Big Evil in Little China (Worm AU)
9. Love so Pure
Numen
Long Time Creeper
- Location
- Canada
A/N: And now for the further adventures of Oni Lee. Kenta and Annette will continue next chapter.
Chapter 9: Love so Pure
2011, Brockton Bay
Kai Lee entered the strangely clean and large supermarket. The airconditioning was a surprise, as well as the large amounts of white people. He supposed that only made sense because he was shopping at a typical supermarket and not some Chinese grocery store in Chinatown.
He made his way into this strange and foreign part of Brockton Bay in order to acquire items that were otherwise impossible in the land of bok choy and soy sauce: Italian Food.
He picked up another packet of spaghetti and some rotini and put in his large shopping cart. He glanced around casually down the aisle and spotted the back of a small mousy woman pushing a cart down the dairy section. He noted there was a small baby sitting in the baby seat of the cart. If the baby was anything to go by, the mother probably had good genes.
Not that he understood what good genes are- according to the movies and TV shows he watched, they were probably blonde and had big breasts and married to powerful Dons. Or they were Asian women who were conservative and further the honour of their husband or father's criminal enterprises.
It was so disappointing then, that generally nobody in Chinatown was a Yakuza's wife or daughter- well, plenty were the female kin of ABB gang members, but their overall image was unbecoming of a proper gangster- where was the majesty and determination required of a proper gangster's wife? Most gangsters were more or less just thugs and their womenfolk were unrefined and common.
Unacceptable.
"Stop, thief!'
A grocery clerk was chasing after a homeless man- merchant scum?- who was running down the dairy section with a sack of money. The likely not sober man was irrationally running further into the supermarket instead of heading for the exit like a proper criminal.
Kai Lee shook his head in further disappointment.
The thief shoulder checked the mousy woman, knocking the carton of soymilk she was looking at out of her hands. He tripped during the altercation, crashing into her shopping cart with a yelp of "motherfucker.". The baby began to cry at the sudden movement (or the uncouth language, Lee wasn't an expert on babies) and the cart roll down the aisle at a dangerous speed.
The mousy woman screamed, "Aster!"
Lee was already moving. He really didn't know why. Proper Mafioso or Yakuzas generally do not save babies, but he felt compelled by some part of himself- something that still retained a sense of humanity and not staring at walls until the birds came home to roost- to rush towards the speeding cart.
He grabbed it with his left hand and halted its movement, while his other hand reached out to steady the baby. The little baby girl was crying, and he immediately began rubbing her back trying to calm her down.
The woman had shoved the thief away from her with surprising strength and rushed over to the cart and her baby. She walked right over and immediately picked up her child, hugging her close and sighing in relief.
"Oh thank you, thank you so much!" She turned to Lee while thanking him. Then froze when she saw his face, her own expression twisting into one of veiled fear and disgust.
Kai Lee however, noticed none of those things. Because the brown eyes staring back at him was gorgeous. Like the bottom of a well crafted clay teacup filled with the purest of white tea. Also it reminded him strongly of the dry and rusting blood of slain enemies.
He could hear his heart beating. It was the only sound he could hear as time seemed to ground to a stop.
Pressure began to build in his head until he could feel a headache coming on. He was experiencing….emotions he couldn't understand or explain.
He only ever felt close to this way when he was singing Hokkien songs at the local KTV or Karaoke. What was wrong with him? She wasn't a song. Was she?
He looked away from the eyes and saw the rest of her face. And her body. He felt his mouth go dry at her sharp heart shaped face and her small nose. Her face and her body and her posture- was the very picture of a Yamato Nadeshiko- the beautiful wildflower of Japanese femininity. She was like the blade of samurai, drawn at dawn, reflecting the pure light of Amaterasu-ōmikami. Or a celestial nymph who descended from the heavens as a falling star.
Lee, stop! Gangsters don't recite poetry.
He felt his heart beating faster. What was this reaction? It was so familiar, so ancient...it was like...like...like youth. Like the highest peak of the Jade Mountains of Taiwan, where after climbing it for a couple of days, one really feel their heart straining at the high altitude. He was having trouble breathing as well.
What is this feeling that is at once both foreign and familiar?
Lee tried to smile. It came across as a smirk. He must not have done it right, cause the woman took a step back and took a defensive position. Odd response to someone who saved your baby's life, he thought, but he approved- woman who knew how to fight would make a proper gangster's wife and proper wildflowers have thorns.
The woman took another step back and nodded to him in what appeared to be a small bow. "T-thank you saving my daughter. Goodbye."
She finished displaying her gratitude rather quickly- Lee wondered if this was a white people thing- and turned to leave.
"Wait." Lee called out. She froze mid step and turned back to look at him...with those gorgeous dreamy eyes.
Kai gestured to the cart full of grocery items that he still held with one hand and simply said. "Your cart."
"Right." The woman said and quickly hurried back to grab it- for a brief moment their fingers touched- it was electrifying. Lee shuddered.
She hurriedly dragged her cart away with one hand- at a pace that pushed the boundaries of politeness, her other hand on her daughter.
The supermarket security was already dragging away the would-be-thief, likely he would end up in police custody soon. Lee didn't care much for what was probably merchant scum. Or a really poor and desperate starving transient. Well, cry him crocodile tears- real gangsters don't have feelings.
They only have ambition. Like staring at walls- which was stupid.
Wait. Why is staring at walls stupid? It's amazing.
He walked away, questioning his hobbies and more importantly, wondering why he was feeling all of these things he had forgotten he could feel.
Once more, the shape of her came into his mind's eye. He smiled at the image, closing his eyes briefly.
He did realize one thing. Whoever her husband was, he did not deserve this...this MILF.
That close encounter with the merchant scum had almost made her reveal her secret identity in the middle of the grocery store. She did not need that kind of scrutiny since it was almost certain that the market had cameras everywhere and the Protectorate would be onto that like moth to flames.
And that strangely stoic, highly disciplined and well groomed chink….he saved Aster. Well, maybe Aster would have been fine regardless, but he stopped that cart. And the way his hand steadied Aster, who immediately calm down.
It tickled at her maternal instincts. She couldn't recall Max ever once holding Aster with even a fraction of the care and love that the yellow stranger had.
Maybe the subhuman races weren't so bad. Max was wrong about needing to rule over the other races, just like he was wrong about the need to break the law in order to further the interest of the white race.
Kayden got into her car after securing Aster to the baby seat. As she drove away, she thought to herself that maybe, whites and the lesser races could live together in peace.
She had felt incredibly happy that her ex-husband Max was in a coma and the Empire had so many capes that was either severely injured or under arrest that there was no way she could be pressured into doing anything for them.
Better yet, the spectre of the legal power that Max could employ to take away her baby had been removed literally overnight...she was unexpectedly and begrudgingly thankful to Oni Lee and Bakuda. When all was said and done, even for chinks, they had made her life more secure.
Yes, she could tolerate the lesser races. Or maybe just the yellow ones. Skidmark, if he was representative of niggers was definitely not a race she want Aster to associate with when she grew up. Or the gays, because she didn't want Aster to become infected and become a lesbian.
Years later, happily remarried to a man of a "lesser race", she would look back and wonder how she had been so blind about life and it's possibilities.
___
A/N: Slight changes to text to fix minor mistakes and add clarity. Refresh if you want to reread the experience.
Chapter 9: Love so Pure
2011, Brockton Bay
Kai Lee entered the strangely clean and large supermarket. The airconditioning was a surprise, as well as the large amounts of white people. He supposed that only made sense because he was shopping at a typical supermarket and not some Chinese grocery store in Chinatown.
He made his way into this strange and foreign part of Brockton Bay in order to acquire items that were otherwise impossible in the land of bok choy and soy sauce: Italian Food.
He picked up another packet of spaghetti and some rotini and put in his large shopping cart. He glanced around casually down the aisle and spotted the back of a small mousy woman pushing a cart down the dairy section. He noted there was a small baby sitting in the baby seat of the cart. If the baby was anything to go by, the mother probably had good genes.
Not that he understood what good genes are- according to the movies and TV shows he watched, they were probably blonde and had big breasts and married to powerful Dons. Or they were Asian women who were conservative and further the honour of their husband or father's criminal enterprises.
It was so disappointing then, that generally nobody in Chinatown was a Yakuza's wife or daughter- well, plenty were the female kin of ABB gang members, but their overall image was unbecoming of a proper gangster- where was the majesty and determination required of a proper gangster's wife? Most gangsters were more or less just thugs and their womenfolk were unrefined and common.
Unacceptable.
"Stop, thief!'
A grocery clerk was chasing after a homeless man- merchant scum?- who was running down the dairy section with a sack of money. The likely not sober man was irrationally running further into the supermarket instead of heading for the exit like a proper criminal.
Kai Lee shook his head in further disappointment.
The thief shoulder checked the mousy woman, knocking the carton of soymilk she was looking at out of her hands. He tripped during the altercation, crashing into her shopping cart with a yelp of "motherfucker.". The baby began to cry at the sudden movement (or the uncouth language, Lee wasn't an expert on babies) and the cart roll down the aisle at a dangerous speed.
The mousy woman screamed, "Aster!"
Lee was already moving. He really didn't know why. Proper Mafioso or Yakuzas generally do not save babies, but he felt compelled by some part of himself- something that still retained a sense of humanity and not staring at walls until the birds came home to roost- to rush towards the speeding cart.
He grabbed it with his left hand and halted its movement, while his other hand reached out to steady the baby. The little baby girl was crying, and he immediately began rubbing her back trying to calm her down.
The woman had shoved the thief away from her with surprising strength and rushed over to the cart and her baby. She walked right over and immediately picked up her child, hugging her close and sighing in relief.
"Oh thank you, thank you so much!" She turned to Lee while thanking him. Then froze when she saw his face, her own expression twisting into one of veiled fear and disgust.
Kai Lee however, noticed none of those things. Because the brown eyes staring back at him was gorgeous. Like the bottom of a well crafted clay teacup filled with the purest of white tea. Also it reminded him strongly of the dry and rusting blood of slain enemies.
He could hear his heart beating. It was the only sound he could hear as time seemed to ground to a stop.
Pressure began to build in his head until he could feel a headache coming on. He was experiencing….emotions he couldn't understand or explain.
He only ever felt close to this way when he was singing Hokkien songs at the local KTV or Karaoke. What was wrong with him? She wasn't a song. Was she?
He looked away from the eyes and saw the rest of her face. And her body. He felt his mouth go dry at her sharp heart shaped face and her small nose. Her face and her body and her posture- was the very picture of a Yamato Nadeshiko- the beautiful wildflower of Japanese femininity. She was like the blade of samurai, drawn at dawn, reflecting the pure light of Amaterasu-ōmikami. Or a celestial nymph who descended from the heavens as a falling star.
Lee, stop! Gangsters don't recite poetry.
He felt his heart beating faster. What was this reaction? It was so familiar, so ancient...it was like...like...like youth. Like the highest peak of the Jade Mountains of Taiwan, where after climbing it for a couple of days, one really feel their heart straining at the high altitude. He was having trouble breathing as well.
What is this feeling that is at once both foreign and familiar?
Lee tried to smile. It came across as a smirk. He must not have done it right, cause the woman took a step back and took a defensive position. Odd response to someone who saved your baby's life, he thought, but he approved- woman who knew how to fight would make a proper gangster's wife and proper wildflowers have thorns.
The woman took another step back and nodded to him in what appeared to be a small bow. "T-thank you saving my daughter. Goodbye."
She finished displaying her gratitude rather quickly- Lee wondered if this was a white people thing- and turned to leave.
"Wait." Lee called out. She froze mid step and turned back to look at him...with those gorgeous dreamy eyes.
Kai gestured to the cart full of grocery items that he still held with one hand and simply said. "Your cart."
"Right." The woman said and quickly hurried back to grab it- for a brief moment their fingers touched- it was electrifying. Lee shuddered.
She hurriedly dragged her cart away with one hand- at a pace that pushed the boundaries of politeness, her other hand on her daughter.
The supermarket security was already dragging away the would-be-thief, likely he would end up in police custody soon. Lee didn't care much for what was probably merchant scum. Or a really poor and desperate starving transient. Well, cry him crocodile tears- real gangsters don't have feelings.
They only have ambition. Like staring at walls- which was stupid.
Wait. Why is staring at walls stupid? It's amazing.
He walked away, questioning his hobbies and more importantly, wondering why he was feeling all of these things he had forgotten he could feel.
Once more, the shape of her came into his mind's eye. He smiled at the image, closing his eyes briefly.
He did realize one thing. Whoever her husband was, he did not deserve this...this MILF.
+++
Kayden Russels hurriedly pay for her grocery and pushed her cart out of the supermarket into the parking lot.That close encounter with the merchant scum had almost made her reveal her secret identity in the middle of the grocery store. She did not need that kind of scrutiny since it was almost certain that the market had cameras everywhere and the Protectorate would be onto that like moth to flames.
And that strangely stoic, highly disciplined and well groomed chink….he saved Aster. Well, maybe Aster would have been fine regardless, but he stopped that cart. And the way his hand steadied Aster, who immediately calm down.
It tickled at her maternal instincts. She couldn't recall Max ever once holding Aster with even a fraction of the care and love that the yellow stranger had.
Maybe the subhuman races weren't so bad. Max was wrong about needing to rule over the other races, just like he was wrong about the need to break the law in order to further the interest of the white race.
Kayden got into her car after securing Aster to the baby seat. As she drove away, she thought to herself that maybe, whites and the lesser races could live together in peace.
She had felt incredibly happy that her ex-husband Max was in a coma and the Empire had so many capes that was either severely injured or under arrest that there was no way she could be pressured into doing anything for them.
Better yet, the spectre of the legal power that Max could employ to take away her baby had been removed literally overnight...she was unexpectedly and begrudgingly thankful to Oni Lee and Bakuda. When all was said and done, even for chinks, they had made her life more secure.
Yes, she could tolerate the lesser races. Or maybe just the yellow ones. Skidmark, if he was representative of niggers was definitely not a race she want Aster to associate with when she grew up. Or the gays, because she didn't want Aster to become infected and become a lesbian.
Years later, happily remarried to a man of a "lesser race", she would look back and wonder how she had been so blind about life and it's possibilities.
___
A/N: Slight changes to text to fix minor mistakes and add clarity. Refresh if you want to reread the experience.
Last edited:
globalwarmth
ruining the weather.
- Location
- Polar ice caps
DThis is silly, you're silly. Miss the murder mystery though. Can we go back to it?
Numen
Long Time Creeper
- Location
- Canada
This is silly, you're silly. Miss the murder mystery though. Can we go back to it?
That is only really possible to carry on in earnest once the flashbacks have ended. There should be one, maybe two more chapters of Annette/Kenta and then we'll start tying up some plot threads.
10. Have Fate
Numen
Long Time Creeper
- Location
- Canada
Chapter 10: Have Fate
1975, Brockton Bay
"Push!" The doctor encouraged, and Margaret Rose gave a great cry as a child's cry filled the room.
"It's a girl. Congratulations!"
No one in that room- not the mother, not the doctor or the nurses or even the newly born Annette Rose herself- knew that at the precise moment of her birth, in a nearby Joss House in the local Chinatown, a statue of Elder Zhang Guo, one of the Eight Immortals, dropped to the floor startling nearby worshippers and visitors.
The caretaker and local Taoist priest of the Joss House exclaimed rather loudly. "Ah, this is a sign. An avatar or agent of Zhang Guo Lao has descended into the world."
He picked up the statue- an old man wielding a staff with a gourd on it- and placed it back on its proper place next to the Tutelary Deity, Tudigong.
Few of the witnesses believed- but some did, and they prayed for the protection of his avatar in this world.
"But, why is there blood in the water, father?"
The older man turned back to the river, and sure enough, a streak of red flowed through the most important river of the Chinese world.
"That…I am not sure. But I think it meant this holy being will sacrifice much."
1992, Kyushu
"Goodbye Percy." Annette said as she scatter her brother's ashes into the pacific wind and sea. Kenta stood respectfully behind her while several of Percival's coworkers stood a short distance away, heads bowed.
She was the only family member that attended, her mother and stepfather having deemed the expenses of traveling overseas too bothersome, much to her chagrin and fury.
Thankfully, the funeral was paid for by DRAGLE, her brother's company- they handled all of the arrangements to their utmost ability. Percy was a high ranking negotiator for the global corporation after all.
+++
Kenta watched as Annette giggled when Kaasan joked about something with her. He figured it was best that he did not know about it seeing as it was probably about him.
It was weeks later after their escape from their kidnappers and they had mostly recovered. Something had changed between Annette and him- during that entire trial, they had a new unspoken understanding, but neither of them had seen fit to broach the subject.
Today though, he had invited Annette-chan to visit his mother with him, and she has unsurprisingly agreed. She certainly dressed to impress- he glanced over at Annette's conservative blouse and skirt, still fashionable, but without implying impropriety. Almost like she wanted his mother's approval. Kenta wasn't sure how to feel about that.
He fished out his wallet and looked over the business card that the Red Solar Ranger (oh my god, oh my god) handed him after the entire debacle over their kidnapping and...and his gaining superpowers- he shuddered at the half-remembered memories.
He remembered the woman in black, with the fedora and her ominous words: "You have a destiny Kenta Kikuchi." What did she meant by that, precisely? And the cocaine- oh god the cocaine- he definitely overdosed on the first go, if he had to guess, he didn't feel any addictive properties thanks to his newfound metabolism. Spontaneous regeneration to an absurd degree. He also remembered himself dying, slowing destroyed and ground into nothing, helpless to do anything to save himself or Annette. That was not a pleasant experience and he would do nearly anything to avoid having to experience that kind of helplessness and anger again.
He pocketed the card again. He wasn't sure what he was going to do with their offer to join the Solar Rangers. His childhood heroes. The official hero team of their city and hometown. Renowned throughout Kyushu for their heroics. Sure, Green Ranger going traitor had apparently been a big thing a couple years back, he was too young to care too much about it at the time, and all the adults didn't want to talk about it around him because Green Ranger was his favourite super sentai as a toddler according to his mom.
And he killed Green Ranger too. That was….awkward for Kenta to say the least. Killing my childhood hero and idol. I might as well go full villain now.
He suddenly felt a bit tired from all his thinking and he got up with a scrape of his metal chair. Kaasan and Annette-chan turned to look at him and he waved his hand to indicate that there wasn't any kind of emergency.
"Just grabbing a cup of coffee- do you want anything, Kaasan, Annette-chan?"
"No I am fine, Kenta-kun."
"I'm good."
He nodded and walked out. There was a nice café at the ground floor and he actually liked their Americano. Black of course. Real man drink black.
"Well, I guess with the man out of the room, we can talk about some real things now."
Annette knew that was coming, but she gulped nervously nevertheless and nodded her head.
"H-hai, Kaasan."
Oh god, she was already calling Kenta's mother Kaasan too.
Kaasan continued. "I've seen the way you look at Kenta when you think he isn't looking. I like the way you look at him. That's the kind of a look I like girls to be giving my son."
Annette could only blush as feel her face grow red with embarrassment. To be fair, it was hard not to look at Kenta. He had changed in his mind from "mildly dreamy bad boy" to full blown Knight in Shining Army who was also a literal dragon.
"I am not sure what to say, Kaasan."
The older woman smiled and reached a hand out to grasp Annette's own. "You don't have to say anything. I am just curious as to why Kenta didn't introduce you as his girlfriend."
"Uh…"
"I think in your head, you already decided that he is your boyfriend, yes?"
Annette turned redder than she already was.
Kaasan smiled knowingly, and with the wisdom of ages, laid down the law. "Talk to him about that. Soon. Don't let opportunities go to waste, trust me, or you'll regret it all your lives."
Annette could only nod her head. "Hai, Kaasan."
Soon, Annette will go back to America.
He had no means, no money, and no ability to survive in America. Even if she…even if she wanted him to be with her for real, he had no way to follow where she will go.
He turned over the business card from the Solar Rangers again. He could join up, make some money, but he would have to stay here in Japan…it would be years before he could see her again.
He muttered to his empty room in frustration. "Life is so complicated."
His phone rang. Who could be calling me at this hour?
He picked up the phone. "Hello?"
Annette's voice came through loud and clear. "Kenta-kun. I am outside your doorstep. Open the door dammit, it's cold out!"
"You're what!?"
Kenta hurried out of his room, forgetting to dress and unlocked the front door, ripping it open…
The most perfect woman in the world stood in front of her, her grey eyes shining underneath the moonlight.
"Annette-chan."
"Kenta-kun."
He scratched his head. "Uh, come in."
After closing the door, he turned to look at her- she was wearing a light jacket, and…was that her pajamas?
"Did you even change before you came here?"
She looked sheepish. "I had to catch the last train. There wasn't any time." A pause and then she scolded him. "And thanks for the view- nice boxers."
Kenta blushed and then asked the obvious question, however in truth, he already knew why she was here- her eyes said it all. "Um. Why are you here?
Did you need to talk about something? You know we don't exactly have a guest room, I suppose you could take a cab-"
"Kenta." Her eyes shine brighter. "There's a lot of things we need to talk about."
