Chapter 12: Rethinking Things
Gerson had seen many things in his years on the force, most of which he'd rather forget seeing.
But this… this was probably the most disturbing thing he had ever seen.
Well at least in the top ten. This was a weird city.
"I will never understand what could make someone do this to a human being," Gerson said as he stared at the crime scene.
"Man up," Callaghan, who had been standing right next to him, said. "I've seen scenes far worse than this that didn't phase me. Shit like this happens all the time, especially in the lower part of the state, with the cartels and what not."
"I don't believe anyone could get used to seeing this kind of shit."
"I didn't say I was used to it."
The two watched as officers were photographing the horrendous sight, waiting for the go ahead to check it out.
About three men had been blown up, and they were everywhere. The more the years went by, the darker this city got in Gerson's eyes.
"Hey photo boys," Gerson said as he walked over to the crime scene, "you guys done here?"
The three men taking pictures looked at each other, and then at Gerson.
"Yeah," one of them replied. "I think we have all we need."
The three men stood up, for they were crouching to get better shots. Gerson walked onto the scene. The whole place had to be illuminated by lights because apparently some workers waited until the dead of night to report a large explosion. One that left what seemed to be three men dead, and in pieces. Gerson stood above what looked like a severed leg. A pant leg was still on it, and other that the obvious blood stains, they looked to be rather nice pair of pants… well they were.
"There's some expensive clothing on these… what's left of these people," Callaghan said as soon as Gerson noticed it. "That plus the fact they died next to a hummer tells me these guys had some deep pockets."
"What would someone like that be doing in a junkyard?" Gerson asked. It was question he was asking himself, but he said it outloud, so Callaghan replied.
"Well," he said as he crouched to the ground next to an arm, "if this is what I think it is, than I think this was some kind of a drug deal."
Gerson walked over to Callaghan to see what it was he was talking about. He crouched next to the arm as Callaghan did, and he saw what he was looking at. The palm of the hand looked to be covered in something… white. White and powdery.
"Is this cocaine?" Gerson asked in surprised.
"I'm willing to bet," Callaghan replied. "This was probably a drug deal gone wrong. Maybe the dealer didn't like the buyer's attitude, so he slipped an explosive in with the coke."
"Well we're obviously not gonna get any ID on these guys," Gerson said as he looked around at the carnage. "Any of the workers see anyone come or go?"
"No. They just heard the explosion and found the body parts.
"What about the car?"
"No plates. We can't identify the owner."
"Well there had to be another person here. You said a dealer might be responsible for this, so they must've drove out of here."
"There are tire tracks twenty feet from the bodies. They don't look like they belong to the hummer, but in a city this big, it's gonna be days before we can even find out what kind of car it was."
Gerson got up and began searching around some more. There had to be something they can use to trace the dealer. Then as he began moving, he could see a glint of light emanating off of the ground. Gerson walked toward the light and found something very odd, something that wasn't very common. It was also something he'd seen before.
Before Gerson, laid a skull, a golden skull attached to a golden chain, and the skull had a japanese symbol on it… and a lot of blood. And Gerson knew who it belonged to.
"Well would ya look at this-" Gerson said as he picked up the chain, but was interrupted by Callaghan.
"Hey! Put that down! No messing with the crime scene." Callaghan was the bane of Gerson's existence. He already basically took over the San Fransokyo Police Department trying to find who robbed the Silent Sparrow Repository, and now he wanted to tag along on a case that wasn't any of his busyness. His excuse for coming was, "When men get blown up in a junkyard, it makes me a little curious." What an asshole.
"Right i'm sorry," Gerson said with no sincerity at all. "I wouldn't want to get my fingerprints all over the bloodstained chain."
"Put it down." Callaghan ordered.
"Relax. This thing just gave us an ID."
"What?"
"The chain belongs… belonged to a mob boss. Yama's what people called him."
"Yama? No last name."
"Guy was illusive. We barely got a first name out of one of his goons. But he was smart. Never left any proof of any criminal activities, and whenever someone would call to testify, they would turn up… missing."
"Well the guy wasn't smart enough to not get blown to hell. The other two must've been his bodyguards."
Gerson placed the chain back on the ground. "This doesn't seem like any regular tactic."
"What do you mean?"
"Well when these mobs and gangs want each other dead, they'd go for something more subtle, like a bullet to the head or a classic prison shanking. But bombs, not their style."
"Well, you never know with people like this."
"I do. I know my city, and if I know it well enough, this was done by someone smarter than just any junky, and i'm talkin' someone really smart if they took down a guy like Yama."
"Or incredibly stupid if they took down a guy like Yama."
"Nah, nah. This is the work of somebody who knows what they're doing."
"What am I doing?" Tadashi said to himself as he lay in his bed staring at the ceiling.
After the "drug deal", Wasabi dropped Tadashi off at the house without a word. They didn't go to see Mr.S after that stunt that he had pulled. Not because they were angry with him. They were terrified of the man now. Tadashi had been up in his room ever since, trying to contemplate what had really happened that day.
Three men died. They died, and Tadashi had a hand in it.
He kept trying to tell himself that it wasn't his fault, that he had no idea what Mr.S had planned for Yama and his men. But for some odd reason, he felt as though he had set it off. Not the bomb, but everything. Ever since he began working with Mr.S, it had been nothing but illegal activities, and… well that's pretty much it. He should've just turned down Mr.S's offer when he had the chance, and then he wouldn't be in this crazy mess, and neither would his friends.
But it's not like Yama was such an innocent guy. He didn't need Mr.S to tell him that the guy was some kind of crime lord. If he hadn't been blown to bits, Tadashi was sure someone else would've gotten to him eventually. But still he felt guilty for the man's death.
Even with all these thoughts and counter thoughts though, Tadashi still managed to drift into a deep sleep, and luckily without any dreams of guilt or anything that would make him wish he hadn't fallen asleep.
He woke up the next morning with a smile on his face. He wasn't sure why, or if he was smiling in his sleep, but that's how it was. Smiling.
He needed to head to SFIT to work on his project, which made him glad. The work would take his mind off of the events of the day before.
Aunt Cass was still asleep, for the café was closed today. Tadashi didn't bother her as he threw on his clothes (a red T-shirt, jeans, and a black button up shirt over the red T), and he made his way downstairs, out the door, and onto his moped, in which he hopped on, and drove to SFIT.
"This is Tadashi Hamada… again, and this is the… what it is it… the seventh test of my robotics project," Tadashi said as he stared into the eyes of his creation. A health bot. The previous six tests had been… less than successful, but he was certain this time it would work. He definitely wasn't going to be doing this seventy seven more times…
"Come on Baymax, show me what you got."
The robot began to lift it's arm to wave, which was progress seeing as how he sometimes had trouble doing even that. Tadashi felt hopeful.
Then it all went to shit.
First, the arm he was waving with came off, or rather flew off since Baymax was filled with air. That flew off and knocked down a tower of soda cans Tadashi was too lazy to get rid off. Then his left arm deflated all together and fell off. And if Tadashi wasn't having enough trouble, Baymax fell over on his side and became silent.
"Yeah," Tadashi said as he looked around the room. "This would happen to me."
And to make matters worse, there was Gogo, standing in the door of his workspace.
"You… uh… you saw that huh?" Tadashi said as he scratched the back of his head.
"Only the part where you fucked up," Gogo replied. "More problems with Baymax?"
"Yeah. I don't think i'm making his metal joints strong enough. The titanium's kinda hard to work with."
"You should use carbon fiber. Much easier."
"I'll give that a thought, but I assume you didn't stop by to teach me how to build a robot."
Gogo began rubbing her left arm. "Have you seen the news."
"Nope, but I bet all the money lying under the bed that we made it."
"That's not what bugged me about it. Callaghan was investigating it."
"So? The guy hasn't caught us yet, and we left plenty of evidence at the repository. There's nothing he can use to pin us to…" Tadashi grew silent.
"I think the best thing to do do is just forget about it," Gogo said as she walked further into the room.
"Forget about it? Huh. Just forget about it. Like we didn't see three guys get blown to…" Tadashi stopped himself before he said anything out loud. "Look, I… I can't unsee what I saw, or undo it. We killed someone-"
"Mr.S was the only one who knew about the you know what. We thought we were doing a scumbag a favor. This isn't our fault-"
"It's mine."
Gogo was puzzled. "What? Tadashi, you couldn't have known-"
"I mean everything, Gogo."
Gogo stopped talking.
"Ever since I decided not to walk out on Mr.S, it's been nothing but hell. We almost got killed by vicious bikers, got away with thousands of dollars while decommissioning cop cars, and we blew a bunch of guys up. None of you guys would be in this mess if I had just said no." Tadashi didn't care who heard him now, not even if the information had reached Robert Callaghan himself. He was pissed.
Pissed at himself.
"Stop it." Gogo spat, causing Tadashi to jump. "None of this is your fault. All of this is because Mr.S is a psychotic asshole, so quit blaming yourself like you always do-"
"Like I always do?"
"Anytime something bad happens to us, whether it's one of us tripping over that chip in the floor because you keep saying you'll fix it, or if someone missed the trolley home because you needed them to help you after Wasabi left with his car. Everything always has to be your fault, but draw the line when you blame yourself for someone dying."
