I'm sorry for the HUGE delay, but I've been juggling a million projects. If there is anyone still reading this, the updates should be more frequent from no on. Thank you to everyone who has reviewed so far and I hope you continue to enjoy Licence to Kill.

Chapter III


At ten minutes to ten a blue BMW pulled up outside the infamous Hellfire Club. Pietro got out of his car and, after offering up a prayer that Kitty never found out where he was tonight, walked up to the entrance to the club. Two large, hulking men stood flanking the door. Pietro handed a card to one of them who looked at a list in his hand. "Welcome to the Hellfire Club, Mister Maximoff," the man held the door open for Pietro who nodded his thanks and entered.
The smell of alcohol and strong perfume hit him as he entered. He blinked as his eyes adjusted to the sudden bright lights. There were about half a dozen chandeliers hanging from the ceiling above them, and a single dim light illuminated each booth along the wall. The booths were dim, and Pietro could only make out the silhouettes of the people sitting there.
The Hellfire Club was quite full but he could just make out Lance as he glanced left. The other three agents had arrived over an hour ago, and had been in position ever since then. He shouldered past people as he tried to make his way to table twenty-one. As he did a couple of heavily rouged thrust themselves towards him. The Hellfire Club was a notorious den of depravity, where the rich and powerful went to sate their blackest desires. But Pietro didn't have time for these distractions. It was already one minute to ten.
"Hello, handsome. Looking for a good time?" one of the girls asked.
"Maybe, later," he said brushing past her. That was when he caught a glimpse of table twenty-one and its occupant. The informant was a thin, hunched man, whose skin was an unhealthy greenish colour. His eyes were sunken into his head, and they darted from side to side constantly. 'Well I suppose I would be pretty paranoid if Wolverine was on my tail,' Pietro tried to push his way through to the table, but the girl had locked her arm through his.
"Buy a girl a drink?" she asked. He tried shaking the girl off, but she just clung on tighter.
"Alright," he said grudgingly, hoping that he could get away from this girl quickly and still make the rendezvous in time. As they made their way to the bar, a crowd of men gathered around a table where a young woman garbed like an Arabian harem girl slowly removed her veils. She had an interesting selection of tattoos and piercings, Pietro thought.
"I have a ring like that, through my belly button," the girl said. "I'll show it to you if you like… upstairs…"
"Let's get something to drink first," Pietro said. He glanced back at table twenty-one and saw the guy still sitting there, looking at his watch.
They made their way through to the bar. It was packed. Pietro was forced to elbow his way between two guys in business suits. He ordered two beers.
"I don't want a beer," the girl announced, "I want wine."
"Make that a red wine as well," Pietro told the bartender. Pietro turned and glanced at the girl. She was slightly shorter than he was and had shoulder-length black hair. Her eyes were green and Pietro could see a quick, malicious intelligence in them. Her smile was professional but pleasant. The hand working its way up his thigh was practised. "Do you know anything about that guy over there?" he asked, pointing at the occupant of table twenty-one, who was mopping his head with a very dirty handkerchief.
"What, Toad?"
"Yeah." He put his hand down on hers, and the creeping massage stopped.
"Oh yeah, he's a regular. But he's usually with someone else, that guy over there," she pointed at a booth on the opposite wall. Pietro could just make out the outline of an enormous figure. "They friends of yours?" the smile seemed fixed on her face, frozen almost.
"Not exactly." Pietro had a bad feeling about the meeting and he wondered if this girl might know something about their plans.
"What's the connection then?"
"I'm meeting that guy at table twenty-one."
"You want somebody hurt?" the hesitant way she said it made him think that she was going to say something other than hurt then thought better of it. "I'm surprised - you look like someone who could do that himself." Her fingers had started moving again. He immobilised her hand.
"You know anything else about them?"
"What's it worth?" An appraising glint appeared in her eye.
He showed her a fistful of notes. "Depends on what you tell me."
"I don't know that much. Wonda knows more."
"Wonda?"
"Yeah, she had a thing with them. That's her over there," the girl pointed at a woman who was standing by the opposite wall talking to someone that Pietro recognised as Iceman. The girl was quite short, with shoulder length black hair and a red stripe that ran from the top of her head down to her shoulders.
"With both of them?"
"It takes all sorts."
