By the time that Musume arrived at Poppo Time, Akiza had already summoned back the pair of amateur detectives from Trudge's side. With two days of wear, a near-death experience, a couple of holes in the back and no chance of being salvaged, she was severely in need of an outfit to replace her ruined dress. Once she had managed to steal one of Crow's spare jackets and liberated a pair of trousers from Akiza, not only had they arrived but Leo had raced across the city at the first mention of his sister being in trouble. They had clustered together in the main room, almost waiting in ambush once she came back out of the bathroom. Other than a filthy look at Yusei for not wearing a shirt, she barely registered their presence.
"What were you thinking?!" Crow was taking point when it came to Musume and was just barely keeping his anger in check. Instead of stopping to listen to his quite reasonable complaint, she ignored him and walked right on past and down the stairs to the garage. "If Yliaster comes at any of us, we act together. We don't run off alone!" Struggling to believe that she would just ignore the threat that had almost taken two of them, he watched as she threw herself into one of the seats in the corner. Booting up the computer, she sullenly began tapping at keys before everything was fully started.
"I thought Luna would have explained." Still clutched tightly in one hand was that strange sword from the rooftop. She hadn't let it out of her sight for even a minute. "Yliaster attacked, somebody else got involved." It should have never been this complicated. Come back in time, nudge her family down another path, drag Red Nova and the Crimson Dragon to her grave. "They somehow managed to break into a Dark Duel and then changed it into a Shadow Game." Trying to trawl through the mess of the internet was taking longer than she was comfortable with. Answers tended to be needed in a hurry once people started blowing up. "After which they ran across several rooftops, punched me out of the sky and exploded after stabbing themselves through the chest." It was shame that kept her from admitting she had made the first lethal move. "Exactly what could the rest of you had done?"
Maybe Crow was saying something in the background but she was ignoring him. In the world of information searches, the first hit was rarely the best one but it held the essential details. Impossible details. She ignored it and went after the second result. Same details, same impossibility. Third, seventh, twentieth. Skipping through the results like a binge-watcher trying to find their most recent episode, she failed to find anything that could have accounted for what she was holding.
"Hey!" Grabbing her shoulder to gain attention, he shouldn't have been surprised when a deft hold twisted his arm until he bent into submission. It was one of his favourite holds. Of course he would have taught it to her.
"What does this say to you?" Stamped onto the butt of the handle were a few letters in an old dialect. Not so far gone that he couldn't read it but not one that had been popular since before even his grandparents had been alive.
"Yawa... Yawarakai-Te? Tender Hands?" Letting go now that she had confirmation of her insane reality held in one hand, she swivelled around to look back at him. In all their time together, he had never seen her scared. Then again, what was on her face wasn't exactly fear. There were twinges of confusion in there. Like if Leo ran at her with a javelin. Dangerous but not easily grasped. "What is it?" With Crow losing his concentration, Jack readily stepped up to take the position of 'reprimanding Musume'. Unfortunately, he lacked the same relationship, level of understanding or even empathy. Like a series of events elsewhere in the city, things quickly snowballed.
There came times when Trudge genuinely wondered how anybody managed to maintain any sort relationship with Yusei Fudo. With barely a minute's notice, he had run off to America and left a large number of bureaucratical and international nightmares that Trduge was taking the flack for. As his geographically closest friend, there was a powerful telepathic connection between the pair that allowed him to know Yusei's every move in advance. At least, that was the conclusion that everyone seemed to have. Yet for all the drawbacks, the good scientist always had one use when it came to Trudge: the perfect supernatural scapegoat. Whenever something weird and inexplicable came up, Yusei was called in to sort out the mess. But sometimes, the timing was important than the actual call.
Whistling happily to himself, Trudge absently played around on his phone as wave after wave of highly trained police officers threw themselves at the resistant suspect. One of the earliest fighters slowly dragged themselves past his foot and collapsed in a small pile. "Aren't you going to help?" Peering down at the crumpled figure, Trudge gave his smuggest smile.
"I thought that 'interfering old farts' like me should 'just give up and die'," Many of the younger generations thought that Trudge was past his prime and beyond the metaphorical hill. Despite his greying hairs and tired gaze, his senses were still as sharp as they had ever been. They had helped him keep track of the various gossip around the watercoolers and none of it good. Karma being what it is, Trudge was willing to let a few of the more vocal officers take a pounding before calling in his expert. "What was it you said? 'It's time to let the new generation have their chance'? This is your chance. Have at it." Another uniform was sent flying, skidding and bumping along the ground to cause some serious friction burns.
"What was the number again?" Carefully sliding his thumb down the screen, Trudge went through his list of contacts one number at a time. "Was it a five or a nine?" Measuring his steps, the grizzled prankster moved just far enough to avoid getting hit by the next flying body in the constantly increasing scrum. It almost appeared that every police officer in New Domino was joining in on the fight. "What am I saying? It's a three." Number finally acquired, he pressed the device to his ear with a broad grin.
"Trudge, now really isn't a good time." Raised voices in the background indicated that Yusei was having the domestic version of the same situation Trudge was currently enjoying from afar. "Drop him!" There was the sound of colliding bodies on the far end of the phone.
"There's a lot of that going around. I'm currently over in the warehouse district and there's something here that's your area of expertise." Screeching metal and panicking screams provided a distinct soundtrack to his point. He wouldn't normally have called Yusei so soon after the incident on the boat but had to balance his limited recovery against the danger present before him.
