Trouble at Hank's
Jessica Jones and Misty Knight stood outside of Hank's tavern. The full moon sat high above the city, spinning and watching impassively. Late at night, Times square is a busy place. Con men and prostitutes filled the streets, along with the junkies, and their pushers. Panhandlers beg for loose change while the street artists do flips and play old instruments for the same. The two women draw few stares. Jessica talked with her phone to one side of her head and Misty stood patiently by. "I know, Luke, but i don't get any breaks. Raising Danielle has been a full time job for me and i could really use the night off." Jessica rolls her eyes at the phone. "Fine, eat my egg rolls, i don't care. Danielle's already in bed, right? Good. So then, I'll see you in the morning? I love you, Luke. Goodnight."
With that Jessica hung up her phone.
With the most recent development in the Met case Jessica had decided to follow Misty along to Hank's to find Felicia's brother Johnny and the missing book.
"Any sight of this Johnny guy?" Jessica asked Misty.
"If they are twins, i haven't seen a single soul that looks similar to Felicia yet." Misty replied.
"Maybe he's inside?" Jessica suggested.
"Maybe." Misty dismissed as she lit up a cigarette and looked up and down the street.
"Well, let's go order some drinks."
Hours dragged by. Misty scanning the face of every patron in the bar as they came and went, and Jessica imbibing more and more. After the clock struck midnight and no perceivable meeting was taking place, the two women began to believe that perhaps Felicia had misled them or was perhaps not as informed as she led them to believe. There were clearly members of the Flashing Blades present, identifiable by their white and red bandanas and readily apparent sheathed blades. None of them seemed to be related to Felicia, and even fewer of them seemed to be there for anything other than libation. "I'm gonna go out for a cigarette, okay, Jess?"
Jessica looked up from her near-empty glass, her glazed eyes revealing she was lost in the sauce. "Ok. I'll be right here waiting for you when you get back." she slurred.
-
Jessica drunkenly bobbed to the Motorhead song playing on the jukebox, and looked from person to person. There at the corner of the bar, she thought she saw someone who could've been the Johnny they were looking for. Tho trimmed very short, this kid had blonde hair and even a similar physique to that of Felicia. He hadn't gotten a clear look at his face, but swore she saw the lines of the same angular jaw-line. Swigging down the last of her glass, Misty catches a disgusting smell on the air. Worse than the typical aroma of a dive bar. More than the sweat, booze, and regret that usually hung in the air at Hank's. She smelt wet dog. Wet dog and sulphur.
-
A woman's scream and the squeal of tires grabbed Misty's attention as she stood outside the building. A large black Sedan tore down the street, scattering pedestrians in its path. Out of the windows, the smoking barrels of vintage tommy-guns pointed menacingly. They were coming right at her!
-
Inside, Jessica lifts her head off the table at the sound of panic. The smell of wet dog is filling the room now, suffusing the air with its thick stench. All around her was chaos. Men were running out the front door and leaping out of windows. Those who weren't seemed to be trying to take cover behind upturned furniture. The screams carried to her ears through her drunken stupor along with the sounds of shattering glass and breaking wood. Extremely confused as to what she had been missing since falling asleep, thats when Jessica saw it.
A massive wolf-like creature destroying the bar in its fury. Thick wintry hued fur tufted over the beasts body, from its grisly short snout to the humanoid hands and feet. Snarling fangs and rabid eyes glinted in the neon of the bar's interior. With animal strength, it flung tables and chairs and struck the nearest patrons. Their screams agonized as their skin was rent from their flesh by hideous claws. Either Jessica had consumed entirely too much, or there was none other than a werewolf before her.
Her instincts shined through the vapor of repose and alcohol, springing Jessica into action. She jumped up from her chair and stumbled over to the monster, and brought her recently emptied bottle of Bourbon shattering down onto the beast's furred dome. With blood coursing down its face, it turned its angry and growling maw towards her. "Oh shit." Jessica groaned
-
Stepping out onto the street, Misty hastily ripped the right sleeve from her red zip-up coat. As the cloth fell to the ground, the streetlights reflected from the brilliant adamantium underneath. The entirety of Misty's right arm machinery, and a very high-tech prosthesis.
