Taylor Hebert Dungeon Girl Part 30 (Patreon)

Danny stepped through the portal on the cupboard and glanced around the lobby of the movie theater. It was an interesting blend of modern and old fashioned that managed to look tasteful rather than soulless and tactless. He smiled as he caught the scent of freshly popped popcorn and real butter. “That smells good.”

“Just wait until you taste it,” Gothic replied with amusement as she skipped over to the counter. “Two popcorns please.”

“Coming right up,” the girl behind the counter replied as she grabbed an empty container and started filling it with the delicious smelling popcorn. “Any idea what you’re watching today?”

“Nope, any suggestions?” Gothic asked curious how interactive the girl would be as she hadn’t really talked to the guy behind the counter when she’d bought her first popcorn.

“Depends, I like vampires and werewolves though there are some amusing cape movies depending on what you’re in the mood for.” She set the first container on the counter then glanced over at Danny. “You’ll probably want to avoid some of the more amusing movies if you’re here with your father, but we have a lot of choices.”

“Probably,” Gothic agreed, not seeing a reason to correct the girl because she wouldn’t mind having Danny for a father. “Any martial arts movies that are actually decent?”

The girl nibbled on her lip as she worked on filling up the second container with popcorn from the old fashioned popcorn machine. “Ninja Mobsters is a rather amusing flick where everyone knows kung fu.”

“Everyone?” Gothic asked with amusement.

“The old lady at the market, the pizza delivery boy, one of the cab drivers, the over the top Italian mob enforcers,” she dropped her voice to a whisper as she glanced at Danny who was looking over the posters, “the strippers.”

“Ah, one of those.” Gothic made a mental note to check it out with Taylor when she had a chance.

The girl smiled as she set the second container on the table then grabbed the butter ladle and poured a generous amount of butter over the popcorn. “You could also try Street Ninja, it’s a touch brutal, a little on the short side and the main character is a prick, but the fight scenes are excellent.”

“Happy ending?”

“For a given value of happy,” the girl replied with amusement, not wanting to ruin the ending. “What do you want to drink?”

“Root beer,” Gothic replied as she turned to look at Danny. “What do you want to drink?”

“Coke is fine,” Danny replied as he looked away from the old black and white poster about a mad scientist villain that had a strange raygun that could swap minds. “Which movie are we watching?”

“I was thinking Street Ninja. It’s supposed to have decent fight scenes and it’s short which means you’ll be able to get back to work in time for your meeting without having to walk out during the middle of a movie.”

“Works for me,” Danny agreed as he walked over to collect his drink.

The girl smiled at Danny and Gothic as they collected their drinks and popcorn. “You’ll want theater number seven, have fun.”

“Thanks,” Gothic replied as she headed for the hallway that led toward the theaters. “It’s nice that we don’t have to wait in line.”

“Or pay for the popcorn,” Danny agreed as he followed her down the hall. “At least it should be good for a laugh.”

Gothic snickered as she held the door open for Taylor’s father. “That’s the theory.”

0o0o0

Lisa looked up as Rachel walked into the room with her dogs looking happier than she’d ever seen her and carrying a large tinfoil wrapped package. “Something happen?”

“I ran into Gothic at Charlie’s, she fixed Angelica’s eye,” Rachel replied as she headed for the kitchen to put the leftovers in the fridge.

Lisa turned her attention toward the happy looking terrier, sure enough both her eyes looked fine. “Any problems?”

“No, she likes dogs,” Rachel replied as she put the tinfoil wrapped hamburger in the fridge.

Alec glanced over at Rachel’s dogs then went back to playing his video game.

Lisa shook her head. “I meant, why do you have so much hamburger?”

“The diner got attacked by some ABB idiots last night and they had to close early.”

“Was anyone hurt?” Lisa asked, trying to get enough information that her power didn’t go crazy trying to piece things together without enough facts.

“Just the thugs, one of the dockworkers was there,” Rachel replied as she walked back out into the living room and sat down on the couch.

“Ah, that explains it,” Alec agreed, thinking some of the stories he’d heard about the dockworkers.

Rachel nodded. “Charlie sold the diner but the new owner likes dogs so we should still be able to get leftovers.”

“Good,” Alec muttered, he liked Rachel a lot more when her dogs were happy.

“What was Gothic doing there?” Lisa asked, curious about the possible trump that had helped them out of the mess with the Empire and Merchants.

