Dial H for Heroics

Jack stood in Elaine’s office. He looked at the maps, and the drawings they had brought back. Marks for Montrose filled in some of the city map. He didn’t know how long they would be there.

Josie had already told him she wanted to swing by and deal with them before she headed north.

It wasn’t up to him to warn the sitting ducks a hawk was in flight.

Elaine approached while he studied the maps.

“There is someone downstairs who wants to speak to a person of authority,” she said. “They are at the door.”

“Did they tell you what they wanted?,” asked Jack. He turned and blinked at her. “Is Josie asleep?”

“She went out with the girls to the adventurers’ hall,” said Elaine.

“So we can’t expect her to handle this with her usual charm,” Jack said. He smiled. “Let me go see what this is about.”

He started downstairs, listening as Elaine followed him. He wondered who would want to talk to him. Maybe he could scare them off and get back to his real job.

He raised the shutter and opened the door. He saw a group of men standing outside. They had the look of thugs on them. He grinned at them at his friendliest.

“We don’t do charity,” he said. He closed the door in their faces.

Something banged against the door again. He frowned at it. Did he want to ramp this up before Josie got back? She would laugh like a hyena if he got invested in wrecking another syndicate in the city.

It would be better if she was stuck with the resulting quest in his opinion.

Jack opened the door. He grinned at the thugs again.

“We’re not buying anything either,” he said.

He slammed the door shut. Would they get the message?

A third banging said they weren’t getting the message. Did he want to resort to violence? He didn’t have to. He had a dozen heroes on his watch that could take care of things peacefully. He was sure of that.

He decided to give it one more try. He dialed the watch to give him the warped form of Captain America when he pushed the button. He grabbed the door handle.

Elaine was in the living area, hiding behind a wall. She had taken cover while he was trying to shoo away his visitors. He respected that.

He opened the door. The thugs seemed a little irritated at him. He smiled at them.

“I have already told you there is no money, please go away,” said Jack. “I have some things I have to go over with my assistant, then I’ll have to see what my partner wants to do in the next few days. I don’t have the time for you beggars today.”

“We’re not beggars,” said the obvious leader of the group. “Where are the men who stay here?”

“I’m the only man staying here now,” said Jack. “If you’re talking about the former owner and his minions, they’re dead. Is there anything else?”

“They’re dead?,” said the spokesman. He looked at the group spread around him. “How did that happen?”

“They made my partner mad,” said Jack. “So she killed them. Is there anything else? I have a busy day, and I don’t have any more time.”

“We want you to make time,” said the spokesman. “The guy was supposed to transfer money to us.”

“He’s dead,” said Jack. “So that isn’t going to happen. Anything else?”

“What if you give us the money?,” said the spokesman. “What do you think about that?”

“I think you knocked on the wrong door,” said Jack. He pressed the button on his watch. He really would have liked to try out Blade, but Captain America should be more than enough to handle this problem.

A thing like a scarecrow in red, white and blue with an eagle’s head leaped at the group. It moved faster than any fighter, hit harder than flesh and blood, and knew every bit of fighting technique that had ever washed up on the shores of the United States. He ignored the screams from the broken bones as he worked.

They weren’t part of Montrose, but he knew he had to teach a lesson. If they came back when the girls were by themselves, there would be problems and an escalation off the charts.

The destruction of one evil syndicate was more than enough for him.

Jack changed back before the timer wound down. He looked at the mess he had made. What did he do now?

“Do we still have that cart and horse, Elaine?,” asked Jack. He looked around. People were looking at the gang crying and moaning on the street.

“Mistress Fox took it with the girls,” said Elaine. She winced at the blood on the gray cobblestones. “Should we get another for these criminals?”

“Naw,” said Jack. “They can walk it off.”

Elaine doubted they were going to be able to walk what Jack had done off any time soon.

“Tell Josie I went to talk to whomever pays these guys,” said Jack. “I’ll be back when I’m done.”

