- Location
- Earth
Zizzy - Drumline is one of my favorite movies and you're ruining it, snake boy!
Worm: Drummer Girl
- Thread starter ScottotheUnwise
- Start date
Zizzy - Drumline is one of my favorite movies and you're ruining it, snake boy!
2.9 Sostenuto Kim Sat Alone On a Saggy Couch, Wholly Emotionless Except For Her Slouch
ScottotheUnwise
Verified Crack (fic) Dealer
- Location
- Mulberry, Fl
2.9 Sostenuto Kim Sat Alone On a Saggy Couch, Wholly Emotionless Except For Her Slouch
"Can you imagine it? Pretty soon we can get Action Figures of, well, you!" Anita Morton gushed, having an outlet for her two favorite pastimes --collecting and her daughter. She was looking at the wall of fame now. "Just have to make a little room on the shelves here…"
Their apartment was a three bedroom, with just the two of them living there. Kim spent a moment wondering if her mom's fascination for collectibles --junk, as her Dad called it-- had spurred him leaving them for a high paying job on the Oil fields. He'd stopped sending money to her mom when she was six. The birthday cards stopped at eight. She didn't even know if he was alive or had been killed in the various wave events in the North Atlantic that coincided with Leviathan's attacks on either side of the ocean.
It was a shame that Leviathan was known to switch back and forth between the Atlantic and the Pacific every few years, but after Kyushu he seemed to have forgotten this detail. Sightings were common enough to strangle the deep water passages, and ruin much of the world's offshore oil rigs.
But once enough were opened in the Pacific, he would probably shift back to damaging the larger area there, possibly dipping south to visit Australia this time for spite.
Her mom was busy now wrapping favorite momentos of her childhood and packing them away to make way for --what exactly?
"Mom, they haven't even designed any yet!" She grouched from the pillows, her hand on the arm of the older couch gripping it hard enough to make it groan a little.
Turning back to her daughter, Anita clapped. "I know. We get to keep the prototypes too. Think of it, single units signed and put away for years. When you go Pro, we can flip one or two to make bank for the family."
Snorting. "What family is that, mom?" Kim asked airily.
"Well, you know you cousins down in Atlanta will be hitting college five years after your time. If you can float them a bit of cash to get their start, that is major status in Gram's eyes. Just you being a hero will do lots, of course, but Gram is a sour old biddy. She's still angry I let Frank go, even though it wasn't exactly my choice in the matter."
"Frank?" Kim asks blankly.
Huff. "Your father dear."
"All his stuff says Francis!" Kim laughs.
"Well, Frank is what he told his friends and how he was introduced to me, so Frank it is." She laughed. "Even joked around that I married the wrong man… Maaaybe once too many times I suppose." Anita let a finger tap the side of her nose.
Kim slipped her goggles down over her eyes and fired up the design program. Feeding it videos of her, Drum and Fife she imported base models found online for Action Figures.
"Is that okay? Using that --stuff-- out in the open?"
Lifting her goggles up a bit, Kim winked. "What, my VR game? Pffft Just another Tinker tech game craze." Sobering she lifted her goggles up to look at her mom. "You know it's not like a great secret anyway. Flag has a certain look and hangs with Drum. I have a certain look and hang with Taylor…"
That brought her mom up short for a moment.
One blessed moment of silence.
"That just means you can have alternate figures in school clothes." Her mom winked as she said it. "What are you doing with those anyway?"
"It has a design suite using augmented reality. Vision augmentation, full head's up display. It interfaces with the servers Leet set up to run the three d printers." Kim paused at Anita's sudden intake of breath.
"Show me."
********
Two hours later.
********
Ding Dong!
Kim answered the door, dreading the result only a little more than her first day of high school.
"Package for A. Morton." Clipboard present. "Sign here please."
The box was deceptively light. Her goggles showed the reality, the nearly footlong figures within packed in bubble wrap.
Her mom turned from the desk where she was browsing the internet. "What is that, honey?"
Kim sighed. This was so opening a can of worms. Waving a pork chop at a starving dog. Handing a bag of poker chips to a gambler down on his luck. A pack of cigarettes to a recent quitter. "You know those prototype designs for action figures?"
The face. She was looking over the top of her glasses and giving Kim the face!
"Yeeeesss?"
Kim tapped the box. "First draft is here."
"Hold on. You said they were in the queue. That they wouldn't be ready until there was time on the printers."
Wincing. "That was true. But the time estimate didn't take into account that Leet would assign all his time to 'printing' more printers." She smiled. "And now I have a printer pretty much to myself."
Opening the box on the kitchen table, she took out the figures and arranged them on the table. "Original costume version. Updated costumes. School clothes."
"Wow. They look so lifelike. Adorable." Glances at her daughter. "Did you have to make yours… so short?"
Snort.
"Mom. They are accurately scaled."
She was looking closer. "And there is no way they will allow figures of underagd girls with --boobs."
"Also accurate."
*********
From the perspective of the figurines.
**Processors active. Visual recognition of surroundings active. Pattern saved for Anita Morton. Pattern for Kim Morton recognized from memory. Designate residence Morton apartment.**
*********
"They move so easily. The poses are so fluid." Anita set the figure upright and just marveled. "And the balance! How does it stay upright without a stand?"
"Same way we do." Kim rolled her eyes. "You didn't think they were JUST figures, did you?"
"Huh?"
"Ahem. Strike a pose."
All nine actions figures straightened up, or stood up from the table if they hadn't been posed as standing. The set of three adopted poses as groups. The high schoolers elbow to elbow as if walking down the hall, one looking at a phone while the others glanced over from either side. The original costumed figures put Drum in the middle, Fife to the right with her instrument up, and Flag in the middle of twirling her namesake around behind the group. The upgraded costumed group moved to a half circle with their right hands forward, overlapped in the "all for one" pose, looking fierce, instruments and flag held to the side.
"Tinker tech?"
"Well, duh."
Anita met her eyes, confused. "But I thought that took like months to do. Or at least days!"
"Eh. It took a day. One. And their control structure was based on something Leet did some time ago. They don't have huge amounts of power available so no lasers or anything." Well, none she would admit to.
Turning back to her paperwork, her mom dismissed them. She'd fangirled enough when the renderings of the prototype had hit her email. But, Tinkertech? It seemed like cheating somehow. And there was no box to open, no smell of new print.
Kim saw her mom lose interest. She designated the shelves set aside for them and issued the order to take up position --quietly-- and go into defense mode. The figurines jumped down from the table, padding across the room on the carpet. They only paused to measure the distance up to the floating shelf units with empty space. With an ease belying their small stature they jumped up to lightly to the exact height of the shelf units, stepping into position to turn around.
Their poses froze, just coincidentally in position to cover the largest view available of the apartment.
**Defense mode active.**
Kim smiled as she took the 'empty' box to her room. Peeling out the false bottom of cardboard, he took out a pair of triangular teleportation grids. The one she placed in the bottom of her closet. The other she placed in her backpack.
That grid would need to be placed somewhere full of the needed raw materials for printing, that her printer could use for feedstock. Taylor had already called 'dibs' on the Boat Graveyard. Ino had indicated she would place hers at the city dump and recycling center.
That meant Kim would need to move hers further afield.
Opening up the sliding glass doors to the balcony, Kim considered the view out to the Bay. This was one of the few tall buildings not centered downtown. The fact that it was on the southern end of Lung's territory was an open secret, making it a lot easier for Asians to get housing. But Lung was savvy enough to understand that if cop families were safe at their homes, they wouldn't be breaking the unwritten rules themselves.
