"In today's top news, Umbrella Pharmaceuticals have announced the death of its President, Weston Hayes, believed to be from a heart attack. Assigned to the position in 1994, Hayes was regarded as an instrumental force behind many of Umbrella's top achievements and movements, including their most recent decision to offer sponsorship towards the newly conceived Champion of Fists tournament. It is, no doubt, a tremendous loss to the company, as one insider noted. While the details of Mr. Hayes death are not completely known, we do promise to have more details on this story as it develops..."
=====
-Room No. 105, the Makai-
Working as an unintentional alarm clock, the jubilant, electronic sound of Natalie's cellphone causes her to stir under the bedcovers with a slightly irritated groan, knowing she wouldn't be able to fall back to sleep now that she was awake. With the phone still ringing, Natalie eventually peels herself off the bed and walks over towards the coffee table where it's located, inwardly cursing herself for forgetting to turn it off last night. Bringing it into her view, half-lidded turquoise eyes rest on the luminous screen as it reads out 'Die Parker Die!' confirming to Natalie who the caller is.
"Typical. Just typical..." Natalie mutters, pressing the disconnect button instead of answering the call before viewing the phone's call history. 10 missed calls? He blew off this phone 10 times?! She soon finds herself letting out a smirk. Good. Let Parker ring a million times, see if I care. To Natalie, any opportunity there was to get under Parker's skin in some fashion she not only took, but would even hijack and hold it for ransom. In other words, just like old times...
According to the time on the phone it was almost midday, Natalie noted. Just as she heads to the bathroom for a quick shower, the pattering sound of feet accompanied by a meow announces Freckle's presence as he play-attacks Natalie's feet from behind, soon purring with obvious delight at his owner finally being awake. Natalie stoops down to tickle the back of his ear then walks into the bathroom, Freckle close behind. A half-hour later she was done, walking back to the bedroom in time to catch Jin rubbing his eyes to adjust to the bright afternoon sunlight. The TV was also on, and with a quick glance Natalie saw that it was on one of the news channels, broadcasting current tournament events.
"A slight miscommunication between the team of Cana and Mika caused them to concede both rounds of today's match against the teamwork of Guile and Karin," the anchorman states. "Karin, whose Zaibatsu is the co-sponsor of this tournament, had this to say after her match."
"Afternoon," Natalie says as she turns back to Jin with a warm smile.
Kushina, in turn, returns it with a small nod. "Parker just called."
"Did he?" The smile quickly fades as Natalie shakes her head slightly with a small sigh. "Figured me deliberately cutting him off earlier would've made him get the hint. So you spoke to him?"
"Yeah." Noticing the flash of surprise on Natalie's face, Jin elaborates. "Well, he kept ringing and damn ringing, then when I tried to turn it off, I accidentally pressed the wrong button, so I spoke to him,"
"Oh." Natalie grins, trying to imagine a possible conversation between the two that wouldn't involve threats and unashamed cursing, and failing. "So what'd he say?"
Jin shrugged. "Dunno. He started yelling some stuff, thinking it was you. I interrupted long enough to tell him who he was actually talking to, and that if he ever spoke to you or me like that again I'd cut out his tongue and make him swallow it, so he can taste his own bullsh-t."
Natalie laughs, giving him a lopsided grin. "I'm sure that shut him up. I take it he was quick to get off the phone after that."
"Pretty much."
Natalie laughs again, rerunning Jin's comment to Parker in her mind a second time whilst searching for some clothes to wear today. She also decides to switch the topic.
"You going to see Fei today?"
"Fei? Oh yeah, I said I'd see him today, didn't I...?" Jin responds. "Well, I'm sure he's gone out already now, considering what time it is,"
Finally adjusting her white top, Natalie pockets her wallet and straps a holster for Claire around her left calf beneath the loose black cargo pants, completing her outfit. She'd probably have to invest in more "proper" attire for work soon, but today was just going to have to be casual. Parker could find something else to bitch about besides her clothes. She secures the gun in its place and blinks as the chittering of a hungry baby chipmunk catches her attention.
"Oh crap, I forgot..." Natalie mutters, soon turning a sweet smile toward Jin, which the latter knew meant a "honey-do" moment was coming, yet wasn't quick enough to prevent it. "Jin, since you aren't busy today, can you feed the babies?"
"Wait, I didn't say that I wasn't-" Kushina would never get to finish that protest.
