So, after quite a bit of a delay, I'm finally back with the next chapter. Okay folks, remember when I said that the story was going to take a dark turn and that something VERY controversial happens? Well, this is that chapter. I'm telling you this right now, what happens at the end of this chapter is exactly how it went down in the original story, and believe me, when I read it for the first time, even I was like "Holy shit." Honestly, from someone who has read the story in trade, I can only imagine the people, who were reading it monthly, having to wait three years for the next issue to come out.
Chapter 11
The Midtown North Precinct Holding Cells, Manhattan NY
Elaine Coll, aka Scorpia, is sitting in her jail cell reading a book in peace.
"Hi" says a male voice.
Elaine gets startled by that and drops her book. She looks behind her and sees Spider Man, outside her window, hanging upside down from a web line and Power Girl hovering right next to him with a wide smile. She gives a friendly wave at the criminal.
"I scare ya?" the wall crawler now asks.
"Go to Hell," Elaine replies.
"Hey, where's your silly suit Scorpia?" Power Girl asks then chuckles. ""Silly suit Scorpia." Try saying THAT five times fast."
"You know what you can say five times fast, Power Bitch?" asks Elaine.
"What's she saying?" Black Cat asks from the rooftop above the two heroes.
"We're just making small talk right now. Y'know, tongue twisters and stuff," Spider Man answers.
"Well, ask her who hired her to kill Klum and stop fooling around," says Huntress.
"Alright, alright, keep your panties on," Power Girl says as she rolls her eyes.
"Is that cat lady with you?" asks Elaine.
"Which cat lady are we talking about?" Power Girl asks. "You gonna have to be more specific honey."
"You know damn well which one. Tell her she's a dead woman when I get outta here."
"Hmm, you know what? You can have her," says the blonde heroine.
"Peej," says Spider Man.
Power Girl puts her hands up in defense.
"What's she saying now?" Black Cat now asks.
"She says no woman with a chest like ours should move as fast as we do," answers Power Girl.
"Tell her they act as ballast," the former thief says back.
"That's what I keep saying," says the Kryptonian.
"Listen Elaine, can you tell us who hired you to whack Klum?" Spider Man now asks. "We could ask the Royal Flush Gang, but unfortunately their King and Queen bailed them out before we could even get a chance to see them."
"I'm not telling you jack…" the criminal begins to say only to interrupted by having a small web ball hit the back of her head. "Hey"
"Either you're gonna tell me who hired you, or I'm gonna hang outside your window all night pegging you with web balls lady," says Spider Man. "And if that's not enough, I'll have Cat sing "Memories" from Cats. Hit it Cat."
Black Cat begins to sing with what has got to be the worst singing voice in the history of mankind, "MEMORIES, ALL ALONE IN THE PAVEMENT…"
"Good lord," Power Girl says in her head as she looks up in horror.
Huntress just cringes.
"I REMEMBER A TIME I KNEW WHAT HAPPINESS WAS…" the former thief continues to sing and finally Elaine cracks.
"Alright, alright, ALRIGHT…God I hate all of you. It was the Ortegas."
The Spanish Harlem Brownstone of Alberto Ortega
Klum and Francis are now at the doorstep of a house that belong to the Ortegas.
They ring the doorbell and a man of Latino descent opens the door, "Que?"
"Hello, you may not know me, but I'm the guy your boss tried to have killed this evening," says Klum. "I was wondering if I might have a word with him."
The two men were escorted inside at gunpoint and are now being confronted by Alberto Ortega himself.
"You've got cojones coming here to my home Señor Klum," says Alberto.
"I figure we'd talk about this turf war before one of us gets killed Alberto," says Klum. "Namely me."
"They're clean," says one of the thugs who was searching them.
"That's the nicest thing anyone's said to me all day," Klum quips.
Alberto pulls out his gun and points it at Klum, "Tell me why I shouldn't do what that super bimbo and the Royal Flush Gang couldn't do and blow you away right here in my living room esé?"
"Because, imbroglio aside, you're a smart business man Alberto," Klum says calmly. "And what's more, you're a husband and a father. And, like any good father, you don't want anything to happen to your wife and child, do you?"
"What do you…" Alberto begins to say but was interrupted by seeing his wife coming down the stairs holding their baby.
"Alberto? What's going on here?" says the wife.
"What are you doing down here Pilar?" asks Alberto. "Get back upstairs with the baby. This is business."
"Yes, business," says Klum. "Y'know, your wife doesn't look too good Alberto."
