Disclaimer - Tenchi and the crew are unfortunately not my property. I had no part in creating them, though I am desperately trying to figure out how to give myself Ryoko's abilities. I am not writing this for the purpose of making money, though if any kind souls see fit to give donations I will not complain. I am writing merely because I'm an obsessive person in general and I really need to get it out of my system. Mayhem is my creation however, and anyone using him without my OK will anger the Great Shaven Cat Goddess and cause her to sic her elite pack of Killer Llamas on you. Criticism is welcome, flames are ignored, praise will inflate my ego greatly, and make sure I actually finish this one-day. Enjoy.
Many thanks to my talented editor, and fellow fanfic author, for his help in making this readable. THANK YOU DREZ!!!!
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Mayhem, Chaos, and General Messes
Chapter 1
Greetings and Salutations
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
It's amazing how far weapons fire can go when it's not forcing its way through an atmosphere. In this case the two GP cruisers were taking potshots at their latest target from nearly 2 million kilometers away... and scoring hits way to often for their quarry's taste. The target in question was a GP ship itself. Originally designed as a light patrol ship, it had been heavily modified since its initial launch to serve the less than legal activities of its current owner. The pounding it had taken had further served to make its original configuration a thing of memory. Airfoils designed to help it in atmospheric maneuvering were little more than smoldering stumps. The bulges and spines of its sensors and weapons were melted away, charred areas marking where they had been. The armor protecting its oversized engines was warped and scarred from weapon strikes, and several compartments towards the aft were open to space.
The battered ship's pilot swore under his breath as another warning light came on. More of the former patrol ships systems were damaged than intact anymore... but his ship's shields were still up, though barely, and his engines were still running at full power and then some. It would have to be enough.
The two GP pursuit cruisers were new models, fresh from the shipyards and powerful enough to take on warships if they had to. But the officers piloting them weren't willing to run the risks their quarry was. The suspect's engines had been running deep in the red for nearly 15 minutes already, nearly twice the normal amount of power being fed into them. But his goal was in sight; they only had to last a handful of minutes more.
"You are entering a protected area of space, you're already charged with several dozen serious crimes... don't make things worse for yourself!" An authoritative voice called over the ships communications system.
The fleeing pilot rapidly threw a series of switches, rerouting power from the failing life support systems and dumping it into the remaining cooling systems in an attempt to keep the ship from literally melting from the heat of her own engines. Acting almost entirely on instinct he threw the battered ship into a wild evasive pattern... making its frame groan in protest, but managing to dodge the majority of a concentrated volley of weapons fire. Flicking open a communications channel he snarled his answer "If you pigs catch me your just gonna send me off to be hung, so I may as well die a free man!"
Switching his comm. systems off and rerouting the power to his draining shields, however small an effect it would actually have, the fugitive muttered under his breath "God I hope that sounded convincing... or at least not as corny as I think it did." Looking out of the cockpit at the rapidly growing blue, white, and green sphere ahead of him, a wistful smile graced his features. "Fuck, even if I do get myself killed, at least I got to see home again first..." With that thought he dumped the last of his reserve power into the already straining engines.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
"This guy is completely nuts." Kiyone muttered under her breath even as she moved into an intercept position in high Earth orbit, the pursuit of the pirate vessel displayed prominently on an overhead screen.
"Why do yah think he's nuts Kiyone?" was Mihoshi's bewildered response.
"The guy is running his engines at nearly two hundred percent of their rated maximum output Mihoshi! He's damned lucky that they haven't blown up from the strain yet." Kiyone explained, rolling her eyes at her partner's ability to miss the obvious.
"Oh... he must really be in a hurry then." Mihoshi said brightly, smiling cheerfully at Kiyone.
"Suicidal would be a more appropriate term for it if you ask me." Kiyone replied absently, her attention focused almost entirely on the approaching ships. "Get that grapple beam ready... we're going to try and grab him as he goes by. With this big a difference in velocities we won't be able to stop him completely, but hopefully we'll slow the ship down enough for the cruisers to catch up and complete the capture."
"Okay Kiyone!" the blonde detective replied cheerily before turning to her control panel with a confused expression "how exactly do I do that again?"
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The ship's main sensor array had been hit nearly an hour ago, so it wasn't surprising that it's harried pilot didn't see the third GP ship until he was less than a hundred kilometers away from it, and that it had already fired it's grapple beam when he finally did see it. The sudden, unexpected, deceleration overcame the ship's already straining acceleration compensators and threw him roughly against the control panel.
