by Jan Stryvant
“So why are you being all altruistic today?”
“With Scorecard gone there is going to be a lot of jockeying to fill the vacuum he’s left. And right now there are a lot of bad guys in town. Someone needs to thin the herd or the fighting is going to spill over onto the streets when it starts up.”
“I haven’t heard anything yet.”
“They’re all waiting to see what happens to Scorecard. But the day he’s convicted all hell is going to break loose. If not sooner. Once they figure out he’s not coming back, it’ll be open season.”
“The Mayor wants us to lay off for a while.”
“The Mayor is not your ally. Remember that. Now would be a very good time to go for the low hanging fruit, and any targets of opportunity. There will be a lot less bloodshed and less innocents in the crossfire if there are less combatants.” Shadow said pointedly.
“Planning on doing a little bloodshed yourself?” Tomas sat back in is chair and looked at Shadow.
“No,” Shadow sighed, “but I suspect that I will not be given a choice in the matter. There is always somebody who thinks killing me would help his rep. Especially if everyone is fighting for all the turf they can get.”
“And the Mayor?” Tomas asked curiously.
“What about him?”
“Just a second ago you were warning me about him.”
“He’s a politician, Tomas; he looks at every situation as to how it will benefit himself, and cares little of the cost to others.”
“You make it sound like he’s corrupt.”
“Doesn’t matter. He wants things to get worse so he can then get more power to clean it up. So he can get re-elected. Ignore him and do your own thing.”
Tomas thought about that a while. He looked up then, eyes meeting Shadow’s “You’re really worried about this, aren’t you?”
“Concerned would be a better word.” Shadow confessed.
“Why?”
Shadow hesitated a moment, “It’s hard to put it into words, but I don’t want my life disturbed, I’ll only react so much then I’ll become proactive. That would draw a lot of unwelcome attention.”
“You mean you’ll start killing people, don’t you?”
“Tomas,” Shadow said softly, “I already kill people. I don’t enjoy it, but I accept it. The Cat doesn’t like to be disturbed, if things get bad enough I will take steps, it is the nature of the Cat.”
“Maybe you should rein the cat in a bit!” Tomas replied.
“You don’t realize, Tomas, the Cat is part of my nature, the larger part by far. I’m a single person, but everything in me comes from either the cat or the man. There is no conflict. And the Cat, I, prefer order and a general calm to prevail. This is my jungle and if someone rattles it up, they must go.”
“So why doesn’t the Cat move uptown and join my side?”
Shadow smirked, “Cause all the really hot ass is down in the underground. And the Cat prefers hot chicks as much as the man!”
Tomas shook his head, “You’re not like them you know.”
“I’m not like you either,” Shadow was still grinning. “Besides, I’m too violent for you people, you’d all freak the first time I licked someone’s blood off my claws after killing them.”
Tomas sighed, “I have to admit, I miss the good old days when the good guys were allowed to triumph and kill the bad guy.”
Shadow laughed, “Better watch it or one of these days I’ll figure out who you were!”
“What’s that supposed to mean?”
“Oh come on, you were somebody else before you came here and became Tomas. That’s part of why I trust you, you have a past, you understand.”
Tomas nodded conceding the point, Shadow once again surprised him. “And you? What are you hiding from?”
“Not hiding so much as running away. Some things in our past tie us into trails we’d rather not walk. So I ran here to start over, forget that past, end its hold over me.” Shadow shrugged. “I’m a much better person now.”
“Oh much,” Tomas grinned.
“Trust me, for a while there I wouldn’t get involved for anything. First I was scared, then I didn’t care because it wasn’t my business, but eventually I grew up and realized that if you’re there, you’re responsible, because you can always do something about it.”
“So if turf wars start, you’ll do something about it.”
Shadow’s ears flicked, “Even if it kills me. The death of innocents disturbs the Cat.”
“So that is why you saved her.” Tomas blinked, Shadow had just given him an important insight to his behavior.
“And Fionna, even though she had been pointing that huge fucking gun at my head just moments before! How is she by the way?”
“She’s well. She has a newspaper photo of you on her cube wall with cross hairs drawn on it.”
Shadow laughed, “Is that so?”
Tomas nodded, “They all think she’s obsessed on killing you. I think she has you there for luck.”
“So, all that now being said and done, what can I help you with?”
“I was going to ask about where Laughing Boy’s holed up.”
Shadow shook his head, “I won’t tell you, you’d get chewed up alive. He spent a lot of time investing his hidey-hole with his personal power. I don’t even go there. I’d advise you to go clean up Scorecard’s loose ends, haul in the rest of his people, get them on RICO charges or something.”
“You know where they are?”
“Of course,” Shadow quickly ran down the list of who was where. Then repeated it when Tomas started taking notes.
“How did you find all of this out? Tomas looked down at the list he’d just written, it was long.
“It’s been almost a month; I figured there were only two things you’d really be interested in. Wasn’t hard really.”
“I’ll keep in mind what you said about turf wars.”
Shadow nodded, “Until next time.”
