...and a fever-induced Dancer special: Coffee And Donuts. I told you I'd finish it, even if it does suck.

Coffee And Donuts

    "I just want to go home," Keiko protested, yet she followed her best friend and partner Sean into a small coffee shop. A sign above the door read 'Bean & Donut'. "I don't get it," she stated.

    "Bean like coffee bean," Sean explained.

    "Oh." Keiko nodded. "For some reason it made me think of baked beans."

    He shrugged. "Maybe they also serve those. Want to ask?"

    "No." She wrinkled her nose. "I already don't like regular coffee. I'll just have water and a couple of donuts."

    "Suit yourself." He shrugged and sat down in a booth. Keiko sat across from him. "Man, that law firm was a strange place."

    "The plush leather walls?" Keiko asked.

    He nodded. "I told you, if you ask nicely they would drop the complaint against you. I was right, wasn't I?"

    "Nearly," Keiko told him. "I had to sign a voluntary restraining order keeping me away from their offices."

    She stopped talking as a brown haired waitress appeared next to them, wearing a name tag reading 'Sarah'. "Good afternoon," she said in a soft British accent, "would you like to see a menu?"

    "Does the 'Bean' part of the name of this place refer to coffee beans?" Keiko asked, "Or baked beans?"

    "A little of both," Sarah the waitress laughed. "I don't suppose you'd like to try either?"

    "No thank you." Keiko smiled. "I was simply curious. I will have a donut sampler and a bottle of water, please."

    "Donut sampler, excellent!" Sarah exclaimed. "I like the cinnamon ones myself." She looked at Sean. "And for the handsome gentleman?"

    Sean smiled widely enough at that to earn a quick angry look from Keiko. "I'll...uh...do you have just regular glazed? I'll have that and a coffee."

    "Of course." Sarah turned and headed over to the counter.

    "Mangatown?" Keiko asked. She was reading a tour pamphlet she managed to pick up outside. "Is that where they sell comics?"

    "Oh, you're from Mangatown?" Sarah asked as she returned with two cups of coffee.

    "No," Keiko told her. "We're both detectives visiting from Garden City. And I'm sorry, but I didn't order coffee."

    "It's on the house, from Mr. Papadopolis," Sarah told her. "He says you look familiar."

    Keiko glanced around the small cafe nervously. "If you don't mind...could you ask him from where?"

    "Not you, silly," Sarah laughed. She indicated toward Sean. "Him." She walked away after that to fetch the donuts.

    "You?" Keiko stared across the table at Sean.

    He simply shrugged. "I dunno. I've met a lot of people in my life. Especially when I was in the Marines."

    A moment later, Sarah appeared again with two plates of donuts, two glasses, and small pitchers of milk and cream. "He says he made a mistake," she told Sean, "You reminded him of someone he once knew."

    "Oh." Sean shrugged. "That's okay, I guess."

    "Do you mind if I ask you two a question?" Sarah asked.

    "Sure." Keiko nodded.

    "If this cafe was on fire and you hadn't paid the bill yet, would you find Mr. Papadopolis and make sure he's paid properly or take advantage of the chaos and disappear?"

    "Is this a test of honesty?" Keiko asked, "Or an interesting way of telling us the place is on fire?"

    "No, no." Sarah laughed again. "I enjoy asking these things."

    Keiko looked up for a moment. "I believe I would try to pay what I owe. Possibly a little extra to help him in case his insurance doesn't cover the damage."

    "What a kind soul." Sarah smiled. "I suppose he would be grateful for that." She looked at Sean. "And you?"

    "I'd run as fast as I can," Sean joked. He winced when Keiko kicked him under the table.

    "That's not very nice, now is it?" Sarah jokingly scolded him. She placed the check on the corner of the table. "You can check out when you're ready."

    Before Sean managed to reach for the check, Keiko snatched it and read it quickly. "You know, just because you're faster than me...you really should let me pay sometimes."

    Keiko smiled and handed Sean the check. "There you go. It's all yours."

    He read the check and realized it was for fifteen dollars. "Geez, these have to be the most expensive donuts on the planet." He stood to head toward the cash register...but then froze when he noticed a man in a long, dark coat enter. "Keiko, look," he said as he quickly slipped back into his chair.

