Episode 8: Seeking (Flight)
The storm continued far into the night. In Giovanni's room, he and Monica waited it out, talking about nothing in particular—anything to keep the small girl's mind occupied. Kyoko tossed and turned in her cabin down the hall, kept awake less by the noise and motion of the wrath outside than by the notions churning in her own worried head. The next day would dawn on Magnagalia with them there, hopefully, to greet it not long after. Then the true difficulties would begin.
Shun slept far better than he had ever hoped to under such turbulent circumstances; but, upon waking after a particularly jolting wave to find Boma standing in a corner and refusing to quit the position no matter how he pleaded, paranoidly feigned slumber for the remaining duration of the night. Boma did not seem to need sleep. If he slept at all, it was standing up and with his eyes open.
J drove the boat safely and logically through the storm, superhuman powers of cognition leading him to predict squall patterns and chart the safest possible course. In the master bedroom, Clair slept the near-comatose sleep of children and all other amoral beings. He could not understand upon waking, however, why his dreams had revolved around donkeys and photographs.
Thus it came to pass that, as the lights and jagged bumps of the Magnagalian skyline appeared on the horizon, Daisuke Aurora's rescue team and only hope greeted the sight for the most part with yawns.
"Getting ready, old man?" Giovanni asked J in passing, draining away tiredness with cup after cup of black coffee. "Pretty soon you'll be back with your partner."
"Daisuke's telemeter signal has begun to register faintly on my receptor," J responded, beginning to slow the yacht to a more reasonable clip. "A plan of action has now become urgently necessary."
Eyes darted all around the breakfast table, afraid that other pairs, laden with responsibility, would come to rest on their own bodies. Eventually Monica sighed. "Well, Shun, this is why you're here. How do we get in?"
"First we have to find somewhere to dock where the boat will likely remain safe. We don't want our only escape means to be stolen."
"J, try to find a map and pick a location," Monica ordered through the open door to the captain's area; faintly his "Roger" floated back. "Okay. Then what?"
Adjusting his glasses, Shun then folded his pale hands on the table. "Attracting as little attention as possible, we make our way to the telemeter signal's point of origin. This task will have to be more or less improvised, as we are not certain of his exact location yet."
"Maybe," Kyoko interrupted. "Excuse me, J? When it's strong enough, could you match Daisuke's signal to the corresponding area on a map of Magnagalia, please?"
"Of course, Kyoko."
Shun cleared his throat; Kyoko muttered an apology for interrupting him and sank down in her chair. "As I was saying, once we know Daisuke's specific location we can equip ourselves accordingly. I would suggest not all going on the infiltration, as this group has grown considerably and such a large and...eclectic gathering would certainly attract undue attention."
"I'm going," Monica said instantly, before anyone could voice an opinion to the contrary. "I saw the way you looked at me when you said that!" She glared at Shun. "And that goes for the rest of you, too."
"Vampire, did I say anything?" Giovanni asked Clair, who shook his head slowly. "I didn't think so."
Kyoko, however, did have something to say. "Monica, that may not be such a good..."
"If anyone should stay behind, it's you!" The girl pointed at the young woman, interrupting her objection. "What can you do, anyway?"
"She stages quite a rescue, actually," Clair admitted, propping his right elbow on the table and his head on his right hand; the early morning sunlight glinted off a ring on his middle finger. "I say she goes. If nothing else, she's entertaining."
"Entertainment has nothing to do with an important surreptitious maneuver!" Shun objected strongly, but Clair sniffed at the notion.
"Hmph. Of course it does. It's just an elaborate game, after all. And she's an amusing piece. I vote we leave you to watch the boat. You won't fit in where we're likely going."
"For most of my life I was involved in governmental--"
Clair snickered. "You actually think he's being kept by the government? No, if he's in any danger, it's not from the police. This is my game now."
"How so?" Shun kept his tone even.
Clair walked over to the porthole, knocked on the glass. "Look out there at it. How many lights can you count?"
Shun looked baffled. "I don't know. There are too many to--"
"Exactly." Grinning like a sated predator, Clair retook his seat. "Would a shut-down city have that many lights on?" Trumped, Shun's face fell. The young don laughed. "Just watch the way I do business, Dictator. Daisuke may not even be in danger, if the city's been saved. But if he is..."
"He is," Boma put in. "An ill omen hangs over the city."
