Runaways:
Southern Comforts
Chapter 3
Say It Isn't So
by Ri-kun
O-Ren was with me, and we were running for our lives. I kept telling myself that none of this was my fault, and hoping the mantra would somehow transmit itself into her brain via a secret ninja mind meld trick I wasn't certain I posessed yet. The fire, meanwhile, was spreading very quickly. I was still having a lot of trouble handling the gloves. Whatever they were, the flames coming from them packed quite the punch!
I was still wearing the shozoku that'd been hidden in my closet. Even though it hadn't been on me long, the fabric was starting to reek. I must have sweated off at least twenty pounds through the force of sheer adrenaline! There was no other explaination.
O-Ren, on the other hand, was yelling at the top of her lungs, screaming about a big mess that I'd apparently caused and how this was all my fault. I hadn't really expected the whole ninja mind meld to work at any rate. The scroll still tucked up underneath my arm had been written in some weird kind of sanscrit. I couldn't make any of it out, which meant learning that I was the offspring of a secret clan of ninja thieves wasn't paying out in perks just yet!
That was what I'd gathered from my parents' forbidden basement of dark secrets. It still sounded weird in my head, though some part of me had reeled with excitement upon my initial discovery. It sounded terrible now, but what otaku doesn't dream of learning something like this?
Of course, the murder and drug trafficing caused much of my enthusiasm to die down very quickly. That was what had been on all those computer screens; they were recording and saving data on what I guessed was just about every illegal activity going on for about a thousand mile radius. I'd tried taking a page out of Miguel's book in the beginning; hoping against hope that I was just misunderstood. Superheroes, after all, had to keep places like this with all sorts of technical equipment. My parents could have always been superheroes in disguise and I hadn't realized it.
Even before I found the room with all the coffee grounds, it sounded weak to me!
I had spent a good bit of time sobbing in the hallway. You will never hear me admit that again, so just absorb it up and let it evaporate from your heads, okay? I had always gotten along with my mother and father. My dad was just about the coolest man on the face of the planet. My mom always did her best to look after me. She could be a little overbearing sometimes, but I'd always known I was lucky. They'd been the ones to teach me right from wrong, and make sure I understood the consequences of my actions. Seeing proof positive that everything they'd said was a lie shook me a little bit. So, I was allowed!
I didn't sleep in my room that night. Once my wimp fit was over and done with, I stood up and got the hell outta there! But, not before I snatched up the scroll and gloves that'd been on the cushion behind the glass display. Don't ask me why I did this; I was a little distraught then. It had seemed like the right thing to do, though. The gloves fit my hands like...
Well, gloves!
It wasn't until just a little while ago that I learned they could belch fire like nobody's business! I took my car over to O-Ren's house and got her to open her bedroom window. It felt like a good twenty minutes before she woke up. In all those movies where this sort of thing happens, I never heard a girl snore so loud! O-Ren acted like she wasn't going to let me in at first. I think the outfit put her off a little, but ironically, it also helped convince her I was telling the truth.
"You wouldn't have the balls to go out in public wearing something like that!" she'd stated, pointing. "Not even if everyone else did it before you!"
She and I had to be very quiet. O-Ren's parents weren't such light sleepers, plus she seemed very uncomfortable with the idea of them waking up and finding a boy in her room. I didn't think the ninja outfit would help much either, personally. So, it went without saying that I tried to not give her a hard time. This proved easier said than done, because even though O-Ren seemed to believe my story, she still wasn't thrilled about the idea of helping me.
"You were there when we found Jeff's..." I faltered for a second, thinking about what exactly had been down there. "You were there in Jeff's basement. You've just gotta help me out!"
"Why?" she insisted, keeping herself covered with her bedsheets. "So, your father is a weirdo who likes to pretend he's really japanese. Seems like the apple didn't fall far off the tree on that one!"
"I don't know how this is connected to what Jeff is doing. It's just... a feeling I have."
"Well, I have the feeling that we all need to wake up in the morning to be ready for school!" O-Ren shot, rolling over in her bed to face the wall. "Has that been bugging you, too?"
"No, I'm pretty sure I couldn't sleep even if I wanted to."