The ship's engines, already overloaded and glowing red from the power being fed into them, exploded in a blinding flash under the sudden additional strain, splitting the heavily damaged ship like an overripe melon. Kiyone and Mihoshi winced away from the flash, painfully bright despite the near instant darkening of their ship's view ports, and fragments of the pirate ship could be heard bouncing off their hull as the wreckage flew past them and into the atmosphere of the blue planet beyond.
Hidden by the destruction of its parent craft, a small pod drifted away from the wreckage and descended into the atmosphere of the planet below, angling for the nearest piece of land, a large island just east of the largest continent.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Exhausted, Mihoshi and Kiyone staggered into the Masaki household, collapsing onto the living room couch with twin sighs of relief. Mihoshi was asleep and snoring quietly within seconds of her head hitting the cushions.
"So I heard you two had a bit of excitement on patrol today." Washu teased as she walked up behind the two bedraggled GP officers.
"Yeah... the first time in months that we've had to deal with anything more interesting than a traffic violation and the suspect manages to get himself killed!" Kiyone groaned, silently cursing the bad luck that had her patrolling a primitive system in the middle of nowhere.
"Do they know who it was?" Ryoko asked, phasing into the room through the wall behind Washu.
"We're not 100 percent certain of course, after all, its not like there's going to be a body left in the wreckage after a fall from orbit... but they're almost positive it was a class C criminal called Mayhem."
"So what did this guy do to earn the C classification?" Ryoko pressed, curiosity evident in her voice. "I mean, you don't need to be all that powerful to get the rating, but you do have to cause some serious damage." Kiyone had already opened her mouth to answer when...
"Why so interested Ryoko? Think he may be a friend of yours?" Ayeka sneered, the cruel expression marring her otherwise lovely features as she stepped into the room.
"Actually Ayeka, you might want to hear this too." Kiyone cut in before Ryoko could retort; "it involves the Jurai royal family." Not waiting for Ayeka to recover from her surprise Kiyone pressed on with her explanation. "This guy's main crime was the murder of a fairly high ranking member of the royal family about three years ago."
Shocked, it took a few seconds for the lavender haired girl to respond... "W.... Who?"
Pinching the bridge of her nose as she tried to remember the name Kiyone answered, "Ummm... a Duke Satoshima... I think."
"Uncle Sato!?!?" Ayeka yelped, her lavender eyes widening in surprise.
"Oh, I'm sorry Ayeka." Kiyone responded in a sympathetic tone even she wondered why Ayeka hadn't already heard the news. "Were you close?"
Sitting down, Ayeka took a deep breath to steady herself before answering, "No... Not really, it was just a shock I suppose. He and Father were close, but I did not get to see him that often. Even when I did have the opportunity, it was usually during some affair of state. But still, he was my uncle." She paused briefly before continuing, "You said that the criminal was killed... are you certain of it?"
"About as certain as we can be without doing a large-scale search of the crash site and surrounding area or at leas better sensor data." was Kiyone's answer. "Because this is a restricted system though, we only had time to tractor up the major pieces of wreckage and do a cursory sensor-sweep of the area." She frowned and rubbed her temples in an attempt to soothe the migraine she could feel forming. "We're listing him as dead in the official records. I don't see how anyone could have survived that crash. The largest piece of the ship left was the front quarter of one of the engines... and that was little more than a chunk of molten metal. Hell, the thing blew to pieces long before it actually hit and most of it landed in the ocean a few miles off the coast anyway."
"But you didn't find a body?" Ayeka asked, frowning slightly in disapproval.
"I'm afraid not Ayeka. There probably isn't a body to find after that crash." Kiyone explained. "And a search to find any trace of remains wouldn't go unnoticed by the local population or authorities."
Turning to look at Washu, Ayeka asked in a slightly pleading voice, "Washu-chan, do you think, perhaps, that you would be able to find out for sure if that murderer died in the crash?"
"C'mon Ayeka, the guy's dead..." Ryoko cut in "what are you afraid of?"
"I AM NOT AFRAID!!!" Ayeka snapped. "I merely want to be certain that that animal died. If he survived, I will hunt him down myself if I have to." she growled.
"Whatever." Ryoko responded, rolling her eyes. "I'm going to check on Mayuka, you probably woke her up shouting like that. After all, the soundproofing only works if people remember to close the door." Right on cue a soft wail came from the direction of the nursery. "See, told yah." sticking her tongue out at the other girl, Ryoko teleported out of the room.
