Giselle’s motorcycle hummed along in the early morning light as she raced towards her destination, a small town deep in the heart of the old country. She’d been following the breadcrumbs for months, searching for her target since the last time they had squared off against each other. Like so many times before, he’d fled before she’d been able to capture him, but this time would be different.
She twisted the throttle as the final sign post for the town receded behind her and she pulled off of the highway on to well worn streets. She followed the twisting and turning path until she finally arrived in the town square. She pulled up and cut the engine before sitting upright and stretching out from the long rid.
Pulling her helmet from her head, she shook out her long brown hair and unzipped her leather jacket. Then a motion caught her eye and she turned towards it, a lone man walked the streets, no threat to her or anyone else by the looks of him.
She calmed herself internally, there was no reason to be so jumpy, but her whole body felt on edge, if she wasn’t careful she’d break something without meaning to. Her enhanced strength and speed, along with an incredibly tough skin made her a formidable hero, even if she hadn’t quite yet made it to the A list.
That would change soon enough though and NightStorm would be a household name as soon as she captured The Gamesman.
She swung her leg over the bike seat and pulled the keys out and started towards the town hall, it wouldn’t be open for hours yet but that didn’t matter, she’d spend the time scouting out the town. She was sure she’d find her target here, her source was never wrong, even if she couldn’t quite understand why he would be this far out in the country.
Giselle’s heels echoed off the cobblestone streets as she walked through the town; street by street, house by house until she arrived at what she knew must be destination.
The large house had an expansive yard, she could see tennis courts, basketball courts, several holes of golf, a baseball diamond and other assorted games. The perfect home for The Gamesman.
She wrote down the address and as the sun rose in the sky, headed back to the town hall to find out more about who owned the property.
NightStorm crouched on the top of the wall surrounding The Gamesman’s house, the information at the town hall had proved to be useless. A fake name, with fake details, leading to a fake company owned by offshore businesses. But even so, the care and time it must have taken him to setup the elaborate maze of deception told her everything she needed to know.
She jumped down to the grass, landing on her feet but letting her legs take the force of the drop and steadied herself on the ground with her hand. Then she moved slowly, carefully, silently towards the house. There were no lights on and she had not seen any motion in hours so she crept up to the rear door and inspected it for alarms.
To her surprise, there were none. She slide it open carefully and stepped inside a large room with hardwood floors, in the middle of it was a pool table. Quietly she moved in to the next room, which held a dart board and a few other games. Next was the dinning room and off to the side was the kitchen.
She turned the other way and found the entrance and stairs. Keeping to the side of them, she made her way to the second floor until she found the master bedroom. In the bed was the outline if a single person, she readied herself and lept on to the bed, grabbing for his arms she knew something was wrong.
The body beneath her felt soft, too soft, almost like jello and she could feel her knees sinking in to the bed which had the same consistency. She twisted to the side, trying to roll off the bed, but her knees had sunk too deeply in and the squishy goop would not release them.
She used all her strength to try and free her hands but as hard as she pulled, it seemed all she accomplished was to sink deeper in to the bed.
“Ah, NightStorm, I’d say I was surprised to see you, but obviously I’m not.” The Gamesman’s voiced boomed from the doorway as she turned towards him.
“Gamesman. When I get out of here I’m going to finally take you in to pay for your crimes!”
“Yes, yes. I know. Aren’t you tired of it? You chase me, I run and escape. Sometimes you stop me from my goal, sometimes I get what I want. I am so tired of it, the game is no longer fun.”
“Well that’s too bad, I’m not in it for the game or the fun.”
“Yes I know, that’s the problem really. I came here to retire you know, just live out a nice quite life. But I knew you’d come eventually so I’ve made sure to be prepared. Now then, let’s get started.”
She watched him hold up a gun of some kind and pull the trigger, the room filled with light as the two arcs of energy lept from the front of it and hit her square in the back.
Her body spammed and then she collapsed, unconscious.
