Chapter 5.3
Rajvik_wolfboy
Wolf amongst the stars.
- Location
- Florida
Chapter 5.3
**Akane**
The trip back from the Neko Hanten was faster and more hair raising than I expected. Part of that was because the Elder introduced me to the café's delivery girl and nascent mechanic Musu Haruka. Her, or more importantly, her motorbike, was going to be what got me to the PRT headquarters with my food order before things could get cold. "Elder," I said as the girl threw the bike back into working order, "I can catch a cab just as easily."
"Cab cost money," the lilac haired elder said smiling, "Haruka-chan can get you back faster by taking other routes." She tucked a couple of take-out menus into the heated box containing the food as Haruka handed me a helmet and goggles, and once I had them and the backpack style carrying case in place, we took off for downtown. Quite frankly, it surprised me that it took as long as it did for me to realize that something was wrong with the throttle.
**Battery**
Assault and I had just stepped out of the PRT building to do a walking patrol of the immediate area when it happened. The only warning we had was the roar of a two stroke engine and a high pitched cry causing me to spin and him to be put face down under a motorbike. Thankfully the operator had killed the engine before the landing, so Assaults use of his power to negate the impact of him into the ground also killed the bike's forward momentum. "See, we here Akane," the operator said as the passenger climbed off the back of the bike and staggered away a couple of steps.
"Yeah no thanks to you, you maniac," the director's niece replied pulling the helmet and goggles she had been wearing off of her head. "Something is seriously wrong with that bike," she finished. Looking past her ride she saw me and commented, "Hey Battery, where's Assault?"
My response was to point down under the bike which caused the operator to gasp and jump clear, grabbing the bike by the main bar and lift it off of him one handed. "Gomen'nasai," she gasped setting the bike down next to her. "I no see…"
Assault, the damn joker, used the stored kinetic energy to pop back up to standing as if he was some kind of demented Jack in the Box. "It's alright sweetie," he said patting the girl on the helmet. "Accidents happen and I can take a shot like that so long as I can see it coming."
"You no mad?" the girl asked pulling the helmet and goggles off of her head to reveal long black hair and big green eyes.
Assault just ruffled her hair a bit and smiled, "It takes a lot more than a motorbike and the weight of a couple of girls to hurt me," he said tapping his chest with his free hand. "What has you girls out at this hour anyway?"
"Elder said to bring Akane-sempai back to PRT," the girl answered smiling up at Assault, she then turned and nattered something off at Akane who went pale.
"I think you need to get back to the café Haruka," Akane said setting the strange backpack she was wearing down and pulling out some large bowls and other items. "And I imagine Assault and Battery were going on a patrol about now, so they need to get back to it."
The girl sighed and nodded, "Is true," she said after a couple of seconds and taking the pack back from Akane. "Elder will want hotbox back for other deliveries and I need to see why engine go run away again."
"Let me take a look real quick," Assault said leaning over the bike motor and pulling out a flashlight. A couple of seconds later he nodded, "Yup, there's the problem."
"What problem?" the girl asked as she tucked her hair back into her helmet.
"Your throttle return spring is broken," the hero answered, "I can give you a temporary fix that will get you home, but you need to replace the spring itself."
"Hai," the girl said beaming. She then shook herself and apparently remembered her English and replied, "Yes please, and thank you."
"Not a problem," Assault said taking a paperclip and rubber band out of his pockets and hooking them up to replace the spring. "That won't last more than one trip, so you are going to have to get a replacement, but it will get you home."
"Arigato Assault-san," the girl said smiling before giving Assault a kiss on the cheek and starting the motor. "I see you next time Akane-chan," she called out and then started to putter away on the motorbike.
"What a nice girl," Assault said before turning back to me. "Don't you think so Puppy?"
**Akane**
"He would make a good husband, I wonder if he's single. the words that had come out of Haruka's mouth haunted me all the way through the lobby and up the elevator to my aunt's office. The secretary had gone home at five, but Aunt Emily would usually work until eight or nine on a nightly basis to make sure the paperwork she had to handle was done. The last thing we need around here is a bunch of amazons trying to get hitched, I thought as I opened the door and saw my aunt at her desk. Easing through the opening I balanced the bowls on one arm while the other hand held the other essentials for good ramen.
