I apologies that this took so long to write. Life happened is all that I really say. I hope it was worth the wait. Feel free to review this or any of my other chapters, I always love some feedback. Also this chapter will soon be followed by the next part of the prologue. Once Again let me say that I hope that anyone who stumbled across this enjoys it.
Chapter 3: The God of Anger and the Demon slayer
"We found them in a Dumpster about three blocks up from the murder scene," Professor Jamison began, "Well when I say we, I mean the garbage men did when they opened up the dumpster to empty it."
"How did they notice them?" Detective Morris asked.
"They smelled the burnt flesh when they opened it."
"The garbage men could tell the difference between burnt garbage and burnt flesh? Why didn't anyone else report it?"
"Garbage fires are quite common in that area, while most people just noticed the burnt garbage, the professionals noticed something off about the smell and started rooting through it and found these two."
Professor Jamison was a westerner who came to Japan because the pay was better than in the states, and because he had always enjoyed Japanese culture. He was a professional mortician who had been through so many corpses in his time that he could tell whether or not someone had been choked to death by a wire, or a rope, or a scarf by examining their fingernails. He stood five foot nine, had grey hair and a faint British accent. Detective Morris was here as a former FBI agent acting on behalf of Interpol. She stood five foot four, with brunet hair and green eyes, she was mostly muscle. She had been sent here to investigate the Shinagawa Police station bombing as a possible terrorist act, and so far she had investigated everything but the bombing. Still Jamison was not about to argue with her.
"So what have you found out?" She asked,
"They were burned quite badly, as you can see; dental records confirm that they are all that's left of officers Jed Jones and Suzume Yuzuki. They died at the same time and all physical evidence points to the burning as the cause of death. However, since both were found buried under burnt garbage, and since it is very difficult to persuade two cops to lay down while you burn them to death, they most likely died from other means or at least were knocked on conscience. They were not shot, and there is nothing to suggest they were knifed or beaten either. In my professional opinion they were mostly likely strangled to death, or knocked out by a precise blow to the neck. Both of which must have been done by a professional."
"How can you tell?"
"From the lack of evidence more than anything else. Most people would damage the spinal column from a clumsy blow or from the long struggle to choke their victim to death. Since there is no damage, they were taken down soft but perfect blow, or they died very quickly while being strangled; only a professional could've done either."
"How long have they been dead?"
"That can't be determined; too much of the flesh has been burned to tell what's fire damage and what's from rot. Since we have found fly eggs and larva in them I can say they have been dead for at least forty eight hours, but how much longer that I can't say."
One the police officers who had been collecting evidence for crime scene then added, "We have a witness who can testify that he noticed a fire burning in the dumpster Monday night, the same night that the main crime scene burned down."
"When did these two last report in?" The detective asked
"Sunday night at 11:15, the fire at the crime scene was reported at 1:30 Monday morning." Said Katsuruo Manami, who was one of detective Morris's police escorts.
"Also Yuuta the police dispatcher for the Shinagawa police station claims to have heard Yuzuki's voice on the day of the massacre. She sent out a general call to all the SAT teams to rescue him." Kouta Hitomi, the other escort, continued.
"The voice could have easily been faked if the perpetrator had a recording of Yuzuki's voice." Detective Morris responded, she continued, "Is there any physical evidence to reject the idea that this body has been dead for six days, professor?"
"None at all, but there is nothing to confirm it either." The professor responded, "We can check the dispatcher tapes to see if there was any sign tampering in Yuzuki's voice though."
"No we can't," Manami interrupted, "The tapes were destroyed along with most of the police station when the bombs went off. So it's Yuuta's voice against our witness."
"How is Yuuta doing?" Hitomi asked,
"She's still unconscious and in intensive care, it will be a while before we can interrogate her. Detective Morris do you think this had anything to do with the bombing?"
"Losing several men to a failed brothel bust, two men to the night, and forty seven men to a possible terrorist attack, all in the space of three days, is an awfully big coincident to be bad luck. These events are connected and I am going to find out why."
"Detective Morris!" A young officer shouted as he entered the room, "They found the squad car."
Morris jumped up and rushed for the door shouting, "I want an investigation team there now. Where did they find it?"
"At an illegal hack-shop, tip came in about half an hour ago, but they got it in mint condition."
Skip
Rage was very fast. Shogun still had not learned a whole lot about the small boy who called him master but he had conclusively determined that he was very fast. Not just in speed either. Rage learned things very quickly, he had already learned that Shogun liked being able to see him but didn't like seeing his massive hands or the spikes coming out of his mouth. Fortunately Rage had many abilities other then flight and his zero to mock three in half a second acceleration rate. He could help people see what they wanted to see, instead of the inconvenient sights that often were really there. People didn't like to see a boy standing around three butchered corpses so they didn't. If they didn't want to see his giant hands then they wouldn't, and if they were angry at the time then Rage could chose what they wanted to see for them.
Rage wasn't kidding about being a god of anger, the control he had over it was impressive. He knew how to make people very angry, he could control what they see while angry, and he could feel who around him was angry, where they were and what they were doing. He was already very good at allowing his rage to control his movements in battle. The only aspect of anger he couldn't control was his own. That or he was bipolar, Shogun couldn't tell which. One moment he was happily playing a version of catch that defied conventional physics with a bowling ball Shogun had found for him, (regular balls exploded from the air resistance) the next Shogun found himself leaping in front of an enraged supersonic ball of knives that was swearing eternal vengeance on the garbage men.
