Tower Records Building, Shibuya-ku Pulling out Grandpa's tanned trench coat from my bike's saddlebags so Aisha could wear it and my helmet, I took her on my bike to the Narita Airport, located 66 clicks outside of Tokyo. Contrary to popular belief vampires don't turn into ashes when exposed to direct sunlight, instead they end up looking like badly burnt toast. You might wonder why I worried about Aisha's safety. I was but I couldn't afford Isaburo being tipped off of someone nosing around his operation should his men capture her. Besides I was keeping my bargain with the vampire, information on Isaburo in return for a one-way trip to Transylvania. I'm sure you are speculating as to why I accepted Aisha being a supernatural creature and my quick response to her attempt to seduce me? Let me just tell you for now that Aisha wasn't my first encounter with things that go bump in the night. We didn't say anything important while we waited for her flight to get ready, Aisha had fulfilled her part of the agreement and I was making sure she was heading home. I watched her go down the tunnel to her plane, she never once looked back and I don't blame her, her experience in Tokyo were eight years in Hell. Maybe these years would change her for the better or change her for the worse; I don't have a handy crystal ball to find out. Anyway, I'm sitting sidesaddle on Old Glory, munching down a mix of tempera shrimp, scallops, fish and sweet potatoes, washing it down with iced coffee, the black bitterness prepping my taste buds for the next bite. This break for a quick lunch allowed me to case the Tower Records building. According to Yajue the Tower Records Building was built in the early 90s, about the time when Doctor Tomoe was starting to make a name for himself as a pioneer in genetic engineering. I wouldn't be surprised if Yajue discovered a loan from the Infinity Bank helped in this building's construction. It wasn't until I had finished my meal my gaze zeroed in on the self-made men coming out of the front door. Too many coming out at the same time to be coming here to get something to read or listen to, despite the yellow bags in their hands. The question for me to answer was how was I going to get a look and see if there was a lab in the building's basement or not, with security cameras at all the entrances there was no chance of my big frame going undetected and guarded entrances to the underground would bring the Yakuza down on me and my partners. I could take the information I gathered to Aiko but there was no guarantee it was legitimate, one source doesn't make a case. If we are working indirectly for the police as I suspected, and if they do a raid but find no lab, the reputation of Titan Detective Agency would suffer. No, I had to get some hard evidence which means I had to get in, discover if the lab does exist, get the physical evidence necessary to prove its existence and then get out in one piece. My cellphone buzzed in my pocket and I pulled it out, "Hello." "I hit pay dirt." "Good work, Odaijiko-chan," the longhaired girl was one of the few people I knew who didn't flinch at going down into the filth and the stench of Tokyo's sewers, "is Yajue-chan there with the package?" There was a moment paused, my guess is the white blonde giving the phone to Yajue, "Here, Kone-chan, with your stuff." "I'll be there as soon as I stash my bike," I broke contact. Forty-five minutes later I was making my way to their position, thank the heavens I like to wear my army boots when I'm on a case, they come in real handy when you have to slog through waste water, dead rats and shit. "Boss, is that you?" A voice came out of the darkness ahead of me. "No, it's Herman Munster," I was barely able to not gag on the air coming into my mouth. A flashlight was turned on but angled so it wouldn't blind me, there I saw a slightly green-faced Yajue and a smiling Odaijiko, her longhair gathered into a protective bun, her body like Yajue covered in yellow rubberized clothes, the red lettering on their suits designated them as working for Tokyo Waste Water. "It's over here," only Odaijiko could be cheerful in this muck. When I reached them, Yajue gave me my large package while Odaijiko swung the flashlight around to reveal a door about ten feet away from us, "I checked it out before calling you and it looks like the doors hasn't been opened for a long time." "There's something else too," Yajue was trying to be a trooper but she sounded like she would heave any moment. "Yeah," Odaijiko affirmed as she pointed the light beam to the side opposite the door. A tunnel was there but it wasn't concrete or brick, it was nice shinny steel. "Want to lay odds that the tunnel is a direct pipeline to the Infinity Compound," both Yajue and Odaijiko shook their heads. "If you believe in what the news media said, this would explain why this place wasn't taken out by the Sailor Senshi when they nailed the good doctor." "What about the lab in Yokohama?" Yajue asked. "The Sailor Senshi don't seem to venture outside of Tokyo," I replied, "so it was probably safe as long as it didn't become his main lab." "Kone-chan, are you sure we can't help you," Odaijiko spoke up, her gloved hand pulling out a stun gun from her pants pocket, Yajue pulled out her own Bowie knife. "If they spot me, my threads won't give me away but we can't afford the cameras to get a look at either one of you," I tried to give them a gentle refusal because we were part of the same gang after all. "Oh po," Odaijiko pouted while putting away her stun gun, "I'm going to miss out on all the action again." "Hey, nutcase," Yajue chuffed Odaijiko's shoulder but gently, "This isn't a game you know." "I know but I miss the rumbles," Odaijiko whined back, "now whenever it gets interesting, I'm the one put on the sidelines with the others." "Odaijiko-chan, you did a great job finding this door for me," I smiled at Odaijiko fearless nature, "and I'll let you know if I need you to come off the bench to pitch-hit for me." That got a smile out of Odaijiko, "Okay, Boss!" "You two get going," I returned to business as I carefully made my way to