On the balcony, looking out over the Bay --not the best scenery up until the last couple of weeks-- Kim sighted past the rig to the further part of the Bay itself where the container ship used to be.
There were plans to dredge the remnants blasted to fragments and slag. They were being considered and probably would still be considered for years.
Her arm back, she sighted in and took two steps to THROW overhand.
***********************************
On the Rig, alarms blared to life.
Armsmaster checked the incoming projectile. Not on a path to impact the Rig itself, nor even the shield around it. No shipping in the path. Target along the destroyed Mary Celeste.
He waited tense moments for another missile, perhaps to correct the aim.
The defense systems had automatically backtraced the throw to an apartment building just north of the Marina. Lung's territory.
Scanning cameras checked for lights, cross referencing with home addresses. Phones, specifically Protectorate or Wards --or Affiliates. Three in the building. One correlating to a lit interior.
Movement.
A figure saluting.
In a way it made sense. The Rig had lit up fully at the first warble of alarms. The field had gone from half strength to full power --from a mild flicker to solid blue-- a thing they only did so often to avoid burning out the tech behind it.
**************************
Kim followed her throw until something unexpected happened.
The RIG lit up.
Force fields up to full, klaxons audible all the way across the Bay.
Her toss went where she'd intended, only it was lit by flood lights as it hit the water. It wasn't even like it was hard to visualize where it had been. The eyesore had been in the same place for what, twenty years? It was why her family got the seaward balcony apartment after all.
And then the alarms faded, the shield returned to lower levels.
The feeling that she was under observation increased. As did her teenaged ability to feel guilt over being caught doing something embarrassing, like dancing over some accomplishment.
Not that she'd ever done that.
She couldn't force herself to turn away without acknowledging the watcher. Watchers?
Her hand automatically came up in salute.
Still, she turned and went inside to hide the blush she felt forming by closing the curtains on the sliding glass door.
She was almost completely over it when her mom had to bring it home.
"Girl? Are you STILL worried about some peeping Tom on the Rig?" Anita smirked. "Or do you think they started surveilling you over your Clef activities?"
"MOTHER, please." Only a teenager could get that tone right, roll their eyes and not walk into the wall trying to exit the room.
They practice.
"Can you imagine it? Pretty soon we can get Action Figures of, well, you!" Anita Morton gushed, having an outlet for her two favorite pastimes --collecting and her daughter. She was looking at the wall of fame now. "Just have to make a little room on the shelves here…"
Their apartment was a three bedroom, with just the two of them living there. Kim spent a moment wondering if her mom's fascination for collectibles --junk, as her Dad called it-- had spurred him leaving them for a high paying job on the Oil fields. He'd stopped sending money to her mom when she was six. The birthday cards stopped at eight. She didn't even know if he was alive or had been killed in the various wave events in the North Atlantic that coincided with Leviathan's attacks on either side of the ocean.
It was a shame that Leviathan was known to switch back and forth between the Atlantic and the Pacific every few years, but after Kyushu he seemed to have forgotten this detail. Sightings were common enough to strangle the deep water passages, and ruin much of the world's offshore oil rigs.
But once enough were opened in the Pacific, he would probably shift back to damaging the larger area there, possibly dipping south to visit Australia this time for spite.
Her mom was busy now wrapping favorite momentos of her childhood and packing them away to make way for --what exactly?
"Mom, they haven't even designed any yet!" She grouched from the pillows, her hand on the arm of the older couch gripping it hard enough to make it groan a little.
Turning back to her daughter, Anita clapped. "I know. We get to keep the prototypes too. Think of it, single units signed and put away for years. When you go Pro, we can flip one or two to make bank for the family."
Snorting. "What family is that, mom?" Kim asked airily.
"Well, you know you cousins down in Atlanta will be hitting college five years after your time. If you can float them a bit of cash to get their start, that is major status in Gram's eyes. Just you being a hero will do lots, of course, but Gram is a sour old biddy. She's still angry I let Frank go, even though it wasn't exactly my choice in the matter."
"Frank?" Kim asks blankly.
Huff. "Your father dear."
"All his stuff says Francis!" Kim laughs.
"Well, Frank is what he told his friends and how he was introduced to me, so Frank it is." She laughed. "Even joked around that I married the wrong man… Maaaybe once too many times I suppose." Anita let a finger tap the side of her nose.
Kim slipped her goggles down over her eyes and fired up the design program. Feeding it videos of her, Drum and Fife she imported base models found online for Action Figures.
"Is that okay? Using that --stuff-- out in the open?"
Lifting her goggles up a bit, Kim winked. "What, my VR game? Pffft Just another Tinker tech game craze." Sobering she lifted her goggles up to look at her mom. "You know it's not like a great secret anyway. Flag has a certain look and hangs with Drum. I have a certain look and hang with Taylor…"
That brought her mom up short for a moment.
One blessed moment of silence.
"That just means you can have alternate figures in school clothes." Her mom winked as she said it. "What are you doing with those anyway?"
"It has a design suite using augmented reality. Vision augmentation, full head's up display. It interfaces with the servers Leet set up to run the three d printers." Kim paused at Anita's sudden intake of breath.
"Show me."
********
Two hours later.
********
Ding Dong!
Kim answered the door, dreading the result only a little more than her first day of high school.
"Package for A. Morton." Clipboard present. "Sign here please."
The box was deceptively light. Her goggles showed the reality, the nearly footlong figures within packed in bubble wrap.
Her mom turned from the desk where she was browsing the internet. "What is that, honey?"
Kim sighed. This was so opening a can of worms. Waving a pork chop at a starving dog. Handing a bag of poker chips to a gambler down on his luck. A pack of cigarettes to a recent quitter. "You know those prototype designs for action figures?"
The face. She was looking over the top of her glasses and giving Kim the face!
"Yeeeesss?"
Kim tapped the box. "First draft is here."
"Hold on. You said they were in the queue. That they wouldn't be ready until there was time on the printers."
Wincing. "That was true. But the time estimate didn't take into account that Leet would assign all his time to 'printing' more printers." She smiled. "And now I have a printer pretty much to myself."
Opening the box on the kitchen table, she took out the figures and arranged them on the table. "Original costume version. Updated costumes. School clothes."
"Wow. They look so lifelike. Adorable." Glances at her daughter. "Did you have to make yours… so short?"
Snort.
"Mom. They are accurately scaled."
She was looking closer. "And there is no way they will allow figures of underagd girls with --boobs."
"Also accurate."
*********
From the perspective of the figurines.
**Processors active. Visual recognition of surroundings active. Pattern saved for Anita Morton. Pattern for Kim Morton recognized from memory. Designate residence Morton apartment.**
*********
"They move so easily. The poses are so fluid." Anita set the figure upright and just marveled. "And the balance! How does it stay upright without a stand?"
"Same way we do." Kim rolled her eyes. "You didn't think they were JUST figures, did you?"
"Huh?"
"Ahem. Strike a pose."
All nine actions figures straightened up, or stood up from the table if they hadn't been posed as standing. The set of three adopted poses as groups. The high schoolers elbow to elbow as if walking down the hall, one looking at a phone while the others glanced over from either side. The original costumed figures put Drum in the middle, Fife to the right with her instrument up, and Flag in the middle of twirling her namesake around behind the group. The upgraded costumed group moved to a half circle with their right hands forward, overlapped in the "all for one" pose, looking fierce, instruments and flag held to the side.
