Dynamite with a laser beam; Guaranteed to blow your mind. Anytime.
The last time I saw Diz get this way, was back during the Klingon war. That story she and I both tell, of her encounter between her and her brother, so much was glossed over, so much was cleaned up. She well and truly scared me, seeing her like that. She was boiling with such rage, but she oozed this air of calm detached efficiency. Even being the die hard agnostic I am, I actually thanked whatever deity that perhaps was listening that this psychopath, this lunatic as she calls herself, was my friend and ally, not my enemy.
It had started in the meeting with this guy named Beck. The man was trying too hard to impress, all gussied up to the point of ridiculousness, such spit and polish that it had to take twice as much effort to maintain than it was probably worth on this sad little rock. Diz had just negotiated the purchase of our objective, and he brought up the subject of collateral. That's when that stupid oaf, Tuck, all but signed his death warrant. He thought he was being funny, you could just see it on his face. Beck had been hard pressed to turn away from Noelle the whole meeting, and Tuck suggested that she'd make good collateral. I was surprised when Diz went through the motions, pretended to even consider it. It was clear she absolutely hated the idea, and Noelle wasn't any more impressed with it, but somehow...
I'm surprised she kept herself together until we were out of the building, and the only reason I reacted quick enough to actually catch Noelle's messenger bag when she tossed it to me was my self defense instincts kicked in hearing the sound of fist impacting with face. I had to turn and see what it was to best decide how to respond. She clearly surprised Tuck, he was white as a sheet and it took him nearly a minute to get himself together enough to attempt to return her blow. I was fully prepared to stop Tom or Enzo if they tried to interfere, but survival instinct or security and tactical training kept them both back. Stace was distracted by something else, I later found out it was conversation it would have been very helpful if he'd been better versed in Ferengi and able to understand. The four of us all backed into different directions, and managed to established a perimeter around Diz and Tuck, kept the locals back as they all gathered to watch. Even Beck's goons, who had taken up posts at the door we'd just exited, couldn't help being drawn in. The Andorian even laid money on Diz coming out the winner.
Everything moved so quickly, it was hard to keep track of much. It looked as though for every blow Tuck succeeded on landing, Diz returned at least three-fold, be it by force or by quantity, sometimes even both. Neither drew any weapons, even though I assume he had some, and she had probably half of what was with her on clear display. When the chaos settled, he was on knee looking up at her, and he drew breath to say something, only to have her punch him hard enough that a fresh spray of blood hit the crowd to his right, then she spat in his face. He'd already looked bad enough between the split lip and the black eye she'd given him, but the fact that one of the few blows he'd landed on her had split her lip left him with a bloody spray across his face from this. The way she reminded him that she could do to him what he had appeared to be drawing breath to do to her sent a shiver down the spine of most people in the audience. Then she walked away. Just like she had with her brother. Not a look back, not another word, not a concern that he'd get up and try to attack her again.
I knew that was our cue to exit, so I quickly followed. Tom and Enzo weren't far behind me, only Stace seemed to miss this. Tom, Enzo and I all stayed silent when Diziara grabbed Stace by the elbow to follow; they discussed what had held his attention during her little fight as he guided us to the money changer Beck had recommended. Everything went smooth with the transaction, I felt like it was a little too smooth, but didn't get a chance to say anything to Diz before we made it back to Beck's.
The first indication something was wrong was the lack of goons, and the door sitting wide open. I grabbed Stace, pulling him to the back of the group with me, even as I pulled out my phaser and switched my goggles to scan for bio signatures. Diz took point, Enzo flanking her, and Tom moved behind Stace and I as we all headed inside.
The first thing I noticed as Diz and Enzo entered the room was that Diz had to step over the Bajoran goon Beck had, he was out cold and in pretty bad shape. Enzo made eye contact with Diz before he knelt down to check the man's vitals and see if there was anything he could do. I hesitated at the threshold into the room, watching Diz make a quick sweep first. Once she looked back at us to see why we weren't right behind her, I headed straight in, pulling Stace by the elbow to get him to follow me out of the way. Tom was pulling a secondary sweep around the room as Diz narrowed in on Beck.
