There is a New Villainess in Town
© 2011 by: Mr. David R. Dorrycott
Chapter Eleven
“Lemmie get this here strait” the fat man across from her said. “Youz wants to hire some muscle and have me arrange ah bunce of gass tah be delivered to tha basement Marty’s Steam Room. That right?”
“Yes sir” Fluffball agreed. “What price will you desire.”
“Price? Ders ah bounty on yer head kat, fifty thousand so why should ah work for you?”
Fluffball sighed, a purely human reaction to a purely human problem. “Turn me in and I’ll be out by nightfall then I will be rather angry at you. Deal with me and I will continue to deal with you. It is that simple, a single sum now or many sums later.”
“Yeah, kinda thought dat” the man admitted. “Hadda try, see what yer made of. So this list, its all youze wants?”
“It is all, though I wouldn’t decline a good pizza or a nice spaghetti dinner. I do love both foods.”
“Intersrtin. ‘Kay, I read youze hit ah couple o’ high scale jewelry places, right?”
“Correct” Fluffball agreed.
“Ahn I been laughin at how youze been runnin dem heros in circles. Plus yah fixed up Raul after you busted ‘em up. Shows class. Twenty fifty-gallon propane tanks, full. Not ah big job honest, even legal.”
“No, it isn’t big” Fluffball agreed. “However I understand that you are able to purchase such on the open market without causing any notice. Delivering them to a recently closed business should not open anyone’s eyes, it will then be my problem to get them back to my ship.”
“Uh-huh. Ahn what yah need ‘em for, makin ah bomb?”
Letting a touch of anger reach her eyes Fluffball shook her head no. “I do my absolute best not to kill. That’s because I simply feel that killing is horrible. I know it happens, for millions of reasons, I though sir, I do not have to add to that toll if I am able to avoid it. No sir, I simply need fuel for my ship.”
“Propane?” the man gasped.
Fluffball shrugged her shoulders. “It works, its cheap and readily available. Besides, it is about the only fuel on your planet my ship can use.”
“Fifty G’s” the man demanded.
“Done.” Opening one of her pouches she pulled out a small cloth bag. “I believe that this should be more than worth fifty thousand dollars.” She gently sat the bag on the mans desk, at which point a tired looking man retrieved it, opening and pouring out loose ruby’s into his hand.
“At least fifty thousand” he reported. “Probably twice that after fencing costs.”
“Landels Jewelry” the fat man asked.
“Correct. He had a rather large safe, it proved to be less secure than advertised.”
“Hinges were melted off” one of the mans guards blurted.
She looked at that man, giving him the best smile her face could manage. “Can I help it that your steel isn’t up to my technology?”
In answer he only shook his head no.
“Thursday” the fat man announced. “Delivery in tha morning, we’ll even put up ahn opin soon sign. Fer laughs. Hope tah do business wid yah again.”
“As do I sir.” Fluffball stood, saluted the man as though it were important then allowed herself to be led out by one of the guards.
That had been Monday. On Thursday she watched as twenty pressure cylinders of propane were delivered to the basement of her chosen building, the last item left was a large stainless steel Coleman cooler. She wondered what that might be. After waiting two hours to be certain that no one else was entering the building she left her lair, making her way the half mile walk to the buildings forgotten underground delivery door. It was why she had chosen the building, it had been a large office building before going bust and the building being broken up into smaller business spaces and the ancient turn of the century delivery tunnels had been forgotten. Making her way to the steel door she checked her security tale-tells one last time. Nothing. Taking a deep breath she unlocked and opened the ancient door, one that she had carefully serviced after choosing this place. Swinging on well oiled hinges the door made no sound.
There was an unsigned note on the cooler “Hope its still warm when you find this” it said. Carefully opening the cooler her senses were overwhelmed by the scent of still hot Spaghetti. Oh she was going to have to work fast before that got cold enough to need a microwave. Closing the cooler she carried it out to the passageway, setting a jammer on top of it just in case.
Even through she was careful the feline still left scratch marks on the floor leading to the doorway. She could only hope that the empty tanks she was leaving behind would cover them for a while. That, and she dragged them around the basement leaving scratch marks in as many directions as her self imposed time limit allowed. She was just settling the last tank in place when an alarm went off, someone had just touched the basement doorway. Pulling out her stickygun Fluffball eased herself into a corner. She hadn’t turned on the lights, so to protect her vision she slipped on a pair of sunglasses and activated a wide field jammer.
Who slipped into the basement were five young gang members. One flicked on a cigarette lighter, looking for the light switch. “Know I saw a light don here’ the leader said as he reached for the switch. “Wanna see what goodies they got stashed here.”
Thankful for two things, one it was just a bunch of wanna be toughs and two that her body was immune to what she was about to release, Fluffball tossed a small white plastic sphere in a corner. It popped, catching the groups attention. Soon various weapons of murder appeared in their hands like magic, only to fall forgotten as the gas took them from this world for a few hours. Looking around the feline spotted a fire alarm and amused, she wondered if it still worked. Walking through the still billowing cloud she grabbed the bar and pulled down firmly.
It still worked.