Tadashi was speechless. It was true, he often blamed himself for little everyday inconveniences, but he never saw it as anything that bugged people. He was just trying to be good person. But, here Gogo was, telling him to stop for once.
"Gogo…" Tadashi started, but never found the words to finish.
"Just, get a hold of yourself. If you want to do that Krei Bank job, then you need to get your head straight." With that Gogo left the room without another word, leaving Tadashi in a state of shock and confusion.
After testing Baymax about three more times, all without success, Tadashi decided to head home, and as he was doing so he thought about his current situation.
He was a college student turned bank robber on a mission to pay his brother's medical bills, and all while working under the management of some kind of drug and arms dealer who, if he wasn't being mysterious enough, went by Mr.S. Now, Tadashi realized how dangerous said drug/arms dealer was, and what he might do to Tadashi or his friends if one of them steps out of line.
He didn't know what to do.
But at the same time he did.
It was a stupid idea. One that would most certainly cause Mr.S to flip his shit, but Tadashi didn't know what else to do.
He needed to quit. The only thing that held him back though, was Hiro. Tadashi didn't have nearly enough cash to pay for his surgery, and he would have that and possibly more if he did the Krei Bank job.
On the other hand, quitting would definately keep his loved ones safe. The cops hadn't caught onto them yet, and it would probably stay that way if they all just kept a low profile. But there was still the Mr.S issue.
Tadashi arrived home a little after ten o'clock, which meant Cass was most likely sleeping right now. Working on Baymax all day was tiring, so the first thing he was planning on doing was flopping on the bed and sleeping 'til noon.
As he was walked up the stairs, Tadashi could hear a noise in the darkness of the house. He figured it was just Cass getting up to get something to eat, but this noise didn't sound like footprints. It sounded like… metal. Metal that was being flicked or something.
Tadashi was walking up the stairs much faster now, and when he arrived at the top, he wanted to scream.
"Hey, you're home," a smug-looking Mr.S said as he sat in a chair at the dining table. He was spinning a quarter with his fingers, which was probably what the noise was. "You know, you've got a really nice place here-"
"What the hell are you doing here?" Tadashi said. He was too in shock to yell at the man. How did he even get in here
"Well I figured you'd still be a little pissed at me and wouldn't answer your phone."
"Get out."
"What?" Mr.S chuckled this like he was surprised at Tadashi's reply
"Get the fuck out of my house. Right now."
Mr.S stood up quickly, causing the quarter to smack on the table. "You see Tadashi, I would love to. I would love to just leave, go back to my own home, and not worry about anything. But, the truth is we're fucked-"
"Where's my aunt?" Tadashi interrupted.
"Don't worry, I… let myself in after she went to sleep. But we need to talk-"
"I don't have a fucking thing to say to you after what you did."
"Yama was an asshole. He needed to go."
"You didn't have to blow him up-"
"The guys like a goddamn airport, he can see guns a mile away, but that greedy bastard won't second guess cocaine."
"Just tell me what you need to tell me and get the hell out of my house."
"Like I said, we're fucked-"
"What do you mean?"
"Well… as it turns out, the SFPD has offered a reward for any information regarding the Silent Sparrow Repository robbery. One of my guys, knew… quite a bit about it and he's going to the cops first thing in the morning-"
"Well you know what? Good for him. If he lands you in a prison for life, i'm throwing a party-"
"He knows the names of your friends and yours."
Tadashi became silent.
"Yeah, got nothin' to say now do you? He's going down to the station to tell the police everything, and sparing no details."
"Why are you telling this to me?" Tadashi asked when he finally processed the news. "He's one of your guys. Why are you here."
"The guy knows me too well. If I try to go for him, or any of my other guys for that matter, he's gonna haul ass to the station."
Tadashi put his arms in the air. "So?"
"He doesn't know what you look like. He's just got a name."
"Then what do you want me to do?" Tadashi asked suspiciously.
"I need the guy clipped."
"What?" Tadashi wasn't really used to all this criminal lingo yet.
"Oh for the love of god," Mr.S complained. "He needs to disappear, kick the bucket, sleep with the fishes."
Tadashi began to back up. Was he saying what he thought he was saying?
"You… you want me to…"
"Yes, Tadashi. I need you to kill him."
Son of a bitch.
(A/N) Well i'm back! Did ya miss me?!(crickets chirping)... Anyway, sorry for the lack of updates. I've been back to school, and things have been kinda hectic, but i've developed a schedule for my writing, so no need to fear. So, yes, it has come time for Tadashi to kill someone knowingly, but not because he wants to… maybe sometime, but not now. This chapter was meant to be more of a drama kind of deal, so I apologise for the lack of action. My personal favorite part was when Gogo was telling Tadashi off. You go girl. That's DaydreamDepartment out of your hair! )
