"You don't tug on Superman's cape,
You don't spit into the wind,
You don't pull the mask off the old lone ranger,
And you don't mess around with Jim"

Jim Croce, "Don't Mess Around with Jim"

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Duo pulled off his coat and hung it over his shoulder. He and Heero had gone back to their apartment and thought up any new plans that could help them on their detective work.

They had so far come up with very few. And now it was time to head back and meet Solo, and to see if his plan would get them any farther.

Heero wiped the sweat from his brow as he followed Duo to the decrepit apartment Solo owned. L2 was an old and forgotten colony. It had become like a desert over the years. The weather control could not keep out the sun's harsh rays and so the days became humid and hot even in the winter. At night though, the heat could not be contained and the colony became frigid and black.

Duo was the first to reach the abandoned apartment building and brush aside the makeshift doorway. To his surprise, he was met with shouts and cursing.

"Damn it Solo." Ryan was sitting on the beaten up couch and sucking on his knuckle.

Solo sat across from him, smiling very slightly at his young friend. A few strands of his golden hair had fallen out of his ponytail and were cast into a ray of sunlight coming from the open backdoor. From his perch on the worn down coffee table that sat amongst the rotting furniture, Solo looked up to his two visitors.

"Welcome back." He stood up and cracked his back, a typical move from Solo.

Duo's eyes flickered from Solo to Ryan, who was still nursing his wound. The boy looked to be his real age as he did so, much younger than when he was found with a weapon in hand, ready for battle like a person twice his age.

"What were you two doing?"

Then Heero entered and stood behind Duo. He did not trust Solo, but his hatred for the boy had diminished over the past few days of being near him. He had many of the same qualities of Duo. No doubt they had picked up many things from each other over the years.

"Solo was trying to teach me a trick." Ryan knelt to the floor and picked up a small silver blade. The blade had no handle on it, and was shaped differently from a normal knife. Heero recognized that it was a well-crafted throwing knife, but Duo did not.

"What's that?" Duo walked up to Ryan and the redhead handed over the blade to Duo's inspection.

"A throwing knife." Both Solo and Heero answered simultaneously. Afterwards they shot each other equally surprised glances.

"Hey Solo, show them the trick." Ryan's green eyes glittered with hope and he smiled widely to his teacher and leader.

"Nah. Too much pressure. I'd screw it up." Solo laughed casually as he took his knife away from Duo's curious hands.

"Gasp. Solo afraid of showing off." Duo mocked.

Solo stood staring at the smaller man. He could see the challenge in Duo's eyes but did not want to be drawn in so easily. Yet, he also was quite keen of showing off in front of a crowd. Even so small a crowd.

"Fine. I been working on this for a while. Hopefully a won't loose a finger or anything."

With one last grin and deep breath, Solo extended the knife, clasped in both hands. Carefully he turned the blade upside down, and rested the point against the middle finger on his right hand. It stood there, on the very tip of his finger, held in place by his left hand. He seemed to hunch over, adjusting his center of balance, before very slowly, his hand drifted away from the knife.

It stood, perfectly balanced on his finger. The light from the door reflected of the sharp edge of the blade, but the tip did not cut his skin.

The other three men watched in quiet awe as Solo maintained the balance on that one solitary point.

"It looks like the blade would cut ya, but with the right balance, it's like another part of your body. If you don't trust yourself with the blade, you'll slip and it could cut you." His golden eyes were completely focused on the sharp blade, oblivious to his audience or his mutterings.

In the blink of an eye, Solo reached out with his left hand and snatched the blade off his finger. He grinned proudly at the three boys before handing the knife back to Ryan.

"You'll get it eventually kid, if you don't cut off all your digits first." Solo winked at him, and missed the flash of hurt on Duo's face. He had never called anyone but Duo "kid".

"That's a well made blade. Where did you get it?"

Solo looked to Heero with no sneer or malice. He too was getting used to the monotonously emotionless boy.

"Well, I can show you. The sun is gonna set within the hour, so we should be headin out anyway. But we have enough time for me to show you the armory." With that Solo grinned maniacally and swung himself up on the staircase. He took the stairs two at a time with Duo and Heero a heartbeat behind.

When they reached the second floor Solo turned off the staircase and slowed down, heading towards the last door on that hall. It was opened slightly, and when he reached it he threw it open.

