Dial H for Heroics

Josie walked beside Jack. One push of a button and ten to fifteen more enemies would be gone. They were surrounded by people who didn’t know what was going on, or didn’t care.

Did she want to kill all of them too?

She decided that it wasn’t worth it. She could hunt all these people down later. Some of them might already be living with women who wanted to kill them, but just didn’t have the chance yet.

She had a more important concern at the moment. She had to deal with the errant boyfriend.

“How much does he owe you, Mister Guin?,” she asked.

“Between seventy five to hundred gold pieces,” said Guin. “He earned some of it back with his winnings before Mister Pear started having words with him.”

“Can you afford to lose the money?,” Josie asked.

“I can if I make an example of him,” said Guin. “It’s a pain to hunt down people who don’t want to pay what they owe. Soon everyone thinks that they can just skip on what they owe. Then I have to do something harsh to the next one I catch trying to welsh.”

“Never mistake kindness for mercy,” Jack said.

“Not quite exactly right, but close enough,” said Guin. He waved at one of his men to open the other office.

Josie knew paperwork didn’t get done in the little room unless it was the medieval equivalent of a phone book being used on someone’s face.

“How’s it going, Evan?,” said Jack. “You lucked out and we found Natalie on the first try.”

“What we are here to talk about is your future,” said Guin. “You still owe me a lot of money, and this lady needs to kill you to fulfil her vow.”

“Pay Mister Guin the money, Jack,” said Josie. It was useless to torture the man any further. He didn’t have the money, and he never would no matter how hard he tried.

“I don’t see why we have to pay the money,” grumbled Jack. He searched his pockets for gold coins. “I’m broke.”

“Mister Guin doesn’t want to eat the cost of this loser, or what we made Linus do earlier,” said Josie. “Yes, we made him loan resources to charity and it makes him look good, but he’s a godfather. He doesn’t want to look good and blow his cover. So pay him the money, even if it’s just to cover the operating expenses we ran up.”

“What do you think, Mister Guin?,” said Jack. “Will fifty gold cover what we used up tonight?”

“I will forgo the rest since you have shown you can do what you say, and your word has been good so far,” said Guin.

“I’ll be right back,” said Jack. He switched to Makkari and vanished out of the room. He returned in a few minutes. “Here you go. Fifty gold.”

Mister Guin took the money and handed it to Charles. The money would be added in to the take from the night after everything was said and done.

“I think you should all leave,” said Josie. “You don’t want to see what’s about to happen.”

“You heard her, guys,” said Jack. He gestured for the men to leave the room. “We can look at things when she’s done.”

“I would like to know what you plan to do,” said Mister Guin.

“He’s getting executed,” said Josie. “Then I have to think how many I can seize from the casino floor.”

“Only Evan Fros,” said Mister Guin. “The rest will have to be hunted down in their own time away from the casino.”

“We do need people we can farm the parts of the job we can’t do on,” said Jack. “We could never help the women we rescued without Guin’s people.”

“All right,” said Josie. She looked at the casino floor. Some of the people must have felt the edge of her gaze. They looked back at her, but didn’t understand why she was glaring at them. “Let’s get this over with so I can get ready for tomorrow.”

She switched to the Vampire, changing her appearance to a woman with long red hair, and flimsy dress. Red eyes and fangs made Guin draw back. Jack pulled him back out of reach.

She touched the boyfriend’s face with her hand. He slowly came apart as red light flowed out of him and into her. Bones and a suit of clothes fell to the floor around the chair.

“I’m going to leave the clean up to you,” said Josie. She switched back. “It’s up to you if you want to warn these idiots. They might not have heard the message that went out. I guess you stand to make money when they start dying.”

“I’ll keep that in mind,” said Guin.

“I’ll look into your guy tomorrow,” said Jack. “You got an address?”

Guin handed over a slip of paper. He glanced at the empty clothes on the floor.

“If he’s Montrose, he’s not going to make it to a deal,” said Jack. “You might want to see where you can expand into his turf if he’s not there any more.”

“I’ll talk to my accountant,” said Guin.

“Your people have been a big help,” said Josie. “I won’t forget that.”

“It was something to meet you,” said Guin.