"Warehouse district?" It is said that veteran police officers subconsciously learn to sense the intricate details of the universe, commonly referred to as 'gut instinct'. So despite science saying otherwise, Trudge could actually hear the accusing stares coming from the other end of the line. "I'll be there in twenty minutes." Just before the line could close, there were the sounds of a muffled thump and an entire car sailed through the air before Trudge.
"Can you be here any sooner?" As every able-bodied officer in the city converged on the brawl, the less civilised parts of his mind saw an answer to their problem. Under his previous commanders, the mere mention of such an idea would have put him on report for many weeks. Of course, there were perks to his high position.
Eighteen minutes later, Yusei – now wearing a loose dress shirt – was let through the police cordon. Several squad cars had been positioned around the heavy warehouse and the more seriously wounded had been taken to find medical treatment. A passing thought went to Akiza. As much as she and the others had wanted to come, Yusei had refused on the astronomically long shot that this was not the same figure that Luna and Musume had encountered. If it was, he didn't want them anywhere near the new danger.
"Hey, Yusei!" Slightly oily but still none the worse for wear, Trudge had seated himself on a substantial wooden crate that had tumbled from the building. One hand was pressed tightly against his ribs and he winced as he shifted. "About time you got here." Rolling up his shirt revealed a deep purple bruise that faded as he poked at it.
"What's going on? Have your officers caught them yet?" Unsurprisingly, Trudge had looked up all the ways he could arrest Yusei at a moments notice. Dating back several generations – and possibly no longer still legally binding – was a tiny law that forbade being intentionally insulting to a policeman. Despite ruling out half the force on sex lines, it still gave him the power to fine Yusei the price of a cup of coffee.
"Nah, I ended up driving a forklift into them." On the way to meet his friend, Yusei had noticed a jagged hole in the side of the warehouse below. Although he had attributed it to their quarry, it was just as surprising that Trudge would do such damage as a person could hold off the entire police force alone. "Things settled down after that. Most of the guys moved out of my way. Your buddy is currently sitting under the contents on an entire storage warehouse. A few boxes move now and then so nobody's died but..." Careful to wipe the grease and grime from his hands, Trudge ran a hand back through his hair and stared up into the smog-laden skies above. "I saw what those Dark Signers could do, got some footage of Jakob stopping a meteor with his bare hands. Whatever you've got in there, it's somewhere between the two." When Yusei didn't respond, Trudge turned his head back down to find him obliviously typing away into his phone. "Hey, were you even listening to a word I said?"
Tapping 'send' and slipping his phone back into his pocket, Yusei tried his best to look alert. "Warehouse. You definitely talked about a warehouse."
There was enough history between the two for Trudge to know when Yusei was playing with him. Back when they had first met, it would be overly polite and beguiling and now it was near-constant. "Funny, I distinctly remember that you agreed to go in first." Sliding down from his perch, the cop suppressed the twinge of pain that came from his right ankle. Much like the scar on his face, it was a remnant of the journey through a waste-disposal line that Yusei had sent him on. At the time, the break had healed swiftly but minor aches had started to spring up in recent months.
Taking control of the situation, Trudge put his dear old friend-turned-target ahead of him as a human shield. One round with the being inside the warehouse was enough for his lifetime and it would be unfair to stop his long-time tormentor from enjoying the same unforgettable experience. "Hey, you!" Despite a long list of underlings, Trudge had made it a personal point of pride to learn as many names as he could – all of them. Of course, it would have damaged his 'tough guy' act if anybody found out so he purposefully got them wrong whenever possible. "I want everybody moved back at least two blocks more. If there's another scuffle, everybody needs time to get a head start." Under normal circumstances, this would have been viewed as cowardice. Of course, normal circumstances did not have one person holding off half the New Domino Police Department by themselves. No comment was passed as the remaining officers slowly shuffled backwards by another few warehouse lengths. Only slightly unnerved by the retreat of the protective barrier, Yusei slowly entered the building.
It appeared that the titanic warehouse was currently being used for the storage of additional stock from various companies. Areas were segmented by lengthy metal fences and the stacks soared to the ceiling to maximise the available space. It was into this place of utter order that Trudge had happily driven a forklift, crushing several expensive pieces of equipment and doubtless racking up a terrifyingly large bill for the city to pay. "I think you missed a shelf." Scattered crates and broken electronics shifted slightly as something far beneath them stirred.
"Gimme a break, I was trying not to run over my people." Errant thoughts of tossing one of the numerous glass vases into the mix were quelled by the more logical notion of fingerprints. A handy pair of work gloves that had been left lying about proved to be the perfect instrument as he lobbed a cherry-pink flute towards the centre of the mess. Wicked eyes watched as it arced through the air.
"Do you think we could get any leads from the security cameras?" Yusei kept his voice in the more polite registers but struggled not to burst into laughter as his companion began checking for the tiny boxes dotted about the surrounding gloom. "Or are they only kept outside?" Breaking into relieved chuckles, Trudge shoved his friend off-stride slightly.
"That's a sick sense of humour you've got there." Barely after he had finished speaking, the hackles of his senses rose to full prominence. Beside him, Yusei also picked up on the error in the world. "Something's wrong." Careful not to make any sudden moves, each tried to subtly uncover the problem be the other. Inevitably, Yusei saw it first.
"Vase." It was enough to use one word. Standing proudly atop the heap of broken merchandise and shattered crates, the salmon glass that Trudge had lobbed so carelessly rose above the rubbish without even a single crack running through it. Lifting aside a curtain of chain links, the pair slowly approached the latest impossibility with care.
