It was hard for the two women to look at the photos. Not because of the violence, that was nothing new to either of them. Truth be told, they had seen worse. The difference being those acts had been directed to strangers, men they didn’t care anything about. Diamondback had been a friend, estranged perhaps but a friend nonetheless.
Aside from the black hair, the women couldn’t have looked more different. The taller of the two had brown eyes, a sickly grey pallor to her skin, and wore a dress cut in an Egyptian style. The other was two inches shorter, with green eyes and a healthy pink complexion, wearing a one-piece suit that left a lot of skin bare and long bracelets and thigh-high boots, all black. Entwined around her waist were two life-like snakes, and her associate’s outfit also had a snake motif. Their code-names were also modeled after snakes, Asp and Black Mamba, respectively.
Black Mamba set down the photo she’d been holding and picked up a medical report. “This is some sick stuff. Remind me again why there isn’t an SOS out on this psychopath, shoot-on-sight?”
“Aside from one other victim, he seems to have disappeared. And from what I learned that other one can’t even be confirmed. The girl killed herself.”
“So mind control.” Black Mamba scanned the report. “That might be what caused these raised chemical concentrations in the brain. Was the other girl somebody we knew?”
“Jolt. She was that underaged token hero in the Thunderbolts.” Asp angrily threw her photograph on the table. “Her, I can understand nobody giving a shit about. But Diamondback…what the fuck is Captain America doing?”
Black Mamba shrugged. “Off being an asshole for our country, probably. Just wait, he’ll show up as soon as we find this guy, making like he’s stopping us from doing something we’ll regret.” She placed the last word in air quotes.
“My only regret would be if he dies too quickly.” Sparks of…something passed from Asp’s fingers onto the photographs. Nobody had ever been able to identify the energy her body generated, only that it was extremely toxic to living things. “We don’t have much to go on, though, unless you want to start clubbing. Maybe he’ll try to pick one of us up, and maybe we’ll resist him enough not to become victims ourselves.”
“That plan sounds just crazy enough to work.” Black Mamba crossed the room with the practiced grace of a fashion model. She and Asp, herself a former dancer, never had trouble getting attention from men. “Before the Thunderbolts got distracted by something shiny, they made a scene at The Bar With No Name.”
“I heard about that. Some hero burst in and knocked people around. Rogue from the X-Men.” Asp tapped a finger to her lips, thinking where Black Mamba was getting at. “It’s also where Jolt was last seen, so it makes sense the Thunderbolts would go there. I don’t see where this Ladykiller fits.”
Black Mamba was rifling through junk mail on an end table. “When the brawl started, most of the customers lit out. But there’s always a few that like to sit in a corner, watch and listen for anything that might be of value. Rogue was overheard bragging she’d murdered Diamondback and Jolt, then her voice changed and was screaming about possession.”
“How many of us have used that excuse?” Asp laughed. “So either she’s lying and we’ve got our killer, or she’s telling the truth and we’ve got a lead.”
“Either way, I have an idea of where to find here.” Finding what she was looking for, Black Mamba held up the sheet of paper. It was a flyer advertising the Mutant Town Festival.
* * *
Split up, Asp and Black Mamba could have searched the crowd faster. But that would have meant one of them confronting Rogue alone, maybe outnumbered if she had an X-friend with her. So they searched the X-Fest crowd together, and still found Rogue rather quickly. The weather was still beautiful, and with her green hood down, Rogue’s brown hair with a white stripe stood out.
“Excuse me? Hey, Rogue!” Black Mamba patted the mutant’s shoulder from behind.
Rogue spun around and glared at the women, prepared to defend herself. “Careful lady. Touching me is never a good idea.”
Asp gave a chuckle. “Oh, I know what that’s like. We’re just here to talk.”
“It’s about that guy you encountered a while back,” said Black Mamba. “The Ladykiller.”
Something resembling guilt passed over Rogue’s eyes, and Asp felt like charging her energy. Rogue took a step back, and made like she was going to turn away. “I’m sorry, but unless you’re police, I don’t have to talk to you.”
“Look, he killed a friend of ours,” Asp said. “We just want to know what you know.”
