198. The Earth Must Bleed part 13
"Come in, in…..," Pulsade muttered to herself. She rapidly performed Morse Code strokes on a communicator in her grasp. She sat on an overturned bucket in the rear of the loft utility shed atop some tall Vegas building somewhere. "Come in…..you little snot…..where could you have gone at a time like this?"
"He's a boy, Leslie," Jinx winked and strutted past her with a huge, silver crown with two holes in her grasp. "Boys are always off in their timing. For all we know, 'J' may have just hit puberty and is spending his time hitting on some chicks who will actually hit on him back."
Wildebeest snorted angrily as Jinx approached her from the far side of the shed.
Jinx jumped back. "Eek! Ermh….eheheheheh….," she simpered and offered up the silver crown. "What am I talking about? Silly witch Jinx! 'J' is an absolute a-angel!"
Wildebeest grunted. A slight curve to his lips. He took the crown out of her grasp and slipped it over his horned head like a helmet. He cracked his neck joints, fitted into the scant 'armor', and folded his arms. The trademark Wildebeest 'pose'.
"Well, you certainly look……," Jinx blinked her cat eyes, "……bovine." A beat. She smiled a Cheshire grin and whipped out at least twenty pairs of combs, brushes, and shampoo materials. "Now how about a little sprucing before you go kick butt for the Triangular gangsters!"
Wildebeest snarled and flung a meaty fist.
"Nnngh!" Jinx skidded back on her long boots, dropping her various tools of the hair trade. "Hrmph! Fine!" She folded her frilled arms and turned up a pale nose. "A cow of few words. A cow of true words. I can take a hint."
"Nnrrghh…," Wildebeest walked towards the door of the shed and gazed out on the bright world.
Jinx spun and walked girlishly towards Pulsade. "I swear. Why didn't we get a slightly less dumb dumb-ox to be the focal point of this mission?"
"'J' had ties to Wildebeest. The big, hairy bloke was our simplest and most effective tool with the time constraints that we had and still do have." A sigh. A toss of her platinum, blonde hair over her shoulders. Pulsade exasperatingly continued her Morse Code transmission. "Though right now, I think we should most be questioning the usefulness of 'J' himself."
"So he's a little off-time," Jinx smiled and shrugged. "Forget what I said earlier. You know I was joking, Leslie. Hehehe." She walked over and leaned over the back of Pulsade's shoulders cutely. "He's pulled through for us countless times. Las Vegas is a crazy city. Forgive even a computer hacker for getting lost once!"
"That's not it….," Pulsade said. She gazed up from the communicator and moved a loose strand of platinum out from her forehead. "..I'm thinking 'J' isn't quite lost at all."
Jinx blinked. "You think he's doing something we wouldn't want him?"
"And who can blame the little bugger…," Pulsade murmured. "All four of us are in on this project to counter Red Aviary. And yet we hardly ever meet. That is to say, we hardly ever meet with him. You and I are lucky to be around each other, Jinx. But the lad's all by himself. With only sporadic visits from his hairy mate over there and the usual computer laptop to keep him company. I don't think it would be that hard for him to sway…"
"But Les…," Jinx gestured with a frilled hand, "…'J' came to us. He supplied us with half of the information we needed. If it weren't for him, we wouldn't be this far! We wouldn't be this close to having Terra's statue!"
"……," Pulsade was silent.
Jinx draped a hand over her shoulder. "Counter-Red Aviary means something to him. He wouldn't give up now. Not when he's this far."
"I hate not knowing things…," Pulsade said hoarsely. She tilted her gaze up to the corners of the ceiling. In firmer voice she thought aloud: "…what could make a little sprog like that go all the way that he has? It doesn't help us to be in the dark about him. When the crucial moment comes, he could switch."
A beat.
"S-Switch what?" Jinx murmured.
Pulsade frowned. "Sides."
"You mean…..like Wyldecarde? The Titans?"
Pulsade nodded.
Jinx leaned back and ran a hand through her short, pink hair. "I wouldn't put it past 'J' to try and help out Wyldecarde a little. After all, he and Noir did have some background together."
"So you've told me…."
"But even still. His loyalty is with us, Leslie. I'm sure of it."
"It had better be…," Pulsade muttered. "Or else this might end up being a really short trip."
Jinx made a cute face as she thought 'hard'. She tapped a finger against her temple, glanced across the shed, and smirked. "We could always ask Wildebeest what makes 'J' tick."
Both girls looked over.
Wildebeest merely whinnied.
"Bloody fat chance in that going well," Pulsade said.
Jinx giggled.
Pulsade looked Jinx's way. And there was ever so slightly a softening to her determined lips. "Bulls only have a load of one thing to dish out."
Jinx hugged herself and doubled over, laughing.
Pulsade took a deep breath and curled a single strand over her ear….
"I must admit, I expected to see this place with a little less levity."
The girls froze.
Wildebeest's white eyes widened. He looked over towards the shed entrance.
"……," Hull stood. His hands by his side. Stone blue eyes glaring. "Is this what you would call a 'din of conspirators'."
"It's him!" Jinx shrieked.
"Nnnngh!" Pulsade snarled, jumped up, and whipped out an assault rifle from behind her back.
Hull crouched.
RAT-A-TAT-TAT-TAT-TAT!
FLASH! Hull produced Bluescythe. SVHHHHHH-CL-CL-CL-CL-CLANG!
Bullets ricocheted and flew all across the shed.
Wildebeest and Jinx ducked and covered their heads. Flinching.
Pulsade gritted her teeth and stopped firing.
SHVVVVV-CLACK! Hull spun his sword to a stop. Frozen in a fighting pose. He glared.
Then he said: "Care to make a little more noise? I don't think all of Las Vegas Boulevard heard you yet!"
Pulsade spat: "What do you want?"
"The same thing that you girls want. The same thing that Wildebeest and the hacker want. And also the same thing desired of Wyldecarde and those Titans lost from him but unconsciously lending him their spirits all the same."
"Hecate on a bike!" Jinx shuddered and stood up with her feline teeth gritting in a wince. "Does everyone want that frozen, dumb blonde!"
Hull slowly shook his head. "No. As much as I am concerned with Terra, it is not my place to…acquire her."
"Bollocks!" Pulsade frowned, still aiming her machine gun. "Do you really expect me to think that you killed your way up the tournament ladder just for shits and giggles! Don't make me more cheesed off than I already am." She squinted a blue eye and fingered the trigger. "I should clean your Nancy Boy face right off with lead, so help me God!"
"I entered the tournament. I ended lives. And I became one of the final four," Hull spoke. "…..for the Vault."
"Say what?" Jinx blinked. "You mean…..you want something else in there besides Terra?"
"And just what is it do you think Killer Croc wants?" Hull replied. "Terra too? Sorry, Miss Shortcake, but the only little girls Killer Croc munches on are the ones that are relatively living."
"Get to the bloomin' point!"
Hull glanced from Pulsade to Wildebeest.
Wildebeest's muscles were tense and his eyes thin. He seemed ready to pounce the swordsman at any time.
"……," Hull looked back at the girls. "I don't want Terra. But I know who do. And I know who will get her. And it's not you two."
"Heh…..well isn't that sweet?" Pulsade's lips softened slightly from behind the gun sight. She kept aiming. "I respond to threats with caliber, chum. It would do you well to pick another topic."
"And it would do you well….," Hull took a daring step forward towards the gun. He stared at Pulsade the entire time. "…to have an open mind about the part Wyldecarde is playing in all of this. You shouldn't be working against each other. You should be working together."
