Singing for His Supper

[Hellbound]

In truth, Hellbound didn't care if the Captain hated mutants or not. Everyone had their prejudices, even heroes. Just so long as this guy didn't cross the line and start gunning people down indiscriminately, he was okay in Hellbound's book.

"Usually I take taxis." Hellbound had to admit, though he wasn't proud of the fact.

He could always try to restart his old career of stealing cars, but... no, those days were behind him. Hellbound wasn't really in the mood to violate his parole or put another dent into his reputation. It looked like they were going to have to walk.

The sudden, dazzling display of teeth had Hellbound blinking for a couple of seconds before continuing. Now there was a sign of heroism. What kind of villain had teeth that clean?

"But I doubt we're getting one out here this time of night. Just remember, though, don't haul ass too fast. I [am] a smoker after all."

With that, the slightly toasty hero started heading back towards town with Captain Knievel at his side, completely unaware of the reputation that backed the otherwise heroic appearing man.

[quotemyname]

After a brisk walk back to the rest of the city, Hellbound and Captian Knievel did in fact manage to catch a cab. The cabbie happily took them all the way over to West Side. Apparently heroes rode free.

Captain Knievel stepped out of the cab and his steel toed boots clicked on the pavement. Satisfied, he took in his surroundings. "Hmm...Where to start where to start where to start?" Captain Knievel looked around. He was looking for a place in the area that would likely be protected by this 'mutant mafia'. He was looking for some kind of ... "Sandwitch shop! Perfect!" Captain Knievel pointed across the street towards the eatery as Hellbound stepped out of the car. "What do you think the odds are that if we... I mean I... start making trouble in that place, the mob shows up?" Captain Knievel turned to Hellbound with a smile.

[Hellbound]

Hellbound considered the business. It was relatively small but it seemed to be doing a brisk business. It was old and yet well kept, as if the owners took pride in their place and were making enough money for upkeep. It didn't seem to be the type that would easily relocate, as they probably had a good lease price locked in years ago.

They were too small to have much pull with the police, or at least that's what Hellbound assumed, That did actually sound like they were a good target for a protection racket. Just like with Morley's, it'd be cheaper for them to simply pay off the mob rather than deal with the consequences.

"Yeah, looks perfect." Hellbound agreed. "But remember, protection rackets are just a scam. The mob's not really selling them any kind of insurance. They're just forcing bribes out of the owners in exchange for not driving them out of business."

Hellbound started walking towards the business, a plan forming in his head.

"This would be easier if they actually knew how to get in touch with the mutants, but criminals don't really leave phone numbers laying around where their victims can reach them after hours.

"Let me do the talking. I'm the scruffy one, so I should play the role of underling. You're the professional looking one, so just stand around looking pretty for now. If they refuse to pay up, then you get to break stuff until they do."

That was the part of the plan which made him wince. Hellbound hated to do that to someone who was just trying to run their business and keep their lives fiscally well-off. Doing any sort of damage wasn't exactly helping them out, but if what they were trying would work then it'd all be worth it in the end.

Hopefully Hellbound would be able to put in for reimbursement through the Knights, otherwise he was about to have his salary docked for the next several decades.

[quotemyname]

Captain Knievel just plain could not believe it. This was possibly turning into the best day of his life! Well, besides the day he first decided to just start blowing stuff up.

So I am going to bet to beat the stuffing out of a bunch of mutants, and I am going to get to destroy somebody's place of business. Furthermore, I have gone to the effort of advertising it all to somebody else who is probably perfectly able to put a stop to me somehow, and he is still letting me go through with it! Captain Knievel could not take the huge radiant smile off of his face.

Yep! BEST. DAY. EVER! The Captain beemed as he walked.

Remember, we don't need to make him pay us... we just need to have a mob member chance by and see that we... I mean I (with my lackeys of course) are moving in on their turf. That way, they should try and stop us. Not because we are interrupting their racket, or because they care about this business, but because it would be bad for their rep.

BEST. DAY. EVER!

[Hellbound]

"Hrm..." Grumbled Hellbound as they entered the place. "I hate relying on luck. We could rip up half the block before the right person comes by to notice. I like the idea of a directed attack better."

He stopped at the entrance and took the place in with a long, menacing glance. There were a few customers here, still, but it shouldn't be difficult to chase them out. For now he wanted everyone to have the proper impression. Two people had just shown up, one of them looking like he was up to no good and the other an obvious super-powered... soemthing.

There was a silent pause while he studied the interior and prepared his approach.

