Chapter 7

"Sayonara"

A beautiful morning turned into a foreboding evening. The thin layer of mist developed into a light drizzle. Cody was tired, but the day was far from over. After their meeting with Vet at the Mannsdale Gym, he and Dion had gone back to Myrna's apartment to gather their belongings for the journey ahead of them. Before meeting with the mayor, Cody decided to head to the police station to check up on the interrogation process with J.

Cody was uneasy going straight into the building. He knew that many cops would have tried busting him back into jail for their fifteen minutes of fame. Luckily for the ex-hero, Mayor Haggar had informed the police department that he had been pardoned and was now working for the Metro City Undercover Agency. Still, he received some dirty looks from many an officer as he made his way to Inspector Morgan's cubicle. The boxer didn't care what they thought anymore. He wouldn't be surprised if some of them were secretly working for Mad Gear, ala Edi. E.

A frustrated Lucia walked out of the interrogation room. She rubbed her eyes and plunged into the cushioned seat near her work desk.

"Well? What did you get out of him?" asked Cody, leaning both arms on her desk.

"Absolutely nothing," replied the investigator, looking at him from her chair.

"What!" he exclaimed.

"You mean I busted my ass running for nothing!" interrupted Dion.

"He has to know something Lucia," the boxer complained. "Let me go in there. I'll make him talk," he threatened, his arm muscles tense.

"He's already gone," replied the investigator. The duo both looked at her with widened expressions – that 'how-could-you-have-done-that?' look. "Guys, come on. You chased after him and knocked his lights out by tackling him against a brick wall. As far as we know, J hasn't done anything wrong. By law, we can only hold him for two hours. Once those two hours are up, we're forced to release him unless there's evidence that he's involved in some sort of crime. I'm sorry, but there's nothing I can do." Lucia got up from her chair and walked toward the restroom.

"Fuck! I can't believe this shit," Cody said angrily. "It looks like the only answers we'll be getting will be in Tokyo. Come on Dion, Haggar's waiting for us by the landing strip." The duo disappointedly walked through the precinct to the emergency landing strip. Haggar was waiting outside in a tan trench coat with a black file folder in his hands – the one that Cody had left in his office this morning.

"Cody, you left this in my office this morning. I've put all the information I could gather about your mission in it. The jet will fly you to the Tokyo International Airport. One of my Japanese associates will meet you at the landing zone and provide you with whatever you need. This is a covert mission. The Japanese government doesn't know anything about this…only the top officials in the police department know about your operations. Fail and we risk causing an international crisis. Good luck, Cody."

"That's it? Good luck?" asked the boxer.

"That's all you need. Don't make me regret my decision for keeping you out of jail," said Haggar. Cody gave him a cold stare and made his way into the jet. Dion began to follow, but stopped to look up at Haggar, who peered down at him with an emotionless face. He clearly stood at least a foot taller than the young Filipino. Dion was more shocked at the sheer size of the mayor than anything.

"Come back in one piece," the mayor said to Cody's partner before turning around and walking inside. Dion hoisted his bag atop his shoulder and climbed into the small jet, closing the door behind him.

Setting their stuff down and taking a seat, the plane made its way down the runway and took off. Metro City was now nothing more than a bunch of lights below, crawling like miniature fireflies. The interior of the jet appeared to be first class. There was even a small bar. Cody never would have thought that Haggar would have rented them a jet like this for them.

The pilot guided the jet through the slight turbulence of the storm and then gave the clear for the duo to freely move about. Cody got up and pulled up a chair next to a round table. He opened up the black file folder that Haggar had given him, reading through the mission briefings.

"Geez, I feel like I'm double-O seven or something," he thought. Dion walked over to the bar to grab a glass of water. Cody decided to skip through the introduction crap and go to the actual meat of the mission. He began reading the statements out loud, so that Dion could hear them as well. At first, it seemed like an ordinary mission, as Dion took in a gulp of water. However, upon hearing Cody's last few words, he quickly spit out the water. The boxer looked at him strangely.

"What? Say that again – the part that you just read." Dion said with a worried tone in his voice.

"The organization you and your party will be infiltrating is called the Society of Deibiddo. Why, you've heard of them?" Cody said to Dion.

"Aw hell no, you did not just tell me that. Please tell me you did not just say that. Why the hell didn't you tell me we we're infiltrating the Society of Deibiddo!" he protested.

"I just found out right now. I would've told you if I knew," he tried explaining.

"I can't believe it!" the young Filipino said, pacing back and forth. "This mission is going to be SUICIDE!" he shouted. Needless to say, he was quite upset.

"Dion, calm down, we aren't going to die. They're just another gang of street punks. Why are you so worried?" the boxer asked. He couldn't comprehend the reason for Dion's sudden change in temperament.

"Street punks?" he laughed in a disenchanted manner. "No…I don't know from who or where Haggar got his sources from, but I assure you that this is NOT just another gang of street punks." The young Filipino walked around the perimeter of the jet like a race track.

"The Society of Deibiddo is the most feared social order in Japan. They make the Triads look like a church assembly. This organization has been in existence for ages, and it's more than a simple organization – they're a cult. They claim themselves to be the perfect society – one in which everyone is equal. The thing is you only have two options when they ask you to enter – join or die.

The young martial artist sat down on the wooden chair across from Cody.

"Most people join, but without the realization that they'll become brainwashed, like the way they do it in boot camp. They train you to become assassins, murderers. All the members of this 'gang' are excellent fighters, but their knowledge of the black arts is what makes them deadly. It's rumored that twenty-four percent of the total death count in Japan is attributed to them."

"Hold on. If they're that much of a threat, why don't the police stop them or something?" Cody asked, finding the story Dion was telling hard to swallow.

"That's just the thing. They've influenced the government since its inception. Feudal lords have paid dues in fear of being assassinated. Throughout the centuries, they have fallen into obscurity, to the point were most citizens refer to them as a made up history tale."

"But…"

"Information on them is sparse, just like the secret societies you hear about all over the world." Dion stood up and began making his way toward a sofa. "Their acts are secretive and the police rarely even put a connection between the two."

"So how do you know so much about these guys? I doubt they taught you this in history class," the boxer joked, sitting with his feet on the table.

"When I was a little kid," Dion started, lying down on the soft-cushioned sofa, "my grandfather and I would play detective. He would tell me the scenario, the clues and he would have a list of suspects to choose from and we'd work them out. He'd take frequent trips to Tokyo and many times came back with new cases. We promised not to tell anybody. It was our secret game – and I never did tell anybody."

"Until…" Cody finished.

"Until my grandfather never came back from Tokyo," he continued with an exaggerated breath. "That's when I learned that he really was a secret agent. I had always thought that he made up those missions, but of course I was too young too put one and one together. How odd is that, a full-blooded Filipino working for the Japanese government. The last case he had been working on was dealing with a cult…"

"And let me guess…it was the Society of Deibiddo," the boxer interrupted.

"Yes. He shared with me a lot of information about them, figuring that I probably wouldn't remember. He told me that they were a very dangerous group. Like I said, I never thought it was for real, so I wasn't really scarred. My grandfather told me that if something happened to him that I should keep our game a secret. I never understood what he meant by that, until the day he didn't return.

Dion paused for a moment, turning to his side, not even looking at his partner.

"That's the real reason why I started learning the martial arts, so that one day I could go and beat the crap out of every one of those guys, but as I learned more about the martial arts, the more I forgot about my primary motive and began appreciating it for its way of life, rather than its way of destruction."

"Wow. I guess I really don't need to read this, huh?" Cody stated, pushing the stack of briefing papers aside. "It's interesting that you mentioned why you started to practice the martial arts. It's not all different from me. Back when I was younger, my dad was an alcoholic. He used to beat my mom, as well as my brother and I when he came home drunk on several occasions."

"You have a brother?" asked Dion. The ex-convict got up and walked over to the second sofa opposite the one Dion laid in. He took a seat and resumed.

"Yeah, he went on to do his own thing when he was old enough; haven't really heard from him since. Anyways, my dad filed for a divorce when I was fourteen and left us a threat: that he'd return one day and kill us. So I started getting into boxing and soon after that, kickboxing, so when that day ever did come, I'd be ready for him. There were times, however, that I was so angry that I wanted to search for him myself and kill him. Over the years, I've managed to release some of that pain and anger into better things."

"Hmm, I guess martial arts has influenced both our lives," the young Filipino pointed out. "Its strange how something designed out of force can bring out peace." There was a moment of silence, but Dion broke it. "Now, you got me all riled up about this mission. This was my grandpa's last case and look where he ended up. The Society is not one to be meddled with."

"It'll be fine. We'll talk about it when we get to Tokyo," assured Cody. Dion turned around, his back facing Cody. "Wake me up when we get there," he said aloud and soon fell fast asleep. It wasn't long before Cody did the same.