A Villains' Society

Iron Fang skulked along the peer, in the shadow of a grimy ship, his hands on his hips. There were few people about; if anyone noticed him in his gaudy costume--with all the fur and metal on it--they gave no sign of it. The night air was swampy and it made his face hot. He looked up into the dark sky and narrowed his eyes at the Society of Crusaders headquarters rising above the sky line.

Taunting him.

"Crusaders," he growled, digging his nails into his own palms. He turned his head and spat on the ground. He could make his own society. One to topple them. If he could only find another rogue in costume, he could give those Crusaders what was coming to them...

"Talking to yourself again?" said the Crimson Witch as she hopped off a ship that she had been sitting on. She walked over to Iron Fang, "Hmm..." She looked up at the Society of Crusaders and smirked, "I hate those Crusaders as much as you do. Especially that Brazen Bull guy."

She hissed quietly in disgust.

Iron Fang unclenched his fists, the metal nails of his gloves sliding out of his own skin with a faint and disgusting sound. "Hate them as much as I do?" he said blandly. "I don't think you possibly could. Not until your picture ends up plastered all over the papers--a picture of you with a guy who dresses up like fucking cattle, with his knee in your back."

He spat on the ground again and crossed his arms, looking upwards. The stars were invisible, for all the light from the city. "They feared me before that. Everyone was afraid," he mumbled. "They looked over their shoulders every time they went outside. And after that, I was... a fuckin' joke."

She looked towards Iron Fang, "I broke you out of prison after I saw that picture." she whispered.

She sighed, she understood his frustration. She was much calmer with ordeals like this though. Somehow she managed to put up with Iron Fang, all of his hatred would have caused anyone to commit suicide.

The only reason she hasn't was because she was in love with him, she didn't care if he hated her. She didn't even care if he wanted to kill her.

Iron Fang narrowed his eyes and snarled. "Hate to break it to you, cupcake--you didn't break me out. I let you play a role in my plan to escape prison," he said, words dripping with venom. He uncrossed his arms and dropped them to his sides, and then--as though he couldn't decide what to do with them--brough his hands up onto his hips. He turned slightly. "Fuck. It's too hot out here. I can't think straight. And that damn Crusaders building is fuckin' laughing at me."

She smiled, as usual. "Think what you wish. You couldn't have gotten out without me." She brushed some hair out of her face, "Damn, it is hot." she muttered under her breath.

Iron Fang pointed one finger at her. "You'd better watch it, girlie. You've got a big head over nothing. I could've gotten out just fine. There're plenty of women willing to help me. Ones who know their place. Just you remember that," he said. He crossed his arms and started down the pier. "Come on, now. We've got to... Round up a gang. We have to take down the Crusaders. And their fuckin' tower."

The Crimson Witch blushed slightly and bit her lip. If she didn't she would talk and probably make him more pissed.

She followed him keeping a distance, just incase he decided to tear her head off.

"What do we need to attack that place, anyway?" said Iron Fang. "Explosives? Yeah... Powerful ones. So we need someone who knows bombs... Shit, the front's just glass, anyway. We could probably get through there with a few bullets, or a battering ram, or--hell--metal boomerangs. Anything really. Glass is glass... Hn... Ah..."

It sounded like a lot a work. Crimson didn't like work, she preferred killing random civilians not taking down a whole society of heroes. "Hmm." She was thinking of the old bomb manufacturer she used to know. If they were lucky they could find him.

Iron Fang sighed and paused. He spat on the ground for a third time. "Fuck. I'm just so frustrated," he said, balling his fists. "Those heroes sittin' around in their fuckin' tower, thinking they're so much better than the rest of us. ...thinking they're better than me." He bit his lip and glared up at the headquarters.

The Crimson Witch yawned, Here he goes with another 'Hate Speech'. She rubbed her eyes and spoke, "Yeah, right now, they do look a bit more powerful."

She looked up at the dark sky, Not a single damn star out.

Iron Fang turned his glare on her. "What, are you on their side now? Fuck," he said and started walking again. "That's defeatist thinking. We cannot give into defeatist thinking. That's what they want us to do. That's why the big tower, and their shit-eating grins in all the papers..."

"I would never betray you..." she mumbled, realizing that she just said her thoughts out-loud, she prayed he didn't hear her.

She bit her lip hard making a drop of blood squeeze out as punishment.

He looked at her out of the corner of his eye. "Is that so? Hn. Sounds like something a traitor would say," said Iron Fang.

She rolled her eyes nervously.

"You doubt me a lot." noted the Crimson Witch, "I wouldn't help you get out of prison just to betray you and put you back in."

"No, I'm sure you wouldn't," said Iron Fang. "Unless there was some sort of plan between..."

He turned away from the docks, down a dirty alley. Rats scampered between trash cans and dumpsters, and rubbish was strewn all about.

She ignored his comment and changed the subject.
"Ugh, rats..." She made a disgusted face, sure she could handle blood and guts but not rats.

"Where are we going exactly?" said the Crimson Witch while stepping over a knocked down trash-can.

"Home, doll. Home," replied Iron Fang. "Those fuckin' heroes may have that shiney tower of theirs, but I've got a fortress, too."

He paused beside a iron door set into a brick building and unlocked it before stepping inside. The room within was stark and dirty, full of cockroaches and mice, which scattered as he turned on the light. The light bulb flickered, and the air was stale. Iron Fang took a deep breath and pulled back his mask.

When the Crimson Witch walked in she accidently squished a cockroach, "Whoops."

She took a look around, "Not bad." She was being serious, the fortress was a start.

"Not bad? It's fucking magnificent," said Iron Fang, pulling off his gloves. He set them on a sad, worn table. "I haven't been in here since a few months before I was put away, but it's a good place. It goes all the way down to the sewers. Can you imagine the possibilities of that? As a matter of fact, that was sometimes how I got away from my crime scenes."

She nodded to signal that she was listening. "Shit, what that a rat or a really hairy spider?!" She ran after it, looking like an idiot. She stomped it with her boot, "Hairy spider. Biggest damn spider I have ever seen." muttered the Crimson Witch.

She walked over to a small stool by the table and sat down.

Iron Fang sat on the table and narrowed his eyes. "Are you criticising the Fortress?" he asked. "Like I said, I haven't been in here for years. Of course rodents and insects have occupied it. They'll be cleaned out soon enough, doll. Soon enough..." He kicked off one of his boots, taking another deep breath of the stagnant air.

"I understand that." said the Crimson Witch and blushed slightly for the second time.

She started to tap the table with her fingernails when she noticed another cockroach approaching her hand on the table. She simply flicked it, making it fall to the ground.

"Really. Doesn't seem like you do," said Iron Fang. "Anyway, we need to find more rogues. Any ideas about that, doll?"