2953/Taking Care of Business

Taking Care of Business
Date of Scene:	24 October 2017
Location:	Unknown
Synopsis:	Summary needed
Cast of Characters:	Star-Lord, Molly Millions

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Star-Lord has posed:
    Peter had come by to find Molly and deliver her cut of that bounty they took on Alpha Centauri but the guy at the bar had said she was busy, so Peter left the two big, heavy, metal containers he was carrying behind the bar and had a drink. That was the plan. Drink, wait, make the payment. The Badoon waltzed in and started talking smack about the Guardians.

    So much for the plan.

    Now Peter was stripped to the waste and in the fighting ring, facing off against a six-foot lizard with anger issues as a crowd of punters stood around and cheered. So far the spaceman had done alright, he was stronger than he looked, and quick, but he had a couple of bruises now that he didn't come in with and the Badoon had him pushed up against the side of the cage, his teeth snapping close to Peter's face. "Dude! Your breath!" Peter says before driving an upper cut into ugly's jaw and kicking him in the chest. The Badoon is rocked back and Peter uses that chance to slip away from the side of the cage.

Molly Millions has posed:
Fight's always bring out the punters. And Lowtown punters are like sharks with chum in the water. Molly's just getting back from an impromptu trip for some 'upgrades', and although Bao's trying to explain, about the cannisters, what's been happening, the way that people are filtering over to the pit makes the cyborg just nod. Yeh. Sure. Okay. A bag's dropped and nudged next to the cannisters for now so that she can snag a beer and head over there to take a look for herself.

She's got no qualms about pushing a few people out of her way so she can plant a foot on the upper edge of the ring and peer down with a slight smile and shake of her head. Some bills palmed off to the bookie because, well, why not. Fair's fair. Always gonna bet on the (mostly) human. Black pants, matching singlet that leaves the 'tattoos' of circuitry visible on her arms, liquid silver lenses. Compared to the more colorful sorts in the room she doesn't exactly stand out until she whistles sharply and calls out,"Smash his face in, Star-Lord!" hell, she was even nice enough to get the name right.

Star-Lord has posed:
     The Badoon turns and gets a boot to the face for his trouble. Peter might not be the best hand to hand guy, but he's a quick study and he rolls with Drax and Gamora, so he knows something about how to handle himself in a fight. Though as the Badoon, reels from the kick, Star-Lord drops all the fancy Bruce Lee stuff and takes it back to his earliest fights on the playgrounds of St. Charles, Missouri. He moves swiftly to the Badoon, grabs his shirt and yanks it hard up and over his scaly, head then, drives a knee up, hard into his groin. The lizard gives a whimpering hiss as Peter dives on him taking him to the ground, and begins whaling on him with a flurry of punches.

     "The Guardians are what now?" he demands, between the blows. "Hmm, what was that scale breath?"

    The Badoon, rips his shirt free of his face, just in time to get a fist planted in his eye. Then one more, and finally the Badoon slaps his scaly hand twice on the ground. Giving up the match.

    Peter breaths a sigh of relief, and shakes out his hands. Punching scales was all kinds of stupid, even if you had that little extra alien-ness he had.

     Show must go on though, and so Peter stands up fists in the air Rocky style as the fight is called and the door to the cage is opened. "Thank you, thank you, I'll be here all week!" he calls before adding a quick, "Not really!" when a big nasty looking mutant looks up with interest.

Molly Millions has posed:
Molly nudges one of the larger regulars, yeh, scale guy, keep an eye on them. She hasn't forgotten Peter's warning's about Badoon tempers, but she's not inclined to just kick him out for the hell of it, instead opting to intercept the victorious one with one of those lopsided smirks,"Never good to get their hopes up. Some of them live to find new people to try and murder in the ring." she opines,"Let's get you a drink. And some ice, maybe?"

A brief upnod of acknowledgment is offered to one of the regulars, who might as well have 'shady' stamped on his forehead, but evidently, he can wait. Priorities. She knows what hole in Lowtown he crawls into anyways so random space mercenary wins.

Star-Lord has posed:
     Peter meets Molly grin for grin but nods with a glance at some of the tougher regulars. "Good point. So, you mentioned something about ice?" he asks moving along quickly behind Molly to put himself further from any trouble his big mouth may have caused. As he does, he snags his shirt, back from the local girls he tossed it too, and tugs it on over his head. His guns, jacket and Walkman are behind the bar with his cases.

    "So, how have things been since I was by last?" he asks.

