“I’m already ahead of you,” I said.
“So, did you find a place where we can get some decent cars?”
I nodded. “About six miles from here, but they’ve got good ratings. I’m not up for some slick, fast-talking bastard trying to sell us a lemon.
“For now, we should get the one car. I think it’ll cost us about three grand for a decent one. Might need some fixing up, which I can do,” I said.
Jordan shook his head. “No, we need two. You need one that you take only when you’re doing your thing. I can’t be seen driving it.”
“Damn, this twenty grand is dissolving fast,” I pointed out.
He nodded. “Which is why I think you should look for the best deals.” He patted me on my back, then walked away.
I smirked, then continued to look over some potential cars. I wanted a sexy muscle car; a classic Mustang, Impala, or Challenger, something like that. Jordan could get something practical like a Ford Focus.
“What do you want to eat?” Jordan called from the kitchen.
“I’m not picky. Whatever you feel like cooking.”
I stopped searching for cars and turned my attention to Mr. Curtis Henley. Apparently, his company was suffering the aftermath of a major cyber-attack in which a virus was planted into his system, destroying certain software. Served him right. I was going to need Jordan to work his magic and get me the bastard’s home address, or the address to wherever he would be tomorrow night.
“Jordan, before you go to bed tonight, I need some information on my target.”
“That Henley guy?” he asked.
“Yeah, I want to know where he lives. Our employers have their package, so all bets are off on this asshole.”
“Okay.”
I took a seat into my favorite chair and turned on the TV. Jordan didn’t know this, but my outfit had arrived in the mail today. I was going to surprise him with the full get-up tomorrow before I headed out.
After dinner, which was baked fish and salad, we got to work. Did I mention Jordan was a health nut when I allowed him to choose the meals? He hated when I brought food home to eat because I didn’t cook. I mean, I didn’t cook well. Anyway, Jordan got to work on the net, hacking into Mr. Henley’s personal files. It was pretty amazing what Jordan could do with a regular laptop. I wondered what kind of damage he would be able to do with a super computer. I once asked him if he could siphon money from other people’s accounts and put it into ours, but he said it was too risky and too much trouble. Paper had a trail and all that. But he never said he couldn’t do it.
“Okay, I’ve got the information.” He stood up, walked over to me, and took a seat on the sofa.
“Well?” I asked, waiting for him to tell me.
“Are you sure this is someone you need to kill? I know he pissed you off, but—”
“He needs to die.”
“You said he tried to kill you, but didn’t he only do that after you attacked him?”
“If he was really worried that I was a threat, he could have had me arrested. He didn’t. Instead, he drugged me, then took me back to his hotel and would have raped me before he killed me. I’m sure his boys would have all taken multiple turns too. I was strong enough to get away. What about the next woman?”
Jordan nodded. “Okay, fine. I just don’t want you killing people for petty reasons.”
“What’s wrong with that?”
He scoffed. “I’m going to pretend like you didn’t just say that. I printed up his info for you. Now, I’m going to bed. I’ve got work in the morning. They wanted to start me on the new payroll.” He leaned over, kissing me, then walked towards our bed.
I know I said we weren’t lovers, but we did have one rule. That was our bed. We didn’t fuck one-timers in our bed. I stayed up a little longer, then took my ass to bed.
***
“Are you ready to see Cobra in all his glory?” I called from the bathroom.
“Yes, I’m so excited to see what you look like,” Jordan shouted.
We had a busy day, he went to work, I went car shopping for us. I got him a sweet little blue 2006 Ford Taurus. He squealed like a girl when he saw it and jumped for joy. There were a few dents and scratches on it, but nothing too severe. The innards were solid and that was what was important. As for me, I got lucky as fuck when I was searching online and came across a beautiful 1989 Pontiac Trans Am. I always thought that car was a thing of gorgeousness. Of course, the bad news was all of the money we had saved up was gone. I didn’t tell Jordan that, and may have told a little white lie when he asked me about the price of our new automobiles. I was hoping to convince Mr. Henley to donate to my cause before I killed him. Or at least I could steal some shit of his to pawn off somewhere, if all else failed.
