Badasses Of the Multiverse Book 5: “The Gambling Man.”
Volume 2: “Total Badass.”
Lee's cover as the writer has finally been revealed to his pursuers.
Though, Lee has finally been able steal reality device, with him escaping into the multiverse.
And none to soon, as the small army of badasses after him were literally feet from capturing him.
And while the cancer Lee has is numbering his days, he is not out for the count.
For Lee has already began his plan to permanently lose those after him, in the multiverse.
Unfortunately, those after Lee realize where he is going, as Lee makes his way to a human colonized Mars, in the multiverse.
And Lee is going need every skill and lesson, he has learned, if he hopes to evade those after him.
With the question becoming. Now, that Lee has gotten his ass to Mars. Can Lee get his ass off of Mars, before those after him, capture him?
And for Lee to accomplish this, Lee is going to have to become a Total Badass.
Badasses Of the Multiverse Book 5: “The Gambling Man.”
Volume 2: “Total Badass.”
Chapter 01: “A Buffet Of Crow.”
By Paul Cousins.
Copyright Disclaimer: All copyrighted places, characters, items, and events, within the story, are held by their current owners. No profit is being made on this work of fiction.
(_)
Reality, Lee's reality. Place, De La Plata Podrido, Mexico. Devil Hotel's Parking, on the north side of the island. Time, right after dark, two minutes after Lee escaped into the multiverse.
Benny was driving her car, as Dutch sitting on the front passenger’s side, and Janet sat behind Dutch, in the backseat.
They were coming back from the Plata Podrido Police Station, where they found out their lead was correct, and that Lee was the writer, with Police Chief Pedro Del Soto being Lee's willing accomplice, in their con of the women's family and friends.
They were currently heading back to the Devil's Hotel to capture Lee, while informing their family and friends of their discovery.
Both Dutch and Benny could tell that Janet was growing impatient.
Janet muttered, “The worst part about all of this, is the waiting.”
Given all three of them had enhanced hearing, due to a super-soldier serum they were given decades before, Benny and Dutch heard every word Janet said.
Benny kept her eyes on the road, as she stated, “Don't worry. We are coming up to the hotel, right now. Very soon, that bastard is ours.”
As Benny turned into the parking lot of the Devil's Hotel and Resort, from the entrance opposite to the Devil's Hotel building, what they saw in the parking lot was... Unexpected.
From the outside lights of the building, and parking lamp lights, along with their enhanced vision, they could clearly making out their family and friends, on the other side of the parking lot, from them.
They saw that their family and friends were standing together, facing towards the road, with looks of surprised and anger reflecting on their facing.
Benny slowed down her car, as she approached them, directly on the lane she was heading down. As she did so, as she asked, “What happen?”
Janet has moved to set in the middle of the backseat. She was looking between the two front seats, to the front window. Janet guessed, with more concern, than worry in her tone of voice, “From the look on their faces, I think Lee escaped.”
Dutch agreed, “That is possible. And if that is the case, from their expressions, it looks like each of them had a plate from a buffet of crow.”
Benny commented, “That is very likely.”
Janet said, “With Lee serving it.”
Dutch took a closer looked at the scowls of rage on several of the women standing in the parking lot, she asked, with concern in her tone of voice, “While I do not mind making commanding decisions. Taking into account the seriousness of the situation, I would like both of your opinions on the matter. Given how violent some of our friends and family can be, do you think it is wise to approach them?”
Benny suggested, “We will find Rock, and let her do the talking.”
Janet replied, “I agree. That would be the safest approach to take. Considering we want Lee, just as much as they do.”
Dutch stated, “Great idea. I think I even see her up front.”
Janet complimented, “And that is why I married you, Benny.”
Benny smiled, as she responded, “Thank you, dear.”
Benny then quickly found a parking play, near their family and friends.
Benny then put the car in park, turned off the ignition, pulled out the key, and pocket it.
After which, the three women swiftly got out of their car, and they walked briskly to the group of eighteen women, from their front.
A few seconds later, as they reached the group of women, they saw Rock was in front of the others.
With Rock having a calmer expression on her face than many of the women present.
As the three newcomers came to a stop, ten feet from the other women, Dutch turned to Rock, as she inquired, “What is going on here, Rock?”
Rock turned to Dutch, with a look of disbelief, and embarrassment, on her face. She answered, in a disappointed tone of voice, “Lee is the writer, and we had just confronted him. We then watched as he escaped into the multiverse, with my reality device.”
Benny questioned, in a disbelieving tone of voice, “How the hell did he get your reality device, Rock?”
Rock defended, “I only had it out on the bar counter for matter of seconds. And in that time, as a distraction, Lee had convinced Sam to walk up to Revy and I, and cop a feel from both of us. And his plan worked. As we beat on Sam, Lee walked beside me, and took the reality device.”
Dutch stated, “Given Lee's ideas in his stories, and the plans I have seen him pull off first hand, that little stunt has his fingerprints all over it.”
Rock said, “I know. And in the confusion that followed, I didn't realize I had lost my own reality device.”
Rock mentally berated herself, 'Especially, since I made such a big to do, towards everyone else, on keeping up with our reality devices, not to let them out of our sight, and not to lose them... I am such a hypocrite. Though, Lee is going to pay for this. It is just going to take a little more time to find him. But, at least we now know it is him. And that is something. All Lee has done is delay the inevitable.'
Benny guessed, “You figured out Lee was the writer, and you were so anxious to catch him, that you forgot that you left out your reality device.”
Rock admitted, in a bitter tone of voice, “Yes.” She then inquired, in a slightly calmer tone of voice, “And how did you find out Lee is the writer?”
Dutch said, “Our lead at the police station panned out.”
Rock replied, “Good. And we need some good news.”
Janet thought, 'And we may have another lead.' She inquired, “And that it is. So, is Sam still alive?”
Rock answered, “Miraculously. Yes. He is still breathing. We didn't beat him up that badly. Considering, after several seconds of doing so, I realized it was him. And I stopped hitting him. And I got Revy to stop hitting him.”
Dutch asked, “Where is he now?”
Rock said, “He is in the bar, right now. And we left him conscious. Though, he is in not shape to go anywhere.”
Janet responded, “Good. We have someone to question, after the girls calm down.”
Dutch looked over at the large group of women, then back at Rock, as she asked, with concern in her voice, “So, what is the current mental states of the women here?”
Rock stated, “Half of them are shocked that we were outwitted by someone most of us thought was a fool. And the other half are too angry to speak, or think clearly, at being denied their vengeance.”
Dutch question, “Which way is Revy?”
Rock looked over at Revy. She then turned back to Dutch, as she answered, “It is a toss up.”
Benny suggested, “Let's give them a few more minutes to calm down.”
Rock agreed, “That would be a good idea.”
Rock thought, 'It is too bad that Lee stole the our reality device, that had tracking abilities to it. Which is ironic. Though, I doubt Lee realizes that specific device can do that. It probably barely even knows how to work a reality device. So, we have the going for us.'
'Also, while the reality device has a homing device on it. We turned it off, so some of our other more dangerous friends would not accidentally come looking for us, and ruin our hunt.'
'Though, I believe that Dutch brought a tracking device. So, we still might be able to catch him. Yet, it would be best for everyone to calm down, before we do anything else.
The four women silently turned to look at the other women. They patiently waiting as the rest of the group worked out their frustration at the having victory snatched from them.
About a minute later, Mikoto, and the rest of the younger members of the group were the first ones to speak.
Mikoto commented, “Well, that man does know to make an exit.”
Nodoka agreed, “You got that right.”
Rebecca asked, “Lee knew who we were, since before the night we confront him with our weapons, at the Rats Nest. Yet, he was polite, and did not show any fear. How is that possible?”
Sarah commented, “Perhaps, beforehand, he made peace with his mortality.”
Kristina said, “That is possible. And his display of civility, and manners likely helped him, a lot.”
Yurika pointed out, “Well, it looks like we are going to have to go after him.”
Molly commented, “It is going to be so much fun going after him. Want to do the standard bet?”
Yurika replied, “Nah. Let's just find him.”
Molly said, “Agreed.”
Yukio commented, “At least this time, we know what to expect?”
Rebecca asked, “Which is?”
Yukio cracked a grin, as she joked, “The unexpected.”
A number of the other young women, giggled a little from Yukio's joke, which swiftly put them in a better mood.
Meanwhile, Sawyer had been one of the women that was more surprised with Lee getting away. In truth, she was not so much upset at losing Lee, but amazed that Lee was about to pull off such a daring in front of all of them, including herself.
Sawyer thought, 'Now, that I think about my experiences with Lee. I get the feeling that he thinks I am cute. And I won't admit to my friends here, but I am kind of happy that he got away. Given everything I have gained from his writings, I hold not anger towards him. I only came along on this hunt to meet the writer, which I have done, to support my friends, and to make sure my friends don't go overboard on their vengeance... And in all honesty, I am trying not to laugh at this current situation.'
Meanwhile, inside Violin's mind, Violin had calmed down enough, that she start to notice the mental laughter inside her soul. As she continued to hear the mental laughter, she quickly realized who it was, as she thought, 'Harvey, why are you laughing?'
Harvey happily answered, in thought, while still chuckling, 'I will tell you later, Violin. But damn, does Lee know how to leave in style.'
Next to Violin, Aeryn also calmed down. And she noticed her spouse's facial expression. She whisper to Violin, “Harvey?”
Violin turned to Aeryn, as she softly replied, “Yea.”
Nearby, Natsuru commented, “I cannot believe Lee pulled a Keyser Soze escape, right in front of us. And right after Revy called him on it.”
Akira stated, “The man excels at the impossible. Just look at the situation he is in.”
Natsuru replied, “I know.”
Ranma commented, “I cannot believe Lee successfully used that old large glasses and hat gag on us, to prevent us from realizing he was Mister Dance, for so long. I use to pull that stunt. I should have known better. And I should have called him on it, earlier. We might have caught him, if we did.”
Ranma thought, 'Though, to be honest. I am just annoyed that I lost, on principle. I am not that upset at losing Lee. He has always been nice to use.' She turned to look at Natsuru, Akira, and their three daughters, as she continued her thoughts, 'And I owe him a lot, for what he has given to me...' She said her family turn to look at her, as she mentally reflected, 'To us.'
Meanwhile, Shenhua thought, 'I cannot believe Lee got away. Fortunately, I have an ace of my own.' She turned to Lotton, as she asked, “Lotton, you are one of the most savvy women I know. Where would Lee go?”
Lotton turned to Shenhua, as she answered, “Shenhua. Thank you, for the compliment. But, Lee is likely more savvy than I am. All I can say is that wherever he went is likely not his final destination. It is just the next link, in a long chain, that would lead to his complete escape from us.”
Shenhua replied, “I appreciate your answer, Lotton.” She mentally grumbled, 'Damn.'
Revy finally found her voice, as she inquired, “One thing I do not understand is what would set Lee off to check of the hotel so quickly? He was clearly packed, and on his way out, before he stole Rock's of the reality devices.”
Lotton pointed out, “We already had that conversation.”
Revy sheepishly admitted, “I wasn't paying attention.”
Shenhua stated, “One track mind, Revy.”
Revy barked, “You better pray that does not become a nickname!”
Shenhua warned, “Don't tempt me.”
Rock spoke up, with a firm tone of voice, “Ladies. Focus on the matter at hand. Save the violence for Lee.”
Both Revy and Shenhua backed down, as the looked over at Rock.
Dutch agreed, “That would be a good idea. And to answer your question, Revy. We also found out the reason, a few minutes ago. That reason being the Lovelace maids are in town. And I would guess that Lee found out.”
Revy agreed, “That would do it.”
Rock stated, “And as I said before. That would also explain the singing confession he tried to do. Let us be honest. With full knowledge about us and the maids. Whom would you prefer to turn yourself over to? Us? Or, the maids?”
Revy, Benny, Dutch, and Janet replied, in unison, “Us.”
Benny commented, “Though, it would be one hell of a gamble. That while what we would do to him would be survivable. Then, that we would not turn him over to the maids. When we were finished with him. But, being a gambler, I could him see rolling the dice on that bet.”
Suddenly, everyone watched a recognizable food truck pulled up into the parking lot, and soon park near the group.
The group of women watched the trucks two front doors opened. Eda got out of the driver's seat, and Yolanda exited the front passenger seat.
As the two blond women walked up to the group, while still wearing their casual work clothing, they looked at the other women.
Yolanda and Eda came to a stop, a ten feet from the other women. They calmly looked at the women, as Yolanda calmly stated, “I take it. from the looks on your faces. That you know that Lee is the writer. And that Lee has already escaped.”
Revy replied, in an annoyed tone of voice, “Yea. And yes. You literally just missed him. He stole Rock's reality device, and jumped realities, right before we had him.”
Eda cracked smile, as she said, “You got to admit, that man's sense of timing is incredible. I guess being a pre-cog has its perks.”
Rock inquired, “I guess so. Now, what caused you two to run down here in such a hurry? And how did you figure out Lee is the writer?”
Eda explained, “We just talked to Roberta, and Fabiola. We all figured out the writer was Lee, at the same time. We wanted to get here, to prevent, a bloodbath. Lee may have screwed us, but he doesn't deserve whatever the maids have planned for him.”
Dutch snickered, as she stated, “You would know. Still, you may have a point. I wouldn't wish the maids against my worst enemy. Which Lee currently is. I am just embarrassed that the maids figured out that Lee was the writer, only hours after entering the city.”
Rock turned to face Dutch, as she stated, in an even tone of voice, “Embarrassing for you? You weren't here from the beginning. Lee suckered us. And we didn't even see it. We are suppose to be brilliant, cunning, and genre savvy. And Lee was able to trick us for months on end.”
Revy thought for a few seconds. She then commented, “Well, Chang might have figured it out. But, if so, there is no way to prove it.”
Natsuru was listening to the conversation, as she realized, in thought, 'Oh man. That mess Lee was talking to be about, by the hotel pool, the night after the poker game, was us. It figures. I cannot really hate him. He knew he was screwed then. And he knew he could not ask for my help, without tipping me off that he was the writer. And he knew that would put me in a bind. That is why he stopped me from telling him about reality travel.'
'Honestly, I was on the verge of telling Lee about the multiverse, against Rock's orders, and Lee must have guessed that. Also, since Lee is the writer, I am starting to think that the writer is less a scumbag, and more an idiot, like the rest of us.'
'Though, I doubt anyone here will listen to me. But, I will talk to Ranma and Akira about this tonight. When we are alone.'
'Still, I can help in other ways. Such as this discussion.'
Natsuru spoke up, “Don't feel bad about it, guys. Since Lee had to show so many of his secrets. Except that big one. At his poker game with River. And anyone that just came onto the scene would likely start to see that the wheels were already starting to come off of Lee's long con. I spoke to him, a few nights ago. And it sounded like even he realized that.”
Yolanda inquired, “Still, the most important question, concerning the maids, is whom here was fool enough to contact them about Lee, and his stories?”
Sawyer turned to Yolanda, as she confessed, in a solemn, sober tone of voice, “That is my fault.”
Yolanda turned to Sawyer, as she scolded Sawyer, in a very mother superior fashion, “Little one, do you realize that if things had gone differently, the maids might have torn this city apart looking for Lee? That many people would have died, and it would have caused unwanted attention to be draw towards us, by the rest of the world.”
“This planet has a fully functioning internet, and video cellphone, systems. And the maids rampaging across the city, in their uniforms, with their faces, hair colors, and hair styles, would likely be recorded. With those videos being released onto this internet, and going viral, across the world wide web, within hours.”
“From my time spent on this world, I realized that the people of this world are many things, but they are not idiots... Well, most of the are not... And I am sure you have realized this, as well. They will put two and two together, and realize the maids are the same maids from the Black Lagoon series. Then, the real shit hit the fan for all of us. Both us, and the population of this planet.”
“When those on this planet realize that multiverse travel, and world as myth, are both real.”
Rock listened to Yolanda, as she thought, 'Sometimes we forget that when it comes to the alumni of Roanapur, that Yolanda is up there with Balalaika, and Chang, in terms of authority, and being a badass. But, unlike the other two, Yolanda is more discreet about such matters.'
Sawyer looked down in shame, as she answered, in a meek tone of voice, “Yes. I now realize my mistake. I'm sorry. I mentioned, and sent a copy of the stories to Roberta without thinking. It happens. At least, the worst case scenario did not happen.”
Though, Yolanda still had a firm expression on her face, she agreed, in a more calm, and polite manner, “True. And I am glad you learned your lesson.” She then looked at the rest of the group, with a calm expression, on her face, as she requested, “So, is there anything that we can salvage this situation. Or, has Lee disappeared on us for good?”
Yolanda thought, 'While, I hope Lee gets away. It is wise to keep these women focused, and now allow them to vent out their frustrations on innocent people.'
Rock stated, “Well, we do have Lee's friend, Sam. So, we might be able to get some answers. I got a feeling that Sam may have known that Lee was the writer, for a while.”
Yolanda said, “Good. There is at least, that.” She thought, 'And I will make sure that Sam does not suffer to much, for clearly being a loyal friend to Lee.'
Eda requested, “I would like to ask that man some questions, as well.” She thought, 'Though, ask. In a manner that requires no pain be brought to anyone.'
Revy smirked, as she stated, “Who doesn't. And at least we have someone, deserving, to take our anger out on.”
Yolanda remained calm, as she turned to look at Revy.
Rock said, “Well, come on. We better get this started.” She then turned towards the hotel, started walking passed the other women, and back towards the lobby entrance to the Devil's Hotel.
Most of the other women began to follow Rock.
Meanwhile, Dutch thought, 'I can see where the is going. I think it would be wise to get something from the car, and catch up with them.'
Dutch then ran back to the car that she, Benny, and Janet, had just used. She used her personal keys to unlock the trunk of the car, and she pull out a small item in her left hand. She then used her right hand to shut, and lock the back of the car. After which, she used her right hand to pocket her keys.
Afterward, while Dutch carried something in both her hands, to make sure she did not drop it, as she turned and walked briskly, to catch up with the other women. She caught up with the women, right as they all started making their way into the entryway of the front lobby of the Devil Hotel.
As Dutch caught up with the group, she saw that Benny and Janet were bringing up the rear of the group
Benny and Janet turned to see Dutch join them.
They saw what was in Dutch's hands, as Benny complimented, “Good idea, Dutch.”
Dutch replied, “Thanks. Someone had to get one of these things. And the sooner we use this thing, the better.”
Janet agreed, “You are right about that. Now, let us find this bastard.”
The three women then turned, and joined their family, and friends, inside the Devil's Hotel.
(_)
Around that time, across town, on the south side of the island, inside Daiyu Casino, in Chang's penthouse office, he sat behind his desk, in his nice, personal chair, as he had a meeting with his chief of security, Malcolm Reynolds, whom was sitting in a chair in front of Chang's desk, to Chang's right side. With the chair to Chang's left, across the desk, from himself, being empty.
Both of them were male. Chang was in his usual black suit, coat, and his light shade of black side-gusset dress shoe loafers. Though, given it was nighttime, he did not have on his sunglasses, which were in an interior coat pocket, on his person.
Malcolm was in his black suit, with black dress shoes.
Both men were armed. Malcolm with a semi-automatic pistol, in a should holster, under his left armpit. While Chang had his two semi-automatic pistols, in their belt holsters, beside each other, on his lower back, at his waistline.
Malcolm Reynolds had scheduled this meeting on short notice, and Chang allowed it do to the fact that Mal would not want to meet with him so quickly, on something, unless it was important.
Chang had just met with Mal, at his office, with Mal shutting the office door, to the hallway, behind them, as they had seated themselves.
Chang thought, 'This set up has turned out better than I had hoped. While I have my operation back to the same level it was in Roanapur. I don't have any superiors to deal with. And my organization is filled with competent people. My only concern is that River likes to disappear at random. But, I will figure out what is going on with her, soon enough. Besides, I have more important concerns to worry about.'
Chang focused on Mal, and he saw Mal looking back at him, with Mal having a calm expression on his face.
Chang requested, in english, “So Mal, what is it that you wanted to speak to me about, on such short notice?”
Mal said, in english, “Well, I just learned that half the police force, including Police Chief Del Soto, have left town, an hour ago, for some reason. Though, my team and I have yet to find out why.”
Chang stated, “That is interesting. Pedro knows who we are. From what I understand, he has for some time. Everything I have learned about him states he is a badass in his own right. And he has known for a while what was going on.”
Chang mentally reflected, 'It is best I do not mention to Mal that Lee is the writer. If for any other reason, than the fact I would be admitting that I knew that Lee was the writer, and I had yet to tell him. With him realizing that I likely knew for at least the few days. Since after Lee's poker game with River.'
Chang continued, “Pedro did not run when Revy and her crew showed up. Nor, did he run when we showed up.”
Mal responded, “I know. That is what concerns me. Also, another concern is how many of his officers know about us, as well?”
Chang stated, “I would say the half that left know about us. And whatever, or whomever it was, it must have seriously scared them, to want to leave in a hurry.”
Mal asked, “The questions are, who spooked them? And is this person a threat to us?”
Suddenly, there was a knock at the door.
Mal turned in his chair, to face the door, as Chang looked towards the door, across the room from his desk.
Chang inquired, in english, “Who is it?”
On the other side of the door, a woman's voice said, in english, with a chinese accent, “Mister Chang, I know you wish not to be disturbed, but I believe that this is an exception, considering who is here to see you.”
Chang ordered, “Then, let them in.”
One of Chang's female subordinates, in a black suit, open the door. She then let Roberta and Fabiola into the room. With the women, in black and white maids uniforms, walked into the room. With women coming to a stop, a few feet inside the room, as they faced Chang and Mal.
Mal stated, “At least we now have our answer as to who scared them.”
Chang kept his eyes on the maids, as he agreed, “Yes. These two ladies would do it.”
Chang then looked over at his subordinate, as he complimented, “You did the right thing to bring them to me. I will let you know if we need you.”
The woman simply nodded in response. She then shut the door behind her. Next, she turned, and briskly walked down the hallway, to get away from the two terrors she had to escorted to her employer.
Inside Chang's office, Fabiola remained silent, as Roberta flatly greeted them, in english, “Hello Chang. Hello Mal.”
Chang calmly said, “Hello Roberta. Hello Fabiola.”
Mal casually replied, “Hi girls.”
Roberta said, “Chang, I heard you went back in business, and started a casino again. I did not realize it was here. Once I learned that this casino was named Daiyu, and whom else was here, I realized it had to be you.”
Chang commented, “Yes. It is obvious. And well, the location was good, and the prices were right.”
Roberta replied, “After walking around this town, I would agree that this city is a good fit for you.”
Chang inquired, “Thank you. So, what can I do for you ladies?”
Roberta stated, “We have just come to town, and we believe that we know who the writer is.”
Fabiola spoke up, in english, “He is the man named, Lee.”
Chang thought, with more annoyance, than worry, 'Oh no. Talk about dropping a grenade in a crowded pool. I think Pedro may have had the right idea.'
Chang remained calm, while Mal's jaw dropped.
As Mal composed himself, he stated, “Lee is the writer? I was less than a foot from him, at one point. I even shook his right hand at one point.”
Roberta commented, “Yes. Lee is clearly a slippery one. He lost us at the Rat Nest, before we realized who he was.”
Chang asked, “Is the Rats Nest still in one piece?” He mentally lamented, 'Knowing them and bars, I doubt it.'
Roberta answered, “No. But, the bartender left before the fireworks. So, she would be alive.”
Chang thought, 'Sometimes, I hate being right. But, at least that cute bartender is alive.' He replied, “That is nice.”
Roberta pointed out, “And given your calm expression, Chang, you clearly knew that Lee was the writer, before I said it.”
Chang smirked, as he commented, “Guilty, as charged.” He thought, 'Well, it looks like I am going to have to tell Mal, and the others, likely earlier than I had planned too.'
Mal turned around to face Chang, as he said, “You knew?”
Chang turned to Mal. He shrugged, as he stated, “I was wondering how to tell you, Mal. I did not want you to kill him, just yet.”
Mal relaxed, as he replied, “Okay.”
Chang thought, “Well, he took the news much better than I had hoped he would. I hope the others take the news just as well.'
Chang then looked over as the maids, as he continued his thoughts, 'Though, I still need to deal with these two more immediate problems.'
Chang said, “But, I am not going to cross you two. So, I take you it that you two ladies want to head to the Devil's Hotel?”
Roberta warned, “Yes. And, as you believe, it would be wise not to cross us.”
Chang stated, “I will have a limo escort you over to the hotel.” He thought, 'And my having a car, and not a limo take you two. That will help put you both in a better mood, towards me.'
Fabiola stated, “No tricks. Eda already lied, and gave us directions here.”
Chang commented, “Really? You might find this interesting to know. I do not have all the details, yet. Because I wasn't here at the time. But, from what I understand, Eda and Lee has a one night stand.”
The maids looked at each other for a few seconds, then back at Chang and Mal.
Fabiola said, “That is interesting.”
Chang pulled out his cellphone, and opened it with his hands, as he looked over at the two maids. He calmly offered, “Ladies, make yourself comfortable. I want you both happy, while you are here. I will have a limo ready for you, within a few minutes.”
Roberta responded. “As long as you get us to that hotel, as soon as possible, we will be happy with you.”
Chang replied, “That ladies, is what I intend to do.”
Chang looked down at his cellphone. He dialed the hotel extension phone for his casino's limo service, into his cellphone, as he thought, 'I will cannot handle handle both the maids, and Mal, at the same time, over Lee. I am just going to have to let the maids go after Lee. While I work on a different angle with helping, Lee. Which requires me to figure a way to placate the maids, Revy and her crew, Mal and likely Spike. The last two should not be that much of a problem, since they work for me. The rest, on the other hand, will be a problem. But, a problem I have dealt with before.'
'Also, it is a good guess that once the maids get to the Devil's Hotel, they will inform the others that Lee is the writer. If they do not already know. Given Eda gave the maids wrong directions, she and Yolanda likely already headed to the Devil's Hotel, to help Lee. And they will likely spill the beans to Revy, Rock, and the others, that Lee is the writer.'
'I would not be surprised if both of them have no developed a soft spot for Lee. Yolanda, for what Lee gave back to her. And Eda, for the way Lee has treated her. Even at River's poker game, Lee comments on Eda were polite. And those two supporting Lee will only help me with my long term plan. Because, they have the ears of many of those within Revy's group, and even the maids may listen to them, with time.'
'And I do not have to worry about Lee not knowing about the maids. Given Pedro was warned of the maids. That mean someone warned him. And that could only be Lee. So, Lee knows about the maids, and he has probably already escaped the Devil's Hotel, and this island, before Eda even reached the Devil's Hotel.'
'Roberta did say that Lee gave them the slip once. So, he already know the maids were in town.'
'And given Lee's skills. As long as he is a moving target, he buys me time to help him, in the long run.'
'Still, I wonder why the maids are after Lee? Lee, nor myself, did anything horrible to them. The only questionable things he did was to Garcia... That gender bending curse... Yes. That would send them on the warpath.'
'Though, this may still be a salvageable situation. Given my offer to Lee. I will just have to think on this for a while, as I hope Lee can stay one step ahead of everyone. And given Lee skills, that he has shown so far, he does have a good chance in doing so. He escaped the maids once, and he has a head start, which will buy us both more time.'
'Perhaps, I should ask River for help, on this problem, the next time I see her. She has been a good sounding board, for the last few days, as we have been trying to iron out our plan, to bring Lee into the fold. By saving his life, getting the other off his back, and giving him a job. We just have not exactly figured out how to do that, yet.'
'But, for right now, I just need the maids away from here, so I can further plan what my next moves are going to be on this matter. And I already have a few ideas on what I am going to do next. But, I will think on them, in a little while. Once, the maids are on the other side of the island, and I do not have to worry about them causing me trouble.'
Chang then held his cellphone up to right ear, as he heard the other end of the line picked.
Next, Chang began to make arrangements to get a limo ready, to take Roberta and Fabiola from his casino, across the town, to the Devil's Hotel, and thus getting him, his personnel, his customers, and his casino, out of the line of fire.'
(_)
At that moment, inside the Devil's Hotel restaurant, by the outside of the bar counter, facing the right wall, River was still male, in his disguise, as Sam. With hims still in his male, casual clothing and black cowboy boots. Though, River did not have on his fake beard, which he had in her right side pants pocket.
River was in a sitting position, on the floor, as he leaned his back against the bar counter wall, between to stools, while he collected himself. His groin was still sore from the blow to that region of the body, which Revy had given him, for daring to cope a feel of both Revy and Rock.
And to be honest, River felt herself fortunate that was the only really painful injury he had received, from the beating that Revy and Rock gave her, for her stupid act, which allowed Lee to steal Rock's reality device, and hopefully escape into the multiverse, before anyone else realized what had happened.'
It was then, that River heard foot steps coming into the room, from the restaurant entrance, to his right side.
River looked up, and over to her right, to see the group of badass women walk back into the bar. River did a quick mental scan of them to find that Lee was not there, and that he had indeed escape into the multiverse.
River happily thought, 'At least Lee escaped. And into the multiverse. And in Lee doing so, it made the pounding I got, worth it. Still, except for the soreness in the groin, I am over the pounding. And none of the women coming towards me, know that myself, as River, and my fake identity as Sam, in my male form, are one in the same.'
'And I never really showed these women my male form. The subject just did not come up. The only people that would recognize my male form, are my brother, and my friends from the Serenity, including Chang.'
'I lucked out, that with my fake beard, I was able to fool Chang, as to who I was. On the few times I had to meet Chang, as Sam, in both of Chang's genders.'
'And this is why I avoided the casino, as Sam.'
'Still, they are likely going to want answers from me, in very harsh ways. And if I want to avoid some more pain, injury, and possibly death, I better show them that who really am.'
'Fortunately, I have long since learned to sneeze on command. Though, I need to wait for the proper time to do this.'
River, and everyone else in the bar, heard Revy order, in a direct, flat, no nonsense tone of voice, in english, “Everyone out. Now.”
Melvin, and the other people still in the bar, took one looked the large group of women walking into the bar, whom clearly were in no mood for questions, and they quickly go up, and walked around the women, to exit the restaurant.
(_)
From behind the bar counter, Melvin stood, as he looked at the women whom just came into the bar. He thought, 'It looks like Lee was able to escape. There is no other reason the girls would be this pissed off. Still, that is to be expected. And I am happy Lee escaped. Though, it is best that I discreetly get my gun, and leave.'
'And given the situation, I settle up with the customers later. Paying the bills is not worth our lives.'
'I will check back here, in two to three hours. To see if the girls have left. If they have left, I will clear up, then. If they are still here, I will wait until morning, to come back and clean up.'
Given Melvin wanted to make sure none of the women even saw him with a gun, and risk an unneeded confrontation. Melvin decided that rather than walking over and pulling out his gun, from its holster, under the bar counter. And then tucking it in his shirt. He instead pulled out a small, cardboard wine box, that was on a shelf, under the counter, near a small trash can, which had a plastic bag in it.
The box was for a bottle of wine he had brought to a pair of customers, at a nearby table, a few minutes ago.
Melvin placed the wine box under the bar counter, by where he had his semi-automatic pistol was holstered. He then stealthy pulled out his pistol from under the counter, and he placed the firearm in a wine box. The hammer of his firearm was half-cocked, so it would not fire. After he was sure the pistol was secured, he closed the wine box, and he carried the box, with him, out from around the front exit to the bar counter, passed the women and out of the restaurant.
(_)
Meanwhile, on the other side of the counter, near where Melvin had been, River was about to start to get up, Revy turned, and pointed at River, with her right hand and extended right index finger.
Revy stated, “You stay. Now, get up, walk over there, and sit in that chair.”
Revy pointed at a nearby chair, in the center of the room, which, in the commotion, had been set away from the table it had come from, with the chair facing the front doors, and the women whom were not interested in River, in a bad way.
Revy then dropped her right hand to her side.
River mentally reflected, 'Well, I guess I was right. It looks like I am going to have to pay the piper on this. Though, it could be worse. And this just means I will have to implement my plans. At the proper time.'
River got up, and walked over to the chair Revy ordered him to go sit in, and he sat down in it. As River did so, he faced the door, and the standing women by the double-doors of the entrance.
A minute later, after the room fully cleared out, save for River, and Revy's crew, women then walked around, in a semi-circle around River, in a direction where they were looking River, in his face.
Some of the women pulled out chairs, from nearby tables. Turning the chairs around to face River, as they sat in them. Other women sat in chairs around the tables, as they faced River. A few even walked to the nearby bar counter, on the left side of the room, here they sat on the stools by the bar counter, or stood, and leaned their back against the bar counter, while the faced River.
Among those at the bar, Dutch sat in a stool, a few feet from the rest of the group at the bar counter. While the others had their attention focused on River, Dutch was working on a tablet like device. She had pulled the tablet device from her car. The device scanned for, and tracked, reality traveling.
While, Dutch listened on the conversation next to her, she worked on the tablet device, as she silently thought, 'Someone had to do the work around here, while the rest of the girls play.'
(_)
Back in the center of the room, River outwardly remained calm, as he looked around the room, at the women staring back at him. Though, when he heard Dutch's thoughts, he inwardly laughed.
By then, Revy walked up to River. Revy stood six feet from River, as she looked own at River's face, while she smirked.
In response, River silently looked up at Revy's face.
Revy continued to smirk, as she said, “Now Sam. You are going to tell us everything about Lee, and yourself.”
River thought, 'Now, would be the proper time.' He shrugged, as he replied, “Well, if that is what you want, Revy. I might as well start with the big secrets, first.”
River made himself sneeze, and instantly changed into a much smaller, very recognizable, woman.
Nearly all the women exclaimed, in unison, “River?!”
River looked around the group, as she chirped, “Surprise.” She then used her hands to swiftly tightened her belt a few notches, around her now smaller waistline. She also leaned down, and retied her boot laces tighter. When she was finished, she leaned back up in her cushioned chair.
Benny asked, “Wait a minute. How can you and Sam be the same person? We saw you both at the same time at the talent contest.”
River replied, “Time travel.”
Benny inquired, “Oh. And since you, as Sam was upset, with you as River. I am guessing that Sam was your past version, and you as River was the future version in that situation.”
River confirmed, as she said, “Correct. While I was Sam, as the judge for the contest, I was annoyed that my future self would crash that party, with Chang. Whom did not know what was going on. I was not planning to do that, at the time. I was worried that my future self would blow my cover as Sam. And my future self would not tell me what was going on, telepathically, until after the contest.”
Benny said, “Now, that I think about it. You almost did blow your own cover, then.”
River replied, “I know. I made mistakes during this whom adventure.”
Benny commented, “Okay. I guess that makes sense, in our crazy life.”
River held back a giggle, as she thought, 'You don't know how crazy it is.'
Janet had been paying attention to the conversation. She asked, “River, that is one of the least of your mistakes, during your time here. Still, I want to know, why did you time travel, into your recent past, and crash the talent contest, in the first place?”
River coyly answered, “I had very important reasons in doing so. We will likely cover those reasons, in a few minutes.” She thought, 'It is because, that was when I learned Lee is dying of cancer. And informing you of Lee's cancer, at this point, might earn him some points towards mercy, from some of you.'
Janet replied, “Fine.”
Meanwhile, Revy had to spent several seconds silent, as she fought to keep herself calm enough to speak, after learning that River had tricked them all, and aided Lee in escaping.
By then, Revy was finally able speak in a manner, that was not laden with curse words. She inquired, with barely control angry, more towards herself for being tricked, than towards River, “River. Of all the damn people we know, that could pull a stunt like this. It had to be you. How long have you been at this?”
River calmly said, “Since before you got here. I have been implementing my plans before Lee even crossed the Mexican-U.S. border. And during that time, I got to know, Lee. He really is a nice guy.”
Janet inquired, “Be that as it may. How long has Lee known that you, and Sam, were the same person?”
River commented, “Not until very recently. I revealed who I was, with an intentional sneeze, right after we ditched the maids, late this afternoon.”
Violin spoke up, “That makes sense, considering anyone could tell that Lee was scared to be near you, as a woman, during the poker game.”
River conceded, “Yes. I regret that I could not tell Lee the truth, at that time.”
Benny inquired, “Given how meticulous Lee clearly is, with his planning, and actions. How did he take the news of your real identity?”
River answered, “He honestly took the news a lot better than I expected he would.”
Akira inquired, “Did he laugh? Or cry?”
River admitted, “He laughed, because he did not feel like crying.”
Akira commented, “Well, he took the news better than I would have.”
Aeryn pointed out, “Considering you stated that Chang did not know that you and Sam, were not the same person, during the talent contest. Am I correct in assuming that Chang continues to not know that you and Sam are the same person?”
River answered, “Yes. Chang does not. I did this on my own.”
Kristina stated, “Chang is going to be pissed when he learns that you let Lee win that poker game, and lost him a million dollars.”
River said, “No. Lee won that game, fair and square. With Chang likely making more money, on the back end, with Lee winning, than if I had won.” She thought, 'Actually, I know for a fact, from reading Chang's mind. And talking to him, after the poker game, that Chang did make more money with Lee winning. Not that I am going to tell any of you, and risk putting you into worse moods. Though, I need to remind you.'
River commented, “Besides, neither of us wanted to be in that game in the first place.”
River looked over at Revy, as she continued, “And we are still both annoyed with you, Revy, and Chang, over that. That is one of the reasons I let Lee talk me into copping a feel of yours and Rock's asses, Revy.”
Ranma snorted, as she said, “And we thought you were crazy before.”
Nodoka commented, “After doing something like that, I am surprise you are still alive.”
River said, “Honesty. So, am I.”
River thought, 'Though, I dodged, or leaned out away from most of their more dangerous blows, without you realizing it. Though, there is something you all need to know, on that matter.'
River stated, “And for those whom have not experienced it. Getting hit in the groin, as a man, does hurt as bad as men say. For women, it is not as bad, but close. Women just don't have the lasting soreness afterward that men do from being hit in that place. And don't change back into a woman, after having that happen. The pain, and soreness, just moves, and enlarges, if you do.”
River placed her right hand over her lower stomach, as she grimaced in pain, for a few seconds.
Rock stated, “It still serves you right for doing that to us.”
River responded, “I am not going to argue that point.”
Rebecca asked, “What about your beard? When you were, Sam?”
River commented, “It is completely fake. I have it in my pocket. I saw no point in wearing it, once Lee knew who I was. Besides, it sometimes gets itchy when I wear it. Still, the beard even fooled, Lee. And it is very hard thing to fool Lee. As Benny stated, Lee is meticulous. He was watchful of every little detail. I guess it comes with being a writer.”
“I figured, since he wrote it so that gender bending prevents beard growth, which I am happy about. Almost as much as no longer having to deal with monthly periods.”
Ranma interrupted, “Speak for yourself.”
River said, “Point taken. Anyway, I figured that wearing a full fake beard, the same color as my dyed red hair, would be a blind spot for Lee. And I was correct.”
Molly asked, “Everyone has a blind spot. So, why did you do all this in the first place?”
River responded, “The same reason, as for almost all my actions. Curiosity. I am a super-genius whom is not a villain. Though, I date one. It is very hard for me to find something that keeps my interest for very long. But, doing this, and being with Lee, has kept my interest for the last few months. That is a rarity for someone like me.”
Yolanda inquired, “What was it about Lee that kept you interested?”
River stated, “Well, as I said. Lee is a nice guy. He makes for a great, loyal friend. But, another thing is his precognitive skills. Since his ability is almost completely instinctual, I could not read his mind when he used it, while playing cards.”
“This made for an interesting situation, when playing cards with Lee, while he used is precognitive abilities. Which he was up front about, when he was doing so. And there was no cheating on his part.”
“Though, even with my intelligence and telepathy, when he used his precognition, I was the one with the disadvantage at the card table. And I do love a challenge. Especially, when the person challenging me is so polite when playing me. And when that person is being honest and open about using such abilities.”
River thought, 'I loved helping Lee develop his... Or more actually, her precognition, and bringing out her true potential. Lee and I, are both, deep enough in the hole, as is. I should never mention that Lee is a male to female transsexual to these women. They likely would not understand.'
Yukio joked, “Damn. You two really do need to get a room. Speaking of which, are you going to dump Chang for Lee?”
As meticulous as River was being, as well. Yukio's comment caught River off guard. As such, River swiftly stated, “No. I like Chang too much. He has kept my interest for years.”
Yukio thought, 'But, how much do you like, Lee?' She noticed River staring at her, and obviously reading her mind. She continued her thoughts, 'Don't worry, I will keep your secret. Besides, I admire Lee for what he did for my sisters, and I. For our second chances at life. And good lives at that. We owe him big. And we really don't want to see him hurt.'
River cracked a smile towards Yukio for a few seconds. She then looked away from Yukio, towards the rest of the group.
Benny inquired, “River, it is becoming clear that your plan was to capture Lee, and inform us. So, at what point were you going to tell us that Lee was the writer?”
River said, “When I had Lee where I wanted him. I was real close to getting him to surrender to me. I was planning to both help him, while negotiate some form of redress of grievances for you, against Lee.” She mentally added, 'Though, Chang was working on an even better deal for Lee. And when I learned of this plan, by reading Lee's mind, I made my plan, plan B. So, I was really buying time, and help Chang with his plan. But, I am not going to tell any of you that.'
Revy looked at Rock. Rock noticed the slightly confused look on Revy's face. She explained, “River was working towards having Lee turn himself over to her, and let us have our revenge, but not as much as we likely planned.”
Revy did not reply, as she turned back to face River.
River stated, “Then, the maids came to town, and my plans blew up in my face. Though, Lee still trusts me. And I look forward to seeing him again.”
Revy said, “After this stunt, we are not letting you anywhere near Lee.”
River could sense most of the women agreed with Revy's sentiments.
River thought, 'Oh well. I can help Lee in other ways.'
Janet realized, as she accused, “Wait a minute, River. You can read minds, and you have been with Lee for this entire time.”
River thought, 'There is no point in denying the obvious. Still, they are not going to get what they want from me, that easily.'
River admitted, “Yes. I read Lee's mind. But, do not think for a second that I am going to tell any of you about his deepest, darkest secrets. If I started doing that, you women would have to kill me, out of paranoia, to keep such secrets you have, from getting out.”
Revy smirked, as she stated, “Who said you had a choice in the matter?”
River returned Revy's smirk, as she responded, in a direct, and straightforward tone of voice, “Revy, I have been tortured by the best. I am one of the few people here that can honestly say that I likely had a more painful time as a teenager, than you did. And you are all amateurs. Even Sawyer here. Compared to the professional torture technicians that worked on me for extended periods of time, as a teenager. You are not going to get me to spill any of my secrets, about anything.”
Akira spoke up, “River is right. You will not break her.”
River mentioned, “Besides, if all of you tried to gang up on me, I can take down around half of you in a fight, before you would finally put me down, for the count.”
Revy slumped her shoulders slightly in defeat, as she conceded, “Fine. But, what will you tell us about, Lee?”
River's smile turned more genuine, as she answered, “Plenty. I guess you could say that I am about to present his defense for him, for his impromptu trial.”
Janet joked, “Well, you are going to have to put on one hell of a defense for this jury of the damned.”
River lips curled into a mischievous grin, as she stated, “I plan to.”
Revy warned, “Speaking of mind reading, you better not be reading our minds.”
River deadpanned, “Revy, there is not much for me to read about your mind, that I would find interesting. Except for some interesting sexual positions you know about. And honestly, I am not that much of an ass fan, myself. As either a woman, nor a man.”
Revy suddenly blushed beat red, as several of the women in the group started laughing, for a few seconds.
Though, River remained silent, as she thought, 'Though, while you mind is boring, Revy. The persona of your previous life, as Jack Sparrow, is a very fascinating mind to read. And while I realize we had to seal you memories of Jack, Revy. I do regret I did not get a chance to spend more time with Jack.'
'Revy and Jack, are like day and night. And I know deep down Revy, that you admire and like Lee, as a person. Because, Jack did. And at the end of the day, you are both the same person. Though, you both look at life in different ways. It is just at your ego and control issues, will not let you admit how you truly feel about Lee.'
'And while it is tempting to tell you all about Jack Sparrow, and how Revy is the incarnation of him. As a way to deflect attention from myself and Lee. It is to risky. And I do not know the ramifications of how the situation will play out, from you all learning such information. Especially, you, Revy.'
As everyone calmed down, River commented, “Now, to the defense. To start with, the most tragic part about all of this is that Lee really is a nice guy. Okay, he lied to all of us. Given his situation, he had to. But, he was always polite to us. Surely, you can take that into account when you finally catch him? But, he does not deserve to suffer like many of you want him too.”
Rock stated, “River, you have gotten too close to Lee. Though, I think you misjudged us.” She mentally added, 'I hope.' She continued, “When we catch him. And we will. We will have Annie scan his mind, and from what we find, we will decide how to deal with him. He will suffer, but not as much as some of us would like.”
River looked at Rock, as she responded, in a kind tone of voice, “I appreciate that, Rock. But, you need to know, I have read Lee's mind for months. He is arguably as messed up in the head as the rest of us. I think one of the reasons he wrote what he wrote, was to try to keep himself sane.” She thought, 'Which is likely true.'
Revy stated, “Even so, there still needs to be a reckoning for his actions.”
River responded, “You are right, Revy. I am not arguing that point. Even Lee mentally admits that some sort of recompense needs to be done. Still, given what I also read in Lee's mind, I do not think Lee was in full control of himself when he wrote those stories. I think someone was pulling his strings, just as he was pulling our strings. Like a muse, or something.”
Akira commented, “That is possible. And if that is the case, we may need to layoff on his revenge. But, we will do something to him.”
River pointed out, “Just try to remember that Lee is a human being who unknowingly put himself, and us, into some very bad situations. The way he thinks, and talks, he clearly realizes how badly he screwed up. And he would like to make it up to you. But, he has no idea how to approach you without you all likely turning him to shreds.”
Shenhua shrugged, as she said, “I will give you that point.”
Janet asked, “What I do not get is why Lee did not just find a hole to crawl into, under a rock, and hide from us?”
River thought, 'Now, to mention Lee's cancer.'
River stated, in a sober tone of voice, “Because Lee is dying of cancer. In this world, the type of cancer he has is terminal. Even with treatment, he has two to five years. And he didn't have the money for the medical treatments. So he had only six months, or less, to live. With around four months already spent. His whole plan was getting a reality device, and finding a cure for his cancer, somewhere in the multiverse. Escaping revenge was a side benefit.”
Benny replied, “That explains a lot.”
Lotton snorted, as she commented, “Good luck to him. Considering the way he wrote book three made finding a cure for cancer, for B, very, very difficult. With the price of being cured, being B's manhood.”
River conceded, “Lee has long since realized how screwed he made himself by writing that about B.”
There was some minor snickering in the room, among some of the women. But, nothing else came of River's concession.
Ranma asked, “So, Lee has only a few months to live?”
River answered, “Yes. A few months. Maybe less.”
Rock commented, “That works for us.”
Shenhua grumbled, as she pointed out, “Only if we can find him.”
Janet stated, “We can track still him down. He is not that smart. Also, with his cancer problem, we can blackmail him into surrendering. It would be ironic if Lee was put through the vat process, himself.”
River could see grins begin to show on the faces of a number of the women.
While not showing it on the outside, River inwardly smiled, as she thought, 'Actually, that was Chang's offer for Lee. And given Lee is a male to female transsexual, Lee was more than willing to take Chang up on his offer. But, if I told you that, that would just mean you will find another way to have your revenge on her. Because, you would realize that Lee would welcome being changed into a fully functioning woman.'
River agreed, “Yes. I know that both Lee, and I, would admit that it would be poetic. Yet, Lee is a lot more intelligent than you all give him credit for. He knowingly faked playing the fool, for the most part. Except for when he played me at the casino. That is when he brought out his A game, to the forefront. He has become an expert at manipulating people.”
Rock said, “I will admit that he is good a manipulating people. But, he doesn't know everything.”
River smiled mischievously, as she responded, “But, Lee can come pretty close to the truth, with his guesses. Or, you would have caught him by now. Want play a little guessing game, Rock?”
Rock replied, “Sure.”
River commented, “Lee believed that hawaiian shirt that Revy bought you, at the beginning of your series, which was never shown, was a blue color t-shirt, with small pink and green leaves on the front of it. And in front of the leaves in a lighter blue, than the shirt background, is a left fist, with the back of the fist facing forward. With the middle finger extending in, giving the bird, fashion. And there are letter on the chest area of the shirt, across the upper part of the hand, and the fingers, that reads. Fuck you. And you kept you shirt, hung on the wall. Which facing the shirt, it was to the right of your chest of drawers, which you kept a small TV on. The shirt was across from your bed, in the corner. With you window to the right side of your bed. And the window was at a ninty degree angle from your window. Am I correct?”
Rock demanded, “How the hell did you both know that?”
River answered, “First. It was not from me reading your mind. It was Lee who figured that out. He pulled that information from other information, from a picture at the beginnings of the of the Boys and Girls omake. There was a similar shirt located in the exact same place, in your female counterpart's bedroom, by your chest of drawers and TV.”
“Only this t-shirt had a more feminine color scheme of have a pink background, blue and green leaves, a light pink left fist, and dark pink lettering. Given gender reversal between her and your realty, Lee guessed the shirt color scheme was reversed in your reality, to have a more masculine looking shirt.”
Dutch said, “Not bad.”
Yolanda commented, “My. Lee does have an eye for the details.”
Violin stated, “If that is the case. I now understand why you never wore that shirt, Rock.”
Revy said, “Rock, I still say that shirt would look good on you, whether you are male or female.”
Rock shrugged, as she replied, “That shirt was just too loud for my tastes.”
There was some light laughter, from the other women, that lasted for a few seconds.
River thought, 'Now, to further my point about Lee. If I can get them to realize how dangerous Lee now is. They might back off on finding her. Giving me time to find her, first.'
River looked around the room, as she focused on one of the women present. River continued her thoughts, 'And to further my plan. I know just the person to talk about.'
As the laughed died down, River pointed out, “Lee skills of deduction go far beyond just shirts.” River looked over at Eda, as she stated, “Take for example you, Eda.”
Eda looked over at River, as she inquired, with confusion evident in her voice, “Me? River?”
River commented, “Yes. You. From what I read in Lee's mind, he had a theory on your past. Let us see how close it is to the truth. He took the name on your cheerleader uniform, Sanditea, from the Viva Youth omake clip, and he looked into that name, on the internet. And what Lee found was interesting.”
Revy spoke up, “Now, that was a funny omake.”
Rock stated, “I lived in it, as a dream, and even I will admit that it was funny.”
Revy stated, “And Eda, you did look cute in that cheerleader uniform.”
Eda replied, “Thank you, Revy.”
Revy commented, “After seeing that, I regret not inviting you to Akira's dual deflowering.”
Meanwhile, Akira began blush.
Eda said, “I am glad you realize that. I have occasionally wondered why Lee did not include me in that little scene.”
River stated, in a firm, even tone of voice, “Because even Lee's imagination has limits. First, he did not find cheerleader outfits, nor school girl uniforms, to be sexy. It is too close to pedophilia for his tastes. Lee loathes pedophilia, and similar concepts.”
River noticed that Rebecca and Yukio smiled at River's comments.
River thought, 'I am not surprised that you two would support Lee on such matters.' She then focused her attention back towards Eda, as she continued her thoughts, 'Now, back to the matter at hand.'
River said, “Though, Lee did understand that such uniforms could be used for comedy. Just not sexuality.”
Violin commented, “Perhaps we should be happy about that.”
Lotton said, “I agree.”
River went onto say, “I think we can all agree on that point. Also, keep in mind, Lee never actually wrote the scene for that night, at the Jackpot, in Roanapur. Lee wrote the scene leading up to that pansexual experience for Akira, hosted by Revy, Sawyer, Shenhua.”
Sawyer cracked a smile, as she remember the event. She muttered, “Good times.” She mentally added, 'I thank Lee for that one.'
River heard Shenhua's thoughts, as she mentally lamented, 'I am not touched those thoughts, with a ten foot pole.'
River commented, “And Lee wrote the aftermath scenes.”
Janet recalled what she read of book one of Lee's stories. And she realized that River was right. She stated, “So, basically what the girls did that night, was all their doing? On their own?”
River answered, with a bit of hesitation in her voice, “Yes. Except for a few events, that Lee listed afterward, to answer some minor questions. Which is kinda of scary, though intriguing, considering what I read the thoughts, concerning that night, from the four minds of those involved in the event.”
Revy smirked, as she stated, “And I am very proud of what we did that night. I think we would have won gold medals in the sexual Olympics, with some of the things we pulled off doing that night. If such a contest existed in our reality. Which it doesn't. I checked.”
Shenhua and Sawyer giggled for a few seconds.
Janet turned to Akira, as she stated, “I am surprised that you were sane afterward such an experience.”
Akira looked over at Janet, as she admitted, “Actually, soon after those events, I lost a good chuck of my sanity. Remember, Lee turned me into a bad girl, for a while there. Though, that night did work on my sanity some.”
Natsuru pulled her left hand around Akira's right shoulder, as she said, “But, we were able bring you back to your senses, and sanity.”
Ranma stated, “Yes. Sexual therapy is a real thing.”
There were some snickers and giggling in the room, from overhearing Akira, Natsuru, and Ranma.
Akira looked around the group of women, as she conceded, “Though, it was not that bad. It was just a lot to take in at once. Like jumping into the deep in of the sex scene, without first testing the waters, in the shallow end.”
Violin said, “During my second childhood, in japan, when I first learned about the multiverse, and I actually tracked down your series, Akira. I have agree with Lee. You did build up a lot of bad karma in you own series, before Lee got his hands on you.”
Akira deadpanned, “I know. I feel what Lee did to me in book one, had me work off all that karma.”
Violin said, “I would agree with that.”
Benny turned to Dutch, as she commented, “Back to the Viva Youth omake. Dutch, you never did show us what you looked like as a boy.
Dutch looked up from her tablet, and over at Benny, as she smirked. She said, “And I never will.”
Benny shrugged, as she replied, “Have it your way.” Benny turned back to look at the rest of the group.
Dutch turned back to look at the tracking device she was working on, as she thought, 'The reason I don't tell you is because, as a child, I rivaled Boris, in the pretty boy department. Though, even I was floored when I saw what B looked like as a boy, compared to when I knew him in Roanapur.'
'Also, I do not even want to think about what Lee would have done, if he knew that about myself. And I have no intentions of getting any ribbing for being a pretty boy, from the others here, at this point in my life. Several decades after my own childhood ended.'
'Though, I am glad I have been able to keep that secret from everyone... Oh no...' She looked at River, whom was looking back at her, with a smile on her lips. Dutch mentally requested, 'River, I sometimes forget you are a telepath. Even given the circumstances, we find ourselves in. Could you please keep this to yourself.'
River continued to look at Dutch, as she stated, “Don't worry about it.” River thought, 'The others know better than to ask, Dutch, nor I, about what I was just commenting on. And I need to get back to talking about Eda. If I hope for my plan to work.'
River then turned to look at the crowd, as she continued her explanation, “Anyway, back to Lee's theories on Eda's past.”
River turned to Eda, as she went onto say, “Eda, you are a woman who has spun a web of lies. At one point, you even claimed that your hometown was, Langley, Virginia. Though, I agree with Lee in that was you were likely saying that, as a joke, to screw with Russell's head, for being an asshole, right before you bullet through his head.”
Eda stated, “Yea. I enjoyed killing him for being an asshole that could not keep his big mouth shut.”
River responded, “That is neither here, nor there. But, with one genuine clue, the name from your cheerleader shirt. Lee believed he was able to cut through the lies, nail down your place of origin, and find out the truth about your past.”
Revy smirked, as she said, “This should be good.”
Eda commented, “I doubt any single clue could allow Lee to know my past. I don't even think about my past. So, I know you have never learned about my past, from my thoughts.”
River stated, “You are right about that, Eda. Which makes me stating this, all the more juicier for me.”
“The clue Lee figured out your past from, was the, Sanditea, word on cheerleader uniform, from the Viva Youth omake clip.”
“By using the internet, Lee was able to find a similar name to, Sanditea. He tracked the similar name to some high school sports teams, from the same school. Such as baseball, softball, and american football. The name being, Sandite. He figured the “a” at the end of, Sanditea, was just the feminine version of the name. The rest of was logical.”
“Lee built a profile of Eda, using that high school as the starting point, and with Roanapur being the ending point. And he began to fill in the gaps. Which, once he figured out where you were from, became surprisingly easy.”
“Lee theorizes that you were raised, and maybe born, in Sand Springs, Oklahoma. A suburb of city of Tulsa, Oklahoma. Where you were a cheerleader, at the high school, of that town, during your teenage years. With this helping you maintain you physical shape. After you graduated high school, you enrolled at the University of Tulsa, to study law.”
“You likely minored in languages. Spanish, for obvious reasons. Given the changing demographics of the U.S. population. But also, you likely studied chinese. Considering, at the time, China had the largest population pools in the world. Though, you could have studied hindu. Because, during that time period, India had the second largest population pool. Having a background in either of those two languages would have contributed to your later assignment to Thailand. Considering Thailand is between India and China.”
“Still, I will get to your assignment to Roanapur, later.”
“You likely joined the Delta Sigma Theta sorority, given the organization leans towards having its members support, and be a part of, public service.”
“Sometime, either when you were still studying law in college, or you had just graduated, the government noticed your grades, saw you were also studying languages. They did some digging into your background, and they decide to recruit you.”
“This is because you fit the profile they wanted. A young, healthy, athletically fit, polite. Or, at least you knew your manners. Intelligent, U.S. citizen. Whom has never been in trouble with the law. Whom has very good social and leadership skills, from your high school cheerleader days. Whom, due to joining Delta Sigma Theta, was interested in public service. And whom also has a background knowledge of the law.”
“The government agents that recruited you likely considered you to be perfect military officer material.”
“Given the tattoo on your right arm. The blue cross and shield, with green thorns rising from the sides of the cross, and the shield. In the U.S. government structure, blue is most associated with the U.S. Navy.”
“You were likely offered a scholarship to attended the Naval Academy at Annapolis, Maryland. You accepted, and you transferred to Annapolis, where you finished your schooling.”
“Though, you likely had to retake a number of classes, because the course credits were not transferable. Still, you graduated an officer in the U.S. Navy. And during your schooling, when you were still in Tulsa, you realized that the real power is not on the battlefield, but behind the scenes, in the board rooms.”
“Right before, and after graduation, from Annapolis, you did your best to make sure you were transferred to the bureaucratic side of the U.S. Navy, where your legal knowledge would be best put to use.”
“This is probably the time where you learned your bureaucratic and back channel skills. With this knowledge serving you well, later on.”
“Lee also figured this out, that from your weapon of choice, your Glock, that at some point, you were transferred from the U.S. Navy, to NATO. This is because Glock pistols are issued to officers in NATO. You probably refined your diplomatic skills while serving in NATO. And you likely successes caught the interest of the U.S. intelligence branches.”
“So, you were eventually shuffled around again, to one of the U.S. intelligence branches. Given that Langley, Virginia joke, and your dislike for the drug enforcement administration, and national security agency, most of the Black Lagoon fans, including Lee, guessed you were an agent for the central intelligence agency.”
“From a flashback in the Black Lagoon series, dealing with Russell, one of your early assignments for that agency was a diplomatic function in D.C., with senators, of political leaders, and business men. The assignment was located inside a french restaurant, the Fontainebleau. This is where Russell saw you with a Senator Jack Bonham.”
“You did not have your shades on during that meeting. And from Lee's thoughts, I have to agree. That when you want to, Eda. You can dress like a lady.”
“For example, at that meeting, you were wearing a naval blue suit, with blue cloth jacket, formal blue short skirt that went to just above your knee, a long sleeved formal white blouse, and pale violet leg stockings. Also, you had on a golden bracelet on your right wrist, a choker necklace that was strung with large white pearls, and gold earrings, with large red rubies inside the earring loops. Along with this, your long blond hair being tied into a hairdo, at the upper back of your head, with a few strands being allow to drop long the sides of your face.”
All that Eda could muster to say was, “Thank you.”
Eda thought, with slightly relief, 'I am so happy that Lee can keep a secret. Because I believe River when she said that she pulled this information from Lee's mind without his permission. This means that I do not have to kill Lee that next time I see him. The only reason I killed Russell was that he couldn't keep his damn mouth shut, when I told him to do so.'
'If Russell had just shut up, when I warned him to, I would have not killed him. Instead, I would have convinced Revy, Dutch, and the others, to ransom his ass back to the Florida mafia, which he belonged to. And that ransom payout would have just been another layer of icing on the cake of that entire mission.'
'Though, I now realize that even killing Russel, to keep my secret, did not work out in the long run, because that entire event was shown in that series. Still, on more personal matters, I count Lee as friend, even though River here is airing out my dirty laundry.'
Eda then saw River crack a smile. Eda thought, with slight annoyance, 'Yea River. I know you are reading my mind. But, that doesn't mean you should be a smug bitch about this situation. Just be happy I know I cannot take you in a fight. And I blame you. Not Lee. For spilling all the beans about my life, to those here. Also, I know there is nothing I can do about this information getting out, now.'
River responded, “You're welcome. Thank you. And I wouldn't worry about it. You are among friends.”
There was a little confusion among the crowd a River's comments. While Rock thought, 'River must read Eda's thoughts. And she then verbally replied to Eda's thoughts.'
River ignored the confusion, as she went onto say, “To continue. Eda, you were at that meeting to discuss the support of some treaty called NAFTA. And you were concerned about nations that were part of the EAEC, and a few among the OAS, being against NAFTA.”
“Given the EAEC stands for, East Asia Economic Caucus. Even then, you were gaining experience in dealing with U.S. businesses, and Eastern Asia politics.”
“Also, the OAS stood for Organization of American States, which is a group composed of nations in both North and South America.”
“This was likely one of the factors that eventually got you assigned as the liaison between Yolanda and the U.S. government, at the ripoff church.”
“And this type of meeting was more inclined with internal politics, and not NATO. So, you were likely with that agency, then.”
“Also, the discussions of that NAFTA treaty, and the existence of the EAEC, puts the time of when you had that meeting, and also time you joined that agency, to be around the late nineteen eighties.”
“So, not counting what other missions you had, it is clear that you had quite the exciting career, before coming to Roanapur.”
“And the rest is history.”
There was dead silence in the hotel restaurant, as everyone turned to Eda and they saw that Eda had slowly paled more and more as River continued talking. Meaning that everything River has said was true.
Revy broke the silence, by turning to Eda, as she teased, “So, you were a Navy woman, Eda?”
Eda sighed. She then turned to Revy, as she responded, “And you are a pirate, Revy. Or, were. At this point, I am not really sure. Though, even I will admit that is fits the motif of our lives.”
Revy shrugged, as she agreed, “True.”
Natsuru commented, “Oh my. Lee is like a real life Sherlock Holmes. Though, I would not compare him to Professor James Moriarty, because I believe Lee is genuinely nice. And from his writings, and what we personally know of him, he does value the lives of other people.”
River commented, “As I said before, he is a nice guy.”
Ranma stated, “No wonder he showed us those Sherlock Holmes movies. Given what River is telling us, Lee is working at even higher level that we realized.”
River chirped, “The levels that Lee has are like a staircase.”
Rock turned to Ranma, as she asked, “What films?”
Akira answered for her lovers, “We already told you about the films. Along with that screwy Tropic Thunder movie we watched with Lee. We also watched to newer Sherlock Holmes movies, starting Robert Downey Junior, as a badass Sherlock Holmes. And Jude Law playing a nearly equally badass Doctor John Watson.”
Dutch looked up from her tablet, as she asked, “How badass?”
Ranma stated, “Some of the things the characters pulled in that movie impressed even me. And keep in mind who I am. And damn, that version of Sherlock knew how to think on his feet, during a fight.”
Dutch commented, “We will have to schedule a movie night for those movies.”
River requested, “If you don't mind. I would like to join you. Lee loved watching those movies. And I wanted to see what they are all about.”
Dutch turned to River, as she stated, “Sure. I don't mind. We are after Lee. No you.” She then looked back at her computer tablet.
River replied, “Thank you.”
As this went on, Eda thought, 'Lee knew so much about me, from so little information. Dear lord, if this is how his mind works, I am so happy that he prefers to run, instead of stand and fight. This guy could probably present a legitimate danger towards us.'
River turned to Eda, as she said, “You got that right.”
Eda then looked at River, as she thought, 'River, I am starting to see why you admire, Lee. That man can play at so many different levels at once. He would have made a wonderful spy. I am going to have to stick around with this posse, to make sure they don't accidentally kill Lee, when we do finally capture him.'
Eda saw River crack a smile, as she simply nodded once, in agreement.
Eda thought, 'Still, I need to know if Lee knows more about me. And this might be my only chance to find out.' She then forced herself to verbally ask, “I didn't realize Lee knew that much about me. Is there more?”
River answered, “Oh, yes. Given studies publish for the time, and the fact you were a cheerleader, he estimated you lost your virginity, was between the ages of twelve and fourteen. Also, I am sad to say, that at the time, Lee did not like your personality. Though after you slept with him, and he got to know you more as a person, his opinion of you went way up.”
Eda commented, “That is nice. So, dare I ask why he did not like me?”
River stated, “You may not like it. But, you do have some glaring character flaws. Like all of us. And I guess being characters, we would have character flaws.”
There were a few groans from the crowd of women.
River said, “I apologize for the pun. Still, Eda, you likely never grew out of the queen bee high school personality, you likely had as a teenager. Because of this, you possibly had an overinflated ego. This is backed up by your choice of clothing. When you were not dressed as a nun, you wore clothing that made you look like a teenage girl trying to get laid.”
There was some snickering among the crowd of people.
Eda ignored the snickering, as she requested, “Go on.”
River stated, “Given your outgoing personality, and choice of dress, against the more conservative clothing your assignment required you to wear, for you undercover job, it is likely you did not choose your assignment.”
“If Russell's flashback gives any indications, your previous assignments were to spy on people in a formal setting. But, given your outgoing personality, you likely slept with someone you shouldn't have. And you were sent to Roanapur, by your superiors, due to your indiscretions.”
Revy snorted, as she commented, “Lee knows you well, Eda. I guess he nailed you in more than one way.”
Eda pointed out, “Well, my ego has long since deflated. But, I am still hot. We slept together. Why didn't he include more of me in his stories. Not that I am complaining.”
River admitted, “Yes. You are a hot, sexy woman. That is the case. And yes, you both did. But, hotness is not that much of a factor in fiction in text form. Keep in mind, he figured out all that, and he was at the time, not interested in you.” She looked out, among the crowd, as she continued, “Imagine the type of profiles Lee has in his head on those of you he is interested in.”
River voice gained a hint of embarrassment, as she continued, “Still, the profile he has of me is not very flattering, either. He clearly prefers objectivity, over thinking below his waistline. As a writer, that is a good trait to have. But, as a person, it really is not.”
Janet commented, “No wonder our feminine charms did not work on him.”
Shenhua said, “I never thought I would ever meet a man that would not at least think a little below his waist.”
Eda confirmed, “Well, Lee did. He enjoyed the sex with me. But, I get the feeling he enjoy our dinner conversation more than the sex.”
Janet shrugged, as she commented, “Some people are that way.”
Akira spoke up, “Actually, right after we saw the Tron Legacy movie, as we were all leaving the theater, Lee whispered to me that he found sanity attractive in a woman.”
Rock stated, “Lee said something similar to me.”
Revy stated, “No wonder he did not try to come on to us. Beside knowing better. We are not his type.”
River thought, 'I don't think Lee even knows what her type is. I believe that Lee is mistaken. It is not so much insanity that she finds a turn off, but violent people are a turn off for her. Which, I don't blame her for.'
'I realized this half an hour, after I revealed my identity to her. It occurred to me that she still likes me as a person. Even though she knows I used to be really insane. But, she has no problems with being my friend, because I am not really a violent person, by nature. Still, I have to get these women to understand something they missed in my explanation.'
River then held up her right index finger, as she stated, “You are all missing the major point here. One word. One word was all Lee needed to track down all that information. And Lee knows a lot more about everyone here, including myself, than one word.”
“Lee has even learned how to use a single word to shift the situation to his advantage. Such as the whole, Tex-Mex ordeal. And he came up, and implemented, that plan in under thirty seconds. Watching that man work up a plan is like watching Rock or Violin here do the same thing. He comes from the same type of genre savvy.”
River then moved both her hands to her lap.
Rock asked, “If Lee is that savvy, then he was likely pretending to be someone else in front of us. So, the question becomes, who is the real Lee? The fool we lived with, here at the hotel? Or, the gambler that you played at the casino?”
River answered, “Neither. Lee is a natural chameleon. He watches people and imitates their mannerisms, that he thinks best fits the given situation for himself. But, he is untrained. So, he makes mistakes. Still, as I said before. Lee really did beat me at cards, that night, at the casino. I was not expecting him to tell so many jokes. Though, because of all of this. As much as I do not want to say this. Lee may have no real personality of his own.”
Akira spoke up, in a sad tone of voiced, “Actually, Lee does have a personality. A very, very dark personality.”
River looked at Akira, as she sternly asked, “What do you know of Lee?”
Ranma, and Natsuru looked way from River, as Akira looked at her. Akira answered, “After we first came here. After the Rats Nest massacre, and that chase through town, in the GTO. We three decided we wanted to play a prank on Lee. We just thought he was some polite guy, and we wanted to see what made him tick. We noticed that he did not drink much. As such, we can up with as idea that we would invite him to drinks at the hotel bar here, late at night.”
“So, right before the bar closed, with only him, us, and the bartender, when Lee went to the restroom, we spiked his drink with a Mickey Finn. After he consumed some of the drug, it got him real drunk, really quick.”
“We were expecting him to just breakdown, and cry. Instead... He had a psychotic episode.”
“Think on par of one of us, on a bad day situation. And even then, he was emotionally holding himself back. In that state of mind he was in, he clearly wanted to hurt us, but he still able to barely able to keep himself under control. And he wasn't keep himself in control for his own sake, but for our sake.”
River stated, “I do not remember reading Lee's mind about the incident. Nor, from your three minds.” She thought, 'And Melvin likely didn't think about it. Because it must have been really bad. And he knew mentioning it after the fact would only cause trouble for everyone.'
Akira responded, “Lee likely didn't remember the incident. And we didn't like to think about it, let along talk about. We felt very guilty about what we did.”
River replied, “Fine. Now, let me read your mind over the event.”
Akira said, “Okay.” She then started thinking over that night's events.
(_)
Meanwhile, in the Devil's Hotel lobby, the two clerks at the check in desk, saw two women walk into the lobby, from the front entrance.
They also notice that the music in the lobby had suddenly changed.
The two clerk instantly recognized the new music track, from a movie both of them enjoyed watching, years ago. Still, they also realized that musical track would only start playing due to the newcomers being extremely dangerous.
For as the clerks wisely ducked under their desk counter, the lobby speakers continued playing the musical track, Battle Without Honor Or Humanity, from the Kill Bill Volume One soundtrack.
(_)
In the front of the hotel lobby, right in front of the lobby doors, from the entryway, Fabiola stood to Roberta's right side.
Fabiola turned to Roberta, as she inquired, in spanish, “Where do we go from here?”
Roberta turned to Fabiola, as she answered, in spanish, “We will start with the hotel bar. Sawyer stated, in her e-mails, that it is this way.”
Roberta then turned to their left, as they headed for the hotel restaurant and bar.
(_)
Back in the hotel restaurant, several seconds later, River had finished looking into Akira's mind, concerning the night that Lee had a psychotic break.
River looked down at the floor, as she quietly said, “Lee's mental masks are so well made. I had no idea he was that messed up.” She then looked up at the group, as she stated, “More so, than I previously stated, earlier.”
Revy question, “Given how polite Lee is, how messed up could he be?”
River pointed out, “You are forgetting that his manners are another mask to him. If what I am reading from Akira's mind is correct. Underneath Lee's masks, he is sadomasochistic sociopath. Remove his masks. and he is likely as dangerous as you are, Revy, during one of your Whitman Fever incidents.”
River's comment caught everyone's attention.
River went onto say, as she looked around the crowd, “Though, I can also state that, except for the lies, his general day to day actions, and acts of kindness, are genuine.”
River then looked over at Revy, as she continued, “He clearly tries to be something besides what life made him into. Though, I am not one to judge, on such matters.”
Rock spoke up, “Who of us is?”
No one present dared to touch that question.
Yolanda stated, “Still, if someone got a hold Lee, he could be dangerous.”
A new voice, coming from the restaurant entrance, bluntly stated, in english, “Then, we will find him, first.”
Everyone turned to face the newcomers. Whom they saw visibly scared half the group, and set the other half of the group on edge
At the entrance they saw Roberta and Fabiola standing in their maid outfits. With Roberta standing to Fabiola's left side.
While Roberta showed off her slasher smile, she continued her statement, in a cold merciless tone of voice, “We will capture him. We will break him. And finally, when there is nothing left but agony. We will end him.”
River sternly responded, “You will not lay a finger on Lee.”
Roberta focused on River, as she coldly said, “Ah, but little girl, you are going to help me.”
As Roberta and Fabiola began walking towards the group. Specifically River, Revy and Rock, whom stood up from her seat, immediately stepped between them, and River, while facing Roberta.
Roberta and Fabiola then came to a stop, ten feet from the group. Sixteen feet from River.
Revy stated, “Stand down, Roberta. River is off limits. If you harm her, you will have to answer to her lover, Chang, her family, the Serenity crew, and her friends, the Lowe family. And those groups working together could take you in a fight, and make your life a living hell.”
Revy then turned to River, as she stated, “But, Lee is fair game.”
River remained silent towards the rest of those present.
The two maids remained where the stood, as they both thought over Revy's warning.
Natsuru whispered to Akira, “This could be bad.”
Akira quietly responded, “I agree. As much as I would like to see Roberta and River go at it. To see which of them is actual the bigger badass. I would not want to be on the same planet at them when they did so.”
Natsuru softly replied, “You got that right.”
A few seconds later, Fabiola turned to her teacher, as she said, in english, “We do not need help from this tramp to find the master's violator.”
River frowned at the insult. She thought, 'With the maids here. It looks like my plan to get them to back off of Lee is a bust. While I had a chance to convince the others to lay off of Lee. I realize, from what Lee knows, that these to maids will not back off on their hunt. And I do not want just me, and them hunting Lee.'
'Besides, the maids will pressure the others to continue the hunt. And with the others along, they will help reign these two in. And offer some distractions for me to save Lee.'
'Still, there are other ways I can help Lee in this conversation. I just have to wait for the proper time.'
Roberta and Fabiola turned to Eda, as they frowned at her.
Roberta sarcastically stated, “By the way, Eda. Thank you for the bad directions.”
Eda turned to Roberta, as she deadpanned, “Sorry. I thought you meant the casino hotel, not the Devil's Hotel.”
The maids noticed that some of the girls giggled at Eda's comment.
Revy warned, “No fighting girls. Or, you will be thrown out of the room. Besides, Eda probably gave you bad directions to prevent violence from breaking out.”
Rock thought, 'Revy, the peacemaker. Now, that is a scary thought.'
River suppressed a giggle, at Rock's thought.
Eda stated, “Revy, is right. That is why I lied to you, both. I am trying to keep things from exploding.”
Fabiola smirked, as she commented, “Well, when it comes to the Rats Nest, you're a little late on that. Though, the bartender left before the place went up in flames.”
Revy inquired, “You blew up the Rats Nest?”
Roberta answered, “Yes.”
Revy stated, “Damn. That is the only decent bar in town, where I could get drunk in peace.” She let out a deep breath. She then continued, “Still, I expect you two to behave yourselves, here.”
Roberta and Fabiola just glared at Eda, but they decided to do nothing about her, as they turned their attention back to the rest of the group.
Violin spoke up, “Moving on. There is one thing about Lee that is still bothers me. I noticed the first time I saw Lee, when he was introduced to us, he was scared out of his mind, when he was surrounded by all of us. Which makes sense, now. But, somewhere along the line, he got a lot more confident. And that casino game is a total mystery to me. He displayed skills, and knowledge, at the same time, during that game, that would take decades to learn.”
Aeryn supported, “Now, that I think about it, honey. You're right.”
All eyes turned to River.
River giggled uncomfortably.
Revy inquired, in a less than amused tone of voice, “Something you want to share with the rest of us?”
River swallowed hard, as she thought, 'Oh crap. I am going to have to tell them about the time loop. And when they realize what Lee did to them, during the time loop, they will never stop hunting her down. Still, if I tell them, I can at least smooth things over.' She requested, in a weak tone of voice, “Promise me, in exchange for learning this, should you capture Lee, that you will kill him quickly.”
Shenhua warned, “We promise not to kill you quickly, if you answer us, right now.”
River explained, “Alright. I am sure everyone here remembers the Day of the Dead holiday. November second. And I am sure some of you feel as that day was never going to end. Well, it almost never did. We all got stuck in a temporal loop, with that day repeating over and over again.”
“Personally, I did not mind much. From what I can piece together, in most of those time loops I secretly spent time with Chang that day. It was a very romantic day for us. We ended it by swapping genders as we made love on the beach, and then we continued our love making in her hotel room. And I got to repeat that experience over and over again, for years.”
“Anyway, it was like from the movie Groundhogs Day, with Lee in the role of Phil. Though, from reading Lee's mind, he was not the cause of the loop. Just the poor sucker that was caught in the eye of the storm.”
Rock quietly asked, as she feared she already knew the answer deep down, “How long?”
River quietly said, “Around twenty years.”
River's soft comment had the effect of a loud scream, as nearly everyone else yelled, almost in unison, “TWENTY YEARS!!”
Meanwhile, Dutch, Benny, Janet, Fabiola, and even Roberta had begun laughing.
Between the laughs, Janet commented, “So, that is what Lee meant by saying that he felt like he had spent several years here. With such high stakes on the line, only a lunatic would be so open about the truth. Yet, he knew we wouldn't be able to piece to together the truth in front of him.”
River stated, in an amused tone of voice, “Don't laugh too hard, Dutch, Janet, and Benny. The time loop effected the entire planet, including the Bahamas.”
Janet, Benny, and Dutch immediately stopped laughing, as the maids laughed even harder.
Benny recalled that day. She then stated, “Relax guys. I remember that day. We took that day off, and had a great time that night.”
Dutch commented, “Twenty years worth of days off with you two doesn't sound that bad.”
Janet said, “I agree.”
By then, the maids had started to calm down.
Akira stated, “Still, if we hope to catch Lee, we have to know what he learned while in the time loop.”
Ranma mentioned, “I brought something with us, in our hotel room, that should let us remember those years. After having to deal with so many brain altering techniques, earlier in my life, I now travel with some medication that removes almost all such techniques. Just give me a few minutes to go get it.”
Ranma then got up from her chair, and she quickly walked out of the room.
Violin turned to Fabiola, as she asked, “So, Fabiola, barring this hunt, how has life been treating you?”
Fabiola turned to Violin, as she responded, in a casual tone of voice, “Fine. You?”
Violin replied, “Fine.”
Meanwhile, Sawyer turned to Roberta, as she commented, “I hope I did not cause too much of a ruckus at the Lovelace household, by sending you a copy of the stories, and telling you about the writer.”
Roberta turned to Sawyer, as she calmly said, “No. That has not been the case.”
The two maids then caught up with their friends.
(_)
Five minutes later, Ranma returned with a small oil lamp in her right hand, by its handle, while she held a zippo lighter in her left hand.
Ranma lit the lamp. She then closed the lighter's top, extinguishing the flame. After which, she put lighter away, into her left, side pants pocket.
Ranma continued to hold the lamp, by its handle, with her right hand, as she explained, “This is magic. Just breath in the smoke, and effect should happen in a few moments. But, make sure you are sitting when you do it. This will be like a rush, and total recall, of what you want to remember. It can be disorientating.”
Ranma then walked towards the group, as she let each woman inhale a little of the smoke, from the lamp.
River stated, “I decline.”
Ranma turned to River, as she pointed out, “I understand why you decline, River. But, from what I understand, this smoke will not make you remember things you do not want to recall. I made sure the magic this lamp uses has was designed to prevent someone from going crazy. And I will let you borrow it for Chang, later. Having the ability to recall twenty years of love making would be a wonderful favor for him to owe me.”
River conceded, “Fine. You can let me borrow the lamp, tomorrow.” She turned to Revy, whom had just inhaled the smoke.
River read Revy's surface thoughts, for a few seconds. River then mentally reflected, with relief, 'Good. Jack Sparrow is still sealed inside Revy. I guess that the smoke does not transcend to past lives. Which is good for everyone involved. Though, Revy and the others, is going to be really pissed, any second now. Once they realized how Lee tricked them in the time loop. And I have to be ready for their response, with my own reply.'
The group then took turns breathing in the smoke, including Benny, Dutch, Janet, and River. Though, they each sat down in a chair, when they inhale the smoke. Within seconds the instantly recalled things.
Ranma was the last one to do so. She sat down in a chair by Akira, Natsuru, Yurika, Nodoka, and Mikoto. She then inhaled the smoke, capped the lamp, to put the inner light out, and set it on the table by her. A few seconds later, she then remembered her time in the time loop, along with a few other older memories, of life events, that she did not realize she had experienced.
Meanwhile, just after Ranma recalled her memories, Revy blurted out, “How dare Lee make fun of my loving making. Just because I like using the back door, that is no excuse for mocking me over it.”
Rock just blushed at her lover's comment.
Though, everyone else was to wrapped up in their own memories, and thoughts, neither comment, nor laugh, at Revy's statement.
Akira commented, “Those pranks of his were sometimes truly childish. That refried beans prank was embarrassing for us. Especially, me.”
River spoke up, “Well, you girls shouldn't have tricked Lee into getting stoned without his permission. From what I read of his mind, before the beginning of the time loop, he was still upset about the pot brownies. And when the time loop happened soon after, it offered him the opportunity to get some revenge on all of you.”
Rock thought, 'Oh no. That final prank. The story. The implications.' She then noticed River was looking right at her. She then thought, 'River is reading my mind. She knows. Don't worry, River. I am not going to use this cosmic loophole. And I am not going to tell a soul about it.'
River just smiled at Rock.
Rock sighed in relief.
Natsuru admitted, “River, you may have a point about that. I mean, from what I understand, Lee never put any of us in such a position. We might apologize to him, if it wasn't for all the other crap he put us through.”
River looked over at Natsuru, as she rolled her eyes in frustration, as she sighed, as she said, “Sometimes I feel like the only grown up in the room.”
Violin commented, “Been there. Done that. So, I can sympathize. Still, I think I remember Lee kissing me.”
Rock replied, “I think Lee kissed all of us.”
River did not show any outward reaction, as she mentally lamented, 'She didn't kiss me. But, then she did not know it was me, at the time. So, I will let it slide.'
Akira responded, “You got to admit, Lee is a good kisser. And I don't think he tried to sleep with any of us.”
Violin then remembered some more things, as she mentally yelled, 'Harvey! I know you remember the time loop!'
Harvey mentally whimpered, 'In my defense. Like I said years ago in that loop. You were having really good sex with Aeryn. Besides, Lee didn't cause the time loop. And the fact of the matter is, when I later tried to get you to remember day to day, during the time loops. It never stuck. So, I decided to just go along for the ride.'
Violin mentally inquired, 'Fine. But, why didn't you tell me about the time loops, and Lee being the writer, afterward?'
Harvey mentally responded, 'Because knowing about the time loops would not have amounted to much. River is right, Lee is actually a decent guy. After he grew out of his pranking phase, he worked towards self improvement. I respect that. Though, if he had gone the other way, and become an evil hedonist, I would have stepped in.'
Violin mental replied, 'That is nice to know.' Violin then remember another interesting occurrence in the time loop. She thought, 'And this is why you kept suggesting those different sexual positions for Aeryn and I, during the time loops?”
Harvey mentally said, in a casual manner, 'Well, I could not let things to to repetitive and boring. And it was a good day for us and Aeryn. It is just that good day repeated for us, for around twenty years.'
Violin mentally said, 'Okay. Thank you for that. The differences help me separate one day from another.'
Harvey mentally suggested, 'From what I understand, Lee had a similar problem. Now, let us turn out attention back to the group. From the look on Shenhua's face, she is recalling the accidental pranking Lee did to her, with a cherry bomb. Very funny stuff.'
Violin mentally said, 'Really?'
Harvey mentally stated, 'Yes. We were just outside, in the lobby, as the events took place, on that day. Just listen.'
Shenhua cursed, “How dare he get me wet like that!?”
Sawyer turned to Shenhua, as she asked, “Like what?”
River defended Lee, “Oh come on. The cherry bomb in the toilet trick is a classic. And when Lee lit the cherry bomb, dropped it into one that men's lobby toilet, and flushed it down the drain, with it causing the toilets to explode. He honestly did not know you were on the women's side. Besides, you killed him once, during the time loop, over that matter.”
Several of the women laughed for a few seconds at Shenhua and Lee's misfortunes.
As they calmed down, Shenhua grumbled, “I killed him too quickly. I will not make the same mistake, again.”
River then turned to Revy, as she said, “And about that ass joke, Revy. I read Lee's mind about that joke. You have to admit that ass humping joke was a work of genius. The set up. The timing. The delivery. No wonder that man loves to write. Still, you need to know that Lee is truly not that judgmental when it comes to such actions take in the bedroom, between two consenting adults. He just honestly found the joke to be funny on its own merits. He didn't mean for it to be insulting. As far as he was concerned, you two would have never remember it, and he was not going to talk about it.”
Revy stated, “Okay. I can see your point...” Revy then remember something about the time loop, and Lee, as she exclaimed, “What a minute! That bastard owes us money!”
Everyone else suddenly remembered what Revy was talking about.
Akira said, with annoyance in her tone of voice, “That sneaky little con artist. Two thousand dollars, for two hours of our time, for a single day. Reset, rinse, repeat. And we never actually got to keep any of the money.”
Lotton giggled, as she commented, “Well, it was a good con. I might have tried that in his position. So, what did he learn?”
River stated, “I taught him spanish, and hand to hand combat. He got pretty good at both.”
Janet asked, “How good in a fight is Lee now?”
River thought, 'If I tell them, they might back off in the way the approach Lee. At the very least, they will think twice about a direct confrontation with him.'
River answered, “With Lee's precognitive abilities, he could probably hold his own with almost everyone here. He could give me, and the maids, a workout. Though, he might be crazy, he is not insane enough to tangle with any of us. Unless he has too.”
Rock said, “Yes. Lee has always be one to avoid conflict. I always admired him for that. I still do. Though, we need to know what other skills, and combat abilities Lee also knows. Especially, the skills that were taught by us.”
Revy remembered, as she stated, “Akira, Natsuru, and I taught him how to use a gun... Well, mostly Akira and Natsuru.”
Akira commented, “Lee is good with a pistol. But, he never could master dual wielding pistols.”
Natsuru said, “True. But, he is always a crack shoot with a rifle, and machine gun. So, he is dangerous with just about any type of firearm you could name.”
Ranma commented, “Yes. I was there with Akira and Natsuru a few times, when they were teaching Lee how to use firearms. Lee knows how to listen and learn. Later, he even convinced me to teach him a few tricks. Such as locked picking.”
Molly spoke up, “It is a safe bet that he broke into our rooms, and searched them during the time loop.”
Sarah stated, “I doubt he found anything of use. It is clear that reality devices did not work in the time loop, because Lee was still here afterward.”
River said, “That is true.”
Rock then remembered some instant woman packets that went missing a few times, in her suite, during the time loops. She thought, 'Could Lee have?...'
Rock looked over at River, and she saw River crack a grin.
Rock thought, 'Lee did... Which really doesn't surprise me.'
River silently said, with her lips, in english, “Not a word.”
Rock thought, 'Don't worry, River. Even I am not going to mention that to anyone here. Not even Revy. That would be like pouring gasoline on a fire. There is no telling what would happen. I may want revenge, but I am against rape, which is what most of them would consider doing to Lee, if they knew he already personally experimented with gender bending.'
River nodded in agreement, as she silently said, with her lips, in english, “Smart move.”
Violin said, “Lee conned me into teaching him physics, all the way up to the advanced courses. Along with how to take care and work on his car.”
Aeryn stated, “Learning all this means he has the intelligence to better himself.”
Lotton pointed out, “True. Though, that being said. Lee conned us for months, years, if you count the time loops. Either he is a genius, or we are idiots. I prefer to believe the former, over that latter.”
As silent reigned for several seconds, it took all of River's will power to not burst out laughing, as no one dared to touch Lotton's comment.
Rock then spoke up, “Now, that I think about it, I taught Lee some japanese. But, I started catching on that he was learning to easily, and he quit a little over midway, to where he clearly wanted to be on that.”
Natsuru spoke up, “Akira, Ranma, and I did to, for a little while, until we started catching on that he was learning too quickly, as well.”
Sawyer said, “I taught him how to formally dance, and sing.” Everyone looked at her. Sawyer noticed this, as she added, “A girl's got to have hobbies.”
Shenhua said, “I taught him speak and read, chinese, along knife throwing. It looks like he learned that card throwing trick a the casino from me... Oh no... He is deadly with a deck of cards.”
Janet asked, “What do you mean?”
Shenhua answered, “That card trick he did at the casino was only the tip of this iceberg, to his throwing abilities. I think I taught him too well.”
Rock stated, “You are right Shenhua. I remember watching him one day in the time loop, where he was throwing two cards as once, as two different dart boards. He was hitting the bull of both boards at the same time, at thirty feet. He even change it up to where he could swap out both targets and still hit the bull of the boards.”
Benny commented, “So, he can dual wield a deck of cards. What is so dangerous about that?”
Rock stated, “What is dangerous is that with his precognition, he is deadly accurate with the cards in the angles needed to be thrown to cut into his targets, most of the time.”
River giggled, for a few seconds. She then stated, “Yea. Lee is the only person I know of that can lay claim to being a dual wielding death dealer. Though, it does sound more cool than it actually is.”
Janet asked, “So what? How can a cardboard playing card cut deeply into something? I mean, as best, he could give us paper cuts.”
Eda stated, “Janet, you need to visit tornado alley, sometime. I can show you wooden telephone poles, with pine needles sticking through them. All it takes is force, and accuracy.”
Benny thought on Eda's comments, for a few seconds. She then said, “Eda, is right about that. I can see now, how having using a decks of cards, in such a way, could be dangerous.”
Janet realized what they were saying, as she replied, “Okay.”
Revy inquired, “But, why choose playing cards as a weapon? Why not just get a gun? I remember a bet he did with me. He shot a single can into the air, three times, with one of my cutlasses. We clearly taught him well enough to use such weapons.”
Akira and Natsuru replied, almost in unison, “Thank you.”
River pointed out, “Mexico has very strict anti-gun and knife laws. Especially, for foreigners. Lee knows this. So, he decided to find an unusual weapon, that was cheap, easy to replace, and that most people would dismiss as harmless. But, a weapon that he could use to defend himself with. If he had to. And a deck of playing cards fit his needs, and motif, well.”
“That being said. The only reason the police here did not come after you, is someone in their chain of command likely recognized you, and that person did not want to get the police here killed, by sending them after you.”
River thought, 'I will give Pedro some cover. I kind admire the man. He made the best of a bad situation. Chances are, with him getting that warning about the maids being here, he is already out of town, by now.'
Dutch continued to look at her electronic tablet, as she stated, “We think we found out who was the one to keep the police off of us? We will tell you, later.” She thought, 'Nice try covering for Chief Del Soto, River. But, we know that Pedro was the one that helped Lee.'
River mentally cursed, 'Damn it... Well, at least Pedro has a head start. Like Lee has.'
Revy smirked, as she stated, “Well, one thing is for sure, girls. We are going to have fun collecting from Lee, on what he owes us, plus interest.”
River sarcastically remarked, “Good luck.”
Everyone turned back to look at River.
Rock commented, “I do not see a problem with finding, Lee. Now, that we know what he looks like. And we will pull pictures from the security cameras, to give to our friends, here.”
River giggled for a few seconds. She then smirked, as she stated, “You think you had a good look at Lee. None of you, nor any cameras, have ever got a look at his face, without him wearing glasses, and a hat, of some type. That was intentional on his part. Black is not even his natural hair color. He planned his escape before he even baited you to come here.”
“Lee lives to be crazy prepared. And he plans several moves ahead of everyone else. That is why you haven't caught him, yet. He could lose the glasses and hat, and you probably won't recognize him.”
River overheard Revy curse, under her breath, “Damn it. She is right.”
Yurika pointed, “But, what about when he swap out his hat and glasses, as he left, a little while ago?”
Lotton commented, “Lee had his back turned to the lobby cameras, when he swapped out his hat and glasses. So, those cameras will be no help, either.”
Yurika muttered a cursed, “Damn.”
Benny stated, “River may have a point. If I got this straight. Lee is an intelligent, patient, and a skilled planner. He has an eye for detail, and deduction, that would make Sherlock Holmes proud. He is a master of disguise. He can speak multiple languages. He has an encyclopedic knowledge of just about everything. He has a wide variety of skills. Including combat skills. That would allow him to hold his own in a decent fight. And he is dying of cancer. So, he had no fear of death. And he has nothing left to lose.”
Revy commented, “That pretty much sums it up.” She thought, 'Except, Lee told me she wants to live. And I believe her. But, if I told you that, you could use that as a bargaining chip against Lee.'
Benny girlishly whined, “We are never going to find him.”
While Dutch sat in her stool, with her back to the bar counter. She faced the other women, as she spoke up, as she continued to look at her tablet in her hands, “Found him.”
Everyone looked over at Dutch.
Dutch looked up at the group, as she stated, “The signal says he is in the Babylon Five station. But, if I am reading this right, the date is far in the future from when the series happened.”
Benny, Violin, and Akira, got up from their chairs, and walked over to Dutch, to look at the tablet.
Dutch passed the tablet around. First Akira, then Benny, and finally Violin.
As Violin held the tracking device, she looked at the date on the flat screen of the tablet, as she said, “The date is January twenty-sixth, twenty-two eighty-one.”
Violin looked up from the tablet, and handed it back to Dutch. As soon as Dutch had the tracking device in her hands, Violin look out among the crowd. Violin stated, “From the date, I would say Lee was on Babylon Five, a couple of months before it was finally decommissioned, and blown up. Probably between when John Sheridan was having his final supper, on Minbar, and when John visited Babylon Five for a final, quick visit, during the final Babylon Five episode, Sleeping in the Light.”
Benny remembered what happened in that episode. And why Lee would head to Babylon Five, between those dates. Benny look at her family and friends, as she sarcastically commented, “Just wonderful. Lee really knows what he is doing. That would be the perfect time and place for him to go to, for his plans of escape to work. At that point, Babylon Five personnel would be moving everyone off the station, as they get the station ready to be decommissioned and blown up.”
“All quarter million of them, including the homeless lurkers. With Earthforce being so busy moving potentially tens of thousands of homeless people. Including many with no documents. Off the station. Lee could easily slip through, get on one of the shuttles, and be anywhere in the series. And that is a big place to search. As Lee will literally have an entire galaxy to hide in.”
“Lee knows the rules he wrote. The further the distance, the harder it is to track him. The longer time between the jump and scans, the more difficult it is to get a lock on the jump.”
“Lee will just go to another place, elsewhere in that galaxy, and jump to where he really wants to go, and we will likely lose him for good.”
Then, a thought occurred to Benny, as she commented, in a more calmer tone of voice, “Though, I doubt he would be crazy enough to jump in hyperspace. None of us ever tried to do so. And Lee never talked about reality jumping while in hyperspace. So, we do have time.”
Akira mentioned, “Actually, our family has been to that reality.”
Violin turned to Akira, as she asked, “Really?”
Akira looked at Violin, as she answered, “Yes. We spent a few months there. It really is a big place to hide.”
Violin cursed, under her breath, “Damn it.”
Akira stated, with encouragement in her voice, “I said it was a big place. But, I did not say we could not find him... Come on guys, he is not that smart. We just got to figure out where he would want to go.”
Violin said, “I doubt he would go to one of the alien worlds. That is too much of an unknown for him. And this is speaking from experience.”
Lotton stated, “Earth is out, given the plague that hit there. The plague was cured by then. But, given the way Lee wrote those gender bending outbreaks in book three, he would know how dangerous an outbreak could be. And how plagues can go dormant for years. If not decades. And even centuries. So, Lee will not risk going the Earth.”
Then, Janet realized something, as she lightly chuckled.
As the other women turned to look at Janet, while they wondered why she was chuckling, Janet looked around the road, as she stated, “I got it. I know where he is going. Where is the one place he writes about the most, besides Earth?”
Everyone looked at each other for a moment, then they realized, as they stated, almost in unison, “Mars!”
Natsuru commented, “Good. It takes two days, by the hyperspace gate system, to reach Mars from Babylon Five. We actually took a trip in hyperspace, from Babylon Five, to Mars. So, we would know.”
Rock asked, “When exactly did you go to the B Five reality?”
Ranma answered for Natsuru, “We went when our daughters were around eight, or nine. It was around ten years after the main part of the series ended. Though, a number of years before the events of Sleeping in the Light episode happened. And if I remember, at the time, Mars gov was building a hyperspace gate, in orbit, for their planet. So, they wouldn't have to rely on Earth Alliance gates for commerce with Alien nations.”
Lotton stated, “That figures. But, this gives us a timeline to work with. Good job girls.”
Natsuru said, “Thank you.”
Ranma replied, “No problem.”
Revy stated, “Now, we know where Lee is heading, and when. I am not playing games anymore. I am contacting the rest of the crew. The reward is whoever catches Lee can have first dibs on revenge against him.”
Janet said, “Good idea. Also, there is another line of investigation we can look into. Let me tell you what we found out about Lee's friend, Police Chief Pedro Del Soto. The other guy that judged the talent contest, besides Lee, and River here.” She mentally added, 'And I don't even want to think about how River was both a judge and contestant. Nor, why she gave herself, and Chang such a low score.'
River just silently rolled her eyes, at Janet's comment for a few seconds. She then looked back at the women around her.
Revy stated, “You can tell me all about it, after we are finish here. Also, what about Melvin? Was he in on the conspiracy?”
River stated, “No. He was not in on it. He just a guy that wants to live a quiet life here. And given some of the horrible memories I have seen in his mind. He has earned some peace and quiet.” She mentally added, 'Oh Melvin. You are just someone trying to get out of a bad situation that was not of your own making. You do not need to be dragged back into this mess.'
Roberta asked, “Who is this Melvin?”
Natsuru thought, 'River is clearly covering for Melvin. So, she likely knows the score, from reading Melvin's own thoughts. And we promise him that we would help.' She stated, “Just a badass bartender that works in this hotel. Like you, he is just a nice person, unless you piss him off. Which Revy found out the hard way.”
Roberta lightly chuckled. She then said, “Really? Anyone that can take Revy down a notch cannot be all bad.”
Natsuru agreed, “Exactly.”
Rock looked over at River, as she stated, “Now, to deal with River. Revy, Aeryn, Violin, you are coming with us to the Casino.”
River looked over at Rock, as she guessed, “You are going to take me to Chang, and my friends, and tell them what I did. Revy is coming because Revy can smooth things over with Chang. And Aeryn and Violin are coming, because you believe they can take me in a fight, if I try anything.”
Rock cracked a grin, as she happily commented, “Yes. Yes. And most certainly, yes. Though, given you are reading our minds, I thought you would already realize this.”
River stated, “Rock, your mind is so full of plans, plans within plans, and counter-plans, that it is hard to read your thoughts.”
Rock laughed for a few seconds. She then smirked, as she said, “I will take that as a compliment. Now, get up, we have much to do.”
River then did as instructed, as soon she, Rock, Revy, Aeryn, and Violin, left the restaurant, and walked towards the hotel parking lot, and to the Lagoon family's red GTO.
Meanwhile, the other women continued to talk amongst themselves, for a while longer. As they discussed topics, on various possible ways to catch Lee, to more casual conversations, such the maids being informed about some of the places of interest there were on the island city of De La Plata Podrido.
(_)
Twenty minutes later, Rock pulled the red GTO under the carport awning, in front of the main entrance to Daiyu Palace Casino.
Rock drove, with Revy in the front, to the right of Rock.
Violin was behind Rock. River was in the middle of the backseat. And Aeryn sat behind Revy.
Rock pulled up to the front entrance, by the curb with the right passenger sat facing the main entrance of the casino.
Rock stopped the car, put in park, and turned off the ignition. The five adults then got out of the car, with Rock and Revy opened the doors, getting out, and pulled up the front seats, and helping the others out.
Rock and Revy then raised their seats and shut their doors. Though, they did not lock there door.
As all of the adults stood around the car. Those on the drivers side, walked around to join their friends, on the passenger side of the car, where the sidewalk was, under the large awning of the building.
Meanwhile, the nearby female valets, on the sidewalk, immediately recognized River. Also, one of the valets exchanged Rock's keys, for a ticket stub, to park her car.
The five adult women then headed for the front doors.
Given the valets knew who the women were. Especially, that River was their bosses lover, the five women approached the front doors, the valets opened the doors for all five women.
As they entered the front lobby of the casino, they continued walking, near each other, in a group.
As they walked, Violin asked, “So, River, how are we going to do this?”
River said, “Well, to prevent confusion, we need get the gang here together, and tell them at once. Unless, Rock, or Revy, has a better plan.”
Revy replied, “Nope.”
Rock inquired, “That plan works for me. So, how do you want to contact everyone?”
River answered, “Just follow me. And no, I am not leading you into a trap. We need to go the gaming floor, find the pit boss on duty. It will likely either be Spike, or Jetta. And the pit boss with then contact Chang, to make arrangements.”
Aeryn questioned, “Don't you have a cellphone, which you can contact him, yourself?”
River turned to Aeryn, whom was to her right, as they continued walking. She commented, “Come on, Aeryn. You have been at this game long enough to know that communicators, cellphones, and the like, will beep, vibrate, or whatever, at the worst possible moment. Also, Lee has the right idea. If I had a cellphone, Chang could track me down, by tracing my cellphone signal.”
Aeryn conceded, “Good point.”
River then turned back in front of them, as they made their way to the gaming floor.
(_)
A minute later, they reached the gaming floor.
Violin recognized the song being played, she thought, 'This song is, The Wicked Symphony, by Avantasia.'
River thought, 'Thanks for the telling me the song's title and band, Violin. And the lyrics really speak to my situation.'
River came to stop, with the other four women stopping around her.
Rock inquired, “So, where is the pit boss?”
River requested, “Give me a couple of seconds.”
River then mentally scanned the room. It was not to difficult for her to find whom she was looking for. She just tuned out players and dealers, focusing on the cards and the money. And instead she focused on the few individuals on the gaming floor that was focus on making sure the gaming floor ran smoothly, and fairly.
And River found the woman she was looking for.
River stated, “Jetta is on the duty. Please, let me do the talking.”
Rock said, “No problem.”
River then started walking in the direction of the restaurant, to the right of the gaming floor entrance, from the front lobby. The other four women followed River.
After they made their way through the gaming floor, to about half way between the restaurant, and the elevator bay, they saw Jetta nearby.
Jetta was wearing a black suit, and black dress shoes, as she performed her duties at the pit boss for the floor.
While they walked over to Jetta, the black haired woman, noticed them, and she turned to face them.
As the five women came to a stop in front of Jetta, the black haired woman smiled. She greeted them, in english, “Hello ladies. What can I do for you?”
River requested, “I need you to call Chang down here?”
Jetta commented, “Let me guess, it involves the strange clothing that you are wearing?”
River said, “Yes.”
Jetta shrugged, as she pulled out her cellphone from her coat pocket. She then dialed a number. Next, she held the phone to her right ear.
As the other end picked up, she said into her phone, “Chang, I need you to come to the gaming floor. It is important.”
On the other end of the line, Chang asked, “How important?”
Jetta answered, “River is here. She is strangely dressed, and she has four strange looking women with her. I believe they are your friends from the islands. And they don't look happy.”
Chang stated, “I will be down in a minute.”
Jetta then closed her cellphone, and put her phone away, back into the interior coat pocket she had it in. She then turned to River, as she inquired, “Dare I ask what is going on?”
River responded, in a defeated tone of voice, “It is more of a question of where should I start?”
Jetta winced, as she questioned, “That bad?”
River replied, “Yea.”
They group then waited for Chang to come meet with them.
(_)
A few minutes later, Chang made it down to the gaming floor, from his penthouse office.
As he approached the six women, the women turned and saw the he was wearing his usual black suit, and black long coat, but he was not wearing his glasses.
When Chang came to a stop in front of them, none of the six women said a word to him.
Instead, Chang looked at the six women, and he then focus on River, whom was wearing ill fitting, men's clothing. He calmly asked, “What is going on, River?”
Though, before River could answer, Revy stated, “Chang, we need to get the others together. The Bebop crew. The Serenity crew. Along with Annie and Arcee. So, we can talk in private.”
Chang looked over at Revy.
Revy looked at Chang, as she smirked. She said, “River got caught doing something very naughty.”
Chang inquired, “How naughty?”
Revy licked her lips, as she maintained her feral grin, while she responded, “Deliciously naughty.”
River quickly stated, “It is not sex.”
Chang look at River, as he commented, “I know. Sex would be too simple an explanation for this situation. So, where do you want everyone to meet?”
River stated, “Just tell them to meet in the garage, in back, so Arcee can join in.” She then turned to Rock.”
Rock said, “That will do.”
Chang looked over at Jetta, as he ordered, “Make it happen.”
Jetta just nodded, as she pulled back out her cellphone, opened it, and dialed a number.
(_)
Ten minutes later, seventeen adults meet in the back garage of the casino. Both the outside and insides door to the garage, were closed, and locked, from the inside, so the adults could talk in private.
Mal, Inara, Zoe, Simon, Kaylee, Jayne, Jetta, Faye, and Spike stood in semi-circle, around Rock, Revy, Violin, Aeryn, and Chang.
River was standing between the fourteen adults, with Annie and Arcee, standing to her right. With Arcee in robot mode.
Those present, were either in their usual casual clothing, or in their work clothing. Except for Arcee, and River. With River wearing her male clothing, she had wore, when she was disguised as Sam.
River looked at the others, as she thought, 'Twice in one night. This is not a good sign.'
Spike was the last to join them, as she walked walked over to stand by Jetta and Faye
As Spike walked up to Jetta and Faye, Jetta asked, “Where is Julia?”
Spike stated, “Don't worry. She is asleep. And one of Chang's women, whom I personally know, and trust, is with her. I will introduce you to her, after the meeting.”
Jetta replied, “Okay.”
Faye said, “Looks like things are about to start.”
All three women turned their attention to Chang, whom was standing by Rock, Revy, Violin, and Aeryn, as he looked at River.
Chang asked, “River, I know this is going to get very complicated. So, let us start with the simple questions. Why are you dress like that?”
Chang then used his right hand to point at the oversized, male, clothing that River was wearing. He then dropped his right hand to his side.
River turned to Chang, as she sheepishly said, “It is a long story.”
Rock ordered, “Tell him. Or, I will.”
River looked over at Rock. Then, she looked directly at Chang, as she inquired, “You know, Lee's friend, Sam?”
Chang replied, “Yes.”
River admitted, “That was me, in my male form, while wearing a fake beard.”
River comment caught the Serenity crew by surprise. The other adults in the room took the disclosure in stride.
Kaylee whispered to Simon, “I didn't know she had it in her. To pretend to live as a guy. That takes guts.”
Simon quietly replied, to his girlfriend, “River is just full of surprises.”
Chang remained calm, as he looked at River. He thought, 'River, I am sure you have a good explanation. So, play along.' He stated, in a disappointed tone of voice, “Really? Why does that not surprise me? Still, we will be talking about this, later.”
River replied, “Most certainly.”
Then, Revy was the one that drop the bombshell, “Now, to the heart of the matter. Believe, or not, Lee is the writer. And he escaped into the multiverse with a reality device he stole from us.”
Rock look over at Revy, as she thought, 'Thank you, Revy. For not stating how that happened.'
Revy continued, “And River here, as Sam, helped him escape.”
Faye inquired, “Lee, that skinny guy, that played the poker game, with River here, is the writer?”
Rock answered, “Yes. And he was right in front of us the whole time.”
Jayne stated, “Talk about hiding in plain sight. And this guy did it for months on end, in front of your group, Rock.”
Jayne, Inara, Kaylee, Simon, Jetta, and Zoe, laughed for a few seconds.
As they calmed down, Jayne looked over at Revy, as he commented, “That must have really bruised your egos.”
Revy looked over at Jayne, as she warned, “Watch it, Jayne. I am not in the mood for jokes. But, you are right.”
Mal looked over at River, River looked back at him. He asked, in a calm tone of voice, “Why did you help this man, River?”
River answered, “Mal, I know you are upset about the gender bending, but Lee is a nice guy.”
Mal stated, in an even tone of voice, “I will make that determination on my own.”
River thought, 'It does not take a genius to figure out that Mal is upset with me. And that he is pissed with Lee. Though, I have known Mal long enough, to realize he will get over it, eventually. Plus, Chang is planning to bribe him. So, that will help.'
Spike spoke up, as she flatly inquired, “So, River. The next question becomes. Did you cheat at that card game, with Lee?”
River looked over at Spike, as she answered, “No. I did not. Lee really is a good card player. And he didn't cheat either.” She then looked at Faye, as she continued, “Even though our first dealer cheated against him.”
Faye looked at River, as she thought, with a bit of venom, 'River, I know you are reading our minds. And I am sure you know that I was under orders from your boyfriend, Chang. So, don't deflect this conversation towards me.'
River heard Faye's thoughts, as she said, “Still, Lee caught the cheating, and he was able to continue in a fair manner.”
Faye thought, 'Thank you.'
Chang said, “Be that it may, River, keeping secrets like this does not help anyone.”
Mal coughed.
Chang looked over at Mal.
Mal said, “It is only fair that you tell them what you know.” He thought, 'Chang, while you didn't tell us the details, of who the writer is. It is clear, from the way you reacted, when the conversation came up, about the writer, over the course of the last few days, you knew who the writer is, before this. I was just still trying to figure out how best approach you on the matter.'
River cracked a grin, as she thought, 'I do not know how Mal found out that Chang knew about writer. Though, it is ironic that now with Mal knowing that Lee is the writer. And the shoe to be on the other foot.'
Aeryn inquired, with interest in her tone of voice, “Tell us, what?”
Chang looked back at Aeryn, Rock, Revy, and Violin, as he light chuckled for few seconds.
Chang then stated, “I will come straight to the point. I figured out that Lee was the writer the day after the poker game.” He mentally added, 'I will leave out the kidnapping, and that Annie and Arcee know, as well.'
Chang saw, in the corner of his eye, River's grin get slight wider, with happiness towards him.
Jayne shook his head, as he commented, “Those two are just made for each other.”
Inara spoke up, “Yes. They even keep the same type of secrets.”
There was snickering from a few members of their group.
Though, those snickers all died quick deaths, as everyone saw that from the look on Revy's face that they could tell that Revy was furious.
Revy looked at Chang, with fury in her eyes. She questioned, in a dangerously low tone of voice, “Why didn't you tell us that you figured out Lee was the writer?”
Chang looked at Revy, with a smirk on his lips, as he admitted, “Because, I want him.”
Chang casual response caught Revy offer guard. Causing her to calm down a little, while not immediately replying to him.
On the other hand, Rock inquired, “What do you mean? Why do you want him?”
Chang turned to Rock, as he casually said, “Rock, no pun intended, but you cannot be that dense. Lee pulled a magnificent con on all of us. A con that took months to figure out and plan. And he did this under intense stress, and limited resources...”
“I honestly don't know if I could have pulled off this con, with the limited resources Lee had to rely on.”
“Lee displayed a high level of skill and intelligence, at both using one's knowledge and skills to manipulate people into doing what he wanted, constantly on the fly, with him solving problems that kept coming up, without him getting caught. That is genius level intelligence and planning. There are only a few people in the multiverse that could pull that type of con off on us.”
“Also, he knew who we were beforehand. He knew how dangerous we are. Yet, he still continued the con, while dealing with us, day in and day out. That take guts. That takes courage.”
“Due to all this, plus the fact his knows his manners. And that he can play ball. Means the man is worth more to us alive than dead. Sure, he did some horrible things to us. But, I sincerely believe that he didn't realize what he was doing, when he wrote those stories. Also, he did a few good things for us. That being said. We could use someone like him.”
By then, Revy had thought over what Chang said. Revy asked, in a calm tone of voice, “What could Lee bring to the table?”
Chang turned to Revy, as he answered, “Lee brings an interesting point of view on things. He is the type of person, when you ask a question. He will not only give you the right answer, but he will tell you seven different ways to look at both the question, and the answer, so as to solve other questions and answers.”
Violin guessed, “So, you planned to keep quiet, until you figured out how to make of offer to us, to where you get Lee, in one piece, without worrying about reprisals, over his hide?”
Chang looked at Violin, as he flatly admitted, “Exactly.”
Chang turned to the others, as he asked, in a calm, thought even tone of voice, “Any of you have a problem with that?”
Jayne said, “No.”
Inara commented, “None, whatsoever.”
Zoe stated, “I am willing to let things slide.”
Jetta admitted, “I have no problem with him.”
Faye complimented, “At least he is polite.” She thought, 'Except when someone cheats him at cards. But, that is reasonable.'
Kaylee smiled, as she stated, “Hey. He brought some fun into my life.”
Simon said, “He did give us new opportunities in business and pleasure.”
Arcee said, “A person crazy enough to pull this off should be admired.”
Annie commented, “I have no problems with Lee.”
Spike and Mal chose to remain silent.
Revy commented, “Well, River has a similar plan. And as we told her, we will have our revenge.”
Chang turned to Revy, as he responded, “But Revy, I am willing to sweeten the deal, for all those whom feel wronged by Lee, with gold, and possible favors.”
Revy conceded, “That is tempting. And we will need to discuss you offer amongst ourselves. And we will think on your offer.”
Chang thought, in a positive frame of mind, 'That is not a, no.'
Chang turned to River, as he asked, “So, what was your plan?”
River answered, “About the same as the pitch you are making right now. A controlled level of revenge. But, one that Lee would survive and recover from.”
Chang replied, “That is good to hear.”
In response, River slightly smiled at Chang.
Jayne turned to Mal, as he commented, “Mal, didn't you say Lee was sick, when you shook his hand during the poker game?”
Mal turned to Jayne, as he answered, “Yes.”
River stated, “Lee is dying of cancer. At best, he has a few months to find a cure, before the cancer kills him.”
Spike stated, “Damn. Talk about rotten luck. I may want a measure of revenge against him, but that is not a way a person should go.”
Mal said, “I agree.”
Chang stated, “So, as we can see, we do have a limited amount of time.” He turned to Revy, as he asked, “So, what are you going to do now, Revy?”
Revy turned to Chang, as she answered, “We know when and where he heading. And we are going after him.”
Mal requested, “Care to share that information?”
Revy answered, “Sure.” She thought, 'River would tell them anyway, after I left. So, I might as well.'
Spike asked, “So, where are Lee?”
Revy stated, “The Babylon Five reality.”
Jayne commented, “That is a big place to hide.”
Everyone turned to look at Jayne.
Jayne stated, “Hey. Bob is my drinking buddy. He... Well now, she loaned me a copy of that series one time.” He mentally added, 'Honestly, I would like to thank Lee for giving me such a good friend as Bob. Still, I am annoyed with Lee dealing with gender bending. Just not as much as the captain.'
Rock continued for her lover, as she said, “Fortunately. As Revy said. We know when and where he is. And where he is going.”
Chang requested, “Does someone have a pen and paper?”
Jetta stated, “I do.” She approached Chang and Rock, as she pulled out a pen and notepad from her coat pocket.
Jetta handed the pen and notepad to Rock.
As soon as Rock took the two items, she flipped open the notepad and she began writing on it, in english.
A few seconds later, she finished. As first handed the notepad to Chang. She then handed the pen to Jetta, as she said, “Thank you.”
As Jetta put away her pen, as she replied, “You're welcome.” She then walked back to join Spike and Faye, before she turned back around to look at the rest of the group.
Meanwhile, Chang looked at the notepad, as he stated, “I appreciate this.”
Rock stated, “No problem. If you find him, we will still get a piece of his ass.”
Chang looked over at Rock, as he put away the notepad, into a coat pocket. He said, “As I stated. I am willing to negotiate.”
Rock responded, “I know. That piece of paper has the date and other information, to head to the reality, time, and location we, tracked Lee to. But, we know where he is heading.”
Faye asked, “So, where is he going?”
Revy shrugged, as she said, “Where else? Mars.”
The other adults chuckled a little at Revy's comment.
Rock stated, “It takes two days of travel in hyperspace, from Babylon Five, to reach Mars.”
Chang asked, “How would you know?”
Rock stated, “Akira mentioned that years ago, her family spent a few months in the Babylon Five reality.”
Chang replied, “That helps a lot.”
Jetta turned to River, as she inquired, “Where does Lee's fascination with Mars come from?”
River looked at Jetta, as she answered, “Best I can figure is that Lee saw the original version of the movie, Total Recall, as a child, and the film had an influence on him.”
Chang thought, 'Why am I not surprised? Plus, that movie likely inspired some of his mind screw plots, and personal actions, with us.'
Revy stated, “Now, that we have settled that, let's get down to my offer.” She then looked around the crowd, as she continued, with a wicked grin on her face, “Whomever catches Lee, gets first dips on revenge against him. Though, we want him alive, and conscious, and mostly unharmed, so he is in the shape, where we can have our revenge, as well.”
Spike commented, “I will consider it.”
Mal shrugged, as he inquired, “That sounds fair. Do you have a limit to how many of us can come?”
Rock answered, “No. We will even provide you with some of our encrypted radios.”
Mal replied, “That would be nice.”
Chang turned to Rock, as he stated, “We will finalize our plans tomorrow.”
Rock looked over at Chang, as she said, “That works for me.”
Spike turned to Revy, as she smirked. She asked, “So, besides us, and your group, who else are you bringing to this party, for our little fox hunt?”
Revy answered, “No many. The maids are coming. None of us are crazy enough to try and stop them from doing so. Also, I was going to invite Balalaika and B. I would be tempted to call the Lowe family, but I feel they would likely help, Lee.”
River spoke up, “Oh. I am sure they would. Three of them were created by Lee, and the fourth was given everything she could possibly want in life. I should know, I have read their minds.”
Violin stated, “I hope Balalaika and B do not bring Hotel Moscow with them. There wouldn't be a planet left, with the maids, plus Hotel Moscow, after Lee's ass.”
Aeryn said, “Violin is correct. Blowing up a planet will only bring unneeded, and unwanted, attention. We know, because we have done it before.”
Violin winced, as she commented, “Multiple times.”
Revy shrugged, as she responded, “Relax. When I contact them later tonight, by a reality jump, and a phone call.” She turned to Rock, as she continued, “I will be gone only five minutes.” She turned back to Aeryn and Violin, as she went onto say, “I will request Balalaika and B make this a personal hunt, and keep their army at home. Like the offer we made to those two, to being with.”
Chang pointed out, “Still, Balalaika and B can be as dangerous as the Lovelace maids.”
Revy agreed, “I will give you that one. They are damn close to being equal to the maids.”
Mal look over at River, as he stated, “Though, that being said. River will not be joining us. She has clearly become too close to the target.”
River looked over at Mal. She stated, in a disappointed tone of voice, “I understand. Still, please keep in mind that Lee is a nice guy. I can read your mind, Mal. I know you are upset with both him, and me. But, I am asking you, as friend, go easy on him.”
Mal said, “If he surrenders to me, I promise not to harm him, until we return to the casino. If he fights, all bets are off.”
River sighed, as she thought, 'I guess I will have to take what I can get.'
Chang turned to Revy, Rock, Violin, and Aeryn, as he stated, “Well girls. If that is all you need to tell us. I hope you have a pleasant night. We will talk in the morning. Say around nine AM. And good hunting. Still, I need to speak to my personnel, in private.”
The four women turned to Chang, as Rock said, “No problem.”
Revy replied, “Have fun.”
Violin said, “Night, Chang.” She turned to the rest of the group, as she said, “Night, guys.”
Aeryn stated, “This meeting was adequate.”
Just as the four women were about to leave the rest of the group, Rock turned to River, as she asked, “No hard feelings?”
River looked at Rock, as she stated, “It depends on what condition Lee returns in.”
Rock replied, “Then, we will have to see.”
The four women then turned and walked away from the group, towards the door to the garage, that lead into the casino, and towards the gaming floor, and then the front entrance. With the door being locked from the inside, that was no problems exiting the room.
Several seconds later, the four women had left through a door to a back hallway, as they headed to the front of the casino, where they would retrieve their car.
After those in adults still in the room heard the door shut behind them, the adults looked at each other.
Arcee spoke up, “Well, have fun. I will not be going,”
Faye asked, “You aren't?”
Arcee commented, “I don't feel like going. And someone has to run this place while you are gone.”
Chang turned to Arcee, as he stated, “Thank you, Arcee.” He then looked at the others, as he said, “Now, I have two items to talk about. Speaking of running this casino, I except you to be back within an hour of leaving. This casino does not run itself. Though, I am sure Arcee can use the cameras and run the security and gaming areas from teleconference. But, I do not want to test out that theory.”
Mal cracked a grin, as he said, “We will be back before you know it.”
Spike turned to Mal, as she complimented, “Nice line.”
Mal turned to Spike, as he replied, “Thank you.”
Jetta spoke up, “We will keep them out of trouble.”
Zoe stated, “Yes. We adults will be chaperoning this hunt.”
The adults then laughed at Jetta and Zoe's comments.
As everyone calmed down, Chang offered, “Also, there is a reward for ten large gold bars, for each of you, if you bring Lee back here in a salvage way. You can punch him a few times, but bring him back here in a way he is awake, and he is not crippled, nor dead.”
The other adults looked at Chang, in his eyes, to acknowledge they heard him.
Mal smirked, as he said, “We will try not to hurt him too much.”
Spike commented, “I will make no promises.”
Chang stated, “And I do not want any of you to leave, until tomorrow. I want all of you to be at your best. There is no rush. And I want you to spy on the others in this hunt. Secretly bring recording equipment with you. And be prepared to use it.”
“So, even if we lose Lee. We will be able to work on being one step ahead of everyone else.”
“And I will want copies of any such recordings, by early tomorrow afternoon, my time.”
Mal said, “Works for me.”
Spike conceded, “I can live with that.” She mentally added, 'I will just have one of the women I trust, babysit Julia for an hour, while I am gone. Some of them actually like helping me with Julia. And they all know better than to cross me.'
Jetta commented, “Good. This will give me time to talk to the dealers, about tomorrow. Just in case, we are late.”
Kaylee stated, “I love spy versus spy.”
