Welcome to Billy Ray's. How Meta Are Ya? (With Cutie)

There was a place in Chicago that metahumans local and visiting could learn about by word of mouth. A special, hidden place where metas could go for either a drink or food, and information about the meta community. It was called Billy Ray's.

The alley was strewn with trash and filth, and smelled of dog poo. Graffiti was strewn all over the walls, and what looked like bloodstains and bullet holes were becoming visible on a part of the wall when sunlight was just starting to illuminate it. There also seemed to be a roughly body sized pile of rags in the corner- no telling if it was a body or garbage, but smelled even more foul than both when approached.

The rear entrance was small, no more than fifteen feet wide and raised from the ground line by a few steps. The windows were shut with nailed planks. Country music played from inside. There was a small plank board sign that read “Billy Ray’s”, and scrawled under it was “Absolutely no fighting inside” in rather poor penmanship and messy paint. The reinforced door was guarded by a most stout and muscular humanoid figure, who was roughly four feet tall and as wide. His arms were as thick as his stocky legs, sported a full long beard, and a mighty beer belly. One might describe him as a dwarf.

When approached, he would take a good, long look at the person, and speak. “Weclome to Billy Ray’s, how meta are ya?” He would ask, his deep voice seemingly marking him as from New York, probably the Bronx, or Brooklyn.

CHICAGO

There was always something about this city that made Clayton Wray feel like he had unfinished business somewhere. If he thought about it, he would realize it was probably because he had unfinished business everywhere, but he had new business to think about tonight as he slank through a south Chicago alleyway that was unsurprisingly more horrid than any ancient crypt he’d been to in recent memory.  The scents and aesthetics of the area had his hopes at odds with eachother. He half hoped that he was in the wrong place, but if he was, that would mean he was in this vomit stained hell for nothing, and if it was the right place it meant the right place was a vomit stained hell.

He’d heard of this bar before, but always decided it was best to avoid it. A secret place for metahumans to gather and spill their secrets to each other? How did anyone not think it was some weird government trap? Maybe he was just paranoid. He hadn’t done anything illegal yet this time, though, so if this was where his client wanted to meet and give him the necessary documents on whatever it was they wanted, who was he to argue? It was their money anyway.

“Billy Ray’s”

The crudely painted sign and Gimli look alike at the door told him he was either in the right place or about to fall victim to the strangest elaborate mugging of all time. The country music grew a little louder as he approached the door.

“Weclome to Billy Ray’s, how meta are ya?”

A back alley country bar guarded by a noo yawk lord of the rings extra? I better get paid double for this.
What kind of question was that?
“Meta… enough?”
He raised an eyebrow at the dwarf. What kind of answer was that? He stood rather blankly before the stocky doorman, waiting to be let in.

"Look here precious. It's a pretty simple question." The dwarf grabs a brick and places it between his teeth, them promptly chews it up and spits it out. "Prove you're a Meta and you're not gonna cause trouble, and you can go in."

While they had the short conversation, a body is tossed out one of the shuttered windows. It appeared to be some form of large man-dinosaur hybrid, with thick reptilian hide, wearing jeans and no shirt. He had an especially thick skull. The dwarven bouncer nudges him with his boot. The dinosaur man waves him not to disturb him, as he was happy to lie on the floor, where the pain was lessened. Country music and the smell of draft beer, burgers, fries and other american cuisine wafted into the alleyway. Thankfully it was a non-smoking bar-diner place.

"Well, newcomer? Don't keep me waiting, I've got important stand-by-the-door-all-day business to do." The dwarf certainly had the impatient and gruff attitude of someone from Brooklyn too.

Clayton cringed at the sight of the dwarf eating a brick, “My, uh, powers don’t exactly work that way. I—“ He was interrupted by the crashing of a human lizard out an alleyway window and onto the ground next to him, “Windows in an alleyway? Weird.” He shrugged, “Well, Gimli, like I was saying, I can’t exactly demonstrate what I can do here. I’ve got what you’d call photographic reflexes, well, I’m sure your people have a different word for it over there in middle earth, but that’s what we call it here. I can’t exactly just show you that now can I? So how about you quit hassling me and I’ll leave you to finish your brick in peace, huh?”

"Oh, a Passive power. Why didn't ya say so. Then you won't mind if I ask for a demonstration." The bouncer moves to grab Clayton by the collar, quite fast (Fs 6) but not as fast as Clayton, intent on throwing him. A sufficient demonstration- escaping, countering or other would be enough to let him in.