"You know," Aunt Emily said, not looking up from her paperwork, "if your phone didn't have a tracking beacon on it I would be more upset than I am. That said, what the hell were you thinking?"
"Just that I needed to think initially," I answered setting the smaller bowl down on her desk with a few odds and ends to go with it. "Then, when I hit," I paused at that point because I had to ask, "what is the designation for that area by the way?"
"Asia-town" Aunt Emily answered looking at the bowl and additions. "Most folks call it Asia-town now, though it used to be called the West end because it was the western end of the bus lines."
I nodded, "When I got to Asia-town, it was a serious hit of nostalgia, which I expected, and I got off the bus to wander around just a touch." I smiled, "Then I ended up finding an old teacher and some really good ramen." With that I took the lid off my bowl and after adding a dash of soy sauce, lifted the bowl to my lips and drank down a couple of mouthfuls of the marvelous miso and beef broth that the Neko Hanten ramen always had.
"You know that no one is supposed to use the bus routes to gain intel on anyone else right?" Aunt Emily asked and I nodded. The bus lines were one of the few things around town that were considered hands off for one reason or another. In the case of the busses, it was that the people around town were so broke that everyone needed the busses and their routes. If gangs or individual capes made it to where a bus line had to be closed, then the people that that route covered would suffer, and while the Merchants almost directly, and the other gangs through other means preyed on and profited from suffering, people without jobs couldn't buy the various good or services that the gangs might provide. Furthermore, with the civilians in their territories out of work, the charities that acted as fronts for two of the gangs would have no donations coming in that were not money laundering, and thus all their illegal activities would be more easily spotted. Thus, the gangs kept the bus lines peaceful for their own benefit if nothing else.
"Good," Aunt Emily said before taking a careful sip of her ramen. "You won't tell me of any illicit things you might have spotted, and I unfortunately won't ask. Now," she continued, "Who is this old teacher and why is it important?"
"Well Aunt Em," I said separating my chopsticks and scooping up some noodles. "Do you remember when I was eight and I spent a few months working as a waitress on the weekends at that shop in Nerima?" she nodded absently around her fish cake and then stopped before raising her head and swallowing,
"The Chinese Amazons?" she asked.
"The same," I answered nodding. "Elder Xian Pu was actually the one to teach me, and she's still teaching, had a girl in there tonight going through some of the moves." I pulled out the half of boiled egg that came out of my bowl and ate it. "Not bad overall, needs to work on her situational awareness and keeping count, but she has the speed and the moves for where she seems to be at." Aunt Emily nodded slowly as I took a bite of my food before I continued. "The bigger problem is that one of them is showing signs of," I paused a moment to pick the right word for this one, "interest in Assault."
This sent Aunt Emily into a coughing fit, almost causing her to drop the bowl of soup as she hacked and wheezed around the broth that had gone down the wrong hole. "Explain," she hacked out after a minute.
"Elder Xian Pu had their delivery girl give me a ride back to base," I answered. "The throttle broke on the trip, though I'm not sure quite where, and when we arrived, it was by landing on Assault with her motorbike. He not only solved the problem of the runaway throttle but shrugged off the hit as if he's always getting landed on by two teenage girls on motorbikes. I think Haruka-chan was impressed."
"How old is she and how bad can this get?" Aunt Emily asked massaging her forehead.
"Fourteen, maybe fifteen," I answered, "and as to how bad, not very and extremely."
"Explain," Aunt Emily groaned.
I set my bowl down and thought, "Chinese Amazons," I said closing my eyes in concentration, "Matriarchally ruled tribal group where any woman's word is law. Tribal elders originally were simply the eldest of the various households, but once they fled the CUI in late 1999, they adapted to where each enclave has a group of seven. Elder Xian Pu is only a few years older than my mother and the same age as Mayumi's mother and if she is here then there is an enclave of Amazons, probably somewhere just outside of town, bordering on Asia-town." I frowned at this point but continued. "It has been reported to Elder Ka Lon that most if not all of the enclaves have been adapting to and adopting local laws as opposed to isolating themselves like they did in China, but to what extent the local group has I don't know. That said, if Elder Xian Pu is in charge here then she will be pushing to adapt to local customs. Because of that we are less than likely to see a challenge for Assault's hand in marriage."
