Battle of the Bands (Quinn Taylor)

Spoiler:

---------------------------Later that Evening------------------------------------

"See?" Danny stepped past security, flashy her credentials, and walking into the backstage hallway. "I told you that would be easy. Now, we find Wicked MILF and find out what is going on."

"The outfits are odd." Tsukimi looked down at her black dress. It ran just down her thighs with boots up to her knees along with many bracelets and a crucifix around her neck. Her hair was pressed straight against the side of her head and down her back. "I thought we were supposed to be dead?"

"We are!" Erica, wearing a similar dress but with leggings and ankle boots and a ponytail, spoke in a more hushed yell. "We are vampires, wearing the only thing Mitsy happened to have four of in stock! Be glad it's black!"

"It's fine. We look the part." The same outfit was on Tori, boots past her knees. "We don't have instruments, so that is going to be weird when they call us for a sound check."

"Not weird. Don't worry." Danny pulled her hair back, wearing the same outfit as Tsukimi but with some different flair here and there. "I can always just make instruments you know?"

Erica's eyes grew large in confusion. "Can we play them?"

Danny held up a finger. "Maybe."

--------------------------------------The Dressing Room--------------------------------------------------

A woman wearing a yellow vest and black pants sprawled himself out on the back of a sofa. She had traded her real name for the moniker Mother Maya. "You see? I told you they would come." She watched as Danny and her squad made their way in. "She thinks she fooled me! She sent the message from her own E-mail account! Checked her out. Girls some kind of superhero, coming to stick her nose around."

"So what do we do?" A woman with dark hair and darker glasses sat on the far side of the room, ready to listen. Wearing a stylized blue blazer and a black suit with the rest, Auntie Darie filled out the roster, pressing her finger on her keyboard.

"'We' don't do anything. That's why we got Quinn Taylor to join the band. Quinn can take care of them. Let me text her right quick." He grabbed his phone. Quinn, the openers are throwing us through some troubles. They showed up, don't have any gear, and are trying to plant stuff on us. They're sneaking around trying to frame us for those bank robberies too! As if artists don't suffer enough without these wannabe narcs trying to make stuff up. I think they're from some upstart label or something trying to ruin our chances!

"Think that will do?" The woman crossed her arms.

"With Quinn Taylor? Oh yeah, that will do. Those girls are done for."

Spoiler:

----Later that day----

Quinn took a long drag off the cigarette exhaling deeply. How had she ended up here? Why had she even taken this job? Somehow this was Patrick's fault, she wasn't sure how yet but she was sure it was his fault. She finished the cigarette and immediately lit another. She had been annoyed from the start. She felt more like a rodie than a bodyguard lugging all of there musical equipment around. Not to mention the rediculous outfits and God awful music they played.

Not that she could really say much about appearances. Patrick had called it “branding her image.” She felt like an idiot.

The exit door popped open and Patrick stuck his head out. “Queen, we got trouble.” Quinn let out a sigh and snubbed the cigarette, now what?

She followed Patrick through the back stage hallways. Throngs of people gawking, some skittering out of there way. She could hardly blame them. The black leather boots added a few more inches to her already imposing six foot stature. The black t-shirt was damn near skin tight, making her broad shoulders look bigger. Barely reaching her belly button to emphasize the definition to her abs. Black frayed jeans that luckily were not nearly as tight as the shirt. Her blonde hair had been freshly cut and the sides and back shaved. Patrick had smeared some kind of grease paint across the top half of her head. All for her supposed “image.” She felt stupid, this whole thing was stupid.

Patrick tossed her the phone and she read over the text.

Quinn, the openers are throwing us through some troubles. They showed up, don't have any gear, and are trying to plant stuff on us. They're sneaking around trying to frame us for those bank robberies too! As if artists don't suffer enough without these wannabe narcs trying to make stuff up. I think they're from some upstart label or something trying to ruin our chances!

Quinn read it over once, twice, and one more time just to be sure. “What?” Openers? Planting stuff? Knowing Patrick and the typical clientele he dealt with..... “Whatever, they paid triple.” Quinn reminded herself and tossed the phone back to Patrick. “Tell them on my way.” Patrick nodded already tapping away at the screen.