The bar interior was fairly well lit and well furbished, the wood of the furniture aging well. Booths and tables had costumed and non-costumed metahumans as the patrons. A gold skinned waitress in a modest uniform passes by Clayton as he entered, carrying two large trays of sizzling baby back ribs slathered in barbecue sauce, serving them to a very large, morbidly obese looking metahuman and his weasly looking hooden companion.

"Take a seat, mister. I'll be with you in a sec." The golden gal said, also with a Brooklyn accent, her nametag indicating her name was Golda. How novel.

Over at the bar there was a gray bearded and moustached cowboy character serving up drinks of the alcoholic and non-alcoholic variety. Over at the recreational space there were pool tables, darts, some pinball machines and arcade games, occupied by younger, tough-wannabes who ruin their own efforts by having the chocolate and banana shake. People with extremely high skills and reflexes constantly play perfect dart games, trying to outdo each other with fancy moves. There was also a smoking lounge behind a glass barrier. One large section of wall was devoted to photos of the patrons. The digital jukebox in the corner ended its current song, and continued playing Country Music.

And over in the far corner, Shauna in her biker get up was having fried chicken and mashed potatoes, deep in thought as she was reading the newspaper.

“See? Not so hard to be civil is it?” He stepped forward to allow himself into the bar, only to be cut off by an attempt at his collar by the dwarf bouncer. It took minimal effort to leave the bouncer on the floor looking up at the ceiling before he knew what happened. Clayton was sure that leaving him like that was not exactly an actual demonstration of his ability but the bouncer’s chuckle served as indication that it was good enough. Maybe he didn’t know what Clayton meant? Whatever. He was in and the gold skinned waitress was more than enough incentive for him to want to stay whether his new client showed up or not.

The place was surprisingly crowded, but he was able to find a table that atleast allowed him to keep an eye on what seemed to be the only actual way in or out. He was unsure who he was supposed to be looking for, but he knew enough to know to keep an eye on the door.  Of course no plan is ever entirely foolproof. Out of the corner of his eye he caught sight of the woman at the table behind him. It’d been a few years, but it was definitely her, the Black Tigress. He quickly turned himself away from her and studied the minimal menu on the table in front of him hoping that she hadn’t noticed him yet, and that if she did she at least didn’t hold a grudge from their last meeting in Brazil.

His fake concentration was broken by a call from the doorway
“CLAYTON WRAY! HOW THE HELL ARE YA!”

Fuck.  Anyone but him.

A large, overly muscular dark grey skinned man in a suit much neater and nicer than Clayton’s approached his table and sat down across from him. The man was known to him simply as Carl. A former smalltime crook now imbued with incredible strength and the features of a shark. His skin was rough against Clayton’s as they shook hands. Since acquiring his powers Carl hired himself out as muscle to most anyone, it was something that allowed their paths to cross on either side of various events over the years. This time it seemed they were on the same one again.

“Carl…” Clayton tried to seem sincerely happy to see him, “How have you been?”

“GREAT! JUST GREAT! OH MAN, LET ME TELL YOU, THIS SINCLAIR GUY IS LOADED AND I MEAN LOAD-ED. THIS IS THE BEST GIG I’VE EVER HAD AND I HARDLY HAVE TO BUST ANY HEADS.” Carl grinned with his two rows of pointed teeth. How he managed to speak properly (aside from apparent lack of volume control) with a mouth like his was anyone’s guess, “OH MAN, WHEN I HEARD HE WAS AFTER THIS DAGGER AND YOU WERE THE GUY, I KNEW I HAD TO BE THE ONE TO DO THE MEET UP WITH YA.”

“Yeah, that’s great, Carl, really. So you have all the things I asked for?”

“SURE DO, RIGHT HERE.”

He tapped the briefcase on his lap. His size made it, the chair he sat on,  the table between them, and Clayton all seem tiny by comparison.

“YOU KNOW HE WANTED BLACK TIGRESS BUT I HEAR- SOMETHING WRONG?”

Clayton’s eyes were visibly widened at the mention of the woman at the table behind him.

Shauna spots Clayton, a man she took a few moments before recognition kicked in. Clay beat her to a target back in South America, and got away because as Black Tigress, Shauna never uses the lasers on principle. Seems everyone came to Billy Ray's, eventually. She also saw Carl come over and sit, and with his voice, it didn't take that long for him to drop her name as a mercenary. So far her going back to being a Cape had yet reached the bar as news.

She takes a seat beside Clayton, and offered him some of her fries. They were the chili cheese special fries, oozing temptation to sight and taste. "Howdy boys. So, do I ask what's in the briefcase or do I just take a look?"

