Summery:

The consequences of Kara's action leads her to a whole other place, where she finally comes close to find something about the Beasts, although not without complications!

Notes:

Hi Guys! Sorry I'm a bit late for update, was busy last week with stuff, but I'm back and I'm SUPER excited for you to read this chapter! It's the chapter everyone's been waiting for!

Just one WARNING before you start reading; we have CRUDE LANGUAGE in this chapter.
ok, you good? here we go!

CHAPTER 6: Moon River

It was ridiculous how things could spiral down with just one action, and Kara just couldn't find enough words to berate herself for her idiotic reaction, that caused her all the trouble.

Why the hell hadn't she listened to Alex!? Why had she been so stupid, not see that the man – Cor-Gan, their REGULAR costumer, according to Gab – was with his slave and why had she blindly rushed in to hurt that bastard without assessing the situation, like she was trained to do? What she did was not only unhelpful, but also with consequences.

Kara had made everything worse for the girl and herself. She felt ravaged with guilt as she thought how that man would punish the girl even further for what was not even her fault.

Kara had gone back to work for the rest of the day, but it wasn't two hours later that some people had come in to buy drinks and kept talking about a fight they had seen outside, that some chick had beaten the crap out of "Cor-Gan" and someone had mentioned the attacker looked like a waitress and had an apron!

Kara had excused herself repeatedly to stay away from the crowd, who were over joyed to hear about this fight. The story kept getting more and more absurd as people added their own lies to it and by the end of the night when Cor-Gan himself stepped inside the bar, everyone believed that the waitress had attacked him with a laser gun, while he was ALONE and they had fought and he was killed! Funny how in none of the stories there had been a mention of the abused slave girl, and Kara though why should there be? Slaves were the low life beings in this society. They had no rights and no one cared about them.

Cor-Gan immediately started yelling at Gab with flaring eyes and a broken nose and Kara had rushed to hide herself in the bathroom. She couldn't risk him seeing her. That could make this whole situation even worse. She stayed in that stinky – well stinkier! – Place for a while until the shouting stopped and had gone out to resume her job. Fortunately Cor-Gan had left the bar and everything seemed back to normal. Almost normal. Kara noticed the look Gab was giving her and some other bartenders were whispering something to each other. Oh great!

"Marley… this is very bad."

Gab told her when her shift was over. It was almost morning and all the costumers were gone. Only she and two other were supposed to stay and tidy up the place. Gab had dragged Kara to a corner and started the conversation which Kara knew had only one result. She just kept quiet.

"People have seen you. They might not recognize you, but I can't take any risk and Cor-Gan specifically wants your head if he finds you. I didn't give him your name, but if you stay around while he comes, and he recognizes you, it's gonna get ugly. And not to mention that I have to pay him for what happened."

Kara just sighed.

He pinched the bridge of his nose. "Why did you do that?"

Kara didn't answer immediately. She knew too well, that no one would react like that on Daxam. "I saw he was about to… to hurt that girl and I…"

Gab tilted his head. "And you didn't see she was a slave? Oh you foreigners... you just mess things up!"

Kara just waited for Gab to stop his ranting about how the foreign aliens had no idea about Daxam's culture and ruined everything, then he suddenly frowned like he had remembered something.

"How did you even knock him out?! He's huge!"

"I surprised him… and I guess it was adrenaline…"Kara unsurely offered.

Her heart was pounding fast not knowing what Gab might have realized. Oh how she had messed up all the rules! Alex would KILL her! – If she wouldn't get herself killed sooner that is.

To her absolute relief Gab just shook his head in disappointment and said something about Cor-Gan being always drunk or high on drugs. Kara had never felt so light headed with relief. Thank Rao!

"So… I know I promised your sister Lexie that you would have a job… but I hope you understand."

Kara's happiness was short lived. She was fired…

Kara handed Gab her apron, and as compensation she didn't receive her weekly payment. And that was it for her. She walked back to her apartment with slumped shoulders just as Rao was coming up, dragging herself and stamping up three floors of stairs – to which, Mr. Kar sure gave her a mouthful of swears from behind his closed door, which Kara didn't know half the meaning of – and dropped herself on the rickety cot.

Her mind was too over loaded with nervousness.

She had to think of something. Had to find a job soon. Like really soon. Kara was half into the month for the rent and without a job – even with her savings – she would be homeless in a matter of two weeks.

