TWENTY-SIX

The Red Raider had a look behind his shoulder, sitting behind the wheel of a speeding police car. “Eat my dust!”

Next to him was a bald guy with a head full of tattoos. He was one of the criminals The Red Raider freed from the police station. In the back were to of his own men.

“Thanks for getting me out of there,” the bald guy said. “Name’s Hutch.”

“Don’t thank me yet. You’re going to work for it,” The Red Raider said.

“I usually don’t work for people. I got my own crew.”

“You’re part of my crew now,” The Red Raider told him.

“What’s the plan?” Hutch asked.

“We just dealt the first strike to the city. We stole the cop’s resources, freed their prisoners… The city will be at our mercy now. Now we rob it, we rob it blind of everything they’ve got. I can use some hard men to rob some banks for me. Too bad I had to leave some of my supervillains behind.”

“What about The Heroic Alliance? Aren’t you afraid they will stop you?”

Red Raider guffawed. “Ha! They are usually too busy fighting on alien worlds and other dimensions to bother with the cities. So tell me, why were you arrested?”

“Robbed a bank. Got arrested when this stupid chick in spandex showed up. Bullets didn’t hurt her.”

“I heard some of my men tell about a girl like that at the police station. If she tries to bother me we will just see how she handles a grenade in the face. Anyway, I could use someone in charge of my bank robbery division. Up for the job?”

“Your division? And what? Split the profits?”

“No, I pay you a percentage.”

“What? Why would I do that if you expect me to do all the work?”

The Red Raider almost spun the car against a parked van, turning a corner at high speed, Hutch banging his shoulder against the window.

“Because I will be the one in charge of all criminal activities in this city. You saw what I did to the prisoner who didn’t want to join me, right?”

The Raider could see from the worried look on Hutch’s face he remembered how The Raider had shot that prisoner without given it a second thought.

“All right. I’m in for now.”

“Good,” The Raider said, rounding another corner that almost knocked Hutch into him.

“Boss,” a voice from one of the henchmen in the backseat piped up. “What will we do without Maximizer, Queen Neanderthal and Speed Metal? Weren’t they an integral part of your plan?”

“They might catch up. I had to leave them at the police station, but I figure they will get away from there. The cops won’t be able to keep them there for long. Not with us haven taken most of their weapons and a lot of them wounded.”

“But what if The Heroic Alliance does show up?” the henchman wondered.

“We take them down in a hail of bullets, explosives and laser blasters. My best scientists are working on some fantastic weaponry,” The Red Raider said.

“Scientists? What are you, a criminal or a tech company?” Hutch wondered.

“That’s what sets me apart from cheap hoods like you. I’ve got the strategy, the resources, the crew and the technology to become the biggest criminal of this country.”

“Cheap hood? Nobody calls me that!” Hutch said and went for The Red Raider’s throat.

The car started to swerve as The Raider tried to keep his eyes on the road and fight off the tattooed criminal.

The sound of gunfire, muffled by the seat of the police car sounded. Blood exploded from Hutch’s chest. The Red Raider’s henchmen hadn’t though twice about saving their leader.

Hutch’s grip slackened as his chin fell down to his chest, all light leaving his eyes. The Red Raider pushed him away from him. One hand on the steering wheel, he reached over and opened the door of the car. He pushed Hutch’s dead body out. It rolled across the street.

The Red Raider said, “Looks like the position for the bank robbery division is still open.”