#18 by John Cheese
March 2018
March 2018
"The Highwayman"
House of Twisted Roses, Charleston, South Carolina
Gillette Wilkinson AKA Headhunter stared out the big bay windows at the lawn of her home and the hummingbird buzzing round the feeders. For too long she had neglected the ‘House of Twisted Roses’ in particular the aforementioned roses, famed for having a potent neurotoxic venom on their forms. Now with her attention focused more on the home, in addition to running a crew of sinister super villains, she had been freed up to tend to the environment she lived in.
“Is it still out there?” Mike Nero AKA the Enforcer asked as he walked into the room.
“He is still out there,” Gillette answered as she got up from her chair. “It’s about to rain a lot, and regardless of who he serves, I don’t want him to get hypothermia.”
“Then allow me to accompany you.” Nero suggested as he checked the safety of the handgun he wore at his waist.
“You are a gentlemen sir.” Gillette teased in an almost playful manner as she slipped a coat over the red blouse she was wearing. Smiling slightly Nero, holstered his gun and held the door open for her, his cheeks blushing slightly.
“Blame Sarah for that, she always loved it when I held the door open for her.” Nero answered as he and Gillette walked down the corridor to the grandiose front door.
“What happened between you guys, you forget I worked with the pair of you a few times, you always seemed like,” Gillette paused as the front door was opened to reveal a long gravel path through a row of terraces intertwined with roses, “like you were soulmates, but not in a romantic way if that makes sense.”
“I screwed up.” Nero stated. “And before I could make it up to her this hooded witch killed her in our battle with the Wanderer.” He hung his head in shame as he stepped out under the ominous grey sky overhead.
“I’m sorry.” Gillette whispered. “Wait here this won’t take too long.” She added as she walked down the path past the roses to large clump of bamboo that was rustling ominously. “It’s about to rain, if you want you can come inside.” She added as the figure concealed in the shrubbery revealed himself, his muscular torso towering over the Headhunter, his horned head scraping the bark of the cherry tree standing over the bamboo.
“You should be careful who you invite into your home if I were you.” The horned giant grunted. “I worked for your enemies not so long ago, and the Conspiracy are your enemies indeed.”
“You worked, past tense Man Bull.” Gillette stated, as she made a guess about the giant’s alias. “What did they do to you?”
“They betrayed me, tried to drown me for no reason other than they were bored.” Man Bull snorted as hunkered down onto his hindquarters so he could look the woman he was addressing in the eye. “Most of them can blend in with the normal people, that makes them more intolerant of anyone they see as a freak.”
“I understand, not just be being a mutant but being an albino.” Gillette told him. “My own parents locked me in the basement for years before I escaped. But all this talk doesn’t answer the question, why are you here?”
“The enemy of my enemy.” Man Bull stated as he shook his head slightly, fragments of cherry bark flying out of his hair. “I know you have no problem with betrayal, what you did to Crossfire was messed up, but I figure it would better to throw in with you rather then sit on the side lines on the fight that’s brewing.”
“And what are you willing to bring to the table?” Gillette asked.
“Only my brawn.” Man Bull stated. “That and the list of some of the Conspiracy’s members I compiled.”
“Hmm.” Gillette purred as a thunderclap sounded above them and the heavens began to open, freezing rain storming down on them. “That is a pretty good gift to bring me, welcome to my crew. Now let’s get out of this storm before we both freeze to death.”
# # # # #
Placing his hands of the lab table, Calvin Carr AKA Chemistro watched as his teammate Lancaster Sneed AKA Shockwave brought in a cage covered by a cloth.
“Are we ready for testing?” Calvin asked as he got up from his seat and removed the alchemy pistol resting on a charging station on the table.
“We are, four subjects like you asked for.” Sneed answered as he removed the cloth to reveal four DVD cases, all supporting a cartoon cat with an obnoxious look on its face, before dumping them onto the table.
