal mug that's sent his way. Considering that the likes of Rhino, Blockbuster and Mammoth might make their way through here..there are drink sizes that can satisfy their ilk. Mind you, Juggernaut considers himself on a tier far above them but such is his ego.

And really, whose going to argue with him.

Essex goes unnoticed for now though the approach of the slip of a girl towards the bar does catch his eye and as he takes a swig, he turns his attention towards her in disbelief..and then blinks in recognition of her.

"Heeey...don't I know you?" he points a finger arguably as thick as her legs at her and gestures absently with his drink hand. "You old enough to not get carded, yet?"

Sinister has posed:
"Cain, we're in a dive bar in mahnattan with the worst scum of our ilk and you're asking her -that- of all things?" Not looking up, but Essex has ears and he does tend to use them. He looks up from his phone then and leaves it right there on the bar, because frankly, one would have to be a total idiot to swipe -that- device. You'd end up thinking you were a chicken the rest of your life, or worse. Much worse. He arches an eyebrow a little, because the question now has a little more sense to it and he turns on his stool, almost resting his elbow on the bar. It's a little comical to watch him having second thoughts about that at the last moment and seguing the gesture into a shoulder roll and reach for his screwdriver.

"Well, you're one up on me. Never seen her before in my life. I'd have remembered." He sniffs, blinks and turns attention to preparing a cigarette, with precision and mildly effete movements.

Berri Sundae has posed:
Scum? What did that make them? Berri actually gave a little mock pout at that before she reached for her drink that she'd somehow wordlessly requested. A milkshake of all things, was that even really offered oat this place?

Of course, she'd have to type out her response given she couldn't make use of her telepathy, but sure enough her phone would speak for her with a little button-mashing before she held it upwards for the pair to see.

<Who even carries ID anyway?>

Juggernaut has posed:
"Yeah I remember you." confirms Juggernaut. Her method of communication seems to seal it.

"She can't talk, I guess." he asides to Essex. "So she's gotta be all clever to communicate and get the job done.."

He seems to be vouching for her as a mercenary as well. Quite the unusual endorsement considering the two of them. They are about as different in appearence and likely methods as one can be.

But now it's Cain's turn to place his surprise onto Essex himself, finally putting things together and recognizing him after a momentary long stare followed by a..

"Nice makeup job.." he rumbles absently before then saying, "I didn't figure this kinda joint was your tastes. You here scoutin' for troublemakers..? Or maybe taking a break from patching up your hyena friend?"

Juggernaut grins a little bit and then gestures absently at Berri, "SHe's good if you're looking. Good to start 'em off young. Get them good at doing gigs early I guess..."

Sinister has posed:
There's a smile that in absolutely no way, reaches his eyes. Sinister inclines his head, doing a little hand-roll and bowing over the gesture. "I sometimes come up looking like someone you could almost think was a human being," he offers, but then, with a glance about the bar at the various seedy types, a fleeting expression haunting him of something bordering on a line between both nostalgia and distaste, the humanity melts away, beginning with the eyes that just fill up with blood red as the ruby diamond in his forehead emerges and he loses any resemblance of a tan. "There, more honest, for what that's worth..." he must have seen the text on the screen though, because "...plenty of people use ID, it all depends on what you're using it for." The milkshake gets a stare.

"Mister Killovarras did that one entirely to himself. I am not even wasting a moment with restoration on that project. It'll do the boy good to learn, but... I /am/ quite pleased with him. He was even idiot enough to talk back to you, which was quite a thing. I came over all kinds of blackly amused, I did." He clucks his tongue, looking from milkshake to Cain, again with a little loft of eyebrow. And then. Berri.

"I'll bite. What kind of job do you do that you got a Juggernaut endorsement to your credit?"

Berri Sundae has posed:
Nature of being a metahuman or mutant with a bakcground like hers, one does tend to get into things that were a little shady at an earlier start. As the other two speak, she lifts her milkshake to her lips, taking a small draw from her straw before she comes to look up over the glass rim with a little tilt of her head to the side and a small blink.

No words from her lips, but a little touch of a smile...and a little psychic 'nudge' before she typed another message.

<I'm a girl of many talents, but we ran a job or two for the same person.>

Juggernaut has posed:
The crimson clad colossus waits. The psychic nudge goes unnoticed. It washes over the magical properties of his skullcap and he remains blissfully unaware of such talents. When the message is typed..he shrugs, rolling his gigantic shoulders and leaning back against the bar to say to Essex, "That's right. She did her job. I did mine. What can I say? Went off without a hitch.."

Juggernaut shrugs again, helplessly. Facts are facts. As to Kit, he redirects his attention more fully to Essex.