"Tinker tech?"
"Well, duh."
Anita met her eyes, confused. "But I thought that took like months to do. Or at least days!"
"Eh. It took a day. One. And their control structure was based on something Leet did some time ago. They don't have huge amounts of power available so no lasers or anything." Well, none she would admit to.
Turning back to her paperwork, her mom dismissed them. She'd fangirled enough when the renderings of the prototype had hit her email. But, Tinkertech? It seemed like cheating somehow. And there was no box to open, no smell of new print.
Kim saw her mom lose interest. She designated the shelves set aside for them and issued the order to take up position --quietly-- and go into defense mode. The figurines jumped down from the table, padding across the room on the carpet. They only paused to measure the distance up to the floating shelf units with empty space. With an ease belying their small stature they jumped up to lightly to the exact height of the shelf units, stepping into position to turn around.
Their poses froze, just coincidentally in position to cover the largest view available of the apartment.
**Defense mode active.**
Kim smiled as she took the 'empty' box to her room. Peeling out the false bottom of cardboard, he took out a pair of triangular teleportation grids. The one she placed in the bottom of her closet. The other she placed in her backpack.
That grid would need to be placed somewhere full of the needed raw materials for printing, that her printer could use for feedstock. Taylor had already called 'dibs' on the Boat Graveyard. Ino had indicated she would place hers at the city dump and recycling center.
That meant Kim would need to move hers further afield.
Opening up the sliding glass doors to the balcony, Kim considered the view out to the Bay. This was one of the few tall buildings not centered downtown. The fact that it was on the southern end of Lung's territory was an open secret, making it a lot easier for Asians to get housing. But Lung was savvy enough to understand that if cop families were safe at their homes, they wouldn't be breaking the unwritten rules themselves.
On the balcony, looking out over the Bay --not the best scenery up until the last couple of weeks-- Kim sighted past the rig to the further part of the Bay itself where the container ship used to be.
There were plans to dredge the remnants blasted to fragments and slag. They were being considered and probably would still be considered for years.
Her arm back, she sighted in and took two steps to THROW overhand.
***********************************
On the Rig, alarms blared to life.
Armsmaster checked the incoming projectile. Not on a path to impact the Rig itself, nor even the shield around it. No shipping in the path. Target along the destroyed Mary Celeste.
He waited tense moments for another missile, perhaps to correct the aim.
The defense systems had automatically backtraced the throw to an apartment building just north of the Marina. Lung's territory.
Scanning cameras checked for lights, cross referencing with home addresses. Phones, specifically Protectorate or Wards --or Affiliates. Three in the building. One correlating to a lit interior.
Movement.
A figure saluting.
In a way it made sense. The Rig had lit up fully at the first warble of alarms. The field had gone from half strength to full power --from a mild flicker to solid blue-- a thing they only did so often to avoid burning out the tech behind it.
**************************
Kim followed her throw until something unexpected happened.
The RIG lit up.
Force fields up to full, klaxons audible all the way across the Bay.
Her toss went where she'd intended, only it was lit by flood lights as it hit the water. It wasn't even like it was hard to visualize where it had been. The eyesore had been in the same place for what, twenty years? It was why her family got the seaward balcony apartment after all.
And then the alarms faded, the shield returned to lower levels.
The feeling that she was under observation increased. As did her teenaged ability to feel guilt over being caught doing something embarrassing, like dancing over some accomplishment.
Not that she'd ever done that.
She couldn't force herself to turn away without acknowledging the watcher. Watchers?
Her hand automatically came up in salute.
Still, she turned and went inside to hide the blush she felt forming by closing the curtains on the sliding glass door.
She was almost completely over it when her mom had to bring it home.
"Girl? Are you STILL worried about some peeping Tom on the Rig?" Anita smirked. "Or do you think they started surveilling you over your Clef activities?"
"MOTHER, please." Only a teenager could get that tone right, roll their eyes and not walk into the wall trying to exit the room.
They practice.
Last edited:
Hexcalibur
Not So Ordinary Sword
- Location
- Somewhere
- Pronouns
- It
The Rig's sensors are too sensitive. Or the threat assessment process needs to be tuned.
- Location
- Somewhere
Threadmark and title is messed up, looks like you forgot some spacing between it and the first line of story
- Location
- leiden (NL)
Correct. It's NOT EFFICIENT as is.
i can just imagine the force field sensor: "Oh shit, What the fuck is that?!" Every time a seagull passes by
YuffieK
(Verified Ninja Princess)
It recognized a projectile moving at high speed in a ballistic arc. Considering some of the affects Bakuda's grenades can do, it seems like it did it's job.
ScottotheUnwise
Verified Crack (fic) Dealer
- Location
- Mulberry, Fl
Kim is a natural Brute 6. She's been 'Drummed' multiple times and doesn't really dip into the pool of extras. So when she really does try to push it --say a wound up pitch-- she kicks up to Brute 9 or so. She can't keep doing that if she isn't around Drum though.
Seagulls aren't doing over 100 mph, something a normal human can manage. To throw something in anything approaching a flattened arc more than a mile out? Easily a good bit higher than that. Almost missile fast but without the fire at the nether end.
What isn't said though is that the force field IS the sensor involved, as it has a soft field effect much further out --almost to shore at about five feet up. That far out it doesn't react to organic material not moving very fast.
Ah, but it didn't cause an alert until it was almost time to fire the pinpoint lasers, if it was going to hit a ship further out in the Bay.
Last edited:
ScottotheUnwise
Verified Crack (fic) Dealer
- Location
- Mulberry, Fl
Ah it wasn't the pronoun so much as the lost phrase mentioning her dad: "junk, as her Dad called it"
Backstory brick (as opposed to a wall of text, ya?)
3.0 Allegro Party Rocking in her House Tonight
ScottotheUnwise
Verified Crack (fic) Dealer
- Location
- Mulberry, Fl
3.0 Allegro Party Rocking in her House Tonight
Ino was home, their little house a duplex with neighbors who were loud all the time. The only sanity saving fact was that she didn't speak Thai growing up so couldn't understand the inanity of the continuous arguments. Her mother shrugged it off as none of their business, only using music to fend off the louder rants --or perhaps cause them.
Mom gave music lessons to kids all day, every day. After the music store folded --more for lack of insurance for the location as the 'cape clauses' got higher and higher in the Bay-- it was the way she, no they, got by. Piano, brass, violin --her mother could 'Wing it' on any instrument put in front of her. Heh. "Wing It" had been the motto of the store after all.
So it was no surprise to find Ino in her bedroom reviewing the Tinkering session videos, some poor chubby middle schooler in the next room making a racket with a … trumpet? It sounded like a crying cow trapped in a canyon.
Apparently her wall mate shared the opinion. One of Uber's sessions with Drum had been in a skill to learn languages. The idea was to see how long a passive skill would hold. What Ino hadn't counted on was that the constant yammering next door would coalesce into a passing understanding of Thai.
And now she understood when the girl next door that shared the wall complained it sounded like a 'Cāmrī'. The kids playing paused just as Ino laughed. The litany from the wall petered to a stop.
In the lull Ino spoke loud enough to be heard herself, in nearly perfect Thai, "Never heard a Yak, but it sounds like a lonely scared cow to me."
An astonished voice answered her back. "You speak THAI?!"
Ino shrugged, then realized the other couldn't see it. "Yeah. And another half dozen or so." She added, partly in English because she had no idea what 'yeah' in Thai was.
"Chi. Yeah is Chi."
