“Bacchus!” a familiar voice called out to him as he kept his eyes locked on Eli, a monitor lizard who was far bigger than it should have been it was an experiment on his part to see how long a beasty could last under the effects of his mutation. Eli (the second Eli) was lasting far longer than the original, the original only lasted a few days and that was when Kaitlyn and Cap’n Darling (Hull) came to play. That also happened to be a few months ago. This Eli was nearing the week marker three feet larger than it should have been (fifteen centimeters). Other than Eli there were two snakes and a few dozen spiders under the effects of his mutation.

The voice called again and he picked up Eli in his normal sized form and looked over to Ulysses who was sitting by a large computer screen and by the phone. ”What?” he paused as he lifted a minnow to Eli the seconds nose and then quickly removed his hand when Eli lashed out for the food. “It’s Lisa… she is calling you to her desk at the front…” Ulysses was ready for the response having to play this position before so he only smirked when he pressed speaker. ”Tell that creepy witch she can come get me instead of call me… better yet tell her to step out in front of a bus…”

Ulysses laughed a little as Lisa’s voice echoed back, ”Come again?” Bacchus looked up and smirked to Ulysses and tried to refrain from laughing, ”Ah good! You heard what I said!” Nodding his head Ulysses picked up the phone and sighed taking the conversation off speaker, “Sorry Lisa, he is busy…”

(OCC: Feel free to have Lisa tell Lenna and Isabel where he is, Isabel should be somewhat familiar with the room)

Isabel fumed silently as Lisa called on Bane as requested. She wasn't all that surprised that Bane gave the poor woman more attitude than was really necessary. He never had liked the receptionist ever since he first visited the Sanctuary. She hardly thought he'd come just because he was called. Which meant it was up to her to go track him down.

She didn't necessarily expect to find him in his room if Ulysses had been the one to answer the call, but she made a circuit past the room just in case, which, as expected, was vacant of the Giant. So the next best place to check was down in the basement, where he spent his spare time toying around with the beasties he housed down there.

Unfortunately for the creatures, his toying usually ended up in their death. Isabel liked animals. She didn't care to see them dying due to his experiments, so she usually stayed away from his makeshift lab. However, at the current moment it wasn't likely she'd be paying much attention to the creatures wandering around down there due to her boiling temper, and as such didn't think twice about heading down.

She didn't bother with any common courtesies such as knocking, instead just letting herself and Lenna in without hesitation, scanning the room for the Giant that was sure to stick out. "Bacchus, you've got some explaining to do." Hopefully the sight of Lenna would be enough to help him connect the dots.

When she'd first met Bacchus, she'd thought he was a bit simple. Big and brutish, full of rage like some character straight out of Fight Club. She'd thought simple meant easily led, like a puppy. It seemed Bacchus wasn't like a dog, though. He didn't take orders. Lenna rolled her eyes.

Simple. Yeah. It definitely made sense with her current understanding of him. It was up to them to track the Ex-con down. At least the phone call had given them his current location. He was in his room... or so she thought. It seemed Isabel knew Bacchus a bit more than she did, so Lenna let her lead. Whatever worked. They'd get the matter sorted out sooner this way, rather than later. Isabel seemed a bit upset, too.

Gee, wonder why that is... Lenna thought sarcastically, following the woman without a dark chuckle or a word.

Isabel led the charge straight into the basement. Lenna stepped in after her, arms crossed. She took in the mess of the basement before she said anything else. "Why were you in Columbia?" She added pointedly, impatience in her voice.

After the phone call Bacchus spent the next few minutes watching the new Eli move as he chewed on his meal before he swallowed it. It was weird when he thought about it, but ever sense he could remember whenever he used his mutation he didn’t have to think much on the subject but now that he was affecting other living things to this degree he realized how complex his growth abilities could really be. The new Eli finished his meal and turned around to walk to the opposite side of the cage and as he waked Bacchus noticed that the lizard was favoring one side opposed to the other. It seemed that Bacchus unintentionally made Eli’s left front leg longer than the right and it was causing him to walk and run funny.

The giant brooded on the subject for a few more minutes before he heard Ulysses mention someone was about t enter the room. He didn’t care he was preoccupied with something far more important. That was when he heard Isabel’s voice. She didn’t sound happy, which wasn’t too surprising she rarely played the caring girlfriend card when she was talking to him. He looked up for a second, were they still dating? He didn’t know the answer to it but figured in time he’d get an answer. ”Yes, Lucy?” Bacchus said with a smug look on his face only turning to see that Lena was right behind her.