“What I know is nothing.” As she grew agitated, Rogue’s accent thickened. “He got in mah head, pushed me aside and used mah body! Nothing of him stuck around, and for that ah’m grateful.”
Sensing the mutant’s fear, Black Mamba took a chance. “Does he look anything like this?” Darkforce crept along Black Mamba’s body in a myriad of colors, a second skin shaped by her whims. Appearing before Rogue’s eyes was a man from her nightmares. That warm, seductive smile beneath sandy-blonde locks, framing a face shaped from bronze.
Rogue stepped forward, angrily crying out. “No! You get away from me!”
Asp reacted quickly, slamming the palm of her hand against Rogue’s chest. Immediately the energy passed through, paralyzing every nerve of Rogue’s body with pain. She momentarily couldn’t move, couldn’t even cry out.
“Clothing doesn’t mean a thing to my power.” To Black Mamba, Asp asked, “You got it?”
“Yep.” Black Mamba allowed her second skin to slither back inside her mind. “Now we both know what he looks like.”
“Great.” Asp gave Rogue one last withering look before turning her back. “Thanks for the help, hero.”
The two women had just escaped Rogue’s sight when the paralyzing effect passed. In her anger, she almost went after them, wanted to beat them, to make them pay for…trying to find their friend’s killer. Taking a deep breath, Rogue silently wished them luck and turned back into the crowd. In a few minutes, an old flame would catch sight of her.
* * *
The club was popular, evidenced by the long still line at the front door. Two very attractive women walked confidently past the throngs of unlucky clubgoers, dressed to party and, hopefully, kill. But when they reached the front of the line and the velvet rope that blocked the entrance, a burly bouncer shook his head.
“Back of the line. Club’s full.”
Black Mamba laughed and glanced behind her, thinking that perhaps other, less attractive people were standing behind them. Seeing none, she looked at the bouncer. “Very funny. Now step aside.”
“Sorry ma’am. We have a strict no-cougar policy.”
Black Mamba’s pale face darkened. She stepped forward, mouth open, but Asp blocked her with an arm across the chest. “Let it go, Tanya.”
For a second it didn’t look as though Black Mamba was going to comply. But Asp was forceful, grabbing Black Mamba with both arms and physically pushing her away. When they were a block down the street and around the corner, Asp let her go.
“I’ve modeled on the runway and he’s telling me to get in back of the line!”
“I’ve worked with his sort before. If you had just stepped back and let me do the talking…”
“What you should have done was help me kick his teeth in. Two minutes and I would have had him on the ground dying and thanking me for the privilege.”
Asp sighed. “You know we have to play this smart. We’re lucky Rogue didn’t push things. Hell, she probably forgot about us once that craziness in Mutant Town happened. But if he’s in there a commotion outside would tip him off. If he’s not, we draw attention and heat for nothing.”
Folding her arms, Black Mamba glowered but nodded. “Fine then, we’ll do it smart.” She extended an arm and tapped a finger to Asp’s nose. “Cougars aren’t allowed, we’ll give them kittens.”
Darkforce flowed over Black Mamba and Asp, disguising their appearances beneath second skins. They were suddenly younger and, while not so beautiful as before, were instantly recognizable as current celebrities. When they approached the club moments later, the velvet rope was instantly opened for them, and they walked inside to screams and chants.
“What exactly does GTL mean?” Black Mamba asked.
Asp, who appeared to be much shorter, rolled her eyes. “I hope I never have the interest to find out.”
Once inside, the women separated. While Asp returned the second skin, Black Mamba maintained the illusion for a few more minutes to enjoy the side effect. She soaked in the energy of the crowd, feeling vibrant and alive even as clubgoers began to act as though they were feeling the effects of drinking. Only after she drove a man to his knees with a touch of her hand to his cheek did Black Mamba dismiss the second skin. If anyone in the crowd seemed to notice the sudden change, there was no sign of it.
At the bar Black Mamba saw Asp, holding a drink she didn’t have to pay for. “Any sign?”
“None.” Asp took a sip of her drink and sighed. “We’ve been at this for weeks, and for all we know he’s left the city. We know his face, but we don’t have a picture to scan through a database. We don’t have a name, and the only place we know he frequented is now avoided.”