The knives were another strange thing, one that Shogun just couldn't take his mind off of. Rage's huge hands seemed to be made of some strange material that seamlessly switched from a solid to a liquid form in an instant. One moment, his hands were jagged and solid capable of stopping anything short of an anti-tank shell, the next they seemed to spaz out like a jelly monster that was being electrocuted. Afterwards they would have formed into a nine foot long broad sword which was now moving at a speed which also defied conventional physics.
Nonetheless, Shogun was really starting to enjoy Rage's presence. He reminded him of Viper, filled with such hatred for the world in general that he often forgot just who he was wailing on in mid punch. Rage seemed to be substituting random violence against anyone who wasn't Shogun for his inability to simply knee the universe in the groin and be done with it. Like Viper, though, Rage would stop if Shogun told him to, the problem was that Viper couldn't exceed the speed of sound and Rage could. Thus, while Shogun wasn't sure about a lot of things about Rage, he did know two things: first, Rage was very fast and second, if Shogun couldn't control him then he had to find away to kill him.
Shogun didn't have a clue about how to kill him though; of course the only thing he had tried so far was shooting him. Shooting people, typically worked though, and the only other ways that Shogun knew how to kill people were strangling, knifing, drowning, bludgeoning, high falls, explosives, burning and making something very large fall on them from high up. The problem with this is that these weren't back up in the event that shooting someone didn't work. These were the methods that Shogun used when shooting someone had immediate draw backs, Shogun had never met someone who wouldn't die if he shot them. Consequently, Shogun was very confused about how to go about this, and when a soldier gets confused about how to do their job they call their boss.
That was why the little bald man with the evil grin had come to the abandoned warehouse; he didn't have the evil grin when he first opened the door to the warehouse but he soon gained one upon seeing Rage casually tossing his ball up in the air. The man probably wouldn't have smiled if he could see that Rage was tossing a bowling ball in the air, but the man had an innocent view of children and Rage subconsciously enforced that view.
"Hey Shogun," The bald man called out, "Who's the kid."
Shogun took one look at the bald man and followed his dark eyes and wicked grin to Rage and said, "No! Don't even think about it Dynamo if you touch the kid I will kill you."
"So harsh Shogun, I come all the way down here to give you a lift and you yell at me? Me! Your old friend Dynamo of all people."
"You're not my friend Dynamo you're a pervert and if I had my way with it you'd be a dead pervert."
"Is that a challenge Shogun? Cause I would love to purge this organization of a close-minded brute like you!" Dynamo shouted as he pulled a pair of grenades out of his jacket. In the same instance Shogun pulled out his Eagle and trained it on Dynamo's forehead. There was a silence and stillness that Shogun thrived in and it was broken by Rage.
"Master can I kill him!" Rage asked in an excited voice that only slightly betrayed his rising passion. Shogun turned to him and saw his hand's shimmer as Rage struggled to hide the fact that they had already formed into some jagged killing implement.
"NO!" Shogun cried, not to get him wrong, he really did want to see Dynamo's head impaled on a large spike, but he was Mr. Sanji's and Shogun would never take something away from Mr. Sanji. "Mr. Dynamo is a business partner and we do not kill business partners, do we?"
"No master, we don't." Rage responded in a clearly disappointed voice.
Dynamo, who was quite confused at this point, retuned his grenades to his pocket and motioned towards the door as he tried to figure out just what that conversation had meant. Outside the three of them climbed into a car where a driver was waiting and they took off into the city.
"Seriously though," Dynamo said after a moment of trying to work out his confusion, "Who's the kid?"
Shogun motioned to the driver and said, "Who's this little bugger?"
"This is Byakuya, he is Mr. Sanji's chauffeur, he can be trusted, why?"
"Cause I have no idea who he is, I found him in the back of a van which was only filled with dead cops when I loaded it. He says he's here to learn how to be truly wrathful from me."
Dynamo turned and looked at the kid who was currently staring out the window with wide eyed excitement. He couldn't believe what he had heard, but he had a good idea about how to confirm it.
"Hey kid," He asked Rage, "Who are you and why are you hanging out with a bum like Shogun?"
"I'm Rage the Wrathful, I'm here to study under my Master."
"Study what?"
"How to slaughter humanity in the most efficient way possible while dominating their minds and souls." Dynamo blinked slightly at how bluntly and happily Rage had stated his goal. At first Dynamo assumed that Shogun had put him up to this, an innocent child could never have such dark goals. On the other hand Dynamo didn't think that people learned to lie till they were sixteen years old, instead of at sixteen months old like most parents will testify.
"Is he for real?" Was all that Dynamo could muster.
"That's all I can get out of him, and as near as I can figure he means it." Shogun responded.
"Huh, I wonder what the boss will say about him"
"I wonder what the boss will say about me." Shogun concluded.
Skip
"What have you got for me detective Kyou?"
"A lost patrol car in the single largest illegal hack shop in Tokyo, detective Morris."
"How did you find it?"
"We've had an informant on the lookout for this place for months. He got pretty deep into a grand theft auto ring and they led him to this place just when you car showed up. He radioed for us and off of that info we got a search warrant and busted the place about 15 minutes ago."
"And nothing was done to the squad car in that time?"
"Nothing Miss, they had two dozen other stolen vehicles to get through before they got to work on this one."
"Why's the license plate missing?"
"They said it was missing when they brought it in."
"Is that possible?"
"When you got this many cars to work on certain things have to be done first before the real work can be done, most of the cars here have already lost their plates, tags and other such identifiers."
"Two dozen cars you said? That's quite a bust detective."