“Another quest?,” asked Elaine.

“I hope not,” said Jack. “But if I have to burn a house down, that’s what I got to do.”

He kicked the nearest man in his broken leg. The man cried out.

“You best start walking along, or the other leg will get broken too,” said Jack.

The man staggered to his feet. He looked around for anyone who could help him. Some of the men had gotten broken arms for their trouble. One man would be eating out of a straw for a while if they had straws in Hawk Ridge.

“Now, we’re going to see your boss,” said Jack. “And I want to do that before

my partner gets back from whatever she is doing. She will be utterly berserk that she missed putting you gumps in a toe tag sack and dropping you somewhere no one will ever find you.”

“A toe tag sack?,” asked one man had the presence of mind despite having every bone in both arms broken.

“That’s what they call the bag they put dead people in for burial,” said Jack. “There is a tag to tell the Watch who got killed and how.”

“I don’t think I have ever seen one of those,” said the man.

“You keep bothering people and you might,” said Jack.

It was slow progress across the city until Jack found a cart going the same way. He paid the driver two silvers to let his victims ride in the back.

The cart rolled along, and the men suffered through the ride. It was better than walking with the injuries they had. Jack’s watch climbed up to full power as they went. If he had food and water, he thought the watch would fill even faster.

“This the place?,” asked the driver. He pulled the cart to a stop in front of a closed mansion gate.

Jack slapped the nearest man across the back of the head. The man gritted his teeth from the sudden pain. He nodded to answer the question.

“Stay on the cart if you want to live,” said Jack. “I’ll give you another silver to wait.”

“Two,” said the driver.

“One and a half,” said Jack.

“Half?,” said the driver.

Jack took a silver piece. He changed just long enough to break it in half. He handed the half piece to the driver.

“I’ll give you the rest when I come out,” said Jack.

“All right,” said the driver.

“If I don’t come out, go back across town to the wall, and look for a house built into the wall,” said Jack. “Look for a woman with a picture of lightning on her shirt. Tell her I promised you two gold pieces to let her know I came down here and she should blow this place up.”

“Blow it up?,” asked the driver.

“Like a dragon,” said Jack. “Hopefully, this will go all right.”

Jack walked up to the gate. He waved at the two guys inside. They didn’t look too happy to see him. He grinned at them.

“Is your boss in?,” Jack asked. “I would like to talk to him.”

“What if he doesn’t want to talk to you?,” asked one of the goons.

“That’s fine,” said Jack. “Tell him that the guy he was using to smuggle stuff through the wall is dead. If he keeps sending goons down to my place, I’m going to come up here and burn his house down. If my partner gets wind of any of this, she will hunt everybody he ever worked with down and take them apart before she comes up here to deal with him. You got that?”

“Who are you to be making threats?,” asked the goon.

“Did I sound like I was making threats?,” said Jack. He touched his watch.

“Yes,” said the gate goon.

A human torch burst into flames right in front of him. He stumbled back from the heat. The fire vanished.

“That’s because I was,” said Jack. “I got stuff to do. As long as he stays on his side of the line, he won’t ever have to see me again.”

“He will probably want to talk to you,” said the goon.

“Tell him I got some things to do,” said Jack. “I’ll meet him at one of the gambling places around. Which one would he prefer?”

“The Silver Coin,” said the goon.

“I’ll meet him there about eight,” said Jack. He saw they didn’t know what he was talking about. “Changing of the night guard.”

“We’ll let him know,” said the goon.

“Also you’re going to have to get a healer to look after your extortion guys,” said Jack. “I had to hurt them a little bit.”

He went back to the cart. He waved the goons off the back. They responded as fast as they could. Being dropped in the street wasn’t going to help them.

He handed the driver the other silver piece and started walking back home. He had a bit before his watch was back to full charge. He hoped his warning was taken in good faith. He didn’t want to have to blow up another syndicate up before he could go home.

That didn’t mean he wouldn’t.