the door. "See you later, Thisbe-chan," Yajue returned. "Yes, you will," I waved with my free hand and watched them following the flashlight's beam down the dark sewer. Once they were gone I turned on my own penlight and held it with my mouth while opening my package and taking out a small vial. Removing about an inch of pliable white mush, I pressed the vial into the keyhole, followed by a flame from my lighter. I quickly pulled back as a two-inch bluish flame shot out from the opening and edges of the opening glistened from the high heat. Taking hold of the door handle and carefully put my weight against it, a metallic snap told me the bolt broke and it opened inward. Using the penlight to show the insides of the entrance, I found an empty room with a staircase going up. Once I entered the room and closed the door, it was time for me to empty the rest of the stuff out of my package but before that I had to strip down to my undies. I slipped on a navy blue jumpsuit and pulled back on my boots, put on a red-white-and-blue jacket with Old Glory on my back, then buckled on the ammo belt and tied down the filled holster on my right hip. Lastly I slipped the oblong helmet onto my head, a nice little gadget that gave my eyes access to infrared, ultraviolet and starlight vision. The helmet could also stop a 45 caliber slug as could the jacket. Kevlar dragon skin does wonder when it comes to stopping bullets; they could still knock you off your feet but at least you won't end up dead. I know what you are thinking, another costumed egoist, but I'm sorry to disappoint you that this is only the third time in three years and a half years that I put this getup on. The only time I use it is when I don't want my activities to bring deadly attention to Titan Detective Agency. As for the Desert Eagle on my hip, I have found knowing Gun-fu is just as critical as knowing Kung-fu. The soft soles of my boots made little noise on the metal steps as I used my penlight to show me the way. Reaching the door at the top, I found it unlocked and found it strange the door opened outward, it actually led to the rear of a janitor closet. Obviously this was Doctor Tomoe's secret entrance to his underground lab and he wanted it kept that way too. Avoiding the mops, buckets, brooms and dustpans was simple and when I silently cracked open the room's door. It revealed a hallway bathed in defused light and three Yakuza men with a brown-haired teenage girl. "It's my turn to be first with her," said the man with a flattop haircut, his right hand smoothly pushed the girl toward the door. The vacant look coming from the girl's brown Western eyes, her knee-high pastel dress and her bare feet told me she was one of Isaburo's sex dolls. "Alright, Toku-kun," the man with the broken nose said before he turned to the other man, "but I'm next." "Fine by me, Sawa-kun," the with the facial scar running down from his right ear to his chin, "she's as good on the third banging as she is on the first banging." Their words covered me pulling out a small device from my ammo belt but I waited until the girl and the one identified as Toku went into the room, then as the two Yakuza continued to talk I placed the device on the floor and pushed the button on the back. It was a few seconds before one of the Yakuza men heard the device moving toward them, "Sawa-kun, look at that?" "Huh?" the Yakuza turned, looked and said, "It looks like some kid's toy." Indeed, it was whined up Sailor Mars toy they saw coming at them on tiny wheels. "I wonder how it got down here?" neither man reacted as it stopped at their feet. "In the name of the Mars, I will punish you," a voice came from the wheeled figure. Both men laughed at the statement, "It is cute," admitted Scar Face while he picked it up, "probably one of the lab boys brought it for his kid and lost it down here." It was surprised looks they had when the top of Sailor Mars doll's head flipped back and a red balloon began to inflate from the small cavity, "Look, Sailor Mars flipped her lid!" Broken Nose chuckled. "Sailor Moon must've teased her about Yuuichirou," Scar Face explained, both of them showed no fear at how large the balloon was getting, it was evident they expected it to pop so they show no real surprise when it did, which was their mistake for the balloon's rubbery shell immediately covered their faces. I watched for five minutes as the Yakuza men stumbled about, their screams muted and clawing at their faces but unable to penetrate the elastic second skin with their fingernails, finally both ended up on the floor outside the door, their bodies unmoving. "Thank you, Artemis Gordon," I said as I opened the door and walked down the hallway to the other end, noticing a door at both ends, it was clear to me that these three were suppose to guard these doors but they had decided to take a break together, a mistaken thought on their part that they would be alerted of any intruder by the guards above them. "I'm not finished yet!" a heated shout came when I opened the door to where the man had taken the girl. It was a bathroom and the sound of flesh hitting flesh came from the far stall along with deep grunts and high-pitched moans. Automatically I reached into my ammo belt and pulled out a stun gun with a wire attached to it. The stall was open and when I looked, I had clear view of the girl pinned to the toilet seat by the Yakuza, him slamming his prick deep and hard into her cunt and his hands savagely mauling her tits, he harshly groaned, "I'm coming . . . I'm coming..." I decided to help, so in two silent steps my left hand grabbed the back of his head and I smashed his forehead into the tiled wall above the toilet, at the same time my right hand jammed the stun gun into the flesh just behind his balls and my right thumb flicked the switch, his screams echoed off the wall and his body withered. I kept the power on until he fainted, and then pulled him off the girl. Without his weight she fell to the floor while I stuck his head into the bowl and held his head underwater. After being sure he was dead, I let go and dragged in the two corpses. Finally