How Nadia Ended Up In the Necessary [/Energetic/Dusker]

Malik Faulkner spent hours, upon HOURS of researching superhumans who would be a good fit for The Necessary.
Tyler told him he was way too tired to do it, so he left the merc to do it.
Dire was really good at tracking people down after he found them.
So, when he saw someone who caught his eye... He found them instantly.
He traced Nadia to New Orleans.
He groaned and said "New Orleans?! Oh fuck me!!!"
He heard Astrid waking up and bolted out the door.
He didn't feel like getting chastised tonight.

Upon arriving at the airport, he groaned even louder.
He didn't get a ticket online so he'd have to wait in line twice.
After waiting the two times, he made it to the desk.
"May I help you?"
A dumb looking blonde stood behind the desk.
It was a cute kind of dumb, but Malik was too irratated to be thinking about that.

"Yeah, can you tell me when the next plane to New Orleans is?"

The lady looked out the window, "'Round 3 seconds ago." She said innocently.

Malik facepalmed, "When's the next one?"

"'Round 3 hours."

"Fuck me..." He mumbled in frustration

"When and where?!" The lady asked, suddenly excited.

"Ew." Malik said as he walked away.


After taking the flight, The Demonic Dire found himself in New Orleans.
FML He thought.
He went into the nearest bar.
He knew it was impossible to get drunk for more than 30 seconds due to his healing ability, but a man can dream right?
He ordered the strongest and most potent thing they had and downed it and sat, playing on his phone.

Nadia was having a great day to be honest.

She had finally ganked a thug she had been trailing for months, the dirty jerk had stolen her boots. Slipped right under her wards as she was recovering and took 'em. She hadn't really planned out the rest of her day to be honest, she hadn't expected to be finished this early.

So, of course. The only viable solution, was to get drunk.

She strutted down the street from her shabby apartment, deciding to ditch driving today. See, she lived a bit too close to the airport (which was honestly just a bad decision on her part) so there was always traffic, especially around rush hour. A little tune drifted from her lips as she made it to the doors of the hole-in-the-wall bar. She shoved open the door with her foot, and waved to a few of her fellow regulars. She walked up to the bar and sat on a stool to the far right, near the wall.

"Hey, Tones!" She called in her drawl to the bartender. "Get me a scotch, will ya hon?" He nodded and went to prepare the drink.

As Malik heard the girl walk into the bar it made him look up.
She walked and sat just out of earshot of her.
He noticed this girl as Nadia, the woman he was tracking.
As his headache continued to develop, he waved the bartender over.
"Put her's on me and get her another... Will ya hon?" He smircked.
He knew as soon as he used Astrid's credit card [which in a sense he stole] she was gonna go berserk.
The bartender nodded.
He added "Send me another of what I had too."
At this point, his head was at a 5 out of 10 on the pain scale.
After all that, he began texting Astrid explaining why he had her credit card.

Nadia sighed, as she heard the man's words. Normally, she wouldn't stand for people making fun of her speech patterns. But, she wouldn't turn down a free drink. She shifted in her seat, crossing her legs and putting her elbows on the counter.

"Here," the bartender said. Placing the scotch down in front of her, "Courtesy of the gentlemen down there."

Nadia raised a brow and looked towards the man, brown eyes glinting in curiosity. She took a sip of her scotch then began to talk. "And may I ask what you could possibly think 'lil ole me needs a free drink for?"

Malik made a face and grinned.
Why tell a lie when the truth will do?
He walked over a safe distance from her and said, "Cuz lil' ol' me has my best friends girlfriends credit card and I enjoy making people mad. You looked like you were having a good day. Why not try and make it better?"
He tipped his drink back and drank all of it.
He sat the mug back on the bar.
"So, does buying you a drink entitle me to your name, or do I need to buy more?"
He said, never once smiling like he normally does.
His headache was at an 8.
He got a text from Astrid that had some threatening words on it, and he showed it to Nadia.
He chuckled, "See..."

Giving in to her curiosity, Nadia peeked at the screen. She let out a loud whistle. "You have quite the angry friend there pal." She downed the rest of the scotch. A fleeting though amusement passed through her head. Maybe she could have some fun with this.

