Healing and Informational Services

[helpdesk_hero]

WHO: David Alleyne, OTA
WHERE: Underground Meta-Bar, 'Abandoned' Clinic
WHEN: Throughout Event
WHAT: Buying and selling information and patching people up.
WARNINGS: Potential injured people, otherwise none yet. Will update as needed.


There's Always Information for Sale
The fact that he Prodigy moves through the underground meta-bars and those bars known for catering to criminal elements is known. What is not known is when he will select to be at any given one. What is known is that he will find a table in the back, and if he's buying information for the night, he'll have a bottle of dark lager on the table, which he won't drink. It's also known that if he's selling then it will instead be a nice mug of whatever is on tap, similarly untouched. And if he's drinking wine, he's waiting for someone.

Tonight he's got both a bottle of lager and the mug of a silly pale ale that was on tap. No wine. He doesn't expect anyone, but isn't that the most fun? The living on the edge, the never knowing who might come for you, the chance that they might find you? It's all a delight for Prodigy. He's learned, after all, how to live the best life he can.

Know about government movements but you aren't too eager to go seeking one of any number of resistance groups out? Prodigy will buy what you know and sell it to them, at a mark up of course, for the risk of seeking them out where they are and the annoyance of sanctimonious assholes trying to convince him to do things he doesn't want to. OR is it perhaps that you're in the market for knowledge? David's got all sorts of tidbits, including things he's picked up now that the Porter is running again. Or perhaps that's not enough for you. Perhaps you're looking to hire someone to scope security on a job you're running, or a bank that you need to rob, or perhaps you stole a little knickknack from an important person's desk, something with a view of the keyboard and you want passwords?

These are all in Prodigy's wheelhouse. But he doesn't work on a freebie basis. It's money or knowledge in trade, and that's how it always works. For friends and enemies alike. But hey, at least Prodigy is the sort to allow even his enemies close when it comes to doing business. No doubt, though, he's got an escape route already planned. And probably a gun pointed at them under the table.


The Doctor is In

Once there was this little clinic in a run down part of town. It was a free service place, before the government changed hands. Used to cater to the poor and sick, the people who lived on the streets and couldn't get to healthcare for themselves. Once this place was bright and shiny, a beacon of hope in a bad part of town. And then the nice lady that ran it stopped. Maybe she got ported home right before the Porter shut down. Maybe she died. Maybe a lot of things.

What is certain is that one of the rooms in the place, the one by the back door, isn't so run down. It isn't the dregs of a ruined building that should have fallen down a while ago. This is a fully modern and operational office and a surgical suite is through the next door. And for those in the know the doctor is available, when he isn't out and about. The right knock at the back door and a bit of checking on his security systems that there aren't government forces out there waiting for him, and the shelter door that now covers the back opens and you will be escorted in by Prodigy, clad in black. All the better for not seeing blood stains.

"What happened?" he asks, voice curt. Healing first. Demand payment later. Turns out, dead people can't pay you. And the ones that don't pay, he steals knowledge from, steals skills. Steals what he needs to make his life very comfortable indeed.

He'll even open the door for government workers, if he's reason to believe that it will benefit him. Just make sure you talk fast, so he doesn't go and put a bullet in your head instead.


Wildcard
[OOC: Feel free to start something and let David just react and play off of anyone. As a note, he will be hesitant to deal with government loyalists if he can find out who they are.

His powers include Touch-Based Knowledge Copying and Pscyhometry that he will not hesitate to use because lol morals. I will ask permission before David touches people though.

Contact me at churbooseanon if you want to plot something out.]

Comments

[onthe_threshold]

Some codenames are more appropriate than others: Skin, the Joker, Apollo, Iron Man, Phantom Limb. It tells you all you need to know. Prodigy, Matthew thinks, is very aptly named - the kid is probably the smartest man alive in the City, with the widest array of skills. Really, it's a better moniker than 'Threshold.'

You don't make friends doing the sort of work they respectively do, but if there's anyone in the City besides Selina Kyle that Matthew would say he thinks of in a positive manner, it very well might be Prodigy just because he sees the kid for information and medical assistance so often. This time it's the former.

Matthew slides into the booth, wearing a suit and not his uniform. He has a pink cardboard box, which he places on the table, and a bottle of blonde ale. Settled, he pushes the box a little closer to Prodigy.

"Brought you some donuts," he says.

[helpdesk_hero]

Donuts, really? Prodigy raises a careful eyebrow at the offering and opens the box. He then selects a donut at random, puts it on a napkin, and slides it across to Matthew. In his line of work it pays to be paranoid.

"You know the rule."

Prodigy doesn't eat anything that he didn't prepare for himself unless the other person eats first. And, knowing full well from medical examinations that Matthew shouldn't have any resistance to major poisons and sedatives, well... he knows that having the other man test is enough. Not, of course, that he won't have donuts. Matthew is... closer to someone trustworthy than Prodigy normally gets. Doesn't mean that he's not take good care of himself.

"You first.

[onthe_threshold]

If there's one thing that Matthew likes as much as killing, it's food. He takes the donut and quirks an eyebrow, not quite hiding a grin before he bites into it. He chews happily, following it up with a long sip of beer.

