3 Hitting the Big Time

Luke awoke to the sound of his phone ringing. The sun was almost down now, but he was still exhausted. As he shuffled out of his bed and to the phone, he held onto hope that it wasn't a call for a job. He really wasn't trying to do much today.

He hobbled to the phone and slowly picked it up to answer.

"Yes?"

"Why Luke darling, what's got you feeling so down today?" A friendly and familiar voice said on the other end.

Luke smiled a bit to himself. He hadn't talked to his friend in quite some time. He would never tell Vicky, but he usually preferred the conversations he'd had with someone with at least a modicum of class that he tried to reflect. He could actually afford to be a little posh these days, might as well show it off when he could.

"My apologies Fran, I just woke up about thirty seconds ago. How have you been?" He said, bringing his uptown accent out.

"My my, you certainly slept in late today. It's not good for you dear. The early bird gets the worm, you know. I've been fine. Sunny has kept me quite busy as of late, maybe you've seen my work in the papers."

Luke had, of course. It was all the tabloids could focus on these days. They were filled with tales of the mysterious deaths of certain lower members of the noble class by an unknown woman of the night, whom they were beginning to refer to as "The White Widow" in some articles.

"I have indeed," he replied, "though I think it's best to maybe limit your exposure a bit. We wouldn't want to have a full-blown panic on our hands. You know how fast stories like these can travel."

Fran chuckled. "Please dear, we both know that no one actually believes half of the things that they read in those papers. Still though, it is a nice bit of fun to see my work is at least appreciated on slow news days. That business aside though, I was meaning catch up with you. Are you busy this evening?"

Luke thought it over. His head was still foggy from just waking up, and he was still tired from the business that he spent the entire previous evening attending to. He didn't even know what time it was.

"I'm not sure what exactly I'm doing, but I will most likely be at the club all night. Would you like to come in and have a glass of wine with me?"

Fran laughed a little bit again. "Well that all depends dear, is it one of Vicky's dreadful rave nights tonight?"

This time Luke laughed as well. She could find enjoyment in Vicky's brand of music. She had been hearing it for years, after all. It wasn't all noise once you got into it. There were very complex and enjoyable melodies and sometimes amazing vocal work as well. She knew however that to those of a somewhat more refined taste (or 'stuck-up snobs' as Vicky referred to them as) the music may be a bit much.

"No, tonight we have a jazz trio that's come from Endlane to play at a few places around the city. They are quite enjoyable from what I've heard. I think it will be more than fitting to a woman with tastes as refined as yours," he replied, adding a bit of a joking tone in the last sentence.

"Mock if you like Luke," Fran said in a fake pouting tone, "just because I don't exactly fit in with the stuffy upper-class of my marks all the time it doesn't mean that, through my work here, their fancies haven't at least rubbed off on me a little bit. Either way though, I would love to come. I'm not sure exactly when I'll be able to make it down there, but I'll phone ahead. I still need to get ready for the evening and you know how that can be sometimes."

"Sounds wonderful, I'll see you then. We have some catching up to do. It's been far too long since we've had a chance to share war stories as it were after all."

With that, they said a few pleasant goodbyes and Luke hung up.

He moved slowly across the massive apartment, his mind finally starting to fully clear as he woke up. He shuffled into the kitchen and turned on the coffee maker. The day could never fully begin until he had a chance to get his coffee, no matter what time it was.

While he waited for the magic caffeine elixir to brew, he headed into his room to dress for the evening. She wasn't feeling a full suit again. Maybe a nice vest and shirt combo, something simple but stylish. If he knew Fran as well as he thought he did, he had no doubt little-miss-tall-blonde-and-eloquent would be dressed to impress. He figured he could at least try and compete.

Later, as he sipped his coffee and felt truly awake for the first time since he hobbled out of bed for the phone, it rang again. With a bit more pep in his step, he reached across the marble island in her kitchen and grabbed it from its receiver.