(That would be Yellow Cat, a fictional Czech Anime beloved by Jasper Daniels AKA the Spear and introduced in Villains for Hire #4)
“What we do is not for our own good, but for the good of science and mankind.” Calvin stated as he levelled the Alchemy Pistol at Season 1 and blasted it, the DVD transmutating into a lump on Nickel. “Plus, it will piss off Daniels.” He added as he blasted Season 2, the DVD collapsing into a puddle of water.
“I’m curious what’s the fourth DVD for?” Sneed asked as Season 3 of Yellow Cat dissipated into a gaseous form.
“Plasma, my Alchemy Gun now can convert matter into plasma.” Calvin told him as he opened fire at the DVD, the case and its contents exploding into a hiss of sparks and lightning. “It does drain the onboard energy cell however, that may need to be the next upgrade that I address.”
“Oh, I wouldn’t worry about that.” A voice stated from the corner of the room as a figured dressed in yellow overalls and a ballcap emblazoned with the acronym RAID materialised before them. “I need to talk to Mr Sneed about reparations he owes us.”
# # # # #
Gillette did not look impressed as she faced down the RAID agent sitting on her sofa, a number of weapons trained on his head. She wondered if maybe Man Bull had led RAID here, and while that was possible, it was clear RAID had its own agenda when it came to her crew.
“Your hospitality is most…inhospitable.” The RAID agent stated as he stretched out on the sofa only to feel the barrel of a pistol to press into his neck. “As you may be aware RAID is currently locked in a tech war with Baintronics. One that is partially the creation of your little team of criminals.”
“You mentioned reparations, what do you want?” Sneed asked as stood behind Gillette’s chair, his muscles tensed to throw their intruder out the nearest window if the situations called for it.
“You stole data for us and gave it Crossfire.” The agent announced as he mentally took note of his chance of getting out of the room alive. “And while it would be tempting to get that back, we have a far more menial task for you and your cohorts, work we are willing to pay for as a sign of our friendship.”
“The Scientist Supreme would not like this approach.” Sneed snorted. “You know what he would do to you if he found out.”
“Probably the same thing we did to him for hiring you.” The AIM agent stated as he flipped a crystal pendent out of his overalls. “That was his left knee bone I believe, from what I remember he was in considerable pain after the harvesting and then the compression.”
“Shall we move onto haggling over the worth of whatever you want is then.” Gillette sighed as she watched the pendent spin slightly before it was hidden away once again.
“Bain’s hired superhuman muscle stole a container of intangible warheads that we were planning to demonstrate at the Mandripoor Weapons Expo coming up this weekend.” The RAID agent explained as he put a number of profiles down on the table. “This is the team she used, we believe them to be part of an underworld faction known as…”
“…The Conspiracy.” Gillette grumbled as she tapped one of the photos. “Are these the guards Baintronics has on your stolen tech?”
“No, we tracked them down and terminated them.” The RAID agent replied. “We got intel suggesting that they were being stored in Madripoor and sent an acquisitions team out to return them, eight men went out, three left hands and a bag of blood are what Baintronics sent back.” He added as he crossed his hands and bowed his head. “They were good agents and some of them were my friends.” He paused and got to his feet. “We are willing to give you a 10% share of the sale of the first-year profits of our intangible warheads, but most importantly what I left on your lawn.”
“Uh there’s nothing out there, I was staring at it for ages.” Nero snorted as he kept his pistol levelled at the RAID emissary’s head.
“Look again.” The RAID agent ordered as something outside the window shimmered to reveal a matte black sickle winged jet. “Crossfire’s theft of one of our gunships was good publicity for our sale of similar units so we were curious what you could do with the luxury version.” He announced as he placed the keys in Gillette’s hand. “I believe this is your pale horse Ma’am, I hope you enjoy driving it.” He added as Gillette motioned for her crew to lower their weapons as the RAID agent headed for the door. “Just one thing…don’t crash this one into an ice wall like you did with the last jet we let you have.”
# # # # #
(The Bar of) The Royal Mandripoor Hotel – Sixteen Hours Later
“So, I have to say it, that new jet is so quiet.” Calvin stated as he fired his alchemy pistol into the pitcher of water on the table, the liquid turning into well aged Scotch. “Of course, that may have something to do with that nasty stereo Makro fixed to the thing.” He added as he watched the myriad of tech company representatives, super villains and fringe terrorists drinking, dancing and generally being hedonistic alongside each other.