I checked the girl but her expression hadn't change, a dry sweated vacant face. I helped her stand but I didn't have time to clean her up like I wanted to, instead I carried her to the janitor closet, "What is your name?" I asked her in English. "Mary," she said in heavily accented English, it was the first time she showed she was conscious of her surroundings. "Okay, Mary," I put her down with her back against the secret door. "Honey, I want you to stay here, okay?" She nodded but the vacant look remained, Mary was probably not her real name, her English was Japanese English so I guess she was a sex doll trained to be a Western teenager, just to add kicks to the user's sick fantasies. I rearranged the mops and brooms to conceal her so in a minute I was back to where the two Yakuza had died and thought for a minute about which way to go; I went left through twin doors. The first thing I found on the other side was a clean room, with plenty of white environmental suits and two sterilization booths plus a few odds and ends. When I reached the other side of the room and looked through the windows in the opposite doors, the view showed me several lab tables filled with scientific equipment, beakers filled with chemicals, everything a good drug lab needed to make its poison. It was all the evidence necessary for me once I pulled a camera from my ammo belt, and I would have been out without a hitch except for a loud click and twelve little words, "Who the FUCK are you and how did you get in here?" Surrender to the Yakuza wasn't an option so since the twin doors hadn't swung close that meant the man's frame was keeping them open, giving me his proximate location, thus with leg strength alone I threw myself sideways left, twisting my body at the same time so my left hand could toss six black ping-pong sized balls at him. The rounds of his and another man's 36 caliber pistols help me to spin, but there was something those bozos forgot and I wasn't thinking about it either; take into account what is behind your target, in this case unarmored doors. The explosions from my grenades was like someone breaking wind when compared to the blast that came out of the lab, the manmade thunder drowned out the screams of people dieing in the inferno within the room. I didn't know what those bullets had hit and it was one of the sterilization booths that kept my butt from getting flash burn, the only thing I knew I had to do was grab Mary and get out of here before Death came to pick up passengers. Then a monkey wench was thrown into my plans when I try to exit. A rain of lead bounced me back into the room, my coat handling the slugs. I pulled out my .50 cal while I lay on the floor. I counted four guns firing at me, so there was at least that number of men, they probably came from the floor above, hearing the explosions from below; just my luck they responded so quickly. I still had some tricks in my ammo belt but I didn't want to use them all up, so I inched my head out a little so I could look down the hall. I saw four men, two at the T and the other two at the entrance of the staircase going up, the helmet gave me the distance to all four targets and I lined up on the guys at the staircase, four shots from my Desert Eagle and one guy went down with a head shot, the other one fell into the entrance; I couldn't tell if I killed him, wounded him or missed, the only thing I could tell was the other two doubled their output of cold iron, enough for me to roll back into cover. But there wasn't anymore cover, the explosions behind me continued and even with the automatic sprinklers going on, they didn't stop the fire from spread and the increase in heat told me it wasn't going to be long before I was going to end up a roast. It was now I saw the large oxygen canister in one corner of the not so clean room. I swore under my breath, if the flames got to it the explosion would finished this room and give me a one-way ticket to the pearly gates. Without thinking I rushed over, picked up the metal tube and used the momentum of my run back to hoist it as far down the hallway as possible. Slugs from the two remaining Yakuza sent me tumbling to the ground but they didn't penetrate my coat, but what I didn't except was the pulse of light the senses in my helmet picked up, just before twin jets of bluish flame came from two small holes in the cylinder and then it exploded, continuous screams filled the air. There wasn't any time to be cautious, I ran out of the inferno and slid to a stop at the T, one man was holding what was left of his face with both hands while the other one stared at his own guts on the floor. With only a second pause I sprint to the upward staircase, both Yakuza were dead so I closed the door, plastered some C-4 in the door crack and added a gyro-fuse. Next I head back, pass the guards and into the janitor closest, there I found Mary but not in the position I left her, she wasn't against the secret door, instead she was to one side of it. I decided right then I had to know before self-doubts put it out of my mind, "Give my soul to keep." My words instantly focused Mary's eyes and they showed intelligence, "Yes, Master." "Who moved you?" "Sailor V." ******** Toranomon Hospital, Minato-Ku "Why must the young always pay for the sins of the elders?" It wasn't a question Rikomi wanted answered, the angry misery in her lake blue eyes told me there was no answer she would accept as valid. If I had known her a little better I would have taken her right hand in my left hand and given it a reassuring squeeze, but right now the only thing I could do was stand there and act vengeful, "The monster who did this is going to be reincarnated as bacteria if I have any say about it." Rikomi nodded her agreement, "Her clothes showed dried stains, both semen and vaginal, and my preliminary examination showed both her vagina and anal cavity had been . . . abused," the blue-haired doctor wanted to use a more profane word but her professionalism stopped her. What Rikomi was reacting to was Mary sleeping in a hospital bed, her breathing normal but her body laying under the covers like