Kelly Meding’s “A Goon’s Tale” chronicles Rocky Mills, a down-on-his luck insurance adjuster who just may be on his road from villain … to super villain. Where does it take him?
To find out, here’s an early look:
A GOON’S TALE
by Kelly Meding
“Got a live one for ya!”
Dick screeched out the words the moment Rocky Mills barreled into the office with coffee on his shirt and a lot of steam in his head. After an intensely crappy morning, Rocky wasn’t in the mood for another bad lead.
Rocky stopped in the middle of the small office space he shared with Dick Smalls at City Fields Insurance and took a deep breath so he didn’t snap at the guy first thing. Dick had been transferred into Rocky’s two-man division that handled Supersrelated insurance claims six months ago, after Rocky’s previous coworker was accepted into the Heroine Society as an apprentice, and Dick was a talkative pain in the ass. Constantly nattering about how much he loved this job, loved meeting clients, blah, blah, blah. He had no clue Rocky had taken the job out of necessity, not love.
Insurance adjuster was miles from where he’d planned to be at this point in life. Except Rocky knew firsthand how fast plans could change. Since Rocky was already in a crap mood, he took silent revenge by referring to his coworker in his head as Dick, instead of the insisted-upon Richard. The name Dick Smalls gave Rocky a secret smirk on his worst days.
“I sure hope you’ve got a live one for me,” Rocky said. “You know I don’t like life insurance or accident claims, not even for Supers incidents.”
“Home insurance claim from last night’s fight between Despair and The Resistor. Should be a good lead.”
Rocky glanced behind him at the still open door. Anyone could have walked by when Dick said “a good lead.” It was no wonder Dick was still a bronze-level Goon. Two levels below Rocky, who had finally achieved gold-level last year. It was the highest level Rocky could ascend to before apprenticing for actual Villain status.
SuperVillain status was his dream now, and almost everyone had to start from the bottom as a basic Goon. Very few exceptions shot right to SuperVillain nowadays. Too much competition, not enough talent. Rocky had the talent and the motivation. He needed the power that came with the Villain Guild in order to right a very important wrong.
Rocky shut the door to their shared office, then dropped into his desk chair. “I’m in no mood,” Rocky snapped. “My alarm didn’t go off, so I barely had time to shower. I spilled my coffee in the car, I have a flat tire I need to fix on my lunch break—and don’t get me started about the ride in just now—and I can’t even eat my damn lunch, since I left it at home because I was running late. If you’re over-selling this lead, I won’t be responsible for my actions.”
“It’s for real, I promise.” Dick dumped a data sheet on Rocky’s desk. “Look at the guy’s address.”
Rocky picked up the sheet, then low-whistled. “Cherry Falls. Nice. The guy’s got credit for sure, if he can afford a place there.” Cherry Falls was one of the wealthiest neighborhoods in Star City, and they didn’t have a lot of Supers insurance carriers out there, since Supers battles rarely spilled into that side of the city.
To read the rest of “A Goon’s Tale”, click here.