Chapter 20
When Raiden, still in his guise as Ron Ingrid, entered the precinct, Kay came up to him and said, "They just brought Ice Witch in. She's up in Interview Room #2." "Excellent; thank you for telling me so quickly. Perhaps now we can end this." Kay led the way to the interview room and upon entering, sat down next to Raiden across from Ice Witch.
Like her picture, Ice Witch was bright blond, practically white-haired and very pretty. She looked at the Detective and the God and said nothing at first. As soon as she made eye contact with Raiden, he read her soul and found it to be intact and not given over, even in part, to Shang Tsung.
He said, "I have what I need now Detective Basil and am no longer needed. Just the same though, I'd like to finish sitting in and hear her side of it." Kay responding to the formality in his tone said, "Very good Agent Ingrid, you may stay."
Kay turned her attention back to Ice Witch and waited patiently for her to speak. Ice Witch sat there a few minutes and finally started talking. "You can drop the official federal agent and hard-nose detective routine with me. You want to know why I was helping Shang Tsung and the others. Fine, I'll tell you. For shits and giggles, that's why. Reggae was the street level contact. He knew what to look for in prospective and receptive gang members. He wanted money and the respect that comes with money, even though as a person, he was really quite pathetic. Roller was the enforcer. He knew how to get things moving, how to unite the disparate gangs into a cohesive whole and he wanted to hurt churches and other sites of holy ground because of his old man. Dice was the mid-level coordinator. With her cover at Club Jet, she could launder money and sign for the various chemicals and supplies to make the explosives we would've used and call it 'legitimate pyrotechnics' for the shows at the club. Piano Man was the real brain of the operation. With his near-obsession with attention to detail, he figured out how the Poison Adder would achieve its goal. As for me, I just wanted to get in the shit. Chaos and the concept of anarchy are beautiful things to me. That's all I'm telling you until my lawyer gets here, so get lost."
With that, she sat back in her chair, put her feet up on the tabletop and folded her arms across her generous chest, put her chin down and seemed to fall asleep. Kay and Raiden stood up and walked out. After the door closed and they were back in the hall walking back to Kay's desk, she spoke first, "I guess they call her 'Ice Witch' for a reason. She was so cold about the whole thing it was almost like the dead of winter in there."
Raiden said, "So much the better then for you. The judge at her trial, when she gets there, will be more inclined for the maximum possible sentence when the court sees just how lacking in remorse she is." Kay nodded her head in agreement, "You're probably right. For right now though, we'll see if she'll give us any more . . .," with a loud crash, the door and part of the surrounding wall to the interview room was blown out from inside and Raiden put himself between any flying debris and Kay. There was a loud scream from the room's sole occupant and an oily voice saying loudly, "YOUR SOUL IS MINE!"
Raiden said tersely, "Stay here, I don't want Shang Tsung to know your face," and ran back to the interview room. As he entered, Shang Tsung dropped the withered corpse that had been Ice Witch and looked to Raiden. "Too late Lord Raiden. You have won this round but I will take the final victory because this only delays my plans for Earth Realm. Goodbye . . . thunder god."
A portal opened up from behind to swallow the sorcerer and he was gone. Raiden could say little more than, "Damn," as Kay walked in behind him to take in the sight of the withered corpse. She looked over to Raiden and asked, "What now?" He shook his head and said, "I wish I could tell you, but my part in this is done now. Right about now, the OIS is walking in the front door and declaring this building and everyone in it to lockdown until they can clean this up and manufacture a plausible cover story for what just happened."
In a resigned tone, Kay said, "Yea, you're probably right. This is a matter for mortal men and women to solve for themselves from now on. This may seem rather off the subject at hand, but I'd like to see Amperica again sometime. Can you arrange it?" Raiden nodded. Kay continued, "Before you go, may I see you in your true form, one more time?"
Raiden took a few steps away from her and engulfed himself in a shower of lightning and stood there in front of his friend in his god-wear with its straw hat and his eyes all white with electric arcs coruscating across them. "I guess this is the goodbye that we didn't get ten years ago Roni." Kay stepped up to him and kissed him squarely on the lips and then walked out of the room before he could see her tears of goodbye. Raiden was surprised a moment and said quietly, "Farewell Dear Heart," and caused a portal for himself to open and walked through it.