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killer shrike
Mon Jan 17, 2005 at 10:07:22 pm EST
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Three Families, Part Seven ( ! )
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Three Families, Part Seven


Previously: Mr. Epitome had captured the powerful black ops agent known only as Exemplary, and tended him an offer to join the Conspiracy. Unfortunately for the Man of Might, Hallie caught up with him in Sweden and filled him in on what was going on back in Paradopolis. Speaking of the Big Banana, Visionary journeyed to the city’s Manga Town to “press” crime boss Akiko Masamune in hopes of getting her to stop trying to kill Artemis. Fortunately for the Possibly Fake Man, Masamune had nothing to do with the attacks on Epitome’s former ward, who has teamed up with Vizh’s current ward Kerry Shepardson to do some investigating on their own.

As always, the action takes place prior to “Follies of Youth” and “The TransWorld Challenge.”

Akiko Masamune casually sipped her iced tea and declared, “I am not you enemy. In this particular instance.”

“Oh. Ah. Good,” Visionary replied from his chair opposite of the mistress of Manga Town.

“The people you seek, the ones who injured your ally, are in fact yakuza, but have no connections to myself. They are an especially old and traditional family known as the Yakuza Spider Clan.”

“Spider? That would explain all the jumping and sticking,” the Legionnaire referenced the acrobatic feats he had witnessed when the assassins targeted the ambulance he had used to get Artemis to safety, “How’d they do that? They weren’t bitten by anything radioactive, were they?”

“No. The Clan are descendants of an Earth Demon that took the shape of a spider generations ago. By mating with a human samurai she was able to carry on her bloodline.”

“Ick.”

“Raiko, the samurai, was eventually able to kill the demon, but was unaware that she had made off with his seed-“

“OK, I know I’m going to hate myself for saying this, but I don’t see how that’s possible,” Vizh objected, “I mean, a guy would have to be pretty out of it to forget, ah, you know… with a spider.”

Akiko gave the possibly fake man a charitable smile, “It’s as logical as any folktale, Visionary. What is of importance to you is that the demon’s offspring survived and grew to prominence in the Japanese criminal class, first as ninja, and later organizing themselves into a powerful yakuza gang, with all of the conventional trappings. The tattoos. Yubitsume. The misogyny.”

“You-bit-sue-me?”

“The practice of removing a finger as the price of failure. A ghastly and counter-productive punishment, in my opinion.”

Visionary considered, “Seems like it would be murder on insurance premiums.”

“Exactly,” Akiko was impressed. There were times the man could be nearly lucid in his thinking, “But back to your foes. The brood of Tsuchigumo all possess varying degrees of arachnid-based abilities and appearances, depending on how direct their blood line is linked to the demon. Some, such as Gihei, can pass as human. He is the clan’s saiko-komon, or adviser. Dayu, the children’s boss, is noticeably mutated.”

“Wait: children? They use kids?!” Visionary thought the Spider Clan was disgusting enough without adding child labor to their litany of crimes.

“Not exactly. Rank and file of a yakuza family are known as wakashu, or ‘children.’ Often they are the outcasts of Japanese culture, recruited and given purpose by the clan. Dayu is their leader, or waka-gashira.”

Visionary fidgeted in his chair. He wondered if he should be taking notes.

The crime boss saw she was losing her guest and decided to conclude her exposition, “Both Gihei and Dayu are dangerous, in their own ways, but it is the clan’s oyabun, or chieftain, that truly made them feared throughout Japan. Called the Kumoyabun in honor of his lineage, he is a monster of incredible power.”

“Great,” Vizh noted tiredly.

“And he has recently relocated in Paradopolis.”

“Even better,” he sighed, “So, this Kumoyabun is the guy the Legion needs to go after, if we want to protect Artemis.”

Akiko nodded, “It’s always good to start at the top.”

*****


Bill Reed sat atop the eaves of the Gizei Pagoda Hotel and hummed absently. His team mate stared down at the karaoke and sushi bar nestled across the street below, Eagles cap donned.

“See anything?” Nats asked.

Hatman shook his head, “Of Vizh? No.”

“You should have worn your Superman hat. X-ray Vision and all. Actually, I don’t see why you don’t wear it all the time. He’s got like, 99.9% of the powers people in our line of work need.”