"That makes one of us!" O-Ren finally turned back to face me. Her eyes looked scared, rather than furious. I suddenly had a sneaky suspicious as to why she was being so difficult about this.
"Did something strange happen to you tonight?" I pressed, meeting her eyes unflinchingly.
O-Ren wouldn't look at my face. "It was nothing, really..." she began, almost hesitantly. "When I got home, both of my parents were in the basement. Normally, at least one of them is awake to yell at me about staying out too late. No matter what time I come home from Anime Night, they always bitch. I didn't see either of them, though, and there was a lot of weird noises coming from our garage! Sounds I'd never heard before."
My eyes narrowed at her. "But that's all!" she insisted, rolling over once more. "Now, would you please leave so I can go back to bed?"
"You're already in bed," I pointed out, standing up to leave.
"That's a minor formality. Hey, where're you going?!"
"To your parents' garage, of course." I waited about opening the door for just a second. "I'm curious to know what they were doing in there tonight. If my parents are mixed up in something, then yours..."
"My parents," O-Ren hissed, still not looking in my direction. "Are not mixed up in anything! Whatever sick, demented, dark secrets you've managed to unearth about your own homelife, keep them to yourself. I don't want to hear about it!"
"Hai," I said, nodding.
"And you're not japanese!" she yelled, as I made my way out the door.
"Wait!"
"Nani?"
"I said, you aren't japanese, so stop talking like that!" O-Ren had finally raised up, and was glowering at me. "Where are you going? My parents are still asleep!"
"Downstairs to the garage, like I said before. I still wanna see what your parents were doing! Besides, that's the easiest way out of here."
"You can't go snooping around my folks' home! What if somebody sees you? And plus, can't you just use the window like you climbed up here?"
"Don't worry!" I assured her, liking the way this was bothering her for some reason. "I'm supposed to be a ninja, it seems. We're known for being very sneaky and quiet. No noe will ever know I was here!"
"Famous last words," O-Ren grumbled, getting to her feet. "This from the guy who couldn't play basketball because his shoelaces wouldn't stay tied!"
"I didn't like basketball," I replied defensively, keeping my eyes to the wall as she dressed. "And my shoelaces are evil! If you had shoelaces like this, you wouldn't feel safe playing basketball with juniors either!"
"Evil shoelaces," O-Ren muttered, pulling her pants up. "I guess that makes sense, considering you come from an evil ninja clan! Why did you chose me, by the way? What reason was there to come and wake me up with stories about thieving ninja drug pushers and secret closets?"
"Your house was closer," I said, shrugging. I really couldn't remember why I picked O-Ren to come to first; I'd been running on instinct for some time by that point. I was also really hoping that O-Ren would let the topic drop.
She didn't. "What about Gabriel?" she pointed out, thoughtfully. "Or, for that matter, what about Nicole? I know you have a crush on her!"
"I do not!" I nearly shouted. As it were, O-Ren's father gave a really loud snort before turning over and going back to sleep. She was giving me a really nasty look the entire time we made our way back down the stairs.
"Ninja silence," she muttered, irritably. "So much for that, huh? I guess you really can't believe everything you read!"
I didn't answer her, but kept on going towards what I thought was the garage. Unfortunately, I'd never been to O-Ren's house before, so I didn't exactly know my way around. O-Ren wound up grabbing me by the arm more than once to jerk me hard in the other direction.
"Understand something," she told me, once we were standing at the door to her parents' garage. "I'm only helping you to prove that your theory is completely ridiculous. And, to keep you from stumbling all over the place and waking my rents up! Whatever is going on here, my folks aren't involved."
"How can you be sure?" I asked, genuinely curious.
"Simple. Neither of them is smart enough to be a part of some grand conspiracy! They're always telling me that my theories on who control the government are pointless and a waste of intellectual energy."
"Oh," I muttered, pushing the door in. "Well, that makes sense."
What we saw in there was pretty bad. Again, no chopped up corpses, which was a big relief. What we found in there was still shocking, to say the least. It turned out that I was right after all.
Or, rather, I was sure I'd been. O-Ren, on the other hand, was suffering from a major case of denial!
"This is some kind of practical joke!" she insisted, as we spend out of her driveway. "You guys planned all this together just to get a good laugh out of me!"