“What are you going to do?” Patrick asked mischievously.

Quinn let out a huff as they entered the back area. Her eyes scanning the room before coming to rest on the trio. “I'm going to ask them nicely to leave.”

“Do you even know how to be nice?” Patrick asked raising an eyebrow.

Quinn took a deep breath and patted Patrick on the back nearly knocking him to the ground. “Come on Pat, I'm always nice.”

Calmly Quinn grabbed a random clip board and strolled towards the girls. They barely looked out of high school, were they even old enough to drink yet? “Exuse me, ladies.” She said nodding and folding her arms across her chest. “I'm afraid I am going to have to ask you to leave.” Quinn said flatly. Right, she had said she would be nice. “Now.” She added.

See, nice.

Danny broke off from the group. She needed more intelligence than could be mustered in a quartet. The delicate type you got when no one else was around- and no one knew you were around. The good type. So, without much of a peep, Danny slipped her heels off, held them by the back strap, and then started to move through the areas near the sound stage.

Nothing.

"That seemed like a good idea. I wonder if I can just set stuff for my band and then they not ask us for a sound check. That sounds good." It did sound good, but it also required Danny to do something a little more stealthy than she intended on. She peaked her head around. And, saw no one. "Well, this will be easy. I can hit the security room after this. I should be a spy."

The other members of the band did not go quite unnoticed. And, some of them were angry. "You can't ask me to leave!" While not quite diminutive in height, Erica did have the muscle composure of the collective unconscious of skipping arm and leg day. "I'm in whatever Danny's band is called. I'm the bass player or the violinist. We didn't figure that out yet!" And, with that, Erica pushed her finger into Quinn's chest.

"Erica, she's big." Tsukimi, standing above her friend by about four inches stepped in to intercede. "Hello, Tsukimi Sanada. My friends call me Suzy. You can call me Tsukimi." Tsukimi extended her hand for a hand shake.

"She can be as big as she wants." Erica turned from Tsukimi to Quinn. "She can't tell me to leave, when I have a pass to be here. I think that's a rule. I'm not sure; this band thing is weird."

Tori tried to push Erica away to keep her from making the situation worse. "What my friends are trying to say is, 'you made a little mistake'. We appreciate you trying to keep out people trying to crash the party, but we're with the band."

"We are the band. Did you not listen to Danny yammer on." Erica spoke over the head of Tori.

"We are Girl's Life. We play music." Tsukimi would take her hand back. "Now, if you don't mind, we are going to our dressing room."

Funny, Quinn didn't remember asking. She was pretty sure she had told the girl to leave. Of course though it couldn't be that simple. They would put up a little bit of a ruckus and in the end they would leave or....She would have to make them leave. Quinn really hoped it didn't come to that. The last thing she needed was people saying she beat up kids.

Quinn blinked staring at the girl flatly. She couldn't even figure out what instrument she played and she expected Quinn to believe she was part of a band? Quinn looked down at the finger the girl had shoved in her chest. Was she serious? This little brat.....touched her. “Excuse me Sporty spice.” Did these kids even know who the spice girls were? Quinn didn't like anyone touching her, let alone someone poking a finger in her chest. Apparently this girl had the survival instincts of the Dodo bird. 

Luckily her friend had enough common sense to know they were treading on very thin ice. Tsukimi? How the hell was she even suppose to pronounce that? Quinn exhaled deeply from her nose and looked down at the hand the girl offered. Would she have willingly offered it know Quinn could break every bone in her hand? It was tempting, really tempting. Still at least Posh spice had manners. Quinn clasped the girls hand, applying a little more pressure than was necessary, not enough to hurt her of course. Of course Sporty spice started to yammer on again. She was starting to become really annoying. 

“Right.” Quinn said nodding following Posh spice's words. She was all but ignoring sporty spice. She could already feel a headache forming behind her eyes. She looked over her shoulder at Patrick who was watching them. He made a sweeping gesture with his hand and Quinn let out a sigh.

She began to dig around in her pocket. “That's great.” She pulled out an old liberty dollar coin rolling it between her fingers, of course making sure the girls could see it. Girls Life? Did they even hear themselves talk? Posh spice finished her little shpeal and Quinn tightened her fist around the coin squeezing as hard as she could. She extended her arm out to the side. “You and the rest of the spice girls have to go.” She opened her hand letting the crumpled coin clatter to the ground. “I'm not asking again.”