Kara couldn't sleep that day at all. The horrified face of the teen slave girl with green eyes was never far from her thoughts. How she was at the brink of panicking when Kara had suggested that she should run and leave her family behind. How could Kara be so gullible not to think of the fate of runaway slaves?

Kara considered calling Alex on an emergency meeting, but then she blamed herself for what had happened and decided to put on her big girl's pants and go find a job for herself. She couldn't rely on others to clean up her mess. It was her own problem and she wanted to become as independent and resourceful as Alex.

It had been a week and Kara was no closer to finding work. She had asked around, went to other bars, even looked for simpler jobs or maybe more difficult ones, but everywhere was packed full. No vacancy and of course you would always need a connection or a contact. The corruption had no limit on Daxam, and to make everything worse, Kara was marked in that neighborhood. Everyone saw her as bad news with her new history (being fired from Garata Head). Well done Kara! Way to go making a reputation for yourself in just one month!

Kara decided to look for a job in farther districts of Telos from her apartment. She was five days from being homeless. She knew there was no negotiations with Mr. Kar. Alex had made that clear.

She walked through the blue doors of "Moon River". The fancy famous night club in the upstate regions of Telos. She had heard about this place even from her co-workers at the bar. A lot of important people and royals came here and they needed a lot of staff to run the place. So there was a snowball chance for her. Kara also thought if she could get in here, she could keep an eye on their more suspicious customers' activities and therefore she could be actually doing her real job. It was a long shot, but Kara had to take it.

The place was so huge and different from other places she had been to so far. For one thing, it didn't smell. Praise Rao! And it was fascinating and clean! Kara walked into the open space with neat and round tables, located around the dance floor and the walls radiated relaxing blue beams through the atmosphere, blending gently with small red beams. Kara actually liked this place.

"Can I help you?"

A female voice asked from the direction of the glorious bar that took the whole side of the saloon. Kara walked up to her and fidgeted with her new glasses – it was her new disguise so no one comes close to recognize her as the menace waitress who beat the crap out of a businessman!

"Hi, I'm Marley Danvers! I wanted to know if you need more help around here… maybe even for late shifts… I have experience"

Kara rambled on enthusiastically. The blond woman in front of her seemed nice and unlike most people, here had a smile on her lips. It gave Kara the courage to elaborate her experience and she didn't interfere until Kara was done with her little speech. Then she was tapping her chin like she was really considering Kara's offer.

"Well we're a bit short of staff at early hours in the morning and soon it will get busier in the coming week… but I need to see you in action. We only allow the best in Moon River. If you come tonight and show me your skills, we can decide afterwards if you have a place here or not."

Kara was beside herself. Finally someone had actually given her a chance to prove herself. She was speechless for a few seconds and nodded repeatedly in excitement and thanked the woman profusely.

That night – or rather that early morning – Kara put all her skills in use to prove herself. Whenever a new customer came in, she would be assigned to their table by Dana – The blond woman who Kara spoke to and was the bar manager.

After working for five hours without any mistakes (no one was more surprised than herself! Kara thought maybe the open space and fresh air in this club, really had something to do with it or was it the dire situation?) Dana accepted to employ her temporarily for about two weeks to see how she would keep up. To Kara's great disappointment she would not receive any payment during this time. Kara had no choice but to agree with these terms. She would have a job, but she would most probably become homeless.

Dana told Kara about the terms of her employment – or rather her temporary employment – while completing her routines to close the bar, putting the dirty glasses down to a compartment that would be taken to the kitchen for cleaning, and the bottles in their right order on the bright twinkling shelves. It was closing times and Kara had finished cleaning the tables with other waitresses. She stepped closer to Dana and cleared her throat.

"So should I meet the boss tomorrow?"

Dana turned the main lights off – from a switch next to the bar entrance – and turned to face Kara with an amusing smile on her face.

"Oh you mean Mr. Rand?"

"Well I didn't know his name…"

Kara's voice trailed off and Dana chuckled, making Kara confused. Dana explained.

"No it's okay! It's just that Kai Rand, the man who built and owns Moon River, is a hard man to find. No one knows when he comes or goes. So chances of meeting him, especially for the staff, are really low. Even I have a hard time talking to him once a month about the stock takings or the money flow. So no, you won't meet him. I'm in charge of employing waitresses."

"Oh, okay." Kara shrugged.