"Just soak Happy in that pan of water by his cage, give him five crickets and a few mealworms from those cans there. Give all the lizards the same thing, but be sure to dust the crickets and worms with the vitamin dust sitting by Rosie's tank. Give Rosie only three or four crickets, and Kermit the crab gets the hermit crab food in the jar by his cage. Don't forget to give him brackish water! Not too much salt, not too fresh. Brackish!! Mrs. Pac-man gets crickets too, but she's been grumpy lately and she might bite so be careful, and last but not least the chipmunk has to be fed soon! I'm sure the poor thing is starving..." Natalie took a brief pause to gulp down some air before continuing. "He's weaning so just mix peanut butter and this powdered stuff with some condensed milk and put it in his dish. He should eat on his own but you might have to clean him up after that. Got it?" By this point, Natalie was already by the door, with her hair now braided. "Oh, and give Freckle some kitty kibbles!" she adds. The cat gave a pleased meow at that, followed by Natalie closing the door behind her and leaving Jin with nothing to do but give a defeated sigh.
"At least she could've said goodbye..."
=====
-Poolside, The Makai-
The near perfection of the day, with the sun high in the bright, blue sky and a mild breeze blowing in from the ocean, seemed to beckon most of the Makai's guests to the pool area. Many would have preferred the beach, but it was swamped with people - many of which would recognise and pester the fighters as they tried to relax.
Lounge chairs lined the outer perimeter of the large pool, but only half of those seats were occupied. Everyone who wasn't trying to work on a tan was in the water. Since most people in the chairs were reading or dozing, and most in the pool were chatting, only a surprisingly small amount of people noticed the very, very large sumo champion sporting black trunks climbing the ladder for the high dive. Eliza was among that number she blinked several times, turning back to snatch Mel from the edge of the water quickly.
"But mommy, I wanna swiiiiim..." the boy whined.
"We can swim in the other end, sweetie," she answered as she carries her son - giraffe floatie and all - towards the other end of the pool and away from the soon-to-be danger zone. Among the oblivious still in the water is Sakura, currently attempting to drown Dan for various unknown (but probably justified) reasons, and Elena swimming circles around a rather red-faced John Heagy. Poolside, there were several people in lounge chairs, half of which hadn't moved in the last half hour. Most noticeable amongst them was Hugo, asleep in a chair with his aluminium reflector dangling neglected from his fingertips. From above, Edmond Honda observes them all, then grins wide before he sets one foot on the board, feeling it already beginning to give to his massive weight with an audible creaking sound. Those who hear it look up, all too late, and panic spreads over every face.
"BANZAI!!" came the deep roar that alerted everyone who might still be oblivious.
The diving board all but groaned in protest as the huge man bounded out to the end, jumped once on the tip (which did not break, to the sheer amazement of all) and once launched into the air, grabbed his legs in a Cannon-Ball of Doom. For those almost directly under him, time seemed to slow, and their limbs simply would not move fast enough. Honda hit the water with a resounding slap, the initial wave rising over the height of an average man and serving to absolutely soak everyone within twenty feet of the point of entry. The thin geyser that erupted directly after the wave shot all the way up to the diving board and a little beyond. A moment later, the sumo surfaced with a broad grin at the moaning and growling of all the sun-worshippers who'd gotten their towels and magazines wet.
"Geez, Honda! You could've warned us or something!" Victoria yells from poolside. Granted, she was among the least soaked, if at all - even more fortunate was her Victoria's Secret magazine managing to remain dry - but the sumo's yell and ensuing splash had still interrupted her tan, her brief nap and almost ruined her recently bought outfit. Several other fighters express similar sentiments as Enid - some evidently more vulgar than others - towards Honda, who simply booms out a casual, bellowing laugh in response. No sooner does Victoria lie back down to soak in more sunrays does a shadow cast itself over her, forcing her to look up at a familiar face.
"Vick?" Sean inquires, only to give a satisfied grin at the result. "Been looking all over for you." He looks around, suddenly noticing the large puddle under his feet and along the pool edge. "Uh, what happened here?"
"Honda. Cannonball, and," Victoria makes a gesture, "the results." As if on cue, those in the pool when Honda had hit begin to surface, most of them a little shaken up but otherwise normal, save for Dan who was busy trying to get the water out of his ears. A select few had even been carried out of the water from the force of Honda's splash, now part of the still-present tirade.
The look of amusement on Sean's face is clear, as he tries to envision the scenario preceding what he's seeing now. "Neat. Wish I could've seen it."
"So you were looking for me?" Victoria asks. "What for, exactly?"
"Yeah," Sean confirms. "I just wanted to let you know that our first match's gonna be tomorrow, in case you didn't know."
