A Quest with Camelot! (Jessica)

“This place sucks. The people make no sense and their business practices are just absurd.” He complained as he stepped out of the blue and white mammoth store that offered absolutely everything you could hope to find. Such an odd and boring venture. Ares stepped from the shop, looking dissatisfied with the options he had seen. What sort of infernal place doesn’t offer. He looked back over his shoulder at the star and pouted as he grumbled. “People think I’M dark. That place literally sacrifices the lifeforce of other businesses to stockhouse themselves up with resources. Those assholes too my tactic!” He whined, partially screeched as he rubbed the back of his head. He felt a sudden wave of rage, though it quickly tempered. There was more to the story than the business practices here.

He looked up to the sky and contemplated his surroundings. Chicago, The Windy City as it were. More like the Rainy city tonight. It was home to so many people, and there was so much information to share and learn from. He hardly had time to be started. He had been in this city for a month and he had absolutely no leads to go on. He hadn’t even used his Web of Lies yet. Though he had to admit that of all the cities in this world he had been to, none had been this challenging yet. Granted that’s because he actually hadn’t done anything to make progress. He procrastinated and contemplated more than he actually acted. He’d scold himself for this, but he was too busy contemplating how he would ever get by without such a crucial thing in his life.

Ares snapped his fingers and took inspiration. He smiled in a rather devious way before putting his hands behind his head and walking, whistling. He found that the entire thing in this world that was most common were a bunch of people who were somebody pretending to be nobodies. Then things happened and it turns out they were somebody, and they actively need money to do things like live, rent stuff and eat. So what if someone who was a nobody was actually somebody that could help him? It’s crazy right? He had to keep himself from instant commitment to an asylum. But he knew just the type of person he needed for the job. He needed someone who had seen some shit, kicked names and took asses or however the expression went.

So where does one go to find well-trained people that are willing to do whatever you need for money? You go to a privatized army and hire them! Ares reached into his pocket and realized he only had enough currency in this world to equate to $200. He growled and mumbled, wishing he had converted more of his stored into such currency. Stupid people only used paper-cloth or something. Paper was good for kindling, not money. So now the question was where did you go to recruit people that would do what you need them to and do it CHEAP? The inspiration hit him right in the eyes, a stabbing neon light garnering his attention as he noticed the word BAR glowing with a faint electrical hum, the B occasionally flickering. The place looked like it was the victim of a 1990’s horror flick, but that just made him feel all the more at home as he walked across the street.

The inside was a lot better than the outside, it looked more “characterized” inside. The place was rough on the edges but you had a bunch of people sitting around and having a great time...scowling? Glaring? Reminiscing about war stories? Oh boy, was this one of those nursing homes he had heard about? It didn’t matter really...By the end of the day, he would have that which he stayed in this world for. Then there would be no one stopping him from taking it. It was one step towards freedom, towards his goal. He wore his usual dopey smile, walking in and clearing his throat as he walked up to the bar. He was the most out of place person here, truthfully he seemed like an average joe.

“Hi, heh. Uhm yeah so ya see I’m kinda in need of some help. I wanna hire someone whose really keen on the idea of never having to pay for their own drinks again. Someone with experience wrestling horrible, terrible beasts or maybe a metahuman that's pretty tough?” Ares said, hoping that it would at least spark some attention. He just kept smiling and looking at the barkeep, not realizing that a bar-tender’s job was NOT the same in this world as it was in the worlds he’d come from.

What was she doing here? A quick glance around confirmed her suspicions. Yup, she was the only girl here. Ugh. She took another drink of the swill that passed for liquor here. Their finest beer indeed. Tasted like dog piss. For a second, she actually contemplated putting the beer down and finding someplace that didn’t serve something that tasted like it was distilled in the sewer, but considering she had … a grand total $2.57 in her bank account, looks like she was stuck here. God damn it. Well, she thought, at least the swill was cheap. She’s drunken worse, though that wasn’t exactly a high bar to beat.

A sudden noise disturbed her; with bleary eyes, she realized it was the tingling of the bell. That meant someone new was coming in. And - she couldn’t believe this - it was a kid? Okay, not a child, exactly, but definitely didn’t look like someone who should be in a rough-and-tumble place like this. Even she had to knock a few teeth out, and break a few grabby hands, before they left her alone. And, sure as shit, already some asshole was coming up, surrounded even larger and stinkier assholes. Great. She was torn between helping this poor guy and finishing her beer. One one hand, if she helped him out, she likely wouldn’t be able to come anymore … which considering the state of their alcohol, isn’t a great loss.

And he was offering money in exchange for goods and services.

Downing the rest of her beer (and grimacing like it was vodka, it seriously tasted like puke), Jessica casually rose from her chair, the scraping of her chair drowning out what exactly the thugs said. And boy, were they thugs; face tattoos, cheap leather vests. Like something out of a parody movie. It was probably “What’s a small fry like you doing on our turf?” followed by incomprehensible snorting from his cronies. Jessica … really didn’t have a high opinion of the people who frequented this bar. Time to step in before things escalated any further.

”Boys. I think you’re bugging this poor gentleman.”

They turned at the voice, but had very little chance to say anything, as one was suddenly downed by a lighting-quick jab to the face, and the other instantly floored by an equally kick jab to his nether regions. The one standing, looking shocked that such a little girl could take out his cronies, reached into his jacket for something, but before he could pull out the gun Jessica identified, she outstretched her own arm. With the sound of clicks and metal rubbing against each other, her arm had turned into a cannon of some kind, the large, open port made all the more menacing by the ring of very-large bullets surrounding it. As she raised an eyebrow, one of the bullets slid into the chamber and the slight, fiery glow indicated she was getting ready to fire.

Needless to say, the thug ran.

With a sigh, Jessica leaned against the counter, her arm turning back to normal in the meantime, though it ruined her shirt. With a curse, she ripped off the ruined remains of the longsleeve, fully exposing the shiny metallic of her prosthetic limbs. This close to him, Jessica could see he was older than she thought. She considered herself a good judge of character, and for some reason, this guy seemed … trustworthy? No, more like he wouldn’t go back on his word, but you shouldn’t necessarily trust him. What an odd sensation. Another sigh wracked her frame, and she offered her covered hand to him, the other leaning casually against the countertop.

”Names Jessica. You must not be from around here. Normally, you’d wanna go to New York or another hub of superhuman activity to find someone willing to do what you’re offering …” She was dressed in clothes too high of quality to be in the area. Black fatigues with a matching blouse, with white and silver accents. The longsleeve button-up, now missing one sleeve, was accented by a vest with a symbol etched onto the right breast, a shield emblazoned with a phoenix. Her brown hair was pulled back into a tight, militaristic ponytail. She lacked any other adornments, no jewelry or makeup. ”That said … if you’re buyin’, I’ll see what you have to say.”