It was his voracious appetite for destruction that made Angela scared of him. Forget his all around creepy looks because she had seen her fair share of freakish appearances. Even his eerily familiar, German speech didn't really bother her, but it certainly lent credence to his nature. The man was someone who thrived off of chaos and destruction. So it was little wonder his greatest foe stood for unity and hope.
At first, she had thought that was why he had called her and the others here to his Lithuania stronghold, but as conversations tiptoed into her ears she realized it was without rhyme or reason. Even with that knowledge, Angela just happened to know that you didn't refuse an invitation from him. Snubs were one of the highest orders of insult in his frame of reference. The few that felt brave enough to do it still haven't been heard from and they probably never would be.
Shivers crawled down her back as she wondered if the same fate could befall them. She had left his employ at one point and maybe he wanted revenge. That just didn't seem likely, but you could never really tell. Erratic behavior was one of his many psychological issues. Angela just hoped that her history with him was enough to guarantee that she hadn't walked into the slaughterhouse. In the back of her mind, she hoped this was all some big joke and he wasn't even here at all. It was a pitiful thought and probably far away from the truth.
Each second waiting in the musky warehouse was agonizing. Particularly when it was occupied by insane, obnoxious entities. There were the two men dressed exactly like painfully silly clowns and the red monster insisted on licking his fingers as loud and hard and as possible. Angela wanted to send her high heel through his hand, but gathered from the red thing's muscles that it wouldn't do much good.
"Quite the crowd huh?"
The man's voice was hollowed and cracked. It seemed as if with every word he was gearing up to rip your vocal chords out with teeth. Angela didn't care to stand by him, but she was more than capable of handling herself if she had to. Though she wondered exactly what were this creature's limits.
"Only eight of us. Wouldn't exactly call that a crowd," Angela said as she fiddled with the black and red invitation sequestered in her jean pocket.
"Considering who invited us, doesn't it make you more curious?" a sultry woman with flowing black hair and a snake tiara asked. Angela knew her and the people she ran with quite well.
"Slightly, but trying to figure him out is risky business," Angela replied.
Amongst the group was a shirtless Brazilian man with the abs of a god, but Angela noted first the silly leopard pattern pants and gloves he had on. If he wasn't so good looking she might have laughed. He glanced down at his square invitation a little sheepishly and asked, "So who sent us these anyway?"
A deathly quiet fell over the warehouse. You could hear the harsh ocean wind blow outside as clear as if they were all wading in the water. It was finally broken by the laughter of one of the twins who made up the Brother's Grimm. "You really don't know do you?"
The Brazilian looked at the red skull in the center of the invitation and shrugged. "If I knew I don't think I would have asked."
"Look at the fucking obvious kid. The Red Skull called you to wine and dine."
=T=
One Month Later…The yellow corvette sped down the French roadway and at its wheel was Angela Golden, better known amongst her teammates as Golddigger. Under her hands, the steering wheel felt like it was a natural extension of her body. It moved gracefully and with tremendous speed. Angela had a bit of added luck in the fact that traffic was light at the time. It was going to make her getaway easier.
Seated in the passenger seat and gripping a steel box was a very nervous Jaguar. Angela imagined that the man would leave behind a distinct sweat print once it was all over. Considering his normal bouts of unearned bravado, that made Angela smile. "Not nervous are we Luis?"
Keeping his eyes locked on the road like a traumatized child experiencing their first horror move, Luis shook his head. "Only if you decide to send us off the mountain side."
Angela laughed like someone tempting fate. "Wouldn't dream of it. If we died, he would just bring us back as Scourges. The Skull is vindictive if nothing else."
The thought of wires plugged into his body and pasty white skin made Jaguar's response simple. "Keep your eyes on the road then beautiful."
Wailing noises erupted into Angela's rearview mirror. She looked and saw five white motorcycles moving in on them fast. They were definitely the Kingpin's men. Now she wishing there had been a bit more traffic in the area. At the moment they were sitting ducks and Golddigger was anything but a moving target.
"We got company. Think its time for you to rock and roll Luis."
"That's about the best order I've heard you give all week beautiful," Jaguar said as he unbuckled his seatbelt and sat the steel box on the backseat.
Angela pressed the button to push back the corvette's roof. Cool air from the night rushed over them as the roof descended back. "You got five minutes Luis. Make them count."
Jaguar winked. "Just watch me do me."
He leapt backwards out of the corvette and spun in a circular blur through the air. As one of the motorcycles passed under him, he slammed his feet into the rider's head. There was a loud crack as Jaguar's feet crashed through the white helmet. Some impacts the device just wasn't made for and as the blow was delivered, the rider's body collapsed downward. Sparks flew in every direction when the motorcycle crashed to the ground.
