March 2nd, 2001 -
Players: Nephrite, Lucas/Thunderbolt Knight, Michiru, Mark/Knight Vertigo, Ithil, Misa/Sailor Creation, Guardian,
Jennifer/Thundercrash, Beryl, Jakurin, Noshiko/IronStorm, Ureshii/Ahou, Jay/Deathlife Knight,
Rikko, Artemis, Jonas, Minako, Dunican, Elizabeth, Benefactor, Dark Bug, Dura/Sailor Amazonia
As time and space flow, so does the blood of man.
A police car screeched into the parking lot of the bank, the sirens on and lights flashing. A number of cars were already present at the scene of the murder. The radio stated that three people were cut down where they were standing. The bodies where covered with white sheets, their blood staining them. The press was nearby, taking pictures and talking to witnesses that were nearby and heard the screams. TV reporters were buzzing around the area like bees going around a field of flowers on a new spring day. This was the story of all time. A story like none other seen. A story of mystery. A story where the blood ran the streets...
The Next Morning:
Papers lined newsstands everywhere. On the front page was the story of the murder from last night. The TV news couldn't stop talking about the same story. It was the talk of the town. But who was behind the murders?
"Turn that thing off, Dura," Sho said grumpily.
Dura reached over, clicked off the radio for her father, and went back to cooking the rice. Her mother Yumi rolled up her wheelchair to the table.
"What a horrible shame," she said sadly.
"First all the critters running loose, then the wahoos in the dark grey suits and the short skirts, and now this," Sho groused. "First chance we get, we're moving back to the country."
"Don't start that again," Yumi said. "Your blood pressure's too high as is."
Dura crouched down and served up breakfast. "It's ready." She reached for her water bottle and vitamins.
"I really wish you'd sit down and eat," said her mother.
"Ma, please," Dura groaned, "we've been over this before--!"
"Well, we're going over it again! You are NOT fat! Now sit down and eat!"
Her dad said, "Dura, that water-and-vitamins weight loss thing isn't
working. You've grown to, what, 210 centimeters now? You may as well eat like the rest of us."
Dura seethed. "I don't have to take this," she muttered.
"What did you say, little girl?" her dad demanded.
She pivoted around. "I didn't stutter!" she snapped. "I, don't, have, to, take, THIS!" And she grabbed her books, water and vitamins.
"Dura, get back here now! I'm not done with you!"
"Well, I'm done with you!"
Slamming the door behind her, Dura stormed to school, clutching her crystal necklace, bemoaning the power and growth spurts it represented. It was all she could do to not pitch it down the nearest storm drain.
"I hate being a Senshi, I hate being a Senshi, I hate being a Senshi," was her whispered angry mantra.
Mark looked up from his guitar, blinking hard. "Death and destruction of that scale here? Now? Hmmm... Wonder-freakin'-ful." He stood up, dressed quickly, and started his car. He went back inside, and grabbed an egg sandwich.
"You hear the news, Mark?" his mother asked.
"Yeah, Mom. Do they have any clue what did it?"
She shrugged. "I don't know, dear. You're going to be late for school, though."
"I know. Gotta run." He gave her a quick hug, ran to the car while still munching, and took off towards the school. He flipped on the radio, waiting to see if any more news would come of the incident. *I'll probably get pulled into this, I'm sure...
***
The Japanese were, quite possibly, the only people on the face of
the planet who would be shocked by something so senseless and amateurish. In any other country, no one would have batted an eye unless there was something particularly gruesome about the event. Perhaps there was a hidden story the media carnival had not yet chosen to unveil that would make this worth looking into...
Or perhaps not. There were plenty of serial killers in the world and
so few of them were genuine artists. This particular murderer was probably just another naughty boy, abused by his parents, driven by
the base need for Pride... a pathetic rapist who just happened to be smarter than the average felon, but no more pure of heart.
Ithil decided to hold stay his judgement of this particular matter.
Half the fun of pain was watching people react to it. He still smiled inside when he remembered his last trip to the school. And these pitiful little fleshbags were reacting as they always did, like clockwork. The maggots got so tiresome over the years...
Jay picked up his paper. He couldn't say he was upset by what he read there: he'd done worse in his last life. He was suprised though. This was not a thing he had seen before, or not often at least. Some kind of enemy attack? He'd have to ask the others about it...
Rikko had been in one of the trees outside the flower shop and heard the radio and the fight that Dura had with her parents. He watched her as she walked past him. He looked at her through the branches and said, loud enough for her to hear, "Hey who's the babe passin' under my tree?"