Smiling softly at her daughter's actions Washu finally responded to Ayeka's question "I suppose I can check for you Ayeka." She answered with a grin. "This Mayhem actually has a bit of a reputation."
"A reputation?" Ayeka queried.
Kiyone cut in with an answer before Washu could respond, "He's been reported killed on at least four separate occasions, though never in anything quite this dramatic before." Ayeka's eyes widened breifly in surprise, but her expression merely got harder at the revelation.
"Well then, let us be sure that this is the last such occasion."
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Lifting the crying Mayuka from her crib, Ryoko couldn't help but smile lovingly at the beautiful child she now cradled to her chest. Despite her admittedly turbulent relationship with the girl when she first arrived in their lives, she really had grown to love the child. In fact, of all the girls, she spent the most time doting on the infant girl... though this was a fact she did her best to hide from everyone. "Did that nasty ol' Ayeka wake you up Mayuka-Chan?" she asked in a soft voice, placing a soft kiss on the child's forehead.
Tenchi, responding to Mayuka's cries, was greeted with a pleasant surprise. Making a quick decision, he stopped in his tracks and put his grandfather's training to good use, masking his presence as best he could. Not wanting to disturb the rare, tender, scene that lay before him, he contented himself with simply watching from the half open door. He was rather surprised that Ryoko hadn't noticed him yet, even with him using his not inconsiderable training in stealth, but was more than willing to accept small favors when they came to him.
Even after being merged with Zero, times when Ryoko would drop her tough-girl act were few and far between, and she tended to overcompensate and act up even more than usual when she got caught acting "soft". Ever since Washu had brought Mayuka back in her new infant form though, the brash cyan-haired girl had been letting her guard down more and more often.
Tenchi watched quietly from the hallway as Mayuka's cries quieted and finally stopped completely. Sitting down in the comfortable rocker that stood beside the window Ryoko managed to surprise Tenchi once again. She began to sing. The obviously alien words slipped from her lips, soft and calming, and her secret audience smiled softly in response. Ryoko's singing voice was low and a little rough, not really remarkable in the technical sense, but rather nice just the same. The song seemed to wrap itself around him, soothing him to the core... and apparently it was having a similar effect on his daughter as well, the tiny girl falling asleep before the second verse was finished.
"Beautiful." the word slipped unbidden from his lips as the song finished. With a start Ryoko's head whipped around to look at the door, her eyes wide. Seeing Tenchi standing there, watching her intently, she blushed beet red. Realizing that he was still staring, Tenchi followed suit.
"Sorry Ryoko..." Tenchi stammered, silently berating himself for forgetting how good Ryoko's hearing was, "you two looked so peaceful... I didn't want to disturb you."
"That's okay Tenchi." Ryoko replied quickly, "She's asleep again anyway... I was about to put her back in bed." she finished in a whisper, her blush fading a bit as the soft smile she had been wearing returned. She was probably going to be nearly impossible to deal with for a day or two after this Tenchi realized, but he decided that it had been worth it just this once.
As Ryoko laid the sleeping Mayuka back in the crib and tucked her in, Tenchi whispered in a slightly nervous voice "That song you were singing, it was beautiful. Where'd you learn it?"
"I don't know really... I just remember the words... I'm not really sure what they mean exactly. Honestly, I don't even remember exactly where I know it from." She attempted to make her voice casual and dismissive, but a slight waver crept into it against her will, and her tone only got sadder as she continued. "There are a lot of places in my life that I can't remember..." then to herself, almost inaudibly "a lot more I wish I didn't remember." Despite her best efforts a tear trailed down her cheek, and she hastily wiped the back of her arm across her cheek. Tenchi saw it anyway.
Tenchi didn't think he was actually supposed to have heard the last part of that, he knew that she definitely hadn't wanted him to see the tear, but he responded before he could really think about it. Taking a few quick steps forward he wrapped his arms around Ryoko's slender form in a comforting hug, her back to his chest, one of his arms slipping around her slim waist, the other around her shoulders.
Stiffening for an almost imperceptible moment out of sheer surprise, Ryoko quickly relaxed into the hug, savoring the unexpected contact. She could count the times he'd hugged her without any sort of encouragement on one hand. Each time she considered a treasured memory, but this... this was almost heaven.
"You okay Ryoko?" Tenchi whispered, and he was genuinely concerned... this melancholy mood was VERY out of character for the ex-pirate. He was a little surprised at the strength his own reaction, but something inside of him couldn't stand to see the cyan-haired girl in pain. Not when there was something he might be able do about it.