Before he could greet whoever it was on the other end, the instantly recognizable voice of her roommate and best friend started speaking.

"Yo Luke, what's up?"

Luke smiled without realizing it, as he often did when talking to Vicky.

"Nothing much, just enjoying my morning coffee. I also just talked to Fran, she's stopping in tonight to catch up."

Vicky chuckled, "Morning coffee, eh? Have you seen what time it is? Can you believe that people say I'm the lazy one? It'll be nice to see Franny prissy-pants again. I feel like it's been forever since she has so kindly graced us with her presence."

Luke frowned. "I don't know why you have to be like that sometimes. You know she isn't like the rest of them. It's all a part of her cover. You act like she is some snobby noble or something."

"Look," Vicky started, "it's not that I don't like her or anything like that. It's just sometimes I feel like she looks down on us, ya know? Like spending all that time with those noble pricks has made her actually think she's one of them. I feel like she's changed a lot from when we first met her."

Luke sighed. "Why, Vicky De Santos, of all the people to pass judgment on others, I would hardly think that you would be one to do it so freely. Never mind all of that though, what's up?"

Vicky paused for a few seconds before continuing. "It's about Al. Lisa's here and she says Al never came home last night. We were wondering if you had seen him at all. We've been calling around all day and no one's heard from him."

Luke was happy. Vicky was taking care of it just like she said she would. He hoped everything had been going well so far.

"No, I can't say that I have. The last I spoke with him was yesterday afternoon. Did he not show up at the club last night?"

"No," Vicky started, and then saying as if she had moved her head away from the phone to someone in the background, "He said she hasn't heard from her Liz, we'll have to keep checking."

Then she was back. "Keep your eyes open either way, Lisa is getting worried. Oh, also, before I forget, Auntie is coming in tonight. She wants to talk to both of us, she says it's important so you should hurry up and head down here. I'm not sure when she's going to be here."

Luke wasn't as excited as he might usually have been. When it came to talking with Sunny as of late, 'something important' usually meant another person needed to be disposed of, and often with a deal of urgency and tact involved. They had already done what was requested of them the night before. Was it too much to ask for a night off after that? Fran was coming in, and he had made plans to visit with her. Although, if it were something important, she would most likely be able to help as well, so at least there was that.

Luke wasn't ever really in much of a position to deny a request from Sunny, not that he would even if he could. He still felt that he owed Sunny a great deal, and would help out whenever needed, despite occasionally being exhausted.

"Okay. I'll be down there as soon as I get dressed. I'll see you in a little bit."

With that, he hung up and took a nice, slow sip of his coffee, hoping that he wasn't in for another long night.

As Luke was getting dressed for the evening downtown, on the upper east side of Beacon, a tall and beautiful woman sat in a high-class apartment, doing the same. Francois Bianchi had originally planned on dressing up, something that she had become quite accustomed to over the last five years. After reminding herself that all of the pomp and circumstance was just another part of her disguise, she decided to go with something simple. She was a downtown woman living an uptown life after all, and she still tried to hold on to her inner-city roots whenever she was off duty as much as she could.

She was born with the name Jessica Dunsmore, which she always hated, and raised the same as many others in the lower noble classes. Her family motto was essentially to always aspire to be greater, but at the same time, to know your place within the ranks of society. She always hated it, but went along with it for her uptight parent's sake.

As a teenager, she would often sneak out at night and head downtown to go "slumming" as her so-called friends used to refer to it. It was among the carefree common people that she felt like she truly belonged. They were nice, most of them anyway, and they never passed judgment on someone based solely on who their family was or how many credits they had. Everything was going well, until shortly after her sixteenth birthday, when she learned that what she thought was food poisoning ended up being morning sickness. Everything changed after that.

