This story comes first chronologically in the SME time-line but
actually should be read following "The Babe Wore Blue" by Mark
Latus. In his story, the character of Magnesite is fully
explained. This concerns a series of events about three years
prior to the Black Moon War in Crystal Tokyo.
Prologue.
He entered the palace without escort or fanfare and walked
alone down the corridors to the greeting hall where dignitaries
were received. Dressed in a blue uniform of a navy long defunct
he appeared to be every inch the warrior. As a token to his
position, he retained the sword and pistol that hung from his
belt. No other who was not among the inner circle was allowed to
be armed in the presence of the queen and king of Crystal Tokyo.
He strode purposefully down the carpeted hallways, intent on his
duty to a king and kingdom both long dead.
It was little wonder he paid no attention to a small white
and purple cat that watched his passage interestedly from
underneath a table. Sweeping by, he went into the audience hall
and the heavy bronze portals closed silently behind him. The cat
pricked up its ears to try and hear what was said beyond the
doors but they blocked all sound. She twitched her tail in
frustration but waited patiently.
Not more than twenty minutes passed before the doors swung
open again to emit the man once again. Anger flushed his cheeks
and a ribbon that once hung proudly on his breast was no longer
there and the gold that once decorated his shoulders was also
gone. He paused in his retreat and turned back to the open doors
and the room beyond. "Mark my words," he pointed a warning
finger at those within, "unless you do something now, others will
suffer for your hesitancy. They are coming and they only
understand power in its most naked application. The deaths to
come of many men, women and children will be on your heads
because you stood by and did nothing." He pointed an accusing
finger at all within and added, "All of you!" With a wave of
disgust he swept angrily down the hallway. The cat gazed in rapt
attention at the display.
Sailor Moon Expanded Presents
A Frank Barr Production
Magnesite P.I. in . . .
"The Case of the Missing Senshi"
Fade in on a cheap, cramped office full of battered furniture
circa post WWII . . .
There are a billion stories in the crystal city. Mine's one
of them. I'm a private dick. Best in Crystal Tokyo. Maybe
you've heard of me? The name's Ite, Magnesite.
It's a thankless job, a life where you can't trust
anyone--your clients least of all. To ferret out the truth I
have to prowl the dark gritty underbelly of the city, a
nightmarish underworld I know like the back of my hand . . .
Oh, who am I kidding? Crystal Tokyo doesn't HAVE a dark
gritty underbelly. If anything it's got a light fluffy
underbelly, just like everything else in this Metallia-damned
utopian society. I'm the best PI in the city because I'm the
*only* one in the city, and even so I'm lucky to get one messy
divorce case and three lost pets in a year.
On the other hand, when crimes do get past the C.T.P.D. they
tend to be huge. Like those cultists fifty years back . . .
total nutballs, trying to resurrect Queen Metallia. Crazy, yeah,
but smart enough to avoid the cops and the Senshi. They might've
managed it if I hadn't been brought in. Cases like that one keep
me from hanging up my trenchcoat.
In between the big ones, though, there's not much to do.
Every five years or so I throw a Bogie film festival; got to keep
my idol's memory alive somehow. If it wasn't for that, the whole
concept of private investigators would've gone the way of the
Gardinel in this city.
I've got a sneaking suspicion I'll be needed again soon.
Most of the locals were born and raised in this best of all
possible worlds; they wouldn't recognize raw evil if it walked up
and ripped out their heart crystals. I hail from the Dark
Kingdom, and I know trouble when I smell it. I'm smelling it
now. Dark times are coming . . . my kind of times. Down these
clean streets a man must walk . . .
I got a call from some private secretary about eight in the
morning requesting an appointment for this afternoon. Her voice
was cold, hard but polite and I was immediately intrigued. Most
of my trade is divorce cases where I'm supposed to get pictures
of one spouse or another stepping out on their partner. This
secretary's voice had all the earmarks of someone from outside
Crystal Tokyo. Here all the secretaries are sunny and pleasant
unlike this one who was coldy professional. When I ask what the
case is about, she says that it will be explained by Mr. Irons
during the appointment.
Checking my schedule, I see that I was going to watch
Casablanca on the vid again but I bump that little activity for a
paying client. If it had been "Maltese Falcon" he would have had
to wait until six. Even back when I was an almost-General in the
Dark Kingdom, I made time to watch Bogie. Not only did he look
like me, he had the right style, the right attitude. That's why
I'm in this line of work, cause my hero did it. Crystal Tokyo is
probably the worst place for a private dick, though. Every now
and then I think this is some elaborate scheme of torture that
Serenity thought up just for me.
At four o'clock, on the dot he steps in the door like he
owns the place. Tall, dark, kind of a pretty boy but his eyes
had a hardness that said he'd seen a lot in his days. He had a
fashion sense you don't see often in Crystal Tokyo. He was
dressed in a tuxedo with a black trenchcoat and grey fedora.
Something told me, though, he was trouble with a capital T.
"Good afternoon Magnesite," He says formally. Hm, I notice
that he doesn't bother with the "Mr." stuff. That's unusual
because most people struggle with that Mr., -san, -sama crap
until I tell em' to knock it off. In the Dark Kingdom your name
alone should command all the respect and fear you needed without
titles. "That's very informative," he says, "I'll make a note of
it." Damn. I must have been narrating out loud. That bad little
psychosis . . . er, quirk of mine was a byproduct having been
trapped inside a psycho-plasm crystal with only myself to talk
to. With nothing else to do, I started replaying memories to
myself. You sit there talkin' to yourself for a few centuries
and it's hard to break the habit.
He takes a breath to say more then is seized with a racking
cough. Pulling a breathing mask out of his pocket he places it
before his mouth and gasps for air. "Do you mind if I crack a
window?" he asks between coughs, "the cigarette smoke in here is
lethal." "It keeps the roaches down," I say, "but be my guest."
Humph! I should be so lucky, I doubt there is a roach in this
entire city outside of the insectarium. Actually, I didn't
notice.
He walks over and opens the windows letting in the pristine,
smog-less air of Crystal Tokyo. I light up a cigarette in
keeping with my image and take a deep drag. The poisonous,
cancer causing, menthol flavored smoke nestles deep inside my
lungs doing untold damage. Or it would if I weren't really a
solidified psycho-plasm ghost. In my escape from the Dark
Kingdom when the whole universe collapsed I was transformed from
your nice, normal, magic wielding youma to pure psychoplasm. A
little fact I used to get revenge on some former underlings who
double-crossed me known collectively as the Dark Kingdom
Renegades. Oops, almost forgot to exhale. I blow a few smoke
rings for effect.
When the air clears after a minute, he puts away the filter
and says, "I'll come straight to the point. I'm looking for
someone who has been missing in this city for quite sometime.
She might not be alive anymore but certain reliable sources have
hinted that she is. I've got to find out one way or another,
regardless."
"So why come to me?" I ask, "it sounds like a case for the
Crystal Tokyo police department."
"This investigation must be kept as quiet as possible; I don't
want to involve the authorities."
"Not that I care what this person's done but it could
complicate things if they're wanted."
"No, she's not a criminal but it is vital I not alert the
authorities to her or my presence in the city."
"So who are you and why do you want to keep this secret. And
none of that 'Mr. Irons' crap. I can spot a phony name a mile
away."
He smirks at my remarks and says, "Why is not for you to know,
but I will say that it is nothing illegal. As to whom I am, I am
Ferrite."
I'd heard of him, he was a mysterious figure that came and
went amongst the high circles of Crystal Tokyo. Rumor had it he
was sort of like Beryl's Generals though I never heard of him
even killing an underling. It was hard to place him in the
hierarchy. He's supposed to be related to Endymion somehow but
his title and function are not widely known.
"I try to keep a low profile," Ferrite says.
There I go again! Then I ask, "Okay, so who is this missing
person?"
"A girl by the name of Osaka Naru."
"What does she look like?"
"Kinky reddish brown hair, green eyes, about one point three
meters tall. When I last saw her, she was fifteen years old."
"And how long has she been missing?"
"Approximately one thousand years."
I pause and look at him before asking, "You're kidding, right?"
"No, I'm not."
Ha, this ought to be an easy way to make a buck, do some
inquiries, find an Osaka Naru in the cemetery and boom, it's
supper time. Ferrite folds his arms across his chest and glares
at me. Uh-oh must have been narrating out loud again.
"Yes you were," He says sternly, "and just to make sure you
earn your pay. I'm going to accompany you every step of the
way."
"I work alone," I say definitely, "I don't need some amateur
getting in the way of an investigation."
"And I refuse to hire a slacker who's going to do a half-assed
job and quit a the first opportunity," he says just as
definitively, "It's either take me with you or I'll find her on
my own."
"All right, all right," I say quickly, "I do quality work it's
just I wouldn't hold out much hope she's still alive after all
this time unless she's immortal . . . she isn't, is she?"
"I didn't think so," he says thoughtfully, "but my source is
reliable so maybe there's some special circumstance. But enough
of this, are you going to take the case?"
"Certainly, just sign on the dotted line," I say taking out one
of my standard life-force for services rendered contracts. Since
I'm a psychoplasm ghost, I need life force to survive. Since
most people don't willingly part with it and the Senshi would
blast me if I started taking it, I set up this means of barter.
The bad thing is, it's rare that an interesting case comes
through the door, like this one.
"I'll just add some special stipulations if you don't mind," he
says pulling this long piece of paper out of his pocket. He lays
it out on the table in front of me and it has over a hundred
clauses on it that make plain a few points I left purposely vague
in my own contract.
"What?" I ask with a Bogie sneer, "you had a shyster look over
my contract?"
"I had whole platoons of 'shysters' look over your contract,"
he says, "In brief, these clarify 'services rendered' and allows
me to take retributive action if you sell me out to the police
afterwards."
I wasn't going to do it, after all, Rei is no friend of mine
but the thought had crossed my mind. "What? You gonna' sue me
for the life force back?" I sneer.
"No, I'll buy the Crystal Tokyo Broadcasting Network and run
advertisements twenty four hours a day saying how untrustworthy
and indiscreet you are," he sneers back. "Break your contract or
blab to anybody and you'll be out in the street begging for life
force with a tin cup," he says with finality.
I slide my contract over with a smile. Ferrite goes up a
notch in my estimation. It's not often you meet a human with
such youma-like ruthlessness. He even has my idiom down. If
nothing else, it'll get me out of the office for a change.
After signing he asks, "So where to first?"
"The hall of records," I answer, "maybe there's something there
that didn't make it into the databases."
Before I can point out that we are supposed to be adopting a
low profile, he pulls out a disguise pen and changes himself into
a nondescript government worker type. Hm, he must be pretty
important to rate a trinket like that. I change my form to a
bookish looking student and we're set. A quick hop on the metro
and we arrive at the hall of records. The clerk asks us if she
can be of help with an attitude that can only be described as
"perky." Sometimes I wonder how I haven't gone on a rampage at
the unending wall of cheerfulness I face day to day. Then I
remember how scary the Senshi are now and stop wondering.