Once I said that I heard Aunt Emily sigh in relief, "Thank God," she said, "I think Battery could take even an Amazon trained fifteen-year-old, but better to not even have to worry about it."
"Oh it's not Haruka-chan that we would have to worry about," I replied, "it would be her elder sisters or mother." Aunt Emily just groaned at the thought.
**Miranda**
I sighed as I mounted the steps to the back porch. "Rough night?" I heard my father ask and I looked over to find him sitting on the porch swing where he could see the stars.
"You could say that," I answered. "I only came close to getting concussed twice tonight, which is an improvement." He nodded at that, so I continued. First one was during the dinner rush and I had my guard up enough that I sensed it just before it would have hit and ducked." He chuckled and I sighed, "broken bowl to pay for, mess to clean up, but my head was still intact. The second one though, a girl younger than I was had walked in off the street and caught it just before it knocked me cold."
Her father leaned toward her listening closely, "She caught it" he said, and I nodded. "Was she another amazon?" he asked.
"I don't think so," I answered. "I caught some of her conversation with Elder Xian Pu and the elder seems to have taught her years ago in Tokyo under the supervision of Elder Ka Lon." I sat down on the swing next to my dad and sighed. "The girl is phenomenal," I said, "and interesting. Not to mention I swear I have seen her somewhere before." This caused my father to lift an eyebrow and look at me. "She's not someone I know from around town, and not someone I have seen amongst the Amazons, but the Elder had Haruka-chan take her home."
"Did no one else recognize her?" my father asked. When I shook my head he then pulled out his phone. A few taps and he was showing me a picture and asking, "Was this the girl?"
I looked, "Yes," I answered, "why, is she someone important?"
"In a way," my father said smiling. "Congratulations daughter, you are the first of our family to meet your cousin." Cousin? I thought, Since when have I had a cousin?
**Akane**
The trip back from the Neko Hanten was faster and more hair raising than I expected. Part of that was because the Elder introduced me to the café's delivery girl and nascent mechanic Musu Haruka. Her, or more importantly, her motorbike, was going to be what got me to the PRT headquarters with my food order before things could get cold. "Elder," I said as the girl threw the bike back into working order, "I can catch a cab just as easily."
"Cab cost money," the lilac haired elder said smiling, "Haruka-chan can get you back faster by taking other routes." She tucked a couple of take-out menus into the heated box containing the food as Haruka handed me a helmet and goggles, and once I had them and the backpack style carrying case in place, we took off for downtown. Quite frankly, it surprised me that it took as long as it did for me to realize that something was wrong with the throttle.
**Battery**
Assault and I had just stepped out of the PRT building to do a walking patrol of the immediate area when it happened. The only warning we had was the roar of a two stroke engine and a high pitched cry causing me to spin and him to be put face down under a motorbike. Thankfully the operator had killed the engine before the landing, so Assaults use of his power to negate the impact of him into the ground also killed the bike's forward momentum. "See, we here Akane," the operator said as the passenger climbed off the back of the bike and staggered away a couple of steps.
"Yeah no thanks to you, you maniac," the director's niece replied pulling the helmet and goggles she had been wearing off of her head. "Something is seriously wrong with that bike," she finished. Looking past her ride she saw me and commented, "Hey Battery, where's Assault?"
My response was to point down under the bike which caused the operator to gasp and jump clear, grabbing the bike by the main bar and lift it off of him one handed. "Gomen'nasai," she gasped setting the bike down next to her. "I no see…"
Assault, the damn joker, used the stored kinetic energy to pop back up to standing as if he was some kind of demented Jack in the Box. "It's alright sweetie," he said patting the girl on the helmet. "Accidents happen and I can take a shot like that so long as I can see it coming."
"You no mad?" the girl asked pulling the helmet and goggles off of her head to reveal long black hair and big green eyes.
