Issue
Synopsis:
Issue #2
The Mission: Detain/capture the villain known as Lady Jezebel (aka Kara Connelly).
The Dossier: Lady Jezebel has been keeping a low profile in the villain circuit by going back to her roots; swindling rich men out of their wealth with her charms and powers – leaving them without money and sometimes without life.
Upon Dante’s request, Crius establishes a false identity for him – that of Kilion Huntington, a California socialite. From Lady Jezebel’s most recent pattern of crimes, Dante surmised she might strike again at the highly publicized premiere of a new Broadway play: “Sour Grapes”. Wearing a pair of glasses that act as an audio/visual transmitter for his boys in the surveillance van outside, Dante enters the fray of high society.
Almost immediately Dante gravitates to a small crowd that is forming around a distinguished gentleman. The man is demonstrating an interesting little gadget that looks like a pen, but actually creates a durable force field around the wielder. Dante notices the man looks familiar and after a few minutes of hearing him talk, Dante realizes that it is actually Mr. Smith who is promoting the force field generator.
Dante approaches Smith and marvels at the device, and the two strike up a quick conversation. Mr. Smith grows weary of the conversation, as Dante (who introduced himself as Kilion Huntington) begins to brainstorm the many uses for the device. He comments that heroes like Nocturne could use a device like that. Smith defends himself with his trademark social elegance, stating that he is only marketing it to the private sector and if Nocturne would like to become a legally recognized and legitimate protector of the city – say a policeman for example – that he would be more than happy to equip him with his invention. Mr. Smith quickly points out that Nocturne is nothing more than a Vigilante, not much better than those he “brings to justice”. He goes further by commenting that those are exactly the type of people that this device will protect the police and elite members of society from. Dante agrees with Smith, but comments that heroes do bring in the trash – especially Nocturne; he fights only the worst scum.
After that last comment, Mr. Smith abruptly tears himself away from his conversation with Dante and moves over to a very attractive girl – a girl which Dante instantly recognizes as his quarry, Lady Jezebel. Dante follows Smith to Kara and introduces himself as Kilion. It seems that Kara actually came with Smith, which does nothing to stop Dante from flirting outwardly with her. Mr. Smith, not at all charmed with Mr. Kilion Huntington, politely mentions to the pair that he has been reminded of a few other people he needed to speak with and quickly whisks himself away.
Flirting very heavily and dropping lines about his wealth, Dante quickly has the power-hungry gold-digger eating out of his hand. Of course, Dante is also feeling the effects of her wooing via her powers. Just barely keeping his emotions in check, he charms her into the idea of leaving with him, which she quickly accepts. Leaving her to make her last round of goodbye’s with a promise to meet her outside with his car ready, Dante quickly heads to the downstairs bathroom and changes into his costume.
Now in full gear, Dante tells the valet he needs to commandeer the best sports car in the lot (making sure it has dark tinted windows) and has the valet stay in the car with the engine running. The valet follows his instructions and with Dante waiting on foot far to the side of the main entrance, Kara rushes hurriedly down the main staircase. Heading out the front door directly to the car, she opens the passenger door only to be surprised by a clueless valet in the driver seat. Calmly walking up behind her Dante grabs her by the wrist and, calling her by her villainess name, tells her that she is under arrest. As Lady Jezebel struggles to break free from his grasp, Dante continues to restrain her against his own desires, his thoughts cloudy from her emotional control – causing him to forget her more offensive life-drain ability.
Dante is confident that he has already won this battle even as Lady Jezebel is poised to strike. With Dante being in such a close proximity of her and with her other arm free, Lady Jezebel is just as confident that she can easily escape this unknown assailant. However, the both of them are thrown completely off guard as something swoops down from the sky and grabs Dante, hauling him high into the air. Lady Jezebel watches from the ground as the shadowy figure rises quickly, blending into the night sky.
Dante struggles to either get a hand on this creature or a good look at him, but the attack happens so swiftly that by the time he manages to wriggle free enough to face his enemy, he feels its powerful arm hurl him back towards to ground. As Dante falls helplessly towards the cement parking lot below, he can only look up and into the sinister face above - the face of Black Dragon.