I ask to see the marriage records for 1996 to 2026. Ferrite
slaps his head in overlooking so obvious a line of investigation.
"A girl can't wait forever," I point out. "Humph!" he grunts in
agreement, "I just hope this doesn't turn into an expensive
lesson in humility." I hope that it does, though, I still might
be able to catch Casablanca. She leads us down several flights
of stairs deep into the basement. We walk past several micro
fiche racks to a row of ancient filing cabinets. "I'm sorry that
these haven't been copied into the database," she apologies
earnestly, "but money for transcription of these old records just
never seems to find its way into the budget. Do you need my help
in finding something specific?" "That's okay," I say to get rid
of her, "We prefer hardcopy anyway." Looking at the rows of
filing cabinets, Ferrite says, "Ah, yeah. Love it."
She leaves us alone and I turn to Ferrite. "You say the
last record you have of her is in two-thousand?"
"Yeah, all I have is her graduation from college and then
that's it."
"Okay," I say stepping over to the appropriate filing
cabinet, "Starting from there, let's see what we can find . . . "
After about an hour and a half of flipping through reams of
documents, I find what I'm looking for. "Ah, here we are," I say
reading aloud, "the marriage license for Osaka Naru and Umino
Gurio, February fourteenth on the year two-thousand one. So now
we just go upstairs and do a search on their data terminals for
Umino Naru."
"Already on it," Ferrite says hunched over a laptop that he got
from somewhere. His fingers fly over the keyboard and he
mutters, "Hm . . . Naru and Guiro Umino, date greater than
February fourteenth two-thousand, hospital, civil service, voting
registration, retirement, order by date . . . fetch." The
computer sits there and chews on the search for a few minutes
before it beeps announcing it's done. He looks at the results
and strokes his chin thoughtfully. "Let's see here . . . voting
records show them moving to an apartment after they're married .
. . get jobs and pay a little into their retirement . . . Oh,
how sad . . . Gurio is killed in an auto accident in 5/9/2004 .
. . Naru admitted to the hospital on the same night with slight
injuries then released . . . Gurio interred in Eternal Rest
Cemetery 5/12/2004 . . . Umino Naru admitted to Juban Mental
Health Facility 11/3/2004 by Myuko . . . " He gulps and pauses
for a moment, "her . . . her mother."
Reading over his shoulder I continue, "Then it gets weird . . .
her file is closed at one facility after she escapes and can't be
found. Then she reappears about ten years later under the
department of welfare in a housing project . . . her file is
closed after she turns up missing after a couple of years later .
. . Look! There she is again, only this time she's under the
department of public health. Hm, her file is closed again after
she's lost track of . . . " Looks like this Naru is immortal
after all.
"This is unbelievable!" Ferrite exclaims, "It looks like she's
been lost in the system for centuries." He touches a few keys
and the display of the records change, "Notice the names of the
caseworkers and organizations keep changing. It looks like she's
been shuffled around between psychiatric services, health
services, public welfare and the like for ages. Seems once she
was first sucked into the system no one bothered to check her
date of birth as the idea of a homeless immortal was too
ridiculous to consider."
"It is too ridiculous to consider," I point out.
"Oh, yeah, you're right," he admits, "So anyway, she's been
handed around by generations of social workers. She's refusing
all efforts at rehabilitation and keeps escaping back to the
streets on the occasions they manage to get her
institutionalized."
I laugh cynically, "Given the nature of CT it's hard to
forcibly commit her so they have to keep trying to play nice-nice
and persuade her to let them help her. Which she won't,
obviously." In the Dark Kingdom we just tossed the infirm or
mentally addled out into the wilderness. That's what we would'a
done to this Osaka Naru. Inwardly I rejoice, at last something
to be cynical about in this pristine utopia.
Ferrite looks at some hospital registers and adds, "So whenever
they get fed up and try force her, she resists. See this
treatment record for this mental health facility? They keep
dumping her on the new recruits or anyone who needs disciplining
and forgetting about her. I'll bet every now and again someone
wonders just how old she is but she's so difficult before long
all they want is to dump her on someone else and deal with easier
clients."
"Looks like crystal Tokyo has a couple of cracks," I say
smugly.
"The last record is two years ago," Ferrite says paging to the
end of the entries, "Then she just disappears." He turns to me
and says, "I looked before, there's nothing in the police records
about the homeless or similar situations so where will we go now?
Do you think Rei might have some files on stuff like that which
she doesn't share with the public?"
"Rei? Rei only thinks she knows what's going on in this town,"
I sneer, "I know someone who always keeps her ear to the ground.
The problem is she doesn't owe me any favors. Matter of fact I
owe her. So if she'll help it'll cost you."
"I can afford it," he says dismissively, "let's go talk to her.
Er, who is she?"
"A little chippie by the name of Margrave," I say.
"Margrave?" He asks with a bit of apprehension, "the youma cat-
woman?"
"Yeah? You've met her?" I ask.
"I did a long time ago," he answers, "I hope she still doesn't
remember it."
Funny, Ferrite doesn't seem like the type who would have to
pay for it. "I don't!" He snaps angrily. Oops, I gotta' work on
controlling my tendency to narrate out loud. "Look," he says a
bit more calmly, "you'd better go see her alone. She might still
harbor me some ill will. If she does, she'll just tell us to
take a hike if she knew I was involved."
"Okay, but you're paying for it," I say.
"Fine, here's a credit key for whatever you need, just get the
information." He hands me a gold, real gold, credit key to who
knows how many yen and says, "be sure to get a receipt."
"Okay, let's meet up again at the clock tower in Victory park.
It's near Margrave's place."
I make a quick call to see if she's in and as luck would
have it, her private secretary says she'll see me that afternoon.
In the background I hear Margrave say she can always spare the
time to torment me. I go up to her penthouse suite and change
back to my normal form in the elevator. Stepping out of the
elevator I'm almost blinded by the smile of a gorgeous but,
business like, blond receptionist out front. Without even asking
me who I am, she buzzes me on through. This is still Crystal
Tokyo so she's cheerful about it too.
The decor of Margave's penthouse domicile can best be
described as opulent. The main living area is circular and done
up in with twelve Doric columns evenly spaced around the
perimeter. Purple drapes serve to highlight the simplicity of
the ornamentation. Scattered about the room are reproductions of
great works of art from that period. I think she's into the
Grecko-Roman styles because it allows her to put up a bunch of
naked statues and not have them look tacky.
Inside this inner sanctum, Margrave reclines on a red velvet
couch like Cleopatra. Next to her is a tray of sweetmeats and a
pitcher of wine. The only thing conflicting with the setting is
Margrave, she's dressed in cutoff jeans and a white Crystal Tokyo
University sweatshirt knotted at her waist. She takes a sip from
a golden goblet and spares me a sloe-eyed smile. "Magnesite,"
she says with a sultry purr, "to what do I owe the honor of your
visit? Here to pay me back for the life crystal you owe me?"
She looks like the cat that swallowed the canary, so to speak.
"No," I answer, "I'm here on behalf of a client seeking certain
information."
"And who might that be?"
"I can't say, he wishes to remain anonymous."
"He?" she jumps on my little slip and smiles slightly.
"Uh, yeah,"
"What does 'he' want to know?"
"I'm looking for a missing person, they aren't all there in the
head and I'm wondering if you know of any local homeless
hangouts."
"I know of such a place," she says, "What do you offer in
exchange for this information."
"He's given me a credit key for . . . " I start to say holding
out the card.
"Maggie, Maggie, Maggie . . . " she says shaking her head. She
knows I hate it when people call me that. "That's why I do it,"
she grins. Damn. Talking out loud again.
"So if it's not money you want, what do . . . " I start to ask.
"Just sign one of my contracts on his behalf," she explains as
if it were the simplest thing in the world.
"Sure!" I say eagerly jumping on the offer. Stupid low-
class youma trusting someone else to pay off a debt signed by
someone else . . . wait a minute . . . this is setting off
alarms all inside my head. Margrave trusting me for a life-debt?
"What if he won't pay?" I ask suspiciously.
"He sounds like an honorable man. After all, look at the
quality characters he hires." She laughs.
Whatever . . . I shrug and sign the document that she
presents me with. Then she says, "There's a group of warehouses
down on the north side of the rail-yard that have yet to be
converted. Some legal thing about the company being in
receivership or other litigation mumbo-jumbo have left them
abandoned. What few vagrants and homeless that refuse social
services gravitate there."
"That sound's like what I needed to know. Thanks kid."
"No thanks are necessary. I'm not giving anything away for
free. Tell your client that."
It's kind of refreshing to deal with a fellow youma. "Count
on it," I say. It'll be fun to stick that arrogant Ferrite
character with the bill.
"There's something else," she says as I start to go, "someone
else is making similar inquiries at some of the shadier bars.
Reports vary, but they all say that they're really tough looking
bruisers from outside Crystal Tokyo. Look's like you've got some
competition."
"Free information?" I ask, "I'm surprised, kid."
"Don't be, if your client gets himself killed, and these
characters looked to be capable, I might not get paid. And
squeezing it out of you would be more trouble than it's worth."
On that youma-like thought, I depart.
I head back to the clock tower and find Ferrite sitting
there like a government worker taking a long lunch. He's just
sitting there calmly feeding the pigeons as if he hadn't a care
in the world. When I walk up to him, he scatters the last
handful of crumbs and stands up.
"I've got the information," I say.
"Margrave was actually helpful?" He says incredulously, "I'm
surprised. Reports said she bears you quite a lot of antipathy."
"Well, I can be really suave when I wanna' be." I think I'll
wait until after I collect before I tell him about the life-debt
he now owes Margrave. Oops, gotta' be careful I don't want to
say that out loud.
"Say what out loud?" He asks curiously.
"Where we are going," I say looking around as if we were going
to be overheard, "No telling who might be listening. Margrave
said that someone else was asking the same questions around town
we were. Any idea who else might be after Naru?"
"I don't know . . . " he starts to say something then clams
up. After a second he adds, "Well, whoever it is, we've got to
get there before them." He breaks into a trot and says, "come
on, there's an automated car rental booth around the corner. The
metro takes too long, and we can't waste any time now."
Inside the rental booth he holds out his hand expectantly.
After a pause, I hand over his credit key. "Can't blame a guy
for trying," I say. "Yes I can," he says. After we get into our
fuel efficient, pristine, pine scented crysticar, he places a
trace-wiper on the back seat and turns it on. A cute little
device that electrically cleanses the air of trace particles left
behind by people. The device faintly makes my 'skin' tingle as
it destroys evidence of our having used this car. What do you
want to bet the funds on that credit key are untraceable? He
drops his disguise magic, so I revert to my regular form.
