Subject: [OTL]: [Ana Lyon universe] Newsprint and Leather: The Tip of the Iceberg Date: Sat, 10 Jun 2000 01:26:29 -0700 From: Ana Lyssie Cotton Disclaimer: Ana Lyon, Kim and Elizabeth Crowne belong to ShaiPeriHawk. I'm merely writing Elizabeth, as requested. :) Is fun, though. The St. Louis Post-Dispatch building IS always under construction inside. I've been in there once every few months for the last three years. It never stops! Anything Marvel belongs to them. To Shai and Em for encouragement. :) PG13, for some language. Newsprint and Leather: The Tip of The Iceberg by Ana Lyssie Cotton Elizabeth Crowne ducked as the Squoosh ball flew her way. "Darlene!" She yelped, laughing. The other denizen of the late-night newsroom, Darlene Barrett, chuckled as the offending object was tossed back at her. "Lizzie, honey, you leavin' for the night finally?" "Yo mama." Elizabeth rolled her eyes at the slang, "And you *know* I hate Lizzie, *LENIE*." "Oh, the girl has bite," chortled the middle-aged black woman approvingly. "Yeah." Elizabeth giggled and turned to the door. "Good night, Darlene." She stepped into the hall and dodged the plastic wrapping that flapped on the bale of construction wire absently. It seemed like they were always doing some sort of renovation work on the Post-Dispatch building. Especially the fifth floor. The elevator button had already been pushed. "Night, Lizzie. Good work on that story." Darlene's voice floated to her. She laughed and hopped over to pop her head back around the door's edge. "That's Ms. Crowne to you." And then the elevator beeped and she was gone, Darlene's laughter following her down to the ground floor. Which was nice, since then she wasn't hearing the elevator squeak trecherously. It always sounded like it was going to fall apart at the least amount of weight. The whole building sounded like that. Old buildings tended to, it was still sort of creepy, though. As for the story, Elizabeth grimaced. Harold her editor had NOT been happy with it, despite the fact it'd been run. "It needs to be longer!" "You think I don't bloody KNOW that?" Elizabeth demanded, glaring at him. "They're not bloody talking to me, SIR." "Don't take that tone with me, girl. You're still nothing but a cub." Harold snorted and adjusted the damp cigar in his mouth. "Besides, we've scooped everyone else." He smiled happily. "Yeah." Elizabeth shook her head as she remembered that scene. They'd only succeeded in scooping everyone because Laurell was a friend of hers, and had dragged her down to the station. They'd given the poor woman only one phone call. She shook her head and waveed at the guard on the front desk. "Night, Joe." "Night, Ms. Crowne." He called. The man was a stickler for proper address, probably because he was from England. She shook her head and exited the building. Darting across the street, she cursed yet again her lack of a car. Although, since she lived less than a mile away it wasn't THAT bad. But being out on the streets of downtown at eleven at night wasn't too healthy. Especially for a woman. There had even been nights she'd slept in the P-D building, rather than go back to her apartment. She grimaced again and began the walk to her home. Home. It sounded so nice. There had been times when she hadn't had one. Now, she was sharing with two lovely girls who worked nights. And she worked days. Which meant they only saw each other to bitch. Chuckling, she sidestepped and nodded to a beggar. People said St. Louis was a wonderful town. And then they saw the desolation of downtown, the absolute lack of care for anything civic. {If it's not in the county, they don't give a crap.} She snorted. That's why she was living downtown. It *could* be brought back, it just needed help. She worked for the town's only daily newspaper as a web artist (which meant she basically coded pages and made little graphics). Harold had found she was a friend of Laurell's when she'd been kidnapped. He'd made her a reporter and ordered her to find out more about the ring. She grimaced. Harold seemed to think answers were there to be found. Maybe they came from the thin air for him, but not for her. At least Laurell was okay, though. --- There was a message on the phone when she checked it. Kayla's voice laughingly told her to get her ass down to Tempest. "It's Andre on the bar tonight, bitch, get out here!" "But I just got off work," Elizabeth whined to herself, then shrugged. She didn't have to be in until almost two the next day. Enough time to sleep off whatever happened. Tempest. Clubbing. She needed clubwear, then. After staring into her closet for five minutes, Elizabeth finally decided on red velvet pants and a deep maroon blouse. Black boots and silver star earings finished the ensemble. Finally, she was ready to leave her Washington Avenue loft and head three blocks up to Tempest. The phone rang. "Great. My life is never simple. Hello?" Silence on the other end, save for someone breathing. "Hello? Look, I don't know who the hell you think you are, but I don't have time for this." "We're watching you." And the other person hung up with a click. "What? Watching me? Oh, thanks. THAT'S a nice threat to get." She was pissed. She could feel the rage beginning to simmer under her skin. "They kidnap one of my best friends, then they frelling threaten me. Fine." She slammed the apartment door shut as she left and then ran down all seven flights of stairs. Tempest, and Kayla, were waiting. -------------------- Kayla was always a work of art and this time was no exception. She was wearing a dress, but its resemblance to a normal dress ended where the low-cut velvet bodice began. Silver, gold and red thread picked out a Chinese dragon in full flight, the dragon curled around the bodice completely covering a third of it. The tail curled around the right breast, while its head perched atop the left. Diamond and star-shaped holes were cut into the fabric at irregular intervals. Black mesh glittered underneath them with an almost metallic sheen. The skirt was of the same black mesh, except it had red and gold thread crriscrossing it in random patterns. Lace accented the bottom of the skirt, and fringe fell several inches from the waistband. Thin black chains held various stones, Ankhs, crosses and moons around Kayla's neck, most of which fell precisely into the center of her exposed cleavage. Her hair was currently