"Fine. My name is Ino by the way." She offered up the baton of friendship.
Three offkey blats of trumpet blocks the response.
"I said, you can call me Nan." The exasperated girl spoke back.
The trumpet intermittently stopped their conversation off and on, so they agreed to exchange numbers. From that point on it was in texts they spoke, ignoring both the semi-shouting in Thai from one side and the offkey horn --that shifted to offkey piano as the evening continued and some other poor kid started their lesson.
Mom knew Ino would be getting money from Clef, she didn't care. She'd worked all her life and would stop when she was ready to go into the ground.
'So you are in High School? Do you go to Winslow?' Nan texted.
Should have expected this, Ino thought. 'Yes, I go to Winslow.'
'Cool. Do you know the members of Clef, the band kids?' Nan replied.
'Yes. My mother teaches music, is it that much a surprise that I am in Band? I play Xylophone by the way.'
'Sorry. It was in the news and I was trying to find something to get my mind off college.'
'College?'
'Yeah I go to Cornell… Did anyway. Got put on academic suspension because they think I cheated on my finals.'
'Did you?'
'No! I did the work right in font of them!' The answer came back fast, there was a bang on the wall, followed by 'Dammit autocorrupt. FROM'
Ino considered. 'So what was the problem?'
'I did the whole test packet in like ten minutes. The test was supposed to last an hour. They made me come home to my mom's place while they reviewed it. Would not even let me stay at the dorm.'
'Damn.'
'Damn indeed. Got so mad I came this close to showing them what a fast reaction could do chemically.' The response came with an aggravated drawn out grunt from the other side.
Ino waited a little bit.
'Shit. Hope I didn't freak you out too much there.' Nan's text came seconds later.
Ino chuckled a little. 'Was just trying to come up with how to offer a meet for coffee that did not come off as a date.'
The response was fast. 'Coffee? There are actual coffee shops in this burg now? I could kiss you, (don't swing that way, but if the coffee is really good… j/k)'
Ino snorted. 'Meet me out front.'
Getting up, Ino walked to the kitchen, visible from the front room where the lesson was underway. She used the whiteboard to write out 'Going for coffee with a friend', then opened the fridge to face the door with the board where her mom could see it.
Wing Satchee glanced at the message then looked at Ino. She tapped her watch and held three over it.
Three hours, huh. That would be in by eleven. Ino nodded and headed out.
The mixed race girl waiting on the porch of the duplex was Thai with blonde hair, probably bottle born, but she had a western look around her eyes, Something like ino did at that. The girl put out her cigarette quickly and stood up to find herself a smidge shorter than Ino, but a bit curvier.
"You are a real stick." Nan held out a hand to shake.
Snorting, Ino replied. "You should see my friend Taylor." Her laughter died as the twenty something stiffened a bit.
"Taylor… Hebert?"
Ino winced. "Ah, so you have been following the news." She stepped out onto the sidewalk.
Nan followed, falling in to step with her. "Yeah. it was PHO or go insane for the last week."
"You've been sitting at home in the middle of that argument for a week? You need coffee and sugar, stat." Ino noted.
They walked a little ways down the street. Ino watched the alleys as they came up to them, but Nan seemed to give off the air of someone who doesn't have a care in the world.
"You know that eyeballing them is likely to spur them into jumping us, right?" Nan noted. "Ignoring them blatantly works better. They don't know if it is worth it to invoke the anger of whoever gave the protection."
They headed onward toward the Boardwalk, where the coffee shops and sweets places congregated to the tourists and native alike. It was only seven-thirty and change and the lights were on up ahead at the border to the active parts of the Boardwalk.
And three young men stepped out in front of them, Asians by their build, Lung's men by their dress code of green and red. Checking their six, Ino saw another three come out from behind them. Slow clapping came from the side, where an Asian twenty something in a black on black suit smiled.
"Ino Satchee. Lung would have words with you." The lieutenant pointed not at Ino but at Nan.
Pointing her finger Ino intoned. "Nan." Then at herself. "Ino." Pointing at the boys around her. "Losers."
That got them standing straighter, anger showing.
"No. No. That isn't right at all." Nan was slipping into more of a Boston accent as she got pissed. "Wicked sowwy, but coffee comes first. And where she goes, I go."
He considers a moment. Then waves the others back a step. "The invitation is open to guests, and coffee with sweets is available. Lung does not wish to offend --at this time." He smiles. "I was told a house number and to look for the attractive young woman. My apologies for assuming the more… assured personage was the cape." With the last word was spoken low as not to carry.
He pointed at the Boardwalk. "Simply choose an establishment and make your order. Nearly all of them have a private meeting room in the back. Those that do not, are connected with those that do. His investments are diverse."
Ino considered. There was a protocol for this. "Let me make a call in so that no one will interrupt unduly."
He nodded to go ahead.
Dialing the Clef number and selecting seven, an option not offered on the menu she didn't wait to listen to, Ino recorded a simple message. "This is Ino. Going to meet Lung for coffee at his request around eight o'clock. If I do not check in by nine, alert Clef members to come after me."
Nan's eyes widen a bit at the disclosure. Where there had been strong suspicion, there were no doubts left.
"Interesting." She noted.
The lieutenant looked at Nan. "Last chance to back out."
"And not get my fakking coffee? Lead on, Ino. I still don't know which of these places can do decent coffee."
Ino stepped toward the light, the three in front of her fading right and left in her passage. "I prefer 'Bay Reflectiones' myself, they serve the best coffees and better cake."
Nan follows, as does the Lieutenant --at a respectful distance of three steps back.
*********************
Daryl was sitting at home in his RV in the corner of the loading area of the old Northside Mall. They could have moved into real housing with the plans they were making with Clef, but this old junker had been home so long it felt wrong to move out.
Larry was in one of the shops he'd turned into Tinkering stations out in the Mall proper. Not in direct contact but never far with the communicators he'd worked up.
A red light flashing on the answering machine showed they'd had a call in --probably one of the girls as the phone line was still very new. A non-emergency call.
Listening to it, his hackles raised as he realized Ino was being brought in for a 'talk' by Lung.
"Leet, my dude. Ino just called the ho-hum line and said Lung invited her for coffee and words." He paused. "She said not to come running unless she is gone for more than an hour without checking in."
The pause ran long enough Daryl was just starting to get up.
"...ammit, I was muted that whole time? Okay, take two. Suit up in fifteen minutes and we can take the Southern Cross bikes out. They can pass for exotic, but normal. We can hold things together until the DWA shows if need be."
"Gotcha. Let me call in an alert to the docks.", Daryl --no Uber here-- changed the channel setting to include the DWA. "Longshoremen, this is Games Master. Fife is calling in a standby for help at oh nine hundred at the Boardwalk. May need extraction. Lung involved."
Lacey's voice came back in a moment. "Fife is alone?"
"That is a roger. Civvies but invited by name. Better alert the Dadmaster, Drum and Flag just in case. Games Master out."
Then Uber turned and did something he would have laughed at anyone suggesting he do so in all the years he'd been a cape in the Bay.
He called the Protectorate himself.
"Affiliate hotline, how may I help?" the unknown operator spoke up.
Half sniggering to himself. "Uber here, of Clef. Fife has reported that she was going to meet with Lung over coffee. She requested assisted extraction at nine o'clock if she doesn't check in. Alerting the White Hats so you can have the first responders staged."
"Passing this up the chain, Uber. I must say though, it is a pleasant change to have you calling in the emergencies rather than cause them." The woman noted.
