Royal Flush.
Helena was just leaping over a rooftop when she got the call.
" Huntress."
Startled, even though she should've expected it because Bella was always on call and Huntress should always expect a call at all hours, Huntress's concentration was broken, but luckily she was able to make it to the next building top. Breathing deeply, Helena caught herself before speaking into her com necklace, " Bella, I was leaping across a rooftop."
" Oops, sorry." Bella replied before she got back on track, " I've just received a 999 call. The Royal flush gang are back."
That got Helena's attention, " What ? But their in prison, I should know."
Back at the townhouse Bella sighed, " I know. But you know as well as I do how the Royal flush gang operates, members retire, or go to prison, replaced by younger members of the family. But it's a usually instant transition, the old gang was put away 4 months ago."
Helena nodded, " Right, tell me where this call came from."
It didn't take long for Huntress to get to the place where the call came from. It was an art gallery, and the police were already there. It might've been difficult for a normal vigilante to get in, but Helena had invisibility on her side. Cloaking herself and silencing herself, Huntress managed to walk in without anyone noticing. There was a full forensic team, but Huntress knew they were wasting their time, the Royal Flush Gang had been around for years, but they always, always changed with the times, besides they wore masks that covered their heads. Huntress watched as the team took samples, and decided to wait until she could get to the room where the CCTV was recorded. Huntress closed her eyes, and thought about the gang. They were a family, and they'd been around for years. They used playing card as their gimmick, along with card themes to identify themselves with. Led by a King and Queen, they were a force to be reckoned with, they always had Ace, Ten, and Jack of Diamonds. They left playing cards in various forms as calling cards at the scene of their crimes. They weren't psychotic, but they were dangerous. They were thieves mostly, but they weren't murderers, for which Huntress was overwhelmingly grateful. Huntress had met them twice so far, they were one of her first enemies, and they never managed to get the hint. They kept coming back, younger, stronger, with more determination now they'd met someone who was more worthy of them, at least that was what King said to her last time.
But that old King was gone, imprisoned, and hopefully never destined to darken Helena's nights again, but Helena wasn't sure now. Huntress saw an opening and slid into the room she was waiting for. It didn't take her long to place the bug into the system. Now they'd know what had happened.
" It would've been helpful if you'd taken pictures," Bella observed whilst they viewed the images. Helena frowned, " Hey, you try taking pictures in the middle of a crime scene. I did manage to gather enough info with my eyes. There wasn't enough there to gather, there was no playing card, nothing. It was like there was nothing stolen."
Bella sighed, " I wouldn't be so sure. You're right, nothing was stolen. But there was a message you didn't see."
" What was it ?"
Bella picked out a printout of a police report. It was a miracle the police used computers in order to do their day to day work, otherwise they wouldn't have access to it.
" It was in another part of the museum, but it was there." Bella handed Helena the printout. Helena took it and gasped. It was a written report with a picture from a digital camera. The picture showed a graffiti message on the wall. It read,
" Huntress will pay for her crimes !" It was a melodramatic message for her, but the threat was there.
The Gang wasn't after jewels, paintings, sculptures….they were after Huntress !
The next day Helena went under disguise, wearing a blond wig, pink shirt and jacket and white trousers, not to her liking, but needs must, to the prison King was in, hoping to find answers to some very important questions. Bella had managed to find out when the prison visiting times were, and managed to get Helena inside. With compulsion charms, Helena was able to get inside without anyone asking any stupid questions. To them, she was the long lost distant niece of King.
Helena found herself sitting at the table with hundreds of other people with guards clustered nearby so there would be no trouble. King sat down along with the rest of the prisoners. he regarded her curiously.
King studied her for a moment, and then said, " We're not related."
Helena smirked, " I put you in here." she leant back in her seat, waiting for the reaction.
King's eyes widened when he saw who he was talking to, but Helena was ready. Placing wandless silencing wards nearby, and muggle repelling charms that were mild, Helena placed King under a strong compulsion charm.
" I want answers, who's the new Royal Flush Gang ?"
" My brother, Edward is the new King. His wife, Hope, is the new Queen. Their twin sons are the new Jack of Diamonds and the new Ace. Our cousin Drusilla is the new Ten."
Helena knew that the charm was making King tell her the truth, and she saw no real reason not to keep this up.
" Where's their new hideout ?"
" I do not know."
Helena sighed in disappointment, the King was telling her the truth.
" Tell me more about them, what can I expect from them ?" Helena asked, hoping to discover any particular weaknesses of the Royal Flush Gang.
With an emotionless quality fitting for a computer rather than a Human being, King told her, " Edward, like myself, is an excellent and efficient swordsman, as to be expected from any king. Hope, on the other hand, believes more in unsporting means of fighting."