Molly Millions has posed:
"Just got back myself. Took a few days vacation." bit of surgery, as you do, not that she adds that aloud as she dips behind the bar to snag a cloth and dump some ice into it. At least it's probably mostly clean? Ice is offered first, then alcohol is poured, unpreturbed about basically straddling her own bag dumped next to his stuff.

The holster and it's guns is the next thing offered, all things in their due time,"Got another trip I'm working on, too. Though I'm sure that one will be unsurprised if I'm a few days late due to pre-existing arrangements."

Bao glances between the pair of them before settling for remarking to Molly in Mandarin that two people had to be thrown out and by the way one of the local Triads spraypainted some hate mail on the outside of the building. It merits acknowledgment, at least, in the form of the nod of her head and uttered 'thanks'.

Star-Lord has posed:
"Another vacation?" Peter asks in an oblique reference to their trip to Genosha. "I'm beginning to doubt your work ethic," he says with a grin as she treats his bloody knuckles with booze and ice. "Got to be expensive too, which is why it's good news what's in those cases are for you," he pauses to watch, and listen as the guys get thrown out. "Huh, fun times," he remarks idly before lowering his voice. "It's gold. Wasn't sure what else to transfer units into that spends on Earth. Hope that works."

Molly Millions has posed:
Molly raises her hand to her face to remove the lenses and slide them away, the eyes beneath a pale grey this time instead of golden green,"I'm all for work. What's the phrase... I can watch other people do it all day. But in this instance, a couple of replacements and an upgrade."

There's an arch of her brow as she leans back and looks down at the cases,"...interstellar bounties are nice. And I'm sure I can convert that where I need to. Thanks."

She watches Bao head off to take care of people up the other end of the bar,"They're still mad that I'm not paying protection money." she nods at the milieu of people in the room,"I'm figuring about half the guys in here are more of a threat than the local Triad." there's a slight shrug of her shoulders,"Which I suppose is the nice thing about being on Earth. Baseline humans aren't a huge threat."

Star-Lord has posed:
    Peter nods. "Yes they are," he agrees wholeheartedly. "The guy looked at me like I was asking for beads when I said I wanted half in gold. Space, right?" he says with a shrug of his shoulder. He nods, "Well, if you want some help dealing with them before I go, let me know, it sounds like fun. I'll bring my crew, they need to blow off some steam." Peter smirks at the idea of what the gangsters would do when faced with the weaponized weirdness that is the Guardians.

    "Anyhow, finally got some progress on the other thing, which is the other reason I'm here. Sounds like good timing, so we can fit that job into your busy schedule."

Molly Millions has posed:
There's a laugh from Molly,"I'm sorry. Well, the next one maybe I can do my shopping in units, instead. But that will... well, take care of a few things at least." an understatement, but she doesn't elect to clarify on that front,"I think you alone would probably wind up causing a panic." she offers drily,"The island isn't a particular fan of... weird. There's a few of them that are unhappy about the kind of people I let in the place, but so far they haven't bothered to come pay me a visit. Because most of my augs aren't obvious... they still think they're dealing with a virgin."

There's the shift in dilation of her eyes and the smirk that crosses her lips,"Sounds good. We need to go now? If so... well, a few minutes to grab my weapons and stash those cannisters and I'm good to go."

Star-Lord has posed:
     Rubbing his hand now that he's taken care of he says, "We do sort of leave a lasting impression, it's why it helps that we can always take off to the next planet. Hard to do that in a bar," he says with a chuckle before he shakes his head.

    "Need to get my crew ready but we talked it over and they're game to do the job. We just have some wrinkles with payment that we need to work out. So let me help you carry the cases up and I'll lay it out."

Molly Millions has posed:
"There's days that would be tempting. But somehow I don't think the girls would understand." there's a shrug of Molly's shoulder before she steps back, nudging her bag out of the way so she can first give him back his stuff and then haul one of the cases up to set on the bar before claiming the other and her duffel. She's no Superman, not by any measure, but the weight of the container at least isn't too huge an inconvenience for her.

"Wrinkles with payment never bode well. There's things I'll do for free, and then there's... I'm not that suicidal. But sure. Like I said... need to grab my weapons anyways. Not a fan of being unarmed."

Star-Lord has posed:
     "Yeah, me neither," he says about payment. He stands up to pull on his guns and then moves to the side of the bar to help with the case. "Original poster of the bounty is bad news. Got some alternate offers though," he explains as vaguely as he can given their current surroundings.

Molly Millions has posed:
Once upstairs she's content to temporarily stuff the containers into one of the inbuilt cabinets in the room,"Not surprised. The guy has a whole planet of people that seemed to think he's god or something. I expect they probably want him back super-bad. And I'm sure they're not the only one's. But I'm guessing from the way you're saying that, that it means that the subsequent payouts are lower, too." she enquires.

