3

Loveless' cackle echoed throughout the stagnant building, reverberating off the ashen walls and the boarded windows. The three men were surrounding the dwarf, rubbing their various wounds; their heads bowed more in embarrassment than in watching the little man. He let loose another guffaw, "Gentlemen, your plight, as devastating as it is for you is of little consequence to me," he led them across the warehouse floor, "for you see, my direct orders was for you to shadow Mr. West and not," the little man spun around suddenly causing the trio to jump with surprise, "not to engage him!'

'As I told you gentlemen, and I use the term 'gentlemen' very, very, loosely," his eyes rolled exasperatingly, "confronting West would be an incredibly difficult undertaking."

He preceded a makeshift stairway via a pail and chair, reaching the edge of a sturdy, dusty worktable. Dr. Loveless, hands clasped behind him, paced the dusty table, looking into their faces and continued, "And in entering into a physical challenge with Mr. West should be a last resort." The little doctor stopped at the end of the table to face one of the thugs, "Mr. Slice is it?" He raised a brow.

The thug lifted his gaze, exposed was his broken nose, the bruising of his eyes grew darker towards the bridge, patches of redness dotted his face, and the once pronounced freckles had faded into his injuries.

"Y-Yes sir?"

Who's idea was it to attack West?"

Slice kept silent.

The little giant moved over a space to confront another, "Gash?"

"Yes doctor?" The left side of his face a shade of purple and blue.

Loveless deliberately let his hand be shown slipping into his jacket pocket, "Was it you who had defied my orders and attacked West?"

Gash too, remained silent, looking to Slice to talk.

By now beads of sweat began to appear across the brows of Slice and Gash, their concern growing, as they were well aware of what the mad dwarf was fiddling with in his pocket.

The giant spoke up, "It was my idea," he proclaimed coolly.

Loveless slowly reared and faced the big man, shaking off his cloak of anger and disappointment; he approached and tried to look the giant in the eye.

"Mr. Hack…" Loveless removed his hand from his pocket, a small tuning fork rested between his fingers, "…there are vital reasons why I give explicit orders."

Hack took a slight step back and struggled not to give in to the fear that began to well within him, he felt the heat pouring over his face as he tried to maintain his rough exterior.

"Those reasons being," Loveless twirled and weaved the tuning fork in his fingers as he spoke, "the two men that you blatantly and with very little forethought, attacked."

Sweat began to blossom over Hack's brow and slowly trailed down his temples, the large man felt it seep into the wound across his face, inflaming the injury and fueling his growing panic.

Loveless calmly continued his lecture, "James West and his comrade-in-arms, Artemus Gordon, have been the fly in the ointment more times than you can probably count." His gaze seemed to penetrate the large ruffian and hypnotically harpoon his soul.

Gash and Slice had distanced themselves from the mounting tension, but was unable to tear away from the scene enfolding.

Hack was frozen by fear, his heart was pounding furiously in his broad chest and he could hardly feel the rest of his body.

The diminutive doctor pressed on, "Now is not the time to pull them into our scheme, especially when we have the another problem to deal with." Loveless stood down letting the big man sigh a breath of relief and began to walk away, "I am a firm believer in learning from my mistakes," he stopped and turned back, "I am going to afford you the opportunity to learn from yours,"

Before Hack could protest Loveless raised the tuning fork and tapped it with a flick of his finger creating a high-pitched chime from the instrument, he then pointed it towards the big man.

Hack let out a scream as his body started to contort and stretch beyond its earthly borders. His cries filled the warehouse sending the various vermin scurrying from the shadows and causing debris from the rafters to fall.

Gash and Slice steadied themselves against some rusted boilers watching in horror their brother's form bubble and churn before them.

Just when the pulsating Hack fell to the floor and seemed to be reaching the critical point, Loveless palmed the fork and returned it to his coat pocket.

Hack lay trembling in pain on the dusty floor, whimpering as he curled into a ball, his brothers rushed by his side as Dr. Loveless strolled past, announcing before exiting to the rooms stationed at the rear of the building, "I brought you here, I can take you away. Clean him up and wait for my instructions."

Loveless entered one of the offices and into a well-kept parlor, clean was the carpeted floor, comfortable furniture adorned the suite, vibrant wallpaper and paintings completed the design.

"Why must there be imbeciles in every dimension," he asked aloud.

"We are not all that way, my love." Silvia St. John answered as she received the little man on the couch next to her, running her long, delicate fingers through his hair.