Rogues Gallery #5 - CORINTHIAN & TOMMY MONAGHAN

The Realm of The Dreaming. It is a strange place, created by a master long ago imprisoned. It is composed of all dreams, big and small. Dreams of man, woman, child. One common dream, was the place Cain and Abel arrived in after their defeat. Standing outside two crooked houses, Cain slapped his brother in the back of the head.

“That was a bust! You’re useless you know that right?” Cain asked.

“B-but I d-don't kill... Y-y-you sh-sh-should know b-by now,” Abel responded weakly. Cain growled and drew a knife. Abel flinched at his approaching brother, when another voice sounded behind them.

“Leave your brother alone Cain. It's not his fault that the two of you failed. Instead, we should be finding a way to stop The Corinthian,” the soft, but commanding voice stated. Both turned to face the beautiful woman, tall with long flowing hair and a white dress long ago forgotten. But always remembered.

“But mother! I had him! If Abel got off of his lazy butt just once we coulda...” Cain started.

“No, it was wrong of us to force humans into doing this. We have to find a better way,” Eve ordered.

“How are we supposed to do that?” Cain asked.

“He's killing humans in their realm. Therefore, a human should be the one responsible to send him back to us. After he is in the dreaming, we will take him prisoner,” Eve decided.

“Where are we gonna find a mortal to pull that off?”

Outside Noonan's Sleazy Bar Tommy, a tall man in a dark green trench coat, continued wearing the dark glasses from inside the bar. He was in good shape, and had short black hair. His partner, Nat the Hat, was a little shorter, and much bigger. He had a green jacket on, and a yellow shirt beneath, with blue jeans. His hat, which he always wore, was a multicolored rounded cap, with shades of red and blue all around.

“You know Pat was going to enlist?” Tommy asked as he got into the passenger seat.

“Pat? He didn't seem like the type to be a soldier,” Nat replied.

“Neither were we though,” Tommy laughed.

“That's different though, we didn't like orders. Pat, he never seemed like a killer,” Nat replied.

“No, he wasn't, and he wasn't that good at seeing blood either. But when he heard I was joining, he wanted to tag along,” Tommy shrugged.

“So what went wrong?” Nat asked.

“Well, he was at the recruiters. And when the question of why he wanted to join the army came up, he started laying on all these jokes about how they were so much better then the Navy right? You know, calling them a bunch of homo's and how they were useless in a real war right?”

“Yeah?”

“Turns out he was talking to a guy in the Navy,” Tommy laughed. Nat joined in, then after a moment he turned serious.

“He was a good cat; you did right by him when we took out Dubeltz,”

“Still doesn't bring him back,” Tommy replied. Nat remained silent for a while.

“So what's this job?”

“Ever hear of The Eye Guy?” Tommy asked.

“Aint he a serial killer?”

“Yeah, turns out he killed the wrong kids last night, some cop in Bludhaven. The job pays ten thousand,” Tommy lit a cigarette as Nat took a turn.

“Damn, people's always talkin how rough Gotham is. But take a drive a few miles down, you get Bludhaven. That city makes Gotham look like the Vatican man,” Nat said shaking his head.

“Yeah, drive a few more hours and where do you wind up?” Tommy asked.

“Hub City, now that's a real piss-hole of a town,” Nat answered as he lit his own cigarette.

“You swore,”

“Piss aint no swear I ever heard,” Nat replied.

“Your mom never slapped you upside the head for saying piss?”

“Ah hell, I did swear,” Nat grunted.

Tommy grinned as he replied, “I won't count what you just said, but that's just because you've been good with the swearing. Now if only you could stay loyal to your diet the way you are about swearing.”

“Bite me,”

“Too much MSG,”

“Funny, you feel like walkin fool?”

“Not really,” Tommy said as he flicked the last of his cigarette out the window.

“You gonna keep shootin your mouth off?”

“No sir,” Tommy said with a one gun salute.

“I'll ignore that, hey Tommy; if this guy's a serial killer and no one knows what he looks like...” Nat started to say.

“Ah hell,” Tommy slapped the palm of his hand onto his forehead.

“I was worried 'bout that,”

Gotham City, The Cauldron:

Tommy and Nat had yet to come up with a way to uncover the identity of “The Eye Guy”, and they went to Big Belly Burger to plan. After eating, Tommy took out his cell phone. “I think I know a guy who can help us, the only thing is he's the biggest crook I've ever heard of,” he dialed a number and waited a few seconds.

“Who is this?” came the reply on the other end.

“Hey, this is Tommy Monaghan, I need...” Before he finished however, the man on the other end cut him off.

“Never heard of you,” And with that, the line went dead.

“Wow, The Calculator's a real prick,” Tommy said as he put his phone away.

“Who?” Nat replied.

“He's this guy that gives out info for jobs. Ringo gave me his number a while back. I just never called because he charges an arm and a leg,” Tommy shrugged.

“So that was your big plan on finding this guy? Call information?” Nat laughed.