a life-sized doll, "I've seen children suffering from psychological trauma before but this is worse than anything I have experienced, her actions to vocal commands are automated, devoid of any thought." "Mary was 'programmed' to be a sex doll," I knew I was being cruel in my description, "and if her former master knew I had brought her here, he would order her to jump from this room and she would do it." "Neither he nor any of his ilk will find her here," a icy look on Rikomi's face matched the glow of the full moon raising in the afternoon sky, "I promise you." "I just hope someone can help her," I was grasping for straws, "it's the reason I brought her here," I was back in my business suit, my costume, my gun and my bike hidden in nearby underground parking lot before I carried Mary into the emergency room. "Teen Psychology is outside my expertise but hypnosis might help her," then a thoughtful look touched Rikomi's features, "and I think I know someone who can do it." "The best I can do is to pray." I then switched subjects, "How is Osaka-san doing?" "Osaka-san came out of her coma at three-eleven this afternoon but she immediately fell into a deep sleep," Rikomi's face brighten while she spoke, "which is normal for a someone who has gone through so much trauma." "I'm sure Osaka's friends will be happy," I asked my next question, "which remains me, I need to talk to Osaka-san's friends again." "Right now my daughter's boyfriend is watching over Osaka-san," most parents I knew wouldn't have mentioned their daughter's sweetheart with such fondness but Rikomi did. "A good catch?" "Urawa-san isn't in my daughter's league, of course no one else is," was that a mother's conceit I heard or a doctor's logical opinion, "but he is kind and he has a strong will," Rikomi was going to add something else Rikomi but then she moved the subject back to my original question, "Tsukino-san and Chiba-san won't be here for another hour if you wanted to talk to them." "Do you think I could talk to your daughter?" Rikomi gave me a cagey look, "I got the impression that your daughter was a friend of a friend of Osaka-san." The doctor thought for a minute before she nodded, "Yes, Rogers-san, you can find her with Urawa-san in Osaka-san's room." "Thank you," I turned to the door while adding, "and don't worry, we'll get to have tea together sometime soon." "See you later," Rikomi's tone showed that she did want to see me again. I went up the stairs to the next floor and I saw the candy striper heading toward Osaka's room with a metal pitcher, "Mizuno Ami?" "Eh, yes?" as Ami turned to face me, I was once more struck by how her rich blue hair and bright pink uniform made her look like an albino, even though her eyes were blue instead of pink, maybe it was something she picked up from her father. "Your mother gave me per . . ." Suddenly I saw Ami's head snapped to her left, her eyes grew wide, "No," left her lips as she bounded for the door, her hand turning the doorknob at the same time her shoulder hit the door. I was startled by her interruption but I quickly made up for my lag time when the opened door allowed me to hear a rumbling growl. I swear I'll never make fun of any anime plotline ever again. Seeing a red-haired furious catgirl cornering a terrified teenage boy, him holding a metal chair like an old-fashioned lion tamer. Our barging into the room got her attention and she let out a high-pitched howl, this distraction allowed the young man the chance to try to pin her with his chair. "RYO, DON'T!" Ami shouted but it was to late, wearing a medical gown the catgirl heard the brown-haired youth's movement and instantly dropped under the stabbing legs of the chair and threw her left leg into his stomach, sending the boy into the corner where he curl up into a ball. "RYO!" It was all Ami got to do because from her crouched position, the catgirl leaped at the blue-haired girl but I saw it coming, my right hand grabbing the metal pitcher from the candy stripper's hand, elbowing her out of way while I turned the object upside-down so I could fill it with the catgirl's head. It worked, the redhead catgirl's head fitted nicely but it didn't keep her from raking my chest with her ten three-inch claws and turning my coat and vest into spaghetti. I returned the favor with a combination into her stomach followed by a right uppercut. Going toe-to-toe with the catgirl was a mistake on my part, my shots to her body didn't seem to affect her and the uppercut hurt my hand while it knocked the pitcher off her head, the only good that came from my action was it allowed Ami to get to the fallen boy. This was the opportunity the catgirl was waiting for, in a lightening move she darted to my left, using the bed as a springboard so she could get around me and out the door. I tried to follow her but I slipped and fell on my back, due to me forgetting about the water from the pitcher. "Ami . . . chan . . . that's the . . . first time . . . you've called me . . . just Ryo," I heard the boy say those words as I used the bed to help me back onto my feet, a second pause allowed me to see him staring up at the kneeling girl, his expression a mix of pain and charm. "Oh, Ryo-kun," Ami's pale face made her blush stand out, her lap cradled his head as he continued to hold his stomach, blue eyes met brown eyes. I couldn't waste anymore time and the look of the hallway told me so, the wake of the catgirl full of male nurses wounded, tables overturned, patients lying on the polished floor. My target was opening the door to the staircase and I got to the door before it even closed, hot on her trail. Seven, six, five floors but by the time I reached four, I could tell the distance between us was increasing due to my bulk so I took a shortcut. At three I jumped over the guardrail and plunged down the middle, thirty feet. Pain shot up my legs when I landed on the metal floor, my body crouched and rolled as I tried to lessen the shock to my feet, but I did it correctly and suffered no broken bones. In turn I rolled up onto my feet and faced the catgirl. The green-eyed creature didn't stop when she came off