Misa wrapped her aching body with a robe and went outside. She walked to the neighbour's doorstep and picked up a newspaper. She hurried back into her house. *Bah, he's on holiday... it's a pity to leave it there! At least I can read it*
She sat at the kitchen table and sipped her coffee. She almost spit
it when she saw the headlines.
*Oh oh... I hope the senshi will have nothing to do with this... I wouldn't like to meet this man! But all those poor people! If I could do something to save them...*
She closed her eyes and sent a prayer for the victims.
Michiru watched the morning news before her 9 am therapy. Fear wrenched her heart as she watched the camera go from crime site to crime site. "Do the senshi get invovled with murders, or do we just fight the dark kingdom?" she muttered to herself.
Lucas ran at full speed from Lynith's place. She wasn't leaving the
house until this murderer was caught, according to her Uncle. He stopped in front of the school and stood under the cherry tree, hoping to see any of the other senshi for a brief meeting before school. They couldn't stand aside and watch it happen. They had to do something!
Mark got tired of hearing the same thing about the murders on the 6 major radio stations, so he turned his CD player on, and heard the opening riff from 'The Wicker Man' by Iron Maiden. *Wow. There's got to be a reasonable explanation.*
He bowed his head slightly, just enough so he could still drive, and sent a silent prayer out to the victims and the families thereof, and prayed for the binding of whatever demon caused this person to do this horrible act.
*Unless it's one of our 'supernatural' enemies... I hate this 'Senshi' thing...* He parked in his usual spot, grabbed his bag, and saw Lucas underneath the cherry tree. *Fantastic.* He made his way over there.
"Suppose we're gonna get involved, aren't we?" he asked coldly.
Jeremy kept his calm and watched the news and sighed to himself from the confines of his home, something wasn't sitting right with the murders. They were simple, too simple for any madman. He glanced in the mirror and whispered, "At least we know it's not Ithil."
Dura looked up to Rikko. "Are you trying to catch squirrels by acting like a nut?" she grumped. "Get down here. What is it about you and trees, anyway?"
Umino summoned the bugs to unlock the back door, hovered on in, and
zipped down to his little hideaway. Looking past all the stars, he added his bottles of chemicals and Bunsen burner to the jars of reagants. "Amazing what you can get with a few hacked credit card numbers and the Japanese postal service," he said.
Then he turned on the radio, with the volume down low, and caught the news. He shook his head. "Classic rule of news: if it bleeds, it leads." He zoned out and set up the lab, waiting for the medical and tech updates.
Jonas looked out of the window, away from the books he was studying.
The books were boring, but that wasn't what was bothering him. These murders were just awful, and he felt a natural empathy with the victims'
relatives.
Sighing, he got up from his chair and walked out of the school, needing the fresh air. No-one was around outside except for one person at the gates who he didn't recognise.
Wondering if these murders were anything to do with the Dark Kingdom, he walked to tone of the benches and sat down, head in his hands as he wept softly for the murdered victims.
Lucas shook his head. "I don't know. But we can't just sit by and let this maniac loose on the city? We have to do something, right?" he asked, hoping for someone to understand where he was coming from.
"I guess someone should. I thought that's what the police were for,
though." Mark shrugged and sighed. "But this sounds like there's just no
real motive for the killings, and too simple for a serial killer... like
they were just done at random for fun or whatnot..." He looked at Lucas
with a raised brow. "Got me."
Dunican and Minako were walking to school. With newspaper in hand Dunican was looking over the top story. "This is such a shame. I can't believe someone would do such a thing," he said as his lines went over each word.
Elizabeth stopped at the gates of the school and noticed three people. One was sitting by himself and the other two seemed to have just arrived and started to talk. She know who they were but didn't know if she should go over and talk. *So many things have been happening and I don't know what to do,* she thought and sighed.
"It's been all over the news and stuff... I wish they would just let it go," Minako said, sliding her hands into her pockets.
She'd seen other murders before, back in England, so she didn't know why she was so shaken up over this one. Maybe it was the blood that seemed to cover the entire crime scene.
"I'd love to actually do something to stop that criminal," Misa said appearing right behind Lucas and the others, wearing her blue travel agent's uniform, "but I doubt I can be of much help. I'm open to suggestions, though."
Elizabeth watched for a moment then walked over to Lucas, Mark, and Misa. "Excuse me Lucas?" she said softly. "I want to help you guys if it is decided to get involved in what is going on. I know I don't have powers like the rest of you and I am not sure when I will get them," she said and sighed. "But I know I can help," she said as she looked at the others.
Dunican placed a hand on Minako's shoulder and gave it a gentle squeeze. "I know what you mean. Things like this tend to give me the creeps. I hope the police solve the crimes quickly so the Senshi and Knights don't get involved," he said to Minako softly.
