Exiles Recruitment: The Shieldmaiden

[Blink]

For the last stretch of water from the Pokemon territory of the Vasty Deep to Costa del Sol, Blink had found her way onto a friendly ship that was heading out of the verse. Teleportation could only her so far, and only a certain length. It was dangerous to rely on it solely for transportation, especially in the dangerous waters of the Vasty Deep. She stood on the forecastle of the wooden ship, watching the docks of Costa Del Sol get closer and closer with each passing second. She was left reflecting on the adventure she just had - her first one in the Omniverse outside of Dante's Abyss.

She had heard an announcement on the Dataverse about a superhero group forming called the Avengers. Her curiosity got the better of her and she opted to investigate. She met four new faces, leaving her a mixture of opinions from 'Respect' to 'Disappointed.' In the end, through some poor decisions on her part and some negative opinions of some of the teammates, Blink had finished her role in the mission and went off on her own. After all, she had her own personal missions to complete. She made a commitment to someone to get something done, and that was the real reason she was here, in the Vasty Deep.

As the ship got close enough to the docks for her to make the jump, Blink teleported from the forward tip of the vessel onto the closest pier to her. She walked right out of the portal and onto dry land without so much as pausing to breath in the air. Though she didn't make a show of it, she was genuinely happy to finally be back on dry land after what felt like days of island travel. She didn't have to travel long to find what she was looking for. Right at the edge of the pier was the man she was hoping to meet: None other then Rufus. He was standing there, waiting for her in his white over-coat, typical sunglasses and goatee. His shiny bald head fit right in this tropical setting.

"You done playing superhero?" He asked with just the right amount of contempt to annoy her.

"Don't be a jerk," she responded. She playfully punched his shoulder as she walked by, not even pausing to greet him. He didn't seem to mind and moved to walk side by side with her. "I'm here now, that's what matters, right?"

He ignored her question as he guided her to the right down a market street. It was your typical seafood market that was always situated right next to the docks of a city. The smell of gutted fish hit her nostrils as they walked through it. "So how did it go? Are you an Avenger now?" He put emphasis on the word Avenger as if it was ridiculous to say.

"I'm leaving my options open," she said cryptically. She really didn't feel like getting an 'I told you so' speech from Rufus, especially after their last adventure in Coruscant where they had to stop one of Rufus' friends from destroying the city. It would be a serious pot/kettle situation. "What about you? Have you found anything?"

"Yea. I'll show you."

Rufus guided her past the market and into a small inn on the tip of the Port District of Costa del Sol. He didn't stop at the front desk, so she assumed he had already procured a room. They headed upstairs and down a brightly lit hallway to one of the rooms. Inside was a quaint little single-bed room with a large couch off to the side. Judging by the blanket and bag on the couch, she assumed Rufus had been sleeping there. "Nice little spot you got here," Blink complimented. "Not sleeping on the bed?"

"I don't do beds," he answered. What a weird thing to say. But she didn't stay on that topic.

On the desk near the full-sized bed was several files and pictures that she recognized from their war room back at the Exiles Office. Atop the folder off to the side was a red stamp labeled 'RECRUITMENT DOSSIER' and the top tab had 'Shieldmaiden' written across it. Blink looked down at the and opened the manila parchment. Inside was a brief file on the person they were here to talk to. The picture was of a familiar girl to Blink. She was wielding a spear in an open, grassy area. "You locate her?" she asked Rufus.

They were on a recruitment drive, which was what actually brought Blink here to Costa del Sol. She had been hired by a corporate executive/rogue telepath Gruu to become a splinter cell team in his private army. She had named her team the Exiles, and they were operating under a guise of a detective agency. Her first mission was to recruit a team, and this spear-wielding woman was the first Blink selected. Not only because she had some decent skills in her fire, but because Blink actually had met her.

"Yea, she wasn't difficult to find," Rufus answered. He pointed to a name on the file Blink was looking at it. It listed the Shieldmaiden's affiliates. "She's hanging out with a prominent mercenary group around here. Omni-Pirates." Blink gave him a 'seriously?' look based on that name. "Yea, I know. Basically a bunch of wanna-be scallywags. They aren't real pirates. They don't even go out to sea, as far as I can tell. They just cause trouble here in Costa del Sol."

"So why is our Shieldmaiden hanging with them?" Blink asked.