"Righto….," Pulsade hissed. "Bullet-in-the-brain time…"
Hull held up a hand of silver tipped fingers. His blue eyes were thin: "Think about it. I know you're not like this. You're the tolerant type. You yourself once said that it is always special when the greater whole cooperates. Isn't that right, Miss Monarch?"
Jinx gasped, a hand cupped over her mouth.
Wildebeest blinked.
Jinx looked over at Pulsade, panting. "Leslie…."
"…..," Pulsade's lips parted. She lowered the rifle as her iron features melted into wet confusion and shock. "How….d-did you know my family name?"
Hull lowered his arm. "They told me everything. Everything was given to me….before they shipped me off to the first, fatal assignment."
"………….."
Hull took a deep breath and admitted: "H.I.V.E."
Jinx leaned her head to the side.
Pulsade lowered the rifle completely. Her mouth lingered, and then: "You….were in H.I.V.E.?"
Hull slowly nodded.
A beat.
Pulsade swallowed: "I thought-…bloody hell…-I thought you were familiar….."
"I didn't think you would make it free, Leslie….," Hull spoke. He glanced over at Jinx and then back at her. "And to be honest, I'm glad that you're not so lonesome on the outside like you thought you would be."
Pulsade's eyes seemed to be searching something in his face. And then, with a gasp, she uttered with a feminine breath: "Michael….."
Hull slowly nodded.
"M-Michael!" Jinx blinked. Her head darted back and forth. "Who the Hell is Michael?!"
T-T-T-T-T-T-
A dark metal hallway.
Just like any dark metal hallway.
Cold and glossy to the touch of my wandering, black eyes.
I crept through the basement corridor. One silent foot after another. I held Myrkblade up as I slid along the dark gray walls, doubly dark with a lack of substantial lighting.
I felt like I was spelunking the intestines of a giant, unused four-cylinder engine. Everything felt stale and industrial and….
Virginal. In a cold, emotionless sense. Menacing.
"….."
My black eyes narrowed under the shades.
I flexed my free, metal fingers.
Smoke billowed out ahead of the toes of my boots.
Murk 'felt' around the turns in the metal corners. Tendrils of black mist went shifting between the walls far away where my vision couldn't go.
And everything was still barren.
Empty.
Abandoned…..even…..
I took a deep breath.
Three minutes of slowly walking the twists and turns of this place.
And no door.
No structure.
Nothing between the elevator and where I am now.
I thought of the tiny, claustrophobic hell built in the tunnels beneath the Shepherd Plain ranch. The dank rock. The rusted, almost medieval decay to everything.
And…
The stench……
I sniffed the air.
Blinking.
I can't smell anything here.
I took a deep breath and pressed ahead.
Maybe that's a good sign……
Pompeii lay silent ahead of me. Over twenty-five stories of casino weight and steel. And I knew that there was a fighting arena and droves of nightclubs and gambling idiots stacked on top of me. But I felt a strange sense of isolation. Like this basement level was purposefully and strategically constructed to muffle out the sounds of everything else in the world. Including the City of Lights itself.
I shuddered.
My lips tightened into a frown.
Torture chambers.
They're all the same……
I rounded a final curve.
And let out a breath.
At the end of the slate metal hallway rested what looked to be a pair of doors.
One automatic.
The other…..
I squinted.
A dim, red bulb rested above the dark gray corner.
The body of the door was red. The material wasn't wood or metal, but instead some sort of bulbous velvety texture fastened to the frame with a dozen geometrically placed 'buttons' or bolts. Like something out of Captain Nemo's cabin or whatnot.
I made a grimacing face.
I guess that's Anderson's door.
I re-gripped Myrkblade and marched towards the far end of the hallway.
One of them's gotta open.
As I moved on, the Messenger's voice cracked in my ear.
'Hey, you still there, Noir?'
"……"
I blinked.
'I'll take that silence as a yes.'
You'd better.
'I've got a tracer on the communicator in your ear. I'll let you know once you're getting close to the prisoners. The reconnaissance I did a day and a half ago should come in handy.'
I smirked.
Resourceful son of a gun, aren't you?
His voice continued on:
'I'm still working on an escape route. 'J' chipped in with a few schematics he dug up on research of his own. There's got to be a safe way to get those students out of the casino without Anderson or any of his psychosexual goons taking notice.'
I nodded. I approached the doors. There were electronic locks on each of their locks. Lit up. Colored red.
I exhaled and paused before them.
Standing under the dimly-stabbing light.
Why……Why is 'J' helping me out?
The Messenger could just be making it all up, but that's not like him. At least, I don't think so.
Maybe the talk I had with 'J' got him energized to risk his computer neck and help me here. Then again, he seemed so intent on saving the students himself……without me 'mentioning' it.
Doesn't he know that helping me out so closely can't be cool with Jinx and Pulsade? Heh, even Wildebeest would riding his butt about this. I was only there to find Terra, not necessarily sabotage what the sorceress and assassin had planned. Though I suppose in the end, I would have to do just that.
'J', what are you trying to do? Is what's happening to the Messenger happening to you? Do you also feel responsible for Robin?
The communicator in my ear canal crackled loudly.
I winced and cupped the side of my head.
'Snkkkkt! Mega-shitaku! Noir, make like the wind!'
I blinked.
"?"
'MOVE!'
CLICK!
The doorknob.
My lips parted.
Creeeeak—SWOOOSH!
The door opened.
Rexxin walked out and stopped with a jolt.
He blinked.
He stared me straight in the face.
"……………"
A beat.
He blinked again.
His eyes trailed left.
"……………."
His eyes trailed right.
"…………….."
A beat.
I stood in front of him.
Holding my breath.
Still and pale as a statue.
And….
Invisible.
In a split second, I had covered my body from head to toe literally in smoke.
I was cloaked.
And it took every ounce of strength inside of me to preserve such visual evasion.
Rexxin looked left and right again. Breathing gently. His scarred face just inches from my nose.
"………….," I held and held and held my breath. I didn't dare exhale on him. Not even to save my lungs—which were startled and half empty at the time I spontaneously decided to freeze.
"……….hrmph….," Rexxin shrugged. He walked out.
I bit my lip. My cloaked body jerked. I side-stepped with slinking, silent-as-a-snake limbs and fitted myself around him so that our bodies didn't make contact.
He backed into the hallway and produced a plastic card. He turned and closed the door behind him. He slid his card through a groove in it.
Beep.-
The knob locked. The light on it flickered red and stayed that way.
"………..," I huddled in the corner besides the velvety-red door. Shaking from the intense effort of holding my breath. My vision turned blue and my dizzy head began to reel and nod a few bare inches from the security header's shoulder.
He exhaled and walked down the hallway.
I began to relax-
His feet stopped.
I froze again.
He turned.
I bit my lip.
My invisible face a doubly-invisible blue.
"…….," Rexxin walked towards me.
I scrunched against the wall.
His arm stretched out.
I slid down the wall with a shift of murk and performed an awkward limbo beneath his wrist.
Tap-Tap-Tap……
He tested the red-glowing sensor on the velvety door's knob.
"……….," he nodded to himself. He spun. He walked down the hallway. Loudly. With echoes. At the corner, he produced a walkie-talkie and spoke into it. Squabbling.
Then.
Silence.
"…………," I rolled over onto the cold metal floor. Gasping. Sputtering. Sighing. Groaning mutely….
'Snkkkkkt……Dammit, Snake! This is supposed to be a one-man sneaking mission!'
I sit up achingly against the wall. I hissed angrily.
'Heheheheh……good job, man.'
I ran a hand over my sweaty brow. Took another breath in as many breaths. And pushed myself up to my feet.
'Hey, I'm typing a bunch of crap to 'J' as we speak. Wait for me to get the little shrimp to give you a hand.'
