Full Tilt

[jla_extras]

The place is technically a private party as far as the law is concerned. The people at the door know what they are doing and it makes it virtually impossible for officers of the law to get in. Combined with an insufficient GCPD budget, the recent invasion and numerous other problems that plague the city's services, what lies behind the door is

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[i_am_bane]

Bane had created the guise of Tito Alvarez, an ex-con and biker gang member. He'd grown a mustache and allowed his hair to grow in a bit. Few knew what Bane looked like without his mask, but better to be safe. It had taken little to convince the club's owner to hire him on as a bouncer given his massive size. The man probably figured no one would be dumb enough to start a fight with him.

He'd been at it for a couple days nows, and frankly, he hated it.

He had learned of the new wave of designer drugs that first appeared in Metropolis and now were spreading into Gotham. There were few things Bane hated more than those who trafficed in such things. After a brief investigation, this club was the next step up in his plan to find those responsible...and break them.

The problem Bane realized was not to do a bad job, but not to do too good a job. He was to keep an eye out for law enforcement officials, which in his opinion were pretty scare, and to ignore the fact if underage teens tried to get in. Quite frankly he found this to be an insult to his intelligence. Many of this teens you could tell just by looking that they were underage, but he was to allow them in anyway. Well that answered the question as to to whether the owner was in on it, but he currently had no idea as to who the owner answered to. Hopefully this charade would not have to go on too much longer.

[jla_extras]

Bane's position made him virtually invisible to the youthful patrons, or more accurately they didn't stop to think of him as being present. He certainly served to intimidate and maintain the minimal level of order that the business required to foster their carefully controlled chaos. Beyond that however, he could move among them without causing suspicion or 'guarded' behavior.

Consequentially, he witnessed much.

For instance, the girl moving through crowd nearby looking furtively about was much younger than her overly done makeup first suggested. Her clothes would have been considered scandalous in the red light district of Mexico City. The din and flash of the club provided an aural and visual distraction that help make her seem less shocking, but she was little more than a child. Now and then an older youth would pass by and give her a predatory look, but then pass her by. Too obvious. The girl would have to learn more to be more savvy about this culture if she was to find what she was looking for. Nonetheless, it was clear she was hoping to make a connection.

[i_am_bane]

Bane saw the girl as he mad his rounds around the club. His first instinct upon seeing her was to cover her with a trenchcoat, or at least knock someone out and take theirs. Considering the distress in her body language, that would help no one. He had to be careful here. He couldn't ignore the fact that this girl was likely to get in a lot of trouble here, but at the same time he didn't want to blow his cover.

He quickly made his decision and went to the nearby bar and sat on a stool. He turned his head a little in her direction, a neutral expression on his face. Smiling may make him appear as a solicitor. When he spoke it was in a mild, but not overly friendly tone.

"You look lost, chiquita. Are you looking for someone?"

[jla_extras]

She takes a step back, purely from a 'lizard-brain' unconscious reaction to the hulking man. The reaction is swiftly overcome and she puts on a clumsily fabricated smile of unconvincing confidence and an attempt of allure that is incrongruos with her age. Hands on her hips she steps back towards Bane.

"Uhh.. yeah. Maybe you can, you know..."

She licks her lips.

"Help me get my head together? you know?"

Bane's trained eye notes the rapid pulse in the vein at her throat. The girl is clearly out of her depth.

[i_am_bane]

Bane raises an eyebrow. Clearly the girl had no idea the sheer amount of terrible things that could happen to her running around like that.

"Why don't you take a seat," Bane indicated that the stool next to him. He could see a couple of older teens, who had seen the girl's display, were coming over. Bane sent them a cold glare, which was enough to convince the boys to find fun elsewhere. He ordered a glass of water and placed it in front of the girl.

"Where are you from?" Bane didn't immediately address her age and appearance. He didn't want to risk angering her and causing her to flee. This would have to be handled carefully if he was going to help her.

