Adam had no clue Red Queen was a titty joint. He assumed it was a bar where all the shadiest people hung out and conducted their under-the-table businesses, he was, technically half right.
The entire building was bathed in gaudy red neon light, with the sign 'Red Queen' displayed on top of the building. A blown-up picture of a woman's torso was plastered on the front of the place, with women wearing nothing but their lingerie, dancing seductively on display behind glass panels for outsiders to see. Adam smirked, reminiscing of his days in the SWAT team, when his team was sometimes called to swarm into a strip joint to bust a major drug or illegal arms deal. Those were the good ol' days, when life was less complicated, Illuminati conspiracy theories were merely ramblings of the paranoid, and he didn't have augmented limbs. But he digress.
He walked up to the entrance and was immediately greeted by the blaring music. The interior of the Red Queen was equally as garish and as red as the outside: velvet cushioned walls, curtains and booths. In the middle of the room were poles mounted on a stage, with a few chairs around it. Adam always wondered to himself why can't strip joints look sleek, modern and classy? It's not like they can't afford to refurbish the place.
Located next to the entrance was the area where the dancers were on display. A woman was sitting on a leather sofa at the end of the room, smoking. She took a languid drag from her cigarette, her eyes focused on nothing in particular, while her colleagues continued their 'performance'. She'll have to do.
"Excuse me, do you know where I could find Mrs. Kadlek? I was sent here to help her with something."
"You're not supposed to be back here—"
The scantily-clad woman said in a thick accent before she stopped and gave Adam a once over, stood up and smiled mischievously.
"Wow, we don't usually get your type here. Usually they have no problem getting a woman, even if they are…heavily augmented." She licked her lips, the cigarette in her hand forgotten, as she turned her attention to the mysterious man in a dark grey coat. This time, her eyes scanned Adam from head to toe slowly, as if inspecting a priceless item for imperfections or flaws.
"I have been with a lot of men, augs and norms. Are you actually augmented…"
The woman didn't bother finishing her sentence, instead, jerked her head downwards, her eyes never leaving Adam's face. It was apparent that the woman's taste leaned towards the augs.
Adam quirked an eyebrow. If he had a dollar for every time someone asked him this question, he'd be retired now, holed up in a cabin up on the mountains, smoking and drinking till he forgets his name.
His CASIE augment was picking up the increased heart rate, blood pressure spike and pupil dilation of the woman, indicating that she was indeed, VERY interested in his answer. Adam rolled his eyes behind his HUD. Of course, that's always the million dollar question for anyone who meets someone as extensively augmented as himself. He should be used to it by now, but truth be told, he didn't know whether to feel agitated, amused, incredulous or all three.
When he first awoke after they brought him back, he didn't know what to feel. He mostly felt numb. On one hand, Sarif had done everything in his power to make sure that he lived, on the other, Sarif not only replaced what he lost, the man even gave him more than what he bargained for, effectively turning him into an efficient and lethal one-man army capable of invading a small European country. That didn't sit too well with Adam, seeing as he wasn't a naturally violent man, unless he's had one too many drinks or it's a Monday morning. But he had to admit, the augs were handy in his line of work.
His augments didn't really hit home until Adam returned to his apartment and saw his own reflection. He was livid then, the anger surfacing so unexpectedly that he hadn't realised that he punched the mirror, cracking it until he saw the fragmented and warped reflection in the mirror. He would have to live in this…condition forever; the constant worry of augment malfunction at the back of his mind. But then, even organs and limbs fail too with time, so technically, the augs were pretty much the same, except shoulders and limbs aren't black in colour or mechanical. Adam had trouble sleeping for weeks, feeling like he was no longer human, his limbs no longer his own. They moved when he willed them to, but they felt foreign to him. They took time to get used to. The minutest tasks like holding a glass suddenly became a chore. It was true, that people often didn't know what they've got until it's gone.
Adam firmly believed everything happens for a reason, and the Panchaea incident was proof. It was then that he finally accepted his augments, and knew that all this was beyond him; being augmented had given him the chance to make a difference in this fucked up world, to stand up to the powerful few who pulled the strings of the world. That, in itself, made the augments worth it. Of course, that didn't mean he has completely forgiven Megan or Sarif for their betrayal. He was on all right terms with Sarif, but Megan can go suck a nano-ceramic blade for all he cares.
"Just answer the question, where can I find Mrs. Kadlek. I don't have time to play 20 questions."
"Ah…So you ARE augmented down there as well no?"
The woman grinned like the Cheshire cat, circling him, her finger gently poking at him.
"You answer me, I'll tell you where boss lady is," she added.
"Or I could just search the place." He regretted not doing so in the beginning.
"Come on, humour me. After all, you come in, disturb me during my break. You could at least tell me."
Adam raised his arms in exasperation. If only MacReady could hear him now, he'd get an earful from that bastard. Adam could never understand people's perverse curiosity about his genitalia. Does it matter if it's augmented or not? It's not like he was getting laid anytime soon, what with being fished out of the Arctic Ocean, recovering from his injuries, only to dive back straight into stopping terrorists like Viktor Marchenko from exacerbating the public's hatred towards augmented groups and turning the situation into a full-blown genocide. Hell, he couldn't even piece back together the two years he spent recuperating AND he has no fucking idea where the experimental augs came from or who put them there in the first place. Getting laid was the least of Adam's worries.
"You know what, never mind. I'll just look for her myself." He had spent precious time playing along and he really should get back to work.
"She's upstairs in one of the rooms. I'm not sure which one, you'll have to look for yourself," the woman said, before putting out her forgotten cigarette on an ashtray nearby.
Adam nodded in thanks and turned to leave when the woman said: "Though I suspect it's still you," and proceeded to return to her display area to continue her work.
He merely smirked and made his way to the main room, looking for the stairs.