“We know he was in this area recently,” said Black Mamba. The newspaper had been light on details, but their connections had discovered how the girl had died.
“Unless it was another psychopath. There’s a new one in his city ever day.” Asp finished her drink and set it on the bar. “Face it Tanya, this plan isn’t working.”
Black Mamba made a casual motion with her hand. A drink was placed in it, and she took a sip. “I hope you’re not suggesting we give up.”
“Of course not, but we could get help. A few in the Serpent Society would be willing, and as a last resort there’s always the Avengers. At the least we need more eyes on this.”
Black Mamba was only half-listening to Asp, her eyes scanning the crowd. They stopped, fixed on a target, and Black Mamba smiled. “Maybe not,” she said, nodding.
Asp followed the line of sight to a VIP table where a man was surrounded by women. He was devastatingly handsome, with a warm, seductive smile beneath sandy-blonde locks, framing a face shaped from bronze. Those eyes were bold and piercing, and fixed on the two women approaching him.
Black Mamba stopped at the velvet separating the table from the club, Asp behind her. “Is this a private party, or can any girl join?”
The man looked to the girl on his left, as though asking her opinion. From the glaze of her eyes, Black Mamba didn’t think one would be coming. He turned and locked eyes with her. “It is by invitation. Give it some time. I’ll get to you eventually.”
Asp closed a hand over the rope. Something was wafting off her skin. “Our friend already got in. Her name was Rachel.”
He sighed. “Well, it’s about time. That nobody girl got a bigger reaction.” He made a gesture, and the girls seated with him stood. “She remarked at the end about how little he cared, but it was quite something else to see it.”
“Bad luck for you.” Black Mamba jumped over the rope and kicked one of the girls in the face. “He’d care about not hurting your thralls.”
The club’s bouncers didn’t know anything about the situation, only that there was a disturbance. One tried to grab Asp from behind. She backhanded him, her toxic touch more than making up for her smaller frame. Black Mamba dealt with the rest of the girls easily, her Darkforce draining enough of their life energy that they were no threat.
As chaos engulfed the nightclub, the hunted killer rushed with the crowd toward a rear entrance. Asp caught him out of the corner of her eye. “He’s getting away.”
“What I wouldn’t give for Sidewinder right now.” The teleporter certainly had his uses. From somewhere on her person Black Mamba produced a smart phone. "Go out front. Try to cut him off."
"We shouldn't separate," Asp said. But Black Mamba had already disappeared into the crowd after Ladykiller. Taking out her own smart phone so that they could at least stay in touch, Asp made her way toward the front entrance. There were still panicked clubgoers, but toxic energy cleared her path.
Walking out of the club and toward an alley that led to the rear entrance, Asp called Black Mamba's phone. "You still have him in sight?" No response. "Please don't tell me he got the drop on you. I'd hate to have to knock you around."
"Do you honestly think I'm that stupid?" Black Mamba turned the corner as Asp approached. "The reason I sent you out the door was because I figured you might be. All we know about this guy is that we gets inside people's heads, including a woman powerful enough to knock around a team of villains. There's no way I'm chancing a fight with him."
"Then why go after him?"
"Check your phone," Black Mamba said. Asp did, and saw a picture of their Ladykiller. Even with the brunette next to him, there was a clear shot of his face. "Now we've got something to run through the system. And if Captain America isn't interested in getting us access to try and find Diamondback's killer, then to hell with him."
"I suppose we had better move quickly," Asp said. "At least make some effort to stop him claiming another victim."
* * *
Later they would realize how lucky they'd gotten. They had a photo, but running it through facial recognition would have taken hours, assuming the Ladykiller was in any of the databases they could quickly access. But, as luck would have it, Black Mamba made they suggestion while they were still outside the club.
"He had to have used a credit card."
A half-hour later, they were walking down a street of expensive high-rise apartments. Every couple seconds Asp would glance at her smart phone, still amazed at the information.
"I still can't believe how easy this was," Asp said. "You would think a business would have better security over their transactions."
"Well, it is a skeevy club," said Black Mamba. "And we only wanted the names."
"That was lucky too, Jake working the late shift." The Serpent Society had on their payroll any number of government workers, including one at the DMV. He was mostly used for fake IDs and registrations, but there was no better database to match names to a photo.