"Let's make one thing clear: I will leave you to your death at the first opportunity." After carefully stepping on one another's toes, the two managed to get close enough to see the fingers gently touching the underside of the delicate glassware. It was a tentative and careful caress. Both men were almost embarrassed at the sight. If one hadn't been a scientist and the other a police officer they would have possibly left. "Dr Fudo?" Taking the advantage before his friend, Trudge actively closed his eyes and gripped the shoulder of his enabling companion.
"Officer Trudge." Grabbing the hand, Yusei squeezed a pressure point until Trudge gasped and opened his eyes, turning the tables in a flash. "Is it still going on?" Doing a quick kidney jab, Trudge smartly stepped away from the other body. Instead of an answer either could have expected, the piles of ruined merchandise shifted abruptly.
"Careful." Both men instantly shifted lower in preparation of a fight but nothing else came. "What was that?" A startling idea sparked beneath the spiky hair.
"Punch me again." Ignoring the sideways glance, Yusei risked a lengthy prison sentence by kicking the stalwart shins of New Domino's finest. Nothing moved in the rubble until a retaliatory gesture resulted in Yusei collapsing to one knee. Then crates tumbled and fell, the vase shattering as something erupted from the mess and flew at them both. Enough distance separated them from the chaos to dive out of the way as whatever they were hunting barrelled past and destroyed another towering stack of expensive items and storage containers. When the scream of tortured metal and shattering merchandise faded again, Trudge had a torn pocket and Yusei was doing his best to remove the dust from his shirt sleeve that had been a gift from Martha.
"Can I punch you again?" Turning to see the piles of ruin on one side of the warehouse, Yusei saw something quite amazing – a still standing and unbroken vase.
"It came out when you punched me." Turning his back on 'it' – because nothing that fast could be entirely human – Yusei walked back to the glass jar and picked it up. "But not when I kicked you." In slums like the old Satellite, rocks became missiles and kids with good aim were snipers. Drawing his arm back, Yusei set his aim at the midst of the pile. This time, it fell and shattered.
"Whatever happened to fingerprints?" Still lost deep in the mess of his thoughts, Yusei punched Trudge sternly in the stomach. Other than the older man bending over in a wheeze, nothing else happened. No blurred shape from the midst of ruined items or diving for cover. Ignoring the gasping complaints of his grumbling companion, musing scientist pulled out a phone before sending a single line of text. "Have you ever known you were right but really hoped not to be?" Sliding his phone away, Yusei helped his friend back up to his feet.
"Yeah, when I knew you getting out of Satellite would cause trouble." A same hint of the trepidation pushing him away from the warehouse had compelled him to stop Yusei leaving the punishing wasteland of the Satellite. "Why?"
"Because I think history is about to repeat itself." Slowly walking back to the pile, Yusei stood with his shoes just brushing the growing pool of liquid coming from somewhere amid the mess. "You can come out now." Silence reigned as Trudge wondered exactly how far Yusei could push his unorthodox intellect without something vital breaking. "I know why you're here." Gentle tumblings came as something inside the pile shifted slightly. "It's okay." Each word was more tired than gentle but had plenty of both. Something was sucked into the pile and let loose a landslide.
"Care to fill in the rest of the class?" Ignoring the danger of getting too close again, Trudge was standing just a few inches behind Yusei.
"Punch me again – see what happens." Even as Trudge pulled back his arm, the deterioration of the pile completed and Yusei was forced to push him back with the flat of his hand. "Stop!" Standing before them both was the most unbelievable sight. With a fist close enough to dust his nose stood a figure almost as tall as Jack and with a noticeable presence to match. No noise came from the figure at all and it stood perfectly still. Light practically disappeared upon hitting it and gave the illusion of a living, moving shadow. By the time their eyes had adjusted to discerning curves of the outline, the tight arm had slowly lowered back to one side. "Just relax." As if his words had a contrasting meaning, the apparition dropped to a left knee, pressed both fists firmly against the floor and bowed. Not to both of them, not in an ironic sense but directly to Yusei himself with every inch bristling in obedience.
"Err..." It was far from any of the reactions either had been expecting. "Can you stop that?" Instead of a deadly figure intent on killing him, the person rising to stand before Yusei seemed to be swaying gently, peering up at him from every direction. Then a change spread over the dark armour and it turned, facing up at the shining ceiling with an aura of reverence.
"Hey, what's got your attention?" Trudge was hopelessly out of his depth now. It was one thing to pin it all on Yusei but curiosity kept him firmly rooted in place. Far above them, a skylight shattered as Musume plunged down to let her bloody wings slow her fall at the last possible moment, glass cascading about her as she hovered in the air. "Nope." Jabbing two fingers against his neck, Trudge frantically searched for his pulse. "I've died and gone somewhere bad. Sparky doesn't have wings." Carefully directing his strained friend towards a comfortably low crate, Yusei measured up the situation. Clutched in her right hand was the same sword that had stabbed her quarry once already that evening.
There had been many dangerous points in his life up until that minute. For many of them, Yusei had been sure of his own victory. As for the rest, failure usually equalled death and there was no sense in losing his temper. With Trudge noticeably shaken by the flying and shadowy figures, the same persons about to come to blows and Yusei helpless to stop them, he broke one of the few self-imposed rules that controlled his life and said a variety of words that would practically force Martha to disown him once the blood had finished being spilt. Thankfully, no blood was spilt.