It was then he figured why she didn’t sound happy and why he had some explaining to do, either Isabel and Lena were happening to just walk into the room at the same time both needing him for something or they came together with a goal in mind. ”Oh good you brought Ethel!” He stood up and turned his body to face them. Closing the cage behind him Bacchus walked a few inches closer but made sure to keep his distance from Lena in case her annoying skill happened to make his skin stabable. ”Care to be a little more clear on what I need to explain?” Bacchus said figuring he had an idea what it was about but said nothing to hint he was aware as to why they were both in his workroom.

It was then that Lena managed to explain things a little more clearly, ”Oh!” Bacchus said as he thought briefly he dodged the, ‘Lena one nighter’ thing but then thought back to why Isabel was so upset. He then tried to pass it off with a smile, ”Why was I in columbia?” he pretended he had to think hard on the subject, but the answer was already floating around in his head. ”Well it’s simple really…” Bacchus lifted his hands and rubbed his fingers together to gesture for the money sign, ”One of my names back home is “Fighter for Higher” not to mention that I can lift quite a bit so of course my employers would be willing to pay quite a bit to get me to work for them.”

He paused and looked to Lena for a second and his eyebrows narrowed slightly then he looked back to Isabel, ”The fact that I can be thick enough to brush off bullets seems to help as well.” he looked back to Lena expecting her to say something before Isabel would seeing as Lena seemed to be instigating all of this.

Isabel bristled at Bane's little Lucy and Ethel comments. She didn't feel like joking around, or leaving him any room to do so. If what Lenna had sad was true, then seeing the young woman trailing behind her certainly should have registered with him in some way. Though, knowing him, he was likely just trying to play coy to keep himself out of trouble as long as he could manage. It wouldn't work for very long if she had anything to do with it.

She crossed her arms, her weight shifting more onto one leg. On top of her initial issue between Lenna and the Giant, the answers to the Columbia inquiry only begged more questions, rather that providing any real insight. As far as she knew, there wasn't much reason for him to be there, and if it had been Order related, she didn't think his destination would have been kept secret from other Order members.

"What employers?" she asked, one eyebrow quirked. "I don't remember the Order having any business in Columbia, so why would you be there?" It wasn't exactly unusual for Faction members to have another job somewhere around the city to maintain some kind of income that didn't depend on the organization, but as far as she knew Bane was unemployed, occasionally earning money through things like underground mutant fighting rings. She hardly expected someone's pat time job, hobby, or whatever would require them to travel such a long distance.

Lucy? Ethel?!

Lenna... didn't get the reference, so she wasn't mad at all. "Those are not our names," She said. There was no heat in her voice, only minor annoyance. He was playing games. She wanted answers.

Suddenly, he needed clarifications? Whatever. Lenna sighed, and shook her head at him, palming her forehead. It was a simple question.

He gave some kind of 'answer'. Apparently, it wasn't sufficient enough for Isabel. It wasn't very sufficient for Lenna, either. The bone mistress narrowed the scope of the question, focusing it down to a pin prick of light.

Lenna had the feeling Bacchus was giving out BS. She eyed him as he looked at her, almost expectantly. "I vaguely remember 'construction' being your job of choice last time, not 'bullet absorption.'" Though he certainly had not flinched when she'd starting fire her gun.

The room got quite for a second when both women wanted to know what exactly his job entailed, which made him frown and Ulysses shift uncomfortably. “Well I got some errands to run so…” with that Bacchus shook his head as his furry friend attempted to make a run for it through the other door the one where both girls weren’t. ”Coward!” Bacchus called out behind Ulysses before the door shut.

Ulysses wasn’t much help in situations like this but he did on occasion come in handy when he needed to distract Isabel from him. He lowered his hand to his side and shrugged his shoulders. ”Don’t know.” Bacchus said simply enough not telling them the full truth. ”I usually don’t ask who I’m working for I just ask what I need to do, and how much are they willing to pay” Bacchus said. He knew who he was working for but he didn’t really care much for the kid so he didn’t think it was required he tell them who it was.

”I never said I only worked for the order did I, the order doesn’t really pay me does it?” Bacchus said as he placed his hand on his hip and lowered his level a bit smugly as he locked eyes with her. ”You know I need money and when it comes in that much pay I don’t really care what I have to do for it.”

