1.
Harold Banner walked home for the first time in a long time. Usually he became Time Man and flew above the neighborhood on patrol. Tonight, he walked because he had been spending too much time as Time Man. He also wanted to get home and see Ellie.As Harold approached his building, a man came running out of it, barreling through the doors and running down the sidewalk toward Harold. Harold tried to get out of the way but the man ran into him, pushing him and knocking him down. Harold fell hard on the sidewalk and quickly turned to see the man still running. “Hey! Watch where you’re going! Slow down!” he shouted but knew the man wasn’t listening. Harold picked himself up and went into his apartment building, taking one last look toward the way the man was running.
Dwight Summers had been halfway across the country for the last two weeks doing work on Northern Continental Railroad and was anxious to get back home to his wife, Sarah, and daughter, Daisy. Carrying an arrangement of flowers for Sarah and a wooden cat collapsible toy for Daisy, Dwight walked up the stairs to his apartment. He went to unlock the door but found it already unlocked. He walked in and found the apartment quiet, the usual screams and laughs from Daisy were missing as were Sarah doing her hardest to keep the apartment a warm, loving home.
Dwight placed the flowers and cat on the bookshelf next to the door and began walking through the apartment. It looked like Sarah was just about to start cooking with ingredients sitting out on the counter. “Sarah?” he called. He went back to the bedroom and opened the door to his and Sarah’s bedroom. Partially hidden by the bed, were the bodies of Sarah and Daisy. Dwight, overcome, ran out of the apartment and fell against the wall of the hallway and began crying and shivering.
Soon, the apartment building was swarming with police officers, detectives and medical examiners. Everyone in the building was questioned and no one saw or heard anything, even the neighbors, Harold and Eleanor Banner.
“I can’t believe that happened,” Ellie said. “And right across the hall from us.”
“I can’t imagine what Dwight is going through. I don’t know what I would do if something like that happened to you and our child,” Harold kissed Ellie and rubbing her pregnant belly. “I wonder what he is going to do now.”
“They were such nice people,” Ellie moaned. “None of them deserved this. I wonder what happened and who it was.”
“Probably some psycho. I should probably put a new lock or two on the door, just in case,” Harold said. “Especially with the baby close to being here.”
Dwight’s gloved hand connected to the punching bag in Canacari’s Gym. A month had passed since Dwight’s life essentially came to a stop and in that time he barely spent any time at home, opting to stay late at work or train at Canacari’s. He would sleep at a motel, his apartment not lived in since the horrible find. He had an unknown number of days worth of stubble on his face and his hair was disheveled and hung in his eyes and over his ears.
Leon Canacari came up behind Dwight. “What are you doing here, Dwight?”
“Training.”
“I can see that but you’re here every night, for hours on end. You can’t hide out here from whatever you are running from.”
“I’m not running from anything. I’m running toward something,” Dwight hit the punching bag one more time then took the gloves off. “Thanks for letting me use your gym. I’ll see you around.”
“Don’t do anything stupid, Dwight,” Canacari warned.
Dwight entered his family’s apartment for the first time since discovering his murdered wife and daughter. He was carrying a bag and slowly walked into his daughter’s room. “She loved cats,” he muttered to himself. “I’m going to find out who did this, sweetie. I’m going to avenge and honor you like a father should.” He pulled a strange costume out of the bag, in was a suit with a mask that looked like a cat’s head complete with whiskers. He took the suit into his bedroom which was completely empty. He undressed and slid on the cat suit. “I will find out who did this and they will answer to me: Catman,” he exclaimed and leapt out of the bedroom window and onto the fire escape. He climbed up to the roof and looked out over the city.
Harold couldn’t sleep so he put the sundial on and went out for a bit as Time Man. He had been torn wondering if he should do patrols more or stay home with Ellie after what happened to the Summers’. He opted to stay with Ellie which meant Time Man hadn’t been seen very often over the last month but it had been relatively quiet anyway.