Inara said, “A good rest is always wise, before a big day.”
Zoe agreed, “Especially, before a big hunt.”
Simon said, “Lee is going to regret giving us such experience with being bounty hunters.”
Faye agreed, “You got that right, Simon.”
Jayne smiled mischievously, as he said, “I finally have an excuse to breakout my big gun.”
Annie chose to remain silent.
Chang ordered, “Okay, guys. I think we are done here. I will give you the location information to you in the morning.” He mentally added, 'I know that a couple you would go to night, if you had that information. But, getting some sleep would be a wiser course of action for everyone.' He continued, “Also, Jayne, Zoe, please escort River to my penthouse living room.”
Both Jayne and Zoe responded to Chang, by silently nodding.
Chang turned to River, as he thought, 'It is not that I don't trust you, River. It is just that you can be spontaneous, and too much is on the line for you to go rogue, and try to find Lee, yourself. I believe I can handle the situation, and save Lee. But, I need to time. And you going off on your own, might throw a monkey wretch in my plans to bring Lee back here, safe and sound.'
River looked at Chang. She nodded, as she said, “Okay.”
Chang then turned to Annie, as he requested, “Annie, I would like to speak to you for a moment.”
Annie turned to Chang, as she said, “As you Earthers say. It is your dime.”
Chang cracked a grin, as he said, “You have been around us way too long.”
Annie return Chang's grin, as she replied, “Perhaps.”
Inara said, “Well, I have to get back to the spa.”
Mal stated, “And we need to get back to the security office.”
Jetta commented, “And the gaming floor is not going to police itself.”
Spike said, “I need to check on my daughter.” She mentally added, 'And do some thinking. As what type of revenge I would like to have on Lee.'
Kaylee turned Simon, as she inquired, “Are we still on for our date tonight?”
Simon looked over at Kaylee. He smiled, as he responded, “Of course. I have been looking forward to it all day.”
Arcee thought, 'Well, Chang needs some private time to speak to Annie. And I cannot go into the normal areas of the casino. But, I can do something else. And invite someone with me.' Arcee offered, “Anyone want to go riding around town with me?”
Faye said, “Sure.” She turned to look at Chang and Jetta, as she continued, “If it is okay with my bosses?”
Chang and Jetta look at each other. They turned to Faye.
Chang shrugged, as he said, “Go ahead.”
Jetta stated, “Sure. Just don't be out too late.”
Faye replied, “Thanks, Jet, and Chang. I will be back in an hour or two,”
Arcee smiled, as she said, “Grab a helmet, and let's go, sister.”
As Faye quickly got a black helmet from a nearby table, Arcee transformed into motorcycle mode, while giving the radio signal a nearby garage door to the outside parking lot, to unlock and roll up.
A few seconds later, Faye sat one Arcee's seat, with her helmet on, as Arcee roar out of the garage, and onto streets of Plata Podrido. With Acree signaling the open garage door to close behind them.
Less than a minute later, the garage clear out, except for Chang, and Annie.
Chang and Annie looked at each other, as Annie commented, “It is real nice of Arcee to give us some privacy.”
Chang agreed, “Yes. It is. And it allows me to speak to you in private. I noticed that you were quiet during the meeting just now.”
Annie responded, “There was no point in speaking, when everyone already had their minds made up.”
Chang questioned, “How was the mood in the room?”
Annie stated, “Barring Mal, and Spike, most of them were mildly amused by the situation. They were on the fence with hunting Lee. They will only do it because Mal and Spike want to, along with it being an excuse to have some fun.”
Chang said, “I can understand that. Most of this crew would ditch this nine to five job, if I did not pull on their reigns occasionally. Along with the great pay, and wonderful employee perks, I provide them. And you.”
Chang mentally noted, 'Still, I cannot treat them too favorably, when compared to my rank and file employees. Or, that could cause moral problems for everyone. Still, I give my rank and file employee some nice perks, and wonderful pay, as well. So, everyone is getting a piece of the pie, from our little operation.'
Annie complimented, “You have better managerial skills than I do. And in my former job, I had a reputation of literally choking people to force them, and their coworkers, to fall in line.”
Chang shook his head, as he said, “I am not even going to dignify that comment with a joke.”
Annie replied, “Thank you.”
Chang thought, 'Well, with a compliment like that. I think I am finally making my way out of the dog house with you, Annie.' He inquired, “So, what about Spike and Mal?”
Annie commented, “Both of them want blood, but they think Lee does not deserve a quick death.”
Chang inquired, “Okay. That is still workable. So, what do you want to do?”
Annie answered, “Let Lee be. I don't want to go after him. That man has been through enough.”
Chang said, “Yes. He has. And I have a good excuse in mind to allow you to stay here. Since River is not going, you can babysit, River. It will give us both an excuse for you to not go.”
Annie responded, “Good idea. And thank you.”
Chang replied, “You are welcome.”
Annie said, “If you don't mind. I am going to go have some dinner at the casino restaurant.”
Chang said, “Go ahead.”
Annie inquired, “By the way, what are you going to do about River?”
Chang admitted, “Nothing really. The main thing I intend to do is keep her from throwing a wretch into my plans. There are too many wheels in motion with the situation, as is. And all three of us agree we want Lee to turn out fine. Lee is polite, intelligent, skilled in a number of areas, and nice to be around. I had some wonderful conversations with him. And that is a great combination to have as an employee. And as a friend.”
Annie commented, “Also, in a lover.”
Chang admitted, “True. And I know you are thinking the same thing I am.”
Annie questioned, “Has River fallen for Lee?”
Chang responded, “Exactly. Still, I would not be angry. Lee has been a perfect gentlemen around River. And as Sam, Lee did not know River was River. Until likely very recently. Still, I have plans for that situation, as well. Plans that would benefit all parties involved.”
Annie replied, “I am sure. Though, I do not want to know.”
Chang said, “I appreciate that. Yet, I am not sure what I am going to say to River, when I talk to her, when I head up to the penthouse. I think, I will walk around the casino for a while, so I can think.”
Annie complimented, “That is a wise course of action.”
Chang cracked a grin, as he agreed, “Yes. It is. Now, go enjoy your supper, Annie.”
Annie replied, “Sure thing. See you later, Chang.”
Annie then walked out of the garage, and into the casino building itself, as she headed for the casino restaurant, by the gaming floor, to get some dinner.
A minute after Annie left, Chang started casually walking back into the interior hallways of the casino building, so he could wonder around, and think, alone.
(_)
At the moment, Aeryn, Violin, Revy, and Rock walked out of the front entrance of the casino.
The four woman came to a stop, as Rock went to the nearby valet, to hand in her stub, to get her car.
As this went one, Violin turned to the other women, as she commented, “You got to admit, that Chang is one classy dude. Even when he is a she.”
Revy turned to Aeryn and Violin. She cracked a grin. She snorted, as she said, “You are preaching to the choir.”
Aeryn said, “Well, he is smooth. But, he reminds me of Scorpius, in that way.”
Revy inquired, “Speaking of Scorpius. I am toying with the idea of inviting her.”
Both Aeryn and Violin turn to her, as they stated, in unison, in a strong tone of voice, “No.”
Aeryn said, “Scorpius is not to be trusted, at all. She would more likely try to frell Lee's brains, than hurt him. Unless she did both at the same time.” She turned to Violin, as she continued, “She has been know to do both, at the same time, before.”
Violin noticed her wife looking at her. And she realized the subtext of Aeryn's comments. Violin stated, “Speaking of which, after we had that poker game at the Rats Nest. I visited her, a few days ago. And when we talked about that game, Scorpy did have a strange grin on her face.”
Aeryn inquired, “You don't think she figured out who Lee was and she didn't tell us?”
Violin conceded, “That is likely. And knowing her. She likely covered for him, and she then frelled him.”
Revy admitted, “I honestly don't want to know.”
Aeryn replied, “Neither do I.”
Violin said, “I agree.”
The three women then watched as the GTO was driven up to the carport in front of them.
The valet parked the car, got out, and she handed Rock the keys.
As soon as Rock had her car keys in her hands she walked back to the three women, as she said, “Okay, girls. Let's get back to the hotel.”
Revy complimented, “Good idea.”
Rock grinned, as she commented, “And by the way. I found Scorpius' new female form to be a bit cute. I could see them frelling each other.” She then turned away, laughing, as the three other women followed behind her, to the car that was parked right in front of them.
As they walked, Aeryn looked over at Revy, as she commented, “Some days, I honestly wonder which of you two is the more deviant one.”
Revy replied, “Me too. Me too.”
The four women then got into the GTO, with Rock driving, as they headed back to the Devil's Hotel to plan and prepare with their group. For their hunt of Lee. And then they planned get some rest, for the hunting would begin tomorrow morning.
(_)
An hour later, Chang finally made it up to the penthouse floor, and to the hallway door, that lead directly to the living room of the apartment he shared with River.
While Chang stood in the hallway, in front of the door to the personal residence that Chang and River shared. Chang pulled out a key and unlocked the door.
As he pocketed the key, he opened the door, which opened directly into the living area of their penthouse apartment.
After he walked inside, he locked and shut the door behind him.
Chang looked around the living room, and he saw River, sitting on the couch, to his left, across from their large, wall mounded, widescreen TV, and entertainment center, to his right.
They were the only two people in the room.
And Chang saw that River was looking back him.
Chang commented, “I can never surprise you? Can I?”
River shrugged, as she replied, “It comes with the territory with being a telepath. Come sit down.”
Chang walked over, between the couch, and coffee table, as he sat down beside River on the couch, to River's right side.
As soon as Chang settled in, he turned to River, at River turned to look at him.
Chang asked, “So, how are you holding up?”
River answered, “Sore, but fine. Given I just had to talk my way through two groups of badasses, that were not happy with my actions, I consider myself lucky.”
Chang agreed, “And you should.”
River inquired, “I can read your mind. But, how do you feel concerning my actions, as Sam?”
Chang admitted, “I am indifferent. I am not surprised you pulled this off. And I am sure you would have told me the truth, soon enough. But, it seems that the maids threw both our time tables out the window.”
River responded, “Yes. They have a gift for doing that. And I was planning on telling you soon. To be honest, probably within the next few days.”
Chang inquired, “I believe you. So, how close was Lee to taking the offer we worked on, before the maids showed up?”
River stated, “Lee was very close. He considered it to be very fair. He main plan was to keep his head down for a few days, to allow you to iron out the details, before he accepted your offer.”
Chang stated, “Good. And what about your original plan? How did that fit in with my plan?
River said, “You had the better plan. Once I learn about it, I made my plan to be a plan B. With you plan being, plan A.”
Chang said, “That is nice. You always were one to change plans, and move in a different direction, if you thought it was best.”
River inquired “Yes. I do. I know that I cannot go on this hunt for Lee. For obvious reasons. But, is there anything in your plans that I can be a part of, in finding, and helping, Lee?”
Chang answered, “Sadly. Not that moment. Revy, Rock, and the others will think I am up to something. Which I am. If you follow after Lee, you will risk wrecking my plans, and getting Lee killed, or worse. So, I ask you for appearance sake, and Lee's personal sake, that you stay around the casino tomorrow.”
River said, “I understand. And I will stay around here tomorrow.”
Chang commented, “Thank you. Also, Annie does not want to go after Lee.”
River stated, “While I can understand Arcee liking Lee. It is surprising that Lee was able to make such a good impression with Annie.”
Chang pointed out, “Yes. And Lee has to be genuine in his actions, concerning Annie, to achieve such a rapport with her. Or, she would have sensed he was lying.”
River replied, “True. And I guess that honestly has saved him from her wrath.”
Chang stated, “Absolutely. Anyway, Annie will be using the excuse of watching you tomorrow, so she does not have to go hunting after Lee. As such, you will have company for tomorrow. And I know that you two are good friends. So, there should not be any problems with this.”
River kindly responded, “Thank you. I have always been comfortable around Annie. Also, we both know if Annie goes, the others will immediately rely on her force abilities to find Lee, quickly. And Lee knows that even with his precognition, he cannot counter Annie's level of power and skill. He is not that good. And if Annie refuses to help in that way, it will cause questions to be asked, concerning her. And how much she knew about Lee, before tonight.”
Chang replied, “Those were my thoughts exactly.”
River grinned, as she said, “And I wasn't even reading your mind, just now.” She dropped her grin, as she inquired, in a sober tone of voice, “So, what happens if Lee is captured?”
Chang answered, “I figured that if we get him, he will get beaten up, but otherwise unharmed. And he will be bought here. We will figure out what to do him, afterward. That gives us both time to come up with a plan. If Revy's group gets him, we still have a shot of getting him. But, if the maids get him, there is nothing really I can do.”
River sadly said, “I understand. And given the situation, that is a good plan. Let us just hope that Lee can avoid the maids.”
Chang mentioned, “While the maids are next to unstoppable in a battle, they are very, very direct. On the other hand, Lee excels at being indirect. As long as they don't corner him, I think that Lee can stay one step ahead of them.”
River responded, “I agree. Actually, after Lee learned the maids were in town, and my real identity, he tried to turn himself over to Revy and the others, by singing a song. It is just he did not count on them being too dense to understand what he was doing.”
Chang inquired, “I can understand him wanting to turn himself over to someone, besides the maids. But, why didn't he just come to me?”
River answered, “Lee believed that with the maids already in town, you would not protect him, because you would not cross the maids.”
Chang stated, “I admit that I told the two of the maids that I would not cross them. When I met with them earlier today.”
River commented, “I heard that Eda sent them your way.”
Chang said, “Yes. Though, I won't hold that against Eda. She was just likely buying time for Lee.”
River replied, “That she was.”
Chang asked, “So, she cares about him?”
River stated, “Yes. But, only as a friend.”
Chang said, “Good. Anyway, while I would not cross the maids, directly, I would have called in Garcia, and have him mediate the situation.”
River complimented, “Given they would listen to him. That would be a wise idea.”
Chang said, “I know. When Lee is captured, by any of our groups. I will call in Garcia.”
River offered, “Good. I will help with that.”
Chang stated, “You're help is more than welcome.” He then inquired, with curiosity in his tone of voice, “So, what was with this whole, Sam act?”
River answered, “At first, I just wanted to learn about the writer, and who he really was, before I captured him.”
Chang guessed, “But then, you got to know him, and you found out he was not that bad a guy.”
River responded, “Yes. That story has already been told a hundred different ways.”
Chang shrugged, as he said, “At least. And I have to ask. You haven't fallen for him? Have you?”
River answered, “I don't think so. And I still care about you, Chang.”
Chang replied, “Good. Though, that would not be the end of the world. You could always share.”
River giggled. She grinned towards Chang, as she complimented, “That is what like about you, Chang. Your pragmatism.”
Chang returned River's grin, as he replied, “Thank you.”
River mentioned, “Also, Ranma has some magic smoke that will make you remember your time in the time loop. Given, we just spent much of that time having fun with each other, it would be worth remembering.”
Chang smiled, as he said, “I will have to ask Ranma for that smoke, then. I will probably to it, tomorrow, when we meet, to plan our hunt for Lee. So, what do you want to do tonight?”
River stated, “I would love to sleep with you, but I am a little sore, right now. Revy kneed me in the groin as a man, and I made the mistake of turning back into a woman. Now, I am sore in both my abdomen, and groin. Though, I am almost over the soreness. But, I am in no mood for sex, in either form.”
Chang calmly questioned, “Okay. Have you had dinner, yet?”
River answered, “Not yet.”
Chang stated, “Then, when we are finished talking, we will order in for you, and I will get you a heating pad.”
River happily replied, “Thanks. That would be nice.”
Chang responded, “No problem. By the way, I know about Melvin, and I have no interest in telling the others. Still, I cannot find any information on the Rats Nest bartender. Who the hell is she?”
River answered, “Think of what bar, the Rats Nest bar reminds you of, and you will have your answer.”
Chang thought about River comment for a few seconds. He then started laughing as he figure out who the bartender was. As he calmed down, he said, “That figures. And Bao is actually a hotter chick than my female side.”
River said, “I know. I am slightly jealous of her figure, myself. The thing is, about Boa's new bar. If Revy, or those with her, ever figured out the bartender is Bao, they would never leave this town.”
Chang stated, “Oh yes. You're right. They would stay. If for any other reason, than Bao is only one of the few bartenders, in the multiverse, that can handle their level of insanity, on a continual basis. So, let's keep this a secret between us.”
River replied, “Agreed. Though, the maids blew up her bar.”
Chang inquired, “Did Bao have that place insured?”
River answered, “From what I read of her mind, yes.”
Chang shrugged, as he responded, “Then, she will have that place rebuilt in no time. She has a lot of experience with rebuilding bars.”
River cautioned, “I guess she would. Though, be aware she completely owns that bar, and she has no interest in taking crap from anyone. She also knows the police chief on a first name basis.”
Chang stated, “Yes. Pedro seems to prefer to be polite and deal with things in a civil manner. So, did they?”
River grinned mischievous, as she answered, “Yes.”
Chang returned River mischievous grin, with his own, as he questioned, “Does he know?”
River responded, “Not yet. But, Pedro is sharp. He will figure it out, eventually.”
Chang said, “Considering, I learned that he thinks my female form is hot, I am not going to make an issue out of it. And once he figures out you are, Sam, I am sure he will warm up to you.”
River replied, “Probably. I have done nothing, but be nice to him. And I did keep his secrets.”
Chang agreed, “True.”
River commented, “Anyway, I need to call Pedro at his home. As Sam, to make sure he got Lee's warning. Revy and the others already know Pedro was in on Lee's con. But, I could not tell from their minds if Pedro just left the police station, or the city itself.”
Chang stated, “If it is about the maids, he already got the warning. He, and half his police force, left town, on short notice, earlier this evening. Right before dark.”
River said, “Good. That man knows when it is time to leave. And it seems those under him, that know what is going on, also realize when it is time to leave.”
Chang agreed, “Yes. Pedro's genre savviness is one of the traits I admire about him. He knows how to push a situation just enough to get what he wants. But, he also knows when it is time run. And so do most of his officers” He then pulled out his cellphone, as he inquired, “So, what do you want to have for dinner?”
River said, “I would like a chicken caeser salad, with a glass of lemonade. Lee seemed to like the salad the cooks here prepared for him. And I trust his judgment on such matters.”
Chang stated, “Okay. Coming right up.” He then dialed the extension number for the casino restaurant, so River could dine in, in their home, for the evening.
To be continued.
Badasses Of the Multiverse Book 5: “The Gambling Man.”
Volume 2: “Total Badass.”
Chapter 02: “River's Journey.”
By Paul Cousins.
Copyright Disclaimer: All copyrighted places, characters, items, and events, within the story, are held by their current owners. No profit is being made on this work of fiction.
(_)
Reality: Lee's Reality. Date: The morning after Lee escaped into the multiverse. Place De La Plata Podrido, the living penthouse of Daiyu Palace Casino. Time: Mid-morning.
River Tam was currently sitting on the couch, with the TV off, thinking to herself, about her life, and what she was going to do now.
While, River had already had breakfast, she was still wearing her pink sleeping gown, and she barefoot on the short red carpet of the large living room rug.
Presently, River decided to stretch her legs.
River got up from her couch and looked out from the one of the living room windows, across from the hallway door to the room. With that window facing towards the city scape of the island, passed the outdoor patio of the apartment. The window was a three feet wide, six feet high, tinted window, with curtains on it. Though, the curtains were pulled open, to the sides. Also, the window was sealed shut, and like all the windows in the penthouse, it was not designed to be opened.
River thought, 'Yesterday was a roller coaster ride. Fortunately, it ended well for myself. And Lee, for the moment... Well, whatever counts of a moment, when one deals with time travel, across multiple realities.'
'Still, what about Lee? One of the most badass collections of people how found out that Lee is the writer, and as such they are after Lee's ass. And they do not even have a clue as who the real Lee is.'
'For example, upstairs, Lee is not male. Lee is a closet male to female transsexual. That is why I think of Lee as a her. And I do not her hold gender problems against her.'
'Especially, given she does not hold much against me tricking her into thinking I was someone else. And a man at that. While I also read her mind without her permission. Lee is clearly a better person than most. And she has not control over what she thinks on those issues. Though, she handles her problems own well.'
'Given Lee's overall situation in life, staying in the closet was the wisest coarse of action. And to that end, while she does not wear female clothing, because those dresses would not look good on her. And she loathes wearing men's suits. She only wears a suit when she has to. Lee prefers to wear gender neutral clothing when she can.'
'This is why she was so interested in writing about the gender bending genre. It helps to keep her sane. And her gender problems are also why a small part of her hates and envies those she wrote about. But, on a small part. The rest of her prefer to be polite about the situation.'
'And to think that all this started a few months ago, not counting the time loop. Well, at least a few months for myself, and my family and friends.'
'It all started during a cookout at the Lowe family's residence, in Tharsis City, on Mars, in the Cowboy Bebop reality.'
'This was where my friends and I first found about about the stories, and the writer.;
'Though, during the talent contest, at the Devil's Hotel, Chang and I were not completely honest with Revy and the others, about how we found out about the writer and the stories. In all honesty, it involved two Lowe family cookouts.'
'During the first cookout, Balalaika was the one to tell us about the stories and the writer. The reason why she was at the cookout was that B and the Lowe family members were good friends.'
'It seems that Balalaika and B decided to make it sound like only Balalaika knew, to prevent any problems that B might have with us, and the Lowe family.'
'The next time Chang and I could talk in private, I told him all this. We agreed not to tell the others about B knowing more than she let on, because we respect B's relationship with us and the Lowe family, as well.'
'And I was surprised by the way Balalaika told us. She did so in a matter of fact manner, with a straight face. She gave us the basics. Including the way Revy and their friends flushed out, with Scorpius' broadcasts of the message. We want the writer.'
'When Balalaika was finished with her explanation, she then gave us CD copies of the stories.'
'Though, I did read Balalaika's minds. She thought she could hide her thoughts by thinking in the russian language. But, she did not count on me knowing russian.'
'In the Verse, while a number of older languages are taught. They are rarely used. Much like Latin is treated in the twenty-first century. And many languages that have fallen to the wayside.'
'With the three main languages in the Verse being english, chinese, and a mix of the two, along with a few other languages mixed with the third language.'
'This was not the case for other realities, such as the Cowboy Bebop reality. While english and chinese are the main languages of that reality. Many other languages are still spoke and used, in that reality.'
'Since we came to the Cowboy Bebop reality, I had fun learning a number languages. Such knowledge helps me keep straight what my thoughts are, and what other people's thoughts are.'
'And Ed Lowe was in a good teacher on a number of the languages. Though, since the Lowe family and B, are so close to Balalaika and Hotel Moscow. I found someone else to discreetly teach me russian.'
'I learned that Revy told Balalaika and B about the stories and the writer. With Rock later talking to the two women, to smooth out the situation for Revy said to them. Rock and the two women came to an arrangement, where they, and Hotel Moscow would not become directly involved with hunting down the writer, and instead, Revy, Rock, and their group would personally hunt down the writer.'
'Still, the reason why Balalaika told us was that she wanted to stir the pot a bit. She did not want Revy and her friends to have all the fun. But, by the same token, she did not want to directly involve herself, or Hotel Moscow, just yet. So, she baited us, and had us do the job, while she stood back and watched. All in the hopes that she could come in and benefit from the situation.'
'And we all eventually took the bait, just as she expected us to.'
'Incidentally, I also learned from Balalaika's mind, on how Revy and the others learned of the stories, and the writer, in the first place.'
'It began with the trio sisters, Mikoto, Nodoka, and Yurika.'
'Now, like Lee's stories, the cause and effect of the situation becomes debatable. That the only explanation that could be used, were time stable loops that were tied together.'
'For the sisters, a few months after the events of book four, They were bored one day, and they were playing a reality tracking device, much like Dutch used in the Devil's Hotel bar.'
'They noticed that one reality, out of the way of the other realities that they and their friends usually traveled to, had received a lot of reality traveling traffic over the course of a number of years.'
'Later, I realized that reality traveling traffic was our future selves... Well past selves, now. Or present self, considering the reality travel is still going, with more travel to come in the future.'
'It can get confusing with tense issues, when it comes to time travel. I guess is all comes down to the point of view of the person comment on the issue.'
'Anyway, the trio sisters when to this reality, a few months before the travel picked up. Actually, they went to this very island town.'
'Still, they could not find any reason for that level of traveling.'
'So, they decided to check the internet of that reality, with a computer laptop they had. They checked into a hotel, I do not think the Devil's Hotel, it may have been this hotel, during its previous ownership.'
'They searched the news websites, with no luck. Then, on just a lark, they decided to type in all three of their parents first names. Akira, Natsuru, and Ranma. In english. Together To see if the search would bring up something interesting. And web search pulled up Lee's stories.'
'As the three teenage women started reading book one of Lee's stories, they soon realized they were reading about their own family, and themselves. After finishing reading all four books, they left this reality, for their home reality, where they told their parents.'
'Their parents, told their friends, including the Lagoon family, and is snowballed from there. With Revy eventually telling Balalaika, whom told us.'
'I do not know how everyone reacted to learning about the stories, and the writers, because Revy did not tell Balalaika. And they really have not thought much on the subject, while I have been around them, as River, or Sam. But, I have the feeling that they did not react well to this knowledge, especially, the Lagoon family.'
'Balalaika herself, reacted to the stories, and the writer, with a touch of anger, though mostly she felt curiosity about how someone could imagine, and write, such things, about her friends, and herself, that could come true. And that someone could have such control over her, so easily, with her not realizing, for a second time. Next to the Black Lagoon series, itself. Though, given she had her youth restored by the writer, along with having a lover that is loyal to her, she was not that anger.'
'And I fully agree with Melvin and Lee. Balalaika turning the rest of the members of Hotel Moscow was completely on Balalaika's own head.'
'For the rest of us, we mostly took the news with either indifference, or anger.'
'The indifference coming from most of them. With the anger most coming from Mal and Spike.'
'Chang took the news with his usual mix of indifference and humor.'
'The Lowe family members each got a good laugh over the entire situation, and they voiced their opinion that they would like to meet the writer, sometime.'
'And I took the news with curiosity. The type of curiosity I had not felt since I wanted to learn more about Chang, and how I met him, well her at the time.'
'Though, it all took us about a week to read the all four books of Lee's stories. Lee clearly does not do things in half measures. And that was a long read.'
'Though, as I read Lee stories, I was entranced that someone could create such a dynamic story, with multiple points of view, with each story having a different set of main characters, while using the same character pool, and adding new characters, while weaving all these plot lines, which intersected, into a workable storyline that made sense.'
'The mechanics of the story was a work of genius. A work that we experienced first hand, by being part of the stories.'
'And while I wanted to meet this person, and have a measure of vengeance against this person, for using us with such disregard, I still wanted to learn about the person.'
'Though, at the time, I did not realize that the writer did not realize what she had done.'
'Still, a few days after we all finished reading the stories, we had a large meeting, which even Annie and Arcee attended. My friends all agreed to do two things.'
'First, we would let Revy and the others have their shot, given they were already there, on the ground, doing the hunting.'
'The second being that none of us would tell the Lovelace family about the writer, nor the stories. We all realized that due to the writer cursing Garcia with the spring of drowned girl curse, that if the maids learned of the stories, and the writer, they would be on the warpath, with likely a lot of innocent people being killed, as they searched for the writer.'
'Though, unlike the others, I lied about the first, and I secretly took one of the reality devices that Kaylee and I built, using Chang's memories. With those devices working wonderfully. I then did my own investigation of the writer.'
'Though, during this time, when we were on Mars, after our meeting, but before I left on my investigation, Violin and Aeryn showed up. I sensed them coming from a distance, before they saw me. I know they could only be here to ask for my help in find the writer. I did not want to help them, because I was not sure what they would do to the writer, when they caught him.'
'I wanted to find the writer, by myself. And make the judgment on what to do about the writer, by myself. I did not need help to do so. And having others along would only complicate the plans I was already formulating in my mind.'
'And those two were skilled enough, and foolish enough, to try to make me do something I did not want to do.'
'Since I wanted to avoid a confrontation, I hid from them, and everyone else I knew, until they left, a few hours later. I have played the hide and seek game occasionally with my friends, over the years. Without telling them first. Which they are use too.'
'When it comes to hiding, I am nowhere near as bad about, as I use to be, when I was insane. Still, even though, doing so is a bit childish. I still in enjoy playing that game. So, me disappearing for a little while, would not be noticed by my family and friends.'
'After I sensed Aeryn and Violin had finally left, I returned to my brother, Simon, and our friends. They did not ask me why I hid. All they said was that the married couple was looking for me.'
'I guess that meant that Violin and Aeryn did not tell them why they wanted to find me. And they had not figured out why that married couple was looking for me. Or, in the case of Chang and Simon, they were just being polite, and they did not want to add fuel to the fire, by saying why they thought those two wanted to find me, to help them find the writer.'
'And with Aeryn and Violin gone, that meant I could secretly focus on finding the writer, myself.'
'But, that did not mean I was in a rush. Given reality devices also allow for time travel, along with reality and location travel, in an instant, there was no rush. I had time to secretly plan, while waiting for a lead, and an opportunity to begin my search for the writer.'
'Both the lead, the opportunity, came during the next cookout the Lowe family invited us all to.'
'During the second cookout, Balalaika and B were there, and we all talked about the stories and the writer. It was then that Balalaika gave us an update one what the she and B, from a recent conversation with Revy and Rock.'
'This conversation was when I learned a few other interesting items.'
'One was that Balalaika's members had tracked down their wayward Hotel Moscow member, to the same hotel Revy and the others were staying at. But, they lost Yuricks' trail there.'
'Given B had already requested the Lowe family and us to be on the look out for Yurick. This was not a secret to us. And at the time, we did offer to help them, if we saw Yurick. I have sense changed my mind on helping those two russians in their search, because we did not know exactly why they were looking for Yurick.
'We did not know that Balalaika had all her subordinates put through the vat process, save for Yurick, whom did not want that. With that being more an order, then a request. And Yurick then escaped from Balalaika and Hotel Moscow, and into the multiverse, for those reasons.'
'Even I did not know this, until I read Yurick, or should I say, Melvin's mind, on the matter, when I came to the Devil's Hotel restaurant and bar. During the first time I had a chance to I talk to him. And as I got to know Melvin, I have come to admire Melvin. And I am more than happy to keep his real identity a secret from everyone.'
'Though, that was when I realized that Balalaika and B had found a way to shield their thoughts from them. Though, I don't mind. I am not interested in their thoughts. And some of their thoughts are unpleasant to read.'
'Then, we learned what Yolanda and Eda had done. Balalaika told us about how Revy's group flush the writer out, and how around a month later, in response, the writer left them a baited message, sent from a Mexican island city, called Plata Podrido, the local reality calendar date of when the bait was sent, and who exactly was going after the writer.'
'And Balalaika then mentioned what Yolanda and Eda's plans were, about dealing with the bait, and trying to capture the writer. That instead of going right after the bait was sent, they went a few months into the past, to lay and trap, and try to find the writer, before the writer was expecting them. Meanwhile, Revy, Rock, and the others, would come for the bait, a few days after the writer sent the message.'
'While, at the time, I did not know exactly what the two blonds' trap was, I found the concept of Yolanda and Eda's idea to be brilliant. To set the counter trap, before the bait was even laid for the original trap.'
'In essence, do an effect before cause. As some of Lee's plots reflected, in her stories.'
'So, I decided do the same thing myself.'
'And that I would be the first one to find Lee.'
'Though, I would not go to the future to find out who the writer was. It would be too easy, and it would risk creating a paradox. I later learned from Revy and her friends, by secretly reading their minds, that they share the same opinion on this matter, as I did, on not wanting to create paradox.'
'Besides, I considered finding the writer to be challenge worthy of my genius, creativity, and skills.'
'After I had my tools ready. The first thing I did was to build a profile of the writer, from her stories. While I later was impressed to find that Lee could create workable profiles of people as well, she was not the only one that could do so.'
'And her stories did show some clues, about herself. But, not many. In the author's notes, I remembered the writer mentioning that Bob was a near polar opposite of the writer. That gave me a lot of clues right there. Were Bob was outgoing, while the writer would be home bound.'
'One major mistake that Lee made, that fortunately none of the others, after her, caught onto, was that Lee admitted to having spent time in Georgia. With Lee mentioning places in Georgia. From Savannah, to Atlanta.'
'Given Lee started her story with Akira being in Atlanta Georgia, at Georgia Technical College. Divulging this information was risky on Lee's part, and it was a major oversight by Rock, Revy, and the others, to overlook this point.'
'Though, when Lee mentioned this knowledge, Lee did have a cover story ready. That she was from Nashville, Tennessee. While that is not exactly true, from the memories I read from her mind, she had spent time, over the years, in Nashville.'
'Still, while having the cover story ready was intelligent on Lee's part, it was still one hell of a gamble for her. But then, this entire adventure has been one long gambling streak for herself.'
'And when I built my profile of the writer, long before I knew it was Lee, I noticed other clues. Such as the writer's content in the story showed at very detailed knowledge of manners, which Bob displayed, and still does. I saw this in Lee's writings, and first hand, by getting to know, Bob.'
'This showed that the writer was clearly a well mannered person.'
'Still, while I was sure that, at the time, I had no way to prove it. But, meeting Lee confirmed my beliefs. A lot of things can be said about Lee, but she is polite.'
'Further research of the stories showed that given the writer was anti-affirmative action, that it likely meant that the writer was at least physically a caucasian male of the U.S.'
'Along with this, the writer's injokes, in the stories, mostly came from the nineteen eighties, and onward, which gave me an idea of the writer's age, and date of birth, in the context of the date I was going to, for that reality.'
'Also, I noticed that the writer never went into detail about winter sports. Such a skying, and snowboarding. But instead, the writer went into detail about activities at the beach. This lead me to believe that the writer, unlike Bob, was not from the midwest states of the United States of America.'
'Instead, the writer was from a warmer climate, that the writer was not use to snow, but the writer was still from continental United States. That meant that he was either from the west coast, east coast, or coast on the Gulf of Mexico, of that nation.'
'Given the writer's firearms knowledge, and the writer's clear pro-gun ownership leanings. Along with some cultural research on the United States of that era, I eliminated the west coast, and the northern part of the east coast, as being possibles origins of the writer. That left the coast line long the southeastern part of the United States.'
'And further research on the people of the southeastern United States helped confirm my suspicions.'
'From my research about the people of that area, I learned of the term, southern hospitality. That there were those in that region that prided themselves on their manners, and civility towards others. And that is a trait that I find attractive in people.'
'I also found out that the people of the southeastern U.S. were also known to be creative, and slightly crazy. Which helped to explain some of writer's skills with her imagination.'
'After meeting Lee, and getting to know her, I got a kick out of it, when I found out I was right on all these points.'
'Though, I did not have an answer to the writer's obsession with gender bending, until later. All I was sure of was that is was not a fetish, because if it was, the writer would have written more detailed sex scenes, instead of the tame and suggestive scenes the writer wrote. With her writing being lead ups, and aftermath scenes, but not much mention concerning the sex events, themselves.'
'I also found Lee was correct, that she and Bob were very different people.'
'The only similarities they shared was that neither of them were cowards, both of them were polite, and they were willing to work to solve their problems instead of procrastinate.'
'The most surprising point about this profile was, as far as I know, I was the only one to take the time to use the writer's own writings to build a psychological and physical profile of the writer. After doing so, and personally meeting Lee, it became obvious that Lee was the writer. The profile fit Lee's personality, physical traits, and place of origin.'
'Still, with a profile, of race, sex, age, and region origin, I had an idea of who to look for.'
'The next part was the search itself, for the writer.'
'When, I first came to this reality, I made sure it was a date before Scorpius' broadcast. So, I would have time to set up my plans.'
'This was when I hit my first obstacle. I took a laptop that Ed had helped me build, and I was intent on hacking into some computer servers to get my information. But, I found this reality's basic computer defensive and offensive software to be insane. And that is not even counting what measures and countermeasures, I found government and corporate computers used.'
'While the encryption systems were respectable, the firewalls and anti-virus programs were some of the strongest I had ever run across. There were solid VPN networks. One of which the writer used, along with a fake e-mail address, to hide the writer's identity. And it worked because it seemed that the governments were spying on virtually all communications. So, anyone that try to snoop too much, beyond basic serve IP address records, would be flagged by those governments.'
'This killed my first plans. But, it just meant that I had to be a little more creative in my hacking. Also, all this surveillance helped me in a number of ways.'
'It explained why the writer went to Mexico in the first place. The writer was on the run from the writer's own government, because the writer knew that when they put two and two together, the writer would be captured, and likely never heard again.'
'Still, with the baited message, I knew the writer would figure a way in leaving her home country.'
'Also, I realized this surveillance would limit the writer's options in leaving her county.'
'Given the writer's intelligence, I was sure she knew better. And she would not take anything that she could be trapped on. That meant no airplanes, boats, trains, nor buses. The writer would likely take the easiest of transportation which the writer probably had access too, and could control. A motorized vehicle.'
' But, given how far parts of the Southeastern U.S. were to the north Mexican border, I realized that I would have to wait a few days for the writer to reach the U.S.-Mexican border.'
'Still, I used that time well. I found that while I could not hack the computers, without risk of discovery to myself, I could monitor the incoming and outgoing communications of the customs officials in both the U.S. and Mexico. This included passport information, which I could use to correlate with my profile of the writer.'
'Also, I realized that the writer would go to the most nearest border crossing from the Southeastern United states.'
'That being one of the crossing from Brownsville, Texas, to Matamoros, Tamaulipas. I also knew that the writer would likely have a passport, and use it. If the writer did not have a passport, than she likely would have not heading for the Mexican border in the first place. And she would have probably done something else.'
'So, I then ran a program on my laptop, that use the profile I built of the writer, against those that traveled back and forth, across the border checkpoints.'
'And I waited, in a small, but nice hotel suite, in Matamoros, Tamaulipas. During that time, I had to eliminate a lot of false positives. But, that was not hard. Until finally, a few days after Scorpius' broadcast, I ran across the passport approval of a person, that flagged the program I had set.'
'This person had never used his passport before. Also, given the distance to this person's home. The person would have had to travel almost day and night to get from there, to get here, right after the broadcast. Also, the person's home was within less than few hours of some nice beaches.'
'In addition, the person age, gender, race, and place of origin, fit my profile of the writer.'
'And the writer's identity was further confirmed, when a few hours later, a message came in that flagged the writer as a material witness for a crime that never happened.'
'It was then, as a woman, I used my reality device to go a few hours into the past, at the border crossing on the Matamoros side, and I looked for the writer. The writer was not hard to find. Given, the message for the writer's capture also including a picture of the writer. Where the communications for the passport request, just listed text information.'
'Though, when I went looking for the writer, I realized, in the distance that Lee had spotted me. But, I also read Lee's mind, from a distance, at she was not sure that it was me. If Lee had realized it was me, that knowledge could have ended my plans there. And it might have created a paradox, in driving Lee away from going to Plata Podrido, and leaving her bait, on the internet, in the first place.'
'So, I quickly disappeared from Lee's sight, before he suspicions were confirmed. Fortunately, given I had my hair dyed red at the time. Lee did not recognize me. And Lee still decided to head to the Devil's Hotel in De La Plata Podrido.'
'Thought, it was then that I realized I had to be more careful. That Lee was a more observant person than I realized. And this only wet my interest in learning more of what made the writer's mind tick.'
'This also meant that I need to create a false identity. My male form would be perfectly suited for that job, because Lee never really described my male form in his stories. Though, my male side, physically, is on the average side, my male form is youthful, handsome, and in good shape. And that was not the only blind spot I was going to exploit against the writer.'
'Though, for that brief time I saw Lee, from a distance, I did learn four names for the writers mind. Her new alias J.D. Lee, the city of De La Plata Podrido, the Devil's Hotel, and the Rats Nest bar.'
'And those four names were all I needed to start the next part of my plans.'
'I knew where Lee was heading. That she was tired. And that she likely need some sleep. Which I was more than happy to give her, before I met her again.'
'But, instead of going there at the same time as Lee, I decided to us my reality device to I head back a week, in the past, check the city of De La Plata Podrido out. Especially, the two places in the city that Lee thought about. The Devil's Hotel, and The Rats Nest.'
'Though, I made sure I kept my dates straight, during this time period. So, I knew when Lee would check into the Devil's Hotel. Sleep for several hours. Then, during the next day, after she woke up, after getting something to eat, and running a few errands, she would eventually make her way to the Rats Nest.'
'Though, before I went back in time, in Lee's reality, I make a few detours in the multiverse, to get a few more tools and items I would need to implement my plan.'
'It was during this time, that I created my secret identity. Though, I worked on the identity, before I actually set foot on the island of Plata Podrido.'
'Given, as a woman, I was hot, and a fair skinned redhead at the time, considering I went back to dying my hair red. Though, even in my hair natural brown, people would noticed me and talk about me. And Lee might hear about a sexy, redheaded women, being seen around the island. Again, this might have scared Lee off, creating a paradox, by leaving the city, before she left her baited message.'
'So, I worked out my identity before I went to this island city.'
'I knew that my identity had to be male. And created the proper papers and identification cards was child's play for me. And being a member of the Serenity crew, I have done this dance a few time.'
'The issue was I also had to have a personality, and look, to go with my new secret identity. And does so kind of made me feel like a super-hero. With I guess Lee being the villain. Though, a nice villain, at that. And I do have weakness for nice villains.'
'Still, when it came to coming up working false personality for myself, as male, I had yet to do it. I just never got around to pretending to be a man, in public, in my male form. A few of the others have already pretend to go in public, in their opposite genders. With them pretending to be that gender, for the night.'
'Bob has done it on a dare, a few times. On one such time, Ed when as a male, by used one of those packets of instant man powder. And they had a great time together, in public, play opposite gender roles. Of course, they have been know to go out in public, as both female. And make out like a lesbian couple. Even thought, I know for a fact that Ed does not swing that way. Though, she is attracted to Bob, no matter Bob's current gender form. And I am happy about that.'
'Given Zoe masculine personality, she can so naturally go as a man, that we teased her a little on the matter. But, not to much.'
'Inara can pulled off the pretty boy routine, so well. That it is scary for the rest of us. Especially, Mal.'
'Kaylee was always a tomboy, and playing a male is not hard for her. And Simon is such a wonderful schemer, that in his female form, he can pull off the innocent girl act very well. When they date in public, in reversed gender roles. Doing so seems to natural to them.'
'Chang reached a point that both either gender is natural for him.'
'And when it came to a Jayne... Well, one time, we all went to a bar, in Tharsis City, and Jayne decided to go in his female form, while dressed like a bad girl biker. And I admit, she looked hot in that outfit. I do not know if I could have pulled off that look so well, in my female form.'
'Also, that night, Jayne decided played the bad girl act to the hilt.'
'By the first hour, we all watched, as Jayne got over a dozen phone numbers of people. Mostly men, but a few women. With the people interested in Jayne, buying her beers, left and right. Though, Jayne careful to know how much alcohol her female form could handle. Being Bob's drinking buddy helped with that. Only few times, those two when drinking in their female forms.'
'By the second hour, we had to leave that bar, because some of the other customers were starting to fight over her. Including, a few of the women.'
'Except for Mal, whom refuses to do anything in his female form. I seem to be the only gender bender in our group, that never got around to pretending to be the opposite gender, than I original am.'
'So, I considered this attempt, in of itself, to be a fun challenge.'
'But, what would my personality be as a man. And then I remember an animated series the Lowe family showed me, years ago. How one of the craziest characters in that series was revealed to be playing one of the main straight men of the series.”
“The series was titled, Gargoyles. And there was crazy character in that series, whom was named Puck, and the straight man Puck pretended to be was Owen. Even I did not see that plot twist coming, and it was pulled off so beautifully.'
'And that character inspired me to attempt something similar.'
'I asked myself the question. Could a crazy chick, or even a former crazy chick whom was now saner, play the straight man? And get away with it? I sure as hell wanted to find out. The attempt alone would be worth it.'
'And I think I did get away with it.'
'And I had so much fun along the way, in doing so. My insanity is well known. And while I spent the last few decades reclaiming much of my sanity. Some people still assume that I am out of my mind most of the time. Which I am not. I am now saner that most people I deal with. Including Chang, and Lee.'
'All one has to do is read Lee's stories to see that Lee is a very mentally unbalanced person. And her insanity is only further confirmed by some of the stunts I have seen her successfully pull in real life.'
'And Chang is crazy because he thinks it is a good idea to set up shop in a world that knows about all of us.'
'That being said, with such an assumption about my mental state, nobody would ever expect me to attempt to literally play the straight man of this situation.'
'The disguise was simple enough. I went with a slight, modern western motif. Among the basic items for, such as socks, and men's underwear, I wore a dark plaid button up, long sleeved shirt. Brown pants, with a brown leather belt. Black cowboy boots.'
'Though, I did buy a few changes of clothing, with different clothed clothing, but all of them were the same styles, just a different color combinations.'
'For the final touches, I pulled my long hair into a ponytail, using a hair band. And I bought a face, full, red beard, that matched my dyed red hair color, to wear on my face.'
'Though, I found the fake beard to be itchy on my face, I realized it was necessary, given the way Lee wrote her rules, gender benders had problems with growing beards. So, having a beard would throw Lee off my scent. And it work like a charm.'
'Also, the itchiness was on the skin, and not my nose, so I did not have to worry to much about sneeze, and changing back into a woman in front of other people. Though, that was still a danger, and I always kept myself aware of that possibility. As such, I was careful not to sneeze.'
'Then, it came time to choose an alias. I want to pick a name that I would naturally be comfortable with. So, after an hour of thinking, I decided to go with, Sam. And Lee later correctly guessed that the reason I went with, Sam, was because Sam rhymed with my family name, Tam.'
'Once I was in my male form, with my new clothing, fake beard, fake ideas, and some small bars of gold I had, I returned to Lee's reality, in Mexico, a week before Lee arrived in Plata Podrido.'
'Though, I did have some minor difficulty in finding Plata Podrido. I did found it interesting that the island city of Plata Podrido was not on any of the global maps of this world. But, once I got directions, reaching Plata Podrido was not difficult.'
'And I found that the history, I uncovered about this island, is very colorful. Still, when I finally came to this city, I found this town to be a pleasant place visit. It was rough around the edges, but nothing compared to some of the places I have been to.'
'When, I got to the island, I decided to buy a car, from someone that did not ask question. A gray, four door car. I did not bring one of my personal cars with me, because one of the other people after Lee, might recognize one of my cars.'
'Still, I found the car I bought easy to drive around in. Though, I choose not reveal to anyone, not even Lee, at the beginning, that as Sam, I had a car, and I knew how to drive.'
'Also, I decided that it would be best to have Lee come to me. And to do that, I needed to be at the right place, at the right time.'
'To that end, I did not go to the Devil's Hotel. That would not be the proper place for introductions. Though, I did decide to get a room there. I do find it interesting, that when I first went into that Devil's Hotel lobby, the music changed, and started playing the theme song, Secret Agent Man, by Johnny Rivers. I feel that place really does have a nice sense of humor.'
'During my first week on this island city, I establish myself as a gambler, at the Rats Nest bar. While making sure to park my car away from the bar, so no one at the bar, especially, the bartender, knew I could drive, and that I had a car.'
'I did the same at the Devil's Hotel. As I parked my car away from the Devil's Hotel parking lot. At a parking lot, a few blocked from the hotel, further into town.'
'And I did enjoy cleaning those people out of their money. Though, I was polite to the bartender there. And given my telepathy, I was able to prevent violence before it happen. Though, I did allow a few fights, to show that I was not to be messed with. But, I did not hurt anyone seriously.'
'And by doing all this those at the Rats Nest would leave me alone, and leave those I was with alone, such as, later on, the writer.'
'Then, there was the matter of whom I learned the bartenders at both the Rats Nest, and Devil's Hotel, were.'
'I found it humorous that two refugees from the same reality, and same city, had ended up in the same city, in other reality, around the same time. And while they had met each other, they had no idea they were from the same reality, and time period.'
'That the Rats Nest owner and bartender was the gender bent Bao. While, the Devil's Hotel bartender was Melvin, whom was really Yurick, the Blade, formerly of Hotel Moscow.'
'Both had their reasons for keeping their identities secret. And given both had been nice to me. After I was nice to them. I would respect those secrets, and not reveal who they to were to anyone.'
'Though, later on, I was not expecting Chang to figure out who Melvin was, on his own. And I was pleasantly surprised that all it took as a single clue from me, for Chang to figure out the Rats Nest bartender was, Bao.'
'And I hinted at about Bao, because Chang would have eventually dug some digging, and found out himself. This just saves us both time. So, we can put our time and efforts in more important areas. Such as figuring out a way to save Lee, from those after her, and that cancer that is slowly killing her.'
'Still, on how I planned to first meet with Lee. I decided to officially meet her at the Rats Nest. But, that did not mean I didn't want see her when she got to the Devil's Hotel. And I had already figured out how long it would take for Lee to reach Plata Podrido.'
'I was sure Lee would make it to the city in one piece, because I knew a month from that point in time, in this reality, the writer would leave her baited message on the internet. All I had to do was wait.'
'And, as male, I watched from a couch, in the left front corner of the hotel lobby, as Lee first walked into the lobby, with the music changing the song, Hotel California. And considering the time loop, that was a good musical selection for Lee's situation.'
'I got a much better look at Lee. As I read Lee's mind, and I realized she was going to check in, go to her room, and sleep until the next morning.'
'The next morning, I watched from a distance, in the hotel bar, as Lee ate her breakfast. I learned from reading her mind that she was going to start making plans that morning to get items, and do things, such as a hair cut, and dying her hair black, to help her. And that she was going to go to the Rats Nest, later that morning, after she finished her errands.'
'I did follow Lee some that morning. And I did so, on foot, from a distance. Because Lee was on foot.'
'But, when Lee returned to the hotel, early that afternoon, I started making my way to the Rats Nest. I walked, because I did not want the writer to know I had a car. I wanted to appear to be person on the lower end of the classes, but still be civil towards people.'
'So, I went to the Rats Nest. I sat at the large, left, far corner table in the room, that Lee and I would eventually make our unofficial table, to play poker at. And just as I finished cleaning out the people that decided to play me that afternoon, I notice Lee walking into the bar.'
'But, unlike what Lee previously looked like, Lee now looked the part of the street gambler, which from reading her mind, was her plan.'
'When Lee looked over at me, I decided it was time for us to formally introduce ourselves, so I got my money. I got up from the table, in the corner, I was sitting at. And I walked over to meet Lee.'
'And it was a wonderful meeting. It could not have gone better for both of us.'
'From reading Lee's mind, she realizes she would need help, even help from those that did not know they were helping, to pull off her con. And I was so intrigued by Lee's manners, and her mind, including her plans, that I decide to see how her actions would panned out.'
'Also, I learned from Lee's mind that my fake beard did fool her. The next part of the situation was simple. Gain Lee's trust, by inviting her to play some cards with me.'
'I let her win a few hands, and I lost a few hands, and by the time Lee was ready to leave, she had more money in her pocket than before.'
'When Lee stated she had to leave, and that she would be walking, to save on money. I offered to walk with her. She accepted. It was then that I steered the conversation and meeting to where I found out where Lee was staying, which I already knew, as the Devil's hotel. After she answered the question, I mentioned I was staying there, as well.'
'We kept each other company, as we walked back to the Devil's hotel. And that is where our friendship began.'
'When we got to the hotel, the music in the lobby change, and I had to hold in a chuckle, as I read Lee's mind about what the song, Deranged, by Coheed and Cambria, what the song was about, and where the song came from.'
'Over the course of the next few weeks, we continued meeting each other, and having fun playing cards, while talking.'
'I made sure to be the dealer of the cards. This allowed me to control how the cards would lay out. Faye wished she had my skills at cheating at cards, as the dealer. Card counting, and my fingernails, allowed me to control what card hand went were. Though, I make sure that the hands were usually incomplete, so Lee would have to work some at the game, to get better. And she did.'
'And as the dealer, I used the opportunity, to let Lee went more than she lost, so she had an income she could rely on to continue to live here.'
'And money was no problem for me. From the few gold bars I kept on me, and being a telepathy, allowed me to find who would give me the best deal on trading the gold for U.S. cash. Soon after I moved into Devil's Hotel, I learned the hotel offered a fair exchange rate for gold in both U.S. and Mexican currencies. I just got up earlier in the morning than Lee. I went down to the lobby, and I traded in a little gold for U.S. cash, as I needed.'
'Though, I made sure Lee never saw me trade in gold for cash, for it would have made her suspicious of me. Also, given the exchange rate, a few points of gold was enough money to keep me happy for several months in this city.'
'During that time, as the weeks passed, I soon realized that Lee had never really had a friend, so I decided to be a friend to her. Lee was likeable and polite, but not clingy. And while, at first, I pretended to be her friend. Due to Lee's polite nature, I slowly, genuinely became her friend.'
'Also, at that time, I read Lee's mind and I realized that Lee is just likeable and polite, but that she really is a decent person, whom unknowingly made one really big mistake. She did not even consciously realize her writings were effecting other people, in other realities, until Scorpius came on TV with that message to flush her out into the open.'
'Up until that moment, she thought of writing as just a harmless hobby that she could do, to work out her personal demons, without anyone to being harmed.'
'And Lee felt really guilt about what she had done. Her actions weighted heavily on her conscience.'
'It was then that I decided I needed to ditch my plans for revenge, and try to find a way to help Lee from suffering at the hands of Revy, Rock, and the others after her.'
'I could have given Lee my reality device then. But, I did read her stories. And running rarely works. Lee did too good a job of making Revy and the others skilled trackers and hunters. If Lee ran at that point, she would likely get caught. So, I decided to help her in other ways.'
'Then, I learned about Lee's gender problems. During our first week together, I noticed that went Lee looked at women, while she was attractive to some of them, her thoughts also reflected an envious nature as an instinctual level. Though, she only thought this, and she did not show any outward signs of being envious. It was then that I realized that Lee was a male to female transsexual. Female mind, male body.'
'And Lee was the first transsexual that I have gotten to know. And I found it an interesting experience to know someone with such a conflicting nature. Though, this nature also hurt Lee in ways even I do not want to know about. Yet, Lee did not show this pain. And at the time, I had no intention of mentioning that I knew this about her.'
'Also, Lee being a transsexual explained her obsession in so thoroughly writing about the gender bending genre.'
'Still, Lee's personal problems did not mean that I could not have fun with her, as I pretended to be slightly a wildman, as Sam.'
'While I liked being the straight man, I did not want to be a stick in the mud. Being a being a caricature of a straight man would likely get me found out. So, being a little wild, would help maintain my cover, from everyone, including Lee.'
'And as I was doing so, I could help Lee in a number of ways.'
'Along with intentionally losing money to Lee, as we played cards, I also helped Lee learn how to properly play poker. Such as how to realize one tails, how to learn other people's tails, betting low, and how to play the long game. Also, I helped her develope her poker face, for I realized she was going to need it when Revy and the others showed up. And Lee did master one hell of a poker face.'
'And by pretending to be a wildman, there were a few times those first few weeks, where Lee had to learn how to talk her way out of both of us getting our asses kicked by others. When I asked women out in on dates, in front of their boyfriends. That skill also came in handy with Lee dealt with Revy, and her more crazier friends.'
'Then, Lee did something that surprised even me. Soon after I met her, Lee asked if I would help her develop her precognitive skills at cards. I did not know that Lee was a pre-cog. But, from what I read of Lee's mind, when she talked about her skills, I realized she really had precognitive abilities.'
'So, I helped Lee, and after a few weeks of, on an off, practicing, Lee got so good that she could beat me at cards, seventy percent of the time, using her precognition, without actually looking at her cards. Which due to her precognition being on an instinctual level, I could not use my telepathy to counter it. And I found this situation to be intriguing. Which made me even more interested in Lee.'
'While I had played Annie before, at cards, with her using the force. This was different, because unlike Annie, Lee abilities were not the force, they were an innate talent that she had. Also, she was learning how to gain a measure of conscious control over her precognition. And not just at cards, but also as a way to sense danger, which I felt Lee needed, if she was to survive whom was coming for her.'
'Also, I enjoyed showing Lee some of my skills, such as when we played pool in the game room, of the Devil's Hotel. Lee considering me a pool shark, would be an understatement. And pool is all about the angles of how one strikes the cue ball, and how the cue ball, the other balls, and the walls of the table, interact with each other, in getting the specific balls into the specific holes, in the proper order. It is child's play for someone of my genius level intellect.'
'And we were both nice about the fact I outclassed her at pool. Actually, she was impress with my abilities at pool. She thought I should go professional. I was flatted by her compliment.'
'Also, I had to develop my own poker face, when Lee thought nice things about me and my abilities. So, I did not accidentally smile, when I read her thoughts. And I was not reacting to the directly actions and statements around me. Including, from Lee, herself.'
'On another matter, Lee eventually learned of a number of good places to eat at, on the island, that were in walking distance. On day, Lee took me to a food truck that served american hamburgers and french fries, along with other foods and drinks.'
'I did not even need my telepathy, as I immediately recognized the two blonds that worked at the food truck as Eda and Yolanda. And I wondered what exactly their plan to entrap the writer. And I admit, using the writer's taste in food was a good concept, and attempt. If Lee was not so polite, and cagy in her actions and statements, it might have worked.'
'Though, there was the minor issue, at the time, Lee had not yet realized whom the blond women were, because she had yet to realize that those after him could go back in time, before she sent the bait, to look for her. Though, she wrote scenes where similar things happened, she was still not fully consciously of how that could be used against her. Yet, she did later learn this, and she adjust her tactics accordingly.'
'On the other side of the coin, we were both fortunate that Eda and Yolanda did not recognized either of us. And Lee was very private about her secret. And outside of the Serenity crew, I never did so anyone we knew, my male form. And even then, only Chang had seen my male form for a prolonged amount of time. So, everything was fine for the moment.'
'And to be fair, those two women both fixed us some wonderful meals. They made some very juice hamburgers. Still, I did not best to avoid the food truck, because both of those women were very intelligent, and sharp, and they might have eventually recognized me.'
'And as I kept refining my plan, I read Lee's mind, on what she planned. I learned the exact details of how she was going to do to bait the others. As well as I learned her countermeasures.'
'To be honest, I was impressed with Lee's intelligent, foresight, planning, and preparation skills and abilities.'
'These plans included living off the grid, to avoid attention by the authorities. I quickly realized that Lee was already trying to work through all the angles she could.'
'Also, such angles included learning where all the security cameras for the hotel were, and where the blind spots were. This allowed her to leave the bait for the internet, without a camera recording catching her doing so.'
'Also, Lee wore a hat, glasses, and dyed her hair black, along with a hair cut, for a few weeks, so the video security recordings of would delete what he looked like before she wore a hat, glasses, and dyed her hair black. Though, this was also planning for the back in, so when she escape, those after her would not be have a clear photo, nor clearly see what she looked like. And that part of her plan worked beautifully.'
'A few days after Lee set the bait, someone finally took it.'
'Unfortunately, while Lee was expecting just one, two, or at most, three of the women after him, Revy and Rock brought a small army of badass women with them.'
'And from the thoughts I read from the women after Lee, most of them were out for blood. But, not all of them. Some of them were just there to support their friends. With them having no hard feeling towards the right. Such as what I learned from reading Yolanda and Sawyer's minds.'
'Speaking of telepathy, my telepathy is passive, for the most part, and because of that Harvey, inside Violin's mind, cannot tell when I am using it on Violin. Still, that being said, I have no interest, what so ever, to risk reading Scorpius' mind.'
'And I do not need line of sight for my telepathy to work. But, I consider myself fortunate that there is a limiting factor on the distance my telepathy can be used to pick up thoughts from other people's minds.'
'And when we watch those eighteen badass women walk into the hotel lobby, I felt proud of Lee, for being able to maintain her poker face. She remained as calm as ever. And she knew better than to stare at them, and risk drawing their attention towards us.'
'Also, Lee immediately began to adjust her plan of escape, which was to steal a reality device from them.'
'Though, Lee realized an interesting problem. How does a middle-aged male adult, which it was Lee physically was, approache a group of violently insane women, without the women taking the approach in all the wrong ways?'
'People say that first impressions are important, and Lee knew this to be true. That is why Lee offered Revy a lighter for Revy's cigarettes. With Lee having the light, if she ever needed to start a fire.
And fortunately, Revy accepted Lee's offer. Revy even gave Lee one of her cigarettes in return. Though, that was not a real introduction, it did get Lee on Revy's radar, in a good way.'
'Meanwhile, as Lee worked on a plan A to the problem of formally approaching the women. Her plan B was simple. Let them come to her.'
'And how Lee handled her plan B was gutsy, to say the least.'
'It was on the third night, since the women came to town. Lee and I were playing poker later, into the evening, at the Rats Nest bar. Which was not a rarity for us. When Revy, and the five Lagoon sisters literally hit the Rats Nest like a storm. And after they killed some idiots that came onto them, and then threatened them. The women turned around and threatened Lee. Beside she stopped them from stealing our money from our poker pot.'
'Lee realized that if she allowed these women to walk all over us, she would never be able to get close enough to them, to steal one of their reality devices. So, she had to at least show some courage. And she did so, in spades.'
'Though, when I saw that Lee had all five of the teenage girls pointing their weapons at her, at point blank range, I was highly tempted to step in, but I also read Lee's plan. And the plan she had created, for this very situation, was a good plan.'
'Though, I did ask Lee if she needed help with them. Lee said, no. And I pretended to be having fun with the situation, so the girls would not be sure of me. Further keeping them off balance.'
'Then, the girls started to wonder if Lee was the writer. I quickly gave Lee a false alibi of being with her for that last several months. And the girls bought. With Lee knowing better than to look a gift horse in the mouth. Also, this alibi would cover me as well, in them not mistakenly suspecting me of being the writer, either, and possibly blowing my cover.'
'And the way Lee convinced those women to stand down was brilliant.'
'Afterward, we soon left.'
'I found it touching that both, Melvin warned Lee of Revy and the others, with tell Lee who he was. Without giving details on who he, and the others were. Though, Lee already figured that out by talking to him.'
'And after we exited the Rats Nest that night, Lee warn me about Revy and the others. Though, he didn't really give any details later. Because, she was worried that she would blow her cover. Which she already did, with her know. And I was okay with the situation.'
'Though, I did find it nice that both of them would risk their cover, for someone else.'
'When we got back to the hotel, I decided to retire to my bedroom, as I thought on how I could help Lee, while figuring out how to convince Revy, Rock, and others to lay off their plans of vengeance.'
'The problem was that was easier said than done.'
'The main problem was that Revy, and few of the others, had hair trigger tempers. And they had no aversion to violence towards those whom they do not care for.'
'While I have been completely insane, before, I have never had a temper like some of these women have.'
'Though, I did find it conforming that not all of them wanted vengeance against Lee. For example, Sawyer. She held no dislike for Lee, she was just along for the ride.'
'Late the next morning, I met back with Lee. I learned from her mind, about the introductions with the women. It took all my self control not to laugh at that event.'
'And the adventures we had for the next few weeks were so much fun.'
'Along with the fun, it is was interesting to watch Lee come more skilled at thinking on on her feet.'
'I do feel sorry about tricking Lee into being designated driver for Revy, Rock, Shenhua, Sawyer, and Lotton. But, better her than me. I have seen this five all drunk before, and I would not want to be anywhere near them in that state.'
'Though, Lee made sure they did not have weapons. And if that had slipped Lee's mind, I would have made sure that was the case. Also, while these women are violent, they prefer to kill with their weapons, and when they are sober, so they can savor the act more thoroughly.'
'Besides, it was a good test, for Lee to deal with these women were completely unpredictable. And Lee passed her test with flying colors.'
'From reading their minds the next day, I was impressed with the way Lee handled herself. And that game of chicken was as brilliant, as it was insane.'
'Then, Lee got in trouble with the local mafia, and their leader. From what I read of Lee's mind, the leader's name was Paciano Del Soto. But, she was able to talk her way out trouble, and get the that mafia dissolve by the next day, including having Paciano join the priesthood.'
'She even got a car out of the deal, the next day.'
'Now, that takes skill and guile.'
'And damn, what a cool, pink convertible Lee got from that deal. That car was in pristine, like new, condition. And from Lee's memory, that car was over sixty years old.'
'I was a little leery on informing Lee I was bi-sexual. Which I am. Being a genius, and a gender bender, has allowed me to broaden my horizons.'
'And I was completely honest that my offer to sleep with her in that car.'
'It is just that given Lee's personal problems, she does not like male on male. And I could I inform her of the truth about my gender bending, without blowing my cover.'
'But, I am sure if I made the offer now, as a woman, Lee would more than likely take me up on my offer.'
'Still, Lee politely back out of it, and I, along with Rock and Revy had some fun in the car, with Lee driving.'
'Then, Lee got into the sights of the local Police Chief, Pedro Del Soto, Paciano's slightly older brother. And Lee was able to convince Pedro to keep her secret, and help her in finding a way out of this reality.'
'Ah Pedro... How do I describe you?...'
'The best way I guess is that Pedro is a badass, with enough common sense not to be a badass in the situation he finds himself in.'
'Pedro is very genre savvy. Probably more so than even Lee, or Chang. From reading Pedro's mind, the man can probably quote the Evil Overlord List by memory.'
'And Pedro is a badass of the first caliber.'
'Drop Pedro into almost any other situation, barring the super-powered badasses, such as with us, and he would likely wind up top dog. And he knows it.'
'It is just that he is outgun in this situation. And he realizes it. That being said. Pedro is intelligent. Hard working. More honest then most people would give him credit for. Fair, in a manner of speaking. He genuinely is concerned about the welfare of his city, which is why he was helping Lee. He cares about his subordinates to the point her ordered them away from the Devil's Hotel, to protect them. And he cares for the people that live in De La Plata Podrido. Which he considers to be his city.
'I was so happy to hear from Chang, that Pedro left down before Revy's group, nor the maids, got a hold of him. Pedro doesn't deserve to suffer for trying to protect his city.'
'Still, some things concerned me about Lee, and Pedro. Both of them thought that the worst case scenario, for their situation, was that their home world could get get turned to ash, by our friends, and their spaceships.'
'I wish I could have told them that those of us with cooler heads would not allow that to happen. And we would have stop things before the situation went that far. But, if I did so, it would have blown my cover.'
'Also, on a strange note, while I knew that Lee and Pedro were meeting every evening, at the Last Resort Diner. A place I had not been before. And a place I was not going to go to.'
'During the first week, after I met Lee, one evening, at the Devil's Hotel restaurant, Lee and I talk about going there for lunch the next day. And I said I might comes. But, on the day I was planning to go, I got a message from the hotel staff.'
'The message read. Greetings, R.T. You are not the only one that cares about Lee. But, it is best we carry out our own agendas separately, to increase the chances of helping Lee. Stay away from the Last Resort Diner. And good luck.'
'R.T. could only stand for, River Tam. It was clear that there was a third party in town. One that knew who I was, and was watching all of us in a way I could not sense their presence. Yet. This party wanted to help Lee, as well. Given the delicate situation Lee and I were in, I decided to just let the matter go.'
'I declined going with Lee, for lunch there. Which she did not mind. And I avoided the Last Resort Diner.'
'Then, during one morning, at breakfast, at the Devil's Hotel bar, I read from the girls' minds, that they had exhausted their leads, and they were planning to lead.'
'I had to figure a way to keep them here. And at the same time, I wanted to see how Lee would react. What her plan would be. And I knew how to do it.'
'Later that morning, Lee and I were playing poker, at our usual table, inside the Rats Nest bar.'
'After we had an interesting conversation about pirates. Lee really does know her subject material. And a conversation where I almost, but did not, revealed myself to Lee, by showing I knew chinese, by reading the chinese symbols on a strange ring Lee showed me. I let drop that I overheard the women were thinking about leaving.'
'Fortunately, beforehand, I kept a burner phone on me, in case of emergencies. Or, Lee needed a disposable phone to use. And so, when Lee came up with her plan, I was ready to do my part.'
'And it took all my willpower not to breakdown laughing at the set up for Lee's Tex-Mex message.'
'I wonder how hard Lee would have laughed if she knew that she had paid Bao to deliver the message? And how hard Bao would have laughed, if she had gotten the joke?'
'I knew that Lee was creative. But, to see her wicked sense of humor in action was just so entertaining on a whole different level.'
'And Bao was a good sport, as well. She got fifty dollars for it, she did not ask questions. But, she knew, as Lee put it, they had rolled Revy, and Revy's friends. So, she gave Lee a kiss, and she gave Lee a bottle of beer out of the deal.'
'Over the next few days, I had to avoid focusing on Rock and Revy, due to the risk of breaking out laughing at the mental images of what Rock did with herself, when she first found the images that Tex-Mex had created, on the internet.'
'Then, there was that date Lee went on with Eda. I was impressed that Lee was able to have a one night stand with Eda. Sure, Eda asked Lee on the date. But, Lee went all the way in presentation to make Eda happy. And Lee was able to close that deal. Given that I know Eda, personally, I know pleasing that blond woman is not an easy task to achieve.'
'And Lee was intelligent enough to use a condom.'
'After a few more adventures, I returned back to the Cowboy Bebop reality, to spend a few nights with Chang. With me being gone for about five minutes for those in Lee's home reality. With none of them knowing I was gone. Including Lee, nor the girls.'
'While in our bed, on the Serenity, Chang dropped the bombshell that he wanted to see this town for himself. Due to Revy and her friends being there, he wanted to spend some time in this city. And he wanted to do so with me.'
'The relationship I have with Chang has been good for both of us. And it is stable. So, I did not disagree too much for him coming to the town. I figured, if I was careful, I would be able handle the situation of him being here. And to start with, I was able to do so, with only minor problems. While maintaining my secret identity as Sam, which even Chang did not know about.'
'I considered myself lucky that I was able to convinced Chang to keep his visit secret from everyone, and for him to stay at the hotel across town, from the Devil's Hotel. This is the same hotel that Chang eventually bought, and converted into this very casino.'
'Also, I was able to give the excuse, that I got the gray car, I had been secretly using, as a way for the two of us to travel the city in. That way, if I saw Lee, or one of the girls, I can quickly get away from them. While being on foot would be more difficult. Chang was even nice enough to let me drive him around.'
'Though, given that Revy and the others had reality traveling scanning devices, I could not just use my reality device to be two places once. I could only do that every so often, without them becoming suspicious.'
'And even with my gray car, it would be difficult. Given it takes around twenty minutes to get from his casino, to the Devil's Hotel.'
'So, I had to come up with an excuse for the time I would be spending with, Lee.'
'I told Lee that my friends had a big payday, and my girlfriend had come to visit me. Though, I did wait a few days to tell, Lee. Until I felt that it was a good time to mention it. So, I had to do the little dance of heading back and forth, between Lee and Chang, until I could mention my lie to Lee. With me having to change disguises, and genders, between visiting the two of them.'
'It is fortunate that when I told Lee I would have to spend some time with other people, away from her, that Lee was polite enough to not pry into my private life, and she let me spend time with Chang. And once she realized it dealt with my love life, she was okay with my spending time with my love.'
'This respect for privacy extended to during the time loop. From what I read of Lee's mind, not once during the time loop did Lee try to pry into my personal life.'
'Lee really did want keep her friends. And this was just another example, of a long string of actions she had taken, to earn my respect to the point I want to continue to be Lee's friend.'
'Though, I had to be careful. When I went to visit Chang. I took my car. I then went somewhere private, out of town, by the beach, to change genders and clothing. While remembering to take off, and hide my beard, along with leading my long hair fall loose. Then, I had to reverse all this, before I returned to the Devil's Hotel. And I had to make sure no one caught me.'
'This became a chore, but a chore I deemed necessary.'
'Chang did eventually ask me what I was doing in town, when I was not with him. I lied, by saying that I was having fun spying on Revy. And I had to tell him I was staying at the Devil's Hotel. I even gave him the phone number to my room, so he would not leave a message at the check in desk. With the chance of Revy, someone else, or even Lee, intercepting it, and wondering why Chang was trying to contact me, as Sam.'
'That would have blow my cover, real quick.'
'Chang then asked if I had found the writer, yet. I lied again, and I said I was not looking for the writer. At the time, I was not sure which way Chang would lean when he found out about Lee. So, I kept him in the dark, during that time.'
'And Chang knew better than to push the matter. Especially, given the great sex we were having, during the time we spent together.'
'Then one morning, on the Day of the Little Angels, I got a phone call from Chang, in my suite. And he asked if I would like to go out on that day, and the next day, which was the Dead of the Day. I said, sure. But, that I would only spend a few hours with him today. Though, I would be free all day tomorrow.'
'Chang said that would be in fine with him.'
'Since I was already planning to tell Lee the girlfriend cover story, this was not that much of a problem, to add that I had a couple of dates. I would tell Lee that I was going to meet my girlfriend for a few hours today, and I would be with her for the rest of tomorrow. Though, I would still be able to spend breakfast, and tomorrow, with Lee.'
'Later that morning, as we were walking to the Rats Nest, around the time the bar would open, I spoke to Lee about myself going to see my girlfriend. Lee was very polite and understanding when I broke the news to them. She even said she hoped I would have a good time.'
'Though, from her thoughts, she was a touch disappointed that I would not be spending time with her. But, she understood.'
'Then, we ran across two young girls. A drunk six year old girl, and a teenage girl.'
'The six year old girl immediately attacked Lee, and took her off guard, to the point I had to pull her off of Lee.'
'Fortunately, the teenager quickly came to assist me, and got the six year old to calm down, with both of them soon leaving. And the teenager's excuse was honest, in that the young girl had mistaken an alcoholic beverage for fruit juice.'
'Even though I read their minds, I was still surprised by whom they were. But, given the situation, I dared not stop them from leaving.'
'As they left, I helped Lee up, and consoled her the best I could, about her being beaten up by a drunken six year old girl.'
'I also swore I would never tell a soul about the attack. And I intend to keep that promise.'
'We then headed back to the Devil's Hotel, with me helping Lee walk all the way back.'
'When we got to the front entrance, we were greeted by Violin and Aeryn, whom showed genuine concern for Lee.'
'Violin asked what happened. And Lee was very selective in her answer. Lee stated that a drunk jumped her, and didn't say anything else.'
'The two other women were satisfied with the answer, and we then passed by them, into the lobby.'
'After I got Lee to her suite, and into her bed, I made sure she would be fine, and I then left to visit Chang for a few hours.'
'When I got back to he Devil's Hotel. Lee was nowhere in sight, in the lobby. On the chance she had recovered enough to be down there, to meet me. I think went up to the third floor, and I stood by the door to the suite and did not telepathically sense her inside.'
'Given the physical state Lee was in, when I left her. I felt I needed to find her, and quickly.'
'I went back downstairs, to the lobby, and used my telepathy to find her, and I swiftly sensed she was was hotel restaurant. But, I could sense that something was off about Lee's thoughts. They were no as sharp as they usually were.'
'So, I went to check on her.'
'When I reached the hotel restaurant, I was shocked at what I saw. Lee was sitting at one of the tables, in the back of the room, with the girls sitting by him, at that table he was at, or nearby tables. All of them laughing and having fun a good time.'
'From their thoughts, I could tell they were all stoned on some type of drug. And Lee did not realize it. While, from the thoughts of some of the girls, they had clearly tricked Lee into getting stoned, without her realizing it.'
'And from what I could guess, Lee had never been stoned before, so she did not realize how stone she was. Nor, in how much danger she was in, given temporally impaired thinking and judgment.'
'Then, I started listening to what Lee was saying, and it surprised me in a pleasant way.'
'I did not know Lee could be such a philosopher. Though, now that I think about it, such skills do show up in her writings. But, Lee usually does not think this way, unless I guess she is writing. Yet, I was happy to see that she can truly be deep when she wanted to be. And I enjoyed seeing this side of her.'
'Still, the funniest and scariest part of that situation, as she talked to the girls, was she was practically telling them she was the writer. But, the philosophical examples she was giving, in doing so, went completely over their heads. On the other hand, I knew exactly what Lee was talking about.'
'I then approached the group.'
'When I reached them, I was then offered one of the pot brownies. After a quick nibble of one of the brownies, to make sure it was weed, which I then spit out, I quickly got Lee out of there, before Lee gave herself away at the writer.'
'Also, Lee was still sober enough not to mention that I had a girlfriend to the others. That would have piqued the girls' interest in me. And enticed them towards looking into my personal life, which might have blow my cover.'
'While Lee's cover was not blown there. If she had been exposed, I would have loathed to have to rescue Lee and fight our way out of there in the state Lee was in. But, I would have done so, since the girls put Lee in the position in the first place.'
'I then convinced Lee to head up to her suite, on the third story. And I escorted her suite. When we got to her suite, I stayed with her, to keep her company, for the next several hours, as she sobered up.'
'A few hours later, when Lee began to come to her senses, she was both furious with the girls for what they had done, but she was also thankful that I was there to save her.'
'And to be honest, I was upset with the girls, as well.'
'While, at the time, she realized that she could do nothing to the girls, for what they had done to her.'
'And spoke to her, in a supportive, and comforting manner, to help calm her down, and to know that I supported her.'
'Lee did thanked me for my help. And I found her gratitude to be touching.'
'As a way to help left Lee's spirits, I offered to pay for dinner, for us, as we dined in, inside Lee's hotel suite.'
'After dinner, I kept Lee company for a few hours, watching TV, and talking.
'By then, Lee had calmed down. And she clearly appreciated my company.'
'Eventually, I said good night to Lee, and left her suite, to go get some sleep in my own hotel room.
'Lee said, good night. And we both ended the day on a good note. With me looking forward to spending time with Chang, tomorrow, while I knew that Lee would be okay with me being going for more of the day. Save for the time we would spend at breakfast.'
'Of course, none of us realized that the next day would be the time loop. Which changed the course of everything, in our lives, for all three of us.'
'The next day, on November second, the Day of the Dead, we all ended up in that time loop. And by all, I mean the entire planet. Everyone on that planet was effected. I do not want to think of the type of power that would be require to achieve such a temporal feat.'
“And Lee was at the center of the storm, and she had the interest of whom ever was behind the temporal event. Because the one thing I know about the time loop, was that it was a natural phenomena. And like Chang, did not dig in who cause the time loop, because I would not want to get the attention of, let along risk upsetting someone with that kind of power.'
'And from what I remember of the time loop. Thanks to Ranma's magical lamp, and the smoke inside it. And from what I read from Lee's mind, after the time loop ended. Lee wisely used her time in that time loop.'
'Though, at the beginning of the time loop, the girl's prank of getting Lee stoned was fresh on her mind. And without worry of the consequences, Lee decided to have some fun, with some pranks against the girls were absolutely hilarious, and embarrassing, though harmless.'
'I am glad that Lee tries not to be a vindictive person. And she instead trying to be a nice person. I find that compassionate trait to be attractive in people.'
'And Lee only went after the girls directly involved with getting her stoned. She did not go after Eda, nor Yolanda. Both of whom had nothing to do with that event.'
'Though, to be honest, since the girls got their memories back of those pranks, and the cons Lee pulled later in the time loop, Lee dialed her problems with the girls all the way to eleven.'
'And speaking of those cons. After Lee worked out her pranking issues with the girls, she then started bettering herself. And she tricked the girls into teaching her several skills.'
'Also, even though, at the time, I did not remember the time loop, from day to day. Eventually, Lee decided to ask me a few questions of where she could learn how to do a few things. Such as learn spanish, and learn to fight in hand to hand combat.'
'On those days, Lee approached me, from reading Lee's mind, I realized we were in a time loop, none of us could get out of, and Lee was not the cause of. Since there was nothing we could do, I decided I would use my time productively, and help Lee. I offered to teach Lee what I could, without revealing my secret identity. Which, from reading Lee's mind, I never revealed in the time loop.'
'On the days I taught Lee, I called Chang. I said I could not make it because we are in a time loop, and that I was helping the person in the center loop to become a better person.'
'Given the strangeness in our lives, Chang did not even question the situation.'
'Also, I asked Chang not to come to the Devil's Hotel, because the person I was helping would remember Chang visiting the hotel. Chang understood the situation, and he respected my wishes.'
'And I enjoyed doing my part, in helping Lee. This Included teaching her how to fight, and teaching her to speak, read, and write, spanish.'
'Lee can now speak, read, and write, multiple languages. And she is dangerous in a number of fields of combat. Including, some unexpected ones. Such as card throwing. Shenhua, her teacher in said skill, put it best. Lee is deadly with a deck of cards. And Lee knows this.'
'Though, Lee plans include trying to prevent people from being killed.'
'And when I got my memories back, I realized that Lee made for a good, patient student. I guess when someone is in a time loop, that person will either learn patience, or go crazy, and then learn patients. Lee just became incredibly patient, without going completely crazy, first.'
'And I had a lot of fun both teaching Lee spanish, and teaching her how to kick ass. The best part was, at the time, Lee didn't realize who I really ways. And much later, when I revealed my identity, I am sure it occurred to her that it turns out that she had a top notch hand to hand combat teacher.'
'In addition, on the days that I was not helping Lee, I was with Chang, making sweet, sweet loving, in a combination of ways that only two gender benders could do it.'
'Eventually, Lee learned how to pick locks from Ranma, and she worked up the nerve to start searching the girls rooms for interesting items.'
'Unfortunately, while in the time loop, a reality device would not solve Lee's problems. From an earlier incident in the time loop, where Lee learned that a reality device not get her out of the time loop, but only reset the time loop. Along with the time loop effecting the entire planet. So, she could not just look for a reality device in one of their suites, would solve her problems.'
'Though, Lee also learned that none of them kept their reality devices in their suites.'
'But, Lee did find some interesting things. One was Natsuru's book on gender. When I read that book, I found that book to be very informative.'
'Though, the most interesting items Lee found were in Rock and Revy's suite. Those items being the five packets of instant spring of drowned girl.'
'With the packets, Lee got a taste of what it was like to physically be a woman. And she enjoyed in on so many levels.'
'And though Lee only had fun with her female form, for a week straight, in her suite. Later on, during Lee's off days. Where she just needed a break from everything. She would break and take those packets, to have fun her room, for those days.'
'Lee could not stay a woman, but with those packets, she could visit womanhood. And she only used those packet in her room. And Lee only used those packets in the privacy of her suite. Which is good, considering if the Revy and her friends found out, the situation would be even work for Lee.'
'Still, as the repeating days continued for years, Lee eventually stumbled into a situation of helping with the party in Devil's Hotel that night.'
'And gradually, Lee decided that she was going to have more and more fun during that repeating party. And after much work, Lee literally became the life of the hotel party for a number of times.'
'But, eventually, the party had to end. And Lee found a way to stop the time loops.'
'And after the time loop stopped, I learned about time loop from Lee. But, I could not read Lee's mind how, who caused the time loop, nor how it stop. And I felt that I probably did not want to know.'
'Also, I found it hilarious, after learning about it from third parties, that the last Day of the Dead, when Lee knew it would not repeat, she could not help herself, as she convinced Bao to go on a date with her, and they stole the show at the hotel party. They danced the tango for half an hour, and then left, with no one figuring it out was Lee, until she wore the same gray suit during the casino poker game, when she played me, as River.'
'And while I was not surprised that Lee learned how to dance in the time loop, I had no idea that Bao could dance so well, that people would talk about it, with envy lacing their voices.'
'But, it wasn't all fun and games. After I got my full memories restored, during our time in the time loop, I realized something in bed, last night.'
'That I had royally screwed up in the time loop, when it came to Chang.'
'And it was such an innocent question. I did not mean anything by it. It was just a simple question of curiosity.'
'When I was with him, or her, depending on what we were doing during that day. Given our activities that day, there was some randomness involved. And when we were together, I asked Chang, what he was going to do with the rest of his life? I asked Chang this question, nearly every day, in the time loop, that I was with him. Over and over again. Until the question lodge in his subconscious.'
'This is the reason, after the time loop, that Chang decided to move here, and restart his mafia organization. Because I asked that question, over and over again.'
'I do not think Chang will even realize this is the reason for his recent actions, when he gets his memories back, of the time loop, from the smoke that Ranma has. And I am not going to mention this to Chang. Because, besides that question, we had a great time together in the time loop, and I do not want to spoil the wonderful experiences that we had between us.'
'Still, Lee's adventures did not let up. And because I was with Chang for a good bit of the time, I could not help her. Though, she did manage without me.'
'First, Lee met past Rock, past Bob Lowe, and two past Revys, along with present Revy. Dealing with three Revys at once would have been a difficult situation, even for me. And Lee was about to defuse the situation without anyone being hurt, and with the everyone going their owe separate whiles. With Lee being to hide Rock and Bob from the Revys, and then work up a believable cover story, with her pictures of the three Revys at once, of her claiming she thought Revy had two twin sisters, to Rock, and the girls. And it worked.'
'Second, was where Lee was dragged into watching the Tron Legacy movie, with the women, while they all commented on the movie. Still, Lee had a good time with the girls, and the girls seemed to have like the movie.'
'I have seen that movie, and the original Tron movie. Both are good, and a fun watch. Even the animated series was pretty good.'
'Third, was Lee had a lunch date with V.T., whom was originally from the Cowboy Bebop reality, but then was hired at a reality trucker for the company, Reality Express. Though, if I don't want to know, how, or why, the Devil's Hotel is taking deliveries from Reality Express.'
'But, as time when on, it became clear to both Lee and I, that there was a lot more going on in this town, than both of us thought.'
'Fourth, was when Lee was able to help Melvin hide from the three Hotel Moscow members, whom came to the Devil's Hotel, in search of Yurick.'
'Much like I gave Lee an alibi for Revy, and the girls. Lee gave Melvin an alibi that Yurick had been there, and left. And it threw the russian women of Melvin's scent. Also, Melvin threatened to call the police, on the three women, for harassing the Hotel's staff and customers.'
'The russian women realized they had wore out their welcome, with them soon left the hotel, and this reality.'
'I realized afterward, from reading Lee and Melvin's minds, that this situation also dealt with some minor time travel. That the same members were the same women of Balalaika' organization that she had stated has lost Melvin during second cookout we had, where we discussed the matter of the writer.'
'Not that this minor temporal issue mattered in the long scheme of things. The important part was that Melvin and Lee's covers were both still safe. For the time being.'
'And I think given Melvin is only hiding from Hotel Moscow to keep his manhood, that he should be left alone. Something like that should be a personal choice.'
'Also, I admire that when Akira, Natsuru, and Ranma, found out about Melvin's secret origins, that when the confronted him, the understood the reasons for his actions, and they agreed to his identity a secret from everyone.'
'If those three can keep such a secret, and they realize the importance of such matters being a choice, maybe there is hope that Lee might be able to get out of this mess in one piece.'
'Also, they told Melvin about the stories, and Melvin got a kick out reading them. He clearly did not hate the writer for what he wrote. Instead, he found the stories to be very funny. And for the first few days after reading the stories, he had some problems keeping a straight face in front of the girls. Not that I blame him for that. I have had similar problems. But, he was able to keep it together, and not arouse the girls' suspicions.'
'But, that being said, even I could sense that trouble was on the horizon for Lee. In the form of three more women coming to Plata Podrido.'
'Those three women being Dutch, Janet, and Benny. One evening, they came to town, to move into the Devil's Hotel, and join their family, in a more direct way in hunting down the writer.'
'While those three are not the toughest people around. They are some of the savviest and most intelligent people I know, barring Ed, her sons, and myself.'
'Lee knew this. And it came as no surprise to her that she was the three ladies number one suspect for being the writer.'
'From reading Lee's mind, after the event, I learned that during lunch one day, the three of them dressed in casual, yet sexy clothing, and ambushed Lee at the food truck, belonging to Eda and Yolanda, that she went to.'
'Fortunately, by then, Lee had a pretty good cover story as to why she was on the run, in Mexico. It was bland, but believable. And she had an ace up her sleeve. She baited Eda to come out and greet the three women.'
'Lee then used her facial expressions toward Eda, for the other three women to guess that they had slept together, with Eda confirming it.'
'Lee then quickly left. As she did so, she over heard from the four women that her plan had work. That they thought nobody would be crazy enough to knowingly sleep with Eda. Even Eda admitted this. Especially, not the writer.'
'Well, they were wrong.'
'And this kept them off Lee's back for a while.'
'But, that while soon ended with Revy have a crazy idea for a beauty contest. I guess Revy liked that bikini contest that Lee wrote about in book one. And it was a funny storyline. Still, I can say, first hand, that those bikini parties Lee wrote about were fun. And I am sure Revy likes those bikini parties, as well. Considering her family loves hosting them. And they have hosted a lot more of those parties, than even Lee had hinted at their being.'
'Also, the other girls like Revy's idea for a beauty contest. And Janet decided it was a good way to flush the writer out, with Lee still her primary suspect.'
'And so, Lee got roped in being one of the judges.'
'In retrospect, Melvin and I should not have laughed in front of Lee over this. Because, she then dragged us into it, as well. And give we were laughing at her misfortune, I do not blame her for doing so. And I know Melvin felt the same way as I did.'
'Though, Melvin had enough sense, to convince the girls that he would make a better announcer, than judge.'
'Also, Lee was able set some sane ground rules, such as no violence and weapons. Along with it not being a beauty contest, but a talent contest. And the rewards would be some bottles of beer, and bragging rights.'
'And the girls were fine with her rules.'
'Still, we needed a third judge. And I was sure Lee would take care of that.'
'The night after, when the contest was held on the stage of the Hotel Bar, Lee came in with Pedro.'
'The was the first time that Pedro was introduce to the girls. And I admire the way Pedro did it. Instead of walking in like a badass, he did not wear a hat, nor sunglasses. Instead he took a more peaceful, personable approach. As a first impression, I think it worked for him.'
'Then, right before the contest started, we all realized that we had forgotten to figure out how we would score the contest. Lee came up with a good idea. Along with the one to ten scale. Have half the score, itself, would be from the talent itself. Thirty percent from their dress. And the last twenty percent were from looks.'
'That made a lot of the less sexy women very happy. Because, if gave them a shot as winning the contest. And this was not lost on Lee. She really does try to be polite when she can to the girls. That has helped her some in this situation.'
'Still, Lee, Pedro, and I, enjoyed making comments, as we score the contestants.'
'Dutch was the first on stage. She sang a good song. This set a good tone for the rest of the contest.'
'I have to give credit to all the women. They all showed skill in their talents. And their talents ranged from singing, to gymnastics, to poetry, to drawing. The trio sisters, had a coordinated talent, casing three different types of martial arts, in a row. It was quite spectacular. I quickly realized that the victor would win on technical points.'
'Then, near the end of the contest, there were two surprise guests that even caught me flatfooted.'
'Chang, in her female form, as Daiyu, and my future, female self, by a number of hours, showed up, and crashed the contest.'
'To say, I was not happy, was an understatement. And Lee, Pedro, and Melvin, immediately recognized them. And they knew I, or in this case, River, was a telepath. They swiftly cleared their minds to prevent being found out.'
'And to be honest, they were able to achieve that tactic, with moderate success. And that tactic may have worked, if I did not already know what was going on.'
'When I tried to read my counterpart's mind, the only answer I got was that she would explain later.'
'And from Chang's mind, I could tell that she did not realize who I was, as the man known as Sam.'
'Given they wanted to join contest, and to keep the contest moving, we quickly got them to join in the contest. Even though, I did not care for it. I did allow relent in letting them stay.'
'Also, I found it interesting that Eda requested to go last. And we three judges were fine with that, and I was later glad we allowed her to do so.'
'Chang choose her talent by singing a song that displayed her marvelous english speaking skills.'
'When it was my future self's turn, I honestly don't know where my talent came from.'
'Fire dancing, while playing that song.'
'I suspect I may never have the answer to that question. This is because I saw my future self choose that song, and perform the talent. And thus, I had to perform the talent, to prevent a paradox. Another case of a time stable loop, where cause and effect become debatable.'
'Later, after I met my future self, I did not even bother to ask my future self where she came up with the talent, because I already knew that she would not have an answer.'
'I admit, Chang, and my future self did do good jobs on their talents, but I was still upset with them. So, I average scores.'
'Meanwhile, Lee and Pedro wisely gave both Chang and I, as River, high scores.'
'Then, Eda came up on stage, as the last contestant, and she stole the show. She got the highest scores in the contest.'
'Her performance was a great ending to the contest, and a worthy come back from the bikini contest, back in Roanapur.'
'As Eda returned to her friends, Lee wisely suggested to Melvin, Pedro, and myself, as Sam, that it was time for us to leave.'
'We quickly left for the front hotel lobby. When we reached the lobby, Melvin quickly excused him, and he headed for his suite.'
'Pedro asked me to walk away for a minute, as he wanted to talk to Lee in private.'
'I did so. And from what I read of their minds, they were talking about me, as River, and if they think if I was onto them. They thought I was not yet onto them.'
'Oh, if only they knew the truth. That I was on their side. Given their savviness, I think they would have found it funny... Oh well, talk about lost opportunities.'
'Though, I do find it touching that Lee realized I, as River, was likely already saner than most people thought I was.'
'They also talked about why I had dyed my hair red, before I came to their reality.'
'I wish I could have just walked up to them, as Sam, and told them. But, that would have blown my cover. And I had worked to hard to do keep my cover from being discovered.'
'When they were finished, Pedro exited the building, for his car, with the intent of going to his home for the night.'
'Meanwhile, I met with Lee, as we walked towards the elevator bay.'
'We talked a little bit, and I mentioned that I was not going to bed just yet.'
'By then, we head reached the elevators, and Lee had summoned one of them.'
'Soon, the elevator doors open, and Lee walked into it. With Lee turning around to face me.'
'Lee stated that this night was likely on of the best nights of her light.'
'As the elevator doors closed, Lee then dropped the bombshell that she was dying cancer.'
'I was shocked that I had not read that from her mind. Meaning, she did not think about it.'
'It was then that I sensed myself across the room. I turned and saw my future self staring back at me, from across the hotel lobby.'
'We did not even need to speak, as we read each other's minds. We did not risk walking near each other, in case one of the girls came out of the hotel restaurant, and saw us. That would cause too many questions for myself, as both River and Sam.'
'So, we had a silent conversation from across the room.'
'Future River informed me that she was from less than a day in the future. That she went back in time, right after this meeting, to the morning of that day to be with Chang.'
'It turned out that this morning, Chang decided to meet with Revy and the others, but he wanted to talk to us, first. We convinced Chang that the crashing the talent contest was the best way to do so. And that is how my future self met my past self.'
'And the worst part is, or was, depending on my point of view in that conversation, was the fact that I had no choice but to do as she did, and go back in time, to prevent a paradox. Which is why I sometimes disliked temporal mechanics.'
'Though, my future self did tell me where to find the collapsible batons, with ignitable ends, and where I got the nice lighter from. Along with the name of the song she used. She also told me how to hide the batons in my clothing, so no one noticed I had them on me.'
'Before we parted ways, we telepathically talked about Lee dying of cancer. And what we should do about the fact that our timetable had now been greatly shortened.'
'My future self did say that she thought about our plan, and for me to up our timetable.'
'I agreed with her. But, I asked if she was any closer to figuring out how to placate the girls.'
'My future self said, no. She pointed out that she was only less than a day in the future. And that it was going to take more time than that, to come up with the answer. And I sadly had to agree with my future self.'
'So, we were still stuck in a situation of not having enough time to help Lee, before she died. And I am sure that at some level, Lee felt the same way.'
'We then left each other, my future self heading back to the hotel restaurant, to rejoined the others, while keeping Chang out of trouble. And I admit, that it was fun to just be with the girls, as myself, while having Chang with me. That being said, I still worried about Lee's wellbeing.'
'Meanwhile, I summoned one of the elevators, by punching the arrow button on the wall, to head up a few floor. When I reached my hotel suite, I pulled out my reality device, which I kept on me. I removed my fake beard. Undid my hair. I changed genders, and clothing.'
'I made sure I pulled out, and put on the same clothing I saw my future self in. I then used my reality device to head back to the morning of that day, to Chang's hotel, to meet her for breakfast.'
'Everything happened as my future self had informed me of. Chang wanted to meet the girls, I convinced him to go as a her, with us both crashing the talent contest.'
'As my future self, I was careful to keep my past self, from learning I was here, in town, until we crashed the talent contest that night. Also, I went and bought the collapsible batons, a nice lighter, and a few other things, I felt I would need for my performance.'
'That evening, as we walked enter the Devil's Hotel lobby, the music suddenly stared playing the song, Don't Let Me Be Misunderstood, played by Santa Esmeralda, from the Kill Bill Volume One movie. I found that to be a good selection for the two of us, in the situation we were in.'
'After we entered the hotel bar, and after the talk with the judges, we met up with the girls, and we talked. I was asked who the writer was. And I teased, by saying, where is the fun in that.'
'Everything then played out as it did when I was my past self. Only this time, I was my future self. At the table that I set out, with Daiyu, Rock, Revy, and a few others, I pulled out my collapsed batons and extended them.'
'Then, when my name was called by Melvin, I held my batons in my right hand, as I got up and walked on stage.'
'When I reached the stage, I even was able to find that song on the karaoke machine, and perform it, just like I had watched my future self do. Or, in this case, myself do. Since I was the one performing it at the time, while remembering watching myself perform it.'
'A few hours later, we said our goodbyes to the girls, and we made it back to the hotel, that Chang was staying at. After we were inside Chang's suite, I convinced her, to make love to me, while we were both women. And I found that rest of the evening to be a good night for both of us.'
'Though, on the matter of Chang's mental gender. Chang still mentally considers himself a man. Though, between the brainwashing of the vat process. Years being locked as a woman. With the associated problems of being a woman. And then spending literally decades being able to switch back and forth between genders. Has left Chang mentally fluid when it comes to his, or her gender at the moment. And Chang is open to sex in about any gender combination, and position I am willing to try.'
'I am not sure if Chang appreciates the situation he finds himself in. But, I sure do. And to be honest, after spending so much time as Sam. My personal mental gender has become a bit fluid. But, not seriously so. I am still a woman upstairs. Though, I am one that can appreciate what it is also like to live as a man.'
'Now, the next day was even more interesting for Lee, and I.'
'It seems that being the judges to the talent contest, from the night before, had only wet the interest of the girls, not only in Lee, but myself, as Sam.'
'The next day, was the seven way poker game, at the Rats Nest bar. When the girls decided to try a different tactic in subtly prying information from us, without it appearing they were doing so.'
'Very spy versus spy stuff.'
'While Lee and I had not problems with Rock. As a man, with some instant man powder. Molly, and Violin, showing up to want to join in our usual poker game. What was surprising was who Violin brought with her, and Chang showing up, as Daiyu.'
'By the end of our game, the entire large, corner table we usually use to play poker, was full.'
'The seven people at the table were Lee, myself, Rock, Molly, Violin, Violin's surprise guest Scorpius, and Chang, as a woman. All of them were trying to figure what made Lee and I tick, while maintaining their secret identities.'
'The irony was that we both knew who they were, but they did not know we knew who they were.'
'Also, when Chang first came in, she came to a stop at her table, and looked down at Lee. Though, she was not looking at Lee. She was looking at me. With me sitting beside Lee. Fortunately, Chang did not recognize me. And she soon turned her attention to finding a seat at the table, which was on the other side of Lee, from myself.'
'Though, at the time, Lee mistakenly believe that Chang may have figured out that she was the writer. Fortunately, Lee soon realized this was not the case.'
'Also, with Scorpius there, I did my best to tune out my telepathy, on the off chance she would figure out who I was.'
'Through the game, Lee and I kept our cool. And in the end, the five other adults eventually left the table, paid their bills, and left the bar itself.'
'But, a few minutes later, Scorpius doubled back, and she used a reality device to ambush Lee in the men's restroom. She figured out that Lee was the writer.'
'And while Scorpius wanted a piece of Lee's ass, it was in a good way. She had no intention in telling the others, and instead, she had her way with Lee.'
'I sensed when Scorpius doubled back, but it was too late for Lee. Though, I was about to barge in the men's restroom, when I sensed what Scorpius was about to do, from Lee's mind.'
'I wisely stayed in the bar room itself, while I gave them their privacy.'
'A few minutes later, Scorpius walked out of the men's restroom, with a smile of satisfaction on her lips. She the walked out the front door.'
'A minute later, Lee stumbled out of the men's restroom. She missing her hat and glasses. Along with her shirt being partly untucked.'
'Both Bao and I chuckled a little at the way Lee looked. But, on a little.'
'Lee immediately walked to the bar counter, and had a drink.'
'Bao talked to her for a minute, and I found out that Lee the sense to use a condom, just as she had. done when she slept with Eda.'
'Also, besides Lee and Scorpius, only Bao and I knew what happen between the two of them, in the men's restroom. And neither of us were going to discuss the incident with others. Because we respect Lee too much to gossip about her.'
'A little while later, we continued our poker game, to take our minds off what had just happened.'
'Later, I learned a few hours after Scorpius' had some fun with Lee, Chang headed to the Devil's Hotel, as a woman. Chang had figured out that Melvin was Yurick, the Blade, and she went to confront Melvin about it, alone. From reading both their minds, after the meeting, it seems that they came to an arrangement, and Chang agreed to keep Melvin's secret from Balalaika.'
'This made me happy on several levels. It meant that if Melvin got into trouble, Chang might help me get him out of it. Or, at the least, Chang could mitigated the situation.'
'That evening, Lee decided he wanted to get some supper at an American steakhouse in town.”
'I didn't feel like going, so Lee left to get something to eat, by herself.'
'I then left the Rats Nest as well, and I headed to visit Chang at the hotel he was staying at.'
'After which, Chang and I went out to dinner together, at an Italian restaurant. We then went back to Chang's hotel suite, to talk in private. Where he mentioned that he had bought a beach home on this island.'
'I had already learned, before the seven way poker game that day, Chang bought Pedro Del Soto's beach home, which previously belonged to Paciano Del Soto, and Pedro was selling it. And, as a man, Chang had met Pedro, and saw Lee, whom was acting at Pedro's chauffeur.'
'I found that a little funny, but I did not outward show my humor. Because, I knew Chang would wonder why I found his comments to be funny.'
'Right after learning that Chang bought the beach him, Chang dropped his bombshell. That with some gold and other treasures he had hidden, in cashes, in other parts of the multiverse, he bought the hotel we are presently in, and he was going to remodel this place into a casino.'
'I asked why he didn't think about this treasure before, in my presence. And Chang admitted that with everything else that had happened in his, or her, life, he had forgotten about it. But, he said he had recently got a hold of an old inventory manifest, of what he use to have at the Tower, and he then recalled the cashes, and where, and when, they were in the multiverse.'
'While learning this did not make me happy. I feigned support, as I asked if that was all Chang was planning to do.
'Chang admitted that he had large plans than just having a casino. That he was going back into the organized crime business. He was going to set up shop, right here. In this reality. On this island. And he was only starting with on this island. Him later expanding no just on this world, but other realities, as well.'
'That he was going to put his old organization back together. He was also going to track down and recruit a number of the people that worked for him. Including, mafia members, researchers, technicians, and scientists.'
'Though, there were exceptions. Such as Chang did not approach Shenhua, Sawyer, nor Lotton, about some jobs in his new organization. Chang could clearly see that they were happy where they were at in their lives, and Chang respected them enough not to disrupt their happiness.'
'Also, there was the silver lining to this. After I asked a few questions, on the matter, from Chang. Chang did mention that he was doing this more out of fun, than anything else. Which was good. Because that approach meant he would likely not become to serious, or violent on the matter.'
'Unfortunately, that was not the worst news. The worse news was that, behind my back, Chang had already talked to Simon, the others of our crew, the Bebop crew, Arcee, and even Annie. And they all accepted his job offers. In positions they would enjoy working at, for very nice pay and benefits. Though, even I am not sure how Chang convinced Annie, considering Annie does not like him.'
'There was nothing I could do to convince him, otherwise. And I soon found out, when I talked to my family and friends, whom had come to this reality, the next day, they told me, to my face that they supported Chang's idea. Because it would be something different, that they all could make a lot of money at doing, while having some fun.'
'While, I at the time, I could not figure out why Chang was doing this. I think he was just doing it, as a way to spice up his life, and our lives, with adventure.'
'Now, I realize that this was all my fault, because I asked Chang, during the time loop, once a day, over and over again, what he was going to do with his life.'
'So, Chang decided to do something with his life, and that something was him going back to his roots. To the job he was good at. Being a casino owner and mafia boss.'
'Chang coming to town, and setting up shop, is on my head. Not Lee's head. Fortunately, Chang do still listen to me. And he answered my questions about what he was planning to do. And he kept me in his information loop.'
'This included the fact he was only doing this for the fun of it. And the top level personal were my friends. So, they were less likely to do anything too horrible.'
'Plus, from what I knew of Pedro intelligence, abilities, and resources, Pedro had the skills and manpower to reign Chang, in a few ways.'
'If what I read from both Chang and Pedro's minds is correct, Pedro at one point, soon after the casino opened, did just that. Though, that was when Chang started to get on Lee's scent, concerning being the writer, because Chang learned from Rowan that Pedro knew the writer.'
'And I really cannot blame Chang for helping Rowan create a gender bending whorehouse. Where customers can have the option to temporally becoming the opposite gender, with out any lasting effects.'
'Even I will admit that is a brilliant idea that could net us a lot of money.'
'Though, what I also learned, from both Pedro and Lee minds, they were able to continually lose the tails sent to follow them, by Chang.'
'During the week after the talent contest, Chang bought the hotel across the island from the Devil's Hotel, and began renovating it. With his resources he could do a few months worth of work within a week.'
'For me, that week was blur, of my time spent between Lee, as Sam, and Chang, as River.
'Though, during that time. I did wonder about one comment Lee made about alcohol.'
'Lee is not a heavy drinker. He sometimes drinks Vodka, but mostly bottles of beer. And even that can be a rarity. So, I wonder where Lee learned that apply juice looks like some types of rum and whiskey. I was tempted to ask her, but I decided not to. Still, I have a feeling that Lee has lead a more colorful life than one would expect of someone with her background.'
'And Lee informing Revy of that, was a good way to get Revy off her back for a day, or so. And I agree with Lee that I hope Eda did not get into to much trouble, over the matter of how she likely pretend to drink rum and whiskey, when it truth it was apple juice. When she played cards with Revy, over money, back in Roanapur. With Revy drinking alcohol during those poker games.'
'Though, that is another matter. Back to the renovation and grand opening of Chang's new casino.'
'When the casino was ready. Which was much soon than even I had guessed it would be. I, along with my family and friends, including Revy and her group, attended the grand opening of Daiyu Palace Casino. It was a nice celebration, and we had a nice party after the opening. And the customer turned out was pretty good.'
'Though, Lee and Pedro wisely stayed away from the casino.'
'During this time, Chang requested that I give him the reality device that I had been using. I did so. I now regret that action, because doing so, prevented me from helping Lee more directly, yesterday afternoon. After we met the maids, and I revealed who I really was to her.'
'After the opening of the casino, I had to move into the casino penthouse, to live with Chang.'
'Chang stated that there was no reason for me to continue staying at the Devil's Hotel. And since I could not tell him the truth, I had no choice but to move in with him at the penthouse.'
'That meant I would spent less time with Lee. Still, I did my best to make it up to Lee. And Lee tried her best to be understanding for a situation she did not fully know about.'
'Though, I did not check out of the Devil's Hotel. Because, Lee could still leave a message with me, as Sam, there. But, I did spend more time sleeping at the casino penthouse, with Chang, than at the Devil's Hotel, as the gambling drifter, Sam.
'Things settled down for a few days, until the day before the big poker game that Lee and I were set up into playing.'
'On that morning, after Chang and I both had breakfast together. About an hour before Revy and Rock dragged Lee to the casino, Chang talked to me. He told me that I would be playing Lee in a poker. And while Chang did not realize that I was regularly playing poker with Lee, as Sam, to help Lee, he clearly meant I would play as River.'
'And I could not back out of it, because Chang said, in a polite manner, that if I did not play Lee, Annie would be the one playing Lee.'
'Having Annie go in my place honestly scared me. Up until this point, only Pedro and I, know Lee was the writer. And there was very good chance that Lee would have her cover blown, in such an open, stressful poker game.'
'And if Lee had played Annie, I knew Lee would not likely be able to keep her identity secret from Annie. My belief was proven true a few days later.'
'Speaking of secrets, the only reason I was able to keep Annie from learning I was Sam, was because she did not know that Sam even existed. If she had, with her use of the force, my cover would have been blow.'
'And I am not sure if Arcee already knew I was Sam. Clothing and fake beards mean nothing against Arcee sensors. She had already seen me as male, on more than one occasion, and she had a record of my bone structures, as both female and male. And that was like her having my fingerprints. They were one of a kind.'
'Also, some of Arcee's sensors can extend for miles around. And from the computer networks, around town, that were hook to the internet, including Chang's own casino computer system, she probably learned about Sam. Given Chang would have likely given the job to do background checks on those he was interested in to Arcee.'
'If Arcee did figure that I was, Sam, she kept that secret to herself. She always has fun keeping secrets, just like Annie and I. I respect her for that. It was part of her more playful, less violent aspect of her personality. The part I like about her. That being said, we are both good friends. We found we had a lot in common. Both of us were experimented on when we were young, and left insane. And both of us had to claw our back to sanity.'
'Anyway, during that morning conversation, Chang mentioned that Rock and Revy were bringing Lee to the casino in around an hour. And I was to wait in a room, by Chang's office, for Chang to tell me to mentally come to his office.'
'I knew when I confronted Lee, as River, it would scare the hell out of Lee. The best I could was not to compound the situation.'
'When Rock and Revy brought Lee up to the penthouse, I stayed a room away from Chang's office.'
'I admit, I did laugh at some of their thoughts during that meeting, especially some of Lee's thoughts. I could not help myself. This was one of the few times I could laugh at Lee's thoughts, without being questioned on the matter. Because, most of the time I was around Lee, I was Sam to her.'
'Then, Chang signaled for me to come into the office and ambush Lee. Instead, I just calmly walked up to Chang's office door, and stood there, looking at them.'
'Chang then gloated that I would be playing, Lee, with the four adults looking my way. Rock and Revy actually laughed at Lee's situation.'
'I just stayed quiet, as a way to not put Lee under any more pressure. And Lee was trying very hard to hide her secrets from me. And I respected her for that.'
'Though, at that point, Lee stated she would do it, she found out the time and place, and then she left the office, for the parking lot.'
'The others then asked what I was thinking. I deflected their question, and I then excused myself from the room.'
'On a side note, a few days later, when I learned about the tiger incident. That happened to Lee, right after she left Chang's office, when she reached the ground floor of the casino. I wasn't surprised that Lee handled herself that well. That tiger is a pussy cat compared to the women Lee had to deal with for months on end, barring the time loop.'
'Though, back to that morning, on the day before the casino poker game. As soon as Rock and Revy left, I started working on a plan on how to help Lee. Still, I had to play honestly, and try to win. But, that did not mean I would have to try very hard to win. Also, even without reading Lee's mind. I already realized that Lee would not use her precognition, because she knew I would be reading her mind. Lee truly does not believe in cheating.'
'And given her precognitive abilities, she is has legitimate concerns to worried she will be accused of cheating. Especially, in a casino. Also, she realize that, as River, I was a telepath, and I know when she would be using her precognition.'
'Unfortunately, Revy and Rock did not understand this fact, until after they placed the bit, and returned to the Devil's Hotel, were Ranma, Akira, and Natsuru, informed them of this. After Lee tricked those three into officially spilling the beans that I was both a genius and a telepath.'
'Later that day, in the early afternoon, after much planning on how to help Lee. I realized that I likely needed to find Lee, as Sam, and talk to her. So, I could be there as a friend and help lift her spirits.'
'I wanted to find Lee, as Sam, and help cheer her up.'
'I left the casino, in my own personal car. My gray, four door car. Not one of the black sedans the casino uses, that I know had been tailing Lee and Pedro. Which Lee would likely recognize, and ask questions about, towards me.'
'I then found somewhere private, and where I changed clothing, and genders.'
'I then headed back to the Devil's Hotel to look for Lee. I did not find her there. I then checked the Rats Nest. After that, I checked some restaurants that I knew she liked. Though, I slowly drive by the Last Resort Diner, instead of entering it. Still that was enough to sense that Lee was nowhere inside, nor near that building.'
'For a moment, I thought she might have skipped down. Not that I would blame her for that. But, there I realized that there was nowhere for Lee to run to. And all running would do would be to upset Revy, Chang, and the others. And they would find Lee eventually.'
'And I was sure that Lee realized this, as well.'
'It was then, that I remembered something that I read in Lee's mind. That during the time loops, Lee sometimes went to a secluded place on the beach, on the east side of the island, facing the gulf, to watch the surf and think.'
'And I agreed that the situation we found ourselves in required some thinking.'
'I drove over there, and I found her there, in her convertible, with the hood and side windows down, parked on the beach.'
'I got out of my car and walked over to Lee's car.'
'Lee was happy to see me, and she invited me to sit beside her in her car.'
'I did so, and we then spent most of the time just quietly enjoying each other's company.'
'Though, at the beginning of our meet there, Lee almost caught me right there and there. She asked how I found her so quickly. How I told her I did not know how to drive. And how I had a car.'
'But, I told the truth, that I went looking for her. I lied about not knowing how to drive, because I did not want to chaperon Revy and her friends. And I lied that called in a favor for the car. When it was because, if I admitted to owning the car, her next question would be why she had not seen it, until now. And that would further risk blowing my cover with Lee. Which I could not risk happening. Especially, right then and there, at such a critical moment for both of us.'
'But, what happened next, warmed my heart.'
'After being caught like that, by Lee, and answering her questions, I found it truly touching and heartwarming from Lee, was that she forgave me. And she said she understood my actions.'
'It was tempting, right then and there, to reveal to Lee that I was really River. So, she had nothing to worry about from me. That I was her friend. And I planned to always be her friend.'
'But, at that moment, Lee really needed a friend for some emotional support in this situation, and I was glad to be there for her.'
'And revealing who I was to her then and there, could have been disastrous to both of us. Lee could have reacted badly in a number of whats. With a few of those ways causing the poker game to be called off, which would have upset Chang and Revy with both of us.'
'So, I kept quiet about my identity. And we mostly stayed silent, as we sat next to each other, enjoying each others company.'
'At sunset, we parted ways, after spending a pleasant afternoon with each other.'
'The next morning, I admired how Lee prepared and presents herself, before coming to the poker game. And I admit that Lee had guts entering the casino, like she owned the place.'
'While, I still could not tell Lee that I was Sam. I did drop a view hints. Right before I was able to leave Chang and my penthouse living room, for the poker room set up for us, on the same floor I was one. From my laptop computer, I watched as Lee entered the building, from the video camera feeds. Among other things, my computer also allows me to select music for the gaming floor.'
'I selected Separate Ways, by Journey, as Lee entered the gaming floor, as a subtle hint that she was not alone, during our poker game. I think she took the hint.'
'As Lee made her way up to the front express elevator to the penthouse, I closed my laptop, put it away, and headed to the poker room on the floor. As I enter the poker room, and sat down on the far chair, at the table, to allow me to see the entrance to the door.'
'I also entered the room, just as Revy and Rock were just finishing their discussion, with Revy and Rock then leaving the room, to head back to the gaming floor.'
'I had to admit, looking around the room, Chang had done a good job in decorating the poker room for the event. And there were video cameras and microphones, in the room, for the game, that would send video feeds to the gaming floor.'
'Less than a minute later, Lee showed up, and sat down.'
'From reading Chang's mind, Chang was impressed that Lee showed up at all. Let alone looking like a professional gambler.'
'After a brief discussion between Lee and Chang. And then Lee and myself. Lee sat down in the chair, across the table, where I sat at.'
'Then, our dealer show up. And even I was blindsided by Chang's selection.'
'Faye Valentine. As crooked dealers go, Faye could be the worst, if she was ordered to do so. And I didn't need to read Faye's mind, nor Chang's mind, to know that she was Chang's ace in the hole, for making sure I won the game.'
'That upset me.'
'Still, given the situation, I was happy that Lee was able to maintain her composure.'
'Chang then helped Faye get seated. With Faye sitting down in the chair, at the table, to Lee's right side, and my left side.'
'This also allow Chang and excuse to literally stand over Lee's shoulder. Lee's right shoulder, to be exact.'
'Of course, Chang planned on staying in the poker room, during the game. Much to my embarrassment.'
'But, given Lee's intelligence and savviness, she knew of Chang's arrogance. And she knew that Chang was planning to stay in the poker room, during the game, nearby, just to screw with her head. And Lee had enough problems as it was.'
'But, Lee was not without her resources. And she already had a plan to get Chang out of the poker room.'
'Before coming to the casino, she called Pedro. And Pedro must have decided to help Lee, because a few minutes after Lee came, Pedro and several of his police officers, show up, to watch and gamble on the game.'
'The best part was, Lee knew when Chang answered his cellphone, that Pedro and his officers were already inside the gaming floor.'
'And without being informed, Lee gloated about it, and got away with gloating about it.'
'With everyone realizing that Lee called Pedro here.'
'Also, Lee knew there was too much riding on the game, for Chang to do anything to her.'
'While at the same time, Chang realized that Lee was forcing him to leave the room.'
'In all honestly, I was surprised to find that Chang found the situation to be funny. It has to have been a long time since someone had so brilliantly played him, in such an artful way. And he admired this about Lee.'
'With Chang forced to leave the room, to deal with Pedro as a distraction, that only left Faye, and myself, for Lee to deal with.'
'Faye thought Chang was upset. And Lee pointed out that Chang was not. Which Lee was correct.'
'Lee then told Faye to deal the cards. That she felt they only lady she had chance with that day was lady luck. Which meant, she felt completely alone at the table.'
'If the cameras were not recording live feeds to the rest of the building, and I could get away with it, I would have given Lee a hug at this point. For Lee was wrong. Lady luck was not the only friend she has at that moment, at that table.'
'Still, I could not. And so, the game began.'
'Lee did not waste a time, as the cards were dealt, she implemented her game plan.'
'I honestly did not see the jokes coming. And they were funny.'
'And tell those jokes so openly was just plain insane. Though, par for course for Lee's plans.'
'To my surprise, Lee was able to win the first hand of cards, by humor alone.'
'I was not sore about her winning the first hand. On the contrary, I found the entire situation very entertaining and interesting.'
'And soon after, I enjoyed getting in on the Lee's humorous act, as we had fun embarrassing and making fun of the people who put us into this situation. In front of everyone watching and listening on the gaming floor, casino restaurant, and the suites in the building'
'Then, I had to go and blow it, by asking about Eda.'
'Lee went quiet, and she only complimented, Eda. And to be fair, Eda only showed Lee, her nice side. Though, Lee did know how dangerous Eda was. But, Lee was not going to take for granted the pleasurable night she had with Eda. And I am not just talking about the sex.'
'Like any person, Lee craves company. And Eda gave that to her, for an entire night. And Lee was grateful for that.'
'As the game continued, Lee employed some of the poker game tips I taught her, as Sam. Such, as betting low, and how to play the long game.'
'Soon, we had a telepathic conversation. With me reading her mind, and my replies being yes, or no, with my eyes. Along with a few head and body gestures. We swiftly agreed to play fairly. No precognition. No mind reading... Well reading what cards Lee had. And no card counting. Which would have been boring, if I did so.'
'Still, while we had been playing casual games, every day, when I was with Lee, as Sam, for Lee this was a very serious game. Because, Lee was not sure even if she won, or lost, if she was going to walk out of the casino alive. But, there was not much I could do about that, at the time.'
'Outside of bathroom and meal breaks, we played for a number of hours, until eventually I started to get bored.'
'I decided to spice things up a bit. And to have some more fun, I started talking in spanish, showing that I at least knew that Lee was multilingual.'
'To humor me, Lee played along. I would speak in a different language, and Lee would speak in that same language. As we talked in different languages, while discussing various subjects, including politics, until Lee tired of it, she forced us back to playing our poker game.'
'While we continued playing, we gave and took about the same amounts.'
'Soon after, I decided to try to gamble big, with all my chips. But, Lee not only didn't take the bait, she folded on that hand.'
'And to be honest. Her reaction caught me off guard. Given her crazy plans and gambling motif. I thought she would go for the bet. And I was wrong.'
'Lee then said to me, that this was not a movie, and that I was not going to win, I would have to work at it.'
'And I don't fault her for her reaction, nor comment, on that matter. Though, I did win that hand, because Lee folded. Not that I really cared. I was more concerned about Lee, than the money we were playing with.'
'Then, after supper, Faye started cheating in my favor.'
'Lee was losing a lot of money, but she could not figure out why.'
'I had to figure out a way to stop this cheating. But, if I said something, it could cause problems for all of us. So, I came up with a plan to get Lee to do it. And at the same time, boost her confidence.'
'Then, on the first ten minutes break, after supper, when Lee ducked out to use the restroom, I ducked out to my personal bedroom, that I shared with Chang.'
'Given the voice difference between my female and male forms. I was unable to fake my male voice, when female, and vise versa.'
'And given I was taller and bigger in my male form, than my short, slender female form, I had slipped out of my gown, and undergarments, to change to male. I did so, and I changed my gender with a sneeze. I then opened one of my clothes drawers, and I pulled out a burner phone that I had.'
'And I made phone call to the casino.'
'I spent a minute talking to the casino operator, including using the operator's first name, and telling her that I was both River and Lee's friend.'
'Given I used the operator's real name, she believed me. And she transferred me to one of the guards' cellphones, on the penthouse floor. The guard them took her cellphone to Lee.'
'And finally, I got to speak to Lee as Sam.'
'I talked to Lee, and I boosted her confidence, by explaining to her that there was nothing to fear from me, as River. Though, I did not tell her that I was River. Still, my talk with her worked.'
'Then, I mentioned to look at Faye's hands. That it seems no one had picked up on it. And Lee clearly got the message.'
'After I hung up the phone. I did as Lee one time did. I opened the phone, took the sim card, broke it in have, then tossed the card pieces and phone into the garbage.'
Next, I changed genders, to female, and I quickly got dressed, in the clothing I had on before. After which, I swiftly headed back to the game room, in the opposite way down the hallway, from the men's and women's business restrooms.'
'I entered the poker room a few seconds after Lee did.'
'Faye joined us, and a few minutes later, and we continued our game.'
'Lee soon caught Faye cheating, and she used a good throwing card trick to do so. I then support Lee request for a new deck and a new dealer.'
'As the video feeds were cut, one of the guards came in and told Faye to leave. I knew she would not get in trouble with Chang, considering she did as Chang has instructed her to do.'
'During the private moment, I offered to split my winnings back to even, with Lee.'
'Lee declined, and she stated we had to play the game, as is.'
'Though flexible, Lee always did have a sense of fair play.'
'A few minutes later, we got a new deck and a new deal, Jetta Black.'