She paused and brushed a hair out the way of her perfect nose. "But I have no idea how to even start."
Kenta grimaced. They had avoided broaching the subject of their deepening feelings. Or Kenta thought they were- it was hard to tell if his feelings were one sided or not. They didn't talk about it- and it drives him nuts trying to figure out just where her feelings lay.
"Annette-chan…I…yeah this talk is overdue."
Annette took a step closer to him. "Kenta-kun. I-"
She struggled for the right words and seemed resigned. "Fuck it. I don't know how to express myself. Just fuck me already."
Wait what?
Her lips crashed into his, followed moments later by her body and her arms. Kenta didn't need prompting twice, he quickly wrap an arm around her waist and pulled her towards his room.
"Not bad for my first time, I think." She grinned.
"Aye. Same here." Kenta smiled back.
"Wait. You're a virgin?"
"I was." Kenta corrected. He pouted at her. "At least, until a gaijin vixen had her way with me."
"Yes, and don't you forget it, but still, the bancho was a virgin. I am shocked."
He nodded. "You'd be surprised at how much common sense girls in our school have. Much to my chagrin."
She punched him lightly on the chest. "Well…good. I don't have to choke any bitches or piss on them to mark my territory."
"Well, as long as you don't piss on me to mark your territory, it's all good." Kenta dryly commented.
He rolled over suddenly and was straddling her. She raised an eyebrow. "So soon? I might have scored more than I realized if your recovery is that quick."
Kenta scowled. "Er, not exactly. But Annette." He leaned closer. "I am going to accept the Solar Ranger's offer to take up the Green Ranger mantle. The pay is very good, I can afford my own apartment."
She nodded, afraid of what he was going to say next.
"Well…stay." He continued.
Her breath hitched.
"Stay and live with me. We can start a life together." He locked gazes with her as he said so, his face only inches from her own.
She cried.
"Uh." Kenta started to become worried he said something wrong.
"Baka, I am happy. I was so afraid I would have to return to America."
She closed the gap and kissed him.
They didn't get much sleep that night and Annette was quite enthusiastic in showing how happy she was at the conclusions of their "talk."
Daichi, Kenta's older brother suddenly showed and headed straight for the coffee machine. He didn't even bat an eye regarding Annette's presence.
However, when Daichi sat down at the table, he looked at the both of them and casually said. "So…next time, you guys might want to warn me ahead of time so I can get earmuffs. God you guys were loud."
Kenta blushed and Annette looked mortified.
"Oh God." She covered her face with both of her hands.
Daichi took a ship of his Joe casually, grabbing the morning papers and then drove the nail home.
"And I hope you guys used contraception."
Kenta paled. "Oh shit."
"Oh God, kill me." Annette moaned.
His brother ignored them and commented on the front page news item. "Well, to no one's surprise, Yamaguchi Zaibatsu's stocks are dropping like bricks. Given the very public evidence of their facilities being used for criminal activities- and the whole illegal death porn operation they had going, this is no surprise."
He grinned and slapped Kenta on the back. "My gang is actually really impressed. You two did more damage to the Yamaguchi backed gang in a single day than we had done for the past decade. My bosses consider ourselves indebted to you- so if you need any favours or any bodies to dispose of, let me know."
Daichi left for work quickly. There was about a minute of silence, and the litanies of regret continued.
"Oh God, how could I be so stupid."
"Oh God, I am pregnant!"
She had benched Kenta out of necessity, much to his frustration. And her own. They make do with every base but the fourth- but it was difficult to control what your emotions wanted you to do. Really, it's not like people start making out and decided that "tonight we're doing this specific position."
Afterwards, she started on a birth control regimen via pills shortly thereafter. It took another month for her to be certain it was doing its job.
In that time, they managed to move into Kenta's new apartment- generously given as a signing bonus with the Solar Rangers. Their managers quite accurately understood that Kenta was the Solar Ranger's ticket to the big leagues. His power was SS-Tier, and they were determined to keep him happy.
As she settled down into her new Lay-Z-Boy and sighed contently. Kenta should just be getting off of his press release to the public- it was always a big deal whenever a new hero was revealed, whether Protectorate or Sentai.
She happily sent her first ever booty call via text: FOURTH BASE AVAILABLE NOW.
Kenta replied a mere second later: CMING.
She cheekily replied with: ME FIRST.
Annette was in the University library, looking up East-Asian literary sources on supernatural entities and magic when Kenta ambushed her with kisses.
"Kenta!"
He had a hand up her shirt before she managed to pull her face away from his own long enough to point desperately towards the Disability Bathroom.
"Wow. Really?" Kenta said. She growled and dragged him in anyway.
Not two minutes later, a frustrated Kenta emerged, running for the exit. An emergency had come up- some asshole supervillain was robbing a bank. Kenta vowed to beat him senseless for cockblocking him.
Annette meekly came out seconds later, shifting her skirt back into place. Suddenly, she noticed that there were people who saw the whole thing. A couple Japanese students was staring at her, mouth open in shocked outrage.
"Not a word." Annette warned before stalking off, thoughts of research forgotten. She paused mid step and turned back to them. "And he had an emergency. He wasn't done in two minutes and I didn't scare him off, so don't you go thinking strange things about other people's sex lives. We're perfectly fine!"
The eunuch and last of a great lineage stared at the documents that his agent had handed him.
"You are certain, then?" He asked, staring at his nervous subordinate, who wore a business suit.
"Yes, Li Gong-Gong. We have all the key positions compromised. The plan is now green."
Li Gong-Gong chuckled and threw the document back onto the table. "We have them all in our pockets. This invasion will be easy."
It was time to bring the Land of the Rising Sun into the fold of Middle Kingdom. And to subsume their parahuman resources for their own.
The Yanbang program was the backbone of the C.U.I. success story. They conditioned any parahumans they capture and exterminated those they could not control- sparing no one, not even children and close families. Anyone could carry the taint that seemed to spread though memetic close contact.
Li Gong-Gong was from one of the Old Families. He could taste the unnaturalness of parahumanity, their foul and alien qi offended him more than the white menace. But they made useful tools.
Absolute control was the only way to maintain the power of the current dynasty, who's Emperor was a mere child and to prevent China from breaking
apart into further civil war.
The Seven Year Civil War since the first parahumans appeared, along with Behemoth's attacks, had nearly destroyed China, reducing its population down to mere hundreds of millions. That could not be allowed to happen again.
Another reason of course, was that an external enemy was necessary to maintain political unity, it's also an easy sell to the public- much easier than explaining complex sociological and economic problems anyway. And what enemy was easier to sell than the hated Japanese dogs?
The pale faced gong-gong, supreme commander of the Yanbang, laughed maniacally at his own brilliance. His shadows stretched unnaturally as he walked away.
1975, Brockton Bay
"Push!" The doctor encouraged, and Margaret Rose gave a great cry as a child's cry filled the room.
"It's a girl. Congratulations!"
No one in that room- not the mother, not the doctor or the nurses or even the newly born Annette Rose herself- knew that at the precise moment of her birth, in a nearby Joss House in the local Chinatown, a statue of Elder Zhang Guo, one of the Eight Immortals, dropped to the floor startling nearby worshippers and visitors.
The caretaker and local Taoist priest of the Joss House exclaimed rather loudly. "Ah, this is a sign. An avatar or agent of Zhang Guo Lao has descended into the world."
He picked up the statue- an old man wielding a staff with a gourd on it- and placed it back on its proper place next to the Tutelary Deity, Tudigong.
Few of the witnesses believed- but some did, and they prayed for the protection of his avatar in this world.
+++
Same Time, China
The Yellow River uncharacteristically turned clear and a fisherman told his son. "They say that when the Yellow River turns clear, it means a holy being is born into the world.""But, why is there blood in the water, father?"
The older man turned back to the river, and sure enough, a streak of red flowed through the most important river of the Chinese world.
"That…I am not sure. But I think it meant this holy being will sacrifice much."
1992, Kyushu
"Goodbye Percy." Annette said as she scatter her brother's ashes into the pacific wind and sea. Kenta stood respectfully behind her while several of Percival's coworkers stood a short distance away, heads bowed.
She was the only family member that attended, her mother and stepfather having deemed the expenses of traveling overseas too bothersome, much to her chagrin and fury.
Thankfully, the funeral was paid for by DRAGLE, her brother's company- they handled all of the arrangements to their utmost ability. Percy was a high ranking negotiator for the global corporation after all.
+++
Kenta watched as Annette giggled when Kaasan joked about something with her. He figured it was best that he did not know about it seeing as it was probably about him.
It was weeks later after their escape from their kidnappers and they had mostly recovered. Something had changed between Annette and him- during that entire trial, they had a new unspoken understanding, but neither of them had seen fit to broach the subject.
Today though, he had invited Annette-chan to visit his mother with him, and she has unsurprisingly agreed. She certainly dressed to impress- he glanced over at Annette's conservative blouse and skirt, still fashionable, but without implying impropriety. Almost like she wanted his mother's approval. Kenta wasn't sure how to feel about that.
He fished out his wallet and looked over the business card that the Red Solar Ranger (oh my god, oh my god) handed him after the entire debacle over their kidnapping and...and his gaining superpowers- he shuddered at the half-remembered memories.
He remembered the woman in black, with the fedora and her ominous words: "You have a destiny Kenta Kikuchi." What did she meant by that, precisely? And the cocaine- oh god the cocaine- he definitely overdosed on the first go, if he had to guess, he didn't feel any addictive properties thanks to his newfound metabolism. Spontaneous regeneration to an absurd degree. He also remembered himself dying, slowing destroyed and ground into nothing, helpless to do anything to save himself or Annette. That was not a pleasant experience and he would do nearly anything to avoid having to experience that kind of helplessness and anger again.
He pocketed the card again. He wasn't sure what he was going to do with their offer to join the Solar Rangers. His childhood heroes. The official hero team of their city and hometown. Renowned throughout Kyushu for their heroics. Sure, Green Ranger going traitor had apparently been a big thing a couple years back, he was too young to care too much about it at the time, and all the adults didn't want to talk about it around him because Green Ranger was his favourite super sentai as a toddler according to his mom.
And he killed Green Ranger too. That was….awkward for Kenta to say the least. Killing my childhood hero and idol. I might as well go full villain now.
He suddenly felt a bit tired from all his thinking and he got up with a scrape of his metal chair. Kaasan and Annette-chan turned to look at him and he waved his hand to indicate that there wasn't any kind of emergency.
"Just grabbing a cup of coffee- do you want anything, Kaasan, Annette-chan?"
"No I am fine, Kenta-kun."
"I'm good."
He nodded and walked out. There was a nice café at the ground floor and he actually liked their Americano. Black of course. Real man drink black.
+++
As soon as the door closed behind Kenta, Annette turned back to his mother, who grinned up at her.
"Well, I guess with the man out of the room, we can talk about some real things now."
Annette knew that was coming, but she gulped nervously nevertheless and nodded her head.
"H-hai, Kaasan."
Oh god, she was already calling Kenta's mother Kaasan too.
Kaasan continued. "I've seen the way you look at Kenta when you think he isn't looking. I like the way you look at him. That's the kind of a look I like girls to be giving my son."
Annette could only blush as feel her face grow red with embarrassment. To be fair, it was hard not to look at Kenta. He had changed in his mind from "mildly dreamy bad boy" to full blown Knight in Shining Army who was also a literal dragon.
"I am not sure what to say, Kaasan."
The older woman smiled and reached a hand out to grasp Annette's own. "You don't have to say anything. I am just curious as to why Kenta didn't introduce you as his girlfriend."
"Uh…"
"I think in your head, you already decided that he is your boyfriend, yes?"
Annette turned redder than she already was.
Kaasan smiled knowingly, and with the wisdom of ages, laid down the law. "Talk to him about that. Soon. Don't let opportunities go to waste, trust me, or you'll regret it all your lives."
Annette could only nod her head. "Hai, Kaasan."
+++
Neither of them broach the subject about their changed feelings for each other the next week either.
As Annette tried to sleep one night however, she found herself turning Kaasan's words over and over again in her head.
She sighed. It wasn't that simple. With Percival…gone…her time in Japan was coming to an end. His company had paid for her stay in Japan the past month so she could handle his funerary details, but soon she would have to go.
She would have to leave Kenta.
She gripped her blanket in anxiety as she thought about being so far away from him. Who would protect her? Who would keep her safe from her nightmares?
Who would she even banter with?
She tossed and turn, mulling things. Until suddenly, out of nowhere, she remembered her birthday was next week.
I am an adult now. I can make my own decisions. What good ever came of listening to my mother anyway?
She could live by herself, if she really wanted to.
Where there is a will, there is a way.
And she was determined to stay to be with her man. And with that decision made came another decision, lurking underneath the surface of thoughts daily that she hadn't dared entertained until now.
Glancing quickly at the time on her phone, she decided that yes…if she ran she could make the last train.
She scrambled out of bed and hurriedly threw on some clothes.
As she jogged out of her apartment and towards the train station, she spoke to herself out loud. "Oh god, I hope I am not making a horrible mistake."
As Annette tried to sleep one night however, she found herself turning Kaasan's words over and over again in her head.
She sighed. It wasn't that simple. With Percival…gone…her time in Japan was coming to an end. His company had paid for her stay in Japan the past month so she could handle his funerary details, but soon she would have to go.
She would have to leave Kenta.
She gripped her blanket in anxiety as she thought about being so far away from him. Who would protect her? Who would keep her safe from her nightmares?
Who would she even banter with?
She tossed and turn, mulling things. Until suddenly, out of nowhere, she remembered her birthday was next week.
I am an adult now. I can make my own decisions. What good ever came of listening to my mother anyway?
She could live by herself, if she really wanted to.
Where there is a will, there is a way.
And she was determined to stay to be with her man. And with that decision made came another decision, lurking underneath the surface of thoughts daily that she hadn't dared entertained until now.
Glancing quickly at the time on her phone, she decided that yes…if she ran she could make the last train.
She scrambled out of bed and hurriedly threw on some clothes.
As she jogged out of her apartment and towards the train station, she spoke to herself out loud. "Oh god, I hope I am not making a horrible mistake."
+++
Kenta couldn't sleep.Soon, Annette will go back to America.
He had no means, no money, and no ability to survive in America. Even if she…even if she wanted him to be with her for real, he had no way to follow where she will go.
He turned over the business card from the Solar Rangers again. He could join up, make some money, but he would have to stay here in Japan…it would be years before he could see her again.
He muttered to his empty room in frustration. "Life is so complicated."
His phone rang. Who could be calling me at this hour?
He picked up the phone. "Hello?"
Annette's voice came through loud and clear. "Kenta-kun. I am outside your doorstep. Open the door dammit, it's cold out!"
"You're what!?"
Kenta hurried out of his room, forgetting to dress and unlocked the front door, ripping it open…
The most perfect woman in the world stood in front of her, her grey eyes shining underneath the moonlight.
"Annette-chan."
"Kenta-kun."
He scratched his head. "Uh, come in."
After closing the door, he turned to look at her- she was wearing a light jacket, and…was that her pajamas?
"Did you even change before you came here?"
She looked sheepish. "I had to catch the last train. There wasn't any time." A pause and then she scolded him. "And thanks for the view- nice boxers."
Kenta blushed and then asked the obvious question, however in truth, he already knew why she was here- her eyes said it all. "Um. Why are you here?
Did you need to talk about something? You know we don't exactly have a guest room, I suppose you could take a cab-"
"Kenta." Her eyes shine brighter. "There's a lot of things we need to talk about."
She paused and brushed a hair out the way of her perfect nose. "But I have no idea how to even start."
Kenta grimaced. They had avoided broaching the subject of their deepening feelings. Or Kenta thought they were- it was hard to tell if his feelings were one sided or not. They didn't talk about it- and it drives him nuts trying to figure out just where her feelings lay.
"Annette-chan…I…yeah this talk is overdue."
Annette took a step closer to him. "Kenta-kun. I-"
She struggled for the right words and seemed resigned. "Fuck it. I don't know how to express myself. Just fuck me already."
Wait what?
Her lips crashed into his, followed moments later by her body and her arms. Kenta didn't need prompting twice, he quickly wrap an arm around her waist and pulled her towards his room.
+++
For awhile they sat there on his bed kissing. No words was needed. It was clear enough that the most essential question on their minds was answered. The rest could wait…could wait until what they both wanted was over and done with.
She grabbed his hand and encouraged him to roam. "Kenta-kun."
God her voice. It's perfect.
They watched each other's eyes, reveling in the confirmation of their mutual feelings. He pushed her down onto the bed and unbutton her shirt.
Her breathing hitched as she tugged at his boxer- the sole article of clothing he conveniently had on.
"Annette-chan…are you sure…I mean."
"Kenta- I swear to god, if you stop now, I will kill you."
In response he hiked up her skirt much to her joy.
She grabbed his hand and encouraged him to roam. "Kenta-kun."
God her voice. It's perfect.
They watched each other's eyes, reveling in the confirmation of their mutual feelings. He pushed her down onto the bed and unbutton her shirt.
Her breathing hitched as she tugged at his boxer- the sole article of clothing he conveniently had on.
"Annette-chan…are you sure…I mean."
"Kenta- I swear to god, if you stop now, I will kill you."
In response he hiked up her skirt much to her joy.
+++
A much sweatier Annette rolled over and panted. She wrapped her arms around her lover and smiled up at him.
"Not bad for my first time, I think." She grinned.
"Aye. Same here." Kenta smiled back.
"Wait. You're a virgin?"
"I was." Kenta corrected. He pouted at her. "At least, until a gaijin vixen had her way with me."
"Yes, and don't you forget it, but still, the bancho was a virgin. I am shocked."
He nodded. "You'd be surprised at how much common sense girls in our school have. Much to my chagrin."
She punched him lightly on the chest. "Well…good. I don't have to choke any bitches or piss on them to mark my territory."
"Well, as long as you don't piss on me to mark your territory, it's all good." Kenta dryly commented.
He rolled over suddenly and was straddling her. She raised an eyebrow. "So soon? I might have scored more than I realized if your recovery is that quick."
Kenta scowled. "Er, not exactly. But Annette." He leaned closer. "I am going to accept the Solar Ranger's offer to take up the Green Ranger mantle. The pay is very good, I can afford my own apartment."
She nodded, afraid of what he was going to say next.
"Well…stay." He continued.
Her breath hitched.
"Stay and live with me. We can start a life together." He locked gazes with her as he said so, his face only inches from her own.
She cried.
"Uh." Kenta started to become worried he said something wrong.
"Baka, I am happy. I was so afraid I would have to return to America."
She closed the gap and kissed him.
They didn't get much sleep that night and Annette was quite enthusiastic in showing how happy she was at the conclusions of their "talk."
+++
A sleepy but quite satisfied Kenta and Annette sat opposite each other at the breakfast table the next morning, eating some light toast with eggs and sausages.
Daichi, Kenta's older brother suddenly showed and headed straight for the coffee machine. He didn't even bat an eye regarding Annette's presence.
However, when Daichi sat down at the table, he looked at the both of them and casually said. "So…next time, you guys might want to warn me ahead of time so I can get earmuffs. God you guys were loud."
Kenta blushed and Annette looked mortified.
"Oh God." She covered her face with both of her hands.
Daichi took a ship of his Joe casually, grabbing the morning papers and then drove the nail home.
"And I hope you guys used contraception."
Kenta paled. "Oh shit."
"Oh God, kill me." Annette moaned.
His brother ignored them and commented on the front page news item. "Well, to no one's surprise, Yamaguchi Zaibatsu's stocks are dropping like bricks. Given the very public evidence of their facilities being used for criminal activities- and the whole illegal death porn operation they had going, this is no surprise."
He grinned and slapped Kenta on the back. "My gang is actually really impressed. You two did more damage to the Yamaguchi backed gang in a single day than we had done for the past decade. My bosses consider ourselves indebted to you- so if you need any favours or any bodies to dispose of, let me know."
Daichi left for work quickly. There was about a minute of silence, and the litanies of regret continued.
"Oh God, how could I be so stupid."
"Oh God, I am pregnant!"
+++
To Annette's great relief, after a month, she was certain that she was not pregnant because she still had her periods. All was right with the world.
She had benched Kenta out of necessity, much to his frustration. And her own. They make do with every base but the fourth- but it was difficult to control what your emotions wanted you to do. Really, it's not like people start making out and decided that "tonight we're doing this specific position."
Afterwards, she started on a birth control regimen via pills shortly thereafter. It took another month for her to be certain it was doing its job.
In that time, they managed to move into Kenta's new apartment- generously given as a signing bonus with the Solar Rangers. Their managers quite accurately understood that Kenta was the Solar Ranger's ticket to the big leagues. His power was SS-Tier, and they were determined to keep him happy.
As she settled down into her new Lay-Z-Boy and sighed contently. Kenta should just be getting off of his press release to the public- it was always a big deal whenever a new hero was revealed, whether Protectorate or Sentai.
She happily sent her first ever booty call via text: FOURTH BASE AVAILABLE NOW.
Kenta replied a mere second later: CMING.
She cheekily replied with: ME FIRST.
