Chronicles of the Night
I had this chapter ready for days now. However I was going to wait until someone reviewed chapter eight before I posted this. I'm going to go ahead and post this now, but bear in mind I'd update faster if I got at least one review.
Our story now picks up about a week or so after the events of the last chapter. The things that happened now linger only on the edge of everyone's thoughts. Life has moved on, and just in time for a new threat for them to face has arrived. Now we begin the story arc…
King of LA
Disclaimer: I do not own the Marvel Comic elements present in this story, I do own my characters and the plot.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Traxon
"A photo shoot? In… five days? But that's only about four days before the concert. You sure? Okay." Felix walked in through the front door of Joseph's mansion and walked to the living room. He sat down on the couch while holding a music magazine, thumbing through it, and talking on the headphones. "Alright… I'll let him know. We'll talk later. Bye." Felix then reached for the cell phone at his side and turned it off. Felix was right now wearing light brown dress pants, a light blue dress shirt, and a matching belt where his cell phone was hanging. He also had on his shades and gloves.
"What are you looking at?" Lisa yawned. She came downstairs wearing a blue nightdress.
"Lisa? It's still bright out? What are you doing up?" Felix asked with some concern as he put the magazine aside.
"I'm fine." She sighed. The two of them stayed silent for a moment as the music from upstairs played and Felix thumbed through the magazine. "You're not complaining about his music." Lisa said.
"That's because I just now realized he has bigger problems." Felix said as he put the magazine down again with a sour look on his face.
"What?" She asked.
"Most of the reviews for his latest song are less than spectacular." He sighed.
"Oh…"
"Yeah, and you know how sensitive he is sometimes."
"But… he's easy enough to cheer back up with a positive review." She said.
"There aren't enough positive reviews this time around." He groaned. Felix took off the glove on his right hand and revealed his claws.
"What are you doing?" She asked.
"I'm going to shred the magazine." Felix said with a shrug.
"But… won't he notice?"
"Hey, it's my job to make sure he's happy right?"
"I guess… I'll just go watch him rehearse I guess." She said quietly as she went upstairs.
"And I'll just go play with my little chemistry set." He said as his nails sliced through the magazine before he threw away the shreds in the trash compactor in the kitchen.
Later…
RING
"Gah! Stupid phone nearly made me drop this." Felix cringed as he gently set down the vial he had in his hands. He took off his gloves and reached for the phone to turn it on. "Maybe I'm just too tense. I'm honestly getting worried about Fury possibly finding out my number and finding me out." He thought. "Hello?"
"…" The voice on the other end muttered.
"Yes. He's rehearsing right now." Felix responded. "Uh… yes I've told him about the photo shoot." Felix lied. "Hm? What? On such short notice? Oy… Is it that big of a deal? Hey, is that supposed to be an insult? So what? You guys know I'm not from LA. I don't know who this guy is." Felix was obviously getting flustered. "Okay okay okay! Since this is obviously such a big deal to you guys I'll let him know. You gave him my cell number? Why'd you… hang on I've got another call." Felix moaned. "Hello?"
"…"
"Oh you must be Mister Traxon then? So then… uh-huh… okay…" Felix said as the voice on the other end continued. "God that music is getting to be too loud." Felix thought as he went upstairs. "Okay then, I'll let him know. Yes right away. We'll talk later." He said as he shut off the cell phone. "Now… to take care of that loud music."
Later…
"…" Lisa was sitting on a chair in front of a very large control panel right next to Joseph as he played with buttons and experimented with several sounds. The room was like a small recording studio, it room it had light gray carpeting, and the panel Lisa was sitting in front of had a mixing console, monitor speakers, and computer-based "DAW".
"You like this Lisa?" Joseph asked over the music.
"Mm hm." She responded as she nodded her head. Felix then walked in, holding his hands against his ears.
"Could you turn that racket down?!" Felix asked. Joseph then stopped his music and swiveled around in his chair. "I can hear you all the way from the basement."
"Felix… you have super human hearing." Joseph pointed out.
"That doesn't mean you couldn't turn it down." Felix argued back.
"Lisa doesn't mind it, and she has super human hearing as well." Joseph told him.
"One, no offense Lisa, but her hearing still isn't as good as mine." Felix said. "And two, she likes this stuff."
"Is that all you came up here to tell me?" Joseph asked, realizing that it's hopeless to try and get Felix to like rap music.
"Um… oh I nearly forgot." Felix said. "Someone named Floyd Traxon I think called and…"
"The Floyd Traxon?" Joseph asked as his eyes popped open.
"You know him too?" Felix asked. "So did the record company."
"Floyd Traxon is one of the wealthiest businessmen in LA." Lisa said quietly. "I think he runs some kind of… trading company that deals in a wide variety of things."