As Time Man flew over his neighborhood, he spotted a figure dressed in black bounding from rooftop to rooftop. The figure paused on the top of a tenement building and looked out over the edge. Time Man gently landed several feet behind him. “You look like you’re on a mission,” he said.
“You shouldn’t sneak up on someone like that,” the man in black snarled. “I’m looking for someone—anyone—who can help me solve a murder.”
“A murder? I can help in any way I can. What can you give me?” Time Man offered.
“Sarah and Daisy Summers. You ever hear of them?”
“Yeah. Terrible shame. The Summers’ were a nice family. I can’t imagine what Dwight is going through,” Time Man sighed.
“You sound like you knew them.”
“Not really. They…” Time Man hesitated for a brief moment “…were my wife and I’s neighbors. They lived across the hall from us.”
“Harold?”
“Dwight,” Time Man extended his hand. Dwight took Time Man’s hand and they shook. “What are you doing?”
“The police aren’t going to find anything. No one they talked to saw anything. Even you,” Dwight sighed dejectedly. “What did you see? Go over your evening again.”
“Nothing unusual,” Harold began. “I was walking home from work, which is something I rarely do now,” he brought attention to his blue and gold outfit. “As I was approaching the apartment building, this man came running out and knocked me down. I didn’t get a good look at him but I’m sure he has something to do with what happened.”
“Do you remember anything about him?”
“Not really. Just your average-looking guy. He was wearing a denim jacket with some kind of logo on the back,” Harold tried to remember. “It was red…Vince Auto or something like that.”
“Might be Vance Auto in the North Bottoms. Rumor has it that they do very little auto work there. Could be worth checking out,” Dwight prepared to jump off of the building.
“Wait. I’ll come with you. By the way, what do you call yourself?”
“Catman,” Dwight briefly smiled. “Daisy loved cats.”
Vance Auto was a dilapidated building that looked like it had been abandoned for several years but everyone knew it was being used, but no one knew for what purpose. Time Man and Catman approached the building and slowly made their way from the street to the building, slowly opening the door. Inside, it looked like your typical auto maintenance shop but Catman was sure it was also something else.
“There’s nothing…and no one here,” Time Man said. “Maybe he was a former employee. Maybe there’s a file cabinet we can get names from.”
“I hear something,” Catman gruffly said. “Shush.” Both went silent and listened for a couple seconds.
“I don’t hear anything,” Time Man said.
“Shush,” Catman said again and turned his head toward the garage area. “Over here. Under this hydraulic lift. Can you lift it up?”
Time Man pulled the lift up, the steel hydraulic tube breaking and cracking as he pulled. Both dropping into the hole and into a tunnel that went far beyond the foundation of the building. “What is this?” Time Man whispered.
“I don’t know but I hear something down here. Let’s go,” Catman said and began running down the tunnel.
“Hear something? Are you kidding me?”
At the end of the tunnel was another large hole, almost a cave, with two tall torches on either side and in front of the torches, two large bodyguards. “I’ll take care of them. Be right back.”
“By yourself? I can help…” Time Man said as Catman ran to the two guards. They attempted to stop Catman but in three quick moves they were disarmed and disabled, knocked unconscious on the ground. “Well, I could’ve helped.”
They entered the cave which revealed a massive area with a large fire in the center. Milling around were a dozen or so people in red robes and pointed red hoods. “Hmm. They look like they are up to no good.”
“We can handle them. Keep at least one of them conscious so we can ask them questions,” Time Man and the two of them charged in taking down two easily. They split up and while Time Man was knocking the hooded men out, Catman was smashing their heads into the cave wall, bludgeoning them with his fists and even broke the neck of another. “What are you doing? Keep them alive! We keep them alive.”
“We only need one of them,” Catman said. “Maybe this will make it easier to extract the information.” Catman wrapped his arms around another man’s head. Time Man quickly clicked his sundial and time stopped.
Time Man walked over, pulled the man from Catman’s grasp, and sped time up again. Catman gestured with his arm but was surprised when he realized the man wasn’t there anymore. “We don’t kill,” Time Man said again.
Catman glared at Time Man. “Fine. But let’s get what we came for,” Catman walked over to the man Time Man was holding. “What the hell is this?”
“It’s the Order of St. Constantin,” the man replied. “I don’t know much about it.”
“You joined a cult without knowing anything about it?” Catman questioned.
“I don’t know much about it,” the man repeated. “I liked the idea of white supremacy and ethnic cleansing. The man you need to see about the Order is Priest Andreij. He controls this…section of the Order. I don’t know where he is or if that’s even his real name. He visits here about once a month to give some rousing speech and seed our sacrifices.”
“What?”
“Some of the guys offer their daughters to the Priest thinking it will help make them Chosen.”
“Do you have enough?” Time Man asked Catman.
“I think I can go on what he gave me,” Catman nodded.
“Good. Now you can kill him,” Time Man let go of the man and walked away, leaving him and Catman alone.
2.
Stately Auburndale Manor was about forty miles outside of Philadelphia. It was raining when Dwight Summers--in his disguise as Catman--arrived which just made him angrier. He had worked his way from Golden City to Philadelphia tracking down leads about The Order of St. Constantin. Auburndale Manor was supposedly a major hideout of the Order on the east coast. There were dozens of cars lining the circular driveway of the Manor so there were at least a decent amount of people here. People he could question. People he could threaten to give him any information on who killed his wife and daughter.Catman approached the Manor and peered in the window. It was, indeed, a party. It looked like hundreds of people were in attendance. They were all wearing red robes except for the few that were wearing black ones. “Weirdos,” he muttered. He remembered that he was dressed in a cat suit. “I’m at least in this to stand for something,” he said to himself. He began wondering how he should get into the house. Through the back or the roof?
Auburndale Manor was three stories so going through the back would be easier but the element of surprise came from above. Catman compromised and darted to the back of the house and began scaling the wall and windows to the third floor. There was a fancy balcony leading to a grand bedroom. The balcony was unlocked. In the dark room, Catman was nearly invisible, he just had to quietly get to where everyone was on the first floor.
He stared out over the festivities from the top of the stairs. He devised a plan in his head about how all this would go down. He would ignore the one in black robes and go for the ones in red. The reds may not know anything but the ones in black, he wanted to scare.
Catman watched for several minutes until he saw an opening. One of the black robes began talking and everyone turned to watch him. A couple minutes into the black robe’s speech, Catman leapt into the crowd. He landed on several and began throwing punches around to the ones still standing around him.
Like in the cave, he seemed to blackout during the fight. When he came to, many red robes were laid sprawled on the floor. Several had run away but three black robes remained. Catman quickly approached them. Neither of them seemed nervous.
“Priest Andreij,” Catman said.
“What about him?” one of the black robes asked.
“I’m looking for him. I’m looking for who killed my family,” Catman explained.
“If your family was killed, Andreij probably doesn’t know anything about it,” another answered. “The Order is controlled by him but he’s more of a figurehead. Each chapter has its own leader. You know this isn’t going to bring your family back, right?”
Catman’s fist caved in that black robe’s face and he slumped to the floor, blood spilling from his nose and mouth. “Who runs the chapter in Golden City?”
“I don’t know. I’ve met Jack Mancietti, he’s a boxer in Golden City and a member of the Order. He might know who’s in charge.”
“Thank you,” Catman said. He turned and walked away.
Jack Mancietti’s boxing gym was in College Hill, a small neighborhood that used to be home to some of the most educated and wealthy citizens of Golden City. When the college closed, the neighborhood quickly disintegrated.
Mancietti’s Gym gave hope to the kids of the neighborhood. It was a place where the boys could avoid drugs and the prostitutes. After learning about him, Catman was shocked to learn a man like him was a past of this perverted Order.
The gym was unlocked so Catman just walked in. He heard the sounds of fists hitting a sandbag. He walked toward the sound and saw a man punching a sandbag suspended from the ceiling. “Jack Mancietti?”
“Yep,” two more hits.
“Do you belong to the Order of St. Constantin?”
“Who’s asking?”
“I’m Catman. The Order killed my family.”
“I’m sorry to hear that. I don’t know anything about that,” Jack said. “But if you beat me in the ring, I’ll tell you who you need to see.”
3.
Catman and Jack put on boxing gloves. “I’ve been a member of the Order since I was 18. My old man was also a member. I was never big on groups like that,” Jack said. “A lot of the members are weirdoes. Yeah, some of them use the Order to further themselves or their beliefs but most of them just use the Order to get their jollies. It’s like a present-day Sodom and Gomorrah.”“It sounds like even if I get Priest Andreij, the Order will just find a new leader,” Catman said.
The two of them stepped into the ring, Jack holding the ropes open for Catman. “It will continue in some form or another,” he sighed. “I don’t know much about it but I would assume it started with noble intentions. Know anything about boxing?”
“A little,” Catman said. “I’ve been to a few gyms and my Dad was a boxing fan.”
A fist landed on Catman’s cheek close to the nose. “Five minutes or until knockout,” Jack said as they began circling each other in the ring. “The clock is on the east wall. Fight,” Jack shouted and the match began.
The two men’s feet scuffled across the canvas of the ring. The gloves occassionally hit each other but mostly they hit body. Despite Catman’s stamina and abilities, Jack was a much better boxer and within a couple of minutes, Catman’s lip had a small split in it. After just over four minutes, a downward jab sent Catman to the mat.
“Knockout,” Catman said with a laugh in his throat.
“Really? You barely went down,” Jack said.
“I know when I’m beat,” Catman stood up and took the gloves off. “Besides, the remaining twenty seconds won’t change the fact that you’re going to beat me.”
“Look, about the Order,” Jack began “I wish I could be more help but I never really got into them. I can point you in the direction of a really bad member. They call him the Toy-Man because he uses toys to gain the trust of little kids.”
Catman shuddered. “Where can I find him?”
“The old Embassy tenement on MacVicar. His apartment has a giant stuffed bear in the window.”
Catman stood on a building across the street from the Embassy Building. He stared directly at the teddy bear in the window. The bear was slightly faded from being in the window for God knows how long.
According to Jack, the Toy-Man was sheltered from the law by the Order. He had molested nearly a hundred young kids, both male and female. He had even killed a couple and had gotten away with all of it. It was time to end this man’s streak of good luck.
4.
“What could go wrong?” the man known as Toy-Man asked as he diced potatoes. “Our new friend is quiet, he’s barely cried since he got here, and the Order will protect us like it always has.I have an odd feeling about tonight. Something feels wrong.
“You’re just being paranoid, Mother,” Toy-Man chuckled. His mother had died several years ago. Just recently she had come back into his life and was a welcome presence. She helped calm the fears that he had. He continued making a dinner for both him and his guest at Catman gently landed on the roof.
Most of the apartment tenements were empty. The Toy-Man was one of the few residents of it and he was the only one on his floor. Everyone else was in the first three, he was on the fifth. Catman broke into the roof access door and began following the metal staircase down. His feet hitting the steps made a slight echoing noise. He went down four floors and exited at the fifth. He could smell something cooking and just followed the smell to the Toy-Man’s door.
Catman then crashed through the door, wood splintering onto the floor. Toy-Man quickly turned, using the knife he was cutting potatoes with as protection. Who is that, Albert? What’s going on?
“I don’t know, Mother. Give me a minute,” Toy-Man angrily walked up to Catman, knife drawn. He swung and barely missed Catman. Catman pushed him away and he slammed into the wall. Toy-Man took another swipe and was actually able to nick Catman’s suit. “Who are you?”
“Someone who is finally going to stop you,” Catman growled and barrelled into Toy-Man. They fell to the floor and Catman wrapped his hands around Toy-Man’s neck.
Albert! Fight back. He’s just some guy in a cat suit.
“I’ve got one more idea, Mother,” Toy-Man croaked as Catman tightened his grip. “If I die. The kid dies.”
Catman’s grip loosened and Toy-Man kicked Catman off of him. “You monster,” he growled.
Toy-Man stood up and opened a kitchen drawer. He pulled a gun out and pointed it at Catman. “You can’t stop me. People have tried for years to stop me. I’ve always gotten away with it. I can’t be stopped. I won’t be stopped. Especially by someone like you.”
Catman took a step toward Toy-Man who quickly turned the gun to himself, opened his mouth, and pulled the trigger. The gunshot echoed through the apartment and blood splattered on the kitchen wall, counter, and sink behind him. Catman heard quiet crying coming from one of the rooms. He followed the sound and found a young boy tied to a bed. Catman untied him, helped him get downstairs where the police were starting to pull up.
Catman took off across the rooftops, satisfied that the Toy-Man wouldn’t bother any other young children again. Catman rested on a rooftop and looked out over the city. He felt better about what he was doing. He couldn’t save his family. Couldn’t save his child but he could save others.
“He needed to go,” a voice behind him said. It was a woman’s voice. “The Order could be so much more if we had fewer like him in it.”
Catman turned around and saw a tall, redheaded woman in a green pantsuit standing with him on the rooftop. “Who are you?”
“I’m Ivy,” she answered. “I was sent to stop you. I waited because Albert needed to be taken care of first.”
“You’re part of the Order? But you’re a woman,” Catman lightly scoffed as he eyed Ivy.
“True but I think you’ll find that I am just as good and capable as any man,” she said and before Catman knew it, she was on top of him. She took his cat ears and began slamming his head onto the roof.
Catman tried to push her off or roll over but she was too strong and too flexible. Within a couple of minutes, Catman blacked out.
5.
Catman awoke to an odd sensation. He was lying down but still sitting up. He couldn’t move his arms which were locked above his head. His vision was blurry but came into focus. Ivy was on top of him. He realized that he was naked and that he was inside of Ivy. “Get off. What are you doing?”“Men do this to women all the time. How does it feel, Dwight?” she chided. “Yes, I know your secret identity. I also know that you just lost your wife not even a month ago. You probably weren’t expecting to do this again so soon,” she moved on top of him harder. Catman closed his eyes and waited for it to end.
When she was done, Ivy got up and got dressed. She left Catman in the bed in what looked like an abandoned apartment. “Do you always do this to people you are supposed to stop?” Catman asked, tugging on his wrist restraints.
“Only the men,” she said. “Now, if you’ll excuse me, I have to go,” she began pouring gasoline or some other fuel around the bed and then a trail leading out of the room. Ivy dropped a lit match and the fuel erupted and began approaching the bed quickly.
Catman struggled to free himself. He pulled at his restraints and tried kicking his legs. His legs were just tied together with rope that was then tied to the bed frame. “This is no time to panic,” he said to himself. He looked, as best he could, at his wrist restraints. They were just handcuffs on each wrists and attached to the wooden spokes of the bed headboard.
He began forcibly pulling his wrists away from the headboard hoping that the wood was weak or loose. Finally, one them broke and he was able to reach and break the other one. “Glad I got here in time. You’re just about to escape,” said another voice, male this time.
“What?” Catman asked as he untied his feet.
“Get dressed. Someone wishes to speak to you,” the voice said.
Catman quickly dressed and followed the voice out of the room and apartment. Catman was finally able to see who the voice belonged to. “Antonio?” he looked at Sarah’s brother. He was the black sheep of her family and wasn’t at their wedding, mainly because they didn’t know where he was. She wasn’t sure if Antonio would have even come if he had been invited. “What are you doing?”
“Just come with me. I, and someone else, need to talk to you,” he said, cryptically.
Antonio and Catman arrived at a massive cave somewhere in New Jersey. There were so many twists and turns, Catman wasn’t sure that he’d be able to find it again if he needed to. There was clear signs that someone had been living in the cave but that it was slowly becoming abandoned.
“Why are we here?” Catman asked.
“He’s been asking for you,” Antonio said.
“Who?”
“The one you seek.”
“Priest Andreij?” a tinge of hope came into Catman’s voice. “He’s knows about me?”
“You’ve practically dismantled the eastern branch of the Order. Of course he’s heard of you.”
“I’ve hardly done anything. How could I have dismantled the Order?”
“Just by scaring people. You murdered a man,” Antonio said, referring to the Toy-Man.
“He shot himself,” Catman sighed.
“Doesn’t matter. Because of you, Toy-Man is dead. People are worried about who’s next because the Order has a lot of bad people in it. But that’s what happens in secret societies like these.”
“Then how are you a member?” Catman asked.
Antonio didn’t answer.
Dwight Summers had spent the last four months searching for the person who had killed Sarah and Daisy--his wife, his daughter, his family. As Catman, he had traversed a good portion of the east coast from Massachusetts to New Jersey and getting closer and closer to Priest Andreij. He was now being delivered to him directly by Sarah’s brother. It felt anticlimactic to Dwight.
Antonio stopped the car and got out. Catman followed. They took a few steps further into the massive cavern. A man was seated on a chair. He was dressed in what looked like priest’s clothes except they were blood red.
“Catman?” the man asked excitedly.
“Yep. Here he is,” Antonio answered.
“I had heard that it was a man in a cat suit who was causing all these problems. I thought people were just being flamboyant.”
“Nope. It’s really a guy in a cat suit,” Antonio chuckled.
“No matter. It’s great to finally see you. Face-to-face. I’m probably not what you expected,” Priest Andriej said.
“Priest Andreij?” Catman finally asked.
“Please. Call me Andreij. Now, the reason you’ve been hunting me down so passionately is because one of the Order killed your wife and child, right?”
“I don’t see how you can be so calm about that. I’ve practically torn the Order apart and you’re next,” Catman threatened.
“I am no longer a threat to you or anybody else. The Order was falling apart long before you came along. That’s why new members had to do such terrible things to get in. If they were willing to do the utmost worst then maybe they could help hold the Order together. Oh, well. All good things must come to an end.”
“Who did it?” Catman said.
“What?”
“Who killed my family?” he growled. “You tell me who and I leave you alone.”
“I’m surprised that no one told you. He’s kind of become the Order pariah. That’s why I’ve taken him under my wing. He did all that work and really has nothing to show for it,” Andreij said.
“Under your wing? So he’s here?” Catman stepped forward then turned to look at Antonio. “You? Your own sister?”
“He wanted desperately to show what he could--what he would--do.”
“What did you do?” Catman turned to Antonio and began walking toward him. “Tell me.”
“I...I killed them. That’s all,” Antonio backed away.
“Tell him what you did to his daughter,” Andreij said as he went back into the darkness of the cave.
“What did you do?” Catman screamed and grabbed Antonio by the throat.
“I killed them,” he groaned and coughed. “I killed them and I...molested Daisy.”
“What?” Catman growled, loudly. It echoed through the caverns. Squeaks of bats passed overhead.
“I molested...I raped her. I raped Daisy,” Antonio began crying. “Sarah begged me to stop as she bled to death but I...couldn’t,” Antonio knew he couldn’t explain what had happened so he didn’t try.
Catman let go of Antonio’s neck and grabbed his face. Catman pushed Antonio back and down as hard as he could. Antonio’s head struck the cave floor. Catman continued to slam Antonio’s head into the floor until his skull was just a bloody mess. Catman stood back up and looked to where Andreij had disappeared. He began running after him.
“You’re not going to escape,” Catman called after Priest Andreij. The cave was huge and Andreij was walking up a tall cliff. Catman wasn’t sure what he was going to do but he didn’t want the Priest to avoid punishment. “I’m right behind you.”
“I know. I’m not trying to escape. My mind needs cleansing.”
“What’s wrong with you? Why are you even in charge of the Order? You don’t seem to like it and you clearly are not getting anything from it.”
“Which is why I’m glad it’s almost over. It got too big. Too many big personalities and I just don’t have that kind of control. Do you know how long I’ve been in this cave?”
“I don’t care.”
“Since your assault on Auburndale. I shouldn’t have hidden. I should’ve confronted you as soon as I heard about you,” Andreij sighed. “But I didn’t.”
“I don’t care.”