Rufus shrugged. "As far as I can tell, they hired her to be their muscle."

Claire looked confused, and with good reason. "Wait, wait, wait. A mercenary group of pirates has hired another mercenary to be their bodyguard? What kind of sense does that make?" She didn't know who they were, but her opinion of the 'Omni-Pirates' was dropping drastically with every word Rufus said of them.

"Are you sure this is the girl you want?" Rufus asked. "I mean, she's good with a blade, I'll give you that, but...I haven't really seen anything from her that screams 'Hot Commodity." I'm not even sure that she's a Prime. How do you even know her?"

Blink took a seat on the edge of the bed, having seen enough of the files Rufus had been digging through. "I met her when I signed up for Dante's Abyss. She was applying too, but she didn't get picked so she worked for Syntech as a freelancer. Bodyguard, mostly, but she also helped patch me up when I got eliminated."

"So you haven't actually seen her fight?"

"No," Claire shrugged. "But she seemed nice. Like I could trust her. She took good care of me and she was the first friendly face I met in this place. So I'd like to repay the favor."

"That's not a lot to go off of." Rufus countered. "I mean, you're building a team that we're going to be going into some rough situations with. I have to trust these people with my life. The first person you want to go with is because she was nice to you? I'm sorry, Blink but that's shaky."

Claire rolled her eyes at his skepticism. She wanted to bring up Vendetta, Rufus' old friend, and how that relationship ended (poorly). But she didn't want to spawn an argument. "Rufus, she has a dossier with Gruu, so she's already on his radar. And if that's not enough for you, then just trust me. You don't have to trust her, but give me a chance, okay? Let's just talk to her, see what she has to say."

Rufus nodded his head. "I'm here, aren't I? I trust you."

She nodded too. She did feel a good level of trust from Rufus. It had been that way ever since they teamed up. He had watched his former friend kill the rest of his squad and then assisted in taking the guy down. Blink had a large part in that. There was nothing quite like shared certain-death missions that really brought people together. But as much as Rufus might have been happy for Blink, the teleporter was equally relieved she had a trustworthy guy like Rufus with her. He was skeptical, but once he opened his heart, it was a wonderful thing to behold.

"I'm gonna go get me a room and sleep on it. We'll find her in the morning."

Rufus nodded as it sat down on his couch. "Sounds good, boss."

She couldn't help it. Blink squinted at him. "You don't like beds?"

"Hate 'em."

Claire laughed and shook her head. "Well, okay then." She turned to walk out, still chuckling.

[Blink]

"What's this place called again?" Blink asked as she trotted along a surprisingly busy street in Costa del Sol. It was dusk in the port city, and while she was knew the night life was supposed to be pretty lively, this particular road wasn't connected to anything exciting. Despite that, it felt like she was bar crawling back on Earth, struggling to stay on the main path as party-goers shoulders their way around her. "This place better be worth it. I hate crowds."

"Me too," Rufus agreed. He had a hand on the dark trenchcoat that Blink was wearing as a way to keep herself from being noticeable, so they didn't get split up. "It's called the Peggin' Parrot."

Blink looked up at Rufus with another one of her famous 'are you fucking kidding me?' faces. He laughed at her reaction and just shrugged. "I didn't name it. It's where the Omni-Pirates hang out."

"Awwww," she pouted, "And here I thought you were just taking me out on the town. I didn't know we were going to do work." She gave a flirty little giggle, which Rufus just smirked at. It wasn't that Blink had any intentions of sleeping with him, but he was her only male friend (scratch that, only friend) so it was hard to avoid fooling around and being silly.

"Something tells me it'll plenty of fun." He told her, but kept it vague. "You get to pretend to be a crime boss. Just like you always wanted.

She laughed again. "Yea, just make sure you be a good little bodyguard for me." They had set up the 'undercover identities' already, though she doubted it was going to be needed. After all, they just needed to get close enough to the Shieldmaiden to talk to her privately. Getting to go undercover was really more for practice then anything. Unlike Blink's last Exiles team, this one was going to need a lot more intrigue and stealth.