"Okay. Thank you for clearing that up with me." Felix said.
"So what about him?" Joseph asked.
"He said he's running a charity event and he was wondering if you'd like to perform at it." Felix said.
"Hey, I'm game. When is it?" Joseph said.
"That's what bothers me. It's in three days." Felix sighed.
"Three days? That's short notice." Joseph said.
"I know. Absurdly short notice might I add, but he did promise to make it worth your while." Felix said.
"Well… alright then." Joseph said.
"Okay, I guess I better get on with the arrangements and such." Felix sighed as he whipped out his cell phone.
"Yeah you better. And don't forget about transportation this time." Joseph told him.
"That's the first thing I'm going to take care of." Felix said as he dialed a number on his phone.
"And don't forget about equipment…" Lisa said quietly.
"Right." He said as he put the cell back in his pocket and waited for the other end to pick up on his headphones.
"Good, now is there anything else you needed to tell me?" Joseph asked.
"Um… nope nothing I can think of." Felix said as he walked out of the room.
Three nights later…
"Are you sure you two will be fine?" Night-princess asked as she leaped between rooftops in her costume.
"Yes we'll be fine Night-princess, we'll join up with you on patrol as soon as we're done with the charity concert." Joseph answered over the radio in the limo with Felix. Joseph was wearing a fair deal of leather. He had on shades, leather vest, leather gloves, white sleeveless T-shirt with a spray-painted gold dollar sign on it, large leather pants and black sneakers.
"And besides, you're good enough to handle this stuff pretty well by now right?" Felix asked. He was wearing a black undone button-up jacket with a white shirt underneath it with a black tie. He also had on black pants and black dress shoes. He also had on black gloves and shades.
"I guess so." Night-princess answered sadly over the radio as she stopped on one rooftop. "Have fun… I guess I'll see you later." She said.
"…" The two were silent in the back of the limo for a moment when Felix broke the silence. "I'll say it again… I hate leaving her alone like this. Especially since she's already out there risking her life."
"I know. But we all agreed on this if and when something like this concert happens." Joseph told him.
"Man… if only I could find some way to turn back time." Felix sighed.
"I know. She's too young to have to go through everything she's going through right now." Joseph said sadly. "Look, we'll be joining up with her shortly, so cheer up man."
"Yeah… I guess you're right." Felix said. "Although speaking of cheering up… sorry that I didn't tell you about those reviews sooner."
"Hey… it's alright man. I'm just a little… shocked that they didn't connect with it." Joseph said. Felix could tell by his heartbeat and breathing that he was starting to sink in to a slight depression at this.
"Me and my big mouth." Felix thought. "Hey, I'm sure they'll like the next one." Felix tried to tell him.
"You're just saying that." Joseph said.
"Well look at this way." Felix told him. "You can knock them dead at the concert."
"Yeah… yeah you're right." Joseph said. "Thanks for that… and by the way…"
"Yeah?"
"Why didn't you tell me about the photo shoot?"
"Photo shoot? Oh crap I forgot all about that." Felix said.
Meanwhile…
"Someone put out that fire!" A fireman shouted. Two fire trucks full of firemen clambered around the burning, five-story apartment complex, dragging hoses across the ground to the nearest fire hydrants and plugging them in. The water burst from the hoses, but the blaze kept burning hotter.
"It's no use!"
"Help!"
"Calm down ma'am. What's wrong?"
"My… my son is still up there!"
"What?"
"How did we miss a kid?"
"I think I hear more shouting from the top floor!"
"We can't get through!"
"…" Night-princess was on a rooftop across the street from the fire. The flames danced in the reflection of her sunglasses as she looked at this. Night-princess removed her pigtail holder, jacket and gloves, revealing the completely black T-shirt underneath and letting her red hair fall out. "Here I go." Night-princess jumped down on to the street below and ran full sprint towards the burning building.
"Hm? HEY KID!!!" The fireman was too slow to stop Night-princess. "She's fast."
"Hey isn't that one of Night hunters?"
"A mutant!"
"Wait she's going in!"
"Ah!" Night-princess ran straight through a bunch of flames and rolled across the ground to quickly put them out. She looked around for a moment. "HEY! CAN ANYONE HEAR ME!!!" She shouted.
"…"
"Breathing…" Night-princess looked straight up through all of the smoke and soot. "…" She looked around and noticed one brick wall. Hoping for the best, she jumped at the wall, then jumped off of it, the wall miraculously holding together, and gave her enough of a boost to jump straight through the ceiling and on to the next floor.
"AH!" A seven-year-old boy screamed as Night-princess came through the floor. "Help!"