"Do you think... that it's something we'd have to handle?" Minako asked curiously, looking up at Dunican. " I mean, it doesn't look like any normal criminal commited that crime.."
As Umino poured in some powder into a bubbling beaker, he wondered how Jakurin was, and if she was anywhere near the murder scene. Concerned, he hit the speed dial number on his cell phone, and tried to call up the one he gave her for Valentine's Day.
Mark looked at Misa and shrugged, then looked to Elizabeth. "Well, give me a good reason not to let the police have their way with it for a
while... it may just be a random thing... maybe not." He felt pressured, and threw his hands up. "Okay, PROBABLY not, knowing the luck this group has. I say we lie low for a day or two and see what happens. We could probably stand to ask everyone else, too." He stopped as if he was confused, and realized that he was actually TALKING to these people. *Is this it? Am I working past it...?*
Rikko jumped from the tree and next to Dura. HE thought for a second and said, "Dunno, guess it's just there." he said with a slight chuckle. He looked at Dura and thought, *Guess I didn't help matters any.* "So, what's new?" he asked, trying to make conversation.
Dura peered down at him. At seven feet, she saw she had grown almost a whole foot taller since Rikko dropped in on her the first time at Juuban.
"My size is out of control, we've got a murderer on the loose in Tokyo, my parents are on my case, the Dark Kingdom wants me dead, one of my friends tried to commit suicide lately, and the one source of solace in all this was destroyed a thousand years ago," she said. She forced a smile. "And how've you been?"
"Well, there is that, but you have to admit, there are good days. Try not knowing where you've been the last 10 hours. That is a problem." said Rikko as he walked with her.
Lucas nodded to Mark. "Laying low might be a good idea, but what happens if this mad man decides to take one of the senshi, in their ordinary allies, as his next target. He is a threat to us anyway we look at it," he said.
Nephrite looked at the paper while sipping his coffee in the teacher's lounge. *Not our business. Not our problem* he thought as he tossed the paper aside.
Suddenly the loudspeaker throughout the school came to life and an adult voice came over it. "Attention students. Due to the recent news and reports from police, classes will be on hold until further notice. Please return home. Safety of our students is top priority. Thank you," said the nervous voice over the loudspeakers through the school.
Inside the school a piercing scream shot out through the hallways. Echoing off the walls. Suddenly several students came running out of the school. Fear written all over there faces. They ran by the groups standing outside.
"Quickly! Get away! That killer is in the school!" said one of them.
Mark nodded. "True." He heard a deathly scream, and swung his head
towards the doorway to see students running for their lives. "Killer?" He looked at Lucas with an incredulous half grin/half frown. "What a coincidence, don't you think?"
He looked at the door, already starting to put his bag down. "I suppose we have to do something now, since he's on our turf." He stated dryly, and started walking towards the door, knowing that someone would try to stop him, but hoping that they'd go with him. "We have to do something..." he muttered compassionately, louder than he meant. *God, grant me the serenity...*
Hearing a shrill scream slice through the air, Jonas forgot his misery and jumped to his feet.
Looking towards the school and the students running out of it he made a deduction; the killer was in the school. This was confirmed by gasped explanations by some students.
Without hesitation, Jonas raced into the school as fast as his legs would carry him.
"Wait!" Misa shouted. "What are you planning to do? That killer is a
human being, and our duty is to protect the human race, ne? I can't take
justice in my own hands. I won't harm him. We shouldn't!" She was a little scared, that was the truth, but she meant what she said.
Jonas carried on running, turning to look at Misa over his shoulder. "I am not going to use my powers!!" he whispered furiously so only she could hear. He spoke up. "I am well over six foot tall and I am here to protect people and that's what I am going to do!"
Jay was at the school gate when he heard the scream, and watched that goon Jonas and Misa run in to the building. He ran after them, making sure that his knife was concealed by his jacket. He did not need to get arrested again, that was for sure.
"Try it?" Dura asked Rikko. "Gladly. How long is the trial period?"
Then she saw some fellow students evacuate the school. Most walked
quickly. A few ran.
"Hey, guys?" she joked. "You're going the wrong way!"
She then noticed how devoid of humor they were despite her jest.
"What in the world spooked them?"
"Well... then there's nothing I have to do here." Misa frowned at Jonas and turned her back to him. *Who does he think he is? Clark Kent? An assassin or not, that man is a human being and I am no one to hurt or kill him... unless he threatens the entire Earth. So his problem if he wants to be the hero of the day.*
She walked outside the gates and stood there.
"I don't know, but I don't like it." said Rikko as he started toward the school at almost a dead run. "But I know that I'm late!"