Shivering slightly from the feel of his warm breath brushing across her ear, Ryoko nodded, she was still feeling a little blue for whatever reason, but that was quickly changing as Tenchi's unusual display of affection continued. Turning in his arms she buried her face into his chest, breathing in his scent. Silent tears that she couldn't quite explain trickled down her cheeks as she concentrated on the boy holding her, letting his warmth chase her personal demons away for the time being. "My Tenchi..." she purred softly sliding her arms around his waist and returning his hug almost fiercely. For once, Tenchi didn't pull away.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The fugitive known to the galaxy at large simply as Mayhem, hurt pretty much everywhere. Not surprising considering how hard the lifeboat had hit. Dunking his head into the thin stream to wash away the dried crust of blood he could feel coating the right side of his face, he let the ice-cold water soothe the pain from his quickly fading injuries. After cleaning up he started wandering down the mountainside heading towards the thin ribbon of asphalt that he could just barely make out a handful of miles distant.
After an hour of scrabbling over the rough terrain the forested mountain offered. He stumbled onto the road he had spotted, picked a direction and began hiking. It was nearly half an hour before he got a clue as to where he had touched down. It was a street sign. The sign was in Japanese and read, "Tokyo, 50 kilometers".
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Calling up several dozen recordings of the incident as filmed by her orbital surveillance network, Washu quickly ran them through what she considered to be a fairly simple analysis program, the fact that nearly any government would have killed to get their hands on the program never really occurred to her. Not that it would have made any difference if it had. In a matter of minutes the program had isolated a single part of the incident and constructed the dozens of 2-D shots and other sensor readings into a highly detailed 3-D holograph. Chuckling slightly to herself, Washu found she couldn't help but be a little impressed; not something that happened terribly often.
"Oh Ayeka's going to LOVE this." She muttered to herself, printing out a few hard copies of the escape pod entering the atmosphere to show the anxious Princess.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Ayeka was feeling rather agitated at the moment. The two detectives had left the room to get some sleep, Kiyone practically dragging a half-asleep Mihoshi up the stairs to their room. To work off some of the irritation she had started pacing back and forth across the large living room as she waited for Washu to finish with her analysis.
"I can't believe Mother didn't tell me about something this important immediately!" she ranted to the empty room, which, being largely ignorant when it came to human speech, did it's best to ignore her.
"What did Mother not tell you Ayeka? Sasami asked curiously as she walked into the room, Ryo-ohki following close behind the young princess in her toddler form as was normal.
Stopping her ranting abruptly, Ayeka's eye's widened slightly as she realized that her sister hadn't heard the terrible news yet. "Oh, Sasami..." she hesitated slightly before continuing in a soft, concerned voice, "Sasami, do you remember Uncle Satoshima?"
Sasami nodded hesitantly before answering in a slightly uncomfortable voice, "Uh-huh. Not very well, but I do remember him Sis." She chewed on her bottom lip as she dredged up the few faint memories she had of her uncle. "He always made me feel kind of uncomfortable." she said hesitantly, not liking to ever say anything even remotely bad about anybody.
Ayeka blinked, then managed to chuckle slightly before replying, "He did always act rather more familiar than was appropriate for someone of his station. He was just trying to be friendly I suppose." she mused briefly, a slight smile on her face as she remembered. Sobering quickly she motioned for Sasami to sit on the couch beside her. "I'm afraid that he... died almost three years ago."
"Oh... that's awful." Sasami said walking over to give her obviously upset sister a hug. "I wonder why mom didn't want to tell us?"
"I suppose she didn't want to upset us.... he was murdered." Ayeka explained softly her voice a mixture of quiet mourning and simmering anger.
Sasami's eyes widened and she gasped at the news. She didn't say anything, merely hugging her big sister as everything tumbled out of the older girl in a rush. Washu watched from the doorway of her lab, giving the two sisters a few minutes to grieve together before she dropped the latest bombshell on them.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Reluctantly unwrapping his arms from around Ryoko's slender form Tenchi tilted her chin up so he could see her golden eyes. "Feeling better now Ryoko?" he asked the young woman standing before him.
Despite her tear-streaked face and puffy eyes, a genuine smile graced her features. "Yes Tenchi... thank you..." blushing a little despite herself under his gaze Ryoko tried to gather up some of her normal bravado... she took a quick step forward, bringing her face barely an inch away from his, her eyes half closed...
