This is the continuation from the fourth chapter of this here story into the fifth chapter of this here story.
And warnings for anyone who looks out for warnings: This chapter contains tobacco usage and swearing. Yeah that's about it.
So on with the story already!
Third Person's Point Of View:
The old Gotham Toys and Gaming factory resided downtown and on the very edge of where the city met the harbor. It was a very popular location for those who would and those who are dealing in smuggling and other various illegal trades to show up at.
However, the factory, itself, looked to be rundown and practically falling down. It wasn't the best place for an ideal thief's headquarters, but it could have been a hell of a lot worse. After crawling out of a sewer hole, the sight of that old, filthy factory (after being confined within the sewers for who knows how long) looked like the Taj Mahal in Maria's eyes.
After seeing Maria look at an old, shabby building like it was heaven, Croc knew that this was that base she was telling him about on the way here.
"Some hell of a dump you've got here," He said to her as he pulled at his trench coat a bit more so it'd cover his scales a bit better. "You sure anyone's home"?
Maria rolled her eyes as she walked up to the front door. "Yeah, yeah, I know it isn't all that great, but it's what my boss picked out. I'm telling you right now that the man has hidden in the sleaziest parts of the slums to evade the GCPD's guys and guns that were used to try find him before, and he'll do it again in a single heartbeat".
"Fine, fine," Croc grumbled as he stepped beside her. "Whatever you say, cher. Listen, just get us inside so I can explain things to your boss man".
"Alright, Mr. Pushy," Maria sighed as she pulled out one of her knives. Slowly, but carefully, she cut certain lines into the rotten wood of the reinforced door and tapped the very tip of the knife on the handle seven times in a row.
A quiet TWANG was heard on the other side of the wall and the door opened up like magic had possessed it to do so. Upon seeing the door wide open, Croc had tried to walk right in but was stopped when an arm stretched out before him.
"Always wait seven seconds…" Maria commented more to herself than Croc as she continued to look straight on to the wall inside.
A few of seconds later, a rather large, black piano fell down from the ceiling and blocked the entry way. Croc merely blinked at the spot where he could've been standing and then looked to the young woman by his side.
"See if I hadn't warned you, you'd be a new crocodile skin jacket". Maria smirked as she opened the half broken lid to the piano. She pulled out a tiny remote and pushed a single red button. The floor below the piano suddenly vanished and the black void filling it had the broken instrument fall down into its depths.
"What the hell…"? Croc questioned, finally getting over the fact that he was almost flattened.
"Hmm…"? The young woman had almost forgotten about the other criminal standing beside of her for a second. "Oh yeah! Sorry about the fright, Waylon, but my boss loves his security and that includes the measures that he has to go to in order to get some peace and quiet".
He looked down upon the shorter woman and glared at her. "I was not frightened".
"Yeeesshh…" Maria thought to herself as she pulled her arm back to her side to allow Croc inside. "This guy's gonna kill someone just by glaring daggers at them".
Upon entering the building, Killer Croc noticed that it'd been a manufacturing plant that had been rundown for some time now, but it still held all of its remnants from previous years. For instance, old fashioned checker boards, 1,000 piece puzzles, Chutes and Ladders, and of course chess boards and pieces. It was dingy, tattered, and ransacked to all ends, and this was apparently a famous thief's base.
Maria saw the look that Croc was given the place and scoffed. "Hey, now I know it isn't the best base in the world, but it was the best location that we managed to find on such short notice".
"Face facts, little mouse," He said in his usual manner. "It's a shit-hole. Though, it figures that you'd find somethin' less than standard considerin' you are less than standard".
The young thief simply gave him an unimpressed look and said, "Yeah… I'm gonna choose to take that as some morbid complement. Now come on, Lizard-lips," Maria started making her way over to the other side of the rundown factory, all the while seemingly oblivious to Croc's scowl that had appeared.
Giving a bit more energy in her stride, Maria leapt up the spiral staircase in the corner of the huge room and made her way to the next floor. Croc caught up to her on his own time and upon reaching her, he saw the redhead reach for the first handle to the first door on the left. The door read FACTORY EMPLOYEES ONLY in big, black letters but that didn't stop these criminals.
Quietly, opening up the door and peering inside, squinting to see what lay within, Maria shrugged and went to shut the door before a shotgun blast went off and someone yelled out, "WHO THE FUCK'S THERE"!?
The young thief visibly cringed and smiled, "Sounds like the boss is awake".
"No kiddin'…" Croc commented as the two of them entered the room.
As they stepped in they witnessed a middle-aged man with bloody red hair that was shaped like the top of a cravat had nearly fallen off from the stool that he was perched on.
The height of this man could give Scarecrow a run for his money not to mention that the man had stitches running down vertically from the top of his face and down his neck. His ears and teeth were both pointed just like Maria's, though his lower body was relatively fat and stubby in comparison to her slim and fit hourglass figure. The man's skin was a shade of pale blue of which his lips, armbands and the edges of his gloves shared in color. His coat and gloves were black whilst his pants were blood orange. Overall, the guy's general appearance resembled that of the devil himself.
