It was a quiet night at Lefty's Lipids and Libations. The nharlant smoke curled lazily around the steel columns, and the quiet murmur of friendly chatter was only broken by occasional laughter that was made too loud by excess of drink. Lefty, an old, grizzled Altaran war veteran, was washing glasses with his remaining three arms, his right three having been lost early in the latter half of his third tour. He knew as well as anyone that quiet nights in his bar were a rarity. Housing a bar on the third moon of Omicron Prime was never the best of ideas, and the fact that he didn't check weapons at the door or inquire much as to his patrons' business made his place a bit of an underworld dive.
Lefty was digging at a stubborn glob of p'tank in the bottom of an old shotglass when he heard the front door open, and then close. Normally, he wouldn't think much of it, except that as soon as it happened, all the conversation in the room ceased immediately. He looked up, and froze.
The woman's face wore a smug smirk, as she walked across the floor, her footsteps loud in the sudden silence. Her body was lightly armored, in a style that fit tightly to her figure. A scholar in this area of the universe may have known that it was the traditional style of Tamaranian royalty, but there were never any scholars at Lefty's. The other patrons watched her carefully as she walked among them, and Lefty wasn't above noticing several of them slipping out of the door after she passed their tables.
The woman approached the bar, the smug smirk still on her lips, and settled on the barstool directly in front of Lefty. Her voice was confident, but not showy. She didn't seem to feel the need to prove her strength above what her reputation showed. "L'iiquil. A pl'urb, now."
Lefty never let anyone call him by his real name, but didn't see much choice with this woman. He quickly set about making her drink, as the room's atmosphere began to relax again, quiet conversation seeping back into the silence. Lefty set down the tankard of fizzy, purple pl'urb, and slid it over towards the woman. "Here ya go. What're you doin' back in here, Komand'r?"
"It's Blackfire."
"It's Lefty."
He held the woman's gaze for a moment, until she laughed derisively. "Fine. I'm just here for a drink, since I'm in the system. While I'm here though, have you seen this guy?"
She slid a holograph emitter across the bar, and he pressed the switch, displaying the face of a heavily scarred man, possibly Thanagarian, but hard to tell without the wings. Lefty shrugged. "Nah. Another bounty?"
She nodded, catching the emitter as he slid it back to her. "Hro Talak. I'll keep look-"
She was interrupted as the door of the bar slammed open, revealing a trio of drunken humanoid revelers, too loud and far too intoxicated for their own safety. Lefty recognized them immediately, as part of the most recent group of thugs to try to secure power in the neighborhood. This group was young, stupid, and friendless. Still, some of their group had a good deal of physical power, and that was all it took. The three that now entered his bar were low-level punks, just hoping for some free beer and companionship.
Blackfire looked them over with disinterest, before turning back to her drink.
The leader of the small group sauntered up to the bar, leering at Blackfire's backside before addressing Lefty. "'eeey Buddy. Place is quiet tonight."
Lefty frowned, but didn't want to bother with a conflict at the moment. "It was, until you came in. What do you want, Htol?"
Htol grinned his stupid, uneven grin. "Jus' lookin' for some drink. See, we know you want the night to stay quiet, 'miright? So's you give us what drinks we want, and we leave it quiet."
Htol sat down on the stool next to Blackfire, and looked her over brazenly. His companions stepped forwards, just a bit too close to her. "Lefty man, what'd we tell you about lettin' undesirables in?"
Lefty grinned, seeing a quick solution to the gang problem. He set down Htol's beer in front of him. "What about her is undesirable?"
The man picked up the tankard and downed it all at once, with practiced skill. "'ell! What's undesirable? She's a Troq!"
There was enough of a change in the atmosphere of the bar that even his drunken stupor was penetrated. He looked around and the patrons watching him with a mixture of shock and amused smiles. "'eh? What's that then? You a bunch of Troqs too?"
He turned back towards Blackfire, and saw her watching him, eyes narrowed slightly. "What was it you just called me?"
"I called you a Tro-aaagh!" Htol's sneering tone was cut off quickly as the woman pressed her index finger against the back of his hand, cracking bone as well as the wooden bar underneath. "Agh! Hey! Hey, leggo!"
The woman's eyes glowed brightly violet, as her finger moved slightly, causing Htol to shout out again. She looked towards Lefty. "This man, Htol, was it? He is buying everyone here a drink."
"Hey you crazy Bi-gnagh! I can't afford that!"
Htol's partners took a single step forward, hands raised as if to protect their comrade. Blackfire's free hand glowed, and in an instant, both of them fell to the floor, smoking wounds on their chests. Htol went pale.
"Like I said, you're paying."
The door slammed open again before Htol could respond. This time, the patrons didn't just fall silent, they froze entirely. The man who entered was hugely built, tall, and pale white, save for black markings around his eyes, and his wild black hair that stuck out in all random directions. He was wearing a black Thurrian leather jacket, and roughly cut pants of the same material. He had a wide, cocky grin on his face, and a large, smoking cigar between his teeth. "He's buyin' the drinks? Gimme a fraggin' keg o' p'tank, Lefty!"