"What?" I stared at her, nearly backing into a chevy parallel parked on the other side of the street. "Why would we do that?!"
"You guys all have a sick sense of humor. Plus, I happen to know for a fact that none of you like me! You all secretly think I'm some kind of freak for being a proclaimed atheist, which is just typical of this whole stupid town. Unless everyone thinks and believes the exact same way, something is wrong. I should've seen this coming for a long time now! You know, I bet this isn't a prank after all. It's probably some kind of elaborate trap to brainwash me!"
I needed to keep my eyes on the road, but the urge to stare at her was overwhelming. "O-Ren," I spoke slowly, as if talking to a four year old. "Your parents had booby trapped the garage. We nearly died in there!"
"It's to keep burglars out!" she shrilled, crossing her arms defiantly.
"They had infa-red lasers all over the place! When I tripped one, it released a poisonous gas into the room! What kind of messed up security system is that, huh?"
"Apparently, a very good one! It got rid of you, didn't it? Also, I deeply resent being kidnapped and dragged out of my house this late at night! If my parents find out and ground me, I'm telling them it was entirely your fault!"
"How do you think they'll handle me, then?" I snapped, getting angry. "Send another killer robot on us both?"
"That was..." she faltered. "They probably bought it on eBay! For... asthetic value!"
"I nearly died fighting that damn thing off of us!" O-Ren was going to great steps by this point to prove she didn't believe me.
"More like you got smacked around for two minutes, before picking yourself up and running like a little girl!"
I wanted to smack that smug grin off her face, but resisted. Even in circumstances like this, I didn't believe in hitting girls. It was something O-Ren and I had argued about once before during a study hall. She kept bringing up wild examples of cheerleaders armed with bazookas and nunchuku. At this moment, I was tempted to test just how far her beliefs ran!
But, of course, she wasn't armed.
"Nice trick with those gloves of yours," she said quietly, after a moment. "How do they work?"
"I'm... really not sure. I found them in my parents' basement, along with this really weird scroll that's written in a different language. I brought it along with me, hoping it might explain some of what's happening."
"If there hadn't been extinguishing fog wired in the ceiling, you might have burned down the whole house. Funny how that stuff caused the robot to short out like that all of a sudden."
"So," O-Ren added, after a moment's silence. "Where are we going?"
I froze. "I don't know," I mumbled, weakly. "I really hadn't thought that far ahead."
"Turn up ahead," she pointed, as a right turn came up on us. I swerved, just barely making it, and a flash of red and blue lights came up behind us.
"Great!" I swore. "What do they want? I haven't been speeding!"
"You were doing seventy-two in a forty-five zone," O-Ren corrected, pointing to the speedometer. "For the last ten minutes or so."
"Oh..." I started to slow the car down, and pull it over to the curb. "At least a ticket isn't the worst thing that can happen anymore."
"I wouldn't be so sure of that!" O-Ren had raised up and was looking at the rear-view mirror. "I'm counting about six or so squad cars back there. And they all look like they're armed to the teeth!"
My blood ran cold. I wasn't entire sure what all was going on, but somewhere in the back of my mind, a hunch was beginning to form. I hadn't killed the engine yet; my right foot was still perched over the gas pedal. O-Ren saw what I was getting ready to do, and immediately shook her head.
Then, the cops were all around us.
"Step out of the vehicle, please!" I noticed he had a gun pointed at us, and so did the rest of the officers standing with him. This was so not about me speeding through a residential zone!
O-Ren had her hands raised up where they could see them, but I hadn't taken mine off the steering wheel just yet. She was glaring over at me, and gesturing that I should do the same. Truthfully, I was beginning to feel bad about dragging her into this. Of course, in a way, she was already involved in...
Whatever this was!
"Step out of the car!" the cop asked again, less nicely.
I took my hands off the wheel and raised them where the nice policemen with guns pointed at us could see. Together, O-Ren and I climbed out of the car and waited while a couple of guys padded us both down. A couple of them looked like they were really enjoying themselves with O-Ren, but she hadn't broken their arms yet. The officer wearing a deputy badge strutted up to me and looked down like he was having a lot of fun. At that moment, I considered incenerating him with the gloves, but resisted. There was too good a chance that I'd wind up blowing all of us up, what with so many cars around. And I sure as hell wasn't about to risk nuking mine!