The fletchette pistol and it's holster is the first thing pulled out, like an old friend, something she's not particularly comfortable being without. Her duffel's tossed onto the bed so she can start going around and producing other weapons to add to the pile, too. No fancy energy guns here, lead. Lead, lead and more lead. The downside of Earth-life.

Star-Lord has posed:
     "Yeah, I'm guessing his people are looking for him too, but the one who put out the bounty is someone called Lady Styx, who probably didn't take the name out of love for the Chicago pop rock scene in the 70's. My sources says she's basically Diet Darkseid with her own cult of followers. Not really sure we can trust her with that dude's body. Or to actually pay up." He frowns at just how many units were going down the drain there. "As for other offers, I've got us three million on offer just to confirm he's dead and third group of slightly less destructive nutjobs are willing to pay 10 million for the body."

Molly Millions has posed:
    "But dead, right? Can he even be fully killed? I watched this guy get smacked literally into orbit, smashed around by a flaming phoenix the size of a building, blasted with lightning, hit with Thor's hammer, buzzsawed by an alien, smashed by J'onn, /and/ kicked in the nads after shrugging off bullets and I'm pretty sure that even flushing him into space with a side order of no oxygen and freezing temperatures just made him dormant." Molly elects to list, from the lack of reaction on her face, neither familiar with Lady Styx, or Styx, such a crime,"And I'm betting that none of them are exactly sure on how to kill him, they just want it to happen, right?"

Star-Lord has posed:
    "Yeah, they definitely want him dead," Peter confirms, before frowning as she expresses the opinion he might not be so dead after all. "Huh. I figured after everything you showed me the guy had to be done, scary rep aside. You think he's just sleeping it off?" he asks. Man he hated it when Gamora was right, she'd said pretty much the same thing. "And yeah, they're not overflowing with suggestions on how to ice this guy. Sounds like they're just super happy that Earth seems to have done the hard part."

Molly Millions has posed:
"In my experience, assuming he's anything other than alive is a great way to get us all killed." Molly grunts wryly,"I'd rather assume he's still kicking and be wrong, than assume he's dead and find out the probably lethal way." there's a small shrug of her shoulders as an odd, carbon looking carbine is added to the duffel,"Lead's out. Metric shittonnes of force seem to at least give him pause. Lightning I'm dubious on the effectiveness of. Dismemberment seems to work for most things... but how deployable would something like your quantum entanglement grenade be in zero-g, ideally with the biggest payload it can possibly be given? Live or dead doesn't particularly matter if someone's in bite-sized pieces, at least." not that she's been thinking about it, at all.

Star-Lord has posed:
     "I hear ya," Peter says sitting down in the chair by the computer to think a moment over the plan. "We assume anything on this op and we all end up dead, or worse, erased from existence. One of my guys says he can do that." He suppresses a shudder. Tapping his chin though about the quantum grenade, he says, "Yeah, though, that might work. I've got my tech guy Rocket working on a big bomb for us to lob at the guy if he's alive, but adding those filaments, that might be the secret sauce we're looking for. So, if he's alive we drop that on him, get clear and then sweep up the pieces, and maybe shoot the pieces a few times just to be sure."

Molly Millions has posed:
    "...that's impressively terrifying." Molly offers as she eyes him and shakes her head. The grenade gets added to the bag before she raises a finger. Booze. Booze is the missing element. And she shifts to open a cupboard and start offloading, glances his way, and apparently decides that maybe a few more bottles had better be included to be on the safe side.

"At least in regards to me, not sure how effective that would be. I'm not even from this universe. So I suppose that's an upside?" there's a slight shrug from her before she finally, carefully, zips the bag closed,"You know what kind of toys are out there better than I do. I'd tell your tech guy not to be... cautious..." oh boy does she not know Rocket,"in his plans. We record it for proof if necessary but fine particulate mist would be about the level I'd be looking at, personally."

Star-Lord has posed:
    Peter laughs, "Don't worry, my tech -lives- to turn things into a fine red mist. You guys will really get along I think," he says, he leaves out the part about his tech being a racoon, because on a grim mission like this, you had to have fun where you can. Also, Rocket was one of those see to believe things.

    The rest is met with a grim nod, "Well if you want to take one of his wiped from time eye beams for me, be my guest, I am going to go with the old get the heck out of the way plan myself," he says managing to smile about it. "And yeah, we can do the recordings and everything one of my guys has a bunch of drones and stuff, which I plan to use liberally on this one." He lets out a breath and stands up. "So, if we're good with the prospective money on this op, and you've got enough guns and refreshments, we can go meet the crew and get things under way. We'll even let you borrow a few things from the armoury, just in case you want a few extra guns."

