Sonya walked in at the head of her group. She’d ged into a dress for the occasion, a white sparkling backless gown that fit tightly around her frame with a pair of silver ptes pying at being a corset around her waist. It was one of Mikay’s designs. Her hair in a ponytail bound with a silver csp adorned with pink jewels. Her skin glittered uhe lights. A spectacle that shimmered just as brightly as the elegant delier above. All eyes were on her. It felt amazing. Their trip had been a secret, but now that they’d arrived all pretense of subtlety was thrown out the window.
“Oh it's beautiful in here,” She said with a sigh, casting a brilliant smile at a few of those gawking at her.
Marta stepped up to her side with a slight flush and frown on her face, Sonya had insisted she dress up. She wore a bd white sleeved sundress, the open sleeves and the lower part around her legs were a ce. Her brown hair had been braided ly, hanging down her shoulder and ending in a jeweled clip. Sonya had never been good at braiding hair but it turned out Bluestar had several sisters, so she’d been happy to help. Her friend gnced her way and raised an eyebrow, “ter of attention again, ma’am?”
Sonya grinned, “Always.”
The Chairman cleared his throat as he walked past in his suit, “I’ll get our keys,” He said with a harrumph. He was clearly excited to be here but Sonya guessed he felt a little straaying at a pce this nice when they were on gover business. Sonya had no supuns so she had helped foot the bill. She watched the man go as his son and future daughter in w walked up to the statue.
Sonya gnced sidelong at Hyunh, “Everything you imagined?”
Hyunh turo look at Sonya, “It’s a bit of an eyesore,” She said and gnced back up at the statue, “The Hotel is, I mean.”
Duong grunted nonittally and Sonya casually jolted him with Imperious. She was feeliy. In response, Hyunh twitched and frowned. Sonya restrained a smile and turned around to put her hands on her hips. Firestorm and his team were looking around in awe and obvious disfort. The three men wore bck suits that Sonya had made sure were prepared for them, each with decorative stripes color coded for their heroic identities. She hadn’t interfered with Bluestar’s outfit, the blue suit erfect for her and she approved.
“You four o get used to this kind of thing,” Sonya chastised them, raising an eyebrow, “You’re with me.”
Firestorm met her gaze and flushed, looking down at his feet. Lifesaver ran his hand over his bald head and took it all in, not even listening. Bandit tried a little harder to look natural but it only made him look kind of stipated. Bluestar simply let out a breath and walked over to her, sighing, “They’ll get over it,” She assured Sonya.
“I was including you,” Sonya said with a wink, “You’re sweating, Jessica. Rex! We’re here food time!”
“Says you,” Bandit groused as he walked over, “You’re not dreadiing the iional heroes.”
Sonya leaned back, “Who says I’m not nervous?” She asked, ign the butterflies that rose up in her gut. She leaned forward and gri him, “I’m just better at faking it than you.”
Hyunh snorted nearby and Sonya pursed her lips. Patience, Sonya, she’ll be dead before you head home. Patience. She reminded herself a out a breath, gng towards the Chairman alking over. “All good?”
The Chairman handed Sonya a pair of key cards with a room number on them, “All yours,” He said brightly. “Also, you should have mentiohat yistered rooms here for the Iional Team. They weren’t expeg to stay somewhere like this,” He said with a bit of a frown.
Sonya gave him an aghast look, “The Pandora ittee’s top heroes staying anywhere else while in my care? Preposterous!” She said, raising her hand to her chest in offense, “How could you even sider it?”
He bnched, “W-well when you put it that way-” He trailed off as Sonya ughed.
“I’m teasing you, Chairman,” She said and walked over, log arms with him, “I made a uniteral decision and had Car take care of the details. Sorry I didn’t tell you, but I wao make a good impression on them. She tells me that the US Branch just assumed I was being etrid didn’t see a problem.”
The older man sighed, “You are beyond anyone’s trol, aren’t you?” He asked with a chuckle, walking with her.
“It’s something I’m quite proud of,” She agreed.
“Sonya? Where are you going?” Bluestar called.
Sonya gnced over her shoulder, “The valets will take care of ys, silly, we’re all checked in. Time to see the o!” She said brightly.
The others looked at one another and smiled before hurrying to follow her as she bantered with the Chairman of the Pandora ittee. He did not seem upset to have her esc him.
–
Ihan an hour they had all rgely scattered throughout the o. Firestorm and his group stuck together in a little clique while Hyunh and Duoheir own way. The Chairman had opted to go speak with some of the politis he reized at one of the card tables while Sonya stood off to the side as Marta sat down at a dice table. The dealer looked up at her as she remaianding, sipping soda from the fa gss she could find at the bar. She thought it was funny.
“Is the beautiful miss joining us?” The Dealer asked.
Sonya shook her head, “Sweet of you to invite me, but I have a sensory power, I shouldn’t be doing too much gambling at tables. I’ll probably hit the slots ter, less of an advahere.”
The dealer looked taken aback, “We’re still ironing out the rules about light-touched abilities in the o, there shouldn’t be a problem ma’am,” The dealer said. She g his name above his head and saw that he was unawakened. He clearly was still one of those who didn’t quite uand what he was dealing with when it came to those with abilities.
She gri him, “Nice sales pitch, but I think your boss appreciates my stance more than you do.”
He frowned and then paused, his head didn’t move but it was clear he was listening to something. He nodded slowly, “He would like to have a drink with you ter, if possible,” The dealer said.