Duo and Heero walked in and gawked at the contents of the room. Weapons of all sorts were strewn on the floor and kept in a solitary bookcase that stood on the far wall. The room was very small, smaller than the other apartments, and it was without a window.

Blades of many sizes were piled up on the floor, some were within their sheaths, others dully reflected the light of the lobby from out of the rug. The largest weapons, a few long swords and clubs, were kept on the bookshelf. Most of the weapons in the room were starting to rust or had been broken.

"When you said armory, you weren't kidding." Duo's jaw hung open as he checked on every piece of arms in the room. "Solo, where did you get all this stuff?"

"Me and the big gang knocked off a pawn shop. Turns out the old man dealt more in blades than anything else. We pawned off the other stuff to a rival pawn shop and didn't have to work for a few months afterwards." As he spoke he dug through the pile of blades and found another throwing knife and two sheaths.

Heero walked up to the bookcase and picked up the machete he had seen Trish with on their first day.

"So that explains this." Heero held up the thick blade for Solo to see and the blond nodded to him.

As he stood up, Solo took the two sheathed knifes and pressed them against his forearms. He took two pieces of leather straps that had been sitting on the floor nearby and wrapped the sheaths against his forearm. The blades now rested below his palm, where he could easily grab them should he need them. He pulled down the large sleeves of his sweater to cover up his weapons.

"Feel free to grab any ya think ya might want." When neither Heero nor Duo moved, Solo shrugged. "Your loss."

The trio left the apartment building and followed Solo's lead through the bad part of L2. As they progressed, the streets got nicer, the homeless became less frequent, and the air became slowly more breathable.

"So where are we going again?" Duo plowed forward through the crowd to reach Solo. He still walked with the pure grace of someone who knew every corner, crag, and cement block within his domain. Solo was only graceful when he did not intend it, it was his instincts that took over when he became so perfectly suited for any environment.

"A place called The Draft. It's a bar that sits on the street that separates the nice side of L2 from our side." Solo slowed his pace down as the crowds began to thin. The sun was setting and casting red rays across the sky. Most of the residents of the colony were heading for their nice warm houses, leaving the streets emptier as they approached the other half of the colony.

Although there was no distinct separation between the two halves of the colony, it was obvious to tell one from the other. Duo and Heero visibly relaxed as they walked down the street that was neither rich nor poor. The buildings were well kept and clean, but in the alleys there were still a few homeless who hung around after dark.

"Okay boys. I'll set em up. You knock em down." Solo grinned to his friends and turned towards a door. On it was a small sign that said "The Draft" in elegant red letters with black outlines.

When he opened the door, Solo stood aside and let Heero and Duo go in first. The door led to a small foyer. A very large man in dark glasses stood with his arms crossed in front of another door. His glance went quickly from Solo to his companions before he nodded to Solo.

"Thanks buddy. I swear, no trouble this time." Solo smiled and pulled the other two after him. The bouncer opened the door for them and Duo nearly tripped when he realized there was a set of stairs leading down from the door.

When they emerged into the bar at the end of the stairs, Duo felt decidedly more relaxed than he had been. The bar was actually very nice. It had a dark wood counter with silver stools pulled up to it. Many people sat at the bar, drinking their drinks and laughing happily. A TV was set up over the head of the barkeeper and in the opposite corner of the room. The rest of the bar was covered in silver tables with black metallic chairs. A few black velvet couches sat around the edges of the bar, and three red pool tables were against the wall opposite the counter. All the walls were painted a dark red and jazz music wafted through the air, giving the bar a very inviting feeling.

"My man Jack!" A sweet voice called out from behind the bar. A girl stood at her post, dressed elegantly in a dark blue tube top and tight black paints. Her black skin was complimented by the soft blue eye shadow she wore and by the light blue beads hanging at the end of her cornrows.

"Hey Deanna. How's it goin?" Solo sidled up to the counter and sat down on the stool, shooting a flirting glance at the attractive bartender.

"A good night. A bit busy, but you should profit off it so I guess you don't mind." She smiled at Solo before noticing Duo and Heero standing uncomfortably behind him. "Where are your manners Jack? Who are your cute friends?" Deanna leaned forward on her arms and smiled at Duo.