"You have no idea. Forty four mechanics, twenty ground men stealing the cars for them, ledgers connecting them to fifty different car dealerships and fifteen suspected Yakuza lieutenants. This is the single largest bust of my career all the boys are proud to be part of it."
"Congratulations, but I am only here for one reason, who brought in the cop car?"
"The perpetrators are right over here ready to be grilled."
Kyou led Morris over to a private room where three teenaged boys were indeed waiting for interrogation. A police officer was already in there getting one of the boys to sign something.
"What's that officer doing?" Detective Morris asked,
"Getting their confessions, these boys are willing to cut a deal with us."
"They confessed to taking the car?"
"That and about half a dozen other acts of grand theft auto, plus to working on several stolen vehicles here at the shop and also to cheating on their last exams at school"
"That thorough huh? How many years are they getting off for that?"
"Actually they asked for a longer stint in the joint."
"Really, why?"
"They bring in a cop car and thirty minutes later the cops show up, I don't know what that looks like to you but to every other person in this room it looks like a sting. They want more time so that everyone else will get out and calm down and move on and not decide to visit them on their release date."
"Mind if I ask them a few questions?"
"Go ahead."
The boys were clearly agitated very worried about their immediate future when Detective Morris came in. The boys were of average height and lacked any truly noticeable features. The one in the middle had the look of a leader about him.
"Alright boys," Morris started, "I heard you three cut a deal with the good detective and are willing to cooperate, that right?" The boys nodded, "That's wise, its always wise to come clean when the cards are down. Now then that police care went missing six days ago on Monday and then it turns up here. Where was it during that time?"
One of the boys answered, "We found it four days ago in front of hotel Monterey Sanno watched it a whole day, no one used it, so we thought it had been abandoned, so in the night we picked it up and took it to my uncle's place. We waited to move it till tonight, no one came for it so we brought it here to be hacked up."
"Your uncle didn't notice the cop car in his garage?" Morris asked,
"My uncle's in jail, no one lives there, but he still owns the place."
"Why take the risk stealing the car?"
"Cops got the best gear out on the road, so getting one is a gold mine, plus it takes guts to nab one, you get some respect, ya know?"
"It makes you look real stupid when the cops show up though."
"You're telling me."
"Do you know how long the car had been at the hotel?"
"It showed up the morning we found, we spotted it about eight, didn't see who brought it in though."
"Did you have someone keep an eye on it? Make sure no one stole your prize?"
"Yeah I did," another boy said, "But no one ever came for it, even the Hotel owners ignored it completely."
"Did you tamper with the car in any way?"
"We didn't touch anything besides the steering wheel."
"Where's the license plate?"
"Didn't have one when we found it, that's why we thought it was abandoned."
"Well that's it, thank you boys for your time, good luck in the court."
"Thanks, were gonna need it."
Outside detective Morris made her way over to the car itself to talk to the investigation team which was led by Manami.
"What have you got for me?"
"Not much," Manami responded, "No prints but those of our young lads over there, radio has been broken, the registration is gone, and so is the GPS unit and the backup unit in the trunk, there are scratch marks around where the plate should be so I think who ever removed them used a knife instead of a screwdriver. Whoever did this knew what they needed to do but they certainly weren't an engineer of any kind."
"So an expert on the police but not on cars?"
"Looks like it."
"Kids said they found the car outside of the Monterey Sanno Hotel, that wouldn't happen to be a mob hotel would it?"
"Wouldn't surprise me, seems like the Yakuza have their hands in everything these days."
"Did the squad car camera catch anything?"
"See for yourself."
Manami flipped on a small monitor attached to the camera and it pulled up a scene outside of the brothel on Sunday night. Manami fast forwarded through much of the night till at last he came to a moment on Monday morning when a man approached the squad car and started talking to Jed Jones. They were too far away for the camera to pick up any sound. After speaking together for a few moments Jed escorted the mystery man into the brothel. Later Jed exited and they heard his conversation with his partner, followed by a crash from inside the building. Then the mystery man returned asked the cops if they wanted any coffee and then they left together. The camera never got a clear view of his face.
No sooner had the cops left then a faint scratching sound could be heard on the camera followed by the door opening and a person entering the car. The new person started the car and started to drive off. He came to nearby stop light and then the tape ended.
"The recording ends there, nothing conclusive," Manami explained.
"Not quite, we know that someone lured them away from the scene, possibly someone they trusted. We also know that, that person was the last one with access to the crime scene before the fire. I bet my life that he started that fire. I want that video analyzed see if you can get the sound of his voice cleared up or the image enhanced so we can see his face. I also want to know the last known location of everyone from that station house at this time."
"You think someone of the force did this?" Manami asked in disbelief
"No, but I want to be certain of that before I pursue then next most likely line of questioning."
"Which is?"
"He's part of the mob covering for his buddies."
Skip
Mr. Sanji lived on the top floor of an eight story office building located right on the docks. It stood like the keep of an old castle surrounded by walls of "abandoned" warehouse and hundreds of shipping containers. Of course Mr. Sanji didn't really live there, he had a boat house on the sea and half a dozen other hiding spots scattered about the city, but no one had ever really seen him leave the office building. This notion was reinforced by the fact that no matter what time of day you went to the office Mr. Sanji was there conducting business as usual.
