Heads up there's a swear this chapter
I swing around, trying to find the perpetrator. It wasn't until I looked up that I saw him. The cabin had a deck about ten feet up that connected to the second floor. A man in his thirties was standing there with a shotgun pointed straight at us. He wore a white tee, sweatpants that look like the American flag, and a red bandana around his head.
"Don't shoot!" I yell for the lack of better words. "Are you Mac Antfee?"
The man, presumably Mac Antfee, lowers the gun a bit. "You look a little young to be a tax collector!" His voice is gruff and his expression annoyed.
Heidi got out of her car, slamming the door. "Listen here, I drove all this way and it wasn't to get shot at by some country bumpkin!" She places her hands on her hips. "Please put that gun down and hear us out!"
The man disappears inside his home, reappearing a minute later at the front door. "So you're not tax collectors?" He gave an exaggerated sigh of relief. "Come in come in! I don't get visitors much these days," he explained, ushering us in.
The inside didn't look that much better than the outside. The rooms were lit by exposed bulbs dangling from the ceiling. A layer of dust was noticeable on all the surfaces; including the multiple shelves full of what appear to be karate medals and trophies.
"Last time a tax collector fella showed up was, oh, a year ago maybe?" He rambled on, stroking his goatee. "I've been a'waitin for him with Man Gong here."
Did I hear him right?
"I'll kick his butt, his tax collector friends' butts, the government's butt, all the butts who think they can mess with the biggest butt whooper this side o' Norrisville!"
"Man who?"
"Man Gong!" Mac Antfee raised his gun, but non-threateningly this time. "Named after a friend of mine who died back in-"
"Mr. Antfee?" I interrupt.
"Call me Mac."
"Mac then, you were the one who wrote the article about the Norrisville Sorcerer, right?" I jump right to the point. Mac seems to be the type to get off track easily.
His eyes shone with childlike glee. "You've visited my blog?" I nod. "C'mon you just gotta see my base of operations!" Mac strode down the hallway and took a left.
"Remy, I think this guy's a little…" Heidi spun a finger in circles. Crazy. The unspoken word hung in the air.
"My name's Randy." Heidi rolled her eyes. "And it could be a matter of life and death."
Mac's 'base of operations' is a small, square room that looks straight out of one of those spy shows. There was a computer on a desk, files occupying every available surface, and corkboards with newspaper clippings, photos, red strings, the whole shebang.
Mac was clicking rapidly through the files on his computer. "So, what do ya want to know about the Sorcerer?"
"Um," I'm not sure how to respond. His location? His motives? It dawns on me how little I actually know. "I remember seeing something about sightings; can you tell me more about those?"
He spins the rotating office chair to face me. "You sayin you believe in his existence?" He asks suspiciously. Heidi is examining the corkboards and Howard… Wait. Where is he? I can't believe I didn't notice he was missing until now! I think we left him snoozing in the car. Whoops.
With a final click, he opened a file with pictures on his computer. "Here's the first photographic evidence."
It's not much, just fallen tree.
"Is that… a tree?" I ask.
"No! Look closer!" Mac physically grabbed my head and dragged it closer to the screen. In the background was a strange shape with glowing eyes: a chimera. "It's from about five months ago."
"That's bruce and all, but I want pictures of the Sorcerer himself, not the chimeras."
"You have no idea how much I went through to get this!" He replied angrily and continued scrolling. Most of the other pictures seemed to be chimeras as well. One caught my eye though.
"Stop!" I point at a photo. "What about this one?" It was from a few weeks ago, I know because I was there.
He rubbed his hands together. "This is where it gets interesting; for the last couple of months there have been a ton of monster sightings. Not one is identical, so people dismiss them. There can't be twenty different monsters hiding out in Norrisville without being obvious. I say that someone is taking care of them."
The photo was taken on a cell phone. It featured the Ninja and a chimera, probably just moments before I showed up to watch. It's from too far away to make out any real details.
"There's… this guy. I tried to look into the Sorcerer 'myth' to see where he fits in, but I couldn't find anything. I know from very reliable source that this ninja- he does look like a ninja, right?- was killed by the Sorcerer." He flipped to the next picture and there was the Sorcerer in all his hideous glory. "See, I told you I had one. Anyway, I know the ninja and the Sorcerer are connected because…."
Three photos after was one of me. Well, not really me, but of the Ninja. Thank goodness it was terrible quality.
"See! This one is from the Norrisville high school! And this one… is from today. My brain has been killing me trying to figure this out! It's obviously the same suit, but he had been killed! Not to mention he's smaller and has wings… The suit must have been passed on." He began to mumble fervently. To be honest I'm having a hard time keeping up with him. He still hasn't proved how I'm connected to the Sorcerer.
"Excuse me, but I'm not sure…"
"Look!" His blood shot eyes didn't leave the screen. He zooms into the front of my suit. "Right there! Don't you know what that symbol is?" It was the rotated, blocky 'G' that used to be part of my tattoos.
"No?"
"It's the Norisu family symbol. The Sorcerer breaks out and the Norisus continue to protect the town. Amazing right?" He sighs contently. Mac must have been working on this for a long time.
"What about this?" It is the first time Heidi has said something since we've been in the conspiracy room. "Why is the article about the new McFist Hotel and Resort on here?"
"I can't tell you all my secrets," he says smugly.
She storms across the room and gets right up in his face. "Are you kidding me? Are you seriously kidding me? You call those crappy pictures secrets? The last one isn't even good quality!"
While it was definitely the closest picture of the Ninja, my face is blurry. Everything else looks normal except for my face. Maybe this is why no one has recognized me yet.
"Cool your jets little missy, I'll tell ya, but I want some of my questions answered." He looks at me. "You and your girlfriend here obviously know something, otherwise you wouldn't have come."
Heidi spluttered indignantly. "I'm not his girlfriend!"
"I'm just callin 'em like I see 'em sweetheart," Mac shrugged and changed topic. "You called the monsters chimeras, why is that?"
"I…" I need to know how McFist is involved in this. "Because they are a mix of people and the Sorcerer's magic. They're still people, calling them monsters just seems wrong."
He scoffs. "Nice wad. But because I'm feelin nice today, I'll tell ya 'bout this new resort of McFist's." He leans back in his chair dramatically. "The property it's stittin on has been empty for years. Why? 'Cause people have said it's cursed. Remember how the Sorcerer was defeated by the Norisu clan and he was buried alive?" He pauses for effect.
"That's where his tomb was."
"Are you saying…" Heidi began.
"McFist let the bastard loose," Mac grins. "If you want to know more, I suspect ol' Hannibal can tell you."
The moment of silence is shattered by knocking at the door. I'd bet my last twenty bucks that it's Howard. Man, he's good at ruining dramatic moments.
Mac claps his hands and stands up. "That's all for today kids. Come by some other time and I'll tell ya'll about other strange things in this town."
"Things stranger than an evil sorcerer back from the dead?" Heidi questions. We're almost to the door.
"Yup and if you think this town is weird, you should go see this one in Oregon-" Mac stopped midsentence as Howard impatiently opened the door.
"You ditched me again Cunningham."
"I suppose you're not a tax collector either?" Mac Antfee demands.
"No."
"Well, thanks for the info." Heidi shoos us out of the house, anxious that Mac will pull out the shotgun again.
"No problem," he says. "What were your names again?"
"Randy Cunningham and Hei-" She claps a hand over my mouth. We pile in the car and drive off, explaining what he had missed to Howard.
"No problem at all," Mac Antfee repeats. That afternoon had been very interesting and he had learned a lot. Closing the door, he walked back to his special room, wrote on a slip of paper 'Randy Cunningham', and tacked it to his board.
Today is Sunday. It's somewhere around one pm and my mom went to go shopping. I'm all alone in the house and it's rather lonely. I can't handle the quiet; I need background noise whether it's a radio, or crowd of people. Flopping on my bed, I grab the TV remote.
Unlike my usual outfit of a t-shirt and McSkinnies, I'm wearing a loose pair of sweatpants. When mom's home, she'll nag me to put a shirt on; however, she's not home, so if I want to laze on my bed watching TV in nothing but pants I can and will.
Ugh. There's nothing good on cable. Even the news channel is playing the same old boring stories from yesterday. After a few minutes of listening to some old guy go on and on about the mice infestation in his shed, I hear music outside.
It's the ice cream truck making the last rounds of the season.
I jump to the floor, not bothering to use the ladder. A handful of spare change later, I'm out the door and don't bother to put shoes on.
"Wait!" The truck stops. "One Bomb Pop por favor." I probably mutilated that Spanish. Man, too bad my bro's not here, he always gets the ice cream that is supposed to be a cartoon character and laughs at the sad reality of what it actually looks like. Ah, the good old days… he haven't done that since—
"Hey Randy." She turns to the vendor. "Stawberry shortcake bar please."
Even though it's the weekend, Theresa is still wearing her usual Twirl Team outfit: a short, yellow dress with striped leggings. I hadn't even noticed her walk up.
"Hey Theresa… what's up?" I ask casually.
"I'm walking my neighbor's dog," she says, picking up the pooch in question. "Isn't she the cutest? Her name is Delilah. Say hello to Randy, Delilah."
To be honest, it's the ugliest poodle I've ever seen. "Aww, how cu-" I begin, but the dog growls at me. "maybe some other time."
Theresa giggles and sets Delilah down, accepting the ice cream bar. The van drives away, the jingle echoing down the street with the delighted screams of children.
"Did the ice cream truck wake you up?" She asks suddenly, looking away to hide her smile.
"Did it…? Oh," Not only did I forgo putting on shoes, I also didn't put a shirt on. I cross my arms over my chest as best I can while holding a popsicle.
"I'm sorry!" She laughs harder. "Don't worry, I've slept in past noon too."
I crack a smile despite myself. "Yeah, let's just go with that." No wonder she thought that, my hair isn't even combed! We stand in silence, eating our treats when she asks another question.
"So are you going to the McFist company party this tonight?"
"What?"
"It's a formal dinner for managers and directors or higher-ups that work for companies owned by McFist at seven. They can bring their families… or dates… with them and my mom is making me go with her and my dad," She concludes shyly.
"I'm not, sorry," I do my best to look genuinely sorry. As if I'd ever willingly be in the same room with the man after what I'd learned yesterday.
"Oh, I mean… maybe we…" Suddenly, the dog spotted a cat across the road and tugged on the leash, taking Theresa by surprise. "Woah!" Delilah is on the small side so she wasn't dragged off, but she was distracted from what she had been saying. "Well, it was nice seeing you."
"You too!" She continues down the sidewalk and I watch her until she disappears. Was that disappointment? That look before she left? I shake my head and go back inside.
Although… McFist may be my only lead on the Sorcerer. As my duty as the Ninja, I should probably go check it out…
I run upstairs to my mom's room. When my parents divorced, dad left behind some stuff, including clothing. Theresa said it is a formal party, right? I've long outgrown any suits or vests I may have, but mom keeps a box of his stuff in the back of her closet. I rummage around until I find what I'm looking for.
"Perfect."
a/n: next chapter will be based off of 'silent punch, deadly punch'
I hope this chapter was more interesting than the last?