We heard him before we saw him, though when I turned my head towards his desk, my goggles picked up his heat signature behind it. I switched over to my tactical scan settings, a hybrid of bio-signature and technology scanning, looking around the room. Stace was talking to himself, muttering about the conversation he'd heard earlier. It was pretty clear from what he was saying that he'd likely overheard someone involved in this escapade, but for a man who I had heard so many languages come from his lips, it would be just our luck to find the gap in that knowledge when it actually would have been useful.
As Diz stalked over to where Beck was laying on the floor, I was convinced she was going to pick him up by the neck and interrogate him. As it was clear that Noelle was nowhere to be found in this small room, nor was Beck's Andorian goon. She stood over him, arms crossed, looking down without bending down. Her tone said everything that was needed to be said as she demanded to know where Noelle was. Beck's response made it clear he was surprised to find out that she was even missing. The way he responded, the concern in his voice even as he was clearly in pain from whatever had been done to him, left even the City bred skeptic in me hard pressed to second guess his sincerity. Diz bought in also, that's when she asked me for her regenerator.
As I reached down into my pockets to find it, Enzo held up a something small. I almost didn't recognize it at first, but as I realized what it was, my goggles helpfully labeled it for me. Noelle's disguised communicator, the ones issued to us for the mission that looked like badly pirated fleet tech. Enzo made the obvious comment, and I closed the space between me and Diz to hand over her regenerator. She and Beck talked quietly for a little bit as she patched him up, Tom even butted in, and I retreated back to the corner with Stace. The damn Brit was still babbling to himself, trying to make sense of what he'd heard earlier. When I commented it seemed weird that this was done by Orions, as Beck mentioned while talking to Diz, but what Stace had heard was in Ferengi, Stace laughed.
It didn't take long before I stopped him and insisted he switch to Tellerite, which he did mid-sentence without so much as taking a breath. Even then I had a hard time following, I'd only taken four years of the language in the Academy after all. The long and short I got out of his rambling was if the bastards had been speaking Orion, he would have had their name, place of birth and their mother's favorite perfume. He's apparently fluent in that shit. Also, what self respecting Ferengi would get their hands dirty if they could under pay someone else to do the job instead? Even as he went on about all this, he continued to work through the puzzle of what he'd heard, apparently working out new words due to context and what we'd just learned. Oddly fascinating, and mildly unsettling to listen to. The man still annoys the piss out of me, but it'd be hard to convince me he's not at least a little gifted after that glimpse into his talents.
In the end, Diz and Beck agreed to work together to track down Noelle, and find the bastard who'd betrayed Beck to make off with her. Whatever these people wanted with Noelle, it had nothing to do with the box though, they'd left that where Beck had hidden it, and it would be safe to assume that Thelis would have known where it was, given that he was their inside man. Money still exchanged hands, and we brought the box back to the ship. Fat lot of good that was, all it had in it was saf. When Diz bitched about it, saying it wasn't even much saf, and confessed to her experience with the stuff, Tom's eyebrow rose up under his hat. For a guy with Romulan Ale in a flask in his pocket, he sure seems straight laced.
Diz sent Stace and Enzo out to see if they could find anything out, and Beck is attempting to work his own contacts to see what he can find out. So Diz, Tom and I are all playing the waiting game. Waiting for Stace and Enzo, waiting for Beck, and even waiting for our fleet contact. Apparently that's Sharad, the chan from the Andor mission. Diz has gone off to brood by herself, and Tom didn't have much luck when he tried to follow her, so he's plunked himself down with me in the ship's tiny galley.
Not so surprising, the conversation has turned to Diz, as it so often does with her fuck toys. On the Rothmore, this often happened to me; being one of the few males on the ship she hadn't fucked, yet she still spent a lot of time with, would lead the men she was fucking to seek me out for advice and insight into her moods and whims. Tom seems to think he's gotten her mostly figured out, but her display with Tuck earlier has left him a little pensive. I'm still not sure what he expects me to tell him, and he hasn't really asked me a question. Comments have been made, comparing her grace to a ballerina, her skill to that of a surgeon, and yet he seems surprised that such a deadly creature could also be so tender and caring as she is. The dichotomy that is Diz is one that I don't expect anyone to figure out, even she seems mystified as to what she is or what she should do with herself.