Chapter 40
Last week's YJ was Tops! Right? Haha I hope we see at least one more glimpse of Klarion, I wanna see him do more magic. Klarion ftw. Anyhow uhm, moving on. Oh and to our guest who reviewed on chapter 5 recently, I am spelling Yuki's name right, the version you're spelling is male and means 'Snow' however the Yukie spelled with an 'e' is female and means tender princess. It's a common confusion much like the different spellings of Ichigo and Ichygo you can use either spelling. While I thank you for your review, I would also thank you to not correct me on the names on the fiction. ONWARD TO THE BATTLE FIELD!
"Nee, nee, Riza-chan?" Haruhi and Haruko asked they girls were in their home with Tony's dog Yukie. They were putting bows and other cute things on the dog while Riza played some kind of online video game.
"What? What?" Riza growled, slightly mocking the duo's strange habit of repeating themselves. The twins looked to Riza, who's eyes weren't leaving the screen.
"Do you think that," Haruhi.
"Mariko-chan will come back?" Haruko asked, Riza paused her game and looked to the twins who's faces were filled with sadness and loneliness. Riza smiled softly.
"Of course she will you guys," She said, "She'll come back for us, she promised remember? Since when does Mariko-san go back on a promise?"
"Riza-chan, we…" Haruko.
"Miss her." Haruhi said somberly. Riza sighed.
"I know, so do I, but hey—she and Tony-kun left Yukie here for you two to play with her." She said, the girls smiled as Yukie yipped and jumped around happily. The twins giggled and ran after her.
"Yukie, Yukie!" they shouted gleefully, leaving Riza behind. She frowned and let out a sigh.
"You better come back Mariko-chan." She mumbled, suddenly a small jingle was heard. Riza looked over to the computer that sat next to the TV. There was a video message, Riza shivered. Mariko had set the alarm for messages as the same rig as the Jigoku Shojo website.*she never did understand why Mariko liked this thing so much.
"Hello?" Riza asked speaking her best English she could as she answered the call. A figure came onto the screen he was bald Caucasian male with green eyes. He wore an expensive looking suite. Riza frowned.
"Hello. Is this Riza Yawaza?" the man asked, Riza scowled.
"Who is this?" She asked glaring at the screen. The man smiled kindly.
"My name is Lex Luthor, I'm an American friend of Mariko Miko." He said. Riza stared.
"Mariko-san?" She questioned, Luthor nodded. Riza then called to Haruhi and Haruko, who came to her side and stared.
"You must be the twins she speaks so fondly of." Luthor said, the twins nodded.
"Haruhi," Haruko said pointing to her sister.
"Haruko." Haruhi introduced pointing back, "Nani Desu ka?"
"I'm a friend, Miss Miko requested that you three were to be transported to America." Luthor cooed, "She doesn't plan on coming back to Tokyo, so she thought it best to bring you to her."
"Mariko-chan!" the twins shouted. Riza stared at the screen.
"Does that mean that she succeeded?" She asked, Luthor nodded, then brought up a smaller screen.
"As we speak I'm sending a jet to come pick you three up and bring you to America." He said, showing the image to the trio.
"Yukie too?" The twins asked, Luthor frowned.
"They've grown really attached to the dog Tony-san left here." Riza explained, Luthor nodded.
"Yukie too." He said. The twins smiled then ran after to find the medium sized white dog.
"Yukie!"
Riza looked after the girls then looked back to Luthor, something wasn't right about this. Why didn't Mariko talk to them herself? Who was this Luthor guy anyway? They never heard Mariko talking about him before.
"Is something the matter?" He asked, Riza nodded.
"Where is Mariko-chan?" She asked.
"Miss Miko is a tad busy at the moment. She's been working nonstop since you're last encounter. She does apologize however." Luthor said, "If I were you I would be getting ready, your ride will be arriving soon."
Riza nodded silently and the conversation ended with a blank screen. She then heard a small crash in the other room.
"Haruko, Haruhi what are you two doing?!" She shouted.
"Nothing!"
~0~
"My father took me to the sacred place when I was a young girl, I grabbed his hand hard and asked who is conjuring this world right now. Now where is Heaven?" Mariko sang to herself as she rode on a stolen skate board that she had taken from some punk in a skate park. The kid had put up a decent fight but it ended when she brought out her small tazer.
"When you are born into this world they say you are born insane. Why?" she mumbled skating down the sidewalks of Star City.
"That statements a bit too true for you. Eh Miko?" Klarion joked flying over her. Mariko looked up narrowing her eyes.
"Carry on, Anna Tsuchiya." She said, "Time to focus, you know who's next right? Star City is Green Arrow's turf. Usually I'd say Ladies first however. Queen bee is in a different country that I don't have access to."
"Bummer, so then that means…" Klarion began.
"It means I need you to find the location of the Brain." Mariko growled, jumping over a gap in the sidewalk with her skateboard. "Can you do that?"