I stood in front of the mirror, giving myself one last check before I presented the vigilante version of myself. I had my contacts in because eye glasses just wouldn’t look right over my leather mask. “You look fucking badass,” I said to my reflection, then turned and stepped out of the bathroom to a very audible gasp.
“So? You like?” I asked, waiting to hear his full opinion. I mean, the open mouth gasp was something, but was it a good gasp or not?
I was dressed in tight black leather pants with a slick-ass gray design going up the side of my legs. My jacket was made with leather and nylon to give me maneuverability. It also featured a hood for when I really wanted to hide my face. But what was under the jacket was the grandest part of my costume. I was also sporting some beautiful black leather gauntlets that laced up. On my back, I had the sword I’d purchased for next to nothing neatly tucked in its scabbard. On my right thigh, I was wearing a gun holster with my Beretta loaded with armor piercing bullets. Another costly weapon, but I’d rather be prepared. On my other thigh was a holster that contained three extra clips. I was wearing a pair of black leather, calf height, steel-toed boots. Now, topping off my ensemble was a very comfortable black leather mask I wore over my eyes, as I’d mentioned.
“Well?” I asked again.
“Holy shit!” Jordan said.
“Do you like it?”
“Fuck yeah! I mean, damn, you look so kickass and sexy at the same time. I swear, I want to be saved by you, then fucked by you right after,” he said, grinning. He rose off the sofa, approaching me for a closer inspection. He ran his hands over the material, his smile widening as he did so. “I love how rock solid you feel under all of this.” He looked up at me. “This is really happening, isn’t it?”
I arched my eyebrows and nodded. “Looks like. I’m not wearing this to the club, not even on Leather Night.”
“You look amazing. Does the mask bother your contacts?” he asked.
I shook my head. “No. I bought several pair to try them out. Three fit perfectly. The others I’m going to return for more of the ones I like.”
“Is there a shirt under the jacket?” Jordan asked, looking closer.
“Yes. And wait till you see it.” I unzipped the jacket, exposing the shirt underneath that really put my body on display just the way I wanted.
Jordan laughed, which wasn’t the reaction I was expecting.
“What in the fuck is so funny?” I asked, looking down at my shirt.
“Why does it look like you were mauled by a lion?” He burst out in another fit of laughter.
“No it doesn’t.”
“What’s with all the rips and tears?” he asked, running his fingers over the open designs of my shirt.
“Oh, no you don’t. You don’t get to criticize my fashion sense. I mean, seriously, I don’t know what the hell you’re talking about, and you shouldn’t be laughing after that Rainbow Bright Queer costume you came up with.”
“Hey, I wanted to make a statement with that costume.”
“You did, and it was that you should never be asked about fashion. You’re a disgrace to gay men everywhere. I don’t even know why I’m asking you now.”
“Oh stop,” he said, chuckling as he h
eld my jacket open, taking a better look at my shirt. “I see why you wanted this. It does look hot on you. Shows off your muscular chesticus and abstracts.”
“Damn right. I bet none of those guys in your comics ever looked as good as I do in this suit. Don’t lie.” I made sure to pop my pecs since one of his hands was touching the one with the pierced nipple.
“Oh!” he yelped when his hand moved with my flesh and he felt the muscles under my skin. “Okay, yeah… you’re fucking hot. You win.”
I smirked and zipped up my suit, then walked over to the printer to get the paper with my target’s info on it.
“Eric… err… I mean, Cobra?”
I chuckled and turned to look at Jordan. “Yeah?”
“You do realize this is your origin story.”
“I do now.”
“Be safe,” Jordan said as I walked over to my car.
“I will.”
“When you get back, we need to talk about how we don’t have any money in our account,” he commented.