"Tomorrow?"
"Well, tomorrow evening to be exact."
Victoria takes a look at her watch to check today's date. "It's gonna be the 17th tomorrow already?! That was fast."
"Yeah, I know," Sean agrees. "Turns out the people we're facing are Cody and Pablo. In fact," Sean points out over towards his right, "I think that's Cody right over there."
"Ah, okay." Victoria gives a small nod as she attempts to seek out the person Sean pointed out, but fails to catch him fully as he passes through the exit. From what she did see, however, it wasn't the person she came to this tournament to look for.
"Vick?" Sean waved one hand in front of Enid's face, cutting her thoughts off for the moment.
"Hmm?"
"I was saying," Sean reiterates, "You think you're ready for this match?"
"Oh, sorry," Victoria gives a sheepish grin. "Probably not, but I still have time to get ready. You?"
"I think I am, yeah," Sean beams confidently. "With sensei making me train almost everyday, I can't afford to be anything but ready!"
"That's good," Victoria replies encouragingly. She was sure that Riq would make her do the same thing, if he could, wherever he was. As Victoria ponders on for the umpteenth time on what seemingly private, secret acts the Puerto Rican was up to that he wouldn't tell her about, Sean asks her another question.
"You gonna be busy later, by any chance?"
"Busy? Uh, no, not really," Besides her intents to catch a tan today - she takes a few seconds to observe the results, and gives a mental glee of approval - Victoria hadn't set her sights on doing much else. "Why?"
"Well, I was just thinking... with all this training and hanging around the hotel I haven't had time to have any real fun, and there's this new club in town I wanna check out." He pauses. "I think it's called 'The Lani', 'Club Lani' or Lani-something. Anyway... I was thinking, maybe you'd like to come too?"
Victoria picks up on his implications immediately. "So you're asking me out on a date?"
"Was thinking more of just a night out of fun between friends," Sean admits. "But if you want it to be a date, then..." he trails of deliberately, throwing in a sly grin that causes Victoria to laugh at the almost corny-looking expression the combination paints on Matsuda's face.
"Alright, I'll come," Victoria says. She was always up for a night out of clubbing, and it had been a while since she'd done that. "I'll be ready by 9PM, okay?"
"Cool. It's a date, then," Sean winks at Victoria's raised brow. "Well, I'm gonna head back before sensei sees me and thinks I'm slacking off." He then jogs off.
"Later!" Victoria shouts.
=====
-Somewhere in Honolulu, Oahu, Hawaii-
A bronze colored key slipped into the keyhole, allowing entrance to its owner into a dark, seemingly small room. A flip of a light switch was enough to illuminate the room completely, proving the size of the space to be slightly larger than originally assumed. Finally taking a step inside and closing the door behind him, Enrique Pierantoni takes a minute to quickly survey the place. To his right, the single window this room had was closed shut and covered with blinders. Above and right of the window was an air conditioner which, considering the cooling sensation he felt as he walked in, had been running for at least a couple of hours. A storage cabinet stood directly in front of him and to his left was an office desk, complete with two chairs, a desktop computer and several other supplies scattered on its wooden surface.
Ignoring everything else placed on the desk, Pierantoni's eyes fell upon a clay pot adorning the table. A single yellow flower sprung up from it, which Riq could not identify - nor did he care. Staring at it for two full seconds, he then grabbed it by the stem, moved to the small trashcan by the doorway and carelessly dropped the plant into it.
"Now all I need is an assistant..." He jokingly mused to himself as he walked back to the desk, placing his laptop case on the same spot the plant had occupied earlier, and then heedlessly takes a seat facing the monitor. Relaxing back into his chair, arms resting behind his head, Enrique waited a few seconds for the computer to finish loading up. Glancing towards the far corner of the room, he noticed the coffee maker resting on a small table and the tiny refrigerator accompanying it. At least his current boss bothered to know him well.
His current boss, Snake, had arranged to facilitate the small area for Riq's "professional" purposes. From what Pierantoni could see, the room had been prepared with pretty much anything he would need for the fulfillment of his mission. Although Riq preferred his obviously more comfortable room at The Makai, he admitted a location was needed to handle any incoming or outgoing classified data between him and his superiors or coordinates. It was far simpler for the government to ready a rented office space, than to attempt to do the same at a vastly populated hotel.