“She was fixing someone’s arm,” Rachel absently replied as she scratched Brutus behind his ears.

“Without Panacea?” Lisa asked intently.

Rachel shrugged. “I didn’t see her, why?”

“I’m just trying to figure out the extent of her powers incase we have to fight them.”

Alec snorted. “Considering what they did to Hookwolf, I’d rather not.”

“Same,” Lisa agreed as her cell phone rang with the boss’s ringtone. ‘Great, just what I need.’ She pulled her phone out of her pocket and answered it. “Boss.”

Coil said, “I need you to find out more information about Neverland’s team.”

“What type of information do you want?” Lisa asked warily, knowing he was going to ask her to do something incredibly stupid.

“The works, civilian identities, powers, weak points and anything we can use as leverage. You have until tomorrow.”

Lisa sighed as Coil hung up on her. “Fuck!”

“Trouble?” Alec asked.

“The Boss wants us to get more information about Neverland’s group.”

Alec raised his eyebrows as he turned to look at Lisa. “I saw what they did to Hookwolf and the rest of the gangs, no hesitation, no nothing, fuck that.”

Rachel shook her head. “Gothic healed my dogs.”

Lisa shivered as she thought about the fight between the Empire and the Merchants that Neverland’s crew had cleaned up. Alec was right, they’d dropped the various gang members without any hesitation or remorse. Sadly not doing the job would cause Coil to screw with them or kill them depending on how things went. “We’re going to have to come up with a plan that doesn’t get us electrocuted or dead with a bullet in the back of our heads from the Boss.”

Alec snorted. “Easy, we tell them about the Boss and let them deal with him. I like the paycheck but they play for keeps.”

“So does Coil,” Lisa muttered.

“Coil?” Alec asked warily as he hit the pause button.

Lisa sighed. “I wasn’t supposed to mention that.”

“Grue isn’t going to be happy,” Alec muttered, thinking about everything he’d heard about Coil and his mercenaries.

“Considering he recruited me at gunpoint, I’m not a fan.”

“Do we have a plan?” Alec asked, thinking about ways to permanently deal with his soon to be ex-boss. He wasn’t terribly picky about employers but he drew the line when they started sending him after trumps that had no problem lighting people up like a Christmas tree.

“Not yet, but I’m working on it.”

Rachel spoke up, “I have Gothic’s number, we could just call them.”

“That could work,” Alec agreed.

Rachel handed Lisa her phone. “Last number.”

“Thanks,” Lisa replied as she scrolled down Rachel’s rather short contact list. ‘Let’s hope this works.’ She pushed the button and brought her phone up to her ear.

0o0o0

Danny snorted as he watched the protagonist pick yet another fight that could have been avoided if he’d had half a brain. “Yeah, this is just painful.”

“At least the fighting is good,” Gothic whispered as she watched the so called hero grab a pool cue and start laying into the bikers.

Danny shook his head. “I’m not an expert but if he’d done that in a dockworker bar, he’d have been knifed or shot and tossed in the bay.”

“Point…” Gothic trailed off as her phone vibrated. She turned and looked at the doors to make sure there wasn’t an usher intent on screaming at her for answering her phone then pulled it out of her pocket. She glanced at the caller ID then answered it, “Rachel?”

“Is this Gothic?” Lisa asked hopefully.

“Yes, why do you have Rachel’s phone?” Gothic asked warily.

“She let me borrow it. I’m Tattletale.”

Gothic relaxed as she realized that Rachel wasn’t in trouble. “From the other night? What do you need?”

Lisa sighed. “We’re in a bit of a bind with our former boss and was hoping you could help.”

“I’m listening,” Gothic replied as she pulled her elemental pistol out of her pocket as she glared at the protagonist on the screen. He was fighting two rather cute waitresses that were wielding wine bottles with narrow necks in an attempt to keep the asshole from clubbing them with his pool cue.

“I’m going to assume you looked us up after the fight, which means you know we’re not heroes.”

“You helped with the Merchants and the Empire so you can’t be all bad, but to be fair, we knew you were villains during the fight, Grue’s power is rather distinctive, to say nothing of Rachel’s dogs.”

Lisa sighed as she realized Gothic wasn’t lying. “You just let us pretend to be heroes because it was funny?”

“Pretty much.” Gothic frowned as the protagonist managed to break one of the thick wine bottles with a glancing blow from his pool cue. “What the fuck?”

“Something wrong?” Lisa asked warily.