"Don't worry… I'm not going to hurt you." Night-princess whispered. She walked over to the boy and stooped down to pick him up.
CRACK
"AH!" The boy screamed as a chunk of the ceiling came down.
"Look out!" Night-princess shouted. She leaned over the boy and let the burning rubble crash on to her back. She felt the hot rubble crash on her back, the flames catch on to her hair, and the floor beginning to give way.
Meanwhile…
"High Roller! What is your response to the rumors about you and your manager?!"
"High Roller! There are rumors that you are a super hero!"
"High Roller! Are you dating anyone!" The press was bombarding Joseph with the usual stupid questions as he and Felix pushed through them.
"For the love of all things good and wholesome, back off! The lot of you!" Felix started yelling.
"My question is for High Roller's manager!"
"Aren't you the same guy from the mall?" Felix asked that guy.
"Why are you wearing shades and gloves at this time of night?" The reporter guy asked.
"Oh… my… god…" Felix groaned.
"Night-princess… I hope you're holding out." Joseph thought.
Meanwhile…
CRASH
"Oof!" Night-princess' back hit the floor as she clutched held the boy close. She stood up and held the kid even closer to her. "Hang on." She said.
"Your hair's on fire." The boy said.
"Don't talk… you'll choke." She said as she ran towards a wall. "Ha!" She turned around quickly and jumped backwards through the wall.
CRASH
"Oh my god!"
"She's got my boy!"
"Heh… heh…" Night-princess let go of the boy and set him down. He quickly ran away from her and to her mother.
"AH! Hey!" Night-princess shouted as a jet of water hit her and put out the flames in her hair. The jet of water stopped just as it was about to tear a hole in the back of her shirt.
"Now leave!" One of the firemen shouted.
"But…" She started.
"HELP!!!"
"…" Night-princess jumped up and grabbed hold of the wall of the burning building. She started scaling the side of it easily even if the brick was hot to the touch. The red spot on her back from the water started disappearing, and her hair started to grow back out as she entered a window on the fifth floor.
"Wait! She's still going in?"
"What for?"
"How could you spray her like that?! She saved my son!"
"But she's…"
"Hey look!"
"AH!" A man screamed as Night-princess jumped out of the top floor with him slung over her shoulders. She landed on her feet and set the gasping man down. "You… you saved… saved my life…"
"Mutant!"
"Hey she's a hero!"
BOOM
"AH!" A piece of the building exploded and sent debris flying towards one of the fire trucks.
"We're going to die!"
"ARGH!"
"Hm?" Night-princess had jumped in the way of that piece of debris and she hit the side of one of the trucks hard with the debris on top of her.
"Hose it off!" One of the firemen ordered.
"But she's a mutant."
"So? Hose it off!" The firemen aimed the hose at the burning debris and doused it with a jet of water. As the steam cleared away, the debris rolled away and in the next moment. "Hey… where'd she go?"
"Heh… heh…" Night-princess was back on the roof from earlier, she looked at her burnt hands and watched the burns disappear quickly. Her hair was again very badly burnt, but it was quickly growing back to its original length. She took out a vaccine of serum and injected herself with it, and breathed a sigh of relief as she felt her thirst vanish. "I… did good." She told herself with a smile as she slipped her jacket and gloves back on.
Meanwhile…
"Man, and I thought the music was loud. Your fans are even louder." Felix moaned as he and Joseph walked down this hallway leading to a wooden door.
"Hey get over it. The concert's over, and now Floyd Traxon himself wants a word with us." Joseph told him. He was in much more formal attire than before, in a tuxedo. "And as soon as we're done here, the hunt will begin."
"Ugh… that really is our catchphrase now isn't it?" Felix sighed jokingly. "Well, at least I get to see the guy I had never even heard of until tonight." The two entered a door and entered a very large room that had rich guests in suits and dresses all over. Drinking champagne, eating small finger sandwiches, and laughing at terrible jokes.
"Ah… High Roller. Or do you prefer Mr. Brown?"
"Hm?" Felix and Joseph turned to the side to find the man addressing them.
The man was a very large African-American man who stood about 6'5" in height, had black flat-top hair, brown eyes, and his frame underneath the mostly white tuxedo was apparently quite large as well, but he was definitely not obeste. His white shoes were very finely polished, and he had on white gloves to complete the outfit.
"Mr. Traxon I presume." Felix said as he held out a hand. "I'm Felix Thomas, High Roller's manager."
"So I've heard." Mr. Traxon said as he took Felix's hand and shook.
"Mr. Traxon." Joseph said as he held out a hand and shook hands with Traxon. "You can call me Joseph."
"Very well then. Joseph, I must thank you for coming to this charity event. Especially on such short notice." Traxon said with a smile.