Even as an impressive sweep of wings thrust her the last feet to her target, two feet thrust out. After seeing the insane reflexes from their last bout, she had expected the outline to simply dodge away from Trudge. (Yusei remaining in danger was not only acceptable but also preferred.) Instead, there was the paradoxically unexpected sensation of both feet making solid contact and smashing her target back into the mess.
"Whoa whoa whoa!" Thankful for the existence of the heavy painkillers that were allowing him to temporarily move unimpeded, the suicidal burn victim stumbled between the equally confused and wary attacker and the pile of wreckage they had just smashed their victim back into. "They aren't trying to attack us. Try not to provoke them." A sudden thought intruded on his head. "Did you start the fight earlier?"
"You're in no position to judge me." With the nightmare of the boat still fresh in her mind, all blame lay with Yusei. "And what's his problem?" Ignoring the pile of raw danger, tense standoff and impossible reality, Trudge had found a box to lean against and mutter to himself in peace.
"Nobody told him about Paris." Although Trudge had picked up on a change in Crow, he had put it down to the stresses of the recent trial and focus on helping with the boat investigation. If he had been told everything at once, his brain might have actually overheated. "Look, they don't appear violent. Let's just see if they're willing to come quietly and talk this out."
"One chance." If it turned out that there was a peaceful resolution, Musume would take it. For the novelty of the approach, if nothing else. If events turned violent, she wouldn't let a flashy light show distract her again. They had probably just used the blinding light to slip away. That must have been it.
Musume was aware that she wasn't doing the best job of convincing herself.
"Hey, you!" Utterly nailing the refined art of diplomacy, she crouched down to look at the fresh hole in the mound. "Get out here. I'm not in the mood to dig through that pile of shit to come get you." Giving a slightly bitter sigh, Yusei went over to stand beside Trudge. He had been spared in the last round of fighting. Hopefully, Yusei would be able to pick up on whatever tactic had saved him.
"How's it coming?" Still refusing to look directly at the transparent appendages, Trudge was looking at the gaping hole in the wall where he had driven the forklift through. It would be a difficult time to explain why he had asked a recently tried scientist to assist with an urgent police matter. Trying to explain why there was a winged felon shouting at a pile of merchandise that he was responsible for destroying would be much more complicated.
"We might be okay as long as she keeps her temper." Items rustled as a something in the mound began moving again. It was slower this time, using more careful movements as it continued to adjust to the situation. A hand slipped out against the floor, splayed fingers recognisable by their outline on the ground. Then an arm clenched and drew out the rest of the form, unfolding until it was outlined against the pile behind it. Just like before, it reached down until one balled fist pressed against the ground before taking a knee. "I told you earlier," Stepping out to stand over the figure he reached down with a hand. "You don't need to do that." Speaking in a soothing tone, he was anxious to avoid a repeat of the previous skirmishes.
"Get up." With the weapon in her hand and more prepared for a rematch, Musume didn't share his sentiment. "We're wasting time." Carefully expanding upright again, there was still no definitive depth to the figure. It was easy to imagine that it was just flat until you saw another equally indistinguishable side to disprove that idea. Every angle was erased by whatever that outfit was constructed from.
"It's not safe to stay here." Suppressing the urge to ask additional questions, Yusei focused on the only one that matter. "Are you willing to come with us?" A tiny flicker in the outline indicated a nod of assent. Jostling up and down, it appeared that the figure was bouncing on the balls of their feet. "Then we'll talk everything out back at my place." Continued muttering coming from the rocking policeman indicated that a few things needed sorting out first. "Correction: I'll talk with Trudge, you take our new friend back with you." Glaring her displeasure, Musume tried to ignore the only person ecstatically bouncing at the lack of a fight.
"Are we sure this is the same person? Couldn't I have stabbed another stalker who happens to wear black armour?" A raised eyebrow put the shockingly long odds to rest. People who Musume had stabbed was a disturbingly long list. Of course, overlapping that list with people who had been wearing impenetrable black armour which hid every feature left a small number indeed. "Fine – you talk to Trudge, I'll get the creepy one. But I still think this is a bad idea." Turning back to 'the creepy one' Musume held her recently received sword with a threatening air. "Let's get back to Poppo Time without causing another incident." History has recorded many poorly chosen words. Popular examples include 'how hard can it be', 'I'm fairly sure' and the always disastrous 'trust me'. Such a simple instruction had seemed innocent enough – just as they always did.
Moving with impossible grace and fluidity, the figure jumped. Straight up. Fifty feet straight up. Gifted with her wings, it had been a simple matter for Musume to enter and exit the building through the skylight. For anybody else to do the same was bordering on madness yet it had happened right before their eyes.
"Yusei?" As daggers were glared at the equally shocked figure, wings flared through the holes in Crow's now ruined jacket. "I told you so." Without waiting for a response, she fled back through the hole in the roof. By now, it was getting fairly substantial. As more glass joined the pile on the floor, Yusei sat in shocked silence beside his friend.
Several minutes passed before either move, spurred on only by the sound of a squad car pulling away outside. Wordlessly reaching to the small of his back, Trudge pulled out a small drinking flask. It was sturdy work, bereft of any fancy decorations and designed purely to hold the most efficient amount of alcohol in the smallest space available.
"Drink?" Without verbally answering, Yusei reached out and took a deep swig of the contents. Once the fire inside his throat had cooled down somewhat, the flask was handed back again. "Good, isn't it? Mina keeps trying to hide my stock but I've got a few guys who owe me some favours." Wiping off as much grime as his sleeve could manage, Trudge took his turn at the bottle that several of his underlings would swear they had never seen and about two dozen more would only vaguely recollect seeing in days gone by.