the stairs but she didn't go for me, instead she tried for the first floor exit, which gave me the opening to slip behind her and put her in a full nelson, lifting her feet off the floor due to our difference in height. Another mistake on my part because it allowed her to swing her clawed feet into my face, their impact knocked my head back and loosen my hands behind her neck, thus allowing her to spin out of my grip. The catgirl was out the door and into the hospital's main entrance. I was right behind her and slowly gaining ground, hospital personnel was getting in her way but that changed when she smashed through the closest shatterproof glass window, the red-haired ball of fur and claws went through it like it wasn't there. Once outside the catgirl's clawed feet had the advantage in traction and she began to pull away from me. I couldn't let her get away but there was nothing I could do to stop her, my equipment was with my bike and there wasn't anything handy I could throw at her to slow her down. In another five minutes I slowed to a jog before coming to a stop, sucking in big breaths while hoping inside that the police and the military wouldn't shoot her on sight. Just then Ami came up to me, "She got away?" her tone was normal and she wasn't panting from her run; she probably took the elevator. I nodded with my hands on my knees and it wasn't until I got enough air into blood before I asked, "That was Osaka-san, wasn't it?" It was strange how the combination of the sitting sun and the big moon above made her eyes look steel-blue, "Yes, it was Naru-san." "I better get my gear and go after her," I straightened up and I reached into my coat pocket to get my cellphone so I could alert the gang, but I was puzzled when I found nothing and looking at what was left of my coat and found I didn't have a coat pocket. "No you not," Ami grabbed my left arm and turned me around, I was surprised by her strength, her free hand reached up and touched my face, "your face is bleeding and those cuts need to be cleaned and stitched," she showed me that her fingers were covered with blood. "But . . ." "No buts, come," her words compelling me to go with her almost as much as her hands, "Mom wouldn't let me hear the end of it if I let you run off." "Okay," I resigned myself to the situation, "You're the doctor." "Not yet," I could see why her boyfriend liked her, she had a sweet smile, "but I will be." "So you're going to follow in your mother's footsteps?" now with the adrenaline starting to be flushed out of my system, I began to feel the pain from my facial cuts and I took out a handkerchief. "Yes," she looked up at me with her sapphire eyes assertive, "I want to help people." I dabbed my wounds with the white silk, my thoughts thinking about how the light caused Ami's eyes to vary their shade of blue, putting it down to just one of those genetic things, "You sound just like your mother." Ami was such a small package next to me, "Thank you for the compliment," but then she gave me a determined smile, "but you are still coming with me," I laughed a little and Ami lightly giggled. Back at the hospital it was Rikomi who took over, she used tweezers and a magnifying glass to pull slivers of glass from my face while I sat on a medical table, "Rogers-san, are you sure you are not related to a certain gentleman named, Frankenstein, you seem unable to stay out of trouble." "I'm fine just as long as I don't ignore the angry villagers rule," I decided to add my own humor to the mix before getting serious, "how's your daughter's boyfriend?" "Urawa-san suffered bruised abdominal muscles where his back hit the wall and where Naru-san kicked him," Rikomi tried to keep her tone professional but it wasn't working, "but X-Ray showed no fractured bones or damage to his spine, so he will remain in the hospital for observation for a couple of days." "I'm somewhat surprised at how quickly you concluded that Naru is the catgirl," then a sting of pain hit me, "Ouch." "You shouldn't talk while I'm picking glass out of your face," Rikomi suggested, "and I should have seen this coming with Naru-san, all the evidence pointed at a physical transformation going on inside of her but I failed to accept the possibility." "Don't be hard on yourself, Rikomi-san, supernatural creatures are not something you expect to encounter," I put as much sympathy as could while barely moving my lips. "You don't understand," Rikomi's tone showed she didn't want my pity, "a doctor battles against a horde of creatures that would frighten the average person if he or she had really any understanding of their true nature," then I notice a new look on her pretty face, "but you didn't have any problem understanding who it was nor did you show any doubts about it being a catgirl, why?" "This isn't the first time I've run into a supernatural being," I murmured, "about a year ago my associates and I had the misfortune of running into a creature known in India as a rakshasa." I could see Rikomi's hands pause before they put down the instruments she was using and pick up a bottle of red iodine and a swab, "What is a rakshasa?" "It's a female demon that uses illusions to gain the trust and love of its target," I watched Rikomi stain the swab with the iodine, "and then it rips its victim apart and consumes him or her." "It doesn't sound very friendly so what happened?" Rikomi was back in front of me, "This is going to sting." "It was after a blind Shinto shrine maiden," a little pain got into my voice thanks to the iodine, "because her illusions couldn't affect the teenager." "How did you defeat it?" I must've looked funny with red stains all over my face, the corners of lips twitch. "The rakshasa is vulnerable to wood blessed by a holy person," I only gave a half answer. "So the target became a trap," Rikomi dropped the swab in the wastebasket and put away the iodine. "Correct," I watched Rikomi get out some temporary stitches, "with a little suggestion on my part, the shrine maiden blessed some crossbow bolts and wooden bullets." "Wooden bullets?" There was curiosity to Rikomi's tone as she used the temporary stitches