Alberto looks at Klum in confusion but then sees his wife keel over, "Alberto…"
The mob boss runs to his wife, "PILAR."
"Feel…weak…" Pilar says in a weak voice.
"WHAT'S HAPPENING?"
"Same thing that's happening to your men," Klum says as the rest of his men begin to fall to the ground and start convulsing. "They're OD-ing Alberto…Just like you."
Now Alberto begins to convulse. "And thus falls the Ortega cartel," Klum says casually.
"I just want to go on record as saying this was a dumb move," says Francis.
"Francis, you are the king of wusses," the businessman says back. "Pump-and-dumping THIS many people, all in the same place? You're just TRYING to get me caught aren't you?"
Klum looks over at the other man, "Get YOU caught?"
"Oh good God," Francis says as he walks away. "Us. You. Whatever. I'm getting so tired of this."
"Despite your whining, you may have a point," says Klum. "This many simultaneous overdoses MIGHT arouse suspicion."
"Uh…ya think?"
"So perhaps the best way around that is to throw ourselves a little dead man's party. Grab the cleaver from the kitchen will ya?"
Roughly half an hour later, Spider Man, Power Girl, Huntress and Black Cat all make it to the Ortega brownstone, and all of them have looks of horror on their faces.
"Holy Mary mother of God…" Huntress says in a quiet but shocked tone.
The four heroes see a room filled with corpses that have been chopped to pieces. Like there was a party and Professor Pyg was on the guest list. There was only one survivor, and that was the baby that was sitting on the floor crying.
The Four Seasons Hotel
The four heroes are now in Felicia's hotel room, all of them are shaken up over what they just witnessed. Spider Man, with his mask removed, is sitting on the recliner, his hands clasped together and close to his mouth. Huntress, Power Girl and Black Cat, who is now wearing a pink robe are all standing outside of the balcony. Huntress is leaning against the doorway, while Power Girl and Felicia are watching the view of the city. Everyone is in silence.
"I know I should be used to seeing things like that, but holy hell…gives me chills every time," says Huntress.
"Now I remember why I stopped running around in tights," Felicia speaks up.
Huntress and Power Girl now look at her.
"The people in costumes, shooting lasers at me I can handle. Hell, it's almost fun. But the REAL horrors…the sheer savagery so-called "Normal" folks are capable of…I mean, all those people just…BUTCHERED. And over what? Drugs? Dear lord."
As she was listening to the former thief, Power Girl couldn't help but agree with her. No matter how many aliens, monsters and super beings she fights, it always amazes her how horrific regular human beings can be.
"Maybe you were right Kal, maybe there IS too much darkness in this world."
However, it wasn't until a voice coming from inside the hotel suite that she was instantly reminded that it's not the case at all, "At least the baby was okay."
Felicia and Power Girl both look inside the hotel suite at Peter who hadn't moved an inch, then they looked at each other and smiled at what he just said. That was what they both loved about him. Even in the face of unimaginable madness, he can still find hope. Huntress also heard what the spider hero said and she rolled her eyes. However, if someone were to look closely, she also has a small smirk on her face. She's slowly starting to understand what Karen sees in this man. Still…
"Such an idiot."
Peter reaches for his mask and puts it on, "I think it's time we dropped in on Klum."
"Best idea I've heard all night," says Huntress.
Klum Tower, Columbus Circle
Klum, wearing a simple maroon robe, is inside his penthouse sipping on a glass of wine. He begins to look outside his balcony window when lightning begins to flash outside. Suddenly Spider Man, Power Girl, Huntress and Black Cat are all standing outside of his balcony window staring him down. Klum spits out his drink and when the lightning dies down, it was dark again.
"Sweet. JESUS!" he exclaims. When the lightning outside flashed again the costumed heroes were gone.
"THAT'S IT?" Black Cat angrily asks. "THAT'S your big move?"
She and Spider Man are now swinging through the city. Power Girl and Huntress are back at SoHo investigating Hunter Todd's apartment, which is now a crime scene, in an attempt to find more evidence on how Klum is killing those people.
"He knows we're on to him," Spider Man explains. "IF it's even him we're after."
The two land on a random rooftop and the former thief begins to speak, "When you said it was time we dropped in on Klum, I thought you meant we were going to beat a confession out of him. NOT play Peeping Toms."
"We need to collect more evidence before we can go spastic on the guy," says the wall crawler. "That's why Karen and Huntress have went back to Hunter Todd's condo."
"MORE evidence?" asks Black Cat. "That Ortega massacre wasn't evidence enough for you?"
