The Human Instrument

Part 1

Video Voyeur

By Nick Maro

It was just before dawn when Yukio and Kyoko arrived at David's door. They glanced at each before Yukio knocked sharply. She waited a few moments before knocking harder. "Okay, I heard you the first time!" David yelled from inside. The two women saw David peek out the living room window. His face went instantly from annoyance to delight. He hadn't seen his two friends in a few weeks. The door to his new home opened, David adjusted the belt on his robe and invited the women inside.

Before David could speak, Yukio put up her hand and cleared her throat. "[It's great to see you, David, but Kyoko and I have some news that concerns you and your family. Ryo and Maiyumi came to the Arashikage camp and talked with Uncle. What they had to say was rather distressing.]"

"[My idiot uncle has the Caustic Brothers training his Yakuza men,]" Kyoko finished for Yukio. "[Even after you warned him to not go looking for someone to train them, since you wouldn't do it. Ryo is seeking for an alliance and an audience with you. I think he wants to make amends.]"

"[Maiyumi and I have made peace, David. She's my sister again.]"

David ran his hand through his ruffled hair, smoothing it out as he did so. He looked at both women in thought. He turned when Kaori came into the living room. He waved her over and started to pace a bit. "[Why does this shit always come up at the worst times? I'm planning a tour for two bands. Some weird shit just happened on the mountainside that neither Sheila nor Roxy will explain to me.]" He stopped and put his arm around Kaori. "[Add in the fact we have a wedding to plan. What do you need?]"

Yukio opened the front door a little further and gave him a sideways grin. "[You just have to invite Ryo and Maiyumi inside. They're waiting in the car.]" She looked out the door and waved the couple to come inside. "[We knew you'd be busy with your personal life. Please let the Arashikage Clan handle this.]"

Entering the house Ryo and Maiyumi each bowed deep with respect to David and Kaori. "[Ikari-san, please accept my deepest apologies for attacking yourself and your family. I acted out of rage, jealousy, and stupidity. Spending time with your sister after your mother's death showed me what kind of man you truly are. I wish for all animosity and hostility between us to end.]" Ryo and Maiyumi both knelt before him with their heads still bowed. "[We each seek peace.]"

"[Stand up the both of you. You're in my house with my blessings. If I didn't want peace I would have killed you before you entered.]" He looked Ryo and Maiyumi in the eyes and then smirked. "[Relax, will you? Apologies accepted.]" He put his hand out for Ryo, who shook it and returned the smile. David then hugged the man who was once his rival. He hugged a startled Maiyumi as well. "[I never thought of you as a bad person, Ryo, just misguided. Now, welcome to my new home. Take your shoes off by the door and we'll see what's for breakfast.]"

Maiyumi and Ryo both removed their shoes off and put on a pair of house shoes that were near the door. Kaori quickly introduced herself and led everyone into the kitchen. She and Kyoko started making breakfast while Ryo and Maiyumi told David what was going with the Bayushi Yakuza.

Pizzazz checked her watch, it was a half hour since Clash and Video were supposed to meet with her. She was starting to grow concerned since she knew both women to be punctual. She looked around the conference room where she agreed to have the discussion for the new video. Stormer had her notebook out and headphones on. It looked as if she was writing again. Pizzazz knew they'd have a new album to record after the tour. Jetta and Roxy were talking quietly amongst themselves. She couldn't be sure but there was something different about Jetta.

The door to the conference room opened and a frantic looking Clash entered. "Sorry I'm so late. I can't get a hold of Viv. She's not answering her phone and she hasn't been home since yesterday morning." She poured herself a big glass of water. "I went by the studio and her car isn't there. This isn't like her at all."

Getting up from her chair, Pizzazz put a hand on Clash's shoulder to stop her pacing. "Settle down, Connie. Did she say she was going out of town? Maybe she had a date after she closed the studio. Or she just went out and met someone."

"That's not like her at all. She'd leave a note or call me. She was working on the plans for the music video all night at the studio. She knew we had an early meeting with you today." Clash finished off her glass of water and poured another one. "Chip and Techie are both searching for her now. Chip damn near had to drive me here himself." She looked at her friends with her lower lip quivering. "I'm scared for her, guys. Help me?"

