E-Mailing Hellkitten.

[vesper_verde]

ANONYmail ···········STAY CONNECTED
2:36 PM (02 hours ago) TO: hellkitten@avengers.org FROM: TheBatsSupplier SUBJECT: Meeting
A mutual acquaintance has informed me you were looking for an upgrade. I may be interested in outfitting. Please reply if still interested. I will provide a time and place to meet.
MADE BY TESSISAMESS···································

Comments

[hellkitten]

_____________________________________________________________________
FROM: Hellkitten (hellkitten@avengers.org)
TO: Mysterious Stranger (thebatssupplier@anonymail.com)
SUBJECT: RE: Meeting
_____________________________________________________________________
I would be interested in an equipment upgrade, yes.

[vesper_verde]

ANONYmail ···········STAY CONNECTED
2:36 PM (02 hours ago) TO: Hellkitten (hellkitten@avengers.org) FROM: TheBatsSupplier SUBJECT: RE: Meeting
Then meet me at the attached address this Tuesday. (Attachment of map to an empty building in the Jamaica Industrial Business Zone in Queens on 98th Ave)
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[hellkitten]

_____________________________________________________________________
FROM: Hellkitten (hellkitten@avengers.org)
TO: Mysterious Stranger (thebatssupplier@anonymail.com)
SUBJECT: RE: Meeting
_____________________________________________________________________

I know where that is. Is there a secret knock? Smoke signals? Will this email self-destruct in 60 seconds?

[vesper_verde]

ANONYmail ···········STAY CONNECTED
TO: Hellkitten (hellkitten@avengers.org) FROM: TheBatsSupplier SUBJECT: RE: Meeting
Just arrive at 11 PM and wait. I will arrive. We will discuss upgrades and cost.
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[hellkitten]

Liza snorted. Arms dealers. No sense of humor. Then she typed a reply.

_____________________________________________________________________
FROM: Hellkitten (hellkitten@avengers.org)
TO: Mysterious Stranger (thebatssupplier@anonymail.com)
SUBJECT: RE: RE: RE: Meeting
_____________________________________________________________________
I'll be there.

[vesper_verde]

At the appointed time, Marcelo had already been inside the building for an hour. He had flown in as Vesper and dressed as himself in one of the upper floors. He stashed the gear and put a note on the front door to meet on one of the middle floors. He took the spare bag with him.

He sat in the middle of the dark, cavernous floor with barely any walls. He sat in a metal folding chair and waited. He pushed his hearing out to hear anything approaching.

[hellkitten]

Liza arrived shortly before 11:00, landing as quietly as her namesake on the roof of the building next door. She took a moment to get her bearings. This time of night, the neighborhood appeared completely deserted. She noted that there seemed to be something taped to the front door, and used her Cat's Claw line to snag it.

She read the note, counted floors up from the ground level, then swung over to the meeting place. Peering in the window, she thought she saw a shadowy figure inside.

Was it proper etiquette to surprise an arms dealer? Liza didn't know. So she tapped on the window.

[vesper_verde]

The dark shape did not act remotely surprised. Instead, he gestured for his visitor to come in. Then he leaned over to turn on a small lamp on a wobbly table.

[hellkitten]

Liza climbed in, and padded across towards the light source.

This was all very mysterious and spy novel-y.

[vesper_verde]

Marcelo looked over Hellkitten like it was his first time seeing her. He needed to play that angle if for no other reason than to keep his secret ID secret.

"Good evening." Without a voice modulator, his Brazilian accent was definitely noticeable. "Vesper sends his regards. Though I hadn't believed him when he said you were wearing hand-me-downs..."

[hellkitten]

"I prefer to call them family heirlooms. Like I told your associate, spandex is a classic."

[vesper_verde]

"But obviously not cutting it anymore. Or else you wouldn't be here to see me," Marcelo observed. He got up from his folding chair. He casually put a hand into his pant's pocket.

[hellkitten]

"You're right. There's nothing like fighting between a mythological warrior woman and a guy with a flaming skull for a head to make you feel kinda... well... minor league."

Liza hopped up on top of a convenient wooden shipping crate, and sat on the edge.

[vesper_verde]

Marcelo smiled slightly. "I heard about that from Vesper and saw the news."