"This is Duo and Heero." Solo motioned to each in turn. "They're gonna be hangin with me tonight. Watching the master at work."

Deanna looked at Solo suspiciously.

"You better not cause any trouble Jack. If you so much as get somebody to yell at you, or your friends," she turned a scolding eye to them, "I'll have the boys personally escort you out." Without another word she turned to face a customer who had come up the bar for another drink and her smile immediately returned.

"Right then. Best behavior now boys." Solo clapped Duo on the shoulder and smiled at them as he started to wander through the bar. Most of the tables were full, but people were continuously moving from their seats to the bar, and from the bar to the pool tables, so a few tables would open up every now and again.

Eventually Duo and Heero found a four-person table that had been vacated and they sat down at two of the chairs. Solo was busy having a quiet conversation with someone at another table, but headed toward them when he was finished. His eyes went around the bar, trying to look casual but obviously he was very interested in who was present at The Draft. His eyes fell upon a dartboard near where the tables ended and the open space with the pool tables started.

"Ooh…dartboard." Solo pushed his way through people's chairs up to the board and yanked out the three silver darts. He walked backwards until he was about ten feet from the board. He carefully pulled his hand back with one of the darts in it and lined it up with his eyes.

He threw the dart straight at the dartboard, and it promptly spun around and bounced off.

Plop. The dart had fallen into a girl's mug of beer.

"Oops. Sorry. I'll buy you a new one." Solo cringed from the girl's scathing glance but soon she backed off and Solo gave a heavy sigh. Meanwhile Duo and Heero sat at their table, trying to look as if they did not know the blond idiot.

Taking aim once again, Solo hurled the dart with all his might and once again it flew away from the wall, landing between a few people. The disturbed drinkers glared at Solo with all their might. He grinned apologetically, and gulped when he saw Deanna's glare joining the rest of them.

A chair screeched across the floor and an old man from a nearby table stood up. He had a bushy beard and small eyes. Walking up to Solo, he reached out his shriveled hand and seized the final dart. Solo tried to protest but the old man paid no attention to him.

Holding the dart lightly in his hand, the old man threw it at the wall. With a soft thunk, it was firmly imbedded in the wood. It was dead center in the ring around the bull's-eye. The old man laughed at Solo, his blackened and yellowed teeth causing the boy to draw away from the gaping mouth. All the other old men at his table laughed at Solo and cheered on their friend when he turned to them, looking for the appraisal he deserved.

Even Deanna and the others in the bar snickered at Solo's embarrassment. For his part, Solo stayed rather calm and merely hung his head, trying to hide the flush on his face from being so horribly shown up. Unfortunately, Solo was never renown for handling situations in a mature and calm fashion.

Reaching with his right hand into the sleeve on his left, Solo withdrew a throwing knife that flashed briefly in the low light of the bar. Then it flew through the air, a silver flash too quick to follow. The entire bar was silent.

Solo stood motionless, his arm still extended from when he had thrown his knife. The blade was sticking into the bull's-eye, exactly on target. The dartboard fell to the floor with a crash that was loud compared to the silent bar.

Deanna began yelling and cursing at him for ruining her new dartboard, but Solo ignored her. He merely walked up to the fallen target, bent down, and pulled out his silver blade. He very slowly returned it to the makeshift sheath on his left forearm. Finally, he sat down with Duo and Heero.

"Moron."

Solo smiled at Duo for this and blew him a kiss from across the table.

"Now boys, shall we get on to the fun part?" Solo leaned forward over the table, the loose hair in front of his face waving softly from one side to the other.

"Sure. Why not." Duo shrugged before getting up and heading for the bar. In a few minutes he returned with four large mugs of beer.

Solo eyed the Guinness hungrily. The beer was black and filled to the brim of the mug, but Duo pulled it out of his reach.

"Remember Solo,"

"Jack"

"—that this drink is going to last you all night. Heero and I aren't paying this money for your drinking."

Solo flashed a never-care grin. "Of course I know that boys. Now gimme my booze."

Taking a sip of his beer, Solo smacked his lips together happily. Then he turned halfway in his seat and called loudly to the bartender. She looked at him and sighed, resigning herself to the fate of having to deal with the street rat for the rest of her life. Somehow Solo managed to have a similar effect on almost every poor person he encountered.

