Ziggy's Corner: Okay chapter four. Still only three chapters, only from Osage, but three are better than none. I've got a gut feeling that Fox cancelled The Inside, that's too bad, but they brought in Bones, which is also good. Maybe one day I'll try my hand at writing a fiction for that.
Web sat at the "war table" looking at his underlings with squinted eyes. "This is the only bits of information we have?"
"It's better than nothing," Paul snapped.
"But its still nothing," Web growled, daring the other man to say another word. "We're not going to be anywhere near close to catching the perp with what we have."
Rebecca watched the two of them mentally combat one another and shifted her weight. She knew they didn't like each other, or at least Paul didn't like Web, but the last couple of weeks the two of them seemed be growing farther and farther apart. It wouldn't take much for either man to explode and either quite or fire the other.
Mel dropped the paperwork she and Danny had gathered from the convention and slid it across the desk to Web. "There's a probability that the killer is a member of this group, or at least has dealings with them."
"I've also gone on line and found a web site devoted to anime fans," Danny said. He gave them the link. "It allows for internet chat, exchanging videos, pictures, and whatnot. Also allows people to make friends so they can attend these conventions in large groups."
"Safety in numbers," Rebecca said with a dry smile.
"That seems to be the otaku way of thinking," Paul said. When the others stared at him with odd looks he shrugged. "An otaku is a fan of anime and Japanese manga. They're also friendly, very friendly but there can be times when they seem to be very secretive and protective of their own members." He turned to Danny and smirked. "You're not the only one to do his homework."
Web sat back and stroked his chin. "Are there any fans on this site that are interested in photography?"
"I did look that up," Danny said, straightening up his tie. He picked up a large stack of papers and tossed them across the mahogany table. "There were twelve different groups devoted to that, and at least five hundred members who were likewise interested in that field, who have yet to join an organization."
"Great, just wonderful," his boss said with an agitated sigh. "Well then I guess we're going to have to call in for Chinese." They looked at him for a moment and all of them frowned. "Well not all night, but if we're going to catch this person, we're going to have to all pitch in." He turned to Rebecca. "Except for you, with what little we know, I think you can begin to renew your profile of this guy."
"Now wait a moment," Paul snapped.
"No, it's fine," Rebecca said, putting her hand on his shoulder. "I have a few ideas about what this person is like anyway." She turned to Web and blinked, "Will it be okay for me to take some of these papers and look through them?"
"So long as you don't lose them," he grumbled, ignoring a very bitter Paul.
"I think I'll look at the bodies at the victims too, maybe it will help." He nodded and she walked off, blocking out Paul's cries of protests. It would be good to be away from him too, he was kind, and caring, but for what she needed to do, she couldn't have her knight in shining armor trying to shield her from the big bad world.
The blonde woman studied the bodies of the victims, and compared them to the bodies of the dead anime women in the books and shows. She frowned and narrowed her eyes, mentally sketching the scenes into one fresh sheet of blank paper, until they fit like a glove. She shivered as she sat there in the dark, the pictures flashing against the wall, as she pressed the clicker to the next one. There was something artistic about how they were killed, something grandiose about it, but also something very off.
She knew that it was a single killer, not multiple or a copy cat like the papers were saying. There was also something chilling, desperate about them. The theater, the old warehouse if the person who was killing these girls was trying to copy the scenes; he couldn't have picked odder places that were the direct opposites of the scenes in the anime and Manga that they copied. For example the murder in the theater, where the girl dressed up like Lady Une was as close the ground as it could be, and the girl had been tied up. In the Anime and Manga, Lady Une was shot from a plane, while she was standing. True both were shot in the chest, but that was about it.
"There's more to it than just that," Web grumbled, walking up to her chair. He knelt down, startling her only a little, staring at the pictures "through" her, as though he was reading her mind on the matter. "He has you tied up, dressed in the clothes of a character from a cartoon show. What is he thinking, what's going through his mind, through yours?"
"I want to get away, but he has an overwhelming sense of control and charisma that seems to draw me to him, like a moth to the flame," she said almost hypnotically.
"Then he ties you to the chair, what do you do?" he whispered in her ear.
"I begin to panic, but there is something in his manner that keeps me from doing it, until he's ready to strike. I try to fight back, but it's too late, he's caught me, and now he's going to finish his mission." Her body was shaking, and in her eyes she could see herself tied to that chair, wearing those clothes, looking into the dead eyes of the man who kidnapped her when she was a child.
"What mission?" Web pressed.
"I don't know," Rebecca whimpered, her lips trembling.
"Yes you do, Rebecca," he growled, not ferociously, but insistent to get the information from her.
"No," she cried, tears running down her cheeks. The man was hovering over her, his clothes gone, his eyes hungry for flesh. He smiled at her and stroked his genitals.
"It's been a long time, baby, you've made us both very happy," he said with a sick chuckle.
"No," she sniveled.
"Yes," Web snapped. "Face him Rebecca, face him. What does he want?" His heart was pounding now, he was at the point of a break through, in more ways than one, and he was determined to get the answers he wanted.
Just as it seemed the girl could not take any more of the vision from her mind, the door in the room burst open, and Paul rushed in, shoving his superior away from her, and turning the recorder off, turning off the horrid pictures rushing through her mind.
"How dare you," Web snapped. "We almost had a profile of the killer."
Paul soared on his heels and glared at his superior. "Don't give me that shit," he growled. "You weren't interested in getting any information from her, at least not like this."
"Don't you chastise me, Paul," the older man snapped. "I've told you more than once that you and I are a lot a like, you know that if you could have the chance to save another innocent girl, you would have done the same thing I did."
Paul glared at the other man and hissed as he passed by him. "The day I traumatize one girl to save another is the same day I sell my soul to the devil. But you know all about that, don't you?"
He helped Rebecca to her feet and escorted her out of the room; leaving their boss to stand in the darkness, and fume and groan under his own guilt and weight. Not with what he had done to Rebecca, though he knew that was wrong too. But to a part of his past that Paul had made reference to. One he was sure that no one knew about, but perhaps one that was now pushing its way back into the light.
He stood there and watched the door closed, and shut his eyes, as if to block out his own nightmares. One day when that girl reaches her potential, then perhaps I will finally find peace.
Okay, this was chapter four. Osage I hope you enjoyed it. Anyway I've watched both Gundams, my favorite being Seed. Although according to the official web site, Seed takes place in a different universe as Wing does. In fact I believe there are at least six different Gundam Universes, with two sub universes. Anyway the next chapter ends Act 1 of this story. There are going to be 3 acts in this whole fiction, each act with longer chapters, so enjoy.
Anyway as I am swamped with stories and getting all these submissions on time, until I have finished a lot of my major stories, or I come up with an interesting idea, or I get a lot of fan mail for this story, you should be prepared to wait for another update for a while. I'm so very sorry. Rest assured I will not give up writing this, there WILL be more updates eventually. I just don't know when.