They turned down onto a busier street, which was clearly the main road for the night life of Costa del Sol. They were right by a tall casino with gold neon lights all around the front of it. Though Blink did look at it for a moment, the teleporter's eyes were drawn past it a few buildings down a much smaller structure. The red sign with a bright stencil'd bird above it said 'The Peggin' Pirate.' This was their destination. They were going to visit the Omni-Pirates, which was a band of mercenaries that pretended to be pirates of the Vasty Deep. In reality, they were supposedly just a troublemaking gang that paid the bills through a protection racket in Costa del Sol. Blink and Rufus' interest in them was through their bodyguard, a blade-wielding warrioress known as 'The Shieldmaiden.' They were looking to recruit her as part of The Exiles Detective Agency.

Once they reached the bar, Blink was able to get an idea of how busy it was. It had a large wooden door leading inside, as well as an outside section that didn't appear to be used much. Rufus held the door open for Blink, and they headed inside. The interior of the bar was dark, lit mostly by the strobe globes hanging from the  ceiling and glow-sicks and signs around the perimeter. A tall black guy was standing in the entryway separating the entrance from the main floor. He put his hand up to stop them from advancing. "This is a private club."

"Awwww," Blink pouted, putting her cute face on. "We just want to have a couple drinks. What's wrong with that?"

Rufus stepped up behind Blink, but didn't say anything. He did a good job of appearing to be her muscle, or at least a very quiet boyfriend. For someone that was all muscle and all action, he jumped into 'character' very fast. A good trait for when they began to actually do detective work.

The bouncer looked down at her. She was wearing a black trenchcoat, but it was deliberately left open to expose her green tank top. She didn't 'dress sexy' very often, but tonight was a night where it was necessary. When the tall security guard glanced down, he inadvertently gazed right down into strategically exposed cleavage. She watched as his eyes twitched quickly to look up at her fuchsia face instead. "Well, uh..."

"You sure you can't make an exception, for me?" She stepped in close to him, smiling with her dark lips.

"It's..." he stammered, giving up his own cover. He might have been tall, but he was obviously not trained for security. Or pretty girls. "It's a private bar. I can't. This bar is run by the Omni-Pirates. It's invite-only."

Claire frowned a bit. Not for her sake, but for his. She was hoping that her method would work and nothing further was required. She stepped back and shrugged. "Rufus, take care of this."

"Gladly."

The dark-skinned security guard didn't even get a chance to react before Rufus expertly socked him with his fist right between the eyes. Blink hadn't seen a man get knocked out that fast and quiet in a long time. When the big man fell forward, Rufus caught him expertly and then slumped him up to the side, against the wall. He then pushed the door open to the club and put his hand up. "After you."

"Thank you," she said, still playing up the character of a mob-wife type of girl. She stepped over the fallen body of the bouncer and into the main bar. When the door shut behind her, she was able to get a really solid look at what she was up against.

There were no pirates. No mercenaries. It was just a bar run by a gang that liked to dress like scallywags. Blink admired some of the costumes, both of the men and the whores alike, as she guided Rufus towards the bar. Girls were dancing up in cages or on circular platforms while surrounded by men. Up towards the back of the bar, on a balcony leading into a VIP room, were some on-lookers that didn't recognize. Well, not completely. Behind the men in pirate uniforms was her mark: The Shieldmaiden. "Our girl is on the balcony," Rufus told her, moments after she noticed her herself. She nodded.

Blink took a seat on a stool and smiled politely at the bartender. Rufus stood next to her, acting like a proper bodyguard, faced outward.

"What can I get you?" The skinny man with an eyepatch asked her.

"I want to meet the idiot that runs this place," she said with a smile. The bartender tilted his head in confusion. "Also, a diet coke please."

[Blink]

There was a lot of commotion happening in the Peggin' Parrot pirate bar, and all of it seemed to focus on Blink. Despite the fact that she could clearly see people all over the bar looking at her or talking about her, none of them were actually interacting with her. They were clearly trying to decide what to do. Blink, for her own sake, was just sitting at the bar and pretending not to pay attention. She had ordered herself a diet coke to sip on, while Rufus just stood near her stool and acted like her bodyguard. "What's happening now?" Blink asked, as she couldn't really look herself without giving up her cover of not caring.

Rufus scanned the room. She watched his eyes as they moved side to side, as if he was studying the room. He was very good at identifying the important bits of a scene, as if he was outlining the threats in front of him. "The guy I knocked out is telling some other guy." The pink teleporter chuckled. That bouncer was probably not happy. "The bartender is telling the guard at the bottom of the stairs about us." Blink nodded. They had instructed the barkeep that they wanted to speak to the owner. Rufus continued. "Up in that balcony room, they're making it no secret that they're talking about us."