Slipping his fingers into the case's front pocket, Riq retrieves a jump drive and connects it to the desktop. Earlier, he had been able to download all the surveillance videos belonging to a certain nightclub known as Ali'i's Lounge, specifically the ones pertaining to an assassination that had occurred in the lounge several nights prior. In any other case, such an event like this would have been completely irrelevant to his work, but the murder victim had been Holden Blake; the well recognized PR of the Umbrella Pharmaceuticals. With the corporation's untimely loss of its President, and now its Public Relations Director, it most likely proved not to be a coincidental chain of events as far as Pierantoni was concerned.
Riq had already watched the video relevant to the murder itself. Nothing too interesting: Holden catching a bullet directly to the chest, dying instantly, and the subsequent panic erupting through the crowd. According to some witnesses, Holden had been speaking to two unidentified women before the actual event occurred. Unfortunately, and much to Riq's chagrin, the feed he had seen was not angled correctly to view Holden's companions.
Another capture, which had proven useless to local authorities, briefly showed the killer himself quickly disappearing out of view. The masked man was not identified as of yet by any law enforcement agency dealing with the case, but Riq was certain that no one who had this film in their hands knew exactly what to look for.
Relaxing back into his chair, arms resting behind his head, Enrique waited a few seconds for the video to begin playing. No sooner had the first few seconds of footage began to play, did the phone suddenly ring, interrupting his task. Clicking stop on the feed, he picked up the wireless receiver and spoke into it.
"Pierantoni."
"Ah, so you are there. Good." Snake's voice boomed slowly in the receiver. "There's something you need to see. Top cabinet drawer, far left."
Riq got up to open the drawer. From inside he fetched a large, manila envelope with the word CONFIDENTIAL sealed across.
"What is it?" Enrique asked, already anticipating the answer.
"You'll see soon enough," came the reply, shortly before the line went dead.
=====
-FBI Honolulu, Oahu, Hawaii-
When Natalie entered Parker's office at almost three-thirty in the afternoon, she was hoping that by some chance he wouldn't be there. Naturally, her hopes were dashed with an irritated, "You're late."
"I prefer to think of it as extremely early for tomorrow," she quipped in return, plopping into the chair across from his desk. Kyle did not seem amused.
"Just what were you doing all day?"
She wanted to glare at him, but instead smiled at his ire. "Sleeping."
"For ten hours? No one needs that much sleep, Wyn."
"Not ten. I wasn't that lucky, you kept ringing the damn phone. And yes, anyone would need that much and more, after being at work for... what, over forty hours straight?? And just for your information, I didn't get to sleep until four-thirty this morning."
Kyle raised both brows. "We dropped you off at just after one. You looked dead tired." He smirked, "So what kept you up? Maybe next time I'll work you a bit harder."
Natalie only sneered. "No, thank you. And what occupied me for that lapse in time isn't really any of your business, either. Suffice to say that it helped make up for all the hell you enjoy putting me through."
Parker smirked, typing something on the laptop that was set before him on his desk. "Work is work, Wynshire. You've got catching up to do. In any case, I have to say I'm surprised you are actually getting married. Did you know that for the longest time, there was a betting pool that you were a lesbian?" He chuckled at the scowl that briefly showed on her face.
"I think I'd actually rather be a lesbian, than date any of the old creeps that came onto me back in the day, Kyle. Thankfully, I found someone worth spending my time with. Someone who will quite happily stomp your ass into the ground if you keep harassing us with phone calls and threatening me."
"Empty promises, Wyn. Empty promises. We both know you're on thin ice as it is." The sugarcoated smile just made Natalie want to pull his teeth out and screw them into his eyeballs.
"Whatever, sir. What was it that was so friggin' important anyway?"
Kyle turned the laptop around so that she could see the screen.
"There were reports of an explosion last night in Honolulu, near the docks. I haven't received anything official on it, but a surveillance camera caught this image nearby a few minutes later."
Natalie looked at the blurry image. The facial features were a little hard to make out, but the mustache and the tuxedo looked familiar. It took her a moment, and then she placed a name with the face, eyes narrowed slightly. To her superior, she said nothing of her recognition of the man. "And?"
"And," Parker let the word drag, "I intended on sending you to investigate it. Since you were so late, however, I had to send someone else."
Natalie smiled. "Aww, pity."
Parker smiled in turn, which could not be a good thing. "Oh, don't worry Agent Wynshire. I do have an assignment for you. You aren't the only one we're assigning to investigate Umbrella. Not only has the government of a Federal level assigned several others, but also in military operations as well. Interpol and at least one other organization are aiding the investigation and there's been word that MI5 might even be involved to some degree, though not officially." He turned the laptop back around and pulled up a few profiles of those involved, glancing over them once more. "There will be a meeting at 0800 hours tomorrow morning. You are to attend."