"Of course we'll help you, luv. All the bleedin' times you helped us, we owe you." Jetta got up and put her arm around Clash's shoulders.

Stormer gave Clash the best comforting smile she could. "We'll find her. I'll give David a call in a few minutes."

"If that doesn't work we can always ask Maeve and the mages. Right, Sheila?" Roxy looked up at her girlfriend from her chair. Jetta nodded in agreement.

"Thanks all. You're my family, but Vivian is my blood. I knew I could count on you." Clash sat down with the rest of The Misfits at the table and discussed what to do next. She was looking more relaxed the longer they talked. Stormer called David while Jetta gave Astral a quick phone call.

Jetta hung up her phone and let her body fall back on to the couch next to Roxy. She let out a small sigh and rubbed the sides of her head. "Well, I talked to Maeve. She said that she'll do what she can but they're busy dealin' with Richard's death. They're not even sure how to deal with his or Christine's disappearances publically. They're trying to decide to just say he's gone off to retire in peace or say they died while on a trip."

"I was thinking all through the meeting today of what to tell Phyllis about Richard. I mean, they dated for a few months and seemed kinda serious. Shouldn't we tell her the truth?" Roxy turned the stereo down a bit as they talked. "I just feel so guilty for knowing the truth. She has the right to know what happened to him, Jerrica too. She worked with him a lot." She pulled her legs on the couch and hugged them. "I'm getting tired of keeping secrets from people I consider family."

Roxy rested her head on her knees and looked at her girlfriend. Studying Roxy's eyes she saw how weary she was. Jetta put an arm around Roxy's shoulders and pulled her close. "I know, luv. After I talk to David, I swear we'll take the break I've been talkin' about. We need to just take a break from everythin' and everyone."

Listening to the music Roxy started to drift to sleep. Her eyes snapped open a moment later. "Where the hell was David anyway? I thought he was supposed to help us out with the music video."

"Accordin' to Mary, he had somethin' come up at the last minute. I think she said that Yukio and Kyoko showed up. It'll be nice to see them again." Jetta gave a slight shrug while Roxy rested on her shoulder. "Who is this band anyway?"

"Craig gave me their album a few weeks back. They're a band from Finland called Turisas, a Viking metal band that has an accordion player and a violinist. They're fucking awesome, too. I checked online to see when they're coming to play in the US. It looks like we might be able to see them while we're on tour. If David keeps the schedule he showed us. Craig said they're nothing short of amazing live." Roxy sat up and turned up the stereo a bit more.

"I like it. Put their albums on my MP3 player?"

Roxy smirked and tossed Jetta her player. "Way ahead of you, I knew you'd love it. I use their albums when I bike ride. Really gets that adrenaline going."

Jetta put the small music device on the coffee table in front of herself. "Rox, is everythin' all right? I saw the look in your eyes when you were talkin' about Richard. You looked terrified of somethin'."

"It—it's nothing really." Roxy began to pace and looked over her shoulder. She looked back at Jetta and sat down where she remained quiet for a long time. Jetta waited patiently for her to speak. Roxy finally looked up and wiped the tears from her eyes. "I've never been so fucking scared in my life. I mean constantly scared. Trained assassins and shit I have no problem with, but what happened with," Roxy paused, not wanting to say the Soulweeper's name, "him has me so frightened."

"He's gone, luv. He can't hurt you anymore. Richard and Christine sealed him away in the gateway."

Roxy swallowed hard and looked up at her best friend. "I can hear him talking to me in the dark. I hear whispers saying he is the darkness. I know it's just my mind playing tricks on me." She looked down and whispered, "But what if it isn't? What if he can still influence us?"

Pulling Roxy into her arms, Jetta hugged and made comforting shushing sounds. "It is just your mind. We'll go visit Maeve and Phoebe and tell them about this. Maybe some of the other mages can help, too." She smiled when Roxy relaxed into her arms, obviously relieved to get help.

