November 12th, 7:30 PM
Dr. Todorov lived out in the suburbs, in a house that was in no way distinctive from those surrounding it. Medium-sized, with a medium-sized yard full of trees, a garage facing the street, a couple windows, none lit. Just another simple, two-story stuccoed thing in a line of simple, two-story stuccoed things. A boring house for a man who was anything but.
Margot stared at the house from her car, which she had parked across the street in between a pair of SUVs. She hated the suburbs, and she wouldn’t have gone out here if she didn’t have a good reason. Tonight, she had one: Todorov had poisoned Erin. Margot needed to find a cure, and she needed to get some payback. She needed to atone for getting Erin into so much trouble.
The question was: How? She couldn’t just knock on the door. She had to sneak in some how and get the drop on her prey. But she didn’t have any kind of experience doing that, not like Erin.
“Wait,” Margot thought. “I do have experience.” She had rescued Erin from those hillbillies, hadn’t she? She had snuck around and taken two men out. And just last night, she had done it again. She couldn’t fight like Erin, that was true. But with the element of surprise on her side, she could be a force. “You are a force,” she told herself. “You are the Black Bobcat.”
She strapped her mask to her face. She had been tailoring the outfit in secret for the past couple of weeks. If she was going to be Erin’s tech support, then why not also be her sidekick? There had been several months in the past few months where she had been captured, too. Keeping her identity secret now seemed just as important as keeping Erin’s, even if people weren’t likely to recognize Margot’s face the way they might recognize the Mayor’s daughter’s.
She liked the name, too. “The Black Bobcat.” It was a perfect match for the Blue Lynx. She liked her the name, and the color: she liked how she looked in black, liked the purple accents. She loved how her outfit hugged her curves, made her hips and chest and legs really pop. She didn’t have Erin’s athletic build, but she was sexy in her own way, and she knew it.
“Don’t get too cocky,” she reminded herself. “This is incredibly dangerous.” She had never done anything like this on her own before. If she got into trouble, there’d be no one to help her: Erin was probably still unconscious. Still, it all felt less like danger and more like adventure when she was wearing a sexy mask and costume.
She stepped out of her car, shut the door, and hid behind the SUV. She had decided to head in through the back. There had to be a door there that she could jimmy into, or maybe an open window she could crawl through. She ran across the street, her heart thumping, and jumped behind one of the many trees in Todorov’s front yard. She peeked from behind the tree at the front porch. A rocking chair, a window, the door. No light from the house. Which was somewhat odd. The sun had set, but it wasn’t late. Margot had been sitting in her car, observing for hours. She had seen him come home, seen the car park in the garage, knew that he was still in there.
“Unless he left through the back?” Margot thought. “Who knows?”
She had to press on, regardless. She sprinted from tree to tree, then from the closest tree to the backyard fence. The fence was about six feet tall, made of spiked wooden slats, and it took Margot a minute to find a way over it. She scrabbled up one side, awkwardly put her legs over to the other side, one-at-a-time, and then slid down into the backyard, hitting the grass in a somewhat stealthy crouch.
She was already breathing heavily. “Come on, Black Bobcat,” she thought. “You can do this.”
The backyard was large and mostly empty, a large expanse of grass contained by a towering rectangle of wooden fence. In the corner furthest from her, she saw a small shed with a pointed roof.
“Probably where he conducts his mad experiments,” Margot thought.
She could see a semi-circle of light on the simple patio near the back of the house. Margot stepped toward it, trying to peek into the glass-pane door from where it emerged, and stopped when she heard a small popping sound. She pressed her body against the outer wall of house, her heart racing in her chest.
“Oh God,” she thought. “What the hell…”
The sound stopped. After taking a minute to collect herself, Margot continued moving slowly along the wall. She could now stick her foot into the aura of light if she wanted (she didn’t). She turned her face to look in through the window, sticking her head just inches past the solid brick.
Inside, there was a brown couch, an ugly rug, a TV illuminating the whole scene with colorful streaks of light. A normal family room, except that a small, bizarre-looking man with an almond-shaped head was sitting on the couch, giggling, a bowl of popcorn sitting to his left.