“Can we get back to figuring out how we can get these warheads back from Bain.” Gillette stated as she stole a glance at a woman dressed in a Captain Marvel inspired dress walk past.
“Hey Team Freak Show.” A drunken Hammer Multinational executive sneered as he walked past. “Aren’t you freaks meant to be burning in hell on Genosha?”
“Yeah I heard that they could hear the screams of the mutant babies coming from Hammer Bay for hours.” A second exec snorted as Man Bull began to raise from his chair. While drunk the executives had enough sense to stagger off, cat calling at a blonde woman at the bar as they passed.
“So, do you know they have our song in their DJ set.” Daniels announced as he poured some of the transmutated Scotch into a shot glass. “Shouldn’t we get royalties or something?”
“What is he talking about.” Nero asked as he tapped his pistol in response to a teenage boy reaching for his pockets.
“We took a mission on under Cross to take down a network ran by a rogue Syrian general who was selling bootlegged Russian technology to the worlds bad guys. His client list was truly frightening,” Calvin explained as he placed his hands together and rested them on the table., “anyway, Daniels came up with a scheme to isolate one of his clients, by masquerading as a band to enter his compound.”
“And it worked.” Daniels interrupted. “We even released a single which may or may not have contained hypnotic sub-tones compelling listeners to donate money to use. Just a shame Cross and Makro aren’t here then we could use it here to find one of the Baintronics guys.”
“Well I know Makro’s drum solo.” Sneed sighed. “And Nero is close enough to Cross’s build and appearance to pull off being him. All we’d need is instruments and I fail to believe that you didn’t hide them away somewhere before we took off.”
“Guilty, I always wanted to try the scheme twice.” Daniels replied, a wide grin spread across his face.
“Okay how does this scheme work?” Nero asked as he shot Spear a look that suggested he was half decided that wringing the marksmen’s neck was the best course of action for the current predicament he was in.
“Sexy lead singer shows some flesh, invites Baintronics guy back stage and then hypnotises him.” Daniels stated, as Gillette shot him a look that was far more blistering then the one Nero had mustered.
“I’m not doing this again!” Gillette snapped as she got up from the table.
# # # # #
“I hate doing this!” Gillette grumbled as she pulled on the leather trousers with the exposed panels down the side. “I’m an introvert personality.”
“Yes, but you’re an introvert with a nice singing voice.” Daniels replied as he pulled on a tasselled jacket and a pair of star lensed shades. “Plus, we can show off your tattoo from the Constrictor Job, that’ll make them go crazy.”
(That would be contained within Issue #6 - #8 of Villains for Hire)
“Remind me to smash your keytar once we’re done.” Gillette snarled as she pulled on a revealing tank-top.
“Why settle with his keytar when you should be stopping at his face!” Nero hissed as he pulled a patch over his left eye, before slipping a leather trench coat on over his shirt and jeans.
“You crazy cats go out and have fun, me and Wild Bill will start our surveillance sweep.” Calvin stated as he removed a pot of macadamia nuts from the mini fridge. Smiling sweetly and flipping him the bird Gillette lead the rest of the ‘band’ out of the room.
“Kind of sad I’m going to miss Headhunter rip Spear’s head off.” Man Bull grunted as he eyed the mini bottle of sparkling water he’d removed from the mini-fridge with superstition. “So what are we doing?”
“We are looking for the muscle Baintronics hired to guard their warheads.” Calvin answered. “I saw a load of guys who fit the bill of hired security down in the bar, but I suggest we narrow the field just a bit.”
“Well I don’t see the Vega Tarantula punk working the door, same with Slayback. And I’m sure Baintronics wouldn’t sink low enough to hire Doctor Bong.” Man Bull replied as he began to count names recited on his fingers.
