Is anybody still with me, or was the last chapter too much? I promise this one isn't traumatic.

Onward~!


Mai Shiranui wasn't the worrying type, but she couldn't shake the feeling that something about the evening was wrong. She thoughtfully picked at an almost comically large plate of nachos; surely, she was just being silly. Was increased anxiety a side-effect of her new meds? She would have to check on that later.

"Yeah, Robert doesn't care, but dad isn't happy about - what's the matter?" Yuri Sakazaki frowned from across the table.

"Kingy's really late," Mai answered. "This isn't like her."
"It's a little weird, but she'll be here any minute."

Mai watched the entrance to the restaurant as Yuri resumed her harrowing tale of working up the courage to get a nose piercing, and the effect it had on her old-fashioned father's psyche. Mai really wasn't trying to tune her out, but she couldn't help it. Deep down she knew something wasn't right.

"You're not even listening!" Yuri was clearly offended.
"Huh? Sorry. It's cute, it suits you."
"Now you're just sucking up."
"Not at all," Mai began. "It's just -"

She was cut off by Pulp's This is Hardcore as it blared loudly from Yuri's pocket.

"Oh, look -" Yuri grinned as she retrieved her phone - "It's King-san now! Helloooo?"

Yuri's face instantly went from cheerful to confused.

"I think it's a butt dial or something."
"Let me see!"

Mai reached over and took the device from Yuri's hand. She put it up to her ear and listened: All she could hear was a ton of static and a strange buzzing noise. She was about to give the phone back, but stopped; she thought she heard something - a voice? It sounded like it might have been a man yelling. No, it was definitely a man yelling. He was muffled and distant; she couldn't make out what he was saying.

"What is it?" Yuri asked around a mouthful of a particularly loaded nacho.
"I don't know? I - King!" Mai cupped her hand around the bottom of the phone and shouted. She was met with more buzzing.

"Here," Yuri took the device back. "Maybe if I hang up and call her ba -"
"Don't hang up!"
"But the connection's bad!"
"I think I heard someone yelling though!"
"What?"

Yuri immediately brought the phone back to her ear. She went through her own personal face journey as she listened, going from mildly annoyed to curious to intensely focused. She let out a loud gasp and dropped the expensive gadget on the table.

"I think I heard King scream!?"
"What?"
"I think - I mean, I know I heard a scream!" Yuri spoke so fast she barely enunciated her words. "But maybe it wasn't King-san. Maybe she's on the way here and someone on the street is being super loud or something, or, or…!"

Mai put the phone on speaker: Her and Yuri leaned over it, listening carefully, but there was only noise. Mai was about to say something but stopped when she heard a female voice yell what sounded like complete gibberish.

"Did you hear that?!" Yuri nearly jumped out of her seat.
"We've gotta go," Mai said quickly. "We've got to do something - what do we do?!"
"I don't know! We don't even know where she is!" Yuri exclaimed.
"Don't you have that friend finder app thing?!" Mai asked anxiously.
"I never set it up!"

Mai groaned. "Great… So, now what?!"
"I don't know," Yuri cried, practically on the verge of tears. "Maybe - maybe we should call the cops?"
"Cops!" Mai echoed as she pulled her own phone from her pocket. " Yes! Cops! Maybe Mary's on duty! Maybe she can help us!"
"Mary?!"
"Yeah," Mai quirked her brow as she hastily scrolled through her contacts. "You know, Blue Mary!? With the good hair and really buff arms?"
"Yeah, no, I know!" Yuri responded. "But I thought she was a super special… agent person or something?"
"Nope. She took a job at the police department not too long ago. Jesus, I don't even live here yet and I know more about the local law enforcement than you do?!"
"I'm not as cool as you," came Yuri's answer. It was hard to tell if she was serious.

Mai drummed her fingers on the table as Mary's line rang and rang and rang. She was about to hang up when she was greeted by a somewhat tired, almost babyish voice.

"Ryan."
"MARY!"
"W'sup, w'sup? Is Andy giving you trouble again?"
"Well, yeah, but - NO! Yuri and I need your help!"

Mai told Southtown PD's newest detective, Mary Ryan, about the bizarre phone call.

"That's really weird," Mary said. "You know what? Let me see if I can locate her."
"Really?! You can do that?!"
"Well, maybe. Like, I told her to accept my Find Friends request ages ago but I don't remember if she ever did. Let me see..."

