This story is set in the Ultimate Amalgam Universe, which you can read more about here.
***
"You’re getting all of this, right?" Selina LeBeau hushed softly into her invisible mouthpiece. The microphone was attached to the side of the hood of her jet black catsuit, sensitive enough to pick up her whisper clearly without giving away her location. This proved vitally important as she creeped along the rafters of the Roosevelt Hotel, looking down at the historic grand ballroom, the tails of her long coat spilling down slightly. Tall Romanesque columns were scattered across the room, marble and gold the decor. It was a bit gaudy, but it had stood for generations and thus prestigious. The ballroom was nearly empty save for a trio of thugs in cheap suits at a table near the center of the room, playing cards and generally keeping their chatter to a minimum. Selina had received a tip that their colorful employer was rumored to have rented out the ballroom for a private meeting.
And if her sources were accurate, Selina had a very important question to ask their boss, which was precisely why she was lurking there in the first place.
“Still establishing an uplink now with all your systems,” a very cranky voice sighed into Selina’s right ear, punctuated by a long draw of coffee. “Honestly, Sel, if you would just let me update your equipment with some chips with up-to-date LTE technology, we wouldn’t have this little routine every time. In fact, I have a few other updates that would really streamline the whole-”
“Hush Kitty, here he comes,” Selina said as the door of the ballrooms burst open. A steady stream of more goons, nearly three dozen, poured into the room, before their boss marched in behind. Waylon Conners, esteemed biologist turned ruthless criminal after one too many genetic experiments performed on himself. His massive frame had swollen out to become a eight foot tall lizard-human hybrid, and as seemed to always be the case in ‘Nawlens, the transformation had warped his brain towards the violent and criminal. He had started to establish a serious gang in the area, muscling his way to the top by effort of sheer force of will. Those that crossed him or his hired guns had a nasty habit of being fished out of the port by the Coast Guard, more often than not missing major limbs. Soon enough, people got the message: Conners wasn't to be taken lightly. It was how he had earned the nickname Killer Lizard. Taking on the legendary Thieves Legion, the oldest organized crime syndicate in the city, was just Killer Lizards latest show of power. One that had not gone unnoticed.
Unfortunately for Conners, Selina wasn't the type to scare off easily.
“You do realize they can’t hear me, right?” said a bemused Kitty.
“No, but I can, and you’re a horrible distraction hun, so shh,” Selina quipped back. That was enough to get the woman on the other end of the private short-wave line to fall silent after a brief snort. Katherine “Kitty” Gordon was very good at creating lovely toys and hacking into seemingly secure computer servers, but when it came to assisting a stake out? The hacker better known as “Logos” left a lot to be desired.
The meeting far below began to establish itself in earnest. As the massive crime boss made himself comfortable, his reptilian gaze glancing around the room at the collection of mooks, a nervous lieutenant stepped forward and offered a small smile.
“I hope you have good news for me, Teroux,” the massive beast-man growled. His forked tongue flashed as he spoke, his local creole accent weighing down every word.
“Don't you worry about it boss,” the crook said evenly. “But I am happy to report that we scooped that big score out from beneath the Thieves Legion.” A cheer rose from the rest of the crooks, quickly killed with a loud, menacing growl from Conners throat.
Selina grimaced at the mention of the haul. Mysterious diamonds, known as the Heart of the Eclipse, had found their way into Orleans over the past few months and the Thieves Legion had been able to confirm the location of a newly arrived haul. The actual material that formed the black diamonds were unknown, but whoever was smuggling them in clearly was willing to pay top dollar to keep them very quiet. It was near impossible to keep any contraband coming in or out of the city without the Legion at least knowing about; the fact that Conner's gang learned about this too left a bad taste in Selina's mouth, as well as the way that diamonds had disappeared since. If Conners had connections that were cutting him in on the action, he was a more serious threat to the Legion than she liked to admit.
“And did you boys shake off the Card Cat?” Conners finally asked, his voice still a low growling drawl. The question raised a nervous round of speculation from the crowd gathered. Selina grinned as she heard
“Sounds like my cue, you got that uplink working yet?” Selina asked as she got to her feet, adjusting the bright red goggles that covered her eyes.
“One more second, annnnd...we’re good to go. But...holy crap, is that who I think it is?” Kitty asked, sudden nervousness clear in her tone.