"…..," I blinked. I looked around the cold, dead end.
'With the doors, silly ass.'
I mouthed: 'Oh.'
I stared at the two doors.
A beat.
Nah.
'J' is a good hacker.
But he can't take me directly to where I go.
Not yet.
So I focused on the plain, metal door. Ignoring the red velvety one.
Jacob Anderson has got to be too smart and challenging for that.
Indeed, as I stared at the red-lit knob of the plain door, a whirring sound could be heard. The light started to flicker. Soon, the light turned from red to green. And something in the frame clicked.
'Heheheh. Haley Joel Osment's got a digital finger of gold!'
I smirked.
I pressed my weight gently against the door.
I took a deep breath, uncloaking and summoning murk instead to pulse through my limbs at a single command.
'Into the belly button of the beast.'
I nodded to the air.
My feet shift.
And-
SWOOOSH!
I dashed in through the door.
T-T-T-T-T-T-
My black eyes were immediately stabbed under my shades.
I squinted my optics. My face scrunched up.
Monitors. Rows of them. Camera feeds in monochromatic, flickering glory.
A security control center.
Fitting……
I eyed around the shadowed corners of the room. Trying to find something that Rexxin would have been working on there. Some evidence of what was so important. And most especially—a hint as to where I was to go next.
A hint as to where a certain group of innocents were located……
'Hang on a sec-a-tron, Noir. 'J' is doing a calculation. He thinks you might be in the security hub of the basement levels.'
I gazed all over the monitors.
Yeah……way ahead of you, handsome.
'Allright. J and I both agree. Look for a switch device for the camera feeds. There should also be a grid showing the layout of the underground facility. You can use the cameras to get a bearing of the place before you move on next.'
I walked over and stood before a line of consoles. I squinted my black eyes under my shades and studied every curve and angle.
I know my way around these kinds of places. Don't fret.
Naturally, the Messeenger didn't hear me. But he went on: 'J thinks that Jacob Anderson is upstairs in his private suite. He won't be down there to interfere or anything.'
I hope not.
I fingered a joystick and tapped it around.
I saw a camera feed on a monitor to the top left of the consoles twist and turn at my command.
I paused.
I looked at the monitor.
It displayed a still, monochromatic stretch of hallway.
"……"
I twisted the joystick some more.
The camera feed wobbled.
Sensitive……
I sheathed Myrkblade and freed both my hands. I cracked my metal and flesh knuckles. I fingered the joystick with a metal hand and tapped a toggle button with my right.
Tap.
Tap.
Tap.
The monitor flickered through over two dozen cameras. All of them were showing various views of the hallways beyond the velvety door. They were much darker than the immediate, winding passages. The walls were a thick black color. The ground consisted of industrial, metal 'cobble' design. There were grates in the floor constantly where the walls reached the bottom. Like a reservoir of sorts.
For the blood……
Indeed, as I tilted the camera up, I saw the nightmare. A playground of torture chairs, ceiling-suspended buzz saws, drills, acid I.V. bags, branding irons, and rows upon rows of blades mounted on the walls.
I took a deep breath….more out of relief than anything.
None of the blades were stained.
This was a fresh facility. Shepherd Plain was being set to explode for a reason. Jacob Anderson had just….just recently moved out of his 'old' playground and was jumping into the new one as I infiltrated that stronghold. Whatever was going on with the Tournament and the Vault and Triangular, Anderson was undoubtedly expecting the fruits of some nasty labor roll in. This Hellish domain beneath Pompeii was undoubtedly a 'reward' to himself. Something he must have felt he earned. And for all I knew—maybe he did earn it.
I toggled the camera over twice more….
And I found them.
Rows of grated metal doors.
Jail cells.
Prison chambers.
"……," my black eyes wandered to the right. Over to a computer screen I hadn't specifically noticed before.
There were what appeared to be EKGs and Heart Monitors lined up…..enough for over twenty-five people. All of the life signs appeared to be okay. But that could mean anything.
I exhaled.
I looked at the security feed again.
Pain is but a piece of torture……
I toggled the camera over.
I got a glimpse of the interior of the prison rooms. One by one, I toggled through them. And I was gifted with dark, infrared images of young, shivering figures chained up to the walls. They all looked warm and alive…except for one figure in a solitary room at the end of the toggling. And that figure was much larger and seemingly older than the rest.
My eyes narrowed.
Who is that?
'Gotten a fix yet, Noir-boy?'
I wanted to hit him suddenly. Sighing, I walked over to a stretch of consoles on the left and tried to find a switch or a set of controls that would help in getting the velvet door unlocked.
Across the beeping wilderness of buttons and lights and switches, I inevitably got lost. And I started to sweat.
'Hey, J's got an idea. Before we do anything, the security feed needs to be taken care of. We can't have there being anyone from upstairs knowing that you're down here, right?'
I looked up at the wall.
Right……
'He says to look under the consoles where the chairs go for a red glass box against the inner wall.'
I knelt down.
I shoved a desk chair aside.
I looked under once crevice.
Then another.
There.
My black eyes caught a red container hugging the side. Concealed….but not quite hidden.
'Once you find the container, it should say 'Fire Alert' on it.'
I lowered my shades till the top half of my eyes were naked.
I read the text in the dark.
Right.
'Hit it.'
I curled my metal fist into a ball and-
SMASH!
I shattered the container.
Th-Thwap!
A plastic card fell out.
"…….."
'You should find a card in there. It's used for emergency escape hatches and evacuation protocols. 'J' thinks he can reprogram it for a better use. So once you have the thing, slip it through the central card reader on the middle console. Trust me. This will make Macgyver roll in the grave.'
I exhaled.
I brushed the shards aside on the floor and hid them beneath the shaded alcove.
They'll find that eventually……screw it.
I stood up with the card.
I walked over to the central console beneath a wide array of monitors and security feeds.
I slipped the card through a reader and stopped about halfway.
'Good, Noir! 'J' is reading the card data! Now……hold it in the spot!'
"……..," my fingers remained frozen around the card. I breathed lightly. I eyed the security feeds.
'Okay. Now. With a free hand or something……open the plastic hatch just to the left of the camera feed control stick.'
I glanced over.
I saw a gray, translucent sheathe.
I opened it.
Click.
There were a series of digital record buttons and features.
'Hit the big red button that looks like Bill Clinton's nose.'
"….."
I did so.
Click.
'Hold it also.'
I bit my lip. I held the card and the button.
'Hold it……'
"…….?" I looked up at the security feeds.
A red light was blinking on all of the monitors as the infrared bodies of the prisoners inside their cells stirred and twitched mutely.
Ten seconds.
Fifteen.
Twenty….
'Okay. Let go of the red button, Noir.'
I did so.
The flashing lights on the screens stopped.
'Now……keep the card inside the reader. 'J' is still working on that.'
I inhaled.
Okay……
'Got your metal hand free?'
I looked at my metal fingers hovering over the red button.
'If so, crack open the console you just hit record with and pull out the wires from underneath.'
I nodded to the unresponsive air.
I balled my metal hand into a fist again.
CRACK!
I smashed the console open. I lifted the top display. A bundle of multicolored wires frothed out.
'Okay. Cut the blue and the red wires.'
"…….'
I looked at my metal left hand.
I looked at my right hand on the card.
Uh……yeah.
'Quickly, Noir.'
Dammit! I know……hang on.
I gripped a bundle of red wires in between two metal fingers.
I took a deep breath.
Concentrated.
Sent murk warbling up through my arm and—with a jerk—exploded it through the titanium digits.
Snap!
The red wires severed.