Tenchi's eye's widened and he could feel the familiar pressure building in the back of his nose. He swallowed nervously, almost painfully aware how little distance separated his lips from hers... from her soft, perfectly formed, lips...
Her next words were whispered, barely audible, her voice low, throaty, almost pleading, "Tenchi... please..." the tip of her tongue darted briefly across her lips... "Kiss me." Tenchi, dazed and running almost entirely on autopilot leaned forward, his arms slipping back around Ryoko's slender waist... their lips brushed.... and an angered scream from downstairs shattered the moment.
Pulling away abruptly, his face red to the tips of his ears and a small trickle of blood coming from his nose Tenchi practically ran out of the room, babbling confused apologies and excuses that Ryoko didn't really hear. Wanting to scream herself, the only thing that stopped her from flying after the fleeing Tenchi and dragging him someplace private was Mayuka's upset wail. With a frustrated sigh Ryoko turned to attend to the crying child.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Tenchi bounded down the stairs into the living room, "What's wrong?!?!" he asked in a bewildered tone, observing the people in the room. Ayeka was stalking back and forth almost growling under her breath...
"Of all the incompetent, moronic, amateurish, screw ups!" she growled angrily to the room at large.
Now thoroughly confused Tenchi threw a questioning look over at Washu, who was watching Ayeka with no small amount of amusement showing on her face.
"Ayeka, nobody screwed up. The guy's just damned good. Heck, I'M impressed." Washu exclaimed. This calmed Ayeka down a little bit, as she stopped ranting to listen. "Without the sensor net I have set up in orbit even I might've missed that escape. Either the guy's one of the more skilled escape artists I've ever had the privilege of witnessing, or he has luck to rival Mihoshi's at her best."
"Do you know where on the planet he is Washu-chan?" Ayeka asked, a hard edge underlying the hopeful tone of her voice.
"Well I'm pretty sure he's in Tokyo actually." Washu answered with a grin. "After I managed to get a fix on his escape pod I was able to track a body walking away from the crash site. A car picked him up, and I lost him after he entered Tokyo. His energy signature is too weak to track from long range in that crowded of an environment."
"Is there any way to find him Washu-chan?" she asked, her eyes flashing fire as she visibly struggled to keep her temper in check.
Looking thoughtful for a second Washu answered "Well his energy signature is distinct enough that we could probably track it with some short-range hand-held units I have in my lab... but we'd have to get pretty close, a kilometer at the most. If he's still in Tokyo that shouldn't be a to big of a problem though."
"Ummm... what's going on?" Tenchi practically wailed.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Thanking the young woman that had given him a ride into Tokyo, Mayhem wandered as casually down the street as he could manage in the torn and battered fatigues he was wearing. Doing his best not to attract any undue attention, he strolled into a nearby gift-shop and snitched a tourist map. The slight pang of guilt that accompanied the theft didn't do anything to help his mood. He was hungry, exhausted, and broke. Fortunately he spoke Japanese fairly well because of the classes he took in high school and its weird similarity to Jurian, even if his accent was readily apparent. Fingering the jewel-encrusted pendant in his pocket he began looking for a pawnshop.
After about two hours and more wrong turns than he could count, Mayhem finally found what he'd been looking for. The shop was old, battered, and had a distinctly disreputable air about it. It was a place that wouldn't ask any questions or report anything unusual to the local authorities. Exactly the kind of place a man on the run could sell off some of his loot. Straightening his rather beat up clothing as best he could he strode into the dim shop, looking considerably more confident than he felt.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
"Tell me again why we're going into Tokyo?" Ryoko asked, sulking in the back of the van.
"Because I will not let a murderer escape justice if I can prevent it... particularly one who is powerful enough to kill a member of the Jurai royal family." Ayeka replied in a tight voice. "He killed a member of my family. I WILL see him brought to justice."
"Has it ever occurred to you that if he was able to take out your Uncle he may very well be able to kill you too Ayeka." Ryoko snapped back. "Or kill or seriously hurt any one of us... maybe even Tenchi."
"Oh come on Ryoko." Tenchi called in a slightly nervous voice from the front seat. "We've faced worse threats than this guy."
"Actually Ryoko's got a good point Tenchi." Kiyone interjected. We don't give criminals a C rating without good reason." Her voice hard she added, "Underestimate this guy and it could get you killed."
"Killed?" Mihoshi asked in a trembling voice. "I don't wanna die!!!" she bawled.
