THE SUPERIOR MAN
Chapter 7: "Shunshuu-Dono"
A Sailor Moon fanfic
By Bill K.
Minako Aino closed the door of the apartment she shared with her cat, Artemis, and locked it. It was after six, but the day had been well spent. The final arrangements for the concert tour were made. She'd spent two hours at the karate dojo and another four rehearsing with her dance choreographer and the backup dancers for the show itself. Though physically she was tired, mentally she was satisfied. About the only thing that could make this day better was if she had a date with a tall, dark and handsome man.
"Mina!" Artemis exclaimed, scampering into the room with his tail at attention. "I was just about to page you!"
"So much for tall, dark and handsome," muttered Minako. "What's up, fuzzy?"
"Take a look at the news report on my lap top!"
That meant sailor business. Sighing with frustration, Minako walked to the kitchen counter.
"Wow, that was one Hell of a fart!" Minako quipped, surveying the picture of the hole in the side of the office building.
"Police reports are saying twenty-six dead," Artemis informed her.
"Terrorist attack? Whose offices are those?"
"Tokyo Electric Power. My building schematics are saying that's where their nuclear division is housed."
"Environmental terrorism? They're not usually bombers."
"That wasn't a bomb. There's no chemical residue that would indicate explosives. Thing is, the police are only looking for one guy, so it isn't an armed squadron."
"Have the others been notified?" Minako asked, headed for the door.
"Yes," Artemis told her. "And I called a cab for you. It should be outside in a few minutes."
"You're the best, fuzzy. I'll call Superintendent Sakurada and try to get more info while I'm in transit." She sighed. "And I SO wanted to kick back with a horror movie tonight."
"Bad enough you've got to live a real one," Artemis mumbled as she left.
"And I am SO behind on my deadlines," moaned Sailor Moon as she and Sailor Mercury passed through a police line and into the office building. "I did not need this to happen now."
"I doubt it's a convenience for anybody, Sailor Moon," Mercury replied. The pair spotted Sailor Venus waiting by an elevator and headed her way.
"Hey," Venus nodded. "Mars and Jupe are already up there looking around." The elevator opened and the three senshi got in.
"Do we know anything else about the situation?" Mercury asked. "The news reports were speculating about a possible terrorist attack."
"I talked to Sakurada," Venus replied. "Witness reports indicate one guy walking into the place and then things start exploding. After that, your usual mass panic and general chaos. She said he seemed to be targeting executives of TEPCO's nuclear division."
"That might indicate a motive other than terrorism," Mercury mused. "Do the police have any leads on the type of explosive used?"
"No explosives," Venus shook her head. "Artemis confirms it. He'd just wave his hand and people were flung back against the wall - - or through windows. Sakurada said he choked one guy to death without even touching him."
"Oh my goodness!" gasped Sailor Moon.
"Advanced telekinesis?" Mercury spoke distantly. Already she had her computer out and was hacking into the building security cameras. Moments later she had a picture on the screen. Sailor Moon gasped audibly at the picture of Jin Hatarakiburi. Mercury studied it.
"Hey!" Venus exclaimed. The elevator arrived at the floor and the three senshi stepped off. "He looks like those alien guys in that Star Trek episode! What were they called? Talosians!"
"He's an alien?" gasped Sailor Moon.
"Who's an alien?" they heard Jupiter ask. Mars and Jupiter were approaching.
"He isn't an alien," Mercury sighed. "The facial features are clearly Japanese. However, the advanced cranial development might account for increased psycho-kinetic ability."
"You're saying the guy's a nut job? No duh," Venus commented.
"No, psycho . . .in simpler terms, mind over matter," Mercury explained. "The ability to manipulate solid matter with electromagnetic energy generated by the brain. It's mostly theoretical. Although if you recall, Sailor Saturn demonstrated some rudimentary abilities in that area."
"But why would he do this?" demanded Sailor Moon. "Why kill all of those people? Why all this destruction?"
"Must have been mad about something," Venus surmised.
"That fits," Mars nodded. "I'm getting tremendous residual feelings of anger in here," as they stepped into the part of the building that housed the nuclear division. "Some of it is probably from the victims, but there's a lot here that has to be from him."
"I've streamed the surveillance camera file to Artemis," Mercury said. "Hopefully he can get an identification of our suspect. I wonder if TEPCO had anything to do with his cranial deformity."
"That would be a reason to rampage," Venus commented.
"And is his rampage done?" Jupiter wondered out loud.
"That might depend on whether his victims were random or targeted," Mercury deduced.
In the basement of the office building across the street from where the police and the senshi had gathered, Jin Hatarakiburi huddled next to the furnace in the corner and tried to keep warm. Dressed only in the shirt and pants that he had mentally remade out of the molecules of his hospital gown, Jin shivered and got as close to the dark metal of the furnace as he could.