I grinned.
I gripped the blue wires, concentrated, and did the same with them.
Snap!
'Good job. 'J' says all the correct wires are severed.'
Yeah, no shit.
'Now for the not-so-sexy part.'
I raised an eyebrow.
'Stick a metal finger into the socket just left of the reader you've got the card in.'
"?"
I glanced over.
I saw a black hole for a cord of sorts to go into just to the left of where I got the card inserted.
The Hell?
'You can handle it, Noir. Trust me. Think of it as a trip to get a small pox shot.'
I just may have to see a doctor after this anyways.
I took a deep breath. I raised my finger over the socket. Tensed. And-
Thunk!
Zzzzt!POP!
The shock was painful but—as the Messenger said—bearable. I didn't have a low pain tolerance, after all.
And yet—even I knew that an average socket would have done more than just make me wince. Something about my titanium finger had made the console short circuit and blow a fuse before it could so much as piledrive me with all its juice.
I looked down and saw some smoke rise, but the card reader was blinking. Madly.
A whirring sound.
The monitors flickered.
'Heheheheh……now……cue the Mission Impossible music.'
I narrowed my eyes on the monitor.
Snow filtered through the screens, and gradually the infrared images of the prisoner compartments and the hallway turned into…….older infrared images of the prisoner compartments and the hallway.
The card reader beeped and blinked as it used my emergency fire escape key as junction through which 'J' reprogrammed the security feed.
After a few seconds, the reader blinked and beeped with a green light. The monitors flickered one last time…and—
'Viola.'
They repeated the exact same twenty-seconds of recording I did earlier over and over again in a loop. Which meant the prisoners appeared always still inside their chambers. The hallways appeared always dark. And—most importantly—the hallways appeared always empty and devoid of all intruders…..especially those with wooden katanas and long hair.
I blinked.
Okay……now that's just cool.
'Now. To get you into the chambers……'
I blinked.
I looked out the door towards where the velvety passageway rested.
'J and I are working on that.'
I took a deep breath.
This is taking too long.
I looked around the room with my black eyes.
I can't afford using that much time.
My eyes rested on the computer console.
"….."
I followed a tube plastered against the gray metal wall and rising up into the ceiling. A very familiar design.
My lips parted.
Wire transit.
I walked to the consoles, bent over, and fingered the plastic half-tube.
"….."
Chiiiing!
I produced Myrkblade.
I took a breath.
I angled the tip just right, sharpened it with a covering of murk, and slowly cut along the length of the tube.
Snkkkkkkt!
I slit open the tube. I gripped the plastic with metal fingers and pried it open with use of Myrkblade. I exposed the wirings from the camera console center going up into the ceiling where—inevitably—they would branch out and lead to the cameras.
'Uh……Noir? What are you doing, pal? There's nothing on that side of the security room according to my schematics.'
But I kept at my job. Breathing gently as I spread the wires and made as much room inside the tube where the cut was as I could.
You're but a tourist in this dimension, Messenger. Let a noble savage do a job in his land for once.
I stood back.
I rested my arms to my side.
I smirked….then shut my eyes.
And concentrated.
Time for a trick I've done at the Tower a long, long time ago……
I covered myself in smoke. I let a curtain of murk curl down my body and collect around the height of my person. I was once flesh and metal became steam. Shifting and shaking in the form of a person. And sooner than naught, that form broke apart and—with a laughing hiss like red hot steam—it all shot forward and-
FWOOOOSH!
Into the tube.
Along the wires.
Up the ceiling.
Out through the branches.
Spiraling around the wires.
Collecting around one.
Twirling.
Dancing.
Rocketing.
Shooting downward.
Sliding.
Plummeting.
Reaching a culmination of the wires.
Plastic and electronics.
The rectum of a security camera.
The edges around it.
Air pockets.
Holes.
Holes….
Holes!
POW!
SWOOOOSH!
I teleported into the hallway beyond.
THWUMP!
I tumbled on the floor and rolled to a stop.
Panting.
Gasping for breath.
"…….."
I looked up.
The camera wobbled….wobbled….and was still.
"…….."
I took a deep breath and stumbled up to my feet, flexing my solidified limbs.
I took a deep, final breath and composed myself.
Never gets old.
'Whoah-doggy! Noir, how'd you get in the hallway so fast-"
I stood up.
I looked towards the ceiling.
I smiled….blindly.
'…………never mind.'
I dusted myself off.
'Mexican girls. Now.'
I nodded to the thin air.
I gripped Myrkblade and marched cautiously down the black metal hallway.
My boots clanked and clacked with the grated floor.
Everything still smelled stale. A perfect environment for a bloody aroma to corrupt.
Not if I can help it.
A shuddering.
Muffled.
I turned a corner, and jolted.
There was a blade in my face.
"……..," I stared with shaded eyes at a still buzz saw resting erect just an inch from my nose. I craned my neck and looked around. There was a bed with robot arms attached and stretching every which way in purposeful disarray like the spread legs of a spider crab. One arm had its blades stretched towards my head as I turned the corner.
A beat.
I swallowed.
I walked around the clean serration.
Past the torture devices in the center of the dimly-lit, black corridor.
And towards the grated prison doors beyond.
I heard another shuffling sound.
Like a whimpering voice.
I took a deep breath.
I approached the first-most door.
I peered in.
There were gasping sounds from the inside. Shuffling bodies in the darkness. Rattling chains and reflective orbs of frightened eyes.
Bingo.
I stepped back from the door.
I held the length of Myrkblade out and summoned smoke energy into it.
A breath….
And I jabbed the blade into the frame between the wall and the door.
I supplied energy…energy…energy….
And pulsed.
Why do I find myself in this situation so much?
POW-CRACK!
The door broke open and fell loudly on the hallway floor.
CLANG!
I didn't even flinch. I stepped inside briskly.
I was surrounded by shuddering breaths and sobs.
I whipped my shades off.
With naked black eyes, I saw five girls in uniform. A definite sign of private school education. They huddled against the walls at the sight of me, their tan bodies shivering. I saw no noticeable damage to their clothes or person.
Thank God.
He didn't get to them yet.
Most of them flinched as I came close, but one or two leaned out towards me and murmured in desperate whispers:
"¡Ayúdenos! ¡Ayúdenos, por f-favor!"
"Shhhh," I hissed. A metal finger before my lips. I slid in half of Myrkblade and began severing the shackles on each of the girls. One by one.
Crack! Crack! Crack!
They stood on wobbly legs, rubbing their arms. Shivering.
I wandered swiftly over to the other half in the dark room. I freed them as quickly as I could.
Crack! Crack!
"¡Por favor, senior!" One tugged at my jacket and whispered. "¡Hay otras! ¡Están en los otros cuartos!"
I waved before nodding and then motioning them quietly to 'stay here'.
"…….."
I mouthed: 'Aqui!'
"…….."
I rolled my black eyes, shrugged, and rushed out of the room.
I made for the next chamber's door.
CRACK!
CLANG!
There were ten prisoners cramped in there. The room was hot and full of the clink-clanking of chains and shuddering voices. A foul smell lingered in the air. I wondered how long those people had huddled in there without a bathroom.
Crack! Crack! Crack! Crack!
One by one, I freed them. I marched out of the room and found the young women gradually forming a pool of nervous humanity in the black hall. They murmured amongst themselves and eyed the interior with fleeting eyes. They most eagerly avoided sight of the torture devices downaways.
"¿Dónde estamos? ¿Qué va a suceder?"
"T-Tengo miedo…"
"¿Las cámaras fotográficas no nos v-verán?"
"Deseo s-salir de aquí..."