Natalie took the folder he slid across the desk and opened it. She blanched momentarily, a soft sigh escaping her. Parker raised a brow, but didn't ask any questions. "So, what am I to do today?" she asked.
Parker snorted, "You, Wyn, are to update yourself accordingly with the status of your job. While we prefer as few people as possible know about your return to Federal work, you need to not look like some street punk when it comes to official business."
Natalie's eyes narrowed instantly. "What I wear is my own damn business..." Well, there were way around his instructions... and judging by the look on his face, she'd have to use them and deal with it. "Fine," she huffed. "Is that all?"
Parker pursed his lips a bit. "No. My instructions for you include a couple more assignments for further training"
Wynshire raised one thin brow. "But I thought my training was considered complete..."
"The next few missions are going to require a lot more than any one agent can normally handle. We've lost more than a dozen of our best, and my superiors have ordered special training for anyone and everyone else involved. You can start this evening at the shooting range."
Her smile was almost instantly back in place, "Yes, sir. I'll get right on that."
Kyle frowned and said, "Do that. But make sure you take the time to get some better clothes before tomorrow's meeting. The guys at the range have the rest of your instructions." He eyed her a bit warily. The girl had a little too much love for guns, in his opinion. Then with reluctance, he dismissed her and she was on her way, half full of dread for the meeting, half full of excitement at the prospect of furthering her abilities. She was a great marksman with Claire, but there were a few types of guns she'd yet to master. Then there was explosives... something she'd been fascinated by.
"Maybe some parts of work aren't so bad..."
=====
-Riq's Office-
For what was probably the twentieth time, the same footage played before Riq's narrowed green eyes, hoping to see something anyone else might have missed. He made no attempt at all to identify the attacker since from the brief split second he appeared on screen it was seemingly impossible. He focused his eyes on the turmoil of the crowd and had as of yet to see anything useful.
Leaving his seat sharply, he headed to pour himself a cup of coffee - with extra sugar - in an attempt to sharpen his senses. Taking a large gulp he sat back down, and replayed the video footage once again, focusing this time on the crowd's movement pattern towards the exit, located at the left side of the monitor screen.
Pierantoni blinked momentarily and with a small smirk, he gave a small pat to his coffee mug.
"The hell didn't I see you before..." With a quick movement of the mouse, he zoomed into the lower corner of the footage, noticing for the first time that evening the figure racing opposite of the multitude's direction.
"Got...cha!" he said, as he took three quick screen shots of the figure. Luckily, the resolution was enough for him to make out the person's features.
As he set off the printer, he glanced to his left at the scattered documents he had retrieved from the envelope. Only one more reason to bring Umbrella down... He thought grimly. The document contained the profiles of three children found nearly a year ago outside a suspected location of an Umbrella research facility. All three died almost immediately as they were rescued and all had physical remnants of extreme corporal and genetic manipulation.
Removing the pictures from the printer, Enrique proceeded to research on his new lead's whereabouts.
=====
-The Lani, around 10:45PM, Honolulu-
The nightclub throbbed with a sensual, pulsating rhythm as it pours out its infectious sounds upon its participants. No sooner had Sean and Victoria passed the security gate did they feel themselves beginning to move along to the music. That had been over 20 minutes ago; now Enid stands near the dance floor, alone, holding a glass of Martini in one hand. Sean, meanwhile, had returned back to the bar for another drink. That had been about 5 minutes ago.
Just then, she heard the sound of approaching footsteps from behind her, shortly before a large pair of hands wrapped themselves around her eyes. A low voice spoke into her ear pleasantly, "Guess who? I'll give you three chances."
Caught completely off-guard, Victoria gasps with obvious surprise, but then she finds herself smiling with some amusement. Okay, I'll play this lil' game she concedes, letting out her first guess immediately. "Sean?"
"Nope," came the response.
"Uh, Ricky Martin?" Well, it was worth a shot.
The voice laughed. "Come on, you're not really trying are you?"
Over the loud music, it was difficult for Victoria to recognize the voice, so she now places her fingers on his hands as if attempting to recognize them. Ken? Nah, not his style. Riq? So definitely NOT his style. The thought of her mentor being here was unlikely enough as it was, let alone playing these little games with her.
"You give up?" her as-of-yet unidentifiable voice asks.
Victoria ponders for a few more seconds, before admitting defeat. "Yeah, I give up. Who is it?"
