4 1.4

Fleur-de-lis requested to be let down on an out of the way apartment building. I didn't ask, but it was a safe assumption this wasn't her home, just a safe place to disembark away from prying eyes.

Before I could float away again, she gave me her thanks for the rescue… a lengthy kiss… and just as French as herself. I keep feeling my cheeks heat up at the memory, as I retreat at high speed from the beautiful woman waving after me.

I had to take a moment, just to process that final shock. It left be in stitches, after realising she was toying with me a little. Playing me for her own amusement. I must have looked the White Knight… a child playing cops and robbers. Which amuses me, I'm not so innocent. I flicked through my newly acquired riches, counting twenty five thousand Francs from the drug money. I nodded and floated back to my favourite villain watering hole, Noir Bar and Bistro.

I walked in with a slight cocky swagger to my steps… I guess I'm a little pleased with myself.

The big bouncer/criminal that stopped me last time recognised me and nodded. I did in reply, heading towards my personal forger.

He looked up from a plate of fettuccine alfredo, as I slapped down his final payment on the table, in an envelope.

Flicking through the amount he finally nodded and slid an address across the table. "Come to this location in three days. Your purchase will be there. Look for a red umbrella."

I smiled. "Not good enough."

Taking a coin from my pocket I placed it on the table. I made it spin with a flick of my wrist. "Now I want you to watch carefully." I suggested at the already disgruntled man. The coin stopped spinning suddenly. He paused faintly surprised, then he looked much more surprised as it began to spin again, faster and faster making a faint whirring sound as it drilled into the wood. It cut through the table in a few seconds and fell, only to rise glowing red at the edges to hover over my hand.

"I want you to understand I am a very dangerous person. The forces required to drive a coin through a table like that are far less than I need to place the same coin inside your skull." I laughed as the bar was a good deal quieter. "You have your money, I don't want anything more than what I have ordered. If I find you have cheated me, then things will get messy."

Several people in the restaurant stood up.

"Don't move." I said loudly. There was a faint click from each person, as the safety of their pistol was switched off and the hammer pulled. "Or you'll learn a new definition of 'friendly fire' as that gun you're carrying empties into you." I looked at a particularly stupid thug. "Especially this idiot, who placed a loaded gun next to his cock."

The idiot in question, a few tables away squirmed and paled.

"Now, I didn't mean to kick up a fuss… but bear in mind I am more than prepared to be rude. If the forger I have hired skips town or tries to escape with my money… well I will be back and I will be looking at all of you fellows to repay me in his stead." I gave them a bright smile, one of the few good things I got from Dad, a gleaming perfect smile. "So please make sure my investment doesn't do anything silly and I will have no need to ventilate you with your own weapons."

I stood up and then hovered my way out the front door.

Pausing I looked back inside. "Whose motorbike is that outside?"

Several people looked at Crotch Gun's table. His keys floated out of his pocket and over to my hand. "Hey…!" He yelped.

"It's mine now." I nodded to myself. "Bye."

Really swiping the guy's bike was just for the street cred. I had no clue about how to ride it, but then again my power basically trumped any need to learn. I threw a leg over the highly polished and well loved machine, one that looked very expensive in a glossy red with black trim.

I pulled my balaclava down over my head, raised the kickstand, started the engine and gunned the engine roaring away. I was free at last! I continued to switch gears as I accelerated, judging by the movements of the internal mechanisms when to shift gears at just the right moment. I met Paris traffic quickly, before I ignored it entirely by rocketing off into the sky as I roared with laughter.

I left the engine purring as I zoomed through the city on a joy ride, racing news helicopters before leaving them in the dust, by turning the bike into a railgun bullet while riding it.

Now feeling a bit better, after finally cutting loose I turned to return to my cheap hotel room for yet another night. Oh wait, before that… I floated through the drive through of O'Shaughnessy's on my bike, just for the teller's look of surprise.

Ah, blessed Soder, dimensionally displaced brother to Coke: you quench my thirst just the same!