She did want to see this Rand guy since he sounded important enough to know some useful information about the black marketing or even the Beasts. She just had to blend in this place and gain their trust and keep her eyes open to know what he did around here or outside here.

"See you tomorrow Marley. Don't be late!" Dana winked at her.

Kara smiled at her. "Bye Dana. I wouldn't want to be late on my first day, would I?"

"…Crap,crap,crap!"

Kara kept muttering under her breath as she ran through the street, leading to Moon River, ignoring the looks some people were giving her. She had only two minutes to get to the club and be on time. Fortunately Kara's training paid off as she pushed herself to the limits and managed to reach the locker room to change into her uniform with 2 minutes to spare. She walked into the salon to show herself to Dana.

"Wow you look as red as the sand Marley! Glad you made it in time!" Dana remarked as she took in her sight.

"I… was… stuck… behind…people… Garata…" Kara panted with every word.

Dana shook her head and pulled Kara aside, straightening her askew apron and untidy collar.

"Tsk… Tsk… Tsk… didn't you know that it's the Garata Fest this week you silly girl? All the roads are crowded! Okay just go shape up in the rest rooms and come back in more decent."

Kara scurried away, scolding herself for this mistake. How could she not remember the beloved Garata Fest on Daxam?! On all the planet this week, people would gather to watch and bet on the dragon fights. A lot of people from other places in the galaxy were interested in the bloody fights as well and Telos seemed swarmed with the crowds of people tonight. Kara had a long way to come to the Moon River from her house and since she was on saving mode, she couldn't afford renting a speeder and had to walk about an hour to get here.

Kara was really starting to believe that she had been put under a curse since landing on Daxam. Why everything seemingly went south every time?! She mostly blamed herself and tried to not screw up anything else for that day.

Kara watched as threw her belongings out in the hallway after she had pleaded with him to accept two third of the rent and be paid twice the next month. But he wouldn't have any of it. He had dragged Kara outside the room and made her watch as he kept throwing and shouting incoherently. No one else had bothered to come or even sneak a peek to see what was happening this morning. It seemed this happened a lot around here.

Mr. Kar finished breaking her only two cups by smashing them right in front of her feet, grunting.

"You clean this mess and leave. If I see you here when I come back, let's just say I have a friend in royal guards with a grudge on foreigners."

He stomped down the stairs with the two third of the rent as his prize. The floor shook slightly under his heavy weight with each step. Kara had clenched her fist the entire time to control her temper. She felt tears pricking at the corner of her eyes from frustration and hopelessness. How was she supposed to find a room now? With all accommodations booked and sold out in this week, Kara feared she had to either sleep at the club or on the streets. The second option sounded as insane as willingly offer herself to the criminals.

Kara tried to gather what was left of her stuff. Going back into the room, she closed the door and kneeled beside a certain wooden board on the floor that was loose. With her nails, she pulled it up to reveal the small space underneath it which held her cutting edge hologram device that had a circular shape and was only two inches in diameter. The only thing that connected her to Krypton and Alex, and could do a lot more. Kara had send short reports with it to SKIS with it during this month and every time she had received only on word: "PROCEED"

Even when she reported that she'd had a complication at the bar and had beaten someone and was jobless, they had only asked if her cover was blown away and upon receiving Kara's negative reply, they had again send her the same damn word: "PROCEED"! Kara was getting sick of the word. Proceed to what? To become a full Daxamite?!

Kara linked a chain to it and hid it under her clothes, around her neck. She gathered the garbage Kar had left behind from destroying everything and headed outside to go to Moon River. It was about six hours earlier than her shift, but she had nowhere else to go to.

Kara felt her headache getting worse by the minute, mostly due to the lack of sleep. She hadn't been able to get sleep for two days in a row. With all the noise outside it was next to impossible to actually shut the world out. No matter what time of the day – especially in her neighborhood with all those thugs and abusers and criminals – there was just no quiet. So Kara was exhausted.

Kara tried to focus and remember some of her training. Like when she had to walk through some dangerous environments for three days to reach a location, remembering she had barely slept on that survival training. So how hard could this be? She just had to find a place to stay ASAP.

Kara had been working for 9 hours. It was 3 in the morning and the club was buzzing with customer – the busiest night she had seen in this week. Kara had only worked here for five days and The Grata Fest was the reason they barely had time to scratch their heads. Even Dana was on edge and would shout at the staff, willing them to work faster and more accurate. She didn't even acknowledge Kara's presence six hours earlier than her shift and immediately had put Kara in charge of bringing more drinks and glasses to the counter.