"We don't know he did that," Spider Man says back. "We don't have any proof. Just hunches."
"So?"
"So…until we have a better idea that Klum is Brownstone, we bide our time to build our case against him. I got a friend from Central City to help investigate the Oretga house for us. He's an expert at forensics and…"
Black Cat scoffs, "You see a BADGE wedged anywhere in this cleavage? You remember me reading Scorpia her Miranda Rights? We don't dress up like this so we can get judges to sign search warrants for us Peter. We work OUTSIDE the law. And working outside the law means we DON'T have to bide our time and build our case. It means, when we know in our GUT that we've got our guy, THEN WE'VE GOT OUR GUY!"
"And most days I'd say I agree with you alright?" Spider Man stresses. "But this isn't some lunatic in pajamas standing in front of a wrecked building crowing about bringing the city to its knees. THOSE guys? Yeah, it's safe to assume they're little more than suspects when we start pounding on em. But this guy's a prominent member of the community who we only think…"
"YOU think, I KNOW," Black Cat interrupts.
"Who we only THINK might be a killer drug lord. But honestly Felicia, even if he IS, we've got nothing ON him. We don't even know HOW he's killing these people."
"With hot doses obviously, you moron."
"No track marks on the bodies, no prior drug histories on some of the victims. In Tricia's case, no body." Spider Man puts his hands on his ex's shoulders. "I want whoever killed Donald Phillips as much as you want whoever's responsible for Tricia's disappearance, okay? And if it's Klum, believe me I'll throw the first punch. But we've only been tracking this guy for, what? Maybe twenty four hours? You see what I'm saying here?"
Black Cat brushes his hands off, "Yes, I do. You're saying what you always say. That you're better at this than I am. That if we're not playing the game by YOUR rules, then we're not playing at all."
"But this isn't a game is what I'm getting at dammit. You've gotta listen to me on this."
"To hell with that. I'm not a kid anymore Peter. I came here to New York looking for answers about Tricia, and Klum's my best lead. And AS my best lead, I'm gonna grill him like a side of beef. And if he so much as twitches, I'll bludgeon the sick bastard til he's passing blood on his stool. And if you think I'm taking my cues from YOU on the subject, then you can kiss my…"
Spider Man grabs her wrist.
"Oh, oh Peter," Felicia begins to say in her head. "You shouldn't have done that."
"I can't let you do this Felicia," the spider hero says in a stern voice.
The former thief immediately punches her ex in the face, kicks him in the face then trips him, making him fall flat on his back. Black Cat then grabs the dazed Spider Man's wrists.
"Felicia, what're you…"
"Let's see if I remember how these work." She double taps both of her ex's palms, activating his web shooters and begins to trap him on the ground with his own webbing.
"Can't believe you sucker punched me," Spider Man says in a dazed voice.
"I can't believe your dopey spider sense didn't see it coming," Black Cat says back as she continues to web up her ex.
"This stuff isn't cheap y'know, specially on a teacher's salary."
After successfully webbing up the wall crawler, the former thief gets up, "Bill me. There, that oughta hold you til I get back."
"Y…You can't confront this guy alone Felicia," Spider Man says as he struggles to break free. "He could be dangerous."
Black Cat fires her grappling hook as it begins to rain, "And I'm a woman with father issues who's pushing thirty, crammed into wet leather and nursing a mean case of PMS. Who the hell's more dangerous than that?" With that, she swings away.
The Bedroom of Garrison Klum
The former thief emerges from the ventilation shaft that was on the ceiling and is now inside the bedroom. She starts to hear music playing, and it seems to be coming from the bed. She approaches the bed and pulls the sheets over, only to be met with an alarm clock with a built in CD player. The CD player then shuts off.
"Like it? Obviously I was a huge Ferris Bueller fan," says a voice coming from behind her.
She looks over her shoulder and sees Klum. "Don't move," she says as she immediately turns around.
"She breaks into MY bedroom and suddenly I'M the threat?" says Klum as he's pouring a drink in a champagne glass. "Brandy?"
"I'll pass," says the former thief.
"Such a shame, there's nothing sexier than a lady sipping brandy. Except for maybe a lady in black tights sipping brandy. Your other costumed friends with you?"
"Have you ever heard the name Alberto Ortega?" Black Cat asks, changing the subject.
"Drug Lord, yes?" Klum replies. "I think I remember Bloomberg mentioning something about him to me at the…Hm."
"What?"