Assault just ruffled her hair a bit and smiled, "It takes a lot more than a motorbike and the weight of a couple of girls to hurt me," he said tapping his chest with his free hand. "What has you girls out at this hour anyway?"
"Elder said to bring Akane-sempai back to PRT," the girl answered smiling up at Assault, she then turned and nattered something off at Akane who went pale.
"I think you need to get back to the café Haruka," Akane said setting the strange backpack she was wearing down and pulling out some large bowls and other items. "And I imagine Assault and Battery were going on a patrol about now, so they need to get back to it."
The girl sighed and nodded, "Is true," she said after a couple of seconds and taking the pack back from Akane. "Elder will want hotbox back for other deliveries and I need to see why engine go run away again."
"Let me take a look real quick," Assault said leaning over the bike motor and pulling out a flashlight. A couple of seconds later he nodded, "Yup, there's the problem."
"What problem?" the girl asked as she tucked her hair back into her helmet.
"Your throttle return spring is broken," the hero answered, "I can give you a temporary fix that will get you home, but you need to replace the spring itself."
"Hai," the girl said beaming. She then shook herself and apparently remembered her English and replied, "Yes please, and thank you."
"Not a problem," Assault said taking a paperclip and rubber band out of his pockets and hooking them up to replace the spring. "That won't last more than one trip, so you are going to have to get a replacement, but it will get you home."
"Arigato Assault-san," the girl said smiling before giving Assault a kiss on the cheek and starting the motor. "I see you next time Akane-chan," she called out and then started to putter away on the motorbike.
"What a nice girl," Assault said before turning back to me. "Don't you think so Puppy?"
**Akane**
"He would make a good husband, I wonder if he's single. the words that had come out of Haruka's mouth haunted me all the way through the lobby and up the elevator to my aunt's office. The secretary had gone home at five, but Aunt Emily would usually work until eight or nine on a nightly basis to make sure the paperwork she had to handle was done. The last thing we need around here is a bunch of amazons trying to get hitched, I thought as I opened the door and saw my aunt at her desk. Easing through the opening I balanced the bowls on one arm while the other hand held the other essentials for good ramen.
"You know," Aunt Emily said, not looking up from her paperwork, "if your phone didn't have a tracking beacon on it I would be more upset than I am. That said, what the hell were you thinking?"
"Just that I needed to think initially," I answered setting the smaller bowl down on her desk with a few odds and ends to go with it. "Then, when I hit," I paused at that point because I had to ask, "what is the designation for that area by the way?"
"Asia-town" Aunt Emily answered looking at the bowl and additions. "Most folks call it Asia-town now, though it used to be called the West end because it was the western end of the bus lines."
I nodded, "When I got to Asia-town, it was a serious hit of nostalgia, which I expected, and I got off the bus to wander around just a touch." I smiled, "Then I ended up finding an old teacher and some really good ramen." With that I took the lid off my bowl and after adding a dash of soy sauce, lifted the bowl to my lips and drank down a couple of mouthfuls of the marvelous miso and beef broth that the Neko Hanten ramen always had.
"You know that no one is supposed to use the bus routes to gain intel on anyone else right?" Aunt Emily asked and I nodded. The bus lines were one of the few things around town that were considered hands off for one reason or another. In the case of the busses, it was that the people around town were so broke that everyone needed the busses and their routes. If gangs or individual capes made it to where a bus line had to be closed, then the people that that route covered would suffer, and while the Merchants almost directly, and the other gangs through other means preyed on and profited from suffering, people without jobs couldn't buy the various good or services that the gangs might provide. Furthermore, with the civilians in their territories out of work, the charities that acted as fronts for two of the gangs would have no donations coming in that were not money laundering, and thus all their illegal activities would be more easily spotted. Thus, the gangs kept the bus lines peaceful for their own benefit if nothing else.
"Good," Aunt Emily said before taking a careful sip of her ramen. "You won't tell me of any illicit things you might have spotted, and I unfortunately won't ask. Now," she continued, "Who is this old teacher and why is it important?"