+++
1993, Kyushu
Annette was in the University library, looking up East-Asian literary sources on supernatural entities and magic when Kenta ambushed her with kisses.
"Kenta!"
He had a hand up her shirt before she managed to pull her face away from his own long enough to point desperately towards the Disability Bathroom.
"Wow. Really?" Kenta said. She growled and dragged him in anyway.
Not two minutes later, a frustrated Kenta emerged, running for the exit. An emergency had come up- some asshole supervillain was robbing a bank. Kenta vowed to beat him senseless for cockblocking him.
Annette meekly came out seconds later, shifting her skirt back into place. Suddenly, she noticed that there were people who saw the whole thing. A couple Japanese students was staring at her, mouth open in shocked outrage.
"Not a word." Annette warned before stalking off, thoughts of research forgotten. She paused mid step and turned back to them. "And he had an emergency. He wasn't done in two minutes and I didn't scare him off, so don't you go thinking strange things about other people's sex lives. We're perfectly fine!"
+++
1993, NANKING The eunuch and last of a great lineage stared at the documents that his agent had handed him.
"You are certain, then?" He asked, staring at his nervous subordinate, who wore a business suit.
"Yes, Li Gong-Gong. We have all the key positions compromised. The plan is now green."
Li Gong-Gong chuckled and threw the document back onto the table. "We have them all in our pockets. This invasion will be easy."
It was time to bring the Land of the Rising Sun into the fold of Middle Kingdom. And to subsume their parahuman resources for their own.
The Yanbang program was the backbone of the C.U.I. success story. They conditioned any parahumans they capture and exterminated those they could not control- sparing no one, not even children and close families. Anyone could carry the taint that seemed to spread though memetic close contact.
Li Gong-Gong was from one of the Old Families. He could taste the unnaturalness of parahumanity, their foul and alien qi offended him more than the white menace. But they made useful tools.
Absolute control was the only way to maintain the power of the current dynasty, who's Emperor was a mere child and to prevent China from breaking
apart into further civil war.
The Seven Year Civil War since the first parahumans appeared, along with Behemoth's attacks, had nearly destroyed China, reducing its population down to mere hundreds of millions. That could not be allowed to happen again.
Another reason of course, was that an external enemy was necessary to maintain political unity, it's also an easy sell to the public- much easier than explaining complex sociological and economic problems anyway. And what enemy was easier to sell than the hated Japanese dogs?
The pale faced gong-gong, supreme commander of the Yanbang, laughed maniacally at his own brilliance. His shadows stretched unnaturally as he walked away.
Last edited:
Dr. Mercurious
Strangest Person You Know
- Location
- New England
Crossposted from SV:
YOU MANIAC. Seriously, what are you mainlining, and can I have some?
By the by, I have never even HEARD of a Kenta/Annette ship. IT MUST BE NAMED. I propose 'Asian Owl' because anything else I can think of sounds like it belongs on QQ.
YOU MANIAC. Seriously, what are you mainlining, and can I have some?
By the by, I have never even HEARD of a Kenta/Annette ship. IT MUST BE NAMED. I propose 'Asian Owl' because anything else I can think of sounds like it belongs on QQ.
Unseelie
(Verified True Fae)
- Location
- Tír fo Thuinn
Amusing typo.
Her pyjamas include a skirt?
Annta? Kenette? Rose-Dragon?
- Location
- Over the hill and far away
....I'm going to assume she had one of those long nightgowns? ...but then it would just be 'gown', wouldn't it?
Numen
Long Time Creeper
- Location
- Canada
Or she threw on a skirt over underwear and wore actual pajamas as a top. I am going to be honest, I didn't pay attention to clothing continuity. Will probably fix sometime.
- Location
- Australia
I'm going to be amused if Taylor does end up being Kentas kid, somehow.
11. Without Destiny
Numen
Long Time Creeper
- Location
- Canada
Chapter 11: Without Destiny
Have Fate Without Destiny (有緣無份) is a Chinese Proverb on how karma brings together relationships, but free will determines where it shall go. In this case, to have fate means that a couple will encounter each other, and without destiny means they will not end up together.
- Annette Hebert, PhD. The Dynamics of East-Asian Cultural Ethos
The large transport craft hovered over the City of Tokyo, directly above the Imperial Palace. As Chinese soldiers storm the holy grounds, gunning down palace staff and security officers as they go, a lone eunuch serenely waltzed over into the inner sanctum of the Emperor of Japan.
When he entered the private area of the Imperial Family, he saw the aged Akihito calmly standing before the corpses of his entire family. By the looks of it, mothers smothered their children, and fathers slit the throat of their wives. The menfolk had then committed seppuku.
The Eunuch made an approving noise. "So, you had them commit suicide. Noble, and traditional. I respect that, Heika."
The Emperor of Japan turned around and glared at the leader of the Yangban. "It was better than letting them fall into your hands, Master Li. I am surprised that you're still alive."
"Being made an eunuch through sorcerous ritual has its advantages."
"Your practice of that black art is most foul. The Old Families would disapprove."
"They waste their power doing petty tricks, fearful of seizing true power. The age of the old ways are done, heika. Your father and that Hitler boy made a last attempt at ascension- but how did that go for Japan? Cowed and humiliated before the white men, who burned your cities, raped your women and indoctrinated your children. Pathetic."
The two scions of the Old Families stared each other down, before Akihito calmly walked over to an altar. Upon the altar was a familiar package.
Li Gong-Gong's breath hitched. "Oh my. That is the real artifact isn't it, not like that fake you peddle for the masses and guard over by ignorant priests."
"I had the sword transferred from its hiding place when I felt your Ki entering Japan's threshold." Akihito replied as he opened the package and withdrew the almost primitive Neolithic era sword, fashioned from white metal.
Li Gong-Gong nodded his head. "The Yamato Dynasty is the absolute master of the Home Islands, none can dispute this. Still, the Chrysanthemum Throne has weakened as of late, do you think you can face me, boy?"
"Against an Apostate like you?" Akihito gripped the Kusanagi-no-Tsurugi by the hilt and shifted into a stance. "Easily."
With a burst of impossible speed, he stepped forward and brought the ancient weapon down upon the Eunuch, who immediately sidestepped with preternatural agility. His long nails reached up and deflected the chipped edge of the blade, sending green sparks sizzling into the air between the two.
"I do this for the greater good." Li Gong-Gong explained as he rolled quickly to avoid a swipe of the deadly blade. "The parahuman parasites must be controlled."
"A sound argument, if one ignored the fact you have set yourself on this dark path for centuries."
"Short-lived men like you, Akihito, do not grasp the nobility of the path I walk."
Akihito gritted his teeth. "Short-lived men like me do not offend against Heaven. The Kami will deal with the outer path entities as they see fit. Who are we mortals to attempt things outside our station?"
Li Gong-Gong laughed. "Idiot. I have practiced sorcery for centuries. I know the truth that you short-lived fools will never understand."
He caught the edge of the Kusanagi with two fingers and tore the blade from the Emperor's hand.
He quickly turned the blade around and stabbed Akihito in the heart. As the Emperor sank to his knees, the Eunuch leaned in and told him the truth.
"Gods don't exist."
He walked over the dying corpse, pleased with his prize. The sword that cut the burning grass shall make a great ritual tool indeed.
As he left, great gouts of fire exploded from the back of the dead Emperor, incinerating his corpse and those of his family. It blasted through the roofs of the Imperial Palace and lanced across the heavens, creating a phenomenon not dissimilar to the Northern Lights.
Everyone in Tokyo, screaming civilians and fighting soldiers paused to glance at the unusual phenomena. Most did not pay it any mind.
The Gong-Gong paused on the steps outside the palace and muttered. "And thus end the line of Jimmu."
Suddenly, a great Qi shone brightly in the horizon and his eyes widened. He saw a girl- glowing with the power of a trillion stars.
"Impossible!"
Annette woke with a gasp, panting. It was dark and the light breathing of Kenta suddenly cut off as he woke up as well.
"Annette-chan?" Kenta's comforting arms wrapped around her. "Are you okay?"
"I am fine." She said, patting his arm. "Just a bad dream."
"We did our best, but there is no longer any point in resisting. As of a hour ago, I negotiated for the surrender of Japan to the Chinese-Union Imperial. They have generously promised to protect many of our rights and privileges and to respect our autonomy where possible.
"I ask that all Japanese military forces and parahuman elements to stand down. Let us not fall to the level of the common terrorist- we can be civilized about this. Nothing will change- you will still wake up and keep your jobs. You will still have a life and our beautiful Japan shall be here and now, forever.
"All parahuman elements, regardless of ethnicity, nationality, sex or age are to report to the nearest authorities for transfer of command to the C.U.I. unfortunately, this is non-negotiable. For the sake of your country and your family and friends, I beg you to surrender yourselves. For parents with parahuman children, you must hand your children over immediately, or find yourself in violation of the law.
"And finally- all foreign nationals that are not Japanese or Chinese or could reasonably claim descent from either must report to the nearest authorities. You are hereby expelled from Japan. You have a month to put your affairs in order.
"Japanese who have the ability to migrate to other nations may choose to do so, you have a month to put your affairs in order before your citizenship is permanently transferred to the C.U.I. Please speak to the Ministry of Immigration for details regarding how this shall be done. Parahumans are forbidding from migrating- they must report to the authorities for assignment to the Yangban. Again. I urge you to not resist. That is all. Huang Shang Banzai! (Ten-Thousand Years to the Emperor of China!)."
The Gong-Gong sat at the head of the table and smiled at the shadow government he assembled to rule Japan. They had all been subverted slowly over the years, agreeing to betray the security of Japan in order to hand it over to C.U.I. All of them would live like Kings. They would have more power than they would know what to do with.
Inwardly however, he was extremely anxious. His attempts to locate the source of the mysterious qi had turned up blank. He knew however, it was somewhere near Kyushu, so he had his agents scouring the island for anything unusual.
Could another Scion of the Old Families be hiding there? No, that qi is not human.
It also wasn't parahuman. It dwarfed even Scion. The Gong-Gong had seen the Golden Man just the once when it flew over Beijing to rescue a stray dog from being run over by a car. The qi of that abomination disgusted him- by all accounts it was a terrifying energy, however it was so scattered.
If the Gong-Gong could compare Scion's Qi to any other being, it would be the mosquito. The mosquito was supposedly a creature that contained only a fragment of the human soul. A damned soul subject to a mosquito rebirth, according to scripture, was divided into thousands if not millions of fragments, with each shard being reborn as one mosquito. Only when every single mosquito that it was reincarnated into has died could its soul be reconstituted into a whole.
Scion was like that mosquito, a massively alien, but ultimately pathetic lifeform. A gestalt existence that emulated the functions of a higher lifeform by layering millions of weak, simple, animal qi together.
The average parahuman, although carrying pieces of Scion, emit a stronger and more vital Qi. Humans, although simple in comparison, had a broader depth of experience and emotions- they had a stronger mass of qi. Scion was like that same mass of qi, but stretched over a vast expanse of space. Seemingly stronger, but actually very frail.
Take Scion apart and he was basically a mosquito. He was a cosmic joke and the Gong-Gong will see him crushed. Unfortunately, although a joke he may be, he was still very dangerous. A stretched ore of iron can still make a sword. And a sword was much more dangerous than an ore.
Parasites can kill much larger animals- and Scion was the sort of parasite that could threaten the entire world despite having the spiritual essence of an insect.
If he could locate the source of that mysterious qi, he would be able to destroy Scion, he was certain of it. After all, who but he have the experience to save the world? He was unmatched in sorcery- did not the now extinct Old Families proved this, each one falling to his power in their turn? He was the last of the Old Families. He would be the Master of Mankind. It was his destiny!
The Gong-Gong grabbed a nearby mosquito out of the air with movement too quick for the mortals in front of him to follow, and squished it as he listened to his shadow government explain ongoing operations. A Japanese media executive described the successes he has been having with news broadcasts designed to sell the current situation to the average Japanese.
His girlfriend nodded. "Good. If it comes down to it, I'll marry you. That'll speed up things on the American end. The sooner we leave the better, if they start asking your coworkers or your managers, they'll catch you."
"Yeah, my entire team went underground, we're all passing as civilians and our former managers have agreed to keep their mouth shut."
Annette was uncomfortable with that. If even one Solar Ranger was captured by the Yangban or if Kenta's managers talked…
"I trust them. It'll be fine, Annette."
"Maybe we can ask Daichi to silence your managers."
Kenta looked aghast at the suggestion. "What!? No, don't even joke about that Annette."
"I wasn't joking. I will do anything to protect you." She looked him in the eye and begin to cry. "I can't lose you."
Kenta grabbed Annette and pulled her frame to his chest, hugging her with his whole being, resting his head over her own, and their cheeks touching. They stayed like for several minutes, savouring in the warmth they provided each other in these uncertain times.
Kenta Annette broke apart and frowned. "It's so annoying that I can't use my credit card. They froze the accounts of the parahumans. Luckily, they keep a separate account for parahumans, or my identity would be blown."
Annette's face paled. "Kenta, they have ways of tracing where your money goes- and if they see that the Green Solar Ranger has been transferring his money to your civilian account."
Kenta frowned. "The connection goes through overseas banks- and the C.U.I definitely can't get them to reveal information like that. Even hacking them will bring down the attention of Western Tinkers and Thinkers."
"I don't think the people who invaded Japan on a whim gives two shits about what the West thinks, Kenta-kun."
"Good point. The sooner we get out of here, the better."
I will propose the moment we are safe.
He placed the ring back into his wallet and went to sleep, dreaming of a better future.
"They got Daichi. We have to go now." Kenta grabbed her arm and pulled her into their room, he quickly went over to the closet and begin to pile clothing into a large suitcase.
"What!?" Annette could only gasp in horror.
"Daichi's gang- they had someone who is in cahoots with the Chinese. He reported about the situation with my trigger- it was all over the news and too well documented. Japanese government records also confirmed a cover up. They dug and figured that we must have something to do with it."
As Annette threw her clothes into the large suitcase they had prepared the other day, she asked the question she dreaded to hear an answer to.
"What about Kaasan. What about Daichi?"
Kenta didn't answer.
"Kenta…"
"We can't help them Annette. We have to survive."
He turned towards her, eyes filled with tears. "Kaasan told us to run. To forget about her if this ever happened. She's not parahuman, she'll be fine."
Annette nodded. They could fight against a literal dystopian government with superhuman agents. It was suicide. She packed faster.
A mere hour later, their apartment was empty.
His astral projection had finally zoned in on the source of that terrifying brilliant Qi, and he would consume it for himself. Raising a clenched fist, he struck at an imaginary opponent and was rewarded with a spring of unbelievable energy.
"The Worm will burn. With this qi I will be the God of the World!"
"Be calm, Annette."
And with a flourish of his arm, the shadow was cast off of her with a screech. It glared balefully at the interloper and screeched. "YOU DARE, WHO ARE YOU!?"
"A God." Was the interloper's reply before he struck out and assaulted the shadow with a mighty slash. With a burst of prismatic light, the shadow was flung back.
The shadow gave an unearthly howl, screaming about the impossibility of gods and shattered into hundreds of wisps that dispersed into the atmosphere.
Annette sat down beside her frozen body, her legs trembling. She looked at the glowing figure- too bright for her to make out any true details except for the traditional manner of his dress and she managed to stutter out. "What are you?"
"A spirit. Or your disciple. Or your daughter. There are many ways to look at the truth."
She blinked in confusion. "But you're a boy. How can you be my daughter?"
He smiled beatifically at her. "I am a boy now. In my next life I will be a girl."
He raised a hand and she flinched back in fear. It sighed and reassured her, "I will not harm you."
He touched her forehead gently and whispered. "Sleep. It is not yet time to set the plan into motion. The interference of that third-rate sorcerer made me reveal myself to you too soon."
"I don't understand."
"You will understand the sacrifices you must make soon. All is ordained."
And she fell asleep. And forgot her dreams. To make sure, the boy of light withdrew a jade vase and sprinkled drops of water upon her face. "Of the river Lethe," He intoned. "So that you forget that which you are not meant to know."
The boy of light merely looked down at her sadly. "I will see you soon 'oh White Bat, and savour the years we are allotted by fate as mother and child."
He lay there gasping and twitching in a seizure, blood pouring from every orifice as the sympathetic backlash of losing his spirit double dealt agonies to his body.
Finally the spasms subsided and the wretched creature that was the Eunuch raise his face, eyes wild with shock and blood pouring from his mouth.
The door burst open and two soldiers ran into the room.
"Gong-Gong! Are you okay?" One bent down to touch him, but was immediately blasted back into a nearby wall. With a slash of his hand, Li split open the skull of the soldier who dared touched him.
"You! Bring me talisman paper and incense."
The soldier didn't need to be told twice- he was well aware of the Eunuch's hobbies and he ran out of the room, sidestepping the body of his dead comrade.
The Gong-Gong managed to climb back up into a lotus position. He will need to clean out the remnants of his tether and patch up his third eye before his Origin Qi flowed out of the gaping spiritual hole in his soul into the Void.
Kenta woke up and saw himself surrounded by robed members of the Yangban and several Chinese soldiers, guns trained on him and Annette. In front of them stood a young man with a ponytail.
Kenta immediately tried to throw out a fireball, but nothing happened, he pulled back his arm, staring at his hand in disbelief.
"We have a power nullifier." Pony-Tails said. "You have ran out of options."
He glanced over at the still sleeping Annette and made a gesture. Another soldier approached her and Kenta immediately growled.
"Stop!"
He got up and raise his hands. "I'll come with you. Let her go."
"Why should we? She's a traitor. A filthy white thing that dares help a parahuman escape."
"She was helping me escape. It's my fault."
"Doesn't help her case. Bag her."
Soldiers reached out and grabbed Annette, who woke with a gasp and being to kick and scream.
"Let me go, you bastards!"
The soldier stabbed her with a needle and she fell limp. Kenta roared and tackled the soldier and begin to beat on him.
"Number Five."
A sudden field of purple appeared around Kenta and he was pulled off of the soldier to slam into a nearby tree- then he was flung into the air only to slam down on the ground with a crack. He cried in pain as he felt his spine snap.
His wallet had dropped out while he was in the air and a small metal ring land several feet away. No one noticed.
"You'll live once we remove the nullification of your powers." The leader of the group looked down at him, his face stoic and unsympathetic. He pointed to a nearby soldier. "Bag him."
"Wait- wait." Kenta managed to say through the haze of pain filling his body. "I will do whatever you say. I will obey you. Listen to you. I will serve the C.U.I without question. You won't have any trouble from me."
"We can just condition you."
Kenta was quick with his reply. "My regenerative power counteracts Master Powers and changes to nervous systems. We tested extensively. Trust me, I would be almost impossible to subvert. Let me work for you- willingly. Please."
He was even telling the truth.
There was a pause, and then to his relief the leader said. "And what would you want in exchange?"
"Just let her go."
Pony-tails considered things. "If she tests negative for a Corona Gemma…we will deport her. Otherwise, she will join the Yangban. Bag them."
Black bags were thrown over both of their faces. Soldiers dragged Kenta up and away, while another slung the unconscious Annette over his shoulders.
A diamond ring was left forgotten on the forest floor.
"Quiet you guilao!" The soldier barked at her as he shoved her towards the boat.
"What are you doing, let me go!" She struggled as the two soldiers pushed her onto the tightly packed ship, full of non-Japanese nationals of all colours and stripes. There were a few Japanese, mostly the spouse of foreigners.
"You are leaving. And never returning, on pain of death."
The ramp sealed shut and the ship began to move away from the harbor.
Annette, still dozy from whatever tranquilizer was in her system moved to the edge and tried to jump overboard, but several of the panicking passengers managed to pull her back before she hurled herself over the rails. Rough hands grabbed onto her even as she struggled to get closer.
"Are you crazy!?" One elderly Korean gentleman scolded her in accented English. "You'll never make it up those piers- they're too high up, and those Chinese bastards would've happily let you drown yourself."
She ignored him and stretched out her free hand towards the port.
Towards Japan.
Towards Kenta.
"Kenta-kun!"
Kenta nodded and bowed his head obediently. To disobey would mean unimaginable torture and possibly death. He was already dead inside. No torture could destroy his soul, but his soul was gone, gone with the woman he loved.
He followed his commanding officer deeper into the underground training facility, freshly built into the sides of a mountain. Before he entered the darkness, he dared looked towards the Pacific through the small slit that barely let in any light.
Towards America.
Towards Annette.
Forgive me. Annette-chan.
Number Thirty-Nine turned away and walked into the shadows.
Kyushu sank beneath the waves, crashing into the ocean floor with a final thud, a victim of the most epic battle in the world, between a Dragon and a Demon of the Seas.
A small diamond ring floated down and rested on the ocean floor.
A defeated man roared in the surface above as his home was lost forever to the seas. He roar in rage and sprayed fire over the heavens as he failed to save his mother, his city, his island, everyone he knew growing up.
The corpses of several of his Yangban comrades floated in the waves, victims of a ceaseless evil.
He screamed in pain, asking the heavens the question that mortals cannot answer.
What was all my sacrifices for?
Annette. The name came to him. So many years ago, yet the memory was still fresh as that first day, when she ran him over with her bike. Her smell, her voice- the sweet warmth of body, like molten love.