"I'm a Lord of Chaos, I can do whatever I want." Klarion said, "The question is do I want to?"
"If you want to fulfill that covenant yes, you do." Mariko snapped, Klarion frowned.
"Yeah yeah, I'll do it." He huffed, "What are you going to do in the meantime?"
"Screw around and plan my next move, I can't fight Queen Bee, she's got a military fleet behind her, not to mention now they know I'm coming." Mariko explained.
"And whose fault is that?" Klarion asked Mariko growled.
"Don't lecture me on being childish Klarion. You throw a fit when things don't go your way." She said, "Even if they do know I'm coming they still won't be able to stop m—"
Suddenly something knocked Mariko off her skate board and into an alley. She groaned, and held her head.
"What the heck hit me?" She growled checking her hand for blood, she sighed when there was none.
"That'd be me little girl." A rather rough voice said behind her. Mariko looked up to see Sportsmaster standing over her with a metal bo staff resting on his shoulders.
"Do I know you?" She shouted, Sportsmaster frowned.
"Sportsmaster, Vandal's not too happy to see you around anymore." He said, Mariko glared, now she remembered this guy, he was the one Gizmo was working with the first time she encountered him. She snorted.
"Oh yeah? So what he sends some mindless lackey to snuff me out?" she asked, reaching slowly for her skateboard.
"That's the idea kid." He said, Mariko let out a laugh.
"And you really think I'll be that easy?" She shouted then cracked her board over her attacker's head, snapping the board in half and ticking Sportsmaster off. He let out a growl of annoyance and swung at her. Mariko dodged, and reached for her belt, she grabbed the taser from one of her compartments and then ran at Sportsmaster only to have Sportsmaster knock her back with one punch. She hit the wall behind her and let out a pain groan.
"Dangit." She cursed as she fell to the ground. This guy was big, and unlike Superboy he didn't have a weakness to some cheap stone.
"Looks pretty easy to me. Kid, now why don't you be a good girl and give up. I don't have a problem killing kids but I'd rather not." Sportsmaster said, Mariko glared up at him.
"Oh go screw yourself stupid!" She shouted standing up, "I'm the smartest person alive, an idiot like you could never beat me! I've always got an ace in the hole!"
"And where is that Ace now?" Sportsmaster asked smugly, Mariko grinned as Sportsmaster was then hit with a trick arrow. Mariko grinned as Sportsmaster was out cold, she then looked up at her rescuer; Red Arrow.
"Hellow Arrow." She said giving a small wave to him. Red Arrow frowned.
"I only came here because I thought you were an innocent civilian." He said sternly, Mariko grinned.
"Sure, like you couldn't see who I was from your perch on that roof above us." She said, Arrow let out a growl of annoyance.
"Has anyone ever told you you're annoying Mariko Miko?" He asked.
"Jade has, but that was before I helped her cut ties with the League of Shadows." Mariko said, "Say have you heard anything from Robin?"
Arrow cocked an eyebrow at her, as if gauging if she was kidding. When he figured that she was in fact not kidding her sighed.
"I'm not part of the Team, I quit remember?" He asked, Mariko nodded.
"I know that, but I though you good hero types always kept in contact with friends." She said with a shrug. Arrow scowled.
"No." he growled, "And what are you doing here anyway? I thought you were on Vandal's side."
"Is now really a time for questions?" Mariko asked, then moved to pick up the remaining pieces of her board. "Man I was really enjoying having a set of wheels."
She then looked to Red Arrow who was hand cuffing Sportsmaster, she smirked.
"Say you wouldn't know where the Brain resides would ya?" She asked.
"No. shouldn't you be going?" Arrow growled. Mariko huffed.
"My someone's touchy, no wonder Jade likes you so much." She said, "Oh well I guess I'll just steal another board."
"Steal?" Arrow asked, "Am I going to have to arrest you too?"
"You could try, but I'm sure I'll taser you before that." Mariko said, "Anyway, whatever I think I can fix this."
Arrow frowned as Sportsmaster started to come to. Mariko growled.
"I don't suppose you know where Brain is? Lackey's seldom know anything." She hissed, Sportsmaster let out a low laughing sound, Mariko frowned.
"What's so funny?" She growled, looking over her shoulder at him as she used the contents of her belt to fix her skate board. Sportsmaster glared at her.
"I might be some lackey, but at least I know where my friends are." He said cryptically. Mariko scowled.
"What's that supposed to mean?" She growled, then froze. There was only one thing Savage could do to really hurt her. Red Arrow frowned.
"What's he talking about? Mariko?" he asked, Sportsmaster smiled.
"Oh she knows what I'm talking about." He said. Mariko glared at Sportsmaster, then turned and ran off, fix skate board in hand.
"Mariko! Wait!" Arrow shouted, but she was long gone.