"I'm telling you, Dad, it's a weird feeling to actually see my family just about every day." Craig looked into the rearview mirror at his sister. "I really should have taken a break from the band a long time ago. I'm happy you decided to come with us to Six Flags. Aja is supposed to meet up with us around noon. It's a shame that Chip couldn't make it."

Stormer checked the messages on her phone for anything about Video's disappearance, and then looked up at her brother. "Oh, he's doing some work at the studio and helping with the search for Vivian there. The police won't do anything because there's no evidence that she's missing or something." She rolled her eyes. "Her car isn't in its spot either. So either she left and isn't answering phones. Or someone stole her car. I dunno. Just about everyone is searching. I-I just feel like I'd get in the way."

"Oh that's just bullshit, Mary." Max turned slightly in his seat and looked at the woman he considered his daughter. "You're very useful to all of your friends. I've heard them all praise you. Don't you have some third sense or some such thing?"

"Yeah, but it's not much help in a case like this. It only really works with people I'm close with and I'm not close at all with Vivian. We talk, but don't share secrets." Stormer played with a lock of her curly blue hair. "Maybe I should have stayed behind and helped."

Craig chuckled and smiled at his sister. "And miss our big family outing? Man, I just realized this is the first time we've done something as a family in over twenty years." Craig stopped talking and continued driving as the uncomfortable silence hung in the air. "I wish mom was with us."

Leaning forward Stormer wrapped her arms around the front seat and Max, giving him the best hug she could. Max put his hands on hers. "Even though you weren't there and I'm not actually your daughter, I think of you as my dad." She giggled against the seat. "I mean, you're the one who changed my diapers."

Max and Craig both let out a big laugh. "I've always seen you as my daughter, Mary." Max squeezed one of her hands as she sat back. "And I really miss your mother, but we have each other now." He smiled as Craig did. Watching the traffic go by, Max let out a little sigh. "Craig, it happened again last night. I had one of my blackout moments. I snapped out of it while I was opening my footlocker and pulling my pistol out. I might head to the Veteran's Assistance office and see what they can offer."

"That sounds like a good idea. I have to admit this does concern me. I know it was an experimental procedure, but the military should help you out." Craig glanced at his father out of the corner of his eye. "If you want, I can go with you."

"I'd like that, thanks, Craig." Max went back to looking out the window. He turned his head to hide his own worried look on his face.

Standing outside the Clashing VideoRats building, Clash studied the area of where Video's car was parked. She shook her head in frustration. "You'd think we'd have video cameras watching the entrance, but no, we said we'd get to it later." She leaned against the wall and looked up at David. "Have you had any luck with calling her?'

"No, it's just going straight to voice mail now." David slipped his phone back into his pocket. "I have Kyoko and Yukio helping with the search. Let's check on Techrat and Chip inside. Chip said he was going to ask the Autobots for some help. Maybe Teletran's Skyspy recorded something." He opened the door for Clash and turned around to take a quick look of where Video's car had been parked.

David caught up to Clash as they entered one of the offices. Techrat was sitting before a six monitor computer set up. Each monitor displayed a computer desktop screen. David was impressed with Techrat's skill with technology. Chip was on the other side of the room having a video conference with Spike Witwicky. "So what have you gotten so far, Techie?"

Techrat looked up at his girlfriend and pointed to each monitor and started to explain softly. "I've hacked into the servers of the cameras in the area, including the ones near the traffic lights." He turned and looked at David and smirked when he saw the disapproving face. "I'm covering my tracks. None of this can ever be tracked back to us." He turned back to the display before him. What I'm doing now is finding the files for last night. I just hope at least half of the cameras don't refresh every six hours."

"What do you mean by refresh?"

"Surveillance systems usually have a set time for when they record over previous data." Techrat pointed to one of the monitors for David. "This one here looks like it refreshes every eight hours. The video it records takes up hard drive space, so to save on drive space the system will record over it. Many security systems do that now. It used to record on video tape, so the six hour default is more common. However, with hard drives getting larger and more inexpensive, security companies have been recording for longer periods." Clash just shook her head at Techrat's lengthy explanation.

