The Repaying of Debts.

Another offering by the Manga Shoggoth.

Visionary was enjoying breakfast in his condo.

No. Honestly.

Against all the odds, Kerry had been persuaded to spend a night or two with her older sister. This meant that - after a rather fraught evening going round the condo disarming all the devices she left behind(1) - the night had passed peacefully, and the preparation of breakfast was not fraught with peril. At least, no more that you might expect in a kitchen full of hand-me-down(2) gadgets designed by NTU-150.

And so, Visionary was enjoying his coffee, his paper and his peace and quiet.

It isn't going to last. You can tell, can't you.

Bring-Bring.

He ignored the phone. The answering machine would kick in on the fourth ring, and he could deal with whatever the problem(3) was later, in his own time.

Bring-Bring.

Now, what to look at next?

...Crossword or cartoons?

...Cryptic(4) or Regular?

..."Across 1: Remove problem from hopeful front girl once: unattractive front half (5 letters)"?

...OK. Regular then.

Bring-Bring.

Instincts honed by too long being near the Lair Legion, the Junior Lair Legion and (come to that) just about every villain, hero or other meta/non-human cut in. He dived under the table.

Bring-Bring-[click]Hello, this is Visionary. I can't take your call right now, but if you leave your name and number after the tone I will get back to you assuming I survive that long. And I'm real damnit.[beep].

Visionary cautiously raised his head above the table.

The answering machine(5) exploded. Visionary managed to duck just in time.

He cautiously picked up the handset. By some miracle it was still intact, and the line still connected.

"Um. Hello?"

"Ah. Visionary." said an oriental voice. "I recall that you owe me a couple of favours. Attend me at noon and we will discuss one of them.[click]"

Visionary gave the handset a dirty look before replacing it. Akiko Masamune.

This was not going to be a good day.

In any group it is essential that there is a mix of personalities within the group. This was revealed to the world in the works of Dr R. Meredith Belbin(6), and seems to work pretty well. Of course, these personalities do not necessarily mesh very well in social terms, which gives lots of interpersonal clashes to liven up the story.

A textbook case is that of CrazySugarFreakBoy! and Mr Epitome. A relationship made in social hell and writers heaven. A relationship, one notes, usually measured in decibels.

Yes, they were at it again. The arguments between Dreamcatcher and Dominic were rapidly gaining legendary status. For amusement value they tended to come in just above the eternal battle between the Manga Shoggoth and Lisa's cat for possession of the cat's chair(7)..

None of the audience were sure what had started this argument, but it had quickly drifted on to recent events in Badripoor.

"You are missing the point. They broke into the Safe, absconded with spiffy, invaded Badripoor, all without any form of official consent or oversight - what passes for it in this company - they performed a series of highly illegal acts...".

"Ha. You're just sore because they saw something wrong and fixed it, without going through the channels that your..." - here Dreamcatcher hesitated: Sir Mumphrey Wilton had made his position on language(8) fairly clear - "more rigid outlook on life would make them follow. And they saved spiffy. And turned the tide in our fight."

Ah yes. The proponents of individuality and conformity. noted the Manga Shoggoth, pausing as it oozed passed. You can probably be heard in R'lyeh.

"All I am trying to do," explained Dominic, "is explain to this... anarchist... why it is important to follow the rules and guidelines set down..."

"And all this... fascist... is doing is telling me that I should blindly follow the rules like a... sheep..."

Ah yes. I was right. The tension you humans create between individual and group action, Order and Chaos. The Shoggoth paused for a moment, as if gathering its thoughts. You remind me somewhat of the Celts and the Romans. In warfare, the Romans were the epitome of Order, and under Boudicca the Celts(9) were the very embodiment of the individual.

"And who won?" asked Dreamcatcher.

Boudica destroyed an unprepared legion and razed three cities to the ground. However, when she faced the legions in pitched battle she was defeated. The Shoggoth waited for the slight smile to appear on Dominic's face. However, they both had one thing in common.

They failed to learn the lesson of Ozymandias.

The Shoggoth swept past into Mumphrey's office, leaving Dominic with a stunned expression on his face. Dreamcatcher simply looked confused.

"You must excuse him." said Ebony in a conciliatory tone. "One of my predecessors died last night, and he is in a bit of a mood."

