Free The Bloodless by Andrew Gibson

walked towards the exit only to find a man in a black suit and dark sunglasses holding a sign with his name on it. He looked at him as he approached and the man said, “You Mr. Justice,” without a trace of an accent.
    “Yeah,” he responded, “who are you?”
    “Right this way, sir,” the man responded, ignoring the question.
    “Hey,” Justice said annoyed, “who are you?”
    “I am your driver,” the man responded.
    “I didn’t hire a driver.”
    “It’s been taken care of sir,” and the man motioned for Justice to follow him. He did, but very reluctantly. The man led him out of the airport and to a limousine. He opened the door for Justice and then shut it after him.
    “There he is,” a voice said as Justice sat down. He looked over and saw a man in a dark pin stripe suit with slicked back hair and a thin goatee. “You like?”
    “Yeah, sure,” Justice said.
    “It’s me man, Carter Elliot,” the man named Carter said.
    “Right. Sorry, you look different.”
    “Yeah, well that tends to happen when you shed 150 pounds,” he said.
    Justice laughed, “Nice.”
    “Welcome to Switzerland, man. It’s a lot nicer than you’d expect. They really got their shit together after the Russian Conflict. At least they’re on the right side now though, eh?”
    “Sure,” Justice said.
    “Still a man of few words, huh,” Carter said. “Still the same ol’ guy, I love it. Well just sit back and relax, we’ll be at the convention soon enough. Headin’ straight there, no time for the hotel.”
    “Hey, thanks for this,” Justice said after some time passed in silence. He had battled with himself to finally say something. “I really appreciate it. I’ve been going stir crazy ever since my hiatus started.”
    “You mean your compassionate layoff?”
    Justice laughed, “Right, that’s what it is.”
    “Seriously, but did you expect anything less from a guy like that?” Carter asked.
    “I’m never surprised by the bullshit Jefferson pulls.”
    “I don’t understand how you are able to put up with that man. I would lose my mind.”
    “I always just expect the worst and keep my head down, get my work done.” Justice opened his bag and started rummaging around. He pulled out a hard case and extracted a pair of sunglasses from it.
    “Get your work done he says,” Carter said with a laugh. “Just another day’s work for the man who brought the dead back to life. Are you kidding me?”
    “What,” Justice responded with nervous shrug.
    “Damn man. Already on to the next big thing, huh?”
    Justice nodded and for the remainder of the trip they exchanged some small chit chat but the majority of the drive was spent in silence. After some time the limo came to a stop in front of a large convention center. It was massive as it also doubled as an Olympic stadium for the summer games that were to be played there that same year. The two men stepped out of the limousine and made their way into the building.
    Justice’s face shone with awe as he stepped into the main showcase floor. Vendors were set up as far as the eye can see and one area caught the eye in particular. Villain Weapons Systems had a very large area all to themselves and it definitely stood out amongst the other vendors. They were globally accepted as the best in the business, the biggest and most eye catching booth was to be expected. The odd thing was that, as big as the venue was, the amount of people in attendance was strikingly low.
    “Wow,” Justice said, “this is amazing.”
    “Yeah, and this is only the main hall,” Carter said, a massive grin on his face. “There are a couple firing ranges and shooting galleries off this main hall. There’s also an auditorium where the speakers will be. I hear Romanov’s wife is doing a presentation later today.”
    “Neat,” Justice said not paying attention. He was too busy looking around at all the technology that was bombarding his underprepared yet suddenly parched eyes.
    Carter