"So Deanna, you got any macho men who think they can beat me at cards?" Solo let his arm hang halfway over his chair behind him, slouching. A few heads picked up at his excessively loud voice and bravado, but they soon turned away.

"Sorry Jack, nobody's come looking for you to play cards tonight, but I got a guy here who thinks he can beat you at a drinking contest." Deanna had to keep herself from rolling her eyes. Every time Solo came in they played the same cheesy scene out, all so he could con people out of their money.

"How about this. I'll bet anyone who'll play me in cards, or anyone who will challenge me to a drinking contest…" he paused, letting the crowd listen up, "four hundred dollars."

This time quite a few people looked at the boy with the oversized clothes. To most of their eyes, he looked far too young to provide any sort of competition. And those four hundred dollars was sounding very appeasing.

"And, I'll sweeten the deal." At this Solo stood up and took on the appearance of a televangelist. "For whoever beats me at cards, or at drinking, you will win four hundred dollars. And if I win, I'll only win the entrance fees from you all. Fifty bucks a piece."

Solo smiled a childlike grin and lured his unwary prey into a trap. Soon there were three tables surrounding where Duo, Heero, and Solo were sitting full of contestants. Half challenged Solo to play cards, the other half to drinking.

Eleven people total, three drinking against Solo, and eight playing cards against him. As per his request, Solo got to choose both the card game and the alcohol. Blackjack, as suited his alter ego's name, and whiskey. Aside from gaining Solo some extra cash, the plan was going well as the bar patrons drank more and played cards, two of the things in life which so quickly lead to conversation.

"So any of you guys heard anything bout that attacker?" Solo said casually as he laid down the ace and jack of spades, much to the dismay of his companions. The rules had been decided that after any man lost ten hands, they were out of the competition and the count started again. The men of the bar had figured that they would have the advantage over this Jack character, because as he competed in the drinking contest, he would become more and more drunk and eventually start losing at cards as well. They underestimated how much liquor Solo could handle.

Another shot down of the whiskey and Solo cast his gaze around the table, meeting eyes with all the men he was playing against.

"You talking about the recent attack right. The number thing." A gruff voice came up. One of the men took his shot of whiskey as well as Solo turned to speak to him.

"Yeah I think so. Why, you know anything about it?" With one hand on his glass at the table to his left, Solo picked up his hand of cards from the table at his right. His golden eyes flashed in the dim lighting of The Draft as they flicked from one side to the other.

"Well, I heard that those attacks started a while ago, before I was even born." A youngish boy laid down his hand of an ace and a nine, only to be shot down by another of Solo's blackjacks. After a sigh, he continued. "Apparently, a while ago there was a real dangerous guy on L2."

Heero and Duo talked quietly to each other, trying to look inconspicuous. At the same time they listened in on the hectic conversation across the two bar tables.

"So tell us bout this guy you heard about." Another of the sarcastic, and slightly tipsy, drinkers shouted to the young boy.

After his blaring voice stopped, the man promptly fell to the ground. Solo grinned to his fallen companion at the same time as placing down two jacks on the card table. Now there were only 6 men left playing cards with "Jack", who proved to be aptly named.

"Well, they called him Wolf." The boy was cut off by Solo, choking on his whiskey. Duo looked up briefly, but went back to talking to Heero when he realized that Solo was just being his usual idiotic self.

"He was the head guy in a gang called The Beasts. They say he did terrible things to people."

Solo continued to sputter and cough, reaching over to Heero and Duo's table and snagging his Guinness from before. He drank a few sips and smacked his lips loudly. But the boy at the card table never stopped, and Solo fell back into the conversation.

"I heard that once, a member of his gang was pick pocketed. Well, this Wolf guy chases the pick-pocket down, and stabs him in the throat, like this," the boy thrust his hand out, and imaginary knife pointing at one of the other player's throat, "then he twists it and rips the guy's vocal chords out. Catch is, the guy's alive the whole time."

A murmur of appreciation went throughout the two tables, people nodding that they had either heard the story before or that it was a good one.

"Damn. Bust." The boy put down his losing hand and stood up, taking his drink with him to sulk.

Duo stood up casually and started to follow the boy. This guy he talked about could very well be their mystery mugger. Before he had left the table Solo grabbed his wrist.