"Oh, that's a shame..." the voice says with a mock-hurt tone, just before they remove their hands from over her eyes, allowing Victoria to turn around to identify her new guest. Victoria turns around, and the small smile she wore was immediately replaced by a look of pure shock. Her eyes widen at first, and then fall into narrow slits.
"What do you want?" she demands, trying to take a step back but not having the full freedom to because of the crowd.
Pablo flashes a winning smile, although it naturally does nothing to ease the expression on Millan's face. As if having all the time in the world, he eventually speaks, "I felt it necessary to clear up any possible animosity between us, preciosa." He extends a hand. "The name's Pablo, and you are Victoria, yes?"
Victoria glances dully at his extended hand, clearly making no attempt to return his greeting. "So you're..." She couldn't believe her luck, her first match tomorrow was actually against this guy already? Perfect.
"What, no manners?" Pablo retracts his hand, and loses the smile, yet maintains a nonchalant, almost amused demeanour. "I know some say chivalry is dead, yet I didn't think you to be void of it, Victoria."
"He almost died. And you expect me to regard you with anything other than disgust?" Victoria took a quick, casual sip of the drink she held, the thought of throwing it into his face not too far behind. She represses it, however.
Pablo appears to take on a baffled look at this. "I'm afraid that, again, I don't know who this person is you keep bringing up." He throws up another smile, this time akin to the one Victoria saw over a week ago at the luau. "It's fortunate to hear that the old man's okay, though."
"Cut the crap," Victoria spat, glaring at him. "I know it's you that's responsible, and I won't let you get away with it either!" She takes in a deep breath to make herself calm, not wanting to cause a huge scene and draw attention to herself. It would be so easy to attack him now, she admits. So easy to damage as much of that smug expression across his face as she could in a single moment, and end this "game" he felt he could play with her. Unwilling to let her words end there, Millan spoke on, "I would ask you why you did it, but it wouldn't change the ass kicking I'm giving you tomorrow."
"If you say so, senorita," Pablo chuckles, brushing one hand through his hair. "As far as tomorrow goes, we shall certainly see how sharp your thorns are. I'd certainly like to experience that, indeed."
"Whatever," Victoria says with a deliberately uninterested tone. "Now if you're done here, I'm gonna look for my date." Granted, Sean wasn't her date, but it didn't hurt Victoria to make Pablo think otherwise.
"He can't be much of a date if he's willing to leave you alone like that, don't you think?" Pablo retaliates. He takes a small step forward as he says this, subtly managing to cut off Victoria's freedom of movement, in effect trapping her between himself and the crowd behind her. Dark-brown eyes stare down into the glaring orbs that are Victoria's own, and then Pablo suddenly looks up, detecting an approaching energy signature that stands out from the general aura of the crowd. His suspicions are soon confirmed.
"This guy bothering you, Vick?" Sean interjects. He jerks a thumb at Pablo yet otherwise pays no attention to him beyond that. The Shotokan disciple doesn't need to hear an answer, for he had immediately picked up on Victoria's dislike of the man in front of her as he'd approached the pair of them. It's only when he feels Pablo's gaze on him that he decides to meet it with his own.
"Hey, wait a minute..." Sean starts, attempting to recall the name of the person he's thinking of, and failing. "Aren't you that gay singer?"
Pablo's eyes narrow slightly, unnoticed by Sean but not lost on Victoria. "Hardly," he responds coolly. "My name is Pablo Veracruz. You are?" The Mexican is already wholly aware who the person standing before him is, however.
"The name's Sean," Matsuda says whilst flashing a wide grin at the realization of whom he's staring at. "So you're the guy whose face's gonna get smashed in tomorrow, huh?" Sean adds with a degree of cockiness that would even do Ken Masters proud. Victoria, meanwhile, bursts out into a small giggle at Sean's comment before indulging into some more of her drink.
Pablo chuckles for the second time that night before he settles into a nonchalant façade. "We shall see what you're worth soon enough, chiquillo (kid)," Pablo remarks with an almost condescending edge to his voice. He turns to leave, only to then pause in mid-step and turn back to Victoria. "Oh, and we'll have our dance tomorrow, too," And just like that, he was gone, disappearing through the crowd.
"Dance tomorrow?" Sean asked. Instead of an answer, however, he suddenly felt a sharp pain across his arm courtesy of Victoria pinching it. Hard.
"Ow!"
"Ricky's NOT gay!" Enid protests.
"Whatever you say," Sean replies with a small smirk. "His music is, though..."