She followed the Shoggoth into the office.

In the office, Ebony found Mumphrey and Visionary in discussion. Visionary appeared to be on the losing side, however - as far as Ebony could make out - this was par for the course.

"There is nothing to worry about," Mumphrey was saying. "Miss Masamune is a reasonable person, and I'm sure that you won't need the entire Lair Legion at your back. It isn't at all like that business in Hong Kong. Hello, Miss Ebony, Manga Shoggoth. My condolences on your recent loss - Bridgit was a remarkable woman."

Visionary gave a startled jump, looking round so fast that Ebony was surprised that he didn't get whiplash. He started gibbering. Seeing a Shoggoth tends to have that effect.

Thank you. What appears to be the problem? asked the Shoggoth.

"Young Visionary owes Miss Masamune a couple of favours." Mumphrey explained. "He seems to think he needs the Lair Legion as backup."

Ah. I would be delighted to assist in the repayment of these favours. declared the Shoggoth. Payback is very important, and at present, divided as I am from my main mass, I have much time on my hands. Should the brief mortal be doing that?

Visionary was slowly curling into a foetal position, quietly murmuring "Ooohhh god why me?."

The Shoggoth also volunteered to handle the transport. Visionary was a little dubious about this, but reasoned that nothing could be as bad as a Paradopolis Taxi(10). As a result, the journey to Akiko's headquarters was brief, precise and very bad for the sanity.

After being briskly frisked for weapons, Visionary, Ebony and the Shoggoth were admitted to Akiko's inner sanctum. It was rather unfair, Visionary thought, than he was the only one frisked. The ninja showed a marked reluctance to frisk an elder creature, and an even greater reluctance to frisk Ebony after she quietly muttered something in a foreign language(11). They made up for it, however, by being extremely thorough with him.

Akiko was kneeling behind a low table in the centre of her sanctum. On the table was a flask, a rather strange teapot and a number of, well, small handleless cups. Ebony and the Shoggoth immediately knelt in front of the table (the effect being a little odd in the case of the Shoggoth). After a brief hesitation, he joined them.

Akiko served the tea with some ceremony, and made small talk whilst it was being drunk. Visionary noted that - not surprisingly - Ebony and the Shoggoth were familiar with the ceremony. He just felt out of place. He also noted that Akiko seemed reluctant to come to the point - even considering that directness was not a prime part of her culture.

"I am rather surprised that you needed to bring your friends with you." she said at length. "I understand that you are no samurai, but do you really need support to face a humble woman such as myself? Perhaps you could introduce them?"

Visionary coughed. "Nnnot at all. They simply volunteered to help. May I present... Umm... Most Holy Ebony, High Priestess of..."

"I prefer plain Ebony." Ebony interjected, "I usually leave the large titles to the High Priests."

"... and this is the Manga Shoggoth." Visionary completed.

Akiko choked on her tea(12). Once she recovered, she immediately came to the point of the meeting.

"I have received a letter requesting my help." She passed the letter to Visionary, who looked at it blankly. Ebony, who couldn't read Japanese either, took it from him, turned it the right way up, and started to read.

"Seems straightforward. A small group of schoolgirls belonging to high-class families were kidnapped in Tokyo, they have been partly traced to Mangatown, and one of the mothers wants your help to find her daughter. No ransom demands issued." she summarised.

"There are 'family' complications that the letter does not cover." Akiko clarified. "I have managed to discern who arranged the kidnap, and where the girls are being held. The... culprit is an upcoming new boss, who is specialising in the more... unsavoury professions. His factor in this country is... preparing the girls."

"Hence the lack of ransom demands. I take it you don't approve." noted Ebony.

"Yes. Bunny Clubs are one thing. Forced prostitution is quite another. However, I am not really in a position to move against this person, as this could precipitate a gang war, which is the last thing we need at the moment. However, an outside agent..."

The smile she directed at Visionary almost prompted him to review Lisa's position as "most evil woman in the universe".

"The girl's name is Sakura Ito. I want you to rescue her from where she is being held so I can restore her to her mother. If possible, I would like the other girls rescued as well."

Visionary left Akiko's headquarters, quite deliberately not thinking of the question "how much worse can it get?". He looked at the address he had been given. Hogan, Gothametropolis York.