Sonya gnced down at Marta, leaned in and whispered in her ear, “Practiuscle trol while you’re pying,” She said and pat her arm, “I’ll be fine.”
Marta gnced her way with a bit of before nodding, “Uood,” She said, looking down at the table again thoughtfully and with no small amount of excitement.
Sonya stood back up and smiled at the dealer, “I have time now.”
The dealer nodded and after a moment said, “He’s ihird VIP room,” He said, pointing at a set of doors along the wall. Sonya gave him a gracious nod and slipped away, making sure to take a bit of an irregur route so that she could pass by Hyunh as she sat at a baccarat table with Duong standing over her like an angry hound. She shot Duong a jolt of Imperious as she walked by, causing Hyunh to reastead. The woman twitched and lost focus for a moment as Sonya stepped up to the door to the VIP room and slipped inside.
The room was surprisingly rge for a VIP room. One could fit about twenty to thirty people in here fortably. There was a single rge table in the ter of the room with elegant decorations on the wall surrounding it. A delier hung over the table where several men and women sat pying cards with one another. One of them, a man in a nearly metallic looking suit, stood up immediately upon her entrand walked over with a perfect smile. He held out his hand, “Sonya ovna herself, to think I’d have the opportunity to host the Voice at my hotel.”
Not a bad haul so far, one more person. She turo look at the man who stood up as Prichard introduced him. He was a thin man with slightly sunken eyes and cheeks. His hands seemed frail even though he felt anything but. Her heart froze in her chest as she forced every ounce of tration into maintaining a calm demeanor. “And this is Craig Hart, he’s in real estate like myself,” Prichard said.
Craig extended a hand, “It’s a pleasure, Miss ovna. We should do business sometime, I hear you’ve been w out of your boratory. You really should get a prhrise at some point,” The man said as she took his hand.
Craig Hart, one of Otis’ top iors and supporters. You helped fund the war, bastard. She thought as she smiled at him, “It’s been something I’ve been thinking about,” She admitted with an easy ugh, “I need more er product going out before I justify it though.”
He raised an eyebrow, “So you pn on produg er product?” He asked.
She shrugged, pulling her hand away and slipping into one of the chairs at the table. A few people had shifted over to allow her to sit o Prichard. He was trying to make a point. She let it happen. It didn’t bother her that he was using her preseo earn political points, she was intending to do the exact same thing to him. Though her priorities had shifted a bit. She o figure out where iel Craig was staying.
He couldn’t be allowed to leave this pce alive.
Just another body in Vegas. She thought grimly as a waiter came over a down a gss before p some soda into it. “Oh, thank you!” She said and took up the gss.
A few of the elites around her gave her odd looks, she just smiled at them sweetly, “I have a hard time getting drunk these days, it’s not as fun as it used to be,” She said, tappiemple. She made it seem like it had something to do with her eyes, which wasirely false. They looked at one another and shrugged as the dealer present shuffled the cards.
“So, we were talking about ASTA’s er goods,” Craig said eagerly, wanting to get ba topie of the others, the man who had Bea, also took i. He was in the er eleics field, a tele pany executive.
“I ’t say much, you uand,” She said with a bit of a smile, “But I am ied in a few areas. We’ve learned a lot of very iing things from the materials we’ve acquired from monsters and the dungeons we’ve involved ourselves in,” Sonya said, “Textiles of course, but also unications. Lines of mundane tact are cut off between outside parties and those inside of a dungeon. That’s a danger we want to try to overe.”
“A strong signal that could outpy anything currently on the market,” The executive ented.
Sonya shrugged, “Perhaps. Now! How about some cards? I assume I’m allowed to py with a full deck, Mister Earl?” She asked.
The hotel’s owner ined his head, “I’m curious to see what those eyes of yours are capable of,” He said and o the dealer and their little game began.
–
Sonya folded her hand and sat back, getting a surprised look fr as the man stared at his cards and sighed, throwing them onto the table. He scratched his head, “You are a mo this,” He chuckled and leaned ba his seat. “I’ve never met someoh intuition like yours.”
You all might have excellent poker faces for the mundane, but your microexpressions, body temperature, breathing, all of it is just data to me. My senses read you like a book even if its something my eyes ’t immediately notice. She thought smugly, “And that’s why I refused to py at the table out there,” She said casually.
“Remarkable,” Prichard said, “I may have lost more than I expected but it was worth every penny. Could I perhaps i you in dier tonight, Miss ovna?” He asked.
She tilted her head, “I’m afraid not, I am meeting with some rather important people reted to my work tonight, it wouldn’t do for me to not be there,” She said, “Also, and I say this in the ossible, you’re not my type.”
The man burst into ughter, “Your bluntness is refreshing!” He said, “Damn shame, that’s alright though. We really should talk more though.”
“That, I believe, be arranged,” Sonya agreed as Craig got to his feet across from her.
“As for me, I’m going to retire to my room soon, thank you again for the exg evening, Prichard,” Craig said and stretched his back. “Miss ovna, a pleasure.”
“I’ll reach out soon,” She said with a nod and got to her feet as well, I’m not letting you out of my sight. “I should chey people. Thank you again, Mister Earl.”
“Prichard, please,” The man said with a wave of his hand, “Enjoy the rest of your stay Miss ovna.”
She o him, “I most certainly will,” She said and turo foll out, bloodlust burning just beh her skin.