to close my facial wounds. "Their casings are ofuda," there was still a smile on Rikomi's face so I must still look pretty funny with those stitches on my face, "only a few of my partners know how to use a crossbow but several of them can shoot a gun." "Ingenious," Rikomi took a step aback and looked me over, "Well, that is all I can do for you but I would like you to come back in a few days so I can check them again." I got off the table and then I made a dramatic show of looking around to make sure no could hear us, "So you're going to let your daughter keep watch over her boyfriend tonight?" "Of course," Rikomi automatically said, "it would be heartless on my part to keep her away from him." "So Ami-san will make sure he gets plenty of sleep," then I winked at Rikomi, "and plenty of fluids." A stress-relieving giggle let Rikomi mouth followed by, "You have such a dirty mind." "Comes with the territory," I lightly retorted, then a new thought entered my mind, "Has any of Osaka-san friends shown up?" "No," Rikomi answered as she led me to the door, "but Usagi-chan and Mamoru-san should be here at any moment." Noting the honorific used with Usagi's name, I asked, "Ami-san mentioned she knew Osaka-san, so does that mean she also knows Tsukino-san?" "Usagi-chan is a very close friend of my daughter," Rikomi gave me a suspicious look, "why do you ask?" "I'm trying to put together the possible places Osaka-san might go in her present condition," we both ended up in the hallway, "places where she would feel safe and protected." "Wouldn't she go home," Rikomi suggest as we headed for the elevator. "Not if she is afraid of what she might do to her mother," I explained as I hit the down button, "or if she feels shame of what has happened to her." "I can't believe any mother would reject her child," Rikomi's eyes full of a mother's understanding, "no matter what." "I hope you are right," I concurred but then I added, "but Osaka-san was raped and she is currently operating on an animalistic level, so she might feel like she is unworthy of her mother's love," the elevator door opened and I got in, "I'll let you know if I find her." "You are going to look for her," more a statement than a question from Rikomi. "As my associates would say," a knowing smile on my face, "I'm a marshmallow when it comes to girls, kids and cats." "Take care, Thisbe-san," a fragment of Rikomi's departing wave reached me through the elevator's closing doors. The trip down to the first floor gave me the opportunity to gathered the loose strands of this case in my head, each string had its own color and with one or two of them you might get one solution that was just as good as another possibility, but when you weave them all together they gave me only one solution that made sense to me, and when the bell for the first floor went off and the door opened, I had a chance to find out if the imaginative cloth I had was real, because there standing together near the check-in desk was Tsukino Usagi, Chiba Mamoru and Mizuno Ami. They were softly talking together until Chiba saw me approaching them, then they turned as a group and I stopped to bow, saying, "Good afternoon, everyone, I have a question to ask." "Good afternoon, Rogers-san," Chiba's voice as smooth as silk, "and what question would you ask?" "Am I working for you?" Chiba's reaction to my question was well hidden behind his black eyes, Ami's sapphire eyes gained that scientific look she and her mother used but it was Usagi that was visibly shaken, then she looked at Chiba, who gave her a slight nod, followed by a shared gaze between the two girls, Ami giving her a nod. Usagi turned to me, "Yes, a friend of mine referred you to me when Naru-chan was attacked," there was a royal calmness to Usagi's voice that wasn't there when I encountered her earlier today. "A friend of a friend," I suggested. A hint of amusement was added to Usagi's calm voice, "She suggested you were someone to trust, an honorable person." "Does that mean you want me and my associates to search for Osaka-san?" I noticed a guarded expression appearing on Ami's pale face, "The more eyes out there looking for her, the less chance she will be shot by the police or the military." Those last seven words put horror in Usagi's wide eyes, causing Chiba to place a comforting hand on her hip and for Ami's own eyes to slightly dilate. With barely restrained emotion the petite blonde said, "Please, help us find Naru-chan." "Here," I held out a piece of paper which Chiba accepted, "this has the address for the drug lab in Yokohama," then I pulled out my cellphone, I had found it under Osaka-san's hospital bed, and dialed the emergency number. "Yajue here, Kone-chan." "Broken Arrow," I said and waited for response. After a wait, Yajue said, "Thisbe-san, I have everyone on walkie-talkie mode," this was followed by several people letting me know they were there. "Listen, everyone," I said, "there's a rape victim wandering the streets of Tokyo and we've got to find her before anything happens to her." "It's Osaka-san, isn't it?" Yajue asked. "Yes, it isn," I acknowledged, "and it won't be hard to identify her either." "How come?" that was Ichigo asking the million-dollar question. "Because she is now a catgirl." ******** Somewhere in Minato-Ku Time was now our greatest enemy because in less than fourteen hours, Typhoon Ursula would hit and the chances of Osaka Naru surviving it in her current state were not good. With the streets nearly deserted of traffic and most people using the bus and trains to get around before they button-down for the storm, I was acting in quick response with my motorcycle while the rest of the crew concentrated in the area surrounding the hospital and meticulously moving outward. The Gemini Twins were holding down HQ on their own. "Nae-chan," I shook my head at the young girl, "this is the sixth false alarm I've gotten, two from you alone." "I'm sorry, Boss," her ginger-haired head bowed under my chastisement, "it's just I'm so freaked out by how quiet the city is right now, it's unnatural!" I smiled under my helmet as I sat on my bike, "Just remember