And a name they did find. Asp scrolled through the information they'd gathered from that. “Harold Bennett...it's weird when the last name can be a first name."
"Today there's a lot of first names that could be last names," Black Mamba said. "Which building?"
"Only two down. Where that woman is coming from." Asp pointed, then glanced back at the screen. "He was the head of a fragrance company that recently got bought up by Roxxon Oil. Do you think they could be involved in some way?"
"What, that it was a hostile takeover he tried to fight?" Black Mamba rolled her eyes. "To make him sign papers, they roughed him up some, accidentally exposing him to some experimental perfume? And he targets women because a female executive led the takeover?"
In spite of herself, Asp chuckled. "We can ask for his life story after we've removed his fingers and toes. If he doesn't rant about it first thing. You sure rushing in is the best play?"
Black Mamba nodded. "He won't expect us so soon. And if that woman he left with is still alive, he’ll be distracted.”
“Oh, it just occurred…” Asp was about to voice her thought, that Ladykiller was unlikely to kill his victims at home. It wouldn’t have affected their plans much, he’d simply have come home to find two bad girls waiting for him. But then she noticed the woman in scarlet hailing a cab outside the building. “I…I think that’s her.”
“Are you sure?” Black Mamba also took notice of the woman, mentally recalling the photo taken earlier. “I hadn’t seen her face, but the hair looks right, and the color of the dress. Hunh, so maybe he only kills heroes.”
The color… It tickled in the back of Asp’s mind, and a cold feeling that wouldn’t let go. “We’d better hurry up there.”
For two criminals of such experience, the building’s security was meaningless. Minutes later they had stepped off the elevator and found the door to Mr. Bennett’s room ajar. Asp was first into the room, her hand crackling with toxic energy. It was unnecessary, they discovered the infamous Ladykiller writhing on the floor, a bottle of fragrance beside him.
Suddenly, at the forefront of Asp’s mind was a desire to help the man. She started forward, but Black Mamba took her by the shoulder. “I feel it too. Whether it’s him or the cologne, maybe we should open a window.”
Asp shook her head forcefully, clearing away the desires. “No, the awareness is helping to fight it. Or if it’s him, maybe the dying.” She continued into the apartment, out of a curiosity instead of a need to please. On shelves along the way were more bottles of fragrance, unsurprising considering the man’s business. She picked a bottle at random, opened it, and the desire returned. Only it was different, unfocused, likely as no one was wearing it.
“Can you smell that?”
“Yes, but it helps to not look at him.” Black Mamba had shut her eyes, and was holding a tissue to her nose.
“Not just that.” Asp tried a couple of others, and they were all the same. “It’s the same generic scent, except for what’s on him.”
“Strawberries.” Steeling herself, Black Mamba risked a look at Ladykiller. His changes features did nothing to mute the effects, and she quickly looked away with the shudder. “Dammit I want to rush to him, to treat those hives! He’s got allergies.”
“We’d better leave,” Asp said. “When he’s discovered, it’ll be treated as an accident. I doubt the cops’ll look hard, even if they figure out what he’s done.”
Without saying a word, Black Mamba nodded and rushed out of the apartment, Asp following close behind. Ignoring the elevator, Black Mamba went for the stairwell and only after opening the door did she talk. “Okay, so there’s a drug in the cologne that affects women. It even messed with Rogue’s powers.”
“The incident at the club used up what he had,” Asp said. “So he brought her back here to reapply. And he just happened to pick a bad batch that he was allergic to?”
“That woman…you had a feeling outside.” Black Mamba said. “Now that I think about it, it did look like her. It’s certainly something she could do, spontaneously changing a chemical. And dammit, everything suddenly fell into place tonight.”
Stepping into the lobby, Asp heard the ambulance. “She even called for help. Much as I hope they’re too late, the effort relieves me. Can you imagine if the Avengers started living up to their name?”
As they walked past the EMTs, Black Mamba chuckled. “I’m fine with the idea of this Ladykiller spending the rest of his life behind bars with big, burly men.”
