Carpe Noctem [Mia/Intern]

Mia quirked her brow as she saw the blush on Bianca’s cheeks, having seemed to have caught the girl on the backfoot, hearing her stutter and speak in short, uncertain answers in response to her own words… wait had… oh god please someone tell Mia she hadn’t thought this was something else. She invited her out and told her to dress pretty afterall, with the age gap between them what did the student think was going to happen exactly? At the most she hoped Bianca may have just thought she was taking her to some hero party or something but from the way she was reacting and how briefly embaressed she looked she… Mia covered her face with a hand, chuckling softly.

“I… Okay first I have to ask what YOU think the plan was tonight.~” She refolded her arms, almost a little smug in the fact she seemed to have the girl on the backfoot. Had the guy driving not thought to inform her when she had her phone earlier on the specifics of the operation? Mia supposed her own text could have been clearer but this whole misunderstanding was just making her laugh from the base of her lungs…~ She shouldn’t laugh really but with all the girl’s apparent charm and confidence it was fucking hilarious to see her so flustered, though Mia at least forced herself to calm with a few deep, giggle laden breaths.

“O-okay so…sorry we didn’t make this clearer but the plan is I, as a recognizeable hero with a huge red horn can not go into this club, bar, whatever-“ She barely ever read the case notes for shit like this. “In disguise without being super fucking obvious, so we have recruited you, an intern with no clear mutations and the figure to pull off passing for at least 20, to go undercover for us and keep an eye on things. We think we got a lead on the next level up from those goons we faced the other week, so I thought you’d be the perfect girl for the job… o’course if you feel you need to go home and get changed I understand.~” She held a cheeky, shit eating grin as she leaned back in her seat again with folded arms, unable to stop herself from revelling in this small victory over the girl’s usual confidence.

Mia still had a few chuckles in her gut when Bianca gave her explanation, not enough to be rude they just hadn't quite cleared her system yet as Bianca explained herself... aaahhh... how old even was this kid? Mia understood she wasn't the oldest hero herself but she'd gotten the impression from some people that her muscular physique and rough skin could have some people placing her or her 30s or heck, once someone thought she was in her 40s. The roughness of her voice and the deeper tones didn't exactly help either but... damn kid, what the hell where you thinkin? Ah at least she could chuckle about it though, just a silly mistake from a kid, not like she wouldn't have tried to shoot above her level when she was young. She'd done it more than enough to get her fair share of rejections under her belt too.
"As much as I'm flatterred by the assumption, naaaah... I barely get Jaz to play wingwoman for me so you're definitely off the table there sorry." Again, there was no intent to be harsh, but with false assumptions like that there were dangers. It was best just to try and draw a line without outright telling her to fuck off or something rude like that, just make it clear there was a definite border not to be crossed on these things for them. "Gotta admire your confidence though, calling yourself hot? Ya know what ya got I'll give ya that.~ Surprised you don't already have a dozen boys makin' ya offers with that attitude."

Back to the business at hand a little though, she definitely had the confidence to pull off an undercover role, subtle or not so they had definitely made a strong choice here, nodding along as she said she needed a woman with her skills, though she did chuckle a bit at the thought. "Welllll you got the charm, the looks, the lack of clear mutations... and I'm pretty sure any other kid I work with either stands out too much-" She considered Kirk or Yuuto and their bombastic natures and the more in your face element of a summon quirk. "Or I wouldn't be able to trust them to avoid starting a fight from the word go." Examples of Feng and Jaz at that... she could have trusted Yasashi maybe but the guy was a fucking giant for a non-mutation quirk, so maybe not the best choice. Besides, he could get a little nervous about things still.

"Nah, you were the perfect pick for the job, so let's get down to business..." Fishing in one of the draws in the van, lightweight and bolted to the surfaces, she fished out a pair of pictures, offering them across. The former was a picture of a young looking fella with a sly smirk and black hair, and the latter was a scarred up thug. Both shots looked like they'd been taken zoomed in from a distance, but clear enough to make out. "Our targets. Always travel together, the young ones your business. He'll be in the bar schmoozing I imagine, but he's the one with connections to the crime family selling off those 'make your own drug kits'. I want you to keep tabs on him, and, if you can, seperate him from the pack. It may be a little hard to keep-" She tapped the bigger fellas photo. "This guy off him. He's the main bodyguard we think. Every member of the crew changes in and out except that fella. Even if you ask him for a drink at the bar I don't think the two would ever split apart, but thats okay. I'll be in there too right after ya, we just need tabs on these two specifically."

Reaching into another drawer, she retrieved a small black earpiece, simply offering it with- "Comms." And then held a hair pin and a set of refined glasses in each hand. "Camera. Up to you which one you take, the specs got it between the lenses, and the pin has it on the edge, so just make sure we got a clear shot before you step out... " She took a slow breath. "Just to be sure... you up for this? Don't think you gotta thrust yourself into this cause Red Horn said so."