"You two acted like you were in a real big hurry," he commented, with a very thick southern drawl. "Care to tell us where you were going, son?"
"We were... on our way to my house," I grasped. I was never a very good liar!
"Oh, I seriously doubt that," the cop replied, shaking his head. "Seems to me the two of you have gotten yourselves into some serious trouble. 'Fraid I'm gonna have to take you both in, son."
"You're taking us to jail?!" O-Ren cried out, sounding panicked.
The deputy grinned, and I didn't like the glint in his eye. "No, little lady. After the stunts you've pulled tonight, there's only one place we're allowed to send either of you at this particular point!"
"Where's that?" Dad had taught me years ago to never show fear in front of a cop. I wasn't about to forget something like that now, regardless of what my folks might have been hiding from me.
"Hell, son!" the cop sneered, grabbing me by the shoulder. "We're taking you both to Hell!"
Hell, as it turned out, was the Second Baptist Church that everyone in Anime Night attended. Every squad car that'd pulled us over followed us over there, lights blaring and sirens off. O-Ren wasn't looking so well at this point, but she wouldn't speak to me when I asked if she was alright. When we got to the church, the rest of the cops stayed in their cars while the deputy took us both through the great double doors. He kept trying to hold me by the scruff of the neck, but I wouldn't let him. O-Ren was being cooperative for once, but I suspected her ignoring me was due to shock. It seemed she might finally be willing to believe me. I just hoped we'd both live long enough for me to tell her how sorry I was.
We were led through the sanctuary to the back, where Reverand Merryweather was waiting for us with Gabriel standing next to him. As I got closer, I could see that the good Reverand had Gabriel by a very firm grip. If looks could kill, the Reverand would have been dead by now, what with the glare Gab kept throwing him. I felt proud of him in that instance.
The Reverand didn't say anything when the deputy brought us through. He simply tightened his grip on Gabriel and dragged him along with us to his office at the end of the hallway. I caught a glimpse of his face as he was opening the door, though. He was shooting daggers back behind him when the deputy wasn't looking. Apparently, he wasn't happy with the cops being here. That got the wheels in my head turning as we were tossed into his office, but the moment I saw who was in there, all thoughts evaporated.
"Nicole?!" I gasped, staring. "Miguel? What are you two doing here?"
"You tell us, man!" Miguel said, looking angry. "When we got home, my mom was asking all these questions about why Jeff didn't drop us off. She got really upset when I told her about him falling asleep and us calling for a cab, then she sent me up to my room! A few hours later, I get dragged out of bed by my dad, who keeps asking me where the two of you are! They said the cops were out looking for you, but neither my mom or dad would say why. Then they brought me here, and told me to wait with Nicole. I tried the door several times; it was locked from the outside!"
"We were both really worried," Nicole spoke up. "Are you two really okay? What's happening!?"
I looked first over to O-Ren, who was making a point of not facing me. Gabriel met my eyes, and I could tell by the expression in them that he'd endured a similar night. What surprised me was the level of anger in them. I'd never seen Gab show such resolve before.
Turning to Nicole, I began relaying the entire story to them, first with my discovering the hidden compartment in the closet that had once been my older brother's, and ending with the cops finding us. O-Ren periodically threw in her own take on things, which managed to make me sound more incompetent. I was really getting sick of her at this point!
"So, how about you two?" I ended, looking back and forth from Nicole to Gabriel. "How did you guys wind up here?"
"My stepdad made me come," Gabriel whispered, barely audible. "He said if I didn't..."
"All of our parents made us," Nicole finished. "My mom acted like she really didn't want to come. I overheard she and my dad arguing before we left. Something about... It was nothing!"
"She said her parents mentioned your dad, Dan!" Miguel threw in, which earned him a look of pure fury from Nicole.
That didn't make me feel any better, but I was still glad Miguel said it. For once, his big mouth had done something right! "They also said something about O-Ren's parents," she went on, shifting uncomfortably. "And a meeting! I think all of our parents are meeting with one another right now."
"Where at?" Miguel wondered, scratching his head.