The End
Bibliography
Aside from the black hair, the women couldn’t have looked more different. The taller of the two had brown eyes, a sickly grey pallor to her skin, and wore a dress cut in an Egyptian style. The other was two inches shorter, with green eyes and a healthy pink complexion, wearing a one-piece suit that left a lot of skin bare and long bracelets and thigh-high boots, all black. Entwined around her waist were two life-like snakes, and her associate’s outfit also had a snake motif. Their code-names were also modeled after snakes, Asp and Black Mamba, respectively.
Black Mamba set down the photo she’d been holding and picked up a medical report. “This is some sick stuff. Remind me again why there isn’t an SOS out on this psychopath, shoot-on-sight?”
“Aside from one other victim, he seems to have disappeared. And from what I learned that other one can’t even be confirmed. The girl killed herself.”
“So mind control.” Black Mamba scanned the report. “That might be what caused these raised chemical concentrations in the brain. Was the other girl somebody we knew?”
“Jolt. She was that underaged token hero in the Thunderbolts.” Asp angrily threw her photograph on the table. “Her, I can understand nobody giving a shit about. But Diamondback…what the fuck is Captain America doing?”
Black Mamba shrugged. “Off being an asshole for our country, probably. Just wait, he’ll show up as soon as we find this guy, making like he’s stopping us from doing something we’ll regret.” She placed the last word in air quotes.
“My only regret would be if he dies too quickly.” Sparks of…something passed from Asp’s fingers onto the photographs. Nobody had ever been able to identify the energy her body generated, only that it was extremely toxic to living things. “We don’t have much to go on, though, unless you want to start clubbing. Maybe he’ll try to pick one of us up, and maybe we’ll resist him enough not to become victims ourselves.”
“That plan sounds just crazy enough to work.” Black Mamba crossed the room with the practiced grace of a fashion model. She and Asp, herself a former dancer, never had trouble getting attention from men. “Before the Thunderbolts got distracted by something shiny, they made a scene at The Bar With No Name.”
“I heard about that. Some hero burst in and knocked people around. Rogue from the X-Men.” Asp tapped a finger to her lips, thinking where Black Mamba was getting at. “It’s also where Jolt was last seen, so it makes sense the Thunderbolts would go there. I don’t see where this Ladykiller fits.”
Black Mamba was rifling through junk mail on an end table. “When the brawl started, most of the customers lit out. But there’s always a few that like to sit in a corner, watch and listen for anything that might be of value. Rogue was overheard bragging she’d murdered Diamondback and Jolt, then her voice changed and was screaming about possession.”
“How many of us have used that excuse?” Asp laughed. “So either she’s lying and we’ve got our killer, or she’s telling the truth and we’ve got a lead.”
“Either way, I have an idea of where to find here.” Finding what she was looking for, Black Mamba held up the sheet of paper. It was a flyer advertising the Mutant Town Festival.
* * *
Split up, Asp and Black Mamba could have searched the crowd faster. But that would have meant one of them confronting Rogue alone, maybe outnumbered if she had an X-friend with her. So they searched the X-Fest crowd together, and still found Rogue rather quickly. The weather was still beautiful, and with her green hood down, Rogue’s brown hair with a white stripe stood out.
“Excuse me? Hey, Rogue!” Black Mamba patted the mutant’s shoulder from behind.
Rogue spun around and glared at the women, prepared to defend herself. “Careful lady. Touching me is never a good idea.”
Asp gave a chuckle. “Oh, I know what that’s like. We’re just here to talk.”
“It’s about that guy you encountered a while back,” said Black Mamba. “The Ladykiller.”
Something resembling guilt passed over Rogue’s eyes, and Asp felt like charging her energy. Rogue took a step back, and made like she was going to turn away. “I’m sorry, but unless you’re police, I don’t have to talk to you.”
“Look, he killed a friend of ours,” Asp said. “We just want to know what you know.”
“What I know is nothing.” As she grew agitated, Rogue’s accent thickened. “He got in mah head, pushed me aside and used mah body! Nothing of him stuck around, and for that ah’m grateful.”
Sensing the mutant’s fear, Black Mamba took a chance. “Does he look anything like this?” Darkforce crept along Black Mamba’s body in a myriad of colors, a second skin shaped by her whims. Appearing before Rogue’s eyes was a man from her nightmares. That warm, seductive smile beneath sandy-blonde locks, framing a face shaped from bronze.
