Rico walked into the lobby of the hotel with a frown on his face. It was an odd place for a meeting. But it was the location that Cheshire had picked for the meeting. Since his group was the one that wanted to talk they were allowing them to pick the location and bankrolling their stay in the city.
The moment he walked a few feet into the lobby he looked around and started moving to some waiting chairs when he felt some run into him and frowned as he felt them leave something in his pocket. Rico also realized that they had stolen his wallet. He looked over to see a head of black hair ducking into the stairwell.
Rico pulled out what they left in his pocket and saw a piece of paper. He opened it up and saw that it said to meet him on the garage sublevel three. Rico folded the paper back up as he walked to the elevator and pressed the button.
A few minutes later he was stepping off the elevator at sublevel three and walking out. He walked only a few feet into the garage when he noticed a few things. The first was this level barely had any vehicles in it. Which was probably why it was picked, it went mostly unused. Another thing was that the lights and cameras on this level had been disabled so it was in complete darkness.
Rico walked forward and looked around. He could not see anything in the darkness. But as he went to activate his eagle vision he felt a sense of danger and jumped forward into a roll. He spun around to see a pair of shurikens bury themselves in the ground.
Rico barely had time to process the attack as he felt another sense of danger and rolled to the side as he shoved his hands into his jacket pocket and pulled out his amazonium knuckle dusters. He watched and barely noticed as the flash of the sword was seen in the air. There were sparks as it hit the ground he was at a moment before.
Rico jumped forward punching forward and there was the sound of metal colliding as he hit something and got his first look at his opponent. It was Cheshire, she was in her green short kimono and a large mask that looked like the grinning Cheshire cat that covered her face. He stopped his second fist just short of punching her as she was already thrown off balance when her sword was pushed back.
"Where did you get those from?" Cheshire asked in shock as Rico got in stance to defend himself again.
"A bought them on the black market." Rico answered.
"No, I mean. I searched you earlier when I stole your wallet. I did not find those." Cheshire threw an object at him and he caught it and looked at it. Seeing it was his wallet he put it in his back pocket again as he relaxed.
"I am just that good at being underhanded." Rico answered, avoiding giving her a clear answer as she scoffed and disappeared into the darkness. "Are we still having that meeting?"
"Yes, give me a moment to change and we can go up to the hotel's rooftop bar to continue. I just wanted to make sure you were not one of those mercenaries that were all talk and no bite." Cheshire explained.
"By trying to kill me?" Rico asked with a chuckle.
"Eh…" Rico could tell he got a shrug with that response from Cheshire. "The best type of a test is to see someone's reaction when in mortal danger."
Rico shook his head as he walked to the elevator and pressed the call button. Putting the knuckle dusters in his jacket pocket before recalling them to his inventory. He stood there for a few seconds waiting when Cheshire walked up next to him.
She was in a green hoodie now with torn jeans and a pair of black combat boots. She had her black hair in a pony tail now. She was putting on a simple gray ball cap as she stood next to him. Under her hat she was quite beautiful. Her foreign features were quite alluring in a way.
"With a beautiful face like that it makes sense that you would hide it. You are very… memorable." Rico told her as the elevator door opened. They stepped inside and he could see a faint blush on her cheeks.
"Thank you for the complement." Cheshire told him as the elevator door closed. "What exactly does this mercenary job entail?"
"Some legal above board work. Some semi-legal work. Nothing too outlandish though." Rico answered nonchalantly. "Is there any reason in particular you are switching to mercenary work?"
"Well for one, the underworld is changing. People are picking sides and factions and those refusing are ending up dead. Did you hear what happened to Bronze Tiger? He got killed by Green Arrow but there are rumors it was Merlyn framing the vigilante. If I do not get a safe haven someone could come for me eventually." Cheshire explained. "Not to mention after having my kid I need to look for some more… legal work."
Rico nodded, "We can do that. Our next job might not be as much up your alley though. So this time we will leave you out of it."
"Oh?" Cheshire looked at him and Rico shrugged.
"Breaking into a place that is doing something illegal to steal something for another person." Rico answered as the elevator doors opened to the lobby.
"Then I will not join you for that job." Cheshire declared as they left the elevator. "But it should be good to join you for any other of the more legal jobs."
"Sounds good." Rico led the way to the hotel restaurant once they arrived on the top floor. "I am guessing that the reason you are changing how you operate is because you want to set an example for your daughter?"
"I never said I had a daughter." Cheshire pointed out.