The man swaggered across the floor, and the other patrons in the place all bolted as soon as the door was clear, leaving the place empty except for Lefty, Blackfire, Htol (who was still cringing in pain beneath Blackfire's finger), and...
"Lobo." Blackfire said the name without any emotion other than petty irritation.
"Blackfire. Been lookin' fer ya." Lobo grabbed Htol in one hand, and threw him through the front door, despite the door being closed at the moment. He sat down on the stool next to her.
"Lefty, you bastich, where's my fraggin' p'tank?"
Lefty wasted no time in heading into the cellar to pull up the keg. This had the added effect of getting him away from the psychotic bounty hunters now sitting at his bar. Someone like Blackfire, he didn't mind. Lobo, on the other hand, had a tendency to cause a lot more damage than he needed to.
Lobo grabbed Blackfire's shoulder, and pulled her around to face him. Her eyes glowed as she looked at his hand. "Let go of my shoulder, or I rip 'little Lobo' off again."
The man grinned at her threat, but removed his hand anyway. "Don't matter. He grows back anyway. Lissen, I came here fer a reason."
Blackfire downed the remainder of her drink, before looking at him again. "What reason is that?"
"There ain't no one can top the Main Man, you know that. But you got guts, and you got power, and I like you, babe. So I'm givin' you a heads up before I run after this one." Lobo tossed another holographic emitter onto the bar, and it flickered on, showing a young, cheerful looking girl. She was obviously Tamaranian, and Blackfire recognized her immediately.
She smirked. "You're going after Kori?"
The man's hand closed around the emitter again, as he stuffed it in one of his jacket's pockets. "She's yer sister isn't she? Figgered I'd let you know, so if you wanted to get killed protectin' her, we can save time and do it here."
Blackfire shrugged, the smirk still on her face. "Do you know where she is?"
Lobo shrugged. "Ain't looked into it yet."
"She's a superhero on Earth."
Lobo picked up the steel keg of p'tank that Lefty hefted to the bar, tore one end off, and messily downed the thick, greasy substance. He tossed the keg casually through the back wall of the bar. "Feetal's Giz! Earth? How the hell'd a Tamaranian end up there?"
"Krazz f'rrt tkennit zor?(Can't catch her there?)" Blackfire switched to speaking Czarnian, now that Lefty was in the room again. She knew that she and Lobo were likely the only two people in the galaxy that still spoke the language. Her smirk changed into a smug and taunting smile. "I hear you have a reputation for getting kicked around by that Kryptonian."
Lobo grinned, placing his cigar back between his teeth. He reached into his front pocket, and pulled out what looked to be a set of brass knuckles, except that instead of brass, the weapon was made of some slightly glowing green rock. He spoke in Czarnian as well. "Big Blue ain't a problem. Ya don't seem ta care if I go after 'er. You wanna join up? Bounty's up to four hundred million creds."
Blackfire coughed on her second mug of pl'urb. "Four hundred million? Who has that kind of money?"
Lobo shrugged. "Th' Citadel. 'pparently she's a runaway."
The look in Blackfire's eyes seemed to almost freeze even Lobo. "The Citadel? Heh. Fine, I'll help you, so long as I'm the one that hands her over to them."
Lobo shrugged. "No problem, babe. Jus' remember that no one double crosses Lobo. I get my 80."
Blackfire stood, tossing the payment for her drinks to Lefty. "I'm not doing it for the money."
Lobo stood as well, though he had seemingly forgotten to pay, and Lefty didn't seem too eager to ask for the money. He followed Blackfire out the door, stepping on Htol as he did so. Blackfire stopped in front of his motorcycle. "I'm driving."
"Like Hell yer drivin'! I ain't being dragged around like some fraggin' old lady!"
She pressed her hand against his chest, and it glowed brightly. "I'm driving, or you are laying here regrowing your torso while I go and pull a four hundred million credit bounty."
He grinned. "I like yer style, babe. Alright, you can drive, but I'm knockin' my share to 90."
Blackfire shrugged, and straddled the bike, kicking it to life and revving the motor. "Get on."
Lobo sat behind her, reaching his hands around and holding on, a bit too high.. He could see the angry glow in her eyes even from behind her. "Watch it."
He lowered his hands a bit.
The bike revved loudly, and sped into the night sky, towards Earth. Lefty listened to the fading noise of the motor, as he mopped up the spilled p'tank and called the local sanitation department to pick up the dead gang members. He felt like maybe he should be angry about the lost business, but mostly he was happy that his bar was still standing at all.
He was just glad that he wasn't whoever it was they were after.
A/N: Ok, I have no idea. This scene sorta popped into my head a while back and I decided to finally sit down and write it. I like the idea of Blackfire becoming some space pirate or bounty hunter (space cowboy?) after being exiled from Tamaran. She had to go somewhere. It was either living on her own, or going to stay with that blob monster, Glgrdsklechhh. Anyway, hope you enjoyed this silly oneshot. Review if you like.