Todorov.
He looked even more tiny and more pathetic than he was in the pictures Margot had scrolled through online. Wimpy glasses, wimpy brown mustache, crooked smile with missing teeth. He probably weighed less than she did. Margot's blood boiled as she watched him crack up. This little twerp was the guy who poisoned Blue Lynx? It didn't seem right.
"He's going down," Margot thought. And with that, she pulled open the glass-pane door and stepped into Todorov's family room.
"Todorov," she intoned in her best superheroine voice. "You poisoned the Blue Lynx. Where's the antidote?"
Todorov glanced lazily from the television to Margot. He scanned her up and down, tiny eyes darting through his thick lenses, and finally smiled a patient, toothless smile. He picked up the remote and turned the TV off.
"Well?" Margot asked. "Tell me where the antidote is. Or I'll make you tell me." She stamped her black boot on the wooden floor for emphasis.
"Who are you?" Todorov asked, in an almost disinterested way. He was still eating popcorn as he eyed Margot.
"I'm the Black Bobcat," Margot said.
"Oh," Todorov said, a mocking tone in his voice. "So you're Blue Lynx's partner, huh? The boss told me she had a partner."
"Hammerson told you that, did he?" Margot said, crossing her arms.
Todorov's glasses flashed, and he smirked. "Clever girl."
As inconspicuously as she could, Margot looked around the room. It was curiously undecorated: not a single painting on the plain white walls. Aside from the couch, rug, and TV set, there was just a bookcase in the corner, its shelves sagging with the weight of heavy, ominous-looking medical textbooks.
"There's no antidote," Todorov said, sleepily.
Margot blinked. She locked eyes with Todorov and frowned. "What?" she asked.
"I didn't make an antidote," Todorov said. "The Blue Lynx will be dead in a matter of days."
"That's not true!" Margot yelled, baring her teeth.
Todorov smiled. He still hadn't stop crunching popcorn. "I know what I'm doing, honey. When the boss asks me to go somewhere and do a job, I do it right. My former employers could never appreciate that."
Margot's thoughts were spinning in her head, branching out in wild directions. There had to be an antidote! There just had to be! They always make one.
Todorov picked up the final piece of popcorn with his hairy, bony fingers. "I imagine it was you who set up that PSA. Good work." He placed the kernel on his tongue and chewed with smacking, scornful sounds.
Margot had had enough. She stomped over to Todorov, picked up the popcorn bowl, and chucked it across the room at the bookcase. She then socked Todorov in the face with a cross that sent the doctor's head twisting on its skinny axis. When Todorov tried to look at Margot again, he received a second cross, this one twisting his head in the other direction.
"Ouch," Todorov said, bringing his hands to his face. He re-situated his shaken glasses, rubbing his cheeks and his nose. "What the hell was that for?"
Margot reached down and snatched Todorov by the front of his shirt. With her free hand, she pulled a Lynx dart from a belt pocket and brought the pointed end to Todorov's throat. She pressed the edge into Todorov's skin so that a tiny stream of blood trickled down his neck.
"Make an antidote," Margot growled. "Or I'll cut your throat."
Todorov made small, pathetic sounds as Margot pressed the dart a millimeter deeper into the doctor's skin. He cried out in fear.
"Stop!" he screamed. "Please stop!"
Margot now had her face just inches away from her opponent's. "Make an antidote."
"Okay, okay," Todorov said, feeling the point dig further into his neck, "I'll do it!"
Margot released Todorov's shirt and let him fall back to the couch. He wiped the blood off his neck and shirt with frantic, pained gestures. Margot looked at the frightened creature and sighed. This wasn't so hard after all.
"All my tools are in the shed," Todorov said, pointing out the glass door into the backyard. "You can follow me out there. You can watch me do it. Just don't hurt me again."
"Hurry up," Margot said, placing the bloodied Lynx dart back in her belt pocket. Todorov quickly got to his feet, and Margot gestured toward the door. "Move."
She followed the doctor's odd, limping gait as he proceeded out of the door. They walked across the backyard together, Margot with her hands near her belt in case he tried anything. The night was cool and crisp, the sky lit up with beautiful dots of celestial light. A great evening for crimefighting.