"When am I allowed to retire?" It wasn't something that he thought of often but it did take up full evenings when it did. "I've helped save the world three times. Three. Isn't it time for somebody else to take a turn?" All joking aside, some part of Yusei was becoming desperately tired of world-saving affairs. Once the Dark Signers had been put to rest, there should have been some sort of normality in his life. Yliaster had swiftly put such ideas to rest and then Paradox had almost annihilated history. With his friends, they had put an end to such threats.
"Give it thirty years." Possibly less interesting than the work Yusei did, Trudge was still one of the more veteran cops in the service. Despite being more mundane, the repetitive nature of his job had made it unbearably dull long before the Dark Signers had come along. Fighting Yusei had made it amusing for some time and the resulting promotions hadn't hurt any but it had slowly faded over eight years to a dull sheen. "Running around is a job for the young. Try letting Sparky take the reins some time. What's the worst she could do?" In the realms that border imagination and divinity, fate was confounded by impenetrable walls of poor choice and bad reasoning.
"Throw the entire world to the brink of eternal chaos for her own amusement?" There really was no proper response to such a statement. There was even less choice when the statement was historically accurate. "What's the bet that they cause havoc on the way back?" After a few seconds to think about the odds, Yusei and Trudge hurried off to find a vehicle to commender.
Despite all her instincts telling her otherwise, the logical part of Musume was forced to concede that her prey was good at going unnoticed. A passing car was evaded by simply flattening against the side of the road and perfectly blending in with the shadows. When traffic became heavier closer to the bright centre of the city, road became rooftop and invisibility became constant. It was only silhouettes against the lights from the streets beneath that told of anything moving about the tops of buildings. Flying high above, fears that she would be spotted did little to weigh on Musume's mind. With many rich partiers owning drones and few people in the habit of looking up, she was unlikely to be seen and anybody who did would assume her to be a foolishly decorated machine. What really concerned her was the route they were following – right towards Poppo Time. As they rapidly drew closer to the Signer residence, rooftops quickly dropped from multi-storey apartment buildings all the way down to normal houses. Eventually, Musume dropped down to where a bouncing figure was waiting in the alleyway beside the home.
"You're fast." Even though the wings that carried her were not there in the truly physical sense, her back was somehow sore from the speeds she had pushed to. "Come on, let's get inside before somebody sees us." Instead of the unpredictable bouncing she had been expecting, the figure spun away and hid behind the overflowing bins that never seemed to be emptied. "What are you doing?" Sinking back even further, it seemed fairly obvious what was happening. "Tell me you're not shy." Earlier that night, this person had barged into the middle of a Shadow Duel, turned it against the Yliaster Agent, checked on herself and Luna and then been stabbed through the chest for their troubles only to next be discovered in a one-fighter assault on the entire police department. Even in the scant information that Musume knew, this person being shy stood out as weird.
When Yusei finally returned fifteen minutes later – only slightly tipsy from the possibly illegal booze Trudge had shared with him – Musume was still trying to coax the hiding figure from behind the dumpster and everyone else was crowded around the doorway into the alley. Since there was no outward sign of violence, she had refrained from lashing out first. As much as she hated to admit it, Yusei possibly had a point when it came to her having started the earlier fight.
"Hey, Yusei," Leo was balancing on the tips of his toes to get a better view of the sedate action. "What's going on?"
"That's what we're trying to figure out." Standing beside Akiza, the slightest contact between their fingers indicated a welcome home as Yusei sized up the scene. His neighbours had long since lost the appeal for trying to spy in on his mundane private life but their dis-curiosity would only last so long in the current environment.
"Can't we just get inside?" Crow had more recent experience with the freaky parts of creation and was not keen for another experience. A cowering figure in pitch-dark armour gave several indicators that the fragile shell of normality was cracking.
"If they don't move," A thin vest was tight enough to show taunt muscles and make Jack's knuckle-cracking somewhat redundant. "I'll make them." Poor word choices seemed to be the theme of the evening. Rocking back and forth behind the dumpster, both arms had been tightly interlaced around the black helmet. At Jack's casual threat, the rocking stopped and Musume could feel the tiny hairs on the back of her neck prickle in a warning. With the force of a rogue locomotive, the two black palms came together in a blazing flash of cerulean light.
"What was that?" Being used to scientific mishaps – since the SRC wasn't technically allowed to call them 'explosions' – put Yusei straight back on the offensive. Other than the loss of his night-vision and the disappearance of their companion, nothing was amiss in the alleyway. At least, besides Musume possibly crushing the life from the group of Signers in her futile rescue attempt at knocking them all to the safety of the floor. Six skinned knees and a bruised behind would be moaned about for days to come as nothing destructive actually happened.
"Are they a Psychic?" Whilst not as sensitive as the women of the group, Crow's exposure to the Underworld had made him more open to the world around him. Something about the figure had felt different from the moment it had first appeared before him.
"No." Psychic Duellists might be able to sense other Psychic Duellists but whatever mumbo-jumbo Musume had knocking around inside her went far beyond that. "She's... different." Another explosion across the city turned their heads. Millions in property damage had suddenly come into existence as one of the signs on KaibaCorp tower exploded in a shower of glass and sparks. "And dangerous." Disregarding Yusei, she turned to Crow and Akiza. It was a tense moment. Neither was eager to send their once-daughter into the line of fire.