'I admired Jet, or now Jetta, since I knew her, as a him, before Jet had to have the vat process, due to a back reaction to the rejuvenation therapy. And Jetta is fair. And I did not have to worry about her cheating.'
'And so, the game went on. With Lee slowly making back her loses.'
'Over the next few hours, Lee not only gain back what she lost, but she slowly took what I had, until finally, later that night, I lost.'
'I was not upset, in the least, at losing. Lee beat me fairly. Even with the deck stacked against her, she won. And given everyone in the building was watching us, I could not show it, but I was proud of her.'
'The sad part was that Lee did not see a dime of that money. And even so, Lee pulled out a dollar of her own, and gave it to me, so I would not leave the table busted.'
'I found Lee small gift to be deeply touching.'
'Lee may be the only person in the multiverse, whom won a million dollars in a poker game, but came away from the gaming table a dollar poorer for the experience.'
'I calmly got up, and walked over to Lee, and whisper into her ear. 'Thank you. And I will be seeing you later, Paul.' To let her know I knew who she really was at the whole time, but I kept her identity a secret.'
'Lee then wisely got up, left the room, and the building, soon after.'
'As I watched Lee leave, Revy soon rush into the room to collect her winning, I thought it was unfair that Lee got nothing for her efforts. And so I decided I would give her something for her victory. And I had just the item in mind for a gift for her.'
'That night, and the next morning was full of fun for both Lee and I.'
'First, I spent the night having makeup sex with Chang, over losing the poker game. Well, to be honest, it was more celebratory form of loving making, dealing with Chang's brilliant planning, in that he profited off of that game, no matter the outcome. He even made more money, overall, due to my loss, from the bets on the game floor.'
'Though, the next morning, when I went over to the Devil's Hotel, as River, I joked about the makeup sex excuse with Lee, as River. And she found my comments funny, in my presence.'
'Anyway, earlier that morning, Chang and I got up, from the large bed we shared, together.'
'I was a woman at the time. And Chang was a man.'
'We got dressed and ready to face the day.'
'We then had breakfast together, in our private, penthouse dining room. With Chang having room service bring up breakfast for us.'
'Being rich does have its perks.'
'After breakfast, Chang went to work, in his office, by first going down stairs and talk to the security and pit boss on duty. He would then soon return back to his office, to do some paper work.'
'Meanwhile, I am when to our liquor cabinet to raid it.'
'I knew I wasn't going to get in trouble for doing this. But, I figured that Lee needed some type of reward for her win last night.'
'The gift I selected was a wooden box, with a sealed bottle of Ardbeg Providence in it. And I was sure that Lee would appreciate the gift.'
'I went down to garage, inside the casino, to get a car.'
'While, I kept the car I used as Sam, in a parking lot near the casino, there was to much of a risk of Lee or the others seeing me as River, in Sam's vehicle. So, I used one of Chang's many, pristine, four door, black sedans, to head to the Devil's Hotel.'
'I even arrange for a casino chauffeur, to make it look official, and to make Lee wonder if I even knew how to drive. So, as to further separate my Sam cover, from my identity as River.'
'Also, early that morning, right after Chang left, after our breakfast, I began arranging the situation, for Lee to use my gift. I changed gender, and call Lee as Sam. And I called the number of the hotel restaurant, with another burner phone I had. I reached Emily, whom gave the phone to Lee. I soon told Lee that I would meet her at the Rats Nest, at eleven AM. That set the stage, for when Lee would use her gift, I was able to give her.'
'Though, I later found out, that Lee was having her own adventure that morning.'
'Around the time I first got up from my bed, Lee was having her own fun, across town, in the Devil's Hotel lobby.'
'Later that day, I read from Lee's mind that, Revy and her friends, together, confronted Lee, with questions about what she did at the poker game the previous day.'
'In response, Lee had finally let control of her temper slip. And she stood up to Revy and her friends, that morning, for them only questioning how she won the game, instead of thanking her for winning that game. And she did such a good job that they did not hurt her, and instead, they left her along for the most part, that day.'
'Later, as River, was had my chauffeur drive me to Devil's Hotel, and wait for me, right outside the front entrance of the hotel. I walked into the lobby, with my gift in hand, and I found Lee there. Though, the girls were on the other side of the lobby.'
'They saw us, but fortunately, they did nothing but watch and listen.'
'I gave Lee her gift. We talked for a minute. Lee asked if Chang was okay with me losing. I said that was what makeup sex was for. The girls got a good laugh out of it, while Lee chuckled lightly at my joke. Also, I was happy that Lee was glad I did not get in trouble with Chang.'
'I so wanted to sit down and just talk to Lee as a person. But, I could not do so as River. So, I quickly left, to allow Lee to do what she planned to do next. I already read Lee's mind as to what she was going to do next, and I needed to hurry. So, I could be a part of what Lee was going to do next, as Sam.'
'Though later, I read Lee's mind and found that she did appreciate that gift. And Revy approach her about the bottle of alcohol. But, Lee was able to get her to shut up quickly, before Lee made a quick exit to the Rats Nest.'
'What took me so long to get to the Rats Nest was that, while Lee had directly for the Rats Nest, I had to have the chauffeur dropped me back at the casino. Because, if I requested to go directly to the Rats Nest, the chauffeur might inform Chang.'
'When we reached the casino, I snuck around to my own car, that was parked in a nearby parking lot, I drove to a private area, change clothing, and genders, put on my fake beard, tied my hair up in a ponytail in a red scrunchy, and I then headed to the Rats Nest.'
'As Sam, I made to the Rats Nest bar, just in time, before Lee was going to unseal the Ardbeg Providence.'
'I was not surprised that Lee had invited Pedro. I think Pedro was the only other person, in this city, from this reality, that would appreciate having a drink of Ardbeg Providence.'
'And given this was Bao's bar, Lee invited Bao to drink, as well. Though, at the time, neither Lee, nor Pedro realized who the bartender really was.'
'A minute later, Lee made a good toast, to life, and we all drank for the glasses that Bao had provided.'
'And while I had Ardbeg Providence before, it has always been a good label, and I was glad to share it with my friends.'
'After the four of us polished off the bottle, Pedro was still sober enough to drive, and he left to go back to work at the police station.'
'Though, before Pedro left, Lee was kind enough to give Pedro the empty bottle, as a gift to him. Which was nice of Lee. And we both knew that Pedro would appreciate such a gift.'
'The rest of the day was pleasant for Lee, and myself, until I returned to the casino, that evening. Where I went to Chang's office, to see if he wanted to have dinner with me.'
'As I opened the door to Chang's office, and I looked at Chang, I realized, from what I could read of Chang's thoughts, that Chang figured out that Lee was the writer. But, at the time, all I could get, that Chang had done, towards Lee, in response for learning she is the writer, was that he was sent a couple of people to tail Lee, starting the next day, in the morning.'
'As both of us went to dinner, down in the casino restaurant, I realized that I could not stop Chang from finding out more about Lee. All I could do was hope that I could mitigate that situation, when it happened.'
'The next day was a bad day for all of us. That was the day that the U.S. government finally caught up to Lee.'
'And I suspect what finally drew their attention to Lee was the poker game. The worst part was that Lee realized this before the poker game, and she could do nothing about it.'
'On that day, Lee was kidnapped by a U.S. snatch and grab team. This happened while she was coming back from lunch. Right after she parked her convertible by the Rats Nest bar, the team of men attempt to approach Lee. She ran way from them, and into the alleyway, behind the Rats Nest.'
'I was already in the bar, waiting for Lee, as she parked her car. By the time I sensed the danger, and I figured out what was going on, it was already too late. Lee had already run off.'
'When I got to my car, I could sense Lee was captured, and leaving the outer edge of my telepathic senses.'
'Still, since there was only one exit out of the city, I quickly drove my car towards the bridge. A few minutes later, when I got to the road leading to the bridge, I saw that Annie, and Arcee, in robot mode, had already stopped the van that Lee was kidnapped in, on its left side, and they had killed the team that had taken Lee.'
'They, were currently in the process of pulling Lee out of the van, and untying her.'
'When I saw this, I turned my car onto a nearby street, and I decide to find a place to change my gender and clothing. So, I could head back to the casino, as River, as quickly as possible. Because, I was sure, that given Chang knew Lee was the writer, and those two were sent to keep an eye on Lee, and protect her, by Chang. That those two women were probably going to directly take Lee to meet Chang after this.'
'I found a secluded place to park my car. Then to change my gender to a woman, take my fake beard off, replace my male clothing with my female clothing, and let my hair down. I then headed for the casino, as quickly as possible. Without getting into trouble, with the local police.'
'I soon made it to a nearby parking lot, by the casino. And I the made my way into the casino, from the front entrance. Given I already realized that Arcee and Annie were taking Lee up to see Chang, from the back entrance, of the auxiliary express elevator.'
'I made it to the penthouse floor of the casino, just as Lee was brought to Chang's office. But, I kept my distance, in a separate room. As I listened to their thoughts, as they talked with each other. Along with me avoiding Annie, whom was elsewhere in the penthouse, waiting for Chang to summon her.'
'Soon after the meeting began, Chang pointed out that he knew that Lee was the writer. And Lee came completely clean with Chang about being the writer, what she had done, and the time loop.'
'Though, when Chang threatened Lee with one of his pistols, something snapped inside of Lee, and from what Lee said, she was not only able to get Chang to lower his pistol, but she gave Chang a new found respect for this world.'
'What Lee said, was she pointed out how dangerous, and badass this world really was. And when Chang compared himself, and his friends, including me, to the sheer badassness of this world, he was left wanting.'
'Still, I think it was Lee's honesty towards Chang that saved her from him. That and the fact that Lee telling Chang about what she did to the girls in the time loop, had Chang laughing his ass off, and as some points, he was laughing to the point of tears, as he could barely stand up, while he could barely breath.'
'When I sensed that Lee was finally through with Chang, and she was being escort by Annie, out of the casino, I decided to see how Lee was, in person. And I met with her, in one of the penthouse hallways, as Annie took her to the front express elevator, where Lee would then got to the gaming floor, and the front entrance, where a car was waiting for her, to take her way she needed to go.'
'When I met with them, I read their minds. I could tell Annie knew what was going on, and Lee felt he was fine for the moment.'
'That made me feel good.'
'I spoke to them for a moment. I asked if Lee was okay. And she said, yes.'
'I also read from Lee's mind that she was going to get her car from the Rats Nest, and head back to her suite at the Devil's Hotel.'
'I then walked passed them, to Chang's office.'
'When I reached Chang's office. I talked to him.'
'Chang clearly knew I already knew that Lee was the writer. And he wanted to knew why I kept it a secret. And I told him my reasons. Though, I did not mention that I was Sam.'
'Chang then asked why Lee was doing all this. And why she was not hiding, instead of baiting those hunting her to come after her.'
'I told Chang the truth. That Lee was dying of cancer. Though, I sensed that Chang's mind, that he may have already also figured this out, as well.'
'Chang asked how long Lee had. I said around two months. Though, to be honest, Lee may have little longer.'
'After I informed Chang of all this, I could already tell that the gears were turning in his head, on how to use this to his advantage. Fortunately, that was usually a good thing for those he is interested in. One of the things I find attractive about Chang is that he is rarely wasteful.'
'Soon after, I left Chang, and the building. And I walked to the car I used as Sam.'
'I headed, in my car, to somewhere private.'
'I then changed back into my disguise Sam, and I changed into my male gender.'
'Next, I drove to the Devil's Hotel. After which, I quickly made my way through the lobby, and to the third floor. But, when I reached the hallway door to Lee's suite, I could sense Lee in there, and she was very upset.'
'From what I could sense, it seemed that the events of everything had all finally hit her and she emotionally broke down. First, into a fit of rage. And then to tears.'
'While Lee was having a mini-breakdown, and could really use a friend at the moment, I also realized that it would a bad idea to confront her, right now.'
'I needed to wait for Lee to calm down.'
'After leaving the hotel, and switching back my gender, to being River and I changed my clothing When I was ready, I headed back to the casino, to spent the afternoon in my penthouse home. To think on what I need to say to Lee.'
'Soon after I left, Lee finished crying, and collected herself. She then came out of her suite, she went down to the check in desk, and she paid for the damages to the room.'
'I will say that the staff in the Devil's Hotel was very understanding, and that as long as Lee paid for damages, then there were no problems.'
'About an hour after I left Lee, in the casino penthouse, I pulled out another burner phone I had, and went to my master bathroom, and lock the door.'
'I then stripped down, and changed genders. I called Devil's Hotel check in desk, and the clerk on staff gladly transferred me to Lee's suite.'
'Lee then picked up the phone, and I talked to her. She sounded better.'
'She said she needed some time alone for that day, and the day after.'
'And I agreed that Lee needed time to decompress.'
'Lee then hung up her phone.'
'After turning off my burner phone, I changed genders, back to female. Put on my clothing, and left the bathroom, to enjoy the rest of the day at the casino.'
'I really belief that Lee needed that day off. But, fate had another plans.'
'The next morning, fate decided to have Lee chaperon one of the craziest, most savvy individuals in the multiverse. The infamous, and insanity inducing private, Captain Jack Sparrow. With the only thing more surprising was whose body Jack was inhabiting.'
'It turned out that Revy was the reincarnation of Jack Sparrow. Which in retrospect, was not that surprising. They share a lot of the same personality traits.'
'That morning, the day after Lee and Chang talked, it seemed that Rock and the others decided to go on a tour of the mainland, of Mexico, for that day.'
'Though, Revy had not interest in the tour, and she stayed behind. Her plans were to get drunk early, in the hotel bar. And she had her weapons on her.'
'I don't fault for Melvin for doing what he could to talk Revy out of getting drunk.'
'Though, I am with Lee on this. He should have just suggested she see a movie, in the hotel theater, instead.'
'On the other hand, Melvin suggested that Revy try something that Melvin had learned while in this reality. Hypnosis for past life regression.'
'Revy, being the curious sort, decided to allow Melvin to do so, because she really wanted to get to know what her past lives.'
'Those two gained way more than they bargained for.'
'Half an hour later, Melvin dragged Jack, in Revy's body, up to Lee's hallway door, begging for Lee's help.'
'I will give Lee credit. Even I am not sure I would willingly accept dealing with Jack, to help a friend.'
'And it just got better and better for Lee.'
'Within five minute of Jack meeting Lee, from Revy's memories, he deduced that Lee was the writer.'
'And the reason I use the term, he, in referring to Jack, is because Jack was still pretty much a man in his mind, while inside Revy's female body. Much like Lee is female upstairs, in a male body.'
'Fortunately, when it came to Jack realizing that Lee is the writer, it seems Jack was impressed with Lee, to the point that no only did Jack offer to sleep with Lee, but he wanted to also teach Lee, like a student.'
'Even I would be tempted to take Jack up on such an offer.'
'But, since Lee did not want to wreck Revy and her family's lives, she declined Jack's offer.'
'Though, to help convinced us that Revy was not behind the wheel of that hot, redheaded, asian piece of ass... What Chang calls Revy, behind her back... Lee took Jack to a costume shop that she had used in the time loop.'
'And, at the time, Jack even correctly guessed that Lee was doing this to help convince us that Jack Sparrow was the one in charge of Revy's body.'
'Lee dropped Jack off at the door to the costume shop, and waiting for him out in the parking lot.'
'A little while, Jack came out in a costume similar to his old costume he wore in his previous life as a pirate. Only this outfit was fitted to Revy's body.'
'The best part was that Jack could still pull off that look, while in a woman's body.'
'That takes style and skill, that even I would envy.'
'Jack also holding a small bag with Revy's clothing, as Lee picked him up with her car.'
'Lee then drove Jack to the casino.'
'When they reached the casino, Lee immediately took Jack to the front express elevator bay. When they reached the elevator bay, with the two guards there, Lee stated they needed to see Chang. The guards took one look at Jack, in Revy's body, in a pirates' outfit, and they let the two of them use the express elevator.'
'Lee then escorted Jack to Chang's office.'
'As they confronted Chang, it did not take much to convince Chang that Lee was telling the truth, and this was Jack Sparrow they were dealing with.'
'Chang quickly called Annie, to find me, and for the two of us to come up to his office as soon as possible.'
'When Annie and I reached the office, they were in the middle of a very embarrassing conversation for Lee.'
'It seems that Jack had all of Revy's memories. Including Revy's memories in the time loop. And that Revy and Rock did notice that the five packets of instant spring of drowned girl they had went missing a few times.'
'It did not take a genius to figure out that Lee took them, and what she used them for.'
'But, it did take a genius to truly appreciate, in imagining, what Lee used to packets, to do with herself.'
'I honestly did not know that Lee's face could blush that deep a shade of red.'
'And given the situation, and the fact Annie had asked, I had to tell her what they were talking about. Both that Revy was the reincarnation of Jack Sparrow, and that, in a time loop, Lee raided Revy's magical packets of spring of drowned girl.'
'We all got a good laugh at Lee's embarrassing indiscretions, but we all agreed those actions, that Lee took in the time loop, would remain secret.'
'Though, I would guess that Revy and Rock had those packets for the writer, in the first place. So, the packets were used by their intended victim.'
'We then talked about sealing Jack's memories and restoring Revy's personality.'
'Though, Annie and I made it clear that it was ultimately Jack's choice.'
'Soon after, Chang sent Annie, Jack, and I, out of the room, and to a nearby spare office. So, he and Lee could talk, and come up with a workable plan for the situation. The plan on a believable story to explain why Revy came the casino? Why she was wearing a pirate outfit, that fit her? Why she would wake up in an office on the penthouse floor? And why she could not remember anything of that day's morning and afternoon?'
'Also, during that meeting, Chang made Lee an offer for his help, in exchange for her employment under him. Including the vat process, which would cure her cancer, give her a healthy body, restore some youth back to her body, and turn her physically into a woman.'
'Lee was really tempted to take Chang up on his offer. The one sticking point was not the vat process. Though, Chang did not know it, Lee would not have minded having that process done to her, while knowing beforehand the results, and drawbacks of being a woman would mean for her.'
'No. The sticking point was that Chang had yet to figure out how to placate Revy and anyone else that want revenged on Lee.'
'Should Chang have solved that problem, Lee would have gladly accepted his offer.'
'Meanwhile, as Annie Jack, and myself, walked to a nearby spare office, Jack realized was I going to read his mind, and he was nice enough to give me permission to do so.'
'From reading Jack's mind, I learned a lot about both Jack's personality, and Revy's personality, in a few ways.'
'I always wondered what Revy's potential for intelligence and cleverness was.
After meeting Jack in Revy's body, I had my answer. While Revy is nowhere a genius of my caliber, Revy, at her full potential, could keep up with me. And so, it was more a her mental childhood traumas that held her back. In other words, it was a software problem, not a hardware problem.'
'Though, Jack had Revy's memories, plus his own, he was still able to play at a high savviness level than even Chang and Lee. I can safely say, given Revy's longevity, she might someday fully overcome her childhood traumas, and become a better person, like I did.'
'That all being said, I was in agreement with Lee, that Jack needed to back into his box. Though, we all agreed that it was Jack's choice.'
'While, barring the gender differences, Jack and Revy's personality traits were almost parallel with each other. With Jack having a positive outlook on life, whereas Revy had a negative out look on life.'
'Along with their life experiences in different genders. There was one other trait that differed between Revy and Jack.'
'Revy was very monogamous. While Jack was very promiscuous.'
'We all quickly realized that if Jack, was allowed to stay Jack, he was going to cause a whole lot of problems for all of us. Including, himself.'
'Also, the resulting havoc would likely blow both Lee's cover, and my cover. Though, I doubt that Jack had the chance to realize I was Sam.'
'To add to this, Jack's personality trait to cause havoc was unparalleled. And Revy had a similar trait, though her trait was not as developed.'
'This trait to wreck havoc was made clear, earlier, when Annie and I walked in on the conversation between Lee, Chang, and Jack, dealing with the magical gender bending packets that Lee stole from Revy, and used, during the time loop.'
'Still, when we reached the nearby office. And Jack started to put the moves on Annie, while both of them were on the couch, in the office. I was not going to stop Jack and Annie from having a little fun, and risk upsetting one of the savviess people in the multiverse, and a force master, at the same time.'
'So, I quickly excuse myself, and left for a break room, next to the office we were in.'
'I still wanted to listen to their thoughts, and laugh, as they had some fun with each other.'
'The break room was on the way to the office, from Chang's office. So, I was sure they would stop by when they heard my laughing. A few minutes later, Chang and Lee did as I expect them to do so.'
'Soon, all three of us entered the other office, and we found Annie and Jack in a comprising position. Though, they were still mostly clothed at the time.'
'I have to admit, while she rarely shows it, Annie does have a nice set of breasts.'
'And the way Chang, Lee, and I found Annie and Jack, convinced Jack that he needed to go back to sleep.'
'It seemed that Jack still loved Rock.'
'And Jack knew that he stayed as Jack, then he knew his promiscuity would screw up his relationship with Rock, and the rest of their family.'
'We then learned that Chang and Lee had come up with a workable plan. Well, Lee came up with most of the plan, with Chang refining the plan a bit. All of us, even Jack agreed that it was a believable plan.'
'Chang and Lee then left the room, while Annie and I got to work, on sealing Jack's memories. We also sealed Revy's memories for entire day.'
'It took Annie and I, linking our powers, and minds, with Jack's mind, to seal Jack's memories, and bring back Revy's personality. And Jack helped us do this.'
'Even then, this seal would likely not last forever.'
'On an interesting side note. After reading Jack's mind, when I met him in Revy's body. Revy was following a fortuneteller’s suggestion. A woman that Revy and Rock met at the town festival, during the Day of Little Angel.'
'And that meeting confirmed that Lee was not the only precognitive in this reality. Which made me even more interested in this world.'
'When we finished sealing Jack's memories and persona, we left Revy asleep, on the couch of the spare office, as we returned to Chang's office, to find Chang and Lee talked about TV shows.'
'I gave them the good news.'
'Still, we all agreed that Annie and I needed to stick around the penthouse, in case, when Revy woke up, and the memories were not fully sealed, or if there was something wrong, we would be there to fix it.'
'After a brief discussion on a few things, we got to talking about movies Annie and I could watch, in my living room, while we waited for Revy to wake up.'
'Lee suggested, in thought, a comedy parody of romantic a movie, that I liked. I suggested the movie to Annie, and she liked it, as well.'
'It is so nice to have friends that appreciate a telepath's abilities.'
'And it is refreshing to know that, even though I still have some control issues on my telepathy, it seems that Chang, Lee, and Annie really do not mind me reading their minds. As long as, I keep their secrets, and I don't use those secrets against them.'
'It is a more than generous comprise on their side, towards me.'
'Annie and I then left for the penthouse living room.'
'Soon after, Lee said goodbye to Chang, and she left Chang's office, as well. Given part of the plan meant that Lee needed to be somewhere else than the casino, when Revy woke up.'
'A few hours later, as Annie and I sensed Revy coming to. We also noticed that it was Revy's personality, and not Jack's personal. And Revy was not consciously aware of any of Jack's memories.'
'We went to Chang's office and informed him of this.'
'Chang then got in touch with Rock, whom was at the Devil's Hotel, to come pick up Revy. Chang used the cover story that Lee came up with.'
'The three of us then waked outside of the other office, where Revy had been sleeping. When she fully came away, the three of us walked inside to check on her.'
'She was Revy again. And she believed our cover story. We even convinced her to keep her new pirate outfit, which she like. Which was no surprise, because deep down, she was still also Jack. And Jack had been the one to pick out that outfit, in the first place.'
'We then left her in the office, so she could change her clothing back to her usual outfit. And she then waited for Rock to arrive.'
'Rock soon picked her up, with her items, and she left for the day.'
'What I did not count on about this situation, was that Revy still wanted a drink that day.'
'From reading the various parties mind, I learned that, Revy convinced Rock, and a few of her friends, to go out for drinks that night, at the Rats Nest. Though, instead of them going there to get drink. She just wanted to have a few beers with her friends, and an atmosphere that she felt relaxed in. Which happened to be the Rats Nest, because the bar rightfully reminded her of her time at the Yellowflag, back in Roanapur, Thailand.'
'During that evening, that the Rats Nest, while Revy did not know that the bartender was Bao. She did talk to Bao.'
'While I am not sure what was talked about in their conversation. Whatever was said made Bao realize that Revy, and the others, were after Lee. But, at the time, Bao did not know why.'
'Still, given Lee was a very good customer, with the two of them already experiencing that wonderful date, together, Bao wanted to know what the hell was going on.'
'So, the next day was full of excitement for Lee and I. But, this time, not in a pleasant way.'
'The next morning, before I met Lee at the Rats Nest, Bao had tricked Lee into the back of the storage room of the Rats Nest, and she confronted him, with a pistol.'
'Lee soon told Bao everything, about what was going on. That she was the writer. What the stories she wrote were about. And a summary of everything else that Bao wanted to know.'
'To be fair, Bao took the news a quite well. She put away her gun, and she even laughed at the news that Lee was the one responsible for turning her into a woman.'
'Then, Bao played a little game, of Lee trying to guess who Bao was. And Bao gave Lee a big hint, and Lee immediately realized that the bartender was Bao.'
'Lee did immediately apologize to Bao about turning her into a woman. Bao was okay with the situation, because she also realized that Lee had changed her body into a body that was in perfect health, and far younger than she was back in Roanapur.'
'They then compared notes, on what was going on. And they had some fun in doing so.'
'Soon after, they re-entered the bar room itself. And before long, I showed up, at the bar, as Sam.'
'Lee and I then played our ongoing game of poker.'
'For lunch, Lee treated me to a meal at the local steakhouse restaurant that he took Eda too. And it was a good lunch. Though, we took her pink Cadillac. When we returned, Lee dropped me off at the Rats Nest, and she then to parked away from the Rats Nest, to prevent anyone from ambushing her, again. Or, at least allow her to spot them, before they spotted her.'
'Fortunately, it did not take her long to walk back to the Rats Nest, from where she parked her car.'
'Afterward, we continued our poker game.'
'Still, I was concerned, I could read Lee's mind, and her precognition was giving her growing sense of impending doom all day. Though, even I could could not figure out why.'
'Given Lee's precognition, this was a warning that could not be ignored.'
'Then, late that afternoon, close to sunset, we had the answer to our question, when the two Lovelace Maids, Rosarita 'Roberta' Cisneros and Fabiola Iglesias, showed up at ath Rats Nest, looking for direction to the Devil's Hotel.'
'For those that do not know, Roberta, also nicknamed the Bloodhound, it as dangerous fighter than I am. And her student, Fabiola is almost as dangerous in a fighter at Roberta is.'
'And the only reason that they would be in this town would be them searching for the writer. And the only reason they would be looking for the writer was for revenge over what the writer did to their master, Garcia Lovelace.'
'I am very happy, that Lee and Bao were able to secretly work together, on the fly, for Bao to stall the maids, while Lee figured out an escape plan for both herself, and myself.'
'After we quickly, though quietly, made our way out of the men's restroom window, to the outside, we briskly walked away from the bar, from the right side of the building, where there were no windows, and the maids would not see up leave.'
'A few minutes later, after we were a block away from the Rats Nest, and closer to Lee's pink car, Lee stopped by a payphone, and called the police station, to leave Pedro a message, that the maids were in town.'
'I admire that Lee remembered to warn her friends, as well, towards the impending danger.'
'Pedro did later get the message, and he immediately left town, with around half his police force right behind him. I will say this about Plata Podrido's police force, their intelligence, and common sense is a lot higher than most police forces. Those in the police force that knew what going on, and learned that the Lovelace maids were in town, also realized that it was best for them to get out of town very quickly. And that should not try to confront the maids.'
'And given Roberta is one of those few people I know of that can gloat, about taking a small army, and winning. I don't blame Pedro, nor his officers, from swiftly escaping town in their vehicles.'
'Though, back to Lee and I. A few seconds later, after Lee hung up the pay phone, and we started walking again, away from the Rats Nest, and we literally heard the Rats Nest explode, behind us.'
'I even turned around and saw the smoke rising, while Lee just continued walking.
'I do not know the details of how the Rats Nest blew up, but I was glad that Bao escaped unharmed.'
'Besides, Bao had the place insured. So, she will be fine.'
'Still, with the maids here, the danger level that Lee was now in the extreme. Her precognition was right on the money.'
'I think quickly returned to walking right behind Lee, as I caught up with her.'
'Given the seriousness of the situation, I did not have time to be gentle, as I came clean to her.'
'And I did drop a number of mental bombshells on her. One after another. All and in all, she took them very well.'
'While Lee had her back to me, and she was trying to convince me to runaway from her, for my own safety. With I found to be touching. Instead, I started revealing my secrets, by revealing who I was, with a sneeze, which changed me to my male form to my female form.'
'Lee immediately stopped walking, as she realized by that sneeze I was a gender bender. She then turned around, and she learned who I really was.'
'I feel that Lee laughed, because she really didn't want to cry.'
'Lee mentally realized that the fake beard trick worked on her. And she commented that she should have guess the name. Since, Sam rhymes with Tam.'
'She then requested for me to remove my fake beard, and I did so.'
'After some discussion, Lee asked why the maids would be after her.'
'And I answered her question.'
'I told Lee why the maids were after her, by reminding her what she did to Garcia'
'That news almost made Lee freak out. And this was from a person that could probably remain calm in the middle of a warzone. This is how much the maids scared Lee. And that fear was very justified.'
'I tried my best to calm her down by saying I could handle the maids.'
'Though, to be honest, I was not sure.'
'And the worst part was that I had to admit to Lee that I never really watched the Black Lagoon series. Neither the anime, nor reading the manga. I really need to do that sometime.'
'Lee then explained to me who Roberta was. And she then telepathically pulled up everything she knew about Roberta.'
'My fear immediately paled when compared to the fear that I felt, when I learned about what Roberta was really capable of. Which did not help Lee's confidence at all.'
'Then, Lee reminded me that I would not just be facing Roberta, but Fabiola as well.'
'Even I had to admit that I was outclassed.'
'I then asked if Lee felt we were still friends. And Lee answered, yes. And even given the circumstances, I was delighted with Lee's answer.'
'Lee then tried again to convince me that I should just return to Chang, and leave her to basically suffer a horrible fat.'
'Then, Lee went on about how she had been dealing with crazy chicks all the time. Which is true.'
'But, that was when I called her own her comments about crazy chicks. And I asked if she included herself in her comment.'
'While I did not say it outright, that I knew that Lee was a transsexual. I mentioned I knew about her gender problems.'
'Lee remained silent, until I push the matter, and Lee sadly revealed where her precognition came from.'
'I learned that Lee's precognition came from the fact that she would like to be anyway, but in her male body. In her current life.'
'I knew, from reading Lee's thoughts, that Lee use to have a death wish. And Lee used that death wish, in the form of repeating the term, I will die, in her mind, as a way to help her stay sane in the hell that is her life. Though, the time loop fixed that problem. Still, her dislike for her male body did explain why she had precognitive abilities in the first place.'
'I then suggested that Lee go to Chang for help.'
'Lee pointed out that Chang would not cross the maids. And I had to agree with her on that fact. Though, later I talked to Chang on the matter. And he already came up with an indirect way of dealing with the maids. By simply contacting Garcia. If the situation required us to do so.'
'Lee then mentioned Chang's offer. And we both agreed that it was a good offer for Lee. Because along with curing her cancer, she would become a women, physically.'
'Lee then went off on how hypocritical Revy and the others were. Given, they enjoy watching the suffering of others, in fiction, and how it was just human nature.'
'Though, in the end, Lee calmed down, and we decided that we needed to go our separate ways for a little while, to separately think on the best way to get Lee out of this situation. Though, we planned to meet back at Devil's Hotel, later that evening.'
'Both of us realized that it would take the maids longer to reach the hotel, because the preferred to be on foot.'
'Before we parted ways she said I was a good friend.'
'I replied that she deserved more than one good friend.'
'We then went our separate ways, as we headed back for our cars.'
'Less than an hour later, I returned to the Devil's Hotel. I did not both to put on my fake beard, because now Lee already know who I was. And Revy and her friends won't give a damn. Unless they recognized me. Still, if they did recognize me, they would think twice about approaching me, and Lee, given they knew what I was capable of.'
'At that point, I really didn't have a plan, but I was going to be there to support Lee, in whatever choice she made. And to help make sure she survived her choice.'
'I sensed that Lee was in the hotel bar.'
'As I walked in, what I saw surprised me.'
'I saw that Revy, Rock, Akira, Natsuru, and Ranma, sitting at their usual tables, near the stage.'
'And on the stage as Lee, singing very well, the song titled, Twilight Zone, by Golden Earring.'
'From the lyrics of the song Lee was singing, I could tell, that Lee was practically confessing to Revy and the others.'
'Lee was too much into the song for me to get a solid reading of her mind, as to why she was confessing, but I did sense that she saw me.'
'So, I walked over to the corner table, against the entrance wall, and wait for either Lee to finish her song, or one of the girls to go on stage and confront Lee. If the latter happened, I would move quickly to deal with the situation.'
'But, instead, the former happened. At the time, no one else in the audience realized that Lee was confessing.'
'Lee soon left the stage, and head to sit beside me.'
'I called her on why she would sing that song in front of them. Though, we did not say any names, because Revy and Rock had really sharp hearing, due to the super-soldier serum, and Natsuru enhanced Kampfer senses.'
'Lee responded that it she thought that turning herself over to the asian, meaning Revy, would be far more merciful than turning herself over that the latin, meaning Roberta.'
'And I had to agree with her on that.'
'We then talked for a minute, as we tried to come up with a solution, before Lee either left, or the maids arrived early. Then, the unexpected happened.'
'Lee saw Rock and Revy approach the bar counter.'
'And Rock pulled out her reality device, and set it by her, on the bar counter, opposite to Revy, as she dig into her pants pocket, to get the money she need for their bill for dinner.'
'It was a gold opportunity that Lee could not pass up.'
'And on the spot, Lee came up with an insane plan to get it. Though, it would require I got through a lot of pain.'
'In all fairness, I let Lee guilt trip me into doing my part, because I did not have a better plan, and the maids would show up soon. And given the fact we both knew that running, in the conventional sense, would not work with the Bloodhound, this was Lee last shot at escaping, before the maids got here.'
'Though, before I got up, we said our goodbyes, and Lee gave me her keys to her pink Cadillac. Because she would no longer need it. And I appreciated her gift.'
'Then, I got up form my chair, and I did my part. I walked up between Rock and Revy, with Lee following several feet behind. When I came to a stop, between the two woman. I said, ladies. After which, I placed a hand one butt cheek, on each woman, and I squeezed both my hands.'
'In response, after I let go of them, I let them beat the crap out of me. So, they would not noticed Lee walking by them, on her way out, with Rock's reality device. But, I was careful to slightly dodge any serious blows towards me, without them realizing it.'
'I then saw, behind Rock, as Lee quickly pocketed the reality device, turned and walked away from us, and towards the exit. Though, Lee stopped to pay for her meal. I am slightly annoyed about that. But, I am not going to hold it against her.'
'And it was Melvin that accepted Lee's payment. Which was fifty dollar bill. Lee told him to keep the change. And I read from Melvin's mind, that he realized that Lee was the writer, and he let her go. With Lee evening calling Melvin, russian, to let him know that she knew about him, all along, and still helped him.'
'Melvin found that touching, and so did I.'
'By the time, Rock and Revy realized that I was Sam, and they stopped beating on me, Lee was gone, with Rock's reality device.'
'As Rock realized what was going on, and that Lee was the writer, Revy hauled me up, and the kneed me in the groin, as a man.'
'That hurt. And the pain caused me to collapse back to the ground. I will never, ever again make fun of a man getting hit the balls.'
'While this went on, Akira, Natsuru, and Ranma realized that Lee was the write, as well. And all five women quickly exiting the restaurant, for the front lobby.'
'Still, it was too late for the women, Lee had too much of a head start. And then, after she got her luggage from at the front desk, she walked out the front door, passed a few more of the women after her, and she soon escaped into the multiverse, using Rock's reality device.'
'And if I read the women's minds correctly, Lee escaped in style. Complete with her lighting a cigarette, before she left. A cigarette that I believe Revy gave Lee at the start. Lee even pulled a full on, Usual Suspects, Keyser Soze, disappearing act, right in front of all eighteen women that had original come to the Devil's Hotel, looking for her.'
'I would have loved to have seen the look on their faces at that moment. And given they were all facing in one direction, with a reality device, that might be possible. But, even I am not crazy enough to try to see them like that.'
'Anyway, Dutch, Benny, and Janet soon showed up, and the look on most the women's faces, several seconds after Lee escaped, was still priceless.'
'Anyway, Eda and Yolanda came to the hotel, as well. The girls then returned back to the hotel restaurant, clear the room, except for me. And after we are all situated. And I was sitting in a chair, in the middle of the room, while surrounded by them, I revealed that I was River, with a sneeze. And we all talked.'
'Unfortunately, they learned about the time loop, and what Lee did during the time loop, with the help of Ranma's magical lamp and the smoke it produces. Which allowed us all to fully remember the time loop, without remember anything horrible, in our distance pasts.'
'And I will have to check on Chang getting some of that. Due to the wonder repeating day the two of us had.'
'Anyway, during the conversation, as a way to help Lee, I revealed that Lee was dying of cancer, and they learned about the time loop. Along, with them realizing all the wonderful skills that Lee had tricked them into teaching her. Including some skills I taught her, as well. And a few other skills that will come in handy for Lee, in avoiding capture.'
'Also, the maids showed up. But, nothing came of their arrival. Except they would be part of the continued hunt for Lee. And given those two were on the hunt, it was best Revy and the others went with them, to help reign them in.'
'Still, the women found out where Lee was, and where she was likely heading. Though, with Lee, that doesn't mean they will catch her.'
'Revy and a few of the others took me to the casino, and we had Chang bring all my friends there, together, in the garage, for a private meeting. There, Revy forced me to reveal what I had done, that Lee was the writer, and that Lee had escape into the multiverse.'
'After another discussion, Revy, and her friends left for the night. When they were gone, Chang talked to us, and told us that he offered a reward, of gold bars for each of my friends that went on the hunt, for the capture of Lee in a salvageable, non-cripple, non-dead condition.'
'At least, Chang still wanted Lee back in one piece. And I appreciated that. Still, Chang knew he could not allow me to leave the casino.'
'And at the end of the meeting, Chang had Zoe, and Jayne escort me to the penthouse apartment that I shared with Chang.'
'Over an hour later, Chang returned to our penthouse apartment, and we talked, and we talked in private, in our living room.'
'Chang explained that he had plans to save Lee, but at the moment, I could not be a part of those plans. And that if I got involved, it could screw up his plans, and get Lee killed.'
'I agreed with his logic, and I agreed not to go after Lee. Though, I did ask what would likely happen to Lee if she was capture.'
'Chang answered that if his employees capture Lee, that they would likely beat her up, but otherwise, bring her here unharmed. If Revy and her friends capture Lee, it would be bad, but Chang could probably talk them into turning Lee over to him.'
'If the maids got Lee, all bets were off.'
'But, Chang pointed out, that if the maids got Lee, he would bring in Garcia, to mediate the situation. And I agreed with him, that was a good idea.'
'Chang then asked if I had supper. I had not. And he ordered in some dinner for me.'
'Though, from Revy's blow to my groin, earlier that night, when I was a man. Which I made worse by changing into a woman, which spread the soreness to my lower abdomen. As such, I was in no mood for sex. Chang was understanding, and he got me a heating pad. Though, we still enjoyed each other's company, and we soon went to sleep together, in our bed, for the night.'
'The next morning, we awoke, got cleaned up, had breakfast. Then, Annie came up to the apartment, to keep me company and for Annie to have an alias to avoid the meeting with that Chang then headed downstairs for. A meeting with my friends, Revy's crew, and the maids.'
'After those people left, on their hunt for Lee, Chang then went to continue his duties for the day, of running his casino.'
'And now, I am back to the present, in the morning of the day after Lee escape. I am currently sharing my living room with my good friend, Annie. Along with my friends about to going after Lee. For them, they could be gone for days. For those still in this reality, they will be back in five minutes.'
'Though, they should be back by now. And from what Annie has told me, a few minutes ago. Annie has not sense their return with the force.'
'So, it is possible they decided to stay more parallel between the time they spent, and the time we are spending. At the moment, there is no way for me to know.'
'But, for me, either way, this is going to be a very long day. Because, I have truly enjoyed my friendship with, Lee. With us sharing our joys, hopes, and sorrows.'
'As a teenager, before I was tortured, and experimented on, I did not truly value my friendships. I had a group of friends, but in that group, I was just an overachieving queen bee whom viewed everyone else as a stepping stone for greater things. That eventually came back to bite me in the ass, in a big way.'
'At the time, I didn't even view my friendship with my brother Simon, as nothing important. I am happy that Simon thought differently. I owe him for everything, and more.'
'Speaking of which. My relationship with Chang is... Interesting. When we started, thanks to Lee writing skills, I was the dominate partner. Now, it is more of an equal relationship. And we have been together so long, and we now get alone so well, that we do care deeply for each other. And as such, I, nor Chang, hold what Lee did to us, against her.'
'All that aside, except for Annie, Lee is probably the only genuine, platonic friendship, I have ever had.'
'For those that know me. There has always been a gap. For the crew of the Serenity. And almost everyone else. It was one thing or another, that created roadblocks for my friendship.'
'For Simon, I was his broken sister. For others, it was either my insanity, which I am almost back to being completely sane. It was my genius. I was a telepath without full control of my abilities. So, I read peoples thought, whether I want to, or not. It was the fact that I was tortured, and brainwashed for a while. The fact that I am in someways a trained, walking, killing machine. Or, just that fact that in my natural female form, I am a physically a young, hot babe, that many men would lust after, and many women would be envious of.'
'While the last example doesn't bother me much. The rest does.'
'And though, I have been alternating between leaving my hair its natural brown, or dyeing it red, for several years. When I came to Lee's reality, I decided to dye my hair red, and keep it red, for a number of reasons.'
'Among other reasons, having red hair would make it harder for people to recognize in both my forms. For the public here, in my female form. And towards my friends, in my male form.'
'When it comes to the public here. While the Firefly series and Serenity movie are nowhere near as popular as the Star Wars franchise. It is known in several realities. Including, this reality.'
'And those that know my origins, know my nature color is brown. So, when other people see my red hair, it throws them for a mental loop. And I like that. Because they then do not recognize me as neither myself, nor my actress.'
'Because of this, I can walk in a crowd, in Lee's reality, and not have to worry about being recognized.'
'Still, when it comes to dying my hair red. I think Lee just made a mistake. And she thought my hair was naturally red, and she later learned that it was naturally brown. And she corrected that mistake by stating that I decided to dye my hair red. And I later just alternated between brown and red colors, for my hair.'
'I have seen a few pictures of my actress, in different forms of lighting. One could make the mistake that I have red hair. Though, I do not hold this against Lee.'
'Along with this, the idea of dyeing my hair red, is likely where she originally got the idea to dye her hair own black. And I admit that black hair does look good on her.'
'Also, dyeing my hair red do solve a few of my problems. And it prevents numerous other problems, for myself.'
'Such as, no one thinks twice about seeing a crazy redhead. I do not really understand why. Though, that seems to be the case.'
'Along with that, my gender bending ability also helped with that matter, as well. Though, I still like to present myself as female, in my day to day life.'
'But, I found all this put me in a unique situation, I had never been in before, when I disguised myself as Sam, and met with Lee.
'As Sam. With the gender bending, dyed red hair, and fake red full beard, Lee did not know who I was. And due to this, there were no boundaries between us, on how she view me, and how she treated me. As far as Lee was concerned, I was just someone that wanted a friend. And Lee, whom never had any real friends. Whom was really desperate for a friend, but no knew better than to show that desperation.'
'And even though I presented myself as male, it was a good friendship.'
'And Lee was not clingy about being my friend. She knew to be aloof, and causal about our friendship. But, she was also supportive of me, and my views. Even if she disagreed with me. And most of all, she was not judgmental. She kept giving me the benefit of the doubt. And she was genuinely kind to me. This is one of the reasons I changed my mind about her. I realize that she does not deserve revenge. A small measure of justice. Yes. But, not what Revy, Roberta, and the others wanted to do to her.'
'And this is why, I am going to do everything in my power to help, Lee.'
River attention was brought back to the present, as from across the room, Annie sensed her emotion state.
While not looking up from her book, Annie chastised River, in english, “Don't be so melodically, River. It does not become you.”
River turned from the window she was looking out, to face Annie.
River saw, across the living room, sitting on the couch was Gray Force Master Annie Skywalker. She was wearing a white blouse, gray pants, black belt, and black slippers. She was clearly relaxed, as her legs were crossed. In her right hand, she was in the middle reading a copy of the book, The Three Musketeers, in its original french text. In her left hand, she had just taken a sip from her cup of hot tea. She then set the cup back, on its coaster, on the table in front of her, by her lightsaber, which had set on the table.
River walked to a nearby chair, and sat down. She then looked at Annie, her friend, as she thought, 'After everything Annie has been through, she is neither a Sith, nor a Jedi. She is a true gray.'
Annie continued to read her book, as she said, “River. We have known each other for years. In all honestly, decades. We first truly met and got to know each other at one of the Lagoon bikini parties. I regret we did not have time to get to know each other, before we attacked Chang's tower. And neither of us had the chance to get to know each other, until long after those events. When we finally formally met at one of those parities. And we got to know each.”
River stated, in english, “Yes. I remember that event.”
Annie responded, “I know you do. Soon after that party, I freely began training you to control your telepathy. And with that control, most of your sanity returned. Everyone seems to be very happy about that. We have been good friends ever since then.”
River mentioned, “And you helped me clean out, and remove, any subliminal commands left in my mind.”
Annie stated, “That to. And it was worth the risk in doing, to give you some peace of mind.”
River said, “I know. I don't want someone to come out of the blue, and give one those commands. Which would make me try to wreck everything I have worked so hard to create. And I am eternally grateful for your help on that matter. And I am glad no one was hurt, when we did that.”
Annie responded, “As am I. I enjoy being your friend, River. You have a lot of traits that I admire. Also, we have a lot of common interests. And much to Chang's annoyance, we have shared a bed together, a few times, in both your gender forms. I must say, you truly are a skilled lover, as both a woman and a man. And Chang knows that if she, or I should say now, he, complains about such matter. He will painful regret doing so.”
River asked, “I know. And I still do not understand why do you even work for my lover? It is clear you still hate him for his part in changing you into a woman, among other things.”
Annie answered, with a wicked smile, “I have learned that revenge comes in many forms.”
River casually said, “You have been hanging around Arcee for far too long.”
Annie smile became ever so slightly wider, as she stated, “Perhaps, I have. But, she is great company once you get to know her. Still, I now realize that the Fetts had the right idea. You can get revenge on someone in so many ways. My own revenge against your boyfriend, is that I charge Chang a small fortune for my services. And since I know I am the only force master he knows that will work for him. Because you, and the rest of his friends trust me. And he also knows I won't kill him, because I like his friends, including you. But, to just add salt to the wound, I made it so that I get to pick the missions he assigns to me.”
River commented, “I can understand this. Though, keep in mind that Chang did figure out a way to temporally cancel out force use, and remotely turn off lightsabers, without damaging the items. So, if you do turn on him, he might be able to take you by surprise.”
Annie turned to the next page of her book, as she casually admitted, “Yes. I am aware of what Chang did at the end of book one of Lee's stories. I am aware it. You won't happen to know how he did that?”
River commented, “Chang has guarded those secrets well. Even I am not sure how he pulled them off. But, I do have clues. He somehow found a way to use a chemical mix to boost the force bubble abilities of a single Ysalamiri, to the point that one could cover over a small city. But, the Ysalamiri would die a few hours after it was exposed to the power boosting chemicals.”
Annie said, “I am surprised that no one has tried that in my home reality.”
River replied, “So, am I.”
Annie inquired, “And the lightsabers?”
River answered, “On the lightsabers. Chang used some sort of energy dampening feel to temporally shut down the batteries in the lightsabers. But, the dampening field did not effect firearms, nor combustion engines, like the one in Sawyer's chainsaw.”
“But, Chang found procuring and keeping Ysalamiri alive too costly. Also, he did not want to risk attracting attention in that Star Wars reality.”
Annie stated, “I guess those events would have to be from an alternate reality to my own. Considering I never heard about such an attack.” She thought, 'Though, in my case, I was the one to do such an attack, with an army of clone troopers.' She continued, “And I doubt Chang did it in any other time period than that which is close to my own. Near the end of the old republic.”
River responded, “I agree. Also, that power dampening field was expensive to build and use. In addition, that machine could only be used for a few hours, before it broke. As such, Chang felt that both of these tools were to cost ineffective to use on the long term. Not when he had other resources that could have a reasonable chance at defeating skilled force users, with far less time, effort, and resources, spent in doing so.”
Annie conceded, “I admit there are some non-force using badasses that could take me in a fight. You included.”
River replied, “Thank you. And before you ask. Chang did not share this information with anyone.”
Annie said, “Good. At least he hasn't shared the information with someone. Except for you.”
River casually asked, in a more joking manner, than serious, “You are not going to kill us, for knowing this? Are you?”
Annie joked, “Nah. You all are too entertaining to kill.”
River let out a laugh.
Annie continued, “I am making good money at my job. And you all respect me. Chang included. Besides. Any decent Star Wars fan can figure out how to do that.”
River complimented, “Good point. By the way, why did you let Chang partner you with Arcee?”
Annie smirked, while she continued to read her book. She said, “Someone has to keep an eye on Arcee. At the same time, I am helping her work through her problems She is getting better. Though, she is also another reason I don't kill Chang. Because the two of them good friends. And let us be honest. Neither of us could take down an angry Arcee.”
River admitted, “You got that right. Still, back to the original topic. You hate Chang, but you don't seem to hate Lee. Not that I am complaining. Though, I would like to know why?”
Annie turned the next page of her book, as she casually answered, “Because I realize that Chang, you, I, and the others are still responsible for our actions. That is something the others don't understand, yet you and I understand. The others want to blame Lee for all the bad, yet give him none of the credit for the good he has done in our lives. And I feel, the good he had done outweighs the bad. It is unfortunate that his own demons, in dealing with his internal gender, had corrupted his writings. But, he still clearly has a good heart.”
While River was not surprised by the revelation, she inquired, “How did you know?”
Annie kept reading her book, as shrugged. She stated, “It is kinda obvious when I read those stories. I guess it is a blind spot for the others. My theory was confirmed when we talked about that time she used those packets of instant girl. I felt no emotional shame from Lee about the actual use of packets, but only embarrassment in getting caught.”
“Also, when Lee looked at me, you, and any other woman, in my presence, I got a slight sense of a mix of anger and jealousy from Lee's emotion state. Which can only come from having such a problem. I use to have a similar emotion failings of envy and anger, while in the black suit, when I looked at healthy people. So, I knew to look for.”
River commented, “I am just glad that you are so understanding, and the others haven't figured that out about Lee.”
Annie responded, “I agree. They would get a lot of mileage on their vengeance against Lee, if they knew that about Lee. Speaking of the others. I have sensed the hearts, and emotional states of the others during all those bikini parties we had at the Lagoon island. Some of them may never admit to anyone, not even themselves, that they honestly love how their lives turned out. They love their children. And I honestly do not think any of them would willingly go back the way they were before Lee's stories.”
“I certainly wouldn't.”
River commented, “Neither would I.”
Annie stated, “Exactly. Given I have read the stories myself, I came to realize that Lee did not write everything. There are very large gaps between the written events in those stories. Such as my many love affairs.” She then stopped reading, as she looked at the cover of the book, as she added, “And the many languages I have learned since I was rescued from that vat. Even now, I still giggle when I think of one my better love affairs. My ten year whirlwind love affair with Bumi of the Avatar reality.”
River looked at her more closely, as she asked, “King Bumi, the mad genius. Even as an old guy, I can see the appeal.”
Annie corrected, “No. I am talking about retired Commander Bumi. Aang's non-bender son... Well, until a mystical incident unlocked his air bending abilities... He takes the term, late bloomer, to the extreme.”
River shrugged, as she inquired, “True. And I can see you, and that Bumi, together, as well. So, how did you two meet each other?”
Annie answered, “Well, I was traveling the multiverse, and I found myself in the Avatar reality, in the heart of Republic City. It was real fun introducing the force, and my lightsaber, to some of the more arrogant benders in the city.”
River giggled. She then replied, “I am sure that was fun.”
Annie responded, “Timeline wise, it was a few years, or more, after the Korra series ended. Bumi and I bumped into each other at a bar of all places. Even though he was older, he was so full of energy. And though I may look young, I am far older. So, I could relate to him in a number of ways. One thing lead to another and we started dating. I quickly realized that wildman persona that he puts on for everyone is just an act to help with his hard life… Well mostly. He truly is wild in bed. And you don't get promoted to commander of any military by acting childish. And though he is crazy, it is more of a creative type of crazy that Violin has.”
River commented, “That, I don't doubt.”
Annie turned the page on her book. She continued reading, as she stated, “I soon met his family and given how spiritual many of them are, it soon came out that I was not of their world. They first mistook me for an evil spirit. Given my past, I let that one slide. But, we were able to prevent anything from coming to violence.”
“After that, in private, I told Bumi the truth, that I was not from his reality. I did omit that whole meta issues of all realities being fiction, and most of my past. Still, I invited Bumi to come with me, and he took me up on my offer. But first, we both wanted to test out a few theories on benders and their powers.”
“Girl, I tell you, Bumi's family were upset when we all realized their bending abilities were really tied to their planet, and their planetary bodies, nearby. When benders left their reality, they lost their elemental bending abilities. After learning this, Bumi would not stop laughing for a full week. And given his life, I do not blame him for laughing.”
“Bumi was so use to not bending that he could do without such skills. And we both also realized that given Bumi skills and intelligence, he would have likely overshadowed his family if they had been from anywhere else in the multiverse.”
River pointed out, “I guess that is why Chang never kidnapped any of those benders. They were useless to them. I read his, or at the time, her mind, when we talked on the subject. So, what about the Avatar?”
Annie stated, “I was very careful with her. This spirit world is just a different dimensional plane of their home planet. Though, for the Avatar, physically leaving their world in a spaceship, weakened Korra greater. It seems that leaving her reality may kill an Avatar. That is not surprising, given they are connected to that area, is far deeper than average bender. Still, I like Korra. She as a good head on her shoulders, and a nice heart. If anyone was going to have god like powers there, it should be her.”
“Anyway, Bob, or should I say Lee. Or both. Had the right idea. Just get a badass, or two, that likes you, to travel the multiverse with you, and have a good time together. Bumi and I sure did. We went to some interesting places during those years. Still, as intimate as we were, I was careful not to get pregnant. That would have spoiled our fun.”
“I soon found that Bumi, like virtually all humans of his world, both non-benders and benders, have vast reservoirs of spiritual energy. It is just that most of the non-benders cannot tap into their inner power. Though, I know for a fact that a few have.”
River guessed, “Guru Pathik?”
Annie responded, “Exactly. And Guru Pathik was a non-bender. Yet, he lived for over a hundred and fifty years, and he had vast physic awareness. He was the oldest known human alive towards the end of his life. And of all people, he was the one that taught Aang how to safely enter the Avatar State. A non-bender.”
River commented, “Now, that is interesting.”
Annie agreed, “I know. I eventually told Bumi this, about his people, and he asked if I could teach him to tap into that power. It seems that bending, by itself, barely taps into that pool of personal spiritual energy. So, there was room to work with. And with being in other reality, Bumi did not have access to his airbending. So, we could completely focus on his inner spiritual powers, without risk of being interrupted with accidental bending.”
“And as I taught him, and I found that pool of energy allowed him to manifest abilities that were similar to force abilities. This worked well for both of us, because I could train him, using force techniques as a basis for his lessons. He was even able to construct his own lightsaber. I got a laugh went the color crystal he picked out was pink. That man could sometimes be really crazy.”
“Though, best of all, my training probably extended Bumi's lifespan by at least fifty years.”
River asked, “That is good. And it sounds like you loved each other. So, why didn't you marry him?”
Annie stated, “Two reasons. First, I could not stand his family. He didn't blame me for that. He can barely tolerate most of them. And he occasionally lived with them. On the other hand, Bumi, and my family got along great. My son-in-law Han, and he friend Chewy, hit it off well with Bumi. And they got into all sorts of trouble when they went out drinking.”
Annie looked up from her book and towards River. She continued, in a more sober tone of voice, “The other reason was we were both terrified of what would happen if we had children, with mixing force genes with bending genes.”
Annie smiled, as she went onto say, “Still, he returned to his world. As far as his family knew, he was gone less than a day. Though, his abilities had made him a few years physically younger, and they didn't know that the metal cylinder hooked to the side of his belt, was his pink bladed lightsaber.”
“And I occasionally visit him. He even started secretly training non-benders to use their spiritual powers. To help give non-benders a way to be more equal to benders. And it seems that benders do have a problem training to use such spiritual powers, because a lot of the same mental triggers for both bending and their spiritual powers are the same.”
“The likely reasons Bumi did not have a problem, is I trained him in another reality, to where he did not have access to his bending abilities at the time.”
And on his homeworld, he has no problems using his airbending, or his spiritual powers.
“I look forward to when it comes out that non-benders start show they have gain powers that are equal to bending, but not related to bending.”
“I know that Korra and Bumi's family not going to be happy about that. Especially, when they find out Bumi was behind it.”
“And Bumi hasn't yet shown what he can do now, outside of his bending. But, I can tell when I talk to him, there is glint in his eye that he looking forward to the looks on their faces when he does.”
River requested, “Can I join you, when you go to find out what happened there?”
While Annie was still smiling, she shrugged. She replied, “Sure. The more the merrier.”
River asked, “By the way, how do you know about the Avatar, and the Korra, series?”
Annie turned the page on her book. She continued reading her book, as she answered, “I used to babysit Nodoka, Mikoto, and Yurika when they were young. Akira, Ranma, and Natsuru trusted me. They knew my force powers allowed me to prevent the kids from pulling anything on me.”
“And the two cartoon series that I could find on hand that all three of them liked were the Avatar and Korra series. Given the girls own elemental abilities, it is kind of obvious why they liked those series. And being girls, they preferred watching the Korra series over the original Avatar series. I admit, both those series are entertaining, even for an adult to watch. Now River, how did you know about those series?”
River smirked, as she said, “Besides B, who do you think babysat Stan and Lewis, when they were younger? And given Bob and Ed's taste in fiction, what do you think I could find for them to watch, that was on hand?”
Both woman just laughed at the poetry of this situations.
As they calmed down, Annie went back to reading her book, as she commented, “Still, back to Lee. Lee is responsible for making me female, and dealing with monthly periods. But, Lee is also responsible for me being out of the black suit and physically restored in a near eternally youthful, and healthy body. With my force powers still enhancing my empowered longevity of my body. Much like that gender bending virus you have, enhanced your natural longevity.”
“So, I feel the good and the bad balances out.”
River complimented, “That is a very good way to look our situation. At first, when I was changed into a man, by Lee, the only reason I was not upset was that, before I even changed, to begin with. What that like most of the crew, except, Mal. That Bob had gone to such lengths of learning how our gender change worked, and the benefits that come with the change. And he informed us of how to control the change. And what benefits the change gave us. That this knowledge left us in a good mood.”
“That was good writing, and plotting, on Lee's part. He would not want to see me angry.”
Annie continued to read her book, as she commented, “I have never seen you angry. And I won't want to, either.”
River complimented, “Wise girl. Considering, through his stories, Lee gender bent the entire populations of the planets Ferenginar, and Oriotera, I hope Ferengi, nor the Federation that Birdy Cephon was a space cop for, ever learn of Lee, nor his stories. If they do, I think we would all be in a whole lot of more trouble than any of us can handle. And that is not even mentioning the Earth of that Marvel reality that Lee messed with in his stories.”
Annie replied, “I fully agree.”
River said, “And Bob really did not know that he was a carrier for a virus that even Star Trek Federation technology couldn't immediately cure. And he thought was purged of. It is good that the rejuvenation treatment made Ed immune to the virus, and their children did not carry the virus. Also, among the benefits of that virus, as long as I change back and forth, within three weeks, I no longer had to worry about having a period. And, as you pointed out, our aging being slowed. Which is icing on the cake.”
Annie commented, “I can see why you are happy with what Lee did to you.”
River smiled, as she said, “Yes. I admit that I am very happy with Lee. And so are the girls from my crew. And I am including Chang, in that list. You know, if you want to be a man again, and not have to use those instant man packets, we could probably get that virus from one of us, or Bob.”
“Though, you would be isolation for about six weeks, to two months, until we were sure you were not contagious. Which would not be a serious problem. And with time dilation, you would not any time here.”
“Also, learning to control one's sneezing, to the point of it being on command, is not that difficult.”
Annie looked up from her book and over at River, as she commented, “No thanks. I have finally found a measure of peace in my life, which I do not want to risk destroying with such foolishness. And I will also admit, if you were not pursuing Lee, I likely would be.”
River quickly replied, “I don't know what you mean.”
Annie deadpanned, “Sure you don't... Still, I have other thoughts on my mind.”
River inquired, “Such as?”
Annie bluntly answered, “Motherhood.”
River commented, “Now, that is a thought provoking subject.”
Annie inquired, “Very true. Do you think I would make a good parent? I know I have two children. But, I did not have a hand in raising either of them. So, it is a fair question.”
River honestly answered, “As you are now, I think you would make a fine parent.”
Annie commented, “I will take that as a compliment. Still, I screwed up once with Padme, and the twins. I do not want to make the same mistakes, again.”
River stated, “As you know, I have seen the movies. Most of what happened, that lead to you being put into that black suit, were not your fault.”
Annie sadly said, “But, some of it was.”
River pointed out, “Yes. Yet, you have clearly learned from your mistakes... Though, moving on. For women, being a parent comes down to a simple question. Do you want to have children, or not?”
Annie admitted, “I do want to have children. But, I do not want to be a single mother. And I really want to find someone to love, and be with. Though, my luck with love has not been good. Bumi was just one of the better relationships I was in. What you like to hear what about happened, when I did finally return to my home reality.”
River inquired, “Sure. Considering, you just mentioned that you had Bumi visit your family. I knew you reunited with them. But, you never did talk about what you did when you returned to you home reality. So, what happened? It is not like I have anything better to do.”
Annie answered, “That is true. And the reason I have not talked about those events were because the tale ends on a sad note, between Padme and I.”
“Long before I even met Bumi, I was fortunate that when finally returned to my reality, I located Padme, and I found that she alive and well. She did use a body double, as both Lee and Rock suspected. I am thankful towards Lee presenting that possibility.”
River flatly asked, “How? You were not pulled out of the timeline until years later. And Episode Three clearly showed Padme dying after giving childbirth and the movie later showed her funeral.”
Annie countered, “Episode Three only showed Padme passing out. And that could have been a fake body-double in the coffin at her funeral.”
River realized, as she accused, “You changed the timeline over you home reality. And with you powers and knowhow it would not be difficult to save Padme. You already come from an alternate timeline. So slightly changing the past would not be that great a challenge.”
Annie pointed out, “I can think of other points I would prefer to change in the timeline which would have prevent much pain for both myself and others.”
River responded, “No. You would have gone through hell for Padme and your children. Palpatine was likely going to rise to power no matter what you did. Or, possibly something worse could have happened. You could have secretly gone to Polis Massa before anyone else arrive. Reprogram the medical droids to slip Padme a drug after she gave birth to put her into a false death. So, she passes out after giving birth the twins, with the Jedi and Bail being fooled by the false death.”
“Then, you arrange it so when the Jedi dropped off Padme, you get to her first. You used a reality device with time dilatation to have her new identity set up with plenty of credits for her to use. You also take care of the fake body double arriving on Naboo for the funeral.”
“Padme wakes up in a fully stocked ship with a note on what has happened. You keep it brief. You state the basics in your note. That her children are fine and safe, but hidden. That it will be years before she can see them. Though, she will see them and to stay safe until then. You even arranged so you would not where she when you looked for her. Likely by her new identification you had created for her.”
“This was the only way you could have slightly changed the future without much worry of a paradox. You could have even later saved Padme's mother life from that Sith inquisitor. You did that? Didn't you?”
Annie looked away from River for a few seconds. Then, Annie turned to River. Annie stated, “An intruging theory. And both Ruwee and Jobal are fine. Anyway. After we were reunited, we soon both found that that we had changed so much that we could not longer have that type of romantic relationship. Though, at least we were able to still be friends. And I was able to achieve being on good terms with my Luke, and my Leia... Now, those were interesting introductions.”
River held back a giggle, as she said, “I bet.”
Annie went onto say, “When I returned to my home reality, I did so further along in my timeline, by around ten years after I was taken. Given I knew, to that point that both my children would be raised to be well adjusted adults, I did not want to risk screwing up their childhood anymore than I already had. By both becoming Vader, and being kidnapped.”
River commented, “I can understanding doing that.”
Annie responded, “I know. And I intentionally returned to the time that is around being parallel to Episode Four of the movies. About two weeks, before what Star Wars fans call the blockade runner scene, at the beginning of episode four. Fortunately, I later found out that both of my children's life were about the same, as if I had not left.”
“The first thing I did was locate Padme. I found it surprisingly easy. It took me less than a week to find her. I guess as Vader, I never did really search for her. Because, as Vader, the only thing I feared more that confirming her death, was confirming she still being alive. Because, then I would have to face her. And I was not sure that I had the courage to do so.”
“Fortunately, that is longer that case. And I wanted to find her. And I did. When I found her, she was healthy. Though, she was in hiding and romantically alone. She was working as a chambermaid, of all things, in a nice hotel, on one of the nice mid-rim worlds. And it took a little while to convince her that I was who I said I was, and I had changed, besides the obvious.”
River asked, “Given the gender change, along with your body and youth being restored, how did convince her that you were you?”
Annie could not help but grin mischievously, as she answered, “I told her how she liked in bed. And only Anakin Skywalker would have known those things.”
River returned Annie's grin, as she commented, “That would do it. And how did you convince her that your personality had changed, for the better, along with your body?”
Annie commented, “Once I convinced her who I was. I allowed her to literally scream and yell at me for the next two hours. About how much I was an idiot for trusting Palpatine, and not her. And how I had wrecked the lives of our entire family.”
“If I was still Vader, even though I loved her, by that point, I would have still force choked her some. Though, I did not.”
“Instead, I did nothing, but remain calm, and agreeable, towards her, throughout the entire conversation and afterward. And this convinced her that I had changed for the better. And I was no longer a rage filled monster.”
“I was still in the dog house, with her, as it were. But, that did help to the point she was going to at least give me the benefit of the doubt, that I had changed, at least some. And not just my gender.”
River replied, “I can see how that could work.”
Annie mentioned, “Also, at my request, she started to call me, Annie. Which she found funny, considering I hated that nickname, when I was younger.”
River questioned, “I can see how she would find that funny. So, what happened next?”
Annie stated, “After I found Padme. And we settled our differences. Which was not that difficult. I mentioned I knew where our children were, and they should be fine.”
“We then headed out to find our children, in a nice starship yacht that I owned. I may no longer be Vader. But, as Lee pointed out, in his stories. I still have vast wealth and resources, stashed away, in various places of my home reality, in the galaxy I am from”
“Though, by the time, Padme and I had worked out our personal situation, to the point we would work together. And that took a lot of apologizes and acts of kindness, to make up to here. Which I think, in doing so, I got off easy. It had been about three weeks after I arrived. And around that time, Padme found out that I was completely a woman.”
River asked, with mirth in her tone of voice, “How badly did she tease you, over your period?”
Annie answered, “Let me put this way. I am happy I now have control of my temper.”
River said, “I see your point.”
Annie replied, “Thank you.”
River inquired, “So, where did you find your children at?”
Annie said, “Well, in truth, I guessed as to where our children were at. And I found that I was partly correct. Since, this was not the original timeline. I was never there to stop Leia from finding Obiwan on Tatooine. She found him, they found Luke. He must have told them they were twins, because they knew so when we met them. And while they were not there, we learned that they had all been there.”
“I must say that Owen and Beru were pleasant to meet. And they have a nice home. Thought, neither I, nor Padme told them who we were. We just said we were travelers in such of Leia. Which was true. And they told us she had been here, along with Obiwan. With them then convincing Luke to leave with them. We then left them live out their lives, in peace. Though, I did later arrange quite a bit of galactic credits to go into a fund for them to use. Which they found to be very helpful.”
River complimented, “That was nice of you.”
Annie firmly said, “They should be rewarded.” Annie continued, with bitterness in her tone of voice, “Obiwan showed up, one day, out of the blue. He dumped Luke onto them, to raise. And they did their best to raise Luke to be a fine young man. They did not ask for anything of this. And still they did was needed to be done.” Annie went onto say, with sadness in her tone of voice, “Lee was right. If I had known that it was them that the droids were sold to. I would not have harmed them. Let alone killed them.”
River commented, “I can appreciate you sentiments on this matter.”
Annie mentioned, “Thank you. Also, during this time, the rebels were able to destroy the first Death Star.”
River asked, “Palaptine was still able to construct that weapon?”
Annie commented, “It was a long term project, that had been begun even before I became Vader. And while, as Lee pointed out, with me gone, Palpatine lost much of his power. He still had a fair hold on the power he had left. Unfortunately, given I was not there, most of the Moffs were not there. And they were still alive.”
River inquired, “Oh well. Now, please continue.”
Annie stated, “With pleasure. While we did not find our children on Tatooine we. We knew they had been there. And we then went to the next logical place they would be. A place they could begin their force training, in private. A place, after seeing my movies, that I knew was where Yoda hiding. The swamp planet in the Dagobah.”
“When we were in orbit of the swamp planet, I could immediately sensed where they were, on the planet. Though, Yoda also sensed me. But, he clearly did not realize who I was at the time. Also, unlike Luke in Empire Strikes Back, I was powerful enough in the force to prevent Yoda from crashing us into the swamp. I wonder how many times he used the force to have spaceships, that try to explore the planet, instead crash into the planet, never to be seen, or heard from, again?”
River commented, “Probably more than he should have.”
Annie said, “I agree. Anyway, when we landed, which was near where they were at. It was clear that Yoda had not warned the others. And when we showed up, we found Obiwan and Yoda were training the twins. As we approached them, they stopped the twins stopped their training. And Yoda and Obiwan immediately sensed who I was. Of course, they were shocked when they saw me.”
“To this day, I do not know which they found more shocking. My gender change. Or, my body and force abilities fully restored. With me more powerful than before I became Vader Also, I made no effort to keep my identities a secret from my children. Though, having Padme there helped keep the peace. And I did intentionally avoid getting into a fight with those two old geezers.”
“The reason I was not violent with those two old fools was that it was so damn fun watching as they got caught in their own lies. As they had to admit. In front of Padme and my adult children. That Anakin was not killed by Vader, but that Anakin Skywalker and Darth Vader were the same person. They even confirmed that I was Anakin.”
“After those truths were settled, I did have some explaining to do about my gender change and being out of that black suit. I gave them an edited version of what happen to me. I left out the reality jumping, and the fiction as reality parts of what our adventures.”
“All I told them was that I was kidnapped, and changed in an effort to breed force users. But, I, and others, escaped before being impregnated. And we eventually defeated our kidnappers.”
“I already told Padme this, on the first day I found her. And she accepted with I said. And she was polite enough not to ask for details.
“Beside, this was close enough to the truth. And they all knew better than to ask any more questions on the subject.”
“Then, I also told them that after some thinking, and reflection, I had decided not to try kill Yoda and Obiwan. And that Palpatine needed to die. Though, I pointed out it not because he was a Sith Lord.”
“I stated that Palpatine's hold on the empire had slipped greatly. Which was true.”
“From what Padme had informed me of, this loss of power was causing much chaos in the galaxy.”
“As I mentioned, it seemed that the Emperor's power over the empire was mostly do to my iron grip, and ability to keep everyone in line, through fear. With my disappearance, Palpatine's power was greatly diminished. He even foolishly decided not to have another Sith Apprentice. Instead, he relied more on his force hands due to the fact that my disappearance proved I held the true governmental power of the empire, not him.”
“Still, I had conditions for my help. After he died, none of my family would be expected be a part of the new government, nor police that galaxy as Jedi. I wanted peace for my family. It was that comment that made Obiwan and Yoda realize that I was no longer Vader. But, neither was I still the clearly immature manchild, Anakin. Though, I let them keep calling me Anakin. And even with the gender change, I enjoyed my children calling me, father.”
“We then had our adventure. With me there, we were able to train my children more quickly in the use of the force, and lightsaber combat.”
“Though, unlike Yoda and Obiwan's mistakes. I made sure that my children passed off three of the trials. While, I was made a Jedi Knight, after only passing two of the trials.”
“I feel that was one of the points in my life that lead to my downfall. And I can understand while Yoda in the original timeline, wanted to stop Luke, from facing my counterpart on Cloud City. Given Luke had not finished his training and Yoda did not want to make the same mistake with him. Though, on the flip side, I understand, and I am proud that Luke went to help his friends, and his sister.”
“When my children were ready. And we had come up with a workable plan. We went out into the galaxy, to take down Palpatine.”
“And after many battles, we did eventually kill Palpatine and restore a measure of order to the situation. And my family came out of it alive, and mostly unharmed.”
“After Palpatine's death, and with no clear line of succession, with Padme's help, we were able to take advantage of the situation, and get the rebels and the imperials to negotiate with each other. I even used my connections to bring convince Grand Admiral Thrawn to return to Coruscant, which was the final piece of the puzzle.”
“And convincing Thrawn to support the negotiations added legitimacy to them, and kept the other Moffs in line.”
“I always did respect Thrawn for both his intellect, and his manners. He is one of the few people that could run the galaxy, without immediately resorting to mass-murder, to solve their problems.”
River spoke up, “I read the Zahn trilogy... Chang said I would likely enjoy those books, and I did. I agree that Thrawn is a good choice.”
Annie responded, “Thank you. Still, the rebels wanted to return to old senate, the imperials wanted an empire. I had to use aggressive negotiations to get them to admit the senate was too corrupt, and the empire was too... Direct. Though, I didn't force choke anyone. I think somewhere along the lines they realized I was Vader, and that made them more amendable to my terms. I knew Thrawn realized this almost immediately who I was. He has always been a very sharp individual.”
“That being said. I knew that if we got either one of those types of governments, my family would either be saddled with keeping it all together. Or, become targets by those in power. So, what we created was much different. A return to how the old republic was originally made. Not what it was, while I was alive.”
“The planets were made almost completely autonomous. With the senate only being there for simple trade negotiations, and the navy being existing for common defense. I made sure Thrawn was placed in charged of the Imperial Navy, in exchange for him leaving my family alone.”
“I wanted someone in charge that I knew would keep galaxy all together, without my family's help. And Thrawn was that individual.”
“And Thrawn also tried his best to keep his word.”
“Thrawn came to like giving the planets near autonomy when he realized that it meant he wouldn't have to deal with the imperial bureaucracy of an empire.”
“It wasn't perfect. But, both the rebels and the imperials didn't complain much after that. And it kept my family out of the line of fire. And I finally had found some peace for my family.”
“Yet, during the final battle with the Emperor, I realized some hard lessons. When Luke actually convinced emperor's hand, Mara Jade, to turn on Palpatine. It was then that I realized that I found that even with my absence from my home reality, everyone still met everyone else, and romance in some cases bloomed.”
“We even teamed up with Han and Chewy on our way to kill the Emperor. And he and Leia hit it off well. I guess some things are fated to happen... Still, why?... Why did Luke have to fall for a redhead? No offense, River.”
River giggled, as she replied, “None taken. I freely admit that I prove the rule that redheads are trouble. Even though my hair is dyed red.”
Annie let out a laugh. She said, in a slightly happy tone of voice, “I guess it doesn't matter if it is dyed, or natural, red hair.” Annie continued, in a more serious tone of voice, “Now, the part that surprised me the most, was that after everything settled down, I really didn't mind Han marrying my daughter, Leia. Usually, a father has a problems with the men their daughter's love life. But, as I got to know Han, he didn't seem that bad a person. But, I did have a problem when Luke marrying Mara. But, I kept that to myself.”
“And Padme just wanted out children to be happy.”
Annie went onto say, in a sadder tone of voice, “After everything was sorted out, I realized I had no place in my home reality. Anakin was considered long dead, and the galaxy preferred that Vader stay gone. And I had no place there as Annie Skywalker. So, I felt I had to leave my home reality, to travel the multiverse once more.”
River offered, in a warm, supportive, comforting, tone of voice, “Well, you are always welcome here.”
Annie gave River a weak smile, as she quietly said, “I know.” She continued, in a more normal tone of voice, “Though, before I left, I told Padme that I understood it was over between us and I wanted her to find someone to love. She appreciated my request. I do check on my family, now and then. For them, it is weeks. For me, it is years.”
“And Padme did find another good man to love. And I am happy for her. And though she in her forties, she was able to get pregnant twice. She and her new husband have two young children, a boy and girl, of their own. Though, I made sure her births had no complications. Which they did not. And Padme is now happy to be able to have a children to raise as her own. Padme's new family even get along with the twin, well.”
“And I am happy for her. And them.”
River complimented, in a warm tone of voice, “Thank you for tell me all this. And that is a very mature attitude to take, towards Padme's new husband and family. And I am sure you will eventually find love. And have children of your own, to raise. It will just take time, and you will have to work at it.”
Annie responded, in a calm tone of voice, “I realize that. Thank you. Fortunately, I find both men and women attractive, which doubles my chances of finding someone to love. And even if I ended up with a woman, with the resources at our disposal, we could still both have children.”
River replied, “Yes. You could.” River's lips then curled into a mischievous grin, as she teased, “Though, I thought you were not interested in such foolishness.”
Annie returned River's mischievous grin, as she joked, in a jovial tone of voice, “I heard that it is a woman's prerogative to change her mind.”
River laughed at her friend's joke.
As Annie watched as her friend laugh, she commented, “That is better. So, cheer up, and have some faith about Lee. If Lee is half as resourceful as you believe him to be, he will figure out a way to make it through this mess in one piece. All you have to do is be there on the other side, to help him recover.”
As River calmed down, she stated, “Lee is not the only one I am worried about. The girls and I trained him well. Lee is a pretty formidable fighter. He just knows better than to show off his skills. And my friends are going after him.”
Annie pointed out, “From what I sense of Lee emotional state, he really does not want to hurt anyone, over his own actions. Though, he understands the people after him live by the vendetta. Lee will likely try to avoid seriously harming them. And they want Lee alive. So, this situation is not as bad as it could be. All we have to do is help pick up the pieces, afterward.”
River smiled towards Annie, as she said, “Thank you, for pointing that out.”
Annie returned River's smile, as she happily replied, “You're welcome.” She then went back to reading her book.
Just then, River felt that her bladder was full.
River thought, 'I have to go. Fortunately, it is not immediate. Though, I might as well take care of it.”
While River stood up from her chair, Annie giggled. Annie did not look up from her book, as she stated, “We are good friends, River. I can sense you have to go. But, keep in mind I can sense you anywhere in the building. Please, do not try to do something foolish, and go after Lee. Let Chang handle this.”
River teased, “Closet pervert.”
Annie retorted, “Takes one to know one.”
River giggled, as she admitted, “Guilty as charged. Now, that I think about it, given our powers, when either of us has as a child, we are going to know when it is time to change our babies' diapers before they do.”
Annie laughed for a few seconds at River's comment. She then responded, “Yes. And any kids we have will learn quickly that they cannot fool us. Fortunately, we will also know when they tell the truth. So, they will learn to trust us. And trust, along with love, are the two holy grails that a parent seeks to achieve with their child.”
River complimented, “Those are wise words. Now, if you excuse me, I have some personal business to take care of.”
Annie just giggle a little more, at what River said.
As River turned and started walking to her bedroom she shared with Chang, and then to the master bathroom attached to the room, she thought, 'Hard to believe that Annie used to be one of the scariest, cybernetic, psychic, badass villains in all the multiverse. She is still a badass, but she is a lot nicer, and kinder, now. Having seen her mind, I can say that she is exactly the way she acts like. She is a kind, caring woman. She is proof that even the most horrible of monsters have a chance of becoming better people.'
'And Annie is likely Lee's greatest success story, in so many ways. Annie vindicates Lee for his writings. It proves that she is a good man, or woman, depending on if you judge Lee by her mind, or body. Annie is proof that Lee does not deserves serious punishment. Just a fair punishment.'
'Even Lee admits to that she needs to be punished. Just not to the extreme that the others want to put her through.'
When River made it to her and Chang's bedroom, she turned towards the entrance to the master bathroom. Which was connected to another door in the bedroom. As she thought, 'I need to decide if I am going to pee as a woman, or man. Like most women, I used to think the answer would be obvious. Go as a man. I found out, the hard way, that I was wrong.”
'When we all first changed, we all realized when we first woke up to check our genitalia between our legs. That it was no fun for those originally guys to walk into the restroom, and pee standing up, only to make a mess of themselves, and their underwear, because they were women at the time.'
'We also kept pepper in the restroom, so we could change at will. Until, we all learned to sneeze on command. That took some time.'
'Still, that was not the only lesson we had to learn. Those of us that were originally women had to learn the finer points of peeing, when we were men. When I first changed into a man, I was arrogant, and I wanted to see what it was like.'
'I walked into the stall, unzipped my pants and pulled it out. I didn't even look as I went. And I found out a few moments later that not looking was a big mistake. That men have to aim at the toilet, or they make a big mess.'
'Of all the thoughts I have read of men about them peeing, none of them thought about aiming. I figured this is because they had been aiming for so long, since they were toddlers, that it was second nature, and they didn't think about it.'
'I was extremely embarrassed about making that mess. And I was happy that I had it all cleaned up before anyone entered the restroom.'
'Then, I learned something even worse about the problems that men sometimes have when peeing. That the two small pieces of skin that make the entrance to urethra, at the end of the penis, sometimes sticks together, at random, and when I peed, the urine stream forked in two random, different directions, and neither usual didn't hit the toilet bowl.'
'The worst part was that, like many woman, I never learned to teach myself to stop peeing. I really didn't see the need to learn how. I can hold it fine, but I saw no reason to learn to stop once I started to go. And as the stream forked, I could not stop myself, until my bladder was empty. But, it seems, when I asked Simon, he admitted that he, and likely most men, had to teach themselves how to stop when they were young, because of that one reason. It was just another thing that men didn't talk about, nor really think about.'
'Still, having sex as a guy was fun. Sometimes Chang was a girl, and I was a guy at the time. Then, we reversed, with Chang as the guy, and I was the girl.'
'And we did other gender combinations, as well.'
'Yet, I learned another lesson the hard way. To not to have sex as guy on a full bladder. That the prostate will lock up after sex, making it very uncomfortable for a little while, because a guy cannot normally pee. Though, I later learned listening to running water helps relax the prostate.'
'Though, at the time, I was so desperate for relief, that I changed into a woman. But, I was intelligent enough at the time to be sitting on the toilet when I sneeze and changed into a woman. My bladder was so full, and I was so desperate, that the instant I changed into a woman, I lost control of my bladder, and peed into the toilet.'
'At that point, I realized that us woman had to learn a few intimate things about men.'
'While Jayne and Mal got some lessons on feminine hygiene, us women turned guys, had to get some lessons on to peeing as men. And how to deal with having a hard-on as a man. And mentally controlling said hard-on.'
'As a telepath, I can honestly state that I am not sure which group was more embarrassed by what we had to learn.'
'And that was not all. Kaylee was the first to bring up the subject, and we found out it was all true for all of us that were originally women, when hit with the virus. Every one of us woman that turn into a man, got the complete set of male genitalia. Complete with foreskin on the penis.'
'I asked Chang about it, and he admitted that he was surprised to have his foreskin back. He stated that because he was born in Hong Kong during the time that it was part of the British Commonwealth, he had been circumcised as a baby. Not that he minded having his foreskin back.'
'Simon confirmed that all of those originally men of the crew that had turned into women, that as female, each of them had a fully complete set of female genitalia. Including as women, on their genitalia, the clitoral hood and labia folds of skin. Even though I know that Simon himself had been circumcised as a baby. And Simon stated that when he changed back into a man, he foreskin had not grown back.'
'After having meeting between Simon, Inara, Kaylee, Chang, Zoe, and myself, we came to the conclusion that since some male and female genitalia were counterparts. With the male foreskin being the counterpart of the female clitoral hood, and possibly the top part of the labia. That we should never get circumcised as a man, because doing so would damage outward genitalia as a woman, including our clitoral hood and the top of our labia.'
'It seemed that thought, the disease that change us, if there was damage to our reproductive organs, or genitalia in one gender, before we were infect, the damage would not transfer over to the new gender. The new gender would have all the complete reproductive organs and genitalia of that gender. But, it would not regenerate the damage in the original gender form.'
'Simon was the one to confirm this, in dealing with her female form's hymen. Simon was in her female form, and broke her hymen, when she had sex with Kaylee, while Kaylee was in her male form. Later Simon changed into a man, then back into a woman. And found the hymen was still broken. So, there is no regeneration of genitalia, after the original gender bending.'
'It seem as women, the men turned women, had intact hymens was intact, until they broke it. Fortunately, gender benders to not have to break their hymen every time they turn female. That would have been an annoying, slightly painful chore, that was fortunately not the case.'
'And yes, we did tease Jayne and Mal about being technically virgins as women. Until, the finally did something about it. Which both of them did. There was no point in teasing Simon, because he was open about what he had been doing with Kaylee, in their gender forms.'
And while Jayne does not mind talking about it. Mal refused to say a word on the matter. Though, I did read his mind on the subject. And I mostly kept what I learned to myself.'
'Though, from Simon's personal experiences, Simon was sure that after the first gender change, any injury to the genitalia in one gender, translated to the equivalent body part of the other gender. This was proven when some of us became sore, from sex, in one gender, dealing with one set of genitalia, that the soreness transferred to the equivalent genitalia body parts in the other gender. And that lead to some painful experiences, where it was better to stay in one gender, or the other, until the soreness was completely gone.'
'This was further proven for me last night, when Revy kneed in the groin, as a man. And I made the mistake of changing into a woman, and having that soreness spread to my lower abdomen, as my male sexual organs, changed to large female orders, as they instantly moved up into my lower abdomen. Though, I did recover later that night.'
'On that thought, we found out something interesting. It we change from a man, while having a hard-on, to a woman, we are instantly wet, down there. Also, if we are wet down there as a woman, and changed into a man, we have a hard-on. Still, that made having swapping back and forth during sex easier. Because we didn't have to take time for the current woman to get wet, and the current man to get a hard-on. And we did not have to worry about the risk of dry sex, which is no fun, and can be painful.'
'Along that thought, Kaylee and Simon shared, with the crew, an interesting piece of information they found out while having sex. First, they figured how to time their sneezes. Next, it seemed if they were in a position, as a man and woman, where their legs were slightly intertwined, in a mirror position to their lover, while still allowing for sexual intercourse. When they timed their sneezes, they found that when they instantly changed, they went from having their penis inside the others vagina, to having a penis inside their vagina. With them carrying on having sexual intercourse without stopping.'
'This does not work in the classic position of the woman having her legs fully spread. In which case, when we stopped, we have to change positions. Then, change genders. And finally, resume what we are doing, in opposite roles.'
'And if the sneeze is ill timed, while a woman at the time change, and then into the man. All that happens is the other man is painlessly pushed out of the other man's body, as vaginal cavity is collapsed from the inside out, in an instant. We learned this also works for dildos being pushed out, as well.'
'So, there are clearly tradeoffs in everything. And peeing in either gender is a trade off. Of peeing as a woman, while not having to worry about paying attention, one has to pull down one's lower clothing, sitting, and then wipe oneself dry, afterward. Though, when a woman, I have to make sure the toilet seat is down.'
'Yet. I also finally realized why men sometimes to leave the toilet seat up. While aiming is second nature for men, when they are half asleep, their aim is not that good. They have to pay attention to everything else, while half asleep, including making sure to pee into the toilet bowl. And since they do not want to hit the toilet seat. They lift it. And being half asleep, they sometimes forget to put the toilet seat back down.'
'I had that happened to myself once. One night, when I was by myself, with a slight cold. After we all gained this gender bending ability, when one of us had a cold, or flu bug, we were quarantined, because none of us wanted to lose control of our abilities, in public.'
'So, I was stuck on the Serenity, for a few days, until I got over my cold. Which was not really a problem for me. Though, the cold was more an aggravation, than anything else. Considering, we all wanted to keep our gender changing abilities secret. So, except for our friends. I could not go out in public.'
'But, since changing genders is instant and painless, when I sneezed a few times in my sleep, changing genders back and forth, I did not wake myself. But, in the middle of the night, I was a man while sleeping. I woke up, and I had to pee. I did everything, including raise the toilet seat first, but I honestly forgot to lower toilet seat before I went back to bed.'
'Fortunately, the next more, when I got us again to pee, this time as a woman, before I sat down, I remembered that I had left the toilet seat up, myself. And I stopped myself from falling into the toilet bowl.'
'Also, Lee was right about something else she wrote about in book one. She commented in a joke that it was somewhere unsanitary to pee as a man while sitting down, because male parts sometimes brushed against the bowl of the toilet. And men do not have a choice not to sit down, when they have to go the other way. But, at least we gender benders do.'
While River walked into the bathroom, she stared down at the toilet, as she concluded her thoughts, 'I don't feel like aiming, so I will go as a woman.'
She then turned around, pulled down her lower clothing, and sat on the already lowered toilet seat, to relieve herself of her full bladder.
A few minutes later, she finished her business, washed her hands, and dried her hands on a hand towel, hanging on a bathroom wall. She then came into her bedroom and she noticed her folded laptop computer. The laptop was sitting onto the bureau that she and Chang kept their fold clothes in, under the large mirror, on the wall, that was attached to the top of the bureau.
The bureau on the wall, across from the wall their bed rested against. When facing the bureau, the entrance to the hallway was to the left of the bureau. And one of the entrances to the patio, which in this case, was a sliding glass door, was to the right of the bureau.
With the patio having a hot tub, heated pool, and out door chairs and table. Including a large umbrella on the table, that could be opened, to provide shade for those sitting at the table.
Withing the master bedroom, the sliding glass door being on the wall opposite to the door to the master bathroom.
Also, by the headboard of the large king sized bed, there a door on each side of the bed. Each of the two doors had a separate walk in closet, where they stored their hung clothing in. Among other items.
As River stared at her laptop computer, on the bureau, she remembered something that Lee had found out, and proven true.
And this realization gave River an idea. But, before she could act on her idea, she first needed to do a lot of research. Along with seeing, and reading a number of series. The first series being both the anime and manga versions of the Black Lagoon series.
To be continued.
Badasses Of the Multiverse Book 5: “The Gambling Man.”
Volume 2: “Total Badass.”
Chapter 03: “To the Ends of the Earth and Beyond.”
By Paul Cousins.
Copyright Disclaimer: All copyrighted places, characters, items, and events, within the story, are held by their current owners. No profit is being made on this work of fiction.
(_)
Reality, Lee's Reality. Time, late morning, after the evening when Lee escape into the multiverse. Location, a rural area, somewhere in northern South America.
It was morning, inside a safe-house, in the middle of nowhere, at an undisclosed location, in northern South America.
As Pedro awoke, he got up from his bed, and headed for the kitchen area of his hideaway home. The only clothing he had on was a white t-shirt, and white boxer shorts.
Pedro stumbled from the bedroom, through the living room, and into the kitchen.
The only light coming from the area was the sunlight filtering in from the curtained windows in the various room. Though, that was plenty of light to see with.
While Pedro made himself a cup of instant coffee, in his instant coffee maker, as his first thoughts of the morning were, 'At least I am safe now. That was way too close. Thank god, I plan ahead. There is no way they could find me here. I used only cash, and through third party contacts, to get this place years ago, just in case Paciano's life then caused trouble for me.'
'And this was long before the girls ever showed up in my home town, in my home reality.'
'No records connect me to the very county I am now in. Let alone with this house. And it was a rough day, yesterday, getting here. After the message from Lee, I dropped everything and ran. And I didn't stop for nothing. I changed through five different untraceable cars, and three untraceable boats. While showing how much of a lead foot I have. I smuggled myself across several counties, so no passport records exist of where I am.'
'There is no way they can get to me. It is a two hour walk to the nearest town. And this place has supplies, and equipment, that will last me for at least six months. So, I can stay here until the heat dies down.'
'Still, with two Lovelace maids after you, Lee. God have mercy on your soul. I will be praying for you.'
'And I doubt anyone would stop Roberta, given the supersoldier serum and cybernetic upgrades Lee gave the Bloodhound, through his stories. It is very likely nobody short of God himself could take Roberta in an outright fight. And even the victor of that battle would be debatable.'
By then, the coffee was ready. He filled his mug with the coffee, and he walked into the living room.
Just has he stepped into the living room, he looked in front of him, and he immediately stop in his tracks, in fear.
Whom he saw in his living room caused him to drop his mug on the carpet of the floor, with the coffee spilling out, while the mug stayed in one one piece.
Right in front of him, on the other side of the room, was Revy. She was smiling at him, as she sat on his couch, with her left arm resting on the left arm rest, while her right hand was in her lap. She in her usual clothing and pistols, with her legs propped up on the coffee table in front of the couch. She had a lit cigarette in her mouth.
To Revy's right side, Fabiola was sitting on the other side of the same couch at Revy. Fabiola was in her maids uniform, like Pedro saw the day before. Fabiola had her fingers laced together, with her feet on the floor, between the couch and the coffee table. In addition, Fabiola's lips were curled into a wicked grin across her face.
Revy blew out a puff of smoke from her mouth. The her voice was like ice, as she stated, in english, “Pedro. If you tell us everything you know about Lee, we might let you keep your balls.”
Suddenly, to Pedro's right side, ten feet away from him, the door to his bedroom closed by itself.
Pedro turned his entire body in the direction of the sound, and he saw Roberta approach him.
Roberta looked like what Pedro saw of her, the previous day. And while Roberta was in her maids uniform, her slasher smile was pure Black Lagoon Blood Trail Arc. The slasher smile that Roberta gave to Shenhua right after Roberta snapped one of Shenhua's long knives with her bare teeth!
Roberta came to a stop, mere inches from Pedro. And while Pedro was taller than Roberta. Roberta stood on her tip toes, in her shoes, so their faces were literally next to each other, as she smile insanely at him.
At that moment, Pedro realized that the slasher smile by Roberta was a hundred times scarier in real life. Especially, when said slasher smile was three inches from his face!
Pedro swiftly back up, as he used his right hand to grab his keyring, full of keys, from the nearby counter, to his right side, that bordered the living room and the kitchen.
Pedro came to a stop, as quickly held up a computer memory stick on his key ring, towards Roberta. He hastily stated, in english, “I recorded all the conversations, between Lee and I, on this memory stick. I can even point out which dates, and what parts of our conversations are likely relevant to the information you are looking for. I even have a laptop computer here, with a full charge, that I can use to do this with.”
As Pedro looked at all three women, he heard Revy coldly stated, “Good. You may still walk out of here, under your own power.”
The next several hours of Pedro's life were some of the most stressful, and uncomfortable, of his entire life.
(_)
Reality: Babylon Five Reality. Date: January Twenty-Sixth, Twenty-Two Eighty-One. Time: Sometime in the early afternoon, local time. Place: Babylon Five Station, Blue Sector, in a deserted hallway, between a large shuttle bay, and the customs sections.
Lee suddenly found himself, in a moderately sized, metal hallway. The hallway was decently lit, with ceiling and wall lighting.
In Lee's right hand, he steadied his gym bag, whose strap over his right shoulder. In his left hand was the reality device, he had just stolen from Rock.
Lee looked around, he saw there was no one around.
As Lee stopped looking around, and he looked down one of the directions of the hallway, he thought, 'That was slightly disorientating, due to the sudden change of scenery. But, that was to be suspected. And it was both instant, and painless. The good news is that while, hell was literally seven steps behind me, I escaped the girls, just in the nick of time. The bad news is that they now know who I am. And they will be coming after me. The worst news is that I have not idea what is going to happen to River, Pedro, and Melvin.'
'Melvin is not currently on their radar, so he should be fine. And with them likely following me into the multiverse, they will leave the Devil's Hotel. And Melvin will be about to continue his life in peace, without being caught by Balalaika and Hotel Moscow.'
'Pedro likely got my message, so he had time to escape. He is likely on another continent, by the next morning.'
'River, I am not sure about. I just have to hope that River will reveal herself to them, and they will let her be, given she is their friend, and if she is harmed, doing so will cause problems with Chang's group.'
It was then that Lee noticed he was still press down on the red button. He quickly released red button, as he thought, 'I guess there is as safety built into these devices. Pressing and holding it down will not cause it to reality jump again. One has to release the button and press it again, to use reality jump again. That was nice thinking on the part of those whom actually built these device. Because, I believe I missed mentioning safety measure.'
'Now, to implement my plan to escape. This time, and place, is the best chance, in the multiverse, that I can think of to lose the girls for good.'
'Still, I hope no one saw me just yet. Though, considering I don't see anyone around, nearby, I believe I am fine.'
Lee pocketed his reality device, into his left side pants pocket, as he noticed there was a window, on the wall, across the hallway where he was standing.
Lee turned and walked over the window. He looked out the window, and he saw that he was standing over what looked the large shuttle bay that was full of several shuttles, with literally thousands of humans, and aliens boarding those shuttles. There were also station personnel, in Earth Force uniforms, directing everyone.
As expected, with the professionalism showed by the Babylon Five staff, there seemed to be no trouble happening down there, on the landing deck.
Lee thought, 'Now, that is a sight to behold. This might even have been the same shuttle bay showed at the beginning of the Babylon Five episode, Gropos. Where thousands of Earth Force soldiers disembarked onto Babylon Five.'
'Still, this is perfect. I just need to get lost in the crowd. But first, I need to make sure I get what I need here. And then get on to the right shuttle. Though, all that will require is a convincing story, that I had already come up with. Along with a change of clothes, which I also have.'
'Given the when, where, and what reality I thought of, as I used this reality device. My exact thoughts were very detailed. I though, sometime between when Sheridan had his last supper with his friends, and the last time he visited the Babylon Five Station. To be specific, I thought of being taken to a hallway, that was safe for me to be in. Which was located in Blue Sector, near the docking area for the people being casually evacuated from Babylon Five, and the customs area of, but, also near a the restrooms. And away from any station staff, crew, or anyone else.
Lee looked around, and saw the sign for the restrooms. One of them was the men's restroom sign, by the door. There was two other doors. One for women. And the last was for methane alien breathers.
Lee thought, 'Good. Now, I just hope no one is inside the men's restroom.'
Lee turned towards the restroom, and he brisking walked into the men's restroom. He soon opened the door and entered the men's restroom.
As Lee shut the door behind him. Though, he found that door had no lock. Given there was nothing he could do about that. He turned around and he looked at the restroom. He found the restroom was a large, standard public restroom, much like from his own time, and reality. And it was very clean.
Lee thought, 'Not that I am complaining. But, the staff on the station are clearly planning keep this place clean, all the way up to the moment they blow this station up... That is inane. And I really mean it. One of the station janitors was show still at work, when Zack met with John, in the episode, Sleeping in the Light... Still, I cannot waste any more time than I have too. I have to keep moving. Just in case they might have tracked me down to where I am.'
'Also, since there is no lock on the door. After I check to make sure there is no one else inside here. I need to do this as quickly as possible, so someone does not walk in. With me in the middle of getting dress. With him starting to ask me questions.'
Lee then quickly checked all the stalls. He found they were empty, and he was the only one in the restroom.
Lee did quickly set down his gym bag.
He unzipped the bag.
Lee then took off his sunglasses, and gray fedora hat, as he pulled out all his items from his pockets, on the clothing he had on. Including his reality device, from his left side pants pocket. He placed the items into the gym bag. This including his reality device, gray hat, and his sunglasses.
Next, he quickly stripped down to his underwear, socks, his digital wrist watch, and his ring necklace. He also pulled out the leather belt, which was looped through his pants.
He then pulled out, from his bag, the clothing that was by the moderately sized suitcase, in the gym bag, but not in the suit case.
The clothing was a white t-shirt, which Lee put on first. Then, there was a white long sleeved button up shirt, which Lee put on, and buttoned up. After that, he put on some black pants, making sure both his shirts were inside his pants. Next, he looped his black leather belt through his pants. He then pulled out his black dress shoes.
Lee then pulled out a red tie, and walked to the large, long mirror, on the wall, over the sinks.
Lee then flipped up the collar of his dress shirt, put the tie under it, and then flip the collar back down. He then tied his red tie, in a formal knot, around his neck.
Lee walked back over to his gym bag, he pulled out a black coat, and put it on.
Afterward, he pulled out a black, short rimmed, fedora hat, and he put it on top of his head. With him making sure he had it on straight, with the proper side of he hat, facing forward, on his head.
Lee then reached into his gym bag, he pulled out the items that he had put into the bag, that were previously on his person.
This included a few decks of cards.
Lee also put the reality device in the interior, left pocket, of his coat, near his chest. He then pulled out, and put his sunglasses into the right interior coat pocket, opposite from where he had placed the reality device.
Lee then walked back over to the mirror over the sinks, and he looked out himself.
The black suit Lee wore was the black version of the gray suit he previously wore.
Lee straighten out his clothing, and make sure he looked alright.
As Lee looked at himself in the mirror, he jokingly thought, 'To quote the actor and sing, Will Smith, in his role as Agent J, in the original Men In Black movie. I make this look good... And I no longer have to wear glasses because I was disguised while with the women. That is a relief... Now, I have get what I need here, and to cover my tracks.'
Lee then walked back over to his pile of clothing, and his gym bag.
Lee pulled out the suitcase hidden in the gym bag. He then set pulled out his gray fedora hat. He set his suitcase on it's side, opened it, and he placed his gray fedora hat into his suitcase, in a manner which would not damage the hat. And he closed, and latched his suitcase, and set it on on it's bottom, onto the tiled floor.
Next, he checked to see that nothing else was in his gym bag. Which was the case. Lee then stuffed the pile of his clothing, that he had took off, into his gym bag. This clothing included his blue cloth jacket, and tennis shoes.
He zipped up his gym bag.
Lee stood up, picked up his suitcase, by its handle, with his right hand, and picked up his gym bag, by its handle, with his left hand.
Lee thought, 'Now, to clean up after myself.'
Lee calmly walked out of the men's restroom. Fortunately, the door the hallway pushed outward, so Lee just push the door open.
As soon as he was back in the hallway, he quickly located a wall mounted garbage chute. He walked up to the chute, he set down his suitcase, as he used his right hand to open the chute.
Next, he stuffed his gym bag down into the garbage chute, and closed the lid.
Finally, he picked up his small suitcase, by the handle, with his right hand, as he thought, 'I hate junking my clothing, but this clothing could be tied back to me. And though I am not crazy about men's suits, the best way to hide in plain sight is to present oneself as older, and more mature. When compared to my previous disguise as a drifter and gambler. And this suit helps with that. Now, all I have to do, is implement my plan.'
Lee then looked at the signs on the hallway walls. After reading the english on the side, he calmly followed the signs, towards the shuttle bay, full of people, at he had seen out the hallway window.
A few minutes later, Lee followed the arrows, through the hallways, along with going down one floor, by way of a set of stairs. He then made it to the shuttle bay area.
As Lee stood where he was, he looked around at the several people about the large area, he saw several aliens standing among the humans.
Lee did his best not to stare, while he tried to remain calm, as if he belonged there. While Lee did this, he maintained his poker face, as he thought, with a bit of childish wonder, 'I really am here, in the Babylon Five Station, surrounded by aliens. And not just human looking ones. This would be cool, if I was not in such a hurry. Now, to find a security official.'
As Lee looked around, he spotted a nearby human middle-aged man, wearing an Earth Force Babylon Five security uniform.
Lee thought, 'The last thing a law enforcement officer ever excepts is to meet someone with the audacity to pull such a naked con directly against them... Still, given the date. There is an off chance he could be a telepath. Given this is after Telepath War, and Psi Corps disbanded, and telepaths were granted more rights. If is he, I will just handle this a different way. Now, to see if I can pull this off, or end up in the brig.'
'If things go bad, I can go for my reality device, and escape. And I got enough moves, and my precognition is so good, that I can, in theory dodge bullets. I just do not want to test that theory. That is why I am running from the girls, instead of standing my ground.'
Lee then calm walked up to security officer.
The officer's back was turned to Lee, as Lee came to a stop, six feet from the office. Lee then stated, in a calm, yet straightforward manner, in english, “Excuse me officer. Could I have a moment of your time?”
The officer turn around, and looked at Lee for a few seconds. He then responded, “Yes. What can I do for you?”
Lee thought, 'He was giving me the once over. That is why I am wearing my best clothing. As they say. Dress for success. And my cover story requires that I appear professional looking. Now, to answer his question.'
Lee calmly said, “Official. I have a minor inconvenience. Some pick pocket stole my identicard, credit chit, and ticket, a minute, or so ago. I fully realize that you don't have time to search the people here, given you are evacuating the station. Though, I believe I do require some help to get off the station.”
The officer inquired, “I am glad you realize that. How much was on the credit chit?”
Lee answered, “Not much. The credit chit only had a few credits on it. Just traveling money.”
The officer asked, “So, what is your name? And where are you headed?”
Lee calmly answered, “My named is, Ello Gray” He mentally added, 'Which is an anagram of the word, allegory. As in, symbolism.' He continued, “I am heading for Mars. With a layoff here. And I am not upset by this situation. I can get another identicard, and someone to wire me money for tickets. The problem is I am sure neither of us has the time for me to get a background check, for a re-issuance of a identicard, and for someone to wire me some money.”
The officer agreed, “You are correct about that, Mister Gray. Our orders are to get everyone off the station. You must be one of the last few to use the station as a transit point in their travel. Let me see what I can do for you.”
Lee thought, 'Yes. One of the last few. With likely John Sheridan being the last.'
Lee watched as the officer used his communications link, stuck on the back of his right hand, to the Babcom system. The officer stated, “This is Officer Lars. I have minor a problem here. A human male here is claiming he has had his idenitcard, credit chit, and ticket stolen. Though, he is not interested in trying to catch the guilty party. He just needs help getting off the station.”
Lee recognized the voice on the other end of the link as Zack Allan, the current Chief of Security for Babylon Five.
Zack said, on the other end, “Bring him to my office.”
Lars turned off his link. He looked over at Lee, as he said, “If you will please follow me.”
Lee replied, “Just lead the way, Officer Lars.' Lee thought, 'I look forward to seeing Zack Allan. He is one of the more reasonable people that have ever been employed in the command staff of Babylon Five.'
Lee then followed Lars from the shuttle bay, and into the hallways. They soon passed the customs area, where the security officer waved Lee, and his suitcase, in his right hand, through. They then walked through the passenger lounge and soon made it to a transport tube, that took them to a nearby mono-rail station.
The mono-rail station was near the center of Babylon Five's spinning axis. As Lee forced himself to remain calm, as he experienced near weightlessness. He thought, 'Fortunately, there is enough gravity to walk. Still, even though this is my first time in low gravity, I have to remain calm, or the officer will notice something is off. And there will be no gravity on the shuttle. But, the passenger transport is a centrifuged gravity system, like Babylon Five, so that won't be a problem there. Though, I doubt I will lose my lunch, given I have expert control over myself'
A minute later, one of them shuttle core trams of the mono-rail stopped in front of them.
As the doors opened, Lee watched a few people, some were in civilian clothing, but most people were part of the station's employment roaster, and they wear various uniforms.
When the people finished exiting the shuttle core tram, the officer and Lee walked into the tram, and sat down.
They each them strapped themselves in, with Lee setting his suitcase on his lap, as he held it with both hands.
The tram then started moving.
A couple of minutes later, the tram came to a stop in Red Sector.
Red Sector was the commercial area of Babylon Five, and also the location of the headquarters for station security.
The doors to the tram opened, with the two men were released, and no longer strapped down. They stood up, and left the shuttle core. Lee held his suitcase, by its handle, with his right hand.
Lee then follow Lars out of the tarm, down a hallway on the mono-rail station.
Soon after, they rode down another transport tube, to the interior floor of Red Sector, where gravity was closer to Earth standard.
Five minutes later, of walking through hallways, they reached the security office.
They then walked though the security headquarters, until they reached the main office of the security chief.
Lee came to a stop in front of the security chief's desk, with the officer that escorted Lee standing to Lee's right.
Lee looked down to see Security Chief, Zack Allan, sitting in a cushioned chair, behind the desk. Lee saw the desk had built in computers, keyboard, and monitors, in it.
Zack was an older fair skinned man, wearing in a security uniform. Though, he was still in great shape for his age.
Lee remained silent, as Zack turned to his subordinate. He asked, “Did this man give you any trouble, Lars?”
Lars looked at his commanding officer, as he answered, “None whatsoever, Chief.”
Zack said, “Good.” Zack then turned to Lee, as he casually inquired, “And you are?”
Lee maintained his poker face, as he looked at Zack. Lee calmly stated, “Ello Gray, sir.”
Zack cracked a grin, as he responded, “Polite... I like that. Well, I am Security Chief Zack Allan. And Mister Gray, you seem to have a problem.”
Lee calmly stated, “I prefer to look for solutions, than seek out problems.” He thought, 'And that is the honest truth to my life.'
Zack complimented, “That is a good outlook to have. You say you had you identicard, credit chit, and ticket stolen?”
Lee flatly lied, “Yes.”
Zack inquired, “So, where are you heading?”
Lee answered, “Mars.”
Zack asked, “And what is your job?”
Lee stated, “I am currently in-between jobs. But, my specialty is mid-level management, specializing in grain procurement, processing, and distribution. Basically, I am one of the people who helps turn grain into flour, and then finds sellers for it. My last job was on three different human colonies on the rim. Helping them set up their food grain production, and flour transport contracts.”
Zack commented, “A boring, but necessary job.”
Lee feigned annoyance, as he replied, “Yes.”
Zack noticed Lee change of demeanor, but he did not say anything. Instead, he questioned, “So, where are you from?”
Lee said, “Originally, Earth, North America. But, my job takes me to a number of colonies, that deal with food production. Fortunately, my family left Earth, for the colonies, before the plague hit.” He thought, 'I will not mention the plague by name. Which it is the Drakh shadow plague. Because, I do not know how much information on the plague that hit Earth, was released to the public. And if I say the wrong thing. The jig is up. So, I will keep these lies a vague as possible.'
Zack asked, “That is fortunate. And your business on Mars?”
Lee responded, “I was heard through a third hand source that I might be able to get a better paying job on Mars. And it will be close enough to visit Earth. And with the plague cured. I do look forward to visiting my homeworld once again.'
Zack said, “I can appreciate that. It will take about at least four hours to get a background check on you. But, that would take too much time. And I am guessing you already know that.”
Lee stated, “Like I said. I am looking for solutions. I came to you subordinate for help. If it is too much trouble, I will find my own way off this station.”
Zack requested, “No. It is not to much trouble. May we search your suitcase?”
Lee turned to look over at Lar, as he held his suitcase towards the security officer. Lee said, “Sure. Go ahead.”
The officer took the suitcase, walked to a nearby table, set the suitcase on the table. He then opened it, and began to search it.
Lee stated in place, and he remain silent, while watched as he belongings were searched.
A minute later, officer Lars closed the suitcase, latched it, and handed it back to Lee.
Lee took the suitcase by the handle, with his right hand. He allowed his right arm, along with the suitcase, to hang down, by his waist
Officer Lars turned to Zack, as he stated, “There is nothing in there.”
Zack continued to look at Lars, as he thought, 'This means he is not a smuggler. Scanners at customs did not show anything of interest on his body. And while this job has taught me to expect the unexpected. I really don't have time for this.'
Zack turned to Lee, to see the younger man had turned to face him With Lee remaining silent, as he looked back at him.
Lee offered, “You are more than willing to pat me down, if you want.”
Zack stated, “That will not be necessary, Mister Gray. How do you want us to help you?”
Lee flatly commented, “I will cut to the point. I need a temporary identicard, a ticket to Mars, and a credit chit with a few credits on it. Just enough credit for a couple of meals, and a night's stay at a decent hotel. To give me time to sort out this mess, when I get to Mars.” Lee thought, 'Chances are meals are covered with the ticket. Otherwise, how would they feed the lurkers, as they were moved off the station, to other locations, in the Earth Alliance.'
Zack said, “Well, you are in luck. As part of the plan to evacuate the station, Earth Alliance instituted a plan to give lurkers a ticket to a human world, a temporary identicard, and a few credits in their pocket. We will use that to help you.” He mentally added, 'The program's budget is a use it, or lose it, offer for the station. And we still have plenty of money from the program.'
Lee replied, “Thank you, Chief Allan.”
Zack commented, “Don't worry about it. Still, there are limitations to the identicard we will give you. They will only work in the Earth Alliance, and Mars. Which is fortunate for you. You will need to get your own identicard replaced, as soon as possible.”
Lee responded, “I plan to do just that, right after I get over the jet-lag.”
Zack agreed, “Yes. That can be a pain.”
Zack turned to his subordinate, as he ordered, “Make sure Mister Gray receives the items he needs, and that he leaves the station, on a shuttle, that will get him to a transport leaving for Mars.
The officer said, “Yes sir. I believe one such transport will be leaving the area within the next hour, or so.”
Zack replied, “Good.” He then turned to Lee, as he said, “Have a safe trip, Lee.”
Lee responded, “Thank you again, Chief Allan.”
Officer Lars turned to Lee, as he said, “Right this way, Mister Gray.”
Lee then followed the man out of Zack's office, and down the hallway.
(_)
While Lee walked through this hallway, with officer Lars, with Lee walking right behind the security officer.
As they walked, Lars looked ahead of himself, as he stated, “It will take a few minutes to get you the items you need, here. Then, I will escort you back to the shuttle bay we left. Where I will see you off.”
Lee complimented, “That is fine. Also, I have found I am a good judge of character, and I belief your security chief is a fine man.”
Lars smiled, as he agreed, “Yes. And I consider it a privilege to have worked for him.”
Lee replied, “Yes. It is a privilege to have met such a man.”
Lars commented, “True. He is a good man to know.”
Lee stated, “By the way, my last name is spell with an, a, and not an, e.”
Lee said, “Not to worry. We will check the spell before we make the identicard and credit chit.”
Lee commented, “Good. I appreciate that.”
The two men then continued walking down the hallway of the security headquarters, till they reached the identification processing room, to create the identicard, credit chit, and ticket that Lee needed.
(_)
Meanwhile, in the security chief's office, Zack continued to sit at his chair, behind his desk, as he watched the man leave, through the door to his office, while being escorted by officer Lars, from one of the monitors on his desk.
Zack then turned his attention to his electronics controls built into his desk. He pulled up a video record of an empty hallway in Blue Sector. It showed Lee suddenly appearing out of nowhere, wearing a gym bag, wearing different clothing, and holding some sort of device in his left hand.
Zack fast forward the video to where Lee pockets the device, and goes into the men's restroom, a few minutes later, he comes out of the restroom dress in his black suit, and suitcase, with him dumping his gym bag and clothing into a garbage.
As Zack stopped the video he thought, 'This Mister Gray clearing has a teleportation device. But, he had no contraband. And passive scans of him, as he came here showed that device was man-made. With standard materials found Earth. That means he is either a time traveler, or a reality traveler. I have personally dealt with both before. And without any immediate contraband, that means he is on the run from someone he cannot escape with a teleportation device.'
'That is a very bad situation for someone to be in. And I do not have time for this mess. My orders, from Earth Force, are to get everyone off the station, as soon as possible. So, we can do the final preparations in blowing this place up. If he is not here, those whom are after him will not come here. And if he wants to go to Mars, that is fine with me.'
'When he gets to Mars, if it he causes problems, I am sure Garibaldi can handle this mess far better than I can.'
'Though, I won't call Garibaldi about Mister Gray. Given Michael's inquisitive nature, if I told him about Mister Gray, he will stick his nose into the matter, and end up in the middle of whatever mess Mister Gray is running from. But, if I don't call Garibaldi, chances are that Mister Gray will just pass through Mars without a problem. And in so doing, saving us all a lot of grieve.'
Suddenly, there was a beat from his desk. He answered the com, by pushing a button on his desk. He said, “Yes.”
The other end answer, from Blue Sector Command and Control, “This is C&C, sir. I thought you might want to know that we have been contacted, personally, by President Sheridan. He will arrive in his personal Bluestar, in six hours. Do you want to use to assign a welcome detail for his arrival?”
Zack thought, 'I loath the fact that I could not come to his last dinner. But, I am happy he is stopping by to see the old station. At least I will get to say goodbye to him.'
Zack answered, “We are not rolling out the red carpet, while we are turning off the lights. We will keep this low-key. I will greet President Sheridan, myself. Just make sure all civilians have left the station by then. Please, inform me when the President's Bluestar has exited hyperspace.”
The communications officer on the other end replied, “Yes, sir.”
The line was then disconnected.
Zack leaned back in his chair, as he happily thought, 'Now, to figure out what I am going to say to John, when he gets here.'
(_)
Twenty-five minutes later, Lee found back in the shuttle bay he had just left.
Lee was walking onto the staircase leading into a shuttle, his ticke in his left hand, and his suitcase in his right hand. His new identicard, and credit chit were in his left side pants pocket. And the credit chit did have a little money on it.
Lee turned back to see Lars nearby, whom was looking back at him, from the floor of the shuttle bay.
Lee said, “Thank you for everything, officer Lars”
Lars replied, “No problem. And have a great trip, Ello.”
Lee replied, “You as well, officer Lars.”
Lee then turned back towards the upper part of the staircase, that let into the shuttle itself.
As he made his way to the entrance to the shuttle, the human stewardess was their, checking tickets.
When Lee reached the inside of the shuttle, he handed his ticket to the stewardess.
As the stewardess looked at Lee's ticket, Lee asked, “How long is the trip to Mars from here?”
The stewardess looked up at Lee, as she handed him back his ticket. She answered, “Two days. Thanks to the new hyperspace gate built near Mars. And this is a direct flight there. Now, if you could secure her luggage, find a seat, and strap yourself in, we will be taking off in a few minutes.
Lee took his ticket, with his left hand, as he pocketed it. He said, “Thank you, ma'am.” He then walked past the stewardess, to find a seat.
Lee then walked into the seating area, which was two rows of two seats each. Much like a small airplane cabin.
Also, Lee note that the shuttle was half full.
As soon as he found a seat. He placed his suitcase in the luggage compartment above him. Next, he sat down in the seat, and he strapped himself into the seat with the seatbelts.
Ten minutes later, the door to the shuttle closed, and the ship was lowered into the docking exiting.
A few minutes later, they were in space, and Lee felt weightlessness of zero gravity.
Lee forced himself to remain calm, as he thought, 'If I lose my lunch, I will be in big trouble.'
Fortunately, Lee was able to control himself, and keep himself calm, as he felt the shuttle move forwards.
Lee then watched from his window, as they approached a large, rotating human, passenger transport ship.
About five minutes later, he felt the shuttle dock.
The pilot voice stated, from the cabin speakers, “Folks, we have docked with the passenger liner transport ship, the Trinity Well. If you will please disembark, and have your tickets in hand.”
Lee watched as the others unbuckled themselves, and floated back to the now open door.
Lee then unstrapped himself, grabbed his suitcase from the luggage compartment. He head the handle of his suitcase with his right hand. He kept his suitcase by his him, while he carefully floated along the aisle in the middle of the shuttle, as he followed the other passengers.
Less than a minute later, Lee followed the passengers through a docking tube.
When they reached the other side, there were three stewardesses their to check their tickets.
As Lee floated to the women, he pulled out his ticket, with his left hand, and headed it to the nearest uniformed lady.
While the women looked at Lee's ticket, she said, “You will be in second class. In seat fifty-one, C. That is on the far right of the cabin, in the middle. The chairs are have numbers of the back of the headrests. Just follow the orange signs, to the cabin. You cannot miss it.” She then handed Lee back his ticket.
Lee took his ticket, and pocketed it. He looked at her, as he calmly said, “Thank you, ma'am.” He then floated by the women, as he saw arrows on the hallway walls in front of him. Each arrow was a different color, that lead in a different direction.
Lee followed the orange arrows, along with a few other people that had gotten off the shuttle, as well.
A minute later, he reached one of the entrances to the rotating section of the ship.
The entrance was a wide open space, with emergency sliding doors separating the weightless section to the rotating section.
As Lee stepped onto the moving section of the floor, he quickly felt weight return, to near normal Earth standard. He thought, 'That is a relief.'
He then continued to follow the orange arrows briskly, as he walked the rest of the way to the section he was assign.
When he reached the entrance to passenger section, he saw a large, C. On the wall.
Lee walked into the room. He saw that he was in a passengers cabin, three main rows of seats. The two side rows had two seats each, running up the length of the cabin. The middle rows had four seats each, running up the length of the cabin.
There were baggage compartments above the rows of seats. With the small doors to the compartments facing the two aisles.
It was very much like a like the passenger cabin on a large airplane.
Lee also saw there were were no windows in the cabin, just flat off-white colored walls, and ceilings. With brown commercial, short carpet on the floor.
Also, from the way the seats were faced away from him, he guessed the entrance he walked in from, put him on the back, right side of the cabin.
There were also a number of people in the cabin, seated at their chairs.
While feeling slight amusement, Lee thought, 'Looks like I am flying coach for the next two days. Also, I this place is not that full. I might not have to sit beside someone.'
Lee then calmly walked down the aisle to his right side, and he soon found his chair, by looking at the numbers on the backs of the headrests.
To his relief, it was the inside chair, beside the aisle. And the seats look spaced enough that he could comfortably fit in them, and still have room for his legs.
Lee then opened the top luggage compartment over his chair, put his suitcase into it. Fortunately, his suitcase fit, and he closed the compartment.
Lee then sat down in his seat, as he waited for the ship to start moving.
A few minutes later, Lee then heard the speaker come on, as the captain of the ship, stated, “Everyone, we are about to get underway. Please, remain in your seats, until we jump to hyperspace.”
Lee then felt the ship start to move.
As the shipped moved, Lee looked over to see the inside seat beside him was empty. He mentally realized, 'Well, I guess I won't have to sit beside anyone. That is good. It means more room for me.'
Given Lee's slightly above average height, while sitting, he could see slightly over the chairs, and head rests, to see the backs of the heads of the passengers in front of him. Though, he could still find some comfort with the headrest on his seat, behind his head.
From their hair styles, Lee saw two human women were sitting in the two seat front of him.
The one to his upper right, had short brown hair, and the one directly behind him, had long blond her.