Rogue stepped forward, angrily crying out. “No! You get away from me!”
Asp reacted quickly, slamming the palm of her hand against Rogue’s chest. Immediately the energy passed through, paralyzing every nerve of Rogue’s body with pain. She momentarily couldn’t move, couldn’t even cry out.
“Clothing doesn’t mean a thing to my power.” To Black Mamba, Asp asked, “You got it?”
“Yep.” Black Mamba allowed her second skin to slither back inside her mind. “Now we both know what he looks like.”
“Great.” Asp gave Rogue one last withering look before turning her back. “Thanks for the help, hero.”
The two women had just escaped Rogue’s sight when the paralyzing effect passed. In her anger, she almost went after them, wanted to beat them, to make them pay for…trying to find their friend’s killer. Taking a deep breath, Rogue silently wished them luck and turned back into the crowd. In a few minutes, an old flame would catch sight of her.
* * *
The club was popular, evidenced by the long still line at the front door. Two very attractive women walked confidently past the throngs of unlucky clubgoers, dressed to party and, hopefully, kill. But when they reached the front of the line and the velvet rope that blocked the entrance, a burly bouncer shook his head.
“Back of the line. Club’s full.”
Black Mamba laughed and glanced behind her, thinking that perhaps other, less attractive people were standing behind them. Seeing none, she looked at the bouncer. “Very funny. Now step aside.”
“Sorry ma’am. We have a strict no-cougar policy.”
Black Mamba’s pale face darkened. She stepped forward, mouth open, but Asp blocked her with an arm across the chest. “Let it go, Tanya.”
For a second it didn’t look as though Black Mamba was going to comply. But Asp was forceful, grabbing Black Mamba with both arms and physically pushing her away. When they were a block down the street and around the corner, Asp let her go.
“I’ve modeled on the runway and he’s telling me to get in back of the line!”
“I’ve worked with his sort before. If you had just stepped back and let me do the talking…”
“What you should have done was help me kick his teeth in. Two minutes and I would have had him on the ground dying and thanking me for the privilege.”
Asp sighed. “You know we have to play this smart. We’re lucky Rogue didn’t push things. Hell, she probably forgot about us once that craziness in Mutant Town happened. But if he’s in there a commotion outside would tip him off. If he’s not, we draw attention and heat for nothing.”
Folding her arms, Black Mamba glowered but nodded. “Fine then, we’ll do it smart.” She extended an arm and tapped a finger to Asp’s nose. “Cougars aren’t allowed, we’ll give them kittens.”
Darkforce flowed over Black Mamba and Asp, disguising their appearances beneath second skins. They were suddenly younger and, while not so beautiful as before, were instantly recognizable as current celebrities. When they approached the club moments later, the velvet rope was instantly opened for them, and they walked inside to screams and chants.
“What exactly does GTL mean?” Black Mamba asked.
Asp, who appeared to be much shorter, rolled her eyes. “I hope I never have the interest to find out.”
Once inside, the women separated. While Asp returned the second skin, Black Mamba maintained the illusion for a few more minutes to enjoy the side effect. She soaked in the energy of the crowd, feeling vibrant and alive even as clubgoers began to act as though they were feeling the effects of drinking. Only after she drove a man to his knees with a touch of her hand to his cheek did Black Mamba dismiss the second skin. If anyone in the crowd seemed to notice the sudden change, there was no sign of it.
At the bar Black Mamba saw Asp, holding a drink she didn’t have to pay for. “Any sign?”
“None.” Asp took a sip of her drink and sighed. “We’ve been at this for weeks, and for all we know he’s left the city. We know his face, but we don’t have a picture to scan through a database. We don’t have a name, and the only place we know he frequented is now avoided.”
“We know he was in this area recently,” said Black Mamba. The newspaper had been light on details, but their connections had discovered how the girl had died.
“Unless it was another psychopath. There’s a new one in his city ever day.” Asp finished her drink and set it on the bar. “Face it Tanya, this plan isn’t working.”
Black Mamba made a casual motion with her hand. A drink was placed in it, and she took a sip. “I hope you’re not suggesting we give up.”