He looked towards the East, across the Pacific. A suicidal distance.
A suicidal distance for anyone but me.
He allowed himself to sink beneath the waves.
And he swam. And swam. Every time he felt like drowning, he failed to die. His body grew gills. He clawed and swam and eventually flew over the surface of the sea.
He destroyed C.U.I aircraft that they sent after him. He was invincible in his full dragon form. And nothing was going to stop him from reuniting with his other half.
Nothing.
She lived in Brockton Bay. So that was where he gunned for. He climbed up out of the West coast and pushed inland, soundly crushing any opposition in his way as marched East, whether villain or hero. He ignored recruitment drives. He fought off all three of the triumvirate at one point or another- they were wise enough to stop chasing him once he was out of the vicinity of major population centres.
Finally, without anyone to fight, his powers began to subside and he returned to the form of a man for the first time in months.
He entered the vicinity of Brockton Bay near the end of December, just after New Years. A joyous time for many families. A time for change. A time to forge a new future, but he was only looking for his past.
He stalked the streets, with no status, no clothing, and no money. But he made do, he assaulted and robbed any gangsters he came across. He slept in a warehouse to pass the time.
He wore only a metal dragon mask that he forged from fallen pieces of his own scale, it wasn't much, but it wouldn't do to have his "secret" identity discovered if he started a life with Annette. It would only endanger her.
The local Asian Gangs were all interested in him, the local Yakuza wanted to recruit him. The other Asian gangs feared him. He ignored them all. When they send men to show him the error of his ways, he showed them their error. Thoroughly.
With a large trench coat on, he stalked the streets, slowly gathering information. The language barrier made it difficult, his English was atrocious, otherwise he would have asked a private detective or the police or someone to find where Annette was.
Is Annette still alive?
And then one night, as he turned a corner onto the Brockton University campus, he saw her waiting outside of a campus library. She was still a distance away, but his superhuman eyesight saw her plain as day.
"Annette." His voice came out cracked, bursting with emotion.
He could scarcely believe it. She was even more beautiful than he remembered, taller, more confident, her hair just as luscious as he remembered falling through his hands. She wore a winter jacket and seemed to be waiting for something.
As he approached her, snow fell from the sky and a car pulled up. The door opened and a little girl- a toddler, no more than four years old, ran out and charged right towards his lover.
"Mommy!"
His heart froze. He could see the familial resemblance- she had her eyes and her hair. There was no doubt that the child was Annette's.
His breathing became ragged.
A man emerged from the car. He walked over and embraced Annette. Kenta's Annette.
Scales burst from underneath his skin and Kenta forced himself to turn around. The rage was blinding. The feelings of betrayal so deep he could not express it to himself in any coherent fashion.
He raised a hand, heat gathering upon his fingertips. And for the first time ever, he wanted to hurt her. He wanted kill that man and her child and then force himself upon Annette.
No! Never! Never her. I can never hurt her.
He found his feet moving.
He turned and disappeared, alone into the Brockton Winter.
"Annette- is something wrong?" Danny looked down at her with concern in his eyes.
She continued staring at the man walking away, his shoulders were so familiar….no, that was her imagination. He was dead. Or brainwashed. She knew that.
She force herself to turn back and smile at her husband. "N-nothing, Danny. Nothing is wrong." The lie came easily. She would feel guilty about it later.
She hooked her hand with Taylor's, and wrapped her arm around her husband's waist. He returned the gesture and the family of three walked towards their car.
She often wondered, but she couldn't exactly walk up into the middle of ABB territory and ask to speak to their leader.
And she didn't dare to because she didn't know what she would do if Kenta was in front of her.
As she sleep besides Danny at night, she would often feel guilty for thinking of Kenta in the introspective moments when her thoughts were alone in her head. Danny knew about her previous lover- and the tragedy of that. He knew she still loved him. But Danny also never doubted her feelings for her husband either, so that only made it worse.
No, it was best for the past to stay dead. She was a mother and a wife now, she had responsibilities and obligations and a life. Let sleeping corpses lie where they rest.
And then one day, she unexpectedly died to an old grudge.
The Elder Zhang Guo was referred to as a white primordial bat who flew out of the chaos- in this way, he is an avatar of the Tao itself. Zhang Guo Lao was THE great necromancer who made death frivolous and wilted flowers and resurrected the dead at a whim. He frequented the courts of the Tang Dynasty, although he was supposedly several centuries old by then. He was also supposedly the Grand Minister of Sage Emperor Yao in another life. Although popular folklore decreed that he was an Immortal Xian, a student of Sinic folklore should remember that the original etymology of Xian referred to spiritual enlightenment rather than literal immortality. Their ability to bypass death and violate the laws of nature are not inherent to their spiritual value, they are Xian because of who they are, not what they are, in the same way that Parahumans powers do not confer upon the worthy- anyone can be a parahuman. The conflation of power with virtue is flawed.
- Annette Hebert, PhD. Separation of Power and Virtue: A Taoist Perspective
___
A/N: Oops, I referred to Akihito as the Emperor of China (in the first section). This is wrong. He is obviously the Emperor of Japan. Also, enter the Xianxia! Surprise! xD
Have Fate Without Destiny (有緣無份) is a Chinese Proverb on how karma brings together relationships, but free will determines where it shall go. In this case, to have fate means that a couple will encounter each other, and without destiny means they will not end up together.
- Annette Hebert, PhD. The Dynamics of East-Asian Cultural Ethos
+++
1993, Tokyo
The large transport craft hovered over the City of Tokyo, directly above the Imperial Palace. As Chinese soldiers storm the holy grounds, gunning down palace staff and security officers as they go, a lone eunuch serenely waltzed over into the inner sanctum of the Emperor of Japan.
When he entered the private area of the Imperial Family, he saw the aged Akihito calmly standing before the corpses of his entire family. By the looks of it, mothers smothered their children, and fathers slit the throat of their wives. The menfolk had then committed seppuku.
The Eunuch made an approving noise. "So, you had them commit suicide. Noble, and traditional. I respect that, Heika."
The Emperor of Japan turned around and glared at the leader of the Yangban. "It was better than letting them fall into your hands, Master Li. I am surprised that you're still alive."
"Being made an eunuch through sorcerous ritual has its advantages."
"Your practice of that black art is most foul. The Old Families would disapprove."
"They waste their power doing petty tricks, fearful of seizing true power. The age of the old ways are done, heika. Your father and that Hitler boy made a last attempt at ascension- but how did that go for Japan? Cowed and humiliated before the white men, who burned your cities, raped your women and indoctrinated your children. Pathetic."
The two scions of the Old Families stared each other down, before Akihito calmly walked over to an altar. Upon the altar was a familiar package.
Li Gong-Gong's breath hitched. "Oh my. That is the real artifact isn't it, not like that fake you peddle for the masses and guard over by ignorant priests."
"I had the sword transferred from its hiding place when I felt your Ki entering Japan's threshold." Akihito replied as he opened the package and withdrew the almost primitive Neolithic era sword, fashioned from white metal.
Li Gong-Gong nodded his head. "The Yamato Dynasty is the absolute master of the Home Islands, none can dispute this. Still, the Chrysanthemum Throne has weakened as of late, do you think you can face me, boy?"
"Against an Apostate like you?" Akihito gripped the Kusanagi-no-Tsurugi by the hilt and shifted into a stance. "Easily."
With a burst of impossible speed, he stepped forward and brought the ancient weapon down upon the Eunuch, who immediately sidestepped with preternatural agility. His long nails reached up and deflected the chipped edge of the blade, sending green sparks sizzling into the air between the two.
"I do this for the greater good." Li Gong-Gong explained as he rolled quickly to avoid a swipe of the deadly blade. "The parahuman parasites must be controlled."
"A sound argument, if one ignored the fact you have set yourself on this dark path for centuries."
"Short-lived men like you, Akihito, do not grasp the nobility of the path I walk."
Akihito gritted his teeth. "Short-lived men like me do not offend against Heaven. The Kami will deal with the outer path entities as they see fit. Who are we mortals to attempt things outside our station?"
Li Gong-Gong laughed. "Idiot. I have practiced sorcery for centuries. I know the truth that you short-lived fools will never understand."
He caught the edge of the Kusanagi with two fingers and tore the blade from the Emperor's hand.
He quickly turned the blade around and stabbed Akihito in the heart. As the Emperor sank to his knees, the Eunuch leaned in and told him the truth.
"Gods don't exist."
He walked over the dying corpse, pleased with his prize. The sword that cut the burning grass shall make a great ritual tool indeed.
As he left, great gouts of fire exploded from the back of the dead Emperor, incinerating his corpse and those of his family. It blasted through the roofs of the Imperial Palace and lanced across the heavens, creating a phenomenon not dissimilar to the Northern Lights.
Everyone in Tokyo, screaming civilians and fighting soldiers paused to glance at the unusual phenomena. Most did not pay it any mind.
The Gong-Gong paused on the steps outside the palace and muttered. "And thus end the line of Jimmu."
Suddenly, a great Qi shone brightly in the horizon and his eyes widened. He saw a girl- glowing with the power of a trillion stars.
"Impossible!"
+++
1993, Kyushu
Annette woke with a gasp, panting. It was dark and the light breathing of Kenta suddenly cut off as he woke up as well.
"Annette-chan?" Kenta's comforting arms wrapped around her. "Are you okay?"
"I am fine." She said, patting his arm. "Just a bad dream."
+++
The television broadcast begin and his voice was heard throughout Japan and beyond.
"People of Japan, this is acting Prime Minister, Kaneda Hasashi. I am the last surviving member of Prime Minister Genbu's cabinet, which was completely annihilated."We did our best, but there is no longer any point in resisting. As of a hour ago, I negotiated for the surrender of Japan to the Chinese-Union Imperial. They have generously promised to protect many of our rights and privileges and to respect our autonomy where possible.
"I ask that all Japanese military forces and parahuman elements to stand down. Let us not fall to the level of the common terrorist- we can be civilized about this. Nothing will change- you will still wake up and keep your jobs. You will still have a life and our beautiful Japan shall be here and now, forever.
"All parahuman elements, regardless of ethnicity, nationality, sex or age are to report to the nearest authorities for transfer of command to the C.U.I. unfortunately, this is non-negotiable. For the sake of your country and your family and friends, I beg you to surrender yourselves. For parents with parahuman children, you must hand your children over immediately, or find yourself in violation of the law.
"And finally- all foreign nationals that are not Japanese or Chinese or could reasonably claim descent from either must report to the nearest authorities. You are hereby expelled from Japan. You have a month to put your affairs in order.
"Japanese who have the ability to migrate to other nations may choose to do so, you have a month to put your affairs in order before your citizenship is permanently transferred to the C.U.I. Please speak to the Ministry of Immigration for details regarding how this shall be done. Parahumans are forbidding from migrating- they must report to the authorities for assignment to the Yangban. Again. I urge you to not resist. That is all. Huang Shang Banzai! (Ten-Thousand Years to the Emperor of China!)."
+++
"Your puppet does an excellent job, Gong-Gong. The Japanese commoners are accustomed to authority, see how they hasten to obey, trusting us absolutely. It would be sad if it weren't to our advantage" The Japanese Business man spoke with approval. He was seated in a small conference room, surrounded by other powerful Japanese men and women. Amongst them were generals and admirals, business tycoons, bankers, lawyers, lawmakers and yakuza members.
The Gong-Gong sat at the head of the table and smiled at the shadow government he assembled to rule Japan. They had all been subverted slowly over the years, agreeing to betray the security of Japan in order to hand it over to C.U.I. All of them would live like Kings. They would have more power than they would know what to do with.
Inwardly however, he was extremely anxious. His attempts to locate the source of the mysterious qi had turned up blank. He knew however, it was somewhere near Kyushu, so he had his agents scouring the island for anything unusual.
Could another Scion of the Old Families be hiding there? No, that qi is not human.
It also wasn't parahuman. It dwarfed even Scion. The Gong-Gong had seen the Golden Man just the once when it flew over Beijing to rescue a stray dog from being run over by a car. The qi of that abomination disgusted him- by all accounts it was a terrifying energy, however it was so scattered.
If the Gong-Gong could compare Scion's Qi to any other being, it would be the mosquito. The mosquito was supposedly a creature that contained only a fragment of the human soul. A damned soul subject to a mosquito rebirth, according to scripture, was divided into thousands if not millions of fragments, with each shard being reborn as one mosquito. Only when every single mosquito that it was reincarnated into has died could its soul be reconstituted into a whole.
Scion was like that mosquito, a massively alien, but ultimately pathetic lifeform. A gestalt existence that emulated the functions of a higher lifeform by layering millions of weak, simple, animal qi together.
The average parahuman, although carrying pieces of Scion, emit a stronger and more vital Qi. Humans, although simple in comparison, had a broader depth of experience and emotions- they had a stronger mass of qi. Scion was like that same mass of qi, but stretched over a vast expanse of space. Seemingly stronger, but actually very frail.
Take Scion apart and he was basically a mosquito. He was a cosmic joke and the Gong-Gong will see him crushed. Unfortunately, although a joke he may be, he was still very dangerous. A stretched ore of iron can still make a sword. And a sword was much more dangerous than an ore.
Parasites can kill much larger animals- and Scion was the sort of parasite that could threaten the entire world despite having the spiritual essence of an insect.
If he could locate the source of that mysterious qi, he would be able to destroy Scion, he was certain of it. After all, who but he have the experience to save the world? He was unmatched in sorcery- did not the now extinct Old Families proved this, each one falling to his power in their turn? He was the last of the Old Families. He would be the Master of Mankind. It was his destiny!
The Gong-Gong grabbed a nearby mosquito out of the air with movement too quick for the mortals in front of him to follow, and squished it as he listened to his shadow government explain ongoing operations. A Japanese media executive described the successes he has been having with news broadcasts designed to sell the current situation to the average Japanese.
+++
Kenta came home with a grin and showed Annette a document. "I am approved, thanks to your help. My mother's application is still going through, but there's no reason they will reject us."
His girlfriend nodded. "Good. If it comes down to it, I'll marry you. That'll speed up things on the American end. The sooner we leave the better, if they start asking your coworkers or your managers, they'll catch you."
"Yeah, my entire team went underground, we're all passing as civilians and our former managers have agreed to keep their mouth shut."
Annette was uncomfortable with that. If even one Solar Ranger was captured by the Yangban or if Kenta's managers talked…
"I trust them. It'll be fine, Annette."
"Maybe we can ask Daichi to silence your managers."
Kenta looked aghast at the suggestion. "What!? No, don't even joke about that Annette."
"I wasn't joking. I will do anything to protect you." She looked him in the eye and begin to cry. "I can't lose you."
Kenta grabbed Annette and pulled her frame to his chest, hugging her with his whole being, resting his head over her own, and their cheeks touching. They stayed like for several minutes, savouring in the warmth they provided each other in these uncertain times.
Kenta Annette broke apart and frowned. "It's so annoying that I can't use my credit card. They froze the accounts of the parahumans. Luckily, they keep a separate account for parahumans, or my identity would be blown."
Annette's face paled. "Kenta, they have ways of tracing where your money goes- and if they see that the Green Solar Ranger has been transferring his money to your civilian account."
Kenta frowned. "The connection goes through overseas banks- and the C.U.I definitely can't get them to reveal information like that. Even hacking them will bring down the attention of Western Tinkers and Thinkers."
"I don't think the people who invaded Japan on a whim gives two shits about what the West thinks, Kenta-kun."
"Good point. The sooner we get out of here, the better."
+++
As Kenta slept besides Annette, he reached over into his wallet and pulled out a small diamond ring. It wasn't exactly expensive- but it was the meaning that counted.
I will propose the moment we are safe.
He placed the ring back into his wallet and went to sleep, dreaming of a better future.
+++
Two days later, Kenta burst into their apartment, panting, eyes wild with panic.
"They got Daichi. We have to go now." Kenta grabbed her arm and pulled her into their room, he quickly went over to the closet and begin to pile clothing into a large suitcase.
"What!?" Annette could only gasp in horror.
"Daichi's gang- they had someone who is in cahoots with the Chinese. He reported about the situation with my trigger- it was all over the news and too well documented. Japanese government records also confirmed a cover up. They dug and figured that we must have something to do with it."
As Annette threw her clothes into the large suitcase they had prepared the other day, she asked the question she dreaded to hear an answer to.
"What about Kaasan. What about Daichi?"
Kenta didn't answer.
"Kenta…"
"We can't help them Annette. We have to survive."
He turned towards her, eyes filled with tears. "Kaasan told us to run. To forget about her if this ever happened. She's not parahuman, she'll be fine."
Annette nodded. They could fight against a literal dystopian government with superhuman agents. It was suicide. She packed faster.
A mere hour later, their apartment was empty.
+++
It was the fourth day of the two on the run. They slept out in the woods, in a simple tent Kenta had purchased from a local camping store.
"There is talk of boats carrying refugees to Thailand. For a price. A day's walk from here. That's the one we will take."
"Wouldn't they know?"
"The C.U.I haven't found out yet. It's all hush hush."
Annette settled back down. It was hard sleeping these past few days- she never even considered that she would be a refugee. She suddenly felt really bad for all of those refugees fleeing Africa due to parahuman warlords and terrorism.
As she settled in to sleep underneath the full moon however, the sky turned blood red and she felt her breathing slowed…and then stop. All colours begin to drain from the world and all sounds vanished into a damning silence.
She was completely paralyzed. And then suddenly, she stood beside her body. She blinked in confusion and looked down at her unmoving form. Was this some kind of parahuman power? Did I trigger in my sleep?
"What is this?" Her voice was strange, it echoed with an unearthly twang.
She looked down at her translucent hands…and arms and clothes. "What the fuck. Kenta, wake up!"
Her boyfriend did not stir from his slumber. She leaned down to rouse him, but her hands passed right through him.
"What."
Looking closer, she saw that he wasn't breathing either. In fact, nothing was moving. A leaf that was fluttering in the wind had frozen in midair. As if time had stopped.
And then suddenly a great shadow loomed over. She looked up and screamed at the disfigured and flickering entity, whose eyes were flaming and red.
"I FOUND YOU." The entity screeched. "A WHITE BITCH. YOU ARE UNWORTHY OF THE QI YOU CARRY!"
It swooped down and wrapped it's foul energy around her and she screamed as it burned her body.
"GIVE IT TO ME!" It roared, tendrils of black energy began to stab into her- each thrust was like her nerves were being set on fire. The pain was impossible to describe and she felt her throat bled as she screamed her ethereal voice hoarse. She would have pissed herself if she could have done so in her incorporeal state.
"Kenta! Save me."
Her boyfriend- and time itself, remained unresponsive.
"There is talk of boats carrying refugees to Thailand. For a price. A day's walk from here. That's the one we will take."
"Wouldn't they know?"
"The C.U.I haven't found out yet. It's all hush hush."
Annette settled back down. It was hard sleeping these past few days- she never even considered that she would be a refugee. She suddenly felt really bad for all of those refugees fleeing Africa due to parahuman warlords and terrorism.
As she settled in to sleep underneath the full moon however, the sky turned blood red and she felt her breathing slowed…and then stop. All colours begin to drain from the world and all sounds vanished into a damning silence.
She was completely paralyzed. And then suddenly, she stood beside her body. She blinked in confusion and looked down at her unmoving form. Was this some kind of parahuman power? Did I trigger in my sleep?
"What is this?" Her voice was strange, it echoed with an unearthly twang.
She looked down at her translucent hands…and arms and clothes. "What the fuck. Kenta, wake up!"
Her boyfriend did not stir from his slumber. She leaned down to rouse him, but her hands passed right through him.
"What."
Looking closer, she saw that he wasn't breathing either. In fact, nothing was moving. A leaf that was fluttering in the wind had frozen in midair. As if time had stopped.
And then suddenly a great shadow loomed over. She looked up and screamed at the disfigured and flickering entity, whose eyes were flaming and red.
"I FOUND YOU." The entity screeched. "A WHITE BITCH. YOU ARE UNWORTHY OF THE QI YOU CARRY!"
It swooped down and wrapped it's foul energy around her and she screamed as it burned her body.
"GIVE IT TO ME!" It roared, tendrils of black energy began to stab into her- each thrust was like her nerves were being set on fire. The pain was impossible to describe and she felt her throat bled as she screamed her ethereal voice hoarse. She would have pissed herself if she could have done so in her incorporeal state.
"Kenta! Save me."
Her boyfriend- and time itself, remained unresponsive.
+++
The Gong-Gong shook as he sat cross legged in meditation. He opened his eyes and hollered in glee. "I've found her!"
His astral projection had finally zoned in on the source of that terrifying brilliant Qi, and he would consume it for himself. Raising a clenched fist, he struck at an imaginary opponent and was rewarded with a spring of unbelievable energy.
"The Worm will burn. With this qi I will be the God of the World!"
+++
As Annette felt herself being tore to shreds- a sudden warmth filled her entire body and a youthful hand reached out to steady her.
"Be calm, Annette."
And with a flourish of his arm, the shadow was cast off of her with a screech. It glared balefully at the interloper and screeched. "YOU DARE, WHO ARE YOU!?"