"That kid doesn't know anything. His information is wrong." Solo hissed up at him, then returned to his games.

"You know. Now that you mention it, I think I remember hearing about those number attacks a few years back." This came from a well-dressed man with slicked back tawny hair.

"Really? Anything worth telling?" Solo downed yet another whiskey shot, but his focus and his luck had held out so far.

"Well, he numbers his victims. His own personal screwed up calling card. And I once heard someone mention something about a picture fetish."

Heero and Duo met eyes across their small table and continued to look uninterested in the very interesting conversation.

"Picture fetish? Oh come on man, that's not interesting." Solo leaned back in his chair and threw another winning hand out on the table. "Let's face it, I'm sure we've all had things for pictures before."

He finished with a wink and another shot of the coppery liquid. His whole body felt hot. He wished he didn't have on that damn heavy sweater.

"I'm sure we all do." The brunette winked at Solo. "But I hear this guy took pictures of his victims. Of the numbers he carved into them."

"Yeah, I think I heard about that too." Another person at the table chimed in.

Duo felt his heart beating faster. Part probably had to do with the beer in his system, but he knew most of it was because of what he had heard. That bit of information could help them solve the whole case.

The night wore on and Solo's opponents slowly became scarce. Two players remained at cards, both still loosing more hands against Jack than they were winning. One of the drinking contestants was still giving Solo a run for his money, but it was getting late.

"You know……I loooove whisssskey." The man mumbled, guzzling down his next shot. Most of the alcohol ended up on his chin.

Solo rolled his eyes. This guy could not keep his alcohol down for long. Soon he'd be upchucking in the bathroom along with the other guy. Putting down another winning blackjack, Solo defeated another opponent. The money was practically his already. Just one more man to outplay, and one left to out drink.

He let his eyes wander to the center of the table, where the $550 were pinned underneath a whiskey bottle.

"Hey you! Don't think I didn't see that!"

Solo raised his head to question the drunk man what he was talking about, and instead met with the man's fist.

His chair bent under him and Solo soon found himself looking up at an upside down Duo. He grinned like an idiot and held one arm up to Duo. Wrapping the other around the chair, Solo and his chair were pulled back into position.

"That wasn't part of the deal." Solo spit a bit of blood onto a napkin. But the drunk man had lost it and was not ready to give in just yet. He rushed at the blond but was easily dodged.

Solo could feel the whiskey pumping through his system. He wouldn't be able to fight very well. If it stayed to one on one he was fine, but anyone else and he was going to need some help.

"Stupid little shit, trying to steal my money!" A shrieking voice from the card table. Solo couldn't help but laugh out loud at the man's incredibly high voice.

"Hey man. You shouldn't be allowed in a bar if ya ain't hit puberty yet!" Solo yelled to him as he punched the drunk man in the stomach and left him on the ground. The high pitched one rushed him and tackled him to the ground.

While Solo rolled around with his current foe, the drunken man amazingly regained his feet and also advanced toward the mass of limbs and hair that was the fight. Duo and Heero stepped in and tried to hold back and calm down the man. But sometimes liquor can give you more strength, and this guy was proving to be a problem.

General mayhem ensued.

At some point, the bouncers arrived and Deanna's loud cursing voice could be heard in the background giving out orders. Everything seemed to be happening in flashes. Solo was on top of the man who had tackled him, punching him repeatedly until he was unconscious.

Duo and Heero finally managed to knock out the half-conscious drinking contestant. Duo felt a strong hand grab his shoulder and swung around, the adrenaline in his system controlling him. He slammed his fist into a face and a split second later realized that he had punched one of the bouncers.

When Solo stood up off of the bloody pulp of a man he left on the ground, Heero and Duo were gone. All Solo saw was the tail end of a bouncer running out the door and Heero at his heels. Seeing the unconscious bouncer on the floor next to his own achievement, Solo put two and two together.

Grabbing the wad of money from under the whiskey bottle, Solo tore off into the frigid air of L2, following Heero, who was following the two bouncers, who were giving mad chase to a scared shitless Duo.

And the night was still young.

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Ashley: Foreshadowing, me? Why, I never:pretends to look innocent:

…ah….so sad…only one review response. :cries: