She arrives

Shannon's walk through the seedy city of Deng had been more than unpleasant. She'd decided to ignore everything happening around her until she'd reached her destination. And it was a lot to ignore. Whores selling their bodies, muggings happening in backalleys, she even heard a potential rape or murder going on somewhere behind a dumpster. Likely both, by the end of the day. But she was not there for those. No. She had a much bigger fish to catch. Not that she could have done anything in only a flimsy dress and unarmed as she was. When she arrived, she looked up at the flashing lights.

"The Belly of the Beast." she read the sign. And there was a holo of a fat dragon rubbing his round belly. "Ugh..." she thought as she stepped up the stairs. "So tasteless. So uncouth." Yet, there she was, literally entering the belly of the beast.

"Watcha want?" asked a huge muscle man standing in the entrance.

"I - I - I am Luna..." she said meekly, looking up at the man towering over her. "Damn it, why was she shaking?" she thought. "I - I'm here for the interview."

The big man looked her up from head to toe. Shannon didn't usually dress womanly -- she was more of a tomboy -- but for the mission, she had to look convincing. She wore a thin white dress with black stripes and had on black high heels. All that she'd had on her beside those were her purse and some jewelry. Nothing expensive-looking, to avoid attracting too much attention. With the dress snugly hugging her curvaceous body, the detective undeniably looked pretty.

The man licked her mouth. "Back entrance!" he barked while pointing to the side. "They will point ya in da right direction." he added, while spitting some black goo into a bin nearby.

"Charming." she thought. "T - Thank you..." she said as she left. She could feel the man inspecting her bubble butt as she walked away. Not the sort women usually crave attention from...

As she entered the alley, she immediately spotted a pair of glowing green eyes staring at her from the shadows. For a moment, she really thougth she would end up in the belly of the beast, quite literally. After further inspecting the beast, she could recognise it as an aradian gorilla-hound. A species near extinction. Yet, apparently a club owner could get one as guard dog. How barbarian. The beast looked relatively docile, but that didn't make it any less threatening. She'd read somewhere that their jaws could easily snap steel. Fortunately, it was sufficiently plasma-chained, so Shannon could slip past it to go down the stairs and enter the 'restaurant'.

Once inside, the smell of heavy incense filled her nostrils. "Ugh... how could anyone eat in a place like this, let alone work?" she thought. But to her mild surprise, the basement didn't look as filthy as she had expected. "Maybe they had a beast that ate filth." she thought. She saw another big guy leaning at the wall nearby. God, they must have been breeding these on Deng. He looked her up with a hungry gaze. "Hi... I'm..." she started.

"Luna. For the interview." cut in the brute.

"Y -Yes..."

"Follow me, sugar buns." he said and Shannon obedientley followed. The big guy led her down a maze of dark corridors and rooms. She could swear she saw big cages in one of the open rooms. Clearly, the slave trafficking was going on in the basement. She couldn't shake the feeling of how many innocent men and women she could save if they raided the place, but that was not her current objective. As disgusting as it may seemed, they only used the slaver to get close to Riggs. He was the main course. "Here we are, sweet pea." said the big guy, opening a door. As Shannon entered the room, the asshole even dared slap her behind. She had shot man for less once, but right now she was more focused on her mission. And she didn't have her gun... The office was dark with only a ray of light in the middle.

"Step into the light!" said a deep male voice from the darkness. Not creepy at all...

Shannon nervously moved there, the light blinding her totally. It felt more like an interrogation than an interview. "Greetings, I'm ..."

"I know all about you, little girl!" said the voice.

Shannon gulped. She feared her cover may have been blown already. "How was that even possible?" she thought. She strained her eyes to be able to see through the darkness.

"We talked, remember?"

"Phew..." she breathed a sigh of relief. "Y - Yes." She saw a figure in the darkness. He was smoking. She spotted the embers first.

"Turn around! Slowly!"

He was talking in a thick, far-rim accent. Scum usually come from the far-rim. Nevertheless, she did as she was instructed. Why this was even necessary for a waitress was beyond her. "Maybe they prided themselves on beautiful serving girls." she was convincing herself.

"Sufficient." said the voice.

"Sufficient? Her?" she fumed on the insides. She'd never considered herself perfect, but all dolled up as she was, she had gotta be more than 'sufficient'. She faced the dark figure again, huffing and puffing behind her fake smile.

"You can start tonight. Bosco will set you up with the others. Don't disappoint!"

"Thank you..." She didn't even know why she was thanking him. Definitely not for the 'sufficient'...

"Leave!" thundered the voice in the dark room.

"Finally" she thought, "She was in. So far so good". As she left the office, Bosco was waiting for her. He led her through a different set of corridors and up some stairs, until they reached a room that looked like a locker room. There was a tall blondie doing her make-up in front of a mirror.

"Hey, Vixy!" thundered Bosco. "Got a newbie for you. Starts tonight. Show her the reigns while I retrieve her uniform. If you want to show her anything else he-he, don't forget to call me first." he winked at the woman.

As she turned, Shannon could immediately see that the woman was more plastic than flesh. DDs like hers were rarely natural. And her make-up would have been banned in several systems if a senator saw it. The blonde looked her up before holding out a hand. "Hi, I'm Vixodiana, but you can call me Vixy."

The name didn't have any familier sound to it. It must have been a made up name. Like when someone tried to come up with a fancy sounding name to seem more important. Little did it matter if she used a shortened version. Shannon grabbed the woman's clawed hand, "Hi, I'm Luna." she said with a shy bleak.

"I already see we will have a lot in common." said Vixy with a smile that almost made her lips pop.

"Well, I highly doubt that." thought Shannon while nodding in agreement.

Bosco left the two women. Shannon soon realized why. While she showed her through the upper floors, Vixy couldn't stop talking. And it wasn't like she had interesting things to say. She was babbling on about meaningless stuff.

To Shannon's surprise, the restaurant looked decent. More than decent. Most of the walls and pillars were covered by a pink, fuzzy material to imitate the insides of some beast. As tasteless as it looked, it wasn't disgusting. The tables and floor looked clean, though it was still before opening. The upper floor looked pretty damn posh. It was the more expensive level, with separate little dining rooms for each guest. For a restaurant that was only cover for a slave trade going on, it looked pretty genuine.

By the time they returned to the locker room, there was a bag hanging on the wall with the word 'Lana' written on it.

"That's Luna." said Shannon.

"That's what it says. L-U-N-A." pointend Vixy at the letters.

Shannon squinted, but it still looked like 'Lana'. Whatever. Bosco seemed to have terrible handwriting. Or a low IQ. She wondered which. Probably both. She grabbed the bag and took a look inside. What she saw there was a bit of a surprise to the young detective.