"A God." Was the interloper's reply before he struck out and assaulted the shadow with a mighty slash. With a burst of prismatic light, the shadow was flung back.
The shadow gave an unearthly howl, screaming about the impossibility of gods and shattered into hundreds of wisps that dispersed into the atmosphere.
Annette sat down beside her frozen body, her legs trembling. She looked at the glowing figure- too bright for her to make out any true details except for the traditional manner of his dress and she managed to stutter out. "What are you?"
"A spirit. Or your disciple. Or your daughter. There are many ways to look at the truth."
She blinked in confusion. "But you're a boy. How can you be my daughter?"
He smiled beatifically at her. "I am a boy now. In my next life I will be a girl."
He raised a hand and she flinched back in fear. It sighed and reassured her, "I will not harm you."
He touched her forehead gently and whispered. "Sleep. It is not yet time to set the plan into motion. The interference of that third-rate sorcerer made me reveal myself to you too soon."
"I don't understand."
"You will understand the sacrifices you must make soon. All is ordained."
And she fell asleep. And forgot her dreams. To make sure, the boy of light withdrew a jade vase and sprinkled drops of water upon her face. "Of the river Lethe," He intoned. "So that you forget that which you are not meant to know."
The boy of light merely looked down at her sadly. "I will see you soon 'oh White Bat, and savour the years we are allotted by fate as mother and child."
+++
The pale faced eunuch screamed a bloodcurdlingly death cry as he felt his astral projection was tore into shreds by the…the impossible being. His hands clenched and unclenched as his muscles and legs contracted violently and without control, the seizure made him bite his tongues violently.
He lay there gasping and twitching in a seizure, blood pouring from every orifice as the sympathetic backlash of losing his spirit double dealt agonies to his body.
Finally the spasms subsided and the wretched creature that was the Eunuch raise his face, eyes wild with shock and blood pouring from his mouth.
The door burst open and two soldiers ran into the room.
"Gong-Gong! Are you okay?" One bent down to touch him, but was immediately blasted back into a nearby wall. With a slash of his hand, Li split open the skull of the soldier who dared touched him.
"You! Bring me talisman paper and incense."
The soldier didn't need to be told twice- he was well aware of the Eunuch's hobbies and he ran out of the room, sidestepping the body of his dead comrade.
The Gong-Gong managed to climb back up into a lotus position. He will need to clean out the remnants of his tether and patch up his third eye before his Origin Qi flowed out of the gaping spiritual hole in his soul into the Void.
And then suddenly something external attacked his mind while his spiritual defenses were broken.
Two Great Beings Spiraled in the Void.
The Gong-Gong's eyes widened in horror. "Oh fuck-"
[DESTINATION]
[AGREEMENT]
[TRAJECTORY]
[AGREEMENT]
"- no."
The thing that attached to his brain immediately sliced through all his meridians, releasing the precious qi he had gathered over the centuries into the atmosphere like a hot air balloon with a hole. The parasite breached the lower dantian and consumed his second chakra, drinking all of the energy that dealt with reproductive urges and animalistic instincts.
Thankfully, he could feel that his Huns and Pos were still intact, otherwise he would have gone insane from losing vital psychological organs.
He slumped over, foaming at the mouth, his eyes rolled up as he triggered and lost a majority of his spiritual power.
Before he lost consciousness, he swore vengeance on that damned white girl for destroying his cultivation efforts so thoroughly.
Two Great Beings Spiraled in the Void.
The Gong-Gong's eyes widened in horror. "Oh fuck-"
[DESTINATION]
[AGREEMENT]
[TRAJECTORY]
[AGREEMENT]
"- no."
The thing that attached to his brain immediately sliced through all his meridians, releasing the precious qi he had gathered over the centuries into the atmosphere like a hot air balloon with a hole. The parasite breached the lower dantian and consumed his second chakra, drinking all of the energy that dealt with reproductive urges and animalistic instincts.
Thankfully, he could feel that his Huns and Pos were still intact, otherwise he would have gone insane from losing vital psychological organs.
He slumped over, foaming at the mouth, his eyes rolled up as he triggered and lost a majority of his spiritual power.
Before he lost consciousness, he swore vengeance on that damned white girl for destroying his cultivation efforts so thoroughly.
+++
"Kenta Kikuchi." A voice said.
Kenta woke up and saw himself surrounded by robed members of the Yangban and several Chinese soldiers, guns trained on him and Annette. In front of them stood a young man with a ponytail.
Kenta immediately tried to throw out a fireball, but nothing happened, he pulled back his arm, staring at his hand in disbelief.
"We have a power nullifier." Pony-Tails said. "You have ran out of options."
He glanced over at the still sleeping Annette and made a gesture. Another soldier approached her and Kenta immediately growled.
"Stop!"
He got up and raise his hands. "I'll come with you. Let her go."
"Why should we? She's a traitor. A filthy white thing that dares help a parahuman escape."
"She was helping me escape. It's my fault."
"Doesn't help her case. Bag her."
Soldiers reached out and grabbed Annette, who woke with a gasp and being to kick and scream.
"Let me go, you bastards!"
The soldier stabbed her with a needle and she fell limp. Kenta roared and tackled the soldier and begin to beat on him.
"Number Five."
A sudden field of purple appeared around Kenta and he was pulled off of the soldier to slam into a nearby tree- then he was flung into the air only to slam down on the ground with a crack. He cried in pain as he felt his spine snap.
His wallet had dropped out while he was in the air and a small metal ring land several feet away. No one noticed.
"You'll live once we remove the nullification of your powers." The leader of the group looked down at him, his face stoic and unsympathetic. He pointed to a nearby soldier. "Bag him."
"Wait- wait." Kenta managed to say through the haze of pain filling his body. "I will do whatever you say. I will obey you. Listen to you. I will serve the C.U.I without question. You won't have any trouble from me."
"We can just condition you."
Kenta was quick with his reply. "My regenerative power counteracts Master Powers and changes to nervous systems. We tested extensively. Trust me, I would be almost impossible to subvert. Let me work for you- willingly. Please."
He was even telling the truth.
There was a pause, and then to his relief the leader said. "And what would you want in exchange?"
"Just let her go."
Pony-tails considered things. "If she tests negative for a Corona Gemma…we will deport her. Otherwise, she will join the Yangban. Bag them."
Black bags were thrown over both of their faces. Soldiers dragged Kenta up and away, while another slung the unconscious Annette over his shoulders.
A diamond ring was left forgotten on the forest floor.
+++
"Where am I? Where's Kenta? What have you bastards done to him!?"
"Quiet you guilao!" The soldier barked at her as he shoved her towards the boat.
"What are you doing, let me go!" She struggled as the two soldiers pushed her onto the tightly packed ship, full of non-Japanese nationals of all colours and stripes. There were a few Japanese, mostly the spouse of foreigners.
"You are leaving. And never returning, on pain of death."
The ramp sealed shut and the ship began to move away from the harbor.
Annette, still dozy from whatever tranquilizer was in her system moved to the edge and tried to jump overboard, but several of the panicking passengers managed to pull her back before she hurled herself over the rails. Rough hands grabbed onto her even as she struggled to get closer.
"Are you crazy!?" One elderly Korean gentleman scolded her in accented English. "You'll never make it up those piers- they're too high up, and those Chinese bastards would've happily let you drown yourself."
She ignored him and stretched out her free hand towards the port.
Towards Japan.
Towards Kenta.
"Kenta-kun!"
+++
"Today Kenta Kikuchi dies. From now on until the death in service to the Emperor of China, you are Number Thirty-Nine."
Kenta nodded and bowed his head obediently. To disobey would mean unimaginable torture and possibly death. He was already dead inside. No torture could destroy his soul, but his soul was gone, gone with the woman he loved.
He followed his commanding officer deeper into the underground training facility, freshly built into the sides of a mountain. Before he entered the darkness, he dared looked towards the Pacific through the small slit that barely let in any light.
Towards America.
Towards Annette.
Forgive me. Annette-chan.
Number Thirty-Nine turned away and walked into the shadows.
+++
1999, KyushuKyushu sank beneath the waves, crashing into the ocean floor with a final thud, a victim of the most epic battle in the world, between a Dragon and a Demon of the Seas.
A small diamond ring floated down and rested on the ocean floor.
A defeated man roared in the surface above as his home was lost forever to the seas. He roar in rage and sprayed fire over the heavens as he failed to save his mother, his city, his island, everyone he knew growing up.
The corpses of several of his Yangban comrades floated in the waves, victims of a ceaseless evil.
He screamed in pain, asking the heavens the question that mortals cannot answer.
What was all my sacrifices for?
Annette. The name came to him. So many years ago, yet the memory was still fresh as that first day, when she ran him over with her bike. Her smell, her voice- the sweet warmth of body, like molten love.
He looked towards the East, across the Pacific. A suicidal distance.
A suicidal distance for anyone but me.
He allowed himself to sink beneath the waves.
And he swam. And swam. Every time he felt like drowning, he failed to die. His body grew gills. He clawed and swam and eventually flew over the surface of the sea.
He destroyed C.U.I aircraft that they sent after him. He was invincible in his full dragon form. And nothing was going to stop him from reuniting with his other half.
Nothing.
+++
2000, Brockton Bay, USA
She lived in Brockton Bay. So that was where he gunned for. He climbed up out of the West coast and pushed inland, soundly crushing any opposition in his way as marched East, whether villain or hero. He ignored recruitment drives. He fought off all three of the triumvirate at one point or another- they were wise enough to stop chasing him once he was out of the vicinity of major population centres.
Finally, without anyone to fight, his powers began to subside and he returned to the form of a man for the first time in months.
He entered the vicinity of Brockton Bay near the end of December, just after New Years. A joyous time for many families. A time for change. A time to forge a new future, but he was only looking for his past.
He stalked the streets, with no status, no clothing, and no money. But he made do, he assaulted and robbed any gangsters he came across. He slept in a warehouse to pass the time.
He wore only a metal dragon mask that he forged from fallen pieces of his own scale, it wasn't much, but it wouldn't do to have his "secret" identity discovered if he started a life with Annette. It would only endanger her.
The local Asian Gangs were all interested in him, the local Yakuza wanted to recruit him. The other Asian gangs feared him. He ignored them all. When they send men to show him the error of his ways, he showed them their error. Thoroughly.
With a large trench coat on, he stalked the streets, slowly gathering information. The language barrier made it difficult, his English was atrocious, otherwise he would have asked a private detective or the police or someone to find where Annette was.
Is Annette still alive?
And then one night, as he turned a corner onto the Brockton University campus, he saw her waiting outside of a campus library. She was still a distance away, but his superhuman eyesight saw her plain as day.
"Annette." His voice came out cracked, bursting with emotion.
He could scarcely believe it. She was even more beautiful than he remembered, taller, more confident, her hair just as luscious as he remembered falling through his hands. She wore a winter jacket and seemed to be waiting for something.
As he approached her, snow fell from the sky and a car pulled up. The door opened and a little girl- a toddler, no more than four years old, ran out and charged right towards his lover.
"Mommy!"
His heart froze. He could see the familial resemblance- she had her eyes and her hair. There was no doubt that the child was Annette's.
His breathing became ragged.
A man emerged from the car. He walked over and embraced Annette. Kenta's Annette.
Scales burst from underneath his skin and Kenta forced himself to turn around. The rage was blinding. The feelings of betrayal so deep he could not express it to himself in any coherent fashion.
He raised a hand, heat gathering upon his fingertips. And for the first time ever, he wanted to hurt her. He wanted kill that man and her child and then force himself upon Annette.
No! Never! Never her. I can never hurt her.
He found his feet moving.
He turned and disappeared, alone into the Brockton Winter.
+++
Annette finished hugging her husband, but then felt compelled to looked over- towards the edge of campus. She saw a man in the distance walking away in a trench coat.
"Annette- is something wrong?" Danny looked down at her with concern in his eyes.
She continued staring at the man walking away, his shoulders were so familiar….no, that was her imagination. He was dead. Or brainwashed. She knew that.
She force herself to turn back and smile at her husband. "N-nothing, Danny. Nothing is wrong." The lie came easily. She would feel guilty about it later.
She hooked her hand with Taylor's, and wrapped her arm around her husband's waist. He returned the gesture and the family of three walked towards their car.
+++
In the following years, Annette Hebert would often gaze at a certain Green Solar Ranger action figure on her writing desk and ponder if that new Parahuman Warlord, Lung was the man she once knew. Kenta to her knowledge grew no wings, let alone four and never reached the titanic sizes that the Dragon of Kyushu was supposed to have done.
She often wondered, but she couldn't exactly walk up into the middle of ABB territory and ask to speak to their leader.
And she didn't dare to because she didn't know what she would do if Kenta was in front of her.
As she sleep besides Danny at night, she would often feel guilty for thinking of Kenta in the introspective moments when her thoughts were alone in her head. Danny knew about her previous lover- and the tragedy of that. He knew she still loved him. But Danny also never doubted her feelings for her husband either, so that only made it worse.
No, it was best for the past to stay dead. She was a mother and a wife now, she had responsibilities and obligations and a life. Let sleeping corpses lie where they rest.
And then one day, she unexpectedly died to an old grudge.
+++
The Elder Zhang Guo was referred to as a white primordial bat who flew out of the chaos- in this way, he is an avatar of the Tao itself. Zhang Guo Lao was THE great necromancer who made death frivolous and wilted flowers and resurrected the dead at a whim. He frequented the courts of the Tang Dynasty, although he was supposedly several centuries old by then. He was also supposedly the Grand Minister of Sage Emperor Yao in another life. Although popular folklore decreed that he was an Immortal Xian, a student of Sinic folklore should remember that the original etymology of Xian referred to spiritual enlightenment rather than literal immortality. Their ability to bypass death and violate the laws of nature are not inherent to their spiritual value, they are Xian because of who they are, not what they are, in the same way that Parahumans powers do not confer upon the worthy- anyone can be a parahuman. The conflation of power with virtue is flawed.
- Annette Hebert, PhD. Separation of Power and Virtue: A Taoist Perspective
___
A/N: Oops, I referred to Akihito as the Emperor of China (in the first section). This is wrong. He is obviously the Emperor of Japan. Also, enter the Xianxia! Surprise! xD
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Chloe Sullivan
Subdefective
- Location
- 1630 Revello Drive, Sunnydale CA
Best use of Parahuman triggering as mental attack, 10/10 would use again against evil spellcaster.
Numen
Long Time Creeper
- Location
- Canada
It even makes sense, in that people need to be psychologically weakened (traumatized) in order to trigger. Otherwise the natural human energies ward off psychic parasites.
12. Evil
Numen
Long Time Creeper
- Location
- Canada
Chapter 12: Evil
"Hurricane Tycho approaches the East coast, moving through the Atlantic-" The weatherman enthusiastically reported while the roar of thunder boomed in the distance. Dennis was watching television in the wards recreational area, while Missy and Chris were playing some kind of a silly card game in a corner.
A quick glance at a nearby monitor showed the outside of the Rig, where it was raining hard and waves of water crashed into the sides and up several feet.
"It's really hurricane season, huh?" Carlos commented before sitting down on the couch next to Dennis. "I guess that's why everyone is on the rig."
Missy spoke up without removing her eyes from her hand of cards. "Yeah, I am not heading home in this weather- the ferry alone would be hellish, if it's even running."
"It is." Carlos confirmed. "PRT regulations state the ferry must be available at all times because the PRT is always in operation. Of course, the boats that usually transport civilians in for tours are down, but PRT employees can always hitch a ride."
"Ah." Missy said, still concentrating on her cards. Chris fidgeted and then scowled. "Missy, are you done yet?"
"Shush, I am trying to decide on the best combo here." She licked her lips and then played several cards in quick succession, "I'll do this and then this and recover that and then I end with this thereby allowing this."- fishing out several from a discard pile in the process. "Eat shit!"
"Missy, language!" Carlos admonished, but the younger stuck out her tongue at him. "Well, with our usual potty mouth gone, someone has to be the dark and edgy one. I think I am good for that."
Dennis chuckled. "You're trying to replace Shadow Stalker?"
"I am trying to be a nicer version of Stalker."
Carlos frowned. "How can you guys joke about her already? She died. Show some respect."
Missy shrugged. "I am going to be honest, I think she pissed off some villain somewhere with serious connections and got herself killed."
"Yup." Dennis agreed.
"Guys!"
"Oh please Carlos, they found lethal bolts- with blood on them in her hidden locker and at home and at school. Tell me you don't think she'd made some serious enemies. For Christ's sake, in the investigative report, they got evidence of her beating up homeless people for information on the Merchants."
Dennis was a guy who firmly believed in taking life easily. He tried to deal with life positively, and a result did not really have an issue with most people, not even the villains.
Sophia though, was just unpleasant. Like a black hole that sucked away all happiness, no matter how hard everyone else tried to get along with her, she was just so abrasive and so goddamned hateful.
Her ending up dead because she got too arrogant was going to happen sooner or later. It was horrible what happened, but he wasn't really surprised that it did.
He did puke when he secretly took a look at the photographs of her remains, but he was trying to be objective about it. He did pray that she was dead before her killer stuff her crushed body into that locker though. Not even the slaughterhouse nine deserved to die like that. He paused. Or maybe they did, because that was the kind of sick shit they tend to do.
"So, what do you think will happen to the gang situation? We got like, half the E88 in custody, while the other half is presumed dead or severely wounded." Chris asked.
"Well, I think Lung is going to push to expand his territory." Missy replied without missing a beat. She drew a card and then smirked at Chris.
The leader of the Wards nodded his head as he picked up the remote. "Missy is probably right. This is too good of an opportunity to pass up."
Dennis scowled when Carlos switched the channel to some sort of horror movie. On screen, a girl was screaming and trying to run away from a ghostly tentacle.
"I hate horror movies." He whined.
"Too bad. News was just too boring." Carlos countered.
The lighting suddenly flickered. Carlos looked up. "Huh, seemed to me that the storm is affecting the power."
"Yeah, but power outages are almost impossible- we have our own source of electricity keeping everything running, not to mention tinker backups." Missy said.
"Yeah, it's probably nothing."
There was the deep booms of distant thunders and the light flickered twice and died, abandoning everyone to the darkness.
"Well shit."
Viktor looked around and frowned. Did the power just went out? He heard the storm that was brewing outside, so that wasn't entirely unexpected, still he thought that the PRT would have a secure system with appropriate redundancies.
There was a knocking sound in the walls.
"Pssst. Viktor?"
The soundproof force field must be down as well. "I hear you Br- I mean Hookwolf. Do you think the kinetic barrier is down?"
"Gimme a sec."
There was a loud clanging sound and then Brad's voice spoke up again, triumph in his voice. "I don't know how, but the barrier is down.I just punched through the metal door with my spike fist."
"Fuck yes. Let's get out of here."
Hookwolf tore off Viktor's cell door and stood in the doorway. "Where are the others?"
"The PRT keep prisoners as separate from each other as possible to prevent collusions. Now, if I was a prison warden or a director of a government military agency...and I certainly have the skills of both, I would place a cell in…"
He rattled off several possible locations and the two hurried out of the detention sector and down a corridor. Everything was dark so they moved slowly and silently. It was eerily because there was no guards running down towards them.
"Where are the guards?" Viktor grumbled. "It's standard procedure to check up on prisoners in the event of a power outage?"
"Maybe the others came to rescue us and they're the ones responsible for turning off the power." Brad suggested.
Viktor conceded that was a likely scenario. "It would certainly explain why the guards haven't come running yet, they're probably rushing to defend themselves from an attack."
"I knew Kaiser wouldn't abandon us." Brad said happily. Viktor personally wasn't so sure that Kaiser cared about his subordinates enough, but he wouldn't leave half of his parahuman soldiers in jail- he had Lung to contend with after all.
They turned around another corner and came to a stop in front of a similar steel door to the one that was the exit from their detention area.The door was opening and closing, likely malfunctioning from whatever power outage messed up the electronics of this place.
"This must be another detention area, with luck, the rest of us will be here."
When Viktor was pulled from the rubble by emergency personals, he was immediately identified by his torn costume and promptly arrested. He had been vaguely aware of a limp Krieg, a crying Rune, an unconscious Hookwolf and a still impaled Alabaster being herded towards a large PRT detention vehicle, surrounded on all sides by heroes and an ever stoic Armsmaster watching from a distance away, next to his bike.
So he was pretty sure he knew who else was in custody on the rig, as for the others, they could be dead or in hiding. Her sincerely hoped it was the latter and that this power outage was a deliberate sabotage by the free members of the Empire in order to free the prisoners.
He grinned at Brad and pointed to the door ahead. "You're the brute. You go first."
"Coward."
Hookwolf transformed his arms into steel hooks and reached into the gap in the door. With a mighty heave, he pushed the sliding door all the way to the edge and Viktor slipped in.
The four cell doors were still closed- that was odd, couldn't Krieg have done something to break out with his kinetic powers?
Hookwolf walked in from behind and Viktor instructed him to bust the others out. He walked up to the first door and kicked it open. He looked inside briefly and then turned back to Viktor.
"We have a problem."
