Chapter Three: Fall and Capture

Chapter Three of The Gamblers

Ace sat on the sofa with his friends and Penny laying over his lap “hang on” Ben swallowed his crisps, he constantly seemed to be eating the things as they all talked about Remy cheating on Penny “wasn’t the Shelbourne where Maggi Drellora was staying?” he asked, Ace smacked his forehead “damnit! Yeah, it was! Do you know what number it was Remy was in?” he said. Penny sighed “little man said 3 oh 8 was room he was in, when finally told truth, he said nothing about old boss lady” she said “That was the room Drellora was in!” Ace said ‘wait, so she was seeing me and Remy? fecking woman’ Ace thought, “shh!” Isabelle hissed as the news came on “listen” she said, the room fell silent as Janice came in and sat down to watch. “And in other news, CEO of the Drellora and sons trading company Maggi Drellora has been reported missing by her husband, along with one of the maids according to him and several guards, the pair of them had stolen several hundred grand from his personal account and their passports are missing, with confirmed reports that the alleged affair was in fact between Maggi Drellora and the French Dublin resident Remy Luc Céline, a cleaning steward working at the Shelbourne confirmed that they both shared the same room the night before last, proof being Remy’s phone found among a pile of Drellora’s socks left behind”. Penny turned the TV off and sighed “little cheater man, f*****g b*****d” she grumbled, Janice cooed and kissed her cheek before heading into the kitchen “don’t worry dear, you’re probably better off without him” she said, “do you mind, the news has other stories you know” Isabelle turned the TV on again. “Left clear instructions for the two executives now joint running the company, and now, our breaking hero news!” everyone perked up for this “Ooh! I bet it’s the Young Justice Organisation again, those guys are really picking up speed!” Isabelle said, ben laughed “nah, it’ll be Captain Cutter and his team up with Black Lightning” he said before stuffing his face again, Ace sighed as the news switched to a scene in America “nope, all wrong, It’s the classics” he smiled.

“Blackjack was on scene in minutes, the villain Desmond Trill was spearheading a raid on New York city banks on a massive heist spree, while Blackjack were able to hold off the criminals aiding Trill, ultimately they lost the battle” everyone fell quiet as they watches facial close ups of Blackjack in his greatest moments, “that’s right ladies and gentleman, it’s a tragic day today as a legend fell in central park, in a final showdown between Trill and Blackjack, Trill activated a bomb which devastated the park and surrounding buildings, Blackjack’s sidekick and son Water Wally now mourns his father knowing both Trill and Blackjack perished in the explosion”. Ace slumped back “no way…” he muttered, “Jesus fecking Christ!” Isabelle cursed as she saw the crater that was central park, nobody talked for ages after Ben turned off the TV, they had all grown up hearing Royal Flush and Blackjack’s adventures, it was a sad thing to lose them, for Ace especially, he idolised Blackjack, his childhood wish was to meet him in person, now he’d never get the chance. Outside Jensen watched from a rooftop opposite Ace’s house “damnit, no sir, people would notice if four kids suddenly disappeared, this kid, Ace, he’s been in the news, he’s an important part of Drellora and son’s Dublin branch” he said, Harold barked down the phone “I don’t care! Soon my research will be complete and I will have no need for this petty identity, some old man clutching at straws, the formula is complete, I only need test subjects for one more experiment before I’m willing to give up my lab” he said. Jensen sighed “yes sir… as far as I know Ace and his sister are meeting the other two at Phoenix Park tomorrow lunch I’ll arrange for the park to be clear for a helicopter pick up” Jensen winced and rubbed his brow “good, be ready, once the kids are in my lab, we’ll have 17 hours until my plans begin to take effect” Jensen tried to think of an excuse to deter the villain from his plans but he hung up before anything worthy came to mind “I’m sorry kid” Jensen muttered “this is not gonna be pretty”.

The next morning Penny and Ace went back to work, the team was a little shaken by the news concerning Maggi but they were fine and they knew the work flow would remain steady, Penny was still down about Remy but it was nothing Ace couldn’t manage to distract her from with paper work, lots and lots of paper work, Ace had been promoted to assistant manager and now had his own office next to McGinnis, lunch time came and for some reason the park was unusually quiet as they sat around the electric heater and ate lunch, Ben and Isabelle both wore hoodies with Blackjack prints on them in ‘honour’ of him. “So, was McGeezer dealing with Drellora’s disappearance well? It must be pretty bad for the company” Isabelle asked, Ace flicked a pebble at her “hey!” she yelped “his name is David McGinnis, and yes, he’s fine, Drellora's right and left hand men run the company now, her son’s will be advising them too, so our work flow won’t suffer for the next few years I don’t recon” he replied, Ace felt uneasy, it was too quiet, only the sound of the wind broke the silence “cripes, why is it so empty today?” Ben asked. Ace shivered and shuffled closer to the heater “don’t know, maybe everyone’s just busy” he said in truth, he didn’t have a very good feeling, something just didn’t sit right, then he heard a helicopter passing over head “brother look! Whirly bird” she chuckled “you’ve been dying to use that ever since you played the Deadpool game” Ace smiled ad looked up, there was indeed a helicopter, but it was just hanging above them, “huh, wonder what they’re up to?” Isabelle stood up as the helicopter began to descend.