“I have an easier method.” Calvin stated as he emptied the macadamia nuts onto the floor and slipped a charge into the canister. “Tell me Bill, are you familiar with the concept of B and E?”
# # # # #
Calvin knocked on the reinforced door before waiting for the security guard on the other side to slide the reinforced shutter aside to see who was knocking.
“What do you need?” The guard snorted as he flashed his shoulder holster to make sure any potential intruders knew that he was armed.
“Macadamias nut?” Calvin asked as he held the can up, the charge in the bottom detonated and a shower of projectiles streaked through the slot and ricocheted around the room. Seconds later three thuds sounded as bodies hit the floor. Removing a tablet, Calvin typed in a brief series of commands before taking a step back, the security door who had peered through the hatch robotically opening the door, a cross shaped disc embedded through his bottom lip.
“You do mind control as well?” Man Bull asked, as the pair of villains walked into the control room, the two other security guards slumped on the desk, one supporting three discs stabbed through his neck, blood pooling round the edges of his wounds.
“Nah this is just left-over Crossfire tech.” Calvin stated as he typed in a new command into his tablet, his signal causing one of the security guards to climb up onto the chair and start accessing the systems. “Okay, here we go, Baintronics has booked five suites, two for their executives and three for a number of security contractors, but there seems to be no names given for them.”
“Is there a money trail?” Man Bull asked.
“There is it goes to a company based in the Netherlands known as Aspis Pharmaceuticals.” Calvin told him as the security guard continued to follow the cyber trail. “That’s part of a franchise of a number of other companies, and one of their CEOs is familiar to me.” He stated as he pulled the chair back, have a look and tell me if it rings a bell with you?”
“Seth Volkner.” Man Bull snorted, “Figures that Madripoor would be full of snakes.”
# # # # #
“Thank you darling.” Gillette purred in a faux southern accent as she trotted out of the backroom where the Baintronics executive she’d charmed. Walking back out into the bar she saw the woman in the Captain Marvel dress, and she wasn’t alone, in fact it looked as if she would rather be anywhere else. The man who was hitting on her was the stereotypical pretty boy, and judging by the quality of his suit and watch, rich to boot. Smiling slightly, she moved to an intercept position.
“So how about we go back to my penthouse and do something marvellous.” The man suggested as he took a sip out of the wine glass he was holding.
“Now sugar, there is such a thing as harassment.” Gillette stated in the same Southern accent she’d been using before. “It’s clear she doesn’t like you, so why not go fishing elsewhere.” She added as the woman in the Captain Marvel dress made the best of the situation and slipped away.
“Nice accent if you’re trying to sound like Penelope Pitstop.” The man stated as he looked Gillette up and down. “But it doesn’t fool anyone, he knows who you are.”
“Who is he?” Gillette asked, as she watched Daniels and Sneed move towards the pair, just in case there was trouble.
“The one who you betrayed.” The man answered as he peeled the synthetic skin around his right eye to reveal a cross shaped lens. “He will always know where you are Gillette, and we will always carry out his orders without fail!” He added as he removed a handgun and placed it against his lower jaw before pulling the trigger, the sound of the gunshot sounding over the loud music.
“What the fuck?” Gillette cursed as she looked down at the body.
“Shit is that…” Sneed asked.
“No it’s not, not unless he’d been supping from the fountain of youth.” Gillette answered as she tore her eyes away from the body. “But for a moment I actually thought it was him.”
“Security can deal with this,” Daniels announced, his voice lacking any emotion. “Not to be that guy, but do we have a location.”
“Yeah, the old meat market in Old Town.” Gillette replied in the same tone as Sneed pulled her towards the exit. As they left the bar, she saw the woman she’d attempt to ‘save’ standing there a curiously cruel look in her eye, the pupil in her left eye constricting into a cross for the briefest moment of time, before she turned away.
“You guys okay?” Nero asked as he came sprinting out of the bar after them. “Did that guy hurt you?”
“No I’m fine.” Gillette lied. She was anything but fine, she had seen the pictures linked with Crossfire’s death and had never doubted that William was dead. But now she wondered if such a triviality in a world of capes was such a barrier for a man who’d always been ten steps ahead of everyone else.