We make our way down to the warehouses around the railway
yard. This section of the city is a bit disused as high speed
crystal computers monitor the needs of the citizens on a daily
basis. In line with their utopian efficiency, no more than is
necessary to fulfill these orders are produced so little or no
storage space is needed. Plans are to turn this area into a
park, but that's years down the road. Right now it's abandoned,
one of the few places the bad kids would hang out, if everyone
wasn't so well adjusted.
Following Margrave's directions, we pull up at the end of
the street and get out after Ferrite collects his gizmo. This is
one of the parts of town that has yet to receive the Crystal
Tokyo upgrade. The place smells a bit with trash bins that
haven't been cleaned in a while. No garbage, this is still
Crystal Tokyo, just a bit of disuse to give it atmosphere. And
what do my wondering eyes do I see? A rat! At last! A place in
this city that isn't so clean you could eat off it. I'm going to
have to come back here sometime and pack a picnic lunch to enjoy
the ambiance.
Parked outside the building are several black crysticars
that fairly scream "unmarked police vehicle." But if they were,
Rei would make more of a show of it. Maybe these are the guys
Margrave hinted at. In either case the quickest way to find out
is to walk right up to them. "Hey, wait a minute, Ferrite says,
"aren't we going to sneak up on them . . . reconnoiter or
something?" "Why bother?" I ask, "The best way to find out what
they're doing here is to ask. If they're Crystal Tokyo P.D.,
they'll give us directions and lollipops."
"But what do we say about how we're dressed?" He asks
indicating our trench coats and fedoras.
"We'll tell them that you're my sidekick, kid," I say with a
Bogey sneer. Ferrite shakes his head dubiously and sighs but he
keeps going.
The doors open on the crysticar and two bully boys that
stand a good head taller than either ferrite or I step out. They
block the street and one holds out one of his ham-hock hands and
says in a shut-up-and-do-as-you're-told voice, "Sorry gentlemen,
no one permitted beyond this point."
"Gentlemen?" I ask, "You obviously have us mistaken for someone
else."
"Very funny, wiseass," the other bigger, probably dumber,
palooka says sarcastically, "now you take your ugly little hat
and your ugly little sidekick and get out of here."
"Whose hat are you calling ugly?" I ask feigning belligerence.
Actually I can barely keep from laughing at the dirty look on
Ferrite's face.
The other one tries to be the voice of calm and reason so he
says, "This is a Crystal Tokyo internal security matter. I'm
afraid I'll have to ask you to leave."
That was a lie, if he were police or internal security those
would have been the first words out of his mouth. The one facing
Ferrite casually hitches his jacket back as if to straighten it
but I recognize it as a move to allow access to a concealed
weapon. Good, Ferrite recognizes it too and I see his stance
shift slightly.
I turn back to the one in front of me and say, "Well, if
you're Crystal Tokyo internal security then show us your badges."
"Badges? Badges?" The dumb on asks angrily, "We don't need no
stinking badges!" His partner flicks out his hand and a vibro
knife goes straight for my heart. I block him but he's so strong
I have to expend energy to hold him back. The other one tries to
do the same with Ferrite but Ferrite springs on him with lighting
speed. They start mixing it up with the other goon coming out on
the losing end. Ferrite's inside his guard and pounds him back
with a hurricane of body blows. Ferrite must be hitting him
pretty hard because the shock transmitted through the goon's body
cracks the window of the crysticar behind him.
With a sudden burst of strength the one facing me twists
free and slashes across my chest cutting me open. His vibro
knife does a thorough job and I fall back in two pieces. While I
go down, he pulls a strangely shaped hunk of rock from under his
coat and aims it at Ferrite. "Lookout!" I croak with the last
bit of air in my lungs. His crystal weapon discharges with a
bright flash of blue green light. The instant before it does,
Ferrite grabs the lapels of the one he's beating up and pivots,
using his opponent as a shield. A large section of the hapless
joker's torso is blown away by the beam. The one with the pistol
gawks a moment at his mistake while his partner's body makes a
slight buzzing sound. Ferrite shoves the corpse onto the first
one and kicks them both, hard.
The first one's eyes grow wide in fear and horror as his
partner's dead body drapes over him and both go down in a tangle.
The buzzing gets a little louder the live one thrashes to get
clear of the corpse on top of him. I can see the thought flash
across Ferrite's eyes: Leave me to the self-destruct or risk
wasting time moving me. Doing the unexpected again, he plants
his foot solidly on my chest and squints his eyes shut. We
dematerialize and teleport back around ten feet behind the
crysticar. With a quiet "foof" the two palookas are consumed in
some self destruct the first one had.
Ferrite then proceeds to get very violently, noisily sick.
I feel a bit tingly, indicating that the teleport was a bad one.
Still, any teleport you can walk away from . . . If I had a
middle ear, though, the disorientation would have me heaving my
guts too, if I had guts. Using that moments quiet respite, made
more tranquil by Ferrite's retching, I pull myself together. I
stick my halves back together and reabsorb all the leaking
fluids. Sitting up, I look around in case these two had any
backup but nobody's around. The only thing left of the two
"Internal Security" men are a few metal objects like coat buttons
and the rims of their sunglasses. How very tidy of them to clean
up after themselves. I look back at Ferrite and he seems to have
recovered; he's sitting there chugging a liter bottle of some
soft drink. Swallowing the last of it, he gives a mighty belch.
"All right," he says, "good to go."
"Not a bad combat teleport," I complement him, "except for the
part where you throw up your lower intestines."
"Next time I leave you to the self destruct's tender mercies,
funny man," he snaps.
Deciding not to push it, I say, "Lighten up kid. Let's see
what these two were guarding."
"Don't call me kid," he says with a glower, "I'm older than you
are."
The muffled sound of one of those crystal pistols
discharging brings me back to the present and both Ferrite and I
drop into a crouch. It came from inside the building but they
apparently weren't shooting at us. We stealthily move forward
and lean back against the door to listen.
"You fool, I meant kill him quietly. It's just a human, use
your bare hands next time." A voice says.
"Apologies, high one, I will be more careful with this one."
Ferrite produces a fiber optic camera on a stalk and peers
under the door with it. Absorbed in looking inside, he absently
hands me an additional ocular on a wire. I look inside and see
the images of about fifteen men like the ones outside walking
around the huge warehouse. Trash, cardboard boxes and other
debris litter the inside. When the camera switches to thermal
imaging I can make out about three bodies on the floor, two of
which are cold, one is rapidly cooling on the concrete. He pans
around and picks out another warm body crouched down in a large
cardboard box. Ferrite zooms in and we can see that it's female.
A computerized overlay appears over her and Ferrite whispers,
"she matches the profile."
"Hm, sixteen of them," he says in a low voice, "not good
odds." Ferrite turns back to me and whispers urgently, "Do you
know how to use a gun?" I consider saying yes, but since guns
are illegal in Crystal Tokyo the closest I've ever gotten to one
was one that just made the sound effect.
"No," I admit, "Rei considers me too much of a security risk."
"Then you'd better use the rail gun," He says reaching into his
pocket, "It has an identify friend/foe module." Withdrawing his
hand, he pulls out what remarkably looks a lot like a Thompson
submachine gun. He takes an ammo drum out of his other pocket
and fits them together. "Don't try anything fancy, just point
and pull the trigger." He clicks on the power pack and it hums
with malevolent energy. "It fires hyper velocity, depleted
uranium sabot at one hundred and eighty rounds per minute." He
hands it to me and I almost drop it, it's so heavy. I think . .
. no I'm definitely in love. "It was built with me in mind," he
cautions, "so the recoil will cause it to ride up."
"What about . . . " I start to ask when he pulls two
oversized pistols out of his pockets. I've seen these in Senshi
of Fortune magazine, they're lightning guns. Thick cables
attached to the bottom of the grips run into his pockets
presumably to some sort of power source. "Our opponents might
have a personal shield that blocks either kinetic or radiant
energy but not both at the same time. If I look like I'm having
trouble with one, spray him with the rail gun.
"Okay," he says in a take charge voice, "Here's the plan,
I'll kick in the door and throw in a flash bomb. I'll
immediately run inside and head straight toward Naru. I'll pop a
couple of them with the lighting gun to get them to switch their
shields to block energy. When I say, 'go,' you brace the
rail-gun on the side of the doorjamb and just hose the whole room
down. It'll shoot at everyone but me and nothing in this
building is sturdy enough to cause a ricochet. I'll grab her and
get her out by the closest exit. You just keep firing, as long
as she's with me, she'll be safe from you. The only real danger
is them. I just hope they don't accidentally hit her while
they're trying to kill us.
Wait a minute. I'm a P.I. not a mercenary. What I'm about
to do is highly illegal. Fun, but illegal. Then I ask myself
what Bogey would do. I curl my lip in the sneer of all Bogie
sneers and say, "Lead the way, Jackson."
Ferrite braces himself against the doorjamb and rolls a
grenade inside the door. I keep my back to the wall tensed for
the curtain to come up. FOOM! The grenade goes off really loud
and the flash is extremely bright. Ferrite zips inside shouting
at the top of his lungs, "Avast! Prepare to die, ye scurvy scum
of the sky!" KA-CHOOM! KA-CHOOM! His lightning pistols
discharge and I can feel the electricity even out here. One of
the men in black gives a strangled cry followed by the sound of
his self destruct. This Ferrite is just too much like a youma,
no "drop your weapons and surrender" it's just, "prepare to die."
"Go! Go! Go!" Ferrite shouts and I spin around so that I've
got half cover as I brace the gun against the door like he says.
The bad guys are scattered throughout the room turned away from
me concentrating on Ferrite. They're lining up on him with those
crystal weapons of theirs. "Top of the world, Ma!" I cry as I
cut loose with the rail gun, "Top of the world!" (Yeah, I know
that was Cagney, but he was almost as cool as Bogey.)
BAAAARRRROOARRRSCREECH!!! The gun makes a growling, screeching
sound like a chainsaw cutting a plate-glass window. When Ferrite
said this thing had a kick he wasn't kidding. It takes
everything I've got to just keep it level. The agents seem to
appreciate the gun too because they immediately turn their
weapons on me.
Suckers, they should be ducking. I read once about a human
scientist by the name of Darwin who's principle of evolution
could be boiled down to a few words, "Survival of the fittest."
Over then next few seconds, I weed out a few of the unfit. One
bully boy jumps forward to take me on hand to hand. Too bad for
him either my gun is better than it looks or his shield is not as
strong as he thought it was. Like his buddies outside, he neatly
cleans up after himself. Another candidate for removal from the
gene pool takes cover behind a pile of cardboard boxes.