Jay smiled, “I’m Hatman, not Superman. That’s why.”

The Flying Phenomenon shrugged, “What, are you worried about copyright infringement? Lisa could take – “

It was that moment when the pair was interrupted by the arrival of the Kumoyabun. The beast vaulted onto the roof, grabbing Nats with one of its massive arms and dashing him down the thirty floors to the pavement below.

“Superheroes,” it hissed, “Time to die.”

Jay Boaz stared up at the nine foot tall creature with fangs dripping of venom, and thought maybe it would have been a good idea to bring his aforementioned Superman hat.

*****


Kerry Shepherdson gritted her teeth at the sound of the Porche’s grinding gears, “I should have taken the Mustang. It was an automatic.”

Charlotte Ouk didn’t look up from examining the knobbed head of one of Trickshot’s arrows, “I’m impressed you knew how to hotwire a car.”

“A girl picks things up.”

From the rear of the sports car Glory woofed, “I have picked up Professor Visionary’s trail. Take your next right,” the Hound of Heroism pressed her nose against the passenger side rear window to emphasize her point.

Kerry caught the instruction, “That street takes us to Manga Town. Were the guys after you ninjas? Or transforming robots?”

“My guess is they were yakuza, but they had powers,” Charlotte held up the arrowhead, “I think this is a glue arrow, but I’m not sure. Too bad the quiver doesn’t come with an identification key.”

“I think it was a mistake to leave the mansion without telling anyone. And taking the car. And the bow and arrows. Even if the President called Kerry and said it was a matter of national security,” Glory fretted.

Suddenly the street before them erupted in chaos as the orange and red form of Nats careened into the blacktop.

Kerry cursed and brought the car to a sudden halt. The trio piled out of the car in time to watch the Legionnaire blast out of the crater his impact had made and take to the air.

“What’s going on?” the Probability Arsonist shouted up at Nats.

“Later,” he said as he zoomed off to the top of a nearby skyscraper.

“Oh, I don’t think so,” Kerry grabbed hold of Glory’s collar and held tight, “Go get ‘im, girl!”

The Dog Dynamo woofed an affirmation and leapt up after the target.

“Okay… let’s see,” Artemis fumbled with her newly acquired weaponry, “Which one of these is the grappling hook arrow?”

For the young woman, that was the least of her worries, as several of the Kumoyabun’s wakashu came out of the alleys and side streets to finish the job they had failed to do earlier.

*****


“What was that?!” Visionary asked as the Nats-created tremor shook Akiko’s office.

Ms. Masamune swiftly picked up her desk phone, “Report,” she demanded.

After a few moments are listening she nodded and hung up.

“It appears your quarry has found you. The Clan is engaged in a street fight with several of your team mates. Misters Reed and Boaz, if my men are accurate.”

“Jay and Bill are right outside!” Vizh said as he stood.

“Indeed. As are your ward, Epitome’s dog, and some young woman with a bow,” Akiko nodded approvingly, “How fortuitous. All of the players, together again for the first time.”

Visionary thumbed his comm. card into activation, “Not all of them,” he growled.

*****


So Visionary called Lisa, who contacted Hallie, who filled in Mr. Epitome.

Epitome, for once, looked as though he would have rather been left in the dark.

“Hallie, please notify Miss Waltz that I am deactivating the instrumentation that shields me from her summonsing power so she may convey me to Paradopolis. Tell her to also request the presence of Harlan Grovquist.”

“Who’s that?”

The American Archetype held up the inert form of his prisoner.

“Oh,” the hologram concentrated for a moment, and nodded, “All right.”

Epitome felt a now-familiar sense of vertigo, and he and Hallie were summonsed to the office of the First Lady of the Lair Legion.

“Where’s the third in your party?” Lisa asked as she uncoiled her bullwhip.

“I have no idea. How odd,” Mr. Epitome favored the amorous advoctrix with his best nonplussed look.

Lisa would have no part of his charade, “Epitome, I’ve about had it with your trite little scams. You need to come clean with whatever you’re up to or I swear by my Office-“

“Perhaps the threats can wait until after we have dealt with the crisis at hand?” Dominic Clancy offered mildly.

“Later, then. Count on it,” the woman grinned wolfishly.