    "I'm watching," she said. "Knowing the types I've seen in this city I'm not eager to interfere right away."

    She watched as the coat covered man tried to inconspicuously poke a small gun out of the coat and quietly order Sarah to empty the register. Sarah folded her arms and refused to comply. The man raised his gun and pointed it directly at her head, and Keiko began to rise from her seat as he started to pull the trigger...

    ...and defying all probability of what would happen next, the clip fell out of the automatic pistol and sent bullets rolling all over the floor.

    "Crap!" the thief cursed. He didn't expect an Asian female cop from out of town to twist his arm back and shove his face into the lip below the counter, rendering him harmless.

    "You should call the police," Keiko told Sarah as she held the man in place even as he continued cursing.

    "I hope you have a lot of endurance, then," Sarah laughed. "They won't be here for a half hour at least."

    "That should allow enough time," Keiko replied.

    "For what?" Sarah asked. She didn't need an answer - Keiko slammed a stiffened elbow against the back of the crook's neck, and he was out cold.

---

    It was getting hot outside when Keiko and Sean exited the Bean & Donut. Sean stood on the sidewalk and looked out over a large park a sign had apparently named 'Off-Central Park'. He didn't even notice Sarah exit the coffee shop and approach.

    "Can you do me a favor?" Sarah asked the two of them.

    Sean looked at Keiko, who nodded. "Sure," Keiko replied, "As long as it's nothing too complicated."

    "Nothing like that," Sarah shook her head. She handed Keiko a small package. "If you could, please deliver this to a man at Larry's Bowl-O-Rama. Just head south and west and you'll find it. Tell them it's from Sarah Shepherdson and the owner will point you the right direction."

    "Isn't this a job for the postal service?" Keiko asked.

    "It's a very special package," Sarah told her. "I...can't trust anyone else with it. Especially not Nats. I'd deliver it myself, but..." She pointed toward the Bean & Donut, implying she had to work. "Good luck," she said quickly as she disappeared back into the cafe.

    "Great," Keiko grumbled. "Now we're a delivery service." She sighed. "I suppose we should get this where it needs to go as quickly as possible so we can go home." She quickly headed to the car, parked outside, and froze when she realized that it had been ticketed. "That's odd," she pointed out, "The police ticket us but ignore a robbery attempt within sight."

    After discarding the ticket, Keiko took the driver's seat of their rented SUV. Sean knew that as a former assassin, Keiko had developed a fairly decent sense of direction in unfamiliar cities, and she was therefore better equipped to drive. Nevertheless, it was only a few minutes before the confusing signs in Paradopolis left her hopelessly lost.

    She found herself in the middle of a dense area, on a one-way street, with several signs in Chinese.

    "I think I'll turn around," Keiko said. She took an alley to attempt to connect to the next street down, but the narrow alley seemed to only circle back the way it came. She never completed the circle, however, as a gang of men wearing black clothing with Chinese symbols were in her way. They were carrying chains, sticks, pipes, and various blunt objects, but weren't making any hostile moves.

    "Shouldn't we drive around them?" Sean asked.

    Keiko checked the rear view mirror. Another Chinese gang was approaching, dressed in similar white clothing, carrying more weapons. She shook her head slowly. "I saw this in a movie once. We're out of here."

    "Just drive through them," Sean said, pointing straight ahead.

    "No. That's how the trouble started in the movie." Keiko threw the SUV into reverse and backed up through the white-clad Chinese gang quickly, watching them dodge out of the way. She accelerated further when she saw a few of them turning around to look...

    ...and as she suddenly pulled out, backwards, into traffic on the main road, she slammed the rear of the SUV into the passenger door of an innocent passing limousine.

    She cursed in Japanese, and then looked at Sean. "That didn't happen in the movie."

---

    Out of the limousine stepped a very large, bald man wearing a suit. He was followed by two bodyguards. He didn't seem at all happy, and even less so when he walked around to the passenger side of his limo to check the damage.

    "I'm sorry," Keiko told him. "I have insurance."

    "That's not important," the fat man said in a deep voice. He frowned some more as he added, "You made me spill my lunch!"

    "I'll...pay the cleaning bill too?" Keiko suggested.

    "I'm not concerned with that either." He raised his voice as he bellowed, "I'm hungry! And you made me spill my lunch! Nobody does that to Harry Flask!"