Now, Kara was she leaning to the counter to give herself a moment, before rushing to another table. She was a little dizzy from all the work and lack of sleep. Taking in some deep breathes, Kara noticed a group of five men around the corner, seemingly deep into a conversation among themselves.

Kara's interest was picked. She hadn't had any chance to eavesdrop yet and these group were obviously suspicious. Fortunately she was near enough and strained her ears to listen. The man in the middle was talking to the others – with dark hair and beard, possibly in his 40s and his fancy clothes led Kara to guess he was royalty.

"… Rhea said it will only be two more days and a ship …

They turned left and went to the VIP section leading the private rooms upstairs. Kara's heart rate was elevated. She'd clearly heard the queen's name. This was what she has been waiting for.

Kara looked through the staircase leading to the VIP section. The low rank staff weren't allowed in the rooms and she had never seen the rooms. Looking around her, finding everyone too preoccupied, she made her decision.

She went to Dana. "Hey Dana, can I have a short break?"

Dana looked at her a bit confused while mixing a drink absentmindedly. "Marley? Didn't you come in like two hours ago?"

"No I was here since 7"

"What? How come I didn't see you?"

Dana poured the orange drink in a tall glass and swiftly handed it to a waiting customer. Kara just shrugged in her answer. Dana wiped her forehead and closed her eyes from exhaustion for a second, before nodding.

"Of course, you take as much as you need. I know you've over worked today, but we really use your help here. Can you stay longer?"

"Absolutely! Thanks"

Kara hurried to the back door which led to the staff's break rooms and storage. She sneaked into the storage and grabbed a tray and some glasses. She quickly reached for a bottle of champagne and changed her hair style by untying her pony tail, before heading outside.

Kara observed her surroundings. She saw Dana had her back to her. She moved as fast as she could towards the stairs. Despite not knowing what complication she would face in her mission, she had made up a story and tried to stay calm. This was almost a shot in the dark, but she had to take it. This was her purpose here.

She wore a confident and emotionless expression and walked up to mount the stairs. The tall bulky guard who was standing next to the stairs looked down at her with a death glare and stretched a hand to prevent her from proceeding. Kara cleared her throat.

"Complementary drink from Moon River for the gentlemen."

Kara kept her explanation short and straight forward. She knew the more she talked, the less her lie would work. The guard kept his glare for a few more seconds and to Kara's surprise, dropped his hand and granted her passage. Kara didn't wait anymore and quickly climbed up the dim stairs.

She felt drops of sweat running down her back. This was only the first part. She reached the top of stairs. It was only lightened with dim red lamps on the walls. Kara saw about 8 doors spread on both sides of the hallway - all of them closed.

Great! Nice planning miss agent S52! Kara just froze with the cold trey in her hands, biting her lower lip. Clock was ticking and she had to do something fast before everything backfired. Then Kara saw the red and green lights next to each door. Red meant occupied and green was empty. She decided to listen through the doors to find out which one was occupied by those men. She first checked for cameras. None. It would have been weird if there were any. VIP's wanted privacy above everything else.

Kara reached for the chain around her neck and brought out her spying gadget. She drew out an ear piece from it and put it in her ear. Then she held the device in front of each door and listened as the enhanced sounds enabled her to hear what was happening behind the doors. There were 6 red lights.

On her fourth try, Kara recognized the man's voice. Kara waited a moment to listen what he was talking about. It didn't seem important like what she had heard down there. She fumbled with the gadget to turn on its recording mode swiftly. At that moment, Kara heard footsteps from the stairs. Someone was coming up and it would look bad with Kara standing like that behind a door. She had to go inside. Kara put the ear piece back in its place quickly and returned the device back to the safety of her clothes, leaving it on to record. Then she balanced the trey in her hand – the ices were melting. Kara reached for a button next to the door that alarmed the customer on her presence.

After a few seconds, someone clicked the door open. The black thick door glided aside, revealing a cozy spacious room with the five men sitting in it, looking expectantly at her. Kara stepped in, trying to keep her face straight.

"Complimentary champagne from Moon River for the gentlemen." She announced and waited for a response.

The man whose voice Kara had earlier heard, nodded indifferently for her to provide the drinks. Kara moved to put the trey on a glass table in front of them next to a splayed deck of cards and started to pour the drinks. She felt their heavy stares on herself. Kara knew at least three of them were checking her out.

