Domino 4: Interview

The nifty thing about waiting for someone to wake up is that they can't hear you until they're awake, even if you do something like repeat an impressive sounding line every five minutes. Not that Torchwick would ever do something like that of course.

"Ah, so you're finally awake. Excellent."

Yang opened her eyes in surprise. How had he known so soon? She had hardly realized that she was awake herself. "Huh? Well yeah. Wait, how did you know?". As she spoke she looked around. She was in a medium sized room in the style of Junior's club – possibly a private room there? She was lying on a couch, with a table between her and the strange man who had intruded on her previous fight. The man in question was standing with his back to her facing a desk, looking at something on it. A map if she had to guess. He was leaning on a cane in one hand and holding a cigar in the other.

"Awareness. Combat sense. Call it what you will, the ability to know when a new threat has arrived. Quite useful for someone who has to worry about such threats for a living." he took a pull of his cigar. "From what Junior tells me, you might want to hone that ability a bit yourself." Torchwick pivoted on one heel, turning towards Yang and leaning back against the desk. "But I also hear that you have bigger issues at hand. A missing sister?"

Yang was instantly on her guard, standing up from the couch and assuming a hasty combat stance. Her bruises and nose had already healed, but that feeling of extreme weariness remained. "What's it to you?" she asked brusquely, hoping that she looked more combat ready than she felt.

"Well it was an interesting situation. A girl is looking for her missing sister, and goes to a criminal information broker of all places to look for her. Why would she do that? She must think that her sister got wrapped up in some criminal business. Perhaps due to her huntress training said sister might have thought herself an equal to a skilled criminal, and gotten into a nasty scuffle. Am I on the right track?"

Yang narrowed her eyes in suspicion. "One, you didn't answer my question. Two, yes you are on the right track. You must be pretty good at guessing, unless..."

Torchwick cut her off. "You could say that discerning patterns is my job, or at least my hobby. Which really answers both of your questions. But if that isn't enough for you, there is one other thing that interests me in this little mess. You." Torchwick paused, pointing at Yang with the hand holding a cigar.

"Well it isn't every day that a guy tells me that they are interested in me… Oh wait, yes it is! Sorry, you aren't my type." Yang relaxed into her normal combat snarkiness, still ready to fight, but no longer held by the desperate panic that she had been absorbed in since being unable to find her sister. Something about this man just felt so easygoing that it seemed only natural, in spite of everything.

Torchwick chuckled. "I'll have to remember that, my apologies." as he said this he gave an elegant bow, but wore a broad smirk. "Amusingly enough, I do in fact want you for your body. What I saw on the dancefloor was quite impressive. Handling a man and two women at the same time? Quite breathtaking." He paused, noting Yang's expression of mixed annoyance and amusement. But jesting aside, I have a deal for you, if you are interested."

Yang's amusement quickly faded. "A deal? What do you mean?"

"Well I don't work for free, seeing as that would defeat the purpose of working, but I would be willing to find your sister for you within 24 hours, on one condition – that I be able to call on your aid once if I ever run into a time at which I need it."

"You do know there are easier ways of getting my number right?" Yang once again raised a flirty smile.

"Perhaps I enjoy the challenge. So what do you say? Willing to work with me?" Roman leaned his cane against the desk and extended his hand. "Shall we be partners for a time?".

Yang looked at his hand and then looked up with an incredulous look. "That quick? I don't know who you are. You haven't even introduced yourself!"

"Fair enough." The man pulled his hand back and placed it against his chest. "The name's Roman Torchwick, professional thief, liar, and survivalist, and leader of several similar individuals. But attacking kids isn't my style, and that means that someone is edging in on my turf." A predatory gleam lit up his face. "And I don't like competition." A moment passed and then a innocent smile punctuated his slightly less-innocent resume. "Work for you, Yang?"

Yang hesitated. "They do say it takes a thief to catch a thief." She considered for a moment more, "Well, if you can find her, I'm willing to work with you Roman. Once." At this she finally reached out to shake. Torchwick accepted it graciously.

"That's a start at least. But now I must do my share of the deal. I'll let you know when I find her." With that he opened the door to the room, allowing Yang a glimpse of the club.

"How ya gonna contact me?" Yang checked her pockets for her *****. Realizing that she didn't have it on her, she looked up again at Torchwick, who was holding it in his hand. She quickly yanked it out of his hand, which he responded to with a smirk.

"I think I may have come across your number somewhere. So long miss Xiao Long." He bowed while holding the door open. "I do hope that we will have plenty of business in the future.

After Yang walked out of the building, Roman pulled out his *****. "Hello Cobalt. How do you feel about getting a promotion? I believe a new business opportunity has arisen."