Argggg, damn… I was hoping I could do something about that before he found out. “Sure,” I drawled, then opened the car door, climbing inside.
He walked over to the garage door, opening it up so that I could drive out of our loft. “Also, we need to talk about you lying to me.”
“Are you trying to send me out the door with unnecessary stress?” I questioned.
“Yes, because you deserve it. Besides, I know it won’t get in the way of you completing your mission. You’re much too focused to let that happen. See you when you get back… and you better come back.”
I nodded and drove past him out of the loft. My new car had a nice base paint job. It was gray and only had a few scratches. I was planning on doing my own custom work. By the time I was done fixing this baby up, it was going to be badass. I wanted it to be showy, but not too showy. I had a full tank of gas and an agenda… that made me dangerous. Even if I hadn’t decided to do this vigilante thing, I was going to kill this scumbag. My intuition told me the dude was bad news. Stealing another corporation’s software was bad enough. I even think he was going to try to sell it to a rival company. But what he was planning to do to me put the icing on the cake.
I hit the expressway, traveling towards Hickory Hillside. That was where all the big mansions were in Silver City. According to the information I had, it was a gated community, which meant I was going to have to park somewhere inconspicuous and hike the rest of the way there. It took me about an hour and fifteen minutes to get there, and I parked in an alley about three blocks away from the community. Before I climbed out of my car, I looked around, making sure I was alone. It was two in the morning, so I was hoping enough people would be asleep in their beds at that time and not planning on emptying the garbage.
I climbed out of the car and kept to the shadows as I crept closer to the address. Lucky for me, I could jump pretty high, covering some pretty decent distances because of my super strength. I couldn’t fly, though, which kind of sucked. I also couldn’t leap tall building in a single bound. I didn’t know of any person out there who could. I decided to do some minor leaps, just to get over a few yards. I moved from one backyard to the next until I landed silently on the manicured lawn of my target’s home. I was hidden nicely in the shadows. See, this was why I had thought Shadow Hunter was a great name.
I didn’t move at first, instead I surveyed the area, looking for any kind of cameras or guards. There were two guards I could see from my vantage point behind the bushes. I recognized the one with the cast on his wrist. I waited for him to walk around to the side of the house, which took all of five minutes. One of the things you had to have plenty of, was patience. I crawled on the grass, keeping my profile invisible behind the shrubs until I was able to climb out and come from behind the one guard who had remained.
I wrapped my one arm around his neck, cutting off his vocal cords so he couldn’t cry out for help. Then I locked it in, cutting off his oxygen next. Within seconds, he was nicely passed out and I dragged his body, dumping him behind the bushes. If his partner were to come around, I didn’t want him to find the guard just lying there. That would alert them to my presence too soon. I did my stealth walk towards the house and listened carefully for the guard’s footsteps.
I waited until I heard him, and when he came up beside me, gun in hand, I quickly wrapped my hand around his neck, bending him back and snapping his bones instantly. He never had a chance to get a shot off or make a sound. Fucking asshole had it coming for all the shit he had talked in the limo. Again, I dragged the body behind some bushes. I looked up towards the balcony. I didn’t hear anyone on it, so I jumped and landed softly on the Spanish marble tiles. I swear, some people had all the luck and didn’t deserve it.
I stepped to the side and took a quick peek through a slit in the curtains. The room was empty, but the lights were on. I checked again, looking for any wiring that would set off an alarm if I opened the door. Nothing on the outside, so I looked through the glass panes to see if I could see anything on the inside of the room.
Damn. There it was. A little, thin wire threaded along the rim of the entire doorframe. It was best if I cut the power to the house, but when I did, I’d have to move quickly. When they came to turn the power back on, they were going to become alarmed at the lack of guards. Well, I had come to party, so fuck it. I jumped down and made my way over to the fuse box. Didn’t take me too long to find it. It was locked with a code, but I was strong as hell, so I yanked the door open, sounding the alarm that was quickly silenced when I shot the control panel. Sparks flew, and all of the lights in the house went out. Emergency lights came on around the outside.
