Part 2:
"Okay Daniel. You can be at the convention, but you have to stay in costume the entire time. I mean it! Don't even take it off in the restroom unless you are in a stall!
"Yes,Mam," Daniel said sarcastically.
"I mean it, Daniel!" I chided. "If The Creeper is there, he will recognize you and know we are on to him! Think of it as an undercover mission, like in one of your video games."
"Geez, Aunty, you don't have to relate everything back to video games," Daniel continued, laying the sass on thick. " I have other things in my life that define me!"
"Whatever, Loser," I retorted, hitting him in his shoulder. "Don't call me Aunty, like I'm an old lady."
"I'm heading over to The Convention Hall early. Since I 'leaked' to everybody you were going to make a surprise appearance, it will be packed."
"Fine. Off you go Watchman. Be sure to film as much of the crowds as you can. And keep this on!" I said, handing him the white mask with the ink blot pattern on it.
"It's Rorschach! Not Watchman! There isn't a character named The Watchman!" Daniel said with a good amount of nerd rage.
Of course I knew this. But I liked to tease my nephew sometimes. Maybe I was used to letting the people around me think I was dumber than I actually was. Some sort of survival mechanism, I guess.
Daniel headed out like a man on a mission. And I went to meet with Mel, Tony, and the New Guy out in the living room.
Mel stood when I entered the room, and so did the other two gentlemen, like I was some sort of royalty. I told them to sit as I sat on the couch across from them.
The giant frames of all three men looked comical across from me. Mel being the biggest of the three. His linebacker frame, dark skin, and hints of intricate Samoan tribal tats, peeking out on his wrists and neckline making him an intimidating sight.
Next to him was Tony, the friendly face of the security guard tag team. He was a retired detective, with graying hair and a pot belly. I'd seen him use his unthreatening manner to get the drop on people. He was always quick to smile and talk down a potential combatant, but if things got hairy, he was quick with a leg sweep and quicker cuffing anybody that looked at me wrong. I'd seen it happen multiple times.
Lastly, there was the new guy. Stinton was his name. And the picture in your head is exactly what he looked like. He looked like a Stinton. Lean body, square-jawed, hooded eyes, and a high and tight haircut. A Stinton through and through.
He was quick with the, "Yes, Mam. No, Mam," in a southern draw. Maybe he said it a little too loud when he replied. Probably a side effect from being in the military (he must have just got out). Or maybe he was star struck. But he seemed good to go, and Mel vouched for him.
So me and my personal army headed out to the convention downtown. All four of us in the blacked out SUV. The event coordinator knew we were coming in through the back entrance. We just needed to text him when we were close.
Tony and New Guy ( he was New Guy until he earned his name) sat up front chatting. with Mel sitting in the back beside me. His massive frame almost taking up two seats.
I was always casual with my guys, and didn't mind sharing a ride with them or listening to their guy talk. But Mel seemed nervous today. He sat ridged and alert, but not his normal alert. He somehow seemed distracted at the same time.
He rubbed his eyes by pinching the bridge of his nose with thumb and pointer finger. (You know the gesture. The international sign of fighting off a migraine.) He was clammy and breathing heavily. And I noticed his left hand was trembling slightly.
"Mel? Sweety, are you feeling okay?" I whispered to him, making sure his coworkers didn't hear me and sense his vulnerability. (I know how men like these think.)
"Yes, Sarah( fake name). I mean, I'm fine Ms. J******."
This was the first time he had ever called me by my first name in the 4 years he had worked for me. He was a steadfast professional, and never slipped. Not that I cared at the break in decorum, but it was worrisome anyways.
Maybe I was being paranoid. Well shit, I was paranoid. Some monster out there might be planning to skin me alive and I had to play Nancy Drew to stop him.
We arrived at the convention. I walked in for a surprise meet and greet for a certain comic book movie I was promoting. The crowd went wild. Faces melted. Nerd frenzy activated in mass. It made me feel like a rockstar. I loved this part of the job.
I was on a elevated stage talking to a crowd of about 150 people sitting in a convention hall. Most wore masks of assorted heroes and villains. Most were smiling or taking pictures with cameras. I even spotted Daniel in his Rorschach mask sitting to the side scanning the audience with his phone.
I answered a couple of soft ball questions from nervous fans that came up to the microphone. Nothing out of place. Except for the brave 16 year old asking me if I was still with my ex-husband or if I was single and lonely.
He got a chorus of laughter and applause and his face got as red as his Spiderman shirt he was wearing when I told him," You keep up that confidence, you'll hit the jackpot in no time, Tiger."