to check the noise out before you scream over the cellphone for help," I played my usual role as the cool and calm leader with an understanding mind. "It won't happen again, Boss," a determined look on Nae's face. "At least you're not as bad as Myomi and Suzue," a forlorn sigh at the end of my comment. A light giggle came from Nae, with her adding, "How many times have they called you to ask your permission to bring in another stray cat." "I've lost count," then my cellphone went off again, "that's probably them again," Nae giggled again which is why I had brought it up in the first place, I wanted to leave her in a positive mood. "Hello, Rogers-san here," I spoke into the cellphone. "Kone-chan?" I felt like pinching the bridge of my nose when I heard Suzue's voice. "No... I'm putting my foot down," I tried really hard not to bark at the girl, I really did, "no more stray..." "How about the two-footed kind?" Suzue squeaked. That got my attention, "Where are you?" "We're at the Hikawa Shrine," Suzue was whispering softly, "Myomi-chan wanted to get a fire reading from its shrine maiden." I could have kicked myself, it was so obvious that Osaka would go to the one person who could offer spiritual advice, help her understand what had happened to her and what was happening to her now. Then I felt fear, "Are you guys alright?" "We're hiding in the shrine's living quarters with the noble priest," I could hear Suzue's fright in her voice but she was trying to be a brave, "Osaka-san is outside somewhere, it looks like she is searching for someone." "I'll be there as quick as possible," I chick the cellphone closed and put it away, "Nae-chan, alert the others, our target is at the Hikawa Shrine." "Got you, Boss," Nae nodded her head and pulled out her own cellphone while I put on my helmet. "Get everyone together and have them bring a lot of rope," I straighten my bike and kick in the kickstand, "we're going to need to bring her in alive." "Aye-aye, Boss . . ." the rest of Nae's words were lost to me when I started up the bike and roared away. I wore my costume now that my business suit was mostly rags thanks to Osaka's claws and when I reached the staircase that parted the wall, which reinforced the hill where the shrine stood, I turned and powered Old Glory up those stone steps. A few feet from the top I stop, shut the engine off and pulled down the kickstand. Keeping my eyes moving I got off and gradually opened one of the saddlebags to get out the bandolier than contained a holstered sawed-off shotgun and the shells in the belt were packed with beanbags and other ammo designed to stun whatever it hit. The leafless branches of the shrine's ancient cherry trees crowned the sky above me. The wind had little by little dropped down during the day, the calm before the storm. My steps echo on the well-kept flagstones, the path going from the red torii, the sacred gate, to the shrine building. Even with this being the tail end of the typhoon season, there was plenty of shrubbery to hide a prowling catgirl, and I was uncertain if it was a good thing or a bad thing that the young Hino wasn't here. This was bad in every sense of the word, Osaka-san probably knew the lay of land, I had people here that I couldn't afford for her to discover and a whiff of scent would allow her to find them. "Here kitty, kitty, kitty," it was lame, I know but I needed her to focus on me; it worked. The attack came from behind and above, most likely from the shrine's roof and it was noiseless, which meant she made a single leap instead of a long run. My upper back took the impact and I was driven to the ground with my saw-off shotgun sent clattering away from me. The catgirl rode my back as I stood, her clawed blows and teeth stopped by my helmet and armored jacket but I couldn't reach her, at least not until I grabbed her tail. "Rawwl!" Cut through the air as I pulled her off my back but the blow to my head by her feet separated us. There we stood facing each other with both of us limited to natural weapons, the catgirl an offensive weapon while I was well rounded, and I was sure she recognized me from the hospital, which is why she probably attacked me like she did, I was a proven threat. The second attack came fast, an attempt to hamstring me by attacking my right ankle and it was an opening I wasn't going to waste. I jumped over the catgirl's attack, rolled several times so I could scoop up my shotgun and turned to face her, finding the creature coming right at me, I fired right in her face. Backward the catgirl flew from me but she twisted her body in the air and landed on her feet, her face showing no damage from the impact of the beanbags, "This is going to be harder than I thought," I muttered to myself as I reloaded my weapon, "The cavalry won't be here for another ten minutes, tops." The periwinkle-colored eyes of the catgirl watched me intensely, her tiger-like tail swished back and forth, clearly she was waiting for me to start round two but I wasn't going to if I could help it, then my luck turned bad when a slight breeze pulled her nose to her left, toward the living quarters. I charged and so did the catgirl, me hoping that the load in my gun would give me the chance I needed. At an arm length between us I dived to my right, twisting onto my back. It was from this position I saw a red-and-white blur dropping from the sky above where we would have collided but it was too late, I had already pulled the trigger which fired the gun between my feet, both the feline and whoever, whatever, was falling from the sky were caught in the area-of-effect of a blast of pepper spray. Using the raw strength of my legs I rocked myself onto my feet but then I pulled a raw recruit stunt: I froze. I couldn't believe it although I should have expected it, since Hikawa Shrine was one of the places where they been sighted, the Sailor Senshi, and here was the red-cloaked one, the violet-haired girl, on one knee where she was coughing and sneezing up a storm along with the catgirl. I unfroze but it was too late, even if she was robbed of all her senses except hearing, the catgirl bolted from