"I was going to dance for you a bit; play the role of the dilettante. But you'd see through that wouldn't you? Sure you would. You're more clever than that. And while it's pure chance that our paths have intersected the way they have, it's time I took matters into my own hands." Klum opens his hand, revealing a spoon, a small bag and a lighter. "You know what this is?"
"You killed Tricia Lane didn't you?" Black Cat now asks with venom in her voice.
"Patience Ms. Cat," says Klum as he takes the small bag and pours it on the spoon.
"Here comes the speech," the former thief thought.
"My family comes from Germany…Did you know that?" Klum begins to speak. "I would imagine the name's a dead giveaway. I was conceived there, but raised here. Never bothered to learn my mother-tongue. Never looked into my family's history. Not until the accident." Klum takes out the lighter and ignites it. "I was sixteen. I'm in the bathroom, using mouthwash getting ready for this date with a real hottie from homeroom. My mother was yelling at me…in German actually. When she was mad she always barked in German. Such a harsh language that." He puts the spoon with a liquid substance over the lighter. "She was chastising me for going out FAR too much at nights, and demanding that I stay home with her that evening for a nice, quiet dinner."
"Blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah…God, they LOVE to hear themselves talk don't they?" Black Cat thought as she pulls out her grappling hook and wraps it around her hands, going into a fighting stance.
Klum continues, "And as she's saying all of this, I'm swishing the mouthwash around in my mouth, and I'm thinking, "God, I wish she would shut up. Just shut up and let me live my life." But as I'm thinking this, I'm also thinking about how hot the mouthwash's getting in my mouth. How it's burning my tongue." He puts the spoon full of the liquid substance in a small glass. "And all of a sudden…" The liquid substance that was in the glass now disappears in a puff of smoke. "The mouthwash wasn't in my mouth anymore."
Black Cat has heard enough and she starts to walk towards Klum, "Alright Chatty Kathy, let's…" Then suddenly she starts to feel funny. She starts to grab on to her stomach in shear pain. "What's happening to me? I feel so…"
As Black Cat begins to bend over in constipation, Klum begins to finish his story, "When they autopsied my mother, y'know what they found? What killed her exactly? It was the damndest thing." He pushes the former thief onto his bed. "A concentration of mouthwash had inexplicably flooded the chambers of her heart."
Suddenly Black Cat was unable to move nor can she speak, "I can't…get my bearings…"
Klum finally begins to explain what's going on, "That dose of heroin I cooked up is coursing through your system now, incapacitating the hell out of you. I imagine you've never shot up before. Technically, of course, you STILL haven't. But I'll bet you're wondering how the heroin got inside you yes." He reaches into his shirt pocket and pulls out a pocket knife. "You see, I'm a teleporter." He opens up the knife. "Thanks to a latent metahuman gene that runs in my family's bloodline, I can teleport small amounts of liquid. It didn't really seem like a very useful talent until I really started thinking about ways to employ it. And a few years ago, I fell upon the most profitable use. I mean, who loves drugs MORE than the rich and famous? And all those beautiful people out there…The would-be junkies who can't afford to be seen with track marks on their arms, but still want to indulge…" He begins to take the knife and peel away some of Black Cat's costume. "How much would they pay for a no-stress, no-mess method of shooting up that didn't involve needles or any of the other unsavory elements usually associated with getting high."
Despite the former thief's doped up state, she does have a look of dread. She now realizes what Klum is about to do to her. "Please God…no."
Klum continues, "That's when the name hit me…Mr. Brownstone. And Mr. Brownstone can't have you meddling with his business, or his place in the community, just because a few junkies died, can he?" Klum begins to remove his robe. "So Mr. Brownstone's going to teach you NOT to stick your nose where it doesn't belong…In the most effective way he can imagine."
"I'll…I'LL KILL YOU," Black Cat manages to say.
Klum begins to caress her face, "Oooo, that reminds me…If Tricia Lane was a friend of yours, then I'm sorry to report that I miscalculated on HER dose a bit. But HER loss is YOUR gain. As I now know the proper amount to port into someone I DON'T want fighting back." He begins to look around seeing if the other costumed heroes are already here. "If they're not here by now I take it your friends won't be joining us. The spider and the lady in purple wouldn't be a challenge for me anyway. I have enough already cooked vats of heroin on the premises to stop their hearts twenty times over if need be. Though the Kryptonian…she would most definitely be a huge problem. Luckily you won't be able to scream loud enough for that super hearing of hers to pick it up…I bet you wish you were her right now. To have all those godlike powers, being completely immune to almost anything, being an unstoppable force of nature. You probably wouldn't even be in this mess. Tell me, does being in her presence give you a bit of an inferiority complex? Is that why you came here alone? To prove that you're better than her? *laughs* That is hilarious. *laughs*"
The look on Black Cat's face when Klum compared her to Power Girl, and insults her for it, indicates that he struck a nerve. At the same time, Black Cat begins to realize that there was some truth to what he just said.