"Tell me that again at ten o'clock."
Her laugh was more of a bark. "Roger that, here is Miss Militia."
The line clicked. "I read the transcript of your initial call already. Lung already knew Fife's civilian name and was watching her home. Not good. Do you think this will go south on us?"
"Your guess is as good as mine but ee--Fife called on the hohum --ah, the non-emergency line and left a message only. She didn't sound coerced."
"Right. Keep this line open and we will coordinate."
**************************
Ino had picked the most expensive coffee and cake place, the biggest one with the highest prices.
"Oh my god, I am in fakking heaven." Nan seemed to like it. She turned to the lieutenant. "Your boss invited, so he's buying, right?"
She didn't wait for an answer, jumping in to order two pieces of a strawberry layered cake and some kind of extreme latte thing. Ino looked at it and made the same order without the extra slice.
Nan laughed and pointed at the cake then her chest. "And that is why you look like a stick."
They were escorted to a booth in the back, not a truly private area after all. Their coffee was brought to them, the slices set down on a tray on the table with a bright red cloth.
"You would be advised to hold onto your cups." The Lieutenant pointed out without sitting.
Both girls looked at each other, taking hold of their coffee --in Nan's case also steadying the tray. The entire booth moved to one side as the wall shifted with them. From the lieutenant's point of view an empty booth came into view.
Across from the girls now was another table with similar red cloth. It was narrow, made to look like an extension of the booth itself. A large man was sitting there, his features hidden by the way the lighting from their own table was bright, while his own was off. His white button up shirt was open enough to show a peek of a red-scaled body --a tattoo of a swirling dragon.
"I am Lung. Be at ease." He pointed at his own portion of cake, red velvet in his case. "The cake is quite nice here, excellent choice." He gestured with his fork to the girls.
"Ino Satchee." She waited a moment to see if Nan would introduce herself.
Nan did so, after wiping an errant bit of whip cream. "Nan Pham."
Lung set his fork down, steepling his fingers. "The Cornell scholarship. Not an investment I expected to fail."
"You didn't buy my way there and I didn't fail. They just can't understand genius when they see it." Nan growled, pointing her fork at him like a weapon.
"I did in fact pay your way, the scholarship you earned is but one of many I fund." he noted without anger. "Rage is more my 'schtick', you would do well to remember that." He smiled, the light just catching his mouth to show perfect teeth. Taking a slow breath he exhaled through his nose, smoke coming from within.
"She isn't out, just under academic review. And she is not why you called this meeting." Ino stated.
"True." He focused on Ino, dismissing the other woman entirely. "Clef is setting up in my city. What you do in the docks is your own business. What is done in my holdings requires a tithe. Have you considered this, unlike the school related candy bars?"
"It has crossed our minds. However, we do not expect to compete with your business ventures or interfere with any legal holdings. However if the rumors of your brothels hold true…"
He chuckled. "That my men pick up young girls of the street and force them into slavery ---that is a lie spread by the Empire. All of the young women in my employ have health care. They are paid a living wage. Most of them are able to save enough to go to college or technical school. The larger number of them come as refugees from China, some from Africa. They choose that life to help their immigrant families migrate as well."
"Would an audit of your business practices relating to them pass muster --if the actual business was legal?" Ino found herself asking.
His smile widened. "If I were based in Las Vegas, I would be considered the epitome of business standards. But the elite are as racist as the Empire are in fact. And I find I prefer to see my sunrise over the ocean like my hometown in Kyushu."
Ino frowned. "I thought you were from China…"
His chuckle deepened. "I lived in China … for a time. It was not by choice."
"I see. So if you do not deal in illegal means, then why do you have a gang?" Ino asked.
Nan sniggered a little in her cake.
Lung held a hand palm up, then pointed at his left, now palm up. "I never claimed to be dealing entirely in the 'legal' sense, only that my brothels are not filled with slaves or kidnap victims. If the product is worth money, I will sell it. My gang sells 'protection' from interference or damage. It is for the sake of the community that I tithe all business in my domain to support improvements within it."
"So you aren't running down the values of houses near the docks to buy them up cheaply?"
The chuckle had a little smoke to it again. "Helloo, pirate."
Nodding to Nan's own nod. He knew his movie references.
"Then allow me to respond in kind. Clef is disinclined to acquiesce to your wishes. Your fights with the Empire are not ours. Your illegal activities that we encounter, we will stop. We support the DWA and their holding of the docks as neutral."
"And the old Northside Mall?"
"That is not your territory to my understanding. The Merchants --I suppose the Merch now-- have always kept control there."
"The Merch will not be an issue long. I play the long game." He gestures to Nan. "Scholarships, loans. Ask Uber and Leet who floated the loan to buy the place. What you consider an independent cape group, I consider another investment that can be called due."
Ino set her fork down with a clink of finality. She had finished her cake, but the last bite was ashes in her mouth.
Nan however was shoveling the other piece in now, trying to finish before something happened to keep her from it. Her denim jacket hung open enough that Ino could see wiring inside, sewn to the collar. It went around her collar and was just visible at the cuff as well.
Ino found herself fishing out her goggles to put on her face and look around.
Lung did not seem to be happy at this. "You would mask yourself in my presence?!"
With her goggles on and active, Ino could see the circuitry in the denim jacket, in the belt, even in the boots under the cargo pants Nan was wearing. She turned to look up at Lung, seeing his features with the low light enhancement.
His face lit up as his eyes burned with fire. "Answer me girl. Are you challenging me?"
"No." She gestured up at her goggles. "You know my face, now I know yours."
"I have killed before to maintain my secret." Lung growled, the smoke thicker showing the fire in his eyes and sparks from his nose.
"Not a minor that met you in civilian identity." Ino calmly noted. "If you act up, the Protectorate will be along in minutes. If there is enough left when the DWA comes calling. This here, this is what is known as a Mexican standoff. Mutually assured destruction." Ino smile sweetly. "You chose the venue, hosted the meeting. Now we will be going. By my clock display --which is in my goggles thank you very much-- there is only around thirty minutes before they start calling in Legend."
"The discussion is not over, young lady."
"Oh, I think you have ticked off all the points you were planning to make." Nan said quietly. "You said your piece, she said hers and both of you are ticked."
"It is your place of business. If need be, I can walk through the wall and make a mess of a place I enjoyed --even if it is out of my usual price range."
"And her?" Lung growled.
Nan smiled a slow burn. "Your men mentioned that I walked without fear. There is a reason for that." She reached into a pocket, gripping something in there. Her head tilt was challenging. Nan slipped in a wink to Ino.
Lung looked at Ino, her eyes not flinching from his. He sighed, mostly smoke. "Perhaps it is time to end talks --for now. Others in Clef may have a less principled stance once they know what they stand to lose." He pressed a button under the table and the booth shifted to return to its original position.
Ino and Nan left the business, not quite running but hurrying.
"Did you threaten Lung with a cellphone?"
"Nah. Other pocket. This one has one of my projects." Nan shrugged. Looking ahead she noted. "Company coming. They look annoyed and uninformed."
Ino took out a cloth mask, one of the spares that were in her little bag just in case. "Put this on."
Nan tied it over her face as the men fanned out in front of them, blocking the street away from the Bay. There were over twenty of them.
Ino fingered the emergency button, while dropping the little bag of Kid Win style blocks out on the ground. They self assembled into the triangle teleport pad. A flash and there were an even dozen of eight inch long cylinders standing upright on the pad.
Ino was reaching for the closest when she saw Nan take a step forward.
