milliways_bar | (no subject)

Entry tags:

minx,
vic sage

(no subject)

Minx storms into the bar, yelling over her shoulder as she comes. “You crashed her, X! You! The Star did exactly what she’s designed to do. It’s not my fault you clipped the rail and DNF’d!”

She slams the door and then realises where she is. With an exhausted sigh, she heads to the couch by the fire and collapses into it. She’s dressed very differently than last time she arrived – all practical black and flat shoes with a small handgun clipped to her hip.

Bother her; she’d be glad of the distraction.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

"A gun? Didn't expect that."

Charlie calls down from the rafters.

She looks up without moving, unsurprised to hear him up there. "Am I not allowed to carry it here? Should I check it with someone?" It's a police issue service weapon that she carefully removes, holster and all.

"No rules against it. You just didn't seem the sort to need a gun. Unless modeling has changed since I left." He leaps down with all the grace of a mere human. Nothing panther-like in his moves. "Hi."

"Cut-throat business like you won't believe." She jokes, tucking it behind her. "Hi. I guess now would be a good time to show you this then." She flips out a police ID and badge.

"Special Agent Minx, Central Investigation Bureau, Corporate Crimes Division."

For once, Charlie is genuinely surprised. "The modeling is a cover? Or a sidelight?"

"Both. I was a model before I became an agent and keeping it up gives my team access to the A-list parties when a lot of the dodgy dealing is going on."

"So a secret identity and a double life...I know a thing or two about that.

"Just without the badge and gun." Both would have been limiting.

"I'm sure you do." Minx relaxes, glad Charlie's not upset with her. "You probably manage it a hell of a lot better than I do."

"I only carry either when I'm working with my team. The rest of the time I'm undercover as Miranda."

"So Miranda is just your cover name? Is Minx a real name? Or is the real real you a third person?" He is, as ever, curious. The notion of the secret identity has always been intriguing.

She shrugs, still coming to terms with exactly that issue. "Miranda is my birth name but the more I do with the CIB, the more that life, the person I was then becomes the cover."

She frowns. "The more I work as Minx, the less I like who I was as Miranda."

"My birth name - or the name the nuns gave me - was Charles Victor Szasz. When I got into TV news work, I became Vic Sage. I took on the Question tag as a hero. And I tend to just call myself Charlie. So shifting identities...I understand that, too.

"And I get finding something better. My TV days were possibly not unlike your modeling days." He takes a seat.

"Sounds like we have similar origin stories." She smiles, bumping her shoulder against his before leaning back. "I guess I'm more Minx these days than Miranda. Although I can see you as a Victor. It has a distinguished ring to it. But I like Charlie better."

"So you prefer Minx then?" It seems to suit her, but so does Miranda.

She tilts her head and looks at him, openly and honestly. "Yes. I think I do. The people I trust most, the people closest to me are the ones who call me Minx. Will you?"

He smiles. "Won't be the first time I've needed to adjust what I call friends here. Minx."

"Thanks Charlie. So I guess I'm not your only friend with an identity crisis?"

"I hope you get to meet X-23. She's more complicated than both of us put together. Though if you do meet, have some patience. She's not the most talkative." How many years did it take to get the whole picture?

She nods, thoughtfully. "I'll bear that in mind."

She feels different around him now, a little more comfortable now that he knows the other side of who she is. "Is there... anything you want to know about me? Clear the air kind of thing?"

"This one is going to be complicated.

"Do you know about the dead people here?"

Might as well dive right in.

Her eyes widen slightly but otherwise she controls her reaction. "No, I don't. What do I need to know?"

"Most people here are alive. But for some, the Bar is the afterlife. They look alive, they act alive, they aren't zombies or anything like that. But they can't go back to living again.

"When I got here, it was after my death from lung cancer."

Again there's a thoughtful moment of control before she decided on the best way to react. "You know, I'm not sure whether to offer you my condolences or congratulate you on finding a fantastic afterlife." She says in a measured but honest tone.

"Both would be good. I wasn't sure there would be an afterlife, so finding one at all was a surprise. Finding the Bar...I could do worse.

"But as I said, it gets more complicated." His life, he knows, hasn't been simple in a long time.

She smiles at that. "Can I go with a hug? That would seem to cover both options."

"So more complicated that this also being the afterlife for you, and presumably others?"

"Hugs are always nice. Especially from attractive women." He isn't going to be shy about it.

"My afterlife, though, is a bit more complicated than most. I think."