Hopefully they would just take the hint and leave quietly. Quinn wasn't above tossing a bunch of kids on there ass, but she didn't want to if she didn't have to. Still, she was being paid to do a job. A job that meant she wouldn't have to take any more work for a while.

Tsukimi looked to the other two. "Is Spice girls racist?"

"No, it's classic music." Tori waved Tsukimi off while holding Erica back.

Tsukimi stood, rather confused. "Are they based off of Spice World? Did that movie do well enough to make a group?"

Tired of fighting Erica, Tori let her through. "What part of Japan did you grow up in?"

"Spice Girls aren't classic pop! They're been big in China for like 5 years now." Erica pushed forward, trying to remember which one she was. "You didn't give Tori a name. Also, we aren't leaving, because we have a show to play. If you want an example of our sound, Tori can give you an example."

A blank stare from Tori. "I can?"

"She can." Erica waved her hand. "Do magic."

"I don't do magic." Annoyance washed over Tori, but Erica did have a point. "I manipulate water and kelp. Does anyone have kelp I can manipul-"

Before Tori finished the sentence, Erica pulled out a bag full of kelp in salt water. "Here. Wrap Wreck it Ralph up with it."

"Oh." Tori's eyes grew large. "That's an insult I now have to back up.

"With magic." While holding the bag, Erica turned her head to Quinn.

"Hold on, hold on!" The glow of her phone brightened Tsukimi's face. "All those songs from Spice World were written before the movie, by the group the Spice Girls! So, that's why it was called Spice World!"

Racist? How was the spice girls racist? Wait, why was Quinn even thinking about this? Apparently intimidation was either nullified by there field of.......Quinn didn't even know what to call it. The alternative was it had completely gone over there head. Either way, Quinn was beyond done with this situation.

Quinn watched them squabble debating which one to throw across the room first. No Quinn, throwing teenagers was not going to look good. Quinn turned around and looked at Patrick. He gave her a thumbs up from across the room. “P-A-I-D I-N F-U-L-L” He mouthed to her rubbing his fingers together. The voice of God might as well have spoken.

Quinn let out a sigh and turned back towards the trio. Catching something about kelp and magic.

Magic....really......

Was she being serious right now?

Sporty spice pulled out a bag full of.....kelp? Who the hell walked around with kelp? Quinn raised an eyebrow. “Who the hell is Wreck it Ralph?” Where they making fun of her?

Where they threatening her......with kelp? Some sort of....magical kelp? Was this part of some ploy? She stood a little taller and took a step forward. “You really don't want to-”

Posh Spice cut in going on about the spice girls. How had they gotten back to the Spice girls? There was a movie?

“Enough!” Quinn roared loud enough to garner more than a few people's attention. “Time to leave.” She would attempt to grab Erica and Tori firmly by the wrists and begin to drag them towards the exit. No doubt Posh spice would follow her friends getting dumped outside the venue.

"Hey! Get your man hands off of me!" Erica refused to go willingly. Or, be throw out a door. "I should have brought a demon sword!"

"Touching time is when it becomes magic time!" Tori began to extend her hands towards the bag. "Although this isn't magic. And, I don't actually need to be reaching towards the bag."

The kelp would spring from the bag, trying to wrap Quinn's arms to her side. "Keep your hands to yourself!" Trying to pull herself free, Tori stepped back. "We already told you we're-"

"The Spice Girls are the only English band since the Rolling Stones to have two albums in the Billboard Top 200." A swipe of a finger brought Tsukimi more facts.

"Stop reading the wikipedia for the Spice Girls and help us!" Erica grabbed a mop and threw a broom at Tsukimi.

"It says they reunited in- Hey!" Tsukimi failed to hold on to the phone as the broom hit her. "I was reading about the Spice Girls! It could have helped us come up with music for this fake band we're doing to find out if that other band is evil or not!"

A text message would go Patrick. Capture. Don't throw out.

Man hands? “Yeah, whatever Sporty spice move.” Quinn had expected resistance to some degree. Given her considerable strength it should have been easy. Was Sporty spice implying she was a demon? Quinn figured it was a insult but took it as a compliment anyways. She had been called a lot worse.