    The two bodyguards pulled out billy clubs and began moving toward Keiko.

    "Wait a moment," Keiko raised both hands and took a step back. She looked behind her to make sure Sean was safe. "This isn't necessary. Look, there's a deli right here. I'll just buy you a new lunch. A better one."

    Flask looked at his two bodyguards for a moment, and then nodded. They put away the clubs. "I want a pastrami on rye," he said.

    "Okay," Keiko nodded and headed toward a nearby deli.

    "And a turkey on white," he added. Just as she turned again, he added yet more. "And an extra large coffee, and four cinnamon muffins, and two blueberry muffins, and a strawberry cheesecake."

    "Is that all?" Keiko asked, a little sarcastically.

    Flask thought for a moment. "You're right, I'll still be hungry. Better throw in a bologna on wheat, too. And fries."

    Keiko grumbled to herself as she, with Sean in tow, headed into the deli and placed a rather large order. She didn't even flinch when the tab came out to about a hundred and twenty dollars. It was because she added in a large smoked whitefish on bagel just as insurance. Sean was there to help her carry the enormous meal outside.

    "Wow, you two can really eat," the proprietor announced as he delivered the last of the food to the two.

    "It's not for me, it's for some Flask guy," Keiko told him.

    "Harry Flask?" the man turned pale and ducked behind the counter. He then tossed a hundred dollar bill, and then a twenty, over the counter. "It's on the house," he mumbled from behind the counter.

    "Thanks," Keiko replied blandly. She and Sean headed outside with the large meal...

    ...only by then, the limousine and the large man were gone. Two police cars were on the scene, not because of the accident that occurred, but because Keiko's damaged rental SUV was blocking the street. She guessed at that point that Harry Flask had some sort of criminalistic allergy to cops.

    "Is this your car?" one of the cops asked her, sounding angry.

    "Yes." Keiko handed the cop who spoke first a bologna on wheat sandwich. "Here. I'm not eating all of this."

    "Thanks!" The cop frowned when he realized that she had also handed a sandwich to the other cop, and taken advantage of the distraction to disappear with her friend and her SUV.

    About a block later, as she and Sean drove around trying to eat the deli food, she stared into a storefront labeled 'Uncle Saki's Family Dojo'. "You must be joking," she whispered.

    Sean looked over her shoulder to see what she was talking about. "I don't get it."

    "Saki is so generic it's obviously fake. It's like calling yourself 'John Smith'," she told him. "And even if it was real...'Family Dojo'?"

    "Doesn't dojo mean house?" Sean asked. He looked at the sign again. "Oh, I see what you mean. 'Uncle' and 'Family' don't quite fit." He looked behind them as Keiko turned around the corner and stopped in front of Uncle Saki's Family Dojo. "What...?"

    "I just want a closer look." Keiko stepped out of the car and walked into the storefront quietly, pushing open the double glass doors as she entered. Inside she found the walls covered with dozens of types of weapons and devices, and the floor with several wooden constructs simulating various settings used for martial arts excercizes.

    "Interesting," she whispered to Sean, knowing instinctively that he had followed her in, "It looks as if Uncle Saki has been giving some advanced training. No wonder he uses a false name, this place alone must violate hundreds of laws."

    "Where is he?" Sean asked.

    "He's here. Watching us." Keiko looked around the room.

    "How can you tell?"

    Keiko pointed at a short, wooden table at one end of the room. "His lunch. It's still hot." She smiled. "Besides, where else would he be?"

    Sean looked around the room quickly. "Then why isn't he here talking to us?"

    "He doesn't know who we are," Keiko pointed out. "We didn't make an appointment. And this isn't exactly a crime free neighborhood. I assume he's waiting to see if we attempt to steal something. If we do I'm sure he'll teach us a lesson."

    "Keiko, don't--"

    "Relax," Keiko placed a hand on Sean's shoulder. "I have no desire to interact with him. Let's go." She headed outside with Sean in tow, and went back to the car.

    Outside once again, Sean nearly did a double taken when he noticed an Asian woman with long, black hair, wearing an entirely pink outfit, and carrying a pink handled sword on her back.

    "Hmm," Keiko noted, "Swords like that have to be custom made."