“At least now, I get to remedy that,” Andreij quickly spun around and threw three shuriken. Catman dodged two but was hit by one but it was enough of a distraction for Andreij to drop off of the cliff and to the land bridge below that crossed an underground river.
“I knew this wouldn’t be easy,” Catman grumbled and began following Andreij, down the cliff and across the bridge.
Catman caught up with Andreij and jumped on top of him. They landed hard on the ground and Andreij struggled to get out from under Catman. “Did you think I would just let you stop me and the Order? I’ve lived dozens of lives over thousands of years. I know my way around this world,” he scrambled free and ran into a small room.
“Great. The guy is nuts,” Catman said and continued following.
Inside the room, it was bigger than it looked. Clearly, it was where Andreij lived. It had a bed and all the other comforts of home. Andreij grabbed something off of a table and pointed it at Catman. “Stop. One more move and we all die.”
“I thought you were immortal or something like that. Dozens of lives. Hundreds of years.”
Andreij laughed, oddly, then pressed a button. The floor in front of Catman exploded, again causing a distraction and Andreij was gone again. After the smoke cleared, Catman went to the only place Andreij could’ve gone--up a spiral staircase that disappeared into the darkness at the top of the cave.
Catman followed Andreij up the stairs, now determined more than ever to finish whatever it was that they were doing. When Catman arrived where Andreij had gotten, Andreij looked disheveled, sweaty, tired. “Giving up?” Catman asked.
“My Father is no longer here,” Andreij breathed. “He’s been guiding me for generations but now he’s not here.” Andreij looked up at the sky. They were outside of the cave now, in the darkness. The sky was filled with thousands of stars.
“Your Father?”
“I am no longer the Chosen,” Andreij teared up. “No longer His Son. I am nothing.”
“Come on,” Catman took Andreij’s arm.
“No,” Andreij pulled away and pulled out a knife from under his cloak. “I am nothing and must become nothing.” He plunged the blade into his stomach and turned it in both directions making a circle.
Catman just watched. Andreij fell to his knees and doubled over on himself in a pool of blood. When Andreij stopped moving and making noise, Catman used his foot to push him onto his back. The Order would never be the same after this if it even survived but he had avenged his family. Catman walked away, leaving Andreij alone, on the ground, under the stars.
A month later, Dwight was just a few days from opening his new diner next door to Jack’s gym. The space used to be abandoned so Dwight got a good deal on it and Jack helped him do most of the work. Dwight didn’t know if he was ever going to be Catman again but he made sure to keep that door open.
“You open pretty soon, right?” Jack grumbled as he sat on the stool at the counter. Dwight was looking through a food catalog and circling what he would need for when the diner did open.
“A few days. A week at most. I still need to hire a waitress and possibly someone to work the counter. I have an ad out. I’m gonna run the kitchen, at least until business picks up then I may need another cook.”
“Probably. A diner will do well here. There’s nowhere to eat. Few people live here but there are plenty of places to work. You’ll do great lunch business,” Jack said.
“That’s what I’m hoping,” Dwight said.
“How’s the other guy?” Jack said in a sotto voice.
“The Cat? He’s good. Taking a break. He may be back if he’s needed,” Dwight smirked.
“The city needs someone like him. That Time Man or whatever is good but down here, in the slums, we need someone to stalk the alleys, the shadows,” Jack said. “Are you any good at cooking?”
“I cooked when I was in the military.”
“And military food is so delicious.”
“Nobody asked, Jack.”
The door opened and the bell above it dinged. The two men looked over and saw a woman walk in. “Hi, I’m here to apply for the waitress job,” she said.
“Have you ever waitressed before?” Dwight asked.
The woman looked down. “No. I’ve never really had a job. I just left my fiancee and I need a job and money and thought this might be something I could do.”
“What’s your name?”
“Dorothy Kanifky.”
“Dorothy. Have a seat and let’s see what you can do.” ▩
By Brian Hall
Copyright © 2016-2017 Tauy Creek.
Originally published in Incredible Comics #5 and Catman #1-3
