Last week, dear reader, Eldritch returned to the city streets on her mission to defend Liberty City from the vicissitudes of villainy, varied and vile.

Now, racing above the rooftops and streets she finds herself slowing. After flipping between two buildings using a magic boost, she pauses and casts her eyes about.

“Well, this is more boring than I remember. Say what you will about all the supervillains coming after me, but at least it cut out the waiting,” she says with a huff. Leaning against a nearby concrete rail marking the edge of the roof she lets out a bored sigh and pulls out her phone. “Theo, Theo, Missy, Theo, ugh,” she says as she scrolls through her messages. “I can’t deal with this right now.”

Slipping the phone back into her pocket she leans over the railing, placing her elbows on the concrete, and letting her head dangle atop the precarious drop out into the street below. “I wonder if the Detective has anything new for me?” she asks the night air. She considers it for a moment before rolling over and sighing as she stares up at the night sky while lying on the railing. “Nah, it’s probably a boring night for the cops. Ginny has most of the supervillains running scared,” her expression becomes pensive as she adds, “the ones that stayed in the city after what happened at least.”

Hailey lies there, the cold of the concrete seeping into her back for a minute as she studies the stars and reflects. Then, shaking herself from her doldrums, she glances back out at the city visible from her lonely rooftop perch and says, “Man, I wish something would just happen already.”

And then, as if by magic, something does.

The sound of cackling laughter echoes up from below Halley. In a quick motion, she rolls over to see a shadowy figure disappearing into a storefront across the street. Her breath catches as she grins.

“Well it’s not exactly a crime just yet,” she begins before pulling out her dagger and driving it into the concrete of the building and swinging herself off the edge, “but I think I recognize that laugh!”

Then she begins falling, her descent slowed by the dagger and magic until her feet hit the street in a catlike motion. Now at the street level, she can see the name of the store where the figure vanished.

“Pirouette’s Piano Palace. Odd name for a store,” she says. Then, with a shrug, she ignores the closed sign and walks in through the front door.

The store itself is exactly as advertised. Pianos great and small sit in different locations throughout the dark storeroom. A sign for piano lessons sits next to the dusty counter. There are, however, no signs of the mysterious figure or anyone else.

Frowning, Eldritch walks through the store. There are no doors to a back room, nothing to indicate where the person vanished. Stumped, she lets her hand rest on one of the pianos, noting the dust covering them. Her eyes narrow. Looking at the various pianos she spots the one she’s looking for tucked away in the corner and makes her way over.

“No dust. The rest are covered in it.” She touches the piano, inspecting it. “So what makes you so special?”

Looking down at the keys, she says in a contemplative voice, “If I had a flair for the dramatic and a secret door to hide...”

Then she rests her fingers on the keys. “But what would the code be? Some kind of song, right?” she asks the dark room. Then she shrugs, “Too bad I’m not in band. I’ll just have to crack you open the old fashioned way.” Her dagger materializes in her hand and in a brutally swift motion she smashes it down on the far end of the keys. Ripping her weapon along the length of the piano she tears the entire keyboard apart, sending ivory and ebony falling to the floor. Once finished the inner workings of the piano lie exposed, the wires bare for her inspection.

“Alright!” she exclaims, “now for the finale!” Eldritch grabs the wires with threads of magic, connecting to each one with an individual mystical tie. With her hands splayed out like those of a puppet master, she jerks upward and rips the wires from the piano. As she does, the piano makes a few aborted noises and the sound of a door opening echoes through the shop.

“There we go!” Eldritch walks over to the door, formerly hidden behind a life-sized picture of Franz Liszt.

Before she enters the hidden passageway, she hears a voice coming from inside.

“And so my minions! My pernicious planning and plotting now pays off in spades! Peer upon my piano of power and peril! Phahahaha!”

Eldritch rolls her eyes as she steps through the entrance. Crossing her arms she says, “Well, well, well. If it isn’t exactly who I thought it would be. What are you up to this time?”

Spotting the teenage heroine, Tango twists toward her and lets out a gasp!

“How!?” he shouts, aghast.

Eldritch takes a moment to survey the room before replying. Tango sits in front of a specially built piano with various instruments and devices sprouting off it that bubble with strange chemicals and spark with electricity. The rest of the room appears to be a dance studio with burnished floors and a wall entirely covered in mirrors. Standing in front of the mirrors are three pairs of dancers in male female sets. They wear masks reminiscent of Tango’s own with stylized musical signs running over the eyes and bar lines running across the face. The couples are also dressed to kill, literally, in the style of ballroom gowns and suits. Their clothing has metal edges, blades that poke out from the edges of their clothes. Each pair sports a different color, red, blue, and finally a taffeta yellow.

Love what you're reading? Discover and support the author on the platform they originally published on.

Tango himself has modified his costume to mimic that of a piano player complete with white silk gloves, a winged long sleeve suit coat, and his musically inspired mask shifting to display the ebony and ivory colors of piano keys. In one hand, he has a conductor’s baton that looks decidedly heavier and more dangerous than an ordinary baton. In the other, he has a sheet of music that he has just placed in the holder on the piano.

“Magic, womanly intuition, idiot radar, whatever,” Eldritch says with a shrug. “I get this tingly feeling in my spine whenever you’re up to one of your dumb schemes.”

“B-b-but you’re gone!” Tango sputters, enraged. “You quit! This isn’t fair! Months of planning, wasted! Hours of plotting, discarded! Weeks of prognostication, trashed! You rotten heroine!”

“Wow,” Eldritch replies, “To be honest, I was nervous about coming back but you are really making this much easier.”