Cardboard boxes! I do Darwin proud. I haven't had this many
laughs since the time Zoicite and Kunzite returned from a mission
all black and covered in grease. (I didn't laugh where they
could hear it, of course. I'm not suicidal.)
Things start to change a bit when they get behind some real
cover and start lining up their shots on me. One ignores the
fact that Ferrite is still running around and a sphere of ball
lightening catches him upside the head. My these fellows are
tidy. I'm concentrating on keeping their heads down but I see
out of the corner of my eye as Ferrite reaches his goal and pulls
back the cardboard box covering the woman we saw in the scanner.
Naru is dressed in a filthy pink running suit with a
stocking cap pulled over her matted brown hair. She cowers in a
heap wrapping her arms around a plastic bag of rags and trash.
"Naru," Ferrite says, "I'm here to . . . oof!" He tries to take
her by the arm when one of the men in black tackles him. The
bruiser pulls a knife on Ferrite and they wrestle on the ground
for it. While I'm busy and Ferrite is wrapped up, another one of
these goons grabs the girl and throws her roughly over his
shoulder. When he picks her up, however, she drops her bag of
trash.
"No!" Naru cries desperately, "My pretty dress. Can't
leave my pretty dress!" She reaches frantically for the plastic
bag of her possessions but they're beyond her grasp. Ferrite
puts everything he has into a punch that momentarily stuns his
opponent, shield or no. Rolling to his feet he tries to free
himself and go after them. The goon lifts her bodily and tries
to carry her out of the room but she proves to be quite a handful
and starts to wriggle free. He hits her across the back of the
head with the butt of his crystal weapon to try and knock her
out. He looks really surprised when she's still moving, he
thought he hit her hard enough to render her unconscious. Looks
like all he did, though, was make her mad.
"NEMESIS . . . " Naru shouts with her lip curled up in a
snarl. When she says that word, Ferrite jumps as if someone
jabbed him with a red-hot poker. "...VORTEX," she continues as if
reciting a litany. "Oh, no!" Ferrite gasps in fear, "not that!"
He's terrified and I didn't see him that way when he jumped into
a room full of armed men. "...ANNIHILATION!" Naru completes her
cry with fire in her eyes. "Hit the deck!" Ferrite shouts as he
dives into a shallow mechanic's pit. Before I can do anything, a
wind rises to hurricane force and sucks me inside the warehouse.
Grabbing a beam as I slide past, it's all I can do just to hang
on.
Naru is lifted up by the vortex and held suspended there
poised in its eye like a ballerina. The bruiser who hit her is
wicked away by the vortex and dashed to a paste against a wall.
"She's beyond capture," one shouts, "kill her!" They turn their
weapons on Naru and unleash a tremendous salvo. Big mistake.
The winds deflect their shots from around her body without so
much as scratching her. The swirling air increases in violence,
battering them and sweeping away anything not nailed down. I'm
peppered by debris hard enough to puncture my surface and imbed
stones and pebbles inside me.
But that's just a preview, then she really starts to
retaliate. The winds rise higher, ripping the roof right off the
building and flinging it away. Gesturing imperiously, like a
queen, she points at various opponents and the storm responds.
Lightning, fire, ice and sand lash out at her enemies. It's
almost biblical the way the heavens open up to smite her foes.
One agent, firing from cover behind a meter-thick, concrete
pillar, snaps off a few shots and ducks behind it when she looks
in his direction. She gestures and a stream of sand and small
rocks scour the pillar and him down to nothing in an instant.
VOW! A goon carrying a rifle version of the crystal weapon clips
her shoulder with a shot. She unleashes a torrent of lightning
upon him. His shield, set to absorb energy attacks actually
holds for a second before it is overwhelmed by the force of her
assault and he's quick-fried. The fight continues like this for
a minute or two as she turns her attentions to one or more
attackers until there are none left. I do my best to remain
innocuous and just hold on. Finally, as the winds die down, a
breeze scoops her bag up and carries it to her hand. She hugs it
to her breast with childish delight and says, "my pretty dress."
The dust starts to settle and I'm trying to work out what
the hell just happened. I start picking the shrapnel out of
myself automatically and gaze around in wonder. Times like this
I'm glad I'm not flesh and blood. Ferrite stops hugging the
ground and leaves his meager cover. He joins me in staring
openmouthed at the carnage surrounding us. The girl's squatted
down on the floor again, muttering to herself.
It was like she exploded . . . I think.
To tell the truth I don't know what she did. All I know is
one second we're outnumbered and outgunned, then everything goes
crazy and there's nothing left of our opponents but smears. She
doesn't seem a bit concerned at having just turned ten men into
stains. All she seems concerned about is rummaging through her
bag of trash.
We both start over to check her then make like statues when
she looks up angrily. We stay frozen until she loses interest in
us and returns her attention to her treasured garbage. This is
shaping up to be a lot more than a missing person case.
That girl is incredibly powerful, a borderline psychotic,
prone to fits of incredible violence, mentally unstable and
doesn't turn a hair at reducing humans to hamburger.
She reminds me of Beryl.
I think I'm in love.
"We've got to get out of here," Ferrite says. This much
magic will certainly have been detected by someone in the palace.
The police could already be on their way here and could arrive at
any moment. I look around at the carnage and destruction and
say, "Running won't help. We've left a big enough mess so that
Rei could trace it right back to us. Their psi-sensitives will
pick up our aura traces in a heartbeat. Hell, a mage with a
speak with dead spell could question the . . . "
"You handle the bodies, I'll handle the psi's," Ferrite says
urgently. I don't know what else to do so I go around burning
the remnants of our playmates friends to ash. When I look back
at Ferrite, he's setting up this canister in the middle of the
room. A thick cable runs from it to one of his pockets.
"You done?" he asks as I'm about to toast the last of the
goons.
"Yeah, that's it," I when the last one is burned away. Why
can't these guys be neat as youmas?
"I hope you're not psi-sensitive," he says as he throws a
switch. BUZZZOT! The container emits a loud hum for a second or
two like an electrical transformer. "That'll wipe any psionic
traces left by us," he says as he disconnects the cable and puts
the canister back in his pocket. "Just don't get mad, or scared,
or any other strong emotion for that matter or I'll have to do
that again." My, my, my, How convenient that he has a psychic
impression eraser. Ferrite certainly wants to make sure that no
one knows he's been here. He's more prepared than a boy scout
convention.
"That just leaves our little friend there," I say indicating
Naru, who just sat there watching us as she holds her bag to
herself muttering.
"Yeah," Ferrite agrees, "we've just got to convince her to come
quietly with us."
"How do we do that? Do you want to try and throw her over your
shoulder the way that fool did?"
"I've got an idea," he says. When he steps forward, his
trenchcoat and fedora fade into a military long coat over a blue
uniform like one of Beryl's Generals. "Naru?" He says as he goes
to her side, "It's me Ferrite. I need your help again."
"Ferrite? It's you!" She says her voice filled with excited
recognition. Suddenly, she looks around apprehensively clutching
the bag to her chest, "If you're here, then so are the shadows!"
As her eyes dart to the dim corners of the room, the air starts
to stir. "Shadows all around me . . . pulling at me . . . "
Ferrite's clothing fades back into his black coat and grey hat.
"Naru, it's okay, Ferrite is gone. It's me Trenchcoat-mask."
Trenchcoat-mask, what kind of goofy name is that?
"Quiet you!" Ferrite snaps at me. Damn, I was thinking out
loud again. "Remember?" He asks Naru gently, "I took you to
your mother the night Nephrite . . . "
"Nephrite?" She looks around confused, "Nephrite! Don't leave
me." She calls out for the dead General. Her call unanswered,
she buries her face in her trash bag and cries. "I couldn't save
him," she sobs, "couldn't save Umino . . . "
Ferrite steps back to me and murmurs, "I've read your story,
Magnesite. You can reshape yourself to look like Nephrite. If
you do, we might get her to go along with us."
"Me? You want me to become the focus of attentions of a
nutcase that can squash me like a bug? No thank you. You've got
a disguise pen, you do it."
"Hell no! She might see around it. I taught her the technique
to do that and now would be a rotten time for her to suddenly
remember it." He pauses and looks up for a moment. I feel a
sensor wave pass over us and I bet he felt it too. "Quit arguing
and do it!" He orders, "It's the only thing we have left."
"All right, I'll do it but it will cost you extra." I figure I
can always teleport away if she goes psycho on me again but I
might squeeze a bonus out of the situation.
"Damn it you greedy bastard!" He exclaims, "Just do it! We'll
discuss whether or not you deserve a bonus afterwards.
Narrating out loud again, blast it! I've really got to
watch that. Naru still has her face buried in her bundle so she
can't see as I concentrate and reshape the psychoplasm my "body"
is made of to look like Nephrite.
"Well?" I ask Ferrite.
"Ditch the fedora," he advises.
"Right," I say and absorb the headgear that is actually part of
my being. When I've done that he nods and says, "make the voice
lower, more gravelly too. She knows how he sounds."
"Like this?" I ask in Nephrite's raspy voice.
"Nephrite?" Naru looks up at the sound of my voice.
"Yes, Naru, It's me," I say.
"Nephrite . . . " she whispers stumbling to her feet.
"Nephrite! She cries joyfully throwing her arms around me, "Oh,
Nephrite, you've come back."
"Naru, will you come with me?" I ask.
"Anywhere, Nephrite, anywhere." She says nuzzling my
shirtfront. I look down and she gazes up at me and I notice how
bright green her eyes are despite the dirt. She sighs
contentedly and says, "I love you." I gulp uncomfortably.
"Come on, let's get out of here," Ferrite urges as we hear the
wail of sirens, "they're coming."
"Yeah," I agree curtly and teleport us back to my office.
After we reappear, Ferrite looks around and listens
apprehensively for a moment before he relaxes. We made it out
intact and we found who he was looking for. Naru clings
affectionately to me like she never wants to let go. I don't
know what we're going to do now, though. I certainly can't go
out with Naru hanging onto me this way. Ferrite suddenly
wrinkles his nose and sniffs distastefully. "Say Magnesite," he
says, "does your washroom have a shower?"
"Yeah, but it hasn't been used since I moved in here."
"Well now might be a good time to try it out," he says and
then asks the warm bundle pressing herself against me, "Naru?"
She looks at him and sighs contentedly again. "Do you still have
your pretty dress?" He asks. She nods vigorously like a child
who is eager to please. "Could you show it to us?" Wordlessly
she reaches into her filthy bundle of rags and roots around.
After a moment she pulls out a violet and white sailor fuku and
holds it up triumphantly. "I didn't want it to get dirty," she
explains. "Naru, why don't you clean up?" He suggests gently,
"you can wear your pretty dress for Nephrite. He's never seen
you in it right?" "Okay," she agrees brightly and then turns to
me. "You'd like that, right Nephrite?" I merely nod and she
skips merrily into the washroom. After a minute or two, we hear
the water start running.
