Vivian Hong | Regalia; The Crest
Vivian could feel her phone vibrate once in her back jean pocket to indicate having received a text, and she fished it out to find a message from Lex, which elicited a twitch of the corners of her mouth. The pair turned around from the bar counter to find that the neon lights were still dancing around and the music was still playing, but the warm bodies that had vacated every cranny of the space had disappeared. Vivian couldn't help but sigh inwardly as she returned the device to her pocket, making a mental note to reply to Mason later.
Goddammit. The odds that she would be returning home to her chocolate pretzels and Netflix any time soon were looking slim.
As if their cue was the period on her thoughts, their predators finally trickled into their field of vision. Most of the brutish men were wearing the stereotypical "bad man" black suits, except for one, who had donned on a bright red one for the occasion. It was almost enough to make a menstruating Vivian roll her eyeballs at his predictability. "Alfred... " Quinn said out loud, his voice tinged with surprise. A woman pushed through the seven men behind Alfred and took her place beside the brightly suited man. "Mercedes, of course." And this time Vee couldn't help herself - she snorted under her breath, but the careless noise was drowned out by the music. Her distaste was clear in her gaze though, as it lingered on the other female across the room while Gyles and Alfred spoke. And then...
"We know you guys are the bitches who've been slangin' whiplash all over the city."
Simultaneously, as Quinn expressed his own mind-boggled surprise, Vee squinted sharply and finally spoke up to say: "You're shitting me, right?"
"Cut the crap!" Mercedes interrupted, "The other hit squads are probably closing in on the rest of your crew right now." The statement urged Vivian to push through her bubbling hostility and for a moment, panic about the well-being of the rest of the crew, particularly Alexandria.
Alfred and Mercedes stepped back - Mercedes blowing a kiss to Vivian in the process, to which she responded by coolly flipping her off - and turned towards the club exits. The seven men simultaneously began removing their own glasses and tossing them to the side as they left the room. Vee could feel Quinn tense beside her as he glanced over, "So... You up for this?"
She was also removing her own jacket, stripping it from her arms and draping it across a bar stool before removing the pistol and the holster from her torso and carefully placing it on top of the leather. She kept her attention on the advancing men as she cracked her knuckles. It was strange; now that the two mouthy jackasses had left, her anger and aggression was begging to be let out.
"First to four, wins," was her only response before Vivian flashed him a quick, affirming nod and met the first of the offenders halfway. She ducked under his sloppy, right hook and brought her knee up, driving it into his stomach.
Concept