Like every metahuman in Chicago, Sadie had heard of Billy Ray's, but she rarely bothered with those types of places. Metahuman bars always had an element of networking that just didn't exist in normal bars and clubs. She didn't like to mix with other metahumans, on the off-chance that one of them could possibly disable her own powers. Ever since gaining the ability of intangibility, Sadie had thought of it as the most precious thing she possessed. But today, she was high off of a recent score. So after stashing it in a safe place - obviously not in the place she was currently staying, she wasn't an idiot - Sadie made her way to Billy Ray's.

Her heels clicked remarkably loud along the concrete alley, as she tried to ignore the rancid smells. One good thing about being a con artist and a thief was that she was often able to stay in luxurious housing, without having to pay a cent. Which meant that she almost never had to deal with smells like the one leading up to the metahuman bar. For all of a second, Sadie seriously considered turning back. She didn't though. Just this once, she wanted to find out what the big deal was with metahuman bars.

She raised a perfectly sculpted eyebrow at the short man in the doorway. How meta am I? she thought, What does that even- Oh! Her eyes rolled when the man's question clicked in her head. In lieu of answering, she merely phased through both the man and the reinforced door before opening it from the inside, making a little 'ta-da' motion with her hands, mimicking that of a magician's assistant. "Meta enough for you?" she asked, a self-satisfied smirk settling on her lips. The door was made of a pretty thick material so she would have to wait a good deal of time before phasing through anything else, but she was a bit of a show-off.

“WELL, WHADDYA KNOW?! THE BLACK TIGRESS HERSELF, ALL THE WAY DOWN IN CHICAGO, AND AT BILLYRAY’S NO LESS! CAN YOU BELIEVE IT, CLAY? I KNEW I DID GOOD PICKING THIS PLACE.” Carl was as giddy as a schoolgirl sometimes, and to some it could be endearing to see such a large man so genuinely happy, to Clayton at that moment it was just genuinely annoying. It figured that the shark man would pick Billy Ray’s of all places and it figured that a rival in various fields would invite herself to the table right then. It was just his luck.

“Howdy?..” People said that? Clayton looked down to the cheese fries offered to him, 500 lbs of grease and fat soaking through the paper that held them and onto the table. He’d have to pass. Carl, on the other hand offered himself a large mittful of the fries and shoved them into his mouth as he spoke,

“OH THIS? BRIEFCASE? JUST SOME THINGS CLAY SAID HE NEEDED. AND BEING A GOOD FRIEND I BROUGHT THEM TO HIM HERE. DEFINITELY NOTHING TO DO WITH PROCURING AN ONJECT OF INTEREST FROM A TURKISH CULT. NOPE.” Carl slobbered his clever lie through a mouthful of chilicheese fries

Clayton’s head fell into the palm of his hand. Whywhywhy.

“Yeah, Tigress, definitely not. So you can certainly return to your table and enjoy the rest of your night over there.” He motioned to her table before standing himself up, “and I’ll just take this and go home now. Nice seeing the two of you and all that but I’ve really gotta run.”

He reached for the brief case and attempted to take it with him, only to discover it was handcuffed to the immovable grey man that brought it in with him. He discovered this the hard way as he was pulled backward almost immediately and found himself on a collision course with another dwarf nearly identical to the one at the door.

“Watch it!” the dwarf barked and pushed him back the way he came. The shove sent him slipping on some kind of spilled liquid and directly into the blonde woman he watched enter only seconds before that. Without thinking, his reflexes were quick enough to prevent him from actually falling and catch her before she would fall back herself. Half the eyes in the place were on him now and the other half didn’t bother looking. He liked the other half more.

“Uh… Howdy?” He awkwardly addressed the girl as he took a step back and turned to glare at Shauna for putting that word into his vocabulary.

“HEY, CLAY. QUIT GOOFIN AROUND AND COME HAVE A BEER WITH YOUR OLD PAL, HUH?”

“Fine.” He sighed.

The gold skinned waitress welcomes Sadie into Billy Ray's with a smile, relieved at having more gals to lower the testosterone levels. Golda kept moving to serve drinks and food. Men, single and otherwise alike, take a moment to appreciate the new pretty face, but it was the fat character in the middle of the bar seating with the weasly hooded friend of his that would hit on her.

The fat man was from North Korea, and his accent showed. "Hey pretty american girl. Why don't you come here, seated with Won Ton Fuey and the Rat. Show you good time. 2 for price of 1. Hehehe." His face was contorted into some kind of combination of perversion and desperation, and Golda lightly bumps Sadie to give her a tip, as she was serving a beer. "Just ignore 'em, honey. They're all bark and no bite."


