Do you...ever feel as if you...are a slave to the shackles of this life...?
Would you care to be emancipated...to be...set free...from every single...restriction?
I want you to listen very closely to me...all you need to do...is listen to every single thing...I tell you to do...
But right now, all I need for you to do, is pay attention, Brian...
Hey, are you there? I miss you...
"Get out of the road, asshole!" Barked a livid driver behind the wheel of a rather souped up Lincoln Continental who managed to do me to in twice: the first being the rush of cool air blowing directly past my ear as the reality happening all around me came crashing down upon me, where as the other came as he vigorously flipped me off during his mad dash to make the next light. It had been a few hours since the airport farewell, the night was starting to make its presence known on every street corner and avenue in Gotham, and it was once more the time of day where the most wicked may come out to play...for better or worse. To be a bit more precise, the twelfth hour had just struck a few minutes ago, and with my senses back in order I made my way towards one of the few respectable places a man could be caught in at such an hour: The Vixen Resort. If you've ever seen a single raunchy comedy involving a group of wayward individuals spending their night toiling away in a bath of alcoholism and nonsensical destruction of other peoples property, then you might have the tiniest idea of what kind of place this was without having to draw too many self embellished conclusions. From a solely consumer focused standpoint, it was all that you could have ever asked for in a hotel and resort location, with rooms themselves being little more then high-end condominiums which spanned an entire floor and a fully stocked and comped mini bar being standard, but beyond that I knew enough to do a little inside investigating to discover that the Brothers in Arms had been prepping the executive suit for something. What? I didn't know, but one of the most notoriously volatile and ambitious gangs in the city weren't going to be buying out something this spacious for biscuits and tea, and it was my full intention to get in on the action. Maybe I didn't fit the bill, or perhaps I had absolutely no connections to wedge myself in-between the party guests, not to mention that my sole similarity came from the fact that my godfather had been an associate of their own adversary...but that's just where the fun starts. You see, a nineteen year old roaming the streets with a haggard backpack slumped over his shoulder and a cheap suit loosely hugging his exterior might not be their taste, but my hope had been that the almighty dollar was more then enough to entice them.
Leisurely making my way over to the concierge desk I matched gazes with a colorful woman who must have been in her mid to late twenties, clearly sizing me up curiously and trying her damnedest to discern what business I had there, a few cheerful nods and a quick word and she had been ever so kind as to inform me that my party would be starting shortly. Her name was Heather and she smelled like an entire years worth of peppermint came out of her mouth like the kickback of a shotgun every time she opened her mouth, a pretty face in the least but a bit self-conscious about her breathe, I would imagine. She pointed me to the nearest elevator, which quite frankly I don't think I would have needed any assistance in finding, but none the less I appreciated the effort in going above and beyond the call of her marginally above minimum wage duty. Once inside I waited a few floors just to be safe that nobody would be joining me seconds into me pursuing through my items, the lot of them including my nearly all black cape, pants, shirt and mask combo and a small razor flip-phone with a name so generic that it hardly deserves being given a name. Ever since Penelope...I've had been having a lot of difficulty staying in the moment, and sometimes I swear that I would see something out of the corner of my eye only to do a full one-eighty to be completely beside myself, and I guess having to take someone else's life does leave much room for sanity. She...had been my friend, not nearly long enough if you ask me, but I hadn't been able to do right by her in life...so I did what I had to and made sure that nobody else would have to get hurt like she did. That was why I even decided to enter that resort that night, why I was even continuing to don the glorified pajamas and do whatever it was I could, because I was being suffocated by an anger that was billowing up from within me and a sense of paranoia that was making me feel jumpy enough to take it to the next level. I remember though, that I told myself that if I had to take anyone else's life then I would do all I could to keep my own sense of self and humility, so that I wouldn't wind up just as numb to the madness that was capable of slowly becoming a daily stroll through the park.
I'm heading up to the suit now...if you want to help me...then you know where i'll be. I texted with one hand as casually as I could, just seconds beforehand I had noticed the camera rigged to watch my every move, still mounted to the wall as it should be but small enough to remain unseen unless you were looking for it. The woman on the other end was known as Temptress, although it wasn't as though I had been given too much time t employ that name to any great effect, her tactics, true behavior, and meaning behind most of anything that she did remained a mystery. But that being said, she was still willing enough to help me, and having a tag-in partner when my own mind wasn't the steadiest was a dream come true, and all of the concerns over who exactly she was beyond a sex-addict with too much time on her hands...both literally and figuratively...faded into a background static for the time being. The doors opened to the top floor and I was greeted to an entirely empty floor before me, a pattern that I was immeasurably thankful for, this giving me the time and focus to find a finding spot in an unlocked supply closet for my personal effects. Rounding a corner I caught sight of two men standing outside of a single door which I presumed was going to lead me straight into the action, the one of them was much larger then the other, however if you were to make statement about size then the ink running up the one mans arm saying "brick shithouse" was enough to drive the point home. Just as the woman at the front desk had done, the pair of them labored over my appearance and obvious age before the one with the visible ink and edge in muscle mass spoke up with a smirk on his face.
"I don't think you're in the right place, kid, get the fuck out of here before you get yourself hurt..." The deliberate silence being put in place to enunciate the threat further, but I did my best to numbly speak to him with my eyes steadily matching tempo and a bit more bass in my voice.
"I don't think so, guys, I want in...and whatever price you can come up with...I can match. Try me." My lips spouted coldly, tempting them to make the next move.
"Alright, hotshot, if you can come up with...oh, let's say a cool million, this door opens." He scolded as he saw me start to empty out the contents of my pockets in order to retrieve my wallet, and further by that effect, my bank card. Once out in the open for both men to see, the two of them both looked at each other suspiciously before taking in into their possession, scanning it through a small attachment that they had routed into a tablet in the non-inked man's right hand, and furrowing his brow before giving it back to me.
"It's a pleasure doing business with you, gentlemen." I told them as a smile ran from cheek to cheek, the two of them parting much like the red sea and opening the door for me with a small keycard which had been stashed in a small vest pocket.
Where are you...?! One last text to try and signal my backup before looking up the see that the entire new-age rat-pack which had decided to show up for the festivities were staring at me as if I was a leper showing up to hand toss their salad, and the phone went away inside my pocket faster then I ever had done so before.