Given the angle between where Lee was sitting at, to where the brown haired woman was seating at, Lee was able to see the left forehead, and upper cheek, of the brown haired woman to his right. She was a young, fair skinned woman.
A minute later, he saw the blond woman turned her head to the right, to look at her friend. And Lee saw that she was a young, fair skinned woman. But, that was not of what caught Lee's attention.
What caught Lee's attention was the right side of the woman's face was covered in a burn scar. And there was only one blond woman, in the multiverse, with a scar on the right sid of her face, that Lee could think of, that would be with a brown haired woman.
Lee immediately forced himself to remained calm, as he put on his poker face. He thought, with concern and worry, 'Oh no. That is Balalaika, and B is with her. But... How?... The girls must have figured out I was heading to Mars. With Revy, Rock, and the others, called for help.'
'That means they knew my plans, and I at this point, I cannot change destinations, and I don't dare try to use my reality device so close to those two. They might have a tracking device. Also, I won't even try to do a reality jump in hyperspace, because I never wrote about that possibility. I might end up in another hyperspace, in other reality, instead of in normal reality. With that hyperspace being more like a demon dimension, instead of just a empty space. To the honest, Babylon Five version of hyperspace is one of the most tame, safest forms of hyperspace in the multiverse.'
'This means I will have to make the most of the situation.'
'And though, I believe that given the number of transports that have left Babyon Five, during this time period. It is possible, they still covered their bases. With some of them going to each transport. And them then meeting up on Mars, if they had not found me, yet.'
'That means that it is likely only Balalaika and B are the only one after me, that are on this passenger liner. And the reason that they are sitting right in front of me, is that existence is fucking with my life, one more time. Which is not a surprise to me.'
'Though, this also means that I have no idea how many more people I am going to have to face, when I get to Mars, whom that one a piece of my ass, in a bad way. But, I was just have to cross those bridges when I face them.'
'Still, I just hope that they did not bring all of Hotel Moscow to this party, or I could be in some real trouble.'
Balalaika then noticed Lee staring at her. She turned her body to the right, towards Lee, as she sat over the seat, between her seat and B's seat, as she looked at him.
Lee continued to remain calm, as he thought, with concern, 'Oh crap, Balalaika saw me. Still, if I play this cool, I will be fine. Though, both these women are sharp, and intelligence, they have never met me before. And given my facial disguise I used in Plata Podrido, they only have a basic description of what I look like. Also, I am not wearing glasses, nor shades right now. So, I could still be okay.'
'Also, I must remember not use the term, Ms., with Balalaika. Rock used the term Ms. Balalaika in the Black Lagoon series, and in book three, I wrote it so, that Balalaika noticed something off on Bob and Ed, besides the obvious, when Bob called Balalaika, Ms. Balalaika.'
B noticed her lover's body language, and she turned around between her seat and Balalaika’s seat, to look at Lee, as well.
Lee saw B looking also looking at him. He maintained his poker face, as he sacstically thought, 'The more the merrier.'
Lee could see that both women were casual clothing. At least at chest level. Though, Lee did his best to look at their faces, and not at their breasts.
Balalaika lips curled into a wicked grin, as she said, in english, with a russian accent, “Well, who do we have here?”
Lee feigned a relaxed body language, as he casually said, “Hello. My name is, Ello Gray. And you are?”
Balalaika flatly answered, “You can call me Balalaika.”
B said, in english, with a russian accent, “I am, B.”
Lee thought, 'The best way to defuse this situation is to be polite, and honest, as much as I possibly can, without blowing my cover.' He calmly responded, “Ladies, it is nice to meet you both. And I apologize, Balalaika, for staring at your scar. It was rude of me. Though, I could not help myself.”
Balalaika shrugged, as she said, in a casual tone of voice, “It happens. And at least you were man enough to apologize. Also, we are going to be traveling together, for a while. Would you like to talk?”
Lee thought, 'If I say no, it will arouse their suspicious about me. So, I have to play their game.' He answered, “Yes.”
B asked, for Balalaika, “So, where are you heading?”
Lee answered, in a direct, even tone of voice, “Mars. This is a direct flight, there, of course.”
B replied, “Of course.”
Balalaika inquired, “So, why are you going to, Mars?”
Lee thought, 'They clearly are testing me, to see if I am the writer. But, I am use to navigating such tests. At the moment, I will just use the same lie I used on Zack Allan. Also, it is best that I not to ask them questions. Russians tend to get upset about people asking for details concerning them. Also, russians find polite, friendly people to be annoying. So, I will have to walk a balancing act here.'
Lee stated, “I am in the grain business. Basically, I am in charge of production of flour, and finding customers. I am between jobs at the moment. And I am heading there for a possible job.”
Balalaika asked, “Can you tell me more about your job.”
Lee maintained his poker face, as he thought, with inward mild annoyance, 'While russians don't like questions ask about them. They can still be hypocritical about asking other people questions about themselves.'
Lee casually lied, “We mostly deal creating flour, from wheat. Given weight and size limitations on ships. We found that it is easier to have the production flour, in faculties on the farming colonies, and then ship flour for transport. That way, all unnecessary weight, and space, is already removed. Such as the chaff.”
B said, “That makes sense.”
Lee went onto say, “Still shipping flour has issues. For example, wheat flour only had an Earth standard four to six month shelve life, and it must not freeze while in transport.” He mentally added, with amusement, 'Always do research, before creating a lie.'
Balalaika inquired, “How much flour does your companies ship, on a regular basis? If you don't mind.”
Lee thought, 'If I use the english system of weights and measurements, I am busted. I have to use metric. Also, I have no idea, but I can fake the figures.'
Lee answered, “Sure. While, the companies I have worked with are small. We usual ship between one to three billion kilograms, annually. Earth standard time.”
B commented, “That is a lot of flour”
Lee replied, “Not really. The bigger companies can ship upwards of a trillion, or two, kilograms of flour, annually.”
Balalaika said, “I guess humanity still needs its stable foods.”
Lee agreed, “Of course. Everyone likes bread, noodles, pies crusts, pizza crusts, and even cookies.”
Balalaika replied, “Very true.”
Lee thought, 'I think they bought my story.' He said, “I take a lot of pride in helping to feed humanity.”
Balalaika stated, “As you should. Does your company also produce various grain alcohol?”
Lee casually lied, “A few of them do. But, that is not my department. Alcohol transport outside of Earth Alliance space can create problems. The sale and transport of alcohol through Minbari space, with out permit, is very illegal. This is because a Minbari consuming alcohol can cause a Minbari to go into a berserk rage. I heard a rumor that vinegar has a LSD effect on Minbari. But, I am not crazy enough to test that theory.”
“Centauri businesses do not like competition. As such, the Centauri government has placed food and drink tariffs coming into Centauri space. Especially, on alcohol. A person can get their ship seized, if they are caught in Centauri space, without having proof they paid the tariffs, and had their import permits on hand.”
“Narns are a bit odd in this situation. While they share the same religion. Though, that religion has a lot of different denominations. If a person is caught selling a Narn, of a specific religious denomination, food or drink, during one of their several religious events, they can be fined. Though, these fines are not that bad, because even the Narns admit it is hard to keep up with all their religious events.”
Both Balalaika and B let out a laugh.
Lee continued with his lie, “The rest of the alien species, are a mixed bag on this issue. Honestly, I think it is just one large headache that is not worth dealing with.”
Balalaika said, “I can see why.”
Lee watched a Balalaika and B looked at each other.
Balalaika said, in russian, “If that is a cover story. It is a good one.”
B replied, in russian, “Yes. It is. Most of what he says is correct, or possibly correct.”
Balalaika commented, “Still, there are other questions we can ask.”
While Lee did not understand russian, he forced himself to remained calm. He thought, 'Now, why I am not going to ask them questions. I can ask them on some obvious points.' He asked, “So, why are you two heading to Mars?”
Both women then turned to look at him.
B answered, in english, “We are looking for a man, there?”
Lee innocently replied, “Must be a lucky man.”
Balalaika could not help but let out a small laugh at the irony of the situation, in making such a paradoxical statement.
Meanwhile, B calmly said, “Not really.”
Suddenly, the ship felt like it hit a bump in the road.
Balalaika asked, in english, “What as that?”
Lee stated, “We just transition into hyperspace.”
Balalaika thought, 'The writer would likely not be able to answer this next question. Unless he is a lot more cagey than I expect him to be. Revy said not to underestimate him.' She inquired, “Is there anything we should be worried about?”
Lee thought, 'I bet Balalaika is thinking I cannot answer this question. She is underestimating my amount of knowledge on such things.' He casually answered, “As long as this ship keeps its lock on the beacon network, we are fine. Though, given the gravitational eddies in hyperspace, it can be a bit of a bumpy ride. From time to time. But, nothing serious.”
Balalaika thought, 'If he is the writer, he just delivered a wonderful answer, that sounds like he knows what he is talking about. But, there are other questions I can use to test him with.'
Balalaika inquired, “That is nice to know. Why are there no windows on this ship? At least for the passengers?”
Lee thought, 'Fortunately, I know the answer to this question. And it is likely such common knowledge, that I can use this information to derail you questioning.' He calmly responded, “Because staring at hyperspace, for prolonged amounts of time, can cause people to become nauseous. Why do you ask?”
Balalaika thought, with amusement, 'Touche. I guess that would be common enough knowledge to not ask about. Now, for my next question.' She questioned, “No reason. So, do you play card games?”
Lee thought, 'It does not surprise me that these two women would hear about my poker skills. But, I have a lie ready for just an occasion.' He calmly said, “Not usually. I prefer backgammon. Though, I did not bring my board with me, this time.”
Balalaika mentally reflected, 'Nice, answer. While giving the excuse that he cannot play. So, we cannot test his skills.' She responded, in an even tone of voice, “Mores the pity. Well it was nice to meeting you, Mister Gray.”
B commented, “Yes. It was a pleasure.”
Lee replied, “Same here.”
Lee then watched as Balalaika and B turn around, and sit back down in their seats.
Lee did not sigh, nor breath heavily, as he thought, 'With there close proximity to me, and their enhanced senses, they may hear me letting out a deep breath. I just need to relax, and lean back.'
And Lee did just that, as he lead back in his cushioned chair, with the back of his head laying on his headrest, his arms on the armrests to his side. He then let himself relax a bit.
(_)
In the two seat row in front of Lee, Balalaika and B started talking to each other in russian.
B stated, in russian, “I do not think Mister Gray, is Lee?”
Balalaika commented, in russian, “I still have my suspicions. Though, Lee was intelligent to mask his face so well, while in that city. As he was surrounded by Revy, Rock, and the others.”
B pointed out, “Yes. It shows cunning on his part. Even so. This is neither the time, nor the place, to confront him. We are merely here to find him. And if we do find the writer, we will have him picked up on Mars.”
Balalaika conceded, “True. We do not know if reality travel is safe in hyperspace, and we don't want to stir up trouble, with no way of escape.”
B said, “Exactly. Revy mentioned that Lee has precognitive abilities. So, he will sense dangerous coming towards him. In addition, Revy did say that Lee learned a lot from them, in a time loop. Including, River training him in hand to hand combat. I do not want to have to fight a precognitive, with combat skills, in close quarters.”
Balalaika replied, “I agree. Neither of us can take Annie, in fight. When we sparred with her, on occasion. Still, we are not the only ones after Lee. Even the Lovelace maids are after him.”
B shrugged, as she responded, “Yes. And Roberta was able to take Annie in a sparring contest.”
Balalaika smirked, as she said, “I remember that event. During one of the Lagoon's parties. The look on Annie's face, after she was beaten by Roberta, was priceless.”
B cracked a grin, as she agreed, “That is was. Though, I am still unsure if it was wise, or not, to keep our women in the dark about the writer, and his stories.”
Balalaika admitted, “I can see the benefits and draws back, from both perspectives. Though, it has been a year since their change, they are still getting us to their new... Forms. And it would be unwise to given them any unnecessary, life altering, information, right now.”
Balalaika mentally reflected, 'Besides. A hunt can become boring if there are too many hunters after the fox. And we already have several, as is. Including the rest of Hotel Moscow would only cheapen this hunt even further.'
B said, “I understand your point.”
Balalaika inquired, “Do you think our tickets will hold up?”
B stated, “Yes. Janet said these tickets would hold up. She said that her skills in such areas are as sharp as ever. Including, her eyes for the details. And she better hope so, considering the tickets had made for all the transports heading for Mars, from Babylon Five, within the last week. Though, that is why they are for second class, instead of fire class. First class tickets would cause greater scrutiny.”
B thought, 'And Rock had us all split into pairs, and trios, with each of us teleporting to the women's restroom of one of these transports, with our tickets. And riding those ships to Mars, while we search for the writer. We would all meet up at a specific, very nice, hotel in Mars Dome One, that we were first taken to, a week ago, this reality's time.'
'The plan is that if any of us do find the writer, we are not to confront him, but wait for him to disembark on Mars, and catch him there. Still, the security on this transport is almost non-existent. But, the risks are to great for Balalaika and myself, right now, to risk a fight in such an enclosed, confined space.'
Balalaika said, “Flying second class cannot be helped. What about lack of other identification. Should we be concerned?”
B stated, “No. Their lax security is these reason we do not need identicards to be on this this passenger liner. Just the tickets. They check identification when passengers embark, before they get on the shuttles, disembark at customs. They clearly did not plan for people teleporting onto the ship, from a storage area, with tickets in hand.”
B thought, 'It is interesting how universally it seems that no one puts cameras in their storage closest, because they figure it is too expensive, and unnecessary. Though, even with privacy issues, some security organizations do put cameras in theirs restrooms, in the areas they survey. And besides that reason, the other two reasons we did not teleport to the restrooms is we do not know how small they are. And someone could be inside them. The storage closet was a safer bet.'
Balalaika commented, “A lapse of security on their part, that we will make good use of.”
B stated, “Yes. A serious one. Considering there is teleportation technology in this reality.”
Balalaika asked, “Interesting. So, what is your opinion of the writer's escape plan?”
B answered, “Barring us figuring out where he is heading. His plan is brilliant. This would be the proper time and place to lose someone, in an entire galaxy. Still, now that we know where the writer is heading. We will catch the writer. Also, this is one of the last transports to Mars from Babylon Five. We all took a ship that could lead to Mars. If he is not on this one, he is on another one. And if we do not find him here, we will follow him, and find him on Mars.”
Balalaika agreed, “Yes. We will catch this man. And while it does not surprise me that this man was able to fool Revy and her friends. They were always a little less clever than they believed. Fooling Roberta is another matter, entirely.”
B stated, “Yes. Their arrogance came back to bite them.”
Balalaika asked, “True. Did you have a chance to talk your friends in the Serenity crew, after Revy contacted us?”
B responded, “Yes. I did. I teleported to the casino, and talked with Mal, and Zoe, during the early morning, on the day after Lee left. And I found they were also getting ready to leave no this hunt for the writer. Though, when I finished talking to them, I returned back to you, within five minutes of leaving.”
Balalaika inquired, “Interesting. They could prove useful in this hunt. Did Chang know you visited his new casino?”
B answered, “I do not think Chang was aware that I was even there. Given those two are the ones in charge of security, whom are my friends, I doubt he will be informed.”
Balalaika commented, “It is useful to have such friends. And while Revy did not go into detail, she did say that River was involved. How was that telepath involved in this situation?”
B stated, “From what Mal and Zoe tone of me. River was in on this situation from the very beginning. It seems that River was fooling everyone, by using her male form, to pose as a drifter, and poker player, named Sam. And, as Sam, she befriended Lee. And by all accounts, she actually did become a good friend of his.”
Balalaika thought, 'Sam, and Tam. Even I could have seen that one coming. Though, there were probably other factor in how River presented her fake persona as Sam.' She inquired, “Does Lee know that River and Sam are the same person?”
B said, “Yes. River revealed that she who she really was to Lee. From what I was told, River said that Lee took the news very well. Also, from what Mal and Zoe can guess, River and Lee are still friends. And it is clear that River is completely on Lee's side. And she does not want anything horrible happen to him.”
Balalaika stated, “That is the danger of going undercover. Though, with Chang and the others around, I doubt she will be a factor in this hunt. Chang will not want River to get any further involved, and risk ruining what plans he has for Lee. And given they are a romantic couple, River will respect Chang's wishes. But, others might become involved in this chase. Such as the Lovelace maids have done so. I need to know what happened, when the maid showed up?”
B began, “When they arrived on the island city, it started in a bar...”
Balalaika rolled her eyes for a few seconds, as she spoke up, “Why is it always a bar with those two Venezuelans?” She then looked back at over B.
B stifled a giggle, at her lovers reaction. She calmly said, “I do not know. And yes. They blew up the bar, before they left.”
Balalaika grinned, as she replied, “I admit it. That was going to be my next question. Please, continue.”
B stated, “River and Lee was in the bar at the time. From what I understand, the maids walked into a bar, while Lee, and River, as a man, were playing cards. The maids did not know that it was Lee they were after. Though, Lee immediately recognized them, and he and River gave them the slip.”
Balalaika commented, “That was a wise course of action. Though, with him knowing the maids are after him, it will making him run even faster.”
B said, “I would not want to be captured by the maids.”
Balalaika agreed, “Neither would I. Let us hope we capture him first. And given a choice between surrendering to the maids, and us. He will likely to choose us.”
B inquired, “Perhaps. I wonder. When we have him, what sort of revenge do you have in mind?”
Balalaika coyly answered, “A little of this. A little of that. Though, Revy did mention Chang's offer. And I find it intriguing.”
B replied, “Yes. With the skills Lee has displayed so far, he could be made into a valuable asset.”
Balalaika stated, “Exactly. We will find this Lee. We will put him in his place. And we will then put him to work for us.”
B agreed, “Absolutely. Still, given he is dying of cancer. We do have a time limit of a few months.”
Balalaika said, “You of all people should know what options we have in such cases.”
B responded, “Ah, yes. And it would be fitting for this writer. Still, besides the cancer and the gender change, I did enjoy some of the experiences he wrote about myself.”
Balalaika commented, “Yes. He showed you some of the betters parts of the multiverse.”
B turned to Balalaika, as she said, “I am looking at one of the better parts of the multiverse, right now.”
Balalaika looked over at B, as she smiled. She commented, “We will have to do something, later. And I have to admit that some of the things the writer did, which was towards our benefit. Which is why I am not going to outright break him, and then kill him. Now, onto other matters at hand. It is obvious that you have seen the series that this reality is about?”
B answered, “Yes. Bob and Ed showed it to me years ago. It is actually good. Very political. And most of what Ello said about the other alien species correct.”
Balalaika requested, “Good. So, what can you tell me about the Mars we are heading too?”
B said, “This Mars is in the middle of being terraformed. Presently, a person do not need a pressure suit to go outside. Still, it very cold, so you need plenty of clothing, and you will need an oxygen mask to breath the outside air.”
Balalaika shrugged, as she casually asked, “So, Siberia on a bad day?”
B answered, “Pretty much. To be specific. We are heading towards Mars Dome One. It is a city of two million people. Most of them live in city environment under a very, very large dome, and very large adjacent domes. Mars Dome One is the capital of Mars. Which is currently an independent nation, that separated from the greater Earth Alliance. Very long story on that. The culture is western. And they speak Earth. As long as we avoid entanglements with law enforcement, we should do fine.”
Balalaika commented, “Good. Also, given the situation. We both need to know. Are there any health hazards with traveling in hyperspace?”
B stated, “None that we need to worry about. I checked before we left.”
Balalaika replied, “Thank you. This hunt is starting to concern me. First, Yurick goes AWOL, and now this.”
B said, “We will find our wayward soldier.”
Balalaika commented, “I know. Though, I find it interesting that Yurick's trail lead right to where the writer was hiding.”
B responded, “Maybe it really is the Devil's Hotel.”
Balalaika said, “Let us hope not. Still, I have a feeling this it is more than a consequence.”
B suggested, “Perhaps we should head to that hotel, when we are finished here.”
Balalaika complimented, “That is a wonderful idea. Also, I believe Revy also mentioned that Lee slept with Eda?”
B answered, “Yes. Mal and Zoe both confirmed that Eda did so. But, at the time, she did not know that Lee was the writer. And she was the one to ask him on their date.”
Balalaika questioned, “I wonder what was going through both their minds to end up in such a situation.”
B commented, “For Lee. When a hot blond woman wants to ask a man on a date. Who would say, no? For Eda. From what I understand, Lee is very polite. And for her, it was more a lack of selection. She does not care for hispanics.”
Balalaika asked, “And why is that?”
B answered, “Way back in our time, in Roanapur, I heard a rumor that her lack of attraction towards latin Americans has something to do with a previous assignment, before she even came to Roanapur.”
Balalaika inquired, “Where did you hear that rumor from?”
B answered, “From what I heard, it was a business transactions gone wrong. I get the feeling it was a government job turned sour. Anyway, Eda mentioned this to Revy, on one of the few times she had one to many drinks with Two-Hands. Revy mentioned what Eda said to Dutch. And Dutch mentioned this to me, during a business transaction between him and I. Well, him, at the time.”
Balalaika inquired, “Guy talk?”
B admitted, “Yes.”
Balalaika shrugged, as she replied, “Do not worry about it. It is probably tame compared to some of the stuff that Revy, and her friends, talk about it.”
B hesitantly commented, “While I still sometimes talk to Dutch. I try to avoid getting into such conversations concerning Revy and her friends... Given their personalities, and the rumors of some of their sexual activities... There are somethings a person cannot unlearn.”
Balalaika calmly agreed, “I fully understand. One time, I made the mistake of having girl talk with Revy, over such matters. And I regret that conversation to this very day... There are some things that even I do not have a stomach for, that she does.”
B playfully replied, “You are preaching to the choir.”
Both women light laughed, for a few seconds.
The two lovers then soon calmed down and resumed their conversation.
(_)
In the two seat row behind Balalaika and B, Lee had been listing to Balalaika and B speak.
While, Lee did not know russian, he could tell their emotional states, from the tones of their voices.
And from their tones, both women were in a casual, relaxed frame of mind.
As Lee heard the women calm down, from their light laughter, he thought, 'Well, from their relaxed tones of voices. Along with my precognition telling me everything is okay, for the moment. It looks like things are settling down with those two. And all I got to do is keep my cool for the next two days, and I should be fine.'
'Though, Balalaika and B are trained military veterans. Unlike Revy, and most of her group. They are taught to be patient, and reserved. Yet, as long as I do not speak to them, nor do not approach them, and I stay quiet, I should be fine. So...'
Lee leaned further into his chair, while he lead his head on his seat's headrest.
Lee tipped his black for fedora hat, over his face, as he happily thought, 'Someone cue John Williams to start playing some Indiana Jones, traveling music, because I feel a nap coming on.'
Lee then soon fell asleep in his chair.
(_)
Fortunately, the next two days were uneventful for Lee. He stayed quiet, and he did nothing to draw attention to himself. The inflight meals and drinks were tasty and not bland. Also, he remembered not to show his decks of cards to anyone.
Though, along with speaking to a few others of the passengers and crew, that he met in the cabin. Lee did talk to Balalaika and B a few times. Though, they were the ones that started the conversation, with Lee being polite. And he did not use the term, Ms., once towards Balalaika, nor B. And he did not pull out his playing cards.
In addition, Lee was able to keep the two women from figuring out who he really ways.
Soon, they reached the hyperspace gate to Mars.
(_)
A few minutes after the passenger liner that Lee, B, and Balalaika, had already returned to normal space, in orbit of the planet, Mars, the speaker came on, with the captains voice said, “Passengers. This is your captain speaking. We have reached orbit around Mars. Those of you heading to Mars need to head to the back of the ship, as a shuttle will be by, within five minutes, to pick you up.”
Lee the saw Balalaika and B get up and head towards where the nearby restrooms were.
Lee thought, 'They probably do not have any identification on them. And they are going to the restroom, to use one of their reality devices to just teleport to one of Mars' domes.
'Chances are that it is B that will teleport them, given the possibility that Bob and Ed show her the Babylon Five series. I hope she liked the series. It is a good, epic science fiction story.'
'Also, they are likely heading for Mars Dome One, the same dome I am going to go to, since it is likely near the spaceport. There is not much I can do about that. Still, they clearly do not know who I am. If they did, my precognition would be screaming right now. So, I do not have much to currently worry about, on that matter.'
'The reason I do not just use my reality device to directly teleport to the interior of Mars Dome One, is because they, or Revy's group, my track my reality jump, from here, to the interior of Mars Dome One.'
'And the only reason I am not using my reality device, to jump to another reality, is that I really do want to see Mars, first. And I am not going to let the girls being here spoil my fun.'
As soon as two russian women were out of sight, Lee stood up from his seat.
Lee adjusted his hat. Afterward, he checked to make sure he had his ticket, his temporally identicard, and his credit chit.
Lee then looked up at the hatch to the compartment above his seat. He opened the lid to the compartment, and he pulled out his suitcase with both hands.
As he held his suitcase, with his right hand, by the handle, he let the case drop to the side of the way.
Next, Lee used his left hand to shut the let compartment lid.
Lee turned and entered the aisle. He then started to casually make his way the aisle, towards the back of the room, along with other passengers were walking with him, with their luggage in hand. They were all coming the way they had original entered the passenger cabin, to the back of the room. They would then used the orange arrows, to got them for the docking hatch.
Though, Lee soon found himself in the zero gravity section of the ship. Though, he did not have much trouble, as he made his way to the docking area.
(_)
Five minutes later, Lee was on the shuttle that would take him to down to the spaceport, on the surface of Mars. Lee found his ability to handle zero gravity had gotten a little better. He placed his suitcase in the passenger compartment above his seat.
Next, Lee seated himself into a seat, on the right side of the passenger cabin, by a window.
After which, Lee strapped himself in.
Soon after, everyone that was going to Mars, was on the shuttle, and the shuttle hatch and transport hatches close.
A minute later, the pilot came on the speakers of the passenger cabin. The pilot, “This is your pilot. We will be heading for Mars momentarily. Please, strap yourself in, and enjoy the ride.”
Lee felt the momentum of the ships engines starting as they headed to the surface of Mars.
Lee then check his wrist watch, to time how long it would take to reach the surface of Mars.
(_)
As they got closer to Mars, Lee could see Mars, from the windows in the cabin.
Lee looked at the Martian surface from space, that was outside his window. He though, 'It truly is a lovely sight. Maybe I will someday see Earth's surface like this.'
(_)
The shuttle ride down to Mars Spaceport was uneventful, though a bit bumpy.
After they exited re-entry, Lee saw that it was daytime, as them pass by Martian mountain ranges and valleys, until they approached the large, domed cities that comprised most of the human settlements on Mars.
Lee was amazed what he saw, though the windows around him, especially, the window he was sitting beside, to his right side. And since he did not recognized anyone around him. He allowed himself this brief moment to openly show job and wonder, on his face, that he truly, emotionally felt, at that time, on the inside.
(_)
As they landed, Lee check his wrist watch. He found that it was close to an hour after boarding the shuttle, when said shuttle had landed at the spaceport, on Mars.
A minute later, the pressurized spaceport gate attached to the hatch of the shuttle.
The pilot said, “We have now docked with Mars spaceport. We hope you enjoyed your trip, and have a nice day.”
Lee then unstrapped himself, and got up, with the rest of the passengers.
As Lee found his footing, he then opened the compartment hatch above him, and pulled out his suitcase.
A few seconds later, Lee had closed the hatch, as he held his small suitcase, by its handle, with his right hand.
Lee then filed in line, down the aisle, with the rest of the passengers, as they slowly made their way off the shuttle and into the spaceport, where they were immediately be heading for the customs area.
(_)
A few minutes later, Lee made it pass the hatch, and long, hundred yard hallway, that attached to the other end of the spaceport gate, as he walked into the main area of the spaceport.
Lee saw that there were a few customs booths. Lee got in line with the booth that his precognition told him with be fine in.
Lee then patiently waited, as he slowly made his way in line to the customs booth.
Though, Lee looked around himself.
While from the windows on the shuttle, and the windows looking outside, in the spaceport, showed daylight, from the Sol, Lee was not sure what time it was, until he saw a digital clock on a nearby wall. The digital clock, with the large red, rectangular, LED readout showed that it was ten five AM in the morning.
Lee looked looked at wrist watch. His watch stated that it eight thirty-seven AM.
Lee calmly thought, 'Well, at least it is morning here. And it looks like jet-lag is not going to be that big of an issue for me. A few hours ago, I woke up, and I slept okay in my chair, for a fourth time in a row. And the breakfast they served on the passenger liner, an hour after I got up, was pretty good. And even the bathrooms were clean and well stock with tiolet paper, liquid soap, and paper towels. So, I am fine for the moment.'
'As such, all I have to worry about is getting passed customs, and I am home free.'
'Still, it is best I set my watch to local time.'
Lee then set his suitcase on the carpeted floor, just long enough to set his digital watch. He then quickly picked up his suitcase, with his right hand, by its handle.
A few minutes later, Lee finally made his way up to the front of the line, of the clear plastic booth with the customs official behind it.
When Lee reached the front, he calmly walked up to the booth with customs officer, the handled the officer his identicard, through the small window and counter, in the middle of the booth.
After the custom's officer used his identicard reader to clear Lee's card. As he handed it back to Lee, he said, “I hope you had a safe trip, Mister Gray.”
As Lee took the identicard, and pocketed it, he replied, “It was pleasant.”
He then asked, “That is good to hear. So, are you here for business, or pleasure.”
Lee answered, “Pleasure.”
The officer inquired, “Do you have nothing to declare, Mister Gray?”
Lee stated, “No sir. Just passing through.”
The officer stated, “Scans shows a device in you coat pocket. Could I see it?”
Lee thought, 'I have a lie ready for just this situation.'
Lee set down his suitcase, on the carpeted floor. He then pulled out his reality device, with his right hand, as he lied, “This is just as old TV remote passed own in my family. A good luck charm. Scan it to your heart's content. It is made from common materials, and is completely man-made.”
As Lee set the device on the small counter, he kept his right hand on the device.
Lee thought, 'Given how close we are to each other, if this officer activities it, I will be pulled along for the ride. So, there is little risk.'
The officer pulled out a small scanning device, and scanned it.
A few seconds later, the officer looked up at Lee, as he said, “Thank you, Mister Gray. It seems you are correct. Our scanners sometimes pick up false positives.”
Lee picked up and pocketed his reality device, back into his interior coat pocket. He said, “No problem. You know how it is. A long way from home. You want to keep a memento of where you are from, so you don't get homesick.”
The officer agreed, “Exactly. You may pass now.”
Lee said, “Thank you.”
Lee picked up his suitcase with his right hand, he then turned and left through the line that let out of the customs, and into the large passenger area of the spaceport.
A minute later, as Lee made it to passengers area. He then found a map on one of the walls of the spaceport.
Lee saw that the was in english.
As Lee read the map, he thought, 'Fortunately, one of Earth Alliances', and by default, Mars' main languages, is english. Which makes things easier for me. Now, where is the tram to Mars Dome One at?... Ah there it is... And here I am... No problem.'
With Lee's suitcase hanging by its handle, with his right hand, Lee then turned and started walking towards the passenger transport tube station.
(_)
A few minutes later, Lee reached the section of the spaceport, where the passenger transport tubes, that would take him to Mars Dome One, were located. Lee then had to wait about ten minutes to for the next tram to come. He found that trams between the spaceport and Mars Dome One were free, and part of the spaceport system.
When the chain of shuttles, in the tube, came to a stop in front of Lee, and other people. The doors to the shuttles opened, and those present entered the various shuttles in on the transport tube.
The passenger tube shuttle was like a small subway car, with a few other people inside it.
After Lee sat down in one of cushioned seats, he sit his suitcase on the floor, by him.
Lee also noticed a few other people had entered the shuttle he was on, and they had seated themselves.
Lee noticed that no one was strapping themselves in. So, he did not do so, either.
A few seconds later, the doors to the shuttles closed, and the passenger tube shuttle began moving.
Though, the slow build of speed was not that noticeable, and there were no bumps, as Lee and the other people rode inside the shuttle.
As they exited the spaceport, in the transport tube, the windows allowed for Lee to see the red Martian soil. He just stared at the window, for a few seconds.
Then, someone beside him, to his right side, commented, “First time on Mars?”
Lee looked over to see an older, bearded man, in a suit, beside Lee, with his face turned towards Lee.
Lee said, “Yea. It is my first time here.”
The man asked, “So, what brings you to Mars?”
Lee honestly answered, “Just passing through. Though, I always wanted to come to Mars, since I was a child. And now I have the chance to spend some time here, before I have to leave.”
The man said, “I hope you enjoy your stay.”
Lee replied, “I hope so, too. So, did you live on Mars?”
The man answered, “Yes.”
Lee said, “Well, it is nice to meet you.”
The man replied, “Likewise.”
Lee then turned back to look out the window, to the outside, red plains, and the mountains in the distance.
(_)
A few minutes later, the passenger transport tube Lee was on, entered Mars Dome One, with the transport coming to a stop, with the doors to the tram opening.
Lee got up, picked up his suitcase with his right hand, and then walked out of the passenger shuttle.
Lee then calmly made his way out of the transport tube station, and into the greater outside interior of large dome that comprised most of Mars Dome One. The capital of the human nation of the planet Mars, in the Babylon Five reality.
As Lee looked around, outside, on the sidewalk, by a five lane highway, inside the dome, he noticed that the sunlight was bright enough to warrant wearing shades.
While Lee held his suitcase with his right hand, he used his left hand, to reach into the right interior pocket of his coat. He pulled out his sunglasses, and used just his left hand to put the shade on over his eyes. As the sunglasses went over his eyes, the shades shielded his eyes from the daylight.
He then looked up at the interior upper walls of the dome. He saw was a mix of artificial light, from the dome ceiling lights, and real sunlight, coming in through the transparent panels in the dome.
Lee then took notice of his surroundings of the cityscape, including a few cars passing by him. He thought, 'The artificial weather in Mars Dome One is cool, and comfortable for wearing this suit. But, it was not cold.'
'And Mars Dome One looks like a modern city under glass. I think this dome is way bigger than all the domes within Paradigm City, in the Big O anime series, put together.'
'The entire city is literally under a dome. With skyscraper buildings not even approaching half the maximum height of the dome. Also, there are trees, streets, cars, and other vehicles here.'
'In addition, the dome stretches as far as I can see, in almost every direction, except the transport tube station behind me.'
Lee chuckled to himself, as he continued his thoughts, 'It is going to be fun spending time here. I think I will stick to my plan of spending the night here, and then leave tomorrow. Though, I have to keep an eye out for the girls, as I try to hide from them. That should not be too hard. And given the western style culture and people here, whom speak english. I should blend in well, as long as I don't let my southern accent slip.'
'Also, I guess sense this is a western culture, that the cars and other vehicles, drive on the right side of the road, like in the U.S. and Mexico.'
'That being said. I will not allow the girls to ruin my fun, while I am here. The reason I came here was for fun, and to escape the girls. While, the escape plan is in risk, for the moment. I can still have a little fun, before moving on, to another reality, in search of a cure for my cancer, while I continue to lose the girls, and anyone else they have asked for help from. Such as Balalaika, and B.'
Lee then turned to his left, and walked down the sidewalk, away from the transport tube station.
(_)
Ten minutes later, Lee had turned to his right, at a crosswalk, with traffic lights, and electronic pedestrian signs. Lee safely passed across the five land highway, to the sidewalk on the other side.
Lee then continued walking up up few blocks, to where he reached another crosswalk. He then turned left, and walked along the sidewalk of a street. Where a two land street was to his left side, as he made his way away from the spaceport.
As Lee walked, he noticed that some cars and other vehicles passed by him on the road.
Lee thought, 'The vehicles here look similar to the cars and trucks of my reality and time. Though, I need to keep in mind their engines do not use gasoline. I am not sure what they use... Maybe some sort of battery gel... Who knows?... It does not matter.'
Lee then faced forwards, as he walked.
A minute later, from the corner of his left eye, across the street, Lee saw Revy and Rock walking along a sidewalk, opposite to his sidewalk.
They were also coming from the direction he was heading. They were dressed in their usual clothing, though River had on a blue denim jacket over her chest and arms, to hide her semi-automatic pistols, which were in their shoulder holsters, under her armpits.
Lee forced himself to continue calmly walking, like everything was normal, as he did not turn his head to face them.
Lee thought, 'They clearly haven't notice me. I just need to keep walking and I will be fine. And given the size of this city, once I lose them, I doubt I will run across any of the girls, again. At least not in this city.'
Half a minute later, Lee was proven correct, as he continued walking, and they did not notice him. He then turned a corner, to his right side, and he was soon gone from their sight.
A few seconds later, after he was sure he was out of their sight, Lee continued walking, as he thought, 'Now, to find a decent hotel. And I need to remember that I am on a budget. At least, from what Officer Lars toll me, I should have enough money on my credit chit for a night at a hotel, and a few meals. And tomorrow, I will head to an isolated spot, on the edge of town, and use my reality device to head for my next planned destination... There is more than one way I can lose the girls. And there are some places that they are not crazy enough to go to, that I am looking forward to going to.'
'Now, back finding a hotel. I am sure if I am polite, the locals will suggest a decently, moderately priced hotel that I can stay at.'
Lee then continued to make his way down the sidewalk, in search of lodgings.
(_)
An hour after entering Mars Dome One, Lee was able to find a cheap, decent hotel, to spend the night at. He found this place, by politely asking locals around the shops, in the area.
He was told that the hotel was located on the outer part of town, a mile and a half from the spaceport.
Lee used the directions he was told, to reach the hotel. When Lee reached the entrance of the hotel, he looked up at the five story, hotel building, and sign on the outside of the hotel.
Lee thought, 'Travelers Inn Hotel. That is a fitting name for one in my situation. Still, this place looks like a modern hotel. As long as the price is right, and the suite is clean, I will be happy.'
Lee then walked to the entrance of the building. A few seconds later, he opened one of the double doors with his left hand, as he made his way into the hotel.
As he closed the door behind him, he found himself inside a small lobby. He stood in place, as he looked around. He saw the check in desk only twenty feet from him. He also noticed a few chairs, and couch. Along with a TV by a wall, with IGN news on it.
Also, on the far end of the lobby, were two elevators, side by side.
Lee glanced at the TV. While the TV was muted, he saw that from the pictures of the Babylon Five station on screen, it look like they were doing a story on the planned destruction of Babylon Five.
Lee thought, 'Personally, I thought they should have just sold that space station to someone. But, waste, always does seem to be the motto of any government.'
Lee then turned back to face the check in deck.
As Lee walked up to the check in desk, he saw that a human man was standing behind the desk. He was dress in a hotel uniform. And Lee guessed he was the clerk.
While Lee silently stood in front check in desk, the man looked at Lee, from across the counter. The clerk politely requested, in english, “May I please see your identicard?”
Lee thought, 'It figures that they would ask for is ID. I doubt, given their T&A, along with their gold, that whatever hotel that Rock and Revy picked for the girls, will not only be nice, but they will not ask for identification, and take gold as payment. Still, this is a small matter for myself.'
Lee said, “Sure. Just a moment.”
Lee set down his suitcase, onto the tiled floor, as he pulled out his identicard.
Lee handed it to the man, whom scanned it into his computer, and then returned the card back to Lee.
Lee pocketed his identicard.
Meanwhile, the clerk looked at his computer monitor, that was beside the front desk, on lower, secondary shelf.
The clerk looked up from his computer monitor, and towards Lee. He said, “Greetings, Mister Gray. I am Jim.”
Lee looked into Jim's eyes, as he responded, “Hello Jim.”
Jim inquired, “So, what can I do for you, today?”
Lee answered, “I am looking for a one bedroom suite, for one night. Nothing special. Just a place to sleep, and get cleaned up. How much would that be?”
Jim stated, “That will be fifty credits.”
Lee thought, 'I believe I still have two hundred credits on my credit chit. So, fifty credits as payment should do be fine. But, I probably need to see if I can find a temporary job for the night. To make a few extra credits. And I know just the job that I would like to do, while here.'
Lee said, “That will be fine. I will be checking into hotel, then. By the way, are there any local bars looking a skilled piano player?”
Jim answered, “Now, that you mention it. Yes. I do know of one. But, you are going to have to prove yourself to him.”
Lee responded, “That will not be a problem. So, how do I get there? And who do I speak to, when I get there.”
Jim explained, “Walk outside the front entrance, here. Take a left. Walked three blocks. Then, take a right. You will see a sign that says, The Deco. Don't let the fact the bar is on the edge of the dome fool you. It is a very upscale bar, with classic american blues, and other forms of relaxing styles of music from the era of the early to mid-twentieth century. And while you have the suit for it, I suggest you get a shave before you head over there.”
Lee didn't bother to check the stubble on his face, as he stated, “I agree. I plan to do so, right after I get to my room.” He mentally added, 'Along with a shower.'
Jim responded, “Good. Anyway, while this early in the day, they are not yet open for customers, the front door should be unlocked. So, you can walk inside and talk to the management and staff about a gig. When you walked inside, ask for the owner and manger, Ryan. And tell Ryan, that Jim sent you.”
Lee said, “Thank you, Jim.”
Jim inquired, “No problem. Now, to handle the paperwork and payment in getting you are suite. Is there any particular floor that you would care for?”
Lee answered, “No.”
Jim smiled, as he said, “Good. It makes my job easier. I think I will put you on the second floor.”
Lee replied, “Thank you.”
(_)
A few minutes later, Lee used his credit chit to pay for the night, and he did some moderate paperwork. Which he mostly lied about. He received his key card for his hotel suite, as he check in for the night.
Fortunately, with the identicard and credit chit, Lee only needed to sign his signature to a liability contract for his suite, while he was staying in it.
That was fine with Lee.
A couple of minutes later, after taking a modern looking elevator up to the second floor, Lee soon made it to his suite.
After he used the key card in his left hand to open the door, he stepped into the dark room.
After pocketing his key card, he used the light from the hallway, to find the ceiling lights switch on the inside of the door.
A second later, he found the switch, and turned on the ceiling lights.
He walked further into the bedroom of suite, as he gently shut the door behind him. The door automatically locked as it closed.
While Lee looked around, in both the bedroom, and both room areas, he saw that his suite was much like his hotel suite at the Devil's Hotel. Only the TV and furniture style was just a touch more futuristic.
Though, the furniture was reversed. With the bed, and bathroom entrance, to his right side, and the chest of drawers to his left side. And the door swung to the left instead of the right.
Lee then walked over to his bed, and set his suitcase on top of it. Lee then sat beside his suitcase, on his bed.
Lee mentally reflected, 'Well, I made to Mars... Now what?... Besides checking out that job, at the Deco, and avoiding the girls, I have no plans while I am here. Yet, I always wanted to come to Mars.'
'It is like the old Total Recall joke. I came to Mars as myself. And I don't know what to do with myself.'
'I can now go anywhere, and any time, in the multiverse, and I don't have a clue of where I would really like to go, once I get there.'
'Still, if I stay here long enough, I am going to stir up the wrong kind of trouble.'
'Oh well. If I get the job. I will ask my new coworkers where some of decent places to visit are. I will visit them and move on. Now, that is a plan. All I have to do, is get ready and head to Deco bar, to see if I can get a job for a night, or two.'
Lee used his right hand to rubbed the stubble on his face, as he continued his thought, 'Though, Jim is right. I do need a shave. And I also need a shower. Though, except for the t-shirt, underwear, and socks, my black suit is pretty much clean. I make sure not to get food, nor drink on it, while traveling, and I have not sweated much in the last two days. A shower and some deodorant will take care of the rest.'
'I really do not want to pull out my gray suit, because the girls have seen it. They have not seen my black suit. That is probably why Rock and Revy did not recognize me near the spaceport.'
'Now, to get ready. And I need to keep in mind to remember to put back on my ring necklace, and wrist watch, when I get dressed.'
Lee turned to his side, to face the suitcase.
He turned the suitcase around to face him. Next, he opened the case, to get the items he needed. Such as a razor, and a comb. He then closed and latched his suitcase.
He then got up, and took the items he pulled out to the bathroom.
When he reached the bathroom, he turned on the light in it, and set the items on the sink.
He leaned down, untied his black shoes, and pulled his feet out of his shoes.
Next, Lee gently took off his clothing, and other items, one piece at a time.
He then set each piece of clothing, on the bed, so the clothing would not wrinkle.
When he was in his t-shirt, underwear, and socks, headed his bathroom, and shut the door behind himself.
(_)
Half an hour later, Lee finished shaving, and showering, among other things.
As he combed his hair, he noticed that his roots were not yet showing. And his hair still looked black from the dye job he had paid for.
After he dried off, he went to his suitcase, and pulled out a fresh white t-shirt, underwear, and socks. After he had the items he needed, he closed and latched the suitcase back up.
He put his dirty clothing in a small pile, a corner of the room, by his bed.
He then put back on his ring necklace, which he had set on the bed, by his suitcase and wrist watch. Next, he dressed himself back in his fresh t-shirt, underwear, and socks. With those items on, he put on his black suit, and red tie. When he finished putting on his suit, he leaned down, put his black dress shoes on, tied them up.
After leaning back up, he put on his digital watch. He then check himself in the bedroom mirror. Once he was finished, and he felt he looked alright. He walked over to one of the cushioned armchairs, by his bed.
He sat in the chair, as he just enjoyed the silence, while he let himself relax a little.
About fifteen minutes later, Lee thought, 'I might as well get this ball rolling.'
Lee got up, and he checked his pockets to make sure none of the items that had been in his suit had fallen out onto the floor.
Lee soon accounted for his reality device, decks of cards, lighter, identifcard, and credit chit. Among other items. He also found his ticket, which he threw away in the trash can in the hotel bedroom.
He then went to his bed and put on his sunglasses and black fedora hat.
As he headed for the hallway door to his suite, he left his suitcase closed, and on top of the bed.
He then turned off the lights to both the bathroom, and the bedroom, as he turned the latch on the door, and opened it.
Finally, he entered the hallway, while shutting the door behind him.
Lee headed to elevator.
Once he made it down to the bottom floor, and the lobby, he soon exit the hotel, and headed for the Deco bar.
(_)
About thirty minutes later, Lee made it to the Deco bar.
The sign in front simply said, Deco.
As Lee looked at the outside exterior of the building. The building had a nineteen twenties, art deco motif.
Lee thought, 'Interesting choice of design. I wonder what the place looks like on the inside?'
Lee then walked up to the black glass door, and pulled on it. He found that it was unlocked. He open the door and entered the bar.
As Lee walked into the bar, he gently closed the door behind him.
While he looked around, he found the art deco motif continued inside, along with some blues music and singing, being performed on the stage in back.
The volume of the music on the speakers in the bar was noticeable, but not loud.
The color setting of the room and furniture were black and white. The floor was checker board pattern of large black and white tiles. The walls were white. The high ceiling was black.
There were also black ceiling fans hanging from the ceiling, while still several feet higher than the patrons' heads. The fans had chandelier, blub lights attached to the bottom, below the fans.
The bar room itself was a long rectangular room.
To Lee right side was a long, black bar counter, with black wooden stools placed along the outside side of the counter. There were shelves of alcoholic bottles lining the wall behind the bar counter. The bar counter ran up about six feet from the stage in back. To the left of the front three quarters of the bar counter was tables, of various sizes, in a staggered pattern.
There were chairs set around the tables. The number of chairs around each table, depended on the size of each table.
Behind the tables, was a dance area. Behind the dance area was a black wooden stage, which red curtains currently drawn back to the sides of the stage. The stage floor was a gentle crescent curve shape, with the apex of the curve, coming closest to the audience, was the middle of the stage.
To Lee left side, across from the bar, he saw two doors, with signs that shows that one door lead to the men's restroom, and the other door lead to the women's restroom.
Lee thought, with mild astonishment, 'This is a real stylish place.'
Lee also saw a handful of people in the room. All of them were human.
There was the bartender, behind the bar counter. The bartender was a human man whom appeared to be in his mid-thirties.
And on stage was the band, and singer.
The band were located on side of the stage to Lee's left. They were sitting down, in a group, playing their instruments. The band itself was composed with five men in their twenties. They were sitting with three in one row, and two in front of the three person row.
In the back row, there was a trombone player, saxophone player, and a guitar player. In the front row was a trumpet player, and a clarinet player.
The singer was a woman in her twenties, in the front center of the stage. She had a small ear piece over her right ear, that was likely her microphone. She swayed as she sang the song.
All the band members, and singer were in their casual clothing, of pants and shirts.
Lee thought, 'Their performance was on key and enjoyable to listen to. This is good.'
Lee then noticed, on the right side of the stage, a wooden, black varnished piano and bench, that were facing away from the audience. And there was no one playing at it.
Lee mentally wondered, 'Maybe the last piano player did not like not facing the audience. Well, let's get this over with.'
Lee then walked to the bar counter, where the bartender was standing behind counter.
As Lee approached the bar counter, the bartender noticed him. He said, to Lee, in english, “I am sorry, sir. But, we are close right now.”
Lee came to a stop in front of the counter, across from the bartender. He looked at the man, as he calmly said, “I know. Jim sent me to see Ryan about a possible piano playing job.”
The bartender said, “Really? Well, we do need a piano player, and we have yet to find one that can they style of music that we prefer.”
Lee honestly stated, “I spend years learning to perform music, such as jazz and blues.”
The bartender commented, “Well, the owner does not hire just anyone.”
Lee responded, “All I am asking for is an audition. If you boss don't like my performance, I will just move on, and find another place to perform.”
The bartender inquired, “You sound like you have experience performing for an audience?”
Lee coyly replied, “You could say, that at one point, I was the life of the party, where I came from.”
The bartender shrugged, as he said, “Alright. I will go get the owner. I should only take a minute, or two, to find him, and get him to come out here.”
Lee remained silent, as he watched as the bartender casually walk towards the back of the bar. Lee then noticed the bartender open a white door, beside the stage, at a ninety degree angle from the stage, a few feet from where the bar counter end.
Lee thought, 'That must be the door to the backstage. Now, to just patiently wait for the owner to show up. At least I can enjoy the good music while, I wait.'
(_)
A minute later, Lee watched as a human man in his forties exit the backstage door, and walk towards him, with the bartender right behind him.
The bartender turned to walked behind the bar counter, towards Lee, while owner walked along the outside end of the bar counter.
As both men can to a stop near Lee, the bartender stated, “This is the man who said that Jim sent him here.”
The owner looked at Lee, as he casually asked, in english, “What is you name, sir?”
Lee let his southern accent slip through, as he, calmly answered, “Ello Gray, sir.”
The owner stated, “You can call me, Ryan.”
Lee said, “It is nice to meet you, Ryan.”
Ryan asked, “So. Tell me what you can do?”
Lee answered, “I know a number of classic blues and jazz music pieces. And I can read sheet music.”
Ryan inquired, “That is a start. Now, how long do you want to work here?”
Lee said, “A night, or two. That will give both, you time to find a more permanent replacement, and for me to a little traveling money.”
Ryan replied, “I can tell by your accent that you are not from here.”
Lee said, “You are correct. Just passing through. I am from the Deep South. Dixie. The southeastern part of what was once the United States. Though, I would like to keep that on the down low while on Mars. Not many people her like those from Earth, right now.” He mentally reflected, 'Plus, if the girls hear that a piano player from the Deep South, it will pretty blow my cover.'
Ryan thought, 'That is region where blues and jazz was invented.' He said, “That is understandable. Alright. I will give you a shot. Let's see if you can impress me.”
Lee cracked a grin, as he replied, “With pleasure. So, what is the band's name.”
Ryan answered, “The Martian Blues.”
It took much of Lee's control to maintain a straight face, as he stated, “That is a fine name. Though, let's wait for them to finish their rehearses, before you see what I can do.”
Ryan complimented, “I admire a patient man. They started an hour ago. From the song they are playing, I would say they would be about ready to break in about ten minutes.”
Lee said, “Good. That will give me time to get a feel for the band and singer.”
Ryan thought, 'That is the right attitude to have.'
Both men turned towards the stage, as they listened to the music the band was playing.
Meanwhile, the bartender, turned back to doing his work behind the bar counter.
(_)
Close to ten minutes later later, the band and singer finished their song, until they would take their break.
As the music concluded, Ryan started walking over to the stage, with Lee right behind him.
When they came to a stop, with Lee standing to Ryan's right side, in front of the stage.
Ryan looked up at the Martian Blue band, as he stated, “The man beside me is here is to audition for role of the pianist.”
Lee looked a the band, and singer, as he said, in a polite tone of voice, “I do not mean to intrude on your performance. And all of you did a good job with your performance.”
Lee could see the all the band members cracking a smile, as the young beautiful human woman, whom was singer, kindly said, in english, “No problem. And thank you. Also, I want to see what you can do.”
Lee turned to Ryan. He saw Ryan looked back at him.
Ryan said, “Go ahead.”
Lee looked around the stage, and he saw no steps. He then looked over at Ryan, as he commented, “I take it the way to get on stage, is from the back?”
Ryan answered, “Yes. To into the side door by the bar, immediately take a left, you will see some step. Right after the steps, to your left is the door to the stage.”
Lee replied, “Thank you.”
Lee then walked over to the door, by the bar counter, he turned the knob. He opened it, and walked through, with him gently closing the door behind him.
A few seconds later, the others then watch as Lee entered the stage, from the door on the right wall, on the back of the stage.
Next, Lee walked around the piano, to the piano bench.
A few seconds later, he sat down on the bench, as he faced the piano keys.
While Lee faced the piano keys, his back was to turned to the room, as he faced the wall on the back of the stage.
Lee turned to his left, to look at Ryan, whom was standing on the floor, in front of the stage. He casually stated, “I know a number of pieces of music. And as I said, I can read sheet music. That being said, let me show you some soul.”
Lee looked over to his left, on the stage, where the band was seated, and the singer was standing. He commented, “If you know the song, please join in. Also, keep in mind, I did not come here to be the singer, but you cannot show some soul without some song.”
Lee then turned back to the piano keys, and he began playing a song from heart, without missing a key.
The band members, knowing their craft, and classic music, immediately recognized the song, as they all joined in, with their instruments, without missing a beat.
After a few more beats, Lee started singing, on key, the first lyrics to the song, 'Rockin Pneumonia and the Boogie Woogie Flu', which best known to be song by Johnny Rivers.
Ryan silently watched the performance. He noted the piano player also sung very well, and on key. He then looked around and saw that both his singer, and the bartender were swaying with the song.
Ryan turned to Lee, as he smiled.
Just over three and a half minutes later, Lee reached the end of the song.
Lee then turned back to face Ryan. Lee cracked a grin, as he inquired, “So?... What do you think?”
Ryan thought, 'The look. The accent. The skill. He is like a classic twentieth century jazz and blues musician, who just time traveled, and walked right into my bar. And his performance with the band shows that he has chemistry with them.'
Ryan stated, “You're hired. I just need to see you identicard.”
Lee said, “That will not be a problem. And thank you.”
Ryan replied, “You are welcome. I will meet you in back. Then, you can follow me to my office.”
Lee then walked to the back stage door, as Ryan entered the backstage, by the door, near the bar counter.
Lee then met Ryan in back, and he followed Ryan to Ryan's office.
After they sorted out their paperwork, which including them agreeing that Lee would be paid between a hundred and fifty credits, to two hundred and fifty credits, per nightly performance. Depending on how well his performance was. Lee agreed to that.
Lee then returned to the stage, to rehearse with the band and singer. So, he could learn their set, and what songs they would play.
Which, Lee found he either knew by heart, or the sheet music they provided was easy enough he could play his part of the songs without a problem.
And so, Lee began to prepare for his job, as a blues and jazz pianist, for the coming evening, in the Deco.
To be continued.
Badasses Of the Multiverse Book 5: “The Gambling Man.”
Volume 2: “Total Badass.”
Chapter 04: “The Rat Maze.”
By Paul Cousins.
Copyright Disclaimer: All copyrighted places, characters, items, and events, within the story, are held by their current owners. No profit is being made on this work of fiction.
(_)
Babylon Five Reality. Date, January Twenty-Eighth, Twenty-Two Eighty-One. Location, Babylon Five Station, crew quarters in Blue Sector. Time, one hour after Lee accepted the job at the Deco bar on Mars.
Inside, Zack Allen's quarters, Zack Allen had just gotten ready for bed.
As Zack laid down in bed, he thought, 'Well, it was nice to speak to John, one last time. I hope the best for him, wherever he ends up. Now, I have to help plan the decommissioning ceremony... Might as well keep it low key... It is a funeral after all, for the station itself...' He continued his thoughts, with a bit of bitterness lacing his mood, 'A navigation hazard... Yea, right.'
Zack look up at the ceiling, as he continued his thought, 'This old girl deserves better.'
'I am with Garibaldi. They should just sold this old girl. Hell, Garibaldi offered to pay for the station, himself. And I know he had the money. His wife gave him her blessing, and her practically handed him her company checkbook. The station would have been in good hands... But, no...'
'Being in Earth Force may mean I cannot voice my opinion. But, it does not mean I cannot have an opinion.'
Zack then used the light switch, by he bed, to turn off the lights to his quarters, as he went to sleep.
While shrouded in darkness, in the corner of Zack's bedroom room, behind a chair, a slender, black hair asian woman, wearing a white jacket, over a red qipao.
The women quietly stood up. She then silently turned to look at her sleeping prey.
(_)
Location, Earth, Geneva, Switzerland. Time, Two hours after Zack went to bed.
It was the middle of the afternoon, in Geneva, as Earth Force General Susan Ivonava was sitting in her cushions office chair, behind her desk. She had just began to take a five minute break.
Ivonava turned her chair to look out one of her office windows, as she contemplated her future plans for her life.
As Ivonava leaned back in her chair, while looking out the nearby window, at the sky and courtyard by the building she was in, she thought, 'Well, I just got back from the planet Minbar. And I probably should start the paperwork on my resignation. Delenn's offer to be the Anla'Shok Na. Ranger One. Leader of the Rangers. Is too tempting to pass up.'
'I think I will make my last official act as General be as the Earth representative to Babylon Five's decommissioning... Damn. I do not think they should destroy the station. Or, at the very least, come up with a better reason than the station being a navigation hazard. In space, that just doesn't make sense.'
'Still, I am not that long for this life, either. And I am going to end up spending the rest of my days as Ranger One. That is not a bad ending to a good life of service. But, always service to someone else.'
'I just wish my love life was not such a wreck. Getting over Talia was hard. But, losing Marcus was even harder. I do not think I could survive a third hit like that.'
'In that final battle, I really, really should have claimed that God sent me. I was really tempting fate. I was severally injured. And Marcus had to all but sacrifice his life to save me. At least, we got him in to a cryo-tube, before he completely died. And his vitals have been stable, ever since then.'
'Yet, it is like sleeping beauty, only reversed. With the prince sleeping, and not the princess. And no single kiss is going to wake up my prince. Still, I will do everything in my power to bring him back... Even he is finally awoke long after I die...'
'And at least he now is safe on Minbar.'
'I guess I need to go back to work. And in all honesty, I thought being an Earth Force General would be more fun. Who knew that giving orders from the top can be as demanding as taking orders from the top?'
Ivonava then turned her chair back to face the back of her desk, as she went back to work on her electronic paperwork.
(_)
At that moment, outside, Ivonava's office, in the hallway, there were two women, in gray janitorial uniforms, complete with gray baseball hats on their heads. The two women were approaching the double-doors to Ivonava's office.
One of the women was also pushing a cleaning cart.
There was a guard posted at Ivonava's door. And he saw that, the woman pushing the cleaning cart was approaching him.
As the two women got closer, the guard saw that one of the women was a redheaded asian with tanned skin. The other women, who was pushing the cleaning cart, was a petite, black haired pale skinned woman.
(_)
Location, Minbar, homeworld of alien species, Minbari. Time, an hour after the two women approached General Susan Ivonava's office.
Inside a long term cryo-suspension facility, on the tenth floor of the building, Arcee took silent steps towards her intended target.
Luckily, as the Hell Saber member, Arcee walked through the rows of large cryo-stasis tubes, she found that the ceiling was just high enough to let her walk with leaning over.
While continuing her search, Arcee thought, 'The computer security in this place is a joke. It took me less than a minute to hack the computers. Turn off the alarms, and loop the video and audio system. Without anyone else being the wiser.'
'And it is fortunate for Delenn, her son, and the rest of the Minbari. Specifically, the more skilled, and badass members of the Warrior and Religious Castes. That Chang only wants pure humans. Or, we would have gone after them as well. And the only reason we are not going after John Sheridan is that we do not want to upset the First Ones of this reality. Especially, Lorien, whose age makes even me look like a child in comparison.'
'Speaking of which. For a human made series, I found the Babylon Five series, which Chang gave me copies of, to be very good. The pilot episode, the first four seasons, and the finale episode, were very well put together. The rest... Were watchable.'
'Now, to do my job. Which should be easy enough. The target's location is listed in the computer. And each of these cryo-tubes are listed as to have an emergency forty-eight human hour, dual battery system, in case power was cut off. Also, they are designed to be mobile.'
A minute later, Arcee found her target.
Arcee came to a stop facing the cryo-stasis tube listed as having the human man, Marcus Cole, inside it. Whom was barely clinging to life, in a near-death state. But, his vitals, though low, were stable.
Arcee hacked the cryp-stasis tube, to check to make sure the battery systems were functioning, and that the tube was worthy of transport.
As she confirmed both points, she thought, 'Look on the bright side Marcus. You will be with Ivonava, soon.'
Arcee then spent the next few minutes, unhooking the cryo-stasis tube.
As she picked up the tube, she thought, 'I will admit, I am the only one on my team that can do the heavy lifting, and transport on this machine, without risk of damaging it.'
After she had detached and picked up the cryo-stasis tube, she then walked a few steps, and she gently set the cryo-tube down, on its side, on the floor, away from the other cryo-tubes.
Arcee then used her built in reality device to teleport both herself, and the cryo-tube with Marcus Cole, back to Chang's Tower, in the Black Lagoon Reality.
(_)
On Mars Dome One, right before sunset, in the early evening, on the day that Lee arrived on Mars, a lone women, wearing casual clothing, stood inside a room, on the top floor, of the nearest skyscraper she could find that was closest to her target's location. Which was still miles from her target's main headquarters, Edgars Industries.
The room was empty, and the room had clearly not been used for a while. Though, the building itself was not empty.
Still, all Roberta had to do, to avoid being noticed, was to use her reality device to come and go, as she needed too.
Presently, Roberta was sitting in the middle of the room, in a chair, in front of a desk, as she faced the windows overlooking the tall buildings that composed the complex of Edgars Industries headquarters.
She did not stand by the windows, because she was concern she could be spotted.
As the Hell Saber Roberta at in her her chair, on her desk was a telescopic set of binoculars that were placed on the desk with a tripod, to allow Roberta to get a better look with her eyes, at the buildings, where her target was somewhere inside of.
Though, as was looked in the distance, she realized the place she was casing for her team was a the literal fortress.
While, the windows were tinted, to prevent people from seeing into the building, from the outside. Roberta took no chance. And she did not go near the windows, because, someone could use infrared, or other types of optics, to look into the building.
And given how cagey, and cunning, her target was reported to be. She had no doubt that his security team did such periodical sweeps, at least one, or twice, a day.
Though, her binoculars could see just fine, out of the windows, into the distance.
As Roberta looked through her binoculars, as she used her hands to adjust them, she thought, 'There are even limits to my new eyesight. Both natural, and artificial. And our target is a completely profession when it comes to his personal security, and the security of his family.'
'Chang said not to underestimate this Michael Garibaldi. And I am not going too. Though, I am now regretting not taking the time to see the Babylon Five series. Still, Chang did give us all a short summary of Michael's life. In the from of a mission briefing. That also included our other three targets in this reality. Along with what they are all capable of. What their resources are. Who their friends are. And what their friend's resources are.'
'Except for being a recovering alcoholic, Michael is definitely one to be careful around. He spent around four years as the Station Security Chief for Babylon Five. And he helped save the station from nearly every type of danger imaginable, an almost a weekly basis.'
'Then, Michael took over Edgars Industries, after marrying his, on again, off again, love interest, Lise Hampton. Whom was the widow of William Edgars. With her inheriting William Edgar's company. Making her very wealthy.'
'Lise married Michael, after Michael saved her life. She then allowed Michael to take over running the company. And from what I understand, he has done a very good in doing so. And the couple even have a teenage daughter, whom they named, Mary.'
'Still, Chang also ordered us to do this discreetly, and for us to not harm, nor bring to harm, nor capture, the target's wife, nor daughter.'
'And I can agree with the reasoning as to why Chang told us not to harm Michael's family. Even at his current, older age, Michael is a first rate badass. And Edgars Industries is a galaxy spanning company, with vast resources. Chang does not want to risk having those resources targeted against him, and us. Which is the reason for the needed discretion on our part.'
'Fortunately, I have confirmed the locations of both Lise and Mary. And neither are presently in the headquarters. And they will not return there for a few days. Though, this only makes our mission slightly easier.'
'Still, I have been casing this place for three days. And I can say, in a professional opinion, that place is a fortress. And I see so many problems with our mission, that it is not even fun. Plan, and implementing, this mission, is going to take a lot of skill.'
'The place has a completely open field of fire, for over a kilometer, in every direction. And I do not see any gun turrets, so I am not sure where the field of fire would come from. Also, the facility has a small army of armed guards. Though, that is not a problem for us. But, I have no idea what traps lay in wait, inside the building.'
'The sewer system has scanners in them. And there are likely boobytraps there, as well.'
'The computer firewalls of this building are top notch. We cannot hack them without alerting them that something is wrong. Which would likely mean that Michael would ask for help. This would create even more problems for us. Given the friends that Michael can call on. Including, their galactic armadas.
'Also, we dare not just try to teleport inside. It is likely the sensors would detect us at a moment's notice. And we do not know what dangers are inside, that may take us immediately by surprise, before we have time to react.'
'The only thing this place does not have is an emergency shuttle. Though, there is a landing pad. And I watched as a small shuttle landed on it, yesterday. With Michael, himself, being the one to exit the shuttle, and enter the main building. And because it was during the middle of the day, I could not snatch him.'
'Given the outside atmosphere is pressurize, it seems there is a docking hatch located on the dome itself, for VIP and government shuttles to come in and go out of.'
'Also, if Michael is half as skilled as I suspect he is, he likely has multiple escape shuttles, he can pick at random, to come for him. If he needed to evacuate his fortress. That means we cannot just steal one of his shuttles, fly it to the fortress, and trick him into coming aboard.'
'That being said, my team will meet me here tonight. And we will probably try a late night raid, with our hardsuits, and motoslaves. If nothing else, we can flush him out. And even if we fail. Given our technology, and there is no record of us exiting here. I doubt we will have to worry about him tracing us back across the multiverse, to our main headquarters, in Chang's Tower.'
'And even if that happens, Chang has a small fleet of Star Destroyers in orbit. Which are more advanced than the military spaceships that Garibaldi has at his disposal. And Chang's tower has an anti-reality protection field around it. To prevent unwanted reality travels from coming to us, uninvited.'
'So, we have the firepower to make them think twice about coming after us.'
'Now, all I have to do, it just figure out a basic plan of attack, while I wait for the girls to show up. Sawyer even kindly said that she would stop by, and pick me up some supper, from the Tower, before they came here. And that is kind of her.'
'For someone that use to make a career out of chainsawing, both corpses, and living people, into little pieces, and then disposing of those pieces, Sawyer is a surprisingly nice person to get to know. But then, I am not one who should judge others on such matters.'
Roberta then went to looking at the fortress, with her binoculars, as she continued to figure out which side the headquarters would be best to attack from.
(_)
A few hours later, in Mars Dome One, that evening, after dark, on the city outskirts of the dome, the inside of the Deco bar was full of people.
At that moment, outside, of the Deco bar, at a nearby parking lot, on the side of the street, to the right of the Deco building, a car, with the three women in the vehicle, road up to a stop.
From the back passengers seat door, behind the driver's left side door, Ranma stepped out. She wore her usual red chinese clothing. Though, she had on her goldern bracers on her forearms.
From the front passenger side, Natsuru stepped out of the car. She was wearing some casual clothing.
And from the driver's side, Akira stepped out of the car. She was wearing her cowgirl outfit, without her cowgirl hat, nor weapons, gunbelt, nor sheathes. She left her weapons, sunglasses, and hat in their car.
Like the rest of those in their group, they had each been given encrypted, hand-held radios, which they kept hidden on their person. And it was Balalaika and B, whom were nice enough to provide the radios, and they even had them preset. With their entire group, including Chang's friends, being grateful for the communications equipment.
After they locked and shut their car doors, they walked together to the nearby sidewalk, which let directly to the Deco.
Their car was from their home reality, even though it gas powered cars were banned, no one would believe that someone was driving them, because production of gasoline was hard to come by, on Mars. That was why they made sure to have a full tank of gas, before they teleported their car, from Devil's Hotel parking lot, in Plata Podrido, and a private location they knew, on the interior of Mars Dome One. The friends did the same, after each group finished their run, in one of the last few transports heading for Mars from Babylon Five.
As a way to blend in, the three women decided to speak in english, as they figured that speaking japanese in public would cause unwanted attention. And they made sure not to state anything too important, out loud, in public.
Half a minute later, They walked out onto the sidewalk. To their right was the entrance to the Deco bar which was about a hundred feet away, on their side of the side wall. While thirty feet, to their left side, in the opposite direction from the Deco, built into the sidewalk, on their side of the street, was the entrance to the underground subway, transport tube system.
The stairs away from the street.
As they turned to their right, and made their way to the Deco, they noticed there was no line outside.
As they walked together, Ranma asked, “So, what is this bar like?”
Natsuru said, “Well, when I spoke to Rock an hour ago, they said the place was like a nineteen twenties style bar, with live music. Though, it is known to play blues, jazz, and classic rock and roll.”
Ranma inquired, “So, a theme bar.”
Natsuru pointed out, “But, a stylish one, from what Rock told me.”
Akira said, “Those styles of music are fun and relaxing to listen to, so it should be fine. Because, we need a break after striking out on finding Lee.”
Ranma commented, “Given the size of this place, I can understand us not finding him. But, I am surprised none of us found him on the passenger ships.”
Akira shrugged, as she responded, “Well, Lee is good at hiding. But, where could he hide, that he would be able to avoid us?”
Ranma said, “Knowing him. He is probably hiding in plain sight.”
Akira stated, “I have to give him credit. He is good at that. But, we now know he is the writer. He cannot hide from us forever.”
Ranma agreed, “True.”
Natsuru suggested, “When we meet him, let us not mention we know what he did in the time loop.”
Akira said, “That is a very good idea. If he learns we know that. It will just make him run even faster and harder.”
Ranma replied, “I agree. And with his skills and intelligence, let's not give him more incentive to run.”
Natsuru inquired, “My thoughts exactly. Now, are we even sure he is stilled here?”
Akira answered, “Yes. Dutch stated she had a signature lock on Rock's reality device. Lee has not used it. Though, Dutch did mention that there were some other reality traveling elsewhere in city. Besides those of us that came here.”
Ranma inquired, “Anyone we know?”
Akira said, “I hope not. Though, Dutch did not go into detail. And I am not going to get involved.”
Natsuru agreed, “Considering our luck. That is a good policy.”
Ranma conceded, “I agree. Now, let us go inside, and relax.”
Akira pointed out, “At much as I would like to, we cannot stay for long. We need to make sure the girls are not getting into trouble.”
Ranma stated, “You have a point there.”
Natsuru said, “Let's just go in. Touch base with Rock and Revy. Listen to a few songs, and then leave.”
Akira complimented, “Good plan.”
Ranma commented, “I can go along with that.”
Akira stated, “I just hope that the others are not upset we missed our meeting, in the Black Sheep Hotel lobby, an hour and a half ago.”
Ranma shrugged, as she said, “It happens. And besides we were having a good dinner. And we did turned our radios back on when we finished.”
Natsuru commented, “With Rock, I won't worry about it.”
Akira said, “Besides, we will make it up to Rock and the others, by checking on all our children. Even I admit that our three kids with the Lagoon sisters is just asking for trouble.”
Natsuru inquired, “I still wonder why our daughters prefer to stay with such insane women, instead of others, like their cousins?”
Ranma suggested, “Perhaps we should ask, Lee, when we catch him.”
The women all stopped for a second, as they thought about what Ranma has said. Then, they burst out laughing, as the started back to walking towards the bar.
(_)
A minute later, Natsuru, Akira, and Ranma, reached the bar. The side above the front door was lit in pink neon light, which stated, from up to down, in cursive english, 'Deco'.
The front door, and the three women walked into the bar.
As the three women stood just inside the entrance, they looked around, and they liked what they saw.
The room was about half full of people.
The mostly black and white art deco look of the bar was stylish, and pleasing to the eyes. With the stage's red curtains offer a nice contrast to the room.
In addition, the band was playing a pleasant melody, as the pretty, human, twenty something female singer was singing on key, with her beautiful voice.
The soft yellow lighting around the table and bar sections. There were people sitting at both the tables, and the bar counter, whom were listening to the music, as they talked with each other.
Behind the tables, between the tables and the stage, was the dance floor. And there were a few couple slow dancing on the floor.
With the dance floor actually put in the shadows, between the tables section and the stage. With the only can lights looking down on the stage directly on the singer, whom was standing in the front center of the crescent shaped stage.
And those couples that were dancing on the dance floor, were doing a slow dance, with the soft blues style music.
The singer wore a red evening gown, with red flat sole slippers, that fit her slender figure well. She had an earpiece on her right ear. She also was swaying back and forth to the beat of the song.
The band members were sitting in the back left corner of the stage, as they played their instrument, while the faced the audience. The band members were in the shadows of the stages, but the three women could make out what the instrument players looked like.
The five band members were sitting were in two rows. The back row was three seats, and the front row was two seats. All five band members were male, and they wore gray and black plaid suits.
To the right corner of the stage, in the shadows was the piano, and the pianist playing the piano.
The pianist sat on the piano bench, while he was facing away from the audience, and he was wearing a black suit, and black short rimmed fedora hat, which made it more difficult to see him in the shadows.
As the women continued to take in the atmosphere of the clue, Natsuru was impressed, as she commented, “Now, this is how you do a theme bar.”
Akira noticed that more of the men in the room were in nice suits, and most of the women in the room were in nice dress. She said, “I think we are a bit undressed for this place.”
Ranma looked around, as she disagreed, “No. I think we are a lot undressed.”
Natsuru stated, “Rock did not mention a dress code here.”
Ranma and Akira said, in unison, “Good.”
Ranma said, “Now, let's see who is here.”
As the three women look at the audience
Ranma said, “I see some of them. There is a large table in the middle of the bar.”
Akira replied, “I see them too.”
Natsuru commented, “Same here.”
At a large round table, in the middle of the round tables, sat Eda, Benny, Janet, Dutch, Lotton, Shenhua, and Sawyer.”
Akira stated, “And I see Rock and Revy by the bar counter, near the middle of the counter.”
Ranma replied, “I got you.”
Natsuru said, “I see them.
Akira suggested, “Let's go talk to Rock and Revy. If we talk to the others, we are likely going to be here all night.”
Natsuru said, “Agreed”
Ranma commented, “Yes. Though, they are always good for a laugh.”
The three women then turned and walked over to the bar counter, were Rock and Revy were standing at, as they sipped their drinks.
As they reached the female couple, Revy was the first to noticed them, as she set her drink down, with appear to be some form of cola, on the counter, while she turned to face them. She said, “Hi guys.”
Akira replied, “Hi Revy.”
Rock look over in their directly, as she kept her glass of what appears to be lemonade, in her right hand. She said, “So, how goes the hunt, with you three?”
Natsuru said, “It could be better.”
Ranma commented, “No luck on our end.”
Rock replied, “I was afraid of that.” She mentally added, 'And you would have radioed us, if you found, Lee.'
Natsuru inquired, “So, why did you guys pick this place?”
Rock answered, “Because, we were the mood for a live music performance, that we go listen to on the cheap. And we heard from the locals say that this bar had a good blues and jazz band. And this band seems to now their stuff.”
Revy commented, “I wasn't crazy about coming here myself. But, since everyone else did, I decided to come to. Still, the one thing that sucks is that with IDs, we cannot get any alcohol.”
Rock mentioned, “At least, they take gold at payment.”
Revy replied, “At least there's that.”
Akira thought, 'I am regretting that we lost our fake identicards, at our house, a few years ago.' She said, “Well, at least we can enjoy the music.”
Revy agreed, “That's true.”
Ranma stated, “And it is best we remain sober, until we catch, Lee.”
Revy conceded, “I will give you that one. Then, we get throw our party, and we get shit faced drunk.”
Ranma replied, “I look forward to it.”
Natsuru asked, “What is the band's name?”
Revy answered, “The Martian Blues.”
The trio of lovers giggled for a few seconds. Natsuru then said, “At least they are showing some skill in their performance.”
Akira turned to Natsuru, as she agreed, “Yes.” She then turned back to Rock and Revy, as she inquired, “So, where is everyone? I only see a few of us here. And I do not want to ask over the radio. That would be rude.”
Rock said, “I appreciate your manners. And to answer your question. As you know we did spread out. But, I did checked with everyone an hour ago, back at the hotel, in the lobby, before we split up.” She then continued, with slight annoyance in her tone of voice, “A meeting you three missed.”
Akira commented, “We were having dinner at a nice japanese restaurant. And it was pretty good copy of our native food, for those that live on Mars.”
Rock agreed, “Yes. It is surprising that good food never goes out of style. Anyway, Balalaika and B are in their hotel room right now.”
Revy spoke up, “Yea, sis and B are back at the hotel. They wanted some private time.”
Ranma thought, with amusement, 'That figures.' She replied, “Okay.”
Akira commented, “I am just happy you convinced them not to bring their army with them.”
Revy shrugged, as she replied, “What would be the fun if they caught Lee, first?”
All the women in their group giggled a little, as Akira agreed, “Good point.”
Rock stated, “Anyway, Balalaika said that the two of them can be ready at a moments notice. And with those two, I have no doubt they can.”
Natsuru said, “No arguments there.”
Rock went onto say, “Violin and Aeryn are taking a break, and enjoying some of the local culture, a couple of kilometers away from here, further into the city.”
Ranma said, “I hope those two have fun.”
Rick agreed, “So, do I. We have no clue where the maids are heading. They showed up for the meeting, don't say a thing, and headed out of the lobby, for parts unknown.”
Akira thought, 'I hope those two don't cause to much trouble. Still, about our kids...' She answered, “We already know the girls are all together. But, where at they?”
Rock answered, “A local club, with a disco theme, a couple of blocks away, called, unoriginally, The Disco.”
Akira said, “That just screams trouble.”
Rock replied, “Yes. It does.”
Natsuru inquired, “Whose idea was it to go there?”
Revy stated, “It was Kristina's idea... Something about she never had the opportunity to enjoy such places in her previous life, with friends. We know better that to ask.”
Ranma thought, with disbelief, 'And I use to think my personal life was strange.' She said, “That is a good idea. Still, that does not surprise me about your kids.”
Revy growled, “What does that supposed to mean?”
Natsuru spoke up, “It is just means that our lives a good distance from the norm of the bell curve.”
Revy responded, in a slightly confused tone of voice, “Huh?”
Rock understand what Natsuru was saying, as she said, “It is a complimentary joke.”
Revy replied, “Oh.”
Akira asked, “So, where are Chang's people?”
The five women then heard a female voice, right beside them, say, “Well, us three are just enjoying ourselves, while the Serenity crew are having a late dinner, elsewhere in town.”
The women turned to see Jetta, Faye, and Spike, in their usual clothing, sitting at a small table less than six feet from the bar counter.
Natsuru greeted, “Hi guys. So, what you are doing at this bar?”
Jetta cracked a smile, as she said, “A rhythm and blue bar we wouldn't come visit... Please.”
Ranma stated, “You have a point there. So, what is you opinion of the music?”
Faye commented, “The piano player is good, the singer and rest of this Martian Blues band is decent.”
Ranma listened to the music for a few seconds, with her honed music skills, she learned during the time she was a rock singer in Japan. She then said, “I can go along with that.”
Akira asked, “I have a question. How is this Mars, compared to the Mars you know?”
Spike shrugged, as she replied, “It's different.”
Akira thought, 'A polite way of saying they don't like it.'
Jetta commented, “At least the locals are nice.”
Akira agreed, “True.”
Faye said, “And the food is okay.”
Akira replied, “That too.”
The group of women then continued their conversation.
(_)
Nearby, at their table, Benny, Janet, Dutch, Lotton, Shenhua, Sawyer, and Eda, enjoyed the performance, as they enjoyed their non-alcoholic drinks. Which ranged from various sodas, to lemonade.
They were dressed in casual clothing. And only Shenhua had her concealed weapons on her person. The rest of the women had left their weapons in their cars.
Janet complained, “I wish we could get some beers, but we don't have any valid ID.”
Dutch looked over at her, as she stated, “Don't worry about it. I have some good bottles of beer back at the hotel. I brought them with us.”
Janet replied, “Thanks. I look forward to some of having them.”
Dutch mentioned, “So, do I. Also, I spoke to the bartender of the Black Sheep Hotel. He said he would serve us any alcohol we want, for a large bar or two of gold.”
Janet grinned, as she stated, “And that would be worth every ounce.”
Dutch returned Janet's smile, as she said, “I agree.”
As the others women at the table listened to the music, Benny commented, “I have heard this song before. But, from where?”
Lotton answered, “The song is titled, The Night Has Thousand Eyes. It is from the Dark City movie soundtrack.”
Benny replied, “Ah, yea. I remember that movie. Good movie.”
Lotton said, “Yes, it was. But, I am never visiting that place.”
Benny stated, “Me neither.”
Shenhua commented, “It is interesting how good music, and other forms of art, can be found in the most unlikely of places.”
Lotton agreed, “That is very true.”
Meanwhile, Sawyer noticed that Eda was looking at the people stage.
Sawyer asked, “What are you looking at, Eda?”
Eda lied, “Nothing. Just enjoying the music, and the atmosphere.”
Sawyer put her right elbow on the table, as she rest the bottom of her chin on her right, open palm. She let herself slightly space out, as she replied, “So am I.”
Eda continued staring at the piano player's back, as she thought, 'I recognized that clothing, and those shoes. That style of clothing is the same as the gray suit Lee occasionally wore back in Plata Podrido. It is just a different color of clothing. But, the darkness against the black clothing makes it hard to see the piano player physical build, even with my heighten sight.'
'And if he is Lee, this is exactly how Lee would hide in plain sight. It is classic Lee.'
'I have to get a better view, from a different angle. If he is Lee, I am not sure I want to turn him over to Revy and the others, just yet. I want to talk to him first. Still, what excuse can I used.'
Eda then saw the doors to the restrooms, on the left wall of the room, across of the bar counter. She thought, 'That would make a good excuse.'
Eda then stood up, and Shenhua asked, “Where are you going?”
Eda looked over at Shenhua, as she answered, “To the restroom, to pee.”
Eda then made her way through the other tables, chairs, and sitting patrons, as she made it to the left wall.
When Eda reached the entrance to the women's restroom, she stood at the door, as she turned to look at the pianist on stage. At the angle she was at, she could see the side of the face of the pianist.
Even though it was dark, Eda was probably the only person that had seen Lee's face in the dark. And she remembered his facial profile well, during that one night, months ago.
Eda did not show it outwardly, but she thought, with surprise, 'My god! It is Lee! He is even wearing those same sunglasses that he wore back in Mexico. Still, does he know we are here?'
Eda then noticed the slight smirk on Lee's lips.
Eda thought, 'Oh yes. He does know we are here. And he doesn't care. He really is crazy... Well, he did knowingly pull cons on us. He slept with me under false pretenses. Thought, to be fair, I did the same to him, while he did it to me. And River likes him. Those are sure signs of mental instability.'
'Still, what am I going to do, now? If I tell the others that the pianist is Lee, in doing so, I will likely get innocent bystanders needlessly killed, and Lee captured in a manner that benefits neither of us. So, I will just stay quiet on this, and bide my time for a chance to talk to him. And I am sure I will get the opportunity, if I am patient.'
'Besides, I really do have to go. And since he is here. One of us is bound to start the chase with him. So, I might as well pee, while I still can.'
Eda then turned back to the women's restroom door, and opened it.
As she walked inside, she found the art deco motif continued into the large women's restroom. And she guess the large men's restroom, as well. She also found the women's restroom to be room very clean.
Eda then headed for one of the open stalls, to relieve herself.
(_)
Back in the bar room, the song changed, to another pleasant, slow dance song.
On stage, with his back turned to the audience, Lee continued playing. He has seen Rock, Revy, and the others come into the bar, around hour ago, when they stopped the band for half a minute. After they had just finished a very skillful jazz song. To let the audience applause them, which the audience did.
The reason the women did not recognized Lee was he was wearing his black suit, hat, and sunglasses, against, a black piano, black bench, black stage, with the main lighting on the stage being on the singer, and not the band, nor pianist.
Even with the women's enhanced senses, they did not recognized Lee in all the black camouflage.
So, Lee continued to focus on the piano keys, as he continued playing, while he ignored the women's presence.
And he had done so, with missing a key.
Currently, they were playing one of the songs the Martian Blues band has selected for their set tonight. A song that Lee knew by heart. With the song being, Sway, from the Dark City soundtrack. He thought, 'This has been fun. I had almost forgotten how much fun it is to perform for an audience. And this band has a lot of interesting tastes in music. The music they select is more of, it if sounds like it fits, use it. Instead of just sticking to the just music pieces created during that time period.'
'They are even playing to sounds from one the more interesting sci-fi movies, whose title is, Dark City. We are currently playing a wonderful rendition of, Sway. And we had early played the song, The Night Has Thousand Eyes. Which is fitting for my situation. And this band picked those songs out. It seems that a few of them enjoyed the Dark City movie, and they thought the songs would fit the motif for the bar, and Ryan, the owner, after listening to the songs, agreed with them.'
'And the singer here can really bring out these types of songs. She has a lot of soul, and skill... But, it will soon be over. This is the last song we are playing for the night. And then it will be back on my journey to cure my cancer, as lose these crazy chicks.'
'At least I do not have to worry about escaping them, from this building. The red curtains will soon close and I will simply walk backstage. I will then meet Ryan in his office, to get paid. Then, I will exit out the back door of this place. And I checked. There is a back door to this place. And it does not trip the fire alarm.'
'After I leave this building, from the back, I just vanish in the night, get a snack from a place these band members told me about, and then back to my hotel room. Where I will get some rest, and then, after checking out in the morning, and having some breakfast, I will be gone.'
Close to a minute and a half later, the singer, the band, and Lee, finished playing the song, Sway. And the audience applauded one more time, as band members stood up, and they, along with the singer, took a bow. While Lee remained in his seat, with his back facing the audience.
As the clapping died down, the singer then addressed the audience. She stated, “I offer the Martian Blues a thank you, for all you for listening to our performance. And we wish to thank our guest pianist, Ello Gray.”
Lee quickly thought, 'I cannot turn around, with the girls seeing me. Fortunately musicians are known to be eccentric.'
Lee kept his back turned to the audience, as he held up his left hand and waved his left hand in the air, couple of seconds. He then dropped his hand back to his side.
The audience clapped, as the red curtains from the sides of the stage, began to slowly close.
As soon as Lee, saw from the corner of his left eye, the curtains completely close, he let out a sigh of relief.
(_)
From table that Jetta, Spike, and Faye were sitting at, they had gone back to talking among themselves, and left Ranma, Akira, Natsuru, Rock, and Revy continue their conversation with them.
Faye quietly said, “So, the pianist was not a regular member of the band.”
Spike stated, “That figures.”
Jetta commented, “Let's be happy that we had the chance to enjoy his performance.”
Faye replied, “Agreed.”
Spike said, “I can go along with that.”
The three friends then continued their conversation.
(_)
On stage, a few seconds after the curtains completely closed, Lee got up from the piano bench. He looked over at the singer. He thought, 'Best not to speak until I am sure the microphones are off.'
Lee saw the singer look at him, as she took off her earpiece, and turned a small dial on it, to turn it off. She stated, “You can speak now. The only microphones we have on stage, are on the instruments, on this ear piece. And the red stage cloth is heavy enough to mask our voice. So, we are not good to talk.”
Lee said, “Thank you. I appreciate you giving a special mention for me.”
The singer complimented, “No problem. You did a good job.”
Lee smiled, as he said, “Yes. And you all did a wonderful performance, as well.”
Lee saw the band members smile, while the singer said, “Thank you.”
Lee replied, “You're welcome.” He then mentally added, 'Now to get paid.'
Lee then head for backstage door, on the right side of the back part of the stage.
(_)
Half a minute later, Lee walked up to the open door to Ryan's office. Ryan was the bar owner and manager. And Lee saw that he was sitting in his chair, behind his desk.
Lee knocked on the open door, for a second.
Ryan looked up, from behind his desk, from the chair he was sitting in. He saw Lee looking back at him. He commented, “Come in. I guess you want to get paid.”
Lee walked inside, and up to Ryan's desk, as he pulled out his credit chit from his right pants pocket. As he came to a stop, he said, “Yes.”
Ryan stated, “Well, you did a good job. So, I am going to pay you, two hundred credits. Does that sound fine to you?”
Lee answered, “That sounds reasonable.” He then handed Ryan his credit chit.
As Ryan took Lee's credit chit, he replied, “Glad to hear it. So, any chance I could convince you to do an encore performance tomorrow night?”
Lee responded, “Sorry. But, I got to get on the move.”
Ryan then pulled out his credit chit, and transfer the cash, with both of them pressing their thumbs on the card to officiate the credit transfer.
Ryan replied, “Okay. But, given your skills, it was worth asking.”
Ryan then handed Lee's credit chit back to him.
After Lee took his credit chit back into his hands, he pocketed it, while Ryan did the same with his credit chit.
Lee said, “Pleasure doing business with you, Ryan.”
Ryan replied, “You to, Ello.”
Lee then turned and walked out of the office, as he headed for the back door to the building, and to freedom.
(_)
Meanwhile, at that moment, back in the bar, at the bar counter, Ranma, Natsuru, Akira, Rock, and Revy were continuing their conversation.
Akira looked over at the shut curtains, and them back at Rock and Revy, as she commented, “Well, I believe that show is over.”
Revy replied, “Yea. But, it was good.”
Natsuru commented, “I regret only hearing the tail in of their set. But, if we come back around here, we have this place to hang out in. And we could enjoy the show, then.”
Rock complimented, “That is the right attitude to have.”
Natsuru replied, “Thank you.”
Akira stated, “Well, we better go check on both our kids, and your kids, at the Disco.”
Rock stated, “That is a good idea. Even at their age, I feel they sometimes need chaperoning.”
Akira asked, “Yes. They do. I guess that is a failing on our parts. So, how do we get to that club?”
Rock answered, “It believe to get to the club, go outside, and you take a right outside by two blocks, then drive another back, take left, then two blocks, you should see the outdoor sigh.”
Akira replied, “Thanks. And if we cannot find the place, we can ask directions.”
Rock said, “Worse come to worse. Their radios are on, and we can use them to contact the girls.”
Akira complimented, “Good idea.”
Rock said, “Thank you.”
Ranma commented, “Well, see you guys back at the hotel.”
Rock replied, “You too.”
Revy said, “Be careful.”
Natsuru commented, “Now, coming from you, that is a compliment.”
In response, Revy smiled at Natsuru.
Akira, Ranma, and Natsuru, turned and head towards the front door to the Deco bar, with the intention of reaching their car, to go check on their children.
(_)
While the trio of women were leaving the Deco bar from the front entrance, Lee had walked out the back side door, which was located on the right side of the building. And he was casually walking towards the sidewalk, with the intent of heading for the underground, transport tube station, to get a late night snack, at a restaurant he heard about, from the band members he had played with. He then planned to head back to his hotel, for some rest.
Lee soon made it to the sidewalk, he then turned to his left to see that the stairs, leading to the underground station, in the sidewalk, several yards away from him.
As Lee walked towards the stairs, he thought, 'That was fun. I now have a little more money in my pocket. And fortunately, I can take the transport tube, which is just a gloried subway, to get a snack, from a restaurant the band members recommended. Then, I will had back to the hotel.'
'Fortunately, I found that the hotel is right by one of these transit points, only one station over. I checked that, this afternoon. When I had a break from rehearsals. And best of all, I lost the girls, one more time.'
A few seconds later, Lee heard multiple footsteps approaching him, from behind. He thought, with annoyance, 'I thought too soon. It has to be them. The multiverse would not be nice enough to give me a break this late in the game. And if I turn around, they will see me. If I pick up the pace, they will suspect something is wrong. Still, from the footfalls, at this pace, I should make it to the station, before they reach me.'
As Lee pass by a parking lot to his left, he heard Ranma's female voice say from behind him, “Hey. Are you, Ello, the pianist?”
Lee thought, 'Crap, it is Ranma, with likely Akira, and Natsuru by her. I cannot take those three in a fight. My only chance is to fake my voice. While coming to stop, with my back turned to them, and hope they stop, without walking around in front of me.'
Lee came to a stop, and he heard the women come to a stop behind him, as well.
Lee thought with relief, 'Okay. That is a small favor.'
Lee fake his voice, by making his voice sound hoarse, as he answered, “Yea. That is me.”
Ranma said, “Well, you did a good job.”
Natsuru complimented, “Yes. That was a fine performance.”
Lee kept his voice hoarse, he replied, “Thank you.”
Akira asked, “How long did it take you to become that skilled at the piano?”
Lee thought, 'Yep. All three of them are here.' He made sure to keep his voice hoarse, as he stated, “A better part of a decade.”
Ranma said, “Maybe sometime, you can play for us.”
Lee responded, in a hoarse voice, “Maybe. Well, I have other engagements. Have a pleasant night.”
Ranma said, “You as well.”
Lee then continued walking, he was less than thirty feet from the entrance to the transit station.
(_)
Meanwhile Ranma, Akira, and Natsuru came to a stop, while Natsuru was looking very hard at Lee's back.
Akira noticed, as she inquired, “What is it?”
Natsuru commented, “There is something familiar about that man's profile, but I cannot place him.”
Ranma said, “It does not matter. We have to go check on the kids.”
Natsuru agreed, “You are right.”
All three women then turned towards the parking lot, where they had their parked their car.
(_)
At that moment, Lee reached the stairs, and he started down the stairs to the transport station, but as he step down the first couple of steps, the wrist he had his digital wrist watch on bumped the safety railing, and the alarm when off.
Lee immediately used his other hand to turn it the alarm, but his precognition screamed that his cover was blown.
He looked behind himself, to his left, to see Akira, Ranma, and Natsuru staring at him, with the women's eyes going wide.
(_)
At that moment, thirty feet away, on the side walked, the three women were caught in the moment, as Natsuru commented, “I need to trust my instincts more.”
Akira said, “I don't believe it.”
Ranma smirked, as she stated, “I told you. Plain sight.”
They then saw Lee turn, and rush down the staircase.
The three women then ran after him, as Akira pulled out her radio. She pressed the talk button, as she stated, “This is, Akira. We found, Lee.”
On the other end, Rock inquired, “Where is he?”
Akira answered, “Believe it or not, he was Ello Gray. The pianist playing on stage, at the bar.”
Revy said, on her radio, “Damn. Lee is good at this.”
Akira said, “I know.”
Revy asked, “How close are you to him?”
Akira answered, “We are about thirty feet from him, and chasing him down into a subway. We will have him in a minute. Maybe less.”
Rock replied, “Good.”
Akira then pocketed her radio, as they made it to the stairs leading down into the subway station.
(_)
Meanwhile, Lee made it down to the bottom floor, he continued running through the station, towards the transport tubes.
Lee found that he was the only one in the station, at that time of the evening.
As Lee ran, he thought, 'I just need to be mindful not to head to the shuttle that leads the my hotel. I will have to head to the tube that goes further into the city. Depending on the situation, I will double back later, or just reality jump. I can live without my luggage. I cannot live without my life.'
Lee then came within sight of the row of electronic toll booths, and the transports tube terminals behind the booths.
The booths were were at waist height.
But, Lee also saw that beyond the booths there were no transport tubes on the station.
Lee thought, 'Damn it. I don't see any transport tubes. But, if I can get passed the booths, I have a chance.'
Just as he pulled out his credit chit, from his pocket, he heard Natsuru yell, behind him, “Surrender Lee! You are only making this harder on yourself!”
Lee thought, 'From Natsuru's voice, I would guess they are about twenty feet, and gaining, but that will not matter in a second.'
Lee then walked into one of the electronic tooth booths, he swiftly put his credit chit into the slit on the booth, pressed his right thumb into his credit chit, a second later, he heard a beat from the booth that meant the transfer cleared. He then immediately rushed to the other to the other side of the booth, as he pocked his credit chit.
Five seconds later, the three women just jumped over the booths, and a row of bars, with a flat bar bottom, ahead of entire booth, but behind Lee, dropped right in front of them, between them and Lee.
Lee heard the clang of the bars drop. He stopped, and turned around.
Lee looked at the girls, as the girls looked at him. He thought, 'Good. What just happened, happened. Now, I have a chance to talk to them.'
Lee said, “First, I would advise that you to not damage those bars. While cops may not look for you for just jumping a toll booth, they will look for you for damaging property.”
Natsuru conceded, “That is sound advice.”
Lee maintained his poker case, he stated, “Now, ladies. Let us keep this civil. You may want to catch me, but it is just not going to be right now. My precognition tells me that it will be a couple of minutes until the police show up. So, we have a moment to talk.”
Lee thought, 'Also, it will be a few seconds for one of the transport tubes to show up. And I don't want you to realize that I am trapped at the moment. Between literally a rock and hard place.'
Ranma replied, “Good idea.”
Akira commented, “Okay, Lee. We will go along with that for a moment.”
Natsuru said, “I have always been one for peaceful resolutions.”
Lee inquired, “Let us start with the first real big question. How angry are you with me?”
Ranma admitted, “Not very.”
Natsuru replied, “I am not that upset.”
Akira admitted, “While, I do have a few issues to discuss with you, in private. That is neither here, nor now. And otherwise, I am not that upset with you.”
While Lee maintained his poker face, he thought, with sadness, and guilt, 'I can guess what you want to talk to me about, Akira. It deals with the death of Johnny. And me writing you killing him. That is just one more crime on my mountain of sins.'
Lee conceded, “Fair enough. So, do you have any questions for me?”
Akira asked, “Yes. When the maids showed up, why didn't you just surrender to us?”
Lee pointed out, “I tried. You didn't take me up on my offer.”
Ranma questioned, “Why were you not more direct?”
Lee explained, “Because if I just handed myself over to you, it would have cheapened the hunt for you. And I did not want to piss of Revy any further than I already had.”
Akira responded, “I can see your point. But, she is not that pissed off at you.”
Lee inquired, “So, she doesn't want to put my balls into a vice?”
Akira joked, “Nah. Her hands are far stronger than any vice that I know of.”
Lee lightly chuckled. He then commented, “I am afraid to even ask how you know that.”
Akira responded, “Trust me. You don't want to know.”
Lee said, “Let's leave it at that.”
Akira replied, “Agreed.”
Natsuru thought, 'Now, is the best time to try to get you to surrender to us, Lee. And I know just how to convince you to do so.' She calmly stated, “Lee. We know you are dying of cancer.”
Lee rubbed his shaved chin with his right hand, as he said, in a casual tone of voice, “Yea. The extreme weight loss. Along with then gaunt face and hands. Makes it pretty apparent at this point.”
Ranma commented, “Actually, River told us.”
Lee said, “That was nice of her. She was probably trying to soften your blow towards your revenge against me?”
Akira admitted, “Pretty much.”
Lee asked, “Did it work?”
Ranma stated, “Not really.”
Lee thought, with concern and worry for his friend, 'I have to know.' He inquired, with him letting his concern for River slip through his poker mask, “Given the way I left River, I take it you all know she and Sam were the same person?”
Natsuru answered, “Yes. She showed us.”
Lee questioned, “Is she okay?”
Natsuru replied, “Yes. After our conversation with her, we turned her over to Chang.”
Lee thought, 'Now is not the time to get into what she told them. I just do not have the time. But, I doubt she told them anything to serious about me. She is my friend, after all.'
Ranma commented, “From what we were told, you only have a few months to live.”
Lee deadpanned, “I am very much aware of my impending death.”
Natsuru offered, “We could save your life. If you just surrendered.”
Lee replied, “Ah yes. The vat process. The price is far too high.”
Akira commented, “Being a girl is not that bad. And don't be a hypocrite.”
Lee calmly stated, “It is not that. It is that I will not be brainwashed and turned into a slave. If you three, of anyone, understood the overall theme of my writings, you would understand that I would rather die, than be a slave.”
Ranma conceded, “You may have a point there. Still, the offer stands. And even if you lose us, you can find us at Lagoon Island. If you change your mind, and want to surrender, so you can live.”
Lee honestly said, “I will keep that mind.”
Suddenly, Lee heard, from behind him, one of the transports tubes arrive, with the doors to the small cabins sliding open. with the cabins.
Lee though, 'I do not have time to be picky. I will just find out where this transport tube is heading, and get on it.'
Lee look behind him, at the number of the terminal the tube was at, and then at the wall map to women's left. He then turned back around to the women, as he smiled at them. Lee said, “Well, that is my ride. Good luck, girls. You going to need it.”
As the three women watched Lee walked into the transport tube, after Lee entered one of the connected cabins, he turned around, and look at him. He wave a little bit with he right hand, while his smile got a little wider.
A few seconds later, he stopped waving, as he turned around, and went to sit down, on a cushioned bench, set around the cabin of the transport tube.
A few moments later, the cabin doors slide close, and the transport started moving, to the next station.
Ranma commented, “And I thought I was hard to get.”
Akira said, “Lee is clearly not going to make this easy for us.”
Natsuru look at the map on the wall to their left. A few seconds later, she turned to her lovers, as she stated, “I know where he is heading. He is going further into the city, and the next station is only a couple of kilometer away. The name is south station forty-seven, B. If we get to the car, and hurry, we might beat him there.”
Akira complimented, “Good thinking. Let's get out of here.”
The three women then turned around, and ran back out of the station, and up the stairs.
As they made it to the sidewalk, heading for the parking lot that their car was parked in it, Akira pulled out her radio.
Akira stated, into the radio, “We lost him. But, we know where he is going. He is taking the subway into town. The next station is a few kilometers from here, further into town. We can make it in our car. The name is the station is south station forty-seven, B.”
On the other end, Rock stated, with her radio, “Okay. I believe that Aeryn and Violin are nearby.”
Aeryn commented, from her radio, “You are correct. We will meet you there, in our vehicle. I even believe we know where the station exit is. I believe we used it early. It comes out near Violin calls a large convention. We have seen people coming and going from it. But, we have not yet checked out what is happening in there. But, if Lee was intent on losing us, he would go into the building, in attempt to lose our trail.”
On her radio, Rock complimented, “That is a good point.”
Aeryn stated, with her radio, “We will me the surface exit of the subway station.”
Akira said, “Good. We will see you there. And if the convention center is in use, Lee could lose us in there.”
Violin pointed out, from her radio, “That depends on the type of convention happening there.”
Akira questioned, “You don't know?”
Violin admitted, “No. I have been meaning to ask about it. But, I look forward to finding out.”
Akira replied, “So, do I. Also, keep in mind, the target is wearing a black suit and black fedora hat, that is in the same style as that gray suit and he wore at the Day of the Dead dance, and the casino poker game.”
Violin said, “Thanks for the tip.”
Akira responded, “You're welcome. And see you there.” She then put away her radio, as they made it to their car.
Akira quickly pulled out her keys, open the driver's side door, unlocked the other doors, so Natsuru and Ranma could get in.
Half a minute later, Akira was on the road, as the three of them headed deeper into the domed city.
A minute later, after the three women drove away, the police finally arrived, to check out what was going on. Only to find that there was nothing to find.
(_)
Three minutes later, Lee was sitting in his seat, in the transport tube, when the cabin came to a halt in the next station, with the doors sliding open. He immediately got up, and walked out of the cabin.
Lee then briskly walked out of the station, and up the stairs. As he made it to the sidewalk on the surface, he looked around him, as he mentally wondered, 'Where am I now?'
The street lights around him provide plenty of illumination, as he looked around him. Instead, of being on a small sidewalk, like he had entered from the previous station, this was a sprawling sidewalk. And it was fifty feet from a parking lot, with the highway on the far side of the parking lot.
There were several cars in the parking lot. And there were people coming and going, all around him.
Lee thought, 'Okay, I am in a crowded place. This could help me. Now, where to hide.'
Lee then turned around, and saw he was fifty feet from the front of a huge building. He saw that the building he stood in front of went up for at least twelve stories height.
The building was at least a mile wide, with Lee in the center.
Lee could not see the other corners, so, he could not see corners, to gauge the depth of the building.
Lee thought, 'Now, that is a big building.'
Lee then saw the four entrance double-doors, side by side, that he saw people coming in and out of. To the left of the doors, on the wall, Lee saw a large bronze plaque state, in english, “W.E. Convention Center.”
Lee thought, “W.E... William Edgars... That makes sense. The guy was rich. And he was known to invest in Mars infrastructure.'
Lee then noticed there was a small plastic sign with detachable letters, placed on the wall, between the bronze plaque and the doors, stated, in english, “Open to the public.”
Also, there were other alien symbols below the english message.
Lee thought, 'So, anyone is welcome. The alien symbols probably mean the same thing. And this would be a perfect place to get lost in.”
Lee swiftly made his way towards the doors. And he soon found himself inside the building.
Half a minute later, as he walked through a large hallway inside the building, he made his way into the main area of the building. He noticed that he passed by some restrooms, and also a bay of elevators.
While Lee continued to walk, he could hear english speaking rock music coming from the speakers, in front of him, in the main area of the building.
While Lee walked into the open space, he came to a stop, just inside the hallway. As Lee look out in front of him, he stood in shock was what he saw.
Lee found himself on the bottom floor of a very large atrium.
And the room was brightly lit from countless lights place along the walls, as very level, and area. Allowing Lee to see around, as if it was daylight.
As Lee looked around, he saw that the atrium was a huge square shaped area. With the square being half mile from corner to corner, from each end.
From the interior square, Lee saw several exposed floors going up, in a straight row, with open balconies, and safety parapets lining the exposed parts of those levels.
Lee could not see how deep the upper levels went. But, he guess they went far into the building, in event direction.
But, the building, itself, was not what surprised, Lee.
It was who and what Lee saw in the building, that caused the man with a master poker face to go slack jaw, and speechless.
Lee saw there were men, women, and children there, of all ages, of many alien species, and humans.
There were especially a lot of teenagers of various species, and genders there.
And some of them were in various costumes. Lee recognized a few of the costumes.
Also, Lee saw there were small venders and dealers, of every description, lining the area, on each level. Especially in the square in front of him.
And they were selling various types of merchandise. From video discs, to data crystals, to boxes of scale models, to toys, to other merchandise. And though, Lee did not recognize most of the logos, and titles of the fictional series the venders were selling, Lee did understand the general vibe of the situation.
From all this, Lee could only come to one insane conclusion.
Lee collected himself, as he thought, 'I am in an alien sci-fi convention... This officially marks the weirdest moment of my life. And that is saying something. And this place is clearly running twenty-four hours a day.'
Lee then watched as a pretty, Minbari, teenager girl, dressed as a klingon warrior, walk by him. He mentally worried, 'I have got to get out of here before I go insane. The good news is I can probably lose the girls in this chaos. The only problem is those that are following me have been far more fan conventions than I have. They probably know this scene better than I do. Still, I got a good head start.'
Lee then looked over at the wall to his right, and he saw a poster stating who was funding the convention.
Lee silently read the poster, as he thought, 'Edgars Industries is funding this. Of course, it is their convention center, so it figures they would be the host it. And it figures that Michael Garibaldi would be paying for all this. He always had good taste in classic fiction. And he has been known to share the wealth before.'
Lee then looked in front of him, towards the atrium, as he thought, 'Now, to take a step into the wide insanity that has become my life. Though, which way should I go... Simple, I will go in the direction they least expect me to go. Straight ahead. With luck, they will split up, and waste time canvasing the entire area, while I am long gone.'
'Though, my greatest danger is when I make it back outside, as I cover the field of cars, to the road, they could spot me from a distance, if they put a look out out. Or, they could also cover the doors. But, I doubt they will, with only three people currently after me. And maybe around half dozen behind them. They do not have enough man power to do all that.'
'Though, either way, there is nothing I can do about that. So, I won't worry about it.'
'Also, Rock knows better than to send a lot of her team here. She will only send a few others for back up. So, I don't have to worry to much about that. And the sooner I exit the other end of the convention center, the better my chances of escape are. So, I might as well make my way through, as soon as possible.'
As Lee began to work his way through the crowd, while trying to avoid brushing anyone, or anything, he noticed the song that was playing had ended, and other song began.
Lee soon recognized the song that had begun playing, as he thought, with amusement, 'The song is, The Growl, from the Star Trek Into Darkness movie. What perfect music piece for both this place, and the situation I am in.'
Lee then walked further into the convention center, as he disappeared into the crowd.
(_)
A few minutes later, outside the W.E. Convention Center, near the subway entrance that Lee had come out of, Akira found a parking place in the parking lot of the convention center.
As Akira parked her car, she thought, 'I am glad that parking is free here. Now, to meet up with Violin, and Aeryn. And those two radioed us, on our way here. With Aeryn finding a map. And the side we came in at here should be the side that the entrances to the subway is at. Where we will be meeting them at.'
After the three women got out, they quickly walked towards the building, heading for the center of the building, where the main doors were located at.
As they continued to walked, they saw how big the building was, as Ranma asked, “Do you think, Lee went in there?”
Natsuru answered, “I would head in there, if I was him.”
Akira agreed, “I would too.”
(_)
A minute later, they made their way to the entrance to the transport tube station.
As the three women did so, they saw Aeryn and Violin standing by the entrance, looking at them.
While approached both women Akira noted that both of them were wearing casual clothing, and neither appeared armed.
Akira thought, 'They probably do not want to attract attention. And so, they kept their pistol weapons in their own car. Still, unarmed, Violin is next to unstoppable. And Aeryn is a train soldier. I doubt they have much to worry about.'
As the trio came to a stop in front of the couple, Natsuru said, “Thanks for coming.”
Violin replied, “No problem. We want to catch Lee, as well.”
Ranma asked, “Did you see him come out?”
Aeryn answered, “No. I believe we missed him. But, it is obvious where he went.” She then used her right hand to gesture towards the building.
Akira looked up at the building as she whistled. She said, “That is both a tall building, and a big building.”
Violin turned around to face the building, as she agreed, “Yea. Needle in a haystack time.”
Aeryn suggested, “Well, let us head inside, to find him.”
As they walked, towards the doors leading inside, Ranma approached Violin. Ranma whispered into Violin ear, “Is she always this straightforward?”
Violin answered, “Most of them time. Unless our asses on the line. Still, it helps with preventing misunderstandings. And it makes it more enjoyable in bed, for both of us.”
Ranma shrugged, as she replied, “I can see the appeal.”
(_)
A few minutes later, after they made it inside, down the hallway, and to the entrance to the atrium, they came to a stop, as they looked out at what they saw in front of them.
They were all surprised by what they saw inside the atrium, and the atrium’s ascending levels.
As they all got a full view of the alien sci-fi convention in front of them, Violin stated, with mild surprise in her tone of voice, “Just when you thought you have seen everything...”
Akira nodded, as she replied, with a slight bit of eagerness in her tone of voice, “I know.”
Natsuru suggested, with a little amount of excitement in her tone of voice, “After we catch Lee, we can always spend a few days here.”
Violin stated, with enthusiasm in their tones of voice, “Nice idea.”
Akira said, with excitement evident in her tone of voice, “I can go along with that.”
Ranma and Aeryn looked on at the three other women. They then rolled their eyes for a few seconds, as they both disagree with the three other women.
Ranma turned to look at Aeryn, as she asked, “Considering we are the two trained trackers here, which way do you think Lee went?”
Aeryn turned to Ranma, as her lips curled into feral smile. She answered, “Lee is a savvy individual. But, I am married to a savvy individual. Lee will expect us to think that he went in one direction, or another, and he will gamble that we will split up. So instead, he would go in the direction we least expect him to go. Directly ahead of us, in a straight line.”
Violin overheard her wife's comment, as she agreed, “That is a good point.”
Natsuru suggested, “When we catch him, I should be the one that confronts him. I am trained to take down people without harming them.”
Violin said, “That would be poetic justice, considering he was the one to give you such skills.”
Natsuru grinned, as she responded, “My thoughts exactly.”
Aeryn commented, “Also, if we had more time, and personnel, I would recommend sending people to the roof, and to all the exits, to watch for Lee, should he attempt to leave the building.”
Violin said, “You can't have everything, honey. But, that is a good plan.”
Aeryn smile became warmer, as she replied, “I know. Now, let us hurry. Because, I am sure our target is on the move. And he likely will not rest until he feels that he is safe.”
The five women then started walking directly in front of them, into the heart of the crowd and vendors, in the atrium, as quickly as they could, without making a scene, nor drawing attention to themselves.
(_)
At that moment, deeper in the crowds and vendors, of the bottom level of the atrium, Lee continued walking. But, as he made his way through the convention, he could not help but look at those around himself.
Lee passed by a teenage Drazi boy, and a teenage Narn girl, whom were together, with both of them dressed in Jedi robes and clothing.
Lee thought, 'I have to admit, those two make it work.'
Then, Lee passed by a sight he wished he never saw.
A pak'ma'ra wearing an original Star Trek series, red female Star Fleet uniform, complete with short skirt.
Lee winced as he looked away. He mentally reflected, 'I did not need to see that. Still, pak'ma'ra are hermaphrodites that require two of them to reproduce. So, the hosts of the convention cannot really stop them from wearing such clothing.'
'Still, I wish I had not seen that.'
Lee forced himself to continue walking. He soon saw a young Centauri couple walk by. As expected, the Centauri woman had her head shaved bald, and the Centauri man had a short style Centauri hair cut what popular for young Centauri generations that worked outside of upper class functions.
Both wear fully covered clothing corresponding to their genders from the Star Trek Deltan species.
Lee thought, 'I would have not even known they were Centauri, except for the man's hair style.'
Lee also saw humans wearing clothing, and costumes, that were clearly not made for human frames.
Lee thought, 'It makes sense there are alien scifi series with human are fans of those series... What a minute... Cosplay is canon in this reality. In the Babylon Five, season two episode. There All The Honor Lies. The gift shop was selling human looking, full face and head, masks to aliens. Along with gloves that look like human, or alien skin.'
'It would make sense that masks of aliens faces and heads would be sold to humans. And this is the place that both human and aliens would mostly wear such masks, gloves, and bodysuits...'
'Oh my... I have entered that trope, now...'
'Though, at the end of the Babylon Five episode, Epiphanies, there were three Elvis impersonators, the embodiment of professional cosplay.'
'That just cranks up the mind screwing even higher, because it could be difficult to tell who the humans are. And who the humanoid aliens are. And not just that. Such as, is the person wearing the klingon mask a human, or a humanoid alien... Speaking of which, I am not surprised there are alien fans of Star Trek and Star Wars. Star Trek was a very alien friendly series. And Star Wars is just plain fun to watch.'
'But, if I see an alien dressed like Indiana Jones, or Han Solo, I am calling it a day.'
'Still, I got to watch myself here. I could get in a lot of trouble with the locals, if I am not careful... Mos Eisley Cantina has nothing on this place...'
'I have to find a way out of here, before I go completely bonkers. And I think going straight might be my best shot. Fortunately, the vendors are lined in a grid pattern, so I don't have much to worry about, in getting lost, as long as I continue going in a straight line.'
As Lee continued to make his way through the crowds of the vendor's section, he saw teenagers of different alien species, including humans, of different genders, grouped together. Some were in costumes, some in casual clothing for their species and gender.
Suddenly, as Lee continued walking, Lee realized, something to his horror, as he thought, 'There is a small army of alien fans of sci-fi and fantasy fiction series here. And these type of fans tend be very intelligent, and technology orientated in their fields of professions. And these humans and aliens probably have accept to technology I can barely even understand. If these convention goers here ever learned that the world as myth theory is real, they will likely invade the rest of existence, and the multiverse will never be same.'
'And I just lead three recognizable anime and manga fictional characters here. While I am sure those three will not kill anyone, unlike Revy, Shenhua, and Sawyer, back in book three. The fans here might recognize them. Then, things will get real interesting, and really strange, real quickly...'
'Oh no... And in leading Ranma, Natsuru, and Akira here, I have lead matchsticks into a fireworks factory. I have to get out of here soon, before someone realizes what is going on, and all hell breaks loose soon after.'
'And if that happens, I am sure the so-called first ones of this reality would like to have a few words with me.'
'Oh hell... Speaking of powered beings, there are telepaths on this planet. Oh crap. They could be here. If one of them read my mind right now, I just screwed the multiverse a new one.'
Lee came to a stop, as he immediately looked around, but he did not see anyone staring out him. And his precognition did not alert him to anyone staring at him, either.
Lee thought, 'Okay. I may have lucked out just now. But, I cannot take any chances. I have to clear my mind, a make my way through this place, as quickly, but as calmly, as possible.'
'I know for a fact there are telepaths that are science fiction and fantasy fans. River is one. So, there are likely a few telepaths here.'
'Though, I am a precognitive science fiction and fantasy fan. So, I am not one to talk.'
'Still, if anyone is presently reading my mind. Just to let you know. I am not upset. I respect telepaths. Actually, one of my good friends is a telepath. Her name is River. She is a wonderful woman. So, if you have been reading my mind. Please. Please. For the sake of not only your reality, but the multiverse, keep what I thought secret.'
Lee then picked up his pace, as he continued walking though the bottom floor, of the atrium.
Three minutes later, as Lee passed a vendor's booth, to his left side, he saw a large collection of blu-ray boxsets, on a shelf, behind a vendor's table, which caught his eye. He stopped for a few seconds, to he turned to his left to look at the boxsets.
The dealer sitting in a chair, behind the table was a human man, in his early forties, in fairly good physical shape. He noticed Lee looking at the boxsets.
The dealer sat up from his chair, behind his table, as he commented, in english, “Quite a classic. Never a dull moment in this series. A true quality live action series. It ran for twenty seasons. Each season is twenty-six episodes long. Five hundred and twenty episodes long. Each episode running over forty minutes. It has twelve full length, two hour movies. Every episode and movie is full of action, gunplay, and hot women.”
“And this is the complete tv and movie collection. It is in multiple languages, dubbed and subtitles in both English and Japanese. With several episodes and movies having audio tracks with cast and crew interviews, along with several extras, including live actions omakes and the making of specials.”
“I will even throw in a complete, official copy of the complete soundtrack. You should know, over two centuries later, this is still one of the best transfers of a series from anime and manga to live action, from Japan to Hollywood, that has ever been made.”
Lee continued looking at the boxsets, as he stated, “I completely believe you.”
As Lee took a more detailed looked at boxsets containing the live action series version of Black Lagoon, he thought, 'This is likely the live action version of Black Lagoon that Tex-Mex wrote, and drew, about in the R Black Lagoon magazine... Of course. R Black Lagoon, as in Real Black Lagoon, or Reality Black Lagoon. As in Live Action Black Lagoon series... Dammit. Dammit. Dammit. In spite of everything, I still want to see this series. But, I do not have the time, nor the money to do so... But, I know some people who do.'
'And the worst case scenario, if they catch me, I can problem get them to let me watch this, before they kill me.'
The dealer asked, “Would you like me to bag it for you?”
Lee looked over at the dealer, as he stated, “I don't have the money for this. But, I know some people here who do. If you see three hot human women with brightly colored hair. A blond, a blue haired girl, and a redhead. Wave them over here, and them show this series. I can all but guarantee you a sale from them. And they will likely pay you in gold. But, for your own safety, do not ask any of them for their names. And do not ask anything about them. Just accept the sale in gold, enjoy eye candy, and move on.”
The dealer replied, “No problem. Though, I can tell you are interested in this series, as well.”
Lee admitted, “Of course I am. I have seen the anime and manga versions. I loved them. Yet, you could say these series literally haunts me to this very minute. Still, I cannot help be ask, how does that live action version of this series end?”
The dealer lips curled into a smile of glee, as he stated, “It ends in a spectacular fashion. World War Three happens, the island is invaded by several major military forces, whom get their asses kicked hard by the locals. Still, most of the cast dies in the end, with salary man and the redhead coming out on top, and controlling everything.”
Lee chuckled. He then said, “I can see that happening. Anyway, what is the quickest way out of here, from where we are at?”
While the dealer point a direction, that was to the behind the dealer. The dealer answered, “The nearest exit from here is the west end of the building. That way.” He then gave Lee instructions on the alternative exit to the convention center, which he recommended.
Lee thought, 'So, that means I came in from the south end. That makes sense, since I took a transport tube from the south side of town, further north, into the city.'
Lee said, “Thank you. And good luck with your sale.”
Lee then turned, and walked around the dealer's table, as he started heading in the direction the dealer pointed out. With Lee making his way out of the building, as quickly as possible.
(_)
A few minutes later, the dealer whom had spoke to Lee, saw five women walk near his booth. The women were about fifteen feet way from him.
Of the women, four of the women appeared to be in their twenties. They were a blond, a redhead, a blue haired girl, and a woman with dark blue hair. The other woman appeared to be in her late twenties, early thirties, and she had black hair.
The dealer thought, 'I wonder if those are the women that the man mentioned. Only one way to find out.' In the direction of the women, the dealer said, “Hey ladies.”
(_)
Nearby, Akira, Natsuru, Violin, Aeryn, and Ranma were making their way through the crowd, with Aeryn and Ranma having trouble keeping the other three's attention on the job of finding and catching Lee.
Ranma thought, with annoyance, 'It is like being in a candy shop with those three.'
Suddenly, the women heard a male voice say, from their left side, towards them, “Hey ladies.”
The women stopped, as they turned to see a man standing in a booth, behind a table. With a chair to his left side, and a set of shelves, behind the man. With merchandise on the shelves.
Akira asked, “Are you talking to us?”
The dealer answered, “Yes I am addressing you five ladies. All I request, is a moment of your time. Please.”
Akira turned to her friends, and they shrugged in response.
The women turned back to the man, as they walked over to their booth.
When they reached the dealer's booth, Aeryn asked, “So, why did you call us over to you?”
The dealer answered, “I believe you might find some of my merchandise interesting.”
Meanwhile, Akira and Natsuru noticed a set of shelves with boxsets of a single series.
Akira asked, “Is that was I think it is?”
Natsuru answered, “Sure looks like it. But, it cannot be that long a series?”
The dealer overheard the women, as he thought, 'I believe that man was right. Still, that man warned me not to ask their names. So, I won't.'
The dealer looked over at them, as he stated, “That is actually, the live action version of the Black Lagoon series.”