"I was trying to do the ..magic hyena or whatever he is a solid by putting the fear of God into him but I guess some people are just stupid behind reasoning. He's a kid from the sounds of it but even kids have survival instinct and the ability to like..I dunno..process information they get and draw logical conclusions. But I guess you made an impression on him so much so that th'fact that Xavier's folk don't think highly of you puts him off from them. Congratulations..."

Juggernaut's voice drips with a combo of sarcasm and being impressed at the feat though he does add, "I guess the curriculum there needs some work.."

Sinister has posed:
And lo, Sinister is none the wiser. "Well, that's good, I have very little time for one-trick ponies," he replies after a glance to the screen. His screwdriver goes south and he sets it on the napkin coaster and taps the rim meaningfully in the barman's direction. "Pretend that I'm thick as two short planks and am looking to hire individuals - I'm unlikely to hire a cybernetics guru for wetworks. Do you have a skillset that I'm familiar with? Newsworthy jobs, would be good. Even if they never knew who perpetrated the aforementioned mayhem. Humour me." He smiles again, this time uneven, crooked and a lot more genuine. His cigarette prepared, he sets it to lips and lights it with a match, shaking the firestick to extinguish it as he looks from Berri to Cain.

"I couldn't agree more with that last statement, Cain. By the by, he's not the only one, not by a long shot. Still..." Sin shrugs, taking a long, thoughtful pull on his cigarette whilst waiting on typing speed.

"I'm pretty sure your tactics would have worked on a good many people. He's just strange though, but I do love the potential he has to be absolutely devastating. Mind, I'll leave him to his own devices, I have his blood now. I've only blown up one workstation with it so far, so that's progress."

Berri Sundae has posed:
A nod, a shrug. She tilts her head to the other side and then takes a -long- sip from her drink, draining via the straw only to make the task of typing out a little message. Noone liked to have to sell themselves, especially when much of their business required them to be silent about the aftermath...but that was the nature of the professional criminal and 'Henchwoman'.

<I am good at relocating and removing things. Sometimes people, sometimes permanently. Sometimes that needs to be subtle, sometimes a statement needs to be made.> A beat, another sip, more typing. <And sometimes I'm just a 'babysitter' or arm candy to keep people safe.>

Juggernaut has posed:
"That about sum it up? She's a jack-of-all trades in the field."

Juggernaut takes another drink and nods his head to Sinister as he inclines his head to consider her and then looks back towards the pale fleshed scientist.

"Sounds t'me like you two would hit it off pretty well with all the varied work you probably get up to.."

If he approves or disapproves of whatever rumors might say about Essex and his interests..he does not say. Business is business after all.

"As to the rest? Well..sonds about right. My dear ol'step-brother doesn't exactly run the most perfect of house holds. Go figure."

He makes a non committal grunt to that and finishes his drink off before holding the metal flask before him..and with a sudden almost muscle twitch like movement of his fingers, crunches it up into a small marble sized mass of metal between his thick digits.

"Anyway. Look at me, making connections between folk. I should get a commission fee if he hires you for anything." He glances to Berri as he sets the crumpled metal down onto the bar top.

Sinister has posed:
Sinister's eyes follow the text on the screen and there is but a subtle nod. The display of 'can crushing' though leaves him giving a very soft tsk. He just stares at the crumpled mug a moment, its tiny cube of distressed metal seems so insignificant. "Dear me, that could have been washed you know. They do that, so I hear. Wash mugs..." he murmurs, sniffs and flicks ash at the floor for lack of any actual ashtray nearby. It's not like the floor is going to care, it's not going to be cleaned for days, if at all. "I suspect so. Though currently, my projects run in the stratospheric and microscopic. That will inevitably change, it always does." A card floats out of his pocket, merrily levitates its way over to Berri and settles itself against the bar top. It simply has EC in a red diamond on a black surface. Essex Corp logo is simplistic and gets on all /kinds/ of things.

"Mmm. Yes. Quite. School of children who go out into the world to be ordinarily extraordinary, or supersoldiers, fighting the good fight, squabbling like starving jackals or occasionally making a solid difference. I actually do respect some of them. Honestly." Hank McCoy is definitely one of those.

Pause. "What kind of cut would you actually take I wonder though? As an intellectual exercise that is."

Juggernaut has posed:
"I'm joking." clarifies Juggernaut, looking away from Berri and back to Essex. It wasn't a very funny or clear joke it seems. Probably his deep deadpan voice and the fact that he's a monstrous muscled brute the size of a garage.

"I mean, well, noramlly I wouldn't take a cut out of something someone else arranged but if there was a job that I was part of setting up and was involved in somehow..I dunnd. Depends on how involved I am."

He shrugs a little bit at that and then makes a few casual gestures. "There's ah..eh...a system to this sorta thing, yeah? Good ol' honor among thieves, so to speak. The system works cause everyone abdes by it. When they don't it breaks down....and nobody works with 'em. Tom and I did alot of work for alot of folk back in the day."