"Be safe." Of course, each knew and understood that inability to ignore strange new dangers and mysteries. Baring her teeth in a smile that would chill most grown men, Musume flared her wings to the widest extent possible. Flying was an impossibly rewarding exertion. She had done almost every workout exercise in the world but none had ever been anywhere near as satisfying as the ability to soar through the clouds. Even barrelling her way towards certain danger, she couldn't stop a feeling of elation as she passed over hundreds of people, buildings and vehicles.
Human nature being what it was, most eyes are drawn towards bright lights. Human biology, however, forces them away from loud noises and falling glass. Such situational blindness is aided by the partly-psychological, partly-biological inability to see the dark centre of a bright ring of lights. As it was, Musume was able to soar directly onto the treacherous roof without anybody being the wiser. Cameras rarely observed rooftops that high and interior security was just that – interior and rarely pointing outwards.
Finding her quarry proved less of a difficulty than she had expected. Those with the ability to travel large distances within mere moments were generally better at disguising themselves in the moments following their arrival. Ducking down convenient sidestreets, hiding under piers and cars. Usually not clinging to the edge of buildings with trembling limbs. Folding her wings back – but not all the way – she carefully approached the tangled outline. "Do you want to come away from there?" Her new sword rattled inside one boot. Even after flying the miles between her current residence and the tallest point in the city, it had remained utterly secure inside its new home as if not ready to leave.
Something about the nature of the invisible armour was preventing a secure grip and the figure was fighting for purchase on the top of the sign. Instead of an answer, her companion slipped a few inches and grappled to regain them as quickly as possible. A further scramble resulted in the figure actually falling into the sign itself. Leaning over, she struggled to keep her balance in the fast winds and slippery purchase. Slight ledges inside the sign were designed to help workers replace the bulbs when they blew and repaint the signs after storm damage. Grappling fingers had managed to grab two on the way down and snapped both. The crumpled outline had ended huddled in the far corner, one arm braced against the ledge they were cramped on and the other gripping at the end of a bulb above them.
Hearing a door slam open somewhere out on the roof, Musume did the only thing she could at short notice. Fastening one hand on the top of the sign, she swung inside and grappled for a foothold. Hearing shouts growing closer, she did the next best thing to finding a purchase. In the same manner as her predecessor, she fell through the air and grabbed at slats as they whizzed past. Luck preferred her to the dark-clad figure who had fallen first and she managed to hold onto a ledge that didn't snap beneath her fingers.
It would take the KaibaCorp employees at least ten minutes before they could harness up, secure themselves to the rooftop and begin the process of hoisting somebody down. In less than one, Musume was squatting on the treacherous conditions of the ledge. Whatever else the stranger was, they were utterly terrified and she was careful to remain at one end of the ledge.
"You can't stay up here forever." Probably disrespecting hundreds of years of tradition and work, she stabbed the blade from her boot at an angle into the wall and used it as a source of stability. "There isn't even a 'sooner or later' about it. People already saw your little stunt and are on the way." Even shouting above the wind, Musume could barely hear herself. There was little chance that anybody above would make any of their conversation. "If you don't come with us, the police will come again. Eventually, somebody will arrive who can actually take you down. Or you can come back with me." It was a fair offer but the form continued to huddle from the wind and shake in fear.
Even with her unique perspective on reality, Musume could see no reason why anybody would be so terrified. Reaching out to grab a wrist, she watched the figure huddle even further away and actually risk falling from the building. A Dark Duel had been breached without any display of anxiety. They had enough strength to traverse great distances with ease and had agreed to come willingly. So Musume couldn't understand why they would suddenly run and cower in a corner.
Realisation struck her in a terrible blow.
The figure cowering before her defended against the entire police department but waited quietly in the pile of broken merchandise when left alone. Tey had hidden outside Poppo Time in shyness but only fled when Jack threatened violence. Stuck on a roof, they were moving further away from what was being perceived as another attempt at bodily force. Hunkering down, Musume moved forward with the speed of an iceberg and the restrained impatience of a race driver stuck behind a pensioner.
"I know you're scared right now." A strong eddy almost threw them both down but Musume held fast. "But you don't have to be. My family and I have been through a lot and we can help you get through your troubles too." In her mind, that meant dumping the problem with Crow and letting him sort it out. The strategy had worked well enough in the past. "It's okay." Reaching out again, she moved with that same glacial slowness. "You can trust me." The proffered hand was stared at for a long minute before one gauntlet slowly rose from the damp precipice.
In future days, Musume would look back on that moment with suspicion. It was in the sole moment that her weight was on one hand that the aged metal beneath the dark armour finally cracked and gravity took hold. What little grip still held had grown slick with moisture from the air and her grip slid from the light fitting. As the hand dropped below the platform she had huddled on, she watched her would-be rescuer lunge towards the plummeting figure. At that moment, as the very edges of their fingertips brushed, Musume thought for a moment that a smile was blossoming somewhere below the rain-speckled mask as two blue flickers appeared in the depths of the outline.
Without missing a beat, she pitched forward and through the damp air after the falling body. Unlike a normal person, no screams came from the falling body as it spun through the air, nor useless attempts to rescue itself.
Colliding with the still form was as about as rewarding as hitting a brick wall. Acting on instinct, four limbs wrapped around her with an almost deadly grip. Had her wings not been metaphysical, moving them would have become impossible. Science could only be stretched so far and Musume had pushed it further than many could imagine – now science was pushing back. Despite her wings being able to stretch more than twice her height, they were lacking in power enough for Musume and her precious cargo to drop like stones attached to a patched-up parachute. Those who lived at high speeds – fast cars, Turbo Duels or bearers of spectral wings – learnt an innate ability to calculate velocities on the fly. It was that or develop a habit of picking good rehab programs for when and if they get out of the hospital.