Mai could hear Mary shuffling around at her desk. Within seconds a string of curses issued from the line.

"Well," Mary grumbled. "The good news is that she did accept the request. The bad news is that it's doing some really funky stuff with her location."
"What do you mean?"
"It keeps changing. First it showed her near her apartment, but then it jumped to somewhere not too far from the Embarcadero, but now the street keeps changing. It won't even load an address."
"Arggh! There's gotta be something we can do to find her!" Mai shouted, frustrated.

Mary sighed.

"Shit! She's my friend, too, and if she's in some kind of trou - wait. Hang on. Hang on a second!"

Mai began to protest but it was too late: the line went silent.

"What's going on?!" Yuri asked frantically.
"I'm on hold!"

"Sorry, but I just overheard something very interesting." Mary apologized as she came back on the line moments later. "Some kind of disturbance call was reported from a motel off the I-5 just a couple of minutes ago. You guys heard yelling right?"
"Yeah…?"
"What are the chances of Yuri getting a call like that at the same time a disturbance call comes in over here?"
"You think -?!"
"This could be the reach of the century, but my Spider-Sense is tingling. This case I'm on has hit a dead end so I'll go and check it out! Call my cell if anything changes!"

Mai opened her mouth to reply but Mary hung up before she could get another word in. She slammed her phone on the table and let out an angry noise that startled everyone in the immediate area.

A wide-eyed Yuri nervously smiled at the dozens of onlookers. "People are staring - and not at your boobs for once," she said through gritted teeth. " What happened?!"

Mai gave Yuri the details of the short conversation. When she finished she covered her face with her hands. This wasn't fair - this wasn't right! Surely, there had to be something they could do other than play the waiting game.

"HANG ON!"
"Gah - WHAT?!" Yuri jumped; she almost knocked her drink over.
"Yuri! The 5!"
"What about it?!"
"Mary's going to a motel off of the 5! Maybe we can check it out, too!"
"You want to interfere with official police business?!"
"Who said anything about interfering?"
"Sure, Jan. Let's say we correctly guess if it's on the 5 North, or the 5 South. Then what?!"
"Then we look around a bit! Maybe find Mary and help her out! Anything! Come on, Yuri!"

Yuri pursed her lips as she fidgeted with her nose stud. She seemed like she was in the middle of some internal battle.

"Yuri," Mai stood up and crossed the table. "Yuri, don't shut down on me! We can help - I know we can!"
"But - but, Mary -!"
"I know Mary's on it, but listen to that call again! Kingy is trying to reach us, and if we don't at least try to find her, then what sort of garbage friends does that make us?!" Mai took Yuri's hands and pulled her out of her seat.
"You're right," Yuri nodded her head. "Let's go!"


Okay, there's a lot of stuff to unpack here:

* King was totally right to assume that her friends would order nachos.
* Head-canon: Mai takes medication for bipolar disorder. There's nothing in the rules that says she can't be a badass ninja and fighter while dealing with mental illness. She's also in the process of moving from Japan to Southtown.
* Head-canon: Yuri has a cute little nose stud.
* This is Hardcore, by the band Pulp, is an awesome song, and the 30-second bit that starts at 3:41 (3:44 if you watch the music video) would make an excellent ring tone for somebody. (Also, this song is so, so very dirty.)
* On the broken phone: I've actually been on the line with someone as they broke their phone - there was a lot of noise, but I could still hear them (they couldn't hear me, though). Just in case you thought I was pulling the behavioural properties of a broken phone out of my ass...
* Head-canon: Mary took a job as a detective at the police department for stable hours, paid vacation, and a benefits package.
* Find Friends, for those who do not have iPhones, or have never used it, is a fickle thing. I did a lot of hands-on research with this and literally watched someone's location change, like, six times even though their phone (which didn't always work right) was literally right next to me.
* The I-5 is the main interstate highway on the west coast of the US. It runs from Canada to Mexico, and goes through a ton of major cities, including LA and San Diego. Now, since I've used some research and head-canon-y goodness to base Southtown around San Diego, using this highway makes sense in my little world.
* "Sure, Jan." No, I'm not referencing King's brother (whose name should have been translated as "Jean" btw, don't get me started); this is in reference to the meme. You know the one, right? Google it if need be.

As always, my metaphorical door is always open, so don't be afraid to drop me a line. See you on the radio.