An old enemy, a new friend

[loki]

I walked down the hall after my match with Ace feeling decidedly worse for wear. I had lost to him again, that was twice now that he had beaten me, oh well at least this one was a lot closer than the last one. I thought about going home, about checking in on Whisper and the baby. I thought about it, and then decided against it. It wouldn’t do either my fiance or myself any good to go home in this state. I decided instead I would go and get a drink, and while I’m really not much of a drinker, I enjoy a cold beer once in a while as much as the next guy. I headed towards the exit when I heard foot steps behind me, I turned around to see who was there, ready to fight if need be. But when I turned around I was surprised, it wasn’t anybody looking to attack me or anything like that, instead it was Pegasus, come to offer a congratulatory word or two about my match. “LoKi, glad I caught up to you, I thought you would already be gone, a few of the guys said they saw you leave a while ago.” I shrugged kind of apathetically, “Nah, not gone yet. I’m just kind of wandering around, what about you?” A boyish grin crossed his face, “Actually I was looking for you, I was wondering if you would like to go have a drink with me?” I raised an eyebrow, this was a man who had once been my enemy and now he wanted to go have a drink with me, hell why not, I thought. What’s the worst that could happen. “All right Pegs, you got yourself a drinking buddy for the night.”

He grinned again, apparently happy that I had agreed to a night of carousing with him. “Sounds great, but ahhh, can we stay away from any kind of “less than reputable” bars, I’ve had a few bad experiences.” I stared at him with a puzzled look, what the hell was this guy doing at a bar, let alone a “less than reputable” bar. I though he was supposed to be the word of God, southern preacher type guy. Oh well, never going to find out why if I didn’t ask, “Alright goody two shoes, spill it. What the hell were you doing in what you call a, “less than reputable” bar? He smiled kind of nervously, “Well before I came to work for PCW I worked for a company called IWL. It was another small Indy fed but they traveled around a bit. One night we were in New York right, and I got lost. I was trying to find the hotel I was staying at but I got lost and was going in circles. I ended up outside this place called Hog Heaven, the air was all smoky, there were a bunch of bikes parked outside, and some really bad music was playing really loudly inside, I thought it was a deli..” I stifled a laugh, “All that and you still thought it was a deli, man you really are naïve aren’t you? He nodded, looking a little annoyed that I had interrupted, oh well. “Ya I was, but anyway. I walked into the place and figured out really quickly that it was a bar. All I wanted to do was ask the bartender for directions but I couldn’t find the guy. I was sitting there minding my own business when I fight broke out. Do you remember Thorn, she was in PCW for a while?” I nodded, “Pretty vague but I remember.” He nodded again, “Well she was there to, I don’t know when she got there or why she was there but she was there and she was in a fight with half the bar. So me being the guy that I am, I jumped into the fight and tried to help her, well it didn’t exactly work, she ended up saving my hide that night.”

I couldn’t hold my laughter back anymore and it burst forth like the Hoover damn had collapsed, I was practically rolling on the ground. “So let me get this straight, you walked into a biker bar thinking it was a deli? Then when you try to play the knight in shining armor routine you’re the one that gets his ass kicked and ends up needing to be saved? Oh man that’s rich, I suppose next your going to tell me that you went back again and tried to fight some more huh? He grinned sheepishly, “Yup, that pretty much sums it up and as for the last part, no I never went back there and I never want to again.” I was laughing even harder now, to hard to form a complete sentence, I didn’t even try. I started to regain my composure but I still had tears of mirth rolling down my cheeks. All right then, I promise we wont go to any biker bars, in fact I know about a club downtown we can go to, nice little dance club so you don’t have to worry about any stripper corrupting your morality. Do you have a car here tonight? He shook his head, “No I walked tonight, I thought the fresh air would do me some good.” “No big deal, you can ride with me, I brought the Jeep tonight so there’s plenty of room.” Pegasus agreed to ride with me and soon I was driving down the twisted roads of Greenville looking for Club Energy.

“I thought you said you knew where this place was Tom?” grumbled Pegasus. “No,” I shot back, “I said I knew OF a place to go, not that I knew how to get there, so get off my back and I’ll get us there as fast as I can.” Well as fast as I can accidentally turned into an hour, now I really needed that beer. I pulled up to the club and took a quick look, sign said no one under 18 so at least we wouldn’t have to deal with a bunch of little kids bugging us for autographs and the such. I parked the jeep two blocks away and started walking towards the club. I was wrong about the autograph seekers, a group of fifteen year old kids spotted Pegasus as soon as he stepped out of my jeep and mobbed him, asking for an autograph. I was glad he was getting the attention and not me. “HEY LoKi is here to!!” Shit so much for my anonymity. I smiled and signed autographs for the kids, posed for a few pictures, the basic stuff. As the kids ran off happy as could be, Pegasus shot me a worried look, what if the other people in the club were as bad as these kids. I mean five isn’t really a big problem, five hundred on the other hand, that could be problematic .

There wasn’t a line waiting to get in because the club had already been open for a few hours, all the better to keep up the charade that we were just simple club patrons. The bouncer looked at me suspiciously and asked for my I.D. He looked over it with a scrutinizing eye more to the level of an interrogator than a simple bouncer, but I was here to have a good time, not start any fights. Pegasus on the other hand didn’t realize this, he got angry when the bouncer asked for his ID and let it be known that he was of legal age to enter the club and he felt he was being questioned unfairly. The bouncer just rolled his eyes and repeated the request for Pegasus’s drivers license. I nodded to him and he grudgingly handed it over. The giant of a man guarding the door to this oasis other wise known as Energy scrutinized Peg’s license even more fiercely than he did mine, guess that’s what he did if someone tried to make a scene. He unhooked the velvet rope and as I walked past him he called after me, “Good luck at Mass Destruction LoKi!” I cringed, damn this night was not off to a good start, if this guy recognized me then I’m sure more people inside would. I thanked the bouncer for his support and headed inside and up to the bar.