"It's almost like we don't fit in," Blink said sarcastically.

"Clearly you should wear an eyepatch," Rufus suggested. Blink gave a nod of approval, to show she was considering the idea. She'd make a damn sexy pirate, she decided inwardly. "So, what's the play here? Just shoot everybody, grab the chick and run?"

Claire laughed at the simple plan. She didn't hate it, though it wasn't really needed. "We just need to talk to the Shieldmaiden alone. Even though they seem like idiots, we don't need to shoot this place up." Rufus frowned. He was obviously looking forward to it. "I'll try diplomacy first, but if it makes you feel any better, I doubt it'll work. We'll probably have to knock some heads together."

"Looks like that time is coming soon," Rufus stood up straight, having been previously leaning on the bar. "Two goons. No, three. Coming this way."

"Handle it," Blink told him. The goal was to make it seem like she had no interest in grunts, but instead wanted to talk to the important people in the Omni-Pirates group. This is what would get her face to face with their mark from recruitment. So, Rufus would handle talking to the underlings.

She could hear the footsteps of two people. Then, shortly after, a third joined them from off to the side. It was difficult to hear as the techno music around them seemed to increase in volume and the bar itself was filling up with patrons. "Can I help you gentlemen?" Rufus asked, standing directly behind Blink, in the way of her and the goons. "The lady is trying to enjoy her beverage." As if to drive his point home, Blink noisily slurped on the straw inside her diet coke.

"Her drink can wait. The boss wants to talk to her." This was a deep voice. Blink's ear twitched as she attempted to recognize it, but could not. "Let's go."

Rufus leaned over her shoulder to whisper, but he didn't actually say anything. Blink just nodded as they spoke without words, clearly both at an understanding of what needed to happen next. She set her drink down on the bartop as Rufus straightened back up. She spun around the barstool with a big smile, hands up. "Awright, let's do it!" She giggled. Now that she could see the three bodies, she hopped off her seat and made a bee-line for the middle one, grabbing his hand in her's. "Let's go, handsome! Lead the way!"

He was obviously taken aback by her forwardness, but didn't seem to mine. "This way," he said, recovering his professionalism. Blink glanced at the other two goons. One was non-notable, but the other was clearly the bouncer they had knocked out to enter. She thought perhaps he felt a personal stake was in this. He glared at Rufus as the bald Exile passed him with a cheeky grin.

"I love this music!" Blink yelled over the noise. The goon leading her by the hand clearly couldn't hear her as they passed the speaker. She quickly pulled him to the side, giggling at his surprise, and started to shake her hips in front of him. "I said, I love this music!" She giggled as she moved in front of him, playing the rich bimbo well.

"We need to go!" The dark-skinned man hollared over the music. "You can dance later?"

"Promise?" Blink asked, biting her lower lip in a way to look more innocent. She didn't think she could pull it off particularly well, but it seemed to do the trick.

"Promise! Let's go!" 

He re-took her wrist in his hand, almost possessively, and yanked her towards the stairway. She had to dodge some dancers on the way, but for the most part made a good show of stumbling as he dragged her. Rufus was behind her, and one of the goons was behind him. They headed up into the stairs, passing a sign that said 'VIP Only.' Blink giggled the whole way, as if overly amused by the fact she was being dragged. 

Once upstairs, she was led into the first room available in a long hallway. She yelped as she was yanked into the room and presented to those in the room. "Here she is." The guy told those in the room. Blink waved playfully at the patrons; there was about six men all in ridiculous pirate gear, which made them look more like cosplayers then actual pirates. The important person, however, was in the back of the room. As Blink and the Shieldmaiden eye made contact, the teleporter could tell that the warriorress recognized her immediately.

"I hear you wanted to talk to me," one of the six wanna-be pirates said. He didn't look particularly different from the other people in the room. He had an eyepatch and a fake wooden leg wrapped around one of his limbs. If she was being quizzed on who the boss was, she wouldn't have picked this guy. "I run this place. It's invite-only, but you and your goon here seemed to have stumbled in."

Rufus grunted at the word goon. Blink smiled. "I'm terribly sorry for the show," she began, her voice a bit more high pitched then usual. "I'm here with a job offer. It's with actual professionals, promises real adventure and will actually make a difference around here."