Suddenly ropes fell from the helicopter and men dressed in all white came down, everyone scrambled to their feet, “who are these guys?” Ben asked, Ace looked them over as they pulled out guns “oh s**t!” Isabelle threw her hands up, “oh my god, they’re…” Ace noticed the insignia on their coats, “they’re Doctor Toxin’s goons! Run!” Ace pulled Penny with him as they bolted, he heard someone bark “fire!” behind him and his heart stopped, he turned just in time to see the guns being raised and the first trigger pulled. Ace shoved Penny in front of him and yelled “run! Into the trees!”, something hit his leg and he hissed, he looked down to see a dart sticking out of his left calf, the world began to wobble as the other’s stopped, “no! Run!” Ace’s words rolled from his tongue like water as the floor came up to meet him, he saw Penny shot in the shoulder with another dart and Isabelle and Ben bolted into the trees, Ace reached out to Penny but he was scooped up and hung over a shoulder as the world turned black and cold, the last thing he saw was a man standing by Penny, tall, skinny, and wearing a black suit. “Mr O'Connor…” a voice sung in the darkness, Ace moaned and tried to roll over but he found himself unable to move, and he wasn’t lying down, exactly, he cracked his eyes open “ah! Good, finally awake?” the voice stung and Ace winced “no?” a sharp pain blossomed on his cheek and he snapped back into consciousness, standing in front of him from Doctor Toxin, the evil scientist who often attempted to kill Captain Cutter and cease control of the British government “Toxin” Ace growled, he looked around, Penny and the others were strapped to tables like he was, they were slanted so that they were almost standing up. “Good, you still retained most of your memories, do tell me if you find anything amiss in there” Toxin poked Ace’s forehead “good to see you Ace, how’s work going? Hmm?” he asked, Ace glared at him, he knew he shouldn’t be cocky, but he was angry that someone, anyone had kidnapped his sister and friends, “what’s it to you?” he asked back, Toxin chuckled and raised his goggles, “oh, you know, only that you work for my wife” he said, it took him a moment but Ace realised that before him stood Harrold Drellora.

“Mr Drellora!” he gasped, Penny tried to talk, but the gag stopped her from forming any comprehensible words “shush now! You’re all going to want to listen to our little chat” Harrold said as he grabbed Ace by the hair and yanked “this little s**t is the reason why you’re all here, can you guess why?” he asked, Ace’s heart felt like it was in his throat as they shook their heads, Ace looked around, they were in total darkness besides the spotlights on the tables and the Doctor, Harrold sighed “no? Well I’ll tell you, this little s**t only went and screwed my wife!” his calm sadistic demeanour vanished as he roared into Ace’s ear. Penny glared at Toxin “oh no, don’t worry Penny you’re boyfriend still cheated on you with her, but she also had a little on the side with your broth… oh, no wait, he isn’t actually your brother” he laughed, Ace hung his head “I’m sorry!” he said, “I had no idea things would get this bad, besides, I did what I thought was best for everyone” he looked to Harrold “especially Maggi, she came to me for affection and care, something you could never give her” he spat, Harrold roared and began to lay into Ace. Punch after punch Toxin pummelled Ace’s stomach like a boxing bag and he heard a sickening crack when he gave one final right hook to the jaw “she was my wife! Mine! Not yours! You don’t get to mess with My stuff!” he roared, Toxin disappeared into the darkness before a blinding light illuminated the rest of their surroundings, they were in a cave that looked to have been renovated into a lab, on a table on the far side of the room, a grotesque mass of mutated flesh lay motionless “you see this!” Harrold gestured to the body, he reached behind it and picked something up, Ace almost threw up and the rest either did or screamed as Harrold shoved Maggi’s severed head into his face “this is what you made me do!” he threw the head away. “You sick f**k!” Ace growled, Harrold put his goggled back on and Toxin smiled “sick? No, please, I’m insane” he chuckled, his mood swung rapidly as he went from ranting about his troubles finding test subjects for his experiments and a calm smooth voice about how perfect it was this whole affair landed him “four, fresh young bodies to preform one last experiment before I hit the open road! It won’t be long before that fop Captain” Toxin grunted as he heaved machinery around and operated a console “Captain Cutter figures out what’s really going on here and comes to stop me”.

