Chapter 5: Back to Business

"A hit man?" the masked man inquired, "You're only here to ask my payment of one man? You've got to be kidding. Do you have a death wish? If that's all you have to offer, you are a great deal more foolish than I originally thought."

Logan nudged Alec, "Go on, Viggo. You never properly introduced yourself. Why don't you show these gentlemen what you're really skilled at?"

Alec stared at Logan with an odd look. The man was trusting enough to place his life in Alec's hands? Alec didn't like Logan's new plan. It was good, of course, but not nearly as fun. And what's with that name! Viggo? Is he kidding? Like I'm some Russian hitman!

Alec wasn't sure exactly what kind of a response Logan was looking for. "If you're wanting a demonstration, I'll need a head to smash in, won't I?" he hinted to Logan.

"Of course!" Logan smiled. He turned to Max, "Kendra, you've been pretty bored this whole evening. Why don't you pick out someone who looks like they could use a good beating."

Max smiled at Logan, and followed his eyes to the person he clearly wanted to be used for their little demonstration.

"Thanks, Logan!" she said with a smile, as she let her eyes fall on the same person he was looking at. It was some guy standing alone in the corner. Max used her transgenic ability to see further than any human could and noticed the man was holding a communicator. It looked like he might be on a stakeout of some sort. Why did Logan want this man beat up?

"That one," she said, drawing the group's attention to the man. "In the corner."

Alec smiled awkwardly as he got up. Great, he thought. Like taking demands from Max wasn't enough. Now he was reduced to taking orders from Log'? Well, it was fun while it lasted!, he thought as he rolled up his sleeves to make an ass out of himself. He turned to give Logan one last look with his fingers pointed at the man like two guns before going into action.

Alec tapped the man on the shoulder. Here we go! "You know, why is it that these situations always happen with me?" Alec asked the man.

"Hey, do you mind?" the guy asked Alec, clearly annoyed with his touch as well as remark.

"I mean, I try to do the right thing, help out a friend…and somehow I just always end up…kicking someone's ass, you know?"

Alec punched the man hard in the jaw. The poor guy sprawled backward and hit the ground before wiping the blood coming from his mouth with his sleeve. "Oh, that's it!" the guy said, about to get up.

"People think I enjoy this! Like I'm just some beefhead with nothing better to do than smash a few skulls! It's really degrading, you know! I mean, there's more to me than a pretty face and brilliant fighting techniques!"

"I'm going to enjoy smashing that pretty little face of yours!" the man said, rolling up his sleeves now that he was finally standing again.

"Ah, Sherwin… You mind if I call you that? You look like a Sherwin to me. Of course, my name is Viggo! Didn't see that coming did ya? And you probably didn't see this coming either!" Alec said as he jammed the end of his elbow into the man.

'Sherwin', as Alec had dubbed him, came at Alec in a fury, punching furiously.

Alec easily dodged all of his punches.

"Come on, Sherwin!" Alec said as he blocked every attempt at an attack without effort, "This is boring!"

As the completely unfair fight came quickly to a close, with Sherwin barely managing to stand, and a good bit bloody, he turned to Alec to cough out a few last words before falling unconscious. "What the hell are you?"

Alec leaned in before pushing the man off balance enough for him to fall unconscious onto the floor. "Better!" he whispered.

As Alec walked back to the table, he cracked his knuckles. He gave Logan an annoyed look.

"I knew you weren't some pimp," the masked man admitted.

"Oh yea, how's that?" Alec asked him, "I thought I did pretty good there!"

"The big cheese should never be prettier than his goods," the man said.

Max wondered whether the man was insulting her, or in some demented way just complimenting Alec on his looks.

"Now that you've seen what he can do," Logan began, "I'll be needing some information. But first, here's some for you. My price. 5 large per job."

The masked man growled at him, "You have that already in your winnings!"

"Yes," Logan said, "But that was never part of the arrangement. Call it a finder's fee for bothering to come here when I have business to attend to elsewhere."

"Fine," the man said gruffly. "How soon can I use him? I'd like something to be taken care of tonight."

Logan smiled, "All in good time. I haven't agreed to anything yet. First, like I said earlier, I don't like dealing with strangers. Who are you? I take it you're the man in charge? And more importantly, I require all information of who my employee is responsible for. I have to approve all missions before they can be carried out."

"What the hell?" the man said, getting irritated.

"It's all in good business!" Logan explained, "Gotta keep myself one step ahead, and safe, of course."