Bacchus raised himself up to his full height and looked over to Lena who had no doubt said something she shouldn’t have to get Isabel all worked up over the current topic, ”Well,” Bacchus said as he lowered his brows towards her ”I did a bit of construction there didn’t I?” he said lifting his hand up to his chin and scratching the stubble that had grown without two days of shaving. ”Besides I told you construction because you can’t really introduce yourself as a mercenary.” Bacchus said while shrugging his shoulders like the great mystery they had been here to confront him about had been solved. ”Answer your question?” Bacchus asked.

Isabel wasn't exactly sad to see Ulysses go. He was an interesting companion to chat with and watch work from time to time, but in an argument he most likely would have taken the Giant's side on the issues and caused a bigger headache than it already would be. She almost smirked at the accusation of the chimp's cowardice. Almost. She wouldn't blame him for being wary around a pair of angry women, particularly those with mutant abilities. Better smart than impaled.

She understood what a mercenary was, she'd just never though of Bacchus as being one. She also knew that he needed money and understood his eagerness in obtaining it wherever he could, but at this point in time she wasn't going to admit to any of it. They'd discussed it before and she didn't quite feel like repeating herself on any of the points she'd made.

"That doesn't mean you have to be stupid about it," she accused, not at all cowed by his smug demeanor. "Ever heard the expression 'pick your battles'? It'd be good for you to keep it in mind. It's a bad idea to get involved with people you don't know, especially when they're sending so far away to do their dirty work."

Construction work could easily be done locally. That is, if the construction was something like fixing potholes in the street and building houses or some such. She knew better than to take such things as they were given. Especially when the term 'bullet-proof' is implied.

She gave a little huff at his last inquiry. "Answered in the vaguest way possible, maybe," she scowled. "It's still pretty much down to you being there doing something for someone. We could have figured that much out without your input."

She had a very good suspicion he was lying.

Hadn't he told her he hadn't liked his boss? Yeah. She vaguely recalled something along those lines. They'd been in agreement about not liking their bosses, she was fairly certain. At least, she kind of remembered... maybe.

Maybe, she'd been a little drunk...

Still! Whatever. She had her gut feeling, and he was full of crap. He turned to her and made excuses. That only further cemented her opinion. Yup. Worthless.

She'd let Isabel deal with him. Isabel, it seemed, was madder. She was just annoyed with Bacchus and his lies. Lenna said nothing. She merely looked at him, glaring. She let the displeased look speak volumes words simply could not.

The giant shifter debated an over exaguration of a yawn but decided against it, with Lena nearby Isabel could actually stab him and getting stabbed was not on his to do list today. He would still have his usual charm of being a wise guy he just didn’t want to over use the cards he had been dealt. Being Isabel’s boyfriend being one of those cards, sure she wouldn’t do anything immediately but it didn’t take a genius to know what would happen if she got frustrated with him for not giving her the answers she wanted.

‘Note to self…’ thought Bacchus as his nostrils flared slightly as his right hand reached up and scratched the back of his head, ‘pay Lena back for putting these questions in Isabel’s head…’ sighing and shrugging his shoulders like this whole conversation was a waste of his time (which he felt it was) Bacchus cleared his throat and added, ”Wasn’t the first job I was hired to do for them was it? No they hired me once or twice before, the reason I signed on to work for them the pay was good and you Isabel of all people should know I don’t really care much about my own safety.” he looked to her then back to Lena and his nostrils flared again.

”Well why ask a question you already know the answer to love?” Bacchus said knowing that he was well on his way to getting stabbed if he didn’t tone down the smart assery. Though he figured he could give them a little sass seeing as the next topic Isabel would most likely bring up would be a lot of yelling in his direction, after all Lena was there.

"Just because you do some odd jobs for someone doesn't mean you have to travel so far just because they ask you to!" God, he was such a blockhead. Did he ever think anything though? It felt like the whole conversation was going in circles, and it was beyond aggravating. "And just because you don't care doesn't mean everyone else feels the same way," she huffed.

Friggin smartass. The questioning certainly wasn't going very smoothly, especially with the big oaf leaving out major details and trying to turn things back around on her. She bristled again at the little pet name he used. She hadn't entirely warmed up to the name as it was, and hearing it within an argument only helped to wear at her already fraying nerves.