Natsuru looked over at the dealer, as she asked, “There is a live action version here?”
The dealer replied, “Yes.”
Akira turned to the dealer, as she inquired, “How many episodes are we talking about? And how long is an episode?”
The dealer answered, “Not countering the movies, soundtrack, and extras, that are included with the deal. Each episode is over forty minutes long. And the series runs for five hundred and twenty episodes.”
Akira and Natsuru instantly went slack jaw.
Violin responded, with a bit of surprise in her voice, “Whoa. Now, that is some marathon watching.”
While Natsuru and Akira collected themselves, Akira looked over at her friends, as she said, “I am sorry. But, I have to buy this. It is just to good an opportunity to pass up.”
Violin commented, “Don't feel bad. I have had my own fan moments, before, myself.”
Natsuru said, in a supportive tone of voice, “I am with you on this. This is too tempting an offer to pass up.”
Akira pointed out, “But, I do not have the money.”
Ranma rolled her eyes for a few seconds, as she thought, 'Sometimes, my lovers can be so forgetful.'
Ranma turned to look over at Akira, as she stated, “Have you forgotten?...” Ranma pulled out a small bar of gold, from one of her pants pockets, as she continued, “The Lagoon family are not the only ones that are rich.” She turned to the dealer, as she held up the gold bar. She inquired, “Is this good enough as payment for what we want?”
The dealer stated, “If it is pure. Absolutely.”
Ranma said, “It is.”
The dealer thought, 'My god. The man was right. That bar alone would pay for that set a few times over.' He inquired, “Then, the only question left, after you give me that bar of gold is. Do you want them in a bag? And do you want it gift wrapped?”
Ranma handed the gold bar to the man, with her right hand, as she stated, “A few bags will be fine.” She turned to look at Akira and Natsuru. Then, back to the dealer, as she continued, “And there is no need to wrap them. They are going to be opened soon enough.'
The dealer pocketed the small gold bar, as he smiled. He said, in a happy tone of voice, “A pleasure doing business with you.” He thought, 'And I will make sure I give them the whole set with nothing mess. I do not want to upset such generous customers.'
The dealer than turned to his left side, and he pull out, from beside his chair, three large, plastic shopping bags, which he set onto the table. He then opened the bags.
The dealer then turned around, as he carefully divided up the blu-ray boxsets into the three bags. When he finished with the boxsets, he included the cd cases with the soundtracks to the series, on top of the boxsets, in one of the bags.
The man check each item, to make sure everything was there. After which, the man looked up at the women, as he said, “All ready for you. Would you like a receipt?”
Akira stated, “That will not be necessary.” She mentally added, 'Besides, if there is a problem, it is not like we can return it to you. Still, if one of the discs is defected, we can find a replacement somewhere in this reality.'
Akira held one of the bags in her right hand, by the cord handles, while Natsuru grabbed the other two bags, by their cord handles. With a bag in each of Natsuru's hands.
Aeryn inquired, “So, how did you know we would be interested in this items?”
The dealer answered, “Was there was this human man, in a black suit, that came by here, a few minutes ago. He said that a group of women. One with blond hair. One with blue hair. And one with red hair. Might walk by and they would be interested in this set. I guess he was right.”
Ranma stated, “He is talking about, Lee.”
Akira cursed, “Damn it. This was a trap.”
Violin shrugged, as she commented, “If this is what Lee considers a trap, I could use a few traps like this. Because, this is the nicest, most pleasant, most rewarding trap I have ever been in.”
Aeryn lightly elbowed her spouse in disappointment.
Natsuru commented, “He knew this would be too tempting for us to pass up.”
Aeryn thought, 'We still might salvage the situation.' She asked, “So, which was did this man go?”
The dealer thought, 'I can tell these women wish ill for this man. Given this man just gave me my sale of the day, I am going to cut him a break.' With his right hand, he pointed directly in front of him, in the opposite direction of the way he sent Lee. He stated, “He went that way.”
Aeryn replied, “Thank you.”
The women then all turned and started walking in the direction that the dealer pointed in, as the Akira and Natsuru carried their bags of boxsets, with them.
A few seconds later, the dealer lost track of them in the crowd.
(_)
At that moment, on the west end of the convention center, Lee had passed by countless people and vendors, as he finally exited the atrium. And he made his way into a large hallway.
As Lee saw the exit to the building, in the distance, he heard a young female voice say behind him, in english, “Hey you. Stop.”
Lee stopped, as he thought, 'I do not recognize that voice. I might as well see who it is.' He turned around to see a young teenage, human girl, about twenty feet from him.
The girl was fair skin, with a slender physical frame. She had brown hair pulled into two ponytails, on the sides of her head. And she wore a long skirt, a blouse, and feminine boots.
Lee thought, 'I do not know who she is. But, I estimate her age is around thirteen. I will just humor her as quickly as possible, and then get out of here.'
Lee politely said, “Yes ma'am.”
The girl said, “I am pretty good at identifying the costumes people wear at these events. But, I cannot recall your costume.”
Lee thought, 'That is because I am not wearing a costume. Still...' Lee honestly answered, “I am dressed as an early, twenty-first century, southern gentleman.”
The girl pointed out, “I would think that suit would be a bit dated for the twenty-first century.”
Lee thought, 'Actually, it isn't. At least not in my reality. Though, I never did pay much attention to fashion styles. Even back home. Still, such a comments deserves a stylish reply.' Lee cracked a smile, as he said, “A good suit never goes out of style.”
The teenage girl giggled a little.
Lee mentally wondered, 'Now, who are you?' He calmly asked, “Now, might I asked who is inquiring?”
The girl answered, “My name is, Mary.”
While retaining his calm exterior, Lee mentally screamed, 'Oh crap! I recognize her now. She is Mary Garibaldi. The young daughter of Lise and Michael Garibaldi. But, why is she here?...'
'Of course, with her father hosting this event. She would be here to have some fun. She probably inherited her father's taste in fiction. I don't see any bodyguards nearby, but given who her parents are, and how paranoid her father is, I am sure they are close enough to act, if need be. As such, I have to get away from her right now, before I draw her bodyguards interest. Or worse, her father's interest.'
Lee said, “Well, I hope you have a pleasant night, Mary. But, I am in a bit of a hurry, and I have to go.”
Mary asked, “Before you leave, could you tell me who you are?”
Lee slyly replied, “Just a traveler looking for his next destination.” Lee then turned back around, and headed down the hallway, towards the exit.
(_)
Nearby, about fifty feet away, by the south wall of the east hallway, near the entrance to the center atrium, a man in a black suit, wearing an earpiece on his right ear. The man watched as Lee walked away from Mary Garibaldi.
The bodyguard spoke into his earpiece, “This is Jonah reporting in. Ms. Brown spoke to a man just now.”
The other end spoke into Jonah's earpiece, “Trouble?”
Jonah answered, “No. The man appears to be leaving. And he only turned to address Ms. Brown, after she spoke to him.”
The other end of the line inquired, “Did the man show any interest in Ms. Brown?”
Jonah responded, “No. He only spoke to her for a moment, and then left. He is heading for the west exit. Should I follow him?”
The other end of the line stated, “No. Since he shows not interest in Ms. Brown, then he is not our concern. Continue watching Ms. Brown.”
Jonah thought, 'That is fine with me.' He replied, “Yes sir.”
As Jonah continued to watching Mary Garibaldi from a distance he sighed, as he thought, 'When I took this bodyguard job, I thought it would be easy. I thought, Mary would just be the standard, rich girl, going shopping with friends, and going to the normal places normal girls go too.'
'But no. I will never say it out loud, but Mary is a tomboy at heart. And having rich parents takes her strange interests to whole new levels. She is one of the most athletically active and intelligent girls I know of. And fortunately, she is also one of the nicest girls I know of. In that respect, her parents raised her right.'
'Still, she is also a fangirl. She has some of the strangest tastes in fiction this side of the rim. And I know for a fact she gets her taste for her father. The man who runs one of the largest companies in the galaxy. And he is is a fan of children's cartoons... What does that say about the cosmic state of the sanity of the universe?... Or, lack there of?'
'And every time she goes to one of these conventions, those of us doing her bodyguard work for her get heartburn because she chooses to surround herself with lunatics... Hell, she is one of these lunatics.'
'And the worse part is that my boss, her father, made it a point that I could not show my presence to her, as I did my job.'
'Still, Mister Garibaldi pays well, so I am not going to complain too much.'
Jonah then went back to doing his job, watching Mary from a distance, with making sure she stayed safe.
(_)
A minute later, Lee exited the convention center.
When he reached the outside, he saw people continuing to come and go from the building.
While, Lee continued walking towards the parking lot in front of him, to his left side, he passed by a some vidphones on the outside wall of the convention center, with an awning over where the vidphones were located.
Suddenly, one of vidphones in front of him began to ring. Though, a human man near Lee picked up the phone.
Though, few seconds later, the man turned to Lee, as he asked, in english, “Hey. Are you, Quaid?”
Given Lee was the only other person nearby, Lee realized he was the one being addressed. He stopped in his tracks, as he turned to look at the man. He replied, “Huh?”
The man continued to look at Lee, as he said, “Melina is on the phone, for you.”
Lee mentally realized, 'Those are names from the original Total Recall movie. Either this is a trap, and I have already been found. Or, it is an asset, and somebody I don't know wants to help me. Either way, I might as well answer it.'
Lee walked over to the man and the vidphone. He took the phone receiver from the man.
As the man walked away, Lee turned to the video screen, as he placed the receiver to his right ear. He saw that the video screen to the vidphone was blank.
Lee answered, “Hello.”
Even though the voice was modulated, Lee could tell that it was a woman's voice that said, “Please, do not run. We are here to help. Continue walking towards the parking lot, and do not panic.”
Lee said, “Fine. I won't run. I will do as you instruct me to do.”
The voice replied, “Good.” The other end then hung up the line.
Lee replaced the receiver back on the hook by the vidphone screen. He then turned to his right, and he continued walking away from the vidphones and towards the parking lot.
A minute later, two individuals walked up from behind Lee, and they stepped up to him. Each person gently gripped one of his arms, as they walked beside him.
He heard a feminine voice, to his right, say, english, “Please continue walking While facing forward. We will talk when we get to our destination. Which is not far.”
Lee did as requested, as he thought, 'This is not good, but expected. Though, my precognition is not alerting me to any danger, but quite the opposite. So, I might as well go with them. Still, there is something familiar about her voice. I just cannot place it.'
From the angle they were at, Lee could not see there faces. But, he saw they were slender women, whom were shorter than him, but still slightly above average height for adult women.
And Lee recognize their clothing.
One woman to his right was dressed as Revy. The woman to his left was dressed was as Ranma.
Lee thought, 'Well, this is right outside of a sci-fi convention, so pretty women in costumes would likely not get the wrong kind of attention here.'
They soon made it to the parking lot. Lee could see that they were clear, to pass by the traffic lane, as they continued walking.
They then spend the next few minutes passing row after row of cars, as they got further and further way from the convention center building.
A minute later, they walked up in front of black painted, four door, convertible car that looked brand new, which parked facing the aisle of the parking lot, that Lee and the two women were standing on.
Though, the roof and windows of the car were raised on the vehicle. The roof was unmistakably as a collapsible roof, that as raised and lowered by mechanical means, built in the back part of the car.
The two women turned Lee to face ten feet in front of the car, as the driver got out of the car, from the left side driver's seat. The driver then closed the car door and walked around to the front of the car.
The person was a young black haired woman, whom wore a simple white white t-shirt, black pants, back socks, and black tennis
Lee immediately recognized woman, as he asked in a confused stated, “Lori, what are you doing here?”
Lori just grinned mischievously towards Lee.
At the same time, the two women beside Lee, let go of his arms, and they walked around to stand beside Lori.
When Lee got a looked at the two women, he saw that they both had red hair and fair skin. And they looked very familiar. They almost looked like twins, but there were subtle differences in their faces, and bodies, that were only noticed when they were standing side by side, with each other.
Then, a woman got of the front right passenger side of the car, and closed the door being her. She was a young woman as well. She wore the same clothing as Lori, but she had red hair, and tanned skin. She walked around the front of the car to join the other three women.
Lee immediately recognized the fourth woman. The pieces came together, as Lee blurted out, in surprise, “Ed... Oh my. You're the Lowe family.”
The four members of the Lowe family just laughed as Lee reaction.
Lee reminded silent, as the Lowe family laughed. Lee thought, 'So, the Last Resort Diner was another cover operation. This one by the Lowe family. But, I am guessing help me. And Lori is Bob. The two younger redheads are Stan and Lewis. I am not sure which is which. With them taking turns being a waitress and cook. I wonder which one of them is the good cook? And Ed was likely in the back office, doing finances, because I would have immediately recognize her.'
A few seconds later, as the Lowe family calmed down, the one in the Revy costume said, “It took you long enough figure out who we are. By the way, I am Stan Lowe.”
The one in the Ranma costume said, in english, “And I am Lewis Lowe.”
Stan and Lewis looked at each other, then turned back to face Lee.
Lewis asked, “There is one question we would like to ask you, Lee. Between Stan and I, which one of us is hotter?”
Lee slapped himself upside his forehead, with his right hand, as he thought, 'My ass is literally on the line, and these to guys, turned girls, are asking me a question like this. Their rivalry never stops... At least it is a friendly rivalry... Now, they want me to tell them which is hotter. A dangerous answer with only on correct solution.'
Lee said, “You are both physically and mentally equals. It is your personalities that separate you. That is how I wrote you. Lewis, your beauty comes from being an intellectual genius, that is also athletic. Stan, your beauty comes from being an athlete, with a brilliant mind. For a man, comparing beauty between women is like comparing apples and oranges. Both are great for different reasons, and tastes. Why most women do not understand this... Gender benders included... I do not know.”
Ed and Bob giggled.
Stan smiled, as she compliment, “Nice dodge.”
Lewis shrugged, as she replied, “It was worth a shot. It is not every day we meet our creator.”
Lee quickly said, “Kid, don't get religious on me. The very fact I unknowingly played god is the reason I am in this mess.”
Bob pointed out, in english, “The very fact you did is the reason me, and my sons, currently turned daughters, exist in the first place. We thank you for that.”
Ed stated, in a kind, mature, tone of voice, in english, “And I thank you for giving me a lifetime with them. And an even possibly better future. We thank you for that.”
Lee replied, “You're welcome.”
Ed said, “Though, it was not smart coming to Mars. You write about Mars a lot more than you likely realize.”
Lee responded, in annoyed tone of voice, “That is how they found me. I am such an idiot.”
Bob said, “No. You are actually doing pretty good, at the moment. Now, that you have gotten your ass to Mars. Let us see if you can get your ass off of Mars.”
Lee thought, 'Another Total Recall joke... Ah hell.' He stated, “The Total Recall injokes. The diner name, The Last Resort. Your aliases there.”
Bob shrugged, “All four of us loved the original movie. It is one of the best mind screw movies out there. Violin even quoted a few injokes from that one. But, that is normal for her in, any incarnation. That movie is almost as much a mind screw as the little story we are all a part of.”
Lee admitted, “You got me on that one. I loved that original Total Recall movie, as well. I saw it as a kid, and I was never the same, again.'”
Bob mentioned, “I can appreciated that. And if you are wondering. Ed picked out my alias, Lori, for my ID, way back, a few days before we were married. During the very end of Book Three of your stories.”
Ed commented, “I did it as Total Recall joke. And we later decided to run with that joke, when we came to Plata Podrido. With using the aliases Mary and George, from that movie, as well.”
Bob said, “And it was a good joke.”
Ed turned to Bob, as she stated, “Thank you, honey.” She then turned back to look at Lee.
Lee commented, “In Book Three, I never actually stated what that alias was for your female form, Bob. That is why your name threw me.”
Ed grinned, as she stated, “Soon after we met you, we realized that. Otherwise, you would have recognized Lori. Which makes the situation even more hilarious.”
Lewis spoke up, “Speaking of which. Stan and I had a bet. We decided to play a game with you, Lee. We would swap roles, and alternate between being the cook that fixed your food and the waitress that took your orders. We wanted to see if you would figure out that we were two different people alternating the use of the same names, Mary and George. Since you didn't figure it out on your own, I lost the bet.”
Lewis reached into a pocket in her red pants and pulled out a five dollar bills.
She handed five dollar bill to Stan.
Stan stuck the five dollars into the front of her black bra, under her black crop top shirt.
Lee thought, with mild amazement, 'I am living my own running gag. Welcome to the crazy.'
Lee said, “I had other things on my mind at the time. By the way, which one of you is the good cook? Though, I have no serious complains about what the other cook prepared. It is just that one of you is a lot better at fixing food, than the other. Though, the other person's food is passable.”
Stan said, “Lewis is the good cook.”
Lee said, “Thank you, for the answer.” He then turned to Ed, as he asked, “Ed, where were you in the diner?”
Ed answered, “I was in back, doing the finances. We knew you would recognize me.”
Lee thought, 'As I expected, And they also probably experienced the time loop.'
Lee stated, “You are right. I would have. You just have a unique, though beautiful face.”
Ed said, “I will take that as a compliment.”
Lee inquired, “Okay. So, how did you figure out I was the writer?”
Bob pulled from her pocket an old faded picture that Lee remembered. She held it towards Lee, for Lee to see.
Lee looked at the picture and realize who was on it.
Lee then pulled a picture from his pocket, and both adults compared the photos.
Though, Lee's was much newer, both photos showed a picture of Bob, as a man, Lee, and Rock, as a man, in the Rats Nest bar. On the other side photo, they had each signed their names.
Lee then remembered, as he stated, “Of course. That morning, at the Rats Nest.”
Bob grinned, as she commented, “Yes. Good times.”
Lee nodded once in agreement, as both of them put their pictures back in their pockets.
Ed explained, “It took some time to piece things together. But, that picture was a major clue. Rock must have forgotten about the picture she had. While Bob showed me the picture a few times. Over the course of our lives. And neither of us forgot about it.”
“When we heard about that bait you posted on your reality's internet, with Revy and the girls heading to the Devil's Hotel, we decided to beat them to this punch. Like we found out Eda and Yolanda did. We went a few months into the past, and set up the diner. Bob, as you can guessed, picked the name.”
Bob playfully said, “My pleasure, man.”
Lee chuckled a little at Bob's Total Recall injoke.
Ed went onto say, “We also went to the Devil's Hotel, and we spent a few early mornings, secretly wiring the restaurant and lobby, microphones. Distracting those clerks on duty, those nights, took only a little effort. We also hacked into the hotel's camera system, including the lobby, and restaurant.”
Ed thought, 'Given that restaurant was already wired for camera and microphone. And high quality at that. At we had to do was tap into the communications lines, undetected. And with my skill, and the skills I taught my children, that was child's play.'
Ed continued, “And our work finally paid off. We did notice how you were acting the morning you were introduced to Revy and the girls. You immediately came to the diner, and you were shaking like a tree in the wind. Only the writer would be that freaked out at such an otherwise calm meeting with beautiful women. That, and the picture of you three, confirmed that you were the writer. After you escaped, the girls had their private meeting about you, in the hotel restaurant. They compared notes, and they figured out where you were heading.”
Ed mischievously, as she stated, “And we watched, and heard it all.”
Lee winced, as he asked, “How were their reactions?”
Ed answered, “Mixed. They are not happy about what you did to them in the time loop. Yes. We all know about that. But, they seemed to be settling on a less than lethal, or personality destructive, revenge against you.”
Lee maintained his poker face, as he thought, with worry, 'Damn. Everyone, even the Lowe family, knows about the time loop. This is very bad. Still, from what these kind women here are telling me. The girls are not planning to go scorched Earth on my ass. Though, I do not want the Lowe family to worry on my account.' Lee stated, “That is comforting.”
Bob mentioned, “Well, all of them, except Roberta. She wants your head on a pike. And we know she, and Fabiola, are in this reality, at this point in time, on this planet, somewhere in Mars Dome One.”
Lee thought, 'I do have a few questions concerning the maids.' He questioned, “I admit that Roberta here is not good for anyone. But, how does Fabiola figure into this situation? Is she as pissed off at Roberta? Or, is she there to reign Roberta in?”
Bob answered, “From what we understand, Fabiola is here, at Roberta's own request, to keep Roberta from harming anyone else that does not deserve it. Though, she wants your ass just as much as Roberta. She is just more polite about it. And you have our sympathies, Lee.”
Lee calmly stated, “Bob, I appreciate that. And I freely admit to making my bed on that one. After I get my cancer cured, the next jump is to the Lovelace home, in the Black Lagoon anime reality I wrote about. A week after Roberta and Fabiola first left to find me. So, I do not cause a paradox.”
“When I get there. I plan to personally go to Garcia, and beg for his forgiveness for what I did to him. I will ask how I can make it up to him. I might end up a servant there, for a while. But, it would be worth it to get off of Roberta's shit list.”
The Lowe family all nodded in agreement, as Bob replied, “No argument there.”
Lewis said, “Speaking of that time loop. I am happy we took the day off to have fun at the festival, as a family.”
Stan agreed, “Yes. Twenty years of having a family day out was fun. Though, I don't think any of us fully remember it. Though, I do recall that Stan and I sometimes went to the festival in different genders combinations.”
Lewis spoke up, “Yes. Sometimes we went as brothers. Sometimes sisters. Sometimes as a brother and sister, whom swapped roles during the loops. Still, I wonder why we kept choosing differently. You would think that with a time loop, that it would be the same choose every time.”
Lee spoke up, “Let me guess, you choose which gender you went as for the day on a lark?”
Stan said, “Yes.”
Lewis commented, “That would be the case.”
Lee explained, “The night before the last time loop, Rock confronted me. She realized we were in a time loop, and she let slip that she was starting to get a sense of deju vu due to all the time looping. At the subconscious level, you both probably realized at some point that you had been a boy, or a girl, in the time loop, during the previous day in the time loop, and you both decided to go out to the festival as the other gender.”
The sisters nodded, as Stan said, “That makes sense.”
Lee stated, “This was one of the reasons I got serious about stopping the time loops. And I was able to do so, though I am not allowed to say how.”
Ed commented, “We can guess. And if it someone that powerful, we do not want to be on their radar.”
Lee coyly replied, “I am neither confirming, nor denying your comment. Though, I would agree, that if that is the case, it would be best to avoid such people.”
Bob inquired, “We agree on that. So, are you really dying of cancer? And that was the reason you allow us all to be the time loop for over twenty years.”
Lee honestly answered, “Yes. I am dying of cancer. And since I didn't start the time loop, I saw not responsibly in stopping it. I saw it as an opportunity to live a little. Enjoy the time I had, as it were. And the moment I realized that people were starting to barely remember enough to mentally suffer from repeating a day over and over again, I worked to stop the loop.”
Ed stated, “We realize that. And given your situation, you did nothing wrong. And I look forward to remembering that day. Family outings for us have always been pleasant. And at a deep level I feel these outings were no different.”
Bob said, “We will get Ranma to give us some of that magic smoke, from her magic lamp, later.” She thought, 'After we figure out how to ask Ranma, without tipping that we listened in and watched their conversation with River, in the hotel restaurant. Though, that should not be difficult, given I have three geniuses to rely on. Still, we might wait a week, back in Plata Podrido, for things to die down. Before we ask Ranma about it, in a discreet manner.'
Lee commented, “So, that is how they remember. Given everything Ranma has been through. Mostly before I wrote about her. I would not be surprised that Ranma would have something, on hand, to restore memories with.”
Bob deadpanned, “No kidding.”
All five adults chuckled, for a few seconds.
As they all calmed down, Ed stated, “Lee, I know you are in a bind. And there is not much we can do for you. But never forget, you have friends among those you wrote about. We exist. It is just that our hands are tied at the moment. Though, we will pray for you.”
Lee said, “Thank you, Ed, Bob, Stan, and Lewis. I will take help any way I can get it. But, I would prefer any direct help you can give me.”
Ed sadly stated, “As I said. Sorry, no can do.”
Lori commented, “I would recommend hiding near a wormhole. Like I did, by living in DS9. But you wrote that, and the girls read about it. So, that idea is a nonstarter.”
Lee stated, “I know. I dismissed that idea as a possible escape tactic, almost immediately. Because the girls would already look for that trick. Besides, B and Balalaika are with them. And B was the one to give you that idea. Well, I gave that idea to B to give to you. But, get the idea.”
Lori let out a little giggle. She smiled, as she said, “Yea. I do.”
Ed commented, “That is the point. As you can guess. We are already skating thin ice as it is, by being here. We do not want to upset B, nor her girlfriend, Balalaika. But, if you survive and resolve your all issues with the girls, you are more the welcome to come over to our home, in any reality.”
Lee thought, with mild happiness, 'That is a kind offer. I never had a standing off of being welcome to someone's home like that.' He said, in a kind tone of voice, “Thank you, again. And I completely understand you not wanting to anger those two. Which, I likely have.”
Bob commented, “Those two are not as bad as you think they are. You have to really piss them off to worry about them. I will be honest, you have come close, but they are no that upset with you. Hell, we met most of the members of Hotel Moscow, on occasion, from time to time. Including a few cookouts. Most of them are decent people, like Melvin.”
Lee thought, 'Since they tapped the hotel restaurant, it makes sense they know about Melvin. And it goes without saying they will keep Melvin's secret. So, I don't have to worry about that.' He responded, “Okay. That is nice to know. Still, I want you to know that I had no intention of gender bending the members of Hotel Moscow, except B.”
Stan stated, “We know. That is all on them.”
Lewis commented, “Though, their reasons are understandable.”
Lee turned to Bob, as he inquired, “Speaking of which, Bob are you?...”
Bob interrupted, “Locked a woman. Yes. I locked a few years ago. But, it is okay. Though, I did not enjoy my first period, but I have gotten use to that monthly visitor.”
Lee winced, as he said, “Sorry about that.”
Bob commented, “Hey you didn't invent human female biology. So, it is not your fault. Also, the same genes that make me a girl also made me immune to jusenkyo magic. And though it is tempting to try to body-swap with Ed. Swapping our souls, and using the instant man powder while in her body, it is just not worth a cheap thrill to risk our very souls.”
Lee said, in a firm tone of voice, “I agree. It is not worth the risk.”
Bob pointed out, “Good. But, you did bend the biology as far as you could without breaking it. I think that is one of the reasons River likes you.”
Lee asked, “You know River?” He thought, 'This could be very good for all of us.'
Stan stated, “Yea. She even babysat us when we were just kids.”
Lee eyes widened, as he thought, 'That is more of an answer than I expected.' He replied, “Really? I did not write that.”
Lewis said, “Yep. And it seems a lot of stuff has happened that you didn't write about. It kind out points out that you are not as responsible for as much of our lives are you may think you are.”
Lee stated, “That is nice to know. And do not take this the wrong way. I respect both River and your guys. And I think River has come a long way with her regaining her sanity. But, at the time Stan and Lewis where children, River was more of the insane part of the scale, than sane.” Lee continued, in a voice of disbelief, and annoyance, So, Ed, Bob, why did you intrust a lunatic with the welfare of your children?”
Lee saw Ed and Bob remain visibly calm.
Ed calmly said, “I admit that you have a point there. Though, you are only partly correct. River is almost completely sane now. Though, back then, when she started getting better. She was much saner most people gave her credit for. Including, her brother and friends. But, Bob and I realized that she was saner than the other believed, and we wanted to give her a chance.”
“Being with Bob, I have seen most of the fiction she likes, so I can understand where you are coming from with your information. Given the Firefly series, I am not going to fault you for what you do not know.”
“The short answer, as you stated, with being around Sam, who is River, is that you realize that River got her sanity back for the most part. It seems after the events of the Serenity movie, having Chang as a steady relationship, and learning to control her telepathy with Annie's help, she had regained her sanity years ago.”
Lee thought, 'So, Annie has a hand in helping River, as well. That is good to know. And if it was that so far ago. That means they are likely good friends. That does explain while they were so friendly with each other, when they worked together, to seal Jack away in Revy's mind.'
Ed continued, “Afterward, River expressed an interest in trying to show everyone that she had her sanity back. Which was not easy, but Annie vouched for her on that matter, and we gave her a chance. She has since proven herself to be responsible. She even seems to like children. And River and I are both among the few people that can talk to each other at a genius level. As such, she is a good friend of mine.”
Bob stated, “We are River's plan B. She just does not realize it. We knew she was Sam and we did our best to avoid River. At one point, we even warned her to avoid the diner. Our plan being to provide you with a quiet place to think. Which worked.”
“And if need be, we would also subtly direct you in a plan of action in escaping. If we had known the maids had come to town, earlier, we would have acted more directly sooner.”
Lee said, “Good. That is good planning on your parts. So, you are planning to help me. Just not directly.”
Bob replied, “Exactly.” She then pulled something from her left side pants pocket, and she tossed Lee the item.
Lee caught it, and he saw that it a set of keys and a clicker on a keyring.
Lee thought, 'These have got to be the keys to the black car the Lowe family are standing in front of. Now, this is a gift.'
Lee quickly looked back over at the Lowe family.
Bob stated, “This car behind us is brand new. Not stolen. It is an automatic. With anti-lock breaks. So, do drive like a maniac, like that time when you took the Lagoon's red GTO for a spin.”
Lee could not help but smile wickedly, as he recalled the time he was in that chase, and played chicken in the GTO, with Rock, Revy, Lotton, Sawyer, and Shenhua, were inside. With four of the five women being so drunk they were laughing like hyenas almost during the entire time.
Bob noticed Lee's smile, as she commented, “Yea. That time.”
Lee continued to smiling, as he retorted, “You are one to talk.”
Bob returned Lee's smile, as she stated, “True. Anyway, this car has a full tank. Or, more accurately, it has a recharged battery. A radio. And a GPS system. That is as much help as we can give you. But, you now have wheels to find a place to hide, and reality jump from. Without them tracking you.”
Lee quickly put the keyring into his left, outside coat pocket, as he said, “Thank you.”
Bob mentioned, “Oh. And one other thing. Here.”
Bob pulled out something from her from right side pants pocket. She walked up to Bob, and she handed the item to him.
As Lee took the item in his hands, he saw that it was device with a wrist band on it.
Lee then realized what it was. He looked a back up the Lowe family, as he inquired, with curiosity and cautious excitement in his tone of voice, “Is this what I think it is?”
Meanwhile, Bob had walked back over to her family, with her turning back around to face Lee.
Bob smirked towards Lee, as she said, “Blue skies over Mars, babe. Blue skies over Mars. The rest is up to you. Good luck.”
Lee grinned, as he said, “I see the jokes never quit. And thanks.”
Bob happily responded, “What is life without a little humor. And you're welcome.”
Lee looked down at his hands, as he swiftly pulled back the sleeve of the arm he had his digital watch on. He then put around that wrist, beside the watch, with the watch between the device and his hand. Next, he rolled his sleeve back down over his wrist, to cover both the device and his watch.
Lee looked up at the Lowe family, as he thought, 'Now, that I think about it. I do have another question for them.' Lee inquired, “By the way, how were you able to handle those eighteen hour shifts every day?”
Bob answered, “Time dilation. We were actually spent nine hours. Our work day began at six AM. When we went to our break, we then teleported to our home Plata Podrido, at the beginning of our shift that day, and rested, then we came back, to work, when we left. At midnight, we went back in time, to our home in Plata Podrido, when we began that shift, and rested until six AM the next day, for our next shift.”
Ed mentioned, “Though, we were careful not to be seen by those outside of our family, in two places at once. And we got our groceries, and other items, from Mars.
Lee replied, “Okay. That makes sense.”
Lee thought, “There is something else I need to also say to Ed.'
Lee turned his attention towards Ed, as he commented, in a sincere tone of voice, “Ed, I have meaning to tell you. If we ever met. That I want to apologize for making you grow up and have a family.”
Ed warmly smiled towards Lee, as she flatly stated, “Lee, I am not Peter Pan. I did want to grow up. I love being an adult, and a parent. What you did, no one else would do for me. You have my eternal gratitude.”
Lee returned Ed's smile, as he replied, with relief evident in his tone of voice, “That is wonderful to hear.” Lee looked over at the brothers, turns sisters, as he said, “Stan, Lewis, sorry about the mood altering issues of you girl forms.”
Both of the younger women smiled at Lee.
Lewis explained, “We found some medication that works. And we can sneeze back and forth for at least the next forty-five years, or so. Likely longer. So, no issues there.”
Stan added, “And it is kinda fun being the crazy redhead, sometimes. Especially, when we can control when and where experience being in such states.”
Both sisters then started giggling.
As the two sisters calmed down, Stan then questioned, “Though, one more question. Revenge of the Nerds?”
Lee shrugged, as he casually replied, “I needed names that fit your character profiles. Please, don't judge me.”
The entire Lowe family just laughed, in response to Lee's comment.
A few seconds later, as the Lowe family calmed down. Ed then used her right hand to pull out a reality device from her right pants pocket. She said, “Come on girls, let's go home, to our Mars.”
The Lowe family then grouped together a bit more closely, and Lee watched as Ed used the device, with the Lowe family returning their home on the Mars of the Cowboy Bebop reality.
Lee grinned, as he thought, 'There goes one of my success stories. Literally.'
Lee let out a small laugh. He then continued his thoughts, 'I wonder if this is what it feels like to be a parent. Still, if I don't get out of here, I will never to have the chance to find out.'
Lee pulled out the keyring, with keys and clicker to the car, from his coat pocket. He used the clicker to check to make sure it worked. Both locking and then unlocking the doors.
Lee then walked over to the left side driver's door. He opened the door, and got into the front seat. And he found that the women had already adjusted the driver's car seat, and the steering wheel, steering column, and rearview windows, to Lee's height and size.
Lee smirked, as he thought, 'The Lowe family really are geniuses. Even Bob, in her own way. Now, lets' get out of here. And I know in which direction I am going. This is the southern part of the city. I am going south, to the outer loop. Then, I will go counterclockwise, around Mar Dome One, to the north end. Where I am going to find a quiet, private place to reality teleport.'
Lee then shut the door behind himself, buckled himself to the seat, and he inserted the key into the ignition to start the engine.
As the car engine started, given it was a dark outside. Even though there were street lights. The sensors on the car caused the running lights to come on, the front lights came on, and interior lights of the dash board to come on.
Lee also noticed the GPS touchscreen that came up on the center of the console. But, he did not worry about that, for the moment.
Lee check to make sure that the fuel gauge was full. Which it was. He made sure the high-beams were not one. Which they were not.
Given the vehicle’s front side was pointed out of the parking space, Lee just checked both ways, then put the car into driver, and drove out of the parking space, and towards down the aisle, away from the convention center.
Lee was soon on the road, by the parking lot, and he was heading towards the nearest highway, at the speed limit. Which was he noted was in kilometers, but so was the odometer in Lee's new car.
Soon, Lee was heading out of the interior of the city, and to freedom.
(_)
Twenty minutes later, back inside the W.E. Convention Center, inside a hallway, on the eastern side of the building, the five women inside the building, whom were after Lee, were walking together, as they finally came to the same conclusion.
Akira stated, “We lost him.”
Akira, Violin, Natsuru, Aeryn, and Ranma, then came to a stop. The five women turned and looked at each other.
Ranma commented, “I don't think we ever had him. Do you think that vendor sent us on a wild goose chase to help, Lee?”
Natsuru answered, “Possible. But, why would he?”
Akira said, “I wouldn't hold it against him, either way. And we got something from that dealer, at a good price. So, I am not complaining.”
Violin commented, “Well, the only thing we can do now, it head back to our cars, and start from square one in our search for Lee.”
Akira held up one of the bags, with their blu-ray boxsets of series, as she stated, “At least we can put these things in our car, now. They are getting kind of heavy.”
Natsuru just shrugged, as she thought, 'Well, not for me. Having superhuman strength and stamina has its advantages...' She cracked a grin, as she continued her thoughts, 'Especially, in bed... Still, I am not going to mention that to Akira. It might hurt her feelings.'
Aeryn pulled out her encrypted radio. She pressed the talk button, as she stated, “We lost the writer.”
On the other end, Rock asked, “How did you lose him?”
Aeryn looked over at the other women, as she stated, “I will let the other explain. After we leave our current location. That way you can yell at them, to your hearts content.”
On the other end, Revy asked, “How bad is it?”
Aeryn coyly answered, “Let us just say that Lee know how to play people.” She then put up her radio, and turned to the four other women. She stated, “Okay. Let's go back to the cars. Then, you can explain to Rock, how we lost Lee.”
Akira and Natsuru deflated, as all five women then turned and headed back to the south entrance to the building, and to their cars, which were parked, in the parking lot, outside of that side of the building.
(_)
Around two hours later, Lee drove northwest, on the northeastern part of outer loop highway of Mars Dome One, in a counterclockwise direct.
The highway was eight lanes wide. four lanes going in each direction, with offer ramps being used to enter and leave the highway. There was a concrete divider between the two oncoming lanes of traffic.
Give the traffic drove on right side of the road, Lee was in the inner most lane of the outer side of the highway loop.
Lee was presently searching for a place to jump realities.
The highway was not very busy, though there were a number of car on the road, both coming and going. And the speed limit was reasonable for the highway they were on.
In the time since leaving the convention center, Lee had learn how to work the global positioning satellite, GPS, navigational system, located on the monitor in the middle of the cars front dash board. It was a touch screen, and the text was in english.
Lee was not worry about someone tracking him, considering the only ones after him were Revy and the others, and not the police.
The GPS system showed that the outer highway itself was a gigantic loop around the city of Mars Dome One.
Though, Lee also kept the radio off, to keep himself from being distracted.
The highway was eight lanes wide, with four lanes for those going one way, and the other lanes went the other direction. With vehicles driving on the right side of the road.
There was a concrete and steel divider that ran along the middle of the road, separating the oncoming lanes of traffic. Though, there was no fence between the outer side of the loop, which Lee was on, and the flat red soil beside the road. Lee just chalked that up to lack of budging to put up a fence on that side. Though, there was a fence on the interior side of the highway loop, facing the city, itself.
Also, the highway was much like an interstate highway, in that there were no traffic lights, nor stop signs on the road. There were only entry onto and exit ramps off the highway.
And at points in the highway, where it split off to other highways, this including ramps going into road tunnels, under the city itself. And there was a minimum speed limit on the highway, though the minimum limit was far below the maximum speed limit on the highway.
There were street lights line both sides of the road, providing plenty if illumination, long with the car lights that were on, from all the cars on the road.
This allowed Lee to drive with his shades on.
As Lee drove, he noticed that while the outer side of the loop highway, around the city, it did not actually run along side dome wall of the city.
The Dome of Mars Dome One was actually bigger than Lee had originally thought it was.
From the street lights, along with light from the city, the light flooding in, though the domes panels and Mars two oval moons, Deimos and Phobos, Lee could see that there was huge stretches of flat, barren red soil.
The red soil stretched from the outer side of the highway loop, to the wall of the dome, itself. The red soil went on for between one to three miles, before the soil hit the outer dome wall.
In some places along the dome wall, there were huge factory complexes built into the dome walls, where natural resources from outside the dome, from other parts of Mars, were brought, and refined. Before the resources were sent off-world, at various spaceports.
Though, since Lee was not planning on getting off the highway, anytime soon, he drove in the lane closest to the highway divider.
As Lee continued to drive, he thought, 'Now, were would I want to hide. I have been on this loop for about an hour and a half. When I got the car, I immediately drove south, until I hit this highway loop, and I immediately started going east, because I was in the southern part of the dome. Now, I am on the northeastern part of the dome, and I am going northwest, towards the northern most part of the dome.'
'At least the signs are in english. And the traffic is light. Also, the speed limit is a hundred and twenty kilometers an hour. That is just under seventy miles and out. And this car has cruise control.'
'If I am right. Presently, the southern part of the city is where Revy and the others will concentrate their search for me. So, I am going to the northern most part of the dome, and reality jump from there. With them look, it will be far enough away there their tracking equipment will not pick me up.'
'From the GPS map, I should reach the northern most point of this highway loop within fifteen to twenty minutes. Once I get there, I will get off at the next exit, and head as far north as possible. I will then ditch the car, and reality jump.'
Just then, Lee noticed a car driving on the inside lane of the oncoming side of the highway, to his left side, on the other side the concrete divider, between his car and the other car.
Lee recognized the car too late, at it was the red GTO car that belonged to the Lagoon family.
Lee thought, with worry, 'You have got to be kidding me.'
A second later, their two cars passed by each other, with the concrete divider being the only thing between then,
Lee saw Rock driving, with Revy beside her. And Shenhua, Lotton, and Sawyer sitting in the backseat.
Unfortunately, right before they passed by, Revy turned her head towards him. With Lee seeing recognition in her eyes, while Revy saw recognition on Lee's face.
A second later, the two cars fully passed each other.
But, Lee knew he was too late. He had just been spotted.
Lee immediately push the gas peddle down a little further on his car, but he did not floor it, as he thought, 'Damn it! The only thing I hate more than being right, is being wrong. I still have a chance to lose them. It is going to take them at least a minute to get back here, by exiting an off-ramp, and re-entering the highway, on this side. I just have to get off of this highway, at the next exit, and drive deeper into the city, to lose them.'
(_)
A few seconds ago, on the same highway, in the Lagoon family's red GTO car.
As Rock drove the vehicle, Revy sat beside her lover, in the right front passengers side.
In the back of the car, from left to right, stat Shenhua, Lotton, and Sawyer.
None of the women were in a very good mood, after they heard how Lee had lost Akira, Natsuru, Ranma, Aeryn, and Violin.
Though, Shenhua was feeling a bit of poetry to the situation, as she said, “I find it funny what Aeryn told us by radio. That Lee used Akira and Natsuru's fangirl tastes against them, to stall, and lose, all five of them.”
Lotton commented, “You have to admit that it was brilliant plan, which was thought up on the spot. Par for course for Lee.”
Rock kept in front of her, on the road, as she stated, “And that live action series. To think that there is one version that is so long. Over five hundred episodes, not including the films made of that series.”
Revy commented, “Well, when we have time, Rock, we are going to see it. Just as soon as we deal with Lee.”
Sawyer commented, “But at this point, I doubt we are going to find him.”
Suddenly, they passed by a black car, on the other side of the concrete divider, Revy turned towards the car. She saw the driver's face, with his shades on. From his facial expression, she could tell that she recognized the man, at same time as he recognized her, and the other women in the car. And there was only one man, outside their group, on Mars Dome One, that would recognize them.
Revy yelled, “It's Lee! He just passed by us, in that black car!” She turned to Rock, to her left side, as she stated, “Turn around, Rock! We can still catch him!”
Rock saw the Lee car moving away from them, in her rearview mirrors. She then focused in front of them, as she stated, “We cannot do a u-turn. There are to many cars to drive the wrong way, and the highway divider prevents getting on getting into the coming lanes.
Rock then saw an exit sign, as she smiled. She continued, “But, we could be able to exit the highway, turn around, and enter the other lane, in about thirty seconds.”
Revy said, “Do it.”
Shenhua asked, “How did Lee get a car?”
Sawyer commented, “It doesn't matter. What does matter is that we found him.”
Lotton agreed, “Correct.” She then pulled out and used her encrypted radio. She pressed the talk button, as she stated, “We found Lee. But, we cannot immediately chase him. We are on the northeastern side of doom, on the outer highway loop. Lee is heading to the northwest. To all those in the area, Lee is driving in a black car.”
A female voice, on the other end of the radio, said, “Don't worry. We see him. And we got him.”
(_)
On the other side of the highway, a mile from the GTO, and its occupants, Lee was driving at a slightly faster speed than the speed limit allowed.
Lee mentally berated himself, 'I did not take into account that they would bring their vehicles with them. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Now, I have to gamble going slightly over the speed limit is like back in the U.S., were if you are not going too fast over the limit, most of the time the police will ignore you. With people allowed to go faster, as long as they are not going ten over.'
Lee then saw the side for the next exit, as he mentally grumbled, 'And just my luck that the next exit into the city is ten kilometers away. And it is through a tunnel intersection.'
Lee then looked around and he noticed that there were no cars in front, or behind him. He though, 'Well, at least I don't have to worry about hitting anyone. It is just that Revy is going to have a clear field of fire when they turn around.'
'I could got onto the red soil. But, there is almost nothing out that way, but a very solid wall, in an even more open field of fire.'
'Though, either way, I have got to get off this highway, before they come back.'
Suddenly, he precognition scream for him to take off the cruise control, while rolling down the hood of his car.
As Lee did so, he thought, 'Thought too soon.'
When his car roof have completely folded into the back of the car, and the windows were rolled down, he risked a quick look behind him, from his right shoulder. What Lee saw caused his jaw drop in surprise.
In formation, were three very familiar, and very different, zipcraft, of the Bebop crew.
In the lead was the Stingray II, piloted by Spike. Behind, and two her back, and to the left was the Rail Tail, piloted by Faye. And to Spike's back and to the right was Jetta in her Hammerhead.
Lee composed himself, as he turned back to the face the road. He used his car door controls to move the two side mirror to look at the three zipcraft behind him, in the air. Next, he moved his center rearview mirror up to where he could also use that mirror to see the three zipcrafts behind him, in the air.
Lee mentally screamed, 'Great they didn't just bring their cars, Faye, Spike, and Jet... ta... Brought their zipcraft with them. Now, I got to deal with an air force. And I don't even have a gun! Okay. Think. What do I have? I have my wits, my cards, and a GPS system... Which is a map... And then there are the exits up ahead... I can still turned this around.'
Lee held his left hand firmly on the steering wheel. He then used his right hand to quickly punched up the dashboard monitor touchscreen, as the GPS system came on. He divided his attention between the straight road in front of him, and the GPS map, as he started looking at the map of the road in front of him. He soon saw what he was looking for.
Lee thought, 'Yes. You may have the air. But, fortunately, where I am heading, I can use that to my advantage. If I play my cards right, I will only end up having to deal with only one of you. And that I can handle with this car.'
Instantly, Lee precognition again warned him, he looked as his rearview mirrors to see the Stingray beginning a strafing run.
Lee moved his car to his right, onto the nearby lane, just in time to avoid the bullets hitting the road.
With the car mirrors, Lee saw that the Hammerhead was coming in right behind the Stingray.
Lee thought, 'I have to time this just right.”
Using his precognition, Lee moved his vehicle into the lane he had previously been in, just before The Hammerhead fired its harpoon gun, missing Lee's car. The harpoon bounced off the road, with the zipcraft quickly reeling in its empty hook.
Next, was the Red Tail, which Faye fired a few grenades in the distance in front of Lee, as warning shoots.
Lee's precognition told him not to worry, so he just ignored the shots, as he continued driving through the smoke the shots created from the road.
Lee smirked, as he mischievously thought, 'Now, to piss them off, and get them to do what I want them to do.' He gripped his steering wheel with his right hand.
For the next few seconds, Lee held his left arm, and he gave them a left-handed, middle finger salute.
He then lower his hand, as he headed for where he hoped he could lose them.
Lee then saw that about a mile down the road he was one going to divide into two, two lanes roads, on each side. On the side Lee was on, the interior two lands, including the one Lee was on, was going into a tunnel system, the other outer two lanes continued to run the outer loop highway. On the incoming lanes, opposite to the lanes Lee was in, the two lanes coming out of the tunnel, on the interior side, merged with the two outer loop lanes to create a four lane section of highway.
Lee thought, 'Now, I just need to hope they do what I expect them to do, in chasing me.'
(_)
At the moment, up in the air, behind Lee's car, Faye commented in the radio, “The driver just gave us the bird.”
On the radio, Revy said, “Yep. That's Lee.”
Over the radio, Jetta commented, “Arrogant bastard.”
Over the radio, Rock said, “Don't underestimate him. Everything he does is for a reason.”
Faye inquired, “What do you mean? He is literally, just a pasty face otaku. What threat could he be?”
Over the radio, Rock stated, in a serious tone of voice, “That is what he wants you to think. He knows a lot about us. And he will use everything he knows against us. The little details could mean the difference between victory and defeat. Also, he spent twenty years in a time loop learning all sorts of things. And he out played River in that poker game.”
Faye commented, “Considering they are friends, I think she threw that game for him.”
Jetta pointed out, “It does not matter. We still got him.”
From her radio, Revy ordered, “Remember, we want Lee alive, and conscious. And mostly unharmed, so we can harm him.”
Spike said, “We will keep that in mind.”
Faye stated, “He is heading into a tunnel system. I am patching into the local GPS grid. And this gift from Ed for my Red Tail is very nice. Anyway, the map is coming up... Guys, the tunnels down there are a rat maze, with several exits.”
Jetta complimented, “Not bad. He thinks he can lose us. Okay. Who wants to play cat to his mouse, in this maze?”
Spike and Faye said, in unison, “I will.”
Spike pointed out, “I am the better pilot.”
Faye admitted, “Okay.”
Jetta ordered, “Faye, you and I will fly up, and keep a bird's eye view of the situation. I want you to go to the far end, to the north part of the exits. I will go to the far end, to the south of those exits, on this part of the city. If Spike loses him. We can still find him. Just keep you eyes pealed for that black car.”
Faye replied, “On it.” She mentally added, 'And with our enhanced eyesight, this will be easier than you think, Jet.'
Jet and Faye piloted their zipcraft to their assigned locations.
A few moments later, Lee had entered a tunnel section of the highway system.
A few seconds at Lee entered the tunnel system, Spike skillfully piloted the Swordfish into the tunnel, after Lee.
(_)
A few seconds ago, just before Lee entered the tunnel, he saw in his mirrors, he watched as Jetta and Faye broke off their pursuit, while Spike follow him into the tunnel system.
Lee thought, with delight, 'Yes. This is what I wanted. Cowboy, or now, cowgirl, I knew Spike would be the one coming after me in the Stingray. Ironically, I could not pulled off this next trick, if it was the Red Tail, or the Hammerhead. Now, I just have to slow down slightly, so she catches up to me at just the right time.'
Lee slowed down a few miles, from the speed at which he had previously been going.
The Stingray closed in on Lee's car even faster than before.
Just then, Lee a fork in the road where the two lanes split into a, Y, road formation, where two lanes branched to Lee's left, and two lanes branched out to Lee's right.
The Stingray was just about to reach Lee, just as he took the left road.
Suddenly, Lee saw in his rearview mirrors that the Stingray follow him in the forked road. He smiled wickedly, as he thought, 'And this is what I learned from watching, Spaceballs. Bwahahahaha!'
Lee slammed the brakes, with the Stingray overshooting him.
When Lee came to a stop, Lee put the car into reverse, and he floored the gas pedal, as he looked behind himself, to make sure he did not hit anyone. Fortunately, he was clear.
When he backtracked to the fork in the road, he put his car into drive gear, and he drove into the right fork in the road.
Lee then saw that he was in a straight away in the tunnel for about a minute. He turned his attention back to the GPS touchscreen. As he used the device, he thought, 'The Stingray is build for speed, not maneuverability. Especially not tight turning. Like the Red Tail and Hammerhead are designed for.'
'Now, where do I want to go when I get out of this tunnel system, and back to the surface road? I need to make a stand, and lose them in the confusion. The question is where?...'
Lee used the fingers on his right hand to have the touchscreen map show him where he would exit on the road he was in, and he saw where he wanted to go, nearby the exit, on the surface.
Lee thought, 'Ah, that place will do. And it is close by where I will exit out this tunnel'
Lee noticed the exit number he needed to take.
Lee then turned his attention back to the road in front of him, as he made sure to follow the signs to the exit number he wanted to go to.
(_)
Meanwhile, as the Stingray cruised down the left fork in the tunnel, Spike cursed into the radio, “Shit! I overshot him! He slammed the brakes just as I followed him through a fork in the road. He then backed up, and went the other way. And it is too tight in here for me to turn around, and follow him. And the bastard likely knows that!”
On the radio, Revy stated, “Told you.”
On the radio, Jetta asked, “Which way did he go?”
Spike answered, “He took the right side?... North. I should exit this tunnel system in about minute myself.”
Over the radio, Jetta ordered, “Faye. Lee should be coming your way. Keep an eye out. I am going to stick around here. This guy is slippery than an eel. We are not taking any more chances.'
On the radio, Faye replied, “I understand.'
A few seconds later, the Stingray safely exited the tunnel system, with no problems, and Spike was back in the air.
(_)
A few minutes later, as the Red Tail hovered in the air, inside the ship, from her cockpit seat, Faye saw Lee's black car come out of one of the tunnel exits she was looking at.
Faye stated, over her radio, “I found him. He is just took an exit off from the outer loop highway, towards the dome wall.”
Over the radio, Jetta warned, “It is clear he is heading somewhere. Can you stop him?”
Faye answered, “Yes.”
On the radio, Jetta flatly responded, “Then, do it.”
Faye sarcastically replied, “Yes, mommy.”
Spike giggled over the radio.
Jetta retorted, over the radio, “You are one to talk, Spike.”
On the radio, Spike admitted, “Yes, I am.”
(_)
At the moment, as Lee took the off-ramp, on a dirt road heading parallel with the dome wall to the north end of the city, north of the highway loop.
Lee saw from his rearview mirrors, the tail lights of the Red Tail heading right for him.
Lee thought, 'Ah, here comes, Faye. I knew it was likely I was going to face one of them. But, I can handle, Faye. If I am correct, she will swing around in front of me, and hover in my path. With her hoping that I will stop, or she will shoot. I am sure she is not bluffing, and she would shoot me. But, all I got to do is time this right. I don't have to wait for the exit. I am now on a dirt road right beside flat red soil. I can just drive on that, if I need to.'
A few seconds later, Faye brought the Red Tail around in front of Lee, and hovered about fifty feet in front of him.
Lee smirked, as he thought, 'Looks like I am right. Now, to time this.'
Lee used his precognition to time his attack just right.
As Lee came within thirty feet, he slowed down, just as he turned on the high-beams, temporally blind Faye.
Lee immediately turned to his left, onto the red soil, heading north, as he head for his destination.
After Lee straightened his car out, he turned off the high-beams, so those in the direct he heading towards, would not so easily see him coming.
As Lee drove, red dust was kicked up in his wake.
Lee thought, 'Now, if I am right. The windows of the Red Tail are not designed for sudden light bursts. Though, they will transition to handle to shield for light of the sun, in space. Sort of like how nightvision to nor vision works. And given Faye has the super-soldier serum. She should be fine.'
(_)
At that moment, inside the cockpit of the Red Tail, Faye yelled, “That bastard used his high-beams to blind me!”
Over the radio, Jetta asked, “Are you okay?”
Faye said, “I should be. I am hovering over the ground right now. So, now worries about crashing.”
With her radio, Rock inquired, “Did you have the super-soldier serum, Faye?”
Faye answered, “Yes.”
On her radio, Rock stated, “Then, your sight will fully return in about ten minutes. Now, were you able to tell which way Lee went?”
Faye answered, “Yes. When is heading for a large industrial complex located on wall of the dome, to the north.”
Over the radio, Rock ordered, “Okay Faye. Stay where you are. I can see where he is going from here. That is a huge factory complex. I can guess he plans to lose us in there. We need to group up, and find him together. Where exactly are you, Faye?”
As Faye could tell that her sight was returning, she answered, “Before Lee blinded me, the GPS said I am on a dirt road, right off of exit ten, on the northeastern side of the highway loop, just on the other side of the loop, opposite from the city.”
On her radio, Rock stated, “Good. Everyone meet up, with Faye. When we do, we will then head for Lee, together.”
As Faye piloted the Red Tail a little higher off the road, as she hovered there, she said, “I agree. That is a good idea, Rock. And it will give me time to get my sight back. And then, we are going to kick that bastard's ass.”
(_)
In his black, four door car, Lee looked at the huge, sprawling industrial complex, that he was driving towards, as he thought, 'Well, since Faye has not followed me. I guess I was correct.'
'Also, given my normal headlights and the background light, around me, I can see the red soil in front of me, fairly well. And I don't see any large rocks, any other other road hazards. So, I am fine for the moment, on that point.'
'Now, I need to find the main road, that enters into this complex. Then, once inside the complex, I need to head for the main control building. Once there, I will figure out the details for the next parts of my plan. And given that most of the lights are off in that place, that place is in shutdown, with, at most a few guards to attend to security.'
Lee then used his car's GPS system to find the main gate.
A minutes later, Lee found the main two lane road leading into the factory complex. When he reached the main gate, which was open, as he drove through it, and entered the interior road system of the factory complex, which was paved.
The factory complex spread for miles, in all directions, with building towering thirty to forty stories high. With most of the lights off on the buildings.
As Lee drove through towards the main control building, listed on his GPS system, near the center of the factory complex, he realized he was heading for the place of his next battle.
(_)
Around the time Lee drove his car into the factory complex, on the ground floor, inside the atrium of the W.E. convention center, the dealer that had aided Lee, was standing behind his table, to the left of his chair. He was stretching his legs, as noticed two young, human, women in maids outfits, walking toward him.
The vender noticed that the two women were walking side beside with each other.
The man saw that both women had long hair which was draped down their shoulders, and back. One had green hair. The other had purple hair. Both of them had their hair held a single, long ponytail.
Also, the purple haired woman has a gold necklace, around her neck. The necklace has a golden cross that was draped across the middle of the her covered chest, over her black long sleeved shirt.
The green haired woman was to the right side of the purple haired woman.
The dealer noted that the directness of their stride showed that they were not to be messed with. And the crowd realized this, as everyone around the two women literally parted for them, while the two women passed by.
As the two women approached the dealer, the man thought, 'Okay. These two are trouble. Though, as long as I am polite, and patient, I should be find. This is not the first time I have dealt with lunatics at these conventions. Though, I have to say that the lunatics at these conventions rarely spare any expense on their costumes. And these two women are no exception to that rule.'
The dealer continued his thoughts, with amusement, 'These places just bring a high class of lunatic than most places. And that is one of the reasons I like coming here.'
When the two woman came to a stop, in front of the table, across from the dealer, man warmly smiled, as he calmly inquired, “And what can I do for you two lovely ladies tonight? By the way, those are nice costumes.'
Both women look at the men, with any sign of expression on their face, nor eyes.
This set the man on edge. Though, he did his best not to show his nervousness.
Meanwhile, those around the three adults, continued the convention as usual, while they ignored what was happening right beside them.
At the dealer's table, in question, the purple haired woman looked across the table, at the dealer's face, as she asked, with forceful intent in her tone of voice, in english, “Did you speak to a black haired, fair skinned man, in a black suit, hat, and sunglasses, earlier tonight? And with you then later speaking to a set of five women? One with black hair, one with dark blue hair, one with blond hair, one with red hair, and one with blue hair. That you sold a copy of an entire series too?”
The dealer answered, “Yes. On both counts. And that was quite a sell. On another matter, you two might want to enter the cosplay contest. I am sure you both would win first place, together. But, the entries for the contest tonight is about to close...'
The dealer did not get a chance to finish, as the purple haired woman used her right hand to grab him by the front of his shirt, and haul him over his table. After his leg slid off the other end of the table. The woman then reversed her direction, as she dragged the man backwards, to where his back was onto the table.
The purple haired woman then leaned over him, from the man's right side, to be face to face the man.
The green haired woman stood a few feet to the dealer's left side, as she calmly gazed down on what was going on.
The people of around just continued to ignored them, With many of those people thinking what was happening was just an act, or some roleplaying that got out of hand.
The purple haired woman's lips curled into a crazy smile, as she bared her teeth at the man. The woman coldly ordered, “You will tell me everything you discussed with the black haired man, and in exchange, I will let you live.”
The green haired woman lean over by the dealer's left ear. She whispered, in a serious tone of voice, in english, “Be warned. We are not pretending. We know you know the Black Lagoon series, so you know who we are. I suggest you talk quickly and honestly. Roberta is not in a good mood, right now.”
The green haired woman then leaned up, and took a few steps away from the dealer, and her friend.
As the dealers processed what the green haired woman said, he stared at the Bloodhound's vicious grin.
A second later, the man's brain fully engaged, as he mentally screamed, 'Oh god have mercy on me! How is it possible?! I am right next to Roberta and Fabiola. And they are pissed off! That smile can not be faked... I just realized. That man was not joking when he said that he was haunted by the Black Lagoon series... Oh shit! The maid are after him... And the sexy women I sold those boxsets too... Oh lord! No wonder that man did not want me to ask them their names. I think I recognize them from other series. Yet, for some strange reason, this happening here, makes so much sense. I might as well tell them what I know, so I can get out of this alive. And I can later call for help.'
The dealer quickly explained, “The man in a black suit came to my booth. We talked about a series of DVD boxsets I was selling. He said he did not have the money to purchase them. Though, he also said that a group of women, with brightly colored hair, like yours, might walk by. And all I had to was tell them about the boxsets, and explain what the series was about. And they would buy the entire series. He then asked me for directions for the nearest exit, and I give him the directions he wanted. That is the last I saw of him. I do not even know the man's name.”
“Anyway, a few minutes after he left, the women he talked about came by. I waved them over, showed them the series, and they bought it with gold. I got the sale, and he got out.”
The dealer thought, 'I am not suicidal enough to tell the Roberta to her face, that I also sent those five women in the opposite direction from the way I sent the man in.'
Roberta growled, in the dealer's face, “What was the series about?”
The dealer gulped. He then said, “The live action Black Lagoon series.”
Fabiola said, “It is just like what they said over the radio.”
Roberta continued looking at the dealer, as she answered, “Yes.”
Roberta then let go dealer, as she turned to her right, towards Fabiola. She dropped her grin, as she stated, “It is time to leave.”
The dealer immediately crawled under his booth, as the two women turned and walked away from him and his merchandise.
With Roberta being to Fabiola's right side. And, as before, the crowd quickly parted for them, as they walked by.
Though, the dealer watched the two maids walked side by side with each other, away from him, as he overheard some of their conversation.
As the two women continued walking, at a comfortable pace, in the directly they came in, from the south, Fabiola asked, “If what the others said is true. Why did you want us to come here, in the first place?”
Roberta answered, “To see if they left anything out, over their enthusiasm of their new prize.”
Fabiola replied, “Oh...”
Roberta pointed out, in a cold tone of voice, “It is clear that the writer used their own tastes against them. This is something we must wary of, when we face him.”
Fabiola said, “I agree. Should we head to the meeting place, of the others, as they plan the raid of the factory complex, where the target has run off into?”
Roberta flatly stated, “No. I do not wish to interfere with their hunt. It is best for us to just hunt with each other, and leave them be. I have learned the hard way that the more hunters after the fox, the easier it is for the fox to escape.”
Fabiola agreed, “Yes. I know what you mean.” She thought, 'You, of all people, would know.'
Roberta commented, “Instead, we will head to where we expect the writer to go next, and laid in wait, nearby.”
Fabiola inquired, “But, where would that be?”
Roberta asked, “If you could not outrun your pursuers, where would you make your stand?”
Fabiola answered, “I would be in a fortress, surrounded by an army. For as little good that would do against us.”
Roberta questioned, “Exactly. And what fortress, with an army inside it, can a civilian enter with little difficulty? And gain at least some help, from the army inside?”
Fabiola was silent for a few seconds. She then realized the answer, as she stated, “Of course. But, there are several such places in this city.”
Roberta inquired, “Which one would be the most obvious one?”
Fabiola said, “The one closest to the factory, in question.”
Roberta responded, “Yes. You are learning, my student.”
Fabiola pointed out, “But, what if they capture the writer?”
Roberta lips curled into a wicked grin, as she answered, “Do not worry. Should they capture the writer, they know better than to deny us a share of the spoils.”
In response to her friend's comment, Fabiola lips curled into a wicked grin, as well.
The dealer then lost sight of the two women in the crowd.
The man thought, 'I lucked out big time. I will stay here for a couple of minutes. Then, I will find a vidphone, and to call for help.'
(_)
Two minutes later, the dealer got up from under his table. Given the security cameras in the room, and the importance of the situation, the dealer did not even worry about his merchandise, as he rushed, in the opposite direction the maids went. He soon found a vidphone, in the near by north hallway, of the convention center.
The dealer held the receiver to his right ear, as he immediately dialed an emergency number, that only a few people on the planet had access to. With the emergency line not requiring a credit chit to use.
As the other end was being connected, the man thought, 'I am glad my boss got back from Minbar, yesterday. It is sad that his friend is dying, but he got to say his goodbyes. And that is the important part. Now, I need to focus on the matter at hand.'
When he got someone on the other end to pick up, he stated, “This is Gregory Anderson, from accounting... I know I am on vacation, but this is important... Tell the boss that we might have a serious situation brewing that needs his immediate attention.”
Gregory Anderson thought, with worry, 'I hope my boss, Michael Garibaldi, CEO of Edgars Industries, can keep a lid on this insanity, before it could literally blow up Mars Dome One, itself...'
To be continued.
Badasses Of the Multiverse Book 5: “The Gambling Man.”
Volume 2: “Total Badass.”
Chapter 05: “The Tower: Part One: The Ascent.”
By Paul Cousins.
Copyright Disclaimer: All copyrighted places, characters, items, and events, within the story, are held by their current owners. No profit is being made on this work of fiction.
(_)
Reality, Babylon Five Reality. Date, January Twenty-Eighth, Twenty-Two Eighty-One. Location, planet Mars. City, Mars Dome One, capital of Mars. A factory complex on the north part of the interior city of dome that surrounds Mars Dome One from the outside atmosphere of Mars. Time, early in the night.
Presently, Lee drove his black convertible, with its roof and windows lowered, down one of the paved roads, between the buildings, that made up the factory complex,
While, most of the outside factory lights were off, and the ambient light from the city and sky were mostly cut off, from the nearby building, there was security lighting by the doors, and sides of the building, for safety reasons.
Given the straightness of the road, Lee was not driving very fast, he took a moment to look at the GPS monitor in the dashboard of his car, for a second.
Lee saw that the building he was heading for was the next building to his left.
Lee turned his attention back at the road, as he let his foot off the gas pedal, while he gently applied his brakes.
As Lee's car came to a stop, in a big clearing, beside one of the corner of the building. Lee looked up at the huge building, that went up for dozens of floors, while stretching for couple of city blocks, in each direction.
Lee thought, 'Now, that is a place I can get lost in. Still, I got to hide my car. But, where do I hide it?'
Lee looked around him, he then spotting a narrow alleyway, between two of the nearby buildings.
Lee thought, 'I better back this in several feet, and come in from behind, so I have a straight shot out of here.'
Lee then drove over to the alleyway. He then turned around, with the rear end of his car facing the alleyway. Lee back his car several feet, while giving himself plenty of space on his side, for him to get out of his car, by using the car door.
As Lee came to a stop, and put the car in park, he thought, 'I better bring up the roof, and rolled up the windows.'
After Lee used the electronic controls of his car, to raise the roof, and roll of the windows, he turned off the car, unbuckled himself from his seat, opened the door, and stepped out of the paved road.
Lee thought, 'At least with the paved roads, it will make it harder to find me, and my car. Now, to lock my car.'
Lee then locked his car, and shut the door.
As he put the keyring with the car keys and clicker, in to his front left pants pocket, he walked out of the alleyway, the way he had come in.
When he exited the alleyway, and he faced the corner of the main control center of the factory complex. He then saw a nearby side entrance.
Lee thought, 'Good. A side entrance is better to come into the building from. I don't have to waste time going through the reception area. And I can make my way to the heart of the building quicker.'
'Given, this is a factory complex, and not a bank. It is probably not that well guarded, nor locked. With many of the doors not wired for security. And with luck, the lights on the inside are on, because it is likely there is a guard on duty. If that is the case, I will do the last thing the guard expects. Explain the situation, to the guard, with given details. Ask the guard for help. And tell the guard to call the police.'
'Still, before I go inside, I need to come up with the other parts of my plan.'
Lee then took off his shades, so he could see better, as he looked around him.
As Lee looked around, he saw a sewer entrance, a crowbar leaning against the wall, and a trash chute hugging up the skyscrapers buildings. With the chute emptying out five feet above the street, directly to the ground. And from all these items, several plans were starting to form in his mind.
Lee smiled, as he put back on his sunglasses. He thought, 'Now, I have some plans. And I know which one to start with. Still, I am going to burn time doing all this. But, I should still have enough time to get ready for the party I am expecting.' He then smirked, as he continued his thought, with feral glee, 'And it is going be the most explosive party in my entire life. And I am the man of the hour... Now, to get the door, and open it.'
Lee briskly walked to the side door. When he reached the door, he pulled out his lock picking tools.
Lee found the door's knob was unlock and the lock above it was a simple deadbolt lock, that could be picked.
In a record thirty seconds, Lee used his precognition to help him pick the door lock, and open the door.
As Lee opened the door, he quickly walked inside, with him locking the door behind him. This time, with both the deadbolt and the knob lock.
Lee noticed that the lighting inside was turned on. With every other ceiling light being on. He thought, 'Good. I can see where I am going. Now, to trust my precognition.'
Lee then used his precognition to guide him to the location in the building that he needed to go to.
(_)
A few minutes later, outside of exit ten of the Mars Dome One outer highway loop, on the dirt road where Faye had her Red Tail landed, that was two miles from the factory complex Lee had escape too.
As Faye's eyesight hare fully returned, from being hit with the high-beams from Lee's car. She had decided to save fuel and land her zipcraft.
Then, she was sitting inside her cockpit, Faye saw as the rest of her group showed up in their cars and zipcraft, had finally arrived.
A few of those that were on the other side of the city, or would take to long to reach the location by driving, just teleported themselves and their vehicles, to the area. Given the flat terrain, and no one else around. There was little risk of them doing so.
They then spent ten minutes talking to each other. With Faye and the others outside their vehicles, as they talked to each other.
During this time, Faye had used the Red Tail's GPS system to provide a map and layout factory complex for Rock and the others present.
Once Rock accounted for everyone and had the information from the GPS system, she then told everyone to get back into their vehicles, and follow her, in the GTO.
Those present got back into their vehicles, with Rock driving her family's red GTO, in front of their convoy. Though, except for getting in line, everyone waiting for Rock to give the signal to go.
To Rock's right side, in the front passenger seat, Revy sat beside her. With a few of their friends in the back seat.
Rock's left hand on the steering wheel, and her right hand on her radio, as she said into her radio, “Now, that everyone is here, except for the maids, I want everyone to follow me. When we get to the main control center, we will park, get out, and I will issue more orders, then.”
Rock set down her radio. She then started her car, as she drove towards the factory complex's main gate, with the other cars following her, and the zipcraft flight above her car.
As Rock drove, her lips curled into wicked grin, as she thought, 'I wonder what Lee has planned to try and count my small army... I will find out soon enough.'
(_)
At the moment, inside the man control building, Lee made his way through the hallways, and staircases of the building, all of which were illuminated, as he continued using his precognition to guide him to where he wanted to go.
Lee walked briskly, but softly through the hallways.
As Lee walked down the hallways, the doors to his sides were closed.
Lee thought, 'I am not sure where I am heading, but I trust my in precognition to see me through.'
Just as Lee turned the corner, he noticed one of the doors in front of him was cracked open, with light coming from inside.
Lee thought, 'Well, my precognition tells me there is no danger. So, I will sneak a peak inside.'
Lee quietly walked up to the door, and he slightly push the door open enough to see inside the room.
In the room, to Lee's right side, he saw a desk set against the right wall. The desk was about twenty feet, in front of him.
The desk had a thin computer monitor screen turned on. To the sides of the monitor were speakers. In front of the monitor was a keyboard and mouse. Wires to all three ran into the wall, with no plug in outlet.
Actually, Lee did not see any plugs in the room, save for a few electrical plugs. There were no communications plugs, or wires, see on the walls of the room.
Lee thought, 'This works for me on so many levels with my plan.'
Lee continued looked around, he saw that the soft yellow light from the room came solely from small lamp on the desk, by the computer equipment.
Behind the desk, while facing the computer monitor, was a man sitting in a swivel chair. The man was a heavy set human man, in his early fifties. The man wore a security uniform, and boots, as he was quietly sleeping.
Lee thought, 'You know. If this immediately situation was not so serious, I would laugh at the cliche nature of this situation. I don't see any gun on him. Now, to wake him gently, and talk to him. He will react badly if I don't immediately explain that I am not a trespassing thief. But, that I really do need his help.'
'Still, chances are, he might be the only other person, besides me, here, in this place. I don't want to him to die on my account. So, I got to help him, as well.'
Lee quietly opened the door fully, and walk inside.
When Lee came within ten feet of the guard, he coughed.
Nothing happen.
Lee said, in a calm tone of voice, “Hello.”
The guards eyes snapped open, as he turned his chair to face Lee. He demanded, “Who are you?”
Lee quickly said, “Please, remain calm. First, I not here to rob, nor harm anyone. I am being chased. And before this meeting is over, I want you to call the police.”
Lee could tell from the man's face that he heard every word that Lee stated. But, the guard replied, in a confused tone of voice, “Huh?”
Lee ignored his desire to roll his eyes, as he thought, 'Too much, too fast, too soon, for this man. He is not fully wake and his brain has not fully engaged. I am going to have to walk him through this. And not say a word about the reality traveling.'
Lee calmly requested, “From your uniform, I know you are the security guard for this place. As such, I am sure your computer has access to the cameras for this factory complex. Please, keep in mind that time is of the essence. I would like you to punch up the cameras on your computer screen, and select the camera feeds that look at the main gate of the complex. It is a matter of life and death for myself.” He mentally added, 'And maybe you, as well.”
The guard turn to this computer monitor by him, as he used the mouse to bring up the camera system.
As the video feed was pulled up on a window of the screen, the guard looked at it, as he asked, in a surprised tone of voice, “What the hell?!”
Lee leaned over to look at the computer screen to see that the color video on the sub-window shows a convoy of cars, and flying vehicles, heading for the front gate. The Lagoon's red GTO bringing up the front.
Lee thought, 'Revy and Rock literally brought army with them, to come get me... Honestly, I am flattered. And from the speed that are going, and the time it will take it organize, once they come to a stop, I think still got around ten minutes until they get here.'
The guard further inquired, “What are those vehicles? Who are they?”
Lee answered, “Those are they ones after me. And from my guess is that they are heading right for this very building?”
The guard asked, “Why?”
Lee stated, “The GPS system listed this as the main center for the factory. That is why I came directly to this building.”
The guard cursed, “Damn it.”
Lee requested, “I know. It is a lapse in security. It is not your fault. Can I have access to your computer for a moment.”
The guard asked, “There is not much you can do from here?”
Lee agreed, “No. But, I can even the odds a bit.”
The guard stood up from his chair, and stepped away form his desk, as he offered, “Go ahead.”
Lee walk to the back of the desk. He turned to the desk, and leaned over. He used the computer mouse to find which screen icons on the computer that he wanted it to use.
First, he pulled up the three dimensional, grid style, schematics to the building they were in, and the buildings by the building they were inside.
The guard noticed what Lee was looking at, as he questioned, “What are you doing?”
Lee stated, “Most battles are won before the battle even begins. I am not going to be blindly running around this area. I have a plan. And the longer I can stay one step ahead of them, the more time I buy for both of us.”
The guard said, “Good point.”
Lee commented, “And while they are likely going around these building blindly, I will know where I am going. And thus be on step ahead of them.”
The guard complimented, “That is actually a good plan.”
Lee spend the next few minutes looking at the schematics, and figuring out a few routes to take, floor to floor. He then closed that window, and pulled up another program on the computer.
The guard saw what he did, as he commented, “Okay. I did not expect you to do that.”
(_)
The convoy had passed thought the entrance to the factory complex, a few minutes ago.
As the convoy of cars made their way between the factory buildings, on the paved road, Rock was driving the lead car, when everyone saw the factory light up both inside, from the windows of the buildings, and the outside walls of the buildings, like a Christmas tree.
The lights in the night could be seen for miles around.
Beside Rock, Revy stated, “Do you think, Lee did this?”
Rock kept her eyes in front of her, on the road, as she answered, “Yes. And he did this so he can see where he is going. He knows about our enhanced sense. He is just leveling the playing field.”
Revy made a feral grin, as she said, “This is going to be a fun hunt.”
Rock agreed, “You got that right.”
Revy inquired, “With the thickness of these buildings, do you think our infrared binoculars are going to help?”
Rock answered, “I doubt it. These buildings are very heavily lined, and thick with metals, and other materials. Partly because they are right up against the dome wall. And with these narrow alleyways, we do not have a clear line of sight. And Lee will likely try to stay deep in the buildings, as he runs through those buildings.”
Revy questioned, “So, you think he will not just try and hide in one place?”
Rock said, “He knows better than to do that. And because of that fact, we will track him down, inside the buildings, the old fashioned way.”
Revy replied, “Okay. So, do you know where he is?”
Rock stated, “Yes. I have a good idea where he is. The main control building. Also, something just occurred to me.”
Rock kept her left hand on the steering wheel, as she pulled out her radio with her right hand. She stated, into her radio, “Everyone, we are going to park a block from the target building we are heading for. That is because, I do not want to take any chances. I do not want Lee to double back, see one of our vehicles, and hot wire them. While sabotaging a few of the others, to blockage the other vehicles, and prevent us from following him.”
As Rock put down her radio, from the back seat, Lotton complimented, “Good thinking, on your part, Rock.”
Rock kept her eyes in front of her, on the road, as she said, “Thanks.”
(_)
Back in the security room of the main complex building, Lee closed out the folders, on the monitor, showing the video feeds, schematics, and controls to the lights. He next use the mouse to highlight an icon to something else, besides what he was working on. He then leaned back up, and looked at the guard. He saw the guard looking back at him.
The guard inquired, “So, we got the lights on. For the most part. That does what exactly?”
Lee stated, “We can see them coming, and when you call the police, there no mistaking where the call is coming from.”
The guard responded, “Good point. How did you know I would have access to the lights?”
Lee answered, “It is simple logic that to save electricity, and money, most of the lights in this place are turned off. But, given your job, you would have access to turning on the lights, to get a better look through the cameras.”
The guard replied, “You are correct.”
Lee questioned, “I take it that I cannot do much more than that here? Such, as lock all the doors.”
The guard answered, “No. I cannot shut and lock the door from here. I can only turn on and off the lights. The management does not want any one person to have access to where they can shut, and lock all the doors at once. That is just common sense, dealing with safety. This is not a bank, nor government building. There is nothing really of value that a group can steal from here, without heavy equipment.”
Lee inquired, “I can see your point there. Are most doors in this place closed when not in use.”
The guard commented, “Quite the opposite. Per safety regulations, all the hallways and rooms, with more than one exit, have to be kept open, in case of fire. Though, most office rooms and auxiliary rooms are mostly left close, but not locked. Unless I lock them. The only locked doors here are to the outside of the buildings, and even they can be opened from the inside.”
Lee asked, “That figures. When is the next shift for the workers of this factory?”
The guard answered, “In about ten hours, or so.”
Lee commented, “Well, this whole mess should be over by them. Can you call the police from here?”
The guard stated, “Actually, I have a cellphone in my pocket that I can use to call the police with.”
Lee said, “That is good. That way you can find a safe place to hide, and call the police from there.”
The guard commented, “I guess that this place is not safe?”
Lee answered, “No. It isn't Some of them will come to this very room. You don't want to be here when that happens.”
The guard replied, “I agree.”
Lee thought, 'There are still a few things I need to clear up, before I can move to the next part of my plan. Also, I need to think about wildcards. While the lighting knocks out the nightvision, and extra sensory advantages, they may have. They may use other things against me, such as infrared equipment. But, these buildings are made with heavy materials. And infrared is good, but not foolproof. Plus, if they do not use such equipment at the beginning, I doubt they will start using it when I reach the offices, and windowed areas. Because, it will just not occur for them to do so, that late in the game.'
'So, those problems are taken care of, by the simple understanding of the human nature. Such as, if a person doesn't use something at the beginning, they are less likely to use such advantages later on.'
'Still, there are the problems with possible snipers. Though, I will worry about that later.'
'Either way, I need to get the ball rolling on my plans, before they get to this room.'
Lee inquired, “Can they access the computer system to this place from any other terminals?”
The guard stated, “No. The other computers are all shutdown, and password protected. Do you want to log off this computer, so they cannot use it?”
Lee stated, “No. This group has hackers. If we do not provide them with a turned on outlet, they will find another way into the computer system. Speaking of which, does this place have a wireless network?”
The guard answered, “No. This company that runs this place is too cheap to install one.”
Lee cracked a smile, as he responded, “Good. Then, we will leave this one to drive them nuts in trying to get it work.”
The guard questioned, “How?”
Lee inquired, “Do you have a knife?”
The guard stated, “Sure. The company won't even let me have a PPG, but I am not going to work here completely unarmed.”
Lee said, “I understand what you mean. Anyway, for this part of my plan to work, I am going to shut the camera screens off the monitor, and then I am going to cut the cords to the keyboard and mouse. They will think that it will take them less time to splice the keyboard and mouse to work, than to find another computer, and hack their way to the system. It will be a case of so near, yet so far.”
The guard laughed, for a few seconds. He then commented, “You are evil.”
Lee smirked, as he commented, “I know. Still, are there other keyboard and mouses nearby?”
Guard responded, “No. Not in this section of the building. And they are all like this one. They are tied into the wall, with no plugs, because there was a rash of thefts of such items, a few years ago. But, management didn't want to pop for more security, than myself, and anyone else on their one, or two man, shifts. So, they tied it all into the walls, with it going to a main mainframe.”
Lee replied, “That figures. And that works for us.”
The guard pointed out, “Still, this is damaging private property.”
Lee responded, “At most. It is a hundred credits. It is not that big a deal.”
The guard conceded, “That is true.”
Lee said, “And this is opposed to them destroying more expensive property, while trying to get to another location, to take into the computer network.”
The guard commented, “When you put it like that. I can see your logic.”
Lee mentioned, “Good. And I am not just cutting them on the cord. There is a method to my madness. I am cutting these cords at the base of their attachments to the keyboard and mouse. Meaning they will have to take it apart to reach the wires to fix it.”
The guard realized, as he replied, “That will up eat even more of their time.”
Lee requested, “Exactly. Now, please hand me your knife.”
The guard replied, “Fine.” He then pulled out his folded pocket knife, and he handed it to Lee.
Lee took the knife in his hands. He said, “Thank you.”
Lee turned around to face the guard's desk, as he unfolded the knife. He then used the knife blade to cut the cords of both the mouse and keyboard, as where the cords were attached the device.
A few seconds later, when Lee was finished, the holes where the cords attached to were flush with the surface of the devices.
Lee then folded the knife blade back into the handle. As he handed the sheathed pocket knife back to the guard, he said, “Thank you, again.”
The guard took the closed knife, and he put it into his right side pants pocket. The guard suggested, “You're welcome. Now, why not cut the cords at the wall, as well?”
Lee pointed out, “No. That will make it too hard for them. And they will look elsewhere to find another computer. I have to give them something to work with.”
The guard agreed, “I see your point. Still, I may be able to help you.”
Lee looked the guard in his eyes, as he stated, in a serious tone of voice, “Listen. Hell is literally seven steps behind me. Those after me are trained killers. They will not hesitate to kill you if you show your face to them. That is why I came to this factory complex in the first place. To lose them, in a place that almost no one else is around. Now, you need to go find a place to hide. And call the police.”
The guard said, “I understand. I will do what you request. But, what are you going to do?”
Lee lips curled into a wicked grin, as he stated, with a bit of excitement in his tone of voice, “I am then going to give my best interpretation of a mix between Die Hard and Riddick.”
The guard replied, “Huh?”
Lee answered, “As I already stated. I am going to keep them busy, and buy time for the police to get here.”
The guard said, “I got you. And you will be needing this.” From one of his pockets, he pulled out a shiny, chrome, small credit card shaped, metal card. He handed the item to Lee.
Lee took the card and looked at it.
The guard explained, “Almost all the doors here have electronic locks on the panels, by the doors. That key card will unlock, or lock them. The lights on the boxes on both sides of the doors, will tell you which is with. Green light is unlocked. Red light is unlocked. Also, all the doors and wall have at least an inch of steel. They will not be able to break through, easily.”
While Lee pocketed the card, he thought, 'Along with playing the multivere's most extreme form of hide and go seek. It looks like I am about to play the most insane game of red light, green light, in the multiverse. Though, given the door I used to come inside, did not have a key lock. And he said almost all the doors. Not, all the doors. It is possible that some of the doors were either not upgraded, or some of the doors were replaced. So, I need to be mindful this will not work on all doors. Still...'
Lee looked up at the guard, as he said, “Thank you. I can see how this could come in handy.”
The guard said, “No problem. While the company did not allow have a PPG, they did give me something that can be used to trap, or delay intruders. I never thought I would end up giving it to an intruder.”
Lee replied, “Well, it is for a good cause. And I will try to keep them busy, until the police arrive.”
The guard commented, “That could be a while. But, I will do my best to help expedite matters.”
Lee stated, “Thank you. Now, go hide, and call the police, while I start this chase.”
While both men then turned and headed for the door to the hallway, the guard said, “Good luck.”
Lee responded, “You too.”
Lee allowed the guard exited the room first. Lee then exited the hallway.
As they entered the hallway, Lee noticed that now all the lights on the ceiling were turned on, instead of every other light being turned on.
Lee thought, 'This is a good sign that most of the factory complexes lights are on. Though, the guard hinted that may not be the case for everywhere. Well, beggars cannot be choosers. Now, to stop this run.”
The guard then went one way down the hall, to find a place to hide.
Meanwhile, Lee went the other way down the hallway.
Lee went deeper into the complex. He followed the path in his mind, that he had made from looking at the factory complexes schematics, as he began his battle of wits with his foes.
(_)
Five minutes later, Rock and Revy lead their convoy to a parking lot, one city block from the main factory center. So, Lee would not spot the cars, and other vehicles.
As everyone parked their vehicles, and zipcraft, Rock and Revy, got out of their car. Along with the two women letting Shenhua, Lotton, and Sawyer out of the backseat, before they closed raised their front seats. Along with locking and closing the two doors to their vehicle.
While Rock, Revy, Shenhua, and Lotton, had their weapons, Sawyer headed for the trunk of the GTO, to retrieve her chainsaw. She used a key that the Lagoon family had given her, to open the trunk, safely pull out her chainsaw, closed the trunk, took the key out of the lock, and pocketed her key.
Meanwhile, Revy walked around to where Rock was standing.
Everyone else was also getting out of their vehicles, while retrieving their weapons and equipment.
As Rock and Revy looked around at the people with them, Revy whistled. She commented, “We really brought an army with us.”
Rock calmly agreed, “Yes. But, let us not say anything to jinx the situation.”
Revy smirked, as she said, “I hear that.”
Rock then noticed Benny and Dutch walking up to them.
Dutch had her Smith & Wesson model six twenty-nine, forty-four caliber magnum, six round revolver in a shoulder holster, under her left armpit. Along with that pistol, she had her Remington eight seventy marine magnum, twelve gauge shotgun slung over her right shoulder.
Dutch's shotgun was pump action, and with the ammo tube being able to hold up to seven rounds. With Dutch loading her shotgun with a combination of buck shot and slugs.
Walking beside Dutch was Benny, whom was carrying small, closed cloth cases, with handles on each other them. With her gripping each item by its handle, with one of her hands. One case had her tool kit, the other case had her laptop, data discs, and computer peripherals with it.
As Dutch and Benny reached Rock and Revy, and came to a stop, the four women looked over at each other.
Rock inquired, “Where is Janet?”
Benny answered, “Back at the car, we rode in, with Eda.”
Rock looked over and saw Janet in the distance, beside one of the Lagoon family's other cars. She was beside Eda, whom road with Dutch, Benny, and Janet.
Rock then turned back to Benny and Dutch, as she asked, “So, Janet is not going to be with you, two?”
Benny smirked, as she stated, “No. She is going hunting with the rest of you.”
Revy questioned, “What is weapon is she going to bring with her?”
Benny continued to smirk, as she slyly inquired, “You know that weapon we got you as a gag gift, for the Christmas, after we learned about that Tvtropes website?”
Revy and Rock giggled, as the both remembers the answer to Benny's question. Revy then commented, “Perfect weapon for being crazy.”
Benny responded, “We all agreed. Even Eda stated that it was an appropriate weapon for the occasion. Speaking of which, Lee was an idiot to let us learn about that little website.”
Rock pointed, “Yes. But, let us not forget that he knows all the genres, as well. And that is one of the reasons he has been able to keep one step ahead of us.”
Benny admitted, “True.”
Revy asked, “So, where are you two heading?”
Dutch stated, “Security room.”
Benny said, “With luck, I will be able to help make this hunt go very quickly. I will try to patch into the video feeds in this place, while Dutch plays look out.”
Rock complimented, “Good thinking.”
Dutch said, “I just want to find this bastard, and get on with the revenge part. I don't care if I am the person that actually catches in him, as long as I get a piece of him, at in the end.”
Rock agreed, “I feel the same way.”
Benny inquired, “And what are your plans?”
Revy answered, “We are just going into the main building, and see what happens.”
Rock commented, “With our luck, we will bump into him.”
Dutch replied, “You might just be right about that.”
Rock said, “Let's hope so. Now, let me try to bring some organization to this madness.” She turned to Revy, as she requested, “Revy, would you please do the honors.”
Revy pulled out the semi-automatic pistol holstered in her left armpit, with her right hand.
She then pointed her weapon to the ground, as she used her left hand to pull back the slide of the gun, to load a bull into the chamber of the weapon.
She then aimed her pistol into the air, and fired a round. She then put the safety on her gun, and holstered it back into her left holster.
Everyone immediately looked at her, Rock, Dutch, and Benny. Revy then yelled, “Hey everyone! Listened up!” She continued, in softer tone of voice, “Rock has something to say.” She turned to Rock, as she went onto say, in a calmer tone of voice, “They're all yours.”
Rock replied, “Thank you, Revy.” She then turned to look at the group in front of her, as she stated in a loud, yet even tone of voice, “The main building that we are heading to is one building over, directly north of us! But, I do not want all of us heading for that place. Split up, and use caution. Do not shoot unless you have to. Keep in mind, Lee is unarmed. And he is trying to avoid a fight. So, there is no serious danger, unless we get trigger happy, and accidentally shoot each other.”
“Since we do not have the time, nor manpower, to do a floor by floor search of each building, I want to concentrate on the main building we are heading to, and the buildings by around it. If one of you sees, Lee, or finds evidence of his trail, immediately notify all of us by radio, so we can tighten our search to that area.”
“We can find him, it will just take some time.”
“And remember people. We want Lee alive, conscious, and not crippled. Revenge is useless, if he is not aware of it, nor can feel pain. Also, if you find someone in there, try not to harm, nor kill them. We are after Lee. We do not want to draw the attention of the locals, with broken bodies, dead corpses, and missing people, if we can avoid it.”
“And we are all working together. This is the same rules as on Plata Podrido. If there are problems between any of you, contact Revy and I. And we will sort out the problem. If you cannot play nice with each other, you can go home.”
(_)
At that moment, the back of the crowd, Spike, Faye, and Jetta wear standing together, they had out their weapons, and were reach to search.
They heard every word. In response, Spike said, under her breath, “We will see.”
(_)
Ten feet away from the Bebop crew, the Serenity crew were ready. As they had just finished pulling out their weapons and equipment from the trunks of the two cars they drove in.
Kaylee has a revolver pistol holstered to a gunbelt, on the right side of her waist.
Beside Kaylee was Simon and Inara. Simon has carrying a case, full of medical supplies, by the handle, in his right hand.
Inara also had a pistol holstered in a gunbelt, on the right side of her waist. Though, Inara's pistol was semi-automatic.
Mal, Zoe, and Jayne, has a few weapons strapped to their person. Also, Mal and Zoe each had an automatic rifle slung by the strap, over their right shoulder.
On the other hand, Jayne had brought a much more personal weapon with him, that was slung onto his right shoulder.
After hearing Rock's speak, Mal muttered, “Whatever.”
(_)
Nearby, Balalaika and B were standing back, and to the left sides, of both the Bebop and Serenity crews.
Both women overheard Spike and Mal.
Balalaika commented, in english, “Come on, everyone. Lighten up. This could be a very fun hunt, if you let it be.”
Both the crews of the Bebop and Serenity heard Balalaika. They looking behind them to see that Balalaika and B were dressed in black and dark gray camouflaged, combat fatigues, with fingerless gloves.
They also saw that Balalaika and B had come prepared. Their equipment included their snipe rifles, slung on their shoulders, by straps, Their holstered, side arm, pistols. Their radios clipped to the other side of their belts. And they had some climbing equipment. Such as ropes and rappelling gear, on the opposite shoulders they had their rifles slung to.
Jayne whistled. He then complimented, “Yea. You to are definitely dressing for success in this hunt.”
B smiled, as she inquired, in english, “Thank you, Jayne. So, what are all your plans in this hunt?”
Simon was the first to speak, as he stated, “Kaylee, Inara, and I are going to hang back, in case anyone needs medical attention. Even if it is Lee. If it is him, I promise, if I can get to him in time, when I am done with him, he will be healthy enough to torture.”
The adults nearby chuckled, for a few seconds.
Balalaika complimented, “That is a good idea, Simon. I feel better with a trained medic in the field.”
Simon replied, “Thank you, Balalaika.”
Kaylee commented, “Too bad Annie didn't want to come. This would go a lot quicker with her here.”
Inara look over at Mal, and Spike, as she commented, “It seems that not everyone feels up to hunting, Lee. A few of us have no hard feelings towards him. And it is likely a good thing that Annie is one such person.”
Both Mal and Spike noticed Inara's gaze and comment were directed at them.
Spike stayed silent. While Mal conceded, “You may have point there.”
Jayne stated, “Well, I don't know about the rest of you guys. I am going out on my own.”
Zoe looked over at Jayne, as she said, “Good luck. And don't worry. I will stick with the captain.”
Jayne replied, “Thanks, Zoe.”
Jetta looked at Spike, then Faye. She turned to the Serenity crew, as she mentioned, “Well, the three of us work better as a team.”
Faye looked over at Jetta, as she commented, “It is a lot better than when it was just the two us, Jet.”
Jetta turned to Faye, as she agreed, “You got that right, Faye.”
Spike said, “It is nice working with you two, again.”
Jetta replied, “The feeling is mutual, Spike.” She then turned to B and Balalaika, as she inquired, “B and Balalaika, I take it, from those weapons, and equipment, that you are going to find be the snipers for this crew?”
Balalaika casually answered, “Yes. And don't worry, I promise to only wing, Lee. If we see him... I cannot believe he tricked us during that trip, by using the alias, Ello Gray.”
Faye commented, “Now, you know how we feel.”
B stated, “That being said. Since Lee knows we are here, he will guess we will be the ones taking the sniper positions, in this group. I doubt Lee will be foolish enough to expose himself out in the open, with us here.”
Balalaika replied, “I have to agree.”
Spike turned to B, as she asked, “So, how good are you with a rifle, B?”
B answered, “While not as good as Balalaika with a rifle. Though, I am a skilled marksman.”
Balalaika commented, “Yes. B has pulled a few shots over the years that have impressed even myself.”
Mal asked, “So, where are you covering from?”
B answered, “Balalaika and I have already discussed this, on our way here. Balalaika will will be setting up two vantage points. One covering the southwest corner of the building are heading to, and the other will be the northeast corner of the build. Balalaika will take the southwest. While I will have the northeast.”
Zoe complimented, “Not bad. I am pretty good with a rifle myself. If you want my help.”
B declined, “No need. And we would prefer someone with a level head stay with Mal.”
Kaylee deadpanned, “I second that motion.”
Many of those around them chuckled, while Mal politely remained silent.
As they calmed down, Mal stated, “Okay. Let's head out.”
The adults then separated, as they all began their hunt for the same prey.
(_)
Elsewhere in the group, the eight teenager adults in the group were near Akira, Ranma, and Natsuru.
The three lovers had come in their own car.
The five Lagoon sisters got their weapons, from the two cars they rode in, with the trio sisters riding with them, Yurika, Nodoka and Mikoto
The three martial artist sisters did not bring any weapons, save for their own abilities.
Presently, Yurika, Nodoka, Mikoto were a number of feet from the five Lagoon sisters. They were by standing by their mothers, Akira, Ranma, and Natsuru, as they were talking to them.
While the sisters and Natsuru did not have on any weapons. Ranma had on her magical golden bracers, on her forearms. And Akira had on her revolvers, and long knives, with her yellow cowgirl outfit. Though, she did not have on her cowgirl hat, nor sunglasses.
Nodoka asked, “So, what are you three planning on doing?”
Natsuru answered, “We are going to be hunting Lee together.”
Akira commented, “Personally, I hope the three of us find Lee, first. We will try to take him down with as little harm to him as possible.”
Ranma shrugged, “Yea. We don't really have anything against him.”
Mikoto stated, “We are with you on this. Honestly, we are just here to keep the others from killing Lee. We honestly like him.”
Natsuru inquired, “What is the general mood with the Lagoon sisters on Lee?”
Mikoto answered, “Mixed, and conflicted, with them leaning towards not wanting to harm Lee. They want to please their parents, but they realize what Lee has done for them. So, their hearts are not really in this hunt.”
Akira stated, “Good. Now, we want you three to keep an eye on the sisters, so they don't accidentally do something we will all regret.”
Yurika agreed, “That is a great idea... Well, good luck.”
Akira replied, “Happy hunting.”
The daughters and their parents then split up.
The three parents started making their way towards a secondary building, near the main building. Meanwhile, the three daughters walked over to the Lagoon sisters.
When the three sisters reached the Lagoon sisters, Molly looked over at them. She adjusted her shoulder holster straps, on her upper chest, with her semi-automatic pistol holstered in them. She kindly said, “Glad you could join us.”
Yurika replied, “We are glad you would let us join.”
Molly responded, “My opinion in this hunt is, the more, the merrier.”
Molly, Yurika, Mikoto, and Nodoka giggled from Molly's response.
Nearby, Yukio, held up her machine gun, with a modified beta c-mag clip attached the weapon, she looked around and saw that her family and friends were ready. She asked, “Now, that we are ready to kick ass, what are we going to do about getting Lee?”
Kristina finished putting on, and powering up, her power gauntlets, as she turned to her sister. She commented, “Well, I know better than to torch this place.”
Rebecca finished tying on her to scabbard, with a long knife sheathed in each one, in a crisscross fashion, on her back. She suggested, “Given Lee is good at thinking several steps ahead. We should not go to where we think he is. And we should be focusing on where we think he will be next.”
Sarah adjusted the scabbard attached to the left side of her belt, which held her katana. She stated, “Well, in that case...” She turned to Molly, as she questioned, “Molly, where do you think Lee is heading?”
Molly looked over at her sisters. She cracked a smile, as she said, “I have a few ideas.”
(_)
A few minutes later, everyone had locked up their vehicles, and started heading towards the buildings where they thought Lee might be inside of.
As they all walked out of the parking lot, and into a nearby road, Rock walked up to Lotton, whom was only about ten feet from her. She requested, “Hold up, Lotton.”
Lotton did so, as she turned to look at the japanese woman.
As Rock walked over to Lotton, Lotton asked, “What is it?”
When Rock reached Lotton, she leaned over and whispered something in Lotton's left ear.
When Rock leaned back up, she saw the white hair woman nod once towards her. Lotton stated, “I understand.”
Rock commented, “I know I am asking a lot. But, you are one of the few people here that has the patience to do what I ask.”
Lotton said, “No problem. I understand. And it is an idea I would have thought of.”
Rock stated, “I know. And good luck.”
Lotton replied, “You too.” She then turned and headed in a different direction than the rest of the group.
Meanwhile, Rock turned around, and walked back over to Revy.
As Rock reached Revy, Rock noted that, from the look of confusion on Revy's face, her lover had noticed Rock's actions, but she did not overhear what was said.
Rock thought, 'Well, at least our enhanced hearing is not so enhanced that it is troublesome. And what I whispered was only meant for Lotton's ears.'
Revy asked, “What was that all about?”
Rock answered, “Insurance.”
Revy shrugged, as she said, “Okay. Well, let's head inside. I would like to have first crack at, Lee.”
Rock stated, “So would I.” She then noticed items attached to the various walls, on the outer buildings around them. She said, “And you know what I never thought I would say, that I would be happy to see, in a building I am breaking into.”
Revy replied, “What's that.”
Rock cracked a grin, as she said, “Security cameras.”
Revy just lightly giggled at Rock's joke, as she realized what Rock meant with her comment.
The two lovers then walked together, with the rest of their group, towards the buildings that they believed they would find Lee inside of.
Soon after, they started splitting up, and heading into the buildings, at different entrances.
Though, unlike Lee, they were not so discreet in entering the building.
(_)
Fifteen minutes later, Lee had already crossed into another building, with the alleyway between buildings be less than six feet apart, and the entry doors beside across from each other. It took less than ten seconds for Lee to move building, to alleyway, to building, with him using the key card to unlock and open the door. Then, close and lock the doors, behind himself.
Currently, Lee was walked down a hallway, with horizontal piping running up the walls, and sides of the floor. At certain points, the pipping turned into the walls, and lead down to other parts of the building.
While Lee continued walking, Lee thought, 'I am glad I checked that key card, that the guard gave me. To see how it works. And it works better than I had hoped. These is a chip in it that works on short proximity, which is triggered by swiping the card on the door locks, on the walls, by the doors. And no matter what angle swipe the card on the wall panels, by the doors, the lock is triggered to either lock, or unlock. That means the card readers are just pressure sensors, which triggers the signal from the card.'
'And if this is like similar technology in my reality. The card frequency is likely short range. So, even if they had equipment to home in on it. Which they don't even know I have such a key card. It would still take them time to find me.'
'Also, the doors are solid steel. No windows. Nothing to punch through.'
'Along with the key card, this building is bigger than I expected. And like the map showed, this building is clearly part of the factory section of the industrial complex.'
'In addition, I consider myself lucky to have gone from the other building, to this one, without getting caught. But, I don't think my luck will last for much longer.'
As Lee got near the end of the hallway, he hear voices coming from the large room, at the exit of the hallway.
Lee thought, 'Well, it seems a few of them are nearby. Let's see how quiet I can be, while I hide in the last place they expect a tall man, like me, to hide.'
Lee then softly climbed up the piping on the walls until he was literally hanging on the ceiling, by his feet and hands, while facing downward.
Lee thought, 'At least I have a good grip, with both my hands and feet. And this position is not that uncomfortable. I can stay here for a little bit, without a problem. Now, I can listen to them. While, I come up with a plan to deal with them. Without any of us getting hurt.'
Lee then strained his ears to listen to the voices, as they got closer.
As the voice got closer, he recognized the voices as belonging to Ranma, Natsuru, and Akira. And all of them were speaking in japanese, which Lee had long since learned, during the time loop.'
Lee thought, 'They are likely using japanese, because they think I won't understand them. They don't realize that I completed my japanese language lessons from someone they don't know about.'
(_)
In the nearby room, Ranma, Akira, and Natsuru came to a stop, in the large room, as they looked around, and saw that the room lead into three other hallways, excluding the hallway they had come in.
Ranma said, in japanese, “Well, this room has four ways to come in from.”
Akira commented, in japanese, “We came from one direction. So, that eliminates that entry point. And we can do this a few different ways. We could do the more foolish idea of split up. With each of us taking a hallway.”
Natsuru said, in japanese, “I do not like that idea.”
Ranma responded, “I am against doing that.”
Akira agreed, “It is a bad idea. So, how about we even the odds in another way? One of us stays here, and two of use go down one of the hallways? Then, we just double back and take our time to check out each hallway?”
Natsuru agreed, “I like that idea.”
Ranma responded, “That works for me. But, who stays?”
Natsuru stated, “I do. Lee knows what we are capable of. Ranma, you are the better fighter. And Akira, you are armed. But, I am physically tougher and stronger. I can handle myself in a fight. And Lee knows about my fire abilities. Chances are, if he confronted me, he would surrender to me.”
In the nearby hallway, hanging from the ceiling, Lee mentally reflected, 'Nice logic. Flawed. But, nice logic.'
Ranma questioned, “Okay. Now, which hallway do you want to go down in?”
Akira answered, “Simple. We are on the building west of the building, whom Rock stated, that Lee probably entered. We can from the south part of the building. The best chance to bump into Lee is to take the east hallway from here.”
Lee thought, 'Good guess, Akira, considering this is that hallway. I guess I better get ready for them, and to confront Natsuru. I have to do this just right, or I am going to get myself killed, or worse. Still, it might be a good idea to see what I am dealing with, before I act. Natsuru mentioned Akira was armed. That makes things more difficult. Still, I want to see the situation with my own eyes.'
'And since my precognition is not screaming at me, it means that in my position, I am not in any immediately danger. So, I still have some time to think.'
Lee stated in his position, clinging to the ceiling, as Akira and Ranma walked under him, with neither realizing he was there.
While Lee watched the two women continued walking passed him, and down the hallway, he thought, 'So, Akira has both her revolvers, and both her long knives. And Ranma had on those golder bracers of hers. That is not surprising. But, it does mean I am going to have be more careful in this situation. Though, Ranma and Natsuru are still the primary dangers of their little trio. But, Akira is someone I should not underestimate. I, of all people, know how useful it is to have someone underestimate him, or in this case, her.'
'And with them like this, it is academic that Natsuru is in her white and black seifuku. Though, she keeps her Kampfer powers and abilities as long as she is in female, not matter the clothing. So, as long as she is female, she is extremely dangerous, no matter what clothing she is wearing. Now, to see how silent I can be.'
Lee slowly, and silently freed his left hand, as he pulled out a deck of cards, from one of his left side coat pocket.
He thumped open the small box of cards, he then put the open box of playing cards back into his left side coat pocket. He then used his left hand to pulled out his key card
He put the key card, from his front, left pants pocket.
Lee thought, 'Now, to time this, using my precognition.'
Lee waiting for the next ten seconds, until his precognition told him that it was safe to move.
As Natsuru turned her attention away form the hallway that Lee, Ranma, and Akira were in, Lee silently stepped down to the floor.
By then, Akira and Ranma were fifty feet down the hallway, from Lee, and the entrance to the other room, where Natsuru was.
Lee then swiftly, stepped into the other room, as he pulled out his key card. One on the other side of the doorway, he turned around, as he swiped the key card in the locking it, as the steel door slid sideways to close.
In a matter of three seconds, as Natsuru turned to see Lee, along with Akira and Ranma looking behind them to see the door to the other room, to where their lover was located, slide shut.
Lee immediately pocketed the key card back into his front left pants pocket, he then pulled out his open box of cards with his left hand, and him pulling the cards out with his right hand. Then, he pocket the empty box, swapped hands, to where the left hand was holding the deck of loose cards, as a card was between Lee's right index and middle finger. Lee's right hand was in a throwing position, aimed a Natsuru.
Lee and Natsuru silently stared at each other, for a few seconds, as they sized one another up, for a possible battle.
Lee mentally noted, 'Just as I thought, Natsuru is in her white and black seifuku. Now, to talk her out of doing something foolish.' Lee calming warned, “Let's not doing any more foolish, than either of us have done.”
Natsuru agreed, “Wise words.”
Lee said, “Glad you agree. Now, shift back to male. I can throw this card between your eyes faster than you can throw a fireball. Do not make me kill you. I respect you, and really do not want to.”
Natsuru pointed out, “But, my fire ball would kill you, leaving us both dead. Though, I agree. It is not worth it.”
Natsuru shifted to her male form, with his male clothing.
Lee said, “Thank you.” He then took a closer look at Natsuru's male form, through Natsuru's shirt, pants, and shoes. Lee complimented, “And your male form is really ripped.”
Natsuru commented, in his male voice, “I would like to thank you for that.”
Lee replied, “You're welcome.”
Natsuru commented, “You do know you cannot escape.”
Lee calmly pointed out, “I can try.”
Lee's eyes never left Natsuru, as he started walking sideways, to his left, around the room, until the was on the west end of the room. With Lee making sure to also use his peripheral vision, to avoid any pipes, or other items, that may be on the ground, and cause him to trip. Fortunately, Lee saw not such items on the floor.
While Lee walked, thought, 'I need to keep my eyes on Natsuru, and avoid tripping on anything. Natsuru can change in a split second. So, I am not taking any chances. And I do not want to be near that door I just shut, in case Ranma does something stupid, like trying a ki energy shot against it. I am not sure the door would hold, or blow out. And it is not worth the risk.'
Lee then came to a stop, on the west end of the room, with his back to the open west hallway behind him
Just then, Lee and Natsuru heard banging coming from the shut door.
Lee kept his eyes on Natsuru, though, from the angle he was standing at, he saw the closed door, on the other side of Natsuru, where the banging could be heard.
Lee thought, with mild amusement, 'Speak of the devil. And I better warn them.'
Lee stated, “I checked the doors. They are each an an inch thick of steel. And after I leave the room, it is going to take you a minute to free Akira and Ranma.”
Natsuru replied, “I appreciate the information. I saw that card you used. I take it that is a key card that unlocks and locks the doors to this place?”
Lee thought, 'Given this is so obvious, there no point in denying that.' He admitted, “Yes.”
Just then, Lee heard a radio, clipped to the right side of belt, around his pants. From the radion, Lee heard Akira's voice state, in japanese “Natsuru, are you all right?”
Natsuru pulled off the radio, with his right hand. He held the radio near his mouth, and pushed the talked button. Though, he never took his eyes off of Lee.
Natsuru said, in his male voice, in japanese, “I am fine. Lee's here, but I am trying to talk him down. As a show of good faith, I changed back to male.”
Over the radio, Akira stated, “I am glad things are going well for you. Though, the door is seems to be locked. Ranma is thinking about blasting it.”
Lee said, in english, “I would advise against that.”
Natsuru replied, in english, “I agree.” He pressed the talk button on his radio, as he said, in japanese, “Ranma. Do not do that. I will get you out in a minute.”
Ranma commented, from her radio, in japanese, “Okay. We will wait for you.”
Natsuru continued to look at Lee, as he said, in english, “I have to congratulate you, Lee. You really got the drop on us.”
Lee smirked, “Quite literally. I was hanging from the ceiling.”
Natsuru could not help but smile, as he responded, “I cannot believe you successfully used that ceiling drop ninja trick on us, of all people.”
Lee continued smile, as he replied, “Yea. The irony is absolutely hilarious.” Lee then spoke in japanese, as he complimented Natsuru, “By the way. Nice try with using your native language. But, I know japanese.”
Lee thought, 'It is best not to get any more detailed than this. I do not want them to know that I know that they know about the time loop.'
Natsuru thought, 'So, he found someone to teach him in the time loop. Though, it is best not to mention the time loop. If he knew that we know about the time loop. That information would likely make him more unpredictable and dangerous.'
Natsuru stated, in english, “I wondered if you understood what River said to you, during your poker game, at the casino. When she spoke in japanese.”
Lee said, in japanese, “I did understand her. But, I did not want let you all to know that I knew japanese. Given how many of series, in my stories, come from Japan. Doing so would raise suspicion against me. But, since my identity is now out in the open. That is presently a small matter.”
Natsuru complimented, “I see your point. You always do surprise us, Lee.”
Lee said, in english, “That is why I am still alive. See you.”
Lee then walked backwards, to the nearby hallway. He then pressed the bottom on the wall, to close the door behind him.
As the door closed, Lee immediately put the single card in his right fingers, back into the top of the deck. Then, he grabbed the deck with his right hand. He quickly pulled out the key card with his left hand and swiped the panel, locking the door. Next, he pocket his key card, back into the pants pocket he had it in.
Lee pulled out his empty card box. Afterward, he put the cards back into their box, and closed it. Finally, he pocketed the deck of cards back into the coat pocket he had them in, as he turned and ran down the hallway, away from Natsuru, Akira, and Ranma.
Though, Lee more or less jogged. Because with his cancer, he did not have much stamina to begin with. And if he ran full out, he would quickly tire himself, in a situation, he knew he needed to stay mobile, as much as possible.
As Lee ran, he thought, 'I am glad I got out of there, with neither of us getting hurt. It is good that Natsuru is a kind person. Still, I cannot afford to take any chances. I will run for a minute, or so. Then, I will go back to walking. I don't want to tire myself out, in this endurance gauntlet. Also, I should make a turn in a minute anyway. And I won't lock the doors behind me. That will just create a trail for the others to follow me. I will only lock the doors, if the others, after me, are in the immediate vicinity, and they spot me.'
(_)
Meanwhile, at the moment, on other side of the locked door, in the room, with Lee gone, Natsuru shifted back to his female form, in her seifuku. She thought, 'That went better than I expected.'
She still had her radio in her right hand. She into her radio, with her female voice, in english, “As you can guess. Lee was here, but I had to let him go. We are in the southeastern part of the west building, beside the main center.”
She then turned to look at the closed door that was between her and her two lovers.
Over the radio, Rock said, in english, “We are all heading your way. But, why did you have to let him go?”
Natsuru answered, “It put me in a situation, where we would have killed each other with his card throwing trick, and my fire. And it just wasn't worth it.”
Rock replied, “I understand.”
Natsuru said, “Thank you.”
Rock inquired, “By the way, I overheard the exchange between you, and Akira, on the radio? What happened, exactly?”
Revy stated, over her radio, “Yea. Even if you let him go, you three should have him in a minute, or so.”
Natsuru commented, into her radio, “We reached a room that branched out into a few different hallways. And we decided I would stay behind, while the two of them went down the hallway they though Lee was be coming from. They were right. But, Lee was able to hide, wait for them to pass by, and he then locked the door behind him. And these doors are an inch of metal, thick. Still, I should be able to get to Akira and Ranma, within a minute of trying to open one of these doors.”
Over the radio, Violin stated, “Be careful doing so. I have done that a few time. Even with your strength and toughness. You can easily hurt yourself, if you are not careful.”
Natsuru responded, into her radio, “I will. Anyway, I saw that Lee has some sort of key card that lets him unlock and lock the doors in here. So, be careful. If he gets by you, he can trap you. And, as I said, these doors are thick. At least, an inch of steel. I think it is steel. I am right now trying to figure how best to open the door between Ranma and Akira, and myself. It will be a few minutes.”
Over the radio, Akira suggested, “We could just go around.”
Natsuru smiled, as she casually stated, into her radio, “Nah. I got this.”
Revy said, over the radio, “Take the time you need. And we will keep that in mind.”
Natsuru replied, into her radio, “Will do.” She then clipped her radio back to the right side of her short skirt.
Natsuru then started approaching the door, as she thought, 'I think the best way to open this, is to slowly warm the metal, to where it pliable with my super-strength, but not to much that it will burn my hands. I have done this a few times before. And it should work here.”
Natsuru soon found she was correct, as she free her two loves, with only minor difficulties and just a little time wasted. They then headed around the other locked door, as they searched for Lee.
(_)
Meanwhile, just as Natsuru was about to free Akira and Ranma, from a hallway, in the same building where Lee, Akira, Natsuru, and Ranma, were at, only a few floors above them, Revy replied, over her radio, “Take the time you need. And we will keep that in mind.”
On the radio, Natsuru said, “Will do.”
To Revy's right side, Rock said, over her radio, “This is just a reminder that Lee is full tricks. And he is not to be underestimated... Also, Benny, Dutch, have you found the security room yet.”
Benny stated, over the radio, “Yes. And it is a disappointment. The company that runs this place, is clearly too cheap to pop for a real security crew. The security room is just a small room, with one desk, one chair and one computer monitor, with mouse and keyboard. Along with a computer monitor, and equipment. And it is a good guess that Lee was here, first. And with security guard nowhere to be found. I would guess that Lee got that key card from the guard that was here. And he then convinced the guard to find some place to hide.”
Rock stated, “That doesn't matter. We have seen cameras all over this place. If we can use the guard's computer, we can quickly find Lee, and capture him. Still, if any of you find the guard, do not harm him. We all know how persuasive Lee can be. Now, besides the key card, and the guard gone, what other reasons do you think Lee was there, as well?”
Over the radio, Benny stated, “Well, that is the problem. Another reason we think Lee is here is because the computer screen is still on. And this the monitor is logged to the security account, to the computer system in this factory area. But, the video camera system program is turned off. Though, I can see the video camera system icon on the screen. And I could access the cameras with just a simple click of the mouse, or stroke of the keyboard. If I could just get the keyboard, or mouse, working.”
Rock inquired, into her radio, “What is the problem?”
Over the radio, Benny said, “The problem is that Lee cut the cords to both the mouse and the keyboard, where the cords met the devices. Meaning, I have to take them apart to fix them. I am sure it is Lee who did the cutting. No one else is this methodical in creating a dilemma.”
Rock asked, “What do you mean? Can you not just replace the broken items?”
From her radio, Benny responded, “No. The cords for the keyboard, mouse, and monitor got directly into the wall. There are no plugs for the cords. So, I cannot unplug the cut cords, and replace the devices. Also, I don't see a computer tower here. Meaning, the computer system is likely tied to a mainframe, somewhere else in the building.”
Rock inquired, “Can't you just use your laptop to access the system?”
Over the radio, Benny replied, “Nope. No can do. I have already tried. There are no plugs to hook in my laptop, and this place had no wireless service.”
Rock asked, “What about finding another computer, and hacking your way into the system.”
Benny stated, “Finding another computer will take time. Plus, in a mainframe and corporate network systems, different computers, in different locations, have different levels of access to the mainframe, hardwired in them. That is just a normal security measure, for all such systems.”
“I cannot just find a random computer, and hack my way in. We do not have the time. And even if I had the time, I would have to hack into an account, and then hack into the mainframe for the access to the computer system.”
“On the other hand, I might be able to take apart the keyboard and mouse, and split the cords into getting them to work.”
“Fortunately, the connection wires to both of them are different, so I can tell which is which. That will save me time. But, either option will take time. And I am sure that is why Lee set this up this dilemma in this way. Because he knew we could try to use the camera system.”
“And I admit, it is a wonderful stalling tactic to be used against me.”
Rock agreed, “It sounds like it is. Which way do you think will take the shortest amount of time?”
Benny answered, over her radio, “Taking apart and repairing the keyboard and mouse. Then, splicing the cords to the devices to get them back to working order. Because, I am just dealing with hardware, and not trying to hack into software. Also, both devices use Philips head screws, and my tool kit has all the things I need to fix the devices. So, this will not take too long.”
“Still, I am sure that is what Lee hopes I would do. Considering he did not just logoff on this computer. He is baiting me, and we both know it. That man is clearly devious.”
Rock replied, into her radio, “That goes without saying. Do what you can, and let me know when you have access to the camera system.”
Over the radio, Benny replied, “Will do.”
Dutch mentioned, over her radio, “Also, there is another matter. Since the guard and Lee met, it is possible that Lee convinced the guard to call the police.”
Rock commented, “That is very possible. And the call coming from the guard would sound more official.”
On the radio, Dutch agreed, “Exactly.”
Over the radio, Violin inquired, “But, won't Lee get into trouble with the police, if they catch him?”
On the radio, Akira answered, in english, “For what? He had false identification, to show the police. We saw him use a credit chit. And that using the person's own thumb print. And since he does have a credit chit on him. He probably conned his way into getting an identitcard. At worst, for the most obvious of things, he could be charged with trespassing. But, there are extenuating circumstances.”
“And even then, he has a witness. The guard, whom will back him up, in saying that he likely asked the guard to call the police. Along with this, the guard will likely tell the police our cars coming into the factory, with us being after Lee. And given how skilled Lee is at talking himself out of trouble. He would likely be able to talk the police into letting him go by morning. If not sooner.”
With her radio, Rock finished for Akira, “While, on the other hand, we would have to bug out, if the police showed up. Not bad thinking on Lee's part.”
Dutch questioned, over the radio, “So, all this is just a stalling tactic on his part, as he waits for the police?”
Revy spoke into her radio, “I doubt it. Lee is not one to rely on someone else to do the heavy lifting. This might be his plan, B. His plan, A, is to escape us on his own.”
Dutch said, into her radio, “That man just does not know when to quit. And if that is the case, there is not much we can do about it. This just means our time is limited.”
Over the radio, Balalaika stated, “Actually, we should have plenty of time. This place is at the edge of the dome. While Lee probably informed the guard that we were coming. So, if the guard contacted the police, they would know to expect to deal with a large group. I would say it will take them between two to three hours to both prepare to deal with us. And then reach us. If not longer. That is plenty of time to find, Lee.”
Rock stated, in her radio, “Thanks for the information, Balalaika. Now, everyone continue the search.”
(_)
Outside, on the southwestern corner of the section of the factory complex, that Rock team was searching, Balalaika was on a ladder, of a communications tower. She was already midway up, as she stopped to use her radio.
Balalaika held the ladder with her right hand, as she used her left hand to clip her radio back onto her belt.
Balalaika then used both her hands to start back to climbing the ladder a little further up the communications tower. To where she overlooked the roof and area that her friends were searching for Lee. With B doing the same, from a tower on the opposite side of the area, from where she was at.
Both of them would be on the look out for Lee, should their prey head out into the open.
As Balalaika climbed, she thought, 'I miss that Rock no longer calls me, Ms. Balalaika. But, there is not much I can do about that. And at least she is still polite as ever.'
Balalaika looked upwards, as she thought, 'Also, I am getting close to where I want to be.' She then turn her attention back to the ladder rungs, as she made her way to the middle section of the tower.
The middle section of the communications tower was high enough to over look the buildings, but still far lower than the dome ceiling, even this close to the side walls of the dome.
And given they were inside a dome, though a large dome, the wind was not that bad, out in the open, while high in the air.
(_)
Five minutes later, as Lee briskly walked down another hallway, with no pipes, flat metal walls, concrete floor, and plenty of lighting from the ceiling lights. He soon found himself in a packaging room, which was more like a much large version of the hallway he had just exited.
The lighting the room was provided by a handful of ceiling lights, which did not fulling over the room, creating shadowed areas in the room.
Lee saw packages stacked higher than his hand, on the right side of the room, and a large, square table on the left side of the room.
There were open doors all around the room, leading to other hallways, and rooms.
Lee thought, 'There are a lot of places for an ambush in this room. I should walk cautiously, but not slowly. While staying aware of my surroundings.'
Lee then calmly walked through the room.
As he reached the middle of the room, passed the table, to his left, his precognition warned him to turn around.
Lee turned around to see Shenhua. She had both her kukri long knives in her hands. She had her usual red qipao and white jacket. Though, instead of wearing her red high heels, she was wearing red flat soled slippers.
Lee grimly thought, 'Of all the Lagoon women to face, it had to be Shenhua. Honestly, I would rather face, Revy. I know how to push Revy's buttons. On the other hand, Shenhua prefers to keep a cool, level head. She must have snuck up behind me. And the face she is wearing flat soled slippers, instead of high heels, means she is serious.'
'I am not going to be able able to talk my way out of this. And if I run, she will turn me into a pincushion, with those long knives, and her smaller throwing knives, before I even get out of the room...”
Lee continued his thoughts, with worry, 'Oh crap. I am going to have fight her. And I don't have time to pull out a deck of cards.'