"No one is going to die Mihoshi." Ayeka barked, her already frayed temper snapping.
"Really?" the blonde sniffed.
"Really Mihoshi." Kiyone assured. "We just need to be careful." Sighing she added, "You know guys, this is really a GP matter, the rest of you don't really need to come along."
"We're a team Kiyone... we do this together." Tenchi cut in from his place in the driver's seat, his voice rather atypically firm. "Now Washu, what's the plan?"
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Shrugging on the old army jacket he had picked up, Mayhem walked out of the old pawnshop into the quickly cooling evening. Shivering slightly because of the chill he looked over his map for a nearby hotel.
"Christ, I forgot how big Tokyo was." He muttered under his breath as he tucked the map under his arm and started out. "Now if I can only manage to not get lost."
Mayhem sighed out loud at the situation he was in. "Well I guess I really shouldn't complain, at least I hit dry land. I may be in the wrong hemisphere, but at least it's Japan instead of China or Mongolia or just about anywhere else." With another sigh, he began walking in what he thought was the right direction.
"Getting the rest of the way home from here shouldn't be a huge deal as long as I don't run out of stuff to sell off." He barked out a harsh laugh at that thought, absently patting the small, multi-dimensional pouch strapped to his belt.
"Good lord," Mayhem thought to himself, "I STILL can't believe that a crook as successful as Zapan stored so much of his personal stash in one place. Especially one this easy to steal."
"Ah well, I'll call home tomorrow. Of course, the fact that I'm probably listed as dead is going to be a pain, but it's not like I can't forge documents if I need to." He muttered to himself under his breath. "God, I can't wait to see everybody again... I just hope that I can explain what happened without getting thrown in the nuthouse." Chuckling to himself he picked up his pace, eager for the next day to come.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Ayeka glared at the still silent tracking device in her hand as if it alone was responsible for the lack of any results so far. Unfortunately its range was limited, so in order to increase the groups chances of finding their quarry, they had split up in a carefully mapped out search pattern. The second any one of them got a reading a homing beacon in their tracking device would immediately switch on, and they would follow this Mayhem at a distance until the rest of the group had arrived. Or at least that was how the plan was supposed to work.
"Where can that criminal be hiding!" Ayeka seethed. "If he has left the city already I swear I will call in the Jurian royal guard to track him down, protected colony or not!" At the back of her mind she new she was being irrational about the whole matter. But the rage over the murder of her Uncle, a respected member of the Royal Family, was drowning out that voice of reason quite effectively.
Absorbed in her own angry thoughts the sudden beep of her tracking device's homing beacon switching on made her jump, a surprised yelp escaping her lips.
"Finally!" She exclaimed with a snarl as she set out to find her target. Pointedly ignoring the stares her shout had drawn.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
"Non-local energy signature detected broadcasting from 550 meters, at 350 degrees from magnetic north" His small portable computer beeped in English from its place on his belt. The tinny, electronic words were enough to make his heart clench in his chest.
Snapping on a small headset that resembled nothing more than simple pair of wrap-around sunglasses he spoke a soft series of commands in his native tongue. "Activate tactical display; bring up tracking information and detailed IR display." Drawing a small weapon from beneath his coat he quickly made his way towards the signal source, taking to the rooftops in a series of bounding leaps.
Mere minutes later he slipped off the headset to get a better look at the small woman the signal was emanating from. The wind was blowing from her direction, and he could smell her nervousness and anger clearly. Her body language was controlled, but still quite anxious. She was looking in his basic direction, but it was clear that she didn't actually see him. Looking closely he bit back a curse. The girl's hair was purple! And the hairstyle was one he recognized as being pretty popular among the more affluent Jurians.
Slipping on his headset again he muttered "Light amplification mode, zoom to 200". Quickly scanning the small woman again he spotted her tiara, immediately recognizing it for what it was. Her key, the item that linked Jurian nobility t their ships and made them as powerful as they were.
"Great she's a noble, just my friggin' luck." He muttered to himself even as he quickly worked out how he was going to get the tiara off her without it turning into a full-blown fight.
Quickly activating a small jamming device he jumped down from his perch on a small balcony above a nightclub and slipped into the light evening crowd when the girl turned her head briefly. Keeping his head low and temporarily joining a group of drunk college students that were heading roughly in the right direction he manage to get right next to the Jurian without attracting her notice. His hand in his pocket he readied a tiny blaster.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Ayeka was feeling distinctly nervous, shortly after the homing beacon had activated her quarry had started to rapidly close on her position. Looking anxiously in the direction indicated by the tracking device, she could see dozens of people coming in and out of a busy nightclub a mere twenty meters away from her.