Tango gets a cunning look on his face as he says, “We’ll see about that!” Then he runs his fingers over the modified piano in front of him. “Do you know what this is?”

Eldritch opens her mouth to reply only for him to cut her off with a cackle. “Of course you don’t! Because I, me, the one, the only, the incomparable Tango invented it! This, my plucky and persistent little do-gooder is none other than my newly patented pernicious piano of peril!”

Eldritch pauses. “You can patent evil inventions?”

Tango simply turns up his nose in reply and puts his baton on the top of the piano before settling his fingers on the keys. “This wasn’t part of the plan, but I am adaptable. Minions! Our trial run tonight will have a special guest. Let’s ensure that she,” he turns and smiles malevolently at Eldritch, “dances her heart out.”

“I’m not much for ballroom dancing,” Eldritch smarmily replies.

Tango simply places a finger on one of the keys and then runs it down the piano, causing a glissando to reverberate throughout the room. “Your dance card is full, Eldritch,” he says as the music settles. “Full of death!”

Then Tango slams his hands down on the piano and begins furiously playing out the beginning of a wickedly complex song. As he does, his dancers begin waltzing. To her horror and surprise, Eldritch glances down to see her own feet moving in time as well!

“Yes!” Tango cries out, “It works! Try to resist dancing all you like, you can’t! Once I’ve defeated you I’ll be free to broadcast the sound of the piano across the city, leaving everyone unable to stop me as I rob every bank in town!”

Eldritch stops fighting her feet for a moment, letting them drive her inexorably toward the dance floor. Then she says, “That’s… almost refreshingly simple. You just want money?”

Tango glances over at her confused, still playing, and replies, “Of course. Why else would someone become a supervillain?”

Eldritch starts to reply as the music sweeps her toward the other couples. The red dressed pair swirls next to her as the woman pulls a blade from inside her dress. With a flourish, she swipes at Eldritch who slides on her knees underneath the weapon. Then, with a twist, she rises back to her feet and transforms her dagger into a whip that she wraps around the woman’s ankle and uses to jerk the pair off their feet and into one of the glass panels. With a smashing sound, they collide and fall in a heap with broken glass around their unconscious forms.

Right behind the reds, the green pair pulls a set of wires that they hold between themselves as they leap toward Eldritch. With a grin, she pulls her whip back and returns it to the form of a dagger. Then she swipes it through the wires, separating the pair and causing them to fall in opposite directions. Finally, she turns toward the yellow two and fixes them with a fierce look as the green pair leaps to their feet behind her.

Swirling her weapon, Eldritch transforms it into the shape of a long quarterstaff. With a wry smile, she says, “Don’t even think about making a joke about pole dancing.” Then she smashes the butt of it into the ground and spins herself up into a sweeping kick that sends both pairs of henchmen reeling.

At the piano, Tango stands. His fingers still running along the keys he says in a cruel voice, “Leave her to me.”

Eldritch lands daintily on her feet and spins her staff as the dancing pairs collect their fallen brethren and run. Across the dancefloor, Tango steps out from behind the piano and runs his fingers down the keys. “Well, well, well,” he says with a smirk. “It was all a ploy, wasn’t it?”

“Oh?”

“The rumors of your demise, disappearance, disembowelment, discombobulation,” Tango pauses to savor the thought for a moment before continuing, “dare I say it? You did all this derring-do just to deny my diabolical plans. The whole thing was just a ploy to lull me into a false sense of security, admit it!”

“Um, sure?” Eldritch says.

Tango fumes, growling before grabbing the piano keys and tearing them off. Then in a swift motion, he throws one at her!

Eldritch almost ignores the flying ivory until the sharp glint of a blade reflects off the mirror, too late to dodge she blocks with her staff turned shield! “Whoa! That’s one sharp set of keys buddy.”

“A man is only as good as his tools,” Tango replies philosophically before throwing a second key.

This time Eldritch is ready, ducking under the flying key she rushes forward toward the villain. Crouched behind her shield, she rolls underneath a second pair before transforming her weapon back into the quarterstaff. Using it to push off she throws it over the piano.

Tango, however, is ready for the attack!

With a flick of his wrist, he deflects the staff and reaches toward his belt for a blade. As he does, he feels a fist connect with his gut!

Rising to her feet, Eldritch grabs Tango’s wrist. “The staff went over the piano. I went under.” Then she spins Tango around, shoving his face into the piano and locking his wrists behind his back with a spell. “I’m disappointed. You’re usually so much better at this.”

Tango spins, shoving her away and kicking Eldritch back. “I’ve missed you.”

“I’m sure,” Eldritch grunts as she falls back.

“It takes two…!” he says with a grin.

“…to Tango!” Eldritch finishes his sentence as she ducks under another kick. When the next attack comes, she leans in, catching Tango off balance and throwing him to the ground. Landing on top of him, she says, “Time to learn a few new moves buddy.”

Tango’s grin widens as he looks up from underneath her and asks, “Eldritch Maiden, right? Are you sure about that?”

Behind her mask, Hailey flushes with embarrassment. Fuming, she shoves off Tango and pushes herself to her feet. “You’re disgusting.”

Tango’s smile softens for a moment, losing its edge. “It’s good to have you back.” Then he kicks the piano, using the weight of it to vault himself back toward a window. Bursting through the glass, he falls to the street below and vanishes before Eldritch can reach the window. The only sound is his laughter echoing up from the darkness below.

Looking out over the street Eldritch shakes her head in bemusement. “Well if there’s one thing he’s good for, it’s shaking off the rust. Until next time Tango.”

Eldritch returns to action, but fails to capture Tango! Of course, dear reader, not every enemy is so easily banished as Eldritch will discover next week in… “Out of the Darkness!”