“Sorry, this movie sucks,” Gothic lined up her shot and shot the screen. She blinked as her blast of lightning went into the screen and struct the protagonist in the back, sending him crashing into the bar twitching as his muscles spasmed. “Huh, that’s cool.”

Danny winced as one of the waitresses hit the guy over the head with her wine bottle, sending him unconscious. “Yeah, that probably wrecked the plot.”

“What happened?” Lisa asked.

“The movie just got a lot better. Sorry, you were asking for help, how can I help?”

“Our boss wants us to find out information on Neverland’s group, I’d rather not get hit with lightning or shot in the back of the head, so we’re trying to find a workaround.”

Gothic shook her head. “We’re unlikely to shoot you in the back of the head.”

“No, but Coil is if we don’t come back with enough information on you and Neverland.”

“That does seem to be a bit of a problem,” Gothic admitted.

Lisa bit back the urge to say ‘You think?’ as she needed their help if she wanted to get out of this mess alive. “Can you help take him down?”

“How long do you have?” Gothic asked, not sure how she was supposed to find a villain the PRT had never even seen.

“I’m supposed to let him know what I’ve found tomorrow.”

“That’s not a lot of time but it could be worse,” Gothic admitted as watched the protagonist get interrogated by a sexy biker girl.  

“Does that mean you can help?” Lisa asked, trying not to sound as desperate as she felt.

“I can’t find the guy but I might know someone that can if you have a number we can reach him at.”

Lisa shook her head. “His cell is tinkertech.”

“If it comes down to it, I’m betting on my tinker. I’ll give him a call then I’ll talk to Neverland and we’ll see if we can figure out how we’re going to deal with your ex-boss.”

“That’s it?” Lisa asked, a touch surprised that they were going to help.

“Sure, that’s what heroes do. We help people that need it.” Gothic winced as she saw an usher heading toward them. “I’ve got to go, someone complained about the cell phone, text me his number.” She glanced around the empty theater. ‘Right, probably just a dungeon feature.’

“Sure,” Lisa replied, trying not to focus on figuring out which movie theater she was in as she didn’t want to waste her power on it.

The usher shouted at her, “No cell phones!”

“I’ll call you when I know more, say twenty minutes.” Gothic ended the call and stuck it in her pocket.

Danny hid his smirk as he turned to look at the usher. “I’m trying watch the movie, stop harassing my daughter and get lost.”

The usher sputtered, “B-but she’s using a cell phone!”

“And you’re shouting,” Danny replied sternly, trying not to crack up as the man sputtered then turned around and stalked out.

“So much for a nice relaxing day at the movies, Dad,” Gothic added unable to stop smiling.

“What’s up? I only caught about a third of that conversation.”

“Basically some small time villains need help to deal with their sociopathic Bond Villain style boss.”

“It might be a trap,” Danny pointed out.

Gothic shook her head. “It’s possible but I doubt it, considering we’ve ran into them before. Besides, I’m not planning on meeting with them alone.”

“Good,” Danny agreed as he stood up. “Let’s get out of here before the usher comes back with a broom or something.”

“Sounds good,” Gothic replied as she picked up her half eaten container of popcorn and headed for the exit. “Hopefully Kevin has some ideas how to trace Coil’s number.”

“I wouldn’t be surprised,” Danny agreed as he followed her out.

0o0o0

Armsmaster glared at the technician. “You’re telling me that someone dropped off a tinkertech device that makes a metal that is superconducting if you put it in the most basic fridge and you didn’t stop them from leaving?”

“Legally we can’t…” the thirty something technician trailed off under Armsmaster’s furious glare.

One of the other technicians spoke up, “If it makes you feel better he gave the device to you and the metal and chemicals needed are stupidly cheap.”

Armsmaster blinked. “Me? Did you at least get a number for the tinker?”

“He gave us a card with a number.” He handed Armsmaster the business card with Gothic’s name and number on it.

“Gothic? As in our local power copying trump? Who in the world did she copy?” Armsmaster took a step back from the device when he realized the only known tinker that she could have copied in the city that might be able to build such a device was Leet. “Did Gothic have a guess who she copied?”

“She was a He and was a teenager or maybe early twenties. It might have been Kid Win or it might have been Leet.”

One of the other technicians subconsciously made a warding sign as he’d worked with several of Leet’s devices before. “Fuck, let’s hope it was a new trigger or someone just passing through.”

