Adventures In Parodyverse: Hallowed Halls Part 2

Links:
Part 1

Adventures in Parodyverse - Hallowed Halls Part 2

    "What's this about?" A man named George Wright repeated the question Jack Burns just asked him in the interrogation room. "It's about extortion."

    George Wright almost as old as Jack, but in better shape. Wright's rap sheet explained why - short stints in jail and a long list of organized crime related offenses meant that he was a man who had to exhibit strength among his enemies, and speed when the law enforcement became involved.

    He was arrested shortly after he was captured and subdued by an Asian woman called the Psychic Samurai. The police generally weren't happy that she carried a sword but her loose association with the Lair Legion caused them to keep a hands-off approach.

    "Explain," Jack requested calmly.

    Wright leaned back in the interrogation room chair and stroked his own chin. "It goes back to the days when the Psychic Samurai didn't have a fancy name, and she was just a worthless minion of Akiko Masamune."

    "But she doesn't have a rap sheet." Jack pointed out, "You do."

    The criminal smiled with amusement. "She was always a slippery one. She used to collect...'payments'...all over Mangatown. And you know what? Five foot nothing Asian girl who's light as a feather and everyone paid. Everyone! Do you know how weird that is?"

    "Not in Mangatown. Pretty much everyone there is afraid of Akiko Masamune."

    "Yeah, 'pretty much'. That's how it usually is." Wright leaned forward again. "See, the rule is, with extortion, that there are always one or two holdouts who need to be made an example of. Then, everyone pays. With this girl there were never any holdouts."

    "So what are you saying?" Jack asked.

    He leaned forward some more so he was almost standing. "I'm saying this girl, the Psychic Samurai...she knew things about them. About every single one of them. Things she used to make sure they would never defy her will."

    Jack laughed at that. "There's no law against that. If that's all you have to cut a deal--"

    "And people disappeared," Wright added, sending a chill down Jack's spine. "They disappeared, and they were never found or heard from again. It was by her hands, Detective."

    Jack folded his arms. "How do you know they're dead? Maybe she sent them away, like the witness protection program. Or maybe they left on their own. I need evidence."

    "You can live in the dark if you want to," Wright fumed suddenly, "But I know the real Psychic Samurai. She's not the friendly, gentle Asian girl you think she is. She's a real cold bitch. Am I afraid of her? Hell, yes I am. If you're smart you would be too."

    "She didn't give me any reason to be afraid," Jack noted.

    Wright laughed out loud suddenly. "Right, well remember why she arrested," he pointed out, "for murdering the Brass Bushi. Well he's missing now, isn't he? Mysteriously vanished without a trace."

    Jack felt that chill again. He sat up suddenly and looked George Wright directly in the eye. "What do you know about that?"

    "Nothing specific," he replied. "But I knew it was coming. The Brass Bushi crossed that cold bitch, and now he's gone. Big surprise. You won't find him, you know. None of them are ever found unless she wants them to be."

    This time it was Jack's turn to laugh. "You make her seem almost supernatural, like a demon or something."

    "Oh, she's worse," George said. "Much, much worse. If the Lair Legion knew what she was, or what she was capable of, they would never have let her in the front door."

---

    Vicky was good at detention by now. She spent years of high school in it, after all. The point was to do as much as you could get away with to pass the time without making a sound or getting caught.

    In the electronic age that was getting easier and easier. She had a school textbook open and a pad of paper, and appeared to be doing math homework with a calculator. But the calculator was actually a fancy cell phone that could recieve e-mail. She was checking and replying to messages, while keeping instant messaging active so she could covertly stay in contact with Jack.

    The school principal was none the wiser. She sat at the desk in the front of the room reading a newspaper and glancing at Vicky once in a while. Vicky carefully watched for movement but tried not to appear like she was watching to make sure the principal didn't approach her where the ruse wouldn't last. The standoff continued...

    ...until the bell rang. And then Vicky silently put away her cell phone and her book and packed everything up. She then stared at the principal until she was allowed to leave.