"Don't interrupt me." He said it almost listlessly, but soon regained a bit more vitality. "If he's in danger, it's with the underground powers. So stay home and baby-sit the yacht, Mr. Subversive. This is a job for Vampire."
"And me," Monica insisted. "I didn't do anything the last time we fought something big and it really pissed me off —no offense, Shun," she added upon realization of exactly what that "something big" had been. His face registered acknowledgment of neither offense nor recompense.
"Docking in seventeen minutes," reported J. "Monica, I suggest deciding on a plan as quickly as possible."
"Yeah, yeah. So what's it gonna be, then? I don't care if Shun stays or goes at this point, just as long as I get to help. And take a lot of pictures of Magnagalia to sell back in Judoh!" Her countenance brightened considerably at the recollection.
Shun sighed. "Very well. Here, however, is what I suggest..."
o0o0o00o0o0o0o0
Leorza had often wondered, though never with great interest, exactly why Trinity insisted on always wearing a fully buttoned lab coat over her clothes. It wasn't as if the woman had to disguise an unseemly figure; even underneath the loose-fitting garment her soft curves plainly showed for any man uncouth enough to seek them. Was it to further her appearance of a "scientist," in keeping with her healthy obsession with robotics? To set herself apart from the rest of the women of the world, obsessed with how they dressed and carried themselves? He had puzzled the notions over in his mind many a time but never arrived at a suitable conclusion. Neither had he decided what sort of clothes he thought she wore underneath. First, he did not care enough to hypothesize; and second, every time she opened her mouth his concentration was yanked away from the admittedly trivial matter.
He had never, however, supposed she wore nothing underneath.
"Is something wrong?" She cocked her head innocently as he stared, less in fascination than outrage. "I've told you I'm the informal type before."
"There is a fine line," Leorza informed her, his gentleman's pride the only thing keeping him from retching in mortification, "between informality and wearing nothing but black lingerie in the presence of an acquaintance of the opposite sex."
"If you don't like it, don't look at it," she pointed out. "I'm not about to change my habits to please you." She puffed philosophically on her cigarette, flicked ash off her bare thigh. Only about two inches of black satin and lace, total on her entire body, maintained what little modesty remained to her. "How was your visit with that woman?"
"Nona is discontent," Leorza admitted with a sigh, refusing to look at her. "But, as the new blood dictates, she will not focus on the reasons why and instead shuttles her feelings to the back of her mind."
"I envy people who can do that," Trinity lamented, stretching perhaps a bit too languidly. "At least, until they crack and get sent off to the sanitariums. Then I laugh."
"You wouldn't have cause for such degrading scorn if no sanitariums and no reasons existed to crack," Leorza replied. She laughed at him, looping her arm around his and ignoring how he flinched away.
"Bringing up the plans again, eh? Be my guest once I'm dead and rotting. You've got, what, five cities left? Five empires?"
"Four," he corrected, unweaving himself from her embrace; she tsked.
"You haven't got here yet. Don't be overconfident, Celestial, lest the mighty fall."
"Trinity, I can't fathom why you allow yourself to be used if you detest me this much."
She covered her mouth with the back of one carefully limp hand, stifling a giggle. "Why, for the marvelous perks. Grendel could not have been such a success without your patronage. And like I said, I'm not a farthinker like you are. Just thinking about all I have to to tomorrow drags me down. Do what you like with my world—once I'm dead. And no speeding that up, either!"
"Have you no pride?" he asked her stiffly. "No sense of propriety at all?" Keep her talking about herself, he reminded herself. Sooner or later, she'd reveal too much, and then this grotesque charade would pay off at least in part.
"Not like you." Lashes fluttering slightly on down-turned lids, she shoved her hands into the open coat's pockets and leaned up against him for companionship. "I'm just a girl doing the job her daddy intended her to do. I thought you liked that kind of person."
"Provided said child did not murder said father." He held her at arm's length, gravely assessing her at last; for the first time, she blushed, embarrassed the spectacle her ensemble provided under such bone-stripping eyes. "Keep the boy, then. It's what you've been angling for, isn't it? Make whatever spectacle of him you wish, just stay out of my way with the Celestials. I'm not done with them yet and won't have you soiling my opportunity. And that includes Nona."
"You had to tack that on," she grumbled, biting her cigarette and grimacing. "I suppose you keep Usagi, then."
The frosty head inclined in what might have been a nod. "And I will continue to receive the syndicate's favor?"
She licked her glossy lips thoughtfully. "Provided I get another new blood."