“Did she at least mention when she’d copied his powers?” Armsmaster inquired intently, not caring what Gothic’s current gender was and hoping he could use the information to pick Leet up for questioning.

“No, he mentioned the unwritten rules and not wanting to unmask anyone.” The guy shrugged. “I just test things.”

Armsmaster scowled as he looked at the suspiciously simple looking machine. “Any harmful radiation?”

The oldest technician snorted. “One of the first things we checked.”

“Both the box and the material,” one of the other techs piped up before Armsmaster could ask another stupid question.

“Did you look inside of it?” Armsmaster asked warily.

“No, we didn’t want to risk damaging it.” He might have taken a panel off if it hadn’t been sealed but breaking seals on tinkertech devices was a good way to break them or get broken yourself.

One of the younger techs spoke up, “We were planning on calling Dragon to see if she could reverse engineer it before Gothic mentioned he was giving it to you.”

“Do you have any other essential tests or should I call her?” Armsmaster asked.

“Nothing that can’t wait,” the senior tech admitted.

“In that case, work on testing the material, I’ll talk to Dragon,” Armsmaster replied as he used his suit’s communication package to call Dragon.

0o0o0

“So you’re telling me we have to find a Bond villain’s super secret lair and defeat them before the crack of dawn or Tattletale and her friends get cement shoes or a lead prefrontal lobotomy?” Kevin asked as he absently scrolled through his crafting menu with his free hand.

“That’s about the long and short of it,” Gothic admitted reluctantly as she flopped down on the couch, half wishing Danny hadn’t left because the house felt so empty with just her there.

“Eh, finding the place is easy, getting through his mercenaries and traps might be a bit more problematic.”

“How are you going to find it?” Gothic asked.

“I don’t need to find it, I already know where it is or at least I’m assuming I know where his base is. I mean I guess there could be multiple Bond villain lairs in town, but I seriously doubt it.”

“How did you find it?”

“I have a trojan installed on the City planning department’s computers that keeps me updated on all new construction and all the changes made, legally and non. I put that in years ago when I was thinking of robbing banks before I realized how stupid that would be. Still, it lets us know when they are doing road construction etc so we can plan our amazing escapes. It also makes it very obvious when someone is building secret lairs.”

“And this is the first we’ve heard about it?” Gothic asked in disbelief.

“I know a lot of stuff you don’t,” Kevin replied with a shrug she couldn’t see over the phone. “It’s just never come up.”

“OK, you may have a point there,” she admitted. “Still, it's a huge cool secret, I’d think you’d at least brag a bit about it.”

“I got over bragging about stuff like that after the fifth, no sixth time it exploded in my face because someone used it to trap us,” he replied.

“Seriously?”

“Yeah,” he assured her. “Bragging should only be done after you win, and leaving out any details that would help someone stop you from doing it again in the future.”

“You stole that from the Evil Overlord’s List didn’t you?”

“Yep,” he admitted with a grin she could hear. “There’s some surprisingly good advice on that list.”

“Like don’t turn into a giant snake?” she teased.

“I actually invented a device that could do that.”

“Now I know you’re joking,” she said with a giggle.

“I was trying to invent an instant slurpee machine, don’t ask. My power not only hates me personally, it also likes to taunt me.” He sighed. “I really wish I was joking about that.”

“Ever hire a five year old boy to search your plan for flaws?” she asked curiously.

“No, a ten year old girl, she goes by CutiePie3x23 on the Cape Barbie forum,” he replied. “She is scarily accurate on how city hall will respond to any situation.” 

“You hired an underage girl to foolproof your villainous plans?” she asked in disbelief. “That is seriously corrupting a minor.”

“You’ve never heard the mouth on that girl. If there was any corrupting to be done it went the other way. Plus, I paid her in codes for the game. Randal still teases me about the huge amount of toys I’ve amassed getting her those codes.”

Gothic shook her head. “Yeah, we really need to get Neverland to make a dungeon based on that game.”

“No thanks, that place is a candy coated hell filled with sparkly magic girls that cuss like dock workers and fling attacks like confetti. I tried playing the game once… out of curiosity. I lasted all of five seconds as a nine year old girl told me I went down faster than the local priest and her last babysitter while teabagging my corpse.”

“Yeah, that’s disturbing, on so many levels,” Gothic complained.

“Exactly,” Kevin agreed. “Magic girls are scary.”

“And on less disturbing topics… how do we handle Coil?”

“I can turn him into a giant snake,” Kevin offered.