“We won’t be here forever,” said Jack. “This might be your chance to shine.”

“Shining too much attracts unwanted attention,” said Guin. “Let me know if you need anything to get the job done.”

“Don’t worry,” said Josie. “We’ll let you know what we’re doing when we do it.”

“I’m more worried about what you’re doing,” said Guin.

Jack grinned.

“Let’s go, Jack,” said Josie. “I have a long day ahead.”

“Have a good rest of your night, buddy,” said Jack.

Josie led the way out of the casino, eyes forward. She nodded at people nodding at her. She sensed Jack waving at someone, but didn’t look. She had promised not to kill anyone in the casino.

That didn’t mean she couldn’t wait outside and shoot them while they were leaving.

“So you got the kids a teacher?,” said Jack. His voice kept her moving.

“I haven’t met him yet,” said Josie. “The lady at the Hall seemed unhelpful at best. She’s probably trying to stick us with a scrub after what I did.”

“And what did you do?,” said Jack.

“I cleared all of their posted jobs and threatened to keep doing it until they found me someone,” said Josie. She shrugged under her poncho. “I picked up some things with my watch doing that. Zatanna is good with general stuff, but some of the other heroes can do better in certain situations.”

“Elaine said she had a lead on the Dark Rider,” said Jack. “After I check this guy out, we can go up there and explore around.”

“Sounds okay,” said Josie. She thought about getting the kids to their lessons, and commuting up north to look for a dirty crypt. “Maybe she can get us close enough so I can use a scrying to find the place, or at least narrow it down to where we can find it easier.”

“Sounds like a plan,” said Jack. “That just leaves the lost princess, and the bog hound. The hound sounds easier since we know where it should be.”

“The princess is in the North according to your dream,” said Josie. “Maybe she has something to do with the Rider.”

“That would be just my luck,” said Jack. “We can put that off one more day before we start really trying.”

“Also Alicia wants to use the bow instead of a sword,” said Josie. “The Hall lady didn’t have any archers.”

“That’s strange,” said Jack. “You would think that would be a priority here. There isn’t any guns around.”

“They might be out in the surrounding forest hunting monsters,” said Josie. “There’s not much call for a bow when a lot of fights are going to be at arm’s reach.”

“Not a lot,” said Jack. “A good bowman can shoot a swordsman on a quick draw. Maybe the Watch doesn’t allow bows in the city.”

“Like the Wild West towns,” said Josie. She turned the logic around in her head. “But they will still allow swords?”

“I will ask the next cop I see,” said Jack. “Maybe we should get bows ourselves. We’re the only ones walking around with no weapons.”

“I guess you’re right about that,” said Josie. “The watches are so overpowered, I never thought about needing a sword.”

“I have to agree with that,” said Jack. “We should think about getting a couple for us as covers.”

“Just add that to the list,” said Josie. “This has been the busiest three days of my life.”

“I so would like to go back and try out Domino, or Longshot,” said Jack. “Easy

money.”

“If the powers worked like the originals,” said Josie. “Which I don’t want to bet on the way things are going.”

“You have a point,” said Jack. “Are you okay with all this? Maybe you should take a break.”

“I can’t right now,” said Josie. She shrugged. “Killing people, no matter how much they deserve it, is not something I thought I would be doing.”

“I had the same thought when I joined the Army,” said Jack. “That part didn’t go as well as I thought it would.”

“Why are we walking home?,” asked Josie.

“I thought you needed time to talk out your feelings,” said Jack. “Woman stuff.”

“You don’t have to be annoying all the time,” said Josie. She gave him a bird.

“It’s something that I like to do,” said Jack. He grinned. “You wouldn’t happen to know if there is a place open to eat.”

“The girls and I stopped at a place on the way home,” said Josie. “I don’t know if it’s still open.”

“Let’s take a look,” said Jack. “I’m starving after all the running around I did.”

“I think I did a lot more running around than you did, Mister Go Fast Boy,” said

Josie.

“Just because I’m faster, doesn’t mean I didn’t go farther,” said Jack. He gestured as he talked. “I had to cover the city five times.”

“So dramatic,” said Josie. She smiled. “You are such a poser.”