"Party rock is in the house tonight!" She sang out. "Everybody just have a good time." Her voice was louder, autotuned and there was music coming from the thing in her hand.
The gang bangers coming toward them seemed to pause as she tossed something toward them.
"We goin make you lose your mind. We just want you to shake… Shake that." The music got louder, the vocals coming from the ball thing she tossed.
It rolled past the first line of them, doing nothing and they ignored it to start running at the girls.
Ino stood up and held her Fife to her mouth, the energy blade humming to life as a threat. She heard the music starting to play, recognizing it. The other cylinders lifted off and formed into a line behind them, igniting as floating energy blades above the girls' heads.
Ino played the notes matching up to what Nan sang next in a deeper voice than she normally used.
"Every day I'm shuffling."
The flash in their midst was unexpected. Instead of running gang boys coming at her, there were thirty or more there with their weapons dropped to their feet. Their feet moved in sync with what Nan was doing, dancing for all she was worth.
The ball was projecting lights above it, a hologram imitating a disco ball. Instead of reflecting lights, this image sent lights out as it turned, lights that synced to the music.
*****************************
Twenty minutes later, the PRT and cops were there, ready to take the gangers in handcuffs. All of them were sweating while dancing or down on the ground with cramps still trying to do so.
Nan was going at it like a machine.
"I can do this ALL NIGHT. Can you?" She laughed at the lieutenant caught in the effect.
A few cops were caught up in the effect as well at the end, along with a couple tourists who jumped in thinking it was a flash mob.
As he was taken away, the lieutenant screamed out a few curses and something that caught on her ears.
"Baka Uta!"* just as he was pushed into a squad car. (*Japanese: 'Stupid Song')
The PRT agent in front of a sweating Nan handed her a water bottle. "What cape name do you want to go by, miss?"
Nan frowned. "Eh, what he said."
The agent wrote it down as he heard it.
"Bakuda"
Ino was home, their little house a duplex with neighbors who were loud all the time. The only sanity saving fact was that she didn't speak Thai growing up so couldn't understand the inanity of the continuous arguments. Her mother shrugged it off as none of their business, only using music to fend off the louder rants --or perhaps cause them.
Mom gave music lessons to kids all day, every day. After the music store folded --more for lack of insurance for the location as the 'cape clauses' got higher and higher in the Bay-- it was the way she, no they, got by. Piano, brass, violin --her mother could 'Wing it' on any instrument put in front of her. Heh. "Wing It" had been the motto of the store after all.
So it was no surprise to find Ino in her bedroom reviewing the Tinkering session videos, some poor chubby middle schooler in the next room making a racket with a … trumpet? It sounded like a crying cow trapped in a canyon.
Apparently her wall mate shared the opinion. One of Uber's sessions with Drum had been in a skill to learn languages. The idea was to see how long a passive skill would hold. What Ino hadn't counted on was that the constant yammering next door would coalesce into a passing understanding of Thai.
And now she understood when the girl next door that shared the wall complained it sounded like a 'Cāmrī'. The kids playing paused just as Ino laughed. The litany from the wall petered to a stop.
In the lull Ino spoke loud enough to be heard herself, in nearly perfect Thai, "Never heard a Yak, but it sounds like a lonely scared cow to me."
An astonished voice answered her back. "You speak THAI?!"
Ino shrugged, then realized the other couldn't see it. "Yeah. And another half dozen or so." She added, partly in English because she had no idea what 'yeah' in Thai was.
"Chi. Yeah is Chi."
"Fine. My name is Ino by the way." She offered up the baton of friendship.
Three offkey blats of trumpet blocks the response.
"I said, you can call me Nan." The exasperated girl spoke back.
The trumpet intermittently stopped their conversation off and on, so they agreed to exchange numbers. From that point on it was in texts they spoke, ignoring both the semi-shouting in Thai from one side and the offkey horn --that shifted to offkey piano as the evening continued and some other poor kid started their lesson.
Mom knew Ino would be getting money from Clef, she didn't care. She'd worked all her life and would stop when she was ready to go into the ground.
'So you are in High School? Do you go to Winslow?' Nan texted.
Should have expected this, Ino thought. 'Yes, I go to Winslow.'
'Cool. Do you know the members of Clef, the band kids?' Nan replied.
'Yes. My mother teaches music, is it that much a surprise that I am in Band? I play Xylophone by the way.'
'Sorry. It was in the news and I was trying to find something to get my mind off college.'
'College?'
'Yeah I go to Cornell… Did anyway. Got put on academic suspension because they think I cheated on my finals.'
'Did you?'
'No! I did the work right in font of them!' The answer came back fast, there was a bang on the wall, followed by 'Dammit autocorrupt. FROM'
Ino considered. 'So what was the problem?'
'I did the whole test packet in like ten minutes. The test was supposed to last an hour. They made me come home to my mom's place while they reviewed it. Would not even let me stay at the dorm.'
'Damn.'
'Damn indeed. Got so mad I came this close to showing them what a fast reaction could do chemically.' The response came with an aggravated drawn out grunt from the other side.
Ino waited a little bit.
'Shit. Hope I didn't freak you out too much there.' Nan's text came seconds later.
Ino chuckled a little. 'Was just trying to come up with how to offer a meet for coffee that did not come off as a date.'
The response was fast. 'Coffee? There are actual coffee shops in this burg now? I could kiss you, (don't swing that way, but if the coffee is really good… j/k)'
Ino snorted. 'Meet me out front.'
Getting up, Ino walked to the kitchen, visible from the front room where the lesson was underway. She used the whiteboard to write out 'Going for coffee with a friend', then opened the fridge to face the door with the board where her mom could see it.
Wing Satchee glanced at the message then looked at Ino. She tapped her watch and held three over it.
Three hours, huh. That would be in by eleven. Ino nodded and headed out.
The mixed race girl waiting on the porch of the duplex was Thai with blonde hair, probably bottle born, but she had a western look around her eyes, Something like ino did at that. The girl put out her cigarette quickly and stood up to find herself a smidge shorter than Ino, but a bit curvier.
"You are a real stick." Nan held out a hand to shake.
Snorting, Ino replied. "You should see my friend Taylor." Her laughter died as the twenty something stiffened a bit.
"Taylor… Hebert?"
Ino winced. "Ah, so you have been following the news." She stepped out onto the sidewalk.
Nan followed, falling in to step with her. "Yeah. it was PHO or go insane for the last week."
"You've been sitting at home in the middle of that argument for a week? You need coffee and sugar, stat." Ino noted.
They walked a little ways down the street. Ino watched the alleys as they came up to them, but Nan seemed to give off the air of someone who doesn't have a care in the world.
"You know that eyeballing them is likely to spur them into jumping us, right?" Nan noted. "Ignoring them blatantly works better. They don't know if it is worth it to invoke the anger of whoever gave the protection."
They headed onward toward the Boardwalk, where the coffee shops and sweets places congregated to the tourists and native alike. It was only seven-thirty and change and the lights were on up ahead at the border to the active parts of the Boardwalk.
And three young men stepped out in front of them, Asians by their build, Lung's men by their dress code of green and red. Checking their six, Ino saw another three come out from behind them. Slow clapping came from the side, where an Asian twenty something in a black on black suit smiled.
"Ino Satchee. Lung would have words with you." The lieutenant pointed not at Ino but at Nan.
Pointing her finger Ino intoned. "Nan." Then at herself. "Ino." Pointing at the boys around her. "Losers."
That got them standing straighter, anger showing.