    This kind of detention was during lunch. Vicky was starved because she couldn't sneak off school grounds to grab some decent food, so she dealt with snacking on vending machine food on the way to the next class.

    She was in such a foul mood that she just sulked through her last two classes of the day silently, not really paying attention to what was going on. Her mind was on eating some food after leaving that school, and talking to Jack about what was going on at work. As much as she wanted to solve this school case quickly, it would have to wait another day.

    Vicky shuffled out of the school dragging her backpack after the last bell rang, and she frantically looked around for Jack's car. When she spotted it she smiled brightly and raced for it, using up the last of her starved energy.

    "Oh, thank god," she exclaimed when she climbed into the car. I'm so hungry and tired, and I have a huge headache. Can we stop for pizza or something?"

    "Sure." Jack smiled, seeming amused. "Bad first day at school?"

    "Yah, no shit." Vicky slouched in the car seat and sighed deeply.

---

    "Well, you know he's lying." Vicky said matter-of-factly as she munched on a slice of four cheeze pizza at a local pizza shop.

    She and Jack were seated in a booth next to a few framed photos and a neon sign. Rock music blared in the background, but not close enough to the booth to interrupt the conversation. Perfect, in a sense, so the two of them could talk shop without nearby tables overhearing.

    Jack gingerly sampled one piece of pizza the entire time, having eaten lunch already, while he watched Vicky work on her third slice so far. "Admittedly, the Psychic Samurai was nothing but polite, and she has no criminal record, while George Wright does. Unfortunately the evidence doesn't sway one way or the other."

    Vicky sighed and tilted her head slightly. "He's trying to cut a bullshit deal so he doesn't end up in jail. Figures we'll let him go and harass the Samurai for a while." She squinted and looked across the room. "Why's that guy with the spikey hair and chin beard staring at us?"

    Jack turned around and looked directly behind him. Indeed there was a man wih spikey hair and fuzz only on his chin staring at them. Jack stood, and the strange man stood at the same time and approached quickly. There was someone else at the stranger's table as well, who seemed to ready himself at the sign of confrontation.

    "Is there a problem?" Jack asked when the bearded man approached.

    "You could say that." the stranger, simultaneously produced a police badge and flashed the gun on his belt. "Can I see some I.D.?"

    "You're totally shitting me." Vicky laughed out loud. "What, are you arresting us for eating pizza?"

    "My partner and I are on a child protection task force," the man told Jack. "We saw you pick up an underage girl at the school and bring her here. You should be ashamed of yourself."

    "There seems to be a mistake here--" Jack started to say, but he was too late.

    Vicky stood and shoved her police badge in the stranger's face, and watched him turn pale. Uncharacteristically, she didn't speak a word as she did so, even after the man apologized and motioned for his partner to pick up and leave. "Dorks," she finally mumbled when Jack sat down again.

    "I told you, Vicky, you easily pass for a high school student." Jack smiled at her.

    "Yah well laugh it up, Jack, cause they thought you were luring me home to de-flower me." Vicky smiled and munched on her pizza slice once again.

    Jack thought of an appropriate comeback about it being much too late but decided saying that would just drag him into Vicky's always rude behavior. "Anyway, it looks like we need to talk to the Psychic Samurai again. Know where she might be?"

    "I dunno." Vicky shrugged, looking out the window philisophically. "But she seems to be keeping an eye on us."

    "Want me to keep the meter running?" a taxi driver parked across the street asked the mysterious Asian woman in the back seat.

    "Yes," she replied calmly and quietly. "You will be well rewarded."


TO BE CONTINUED?

-- Story written and copyrighted (C) 2007 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

Post By Anime Jason Sun Apr 22, 2007 at 01:44:13 am EDT	Subject Adventures In Parodyverse: Hallowed Halls Part 2

	[New] [Email] [Print] [RSS] [Tales of the Parodyverse]	Next In Thread >>