She put the five glasses in front of each, collecting the trey and putting the ice bucket close to their reach – just like she did with all the other customers – Kara saw better to exit the room fast and wait to see what they would say from behind the door, since no one had spoken a word in her presence. Kara was only glad she had at least recorded their faces on her device so far. She had turned her back to the men, when the man sitting on the last seat on left spoke up.

"Where do you think you're going?"

Kara stiffened. The man had pale yellow skin, his eyes unfocused like he was on drugs. Kara saw all the signs of how things could wrong now and tried to prevent it.

"I leave you to enjoy your drink."

The man sitting next to him laughed out loud and leaned forward with his eyes traveling from her face to her skirt. Kara felt her heart racing. The second man sweetened his voice.

"But I want to enjoy it with you!"

Kara moved closer to the unfortunately closed door, when someone grabbed her wrist. The third man in the group on her right had jumped behind her to prevent her from leaving. Kara wanted so badly to react and hit the man. This was about to get ugly. She frantically looked at everyone in the room. The two men in the middle seemed completely ignorant and were seeping at their drinks while playing with the cards, but the other three men seemed to want to jump on her at any moment. The man who had spoken first, came towards her with a hideous smile on his face on unsteady feet and Kara tensed. She could clearly read his intentions. All her might was barely locked under her clenched fist and her grip on the empty trey in her other hand. Suddenly the man who was holding her wrist, clawed at her collar, ripping two of her buttons open. The buttons made small sounds, hitting the wall and the glass table.

That was all Kara needed to start her move. She spun around twisting the man's hand around her wrist and smashed the trey in the other guy's face. Both men groaned in pain and took a step away from her. The other men in the room, except one, all jumped up from their seats. The man with sprained hand shouted:

"You bitch!"

And Suddenly Kara saw three guns were pointed at her. She felt trapped. Panting heavily, Kara tried to asses her choices. The deformed trey was still in her hand.

The fifth yellow faced man whom Kara had hit with the trey, was still pushing his hands to his bloody face on the ground. Kara had broken his nose. The man still sitting in the middle – the same person who Kara had heard first downstairs, and wasn't interested in what was happening since the beginning – finally looked up at her and observed her. Then Kara saw his eyes stopped on something on her chest and his expression turned into alarm and then deadly threatening.

Kara knew the reason for his reaction. When her shirt was ripped, her hologram device had fallen out and was on display on her chest. Kara felt the air leaving her lungs for good. She was so screwed.

"Give me that necklace."

The leader said, his tone so cold that left no place for negotiation. Of course with three guns pointing at her there was no question in that.

Others started accusing her as well.

"What a bitch! She broke my nose."

"I'm gonna teach you a lesson for that!"

Kara didn't move a finger. If she was about to die, she wouldn't give in to these thugs. She would fight until her last breath. Even now she was scheming her fighting plans to get out of this situation with minimum injury.

"Didn't you hear that you SLUT!? Give me the fucking necklace!" The man with the injured hand shouted.

When Kara didn't move, the leader stepped forward and yanked the device away from her neck. She heard the electronic sounds on their guns that meant it was charged and ready to shoot if she moved or tried to attack again. Kara felt her skin sting as the chain violently broke.

He looked at her device closely, trying to find a way to turn it on, however the device only worked with her finger print and had turned off immediately when it was away from her. He clenched his fist around it with anger and frustration, like he wanted to crush it, but the device was made of strong material and couldn't be destroyed so easily.

"She's a spy!" He grunted

"No I'm –"Kara tried to deny only to be cut off.

"Who are you working for?"

And she was in the fire line of five guns now. There was no more time and she slightly bent her knees to jump away behind a chair. It was as if the time froze. Adrenalin did that.

But before anyone could do anything, the door made a clicking sound and opened behind her.

Everyone looked passed her and seemed momentarily distracted by the new person. Kara had a very bad feeling. Was something even worse waiting for her? She slowly turned around and saw a tall man wearing dark clothes, looking at the scene from the doorway. His greyish blue eyes behind a glasses were wide with surprise.

"Mr. Rand!"

The leader called with relief. Kara only felt her heart drop even further. Her boss was here and there was no getting out of this mess now.

DAM DAM DAM!
So sorry for the cliff hanger! It's a bad habit of writers! LOL
Thank you all for reading it and I appreciate all the comments and reviews.
take care and I see you next week.