“Of course not, but we could get help. A few in the Serpent Society would be willing, and as a last resort there’s always the Avengers. At the least we need more eyes on this.”
Black Mamba was only half-listening to Asp, her eyes scanning the crowd. They stopped, fixed on a target, and Black Mamba smiled. “Maybe not,” she said, nodding.
Asp followed the line of sight to a VIP table where a man was surrounded by women. He was devastatingly handsome, with a warm, seductive smile beneath sandy-blonde locks, framing a face shaped from bronze. Those eyes were bold and piercing, and fixed on the two women approaching him.
Black Mamba stopped at the velvet separating the table from the club, Asp behind her. “Is this a private party, or can any girl join?”
The man looked to the girl on his left, as though asking her opinion. From the glaze of her eyes, Black Mamba didn’t think one would be coming. He turned and locked eyes with her. “It is by invitation. Give it some time. I’ll get to you eventually.”
Asp closed a hand over the rope. Something was wafting off her skin. “Our friend already got in. Her name was Rachel.”
He sighed. “Well, it’s about time. That nobody girl got a bigger reaction.” He made a gesture, and the girls seated with him stood. “She remarked at the end about how little he cared, but it was quite something else to see it.”
“Bad luck for you.” Black Mamba jumped over the rope and kicked one of the girls in the face. “He’d care about not hurting your thralls.”
The club’s bouncers didn’t know anything about the situation, only that there was a disturbance. One tried to grab Asp from behind. She backhanded him, her toxic touch more than making up for her smaller frame. Black Mamba dealt with the rest of the girls easily, her Darkforce draining enough of their life energy that they were no threat.
As chaos engulfed the nightclub, the hunted killer rushed with the crowd toward a rear entrance. Asp caught him out of the corner of her eye. “He’s getting away.”
“What I wouldn’t give for Sidewinder right now.” The teleporter certainly had his uses. From somewhere on her person Black Mamba produced a smart phone. "Go out front. Try to cut him off."
"We shouldn't separate," Asp said. But Black Mamba had already disappeared into the crowd after Ladykiller. Taking out her own smart phone so that they could at least stay in touch, Asp made her way toward the front entrance. There were still panicked clubgoers, but toxic energy cleared her path.
Walking out of the club and toward an alley that led to the rear entrance, Asp called Black Mamba's phone. "You still have him in sight?" No response. "Please don't tell me he got the drop on you. I'd hate to have to knock you around."
"Do you honestly think I'm that stupid?" Black Mamba turned the corner as Asp approached. "The reason I sent you out the door was because I figured you might be. All we know about this guy is that we gets inside people's heads, including a woman powerful enough to knock around a team of villains. There's no way I'm chancing a fight with him."
"Then why go after him?"
"Check your phone," Black Mamba said. Asp did, and saw a picture of their Ladykiller. Even with the brunette next to him, there was a clear shot of his face. "Now we've got something to run through the system. And if Captain America isn't interested in getting us access to try and find Diamondback's killer, then to hell with him."
"I suppose we had better move quickly," Asp said. "At least make some effort to stop him claiming another victim."
* * *
Later they would realize how lucky they'd gotten. They had a photo, but running it through facial recognition would have taken hours, assuming the Ladykiller was in any of the databases they could quickly access. But, as luck would have it, Black Mamba made they suggestion while they were still outside the club.
"He had to have used a credit card."
A half-hour later, they were walking down a street of expensive high-rise apartments. Every couple seconds Asp would glance at her smart phone, still amazed at the information.
"I still can't believe how easy this was," Asp said. "You would think a business would have better security over their transactions."
"Well, it is a skeevy club," said Black Mamba. "And we only wanted the names."
"That was lucky too, Jake working the late shift." The Serpent Society had on their payroll any number of government workers, including one at the DMV. He was mostly used for fake IDs and registrations, but there was no better database to match names to a photo.
And a name they did find. Asp scrolled through the information they'd gathered from that. “Harold Bennett...it's weird when the last name can be a first name."
"Today there's a lot of first names that could be last names," Black Mamba said. "Which building?"
"Only two down. Where that woman is coming from." Asp pointed, then glanced back at the screen. "He was the head of a fragrance company that recently got bought up by Roxxon Oil. Do you think they could be involved in some way?"