I was glad indeed that the security cameras were happily 'malfunctioning' during all of this mayhem.
CRACK!
CLANG!
I went into the third room and freed the last of the prisoners.
Crack! Crack!
And yet—as I ushered them out into the dark hallway, I couldn't help but feel that there was something missing.
"Senor!"
Or someone……
"Senor!" one of the taller girls rushed over to me and grabbed my shoulder. She pointed down the hallway. "¡Allá! ¡Allá! ¡Hay un hombre en ese compartimiento pasado!"
"……..," I stared blankly at her.
Yeah……
The girl pouted. Bit her lip. And spun to face the others. "¡Rosa! ¡Donde está Rosa! ¿Rosa habla ingles, verdad?"
"E-Estoy aqui…."
The girls looked over.
So did I.
A trembling petite teenager walked over, her hangs wringing together. "¿Cómo puedo ayudar?"
The tall one pointed at her: "¡Venido aquí, Rosa! Rápidamente. Dígale en inglés que una persona pasada permanece adentro eso compartimiento."
"Sí, uno momento," the girl paused. 'Rosa' cleared her throat. Looked up at me. And struggled forth: "Ehh…a…a m-man ehhh…is…is inside last room….," she pointed down the hall. "Alli. There! A man…in th-there." She bit her lip. "Ehhh….is…is dañado. Muy dañado. Significo…..is….ehh……not in g-good health…"
I nodded. I held a finger up.
The girls backed up.
I walked towards the last door.
I peered inside.
There was a shadow.
Lying down.
In the corner of the dark alcove.
"…….," I narrowed my eyes.
I stood back and pulsed murk through my sword.
The girls gasped, shuddering at the explosive superpowers.
POW!
CLANK!
I cracked the door off its hinges. I wandered into the room. Naked black eyes open.
And from what I saw in the dark…..
I grimaced.
Ah jeez.
Damn it all……no……
I shuddered, but tried not to show it. Because the man inside was still alive.
"Snnnkkkkt…..f-finally someone friggin' comes…..," he uttered. Sputtered. Spat. And groaned. "….a little too late, though."
I took a deep breath. I kept my distance from his shadow. I could recognize him by his voice more than anything. He had fought at the tournament.
Joto.
"Bet you got some kickass escape plan too, huh, stranger?" he wheezed. A faint glow of ash-like flame gathered around his arms and faded again with his voice. "I'd join you….but I think it'd be tough for either you or me to stuff back what needs to be inside my belly for the trip."
I bit my lip.
He wheezed, sputtered, and said in a dark voice: "This place. This whole god damn place…..it's not worth a Vault. It's Hell on Earth."
I took a shuddering breath.
I know.
T-T-T-T-T-T-
"I've changed throughout the years. In a lot of ways, I'm the killer that H.I.V.E. always wanted me to be," Hull gestured from where he stood in the bright half of the shed's interior. His blue eyes narrowed. "And yet—I am also the rogue that H.I.V.E. always seemed to….'accidentally' produce."
Pulsade took a deep breath, staring at him.
Wildebeest was silent.
Jinx shuddered: "Yeah, well, good thing H.I.V.E. went bye-bye."
Hull turned and looked at the pink witch. "H.I.V.E. was never destroyed. As a matter of fact, it was merely transferred into far more strategic hands."
Jinx's cat eyes blinked.
"What?" Pulsade made a face. "But….the Bludhaven Academy was nearly decimated! 'J' helped in spreading viruses throughout the other installations!"
"And Viper killed the Headmistress!" Jinx cackled. "What could possibly be left of that poopy-headed organization!"
"It has evolved…much like I have evolved," Hull said. "And now it exists for a whole different reason than the terrorist motive from whence it was spawned."
"What happened to you, Michael?" Pulsade murmured. "Was it the experimentation? They were always dragging you into laboratories for weeks at a time…."
Jinx again cast the blonde assassin an awkward look. "Wait. Answer me this. How do you know this creep!"
"Jinx," Pulsade looked back. She motioned with her ever-cautious assault rifle. "This 'creep' was the most exemplary student of H.I.V.E. before your time."
"None of that matters now," Hull said.
Pulsade looked at him. "You would say such a thing? Michael, you are alive! I thought they had killed you like they had killed the rest of them!"
"In a way, they did…," Hull said in a low voice. "Thus, I for one should know that it takes more than a conspiracy to kill something." He looked at Jinx. "Even death itself."
Jinx frowned back. "I'm not just about to have some silly high-school reunion here ruin Counter Red-Aviary—"
"You can do whatever you want with your 'Red Aviary'," Hull said. "I, for one, would be the last person to deny the importance of it all. The Balance of Morals is very…very real."
Pulsade squinted a suspicious, blue eye. "And how do you know all this?"
"I've become…..," Michael glanced at her, "….sensitive." A beat. "And I see a few others have gone the opposite direction."
Pulsade bit her lip.
Jinx planted her hands on her hips.
Stomp!
"….," Hull looked up.
Wildebeest stood beside him. Cracking meaty knuckles. Snorting with a frown.
Hull replied to the animalistic warrior: "There are many real things in this dark frontier we're charging into. Red Aviary is part of it, but not the only part." He looked the girls' way again. "What's happening here is but the groundwork of something so unimaginably huge a danger that the world we stand on will never be the same again—triumph or no triumph against the adversity."
"I fail to see how anything could POSSIBLY be worse than if Red Aviary hits the fan!" Jinx frowned with folded arms. "Maybe you should get lost and not try and scare us!"
"Maybe you should listen to me," Hull said. "Maybe you should understand that I'm here for the purpose of addressing the next great threat. And because of that, I have no interest in the girl of stone." He looked at Pulsade. "—save for the fact that I want Wyldecarde returning home with her. Not you four."
Jinx hissed: "And just why should Ghost Boy get all the gold?"
"It's the only way to let Red Aviary run itself into the ground."
"But that's like frickin' giving the spirit of Destruction an easy plate!"
"Exactly."
"……….," Jinx blinked. She frowned. "Allright. Enough of this fluff." She charged a frilled wrist with pink energy. "Let's see how unlucky your top two vertebrae get if I blow on you—"
Pulsade pressed a hand to Jinx's shoulder.
The pink witch halted.
Pulsade lowered her rifle and took a step forward. "Leave, Michael."
Hull took a breath. "You're not going to take any of my advice seriously, are you?"
"We are enemies now," Pulsade frowned. "If you came all the way here in hopes of motivating me or something, then forget it. That may have worked in the past, Michael. But not today."
Jinx looked at her. Blinking.
"You're a much stronger person, Leslie."
"I've changed," Pulsade pointed. "You do what you came for. But don't interfere with us. And if you so much as get in the way of Counter-Red Aviary….I swear that nothing will keep me from ripping that blooming head off and feeding it to the remaining ghosts of H.I.V.E. if ever I run into them myself."
"Spoken like a true H.I.V.E. terrorist."
"I don't see you leaving yet."
"………," Hull nodded. He turned and made for the exit while Wildebeest eyed him warily.
Jinx fumed. "Yeah! Get lost, creep! If you're so intent on handing over Terra to Ghost Boy, why don't you speak to him yourself!"
"I already did," and he was gone.
A beat.
Pulsade exhaled. She looked down towards the floor, partially deflated. "Bloody hell…."
"Leslie?" Jinx looked with concern in her cat eyes. She gently squeezed the assassin's shoulder. "Is everything okay?"
Pulsade stared up with tired, blue eyes. "How much more complicated can things get?" A beat. She snarled and flung the communicator to the floor. "And where in Prince Albert's name is that computer-shagging sprog!"