“OK. Well, then, can we get started on saving Vizh and the others?” the plugged-in Hallie reported, “The news feed from Manga Town isn’t exactly heartening.”

*****


The Kumoyabun wasn’t just strong, but he was fast, and skilled in the martial arts. He had been able to slam Hatman’s Steeler form across the hotel’s rooftop, and avoid Nat’s telekinetic and pyrokinetic attacks with surprising skill.

“Bill, Maneuver 17!” Jay ordered as he switched to his Cyclones cap. The headwear allowed him to create a F5 twister atop the building. The Kumoyabun was caught up in the gale.

“Ready!” Nats shouted to his comrade, his telekinetic powers built up to a powerful crescendo. The plan called for the hero to hammer the helpless target the moment Hatman shut down the cyclone.

Things became complicated, however, when the Kumoyabun’s webs laced through the windstorm, slowing and finally cocooning it.

“Right. Now that’s flipping impossible,” Nats noted, jinking away from a web cast at him by the spider-monster, “You can’t wrap up a wind, right? Uggo here’s breaking some pretty fundamental laws of nature.”

“It’s magic!” Hatman put on his Rockets cap and charged the Kumoyabun. His attack caught the creature high in the chest just as Glory joined the fray, coming in low and crashing into its oddly segmented legs. Kumoyabun tumbled.

“Get back!” Kerry ordered, willing the small fires that dotted the roof into a holocaust that engulfed the beast.

Again Kumoyabun spun its webs, enshrouding the flames and snuffing them out.

“Send winds, send fire, send the power of the Earth against me, it will come to nothing,” it spoke through charred lips and tongue, “I will devour you all!”

“What’s Spider-Geek saying?” Kerry, unfamiliar with the Japanese language, inquired.

“He said he is going to eat us!” Glory woofed uselessly.

Kumoyabun lunged at the Pooch of Power, who was quickly scooped up and away by the Rockets-propelled Hatman. The chieftan of the Yakuza Spider Clan shot a silken line from its human fingers, snagging the two. With a yank he flung them both into a hovering Nats. All fell in a tangle of limbs and cobwebs.

Kerry Shepherdson tried to keep a brave face as the Kumoyaban turned and considered her hungrily.

*****


For the Yakuza Spider Clan, the hunt for heroes had produced unexpected dividends.

That their oyabun was going to be able to feed in the direct line of sight of his rival Masamune would have been boon enough. But now Dayu and his “children” had stumbled across the vigilante who had twice escaped them.

It would not happen again.

True, the girl was putting up a spirited struggle with her new weapons. She had managed to subdue several wakashu with a barrage of arrows of increasingly exotic ordinance, from high explosive to sonic to unbelievingly one that resembled a boxing glove.

Dayu put a halt to the encroaching farce by hurling a car at her.

Artemis managed to avoid the being squashed by the waka-gashira’s impromptu missile, though her right leg got trapped under the vehicle as it rolled away from her. She stifled a scream as the car’s weight crushed every bone in the limb. Sprawled on the pavement, Charlotte Ouk reached behind her in a scrambling quest to find an arrow to take out Dayu as he bolted towards her, knife at the ready.

The quiver was empty, and the arrows strewn out of reach.

“Ha!” Dayu smiled and slowed his charge into a stroll, “I’m going to take my time with you, bitch,” he was about fifteen feet from Artemis when a small metal sphere caromed off the man’s head, knocking free his glasses and exposing his multitudinous eyes.

Dayu used those eyes to glare at his attacker.

“Okay!” Visionary shouted in an attempt to convince himself that he was not about to do the stupidest thing he had ever done, “Let’s try that again!”

To be concluded

Footnotes, Short and Sweet:

The Yakuza Spider Clan: As I’ve said before, these guys were villains in a RPG (that’s Role-Playing Game for the uninitiated) I ran maybe a dozen or so years ago. I got the idea from one of those Time-Life, “Mysteries of the Unexplained” books that you could order on the TV. The books are long gone, but I got most of the information for this story from the following web sites:

http://www.youkaimura.org/tsuchi.htm describes the legend of Tsuchigumo

http://web.telia.com/~u31302275/yakuza7.htm is a summary of yakuza hierarchy.


(Not that I feel you have to look up the information to get a better idea of what’s going on, but I just felt I had to give credit where it was due)







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