The office was very standard and very typical. He had a secretary outside who kept a nine millimeter under her desk, a main office, and a large back room with a needlessly long table and sound proof walls. The building was divided into three parts, the ground floor was a fortress in everything but name, all the men supposedly working busily were actually just there to open up hell for anyone who entered the building without an appointment. The upper three floors was where the actual management of the organization happened and the middle floors were nothing but a front, small rooms towards the front of the building rented out to legal shipping companies who had no honest idea what was going on above or below them. They were there to hide the emergency stair case which ran down into the sewers which then connected to one of five different warehouses none of which appeared on any legal blueprint of the city. Shogun and Dynamo passed through each portion of the building like kings passing over their armies. They knew exactly what this building was because they had made it that way, they had hired all the men who worked there and handpicked the companies that unwittingly guarded the secret passages.
As they came to the top floor Shogun turned to Rage and said, "Listen I have some business to take care of with my boss, so you just wait outside in the lobby. Be quiet and patient and don't play with anyone you don't know."
"Yes Master." Rage happily chimed in response.
The receptionist didn't even look up as they entered, she only continued to type on her computer, and said, "The boss is expecting you and… Who's the kid?" She finished awkwardly as she saw Rage take a seat in the waiting area.
"Friend of my cousin," Shogun answered, an old well respect saying of Shogun's, which actually meant, 'ask again and I will do unpleasant things to you with a cheese knife and a rubber hammer.'
"O.K," the receptionist answered in a slow tone as if to say that the answer had not satisfied her but she was here when Shogun made good on that threat the last time and so she wasn't going to say anything.
"Good morning Shogun," Mr. Sanji said as they entered through the door. Shogun wasn't surprised that Mr. Sanji knew exactly who it was. He always knew who was coming into his office; Shogun had replaced the glass doors to his office with one way mirrors for that exact purpose.
"Good morning Mr. Sanji sir. Have you had a good day so far?"
"I have had a fine morning today Shogun, I also had a fine morning this past Wednesday but that good day ended at 3:45 in the afternoon. Do you know why my morning went so sour on Shogun?"
"I wouldn't know sir, I was in the shower at the time, and I don't know what you found out about at 3:45."
"Shogun, I am not in the mood for games, unless there was some other homicidal maniac gunning up police stating at 3:30 in the afternoon on Wednesday then you know exactly what ruined my day."
"Sir I have always maintained the right to act independently in how I spend my time sir, this incident is no different than that."
"You have always maintained the right to have a hobby, blowing up police stations is not a hobby. Collecting stamps, or pretty girls or even young boys is a hobby. Hell I didn't even have a problem with you tracking down street gangs and beating the hell out of them at random. But mass murder in broad day light is where I draw the line."
"I will remember that in the future sir."
"No you won't. You didn't remember it from the last time we had this conversation from when you gunned down the entire Zeta gang plus five civilians and six SAT team members who happened to be entering the building for a completely unrelated reason at that time."
"The Zeta gang had it coming sir."
"The Zeta gang called out an insult about my mother while I was meeting with one of the great families, they were trash that didn't even deserve to have a place at the morgue and you sent them to page one, God damn it Shogun how many times do I have to say it? You can beat up any punk that looks at you cross eyed, but you only kill in self defense or at my orders! Got it?"
"Yes sir."
"Good…. And fine work at the brothel as well, saved two men and scraped the evidence."
"Thank you sir."
"Should have stopped it there though."
"I will remember that sir. If I may ask sir, how's Viper and Leo?"
"Pulling through fine, your surgery saved their lives and Doctor Jackson put them back into working order."
"Good to know sir."
"Well then I suppose it's time to get down to business. Lee, Jet." Mr. Sanji said motioning to two large men standing in the back of the room looking menacing.
"Yes Sir?" They answered.
"Take Shogun into the conference room and remind him why he has to follow my orders. Nothing permanent but nothing that he will forget anytime soon either. Shogun ensure they do their job properly."
"And if he resists sir?" Jet asked.
"What do you mean 'if he resists'?"
"Well sir what if he tries to stop sir, can we go farther than roughing him up or do we bring him out to you?"
"Jet you are quite possibly the third dumbest man in my organization. Look at this man," Mr. Sanji said motioning to Shogun who stood a solid half foot taller than Jet and had an even 30 pounds on him. "If he resists then you are going to die, but he's not going to resist, because this is Shogun. If I told him to blow his brains out he would do it without hesitation. Now stop asking stupid questions and get to work already."
The three man departed into the back room and nothing more was heard from them. Nothing ever was. Mr. Sanji turned to Dynamo and continued to mutter to himself. "Honestly the incompetence of some people. How the hell does a man like that get into my organization?"
"I ask myself that question daily sir." Dynamo responded.
"Why? You were the one who hired Jet and set him to work here."
"Oh, you were talking about Jet, well sir you need some important looking muscle scattered around the building. Puts the newcomers in their place and keeps their eyes of the really dangerous men. I thought you were talking about Shogun. Seriously though why do you still employ that man?"
"You have to ask Dynamo? That man just killed fifty cops in under four minutes and they have no idea how he did it or how to find him. He's useful, utility covers a multitude of sins."
"The council would pay you his weight in gold if you killed him. Twice it if you turned him over to the cops."
"The down fall of this government is the idea that money is more important than loyalty. A hundred billion yen wouldn't cover the cost of losing a man of his capability and loyalty to me."
"But is he worth all these messes that he starts?"
"I don't want to hear that from you."
"What? Why not?"
"Last week I caught you smuggling thirty boys into the city destined for houses of poor repute. If that had gotten uncovered and traced to you it would cost me a fortune."
"So will this."
"But this isn't going to get traced back to me is it?"