The 'boss' of the Omni-Pirates looking confused. "Excuse me? Job offer?"

"Ohhhh no no no," Blink said to him, waving her hands. I'm sorry, I didn't mean to confuse you, Captain Hook, but the offer isn't for you." Again, he looked confused, as did all of his accomplices. "It's for her. Astrid Yver. The Shieldmaiden."

The blond woman in red leather armor and matching face-painted looked startled for about a moment. All of the pirates in the room turned around to glance at her, clearly just shocked by the statement. But after a second or two to contemplate, the woman known as the Shieldmaiden nodded her head. "I'm in."

In a moment of quickness, Blink brought her elbow up to the goon that dragged her in and connected it right onto his nose. As he fell back, Blink's hand smacked into Rufus' check, gripping his tank top and then teleported both of them across the room. Before any of the fake pirates could say anything, Rufus and Blink appeared in front of Astrid and grabbed both of her arms. She willingly allowed them to push her back, and all three disappeared into the wall. 

Gone much quicker then they arrived.

[Blink]

A fuschia portal appeared in a small field in the corner of the Costa Del Sol main park. Because it was night time, the portal temporarily lit up the otherwise abandoned field. Blink stepped out of it first, followed by the tank-top-wearing Rufus shortly behind her. The last to step out of the gateway was a blond woman in braids, known to the duo as the Shieldmaiden. Her real name was Astrid Yver. Rufus moved to sit on a decent-sized rock as Blink turned to face Astrid. "It's good to see you again, Astrid," she greeted.

"You too, uh...Blink, right?" she asked, unsure, but smiled when Blink nodded her head. Back when they first met, Astrid had on a native american looking costume, but this time it was much more clear what she was going for. Her crimson armor was leather, covering her legs and hips but pressing to it tightly to show off her figure. The armor came to a stop around her bust, which might not have been practical but it certainly looked good. On her back was a small buckler and a short sword, so the handle of the blade stuck out behind her head. "You're probably the last person I expected to see in a pirate bar. Who's this?"

Blink put her hand up to point. "This is Rufus." Rufus nodded his head in greeting. "He's my, uh...partner. We're putting together a team and he was my first recruit."

"Lemme guess," Astrid said, stepping closer to him. "Judging by the size of those guns," he put a hand up to touch his heavily muscled arm. "You've gotta know some serious fighting skills, am I right? Boxer? Taekwondo?"

"I prefer these guns," Rufus pulled out one of the pistols hanging off his side. The over-the-shoulder holster stood out pretty strong over his white tank top, so Blink was sure Astrid was just looking for an excuse to compliment the man's muscles. "I can punch a guy in the face with the best of 'em, but I'm a pretty much shot in a fight with these." He spun it around in his finger and put the gun back into it's holster in a flash. Blink smirked. Show off.

Astrid giggled girlishly and then turned around to face Blink. "So what's the team for?"

"It's a detective agency," Blink explained. "The Exiles. We're funded by GruuTech to operate as a good-will program around the Omniverse. We have a place in Coruscant right now. You were one of the potential recruits based on some of your mercenary work, and well...since I knew you already, I thought you were a good place to start."

"Anything is better then that smelly bar," she frowned, as if thinking up memories.

"How does a spear-wielding viking lady end up working for fake pirates, anyway?" Rufus asked.

Astrid shrugged. "Pay was good. Free housing was good too. But I guess I got caught up a little bit in the false advertising." She sighed. "I was thinking we were going out on ships, on raids and stuff like that. That's the kind of stuff I used to do in my homeworld. But alas, I ended up just being eye candy in some rave club. I was already looking at new places to go when you two turned up."

"So, you're in, just like that?" Blink looked surprised. "I was expecting it to be a little tougher to convince you."

"Well, I'll give it a fair shot," she agreed. "I had planned to go further into the Vasty Deep to search for...something. But I can take a detour to see what you got planned. I always liked you," she winked at Blink. "So I'm in. For now."

Blink nodded and then grinned. "I feel like it's all coming together. Let's head to our hotel and look at the dossiers to see who we're recruiting next!"

It was starting to come together. Blink felt like she was finally forming a team. But this was the easy one, and she knew that. The next recruitment was bound to be a lot tougher. But now she had an extra body, and a renewed confidence that she had made the right call. It was time to find another Exile...and bring them in.