I ran back toward the balcony, leaping up there again, and used my strength to break the lock. It was dark as night when I stepped in and I could hear the guards running around trying to take care of business. There was a woman screaming and a man’s voice telling her to “shut her cunt mouth up.” Yeah, sounded like my Mr. Henley was getting ready to have himself a little party too. I walked out of the bedroom as quietly as I could and saw several guards moving about, carrying flashlights. One of them walked beside Mr. Henley and it seemed like they were trying to get him someplace safe.
Well, we couldn’t have that. I pulled out my Beretta, aiming it at the guard, then pulled the trigger. The guard hit the ground and the flashlight fell, shining its light on my target. The silencer I had on my gun was a beautiful thing. Mr. Henley gasped when he saw the guard go down and he grabbed the woman he had his grip on, pulling her in front of him. I didn’t waste any time fooling around with him. He was starting to back away from the light and I needed that to see. I managed to shoot him in the leg, and both he and the woman screamed. One thing I did exceptionally well before my new abilities came into play was hit my target. I was top in my class. It was one of the reasons I had been sought out by what I’d thought was the CIA.
Mr. Henley stumbled and fell, dragging the woman to the floor with him. That was when I jumped down there, landing in the light. I kicked the flashlight in the direction I knew he had fallen and when I saw him, I stalked over. “Let her go,” I growled.
“I’ll kill this bitch if you hurt me,” he threatened. “I don’t know who the fuck you are, but you’re not getting out of here alive.”
At that moment, three of his guards came running in with their flashlights shining on me.
“Drop your fucking gun,” one of them demanded.
Just three guards. Easy peasy. I was hoping they would gather around me. Made it easier to kill…eeehhh, four birds with one stone. I needed to take out his guards first.
“Don’t just stand there, kill this motherfucker!” Mr. Henley ordered.
Well, I could take getting hit with bullets, but my outfit couldn’t. I ducked, sweeping out the legs of two of the guards, and they dropped their flashlights as they fell with hard grunts. The dropped flashlights pointed at the other guard, blinding him. I rolled over on my back and shot the last g
uard who was standing twice in the chest and once in the head. The others scrambled to their feet, firing their weapons at me in quick succession as I rolled across the floor. I growled as two of their bullets hit my arm, but I kept rolling until I bumped into the sofa. I ducked behind it, taking cover.
“Kill his ass!” I heard Mr. Henley barking that demand again.
Yeah, you keep thinking that was going to happen, bitch.
They picked up their flashlights, which gave away their positions. I kept low while they aimed their lights in my direction, trying to locate me.
“He’s over there,” one of the guards said as the beam of his flashlight was inching closer to me. I aimed and fired, shooting him in the throat, then rolled back behind the sofa. The woman continued to scream in terror as this went down. I kind of wished she’d shut the fuck up.
“He’s behind the sofa, just shoot it!” Mr. Henley screamed, but his voice sounded like he was further away. I didn’t want to risk him getting into some kind of panic room or leaving the mansion all together. Better act now. I stood up, shooting my gun at the guard as one of his bullets ricocheted off my bicep. I hissed from the sting, which burned like hell. The guard, on the other hand, went down to both knees, holding his stomach. I walked over to him, picking up his flashlight. I aimed my Beretta, firing a bullet into his temple. Blood splattered from the hole I put in his head, covering the floor and the other guard’s flashlight, painting the beam red as it shined on the wall.
Mr. Henley was still struggling with the woman as she cried and yelled to be let go. No doubt, her fighting him as he limped down the hallway, using her as a shield, slowed him down as he attempted to make his retreat. I stalked over there to him.
“Stay back, I’ll kill this bitch, I swear!” he yelled.
“What makes you think I care about her?” I asked. Sure, my plan was to kill him before he could hurt another woman, but if she had to be sacrificed so that no one else after her would be harmed, so be it.
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