Ace looked around as Toxin worked to strap devices to his and his friends bodies, Penny too, wires and clamps and helmets, injectors and strange machines that sat on their chests “now, you probably wouldn’t understand the science of all this, but as you know my one great weakness is my lack of super powers, so, I’ve been developing different ways to give myself some, you should be thanking me, I’m giving you super powers to test my theories” Toxin burst out laughing as he put on a pair of white rubber gloves and began to type commands into a console on the far side of the room, the machines and devices all began to come to life, “only problem is, none of you will live to use them” he chuckled “oh! I almost forgot, I want you all to say hi to one of my lovely assistants” he clapped twice and another table ways wheeled in, a young girl about Ben’s age was placed next to Ace “this is Tina” Tina screamed into the gag, but it didn’t seem to get any reaction from Toxin, nothing did now, he just muttered as he worked on the machines “alright, we’re all present and ready!” Ace’s heart was beating at a mile a minute now, “this might hurt, just a very, Very great deal” he chuckled “oh f**k it! This is gonna hurt more than you could ever imagine” Toxin smiled as the machines began to build up a hum “so do try not to black out, every minute detail is very important” Toxin grinned and time slowed as Ace watched him flip a switch. What they experienced in the next half an hour, is a pain no other living being could imagine, pain exploded in every way possible in every possible place, It was sheer agony, and most of them blacked out, Tina, Penny and Ben all did within the first minute, but after five minutes, Ace felt the pain subside he looked around and stopped screaming, much to Toxin’s surprise, but then, the pain returned, not in his body, but in his mind, he let out a scream so loud and so blood curdling even Toxin himself was taken aback, he thrashed and jerked and roared and snarled, Ace felt like his soul was mind was being picked apart, like an infinitely intricate tapestry being unthreaded by a billion burning, electrifying, freezing and razor sharp needles.

Long after the other machines had shut themselves down and the others blacked out, Toxin was concerned to find the machine Ace was strapped into still worked it’s art on him, he had no problem watching him suffer of course but it was just… concerning, then he felt it, a presence, something, angry, and scared, and in so much pain! Toxin quickly realised it was Ace; his consciousness was being torn apart and scattered around him. He manually deactivated the machine’s power source but it kept running, its normal blue glow now replaced by a menacing dark purple, “shut it off! Now! This is too dangerous, we cannot risk this much power, it could snap reality!” Toxin worked to dismantle the machine, and with one final, ear piercing scream that penetrated their minds Toxin and his guards freed Ace from the machine, blood ran from his eyes, ears and lips. “Good, now quickly, run the tests before they die” Toxin waved a hand dismissively and walked up the metal stairs to the upper level of the lab, Ace gargled and groaned as he was removed from the table with everyone else and lay on examination benches, “sir, subject 1’s already dead” said one of the assistants, Toxin looked down “Tina? Oh well” he shrugged “get what you can from her, when you’re done, dumb the bodies in the incinerator” he sighed and returned to his work. Suddenly there was a rumble, dust fell from the ceiling as Ace’s eyes cracked open, his vision was blurred, and multi-coloured, he couldn’t make heads or tails of anything, all he saw was a ball of fire, and lots of rubble,  then, gunshots rang out but he barely heard them, a man dressed in an old style sailor’s uniform stood over him, the man turned around In time to catch something and throw it away, then he disappeared from view, slowly Ace’s vision began to go black again. “Captain Cutter!” Toxin held the hero at gunpoint as they circled around each other, Cutter rolled his neck and drew his swords, duel cutlasses and spun them “how did you find me so soon? Unless… Jensen! The traitor!! Does everyone make it their mission to betray me!?” Toxin growled “give it up Drellora, there’s nowhere for you to run” Cutter said “no, no there doesn’t seem to be anywhere to go does there?” Toxin threw the gun away but kept the clip “well” he chuckled, “except for through a rift in space” he laughed, Cutter lunged but Toxin was already gone, disappeared in a flash of light, his attention now turned to the children on the examination tables.

One spark of life snuffed and four others dimming quickly, will London’s legionnaire hero Captain Cutter, a man literally out of time be able to save them? And what lies ahead of Ace and company if they do survive? So many questions, so little time, for already Toxin’s hand has been forced and his plans set into motion, I fear dark times are ahead of us all, Toxin isn’t the worst there is, but he’s not the only Villain out there who’s singing from the same song sheet.