"Well Aunt Em," I said separating my chopsticks and scooping up some noodles. "Do you remember when I was eight and I spent a few months working as a waitress on the weekends at that shop in Nerima?" she nodded absently around her fish cake and then stopped before raising her head and swallowing,
"The Chinese Amazons?" she asked.
"The same," I answered nodding. "Elder Xian Pu was actually the one to teach me, and she's still teaching, had a girl in there tonight going through some of the moves." I pulled out the half of boiled egg that came out of my bowl and ate it. "Not bad overall, needs to work on her situational awareness and keeping count, but she has the speed and the moves for where she seems to be at." Aunt Emily nodded slowly as I took a bite of my food before I continued. "The bigger problem is that one of them is showing signs of," I paused a moment to pick the right word for this one, "interest in Assault."
This sent Aunt Emily into a coughing fit, almost causing her to drop the bowl of soup as she hacked and wheezed around the broth that had gone down the wrong hole. "Explain," she hacked out after a minute.
"Elder Xian Pu had their delivery girl give me a ride back to base," I answered. "The throttle broke on the trip, though I'm not sure quite where, and when we arrived, it was by landing on Assault with her motorbike. He not only solved the problem of the runaway throttle but shrugged off the hit as if he's always getting landed on by two teenage girls on motorbikes. I think Haruka-chan was impressed."
"How old is she and how bad can this get?" Aunt Emily asked massaging her forehead.
"Fourteen, maybe fifteen," I answered, "and as to how bad, not very and extremely."
"Explain," Aunt Emily groaned.
I set my bowl down and thought, "Chinese Amazons," I said closing my eyes in concentration, "Matriarchally ruled tribal group where any woman's word is law. Tribal elders originally were simply the eldest of the various households, but once they fled the CUI in late 1999, they adapted to where each enclave has a group of seven. Elder Xian Pu is only a few years older than my mother and the same age as Mayumi's mother and if she is here then there is an enclave of Amazons, probably somewhere just outside of town, bordering on Asia-town." I frowned at this point but continued. "It has been reported to Elder Ka Lon that most if not all of the enclaves have been adapting to and adopting local laws as opposed to isolating themselves like they did in China, but to what extent the local group has I don't know. That said, if Elder Xian Pu is in charge here then she will be pushing to adapt to local customs. Because of that we are less than likely to see a challenge for Assault's hand in marriage."
Once I said that I heard Aunt Emily sigh in relief, "Thank God," she said, "I think Battery could take even an Amazon trained fifteen-year-old, but better to not even have to worry about it."
"Oh it's not Haruka-chan that we would have to worry about," I replied, "it would be her elder sisters or mother." Aunt Emily just groaned at the thought.
**Miranda**
I sighed as I mounted the steps to the back porch. "Rough night?" I heard my father ask and I looked over to find him sitting on the porch swing where he could see the stars.
"You could say that," I answered. "I only came close to getting concussed twice tonight, which is an improvement." He nodded at that, so I continued. First one was during the dinner rush and I had my guard up enough that I sensed it just before it would have hit and ducked." He chuckled and I sighed, "broken bowl to pay for, mess to clean up, but my head was still intact. The second one though, a girl younger than I was had walked in off the street and caught it just before it knocked me cold."
Her father leaned toward her listening closely, "She caught it" he said, and I nodded. "Was she another amazon?" he asked.
"I don't think so," I answered. "I caught some of her conversation with Elder Xian Pu and the elder seems to have taught her years ago in Tokyo under the supervision of Elder Ka Lon." I sat down on the swing next to my dad and sighed. "The girl is phenomenal," I said, "and interesting. Not to mention I swear I have seen her somewhere before." This caused my father to lift an eyebrow and look at me. "She's not someone I know from around town, and not someone I have seen amongst the Amazons, but the Elder had Haruka-chan take her home."
"Did no one else recognize her?" my father asked. When I shook my head he then pulled out his phone. A few taps and he was showing me a picture and asking, "Was this the girl?"
I looked, "Yes," I answered, "why, is she someone important?"
"In a way," my father said smiling. "Congratulations daughter, you are the first of our family to meet your cousin." Cousin? I thought, Since when have I had a cousin?
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