Adventures In Parodyverse: Crossworlds, Part 5

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Adventures In Parodyverse - Crossworlds Part 5

    "What's this bounder doing here?" Sir Mumphrey asked angrily as he entered his study and saw the Hooded Hood lounging comfortably in one of the chairs in front of the fireplace.

    Lara Night was there too, warming herself directly in front of the fireplace opening. "I invited him," she said plainly. She glanced at the Hooded Hood and added, "Well, technically I didn't invite him. I just dragged him here."

    "Indeed." The Hooded Hood leaned back and steepled his fingers.

    Sir Mumphrey frowned and sat down in his favorite chair, silently seeming grateful that Lara saved it for him when she arranged the meeting.

    "You both wanted to speak to me so badly," Lara began, "I thought I could save some time by talking to you both at once."

    The Hooded Hood raised an eyebrow but said nothing.

    "To answer the one question the two of you have in common," she continued, "on why I don't want to interfere with what is going on in the Parodyverse...it's because I've already broken a couple of small things. The Hooded Hood repaired them but I'm not going to get that involved again."

    "I'm aware of that," the Hooded Hood noted. "And I agree completely."

    Sir Mumphrey looked confused.

    "You agree?" Lara asked. "Then why are you looking for me and asking Shema for help?"

    "Shema?" Sir Mumphrey asked.

    "...is beyond your comprehension," the Hood completed.

    "I'm not even sure what she is, but she's apparently some sort of, I dunno, creator or something. She'd never get involved here because she's smarter than that."

    "So I've realized," the Hooded Hood commented. "I asked her only to protect you, not this universe."

    "What do you get from it?" Sir Mumphrey went straight to the point.

    The Hooded Hood leaned back again and sighed. "Lara Night is quite a prize in this universe. I don't wish her to be captured. I will require her...assistance...someday."

    "Selfish bugger," Sir Mumphrey commented.

    "And I suppose you're not hoping she stays and helps the Lair Legion?"

    "Knock it off, both of you!" Lara warned. "Look, I'd like to help, okay? But the fact remains...if I take on this guy who's destroying the Parodyverse and beat him, it'll create a power gap and I'll be stuck running this whole universe so nobody else evil comes out of the woodwork to do it instead. If I don't beat him, both this universe and mine gets destroyed. So where exactly do I win?"

    Sir Mumphrey didn't reply. He sat silently and watched the Hooded Hood...

    ...who immediately stood and straightened his robe. "You are correct," he said. "There is no way to win. But there are many ways to lose. That's all I ask you to consider." With that, his eyes flashed and he vanished.

    "Bounder," Sir Mumphrey commented after the Hooded Hood vanished.

    "The bounder's right, Mumph," Lara told him. "There are many ways to lose. I've made friends here, and I don't want to lose them. But if I interfere--" She shook her head sadly and sat down. "I kind of wish Shema would help, and take the burden off of me, but I understand why she won't."

    "Tough nut to crack, what?" he asked. He stood and straightened his clothing. "I'm told you have quite sharp instincts, Miss Night. You've thought this through quite completely. Perhaps you need to listen to those instincts of yours as well."

    "That's the thing, Mumph," Lara continued with a sigh. "Liu Xi was right. This universe feels like a space that's rapidly closing around us. My instinct says to flee, but I'm still here. Partly because I'm curious and partly because I'm hoping maybe I can covertly save one or two friends somehow."

    Sir Mumphrey frowned and headed to his desk. He quickly pulled out an ancient book, attracting Lara to stand and move closer to take a look. The cover was in Chinese. "Sun Tzu's Art of War," he explained.

    "I can't read Chinese," Lara told him.

    "Liu Xi Xian gave it to me as a gift," he continued. "She managed to obtain a very ancient copy from the Librarian and thought I might enjoy it."

    "Are you using it to prepare?" Lara asked. "I mean...we don't even know this enemy yet."

    "And he prefers it stay that way," Mumph replied. "He must be keeping himself secret and working through agents. But two can play at that game, what? Because Liu Xi, and you, Miss Night, both know he exists."

    "You're saying I should keep myself secret and work through an agent?" Lara asked.

    Sir Mumphrey smiled slyly. "And perhaps, Miss Night, you will know the appropriate time to act, if necessary."

    "A sneak attack," Lara repeated with a smile. "I like that. I'll think about it, Mumph, okay? But first...I need to come to terms with all of this."

    "Of course," he said as he held up his watch and looked at it. "Time is still on our side." He turned to look at the door just when Jay came bursting through.

    "Lara, I need some help," Jay said quickly, "Mac Fleetwood's been taken."