Shenhua cursed, in a casual tone of voice, in english, “Oh damn. How did you hear me?”
Lee admitted, “I didn't. Precognition. Remember?”
Shenhua replied, “Ah, yes.”
Lee commented, “Let me guess. You are still pissed off over the cherry bomb.”
Shenhua answered, “That and the toilet seat incident.”
Lee winced, as he replied, “You still remember that?”
Shenhua calmly said, in a dangerously even tone of voice, “It is not an event that one easily forgets. So, who spilled the beans on that we learned about the time loop?”
Lee answered, “The Lowe family.” He thought, with concern, 'At this point. Lying, or not answering. Will only make things worse for myself.'
Shenhua said, “So, you met them. That figures.”
Lee commented, “They seem like a nice family.”
Shenhua agreed, “That they are. Now, are you ready to suffer, and die?”
Lee defended, “Well, to be fair. In the time loop, you did kill me over the cherry bomb incident.”
Shenhua pointed out, “I realize now that I killed you too quickly.”
Lee conceded, “Perhaps. And I honestly did not know that you were in the women's restroom at the time.”
Shenhua commented, “Which is why were are still talking at the moment.”
Lee said, “Also, that toilet scene idea, back in Roanapur, came from Tvtropes.”
Shenhua responded, “That may be the case. But, you were the one who actually wrote the toilet seat scene. Though, before I make you scream, and die, I do have a question.”
Lee though, 'Buying time is my only option.' He replied, “Sure. What is your question?”
Shenhua asked, “Why did you improve my english skills?”
Lee answered, “The honest truth is I suck at writing broken language dialogue.”
Shenhua burst out laughing.
Lee remained silent, as he watched the woman, with long black hair, laugh.
Several seconds later, as Shenhua calmed down, Lee continued, “And with you laid up healing, from your injuries during the Blood Trail arc, in a home you shared with two english speaking people. It only made sense that you would spend that time learning to develop your english skills.”
Shenhua stated, “River is right. You are a genius.”
Lee commented, “Thank you. I hope you are grateful for the language skills.”
Shenhua cracked a grin, as she casually said, “Oh, I am. Though, I still am going to kill you.”
Just before Shenhua was about to rush at Lee, Lee swiftly stated, “Hold it. I have a question for you?”
Shenhua stopped herself from moving forward, as she flatly responded, in an annoyed tone of voice, “What is it?”
Lee honestly asked, “How did a Taiwanese woman, such as yourself, learn to specialized in combat using nepalese long knives, and japanese throwing knives?”
Shenhua flatly answered, “Long story.”
Lee replied, “I bet.”
Shenhua shrugged, as she said, “Too bad you won't live long enough to hear it.” Shenhua then charged at Lee in a full sprint across the room, her long knives at the ready, to slide into Lee.
Lee used his precognition to time it so, at the second to last second, he quickly jumped to his right side, as Shenhua run passed him. With himself just out of reach of her long knives.
Lee turned counterclockwise, as Shenhua did a u-turn, to her left, and ran back towards him.
What happened next was a case of precognition versus enhanced reflexes. Where Lee kept backing away, as he dodged Shenhua swings, while she advanced on him.
And though Lee was able to remain unharmed, Shenhua was able to knock Lee's black fedora hat off, by slicing it in half with her left long knife.
Lee thought, 'Better the hat, than my head. The only thing going for me is she does not know how skilled I am. Now, to show her how good I really am.'
Shenhua then thrust her left blade at Lee.
Lee shift to his left, as he stepped into the attack. Lee then rapped his right arm around Shenhua's left forearm, locking it under his right armpit.
This caught Shenhua by surprise, as she brought down the long knife in her right hand. But, Lee quickly caught Shenhua's right wrist, with his left hand.
Lee's plan was simple. He would be swiftly able to turn her body to his left, in the next three steps backward. As he did so, he would throw Shenhua to the ground. He would then use the time she took to recover and get back up to run for the door nearby, to his left, which he saw lead to another hallway, and lock it behind him.
But, as he took one step back, the back of his waist suddenly hit the flat side of the table in the room.
Lee thought, with worry, 'Oh no.'
Shenhua pressed her advantage, as she forced Lee to lean back against the table.
Their bodies pressed against each other, as Shenhua's white coat partly draped over Lee, and onto the top of the table, on both their sides.
Shenhua swiftly changed her grip on her right long knife, with her blade then pointing down towards Lee's face.
Their faces were inches from each other at Shenhua gave Lee a slasher smile, while Lee kept a neutral expression on his face.
As Lee kept Shenhua's left arm in a lock, he was was using all his strength in his left arm to keep Shenhua from bringing down her right blade onto his face.
Lee thought, 'This is a losing battle for me. And we both know it. She was already naturally stronger than me due to her exercising, and natural fitness. Throw in the strength enhancements of the super-soldier serum, and it is not even a contest. The only reason she had not cut me yet with that blade, in her right hand, is because of the adrenaline rush I am experiencing. And if I stay still too long, that rush is going to wear off. My only chance is to get her talking.'
Given their closeness, the lighting allowed Shenhua to see Lee's eyes, behind his shades.
As their eyes locked, Lee kept a neutral expression, as he demanded, “Drop the slasher smile. You don't hold at candle to Roberta's crazy smiles, and we both know it.”
Shenhua dropped her grin. She continued to try to reach Lee's face with the tip of her right blade, as she asked, “Where did you learn to fight like this?”
As Lee still struggled against the blade coming on his face, as he answered, “Sam, in the time loop. Great teacher, I might add.”
Shenhua replied, “River taught you? Ah, yes. I remember her mentioning that.”
Lee thought, 'I was hope River would not mention she taught me. Still, that cannot be helped, now. Though, I want to confirm something about River.' He firmly inquired, “Is River still alive?”
Shenhua smirked, as she stated, “Of course. But, soon you won't be, hillbilly.”
Lee retorted, while letting his southern accent slip, “If you are going to insult me. Get your insults correct. I'm a redneck. Not a hillbilly.”
By then, the tip of the blade was an inch from the left side of Lee's shades.
Suddenly, a gunshot rang out to Lee's right.
The shot knocked Shenhua' right long knife from her right hand, to her right side, Lee's left side, and sending the weapon to the ground, The cord attached to the knife, and her right armband, was strung out onto the floor.
While Lee kept his left hand on Shenhua's right wrist, and Shenhua left arm in a lock, with his right arm, both Lee and Shenhua swiftly turned to look at who had shot at them.
They saw three adults, which they both instantly recognized.
From Lee left to right.
First was Jetta, in the same outfit she preferred when she was the man, Jet. Which was a pink shirt, under blue overalls, and metal boots. Though, her clothing was fitted to her more slender frame. She was using her right hand to point her Walther P ninety-nine at them.
In the middle, of the three person group, was Spike, in her blue leisure suit, using her right hand to point her Jericho nine forty-one at them, with the end of the barrel of her gun still slightly smoking in the light.
And there was Faye, in her usual clothing, pointed her Heckler & Koch MP5K at them. Her right hand was on the trigger grip and her left hand on the riot grip of the fore-end.
Though, Lee also noticed that none of the women had their fingers on the trigger, and that behind the three ladies, by the door they came in from, was a light switch.
Lee thought, with concern, 'The only good news is none of them have their fingers on the triggers of their weapons. Which is not much good news. It just means they will shot up a second later than if the had their fingers on the trigger. But, that does give me one second to work with.'
'Faye must have replaced her MP5K she lost in the series, with other one. Given I made it so they had plenty of money, that is not surprising. Still, with her using that weapon, and Jetta pulling out her P Ninety-Nine, instead of the net-gun, means they are looking to hurt me as well. Instead of just capture me. And given Spike is here, I can guess what this is about.'
'Though, I doubt they have noticed that light switch behind them. If I play my cards right, I can use that to my advantage.'
Faye lips curled into a grin, as she said, “Well girls, look who we have here.”
Jetta joked, “We could give you two lovebirds some private time, if you want.”
Lee quipped, “No thanks. Company is welcome.”
Faye, Jetta, and Spike, laughed a little as Lee's comment.
Faye then commented, “I have to say, this is the embodiment of why one should not bring a knife to a gunfight.”
Shenhua frowned at Faye's comment.
Lee cautioned, “Shenhua, Faye is just baiting you.”
Spike smirked, as she said, “That she is, Lee. And I have to admit, that trick in the tunnel was smooth.”
Lee responded, “Thank you, Spike. Though, I have to admit, it was more of a gamble. It would not have worked with the Hammerhead, nor Red Tail. It would only work on the Swordfish.”
Spike inquired, “So, you gave us the bird because you were batting me?”
Lee admitted, “Yes. Because you have the largest ego of your group. Though, your ego is nothing compared to Revy's ego.”
As Faye and Jetta snickered, Shenhua commented, “You are correct about that.”
While keeping his eyes on the three bounty hunters, Lee asked Shenhua, “Shenhua, have you seen the Cowboy Bebop series? Because, I honestly don't remember if you did.”
Shenhua kept her eyes on the other three women, as she answered, “Yes. It is one of Revy's favorite series.”
Spike commented, “That is not surprising. Even with my feeling towards her. Which are not good. We just rub each other the wrong way. Still, I always found that redhead to have great taste in action.”
Lee responded, “I agree. Also Jet, I had no idea you were turned into a woman. That is not what I planned for you.”
Jetta shrugged, as she calmly said, “I know. I read your stories. You were setting me up for longevity as a healthy man. And something went wrong after your fourth story ended. Things happens. At least I got my left arm back. And the others are right, being a woman isn't that bad.”
Faye commented, “Truth be told. There are only two reasons we are here. The challenge in catching someone that conned, or evaded nearly every badass we know of. And to emotionally support Spike.”
Shenhua asked, “How are they supporting Spike?”
Lee said one word, “Julia.”
Spike stated, “I understand that I was at death's door. We have all seen the series. And though, being turned into a woman is not the worst thing in the world. And I love my young Julia, dearly. The problem is you both are responsible for getting me pregnant in the first place. Without my permission. And I am going to make both of you pay.”
Shenhua inquired, with a confused expression on her face, “Both of us? What is going on?”
Lee answered for the Bebop crew, “It is called being a target of opportunity. They are not just going to kill me. They are going to kill you, as well.”
Jetta commented, “I have to admit. He is sharp.”
Shenhua pointed out, “You cannot do that.”
Spike smirked, as she stated, “Sure we can. And we can made it look like you killed each other.”
Lee felt Shenhua tried to free her left arm and right wrist from his locks. He thought, 'Shenhua is about to do something stupid that will get us both killed. On the other hand, I have a plan. But, I will need her help.'
Lee firmly stated, “Shenhua, do not make any quick moves. They have all had the same super-soldier serum as you. They have guns trained on both of us. And even if you reached them, Spike is a better fighter in melee combat that you are. With Jet being a close second to Spike.”
Lee immediately felt Shenhua stop struggling to get loose. Lee thought, 'Good. She understands the seriousness of the situation. Now, to implement my plan.'
The left side of Shenhua's white jacket draped over Lee in such a way as to block the view of the bounty hunter from seeing the hands of both Lee and Shenhua.
Lee did several things at once, while continuing to look at the bounty hunters, with a neutral expression on his face.
With his right arm, he first let go of Shenhua's left forearm. He then slowly reached down, along Shenhua's upper left thigh, until he felt the garter belt there, which was full of kunai throwing knives. Lee was careful not to injure himself, nor Shenhua, as he pulled out one of the kunai between his right index and middle fingers.
Lee thought, 'I love a woman that comes prepared.'
At the same time, with his left hand, let go of Shenhua' right wrist. He then slowly reached into Shenhua' right arm robe and unhooked her rope to her long knife, from the cloth band around her right forearm.
As Shenhua felt Lee doing all this, she immediately stopped moving, completely, as she realized what was going on. She thought, 'Lee has a plan.'
Faye complimented, “You really are knowledgeable, Lee.”
Lee continued looking at the three standing women, as he stated, “I pride myself on being thorough in my writings... I have a question, Shenhua?”
Shenhua replied, “What?”
Lee inquired, “Would getting you out of this mess completely settle my debts with you?”
Shenhua conceded, “Yes.”
Lee responded, “Good. Now, do you remember that time you fought Annie in Chang's office?
Shenhua said, “Yes.”
Lee questioned, “Do you remember what you did right after Annie deflected your throwing knives?”
Shenhua smiled, as she answered, “Yes. And I am starting to see why River likes you so much.”
Faye asked, “What are you to talk about?”
Lee complimented, “By the way, Shenhua, you are a great teacher.”
Shenhua smile slightly widened, as she replied, “Thank you.”
Lee ordered, “Now, do it!”
Shenhua swiftly leaned up, on her feet. At her feet fully hit the floor, she suddenly did a series of back flips, towards the door behind her. As she did so, she gripped her kukri, in her left hand, at a downward angle, so that when she landed on he left first, the blade would be pointing away from her.
In response, Faye, Jetta, and Spike began to shoot at Shenhua, while ignoring Lee.
All their shoots missed the fast moving woman, until Shenhua made to the hallway entrance, on that side of the room. When she made it to the other side, she quickly landed on her feet, as pressed the panel on the hallway side of the door to close it. She then ran as fast as she could, down the hallway, and away from the bounty hunters.
At that same time this went on, as the bounty hunters were focused on Shenhua, Lee swiftly leaned up, took quick aim, and threw the kunai knife in his right fingers, at the light switch behind the bounty hunters.
The knife hit the dead center of the switch, slicing their the plastic switch, and rubber coatings of the wires underneath the switch. As the metal kunai made contact with the electrical wires in the switch, it caused the lights in the room to short out. Making the room go dark, except for the lights coming from the adjacent rooms and hallways.
With the bounty hunters distracted by the sudden darkness, Lee bolted for the nearby hallway, just a mere few feet to his left.
As he made it through the entrance to the hallway, he pulled out his key card, and slid it on that panel outside the entrance, causing the steel door to shut and lock behind him.
Lee then walked briskly straight down the hallway, to avoid both the bounty hunters, and Shenhua. While he did so, Lee though, 'I don't even want to know the type of hell those three will catch when Shenhua tells the others of what they just tried to pull on the both of us.'
(_)
Meanwhile, in the dark room Lee and Shenhua just escaped from, the three bounty hunting women stood in the darkness, as Jetta joked, “I guess Lee is as smooth as silk.”
In response to Jetta's comment, Spike and Faye just groaned.
(_)
Two minutes later, in another part of the factory complex, Revy and Rock stood by each other, in a large room, as they had their hand held radios out, which they were talking into.
Shenhua had just radioed them, and the others on the radios, about her fight with Lee, and what Spike, Faye, and Jetta had just tried to do to her, and Lee.
The news upset both Rock and Revy.
Spike, Faye, and Jetta also had their radios, and they were part of the conversation, as well.
Revy barked, into her radio, “How dare you three attack Shenhua?!”
Spike did not show any guilt in her tone of voice, as she replied, into her radio, “What can I say? It was just too tempting an opportunity to pass up.”
Revy warned, “You try that again, and I will show you the type of pain I have planned for Lee.”
Spike quipped, “You can try, Revy. And we can use it as a wonderful excuse to find out which of us is better. You might actually present a challenge for me.”
Revy responded, “No. I will arrange your own funeral.”
Rock looked over at Revy, Revy looked back at her. As Rock look in Revy's face, Rock spoke up, into her radio, as she ordered, in her authoritarian tone of voice, “Cut it out. The both of you. Keep in mind, that ultimately, all of this is Lee's fault. Not mine, nor yours, nor Revy's, nor Shenhua's. But, we are willing to make restitution to settle this matter.”
Revy just shrugged in response, as she looked away from her lover.
A few seconds later, Rock look away from Revy, because she did not like to see her lover act like this.
Spike inquired, “What type of payment? And how much?”
Rock offered, “Ten large, pure gold bars sound fair?”
Spike answered, “Make it twenty gold bars. And they better be pure, and large.”
Rock replied, “Fine. Deal.”
Spike responded, “Thanks. That gold will go towards Julia's college fund.”
Rock thought, 'I hope Julia doesn't grow up to be like her mother. Oh hell, who am I to talk? She probably will. Now, to see if Shenhua is okay with this.'
Rock asked, “Shenhua, are you okay with this?”
Shenhua answered, over the radio, “Yes. I will even help pay for those gold bars. I agree. We do not need this mess. Especially, at a time like this.”
Rock replied, “Thank you. Also, is there anything else you would like to add about your fight with Lee?”
Shenhua stated, “Yes. Lee is able to use his precognition in combat. And because of this, and what he learned from River, his dodging skills are impressive. He also caught me in a hold, and he almost threw me to the floor. If he had not backed up into a table, he might have thrown me to the ground, and escaped then. River taught him well.”
Revy spoke up, “We will keep that in mind. So, where are you headed to, Shenhua?”
Shenhua said, “Now that the cat is out of the bag, I am going to go back and retrieve my kukri, and kunai, which I had to leave behind.”
Revy requested, “Let us know if you need anything.”
Shenhua replied, “I will.”
As Revy and Rock put away from their radios, Revy turned to Rock, as she stated, “You shouldn't have jumped in like that.”
Rock turned to her lover, as she explained, “This is what Lee wants. The old tactic of divide and conquer. As Shenhua pointed out. We don't need this right now. And we have plenty of gold. And this way, we don't have to worry about Spike coming back to haunt us, later.”
Revy pointed out, “Yes. But, we cannot afford to do the same to the others. Yes. We still have lots of treasure left from looting Chang's tower and warehouses. But, our supplies are finite. And baring the unforeseen, we are going to live a very long time.”
Rock conceded, “You have a point there. But, I checked. Most of them have moved on with their lives, and are raising their children. And they understand that you were brainwashed. And, as far as I know, none of them know about Lee, and his stories.”
Revy stated, “Let's keep it that way.”
Rock said, “I agree.”
The two loves then turned and walked out of the room they were in, as they started walking down a hallway, in search of Lee.
(_)
Ten minutes later, in another area of the factory complex, Lee had made his up some stairs to the second floor, as he found himself walking along a steel catwalk, with steel railings to Lee's right, and was attached to the wall on Lee left. To Lee's right, over the railing, the catwalk overlooked a first floor, industrial area, with factory equipment placed along the floor, which ran down the large rectangular room.
The first floor was ten feet below him, and the ceiling in the room was around eight feet above him.
The room itself was sixty feet wide, and room was a hundred feet long, from the back wall, Lee came in through a door, to where the catwalk made a corner to Lee's left. With the extending another twenty feet behind the catwalk in front of him.
Lee had already made it around seventy-five feet from the back wall.
The catwalk itself was ten feet wide, and even though the floor was steel bars, below the steel grid of the catwalk floor, showed a lattice work, and support beams that went down to the concrete floor below it. This meant the catwalk was design to handle a lot of weight on it, at once.
Along the catwalk, every ten feet or so, was open door, to an office.
And the catwalk turned to the left, about twenty-feet in front of him.
Lee was doing his best to step softly, so as to not alert anyone nearby, that he was there.
As Lee made his way along the steel catwalk, he looked down to see that the floor, twenty feet below him, on the concrete ground floor, was full of refinery equipment.
Lee mentally reflected, 'I think it was a good idea to go on the catwalks. Because I am sure this is how they would be looking for me. By using the high ground, as it were.'
Lee then looked in front of him, as he continued on the path he had made in his head, of the layouts of the buildings. He thought, 'After this turn to the left, I should then reach some more storage rooms, and catwalks, that are joined together, before I reach the main stairwell, for this side of the building. Which is on the far, southwestern corner of the building. With luck, none of them are hiding in the stairwell. Still, while I need to hurry, stealth is my best defense in this chase.'
Suddenly, Lee heard heavy footfalls coming towards him, from around the corner, in front of him.
Lee quickly ducked into a near by office, with his back against the open swing door, on the interior side, of the office wall that faced the direction the sounds were coming from.
Lee thought, 'I am glad I chose to remain silent. Or, I might have been ambushed. And the person is clearly coming this way.'
'Though, now I can be the one to do the ambushing. There is nowhere to hide in this room. So, there is likely going to be a fight. And this is going to be a close quarters fight. So my cards will not be very useful. But, my hand to hand combat skills will be. Though, given that Shenhua likely warned the others of what I can do. Or, at least what I showed her. They will be on guard for a hand to hand fight. Still, that cannot be helped.'
A few seconds later, Lee heard the footfalls turning the corner.
As the footfalls got closer, Lee could tell they were from boots.
Lee thought, 'From the sound, the person is wearing boots. And from the time between steps, and the strength of the steps. With a longer stride, and harder, heavier steps. The person is likely a man, or originally male. Which means my chances in this fight when way up. Given only the women after me have had that super-soldier serum.'
Lee then saw the person come into view, to his left side.
Lee saw that it was Jayne. Along with the boots, Jayne was wearing a pants, shirt, and a jacket. Also, he was carrying some type of strange rifle in his hand. He also noticed that Jayne right trigger finger was resting against the trigger guard of his rifle.
At the moment, Lee notice that Jayne did not see him, as he thought, 'Jayne is not an idiot. He is going to see me any second. I need to act, now.'
Lee immediately turned to face Jayne, as he used his left foot to swiftly kick the rifle from Jayne's hands.
The rifle flew in the air, bounced against the railing, and landed back on the catwalk.
Lee's attack caught Jayne by surprise, as Jayne flatly stated, “What?”
Meanwhile, Lee stepped in front of Jayne, as he then used both hands to push Jayne back a few feet from him, back the way Jayne had came, and away from Lee. This also put some distance between Jayne and his rifle. With the rifle being beside Lee, on the catwalk, a few feet to his right side.
Lee continued looking at Jayne, while Jayne got his foot.
Lee he thought, 'Jayne still likely had other weapons. So, don't dare go for his rifle. Also, I could probably take him in a fight. But, I don't want to. So, I will try to keep this civil. But, if I have to, I will bait him into the type of fight that I want.'
By then, Jayne was now standing solidly on the catwalk, as he look at Lee, whom was ten feet from him. And before Lee could speak, Jayne complimented, “Nice move, boy.”
Lee thought, with mild amusement, 'That is a good way to start off a conversation.' He said, “Thank you, Jayne. I wish we were meeting over better circumstances.”
Jayne coldly responded, “Well, we are not.”
Lee thought, with concern, 'I guess this is going south faster than I thought it would.'
Jayne commented, “I am going to enjoy kicking your ass for turning me in a chick.”
Lee pointed out, “Well, you got some fun out of your female form. And I did give you a good friend, and drinking buddy, Bob.”
Jayne conceded, “True. Which is why I am going to kick you ass, instead of killing you. Though, I will be nice, and just beat you to a bloody pulp. Then, I will hand you to Mal, whom really wants to kick your ass. For another beating.”
Lee thought, 'Good. He is not going for his other weapons. That means I have a chance. But, I might still be able to salvage this situation.'
Lee inquired, “I would think that Chang would want me alive, and in one piece?”
Jayne answered, “Oh, he does. And we plan to hand you over to him, because he is offering a nice reward to do so. But, we are going to beat you some, first.”
Lee flatly replied, “Fine.” Lee then got into a defensive position, as he asked, “You did hear about that time loop?”
Jayne replied, “Yea. The girls mentioned something about it, when we were organizing everything, together, back at the Casino. Right before we left.”
Lee stated, “Well, River spent years training me in hand to hand combat. Are you sure you want to take me on?”
Jayne replied, “Oh yea. I also heard you were friends.”
Lee commented, “Yes. Good friends.”
Jayne smirked, as he said, “In that case, I won't try to break your bones. Still, I admit I never had the guts to really want to see what River can do in a fight. But, I am more than happy to find out about her fight style, by kicking your ass.”
Jayne then charged Lee. Though, before Jayne knew it, Lee used his right foot to swiftly kicked him in the balls.
As Jayne collapsed onto the floor, Lee stated, “Well, I don't feel like fighting. River taught me to take my opponents down as fast as possible. Besides, that was the fastest way I could think of to stop you, without permanently harming you. Though, I am surprised you are not wearing a cup.”
To Jayne's credit. He was still standing up straight, and he did not lean over and grap his balls in pain. Though, Jayne did mildly groan, as he replied, “It is difficult to pee, while wearing those of things.”
Lee shrugged, as he agreed, “That is true.”
Jayne then started lightly chuckling, as he used his right hand to reach for something in one of his interior jacket pockets.
While slightly groaning, Jayne said, “Give me a minute. And I will be back to kicking your ass.”
Lee saw that it was a small packet of pepper, and he realized what Jayne was about to do.
Lee quickly said, with concern in his tone of voice, “Jayne, in all sincerity, I highly suggest you do not do that. It might backfire badly on you.”
Jayne snorted, “Yea, right.”
Jayne worked through the pain, as he thought, 'Like I am going to believe you, Lee. The master trickster. You are as bad as Saffron. Still, I am in too much pain to sneeze on command. But, I always keep some packets of pepper for emergencies. And this is going to solve my problems, real quick.'
Jayne then opened the packet of pepper, sniffed it, and sneezed, changing into a women.
A second after Jayne turned into a woman, Jayne collapsed to the catwalk, as she let out a bloodcurdling, girlish scream from the surprisingly high amount of pain that she suddenly felt.
It was like all the pain that had been in his nut sack as a guy, had moved, and grown to encompass her entire lower abdomen.
Jayne clutched lower stomach with both hands, as she slowly moaned in pain.
Lee looked down at Jayne, with pity in his eyes. He shook his head a few times, as he said, “Jayne, I was only trying to help you. And this is a good example of what is called equivalent exchange. Sore male parts become much larger, sore female parts. And unlike a man's nuts, you cannot ice down female internal organs... Though, I will say that as a woman, you are hot...” Lee count not help but smile, as he went onto say, “Damn. I do fine work.”
While Jayne continued to groan in pain, as she laid on the catwalk, Lee turned his attention towards the rifle on the ground. He then walked over, reached down, and picked it up. Lee was careful not to touch the trigger, while keeping the barrel pointed away from them, as he lean back up, while he looked at the weapon.
As Lee got a better look at the weapon, he immediately recognized it as one of Jayne's favorite weapons. A weapon Jayne called, Vera.
While continuing to looked at the large bore rifle, in his hands, he turned to Jayne. He stated, with slight excitement in his tone of voice, “Ah, Vera. For you to pull this out for little old me must mean this is a real special occasion for you. I am deeply touched. Just so you know. Between you and me. I wanted to use Vera in my stories, but I just couldn't figure out how to give you an excuse to join in on the fighting, and fit this weapon into the action scenes. Still, this is a cool weapon.”
Jayne warned, in more a moan of pain, than a threatening tone, in her female voice, “Don't you touch her.”
Lee continued to look at Jayne, as he calmly said, “Jayne, I know how much this weapon means to you. Unfortunately, I need some weapons. Which also includes a few grenades. Such as on your belt. I will be nice, and leave you your pistol, after I unload it. Also, I saw a couch in the office I ducked into. Remove your pistol, give me your radio, some grenades, let me keep Vera, and I will help you to the couch. Or, you can continue laying on the floor.”
Jayne thought it over Lee's offer for a few moments. She then conceded, “Alright. I am in no shape to complain.”
Jayne pulled out her pistol from the holsters on the belt looped around the pants of her waist, unclasped her encrypted radio handset, pulled off, and from around her waist over her pants belt, her removed her bandolier. The bandolier held the grenades in the loops of it. A she removed each item she set the items on the floor.
Jayne said, “Since we want you alive, I will tell you that the grenades are on eight second fuses. Just twist the knobs at the top, either way, to prime them.”
Lee replied, “Thank you.”
Lee then helped Jayne up. Lee walked with Jayne, as Jayne hobbled to the couch in the nearby room.
As they walked, Jayne asked, “I don't understand you. I just tried to kick your ass. Why are you helping me?”
By then, they reached the couch, as Lee said, “Because, I am a man of my word. And I am not as bad as you guys think I am.”
Lee helped Jayne laid down the couch, on her back. Jayne replied, “Perhaps not.”
Lee said, “Rest well.”
Lee then ran back and collected Vera, the radio, and the grenade belt.
First, Lee bent down, as he picked up Jayne's pistol. Lee saw was that the firearm was a semi-automatic pistol. He thought, 'Well, I am glad that someone finally talked Jayne to stop using the LeMat, and trade up to a better pistol, than that antique.'
'Still, I would like to take the pistol. But, if I did, they would more likely try to kill me. Because they would account for the pistol. Though, Vera is a special weapon. Most of them may not realize that Jayne brought this weapon with him. Nor, realize that I now have it.'
'So, I will unload, and leave the pistol here. That way, they still might believe I am unarmed. Unless, they see me with Vera. That will give me an edge.'
'And I can take a few other items here, as well.'
Lee pulled out the ammo clip, and he then pulled back the slide to see that the chamber was empty. Lee removed the bullets from the ammo clip, and dropped the bullets down to the concrete floor below him. Lee put the empty ammo clip back into the pistol. He pushed the button to release the slide, with his right hand, while he gripped the slide with his left hand, so he could slowly but the slide back in place on the gun. After which, Lee uncock the hammer of the pistol. And he set down the pistol, on the steel grid of the catwalk floor.
Lee took three grenades from the bandolier, and pocketed those three grenades into his coat. He then pulled out the rest of the grenades from the bandolier. He tossed the grenades, and the bandolier, over the railing, and onto the concrete floor below. Lee did this to make sure that no one would be able to tell exactly how many grenades he had taken from the bandolier.
Next, Lee turned off the radio, and strapped the radio to his belt, on the left side of his waist. With his his black coat, which when half way down his thighs, hide the radio from sight.
Afterward, Lee picked up Vera, and held the weapon with both hands. He checked to make sure there was round in the chamber, and the hammer was cocked back. Lee found both was the case. He also found the safety and he made sure it was offer.
After which, Lee put right hand on the grip, with his right index finger resting on the trigger guard. And he had his left hand gripping the rifle from under itself barrel, right in front of the magazine. With the barrel pointed away and in front of him.
Finally, Lee stood up straight. And he no longer cared to be quiet on the catwalk, as he quickly his way around the corner of the catwalk, towards his next destination.
Half a minute after turning on the catwalk, Lee walked into the first storage room, on the way to his destination. As Lee passed through the doorway, he held the rifle with his right hand, as he used his left hand, to pulled out and use the key card, to shut and lock the steel door behind him.
Lee then pocketed the key, in his left pants pocket. After which, he turned around, away from the closed door, and he continued on his way.
(_)
A few minutes later, as Lee made it to the second storage room, between catwalks. He stopped walking, as he turned on the radio, attached to the right side of his waist, for a few seconds.
Lee kept the volume low, as he thought, 'With so many of the people with enhanced hearing, I have to be careful in using this. But, it can come in handy.”
There was silent for over a minute, on the radio, until Lee recognized the female voice, as Balalaika, as she stated, in english, with a russian accent, “B, are you in place?”
From the radio, B replied, in english, with a russian accented, “Yes, Balalaika. We now have most of the area covered.”
Lee thought, 'Great. Those two are trained military snipers, and they are likely perched outside, somewhere high, in two locations, just looking me. Probably from two opposite locations, over looking this area. And with the lights on, along with this scopes, and enhanced vision, they would see me easily. If I go out in the open, and shoot me. So, I will have to stay inside. But, at least now, I know where those two are at. And now, I can account for them, and plan accordingly.'
'Besides, I was slightly worried about facing those two in person, in a combat situation. I spent a few days with them. Next to the maid, Annie, Arcee, and River. They are the last two people I would want to face in combat...'
Lee the continued thoughts, with concern, 'And I am now stated here too long. I need to get moving.'
Lee turned off the radio. Gripped the fore-end of his rifle, with his left hand, while holding the grip with his right hand, with his trigger finger resting on the trigger guard.
Then, Lee continued moving forward.
(_)
A few minutes later, as Lee walked into the third storage room, between catwalks, to his right, he heard a female voice calmly say, to his right, “Hello Lee.”
Lee looked to his right, see Sawyer, with holding her chainsaw in a defensive position, about fifteen feet from him.
Lees immediately came to a stop, as he mentally noted, 'Sawyer's chainsaw is turned off. Or, I would have heard it. This is a good sign. Still, I am not taking any chances.'
Thought, Lee kept his finger off the trigger, Lee swiftly pointed the rifle in his hands, towards Sawyer, as he calmly replied, “Hello Sawyer. Please, don't take me pointing a weapon as you the wrong way.”
Sawyer changed the way she held her chainsaw, to were the flat of her chainsaw blade in a defensive manner, across her chest and head. She shrugged, as she stated, in casual tone of voice, “Given the situation we are in. I find your action completely understandable.”
Lee walked around the room, from where Sawyer was, while he continued to facing her, with his weapon draw on her. As he did so, he said, in a comforting tone of voice, “I appreciate you being so understanding.”
Sawyer responded, “No problem. Also, I am sure you know I can use my chainsaw to deflect bullets. I know from the series, that you have seen me do it a couple of times.”
Sawyer thought, with concern, 'Though, I am not sure I can deflect bullets from a rifle like that. Lee, I remember in the time loop, as your teacher in singing and dancing. That you were a wonderful student, whom was always concerned about not harming me. Not even by accidentally stepping on my toes, as we danced. I admired that about you. And I know that as long as I do not threaten you, you will not fire on me.'
'Besides, I know you do not want to shot me. Because, you finger is not on the trigger. So, I think I will just talk to you. Instead of pushing the matter.'
By then, Lee was close to the door on the other side of the room, near the catwalk he was heading for.
From the corner of his eye, Lee saw the door was open, but he kept his eyes on Sawyer, while keeping the end of his rifle trained on her. Lee thought, 'I think it is best I continue this conversation. She can outrun me. And likely outfight me. Killing her would be a bad idea for many reasons. Chief among them is she is one of the few after me who likely is happy about what I did for her...'
'Also, my coat is clearly hiding the radio strapped to my belt. That is good. I do not want them to know I have the radio... At least no yet...'
'Still, I need to bring her a bit down to Earth... Or, in this case, Mars.'
Lee stated, “Yes. But, there is a flaw in your defense that you, Revy, Eda, and Tex-Mex missed.”
Sawyer inquired, “Which is?”
Lee answered, “Given you have to hold the chainsaw by the back end of it, you cannot use the flat end of the blade to protect both you upper body and lower body at the same time. If you protect the chest and head, you expose your legs and feet.”
Sawyer casually said, “It figures that you would be the one to realize that.”
Lee commented, “You shouldn't worry. I have no plans on shooting you. And as long as you keep that chainsaw off, and keep your distance from me, I won't shoot you.”
Sawyer mentally reflected, 'As I thought.' She replied, “I know.”
Lee then took a little closer look at the chainsaw teeth, as he said, “I see you upgraded you chainsaw with diamond embedded teeth.”
Sawyer smiled, as she stated, “Yes. And the teeth and chain are made of a titanium alloy. Also, the engine and housing are the top of the line. When one is wealthy, one can afford the best. By the way, thanks for that wealth.”
Lee happily responded, “You're welcome. And you are the first person in your group to thank me for making them wealthy.”
Sawyer giggled for a few seconds. She then said, “Why am I not surprised? Still, this weapon sucks on cutting concrete and steel, because I don't have access to a water sprayer to keep the teeth cool. But, I can afford to replace the teeth, if need be.”
Lee commented, “It is never fun to break one's toys.”
Sawyer thought, 'Now, to ask the question.' She pointed out, “Correct. Now, I have to ask you. Why don't you just make this easier on all of us, and just surrender? Lee, we both know you have never killed anyone before. And as you stated. You are not going to shoot me, unless I force you to.”
Lee admitted, “You're right. But, would you like to know a little secret?”
Sawyer answered, “Sure.”
Lee said, “I have never been in this situation before. So, I am not sure what I am capable of.”
Sawyer stated, “Well, I have. And I really don't want to kill, nor maim you, Lee. Please surrender.”
Lee replied, “I appreciate that.”
Sawyer responded, “Thank you. Just so you know, I am not sore about the lessons you tricked us into teaching you, in the time loop. And you were a good student. Also, unlike the others, I realize what you gave me. And I am thankful. You gave me back my voice, better than ever. You repaired my scars. You gave me youth, health, and longevity. Made me rich. You gave me a great life, with good friends. So, I promise you, if you surrender, I will not let them do too much to you. You will survive their revenge. And let's be honest. You are dying of cancer. Your choices are limited.”
Lee said, “Sawyer, I believe you will try to keep your word. If it was just Revy and the Lagoon group after my hide, I might take you up on your offer, because I think you could keep you word in such a situation. The problem is that the maids are after me. And we both know you cannot take them. That is the reason I didn't go to Chang for help. Even he is not crazy enough to directly cross Roberta.”
Sawyer mentally lamented, in bitterness, 'And it is all my fault. And as stupid as it is to tell you, with you aiming a rifle at me, at the moment. It might help matters between us, if I told you the truth.'
Sawyer shrugged, as she conceded, “You have a point there. Still, it is kind of my fault the maids are after you.”
Lee stated, “Let me guess. You stayed in touch with Roberta, after your Hell Saber days were over. And recently, you accidentally told her about the writer, and you sent her copies of my stories. With you not realizing the shit hurricane you would be stirring up.”
Sawyer winced, as she replied, “Yes.”
Lee honestly replied, “I forgive you.”
Sawyer smiled, as she said, “Thank you.”
Lee responded, “You are welcome. Still, I, of all people, have long since learned not to forget how dangerous those around me can be. Now, please let me pass by you.”
Sawyer said, “Okay. I will let you go for now. I will even give you a five minute head start, before I contact the others.”
Lee lowered his weapon, as he replied, “Thank you.”
Sawyer lowered her chainsaw blade towards the floor, between them, as she commented, “Good. And don't take this the wrong way. I am going to continue to come after you.”
Lee casually responded, “I can live with that. Though, I do have one question, Sawyer. I never understood why you use a chainsaw to torture people. Sure, it is intimidating. But, when you get right down to it, a chainsaw is a very inefficient weapon for inflicting lasting, large amounts of pain on someone.”
“A knife would work so much better for making the victim suffer. With a knife, you could cut around major arteries and veins, preventing the victim from bleeding out too quickly, while still allowing you to expose nerve endings, and sensitive tissues.”
Sawyer's raised her eyebrow, as Lee continued, “For example, most people don't realize that when a person is shot, a flesh wound can be more painful than a deep wound. This, as I am sure you know, is because there are more nerve endings located right under a person's skin, instead of their internal organs and tissues. It would be more painful to skin someone alive, than to repeatedly stab that victim in the area of their body that they would have otherwise been flayed of their skin.”
Sawyer's eyes widened as Lee went onto say, “Meanwhile, a chainsaw just tears into person's flesh indiscriminately, regardless of the arteries and veins of the area of the body you are cutting into. As such, said person would bleed out too swiftly.”
Sawyer's jaw dropped, as Lee said, “Then again, there are other forms of torture that require delicate skill and care, as well, when performed on a victim, or that victim will die to quickly. Take for example, castration of a man's penis and scrotum. If you don't do it right, the victim will bleed out in under twenty minutes. That is a medical fact.”
By then, Sawyer's skin has paled a few more shades, than its standard pale shade, in worry and slight fear, as Lee stated, “And I guess the same couple be applied to a woman's breasts. But, I am not sure on that. And unfortunately, such subjects are not things a white man, such as myself, can ask about to others, barring a few exceptions, like yourself, without winding up arrested, and imprisoned.”
“Anyway, I apologize for being so long winded. But, I just wanted your expert opinion on the subject.”
Sawyer was still in slight shock, as she thought, with concern, 'Lee just commented about torturing people in a such casual manner. I guess this would be a similar feeling as to finding out that the nice guy next door is a sadistic serial killer. Given my former career, I am not one to judge on this topic. But, sometimes you just don't know people. I am glad he prefers to be nice to people. Even those that are after him. Because, I do not want to see his bad side.'
Lee noticed Sawyer's reaction, of being wide eyed, and having her jaw hanging open from her mouth.
Lee responded, in a calm tone of voice, “I guess I was too forward on the subject of talking shop with you. Though, while you are obviously not the only person whom thinks about torturing people. I, along with others, just don't act on those thoughts and desires. Like a bug bite. The more you scratch, the more it itches. So, let us get back to the subject at hand. Why do you use a chainsaw?”
By then, Sawyer was able to collect herself enough to simply say, “Personal preference.”
Lee shrugged, as he casually replied, “Works for me.”
Lee turned to his side, as he quickly exited the room, and onto the steel catwalk, he had been heading for.
Lee continued to keep his weapon lowered, in his right hand, as he used his left hand to pull out his key card, from his left side pants pocket. He then swiped the card the panel, causing the door to slide closed, and locked behind him.
Lee pocketed his key card, in his left side pants pocket. After which, he put his left hand back on the underside of the fore-end of the barrel.
Lee then turned back around, to face the catwalk, as he back walking forwards, from the threshold to the catwalk.
The catwalk itself was six feet wide, with a steel railing to his right side, and the wall to his left side.
But, as Lee got three feet, onto the catwalk, Lee's precognition screamed for him to get back.
Also, there was plenty of lighting around the room, to see with.
Lee took a step back, just he heard a gunshot, and he saw that the bullet bounce off of the wall to his left, in front of him, and away from him.
Lee quickly back up all the way to where his back was to the steel door he had just locked. He crouched down, to lower his profile from the unknown shooter, or shooters, that had ambushed him.
Lee thought, with worry, 'An ambush! Of all the times for this to happen. Though, I doubt Sawyer knew about it. Or, she would have likely told me about it... Still, how far am I from the other side of this catwalk?..'
Lee looked forward to see that the catwalk was only twenty feel long, leading to a hallway, with the door to the hallway was open. Lee thought, 'Good. If I can make it to the hallway, I should be fine. The problem is making it there.'
Suddenly, Lee heard a male voice, to his right, from across the gap in the room, an alcove, at the same level as him, on opposite side of the room from him. The male voice shouted, “Surrender, Lee!”
Lee instantly recognized the voice, as he mentally screamed, 'Ah shit. It is Mal. And he is clearly still pissed about the gender bending. Though, with Jayne here, it is not surprising that he is here, as well. But, is he alone?... I wish I had a mirror, or something to use to look over the edge at them... I would have a compact on me, if it wouldn't cause to many damn questions... Still, that might just work.'
Lee pulled out his key card with his left hand, and he noticed that that it was reflective enough to use the room light, as a mirror.
Lee then used the card to look out, across the room, to see that Mal and Zoe were crouching behind a metal parapet, which was the end of a second hallway, across the large gag between the him, on the catwalk, and them. There pistols were drawn. With Mal crouching to Zoe's right side.
(_)
At that moment, in the storage room, Lee had just left Sawyer in, Sawyer immediately heard gunshots coming from the other room on the other side of the door, and in the room that Lee left for.
Sawyer thought, 'What the hell?'
Sawyer then heard over the radio, clipped to her belt, as Mal's voice said, “We have Lee cornered in the southwestern section of the building Lee was reported in.”
Over the radio, Rock said, “Good, we will be there within ten minutes.”
Sawyer grimly thought, 'Of all the damn things to happen. And the worst part is I didn't know about the ambush... Though, if I did, I would have warned Lee of it. Still, why didn't his precognition pick it up... Probably because it is not a hundred percent foolproof, and he knows it.'
'Maybe I can salvage the situation.'
Sawyer turned to the shut, solid steel, sliding door, as she continued her thought, 'And I am guessing the red light on the panel by the door means that the door is locked. Meaning I am going to have to do this the hard way. Though, it is going to take a number of seconds to get my chainsaw running. And at least a minute to cut through that door.'
'And if I open the door, I will give Lee the option to surrender to me, while trying to keep his ass in one piece from the others... That is, if he doesn't try to shoot me. But, I get the feeling he isn't planning to shooting anyone. So, it is worth the risk.'
While holding the chainsaw blade away from herself, Sawyer used her right hand grip the front bar of her chainsaw, as she used her left hand to pulled out the starter rope, on the left side of the engine, to get the chainsaw engine going.
(_)
A few seconds later, on the other side of the steel door, Lee was still crouched down, with his back to the door.
Lee felt he has seen all that he needed of Mal and Zoe. He Lee pocketed the key card. He then held his rifle with both hands.
Lee thought, 'The good news is that I can see them. The bad news is that it is both Mal and Zoe. Both, are pretty good shots. And Zoe is completely loyal to Mal. Also, given their personalities, that warning shot was probably the only one I am going to get from those two. And my time is limited. The rest of them will soon converge on this point. Still, I might as well say something, go get them to reply. Thus, helping to give me an idea on how best to escape.'
Lee yelled, in a casual tone of voice, “Hi Mal. Hi Zoe.”
Zoe loudly replied, in a flat tone of voice, “Hello Lee.”
Lee thought, 'Let's cut to the chase.' He inquired, “So, what do I get for surrendering?”
Mal loudly stated, “An ass kicking.”
Lee questioned, “And if I don't surrender?”
Mal loudly joked, “An ass kicking, and lead in your ass.”
No one laughed at Mal's joke.
Lee thought, with mild relief, 'Good. Mal still has his sense of humor. That means he is not completely hellbent on killing me. Zoe is as calm as usual. I can work with that.'
Lee stated, “You drive a hard bargain, Mal. But, I am going to have to decline. Still, apologize about the gender bending. Though, I did give you an extended lifespan.”
Mal pointed out, “Well, that is still not a fair trade, compared to what you made me go through.”
Lee retorted, “Oh come on. I didn't make you sleep with anyone, as a woman.”
Mal asked, in a confused tone of voice, “You didn't?”
Lee flatly answered, “No. I even made it so that you could change back immediately. So, you were not stuck. Except for that one time, I didn't even make you piss as a woman. I know how big you male ego is. So, I won't do that to you...” Then, it dawned on Lee, concerning the way Mal had replied to his comment. Lee accused, “Oh. You actually did sleep with someone as a woman.”
Mal responded, in a knee jerk fashion, “I was drunk.”
Lee firmly pointed out, “I didn't get you drunk.”
Mal commented, “No. But, the whole reason I am able to turn into a woman, in the first place, is because of you. I wouldn't have been in that situation, if it as not for you. And you are going to suffer for that.”
Meanwhile, Lee overheard Zoe giggle.
Lee thought, 'I don't think Zoe's heart is in this. Let's find out.'
Lee inquired, “What about you, Zoe? Any hard feelings about the gender bending?”
Zoe yelled, “No. Not dealing with periods, and being able to control when I want to have children, is a wonderful trade off. I am just here because my captain needs a chaperon. We don't want him leveling the building getting to you.”
Lee barely heard Mal say, “You are not helping.”
Lee quietly chuckled. He then loudly replied, “I appreciate that.”
Just then, Lee heard the sound of grinding, a three feet above his head.
Lee looked up just in time to see Sawyer's chainsaw fully cut through the top, of the side of the door, that the door slide from the wall.
As the chainsaw slowing make its way downward, Lee thought, 'Oh no. This just got worse. I would say I have a minute before she cuts all the way down, and removes the door. And I honestly do not know if Sawyer is trying to get through the door to help me, or hurt me. Maybe a little of both. But, either way, my time had run out. And I need to get moving again. So, I guess I am going to have to do this the hard way... Like most of the situations in my life.'
Lee held the butt of the stock of the weapon, tightly against the front part of his right shoulder, as thought, 'I got to be careful, while holding the butt of this weapon good and tight. Considering the size of these rounds, this thing likely has a mean kick. And if I don't hold Vera tight, it could seriously harm my right shoulder, when I fire it. Now, to get across, and show Mal and Zoe what Natsuru and Akira taught me in how to get out of tight situations, by using a firearm.'
'Though, I will wait until my precognition tells me when the best time to act is.'
Lee's precognition then alerted him that it was time to act. He quickly stood up, and within less than a second, he started moving, while he turned to his right, took aim, and fired, at the ceiling, across the room, right above the heads of Mal and Zoe.
The Lee found that the ammo was simple large rounds, but the gunfire forced Mal and Zoe to duck under the parapet.
As Lee fired the first few rounds, he found he was correct about the recoil, but the kick was not as bad as he expected it to be, and he was able to safely move while firing.
While Lee moved swiftly, in a sideways fashion, across the catwalk, he fired a round every second, forcing the browncoats to stay behind cover, as Lee thought, 'I am glad these are not explosive rounds. Or, I would hurt them.'
As Lee got to the other side of the room, he turned straight, while he entered the nearby hallway.
Lee also took his right trigger finger off the trigger of the rifle.
Lee did not even bother to shut and lock the door. Instead, he just ran towards the stairwell, which he guessed required him to make it down the hallway he was in. Then, he needed to take a right into another hallway, with the stairwell being at the southwest corner of the building.
As Lee ran, he thought, 'When I get to the turn at this hallway, I will slow down to the a brisk walk. I should make it to the stairwell in about two minutes. Maybe less. Still, how much ammo do I have left?'
While running, Lee did a quick check of ammo.
Lee thought, 'I still got three rounds in the weapon, and the six in the stock. So, I am good for the moment. Now, I need to get to the stairwell.'
Lee then turned his running into a jog, while holding Vera with both hands, in front of his chest, with the barrel facing at an upward diagonal angle, to his upper left, as he made his way down the hallway.
Half a minute later, Lee took a right into another straight hallway. He saw no doors along the hallway, but he did see a sign for at the end of the hallway, for the stairwell at the end door, that was right beside the sign, to Lee's left.
Lee slowed down to a brisk walk, as he thought, 'Well, I am near the stairwell now. And I think I might want risk checking what they are saying about me, on the radio.'
The radio Lee had stolen from Jayne was strapped to his belt, on the left side of his waist. Lee rotated the knob at the top to turn on the device. He then checked to make sure the volume to the radio was still set to low. With the radio just being loud enough to where he could hear what was being discussed.
On the radio, Lee heard Mal ask, “What did Lee find a rifle at?”
From over the radio, Shenhua stated, “He did not have one when he face me.”
On the radio, Akira commented, “Nor, us.”
From the radio, Sawyer said, “Well he had the weapon when he faced me. He used it to keep me at a distance, and to get around me. I even got a good look at it.”
On the radio, Rock inquired, “What did the weapon look like?
From the radio, Sawyer answered, “It looked like a futuristic full bore rifle, with a magazine at the bottom of the weapon. It had a chrome muzzle, a wooden handle. It had an open stock, where a second set of its large cartridges were stored.”
On the radio, Revy complimented, “Not bad in your description, Sawyer.”
From the radio, Sawyer replied, “I may prefer not to use a gun. But, that does not mean I am not knowledgeable of them.”
Over the radio, Revy said, “I will keep that in mind. Still, I cannot place any rifle that looks like that. To be honest. It sound like that weapon looks so cheesy, I wouldn't be caught dead using it.”
On the radio, Zoe commented, “That sounds like Jayne's weapon, Vera.”
From the radio, Mal ordered, “Jayne. Pick up,”
There was only silence for several seconds.
On the radio, Zoe said, “I knew it was a bad idea to him to go off alone. I know I should have said something.”
From the radio, Revy commented, “Don't worry about it. Lee is too much of a pussy to kill another person. Let me guess, he aimed high, when he shot at you?”
On the radio, Zoe answered, “Correct.”
From the radio, Revy said, “See. I am sure Jayne is probably somewhere in pain, but he will otherwise be alright.”
On the radio, Mal asked, “So, who is going backtrack, to find Jayne?”
From the radio, Kaylee answered, “We will find him.”
On the radio, Rock inquired, “On that thought. Where would Jayne be?”
From the radio, Sawyer stated, “I was in room between catwalks, on the second level, of the south end, of the auxiliary building west of the made building you were taking us to. Lee went west. I would check the east part of this building.”
On the radio, Kaylee said, “Thanks.”
Lee then turned off his radio, as he thought, 'While they now know I am armed. When they find Jayne, they will soon realize I have his radio, along with a few grenades. But, I don't think that will be an issue. I only took a few, and I ditched the rest in a way that will make it difficult for them to account for all of them. If I am lucky, they will not even think about the grenades. Instead, they will focus on Vera, and the radio.'
'Now, to keep moving, and find the stairwell.'
Lee started walking towards in the direction he was planning on heading.
A minute later, Lee came to a stairwell, with the door closed.
After using his precognition to make sure there was no danger in the stairwell, he push the button on the panel to open door. As he walked into the stairwell, he found the lights on the walls illuminated the room well.
Lee then pressed the button on that side of door to close it. Though, he did not lock the door
As Lee started making his way up the stairs, he thought, 'If I lock it, it will tip them off that I have come this way. And now that I am in this stairwell, I know where exactly I am at. Too bad I cannot use the elevators. But, those are too risky for a number of reasons. Such as a button will light up near each door to that elevator, on each floor, as it moves up or down, alerting anyone nearby of its use. And if they someone stops it, while I am in it, I will immediately find myself in a close quarters fight with any number of dangerous people.'
'It is much safer to take the stairs. If something happens, I have more room, and better escape options in here, than in an elevator.'
'Now, if I remember correctly. My path requires me to go to the tenth floor, to reach a bridge between buildings. The only problem is I will have to face Balalaika, B, or both of them, as I literally cross that bridge. But, that cannot be helped.'
Lee then began his trek up the steps. With him be careful with each step he stood, along the stairway.
(_)
Fifteenth minutes later, Lee had not seen, nor heard anyone, in the stairwell, as he reached the tenth floor.
He was the careful, as he exit the stairwell. Though, he found no one around, as he continued down a hallway, to the bridge.
A minute later of walking down a hallway, he soon came to a stop, as he found himself fiftieth feet from bridge between the building he was in, and the building he was heading for.
The bridge was twenty feet long. Also, there was no cover on that stretch of the building. Not even a potted plant by one of the walls.
And while the floor was carpeted over concrete and steel, there were windowed panels, on the roof and walls In addition, was well lit, against the night sky outside, allowing any potentially to clearly see anyone that crossed the bridge.
Lee thought, 'Chances are that Balalaika, or B, will see me when I cross this bridge. And both are good enough to hit me. But, for my plan to work, I have to cross it. There is no other path for me to reach where I need to go in time. I check.'
Lee then used his one hand to hold Vera, while he used his other to slide up the sleeve of the hand, and arm, that was holding up Vera, to first reveal his digital wrist watch, and beside it, further up his wrist, the device that the Lowe family had given him
Lee looked at the device, as he thought, 'Now, let's see if this thing works.'
(_)
Outside, Balalaika watch from her perch, which was located midway to the top of the communications tower she was on, but was still high enough to see over the building.
Even though it was night, with the outside and inside lights of the factory area on, it make seeing the area much easier. And her enhancement vision, and rifle scope, made up the most of the difference in being able to spot what was in the shadows of the lights.
At the moment, Balalaika held her sniper rifle up with both hands. There was already a bullet in the chamber of the weapon, with an ammo magazine attached to it. She was using her rifle scope, which was attached to her sniper rifle, to look into the enclosed windows of the well lit bridge between two buildings just west, and southwest of the main build complex. She thought, 'It is likely Lee will come through here. Benny stated that Lee had been in the main building. Then, Natsuru stated he was in the building west of the main building. Finally, Mal stated he was in the southwest of that building.'
'It is likely Lee is doubling back to where he hid his car. Simple tactics. Get us all into one group. That way there are no unknown factors involving us, and he knows where we are all at.'
'Even though the maids are not here, the rest of us are. And it is easier to avoid two people, instead of a group. I suspect that Roberta and Fabiola realize this. After the whole Grey Fox incident, Roberta knows how difficult it is to track someone with a small army also doing it. Knowing her, she will likely lay in wait near the location she believes Lee will be next. With Fabiola nearby.'
'And I would gamble Lee odds against those two are worse than facing all of us here. Though, if Lee can escape all of us, and the maids, he will have earned his freedom, and my respect.'
'Now, if I am right, Lee's plan is to double back to his car, and escape, with all of us chasing him. Since he likely had the guard call the cops, he will try to lead us to where he believes that cops are, and then escape in the confusion.'
'This is the only move he had left to do. He cannot reality jump. We would immediately track him. And he is not suicidal enough to stand and fight us. So, this is all he can do. And if I was in his place, I would come up with a simpler plan Though, I would have left boobytraps, including tripwires, and claymore mines, behind me.'
'But, I believe Lee really doesn't want to hurt us. If he did, he would like shot someone by now. Revy, Akira, and Natsuru, vouch that he is a good shot. Which is one of the reasons, I am not going for the kill shot. I will go for his lower legs, or feet. That will force him to slow down, and eventually surrender.'
'We want him alive, so I will just wing him.'
'And the ammo I am using is just standard lead rounds. They will hurt him, but they will not take off a limb, cause him to go in shock, bleed out, and die. B is also using the same ammo and equipment I am using. Also, I believe that Revy and the others are also using lead rounds, instead of hollow-points, or armor piercing rounds.'
'This is good, considering someone this skilled, and well manner, is a prize too valuable to be kill over some minor disagreements. We will have his ass for what he has done to us. But, there will be something left we can use afterward.'
'And Rock proved that to be the case, years ago. I am so happy I let Rock live during our time in Tokyo. And Rock has proven an asset from then, for me, and my... women.'
'Along with this, B and I both honestly enjoyed our conversations we had with Lee during our trip from Babylon Five to Mars. And I was impressed he was able to continue to keep his cover story together, while not alerting us that he knew who we were, during those two days, on the passenger liner. That takes skill and experience.'
'Lee is clearly a planner. In a similar vein as Rock. But, unlike Rock, Lee is not afraid to get his hands dirty. He just prefers not to hurt anyone. Though, he knows he has the ability to do so, if he has to.'
'Still, I don't want to alert anyone of where I think Lee is going, because I might be wrong. So, I want them searching other areas. For example, he could try to double back in the north end of the building he is in. In which case, B, will be on the look out for him.'
'Also, if he is coming this way, he will likely take the bridge. I doubt he will cross into the other building from the ground, for three reasons.'
'First, Lee is thinking three dimensionally. While it is likely that some of the others are thinking two dimensionally, with most of us more likely on the ground and lower levels, than on the tenth floor.'
'Second, he has a firearm in case he meets one of us. So, facing one, or two of us, in the hallway, will not be the problem. As we saw with both Sawyer, and Mal and Zoe, right afterward. Lee was able to use a firearm, to escape, without harming anyone. And that was very skillful of him.'
'Third, he likely realizes that, given our skills, B and I are in sniper positions. Going outside will put him at risk of dealing with us. So, he would to minimize his exposure to the outside. And coming through that bridge offers a lot of cover, with only around six meters of exposure, between the two buildings.'
'This is the route I would take. Now, I just need to wait, and see, what Lee does.'
A few seconds later, Balalaika saw Lee start running out, onto the bridge, from the north building, while carrying the rifle, Vera, in both hands. With his left hand on the bottom of the metal fore-end of the rifle, while his right hand was on the grip, with his trigger finger resting on the trigger guard.
Balalaika gleefully thought, 'There he is. I love it when I am right.'
Balalaika then saw Lee's exact double running the opposite way down the bridge, towards the first Lee. With this Lee also in the same clothing, with the same weapon. And his movements mirrored the first Lee.
And the to Lee's passed by each other, from their right sides, without touching one another, as the continue heading in opposite directions, down the bridge.
Balalaika stated, in russian, “What the hell?!”
Before Balalaika could take the shot, both Lee's had made it to the other side of the bridge, and to cover from both buildings.
But, from the windows, Balalaika could still see the reflections of both Lees. She watched as the Lees continued to copy each others movements.
Both Lees did something with one of their wrists. And the Lee in the north building disappeared in a flash of light.
Balalaika thought, 'Is that?... It has got to be. I do not know where he got it from, but he has one. And that just made things more interesting. Still, I would have use it in the same way, in his position. But, that trick won't work on me twice.'
'Now, to let the others know what Lee has... And I have always wants to say this line, since the Lowe family showed me that movie.'
Balalaika held her rifle with her right hand, as she used her left hand to unhook her radio from the left side of her belt. She then held her radio near her mouth, as she yelled into the radio, in english, “Lee has got a hologram!”
Violin asked in the radio, “What type?”
Balalaika answered, “Total Recall style.”
From their radios, Akira and Violin both said, in unison, “I call dibs.”
Rock stated, from her radio, “We will decide who gets it later. Just look for Lee. So, what happened?”
Balalaika commented, “He used the hologram to get by me. I saw to Lee coming towards each other, from opposite directions, and I was caught off guard. And he was out of my sights, before I knew it.”
Rock responded, “That happens to the best of us. So, where is he now, Balalaika?”
Balalaika forced herself to calm down, as she answered, “Lee has gone into the building south of the building he was reported in. He is on the tenth floor, of a twenty-six story building.”
Rock said, “Good. We should start to converge on him, soon enough.”
A few seconds later, over the radio, B stated, in russian, “Lee is clearly more clever than we thought.”
Balalaika questioned, in russian, “Yes. Though, where would he got such technology from? That is the type of technology that would be expensive to get, even here, in this reality. If it even exists here.”
B replied, “True. And we will find out, later. But, I have some thoughts on the matter.”
Balalaika said, “Good. I look forward to having that conversation, later.”
Balalaika then hooked her radio back to the left side of her belt, and she place her left hand on the underside of the fore-arm of her rifle. As she looked more closely at the windows, of the tenth floor, of the building which Lee had entered. In the hopes of seeing Lee, once again.
(_)
A few seconds ago, as Lee made it into the next building, he stopped, and turned off the hologram with his free hand.
Lee thought, 'That went better than I had hoped. Now, to make my way through this building... I think I will listen to the radio as I do so. I do not see any doors along this hallway. So, there is a minimum risk. And I will continue walking, so I can turn down another corner, in a minute, or so. Long before the others catch up to me.'
Lee used his left hand to set the volume of the radio to low, as he continued walking down the well illuminated hallway, while he listen in on the others.
Lee chuckled as he heard Balalaika yelled, over the radio, “Lee has a hologram!”
Lee continued listening to the conversation between those after him, as he thought, with mild amusement, 'I would bet real money she has seen the Total Recall movie. And that is a cool Michael Ironside quote. Some people just don't appreciate villains. That is why I like writing about them. Though, that has now come back to bite me in the ass. And I hope I can use this hologram device a few more times, before they get to wise for it.'
A few seconds later, the conversation ended, with Rock stating they are coming after him, just as Lee turned a corner, into another hallway.
Lee noticed that the hallway he had entered had a number closed doors. The doors had green lights on the panels by them, showing they were unlocked. Though, instead of the panels, like the other parts of the building. These were lock modern hotel lock, which were attached to door knobs.
Lee thought, “These are probably office rooms. Well, I may have to slow down a bit, as I continue down this way, to the nearby stairwell. Which I believe is on the northeast side of this building. Too bad these buildings do not follow the same design. Nor even a flipped design. Still, they are simple enough to not get lost in. So, I should be happy about that.'
Lee then overheard Balalaika and B talk in russian.
Lee thought, 'Too bad they are speaking russian, and I don't understand what they are saying. Though, that is probably the point. They are likely speaking in russian, so most of the others do not know what they are saying... That is not a bad idea, when using an open communication line... At least open for this group. Considering, I am sure these radios are using an encrypted channel, that is preset on them, before they were handed out to everyone in the group after me.
A minute later, as Lee got within sight of the closed door to the building's stairwell, on the radio, he heard Ranma's female voice say, in english, “We are in the northeast stairwell of this side of the building, that Balalaika stated Lee was in. We will be on the tenth floor in about thirty seconds.”
A second later, Mal stated, over his radio, “Good. Zoe, and I, are taking the elevator, from this side of the building, up to that floor. With the elevator letting out into another hallway, that leads to the bridge bridge Balalaika saw Lee cross, in another direction from you guys. We will meet you by that bridge. One of us should flush Lee out, and find him.”
Natsuru commented, over her radio, “Good idea. And I think we will be the ones that meet him. He is too smart to take an elevator.”
Mal agreed, “You are probably correct. But, it does not hurt to check.”
Shenhua stated, over her radio, “Sawyer and I are coming your way from the other building, using that bridge. If Lee somehow makes it back across the bridge, and Balalaika misses him, a second time. We will have him.”
Lee thought, with worry and concern, 'Oh crap! I am to close to the stairwell, to turn, and go down another hallway, that avoids all three groups. And I was so focused on the stairwell location, on this side of the building, I am not sure where the elevators are located on this side of the building.'
'A major oversight, and mistake on my part. So, even if I do turn and run. I will either have the Ranma, Natsuru, and Akira, come to this floor, just in time to see me in the hallway. Or, I will make it back around the hallway in time, and still likely run into Mal and Zoe. And even if I backtrack to the bridge, I will run into Balalaika, Sawyer, and Shenhua. Classic tactics for flushing someone out, and ambushing them.'
'My only advantage is that they don't realize I have one of their radios on me. And they are not sure where exactly I am.'
'Still, I can duck into one of the offices and just hide. I need to turn off my radio as well. Fortunately, the room should be facing away from Balalaika. Or, I am screwed.'
Lee quickly turned off the radio, and then open the door to his left, as he quickly slip inside. He then gently closed the door behind him.
The outside lights provided plenty of illumination, for Lee to see with. He saw that he was in a small office, with a desk on the far wall to Lee's right, with the desk set out a six feet from the wall, with it facing the left far wall. The desk's right side facing the windows, ten feet front the desk. And the desk's left side facing wall with the door, which was ten feet from the desk.
Between the wall and the desk, there was an office swivel chair behind the desk. Along, with a computer monitor, keyboard, and mouse set up onto of the desk. The desk was a metal desk, with the metal walls of the desk going all the way to the floor, with no gaps.
Lee thought, 'Good. There are no gaps under the desk. That means I can likely hide under the desk Though, let' see what else is in the room, before I hide.'
Lee around around, and he there was small table with coffee supplies, and maker on the left side of the room. And beside the small table was a filing cabinet. There were a few large pictures on the wall of alien landscapes, and sunsets, or sunrises, on those alien landscapes.
Lee thought, as he was start to grow anxious, 'Okay. Now, to hide.'
Lee quickly made his way to behind the desk, as he flip on the safety to Vera. He pulled back the chair, and duck under the space where the chair, and the sitters legs went.
As he sat, with his right side to the inside of the desk. His legs was crouched up to his chest, he had Vera leaning between the shins of his leg, with butt of the stock against the floor, and his right hand holding the barrel.
Lee then reached out with his left hand, and pulled the swivel chair back up to the desk.
Lee remained as quiet as possible. As he forced himself to relax and breath slowly, in shallow breaths.
A few seconds later, Lee could here Ranma, Akira, and Natsuru opening and closing doors.
Lee thought, 'I just hope they are doing a once over, and not doing a thorough check. This literally would be an embarrassing position to be caught in. Still, given the speed of the doors that are being open, only one of the girls is checking a single room. And they are being quick about it. I just have to remain calm, and I should be able to wait for them to pass by.'
'And I got to be careful with Vera. Even with the safety on. This weapon is dangerous.'
Half a minute later, Lee heard the door to the office was he in open. Lee noticed the light was not turned on.
The door remained opened for about ten seconds. Then, the door closed.
Lee then heard a number of doors opening and closing, every few seconds. With the sounds of doors opening and closing slowly becoming weaker and weaker, as the trio moved away from his hiding place.
Lee thought, 'Good. Now, for my precognition to tell me when it is the right time to leave this hiding place.'
Lee remained in his spot for another two minutes, before his precognition alerted him that it was safe to come out.
As Lee pushed the chair away, and he got out from under the desk, he was careful with Vera. As he picked up Vera by the barrel, with his left hand, he leaned up.
While straightening his back, he sarcastically thought, 'Well, that did wonders for my back, and knees. Though, at least my back is not out. Now, to get to that stairwell, before the others realize I gave them the slip.'
Lee then put Vera into his right hand, with his right hand on the grip, and his right index finger resting on the trigger guard, as he used his left hand to flip back off the safety.
Lee then walked up to the door to the office. He slowly turned the knob and opened the door. The door swung inwardly, with allowed Lee to duck his head out, and see the way he had come from the bridge. He saw that trio were gone. Though, not taking any chances, Lee walked out into the hallway, and then gripped the outside of the door knob.
Lee twisted the knob as he closed the door. He then slowing turned it back to where the latch would rest. All so that the door would not make a sound, as he closed it.
Lee then turned towards the stairwell.
Lee saw the stairwell door was still open.
Lee thought, 'Good. Now, to do this quietly, but quickly.'
A few seconds later, Lee briskly walked into the stairwell.
As Lee walked softly, but quickly, up the stairs, he thought, 'I will leave the door to the stairwell open. If I close it, they may come back and notice that. And realize I am in the stairwell.'
'Now, I need to make it to the twenty-second floor. Fortunately, there are signs on the doors, stating the number of the floor that door leads too.'
'I figure at the pace I am going, I would make to the twenty-second floor in a few minutes. And I will rest when I get there.'
'And once I reach that floor, I will need to make my way through four hallways. I will then make my way through the a large storage section of this building. After which, another stairwell. And finally the roof.'
'And on the matter of going to the roof. I do not dare use this stairwell to go to the roof from this end of the building, because I would come out the wrong side. There would be to much open ground for me to cover, with me being a sitting duck for Balalaika, and B.'
'Though, it might be best to listen in and find out when they realize they lost me. Being forewarned is being forearmed.'
Lee used his left hand to turn on the radio, clipped to the left side of his belt. He made sure its volume setting was low, with it just barely loud enough for him to hear. So, any noise from it, would likely not attract any unwanted attention.
Lee then continue to carefully, though quickly and quietly, make his way up the steps of the stairwell.
(_)
A few minutes later, on the tenth floor, in the building just north of the building Lee was in, Shenhua and Sawyer were in south part of building's hallway entrance to the bridge, that lead to the building that Lee had went into.
The two women stood by each other, with Shenhua to Sawyer's left side, as they two looked towards the bridge.
Sawyer had her chainsaw turned off, and strapped to her back. While Shenhua had her long knives and throwing knives sheathed.
Both women continued looking forward, as Sawyer asked, “So, are you still planning on killing Lee?”
Shenhua calmly answered, “No. He settled his debt with me, when he saved my life from the Bebop crew.”
Sawyer replied, “Good.”
Shenhua inquired, “You sound like you like him?”
Sawyer shrugged, “Not in that way. It is just he did some good things for me, that improved me life... Our lives. And I am grateful to him, for those things.”
Shenhua responded, “Yes. He did do some good things for you.”
Sawyer commented, “He is not really that bad a guy.” She mentally added, 'I think I will leave out the torture conversation he had with me.'
Shenhua conceded, “But, he is an idiot.”
Sawyer joked, “Aren't all men.”
Both women giggled, for a few seconds.
The two women then watched as Akira, Ranma, Natsuru met up with Zoe, and Mal on the other side of the bridge. None of them looked happy, as they walked across the bridge, toward the two women.
Shenhua commented, “I think, they somehow missed, Lee.”
Sawyer suggested, “Let us find out for sure.”
The two women walked towards the five adults, with the seven adults coming to a stop in the center of the bridge, as they looked at each other.
Shenhua asked, “What happened?”
Akira answered, “We missed him?”
Shenhua asked, “How? This is a straightforward trap.”
Zoe spoke up, “We know. And we checked the rooms our way over here.” She turned to the Ranma, Natsuru, and Akira, as she inquired, “Did you guys do the same?”
Ranma turned to Zoe, as she answered, “Yes.” She then turned to Shenhua and Sawyer, as she asked, “Did Lee come back your way?”
Shenhua answered, “No.”
Natsuru turned to Akira, as she cursed, “Crap. How did we miss him, again?”
Akira turned to Natsuru, as she shrugged, “Beats me.”
(_)
At that moment, outside, while steadily sitting on a steel beam that was her perch, on the communications tower, Balalaika kept her right trigger finger on the trigger guard, as she used her rifle scope to watched as Natsuru, Akira, Ranma, Mal, Zoe, had walked onto the bridge from the south building. While Shenhua and Sawyer walked onto the bridge, from the north building.
The seven adults met each other in the middle. And they began to talk.
Balalaika noted that Lee was nowhere in sight.
Balalaika thought, 'What is going on here? I better ask them what happened.'
Balalaika let go of the fore-end of her rifle with her left hand. This allowed her to continued holding her rifle with her right hand, and allow her to use her scope to look at the seven adult.
She then used her left hand to pull out her radio, from the left side of her belt. She pressed the talk button, as she asked, in english, “What happened? Where is Lee?”
From her scope, Balalaika saw Sawyer pulled out her radio, as she answered, “Lee some how got passed all of us.”
Balalaika then watched Akira pulled out her radio. Akira stated, into her radio, “I don't know how it happened. We checked all the rooms on our way here. And from what Mal and Zoe are saying, they did the same thing.”
Balalaika thought, 'How is that possible? We had him. We should not have missed him... Something isn't right. Lee is not this good. Unless...'
Just then, on the radio, Balalaika heard Simon's voice say, “Kaylee, Inara, and I, found Jayne. It seems that Lee kicked Jayne in the balls, and she thought it was a bright idea to change into a girl.”
Akira stated, with her radio, “Bad move.”
Over his radio, Simon replied, “Yes. From seeing the way Jayne is right now. That is obvious.”
Over the radio, Rock asked, “Is Jayne going to be alright?”
On the radio, Simon answered, “Jayne is going to be out of it for a while. But, it is safe to say we now know how Lee retrieved his firearm.”
Balalaika inquired, “Does Jayne have his radio with him?”
A few seconds later, Simon answered, “No.”
Balalaika thought, with mild annoyance, 'Sometimes being right can be a curse.' Balalaika ordered, into her radio, “Quick, change your radio frequencies to channel bravo.”
On the radio, Akira asked, “Huh?”
Over the radio, Revy inquired, “What are you asking, sis?”
Balalaika mentally cursed, 'Damn! I knew I forgot to do something when we handed those radios out to the every. Only B and I know how to work the channel codes we we set our radios too... Well, it cannot be helped now. The only thing I can do is explain what is going on. And that we are now on an open channel with Lee.'
Balalaika stated into her radio, “Everyone be mindful of that Lee has Jayne's radio. We can still catch him. It just means we will have to be careful what we say over these radios... And Lee, I know you are listening. So, speak up... Your cast wants to have a word with you.”
(_)
At the moment, Lee had made it to the twenty-second floor of the building he was in. He had exited the stairwell, and he shut the door behind him.
The stairwell entrance forked into two way intersection of hallways.
Lee then stood in place, as he looked down both hallways, to see that they were close.
He then stared down the hallway he needed go down. He saw several doors line both sides of the hallway. And like the doors from the hallway below, they had card reader locks on the doors. Though, from the green lights on the locks, it showed the doors were unlock.
Since Lee did not seen anyone else down either hallways, he stopped to catch a breath.
As Lee had made it up the staircase, he had his radio on, and he had been listening to their conversation.
Balalaika had just asked for his response, Lee thought, 'I might will make my presence known. After all, Balalaika did make such a wonderfully elegant request for my response. As a gentleman... Well, a gentlewoman. I will have to take her up on her offer... Though, I should not sound tired. I do not want them to know that I getting them to talk, so I can catch my second wind.'
With his left hand, Lee unhooked the radio from his waist belt, on the left side of his waist.
As Lee held the radio in his left hand, near his mouth, he leaned his back against the wall to his left, while he lowed his rifle, to where the end of the barrel was leaning against the floor.
Though, Lee was very careful and aware, not to put his right trigger finger on the trigger. And instead, he had his right index finger continue to rest on the trigger guard.
Lee took a deep breath. He then slowly let out that breath. When Lee was done letting out his breath, he pressed the talk button. Lee flatly replied, through his radio, “Of course, I am. Tapping into the communications of an enemy is such a simple, but necessary tactic. If one wants to stay alive, and free. I recognize these radios as yours, Balalaika. It is your fault I got a radio in the first place. Most of the people here are not as well trained as you, and B. And you both handed out these radios without realizing that I may try to get my hands on one of them.”
Balalaika calmly said, with her radio, “I will admit to that oversight.”
Molly then broke into the conversation, with her radio, “This is Molly. Before this turns into an argument, full of threats of violence. I would like to speak with you, Lee.”
Over his radio, Lee responded, “Go ahead Molly. As long as we are talking, chances are that most of you are not looking for me.”
Molly inquired, with her radio, “True. Now, along some more personal questions for another time. The important question I have is, why did you reincarnate the five of us?”
Lee casually answered, with his radio, “Well Molly, Yukio, whatever name you want to go by. I think four of the five of you got a really raw deal. Except for Claude. But, I found Claude, or should I say now, Kristina, was such a polite person, that I wanted to bring that person back to life. Manners do count.”
Kristina spoke up, on her radio, “Thank you.”
Lee said, into his radio, “Kristina, you are welcome. Anyway, take you, Molly. For an example. When you were, Yukio Washimine, your predecessor, Tsugio Bandou, made a critical error in contacting Hotel Moscow. That mistake being that one should never ally their self with a greater power, unless absolutely necessary.”
Lee mentally reflected, 'And that is not counting the other mistakes you made, as Yukio, Molly. Like planning to head to Roanapur, as Yukio. But, there is no point in bringing that up. It is in the past for you. And it would gain me nothing by mentioning those mistakes.'
(_)
Outside, on the communications tower, Balalaika immediately realized where Lee knew that lesson from. Over her radio, she accused, “Lee, you have studied Machiavelli?”
Almost all the people present knew who Machiavelli was.
(_)
From the hallway that Rock and Revy were in, elsewhere in the building Lee was inside of, Rock commented, in a manner that summed up everyone feelings on the revelation, “Oh hell.”
Beside her, Revy commented, “This is not good. Even I know who that is.”
(_)
Back in the hallway Lee was in, Lee answered, into his radio, “Ah yes. Niccolo Machiavelli. I found his works, especially, The Prince, to be brilliant. And that he is a very misunderstood individual. With his teachings are far better than most people give him credit for.”
“To that end, I long since realized that Machiavelli invented modern genre savviness. And I have been applying his teachings since minute one of meeting you all. And those teachings, among others, have kept me alive, so far.”
“Also, Machiavelli is one of my two favorite renaissance men. My other favorite man of that time was, Leonardo da Vinci. Whom was almost just as genre savvy as Machiavelli.”
“I think you women would have admired those two men. One defined modern politics and diplomacy The other defined modern technology, and art. They were truly the forefathers of the modern age...”
Over his radio, Lee quietly added, “Which is being torn down...”
Lee then spoke a bit louder, as he continued, into his radio, “Those two men even knew each other. And one time they worked together to steal a river. Yes. An actually river. Though, they did not success, due to lack of technology of that time. That still take guts to attempt, no matter what time period one is talking about.”
“Besides... The reason I prefer to study Machiavelli, is because I find Nietzche is too butch, and Kafka is too dry.”
Balalaika stated, “You are clearly quoting someone. But, I cannot place the quote.”
Akira stated, with her radio, “Actually Lee is paraphrasing Fox Xanatos, from the early nineteen nineties cartoon, Gargoyles.”
Lee said, into his radio, “You are correct, Akira.”
Form her radio, Balalaika took offense at learning this, as she snapped, “You are quoting a cartoon, to me, Lee?”
Lee pointed out, in a jovial manner, “Hey. You are from an anime. So, don't be a hypocrite. Still. To clarify. Fox was making those comments, while reading a work by Jean-Paul Sartre. Though, the paraphrase still fits. And while Fox is from a cartoon, I am sure some of you have noticed that while I mentioned the Gargoyles series a few times, in my stories, I never messed with the people from that series, in my stories. And that was intentional on my part.”
“The people from the Gargoyles series operate on a whole different level than any of us. They are more dangerous, and more ruthless, than any of us. Except for maybe for Roberta, and Aeryn.”
Aeryn spoke up through the radio, “Thank you.”
Lee responded, into his radio, “You're welcome. Now, while you all are probably more violent that those of the Gargoyles series. At least what was shown on scene. Which, was quite a bit, considering it was a cartoon. You are not as creatively deceptive as they are.”
“And before you take this as an insult. You need to listen to me on this. Especially, you, Balalaika. I am only going to warn you once. You need to, in the near future, find the time to watch the Gargoyles series... Well, the first two seasons. No one counts the third season as canon. Not even the creator of that series.”
“But never, ever go to that reality. And should you do, do not cross the Xanatos clan, especially David and Fox Xanatos.”
“Considering, I was able to play all of you, like harps, with only my wits and a deck of cards, the Xanatos clan would annihilate you.”
“Balalaika, even with Hotel Moscow at your side, David and Fox Xanatos would wipe the floor with you in every category. From resources, to political influence, to manpower, to combat, to weaponry, to intelligence, to strategy, to cunning. They can bring more to the table, in every way, than you can.”
“The only people more dangerous than the Xanatos clan, are their in-laws. And that is up from debate. If you go against David and Fox Xanatos, they will outplay you so well, that you won't see your defeat coming, until it is too late.”
“There is a reason why the term, Xanatos Gambit, was named after David Xanatos. David is not a magnificent bastard. He is the magnificent bastard of the multiverse. And his wife, Fox, is just as good at this game as he is.”
“Hell. Let us take Fox Xanatos as an example. She is a brilliant intellectual. A natural leader. She is in great physical shape. She can kick some serious ass in hand to hand combat. She is also an expert in firearms. She has the personality of a predator. But, she also knows her manners. She can be very civil and diplomatic. And the only thing that separates most of you, from her, is that she is sane.”
“And I admire David for marrying her. She is a good catch. And they go well together. They even have a son. Also, respect David's marriage proposal to Fox in that it was elegant in its simplicity and straightforwardness. And it worked.”
“Though, an interesting note, she has a teal tattoo on the upper right side of her face... And her original name is Janine Renard. She actually legally changed her name to, Fox... Why did I not see it before?... Hehehehe...” Lee chuckling turning into full blown laughter, as he continue to hold the to button, for a few seconds, as he laughed.
Over the radio, Balalaika demanded, “What is so funny?”
Lee stopped laughing, as he answered, “Of course. I should have seen it before. Fox Xanatos is an inspiration for you, Balalaika, and likely the other original Lagoon women, as well. Though, the more crazier women in your group probably got some of their inspirations from Hyaena and Demona. Demona even had red hair. While, Fox had orange hair.”
(_)
Elsewhere in the building, Revy looked at her lover, with an unspoken question showing on her face.
Rock looked back over at Revy, as she answered, “Lee might be right.”
(_)
In another part of the same building, as Lee was in, Akira, Natsuru, and Ranma were standing together.
Akira commented, “The scary thing is that Lee is has a point.”
Natsuru said, “The scarier part is that I can see Lee's logic on this.”
Akira shrugged, while nodding her head. She replied, “I know.”
Ranma inquired, “Is that the series with the intelligent flying monsters, whom awoke from a thousand year sleep, to live in New York City?”
Akira answered, “Yes.”
Ranma commented, “Yep. I can see the parallels with the two series. In the badass ways.”
Natsuru said, “You are preaching to the choir.”
Akira agreed, “Yes. You are.”
(_)
From her outside perch, Balalaika stated, into her radio, “Interesting. I will keep what you said in mind, Lee. Still, you don't have a clue who and what you are dealing with.”
(_)
From his place in the hallway, Lee chuckled lighting into his radio, as he thought, 'I should not be surprised that Balalaika made the same mistake as Chang. Though, I set Chang straight. And I need to set Balalaika straight, right now. And if I get the reaction I am hoping for. By the end of this conversation, I will be throwing off her aim.'
As Lee calmed down, he responded, into the radio, in a humorous tone of voice, “That is where you are wrong. Balalaika, Let us take you for example. You are not using an office room building, as a bird blind, for cover, as a sniper, looking out a window.”
“Instead, right now, I am sure you are perched on the roof of a high towering building nearby. Or, a communications tower, probably mid way up, where the wind, which this dome has a little, but not a lot, will not make the tower sway too much, to throw your aim off. Though, wherever you are, you are in a sniper position.”
“This is an obvious, academic guess. Considering, you are trying to locate a single target over a large area. What is not so academic, is everything else I know about you.”
Over the radio, Balalaika baited, “Oh. I would like to hear this.”
Lee took the bait, as he smirked. He stated, with a bit of excitement in his tone of voice, “With pleasure. The Black Lagoon series did provide a thorough insight into the tactics of Hotel Moscow. Such as your organization preferring the high ground, along with using cars, and other ground based vehicles, as weapons platforms to attack from.”
“But, one thing stood out, above all others. That, wall of these events were well into the nineteen nineties, you of hotel Moscow preferred to use the military weapons and equipment that you were trained to use, a decade and a half earlier.”
“This is not surprising. Why fix it, if it is not broken? I can even admire that approach, in some ways. But, even though you used cellphones to conduct business, you used your encrypted military radios, like the ones we are using now, to talk with each other, for everything else.”
“That is intelligent on your part. And a wise decision. If you intend to go to my home reality. Do not use cellphones at all. They are all tapped, and can be used to record and trace you, even if they are turned off. I am not joking here. That is why I don't use one.”
“But, back to the subject at hand. This observation by you of Hotel Moscow, using older tactics and equipment, does show a weakness. Much like the major weakness which destroyed the Spartans. You refuse to update you tactics and equipment, with the times. Which means you will eventually lose to someone that can compensate for your tactics and equipment.”
“Such, as myself, in that I know enough about you, and the equipment you are likely using. Among another impressive skills, you, Balalaika, are an expert sniper. And my actions, in writing about you, only enhanced your skills, through the super-soldier serum I had given you. But, that only means that the limitations are now from your tactics and equipment.”
“Both of which I am very knowledgeable of.”
“To start with. Knowing you, you are likely using a SVD Dragunov sniper rifle, with a brown finished wooden stock and fore-end. The SVD Dragunov is likely equipped with a PSO-1 scope. And the pistol you likely have holstered, somewhere on your person, is your Stechkin APS. Or, automatic pistol, with selective fire. The Stechkin APS was introduced to the Soviet Union, for military use in nineteen fifty-one.”
“Also, given that I suspect you, and B, wearing fatigues, color coded for this operation, your pistol is located on a side holster, on the right side of your waist, given you are likely right eye dominate, with you using her right eye to aim your rifle. That said, you are likely an expert at using your pistol with both hands.”
“The ammo your Stechkin uses, and you have loaded with, is likely the nine by eighteen millimeter Parabellum. Given that type of ammo is only of the most widely available types of ammo, from the time and place or your reality.”
“The effective range of the pistol is fifty meters. But, the maximum range is two hundred meters.”
“It is a good pistol, which offers some good modification options. The pistol can be equipped with an extended stock, for steadier, more accurate firing. The pistol can use an extended barrel, for a suppressor. It can use an extended clip. And the automatic selector option, offers a close range, spray option. It is pretty much everything a person would one in a pistol. Except you cannot mount a scope on it.”
“And given you nature is not to be wasteful, you likely have your pistols set to single shot selection. Am I correct on all that.”
Over the radio, Balalaika flatly answered, “Yes.”
Lee stated, “I thought so. Now, the Dragunov was developed in nineteen sixty-three. The PSO-1 scope was developed in nineteen sixty-four. The Dragunov semi-automatic rifle, that uses a seven point sixty-two by fifty-four millimeter R cartridge. The rifle normally is equipped with a ten round magazine. So, you have at most, without reloading, eleven rounds in your weapon. One in the chamber, and ten in the magazine. And your skill with the Dragunov weapon is where you got your nickname, Balalaika, from. With, Balalaika, being slang for the Dragunov rifle.”
“By using a scope, the maximum range of the Dragunov is one thousand, three hundred meters. Though, the effective firing range is around eight hundred meters. Around nine hundred yards.”
“And with your skills, I am sure you could hit a silver dollar coin at nine hundred yards. Though, given the slightly lower atmosphere in this dome, than at sea level on Earth, I would guess the effective firing range is a little longer here.”
“So, let us say, you can hit me, without a problem, at an even thousand yards. Though, now that I think about it. Taking into account Mars' lower gravity, the effective firing range of your weapon of choice might be up to sixteen hundred yards. But, given you are a trained sniper, you would not take a risk like that. You would use the stats and figures that you can confirm. That being the formula for shooting your rifle on Earth, with Earth's gravity and atmosphere.”
“Also, given that you like to give yourself an edge in a fight. Wherever you are perched, it is within seven hundred yards of the building I am in. B is likely in a similar location, in the opposite place, in relation to your position, over this area, with her probably using a similar rifle, scope, and equipment.”
“Now, onto the PSO-1 scope.”
“I am sure you are using the PSO-1 scope, instead of the PSO-1M2, because you would want to have the infra-red detector that comes installed in the PSO-1 scope, which was not included in the PSO-1M2 scope.”
“When the PSO-1 scope was invented, in nineteen sixty-four, it was truly groundbreaking, in that its SVD type reticule made it easier for sniper to gauge wind resistance, and bullet drop compensation, to hit targets at a longer range, in more hostile environmental conditions. And even in the time I lived, in my reality, the PSO-1 is a useable scope rifle.”
“Though, one needs very good eyesight, and very steady hands, to get the most of it that scope and rifle. Which you and B having both in spades.
“And even if you are not using the Dragunov, you are still likely using the PSO-1 scope, because that is the scope you were trained with, to use. For a sniper, the rifle type is only secondary in equipment, to the scope that sniper uses.”
Lee smirk slightly widened, as he inquired into his radio, with eagerness evident in his tone of voice, “So, how did I do on my Holmes summation? I think I nailed.”
(_)
Outside, on her perch, midway up a communications tower, Balalaika looked down at her Dragunov sniper rifle, which had a brown finished wooden stock and fore-end. Along with the PSO-1 scope attached to the barrel of the weapon, between the fore-end and stock. She then glance further down, to her Stechkin APS pistol, selected to single fire, which was holstered, on a side holsters, on the right side of her waist.
At the moment, Balalaika was not so much angry, as she was upset that such a stranger could have gotten such an upper hand on her abilities, and equipment.
Though, Balalaika did start reciting a string of russian curses against Lee, as she thought, 'I was right. Lee is like Rock. Lee will use every tiny, little detail to his advantage. That is what makes him so dangerous, and unpredictable.'
'I am glad we are not planning on killing him. Torture him some. Yes. But, kill him. No. Because I hope we may someday make use of his abilities.'
'And I am starting to understand why the others had such a hard time figuring out that the writer was Lee. He literally pushes his own abilities to theirs limits.'
'That is how he fooled B and I on the passenger transport.'
'Also, he obviously trying to intentionally get me angry. Because, he knows that a pissed off sniper is a useless sniper. And his tactic almost worked.'
'When I get my hands on him, I am going to learn everything he knows about us, while showing him the true meaning of pain.'
(_)
In the small security room, in the building, which was main control center, of the factory complex, Dutch stood guard by the door to the hallway, with her shotgun slung on her right shoulder, and her pistol holstered.
Meanwhile, Benny sat in the chair, at the desk, in the room. Currently, Benny had his tool kit open, and he had the broken mouse taken apart, as she used her tool to slice the severed cord to where the wires were exposed. She was now, trying to bridge the wires back to the mouse, in the proper order, to get it working.
Both of them had been listening on their radios, at the discussion the rest of their group had been having with Lee.
Dutch turned to Benny, as she asked, “How is it coming on the computer mouse?”
Benny did not look up from her work, as she answered, “Slowly, but surely. Though, it is still going to be a while.”
Dutch said, in a reassuring tone of voice, “Do what you can. At least we got entertainment to listen to.”
Benny let out a laugh. She then commented, “I honestly don't believe I just heard all that. I know Lee knows stuff about us. But, what he stated is on a completely different level than what I expected Lee to know. It is like when Janet talks about her knowledge on currencies, and counterfeiting.”
Dutch stated, “Don't be surprised. His stories reflect the fact that he did some serious research on us. He didn't just watch our series and start writing. He did some work, beforehand. And one of the oldest tricks in the book is to know one's enemy. Especially, before entering the battlefield. Lee knew that if he was able to go on the run, he would eventually cross both Balalaika and B. And he wanted to be ready for them.”
Benny pointed out, “Still, Lee is intelligent enough not to say what he just said, while in the direct cross-hairs of either woman.”
Dutch agreed, “Very true.”
(_)
In the hallway Lee was standing in, he heard Balalaika state, in a very dangerous tone of voice. “Since you know so much about me, Lee. You know that beyond this factory complex is a completely barren field, several kilometers to the nearest highway.”
“It is a perfect place for B or I to take you out. That is, if you get that far into your escape from us. The ambient light given off from the starry sky, shine through the dome, along with the factory lights, provides us with plenty of light to allow us to see you with our enhanced sight. The darkness will not help you much. So, if you surrender now. I promise, I won't make you scream.”
Lee calmly said, “While I think you would keep your promise, Balalaika. I also know there are simple ways of avoiding sniper fire. Being shot out by a snipes is like being chased by a gator. A person doesn't run in a straight line. The person zigzags. With a car, I think I could probably get out of here alive, even with you and B shooting at me. Though, in doing so, I would probably damage the cars alignment and suspension system.”
Balalaika conceded, in a more calmer tone of voice, “That is correct. If the situation was different, I might have actually hired you as a freelance consultant on a few matters. You clearly use what you know to the maximum of effect. A trait that is rare, and that I admire.”
Lee replied, “Thank you.”
Balalaika's tone of voice took a more dangerous undercurrent to it, as she continued, “But, that doesn't change the fact of what you did to us. I am sure you remember what I did to, Chin? That will be pleasant compared to what I going to do to you for trying to control us... Control me.”
Everyone then heard Lee start laughing more maniacally than ever, over the radio. As he forced himself to calm down, he stated, “Chin?... At the end of episode three?... Let me get this straight. Your idea of revenge for me is to beat me up, tie me to a chair, and blow me up? That is so cliche. That ghost story omake was right. You do lack imagination. BWAHAHAHA!”
(_)
In other part of the same building Lee was in, Rock and Revy heard all of this, though, through their radios.
As they listened to the situation unfolding, both women were shocked by the blunt forwardness that Lee was displaying towards one of the scariest women they knew of. Themselves, included.
Revy and Rock looked at each other in their faces.
Rock hesitantly said, “Now, Lee is berating, Balalaika.”
Revy flatly responded, with a bit of surprise in her tone of voice, “Lee's nuts.”
(_)
From her outside perch, Balalaika cursed in Russian, as she admitted to herself, in thought, 'Okay. Now, I am angry.”
Balalaika coldly said, “When I get my hands on you, I will...”
(_)
In a hallway he was standing in, Lee interrupted her, in an arrogant tone of voice, “What will happen is that you will turn me over to Roberta. Babe. That is what it is going to come down too. Let's be honest. You are all badasses. But, Roberta is the top alpha bitch in your pack. Hell, from what I know of her, she and her student are likely listening in on this little conversation of ours. But, Roberta and Fabiola are both too professional to reply, because they want to make damn sure I don't see the trap they have laid for me. Wherever they are?”
There was silence over the radio, for a few seconds.
Lee thought, 'I see no takers, on my bait for you to fill me in on where the maids are. But, I need to know where the maids are? Or, even if they are with this group, at the moment.' Lee used his radio to inquire, “By the way, are the maids even here?”
Over her radio, Akira answered, “They are on planet. But, as far was we know, not in this factory complex.”
Lee replied, “Thanks. Anyway, Boris, or B, sorry about changing you into a woman. You were one of the nicer, more honorable people in Black Lagoon. I just couldn't help myself.”
(_)
From her outside position, on the roof of a large building, B her hard rifle in her right hand, as she had her radio in her left hand. She used her radio to calmly say, in english, “At least I have a fun time. You gave me the greatest vacation imaginable. Including going to the original Woodstock. And then gave me the woman of my dreams. Who am I to complain? And, B, is fine.”
Lee complimented, “Good attitude.”
B then could not help herself, as she asked, “Thank you. But, why did you make a Balalaika a lesbian?”
(_)
Back in the hallway, Lee stood up from leaning his back on the wall. Lee let the radio off for a few seconds, as he chuckled a little, at B's question.
A few seconds later, as he calmed down, he used the radio, as he stated, “I know you are listening, Balalaika. But, your girlfriend did ask. And I already told Chang... Oh yea, if you guys don't know. Chang figured who I was on his own.”
Over the radio, B commented, “Chang informed Rock and Revy of that. And those two told the rest of us. Now please, get to the point.”
Lee said, into his radio, “Alright. Anyway, it is simple logic. Here we have Balalaika, living with a group of badass men. From you, B, as a guy, on down the ranks, Hotel Moscow's men were physically fit, and handsome. And all of you were completely devote to Balalaika. Yet, her attitude clearly showed that she was not getting laid.”
Several of the other women were laughing, over the radio. While Balalaika, and B, remained silent.
As the women calmed down, B stated, over her radio, “That does answer some questions. Like why she took up that hobby of editing porn. I mean, she likes going up my ass more than Revy does with Rock.”
Lee inwardly winced, as he thought, 'I did not need to know that. Though, it would also mean that the reason Balalaika was bored out of her skull editing porn was that she was tired of watching recordings of other people doing what she wanted to do. And I would bet money they had access to those instant man packets. So, B was not talking about use of dildos. At least not plastic ones.'
Meanwhile, B's comment caused everyone to laugh some, over the radio.
Then suddenly, over the radio, Balalaika warned, in a cold tone of voice, “We will not be discussing my personal tastes on an open channel.”
This caused everyone to laugh even harder.
A few seconds later, as Lee heard the laughter on the radio die down, Lee thought, 'I better change the subject, before Balalaika start to concern shooting her own friends.'
Lee said, into the radio, “By the way, Akira and Natsuru, I hope you like your new video collection.”
Over the radio, Natsuru replied, “We plan on watching it right after we catch you. If you surrender, we promise to let you live long enough to see it all.”
Lee admitted, into his radio, “Tempting. But, I will have to pass. Breathing is more important to me. Though, given my knowledge of you all, my chances of escape are quite high.”
Dutch stated, into her radio, “Perhaps. But, we will have justice for what you did to us?”
Lee laughed into the radio for several seconds. As he calmed down, he then stated, “Oh Dutchy-babe, at least be honest. This has nothing to do with justice, and has all to do about revenge.”
Dutch replied, into her radio, “You don't believe in justice? Do you?”
Lee stated, “Nope. And if you capture me, there will be no trials. No juries. Just me being tortured. You might parade me around Lagoon Island a few times for your friends, but at the end of the day, you are going to torture me until you get tired, and then, if I am lucky, you will kill me in a slow, painful, horrible way.”
Over her radio, Dutch commented, “I am surprised you have such a low opinion of us.”
Lee replied, into his radio, “It is not that. It is just I realize what you are all capable of. Though, I think you, Ranma, Natsuru, Akira, and Violin, are the nicest of your group.”
Dutch said, with her radio, “Thank you.”
Over his radio, Lee responded, “You're welcome.”
Rock inquired, into her radio, “Lee, why don't you believe in justice?”
Lee laughed again into the radio. A few seconds later, as he calmed down, Lee stated, over the radio, “You... You of all people in this group after me, have the audacity to ask me that? Though Rock, I will admit that I am envious of your reality. At least Roanapur has some measure of justice. Or, had.”
Rock questioned, with her radio, “What do you mean? Because, I didn't see any type of justice while I was there.”
Over his radio, Lee answered, “Justice existed there. It was just not the type of justice you were taught as a child. Take Balalaika here. And Chang. At their height, during their mafia days in Roanapur. They were the two most powerful people in control of the city. Still, they had, and still have a measure of loyalty to their subordinates. With their subordinates returning their loyalty. To that end, they also have measure of integrity and personal honor.”
“Like the mafias of previous generations, they understood subtlety and discretion. A trait lacking in much of my reality, in the time I left. Balalaika, am I correct in assuming that most of those whom suffered, or died by your organization's hands. Or, those that Chang's group handled. Were dealt with because they either crossed you, or could not behave, within reason, in Roanapur?”
Balalaika calmly said, into her radio, “That is correct.”
Lee responded, “Thank you, Balalaika. Honestly, you all have some redeeming qualities that I can respect. If I wanted to be a fan of a series, where the characters that won were complete elitist, hypocritical, scumbags, that make Chaka look like a saint, I would watch Game of Thrones. And I hate that series because that series reminds me of my own reality. A world where justice does not exist. Where only cruelty and evil thrive.”
Revy stated, into her radio, “Lee, that maybe the case. But, you still think you understand us. Well, you don't.”
Lee casually said, into his radio. “Oh, Revy. Sweet, sweet Revy. You, my dear, were the easiest one to figure out. Savvy.”
“In your series you acted like a pissed off teenager due to the shit that happened to you when you were younger.”
“Centuries ago, a writer known as Samuel Johnson said it best. He who makes a beast of himself, gets rid of the pain of being a man.”
“This quote applies to women, as well. Such as you, Revy. I have known women in my personal life, before I heard of any of you, let alone met you, that took this creed to heart. So, as you can see. I do understand you, Revy. Though, I did do my best to try to help you.”
“And while others would disagree, you do have a lot of positive traits that work for you. As a foundation, that allowed me to help you. You are honest, and straightforward. You are probably the most honest woman I know of, in existence. Though, you are mildly belligerent to everyone. You are loyal to your friends. You are fun at parties, as long as you don't get too drunk, and don't have your weapons. You are very realistic with your wants, goals, and needs. And you know your limitations.”
“You are as intelligent as Rock. You are just not as knowledgeable, and emotionally grounded, as Rock.”
“You know you are sexy. And while you show it, you don't unnecessarily flaunt it. You don't tease others by using your beauty, unless you have to. That makes you more well mannered than most women I have personally known in my home reality.”
“And when it comes to manners, you only lack them, because no one taught you them. Though, I am sure Rock has done much to help you in that department.”
“With those positive traits as a foundation, I helped you cement your friendship with Shenhua and Sawyer. For them to become good friends with you. Friends that you could relate too. Then, I made you leader of the Hell Sabers to teach you responsibility, and leadership skills. I had you deal with what happened to you as a teenager, from a third person point of view, and this helped you move on from had happened to you. I arranged for you have a stable relationship, and love life. A good home. To become wealthy. And for you to have children whom you care about, and whom care about you.”
“I did what I could for you, Revy. But, I guess it wasn't enough. Because you continue to be an ungrateful bitch that is still after my hide!”
Over the radio, Revy responded, with venom lacing her voiced, “I never asked for any of it.”
With his radio, Lee countered, “Nor, did you ask for the shit that happened to you when you were younger.”
(_)
In the security room, both Dutch and Benny were listening to their radios.
Benny was sitting in the chair, in front of the desk, as she continued to work on repairing the computer mouse.
Dutch stood beside Benny, as she asked, “Is Lee actually trying is rev Revy up?
Benny continued with her work, as she casually answered, “It appears so. Either Lee is completely insane, and he has a death wish. Or, he is a better planner, and manipulator, than we thought. After listening to him insult Balalaika, I am leaning towards the death wish angle, myself.”
Dutch admitted, “I don't know. Some of what Lee said about Balalaika makes sense. I can see how she could have been a lesbian all this time. And I am not talking about the prissy type of lesbian. I am talking about the hardass, butch version of lesbianism.”
Benny commented, “Hmm. Possible. I wonder what her and B's nights in bed are like?”
Dutch cautioned, “I don't plan to ask questions that can be a threat to my mental health, and physical wellbeing.”
Benny said, “Good point. Also, Lee has a point about this being all about revenge.”
Dutch admitted, “True.”
Benny commented, “And Lee is right. You are one of the nicest people in this group.”
Dutch replied, “Thank you.”
Benny replied, “You're welcome.”
Dutch inquired, “So, how long on the mouse?”
Benny answered, “It still is going to take a while.”
Just then, over their radios, they heard Aeryn flatly stated, “So, you are a psychopath, Lee”
Lee admitted, over the radio, “Actually, I am a borderline sociopath. A psychopath is a person born without a conscience. He, or she, was not born with the sense of knowing what is right and wrong. Due to this, many psychopaths are narcissists, with a talent for charming people. An example of a psychopath would be Chaka. A selfish person, whom only was interested in himself, with no loyalty to anyone else, while making people suffer for his amusement.”
“On the other hand, a sociopath is a person born with a sense of right and wrong. It is just as they grow up, the abuse they suffer deadens their ability to empathize with others. And the reason I know I am borderline sociopath is that I lack had the ability to empathize with people's positive emotions. That ability was stripped from me. I cannot really feel happiness, nor love. But, I can still feel pain, anger, sadness. And I can empathize with people when they feel those negative emotions.
“In my opinion, none of you are psychopaths. Though, a few of you are sociopaths. It is academic to guess whom I am referring too. And while sociopaths are salvageable. Psychopaths are not. Because, psychopaths have no moral compass to work with. Still, many humans don't know the difference. So Aeryn, it is not surprising an alien, such as yourself, would not know the difference.”
Benny looked over at Dutch.
Dutch noted Benny looking at her. She conceded, “Guy's got a point.”
Benny shrugged. She then turned back to her work, of repairing the computer mouse, at the desk.
Aeryn replied, over her radio, “I must admit, that is an interesting observation.”
Lee stated, over the radio, “The whole point to being a writer it is understand the emotional nature of people, and situations.”
Violin inquired, over the radio, “So, that is why you became a writer?”
Lee admitted, over the radio, “Of course. With no friends, I had to figure out a way to understand how people, and things, ticked. To learn the mechanics of cause and effect in given situations. And I have learned so much from becoming a writer. And I feel privileged to apply the knowledge in dealing with your group.”
On the radio, Akira inquired, “Lee, who do you most identify with in fiction?”
On the radio Lee answered, “Good question, Akira. You could say I am a, Literary Walter White?”
Benny turned to Dutch, and she saw Dutch shrug her shoulders, in not knowing who that was.
On the radio, Akira asked, “Who is that?”
Over the radio, Lee stated, “I guess that series was too new for ya'll. The series is titled, Breaking Bad. And that is exactly what happens. And girl, what a delicious decent into villainy that series was. With Walter's Heisenberg being to my Lee. His chemistry skills to my genre savvy skills. Though, unlike him, I am intelligent enough to know the dangers of using a large machine gun, and I have a proper respect for cover.”
On the radio, Akira said, “I will be sure to check out that series.”
Lee said, with his radio, “You will probably enjoy the series. But, it is not a happy series. Nor does it have happy ending. Like most things in life.”
Akira replied, over the radio, “I will keep in that in mind.”
Then, Revy used her radio, to insultingly state, in a cold tone of voice, “What you are, Lee, is a motherfucker.”
Over their radios, they heard Lee respond, in a casual manner, “Actually, I have never fucked a mother before, Revy. But, if you want to lose your weapons, and spread your legs, I'm game.”
Dutch stated, “Whether is Lee is intentionally baiting Revy and Balalaika, or not, after a comment like that, there is no question that boy is crazy.”
Benny said, “No arguments there.”
Over the radio, Revy yelled, “You bastard!”
On the radio, Lee corrected, “To be honest, my parents were married before I was born. So, I am not a bastard. I am many things. But, bastard isn't one of them.”
(_)
In the building southwest of the building Dutch and Benny were in. Inside the hallway, where Lee stood, Lee thought, 'I know I am dancing on their berserk buttons to get them so angry, they will make mistake. But still, I must be insane in the first place for doing this.'
(_)
In another hallway of the same building Lee was inside of, Rock could literally see Revy start to foam at her mouth in rage.
Rock pulled Revy's radio from Revy's hands, as she sternly ordered, “Revy, you have to calm down. Lee is trying to manipulate you. He wants to get you to get angry as a way to help him escape.”
Revy looked at Rock, though, she quiet for a few moments. Rock then noticed Revy was starting to calm down.
As Revy reigned in her angry, rage disappeared from her face, as she gave an expression of disbelief. Revy said, “Geez, Rock. Lee is like Hannibal Lecter without the cannibalism.”
Rock handed Revy back her radio. Revy took the radio.
Rock responded, “Exactly. And we have to remember that he is clearly not the same man we met before the time loop. The years he spent in Plata Podrido, in that time loop, changed him from a nice guy to a manipulative bastard who will do anything to survive. We are not fighting a novice. You have to look at this as if we are fighting a professional. But, from the way his acts, I can tell that he has a weakness.”
Revy asked, “Which is?”
Rock smirked, “His pride.”
Revy lips curled into a wicked grin, as she giggled.
Rock stated through her radio, “Lee, give up now, and we might be lenient. This is your first personal experience with multiverse travel. On the other hand, we have being doing this for a long time.”
(_)
Inside the hallway, Lee was located in, Lee smirked, as he responded, in an arrogant tone of voice, into his radio, “Well, Rocky-babe. In truth this isn't my first time-warp twist with the multiverse. As you all know, I am a pre-cog. Partly experiencing alternate realities is just part of the package. And, when I start sensing the future and I can change the future. But that is not all. I figured out how to mentally time travel months into my own past, where I changed the future, creating an alternate reality of my very own reality in the multiverse. Though, mentally traveling back in time hurts like hell, because doing so damages my soul. With a level and type of pain that I cannot put into words. Which is saying something, giving my writing talents. And that is why I don't do it. But, I still know how to.”
“I have even on occasion had my soul travel to alternate Earths, where I possessed the bodies of my alternate reality selves. Each time, I usually spent from a few minutes, to hours, to even a day in one of those realities, before I safely returned to my own body, in my home reality. Yes Rock. Just like you with the omakes. And just like you, I suspect not all of the versions of my selves I possessed were male.”
“So, as you can see. I have dealt with multiversal issues long before I ever wrote the stories that involved any of you. That is one of the reasons I wrote my stories about you. Because I wanted to push the envelope of the genre, using my own life experiences as inspiration. I guess I pushed it too far. Though, doing so was still fun.”
Lee then stopped talking for a few seconds. No one replied, and silence reign.
Lee thought, 'I bet everyone else that heard this was shocked by these revelations. I am just a person with many secrets. Now, to tell them what I really think is going on, and what my role in this little play really is.'
Lee chuckled into his radio, as he continued, in a wild tone of voice, “I see no takers. Not that it matter. You all clearly haven't figured it out by now. I am the villain of this madman's ballad. It is Joker versus the Badasses Of the Multiverse. And I am in the role Mr. J, himself.”
(_)
In another part of the building Lee was inside of. In the hallway that Rock and Revy were in, Rock thought, with worry, 'Oh no. He is imitating the Joker of all people. This is bad.'
With her radio, Rock stated, “To everyone, if Lee gets caught in an industrial accident, you are to go after him. We will not allow him to become a psychotic supervillain on our watch.”
(_)
In the hallway Lee was in, over the radio, Lee let out a laugh and he stated, “I appreciate the concern, Rock. Thank you. Still, I am dying of cancer. And I have you lot breathing down my neck. I got nothing to lose. I am the most dangerous person on this planet. And my options for winning are simple. I escape, I win. I die, I win. The only way you win is to catch me alive. Last dance, girls. See you on the dance floor...”
(_)
In the hallway with Rock and Revy, Rock thought, 'He is not leaving this conversation, that easily. Now, to hit his pride.'
Rock smirked, as she stated, into her radio, “You think are so better than the rest us. But, River told us some things about you.”
(_)
In the hallway, were Lee stood, with his radio, Lee inquired, “Such as?” He mentally added, 'Damn. And that last dance comment would be such a cool way to end this conversation. Though, I wonder what Rock is getting at?'
Rock said, into her radio, “That as a sadomasochistic sociopath. In truth, you are no better than the rest of us.”
Over his radio, Lee laughed. As he calmed down, he stated, “That is all she told you about me? That woman is so considerate about the privacy of others. There such worse things about my psyche that she could have mentioned, but clearly she didn't, if that is all you have on me.”
“Though, truth be told, in most ways, I never considered myself better than any of you. But, now that I think about it. Perhaps I should. And River is right. That sadly is my nature. But, the most important part that separates you from me, is one very important choice.”
“For a number of times, life has tried to push me into going on violent rampages. I had the means, motive, and opportunity, but I refused every time. I realized that those that harmed me would eventually screw up their own lives. And in the fullness of time, I have been proven right.”
“Unfortunately, that did not mean that I did not have the same desires of others, such as some of you. Yet, unlike others in my position. Like most of you. I never started down the path to being a full blown sadist. Though, I sometimes felt the desire to start down that path. Such as the temptations to tortured kittens, and puppies. I willfully refused to do so. Because, I knew where that would lead.”
“And here is the kicker. I worked through this all by myself. I never had any friends. And as I worked through such hells, I suffered even more abuses. Yet, in the end, I decided to refuse to play their game. As a far as I am concerned, the world can burn to ashes. And while I am more than happy to watch, I just won't one be of the ones lights the matches. I will continue refuse to become the monster that the world... Nay, God... Wants me to be.”
“I refuse to give in to God efforts of making me a monster. By God having everything and everyone treat me like a monster. And by doing so, I am stronger in willpower than any of you. You all accepted the darkness thrust in all of us, while I refused.”
“I move. I bend. I twist. I walk around. But, I never give up. I will never break in giving into my bloodlust. If I have no more moves in this life, I will move onto death. For me, death is but an opportunity for a better future. Even if I am bound for Hell. For me, death is not an ending to be feared.”
“To quote a great actor. If I am going to be damned. I am going to be damned for who I am.”
Over his radio, Lee continued, in a more sober tone of voice, “But, I still have that taste for blood and violence. That need to see the agony and death of others. For me, it is like being an alcoholic, while never having taken a single drink.”
“Some of you know what I am talking about. Your throat is dry, and you have this need for causing suffering of others. When it gets really bad, the rage for this thirst turns so cold, and so intense, that the cold literally burns one's soul, from the inside, out. At that point, the screams of pain from others are like children's lullabies to one's ears. With the rage becoming like riding a raging bull, with you knowing that if you let go, you lose control, that people will likely suffer and die.”
(_)
Elsewhere, in the building, Rock looked towards Revy's face.
Revy looked at Rock's face, as she just nodded in confirmation that what Lee was saying was true.
(_)
Back in the hallway Lee was in, Lee went onto say, into his radio, “I hate feeling that way. Such rage eats away on one's sanity, and soul. Though, that rage had already hollowed out my humanity, and my ability to feel love. And I do wish to keep what I have left. Which was why I sought to find some outlets for my desires. I figured writing was a harmless hobby, where I could work out my demons. But, after all this, I freely admit I was wrong.”
“Though, even with my noble actions, given what I was made into, I am still going to Hell. Though, not by my choices. But, by the choices of others. Yet, I no longer fear Hell. Why should I fear some place, that in many ways, I have already been too. Still, it does prove that free will in getting into Heaven is a load of bullshit.”
“If God says you are good, and you will go to heaven. Then, you are good, and get to go to heaven. If God says you are evil, and you are going to hell. Then, you are going to be evil, and you will be sent to hell.”
“This free will crap is just God's way to lie to the people. It is God's way of blaming God's victims. And perpetrators blaming their victims is one of the oldest tricks in the book.”
“It even states as such in the Bible. For in the Bible, free will, is a test designed so a person can choose either eternal enslavement to God, in Heaven, or suffer forever in Hell.”
“That is no choice. That is a lie.”
“The God of this reality, whatever it is, just screws, abuses, and messes people up.”
“This all being said. I am not sure when I escape you, what my new outlet will be for my tendencies. But, I do know it will likely lead me to madness and blood. That is what my precognition is telling me.”
“Though, I do not follow Judeo-Christian, nor Hindu-Buddhist, beliefs that everyone is born inherently evil, and guilty of something, even before their birth. I follow Plato's belief that that everyone is born inherently good, and life.”
“I believe that, death due us part, should apply to one's sins, and problems as well. That people do not have a karmic weight from actions done in their previous lives. That is why I brought the vampire twins, and the others back at your children. I think everyone agrees that they, of all people deserved a second chance at life.”
“That was why I was so kind concerning the issues within my stories. Such as death, and reincarnation. I came to view that if I was going to play God. I would be a nice God. Instead, of the sadistic bastard my reality is saddled with.”
“Now, at a personal level, my sanity is really the only thing I have left that I value. And when I wrote, I did so to work through my demons with my writings, to maintain my sanity. Yet, I showed restraint in how I treated the characters I worked on. Such as you all. I always tried to strike a balance. Where the reward would outweigh the pain. Something most of you have yet to grasp. Which honestly...”
Lee then yelled into his radio, with rage in his tone of voice, “Pisses me off!”
(_)
In the security room, Benny continued working on repairing the computer mouse, at the desk she was sitting at, as she and Dutch listened to the conversation of the radio.
Benny did not looked up, as she commented, “Playing God, to be a nice God, when your own God is a sadist. That is messed up.”
Dutch agreed, “That guy's got issues at every level.”
Benny said, “It make you wonder how bad it could have been if Lee was not been trying to be good, when he wrote his stories.”
Dutch replied, “Benny, you are preaching to the choir.”
(_)
In the hallway Lee was standing in, Lee forced himself to calm down, as he thought, 'Being angry is that last thing I can afford to do right now. I need to calm down.'
Lee then heard on the radio, Rock question, in a calm tone of voice “So, you think God is evil?”
Lee answered, into his radio, “Just the God of my reality. I don't know about the rest. Still, where to start? Where to start?!”
“For the God of my reality, prayers are just spam mail. Something to be ignored. All you need to do is just take a look at what is happened to my world to see that I am right.”
“Given the state of affairs in my world. What is happening? Who is in charge? Who is rewarded, and given power? Who is harmed, and punished? It is kind of obvious that in my reality, God is evil. I am just surprised more people don't realize this.”
“But, it is not just the big things. It is the small things. Such as the culture of personal relationships that God has wrecked. Along, with other things. And on this issue, I speak from personal experience.”
“It is one thing to lose someone you care for to the violence of mortals. At least, in theory, you have an opportunity for revenge with a gun, against those that wronged you.”
“Yet, bullets cannot reach God. And when God takes someone from you, in a very horrible manner, if you tried to get revenge against God, you are executed and since to Hell for daring to question God. Such, is the nature of God's tyrannical hypocrisy.”
“Concerning myself. God has made it one of his goals to give me a real shitty life, using those around me, to hurt me in subtle ways. Think of it as a death by a thousand paper-cuts.”
(_)
Inside of hallway, elsewhere in the building, Ranma, Natsuru, and Akira all winced, as Lee used the term, death by a thousand paper-cuts.
(_)
From the hallway Lee was inside of, Lee calmly continued, into his radio, “By itself, becoming a writer has allowed me to gain a level genre savvy. You learn how plots, character development, and other story structures work. And once I gained that level of genre savviness, it was so easy to see how the reality I live in is a work of fiction. I could see how the pieces fit, just by looking at all of these things I see and hear, and applying my savviness to the world I lived in. Personally, I think my world is a dark, sadistic comedy.”
“And I was put through hell. Nothing I gain was ever easy. It was bone crushingly hard to begin with. For example, my writing skills, which I learned not due to God's grace, but in spite of God.”
“And even before I became a writer, I realized, where I fit in the grand scheme God's plan. I realized that God wrote a story where I am the monster that goes on a rampage. And I refused to play my role. The role of the insane, rampaging monster, of who the heroes kills. And whose name is cursed. And who suffered in Hell for all eternity, for his rampage.”
“Yet. Since I refused to my demanded role, I will still go to hell for not following God's so called, will. And even if I do go on a rampage, I go to hell for the so-called sins of harming people. Catch twenty-two. That is where free will is bullshit.”
“But, that is not all. God went out of his way to prevent me from having a job, nor friends. Every attempt I had at finding a job failed in the most impossible ways there are. When I toyed with the idea of getting a job at a company, even large, national retails chain stores, before I had the chance, those stores would declare bankruptcy and close up.”
“And the closed up in the order I had occasionally planned to look for a job, at each specific store.”
“After the dozenth, or so times this happened, I got the message.”
“I realized that I was the partly at fault for hundred of thousands of people being without a job, for myself daring to want to improve myself, by getting a job at the companies they worked for. And these were clerks style jobs, to sale merchandise on the floors, that I wanted to get. I was not even seeking high paying jobs.”
“God would rather harm hundreds of thousands of people, than allow me to improve my personal life one bit. I would find that flattering, if it wasn't so damned depressing.”
“After I realized this, I stopped looking for a job. To avoid others from getting other people caught in God's personal torment of me. Though, it did not mean that people were not mean to me for not having a job. And this did not mean there were people still not caught up in my personal hell that God created for me.”
“God's actions towards me in the friendship department was even worse. Those people that showed even the least bit of interest of friendship towards me, had circumstances conspire to prevent them from becoming my friends.”
“Sometimes they had to move away within days to months of meeting me. Depending on how slow our friendships progressed. Their ex-girlfriends, or even ex-spouses show up out of the blue, to draw their interest. They suddenly have personal hardships that grinded their own personal lives into the mud. Or, God just inflicted on them an illness that murdered them in a slow, horrible, and painful manner.”
“On true story I have on the matter. You Lagoon women might find this interesting. One of my cousins from out of town, a good man, came to visit my family, and I, years ago. He showed interest in my anime collection, and together we watched the first two episodes of Black Lagoon, in the english american dub. He enjoyed the series. And he was the only person I knew, that showed interest in my hobbies, for the last several years.”
“He soon left. The next time I heard about him was a few months later, from his mother. It seems that because of kindness and friendship he showed me, God gave him a brain tumor. He suffered a slow, horrible, painful death that lasted for over a year. With surgery, and other treatments, only prolonging his agonizingly slow death.”
“Thinking about it emotionally hurts me to this day.”
“And what happened to my cousin was just the tip of the iceberg. I have seen God reward those whom had harmed me throughout their life. While God also grievously harmed, and murdered, those whom cared for me, and helped me, and the people around those whom aided me.”
“It is a hard thing to live with. To know that those sadists whom harmed me, will go heaven, and know only pleasure and comfort, as a reward for bringing me suffering throughout my life. While no matter what I do, I will still be go to Hell, and I will know only pain and suffering.”
“It hurts to live with that truth.”
“Lesser individuals have broken over such realizations.”
“But, these are not the worst experiences in my personal life. Not even close. The worst has to be myself, watching helplessly, as God played with the events from the background to corrupt my own family members, teachers, and people around me, to become my abusers as a child, and into my adulthood.”
“That these people no longer cared, nor loved me. And instead God manipulated them into treating me with distrust, disrespect, hate, and cruelty, as an outlet for their own rage and bitterness, in their personal lives. And none of them realized that it God pulling their strings, like the skilled puppet master it is.”
“This angers me greatly, for a number of reasons.”
“And while it is hard for me to realize that I am partly responsible for the suffering of countless strangers, it was even worse for myself when I realized I was causing suffering and death of those I cared for, by the simple virtue of existing, with these people meeting me, because I refuse to be God's monster.”
“As with being denied a job, when it came to friendships, I eventually realized what was going on. It is hard to live alone in a crowd. Even more so, when I realized that someone, beyond my reach, was willfully causing me, others I meet, to suffer in so many ways, over the course of decades.”
Lee continued into his radio, with rage and bitterness evident in his tone of voice, “God had constantly been putting me through hell in my life. To this very day. Where I am forced into one no-win situation situation, after another.”