From the heights they had fallen, impact was less than seven seconds from point of fall, five from the moment of collision and only four from now. She could drop the bundle gripping her and make it to safety but that would leave her with a dead body, too many questions and an enraged family to go back to. Three-and-a-half seconds now, as other buildings in the skyline began to rush past her mask. A recollection of the pain caused by attempting to travel to the Spirit World burned from her memory and stole the choice with another half-second. Arms tightened around her and Musume wondered exactly who she was risking her life for. Unless the answer was coming in the next few seconds, it was unlikely to be made clear.
What happened next was hard to explain in words but the world seemed to... hiccup.
Some years after Zero Reverse KaibaCorp had – as both political and professional insult to the rival company – gifted Schroeder Corp with the second-highest building in New Domino City. It was a useless fact that everybody knew but seldom thought of. The only reason it came to the forefront of Musume's mind was because she had dropped past it a heartbeat ago and just done so again. It was barely two recycled seconds but time enough.
Back muscles stretched and tore as the lines between physical and spiritual blurred enough to cause enough pain to stun lesser mortals. It still hurt plenty to make Musume grind her teeth but no more as she pulled them both from a deadly dive into an infinitely more healthy straight line above the rooftops. With any luck, the gathering crowds of people would assume them to be either more pieces of light debris caught in the wind or colliding news drones flying to an eventual doom. Settling into a deep stillness, nothing more came from the bundle as Musume carried them towards Poppo Time once again.
"We're just going to go inside, okay?" Speaking in as calm a voice as she could manage, Musume tried to chivvy figure crouching behind her into the building as fast as possible. There had been numerous possibilities to be observed already and she wanted to avoid being seen if at all possible.
Jack and Crow were waiting in the garage crowded with Duel Runners. Silencing them with one finger, Musume threw a sturdy and highly illegal knuckleduster to Crow and gestured them to go upstairs.
"Let's just get settled in." Wrapping her jacket about the pair, she gently steered her charge towards the ragged old couch at the bottom of the ramp. Yusei was permanently on the verge of replacing it but never seemed able to find the time. "Can you wait here? I'll go and talk with the others." Drawing legs up against the dark torso, her strange new friend curled up in a ball in the narrow gap between sofa, wall and cupboard under the stairs. "You're safe here." Fishing around for something more persuasive to sway before finishing with a lame, "Trust me."
By the time she finally got up the stairs, Jack had a black eye, Crow in a headlock and several questions. Crow had bruised knuckles, rapidly diminishing oxygen and a certain sense there shouldn't be a growing white spot in the middle of his vision.
"Explain." Ever the leader, Yusei wasn't planning on shirking his responsibility in the slightest as he spoke in a threatening whisper. "Now."
Not to be cowed, Musume folded her arms, the new blade pointedly tapping its sheath against the side of her arm. "She's not like anything I've ever seen. Not Psychic, not Signer. Something different, something brand new." A name was inscribed on the hilt near her shoulder. She had searched the internet for a match and almost dismissed the answers out of hand. What people called impossible might be normal for her but even Musume's mind could only be so open.
"What even makes you think it's a woman?" There was a sort of pathetic whimper in her head and Musume was suddenly very angry at Leo for the unwitting question and responded in a whispered shout that was almost normal volume.
"Because men never lift their legs higher than their knees." Throughout her many years of fights – bar, professional, murderous – Musume had always noticed that men tended not to be willing to kick as high as women.
"And she just appeared?" Eager to smooth over Leo's mistake, Crow choked out the question between gasping breaths. "Like you... and Luna?" Smashing the knuckleduster behind Jack's knees, he sent them both toppling to the floor.
"No." Lifting the blade just enough to let the sound carry to where they were about to launch into another round, Musume quelled the fight as she lent against the bannister at the top of the stairs. "She jumped from the top of a building. Broke through the barrier of a Shadow Duel like it was just a bubble." That nugget had caused more than a stir when Luna had originally explained it but the moment had passed. As for how it had been done, the blade still clenched in her fist was practically bouncing off her skull in answer. That is, if Musume could accept what was written on the hilt as the truth.
"What if she's Yliaster?" They were all thinking it but only Luna was brave enough to give voice to the thought. Z-One had done exactly the same trick before, sending Primo to destroy Yusei and Bruno to save him.
"I'll take care of it." Ignoring the moral ambiguity of her words, Yusei brought the conversation back around to more practical and present matters.
"Why can't we see her directly? Have you any ideas?" Although even the most logical mind was assuming a form of magic, it was an underwhelming response.
"Armour of some kind. Seems capable of taking a beating. Black enough to blend in with shadows but probably stands out like a spotlight in the day." It went beyond that though. She hadn't been able to see it during their race across the rooftops. Flying it back to Poppo Time had been like carrying an invisible sack in her arms.
Darker than night, blacker than black, there awaits vantablack.
"Black, vantablack, same difference." Waving aside the point, Musume watched Yusei almost take a jump from excitement. There was even a slight squeal which his brothers would bring back to haunt him with.
"Vantablack? What makes you think it's vantablack?" Akiza's face frowned in exactly the same way as Musume's. Considering their relationship, it was actually the other way around.
"What's vantablack?" Rustling for something to write and almost drooling, Yusei entered full nerd mode.