Well, he didn't want to tell them what business he had in Columbia, fine. She would steer the conversation in another direction. "My newest friend Lenna here mentioned that the two of you ran into each other while traveling," she began, planning to play the same game he was and choose to leave out key details of the conversation the pair of young women had shared a short while beforehand. He didn't know how well acquainted the two had gotten over coffee, so that gave her some freedom to pry with faux innocence.

"She just moved to the Sanctuary recently and we happened to bump into each other and start chatting." She shifted into a slightly easier pose, though the irritation didn't leave her expression. She didn't know that she could relax completely with how upset she was, and even if she could such a sudden shift would likely only put the Giant on edge. "I like her. It would have been nice f you'd introduced us sooner. How exactly did you guys meet anyhow?"

The look didn't spell enough volumes, it seemed. Maybe a few, but not the entire set. One must have been missing. Maybe Bacchus had simply misplaced it? He did have this whole thing about missing the point, didn't he?

Like Isabel actually caring? He missed that too. Bacchus wasn't doing much to alleviate anyone's concerns, or answer anyone's questions. And so... Isabel changed the subject. Slyly.

Lenna met slyness for slyness, cutting back on her looks of annoyance. She merely looked Bacchus hard in the face, curiosity evident. "Do tell," She chimed in, after Isabel's final words.

The giant frowned, he didn’t like the situation he was in, no doubt Lena set this all up without telling Isabel everything, or worse… she had. Shifting his gaze from Isabel who was just finished scolding him for traveling so far for work to Lena the shifter sighed slightly. If it was money as good as Slate was paying he would have traveled further, sure the boss was a runt who would have been better off croc food but still he paid good Bacchus couldn’t deny it.

”Did she now?” Bacchus asked already knowing that he couldn’t really get out of the trouble Isabel thought he deserved. Didn’t mean he still wouldn’t try to get out of it, ”What did she happen to tell you?” Bacchus placed his hands on his head and looked from Isabel back to Lena and back again. ”Well, she was there for the break out wasn’t she?” Bacchus asked his grin coming back on, ”Figured you two knew each other already.” he shrugged and added, ”Why reintroduce you to someone I thought you knew.”

A small laugh escaped Bacchus’s mouth as he laughed a little at his own comment. Lena’s comment made the giant look to her and his nose twitched, it felt weird to have to retell the story when she was more than capable of explaining it. Bacchus was reminded of the way an old married couple had to recount on the first time they met to another couple and neither one wanted to tell the story either because they didn’t remember or one of them liked the way the other told it.

Fighting back the urge to tell Lena to recount the story seeing as he liked it better when she told it (something he figured would have pissed them both off and would have made him happy to no end) Bacchus decided to shrug and say, ”We met up at a bar, and a fire fight broke out.” he said it with a casual tone like it was something out of the ordinary; he could not recall however the cause of the fight but the giant was almost positive it had to do with Lena.

"An acquaintance in violence isn't the same as more formal introductions and sitting down to chat with someone," she retorted. His casual avoidance of every question she was asking was seriously rubbing her the wrong way. The relaxed posture she'd forced herself into was very quickly disappearing as her muscles started tensing back up. "It's only polite to make introductions. Though I guess it really shouldn't surprise me. You wouldn't know manners if they bit you in your over-sized rear end."

She didn't let slip any more information just yet. He was doing his very best to push her buttons, so she'd be uncooperative for the time being. He seemed too amused by himself to really care just yet anyhow. There was no reason for him to be laughing. He was supposed to be in the hot seat, not enjoying himself. It was so very tempting to try and stab him in that moment, even if it wouldn't do any good.

What little information he finally did let slip interrupted her more violent train of thought. There hadn't been any mention of a fire fight back at the coffee shop. Though there hadn't been much of an opportunity to get into much more detail when Lenna had cut to the chase like she had. It was interesting enough to hear, but it wasn't exactly what she was after.

"A fire fight in a bar, huh? What a shock." Figures Bane would find his way to a bar when he was supposedly working on a job for some mystery boss. "No, Lenna never mentioned a fight. From the sound of it the two of you had gotten along exceptionally well."

He summed the story up in very few words. She could have done it in two. More than a few, and she'd of thought he was getting sentimental and senile in his old age. The amount he used was just right. Maybe one sentence short of enough for Isabel. Left a hell of a lot out, though. Isabel brought that up.

Lenna felt it best to once again leave that to the giant to explain. He was doing a lousy job of explaining himself. It was kind of ticking everyone off. Hopefully, she wouldn't have to explain for him... or brutally explain the current situation he was in, and all the nuances he had completely missed.