Viktor pushed Brad aside and looked in.
There was a bloody smear on the ground and what looked like the Krieg splattered around the ceiling, with his entrails hanging down. It was also raining blood thanks to the aforementioned corpse on the ceiling.
Viktor paled, his heart beating faster. "Hookwolf, open the other doors, now!'
Hookwolf did as he was told, quickly tearing off each door in succession.
The other rooms were not much better- in the last one, Alabaster's pulverized head rolled out in a deluge of blood and slippery organs.
A very green Viktor and a shaken Hookwolf turned to look at each other.
"We're getting out of here, right now."
That was when the metal door Hookwolf had forced open previously slid shut. In the darkness Viktor could hear his panicked breathing escalate.
There was a jingle, like a bell.
"Fuck this, I am out of here!" Hookwolf roared and charged at the steel door, slashing at it with hooks that erupted from his body. The sparks of steel against steel reflected off of the metallic walls and the ceramic floor tiles, giving the darkness some small flashes of brief light.
That was when Viktor saw it.
"AAAAGHH!" He screamed and screamed.
He knew exactly what it was- he once took some of the skills off a Taoist Priest in Hong-Kong for fun. He withdrew his wallet with shaking fingers and tried to dump out the spare change inside- but it was too late.
Brad turned around at Viktor's sudden scream and he saw his companion's shadowy form hit the floor and was pulled back into the darkness at alarming speeds.
Viktor's screams were cut out and a wet thudding could be heard.
Brad started pounding on the steel door, screaming for help. "PRT! HEROES! SAVE ME!OHMYGODOHMYGOD!"
Armsmaster watched the PRT agent puking up his dinner after taking one look inside the room now that they had opened the mangled steel door.
Power had been restored, but all of their prisoners were dead. Inwardly, Armsmaster was pleased, it was better than seeing the Nazis break out again and generate more victims. But that still left a dangerous killer loose, justified or not. This situation also reminded him too strongly of how Sophia died.
Glancing away from Hookwolf's head- his expression a rictus of fear and pain- Colin searched for any ways that the mysterious assailant could have broken into the base.
"A teleporter, maybe?" Dragon whispered in his ears.
"Maybe." He absently replied. "Let's hope Jack Slash doesn't recruit this mysterious killer, whoever they are."
"Yeah, now that thought gives me nightmares."A pause. Then Dragon asked. "Do you think this is related to whoever killed Shadow Stalker?"
Armsmaster nodded. "Yes. I think so. Too much similarities- the brutal murder, the locked door- or in her case, the locked locker. And the fact that they only target villains. Stalker's behaviour could be interpreted as evil by an appropriately delusional vigilante. It does fit, but doesn't explain how they did this."
"Or how they shut off the Rig's power. It would be difficult for even me to pull that off." Dragon muttered.
Armsmaster tuned her out as he pondered how this will effect Brockton Bay as a whole- it would mean he needed to accelerate his plans, otherwise once Lung hear about this, he'll try and conquer the Bay. Colin would deal with him before that happens.
Somewhere, a wheelchair spun around in circles but stopped when a shadowy figure moved passed it and phased through the walls.
"Did you have a good hunt?" His master asked.
There was no reply, but the gore all over his Qing Dynasty Imperial Official's robes answered his master's question for him.
"Hurricane Tycho approaches the East coast, moving through the Atlantic-" The weatherman enthusiastically reported while the roar of thunder boomed in the distance. Dennis was watching television in the wards recreational area, while Missy and Chris were playing some kind of a silly card game in a corner.
A quick glance at a nearby monitor showed the outside of the Rig, where it was raining hard and waves of water crashed into the sides and up several feet.
"It's really hurricane season, huh?" Carlos commented before sitting down on the couch next to Dennis. "I guess that's why everyone is on the rig."
Missy spoke up without removing her eyes from her hand of cards. "Yeah, I am not heading home in this weather- the ferry alone would be hellish, if it's even running."
"It is." Carlos confirmed. "PRT regulations state the ferry must be available at all times because the PRT is always in operation. Of course, the boats that usually transport civilians in for tours are down, but PRT employees can always hitch a ride."
"Ah." Missy said, still concentrating on her cards. Chris fidgeted and then scowled. "Missy, are you done yet?"
"Shush, I am trying to decide on the best combo here." She licked her lips and then played several cards in quick succession, "I'll do this and then this and recover that and then I end with this thereby allowing this."- fishing out several from a discard pile in the process. "Eat shit!"
"Missy, language!" Carlos admonished, but the younger stuck out her tongue at him. "Well, with our usual potty mouth gone, someone has to be the dark and edgy one. I think I am good for that."
Dennis chuckled. "You're trying to replace Shadow Stalker?"
"I am trying to be a nicer version of Stalker."
Carlos frowned. "How can you guys joke about her already? She died. Show some respect."
Missy shrugged. "I am going to be honest, I think she pissed off some villain somewhere with serious connections and got herself killed."
"Yup." Dennis agreed.
"Guys!"
"Oh please Carlos, they found lethal bolts- with blood on them in her hidden locker and at home and at school. Tell me you don't think she'd made some serious enemies. For Christ's sake, in the investigative report, they got evidence of her beating up homeless people for information on the Merchants."
Dennis was a guy who firmly believed in taking life easily. He tried to deal with life positively, and a result did not really have an issue with most people, not even the villains.
Sophia though, was just unpleasant. Like a black hole that sucked away all happiness, no matter how hard everyone else tried to get along with her, she was just so abrasive and so goddamned hateful.
Her ending up dead because she got too arrogant was going to happen sooner or later. It was horrible what happened, but he wasn't really surprised that it did.
He did puke when he secretly took a look at the photographs of her remains, but he was trying to be objective about it. He did pray that she was dead before her killer stuff her crushed body into that locker though. Not even the slaughterhouse nine deserved to die like that. He paused. Or maybe they did, because that was the kind of sick shit they tend to do.
"So, what do you think will happen to the gang situation? We got like, half the E88 in custody, while the other half is presumed dead or severely wounded." Chris asked.
"Well, I think Lung is going to push to expand his territory." Missy replied without missing a beat. She drew a card and then smirked at Chris.
The leader of the Wards nodded his head as he picked up the remote. "Missy is probably right. This is too good of an opportunity to pass up."
Dennis scowled when Carlos switched the channel to some sort of horror movie. On screen, a girl was screaming and trying to run away from a ghostly tentacle.
"I hate horror movies." He whined.
"Too bad. News was just too boring." Carlos countered.
The lighting suddenly flickered. Carlos looked up. "Huh, seemed to me that the storm is affecting the power."
"Yeah, but power outages are almost impossible- we have our own source of electricity keeping everything running, not to mention tinker backups." Missy said.
"Yeah, it's probably nothing."
There was the deep booms of distant thunders and the light flickered twice and died, abandoning everyone to the darkness.
"Well shit."
+++
Viktor looked around and frowned. Did the power just went out? He heard the storm that was brewing outside, so that wasn't entirely unexpected, still he thought that the PRT would have a secure system with appropriate redundancies.
There was a knocking sound in the walls.
"Pssst. Viktor?"
The soundproof force field must be down as well. "I hear you Br- I mean Hookwolf. Do you think the kinetic barrier is down?"
"Gimme a sec."
There was a loud clanging sound and then Brad's voice spoke up again, triumph in his voice. "I don't know how, but the barrier is down.I just punched through the metal door with my spike fist."
"Fuck yes. Let's get out of here."
Hookwolf tore off Viktor's cell door and stood in the doorway. "Where are the others?"
"The PRT keep prisoners as separate from each other as possible to prevent collusions. Now, if I was a prison warden or a director of a government military agency...and I certainly have the skills of both, I would place a cell in…"
He rattled off several possible locations and the two hurried out of the detention sector and down a corridor. Everything was dark so they moved slowly and silently. It was eerily because there was no guards running down towards them.
"Where are the guards?" Viktor grumbled. "It's standard procedure to check up on prisoners in the event of a power outage?"
"Maybe the others came to rescue us and they're the ones responsible for turning off the power." Brad suggested.
Viktor conceded that was a likely scenario. "It would certainly explain why the guards haven't come running yet, they're probably rushing to defend themselves from an attack."
"I knew Kaiser wouldn't abandon us." Brad said happily. Viktor personally wasn't so sure that Kaiser cared about his subordinates enough, but he wouldn't leave half of his parahuman soldiers in jail- he had Lung to contend with after all.
They turned around another corner and came to a stop in front of a similar steel door to the one that was the exit from their detention area.The door was opening and closing, likely malfunctioning from whatever power outage messed up the electronics of this place.
"This must be another detention area, with luck, the rest of us will be here."
When Viktor was pulled from the rubble by emergency personals, he was immediately identified by his torn costume and promptly arrested. He had been vaguely aware of a limp Krieg, a crying Rune, an unconscious Hookwolf and a still impaled Alabaster being herded towards a large PRT detention vehicle, surrounded on all sides by heroes and an ever stoic Armsmaster watching from a distance away, next to his bike.
So he was pretty sure he knew who else was in custody on the rig, as for the others, they could be dead or in hiding. Her sincerely hoped it was the latter and that this power outage was a deliberate sabotage by the free members of the Empire in order to free the prisoners.
He grinned at Brad and pointed to the door ahead. "You're the brute. You go first."
"Coward."
Hookwolf transformed his arms into steel hooks and reached into the gap in the door. With a mighty heave, he pushed the sliding door all the way to the edge and Viktor slipped in.
The four cell doors were still closed- that was odd, couldn't Krieg have done something to break out with his kinetic powers?
Hookwolf walked in from behind and Viktor instructed him to bust the others out. He walked up to the first door and kicked it open. He looked inside briefly and then turned back to Viktor.
"We have a problem."
Viktor pushed Brad aside and looked in.
There was a bloody smear on the ground and what looked like the Krieg splattered around the ceiling, with his entrails hanging down. It was also raining blood thanks to the aforementioned corpse on the ceiling.
Viktor paled, his heart beating faster. "Hookwolf, open the other doors, now!'
Hookwolf did as he was told, quickly tearing off each door in succession.
The other rooms were not much better- in the last one, Alabaster's pulverized head rolled out in a deluge of blood and slippery organs.
A very green Viktor and a shaken Hookwolf turned to look at each other.
"We're getting out of here, right now."
That was when the metal door Hookwolf had forced open previously slid shut. In the darkness Viktor could hear his panicked breathing escalate.
There was a jingle, like a bell.
"Fuck this, I am out of here!" Hookwolf roared and charged at the steel door, slashing at it with hooks that erupted from his body. The sparks of steel against steel reflected off of the metallic walls and the ceramic floor tiles, giving the darkness some small flashes of brief light.
That was when Viktor saw it.
"AAAAGHH!" He screamed and screamed.
He knew exactly what it was- he once took some of the skills off a Taoist Priest in Hong-Kong for fun. He withdrew his wallet with shaking fingers and tried to dump out the spare change inside- but it was too late.
Brad turned around at Viktor's sudden scream and he saw his companion's shadowy form hit the floor and was pulled back into the darkness at alarming speeds.
Viktor's screams were cut out and a wet thudding could be heard.
Brad started pounding on the steel door, screaming for help. "PRT! HEROES! SAVE ME!OHMYGODOHMYGOD!"
+++
Armsmaster watched the PRT agent puking up his dinner after taking one look inside the room now that they had opened the mangled steel door.
Power had been restored, but all of their prisoners were dead. Inwardly, Armsmaster was pleased, it was better than seeing the Nazis break out again and generate more victims. But that still left a dangerous killer loose, justified or not. This situation also reminded him too strongly of how Sophia died.
Glancing away from Hookwolf's head- his expression a rictus of fear and pain- Colin searched for any ways that the mysterious assailant could have broken into the base.
"A teleporter, maybe?" Dragon whispered in his ears.
"Maybe." He absently replied. "Let's hope Jack Slash doesn't recruit this mysterious killer, whoever they are."
"Yeah, now that thought gives me nightmares."A pause. Then Dragon asked. "Do you think this is related to whoever killed Shadow Stalker?"
Armsmaster nodded. "Yes. I think so. Too much similarities- the brutal murder, the locked door- or in her case, the locked locker. And the fact that they only target villains. Stalker's behaviour could be interpreted as evil by an appropriately delusional vigilante. It does fit, but doesn't explain how they did this."
"Or how they shut off the Rig's power. It would be difficult for even me to pull that off." Dragon muttered.
Armsmaster tuned her out as he pondered how this will effect Brockton Bay as a whole- it would mean he needed to accelerate his plans, otherwise once Lung hear about this, he'll try and conquer the Bay. Colin would deal with him before that happens.
+++
Somewhere, a wheelchair spun around in circles but stopped when a shadowy figure moved passed it and phased through the walls.
"Did you have a good hunt?" His master asked.
There was no reply, but the gore all over his Qing Dynasty Imperial Official's robes answered his master's question for him.
Last edited:
- Location
- Australia
Wait, the killer is that Gong Gong fellow? I don't remember him being in a wheelchair. Clearly the wheel chair person is Annette bring down vengeanceon people by having mastered the Gong Gong fellow!
Numen
Long Time Creeper
- Location
- Canada
Can't answer that yet. If you read carefully, the wheelchair is not occupied.
- Location
- Australia
Oh I c. Not sure why Gong Gong would be killing people or having people killed (some random people at that) around Taylor if it is actually him calling the shots here, quite ze mystery. If he could get that close why not for her directly, but if she is being protected by that kami/has that kamis power wouldn't he just draw that attention, hmmm...
Still like the idea of it being Annette calling the shots, because that would be a twist worthy of M Night Shamalama.
13. An eye for an eye makes a house full of dead ninjas
Numen
Long Time Creeper
- Location
- Canada
A/N: Two updates in rapid succession! You guys are lucky I am awesome. It is absolutely necessary that you have read the previous chapter. Narrative wise, this is going to be a very controversial chapter due to the clashing themes and elements. Feel free to discuss.
Chapter 13: An eye for an eye makes a house full of dead ninjas
It was dark and quiet all through Chinatown- except for the occasional rainstorm that was occurring with increasing frequency due to the approaching hurricane. In a certain Tong Ren street apartment, almost all was asleep and without a sound. Kenta was in his lay-z-boy fast asleep, in front of him the TV blared with soap opera reruns for mindless sheep. Lee was his bed, back straight and snoring away- dreaming of a mousy haired Aryan. Grace was in her bathroom, taking a refreshing splash in the tub after a hard day's work cleaning up the unpowered members of the Empire.
Yes, even Fat Cho was asleep, he went to bed right after he finished wrapping tomorrow's dumplings.
Somewhere an empty wheelchair was spinning around.
The ever reliable Ando however was still somewhat awake, his arm wrapped around a woman he met at a bar a mere hour ago. Her name was Cindy. Or was that Andy? He'll figure it out tomorrow morning, the important thing was that he got some action and all the moving parts fitted together. Oh, and that she was at least a quarter Asian- he had standards after all. Fortunately Cindy mistook his interest in her heritage as interest in her familial history and personal life story.
It was important to note that he lived on the top floor on the thirteenth story, it wasn't like Asians feared the number thirteen like white people. No, the number four was the number to be feared.
He was immediately alert when he heard a THUMP on the roof. This was because the Asian construction workers cut corners and actually made the roof really thing during the construction of this apartment a decade ago.
He gasped and sat up. "What was that?"
THUMP.
"There it is again!"
His partner groaned and wrapped a pillow around her head to muffle out the noise, she mumbled something about annoying idiot people with fast metabolisms that don't stay drunk enough to sleep until the morning.
Ando ignored her as he quickly put on a pair of pants and ran out the door.
He hurriedly up the stairs and appeared on the roof- there was nobody there. He looked out at the Brockton Bay nightscape, with all their wondrous twinkling lights and comforting police sirens and screams of people being mugged. He looked up- the stars were much more pronounced tonight because the moon was missing.
Huh, it's the new moon.
He sighed in relief.
"Maybe I was just imagining things."
Then a shadow swooped over him, twin eyes of red and evil freezing him in place. He tried to scream but he knew no more.
For the purposes of this operation, he was wearing midnight black armour and a dark cloak, made of special tinker "smart fabric" that also doubled as a multipurpose tool. One of its ability was to grant him the power of technological flight- which he used to glide over from a nearby building. He chose tonight because it was a New Moon and any flyers out in the city would not notice him.
Lung must be brought down and soon. With the Empire basically defeated, the ABB must not be allowed to expand, otherwise they would rule the entire Bay. Armsmaster didn't even consider the Merchants to be a real threat. The PRT was waiting for an opportunity exactly like this, but red tape and "ethics" kept them back from capitalizing on it. Armsmaster would have no such reservation. This city was evil and the heroes who try to fight this evil end up dead sooner or later.
He was still incredibly guilty over Shadow Stalker's death. Never again. No Wards, no Heroes would die while he was alive. And if he had to preemptively secure Brockton Bay's future, then so be it. He could damn his soul because it was the logical thing to do.
That was why "Operation: Super House of Dead Ninjas" (named after one of Dennis' favourite video games) was necessary. In the game, a ninja infiltrated a pagoda from the air, fighting his way down, slaughtering everything in his way to reach the bottom floor. That was close enough to what Colin was going to be doing. It was also an amusing inside joke. Too bad no one but he would know that Armsmaster actually did have a sense of humour.
He hurried down the next flight of stairs and quickly threw himself over the rails and hung beneath the stairway- because turning the corner was a little old Chinese lady and she almost saw him.
That was close.
The little old lady waddled up the stairs that Armsmaster was underneath of- then she suddenly gasped out loud and dramatically wobbled.
"Aiya! Aiya! I forgot my bag in the first floor bathroom." She waddled down the stairs again and turned the corner, now she was below Armsmaster, who started praying.
Don't look up, don't look, don't look up…
So of course the little old granny looked up. She gasped. Armsmaster swooped down on her, cape spread like the wings of bat and knocked her down with his armoured knees. There was a loud crack as the old woman lost a molar.
She gave a cry that was suddenly cut off when he grabbed the back of her head to stop her from cracking her skull open on the staircase. After making sure she didn't hurt herself, he dispensed duct tape from his gauntlet and silenced the granny.
"Sorry ma'am. It's for the greater good."
He foamed her and stuck her to the bottom of the stairs above him. He then hurried down to the next floor.
Wang-Obasan wiggled furiously. If she could talk right now, many of the apartment's younger residents would be shocked at the language coming out of her mouth.
He stalked over and checked the wheelchair over. Nothing was wrong with it- so why was it spinning? He would be proceeding with caution in the event that there was another parahuman in the scenario.
Just in case, he foamed the wheelchair too and stuck it to the ceiling of the hallway he was in. He really hoped no one else but that grandma was going to be inexplicably looking up tonight because he was leaving too many things foamed and stuck to a high elevation.
He turned the next corner, this time fully expecting an obstacle- heuristics weren't perfect, but it was handy- so he foamed first and ask questions later.
He was disappointed to find that his vigilance was wasted because no one was there. Instead the white liquid sprayed out several feet and foamed the hallway floor. Now he hoped nobody looked down.
As he walked down the hallway, avoiding the white line of foam on the ground, he heard moaning sounds coming from the door he was passing by.
Pressing his helmeted head next to the door, he heard grunting and cries of pleasure through the enhanced hearing system in his helmet.
"Oh, Lawrence, that was amazing."
"It's because I am Korean, baby. We have godly bods."
"My daddy was wrong about you Koreans."
"Of course Miya, your dad was a Japanese dog, they're wrong about everything."
"Don't say that about my people!"
"You're right, sorry. Anyway, I am going to buy some milk- want some?"
Armsmaster was bewildered. Who the fuck buys milk at this hour!? And what's with Asians and their love of milk. OJ is what normal people like to drink.
Armsmaster of course, could not have known that Asians tend to drink all kinds of abnormal milk flavours, like Juice Milk or Apple Milk or Yogurt Milk or Punch Milk or Vegetable Milk. So his confusion was understandable.
He began to panic. If Lawrence came out and saw the white foam on the ground, he'd know something was up and probably go raise the alarms. Even if he didn't see it- to buy milk he'd have to get to the nearby convenience store the street over- which meant he'll be going downstairs, which means he'll head in the same direction Armsmaster was moving towards; which means Lawrence was to notice something or interfere or whatever.
There was shuffling noise and the door knob started to turn. Armsmaster knew what he had to do- he kicked the door open, which slammed into Lawrence's torso and sent him flying back into his room.
"What the fuck!?"
Miya gaped as she sat up naked in bed, revealing the swell of her breasts to Armsmaster's night vision. He didn't let that distract him however- he was beyond desire. He was an instrument of cold and unfeeling justice, forged in the fires hardcore discipline. He was THE Armsmaster.
Before Lawrence could get back up, Colin grabbed the man by the cuff of his shirt and threw him at his girlfriend. The couple was knocked back and both crashed back onto the bed, Lawrence on top of Miya.
Armsmaster dispensed more duct tape- and Dragon said that particular gadget was useless, ha!- and quickly taped the mouths of the two lovebirds shut. He foamed them both.
Then with a swish of his cape, he stalked out of the door- only to duck back in.