I highly doubt that's audio that The Monster came to use in his game.
Next came the autograph signings. People paid a good 80 bucks to stand in line and speak to me for a couple seconds. The convention gets 40 and I donate the rest to charity. I'm not stingy with money, and this is the best time to sus out our guy.
About 50 people in and I recognized the same face come up to the table to stand in front of me. At first the awkward man wore a trench coat, patchy beard, fedora, along with a prop katana and anime body pillow. It was a good meme. He could hide in plain sight by displaying his creepiness as a gag.
The first time he came through the line he was to nervous to say anything. I smiled and signed a poster he had in his hand. His face grew red with embarrassment as he obviously wanted to speak to me. He didn't. He realized he was holding up the line and shuffled off quickly.
The second time I recognized him immediately by his lanky frame, beard, and close-set beady eyes. But he was in a completely different costume. He was in a pretty professional looking, albeit loose fitting, helmetless stormtrooper costume.
"You know you're not supposed to do that," I said with a sly smile and a wink. It was usually against convention rules to double dip by getting back in line, even if you were willing to pay again.
He swallowed hard and pulled out a smudged up Android phone from somewhere behind his back.
"Do you want me to say something for your followers online?" I guessed. My heart lept a little. This guy was feeling more and more like our guy.
"Y-y-yes, Ms. J#####. I-I w-would!" The man said with a severe stutter at a volume too loud for a face to face conversation. He turned on the camera and started recording me.
I gave my practiced smile and waited for him to give me a prompt for what to say.
"C-can you s-say "I l-love you!"
"Um, I can say, "I love all my fans" is that enough?" I asked, while scrunching up my nose and feigning confusion.
"No!" came back his voice, even louder than before and without the stutter. "I need you to say "I love you!" And then say my name! It's i-important!"
Tony, who had been sitting to my left, pretending to play on his phone, stood up swiftly and leaned over to look squarely at the guy.
"I think you should move along, friend. You're holding up the line full of other fans. And I do remember you coming through earlier already. So why don't you call it quits before you create a situation you can't just walk away from."
"N-n-no!" the red faced stormtrooper stuttered in defiance to being confronted by an intimidating male presence. His nervousness made his stutter return 10 fold.
"N-n-no! You-y-you have t-to say " I l-love you-you k-k-ki-"
As enthralled as I was with what was coming next, I have to admit that Tony did his job superbly. He swiftly turned to me and ushered me to my feet
"Let's take 5 backstage Ms. J####," he asked nonchalantly and ushered me quickly behind the display wall they had set up behind me. The crowd immediately started booing the aggressive stormtroopers and pelting him with trash and empty water bottles.
New Guy got on the other side of me, bravely defending me from rogue Monster Energy cans.
Before we slipped backstage, Tony looked over to see Mel just standing there, staring out at the crowd like nothing was happening.
"Hey Partner! Can I get some help over here?"
Mel jumped to attention and looked at Tony in surprised. His 1000 yard stare gone in a heartbeat.
"Escort out the Tango on my 6 while I secure the boss lady."
It didn't take a tactical genius for Mel to figure out who the "Tango" was and Mel finally marched into action as me, Tony, and New Guy disappeared into a backstage hallway.
Staffers let the rest of the crowd of fans know I would be taking a small break and they slowly calmed down as Mel and event security removed the trouble maker.
I was super concerned. Both with Mel's behavior and Stutter Stormtroopers. The stormtrooper was definitely wanting me to call him Kilo, right?
Well whatever. The rest of the event went off smoothly. And I was confident in the fact that Daniel had filmed the whole encounter for us to analyze later. And if Mel had un-assed himself, he would have tried to get Stutter Troopers (last name change I swear) He would have gotten Stutter Troopers full name and info before the guy was cut loose from the building.
After my time at the event was over, New Guy went out back to pull the car around and Mel and Tony escorted me around to shake hands and say goodbye to certain event coordinators. I could tell Tony was upset with Mel, and Mel was embarrassed by his performance today. Nothing was said between them, but I could feel it coming off their masculin macho auras. The awkwardness was palpable, like being stuck between two stray tom cats that had to follow you around.
We entered a long service tunnel that ran towards the back of the event hall and outside into the VIP Parking area. These hallways were always tight corridors with hard angles and low lighting. I had picked up enough military jargon and reasoning from my time in war movies and listening to my guys to know they were perfect for ambushes.
In other words, it caused my security team's latent PTSD/paranoia to start itching and they would both start acting a lot more jumpy. Little did I know that I had set off alarm bells in Tony's head already. Yah, laid back, unassuming Tony had picked up on the small details showing I was more alert too. He knew something was bothering his boss.