“You wanna go get seconds? I'm not sure that the deluxe meal was enough for your slender frame,” Tommy replied.

“Why not phone “The Calculator” and find out if I'm full?”

“I don't think he answers rhetorical questions,” Tommy replied as he got to his feet.

“Look, we ain’t gonna find this guy tonight. I say, we go get some sleep and start lookin tomorrow,” Nat shrugged.

“Yeah, I guess that's the only thing we can do right now. Meet up at Noonans at 8?”

“Sure, need a ride home?” Nat asked.

“Yup,”

The Cauldron, Tommy's place.

It hadn't taken him long to drift to sleep. On top of Pat's funeral, and looking for the serial killer, Tommy was exhausted, physically and mentally. Slowly, he realized he was no longer in his apartment, he wasn't even in Gotham. Slowly he looked up at the Empire State building, a monument to what humanity was capable of achieving.

“Amazing huh?” Asked the man beside him. Tommy turned to face the familiar voice. He had long black hair tied back, and a ratty goatee, framing a grin that was a mile long on his youthful face. Tommy realized also, he wasn't looking at him the way he'd been seeing things for the past year and a half. No longer was everything that strange, crystal clear vision. It was dark, very dark. He took his sunglasses off, and saw his reflection. His eyes weren't the solid black, pupil-less eyes he had every since that incident with Etrigan. No, they were his eyes, dark hazel. Everything was perfect, his best friend, no, his brother Pat was with him. And he was no longer the freak of nature anymore. It was all so... perfect.

“Pat?”

“Yeah?” His long time friend replied.

“We finally made it to New York didn't we?”

“Yeah, that Navarone guy messed me up good. But you found me just in time Tommy, if it wasn't for you; I'd be a goner right now,” Pat grinned.

“I got him for you man. I made him pay,” Tommy said grimly.

“Don't worry about that anymore T. We're in New York, and we're gonna party till we drop. Then, we'll go watch the sunrise in Central Park. Just like we've been planning,” Pat said happily.

Something wasn't right, Tommy knew it. He'd just buried Pat this morning. It was true; when he found him at his apartment he was alive. But the amount of injuries he'd sustained from the hit man Johnny Navarone were too severe, Tommy was forced to put him at peace himself...

“The two of you thought you could get away from me?” A man asked. Tommy spun around to face the tall slender man in the white suit. The slicked back auburn hair, and the arrogant smirk on his face.

“Navarone!? I KILLED YOU!” Tommy screamed.

“And I killed him. What's your point?” Johnny asked as he fired a bullet into Pat's heart. Tommy caught him before he hit the ground, and stared into his friends eyes. What had went wrong? He was here, in New York with Pat. He'd killed Navarone, but he was right there in front of him. The smoke still drifting from the barrel of his gun. Slowly, he turned around and walked off. Tommy shook with anger, and chased after him; rounding a corner he was no longer in New York. No, he was in a dark place. The moon shone down on two warped and distorted buildings, dead trees filling the yards. Two men appeared from inside the houses, and were in front of Tommy in seconds. Both were tall, lanky individuals, though one stood tall, and the other seemed hunched over. The two men had short gray hair that stuck out at the sides. The hunched one wore thin wire framed glasses, and the other wore nothing on his face but a scowl.

“Yer s'posed to kill The Corinthian?” The one asked.

“What the hell’s going on exactly?” Tommy asked.

“We c-c-called y-you f-f-f-from your d-d-dream,” The hunched one told him.

“Right, and who might the two of you be? The Brothers Grimm?”

“My name is Cain, and he's Abel. What makes you think you can kill The Corinthian?” The angry man, apparently named Cain asked.

“A 9mm and really good aim,” Tommy said with a shrug.

“That's the best ya got?” Cain replied.

“I got an M60 laying around someplace if that helps,”

“I-I-It w-w-w-w...”

“T-t-t-today junior!” Tommy snapped.

“Won't help you,” Abel blurted out as quickly as he could.

“Why’s that exactly?” Tommy replied.

“Cause genius, he knows you. Knows your dreams, in fact; he is your dream. So tell me Hitman, how do ya kill a dream?” Cain asked.

“Wake up?”

“No, ya gut it like a pig,” Cain replied stabbing Abel in the stomach. He twisted the blade violently as Abel fell to the ground in surprise.

“Dude, you are one sick freak,” Tommy said in disbelief.

“Hitman, we're both sick freaks. And I think you might be a little gay too,” Cain told him.

“Excuse me?”

“Oh Pat, I love you, I'm so sad, I'm gonna go kill a couple dozen thugs and a fat two headed mob boss because he made me sad. Waaa!” Cain mocked.

Tommy brought his hand up beneath his green trench coat and felt the familiar cold steel of his gun. Before Cain continued speaking, he brought it out and fired a shot at his knee. The strange man fell to the ground and looked up in shock.

“You shot me!?” He cried in disbelief.

“What the hell did you expect ya muthalovin psycho? First I've got this messed up dream of a recently dead friend, then I pop up in what looks like the freaking Crypt Keepers neighborhood, and you start ragging on me? That's after you killed what must be your twin by the way,” Tommy snapped.