The stool he sat on suddenly leaned over a banged up kettle. The kettle was placed on a lounge stove, filled with water, which the man had apparently gotten from the sink faucet. Next to the sink stood a fridge which had lost its bottom panel; its hinges were rusted and worn, and it was nearly empty.
Two ragged, black couches sat opposite of one another on the far side of the room, complete with a small stand on which an out-of-date television had been smashed to bits and pieces. A rather large coffee table laid on the other side of the room with guns, jewels, and what seemed like spy equipment spread across its surface. Various other swords and guns were hung up and littered the walls of the room for what could easily be assumed to be more than for décor purposes. Killer Croc noticed this and knew that it wasn't much in the way of equipment and a working base, but he just guessed that they had far more stuff than this hiding around in this dump of a building.
Croc then moved towards a table in the center of the room and noticed the middle-aged man pull out two kinds of tea boxes from the cabinet above him, setting them and his shotgun down upon the counter between the stove and the sink.
"It's about time you got back, young lady"!
Maria sighed before walking over to the man and resting her hands on his shoulders. "Yeah nice to see you too, pop".
Croc raised a brow, "She's his daughter…"?
"No," Mr. Komori continued to shout at her. "I won't stand for this kind of behavior any longer! Do you realize that I sent every fuckin' soul that I had on me out there to look for you, Maria?! Honey…" He looked up at her with a sad expression that suddenly turned back to a raging one. "I'm losing business thanks to you"!
"Ah, yeah, that's what I came back to talk to you about, dad". Maria stated as she let go of her father and walked over to Croc. "See this is-"
"No you listen," He cut her off. "I've been worrying for days if you were caught by the Batman or not, and here you show up out of nowhere and for what!? I can just tell that you didn't get the penny back and that you wasted a few days wandering about God knows where! You didn't even bother to call me and-" Her father then finally caught sight of the mysterious man in the rather large trench coat and raised a brow. "Hey, who's this big yutz"?
"You're one to talk about big". Croc hissed out.
Maria's father narrowed his dark eyes at the crocodile man. "Hey! You got somethin' to say, say it to my face! Maria," He then looked to his daughter. "Who the fuck is this and why the hell did you let him into our current headquarters"?!
She went to say something but was cut off as Croc's arm was lowered before her. Croc gave her one look and that was all she needed to step back and let him introduce himself.
He threw his trench coat off to the side and looked back at Maria's father to see his expression. Her father took in the sight of the green scaly skin, long, wicked tail, and mouth which was full of razor-sharp teeth and then some. The man's jaw slightly dropped as his eyes instantaneously widened at the sight of Killer Croc standing right before him.
"Go ahead and shoot a fuckin' picture. Yeah, yeah, I know, big, fuckin' crocodile freak. Nice to meet you". Croc said with sarcasm and some spite. His voice even managed to make the man tremble just a bit. "Y'know you and your daughter both have the same damn problem; you both go off on people before you see that they have scales and a set of jaws".
Truth be told, Maria's father was more surprised than scared at this sudden change in events. As well as his daughter, Mr. Komori was also born and raised in the hellhole known as Gotham City and had learned to cope with insane situations long before his little girl ever came into existence. He knew all about Gotham's greatest villains and the Batman just like everyone else in the city, but unlike everyone else, he chose to live his own life and run his own line of work instead of worry about who escaped from Arkham.
However, that still didn't mean that he wouldn't be surprised when one of Arkham Asylum's famous, dangerous rouges show up on his front doorstep with his daughter in tow.
Maria's father turned to face her. "W- Where the hell did you find and meet Killer Croc"!?
"The sewers, duh". She said, deadpanned.
The redheaded man only shook his head at his daughter's words as his hand shakily went back to his shotgun. "L- Listen I don't know why my k- kid brought you here, but I'd like to apologize for a- anything that might've offended you".
"Write me a list later," Croc said with something of a grin. "Right now I'm here to discuss business".
"W- What kind of b- business"?
"It's business regardin' your daughter,"
Mr. Komori knocked all the shock and the little fright out of his body right then and there. Throwing his caution into the wind, the man's expression turned dark as he narrowed his eyes at Croc and clenched his teeth. "The hell is isn't, ya bastard"!
"Am I supposed to stand here, give ya a nice chance to make some cash, then get cursed out without doing somethin' about it"?! He said with anger. His yellow, glowing eyes were glaring at other man, awaiting an answer.
"Oh well excuse my hospitality, sir," Mr. Komori hissed sarcastically as both of his hands suddenly had a grip his shotgun. "But no one is to talk about any sort of business regarding my little girl! That includes giant crocodiles too"! He went to raise the gun and fire it right at Croc's face, but the gun was suddenly knocked out of his grasp.
Upon seeing the man completely and totally defenseless, Killer Croc went to swipe at the man's head with his claws and permanently separate it from his body. Though, he found that a foot had stomped his fist into the floor and had busted it right through and to the next floor's ceiling.
Both men looked to the young lady who currently stepped away from their little disagreement.