[quotemyname]

"All right everybody! Listen up!" Captain Knievel shouted to everyone in the shop. He stood in the doorway in order to block anyone from getting away. He wanted as many people to see this as possible. The few patrons of the shop began to mumble in hushed whispers.

"QUIET!" The crowd instantly fell silent.

"It has come to the attention of my associate and I," Knievel began with a gesture to Hellbound, "that there is a group of thugs in town that think they own the West Side." Captain Knievel folded his arms and made himself as imposing as possible. Then, putting on his meanest face he continued, "The reality is, they do not in fact own the West Side. I do! Anyone who has any complaints on the subject may take it up with my associate." Another gesture.

"Starting immediately, I now own this business. I will of course be leasing it to the kind owners that you know and love," The Captain gestured to the employees behind the dome glass display window which held many assorted delicious looking meats. "They will of course be paying me for the privilege to operate in MY section of town. If they refuse, there will of course be trouble!" This last bit was met with more hushed whispers. This time, The Captain didn't mind. They would be talking about this for a while...

"You may tell the other thugs in town that Captain Knievel has moved in and is now taking over their business! If they wish they may contact me to discuss how they will turn over all of their property. Otherwise I will simply be taking all of it." Captain Knievel looked at Hellbound briefly, then began to move towards one of the patrons in the shop who was seated at a table.

"That will be all for now, and I thank you for you patience." Captain Knievel lifted the chair, customer and all into the air. He unceremoniously dumped the man onto the floor ("Aaahhhhh!") and then tossed the chair to Hellbound. Hellbound caught the chair easily. He now held a silver diner style chair with the type of plastic seat covering the is easy to wipe clean. "You may now leave, if you wish. Any of my new employees, however must stay."

"Alright," Captain Knievel said, looking at Hellbound and pointing towards the domed display counter, "Smash it!" A few of the customers scrambled out, including the man who had been dumped on the floor. Others stayed, most likely paralyzed by fear.

[Hellbound]

When the Captain made his first reference to Hellbound, the latter began picking at his teeth with a dirty fingernail. He certainly did look the thuggish type at the moment. He was covered with soot from the fire at Superslams and his clothes, already tattered, looked like something dug up from a fresh grave.

He would have preferred to hurl the chair through the front window, actually. For one it would have given everyone an easier egress, but also the window would be cheaper to replace than the display case.

But, unfortunately, people were already crowding to get out. Shattering the plate glass now might result in some lethal lacerations. So, instead, Hellbound deftly twisted and crushed the chair until it was a compact, metal-and-shattered-plastic ball. Tossing this lightly once or twice with his left hand, he swept it forward in a bowling motion.

The makeshift missile shattered not just the display dome, but also the counter backing it. His throw had been hard, indeed, and there was now a nice sized hole to accompany the broken glass of the case.

Inwardly, he was conflicted. It was fun to act like a hooligan once more, but he knew this was hardly the way a hero should act. Hopefully the dirt and grime from the night's previous activities would keep him from getting recognized.

Had there been any other sure way of drawing the Mutant Mafia out, he would have taken it. For now, though, there would have to be profuse apologies and insurance payoffs to be made later on.

"Hey, Cap'n." Hellbound spoke to his 'boss'. "You sure you wanna own this place? Looks a little run down. Look at the hole they got in their display case."

[quotemyname]

I KNEW IT! I am the only man I know that might be able to do that to a chair that size. Captain Knievel's eyes flashed as the thoughts began racing through his head. There is no way a man of his size would be able to do that without some sort of mutant powers. Looks like I have one more mutant I have to beat the snot out of now. Too bad I need to keep up this facsimile in order to draw the others out. Oh well, I'll just take care of Hellbound after I have seen to the destruction of this Mutant Mafia. If all works out well, I may come out of this owning West Side... The Captain was in a fine mood today...BEST. DAY. EVER!

"You sure are right!" The Captain enjoyed making a show of this, "They DO have a large hole in that display case. It doesn't matter though. I am sure the good natured employees that work in this shop will agree to have the repairs docked from their pay, as this 'accident' occurred while they were on the clock." Captain Knievel spoke with a satisfied grin on his face. He LOVED making life miserable for people. Especially when they were not willing to do anything about it!

"God forbid that we should have to return to this place of business to ensure that the proper repairs are made!" Captain Knievel craved more of this type of action. "Well that is all the information that we have for you folks today," Captain Knievel began to turn and leave the shop, "Come, my associate, I believe I saw a flower shop down the street. I believe I would like to send some flowers to my mother. We can also ask the managers about 'buying' their shop while we stop in. I enjoy being able to kill two birds with one stone."