“Mmm… I think the fact you’re even wasting your time aiming so high says so.” She teased back with a smirk, she was Bianca’s age once afterall, and while yeah, now and then the odd beauty out of her league caught her eye, having a wide selection of the more average, but still damn fine women kept her more than busy. She couldn’t go chasing after every fine ass woman for more than the night she saw them. ‘Course, she hadn’t known Bianca for long, buuuuuut she also didn’t think a kid her age would be wasting time with a woman her age if she had much easier options lined up. That was just her opinion though.~ “I mean, don’t get me wrong I get it, personally my favourite type of woman is the one that’s hard to get… but that kinda means an easy target like you is a bit low on the list. Sorry.~” She didn’t mean to put the girl down buuuuut… she also needed to make her priorities clear in that regard, and just slapping her with ‘your barely legal’, didn’t seem like it’d work when she looked like that.

“A few shows huh?” She tried not to linger too much on the compliments she did give, her brow quirking as she caught what the young woman was saying. “You actually been on TV? Anything I would have seen?” She crossed her arms, they were still driving so they had a minute or two to kill while they made their way there, and hearing one of her interns and maybe future apprentices had been on TV definitely caught her off guard. She knew kids like that lightning girl and salt one existed who tried to be more than just heros, but a full blown actress was still a surprise.

Back to business she let out a bit of a chuckle when it was pointed out the day’s target was ‘kind of cute’, Mia playfully muttering ‘they would be your type huh?’ as she seemed to go after people who weren’t gonna be that quick to return her interest. She didn’t say that last part outloud but she had a good internal chuckle about it at least. “Mmm… try and get the main guys attention if you can but don’t get yourself surrounded. Like if you can draw him away from his posy I’ll trust your judgement, but if you see yourself getting dragged into the larger group? Pull out. We don’t want you putting yourself in a risky situation.”

When Bianca reached for her cheek, Mia raised up her own meaty mitt between her cheek and those delicate fingers, giving a half apologetic smile, appreciating the gesture but feeling it best not to let this girl feel too close to her at the same time, all the same she gave a sound nod and spoke softly but with confidence. “Aye. I’ll be watching you from back here. Once I see an opening to clear out the others I’ll move in, but remember, you’re in civilian gear… you see me fighting out the corner of your eye? You just make sure these two don’t see the same thing aight?” She’d make sure Bianca knew what her role was here. Push came to shove she’d let the girl whip out one of her light blasts but with the prying ears of their driver she at least had to sound like she was on the ball, so she offered a quiet wink just to hopefully convery to Bianca that she didn’t have to be completely separate from the action if she felt there was something she could do… still though, her role WAS important, and she needed the girl to focus.

With the van pulling to a halt, Mia tapped a button on one of the monitors, showing a live feed of her turning around to do so from Bianca’s perspective. She glanced to it, and carefully shifted it a little in Bianca’s hair so the picture was good. “Alright… try not to toy with your hair too much… just head out, place across the street. Show your ID to the bouncer and he’ll let you right in. He’s one of our guys tonight so ya won’t have any issue… sure you’re good?”

(sorry for the short one, just getting myself back in the flow of this one)

As she continued to show off her confidence in the face of potential danger, Mia shook her head with a chuckle and stood up to open up the back of the van for the girl with her, letting her take a step out and holding her eyes  to make sure she did indeed realize the risk of the day's job. "Well just remember the risks at play here. Whether you get their attention or not your about to be on the ringside of a potential brawl of some high end quirkers so... keep yer head low if ya can. Don't worry if things get too hot for you in there."

She gave Bianca a brief flash of a wave before closing up the van behind her, not meaning to be rude but it likely wasn't a good image for her to be standing out the back of a van for the bouncer to notice her or anything. Speaking of the bouncer, as Mia would watch on the hairpin cam the bouncer wouldn't have any trouble letting her in as per the agreement they'd made with him under the table, Mia was already working on getting ready herself of course, a thicker hoodie rolled up over her shoulders before sinking back into her seat, waiting for any cue she could take.

As Bianca made it inside,  the target wouldn't be too hard to spot. Sitting in one of those VIP areas, with a few lesser looking guards and a handful of women seated around him too for... clear entertainment. None of them looked too bright, easily more the kind there to be eye candy and looking for the next purse or latest shoes as some form of payment. It was up to Bianca now though how she handled any approach, as Mia remained silent back in the van.