Her parents were livid and demanded that she terminate the pregnancy immediately, claiming that it would damage her family's social standing, which they had worked for generations to get, beyond repair. When she refused, her parents cast her out. They still had her little sister to carry on in her stead, and couldn't be bothered with such an unruly older child and the scandal that would come with her potential offspring.

At first, she thought things would be okay. She had friends, after all. She thought that despite their occasional snobbishness, they were still good people who cared about her. She was wrong. After being kicked out of her house, she was a social pariah among the group that she'd grown up with. They wouldn't even talk to her, raising their noses to the sky and not even stopping to address her when she saw them on the streets. She began to hate nobility even more after that. She moved away from the rich area of Beacon then, trying to find a job downtown with people that she could actually stand to be around.

She spent a few months as a model after being 'discovered' by well-known fashion photographer, Dian, as she was walking down Main Street one morning. It was through that job that she met a noble by the name of Eric Stolheim. He was nice enough, and could at least provide her with a stable life for her soon-to-be-born child. She even thought that one day she could grow to love him.

Unfortunately, she was wrong again. Jessica eventually came to a realization that most of us come to when we spend enough time around a person. She got to know who he really was behind all of his airs and social standing chivalry nonsense. He was a hurtful and abusive monster, who was only interested in her as a trophy for his hand to show off at parties, seen and not heard, or else. Luckily for her, she learned quickly how to use makeup to cover up her bruises and occasional cuts for social events.

One day things went too far. He was drunk and in another one of his moods again and she was trying to avoid him as much as she could. She was sitting on the living room couch, minding her business, when he came staggering toward her with a bottle of whiskey held up shakily in his hand.

It started with just a passing statement.

"You know once you have that thing, you're going to give it up right away. You're lucky I happen to believe in the sanctity of life in all of The Empress kingdoms, or this would have already been dealt with." Cold venom dripped out with each word.

She turned quickly to him, standing up. "That was never the deal! You said it could be ours and that you would help me take care of him. Why do you think I'm even here in the first place?" She screamed at him.

He let out a dark and twisted laugh. "I changed my mind. Maybe one day if you're lucky, you can bear my children and actually earn your keep around here. You're already lucky enough that I even let you stay here. You should remember that before you start mouthing off."

She got right in his face, she had taken just about enough abuse from him.

"Fuck you." She said simply, staring him right in the eyes.

He scowled. "How dare you! You worthless little whore! You seem to be forgetting your place. You will apologize this instant and then head into the bedroom for your punishment."

He got closer to her with each word, backing her into the edge of the couch and getting his face closer and closer to hers.

She wasn't going to take it anymore, not tonight. She did the first thing that came to her mind, and spat in his face. He took a slight step back and let out a low growl.

"You stupid little bitch!"

Then before she had a chance to react, he hit her in the head with the bottle, breaking it and knocking her to the floor. She tried to move, but he began kicking her over and over in the stomach. When he was finally tired out, she was shaking and crying on the floor.

He spat on her and then as he was walking away said "I'll have one of the drivers take you to the hospital. Hopefully, this was a good learning experience." She didn't hear it though, she had already passed out.

When she woke up she was sitting in a hospital bed. Her head was on fire and it hurt to breathe. A nurse was staring down at her.

"I'm not sure what happened to you miss, but the driver who brought you here said you took quite a tumble. You are lucky to be alive." She said with a sad smile. "I have some terrible news for you though. The damage was extensive and there were a few complications. We couldn't save the baby. I'm so sorry."

She couldn't put it together at first. Her head was killing her, and it took some time for the message the nurse had given her to connect. Once it did, she was broken. She couldn't think, she couldn't speak, and she never cried. Any sadness quickly turned into a deep hatred inside her. All she could do was scream. The nurse tried to comfort her, but she was pushed away, and eventually left Jessica to herself.

Later that night, she managed to get up and check herself out of the hospital, despite the person at the front desk warning her that it was too soon to go. She didn't care. She had something that she had to do. She managed to walk all the way to Eric's large estate from the hospital. It took almost two hours but she never noticed. Her mind was set on one thing only.