"Granted. Stop by my quarters later to pick it up. I shall have to procure it from my colleagues first. They will likely not appreciate my tapping into their stock."
"I would assume as much." She watched in painful silence as he made his way to the door, then the words tore themselves from her. "Leorza...I'm not good enough for you, am I?"
He turned just enough to see her, a goddess of marble flesh disguised as a cold scientist with tears in her otherwise gem-hard eyes. "No one ever is," he informed her gently, then left her to her thoughtless machines and her equally thoughtless desires. As the door clicked shut behind him, she pulled her coat around her bare body and wept.
O0o0o00o0o0o0o0
True to his progamming as always, J successfully navigated the rescue squad's Vita yacht to a shadowy alcove on the outskirts of the city and docked. Kyoko stayed on deck despite the wind, watching the Celestial ship from a distance in awe while also keeping an eye out for police or other boats. She once again wore her black leather, figuring if she was going to descend into Magnagalia's underworld she might as well look the part. The Special Unit's gun hung in the shoulder holster, fully loaded with Blue stun ammunition; a pouch of Red Tab bullets hung from her shorts pocket...just in case. In her mind, she looked tough and ready for anything. In reality, she just looked ridiculous.
Below deck Shun checked his pockets for something, then loaded a gun of his own; he had had to borrow it from Phia since his personal firearms had been confiscated upon his arrest. Sniffing the air as he slid the bullets into place, he smiled. The weapon still smelled like Phia's perfume.
Clair didn't believe in doing things by halves. He had a gun in his back pocket, a bandolier of bullets hidden under his shirt as a belt, and two grenades in each pants pocket. Giovanni wore his usual pair of handguns beneath his coat but also crammed his own pockets with bullets and grenades. He shouldered a backpack of miscellaneous supplies, including food. His "suit" waited in the cargo bay, should their plans become more desperate.
Monica polished her camera and stuffed the purse around her neck (empty, since she'd left her money with Edmundo) with extra film. Flashes were distracting, right? She'd shoot the action while her friends handled the blinded enemies.
J was simply J, and Boma was simply Boma. They did not need to prepare.
Finally they had all assembled on deck, appraising each other to see if the sequestered weapons were indeed invisible. Clair was forced to relinquish two of his grenades, though when Giovanni wasn't looking he stuffed them in the backpack.
"Okay," Monica declared at last, rubbing her hands together. "We're all going in after all. Special Unit—move out!!"
Single file they jumped out of the boat, helping each other stand as their "sea legs" buckled and wove on the hard, dirty pavement. When the world had stopped spinning and they could walk normally, Judoh's "finest" headed out into the alien city in search of their friend.
O0o0o00o0o0o0o0
Watching Grendel fight still more opponents, Daisuke stretched on the bench. His life had become surprisingly boring of late—either he fought in the ring, having apparently become a customer favorite of sorts, or he lazed around resting up for the next bout in a cell not unlike the one from which Usagi had rescued him. He hadn't seen her around lately, and missed the company, as eerie as she had been.
True, the first night had been torture—literally. Trinity had used her pet machines to beat him in the ring until he could barely stand, and declared his fall with joy despite the howls and protests of the audience at his failure. Yet the fights had become fairer of late; he had even been pitted against other humans seeking glory in Baroness's new attraction. He wondered what had changed.
Oftentimes, as he watched Grendel in action, his mind wandered back to Judoh and J. What was the Unit doing without him? he wondered. Was Kyoko muddling through all right? He had left her a surprise present in her desk before he left—all his activity reports, fully completed and up-to-date. Had she found them? And Shun...he hoped his brother had learned to bear his punishment with grace.
Maybe he had left too suddenly after all the upheaval, but that very upheaval had sparked his desire to get out and see more of the world. The idea of revolution in Judoh, that people could want the city to be other than it was, had intrigued him more than he had let on. To each their own: that had always been his motto, but he began to wonder for the first time of what "his own" consisted.
He'd seen and done a lot since then, but to his surprise his opinions about the world hadn't really changed. He still preferred Judoh, and the people in Judoh, to anywhere and anyone else he knew. What would they say if they could see him now? How badly would...certain individuals react if he told them what he now knew about certain forces running the city?
It wasn't any of his business if the late lamented hero of the underworld had been prematurely enshrined. But...ouch...somebody he knew had a tough surprise coming.