Taking out a pack of cigarettes from her pocket and proceeding to light one, Maria sighed before she said, "Waylon, I'd like to apologize for my father being such a stubborn, reckless jackass". She took a moment to take in the fresh smoke fumes and continued. "Please do not consider eating my old man; he is the old man who can make a deal with you so that you can earn a ton of cash, so he's not on the menu". She then turned her attention towards her father. "Pops,"
"Yeah"?
"I need you stop acting like a child for once and handle this conversation with Waylon like you would any other customer".
Maria's father gave her a bewildered expression. "Like any other customer…?! Maria, do you know who this is- ah, no offence, Croc".
Croc only growled in response as he pulled his hand out of the floor.
"This is one of those rouges- the kind of rouges that attract Batman's attention! If one of them is here then that puts our entire organization- no wait- my entire life's work at risk"!
"I know that, pop! That's why I made sure that the timing was right when we arrived here. Thanks to reading the papers, I know that B-man is currently out there trying to stop Mr. Freeze from doing some cold related crime, so he's too busy to mess with those of us who are into more of the dirtier kind of work".
Mr. Komori then clenched his hands into fists at his daughter's words. She may have been right and had planned this meeting perfectly, but she didn't have much regard for her own life and safety. Maria could've been spotted stealing the newspaper that she read from, shot by a rival gang on her way back to the base, or something! Hell, Killer Croc could've just chosen to rape and then eat her and that would've been that!
Glancing up at the rouge, Maria's father took notice that he was still in the room and it seemed like his daughter had convinced him to stay… of course she first offered the chance of cash for that to happen. Croc still wanted to talk business and apparently this job could make both sides of the operation a load of money, but this job involved his daughter working with a Category Nine criminal.
"Alright, alright, I get the picture now, sweetie," Mr. Komori sighed reluctantly and then pulled out his own pack of cigarettes. "We just had to go through… um, formalities first".
"…Yeah, sure," Maria rolled her eyes and proceeded to one of the black couches in the room to take a seat. "Waylon, you might as well make yourself comfortable while you talk things over with my father". She pat the seat of the couch beside her.
Croc simply gave her a single nod in reply and then looked to her father and hissed out, "You're just lucky that I lost my appetite since you opened up that mouth of yours". He then made his way to the couch and sat down beside Maria.
Trying not to give the major criminal a dirt look, Maria's father went straight to work. "Ok so what are you looking to do? Like do you have a plan or not"?
"I actually helped him out with the planning a bit, dad". Maria spoke up.
"Then what's the plan that you two came up with"? He asked both of them but only expected one to answer.
"I only need her to help me and my remainin' men with a little heist". Croc smirked devilishly at the end of his sentence.
"Ehh, what kind of heist are we talking about here"? Mr. Komori questioned, his fingers lacing together.
"The kind that needs a little help gettin' started". He replied. "Some ammo for a few extra guns that I've got lying around and a little payment for… health insurance purposes…" His eyes looked over to Maria, and as she didn't seem to notice what he said or what he was looking at, Mr. Komori sure as hell noticed.
He took in a long draw on his cigarette and then sighed, "I hope that's all that you'll be needing. I don't exactly have that much money to flaunt around with right now, and I sure as hell don't want to be throwing it down the drain".
"As long as you do what is required then nothin' will go wrong". Croc chuckled darkly. "Anyhow, I need a little extra help and accordin' to your daughter's famous title, with her taggin' along, we'll come out on top. It just so happens that certain guards won't listen to us if I try to use my ways, so an extra killin' hand never hurt to have around. Besides… If more of my men die, then you owe me; I don't have replacements right now and your little girl owes me her services after butcherin' a couple". Croc then smirked once again. "She just has to listen to what ol' Killer Croc has to say, and then I won't any reasons to hurt anyone here… got it"?
There was a bit of silence in the room for a about a minute or so. Mr. Komori had to rethink everything that had just gone down, and he realized that he still had no clue as to what kind of job Croc was looking to pull.
On the other hand, he knew that if he rejected the offer that it might just make the crazed killer jump off the deep end entirely and start to attack everything and everyone in sight. Maria's father didn't want that, not at all. He wanted Croc to remain as sane and stable as long as possible, if only for the rest of the time that he spent in their base. Croc certainly was a bit more than unnerving when he didn't get his way, and even Batman hated fighting him when he got that way; even Mr. Komori had to acknowledge that.
"I know I'm gonna regret this…" The man thought to himself as he felt the need to smack himself in the face. He looked back up at the major criminal and extended his hand out to him. "It seems we've got something of a deal. Of course, I expect only two of the following things: Maria's safe return and let's say forty percent of the profits".
Croc thought about the two and turned more attention to the profits than the girl. "No way. You get thirty percent".
"What about thirty-five"?
"Fine, it's a deal".
I'd thought I'd go ahead and say that for those who are wondering the same question about my characters, or more specifically their so called backstory. Well, let me just say that all will be revealed in due time, my readers, but as for the time I'm just getting little bits and pieces out there. This process just really helps build up my, and really anyone's, characters for a story.
Alright so that's it for this chapter, my good people.
Until the next chapter!