"...and talk to Hannigan down in Atlanta. We need those parts next week! Authorize the overtime if you have to but we need it done! Thanks, Marcia."
Cameron Kane put down the phone and rubbed his eyes. How had his father done it? Many envisioned the life of a CEO as gravy, all limos and mansions and fat cigars lit with hundred dollar bills. But Thomas Kane hadn't set KaneCorp up like that. It was all "hands on" with a million things to oversee. Maddening details filled Cameron's days, but he was swiftly learning since his father had retired.
Cameron swiveled his leather chair around and stared at the sun setting over Platinum Lake. He was done for the day, at least. He wondered when it would let up. "Probably never," he mumbled to himself, as the sun bid its final farewell on its daily rounds. He was always tired these days, as if he could never get enough sleep. His head leaned forward, bobbed slightly and then slowly dropped as he drifted off, exhausted.
The last rays of light faded and his head slowly rose. But the face held a different expression, grim and purposeful. With seemingly no trace of fatigue, he rose swiftly and surely and walked to his office wall, carefully tilting a portrait of his parents to a well-practiced angle. A panel in the wall opened, and he stepped through.
What emerged moments later was a dark figure, clad in black leather and Kevlar, the tails of his trenchcoat flowing behind him as he strode to the window and opened it, glaring down at the dark streets.
"i am the knight of the night," his eerie flat voice uttered, "the knight-watchman! fear the night!"
He'd been watching and listening for fifteen minutes. Perched on a rooftop in the Fool's Gold District, the Knight-Watchman had been observing an odd conversation between two Vahzilok Reapers and a small group of Tsoo Enforcers. He'd arrived too late to hear the beginning of the conversation, but was sure the Vahz were trying to enlist the Tsoo in some scheme. And the Tsoo were having none of it. But they seemed...frightened? Of the Vahz? No, not of them, of what they were proposing. And not really frightened, exactly. More like...disgusted. Something about them not being grave-robbers.
The Knight-Watchman silently shifted positions to get a better vantage point.
"Hey! I know YOU! HAHAHAhahahaHAHAHAhahahaHAHAHA!"
Swiftly, the Knight-Watchman whirled in a Dragon's Tail kick in the direction of the loud, annoying laughter. But unfortunately his target was already off his feet, bounding around the rooftop in a lunatic fashion. The yellow and green polka-dotted clown-like figure back-flipped twice across the roof and crouched on an exhaust pipe near the Watchman.
"what the..."
"Yeah!" the clown exclaimed, "You're that one guy. Whatsisname...the Security-Guard!"
"it's knight-watchman, you buffoon. keep quiet."
"Why? Whatcha doin', huh, HUH? You watching someone, Watchy?"
"yes, now shut up. know you, too. cut-up. good with claws, agile, hard to injure. also crazy as a hatter and an idiot to boot. what do you want?"
"That's my name, don't wear it out! HAHAHAhahahaHAHAHAhahahaHAHAHA!" the Goofy Gladiator cackled as the Watchman cringed visibly. Scowling beneath his cowl, the Knight of the Night quickly clamped his hand over the Master of Mirth and Mayhem's mouth and put his head an inch from Cut-Up's face.
"what...do...you...want!"
"Mmmffrlbblsmrfb.." began the clown under the gauntlet covering his face.
"quietly!"
Cut-Up nodded vigorously like a bobble-head doll, and the Watchman removed his hand.
"...and so I said, 'Take my knives...PLEASE'!" Cut-Up whispered in a hoarse imitation of the Knight's voice, "Anyway, just thought I'd help. Whatcha up to, darkity-dark darkness?"
"not your business, but i'm trying to hear what those vahz and tsoo are up to."
"What, THOSE Tsoo?" Cut up flailed his arm out to point, and a sharp metallic barb flew from his hand, trailing a small wire. It struck the nearest Tsoo Enforcer and delivered an electrical charge, stunning him, and scattering most of the conversation's participants. The Knight Watchman's eyes narrowed as he scowled at the mad clown, who only returned a grin.
"Oopsie! HAHAHAhahahaHAHAHAhahahaHAHAHA!"
The Watchman quickly grabbed Cut-Up by the back of the collar and held him over the edge of the roof.
"your mess now. clean it up." And then dropped Cut-Up into the remaining Enforcers, who were now scaling the building.
Cut-Up's claws popped out of the back of his hands as he yelled, "TSOO TSOO SUSHI! HAHAHAhahahaHAHAHAhahahaHAHAHA!" and proceeded to shred two Enforcers with one whirling motion. Bounding over them, he severely damaged another, dropping him to the concrete with a slash.
"How do you keep a Tsoo from smelling? CUT OFF HIS NOSE! HAHAHAhahahaHAHAHAhahahaHAHAHA!"
A quick clawed uppercut to the face of one of the two standing Tsoo took him out of the fight as the other ran. The taser fired again, leaving the Enforcer twitching and sparking in the street.
"that one, you lunatic," growled the low voice of the Watchman, "bring him here."
"Your wish is my commandment, O Blickity-Black! HAHAHAhahahaHAHAHAhahahaHAHAHA!"
Cut-Up scooped up the twitching Tsoo by the back of his pants and leapt to the top of the building, unceremoniously dumping him with a thud at the Watchman's feet. The Watchman moved like lightning, grabbing the Tsoo by the front of the robes and bringing him close to his face.
"see the idiot with the claws? he's the nice one. tell me what those vahz wanted if you don't want to find out how much."
The Enforcer trembled and squirmed, but saw no escape.
"Fine, fine. We weren't working with them a-anyway. S-something about some project the Doctor was hired for. They wanted help getting bodies. As if the Tsoo would lower themselves to such a thing. Insult enough to even speak to such noisome creatures. It's them you want. There's a place...in Faultline! I could tell you!"
After hearing the location, the Knight-Watchman cracked the Enforcer's head against a nearby chimney, knocking him unconscious. He hand-cuffed him and dropped him off the roof near his fellow Tsoo.
The Watchman stared long at Cut-Up, who was busy carving the word "cheese" into the rooftop over and over again.
"might be useful," he said, "follow." and bounded over the rooftops in the direction of Faultline.