Then things got weird.....
Really weird.

Quinn was no stranger to ability users. For the dozen or so years she had worked for the Ainsworth Syndicate she had seen enough strange to last a life time. Despite what Quinn herself could do, it never ceased to amaze her when she witnessed ability users......Usually. The other one moved her hand towards the bag and Quinn's eyes widened a little.

Kelp.....the kelp was fricken moving. Kelp magic, fricken kelp magic.

Quinn took a hesitant step backwards as the kelp winded around her pinning her arms to her side. She had let it happen more out of surprise and shock than anything. It was about that time she realized Patrick was shouting something. She also realized that she was now wrapped in kelp.....slick, slimy, nasty God damn kelp.

Wait...evil?

“Queen....Quinn.....QUINN......FURY QUEEN!” Patrick yelled at the top of his lungs waving his arms. Quinn managed to swivel around far enough to look at him with a disgusted look on her face.

“Don't call me that!” She yelled back more than just a little annoyed. Patrick made a circling gesture with his finger. Quinn blinked, was he being serious? First it was kick them out, now it was round them up. “Awake?” Quinn yelled. Patrick thought about it for a second and shrugged his shoulders. Quinn gave a wolfish smile and swiveled back towards the trio.

Quinn disliked a lot of things. Wet, slimy thing were near the very top. She looked down at the kelp and at the trio now armed with cleaning supplies. Did they miss the demonstration from earlier? Quinn flexed her arms and tore free from the kelp.

Quinn narrowed her eyes at Tori, clearly not amused by her little magic trick. Quinn moved faster than what most people were capable of. Extending out a hand to shove Tori square in the chest with enough force to knock her off her feet.

Maybe if she knocked the ability user of the group out they would give up and come quietly. Hell, she would knock them all out if she had too. Picking on kids wasn't her usual MO but damn it, that had been slimy and just nasty.

None of the girls liked seeing Quinn break free from the kelp. Especially with as easily as she did. The first reaction came from Tori. "That's salt water right?"

"Of course." A worried look angled Erica's eyes. "Kelp needs-"

"Okay, that helps." Instead of throwing kelp, Tori just commanded the salt water to try and blind Quinn.

Regardless of whether it blinded her or not, Tsukimi swung to try and sweep the leg, followed by some quick stick work to try and bring a swipe at Quinn's gut. "Sorry about this. We don't mean ill upon you, but our friend has recruited us to stop this show from happening."

A mop aimed towards Quinn from Erica. "Yeah, we're putting an end to-"

A sudden hit from a fist slammed Erica against the wall, leaving little lights on upstairs for Erica.

Tori fell next, her trick played.

The most skilled, but somewhat distracted, Tsukimi continued to fight on, trying to aim for points of movement on Quinn. Knees, elbows, shin bones were all targets Tsukimi would aim to strike- hopefully with some aid from Tori's salt water. "You will only be temporarily arrested, but will not face any prison time. We will most likely lock you somewhere while we conduct the rest of our investigation."

It was Quinn's own fault for taking the trio so lightly. In the midst of the movement Quinn hadn't expected the fricken water of all things to attack her. She didn't manage to close her eyes fast enough, or her mouth. It made the whole situation way worse. She let out a loud growl and cursed loudly, and frequently.

Blurred vision kept Quinn from knowing what was really going on. Something collided with her leg. Then something with her gut, painful but not nearly enough to stop her. Mean ill? Posh spice was going to have to step it up because Quinn was pissed and definitely meant ill towards the girls.

Quinn managed to connect a hand with something and then something else. She was pretty sure she had taken at least one of girls out of the equation. One of them was still swinging at her and Quinn went on the defensive. Her vision was blurred but starting to clear up. Burning sensation was a understatement. Not only that all she could taste and smell was salt. “Lock me somewhere?” Quinn hissed through gritted teeth. Had Quinn walked onto the set of a bad movie? Investigation? Quinn couldn't make sense of any of it, which of course only pissed her off more.

Quinn's vision cleared up well enough she could at least make out movement. It wasn't long before she was blocking the incoming attacks, at least somewhat. She was waiting for the right opening. It also gave her a little time to let her vision recover. “You're really going to regret this when you finally wake up.” Quinn growled at Posh spice.

