"Ace Copular to the office, Ace Copular to the office," Melinda's voice called over the intercom.
Ace looked at the clock against the wall, and was surprised to see that it was already an hour past the time he was scheduled for lunch.
Shit, I guess time really flies when the devil takes you on a journey through memory lane.
He sighed, and made his way over to the office. Melinda would no doubt read him the riot act for making her wait; she wasn't a patient woman in the best of circumstances, but especially not when she was feeling hot and bothered.
Admittedly, when Melinda first showed interest in him during his job interview, he was flattered. She wasn't a bad looking woman by any means; she had a great rack, legs that went on for days, and wavy dark hair that almost made her look like a pinup model. And as he found out later, she was what one might call, passionate, in the bedroom.
But over the years, his times with her felt more and more like a chore. She was high maintenance, criticizing everything he did both in the bedroom and out. She never passed up an opportunity to remind him how dependent he was on her good graces, whether in a passive aggressive way (You're so lucky I decided to take a chance on you) or aggressive aggressive (Who the hell do you think you are?! You'd be nothing without me!) They fought as often as they fucked, and every visit left Ace wondering if he'd be told he was the only man she ever loved, or a piece of shit that should go back to the city dump.
But, for all of her many flaws, she had also saved his ass more times than he could count, no matter if they were on good terms or bad.
"Hey Mels, sorry, I lost track of time-"
Ace stopped when he saw that it was not just Melinda waiting for him, but Larry as well.
Larry, both Melinda's husband and the owner of the store, looked back at him stoically while she looked miserable.
"Ace, thank you for taking the time to see us. Please, sit down."
Cautiously, Ace took a seat opposite of the couple. A feeling of dread washed over him.
"So, what do I owe the pleasure?" he said, trying to sound casual. "Am I getting a promotion or somethin?"
Wordlessly, Larry turned towards the TV in the corner of the room, and turned it on with the remote.
On the screen appeared the same blonde reporter Ace had seen interviewing the Powerpuff Girls the previous night, along with the woman he checked out yesterday with her kids.
Shit, this was bad. Really, really bad.
"So, let me get this straight," the reporter started off. "You went to Super Savings with your family yesterday, a store that explicitly relies on the Powerpuff Girls' good name to pull in customers, and your children were threatened by a former convict?"
"Yes, that's right Mrs. Carlson," the woman said. She pulled her children close to her."Sarah and Jake recognized one of the cashiers from their commercials. I asked them about it later and apparently he used to be a gang member who the girls repeatedly fought against. How any company that claims to support the Powerpuff Girls could hire a dangerous criminal in a place where children go is beyond me."
"That must've been terrifying," she patted the woman's arm sympathetically. "What was the name of this dangerous individual?"
"Ace Copular," she said. "His name is Ace Copular. They even hired another one of his green friends, another gangster. He goes by Snake, but his real name is Sanford Ingleberry."
Ace watched helplessly as both his and Snake's old mugshots flashed on the screen.
"If you could say one thing to the owner of Super Savings, what would it be?"
The woman looked directly at the camera, her face curled up in righteous indignation. "First, I want Ace and Sanford fired. I want them banned from the store premises permanently, then I would like a formal apology and a promise that there will be thorough background checks for any current and future employees."
Larry turned off the TV, and turned to face the former gangster.
"Let me make one thing clear," he started. "I'm not about to let you, or Snake, or anyone else ruin the business I worked my tail off to build up from nothing. I have given you chance after chance; I looked the other way when you'd come in late or leave early. I let you off with a warning whenever I'd catch you slacking off. Melinda convinced me having two Gangreen Gang members employed here would bring in customers, and that's the only reason why I agreed to hire you. Otherwise, I would've thrown you and your friend's applications in the trash the moment I got them. Looking back, that's exactly what I should've done in the first place. "
"Larry, come on-"
"It pains me to do this, mostly because Snake has been a hard worker from the beginning and I hate dumping him out in the cold. But business is business," Larry took a breath.
"Ace, you and Snake are fired, effective immediately. Now if you would, please send him in so I can tell him in person. He's owed that much. Then get your things and leave."
"Larry," Ace said. He felt his mouth go dry. He turned toward Melinda and shot her a pleading look.