"Place on twenty-seventh street. Fucking awesome." He settles back further, a big man with a missing eye and an awful lot of government intel knocking around a brain that's seen better days.

"Looking for someone," he says, taking another bite of his donut. "Guy running bioweapons out of the east end slums. Stolen tech. I'd bet my left nut he got it from some fucking nerd working for the government."

[helpdesk_hero]

"I'll keep the location in mind for the future," Prodigy answers as he fetches out a donut. A nice one with coconut topping, and puts it on another napkin while he listens to what Matthew has to say.

Now the question, of course, is just what Matthew and his employer wants the man for?

"Are you looking to buy weapons, or kill him?"

[onthe_threshold]

Everyone can appreciate a good donut shop.

"Prodigy," Matthew says, looking terribly amused. "Does it really matter?" Of course it does - the man trades in information. But a little back and forth makes the exchange more fun.

"I mean, if that's the most burning question you have I can answer it. Shit, I can answer all sorts of questions if you decide on what you want to know."

[helpdesk_hero]

Everyone and their mother can appreciate a good donut shop. And Prodigy counts as part of everyone. Strange as that may seem to be.

While Matthew looks amused, David picks lightly at the shaved coconut bits.

"You know it does, Matthew. And you know I have a lot of questions. First one that matters is whether you're killing him or not. That affects price."

[onthe_threshold]

"You're killing me, sweetheart," Matthew sighs. He takes another drink, considering.

"I might," he says after some thought. "Terminate him, I mean. After the extraction." Matthew has a habit of referring to even the most heinous of acts in clinical, detached jargon. It's just how he was raised. "I need to know where he got this shit. It's not the kind of thing you just want floating around the City, you know?"

Another sip as he weighs his words carefully. Prodigy is, he knows, much smarter than himself. He might not care much about anything himself, but if he blows something for Selina he'll feel awful. Ultimately he decides that it's worth giving too much away. "Look, when I was in the program there was an awful lot of weaponized genetic shit. If any of these weapons are being synthesized from metahumans, that could be something pretty big, don't you think?"

[helpdesk_hero]

"Don't call me sweetheart until after the deal is made. Pleasure after business," David says, putting a low purr into his voice. What? He can't help it. Shame was a thing he had abandoned alongside morals.

But he leans back, watching Matthew impassively as the man goes into the why. He looks... bored. Completely and utterly bored.

"So what you're saying is that this is big bucks to her?"

Strange how the idea of genetically targeted weapons BORES him now. It's happened to Mutants too many times.

[onthe_threshold]

The flirtation isn't taken seriously in the slightest. Matthew just snorts, amused.

"Potentially," he says, moving his bottle to stamp damp circles on the table. "You know how it goes. If it's viable and big money could come of it, she'll be interested. It's a sure thing we'll get whatever he was moving. Professional curiosity is the motivation for finding out where the hell he's getting them from."

He frowns lightly. "And I want to know."

[helpdesk_hero]

"If he doesn't talk, bring me the containers he's storing the items in. I will tell you where they come from."

Meanwhile he's pulling a notepad out of his pocket. One that he carefully and clearly writes a number on. One with a decent number of zeroes. This he slides across the table before taking up his donut and finally taking a bite.

[onthe_threshold]

"Oh, he'll talk." This is a foregone conclusion as far as Matthew is concerned. He grins. "Have you ever heard of me failing on an extraction? I'm hurt. Truly."

He leans forward a little. "You ought to tag along sometime. Don't worry, I'd look after you, sweetheart."

He takes the paper and pockets it after a cursory glance.

[helpdesk_hero]

"There is a first time for everything," David reminds him. And frankly, David's thought he would never do some things in his life. Or he used to. And now look at where he is.

Tagging along? He laughs and shakes his head. That isn't very likely.

"I stay out of the way of things that could get me shot as often as I can, thanks. Have your job. When the funds are transferred to me by the usual method, your boss will find the information waiting for her at the normal drop location."

[onthe_threshold]

"Pussy." It's said almost affectionately, though. He nods. "Consider it done. You waiting on someone or can I finish my beer?"

[helpdesk_hero]

David chuckles. There's a reason he's still alive, still FREE after all that was done to him.

"It's a market day. I'll take what comes my way," David shrugs. He doesn't care if Matthew stays. And he's got donuts to eat. A good bit of them. "If people want me, they will ask you to leave."

[onthe_threshold]

Matthew snorts again. He can't imagine anybody daring to do so.

"Thanks. So. Anything else interesting I should pay you for? Or just anything entertaining."

[helpdesk_hero]

Ah, but these are the rules of Prodigy, aren't they? He expects all clients to respect them.

"There is always interesting things to pay me for. Like lists of what new 'Ports have arrived. Government troop movements, blackmail material that I'm willign to sell. Lots of things."

[onthe_threshold]

Matthew hums. New 'Ports are definitely interesting, although most of them aren't of any real concern.

"Any of them cute?" Not that he really cares, but what the hell, he so rarely gets to sit and bullshit with anyone.

Information Exchange.

