The Scarlet Derby and Midnight Jay - Volume 1: Gallery of Rogues by Mike Cervantes Read Free Book Online Page B

neighborhood kid who pulled the prank,” The Derby asked drolly upon seeing The Jay wrestled to the ground, still holding her umbrella horizontal to deflect downward blows from Calvin’s katana blades.
    The Jay sighed “You’re not about to start gloating, are you? I don’t think I’m in a position to hear it.”
    Calvin’s head darted up from the melee and he gave a frustrated groan. “Two heroes!? I’ve already had my hands full with one-” Calvin was cut off with a sweep to his knees, knocking him onto his back.
    The Jay stood up and smoothed down skirt with her free hand. “Suppose he might also be your smash and grabber?” She asked.
    Noticing the twin katana blades The Derby intoned “I do now.” Tucking a hand beneath his cape, he laid it across one of the many test tubes he had lined across the bandolier on his chest. Addressing the fallen Calvin he said “It’d do you quite well to stay down, unless you would prefer to have your sinuses filled with tear gas.”
    “I have yet another proposal…” Calvin said in a tone as elevated as The Derby’s. He then raised a small tin whistle to his lips and blew a single shrill note. Through the doors, the other windows, and down the steps came several other men dressed in all black with hooded faces. “Search the entire house! Don’t give up until you find the eye!”
    Instinctively, The Jay moved behind The Derby’s back, and they raised their weapons against their incoming attackers. “Well, this has become quite out of control.” The Derby said while swinging the ball of his cane in the faces of a pair of advancing men.
    “He never had henchmen before!” The Jay countered, both with her words and with a swing of her umbrella across the stomach of another pair. She saw her husband move towards the stairs, and with her back still to him, she began to walk backwards behind him. “Do you have a plan?”
    “I would if I had any idea what he was after.” The Derby removed a vial from his bandolier and tossed it like a grenade towards the crowd of henchmen below. Clearly it was a vial of itching powder, as the henchmen caught in the cloud halted their pursuit to scratch at their black clothing and masks.
    “My jewelry box,” The Jay replied. “He’s going to go for my jewelry box!”
    The Derby and Jay reached the top of the stairs facing the entrance to their bedroom. Amidst a cluster of other masked men, Calvin stood with The Jay’s jewelry box in one hand. In his other, he pinched a yellowish-green gem in the shape of a teardrop. “At last, I have it! Men, we shall now vanish!”
    “Oh no you don’t!” The Jay began to speak, but in an instant a bright flash of light forced her to shield her eyes, and just as soon as they’d all appeared, Calvin and his many followers had completely disappeared. The Derby came up behind the Jay, blinking rapidly and attempting to chase the spots out of his eyes. “Today I’ve experienced the sensation of seeing a thousand flash bombs go off all at once.”
    “Calvin always was a sight for sore eyes.” The Jay said distantly.
    “You seem to know quite a bit about the man who just destroyed our home.” The Derby said flatly.
    “It’s…It’s nothing, dear. Maybe I should start cleaning.”
    “Mary Jane,” The Derby had a firm tone to his voice. The Jay wasn’t entirely sure she’d ever heard him speak to her that way. “Thanks to this ‘visitor’ of yours, our house is in shambles, and a jewel thief is running around with one of your family’s gemstones. The moment you could dismiss all this as nothing is long past, and perhaps it had better benefit you to tell me what you know.”
    “It’s a personal matter.” The Jay replied defensively. “Calvin attacked my family a long time ago. I was…hoping you wouldn’t have had to get involved in my vendetta.”
    The Derby sighed. When he spoke again his words were a lot gentler “I’m sorry that this wicked person has caused you so much pain