"Just as well he'll never find out," Daisuke figured to himself, clapping halfheartedly as Grendel stomped the enemy machine's head in. "After all, who'll tell him? Me? Not my place. And anyway, at the rate things are going, it's not like I'm going to be returning anytime soon."
o0o0o00o0o0o0o0
"Let me see your papers."
"Beg pardon?" Kyoko blinked behind her sunglasses at the police officer. "What papers?"
"Your firearm permit." The man crossed his arms and frowned at her. "Any person carrying a gun needs a permit, especially while the Celestials are here." The shoulder holster was the one thing they'd been unable to cover, as Kyoko's outfit barely covered her body as it was.
"Officer, I can't believe you think that I would shoot a--"
"Just show them to me." He held out an insistent hand. "Go on, lady."
She lowered her eyes, blushed. "I...I...I forgot them at home."
"I'll vouch for her, Officer," Shun interceded smoothly, lowering the man's hand as he stepped between the policeman and Kyoko. Around them, a small crowd of pedestrians had begun to gather, the rest of their group among them. They had lost Boma, or so it seemed. In the city that had treated him so horribly before, the "werewolf" preferred to remain hidden. "She's just nervous, what with all the difficulties of late."
"And you are?"
Shun flashed his old badge, thumb carefully covering the word "Judoh." "General Manager Shun Aurora, City Safety Management Agency Special Unit. This young lady is one of my finest operatives."
"No cop's that stupid," Monica hissed to herself spitefully; Clair stepped on her foot to keep her quiet. She stuck out her tongue at him and he pretended not to see. He didn't like being disrespected, but Giovanni seemed to like the kid, and he trusted Giovanni's judgment. Focusing instead on the near-disaster the idiot secretary had caused, his hand danced over his pocket. If things continued in the current vein, they would need a distraction soon enough. And he was just the man to provide one.
Monica's assessment thus far seemed spot-on. "Let me see that," the policeman growled, reaching for Shun's badge. "I've never heard of no--"
"You wouldn't have," Shun replied. "We try to stay out of the police's business as much as possible. At present we are investigating a potential—" He lowered his voice. "A potential threat to the Celestials. You can understand, then, why my operative became so distressed at your inquiry. Now if you'll let us move along..."
"Shun Aurora." The man scratched his chin. "That name does sound familiar..."
Monica banged her head with her hand. "Idiot!" Would it have killed them to make fake badges if this was his intended cover? There was no way the ringleader of another city's attempted coup, isolationist policies in place or not, would be able to use his real name and get away with it.
"Monica, Daisuke's telemeter signal is growing fainter. I believe he is now underground. If he travels any further, I may lose him," J reported, staring straight ahead. "We cannot waste any more time."
"Damn!" Biting her lip, she scowled at Kyoko and Shun. Daisuke would never forgive her if she let his brother get in trouble again, so she couldn't leave the aggravating man behind. But she couldn't do anything that would have the cops actively hunting their group, either. Being the leader wasn't any fun when things went wrong.
"General Manager Aurora!"
Huh? She looked up to see Giovanni drag Clair into the open, hands pinned behind his back. What were they doing? She caught sight of a small grey object hidden in Clair's grasp and groaned. "J...let's get out of here. They'll catch up."
"Roger, Monica." The big man picked up the little girl and dashed away.
Meanwhile the poor Magnagalian policeman watched in befuddlement as a tall dark-haired man wrestled a younger one to the ground. "General Manager! I caught him! The terrorist!"
"Excellent job, Gio—Look out! He's loose!" Shun barked, and Clair jumped up, tearing the pin free from the secret in his hand. "Fireworks!" the young man yelled, flinging the grenade at a dilapidated building nearby; the crowd ran for cover while the cop made a grab for the young man.
Then the policeman dropped, blue sparks racing over his unconscious form. "I'm sorry," Kyoko told him, bowing as she holstered her gun, then joined her companions in racing for cover as the grenade exploded. So much for stealth.
O0o0o00o0o0o0o0
Pulling the white shawl around her face, hiding the too-perfect features, the woman hurried across the strand of sand, leaving messy footprints she wished she had time and a method to brush away. She had tried for hours to dispel all the questions intruding on her placid view of the universe and could bear it no longer. Not even the new blood had helped, though she had bathed for hours and so attracted her fellows' sympathy. None of them could understand. They had not lived in the cities, felt the same conflicts. But Leorza...Leorza had. And Leorza knew something he wasn't telling.
"You win," Nona panted to the loathfully dignified portrait in her mind. "I'll do anything you want. Just...just tell me. What's really going on?"