    "Taken?" Lara asked. "Wouldn't Yuki be more help? She's a detective. And Keiko is too."

    "Yuki has probably dealt with these people before, they'll kill Mac for sure if they see her. And Mac hasn't met Keiko so he won't know he's being rescued."

    "Ah, subterfuge," Lara noted. "I can do that."

---

    "It's those guys at the fake testing clinic," Jay told Lara as soon as they exited the mansion. He reached for his Rockets cap...

    ...but Lara stopped him. "Low profile," she reminded him.

    "Yes. Right." He quickly put the cap into his backpack again. "How do we get there?"

    Lara took his hand gently. "I remember where it is."

    As soon as she spoke those words, the two of them were standing outside the fake testing clinic. The place had a whole lot more security than the last time, including more cameras. Jay breathed a sigh of relief that Lara had the foresight to place them out of range of both.

    "I assume you want me to go in first and secure Mac," Lara guessed.

    Jay gave her a worried look. "I'm glad you're so brave about this, Lara. I don't really want to send you in alone but...they know me."

    "Brave?" She shook her head. "Nah. I'm terrified. But I don't want someone to die because I'm afraid." She took a deep, cleansing breath. "I'll have to be sneaky. This is the first time I've done this. Are you sure Keiko wouldn't be better?"

    "Yes, but I'm a little worried about sending in Keiko. If she feels threatened I might go in there and find everyone except Mac dead. I don't want that either."

    "Oh, so you need someone kind of powerful because we're not as easily threatened?" Lara asked.

    Jay smiled knowingly, but didn't reply.

    "Gotcha." Lara nodded at him. "Cross your fingers." With those words, she entered the gates.

    There were a few guards just inside the gate. They seemed to be too busy chatting to noticed a small blonde walk past them. Or maybe they noticed, but in a sense that had nothing to do with their jobs. Lara ignored them and walked up to the front doors of the clinic, entering quietly.

    Inside was a desk, set into a wall with a door, for appointments and a set of waiting chairs, looking much like a doctor's office. She glanced at the desk for a moment and noted that the receptionist happened to be on the phone. She opened the door and walked past the appointment desk silently.

    It was beginning to get tricky now. She was in an area designated for employees only, so the chances of her being stopped were much higher. She looked into one of the rooms, noticing a white doctor's coat, and reached in to snatch it. She put it on quickly, just in time for another similarly dressed man to walk by.

    The man suddenly turned around as she passed by. "Excuse me," he said.

    Lara felt her heart speed up as she turned around. "Me?" She prepared herself to run just in case.

    "Yes," the man continued. "Are you from the lab?"

    "The lab?" she asked. That gave her an idea - perhaps something the 'lab' needed was further in. "Yes," she said. "I'm here to pick up."

    The man sighed. "The receptionist should have let you in," he said. He walked past Lara and tapped a code into the keypad next to a metal door. "Go on in. The coolers you need are stacked next to the freezer. They're fresh packed."

    Lara nodded and entered the door, letting it close completely behind her before she shuddered at the thought of people's organs in coolers waiting to be shipped off to black-market destinations. She walked around the corner and checked gingerly to see if anyone was around.

    Mac Fleetwood was unconscious on a table, his arms hanging off the sides. Two men wearing hospital scrubs were putting on gloves and masks and preparing all sorts of metal hardware.

    "Mac!" Lara called out, hoping it would wake him. Instead, she got the attention of the two men who were staring at her suspiciously. She decided to cover, hoping that they didn't know Mac's name. "Hey Mac, you want to help me with these coolers? Someone forgot to tell me how many there are so I didn't bring help."

    The two black market surgeons looked at each other and shrugged, and then removed the gloves and masks. "Sure, we'll give you a hand," one of them said.

    Lara reached into her pocket and pressed a button on the small loaner card given to her by Jay to alert him that she found Mac. She then quickly stepped aside as the two men approached - two of the coolers were airborne, propelled by an unseen force to pound each of the men in the face hard enough to knock them both unconscious.

    "Mac, wake up." Lara shook him. He was alive but heavily sedated. She took the card out of her pocket and spoke to Jay. "Take Mac to the hospital," she told him. "He's ok but he's been given something."

    "What are you planning to do?" Jay asked.

    "I'm going to break a water pipe," she said, looking up at one just above her. "They'll have to close, and you'll be able to get the police to investigate why they keep returning here."

    "They didn't find any evidence last time," Jay told her.

    "Oh, they will this time," Lara said. "When the power goes out and their 'storage' starts to smell."

    She heard Jay laugh at the other end of the connection. "You're like a natural disaster," he said.