By that time, Jaguar was already suing his speed to chase down his next victim. Four bikes remained, but Angel was keeping far enough ahead that they weren't a threat. Pushing himself forward, jaguar ran up alongside one of the bikers. The wailing was much louder up close and personal. Even with the air rushing over his ears, Jaguar heard the metal screaming across the pavement.
The rider glanced to his right and jumped back at the sight of a man running right next to him. Jaguar smiled and punched the rider off his bike in that moment's hesitation. The rider skidded across the road and before the bike could spin out of control, Jaguar grabbed it by one of its handles flinging it forward. The tire screeched as it was too quickly removed from the pavement and sent zipping through the air only a few feet off the ground. Jaguar's strength and flexibility was able to send the bike crashing into the back of another rider. Two bikes were intertwined together with a broken man in-between. It was the kind of sandwich nobody wanted a piece of.
Jaguar did not take the time to watch the two bikes roll off of the mountainside. There was enough metal screeching to let him know what had occurred. His focus was solely on the last two bikes and he had less than two minutes left. The last thing Angela needed was a reason to chide him. Beautiful took pleasure in making him squirm. There were a number of pleasures that Luis wanted to provide her, but his personal embarrassment was not one of them.
For his encore, Jaguar knew he would need a little more power because the two motorcycles and their prey had a good lead on him. Breaking into a full-on sprint, Luis began to dig inside of himself to unleash the full might of his abilities. The beast was caged within, but Jaguar felt the roars within himself as it sought to come ripping loose. His shoulders began to bulge outward and his muscle mass both grew and became more defined. Luis' face bulged forward and jaw deformed itself to match it. The fur of the jaguar spurted across his body and soon he was the hybrid of the animal he named himself after.
Barreling forward like an out of control stampede, Jaguar quickly caught up to the two motorcycles and since his arm span was nearly twice its length, he was able to scoop both men up by the neck. The sudden force of the attack snapped both of their necks and the vehicles grinded to a stop after many sparks were flung. Jaguar ran right through the light show, dropped the bodies like a sack of old potatoes, and caught up to Angela's corvette.
He was more than halfway back into his human form when he grabbed the door and gracefully leaped back into his seat. With a smile that was still part jaguar, he asked, "So how you like that?"
Angela threw her luscious hair into the wind and laughed. "You still missed your five minute mark."
Luis was flabbergasted. His expression was akin to Wily the Coyote seeing the Roadrunner narrowly escape a trap. "No 'effin way! I made it with time to spare!"
She of course knew this, but she wasn't going to give the cocky bastard an inch. "Keep telling yourself that babe. I'm sure the boys will believe you."
Jaguar wished he were still in his beast form. He might have decided to flip the car if he was. As Angela cut a corner, he gripped his seat tightly and said, "You know you could try to slow down. I just threw off his goons."
"Not a chance sweetheart. None of those men were harmed."
Luis tried to put two and two together. Keyword being tried. "So what is that supposed to mean?"
It Angela a minute of blank staring from Jaguar before she answered. He was good looking, but damn if he wasn't dense! "It means that Kingpin didn't trust his men to take care to not damage whatever is in that box. Which means it must be beyond valuable to Kingpin to rather see us potentially getting away with it than to just let his men destroy it and us. Something like that is not a thing I want to hold on to any longer than necessary."
"You worry too much beautiful," Luis said with a smile meant to pick up women. "We just stole from the Kingpin and got away with it. Sounds like a reason to drink to me."
Angela furled up her nose at her teammate's idiotic comment. "No wonder you didn't know who Red Skull was. Too busy grooming your own damn ego."
=T=
The Brazilian shrugged at the statement from one half of the Brothers Grimm, Barton Grimes. He tossed the invite to the ground and laughed. "I thought you guys were talking about someone important the way you were all looking."
The armored martial artist known as Shockwave looked Jaguar up and down. "With that half-arsed get-up I can tell that you're a stupid shit."
Angela walked into the path of the two men before any hostilities could start. "There is no need for name calling boys. We're obviously here with bigger goals than that in mind."
Luis ran his hand through his thick, black hair and asked, "And you are?"
"You'll learn my name when its time to sweetheart," Angela replied. She didn't want to give anyone in here any more information than they needed to have.
"How about I just call you beautiful?"
Angela shrugged disinterested with the Brazilian's flirting. "Whatever works for you."
Black Mamba rolled her eyes at the Jaguar's juvenile attempts at achieving sexual Olympics. She wasn't going to say anything. It would already add to a fire too big to put out. Where such men crawled from she would never understand.
That was when the lights came flickering to life in the warehouse and a booming German accent greeted them all across hidden intercoms.
"Welcome friends! Today is what I hope to be the start of a beautiful friendship."
To Be Continued…