[Hellbound]

"Not a bad idea, boss." Hellbound growled. "While we're there, we can look into sending this guy's mother some flowers."

The hero leveled a finger at what appeared to be a most frightened manager/owner.

"Cause if this guy don't pay, she's gonna need lots of 'em, you know what I mean?"

With that menacing line, Hellbound turned to follow the Captain outside. By god it felt good to be a bastard again. He just wished that he could have left a card behind or some sort of message that said everything would be okay. Unfortunately, that would have ruined the 'act' and, perhaps, tipped the Mutant Mafia off to what was really going on.

Coming out of the sandwich shop, they noticed a group of shadowy looking men hanging out in an opposing alley. One of the crew spotted Knievel and Hellbound making their way to the street and tapped the shoulder of another, vigorously.

As one, the half-seen group of people turned towards the devastating duo.

"Whoa." Hellbound couldn't believe their luck. "I think we got a bite already."

[quotemyname]

"Great!" Captain Knievel could not help but be excited, Knowing the thrashing he was about to deliver. He began strutting towards the street. He pressed a few buttons on his Adrenaline Cannon just to make sure everything was in working order. Satisfied, he shouted, "Hey you! Yea I'm talking to you! What are you looking at?"

Captain Knievel strutted confidently towards the street. With all of the panicked patrons of the sandwich shop fleeing behind him, he was quite the imposing sight.

[Hellbound]

The leader of the pack wasn't intimidated. These were the guys, after all. Someone was trying to move in on their turf and that wasn't a nice game to play. Especially with their top hierarchy out of business.

Tony 'BigHorn' was still laying low after getting sprung last night. He'd barely hit lockup before the mob had lawyers down there getting him back on the street. The same couldn't be said about the others, though.

Mr. Whipcord, Kid Sparks and the Brick Brothers were still doing their time, though. Not being family men like the two higher-ups, they didn't get all the advantages that came with full membership.

G.D. Badman, however, hadn't been seen since last night. Word had it that he'd been ordered out on a personal vendetta against the guy who put him into the hospital, but that was just a rumor. Simple soldiers like these guys weren't always told everything.

All they knew, at the moment, was that they needed to keep a close eye on their territory this weekend. With their membership weakened as it was, then it was a prime opportunity for others to move in. And it looked like that's just what was happening.

"Afterburner..." The apparent leader of the cut-down crew spoke to another member. "Load your face up and stick with me. Leapfrog, go get some high ground while Sewerfoot gets under the street.

"The rest of you, spread out and follow us."

With that, he stepped forwad for the confrontation with Knievel. As he did, dim light reflected off of the skin of the man known as The Mirror's Edge and his glass-like appearance was obvious to the mutant-hater and Hellbound, both.

[quotemyname]

"Whaddaya gonna do? Whistle 'West-Side Story' so we can have a dance contest?" Captain Knievel yelled at the man that appeared to be their supposed leader. "I don't think so!"

Captain Knievel stood up to his full height. The sunlight reflected off of his perfect muscles and created lens flares everywhere. "I'll tell you what. You all work for me now. As part of this new employment status, you are gonna tell me where I can find your old boss. If you refuse this new employment status, I'm gonna gonna make you WISH you were dead!"

[Hellbound]

A dark figure, the one who'd been called Leapfrog, crouched low with his hands crossed in front of himself. There was a moment of intense concentration on his face and then he lept upward. A pulse of energy seemed to move through his legs and into the ground as he launched himself towards a nearby wall where he landed, adhered and remained watching the battleground.

Sewerfoot's exit was a little less dramatic. He simply wavered in place, went transparently brown and splashed into a thick, liquid puddle that snaked its way into the sewer system. From there, all evidence of him was lost.

Afterburner followed his boss and let his head fall back on his neck, loosely. His eyes rolled back until whites were showing and he seemed to be drawing in a very, very deep breath. Strange parcels of his cheeks started to expand as if he were a chipmunk storing something other than nuts.

"You're a funny guy." The shiny, mirrored thug said. "As far as I know, I'm the boss in these parts."

That was, of course, a lie. Edge was only third in line in Tony B.'s crew, but it was a part of Omerta that a mobster never gave up the names or locations of their bosses. Even if it meant taking the heat themselves, it was a level of protection that was considered nearly sacred.