"Arrays of vertically aligned carbon nanotubes that absorb practically all light and has some heat absorption abilities." Feeling all eyes turn on him, Jack scowled in a tiny twinge of embarrassment. "I read a couple of science magazines to understand what Yusei's talking about." Relief burst into all their hearts. The idea of Jack trying to get into the scientific fields was worrying to the entire profession. "Vantablack is ridiculously expensive and difficult to craft. It's mostly used on telescopes to reduce light pollution inside the tubes to get a clearer picture. Wouldn't work on armour."
Bits added to bits make a composite.
"Composite of what?" Turning back to Crow, Musume tried to shake the tingling in her spine. In other people, it might be known as fear. In her, it was a sense something was out of sorts in the world.
"What do you mean?" Staring at each other, it instantly became clear that the conversation was going slightly differently than it should.
"Humour me for a second." Slipping the sheath through her belt, Musume mentally rewound the conversation in her head. "Who first mentioned ventus-black?" Just the fact that she couldn't remember the proper name was an indication that it hadn't been her.
"Vantablack." Already sceptical, Crow was next to catch on to that feeling with instincts almost as honed as Musume's. "You did." A sharp look told him no, she hadn't.
"And who first talked about a composite?"
Me. Again, that faint tingle as every member of her family failed to speak up. A slight sensation she hadn't felt exactly before but something similar and worrying for the parallel.
"Akiza? Can you come downstairs with me?" Resting one hand on her new weapon, she shifted it into the small of her back.
"What's going on?" Risking anger over his previous use of 'it', Leo broke back into the conversation.
"Just... stay here for a minute." Beckoning the good doctor to follow her, Musume slowly crept down the stairs. As the only one to spend any amount of time with the outline huddled downstairs, her authority was temporarily enough to get them not to follow.
Still curled up in the corner, a gentle rocking had gripped the figure. Back, forth. Back, forth. Back, forth. As Musume set foot on the floor, it stopped for a moment and looked straight at her before curling up against the wall tighter than before.
"You're a shrink." Belittling three years hard study into psychology, the bewildered young woman directed her mother to a new case-study. "Can you give me a few pointers?"
"She's probably in shock." Supernatural maladies had not been a part of her course so Akiza was shooting blind. "Under different circumstances, I'd advise some time to adjust." With what she knew of the situation and this person, Akiza also knew her companion wouldn't be patient enough to wait. "Try and keep everything calm. Be gentle." Grumbling an assent, Musume gently moved over to crouch a few feet away from the curled armour. Gentle was not a skill she was good at.
"Hey." Looking to Akiza for guidance, she only got a wobbling hand in reply. Not much use. "Were you just speaking to me?" Nodding her head, the dark shape seemed to elongate and retract several times. "Okay. Can you tell me why nobody else could hear you?" For a moment, there were ideas of movement as the head turned to look up at her.
Nobody listens to what they do not want to hear. It was the same sensation as before. Musume's brain adamantly believed it had heard the message and her ears stubbornly refused to admit they had passed it on. A tiny glance at Akiza indicated that nobody else had heard her this time either.
"Well, I'm listening. You just say the words." Shifting slightly, the figure straightened up. A pair of blue swirls appeared in the middle of the dark face to look her in the eye. It was a deep sapphire blue, almost black. Whirls and pools seemed to hold patterns before shifting around again in swirls of unearthly beauty. A gentle feeling spread through the distance between them, rippling gently across the surface of incalculable cold and force. It was impossible to do anything other than be completely overwhelmed by the intelligence behind that gaze.
Trust. It was possible to see deeper into the endless blue that gripped her entire attention. Fire could have spread across her back and Musume wouldn't have noticed. She was not usually this easily distracted but there was something behind that gaze that locked onto her and held fast.
"What about it?" From far away, Musume was aware she was asking the question.
Trust... you. Each word lapped across her consciousness like waves across a beach. In, linger, gone in soft motions. Always honest. Always? Had they met before? Was it possible that Musume knew this woman?
"Musume?" Jerked awake by Akiza's voice, Musume forced herself not to fall into the bewitching gaze again. No, she would remember meeting this person before. At least, certainly in this incarnation.
"Why don't we get introductions out of the way?" Gripping the handle of her new sword gave her something to focus on. "I'm Musume." Slowly reaching out a cautious hand, a piece of darkness seemed to solidify in her grasp. Again, she was caught unprepared by the weight she was holding. It was very little, almost not there at all. But the blows, when they came, carried a force that bodybuilders could struggle to match. "Pleased to meet you." The hand shook once before it retreated back to the darkness. "Is it alright if we go upstairs?
"I don't think we'll get much conversation out of her." Watching the figure huddle behind Musume, Akiza pretended her attentions were elsewhere in a failed effort to be nondescript.
Realising that the group were already starting to draw up conclusions without even having spoken directly to her, the figure screwed up what courage they had available and managed to say a single word past her fears. Hello. Already pretending to look the other way, Akiza froze as the pair shuffled past. She was a doctor. She had degrees in neurology and psychology. She knew how the human brain worked. Nevertheless, she had no way of explaining why she had definitely just heard a word which had never reached her ears.
"You know," Smiling despite herself, Musume gave the darkness a reassuring pat. It took two attempts to actually find a surface. "I think that she'll surprise you."
We'll be leaving off here because that's nearly ten thousand words and if my eyes are burning, yours probably are as well. Don't worry, there'll be another (hopefully shorter) chapter along tomorrow. Just make sure to keep those reviews under ten thousand words or we'll all be sorry.