The Witchcraft Expo

The Witchcraft Expo
Writing Commission 900 words

The sun had set hours ago, but the Team Venom Headquarters was still vibrant with activity and late-night meetings. Serpentine Moonbeam was pacing her office. Serpentine's black hair whipped back and forth as she fumed and vented through her dilemmas and worries.
“The expo could be any day now. Why haven’t I heard about it yet? Could someone be hiding this information from me?” she muttered. Serpentine turned on her heel and stalked back down the length of the room. Great windows on her left lit her office with a mix of soft moonlight among the harsh fluorescent glow of one desk light in a corner. Serpentine's audience sat passively nearby: her boyfriend, Evil Renegade; friend Zephyr, Bobby Heenan, Sherri Martel and her boyfriend Rick Rude. Evil Renegade and Rick Rude, both cut impressive figures in the shadowy room. Wearing cut-off black leather, the shadows stretched and dipped across their muscular arms and broad features. Bobby stretched, tired of Serpentine's pacing. Light bounced off his bejeweled black leather jacket and the many gold rings on his fingers. Sherri cleared her throat to speak,
“Serpentine, I doubt anyone would dare to keep such information from you. Come here and sit down, your antics are wearing on me.”
“She’s right,” Evil Renegade said. “Sugarpuss, I’m sure you will find out soon.”
Serpentinewhipped around to face everyone. Her red eyes were wide and near an angry panic. She needed someone to blame, someone to punish for letting all her plans collapse into nothing.
Suddenly, the door to Serpentine's office opened and an orderly poked his head in.
“Madam Pajitnov, The Repo Man and his men have arrived.”
“Send them in.”
The door opened all the way. The Repo Man came in, his heavy boots clunking on the floor. He wore a black mask over his eyes, the slip of cloth tied behind his shaved head. His white shirt had black leather padded shoulders and elbow pads. His orderlies, shifty men and women with black masks and clothing, slinked behind him as The Repo Man approached Serpentine. He bowed. Repo Man’s belt flashed and his companion, Wobbuffet appeared. The blue creature was shaped like a blue sock puppet with two sets of circular feet. Wobbuffet squinted its perpetually closed eyes and saluted, opening its big pink mouth in a cry,
“Wah-bbuffet!”
Serpentine crossed her arms. “Speak,” she ordered.
“Serpentine, we have come to share the news of the upcoming Witchcraft Expo with you,” The Repo Man said.
“Did you find it?” Serpentine asked.
The Repo Man stood up. “Yes,” he said. “It is in two nights from now.”
“Two days?!” Serpentine shrieked. “Who found out?”
One of The Repo Man’s orderlies stepped forward. He was a wiry man with a lazy slouch.
“I did, Madam,” the orderly said.
Serpentine approached him, her arms uncrossing and rising as if she meant to beat him then and there. “And you are only telling me about this now!?”
“Serpentine, you have your information,” Sherri said. She was surprisingly calm for her famously quick temper.
“It’s not good enough—I needed weeks to prepare. Witches from all over the world will be there!” Serpentine yelled. Her hand leapt for the black whip she keeps on her belt. She tore it off and cracked it in the air. “You’ll pay for your mistakes. Nearly late information is not good enough for me.”
No one moved to stop Serpentine when she rose her arm to strike. The whip crashed down, wrapping around the orderly’s chest, arm and back. He cried out in pain, backing into his team members who only pushed him forward into the strike of the whip as they are desperate to save themselves from Serpentine's wrath. The whip struck, nine then ten more times until Serpentine's whole body was trembling, her chest heaving. She turned back to her friends. Blood decorated the stone at her feet and the orderly lay on the ground behind her, rolled up into a protective ball.
“I need a plan,” Serpentine said. Her thoughts were flying through her head. She needed to go to the Witchcraft Expo to not only win more witches to her side but to steal a number of magical items and ingredients for her dwindling inventory. A few months ago, her dreadful twin sister, Ali Moonbeam had caused quite the stir at Team Venom’s HQ, singlehandedly destroying much of their supplies to create hexes, curses and more. Ali barely escaped that day but since then, the damage done to Serpentine's stock had been felt.
“Fuck, I really, really need a plan,” Serpentine said to herself. “We need lists of who will be attending, where, when—”
“The Expo will be held outside of Fresno this year, at the Red Line Convention Center. It will open in two days in the morning and stay open all hours until it closes on the fifteenth,” Repo Man reported.
“We can help you Serpentine, just tell us what to do,” Bobby offered.
“Yes, we can help you,” The Repo Man said.
“No. No, you’re not helping me,” Serpentine said. She pointed at The Repo Man and said, “you and your poor information has already messed all of this up! I won’t allow any more mistakes. Anything I let you get involved with always end up a mess. This is all your fault and I won’t let anyone help me. I’m going to do this the right way.”

A fanfiction writing commission for @ShokuAli30.