Charlotte looked down at the lizard man. Ew. She had just kissed a lizard man. She said nothing, just stared at her boss. Richard was cowering in the corner.
“You fucking pussy. Get up and clean the place up you asshole” She lit a cigarette and looked back to Joseph.
"Well, I've gotta say, that wasn't half bad..."
She shook her head.
“I… haven’t done anything like that in a while…” She whispered, watching Joseph pull weapons off of the man. What the heck were those attached guns? Weird.
"Hey Cashier, nice job." She scowled.
“Not anymore… and my name is actually Charlotte.” She took a huge drag and sighed deeply, looking over to Richard. His beetroot face was now looking pretty angry. Charlotte bit the inside of her cheek slightly. As she held back tears again she looked up to see Joe holding something up for her.
"If you can't find a new job somewhere else, press a drop of your own blood into this symbol here in the center, and it'll let us talk without having to worry about phone numbers or anything like that. I'll talk to Powers when he gets back from France. I reckon he'll be interested in someone with... I'm guessing some kind of wind manipulation?"
She scratched her head and took the small piece of paper. It had some odd scribbles on it.
"Oh well, whatever. If you're ever interested in a job at HERO, use the rune and I'll organize a meeting. Or just go to the Lucky Cow at some point and ask for Joseph if you wanna do it the boring old fashioned way. Old man there knows me by name, so he'll be able to give you my number."
She put the rune into her bag and nodded.
“I’ll… I’ll think about it,” She said, nodding to Joseph as he took the lizard man away. Richard had got up now and was staring at Charlotte, his piggy eyes bloodshot, his burning glare having next to no effect on her. She took a chocolate bar from the counter and threw her cigarette on the floor before making her way out. Richard scrambled after her but he was too short and fat, giving up after barely reaching the door.
Charlotte took her time walking home. Despite hating her job with a passion it was all she had.
It was turning dark when she arrived at her apartment. It was pretty cold and she stepped on her post as she entered. Bills, bills and more bills. She picked them up and put them on the side before making her way into the kitchen. Fuck the washing up… she was meant to do that last night. Sighing, she put the kettle on and began rooting about in the cupboards. A few packets of instant noodles fell out, one of them bursting open on the floor, oodles of noodles shattering all over the place.
“Fucks sake.”
She rooted about for her dustpan and brush, sweeping the mess up and putting it in the bin before opening the other packet and placing them into the pan, before sprinkling on the little sachet and pouring the hot water on. Lottie took the paper from her bag and looked at it. What even was it? She folded it back up and put it in her back pocket before stirring her noodles and switching on the TV. Another report on some heroics of a member of H.E.R.O. She wasn’t cut out for all that helping shit. Emptying her noodles into a bowl she pulled out the rune from her pocket and looked at it again.
“Hmm. Nah.” She threw it in the bin and changed the channel to something less boring… A gangster movie, perfect. She finished her dinner and then cleared up before going out for a smoke. She decided to take out the trash as she did so, tying a knot in the top and carrying it out. As she made her way down the stairs, something shuffled in the dark. Paying little to no attention Lottie continued as she was, putting a cigarette between her lips in preparation. As she reached the door she noticed that it was locked from the inside… usually it’s just left open because all the doors inside have locks. She went to unlock it only to be smashed against it by the person who had been hiding beneath the stairwell. Lottie’s head was bleeding and she rolled over to see a man dressed in all black. He was pressed the knife to her neck and his eyes looked angry.
“DID YOU GET MY MATE ARRESTED!” He said, his hand quivering as the knife just touched the side of her neck. Lottie was panicking slightly.
“I… I don’t know what you’re talking about!”
The man began to apply pressure to her neck.
“DON’T LIE TO ME BITCH!”
Blood began to drip and she began to calm down slightly, remaining quiet as she began removing the air from the man's lungs. His eyes looked shocked all of a sudden and he lost his grip on the knife, falling to the floor and gasping for air, foam appearing at the edges of his mouth as he flounced one the ground like a fish.
“Yeah. It was me. I’ll take you to be with him if you want.”
The man looked at her and then passed out. The trash had been ripped open in the brawl and she sighed, picking it up and trying to keep it in the bag as best she could. Forgetting she had thrown it away she picked Joseph’s rune up… the blood on her hands dripped onto the piece of paper.
“Fuck”