"No sir. Shogun was quite systematic in his work. The only loose ends are the girls who were working that night and thanks to the ledgers he turned over I will have that taken care of in a few hours."
"The ledgers are that accurate about his employees?"
"Addresses, families even a bit of black mail on the older girls he wrote down everything."
"Excellent."
"Anything else boss? Or can I be on my way?"
"Just one thing. Dynamo you know that I know about your tastes in sexual partners and that I have been quite forgiving about them. But you do recall our agreement about their presence on my property?"
"That if you even see so much as a photograph of my boys on your property you will have Shogun and his friends turn my knees backwards?" Dynamo answered in the voice of a man bracing for impact.
"Exactly, so tell me, who the hell is that kid and what is he doing in my lobby?"
"Oh, he not mine boss."
"Do you have any idea how much that statement sounds like 'I was just holding it for a friend' coming from a crack addict?"
"No really boss Shogun says he found him in a van and took him in. I think he like Shogun's apprentice or something."
Mr. Sanji bit down on his lip as he pondered this statement. He had never known Shogun to show the least bit of compassion at all to anyone besides Mr. Sanji and people Mr. Sanji told Shogun to take care of. The idea that he could out of the goodness of his own heart take in a child was all but unthinkable. It's not like Shogun had a soft spot for orphans or anything, hell at Mr. Sanji's orders he had burned down an orphanage or two. Mr. Sanji was just puzzled enough about this that he decided to get some straight answers on the subject. So he turned around and opened up the doors to the conference room and heard:
"No, no, no; you've got to use the reactions of the victim to increase the damage. Watch me: left to the stomach and he doubles over, right upper cut to the jaw as he's coming down sends him up and back over then you knee the groin. Keep your fist flat it minimizes the visible bruising and don't be so quiet about this: insult me, humiliate me. Mental intimidation lasts longer then the bruises. Now try it again from the beginning."
"Shogun!" Mr. Sanji called out.
"Yes boss?" Shogun responded.
"Stop teaching those punks how to beat you up and get over here. I got a question for you."
Shogun left the conference room with no immediate signs of having been beaten up but he was slightly out of breath. He had an inquisitive look on his face as if this interruption to his punishment was unforeseen and unnatural.
"What is it boss?" he asked in genuine inquisitiveness.
"Who's the kid?" Mr. Sanji said bluntly.
"That's…" Shogun started and paused mid sentence as if he wasn't sure how to best continue. "My apprentice, Rage the Wrathful, found him in the back of my truck as I was unloading some unmentionables. Took me be completely by surprise and insists on calling me master and learning from me."
"You mean you actually took an apprentice. Shogun you won't even teach Leo how to shoot. The only reason why you were giving those punks some advice is because I told you to make sure they did their work properly. And this kid is your apprentice?"
"Well sir, the thing is I don't know how to get rid of him."
"Leaving him by the road side, putting up for adoption, shooting him, any of these crossed your mind yet?"
"Shooting him has."
"Really what stopped you?" Mr. Sanji asked sarcastically.
"Nothing, I shot him in the head, only made him cry."
For about thirty seconds there was dead silence, then Dynamo and Mr. Sanji started up and the same time. "You shot a child?" one cried, "And he's still alive?" the other asked.
Shogun ignored Dynamo and answered Mr. Sanji, "Yes he is, you have to see this for yourself." Shogun then opened up the door and said to Rage, "Come in here I want to play catch with you."
Rage bounded into the room like an excited ten year old. Smiling like an idiot he danced around Shogun begging to know what kind of game of catch they would play. Shogun pulled out his desert eagle and said, "Were going to play bullet catch." Rage shouted out for joy and rushed over to the door leading into the conference and bent over and started swaying side to side like a soccer goal tender. Shogun raised his gun and pointed it straight at Rage, Dynamo did a flying dive trying to stop him, but before he could tackle Shogun he had pulled the trigger.
BANG! Went the gun, followed by a clanging sound as Rages hand moved across his face faster than any eye or camera could possible capture. Sure enough with in an instant he was jumping up and down waving the fifty caliber bullet above his head in triumph. Mr. Sanji stared blankly at the boy.
Shogun shook Dynamo off and turned to Rage and said, "No hands this time."
"Kay Master," Rage responded.
Shogun shot again and this time Rage fell backwards with the bullet catching it in his skull. Mr. Sanji simply shook his head in disbelief. Dynamo all but fainted. Shogun simply stood still with a look of 'I told you so' written on his face. Rage was jumping up and down eagerly awaiting the next game of "catch."
"Good job Rage," Shogun said, "You win, for a prize you can stop hiding your arms I know how much concentration that takes."
Rage smiled and bowed and within an instant his hands changed. Abandoning the innocent their form, his short, slender, and almost girlish arms vanished and were replaced by the massive, jagged, crimson monstrosities that actually made up Rage's arms. The sight of them was almost more than Dynamo could stand to see. Mr. Sanji simply whistled in a mocking way as if saw more amazing things getting out of bed.
"Tell me boy, just who are?" He asked
"I am Rage the Wrathful, I am going to be a god of this world someday."
"Really, you're going to be God? That's quite a goal you've set for yourself. How do you plan on doing that?"
"Master is going to teach me, just like he taught me in the past. We almost won back then, God had to break time itself to stop us and he can't do that again without destroying the world, so this time we're bound to win."
"Shogun had taught you before? When did he do that?"
"In the twelfth century. Back then he worked for Emperor K as a Kensai but nothing's really changed since then, he can still teach me a lot."
