III: The Girl Who Ran: Dirty Hands and Dark Hearts

XXXVI: Barnes Incorporated

Sunny/Tatiana - 9:45 p.m.

Tatiana squared her shoulders as she shot up in the elevator. 'Early' as she was, the staff wouldn't let her go upstairs to the party. Instead, she had loitered around the lobby for a half an hour, making sure she was well within the camera's view.

The elevator seemed to go up forever. Tatiana grabbed the railing and shifted the weight off of her ankle. She let her lips curve into a grimace. She hoped it passed for a smile. Two other woman and a man stood in the elevator with her. One Asian woman wearing the largest emerald ring Tatiana had ever seen started talking to her.

"Hi! I don't think I've seen you at one of these before. What's your name?" Her voice was decidedly high-pitched, but pleasant, nonetheless.

"Marianne," Tatiana said, filtering her voice with an American accent. They hadn't given her much to act off of, so she improvised. "Of Barnes Incorporated," she lifted her head. It wasn't a lie.

The woman tilted her head, "I'm sorry, I haven't heard of you..."

"Don't worry about it. My company went dormant for a little while," Tatiana touched her necklace lightly. "I'm afraid I don't recognize you."

The woman's eyes widened a fraction, "Oh! I'm Hikari. My father runs QUIKLY media."

The elevator dinged and the doors slid open to thrumming music. A couple of older people had gathered in the penthouse, but otherwise it was empty.

"Guess we're early!" Hikari was still at her side. "Want to go get something to drink?"

Tatiana scanned the room for any sign of Stark, but found none. It's not like she could get drunk, so why not? She shrugged at her new friend, "Sure."

Hikari waltzed ahead of her to the bar. Tatiana straightened herself out and locked the pain of her aching ankle into the cage deep inside her, but she had a feeling the lock wouldn't work again after Korvidar broke it.

Speak of the devil.

The man appeared next to her as she made her way to the bar, "Classy, I suppose. Could be better."

"Go away, Korvidar." Tatiana gritted her teeth. She'd rather liked it when he wasn't messing with her head.

"You know, as the keeper of the Power Stone, I would've thought you would enjoy my company," he pouted. "After all, if I were you, I would want to stay on my good side. You remember what I can do, don't you?"

Tatiana sat beside Hikari. She saw Korvidar sit on the stool on her other side.

"I ordered for you. I hope you'll like it! They don't even ID here!" Hikari handed her a little drink with a lime on the rim.

Tatiana nodded her thanks and sipped her drink.

"Why are you here?" Hikari asked after downing half of her own drink.

Tatiana's heart stopped for half a second, "How do you mean?"

Hikari shrugged, "I'm here to represent my dad, with a little of my own man-hunting on the side."

"Stark and I have some unfinished business," Tatiana yawned, "boring stuff."

Hikari rolled her eyes, "Tell me about it. Anyway, will you stay with me for the party? You're the first girl my age I've seen around these things in forever."

Korvidar piped up, "Yeah, Titania. Go manhunting. Maybe skinny as a rail is back in fashion."

Tatiana smiled as genuinely as she could at Hikari, "Of course."