Tomas stood and left. Few would remember he was there, it was something he was able to do with small groups of normals, and he doubted any could have watched them without either him or Shadow knowing about it.
Shadow watched Tomas go and finished his drink. He waited a while, paid the check, and then left the way he had come, from the back. It was his restaurant after all.
Over the next several months, Tomas used his team to keep the heat up and pull a lot of players off the street. Shadow was pretty impressed; they were actually doing a pretty good job. He even had a close call himself, when they raided an underground party he was at. Usually he kept himself clear of anything illegal at a party, so he could just smile and sit there while they carted off those they had warrants for. But he’d gotten stuck holding while waiting for someone who was late. He’d have to give up that line, he’d milked it anyway.
Of course he stopped in and spent some time with Jess. He was curious as to if she really was any good, and Liz thought it would be good training for her to deal with an exotic like himself. She was still frightened by him, but she got over it once she realized there were rules protecting her, and the muscle to back them up. She was a lot more fun then.
Karen was doing well, she studied hard and was quickly catching up at school, but she was still too submissive. He was mixed on the novelty of a live in sex toy however. It was nice at times having her around, he hated sleeping alone. But if he wanted some alone time he now had to go to his hidden lair and that was up in midtown. He’d been living here in the city for a few years now, so he had his emergency hideaway, his lair. He never took anyone there of course, it was his private space and he had this apartment to entertain, at least he was finally getting settled and dug in. It took a while to get to know a place.
He had to go by Circe’s again tonight, she had a number of things planned and he had to help her with some of them. She still couldn’t make him do anything he was opposed to; after all she couldn’t change his nature, and thankfully had given up trying. B
ut there was a lot he would do for her, especially if the circumstances were right. Several people had tried to move in on something that was hers recently, and he’d set them straight for her. A couple of people had even tried to put a move on her, hurt her, and he defended her rather vigorously. The fact was, he loved her, even though she was bad, probably evil. He enjoyed her company, he enjoyed working for her, and he especially enjoyed screwing her brains out.
They still fought fairly often, because he was trying to pull her away from evil and she was trying to pull him towards it. She was his drug addiction, his dark side. He was a cross between her bodyguard and her enforcer as well as lover. When she raided a place, and she usually raided one a week, he went with her to watch over her. As more than half of her raids were against places that mistreated or abused animals, or for her to raise the awareness thereof, he was usually okay with it.
Though some were still some pretty daring heists, she needed money to care for her animals and wasn’t afraid of doing whatever she needed to, to get it. These were often what they fought over. There were a few things that she could not do now that she had him around, because he wouldn’t let her. That an animal could dominate her was something she was not used to, and it made her angry. Of course at times it made her pretty horny too; he was a rather large, strong, male animal. And oh how she loved animals.
“So Circe,” Shadow growled padding in on all fours, “What are we up to this night?”
Circe smiled at him, he was big and he was strong and he could speak all on his own. He was worth all the troubles he sometimes gave her because he was as smart as she was, yet still had his animal cunning. An animal she could talk with like an equal and that was priceless all by itself.
“Money.”
Shadow grumbled.
“Ah, but this is special money. This was money was earned by the rather cruel exploitation of animals.”
Shadow sat down and perked his ears.
“Ernesto Galabriant, he started out running cock fights, then dog fights. Now he fights exotic animals. Lions, Tigers, Leopards.” She smiled as he growled.
“You had me at the dog fights, though the cat fights do add something to it I admit,” he growled. “So why is he here? And why does he have money?”
“Cause he’s going to be running a rather large fight tonight, a Tiger against a Kodiak.”
“Where in the hell did he get a Kodiak? Those are rare!”
Circe nodded and gave a little growl of her own, “The fight is at midnight, uptown. I thought we could clean out Ernesto’s bank, and any of those there to watch it.”
She blinked as Shadow suddenly shifted into his hybrid form.
“I think I will be taking a more active part in tonight’s festivities,” he growled.
Circe smiled, tonight would be most enjoyable.
When they left a couple of hours later, Circe was surprised to see that Shadow was dressed for a confrontation. He had on dark camo pants and a dark camo vest and he was obviously packing a lot of weapons. Her henchwomen and the wolves she’d brought along avoided him. Normally they treated him casually, though they would of course defer to him, they all knew how dangerous he could be. But tonight he was beyond just taking a protective role, which he usually did in animal form. Tonight he was acting more like a leader, and he was in his hybrid fighter form. She could sense his unease and some anger as well. Ernesto probably wasn’t going to be very happy with what happened tonight. Circe smiled, now she was starting to wonder about the spectators as well.
They pulled up in back of a rather large building, the new Citzo skyscraper Shadow noted. They were in two large dark vans, the second was empty, to haul the rescued animals. The first contained the strike team, Circe, him, three Amazon’s and eight very intelligent wolves who had once been men.
“The arena is in the sub-basement. It was originally intended to be another garage level, but someone decided to close it off and apparently it finds other uses these days.” Circe told them and held up a map for them to look at. Mostly they’d navigate by their hearing and their sense of smell. At least Shadow and the wolves would. Circe and the Amazons already new the layout and this was just a refresher.