The guards recognized her and let pass through the gate without a word. She walked inside and began her search. She found Eric passed out with a bottle next to him on his bed. With a twisted smile, she picked up the bottle, and then in one swift motion, slammed it down on his head with as much force as she had. As it shattered, he began to stir. She didn't stop there though, she took what was left of the neck of the bottle and started thrusting it into him as fast and as many times as she could, laughing to herself the entire time.

When the deed was done there wasn't much left of him that was even recognizable. She slumped down from the bed onto the floor, leaving the bottle's neck stuck into his chest. As she sat there, soaked in his blood, her mind started coming back to her, and she began to realize the full extent of what she had done. She had murdered a noble, and not just a lowborn one either. Her survival instincts took over, and she ran out of the back of the house and hopped the fence, running as fast as she could into the night.

She remembered hearing about a person who could fix things from Eric once. Someone had been extorting him and he called a woman named Sunny Morella to make it all go away. That person was never heard from again. She went with him to meet with her, and remembered where the place was, so she made her way there as fast as she could.

As dawn arrived, she finally reached Sunny's office. After explaining to her what had happened in detail, everything had finally caught up with her and she broke down, sobbing into the desk. Sunny came up to her and gave her a deep hug.

"I'm so sorry sweetie. I never knew how much of a monster he was. I promise I'll take care of it. You won't ever have to worry about it again."

Jessica buried her had into the shorter woman's shoulder, crying heavily, finally having someone who cared, and some good luck after everything.

"Dry your eyes, honey," Sunny said, giving her a warm smile, "Tears are for the weak. You are not weak, never forget that."

The next morning, just as Sunny promised, no guards came from her. Somehow the official report came out saying that Eric was found dead from an apparent suicide. It was a revelation that shocked the public, with vigils being held for one of the kindest nobles in Beacon and people openly weeping, regretting the sudden and tragic loss of such a great and influential person.

After she healed, she asked Sunny if there was anything that she could do to repay her. Sunny knew about her deep hatred for nobility and the brutality that she was capable of, so she made Jessica an offer to get back at the nobles for shunning her. It was an offer she accepted without even thinking twice. She was sent in to gather information, use blackmail and even kill when needed.

So, she died her naturally red hair blonde, changed her name to something that she felt sounded fancy, and started her life anew. Jessica was weak, a failure, and couldn't protect herself. Jessica was dead, and Francois Bianchi rose from the ashes. Francois would be cool, confident, and wouldn't take shit from anyone. Francois would have it going on, whatever 'it' was, and would be the most radiant person in any room, bar none. Francois would be flirty when necessary, but deadly when needed. Francois would be the perfect disguise.

It had been over five years since that day, and as much as she despised the high society persona that she had to adopt to do her job, she loved every minute of her duties and did them with both pride and joy. With every noblewoman or man that she made disappear (sometimes leaving them where she killed them, leading to her infamous tabloid moniker) she felt a little more alive inside. The credits were just an added benefit to the job. She truly thought that she was doing good work in ridding Beacon of its disgusting ruling class.

She had made quick friends with the slightly older Luke and Vicky. They all were broken people in one way or another, and that bonded them together. They were her only real friends, as far as she was concerned. She had many associates from her double life, but they were nothing but cover, and for the most part, she couldn't care less about them.

When she was around Luke, Vicky, and Sunny, she could really be herself again, something that she didn't get much of a chance to do often. She cherished their time together, especially with Luke, and would try and arrange them whenever she had free time. They had a little bit of a fling a year before, and although it was never serious, she still enjoyed it. She was especially looking forward to tonight. It had been weeks since they had a chance to catch up, and she had some great stories to tell.