"Okay," Ferrite says when he hears her step into the shower
and starts singing, "we can't head to the airport now. If those
goons don't spot us then Crystal Tokyo Internal Security will.
After all the damage we did, they'll be on the lookout for
anybody suspicious, including me. So here's what we'll do: We
wait until nightfall and head for the docks. I've got some
friends in low places who can get me out of Tokyo quietly if I
can contact them." He pulls out a pocket watch and glances at
it. "I've just got to go out in about an hour to place a call."
I point over to the phone and he says, "It's not that kind of
call."
"In the meantime," I say leading up to a little point I
inadvertently mentioned, "let's talk bonuses."
"What do you mean?" He asks.
"I mean that I signed up to find a missing person and I wind up
in a war. I've used up substantial reserves of energy as a
result and I deserve compensation."
"Compensation? You mean as in another feeding?"
"You read my mind."
"Un uh," he shakes his head, "I don't want to risk weakening
myself until just before I leave and I don't know if I'll be
coming back so a feeding is out of the question. How about
something else?"
"Other than life energy? No, I don't need material things.
I've got enough yen in the bank to cover my rent for centuries.
It's make with the life ergs or our association ends now."
"Oh yeah?" he says reaching casually into his pocket. I tense
for a second, thinking he might be pulling a weapon but instead
he takes a black, silk bag out of his pocket. "I think I can
tempt you," he says confidently. Undoing the drawstring he
slides a small black statuette of a falcon out and sets it down
before me.
"Is that what I think it is?" I ask.
He puts a large manilla envelope in my hand and says, "see
for yourself." Inside it are certificates of authenticity on
molecular lock paper that's impossible to forge. I riffle
through them and they all say the same thing. The hunk of lead
he's placed before me is the real McCoy. "The real Maltese
Falcon," I breathe reverently. It's the actual one from the
movie. My idol touched this . . . this . . . holy relic. It
even the one that has the scratches on it. My eyes start to take
on that look Bogie had when they found gold in "Treasure of the
Sierra Madre." Then I shake my head in disbelief. This can't
be. "Wait a minute," I say, "You expect me to believe you just
happened to be carrying this around in your pocket?"
"I thought I might have to buy your silence," he says, "Looks
like I was right. So is this acceptable payment?"
Engrossed in looking at the stuff dreams are made of I say
absently, "sold."
"Where's da' towels?" Naru says, and we start from looking
at the falcon. She stands there in the open doorway to the
washroom. Water beads and runs down her smooth skin to the
floor. She's naked but is unconcerned about it just as a child
would be. For a moment both Ferrite and I sit there gaping at
her nymphish beauty. I don't know how she turned out so well
considering how malnourished she must be but she's got a
gorgeous, athletic body with trim but full curves. Even her
kinky, reddish brown hair, matted though it is, looks great
slicked down the back of her neck.
Ferrite hurriedly pulls a bath towel out of his pocket and
throws it around her. "Er, let's get you into some clothes,
Naru, and do something about your hair." He takes her arm and
gently leads her back inside the washroom. As he's about to shut
the door, he fixes me with a glare and jabs a warning finger at
me. "Not one word from you," he says threateningly. I just pour
myself a shot of whiskey and smile. The amusement value of this
case alone has been worth the cost.
While they're in there, I revert to my normal form. Though
I'm psychoplasm, my shape really doesn't matter much but whenever
I'm in someone else's shape I start to feel . . . I don't know
. . . "itchy." It's good to be in my familiar body. Not
knowing what else to do I pace back and forth thinking. I hear a
blow dryer start up in the washroom and I can't help but smile.
He's even got that in his pockets?
After a while, the washroom door opens to let Ferrite and
Naru step out. He must have been a barber in one of his past
lives because Naru's hair has been cut shoulder length and
professionally styled. She's no longer wearing her stained
running suit nor that sailor's fuku but a long black dress
decorated with black lace. The funeral was a thousand years ago
and she's still wearing mourning clothes. She just stands there
vulnerable and confused for a moment before she asks forlornly,
"Where's Nephrite?"
"He had to step out kid," I say as she looks around the
office anxiously. I've got to do something to distract her or
else things could get messy. Then, I get a brilliant idea. "But
he told me to give you this," I say taking a teddy bear dressed
in a trenchcoat and fedora off my filing cabinet and handing it
to her.
Ferrite gives me a funny look when I produce the teddy bear
but the girl looks quite taken with it. Seems Titanite did me an
inadvertent favor. He's still looking from it to me and seems
amused.
"Just don't even ask, okay?" Before he can agree, I get a
certain tingle which means there's a Senshi in the neighborhood.
I know this particular aura far too well. "Damn! Rei's heading
this way. I'd say she'll be here in a minute!" No time to hide
the girl and I don't have enough juice to teleport us out of
here. "Still got that disguise pen?"
Forty-five seconds later Rei barges in on me and my client.
She takes in the dowdy, late forties woman cradling the cat and
dismisses her as a cuckolded wife. The way she looks it's no
wonder her husband's looking elsewhere.
I've learned the trick is to keep Rei angry enough that she
doesn't think straight but not angry enough to barbecue me. It's
a very thin line. "You're looking particularly frosty today. Do
immortals get P.M.S.?"
She doesn't answer the question. Just looks at me and asks,
"Why is it when I heard the phrase, 'massive property damage in
the warehouse district, cause unknown' I immediately thought of
you Magnesite?"
"You're intensely paranoid and don't get out enough?"
She doesn't laugh.
"Somebody blew holes in quite a few buildings not half an
hour ago. Something tells me you were mixed up in it."
"Really? Perhaps you should check what's burning in that
sacred fire of yours. It seems to be causing hallucinations."
She's bluffing; We took care to clean the site. When the girl
blew away that last batch she must have fried their self
destructs. Luckily there wasn't much organic matter left so I
was able to burn it away. That on top of psibombing the area to
screw up the latents, becoming Nephrite and teleporting all three
of us back here took its toll. "I'm flattered you think I'm
capable but we both know I've been running on low power for the
past few centuries."
She tries to see through my facade to assess my true power
level but all she gets is confirmation. That's because I've
nothing to hide. Repairing myself and all the other little
tricks I've done lately have just about tapped out my reserves.
Her scowl deepens.
"Teddy!" We both turn to my supposed client, Rei's
surprised at the interruption, I'm trying to stay calm. That was
the girl's voice! She'd been staying quiet and currently looks
like a cat so I thought we'd pull this off.
Ferrite to the rescue. "She" clamps a hand over the cat's
mouth and in a good imitation of the voice starts and angry
tirade. "Teddy! The SOB I married! You're supposed to helping
me find his floozy so I can take him for every penny he's got! I
don't even want him to have a change of underwear!"
"I'll be right with you Ma'am. If there's nothing else Rei,
I do have a client." She glares but she's got no proof and I've
made no slips. Instead she just snaps her fingers.
A flunky walks in. I think he's just along to carry the
bulging briefcase. "Well Magnesite since you're such a good
citizen and had nothing to do with the warehouse incident I'm
sure you'll be glad to sign these affidavits. They just state
you're not connected." She gives me a smile. "Knowing your
fondness for antiques I had them run off on hardcopy."
The grunt upends the case and buries my desk in paper. How
many trees died for this? I turn one over and wonder if I'll be
able to read the printing without a microscope.
Rei turns to go. "Read through them and sign in the places
indicated. You've got twelve hours."
Frigging bitch.
"Watch it!"
With that she strides off. Now did I say that out loud or
just think it? Around Rei it's tricky to be sure.
After her footsteps recede down the hallway, the dowdy
"woman" gets up quickly and holds a finger to "her" lips.
Reaching into his pocket, Ferrite pulls a hand-held magi-sci
listening device scanner out and waves it over the pile of
papers. A few lights on it flicker as he plays it over the
papers just deposited on my desk by Rei's flunky. He stops it
over one in particular when all the lights on the scanner turn
red. He holds it up before my office light and I can faintly
make out a circuit in the paper.
Rei! That slimy, old, dried-up . . . Ferrite places his
hand over my mouth and his lips silently says "No" amongst other
derogatory things and I realize I'm talking out loud again.
"Scuze me Ma'am," I say carefully, "Let me file some of these
papers properly." I take the bugged document and drop it in the
metal trash can. "The real heart of the matter is that you have
a husband who . . . " I start talking normally but then I let my
voice trail off so that whoever is on the other end of the line
should be listening closely with the volume turned all the way
up. Blang! Blang! Blang! I whack the side of the metal can so
that it rings loudly. In a couple of quick strides I'm across
the office and in the washroom. I crumple the paper up and drop
it in the toilet. "You know ma'am," I say aloud, "a lot of
people call me a real sewer-mouth." With that, I flush the
toilet and figuratively send Rei on a little trip. Bon-voyage
Senshi Mars. Heh, my job satisfaction just went up a couple more
notches.
When I turn back to the office, Ferrite has dropped his
disguise and is just completing a sweep of the room with his
scanner. "That's the only one," he says putting away the device.
"Well, that confirms Rei is suspicious of you."
"Welcome to my world," I say with a Bogey sneer, "Rei's
always suspicious of me."
"Then I'd better arrange transport out of here as fast as I
can. I can't let them get their hands on her," he says
determinedly. I'm about to ask whether he means the men in black
or the rulers of Crystal Tokyo but I think better of it. He
probably means both. We both look at Naru and she's curled up on
the couch clutching the teddybear. She appears to be the picture
of innocence. She arranges the teddy's fedora at a rakish angle
and smiles.
Then, Ferrite does the oddest thing, he takes an ocular on
the end of a wire and looks Naru over. I look closely at the
thing he's got and I recognize it as a video recorder. A very
expensive one from the look of it. Without explanation, he puts
it away and turns to me.
"You watch her for a while," he says, "I'm going out to
make that phone call. It may take some time, so don't move until
I get back." Waving his disguise pen over his head, he
reinstates his cuckolded wife get up and opens the door. "You
find that floozy Teddy's shacking up with and get plenty of
pictures," Ferrite screeches in his "shrew from hell" voice,
"I'll show that two-timing bastard he can't cheat on me and get
away with it!" With that he slams the door and stomps off as if
he weighed five hundred pounds.
So Ferrite's off on his errand which means I'm stuck here
babysitting. Least she's quiet enough, a few minutes after he's
left she drapes herself over the couch and dozes off. Still
clutching that damned teddybear. Who'd have thought that thing
would ever come in useful? Course the way my luck's been running
I'll bet Rei ducks back here before we can hide her again. Why
Ferrite's so adamant Mars not find out about her, I still don't
know. Hell, why not work through her and do this search
officially instead of dealing with a shady operator like me?