He drew a small measuring tape out of his pocket and set it on the small table with the lamp. "So, tell me, Miss...? What kind of upgrades are you looking for? I don't do classic."

[hellkitten]

"I'm not sure, Mister... ious. I suppose it depends on what I can afford. A little body armor couldn't hurt, and maybe some better claws. What do night vision lenses run these days?"

[vesper_verde]

That she didn't recognize him made him feel a little better. He reached into a shirt pocket and pulled out a small notebook and a pen.

"Armor like Vesper's? Claws, I can do some improvements. Night vision shouldn't be problematic if I upgrade the mask. The price I'll be asking won't require money." He flipped open the notebook and scribbled some things down.

[hellkitten]

"Won't require money?" Liza's eyes narrowed.

[vesper_verde]

He glanced up from his scribbled. "No, it won't. I have plenty of that as is."

He looked back down at his pad and flipped to the next page. "Nor will it cost anything untoward. I'm a happily engaged man."

[hellkitten]

"There are many definitions of 'untoward', Mister. None of my services are for sale, and neither is my soul."

Liza hopped off the crate and prepared to head out the window.

[vesper_verde]

He closed the notebook. He squinted at her.

"Why would I want your soul?" She had obviously been around flaming headed motorcyclists and demigoddesses a bit too long. "But if you can't patrol and keep gang activity down, then I don't see a need to give you an upgrade."

[hellkitten]

"Oh, you'd be amazed. Some places, they're traded on the commodities market. But I think mine might be spoken for already, and in any event, it was a figure of speech, Mister Ious."

Liza leaned back against the crate. Not sitting, but not out the window, either.

"Patrolling?"

[vesper_verde]

"Like I said, I have money already and I'm very happily engaged. I already have Vesper out harassing drug-dealing gangs. But if he's successful with it, other gangs will try to move into the territory." He shrugged.

"The more bodies I have out there breaking up gang crime, the more successful my quiet crusade against them will be. So, if you want your suit upgraded, all I ask is for you to continue to be a hero. I need bodies out on the street helping law enforcement."

Though with a bat and a cat, he was thinking his next hero had to be rat-themed.

[hellkitten]

"So, you're building your own armored super hero squad? Or, encouraging one, at least?"

A mixture of feelings passed through her mind. Mom would approve. Dad would either be sending more gangs or smiting them with fire, depending on his mood that day. Liza thought leaving thugs zip-tied to the lamp posts nightly sounded like fun. Worryingly, the Basilisk agreed.

"Ok. Count me in. Heck, I'd be doing that with or without the equipment upgrades."

[vesper_verde]

"Encouraging like-minded individuals and supplying those that want or need it. And once you figure out my identity you can tell no one of this." Marcelo figured out if she ever looked in the business section or gossip column, she would find out who he was. He gestured for her to come closer.

"I will have to get measurements."

[hellkitten]

Liza walked closer, stopped, and held her arms out away from her sides.

"Secret identities, huh? Just like..."

Something faintly went click in Liza's brain. She wasn't always the brightest candle on the altar, but she did eventually catch on.

"So. How light do you think you can make this armor? I'm ok with foregoing some protection for weight. I'm a little tougher than, um, baseline human."

[vesper_verde]

"Pardon my hands but the suit needs to be snug to allow for flexibility." He set the notebook on the table and picked up the measuring tape. He started taking measurements and noting them in the small notepad.

"I'm a publicly known person. There are some legal ramifications I'd rather not get into if it was known I was supplying heroes with equipment. Particularly in the litigious America." He was very careful about where his hands went at her bust.

"I can have something made out of lightweight and high-performance polyethylene unidirectional fabrics. About as lightweight as a cotton shirt. Vesper is working toward a structured polymer composite which would be as light as silk. But he's been working for me for longer. What kind of effects would you want your claws to have?"

[hellkitten]

"I understand. We're not always the most popular people around. And we tend to draw a lot of attention."

Liza raised her arms slightly, to make more room for the measuring.

"As light as cotton sounds pretty good. Flexibility and agility are my big advantages out there, and I don't want to lose them."

She considered for a moment.

"The claws. I'd like to be able to fire them out of my gloves, like I do with my line. Maybe some kind of heat generation? It would go with the name, and it might give me an advantage climbing up certain kinds of materials."

She thought for a moment longer.