"Better safe than sorry." He told himself. He picked up the solid mass of foam and hurl it towards the ceiling- and he immediately foamed them again, so it'd stick to the surface. He lowered his halberd and nodded in satisfaction before turning around and continuing his clandestine mission.
He hurried down to the next two flight of stairs, skipping over the fifth floor and finally arrived at his destination.
"Finally."
He kicked the door open and saw a screaming woman. After duct taping her mouth and foaming her, he walked back out and looked carefully at the room number.
301.
It was the third floor. That didn't make any sense.
Then he face palmed. He forgot about the stupid Chinese superstition about fourth floors. The fourth floor didn't exist as a number- the series of rooms labeled as the fifth floor was the fourth floor.
"Stupid Asians! Who the hell fears the number four?"
He hurried back up to the correct floor and found the correct room.
He kicked the door open and walked in- he was immediately alert because there was flickering light from the active television. Some Soap Opera was playing in front of a furniture of some sort.
The back of someone's head was resting there. From the speed of the breathing he could hear, the man was likely asleep. His HUD helpfully supplied the man's heart rate, and a diagnostic tool helpfully concluded that yes, his target was asleep.
Armsmaster couldn't foam Lung- otherwise, he'd just transform and melt through the foam. He couldn't inject Lung with lethal poison, because likewise his body would start transforming and his ungodly metabolism and regenerative power would quickly wipe the poison from his body.
Arsmaster will have to negate his power, which was driven by rage and pain and conflict (or so Watchdog said). He pointed his halberd at the leader of the ABB and depressed a trigger.
The hypodermic needle silently slid into the back of the man's neck- and Kenta Kikuchi jumped several feet into the air and slapped the back of his neck, cursing. "Fucking mosquitos!"
Then his palm went through the other end of the needle sticking out of his neck and he flinched in surprise and pulled out the offending object. He moved his hand in front of his eyes and glared at the needle.
He turned to face Armsmaster who had already unleashed a jet of plasma at the Dragon of Kyushu. Lung roared and blasted apart the flames with his own. As he walked out of the conflagration that was already setting fire to his apartment, he suddenly dropped to one knee, gasping. "What…what did you put in me?"
"A tranquilizer that could knock out a whale. I am honestly shocked you're still conscious…Lung."
"How dare you attack me in my home. You broke the truce-", Lung began to rage at the Protectorate leader, but he was interrupted by Armsmaster's dismissive tone.
"I don't give a shit." Armsmaster raise his halberd again in a whirl of elbow servos and smirked. "Fight me."
Scales burst from underneath Kenta's skin as he charged at Armsmaster and the two men exploded out of his apartment, wrecking the walls. Cracks spread from the damage wall all along the hallway.
Lung grabbed Armsmaster by the head and smashed him into the concrete, dealing more damage to the already fragile structure.
There was more cracks and then suddenly the hallway they were on collapsed and the entire South side of the fourth floor of the Tong Ren Street Apartment complex broke off and fell onto the street itself in a thunderous crash, sending up flying rubble and a huge cloud of dust.
A door swung open next to Kenta's apartment and Fat Cho walked out angrily and roared. "Who the fuck is doing demolitions at this hour!?"
He yelped when his left foot stepped on nothing and he nearly fell to his death to the street below. He stumbled back and fell on his ass, eyes wide and staring at the gaping hole where the hallway used to be.
He also noted that Kenta's apartment seemed to have lost its wall. Actually, everyone on this hall seemed to have lost their walls.
"Holy shit."
A bathtub suddenly dropped down in front of him, splashing water everywhere. It was tipping precariously over the hole- a naked white woman was inside screaming.
"Oh my god! Oh my god!"
The bathtub was almost completely falling into the gaping hole, water already dripping out of one end- when suddenly a small breeze blew in from the west and tipped the bathtub backed onto solid floor.
The girl breathed a sigh of relief. Cho breathed a sigh of relief as well. He took one step forward to try and grab onto the edge of the bathroom, but as his hand was coming down, the bathtub tipped away from him and was leaning dangerously down the gaping chasm again.
The naked girl, who he now recognized as Grace Ozawa started screaming again. It was fortunate that she was frozen in terror, otherwise she would have fallen to her death.
That was when several metallic objects rolled down from the wreck in the ceiling and fell into the bathtub.
Grace paled. "My bombs!"
She quickly scooped them up, using part of her bared cleavage to help keep them from falling back into the tub and screamed.
"Oh my god, they're active!"
She hurled them out of the bathtub and down in the chasm beneath. This act of exertion provided enough thrust that Newton's Third Law kicked in and the bathtub tipped back into safety.
Cho grabbed the edge of the ceramic bathtub and pulled with all his might, hauling it back onto secure and staple ground. The girl sighed in relief and laid down in what little water was left in the tub.
"I think I pissed myself."
"Me too." Cho agreed.
Oh he recognized the bastard alright and he said so as much. "Despite the darker costume and the edgy new cape, I know who you are, Armsmaster!"
He grunted in pain as Armsmaster drove his halberd deep into his abdomen. The technological knight growled at him. "I guess they can call me dragonslayer too."
"They'd call you a rule breaker!" Lung snarled.
Suddenly, five grenades fell from the sky, bobbing Lung on the head one by one- they each bounced off of the ground and scattered around the uneven and destroyed pavement, disappearing into the rubbles beneath the two cape's feet.
"Oh shit."
There was a massive explosion and hurricane level winds slashed out in all directions, pulverizing the first floor of the Tong Ren Street apartment along with all of the major structural foundations. Kenta grunted in pain as he felt everything from his waist down disappear in the ensuing explosion.
He was trapped underneath a pile of rubble- and possibly a collapsing apartment. Any wrong move on his part and he might be crushed to death. He wasn't sure if he could regenerate from having his brains reduced into a blood smear underneath a giant concrete pillar. Or a couple floors of concrete.
"Shit."
An armoured foot suddenly burst out of a pile of wreckage in the corner, kicking away a stone chunk that sailed across the space Kenta was in, missing his head by mere inches. Armsmaster emerged from the wreckage, waving around a gushing stump where his right arm used to be. He growled and stood up, grabbing what Kenta recognized as half of his halberd. He pressed something and the blade of his weapon turned blue with heat- he pressed it against his bleeding stump and hissed in pain as his wound was sealed shut.
Kenta had to respect the balls it took to do that.
"Ah, thank god for automatic morphine injections, otherwise that would've hurt more." Armsmaster muttered as he moved his halberd away from the no longer bleeding wound.
Kenta stared at the insane hero across from him. "You're crazy!"
"I am the Armsmaster."
"Yes, that's what I said." Kenta clarified, he tried to get up, but his legs weren't growing back. At least he didn't seem like he was bleeding to death. Also, having no penis was really uncomfortable.
Armsmaster advanced towards him. "Time to die, Kenta Kikuchi. For all the people you've hurt and all the damages you've done to this city. If it weren't for you and those damned Nazis, the people of this city could have had hope! We could have rebuilt this city!"
"You don't know anything." Kenta growled.
"Oh yeah? Tell me if the Farm isn't just a hellhole."
"It isn't." Kenta insisted with conviction in his voice.
Armsmaster paused and snarled. "I won't regret killing you at all then."
"No, I am serious." Kenta explained. "Have you ever even been there? It's not what you think it is."
Armsmaster frowned. "No one knows where it is."
Kenta nodded. "That was done on purpose. It's not completely clean mind you, but I already have brothels, do you think I'd make a sadistic rape prison full of drugged up girls? That doesn't even make any economic sense, dude."
Colin scowled underneath his helmet and tagged Kenta with his HUD. "It doesn't matter. You die."
He loomed over the defeated dragon before him and hefted his broken halberd. All he needed was a quick clean stab into Lung's eye and straight through his brain- his HUD helpfully outlined where the corona gemma was. Destroy that and Lung would stay dead.
"Goodbye Lung."
"I don't think so." A new voice called out. Kenta froze at the familiar sound and turned to stare at Taylor Hebert walking out of the darkness, the flickering lights casting strange shadows across the contours of her face. She was wearing a white undershirt- thankfully opaque, and a Calvin Klein boxer, which wasn't surprising because she must have been caught unawares in her sleepwear like everyone else in the apartment complex.
"When Dickless told me a batman wannabe was sneaking around, I thought he was screwing with me. Well, I was wrong."
Armsmaster frowned as his HUD pulled up a match on the facial recognition app. "You're Taylor Hebert. The missing girl, daughter of Daniel Hebert, who committed suicide." The hero paused and then added. "Also a minor suspect in the Sophia Hess murder case."
Taylor winced and then whistled. "Wow, you're really bad at socializing huh?"
Kenta swayed slightly from his dizzying headache and frowned. "Dickless? Are you talking about me? Because girl, if you think you can get away from insulting the great and mighty Lung, you should think again."
Yes he admitted his alter ego, because it's not like she didn't already hear it from Armsmaster's mouth if she was there the entire time. It wasn't much of a secret to begin with- the C.U.I authorities knew he was. He'd be surprised if the US government didn't know.
Taylor smirked. "Oh right, you're literally dickless right now, but no, I meant this guy."
A strange shadowy ooze dripped down from above and coalesced in her hands, it vaguely resembled a skull covered in black slime and had small tendrils sticking out of its jaw.
"What the fuck."
Taylor frowned. "Yeah, he's kind of the reason my life is a mess. But he's lobotizmed now and a good pet."
"What." Armsmaster said, his half-halberd still clutched above Kenta.
"Mostly good," Taylor clarified, "He has a propensity towards running away and attacking people and animals- he's basically a cat."
It suddenly clicked for Kenta and he pointed a finger at her dramatically. "YOU!"
"Oh boy" She muttered.
Kenta continued, his inner detective rising to the surface. He began to babble in Japanese in his drug fueled rant. "It all made sense now, you're the serial killer! That's why the….the…the wheelchair. You use wheelchairs to kill people, you sick fuck!"
Taylor frowned and replied in perfect Japanese. "Now wait a minute, they had it coming and Dickless has a will of his own, it's not like I can be legally responsible for what he does!"
"You killed Junpei?"
"You mean the Japanese guy who disappeared the week I moved in? Not exactly. And you killed tons of people, Kenta. Why the double standard."
That shut him up. Nonetheless, he still felt pissed. "You kill the people under my protection. How dare you, after all the kindness I've shown you, white thing that you are."
"Not legally responsible."
"Young people should learn to take responsibility for their actions."
"Says the guy who got into fights as a high school student- and forgot to use a condom on his first time. Baka."
Armsmaster was watching the furious Japanese exchange, swinging his head back and forth. He would've been lost ages ago if his HUD didn't provide a subtitled translation in real time.
"What?" Kenta frowned. How did she know that? Granted it wasn't hard to imagine a younger Lung doing that, but did she had to assume like that? For all she knows, maybe he was a good boy when he was younger.
Wow, brain, you must be really drugged, because I am apparently not worried about my imminent death at the hands of the Rated-M antiheroic Armsmaster.
Armsmaster raised one arm. "Okay! That's enough!"
He stabbed Kenta in the eye- but before he could go all the way through, Dickless was in his mouth and trying to suffocate him.
Taylor was snarling. "Hands off Halbeard! Kenta might be an idiot, but he's my idiot."
Armsmaster meanwhile felt a tendril phase through his esophagus and tickled his beating heart. That was a bit too much for Colin to deal with. Fuck this shit. He spread his cape and flew towards the ceiling of rubble and pillars- crashing through it and flying away. Not giving a damn if it caused the entire apartment to collapse.
As he flew blindly into the sky- Dickless fell of him and dropped back down into the streets below. Free to see and breathe at last, Armsmaster unlatched a small bomb from his chest.
"Time to erase all of the evidence."
It was a shame so many innocent people was going to die, but they brought this upon themselves when they decided to hide parahuman terrorists and criminals amongst them. It wasn't an ideal scenario, but his ability to do good would be hampered if Piggot knew what happened her tonight.
He prepared to drop a small bomb. It wasn't even tinkertech- it was just a miniature semi-nuclear bomb. Anyone could do it, albeit not as small.
And then Oni Lee landed atop of Armsmaster- the extra weight forced him to fly lower and lower before the two crashed through layers of rubble to end back up near where Kenta was. The demon masked cape hopped off of Armsmaster's back and landed several feet away, a knife in hand.
The girl was still standing next to Kenta's groggy form. She looked up and glared at Armsmaster. "Oh, you're back. Excellent. You know I should thank you, if you hadn't pulled this stupid stunt, I might never have worked up the courage to come clean to Kenta. But…this is the end of the line for you, Armsmaster. It's nothing personal, forgive me."
Armsmaster didn't really know what she was talking about except that she was obviously insane and had some sort of connection to Lung.
And then something hopped out of a nearby wall, phasing through it like it wasn't even there, shadows flickering where his incorporeal body passed through concrete. He was dressed in a Qing Dynasty Imperial Official's uniform with his arms held out and eyes white and unseeing. A single yellow talisman hung from his forehead, with Chinese scripts written in blood inscribed upon it.
Armsmaster's HUD pinged a match on the facial recognition app. He pulled up the file and saw that there was a 87% match to….Daniel Hebert!? The missing corpse that he received a report about a month ago.
"Danny." Taylor pointed at Colin with her index finger. "Feed."
The hopping corpse sniffed and turned stiffly towards Colin. Armsmaster has seen those movies before. Before he could so much as react he was knocked back with the force of a freight train. His body crashed deeply into the wall behind him and he emerged in what he recognized as the basement parking lot underneath the apartment. He smashed into a Hyundai, buried halfway into its hood.
The motherfucking Jiangshi flew through ruined walls- rubble tumbling down everywhere, further damaging the integrity of the collapsing building around them- and made a beeline straight for Armsmaster.
"You're supposed to hop a much shorter distance!" Colin roared in frustration and he released his chain weapon. He sent a chain flying towards the Vampire who dodged with preternatural agility.
Colin suddenly found his helmet's visor cracking as his head jerked back from a sudden blow. The cushions on the back of his neck prevented his neck from snapping from the force of the strike.
A flurry of blows and Armsmaster had the breath knocked out of him as he was sent flying into another car- a Nissan this time- the force of the collision send him and the car sliding sideways into the next parking space, destroying that car as well.
He took a deep gasping breath as he felt his broken ribs flare up in pain. Suddenly Daniel Hebert was crouching in front of him, disfigured face and pale eyes drilling into Colin's fearful ones. This close up, he could see that Daniel had a deep red striation around his neck, indicative of hanging- which was the method of his suicide according to the coroner's report.
Colin's left shoulder pauldron slid open and four micro-missiles fired out at the Jiangshi. With a blurr of his hand, the corpse swept through the projectiles like swatting flies and held up a fistful of inactive missiles, each one clutched between a knuckle. He crushed them.
"Oh shit." Colin knew when he was defeated. He didn't want her to know of his illegal activities, but he had no choice now. He dialed Dragon. "Dr-"
A pale hand with long nails was ripping off of his jaw before he could speak, then the Monster stabbed him several times with both hands- punching through his armour like it was tissue paper and tore out his spine and shoved it through his left eye socket.
Colin Wallis was dead before he even lost consciousness.
His face paled and he gasped. "You're psychic!"
"Baka! Do I have to spell it out for you?" The teenage girl yelled out.
Kenta blinked. "What."
"Kenta-kun, it's me…Annette." She glared at him, her eyes desperately hoping he'd understand and believe her. He paused and thought carefully about what she was saying.
She was disappointed when Kenta blinked and then grinned like a loon. "Wow, what drug is this sedative even made of? This hallucination is too insane!" Kenta suddenly frowned sadly. "It's a stupid hallucination though, because if you were Annette, why do you look like someone else and have small boobs? Actually, why are you even wearing anything?"
Taylor socked him in the face with a haymaker. "HENTAI BAKA! Don't think pervy things about my teenage daughter's body!"
Kenta was finally knocked out.
Chapter 13: An eye for an eye makes a house full of dead ninjas
It was dark and quiet all through Chinatown- except for the occasional rainstorm that was occurring with increasing frequency due to the approaching hurricane. In a certain Tong Ren street apartment, almost all was asleep and without a sound. Kenta was in his lay-z-boy fast asleep, in front of him the TV blared with soap opera reruns for mindless sheep. Lee was his bed, back straight and snoring away- dreaming of a mousy haired Aryan. Grace was in her bathroom, taking a refreshing splash in the tub after a hard day's work cleaning up the unpowered members of the Empire.
Yes, even Fat Cho was asleep, he went to bed right after he finished wrapping tomorrow's dumplings.
Somewhere an empty wheelchair was spinning around.
The ever reliable Ando however was still somewhat awake, his arm wrapped around a woman he met at a bar a mere hour ago. Her name was Cindy. Or was that Andy? He'll figure it out tomorrow morning, the important thing was that he got some action and all the moving parts fitted together. Oh, and that she was at least a quarter Asian- he had standards after all. Fortunately Cindy mistook his interest in her heritage as interest in her familial history and personal life story.
It was important to note that he lived on the top floor on the thirteenth story, it wasn't like Asians feared the number thirteen like white people. No, the number four was the number to be feared.
He was immediately alert when he heard a THUMP on the roof. This was because the Asian construction workers cut corners and actually made the roof really thing during the construction of this apartment a decade ago.
He gasped and sat up. "What was that?"
THUMP.
"There it is again!"
His partner groaned and wrapped a pillow around her head to muffle out the noise, she mumbled something about annoying idiot people with fast metabolisms that don't stay drunk enough to sleep until the morning.
Ando ignored her as he quickly put on a pair of pants and ran out the door.
He hurriedly up the stairs and appeared on the roof- there was nobody there. He looked out at the Brockton Bay nightscape, with all their wondrous twinkling lights and comforting police sirens and screams of people being mugged. He looked up- the stars were much more pronounced tonight because the moon was missing.
Huh, it's the new moon.
He sighed in relief.
"Maybe I was just imagining things."
Then a shadow swooped over him, twin eyes of red and evil freezing him in place. He tried to scream but he knew no more.
+++
Armsmaster foamed the gangbanger (or innocent civilian- but this was Chinatown) and quickly hurried down the stairs to the next floor below. He knew that Lung's civilian identity was on the fourth floor, but he needed to make sure no one will bear witness to his activities tonight.For the purposes of this operation, he was wearing midnight black armour and a dark cloak, made of special tinker "smart fabric" that also doubled as a multipurpose tool. One of its ability was to grant him the power of technological flight- which he used to glide over from a nearby building. He chose tonight because it was a New Moon and any flyers out in the city would not notice him.
Lung must be brought down and soon. With the Empire basically defeated, the ABB must not be allowed to expand, otherwise they would rule the entire Bay. Armsmaster didn't even consider the Merchants to be a real threat. The PRT was waiting for an opportunity exactly like this, but red tape and "ethics" kept them back from capitalizing on it. Armsmaster would have no such reservation. This city was evil and the heroes who try to fight this evil end up dead sooner or later.
He was still incredibly guilty over Shadow Stalker's death. Never again. No Wards, no Heroes would die while he was alive. And if he had to preemptively secure Brockton Bay's future, then so be it. He could damn his soul because it was the logical thing to do.
That was why "Operation: Super House of Dead Ninjas" (named after one of Dennis' favourite video games) was necessary. In the game, a ninja infiltrated a pagoda from the air, fighting his way down, slaughtering everything in his way to reach the bottom floor. That was close enough to what Colin was going to be doing. It was also an amusing inside joke. Too bad no one but he would know that Armsmaster actually did have a sense of humour.
He hurried down the next flight of stairs and quickly threw himself over the rails and hung beneath the stairway- because turning the corner was a little old Chinese lady and she almost saw him.
That was close.
The little old lady waddled up the stairs that Armsmaster was underneath of- then she suddenly gasped out loud and dramatically wobbled.
"Aiya! Aiya! I forgot my bag in the first floor bathroom." She waddled down the stairs again and turned the corner, now she was below Armsmaster, who started praying.
Don't look up, don't look, don't look up…
So of course the little old granny looked up. She gasped. Armsmaster swooped down on her, cape spread like the wings of bat and knocked her down with his armoured knees. There was a loud crack as the old woman lost a molar.
She gave a cry that was suddenly cut off when he grabbed the back of her head to stop her from cracking her skull open on the staircase. After making sure she didn't hurt herself, he dispensed duct tape from his gauntlet and silenced the granny.
"Sorry ma'am. It's for the greater good."
He foamed her and stuck her to the bottom of the stairs above him. He then hurried down to the next floor.
Wang-Obasan wiggled furiously. If she could talk right now, many of the apartment's younger residents would be shocked at the language coming out of her mouth.
+++
Armsmaster swooped down the flight of stairs and came face to face with a spinning wheelchair. The wheelchair suddenly stopped as if noticing his presence.
He stalked over and checked the wheelchair over. Nothing was wrong with it- so why was it spinning? He would be proceeding with caution in the event that there was another parahuman in the scenario.
Just in case, he foamed the wheelchair too and stuck it to the ceiling of the hallway he was in. He really hoped no one else but that grandma was going to be inexplicably looking up tonight because he was leaving too many things foamed and stuck to a high elevation.