“In the scaly flesh,” Selina said before stepping out of her perch and quickly falling. As she fell, she pulled out her weapon of choice: a collapsible bow-staff that she held firmly at her side. Her descent didn’t go unnoticed, as several members of the gang looked up when they heard a slight creak from the rafters, only to see a familiar black-clad figure fall towards them. Those unlucky enough to be near her when she landed were quickly taken care of: first the one that broke her fall, followed by the two nearby thugs that received a swift strike of her staff to the temple. Even as a fourth attempted to pull a gun, a chair was caught by the momentum of a bo-strike and hurtled towards the offending party. The flurry of action shocked most who witnessed. Just how Selina liked it, as she flashed a wide grin at the man of the hour.
“Hey there, Killer Lizard. Guess you could say my ears were burning up, so thought I’d drop by. Sorry to break up your little party, but I take it personally when people steal what is rightfully mine to steal.”
Killer Lizard didn’t say a word, instead giving a loud snarl and raising his fist high in the air before slamming it down onto the table between him and the infamous thief among thieves. “GET ‘ER!”
The next few moments were an explosion of action, as various gang members rushed at the unwelcome intruder. Most were smart enough to not fire off their heat; those that did so learned why that wasn't wise as they ended up tagging their own fellow gang members in the crossfire
"You ever considered not jumping into giant fights?" Kitty asked into Selina's ear.
"Hey, if I wanted to play it safe, I would find a new line of work," Selina responded defensively while clearing the room, jumping from thug to thug to whap them forcefully against their temple. “Maybe art dealing. Oooo, or a pet store!”
"Sadly, I think we both know you're too addicted to actually give this up," Kitty countered, taking an audible sip of her coffee. "Two goons behind you, bee tee dubs," she added. The thermo-visual display that was wired in Selina’s suit allowed Kitty to get a fuller vision of what surrounded the famed thief. One of the many high-tech tools that she had developed for New Orleans’ most infamous vigilante.
"Merci," Selina said as she swung her bow behind her, perfectly timing the strike to take down two more goons. "Anything else of note?"
"Nothing major," Kitty said nonchalantly. "Oh, other than your big bad lizardman getting way. Again, no biggie."
Selina whipped her head around in time to discover that Killer Lizard indeed had begun rushing towards the main doorway of the building. She frowned, realizing that only he would be sure to have the information she needed. These mooks were clearly uninformed by design; the more a man knows, the more dangerous he is. But the ballroom was too vast for her to make it across in time to stop him, especially with the handful of thugs left. She would have to go to her last resort.
She would have to use the cards.
She could hardly remember when she started using the cards. She had memories of learning sleight of hand tricks from her adoptive father, her adolescence spent with the easy con of 3-card-monty and rudimentary card tricks. And when her mutant ability to charge objects first manifested, it wasn't hard to figure out what she would use more often than not.
She flicked her wrist, the motorized card dispenser in the sleeve of her trenchcoat shooting out a brand new four of hearts. In a matter of seconds, the once benign playing card became a live grenade as it was charged and tossed across the room, the newly formed kinetic energy propelling it further than her toss would have by itself.
Once the card hit the far wall of the ballroom, it almost immediately exploded, causing the century old wall to crumble and block the chosen path of the Killer Lizard. Selina flicked her wrist and charged up another card, holding at the ready as the reptilian mobster glared at her.
"You got a lotta nerve coming here," he snapped at her.
"Oh please," Selina groaned. "You asked for it the moment you crossed paths with the Legion. You thought I wouldn't notice you suddenly hitting a big score and not try to put you back in your place? Not even trying to pay your dues, in this town? I know you're still new at this, but you can't be that thick-headed."
Conners grew more agitated, snapping his jaws as his tail waved menacingly behind him slowly. He clearly wanted to retaliate but for the moment was kept at bay with the threat of the charged card. "So what now, you want the diamonds? Well sorry, but they're already off to..."
"Wow, you really are that thick," Selina interrupted with a chiding edge to her voice. "I may have lost the score, but that's business too. If we wanted what you took, you better believe that we would already have it." She grinned while Lizard tried his most menacing growl, merely holding up her card to cause him to fall silent again. "There will be other shipments of the diamond, but right now I need to know who I can trust." She slowly started to make her way towards Conners, the card still held as a bargaining chip. "So go ahead and tell me who coughed up on the diamonds, and we'll be done here."