"Oh it wasn't a problem at all sir." Joseph answered. "I must say, a lot of people complain about high society, but you sir have to be one of the most generous donors I've heard of."
"Hm?" Felix showed a look of confusion at this.
"You'll have to forgive my manager, he's not from LA." Joseph said.
"Ah, well let me do the honors." Traxon said. He looked a Felix with confidence and spoke up. "You see, with all of the billions I make off of the trading industry, I realize that you only need so many billions to get by. So it isn't a rare sight to see me making donations to numerous charities around here and nationwide as well."
"I see." Felix said. "Reminds of Wilson Fisk in New York City."
"Fisk? Ah yes." Traxon said. "Yes he and I appear quite similar, but I assure you… unlike him I'm not going to be getting convicted of a felony any time soon." Traxon said with a chuckle.
"Man, I wonder how he's going to get out of murdering someone on tape." Joseph said.
"Now then. Joseph forgive me for asking but… why hire a manager of his age?" Traxon said.
"Excuse me?" Felix asked as he stared at Traxon.
"Well, you both must understand. You wouldn't think someone no older than… seventeen or eighteen would even be in this business at all."
"You wouldn't would you? But Felix has… qualities." Joseph said.
"You bet I d…" Felix paused mid-sentence. "Um… excuse me. But I have to use the restroom. You mind telling me where it is?"
"Out that door you came through and it will be the last one on the left." Traxon answered.
"Last one? Oh boy…" Felix sighed as he left. The second he entered the hallway and shut the door behind him, he bolted down as fast as he could.
Outside…
"We almost cleaned out here?" A guy asked. A bunch of guys in ski masks armed with pistols were cleaning out trucks hauling the equipment from the stage in the concert and cleaning out everything in the limo.
"Yeah we're almost cleaned up." A guy said with a snicker.
"Well that's good. Because when you're done here, could I get you to clean my place?"
"What the?" All of the guys looked at the wall of one of the buildings and saw Night-claw clinging to the side of the building by his claws. "Waste him!"
"You know, Spider-man would have real sticky fingers." Night-claw said as he jumped off the side of the building and avoided a bit of gunfire. "They have silencers on the guns eh?" Night-claw thought as he landed on top of the limo. He dived to the side to avoid more gunfire and then jumped at the truck and jumped off the side of it.
"Hold still!"
"Why would I do that? You'd hit me then." Night-claw said. He landed behind two guys and knocked them out with well placed punches before somersaulting out of the way of more attacks. "But then again, you guys have such terrible aim that you probably couldn't hit the Titanic." He said as he kicked one guy under the chin.
"Die already!"
BAM
BAM
"No thanks." Night-claw ducked to the side then tackled that guy in the abdomen, flipped off of him and heel dropped one of the last two guys before turning around and kicking the last guy across the face. "Meet me in… a few decades. I might be ready to keel over then." He then turned back to the side entrance of the building and ran inside.
Later that night…
"Man… I can't believe I didn't even get anything tonight." Joseph said as they all walked upstairs from the basement.
"At least… you didn't catch fire." Lisa said as she removed her shades.
"You did really well tonight Lisa, all I got were a bunch of guys that were trying to rob us. How sad is that?" Felix asked.
"Well. You got something at least." Joseph sighed. "I'm going to bed." He said.
"…"
"…" Felix and Lisa watched Joseph walk upstairs with his head drooping a little bit. "You don't think… he's taking this too hard do you?" Lisa asked.
"I hope not." Felix said. "I mean, it's just one night. Well, I'm going to hit the hay myself."
"Okay." Lisa said quietly.
Elsewhere…
"Hmmm… disturbing."
"Yeah I know. One big chance to rob this guy and one of those Night hunters blow it." In a dark office with a single large window on one wall that was letting the half moon cast its beams of light through it, a figure sat at a desk, holding a button down on a voice speaker.
"You know. This isn't the first operation they ruined." The shadowy figure growled.
"That's right. They blew the Bank Tower heist as well."
"And not to mention a few… smaller operations." The figure said. "These so called heroes are starting to become a thorn in my side that's digging deeper and deeper in to my skin."
"What should we do about them?"
"Observe them. Set up incidents where they will most definitely appear and set up surveillance." The figure instructed.
"Any places in mind sir?"
"No, there isn't a preference, just make sure they show up."
"Understood, they will undoubtedly show up. After that?"
"We'll decide on what to do afterwards." The figure said. The figure took his hand off of the button and walked in to the moonlight. "As I told the young manager… unlike Fisk, I'm not going to get caught." Traxon said with a wicked smile.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Leave a review guys. And let me know what you think of this.