A long walk. He turned to consult with Ebony and the Shoggoth, only to see the one engulfing the other.

"I think that we should vanish at this point." Ebony noted. "A High Priestess and an Elder Creature will probably be a little conspicuous where you are going."

The Shoggoth completed its engulfment and shrank down until it disappeared.

It was a very long walk, and all the way he couldn't shake the feeling that there was something following him.

Visionary was no stranger to paranoia.

Gaining entry to the building turned out to be quite easy. He carefully approached the back entrance and was slugged by one of the guards. When he regained his senses he was tied to a rickety chair in a basement room, in the company of half-a-dozen dispirited, dishevelled and restrained Japanese schoolgirls and one rather amused and armed local ganglord.

"Umm...You won't get away with this?" hazarded Visionary, well aware that it was not much of an opening tactic. Judging by the smirk on the ganglord's face, he held the same opinion.

"Why not?"

"Well... My friends will come after me..."

Somehow this dire threat simply elicited another smirk.

"I'm afraid not. You see, I'm not the sort of villain you are used to dealing with. I have no class. I don't explain the plot, then do something else leaving you time to escape. I just shoot you dead, dump your body in the nearest rat-infested sewer, then move my operations to another site. I only kept you alive this long as I want you to be an object lesson to these girls. Your Lair Legion friends (yes, I know who you are) will find an empty building and a few spots of blood."

He raised a handgun. Visionary, looking down the barrel, was surprised at how large it looked. The finger tightened on the trigger.

The gun backfired. This didn't harm Visionary, but made rather a mess of the ganglord. Out of the barrel oozed a familiar elder creature.

Pseudopodia branched out, eating away the bindings that restrained Visionary and the schoolgirls. The Shoggoth grew to the size of a human, at which point Ebony stepped out.

The ganglord, inspired by his injuries and the terror that attends those who see the elder creatures, made a dive for the door.

He would have made it, had he not been hit by a rickety chair. That made Visionary feel a little better, although he did rather regret the loss of the chair. It was the only one in the room.

The appearance of the Shoggoth also shocked the girls out of their lethargy. For a few seconds they shrank back against the wall, then one of them stepped forward, in a hesitant but increasingly determined manner.

"Foul elder creature!" she declaimed, carefully arranging the tatters of her uniform. "You may defile me, but I will protect my friends with my..."

It was a promising declamation, but the effect was ruined when she was grabbed behind by one of the other girls, who shouted "Hey, hands off Noriko! I saw it first!". The effect was ruined even further by a third girl leaping in with a cry of "It's mine!", this being followed by a general melee between five of the girls.

Visionary watched this with increasing confusion. "Errm, are they really fighting over who gets ravished by the Shoggoth?" He asked Ebony.

"Yes." replied a quiet voice. The sixth girl stood up and approached the pair. "Being raped by those unclean gaijin is one thing, but an Elder Creature? That's almost... traditional."

She turned her attention to the Shoggoth.

"Please excuse my friends, Elder Creature-san." She said formally, with a polite bow. "My name is Sakura Ito."

Charmed, I am sure. replied the Shoggoth. I am the Manga Shoggoth. I am pleased to make you acquaintance. Perhaps you would be so good as to explain your situation?

The melee died down, replaced by furtive whispers in Japanese, of which Visionary only managed to discern "Manga Shoggoth", and something about a car(13).

"It is my responsibility." Sakura explained. "My mother was widowed and remarried. She later discovered that my stepfather was... not worthy. He dabbled in professions that were dishonourable. My mother divorced him. Then, to take his revenge, he had my friends and I kidnapped and sold here. Having been thus dishonoured(14), we cannot return home."

The room fell silent.

Get him out of here.

Ebony grabbed Visionary's arm and dragged him out of the room. There was a blur as he hit... something. The next thing he knew, he was outside his condo, wiping Shoggoth off his clothes. He had a vague memory of hearing high-pitched screams, but they seemed to be wrong - more like girls on a roller-coaster - all except one, which was cut off suddenly.

Visionary knew when to cut his losses (although he didn't often get the chance). He went to bed and stayed there. To sleep, perchance...

