That first year, I don't know how I survived. I was shot, beaten up and left for dead. London gangsters really knew how to hit. But thanks to the mysterious chemical that ran through my blood I always bounced back.
I modified the tight black cloak so I could wear a belt with ammo clips on it. I got rid of the bandanna I was wearing and now wore a balaclava instead. I found a pair of good German boots. Ironic, I know, but the jack boots sure were good for kicking.
Through the day, I would work at the theatre as an extra or a grip hand. But come midnight that was when I really came to life.
For the first time I felt calm and focused. I had what most humans longed for. I had finally found meaning.
The metropolitan police found something too, a new Chief Inspector, a man named Gordon Maxwell. We talked, he seemed like a man I could work with. Everything in the garden seemed rosy, that was until she showed up.
Lady Martini.
She was a deadly leather clad vixen if ever I saw one. She could move and fight just as hard as me. I could never catch her. Then one night, I had a tip off from a new informant of where she could be. But instead I saw someone I thought I would never see again.
Max Von Brood. I watched as he went into an exclusive night club called The Cuckoo Nest. I quickly changed and entered the club.
The place inside was packed, I stood in a darkened corner and watched the crowd for Brood. Then the band started playing and into the spotlight I saw the most beautiful woman I ever saw. She bedazzled the crowd with her voice and then she did something I didn't expect.
She came over to me as the song ended and asked if she could buy me a drink. I said whatever you're having.
I should have twigged when she ordered two martinis, but hey, I'm not the first guy to let his guard slip with a beautiful woman and I won't be the last.
We got seated in a corner booth. She leaned over to me and said. "I got a 45 pointing at you under the table. So, if you wanna keep them, do as I say."
Slowly we got up and walked to a backdoor then down some stairs and along a low bricked tunnel. "How did you know it was me?" I asked.
She pressed her gun to the back of my head. "Your new informant works for us."
"So where are we going, back to yours or hell?" She pushed the gun harder into the back of my head and whispered in my ear. "You'll wish it was hell."
We went down three more flights of stairs and came into an old World War I ammo bunker deep underground.
A familiar voice called out. "Welcome Darknight." From the shadows stepped Brood. With that, Lady Martini hit me with her gun to the side of my head. Damn that woman was strong.
I awoke from blackness strapped to an operating table.
Brood was stood over me. "Ah, my miracle awakes." He walked around the table. "I would never have thought what happened back there in Germany." He took a needle from his pocket. "There's me trying to raise the dead and an act of fate changed everything. Do you know how long I have waited for this moment?"
I couldn't move, I spied Lady Martini in the corner of the room. "I don't know Brood but could you strap me down a little harder I can still feel a pulse in my left hand." I had no moves best I could do was wait it out and see what was on his mind.
"Lady Martini says we should take every drop from you." Brood said." But we won't, instead we will take half and farm the rest until you die." He stood over me with the needle. "You see Darknight, you really are a miracle. That fool friend of yours timed it perfect when he injected you. A second either way and it would not have made you into this magnificent specimen today."
He stuck the needle in deep and took a pint of blood from me. "This is all mine." He whispered and held it up to the light. "Look at it how it..."
Suddenly from all angles there were cops. Lady Martini sprang into action. She kicked and punched her way to the exit. But not before taking the needle from Brood. He on the other hand stood frozen till a billy club sent him to sleep.
The cops released me and a familiar face came forward.
Chief Inspector Gordon Maxwell. "We were about to raid the club when I saw a pair of eyes I recognised. So, we followed." From inside his pocket he brought out a hip flask. "The wife thinks I quit drinking."
I took a sip. It was water. We both laughed as he helped me up. "Anywhere I can give you a lift Darknight?" He offered as we got back to the club. The cops were now raiding it.
"I'll be fine Inspector and thanks for saving my life."
"Who was that woman?" He asked.
"Truth be told I couldn't tell you. But if she ever offers to buy you a drink Inspector, say no."