"No. No. That isn't right at all." Nan was slipping into more of a Boston accent as she got pissed. "Wicked sowwy, but coffee comes first. And where she goes, I go."
He considers a moment. Then waves the others back a step. "The invitation is open to guests, and coffee with sweets is available. Lung does not wish to offend --at this time." He smiles. "I was told a house number and to look for the attractive young woman. My apologies for assuming the more… assured personage was the cape." With the last word was spoken low as not to carry.
He pointed at the Boardwalk. "Simply choose an establishment and make your order. Nearly all of them have a private meeting room in the back. Those that do not, are connected with those that do. His investments are diverse."
Ino considered. There was a protocol for this. "Let me make a call in so that no one will interrupt unduly."
He nodded to go ahead.
Dialing the Clef number and selecting seven, an option not offered on the menu she didn't wait to listen to, Ino recorded a simple message. "This is Ino. Going to meet Lung for coffee at his request around eight o'clock. If I do not check in by nine, alert Clef members to come after me."
Nan's eyes widen a bit at the disclosure. Where there had been strong suspicion, there were no doubts left.
"Interesting." She noted.
The lieutenant looked at Nan. "Last chance to back out."
"And not get my fakking coffee? Lead on, Ino. I still don't know which of these places can do decent coffee."
Ino stepped toward the light, the three in front of her fading right and left in her passage. "I prefer 'Bay Reflectiones' myself, they serve the best coffees and better cake."
Nan follows, as does the Lieutenant --at a respectful distance of three steps back.
*********************
Daryl was sitting at home in his RV in the corner of the loading area of the old Northside Mall. They could have moved into real housing with the plans they were making with Clef, but this old junker had been home so long it felt wrong to move out.
Larry was in one of the shops he'd turned into Tinkering stations out in the Mall proper. Not in direct contact but never far with the communicators he'd worked up.
A red light flashing on the answering machine showed they'd had a call in --probably one of the girls as the phone line was still very new. A non-emergency call.
Listening to it, his hackles raised as he realized Ino was being brought in for a 'talk' by Lung.
"Leet, my dude. Ino just called the ho-hum line and said Lung invited her for coffee and words." He paused. "She said not to come running unless she is gone for more than an hour without checking in."
The pause ran long enough Daryl was just starting to get up.
"...ammit, I was muted that whole time? Okay, take two. Suit up in fifteen minutes and we can take the Southern Cross bikes out. They can pass for exotic, but normal. We can hold things together until the DWA shows if need be."
"Gotcha. Let me call in an alert to the docks.", Daryl --no Uber here-- changed the channel setting to include the DWA. "Longshoremen, this is Games Master. Fife is calling in a standby for help at oh nine hundred at the Boardwalk. May need extraction. Lung involved."
Lacey's voice came back in a moment. "Fife is alone?"
"That is a roger. Civvies but invited by name. Better alert the Dadmaster, Drum and Flag just in case. Games Master out."
Then Uber turned and did something he would have laughed at anyone suggesting he do so in all the years he'd been a cape in the Bay.
He called the Protectorate himself.
"Affiliate hotline, how may I help?" the unknown operator spoke up.
Half sniggering to himself. "Uber here, of Clef. Fife has reported that she was going to meet with Lung over coffee. She requested assisted extraction at nine o'clock if she doesn't check in. Alerting the White Hats so you can have the first responders staged."
"Passing this up the chain, Uber. I must say though, it is a pleasant change to have you calling in the emergencies rather than cause them." The woman noted.
"Tell me that again at ten o'clock."
Her laugh was more of a bark. "Roger that, here is Miss Militia."
The line clicked. "I read the transcript of your initial call already. Lung already knew Fife's civilian name and was watching her home. Not good. Do you think this will go south on us?"
"Your guess is as good as mine but ee--Fife called on the hohum --ah, the non-emergency line and left a message only. She didn't sound coerced."
"Right. Keep this line open and we will coordinate."
**************************
Ino had picked the most expensive coffee and cake place, the biggest one with the highest prices.
"Oh my god, I am in fakking heaven." Nan seemed to like it. She turned to the lieutenant. "Your boss invited, so he's buying, right?"
She didn't wait for an answer, jumping in to order two pieces of a strawberry layered cake and some kind of extreme latte thing. Ino looked at it and made the same order without the extra slice.
Nan laughed and pointed at the cake then her chest. "And that is why you look like a stick."
They were escorted to a booth in the back, not a truly private area after all. Their coffee was brought to them, the slices set down on a tray on the table with a bright red cloth.
"You would be advised to hold onto your cups." The Lieutenant pointed out without sitting.
Both girls looked at each other, taking hold of their coffee --in Nan's case also steadying the tray. The entire booth moved to one side as the wall shifted with them. From the lieutenant's point of view an empty booth came into view.
Across from the girls now was another table with similar red cloth. It was narrow, made to look like an extension of the booth itself. A large man was sitting there, his features hidden by the way the lighting from their own table was bright, while his own was off. His white button up shirt was open enough to show a peek of a red-scaled body --a tattoo of a swirling dragon.
"I am Lung. Be at ease." He pointed at his own portion of cake, red velvet in his case. "The cake is quite nice here, excellent choice." He gestured with his fork to the girls.
"Ino Satchee." She waited a moment to see if Nan would introduce herself.
Nan did so, after wiping an errant bit of whip cream. "Nan Pham."
Lung set his fork down, steepling his fingers. "The Cornell scholarship. Not an investment I expected to fail."
"You didn't buy my way there and I didn't fail. They just can't understand genius when they see it." Nan growled, pointing her fork at him like a weapon.
"I did in fact pay your way, the scholarship you earned is but one of many I fund." he noted without anger. "Rage is more my 'schtick', you would do well to remember that." He smiled, the light just catching his mouth to show perfect teeth. Taking a slow breath he exhaled through his nose, smoke coming from within.
"She isn't out, just under academic review. And she is not why you called this meeting." Ino stated.
"True." He focused on Ino, dismissing the other woman entirely. "Clef is setting up in my city. What you do in the docks is your own business. What is done in my holdings requires a tithe. Have you considered this, unlike the school related candy bars?"
"It has crossed our minds. However, we do not expect to compete with your business ventures or interfere with any legal holdings. However if the rumors of your brothels hold true…"
He chuckled. "That my men pick up young girls of the street and force them into slavery ---that is a lie spread by the Empire. All of the young women in my employ have health care. They are paid a living wage. Most of them are able to save enough to go to college or technical school. The larger number of them come as refugees from China, some from Africa. They choose that life to help their immigrant families migrate as well."
"Would an audit of your business practices relating to them pass muster --if the actual business was legal?" Ino found herself asking.
His smile widened. "If I were based in Las Vegas, I would be considered the epitome of business standards. But the elite are as racist as the Empire are in fact. And I find I prefer to see my sunrise over the ocean like my hometown in Kyushu."
Ino frowned. "I thought you were from China…"
His chuckle deepened. "I lived in China … for a time. It was not by choice."
"I see. So if you do not deal in illegal means, then why do you have a gang?" Ino asked.
Nan sniggered a little in her cake.
Lung held a hand palm up, then pointed at his left, now palm up. "I never claimed to be dealing entirely in the 'legal' sense, only that my brothels are not filled with slaves or kidnap victims. If the product is worth money, I will sell it. My gang sells 'protection' from interference or damage. It is for the sake of the community that I tithe all business in my domain to support improvements within it."
"So you aren't running down the values of houses near the docks to buy them up cheaply?"