-T-T-T-T-T-T-
'Noir. 'J' tells me that the security rotation is about to go into effect! It's just a matter of time before someone goes down there! You gotta move out now!'
I gritted my teeth and palmed a hand over my ear as if to respond: 'Just a damn second!'
Joto's figure shook again with a cough. His hands glowed a flickering flame of orange and faded again.
Behind me, the girl named Rosa trembled. "H-He is….muerto?"
"Cute kid…," Joto sputtered. "Somebody shut her up."
I whistled, snapped a finger, and pointed out into the hallway.
Rosa nervously scampered out and joined the gaggle of girls huddling outside.
I stepped towards Joto and made to lean down and examine him-
"N-No!" He coughed and groaned. Flickering flame. Darkness again. "Get back!"
I halted.
"I'm screwed, man. Done deal. And I'll be doubly damned if I let you leave without so much as razing this pathetic shithole of a place!"
I bit my lip. I slowly nodded.
"So you better hurry up…cuz I'm gonna cremate this dungeon."
I froze.
Blinking.
I mouthed in the darkness: 'What!'
"It's the last thing I can do….and the last thing I wanna do!" He coughed and sputtered. "So ya better head for the hills! And take all of those senoritas with you!"
I clenched my fists.
Don't be a moron.
Let me just-
I reached for him.
"NnnnghAAH!" FWOOM! His arm was encased in flames and punched at me.
WHAM!
Murking, I slid back from the fire-elemental punch.
I winced all over.
The girls in the hallway gasped.
"Go, dammit!" he wheezed. "Nothing's gonna stop the will of a dying man! Especially a dying man this frickin' stubborn! Now, I've given you a warning. So take it! Take it and leave!" A red-orange glow. He shook and convulsed all over. "NnnnnghhhRAAAAAH!"
PHWOOOOM!
A ring of fire billowed around him.
Shitness omega!
I slipped my shades on, winced from the bright flames, and dashed out into the hallway.
Surrounded by trembling prisoners, I looked around in a frantic, visual search for an exit.
A secret compartment?
The velvety door?
I looked around.
The temperature rose.
Sweat bulbs and steam.
A few sobbing voices.
A door.
A door!
Better yet, it was a new door I hadn't seen before. It was in the opposite part of the winding, torture chamber than that of the velvet entrance. I whistled at all the students and motioned them along with me.
All the while, the temperature of the place increased. Joto's flames started to seep out into the hallway. And soon I got the feeling that a biological bag of napalm was just on the verge of going off…
SWOOOSH!
I teleported through the surging bodies of prisoners and reached the door.
A few girls jumped back.
They murmured and clung to each other.
'Noir? 'J' and I are worried. What's going on down there?'
I gritted my teeth and stabbed at the doorframe with my sword.
Gimme a sec!
CLANK!
I stabbed.
I pulsed murk.
I twisted and pulled.
The door wouldn't budge.
Come on……Come on……
The flames flickered behind us.
The walls stung with heat.
The girls sweat and sobbed.
CLANK!
Come on!
Open!
"S-Senor…," the tallest girl walked forward.
"?" I glanced at her.
She snaked a hand around me, and turned the door's handle.
Creeeeak!
A shadowed passageway opened cool and inviting before us.
"¿Vea? Se abre."
I simpered at her.
FWOOOM!
Flames.
Shrieks.
I held my breath and shoved them all out, two at a time.
They dashed desperately into the corridor.
There was a resounding scream as Joto's powers reached a climax….
I shoved the last girl into the passage.
'Noir. Now would be a very good time to develop telepathy and tell me what in the wide world of fudge you are up to!'
PHWOOOOOOMB!
A wall of flame vomited out of Joto's chamber and rocketed down either side of the corridor.
I held my breath, dashed into the cool passage, and slammed the door shut behind me.
I'm kinda sorta TOAST!
CLANK!
PHWOOOOOOOSH!
T-T-T-T-T-T-
Wildebeest stood along the edge of the rooftop. Staring down at Pulsade.
The blonde assassin approached the beast. She had a half-sphere of sorts in her grasp. She held it in the palm of one hand and produced a bright charge of light in the other. FLASH!
"All right. Here you go…."
She seemed to 'shove' the light charge into the half-dome. The crystalline object flickered for a second before taking on a faint, gentle glow. Pulsade offered the item to the Wildebeest before her.
"Good for six full hours of steady usage. Assuming you need that much time to actually not be seen. Depends on what that robed namby pamby asks of you and the other three yahoos you're fighting with."
Wildebeest nodded with a grunt. He clipped the half-dome to his silver crown and pressed it. Click. FLASH! Pulsade's charged light extended over him and turned him invisible. A beat. Click. FLASH! He reappeared again. He nodded a somewhat 'thankful' snout towards the British blonde and grunted.
"You're quite welcome, Mr. Sirloin. Now be a good cow and get the Vault open for us tonight."
"……," Wildebeest looked off towards the Nevada Horizon.
Jinx stepped forward with a smile. "Awwwww….don't worry, big guy. We'll get in touch with 'J' as soon as we can. I'm sure the little squirt's doing okay!" She winked a cat eye. "In the meantime, you do your part and I'll do mine. I'll be trailing you throughout this little 'mission' thing, got it? After all, that's the drill."
Wildebeest sighed through his nostrils. With a final bow, he turned around, clicked the half-sphere—FLASH—and climbed invisibly down the buildingside….destined to charge his cloaked way to Pompeii and rendezvous with the new 'employer'."
Jinx walked over and leaned against the side of the building. She sighed. "Only a matter of time and we'll be on the safest ground in this Red Sea in a lonnnnng time."
A beat.
The pink witch looked over at Pulsade.
Pulsade was gazing off towards the afternoon sky.
Jinx wandered over. "Leslie….don't let that Hull creep mess with you. All that stuff he was saying about H.I.V.E. and the past. I know as much as Wildebeest knows that he was making it all up! In fact, he was just talking out of his—"
"He was telling us the truth."
"…………oh," Jinx blinked. A wince. "Well….in that case…..WHO IN THE WILLIAM SHATNER IS HE!"
"Jean…."
"WHAT is WITH this CITY!" Jinx spun around and randomly spat out pink flashes of hex as she angrily paced and warbled: "First it's Ghost Boy coming to town with that nasty sword-swinging of his! Then some asian kid who can embarrass the heck out of you is joined to his hip in between teleporting all over the place! Then Killer Croc climbs out of the swamp like some skin moisturizing commercial reject! And now here comes Donny Osmond's evil twin with a badass sword and rambling about the dangers of the world and whatcrap-
"Jean…..," Pulsade sighed and gestured at her—
"Rghhh!" Jinx pulled at her nonexistent length of hair. "Why do things have to be so complicated! What's up with the Balance of Morals! And WHY DIDN'T YOU TELL ME ANYTHING ABOUT HULL!" Jinx planted her hips into her side and frowned cutely at the blonde. "'Michael', is it? Some….EXCEPTIONAL former student of H.I.V.E.'s?"
"………"
"I need to know these things, Leslie! I need to know how much poop we're standing up to our panties in! I need to know what this Hull guy means to Red Aviary and us getting Terra in one piece! And—heh—Michael. There's a handsome name if I ever heard one! Lemme guess…once upon a midnight dreary, you and 'Michael' were a little closer than mere pupils--"
Jinx froze.
A beat.
She blinked, for her lips were on the receiving end of Leslie's kiss.
After a few seconds, Pulsade drifted back. She gazed into Jinx's face and cupped the witch's chin with a gentle hand.
"……..," Jinx blushed. "Or n-not…."