[jla_extras]

Her eyes flicker to the glass of water. There is some suspicion there, a level of cynical savvy that is sad to see in one so young. Licking her lips, she takes the seat and touches the glass. It never makes it to her lips, but she makes a ham handed show of accepting it.

"Uh.. around." she replies and then adds a hasty lie, "I uh..came here with friends."

[i_am_bane]

"I see," Outwardly calm, inwardly Bane's mind is racing a mile a minute. He has absolutely no experience dealing with children, considering he was never really a child himself. Still, he felt he needed to try. "Were you seperated? I work as security here, odds are I may have spotted them earlier. I can help you find them if you wish."

He spotted another older teen making his way toward the girl. Bane glared at the man-child, who pointedly made his way elsewhere. 'Dios, this is a den of wolves.'

[jla_extras]

Confusion touches her expression. It's clear she was fishing for something Bane isn't....selling.

"Uh, no..I'm cool, I.."

Then her eyes become wary and a little childish and petulant.

"Hey, are you a cop?"

[i_am_bane]

"No, I'm an ex-con trying to get by." Bane sighs as he rolls up his shirt sleeve and shows the girl his tatoo. A lasting legacy of his time in Santa Prisca was the prison number that all prisoners were given as their only real means of identification. The tatoo itself is rather crude, as it was clear whoever gave it didn't care about hurting the subject. Bane turned to look at her. She didn't have the look of an addict, so she probably never sampled the drugs herself. Likely she heard from someone else. "I make sure people behave themselves. How'd you learn of this place's..services?"

[jla_villains]

"Hey! Get your goddamned hands off of me!!" A small thin man covered in tattoos is led through the crowd on the ground floor by one of the bouncers. He tries to fend off the bouncer but then gets deposited at the feet of 'Alvarez'.

The bouncer mutters that the scrawny turd is a dealer, and leaves the new guy (that would be Bane) to deal with the mess. The drug pusher starts to scrabble away upon seeing the size of who he's up against.

[i_am_bane]

"Hold it, bendejo." The tone is one of quiet menace, a tone that implied things would be far worse if Bane had to chase him. "Is it true? Are you dealing? Don't lie to me as I can promise things will be much easier on you if you speak honestly."

[jla_villains]

The weasel looks like he's going to try and put up some kind of lie, but given the piercing gaze bearing down on him his resolve crumbles. "Y-yeah. Not like it's nothin' new. I've always sold out of this place."

He doesn't bother trying to get to his feet. "Not tonight though. Or the last week. My action's being all taken up by dealers who treat it as more of a profession than a hobby, if you catch my meaning. You can hardly tell them apart from the rest of this crowd of schmucks."

[i_am_bane]

"I see," Bane's gaze softened a little. He fought down the part of him that wanted to break the little worm in half in order to get more information. "Who has cut in on your action?"

[jla_villains]

"Oh, I see.. Heh heh." He smiles and gets up. "You want in, huh? Well I've tried getting in with these Chemists. That's what they call themselves. As if they're more than just pushers. They don't recruit though. Not from the street anyhow."

He points across the dance floor at a middle-aged man with greying hair, in a dark business suit. "He's got contacts with them, that's for sure. His name's Blakely."

[i_am_bane]

"Si," was all Bane said. Short, concise, playing the role of the tough-guy ex-con. He looked at the man, Blakely. He certainly stood out in this den of the young, being considerably older than the lot. Bane turns back to the pusher. "This is a warning. Get out and don't let me catch you around here again. Understood?" Bane's eyes practically weaved a tale of the agony that the drug dealer would experience if he didn't heed Bane's warning.

Normally he may have approached Blakely for "work", bur he felt he couldn't just abandon the girl to whatever undoubtedly cruel fate that would befall her here. He looked back at her.

"Is that why you're here?" No judgement in his voice, simply a question.

[jla_extras]

The girls shoddy wall of artificial savvy and confidence had begun to erode while she witnessed the very 'real' and decidedly unglamorous look at the underbelly of the drug trade Bane allowed her to see.

Bane's question and return of his focus onto her results in something perhaps unexpected but very natural. The little girl burst into tears.