Meanwhile, back at Carl's table, Shauna plays up her skill as a safecracker and all around thief. Natural supervision tended to trump most high tech gadgets, but nobody knew that. The Black Tigress's skill was shrouded in mystery. "Don't be like that Clay, hurting a lady's feelings. You're the better fighter, but I'm still the better safecracker." Shauna said, while masticating through her chili cheese fries. Carl was rapidly depleting them though.

She tries the same with The loud Charcaradon-sapien across the table. "Times are changing, Carl. Security getting wound tightly everywhere that matters. I'm still one of the best when it comes to getting into weird places, and I'd like a slice of the pie."

Shauna remarks, watching Clay clumsily try to take the suitcase, then be tossed about the bar into a patron and the blonde newcomer. "This is gonna be good..."

Sadie was used to turning heads when she walked into a room. In fact, she often counted on it. One of the best ways to decide on a mark was to judge how long their gaze lingered on her, it was usually easiest to con the ones that watched her hungrily. They either assumed she was a meek little girl or were too focused on getting her into bed to notice her lifting wallets from their pockets. Most of the men this time around only lingered for a bit, and the others turned away after the fat man called out to her. Sadie scoffed and rolled her eyes, but before she could come up with a retort Golda was already speaking. "Oh it's no problem. You know what happens when a dog bites; I'm more than happy to put some of them down," she said, smirking. "Hey, while you're here, could I get a mai tai?" Sadie flashed her a pleasant smile. It was a pretty dingy bar, and sometimes they didn't do 'fancy' drinks but there was always hope.

Almost the second she turned away from Golda, some guy crashed into her. It happened so quickly that she probably would have fallen anyway but she saw the guy move to catch her and decided to play along. She smiled at him to convey her thanks, even if said thanks were fake. Then he spoke and Sadie's attempt at laying groundwork for future manipulation gave way to genuine laughter. "Howdy," she said, smirking in ridicule. Her eyes followed him back to his table, narrowing in calculation.

Great, these two mouthbreathers show up and not only make me look like a dumb klutz infront of a bar full of metahuman mouthbreathers but also one decently attractive girl.


Clayton kept his glare fixed on Shauna as he apologized to the new comer, “Sorry. My less than average looking strictly platonic female acquaintance just told a lie so blatant it upset my balance. If you’re still around when we finish our business, maybe one of us could buy the other a drink?”

Without waiting for a response he hurried over to the table he came from in order to prevent Carl from spilling a single detail to his competitor.

“EH? A SLICE OF THE PIE, HUH? HEHEH WELL I GUESS THAT’S UP TO CLAYTON HERE, BUT YOU TWO ARE OLD PALS, RIGHT? I’M SURE HE WOULDN’T MIND THE HELP I MEAN, THE DAGGER OF CARACOSA CANT BE THE EASIEST THING IN THE WOR-“

“HEY! Carl! What the hell?”

“WHAT? I WAS JUST EXPLAININ’ TO TIGRESS HERE-“

“You’ve explained enough. You know I work alone!”

“OH… BUT HEY, WHAT ABOUT THAT ASIAN COWGIRL THEY SAID YOU WERE RUNNING AROUND WITH DOWN IN MEXICO THEN, HUH?”

“She was most definitely NOT a partner. I’m not even sure what she is and I’m sure she isn’t sure either.”

“OHHH…” The look of confusion on Carl’s face turned to a coy grin, “SO YOU TWO WERE JUST 'YEEHA! RIDE ‘EM COWBOY!' ?”

“We—What?! No!”

“NOT EVEN ONCE? DON’T YOU LIE TO ME, YOU DOG, YOU!”

“Carl, just—never mind, ok? I work alone.” He then turned his attention to Shauna again, probably stuffing her face and watching the exchange gleefully, “And you are not the better anything. Remember who came out on top in our last encounter?”

“CAME ON TOP? HAHAH YOU MEAN YOU TWO RIDE EM COWBOY TOO? HAHAHA” If Carl continued to laugh and chew like that Clayton was sure that he would choke and die, and he was sure he wouldn’t miss him right then

“NO! Did you invite me out here to this metabar to ask about my—Wait. Metabar. hmm. Tigress, just how did you manage to get in here, anyway? How meta are ya?” as far as he knew she wasn’t meta at all. But did it really matter? No. What mattered now was that she left and he got the materials needed from Carl and got ‘home’ and ready to leave for Louisiana the next day… and maybe talk to that blonde again… Maybe.

Golda listens to Sadie's order. "Comin’ right up, sugar. Hey, Billy Ray, call for one of them fancy Mai Tai’s.” The bar operator thumbs up and began working on the drink, mixing the requisite components with fancy juggling and tosses.

