Malpractice watched Fenris and Moon Knight disappear into the darkness around the far side of the warehouse. He felt sweat trickle down his back and took a step away from Crucible. The guy was getting ready to mix it up and his ambient heat was approaching unbearable. It had already been quite a night. He saved Moon Knight’s buddy, Frenchie, back at the mansion. Poor bastard was just a regular guy and someone pinned a note to his chest with a stiletto. Happens all the time in the Maggia, but that shouldn’t happen to regular guys. A stiletto in the chest meant they had it coming. Stabbing Frenchie was a message, and the Maggia sent LOTS of messages but never to regular guys. Price of being close to a hero, he supposed.
They got to the warehouse sliding access door and opened it. Inside there was swirling mist and pulsating, disorienting light. Some odd shapes moved around inside the mist. He could tell they weren’t going to come out for a tussle in the clear night air. Malpractice cursed to himself. He was looking forward to a straight up fight.
Full moon, my ass! The mutant Malpractice peered through the side door of the warehouse at the mist and shifting lights inside. That twisted demon should be here… not me!
The demon Sabanion had given the lamest excuse ever: full moon. Sheesh, what a crock! He’s out with that sexy arab chick, probably doing things that regular people shouldn’t think about. Not sure how though. She looked like a desert lioness but felt like a cold breeze. He’d tried to give her a… friendly pat one time and his hand went right through her. She gave him a look that he’ll never forget and he blacked out listening to that demon’s crackling laugh. He woke up on his belly, naked and covered in California tuna rolls at a nyotaimori. He still couldn’t get the smell of wasabi out of his nose. Aneksi and Sabanion… what a pair of creeps! Still though, there had been some women there and he got a phone number from the Spicy Shrimp Roll Girl.
Crucible strode through the door and into the mist. Soon he was cursing and swinging at what looked like big thugs in suits, the mist hissing around him. Malpractive squinted at the pulsating lights and tried to find another target in the mist. There was something else here, he felt it.
Malpractice peered through the areas the mist was thin enough to see and watched his teammate, Crucible, fight with numerous well-dressed assailants. Red-skinned, tusks and slicked back blue hair. They looked like something he’d seen on a wall painting at the China Buffet, only dressed in black Armani and carrying naginatas. He wondered if they were his size.
He watched Crucible’s frustration increase as he swung savagely, spitting curses and molten steel. Malpractice focused and tried to knock them for a loop, send them reeling by tweaking their neural balance and equilibrium. It always worked and it was always fun. Get them loopy and let the bruisers mop them up. Worked every time! Maybe his luck was bad or maybe the stylish, roaring Oni were just completely badass because they kept going. So did Crucible. He couldn’t touch them and they didn’t put a mark on him. Despite all the noise and all the fighting, nothing seemed to be happening. Malpractice knew there was at least a captain here running these guys, he stepped into the mist.
He rounded on the melee with the Oni and Crucible, trying to hit them with his vertigo attack again. Still no luck. The pulsating strobe lights flickered and glared against the mist, yet he could barely see 10 feet in front of him. Crucible let out a roar of frustration. Malpractice winced. That’s just the sound he makes before he burns a building down, he thought. The walls and ceiling started to flicker with burning flames. Crucible was still swinging wildly when he saw Malpractice, lit up by the fires that surrounded them. Crucible fixed him with a look of sheer hatred and he started hissing his way through the thick mist.
“What the hell?” Malpractice said. What’d he do to deserve this? He steeled himself to hit Crucible with a vertigo attack when another shape pounced from the shadows. A gleaming steel katana wisked through the air held by a lithe female shape in the darkness. It cut sharply enough to be surgical steel. Malpractice stagged back and looked for cover. The shadowy attacker advanced and readied her blade for another strike.
An aperature of pale light coming from the ceiling caught his eye and and Malpractice made out the shapes of Fenris and Moon Knight. They jumped through the ceiling window onto the crates below and the shadowy attacker went to meet them.
Oh thank God, Malpractice thought, my luck is finally… A wave a heat hit him and he gasped. His lungs began to burn and he felt like he’d been sent to some desert… in Hell. He staggered back to a stack of crates, trying to escape the airless heat. A furious Crucible stepped forward and drew a deep breath.
Nope, not my lucky day. I gotta deal with Crucible gone haywire and the demon, the FIRE-RESISTANT demon, is on a moonlight date. Can it get much worse? I’m gonna fry and I bet my Spicy Shrimp Roll Girl is Mystique. Yup, that would cap this all off. Sabanion, that motherfu-
Waves of flame seared him into unconsciousness and he fell to the warehouse floor.
(published June 23, 2014)
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