“K, you got balls. Maybe you can handle Corinthian,” Cain said with a shrug. As he finished speaking, an image of a slender, but athletic man with slicked back hair, and wearing all white appeared behind Cain. He had wire rimmed, dark sunglasses, and an arrogant smirk on his face. “Remember that face Monaghan,” Cain said.

Before Tommy could speak, he found himself in his own bed. Drenched in sweat he didn't know how to make sense out of what had just happened. It was a dream, he assured himself. The face however, remained etched in his mind. The light skin, light blond hair. He would remember the face...

Big Belly Burger, East End:

The Man in White sat in the back corner, watching the people. It was a busy place, it seated roughly 20 people, all scattered across the large open space. He selected the prey he wanted tonight. A young couple, the man roughly in his 20's, and the girl looked to be about 17, maybe younger. Something about the two appealed to him, he was so intent on them, he didn't register the door of the fast food restaurant opening. So he didn't see the two men, the tall white man in the green trenchcoat with dark sunglasses, nor the heavy set black man in the multicolored hat. They noticed him though.

“You seeing anything Tommy?”

“Yeah, he's got three knives on him, and a small revolver. The sick freak's pretty interested in those two,” Tommy said, indicating the young couple.

“See, I don't get why a guy like that's chasing a piece of tail that young. Just seems kinda wrong you think?” Nat asked.

“That's one of the reasons he wants them so bad,” Tommy told him.

“So let's get some food, and wait till he leaves. Sound good?”

Tommy nodded and the two walked to the counter. All the while keeping an eye on their target. They were seasoned hit men, but from what Tommy read in Corinthian's mind, they'd be hard pressed to take him down. This definitely wasn't a normal job for them. Then again, he hadn't had a normal job since he acquired his powers of X-Ray vision and telepathy. Two powers that worked wonders for his profession. The only down side were the headaches when he used those powers. The two ordered, and sat across the room from the killer known as Corinthian, then they waited. It wasn't long until the couple exited the building. It wasn't much longer until Corinthian followed. It was time for them to go to work.

They followed Corinthian, as he followed the two people. Tommy's hand drifted to his side as he drew his .22 and took aim. Nat did the same, and they opened fire. Two bullets struck Corinthian in the back, and that's when all hell broke loose. The couple he was following spun around for a second, then bolted in the other direction. Corinthian cursed under his breath for being so careless. He knew that the twins wouldn't have given up so easily, but he hadn't anticipated them sending mortals to kill him. He took off as fast as he could, and ran into an alleyway. Tommy was quick to follow, with Nat just a few feet behind. As Tommy entered the alleyway, he saw Corinthian trying to climb a fence, not an easy task with two bullet holes in your back. Tommy took aim and fired several shots, each hitting their mark causing Corinthian to fall to the ground. Tommy ran to the prone body, and leveled his pistol at the killers face. Before he fired however, The Corinthian sprung into action, kicking out with his legs, and knocking Monaghan to the ground. That's when he drew one of his blades, and brought it down. Tommy threw up his arm in defense, and held his attacker at bay.

“Give it up human, you can't beat me. I am the darkness in your heart, I am the evil inside of you!” Corinthian screamed as the blade came closer and closer to Tommy.

“Yeah? Well tough, 'Cause there's something I know that you don't,” Tommy growled.

“What's that?”

“He aint alone!” Nat yelled as he fired several shots into The Corinthian. His gripped weakened, and Tommy threw his foe off of him. He rose to his feet as Nat joined him. Blood dripped down Corinthian's mouth as he looked at them in disbelief.

“How did the two of you beat me?” He asked.

“Simple, we brought guns to a knife fight,” Tommy said as he and Nat opened fire. As his life slipped away, he remembered what he told Cain. That he had a secret, what that secret was, was that he created Cain. Cain was the first man to dream of him, and that's what drove him to kill Abel. It was that power he held over the two brothers that made it impossible for the two of them to beat him. These two however, he didn't know. Strange, killers dreamed of him all the time. Why hadn't these two?

“We don't kill out of hate is why. We aren't some muthaloving psycho's. Do you know who we are?” Tommy asked.

“No...” Corinthian whispered.

“We're Hit Men is who we are!” Tommy said as the two men walked away...

“They... killed me. My body, it's gone... But the fools don't realize something. I can't die... I'll go home for a time... Then I'll return for them,” Corinthian whispered as his essence slipped away, back into the dreaming.

Noonan’s Sleazy Bar:

“That wasn't as tough as I thought it was gonna be,” Nat said.

“We got lucky,” Tommy shrugged.

“Ya think?” Nat asked.

“Yup, we were brought into something bigger than us Nat. I don't really know what the hell it was, but it was big. I'm just glad we're done with it and that's the last time we ever do some crazy mystical job like that again,” Tommy muttered.

“Still don't know what to make of what you told me about this thing,” Nat said as he sipped on his beer.

“Likewise,” Tommy replied.