    "I hope so." She jumped back just as Jay came crashing through a wall wearing his Steelers cap. He lifted Mac Fleetwood and reached for his Rockets cap.

    "Wait," Lara told him. "Take him outside. I'll have the natural disaster finished quickly and then I can transport us both to the hospital. I've been there before so I know where I can safely transport to."

    "Why don't we trade places?" Jay suggested. "I'll shut the place down and you take Mac to the Hospital."

    "Promise you'll make it?" Lara asked, sounding a little worried.

    "I'll make it." He smiled. "If you don't hear from me in twenty minutes you can come get me."

    "Deal." Lara nodded and tried to prop up Mac Fleetwood against her small frame as she slid him off the table. She closed her eyes and remembered the interior of the emergency room, and when she opened them again she was there amongst shocked patients and nurses nearby.

    Being only about half of Mac's weight, she collapsed to the floor along with his limp body. "A little help here?" she asked desperately.

    A bunch of doctors, nurses, and residents came out to check Mac's vital signs and put him in one of the emergency room beds - they all seemed to know him, and were frantic about the prospect of him being injured. It happened so quickly that Lara barely had time to get up off the floor before she was left there alone, suddenly worried about Jay.

    "Lara Night, right?" a nurse she recognized as Grace O'Mercy asked. "I just started my shift. Pleased to meet you again." She took Lara's arm and helped her up off of the floor.

    "Thanks." Lara nodded and dusted herself off.

    "You're becoming quite the hero," Grace commented. She gestured toward the intensive care unit. "Mac will be fine. When he recovers...he knows a lot of people around here, has a lot of friends. They're all going to know you saved his life."

    "Yeah." Lara felt a little embarrassed about that but didn't say so. She glanced at the door again, sensing that someone she knew was entering. It was Jay! She walked over to him quickly and hugged him without really thinking. "You're okay!" she exclaimed.

    Jay looked around nervously, realizing that he was being hugged in a very public place. "I told you I'd be fine. Is Mac okay?"

    "He's recovering nicely," Grace interrupted. "He was on a kind of light sedative, it should wear off in an hour or two."

    "So what did you do?" Lara asked Jay quietly as she let go of him, but still remained very close.

    "Cut the power with my con-ed hat. Didn't have to flood anything because the lack of power set off the security alarm and the police showed up. They have a crime scene set up now."

    "And they know you so it worked out," Lara noted. "They probably would have arrested me. Thanks for suggesting we swap places."

    Jay shrugged. "It worked out."

    "I could kiss you," Lara said idly. "But I won't," she hastily added with a laugh. "I don't want to offend."

    "No, go ahead," Jay teased.

    Lara quickly stood on her toes and gave Jay a quick peck on the lips before laughing nervously. "Okay, maybe my heart isn't really in it," she admitted.

    "I guess that means you consider me a friend," Jay figured.

    "Yeah." She nodded and smiled. "Sorry."

    "No, that's great." Jay held out his arms. "Hug me again. We did great, we deserve it."

    Lara laughed and hugged him again, this time not feeling the least bit nervous about the public place. "So what do we do now?" she asked.

    "Mac's going to need some help at the mission while he's recovering," Jay suggested. "If you have some time to spare."

    "I can do that." She nodded quickly.

    "And we at the Lair Legion can use some help if this mutant registration thing goes badly," Jay added, obviously trying to push his luck.

    She frowned for a moment. "Sir Mumphrey told you what I said, didn't he?"

    He nodded, and kept smiling encouragingly.

    "Did he tell you the reason why?"

    "Yes," Jay replied.

    Lara closed her eyes for a moment and sighed. "So in defiance of all logic you're still asking me."

    He nodded. "Because these are people I care about."

    "And people I care about," Lara agreed. "I can't promise anything but I'll do what I can, if I can be sure it won't destroy the universe."

    "That's all I can ask." Jay gently squeezed her shoulder and led her toward the exit. "Now we have to go back to the Lair Mansion and perform an after mission ritual with Sir Mumphrey known as a debriefing."

    "Oh joy," she commented. But she followed along anyhow. It was part of the fun of experiencing Jay's world as a hero, after all.

-- Story written and copyrighted (C) 2005 by Jason Froikin, and may not be
-- reprinted without permission.
-- Yuki Shiro designed by Jason Froikin, based on designs by Masamune Shirow
-- Liu Xi Xian and the Psychic Samurai are original design by Jason Froikin
-- Lara Night is an original creation by Jason Froikin
-- Keiko Takashi is an original creation by Jason Froikin

Post By Anime Jason Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 12:07:14 pm EST	Subject Adventures In Parodyverse: Crossworlds, Part 5

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