It would take a lot more than just asking in order to get that sort data out of the man.

Aside from those brave, criminal souls, three others hung back and awaited further orders. Just the ones who'd gone forward already had their opposition outnumbered. There wasn't any point in commiting all of their forces at once.

[quotemyname]

"Bull! If you were the boss here, you and your friends might actually know what you were doing in a fight!"

Without turning around, Captain Knievel threw his right arm up behind him. An iridescent yellow whip extended from the cannon on his arm. It lashed towards where Leapfrog was stuck to a wall. The whip lashed him, hard. Just as Leapfrog was yelping in pain, the whip wrapped itself around his leg. Captain Knievel jerked his arm downward, and the the whip began snaking back into the device on his arm. Unfortunately for Leapfrog that meant that he was going with it. Sailing straight downward, he proceeded in hitting his head on a few levels of the fire escape on the way down. Finally he crashed into the ground next to Captain Knievel.

"As it stands, it seems like you've got no clue." Captain Knievel planted his foot securely on Leapfrog's neck while still keeping him wrapped up with the whip. "Now tell me what I want to know before I do something else nasty to this guy."

[Hellbound]

The Mirror's Edge growled at the abuse of his man, but refused to back down nonetheless. Leapfrog wouldn't be getting up for a while, but he had more resources than just that at his disposal.

Snapping his glassy fingers together, he gestured for Afterburner to move in. That mutant finally released the gaseous payload that he'd been holding since the encounter began and a thick stream of noxious vapor poured out.

Hellbound move on this, quickly. Stepping between the mutant and Captain Knievel, he took the full blast to his shoulders and face, but didn't seem to notice anything odd. Even though his clothes smoldered and melted from his body, he plowed forward through the stream of acid, unhindered.

Upon reaching a very surprised Afterburner, he grinned and shot out one hand to smack the man across his face, both shutting his mouth and stunning him to the ground. A near explosion of the expelled gas erupted from his face as this happened.

[quotemyname]

"Right!" The Captain began, "Guess you're not ready to listen yet. I think you need some more incentive!"

Captian Knievel shifted his grip on Leapfrog. He moved so he was holding the unconscious mutant up by the leg with his left hand. "Firstly, I'm gonna blow his leg off!" Captain Knievel drew back his fist and struck the mutants knee with as much force as he could. At the same time, he activated the pressurized air blast setting of the Adrenaline Cannon to aid in his impromptu operation.

A second later, Captain Knievel was left holding the disembodied leg of the mutant. He tossed it unceremoniously onto the sidewalk behind him.

"Now that I've got your attention...If you don't listen, and don't tell me what I want to know, I'm gonna snap his neck! Trust me when I say that Whatever you're old boss could do to you, I can do worse! I mean business, gentleman! Now what is the word?"

[Hellbound]

That was a little harsh..., thought Hellbound.

Granted, he considered himself to be fairly hardcore and used to gratuitous violence, but even he wouldn't just blow someone's leg off like that. Especially given that the guy was so outmatched by Knievel, it just seemed like a blatant, cowardly act of brutality. The man was unconscious and at his mercy, did he really need to kill him?

Though he had to admit it made an impression on the other gangsters. The ones who'd been holding themselves back in reserve took that opportunity to run, leaving Edge and his closer associates hanging by themselves. Further, if Leapfrog had wanted to live a long and healthy life then he probably shouldn't have joined up with a criminal organization filled with superheroes.

It was just common sense. But that still didn't excuse the level of lethality. Hellbound would have to have a word with the Captain about that later.

The Mirror's Edge had bigger things to worry about, however. His forces were rapidly dwindling, far faster than he'd ever experienced before. Normally it was either Tony 'BigHorn' or G.D. Badman that led these missions, but with both of them out of the picture that meant he had to come up with something or lose face.

Afterburner was in trouble, being smacked around by Hellbound as he was, and Leapfrog was either dead or dying, it was difficult to say. The amount of blood that he was losing, combined with the shock of sudden leg amputation, didn't give him good odds. Even worse, should the mutant survive, all of his power was focused through his legs. Would even be able to function properly without one?

Suddenly the tables turned a bit in his favor. The punks behind him might have turned and ran, but Edge could see that his more reliable companions were still willing to fight. Even as Afterburner exhaled another stream of gas right in Hellbound's face (this time, the substance was thick, black and oily appearing), Sewerfoot flowed up out of a grating in the street to surround Knievel.

