| Chapter 3: DOUBLE TAKE, Part 2
Linda Nero's office is high within a skyscraper which she owns. There are only five floors above her. The huge glass building is the center of the downtown area. From any corner of her office she can look out a window and see one of her territories. The office takes up nearly half of the entire floor, leaving room for a reception area and several elevators. By one window is an elaborate wooden desk. Across the room is a long conference table surrounded by high-backed chairs. There are four large men in dark suits throughout the room. One stands in each corner. None of them show any facial expressions or the simplest sign of life. Linda's intercom beeps. She depresses the button and says, "Yes? What is it?" "They're here, Ms. Nero," a husky voice responds. "Very well," she answers. "Make sure they're clean, then send them in." Linda sits down at the head of the conference table. She presses a small silver button embedded in the armrest of her large black leather chair. A small bar at the far side of the room splits in two. The two sections slide apart revealing a steel door underneath. The steel door rises up and an elevator emerges. The elevator doors slide open and Dean steps out into the room. As the elevator descends and the furniture reassembles itself Dean walks to Linda's side. He is wearing his camouflage fatigues. "Perhaps something a little more formal today," Linda suggests. She waves her arms to indicate the way her other guards are dressed. Dean looks over the other men. His skin begins to change color. The camouflage disappears first from his face and is replaced with a tan skin tone. The clothes that he appears to be wearing are replaced by a black sweater and tight black pants. "I love the way you do that," Linda observes. "You're such an artist." She rubs her hand over his chest. "The shadowing you use even makes your skin look like actual clothes." Dean smiles at her compliment. The office doors swing open. "Get ready, Darling," Linda instructs Dean. "Here they come." Dean smiles at her and stands at attention. Linda's guests charge into the room. "Listen, Nero!" a man shouts as he enters the room. "We're tired of your little pet!" Two more men and a woman follow him in. They are all enraged and shouting. Two of the men and the woman have just been appointed the new heads of their organizations due to the untimely deaths of Travetti, Spencer, and Sarason. The third man is the head of another organization and is afraid of being next in line at the cemetery. "What are you talking about?" Linda asks. "I had nothing to do with the recent business dealings you've all fallen prey to." "You know dam well what I'm talking about," Johnny Travetti shouts. "Your little beast killed my father!" He points to Dean. Dean snarls at him in response. Linda raises her hand and the faithful bodyguard falls silent. "You know me better than that, Johnny," Linda says softly. "I made a pact with you, all of you, that Dean is merely for my protection. As perfect as he would be I won't use him for assassinations." She pauses to look each of her accusers in the eye. "Unless duly provoked." Dean smiles again. "I made this agreement to keep the peace," Linda continues, " and in return you each released a territory to me." "Then he's working without your orders," Johnny Travetti says. "Nobody else could've committed these murders." Travetti grasps his left hand. It is a plastic replacement he's had for years. His real hand was cut for stealing from his father. He tugs quickly at the prosthetic and snaps it off. The short barrel of a shotgun is exposed by the action. "If you can't control him, we will! Travetti shouts. He raises his arm to align the barrel of the gun with Dean's skull. The four guards, who have been standing so still, draw their weapons. Before any of them can fire Dean has young Travetti by the throat. Dean slams him down onto the table top and bends back the barrel of the gun. The he drops his battered foe on the floor. "Try shaking this off," one of the men says, pressing a button on his watch. A helicopter rises up an hovers outside of the window behind Linda's desk. There is a GATT ling gun mounted beneath the chopper's nose. The helicopter pilot opens fire, but the bullets never get past the glass. Linda laughs. "Did you really think I'd sit in front of an unprotected window?" Dean notices a small tube protruding from the side of the helicopter. He throws Linda to the floor and flips the conference table onto its side to cover her. The chopper floats backwards and a rocket bursts from the tube. The bullet resistant glass is useless. Everyone is knocked to the floor by the blast with the exception of Dean. The guards scramble to their feet. The helicopter moves back in for the kill. The guards fire, but the GATT ling gun mows them down before they can do any real damage. Linda crouches behind the table. The underside of the large piece of furniture is lined with thick steel plating. It was constructed with a situation like this in mind. "Dean!" Linda shouts from her shelter, "Act!" Dean's slick look fades away and he seems to disappear into thin air. The gun showers the room in bullets, but with no effect. Dean reappears next to the small bar. He tears the marble slab from atop the bar and walks toward the blasted out window. He continues to be pounded by bullets from the chopper, but hardly seems to notice. The pilot readies the rocket launcher once again. Dean tosses the marble slab out the window with incredible force. The stone slab shatters the windshield of the helicopter and a particularly sharp shard of glass decapitates the pilot. The chopper spirals to the street below and explodes. Linda crawls to her chair and presses another button. A series of steel panels cover all of the windows. "Thanks," Linda says to Dean. She stands up and begins to dust herself off. The other woman slides a long metal dagger from her hair clip. She screams and charges at Linda holding the blade over her head. Dean catches her by the wrist as she plunges the knife down towards the Linda. He flips the attacker to the floor and breaks her arm in the process. "Remind me to fire whoever searched those people on the way on," Linda says. The last of Linda's "guests" heads for the door. He pulls on the handle, but the doors will not open. "I've triggered the security locks. That door won't open without my authorization," Linda says confidently. Just then the doors burst off the hinges sending the fleeing gangster across the room. His unconscious body smashes against one of the steel panels and he falls to the floor. Linda screams and Dean leaps between her and the doorway. Standing in the entrance to the room is a large creature. It has green and yellow scales and is shaped something like a man. Its thick neck supports a large snakelike head. Every so often what appears to be a tail is revealed as it sways behind the creature's back. Dr. Ignus steps into the room from the behind the menacing beast. He is clapping his hands. "Bravo!" he shouts. "It's nice to see that you two have not lost your touch.
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