Episode 096

                "We can do this the easy way or the Hemingway!"
                                Earnest Hemingway, Celebrity Death Match

                The man was bent over the engine of the burgandy car, his simple tool belt hanging professionally from his waist. He reached back behind his lower back and got out a simple saughtering torch, and reached back into the car. A few simple sparks shot up from the engine as the man worked fast.

                Behind him, Ledger stood by the lampost, watching him work.

                The man straightened up from the car, taking a moment to glance casually around. he looked back behind him, seeing the black knight for the first time. Ledger just waved at him, making his intentions of watching obvious. "Need some help?" Ledger asked, with a friendly smile as he straightened up from the lamp post.

                "No, man. I've got it. Thanks." He said, moving back to the engine of the car.

                "What's wrong?" Ledger asked, walking towards the car.

                "I blew the alternator belt." The man said, working with his wrench now. He looked back at Ledger, trying to hide his worry.

                "YOU blew the alternator belt?" Ledger asked, making the entire statement sound preposterous. "As in, while you were driving? Driving this car?" The knight asked, coming right up next to the car and the mechanic.

                "Yeah." The man nodded, his upper lip getting stiff. "Why?" He asked aggressively, putting his hand on the car's frame and staring expectantly at Ledger.

                "Because this car doesn't belong to you." Ledger answered certainly with a friendly look, but without the usual grin. "It belongs to a buddy of mine's prospective girlfriend. And she's a lot prettier than you."

                With a sudden yank of his hand, Ledger slammed the car's hood down on the man's hand, yanking it back up at the sound of crunching bones. He threw his own hand forward, catching the man's neck before he could fall away. "Let's start at the beginning shall . . ."

                Ledger's breath froze. He could see in the man's eyes. He could see the lack of pain. He could see the left eye grow larger than the right.

                The man suddenly lunged forward, pushing Ledger with his shattered hand. The black knight was pushed back into the street the car was parked on, right into an on-coming car. Without a thought, Ledger jumped up, slamming his left foot on the car's hood and vaulting over the vehicle in one jump. The car that had been hurdled skidded to a hault, but Ledger was already giving chase to the man.

                Across the street, the man rushed out between the cars that skidded to a halt to keep from hitting the vagrant pedestrian. But in seconds after, as the drivers tried to understand the sight and to curse the runner, Ledger rushed past the cars, his puffy black jacket trailing.

                Opposite the univeristy, the man rushed into the thick protection of the park. He landed roughly on the ground of brick and looked around. The pathway was clear in all directions. He looked back up the small hill he had thrown himself over, but he saw no one. He waited for a moment.

                When Ledger never reappeared, the man tore a cel phone from his pants and quickly hit a speed-dial button. He looked around for a moment as the phone rang.

                "Phillip."

                "The mission was interuptted." The man said, still looking around the small pathway. "One of the knights interferred."

                "Is he dead?"

                "He took me by surprise." The man said. "My left hand's been crushed." He looked down at the wounded, bleeding stump, then stood up. "I don't know where the knight is now, but I suspect that he's gone for . . ."

                "He's right behind you."

                The hand agent turned around to see the punch coming right between his eyes. He stumbled back from the blow and Ledger slid in with a fast side kick to the man's stomach, knocking him back onto the path. The agent hit hard and skidded over the rough bricks as he tried to maintain some semblence of control.

                Ledger's feet came to a stop right over the phone. The black knight reached down and picked it, all the time watching the fallen man before him. "Hello." The knight said intot he phone.

                "Who is this?" Demanded the voice on the other end of the line.

                "This is Ledger. To whom am I speaking?"

                "The man who's about to order your death."

                Ledger chuckled. "That sounds like the threat of a guy suffering from little-man syndrome. You not measuring up in that caliber?"

                "Knight, I shall see to it that you die very slowly."

                "Knight?" Ledger said, grinning. "Whoever said I was a knight?"

                "I know who you are." The man yelled into the phone. "I know everything about you. And I also know that you're about to die."

                Ledger ducked suddenly, letting go of the phone as a baseball bat swung just inches from his ducking head. Passing through the space his head had occupied just moments before, the bat hit the airborn cel phone and smashed it in the air.

                Ledger rolled forward, noting the departure of his victim. But now, he was facing down two larger Hand agents, ones who seemed decidedly more hopped up then their friend had been. "Well." Ledger said, his body immediately taking the initiative to drop into a defensive stance. "If it isn't Tweedle-Dumb and Tweedle-Dumber."

                The first agent swung at Ledger with a powerful, but slow hook punch aimed for his head. Ledger ducked around the outside of the punch, jamming his thumb into the meat of the man's upper arm. Reaching over the still-swinging arm, the knight hit a point just above the elbow, then he swung in with his own elbow, smacking the man across the face.

                The man went down, blood spitting out from his nose and mouth.

                Ledger danced back as the second man came in with a fast Karate stance. He led in with a quick snap kick aimed at Ledger's groin, but the knight was nowhere near the kick. He slid by the blow, slamming the palm of his fist into the agent's nose, knocking him back a step. Thrown off balance, the agent was easily knocked over by Ledger.

                But now, the first agent was up. Still bleeding from the nose and mouth, he was visibly more angry than before. He bounced on his toes a bit, his hands held knowledgably in front of his face as he glared at Ledger. "What are you doing?" The knight asked. "This isn't a dance recital, it's a fight."

                The agent moved in, swinging with a fast hook at Ledger's head. Ledger barely moved, letting the punch slide by him by inches. The man came around with a book from the other direction, still missing Ledger by a hair's breadth. The man reversed the motion of his left arm, swinging to backfist Ledger, but again, the knight nimbly ducked under the blow. Frustrated, the agent came up with a fast upper cutt towards Ledger's chin, but Ledger curled his body back slightly, letting the knuckles of the man's punch pass harmlessly by him.

                "You suck, you know that?" Ledger said, just before punching the man in the temple with his knuckles. The man went down, barely able to groan, much less move.

                Ledger turned around as the second agent came running at him, swinging a tree branch like a baseball bat. Ledger jumped back as the man tried to recoil the blow. He spun around and came back from the same direction, but this time Ledger was ready.

                The knight moved in before the branch could generate any serious force and caught the branch with his forearms as he crossed them over each other. Reaching forward past the extended branch, he slammed his the points of his first two fingers into points on the man's hand, making his fingers go numb immediately. Then grabbing the man's forearm with his left hand, Ledger pulled himself towards the big man, rocketing his right fist into the man's face.

                The blow knocked him back as he dropped the branch. He shook his head, growling as he looked up. Ledger planted three rapid kicks into the man, one at the knee, one at the side, and one to the side of his head. Before his knee had time to buckle, the man's head went vacant as conscious left him. He was out before he hit the ground.

                Ledger stepped back from the two men, making sure neither of them moved. A few precious moments passed and they both remained motionless. Ledger looked back the way the rat-like man had run, then he dropped down to the first agent. He began to rapidly press delicate buttons over the man's back and shoulders, having trouble negotiating through the man's thick suit. "This should convince the police." He said, working fast. He moved to stand over the second agent, hitting exactly the same points over his body. "They'll just think both of you guys suffered an epileptic seizure instead of getting your asses kicked by little ole me."

                With the two men still on the ground, Ledger took a moment to appraise his work, then he rocked back onto his haunches. He took a moment to take a breath, then he looked back down the path. He didn't even take the time to stand up straight before he bolted in the direction of his target.