"Larry is right," Melinda said. She avoided eye contact. "I can't get you out of this one Ace, our business is on the line. I hope you and your friend are able to find something else."
All of the sudden, rage filled through Ace. After all those nights, all the times she told him she loved him, all the times he had to put up with her ranting about how her husband barely looks at her anymore but god forbid he even mentioned another woman in passing-
"You want to play it like that? Fine." Ace turned toward Larry and looked him straight in the eye.
"I fucked your wife. I've been fucking her every weekend since I started here six years ago. I came into this office today, expecting that she wanted me to fuck her. You think she cares about this shithole? About you? The reason she hired me was because she wanted to fuck me."
"Excuse me?"
"Ace! What the hell?!"
"Is this true?"
"Larry-"
"Answer me, Melinda!"
As the couple continued to argue after the atomic bomb Ace had dropped, he stormed out of the office.
"Ace?" He heard Tommy behind him. "What the hell happened?"
But Ace ignored him, making a beeline straight towards Snake's register.
"Ace? What's wrong?" he asked when he saw the former gang leader.
"We've been canned."
"What?!" Snake cried. "What do you mean? Both of us?"
"I'll explain on the way home."
"What the hell did you do-"
"I said I'll explain on the way home!" Ace snapped. "Now, go grab your stuff. I'll meet you outside."
Snake looked at the customer he was checking out, and then back at Ace desperately.
"What are we gonna do?"
For that, Ace didn't have an answer.
"I can't believe this," Snake said. He was pacing back and forth in the living room. As soon as they got home, he and Snake called an emergency meeting with Arturo and Billy. "I told you something like this was bound to happen! This is all because you can't keep your stupid temper in check!"
"We'll figure something out, alright?" Ace said. "We've done it before, we can do it again."
"How?! No one is going to hire us after this!" Snake cried. "We can't survive off of Arturo's income alone. Especially since we're already so behind on rent." He stopped and closed his eyes in thought.
"Are you sure we can't get our jobs back? You and Melinda have a thing; maybe you could, I don't know, persuade her-"
"Nice to know you're willing to whore me out for a job," Ace said sarcastically. "But no. Trust me, that ship has sailed. Hell, it hit an iceberg and sank to the bottom of the ocean, the remains never to be found. I could go back on my hands and knees begging and it wouldn't make a damn bit of difference."
"Maybe I could get you jobs at Si Senorita," Arturo suggested. "We're always understaffed and could use a few more waiters. Antonio is pretty chill; I bet I could talk to him."
"That… that could actually work," Snake said. He continued to pace around in thought, growing excited. "When are you working next?"
"Tomorrow, from 5 to 11."
"Do you think you could talk to him then?"
"Sure," Arturo said. "We're pretty busy for the first couple hours, but after that I bet I could sneak the idea past him."
"Thank you Arturo, that would be a huge help," Snake breathed. The tension in his shoulders started to relax. "Ace, do you have anything to say?"
"Yeah little buddy, that would be great. Thanks," Ace said, forcing a smile. In turn, Arturo grinned.
"This is gonna be great, guys! Us three, working together. Plus as waiters, you'll get tips. And there are plenty of hot senoritas that come into Si Senorita, if you know what I mean," Arturo winked at Ace.
"Yeah," Ace said. "Sounds great." Silently, he ran his hand over the outline of the vial HIM gave him in his pocket.
"Hey man, can I talk to you for a sec?"
Antonio, the manager at Si Senorita, looked up from his paperwork and turned to look at Arturo standing outside of the office.
"Hey, my favorite chef!" he grinned. "Of course, come in!"
Arturo walked into the office and took a seat. He felt his leg begin to shake and forced himself to stop.
"Is something the matter?"
"No, no! It's just that," Arturo began. "I know we recently had a few guys quit, and customers are always complaining that it's taking too long for them to get their food because we're so understaffed. I know a couple guys who are looking for jobs and I thought-"
"These guys you know wouldn't happen to be your friends Ace and Snake, would they?"
"Maybe," Arturo admitted. "They're real hard workers, and having two extra guys would really help us out."
Antonio sighed. "Arturo," he started. "Have you seen the news lately?"
"I know they made a mistake," he said. "But they're solid! It was just a one time thing that got out of hand. They were at their last job for almost six years, so they have plenty of customer service experience."