Meanwhile, the question rang out, and a few of the older patrons, as well as aging cowboy and proprietor Billy Ray Marston were following the loud conversation between Clay, Carl, Shauna and now it seemed Sadie. Billy Ray was putting the slice of pineapple on Sadie’s drink when Clay asked the question.

“Hold up there partner. My pal outside, Mac, he’s the only one who gets to ask that question. Now I can vouch for Shauna being a Meta, but it’s up to her if she wants to prove it to ya.”

The rest of the bar was listening in now, the more daring young metas talking about Carl’s job, and how many others want in. Thanks to his loud voice that carried as well as the jukebox, half the bar had an idea what the job was about. The other, wiser half minded their tongues and kept silent, most of them having run across Shauna alone in a dark alley.

For someone with a superhuman durability, the big fat blob seemed quite tipsy after several drinks. He groggily got up and staggered over to Carl’s table, his girth blocking the view.

“Won Ton Fuey also wishes to know! Why does tough American metahuman bikers afraids of half-mexican bitch? Won Ton Fuey is better fighter, and much tougher, much quicker, and much prettier! I say Won Ton Fuey can do better job getting magic knife. You agree, Mister Carl?” His voice was also quite slurred, and he was swaying with each step.

“So... people wanna know what makes Black Tigress a Meta.” Shauna looked and shrugged off Clay’s question, despite a few patrons raising their beers in agreement. She got out of her seat, finishing off her last chilli fries and slurping her soda. Golda brought Sadie her Mai Tai, just in time for the evening entertainment to begin. Billy Ray sternly warned Shauna before she did anything stupid.

"Shauna darlin’, don’t you dare destroy a single piece of furniture or anything that is my property. I kid you not; you won’t see a strawberry sundae for a month.”

“Fine.” Shauna looked around for something interesting in the bar, deciding to invade some people’s privacy.

“Kim Jong Un here wears Sponge Bob boxers. Knock offs Made in China.” She thumb points to the big fat man beside her, eliciting a laugh from the people ‘in the know’. The younger metas who weren’t, were asking what Shauna just did or if she wasn’t even for real.

“What? How you know... you must peek when Won Ton Fuey in bathroom... ” He said, readily confirming Shauna's statement while just not drunk enough to still comprehend his privacy was invaded.

“You don’t even fit through the bathroom door. Even the handicapped bathroom.” Shauna delivered that statement with such a sarcastic tone, the bar got more laughs. If anyone weren’t so sharp, that is, having already had a few drinks, they’d almost think Shauna’s power was having an unflappable mouth that could hurl armor piercing insults. A savvy mind could likely deduce Shauna had special vision... a dreaded prospect for more conservative folk, and a utilitarian ability someone like Shauna would prefer to keep on the down low.

Rather than becoming some raging drunk, Won Ton Fuey mumbled some things in Korean, and abruptly left. His little Rat friend simply sneered at Carl and Shauna and followed after Won Ton. "Stupid high powered metas..."

“Real tough boy ain’t he?” Someone in the crowd remarked. Billy Ray tips his hat and returns to his work, Shauna keeping her promise not to break anything.

“That do it for ya, Clay? Or do I have to tell ya about the crumpled $20 bill in yer back pocket?” She commented snidely. She really was violating people’s privacy just like that, and now she was looking at Sadie...

Sadie wasn't really sure what had just happened, but it kind of seemed like the guy - Clayton, she realized he'd been called - had just hit on her. He looked nice enough, and in any other circumstance she'd probably take him up on his offer. This time though, there was a job that she could potentially get in on. The only 'business' that went on in bars (especially metabars) was prostitution and thievery. Sadie doubted the gray-skinned guy had anything to do with prostitution unless he was attempting to pay Clayton. That didn't seem overly likely.

Her last score - the whole reason she came to the metabar to begin with - had been pretty good, good enough for her to celebrate even, but like any good thief, Sadie was always looking for a new one. Especially since Clayton seemed so desperate to keep it to himself. She was just about to approach the three when all hell broke loose. The entire bar was clamoring to know what kind of meta Black Tigress was, if she was one at all.

As the other girl proved her powers, showing off a bit, a smirk settled on Sadie's lips. 'Oh, I like her' she thought, far more interested on getting in on the job now. X-Ray vision and intangibility worked wonders together. Sadie laughed along with the others as she humiliated the gross Korean, and when Shauna looked over at her, Sadie's smirk only widened in challenge, as if to say 'like what you see?' But instead of saying anything, she sauntered towards the three. "This job you're pulling, I want in," she said, placing her hand on the table.