Makes me wonder what he's got in mind for the girl. Not that
care what happens to her. I'm no Renegade! It's just . . .
the principle of the thing. That's all. Nothing more to it.
Rei dropped off a large pile of forms I'm supposed to fill
out. All of which state I had nothing to do with the recent
property damage. So I'm looking at perjury if this mess ever
comes to light. I'll bet she made them this complicated on
purpose. She'll be back to pick them up in the morning so I'd
better keep reading and find out exactly what I'm letting myself
in for. No saying what she's stuck in the fine print.
But I can't concentrate, I keep looking over to the girl.
Girl? She was born in the 20th century! She's not much younger
than me. In many ways she's older because I was in suspension
for centuries. It's getting boring just watching her sleep and
I'm beginning to feel a very primal urge.
Hunger.
I've used up more energy today than I normally would in a
month. All those special effects cost power. I can taste her
life force from across the room and it's tantalizing.
She's asleep and Ferrite didn't say hands off. With her
state of mind she'll never notice. All I want is enough to take
the edge off my appetite.
I cross the room quietly and lay a hand on her shoulder. No
sign of defenses, here we go.
Sweet Marlowe! I've never tasted anything like this before.
I've become a connoisseur of life force over the decades and this
is incredible. Pure and unstained. Most of my clients are
embittered spouses and that gives their energy a bitter taste.
This is simply delicious. Like candy. It's almost as if she
really never grew up.
It's an effort to disengage. I might try to suck her dry if
I keep in contact and I don't need the Senshi hunting me as a
vampire. Besides I have the funny feeling that would be as
lethal as trying to drink all the water in a lake. Almost as
though she's a bottomless reservoir of power. No wonder Nephrite
was so fixated on her.
"Do you know that you have a couple of Crystal Tokyo's
finest camped out on your . . . " Ferrite's voice comes from
behind me. I whirl around and see him standing there disguised
as a window washer just inside my open window. For a moment, his
eyes travel back and forth between me and Naru taking in the
situation.
In an eye-blink he's on top of me, his face a mask of rage.
He's so furious his disguise magic breaks and the window washer
get up dissolves back into his black trenchcoat. He jacks me up
against the wall one handed and produces this oversized six-gun
out of nowhere and sticks it in my face. Normally I'd sneer at
such a weapon, all it'd do is just make a hole I'd have to fill
in later but this gun is different.
There was a youma in the Dark Kingdom by the name of
Silicate who had a gun just like that. Rumor has it he got it
off a general (little "g") from Beryl's human army that got
banished with the rest of them. He was able to use it to obtain
his position in Beryl's forces because that pistol could kill any
youma he shot with it no matter how strong their defenses. The
little punk didn't have half the power I did and he managed to
maneuver himself to just below Zoicite in rank. Then one day, an
underling of his did a tally of all the opponents Silicate put
away with that thing. Six can be an unlucky number if that's all
the iron bolts you have. Too bad that element is almost
nonexistent in the Dark Kingdom. I don't think Ferrite has any
problem getting it here, though.
"Listen here, youma," Ferrite spits at me, "you so much as
touch her again and I'll blow you away." He prods me in the nose
with that big-ass pistol and says, "that rail gun I loaned you in
the fight was just a toy compared to this. The only that keeps
me from reducing you to burning powder right now is I might need
you to get out of the city. If I think for a second that you'll
hurt her again, I'll blast you. Got it?" I nod slowly. He puts
me down but still holds the lapels of my trenchcoat. "And one
more thing," he says in a no-nonsense tone like a police captain
straight out of a Bogey film, "This thing is soul bonded to me so
it'll follow me to the next incarnation. If you betray me, or
even kill me . . . I'll come back, and I'll have this, and I'll
be pissed." He releases me with a slight shove and I thump up
against the wall. "Do we understand one another?" He asks
jamming the gun back under his coat. Straightening my
trenchcoat, I pull a cigarette out of my pocket and light it.
Pausing to inhale, I let Ferrite simmer just a little bit before
I exhale the smoke coolly and say, "Perfectly."
He goes over to Naru and places a hand on her brow and then
gently checks her pulse. Satisfied that I've done no lasting
damage, he turns to me and says, "I contacted my friends and they
can pick us up at midnight on pier seventeen. We've just got to
be there on time and they'll get us out. When the boat arrives,
you get paid and not a moment before. Got it?"
I expect him to repeat his threat but he doesn't bother.
"Yeah, I got it," I say with the cigarette dangling from my lips.
"The trouble is, getting out of this office without alerting the
cops. If I know Rei, she's probably got a teleport trace up so
they'd be able to follow us. Heck, she might have convinced
Serenity to do a teleport reroute so if we tried it we'd wind up
in the dungeon."
"Rei is that paranoid?"
"This is the first big thing to happen in Crystal Tokyo in
centuries. She's eager to justify her existence. What about
your disguise pen?"
"Those fine officers I spotted on my way out were setting up
what looked like some sort of detector in their crysticar. I
moved away just as they were finishing. No, I think they'd
detect disguise magic. You probably have a unique sensor
signature that stands out too. I don't think we can sneak out
downstairs without them finding us."
"So we can't walk out, can't teleport out, what can we do then,
fly?" As soon as I say that, we both look over at the sleeping
Naru. "Hm . . . " we say in unison.
The view of the nighttime Crystal Tokyo skyline is gorgeous.
The crystal and glass buildings throw the light around like a
chandelier or a diamond necklace on a beautiful woman. (It's
really hard to keep my attitude when the whole city is a work of
art.) The three of us stand on the roof of my building and the
wind tugs at our clothes. Naru stares off into the distance, a
majestic black outline against the light.
"Okay," Ferrite takes me aside and says, "if we can get to
any of the surrounding buildings we'll be outside of their
detector range. It's too bad this one is surrounded by so many
shorter ones or else I'd just jump. The drop is too far for me
to leap to the lower ones and too far to make it across to the
ones on our level."
"What? You don't have a hang glider in those pockets of
yours?"
Ferrite smacks his head and pulls out a little note pad.
"Hang . . . glider," he writes and puts it away again. "I tried
a flight pack but the engineers couldn't reduce the size of the
turbojet enough. Anyway, if Naru can fly us over to that
building there, we can get to street level without being seen.
We can then make our way through the shopping district to the
docks. Once there, we just wait for our ride."
"And I get paid," I remind him.
"And you get paid," he says.
Hey, a guy's gotta eat and I'm getting hungry again.
"Naru," Ferrite says to the girl enraptured by the city
lights. She looks up at him curiously. "Could you please change
back to your pretty dress for us? We'd really like to see you
wearing it now that your hair is done up so nice." "Well . . . "
she hesitates. "Oh please," Ferrite pleads. He nudges me with
his elbow and I say, "pretty, please?" "Okay," she says, "but
you'll have to turn around while I change." Strange she would
get modest now. We turn around and behind us she says, "Nemesis
. . . Power . . . Makeup!" I start to look back at her but
Ferrite pushes my hat down over my eyes. "No peeking," he
hisses.
A flash of violet light and a rush of wind later we turn
around to behold Sailor Nemesis. Naru stands there, the wind
whipping her hair back from her face legs stanced shoulder width
apart, arms akimbo. She's got on the standard senshi white and
blue sailor's fuku. Her skirt and sleeves are purple, though,
and she has knee length purple and white boots. Now that I see
her this way, I'll admit she'd give Jupiter a run for her money
in the talent department.
"Lovely, Naru, lovely," Ferrite applauds.
"I yam Saila' Nemesis," Naru recites her speech, "pursuer of
evil. And on behalf' a da' planet Nemesis, I will punish ya'!"
Who writes this stuff? "Very scary, kid," I say. Actually,
standing there with the lights around her she is somewhat awesome
in her power.
"Could you fly for us, Nemesis?" Ferrite asks. "You look
so pretty when you fly." "Well I don't know . . . we're awfully
high," she looks apprehensively down at the street below.
"It'll be okay," he coaxes, "we'll be with you all the way.
Just take our hands and fly." The illogic of it being easier to
fly with us weighing her down seems to go right over Naru's head
because she says, "Okay."
We all stand on the edge of the roof and Naru takes Ferrite
and my outstretched hands. Staring straight ahead, she starts to
rise, lifting us both with her. Like a ballerina, she pirouettes
with us in the air and laughs joyously. "Hey," Ferrite says
playfully to her, "I'll bet you can't take us over to that roof
there." "Hah! That's easy," Naru says. She leans forward and
we take off over the rooftops of crystal Tokyo. The city is
spread out below us like a tray of diamonds. Searchlights play
back and forth across the sky in celebration of nothing in
particular showing the world what a grand utopia the city is.
"Yike!" Naru squeals as one of those lights plays across us.
"I can't see!" She yells in a panic, "Umino! Watch out for that
truck! Oh, God! Umino! Help me!" Then we start to plummet as
she reverts to her normal self and wraps herself around me. We
tumble and I lose track of Ferrite as we plunge end over end to
the street below. All I can think about is the girl who clutches
desperately at me and shrieks in terror.
If I try and teleport with her, we'll have the same kinetic
energy when we reappear and she'll be smashed. Before I can
think of anything, a hand grabs my coat collar and Ferrite
shouts, "Hold her tight!" I hear a loud "Flumph" and the iron
grip on my collar is tested as our fall is arrested. Holding
onto Naru, I note that it's a good thing I'm psycho plasm
otherwise my collar would be strangling me. I look up and
almost laugh. Ferrite is suspended above us by that goofy
umbrella that he's always carrying. Only this time it's opened
as large as a parachute, stopping our fall.
He leans a bit and steers us over to the top of one of the
lower buildings and we float gently down to the rooftop. For a
moment, I just stand there cradling Naru in my arms. She
whimpers, curled up in a fetal position hugging me tightly. Not
knowing what else to do, I rock her gently and try to quiet her.
Where is Ferrite? He just sets us down and walks off. This
comforting stuff is so unyouma-like it almost turns my stomach.
Still I can't think of anything else to do so I just stand there
holding her.
"Here," Ferrite says handing the teddy bear to Naru, "you
dropped him Naru. I think he's scared and could use a hug."
"Okay," she sniffles and hugs the bear. She starts to unfold as
she "comforts" the bear. In a moment, she seems to be okay and I
set her on her feet again. She just stands there, rocking and
murmuring to the bear.
"I'm surprised, Magnesite," Ferrite says as he surveys the
rooftop for signs we were detected. "I expected you to abandon
us when that happened."
"If I teleport I take whatever speed I have with me. I didn't
have any other choice but to hold on and hope that she would
change back."
"But couldn't you have just changed into a bird or a parachute
or something?"
I slap my head for not thinking of that. Taking out a
notebook I keep of shapes to experiment with I write down,
"hang . . . glider."
