Template:Featured Articles/10-2023

Moment of Awesome - David North/Maverick: On a mission, North faces the nightmare that's been haunting him for months. "OK, so Mister Merc, youse going to tell me all about what your plan is here." "Plan?" North repeated with a feigned a look of confusion, chin jerking in a futile attempt to remove the heavy hand from his person. "We were just going to nick some bikes." "Nick some bikes? Just a bust in a grab job, huh?" Hammerhead smiled, that shark's grimace with no mercy in it. "You know, lotsa people think I'm real stupid cause of how I look. Just some meathead in a good suit that anyone with half a brain can run rings around. But see, I carved this family out of the Berruti family myself, with old man Berruti's brains all over my nice suit at the end." He took hold of North's hair and smashed his forehead into his. The impact was like striking solid steel. "So, if youse was just nicking bikes, we'll do you now and dump your body into the Hudson. If there's something else youse want to tell me, you might buy yourself an extra few minutes of life. More if there's a deal to be made, capice?" North's forehead smarted sharply, ears ringing for a second. But the pain quickly became negligible as his newer powers kicked in, the impact of Hammerhead's headbutt working to repair the slight damage as North fought to keep his eyes clear. He let some tears mist up his eyes and made a show of tensing as he shook his head in small trembles, as if he wanted to but dared not move away from the larger man's grasp. "They paid cash," he said, his accent suddenly thicker, even though he spoke in a raspy whisper. "Said that the garage had bikes stolen from them that they wanted back. Knock the men out, get the bikes and fuck off. No one said there were so many--" "Alright, let's get him into the drink." The men to either side of the board North was restrained on twisted heavy wheels and the entire thing shifted on a hinge, plunging North's head into the greasy pool of oily rainwater up to his chest. The apparatus suspending North in the water head down was just an old gurney wielded to a hinged brace so it could be pivoted up and down. Leather restraints held North's arms, legs and most importantly, forehead so there was no way for him to try and get his head up for a breath. Hammerhead took out a cigar and lit it unhurried. Only when the end glowed cherry did he wave his hands, and they twisted the wheels the other way, pulling the gasping North out of the water. "So, what to try that again? See, my men said they was up against trained guys. And no pros would be stupid enough to walk into the Tombstone garage like wide eyed babes. Care you, uh... revise youse statement?" He said, carefully enunciating the last words. North shivered, the stark fear in cornflower blue eyes no longer feigned. The drowning visions had been recurring since that first night Felicia had left his apartment, each one darker and colder than the last. Experiencing it in the flesh sent his mind down a dark path, but still he shook his head and struggled against his bonds. "I don't-- I can't--"