He moves closer to the former thief. "Y'know, some junkies say heroin is better than sex. You let me know if they're right."
The SoHo Grand
Power Girl and Huntress are now at the apartment of the late Hunter Todd, searching for any evidence that would help them expose Klum.
Power Girl was talking to someone on her communicator, "Thanks for coming by to help us out Barry. Peter and I appreciate it…No, he's at JSA HQ looking up some files on Klum. His background, family history, all that jazz…Ok, let me know if you find anything."
"You know, people like Klum piss me off," Huntress begins to say.
Power Girl looks over at her friend, "You mean the fact that he's clearly the culprit behind everything that's happened here tonight, but since he's such a public figure, unless we have some cold hard evidence we can't really take him down like any other baddie? Yeah, I hear ya."
Huntress nods, "Now I know how Superman feels when Lex Luthor became President of the United States."
The blonde heroine groans, "Ugh, don't remind me."
"Hey, that's right? You used to be a member of his government sanctioned Justice League for a while, and you were forced to arrest both Clark and Bruce when Lex put out an arrest warrant on them."
"It wasn't my coolest moment okay?" Power Girl sighs as she rolls her eyes.
"Does Peter know about that?" Huntress asks.
Power Girl sighs again, "Yeah, I told him. He wasn't upset about it either. In fact, when I told him that I ended up helping Bruce and Kal, he said he was proud of me for at least following my gut. He always was an understanding person."
"…You really love him don't you?" the former assassin now asks.
The blonde doesn't look at her friend but gives a warm smile, "With every fiber of my being. I mean, yeah, he can be a total doofus sometimes, but he's MY doofus. Without him…I'm nothing. That's why I think it's stupid that Felicia ended things with her and Peter the way she did. She only cared about the mask and not what's underneath it…*chuckles* Although, after tonight, I'm starting to think she now realizes what a terrible mistake she made. But she's five years too late."
Huntress also chuckles and nods.
Suddenly, Power Girl's communicator starts to go off. She puts her fingers on her earpiece, "Power Girl here…Peter?…Whoa, okay, slow down honey, tell me what's wrong?…Oh my God…Okay, calm down I'm on my way okay? You just stay where you are." She hangs up and starts pacing around the room in shear panic.
"What's going on?" asks Huntress.
"It's Felicia, she's gone after Klum," Power Girl says with a look of panic.
"What? Is she crazy? She's gonna get herself killed…or worse."
"Which is why I have to go. She might be in trouble."
"Go, I got this."
The blonde nods to her friend and flies out the window. She's now flying as fast as she can to Klum Tower, the rain pouring down on her, lighting flashing and the sound of thunder in her ears, "Dammit Felicia, what the hell were you thinking? Please be okay."
I'm gonna go on record and say that I don't, under ANY circumstances, endorse rape. With that said, will Karen be able to get to Felicia in time? Find out in the next chapter (and I promise, there won't be a three year delay).
Also, for those of you (though it could be just one person) who keep asking for the next chapter of Hope and Responsibility, even though I specifically said that I was going to hold off on it so I can finish this story, the chapter is nearly done, it's going through some edits. I figured I still had the Scorpion arc to finish and I shouldn't leave you guys hanging. That was the reason for the delay. However, I realized I shouldn't have to bend over backwards because that one guy in the comments is being impatient. So, I'm going to be "That Guy" and wait until I upload the next chapter of THIS story, the next chapter of Ensnare my Cold Heart (since people have been patient with that one, and I can get chapters done with that story much faster since I'm not writing a big epic like my other two stories) for me to upload the next chapter of Hope and Responsibility. For those of you who have waited patiently, thank you I apologize, and don't worry I'm not cancelling it anytime soon.
Be sure to leave a comment telling me what you think of the story so far...or if you want to tell me to fuck off for purposefully delaying Hope and Responsibility because that one guy in the comments wants to be annoying. I need a good laugh. Oh, and for those of you who HAVE read Evil That Men Do monthly, let me know your thoughts on how you felt about the delay and having to wait three years for the next issue. I'm really curious.
Now if you'll excuse me, I'm going to take a shower. I feel dirty after what I did to poor Felicia...