A long time ago Misty Knight had lost the limb in a terrorist attack. When she survived the explosion and even went on to stop those responsible for the detonation, the affluent Tony Stark thought she deserved to be rewarded for her bravery and spent thousands of dollars and materials to craft the new-and-improved appendage. Forged from Adamantium, one of the strongest minerals in existence and equipped with numerous gadgets and tools, Misty now had the leverage against the shooters.
Levelling her bionic arm at the front of the vehicle, a thought triggered the arms mechanics. Gears grinded in its internal workings and a barrell running down her forearm shot a 9-millimeter bullet into the front passenger side wheel, exploding in a pop of air and plastic. Immediately, the sedan swerved as the driver fought for control of the wheel. With their speed and the sudden loss of a wheel, the driver tried to make for the street corner but turned much too tight and slammed into the Streetlamp on the corner.
Black smoke billowed from beneath the hood. Misty slowly approached the wreck, keeping her arm aimed at the vehicle. She could see now there had been 5 of them. Three in the back, and the passenger with sub-machine guns. The 3 in the back kicked open their doors and jumped out onto the streets, one of the rear passengers wildly fired shots into the air to cover his escape as he started running from the accident. The other 2 decided to stand their ground against Misty would be their only way. It appeared both the front passenger and the driver had been rendered unconscious in the crash.
Misty swiftly ran towards the two gangsters, dressed in pin-suits and wearing fedoras. The full frontal charge balked the two men and stalled them from firing their weapons. With her momentum, and the full weight of her body and the metal in her arm she threw a devastating right hook into one of the gunman's chest. His air expelled from his lungs in a whoosh as he dropped to the ground, with multiple ribs likely broken if not fractured.
In a flurry, the second gunman popped off a shot but it went wide of Misty and embedded itself into the red-brick exterior of a nearby building. As Misty then closed on him he swung his gun to strike Misty with the butt. Grabbing his arm by the wrist Misty turned at the hips and flipped the man over her and onto his back on the ground. Then, with a flick of her metal wrist bones within the man's forearm shattered. She delivered a swift kick to his temple, just make sure he was out if the shock from his arm had not done so already.
It was then that she glanced back at the car and spied the passenger was gone. He was now on the sidewalk, blood streaming from a break in the bridge of his nose. He held a hapless woman in a headlock with the hot barrel of his machine gun compressed against her cheek. Misty stopped cold.
"That's right, bitch! Don't fucking move! Ill fucking kill her!" the gangster shouted angrily and his hostage let out a sob.
-
Jessica had heard of seeing little pink elephants before, but never werewolves. If anything, she was taking it as a lesson as to why she didn't drink as often anymore. 'And where did Misty go?' Jessica wondered. In the bedlam before Jessica regained coherence the beast had already murdered a young man. His partially eviscerated corpse laid their on the floor. Grisly wounds seeping blood. Jessica bashed and struck at the monster, but it's savage and ferocity was unlike anything she had seen. It bit, and slashed, and raked. Aiming for her eyes and neck. Jessica's leather jacket was nearly torn to shreds from her defending herself.
The two stood squaring off. The werewolf lunged at Jessica and though she tried to catch it, the beast was upon her. Its tough jaw clenching vice-like onto her clavicle, the teeth drawing blood. She screamed in pain and began throwing wild blows into the abdomen of the werewolf. With each blow the wolf yelped around the bit of Jessica it held in its mouth. Finally, thinking of how to remove the creature she reared her leg and brought her knee straight into the werewolves groin.
With a series of high-pitched yelps it released Jessica and loped out the entrance of the bar and Jessica gave chase.
-
The doors to Hank's tavern swung open, and instead of seeing Jessica like she hoped she would, Misty was horrified by the beast she saw. The werewolf, grotesque in the moonlight and bathed in blood, stormed out into the night. The gunman with his hostage also saw the werewolf and became overwhelmed with abject fear. "What the fuck is that thing??!!"
He screamed as his hostage slipped free.
All focus on the nightmarish beast before him, the gangster let his hostage free and assumed a defensive posture at the werewolf. Waving his gun wildly.
