#countess foxbite

[weonlyneedfour]

"Well, I was robbing casinos back then, of course. I wasn't going by Countess Foxbite at that time, no fancy name or mask, didn't need em, just had to look the right amount of rich and stupid to get wherever I wanted and work some extra "magic" if the place was segregated, and not forget to pack the six-shooter in the purse just in case it was one of those nights." "Sure, I'd been around the block. Diamonds, train robberies, cattle rustling, done most of em, but running casinos to the ground is what I liked the most, only part of it I still miss. It was the civil solution to getting them out of Foxhole Boulevard and the not-civil ones looked more appealing every day. They get a legal pass for robbing folks blind every hour of every day, so playing by their rules and being better at it is only fair game. They called on Lady Luck's name, but it was I who was sweeping her off her feet and taking her home to treat her right, and she repaid those nights with a few decades extra for me. "Can't be ungrateful, I suppose, but if I had much patience for men I might have tried romancing the Grim Reaper instead."

But word on the street then was that Edward Triton, the, pardon my language please, pigfuck pimp bastard that ran Toulonville for 20 years, had heard of these rowdy little crooks making noise around town, muscling on his territory. Some loud fat guy from New Orleans was fencing expensive goods he’d acquired overseas and not paying tribute, and I hardly have to tell you Prince Pavonini loved his character every bit as much then as he did until the end of his life." "But it wasn't just us two. Some amphibian monster woman from who-knows-where out of town was going around beating up and kicking his men out of establishments, think she ate a couple of arms too many, and there was this other new one then, messing around with policemen, like sending music boxes to the stations or hijacking the police radio broadcast with uninterruptible music and leaking stuff to the press and public radio that implicated the cops and Triton."

"The former was the first Sally Manda, first that I knew anyway, lost count of how many times she regenerated or cloned herself after a point, and the latter was Legato Sphynx. That was how they met, they and Pavo had a, complicated relationship back then. Well I guess it never stopped being complicated, marriage always overcomplicates everything, never had the patience for that nonsense, but anyway -" "Triton had gotten fed up with us one day, rounded us all up to torture and kill us, send a message across town that he was not to be messed with. Conveniently for us, the poor old man just happened to die of a heart attack that very night. Legally ruled in the papers and everything, go figure." "I can't tell you who did it. It was dark, there was a fight, then we were breathing and he was not, that's all there is to it. You might not believe me, but none of us claimed credit for it. We knew whoever did would be next." "Well no, we didn't get much choice in the matter. None of us wanted it, but it was either taking Triton's throne or dying at the hands of his mob. "The Carnival Court of America" was our idea, the name was Pavonini's little flourish, stealing the Camelot Circle's abbreviation and making a mockery out of it, tell the "white hats" what we thought of them. We'd formed the Carnival Court, split up all his old territories and assets among ourselves, and got everyone to join in or stay out of our way." "Back then, we made a hell of an impression, everyone wanted to grab a mask and a name and jump in on it. Cause suddenly, we didn’t have to take shit from the mafia or the triads or the cops, and do you know how liberating it is to not have to be scared of the cops anymore? It was like we were all immortal for a while there."

"Yes, it was a stupid idea, what else were we supposed to do? You think becoming a "hero" was a choice for people like us then? You don't know how lucky you have it."

"I don't…okay, maybe I do miss them, it's never nice being the last to leave the party. We, Pavonini and I had a fight, the last time I saw him. We talked about you. About what it was like, after he rescued you and brought you here, I moved in when Katrina happened and the pub became a shelter that needed tending to. I mean, four years, me, him and Gloria, trying to raise an orphan who can climb walls and rip through steel when he gets cranky. And you were just so angry, I was worried for you. I was afraid we were hurting or using you, cause we're "black hats". Can't tell you how much I hate that stupid name, but... It's what we do." "I knew Pavonini still wanted to fight this stupid war and was running out of time, that he blamed himself for everything and he sure as shit wasn't innocent but - I, look, the point is that he just couldn't let go. Of that life, of those games, of all that class warfare and hatred he got embroiled in. Of Sangrier. Sangrier is an addiction and I was the first to go cold turkey, and they all should have - Listen to me. I know how you feel, and I'm telling you got to let it go. You are not going to find anything in that auction. You are going to get yourself killed over nothing." "Pavonini is dead, Sangrier is invincible, and you got a DAMN good thing going on with those Emancipator people you're running with, seriously, don't throw that away. Please. For me and Gloria's sake, Marco -"

"I'm sorry, auntie Hazel."

"- Don't die the way he did."

*click

#we only need four #hero forge #superheroes #supervillain #oc #weon4 #the vulturine #helen hazel #countess foxbite #prince pavonini #legato sphynx #sally manda