"What you need to know….," Pulsade whispered, "…is that I'm just as confused about things as you are. And I would never…ever hide something from you if I could help it, Jean."
"…….."
"I don't know why Michael's back. But one thing is for certain. He means to me as much now as he ever meant to me in the past."
"He's….an e-enemy?" Jinx remarked shyly.
Pulsade slowly nodded. "And I need you….to make sure….he doesn't get in the way of things."
"……"
"You're falling behind, Jean," Pulsade lowered her hand and stepped back. "Better catch up with Wildebeest."
"Eeep!" Jinx cutely cupped her hands around her rosy lips and winced. "I-I'm sorry! I was so busy being a female dog—be it a pretty female dog—that I didn't think about—"
"Shhh….just go….we're counting on you," Pulsade said. Her voice started to rise above a whisper. "I'll keep in contact. If you need me for anything….any emergency with Wildebeest or Anderson or anything at all…..I will come to your aide. Understood?"
Jinx nodded. "Y-Yes, Leslie. I'll be on my way."
"Thank you, Jinx."
The sorceress jumped up and balanced herself on the building ledge. But soon she paused and looked over her shoulder. "Leslie?"
"Yes, Jinx?"
"I'm sorry about—"
Pulsade lifted a finger. "Neither of us have anything to be sorry for…," her eyes narrowed. "…unless we fail to stop this Red Aviary."
A beat.
Jinx smiled a half-cheshire and warmly inhaled. "Right. Ciao." And she jumped off the building and blurred down towards the ground in a pink streak of light.
Once alone, Pulsade hugged herself. She watched as the pink light leftover from the blurring witch faded into lonely nothingness.
"If anything, Jean….," the blonde assassin muttered to the rooftops' winds. "…we both have everything to be thankful for…"
T-T-T-T-T-T-
The girls all murmured and shuddered in the dark.
Heat was wafting in from the burning hallway beyond.
I fought to swim my way through them and towards the front.
A few scared hands latched onto me, pleading in two or three dialects.
I gritted my teeth and sweatdropped.
Stop……drowning……me……with……latin……ESTROGEN!
'Noir, you there?'
YES! Er……oh wait……
'Noir, I hope you got those kids out. Cuz if that's you heading down the lateral corridor, then keep taking them straight out. But you gotta hurry.'
"?"
'The Anderson appointment upstairs is in a couple of mere minutes!'
I nearly pratfalled.
'Just hurry and get them out of there! We'll take it all one step at a time!'
I nodded to the air.
I whistled….again and again.
I let the girls follow the sound of my voice as I lead the pack down the hallway.
Away from the suffocating heat.
Towards absolute darkness.
Upwards and upwards, as the hallway was raised and seemed to be ascending rapidly to some location….
I stretched a metal hand forward and felt with my spatial senses.
There was a door at the end.
And beyond that….
'Noir, listen to me. 'J' says that he's got this part covered.'
I cupped a hand over my ear and carried on.
Listening curiously as I walked,
'What I want you to do is cloak the very SECOND you open that doorway to the light.'
I blinked under my shades.
'You got me, Noir?'
Uhhh……
I exhaled.
Okay.
Four feet from the door.
The girls all followed.
Trembling.
Anxious.
Reaching for the door.
I reached for it first.
Two feet.
I touched the handle.
I took a breath.
Concentrated.
And-
FWOOOOSH!
Light poured in.
FLASH!
I cloaked.
T-T-T-T-T-T-
Blinking at the light, the girls poured out to a sunset world at the edge of the Pompeii's parking garage. They shaded their eyes and looked directly out. As clarity returned, they saw two white vehicles. A pair of 'Vegas People Shuttles'. A young driver stepped down from the door to the foremost vehicle and approached the group.
"Uhh…..," he blinked. He glanced at a computer printout in his hands like this was the wyrdest thing in the world and then faced the group of Mexican students again. "Which one of you….erhm….ordered two shuttles from online?"
"………..," the girls blinked at him.
"Uh……the…th-the two shuttles for a city tour that stops at the police department?" the driver emphasized with a lean.
"…………."
"Erm….do any of you speak English?"
"Si. Rosa."
"Oye! Rosa!"
"Como?"
The driver groaned and ran a hand over his face. "Mrmmm….I hate these Saturday transits…."
-T-T-T-T-T-T-
FWOOSH!
I materialized.
Panting.
I perched atop a lamppost four dozen feet away alongside the main structure of Pompeii. I took a deep breath, recovering from the strain of both cloaking and murking at the same time to get out of there.
'Good job, Noir. For every schoolgirl saved, there's a virgin in Heaven waiting for you.'
I did a double-take and cupped a hand over my ear.
"?"
'Okay, so I made that one up.'
I smirked.
''J' says that there was a terrific temperature increase in the dungeon just as you left. Since when were you carrying explosives with you?'
The smirk left.
I sighed and stared off.
"….."
'Never the matter. Get your tight ass up to Anderson-er-not necessarily in that connotation.'
I rolled my black eyes.
I nodded to the air.
'I'll meet you along the way.'
Whatever.
I lowered my hand, summoned murk, and prepared to blur up the buildingside for a shortcut through the exterior shell of the structure. But I paused for a moment, turned and faced the lower half of Pompeii, and gazed forlornly past the image of the girls loading onto the inconspicuous shuttles.
Hmmmmmm……'Joto'……
A beat.
I wonder if he has a family?
Ah well……something to definitely look up when I meet back with Cyborg at the Tower.
I tilted up to face the building's height.
When I meet back with the rest of the Titans……with Terra by my side.
FWOOOOOSH!
I blurred up the building.
T-T-T-T-T-T-
VRMMMM!
Hull drove up to the front entrance of Pompeii. He skidded his industrial steel motorbike to a stop. He gazed up at the tall, artistically mutated casino.
"……."
He took a deep breath. Not a sweat on him. Not a bit of moisture on the edges of his eyes.
He kicked the bike into gear again…and moved to park it into the huge garage.
T-T-T-T-T-T-
STOMP!
Wildebeest landed invisibly in an intersection, waited for a semi to drive by, snorted, and sprinted his way down Las Vegas Boulevard.
It was a very risky was of running to his destination. Cloaked or not.
But at least in between the loud rows of traffic, the sound of his heavy-sprinting feet could be drowned out.
His white eyes narrowed as the asphalt blurred beneath him.
Pompeii loomed in the distance. Tall and blazing.
He grunted as if disgusted at the sight of it.
Regardless, he pressed on….leaping over traffic and taking his approach further by jumping from building top to building top with his muscular, hairy legs.
T-T-T-T-T-
Jinx flipped, streaked-pink, and blurred from roof to roof.
She cartwheeled through a sea of metal antennae like a gymnast, flipped onto another rooftop, ran to a building ledge, and skidded to a stop.
Panting.
Gazing up with pink eyes at the sky.
The Sun was going down.
The Nevada desert was turning a dull amber.
In a matter of an hour or two, the Casino lights would flicker to life in answer to the early evening of November.
The sorceress took a deep breath and fingered her frilly cuffs.
"When this is all over with. You and me. The Bahamas. No looking back."
A beat.
"Y-Yeah….."
She sighed, charged up pink hex, and leapt her way in a constant trailing of Wildebeest.
T-T-T-T-T-T-
"……"
Pulsade sat on the edge of the tall building.
The shack yawned open on the roof several feet behind.
The blonde assassin had her sniper rifle with her.
She was absent-mindedly polishing it.
Staring out at the setting sun.
The firmness in her face was replaced with a soft deadpan.
As her blue eyes searched and searched…
But fell only fell back with a sigh…or two….or three…
Again and again.
T-T-T-T-T-T-
Typing little fingers.