The roof door is unlocked and we just take the stairs down
to the ground floor. We don't even see so much as a security
camera on our way out. Pah, these citizens of Crystal Tokyo are
just too complacent in their safety. They've never had to deal
with the dark denizens of the shadows the way I have. (Okay, so
that's a bit melodramatic but it's my own personal idiom.) Since
the C.T.P.D. is looking for people using disguise magic we decide
to hide in plain sight and just walk down the street in our
normal forms. Ferrite is in his black trenchcoat and grey
fedora, I in my tan and brown and Naru walks between us in her
black dress holding a teddy bear. Somehow, normal is not the
word.
We're walking through the shopping district when I notice
the tail we've picked up. Two dark types in sunglasses cruising
along in a long, black crysticar. "Hey, Ferrite," I mutter, "you
see our tail." "Yeah," he says, "I just noticed the two jokers
on the opposite side of the street a moment ago." "On foot?" I
ask, "Aw for the love of Marlowe I was talking about the ones in
the car."
"Great," he sighs, "just great." Ferrite leans closer and
whispers, "We've got to lose them. I don't want to risk another
fight with Naru around. There's no telling if we can get her to
come along quietly again and a battle might make her paranoid."
We keep walking looking for something to help us escape. Hoping
to lose them in the evening shoppers, We turn the corner onto the
main drag but the crowds are quite sparse tonight.
"You two wait here, I'll draw them off," Ferrite says
suddenly pushing us back into the entrance to a mini-mall. Hey
I'm not one to play hero, I'm not a Renegade after all, but I'm
about to ask why him when Ferrite pulls a hologram projector out
of his pocket. Holography is the big thing in techno-
entertainment in the outside world. The trouble is, it takes
gobs of computer power and a lot of electricity just to get a
decent picture. Even the military stuff that I've read about in
Senshi of Fortune magazine is kind'a grainy. Ferrite clips the
projector to his collar and then rummages around in his pocket
for a second before he draws out a cable and connects the end to
a socket in the projector.
When he throws a switch, images of Naru and myself appear
next to him. The doubles are nearly perfect and Naru claps her
hands in childish delight. The Naru simulation blinks and waves
in response. What the? ...stimulus recognition and visual
feedback? A rig to make images as good as these would fill a
small building. How much crap can Ferrite fit in those pockets?
Another thing too, I remember when he took pictures of her
earlier, but when did he get my image? Then I notice the style
of the hat that my double is wearing is slightly different and he
has a bit more five o'clock shadow than I effect. "Treasure of
the Sierra Madre?" I ask. Ferrite glances up from setting the
projector and says, "I liked Bogey better in that one, he was
more real, more . . . human." I'm about to comment on the
danger of reading too much into movies when he says, "Stay in the
area until I come back. Be on the lookout for Lauren."
Before I can ask him what he meant by that, or how I'm going
to get paid if he's killed, he steps back out on the nearly
deserted street and hurries away. The images accompany him
looking very nervously over their simulated shoulders. Almost
immediately, I hear the hum of a crysticar's engine start up.
Gently pushing Naru into the slight shadow in the corner of the
entrance, I turn my back to the street and wrap my arms around
myself placing one hand on my shoulder the other on my side. For
good measure I turn my coat light blue and absorb the fedora. To
the casual observer we look like a couple making out. Most
people will look for a moment at scenes like that then turn away
either in embarrassment or disgust.
This puts me in the decidedly uncomfortable position of
being face to face with Naru as she looks up at me innocently.
This close to her, I feel the sweetness of her aura. Her green
eyes stare up at me in curiosity as I pretend to be kissing her.
Since Ferrite cleaned her up, she's really quite pretty.
The heavy tread of two palookas like the ones that fought us
earlier intrudes on our little world. Darkness! I wish I'd
asked Ferrite to let me have a rail gun again before he left.
I'm still low on energy despite my little feed on Naru and I
don't think I could handle those characters again. Given our
little tiff earlier, though, I doubt he would have given me one
anyway. I hear one of the gorillas stop for a second behind me
and I brace for attack. Naru, reaches up and touches my face
with her fingers and chuckles at my antics. Where her fingers
brush my lips, I feel electricity.
With a grunt of disgust, I hear the goon stomp off. I
breathe a sigh of relief even though I don't need to breathe
being psychoplasm. Glancing back over my shoulder, I see them
hurrying after Ferrite and our doubles. When I look back at
Naru, she's staring very intently at something in the mini-mall
but suddenly she looks up at me wistfully.
"Ya' know, right downtown . . . " she begins.
"Huh?" I ask not sure what she wants.
"...there's a cafe where they serve a delicious chocolate
parfait."
"Chocolate parfait?" I ask. Where did that come from?
"Yes, do you like it?"
Humoring a schizophrenic capable of laying waste to whole
sections of the city generally being a wise thing I say, "Uh, yes
I do."
She chuckles ironically and chides, "You're lying."
A nervous, "huh" escapes my lips. I hesitate to say
anything because I'm reminded of how she pulverized ten of those
goons because they tried to take her "pretty dress." There's no
telling what she might do if I admit to having different taste in
food. Even if I still ate food.
"Heh, But you're only lying because you want to be nice to me,"
she says with a slight smile. It's almost as if I'm not even
here; like she's replaying some memory from her past. She looks
back in the window and says, "I wish we could have a chocolate
parfait together. It's been a secret dream I've had ever since I
met you but I guess it will never happen, huh?"
I look inside and see that she's looking at a little place
in the mall called the "Moon Princess Ice-cream shop." Anywhere
is better than being exposed out here on the street like this so
I say, "Why not? Let's do it!"
"Really?" She asks, tears of joy forming in her eyes. "Oh!"
Just to be certain she doesn't think I'm trying to double-cross
her I ask, "Do you think I'm lying?"
"Un uh!" she says, "I'm just happy." She cocks her head at an
odd angle and asks, "Tell me, do you have any holidays in that
evil kingdom of yours?"
The absurdity of her question strikes me as hilarious.
Here, this madwoman is asking me, the solidified psychoplasm
ghost, whether or not there are any days of celebration in a
kingdom based on assassination and ruthless exploitation. I do
something I haven't done in centuries. I laugh.
"Heh, heh," she laughs with me, "Magnesite, you're laughing.
You're actually laughing." She chuckles for a moment and I
suddenly start to hear sobs mixed in with here laugher. "Hey,
it's funny, I'm laughing and *crying* too."
I put my arm around her and lead her inside to the shop, her
aura is so pure that I have a hard time restraining my impulse to
feed but I don't want to take advantage of her. Then I shake my
head at the un-youma like thought and tell myself that I'm just
honoring my agreement with Ferrite to take care of her lest he
blast me. Yeah that's it.
The interior of the shop is decorated like the palace of
Crystal Tokyo . . . as imagined by a fourteen-year-old.
Everything is covered in gold glitter and encrusted with huge,
gaudy plastic gems in a rainbow of tasteless colors. The chairs
are pink plush vinyl that looks like thrones. In the background,
Moonlight Densetsu plays with relentless monotony. That which
isn't shiny and glittery is light pink. I look around and
mutter, "I'm in hell."
We sit down and the waitress dressed in a senshi-fuku styled
uniform comes over looking curiously at Naru who's quieter now
but still sniffles into a napkin. When I order a couple of
chocolate parfaits, though, Naru blows her nose and smiles
slightly at me. The waitress enters it in her keypad and steps
back to the counter. Before I can even think of saying anything
about the service, she's back again with our order. Smiling
brightly, she puts them neatly before us and hopes that we enjoy
our desserts. That's one of the things I hate about Crystal
Tokyo, there are no surly waitresses, no dirty greasy-spoons, no
rat infested tenements, no . . . how am I supposed to maintain
the proper attitude when everything so . . . so nice? I'm
working myself up over how clean and neat everything is, (hey,
you've got to find something to be bitter about) when Naru puts a
spoonful of the chocolate parfait under my nose.
"Open wide," she says affectionately.
Baffled by her action, I open my mouth and she feeds me. I
feel the smooth creamy chocolate ice cream slide down my throat.
The sticky sweet dessert has a silky taste to it that is almost
decadent. There was nothing this delicious in the Dark Kingdom
and she is offering it to me.
Or at least I imagine that's what it tastes like. Actually,
I can't taste anything at all since I'm composed of psycoplasm.
It's hard for me to even register its temperature or texture, but
I eat of it because she feeds it to me. Slowly, spoonful by
spoonful, I consume the desert until it is all gone. She sets
the spoon in the empty dish and gazes at me with a strange look
in her eyes. A tear rolls down on cheek as she leans forward
across the table. "Thank you," she whispers, "thank you for
making my dream come true."
The breath of her words brushes across my face and she
kisses me. The feeling is overwhelming as her lips meet mine.
My little earlier stolen connection was nothing compared to this.
Her willing affection slams into me like a tidal wave. It's like
mainlining a power station. A flood of heat suffuses my being
and I'm filled with light and energy. She's sweet and innocent,
and pure, and giving, and all of her is for me alone. It's like
the greatest screen kiss in every Bogey film all rolled into one.
I see lights flash and hear thunder roll. The very earth moves
for me. I'm so overwhelmed that I just sit there for a moment,
stunned. I blink and she's sitting there across from me, her
chin resting in her hands, smiling happily at me. When did she
stop? What's happening? Not sure of what to do, I just sit
there for a moment. Then, noticing the dish in front of me, I
dip my spoon into the chocolate parfait and start to feed her.
As I'm giving her the last spoonful, Ferrite walks in the
door. Or I should say, Lauren Becall from Key Largo walks in the
door. Ferrite must have been practicing because no disguise
spell gives you a walk like that. She/he fairly smolders as
she/he slinks across the room. Noticing that I'm taking good
care of Naru, "she" graces me with a warm smile. If I were a
normal man, I melt at the warmth of that smile. When "Lauren"
gets closer, I see that "she" is slightly smoldering for real.
"What happened to you?" I ask as "she" pulls up a chair and
sits next to us crossing his gorgeous gams.
"What?" he asks in a fairly good imitation of Lauren's throaty
contralto, "didn't you see the flashes or hear the explosions?"
At that moment the wailing sirens of emergency vehicles
racing to the scene can be heard outside, and I can see the
cheery glow of something burning vigorously reflected in the
store windows. A crowd of people is clustered at the entrance to
the mini-mall gasping and pointing in horror.
"What happened to our little fan club?" I ask.
"Well," "she" says throatily and leaning provocatively on the
table, "you know what happens when you keep a lady waiting, don't
you?"
"No, I don't," I say stunned by the performance.
"She" playfully swirls her finger across the surface of the
table displaying a perfectly manicured nail and says, "You give
her time to assemble an Iron Arms mark V, man-portable, plasma
projector gun."