    The pink clad woman seemed to hear her say that, and looked in Keiko's direction. Oddly enough, she wore pink colored contact lenses as well. Keiko gave her a quick, polite bow and headed into her car without speaking a word But before Keiko could drive away, the pink clad woman was standing in front of the car.

    "Did I offend you somehow?" Keiko asked as she stepped out of the car again for a moment.

    "I was merely curious," the woman said. "You are not from here. Tell me your name."

    "Keiko," she responded. "And yours?"

    The woman in pink blinked once. "Akiko. Where are you from?"

    "I was born in Kyoto," Keiko told her. "Now I live in Garden City."

    "Interesting." The woman in pink named Akiko stepped out of the way of Keiko's rented SUV and urged her to go ahead and drive away.

    Keiko was confused for a moment, but she climbed into the SUV and drove away anyhow. "That was odd," she admitted to Sean.

    He shrugged. "I guess you're a curiosity around here."


---

    It seemed as if they had been lost, driving around a strange city, for ages before they finally reached Larry's Bowl-O-Rama. It wasn't a difficult location to spot, as the bowling alley had a large, garish neon sign visible for miles. The streets leading to it, however, travelled in anything but a straight line, making navigation difficult.

    Once they finally arrived, miraculously avoiding getting on to Interstate 888 by accident, they found the parking lot of Larry's Bowl-O-Rama to be nearly empty. It was starting to get dark out by then, which is how they managed to zero in on the neon sign.

    Sean led the way into the bowling alley - it was simply by chance that he happened to enter first. Keiko entered next, and craned her neck to see around Sean.

    "Who do we talk to?" Keiko asked.

    "Can I help you?" a man standing behind a counter, with dozens of polished bowling shoes behind him, asked.

    "We have a package to deliver," Keiko told him. "It's from Sarah Shepherdson."

    The bowling shoe man pointed to another long haired man standing next to one of the alleys, wearing a long cloak and a beard. "You want to talk to him."

    Keiko headed down to the alley, and stood behind the long haired man. Sean was behind her as she waited patiently for a just released bowling ball to mow down a sorry five pins.

    "Dammit!" the long haired man exclaimed. He produced a handkerchief and wiped off his hands, and then looked at Keiko. "My name is Xander. I expect you have a package for me."

    "Yes." Keiko handed the small box to him.

    "Did you look inside?" he asked.

    Keiko shook her head.

    "Shame," he laughed. "Respectful, yet lacking in curiosity." He opened the box and took a bite of one of the chocolates within. Keiko's face fell when she realized what she had gone to all that trouble to deliver.

    "May I ask why you are in a bowling alley?" Keiko asked him, referring to his elaborate style of dress.

    He shrugged. "Being a sorcerer is a lot of work. Even I need a break sometimes."

    "Oh," Keiko ended the conversation with. She didn't wish to get herself in any deeper by asking additional questions. She narrowed her eyes when a brunette in brightly colored tights and leggings entered the bowling alley and took no more than four flying steps to meet Xander.

    "Did you get my package?" she asked. "I'm sorry I couldn't deliver them personally, I had to--" she stopped herself when she realized that the two people she asked to deliver the package were standing right there.

    "Don't I know you?" Keiko asked.

    "I don't believe so," the woman said in a soft British accent. "I'm called Dancer."

    "I could swear that--"

    Dancer interrupted her with a laugh. "I'm a super hero." She spoke the rest slowly, eyes fixed on Keiko. "It's not as if you'd see me working in a cafe as a waitress."

    Keiko gave her a slight smile, conveying an understanding that some things were best not said. She turned to leave the bowling alley. "Enjoy the chocolates."

    "I will," Xander echoed back.

    With that, Keiko and Sean left.


-- Story written and copyrighted

2004 by Jason Froikin, and may not be
-- reprinted without permission. Characters owned by their respective
-- owners, whoever they may be.

Post By MangaCool Jason Sat Aug 28, 2004 at 08:04:26 pm EDT	Subject ...and a fever-induced Dancer special: Coffee And Donuts. I told you I'd finish it, even if it does suck. Originally World Class: Blind Faith Part 3	In Reply To MangaCool Jason Sat Aug 28, 2004 at 01:40:01 pm EDT

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