When the tracking device's small screen fuzzed out Ayeka nearly panicked and ran. For all her anger, she remembered all too well the briefing that Kiyone had given them on their target. This Mayhem was dangerous, and had built a colorful and fearful reputation in the three years following the murder of her Uncle. He was credited with the deaths of several dozen very powerful individuals in the galaxies criminal community, among other things.
Before she could react Ayeka felt her tiara lifted from her brow and something press against the small of her back. An overly friendly voice behind her said in accented, but otherwise flawless Jurian "You give me even the slightest reason to use this gun and I won't hesitate. If you were tracking me you must know who I am... and my reputation."
Quickly composing herself Ayeka replied in her native tongue "If you kill me in this crowd do you really think you will get away? The police of this nation are supposed to be quite effective, and they will not be lacking for witnesses in a crowd this size."
While the girl's tone was bitterly cold, he could smell the raw fear pouring off her in waves. Mayhem was rather surprised at her control, and he smiled slightly in admiration
"I've killed in front of larger and considerably more formidable crowds than this one. Now I want you to toss that device you're holding into the trash can up ahead as we pass it. Now move." Prodding her gently in the back with the carefully hidden blaster he started walking. As they passed the trashcan he had indicated Ayeka reluctantly tossed the homing device in... her tiara and the still active jamming device joined it.
"You will not get away with this." She hissed, the chill on her voice amazingly enough getting colder as her fear scent was gradually replaced with anger.
"Please tell me you can do better than clichés in this situation M'lady." He chuckled slightly.
"Fine then... when I escape I swear I will have your manhood removed and fed to a school of piranha while you watch." Ayeka growled, the chill on her voice replaced with an almost savage heat.
"Ouch." Keith grimaced.
"And trust me criminal, all it will take is one word to my father and..."
"Your father M'lady?" Mayhem interrupted, amused. "Now who might that be?"
"My father is King Azusa of the Jurai royal family."
Mayhem paled. "You mean I've just nabbed one of the Royal princesses? SHIT! As if the guy wasn't pissed at me already!!!" he was almost wailing, not really caring if the princess in front of him heard.
"If you let me go now you may be lucky enough to earn a painless death." Ayeka sneered. "If you don't I guarantee that they will draw your execution out for days. Weeks if what I've heard about you is even half true."
"Well I guess I'll just have to avoid getting caught then Princess." He snarled, pushing her onto a nearly abandoned bus headed for the outskirts of the city.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
"Dammit!!!" Ryoko yelled, startling a good number of drunken partygoers into sobriety. "Where the hell is that girl?" she growled, trying to keep the worry out of her voice. She had been the first to arrive at the position where Ayeka's homing device had indicated. Now the only one left to arrive was Washu, who had been searching in almost exactly the opposite direction from Ayeka.
The group had been questioning the people in the immediate area about Ayeka, but unfortunately most of them were either too drunk to remember much or simply hadn't seen anything. All in all it was frustrating and was playing havoc on their nerves.
"Washu!" Tenchi cried as the diminutive scientist jumped out of the cab she had grabbed in order to get to the site of Ayeka's disappearance. "We can't find any sign of her or her tracking device." he explained in a worried voice. "We haven't found anybody who remembers seeing her yet either."
Activating her ethereal computer Washu started to rapidly punch in a series of commands. "Well if the tracking device I gave her is still intact I should be able to track it no matter what. At least in this low-tech environment." She furrowed her brow in concentration a she scrolled through the information on her computer screen, ignoring the amazed stares that her computer was drawing from partygoers as they walked by. "That's odd," she murmured.
"What's odd Washu?" Tenchi asked.
"That's Washu-CHAN!" she admonished before continuing. "There's a localized jamming field covering this area. A Jurian military type at that." She answered, shutting off her computer and walking over to a nearby garbage can. Looking into it she wrinkled her nose, took a step back and kicked the thing over, spilling its rather ripe contents onto the sidewalk. Pulling a pair of rubber gloves out of a subspace pocket she pulled them on and crouched, digging through the spilled trash.
"What the hell are you looking for Washu?" Ryoko asked, walking over from her inspection of one of the nearby shops.
Fishing out several familiar looking objects, she held them up for the rest of the group to see. Ryoko cursed under her breath. Tenchi just muttered a soft "oh no." They were dirty, but they were instantly recognizable as Ayeka's tiara and tracking device.