After dressing up in a basic black and purple shirt and vest combo, Luke made his way into the club just after the moon had risen. The place was empty, except for the figure of two people behind the shaded glass door of the office. Lisa was nowhere to be found. As he opened the door to the office, he was greeted by the sight of Vicky sitting behind the desk, lighting a cigarette. She had a smile on her face and looked like she was in mid-conversation with the other person in the room, her surrogate aunt, Sunny Morella.

Vicky whistled at her. "Wow, look who's all dressed up tonight. You got a date coming that I don't know about or something there, mister fancy? I thought you only had eyes for me? Maybe I'm losing my touch."

Luke blushed a bit. It was true that he once had a large crush on Vicky, but never acted on it. Vicky knew about it, and would constantly poke fun at him for it, much to his displeasure. Before he had a chance to respond though, Sunny spoke up.

"Oh hush-up Vicks, I think he looks very handsome. Besides, don't you remember me telling you that there doesn't have to be a reason to want to look good? Sometimes looking good can make you feel good, and there's nothing wrong with any person, woman or man, wanting to dress up a bit now and then."

Luke came up to her and gave her a hug before sitting down in the chair next to her across the desk from Vicky. "Thank you, Auntie. It's not my fault that this ruffian has no taste outside of the clothes that I dress her in."

He looked over to Vicky who was wearing a simple white silk button-up with tight white pants.

"Maybe someday you will thank me for it."

Vicky just smiled at him. "I doubt it. Besides, I always look good, no matter what I'm wearing. Although I'm sure you already know that, don't you? All that's beside the point though, wait until you hear what Auntie has to say. Your day is about to get a whole lot better."

They both turned to look at Sunny expectantly. She cleared her throat and began to speak up.

"Thank you, Vicky. I'm glad that you're excited. Basically, to make a long story short, I'm so happy with the way that things have been going with the trade through here, and so proud of how well you two have been doing, that I've decided that it's time to step things up a bit. I've got a new supplier in Endlane who has a lot of product to move, but no clients. I offered him our services, at a very large markup of course. Things are about to get very busy around here. The best part is that I want you and Vicky to run the entire thing. We'll split it evenly instead of the ten percent that I've been giving you. That, plus the regular income that you two make from this place should lead to quite a bit of wealth coming to both of you."

Luke processed everything that was being told to him, and the more he put it together, the larger the smile on his face became. This was finally it. It was time to start making some real money. He had an idea of how much Sunny was making off of the ninety percent of the usual take from the drugs that they were running, and it was no small sum. Getting half of that would make both and Vicky and him wealthier than they could have ever dreamed. He couldn't wait to get started.

He wrapped Sunny in a hug. "Thank you so much, Auntie. I promise we won't let you down. There aren't words for how much we appreciate this."

Sunny just smiled and returned the hug. "Of course you won't let me down. I would never have given this to you two if I didn't have the utmost trust in both of you. We are all about to start making serious money, and I know that you two will make me even prouder than I already am to call you my family. I'll still need you to take care of the occasional problem for me though, of course, if the need arises. I trust you both more than just about any person else around and I know you can get the job done."

The worry about taking another job was gone from Luke's mind. He could do anything for Sunny now, knowing just how many credits she stood to make over the coming months. He would be ready to do anything that Sunny could ask of him and he would do it with a smile. Things were finally about to start happening for him and Vicky. It's what they had always dreamed of since they were kids. They were about to finally make it.

Before more hugs and kind words could be exchanged, there was a knock at the door from one of the security people.

"Excuse me, but Miss Francois is here to see you, Luke." The bulky man said through the door.

Luke cocked his head for a second and blinked. "Well, that was much earlier than I thought. The band isn't showing up for another half-hour. Either way, you'll have to excuse me, Auntie. Thank you again."

He stood up and as he was walking to the door, Sunny got up as well.

"I think I should be off anyway. I've got some business to attend to back at the office. You kids have a good night. We'll get into more details about this tomorrow sometime."