[fridgeflower]

Hope you're enjoying that vino, David, because here's Laurie, done up like any other unassuming, bar-bound blonde. It's absolutely amazing how much people want to pretend that a beautiful woman couldn't possibly have terrorism in mind, so… Disguises are almost more effective the more stand-out they are.

She waves as she approaches and leans in to kiss his cheeks in turn as she settles in beside him. Nothing remotely questionable about a handsome couple meeting for a drink, perhaps even if one's familiar with the criminal element. Laurie's not here to overanalyze it, though.

"Order me a drink? I brought you something."

[helpdesk_hero]

In David's experience, beautiful women were far better terrorists. Or perhaps it was this beautiful woman that was particularly good at it. He smiles softly at her. Few people get softness from him. Even Josh doesn't get this degree of softness either. It's one he reserved only for Laurie. And one other person, but that was in the past and he worked very hard to deaden that part of himself. Too bad Laurie always seemed to leave him feeling things. Who knew?

He slides his drink aside and waves down a waitress, knowing they will arrive very shortly. He tips outrageously well for his privacy.

"Of course, dear, you know I've always got a drink for you," he assures her with a smile. No names, even if he wants to use it. "And I, of course, have something for you in return."

Money or knowledge, whatever she asks. Always whatever Laurie asks.

[fridgeflower]

Pleasantries done, she scoots in and roots around in her clutch for a moment before pulling out… A Rolex Submariner, stainless steel, black dial. She sets it carefully on display on the table before David.

"This," she taps the face, "was obtained from the household of one Joycelyn Edwards, the late spokesperson of the group 'Mothers Against Metas.' Presumably, it belonged to her husband, Stephen, who's big into status quo 'citizen militia' crap and is gearing up to run for Representative in Vermont."

Militia bullshit is hit-or-miss for how useful the info can be. They serve the government. They aren't fooling anyone there. The level of involvement can either be critical or totally delusional, however, from group to group. They can be private contractors or pure smack-talkers, all vile bluster.

Though… With the state of the Edwards house, their belongings, this very watch… They were getting their money from somewhere. Either way, while direct connections to the government would mean a more critical strike, Laurie's not against systematically wiping out a group of armed, anti-Meta, chucklefuck morons.

"You're welcome to keep it, too, if you want. It's a bit much for me and mine."

[helpdesk_hero]

"I don't know, it would look good on Josh's wrist," David muses as he picks up the watch and considers her.

"And what information, exactly, do you want from it?"

The whole process is painful for him, and consuming. He never learned true mastery of his gift. Just how to keep it at bay. It is a lot easier if he's going in for specific things, rather than the migraines that will come from digging fully into the thing.

[fridgeflower]

"I'd like to know how involved the self-proclaimed militia is with the government, whether they're organized or a bunch of delusional idiots."

It's about now that the waitress returns, and Laurie takes her drink with a smile, and 'thanks, babe,' and a wink. Well, two winks, one for the waitress and then another for David. Once the exchange is over and they're alone again, the playfulness drains out of her.

She takes a drink.

"If they're organized, I need to know how to wreck that organization, who's at the top, that kind of thing. But… It's easier said than done, I'm sure. Don't worry if the burden's too much. I'm just attempting efficiency."

[helpdesk_hero]

Laurie has learned a lot about working people around to what she wants. And there isn’t much that most people can do. David isn’t most people. But he wasn’t prepared for Laurie tonight. Not mentally, and definitely not physically with the gear to keep himself from falling under pheromone sway.

Which doesn’t matter. Even with them he can’t say no to her. This was why he normally did his work with Josh or others in their group. Her in person? David takes his beer and, sighing, downs it. Chugs he fuck out of that thing.

What she is asking for is not small. Normally this sort of job is very high cost, and takes time. For Laurie? For her of all people?

David takes a glove off.

“You’re asking a LOT here, Laurie. The full history of an item is serious for me to dive into. I usually only go a week into something’s history, maybe two if someone is willing to pay high five or low six fig. But what you’re talking about is more than that. Unless you can tell me he’s only had this a handful of days. And you know I can’t tell you much at all if the guy didn’t WEAR this a lot.”

[fridgeflower]

"So only delve in a week, if you're worried. I'm not here to harass you into something you don't want to mess with." And that's true. Any scrap she can pull from it will probably contain something she can use. Even a half-step forward is useful in this game, especially at a safe distance, and holding onto good faith and good connections is much more valuable than this particular would-be assassination plot.

"I'm a godawful criminal, babe, but I'm not a monster." She takes another sip and adds, with a smile, "I mean, not unless you're asking for the government's opinion..."

[helpdesk_hero]

Oh, but the thing is, Laurie, he'd do it. For her and her alone. Not even Josh could get David to do the sort of stupid things he'd do for Laurie. And at low cost. Still, he nods and tries not to sigh too deeply. He's about to do something almost criminally stupid. Why did he keep hurting himself for her?

"Alright. Drinks and then we'll go to one of my safe houses. You can keep me grounded while I delve for you."

Deeply, as deep as she needs for any hint of information. And then he'll curl up in a corner for a few hours and try to STOP being a watch.