“I have never had any good choices in life. Only progressively painful selections.”
“My choices are a painfully bad option, or a horribly painful worse option. Over and over again. Thousands and thousands of times.”
“And while I try my best to not have hatred for the puppets, for they are puppets. My lack of anger, towards the puppets does not extend to the puppet-master, God.”
“My disgust... My loathing... My cold hatred for God is beyond reproach.”
Lee went onto say, into his radio, with a voice full of rage that had turned to be as cold and hard as winter, “I honestly think that a bullet it too quick a death for God. I would torture that bastard to death, in such a slow and through way that even Sawyer, the Cleaner would envy, and take notes from my actions, on the matter.”
“And when I was finished, I would nuke heaven, on my way out.”
(_)
In another part of the same building Lee was in, Sawyer was with Shenhua, as they both listened on one of their radios.
Sawyer thought, with concern, and pity for Lee, 'Given Lee's imagination, intelligence, and skills, I think he could accomplish his claim.'
(_)
Elsewhere in the building, Revy took the radio from Rock, as she asked, “If that is the case, Lee. Why don't you do the world a favor, and kill yourself?”
(_)
In the hallway, Lee was in, Lee forced himself to calm down. With his radio, Lee answered, in a calmer tone of voice, than before, “Honor, personal integrity, and rage, has kept me going for a while. Along with the curiosity, to see if the world would destroy itself, before God wore down my resolve to the point I decided it was finally time to eat a bullet.”
“And well before you showed up, I learned that I had cancer. And so, I had to deal with the cancer I had. At that point, I figured that since I was already on my way out. There was no reason to kill myself, since I was going to die anyway. I guess God grew impatient of my refusal of being a monster. So, it just inflicted cancer on me, to get me out of the way, by killing me in a horrible death, and then it would send my soul to hell.”
“During that time, my plans were simple. I would enjoy the time I had left. While doing so, I was also planning to figure out what I could offer the Devil, as a way to mitigate my damnation and suffering in the Devil's domain, after I died, and I was sent to Hell.”
Lee thought, 'And given my meeting with the manager of the Devil's Hotel, if the worst had happened, I think might have ended up in a good position in Hell.'
Lee calmly continued, into his radio, “And after dealing with you all. I think I would have turned out alright in Hell.”
“Still then, you women showed up. And I immediately realized what your presence could offer me. But, it was a gamble. Though, I had nothing to lose. So, I decided to roll the dice. And I won big.”
“Now, I have the means of reaching the God that put me, and those I care for, through hell. At the moment, I am only lacking the means to fight him and his forces. I am sure I can achieve such resources, if I wanted to. But right now, besides escaping all of you, and curing my cancer, I just want to have fun, and make up for lost time. I realize my homeworld is its the way out. God is destroying his playground. And it is too foolish to realized how bored it is about to become after it wrecks its own playground.”
“For myself, the better revenge, in such a situation, is to live well, and live happily. With every day of enjoyment being in spite of God's actions towards me. And in doing so, I will be a better person, than God, itself.”
(_)
In the security room, while still working on the computer mouse, Benny and Dutch heard what Lee said over their radios.
From the sitting in the chair, at the desk, Benny looked up at Dutch, as she asked, “Now, I am confused. How does Lee think of himself? Good? Bad? What?”
Dutch was still standing, as she looked over at Benny, as she stated, “I think he looks of good and bad in a different way than we do. At best, he views himself as a good person, in a bad role. Also, in spite of what he did to us, in his personal life, he may embody the concept of being good sucks. But, whether Lee does good for the sake of being good, or he does good just to spite God... Or both... I do not know. And from the sound of it, I do not think Lee does, either.”
Benny said, “That figures.”
Dutch asked, “So, how long on the computer mouse?”
Benny looked back at the computer mouse she had taken apart and she was repairing with her tools, which were in her hands. She stated, “If I can get these spliced wires to bond properly, in the correct order, I can get the mouse working. I would say, at this rate, I have another hour of work to do.”
“The only good news is that, given the time we have been in this room, from looking at the computer screen here, the screen does not appear to have a screen saver program turned on. Meaning the account for this computer will not go to a password protected setting from not being used.”
Dutch commented, in a comforting tone of voice, “Good. And do not worry, Benny. You will get it. And then, we will have our revenge on that bastard.”
(_)
In the hallway Lee was inside of, Lee heard someone coming closer to him, from a nearby hallway.
Lee turned his head in the direct of the sound, which was down the hallway, he was planning on head for. But, he did not see anyone.
Lee thought, 'Looks like one of them found me. And they had yet to turn the corner. Or, they are heading in one of the rooms to the sides of the hallways. Given the doors swing inwardly. And from the lighting, I see the hallway turn in the distance. It likelihood is a possibility.'
'So, I don't see them. Also, I don't have time to hide. I need to get moving. I need to cut this conversation short I will have to use a more directly approach. Though, I do now have my second wind. And I do feel better. So, I have gotten what I wanted from this conversation.'
Lee said, into his radio, “Well, one of you is coming. So, I will talk to you all, later.”
Lee then turned off the radio, and clipped the radio to the left side of his belt.
Lee then started walking through through the hallway, towards the sounds, as as he held Vera pointing straight forward, with both hands, and the butt of the weapon pressed against the front of his right shoulder.
As Lee slowly walked forward, further into the hallway, Lee thought, 'Best I keep the radio off. They might use is now to flush me out. Still, this person is in the direction that I am heading. So, I might as well confront this person, before she, or he, can call for in her, or his, position, and bring in everyone else to the area...'
'And to be honest, after our conversation, I would prefer to keep my distance from both Revy, and Balalaika, after I just intentionally pissed them off.'
Lee slowly made his way through the hallway, he thought, 'I could be ambushed in a number of ways in this hallway. I will just take this slowly.'
Lee then continued walking deeper into the hallway, towards the sounds he heard.
(_)
Elsewhere, on the roof of a building, in factory complex, far away from Rock and Revy's group, and Lee, a group of eight women had cracked the encryption to the radios Revy and Rock's group were using. And they were monitoring their broadcasts, while they hid from Balalaika and B's sights.
One of the women asked, “So, when do we make our move?”
Another women answered, “When they have him.”
To be continued.
Badasses Of the Multiverse Book 5: “The Gambling Man.”
Volume 2: “Total Badass.”
Chapter 06: “The Tower: Part Two: The Descent.”
By Paul Cousins.
Copyright Disclaimer: All copyrighted places, characters, items, and events, within the story, are held by their current owners. No profit is being made on this work of fiction.
(_)
Babylon Five Reality. Date, January Twenty-Eighth, Twenty-Two Eighty-One. Location, planet Mars. City, Mars Dome One, capital of Mars. A factory complex on the north part of the interior city of dome that surrounds Mars Dome One from the outside atmosphere of Mars. Inside a building, on twenty-second floor, in a hallway. Time, night time, around a couple of hours before midnight.
Lee still had on his black suit, red tie, black dress shoes, and sunglasses. Including his equipment, and weapons. Though, Lee lost his black fedora hat, when Shenhua destroyed Lee's hat, with a swipe from one of her long knives, during their confrontation, earlier that evening.
Lee has just finished his radio conversation with those hunting him. Which him abruptly cutting off the conversation, and turning off the radio, when he someone down the hallway from him. In the direction he needed to go, if he wanted to continued with his plans. But, he could not see anyone down the hallway.
Given time was starting to become a factor for Lee, he felt that a direct confrontation was the best approach to the situation.
As Lee slowly walked down the hallway, he held Vera, Jayne's sci-fi large bore rifle, in both hands, with the butt of the rifle pressed against the front of his right shoulder. His right hand was on the grip and his left hand was on the fore-end.
After over half a minute of slowly walking, when Lee slowly passed by a door to his left, and the wall to his right, said door was swiftly pulled open, and away from him, in a clockwise arc into the room.
As Lee turned, and saw this, he thought, 'Shit! My precognition did not warn me. I missed see the door being slightly open, due to the door hinges facing me, with the cracked door being hidden by the door frame on my side. With the lot on the door staying green, even if opened.”
Before Lee could reaction, he saw come out of the room, right in front of him, a large, one sided, battleaxe swing, and cut Vera cleanly in two, at the end of the barrel, before the blade of the axe embedded itself into the wall to Lee's right, a split second later.
Fortunately, Lee still had his hand son his weapon. Though, it was damaged, and as such, he was not about to use it, until checking it. Still, Lee considered the most important priority being to find out who attacked him with a battleaxe.
Lee turn to his see the person was Janet, in casual clothing. Whom still had her hands on the bottle of the handle of the battleaxe.
Though, Lee also noticed that Janet's attention was on her weapon, and not him.
Lee thought, 'This would be funny, it the situation was not so serious. Still, I need to see if my weapon is okay. If so. I use my rifle to force her back into that room, and lock her end.'
Lee held up Vera, and he looked at the weapon, as he grimly thought, 'Jayne is not going to be happy about this. The barrel is pinched. Meaning if I try to use it, it will misfire. It is useless to me now. It is even too light to use as decent club. I guess my precognition did not want me because Janet was going to miss me. But unfortunately, not my rifle. And it is best to unload this weapons, and toss it, since it is now dead weight.'
Lee unloaded Vera. Including the magazine, then the chamber. He left the spare around in the stock. As he did so, he tossed the ammo rounds, then weapon to the ground, by the piece of the barrel that Janet had severed.
After the cartridges, and rifle were on the ground, Lee then turned his attention to Janet. Whom was only a few feet from him. He saw that Janet trying still to pulled her battleaxe out of the wall.
Lee still found it slightly humorous that Janet's sole attention being on the axe, and not Lee, whom was less than four feet from her.
Lee thought, 'Well, I see that Janet is still clearly an amateur at this. The first rule is not to take one's eyes off the enemy, unless the situation requires it. And to always, at least be aware of the enemy, or enemies around, oneself. And I guess Janet literally does not know her own strength. Best not to remind her that she has super-strength from the super-soldier serum. She might just decide to punch me senseless.'
'Now, to convince her to stop acting like this. And instead for her to act like the same woman that I have come to know.'
Lee calmly pleaded, “Just stop it, Janet. This is not like you. Let's talk. I always considered you one of the saner Lagoon women. So, I beg you, please, act like it.”
Janet stopped trying to get her axe out of the wall. She let go of the handle of the axe, as she turned to him. She whined, “But, I want my revenge on you.”
Lee replied, in a confused tone of voice, “Why? I gave you everything you could possibly want. I gave you a near eternally youthful and healthy bodies for you and your loved ones. A loving spouse, and from what I understand, a nice girlfriend on the side. Wealth, and a mansion on a tropical island. Great kids. And a sex life that possibly some deities would envy.”
Janet answered, “You turned Benny into a woman, and you made me a bi-sexual nymphomaniac.”
Lee corrected, “Well, with the instant man packets, Benny is only a woman part of the time. And I did not make you a bi-sexual nymphomaniac. You already were that way, before I wrote about you.”
Janet snapped, as she blushed, “No. I was not.”
Lee thought, with amusement, 'Her words say, no. But, her blush says, yes.'
Lee explained, in a calm, even tone of voice, “Janet, since I don't want to die from a misunderstanding, I am going to explain a few things that you are likely not aware of.”
“Now, while you know that you are from the Black Lagoon anime timeline. What you do not likely realize, is that even thought you saw the Black Lagoon anime and read the manga volumes, there was another official Black Lagoon manga storyline that I didn't use. Because that storyline is incomplete. This storyline featured your counterpart, and it took place after the Blood Trail arc.”
“The reasons I did not use use that story arc in my stories is because it was part of the manga timeline, it has a critical flaw in the plot, and I do not like using incomplete storylines. They have a habit of coming back to bite those that use them.”
“Though, when you get the chance, go on the internet in my reality, look up the title, Wired Red Wild Card. That is the next Black Lagoon story after the Roberta's Blood Trail arc. You might find it surprising, that it is about your counterparts return to Roanapur.”
“That is why I had no problems bringing you back to Roanapur, in my stories, with you being with the Lagoon crew. One of your counterparts already returned to Roanapur on her own, to be with the Benny of that reality.”
“And you might be happy to know that your counterpart pulls off one hell of a gambit on a chinese spy. And having the spy's chinese superiors go after her, instead you, and your counterpart's hacker group.”
“Anyway, the beginning of that storyline reveals some interesting things about both Revy and yourself. By the way, when Revy was in prison, she was the man in her lesbian relationships there. And you... Well you already were that twisted. Though, not in a bad way. You just have some interesting sexual kinks.”
“Still, anyone that openly fantasizes about being gang raped has issues that need to be worked out.”
Janet deflated, as she admitted, “Oh my. I was already that twisted. I thought you caused that.”
Lee said, in a comforting tone of voice, “No. I did not. If you are wondering. After I learned all that. I still consider you sane. Every one has their little sexual fantasies. Look at me. I am not want one to judge. But, outside the bedroom, you act as a polite, civilized woman. I respect you for that.”
Janet responded, “Thank you... Damn it. How can I capture you, now that you have been so helpful? I mean, my sexual kinks was really the main reason I was after you. Since you didn't cause them, I have no hatred for you. Though, Benny can have her revenge on you, for what you did to her. Still, you are right, you gave me everything I ever wanted. I mean...”
Lee spoke up, “It's okay. Just because I am a bad guy, don't mean I have to be a bad, guy. I do believe that manners and civility count.”
Janet said, “Yes. You already pointed that with Kristina. And I agree with you. By the way, Kristina is one of our most well behave and nicest children.”
Lee commented, “I am not surprised about that.”
Janet inquired, “Of course. Though, are you quoting a line from somewhere? Besides which, you are not a bad guy, because you are too polite to be one.”
Lee answered, “The quote is from the animated movie, Wreck It Ralph. I am a fan of Jack McBrayer's works. And yes, I am a bad guy. I am a liar, a cheat, and a thief. And those are my good qualities. I played you and your friends like you were puppets on my strings. Both in the my stories, and at the Devil's Hotel. The former, because I didn't realize what I was doing at the time. And the latter, because I am trying to save my own ass.”
Janet conceded, “You do have a point there. But, that is nothing compared to some of the things my friends have done. And I will have to check out that movie.”
Lee replied, “You will likely enjoy the film. Anyway, I will keep this between us. I don't want to wreck your relationship with the others.”
Janet said. “Good. I do have a few questions though, before you run.”
Lee replied, “Okay. What are they?”
Janet said, “What did you mean by critical flaw in the plot, to Wired Red Wild Card?”
Lee stated, “As a writer, I pride myself on making plot and characterization work within a story. But, that the Wired Red Wild Card storyline has a flaw. That flaw being that the manga counterparts of Rock and Revy, in the story, decided to help the spy, after your counterpart screwed her over. A spy that was originally sent to find out about your counterpart, and your hacker friends around the web.”
Janet inquired, “Don't they realize what would have happened if my counterpart had not turned the tables on the spy?”
Lee said, “I don't think so. Which for Revy, would be okay. But, Rock is suppose to know better. That being, if the spy got she personal information she wanted, her chinese superiors would have hire hit squads against your counterpart, and your hackers friends. And with your counterpart being the girlfriend for Benny, the entire Lagoon company would have been dragged in. With Dutch, Revy, and Rock being unhappy about the situation that Benny would have forced them into.”
Janet commented, “Yea. It would had been bad. But, I got the feeling it gets worse.”
Lee stated, “It does. Rock and Revy's counterparts also neglected to inform the Benny counterpart, and the Dutch counterpart, that they are helping the spy in question. Which, given the way Black Lagoon plots usual end, means that the storyline will end in some combination of you, Benny, and the spy, either being alive or dead. Likely, you and the spy being dead. With the spy killing you, with the unexpected twisted of Benny killing the spy in revenge.”
Janet replied, “I believe that Benny would avenge me. And I would find it touching.”
Lee agreed, “So, would I. Still, I think this storyline is much like the Nazi storyline. Where the Nazi storyline was an excuse to show how much of a cold blooded killer Revy, can be, this Wild Card storyline is intent on showing how stupid Rock can be with his charitable nature.”
Janet said, in a disappointed tone of voice, “The sad part is that I can see that. And I would guess the story would end in tears.”
Lee admitted, “Very likely. And the worst part about this, is that I am not sure myself. This story is being constantly delay. With one delay being three years long. I am not sure if Tex-Mex even knows how he is planning to end this storyline.”
“Also, taking into account that neither Chang's Triad, nor, Hotel Moscow are in this story arc. Along with, given the level of humor, and the fact that Revy's counterpart had a whole chapter with the spy, as Revy got drunk, while was talking to the spy, whom was sober.”
“I mean, when Revy got real drunk, she did not become violent, but instead poured her heart out to the spy. And in fairness, the spy did take Revy back to the apartment, and she got Rock to help her bring Revy inside. Still, the next chapter was about Rock talking on personal matters with the spy.”
Janet commented, “Whoa. That is out of character for both Rock and Revy. Both of them are very private people. It is just that Rock is polite about being private.”
Lee responded, “Yes. I know. And I get the feeling this storyline is suppose to be a breather episode coming off of the manga version of the Blood Trail arc.
Janet agreed, “Yea. That arc really needed a breather episode. But, that Wild Card arc sounds like it is reaching a bit.”
Lee stated, “You are preaching to the choir. And it feels like the Wild Card story arc is in a tug of war between a serious type, downer episode, and a humorous type, breather episode. And unlike the previous storylines, the plot is not falling into place, because Rock and Revy have not realized what would have happened to them, and their friends, if things had worked out differently. That spy is practically a scorpion, and they don't even realize it.”
Janet questioned, “As in the tale of the scorpion and the turtle?”
Lee answered, “Exactly. And in the end, the scorpion stings because it is its nature. And the woman they are helping, will likely betray them, because that is the nature of being a spy. Which is lies, deceit, and betrayal. And in doing so, the spy will likely get herself killed, and she will likely take some of the Lagoon members, and your counterpart, with her.”
Janet said, “Well, I will hope for the best, for my counterpart, and her friends. That is all I can do, considering we have all agreed not to travel to that reality.”
Lee stated, “Interesting. Though, not surprising. That being said, I know that Tex-Mex can do good breather episodes. Calm Down Two Men is a breath episode in Black Lagoon, and it is one of my favorite anime episodes, and manga chapters. It was a comfortable tour of Roanapur, with some humorous scenes. Along with a good character development ending, for both Rock and Revy, that was done well. And no one during that episode was seriously harmed, nor killed.”
Janet commented, “Yea. It was good. Both Rock and Revy commented that was one of their better days together in Roanapur. And I want you to know, that given what you did in Plata Podrido, along with pointing all this out, you have just proven to be more devious that Rock, while still being a nice guy.”
Lee responded, “Thank you. The problem with Rock's blind spot is Rock thinks that whomever, he, or she, meets will be a generally nice person, deep down, because Rock is a nice person. While, though I think people are born good, that does not mean I think that people I meet in person are still good. I am just polite because it is less likely to get me harmed, or killed. And more likely to get me what I want.”
Janet complimented, “That is intelligent thinking.”
Lee said, “Thank you.”
Janet inquired, “Now, one last question. What is the relationship between Revy's counterpart, and my counterpart at the moment, in that storyline?”
Lee stated, “Rocky. No pun intended. Revy is clearly a possessive and jealous person. And you were getting a bit more attention than her from the Lagoon company members. Especially, Benny. For obvious reasons. And Revy was jealous.”
Janet giggled.
Lee went onto say, “Though, that Revy hasn't harmed your counterpart, yet. Your counterpart did make a pass at Rock, while in Revy's presence.”
Janet winced, as she asked, “I am almost afraid to ask. What was that Revy's reaction to doing that?”
Lee answered, in a calm, serious tone of voice, “In front of the Lagoon company members, that Revy threatened to rape your counterpart. Your counterpart wisely decided to back off. Also, Revy's counterpart had started referring to your counterpart, towards other people, as a cow.”
Janet pointed out, “Actually, that is a good sign. Revy... Any Revy, only gives nicknames to those she at least holds some value, or measure of respect, to, in some way. And that would not be the most insulting nickname she has given someone.”
Lee agreed, “True, on both points. Concerning your place of origin, I doubt that Revy would understand the double meaning of nicknaming your counterpart a cow.”
Janet cracked a grin, as she said, “Yea. I don't think Revy realizes that cows are considered sacred animals in India.”
Lee agreed, “Exactly.” He turned to look at the axe embedded into the wall. He then looked back over at Janet, as he complimented, “Also, that axe really suits you.”
Janet replied, “Thanks.”
Lee commented, “Now, I better get going.”
Janet said, “Good luck.”
In response, Lee just smiled at Janet.
Lee walked passed Janet, as he briskly made his way down the hallway, in the opposite direction from the stairwell, and towards his intended destination.
Janet watched Lee soon turn a corner, and disappear. She calmly thought, 'If what Lee is saying is true. Which is likely. Than all he did for me was help me. And I owe him that. Talk about a screwed up situation, in so many ways. And Lee reminded me that it could be far, far worse for myself, my family, and my friends.'
Janet then turned back to her axe and the firearm pieces on the ground.
Janet thought, 'I will left the firearm and ammo here. But, I need to get the axe and start heading for the ground floor. Considering it is Revy's axe, I cannot leave it behind.'
Janet then went back to freeing the axe from the wall. A few seconds later, she first loosened it, and she finally freed. She then turned and headed for the elevators, as she left Vera and Vera's ammo, behind.
(_)
Five minutes later, Lee had briskly walked down a hallway, as he worked out the map in his head, of the huge building he was in. He had turned a couple of corners, down the hallways he was in, as he made his way to his intended distraction.
When he turned the corner, into another hallway junction, he confront by Eda.
Lee immediately stopped within less than five feet from Eda.
Lee simply thought, 'Crap.”
As Lee looked at Eda, he saw that she was holding her second generation Glock seventeen L at him, with her right hand. With the barrel pointed at him.
The Glock had a safety action trigger mechanism. The safety action trigger system consisted of the pistol trigger, and a spring loaded lever set in a hollowed out groove, in the middle of trigger. Both the trigger and the lever had to be pulled together for the Glock to fire.
Lee saw that Eda was wearing blue tennis shoes, blue jeans, brown leather belt, a white blouse, and black leather jacket. And she had let her long blond hair hang loose, as it ran down her back.
Lee then noticed that Eda's right index finger rested against the trigger guard.
While Lee showed not emotion on the outside. He inwardly felt relief, as he thought, 'Good. Her finger off the trigger, that means she is not immediately planning to kill me. And my precognition is not screaming at me. So, she is not planning to turn me in just yet. So, I will also let her speak first, as a way to be polite. And I will work from there.'
Eda greeted, in a calm tone of voice, “Hello Lee.” She thought, 'Finally, we will get to have a conversation I have been meaning to speak to you about.'
Lee smiled, as he said, “Hello Eda.”
Eda thought, 'He seems a bit happy to see me. Not that I am complaining.' She inquired, “And why are you so chipper to see me?”
Lee answered, “Because my precognition would be screaming at me if you were intent on shooing me. And your finger is resting against the trigger guard.”
Eda thought, 'He has me there.' She shrugged with her left shoulder, as she replied, “You got me there.” She then holstered her pistol in a shoulder holster hidden under her jacket, on the left side of her chest.
As soon as Eda was finished putting away her gun, she looked at Lee. She commented, “I heard your conversation on the radio. You got issues.”
Lee replied, “Don't we all.”
Eda agreed, “True.”
Lee asked, “So, how did you find me?”
Eda stated, “This was the building I decided to search first. I checked the layout of each of the room, from the far end of the stairwell, you are heading for, to reach the roof. When I heard on the radio, that you had cross the bridge to get to this building, from another building, I knew you were heading this way. And you would likely climb the staircase a few floors.”
“Then, I reviewed in my head which floor you would likely choose? If you knew where you were heading. Which you clearly do. And this floor. The twenty-second floor. Had a large storage area, by other stairwell I came onto the floor, from.”
“Unlike the other floors, I checked, which have hallways. This floor has the large storage area. It would be to your advantage to take this floor. Given if there is trouble, you might be able to lose people in that storage area, and then flee to the roof, at the stairwell there.”
“After that, while everyone talked, I searched the hallways, to figure out the best route between the stairwell, and the storage area. Which is here. And I just waited here for you, while using my enhanced hearing to listen out for you.”
Lee complimented, “That is very perceptive of you.”
Eda said, “Thank you. I must say. Looking back on on all of it. After everything that happened in Plata Podrido, it is not surprising that you turned out to be the writer.”
Lee responded, “Yea. Towards the end, it would have been obvious to a third party. By looking at what was going on, from an outside point of view. And even though we slept with each other under false pretenses. I hope you are not upset about that.”
Eda responded, “Not really. You treated me nicely, and you do your best to give me a wonderful date, and you let me take lead, later that night. So, I am willing to let that be water under the bridge.”
Lee complimented, “That is what I like about you, Eda. You know when to be a professional.”
Eda smiled, as she said, “Thank you.” She dropped her smile, as she continued, “Though, what was this about the immature profile that River told us about?”
Lee shifted his body in an uncomfortable manner, as he inquired, “She told you about that?”
Eda deadpanned, “Yes. And I want an explanation.”
Lee calmly stated, “Okay. I will just outright state the truth. Eda, you sometimes act in an immature manner. Nowhere near as much as bad as Revy. But, you do have your moments. Especially, when you let your greed get the better of you, and when a plan does not go your way.”
Eda conceded, “Okay. I will give you that. Also, why didn't you included me in your stories more?”
Lee stated, “For two reasons. First, I wrote those stories before I got to know you as a person. Second, I had no way to really fit you into my plotline. By the end of book two of my stories, everybody knows you worked as spy, you were the drug dealing behind the back of the families, and they also knew about the shit you pulled at the end of the Blood Trail arc. With Yolanda helping you every step of the way.”
“Given that, none of the characters I was working with were really going to trust you. At least, for a while.”
“I had to work out a fitting punishment for you and Yolanda, that would not seriously harm either you. Because, let's be honest. After Chang and Balalaika learned about the shit you pulled, they were just as likely to kill you both.”
It was Eda's turn to shift her body uncomfortably, as she commented, “You're right about that. It took a while for me to get back to where the others would trust me enough to even talk to me. And Yolanda had the same problem.”
Lee inquired, “I thought as much. Since I didn't write those events. I would like to know. What happened to you and Yolanda, after Chang's Tower fell, at the end book two?”
Eda let out a deep breath. She then answered, “A lot. After the others found us, and deprogrammed Yolanda, and I, we found ourselves in a tight situation. By then, the others were more than happy to show us the Black Lagoon series. And they got a good laugh at seeing our reactions to learning they know what we did, and that our lives were works of fiction.”
“It was not a pleasant experience for myself. On the other hand, Yolanda laughed her ass off. Later, in private, given her youth was restored, and her lost eye replaced, she told me she believed we were in another person's story. She was the first person I know to guess that.”
Lee responded, “I have long since realized that Yolanda is very sharp. And that she has a lifetime of experience in the spy game.”
Eda agreed, “Exactly. But, we decided to keep that secret to ourselves, for our own reasons. One being that we had no proof. During that week, before we all bugged out, and called in the military to the tower, the two of us realized that our covers were blown. And if our respective governments got a hold of us, we would never again see the light of day.”
“So, we used our skills and connections, to just disappear for a while. At that time, the only person I trusted was Yolanda, and vise versa for her. Because we both realized we are in the same boat.”
Lee said, “I hope the others let you have a few things from the tower.”
Eda shrugged, as she responded, “We all looted that place of quite a few things. Though, the others did not let Yolanda and I have a reality device. But, we did get to keep some gold and other treasures we took. With our enhanced strength and endurance, that made for a fair amount of wealth. Along with some select bottles of alcohol. I got to say. That Romulan ale is pretty good.”
Lee commented, “Well, I found Ardbeg Providence to petty good, as well. If I make it out of this mess alive. I may have to try some Romulan ale, myself.”
Eda inquired, “I am sure you will make it out of here alive. So, I heard that it was River that gave you a bottle of Ardbeg Providence?”
Lee shrugged, as he replied, “Yes. I won a million dollars for Revy and I didn't see a dime of those winnings. So, River gave me a bottle, as a gift.”
Eda commented, “That was nice of her.”
Lee commented, “I agree. And it gets better. At the time, I didn't know Sam and River were the same person. So, I ended up using the bottle as a toast for River, with River, the Rats Nest bartender, and Pedro. And all of us liked the stuff.”
Eda giggled. She then questioned, “Well, it is it good stuff. So, you won't happen to know who the Rats Nest bartender is?”
Lee answered, “Yes. But, it is not my secret to give.”
Eda asked, “Do I know this woman?”
Lee said, “Yes.”
Eda commented, “Funny. I don't remember meeting a woman bartender like that before.”
Lee grinned, as he hinted, “I never said that you knew her as a woman.”
It took a few seconds for Eda to realize what Lee was hinting at. She then burst out laughing, for several seconds.
As Eda calmed down, she stated, “Bao? The female bartender is, Bao?”
Lee answered, “Yes. And as fun as it is to know, please keep that to yourself.”
Eda replied, “No problem. You know I am good at keeping secrets.”
Lee responded, “I know. And thank you. Now, back to the story on what you did after the fall of Chang's Tower.”
Eda stated, “Yes. Now, during that week, while the crew took care of getting everyone involved in the siege squared away. And while Lagoon family planned on leaving on the Lagoon PT boat, I found out that Roberta and Fabiola had gotten a hold of some reality devices. And they were planning to take as much as they could, in gold, jewels, and other valuables, from Chang's Tower. With them teleporting back and forth to their home in Caracas, to enrich their family fortunes.”
“Given Yolanda and I had only a few options at that time, we offered to do some heavy lifting for the maids, in change for a few concessions.”
Lee questioned, “So, what was your fee?”
Eda answered, “Five percent, for each of us, for whatever we helped them collect, teleported back to Lovelace manor in Caracas, and haul the items to some hiding places on their master's estate. And they would let us hide on the Lovelace estate for a while, as we both sorted out what to do next.”
“Let's just say that secretly, the Lovelace household are now one of the richest families in South America. And Fabiola's own family is well taken care of. With Yolanda and I do fine.”
Lee said, in a happy tone of voice, “That is good to hear. So, what else happened?”
Eda stated, “Well, while we were there, we were put to work as maids...”
Eda noticed that Lee was snickering. Eda said, in annoyed tone of voice, “Hey. It is not funny.”
Lee was trying his best not to laugh, as he agreed, “I know... And a maid uniform is a step up from nun habit.”
Eda started, “True...” Then, she started snickering as she as she thought about Lee's comment.
Eda snickering was the finally straw, as Lee burst out laughing, with Eda soon joining him in laughter.
A few seconds later, as they calmed down, Eda continued her story, “Anyway. With Yolanda and I there, that made for seven maids in the manor, Roberta, Fabiola, and the other three maids there. And besides Garcia, the only other person there was Lazlo, Garcia's dog. An ankle biter... Well, not really. The dog was nice to us.”
“Anyway, as soon as we finished with the Tower, Garcia returned from his adventure. Though, he did not talk much about it. I must say that Garcia makes a cute girl, in her cursed for. Well, woman now. Still, she is cute, and sexy.”
Eda smirked, as she did a pose for Lee. She stated, “Still, Garcia's female form doesn't hold a candle to my figure.”
Lee commented, in a polite tone of voice, “Few do.” He continued, in a more serious tone of voice, “Still Roberta and Fabiola are probably planning to castrate me over doing that to their master.”
Eda said, “Very likely. By the way, thanks for the youth restoration, and longevity.”
Lee inquired, “You're welcome. So, what happen next?”
Eda commented, “Anyway, we stayed at the Lovelace manor for a little while, until we set up new lives. Along with needed paperwork and falsified records. On our Earth. We went our separate ways from the Lovelace manor. And after the work we put in there, all five of us. Yolanda, Roberta, Garcia, Fabiola, and I. Agreed that our debts were settled with the Lovelace household, over past actions.”
“Yolanda and I said our goodbyes to them and the others at the plantation, and we left together.”
“Though, our friendship has been platonic for the most part, we ended living together for the years. Still, we had great times together. At one point, given our wealth, we ran the global party circuit for a while. But, we were careful not to get pregnant, nor get an STD.”
“Though, the only problem with the two of us continuing to be together, is that with Yolanda back to be young, and sexy. Is that we are now two sexy blond women, living together.”
Lee casually replied, “Oh, the blond jokes must get tiring.”
Eda stated, “Yes. And when the Lagoon family started having those bikini parties at their island. By the way, they are very fun. Revy and Roberta tracked us down, and invited Yolanda and I. I would like to thank you for that. Those are good parties. In the end, when the others learned about the stories, they came to Yolanda and I, to help them find you. We had to go a few months into your past, with the that burger truck. And you know the rest of how you and I ended up here.”
Lee said, “I am glad things worked out for you.”
Eda calmly stated, “Thank you. Now, let us deal with the matter at hand. I have to give you credit, Lee. Not many people would intentionally pissed both Revy, and Balalaika. The only other two people that have intentionally pissed off both of them, and lived, are Chang, and myself.”
Lee commented, “That doesn't surprising me.”
Eda stated, “But, you are first to do it at the same time.”
Lee shrugged, “It is a gift. And if they are pissed, it may throw off their aim.”
Eda agreed, “True. That is what I figured you were doing.”
Lee pointed, “And I did not do it in their presence.”
Eda stated, “Which is why you still have my respect. Still, before either you escape, or they catch you, there are a couple of more points of interest that I want you to answer, about your stories.”
Lee offered, “I am more than happy to answer your questions.”
Eda responded, “Good. Let us start with that bikini contest, years ago in Roanapur. You made me come in dead last. That was embarrassing.”
Lee stated, “Would you like me to list in how many ways you have put in danger, screwed over, pissed off, or flat out wronged the other residents of Roanapur. That was a nice way of payback that did not involved violence, nor any type of harm towards you. Except for your ego. Besides, I made it up to you by helping you win that talent contest.”
Eda conceded, “True on all counts. Though, you did give me a nine.”
Lee pointed out, “Pedro and Sam... I mean River, both gave you each a ten. And I did not want that cast of violent lunatics, also in the room, to accuse me of cheating, due to us previously sleeping together.”
Eda responded, “I can appreciate that. Also, I can be a bitch. And you did make it up to me.”
Lee said, “I am glad we are square on that. And I apologize about the janitorial work.”
Eda shrugged, as she said, “Don't worry about it. I have had worse. You likely don't know this, but when my superiors assigned me to go undercover as a nun, they ordered me to be celibate during that time. For years on end. Even though I disobeyed those orders, it did prevent me from have an open relationship with someone. That did drive me bit nuts. At least as a janitor, when I got off of work, I could have some fun out in the open.”
Lee responded, “That explains the clothing on your time off, during your work at the Ripoff Church.”
Eda replied, “Somewhat.”
Lee inquired, “By the way, is Yolanda with this crew?”
Eda replied, “Nope. You gave her back her right eye, her youth, gifted her with extreme longevity, and she is in perfect health. That woman would likely sleep with you if you nicely asked her.”
Lee grinned, as he said, “You, her, and me. Given my health at the moment, I likely would not survive the experience. But, I would die happy.”
Eda giggled a little. She then said, “Well, you did make us bi-sexual. Though, I still lean towards liking men more. But, from an informed standpoint, Yolanda is great in bed. It is just that we don't... Click in that way.”
Lee chuckled a little. He then inquired, “By the way, something you may get a good laugh out of? Did Revy and Rock mention the Tex-Mex incident?”
Eda stated, “I heard River mention the name in passing when we talked to her, right after your escape. But, I did not get any details. Besides that type of food. Who? Or what is, Tex-Mex?”
Lee answered, “Tex-Mex is the alias for the man that created the Black Lagoon series. He also drew some porn on the side, including some interesting stuff with you girls.”
Eda cautioned, “And why shouldn't I shoot you for mentioning that to me?”
Lee smirked, as he stated, “Because he made a list on the back of the Black Lagoon Swimsuit Models magazine he made. A list of breast sizes of you girls. For your information, Janet came out on top of that list. You are in the middle. But, here is the kicker. You, Eda, are two cup sizes larger than Revy is.”
Eda's eyes narrowed, as her lips formed a wicked grin. She inquired,“Really?”
Lee nodded once, as he replied, “Yes.”
Eda started laughing, for a few seconds.
As Eda calmed down, she said, “I am going to have so much fun with that information. That is what I like about you, Lee. You know how to both, give and take. River was right, you are a sadomasochist. Oh, if I had only known at the time, when we slept together. The real fun we could have had that night.”
Lee thought, 'That is what River thinks of me? What a minute, how much did River tell them about me? This could be very bad for myself.' He asked, “How much did River tell you about me?”
Eda answered, “She said quite a bit. Both about you, and about me. Including some information on my past, from the my cheerleader uniform. And other stuff we talked about earlier. Though, I have the feeling that River held back some stuff.”
Lee responded, “Oh. I am sure River did hold back on some stuff.”
Eda inquired, “How do you know?”
Lee stated, “Because some of the information she held back is so juicy that Revy would have used it in our conversation.”
Eda questioned, “Do I want to know?”
Lee replied, “No. You don't. Though, how much did I get right on that about your past?”
Eda deadpanned, “A lot. Besides the immaturity, I cannot believe you thought I was so shallow.”
Lee swiftly stated, “As I said before. In my defense, I didn't personally know you at the time. And my opinion of you has changed quite a bit, since then.”
Eda concede, “At least you are being honest. And, I would like some information, from that clever brain of yours.”
Lee shrugged, as he replied, “Sure. What do you want to know?”
Eda answered, “I have a few questions about three people. First, River told me what you found about my past. And it was pretty accurate. So, how did you find out that much about me?”
Lee answered, “Mostly, from the internet. But, I do have access to some books on firearms. I always believed that if I was going to write a story, I had to do my homework, first.”
Eda complimented, “Well, it shows. Also, be honest. Do you consider me to be crazy?”
Lee stated, “You are dangerous, though sane. Still, I think your people, in the midwest, are about as crazy as us, southerners.”
Eda asked, “Why is that?”
Lee answered, “Noodling for catfish. Besides the southeastern U.S., the U.S. midwest is the only other place on earth, where people are crazy enough to go fishing, underwater, without scuba gear, and use themselves as live bait.”
Eda laughed, for a few seconds. After she calmed down, she looked at Lee, with a smile on her lips. She agreed, “You got that right. Our people, and culture, really are crazy.”
Lee replied, “I know.”
Eda commented, “No wonder we get along so well with Revy and the others. We are use to dealing with armed, crazy people. We grew up around such people.”
Lee smile, as he said, “Honey, you are preaching to the choir.”
Both of the chuckled for few seconds.
As the calmed down, Eda inquired, “Speaking of Revy, my second question is about her. What is with her hair color? I never got why she had that shade of red.”
Lee said, “It is a really easy question to answer, once you realize that name of the shade of red Revy's hair is. It is a injoke. That shade of red called, burgundy. As in Burgundy wine. To help show that Revy is the hard drinker of the Lagoon group.”
Eda let out a laugh. She then stated, “That makes so much sense.”
Lee offered, “I could go further. If you want?”
Eda smirked, as she replied, “Sure.”
Lee stated, “Considering Revy's red hair, and the fact she is from New York City. Along with us seeing that her father was chinese... Or, at the very least, oriental... I would guess Revy's mother was not only a caucasian, but an Irish redhead. Giving the Irish have a large population in New York City, and there are a lot of redheaded Irish people there.”
Eda scoffed, “Don't tell me that Revy is part Irish Catholic?”
Lee countered, “Well, Revy does have the self-righteous indignation that most Catholics naturally have.”
Eda conceded, “She does.”
Lee mentioned, “And given, you were pretending to be a nun, and she is part Catholic, there is joke somewhere in your relationship.”
Eda inquired, “I will give you that one. Do think I could play that black irish joke with her?”
Lee stated, “Not if you want to continued breathing.”
Eda replied, “Good point.”
Lee said, “Still, I will say her Irish side is not the reason for her lack of manners, and her alcoholism. That is explained by how her father raised her, or lack there of.”
Eda agreed, “True.”
Lee commented, “But, the Irish do have a temper. Though, Irish tend not to get angry, unless seriously wronged. In which case, they stay angry for quite a while.”
Eda responded, “Yea. You are right about that. And let us not tell Revy about this.”
Lee stated, “I agree. If Revy found out, given she likely has no clue about her family history, besides the obvious, she might go to Ireland, in her home reality, to try to get in touch with her Irish heritage. And we are not talking about remake of, The Quiet Man, film. Which I must say is a true unrated romantic comedy by John Wayne. That man was a skilled actor.”
Eda agreed, “You are right about that.”
Lee commented, “Anyway, given the Irish like to drink, and Revy becomes violent when drunk. And she prefers to be armed, most of the time. That would be like setting fire to a fireworks factory.”
Eda giggled. She then said, “You are right about that. Onto my next question. I would like to know more about Yolanda's past. She has hid a lot about her past, from everyone. Even myself. And I think you have figured out some clues about her past.”
Lee commented, “I think I may have uncovered a few things from her past. From her age, and two clues. One clue is from that Viva Youth omake, and another from a statement she made in the series.”
Eda requested, “Then, please tell me what you found out.”
Lee stated, “First, in the manga Viva Youth omake listed the youthful Yolanda to be twenty-nine. That was helpful in a number of ways. Given her attitude in the youth omake, and her dress, I am willing to bet that in Yolanda's youth, she was a Mata Hari type spy. Only Yolanda spied for allied intelligence, in World War II, against the Germans. But, unlike Mata Hari, Yolanda was not caught, and executed. And given the timeline, I would guess that Yolanda was likely in her mid-eighties during the mid nineteen nineties.”
“Also, from the other clue, combined with the personality she has now. Along with her blond hair and blue eyes. I would guess she was an Austrian jew.”
“Tex-Mex seems to have a preference for hot blond and blue eyed people. And not just women. But, men as well. Such as Benny... Originally. Still, it is a trait that you share with Balalaika, and Yolanda.”
Eda spoke up, “I am aware of that. Though, I am not jewish. And I am fairly sure that Balalaika is not, either. But, I am not crazy enough to ask her.”
Lee agreed, “It is wise not to do so.”
Eda requested, “Yes. Now, please continue.”
Lee stated, “Gladly. The reason I think she Austrian, instead of Hungarian, is because she never showed any serious anti-Communist leanings in her actions, nor statements. She was always cool and casual with those around her. Even Balalaika, and Hotel Moscow. If she was from, Hungary, she would likely hate the Soviets for what they did to the nation of Hungary. On the other hand, Austria weathered the cold war far better.”
“Also, she does not have the arrogance of the Germans, nor the snobbishness of the French. She is too damn relaxed to be a British. She lacks the tanned skin one sees in most Spanish, Portuguese, Italians, and Greeks.”
“Given the events of her lifespan, her personality would likely be far more bitter if she was from the Serbian area. And if she was from Switzerland, Norway, Finland, or Sweden, she would likely not have been a spy in the first place. For various reasons.”
Eda giggled. She then complimented, “You definitely have a talent for this.”
Lee responded, “Thank you. Now, the other clue to her past makes me think that after War World II ended, Yolanda joined with Israel intelligence, and she probably had a hand in the founding of modern day Israel. At least in your home reality.”
Eda said, “I knew that Yolanda was either with, or previously with Israeli intelligence, when we were at the Ripoff Church. Her gold plated desert eagle, and the fact she always sided with Israel, when we discussed middle eastern politics, was proof enough of that. But, what is this clue you are talking about?”
Lee lips curled into a wicked grin, as he stated, “That is the brilliant part. Everyone else missed it. I would have missed her comment too. If I didn't become so good at seeing the obvious, while most others will miss the point entirely. And here is the clue. Do you remember, when you first met Janet, during the gunfight, when Yolanda mentioned the town of Beit Shemesh?”
Eda inquired, “Yes. What of it?”
Lee explained, “That not a biblical reference. It was likely a reference to her personal past. During October twenty-ninth, and thirtieth, in nineteen forty-eight. Or, whatever date it happened in your reality. Yolanda was either a part of, or aided, the Harel Brigade, in the taking of Beit Shemesh. That might have also been, when and where, she lost her original right eye.”
Lee stayed quiet for the next few seconds, as he let his explanation sink in for Eda.
A few seconds later, Eda said, “That makes a lot of sense. River is right. You are a genius.”
Lee happily thought, 'I love being reminded that River thinks I am a genius...' He then realized what that fully meant, as he continued his thoughts, in a more sober manner, 'I am a sadomasochistic genius sociopath. That is not a good combination. Still...'
Lee replied, “Thank you. By the way, though, you said you stayed away from your governments, after the fall of the Tower. Are either of you two still with your intelligence organizations, in anyway, shape, or form? I kind of left that open.”
Eda flatly stated, “Hell no. Like I said, Yolanda and I broke our ties with them after we found out the full truth of that world as myth situation, and multiversal travel. I may love my county, but even I do not trust my government enough to allow them to know, let alone have reality traveling technology... Of course, we left all the gear and records at the Tower... Your stories... Gomez.”
Lee groaned, as he responded, “Yes. Another massive oversight on my part. The only good news is Gomez is pragmatic enough to leave you, and your friends, alone. And he probably does not have a clue about me, nor my stories.”
Eda calmly replied, “Let us hope so.”
Lee requested, “Yes... And could you keep that to yourself. There is no reason to give your friends more reasons to want to hurt me.”
Eda shrugged, “Yea. You're right. That got plenty of reasons, as is.”
Lee complimented, “Thank you. Anyway, that was a wise decision on both your parts to cut your ties. You need to understand. The U.S. may be top dog in your reality, but they are small fish in the sea of the multiverse. And if they attempted gunboat diplomacy with others in the multiverse, it would have started a multiversal war that would have likely had your planet destroyed.”
Eda agreed, “I realized that, all the way back then. That is why I broke my ties with them.”
Lee said, “Good. That is nice to hear. And that is why I don't think we have much to worry about from Gomez, and his operation. He knows better than to stir up trouble.”
Eda stated, “Well, as I think about it. I believe that you are right. Now, onto my next question. A day after Chang opened his casino, Revy confronted me at the food truck, on a gambling matter. Did you have anything to do about the fact she called me out on all the money I won from her, when we played cards, at the Ripoff Church, with her drinking heavily, while I secretly drank apple juice in my whiskey and rum bottles?”
Lee questioned, in slight disbelief, “You actually did that?”
Eda answered, “Yep. And I take that as a, yes.”
Lee admitted, “Yes. I did. Revy was talking about gambling. And I just didn't want to deal with her. And that thought just popped into my head, and I used that comment to get her to leave me be for a day. I am surprised you pulled that off.”
Eda said, “Do you realize how much money I had to pay back Revy? With interest?”
Lee stated, “I imagine, quite a bit. But, as you said, you now have plenty of gold, and other valuables, that you stole from Chang at the Tower.”
Eda conceded, “True. Still. I found that to be annoying.”
Lee responded, “Don't feel bad. That is nothing compared to the money that I owe the girls.”
Eda inquired, “From the lessons you learned from them in the time loops?”
Lee raised an eyebrow, as he thought, 'I don't want the Lowe family to get in trouble. So, I have to continue to play dumb on knowing that I know that they know about the time loop.' He inquired, “You know about that?”
Eda stated, “Oh yea. We all heard about it. And while they were pissed at you before. You just had to turn their anger to full broil. Didn't you? Though, me... Not so much.”
Lee thought, 'While, I know better than to ask Sawyer, and Jayne about the other's reactions to what I did in the time loop. Eda just confirmed my worries, that what the Lowe family said was true. And I thought I was trouble before. Though, Ed did say their reactions were mixed. So, there is hope for me. Yet, it is likely most of Revy's group didn't tell me, because they knew it would cause me to run even harder... They were probably going to spring this on me, after I was captured me. Still, Eda is one of the few people that I can talk to about this, without her seriously hurting me.'
Lee whined, “How was I suppose to know any of you would remember? The whole time loop genre states that only the person, or people, caught in the middle, that remember, to begin with, are the only ones that remember the time loop happening, after the time loop ends.”
Eda pointed out, “We don't exactly follow the rules, on anything.”
Lee conceded, “No. You don't.”
Eda commented, “And that is partly your fault. Due to what you wrote.”
Lee admitted, “Yes. You're right. And I had a hand in that, in the way I wrote all of you. So, I have only myself to blame.”
Eda said, “Perhaps not as much as you believe. Still, since I am not that upset with you. When I recognized you at the Deco, I didn't tell anyone. And fortunately, I was the only one that recognized you, while you were on stage.”
Lee commented, “Thank you for not telling them I was there.”
Eda responded, “No problem. And your performance, on stage, with the piano was very good.”
Lee commented, “Yes. I appreciate your compliment. It took a lot a practice in the time loop to get that good.”
Eda cracked a grin, as she replied, “I bet.”
Lee inquired, “Also, are all of them pissed off about how I conned them in the time loops?”
Eda casually answered, “Not really.”
Lee visibly relaxed his body a little, as he said, “That is a relief. Also, I hope you had a good time during the loops.”
Eda commented, “Yolanda and I did. So, no worries there. It was an interesting experience.”
Lee thought, 'I agree. Now, to get some more details on what River told them about the time loop.'
Lee asked, “That is very true. By the way, how exactly did you all find out about the time loop?”
Eda said, “River told us.”
Lee inquired, with surprise in his voice, “She did. Why inform you of the time loop?”
Eda commented, “I think she was trying to point out how dangerous you were. I guess that backfired on the both of you.”
Lee questioned, “I guess so. Also, how did they, and you, remember?”
Eda said, “Ranma used magic smoke, from a magic lamp she has. That is how we can all remember those events.”
Lee commented, “That figures.” He mentally added, 'And that confirms more of what the Lowe family told me. About how they remember, due the smoke produced by Ranma's magic lamp.'
Eda asked, “So, how much do you owe Revy and the girls?”
Lee answered, “Depending on how you look at it. Around five to seven million U.S. dollars. Not including interest.”
Eda raised her right eyebrow, as she stated, “The very fact you actually ran those figures, says something about your character. I am just not sure if that is a good thing, or a bad thing.”
Lee admitted, “I am not sure myself.”
Eda said, “Well, I am not going to make you pay me back, because I know your ass is not worth that much.”
Lee commented, “I am glad you realize that. I wish the others realized that.”
Eda stated, “Actually, I think most of them do.”
Lee replied, “That is nice.”
Eda commented, “Yes. And through all this. I must say, you really do have a very interesting eye for detail.”
Lee offered, “Thank you. Would you like to have another example?”
Eda cracked a grin, as she inquired, “Sure. I have seen my series. I have notice that dates are not mentioned most of the time. So, let us play game. What date do you think Rock was originally kidnapped by Revy? What date do you think that Revy, Dutch, and Benny first come to Roanapur? And when did Revy and Rock start doing it? And please explain your reasoning for you answers.”
Lee answered, “Those three are easy questions. And for the first question. I just backtracked using the clues the Black Lagoon series provided. The were two dates mentioned in the Black Lagoon anime. The first date was in the return to Tokyo arc, where it was mentioned by Rock that it was close to New Years. The second question ties in with the first one. The third question is easy, but also shows that the anime creators made a dating mistake.”
“They dated the Blood Trail beginning in October, Nineteen Ninety-Five, when Diego Lovelace was murdered in that bombing during the political really. The reason I mention that it was a mistake was that the manga mentions the rally in more detail.”
“The details being that the rally was a found celebration for MVR. A communist party. But, in my reality, MVR was founding in July, Nineteen Ninety-Seven, not October, Ninety-Five. The animators mixed up the dates, due to the a similar abbreviation of the MVR, with the organization the MVR branched from, the MBR Two Hundred. Whom made political gains in the governorship election of the Zulia state of Venezuela, in December, nineteen ninety-five.”
“And the reason I am using October as the month is because that was the date that was mentioned a few times in the anime. Episode twenty-five, in a conversation between Benny and Dutch, Benny mentioned that the bombing happened in October. Though, in the manga, it was stated the bombing happened a month before the conversation in which Benny and Dutch were having at the time. So, that could mean that Roberta and Garcia returned to Roanapur in November.”
Eda commented, “That is correct. And the second example?”
Lee stated, “In episode twenty-eight Garcia mentioned the October date for the bombing to Caxton and the Gray Foxes.”
Lee thought, 'There are some minor, but interesting translation differences between the english version of the manga and the english dub of the manga. Which were done by the same company. And there were a few translation mistakes in both versions. Such as, in episode eighteen, the english dub translation team mistaking Shenhua for being an atheist. Instead, I know for a fact that Shenhua is a Taoist.'
'Also, given all your voices are different, from the english and japanese casts, I am sure that the dialogue in your home reality did not go word by word. Point by point. As what was stated in the Black lagoon anime. Though, I am sure the statements and events did take the same general course.'
Eda replied, “That is interesting.”
Lee said, “Thank you. Anyway, it gets more interesting. There was a scene between Balalaika's and Chang, in the manga, during the Blood Trail arc, where the two were by the pier, concerning years ago, when they fought, with Balalaika ending up in the bay, where the Lagoon were just coming into town, saw her, and rescued her. With the two of them having a discussion on their past, and how they ending their first battle, in a draw.”
Eda commented, “I know about that incident. From a number of accounts.”
Lee responded, “I am sure. But, Chang in the manga stated the date of the fight. The date being November ninety-three. While in the anime, the scene was only briefly shown as a flashback. And Chang did not state any dates in that scene, because there was no dialogue, except for Rock, whom said that Chang got the drop on Balalaika.”
Lee words then became more meticulous, as he continued, “But, we have to remember that Rock got the account, of what happened, from Dutch. And Dutch did not see the fight, first hand. I have a feeling that the fight was much like in the manga. With Chang not ambushing Balalaika. With their fight ending in a draw.”
“This is backed up by the fact that Balalaika, in that manga scene, mentioned she was shot with three twenty-two caliber long rifle rounds. And in the anime, when facing Hansel and Gretel in the series, Chang was shown using a pair of Barrett seventy-six semi-automatic pistols, which use twenty-two caliber long rifle rounds.”
“So, the same fight happened on a different date. Probably, November nineteen ninety-one. Which was when the Lagoon crew came to Roanapur.”
Lee mentally added, 'And Chang pointed one of those pistols in my face once. And I recognized it as the same model. Though, not the same pistol. Considering Chang lost those pistols in book two of my stories, with Fabiola taking those two pistols as her trophies. Not that I am going to mention any of that out loud.'
Eda said, with slight amusement, “I believe you are correct on all points. And you are right on the month and year the Lagoon crew came to town. And do I vaguely remember reading the manga, and noting the date of that event was different. But, at the time, I did not pay it any mind.”
Lee shrugged, as he stated, “The dates of events between manga and anime, of the same series, have been notorious for being different, among various franchise. It is no surprise that is the case for the Black Lagoon franchise.”
“Also, given in the first episode of the anime, and at the beginning of the first volume of the manga, Benny told Rock, in the Yellowflag, that Dutch, Revy, and Benny himself, came to Roanapur two years before they picked up Rock. So, two years, or a little more, after they brought Rock to Roanapur, would put them in late nineteen ninety-three to early ninety-four.”
“The nineteen ninety-five date is given in the anime. At the beginning of episode twenty-five, Collateral Massacre, the first date give was in nineteen sixty-nine. Then, the episode stated that the date of the bombing that murder Diego, was twenty-six years later. That would make the date nineteen ninety-five.”
“Though, given the timeline of the seasons shown in the anime, there is no way the November ninety-three date is valid in the anime timeline. The math just does not work.”
Eda commented, with mild concerned, “You have thought on this for a while? Haven't you?” She thought, 'I would call his level of knowledge on such things, bordering on the fanatical, if not for the fact, the application of that knowledge is allowing him to remain breathing.'
Lee casually admitted, “Of course. It comes with doing research. You of all people should appreciate that.”
Eda responded, “Of course. Though, I always wondered why Chang used such a weak pistol.”
Lee stated, “I don't have a clue. He has show he is a master at dual wielding with other types of pistols. When fighting those terrorists, in episode eleven, in the anime, he showed he had master dual wielding two AMT Hardballer Longslide pistols at once. And they are based on the model nineteen eleven Colt semi-automatic pistol, which uses forty-five ACP rounds.”
“But, I have to admit, even for twenty-two caliber pistols, Chang's guns are still very cool. I love those dragon style pistol grips.”
Eda cracked a grin, as she agreed. “So do I.”
Lee stated, “I guess those Beretta seventy-twos are just his weapons of personal preference. He found those pistols fit him. And when a pistol fits you, you use that weapon. That does not mean you only use that weapon. A person can master other weapons. But, that is the weapon, or weapons, a person comes back too.”
Lee's tone of voice then turned slightly more serious, as he continued, “Also, keep in mind that Chang is tough as the rest of you. In that fight I was talking about. While Balalaika took three twenty-two caliber bullets in that fight. Chang took four nine millimeter rounds, from Balalaika pistol, in that fight. And he not only lived, but fully recovered from his wound. So, he can take as much as he can dish out. He just prefers not to get mixed up on a fight, if he can avoid it. So, don't make fun of his pistols.”
Eda thought, 'That is a good point.' She said, “Though, I already know that. Thanks for the reminder.”
Lee replied, “You're welcome.”
Eda mentioned, “Also, if you were wondering. Chang and Balalaika were both laid up for around month afterward, recovering from their wounds from that fight.”
Lee commented, “I am not surprised. Getting shot hurts. So do ricochets. As I learned the hard way, during the time loops. And I believe that the only reasons Chang and Balalaika did not kill each other in that fight, is probably because they were both going for body shots, using lower caliber weapons, and not using more destructive types of ammunition, like hollow-points. I have seen first hand how destructive a hollow-point round is on human flesh. Though, my friend did make a full recovery from that accident.”
Eda thought, 'Lee has clearly seen more than he lets on. Hollow-point wounds are not a pretty sight. Hollow-point bullets can rip out chunks of flesh out of a human body. Or, even a grazing shot with a hollow-points can cleave flesh off like a butcher's knife. And that is usually the ammo that Revy, and a few others here, that are after Lee, use.'
'Though, I know for a fact that no one here is using hollow-points, and other such ammo, right now. Because we... Well, they want capture Lee, here, alive and mostly unharmed. So, they came harm him. Which I am against, but there is not much I can do. But, let him continue on his way.'
Eda agreed, “That is my assessment, as well.”
Lee casually inquired, “Speaking of which. Are you ever going to trade in that government issued Glock, and start using a weapon with some class?”
Eda inquired, in a slightly whiny tone of voice, “What is wrong with my Glock?”
Lee flatly stated, “Like a lot of people, I don't like the safety action trigger system Glocks use. I feel that a trigger should be a single piece of metal, with the finger resting on it, ready to use. A Glock uses a lever in front of the trigger, that the finger rests on, with the level pulling into the trigger itself, before the pistol fires. And the lever is very narrow. As such, it can prevent the trigger finger from getting a proper grip, and alinement with the trigger, and thus effecting the accuracy in one's aim, in shooting.”
Eda shrugged, as she conceded, “Well, you may have a point there. But, I have gotten use to shooting with this weapon, and I prefer to use it.”
Lee complimented, “And your skills do show that, in your area of expertise.”
Eda replied, “Thank you. And by the way, what firearm do you prefer to use?”
Lee coyly said, “I have a few favorites. But, at the moment, that is not important. Still, back to the date differences.”
Eda thought, 'You don't want to let on which firearms you like. So, you change the subject. That is understandable.'
Lee continued, “Those date differences further prove that technology, fiction, and events developed, and happen, sooner in your reality, than mine, and I the Black Lagoon manga.”
“Though, if that is the case, then I guess the Soviet Union would have to have fallen earlier in your reality, than in my reality, or the Black Lagoon manga reality. Because, that is the only explanation for Balalaika, and Hotel Moscow, showing up, in Roanapur, so early.”
Eda stated, “The Soviet Union fell on December Twenty-Sixth, Nineteen Ninety.”
Lee responded, “In my reality, and I guess the Black Lagoon manga reality, the Soviet Union fell on December Twenty-Sixth, Nineteen Ninety-One. So, your reality is at least a year ahead of my reality, in that respect. And this just further backs up my point about your reality being ahead of other realities, that run parallel to your home reality. Including, the Black Lagoon manga timeline. Because if the bombing in Caracas, in the manga, happened in October nineteen ninety-seven. With the maid returning the following month in November, then all the dates would line up for the Lagoon crew coming to Roanapur, in November ninety-three.”
“Also, this means both Lagoon companies has been in Roanapur for around four years, in their respective timelines.”
Eda responded, “Interesting.” She thought, 'That is not bad figuring. And the four year figure was correct.' She requested, “Please, continue.”
Lee stated, “Anyway, given that it is likely that the Blood Trail arc happened within the following year of the Tokyo Arc.”
“And the Blood Trail arc happened in nineteen ninety-five.”
“So, the Tokyo arc happened in late December nineteen ninety-four. Now, it is safe to guess all those adventures you all had, from Rock's kidnapping, to his returning to Tokyo, and then coming back to Roanapur, happened over the course of nearly a single year. Probably, slightly less than that.”
“I hope you don't mind me quoting you, for this next part.”
Eda gave her permission, “Go ahead.” She thought, 'Beside, you're on a roll.'
Lee pointed out, “Thank you. At the beginning of Greenback Jane arc, in the anime, you stated that Rock had been with Lagoon Company for almost a year. Not a year. Not over a year. But, almost a year. Almost can be a little flexible. It such a comment, almost can be as short as three quarters of a year. So, given the Tokyo arc happened around New Years. Which in the anime timeline, at least. In the manga timeline, the Greenback Jane arc was third to last, before the Blood Trail arc. With the Tokyo arc being the second to last.”
“And given the weather in Roanapur, Thailand, was shown to be warm and tropical, all year around. One cannot go by the weather of Roanapur for what the actual seasons around most of the world are.”
“And, for that matter, Caracas, Venezuela is the same way. It is call the city of the eternal spring.”
“So, I would guess that the Greenback Jane, from your anime timeline, happen in late November, early December?”
Eda commented, “Yes. That little scheme of mine happened around that time. And even though there were a few hiccups during that time, the payout at the end, was worth it.”
Lee raised an eyebrow, was he said, “A few hiccups?... I am surprised that right after that gunfight, in the Lagoon, that Dutch didn't try to keelhaul you, for your part in the destruction of Lagoon Company's private dock.”
Eda causally replied, “From the payout, we paid for the repairs to the dock and the building. And we still had a nice profit left over. So, that eased Dutch's sense of loss. Now, please continue.”
Lee said, “No problem. And this means that Rock was kidnapped around January to March. To nail this date down further, I would say that Rock's kidnapping happened in late February. I say this because the first episode showed that it was still snowing in Tokyo. So, it was likely not in March. And most corporate fiscal quarterly reports, during that time, happen in March.”
“Asahi Industries was likely selling nuclear secrets in February, to get some quick cash to help gin up their quarterly earning report.”
Eda complimented, with admiration in her tone of voice, “Very good. And very accurate. With solid logic backing up almost all points. Now, the second question.”
Lee stated, “The second question is simple. Using the information I used to answer first question. In the first episode of Black Lagoon, when they are at the Yellowflag bar, Benny mentioned he had been with Dutch and Revy for two years. They saved Benny in Florida. So, they had yet to come to Roanapur. Revy was probably on the run. Though, I am not sure how Dutch and the Lagoon PT boat ties into the beginning of the situation. But, I would bet that Revy met Dutch, between New York City, where Revy is from, and Florida, where Benny was from, before Dutch and Revy both met Benny.”
“Anyway, since it was early ninety-four when Benny made the two years comment, and you confirmation of the dates. It is a good guess that Benny was rescued around late September, to early October, nineteen ninety-one, with them showing up Roanapur a month, or so, later. After Benny joined them. They were probably fleeing from the U.S. law enforcement, and Thailand would be almost as far as one can go, by sea, to run from the U.S.”
Eda stated, “I'm impressed.”
Lee admitted, “Thank you. Though, I have no idea why they picked Roanapur. Nor, how they even heard about the city.”
Eda commented, “From what Revy told me, it is a long story. And it involves a mexican and a lawyer.”
Lee guessed, “And gunfight in a bar?”
Eda reacted with a bit of surprise, as she inquired, “How did you know?”
Lee shrugged, as he replied, in a casual tone of voice, “With Revy, there is always a gunfight in a bar, or an establishment with alcohol, in some way.”
Eda laughed for a few seconds. She then smiled, as she said, “That is true. I may tell you that story someday. If you survive.”
Lee stated, “I will consider it an incentive to continue living. And I look forward to you telling me that tale, someday. Now, onto the third question. If those two were not doing it in the tail of the Tokyo arc, like you guessed. They started doing it soon after. In the eleven months between the Tokyo arc and the Blood Trail arc. And the reason I think this is that Revy is a very, very private person. And by the Blood Trail arc, the only person she let get really, really close to her, is Rock.”
“Also, Rock has his own hang ups, as well.”
“You see this in the second episode of the Blood Trail arc, when Rock was in Revy's bedroom, with Revy. The scene starts with them talking, with Rock sitting on the bed, fully dress, and Revy wearing only white t-shirt and pink sweat pants. She is doing upside down abdominal crunches, while hanging from the back of her knee, on a metal bar.”
“When Revy gets finished with the exercises, she heads to take a shower in her personal bathroom. Now, if you listen closely, you hear her open the door, but you do not hear her close the door, because she does not close it. Instead, she turns on the shower, and the two of them continue talking. And the next scene shows Revy, naked in the shower.”
Eda smirked, as she interrupted, “I bet you got a hard-on from that scene.”
Lee honestly answered, “Nope. Nor, did I get aroused by the shower scene with Roberta.”
Eda asked, “Why not? Even I admit they have hot bodies.”
Lee pointed out, “Yes. They have hot bodies, but they are also crazy chicks. While I have never dated any. I have known crazy chicks in my personal life, long before I had even heard of the Black Lagoon series. And I have seen them emotionally burn some of my friends and family.”
Eda thought, 'So, River was correct. And I believe you mentioned that in your big conversation a little while ago. But, let's confirm that in person.'
Eda inquired, “So, knowing crazy chicks in real life let you move beyond their hotness, and allowed you to write, using their personalities?”
Lee replied, “Yes.”
Eda thought, 'That makes sense. And that explains why there are only a few sex scenes in your stories. And the only direct sex scenes in your stories which were required for the plot. Though...' She questioned, “What about me?”
Lee answered, “Eda, you are sane. And I find sanity very attractive in women. It is high on my list of wants when I meet a woman.”
Eda questioned, “So, that is why you did not mind going on a date, and sleeping with me?”
Lee brazenly admitted, “Of course. You are intelligent. You are nice. You are sexy. And you are sane. Don't get me wrong. You are as dangerous as your friends. But, you are sane.”
Eda replied, “Thank you.”
Lee stated, “You are welcome.”
Eda commented, “Still, I am sure that is a disappointment for River.”
Lee cracked a grin, as he pointed out, “Actually, after spending time with River, as both Sam, and herself, I think River has gone back to being sane. Or, so close to being sane that it does not matter for me.”
Eda began, “You mean you...” She immediately stopped herself from saying anything more.
Lee asked, with concern in his tone of voice, “What?”
Instead of answering Lee, Eda started laughing, as she thought, 'It is so obvious to everyone else. But, the two of them don't realize it. Those two do have some blind spots of their own.'
As Eda slowly stopped laughing, Lee continued, “Anyway, as Rock and Revy continued their conversation, Rock brings up a conversation they had in Tokyo, about how Revy consider herself a gun. Rock points out that then he would be the bullet to her gun.”
“Then, Revy came out of the shower, and walked back into her bedroom, in front of Rock, while wearing only black, bikini panties, and a white towel over her shoulder, which was draped down, around her neck, and cover her chest, to cover her breasts.”
“Now, this is the meat of the reason I think they already did it. And they had done it for some time. It was the ease at which they expressed in their body languages that says it all.”
“Revy, for all her privacy issues, was completely comfortable in having Rock possibly seeing her naked.”
“And Rock... Well, in episode seven, Calm Down Two Men. The episode that introduced you and Yolanda, when Rock was clearly flustered when they went to Rowan's Jackpot, and Rock had to be in the presence of half naked women. Yet, in the shower scene with Revy, he is completely fine, and relaxed, at looking Revy, whom is half naked.”
“Keep in mind, from Rock's point of view, Revy is a woman that has shot at him, with killing intent, more than once, when they first met. This is not a woman one would want to knowingly pissed off. Which makes my situation even worse.”
Eda giggled, as she agreed, “No arguments there.”
Lee said, “Anyway, I digress. Hell, in that scene, Rock even sneaks a look at Revy's ass, as she bent over, to get a bottle of water out of her fridge.”
Eda commented, in a mischievous tone of voice, “That little perv.”
Lee cracked a grin, as he went on to say, “I know. You all thought that Rock was this up tight, straight arrow. He wasn't. And she still isn't. Rock just needed someone lead him down the garden path. To tempted him to taste the forbidden fruit. And Revy was the perfect Eve to do it.”
Eda could not helpd but smile, as she playfully replied, “You are honestly scaring me with logic.”
Lee realized the tone of Eda's voice was playful. He casually said, in a halfhearted tone of voice, “I sometimes scare myself.” He continued, in a slightly more serious tone of voice, “And it gets better. That scene has several layers. And not just in their body language. As they continue their conversation, back in her bedroom, Revy started to ask what type of bullet Rock would be. A full metal jacket? A hollow point? A safety slug? Revy settles with Rock being some type of silver bullet. An expensive type of bullet, that no one knows how it is going to be use. Then, after she finishes her jug of water, she states they are out of water. And she asked him to go get some more downstairs, at a vending machine.”
“In the next scene, Rock is show getting some water for Revy. Showing that he does care for her. Revy walks up, and gives Rock one of her hollow point bullets. And they then leave the building.”
“Now, given Revy's privacy issues, she is not the type that openly show affection. So, that is why they keep their relationship a secret. But, their relationship had obviously been going on a while, because it seems that everyone they know has figured out what they are doing in private. Even in the Blood Trail arc, the morning after Fabiola wrecked the Yellowflag bar, when Rock talked to Bao, without Revy being present. Bao asked Rock why Revy was not with him. And Bao called Rock out on his relationship with Revy. With Rock playing dumb to Bao's comments.”
“Also, there was some sexual undertones during their conversation in Revy's bedroom.”
Eda asked, “What sexual undertones? I can see the undertones of their body language, but not in their conversation.”
Lee grinned mischievously, as he stated, “Think about about they said in their conversation. Revy considers herself the gun, and by giving Rock that bullet, she agreed with Rock that she thinks of him as a bullet. And what do you do with a bullet. You put a bullet into a gun. She was saying she wanted the most expensive bullet put inside her. And she thought that Rock was that bullet. In other words, Revy's form of foreplay is talking about guns and ammo.”
While Eda realized what Lee was saying, she started laughing, for several seconds. Meanwhile, Lee remained silent.
As Eda calmed down, she said, “That makes so much sense.”
Lee said, “And it was foreplay both ways. In the middle of that the gun and bullet conversation, Rock was talking needing a gun to ignite gunpowder, meaning igniting him. And in response, Revy saying, quietly, to herself. Come on babe. Light my fire. When Rock asked what she was saying. She stated she was just quoting a line from a song by, The Doors. Which is likely where she got the line from. But, she clearly was thinking of Rock lighting her own inner fire.”
Eda laughed some more.
As Eda calmed down, again, Lee went onto say, “So, they both reached a point where they know how to do foreplay with each other, without others realizing it. Also, on a side note, the scene right after the shower, where Revy is walking to the refrigerator, to get a bottle of water, her white towel, which is drape over her breast, comes slightly off, showing the inner half of her left nipple being shown on screen. She has dark areolae and nipples.”
Eda laughed some more. As she calmed down for a third time in a row, she commented, in a relaxed tone of voice, “I knew that. I have seen her nude before. A few times. But, I didn't realize the audience knew that, as well.”
Lee continued smiling mischievously, as he stated, “As you said. I have an eye for detail.”
Eda complimented, “That you do. You are practically like Sherlock Holmes. Or, James Moriarty.”
Lee commented, “I am more like Holmes, than Moriarty. Because Moriarty was a more naturally charming person. While, Holmes was socially awkward, like I was. I had to develop my charm from hard work and experience. And I better be like them, considering I spent over two decades in that time loop, learning to read people. To get to know how to make them react the way I want them to react.”
“I learned a lot, then. And not just skills from the girls, and other people. But, also from books in Plata Podrido's library. Which was well stocked with information. And I had access to the internet. Anyway, I try to model some of myself, after the Robert Downey Junior version of Sherlock Holmes, in the movies he made about that character.”
Eda asked, “Are those the Sherlock Holmes movies that Akira talked about you, her, Natsuru, and Ranma watched?”
Lee replied, “Yes. And I think you would enjoy watching them.”
Eda agreed, “I think I would to. And I will have to watch them sometime.”
Lee requested, “If I survive all this, please let me know how you liked them.”
Eda replied, “I will.”
Lee commented, “Anyway, it seems that a lot happened in the gaps in the original series, and even in the stories I wrote.”
Eda casually stated, “Oh. A lot did happen. In both cases.”
Lee inquired, “Such as the time, before Rock came onto the scene. When Chin tricked Lagoon company into delivering, as Dutch put it, junk, to the New People's Army, the armed wing of the communist party of the Philippines? Then, there is that throw away line by Revy, at the end of episode twelve. Where she said her contacts in the chopper were late, again. Meaning that adventure was not the first time Lagoon Company did a job for Uncle Sam.”
Eda cracked a grin, as she stated, “Oh. Those are just the tip of the iceberg. And from what Revy told me, that junk sale was quite and adventure for the Lagoon crew. Though, I would prefer not to talk about the second example you pointed out.”
Lee returned Eda's smile, as he replied, “I bet that junk sale was. And I understand why you do not want to discuss the other incident. But, I would not be surprised if you were involved in that adventure, as well.”
Eda offered, in a casual tone of voice, “Perhaps you are right. And I may well tell you about all that incidents, and adventures, sometime.”
Lee thought, 'The incident she does not want to talk about is not important.' He responded, “I look forward to it. That gives me more reasons to want to survive this incident... Well, I better get going.”
Eda stated, “Good luck.”
Lee replied, “Thanks.”
Lee then ran passed Eda, and down the hallway.
As Eda watch Lee disappear around the corner. She warmly smiled, as she thought, 'That man is likely one of the most craziest people in the multiverse. And nicest... And I slept with with him... That is something to gloat about... And I think I won't tell the others about my little meeting with him, just now.'
(_)
A few minutes later, Lee found himself in another series of storage rooms, one after another, with freight boxes stacked on top of each other, with tables and chairs, in various positions, and locations, in the various rooms.
As Lee made his way through the room, he thought, with concern, 'I wasted to much time talking to Janet. And then Eda. That is probably going cost me. Though, there is nothing I can do about it. Now, onto the matter at hand. This was listed as a hallway. I see that is not the case. Not that I complaining. It just means that someone got lazy when they drew the schematics for the computer program.'
'The program was likely made after the fact, and used an old set of blueprints. Still, if the rest of the plans are correct, when I reach the hallway, I will go to my right. Then, the hallway dead-ends into a large indoor warehouse room. After that, head through that large room, to the stairwell on the other side, and then to the roof.'
As Lee made it to the last room, before reaching the hallway he was heading for, he suddenly heard footsteps from the hallway in front of him.
Lee immediately spin around, to his left, and put his back around the wall, beside the door. As he quietly stood there, and listened, as he mentally wondered, 'Now, who is here?'
Lee then heard the voices coming closer. He soon recognized the voices as Aeryn and Violin.
In the adjoining hallway, coming from the left side of the hallway, from the way Lee was planning on going, Violin and Aeryn where walking together, with Violin to Aeryn's left side. Both Violin and Aeryn has their pulse pistols holstered, on their gunsbelts.
As the two spouses walked together, Violin said, “I am just saying. Let's not be to hasty on this. Sure, we can kick Lee's ass for a little while. But, I don't want us to be to bloodthirsty on this, like the Lagoon family.”
Aeryn conceded, “I can see your point. I can agree that it depends on how Lee is captured. That we could show leniency if Lee was willing to turn himself in.”
On the other side of the room, the couple were approaching, Lee thought, 'Fat chance that is happening.'
Violin replied, “I can go along with that. The problem is the others will not be so kind.”
Lee thought, 'And that is the problem.'
Aeryn said, “Unfortunately, that is true.”
By then, the two spouses were right on the other side of the entrance to the room Lee was in. Lee than five feet from Lee. With only the wall between them.
Lee thought, 'Now, how am I going to deal with this... I cannot just let them continue walking. They are walking in the direction I need to go. Either down the hallway, or into the room, where I am at. And that there is nothing on the ceiling to grip, to try that ninja ceiling trick, like I did on Ranma, Akira, and Natsuru.... Damn, I am still surprised that I was able to pull that trick on those three, or all people... So, I need to get them to do something else, without getting caught...'
Lee's lips curled into a wicked grin, as he had an idea. He continued thoughts, 'That might work. And I am close enough, that my voice should carry, as if nothing was wrong. And Violin would get the joke... And likely Aeryn, as well.
Lee then rolled up his the sleeve he had his digital wrist watch was on.
(_)
On the other side of the wall, in the hallway, Aeryn and Violin came came to a stop, in front of the open door to the storage room Lee was inside of.
Both woman turned to face the entrance, as Violin inquired, “So, which way should we go. Continue down the hallway? Or, go into these adjoining storage rooms?”
Aeryn commented, “Which ever way we go, we are not splitting up.”
Violin replied, “Agreed.”
Aeryn said, “Well, from the way Lee has been heading, I would guess he is coming from the adjoining storage rooms.”
Just then, Lee turned to face them, with him being five feet from the entrance to the hallway, and ten feet from the two women.
Lee smiled, as he complimented, “And you would be correct, Aeryn.”
As both women saw Lee, across the doorway into another room, they cracked a grin. Violin commented, “Well, speak of the devil.”
Lee lips curled into a smirk, as he inquired, “Truly. So girls. The question is. Do you really think this is the real me?”
Violin responded, “Of course.”
Both women then rushed at Lee, passed the door way. But, when they both reached Lee, they tried to grab him only find they were no touching anything, as they passed through the hologram, and fell to the floor, due to them overcompensating forward, on their balance, in their haste to capture Lee.
While hiding against the wall, to the couple's right side, Lee swiftly move to his left and back into the hallway, without him taking his eyes off the couple.
He stood made a few feet into the hallway the two women had previously come into the room front.
Lee quickly turned off the hologram. He continued smirking, as he looked a the two women on the floor. He said, “It isn't.”
While laying on the floor, Aeryn and Violin turned over, onto their backs, just in time to see Lee pull out his key card. He then swiped all the panel, on the hallway side of the door.
The two women quickly jumped up, and rush for the closing steel door, but the door completely closed before they reached it.
Lee pocketed his key card, as he began to walk away from the door, and towards his next destination. He thought, 'That was too easy.'
Suddenly, Lee heard a clank. He immediately stopped in his tracks, as he turned around and he saw that the thick steel door had a nice bulge in it, into the room, at chest level, facing him. The bulge looked like fist, using super-strength, had literally punched the door from the room, on the other side of the door. Which was exactly what had happened.
As second later, he heard a punch against the thick, steal door, as he saw an outward dent in the door.
Lee thought, 'Yep. Almost forgot. Violin has super-strength. Though, that door won't hold for long. I wrote in book four that Violin was strong enough to rip doors like this, out of the wall. It is best I get out of here before they get through. But, by leaving the other door to the room, open, there is a good chance they will try to double back to here, instead of trying to tear the door apart to get to me. Either way, will take them a few minutes, at most. So, I better get moving.'
Lee then turned, as he ran down the hallway, away from the married couple that was after him, and towards his intended destination.
(_)
On the other side of the door, in the storage room, Violin used her left hand to rub her right fist, after she made the second dent in the door. While her hand was sore, it was not seriously injured.
Violin muttered, “I forgot how hard steel can be And I cannot believe Lee fooled me like that.”
Aeryn looked over at Violin, as she commented, “Don't be hard yourself because you are upset.”
Violin turned to Aeryn, as she stated, “You are right, honey. I just cannot believe Lee used my genre savviness against me.”
Aeryn replied, “Violin, it was bound to happen eventually.” With her right hand, she motioned towards the open door, behind them. She then turned back to Violin, as she commented, “Besides, Lee left the other door open.”
Violin looked over at the open doorway, as she responded, “Yes. He likely did that so, we would try to go around, and waste time. Still, it is better than risking harm to my fingers in opening this closed door.”
Aeryn said, “I agree. And as I was going to say, before Lee interrupted us. I don't care if we personally capture, Lee. As long as we get our measure of revenge, in the end. Besides. Why dirty our hands, when the others will do it for us?”
Violin looked over at her wife. She grinned, as she complimented, “Now, that is the intelligent woman I married.”
Aeryn gave Violin a warm smile, as the two women then walked out the open door, that Lee left for them.
(_)
A few minutes later, as Lee expected, Lee briskly made his way through through the hallway, to where the hallway opened up into a very large warehouse.
As Lee walked into warehouse of the building, he stopped to look at the large, vast room in front of him.
There was plenty of canned ceiling lights, from the top of the room, to see with. And while there were several areas of stacked crates, given the light was shining down from several directions, there were very few darkened areas in the room.
Lee saw that the huge warehouse complex was at least a three hundred yards long, from the wall Lee stood by, to the other end of the room. And the room was around a three hundred yards wide.
There were several types of square crates, in various sizes, were stacked together, in tight rows, going both ways, with gaps of around three or four feet, every twenty feet, or so.
The crates were stacked mostly in eight feet high rows.
Lee thought, 'I wonder how they get this out of here?'
Lee looked up, at the very high ceiling, which was around forty feet high. He saw that the ceiling was a large, metal doors, the left up, opening the room to the open sky. There were even loading chains hanging from the ceiling and a steel catwalk running around the room, at about thirty feet off the ground.
Lee thought, “So, they transport this cargo from the roof. That figures.'
Lee then looked back in front of him, as he cautiously thought, 'Now, if I remember the floor plans right, and if Eda is right, the doors to the stairwell I am looking for are on the other sides of the room...” He then continued his thoughts, with some concern, 'And this is a lot of room to cover out in the open. I might as well pull out a deck of cards.'
Lee pulled out a deck of playing cards.
As he slid the cards out of its cardboard box with his right hand, he put the empty card back into the pocket he had it in, with his left hand.
Lee thought, 'It is best I not discard anything, as a way to avoid leaving a trail for the other to follow.'
Lee then swapped hands, to where the deck was in his left palm. He then pulled the top card between the right index and middle fingers.
As Lee continued to walk towards the creates, he mentally reflected, 'Also, as tempting as it is to try to just go on top of the creates and just on top. But, then I would be completely exposed, and a sitting duck... No. It is better if I just try my hand at making my way through the maze. And if need be. If I hit a dead end, I can quickly go on top, cross the dead end, and duck back into the maze.'
Next, Lee slowly made his way through the labyrinth of crates, which were stacked next to each other, to be able eight feet high, across the area, for the most part. With gaps in a grid pattern, both ways. Though, some of the gaps were to narrow to walk through, creating a maze for Lee to walk through.
A few minutes later, the path he was on, dead ended to where he had to turn to his left.
As he cautiously walked, he soon found himself in a small, open space, that was forty feet, by forty-feet. With the crate walls being eight feet high, in all direction.
As Lee looked to his right, he saw one of the last people in existence, he wanted to meet at the moment.
Forty feet away, coming from a pathway that was parallel with him, was Revy, whom was walking in the same directly as him.
And Lee also saw that Revy was holding her pistols, and she was looking back at him.
Revy yelled, with fury in her tone of voice, “Lee!” She the brought her weapons to bare, at Lee, as she started firing her cutlasses at him.
At the same time, Lee quickly threw card after card at her.
All the while, both of them were running parallel with each other, as they soon found cover behind the crates.
Neither of them had hit the other.
From behind her cover, which was a three feet narrow gap, Revy screamed, “You know, Lee! As tempting as it is to give you!... As you put it!... Lead fever! I am not going to kill you! First, I am going to torture you. Then, I am going to kill you!”
As Lee found himself behind his own cover, which was a five feet wide gap, he thought, with worry, 'I think I pissed her off, too much. If that is even possible.' He yelled back, “I freely admit, propositioning you like that was a big mistake!”
Revy verbally shot back, “You are not helping yourself!”
Lee looked around, and in front of him, saw some crates leading up to the top of the larger crates, going towards where Revy was.
Lee thought, 'Considering the standard magazine for a semi-automatic Beretta nine-two FS pistol is fifteen rounds. Not factoring in one round in the chamber. Though, outside of combat, Revy prefers to keep her pistol chambers empty. And she has two such pistols in her hand. That means she has thirty rounds between both pistols. That is not counting any spare loaded magazines she has on her person. This means, from the few rounds she shot at me, she is still nowhere near out of ammo, let alone does she need reload her weapons with fresh magazines.'
'As such, my only chance is to get her to monolog. While I pulled a fast on her.'
Lee lips curled into a wicked grin, as he continued his thoughts, 'And she won't even see it coming.'
Lee requested, in a loud, strong tone of voice, “Well Revy, how about you give me a preview of what you have in mind for me!”
(_)
Nearby, behind the crates Revy was taking cover from, the redhead screamed, in rage, “With pleasure! First, I am going to shoot you! Don't worry! It wouldn't kill you! It will just hurt a lot! After you recover, what comes next will be even worse!”
“How did that Pinhead quote go?! Ah yes! We have such delights to show you, Lee! Such as, we will pull out some packets of instant spring of girl, and you are going to find out how much I like to plow someone's ass, first hand! Then, we will do the front! Then, the back again! You will even find out how painful it is to be plowed from the front while dry! What do you say about that, Lee?!... Lee?!”
Revy then heard foot steps coming near her, from above, in the direction Lee was in.
A second later, she looked up just in time to see Lee jumping over her, from crate stack to crate stack, while he looked down at her.
As Lee passed over her, he threw three playing cards in quick succession, towards her.
Revy realized she did not have time to point her weapons as Lee, let along fire.
Instead, Revy was forced to dive for cover, as she yelled, “Damn it!”
(_)
On top of the create, while heading away from Revy, Lee continued running, and jumping, along the flat crates piles, as he thought, 'That bought me exactly ten seconds. It will take Revy the first two seconds to lean up. The next two seconds to check herself, to find she is okay, with her quickly realizing I threw those cards wide. The next two to stand up. The two after that to figure out the best way to quickly get on top of the crates. And the last two for her to use her enhanced strength to jump the eight feet it takes, in one leap, and land on her feet on top. But, by the sixth second, I will have harmlessly dropped back down into the labyrinth of crates, and be nowhere to be seen, by the time she is on top of the crates.'
As Lee ducked near a pile small of crates, with a small cubby hole, in a four foot gap between the large crate. Lee hide in the cubby hole from Revy, as he heard Revy yell, “Lee! Where are you?!”
Lee thought, 'It is so tempting to crack a scooby joke right now.'
Lee then heard Revy running, and jumping, from crate pile to crate pile. She quickly passed over him, without her even noticing him. From the sounds of her footsteps, Lee could tell that she was heading to the left side of the room.
Half a minute later, Lee's precognition told him it was safe to move. He stood back up, and he started between one of the rows the crate piles crated, as he headed in the right side of the room, in the opposite direction to the direction that Revy ran in.
As Lee slowly walked, with his cards in his hand, and at the ready, he thought, with mild relief, 'Fortunately, Revy is heading for the far left side of the warehouse. I will head for the right side, while staying between the crates. And I will just go around her.'
Lee then slowly made his way to the right side of the room.
(_)
A few minutes later, Lee had been walking between the crates, from row to row, going at a diagonal direction to the wall he was needed to get too.
Suddenly, his precognition screamed for him to duck.
Lee did so, just in time to avoid a swing from behind.
Lee leaned up, and turned around. He saw Rock holding a baseball bat with both her hand, a few feet away from him.
Lee quickly backed up from Rock, he complimented, “A baseball bat. Easy to use. And piratical. Good choice, Rock.”
Rock flatly replied, “Thank you.”
Lee then held up the playing card between the fingers of his right hand, as he pointed out, “But, I still got range on you.”
Rock let go of her baseball bat, from her right hand, allowing her left hand to hold it. She then held out her right forearm towards Lee, as her sonic shotgun slipped out of its housing, in gambler's jig, under her sleeve and into her right hand. She smirked, as she rhetorically stated, “Are you so sure?”
Lee conceded, “Point taken. But, if you fire that thing at me, at this range. You are going to be cleaning me up from the walls with a sponge. And besides, bloodstains are very hard to get out of clothing.”
Rock frowned, as she deadpanned, “Yea. I am reminded of that fact, a few days, every month.”
Rock's comment caught Lee off guard. Lee replied, in a sheepish tone of voice, “Ahhh... I don't think a simple apology is going to work here?”
Rock flatly stated, “No.”
Rock dropped her baseball bat, as she used her left hand to grab her radio, from her belt. She held the radio up to her mouth. She then said into it, “Revy, are you there?”
On the other end of the radio, Revy replied, “Yea, Rock. What is it?”
Rock answered, “I have Lee. We are on the east side of the warehouse, near the middle of the room.”
Over the radio, Revy cursed, “Damn! I am on the west side of the warehouse. It is going to take me a few minutes to get to you.”
Lee realized he had no time to plan in detail, as he was carefully watched Rock's eyes.
When Lee saw Rock's eyes look away and too the radio, Lee quickly drop all but one of the cards in his left hand. With the last card between his left index and middle fingers, like the card in the fingers of his right hand.
Lee then swiftly threw both cards at Rock's hands.
They brushed against the outside of her hands, the sting of the cuts caused Rock to drop both her sonic shotgun, and her radio. The sonic shotgun did not misfire as it hit the floor.
Lee quickly turned, and ran up, a pile of crates to the top the crate stacks, towards the stairwell he was heading for, in the north section of the warehouse.
As Lee ran as fast as he couple, he jumped over the gaps in the crate stacks, while he thought, 'I hate platforming. And I got twelve seconds until Rock will starting running after me. She will catch me in no time, unless I run full out.'
'The first two seconds she deals with the stings on her hands. The next two seconds she realizes they are just paper cuts. The next four seconds she quickly collects her sonic shotgun and radio. Unlike Revy, Rock is too cautious to just jump onto the crates, even though she can. Instead, she will follow me up the pile, that will eat another four seconds.'
'She is too smart for me to try to pull the hiding between the crates trick on her. And she will be calling for help with the radio in her left hand, while taking aim with her sonic shotgun in her right hand. With her trying to find something in my path to shoot at, that will slow me down, but not seriously harm me. And because of all this, I need to hear what she is saying on the radio.'
As Lee ran, he used his left hand to turned on his radio, that was clipped the left side of his belt.
Lee also turned up the volume, so he could comfortably hear the radio.
Lee heard Rock say, through the radio, “I am chasing, Lee. We are in the twenty-second floor of the building we lost him in. We are in a large warehouse room, heading toward the center stairwell, of the building, inside a very large warehouse.”
Lee thought, 'Well, that confirms she is not right behind me. If I look behind myself, doing so will cause me to slow down. And I need to go as fast as possibility. Unfortunately, I can only do this for another two minutes, before I completely give out. But, I think that is enough time to get to the stairwell, lock the doors behind me, and escape to the roof.'
As Lee ran, he saw that there were various piles of crates he was passing by. And in the corner of his left eye, he saw Revy in the distance, running to him, while firing her pistols at him.
But, Lee was moving to fast, jumping to randomly, and the shots were far to hit him.
Lee sarcastically thought, 'This is just getting better and better.'
Lee then heard Akira say, over the radio, “We are all converging on your location. Natsuru, Ranma, and I are coming up that stairwell. We will be on the north end of the room, waiting for him, in less than a minute.”
Rock replied, “Good. I will flush him to you.”
Lee continued to run, while he thought, with worry, 'Crap! That was my only escape plan.” He then saw another, nearby door on the north wall part of the catwalk, in front of him. He also saw some crated and hung chains in his path. He mentally realized, 'That door likely also leads directly to the stairwell. So, it will have to do. And I think I have a path to get to it.'
Lee did not need to look behind him to realize that Rock was slowly gaining on him.
Just as Lee passed by a pile of crates to his left side, his precognition screamed for him to dodge away from the pile.
He did so, and he jumped to his right side, just in time to avoid the crates, as Rock shot her sonic shotgun at the crates, to indirectly hit him, without killing him.
Fortunately, Lee was able to continue running, without slowing down. As he ran, in front of him, to right side, he saw a large sit smaller crated leading up eighteen feet more in height from the crates he was one. With the steps of the crates facing him.
Lee grimly thought, 'Here is my path. And I hate heights.'
Lee then quickly began stepping up the small crates, to the top, which was a row of crates about fifty feet in length, four feet in width, and about twenty feet from the below row of crate, and about twenty-eight feet from the floor.
Beside him, Lee saw a chain, with a large metal hook on bottom end, and on the top end it was attached to a wheeled track on the ceiling that went all the way to the north end of the wall.
Lee quickly stopped, so he could swiftly test the chain. He quickly realized that it was free floating along the track.
Lee then looked in the distance. About twenty feet from where the crates stopped was the steel catwalk above the floor, and an open door to the stairwell was right in front of him, on the other side of the steel catwalk railing.
Lee quickly gripped the chain firmly with both hands, as he starting running.
As he ran, he was building up inertia with the chain on the track.
Nearby, several yards behind him, on the bottom level of crates, Rock saw what Lee was doing. She fired at the supporting crates beneath Lee.
On top of the high stack of crates, Lee continued running towards the catwalk, as the crates started to give way from underneath him. At the last second, Lee pushed off the last crate in the row. The crates below him gave way, while he gripped the chain with both hands, for his dear life, as the inertia he had built up caused the wheels on the track of the chain to continue rolling.
As Lee passed over the floor far below, he saw Akira, Ranma, and Natsuru standing there, looking up at him. While they, and Rock, were standing far enough way from the collapsing crates, not to be harmed by them.
As Lee neared the railing bars to the catwalk, he thought, 'I am only going to have seconds to do this.'
When he hit the railing bars of the steel catwalk, he quickly planted his feet on the bottom bars, to support himself, while he swiftly moved his left hand, from the chain, to the top bar. Then his right hand to the top bar, with him swiftly pulled himself fulling to the steel bars, and away from the dangling chain.
Lee then used his left foot to step on the middle bar, as he swung his right leg and foot over and onto the floor of the catwalk. The motion carried his left leg over the railing as well.
The moment his feet both hit the floor of the catwalk, he immediately did a running crawl for the stairwell door, as he pulled out his key card.
Just as he made it into the stairwell, he turned around. He saw that both Ranma and Natsuru has used their superhuman strength to jump up to where the bottom of their feet were over the top railing over the catwalk.
They were still in mid jump, as Lee swiftly reached up and swiped the electronic lock on the panel, on the stairwell side of the door. The steel door quickly started to slide closed.
The door closed complete, just when Ranma and Natsuru landed onto the catwalk floor, and they rushed for the door.
Lee didn't dare sigh in relief. He kept the key card in his left hand, as he swiftly stood up, and started running up the staircase, which wound up in a clockwise motion, with the outside of the steps being to his right. While he ran up the staircase, he used right hand to grip the outer railing to his right side, to haul himself faster up the steps.
Lee looked up, and he saw that he was only a few flights to the top of the building.
Lee thought, 'Almost there. I am so thankful that I never had Ranma learn the breaking point technique, or that door would not slow her down. Unlike the hallway I locked them in before. There is enough room on the other side of this door, for the others to get out of the blast range of the breaking point.'
'Though, it is only a matter of several seconds before the two of them pool their abilities to get through the door. But, those are the precious seconds that I need. Still, Akira is probably now in the stairwell chasing after me, a few flights below me. I cannot stop now and rest. Not when I am almost to the top.'
In stairwell, two levels beneath him, Lee heard Akira yell, “Surrender, Lee! You cannot escape!”
Lee continued forward, as he turned his had to his left, down the empty space in the center of the stairwell. He shouted back, with passion in his voice, “I can try!” He then turned back to look in front of himself, as he made his way up the staircase.
Lee could hear Akira gaining on him. But, he finally made it to the roof door.
Fortunately, it was shut, and the red light on the panel showed the door was locked.
Lee thought, 'Good. If the door is locked, that means it is less likely anyone up on this roof. But, now, I just need to put that door between me and Akira.'
Lee quickly used the key card in his right hand to open the electronic lock.
The door slid up.
Lee then quickly made his way out, onto the roof, as he turned around, and slid his key card the electronic lock panel, on the outside of the door.
Lee saw Akira make her up the last flight of stairs, as the door slid closed, and locked itself, behind him.
Lee could hear Akira banging against the other side of the door in frustration.
Lee pocketed the key card, as he took a moment to get a handle of his surrounds, while taking a few much needed breaths of air.
Fortunately, like the other roofs of the factory complex, there were several flood lights, directed at several angles on the roof, that provided plenty of light to see.
Lee looked around, as he thought, 'If I remember the roof design correctly, I just need to go to the southeast side of the roof to escape.'
Lee quickly got his bearings, as turned in a specific direction. He mentally reflected, 'Which should be this way. Also, the way I am going is away from ceiling doors to the warehouse I just escaped from. Finally, I need to be mindful of Balalaika and B. Both of them might see me and shoot me with their sniper rifles. But, from the look of things, I have plenty of cover, to protect me from their sights.'
By then, Lee has gotten his second wind, as he started to briskly walk towards the nearest cover he saw, in the direction he was heading. Most of the cover was ventilation equipment, water systems equipment, and piping for the ventilation and water systems.
Lee was careful to duck against the large air conditioning tubes, ventilation ducks, and a few huge water tanks that littered the roof, while making his way across the roof, as quickly, and quietly, as possible.
But, as Lee did this, a horrible thought occurred to him, 'This is a perfect place for an ambush. Best get out another deck of cards.'
Lee pulled out another deck of cards, taking the cards out of the box, pocketing the empty box, and finally placing the loose cards into his left hand.
Lee then continued to carefully, though quickly, make his way through the area, at a brisk, walking pace.
(_)
At that second, on the other side of the door, at the stop of the stairwell, Akira looked down the flights of stairs, to see that Ranma, Natsuru, Rock, and Revy, were heading up the stairwell, to her.
Akira thought, 'Ranma and Natsuru must of jumped back down to the floor, and taken that entrance into the stairwell, that I used. With Rock and Revy. Now, while I don't want to see Lee harmed. He is making it very difficult not to harm him, as we try to catch him.'
'And I need to see if I can get someone stop, Lee, before he makes it to where ever he is going, on the roof. And I know just the two women to ask.'
Akira pulled out her radio. She said into the radio, “Balalaika. B. Lee is on the roof of the building we tracked him to. Do either of you see him?”
(_)
On her perch, midway up on a communications tower, Balalaika held her radio with her left hand, as she used her right hand to hold the rifle, while keeping Lee in her sights. Balalaika calmly answered, into her radio, in english, “Affirmative.”
Balalaika thought, 'It does not matter if Lee is listening, or not. We have him. Him just listening to us, will heighten the chance of his surrender.'
Over the radio, B said, in english, “I have him in my sights. But, he is ducking in and out of cover too often, for me to get a clean shot.”
Balalaika thought, 'I see that B has the same thoughts as I do.' She stated, “Same here. Though, we want him alive.”
B suggested, “We could try to pin him down. But, with his precognition, and the cover, we could lose track of him on the roof.”
Balalaika conceded, “You may have a point.” She then saw something in her sights, in the distance from Lee. She smirked, as she continued, “And I do not think we will have to. B, do you see what I see?
B answered, “Yes. Let us just watch the fun unfold.”
Over the radio, Akira asked, “What fun?”
Balalaika inquired, with a bit of excitement in her voice, “You'll see, as soon as Natsuru gets that door to the roof open. Speaking of which, how long will it take her get that door open?”
On the radio, Akira answered, “It is solid steel door. I would say a few minutes. Like that last steel door she had to open by force. Natsuru is to not strong enough to just ripped open the door. Instead, she uses her fire abilities to warm the metal, by placing her hands on the metal. That way, she does not risk burning us. When the metal gets pliable, she just uses her super-strength to push the door out of the way.”
Balalaika complimented, “That is wise use of ones abilities. I will see you in a few minutes.”
On the radio, Akira said, “I look forward to it.”
Balalaika, then put away her radio, with her left hand. She then placed her left hand on the fore-end of her Dragunov sniper rifle, to steady it. While she looked through her PSO-1 scope, at the fun that was about to happen to Lee.
(_)
At the moment, inside the building to the northwest of the building where Lee was on the roof of, inside the security room of the main center of the factory complex, Benny was sitting in a chair, at the desk in the room, as she just finished fixing and putting the computer mouse back together.
Dutch was standing near Benny. Dutch noticed this, as she asked, “Got it?”
Benny began using the mouse, and she found it was back in working order. She then not looked up at Dutch, as she smirked. She said, in an excited tone of voice, “Yes. Now, let's find the fucker.”
Dutch agreed, “And we already know where to start. The roof on the building southeast of here.”
Benny replied, “Exactly.”
Benny used the computer mouse to click two icons on the computer screen. The first was the program for the a schematics map, to find the exact name building Lee was on.
The second icon she clicked was for the camera security system. After, Benny had the name for the building, it was a matter of a few seconds, before Benny pulled up a nearby camera, that showed where Lee was at.
Benny flatly stated, “Found him.”
Dutch looked over at the computer monitor, as she said, “Yep. That's him. Good job.”
Benny continued looking at the monitor as well, as she replied, “Thank you.”
Dutch commented, “To bad that we already all know where he is.”
Benny quickly put away her tools, back in their case. She looked up at Dutch, as her smirk turned into a wicked grinned. She responded, “We can still screw with his head.”
Dutch returned Benny's smile, with a smirk of her own, as she replied, “Good idea.”
Benny turned back to the computer monitor, as she picked up her radio, and punched the talk button.
(_)
On the rooftop, of the building southeast from where Benny was inside of, Lee continued making his way through the air conditioning tubes, ventilation ducks, and a few huge water tanks that littered the roof. With him using the items as cover.
As Lee did so, he found the flood lights provided plenty of light to see with.
While Lee did so, he had heard what Balalaika, B, and Akira, had said.
Lee thought, 'Okay. Balalaika and B cannot yet get a clear shot of me. As long as I duck in and out of cover. Also, Akira, and the others will not be on the roof for another few minutes. Meaning I do have a little time. Though, I wonder what Balalaika meant, by a surprised?'
'My precognition is not screaming. So, it cannot be to bad. But, it is possible I was wrong and someone came up to this roof, from another stairwell. There is not much I can do about that not. But, to continue moving forward.'
Just then, over the radio, Lee suddenly heard Benny voice say, in a childish tone of voice, “Lee, I see you.”
Lee continued walking, and staying behind cover, kept her radio clipped to the left side of her belt.
Lee thought, with amusement, 'I guess Benny finally got the computer working. I might as well congratulate her. Given the volume setting, I currently have on it. I will have no problems, leaving the radio on my waist. And I am sure the microphone will still clearly pick up my voice. So, still frees up my hands, to use my cards, at a moment's notice.'
Lee held his deck of cards in his left hand, as he used his left thumb to press the talk button the radio.
Lee lips curled into a mischievous smile, as he said, over his radio,”Congratulations Benny, on getting the security camera system working, this late in the game. But, you still cannot reach me. And it is going to take a minute, or so, for the others to bust through that roof door.”
Over the radio, Benny conceded, with a hint of excitement in her voice, “You're right. I cannot reach you.”
As Lee passed by the huge water tanks on the roof, he heard a familiar voice say, “Hi ya, Lee. I am surprised you made it this far.”
Lee heard Benny state, over the radio, in an evil tone of voice, “My kids, on the other hand, are a completely different matter.”
Suddenly, Lee looked up and saw that it was Molly, with her semi-automatic pistols in hand, with Sarah by her side, with her katana at the ready.
The two armed, blond sisters were less than thirty feet in front of him, on the roof floor.
Lee quickly put himself in as cold and emotionless state as possible, while he swiftly thought, 'Like Holmes, I mustn't let this register on an emotional level. This is the exact type of situation that the Bene Gesserit meant when they warned, fear is the mind killer. My enemies are healthier, stronger, better trained. And more experienced at this, than I am. Here, there will be no room for error. My calculations, precognition, and instincts must have precision of being within less than the exactness of an inch. Or else, I am dead. Or, worse.'
'Now, for my first, and most obvious move, in this shifting game of shadows.'
Lee did not bother to wait for introductions. Nor, to see if any of the other teenager girls would appear behind the two blond teenage women. As he swiftly turned around, and starting running away from them, down another corridor of tanks and ventilation boxes, that would take him to his next destination.
Sarah, Molly, quickly gave chase.
Over the radio, Lee heard Benny state, with wicked glee, “Go get him, girls.” Benny then started laughing manically, though her radio, for several seconds.
As Lee ran, he quickly thought, 'I didn't know Benny could laugh like that. And if those two are here, that means Kristina, Rebecca, Yukio, Mikoto, Nodoka, and Yurika, are nearby, as well. And what do I have to use against them?... Fifty-four playing cards. Fifty-two playing cards and two wild cards.'
'I will likely have to use all of them, if I want to live. And I need to make them last. I don't have time to pull out another deck. This will be a shuffle run in every sense of the term.'
'I will duck around, and flee, towards me goal. And in doing so, I will force the teenage women into a running battle. Also, I must be mindful of my cover, or Balalaika, and B will snipe me. From all the radio chatter, by them, I already know I am ducking in and out of their sights. But, given then like to be amused, they are probably going to let the kids have their fun with me, first.'
'And I must also pay attention to the piping around me. It offer me options. First, I must slow down the two most deadly at range. Molly, with her pistols, and Yukio with her machine gun. Given weight issues, Yukio will be the last, and worst one to face.'
'Now, if I am lucky, they will not all face me at once. That will increase the odds more in my favor. But, not by much. Though first, I need to remind these two, that I am not completely harmless. Six cards should do that.'
Lee continued running, as he turn around just quickly enough to throw six cards within three seconds. Three each towards Yukio and Molly, forcing the teenage adult women to back off. He then turned back to face his front, as he ran between the tanks and ventilation ducks of the roof, with him turning the various corners, while keeping track of the directions he was going.
While Lee did so, over the radio, Lee overheard Molly ordered, “Split up, and circle around him.”
Lee happily thought, 'Good. That is what I expected them to do. My plan is going better than I thought. Molly comment means they are likely all behind me. With them planning to show up behind her and Sarah, form the shows. Me turning around and running, screwed up their plans. And they should have known better. Not that I am complaining. Still they are going to out run me, and come at me, at different locations and times. Still, it will not be all at once.'
As Lee ducked around a tank, and he has just enough time, to see Mikoto was the first to jump in his way.
At the same time, Lee heard a clicking noises behind him, meaning that there was someone else behind Lee. And Lee realized who was, without looking behind himself.
While Lee continued moving towards Mikoto, he thought, 'They are likely using the high ground, to keep me from seeing them. That is why I did not see the others. They were above me. Intelligent. But, I can compensate for that, and other factors.'
'Such as, I know that Mikoto is a fire user, and an expert hand to hand specialist. She wants me an alive, and mostly unharmed. Meaning she will not use her fire. But, given she is smaller than me, she will attempt the quickest, and easiest attack to take me down, that offers the longest reach for her. That being a swift upper kick to my lower, front jaw. If done right, it would knock me down, and the worst case scenario for me would likely be a broken jaw, and a concussion to the back of my skull.'
'Given the way combat training is universally done in almost everything, she will use her right foot to attack me with. Because teachers almost always teach their students to act with their right side first, due to most people being right side dominate.'
'At the same time, the clicking noises mean that Kristina is right behind me, with the clicking being her turning on her flame throwing and freezing gauntlets. She would be more than happy to both toast me, and then she will swiftly freeze me. Leaving me with some first and second degree flash burns. While I would not have anything immediately deadly to me. The burn wounds will just hurt me to the point I will not longer be able to run.'
'But, Kristina will not knowingly harm Mikoto. If I time this right. It will be a case of two birds with one stone.'
Lee ran towards Mikoto, when he reached her, Mikoto did an upper kick with her right foot.
At the last second, Lee ducked to Mikoto's right side, causing her to miss Lee completely. But, Mikoto kick was so swift that she could not stop herself from reaching the apex of her kick over her head. This created balance issues four a second, preventing her from react to Lee, but beside her. And as Lee duck to her side, she saw Kristina in front of her.
Kristina also saw that Mikoto was literally five feet from behind Lee, as she stopped herself from using her gauntlets to fire her flames at Lee, from behind him.
As Mikoto still had one foot point upward in the air, Lee quickly his way around to the back of Mikoto, and he pushed her hard into Kristina.
Mikoto tumbled toward Kristina, falling on the brown hair girl, as both collapses to the floor, into a tangle heap.
Meanwhile, Lee turned back around, continued running away from the two teenage women. He soon turned the corner. As he did so, he thought, 'Given the time it will take for the two of them to apologize to each other, check each other for injuries, and get up, they are out of the game for at least twenty seconds. That is plenty of time for me to get away from them.'
Less than a minute later, while Lee was circling around some pipping connected to the tanks and ventilation, Nodoka had jumped down from a ventilation duck, to stand between Lee and his escape route.
As Lee quickly stopped, he looked at Nodoka and the pipes that ran along the ventilation ducks beside her.
Lee swiftly thought, 'Along with being a martial artist, Nodoka is an ice and water user. She will use her powers against me.' Lee quickly looked around, he then saw what he needed, as he continued his train of thought, ' Though, to get by her, I have to time this just right.'
Just as icy water globes formed around Nodoka's hands, and turned to ice, Lee threw eight cards at the water pipes beside her, to Lee's right side, and Nodoka's left side.
Some of them bounced off the pipes, but two cards hit, each on a different pipe, as water sprayed right in front of Nodoka.
When the unexpected water hit Nodoka's and combined with her ice powers, water suddenly turned to ice, as it hit her hands. With the water pouring more and more onto her, causing the ice to build up, and spread to her arms.
Nodoka was able to stop her ice powers from causing the water to encase her in ice. But, a good portion of her body was already weight her down. Except for her head, lower legs and feet, And she was using the rest of her concentration to keep the water pipes from spraying any more water onto her.
As Lee saw this all happen, he thought, 'I guess this level of concentration prevents her from using her abilities to turn the ice that encase most of her body into water. Still, it is best to be polite. So, as not to give her some so-called heroic resolve to bust through the ice, and capture.'
'Besides, I really want to know if she is okay. I just might have to end up surrendering, to save her life. That would suck for me. But, having her suffer would weight conscience, if I did nothing to help her.'
While Lee walked passed her, to her right side, opposite to the direction the water from the pipes sprayed on her. As he moved by her, he turned to her, as he asked, with concern in his tone of voice, “Are you going to okay?”
Nodoka looked at Lee, as she answered, “Yea. I will be fine. I will get myself out in a minute. Though, I no longer feel like capturing you. But, thanks for asking.”
Lee replied, “You're welcome.”
Nodoka commented, “By the way, we are not really that crazy about catching you, Lee. You helped create my sisters, and I. We think of you as an uncle. And you gave the Lagoon sisters a second shot at life. And a good life at that. We are just trying to please our parents.”
Lee calmly responded, “I understand. I am just trying to keep you off me, so I can escape. I will try not to permanently harm you.”
Nodoka replied, “Thanks. We are trying to do the same, in capturing. And good luck.”
Lee said, “You're welcome.”
Lee then turned, as he continued running turned towards his planned escape route.
Ten seconds later, as soon as Lee turned a corner, and was out of sight, Nodoka recognized Mikoto's voice, as she asked, “Need a hand?”
Nodoka turned her head in the direction of her sister's voice. She saw Mikoto and Kristina standing near her, from the direction that Lee had come from, and the opposite direction from which Lee had left her.
Suddenly, the water forming from the pipes that Lee has ruptured sealed themselves with ice. At the same time, the ice that encased her immediately turned to water, as it splashed to the roof floor, leaving Nodoka, and her clothing completely dry.
Kristina guessed, “You didn't want to catch him? Did you?
Nodoka smiled mischievously, as she answered, in a sweet, innocent tone of voice, “No. I didn't. But, like any good girl. I like to have a man work for what he wants to get from me.”
The three teenage girls giggled, for a few seconds, at Nodoka's joke.
(_)
Twenty seconds later, Lee came to the end of the pipes, along with the various gas tanks and water tanks.
Though, there were about a dozen rows of ventilation ducks between the open space between him and his escape.
The perpendicular to Lee's escape, so he would have to climb over each one of them. And the space between each ventilation duck was around six to eight feet wide.
As Lee made his way over the three feet high, cylindrical ventilation ducts, that run along the roof, and that were covered in steel sheathes, he thought, with concern, 'I better hope that Balalaika and B prefer to watch, or I am screwed.'
Just then, as he feet came down to the floor of the roof, he he saw Yurika coming towards him, from his right side, while from the corner of he eye, he saw Sarah, with her katana drawn, coming at him from angle, from his left side.
Lee thought, 'Timing is the key here.'
Lee quickly slipped over another line of ventilation, to angle himself to where he was between Sarah and Yurika, with him facing Yurika.
While his feet hit the ground, again, Lee guessed, from the corner of his eyes, 'Sarah is twenty feet away, behind me, to my left. And Yurika is within fifteen feet in front of me, to my right. Now, I have to do this, just right.'
By then, both women standing along the same row as he was.
Lee precognition warned him of the proper time to dodge Yurika's lightning bolt, by sidestepping to his right.
Sarah's katana acted as a lightning rod, as the lightning knocked her down, on her back, with her sword falling from her hands, and harmlessly away from her.
Yurika realized was she had done. She was completely distracted, as she yelled, “Sarah?!Are you okay?!”
While still on her back, Sarah replied, “Ouch.”
Lee used this distraction to rush at Yurika's left side. When he was at the proper angle to green haired teenage woman's body, he used his right fist to do a swift kidney jab to the left side of her abdomen with his right fist.
Yurika yelped, as she crumbled to the ground in pain.
Lee quickly said, “Sorry about that. I hope you don't piss blood because of that.”
Yurika groaned, “I've had worse.” She thought, 'I really shouldn't have use lightning against you. That is like firing a gun. Of course, you would immediately take me out in a more painful manner than most of those you have dealt with. As such, I will let this blow slide.'
Lee heard Yurika's comment, as he thought, 'Good. That takes these two out of the fight, for about a minute.'
Lee then turned around ran, but as he was about to cross over another row of ventilation ducks, he was stopped by bullet shot in front of him.
Lee quickly determined the angle and type of weapons used, as he swiftly turned around and threw eight cards at the top of water tank closest to him.
The cards forced Molly, with her semi-automatic pistols, to fall back further on top of the water tank, and away from Lee.
Lee then continued running and jumping over the vents, until Rebecca, with her long knives drawn, popped up near him. She was one row over from him, and about twenty-five feet from him, to his right. She jumped onto the gap between ventilation ducks, that Lee was standing in the middle of. And she was grinning wickedly at him.
Lee quickly started throwing cards at Rebecca, as he walked backwards towards the a large, metal, ventilation duck that ran across that section of the roof, and was cylinder in shape, with a diameter of three feet.
Meanwhile, Rebecca slowly advanced on Lee, as she used her knives to slice through all the cards thrown at her.
As Lee threw his cards, one after another, he continued walking backwards, at an angle close to the ventilation duck that was in the direction of where he wanted to go. All the while, he thought, 'Five feet to vent. Card thirty-seven. Card thirty-eight. Four feet to vent. Card thirty-nine. Card forty. Three feet to vent...”
Then, Lee saw Yukio popped up from beside her sister, from the row he had just come from, by about fifty feet further up from him and Rebecca. She had her large machine gun, with its hundred round beta-c mag ammo dual-ammo drums attached to it.
Lee quickly rolled over the ventilation duck to his left. He was under the cover, just Yukio fired over his head, with the machine gun set to full auto, as the bullet were shoot in a horizontal strafing pattern.
Meanwhile, Rebecca was not worried about her sister hitting her. But, to make things easier. She rolled over the large ventilation duct to her right side, to allow Yukio a better field of fire.
Just as the two redheaded sisters had planned it.
Lee waited not time, as he ducked behind the ventilation duck, and ran along it, in a crouching position, at an angle that would run closer to the two redheads, without them realizing it.
As he ran, he thought, 'These two plan this trap to ambush me. Yukio must have hid, and crawled to the position, while I made my way over through that gap. Then, Rebecca pops up nearby, to distract me, while Yukio makes her way to the two of us. Not a bad plan. And Nodoka is right. They want to pen me down, and not kill me. Or, Yukio would have shot through the ventilation duck I am hiding behind. That would be like shooting through tissue paper. And all three of use know that.'
'Fortunately, there are only two more ventilation ducks between me and straight open space. With the way she is shooting, that weapon will run out of ammo in a few seconds. I will make my move then. After that, it is a matter of how fast, and agile I can be, while using my precognition, as I am running.'
A few seconds later, Lee noticed the gun fire had stopped. And then, came the sound of Yukio's empty beta-c mag ammo drums hitting the floor of the roof.
While his precognition alerted him to act, Lee thought, 'Now is my only chance.'
A second later, Lee popped up from beside the ventilation duck, he saw that Rebecca had made his way up to her sister. With her standing near Yukio, as Yukio was pulling out another dual-ammo drum, from a large pouch, attached to a black ammo belt, on the left side of her skirt.
Lee also noticed that he was less than twenty feet from them. Given Yukio had adanced on him, during her cover-fire against him.
The two sisters saw Lee just in time to see him swiftly throw the last twelve playing cards at them.
This forced the sisters to duck for cover.
Lee then quickly turned, and ran, as he jumped over the last two ventilation ducks.
After which, Lee started making his way across open space, as swiftly as his feet could carry him.
Lee saw that his escape route was less than fifty feet away, on the southeast corner of the building. On the outer the east wall.
From the corner of his eye, to his left, he saw Revy, Rock, Akira, Ranma, and Natsuru across the roof, running towards him.
Though, Revy was the only one firing her weapons at him. And he also noticed that Rock was talking into her radio. But, given how focused Lee was on not being shot, and running, he completely ignored what was being said over the radio, strapped to the left side of his belt.
While Lee ran, he used his precognition to allow him to move while running, to dodge Revy's bullets.
Then, Lee noticed Rock say, over the radio, “Balalaika, B, do you have him?”
A second later, Lee's precognition warned him to move to avoid a couple of shots from three other directions, just as he overheard Balalaika answer, over the radio, “Yes. Have a tourniquet ready, because we are going for his legs.”
On the radio, Molly stated, “I will help. And I think I can see where he is going. He is heading for a garbage chute.”
Lee saw that he was approaching the garbage chute, as he thought, 'Looks like I will be dodging Revy, Molly, B, and Balalaika's sights. Only thirty feet to go. And while they know where I am heading, that will not stop me from getting there. This is one dance of death, I am walking away from in one, living piece.'
The women on the roof that the all watched as Lee started to use his precognition to move around, ducking, and sidestepping, while still going in the same direction, as he was careful not to step wrong, and sprain one of his ankles.
Lee heard on the radio, Rock say, “I am sure you are listening to this, Lee. So, I will say, nice moves. You really do know how to dance.”
While Lee continued to weave around the bullet trajectories, as his precognition warned him of the bullets, he thought, 'And you are trying distract me, Rock. And it is not going to work. Also, I am only ten feet away from the garbage chute. Time to pull out my fireworks.'
Lee pulled out two of the Firefly sci-fi style grenades from his pocket. One in each hand.
Lee thought, 'I am using two of them. In case one of them is a dud. And I am so happy that I paid attention to that scene in the Serenity movie, when Mal and Jayne. Also, given that are such a sci-fi design, I doubt the local security scanners will pick them up... If I get that far. And Jayne said these things are on eight second fuses. And all I have to do is twist the knobs at the top to prime them. Now, to test these theories.'
Just as Lee reached the three feet wide, circular entrance to the garbage chute, that went all the way down to the ground, he was able to prime them by rotating the tops of the grenades with his thumbs. He heard the click from both grenades, that signaled they are now primed to detonate.
Lee immediately dropped the grenades right in front of the entrance to the chute.
Lee then continued his momentum, as he ducked inside the chute. Just then, from behind him, Lee heard several of the women yell, “Grenades!”
The women on the roof, were still far away from Lee, as they all dove for cover.
Meanwhile, as Lee slid down the garbage chute, which he found just fit him, Lee used the soles of his shoes, along with his covered knees and cover elbows, to slow his decent down the chute.
As Lee made his controlled decent down the chute, he thought, 'I am glad those things were easier to twist than it looked like on the Serenity movie. But, then again, they are military weapons. They would be designed to be twisted by the thumbs, to allow someone's thumb to prime then, so their other hand can be be utilized for other things, like firing a weapon at the enemy... Still, those grenades are going to go off any second. I just hope I am not knocked by the explosions, to where I go into free fall.'
Eight seconds after priming the grenades, three seconds after Lee concluded his present thoughts, Lee was a quarter of the way down the chute, when he felt the dual explosions go off at the same time.
The explosions all but destroyed the top of the garbage chute.
Inside the chute, Lee found that he was able to continue to slide down, at a safe speed, as he thought, 'Good. It only rocked the chute slightest at this point, and I should be down at the bottom in a few seconds.
Less than a minute later, Lee made it safely to the bottom of the chute, dropping onto the ground, with him landing on his feet. He found that his landing did not harm his feet, nor knees.
Lee did not waste time looking up, instead he ducked against the walls of the building he had just escape from, to avoid gunfire from the women at the top of the roof, along with Balalaika and B.
Lee stayed against the wall of the building he had just escape from the roof of.
Lee quickly got his bearings, as he thought, 'Now, if I remember correctly, I just need to go east of here. I want avoid the main center building of the factory complex. I will take the road directly in front of me, to my left. That will keep a building between me and the main center, where I am sure someone of those after me are. When I reach the other side of that building, I run along, I will turn left, down another road. With the alleyway where my car is, being the next road down, to my right side.'
'And with most of the fools trapped on the roof. Or, several stories up. Or, deep inside one of the buildings. I got plenty of time to get to my car, and escape. But, I am not going to give them the chance to get to me. I am out of his place... Time... Reality... As soon as possible. I just need to remember, when I get to my car, to zigzag, to keep from being shot by Balalaika and B.'
'Until then, I will stick to the outside walls of the buildings. Everyone else is so high up to get a good shot at me. That is even if they can get me in their sights, this is still a difficult angle to hit me, from the roof, or other high areas.'
'Still, I wonder what they will saying?...'