She hugged Vicky and gave her a kiss on the forehead, and then walked out into the club with Luke to see Fran standing in a basic (for her usual attire) but beautiful white evening dress that had a few sparkles on it.

Sunny walked over to her and gave her a small peck on both cheeks. "Fran my dear, it's great to see you. You've been doing great work up there in high society. How have you been?"

Fran returned the pecks and smiled at her savior. "I've been wonderful, although quite a bit busy as you know." She chuckled at that. "I'm just here to catch up with Luke over a few glasses of wine. It's been far too long."

Sunny smiled at them both. "Well then, don't let me stop you. I was just heading out. I may have a new job for you here in a couple of weeks but I'm not sure yet. I'll let you know. Until then, have a wonderful evening. I'm sorry I've kept you so busy that you haven't had much time to come in."

With that, she made her exit. Luke and Fran then took a seat at one of the tables that had been quickly prepared by one of the club's waiters, who was already bringing a bottle of red wine and two glasses.

After hugs were exchanged across the table and the first sips of wine were had, Fran was the first to speak.

"So darling, how have you been? It's been too long."

Luke smiled warmly, taking a long sip of his wine and enjoying the taste. It was an excellent vintage, something that Sunny had seen to personally when choosing the stock for the club.

"To be honest, I've had a long week, but things are starting to pick up after meeting with Sunny, especially now that you're here too. How about yourself?"

Fran returned the warm smile. "I've been pretty good. Busy as we discussed earlier, but it's been quite a bit of fun. You should have seen the guy I just finished a few days ago. The look on his face when he realized that it was all over was too priceless. I guess money can't buy everything."

They laughed and continued sharing stories over multiple glasses of wine. After a while, the club opened and people started filling it. Eventually, the band set up and began to play. They both were a little tipsy by that point, but they both enjoyed the music and even had a few dances to different songs. At the end of the night, Fran decided to head home with Luke and Vicky stayed behind to close up. All in all, it was a good night that would serve as a happy memory in the dark days that were to follow.

Later that evening, on the seventh floor of Sunny's office building, she was sitting by herself holding a glass of scotch, looking out of her window towards the castle that rose up high into the sky at the edge of the city and waiting. Finally, a knock came at her office door.

"Come in. You're quite late you know. You're lucky I'm in such a good mood today," she said as she turned to look at the door.

A younger man, maybe in his late 20's stepped in, still wearing his royal guard armor.

"Sorry," he began, "they kept me later than usual tonight for some kind of ceremony. It was a boring waste of time. I got here as soon as could."

She turned to face him. "Don't worry about it, Richard, dear. Please have a seat. Would you like a drink?"

The man took off his helmet, shaking out his long, brown hair and sitting in the large comfy chair at her desk. He took the glass from Sunny's hand and lingered for a second, wrapping his fingers around hers. She smiled at him.

"Anything new to report?" She asked, looking intently at him.

He cleared his throat for a second, thinking about it. "No. Well, not really anyway. The situation we had with the disappearance of those two nobles you took care of last week has been chalked up to a simple vacation mishap. Also, I was able to switch around guard rotations to make sure that when your new shipment comes in from Endlane, you'll have friends to see to it that it gets to where it needs to go. Everything is taken care of."

She cracked a huge grin at this. "Wonderful, just wonderful. Things are about to start looking up my dear Richard. I've got big things coming, and the more you help me the more you will be rewarded."

She stood up and walked around the desk, sauntering to the door and closing it behind him.

"Speaking of rewards," She said as she shut the door and locked it. "I think you are about due for one now." The smile on his face grew as a certain other body part of his started to as well.

As the night came to an end in the city of Beacon, change was on the horizon. None of them knew it yet, but soon, everything would be different. A chain reaction was brewing that would bring most of them untold wealth, but along with it, untold heartache and pain. The snow began to fall on the city as the people that made up Sunny's crew enjoyed one of the last few peaceful nights that they would all have in quite some time.