Gillette Wilkinson AKA Headhunter stared out the big bay windows at the lawn of her home and the hummingbird buzzing round the feeders. For too long she had neglected the ‘House of Twisted Roses’ in particular the aforementioned roses, famed for having a potent neurotoxic venom on their forms. Now with her attention focused more on the home, in addition to running a crew of sinister super villains, she had been freed up to tend to the environment she lived in.
“Is it still out there?” Mike Nero AKA the Enforcer asked as he walked into the room.
“He is still out there,” Gillette answered as she got up from her chair. “It’s about to rain a lot, and regardless of who he serves, I don’t want him to get hypothermia.”
“Then allow me to accompany you.” Nero suggested as he checked the safety of the handgun he wore at his waist.
“You are a gentlemen sir.” Gillette teased in an almost playful manner as she slipped a coat over the red blouse she was wearing. Smiling slightly Nero, holstered his gun and held the door open for her, his cheeks blushing slightly.
“Blame Sarah for that, she always loved it when I held the door open for her.” Nero answered as he and Gillette walked down the corridor to the grandiose front door.
“What happened between you guys, you forget I worked with the pair of you a few times, you always seemed like,” Gillette paused as the front door was opened to reveal a long gravel path through a row of terraces intertwined with roses, “like you were soulmates, but not in a romantic way if that makes sense.”
“I screwed up.” Nero stated. “And before I could make it up to her this hooded witch killed her in our battle with the Wanderer.” He hung his head in shame as he stepped out under the ominous grey sky overhead.
“I’m sorry.” Gillette whispered. “Wait here this won’t take too long.” She added as she walked down the path past the roses to large clump of bamboo that was rustling ominously. “It’s about to rain, if you want you can come inside.” She added as the figure concealed in the shrubbery revealed himself, his muscular torso towering over the Headhunter, his horned head scraping the bark of the cherry tree standing over the bamboo.
“You should be careful who you invite into your home if I were you.” The horned giant grunted. “I worked for your enemies not so long ago, and the Conspiracy are your enemies indeed.”
“You worked, past tense Man Bull.” Gillette stated, as she made a guess about the giant’s alias. “What did they do to you?”
“They betrayed me, tried to drown me for no reason other than they were bored.” Man Bull snorted as hunkered down onto his hindquarters so he could look the woman he was addressing in the eye. “Most of them can blend in with the normal people, that makes them more intolerant of anyone they see as a freak.”
“I understand, not just be being a mutant but being an albino.” Gillette told him. “My own parents locked me in the basement for years before I escaped. But all this talk doesn’t answer the question, why are you here?”
“The enemy of my enemy.” Man Bull stated as he shook his head slightly, fragments of cherry bark flying out of his hair. “I know you have no problem with betrayal, what you did to Crossfire was messed up, but I figure it would better to throw in with you rather then sit on the side lines on the fight that’s brewing.”
“And what are you willing to bring to the table?” Gillette asked.
“Only my brawn.” Man Bull stated. “That and the list of some of the Conspiracy’s members I compiled.”
“Hmm.” Gillette purred as a thunderclap sounded above them and the heavens began to open, freezing rain storming down on them. “That is a pretty good gift to bring me, welcome to my crew. Now let’s get out of this storm before we both freeze to death.”
# # # # #
Placing his hands of the lab table, Calvin Carr AKA Chemistro watched as his teammate Lancaster Sneed AKA Shockwave brought in a cage covered by a cloth.
“Are we ready for testing?” Calvin asked as he got up from his seat and removed the alchemy pistol resting on a charging station on the table.
“We are, four subjects like you asked for.” Sneed answered as he removed the cloth to reveal four DVD cases, all supporting a cartoon cat with an obnoxious look on its face, before dumping them onto the table.
(That would be Yellow Cat, a fictional Czech Anime beloved by Jasper Daniels AKA the Spear and introduced in Villains for Hire #4)
“What we do is not for our own good, but for the good of science and mankind.” Calvin stated as he levelled the Alchemy Pistol at Season 1 and blasted it, the DVD transmutating into a lump on Nickel. “Plus, it will piss off Daniels.” He added as he blasted Season 2, the DVD collapsing into a puddle of water.