Daniel even told me that Tony cornered him in the bathroom when Tony supposedly went on break. Tony had noticed I was looking over to Daniel dressed in his Rorschach costume a little too often, and he wanted to know what was going on.
Tony grilled Dan for a while in the restrooms before having to get back to watching me. To Daniels' credit, he didn't snitch on what our secret surveillance plan was. Daniel just made up something about doing a guerilla style internet blog about the life of a celebrity with my permission.
Needless to say, my security detail was keyed up a couple notches as we made our way down the long backstage hallway. Mel was communicating with New Guy who was securing the vehicle as we made it to the first cross section.
Tony walked quickly in front of me to step out into the middle of the cramped hallway intersection. He was being overly cautious, trying to get ahead of any trouble and look both ways to catch anyone trying to spring out and attack me.
Tony should have waited on Mel. Tony shouldn't have taken the corners alone. But maybe Tony was still a little distrusting of Mel's ability today, and stuck his neck out too far, because he was rushed from both sides.
Mel saw the attacker to his right first, and his hand went to his holstered gun slung inside his jacket. He held his free hand out and pointed.
"Don't you do it asshole!" Tony warned loudly, eyes bulging with excitement.
I couldn't see the person Tony was speaking to from around the corner, but I looked to my left and saw the big Skeletor dressed man rushing Tony from behind.
"Tony! Behind you!" I screamed, jumping backwards in fright to slam my head into Mel who was standing directly behind me.
Things got fuzzy for a moment as Mel wrapped me in his vice like grip with his massive arms. My head spun from colliding with Mel's chest as he instinctively moved forward to between me and danger.
I heard the tell-tell sound of a fire extinguisher going off in the narrow corridors and suddenly Tony was being engulfed in the white cloud of (Smoke? Powder? Whatever that white stuff is!)
Tony started coughing and wheezing as the big Skeletor man lifted up the fire extinguisher and bashed Tony right between his shoulder blades, creating an audible "Oof!" from Tony as white fog filled began stealing the oxygen from the air.
I hid behind Mel's massive frame as he stood between me and the two attackers. He coughed and wheezed as he pulled his gun free from his waistband.
"Tony! cough I can't see anything! cough cough Get clear of my line of fire!" Mel commanded.
I could hear the shuffling of feet as Tony and the two attackers struggled with each other in the thick cloud. And to my horror Mel leveled his pistol at the struggling mass of people. What was he doing? He could shoot Tony! Why was Mel behaving this way?
"Please Mel!" I screamed, banging on his broad shoulders with my tiny fists. "Don't use your gun! Just go in there and save Tony before they hurt him any more!"
Mel half turned to look at me and blinked away his confusion at the sight of fresh tears streaming down my face. Maybe something about my pleas momentarily gave Mel a moment of sanity and he tucked his gun back inside his waistband.
"Okay, Little Bird," Mel said with uncharacteristic softness in his voice as he reached out with his finger to wipe away one of my tears.
"Mel!" I yelled, getting sick of his weird shit. "What the hell? Help him!"
Mel finally turned towards his struggling coworker and the two attackers. The powdery smoke was beginning to settle, highlighting the men clearly. Now, everything was blanketed in white Mel squared up with the three men.
The two attackers had Tony on the ground and were trying to wrestle his gun away from him. It was a dangerous situation on the verge of becoming deadly when Mel came charging in like a freight train, all 300+ lbs of him, to tackle both of the attackers off of Tony.
All four men were now wrestling on the ground, and soon all four were screaming as on of the idiot had pepper spray and let it loose on Mel, Tony, and Skeletor, contaminating all of them with the burning liquid.
I was so enthralled with the scuffle in front of me that I didn't hear the third attack sneaking up behind me.
"K-keep your mouth shut a-and come with me, b-bitch!"
I spun around to see him, Stutter Trooper, wearing his helmet, one of his hands hold out a large knife, the other hand a pair of handcuffs.
"Y-you put these on and come with me! You d-do it f-fast and nobody gets hurt!"
"What do you want from me!" I demanded.
"S-shutup bitch! Put these on or I'll-"
I don't know what came over me, I saw red, and gave Stutter Trooper a swift kick to the nuts. He yelped and dropped his knife between us. He went to reach for the knife and I slid it behind me with my foot ( hindsight being 20/20, it was wrong to send a knife sliding towards the bad guys fighting behind me.)
Stutter Trooper completely lost sight of his knife though the limited visibility of his Stormtrooper helmet and must have aborted the plan. He took off fleeing past me, shoulder checking me hard in the process. He weaved between the four men fighting behind us and sprinted towards the exit at the long far end of the tunnel.