Pietro suddenly saw the man at table twenty-one get up and move off, towards the back of the club. He handed the girl a fistful of money then moved off through the crowd. He saw Lance and Callisto follow him at a distance. Toad moved quickly to where his friend sat, and Pietro was shocked at the size of the man when he walked into the light. He was about six feet tall and almost that wide. The two hurried up the stairs and Pietro followed them. They turned right at the end of the corridor and Pietro ran to the bend to see them disappear into a room. Lance and Callisto hurried up behind him and he told them what he had learned. "What do we do now?" Callisto asked.
"We follow those two and try and retrieve the information," Pietro said and Lance nodded in agreement. They moved to the door and listened, ears to the door. There was no sound from inside. Pietro tried the handle, but it was locked. Callisto moved forward, pulling a lock pick from pocket and after a couple of seconds work, the door was open. The trio of agents silently moved into the room, which was empty. There was a door on the other side that was slightly ajar, and through it they could hear voices. There was a high-pitched, whiny voice that had to belong to the man called Toad. Then they heard a low rumbling that could only be the huge man they had seen with him. The three crept closer until they could hear what was being said.
"Oh man, Raven's gonna kill us," Toad said.
"Why?" That was the huge man.
"Because idiot, we didn't kill that stupid agent that she said we was supposed to."
"But what about that red haired guy, John? He's dead."
"Yes, but he was working for us. The boss-lady said she wanted Pietro Maximoff dead." The three agents looked at each other. Suddenly there was a scream from behind them. The three turned to see Wonda standing in the doorway, looking horrified. Behind them they heard the door opening and they turned to come face-to-face with Toad and his friend.
"Hey, who are you?" the big man asked.
"Wait, that's Maximoff! Kill them!" Toad shouted, then ran behind the huge man. As the man huge man advanced men in dark blue, unmarked uniforms ran in from behind him. Pietro looked at Lance and Callisto, then nodded. Pietro charged the nearest uniformed man, whilst Lance and Callisto took on the huge man.
Pietro ducked a right hand from his opponent, then caught him in the gut with a kick, which doubled the man over. He grabbed the man and swung him headfirst into the wall, knocking him out. He turned around, just to get hit by a bone-jarring punch that caused little silver stars to flash in front of him. He barely dodged the next blow and before his opponent could finish him, he brought his foot crashing down onto his foe's instep. The man howled in pain and Pietro knocked him out with a blow to the temples.
He spared a look around and saw that Lance was struggling with the huge man, whilst Callisto had taken out one of the uniformed men, and was struggling with another. Out of the corner of his eye something silvery caught his attention. He turned to see a knife zip past his head and embed itself in the throat of another of the uniformed men. A man was standing in the doorway in a coat with a hood that covered his face. He killed the last of the uniformed men with two well-placed knives, and then threw something at Pietro, before running off.
Seeing all their men taken out, Toad and his friend turned and fled out of a door in the room behind them. Lance began to follow, but when he got to the door, it was locked. "Leave them," Callisto said. "By the time you get through that door, they'll have got away."
Lance turned away and noticed Pietro staring at something in his hands. "What's that Pietro?"
He showed them what the hooded man had thrown at him. It was a patch, the kind you usually found on the shoulders of army uniforms. But this bore an insignia none of them were familiar with. It was a large red E with a smaller red L in front of it on a dark blue background. Around the rim of the badge were the words 'Per Determinam ad Victoriam'.
"What does that mean?" Lance wondered aloud.
"'Through determination to success'," Pietro said absently.
"Do you recognise it?" Callisto asked.
"No. But I'm sure Excalibur will be able to identify it. Let's go." Pietro moved towards the doorway. "Lance grab Iceman. Callisto wait here for Excalibur to take these three away," he indicated the unconscious men, "I'll see you back at HQ."

"Well? Did you kill him?"
"N, no not exactly mistress."
"What do you mean 'not exactly'? I provided you with everything you needed. Where are the men I sent you?"
"Dead or captured mistress."
"I should have known not to entrust this to you imbeciles. I thought you were the best assassins in England?"
"He had help mistress. The Wolverine was there."
"Really? It is as he predicted. Get out of my sight you two. I must report this."
"At once mistress."

There we go, Chapter Three finished. Chapter Four should be up soon hopefully. Any guesses as to the identity of the mysterious persons would be interesting. Keep up the reviewing.