"I see . . . "
"Don't you think it's time we were on our way?" "Lauren" asks
in a sultry tone.
"Sure," I answer slowly, "on one condition."
"Oh, what did you have in mind?" "She" leans closer and
whispers.
"That you change back, you're scaring me."
Ferrite's Lauren Becall disguise pouts sexily as "she" says,
"Maggie, I thought you of all people would appreciate this
performance. Here I am drawing on experience from several actor
incarnations and you don't like it." "She" gets up and slaps me,
hard. "That'll teach me to hang out with an uncultured, lowlife,
hoodlum like you!" "She" exclaims loudly and stalks off to the
restrooms. Now I'm really scared, I'm teamed up with *two*
powerful nutcases. The other patrons don't even notice, though,
being absorbed with watching the Crystal Tokyo Fire Department
battle the blaze. The things a youma's gotta' do to earn a
living.
Ferrite's back in a moment, sans disguise and walks up to us
again. "Ready to go?" He asks. This time he's disguised in a
bit more nondescript way in one of those Crystal Tokyo tunics
that's so popular now. I hate that modern clothing, no style, or
pleats or collars, no useless things to jazz it up. New
aesthetics, bah! (I make a note to myself to remember the "new
aesthetics" as something to be cynical about.) "Sorry about
'Lauren'," he says embarrassed, "I was letting one of my actor
incarnations drive and got a little carried away."
"You were an actress in a past life?"
"Actor! Act-or!" he adds emphatically, "one thing that is
consistent in my previous incarnations is that I've always been a
man. That particular one was alive in England when young men
typically played the female roles. To have a woman on stage was
unheard of back then. I even worked for the great bard
Shakespeare himself. In "Taming of the Shrew" I was brilliant.
But it didn't last. In "Merchant of Venice" he threw me over for
a younger man with better legs.
"Oh, the injustice."
"Tell me about it, My legs were fabulous."
We pay on the way out and are headed toward the exit to the
mini-mall when I get my old familiar tingle again. "Aw, no," I
say aloud, "Rei's around." The tingle grows stronger and I say,
"and she's headed this way." "She can probably detect you,"
Ferrite says, "Take care of her and catch up with us later. If
you can't, then meet us at pier seventeen." Ferrite then turns
away and leads Naru down the mall. I'm about to object but one
of the strange things about humans is that certain ones keep
their promises. From what I've heard, Ferrite is one of them.
I'm watching them retreat down the mall when Rei suddenly rounds
the corner. Using that senshi speed of hers, she's next to me
almost instantly. I wonder how she can run so fast in those high
heels of hers.
"Magneisite, fancy meeting you here," she says
sarcastically, "You disappear from your office and I get a call
about massive fire and destruction. Imagine my surprise when I
find you in the area."
I turn to her coolly even though I'm about to jump out of my
skin. The nice thing about Crystal Tokyo is that it's been so
long since anyone used tobacco there are no no-smoking ordinances
so I light up to stall for time. "Hi Rei," I say exhaling,
"decided to take my advice and get out more? Here to shop for a
fashionable new dress? You're in luck, the Lard-butt boutique is
still open." She blinks and then I see rage burning in her eyes.
Oh, that struck a nerve.
She gets right in my face and snarls, "What are you doing
here Magnesite and who was that you were just talking to?" As
she's giving me the business, I see a couple of C.T.P.D.
patrolmen move into position behind her. One word from her and
they'll take off down the mall after Ferrite and Naru. I can't
think of anything to say until I spot the teddybear under Naru's
arm. "That was Teddy and his 'floozy'," I say, "I followed him
into the shop to spy on him and asked him for the time to record
a sample of his voice."
"What? Teddy?" She asks confused.
"From the office," I remind her.
"Why do you need a voice sample?" She asks still not buying my
story.
"Sometimes all I can get is audio of 'Oh . . . Ah . . . Oh .
. . Ah . . . '" I say loudly feigning a couple approaching
climax. Several people in the mall stop to stare. Rei colors a
little at my sound effects and I add, "A clear voice clip can
help sway a judge. I don't know how the fires started but I do
know my next meal is disappearing down the mall. Now if you'll
excuse me, you're keeping an honest youma from making an honest
living."
"Okay, Magnesite," Rei growls, "I don't have anything to
hold you on but I'll be watching you. Keep your nose clean you
little weasel."
I think about grossing her out by pulling off my nose and
polishing it on my lapel, but I decide to let well enough alone.
The lard-butt comment was pushing the limit.
"You can say that again," Rei snaps back over her shoulder.
Narrating out loud again. Damn.
I catch up to Ferrite and Naru just as they reach pier
seventeen. The fog is starting to roll in and I'm thankful for
the cover. This looks like the perfect setting for the climax to
a Bogey film. We reach the end of the pier and look of into the
gloom. The water gently laps against the pilings and boat horns
call mournfully across the water. Everything seems quiet but I
sense something moving out in the mist. I use up a little energy
and reach out with my senses. There's something massive just
under the surface of the water near the dock. It's a submarine.
Friends in low places, indeed. Ferrite looks at his pocket watch
as if he were waiting for a train. At twelve o'clock exactly, he
takes an infrared flashlight out of his pocket and switches it on
and off three times.
Out in the water I hear a slight splash and the barely
audible hum of a motor. Ferrite turns to Naru and says, "Naru,
we're going on a little boat ride."
"Magnesite too?" she asks.
"No, I'm afraid that Magnesite is not going with us."
Crestfallen she asks Ferrite in a small voice, "Can I say
goodbye?"
"Very well," he says curtly stepping a little way away in the
fog.
She turns to me shyly and says, "I wanna' thank you for the
chocolate parfait. I hadda' lovely time."
What the . . . she makes it sound like we were a couple of
kids out on a date. "Maybe we could do it again sometime," I say
touched at her demure sweetness.
"Really? I'd like that," she says happily.
Wait a minute . . . What's all this maudlin stuff? I flip up
the collar of my trenchcoat and straighten my hat. Adopting a
Bogey sneer I say, "Well, here's where we say goodbye kid. Can't
say it hasn't been fun."
"Ya' know, Magnesite," she says leaning close to me, "under
your rough exterior you're really a nice guy."
I can't think of anything to say in response so I just stand
there looking at her in the soft light. Then, she kisses me and
for the second time tonight my heart melts.
"Our ride's here," Ferrite says, "it's time to go Naru."
"Goodbye," Naru whispers.
"Goodbye," I answer and as she starts to step away my rough
exterior breaks and I hug her desperately. Equally passionately
she hugs back.
After a while, Ferrite gently breaks our embrace and leads
Naru over to a heavily muscled young man in a wetsuit. "Take her
to your boat and wait for me a few moments, lieutenant," he says.
The man nods and leads Naru down the ladder. She looks at me
sadly one last time before she sinks out of sight.
"I'm not going to ask what that was about, Magnesite,"
Ferrite says, "She's developed some sort of attachment to you and
I can't see why. But she's happy so I don't care. Naru can make
up her mind when she's well again. Maybe I'll ask then, maybe
not. Regardless, I owe you a debt and now it's time to pay."
Methodically he removes his glove finger by finger then he
extends his hand to me as if offering it in friendship.
It takes all my self control to stop myself from
immediately grabbing it and feeding but I hold my palm up
stopping him. "First," I say, "tell me what this was all about."
"I'm sorry," Ferrite says, "I can't say much without risking
Naru's security. I will tell you this, though. There is trouble
coming so be prepared for it. Trust no one and if people offer
you alliances or make promises, ignore them as their promises are
worthless. If who I think is behind this, they seek only their
own ends and will discard you at the first opportunity. If you
can, move out of Crystal Tokyo. If not, keep a suitcase packed."
Humph, sounds just like the Dark Kingdom. "You don't paint
a rosy picture," I say.
"There's a storm coming on . . . " he says, "A storm that
will sweep a lot of people away." The lieutenant clears his
throat impatiently at all this melodrama. "Now I must go,"
Ferrite says holding his hand out to me again. This time I take
it and feel his defenses drop. I reach out and the link between
us is forged.
Where Naru's life force was sweet and pure, his is both
mellow and sharp. A thousand flavors play across my senses as I
experience the many lifetimes Ferrite has lived. There is a
longing that tinges them all however, which makes them
bittersweet. After I've had my fill, I release his hand and he
staggers a bit despite his great strength. The lieutenant is
instantly at his side supporting him. He helps him down the
ladder and I glance down to see her one last time but I can
barely make out their outlines in the fog. The motor hums and
they move quietly out into the gloom. After a while I hear the
submarine go under with barely a splash. I stand there for a
while waiting for . . . for I don't know what.
Finally, I turn and walk back down the dock, my footsteps
echoing in the gloom. I could teleport back to my office
instantly but this is more appropriate. I light up a cigarette
as I walk and think about the case. I'm surprised that I'm the
one who came away with the bird. Then I remember that I still
owe Margrave a life-force debt. I was so wrapped up with Naru
that I forgot to mention it. Dames! They'll do it every time.
Get inside your head so you're not thinkin' straight. Maybe
Margrave will take a raincheck. So this is the way the story
ends: Magnesite, P.I. wends his way back to the hole in the wall
office to drink himself to sleep thinking about the babe who left
him alone in the mean streets of Crystal Tokyo. The strange
thing is, that last thought is probably true.
Music swells . . . Fade to black . . . The End
Credits:
Naoko Takeuchi for creating Sailor Moon, and other characters
which populate her Mooniverse which we are borrowing.
Mark Latus for creating Magnesite and Margrave, two characters
who speak up for themselves. Hell, two characters who just won't
shut up! Also for several crucial scenes that really set the
story and inspired the ending.
Sam Ashley, for Magnesite's opening scene which was too good to
leave languishing on the snippet's page of Sailor Moon Expanded.
Andy Combs for bringing me together with all these talented
people and for establishing the Crystal Tokyo from which many
stories shall be launched.
Two stories by me are related to this one. "Jupiter's Orbit"
precedes this one in the time line and is the reason for
Ferrite's motivation in seeking Naru and "Settling Accounts" ties
up the Margrave thread established in this story. However, that
story also follows events in two other stories planned by Mark
and me. The first, "Casablanca Revisited" brings Magnesite,
Ferrite and Naru back together and is set during the Black Moon
Family invasion. The second, "Trench Warfare" follows up events
in Casablanca and ties into the end of the war depicted in Andy
Combs' "Crystal Tokyo Stories." If it sounds complicated, it is,
but the interweaving of the stories is what SME is all about. A
final series, planned by me, will bring our three back together
in a multi-part, planet spanning series called, "The Power Behind
the Throne." But that's a looong way away. (Trenchcoat Mask
one, two, and three have yet to be written.)
Now, back to Trenchcoat-Mask...
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