It was as if a living stream of pond scum had suddenly come to life and engulfed the villain. Sewerfoot first covered him from head to toe, but then concentrated his own mass on Knievel's head, trying to suffocate the life out of him. The liquid mutant was slimy, disgusting, hard to see through and impossible to breath through. The Captain found himself at a bit of a disadvantage, what with a glob of sewer drek enveloping his head and upper body.

"The word is... f'ck you!" The Mirror's Edge shouted as he charged at the Captain, ready to deliver some punishing blows of his own.

[quotemyname]

Captain Knievel lived for this stuff. He loved letting his impressions, emotions, and adrenaline run his system. He loved just running with whatever idea popped into his head. Luckily, or unluckily as the case may be, the new distraction created by Sewerfoot had caused him to forget all about Leapfrog which unfortunately meant that he was left to bleed on the ground.

The next idea that popped into Captain Knievel's head of course had to do with getting the slimy mutant off of him. Captain Knievel hated mutants, and regardless of the viscosity or material this mutant was made out of, having him crawl into his nose and mouth made Captain Knievel feel dirty. Dirtier than he ever had before. He wanted this guy out and he wanted him out fast. The horrible feeling this gave him was so overwhelming that he couldn't even think. And whats worse, he ... was ... PISSED! Now The Captain was a good wrestler, but he wasn't sure if he would be able to put a hold on something made out of water. The next best idea that popped into Knievel's head involved fire.

Kill it with fire!

He hit another button on his Adrenaline Cannon. He raised the end up towards his face. *FWOOOOSH* There was a sizzling sound as Sewerfoot himself began to boil. There was also another sound that was strangely like someone very far away screaming... A second later Sewerfoot retracted to somewhere equally as disgusting as himself.

Gasping for breath and blinking away the remnants of the most disgusting feeling he had ever had, Captain Knievel never noticed Mirrors Edge coming towards him.

*KRACK* Captain Knievel took a hit right on the nose. He stumbled back a few feet. Then shook off the hit and looked straight at Mirrors Edge. "Oh that is IT! Now you are gonna get it!"

[quotemyname]

"You sandbaggin' sonova *****!" Captain Knievel yelled, falling into a fighting stance. The Captain Charged his new opponent. Leaping into the air, he used the new attachments on the Adrenaline Cannon to deliver an electrified kneecap to Mirrors Edge's face. It seemed as though the energy from the electricity didn't do too much to him, but he sure as hell still felt the impact. His opponent shuddered for a second from the impact and then began to reel. But Captain Knievel was not done with him yet. He deftly landed after performing the aerial maneuver then rushed forward and grabbed mirrors edge by the scruff of the neck. "You are SO gonna get it now!"

Sewerfoot began to take form behind The Captain. His best tactic was engulfing people and drowning them. The Captain, however obviously had ways around that. Maybe if he managed to get the guy surprise...

Captain Knievel had noticed the slimy mutant trying to creep up behind him. He turned quickly and threw Mirrors edge at his own friend. The impact did little however except to scatter some of Sewerfoot's molecules. "Hopefully that one won't be coming back for a little while now..."

Mirror's Edge began to get to his feet, however.

[quotemyname]

The reflective mutant made a ready motion, throwing his hands down, two jagged crystal-like spears came jutting out of the backs of his hands. "I've got a couple tricks of my own. And I don't need any f***ing gadgets to help me!" Mirrors Edge rushed The Captain.

Captain Knievel somersaulted backwards away from the first straight shot. Finding his feet once more, The Captain began to duck and weave around slash after slash. Finally, Mirror threw another straight, Captain Knievel grabbed his arm after it flew past his face, just barely missing. Holding his arm stationary, Captain Knievel quickly planted two kneecaps into Mirrors' face. He then turned, and leveraged Mirrors' arm and flipped him. Throwing him to the ground.

A second later, Captain felt something wet and slimy bash him across the head, "Ahh!" and he went stumbling forward. This time he had not seen Sewerfoot come up behind him. This time it was the captain's turn the throw fire-punch after fire-punch. But Sewerfoot was determined to dodge every one of them. Many times he even opened up holes right in the middle of his body to let the searing jets of flame pass straight through him. "Stand still when I kill you, damnit!"

[quotemyname]

"Not a chance!" Came the gurgling response. Sewerfoot lashed out with a slimy tentacle at Captain Knievel's feet. The trip landed Captain Knievel squarely on his rear.