"Aaaah!" screamed Jakurin as her face was slammed hard into the desk. Her cell phone fell out of her jacket pocket and bounced to the floor, its ringing adding to the screaming and yelling.
All she was trying to do was grab a transcript from her old teachers at Juuban for T*A*, and suddenly she had been pushed from behind, then shoved rudely down.
As she hit the floor cowering into a ball and crying, she placed her arms over her head and gingerly felt her left eye. It had been caught pretty good, the swelling had already started.
Sister Noshiko had been praying on the grounds under a cherry blossom tree when she felt the urge to put on her communicator. Removing it from her rosary, she held it in the palm of her hands and closed her eyes to listen.
Lucas shook his head. "Miss Misa, stay out here, please. If you need to call the police." he said handing her a cell phone. "Please, if you see any of the senshi get them out of here. We are the ones that should check this out." he said softly and ran into the building. *And by 'we' I meant the knights.* he thought.
Nephrite watched the swarm of students running towards him. He caught one girl by the arm. "What is going on, where's the fire?" he asked sternly.
The girl whimpered. "That killer the papers has been talking about is in the school. Please sir we have to get out of here." she said, tears in her eyes.
Mark busted through the door and looked around. "I wonder where he's at..." he muttered.
The hallways were trashed, and he waited for Jonas, Jay and Lucas to meet him. "Where would he most likely be?" He asked the others.
Dura charged forward. "Hey!" she shouted to Rikko. "They're probably running for a good reason!"
She leapt for the top of the fence, caught it, and vaulted herself over. Whatever spooked the students didn't spook her; no, she was ready to face it. It came with being one of the good guys, for one, and for two, she was in the mood to pound something.
Umino looked hard at his cell phone. How long did it take for her to pick up? She must have the thing on vibrate and be in the middle of a class. But he thought she was getting transcripts today at Juuban. He could have sworn it, anyway.
Sister Noshiko was on her feet in one second and crossing the grounds in the next. She was sure one of the other sisters would take her classes, with promises to answer questions later. ~Knights, Senshi, what is happening?~ she sent as she jogged up the marbled steps into the brick building of T*A*.
"Arrrrrrh, another monster attack!" growled Tudo as he slammed the newspapers down on the counter. Ureshii paused in wiping up a spot and looked at her father. "Bad news, Oyaji?"
Tudo crossed his dark arms over his broad chest and huffed into his mustasche. "Bad enough those nuns want to know why I pulled you from school until that killer's apprehended this afternoon, now the newspapers are saying that there was another 'probable' monster attack! It's all a cover-up!!" shouted Tudo angrily, slamming his hand down on the counter, making the glass rattle.
"Oyaji, your blood pressure!" pleaded Ureshii, steadying the wares. "And you knew what we were getting into when we moved here..."
Tudo glared at his daughter. "You were the one who told me you didn't want to go from the start."
Ureshii cast her eyes down and continued wiping. "I've changed... I like Tokyo a lot, in spite of the violence... there's violence everywhere we go."
"Hai hai," replied her father, "and buisness has been really bad..." he trailed off sadly, looking over his shoulder at the empty floor. "I need a change," he said to himself quietly.
The restaurant was still, as Ureshii paused.
"Uri-chan, you have the kitchen."
"Always have, Oyaji, but where are you going?"
"Upstairs. I have some thinking to do."
Jakurin choked a bit as she tried to get back her breath and began crawling towards her cell-phone, hoping whoever didn't see her. Or it.
Jay stopped to catch his breath for a few seconds. ~I have not a clue, Mark. I have a horrible feeling we are going to have either do a real search or follow the screams. But we should most definitely not split up.~ He pulled out his knife from its cover. ~Any one else packing something??~
Dunican and Minako had reached the school and heard the anoucment over the PA system and noticed the students running out of the school. "What's going on?" he asked Minako.
As the group headed into the school there was screaming coming from the other side. "Please help me!" came a cry. The lights were flickering and there were several bodies on the ground up ahead of the hallway. Sirens could be heard in the back ground.
Elizabeth was speechless as she saw the bodies. She then spoke. "I think the screaming is going towards the gym," she said.
Dura rushed over to a nearby body. Grabbing a cloth, she made a makeshift bandage as the chest heaved up and down. "Hang tough! Help is on the way!"
The person gasped to say something, stopped, then dropped back. His chest sank and didnt rise agian.
Dura felt the pulse. Nothing.
She didn't know whether to cry in sorrow or scream in rage, so she simply, silently went to the next victim for first aid.
Whoa, talk about a heavy story! Do you want to go on or check out?