Another Chapter in Ruddygore! I tried for action, but it's not very impressive. :)
Chapter 3 - Future Prediction, Current Crisis
"You and Usagi," Rei grumbled. "What is with you two? You're like trouble magnets, and I don't get it."
Minako hid her answering grin behind her cup and then took a sip of her water. She toyed with the lemon wedge balanced on the rim of her glass as she tried to come up with an acceptable answer. She knew that what Rei was really saying had a lot more to do with how worried the priestess was, and she wasn't sure how to reassure the woman.
In the end she settled on simply falling back into old habits. She tossed her hair with a dramatic gesture and batted her eye lashes at Rei.
"First, it's mostly Usagi, and you know it. It's practically her job to get in trouble. And second, it's because we're so beautiful and delicate, things are just attracted to us," she gushed, putting her chin in her hand and giving Rei a megawatt smile designed to get under her skin. She wasn't disappointed. It was fun to watch Rei bristle like an aggravated hedgehog, but the fit of temper didn't last long. Rei was uncharacteristically serious after a moment, and looked off and to the side at the street beside their café table.
"I'm serious, Mina-chan. Please be careful. I've been having visions…" the priestess trailed off here and Minako frowned, studying her carefully even though Rei was now averting her eyes. She sucked down another sip of water.
"Oookaaayyyy…" she replied, sliding the lemon wedge around on the rim of her glass with a single pointer. "What kind of visions, exactly?" If Rei had seen any new battles ahead, that took first priority over everything else, and would need to be Dealt With. Rei turned to face her again, mouth puckered as though she'd bitten into the lemon Minako had been fidgeting with.
"Visions about you, you dope," she snarled, reminding Minako of the hedgehog again. Her tone suggested that the very fact she had to endure visions about Minako specifically was ruining her life.
Gods, she loved Rei. The woman was just way too much fun. Minako fluttered her lashes again, leaning her face in her hand over the table so she could get closer to Rei. "I mean, that makes sense. I am amazing and totally the kind of person destined for visions of greatness," she oozed in reply, grinning.
Watching Rei actively struggle not to reach across the table and strangle her was a gift, Minako thought, unable to keep the grin on her face from widening. Rei huffed air out and then sent her a look across the table that Minako could not interpret.
"Look. I saw…..someone…pale, ok? And the energy I felt….it was dark. And this wasn't anyone else, it was just you, so Be. Careful," she said in a low voice. Minako felt the smile drop off her face and didn't try to prop it back up.
"Okay. I'll be careful," she said with a nod. "But do you think this is something that everyone should be aware of?"
Rei snorted, shaking her hair back and resuming eating. "Oh, I'm going to make everyone aware of it, but honestly Minako, it's you that needs to be worried. The visions are clear. You're the only one at risk here."
Minako shrugged, and flashed Rei a grin. "I'm telling you. When you're this gorgeous, everyone wants a piece of you," she said. Rei gave her the evil eye full blast and proceeded to ignore her for the next several moments as they finished eating.
They parted ways shortly after, and Minako moved with a bounce in her step, but inside, she was turning Rei's prediction over in her mind. Pale? Dark? Her eyes went wide as a thought occurred to her.
What if the theater was haunted?
She let her mind run over the dramatic possibilities but eventually the idea lost its shine. If there was a ghost, it was capable of murdering real live people and that…..wasn't as fun as the mere possibility of some romantic haunt with unfinished business.
She made her way back into her office with a sigh, and the rest of the day passed in a blur – menacing ghosts as far from her mind as anything else.
The sun had sunk from the sky and the skyline became illuminated – the lights from windows across the city like a galaxy full of stars hovering just above the earth – when her phone rang. Again. Minako scowled at it, considered picking it up and just leaving it off the hook. If she had to talk to one more fabric manufacturer or modeling agency, she was going to pull her hair out.
With a groan, she reached over, snaping it from its cradle and putting it to her ear.
"Aino Designs," she muttered, focus still on the dressmaker's dummy she was currently engaged in experimenting with fabric textures on. She admitted, she was a sucker for a layered look, but this particular design and material weren't really cooperating.
"You're late for rehearsal," a distorted voice said, and then hung up.
Minako blinked, and looked at the receiver in her hand. The dull sounds of the dial tone were jarring in the silence.
She needed to get a radio in here.
If there were a rehearsal going on right now, she'd be late for it, but the production had been postponed indefinitely while investigations were ongoing. The police had been particular about wanting everyone out of the theater until further notice.
She wanted to be disappointed, but really, that was sort of all right with her. So the reprimand for being late seemed…extra creepy now. Hesitantly, she dropped the receiver back in its cradle. It rang again immediately, and she jumped, but ready this time, she snapped it up.
"Aino Designs," she said again in as brusque a tone as possible.
"Whatever you're doing, time to pack up. I'm downstairs, and we have a date," Seiji's deep voice said. Minako beamed, shooting a look at the clock.
"Your timing is perfect. Come on up – I just need to wrap up here," she said cheerfully, creepy call momentarily forgotten as she hung up and buzzed him in.