"If he managed to get her key away from her she's essentially helpless. I doubt he did it by force though. After all, I think people would have remembered the kind of fight it would have taken to get it away from her by force." Washu reasoned.
Ryoko snorted "No kidding... there probably wouldn't be much of a street left after a fight like that." Tenchi just nodded in agreement.
Holding up a small pen shaped object Washu continued in a grim voice, "This is a top of the line Jurian special ops personal jamming device. Apparently he managed to salvage at least some equipment from his ship before it blew. We just better hope he didn't manage to keep a hold of anything too dangerous. The guy's supposed to be deadly even unarmed. I hate to think of what he's capable of with access to top of the line Jurian military equipment like he supposedly carts around"
"So this makes it how many times that Ayeka's been kidnapped now?" was Ryoko's only comment.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Ayeka examined her captor out of the corner of her eye. His chin was about level with the top of her head, and he looked to be in good shape. He was broad shouldered with the build of a swimmer or a gymnast, though his loose clothes made it hard to tell unless you looked closely. His hair was a rather ordinary brown, fairly short, but from the looks of it, hadn't been trimmed in months. He also sported a somewhat ragged goatee and mustache.
His eyes were somewhat unusual. Silver, tinted with green, they flashed slightly in the dim light, reflecting what little light there was much like a cats. His nose was sharper and more prominent than most of the Terrans she had seen since arriving on the planet, but wouldn't have been considered unusual on a Jurian. Similarly, he was noticeably paler than Tenchi or most of the other people she had met in Japan.
His mouth was generous, though not overly so. The slight frown he wore looked almost unnatural on his features. Other than that it was a fairly ordinary face, far from unattractive, but still the kind of face that would disappear into a crowd with relative ease. The only things that really drew ones attention to it, aside from his eyes, were the scars and the tattoo that decorated it.
One scar, about an inch long, split his left eyebrow in half at a low angle, causing the hair to grow in an unusual pattern, making it look like the brow was permanently arched. Another set of scars, faded enough with age that you had to look twice to really see them, started under Mayhem's left ear and trailed down his neck and across his throat, ending just above his collarbone. From the look of the ragged lines they had been caused by a set of claws, and had very nearly killed him, should have killed him.
The tattoo was actually on her kidnappers neck. It started just under his right ear and ran down the length of his neck, disappearing under the collar of his jacket. It appeared to be text of some type, though she didn't recognize the language. It consisted of seven runes that she could see, though there may have been more hidden by his jacket. Each one was about two centimeters square. Flat black, the thing reminded her of nothing more than an identification code. After what felt like an eternity of riding in silence Ayeka finally worked up enough nerve to ask a question.
"Why are you doing this?" Ayeka asked in a voice still tight from anger and nervousness.
"Doing what?" he asked from his seat beside the Princess, sounding slightly amused by the question.
"Doing what? You have the nerve to ask me that?" the Princess asked in an angry whisper. He shrugged expressively before retorting.
"You were the one pursuing me Princess, I'm just trying to protect myself."
"But why kidnap me?" she asked tiredly. "Why not just kill me and be done with it?"
"And get your parents even madder at me then they already are? No thank you." Mayhem shuddered slightly before adding "Your Mother is a scary woman when she's pissed Princess." He paused briefly, a thoughtful look passing momentarily over his face, "What's your name anyway Princess?"
"Why should I tell a murdering piece of scum like you that." she answered harshly, the only thing that kept her from yelling it was the press of his gun against her side.
"Tell you what Princess, I'll tell you my name if you tell me yours." he said in a teasing voice, seemingly completely at ease despite the situation.
"I already know your name Mayhem." she spit out.
"I seriously doubt that Princess. Mayhem may be what everyone calls me, but it's not my name. Hell, I don't think that anyone off this planet knows my real name. At least no one alive."
"And why is that you monster, did you kill everyone who found out?" Ayeka retorted angrily.
Mayhem's expression hardened briefly, and he answered in a sharp voice, "I only told one person. She died in a raid by some of your soldiers Princess. They were so anxious to get their hands on me that they ignored the presence of a completely innocent girl and came in shooting."
Ayeka couldn't think of an appropriate response to that, and said nothing.
The bus lurched to a stop and the driver called "Last stop!" over the intercom.
"Well we're here." He sighed. "C'mon Princess." With that they stepped off the bus into the quiet country night.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
End Chapter one.