“I’m curious what’s the fourth DVD for?” Sneed asked as Season 3 of Yellow Cat dissipated into a gaseous form.
“Plasma, my Alchemy Gun now can convert matter into plasma.” Calvin told him as he opened fire at the DVD, the case and its contents exploding into a hiss of sparks and lightning. “It does drain the onboard energy cell however, that may need to be the next upgrade that I address.”
“Oh, I wouldn’t worry about that.” A voice stated from the corner of the room as a figured dressed in yellow overalls and a ballcap emblazoned with the acronym RAID materialised before them. “I need to talk to Mr Sneed about reparations he owes us.”
# # # # #
Gillette did not look impressed as she faced down the RAID agent sitting on her sofa, a number of weapons trained on his head. She wondered if maybe Man Bull had led RAID here, and while that was possible, it was clear RAID had its own agenda when it came to her crew.
“Your hospitality is most…inhospitable.” The RAID agent stated as he stretched out on the sofa only to feel the barrel of a pistol to press into his neck. “As you may be aware RAID is currently locked in a tech war with Baintronics. One that is partially the creation of your little team of criminals.”
“You mentioned reparations, what do you want?” Sneed asked as stood behind Gillette’s chair, his muscles tensed to throw their intruder out the nearest window if the situations called for it.
“You stole data for us and gave it Crossfire.” The agent announced as he mentally took note of his chance of getting out of the room alive. “And while it would be tempting to get that back, we have a far more menial task for you and your cohorts, work we are willing to pay for as a sign of our friendship.”
“The Scientist Supreme would not like this approach.” Sneed snorted. “You know what he would do to you if he found out.”
“Probably the same thing we did to him for hiring you.” The AIM agent stated as he flipped a crystal pendent out of his overalls. “That was his left knee bone I believe, from what I remember he was in considerable pain after the harvesting and then the compression.”
“Shall we move onto haggling over the worth of whatever you want is then.” Gillette sighed as she watched the pendent spin slightly before it was hidden away once again.
“Bain’s hired superhuman muscle stole a container of intangible warheads that we were planning to demonstrate at the Mandripoor Weapons Expo coming up this weekend.” The RAID agent explained as he put a number of profiles down on the table. “This is the team she used, we believe them to be part of an underworld faction known as…”
“…The Conspiracy.” Gillette grumbled as she tapped one of the photos. “Are these the guards Baintronics has on your stolen tech?”
“No, we tracked them down and terminated them.” The RAID agent replied. “We got intel suggesting that they were being stored in Madripoor and sent an acquisitions team out to return them, eight men went out, three left hands and a bag of blood are what Baintronics sent back.” He added as he crossed his hands and bowed his head. “They were good agents and some of them were my friends.” He paused and got to his feet. “We are willing to give you a 10% share of the sale of the first-year profits of our intangible warheads, but most importantly what I left on your lawn.”
“Uh there’s nothing out there, I was staring at it for ages.” Nero snorted as he kept his pistol levelled at the RAID emissary’s head.
“Look again.” The RAID agent ordered as something outside the window shimmered to reveal a matte black sickle winged jet. “Crossfire’s theft of one of our gunships was good publicity for our sale of similar units so we were curious what you could do with the luxury version.” He announced as he placed the keys in Gillette’s hand. “I believe this is your pale horse Ma’am, I hope you enjoy driving it.” He added as Gillette motioned for her crew to lower their weapons as the RAID agent headed for the door. “Just one thing…don’t crash this one into an ice wall like you did with the last jet we let you have.”
# # # # #
(The Bar of) The Royal Mandripoor Hotel – Sixteen Hours Later
“So, I have to say it, that new jet is so quiet.” Calvin stated as he fired his alchemy pistol into the pitcher of water on the table, the liquid turning into well aged Scotch. “Of course, that may have something to do with that nasty stereo Makro fixed to the thing.” He added as he watched the myriad of tech company representatives, super villains and fringe terrorists drinking, dancing and generally being hedonistic alongside each other.