By this time, Mirror was getting to his feet as well. But he would have to wait, Captain Knievel needed to take care of the slimy one first. Sewerfoot made what The Captain could only guess to be a jumping motion in an attempt to land on top of him. Captain Knievel knew what would come next, and there was no way he was going to let that happen. At the last second, Knievel raised the Cannon, "Eat **** and die, mutant scum!"

There was a sound unmistakably like a scream, as the line of plasma shot straight up into the sky, and Sewerfoot was boiled alive inside it. As soon as the energy blast cleared, there was nothing left of the mutant except for the tiniest wisps of steam. "God, I hope he can't come back from that!"

Captain Knievel felt good, having disposed of one of his enemies. He did not however notice Mirrors Edge coming straight for him. A second later, Captain Knievel felt one of the sharp crystal shards pierce his armor and go straight into his chest. Thankfully it had missed his heart. "AUUGHHH!" Knievel screamed, "I am SO going to make you regret that!" Captain Knievel yelled as he grabbed hold of Mirrors' arm and pulled the shard out of himself "Arrrgghhhh!" another yelp of pain escaped his lips.

[quotemyname]

Captain Knievel threw Mirrors Edge off to the side and onto the pavement, then rolled over on top of him. "I'm gonna enjoy this!" Captain Knievel said, raising a fist. He began to pummel Mirrors Edge's face in.

"Stab me!" *WHACK* "Will you?!" *WHACK* "Gonna kill you!" *THWHACK* "For that!" *SMACK*

Finally Captain Knievel drew both hands above his head for a final strike. He interlocked his fingers, and brought them crashing down on Mirrors face. "YAAHHHH!" *CRACK* Captain Knievel could not tell what had broken. He could not even tell if the mutant was still alive. His simply rolled off of the man, tired and bleeding. Only then did he remember to look and see how Hellbound had been doing...

[Hellbound]

When the Captain looked over to where Hellbound had his own captive on the ground, the scruffy hero was slowly applauding. It'd been a good fight, one worthy of internet posting for sure and he hoped someone had managed to catch it.

He was sitting on Afterburner and it was clear that the minor-mutant was still alive. Regardless of whether The Mirror's Edge survived his own beating, they still had a prisoner to interrogate.

"Not bad." Hellbound commented. Particularly when Knievel had gotten himself skewered, and yet still refused to slow down, Hellbound was impressed.

"I think this punk's ready to talk now, huh?" He reached down and thwapped Afterburner on the side of the head. "Aint that right?"

The mutant mumbled something about, yes, he'd given up and was ready to tell them whatever they wanted to know.

[quotemyname]

Leapfrog was probably dead by now. Sewerfoot was almost surely dead. The Captain couldn't tell whether or not Mirrors Edge was still alive.

Yea, it had been a good fight.

"I'll leave that to you. You seem to know exactly what you're looking for better than I do."

Captain Knievel began to strip off his armor to see what the damage was.

[Hellbound]

"Ya' hear that?" Hellbound asked of the prone Afterburner. "He says you get to live for now, just in case you didn't hear him right. The others... well, they weren't so lucky. 'Decided that they didn't know who we were and thought they could play it tough.

"You're not a tough guy, though, are you?"

Afterburner's head was pressed against the street, with Hellbound still on his back, so it wasn't easy to understand his reply. The gist of it was that he'd given up and didn't want to die. Whatever they wanted to know, he was willing to spill.

"See? You aint so dumb. You're also not the one we're looking for. It's your boss we want. Some ghostly dude, like using guns on people. You know who we're talking about, right? Can't even touch him half the time?"

Afterburner got the idea of who they were looking for and started talking again. This time, Hellbound raised the guy's head off the ground far enough that they could understand him. Bloody, broken teeth decorated his mouth from mistreatment.

"G.D. Badman." He said. "That's what he calls himself. I don't know where he is right now, had to go do a job, he said."

Hellbound looked over at the captain and nodded. That 'job' was his burning down Superslams.

"So what then?" Hellbound returned his attention to the captive. "Where was he going after that?"

The reply referred to a meeting they were supposed to have later in the evening. Once the warehouse had been taken care of, they were supposed to get together and jump this guy outside of his apartment. Apparently he'd done the crew some damage and they were looking for payback.

Hellbound paled a bit at that. So they knew where he lived? They were planning on hitting his home in force? Luckily, there was a good chance they could now intercept that action, and even had seriously depleted the forces meant to be used in the process.

"Okay, then. Tell us where you punks were getting together. My boss over there is about to tell your boss who's really in charge. You remember that. Maybe if you survive, and you're smart about it, you can get a better position."