Molly Millions has posed:
    "Sounds like my kind of tech guy." Molly smirks as she lifts her duffel,"Oh I'm not nearly so noble as to jump in the way of that kind of crap. You get zorched... nice knowing ya. Or not, as the time erasure may be." drones, now he's talking her language, especially when there's 'guns' mentioned in there too,"Never have too many guns. And some's better than none." she dips to reach under the desk and pop the controller out of a hidden spot to shove in a pocket,"So... your crew... they ex-pat's, too? Or aliens?" important questions, that. The monitor's are shut down, and a 'phone' looking controller fished out and flipped open sideways to utter,"Shadow, return to base and power down until further notice." uttered at it before it's folded back up and set on the desk with a shrug,"My drone's not zero-g or flight capable. So no point in bringing it."

Star-Lord has posed:
     "Yeah, Rocket's something alright," Peter says of his tech guy, just barely holding in a smile. The smile turns to an oh of surprise when it turns out the magic controller box was here the whole time. The oh turns into a smirk and a scratch of his head. "You know if you ever get tired of running a bar, you'd make a hell of a Guardian." Or a Ravager for that matter.

    "My crew?" he pauses to think about it. They're just his crew and out in space he's just as weird to most people they meet as any of them. "A mix, though the two ex-pats are robots. The other three who came with me, definitely alien."

Molly Millions has posed:
    "I'm guessing the name comes from a propensity for causing explosions?" she enquires wryly,"I got two daughters, a couple of aliens and a deity that all have expectations on my time, or that'd be tempting. More than." she nods in the direction of the door,"Robots. Full-blown AI's or something... else?" there doesn't seem to be any surprise in her tone at the idea, like for her, artificial intelligences just means it's Tuesday,"No worries about insulting them just by existing, then? Not that it'd stop me, mind, but that being locked in a tin can with someone that wants to wear my guts for garters might be unpleasant for others."

Star-Lord has posed:
     "That's the going theory," Peter confirms. "He's not much for talking about his past." But then who in the merc business ever is. "Well, consider the offer a standing one, at the very least, when we're all rich, let us take you out to Knowhere, that's with a K, from what you said, it sounds a bit like your home, plus, it's outside of regulated space, so the gun selection is pretty great."

     Peter starts heading for the door. "One of them, Loli, she's an AI, the other, Mikh, is a bit more complicated. He used to be human or a mutant or something, anyhow he was a technopath, lost his body, but has kept going by jumping into machines, including a couple of robot bodies," he says, but at least looks back at her acknowledging how weird it sounds. "The other ones will be fine with you, Rocket hates everyone equally, Groot's a nice guy except when you piss him off, and Gamora, well she's tends to ignore what irks her more than eviscerate. At least when it comes to guests on the ship."

Molly Millions has posed:
    "Knowhere. No regulations, and lots of guns... definitely sounds like my sort of place." Molly offers with a sly smile, letting him go ahead so she can lock the door behind her. There's distraction, calls are being made, even if there's no visible device and there's only the almost subvocal hum of her voice to betray it.

There's an acknowledging noise, but something like maybe she's a little disappointed that a particular name wasn't on the list,"I like AI's." she offers,"And mutants are just... flat out always mind-breaking. 's one of the reasons why I like them. So... Rocket... Groot, and Gamora, huh? Should be interesting. Do they know I'm coming?"

Star-Lord has posed:
     "Definitely. Then throw in the streets awash with neon and holograms, shady shops, questionable food, creepy illegal clinics and I think if it's not like home it'll be at least like Madripoor," he says with a grin as she locks up the room. He quirks a brow as something he missed comes to mind. "Hey, wait, you have kids?" he asks, pausing before he heads down the stairs.

     "I don't know many human mutants but the alien ones are always really wild," he agrees before saying "I left the details kinda vague but they know I have a contact on Earth who can get us where we're going. The rest they'll learn as we go. But I'm sure they'll like you."

Molly Millions has posed:
    The sigh from Molly is full of wistfulness that she's not about to admit to,"Definitely sounds like a great place to visit." she settles for, then is startled into a laugh at the question,"Non-biological. Good couple of kids. Not exactly anyone else around to help them out. Together they've saved my life, literally. So. Yeh. My daughters. Sort of. Closest I'll come to that sort of thing, anyways. And without all the messy bits."