the still helpless Sailor Senshi and away from me but then I pulled another raw recruit stunt, I had lost my sense of my surrounding. I hadn't noticed Myomi, Suzue and an old man coming of hiding nor did I spot the girl the catgirl collided with until it happen, a girl with twin ponytails, a girl with incredibly long gossamer wings, a Sailor Senshi, Sailor Moon. "Naru-chan! Stop!" Sailor Moon shouted as she struggled to hold the catgirl. I had already ran halfway toward them but then I stopped, because I was unsure of what to do, I mean this was Sailor Moon, the savior of Tokyo, and she had a tendency to dust things and I didn't want to get in her way. Another thing that caused me to pause was Sailor Moon's wings, from afar they looked like huge angel wings but from where I was now, you could tell they were in fact several feathered filaments of various lengths and it was their constant motion that produced the illusion of wholeness. The catgirl was frightened so when her jaws closed on Sailor Moon's forearm it wasn't a surprise to me, but the creature's reaction to the Sailor Senshi's scream was, recognition filled those green eyes and she looked at her captive like it was the first time. It was a long heartrending howl that came from the catgirl just before her arms hugged Sailor Moon, I couldn't be sure but it sounded like she howled a name but her voice box distorted the words. When I saw Sailor Moon's wings wrap the catgirl in a tight embrace and the tears drop from both of their eyes, I relaxed enough to turnaround and go to the aid of the other Sailor Senshi. I helped her out of what remained of the pepper spray and once we were clear of it, I said, "Sorry about that, Sailor Mars, I didn't see you coming." It was a little amusing the tears running down her face not matching the bottomless expression in those dark eyes, sneezing into her right hand as she tried to talk, "That (sneeze) was the (sneeze) general idea (sneeze) Lord God (sneeze) what was (sneeze) that stuff?" "Military strength pepper spray," I informed her, "designed to take down a bull elephant," then I decided to lighten the mood, "although I could send the manufacturer a note to let him know it can takedown a Sailor Senshi." "Funny," Sailor Mars sniffled and glared at me at the same time, "you and Sailor V should team-up." That comment caught my attention and I looked carefully at Sailor Mars' face. There was something about her dark eyes and her aloof voice being familiar to me, but her features waver before my gaze like something was trying to stop me from putting a name to them, then her expression changed and she pointed at her own face, "Do I have something on my face?" That did it, my concentration broke by Sailor Mars' glib words, her features going completely unrecognizable, to cover my defeat I said, "No you don't, young lady." I looked at Sailor Moon and the catgirl, both were shedding tears and they hugged each other, "so do you have a place where you can take Osaka-san?" Sailor Mars' answer didn't come immediately, she stared at me like she was checking my morality meter, "We do but we can't afford to have anyone stay with her right now," the young woman looked at her leader and the catgirl. "Not even dumpling head?" I got a fleeting crooked smile from Sailor Mars which told me there were a few kernels of truth in the anime and in the manga, "Me and my associates have a safe house were Osaka-san can stay and I can guarantee our people will take good care of her as well as keep her secret safe." Once more I had to deal with Sailor Mars' dark gaze before she walked over to Sailor Moon and she spoke to her leader, the exchange produced a thumbs up from the petite blond followed by a nod from the violet-haired hero and I pulled off my helmet so I could use my cellphone, only to be surprised by the shocked expressions on the Sailor Senshi's faces, "Why eyeballing me?" I asked. "It just we didn't expect you were wearing a mask underneath that helmet," despite the denial by Sailor Mars, her expression plus Sailor Moon's silence told me they were caught off-guard by my blue domino mask. "Well, my regular clothes are at the laundry," which was true, in little-bitty-pieces, "so I had to wear the costume I usually use when I want to confuse the Yakuza." Now I had question marks over my head because Sailor Mars and Sailor Moon put their heads together and they were having such a deep discussion that I was able to walk up to them undetected. "Do you think we can trust him, he is a man after all?" "Listen, flame-breath, not all men are evil." "Which man hasn't betrayed us at least once?" "Motoko-niichan." There was a pause where the only sound you could hear was the catgirl's loud purr, "Point taken." "Ladies," I raised my hand, "If it makes a difference . . ." I didn't get to finish because Sailor Mars turned to me and she asked, "You have dealt with Yakuza before, right?" "Yes, young lady," I answered. I could tell by the same expression on the two Sailor Senshi's faces that they had decided something together. "Good, Sailor Moon wants to checkout your safe house and your people before leaving Naru-san in their care," the disagreeable look Sailor Mars gave me told me she really didn't trust me, "so we are asking you to help a couple of our friends in Yokohama." A brick wall wasn't necessary to fall on me to tell me what Sailor Moon and Sailor Mars was asking me to do but I had to ask the reason, "If I maybe so bold, girl, but why do you need my help?" It was blackness of shale I saw in Sailor Mars' gaze but she answered calmly, "Three of our members are out-of-town and we lost contact with another," there was a flicker of fire in her eyes but nothing more, "so we need you and only you to help the two going in on the Yakuza lab in Yokohama." All the ducks fell into line and it made me realize I had been working for two groups, the friends of Osaka Naru and the Sailor Senshi. Was there a connection between the two groups, obviously, but right now I was given a chance-of-a-lifetime, "Where do I meet them?" (End of Part Two)
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