The Wicked One

Chapter Nine | Gateway, Part Two

"And just what's that supposed to mean?"

"Just know that I did my research before choosing who would take part in my escape. And who knows, live long enough and you might even see it yourself."

"Right..." The thief muttered, already starting to lose interest in the conversation. He moved back to lean against the mass of rubble. He soon found himself distracted with the bodies that littered the ground and it wasn't long before he found himself rifling through their pockets.

"You have got to be kidding me..." Blackfire said with a sigh when the orb took notice of the thief. Red-X, who was busy opening a scientist's wallet, hardly paid her any mind.

"So, this is how the great and terrible master thief makes his living I take it? Rifling the pockets of the dead."

"Oh, please." Red-X scoffed, still digging through the wallet. "When you're this good, you don't need to steal money."

"Well, from what I know of Earth customs, they normally keep their money in those small leather pouches, don't they?"

"Yep," the thief replied as he casually shook out the contents of the wallet and watched as some bills, coins, and several cards fell out from it. "But you'd be surprised what other little goodies you can find in these things. Notes of passwords, photos of family, phone numbers, that sort of thing. But, sometimes, if you're really lucky, you can find what you'd least expect..."

Red-X then reached for something on the ground and picked it up.

"Aha!"

"What? What did you find?" Blackfire asked, the robot edging in closer to the thief's hunched over back.

"Condoms!" Red-X cried out triumphantly, showing the robot his small, square prizes.

"Con-...what's?" Blackfire asked quizzically, the robot edging in closer to the things clasped between the thief's fingers.

"Oh? You mean you don't know?"

"Don't know what?"

"Oh, I see..." A wide smile then grew beneath the master thief's mask. "Well, Blackfire, let me do you a great service and tell you all about these things we call condoms..."

Red-X would be damned if he let a simple collapsing building ruin his fun.

...

Marie lay against the bars as quiet darkness slowly began to enclose her eyes. All of the other children had fallen asleep. Benny was still passed out on the cell floor. The scientist man, head face first on his desk, had fallen asleep hours ago.

The machine that took up most of the giant room hummed soothingly. It reminded Marie of her fish tank back in her room. Thinking of it now calmed her tense body more. It wouldn't be long now until she fell into a deep, calming, sleep...

But, just as Maries eyes began to close, something materialized out of thin air. It flew through the air in the corner of the girl's eyes and hit a series of filing cabinets with a silence shredding crash. At once, all of the children awoke with cries and tears.

"What the-!" the man at the desk cried out, jumping straight up from his seat. Marie watched, her eyes wide open now, as he grabbed something small and metal from a bottom shelf. The young girl instantly recognized it as one of those guns her daddy always carried around.