    She's content to bring up the rear,"Genosha's mostly mutants, since they took down the people that were running the place. I like to go to that place on the beach semi-regularly, stop in and see my girl's. I don't live there because it's not worth the risk to them to do so, but yeh, if we'd gone into town," most of which looked destroyed, at least from the angle they were at to it,"we'd have been the weird ones. In some ways was more comfortable than living in New York, out there they don't have to be anyone but themselves."

There's a short laugh,"Alright then, I can work with that." Earth contact,"I'm not... really worried about being liked, if that makes sense? I don't have to like people to get a job done. But I do at least try to be respectful of other people's space. Mostly."

Star-Lord has posed:
    "Gotcha," Peter says about the daughters. "Sometimes the best family is the one you choose. Usually easier to stand anyhow," he says with a grin as he comes down the stairs and opens the door back out into the bar. He gives the room a quick scan to make sure nobody was looking for a rematch, or to jump them for the gold or the controller. Seeing nobody obvious he steps in and nods to a new addition to the place he hadn't remarked on earlier. "Like the jukebox, by the way, great touch."

     "And I get what you mean about not needing to be lilked," well, at least on an intellectual level. "I mostly meant the last stuff, they're not going to mess with you or anything, no more than the usual, getting to know you size up."

Molly Millions has posed:
    "Wouldn't know." Molly offers offhandedly,"They're good kids. Some day maybe you'll get to meet them. Clarice is... about as outspoken as I am though." she smirks vaguely, reaching out to clasp Bao's arm as she passes, hearing the inquiry about where she's headed in Mandarin and offering back in response,"Business." before she keeps moving.

    "Oh that should be fun. Been a while since I've had a good spar. I'm guessing they understand English well enough, with you around? I mean... I know Japanese, German, and some Mandarin and French... and enough Apokalipian to open a boom tube, but other languages... not so much."

Star-Lord has posed:
     "That'd be cool," Peter says about meeting the daughters. "And the other one? I she outspoken too?" he asks. Figuring the odds were good if Molly was her mother.

    "Yeah, we've all got translator implants it'll make sure that everyone understands all the insults. Some of the swear words don't translate though, but you'll pick them up pretty quick." It takes a moment before he corrects himself. "Actually, we all have them except for Groot, but the rest of us will translate."

Molly Millions has posed:
    "Lucy's... mostly non-verbal. Highly intelligent, and creative, though." she doesn't elect to offer more with regards to her, though she does arch a brow,"...maybe I should go back for some of that gold... how much does this translator cost and where can we get one?" it's scribed into some mental vault somewhere, Groot does not have a translator. Everyone else does. So they'll be able to understand her, at least, still. She'd have to be a lot less mercantile to not see the opportunities in a translator implant. At least the drooling is kept strictly mental as she pauses in her following to gesture back towards her suite.

Star-Lord has posed:
     "Been awhile since I priced them out, got mine just about as soon as I went into space," he says rubbing the spot on his neck where it went in. That jerk Yondu had just stabbed in in there and it still stung to think about it. "But not all that much, bring one case maybe?" he suggests as he heads back with her towards the suite.

Molly Millions has posed:
"One case. Galactic inflation." Molly mutters, but does go back to grab a case,"That... like seriously. Ever since the Badoon's and some of the others have been coming in, never quite sure what's being said. Being able to understand that's... yeh. Worth the full case, definitely. I'll worry about compatibility with the existing later. Maybe Rocket can help make sure I don't fry out a few augs in the process. Otherwise... well, I know people. And if the current array hasn't managed to send me into full synaptic meltdown... I don't think a language program's liable to tip the balance."

Star-Lord has posed:
     Peter smirks and pages through the selections on the jukebox while he waits for Molly. When she returns he turns away and rejoins her. "Yeah, I can definitely see the value," he agrees. "And Rocket can definitely check things out and make sure it meshes with the existing stuff. Just be ready for a lot of pissing and moaning about having to work with 'frickin sticks and stones here' when it comes to your implants. He likes to poke fun."

Molly Millions has posed:
"Held together with silly-string, no less." Molly agree's drily,"Some of my current set are older than my daughters. And made in another universe. And only vaguely patched to make it compatible with the local systems. I'm sure I can give any technologist a coniption if I try hard enough simply by virtue of all the things that shouldn't work in my array. But people I'd count as qualified to update and repair most of them... well, count on one hand. Okay, let's do this."

Star-Lord has posed:
     Peter pulls a face at the image of just how cobbled together the implants are. "I understand not wanting someone rooting around with those, but you may want to get them looked at," he says before nodding when she declares it time to go. "Alright then," he says opening the door to New York. "Let's go."