"What, that it was a hostile takeover he tried to fight?" Black Mamba rolled her eyes. "To make him sign papers, they roughed him up some, accidentally exposing him to some experimental perfume? And he targets women because a female executive led the takeover?"
In spite of herself, Asp chuckled. "We can ask for his life story after we've removed his fingers and toes. If he doesn't rant about it first thing. You sure rushing in is the best play?"
Black Mamba nodded. "He won't expect us so soon. And if that woman he left with is still alive, he’ll be distracted.”
“Oh, it just occurred…” Asp was about to voice her thought, that Ladykiller was unlikely to kill his victims at home. It wouldn’t have affected their plans much, he’d simply have come home to find two bad girls waiting for him. But then she noticed the woman in scarlet hailing a cab outside the building. “I…I think that’s her.”
“Are you sure?” Black Mamba also took notice of the woman, mentally recalling the photo taken earlier. “I hadn’t seen her face, but the hair looks right, and the color of the dress. Hunh, so maybe he only kills heroes.”
The color… It tickled in the back of Asp’s mind, and a cold feeling that wouldn’t let go. “We’d better hurry up there.”
For two criminals of such experience, the building’s security was meaningless. Minutes later they had stepped off the elevator and found the door to Mr. Bennett’s room ajar. Asp was first into the room, her hand crackling with toxic energy. It was unnecessary, they discovered the infamous Ladykiller writhing on the floor, a bottle of fragrance beside him.
Suddenly, at the forefront of Asp’s mind was a desire to help the man. She started forward, but Black Mamba took her by the shoulder. “I feel it too. Whether it’s him or the cologne, maybe we should open a window.”
Asp shook her head forcefully, clearing away the desires. “No, the awareness is helping to fight it. Or if it’s him, maybe the dying.” She continued into the apartment, out of a curiosity instead of a need to please. On shelves along the way were more bottles of fragrance, unsurprising considering the man’s business. She picked a bottle at random, opened it, and the desire returned. Only it was different, unfocused, likely as no one was wearing it.
“Can you smell that?”
“Yes, but it helps to not look at him.” Black Mamba had shut her eyes, and was holding a tissue to her nose.
“Not just that.” Asp tried a couple of others, and they were all the same. “It’s the same generic scent, except for what’s on him.”
“Strawberries.” Steeling herself, Black Mamba risked a look at Ladykiller. His changes features did nothing to mute the effects, and she quickly looked away with the shudder. “Dammit I want to rush to him, to treat those hives! He’s got allergies.”
“We’d better leave,” Asp said. “When he’s discovered, it’ll be treated as an accident. I doubt the cops’ll look hard, even if they figure out what he’s done.”
Without saying a word, Black Mamba nodded and rushed out of the apartment, Asp following close behind. Ignoring the elevator, Black Mamba went for the stairwell and only after opening the door did she talk. “Okay, so there’s a drug in the cologne that affects women. It even messed with Rogue’s powers.”
“The incident at the club used up what he had,” Asp said. “So he brought her back here to reapply. And he just happened to pick a bad batch that he was allergic to?”
“That woman…you had a feeling outside.” Black Mamba said. “Now that I think about it, it did look like her. It’s certainly something she could do, spontaneously changing a chemical. And dammit, everything suddenly fell into place tonight.”
Stepping into the lobby, Asp heard the ambulance. “She even called for help. Much as I hope they’re too late, the effort relieves me. Can you imagine if the Avengers started living up to their name?”
As they walked past the EMTs, Black Mamba chuckled. “I’m fine with the idea of this Ladykiller spending the rest of his life behind bars with big, burly men.”
The End
Bibliography
- Diamondback was murdered in Thunderbolts #14.
- Jolt encountered Ladykiller in Thunderbolts #19. Her body was found in Thunderbolts #20 and, aside from some brief inquires by Iron Man and Captain America, neither really gave a shit.
- Jolt’s former teammates briefly investigated her murder in Thunderbolts #24. They fought Rogue, who was briefly possessed by Ladykiller, then promptly gave up.
- Rogue’s encounter with Black Mamba and Asp occurs just before shit went down in Uncanny X-Men #1.