"Although, I don't think I'm quite loose-lipped enough to tell you my name yet, sugar." Gesturing with her glass she continued, "Ah think one more would do the trick, really." S small smirk stretched across her face.

Malik smiled. He looked to the bartender and said, "Ya know what she said and wants."
He looked down to her boots, he remembered reading SOMETHING about her boots while tracking her.
"Nice boots, hot stuff."
He said with pure honesty.

She raised her brows in mild surprise. Normally, people were a bit creeped out by her boots. The reason they were stolen in the first place was because some thug had thought they'd be good to sell to the warlocks in the shabbier parts of the neighborhood. She sent a small smile his way, "Thanks sugar, they're custom made." She flexed her legs out a bit, clicking the toes of her boots together.

The bartender returned with her drink and she gave him a small thanks. "The name's Nadia, Nadia Chastain." She drank a sip of the scotch and gave the man a look-over. "Will I get a name outta you handsome?"

"Well since ya put so nicely..."
He grinned, "Malik... Malik Faulkner."
Although he strongly disliked his name, it always felt good to use his own name.
He wanted to actually get to know this girl before getting down to business, he really enjoyed her voice and the WAY she spoke.

He didn't want to be too pushy, so he just stuck with the basics.
"So was I right on you having a good day? Or you just always in high spirits."

"Naw, you're right. It's been a good day. I finally finished this big project, ya know? Feels good to get that outta the way." She chuckled to herself, relishing the inside joke. Brown eyes closed for a second. Nadia took another sip of her scotch.

"What about you, hon? What brought you here?"

Malik smiled. Again...
He always loved hiding the whole superhero deal behind a vague statement.
"Well I came to New Orleansfor work y'know... I came to this bar to take a break."

He always enjoyed ding-dong ditching with questions when he already knew a little bit about them.
"You mind tellin' me what that project was, darlin'?"

Nadia narrowed her eyes minutely, well that was suspicious. She crossed her legs at the ankles, just to be sure that her dagger was still in there. "Hmm, now that's a bit of a personal question." She downed the rest of her scotch.

"Maybe if you tell me what work, I'll tell you what project? Ya know, so it's a fair trade of information." She tilted her head to the side. "I ain't exactly the free sharin' type, I'm sure you understand."

Malik sat up straight with confidence, he had already had all of this planned before this encounter.

"I am in the super-criminal justice line of work, if ya must know. I deal with all those super baddies that mess with the good guys who have bigger problems..."
He looked down at his leather jacket and shrugged
"I'm not a cop or anything. Think of me more of a hired gun... A mercenary, if ya will."
He looked back up.
"I was sent to recruit someone to our team... This someone will probably have powers. I decided I'd have to be crazy to go toe to toe with a metahuman. Lo and behold, I've been told that I was crazy when I was drunk... So I decided to try and get drunk before going toe to toe with a metahuman."

He put a finger on the bar, "That brings us to this encounter that we're having."
He slouched back down with his headache 13 out of 10.
"A deal's a deal, hon..." He smiled

"Hmm," she mused. She admired this guy's thinking process. Though, she did give him a strange look as he slouched on to the counter. "Ah suppose you're right. A deal is a deal."

"Well, let's see. Ah recently had somethin' stolen from me, somethin'... precious. By the time ah found it again, it was in pretty bad shape, ya know?" She stared into her glass. "An' ah was pretty pissed, 'cause what was stolen, was messin' me up real good by not bein' there." She shook her head. "When ah finally found the guy who did it ah kinda, ah don't know. Ah just went off on him. He got what he deserved though, and ah got what was mine." She smiled.

"Well, that's the end of my story, but ah gotta ask ya." She gestured to her head. "Ya feellin' alright there? That seems like one hell of a headache." She shook her head a bit in disbelief and mumbled, "You're hidin' it pretty well though."

"Sorry to hear your thing got stolen..."
He tilted his head.
"Ya know, darlin... I just realized something. I lived life thinking that everyone had that thing... The thing that defined them. Yet, I don't have a thing. I have a lot of stuff, but not that thing..."
He smircked. "Sorry... Got real deep on ya for a sec."

Malik ordered another one of the strong beers for himself before answering.
"Yeah. I'm fine. But... I need to know something."
He made a face and tilted his head.
"How is it that you knew I had a headache?"
"Not that it matters, just wonderin."