“We go down, we rescue the animals, we take all the money we can. Anything else?”
“I will deal with Mr. Galabriant,” Shadow growled. “Don’t forget to collect the wallets of everyone attending. We may have a use for them later.”
Circe and the girls nodded. Opening the doors, Shadow led them out.
The back doors didn’t present much of a problem, picking locks was second nature to all of them. One of the amazons dealt with the alarm and Shadow continued in with the wolves strung out behind him, Circe and the others bringing up the rear for a change.
There were four ways in and out of the area, three were fire escapes, the wolves would block those off once they got inside. The fourth was the normal entrance, and it was guarded by two security guards. After hour cops Shadow noted. He waved the wolves back and snuck up on them himself using his stealth form. They never saw him coming and he rendered them unconscious fairly quickly, then pocketed their ID’s. He’d have a little discussion with Tomas or someone else about these two.
Then they headed in.
The main event had not yet taken place; it was slated for an hour yet. But there was some fighting already going on. Dogs, Shadow saw when he looked. They had to wait for the event to start and people to get involved. As for who was there, it was a mixture of well-paid office workers, and a few of the upper crust. A few politico’s were there as well. Even a couple of celebrities. Shadow stopped and pulled out a small video camera and filmed for a minute. The wolves were still getting into position and Circe and the amazons were catching up. He made sure to get good views of everyone’s faces, what they were doing and what they were watching. He also got footage of the cages containing the main event. That done he wrapped the camera in foil and stuck it in his vest and pulled out a scrambler.
Scramblers were interesting little devices. They blew up and gave off a strong EMP pulse that destroyed any electronic device not shielded. Every cell phone and camera here was about to get fried. When the fight finished he tossed it in the ring, the explosion, though muted, shocking everyone and everything into complete quiet.
“Gentlemen!” Circe said stepping out into the ring. “You are all very much in trouble.”
Several stood then, but before they took a step one of the girls let off a few rounds from the side arm she was carrying. There was a muted gasp, and Shadow heard several murmured ‘Circe’s’ from the crowd. It was obvious that this was just the sort of event she’d crash after all.
“Ta-Ta!” Circe laughed, “There is a substantial penalty for early withdrawal!”
They all froze then, all except for Ernesto and the two heavies that he had guarding his bank. The heavies started to pull guns and Ernesto started to order the tellers to pack up the money.
Shadow was already there of course, he’d made a beeline for the betting window as soon as he’d seen where it was. Kicking in the door he shot the two heavies in the head, he didn’t think twice about that with these two. He then turned the gun on Ernesto.
“Freeze,” was all he said.
Ernesto froze; eye’s widening a bit as he realized what was holding the gun.
Shadow let his eyes and nose search the room. The cashiers weren’t armed, but Ernesto was. He relieved Ernesto of his weapon and told the cashiers to keep packing. “Someone will relieve you of that shortly. After that, I suggest you find a new employer. One very far from here” He growled.
Outside Circe was still going, having convinced the guests to return to their seats. “Wallets in the bags now, do as you’re told and you’ll be allowed to leave.”
Shadow could see a few had resisted, they were lying on the ground holding their heads, or some other body part, in pain. He waited until one of the girls was nearby and he signaled to her to come by, he was still out of si
ght and didn’t want to be seen just yet by anyone in the crowd.
“Take this for me,” He said and shucked his camo’s tossing them in the bag with the wallets. “Don’t lose those whatever happens.”
She nodded and continued on, Shadow knew he could trust her.
“Walk into the ring,” he growled at Ernesto and followed him shifting into full cat as he did so.
There was a loud gasp as Ernesto entered the ring, no one failed to notice the large black panther following him, growling.
“Ah what’s this?” Circe smiled turning towards them both.
“I think this show still needs a main event, don’t you Circe?” Shadow said, talking to Circe in the way of an animal so only she could hear it.
Circe smiled, she was going to kill Ernesto, he deserved to die after all he had done. Obviously Shadow felt the same way, and she had to admit this idea was more fitting.
“Ladies and Gentlemen,” Circe announced, “It’s time for the main event! Forget that old tiger versus bear arrangement. Tonight we have something sooooo much more entertaining, Man versus Panther!” She noticed Ernesto’s eyes widen just a tad. She smiled at him, “It’s to the death, just like all of those other fights you’ve staged. Now you get to see how it feels!”
Shadow growled loudly and swatted Ernesto on the butt sending him stumbling forward. Ernesto pulled out a large knife and turned to face Shadow, he couldn’t leave the arena, the only exit was guarded by Circe who was holding a gun now, and the walls were way too high for him to climb without getting nailed by Shadow in the process and he knew it.
The fight wasn’t terrible long; Shadow took his time and played with him a bit, letting him think he had a chance. The crowd was almost completely silent, a few gasps when Shadow struck, or when Ernesto tried to strike. Finally Ernesto screamed and charged him, “Stop playing with me you freak!”
