▶Training the Valkyries
Outside of a strip mall in New York City, a limo pulls up in front of an old karate dojo. The lights are on in the old place, despite it being late at night. Esmeralda von Krauss steps out from the back of the limo and walks up to the dojo door, opens it, and walks in.
Inside are her Valkyries lined up in rows. They are practicing a martial art while a woman in front of them all shouts directions. Posters for the dojo and motivational posters dot the walls, along with a trophy case with several tournament trophies.
A man runs up to Esmeralda: Steven Cline, the man who leases the spot and runs the karate dojo during the day.
Steven Cline - No one told me that this would be a class for assassins, Miss Von Krauss! I can’t be a part of this. Everyone here needs to go!
Esmeralda von Krauss - Is that why Minerva is leading this class instead of you? She is a capable warrior, but I was not sure she had the patience to lead a class of…how do you people put it? Newbies. Dahling, of course they are assassins. They are going to be bringers of the light of Justice to where only darkness reigns.
Steven Cline - That’s why we, as a society, have police and courts. We bring the bad guys to justice! Not act as judge, jury, and executioner!
Esmeralda von Krauss - Jeffery Forbes. Do you remember him?
Steven Cline - Yeah. He was a serial child rapist who was found not guilty in the courts. He died choking on some chicken or something not long after the court date.
Esmeralda gets out an ebony foot-long cigarette holder and pops in an imported Egyptian cigarette into the end before lighting it up. She takes a long drag from it before blowing smoke into the man’s face.
Esmeralda von Krauss - The man had a peanut allergy, dahling. We put peanuts into his dish and then stole his epee pens. We also blocked his cell signal and watched him die as we recounted his many crimes and why he should die. Your police and your courts could not bring him down. The Order of Justice did. Would you hamstring our ability to do our jobs and bring monsters like Jeffery down? If my Judges are not skilled, they will die in the field, and the monsters they wish to bring down will go free of their just desserts. Is that something that you want? What if it were one of your students being attacked by such a monster?
Steven clenches his fists, his face a mask of anger. He grits his teeth as she clenches his fists so hard his fingernails draw blood from his own palms.
Steven Cline - If one of my students were attacked, I would want him to die. Fine…I will help.
Esmeralda von Krauss - Excellent, dahling! Nothing makes me happier than finding a new ally in the war against monsters. Minerva! Fall back to a supervisory role. Mr. Cline will be taking over the class to bring them up from basics.
Minerva claps her hands to her side and gives Esmeralda a bow before stepping back. Steven Cline, now giving off an air of being all business, takes the lead and begins to shout instructions to the class who follow him.
Minerva - I heard you have a wrestling match coming up at Championship Wrestling. Who do you face?
Esmeralda takes another long drag from her cigarette and flicks the ashes onto the floor.
Esmeralda von Krauss - I face some socialite named Taylor Rayne. She’s wealthy, young, beautiful, and part of the Charleston social elite.
Minerva - So, you are facing a less skilled version of yourself, ma’am.
Esmeralda chuckles, blowing smoke into the air from her last drag.
Esmeralda von Krauss - She likes to manipulate and flirt her way through the match. I am much more…direct.
Minerva - Yes, you are masterful in the ring. You can take her down.
Esmeralda von Krauss - Heh. I don’t need - how do they say? Smoke blown up my ass. I know that she has made it to Championship Wrestling, and so I know that she won’t be a pushover. I just know I need to take the fight to her and to not let her distract me from my glorious purpose of taking her down to get the win.
Minerva - Still, I think that you can do it. So long as she can’t take the Justice finisher and still kick out like that Gordy King did.
Esmeralda drops her cigarette butt to the floor with a sneer and crushes it out with her heel.
Esmeralda von Krauss - I am still mad about that. I don’t know how he managed that. I must not have hit it just right or something for it not to finish him. That or he was tougher than I estimated. Maybe a blend of both. I’m not going to let it get me down. I’m just going to make sure to hit it harder against Rayne.
Minerva - But not so hard that you kill her in the ring. They may disqualify you…
Esmeralda von Krauss - Right. If she is critically wounded in the match, I will simply feed her some of my blood. That will heal her right up before she dies.
Esmeralda produces a small silver blade and does a shallow cut across her hand. A dark, thick blood almost black oozes out.
Esmeralda von Krauss - My blood and that of my husband, Armand, is full of power. It will heal her, energize her, and empower her. She won’t die under my watch.
Minerva watches the blood drip to the floor for a few seconds and watches as the wound heals itself closed. She licks her lips a moment.
Minerva - Then, it is settled. Go all out against this Taylor Rayne and you will be able to save her if she should come close to death in the ring.
Esmeralda gets another Egyptian cigarette from her golden cigarette case and slots it into the end of the foot-long holder before lighting it up and taking another long drag. She looks at the class that is doing basic strikes under the tutelage of Steven Cline.
Esmeralda von Krauss - Go, dahlings! Soak up the karate knowledge of this man and grow strong! Your training will be intense and varied, as will your missions once you are ready for that. You will have to be ready for any enemy as well as your assigned targets. The enemies of Justice are many…
Elsewhere in the Gilded Goblet, Madame Patricia Lussier walks into the building that has no whores and no staff. Empty. She is a beautiful woman with pink highlights in her long blonde hair and an expensive silver evening gown. A few of her people follow her.
Madame Lussier - Hector, my son. I want whoever did this to be brought to heel.
A blonde Nordic-looking man steps up to stand next to her.
Patrick - Mother…how do we know who did this?
Madame Lussier - Don’t make me regret not devouring you as a baby, as is the tradition for all male children in my lineage. Look at the security footage. Find out who did this…kill them. The person responsible and all of these whores who left me. Scorched earth. Do you understand?
Patrick Lussier - Understood, mother. I will not let you down.
Madame Lussier - I know you will not, as your life depends on it.
Patrick nods and heads to the back where there would be the security camera footage.
Madame Lussier - Whoever did this…know that your days are numbered.