David watched Techrat work on the servers. He reached into his pocket and checked his phone out of habit. Video still hadn't called back. He looked up when he heard Techrat swear loudly. He was pretty sure he never heard the technical genius swear. "What happened?" He pointed at a monitor. "What's going there? Why did it turn black with a biohazard symbol?"

Clash and Techrat each started working on separate keyboards. They shouted computer jargon that David didn't understand. Clash finally answered him. "We're getting counter hacked and whoever this bag of shit is and they're sending us a plague virus." She looked at Techrat with her eyes wide and full of fear. "You did disconnect us from the mainframe, right?"

"Yes."

"Good." Clash crawled under the desk and yanked a wire from the wall. "I had to do it, Techie." She crawled out from under the desk and looked at the monitors. "Fuckery. It's Graphix again, huh?" The biohazard symbol flashed orange and green as the words Hacked By Graphix scrolled under it. She pointed at the monitor. "I really hate this guy."

Chip looked over his shoulder from the video conference "Hey guys, Spike was able pull up the Skyspy footage. It's not much, but hopefully it'll give us the break we need."

"Give me just a moment here. I'm linking the footage now." Spike looked off to the side at another screen. "Okay, here you go."

The monitor switched from Spike to a bird's eye view of the Clashing VideoRats building. The video quality good, but it was at a distance. The footage showed Video leaving and locking up the building, then getting approached by a person in a coat and hat. No one could make out their features. Clash let out a gasp when she saw Video get attacked from behind and put into a nearby unmarked van. They watched the van pull out of the alley and head south down the street. The van then made a right turn and up the freeway ramp. The footage ended there.

The monitor went blank then back to Spike. "That's all I could find in such a short time frame. I'll keep looking and let you know if I find anything. Good luck."

"Thanks, Spike. Any help is very much welcomed." Chip switched off the video link and sank in his chair. "The important thing is we now know what happened and what direction they were heading. I'm going pull up maps of the area."

"Good thinking." David turned to Techrat who was comforting the crying Clash. "Why don't you take her home? I'll call the search parties and help Chip out here." Techrat nodded and began to lead Clash out of the room. David stopped him for a moment and talked to Clash. "Get some sleep. You need your strength. We have things under control here."

Clash pulled away from Techrat and hugged David tight. "Thank you so much. Just please find her." David returned her embrace and let Techrat take her home. He turned and started helping Chip with the search after he called those looking for Video.

Video paced inside the cell that she woke up in. She estimated it was about three days since she was kidnapped. She never got a clear look at her captors since they wore transparent masks that distorted their features. They also wore vocal modulators so she couldn't tell who was speaking to her. She knew there were at least two captors, a man and a woman. They wore the same dark purple sweatshirts with the hoods up. There could be more for all she knew.

Looking at the food on the tray before her, Video picked up the hamburger and started eating slowly. She was given home cooked food regularly. Whoever had her knew how to cook and was careful in treating her right. Despite the care she was given, it scared her as to what they wanted of her. She took a sip of water as the door to the room her cell was in opened. It was the taller of her two masked captors.

"It's so nice to see you eating, Ms. Montgomery." Her kidnapper said with a pleased tone in his voice. He turned briefly to the open doorway and motioned. The shorter captor walked in and set up two laptops on a table near the cell. "Now I wanted to show you what your friends are up to. It's really nice to see them running around struggling to find you. They really do care about you, even if you're not as important to them, as say, a band member. That's a rare loyalty in friends you have found."

The laptops each featured a grid of separate video displays from various sources. From what Video could tell, they were from street cameras to webcams to security cameras in buildings. The people who kidnapped her were connected in many ways. She slowly swallowed her food and looked up at the kidnapper. "What do you want from me? Why are you doing this?"

Smiling at her questions under the mask, the woman kidnapper sat back in her chair. "We want your fear. We want you to fear us. We want your friends to fear us. You will be our messenger to them." She sat forward letting the chair make a loud thunk sound. "You're our messenger to your friends and the world. They don't understand who it is who controls things. It's us, the ones who see everyone and everything."