A laptop on a dining table.
Soft lights and the ambiance of eating patrons, click-clacking plates, and a humming kitchen in the distance.
'J' was at a booth in the corner of a Denny's. He typed with one hand for a moment and sipped a glass of orange juice with another. He kept his green eyes on the laptop's screen as he kept at it.
A waitress wandered over eventually. She fought off an awkward expression, smiled, and asked: "M-More juice, sir?"
'J' looked up. The boy smiled politely and nodded with a mouthed: 'yes'. He slid the glass over.
The waitress took it…but paused. "Erhm…..you've been here for nearly two and a half hours, sir."
'J' returned to his typing. He nodded without looking.
"Are you….waiting for your parents or something?"
'J' paused. He seemed to think about that for a while. His tongue searching the insides of his mute mouth. A beat. He looked up at the waitress with a big grin and mouthed: 'sure'.
"I see….," the waitress nodded. Her eyes fell down 'J''s form.
The hacker was sitting on a phone book so that he could reach the laptop on the table.
"More orange juice, c-coming right up!" the waitress sashayed away.
'J' resumed typing. He whistled innocently to himself. His green eyes darted across the interior of the Denny's. When nobody was looking, he uncoiled a wire with a little blinking dish out from the laptop and pointed it directly through the wall beside the booth he was 'waiting' in.
Unknown to anyone else in the City, the little blonde hacker thusly connected a point blanc signal between himself and the computer matrix of a cable station just next door to the restaurant along the boulevard. After a bit of static, 'J''s laptop connected to the airwaves, pirated itself along three times as many satellite frequencies as normal, and zeroed in as a collective Whole on the Pompeii casino's infrastructure.
T-T-T-T-T-T-
FWOOOSH!
I teleported through an air pocket in a twenty-second story plate of glass window.
I tumbled across a utility closet, gasping for breath.
Ugh……always a rush.
I stood up. I shook the murking cobwebs out of my head. I swiftly headed for the hallway outside.
Creeeak!
I opened the door to the utility closet.
"Hiya!" Supergirl stood directly in front of me.
I jolted back, gasping mutely.
But I wasn't so much shocked at the sight of Kara staring me directly in the face….as I was shocked at the sound of her voice.
Why does she sound like?
'Supergirl' giggled, then flickered into nonexistence with a wave of light. In her place, the Messenger stood…brandishing a pair of watches. "Got your hopes up for a moment there, didn't I?"
I made a face.
The fudge?
"I got a little something for ya…," the Messenger tapped the topmost watch on his arm. It was ever so slightly less bulky than the one I always saw him wearing…for some reason. As he tapped the watch, a little light flickered and he once again turned into 'Supergirl'. "It's got enough juice for about a dozen hours. It'll cast life-like holograms from every angle…completely masking the person who wears it." A flash of light, and Supergirl again disappeared. The Messenger stripped the watch off him and juggled it one-handed. Smiling. "A little gift from….," his asian eyes wandered. "…a 'professor' back at home.'
Yeah. Whatever.
He tossed it at me.
"!" I nervously caught it.
"You might put it to good use," he pointed. "Though I warn you. If you think making yourself 'turn into' Batgirl for a moment would be ample revenge for what I just did, think again. You're a heck of a lot prettier than most chicks in this dimension anyways."
I smirked sarcastically. I stuck a tongue out at him.
"Hehehehe…I rest my case!"
Consider your case rested………ew…
I slipped the watch on my metal wrist. I tightened it and took a deep breath.
Kinda like Cyborg's trick.
Only, I don't see why I need it if I can cloak and stuff.
But……
Ce la vie.
I looked up at my friend.
I've long learned not to second-guess gifts from the Messenger.
"Well…now for your big date," he patted me on the shoulder. "Never go for Anderson's bra-strap on the first night. It doesn't go well, I swear to you."
Go to Hell.
"Heheh….I'll keep an eye out for you, Noir," he said. Stepping back. Fingering his trademark watch. "The other eye I'll have on Killer Croc. Considering he keeps his trunks on."
I nodded.
"I'd keep an eye out for him the most….although….," and his asian eyes squinted in serious expression. "…at this point, I wouldn't trust my own mother on this mission. You and these three punks you're 'working with'…..don't think for a second that the free-for-all has ended."
I nodded.
"No matter how much Mister-Denim with that spinning sword of his has flirted with you."
I frowned.
Hey!
"Hehehe. May the homophobia be with you, Luke!"
FLASH!
And he was gone in a green strobe.
I shook all over.
Next time, I'm going to wring your scrawny little……
A beat.
I sighed.
I walked out into the hallway.
Kill Anderson.
If anyone.
Kill.
Anderson.
Right.
Thank you, God.
And I made like the wind.
T-T-T-T-T-T-
DING!
Elevator doors opened to a lush waiting room.
I stared out…blinking.
Hull, Wildebeest, and Killer Croc stood at random spots in the red room.
They were all looking at me.
"You're late…," Killer Croc said with a half sneer. Ultimately, he smiled.
I simpered. I walked out nervously. Whistling to myself.
Hull stared at me as I passed by.
I sweatdropped and tried not to look at him. I subconsciously found myself standing conspicuously close to Wildebeest's strong side of all people.
With a knowing grunt, the huge ox didn't complain.
And thus….
Silence.
Silence….
Silence…….
Some infernal clock in the distance of the room ticked.
The air-conditioning was….well….off. It felt disgustingly warm in there.
Warm and humid.
Killer Croc was sweating like he was back in the swamp.
Wildebeest shifted from one leg to the next.
I nervously twiddled my flesh and metal thumbs.
Hull was still. Immaculate. He sat down on a chair. Not a bead of sweat on him.
"My only question is….," Killer Croc finally spoke, breaking the eerie silence. "….once the job is done. Who do I get to sink my teeth into first?"
Wildebeest's white eyes narrowed. But he didn't even grunt. He stood still with his arms crossed.
"Cuz….ya know…hehehehehresssh….," Killer Croc licked his lips. "In the end, only one of us is getting into that Vault….no matter how much we work together. It's all gonna come down to who impresses Mr. Sissy Boy in a Robe the most!"
"………….," I gazed at him for as long as my stomach could bear before I finally turned away with a groan.
Damn. He IS faking it.
I can see the Dragonflare in his eyes……
I wonder if Hull knows this?
Ironically, the blue-eyed stranger chose then to speak: "More than one of us will get inside the Vault."
Wildebeest glanced over. Squinting curiously.
Killer Croc hissed, his limbs flexing. "Hresssh…..and how do you know THAT!"
Hull looked boredly at Killer Croc. "I had sex with Steve Irwin last night."
A beat.
"……."
"……."
"……."
"Hrmph….," Wildebeest snorted. "Hrmmph-phh….." Again. "Hrmphhh hrmm hrmm hrmm hrmm!" And he was chuckling. It came out like a guttural cow sound.
And perhaps that's what prompted me to join in. Somewhere between the Hull's ridiculous line and Wildebeest's cackling, I too was snickering mutely.
Hull even had a slight curve to his lips as he stared Killer Croc's way.
"Nnnngh!" the mutated man from the South shook all over and bore his claws as he marched once or twice across the lush room. "What do you think this is! Some kind of joke—"
Creeeak!
Killer Croc froze. He spun around.
We all turned and looked.
Rexxin opened a pair of wide, oak doors at the end of the waiting room.
Jacob Anderson walked liquidly forth. A glass of champagne in one hand. A playboy robe in the other. He smiled drunkenly and cooed; "Welcome, gentlemen."
"……………," we all stared back.
He gestured richly: "So….shall we begin?"