"Probably downstairs," Gabriel offered, looking shyly at each of us. "I heard some people moving around in there earlier, while my stepfather was keeping my locked up in the closet. Everyone's probably down there by now."
"What is it with our parents and basements?!" Miguel howled.
"Stop it!"
Everyone looked at O-Ren in surprise. "Listen to yourselves!" she growled, looking harried. "You're all seeing super-villians and elaborate conspiracies everywhere. This is exactly the sort of thing my parents used to warn me about! Now, I don't know about the rest of you, but my family isn't involved in some super-secret plan to... take over Meridian, or whatever the rest of you are thinking. I always said listening to the crap that came out from Miguel's head would drive the rest of us crazy, and now it has!"
"O-Ren..." Nicole said gently.
"You saw what was in your parents' garage," I began, hesitantly.
O-Ren didn't act like she'd heard me. "What?" Miguel broke in. "What'd the two of you find, exactly?"
"Killer robots and laser security systems," I answered over my shoulder. "There wasn't enough time to really search the place. It caught fire too quickly!"
"And who's fault was that, huh?!" O-Ren shrilled. "I'm being serious! Just listen to all of you!"
"O-Ren," Nicole said, in a much more firm voice this time. She gently took her friend by the shoulders and gripped them firmly. "Maybe some of our parents aren't involved in this. Your probably aren't, but you have to admit that there's something really strange going on here. The sooner we get to the bottom of it, the more things are likely to make sense."
"Then why doesn't somebody just tell us?" she whined, looking for all the world like she was ready to cry.
Nicole cocked an eyebrow at her. "Since when do you ever believe what your parents tell you?"
O-Ren got really irritated, but looked much better. "It serves me right for saying that."
Gabriel, meanwhile, was going through the Reverand's desk one drawer at a time. When all of them had been opened, he began rummaging through the bookshelves. Everyone turned to watch him curiously; I was beginning to think he'd lost his mind!
"What's up?" Miguel asked, breaking the silence first.
"My stepfather always keeps an extra set of keys in his office somewhere!" he explained, still searching desperately. "He used to complain about loosing his keys all the time, so my mom finally talked him into getting an extra set made. The door to this office is a really old lock, the kind you need a key to get in or out of... Got 'em!"
Gabriel held up a very big keychain, one that only had two different keys on it. At the same time he did this, his elbow brushed up against a rather heavy-looking book, which teetered on the high shelf for about half a second before falling on his head.
"Ow!" Gab moaned, looking down. "What the hell... what is this thing?"
We all gathered round to have a look; the book was bound in what appeared to be very old leather. There was a very distinct odor coming from it, however, that immediately reminded me of something dying. I plugged my nose as Gabriel picked it up. Miguel read the title over his shoulder.
"The Word of Mordo... Oh, Christ! We are in so much shit right now!"
I looked at him. "More so than we already are? How is that possible?"
Miguel took a deep breath, and let it out slowly. "Baron Mordo... I really don't know much about him, but he used to fight Doctor Strange all the time. They've been mortal enemies for years now. He's this practicioner of Dark Magick. If that book has his name on it..."
"It's all written in Latin," Gabriel said, his head buried in it. He'd already opened the book up, and was now scanning the pages.
"Don't read any of that!" Miguel gasped, trying to seize it from his hands. "There's no telling what a spellbook like that could do!"
"But he just said it's in Latin," Nicole pointed out. "None of us here speak Latin."
"I do," Gab said quickly. "I started learning it as an elective back in sixth grade. It got me out of gym, so it wasn't too bad!"
"Oh..."
"What does some of it say?" O-Ren asked, leaning forward to see.
"No, don't!" Miguel insisted.
"Nothing bad is going to happen!" O-Ren said, insistently. "The only possible thing that could go wrong is we get a good laugh instead of unlocking the door and getting out of here like we should have five minutes ago! If Gabriel isn't going to hand over the keys, let him read something out of there!"
"Who knows," she added, almost as an afterthought. "The spell might turn out to give you superstrength, or something!"
Miguel considered that for a whole two and a half seconds. "Do it!"