"I know," Antonio said. "And believe me, I'd love to help out you and your friends. But hiring them would only drive customers away. Business has already been slow lately; I don't want to deal with a potential city wide boycott."
Arturo sighed. He didn't want to have to beg.
"Please, Toni. We're desperate. I'm desperate. I'm already spread thin helping out with the bills, keeping money on my papi's books while he's in the slammer, and sending home anything extra to Mami and the girls. Even if I worked seven days a week, I can't carry the entire gang too."
"I knew your papi," Antonio said sadly. "No matter what he got involved in, he was a good man. It's a shame how things went down. He didn't deserve it."
"So you'll help?" Arturo asked. He widened his eyes hopefully.
Antonio looked at him for a minute before sighing in defeat. "Okay," he said. "But I can't hire them as waiters, or anything else where they'd be dealing with the customers. Do they know how to cook?"
"Yes?"
Antonio gave him a pointed look.
"Okay, no. At least nothing more complicated than using a microwave. But I could teach them; they're both quick learners!"
"I'm afraid that would still take too long and spread us thin, you'd have to do their jobs along with your own until they learned. But," he said. "We could use a couple more dishwashers. Colin is planning on going back to school soon."
"Dishwashers?" Arturo asked. He knew immediately that Ace wouldn't be happy. Anything to do with cleaning was his worst nightmare.
But, in desperate times…
"Thanks Toni, that would be great," Arturo forced a smile. "I'll tell the guys the good news as soon as I get home."
He went back to work, trying not to worry about Ace being disappointed in him for not being able to get him anything better.
Ace tossed the vial back and forth between each hand as he sat on his bed. Again, HIM's words rang through his head.
"You could do whatever you want, take whatever you want, and no one would be able to stop you. And as the one who took down the infamous Powerpuff Girls? You'd be royalty."
And even, as much as he hated to admit it:
"Who knows, maybe even Sedusa will want a piece of it."
He wished he could say he didn't think about her anymore. That it was just a teenage crush, one he got over within a couple days after playing arcade games at the minimart with his boys. He didn't want to think of her.
God knows she wasn't thinking about him.
He never thought of himself to be the type of guy to fall in love. Sure, he could appreciate an attractive woman as well as anyone, but Sedusa was something else entirely.
She listened to him, she sat there and held him as he got drunk and cried, telling her things he had never told another human being. He told her about his mother, and what happened to her. He told her about his time as a foster kid, and showed her the scars that would never heal. And in turn, she showed him hers.
"This one was from my husband," she said as she pointed at what looked like fingernail marks above her left breast.
"And this was from my father," she gestured toward what looked like a cigarette burn on her thigh.
"I'll kill them," Ace said without a moment's hesitation. "I'll swipe a gun from some place, and I'll shoot them both dead. I don't care if the cops lock me in the slammer and throw away the key. I swear to god, I'll kill them."
"You're sweet," she said, kissing him on the temple. "But I already took care of it."
Even now, Ace didn't know if she was telling the truth or if those stories were just another one of her lies.
"Hey, Ace?"
At the sound of Arturo's voice, Ace was pulled away from his thoughts. He quickly shoved the vial back in his pocket. "Yeah, come in."
Wordlessly, Arturo walked into Ace's room, and gave him a nervous smile.
"We're you about to go to bed? I didn't mean to bother you, we could talk tomorrow-"
"It's fine little buddy, I'm wide awake," he said. "Did you talk to your boss?"
"Yeah, I did."
"So, what did he say?"
"Well, he does want to hire you and Snake…"
"But… ?" Ace raised an eyebrow.
"He wants to hire you as dishwashers."
"Arturo!" Ace yelled. "You said he was looking for waiters!"
"Well, he is, but with everything going on in the news, he wants you doing something less out in the open."
Ace sighed. "Unbelievable."
"It's still something, though!" Arturo defended. He walked closer towards Ace. "Something is better than nothing. At least now we don't have to worry about money, at least not anymore than we usually do. And maybe once things die down a bit, he'll be willing to give you something else."
Ace once again rested his hand over his pocket. Silently, he walked past Arturo and shut the door.
"Arturo, can you keep a secret?"