After his orgy of vengeance at the TEPCO nuclear division, Jin had felt strangely drained. He'd discovered he could use his telekinetic abilities to pass himself harmlessly through solid walls, which aided in his escape after building security rushed the room. He also found that he could use those abilities to gently lower himself to the pavement below. The startled shouts of the people on the street still rang in his ears. But using his power a lot seemed to drain him. Though he was now more than human, he found he still had human needs for food and sleep. Passing through the walls of the office building across the street from TEPCO amid the chaos of the event, Jin sought shelter in the building's darkened basement heating complex. By that time, he was openly shaking and light-headed.
"Must be part of it," Jin mumbled to no one in particular. "I've expended too much mental energy. Have to rest."
During his rampage, he'd learned from one of the executives he'd killed that the division had sought to minimize costs and maximize clean up time by actually contracting with a Yakuza gang to recruit desperate workers with no training in nuclear maintenance or knowledge of how dangerous the Daiichi plant now was. It made him wonder about the subcontractor who had hired him to work there, which ultimately led to his accident and deformity. And it made him wonder just how many others at the plant could be accidents waiting to happen. And what had the executive called it in his mind: A cost-effective risk? It was at that moment that Jin choked the life out of the man in a blind rage, smiling when the man who saw so little value in the lives of strangers mentally pleaded for his own life.
As satisfying as his vengeance against TEPCO had been, though, it left him in an even worse position now. Before he just had a deformed head and augmented mental powers. Now he was a fugitive sought by the police. What would he do now? Where would he go? How could he cure himself, assuming there was a cure - - assuming he wanted one. For even though his massive brain had absorbed more knowledge since his accident than he had in all the years prior, he didn't seem to know what to do next.
"Think about it in the morning," Jin mumbled. He snuggled against a cardboard box near the furnace, laying on a folded canvas tarp to shield him from the concrete floor. Seconds later he was asleep.
"The police have identified him as Jin Hatarakiburi," Artemis related. It was the next morning and the white cat was on a conference call with the other senshi and Luna while Minako watched the news in a form-fitting gold leotard and tights as she did some morning stretching her karate sensei had recommended. "He's a plumber out of Fukushima who had been working at the Daiichi nuclear plant."
"What's he doing in Tokyo?" Minako heard Makoto ask over the conference line.
"Had an accident at the plant," Artemis reported. "Nearly got electrocuted. He was down here for treatment, then busted out of the hospital by, and get this, 'levitating out a sixth story window'."
"Yeah, he's on the news," Minako called out as she bent forward to touch the toes of her extended leg. "The channel is calling him 'Shunshuu-Dono'! How about that one?" Minako grunted. "This would be easier to do if I didn't have such a big rack."
"Or ate so much cake," Artemis commented.
"You suppose the accident gave him those powers?" Rei ventured.
"Ordinarily I'd say 'no'," Ami replied. "Unless there's another contributing factor I'm unaware of. I'd have to get a scan of him and study it."
"Suppose that's why he's got it in for TEPCO?" Makoto asked.
"It's a logical hypothesis," Ami commented.
"Usagi, wake up!" Luna roared suddenly.
"Huh? Sorry," slurred Usagi. "What were we talking about?" Minako smirked.
"Any way to track this guy?" Minako grunted as she bent to touch the other foot. "I'd rather not wait for him to attack someone else."
"My scans can't trace psychic energy and not being from Tokyo, he has no logical refuge in the city to turn to," Ami replied.
"Police reports are sketchy," Artemis said. "Nobody can pinpoint where he fled after he attacked TEPCO."
"Which is a neat trick, given the way he looks," Minako commented.
"Well, we have to find him!" Usagi exclaimed. "I want to help him! And I don't want him to hurt anyone else!"
They heard Rei sigh. "I'll go down to where he was last seen. Maybe I can pick up his psychic signature."
"I'll help!" Usagi offered. "I wouldn't want you to face him alone when you find him."
Everyone agreed and logged off of the conference call. Artemis then noticed Minako smiling with satisfaction at something.
"What?" he asked.
"Didn't you notice?" Minako said. "Usagi said 'when' Rei finds him. Not 'if'. I doubt she even realized she said it. How do you even think about letting down someone with that much faith in you?"
Usagi waited in front of the TEPCO Tokyo headquarters, shivering in the cold. Even though she had a fur-lined white leather jacket and pink leggings, she was still cold. This was not the kind of weather to be wearing a skirt. Too, there were still reminders of what had happened the previous afternoon: a shard of glass here and there, the remnant of police cordon tape still tied to a light pole, and a faint hint of red on the concrete where one of the TEPCO executives had fallen to his death.
Luna had told her on her way out that the victims had been identified. Each one was a high ranking executive or upper level manager of the company's nuclear division. Engineers, lower level managers, assistants and other office personnel had only been injured and only as collateral damage. And while the loss of life had and still upset her, Usagi was grateful to hear that this strange man wasn't on an indiscriminate killing rampage.
"Usagi!" she heard Rei call and turned. Rei was approaching, wearing a long dark brown wool coat. It was open at the front, revealing the crimson turtleneck, the tight, short navy skirt and navy winter hose over her legs, ending at black ankle boots.
"Rei, I hate you! You look gorgeous in that outfit!" Usagi marveled. Rei grinned, genuinely pleased.