The chuckle had a little smoke to it again. "Helloo, pirate."
Nodding to Nan's own nod. He knew his movie references.
"Then allow me to respond in kind. Clef is disinclined to acquiesce to your wishes. Your fights with the Empire are not ours. Your illegal activities that we encounter, we will stop. We support the DWA and their holding of the docks as neutral."
"And the old Northside Mall?"
"That is not your territory to my understanding. The Merchants --I suppose the Merch now-- have always kept control there."
"The Merch will not be an issue long. I play the long game." He gestures to Nan. "Scholarships, loans. Ask Uber and Leet who floated the loan to buy the place. What you consider an independent cape group, I consider another investment that can be called due."
Ino set her fork down with a clink of finality. She had finished her cake, but the last bite was ashes in her mouth.
Nan however was shoveling the other piece in now, trying to finish before something happened to keep her from it. Her denim jacket hung open enough that Ino could see wiring inside, sewn to the collar. It went around her collar and was just visible at the cuff as well.
Ino found herself fishing out her goggles to put on her face and look around.
Lung did not seem to be happy at this. "You would mask yourself in my presence?!"
With her goggles on and active, Ino could see the circuitry in the denim jacket, in the belt, even in the boots under the cargo pants Nan was wearing. She turned to look up at Lung, seeing his features with the low light enhancement.
His face lit up as his eyes burned with fire. "Answer me girl. Are you challenging me?"
"No." She gestured up at her goggles. "You know my face, now I know yours."
"I have killed before to maintain my secret." Lung growled, the smoke thicker showing the fire in his eyes and sparks from his nose.
"Not a minor that met you in civilian identity." Ino calmly noted. "If you act up, the Protectorate will be along in minutes. If there is enough left when the DWA comes calling. This here, this is what is known as a Mexican standoff. Mutually assured destruction." Ino smile sweetly. "You chose the venue, hosted the meeting. Now we will be going. By my clock display --which is in my goggles thank you very much-- there is only around thirty minutes before they start calling in Legend."
"The discussion is not over, young lady."
"Oh, I think you have ticked off all the points you were planning to make." Nan said quietly. "You said your piece, she said hers and both of you are ticked."
"It is your place of business. If need be, I can walk through the wall and make a mess of a place I enjoyed --even if it is out of my usual price range."
"And her?" Lung growled.
Nan smiled a slow burn. "Your men mentioned that I walked without fear. There is a reason for that." She reached into a pocket, gripping something in there. Her head tilt was challenging. Nan slipped in a wink to Ino.
Lung looked at Ino, her eyes not flinching from his. He sighed, mostly smoke. "Perhaps it is time to end talks --for now. Others in Clef may have a less principled stance once they know what they stand to lose." He pressed a button under the table and the booth shifted to return to its original position.
Ino and Nan left the business, not quite running but hurrying.
"Did you threaten Lung with a cellphone?"
"Nah. Other pocket. This one has one of my projects." Nan shrugged. Looking ahead she noted. "Company coming. They look annoyed and uninformed."
Ino took out a cloth mask, one of the spares that were in her little bag just in case. "Put this on."
Nan tied it over her face as the men fanned out in front of them, blocking the street away from the Bay. There were over twenty of them.
Ino fingered the emergency button, while dropping the little bag of Kid Win style blocks out on the ground. They self assembled into the triangle teleport pad. A flash and there were an even dozen of eight inch long cylinders standing upright on the pad.
Ino was reaching for the closest when she saw Nan take a step forward.
"Party rock is in the house tonight!" She sang out. "Everybody just have a good time." Her voice was louder, autotuned and there was music coming from the thing in her hand.
The gang bangers coming toward them seemed to pause as she tossed something toward them.
"We goin make you lose your mind. We just want you to shake… Shake that." The music got louder, the vocals coming from the ball thing she tossed.
It rolled past the first line of them, doing nothing and they ignored it to start running at the girls.
Ino stood up and held her Fife to her mouth, the energy blade humming to life as a threat. She heard the music starting to play, recognizing it. The other cylinders lifted off and formed into a line behind them, igniting as floating energy blades above the girls' heads.
Ino played the notes matching up to what Nan sang next in a deeper voice than she normally used.
"Every day I'm shuffling."
The flash in their midst was unexpected. Instead of running gang boys coming at her, there were thirty or more there with their weapons dropped to their feet. Their feet moved in sync with what Nan was doing, dancing for all she was worth.
The ball was projecting lights above it, a hologram imitating a disco ball. Instead of reflecting lights, this image sent lights out as it turned, lights that synced to the music.
*****************************
Twenty minutes later, the PRT and cops were there, ready to take the gangers in handcuffs. All of them were sweating while dancing or down on the ground with cramps still trying to do so.
Nan was going at it like a machine.
"I can do this ALL NIGHT. Can you?" She laughed at the lieutenant caught in the effect.
A few cops were caught up in the effect as well at the end, along with a couple tourists who jumped in thinking it was a flash mob.
As he was taken away, the lieutenant screamed out a few curses and something that caught on her ears.
"Baka Uta!"* just as he was pushed into a squad car. (*Japanese: 'Stupid Song')
The PRT agent in front of a sweating Nan handed her a water bottle. "What cape name do you want to go by, miss?"
Nan frowned. "Eh, what he said."
The agent wrote it down as he heard it.
"Bakuda"
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- Location
- NY, NY
This is going to be a real blast.
I see what you did there, subtle
But yes, I agree...
I was trying to be as subtle as a grenade.I see what you did there, subtle
But yes, I agree...
ScottotheUnwise
Verified Crack (fic) Dealer
- Location
- Mulberry, Fl
Heh, blame google translate on the particular intro. Baka uta is "stupid song" which seemed appropriate for a twenty minute green shoes aoe grenade. And it is sort of music adjacent for a Clef name --squinting. Hard. 20/640 hard at a stop sign.
- Location
- None of your business
Did... did Bakuda just make a Groovatron? Because that's all I can think of when I see a grenade that forces people to dance.
Lung only sees it as the ultimate challenge.
Because would not Lung also benefit from the other stacked powers.
I think she did
- Location
- USA
Going by what happened with Hookwolf... No? Like, that's it. One versus twenty when all involved are completely equal is not in favor of the one. The other powers brought to the table are either innate to the others involved or were given out before hand, as long as the copier is only copying Lung then the only power he could possibly get is his own, which everyone else is also getting on top of what they're already bringing in.
Then, he blatantly threatened her home. Does he take expect zero retaliation by absolutely anyone, or honestly think he can take on everyone? Again, see above- it's a clearly dumb idea and I really want to know what he's thinking.
This is one of the fics where I would love to see Kenta's house hit by a time stop grenade while he's in bed, and just have no one notice for a while.
- Location
- Deep in the Badlands of Equestria
Guess word about what happened to Hookwolf hasn't filtered out from the classified PRT reports yet. That, or Lung will go for a preemptive strike the first time Drum comes up on his range of perception.
I thought the dockworkers had two buffs on them during Knifepuppy's beatdown. Stabby Dog's ability and Fife's brute power, while Hookwolf also had Fife's power.
Both of those scenarios is valid as to the course of event that occurred.
What is the movie being referenced here, because i am missing it?
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- Location
- USA
Because she didn't realize what are was doing at the time. Drum can only point her power at one person at a time to copy the powers from, as long as it's only pointed at Lung then the only powers getting shard is going to be Lungs.
Thank you for pointing that out, I had forgotten that little bit.