Killer Lizard slowly blinked his large dark yellow eyes, looking genuinely surprised. "You mean...you didn't know?" he says, his long mouth curling into a sinister snarl of a grin before he threw his head back for a hearty laugh. "Oh that is too good. Betrayed by your own boy toy and don't even realize it."
Selina's own confident smile faded as she hears those words. "What are you talking about?" she asked flatly, the swaggering confidence in her voice dulled.
Conners laugh roared even louder, the sound a disgusting croaking chortle. "You really don't know? Wow, so rich. Okay cher, try this one on for size: I got my information from none other than the Red Rogue."
***
As Gregory Stevens came to, the first thing he noticed was the mangy-looking rat crawling across his leg. Startled, he attempted to kick it away only to discover his feet had been bound to a chair. The force of his attempt to kick was enough to shoo the rat away, running off into darkness of the shadows. Only then did Stevens take in his surroundings: one of the warehouses holding ancient, abandoned Mardi Gras floats. Giant clown heads towered over him, the paper mache skin peeling off. He started to crane his neck around, his arms also bound to the chair as he quickly felt himself start to panic.
“Hello? Who is there?” he shouted, unable to slip out of his bounds easily. “Listen, I don’t know who you think I am, but I am just a dock worker, no one special.”
“Oh don’t say that,” a Southern-tinged calls out from behind, followed by heavy footsteps. Soon enough a man stepped into Stevens’ field of view, dressed in black and red leather motorcycle leathers. His hair was stark black, save for a strip of white down the center of his hair. His eyes were covered by a simple red mask, but Steven didn’t imagine he’d recognize him even if he wasn’t wearing it.
“What? No. I-I really don’t know anything. Honest,” Stevens tried to argue, stopping his struggling. As he looked on, her noticed the sidearm that seemed to be hanging at the man’s side. “You gotta belive me. I ain’t go no money, or--or anything.”
The masked man simply sighed, rubbing his forehead with one hand as he reached into a pocket with his free hand. “Now you’re just lying to me. How are we supposed to become friends?” he said, his pocketed hand re-emerging with a cell phone in hand. Stevens’ cell phone. A few swipes later, and he sees a screen filled with his bank account information. And the sizeable deposit recently made to it. “Now I’m no expert, but in my experience? Someone who is working menial jobs don’t typically make deposits with that many zeroes. Unless they’re hiding something. So I guess the question is, what exactly are you hiding?”
Steven sputtered in disbelief for several seconds, his eyes constantly flickering to the gun that the man had holstered to his side. He muttered something before speaking more loudly, “I’m sorry, but they told me if I told anyone what I knew, they’d kill me. I...I can’t…”
The man actually smiled at that, putting the cell phone away to one side before bending down. “Of course you can’t,” he says evenly before reaching over to remove one of his gloves. “I just wanted to give you a chance to tell me yourself, because honestly? I really don’t like this part.”
Before Stevens could protest further, the man in red reached out with a bare hand and pressed it to his cheek. And in that moment his eyes grew wide, and everything seemed to fade. Visibly, audible, everything became softer, brighter, as if the world was going out of focus. He tried to speak, but couldn’t, the sensation similar to being trapped underwater. Eventually his eyes rolled backwards and he passed out, his body going limp in his chair.
As soon as Stevens passed out, the man in red pulled his hand back, stumbling several steps backwards as his mind rushed with new information. As always it was a jumble, hard to parse out what was recent and relevant. He wasn’t lying; he honestly hated doing this, sucking the information literally out of someone’s head into his own. But he also knew it was often the most direct way to get the truth, and in his business the truth was a valuable commodity.
Closing his eyes and controlling his breathing, the new flood of memories eventually sorted themselves out. Absorbed from the simple touch to Stevens’ face, he had to separate out which memories were new, foreign, not his own and search for context. It was sometimes easier than others, but eventually a narrative formed itself before him. And a terrible secret.
Opening his eyes again, the man was off in a shot, pulling his black gloves back on as he moved. Part of him thought about warning Selina, but he knew that road led to complications.
With Selina LeBeau, things always seemed to get complicated. Fast. And right now, the Red Rogue needed to keep things closer to the vest.
TO BE CONTINUED...
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