“Can we get back to figuring out how we can get these warheads back from Bain.” Gillette stated as she stole a glance at a woman dressed in a Captain Marvel inspired dress walk past.
“Hey Team Freak Show.” A drunken Hammer Multinational executive sneered as he walked past. “Aren’t you freaks meant to be burning in hell on Genosha?”
“Yeah I heard that they could hear the screams of the mutant babies coming from Hammer Bay for hours.” A second exec snorted as Man Bull began to raise from his chair. While drunk the executives had enough sense to stagger off, cat calling at a blonde woman at the bar as they passed.
“So, do you know they have our song in their DJ set.” Daniels announced as he poured some of the transmutated Scotch into a shot glass. “Shouldn’t we get royalties or something?”
“What is he talking about.” Nero asked as he tapped his pistol in response to a teenage boy reaching for his pockets.
“We took a mission on under Cross to take down a network ran by a rogue Syrian general who was selling bootlegged Russian technology to the worlds bad guys. His client list was truly frightening,” Calvin explained as he placed his hands together and rested them on the table., “anyway, Daniels came up with a scheme to isolate one of his clients, by masquerading as a band to enter his compound.”
“And it worked.” Daniels interrupted. “We even released a single which may or may not have contained hypnotic sub-tones compelling listeners to donate money to use. Just a shame Cross and Makro aren’t here then we could use it here to find one of the Baintronics guys.”
“Well I know Makro’s drum solo.” Sneed sighed. “And Nero is close enough to Cross’s build and appearance to pull off being him. All we’d need is instruments and I fail to believe that you didn’t hide them away somewhere before we took off.”
“Guilty, I always wanted to try the scheme twice.” Daniels replied, a wide grin spread across his face.
“Okay how does this scheme work?” Nero asked as he shot Spear a look that suggested he was half decided that wringing the marksmen’s neck was the best course of action for the current predicament he was in.
“Sexy lead singer shows some flesh, invites Baintronics guy back stage and then hypnotises him.” Daniels stated, as Gillette shot him a look that was far more blistering then the one Nero had mustered.
“I’m not doing this again!” Gillette snapped as she got up from the table.
# # # # #
“I hate doing this!” Gillette grumbled as she pulled on the leather trousers with the exposed panels down the side. “I’m an introvert personality.”
“Yes, but you’re an introvert with a nice singing voice.” Daniels replied as he pulled on a tasselled jacket and a pair of star lensed shades. “Plus, we can show off your tattoo from the Constrictor Job, that’ll make them go crazy.”
(That would be contained within Issue #6 - #8 of Villains for Hire)
“Remind me to smash your keytar once we’re done.” Gillette snarled as she pulled on a revealing tank-top.
“Why settle with his keytar when you should be stopping at his face!” Nero hissed as he pulled a patch over his left eye, before slipping a leather trench coat on over his shirt and jeans.
“You crazy cats go out and have fun, me and Wild Bill will start our surveillance sweep.” Calvin stated as he removed a pot of macadamia nuts from the mini fridge. Smiling sweetly and flipping him the bird Gillette lead the rest of the ‘band’ out of the room.
“Kind of sad I’m going to miss Headhunter rip Spear’s head off.” Man Bull grunted as he eyed the mini bottle of sparkling water he’d removed from the mini-fridge with superstition. “So what are we doing?”
“We are looking for the muscle Baintronics hired to guard their warheads.” Calvin answered. “I saw a load of guys who fit the bill of hired security down in the bar, but I suggest we narrow the field just a bit.”
“Well I don’t see the Vega Tarantula punk working the door, same with Slayback. And I’m sure Baintronics wouldn’t sink low enough to hire Doctor Bong.” Man Bull replied as he began to count names recited on his fingers.
“I have an easier method.” Calvin stated as he emptied the macadamia nuts onto the floor and slipped a charge into the canister. “Tell me Bill, are you familiar with the concept of B and E?”