The following morning Visionary shambled into the kitchen and started eating his breakfast. He had not had a great deal of sleep, and what sleep he had had been troubled by very strange dreams. This natural consequence of spending a lot of time in the presence of an elder creature left his mind rather confused - at least, more confused than normal.

As a result, it wasn't until he was half-way through his coffee that he realised that he hadn't prepared the breakfast he was eating. He looked up. Ebony smiled at him.

"The Shoggoth sent me to talk to Akiko this morning. It felt that you had been through quite enough, without having to (ahem) explain things. I thought you might like breakfast before I passed on what she had to say."

She passed him an envelope. It contained a press cutting from the Asahi Shimbun(15), detailing the sudden and gruesome death of a Tokyo businessman, one Hayato Ito, whose body was found in his office, the head ripped from the body, and the body covered in an unidentified slime.

"Akiko informs you that as the girls are still missing she feels that your favour is still unpaid. For your peace of mind, the Shoggoth assures you that the girls are safe. I will shortly contact their families and will work on a plan to return them to their homes in the future."

"You know where they are? Where are they" blurted Visionary.

"Safe." replied Ebony.

"All that," he groaned, "and I am back where I started."

"Not exactly." said Ebony. "From the Shoggoth's point of view, it owes you a favour now."

Visionary had his head on the table again. He listened to the faint sounds of a High Priestess being whisked away by a Shoggoth, and wondered how much worse things could become.

[Boom] "I'm baaaaack!"

That evening, Dreamcatcher managed to corner Ebony in the Recreation Room.

"Ebony, what was Shoggy talking about yesterday? Who is Ozymandias?"

She sighed. "The Shoggoth has had a number of High Priestesses, and Bridgit, the one who died yesterday, was one of its favourites. She had something of a passion for poetry, and she was especially fond of Ozymandias - which is probably why it was on its mind."

"I met a traveller from an antique land
Who said:- Two vast and trunkless legs of stone
Stand in the desert. Near them on the sand,
Half sunk, a shatter'd visage lies, whose frown
And wrinkled lip and sneer of cold command
Tell that its sculptor well those passions read
Which yet survive, stamp'd on these lifeless things,
The hand that mock'd them and the heart that fed.
And on the pedestal these words appear:
'My name is Ozymandias, king of kings:
Look on my works, ye mighty, and despair!'
Nothing beside remains: round the decay
Of that colossal wreck, boundless and bare,
The lone and level sands stretch far away."

Dreamcatcher still looked a little confused.

"Sometimes, the Shoggoth is reminded exactly how brief we mortals can be."

Non-ecluidian Footnotes:

(1) "So that he doesn't get bored without me. Honestly, he really needs to unwind a bit. Besides, it's not as if you can't have a can of shaving foam that acts as a flame-thrower - I mean, it was cool in that old James Bond film(1a), didn't it?"

(1a) Live and Let Die, Roger Moore (I think)(1b).

(1b) ...And this is the first time I have footnoted a footnote. It will not be the last.

(2) "hand-me-down" in the sense of "too b***** dangerous to have hanging around the Lair Mansion".

(3) The possibility that it was not a problem was not entertained for a second. Or any non-zero length of time.

(4) Just in case: A "Cryptic" crossword is a harder variation of the genre, where the clues are carefully phrased so that they bear little relation to the final word. The example is taken from the Times.

(5) More properly the Bautistamatic Unattended Telephonic Messaging Apparatus.

(6) Interesting theory, tedious one-week company-created course.

(7) The cat was having trouble clawing the Shoggoth, since the claw marks just disappear. The Shoggoth, on the other hand, was still waiting for the cat to act like a proper cat (it had read "What's Michael").

(8) And he was not discussing the difference between the Queen's English and American English.

(9) Strictly speaking, the tribes of the Iceni and Trinovantes. See here for more details on this defining moment of British History.

(10) He was right in this respect, but only on a technicality.

(11) Regrettably, there are no subtitles in this story.

(12) To understand why, the reader is referred to The Lair of the Manga Shoggoth, the third of the Manga Shoggoth stories.

(13) OK, since it has been a long time since the last footnote: "ka" turns a statement into a question, so "Manga Shoggoth-ka" is roughly the equivalent of "Manga Shoggoth?"

(14) A polite way of describing their ordeal.

(15) A Tokyo Newspaper. It has an English version and a very nice website.