At that point Mr. Sanji broke out laughing. He all but fell on the floor he was laughing so hard. Not at Rage, but at Shogun, he couldn't believe that Shogun had honestly found a kid like this. Not just a kid who could catch bullets but a kid with delusions of godhood and grandeur. He just couldn't take it. Neither could Rage, he thought that Mr. Sanji was laughing at him belittling and underestimating him. Anger started well up in side of him and it broke after Mr. Sanji's next comment.
Rising up out of his laughing stupor he turned to Shogun and said, "God, Shogun, I am going to kill you one of these days if you keep causing problems for me like this. You've got the police breathing down my neck, you've convinced the council that it's the end of the world and were all going to die, and now you come back to me and present me with some four foot tall super six year old with delusions of godhood. Honestly one of these days….
Mr. Sanji never finished his sentence as Rage lost all control and flew at him screaming at the top of his lungs, his right arm had already formed into a long sword. There was murder in his eyes, but Shogun had read him like a book. He got in front of the furious ball of blades and pushed the blade down into his own gut. Rage slammed on his breaks but it was much too late. His arm was seven inches inside of Shogun, he pulled out immediately. His anger was all but forgotten as he watched his master's shirt gradually turn red.
Shogun grabbed a hold of Rage and picked him up off the ground and brought him up to his eyes and said, "If you ever so much as look at my boss with murder in your eyes again, I swear to the gods of heaven and hell that I will never cease to hunt you. I will never cease to seek your life till I break your soul itself. Understand? GOOD!" He dropped Rage but hit the ground before Rage's feet did.
Rage looked over the fallen body of his master. His passion had completely turned to fear for Shoguns life. Behind Shogun Mr. Sanji walked over the body as if it was part of the rug. He brushed off a bit of dust from his coat and took a seat behind his desk. He stared at Rage for a moment or two studying him as Shogun bled out over the carpet. Eventually Rage looked up.
"You're in charge right?" Rage asked his voice quivering with fear, "You have to save him."
"Why?" Mr. Sanji asked in casual way. Rage's fear turned into anger as he flew across the desk and grabbed Mr. Sanji by the throat.
"Because I'll kill you if you don't!" Rage screamed. The guards behind him drew their guns and fired several rounds at the boy holding their boss three feet off the ground. The bullets dropped to the ground utterly useless. Dynamo was still shaken by what was happening but for now he just lit up a cigarette and watched his boss maneuver.
"Kill me and Shogun will die where he lies." Mr. Sanji managed to squeeze out his choking throat.
"You would abandon your own man just like this?" Rage asked as he relaxed his grip just enough that Mr. Sanji could speak.
"Shogun was useful to me but expendable. In this situation however, I am necessary to his life. If you want him to live you had best give me some reason to save him."
"I told you if he dies so will you."
"My life has always been my own; you cannot use it to barter. I own Shogun body and soul if he lives or dies is my call, not just now but at anytime at any point in his life, if I so much as snap my fingers he dies. Now what can you offer to buy this life from me?" Rage's grasp started to relax a bit more as he saw the futility of threatening a man like this. He started looking for a way to bribe him.
"I'll kill for you if you save him."
"Assassins are cheap; a few dozen wouldn't be worth Shogun's life."
"I'll conquer heaven for you." Rage said getting desperate as the blood stains on the carpet steadily widened.
"I have no interest in heaven and I already own hell."
"Please," Raged begged tears welling up in his eyes as his passion died and concern for his master started to overwhelm him. "I'll do anything." He finished as he dropped Mr. Sanji to the ground.
"Correction," Mr. Sanji responded as he brushed some dust as his suit and started to walk towards the conference room. "You will do everything. Anything I tell you to, anytime I tell you to, and only what I tell you to. Shogun may be your master, but as of now I am your owner, the master of your master. Dynamo, take Shogun down to the surgeon on the fifth floor, and get this carpet replaced in time for my 4:00 appointment."
"Yes sir." Dynamo answered as he carefully picked Shogun up and made his way to the elevator. Rage slowly followed behind him like a whipped dog. As soon as the one way doors closed Mr. Sanji fell to the ground and broke out in a cold sweat. That was the fourth time in his life he had ever stared death in the eye and it was the last encounter he wanted to have with someone like Rage.
Skip
"What do you have for me Kouta?" Detective Morris asked her escort.
"Much more then I would have thought at first. After playing around with the sound, I successfully isolated part of a conversation between Jed Jones and our mystery man. It isn't much but I picked up the words 'Crime Scene Photographer' and the name 'Takehiko.' I ran the name through crime scene's personal files, and the only Takehiko who works for them is stationed on Okinawa and has a rock solid alibi of being in surgery at the time on the tapes."
"Do you think that someone impersonated crime scene to gain access to the brothel?"
"At this point that's your most likely answer; I also found something much more interesting. That loud crash you heard that happened just before they left for coffee? It was masking another sound. There was a gun shot, partially silenced but still detectable on the tapes. I sent some guys over to the scene and after painstaking searches they found a bullet lodged in the fuse box."
"Did that start the fire?"
"Fire marshal still blames the fire on an improperly stored gasoline can but the open sparks created by the damaged fuse box certainly helped."
"What kind of bullet did they find?"
"Fifty caliber round but it had a very low grain count, possibly from a pistol like a desert eagle or a magnum revolver. The markings on the bullet connected to a Desert Eagle sold to an individual who calls himself the Dragon. Couldn't find anything else on him, could be our guy."