bleached blonde with strands of green and blue coating the bits that hung in braids. The whole outfit looked like an accident with a Marilyn Manson fan and a Madonna fan. And some spray paint. Elizabeth was happily pounced by Kayla as the doorman let her in. "You made it! Lovely!" Tempest pulsed, the music reaching into the bones and muscles and begging you to groove to it. Kayla tugged Elizabeth around the wall and into the main room. "Why the urgency, Kay?" Elizabeth hissed over the music. People had succumbed to the music's pull and many were dancing on the bi-level floor. Still more were crowded into the small tables that circled the floor. And some were even seated on the rail that went round part of it. "Something's going on." Kayla replied as she halted at the bar. "Andre! Two vodka sours!" "Water, actually." Elizabeth corrected her, "What do you mean?" "Your article caused a bit of a stir. Our hands are still tied, but..." "Just get to the frigging point." Their drinks arrived begore Kayla could reply and she fumbled out the cash to hand to the bartender. "Keep the change, sweetie." "Thanks." He nodded his dark head to them both and sashayed away. "Yum. Now there goes a fine figure of a man." "Yeah. Too bad you're both gay." Elizabeth retorted. "Pooh. You take all the fun out of things. There's a rumour going around that Stone's in town." She added abruptly. Elizabeth blinked and then frowned. "Stone?" "Yeah. One of the Grande High Poo-Bahs." "So, if he's here, then..." "They're going to grab a bunch of girls and run." "Like in Cincinatti seven months ago." Elizabeth's voice was bitter. "Yeah. Like in Cinci." "You know the dawn raid they did on that only turned up bodies." "Been researching, have you?" "Kayla, my sister was one of them. Of *course* I've been bloody searching." "I know." Silence descended again. Well, silence of conversation. Around them, the club hopped and bopped. Depeche Mode's "Fly on the Windscreen" played over the sound system. ~o/Reminding us, we could be torn apart--tonight!/o~ "Kayla, can you fight in that?" Elizabeth was standing, her gaze resting on the mirror behind the bar. "Can I what?" Kayla stared at her as if she were mad. "Fight. Because we're about to have to." And then she was gone, running across the floor of Tempest, dodging dancers and others as the club erupted into a massive bar fight. "Elizabeth? Lizzie?! Wait, wait for me!!" Kayla yelped. Then she grumbled and began elbowing her way through the crowd, towards where she could see Lizzie. Elizabeth slipped through the crowd, throwing punches and blocking kicks as needed. Her destination was a table at the edge of the dancefloor. There'd been two young women sitting there. One much younger looking than the normal Tempest crowd. They'd been the focal point when the fight started. Someone stepped into her line of vision, heading for the back. The younger girl was draped over his shoulder, out cold. She'd fought him, though, if the marks on his cheek were anything to go by. "Hi!" She shouted up at him. "Get out of my way." He snarled. "NO!" Her knee slammed into his side, staggering him a moment. That was all the time Kayla needed to catch up with them. "Lizzie, d'you think this is--I say, man, that girl is out cold, and--" Kayla's fist slammed into his jaw as Elizabeth kicked his knee out from under him. He went down like the proverbial ton of bricks. A muttered grunt came from him as Kayla wrapped a hand in his hair and then slid a finger under his eye socket. "Don't move." She requested sweetly. Elizabeth picked the kid up, she didn't weigh that much, and slung her over her own shoulder. "Kayla, there was another, but they've already gone!" "Fine." Kayla shoved a finger into the man's eye and he screamed. "Let's blow this joint." -- They staggered out the door, the kid slung between them. People were pouring out the door around them, jostling them into the window that fronted the Galaxy next door. It was very dark in that small section of St. Louis, suddenly. And then sirens split the night air and lights began flashing all around them. Without even having to talk, the two turned and began pulling the kid into Galaxy. Fred, the doorman, was an old friend and he merely raised an eyebrow before shifting so no one could follow them. "Out the back?" Elizabeth gasped out around the pounding of her heart. The kid was dead weight and awkward to handle. "No. Basement access to the Metrolink tunnel, THEN out into the alley in a few blocks." Elizabeth didn't ask how Kayla knew that, just nodded and helped her drag the girl along. The basement was packed with boxes and crates of everything under the sun. Towards the back was a half-door that led to the sewer and underground train system of the city. Elizabeth released her side of the girl. "I'll go through, pass her to me." Kayla nodded. "Be careful." "No worries." She slipped under the door and stepped out into a tunnel that was almost completely dark. It was slippery and shiny and lit by a very distant light. Probably from the section the Metrolink ran through. Underfoot was rock and dust. She turned back. "Ready." Her voice echoed hollowly around her and then Kayla was handing the child to her. She staggered under the sudden weight, then steadied against the gritty wall. Kayla was out a second later and resumed her half of the burden. "This way." A few minutes of stumbling and cursing down the dark tunnel and they turned into a branch. A few more steps and then Kayla was opening another half door which led into the basement of the apartment building across from Elizabeth's. The trip to the street-level went fast and then they were out in the star light and street lamps. "Okay, my apartment, I think." "Yeah. Lizzie, we need to keep her out of sight, I--" "Huh?" The kid was awake and staring at them blearily. "Where am I? Who are you? Ana?" "Sshhh. You're safe, just a bit more." Elizabeth said soothingly, checking that it was safe to cross. "No!" With a jerk, the kid slammed elbows outwards, catching the two women off-gaurd. Both doubled over. "No! I've got to find Ana!" "Wait!" Kayla gasped, taking a step or two after the fleeing girl. "You're--not safe." she finished, saddened. "We'll never catch her." Together they watched the small figure turn a corner and disappear. -- tbc ===== 'Innuendo and out the other. (Acetal)' http://members.xoom.com/_XMCM/LysAna/index.htm