"It's partially your fault," Rei smirked. "You bought me the coat."
"Hey, that is the coat I bought you!" goggled Usagi. "You wear it very well!" Then she grinned with mock aggression. "Too well, if you ask me. So why aren't you in your priest robes?"
"I figure we'll attract less attention this way," Rei shrugged. Then she smirked maliciously. "Although given the way you're dressed, maybe not. Can you wear that skirt any shorter?"
"I have to do something to compete with you," Usagi shot back playfully.
After working to smother the smile on her face, Rei began concentrating. Usagi watched her intently, as always fascinated by how Rei could see and feel things other people couldn't. The priest lingered for a time, then seemed to seize on something. She and Usagi crossed the street, Rei seemingly a million miles away to Usagi and yet conscious enough to step onto the curb when they reached it. Turning left, they walked for a dozen yards. Suddenly Rei stopped.
"Did you find him already?" Usagi gasped.
"He must have ducked in here," Rei said vacantly. "His psychic signature is strongest here."
"Through the wall?" Usagi asked doubtfully.
"Maybe it's one of his powers," Rei suggested, returning from her light trance. "Let's go inside."
The two women ventured into the lobby of the office building. Usagi looked around while Rei concentrated on the psychic signature she was reading.
"It goes down," she whispered. "Underneath - - one of the lower floors."
"There are no lower floors," Usagi said, checking the building guide. "We're on the bottom."
"There has to be something below us," Rei maintained. "A storage room, a basement, an underground parking garage, something. He didn't go out the back of the building. He went down."
"How will we find it? They're not going to let us just search the place." Suddenly Usagi stopped, then grinned impishly. "Maybe they will, if I ask the right way."
Quickly Usagi pulled Rei back into a secluded part of the lobby. Rei was about to ask why when she saw Usagi pull out the Disguise Pen.
"Moon Power," she said softly, holding the pen up. "Make me into a beautiful police detective."
After a shower of color, Rei found herself standing next to a mature blonde woman dressed in a sensible, elegantly cut black suit dress with a matching shoulder bag. Grasping Rei's hand, Usagi marched them right up to the lobby security desk. The guard on duty spotted them.
"May I help you?" he asked.
"Inspector Chiba of the Metro Police," Usagi said professionally, flashing a badge to the guard. "We're investigating yesterday's incident across the street. Is there a lower floor to this building below the lobby?"
"There's the building maintenance storage areas," the guard replied, "and the room where the furnace, water heater and a/c unit is."
"My colleague and I would like to search that area, please," Usagi requested.
"Certainly," the guard nodded, dialing a number on his phone. "That Shunshuu-Dono isn't hiding here, is he?"
"That's what we're trying to find out," Usagi replied while Rei looked on in amazement. Moments later another security guard showed up and he escorted the two women to a service elevator. All the way, Rei just stared at Usagi in awe. The woman she often called "ditz" with justification was the model of a professional law enforcement official. Usagi's heels clicked across the linoleum floor with a precise, almost military cadence. Though she kept a professional demeanor, inside Usagi was giggling in triumph.
"These are the storage areas," the guard said, gesturing to a door as they traveled down a wide hall. He glanced back at the two "police detectives". Usagi was looking intently at Rei, while Rei had her hand to her temple and her eyes clamped shut. After a few moments, the raven-haired woman shook her head. Usagi then gestured to the guard to continue. "And this is the HVAC room."
Rei stopped suddenly. Her features scrunched up almost into a prune. Then they relaxed. Her eyes opened. She nodded to Usagi.
"Go upstairs," Usagi advised the guard. "Call Tokyo Metro Police. Tell them the suspect is down here. Then keep this area and the lobby clear of all civilians. Understood?"
Usagi drew a .38 automatic from under her jacket, startling both the guard and Rei. The guard nodded and quickly headed upstairs.
"Where did you get a gun?" hissed Rei as Usagi reached for the door knob to the HVAC room. Usagi turned to her. Then she looked at the gun in her hand.
Then her eyes grew to saucers.
"OH MY GOODNESS!" gasped Usagi. She dropped the automatic like it was molten. Rei reached out and closed her hand around Usagi's forearm.
"Maybe we better transform," Rei suggested.
After they transformed, the two senshi quietly entered the HVAC room. Mars glanced back and saw the gun had faded with Usagi's transformation into Sailor Moon.
The room itself was sparsely decorated, with open insulation on the walls and ceiling and a bare concrete floor. On one side of the room was a massive ventilating and air conditioning unit with fourteen inch diameter ducts shooting out from it to the ceiling in three directions. On the other side of the room was some cardboard boxes of air filters next to the equally massive furnace, ducts leading up to the ceiling as well. Sailor Moon looked at Mars. Mars pointed toward the boxes. The two senshi quietly approached, Mars armed with one of her wards.
Without warning, a man with a massive cranium sprang up from behind the boxes. Mars moved to throw her ward, but the man gestured with his hands and an invisible force bowled the fire senshi over and sent her skidding across the cement floor.
Continued in Chapter 8