[Pegasus]

It wasn't that he really wanted to go "drinking" with LoKi... in fact, the only thing he planned to drink would be pop. He was going because there weren't too many people that Pegasus could really count on to watch his back. So having a chance to get to know a fellow competitor, having a chance to make an ally... it was something that Pegasus really couldn't turn down. Well... he could have... he should have with all the troubles he's had before when there is alcohol around. It's always said that unless you learn from the mistakes of the past, history will always repeat itself. Well, atleast Pegasus knew where he was going this time. Well... he didn't know, but LoKi did.

The place they found though, wasn't the typical place Pegasus figured it would be. He had figured it was a bar, with the typical people around trying to drown their sorrows with a various assortment of light and heavy alcohol. The place that stood before them was much different, and he wasn't even inside the building yet. A line of people stood outside the building, and LoKi jumped into the line, and Pegasus begrudgingly followed behind. It wasn't so much that Pegasus didn't like waiting... he did have a lot of patience. He just wasn't excited to have to wait to get into this... club. He didn't like being around other people very much, and it only worried him more that he didn't know what to expect once he got inside.

He could tell he was in for a long loooooooong night when the bouncer decided to take his time checking Peg's I.D. At first, Pegasus was afraid that he wouldn't even make it into the club, and that the bouncer would turn him away before he even set foot into the place. After a few moments, he decided that might not actually be so bad, and would actually kinda enjoy not going it. But it wasn't long before the card was handed back, and Pegasus and LoKi were allowed right into the place. Music was playing and the floor was covered with people dancing to the beats. That was another thing that Pegasus didn't like, dancing. Has anyone ever seen him dance? No. Would they ever see him dance? No. It just wasn't his thing, and he never expected it to be.

So it was to his pleasure that LoKi walked right past the dance floor up to the bar. A young lady quickly waited on them, getting LoKi his drink and then grabbing Pegasus his pop. After LoKi jeered him for a few moments for not getting "wasted," Pegasus turned his back to the counter and watched the people move on the dance floor. It was kinda odd, watching the way they wiggled on the floor, the way the girls moved their "lovely lady lumps," and the way most of the guys didn't even dance. They just stood on the floor and watched the girls dance, which Pegasus found to be quite funny. Watching these females letting go on the dance floor as the guys just swayed from side to side around them.

Time seemed to fly by as the two talked about their past, and even a little about the future that they both had. It was then that LoKi decided to head to the restroom, and leave Pegasus to fend for himself. It was Pegasus dreaded, and he hoped it wouldn't come to this, but here he was, surrounded by strange people that had never seen him, nor probably never would. He no longer felt safe, and that was when it happened. A female who had obviously had enough drinks for her and probably half the people at the bar happened to stumble in Pegasus' general direction. It was like a slow motion accident waiting to happen. All he could do was watch as the lady shifted from side to side, a drink sloshing about as she came ever closer. Pegasus stood, hoping to avoid her, but of course as he moved to the side, she stumbled that way, and her drink flew all over Pegasus.

Pegasus apoligized as he grabbed a napkin and attempted to dry his shirt, and that was when a hand clamped onto his shoulder, and not in a very female like manner. Pegasus looked up from his shirt to find himself face to chest with a very tall, very muscular black guy. Normally, Pegasus would have run and avoided the fight all together... but when the man already had a grip on Pegasus, there wasn't much he could really do.

You gonna say you're sorry and buy my girl a new drink, right? You're just lucky you got in here, we usually don't let your kind in here.

My kind? You mean religious nuts? Neither the man nor the lady, or anyone else in the crowd that was drawing understood the inside joke, and Pegasus only wished LoKi was there. Atleast he'd of laughed... he hoped. Ok... well, I already apoligized, but I won't buy her another drink. I think she's well over her limit. And I really don't appreciate your hand on my shoulder.

Listen, that wasn't exactly a question... more of me telling you what your going to do. So listen here Elton, you buy her a drink, and I won't hurt you.

Pegasus just shook his head as he reached up with his hands and gripped the arm that clutched him. He spun and tried to bring the man down face first into the counter top, like in all the movies where the "hero" was grabbed by some bad guy, and he pulls off some slick move to counter the guy. Unfortunately, that stuff is scripted. This though, was not. The man just grabbed Pegasus, and shoved him backwards sending him flipping over the bar. Pegasus struggled back up to his feet, not sure how he always ends up like this. The guy that had just thrown him was just waiting for him to hop back over, but Pegasus, the smart thinker that he is, decided to surprise the man. He quickly hopped onto the bar and leaped off all in a very fluid motion turning to the side slightly as he does. Sadly though... his plan didn't work, and all that happened was he found himself in the man's arms, with no way to protect himself. That was when he saw LoKi head out of the bathroom.

OOC:... yea... sorry this ain't so great Tom, and to the rest of the guys. I'll have something up either later tonight or tomorrow to make up for it hopefully, but yea... heh... poor Pegs... I always end up getting his ass kicked.