Tommy & Black Canary stood over The Calculator, menacing him. The effect would be terrifying on most others but The Calculator seemed unconcerned, even with the blood dripping from his eyebrow.
"Tell us who you're meeting!" Tommy said in his scariest voice. They had discovered earlier that week that the person who had been supplying Black Mask with money & men would be meeting with The Calculator. Tommy & Black Canary wanted to be know who that someone was.
But The Calculator was an enigma. He had been almost impossible to find. It was said that The Calculator found you rather than the other way around. But Barbara Gordon had found a small trail online and had followed it slowly but surely back to The Calculator. Tommy & Black Canary raced against the clock to find him and had succeeded; now they just needed to get him to talk.
"I'm sure you'd be very interested to find out," He said with a grin. "Alas, my clients are confidential. It would be bad for business for me to spill my secrets."
Tommy hit him again, perhaps a little too hard. He was annoyed; he hated smug fucks and this guy was the smuggiest fuck of them all. Calculator wiped his mouth of blood and smiled again.
"Punch me all you'd like, Batman, see how far that gets you," The Calculator said. Tommy was considering taking him up on his suggestion.
As Tommy interrogated their suspect, Black Canary moved to The Calculator's computer. It was large and cumbersome, with rows of screens and a man-sized CPU. It rivaled Batman's for sheer power and looked impenetrable.
The Calculator saw Black Canary looking at his computer and laughed. "You think you can break into my computer? Go right ahead. I have lots of time."
"No you don't," Black Canary said, "You have until tonight at 6PM. Then you have your meeting. Your meeting at... the corner of 112th & Belvedere."
For the first time, The Calculator looked concerned. "How did you figure that out? My encryption can't be cracked!"
Black Canary held up a yellow Post-it note. "You left this on your desk with 'Where my big meeting takes place' written above it."
The Calculator stared. "Oh... shit," He said softly. Tommy ended his suffering with a sharp crack to the jaw, knocking him unconscious.
"Well, we know when and where the meeting is but we still don't know with who," Canary said, stepping over The Calculator's unconscious body. She stood thinking, tapping her chin with her forefinger. Slowly, she seemed to form a plan.
"You know," She began, "We don't know who he's meeting but it's likely that they don't know who they're meeting either." She looked Tommy up & down. "How'd you like to go to a meeting?"
Tommy crinkled his brow. "Huh?"
Canary sighed. "Let's go. We need to get you ready."
***
Tommy stood uncomfortably on the corner of 112th & Belvedere, trying not to sweat. He held a briefcase in one hand and his other was dug into his pocket, fiddling with the small stung gun he was holding in case things went bad. From the top of the building next to him, Black Canary watched. Her voice rang in his ear.
"Relax," She said. "Even from here I can see you're nervous." Tommy tried to breathe.
"This was a bad idea," Tommy said. It had sounded good when Black Canary explained it to him, or at least the 3rd time she explained it to him when he actually understood it: no one knew who The Calculator was so it was simple for Tommy to take his place. They didn't know exactly what The Calculator was supposed to provide but his briefcase (tagged with a helpful Post-it note that read "Bring this to big meeting and also the code for the briefcase is 7-4-6") seemed to hold the key. All that was in there was a thumb drive that was encrypted that was, indeed, impenetrable. They kept it in the briefcase, just in case.
Tommy waited at the corner and checked his watch. It was 5:59. Any second now, something should happen...
At exactly 6:00PM on the dot, a limousine pulled up. The driver's door opened and a tall woman appeared. She walked around the front of the car and Tommy got a good look at her.
'Whoever this person is, they have an eye for talent,' He thought.
The chauffeur was a severe looking woman who was nevertheless incredibly hot. She had tight, thin lips and arched eyebrows that perpetually looked bemused. Her auburn hair was hidden underneath a chaffeur's cap. Her outfit was tight and almost fascist, folded over her breasts and fastened with numerous buttons down one side. It fit fast against her, accentuating her breasts and hips. The suit cut off right past the woman's hips, just barely long enough to cover the treasures beneath. Nude nylons covered her legs. Tommy tried to adjust himself; a suit was a lot less capable of hiding his erections than the Batsuit.
"Mr. Calculator," The woman said stiffly, opening the door to the limo. Tommy got in and sat down. The limo was long, with a back bench and two long benches running down the sides. At the end was a large television that took up the entire space. He looked around the limo and found... no one. There was nobody in the limo. The doors locked and the limo began to move.
"I'm not sure what's going on," Tommy whispered into his mic. He got back nothing from static. 'Fuck,' He thought, 'Something must be interfering with the comms.' He was starting to panic.
The limo drove for 10 minutes, turning here and there. Tommy couldn't see out the windows, they were tinted so dark, and he had no idea where he was. Finally the limo stopped. Tommy heard the engine cut. As he waited nervously, the door next to him suddenly opened. Instead of his mystery person, the chauffeur entered. She smiled thinly at him and scooted down a side bench, her skirt sliding up tantalizingly. She sat and crossed her long legs. And she waited.
'What the fuck...?' Tommy thought. On the outside he was trying to copy the cool attitude of The Calculator; on the inside, he was panicking. He wondered if maybe this was a set-up, if they knew who he was, if-
"Mr. Calculator, thank you for coming," A voice suddenly said. It was coming from the television, which had flickered on. Before Tommy was a serious-looking bald man. He was a little older but obviously took care of himself. With only one sentence Tommy knew that this man meant business.
"I'm sure you know who I am, if you didn't already know," The man said.
"Yes, I know exactly who you are," Tommy replied. Tommy had no idea who he was. He looked familiar, like he had seen his face a thousand times before, but to be honest Tommy didn't really care what guys looked like. He usually got distracted by a pretty face standing behind them anyways.
"I assume you have the information I asked for?" The man asked Tommy. He nodded and kicked his briefcase forward. The chauffeur grabbed it and clicked it open. She took the memory stick and moved forward in the limo; as she did so her skirt slid up and Tommy could black lace underwear. He crossed his legs.
The chauffeur plugged the memory stick below the television. The man looked to his right, presumably at his computer, and waited. As the information was unscrambled and transmitted, the man's eyebrows raised.
"This is.. very interesting," He said finally. He looked like he was trying very hard to hide his excitement. "Thank you, Calculator. Your money has been transferred to your account."
"No need," Tommy said. He tried to think like The Calculator. "I'm sure you've weighed the options of double-crossing me and determined it's best to pay me what we agreed upon."
The large face on the screen smiled. "Very good," He said. "Our business is complete. Thank you very much."
Tommy breathed hard through his nose. He couldn't wait to get out of here. He was sure that if he described the man to Black Canary she could probably guess who he wa-
"You know," The man said, "We could always use someone like you in my organization."
Tommy tried to play it cool. "Thank you but I prefer to keep my distance. You understand, of course."
The man tried to lay on the charm. "But you haven't heard my pitch yet. I can guarantee you more money than whatever you're making now. That's no object. Plus, there always the perks."
"...Perks?" Tommy asked, a little too dumbly. He tried to remember who he was supposed to be.
"Ms. Graves," The man said, "Please educate Mr. Calculator on the benefits of serving in my employ." Tommy peered questioningly at the chauffeur.
The chauffeur, apparently named Ms. Graves, nodded firmly and said, "Yes, sir. How would you like me to educate him?"
"The usual way. Thank you, Mercy," The figure replied.