On one of Posh spice's swings towards Quinn's wrist she would act. Attempting to reach out and grab the broom stick. If she managed to get a hold of it she would pull it towards herself and then with much more force push back towards Posh spice. It was Quinn's plan to throw the girl's footing off. Following it with another hard shove towards the girls chest. Hopefully ending the fight before it even really started.

If Quinn missed grabbing the broom stick she would push forward rolling her shoulder to shove into the girl. An attempt to shove the girl over and buy Quinn time to clean her eyes and get a better grasp on the situation. Maybe the girl would take the opportunity to give up.

Both Erica and Tori laid on the floor, knocked out by the superior blows of Quinn, but Tsukimi continued to fight on. She wielded a broomstick with perfect precision, trying to continue assaulting every point of articulation on Quinn. But, her mind remained clouded. "Was Posh Spice the one who married David Beckham? She had the bob right?"

It was her movement of contemplation allowing Quinn to exploit her guard. Once Quinn grasped the stick, Tsukimi knew it was time to let go. Her feet remained firm, and as Quinn leaned forward to deliver a body blow, Tsukimi got small and tried to maneuver to Quinn's side and launch a strike to Quinn's side- hoping to turn the off balance against her.

"I was reading more about the Spice Girls and it says she doesn't do the reunions." If she struck Quinn off balance, Tsukimi would try to get some space between her and Quinn. "Does she think she is too good?"

Once she gained space, Tsukimi needed to gain some way to defend herself. A broom worked well last time. Maybe a mop this time. Maybe a crowbar? Seemed a little too supervillain's goon. Maybe a wet floor placard? Bingo! Tsukimi lifted the sign- and found it very off balance and hard to wield. "This is why goons choose crowbars!"

Tsukimi could barely manage to throw down and lift the sign quickly, but throwing it to the side felt fine. So, it was decided. Once Quinn came within range, Tsukimi would hit her in the side with sign- until she realized it was more of an inconvenience than a full attack.

The girl had done something Quinn hadn't expected and let go of the broom. Quinn tried to drive her shoulder into the girl but was surprised when she dodged around the side. Quinn tried to lash out as she was thrown a little off balance. At the very least she had managed to buy some distance from Quinn.

Something she didn't mind. She quickly recovered and turned to face the girl. One hand up defensively and the other wiping the water away from her eyes.

Her vision was mostly clear now, only a little fuzz around the edge but it still stringed. “God damn kids.” She muttered. The girl was better than Quinn had expected. Either she had training or she was a whole lot smarter than she lead on.

Quinn guessed it was the former. “Shut the hell up about the spice girls.” Quinn roared. She instantly regretted saying anything in the first place. It was her own fault for being a smartass, karma.

She would finish wiping the water from her eyes and glare at the girl. “Really?” She asked flatly. Quinn took another step back and noticed a plastic folding table within arms reach. “My turn.” She said with a wolfish smile. She reached out and snatched the table with one hand and hurled it towards the girl. With her strength it felt like lifting a book a quick and swift action with enough force to hopefully knock the girl off her feet.

If somehow the girl was still standing or dodged it, Quinn would dart forward and attempt to shoulder check the girl once again. This time if she tried to dodge around Quinn would hopefully be fast enough to bring a elbow down on the girl.

Her offense played out in a slow drive. Not for some great stroke against a foe, but in futility. The look of disappointment in Tsukimi's eyes was almost comparable to the look of confused bewilderment in Quinn's. "But, we can both agree a crowbar would look really bad for perceptions right?"

Her words barely left her mouth before a table flew towards her. Not much remained of the defiance in Tsukimi after the blow came.

The body blow from Quinn just felt gratuitous, but Maya looked pleased. "Good work, Quinn. You knocked Danny out before she could ruin anything. I need to talk to my booking manager to see how she booked a little snoop into my show, but at least I have Quinn." Maya checked out Tsukimi. "I don't think she's that kind of Asian."

The smile on Maya began to fade. "Neither of these are Danny either." A pivot of her heel brought her back to Quinn. "The smashing was impressive, other than that one girl hitting you with a stick constantly, but you didn't get Danny. So, I can't really say you did a job well done as of now."