She had initiated the process of closing down for the day when a soft knock came at the door. "You don't need to knock Seiji. Just come in," she said frowning absently, wondering why he was being so formal.
The door rattled quietly in its frame but didn't open. Minako straightened and turned, wondering if she'd locked it. She approached with quick steps, eager to see him. "Sorry, I guess I must have locked it some—" she cut herself off when she opened the door, but saw a total stranger outside.
He was tall, and slim, but he wore a deeply cowled black hood, so the only thing she could really see were the bottom edges of a white domino mask. The head lifted as Minako staggered back, and in the depths of the cowl, two points of light glowed a sharp red.
She dug a hand in her pocket immediately and grasped her change rod, thrusting it up and summoning her transformation. Almost as soon as she finished, her attacker launched themselves at her, and Venus hit the wall opposite her office door hard. She pulled herself out of the sheetrock feeling irritated. She was renting this space, dammit.
Then she wasn't worried about damages when her assailant began launching sharp projectiles at her. She dodged, jumping behind a work table and flipping it up as a shield. As soon as he ran out and reached for more, Minako picked the table up and threw it at him with all her strength.
He growled when it hit, groaning when it embedded him into the wall with the force, but Minako didn't let up, she took a running jump and kicked at the table, burying him more deeply into the crater he'd already made.
The table flew outward then, catching her in the solar plexus as it flipped end over end with surprising force. Minako coughed, then gasped, eyes widening before she managed to get the table back up just in time to shield her face from more projectiles. Ugh, how many sharp objects did he have in that cloak?!
She backed away from his steady advance holding the table in place, looking around for another weapon to use. Very shortly there wasn't going to be much of a table left, and the she'd be out of time and options. Her eyes lit on a heavy metal folding chair, and Minako grabbed it, snapping it shut and flinging it at her attacker from behind the table.
It spun in the air, giving the toss extra momentum as it slammed into her assailant's face with a satisfying clang sound, and she heard him curse in that same distorted voice from the phone under his breath.
Still brandishing the now decrepit table as a shield, she picked up another chair, snapping it shut with a one-handed gesture and gripping it by its lower cross brace like it was a sword instead of a bit of steel furniture.
She really hoped this guy was getting tired, because if he didn't back off, she was gonna have to start using her Venus powers. And she was a little worried about how much damage she'd do to the building, let alone her office if she had to start shooting off Crescent Beams.
With a growl, he threw the chair back at her. Eyes wide, Minako thrust the table in front of her face. It cracked, breaking apart beneath the force even as she went flying backwards, crash landing into a set of metal filing cabinets that had been lined neatly against the wall. Minako groaned, pulling herself out of their mangled metal remains as she started to feel the physical toll of the fight.
"All right," she muttered, grunting as she shakily made her way back to her feet and tried to work the kinks out of her back. "No more holding back."
He was on her as soon as she stood, and Minako rolled with the force of his strike, hitting her back and kicking him over her head and into another wall. She twisted, popping up to her feet just in time to block a fist arrowing in at her face. She clamped her fingers around it, struggling to hold it in her grip as she thrust her pointer finger into her attacker's rib cage and summoned a Crescent Beam at point blank range.
He went sailing away from her in an explosion of orange light, decimating a set of larger metal filing cabinets that had housed a good deal of her designs in them. She'd worry about salvaging them later.
She panted, resting one hand on her hip as she waited to see what her assailant planned to do next. When he began to twitch from within the pile of mangled metal and paper, Minako dropped into a battle-ready stance, pointer glowing as she got ready to blast him to the ends of the Universe if he tried anything.
He flew up and out of the mess as if it were nothing, on her so fast her shot went wide, leaving a hole in the ceiling next to a swaying chandelier. Minako got him with a heavy right cross, and then again and again, until some of his weight on top of her lessened. He picked her up by the bow of her uniform and slammed her body back down hard against the concrete floor, and she coughed around the metallic taste in her mouth. He moved to do it again, but this time her drop was much less deliberate – he was suddenly gone.
Minako groaned, rolling over with another cough just in time to see Korin pressing a blade to her assailant's neck, holding him against a wall.
Seiji was snarling, rage in the depths of his visible eye. His armor was sparking, little flares of electricity arching off him and discharging into the atmosphere of the room. Her hair was starting to stand on end a bit.
"Give me one reason I shouldn't end you right now," he growled, his voice like crushed stone. Some of the electricity burning off his armor arched down his sword and into her attacker. The man's body jerked with the jolt, and he groaned, sagging against the blade of the Korin Ken.
"I think the question you should be asking yourself is can you end me?" her assailant chortled with distorted laughter that sounded creepy enough to make to give her goose bumps. A swirling black vortex opened in the wall behind him, and then he was gone.
Minako stared stupidly at the spot he'd been as Seiji jerked in surprise, then snarled in frustration. He straightened, balancing the blade of his sword on one metal-gauntleted hand, examining something.
