By Captain Marvel... aka... Dennis West
The rain slammed against the grime streaked windows of my office, like a chorus of angry hornets. I was nursing a glass of cheap scotch and a headache that felt like a freight train had derailed in my skull.
Then he hopped in.
He was 3 feet of bad news, wrapped in mangy white fur. He didn't have a pink nose; he had a snout scarred by decades of fighting back in Super Hero City days. He had a twitch in his eye that said he would kill for less than a hand full of carrots. He wore a tuxedo that had seen better decades and smelled like gunpowder and stale jellybeans.
Cape he growled. His voice was a guttural rasp. "I'm the Easter Bunny. But you can call me da Boss!"
The Boss. I mumbled. "We have met before fur ball. Back in the SHC."
"YOU!" EB's face turned to the color of fresh hot lava and steam wooshed from his ears.
"Ahh come on EB, your not still holding a grudge are you?" I asked.
"Yes I am. But your lucky I need your services."
I didn't laugh. You don't laugh at a rabbit who’s carrying a customized Thompson submachine gun.
So tell me EB. Whats got your pantys in a bunch?
The easter eggs he spat, pacing my floor. All the Easter eggs were stolen from the vault. Without them, the holiday is ruined. No Easter egg hunt for all them kiddies. Im mad and when I’m mad, people start leaking red.
"Who stole them fur ball?" I asked.
"Violent Vixen," he hissed. "She’s holed up in a fortress of black glass and neon down on 3rd. She’s got the eggs, and she’s got the muscle. I need a heavy hitter. I need a guy who can fly through a brick wall and not ruin his hair."
I stood up, I wasn't DW today. I had a different job. I reached into the air and felt the lightning humming in my veins.
"SHAZAM!"
The thunder crackled through the office, shattering the scotch glass. When the smoke cleared. The suit was red, the cape was gold, and the power of the old gods was screaming for a target.
Lead the way Fur ball I said. "I've got a date with an evil dame."
The fortress was a spire of black marble and neon, in the center of the city. I didn't knock. I went through the front door at Mach two . Leaving a Captain-Marvel-shaped hole in the reinforced steel.
The lobby was crawling with henchmen. Hired muscle in black Kevlar. They opened up with automatic fire. The bullets hit my chest and flattened like discarded bubble gum. I didn't even break stride. I waded through them, throwing lefts and rights that sent them through the walls. It wasn't a fight; it was a demolition and I was the wreaking ball.
I reached the inner sanctum. The air was thick with the scent of patchouli oil and burnt ozone.
There she was. The Violet Vixen.
She was draped across a couch of red crushed velvet. Holding one of the stolen eggs. A pulsating, violet orb that hummed with forbidden energy. She was wearing a bodysuit of black latex that left nothing to the imagination and a mask that could not hide the predatory hunger in her eyes.
"Captain," she purred, her voice a sultry velvet trap.
"The eggs, Vixen!" I said, my voice booming with the authority of Solomon. I stepped toward her, the golden lightning flickering around my fists. "Now!! Before I have to get rough."
She stood up, tall and leathal, moving with the dangerous grace of a panther. She didn't look scared. She looked like she had found a new toy.
"You're so big," she whispered, stepping into my space. She was a head shorter than me. But she leaned in until I could feel the heat of her skin. She traced a finger over the gold lightning bolt on my chest. "Soooo powerful. All that divine strength... wasted on a rabbit’s errand."
"I don't play games, sister," I growled. As my hand caught her wrist. I didn't squeeze, but she felt the weight of the power I held.
Oh, I think you do, she breathed. Her eyes locking onto mine. She pressed the glowing egg against the small of my back, the magical energy surging through us both. It was a dizzying, heady rush. Why serve a rabbit when you could rule by my side? Stay with me, Captain. Let the world freeze. Let me be the fire you desire.
She was a siren. A beautiful, lethal distraction. Her body was a weapon, and she knew exactly how to aim it. She pressed closer, her lips inches from mine. Challenging the god inside the man.
"You are a hell of a woman, Vixen," I said, my grip tightening on her waist. Pulling her flush against the indestructible red silk of my suit. I let her feel the raw, dominant force of a man who could move planets. I was not just a hero; I was the law. "But you made one mistake."
"And what’s that?" she laughed.
"You thought I was the type to be led by an evil dame."
I reached back, plucked the egg from her hand, and held it high. With my other arm, I swept her off her feet. Pinning her against me.
"The Rabbit gets his eggs," I told her, my voice like rolling thunder. "And you? You get a cell with a view of the moon."
I burst through the skylight. The cold night air hitting us as we soared above the city. She didn't fight me. She just clung with a death grip around my neck. Watching the world shrink below us, her eyes wide with a mix of fear and a strange dark adoration.
I dropped the crate of eggs at the Easter Bunnys feet. He counted them with a twitching snout, a dark smile slowly curving across his furry face.
"Good work, Captain," he rasped. "The hunt is back on the menu."
I didn't answer. I looked at the Vixen,. Who was being hauled away by the authorities. Her violet eyes still fixed on me through the window of the police car.
The lightning faded as I whispered the word. I was just a man again, standing in the rain. Smelling the quickly fading scent of her perfume over the smell of the city's decay. It was a dirty job, and the stakes were higher than a 7 foot chocolate bunny, but that’s the way it goes in this town.
You save the day, you lose the girl, and you try to forget the way she felt in your arms. But the memory of the lightning stays with you long after the storm is gone. And so ends another day in the life of Captain Marvel.