# # # # #
Calvin knocked on the reinforced door before waiting for the security guard on the other side to slide the reinforced shutter aside to see who was knocking.
“What do you need?” The guard snorted as he flashed his shoulder holster to make sure any potential intruders knew that he was armed.
“Macadamias nut?” Calvin asked as he held the can up, the charge in the bottom detonated and a shower of projectiles streaked through the slot and ricocheted around the room. Seconds later three thuds sounded as bodies hit the floor. Removing a tablet, Calvin typed in a brief series of commands before taking a step back, the security door who had peered through the hatch robotically opening the door, a cross shaped disc embedded through his bottom lip.
“You do mind control as well?” Man Bull asked, as the pair of villains walked into the control room, the two other security guards slumped on the desk, one supporting three discs stabbed through his neck, blood pooling round the edges of his wounds.
“Nah this is just left-over Crossfire tech.” Calvin stated as he typed in a new command into his tablet, his signal causing one of the security guards to climb up onto the chair and start accessing the systems. “Okay, here we go, Baintronics has booked five suites, two for their executives and three for a number of security contractors, but there seems to be no names given for them.”
“Is there a money trail?” Man Bull asked.
“There is it goes to a company based in the Netherlands known as Aspis Pharmaceuticals.” Calvin told him as the security guard continued to follow the cyber trail. “That’s part of a franchise of a number of other companies, and one of their CEOs is familiar to me.” He stated as he pulled the chair back, have a look and tell me if it rings a bell with you?”
“Seth Volkner.” Man Bull snorted, “Figures that Madripoor would be full of snakes.”
# # # # #
“Thank you darling.” Gillette purred in a faux southern accent as she trotted out of the backroom where the Baintronics executive she’d charmed. Walking back out into the bar she saw the woman in the Captain Marvel dress, and she wasn’t alone, in fact it looked as if she would rather be anywhere else. The man who was hitting on her was the stereotypical pretty boy, and judging by the quality of his suit and watch, rich to boot. Smiling slightly, she moved to an intercept position.
“So how about we go back to my penthouse and do something marvellous.” The man suggested as he took a sip out of the wine glass he was holding.
“Now sugar, there is such a thing as harassment.” Gillette stated in the same Southern accent she’d been using before. “It’s clear she doesn’t like you, so why not go fishing elsewhere.” She added as the woman in the Captain Marvel dress made the best of the situation and slipped away.
“Nice accent if you’re trying to sound like Penelope Pitstop.” The man stated as he looked Gillette up and down. “But it doesn’t fool anyone, he knows who you are.”
“Who is he?” Gillette asked, as she watched Daniels and Sneed move towards the pair, just in case there was trouble.
“The one who you betrayed.” The man answered as he peeled the synthetic skin around his right eye to reveal a cross shaped lens. “He will always know where you are Gillette, and we will always carry out his orders without fail!” He added as he removed a handgun and placed it against his lower jaw before pulling the trigger, the sound of the gunshot sounding over the loud music.
“What the fuck?” Gillette cursed as she looked down at the body.
“Shit is that…” Sneed asked.
“No it’s not, not unless he’d been supping from the fountain of youth.” Gillette answered as she tore her eyes away from the body. “But for a moment I actually thought it was him.”
“Security can deal with this,” Daniels announced, his voice lacking any emotion. “Not to be that guy, but do we have a location.”
“Yeah, the old meat market in Old Town.” Gillette replied in the same tone as Sneed pulled her towards the exit. As they left the bar, she saw the woman she’d attempt to ‘save’ standing there a curiously cruel look in her eye, the pupil in her left eye constricting into a cross for the briefest moment of time, before she turned away.
“You guys okay?” Nero asked as he came sprinting out of the bar after them. “Did that guy hurt you?”
“No I’m fine.” Gillette lied. She was anything but fine, she had seen the pictures linked with Crossfire’s death and had never doubted that William was dead. But now she wondered if such a triviality in a world of capes was such a barrier for a man who’d always been ten steps ahead of everyone else.