"I doubt it; arms dealers rarely get down to the business of killing themselves. Dragon is the Chinese equivalent of a made man. His father got into the business of smuggling arms back during Nam. The Chinese government will defend him to the last."
"Why?"
"Industrial sabotage basically, a high crime rate means low productivity for a nation and the greatest boost to crime is the availability of weapons. Especially in nations like Japan where the civilian populace is totally unarmed. Protect your smugglers and they will raise hell in potentials rivals like here in Japan."
"Any way that Dragon could be persuaded to help us out?"
"Not unless he gets in serious trouble with his government or happens to want something that only we have. Even then I doubt he could do us any real good. Even with the protection of the government, arm dealers who keep paper trails are not long for this world."
"So what now?"
"Get a vocal profile put together on our mystery man and start looking for the girls who worked the brothel that night."
"Why? What can a bunch of hookers tell us?"
"They can give us descriptions of the last group of man to enter the brothel."
"What conceivable good would that do? What the hell does this failed brothel bust have to do with the station bombing?"
"What you mean you don't see it? This is classic Man in the White Hat syndrome."
"Man in the what hat?"
"The Man in the White Hat. In any old picture of Al Capone there's a man standing in the background wearing a white suit and hat. Witnesses connected him to dozens of crimes in the city but there was nothing substantial against him. Cops didn't even know his name, but they do know what he did. He made problems go away. He was a professional killer, a calm clear mind with a quick hand for a gun and a deep love for explosives. He made his boss's problems simply vanish."
"What does he have to do with our mystery man?"
"He is the mystery man. Here's what I think happened. Local Mafia boss sends some boys down to a brothel to conduct some business, probably violent business too. While they are there cops show up on a raid. The Mafia panic and shoot back. A few moments later there's fourteen dead cops and injured Mafioso so the boss contacts his Man in the White Hat he comes down ices Jed and Yuzuke and burns the place to the ground. Of course that's going to attract unwanted attention, and the mafia can't keep all the hookers quiet, so White Hat decides to put out this fire by setting a large explosion nearby. So he and few boys hit a police station with a few cheap tools a few explosives and a quick escape route. Now everyone is all up in arms about the bombing that can't be solved and no one is thinking about the brothel which can't be covered up. The hookers can give us the men who came in a shot it out with the cops and they will lead us to the White Hat and he will lead us to his boss."
Kouta looked at detective Morris like she had been talking about the latest grassy knoll theory. He then said, "You're supposed to be investigating possibility that terrorists are responsible for this and now you're saying that the Yakuza did this. Are you crazy?"
"Come on Kouta, the possibility that terrorists were behind this expired yesterday. If they had blown up this police station you can bet your sweet ass that they would have claimed so by now. No this is domestic and it's a cover up. The only real crime that the Yakuza are worried about is our little failed brothel bust. Find those Hookers and we will have the names of the perpetrators within a week."
Skip
The Nurse nearly died when Shogun woke up. When she closed the door and came over to him he jumped out his bed and grabbed her by the neck and threw he down on the floor and got on top of her. He covered her mount and brought his head very close to hers and looked her dead in the eye.
"Now listen to me if you scream you will die here. Where am I? What day is it and how did I get here?"
The nurse was panicking but she had worked here a while so she took a moment to calm down and then answered: "Shogun your still in the office, you were brought here four days ago by Dynamo the boy who came with is waiting outside."
"What boy?" Shogun said still in survivor mode.
"I believe he calls himself Rage."
All the events of the last day came rushing back to Shogun. Realizing what had happened he got up off the girl and walked to the door. He opened it slowly so in order to peak around the corner. Rage spotted him immediately.
"Master!" Rage cried as he leapt towards Shogun who had the presence of mind to open the door so that Rage wouldn't break it down. "I was so worried about you Master that's the last time I will ever hurt you. I am so sorry for stabbing you or trying to hurt your boss. I will never ever ever ever do it again. Believe me master just don't ever scare me like that again…."
Rage tried to continue but he was interrupted when the nurse pulled him off of Shogun as she yelled at him, "If you want to protect him then you can start by getting off of him and not breaking his stitches open. And as for you Mr. Greet the Morning with a Knee to the Groin you are going to get back in bed before I call Doctor Jackson in here."
Rage looked down at the ground and quietly said "Sorry" to the nurse. Shogun returned to his bed lest he awaken the wrath of Doctor Jackson once again. The nurse double checked Shogun's stitches to make sure he wasn't bleeding and then left them alone in the room.
Ten minutes passed by in awkward silence till Rage finally asked, "Master, why did you risk your life for the man who was insulting you like that?"
"Why did you want to kill him?"
"He was insulting you master."
"You would kill a man over a few insults?"
"But master isn't incompetent he's the greatest warrior I've ever known. Vice was jealous of you and even Ultimo feared you. That stupid man was acting like you were useless to him."
"You didn't answer my question Rage, would you kill a man over a few insults?"
"Wouldn't you master?"
"Answer my question Rage."
"Master I am anger, I would kill for just about any reason, it's part of my soul."
"It shouldn't be though."
"Why not master? Isn't that what true anger is? Hating the world and wanting to destroy it?"
"Anger is the desire to destroy, but what's important about anger isn't the target but the motivation for it."
"What do you mean Master?"