"Now, now, we don't want to spoil everything for our guest. I mean, I still want there to be surprises for her at the end of the day." He turned to leave the room and then turned back. "That is if there is an end of the day for you." He let out a small chuckle, but stopped when he saw Video look at him in fear. "Oh it was just a joke. We're not going to harm you. Well, not until we're told we can. Tell you what I'm going to leave the laptops here for you to watch. And if you're extra good I'll bring you some dessert."

The other captor just waved as she left the room, closing the door behind her. Video felt her hunger vanish as she watched the laptops, hoping that she'd get rescued soon.

The flashes from the softbox lights lit Stormer and Kimber up for the camera. They posed and smiled as the photographer directed them. James watched off to the side as the duo did their photoshoot for his Skylarker magazine. He glanced at the monitor as the photographer snapped each picture it loaded on his computer's hard drive. He'd already taken over two thousand photos of the two women.

"Okay, that's it, ladies." The photographer smiled and put the lens cap on his camera. "You both did great. I'll print out the proofs for you and have them sent to Misfits Music later tonight." He started packing up his equipment as his assistant handed Kimber and Stormer a robe. "Mr. Thomas, I'll have the set of proofs for you as well. I think we have enough for several pictorials."

"That's great news, Bruce. I look forward to seeing the final results." James turned back to the singers, who were toweling off and were all giggles. "You two are just naturals for the camera. Gwen, get these two young ladies a drink, they look thirsty." James' redhead assistant ran out of the room and returned with two bottled waters. He motioned for the women to follow him. "Now, the issue won't be out for a few months, but we can publish selected pictures online as a teaser if you'd like."

Stormer nodded when Kimber did. "That's fine with us, James, but right now I'd like to get dressed." Stormer blushed a little as she closed the front of the robe tightly. James chuckled and agreed. Kimber got up with her best friend. Together they entered the dressing room. Stormer slid her jeans on with her robe still tied around her waist. "Well, I had more fun than I thought I would have."

Kimber slipped her shirt on and smoothed it out a little. "I know! I'm so glad we did this and I can't wait to see the final product. Too bad Chip and Alan couldn't make it." She wiped the thick make up off her face and applied her own. She glanced at Stormer in mirror. "Any progress with finding Video? I know that Chip was able to get help from the Autobots."

"No, not yet. Clash filed a missing persons report the other day. David has been helping a lot with Yukio and Kyoko. Craig and my dad have also been helping out, which is nice." Stormer finished dressing and applying her own make up. "My dad was in the military as some kind of special ops specialist. So he's using that training to try and help. Who knows he might be the one to find her."

"Maybe I should try to get Cyndi to help out." Kimber put her sweatshirt on and headed for the dressing room door. "So, ready to go?" Tousling her hair in the mirror, Stormer turned and joined her best friend at the door. They exited together and had a brief talk with James before they left the building.

"… a power outage in the downtown Los Angeles area occurred last night. The outage only lasted about ten minutes, but knocked out street lights in the affected area. Stay tuned to KJEM as news breaks. Now back to the mu…" Pizzazz turned off the radio as she pulled up the parking garage for Misfits Music. She slowed down when she saw the police and emergency crew lights. She then saw the crowd standing in the street where it was blocked off.

Feeling a knot in her stomach Pizzazz found a parking spot and pulled in. Getting out of her car, she locked the car with her key fob out of habit. She waited for the light to signal she could cross and ran across in a light jog. She reached the crowd quickly and tried to get a clear look at what was in the middle of the road. It looked like a body from what she could tell, but couldn't make out who it was.

A break in the crowd allowed her to finally see the body on the ground. It was right in the middle of the street between Misfits Music and Starlight Music. Her heart jumped to her throat and turned into a lump. She knew who it was right away. Video's still body lay in the street with a DVD on its belly. There was a single bullet hole in the center of her forehead.

TO BE CONTINUED IN "A VIEW TO A KILL"

PART 2 OF THE HUMAN INSTRUMENT