The younger target leaned back into his booth and chatted with his tougher looking companions and the women surrounding him in turn, seeming to talk about… well, who knows what at this distance but at the very least his crew seemed to be engaged, be it out of respect or sucking up to the guy who gave them their green. Whatever the case may be he didn’t seem to make any qualms about it, just enjoying the company being so pleasant, whatever their reasons may be. His bulkier guard didn’t seem to say or even react much, almost twice the guy’s size and slouched forward, it was a little hard to tell if he was even breathing at this distance, especially with his bulky stature, making him almost seem like a teddy bear who’s head was starting to tip it forward.

“Juuuuuust make sure you don’t have too much fun yourself.” Mia chimed in from her end of their connection, shutting a divider between the driving seats and her section in the back as she started to get changed herself, working out of her hero costume and into her usual casual wear. There wasn’t much she could do to hide the horn but funnily enough wrapping it in the bandages usually wrapped around her forearms had done well in the past. It was still a huge protrusion from her forehead, sure, but her name was RedHorn not whitehorn, that coupled with shades and stuffing most of her mane down the back of her shirt, definitely helped avoid some instant recognization. “I don’t mind you having a drink while you keep any eye on ‘em but just make sure you can handle it. Got a bad enough record without a drunk teen on it.” Her tone tried to remain playful, a genuine warning but definitely not one Mia genuinely felt the young woman needed, fixing her shirt as she glanced back to the screens.

When the young minx said she might have had a plan, Mia couldn’t help but chuckle to herself, though she didn’t press the mic button as she did, keeping it to herself. “Oldest trick in the book kid…”

With Mia mentioning she’d cover the tab she hopped out of the back of the van and started to make her way to the bouncer on the up and up at the front door, waiting for the guy she’d left back in the van to give her the all clear, resting her back against the wall beside the door. Her eyes dipped through the door when it opened to let a customer in, curious, but mostly it seemed the girl had this in the bag. No reason to keep an eye over her shoulder…

As for the small group leader, a waiter coming over to him with a scotch (Cause Yumi doesn’t know drinks beyond the obvious ones) caught his attention, clearly curious who bought him of all people a drink before the young minx caught his attention again, smirking and taking the glass, he left the group rather swiftly much to the disappointment of his company. While one of the lesser goons around him questioned and tried to stop him, he seemed to tell them to ‘keep the girls entertained’ as he ended up leaving only with the largest member of his group following behind him, sipping from the drink and placing it down on the bar beside Bianca, leanining into it himself, his guard standing back a few feet behind him.

“Ya know… usually I’m the one buyin’ a nice thing like you a drink…~” He tipped his head up at her with an idle, cheeky smirk. “Nikari.” He answered, giving his name before she even asked. “And…you?~”

With the all clear from the man in the van, Mia made motions to move into the club, the loud music quickly hitting her ears with some discomfort. Ugh, she didn’t even like clubs like this as a teenager. How did people endure such loud music when they were tying to have a good time with their friends? Did the need to shout every fucking word not get on their nerves or something? Ah, whatever. She was here to get a job done. She could sound like a grumpy old lady later or something. Rolling back her shoulders and fixing her hood on her ‘disguise’, she caught on to the scene before her. Bianca had rather easily managed to get the group leader’s attention, leaving Mia to shift to the troupe he’d left behind. She paused with the flow of the crowd, a big woman like her easily stood out even then, sure, but on opposite sides of the room, she doubted he’d be able to catch on what was going on with the goons he left behind with most of his attention on Bianca.

“Hey boys!~” She chimed out with a clear fake chipperness to her tone, a warm smile on her lips as she addressed the lot of them. It was clear enough to them the moment they actually took in whoever this ‘fuckwad’ was that was addressing them, a number of them didn’t feel so calm and settled. Mia’s grin only grew larger. A number of the goons were quirkless by the looks of things and those that had one didn’t seem to be anything innately impressive. Mia casually unhooked that rope bar that separated their sitting area from the rest of the club, and gestured to the ladies room. “Girls? If you wouldn’t mind letting us do some business?~”

The girls looked to the worried men, then back to Redhorn… and quickly made the right choice to scarper.

Mia stepped through the rope bar, hooked it back up behind her, and slowly began to crack each of her knusckles individually.

“CHIE-!”

The thugs cry was inaudible over the loud club music, a little quieter at the bar sure but thick enough between each end of the room the cry for help had been pretty much inaudible. The smug looking little leader of the pack had most of his attention on the rather interesting young thing before him, resting his cheek into his hand and asking a perhaps surprising question for a man who was on the wrong side of the law to care about. “You ol’ enough to be drinkin’ here Stacy? I mean don’t get me wrong… you act mature, ya look mature… but I’ve been surprised in the past before.~”

Over the crowd Bianca may have been able to grasp the signs of conflict, but Mia was able to keep it contained to the roped off area the boys had been sitting in, slamming faces into cushioned surfaces and waiting for them to pass out while the others tried to pry her off. Dealing with them swiftly and, relative to the music, pretty quietly.