Then, the smile returned. "But, Danny is still somewhere around here. You probably don't want her friends helping her so you should probably stash them in the back somewhere. If you don't want to listen to them ramble on about the Spice Girls, there's some duct tape you can use."

Danny made her way into the security room. A little stealth here and stroke of luck on the other side, and it all came together perfectly for her. "That's not good!" Danny hunched over the controls, taking a look at one of the backstage areas where her team laid sprawled out.

Before the screen could shift, Danny bolted out of the door, deciding against stealth for a more expedient burst of speed.

Quinn was slightly skeptical when the girl went down so easy. Part of her had expected, maybe hoped for a little bit more of a fight? For being so young Quinn had to give her props at least she had stayed dedicated to the end. Quinn flinched hearing the voice behind her. She didn't like people sneaking up on her.

Quinn had a feeling she had gotten herself wrapped up in something more than just a simple bodyguard gig. Quinn snorted “as long as you got the cash.” In truth she hated feeling like she had sold part of herself. The only way she knew how to make money was with her fists and she wasn't getting far without cash. Maya was rambling on about something, Quinn had taken to tuning the girl out.

Quinn narrowed her eyes at the girl when she turned around on her. “How was I suppose to know?” All she had been told was toss them out then it had turned to capture. Quinn had expected the girl to call the police or something, clearly she had something else in mind. This whole situation was starting to feel a bit.....sinister. Not that Quinn had much room to talk, she had done her fair share of dark deeds. Still, these were kids.....

And who the hell was Danny?

Patrick walked up and they exchanged glances. Patrick wasn't exactly comfortable with the entire situation either apparently. “Right, give me a hand Patrick.” Patrick picked up one of the girls and Quinn threw one each over her shoulder. Both heading towards the back of the building. When Quinn was sure they couldn't be overheard she leaned towards Patrick. “Tape them, give it twenty and then figure something out.”

Patrick nodded. “I'll take care of it. I'll make it look they escaped or something.” He said with a chuckle and then eyed her suspiciously. “Going soft Queen?”

Quinn rolled her eyes and grunted. “There just kids.” God knew what Maya had in mind for the group. Probably nothing good. “Job was to be a bodyguard not a underling or accomplice.” She added shrugging her shoulders.

They walked into one of the back storage rooms. A good sized window and a fire exit, at least it would be easy to explain how they escaped. “I got it covered Queen. What are you going to do?”

Good question.

“Pretend to go look for this girl.” Quinn said with a shrug. “Hopefully she finds her friends and get out of here. Worse case scenario I beat her down. If I'm not back in thirty call the police. I'll find a way out.” If she timed it right the trio would get out somehow and the police would show up to end any confrontation. “If any of the band comes for the three call the cops asap and get out of here.”

Patrick nodded and Quinn turned to walk away. “Queen.” Patrick called after her. “Just remember don't go...” His voice faded out. “You know.” He added .

She knew all too well.

Quinn looked over her shoulder and nodded. “Yeah, I know.” She tried not to sound angry about it. Given the look Patrick was giving her, she had. She couldn't blame him for being concerned. Quinn got angry and when she got angry, people died. A place like this with so many people....She couldn't afford to loose control here.

Quinn exhaled deeply and started heading back towards Maya. All she had to do was keep this charade up for a little while longer. She could fulfill her duty as a bodyguard and avoid a bad situation. As for the other girl Maya had mentioned. Quinn really hoped either she ran or somehow Quinn avoided her until her friends were gone.

She doubted she would be that lucky.

Haste took Danny in a different direction than the one she anticipated. For good or bad depended on just what would play out later in the evening, for now, it would be just fine for her.

"Hey!" Just for a brief moment Danny caught the very heel of Tsukimi's shoes as Patrick pushed her into a closet. "Those better not be who I think they are!"

A constructed turquoise bar would wrap around his torso while another would wrap his legs up, leaving little wiggle room against very rough constructed bonds. "So, you're with that wrecking ball who knocked out my friends, huh?" Danny looked over to the closet. "Well, looks like I've got you taken care of, and now, I've got my friends safe and sound, so everything's coming up just fine for Danny."