He turned the next corner, this time fully expecting an obstacle- heuristics weren't perfect, but it was handy- so he foamed first and ask questions later.
He was disappointed to find that his vigilance was wasted because no one was there. Instead the white liquid sprayed out several feet and foamed the hallway floor. Now he hoped nobody looked down.
As he walked down the hallway, avoiding the white line of foam on the ground, he heard moaning sounds coming from the door he was passing by.
Pressing his helmeted head next to the door, he heard grunting and cries of pleasure through the enhanced hearing system in his helmet.
"Oh, Lawrence, that was amazing."
"It's because I am Korean, baby. We have godly bods."
"My daddy was wrong about you Koreans."
"Of course Miya, your dad was a Japanese dog, they're wrong about everything."
"Don't say that about my people!"
"You're right, sorry. Anyway, I am going to buy some milk- want some?"
Armsmaster was bewildered. Who the fuck buys milk at this hour!? And what's with Asians and their love of milk. OJ is what normal people like to drink.
Armsmaster of course, could not have known that Asians tend to drink all kinds of abnormal milk flavours, like Juice Milk or Apple Milk or Yogurt Milk or Punch Milk or Vegetable Milk. So his confusion was understandable.
He began to panic. If Lawrence came out and saw the white foam on the ground, he'd know something was up and probably go raise the alarms. Even if he didn't see it- to buy milk he'd have to get to the nearby convenience store the street over- which meant he'll be going downstairs, which means he'll head in the same direction Armsmaster was moving towards; which means Lawrence was to notice something or interfere or whatever.
There was shuffling noise and the door knob started to turn. Armsmaster knew what he had to do- he kicked the door open, which slammed into Lawrence's torso and sent him flying back into his room.
"What the fuck!?"
Miya gaped as she sat up naked in bed, revealing the swell of her breasts to Armsmaster's night vision. He didn't let that distract him however- he was beyond desire. He was an instrument of cold and unfeeling justice, forged in the fires hardcore discipline. He was THE Armsmaster.
Before Lawrence could get back up, Colin grabbed the man by the cuff of his shirt and threw him at his girlfriend. The couple was knocked back and both crashed back onto the bed, Lawrence on top of Miya.
Armsmaster dispensed more duct tape- and Dragon said that particular gadget was useless, ha!- and quickly taped the mouths of the two lovebirds shut. He foamed them both.
Then with a swish of his cape, he stalked out of the door- only to duck back in.
"Better safe than sorry." He told himself. He picked up the solid mass of foam and hurl it towards the ceiling- and he immediately foamed them again, so it'd stick to the surface. He lowered his halberd and nodded in satisfaction before turning around and continuing his clandestine mission.
He hurried down to the next two flight of stairs, skipping over the fifth floor and finally arrived at his destination.
"Finally."
He kicked the door open and saw a screaming woman. After duct taping her mouth and foaming her, he walked back out and looked carefully at the room number.
301.
It was the third floor. That didn't make any sense.
Then he face palmed. He forgot about the stupid Chinese superstition about fourth floors. The fourth floor didn't exist as a number- the series of rooms labeled as the fifth floor was the fourth floor.
"Stupid Asians! Who the hell fears the number four?"
He hurried back up to the correct floor and found the correct room.
He kicked the door open and walked in- he was immediately alert because there was flickering light from the active television. Some Soap Opera was playing in front of a furniture of some sort.
The back of someone's head was resting there. From the speed of the breathing he could hear, the man was likely asleep. His HUD helpfully supplied the man's heart rate, and a diagnostic tool helpfully concluded that yes, his target was asleep.
Armsmaster couldn't foam Lung- otherwise, he'd just transform and melt through the foam. He couldn't inject Lung with lethal poison, because likewise his body would start transforming and his ungodly metabolism and regenerative power would quickly wipe the poison from his body.
Arsmaster will have to negate his power, which was driven by rage and pain and conflict (or so Watchdog said). He pointed his halberd at the leader of the ABB and depressed a trigger.
The hypodermic needle silently slid into the back of the man's neck- and Kenta Kikuchi jumped several feet into the air and slapped the back of his neck, cursing. "Fucking mosquitos!"
Then his palm went through the other end of the needle sticking out of his neck and he flinched in surprise and pulled out the offending object. He moved his hand in front of his eyes and glared at the needle.
He turned to face Armsmaster who had already unleashed a jet of plasma at the Dragon of Kyushu. Lung roared and blasted apart the flames with his own. As he walked out of the conflagration that was already setting fire to his apartment, he suddenly dropped to one knee, gasping. "What…what did you put in me?"
"A tranquilizer that could knock out a whale. I am honestly shocked you're still conscious…Lung."
"How dare you attack me in my home. You broke the truce-", Lung began to rage at the Protectorate leader, but he was interrupted by Armsmaster's dismissive tone.
"I don't give a shit." Armsmaster raise his halberd again in a whirl of elbow servos and smirked. "Fight me."
Scales burst from underneath Kenta's skin as he charged at Armsmaster and the two men exploded out of his apartment, wrecking the walls. Cracks spread from the damage wall all along the hallway.
Lung grabbed Armsmaster by the head and smashed him into the concrete, dealing more damage to the already fragile structure.
There was more cracks and then suddenly the hallway they were on collapsed and the entire South side of the fourth floor of the Tong Ren Street Apartment complex broke off and fell onto the street itself in a thunderous crash, sending up flying rubble and a huge cloud of dust.
That wasn't all- the cracks reached up several floors and concrete began to crumble and as several apartments lost their walls and in some rooms, the floor cracked and disappeared into the emptiness below. Shoddy Chinese construction stayed true to their quality.
+++
A door swung open next to Kenta's apartment and Fat Cho walked out angrily and roared. "Who the fuck is doing demolitions at this hour!?"
He yelped when his left foot stepped on nothing and he nearly fell to his death to the street below. He stumbled back and fell on his ass, eyes wide and staring at the gaping hole where the hallway used to be.
He also noted that Kenta's apartment seemed to have lost its wall. Actually, everyone on this hall seemed to have lost their walls.
"Holy shit."
A bathtub suddenly dropped down in front of him, splashing water everywhere. It was tipping precariously over the hole- a naked white woman was inside screaming.
"Oh my god! Oh my god!"
The bathtub was almost completely falling into the gaping hole, water already dripping out of one end- when suddenly a small breeze blew in from the west and tipped the bathtub backed onto solid floor.
The girl breathed a sigh of relief. Cho breathed a sigh of relief as well. He took one step forward to try and grab onto the edge of the bathroom, but as his hand was coming down, the bathtub tipped away from him and was leaning dangerously down the gaping chasm again.
The naked girl, who he now recognized as Grace Ozawa started screaming again. It was fortunate that she was frozen in terror, otherwise she would have fallen to her death.
That was when several metallic objects rolled down from the wreck in the ceiling and fell into the bathtub.
Grace paled. "My bombs!"
She quickly scooped them up, using part of her bared cleavage to help keep them from falling back into the tub and screamed.
"Oh my god, they're active!"
She hurled them out of the bathtub and down in the chasm beneath. This act of exertion provided enough thrust that Newton's Third Law kicked in and the bathtub tipped back into safety.
Cho grabbed the edge of the ceramic bathtub and pulled with all his might, hauling it back onto secure and staple ground. The girl sighed in relief and laid down in what little water was left in the tub.
"I think I pissed myself."
"Me too." Cho agreed.
+++
Kenta's mind was a haze as he felt the drugs shutting him down. The more he moved, the more the drugs started attacking his nervous system. He was very calm. The sedative, whatever it was made of, was forcing him to be at peace with himself. At literally any other time, he would have been very interested in trying out this drug. Now was not that time; unable to enrage himself, his transformation was incredible slow, and slowing down the longer he fought Armsmaster.
Oh he recognized the bastard alright and he said so as much. "Despite the darker costume and the edgy new cape, I know who you are, Armsmaster!"
He grunted in pain as Armsmaster drove his halberd deep into his abdomen. The technological knight growled at him. "I guess they can call me dragonslayer too."
"They'd call you a rule breaker!" Lung snarled.
Suddenly, five grenades fell from the sky, bobbing Lung on the head one by one- they each bounced off of the ground and scattered around the uneven and destroyed pavement, disappearing into the rubbles beneath the two cape's feet.
"Oh shit."
There was a massive explosion and hurricane level winds slashed out in all directions, pulverizing the first floor of the Tong Ren Street apartment along with all of the major structural foundations. Kenta grunted in pain as he felt everything from his waist down disappear in the ensuing explosion.
+++
When Kenta regained awareness, he found that was buried head first deep in a pile of rubble. He dug himself out and crawled out of the wreckage to look around. It was completely dark saved for flickering lighting from a piece of the ceiling- the wires weren't severed and who'd know how long those lights would last? It was a good thing Kenta had enhanced night vision.
He was trapped underneath a pile of rubble- and possibly a collapsing apartment. Any wrong move on his part and he might be crushed to death. He wasn't sure if he could regenerate from having his brains reduced into a blood smear underneath a giant concrete pillar. Or a couple floors of concrete.
"Shit."
An armoured foot suddenly burst out of a pile of wreckage in the corner, kicking away a stone chunk that sailed across the space Kenta was in, missing his head by mere inches. Armsmaster emerged from the wreckage, waving around a gushing stump where his right arm used to be. He growled and stood up, grabbing what Kenta recognized as half of his halberd. He pressed something and the blade of his weapon turned blue with heat- he pressed it against his bleeding stump and hissed in pain as his wound was sealed shut.
Kenta had to respect the balls it took to do that.
"Ah, thank god for automatic morphine injections, otherwise that would've hurt more." Armsmaster muttered as he moved his halberd away from the no longer bleeding wound.
Kenta stared at the insane hero across from him. "You're crazy!"
"I am the Armsmaster."
"Yes, that's what I said." Kenta clarified, he tried to get up, but his legs weren't growing back. At least he didn't seem like he was bleeding to death. Also, having no penis was really uncomfortable.
Armsmaster advanced towards him. "Time to die, Kenta Kikuchi. For all the people you've hurt and all the damages you've done to this city. If it weren't for you and those damned Nazis, the people of this city could have had hope! We could have rebuilt this city!"
"You don't know anything." Kenta growled.
"Oh yeah? Tell me if the Farm isn't just a hellhole."
"It isn't." Kenta insisted with conviction in his voice.
Armsmaster paused and snarled. "I won't regret killing you at all then."
"No, I am serious." Kenta explained. "Have you ever even been there? It's not what you think it is."
Armsmaster frowned. "No one knows where it is."
Kenta nodded. "That was done on purpose. It's not completely clean mind you, but I already have brothels, do you think I'd make a sadistic rape prison full of drugged up girls? That doesn't even make any economic sense, dude."
Colin scowled underneath his helmet and tagged Kenta with his HUD. "It doesn't matter. You die."
He loomed over the defeated dragon before him and hefted his broken halberd. All he needed was a quick clean stab into Lung's eye and straight through his brain- his HUD helpfully outlined where the corona gemma was. Destroy that and Lung would stay dead.
"Goodbye Lung."
"I don't think so." A new voice called out. Kenta froze at the familiar sound and turned to stare at Taylor Hebert walking out of the darkness, the flickering lights casting strange shadows across the contours of her face. She was wearing a white undershirt- thankfully opaque, and a Calvin Klein boxer, which wasn't surprising because she must have been caught unawares in her sleepwear like everyone else in the apartment complex.
"When Dickless told me a batman wannabe was sneaking around, I thought he was screwing with me. Well, I was wrong."
Armsmaster frowned as his HUD pulled up a match on the facial recognition app. "You're Taylor Hebert. The missing girl, daughter of Daniel Hebert, who committed suicide." The hero paused and then added. "Also a minor suspect in the Sophia Hess murder case."
Taylor winced and then whistled. "Wow, you're really bad at socializing huh?"
Kenta swayed slightly from his dizzying headache and frowned. "Dickless? Are you talking about me? Because girl, if you think you can get away from insulting the great and mighty Lung, you should think again."
Yes he admitted his alter ego, because it's not like she didn't already hear it from Armsmaster's mouth if she was there the entire time. It wasn't much of a secret to begin with- the C.U.I authorities knew he was. He'd be surprised if the US government didn't know.
Taylor smirked. "Oh right, you're literally dickless right now, but no, I meant this guy."
A strange shadowy ooze dripped down from above and coalesced in her hands, it vaguely resembled a skull covered in black slime and had small tendrils sticking out of its jaw.
"What the fuck."
Taylor frowned. "Yeah, he's kind of the reason my life is a mess. But he's lobotizmed now and a good pet."
"What." Armsmaster said, his half-halberd still clutched above Kenta.
"Mostly good," Taylor clarified, "He has a propensity towards running away and attacking people and animals- he's basically a cat."
It suddenly clicked for Kenta and he pointed a finger at her dramatically. "YOU!"
"Oh boy" She muttered.
Kenta continued, his inner detective rising to the surface. He began to babble in Japanese in his drug fueled rant. "It all made sense now, you're the serial killer! That's why the….the…the wheelchair. You use wheelchairs to kill people, you sick fuck!"
Taylor frowned and replied in perfect Japanese. "Now wait a minute, they had it coming and Dickless has a will of his own, it's not like I can be legally responsible for what he does!"
"You killed Junpei?"
"You mean the Japanese guy who disappeared the week I moved in? Not exactly. And you killed tons of people, Kenta. Why the double standard."
That shut him up. Nonetheless, he still felt pissed. "You kill the people under my protection. How dare you, after all the kindness I've shown you, white thing that you are."
"Not legally responsible."
"Young people should learn to take responsibility for their actions."
"Says the guy who got into fights as a high school student- and forgot to use a condom on his first time. Baka."
Armsmaster was watching the furious Japanese exchange, swinging his head back and forth. He would've been lost ages ago if his HUD didn't provide a subtitled translation in real time.
"What?" Kenta frowned. How did she know that? Granted it wasn't hard to imagine a younger Lung doing that, but did she had to assume like that? For all she knows, maybe he was a good boy when he was younger.
Wow, brain, you must be really drugged, because I am apparently not worried about my imminent death at the hands of the Rated-M antiheroic Armsmaster.
Armsmaster raised one arm. "Okay! That's enough!"
He stabbed Kenta in the eye- but before he could go all the way through, Dickless was in his mouth and trying to suffocate him.
Taylor was snarling. "Hands off Halbeard! Kenta might be an idiot, but he's my idiot."
Armsmaster meanwhile felt a tendril phase through his esophagus and tickled his beating heart. That was a bit too much for Colin to deal with. Fuck this shit. He spread his cape and flew towards the ceiling of rubble and pillars- crashing through it and flying away. Not giving a damn if it caused the entire apartment to collapse.
As he flew blindly into the sky- Dickless fell of him and dropped back down into the streets below. Free to see and breathe at last, Armsmaster unlatched a small bomb from his chest.
"Time to erase all of the evidence."
It was a shame so many innocent people was going to die, but they brought this upon themselves when they decided to hide parahuman terrorists and criminals amongst them. It wasn't an ideal scenario, but his ability to do good would be hampered if Piggot knew what happened her tonight.
He prepared to drop a small bomb. It wasn't even tinkertech- it was just a miniature semi-nuclear bomb. Anyone could do it, albeit not as small.
And then Oni Lee landed atop of Armsmaster- the extra weight forced him to fly lower and lower before the two crashed through layers of rubble to end back up near where Kenta was. The demon masked cape hopped off of Armsmaster's back and landed several feet away, a knife in hand.
The girl was still standing next to Kenta's groggy form. She looked up and glared at Armsmaster. "Oh, you're back. Excellent. You know I should thank you, if you hadn't pulled this stupid stunt, I might never have worked up the courage to come clean to Kenta. But…this is the end of the line for you, Armsmaster. It's nothing personal, forgive me."
Armsmaster didn't really know what she was talking about except that she was obviously insane and had some sort of connection to Lung.
And then something hopped out of a nearby wall, phasing through it like it wasn't even there, shadows flickering where his incorporeal body passed through concrete. He was dressed in a Qing Dynasty Imperial Official's uniform with his arms held out and eyes white and unseeing. A single yellow talisman hung from his forehead, with Chinese scripts written in blood inscribed upon it.
Armsmaster's HUD pinged a match on the facial recognition app. He pulled up the file and saw that there was a 87% match to….Daniel Hebert!? The missing corpse that he received a report about a month ago.
"Danny." Taylor pointed at Colin with her index finger. "Feed."
The hopping corpse sniffed and turned stiffly towards Colin. Armsmaster has seen those movies before. Before he could so much as react he was knocked back with the force of a freight train. His body crashed deeply into the wall behind him and he emerged in what he recognized as the basement parking lot underneath the apartment. He smashed into a Hyundai, buried halfway into its hood.
The motherfucking Jiangshi flew through ruined walls- rubble tumbling down everywhere, further damaging the integrity of the collapsing building around them- and made a beeline straight for Armsmaster.
"You're supposed to hop a much shorter distance!" Colin roared in frustration and he released his chain weapon. He sent a chain flying towards the Vampire who dodged with preternatural agility.
Colin suddenly found his helmet's visor cracking as his head jerked back from a sudden blow. The cushions on the back of his neck prevented his neck from snapping from the force of the strike.
A flurry of blows and Armsmaster had the breath knocked out of him as he was sent flying into another car- a Nissan this time- the force of the collision send him and the car sliding sideways into the next parking space, destroying that car as well.
He took a deep gasping breath as he felt his broken ribs flare up in pain. Suddenly Daniel Hebert was crouching in front of him, disfigured face and pale eyes drilling into Colin's fearful ones. This close up, he could see that Daniel had a deep red striation around his neck, indicative of hanging- which was the method of his suicide according to the coroner's report.
Colin's left shoulder pauldron slid open and four micro-missiles fired out at the Jiangshi. With a blurr of his hand, the corpse swept through the projectiles like swatting flies and held up a fistful of inactive missiles, each one clutched between a knuckle. He crushed them.
"Oh shit." Colin knew when he was defeated. He didn't want her to know of his illegal activities, but he had no choice now. He dialed Dragon. "Dr-"
A pale hand with long nails was ripping off of his jaw before he could speak, then the Monster stabbed him several times with both hands- punching through his armour like it was tissue paper and tore out his spine and shoved it through his left eye socket.
Colin Wallis was dead before he even lost consciousness.
+++
Taylor dragged Kenta's torso out of the wreckage- Dickless was helping as well, he had his slimy tentacles around Kenta's arms and pulling- getting them as far away from the crumbling apartment building as possible, because who knew when it would collapse?
With a huff she released him and stepped back to look down at him. Kenta stared at her oddly. Her knowledge of the Japanese language, her overt familiarity, her intimate knowledge of his personal history…
With a huff she released him and stepped back to look down at him. Kenta stared at her oddly. Her knowledge of the Japanese language, her overt familiarity, her intimate knowledge of his personal history…
His face paled and he gasped. "You're psychic!"
"Baka! Do I have to spell it out for you?" The teenage girl yelled out.
Kenta blinked. "What."
"Kenta-kun, it's me…Annette." She glared at him, her eyes desperately hoping he'd understand and believe her. He paused and thought carefully about what she was saying.
She was disappointed when Kenta blinked and then grinned like a loon. "Wow, what drug is this sedative even made of? This hallucination is too insane!" Kenta suddenly frowned sadly. "It's a stupid hallucination though, because if you were Annette, why do you look like someone else and have small boobs? Actually, why are you even wearing anything?"
Taylor socked him in the face with a haymaker. "HENTAI BAKA! Don't think pervy things about my teenage daughter's body!"
Kenta was finally knocked out.
Last edited:
Numen
Long Time Creeper
- Location
- Canada
I fixed the first soundtrack. It was supposed to be batman- I can't believe I forgot to do that. That was the theme I had envisioned when I cooked up this chapter several days ago.
Also, you nailed it pretty much!
Also, you nailed it pretty much!
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Ivan the Not-so-Terrible
AH MEW CHEEKI BREEKI I V DAMKE
- Location
- Mikonyan’s USSR
Annette's ghost has parahuman powers, turned her husband into a vampire, and is possessing her daughter?
globalwarmth
ruining the weather.
- Location
- Polar ice caps
because the attack on the E88 civilian job place was not against them
also WTF? Annette is possessing Taylor? Danny is a zombie? Who is who?
Numen
Long Time Creeper
- Location
- Canada
because the attack on the E88 civilian job place was not against them
If Kenta had a lawyer (which he doesn't need, cause he's the Imperial Magistrate of Chinatown) he would argue that he was targeting an affiliated civilian business that was collaborating with the E88 and that he did not know that any parahuman members would physically be there. With the exception of Max Anders, most of them were in their full costumes anyway. In fact, he may even argue that Medhall was a corporation, corporations are legally persons, ergo, Medhall is legally a person who was working for the E88, therefore Medhall was a gangmember and a valid target for attack under the aegis of the Unwritten Rules.
*throws wooden tablet on floor*
So judged County Magistrate Lung. Weiwooooooo!
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- Location
- Australia
Apparently I watch too many B-grade movies!
That battle was amusingly hectic, and brutal. Kinda feel sorry for Grace having her bath interrupted like that.
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