The werewolf reared back, its dark gray and black coat bristling as it emanated a deep rumbling growl. Its bares fangs shining in the moonlight. Suddenly, the gunman opens fire but wasnt aiming. The bullets miss and the werewolf pounced. Jessica Jones followed shortly thereafter out onto the street. Misty and Jessica stood in horror as the werewolf claimed another victim, but in this attack something very odd occurred. Streaks of visible electricity crackled over the werewolves body and then, within the blink of an eye, it vanished. Leaving the body of its fresh kill littering the street.
-
In the aftermath of the fight the remaining patrons of Hank's expressed their gratitude for Jessica and Misty's presence. The NYPD arrived in a timely manner to question the witnesses with coroners and paramedics to clean up, When a particularly feminin young man, bearing a resemblance to a certain museum attendant, thanked them Misty began asking him the questions. "You wouldn't happen to be Johnny Bifrost, would you?"
"Why? I got a warrant or something?" The kid asked, looking skeptical of his heroes now. Also recognizing Misty Knight from her time as a police officer, one who had put a few of his friends behind bars.
"Not that i know of. It's just that this kid Johnny's sister, Felicia. She's really worried about him and the kind of trouble he might be getting himself into. If you are Johnny, id say tonight proves she has reason for concern." Misty alluded.
"Damn, Felicia sent you here?" his countenance changed to sullen. "I'm just trying to keep food in her fridge."
"Where's the book, Johnny?" Jessica asked bluntly, looking she had clearly had much better nights.
"Whoah! I swear i didn't take the book from the Met!" Johnny defended.
"You knew we were talking about the Met heist?" Misty noted.
"What other book would you be asking about?" Johnny shrugged. "You think i'd swipe the book. Why would i sick monsters after my own friends?"
"You think that wolf thing had something to do with the book?" Jessica gave a quizzical look.
"Either way, i'm pretty sure it was Hammerhead who stole it. And those are his goons too." Johnny pointed at the corpse in the pinstripe suit and wing-tip shoes being loaded into the coroner's van.
"Why did Hammerhead want this book?" Misty Knight asked no one in particular, as much to herself as anyone listening.
"Well…" Johnny stuttered slightly and continued. "rumors say that Hammerhead's branch of the Maggia stole the book. Now they're using monsters to wipe out the rival gangs."
"Thats ridiculous!" Misty spouted.
"monday night the Crimson smiles were thrashed in their own pad, and tonight my bro gets clobbered by a goddamn werewolf!" Johnny iterated.
"Well, then who would be next?" Jessica thought to ask, humoring the kid.
"Tommy Kent. He's the leader of the guys from the Lower East side, they kick it in a pool hall down there called Starky's. Tommy used to work real close with Hammerhead until they had some kind of falling out, and Hammerhead started going around telling people he was gonna have Tommy killed. Tommy also knows where you could find Hammerhead on a given sunday, so i think Tommy's gotta be next."
"You know, you should be home with your sister instead of in places like this." Misty advised. "There's no reason a kid like you should be packing a knife like that, and running these streets."
"I have to make money, you don't understand. I've been in trouble, nowhere will hire me." Johnny hung his head.
"Bullshit, kid, my husband's been to prison. Multiple times. And he's never had a hard time finding work." Jessica threw in.
"she says you're a good kid, prove her right." Misty stated. "Felicia loves you alot."
"The Blades wouldnt ever let me leave. It's bleed in and bleed out with these guys." Johnny quickly looked around to assure himself none of his fellow blades were within hearing distance.
"We could protect you." Misty offered.
"I'll go to Felicia tonight. I owe her at least that." Johnny said as a police officer approached them. As the officer got close Johnny exited.
"Mrs. Knight." the officer greeted as he tipped his hat.
"Officer Spinoza. Thank you again." Misty smiled.
"No thank you guys for being here at the right time." Officer Spinoza chuckled. "We were able to ID the guys in the black car too. All 5 of them have pretty long rap sheets, so the 2 surviving guys we arrested are gonna end up doing at least a nickel."
"Did they have any major criminal associates?" Misty asked. "Maybe to Hammerhead or the Maggia?"
"I thought that too on count of the way they're dressed," Officer Spinoza said in his thick southie accent. "But turned out they were all in some set gang on Yancy street back in the day. Used to rob people on the streets with baseball bats. Didn't know whatever happened to that little gang and was glad they had disappeared."