"ahh…" Shogun sighed as he thought about how to do this. While he paused the thought cropped up in his mind: Why are you doing this? You swore never to spread your anger like this, besides he attacked Mr. Sanji you should be figuring out how to kill him not teaching him how to be stronger. But then another thought arose: But you saw what he did, you know what he is capable of, what you could do with him for Mr. Sanji and you're going to pass up this opportunity because of a little fear about what might do? When has that ever stopped you before? And finally a third thought came out of almost nowhere to say: Besides you know how this turns out, what he can be, what he was. You tamed him before you can do it again.
"Well you see Rage, there are five different kinds of anger each one had a different level of strength to it. Right now since you have no real motivation to your anger you're experiencing what could be called "baseless" anger. Anger that he no real reason for its existence, you're simply unhappy with the way that the universe is going right now so you want to damage and change it. You've stubbed your toe, or you've been insulted, something happened that you don't think should have happened and your angry about. It's the most common and the weakest form of anger. Your also experiencing what could be called "basic" anger mainly anger that is summoned towards something else as a formality. There is something, in this case its people who threaten me, out in the world that you've been taught to hate and when you see it you hate without thinking about why you hate it. Since neither of these kinds of anger have any real meaning to them they dissipate easily. If challenged they will fail and if questioned they fade. If you rely of them you will be weak."
"So how do I become stronger master?"
"You need a stronger kind of anger to use. The other three kinds of anger are all manifestations of the one root: "Foundational" or "Fearful" anger. This is anger born from fear of losing something that is vital to you. Someone or something that you truly love with all your heart and soul, and when its threatened you can summon up a powerful anger to defend it. Remember this; the truest and strongest anger is created by love for something or someone. Off of this "foundational" anger there are three special kinds of anger that you summon. "Defensive" anger, which is anger that is used to protect what you love. "Berserk" or "battlefield" anger which is used to defend yourself against attackers so that you can enjoy what you love. But the greatest and most destructive is "Cold" anger which is the desire to avenge what you love when it has been lost. The power of Cold anger is that it doesn't have to be acted on now; it can be put down and suppressed until the right time to do the maximum damage possible. The key to gaining them is too truly love something which will be constantly threatened and possibly lost."
After a long silence Rage spoke again, "Master you didn't answer my question, why did you protect that man from me?"
"Because Rage, I was angry. I was angry because you threatened the man who saved my life from despair and death on the streets and I will not let anyone harm him. So when you tried to kill him I did whatever it took to stop you, even if that meant losing my own life."
"So you summoned defensive anger to stop me?"
"Yes I did."
After another long silence Rage asked one last thing of Shogun, "Master, could you be the thing that I want to protect so that my anger can grow?"
"I don't know Rage; can I be that thing for you? If I can and if I do you won't be able to ever separate yourself from me, or refuse to do what I ask."
"I think that you could be that thing for me if you took the oath with me."
"What's the oath?"
"The oath of love. It's the action which connects us a master and page. It will allow me to make you stronger and use your strength to cover my weakness. It will connect you and me in body and soul for all eternity."
"How does it work?"
"All you have to do is touch my soul." Rage said as his chest itself split apart and opened up. Inside Shogun could see a white ball with Rage's name written on it surrounded by clockwork and electrical equipment. Shogun stared at it for a few moments fascinated by it and all of the machinery around. For a moment he looked up at Rage and saw that the boy was blushing with embarrassment. Amazing Shogun thought to himself, He is a machine, he really is a living doll. But his is filled with emotions, he can even be embarrassed. He is amazing.
"Rage," Shogun said after a while, "I believe that I would be honored to be the thing that you will protect above all others and take the oath with you."
Rage's eyes flared up in excitement as his embarrassment died; pure joy filled his face and a large smile blitzed its way across his lips. His soul all but leapt out of his chest along with dozens of long optical cables and other masses of mechanical arms and tentacles. For a moment Shogun panicked at the sight of the machinery rushing towards him. Shogun thought, there is no way all that metal was in side of that boy. This is nuts, what have I gotten myself into? But at the same time an odd sense of familiarity and calmness washed over Shogun almost as if his body had been expecting this all of his life. He reached out into the mass of flailing machinery rushing towards him, trying to grasp Rage's soul.
The tentacles and cables swarmed around his arms and all around his body injecting smaller cables into his body which wrapped around all of his nerves. It felt like he was being ripped apart, and it hurt like hell. Yet Shogun relaxed. More than relaxed he never tensed up as if he expected this to happen and as if his body welcomed it. His arm continued to move forwards like it had a mind of its own or as if it was being called to Rage, drawn in by a greater power. When Shogun's first finger touched it, the pain stopped; power so great that he could feel it poured over every fiber of his being. His nerves fired at random, but with greater precision and speed then every before. Everything he felt became clearer, his hearing more precise, his vision was clearer he could pick up the smell and taste of the ants crawling in the walls. In an instant he knew where everything was in the room and in the next room over and in the hall outside and in the room above them. He couldn't see it he could feel it. It was intoxicating.
Shogun lashed out with his arm and brought the rest of his had around Rage's soul and squeezed it like it a life preserver thrown to a drowning man. As he did, sensations poured into to his mind. Not of his present experiences but of times long past, times which were soon to come and even of the distant future. Faces and sights, pains and pleasures, triumphs and failures were laid before him. It was as if all of Rages life, past present and future was being downloaded into Shogun's mind and it was overwhelming. He reached out in the midst of the chaos for something solid, something he could focus on and cling to. What he found was a memory, a memory of himself, a memory that was also his own and seemed to jump between his own eyes' and Rage's. To hold on to himself, Shogun threw himself into that memory of the past and lived it out, while pushing everything else down into the deepest pits of his soul.
End of Chapter 3
End of Part 1