Before I knew it I was chasing after the asshole, only inches behind him. I had to do a lot of cardio to stay in shape, and this guy probably only ran in COD games. I felt a heat in my chest, heard my pounding heart in my ears. I wasn't on the back foot for once. I wasn't hiding and using others to fight for me. The creepers had come into the open, and I was going to get my answers!
That's when Stinton earned his name! He was no longer New Guy when he popped out from behind a display case and clothes-lined Stutter Trooper.
"Hold him, New Guy- I mean- Stinton!" I screamed with warrior fury.
Stinton did as commanded and rolled my would-be abductor on his back, slapping away the stormtrooper helmet and raising his fist to threaten the weirdo if he had any idea of to fight back.
This was my time! And I would be lying to all of you readers if I said I hadn't thought of a moment like this multiple times since discovering that damned game! I would fall asleep fantasizing about how it would feel to have these assholes strapped down in The Kill Room instead of me for once.
But I had to move fast. So I scooted over to lean in close to whisper into Stinton's ear. He was already blushing, so this would be easier than I thought.
"Look! I'll pay you double you're rate for the whole day if you do exactly as I say and don't tell anybody. Especially your co-workers" I whispered quickly.
He looked up at me red faced and a little confused. Then his confusion turned to anger. Damn. He was a boy scout! Money wouldn't sway him. I had to try a different tatic.
"I need somebody I can trust," I put my hand on his shoulder and peered into his eyes deeply. "I promise to explain everything, but first you must listen!"
That did it! A look of stoic determination crossed his face and he nodded curtly.
"Take a picture of his license and take his sim card from his phone!" I ordered quickly. Stutter-Trooper protested as the much stronger Stinton began manhandling him. I kicked him in the stomach when he start to squirm too much.
"Why are you after me! Tell me now, before I get my hacker friends to turn your life upside down, and frame you for all types of bad shit! If you talk quickly I might call off my man here from visiting your mom's house and arranging a CO2 leak!" I screamed at him.
Stinton looked at me with abject horror. I was a little horrified by myself too. Being afraid for so long had transformed to overwhelming anger, which in turn scared me even more. But no matter, Stutter-Trooper believed me and about shit himself.
"Some g-guy on Discord!" the creep blurted, his beady eyes bulging. "Been paying with Bitcoin for the s-strangest s-stuff. Been asking for favors from the fan community. He puts a big price tag on the most obscure stuff, but he always comes t-through, and always s-shows reciepts!"
"HeraldoftheVoid?" I asked. Stutter-Trooper grimaced in confusion and continued like I didn't say anything. I guess my question would seem like nonsense to anybody who didn't know who I was referencing too.
"All of a sudden, 2 hours before you show up to Rhe Con, he offers 10 Bitcoin for a list of voice lines he wanted from you. Real weird stuff too. Said you had to be "in distress" for most of them. He says he doesn't care how we get the lines. So we were just gonna "restrain" you for a while, and let you go after we got the audio we needed. Promise!"
"So you and your idiot friends dont know anything about a video game-"
My interrogation was cut short by the deafening sound of a gunshot ripping through the hallways and off my eardrums at subsonic speed. Stinton let go of Stutter-Trooper and jumped up next to me, gun already in hand as ringing assaulted me like an aftershock.
Even through my ringing ears I could hear the distinct cries of pain coming from the cross junction in the hallway where the four person melee was happening just seconds ago.
Now I saw nobody, no tangle of men fighting, only a singular man laying on the ground, covered in fire extinguisher powder. It was Tony!
"Tony!" I screamed in horror, forgetting Stutter-Trooper and sprinting off towards him.
"No Ma'am!" Stinton said as he pulled me behind him and began running towards his downed coworker. I held onto the hem of his coat as we made our way down the narrow hallway, all the while expecting another gunshot to come flying towards us from an unknown shooter.
I must have gone into shock. But the next thing I remember, I was looking down at Tony, his belly oozing blood, his face pale. I held his hand and must have asked him a million questions as Stinton called 911.
Tony pulled me close to whisper in my ear, just like I had done with Stinton just moments earlier. Even back then it had seemed like a game, a silly adventure, like a movie I would play part in. But now my friend was dying.
What he told me chilled my heart to the core.
"It was Mel," Tony wheezed. "Mel shot me and ran. He escaped with the others."
Mel was the ringleader, Mel commissioned the game, he was obsessed with me, and now he had just attempted to murder anyone standing in his way of me.
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