" You mean guns ?" Helena asked, hoping the answer was no.
It wasn't. " Yes, she uses a modified machine gun in the shape of a sceptre."
" And Ace and Jack, what about them ?"
" Ace is trained a boxer, he uses knuckle dusters with sharp blades, Jack uses swords, he's fully trained with edged weapons as well."
" Did you get much from King and Queen ?" Bella asked over the radio as Helena got into her car at the prison where the female leader of the gang was incarcerated in.
Since Queen had given pretty much the same summary as her husband on the present gang, Helena replied, " No, but I found out more about the new gang, it seems their new Ace and Jack are more " gentlemanly" than their thuggish predecessors had been. You remember them ? They used guns rather than swords and knuckle dusters."
" What about their hideout ?" Bella asked.
" Both King and Queen don't know, and I have my own doubts about them using a place used by their forebears." Helena replied, and Bella had to concede that she had a point. " What do you have in mind ?" Bella asked her.
Helena sighed, " I keep thinking back to that threat in the museum, they know I'll be after them and their family pride will demand my death. But I've also got to consider the possibility that I'm just a front, they might not intend to kill me."
Bella didn't like where this was heading, but she knew that Helena wouldn't let this go.
Huntress was keeping watch over the streets, listening in for any calls from Bella at base, or from any police or ambulance sirens. The Royal Flush Gang always tried to be subtle in their heists, but they always responded with deadly force towards anyone who got in their way. Considering the way they'd threatened Huntress recently she wasn't taking any risks, but for how long ? It had been a fortnight since that art gallery break in, there'd been no other heists. Huntress wished the police would pull their fingers out of their collective backsides and look for the Gang. The Royal Flush Gang, small as they were, were more dangerous than other gangs, and they were more high profile.
" Huntress," Bella's voice broke through over the com set, " anything ?"
Huntress shook her head, " No, I've been following the sounds of numerous police cars for the past 3 hours. They were normal robberies, the gang's my more immediate concern at the moment. I left them for the police to handle. Anything your end ?"
A sigh. " No. If there's nothing in the next...12 minutes then come back."
Huntress agreed.
Bella waited by her computers, seeing that Huntress was carrying on with her patrol, stopping for a few minutes before leaving again. Part of her wished she could go on patrol with Huntress, but her goddaughter had powers she didn't, and there was only so much that magic can give you. Bella hated feeling so helpless, her goddaughters' life was being threatened and there was nothing she could do. Bella knew that taking a broom out would be impractical, so all she could do was wait.
Helena was leaping over another rooftop when she heard an explosion from street level. Looking over the side, she saw a gang of motorcyclists rush out of a jewellery store. Whipping out a set of electro binoculars and focused them, the gang was wearing white, red and black. The Royal Flush Gang. Sending a quick message to Bella back at the townhouse, she leapt into action.
The gang was just loading their loots onto their bikes when Huntress made her descent. Her descent had taken her right into the largest of the group, a massive man with an Ace on his shirt. Her feet had landed him right in the chest, propelled by her own meta powers and the gravity of the jump down, followed by a punch to the head. He went down, stunned. Turning her attention back to the others, Huntress whipped out a circular silver disc. With a flick of the wrist, she launched the disc through the air, it hit Jack and Ten on the heads.
That left Queen and King to take care off, Queen took aim with her sceptre - shot gun, and fired off a slug. Huntress had anticipated that, and made a leap into the air, using the black of night as an aid.
KIng looked around nervously, " Where is she ?" he asked, looking into the shadows. If anything, his wife was just as nervous, " Where did she go ?" The two criminals were so preoccupied with looking around, it never occurred to them Huntress was closer than they thought. She was right behind them, and when she felt the time was right, she leapt up in the air without a sound, like a jungle cat, and gave them a split kick as she came down.
The Royal Flush gang was out of the picture again, she just hoped they got the message. She took them all to a lamppost, and tied them, feet first so then they dangled from the top, and tied their hands together.
Bella was waiting for her when Huntress got back.
" Hey, the Gang's been defeated, all is good in the world." Helena said grinning, slinging her jacket off and draping it on a chair.
But Bella was grim, bringing Helena up short, " What's wrong ?"
" Ten escaped from her binds, she left the others on that lamppost. She was chased by the police, but they lost her. She's out there, somewhere." Bella said grimly.
All the elation left Helena, like air from a pricked balloon, " How did she get out ?"
Bella turned her face back to the computer, and scanned the report, " Apparently, the police found that rope you used. It had been cut." Bella looked back at her goddaughter, who was pale.
" Someone deliberately sawed through those ropes, but why Ten ? What was so special about her ?"
Helena had no answer for her, no one did. Only time would tell what Ten would do, and why.
Next time - The Drug Lord take down.