ALIBI'S AFTERTHOUGHT

The Alibi served many functions, and its rules were simple.

Firstly, if you planned to use the Alibi for its implied name, you had to shoot Alissa a text first. Alissa kept a ripped copy of everyone's credit cards in a secure drawer behind her desk. She would use your card to buy a beer, and keep the receipt. She would keep the beer for herself or her staff, of course, but for the cost of one pint on tap, you had yourself a get-out-of-jail-free card. A good deal, by anyone's standards.

The second function was jobs. Although tensions were high in Caldew, not every gang had every skill they needed at all times. Some of the criminals were more freelance. For the right price, you could get a top-tier hacker, or a surgeon to patch up one of your thugs who couldn't be seen at the hospital. You could hire muscle, of course, but that was easy. There were more rare and in-demand skills than that.

The third function was recruitment. Alissa was not personally involved, but when young men and women came of age and had no better prospects, there was a room in the back where a gang leader could grab their latest bruiser, sneaker, or spy.

Of course the lawmakers knew almost all of this, but Alissa hadn't made it to her position by being careless or thick-skulled. She had blackmail and bribes for every possible problem prepared at all times.

There was only one problem Alissa hadn't thought would come knocking on her door: freakin' superheroes.

Superheroes weren't a thing. No one dressed up in spandex to enact vigilante violence. Superpowers weren't a thing, either! Yet here they were, a group of probably fifteen guys, barging into Alissa's Alibi and wrecking the place.

For a split second, the security seemed unsure what to do. When they jumped up and started putting the leotard-wearing losers on their rears, most of the regulars had already begun their counterattack.

Alissa herself got involved, not needing or even wanting to use anything other than her fists. Their outright audacity had her seeing red.

It took less than fifteen minutes before the fight ended, just as abruptly as it had begun. All of the wanna-be watchmen, on an unseen signal, turned around and ran. All except for the one Alissa held in a suffocating rear naked chokehold while her favorite bartender pelted him with the best featherweight punches she could.

Disturbing the Alibi was, under normal circumstances, grounds for a very immediate vacation from the land of the living. However, for the first time in the six years since Ali had founded the bar, she brought someone into the back room that had been kept empty, save for a few knives, lengths of steel rope, and hammers. Its purpose was self-evident.

It took about twenty more minutes to get her answers, with some enthusiastic help. Ali then picked up her phone to start a group call with the two biggest gang leaders in Caldew. She stepped out into the cool, slightly drizzly night to collect her thoughts while the call connected.

"What's good?" One of the voices responded.

"Ali. Must be important for you to call both of us at once."

"I need both of you to take this seriously. I had a breakin at the Alibi."

"That is goddamn serious. No way it was any of my boys, right?" The first man responded.

"No, neither of your crews were involved. This was...well, it was a group of fifteen guys. Very sturdy guys. We gave them a thrashing, broke tables over them, they did not shed a drop of blood, and not one of them got knocked out either."

"Okay. Could be simple luck." The second voice responded, already bored of the call.

"No. I kept one of 'em. Got him to tell me a very interesting story. Someone out there is inventing superheroes. They've apparently synthesized a drug that can cause advantageous mutations."

The second voice scoffed. "If there was a drug lab working on human enhancement, I'd have bought it already."

"They're motivated against crime. This round they were all tough. Apparently with each fight they gather more data, and the men can receive another dose. Next round is more powerful, and when they get back from the second fight, they can get a third dose, which is even more powerful, and so on."

"So, what, superman? Green lantern? What kind of mutations are they supposed to get?" The first one asked.

"I don't know, because my...um. Newfound friend, he didn't know either."

"And who were the volunteers?"

"Memory wipe. Not sure, but if you want to lend me a contact in the police to run their faces against missing or wanted posters, I'll share everything I learn."

"Superheroes. Pff. Guess it was only a matter of time before reality became stranger than fiction." The second voice replied.

"Uh, yeah, speaking of round two..." The first gang leader said, as his voice faded away from the phone. "Someone made of fire is walking right into my Grave!"

I'll continue on my sub :) r/nystorm_writes