Gabriel turned to the first page in the book. It had some kind of wood press done on the inside of the book cover. The smell was even worse now that he'd opened it up. The carving depicted a bunch of people writhing in pain on what looked like a very old and creepy-looking oak tree. A lot of them were missing limbs, and they didn't appear to be in the best of health. I was starting to agree with Miguel's initial assessment, but then Gabriel began to read.
In this, the darkest and most unholy hour of the world,
Let thy power consume me. Fill me with the power,
The power to bring life to the undeath that rot.
Bring to my thy emassary. The one who
Walks, but does not feed. The one who speaks,
Yet has no breath. Let him serve me now!
Let him come!
Let him come!
LET HIM COME, NOW!
Everyone looked at each other. There was silence in the room, except for the sound of people breathing.
"Not exactly a match for Edgar Allen Poe," O-Ren noted, grabbing the keys out of Gabriel's hands. "Let's just get out of here!"
"There's something else inside the book, too!" Gab said, holding up a small, black box. "I think it's... They're tarot cards!"
"Great!" O-Ren said snidely, holding the door open for us. "Maybe you'll be able to predict us all running for our lives!"
"Not yet," Nicole said very fast. "We still need to find our parents."
"What for?" Miguel wondered, looking at her like she was nuts.
"We need to find out what's going on," I said, standing next to her. "There's something going on here, something a hell of a lot bigger than just the youth minister hiding dead bodies in his basement. I'd love to hear what it was."
"You can if you want to," O-Ren said, tossing the keys back to her. "I'm leaving! My parents will probably ground me for the rest of my life. I don't want to do anything else that'll piss them off!"
And, with that, she was gone. "So much for the Fearless Rebel," Miguel noted, looking after her with distain.
"Are you two staying?" she asked him and Gabriel, together. "I intend to find my mom and dad and ask them what they know about all of this."
"I'm staying," Gabriel said firmly. He was still clutching the book in his hands tightly. "I'm staying with you guys, if that's alright."
"Fine!" Miguel nodded. "I will, too. Only, get rid of that creepy book, will you? It makes my skin crawl."
Gabriel didn't loosen his grip on it. "We might need it," he insisted. "I'd like to take it with us."
"We don't have time to argue!" Nicole said, pushing Miguel out of the way. "Let him take it with us. It's not hurting anything!"
"But..." Miguel stammered, trotting after the rest of us. "It's creepy!"
"So are you most of the time!" I told him, grinning.
In spite of the seriousness of the situation, we all laughed. The laughter died the moment we got to the basement staircase. I'd already endured enough horrible truths from places like these, but we'd all agreed to come here. If anyone was going down first, it had to be me. I stepped ahead of Nicole just enough to take the lead, drawing my bo staff out just in case.
The basement had been used at one point as a place to hold dinner meetings. When the church built the gym next to it, it apparently became obsolete. I don't think anyone had been down here in a very long time. There was an awful lot of dust, and Miguel and I both kept sneezing. Nicole was telling us to be quiet, but I couldn't help myself. At one point, I sneezed so hard that the bo staff went flying right out of my hands.
"Nice!" Miguel noted, pointing at where the staff stuck out from the wall. "What grace, especially for a self-proclaimed ninja!'
"I think he's found something," Gabriel pointed.
Gabriel walked over to the staff and pulled it loose. Looking through the hole, he motioned for all of us to come and look. I got there first, and took the staff away from him before peering through the hole in the wall. It'd become attached to me in the last several hours.
"He's right!" I whispered to Miguel and Nicole. "There's something behind this wall panel. Let me try and burn a way through!"
Nicole seized me at once. "Do that, and you'll send the whole building up in smoke! This church is over a hundred years old, Dan."
"Oh, right."
The panel suddenly slid on it's own to the left. I whirled around, staff at the ready, waiting for someone to come out and attack us. The only thing this served was to smack Miguel up side the head, and send him sprawling into Nicole and Gabriel. It seemed I needed a lot more practice with this thing. However, no one came out of the secret panel. Gabriel appeared to have found the switch needed to open it.
This time, Nicole took the lead, with me bringing up the rear. Now that the panel was open, we could all hear voices coming from up ahead. They sounded like the sort of thing you'd pick up in an old horror movie. Lots of moaning and chanting! Which meant I was probably not going to like whatever waited for us up ahead.
In recent years, I've gotten to where I hate being right.