Sinister has posed:
"Mmmmm," there might have been more, except that Sinister is musing on something by the looks of it, his brows coming slowly together in a steeple. "You know... I don't think I've ever actually been hired for anything. That's not how it usually works for me, though I'm of a full understanding of the nuances of dark society." He really can't seem to stop himself with language. It just comes out so very often, like all of this nefarity and its ilk is a giant experiment that he's cataloguing for his records. Perhaps to save him from going further into that, his refreshed screwdriver is set down and he gives a little appreciative gesture to the barkeep and takes it up, toking deep and blowing the smoke from his nose.

"Dishonourable conduct has always landed people in trouble, inevitably. Giving due consideration to whether one's word should be given is important, for that reason. Maybe that's why I'm usually the one doing the hiring." He muses, then stares at his drink and cigarette, as if they might have an answer as to why he just waxed philosophical.

Juggernaut has posed:
Juggernaut doesn't know a -ton- about Sinister's exploits. In fact if he knew of particulars there's a chance they wouldn't be having this conversation right now but he doens't care to ask and probably doesn't want ot know..but he does seem to think Sinister isn't really the 'hire me' type, based on the expression he gives him, clearly seen through his skullcap-mask, at Sinister's musings. He just sort of listens and then rumbles, "Well you wouldn't be in a place like this otherwise. Folk kinda come here to be seen as much as to unwind.."

He pauses as another thought hits him. He gives Berri a glance, presuming shes just enjoying her milkshake for the moment and then asks Sinister, bluntly:

"So you moving to Genosha then? I understand they're getting into nation building for mutants. Seems right up your alley.."

Sinister has posed:
Sinister finishes the cigarette, stubbing it out on his own palm and flicking the dogend to the dirt. He glances at the skin, then dusts it off with only a vaguely pink patch remaining of any injury. He cracks both wrists thereafter, wiggling the fingers of his left hand as a prelude to taking his drink up, the right making a little palm-up flick at the cube that used to be a tankard. It creaks and crackles as it unfolds, little flicks of his fingertips corresponding to minute panel beating. Soon, it's more or less a tankard again, if a bit worse for wear. He floats it to the sink, only then looking to Juggernaut with his head tilted a little, curiously.

"Maybe I'm install one or two eyes there. But that would be, regretfully... chickening out. I'll let Magneto handle that nation building nonsense -- my work isn't done and won't be for a long, long time." He sips, sucks his teeth and sets the glass down again. "Besides which, I'm a gentleman, not a statesman."

Berri Sundae has posed:
Genosha -was- indeed something Berri had heard of, a little raise of her eyebrow as she finished draining her milkshake and passes it back, exhaling a soft 'Ahhh' that was indeed about the only vocal sound she'd made. She'd heard of the land Magneto was looking to establish, she'd even been invited there after all.

Folding her arms under her bust, there's a quirk of her lips at the comments.

Juggernaut has posed:
The huge man gives Berri a quick glance and then looks back to Sinister.

"He'd asked me, a few times, to lend some muscle his way. I dunno why. I guess he figures, given my relationship with Charles and all.." his voice trails off as he looks --actually thoughtful. It's an odd look to be sure. Then his normal face returns. That mild mix between a scowl and a bullish smarmy expression.

"Whatever. I told him, after thinking about it, I didn't mind lending a hand but I'd need carte blanche and I aint being tied down. I've got a few personal projects of my own I'm thinking about."

Juggernaut> With a project in mind? The world trembles. He nods hs head to himself as if confirming this fact and the world trembles a touch more.

Sinister has posed:
"You said as much to me, also," Sinister observes and his expression darkens a fraction, going introspective. Calculated, even. The drink is toyed with now, a fingernail tapping the glass rhythmically. "Just when you think the world can't throw you, new things come along to surprise and delight." The words are said in a rather less than delighted tone though, whatever he's thinking about is probably the opposite.

"Well, this -has- been interesting. And enlightening..." he rises from the barstool, giving a glance to where he was sat, just in case there was schmutz that is now /elsewhere/ and on his person, seemingly relieved when it appears clean.

"Cain. Miss.. whoever you are..." because a name never did get supplied, but then again, he didn't share either, did he? "Do have a good night."

Juggernaut has posed:
"Good memory. Yeah I did. Think that might have had something to do with me telling him the same thing?"

He caught that dry tone from Sinister. Oh yes. At the end of the day..he is a mercenary criminal thug after all but hey at least he didn't throw his whole lot in with Magneto and tell Sinister to lose his number. Why..Magneto aint even paid him a retainer fee yet!

"Yeah. Laters."

Juggernaut watches as Simister leaves without so much a 'Well what are your plans>?' question. How rude.

He reaches for the bar at this point to retrieve his helmet. These things don't grow on trees after all.