As Mariko rolled down the streets seething with anger and blind rage. She took a sharp turn around a corner as Klarion appeared.
"I found Brain's hide away, if you want me to take you there it's going to cost you." He taunted, Mariko glared up at him.
"Screw the brain, Savage's going down!" She shouted, Klarion gave a confused look.
"That's a change, however slight it may be. What's happened now?" he asked, Mariko stopped short.
"That Monster has my girls!"
~0~
"This place is so big!" Riza said aloud as the trio walked into a large building. The twins nodded behind her.
"So big! So big!" the two repeated in unison. After the trio arrived in the U.S. Luthor had sent a car to pick them up and bring them to some fancy hotel looking place. The trio had never been in the U.S. before and they were amazed by just about everything.
"I'm so glad you approve," Luthor said walking up to the trio. The three girls looked up at him, Yukie growled at him standing next to the twins.
"Yukie?" Haruhi mumbled, kneeling with her twin to comfort the oddly growling dog. It was out of character for her to growl at anyone—at least while they were in Tokyo.
"Sorry Yukie doesn't…" Haruko
"Act this way." Haruhi said. Luthor shook his head, dismissing the dog.
"She probably smells my cat, I'm not very fond of dogs, now shall I have someone show you to your rooms?" He asked, the girls nodded and followed Luthor to the upper levels of the building where each girl got their own room. The twins freaked out at first at the thought of being separated, when Luthor made a face Riza explained.
"It's trauma, years ago, horrible things were done to them when they were separated. So they get scared when they're alone." She explained, vaguely, Haruhi and Haruko held each other's hands tightly as they stared at Luthor.
"Not a problem, I can have things rearranged." He said.
"Can we talk to Mariko-san now?" Riza asked, Luthor frowned.
"Not now, she's far too busy at the moment." He said, the girls frowned.
"But Mariko-chan always makes time for us." The twins mumbled, Luthor shrugged.
"These things happen, when she's finished she'll be by, I'm sure of it. Now if you'll excuse me, a billion dollar company doesn't run itself." He said jokingly then dismissed himself leaving the girls to themselves. The twins looked to Riza who shrugged.
"I'm sure she's super busy, she'll come to see us later." She said then saw the two girls yawn, "Right now however you two should go sleep, come on I'll put you two to bed."
~0~
Robin sat in the den of the Cave messing with his wrist computer, he hadn't heard from Mariko since their last encounter a week ago. There also hadn't been any kind of incident on the news about any more accidents or prison breaks. So that much was good, however he knew that no matter how quiet everything might have seemed to be he knew Mariko was still waiting for her next attack on the Light. As did Tony, the only person who was genuinely worried about her.
Suddenly as Robin was messing with his computer an alert went off, alerting him that someone was trying to contact him. It was odd however, his computer wasn't for communication, it was for hacking. He opened the message and gave a look of slight shock.
"Robin?" Mariko said, "I…I need your help."
"My help?" Robin asked, "I'm not going to help you."
"Robin please, this is serious!" Mariko said, a hint of panic in her tone. Robin cocked an eyebrow.
"It's Savage, he…he has my girls!" She shouted, Robin frowned, "Please, Robin, I really need your help on this."
"What do you need my help for? You're capable of doing things on your own." He said, Mariko paused for a moment.
"Why are you talking like that? Arent you supposed to be the good guy?" she asked finally her voice cracking a bit, "Dick please, Riza and the twins, they aren't like me, they're innocent girls. They haven't done anything wrong, and Savage might kill them if I don't do something to save them."
"Why are you asking for my help?" Robin asked, Mariko paused a second time.
"I didn't think Savage would ever try to kidnap them…I have to save them but…I-I can't think straight." She said, "Savage is cruel he's going to hurt them, and it's all my fault!"
"Miss Mariko?" Tony asked coming into the room and hearing his, partner's voice he stood over Robin's shoulder. "Miss Mariko where are you?"
Robin let out a frustrated sigh, "Alright fine I'll help you. Where are you."
"I'll send you the address of where I am now, but I've got to keep moving, Savage is sending people to kill me." Mariko said a bit more calm this time. "Bring M'gaan."
With that Mariko ended the transmission, Robin looked up to Tony and frowned. Tony frowned back.
"You are going to help her, aren't you?" He asked, "You're the good guys, you have to."
"Shutup, I'm going to help her, but only to save those girls, and with any luck; stop her from doing anything else stupid." Robin said, "Now if you'll excuse me, I have to find M'gaan."
Robin's finally on Mariko's side again! Anyone else excited for that? Anyhow in reference to Mariko's song, it's by Anna Tsuchiya called 'Carry on.' I thought it fit Mariko's current state yaknow?
(*) Just watch the show Jigoku Shojo, it's a good show, and you'll understand what that looks like. 'See you later armadillos—unless I see you first!' haha! REVIEW!