"Whoever he is, he bleeds. He can be hurt," he said in that same gravely tone. The words sounded more like a vicious promise to Minako than a statement of fact. His tone clearly expressed his intent to hunt him down. He sheathed his sword then, and moved toward her, cupping her face in his armored hands with incredible gentleness considering the display he'd just made.
"Are you all right?" he breathed, studying her anxiously. Minako nodded, placing her hands over his.
"Nothing a bath with some Epsom salts won't cure," she said with forced cheer. He frowned at her, straightening again to take in her smoking, cratered office space.
"I want Ami to take a look," he said obstinately. Minako fought not to roll her eyes.
"So much for a romantic date," she muttered. Seiji shot her a tender look then, and reached out to cup her face again.
"Your well being will always come first," he replied sweetly, and her tantrum melted like ice on a summer sidewalk before it even got started.
"Okay," she said pliantly.
He opened the door to her office, looking both ways cautiously before ushering them out into the hall and toward the back stairs. They let themselves through the metal exit door quietly, and by the time they reached the street several stories below they were both in civilian garb. Seiji wove their fingers together, keeping her close to his side as he navigated the city streets.
Exhausted now that she no longer had the power of Venus actively coursing through her veins, Minako was one hundred percent team Hot Soak and Comfy Bed. She was more than happy to let Seiji guide them through the streets of downtown and then navigate the train station. She followed in a daze, trying to run over the night's events in her mind.
It seemed uncanny that only at lunch Rei had warned her, and Minako resolved to pin the priestess down and get more information now.
Who or what was this new…thing? Minako hesitated to call it a person because it had had glowing red eyes and disappeared into a swirling black vortex. Minako had met lots of things that could disappear into swirling vortexes of darkness, and none of them were really human. Maybe enhanced human, but definitely not plain old human.
And then there was the call about being late for rehearsal. That had been the same voice – she'd have staked her life on it. So this seemed like it might be tied to the murder. Whoever they were, they did seem to like sharp objects, and Takeda had been killed by a knife.
…All right, maybe that was a bit of a reach. Circumstantial.
The train was crowded, so Seiji grabbed a handle and put an arm around her shoulders, tucking her against him as the train swayed over the tracks. Minako leaned into his embrace, tucking her arm around his waist and holding him securely, needing the solid feel of him beside her for reassurance. She lay her head against his chest, the sound of his heartbeat beneath her ear, calming her.
They basked quietly in each other's presence until they arrived at Nasuti's. When she opened the door and saw them holding hands on the porch, Nasuti blinked, her smile turning inquisitive.
"Hello! I thought you two had a date?" the woman gushed, showing them in. Seiji removed his coat and dutifully helped Minako out of hers.
"We ran into some trouble," Seiji said quietly. "Is Ami around?" he pulled a chair out and gave Minako his hand as she sat. He was such a gentleman, she thought. So refined. The memory of him flashed, enraged, eyes fierce, blade poised, in her mind's eye, and she sighed as she thought about it. He was incredibly good at hiding the passion beneath. It made her heart pound, just a little, to think about it.
He stood behind her chair, hands resting gently and comfortingly on her shoulders as they waited. It wasn't only Ami who moved into the kitchen shortly after. Ryo burst in, scowling, and took a chair on the far side of the table beside Minako.
"Are you all right?" he asked, reaching out to take her hand across the table like he'd just heard her dog died. Minako tried hard not to laugh at the sincere concern on his face. Especially since he was honestly a big mush and she loved him that way.
She grinned at him, flexing her free arm.
"What are you talking about? I'm a brick house. You should see the other guy!" she said brightly. He returned her smile.
"Oh yeah? What is he, a pile of pulp?" Rekka grinned.
Seiji snorted. "Unfortunately, he's not. But that's all right. Because when I find him, I'm gonna fix that." The edge in Korin's tone spoke volumes about what was going on beneath the surface. He was seething, and Minako was willing to bet he'd be that way for awhile. He'd been so calm and gentle she hadn't even realized.
Ryo shot Seiji a look that Minako couldn't interpret.
"How are you feeling?" Ami asked her, taking the seat closest to Minako and pulling a pen light out of her pocket. Minako sighed, knowing what was coming, but sat obediently through Ami shining bright lights in her eyes. Again.
"I'm fine, seriously," she complained.
"It looked like you got tossed around quite a bit to me," Seiji said stiffly. Ryo shot him another look Minako couldn't quite figure out, but then Ami was tugging her up.
"Come on, let's head to your room so I can get a good look at you," she said. Minako sighed, following her up the stairs.
At least she'd have some privacy so she could talk with Ami about what'd happened. See what information they could gather without Seiji getting edgy about whatever information they turned up.
Minako ran over her attacker's form again in her mind's eye, trying not to shiver.
He'd been seriously creepy. And hard to take down. But something about him, had been so….familiar. She hadn't wanted to say anything about it to Seiji. Not yet. Not until she had more to go on.
Rei had said that this was only connected to Minako.
Maybe that meant that she could get through this without anyone else getting hurt.