Cold-Blooded: A DC Universe Fanfiction (#Wattys2015)

Chapter 10: Nora, Rose: Collateral Damage

He has a gun. They all have guns.

What struck Nora most was how calm Yukie was. Her right hand crept to the blunt table knife before her as she met the eyes of the man in the booth behind her. "Is this random or specific?" she asked.

"Specific. Your man is going to learn a lesson today. Leave that where it is," he commanded her. "Larry, get their purses and make sure you've got their phones. Get that waiter in here, too," he added to another man.

Larry was a very large man in a grimy old pea coat, and he pawed through the purses after he collected them. "Yeah, got'em," he confirmed.

"Good." Two thugs propelled a young man into the room, and the leader glanced his way, pointing at Yukie. "Is that the woman who was with Wilson last night?"

"Uh, if you mean the big guy with the white hair and the eye patch, then yes," the young man said.

"You're sure?"

"Well, he answered the door in a robe, and she was still in bed, so I guess so. They seemed pretty happy with each other."

"Okay, then." The leader nodded, and…and one of his men shot the young man in the head. Nora cried out as blood and matter splattered out over the floor.

"Funny," the leader sat down next to Nora, shoving her over so he could look Yukie in the face at close range. "Sure, he's old and scarred and fucked up, but still, with all the money he's got, you're not what I'd have expected he'd pick for fun and games. Hah," he shook his head. "That's why you've been so hard to find. Okay, make sure you don't mark her face or hands, and don't touch anything in her purse. Our client wants her IDed right away."

"Before you proceed with your plan to murder and defile me, I believe it is worth pointing out that my companion is Nora Fries," Yukie said, still calm and tranquil. She picked up her tea and drank a swallow, noisy in the quiet café. "That is to say, she is the wife of my employer, Dr. Fries, or Mr. Freeze as he is better known. He will pay you better for her life than whoever sent you will for my death. He will also pay you whatever they are paying you for me."

"Tempting," the leader said after a moment's thought, "but no. That's no way to build up a rep. She'll just have to be collateral damage. Now—."

Yukie interrupted. "You will have very little time to trade on that reputation, because you will not have long to live. I don't know if my murder will cause Slade Wilson even a moment's grief, but you will have injured him in his pride, and that he will not countenance. You may scoff all you please, but not one of you—not one—would dare face him. Instead you came after me. He will make it a point of finding out who killed me and who hired you, and he will not stop until all those responsible are dead. Is your client paying you enough money to make dying worth it?"

She still held her tea cup, and now she took another sip, her eyes going from one man to another. "Yes, I am unnervingly calm. Did you think you were the first to track me down? For that matter, did anyone tell you how I met him? We were both competing in a martial arts championship. I admit I am not the greatest hand-to-hand combat fighter in the world; that distinction belongs to Lady Shiva. I am not even in the top hundred, but I know, by sight and name, everyone who is and none of them are in this room right now."

Now Nora could practically smell the fear sweat on the men. Yukie continued. "I don't even bother telling Slade about incidents like this. I suggest that you walk away now. If you choose not to—there are eight of you to one of me and you have guns where I do not, so clearly this will be a case of self-defense and no jury will convict me."

"You do talk a good game," the leader admitted, "but like you said, we have guns, and then there's Mrs. Fries here. You won't—." He had laid both hands flat on the tabletop.