They arrived at the shed, a simple, wooden, 8 x 12 foot rectangle. Todorov hunched over a lock on the door and plugged in a four digit code. The lock beeped, and Todorov opened the door. He flicked on a light and beckoned Margot inside.
"This will take ten minutes or so," he mumbled. "Make yourself comfortable."
There wasn't any place to do that. There wasn't a single chair in the shed, just a long white table running across the shed's length, a table covered with beakers, test tubes, vials, clipboards: the tools of an amateur chemist. On the other side of the room was a small desk with a computer, plus a rack full of garden implements. Minimal, austere, almost threatening stuff. The light wasn't exactly welcoming: a single fluorescent length ran four feet across the shed's ceiling, filling every cranny of the room with harsh whiteness.
"This is where you do your experiments," Margot mused.
Todorov had his back facing her, with his hands working along the table, pulling materials this way and that, but she could see him nod. "Yes," he responded.
"This is where you invented that poison that you gave to the Blue Lynx."
Another nod. "I work from home now."
Margot tapped her toe. "And Hammerson pays you." She was enjoying this, this slow interrogation process. She had the doctor in her clutches, and there was no way out. She almost started laughing.
"Yes, quite well," Todorov said.
"Is it really worth it?" Margot asked. "You almost killed my friend. That's wrong."
Todorov nodded. "I know. I don't think about things."
Margot placed her hands on the long table and tried to look into Todorov's eyes. "Don't think about things? I'll say. How many times have you done this, poisoned people for Hammerson?"
Todorov shrugged. "I don't know."
"You could put your talents to good use, you know," Margot said. "You seem like a smart guy. Why don't you try to help people?"
"I did, once upon a time," Todorov said. He was sticking a syringe into a larger vial, extracting a blue liquid.
"Well, why don't you start again, tonight?" Margot said. "Save the Blue Lynx. And then save other people."
Todorov smiled. "You mean... You won't turn me in?"
Margot shook her head. "I won't. Not if you pledge to do better." This felt so good.
"Well, I pledge to do better, then!" Todorov exclaimed. He was fumbling with beakers, moving the syringe back in forth between his hands.
"Great!" Margot cried out. Had she really done it? Had her pep talk convinced Todorov to give up crime? It seemed to good to be true. Had Erin ever tried this tactic before? She remembered her task. "How's the antidote coming?"
"Good," Todorov said. "Could you do me a favor though? Turn around and get that, uh, rake from the rack. I need it real quick."
Margot shrugged. "Okay," she said, turning around to inspect the other wall.
Suddenly, there was a small, sharp twinge in her buttock. She yelped, and then spun around to see Todorov holding an empty syringe in his hand. A dark, evil smile danced across his face.
"What?" Margot said. "What was that?"
"Just a little shot to the butt to placate you, honey," Todorov giggled. "You looked like you were getting restless."
Instantly, waves of fatigue coursed through Margot's body. She fell, first to one knee, and then to the other, finally placing her gloved hands on the ground in front of her. She crawled toward Todorov's shoes with slow, clumsy motion.
"No," she thought. "He... got me..."
Seeing an opportunity, Todorov brought his shoe up into Margot's defenseless stomach, flipping her from her knees and hands onto her back. Margot splayed out on the floor, breathing slowly, her face grimacing. The white light of the shed fuzzed out the edges of the long table and Todorov, who stood over her calmly, his dark, evil smile seeming to grow.
"Todorov," Margot whispered. "You bastard."
"You're not quite as smart as the Blue Lynx, are you?" Todorov crowed. "Not that she's exactly a Rhodes scholar."
Margot breathed in and out. She could feel each inhalation take longer, could hear the sound of each exhalation blot out her consciousness little by little. Her eyelids began to close. The room dimmed until it was pitch black, until only Todorov's voice remained.
"I'll let the boss know you stopped in," he said. "I'm sure he'd love to have a talk with... What was your name again? Oh yeah. The Black Bobcat."
Todorov's laughter grew to a fever pitch, and carried Margot horribly into unconsciousness.
On to Chapter Ten
On to Chapter Ten
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