The man snapped his fingers to the rest of men. "Give the two of us a minute, would ya?" he told them. He then looked to Max and Alec, "You're welcome to stand right over there, just out of earshot."

Max and Alec smiled at each other and happily walked off. Too bad for the guy it wasn't out of earshot for 2 transgenics!

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"Nice work on that poor guy!" Max told Alec as they walked off together.

"Why'd you pick him?" Alec asked her.

Max shrugged, "Logan seemed to want that one down!"

Alec nodded, "I grabbed his wallet before I came back. Looks like he works for this gang. I think he was an extra spy, just in case."

Max nodded, "Nice! And of course, Christian wouldn't object for fear of exposing his undercover for the night!"

"Logan must have known ahead of time, from reports or something," Alec figured.

"For sure," Max agreed, "He never goes into anything unprepared…not that he had a choice tonight! With Mr. Pimp coming unexpectedly! Haha! But I guess you were playing Viggo all along, eh?!"

"Okay, Kendra, maybe Logan was just paying me back."

"Or maybe," Max commented, "he was just working the best scenario, and it just so happened to include a hit man named Viggo!"

"Lucky for you," Max continued, "If you'd kept that whole 'you're my boss' routine, I think I would've blown our cover!"

"You almost did!" Alec reminded her.

"Yea, whatever!" Max waved, ignoring his comment. "At least now we're finally about to get out of here."

"So did I come through?" Alec asked her. Not because he really cared, he just wanted her to admit she'd been wrong about him for the evening.

"Maybe," Max replied, neither admitting nor denying anything.

She motioned for him to be quiet as she paid close attention to what Logan and the mystery man were saying.

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"The name is Christian," the man finally admitted.

"Good to meet you," Logan replied. "So, what is it you want Viggo to do for you this evening?"

"About a week ago, a woman received a package that is very valuable to me. I want it back, only as you can see, I don't have the resources."

"So, you want him to retrieve a package?" Logan asked.

"Yes. And also her body."

Logan nodded. "That's it? That seems like a job that anyone could do. Forgive me, but, she's just one woman, right? What's the catch?"

"She has top of the line security. He'll need to get by about a dozen armed men. Think he can do that?"

Logan thought for a minute, "Maybe. Do you have anyone left that can go?"

Christian nodded, pointing to 2 more men wandering, seemingly random in the crowd. "Just those 2. All my other men…well, I had 3, but just so happens your pretty Miss apparently was itching to beat up that one!"

Logan made an apologetic face, "Hey, man. I'm sorry, I had no idea."

"Well," Christian said, "I'll need to have this taken care of immediately. Is he ready?"

"Right now?" Logan asked.

"Is that a problem?" Christian asked.

Logan shook his head, "No, no. Of course not. Let me go inform Viggo who his new boss is for the remainder of the evening."

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Max smiled as she saw Logan approaching alone. "Took you long enough to get it out of him! And look, we still have some time to hit up Crash after all! Ready to go now that you got what you wanted?"

Logan gave her a look.

"Oh, what? You're telling me this still isn't over yet? I'm really sick of this blonde wig. When do I get to bail this joint?" Max complained.

"Listen, there's Christian, his 2 healthy men that played cards with us, and those 2 in the crowd," Logan explained, pointing them all out.

"And?" Max asked.

"Well, you know, do your thing, take them out!" Logan said.

Max and Alec eyed each other.

"Take the ugly one," Alec suggested to Max, his usual smirk back on his face.

Logan frowned at him, not pleased with that idea. "No, you take the ugly one!"

"I'll take the ugly one," Max decided with a roll of her eyes. Let's just get this over with so I can go home!

"Wait…" Logan trailed, "Which one's the ugly one?"

They all looked at each other confused, when Christian stepped up to the group, interrupting their attempt at forming a plan to get the job done.

"So," he said, "is Viggo up for it?"

Now, all 3 eyed each other unsure of what to do next.

Alec shrugged and put up his fists before offering one final comment to Christian. He made sure to speak in a strange accent that didn't exactly sound Russian, but it certainly didn't sound American, "ZyeZ! VweeGo eeZ up fer anyteeng!"

a/n: Thanks for reading! If anyone didn't "get" the humor at the end, its possible its an inside joke, but if you are familiar with the Ninja Turtles, maybe you will get it! If not, no worries, that one bit of talking just won't be funny to you.

there will be either one or 2 more chapters, tentatively called "and finally, the asskicking" and/or "party at crash"

ps. I hope everyone had a good Halloween!