"That knock out gas of Vesper's was pretty cool. Do you think it would be possible to have some kind of sedative that I could inject with a scratch?"

[vesper_verde]

Once he had her torso measured, he decided to do her head. It would delay having to crouch down and measure her lower half.

"Then light as cotton we'll go. You wanted night vision in your mask, right? Any head protection or just a straight mask with lenses?"

He hummed. "Heat generation shouldn't be a problem. Disposable after shooting your claws or able to be drawn back to your gloves? I can find something to lace the claws with similar to what he uses in gas form."

[hellkitten]

"Able to be drawn back. So I can use the lines to swing if I need to, or to grab something. Although dart gun claws sound pretty cool, too."

Liza tilted her chin back a little.

"Night vision, yeah. Maybe some protection. Mom always said I had a hard head, but..."

[vesper_verde]

"I can have a skullcap built in. It should at least keep the top of your head in one piece." He scribbled down the measurements.

"Which hand is your dominant one? Your gloves will be a bit thicker than the rest of your outfit. Necessity for what you need them to do. It shouldn't have any impact on your manual dexterity."

[hellkitten]

"I'm left handed."

She held her hand up, anticipating that it was going to be measured next.

[vesper_verde]

Gloves were a lot easier for him to get a size. He placed his hand against hers. He noted how her hand sized against his and wrote it down.

"Now, pardon my hands again." He crouched down to start measuring her lower half. "Shoe size? How high or flat do you want the heel?"

[hellkitten]

"Six and a half. Not much of a heel... this isn't a comic book, I'd break my neck chasing after thugs in high heels!"

Liza laughed.

"Just enough to be a good shock absorber."

[vesper_verde]

"I never question a woman's shoe choices." He had size 14 Jimmy Choo-like shoes with a purple bow to prove it. Now, if he could ever find the woman to deliver it to.

"I can use a special material for shock absorption on the soles." He paused at having to measure the inside of her leg. "Could you hold this end for however snug you want it?"

He was so not cut out for being a tailor.

[hellkitten]

"Special material... yeah, that's good. That could be thin enough so I could dig my toes in when I climb."

The corner of Liza's mouth quirked. She was trying not to smile.

"Around my thigh, or the inseam measurement?"

[vesper_verde]

"I have something in development that should be thin enough." Though it was technically for construction worker footing. Particularly those working on highrises.

"Inseam. I think I can manage your thigh without looking like I'm getting my hands where they shouldn't be."

[hellkitten]

Liza laughed.

"I don't think anyone's watching out here in the middle of nowhere, and it's purely business anyways, but, ok."

She took the tape measure and held it against her leg.

"I'll hold the top, you can pull it against my ankle. You're all high tech and everything, why don't you invent an automated measuring thingy? Or a portable body scanner?"

[vesper_verde]

Marcelo pulled and measured. He nodded to her that he got it before scribbling it down.

"That would be handy, but some things are better done by hand. Like rolling cigars. It's an artform. Also, it's not often I get to use one of the things my aunt taught me."

[hellkitten]

Liza handed the tape measure back to him.

"Your aunt was a seamstress?"

[vesper_verde]

"My mother's sister lived in a favela and earned her living as a seamstress," he answered as he worked on finishing up the measurements.

"I spent a month living with her in the summers when I was a child."

[hellkitten]

"What's a favela?"

Liza didn't know.

"My aunt was a... nevermind. My family is hard to explain."

It did begin and end with an S, though.

[vesper_verde]

"A favela is a shanty town located inside a city. It is where a lot of the poor live in my home country. Also, where the gangs have their strongest holds." His aunt was a proud woman and had always turned down offers of places to live from Marcelo's father. Marcelo and his mother had been on their way to visit her when...

He scribbled the last numbers in and stood up. The less lingering on that point, the better for him.

"There. I will email you when I have it put together."

[hellkitten]

That explained a lot about his crusade against the local thuggery.

"Ok. Thank you, Mister Ious."

Liza headed back towards the window she came in through.

[vesper_verde]

"Be careful until I get you your upgrades, hmm?" He wrapped up the tape measure and put it back into his pocket. The notebook and pen went back into his shirt pocket.

He would leave the lamp on until she was out the window and into the night. He pondered calling Stephanie and seeing if she wanted him to pick up anything on the way home.