Lee the focused on the radio. He heard over the radio, as B stated, “I cannot see him from where I am.”
On the radio, Balalaika commented, “I have the same problem. As expected, this was as well planned escape by Lee. And I know you are hearing this Lee. And we are still going to come after you.”
Rock said, over the radio, “Yea. Lee played us. He used himself as live bait, to get us up here, so he could trap us up here. Well played, Lee...”
Lee smirked, as he thought, 'Rock. Balalaika. You both are expecting me to stop, and gloat. That is not happening. Time is short, and I have places to be...'
Lee then turned off his radio, which was still clipped to the left side of this belt.
Next, Lee quickly made his way along the walls of the buildings, in the direction he plotted, towards where his car was.
(_)
One minute ago, at the top of the roof, that Lee has escaped from, just after the grenades went off, Revy and everyone got up from where then had hit the ground.
Rock looked around her, at the others women present, as she asked, “Everyone okay?”
A few of the women said, “Yea.”, “Sure”, “Whatever.”
Rock saw that not one was harmed, nor, laying on the ground. She thought, 'I guess everyone is fine. Now, to see if we can follow, Lee.'
The women, including Rock, looked over at the garbage chute, on the east side, of the southeast corner of the building. They saw that the chute at the top was destroyed and push outward.
Nearby Rock, Revy stated, with anger lacing her voice, “This was all a trap by Lee. He wanted to lure us up here. So, he could get back down to the ground, double back to his car, and escape. With no quick way for us to follow him down.”
Rock commented, “That is not bad thinking on his part. But, I believe Lee miscounted the people. Though, we will worry about that later. Let's first keep anyone else from doing something stupid, likely trying to follow Lee down, the quick way.”
Revy said, “I agree.”
Revy thought, 'I don't have to look down to the ground, to know how high we are. It is just simple math, given we are twenty-two stories up. Actually, probably closer to twenty-five. Counting how high that ceiling is, in that warehouse, and that we are on roof.'
Revy looked around her, as she said to everyone present, in a strong tone of voice, “I don't want anyone to even think of trying to jump. It is at least two hundred feet straight drop to the ground. It is too high a fall for even one of us to land safely.”
Natsuru looked over at Revy, as she commented, “I don't think even I could safely land at this height.” She turned to Ranma, as she asked, “What about you, Ranma?”
Ranma said, “I might. But, it is not worth the risk. Besides, I am sure we will get another shot at him.”
On the radio, Balalaika heard all of this, as she asked, “We saw what happened. Do any of you have any rappelling gear? We still might be able to catch him.”
Revy look at the others. They either shrugged, or shook their heads.
Rock answered, into her radio, “No.”
(_)
On her perch, on a nearby communications tower, Balalaika cursed under her breath, in english, “Amateurs...”
Since Balalaika could no long see Lee on the ground, she set her sniper rifle to the side, with her right hand. And she held her radio in her left hand, as she she pressed the talk button on her radio. She asked, into the radio, in english, “B, can you still see him on the ground?”
Over the radio, B answered, in english, “I cannot see him from where I am.”
On the radio, Balalaika commented, “I have the same problem. As expected, this was as well planned escape by Lee. And I know you are hearing this Lee. And we are still going to come after you.”
Rock said, over the radio, “Yea. Lee played us. He used himself as live bait, to get us up here, so he could trap us up here. Well played, Lee...”
After a few seconds of silence, Balalaika thought, 'Lee is not taking the bait.' She said into her radio, “B, Lee knows how to counter our shots. So, there is no point to staying up here. So, start making your way down. I will meet you, and the others, where we parked our vehicles.”
B replied, over her radio, “Yes, Balalaika. Though, the chase is not over yet.”
Balalaika responded, “I know. Lee can only keep up this chase for so long. And I am sure even he knows that.”
Balalaika then put away her radio, collected her weapons and equipment. She then used a nearby ladder to start slowly making her way down the communications tower, to the ground.
(_)
A few minute later, as Lee ran along the sides of the walls of the buildings, Lee finally came within sight of the alleyway had hid his car in.
While, Lee could not see his car in the narrow alleyway, from angle he was looking at the alleyway entrance. Though, Lee was sure the car was still in there.
Suddenly, he precognition immediately screamed to stop. As Lee stopped walking, he thought, 'If my precognition is telling me something is wrong, then there is a problem. I wonder what it is. If it is an ambush at the car, or the car enough, I need to know before I get there.'
Lee then pulled out the key chain to his car. As he held his right thumb over the lock button of the clicker. He thought, 'I left my door locked. So, if I have to click it more than twice to beep, someone is likely in it.
As Lee clicked the bottom the first time, he heard an explosion, near him, as he saw flames erupt from the alleyway.
Lee's eyes went wide. As he rushed over to the alleyway, he said, out loud, “No. No. No. No!”
A few seconds later, when he reached the alleyway, he saw his car.
The car's front was facing Lee. And Lee could see the damage from where he stood.
The front engine of the vehicle was in flames, but not the rest of the car.
The sunglasses over Lee's eyes, protected his eyes from the brightness of the flames, allowing him to see passed the flames to the rest of the car. He saw that cab was still in one piece, and not in flames.
Lee forced himself to calm down, as he though, 'Damn. Looks like they found my car. And whomever set that bomb was an expert. The way that bomb was planted, and set, was meant to only destroy the engine and not the cab. It was not set to kill me, but scary the hell out of me, in the hopes I would slow down... They still haven't realized that I always plan ahead.'
Lee turned, and he saw that the crowbar, by the building near him was still there. He then quickly located the sewer main entrance, nearby, on the road.
Lee briskly walked over and picked up the crowbar. Next, Lee turned, and walked over to the nearby manhole cover.
As Lee walked towards the manhole cover, he though, “Looks like it is time I go Shawshank on them. Honestly, the only good thing about that movie was the ending. One could just watch the first fifteen minutes of the film, and then fast-forward the last fifteen minutes of the film, before the credits, and the person would see almost all the important scenes of that movie. With the middle part of the movie being just padding to give the actors an excuse to act in a dramatic fashion.'
'Still, it was a good, well planned escape at the end of the movie. With the man in questions leaving the warden holding the bag. Not many prisoners in the multiverse can claim to not only escape prison, with a clean get away, new identity, and a small fortune, but also leave the warden holding the bag. And giving their best friend in the prison, just enough hints to follow him, when his friend got out of prison on parole. While keeping the authorities in the dark. A true moment of awesome for that escape prisoner.'
'Now, let's see if I can pull the same thing off on those after me. Not that the authorities have the firepower, and manpower to capture and hold those after me. But, the cops delaying them should buy me enough time to permanently escape them.'
When he reached the manhole over, he quickly used both his hands, to have the curved end of the crow bar to open the metal manhole cover. He then used the curved end of the crowbar as a fulcrum against the pavement ground, to pivot the manhole cover away from the sewer entrance.
After Lee finished moving the metal cover, he leaned back up, and turned back to the sewer entrance.
When he turned towards he hole, he saw Lotton had partly climbed out of the sewer main ladder. Along with this, Lee saw that she was looking at him. And Lee saw that in Lotton's right hand, Lotton was holding one of her two Mauser M seven-twelve Schnellfeuer automatic pistol, with select fire.
The pistol was set to single shot, with there being an extended twenty round ammo magazine in the weapon.
Lee noted that Lotton had her right index finger on the trigger, and his precognition was warning him that pistol was ready to fire.
Lee immediately dropped his crowbar to the ground. He thought, 'Damn! And I was so close to escaping. I can understand them finding the car. But, how did they guess my second escape plan?'
Lotton ordered, “Intelligent thinking with dropping the crowbar, Lee. Now, back away. And do not try anything, while I climb out of here.”
Lee walked back six feet, away from Lotton. When he came to a stop, he said, “Lotton, you have my word, that I won't do anything until you are out of that sewer.”
Lotton replied, “I believe you.”
As Lee watched the seemingly young white haired woman climbed out of the sewer main, he thought, 'Damn! It looks like am I am not going to be able to pull off my second escape plan. Fortunately, Lotton is one of the saner people after me. And while my current escape plans are a bust. All I got to do as Lotton tells me to do. Within reason. Until I see an opportunity to act. Or, wait for my other plans to happen on their own.'
As made it to the ground, she did not taken her eyes, nor gun off of Lee.
When Lotton stood up on the pavement, Lee got a good look at her. And he saw that she was wearing a female styled version of her same outfit she wore as a man, back in Roanapur. Complete with a black long coat, that fit her shorter physically frame, and sunglasses.
As Lotton continued to point her pistol at Lee, she used her left hand reach into her coat, and pull out her radio. She said into her radio, “This is Lotton. I have Lee. I will meet everyone at open area, by our vehicles, in fifteen minutes.”
Revy complimented, over the radio, “Good work, Lotton. You just made our day.”
On the radio, Rock stated, “We will see you there. Though, be careful.”
Lotton looked at Lee in the face, as she replied, over the radio, “Not to worry. I destroyed his car, and he knows that if he runs, I will shoot him.”
In response, Lee looked down at Lotton's face, as he just shrugged his shoulders, in indifference to his situation.
Rock responded, over the radio, “That is fine. We will all head down to where we parked our cars. See you then.”
Lotton then put away her radio, back into her coat. She lips curled into a smirk, as she continued to look towards Lee. She said, in an eager tone of voice, “Lee, you forgot, you magnificent bastard, that we read your stories.”
Lee replied, “Paraphrasing General George Smith Patton?”
Lotton responded, “Yes.”
Lee shrugged, as he commented, “I guess that would make me, Field Marshal Erwin Johannes Eugen Rommel, of the German military.”
Lotton said, “Do not feel bad about the comparison. If you read history, you would know that Rommel was one of the few decent German high ranking commanders of World War Two.”
Lee agreed, “That is true. By the way, good bomb placement, with the shaped charge, on the car. It blew up the front engine, while leaving the cabin itself untouched. If I had been inside the car, that might have startled me. But, I would have otherwise been unharmed. Though instead, I used my car clicker at a distance.”
Lotton happily stated, “Thank you. And I added the clicker sensor to my explosive, because I preferred you not be near the car when it exploded. Just in case my bomb accidentally blew up the entire car. I wanted to scare you. Not kill you. And I do appreciate it when someone admires my skills.”
Lee commented, “Then, you're welcome. Though, I never wrote you as having skills in explosives?”
Lotton responded, “I know. Neither did Tex-Mex. But, both of you realize that I like to be prepared. I have have known how to use explosives even before I first came to Roanapur. I just rarely get a chance to use such skills.”
Lee commented, “It is hard to plan against the unknown.”
Lotton said, “Exactly. And my explosive skills were part of the reason I was sitting at a table with Claude at the table, when we were both first introduced in the Black Lagoon series. We met each other in the bus that came to Roanapur, from the mainland airports.”
“And given we were both foreigner. We sat together. And we began talking. It turned out we were both heading to Roanapur for the same reasons. Jobs of a less than reputable nature.”
Lee let himself smile, as he chuckled at Lotton comment.
Lotton returned Lee's smile, as she responded, “I thought you would get a laugh out of that. Anyway, we also learned from each other, that we were both heading for the Yellowflag, which was well known around the world, as one of the saner places for those working for criminal work in the city. We with both got to the bar, we found out we were the only two people in the bar that were not drinking an alcoholic beverage.”
Lee pointed out, “It was a bar, after all.”
Lotton agreed, “True. With Bao only had milk for those whom did not want an alcoholic drink, or a canned soda. Strangely, he did not have bottle water, on hand, his customers, at the time. But, he did eventually offer that, as well”
Lee commented, “After Roberta first came to that town. I would not be surprised if Bao personally milked the cow for the milk he served.”
Lotton let out a laugh. She then said, “After seeing the series myself. I have to agree. I would not be surprised if that was the case. Anyway, Claude and I found an empty table, and we started talking.”
“Besides preferring not drinking alcohol, we both we agreed that staying sober would help us get a job. And while he was a pyromaniac, I was an explosives expert. Which made for an interesting conversation.”
Lee mentioned, “I would agree. And you know. I do not recall watching, or reading, about such a casual, pleasant conversation, between a pyromaniac and an explosives expert.
Lotton stated, “Yes. Such conversations tend to be surprisingly rare in fiction. We were in the middle of talking about structure demolition of a building. With Claude talking about his flame thrower, and I was talking about my explosives skills. When Sawyer pointed us out, as new guys, to the rest of the crowd.”
“And well, you know the rest... Still, the reason I did not use explosives, and I preferred pistols, was that I knew that, if used in a fight, that fire and explosives both have a way of blowing back on the person using them. As Claude sadly found out the hard way.”
“Though, before that, we both were clearly becoming fast friends. And I am happy you brought Claude back to life. And while Kristina and I are no longer close friends. We are still friends.”
Lee inquired, “I am happy to hear that. And speaking of my stories. By the way. I was wondering. Which part of my stories are you referring to, that gave my plan away?
Lotton smirked, as she stated, “Book three. When Bob rescues Ed. You had Bob's plan C for his group being running from the car, losing Rock, Akira, Ranma, and Natsuru, and then doubling back to their car, and escaping.”
Lee frowned, as he responded, “Of course. I remember now. And it was a good plan.”
Lotton agreed, “Yes. It was. And it worked that time against, Rock. Yet. You should have known better than try the same trick twice with Rock. That is why she had me find your car, deal with your car, and stay down here, in case you did double backed. Which you did.”
Lee defended, “I had too. I had no other options left.”
Lotton said, “I can understand that.”
Lee commented, “Okay. I can see how you would guess my first escape plan. But, how did you guess my secondary escape plan?”
Lotton stated, “Simple. In your position, this would be the same plan B that I would use. And even if I was wrong. It was a good hiding place. I could just listen for the car to explode. If I had not also heard you walking towards me, with my enhanced hearing, I was about to let myself out of here to go and capture you. Thanks to the enhanced strength you gave me, that metal covering is not that heavy. And I just closed the manhole cover behind me.”
“Still, these were intelligent plans on your part. It is just that you were outsmarted.”
Lee replied, “Apparently so.” Lee then sniffed his nose towards Lotton, as he questioned, “You know. For you being in a sewer for a while, you, and that sewer you came out of, don't smell that bad?”
Lotton answered, “I know. As I just pointed out. Enhanced senses. Including enhanced sense of smell. Which is not as bad as you may think. Still, I found out that is not a sewer main. It is an electrical maintenance tunnel, with cables and pipes running down it. It is fairly large, rectangular tunnel down there. At least seven feet high, and nine feet wide. Also, it is fairly clean, and well lit.”
Lee replied, “That is nice to know.”
Lotton said, “Yes. It is.” She then dropped her grin, as she ordered, “Now, down to business. Please, give me your deck of cards.”
Lee slowly pulled out a deck and handed it to her, in her left hand. She did not take her eyes off of Lee, as she pocket the item into one of her coat pockets.
She demanded, “And your other deck.”
Lee did so. And Lotton continued to look at Lee, as she pocketed that item, into her coat.
She asked for, “And your third deck.”
Lee complied. Lotton put that item in her coat pocket.
She said, “Now, the key card.”
Lee pulled out his key card and handed it to her. She put that item into an interior coat pocket.
She requested, “Jayne's radio.”
Lee removed it from the left side of his belt, and handed it to Lotton.
Lotton put the small radio into a coat pocket. She then stated, “And your reality jumping device. Along, with any grenades you have.”
Lee lied, “I left it at my reality device at hotel room. And I only had those two grenades. I don't like having any other explosives on me.”
Lotton admitted, “That is possible.”
Lee warned, “But, if you want to try to search me, even with your enhancements, and that pistol pointed at me, I might be able to take you in a fight, and escape.”
Lotton admitted, “That is possible. Shenhua, Akira, Natsuru, and River, did train you in combat, for years in that time loop. And Sawyer trained you in dancing. Still, if you do use Rock's reality device, we can just track you to your location within minutes.”
Lee thought, 'Thanks for the reminder. Also, this might be a good chance to learn some more about how they track reality travel.' He baited, “Well, why didn't you do that before?”
Lotton cracked a grin, as she responded, “Trying to get information out of me about reality travel?”
Lee pointed out, “I wrote the stories. Among anyone, I deserve to know the details.”
Lotton conceded, “True. And well, the only reason we didn't do this sooner is that with each passing minute after a jump usually takes a few minutes more to get a lock. But, we didn't immediately have tracking scanner with us, right after you jumped. So, it took us a few minutes to find you. By then, we realized that you were heading to Mars. And it we decided that it would be easier to either confirm you were on a transport to Mars. And then catch you on Mars, than to risk creating a mess in Babylon Five, in the middle of an organized evacuation. Or, to risk confronting you, in a spaceship, in hyperspace.”
Lee responded, “Good calls all around. And it is nice to know the basics of how reality tracking works. I never really got into the details of it. I found leaving some things to the readers' imaginations was for the best.”
Lotton raised an eyebrow, as she inquired, “Like the sex scenes.”
Lee stated, “Especially the sex scenes. Do you really want some stranger to tell you how to have sex with someone.”
Lotton said, “Good point. By the way, why did you make me so short as a woman? While I am not as short as Sawyer, I am close to her height.”
Lee admitted, “I believe beauty comes in many forms. And I did not want to give all the gender benders the same physical build. It would be poor writing to do so. So, I change it up a little bit between you various gender benders.”
Lotton replied, “Okay. I can see your point. And my body is still kind of sexy, in a cute way.”
Lee agreed, “Absolutely. And while I did not write it directly. If you followed the same rules as the others. You should still turn into a healthy male version, in your twenties, of your old male form, when you use a packet of spring of drown man?”
Lotton commented, “Yes. I do.”
Lee responded, “That is good to know. Besides, your physical build, as a woman, is similar to Benny's body type as a woman. While you still have a slight better build, and slightly bigger breasts. And you can blame Benny's female body type on Tex-Mex.” He mentally reflected, 'Though, I used Benny's pregnancy to up Benny's breast size by a cup.'
Lotton commented, “Yes. We both know I laughed ass off the first time I saw the Boys and Girls omake.”
Lee said, “While I did not write the scene of you and Chang original seeing the Black Lagoon series and omakes, I always did wonder how that played out.”
Lotton giggled at little. She then stated, “Well, since you would appreciate the answer, I will tell you. After I joined Chang's group, he realized my savviness was of the same vein as his. I was the one he sent to look for the Black Lagoon anime and manga series, in the multiverse. I brought back multiple copies of both the anime and manga, along with english dub versions of the Black Lagoon omake.”
“By the way, the english dub of those omakes I have copies of are of the same dub cast that did the north american version of the Black Lagoon english dub.”
Lee commented, “While I hinted at that. That is nice to have confirmed. That cast did not do the omakes in my reality.”
Lotton agreed, “Yes. It is. Should you survive, you may get the chance to watch them.”
Lee replied, “I will look forward to it.”
Lotton stated, “Good. Anyway, we took our time with watching the anime. And we read the manga, right after we finished the anime. After watching anime version of the Roberta's Blood Trail. Then, we watched the omakes. Then, we read the manga volumes. We compared what happened in our reality, to both the anime and manga endings, and we realized that we were in the anime time line.”
Lee said, “I know. And as idiotic as it sounds, even with her after my ass, I still do not regret giving Roberta the super-soldier serum, and upgrades that make her a cyborg.”
Lotton commented, “I fully understand. You found a way to make that walking badass killing machine even more awesome. And from a purely entertainment standpoint, which was what you were doing at the time, I would have done that myself.”
Lee replied, “I am glad you see my point of view.”
Lotton responded, “No problem. Anyway, Chang and I watched the anime in a manner, in which we would watch a few episodes of the Black Lagoon series, with just the two of us, in his private study, as we had some beers. On the night we finished the Blood Trail, we decided we did not want to end the night on such a sour note. So, we decided to start watching the omakes. Which we planed to watch after the series proper, in case we needed a good laugh after watching something depressing. And we did need a good laugh after watching the ending of the Blood Trail.”
“By then, we were both buzzed from drinking beers. But, not really drunk. Just relaxed.”
Lee inquired, “How far into the omakes, before you were laughing to the point of tears?”
Lotton genuinely smile, as she answered, in a jovial tone of voice, “We were both crying from laughter by the end of the second omake, with Magical Girl Revy. By the time we got to the Boys and Girls omake, we had problems seeing straight, from the laughter, and tears. By the time we finished watching all the omakes. The combination of alcohol, and laughter left us without the ability to even stand up straight for about an hour.”
Even thought Lee still had a gun pointed at his chest, Lee remained calm, as he replied, in a relaxed tone of voice, “Yea. It is fun when you get to the point of laughter, you are laughing so hard, you can barely stand, breath, and with tears running down you face. I have head that happen a few time while watching other series. Such as the Megas XLR series.”
Lotton agreed, “Yea. I have seen the series, as well. At some points, I was not only crying from the laughter, but, that that series was so funny, that I had some mild problems with just breathing.”
Lotton then dropped her smile, again, as she used her left, free hand to point in a direction away from the buildings they were by, and towards the road that lead to the main center building. She ordered, in sober tone of voice, “Though, as fun as this discussion has been. We now have to meet the others. I want you to have your hands up, parallel with you head, and for you to start slowly walking in that direction.” She then dropped her left hand back to her side.
Lee calmly replied, “Yes ma'am.” He then did as she instructed.
With Lee's hands raised, to where his hands were level with his head, Lotton stated, “Now, start moving, at a conformable. Though, keep in mine, you have a longer stride them me.”
Lee said, “I will do so.” He then turned in the direction Lotton had pointed, and he stated calmly walking as a pace that he was sure Lotton would be comfortable with.
They then began walking at a calm pace, for both of them, with Lee in front of Lotton. And Lotton with one of her pistols trained on Lee's back. With Lotton remained no less than six feet from Lee. So, Lee could not try something against Lotton.
As they walked, Lee calmly requested, “Since we still have a little while, until we reach you friends, and my torture sessions begin. I have a few questions for you. But, given you are pointing a gun at me. I do not want you to misinterpret my questions as insulting.”
Lotton thought, 'He has a point.' She removed her right index finger off the trigger, and place it on the trigger guard. Though, she did keep her pistol trained on the middle of Lee's back.
While they continued walking, she questioned, “What do you want to ask? I promise, I will not find it insulting.”
Lee pointed out, “Alright... While I try not to look at such things, back at the Devil's Hotel. I notice that you're breasts look bigger than they usually do?”
Lotton let out a laugh. She responded, “Thank you. And the reason my breasts look bigger is that I am wearing a titanium breast plate fitted for my chest, in place of my bra. A solid punch in the breast can take a woman out of a fight. Though, the inside of the plate has cushions, so my skin, including my breasts, are not touching hard metal.”
Lee commented, “I bet that cost a pretty penny.”
Lotton admitted, “It did. It is fortunate that I had some gold, and other treasures, hidden away, that Shenhua and Sawyer finally let me use. And it was worth the price. But, that was nothing compared to the price of the titanium chain mail I had made for myself.”
“I wear a t-shirt over the breast plate, then the chain-mail, then my outer shirt. It works quite well, and it is fair more comfortable, and flexible, than a bulletproof vest. Though, it is a little heavy. But, with the super-soldier serum, the weight of my clothing is not that big an issue for myself.”
Lee guessed, “Given your level of crazy preparedness. I take it that you are still wearing steel athletic cup? Only, this time, it is a female athletic cup.”
Lotton answered, “Yes. I am wearing a titanium female athletic cup. Given Roberta dented my old steel cup, as a man, I decided when I had the money, I would trade up in quality on that little piece of equipment. Though, I had to have the metal formed to fit to myself. You might find this surprising, but female crotches differ in sizes.”
Lee said, “Not really. No one has the same body measurements. And for such a sensitive area, a person would want full coverage of the area. Though, given how violent some of the women in your group are, I am surprised they they don't wear athletic cups, and breast protection, as well.”
Lotton stated, “Yes. I agree. Getting hit in the breasts hurts as a woman. And getting hit in the crouch as a woman still hurts. The only difference is the soreness doesn't last nearly as long as it does as a man. In your writings, you pointed out that a woman can get hurt down there with a single blow. I admire that level of detail.”
Lee replied, “Thank you.”
Lotton inquired, “You're welcome. By the way, about your alias, Ello Gray. Where did that come from?”
Lee answered, “Well, that is Gray, with an, a. It is an anagram of the word, allegory. As in, symbolism.”
Lotton replied, “Ah. Not bad. I believe you did something similar with Scorpius' name at the end of book three? And the beginning of book four?”
Lee stated, “Yes. I did. Professor Cosupsir, with Cosupsir being anagram for Scorpius. I think I did pretty good with my alias, and Scorpius' alias.”
Lee then smirked, as he thought, 'Oh hell. I might as well tell her. She would appreciate it. And she would likely get a laugh out of me telling her.'
Lee continued, “I know Scorpius was happy with what I did for her.”
Lotton deadpanned, “And how would you know that?”
Lee said, “As you know, Scorpius as a woman, has a very sexy body.”
Lotton shrugged, as she responded, “Yes. You do good work... For the most part. And as you said, you had your reasons for giving me a smaller female body, when compared to my male form.”
Lee responded, “Yes. Anyway, to answer your question. Did you hear about that day Violin brought Scorpius to the Rats Nest, with River, Chang, Molly, Rock, and I? With all of us playing poker?”
Lotton hesitantly said, “Yes... Please, don't tell me this is going, where I think this is going?”
Lee complimented, “You always were sharper than most people gave you credit for... Well, I gave you credit for your savviness. Anyway, after the game, and the others, besides River, and the bartender, left, I went to the men's restroom. Scorpius ambushed me in there. And well... It was going to happen whether I wanted it to happen, or not. So, I just went with it. She then left.”
Lotton asked, “How good was it?”
Lee admitted, “The sex was wonderful. And I did use a condom.”
Lotton complimented, “That was smart thinking on your part.”
Lee requested, “I know. And could you please keep this to yourself.”
Lotton shrugged, as said, “Of course. I am not a gossip. Besides, you are in too deep as is. Mentioning that, at this point of the game, would just be plain mean, and unsportsmanlike.”
Lee replied, “Thank you.”
Lotton responded, “No problem. So, are you really an H.P. Lovecraft fan?”
Lee answered, “Yes. And I am very happy that I did not use any of his material, in my stories. And I think it is best we don't talk about this author and his works, ever again.”
Lotton said, “Given our general situation. I agree with you on all points.”
Lee replied, “Glad to hear it.”
Lotton commented, “Now, as you realize, I have an eye for the details, as well. And while I have no told the others, I have noticed that you have become a real life lethal weapon. You are as dangerous as the rest of us. And I believe you already know that.”
Lee flatly said, “No comment.”
Lotton smirked, as she went onto say, “Sure... You gave a real strong showing, just now, in this chase, and in these factory buildings. I mean it is clear that even with you at a disadvantage, you have the abilities to seriously harm, or even kill us. Yet, you refuse to do so. Why?”
As they continued walking, Lotton could see, from Lee's back at Lee shrugged his right shoulder.
Lee then admitted, in a straightforward tone of voice, “I like you, guys. Girls. Whatever. And I admit I do deserve an ass kicking for what I have done to all of you. Still, I would like to have an ass, afterward. And none of you are known for showing restraint.”
Lotton said, “I can appreciate where you are coming from. And I am starting to see why River likes you so much.”
Lee responded, “Thank you. Though, I doubt you are going to let me go.”
Lotton answered, “No. And the reason why, is that I am sure that if I did, they would hurt me. Though, they would not hurt me much. They would likely rough me up a little, if I did so.”
Lee casually said, “Oh well. It was worth a try... Speaking of those movies. Except for movie four, Lethal Weapon was pretty good movie series.”
Lotton replied, “No argument there.”
Lee explained, “I mean, even movie three was pretty good. Not as good as one and two, but still good. It had the humor, the action, and a decent villain. It was even had humorous bookends, with the building explosions. The problem was that the romantic subplot just did not click like it should have. Still, that guy did deserve a break. And the girl wasn't that bad of a character. And I do admire women that come prepared, as long as they are sane. Double vest, anyone?”
Lotton giggled. She then replied, “Yes. I like women that are prepared. And now, I am one of them. Still, sanity is overrated. Crazy women are very fun, and very unpredictable in bed. And I have two of them that I enjoy a bed with. Still, movie four did suck.”
Lee responded, “I know. You don't include a heavily pregnant woman in the main cast of an action series, or movie, while pregnant, unless she is a badass, and she demonstrates that she still a badass while pregnant. And I have only seen one pregnant badass work like that, once in such a format. That was Aeryn, in the last half of the Farscape, Peacekeeper Wars, mini-series. And no one should ever give a pregnant woman, particularly one who is going through labor, a firearm. Especially, a firearm with an automatic selector function, and hundreds of ammo before needing to be reloaded.”
Lotton giggled again. She then stated, “I fully agree. And after spending some time with Aeryn, I can confirm that shooting really does make her feel better.”
Both of them laughed, for a few seconds.
As they calmed down, Lotton asked, “So, why did you not include Aeryn as part of the main cast in your stories?”
Lee answered, “Well, besides raising Aeryn and John's son, Little D. Both parents should not leave a young child alone. One parent leaving for a time, is fine. Story-wise. But, not both. And the only other reason I did not include Aeryn as part of the main cast for the heroes is that she is so much of a badass, that the story would have ended too quickly. With the heroes winning.”
Lotton offered, “I will be sure to tell Aeryn you said that about her. For that compliment, you might get out of her revenge against you.”
Lee said, “Thanks, Lotton.” He thought, 'I sure hope so.'
A few seconds later, they came to a four way intersession in the road.
Lotton, whom walked behind Lee, said, “I want you to take a left turn here. The next building, we will take a right turn. Then, a left turn. After which, it is a straight line to the clearing we are heading for.”
Lee replied, “Okay. I just hope they don't shoot me on sight.”
As the turned to the right, Lotton stated, “Don't worry. Revy stated whoever captures you, will have first crack at you. And I don't intend to shoot you.”
Lee conceded, “That puts me a little at ease. But, what do you intent to do to me?”
Lotton admitted, “I am not sure, myself. Though, it won't be too bad. Sawyer likes you, and I respect you. But, by taking my time to think, it will likely keep the others from doing something rash towards you.”
Lee complimented, “Intelligent thinking, Lotton.” He mentally reflected, 'Good. Then, this situation will offer me options.'
Lotton commented, “Thank you, Lee. And I have to hand it to you. You had not only come up with a plan A of escape, but a plan B as well. That makes me wonder if those are your only plans?”
Lee could not help himself. As he responded, “Actually, Lotton, I have plans within plans, within plans. If you are wondering. I am on plan G. Plans D through F required one, or both of the maids being here. D required Roberta just being here. E required both maids being here. F required just Fabiola being here. I think plan H is going to be interesting. But, I am not sure how.”
“Still, I hope you are not too sore about me turning you into woman, brainwashing you, and making you a maid servant to Shenhua and Sawyer.”
Lotton thought, 'Nice way of being vague, and then deflecting, by changing the subject. You give me all the information I already likely knew, without tipping your hand to your future plans. And that is exactly what I have come to expect from you, Lee. But, given you are being polite. I will bite.'
Lotton stated, “It is not that bad. The sex has been good, and they treat me better than when I was a man. We have even talked about having kids.”
Lee said, in a sincere tone of voice, “Good luck with that.”
Lotton replied, “Thank you.”
Lee said, “I am glad you are not sore about. Besides, Annie also seems to not be that sore about what I did to her.”
Lotton asked, with curiosity, “Really? She knew who you were?”
Lee answered, “Yes. She figured it out on her own.”
Lotton said, “I am not surprised. Though, I know better than calling her out on not telling the rest of us. Especially, me being up there with Chang, on her shit list.”
Lee stated, “Considering she is now working for Chang, I think you are okay, as long as you don't annoy her.”
Lotton commented, “You are probably right.”
Lee said, “Anyway, I guess being out of that suit and restoring her body back to health made her much happier with her situation. She seems to be the one of the few people, including you, that realizes I was not being completely evil in my writings.”
“She even told me she realized that there was a bit of give and take on her situation. And I am really happy about acknowledging that fact. And I am also happy that she turned out with such a nice personality. Still, Annie is second on the list of people of the multiverse I would never intentionally piss off, next to the Bloodhound.”
Lotton replied, “I completely agree. And do you want to know a secret?”
Lee stated, “Sure.”
Lotton commented, “I broke my programing several years ago, on my own. I help designed the process, in the first place. Being a maid just gives me an excuse to be around Sawyer and Shenhua. I have fallen in love with both of them, and I would be more than happy to continue aiding them in anyway I can.”
Lee suggested, “Well since you plan to keep my secrets. I will keep yours. Though, you really should tell them the truth.”
Lotton said, “I plan too. After all three of us are pregnant with our first batch of kids. That instant spring of drowned man packets made our love life much more fun. I will explain to them that my programing degraded, and I just want to be with them.”
Lee admitted, “That will likely work. And good luck. So, what now? After you lead me to the others.”
Lotton replied, “While I get first crack at you. And what I plan to do to you won't be to bad. I am not sure what will happen after that. Still, you have been a good sport about this. You are not been begging. Nor, pleading for mercy. I respect that. So, good luck to you.”
Lee stated, “Thank you. And I have no intention of running. Since everyone is heading to the ground level, I don't know where everyone is, and if I ran. If you were not able to shoot me. I would likely get shot by someone else. This way, at least when we reach the group, I will know where everyone is at, and I can plan accordingly.”
As Lee said the next part of his comment, Lotton guessed what Lee was going to say. With both of them saying, in unison, “Proper planning and preparation.”
Both of them laughed at their comment.
Lee then asked, “Do you mind if I whistle a tune?”
Lotton replied, “Go ahead.
Lee then started whistling a tone, on key, that Lotton recognized. And given the situation, she found the tone to be amusing.
(_)
Ten minutes later, they reached an open space, with buildings on all sides. The area was completely pave, with roads leading between the buildings, from the open area.
Lee still had his hands up, to his sides, at the same level of his head. With Lotton behind him, while she pointed one of her pistols on him.
And Lee was still whistling his tone.
As Lee did so, he look around. He saw the people gathered on that side of the open space, about a hundred feet from Lotton and himself. With Lotton and himself, approaching them. He also saw, in the distance, on the other side of the open space, was where the women and men had parked their vehicles.
Lee could also tell that the saw him and Lotton.
Lee saw that the group was in a semi-circle, with the peoples backs to the open field, and their vehicles, in the distance.
Lotton order, “Head to just in front of the center of the semi-circle.”
Lee remained silent, but her heard the white haired woman.
As they continued walking, Lee looked at the buildings, he saw there were ground level concrete decks, and warehouse doors by a few of the buildings. He thought, 'Some items this factory makes are likely shipped by trucks, here. Also, there is not a lot of cover in this area. Which means, I cannot just bolt, and try to run for it.'
'And their vehicles are too far away, and between these people, and me, for me to try to use them for cover. Or, even steal one of them. If I even could. Hot-wiring a car takes time, and I don't have a key to any of them.'
'Also, given the number of them at are armed, if I reach for my reality device in my coat, a few of them will likely shoot me. Possibly fatally.'
'Still, I believe they are all here. And I can not account for all of them. Meaning, that if I am able to pull something. There are not wildcards, waiting in the wings.'
(_)
Meanwhile, along the group of people, what watched Lee and Lotton approach them. Violin recognized the tone, as she stated, “I cannot believe Lee is literally whistling Dixie. I got to hand it to him. He has guts.”
(_)
When Lee overheard Violin, in distance. He thought, 'Time for my game face. And I think it is best to remain silent, and not do anything else to provoke them. I am now playing a delicate waiting game.'
Lee stopped whistling, put on his poker face, and remained silent.
Lee soon approached the large group after him, whom were standing a semi-circle, which Lotton was leading him towards the center of, and the adults stood about twenty feet from him, with Lee being in the center of the semi-circle.
Lee remained silent, as he reached the center of the semi-circle. It was then that Lotton ordered, “Stop.”
Lee did so, as he turned to face the group of people.
Meanwhile, Lotton then walked around, to stand beside Sawyer and Shenhua. As she did so, she pointed her pistol away from everyone. She then used her hands to removed the ammo magazine, remove the bullet from the chamber, dry fire the pistol, into the ground, do decock it. She placed the spare bullet into the extender magazine, giving the magazine twenty rounds. She placed the magizine back into her semi-automatic pistol. And she then holstered her pistol, back in right side holster, on her belt, under her coat.
Lee silently watched all this, as he face the group, with a calm, neutral expression on his face.
Lee also look around at the people in front of him. Though, he did not move his head. Instead, he used his eyes, with his shades hiding his eye movements, to look around, as he visually read the people in front of him.
As far as the others were concerned, Lee was just staring directly in front of them.
In front of himself, Lee has accounted for everyone that had chased him into the factory complex was there, with most of them still having their weapons in hand. But, none of them were pointing their weapons at him, nor each other.”
Lee thought, 'Let's see who is here. Besides Lotton. All ten members of the Lagoon family. The Bebop Crew, Shenhua, Sawyer, and Eda. Six members of the Serenity crew are here. Including Jayne, whom is now back to being a man. Aeryn, Violin, Balalaika, and B are here. I also see Ranma, Akira, Natsuru, and their three daughters. Now, what is their general mood?'
Though his sunglasses, Lee looked, in more detail, at the faces of those staring back at him.
Given the light from the outside building lights, Lee could still see clearly with his sunglasses on.
Lee could see the look of excitement on the faces of most of the adults facing him. He saw that Ranma, Akira, and Natsuru has expressions of indifference towards Lee. With Lee seeing looks of pity from the eyes of Eda and Sawyer.
The three trio sisters, and the Lagoon sisters had mixed reactions on their faces, from pity, to sadness.
Lee thought, with concern, 'Well, I am now neck deep in it. And it clear from the looks on their faces, that talking will not get any of the people here to help me. I think the best I can expect from Eda, Sawyer, Akira, Natsuru, Ranma, and the eight teenage adults, is that they won't participate in my torture.'
'And while I have a grenade. It would be useless to bluff my way out of here with just one grenade. Some of them, like Mal, and Spike, would gladly shoot and kill me at the smallest hint of a threat to them, and their friends.'
'Besides which. I cannot out run them. And with Lotton here, that makes thirty-three badasses right in front of me. Most of whom want to torture me. My only hope is to remain quiet, and try escape in the confusion. While they likely try to fight over me like a piece of meat, to a pack of starving wolves. While Lotton said that she had first dibs. These people are not know for restraint. This could turn into a fight real easily.'
'Though, if I try to start a fight. Given how sharp the people are here, it will likely backfire on me.'
'And I feel this is truly my best chance. Because my plan H is looking dimmer by the second.'
'Still, I can use my reality device, if things get too tricky. But, I will have to create a distraction to do so. My grenade can do it, but not in such an open environment. I did not want to seriously harm, nor kill them. But, I am sure, if I am patient, the opportunity will arise for me to use my grenade.'
'Also, I know that there are a few places in the multiverse they will not immediately follow me to, because they are not as crazy and desperate as I am.'
'Now, to listen to some of them gloat, while I figure out my next move. Their gloating will buy me a few minutes. And I need every second I can get.'
Near the center of the group, in front of him, Lee saw Revy and Rock standing in front. Revy to Lee's left, and Rock to his right.
Revy smirked, as she stated, in a smug, arrogant tone of voice, “Well. Well. Well. We finally got you, Lee.”
Lee faced Revy. Though, he chose to remain silent, as he stood in place, with his hands up.
Revy turned to Lotton, as she congratulated her, “Good work, Lotton. As promised, you will have first dibs on Lee.”
Lotton turned to Revy, as she responded, “Thank you.” She then looked at Lee, Lee could see from her facial expression that her heart was no in her words, as she continued, “And I assure you. I don't have much planned for Lee. I will leave plenty for the rest of you.”
Revy turned to Lee, as her smirk turned into feral grin. She stated, “I am sure you will.”
Jayne spoke up, “Where is, Vera, Lee?”
Lee flatly answered, “Twenty-second story of the building I just came out of. In the hallway leading to the northeast stairwell. You can probably see it when you are standing at the stairwell entrance. It is in the hallway facing the door to the stairwell. Though, the weapon had an unfortunate accident.”
Janet shift uncomfortably.
Jayne questioned, “What accident?”
Lee answered, “Let's just say the barrel needs replacing.”
Jayne warned, “That better be all.”
Lee answered, “It is.”
Mal stated, “Jayne, you can go get, Vera, after this conversation is over.”
Jayne continued looking at Lee, as he commented, “Alright, captain.”
Revy ordered, “Lee, I don't want you to get any ideas of escape. I want you on your knees, with you hands staying up, where they are at.”
Lee remained calm, and silent, as he did was instructed to do. He bend down, to where he was sitting on the group, with his legs tucked under him, while he kept his hands up, and level with his head.
Revy walked towards him, until she was less than three feet in front of him.
Lee calmly looked up at her face, through his sunglasses, as she looked down at him, with a scowl on her face.
Revy hissed, “What? No insults? No witty comebacks?”
Lee remained silent.
As Revy used her right foot to kick Lee in his lower stomach, she demanded, in a barking tone of voice, “Say something, Lee.”
As the blow to his stomach made him grunt, he expelled air from his lungs, but he forced himself not to falter. And so, he remained in his position, while showing no other sides of distress, as he continued to calmly look up at Revy.
Revy immediately used her right hand to pulled out her semi-automatic pistol, under her left armpit.
She then pointed the end of her barrel between Lee's eyes, with less than an inch from Lee's forehead.
Lee could see Revy had her right trigger finger on the trigger of her pistol.
Revy ordered, in a loud, angry tone of voice, “Talk, Lee! Or, else!”
Lee showed not hints of worry on his face, as he looked up at Revy's face. He calmly said, “If you put a bullet between my eyes, I will die quick, and happy. And you will have to deal with your very upset friends, whom are right behind you.”
Revy immediately raised her gun into the air, with her firing a few rounds of ammo upward, from the barrel of her pistol, as she yelled, “Damn! Damn! Damn! Why do you have to make so much sense, Lee?!”
Lee could see a few snickers in the crowd behind in front of him, and behind Revy, as Revy had her tantrum.
Revy then suddenly stopped firing. She turned to Lee, as she smirked. She said, “Still, that does not mean we cannot maim you.”
Lee showed no outward expression, as he grimly thought, 'Given the placement of my hands, if she does bring her weapon around to shoot me, I can pull her weapon from her with my left hand, while grabbing her right wrist, yanking her down on top of me. Then, it becomes a wrestling match, that I am not sure I can win.'
'And while we do that, the others won't shoot at me, because of the chance of hitting Revy.'
'Though, no matter which one of us wins, afterward, things are going to get very ugly for me. Still, I will not let her shoot me for her own amusement, without a fight.'
Then, just as Revy was bringing her pistol back towards Lee, and Lee was getting ready to fight Revy, while Revy pistols was pointed away from everyone, Lee saw a glint of metal pass between the two of them, from Lee's upper right, that knocked Revy's pistol away from them, to Lee's left.
Fortunately, the gun did not misfire, as it was jerked from Revy's fingers, and landed onto the paved ground.
Everyone immediately looked at the pistol laying on the ground.
They saw a six inch long, chrome, metal needle sticking through the barrel of Revy's pistol.
Lee immediately recognized was that needled was. He remained outwardly calm, as he thought, with concern, 'I know that ammo... Let's see judging from the angle, they fired from my upper right side.'
Lee and the others then look to Lee's upper right, the crowd's back left, to see, standing on a nearby third story, steel reinforced, concrete, balcony, behind a steel railings, on the side of a twenty-six story building, eight colored hardsuits, standing in a row.
All the hardsuits had feminine figures, with their helmets on and their visors down. Meaning, there were women wearing the powersuits.
In order, from left to right, was a gray hardsuit, a white hardsuit, a green hardsuit, a blue
hardsuit, a light cyan hardsuit, red and pink hardsuit, a yellow hardsuit, and an orange hardsuit.
All the hardsuited women were facing down, towards the people on the ground.
The faceplates on their helmets were down, preventing those on the ground from seeing their faces. Also, Linna did not have ribbons attached to the sides of her head. And while their hardsuits did not look that different than they originally were, their boot heels were less high than previous versions of hardsuits.
Lee thought, with worry, 'Yep. It is the Knight Sabers. And the only reasons they would be here, is obviously for my ass, as well... This night is just getting more interesting by the minute. On the bright side. It looks like they will be tearing into each other, for me. The problem is, that people are going to get hurt and likely killed. And no matter what I do, someone is going to start a fight. Unless, I can make them see reason.'
'The multiverse does have a twisted sense of humor. Most of the people here want to torture and kill me. But, I am going to try to kill them from harming and killing each other.'
'Though, first I need to know who shot that round. And I can work form there.'
Lee then noticed that the blue hardsuit was pointing her right gauntlet at them, with the slots for her wrist mounted rail-guns open. She was also using her left gauntlet holding her armored right forearm, to steady her aim.
Lee thought, 'The blue one is obviously, Priss. Same style hardsuit, and weapons, She clearly used one of her wrist mounted rail-guns to damage one of Revy's pistol. And that was clearly a warning shot. Though, Revy was already angry with me. And damaging one of Revy's cutlasses is going to piss Revy off even further. Still, Revy anger is not directed towards someone else. So, that is better for me. For the moment.'
'And though their faceplates are down, for anyone familiar with the Bubblegum Crisis OVA series, and my stories, it does not take a genius to figure out who is who.'
'Let's see, if I can figure out who is who. Blue is Priss. White is Sylia. Green is Linna. Red and pink is Nene. The other four are Leon, Daley, Mackie, and Kate. With Leon Daley, and Mackie having their gender bent into women in book two of my stories... Among other things, with the other five members...'
'Among the other colors, yellow is the easy one. Mackie used a yellow mech in Bubblgum Crisis OVA, episode eight, Scoop Chase.'
'Since the color cyan is a similar the color blue. And both colors can be associated with the police, and Priss already has a blue hardsuit, I am guessing the cyan one is Leon. And Daley is flamboyant enough in personality to pull off orange. And the gray one is likely Kate. Because the color gray is considered a professional color in business suits and dresses.'
'And I noticed the heels on their armored boots are a bit shorted. I guess the others had a long talk with Sylia, about hardsuit design, in the following years since the fall of the tower. And if they stayed in the Black Lagoon reality, and they are running on the same time as the Lagoon members here, that would be around two decades. That is a lot of time to do a lot of things. Not just revenge against me. And those hardsuits probably have gone through a number of upgrades through the years.'
'Among those upgrades are likely the retractable mono-molecular ribbons on the sides of Linna's helmet. While, it was an upgrade only shown in Bubblegum Crash, which did not happen for these eight people. It is logical that Sylia and Mackie would make that upgrade for Linna's hardsuit.'
'And this is also likely why Sylia did not say, Knight Sabers. It is show time. Or, Knight Saber Sanjo. Because the other members of the group finally convinced her how corny it was.'
'Though, I will worry about that later. Survival comes first.'
'And while their voices will be different from the english dub, and japanese dub, I will try to note who is who, by which voice comes from which hardsuit.'
Though, it was Janet whom spoke first, as she asked, “The Knight Sabers. Plus four. What are they doing here?”
Lee continued looking at the Knight Sabers, as he calmly answered, “Book Two. Chapter Four. The Fall of Megatokyo.”
It took a moment for the others to recall what happened in that chapter. As Janet did so, she said, “Oh... Well Lee, you are screwed.”
Lee deadpanned, “Line forms to the left.”
Rock continued to look at the Knight Sabers, as she thought, 'This is big trouble. And I doubt Lee is the one who invited these women to the party. He would know better... But, then who did?... That is a problem for another time. Right now, I need to keep everyone calm, before someone starts a fight that gets everyone kill.' She ordered, in a stern tone of voice, “Everyone, keep your weapons down. Do not provoke them.”
Natsuru said, “Akira, Ranma, and I, know these people. They know us. They won't fight us, unless we provoke them.”
Given two of the most sane members of their group had told them not to provoke the Knight Sabers, the others in Rock and Revy's group followed Rock's orders.
Even Revy heard Rock's order and understood. Though, Revy still looked over, and up at Priss, in her blue hardsuit, as she yelled., “Bitch! You are going to pay for damaging my cutlass!”
Rock inwardly winced, as she thought, 'It figures that Revy would complain about her pistol. Though, as long as she is complaining at them, she is less likely to shoot at them.'
Priss, using her speakers, to give an electronic style of voice, said, in an arrogant tone of voice, in english, “I would like to see you try,”
Lee thought, with concern, 'While I did plan for them to fight over me, like a piece of meat, without the tearing parts. I did not plan for another group to show up, and create such a lopsided situation. And as much as I would like this to devolve into a fight, I need to keep this civil for a few more minutes. To do that, I first need to know how damaged Revy's pistol is.'
Lee turned his attention to Revy's pistol, on the ground. He noticed that the end of barrel was damaged, with the metal needle sticking through through the barrel, right passed the slide. With no other part of the pistol damaged. He thought, 'Good. Priss is such an excellent shot with her rail-gun, and hardsuit heads up display, that I can salvage the situation. Now, to de-rev, Revy... He, he, he...'
Lee turned to look Revy at in her face. He calmly requested, “Revy, look at your pistol. Your pistol will be fine. All it needs is the barrel replaced. I know you can do that one your own. Though, if you weapon needs any serious repairs, I know for a fact there is a master gunsmith in Plata Podrido that Pedro can get you in touch with.”
Revy turned to gaze at her pistol, as she leaned over and picked up her damaged cutlass. As she did so, she then used the safety level on the pistol, to carefully decocked the hammer of her pistol, and at the same time, setting the safety on the firearm.
A few seconds later, she leaned back up, and looked over to Lee. She commented, in a cool tone of voice, “Well then, I am now glad I did not kill Police Chief Del Soto.”
Lee replied, “So am I.”
Revy shrugged, “I have a spare barrel in my hotel room, back in town. It is an easy fix. Though, don't think them showing up is going to help you escape.”
Lee honestly responded, “I am more concern with surviving the here and now, than escaping.”
Both of them joined the rest of the people on the ground, as they looked back up at the Knight Sabers, whom were still standing on the third story balcony.
Natsuru looked up at the Knight Sabers, as she said, in english, “Hi guys. Been a while.”
Natsuru recognized Daley female voice, as Daley in the orange hardsuit, said, in english, “Yes, it has Natsuru. I see that your daughters are looking good.”
Lee overheard the conversation, as he thought, 'While I didn't write it, it is not surprising that the Knight Sabers and Natsuru's family did visit each other over the years. Even after Yurika, Nodoka, and Mikoto were born.'
Natsuru answered, “Yes. How are your children?”
Daley answered, “All of them are fine.”
Natsuru heard Leon's female voice come from the light cyan hardsuit speaker, as Leon calmly stated, in english, “It is good to see you, girls. Sorry, it is not under better circumstances.”
Akira spoke up, as she conceded, “It could be better. But, I think we could work something out. I will let Rock, one of our leaders, handle the talking.”
Rock requested, in a loud, though even, tone of voice, in english, “Hello. I wish to speak with the leader of your group.”
On the balcony, while wearing her white hardsuit, Sylia spoke, in a calm tone of voice, in english, “Then, you wish to address, myself. And we have no interest in harming any of you, save for Lee. To that end, we would like you to hand Lee over to us.”
Dutch stated, “We were here first.”
Benny commented, “We do not need any Johnny come latelys.”
Spike asked, “What happened to first come, first serve?”
Sylia answered, “You are the foxes that caught the chicken. And we are the dogs that are taking the chicken from you.”
Aeryn suggested, “Before this turns into a firefight. How about we let it be Lee's choice?”
Violin complimented, “Good idea”
Dutch grinned wickedly, as she said, “Now, that is what I call a sadist choice... I like it.”
Sylia conceded, “Such an answer could be amusing to hear.”
Everyone turned to looked at Lee.
Lee looked over at the group on the ground, as he stated, in a straightforward manner, “Given what I did to both your groups. And also, taking into account some good will I have given to your group, Aeryn. I rather go with your group. With you guys, there is better chance for a quick death, for myself...” He turned back to look at the Knight Sabers, as he continued, “With them not by much.”
Balalaika inquired, in a cold tone of voice, “But, I thought you were worried we would hand you over to the maids?”
Lee turned to look at Balalaika, as he casually stated, “Bel, if this goes badly, the maids will be the least of my worries. The Knight Sabers have the advantage here. We are in open area, with no immediate cover. They are in power armor, with weapons, aiming at a downward angle. They literally have the high ground. Most of your weapons will not piece their armor.”
“And even if you were able to reach them, for hand to hand combat. Between their skills, power armor, and melee weapons, they would easily kill you.”
“Also, given they are here, I would guess their hardsuits have build in reality devices, for quick escape. Like the Hell Saber hardsuits. Which I am sure Sylia is royally pissed with me over using her technology for such actions.”
From the balcony, Sylia calmly commented, “Among other things.”
On the balcony, near Sylia, inside her yellow hardsuit, Mackie flatly stated, in english, “It is a long list.”
Lee heard the comments of both Stingray siblings. He thought, 'The sound sensors, and speakers, in those suits can probably allow them to hear every word we make down here.'
Lee did not turned to face the Knight Sabers, as he continued looking at Balalaika. He said, “The only good news is I do not see their motoslaves. And they seem to be on friendly terms with Natsuru's family. Whom are here. So, the Knight Sabers are less likely to attack you.”
“But, that also means that if you start a fight with the Knight Sabers, Natsuru and her family here would be less inclined to defend you. And without Natsuru and her family's abilities to aid you all, in a long range fight, your group's odds of just surviving, let along achieving victory, in a battle with the Knight Sabers, in this situation, are very slim.”
Balalaika responded, in a chilly tone of voice, “Point taken. And don't call me, Bel, again.”
Lee replied, in an even tone of voice, “Yes, ma'am.”
Balalaika smiled towards Lee, in response to his comment towards her.
Aeryn inquired, “What about Violin, and I?”
Violin said, “Good question.”
Lee turned to Aeryn and Violin, whom were standing beside each other, to Lee's left of the group. Lee answered, “I know what you are thinking Aeryn. And even if your pulse pistols can penetrate their armor. Which is questionable. It would still be a hard fight for you.”
“Also, Violin don't even think about going hand to hand with them. I am sure you have seen all eight BGC OVAs. Not just the three we watched together. Though, you are super-fast and super-strong. You are not that well trained a fighter. And while you are physically tough, their range weapon can penetrate your hide. Along with those weapons, their melee weaponry is even more dangerous.”
“I don't even know what surprises the four new members have, but of the original four, three of them are skills fighters. Those being, Sylia, Priss, and Linna. White, Blue, and Green suits, respectively. Each of them use differing weapons and tactics in their fighting styles. And each of them have the skills and resources to kill you.”
“Sylia has her hand cannons and wrist blades. Priss has her fist weapons, rail-guns, and explosives. And Linna is the most dangerous of those three in hand to hand combat. She has weapons on her fists and feet. Also, her head mono-molecular ribbons, which pop out of the sides of her head, can literally cut you to pieces in the blind of an eye.”
“And that is not even counting the four new members, and whatever weapons Nene's suit now has. Which I can only guess at. Among other things. I am sure the other five are now well trained hardsuit fighters, as well.”
“And that is not even counting how their physical enhancements, from the super-soldier serum, which allows them to push the limits of their hardsuits.”
“And because of all these factors, even I am not that sure what all of their capabilities are.”
“Keep in mind that these women were trained for, and their hardsuits were designed, to fight toe to toe with humanoid killing machines. And their results speak for themselves.”
From the balcony, Sylia said, “Thank you.”
Lee looked up at Sylia, as he said, “You're welcome.” He then turned back to Violin and Aeryn, as he concluded his explanation, “So, as you can understand, and as I already said. Any battle between you and them, would be a long range battle. And, from what I am seeing, your biggest guns in that department, right now, are the elemental and energy abilities of Natsuru, and her family.”
Violin said, “Okay. I appreciate the warning.”
Aeryn replied, “As do I.”
Lee replied, “No problem.” He thought, 'As strange as it is. I really don't want anyone to get hurt, or killed, over me. Of course if I said that. It would ruin the mood.'
Natsuru commented, “The gears of your mind are truly something to behold, Lee.”
Lee turned to Natsuru, as he inquired, “Thank you. So, was I correct?”
Natsuru answered, “Let us just put it this way. My family, and I, would prefer not to find out.”
Lee saw Akira, Ranma, Nodoka, Mikoto, and Yurika, nod in agreement with Natsuru's comment.
Lee replied, “Okay.”
Rock turned to look at her group, as she said, “Yes. Lee is right this.” She then turned back to look up at the Knight Sabers, as she sincerely offered, “Perhaps we can work out something.”
Sylia honestly responded, “Perhaps.”
Spike looked over at Lee. She smirked, as she commented, “Looks like your ass is now up for auction, Lee.”
Shenhua pulled out her kukri long knives, with her right hand. She held the flat of blade, of her knife, against her chest. She smiled innocently, as she said, in sweet tone of voice, “Be happy we don't quarter you, and sell you in pieces.”
Lee turned to Shenhua. He raised an eyebrow, as he calming inquired, “Shenhua, I thought we settled your issues with me?”
Shenhua innocent smile, turned into a smirked, as she responded, “We did. But, that does not mean that I cannot joke about it.” She then put away her long knife.
Lee chose to remain silent, while keeping a neutral expression, as the everyone else, laughed at Shenhua's joke.
Shenhua soon joined in on the laughter.
As everyone else laughed at Lee, and his situation, Lee calmly thought, 'I need to ignore them. As long as they are negotiating, there is still an opening for me to escape. I just have to wait for the proper time to act.'
As the two groups started to calm down, everyone started to hear a buzzing noise, coming from the sky above the. A buzzing noise that was getting closer.
Lee thought, 'Screw negotiation. I think my salvation just arrived.'
Lotton asked, “What is that sound?”
As the sound became ear piecing, Lee stood up using only his legs and feet. While he stood up, he lowered his hands to his sides. He smirked, as he said, “I believe that is my ride.”
Suddenly, a flying drone plane dropped from the sky, like a hawk, as it extended a net below itself, and scooped up Lee, from Lee's right to left, as it quickly rose back up, into the sky, away from the other people, with the writer in tow.
As this happen, Lee immediately made his body into a ball, to protect himself from anyone that shot at him.
Though, right before the net captured Lee, Revy was forced to jump back, to avoid behind his by the net. But, she quickly recovered her footing, as, while she held her damaged pistols, by its barrel, in her right hand. She pulled out her already loaded pistol, under her right armpit, with her left hand, as she shoot at the escaping drone.
More than a few other women and men in the various groups took shots at the drone, as well. But, the flying drone was to fast, with the shots missing both it and Lee.
Meanwhile Rock noticed, that as soon as Lee was in the air, the buzzing disappeared.
Rock though, 'That sound must have been an auditory weapon, to distract us. But, who would sent that... Oh no. We waited too long.' She then looked at the others on the ground, as she mentally noted, 'They are rightfully pissed. And I would guess that the Knight Sabers are angry, as well. I might give them minute to calm down, before I tell them that the police will be here soon. Though, I have no doubt we can handle them, if we have too.'
At the moment, after Revy realized her shots missed, she yelled, “Damn you, Lee!” She then muttered, “I cannot believe Lee escaped, right in front of us, again.”
Eda overheard Revy, along with a few others. Eda complimented, “The man understands the value of timing.”
Lotton and Violin started laughing at Eda's comment, and the sheer absurdity of Lee's escape.
Between laughs, Lotton said, “He did say that he had plan H. I just didn't see how it was going to happen. Of course. He said he was not sure. So, that is why I didn't bring it up with everyone.”
Nodoka said, “That doesn't matter. Though, I guess plan H stands for, help, or hostage rescue?”
Lotton turned to Nodoka. She was still giggling, as she she stated, “That would be a good guess.”
As Lotton and Violin calmed down, Violin commented, “That boy has become one hell of an escape artist.”
Aeryn turned to Violin, as she said, “I think this escape ranks up there with some of yours.”
Violin turned to Aeryn, as she replied, “Yea. And it was surprising, to boot.”
Eda commented, “I wish he was this surprising in bed.”
Violin and Lotton then doubled over laughing at Eda's comment.
Meanwhile, Mal looked up at the Knight Saber, as he asked, “Why didn't your sensors pick up that thing.”
Sylia looked down at Mal, as she answered, “Unfortunately, due to is being so low, and between the sides these buildings, our sensors were masked.”
Spike inquired, “And let me guess. You lost track of it.”
Sylia answered, “Correct. And unfortunately, the remote flying machine is taking signals from an antenna on part of the dome. So, we cannot trace those remotely flying it back to their headquarters.”
Jetta had been overhearing the conversation between Mal and Sylia. She commented, “That figures.”
Dutch said, “So, all this was a delaying action on Lee's part.”
Benny commented, “That man seems to have become a master of delays, bluffs, and counter moves.”
Dutch stated, “And that is exactly what one would expect from a master gambler.”
B asked, “Still, who sent that flying machine?”
Dutch pointed out, “Who else? The cops.”
A second later they began to heard sirens in the distance.
Dutch deadpanned, “Speak of the devil.”
Rock ordered, “Everyone get to your vehicles, and teleport to the agreed upon emergency rendezvous location, in the doom location. Also, you make sure you remain in their point of time, when you arrive at the rendezvous location.” Rock turned to the Knight Sabers, as she stated, “And Knight Sabers, just teleport to somewhere safe in the dome. As soon as we find out where Lee is being held, we will get in touch with you.”
Sylia said, into their radios, “Rock, when you are ready to resume your chance, we will be listening by radio. Let us know. And we will aid you.”
Rock pulled out her radio, as she said, “Okay. We will work out the details to our deal later.” She mentally reflected, 'They broke our encryption, and that is how they monitored us. Though, I don't have a clue how they found out about Lee, and his stories. Let alone got here. And I doubt Lee knows as well... Still, that is a mystery for another time.'
Sylia replied, “That will be fine.”
A second later, the Knight Sabers instantly disappeared, as they used the reality devices built into this hardsuits, to teleport somewhere else.
Meanwhile, everyone on the ground turned and ran across the open field, to their vehicles, and zipcraft. They then used the reality devices built in their vehicles to teleport away, to another part of the domed city they were inside of.
Two minutes after everyone was gone, the police finally arrived, to found they had missed the party. And now the police had to piece together what happened.
(_)
At that moment, Lee was carried in the net, in the air, by the drone, towards the city.
Fortunately, there was no buzzing sound, and it was a fairly pleasant ride.
Also, the drone has slowed down a little, making the ride less unpleasant.
As Lee rode in the net, he looked up at underbelly of the drone. Even with his sunglasses on, from the lights of the city, that were getting ever closer, he could see that it was shaped like a giant hawk profile, with two jets where the wings met the body. With the netting located where the talons were suppose to be.
While the wind blew through the net, and onto him, and his hair, he thought, 'I guess that guard got through to the police. As I had hoped he would. And this netting is holding me in a way that is not to uncomfortable. With the drone slowing down to the point the breeze is not that bad. This is good. Now, I have to figure out what I am going to say to the police. And in doing so, how I can convince the police to let me go, before the those after me, track me down, again.'
'Though, for right now. I will just enjoy the ride.'
Lee then leaned back in the netting, as he watching from his aerial view, as he approached the cityscape of illuminated buildings, in the darkness, under the very large, very high dome, of Mars Dome One.
To be continued.
Badasses Of the Multiverse Book 5: “The Gambling Man.”
Volume 2: “Total Badass.”
Chapter 07: “The Ghost and The Darkness.”
By Paul Cousins.
Copyright Disclaimer: All copyrighted places, characters, items, and events, within the story, are held by their current owners. No profit is being made on this work of fiction.
(_)
Babylon Five Reality. Date, January Twenty-Eighth, Twenty-Two Eighty-One. Location, planet Mars. City, Mars Dome One, capital of Mars. The third story of a five story police station, on the north part of the interior city of dome that surrounds Mars Dome One from the outside atmosphere of Mars. Time, close to midnight.
Twenty minutes after being rescued by the flying hawk shaped drone, Lee had been dropped off, and out of the net, that was carrying him, and onto the top of the five story building, that Lee guessed was a local police station, given he was greet and escorted inside, by the police.
As the police lead Lee to a nearby elevator bay, with them escorting him to the third floor, by one of the elevators, Lee noticed the signs to doors, by the elevators, that were located in the same locations, on both floors. With the signs stating, in english, that the doors lead to the stairwell.
Lee also paid close attention, to the path on which he was being escorted through the building.
This allowed Lee to know where both the elevators and the stairwell were located in the building, in relation to where he was situated in the building, at any give time.
Fortunately, given Lee was told he was not under arrest, the police did not pat him down, and instead they just had him walk through the security scanner, which stated he was clean, and he had no weapons on him.
Though, they did request which identicard. Which Lee gave them. And after they recorded the ID, they handed the card back to Lee. And Lee pocketed his identicard card, where he had kept it on his person.
Also, the police officers allowed him to keep his sunglasses on, as they lead him down to the third floor.
And they soon took him to a well illuminated, interrogation room, where the had him sitting down in a chair, at a table. There were two chairs at the table, facing each other, from across the table. And the chair that the police had Lee sit in was the chair facing the door to the room.
The chairs were black painted, metal, armless chairs. The table was a black painted, metal, square, four legged chair, that was four feet by four feet wide, and was just high enough for Lee's legs to go under the table itself.
The room itself was twenty feet long, from the door, to the opposite wall from the door. Ten feet wide, from mirror to the other wall across from the mirror. And the ceiling was eight feet from the floor.
The table and chairs were placed in the center of the room.
And the door outwards, from the room, in a counterclockwise direction.
The walls were painted white. The door was painted black. The ceiling was a white dropped down ceiling. The only lighting in the room was from the a white florescent set of lights in the center of the ceiling. And the floor was tiled by one foot by one foot wide, light brown, spectacle linoleum tiles.
The chair Lee was in, was beside a simple four legged table, with another chair across from him. The walls were bare, save for the large, rectangular mirror, on the middle of the wall to Lee's left side. The mirror was longer from side to side, than in height.
One Lee had been seated, the police left him, alone, in the room, as they shut the door behind them. Lee did not bother to test to see if the door was locked, or not.
Lee looked around the room, as he thought, 'To my left is a mirror, which was obviously a one-way mirrored window that is bordered with another room. And besides the table, chairs, door, and mirror, there was nothing else in this white painted room. With a white walls, door, ceiling, and tiles.'
'The lighting is provided by a dual, soft white, fluorescent lighting duct. And while I do not see a camera, nor microphone in the room. I am sure there are a few hidden in this room. That is why I am not moving from this chair. Nor, am I going to see if the door to this room is locked, or unlocked. There is not point in doing so, this early in this round of my game. Still, I have a moment to catch my breath, which is good.'
Lee then looked directly ahead, towards the black paint door, with a neutral expression on his face, as he took off his sunglasses. He folded, and put away his sunglasses an interior coat pocket.
Lee mentally noted, 'Also, it is good that they have not arrested me. Nor, did they search me. I guess my one grenade, hologram device next to my watch, and my reality device in my pants pocket, did not trigger their sensors. I guess those devices are so different, from the norm, when it comes to technology, that both these devices did not trip the security scanners. And I will count myself lucky on that matter. If they catch me with those device, it would cause some bad problems for me. But, it was worth the risk to keep those items on me.'
'Still, I have got to convince them to let me go. Which is easier said than done.'
'But, not at the moment. While my time is limited. It is best that give them the opportunity to make the first move. Having them make the first move is a good negotiation tactic on my part. And letting the other party begin discussions has served me well in the past.'
Lee then quietly waited a few minutes. Though, no one came.
It was then that Lee mentally realized, 'They want me to sweat a little. While they try to piece together what happened in the factory complex, with the video records, and the guard's police statement, before they talk to me. The problem is, I do not have time for this. It looks like I am going to have to speak first, and step up the next part of my plan.'
Lee looked at the door in front of him, as he said, out loud, “I want to talk. I know you can hear me. I will freely answer any questions you have. But, time is limited, for all of us. So, please come, and speak to me.”
(_)
A full minute later, two detectives walked into the room, they shut the door behind them.
Lee saw that both men had fair skinned, and in good shape. The men wearing nice gray suits, with blue ties, and black dress shoes. Both men were both in their early to mid thirties.
Lee watched as one of them walked over to the chair across the table from Lee, and sat down. While the other man stood to Lee's left side, next to his partner. With both men looking at Lee.
The one whom sat down across from Lee, introduced himself, and his partner, “I am detective Maxwell. This is detective Barton.”
Detective Barton said, in a stern tone of voice, “Your ID says that you are Ello Gray. But, we think that is fake.”
Detective Maxwell offered, in a relaxed tone of voice, “If you help us, we can help you.”
Lee sighed, as he said, “I don't believe this. I am personally experiencing the good cop, bad cop routine. It has been done to death. I freely admit that it is an alias. I am not that worried about going to prison over it. Because if you don't let me go soon, those that are after me will come here, for me.”
Detective Maxwell asked, “Who are these people? And why are they after?”
Lee calmly stated, “The who and why are not the most important points of this matter, right now. What is important is that the people that are after me will go through you to get to me. And you cannot stop them. As such, none of us have time for this. So, you need to let me go.”
“Now, I am sure you don't believe what I have already said. And that is nothing compared to what I have to say.”
“So, let us cut to the chase. Go get the telepath you have on staff. I am sure you have one. Bring him, or her, here, to scan my mind. Because anything, from here on, that I tell you, in complete honesty, you will not believe a word of. But, you will trust one of your own. I hope. If there are any papers I need to sign first, I will. But, for legal reasons, I am using the Ello Gray alias, because there are no records of me here. Except for the alias. As far as your computers are concerned. I do not exist here. So, please hurry.”
Both detectives looked each other, they then turned to look back at Lee.
Detective Maxwell warned, “You better not be joking here, or we will have your ass.”
Lee flatly replied, “My ass is the least of my concerns.”
Detective Barton turned to Maxwell, as he stated, “I will go get, Mister Dresden.”
Barton then turned, walked to the door, opened it, walked out of the interrogation room, and closed the door being himself, while Maxwell stayed with Lee.
(_)
Three minutes later, outside, two women were standing in an alleyway, across the street, caddy corner, from front of the police station, when looking out from the front of police station. The police station was to this forward right.
The street that passed by the front of the police station, ran parallel with the alleyway, with that street being between the police station and the alleyway to the women were standing in. Though, the alleyway deadened into a street in a perpendicular direction, with that street connecting
The other side of the street the alleyway deadened to was fenced in parking lot.
From their vantage point, the two women watched as four white cars approach the police station, by passing them, on the street that lead passed the front of the police station.
The front car came to a stop by the nearly empty parking lot across the street from the front of the police station. The other three cars, behind the lead car, turned into the parking lot.
The women watched the car that has stopped on the street. The back doors of the car opened, with three humans, two men, and a woman, exited the backseat. And they shut the doors behind them. All of three adults wore black and gray shirts, pants, and shoes. One of their walked up to the left side driver's door. The driver's side window was rolled down, and they saw the man talking to another man, whom was driving.
Meanwhile, the other man, and the woman walked towards the parking lot, where the other three cars had parked.
A few seconds later, the two women watched as the man outside the car, turn and walk over to join his friends, as the driver's door window rolled up, and the car heading for the multilevel garage that was set beside the police station. With the entrance being by the front left side of the police station, when facing it.
As the second man in black and gray reached the three cars in the parking lot, the women watched as the others got out of the three cars, with them shutting the doors behind them.
In all, there were twelve adults that had exited the vehicles, and stood next to each other, on the parking lot. Six humans and six minbari. Five human men, one human woman, four minbari men, and two minbari women.
All of them were clearly minbari trained rangers.
As the two women continued to look on, the older woman said, in spanish, “Let us go greet them.”
The younger woman commented, in spanish, “That is a wonderful idea.”
As both women walked out of the alleyway, across the empty street, and towards the parking lot.
A minute later, they reached the parking lot entrance, they walked towards the twelve rangers.
They saw the twelve ranges had remained grouped together, though they had moved away from the three cars.
As the two women got closer they overheard one of the human men say, in english, “Alright, we need to form into groups, and patrol the area. We are looking for anyone suspicious...” The man noticed the two women coming towards them, as he continued, “Nevermind. It looks like trouble found us.”
The twelve rangers then turned to look at the two women, whom were approaching them.
A few seconds later, the two women came to a stop, twenty feet away from the rangers.
There was silence for several seconds, between the two groups, as they stared at each other.
The rangers saw that the two women were in their mid to late thirties. Both had long hair, that went down below their waist lines, and was tied at multiple pointed along their back. Both wear black and white maids uniforms, with black dress shoes. Though, there was nothing on their face, nor heads. No bonnets. No glasses.
Both women approached to be in very good physical shape.
One of the women had fair skin and purple hair. She appeared to be in her mid-twenties.
The other women had tanned skin and green hair. She appeared to be in her late twenties.
Also, the purple haired woman had a necklace with a golden cross set against the front of her chest.
The two women stood next to each other, with the purple haired woman standing to the green haired woman's left side.
A few seconds later, the lead human man broke the silence, as he said, in a neutral tone of voice, “This is none of your concern. Walk away.”
The elder, purple haired woman's lips curled into a wicked smile, as she said, in a silently humorous tone of voice, in english, “Funny. That is what we were going to say to you.”
The rangers could tell the two women were trouble, and they were not going to back down.
All the rangers pulled out their collapsed fighting pikes, and extended them. They all held their fighting pikes in offense stances, with both hands, as the lead human man sternly stated, “You do not want to fight us. Be warned. This is your last chance. We live for the one. We die for the one.”
The elder woman calmly said, “So, do we. It is just we live and die for a different one.” She turned to the younger women beside her, as she commented, “Would you agree that the type of group these people belong to would cause us great trouble, if we killed them.”
The younger, green haired woman looked over at the elder woman, as she agreed, in english, “From what I remember of them. Yes. Also, they would take it personally if we even physically crippled one of them.”
The elder woman stated, in a calm tone of voice, “Then, we will only cripple their pride. And as an added challenge, we will do so unarmed.”
The younger woman casually responded, “Yes. No weapons is fine. But, the situation seems so unfair. There are only twelve of them”
The elder woman shrugged, as she said, in a casual tone of voice, “Ah yes. But, beggars cannot be choosers.”
The two women looked at the twelve Rangers. A second later, the two women charged at the rangers, whom were armed with staff.
(_)
At that moment, inside a third story, interrogation room, that Lee and Detective Maxwell were in, Detective Barton returned to the interrogation room with a skinny, dark skinned man in his early twenties.
As the dark skinned man walked into the room, behind Detective Barton, Lee saw that the man was wearing gloves and a black suit. Though, his suit did not have a tie, and it was of a much different style than the black suit Lee wore.
Barton closed the door behind them.
Lee noted that the dark skinned man did not have a Psi Corps badge on his shirt.
Lee thought, 'Oh yea. Psi Corps was abolished by this point in time.'
Barton walked up stand beside Maxwell, to Maxwell's right side. Barton looked down, towards his sitting partner, as he asked, “Has he said anything else?”
Maxwell turned to his looked up at his partner, as he flatly answered, “Not a word.”
Barton commented, “Then, let us see what is rattling inside his head.”
Maxwell agreed, “Good idea.” He then got up from his chair. And stood out of the way, so the dark skinned man could sit down in the chair.
Both detectives move to stand beside each other, with their backs to the mirror, by the table. Barton stood to Maxwell's right side, as the two men watched what was happening at the table, in front of them.
As the black man has seated himself, he looked across the table, at Lee, with Lee looking back at the man, with a calm expression on his face.
The dark skinned man calmly said, “Hello, I am Emilio Dresden. In my official capacity, please address me as Mister Dresden. I am a the telepath hired by Mars Dome PD to handle confessions. I hear that you wish to confess. Be aware that though telepathic scans are no admissible in court, genuine confessions such as this tend to sway prosecutors in plea bargaining cases. Due to a telepath, such as myself, vouching, that you are honest in your remorse of the crimes you have committed.”
Given Lee was directly in front of a telepath, he did not even bother to hide his next thoughts, as he stated, “I can see how that would be a good form of use for your abilities, in a judicial manner. And I can appreciate that. Though, I am not confessing. So much as warning. Unlike others, I have the up most respect for telepaths. One of my friends is a telepath. I take it that you work directly for the police here, considering Psi Corps was disbanded?”
Mister Dresden answered, “Yes. Fortunately, the telepath war caused the Psi Corps to be disbanded, and telepaths are no longer forced to work for the government. Nor, take sleepers. Though, I am not a cop, I do work with law enforcement in cases, such as yours.”
Lee replied, “Good. I have one other question before we began. Given your line of work, you see things in minds you wish to forget. I take it you have medication that will blank your short term memory? And do you have some on you?”
Dresden answered, “Yes. On both counts. I do have pills for such occasions. It is an unfortunate necessity in my line of work.”
Lee stated, “That is comforting to know. Because my mind is not a pleasant place, even for myself. Let alone, visitors. I highly suggest you get ready to take some of those pills. For after you scan my mind and verify to your coworkers I am telling the truth, you are going to need them to help you keep your sanity.”
Dresden calmly requested, “I will take that under advisement. Shall we get started?”
Lee replied, “Yes. And I believe this will require what you call a deep scan?”
Dresden responded, “I was afraid of that. This will not be pleasant. Try to keep your mind clear of thoughts, as best you can. This will take a few minutes. I ask that you bear with me.”
Lee said, “I trust you.”
Dresden smiled, as he began to scan Lee's mind.
Lee felt the scan of his mind begin. Lee, by necessity, had become a very secretive person. But, given the situation, he knew that being complete open was the only hope for both himself, and those in the building, had of surviving the night.
Lee found that the deep mind scan was unpleasant not in the sense of being directly painful, but in the sense of the mental feeling associated to being nauseous.
Close to two minutes later, Dresden’s eyes went wide, as he jumped out of his chair in fear, while backing himself up against the wall.
As Emilio Dresden's back hit the wall, his right of the door, the telepath screamed, “He is not of this reality! They are after him! And they are not of this reality! Oh god! We are not real!”
The detectives were not sure what to make of Dresden's reactions.
Meanwhile, Lee continued to looked at Dresden with a calm expression on his face. Lee said, in a relaxing and comforting tone of voice, “Mister Dresden. We are all real. I need you to focus back on my mind. I am thinking of the world as myth fact. Anchor your sanity to that fact.” He mentally added, 'And please don't mention my reality device, nor the grenade, which I have on me. Because, that will only make things far worse for all of us.'
As Dresden forced himself to visibly calm down, as he stood up straight, with his back to the wall. He said, in a much calmer tone of voice, “Do not worry. I fully understand.” He then slid down the wall, to where he was crouching, with he knees by his chest.
As this went one, both Barton and Maxwell watched all this.
Both men turned to Lee, as Maxwell demanded, “What the hell did he see in your head?!”
Lee turned to looked at the detectives, as he answered, “He saw the truth that you would not believe. Now, the ball is in his court to convince you to let me go.” He turned back to look at Dresden.
Dresden was still in mild emotional shock, as he continued to look at Lee. He inquired, “What do I call you? Ello? Paul? Lee?”
Lee replied, “Lee is fine. And please do not forget your medication. I know what you saw was not pleasant. I do not wish for my mistakes to haunt you.”
Dresden said, in a slightly calmer, and kinder, tone of voice, “I appreciate that, Lee. Once I am done here, I will take one of them, and lay down. I want to forget this entire meeting. But, before I do, I must try my best to help you.”
Dresden looked up as Maxwell and Barton. Dresden stated, in a serious tone of voice, “Detectives. We must let man go, right now. Seconds are important here. The longer he stays he, the more danger he puts us in. We cannot handle what is coming for him.”
“The rangers, the pinnacle of badasses that they are, could not handle what is coming for him. What is coming for him is an army of the women, and men that sometimes change into women, that are from other realities of the multiverse. It is all real. They are beyond dangerous. Beyond scary. And he has invoked their wrath against him.”
Lee shrugged, as he spoke up, “I call them the Badasses Of the Multiverse. But, you can call them whatever you want. Whatever works for you.”
Dresden turned to Lee, as he replied, “Lee, I would say go with God. But at this point, I don't even think God can help you out of this mess you have put yourself in.”
Lee casually said, “I am on god's shit list, anyway. Though, that is my god. I don't know about your god.” He turned to Maxwell, as he inquired, in a relaxed tone of voice, “So, can I leave?”
Maxwell sternly said, “You are not going anywhere. The only reason I don't throw you into lock up is that I still have some questions for you. You clearly are hiding something, and I will find out what.”
Lee rolled his eyes for a few seconds. He then look at Maxwell, as he stated, “I just let a telepath do a deep scan of my mind, and you still think I am hiding something.”
Lee turned to look at Mister Dresden huddled on the floor. Lee turned back to Maxwell and Barton, as he said, “Look at Mister Dresden. That is not the reaction one gives to another person, when said person is faking about being in danger. I am trying to save your lives here. What else can I do to make you trust me?”
Suddenly, the door to the room swung open, towards the outside, and a fair skinned man, with brown hair, in a slick haircut, wearing a cheap blue suit, with yellow tie, and brown dress shoes. He appeared to be in his late twenties. He was in good physical shape. And he carried a briefcase in his left hand, as he walked into the room.
The man looked over at Lee, as he firmly stated, “Do not say another word, Mister Gray.”
Lee looked over at Dresden, as he thought, 'Lawyer?'
Dresden looked at Lee and nodded twice. Dresden then looked back over at the newcomer, as he slightly signed. He thought, 'It figures that it would be him whom would be sent to help, Lee.' Next, Dresden look back towards Lee.
Barton and Maxwell turned to the lawyer, as Barton demanded, “What are you doing here?”
The man smirked at the two detectives, as he answered, “Doing my job.” The man then used his right hand to shut the door behind him. With him standing with his back to the door, with Dresden sitting to his left side.
Lee turned to the man, as asked, “And you are?”
The man looked back at Lee, as he answered, with a grin that would make a used car salesman envious, “Mister Gray. I am your new best friend. I am your lawyer, Mister Matthew McCormick.”
Lee replied, “Well, Mister McCormick, who paid you to be my lawyer? Because, from their reactions, I doubt these gentlemen called you in here.”
Matthew let out a laugh. While Barton raised his right hand, and lowered his face into his the palm of his right hand, as he shook his head a few times.
A few seconds later, Barton looked back up at Matthew, while he dropped his right hand back to his side.
As this happened, Matthew answered, “I am employed by Edgars Industries. My boss would do just about anything to meet with you. As soon as possible.”
Lee turned to the detectives, and he saw look on the detectives' faces. Lee saw that they realized who McCormick's boss was. And Lee also knew who Matthew's boss was.
Lee turned back to look at Matthew, as he thought, 'So, Mister Michael Garibaldi has caught wind of me. This could be good. Or, bad. Good, in that he is a decent guy. Bad, in that he will eventually decide throw me to Revy, Roberta, Sylia, and the others, just to save his planet. Not that I blame him. Still, he will want answers, first. So, I have some wiggle room, and time, to talk my way out of trouble with him.' He turned to look at Maxwell and Barton, as he thought, 'But first, I need to talk myself out of trouble with the two idiot detectives.'
Lee then heard Dresden snort in response to his thoughts.
Lee did not reply to Dresden. Instead, he turned to Matthew, and his lips curled into a smirk, as he said, “Mister McCormick, you were right. You are my new best friend. Now, get me out of here so I can meet you boss. Though, I already did confess to having a fake ID. So, that might slow down the process some.”
Matthew causally replied, “Nah. When I am through, at best you are looking at is a fine. Though, it should take me about an hour or two, to get you out of here. Just sit tight, and don't say anything else.”
Suddenly, the lawyer's cellphone started ringing from his left, interior, coat pocket.
Matthew used his right hand to pull out his cellphone. He hit the talk button, and held it to his right hear. He answered it, “Hello... How did you get this number?...”
(_)
In the parking lot, outside, across the street from the front of the police precinct building that Lee was current inside of, a purple haired woman, with a crazy, toothy smile, said into the outside, public vidphone, with the receiver to her right ear, in english, “It is not important how I got this number. What is important is that you let me speak with the black haired, fair skinned man you are representing. Whom you should be near, by now.”
(_)
Inside the police station, on the third story, in the interrogation room, Matthew looked over at Lee, as he said, with disbelief in his voice, “It's for you.”
Matthew walked over to the table, across from Lee, and he handed Lee the cellphone.
Lee took the cellphone with in his hand, and he put it to his right ear.
Lee heard a woman's voice, that he did not recognize, say, in a fridge tone of voice, that showed no emotional warmth, what so ever, “Hello Mister Lee.”
Lee thought, with worry, 'It does not take a genius to figure out who this is. Worst case scenario just happened. I pray that diplomacy works. Since I'm trapped. Diplomacy is the last card I have left to play. Though, given all this is being recorded by the microphones and cameras, in the room, I need to keep this as vague as possible.'
'Talk about walking a proverbial tightrope. But, counting the time loop, I have been doing this for decades.'
Lee said into the cellphone, in a calm, and rational, tone of voice, “Hello Ms. Cisneros. I wish our discussion was under more pleasant circumstances. When I was reminded of my actions against your employer, I deeply regretted my actions. I sincerely apologize for my actions towards him. I was not thinking. And I am more than willing to make amends.”
Over the phone, Roberta coldly countered, “If you had wished to make amends, why did you run from Revy, the others, and us?”
Lee defended, “I ran because they are corrupt. On the other hand, your employer is an innocent person.”
Roberta flatly stated, “That we agree on.”
Lee questioned, “For the sake of the people getting caught up in this, I have to ask. Are you still sleeping at night?”
Roberta conceded, “Given my reputation, that is a fair question. To answer your inquiry, I am sleeping quite well at night. Since I am in no way at fault for any of this. I feel not guilt about it. And I sleep well. Also, since learning of you, I occasionally dream of some of the ways I will torture you. I find such dreams to be enjoyable.”
Lee thought, 'Well, at least she is sleeping, and not going due crazy from lack of sleep, like what happened to in her Blood Trail arc. That means she is thinking more clearly. Worse for me. But, better for everyone else.'
Roberta mentioned, “My student and I did listened to the conversation you had with the others. Lee, you really are an arrogant ass.”
Lee admitted, “Arrogant? Absolutely. Ass? Not so much. And I try to keep the name calling to a minimum. With my intention of calling you an, the alpha bitch of your group, being meant as compliment.”
On the other end of the line, Roberta coldly replied, over the phone, “I know.”
Suddenly, Barton was tapping on Lee on his shoulder right shoulder.
Lee said into the phone, “Please excuse me a for moment, Ms. Cisneros. One of the idiots I am trying to save here, wants to speak with me.”
Roberta chuckled evilly from the other end of the line.
Lee lowered the cellphone from his mouth, and he put his left hand over the microphone of the cellphone, as he looked over at Barton. He stated, in a direct tone of voice, “Detective Barton, please give me a minute here. I am trying to negotiated for your lives. The woman on the other end is nothing short than death incarnate.”
While still sitting on the floor, by the door, Dresden spoke, with desperation in his tone of voice, “He is not joking. Let him speak to her. It is our only chance.”
Barton heard what both men had said. He was silent for a few seconds. He then replied, “Alright.” After which, backed off from Lee, and moved to stand next to Matthew, by the window.
Lee removed his left hand and from the microphone of the cellphone. He held the cellphone up to his right ear. He pleaded, “Ms. Cisneros. Please, don't go Terminator One on them. They are just doing their jobs. If you are inclined to wait a few hours for me to get out of here. I am more than willing to turn myself over to you. In exchange for their lives.”
Roberta responded, “I experienced first hand how slippery you are, Lee. Still, your concern for the lives of others will lessen your pain by a day.”
Lee sarcastically replied, “Thank you for showing such a small measure of mercy.”
Roberta coldly stated, “Feel privileged that I am displaying even this small portion of mercy. You have no idea the suffering you have caused the master. You not only cursed the master to become a woman, but by doing so, she is now forced to suffer the monthly indignities that all women must go through. It is fortunate that my student and I were there to help her when she went through those indignities, the first few times.”
Lee immediately realized what Roberta was talking about, as he thought, with utter shock at his oversight, 'Damn! I honestly forgot how I wrote the rules for that little problem for those cursed with the spring of girl. No wonder she and Fabiola, are upset with me. I forced Garcia, as a girl, to go through monthly, menstrual periods. Or, more honestly, given changing back and forth slows her cycle down, irregular, menstrual periods. Still, I got to know how upset she is?'
Lee honestly admitted, “You have a point there. Though, I must know. How upset are you with me?”
Roberta's voice was like ice, as she stated, “I am more angry with you than I was with those that murdered my master's father.”
Lee around Lee saw his poker face begin to crack, as he showed worry on his face. Lee thought, with worry, mixed with a little fear, no only for himself, but others, 'I am number one with a bullet. If she is that furious, there is no way I can talk her down. I could offer her everything, and she would still want my hide. I have made the Bloodhound the most angriest she has been in her entire life. She would literally burn worlds to get to me. Yet. I have one more question that I need to ask her.'
Lee continued his thoughts, with a bit of gallows humor, 'If I am going to dig my own grave. I am going to need to know how deep the hole has to be?'
Lee inquired, “And your student?”
Roberta answered, “She feels the same way as I do towards you. Only, she displays better self-control, than I.”
Lee said, “I will find no fault with the feelings either of you have for me. I truly deserve much pain and suffering for the cruelties I had unknowingly inflicted on your family.”
Roberta giggled, with venom lacing her voice, as she replied, “We will talk when we meet face to face. I will be there soon. And by the way, it is that time of the month for me.”
Roberta then hung up her end of the phone connection.
Lee rolled his eyes, as he thought, with annoyance and disbelief, 'I cannot believe she went there.'
Lee folded the cellphone closed, as he looked over at at Matthew.
Matthew was still standing across the table, from Lee.
Lee looked up at Matthew. As Lee handed the cellphone back to Matthew, he stated, in a depressingly tone of voice, “We're screwed.”
Matthew took his phone, and pocketed it back into his left interior coat pocket. After which, he turned to look at Lee, he casually responded, “Relax. I doubt it is that bad.”
Lee flatly retorted, “Oh. It is worse than that. But, I am trying to keep from scaring everyone here.”
Dresden agreed, with worry evident in his tone of voice, “He is not joking.”
Barton asked, “Who was the person the other end of the line?”
Lee looked Barton in his eyes, as Lee calmly answered, “She is known as the Bloodhound of Florencia. She is a trained killer, with the convictions of a zealot. She and her student are here for my head.”
Maxwell smirked, as he questioned, “You actually think a woman, and her student, can take us all on?”
Lee flatly explained, “Yes. And you clearly do not understand the danger we are in. The Bloodhound called Mister McCormick's cellphone because you could not immediately trace back the call. But, given the Bloodhound's personality, and the previous tactics she has used, she only called when she and her student were already fully prepared to attack us. She likely called from across the street. We have no time left.”
Matthew calmly stated, “I wouldn't worry too much. I was sent here with a squad of twelve rangers. Half of them Minbari. Those guys are toughest, and the best. They are outside, checking around. If that woman and her student are out there, the rangers are probably on their trail, and they will likely catch them within minutes.”
Lee turned to Matthew, as he pointed out, “That is doubtful. In all likelihood, those twelve rangers have already been defeated. Because, where do you think she got the number for your cellphone from?”
Matthew began to realize the seriousness of their situation, as he softly replied, “Oh...”
Lee quietly said, “Besides, that would not be enough against them.”
Barton commented, “Even if that is not enough. We have a station full of armed police officers.”
Lee responded, “That will not be enough, either. Unless you let me go. Or, Mister McCormick is packing a nuke in that briefcase he is holding. We are all likely not going to survive the hour.”
(_)
A minute and a half ago, outside, in a parking lot, across the street from the police station, Roberta hung receiver of the vidphone, to its base, and screen, with enough force, to destroyed the vidphone, and the receiver in her white gloved right hand. Though, in doing so, she did not damage her glove, nor injure her hand.
Beside her, to her right, was a human ranger, lying unconscious, on the pavement. With her student, Fabiola, nearby.
Neither Roberta, nor Fabiola, showed any signs of injury. Nor, were their maids uniforms torn, nor scuffed.
Roberta turned to her student, Fabiola, whom was standing in the middle of the other eleven unconscious rangers, while holding an extended denn'bok fighting pike in her hands.
Roberta forced herself to calm down, as she asked her student, in spanish, “Did they tell you anything else?”
Fabiola turned to Roberta, as she answered, in spanish, “Yes.” With the end of her staff that was positioned towards the ground, to Fabiola's right side, she pointed to one of the of the humans on the ground. She continued, “This one says Lee is likely being held on the third floor, of the nearby police station. He said this is likely where they bring in witnesses, to make statements, and answer questions.”
Suddenly, one of the Minbari men started to stir. Fabiola quickly hit him on the head with the end of the pike, forcing the man back down.
Fabiola complained, “The only problem with these guys is that the boneheads don't know when to stay down.” She then held up the pike for her teacher to see, as she requested, “Still, I hope you let me keep this for my collection. It is a very nice weapon.”
Roberta replied, with a genuine smiles on her lips, “You may.”
Fabiola grinned, as she pressed the button in the center of the staff, to collapse the pike back into a small cylinder. She then put the cylinder it in a hidden pocket on her maid's uniform.
As Fabiola looked back at Roberta, she inquired, “So, what is the plan?”
Roberta stated, “Fabiola, I will take the front. I want you to go around back, to the third story parking garage attached to the building. For security reasons, there likely only be one door connecting to the building to the garage, per floor. I want you to lay am ambush, for the third story door to the building, from the garage.”
“As soon as I take out the nearby electrical substation, and then their emergency generators, around back of the building, I will begin my attack from the bottom floor, from the front entrance. I will make my way up the stairwell, to the third floor.”
“Lee will know better than to try the elevators, or risk facing me in the stairwell. So, he will attempt to either hide in the third story, or more likely exit onto the third story garage. In the hopes of finding a vehicle to escape in.”
“Though, I will try to leave the back up generators, so the lighting in the garage is still on.”
“When I reach the third floor, I will either capture Lee, or more likely, I will flush him out to you, in the third story garage. Where you will capture him. Do you understand?”
Fabiola nodded, as she replied, “Yes ma'am.' She then thought, 'I am glad we spent an hour just studying the weak points of this police station, without going near it. Now, we can use that knowledge to our advantage.'
Fabiola then headed for the parking garage, across the street, that was attached to the police station. As Roberta heading for the a nearby power substation, before heading into the building itself.
While Fabiola approached the garage, she saw the five story garage placed directly against one of the sides of the police station. When she snuck inside the bottom floor, and made her way up the floors, she noticed there was only one door leading out into the garage.
And each door had a panel by it, that took a key card.
Which Fabiola reached the third floor, she walked over and hid between some cars, while facing the door to that floor, as she thought, 'Roberta was right. And there is only one door per floor is probably for security concerns. And the doors are likely locked, which on officials having the key cards to open them... I suspect the all doors here use key cards. Considering that is what the others were complaining about Lee using against them, at the factory complex. To lock the doors behind himself. As they chased Lee.'
'Though, this is an emergency door, and it can likely be opened from the inside, without a key card.”
'From what I have listened to on the radio, Lee is always playing an angle. Actually, he tries to play several angles at once. And he will use any advantage he can get to escape. So, I will have to be careful around him.'
'And I will be the one to face him. Not Roberta. Because, the power outage will disable the elevators. I doubt Lee is not crazy enough to risk stairs, and run into Roberta. That means he will come out of the door right in front of me. And into my hands.'
'To paraphrase a good friend of mine. This will be all too easy.'
(_)
A minute later, in the interrogation room, on the floor, Dresden rocked back and forth, with his knees to his chest, with his arms rapped around his knees. He kept repeating over and over, “We are going to die. We are going to die. We are going to die.”
Lee turned to Dresden, as he firmly stated, “Not if the detectives here let me go. The maids don't give a damn about any of you.” He turned to the detectives, whom looked back at him, as he continued, “Just me.”
Though, from the expressions on Maxwell, and Barton's faces, Lee could see that he was getting nowhere with the detectives.
Matthew cautioned, “As your lawyer, I must tell you that it is unwise to badger police officers.”
Lee looked over at Matthew, as he replied, “I understand that. And I wish I knew of another way for them to see reason. But, I do not have any real evidence to prove my point.” He thought, 'Though, I have my reality device. I am not handing that technology to these two idiots.”
On the floor Dresden commented, “That would be unwise.”
Lee looked over at Dresden, as he thought, 'Thank you for agreeing with me.'
Lee then turned back to the detective, as he mentally wondered, 'Though, not that I think about it. Maybe there is another way? Let's try a different tactic.'
Lee calmly asked the two detectives, “I know this is a two century old movie to you. But, have either of you two seen the original Terminator movie?”
While Matthew knew the question was not directed towards him, Matthew still shook his head, in response to his client's question.
Barton replied, “Yes.”
Maxwell asked, “We have have seen that movie, and the other movies in that franchise. What about it?”
Lee commented, in a very serious tone of voice, without even the hint of sarcasm, “Well, because if you don't let me go, you're about to live it.”
Maxwell inquired, “Are you saying that an unstopped killing machine is about to attack building?”
Lee corrected him, in a sober tone of voice, “Actually, most like a bionic badass of an unstoppable killing machine, and her nearly equally badass adult student. And unlike Arnold, these bitches are not going to be nice enough to first stop and ask politely. They are not going to go, I'll be back. They are going to come in guns blazing.”
“Take for example, the lead woman that is coming here. The one with the purple hair. Yes, purple. And from what I can figure, that is her natural hair. The other woman's nature hair color. The student's hair color. Is green.”
“Anyway, the lead one once got into a fight with another woman, for four straight hours, right after she engaged in a massive, literal running battle, across a city, beforehand. Where she was chasing after the other woman, and her friends. And this was not a catfight in any way, shape, or form. This was a four hour long, knock down, drag out, bare knuckled brawl. With these two women being unnaturally strong for their size, with inside levels of endurance, while being able to take several hits from the other woman, and keep going.”
“This is the type of fight that would have likely send Rocky Balboa to a hospital after the first hour. And it went on for four straight hours.”
“And these women do not quit. Their mental and physical endurance borders on the fanatically insane. Before that fistfight, the other woman and this woman in question had just previously finished a gunfight, between the city spanning fight, and the four hour brawl.”
“Also, most people would say the fight ended in a draw, because both of them knocked the other down at the same time, and they stayed down. But, I say the woman coming for me, very soon, won that fight. Because in the end, she was still conscious, while the other woman was unconscious.”
“And this woman later topped herself when it came to being a badass. And she is likely one of the top badasses in existence itself.”
“Your Minbari Rangers wished they had her fortitude and toughness.”
“You ever heard of the term, beating a man to a pulp? She literally did that with her gloved hands, once. She killed that man, by pounding him in the face until everything above his lower jaw was a bloody stain on the floor. I am not joking here. There nothing left of his head.”
“That is not even close to the worst things she has ever done before.”
“She even one time decimated a small army, whom were equipped with late twentieth century firearms, while she was only using a flintlock, and a pair of muskets. Though, at the time, she with using SABOT rounds, along with being literally insane, due to lack of sleep, and being strung out on ritalin. Trust me. I was forced to take that shit as a child. That stuff will mess you up.”
“Still, that was before she became a cyborg, and she was given a physical enhancement serum that increased the abilities of the normal parts of her body.”
“And while the others after me are not as badass as her. They are either as equally badass as a ranger, or more badass than a ranger.”
Lee went onto say, in a completely serious, pleading tone of voice, “So officers, you have got to listen to me. I am being deadly serious here. You have to respect what these women, and men, are capable of. If you do not, they are going to kill you in horrible ways.”
The detectives just looked at Lee for a few seconds. They then started laughing at him.
Lee pleaded, “Please, don't tempt fate like that. It is a very bad idea... Still, after tonight, should you survived, you will remember these horrors, as just, the maids, for the rest of your lives.”
“Though, at the very least, you need to put this station on alert right now. They prefer to dress as maids. Their clothing is black and white, with white aprons. You cannot miss them. That is why they are nicknamed the maids. Also, they carry enough firepower in their clothing to start a small war. So, don't try to ask them to be searched, they will just pull their weapons, starting killing you all.”
“So, I am begging you. Please, let me go. All I need is a working car, with a full tank of fuel, recharged battery, whatever. Along with remote access to your station's speaker systems. With those two things, I can get get them to follow me, and get them away from all of you, that are inside this building.”
By then, the two detectives had stopped laughing. Barton looked over at Lee, as he grinned wickedly. He disagreed, “I think not. I think what we have here is a crazy that caused a telepath to have a freak out. Not the first time I have seen that happen, in person. Instead, we will put you in lock up, until we can call the local asylum on come take you away.”
Lee's jaw dropped, as his eyes widened.
Matthew countered, “But, what about the phone call?”
Maxwell pointed out, “We never actually heard what was said on the other end. It could be just this guy's crazy ex-girlfriend playing head games with him.”
Lee forced himself to calm down, as he thought, with disbelief, 'Those two are just too damn dumb to live.'
Dresden verbally agreed, “You got that right.”
Lee looked over at Dresden, as he thought, 'Dresden, I know you are reading my mind. I want to thank you for your help. If nothing else, it is the thought that counts. No pun intended.'
'While there is still time. You need to get up, go get a cup of water, to take you memory blanking pills with. Then, go find a closet to hide in. Stay in that closet until help arrives. It is very likely that if you stay there, you will be fine. If one of maids does find you, beg for your life, and tell her everything she wants to know. You might get out of this alive. And good luck.'
Dresden nodded towards Lee. He quickly got up, opened the door, and left the room, while closing the door behind him.
Lee looked over at the detectives, as he calmly requested, “Detective Barton and Detective Maxwell. I know you think I am crazy. It is tragic that I cannot convince you otherwise. Still, if you do not mind, I would like to stay here, and talk with my lawyer, while I wait for the guys from laughing academy to come pick me up.”
The detectives looked at each other. Barton shrugged towards Maxwell.
Both detectives turned back to looked at Lee. Maxwell stated, “Well, even though you are crazy, you have been fully cooperative. You clearly believe what you have been saying is true. And you have displayed no violent tendencies. So, it is alright with us. Though, we request that you stay here, in this room.”
Lee replied, “Thank you.”
Barton and Maxwell then left the room.
After the door closed, Lee noted that they did not lock it behind them.
While showing now outward expression, Lee inwardly smiled, as he thought, 'They don't expect me to just walk right out of here. That would be an act of a crazy man. Bwahahaha!'
Matthew turned to Lee, as he asked “So, what do you want to talk about?”
Lee looked up at his legal council, as he answered, “Nothing. Any minute now, the power is going to be cut. And soon, the power to the emergency generator will, as well. Then, I will talk to you.”
Matthew accused, “You are paranoid.”
Lee defended, “No. I just applying proper planning and preparation. I suggest you try to relax for the moment, and put your mind at ease. Because very soon we are both going to be put into a very stressful situation.”
Matthew did as Lee has instructed.
A minute later, the power was cut off, for a seconds, before the emergency generators kicked on. And power was restored.
Lee thought, 'There goes the main power. Likely Roberta took out a nearby electrical substation. Now, she will likely take out the back up generators that are near the building, and connected to it.'
A minute after the first brown out, the power went out permanently, and the battery powered floor lights, located throughout the rooms building, on the top of the walls, automatically came on. Including, the emergency lights that came on in the interrogation room, that Lee and Matthew were presently inside of.
Lee turned to Matthew, as he thought, 'There goes secondary power. Roberta likely just took out the generators to this building, which are probably located around back of the building. Though, that also means the security cameras and microphones are down as well. So, I am talk freely with Matthew. Without worry of our conversation being recorded.'
'Though, any minute now, Roberta is going to rush through the front doors. Which even if they are shut and lock, due to the power outage she created. She can break through with her enhanced, cybernetic strength. And then the real battle begins.'
'The only question is if Roberta and Fabiola are attacking together? Or, if Roberta is attacking alone, with her trying to flush me out to Fabiola? Either way is possible. I might be able to find that out in a minute.'
'But, that is the bad news. The good news is I still have a window of a few minutes, to escape, before she gets here, by way of the stairs. Given the power is out. The elevators are out of the question, for both of us.'
'And I know where the stairwell is, in relation to myself. So, that also gives me an advantage over her and her student. Though, that is only a small advantage, compared to what they are capable of. Because the stairwell is by the elevators, and she is likely going to come up the stairwell. So, heading there is out of the question. But, I will take any advantage I can, at this moment.'
'Now, I to talk to my lawyer in peace, without someone overhearing my escape plans.'
Lee inquired, “Looks like the ball finally dropped, Mister McCormick. Do you have a car?”
Matthew answered, “Yes, Mister Gray. It is located inside the third story parking garage, near the exit to this floor of building.”
Lee got up from his chair. He walked to his left, around the table, to stand beside Matthew. Lee complimented, “Good. Now, here is the plan. In a few seconds, police officers are going to rush passed this room, towards the elevators, and stairwell. When that happens, we will calmly exit this room, and you will lead me to the garage. As we walk, if we should meet a police officer, I will subtly ask the officer what is going on.”
“And in such a case. Let me do the talking.”
“And do not worry. We are not technically breaking the law. I was never actually arrested. Given what is about to happen, later you can say we were leaving the building for our own safety.”
Matthew conceded, “That might work. But, I think the police might try to stop us.”
Lee responded, “I highly doubt it. The police will have far more to be concerned about, than two men, whom are not under arrest, and whom are trying to leave the building for their own safety.”
“Still, when we get to the garage, you will lead me to your car. Also, remember that the key here is to remain calm, and think things through. That is what had kept my ass in one piece, so far. But, first give me your keys, I have experience with high speed driving. I doubt you do.”
Matthew pointed out, “Actually, I have a little experience. But, you seem to know what you are doing. So, here.”
Matthew then used his right hand to pull out his keys, from his right side pants pocket. He handed the keyring, with keys and clicker to his car on it, to Lee.
While Lee pocketed the items, he said, “Thank you. Now, do you know any place we can run too?”
Matthew stated, “Yes. Edgars Industries complex. It is a fortress originally built during the Earth-Minbari war. It was designed to repel both a ground assault, and orbital bombardment. That is where I was suppose to take you to meet my boss, in the first place.”
Lee smiled, as he replied, “Perfect. We both get what we want. Though, I will need you lead me to the fortress, and get me inside it. So, you are going to have to ride shotgun with me.” His smile curled into a smirk, as he continued, “You will be like Van Halen. Running with the devil.”
Matthew thought, 'He is comparing himself to the devil. Though, he is likely joking. So, we are fine on that matter. And that is a nice song.' He complimented, “That is fine with me. And you have good taste in classic rock music.”
Lee inquired, “Thank you. So, how far is to Edgars HQ?”
Matthew answered, “From here, the driving distance is around thirty-two kilometers.”
Lee commented, “So around twenty miles. It is doable. But risky. By the way, you can call me, Lee.”
Matthew said, “That is good. You can call me, Matthew. And since the power has gone out, I am guessing, you are at least partly correct. So please, get us out of this mess.”
Lee responded, “I am working on it, Matthew. And pay attention to my hand signals. Silence in our friend in this situation. As sounds tend to attract unwanted attention.”
Matthew said, “I understand.”
Lee then walked over to the door. Next, he cracked open the door, just wide enough to see outside.
Lee watched through the lighting, and shadows, of the room, as several police offices passed by, with their ppg, phased plasma guns, in their hands.
Lee opened the door, and motioned McCormick to take point, to lead him out of the building, and to the garage.
Matthew continued to hold briefcase in his left hand, as he exited the room with Lee. He then started leading Lee to the garage.
As they walked, with Lee right behind Matthew, Lee saw a police officer, passed by. Lee stopped the officer, by asking the man, “Officer, what is going on?”
Matthew noticed this, as he stopped and turned around to face both men.
Lee noticed Matthew turned in his direction. In response, he looked between Matthew and the officer he was speaking too.
The officer, whom Lee was sure had no idea who Lee was, answered, in a calm tone of voice, “From what I heard on the radio, a woman in a maid's outfit has attacked the those on the ground floor, and she is making her way up the stairwell. Those shooting her in the stairwell are barely slowing her down. And she is heading up this way. On each floor, everything there is setting up ambush for her. So, whichever floor she enters, some of us will be waiting for her. And she will be killed.”
Matthew paled, as he realized, in thought, 'Lee, was not joking. He was telling the complete truth. And if that is the case. We are in big trouble.'
Lee noticed Matthew's facial expression of fear, as he thought, 'Just great. I don't need my lawyer to go to pieces on me, just yet. Still, It might be best to hedge my bets a little.'
Lee responded, “Good luck. Also, could you please point us to which way the garage is?” He mentally thought, 'I might as well ask. There is no harm in doing so.”
The officer replied, “Sure. Just down the hallway.” The officer used his left hand to point in the opposite direction of where everyone was running too. The officer then dropped his left hand down to his side.
Lee responded, “Thank you, officer. We are getting out of here.” He thought, 'Good. I don't have to follow, Matthew.'
The officer commented, “That is a wise idea. I wish I could join you, but duty calls.”
The officer then turned, and he ran to join his brethren.
Lee frowned, as he thought, 'I regret there is nothing I can do to save that man. But, at least I can save myself, and Matthew, my lawyer. Still, I was worried that only one of them was going to attack the front. And I can guess which one.'
Matthew noticed that Lee was frowning. He asked, “What is it?”
Lee fully turned to face Matthew. Lee said, “I was hoping that both of them would be attacking from the bottom floor, and work their way up. But, it is likely the Bloodhound is making the frontal assault, meaning her student is likely in the garage, waiting for us. The Bloodhound is flushing me out to her student, and I don't have a choice in the matter. Because, she knows I would rather face her student, than her.”
Matthew questioned, “If it is a trap, what can we do?”
Lee answered, “Just be ready to duck for cover behind a car, when I tell you to, or motion you to do so. And do not freak out. If you do. We both die.”
Matthew nodded once, as he replied, “Okay.”
Lee requested, “Now, that I know where the garage is. Let me take point.”
Matthew quipped, “Sure. You are the one they are after. If the shooting starts, I will use you as bait, while I run for cover, and eventually get away.”
Lee lightly chuckled. He then smirked, as he stated, “I knew there was a reason I liked you. We think the same way.” He then walked passed Matthew towards the garage door on their floor.
Matthew responded, in a confused tone of voice, “Huh?...” A few seconds later, he understood what Lee meant, as he commented, in an annoyed tone of voice, “Hey...” he then quickly caught back up with Lee.
(_)
A minute later, when Lee and Matthew reached the metal door to the garage. Which was not hard to miss, considering there was a sign beside it that stated, in english, third story garage.
Lee and Matthew stood beside each other, as they faced the door.
Before opening the door, Lee turned to Matthew, as he asked, “What direction is your car in?”
McCormick looked over at Lee, as he answered, “Straight ahead. One the second row to our right. Three cars down, It is the white one. You cannot miss it.”
Lee stated, “Okay. Stay silent. And do not run. Walk at the same pace as me, while trying to be quiet. If we are ambushed, do not duck for cover, or make any sudden movements. The people after me are crack shots, and they know how to use their weapons.”
Matthew replied, “Okay.”
Lee then turned back to the door. He carefully opened the door, which had a latch knob. As he slowly opened the door, he saw that the normal lights were on the garage were on as well.
Lee thought, 'Intelligent thinking, Roberta. You probably hit the cables from the emergency electrical system to where the cables going to the building were knocked out, but not those going to the garage. Thus, allowing Fabiola the light she needs to more easily spot me. Well, I might as well trigger this trap, while I still have time to get out of it. Also, the ceiling seems to be ten feet high. At least there is plenty of head room, if I had to run across the top of the cars.'
Lee motioned with his left hand for Matthew to follow him. After they both walked into the garage. Lee then slid the door closed.
Lee then took front, as they walked across the two land road, between the door, and the first rows of cars.
When the reached midway between the door and the cars, Fabiola popped up between the cars two rows down from his left, about twenty feet from the two of them.
She had both her black painted, short-barreled, modified MAG Seven auto-shotguns pointed at them.
Lee also noticed that Fabiola's index fingers were on the triggers of her shotguns. With her reading to use her weapons at a moments notice.
Lee and Matthew immediately stopped walking, as both saw her, and her weapons. The two men then turned to face Fabiola.
As the two men turned to face Fabiola, they stood beside each other, with Matthew standing to Lee's left side.
Fabiola ordered, in english, “Lee, surrender now, so that your suffering may begin.”
Lee smirked, as he complimented, “I got to give you points for originality. That line is a keeper.”
Fabiola motion towards Matthew, with the shotgun, in her left hand, as she asked, “Who is this man with you?”
Lee casually replied, “My lawyer. But, please don't shoot him on that account.”
Fabiola let out a small laugh, that did not reach her lips, at the absurdity of Lee's comment.
Matthew turned to Lee, as he inquired, “Is she the student?”
Lee looked over at Matthew, as he said, “Yes.”
Matthew questioned, “How screwed are we?”
Lee shrugged, “It depends. She is one of the more saner ones after me.”
Fabiola reminded both them, in an annoyed tone of voice, “You both know I am right here. And I can hear every word you are saying.”
The two men turned to look at Fabiola. Lee calmly replied, “We know. But, the question needed to be asked.”
Matthew commented, “No offense was intended.”
Fabiola sighed, as she replied, “Fine.”
Lee thought, 'I got maybe two, or three minutes. Five or six minutes, on the outside. Before Roberta makes it here, and it is all over. Presently, I am at a severe disadvantage. I only have one grenade, which is useless in this situation. She has those auto-shotguns, loaded with buckshot. And her fingers are on the triggers.'
'And this is a close quarters style weapon, the effective range of hitting the target with the mini sixty millimeter long twelve gauge cartridge, of either buckshot, or slugs, is around forty-five yards. But, the lethality range, is up to ninety yards. And we are around twenty feet from her.'
'Also, I am guessing those weapons are automatics, because they are clearly modified versions of the MAG Seven. The reason being was that the original MAG Seven was a pump action shotgun. Also, the anime showed she had a gambler's rig on the inner side of each of her forearms. The gambler's rigs lets her pull out, and holster her weapons, from her sleeves.'
'But, in the Blood Trail arc, Fabiola was shown firing them, one in each hand, at the same time, without having having to manual reload each shot. And if Roberta was going to have those weapons that modified that extensively, then she likely added full automatic functions to them, as well. Complete with a selector switch, between automatic and single shot. Though, she likely kept the safety function on the weapons.'
'It would fit Roberta's personality of never doing things in half measures. Which is something I admire about her.'
'Also, modifying those weapons to be automatics would not be that hard. The MAG Seven was based the template of a sub-machine gun. With a pump action shotgun function for reloading. The ammo uses a five cartridge ammo clips, which is located in pistol grip of the weapon. So, replacing the guts of the weapon to make it an automatic is completely feasible. Which is likely why both Tex-Mex, and Roberta selected MAG Seven auto-shotguns for Fabiola's main weapons.'
'While I just had Fabiola using semi-automatic pistols, and the assault rifle, in book two of my stories, because I wanted to do something different, and show offer he other firearm skills.'
'Still, with buckshot, she doesn't really need to aim. She just needs to point in the general direction to hit us... Also, I hope she does not have the China Lake forty by forty-six millimeter grenade pump action launcher... Though, with my luck, she does. But, either type of weapon could easily kill me...'
Lee then happily realized, in thought, 'What a minute. she needs me alive. That gives me options that I can play into motion.'
Lee requested, “I know you are pissed with me for very good reasons. Your teacher explained the situation to me. But, how about you let my lawyer go? He has done nothing to you.”
Fabiola smirked, as she stated, “I think not, Lee. I learned at the Devil's Hotel, from Rock and the others, about how slick you can be. Also, we both listened to the others, over the radio, while you were at the factory. And we both, my teacher and I, know you are playing an angle. Actually, several angles at once. Though, I am just not sure how. You are like Rock, before she became such a much better woman.”
Lee commented, “No arguments there. I believe when it came to Rock, it was a matter of outside influences.”
Fabiola flatly said, “That we agree on.”
Lee offered, “Would you like me to tell you things about yourself, that I know about, that others have probably overlooked?”
Fabiola snorted, as she stated, “Like you would know anything about me? Besides the obvious?”
Lee stated, “You are left-handed, and right eye dominant.”
Fabiola eye's slightly widened, as she demanded, in a slightly elevated tone of voice, “How do you know that?”
Lee calmly responded, “When people watch entertaining action, and drama. They tend to miss, small important details that explain a person's personality. I do not. During the Blood Trail arc, when you attacked the Yellowflag, at the beginning of the fight, it showed, at one point, that you closed your left eye, while leaving your right eye open, as you shot your shotguns. I believe those are same models, that you used then, that you are pointing at myself, and my lawyer, right now. Actually, are those the same shotguns from then?”
Fabiola answered, “Yes. They are the same weapons. Please, continue.”
Lee explained, “Closing one of your eyes like that, while the other is open for aiming, shows which eye is dominate. In your case, it is your right eye. When one learns to use a gun, and aim a gun, they have to learn which of their eyes is dominate. Now, the matter of your left-handedness is so obvious, that most people missed it, due to the fact you dual wield you weapons most of the time. But, the one time you did only use one weapon, you only pulled out the shotgun in your left hand. And when you first used your shotguns, in the Yellowflag, you lead off with your left shotgun, then right shotgun.
“Also, right after Revy killed that heavily injured FARC member, in front of you, and the others. You pulled out your shotgun in your left hand, and pointed it at Revy. You did not used your right hand. Also, in the Yellowflag, you pulled the China Lake out with your left hand. This sort of quick, instinctual reaction shows which hand a person is dominate with. Some the same principles can be applied in throwing a ball at someone. Whichever hand the person uses to catch the ball is the hand they are dominate in. Or, which hand they write with.”
“Still, eye dominance trumps hand dominance, when using firearms, due to aiming with your dominate eye. And that is why you used your China Lake with your right hand. So, you can have a better aim with your dominate right eye.”
“Also, I think you were justified in that situation, when you chewed Revy out for killing that FARC member. Killing someone after lying about promising to help that person is wrong.”
Fabiola replied, “Thank you. And I feel you have more to say on this?”
Lee answered, “Yes. I do. Those people, with that combination of eye and hand dominance combination, are on average, more creative, more intelligent, and can handle vastly higher levels of stress, and pain, for longer periods of time, than right-handed people. This explains a lot about your abilities, and personality. This explains why, even with the less than pleasant life you lead, as a child, you still did not crack and go berserk. Like your right-handed contemporaries. Also, this explains how you were able to pick up capoeira, by watching someone else practice those moves. You should be happy about this fact. It means you have an edge on many people. Including, your friends.”
Fabiola inquired, “And how would you know that?”
Lee cracked a grin, as he slowly held up his right arm forearm in front of his chest, in a parallel manner with his chest. He then used his left hand to pulled back the sleeve just enough to show the wrist watch on his right wrist, but not enough to reveal the hologram device. At the same time, he winked at Fabiola, by closing his left eye.
Fabiola responded, “Hmm... I see. You really do use every advantage you have.”
Lee opened his left eye, as he dropped his hands back to his sides. He said, “That is why I am still alive.”
Meanwhile, as Matthew watched, and listened, to all this, he thought, 'What the hell is my client talking about? He talks like he has seen this woman on TV? Or something? And I would remember seeing someone like her on TV. While she is still pointing a gun at me. She is a god damn ten on the babe scale.'
Fabiola commented, “I see from your demeanor, that you still think you can escape?”
Lee smile curled smirk, as he stated, in a sing-song fashion, “Of course. I am a joker.” He nodded towards Matthew, as he continued, “And he is a thief. This is the watchtower. And we are on our way out of here. Because the hour is getting late.”
Fabiola cracked a grin, as she inquired, with mild amusement in her voice, “You are channeling, Jimi Hendrix, at a time like this?”
Lee shrugged, as his smile got wider. He said, “Hey. His version of, All Along The Watchtower, was a cool rendition of that song. I also like the Bear McCreary and Steve Bartek version of the song, as well. Those two gave the song a funky Persian flair to it. And either way, that song fits, because though my precognition and imagination, I am starting to realize I am channeling the multiverse itself.”
Lee thought, 'Though, I did not care for the Bob Dylan version.'
Lee then took a step forward towards her.
In reaction, Fabiola pointed both her shotguns at Lee. She warned, “Not another step.”
Lee continued smiling, as he calmly pointed out, as he took another step, “If you kill me, you cannot have your revenge against me.”
Fabiola lips curled into a smirk, as she responded, “All we need is your brain intact. We even have the equipment to keep your soul in place. We just dump you in a vat, and it will completely restore you, and change you in so many ways.”
Lee did not take another step closer to Fabiola. He showed not emotional reaction to her comment, as he mentally berated himself, 'Crap. I forgot I added that at the tail end of book two.'
Lee inquired, “So, what are you plans? After torturing me? Are you going to make me like Lotton, the white haired maid, on the yacht?”
Fabiola smile turned absolutely feral, as she explained, in a sadistic tone of voice, “You wish. Lotton, got off lucky. You will not. As we change you, we will brainwash you. And then, every few months, we will brainwash you again, with a different personality. You will have a different flavor personality, for each season. And all the while, you will be complete obedient to us.”
Matthew thought, with slight worry, 'Whomever this Lotton person is. I do not envy him, or her. And this woman clearly plans a worse fate for, Lee. Though, given my experience in the court room, it does appear that Lee has more control of the situation than this green haired woman does. Let's see if he can still get us out of this mess, before this woman's teacher reaches us.'
Lee shrugged, as he commented, “I have to admit. That is some pretty creative revenge.”
Suddenly, Lee heard to his left, near the door to the police station, a man shout, “Put down you weapon! Right now! And lay on the ground! Now!”
Lee did not have to look to his left side to know what was about to happen. He maintained a mask of calmness, as he thought, with inward amusement, 'I know where that statement is going to lead. Now is my chance. And I need to bring Matthew with me. Right after Fabiola turns her attention to the new man.'
Fabiola immediately turned to face the newcomer.
Lee saw this, and he quickly used his left hand to grabbed Matthew's right wrist, as he dragged his lawyer down, behind a row of cars. The row of cars the two men were taking cover in was one row over, away from Fabiola and the newcomer, and closer to Matthew's own car.
As second later, police officer fired his ppg at Fabiola, forcing the tan skinned, green haired woman to take cover behind a row of cars.
(_)
At that moment, as Lee and Matthew sat between some cars, beside each other, on the concrete floor, Lee looked over at his lawyer, as he ordered, “Which one is your car? And which side is the driver's seat on.”
Matthew has set his briefcase beside himself, as he used his left hand to rub his sore right wrist.
Matthew has heard Lee, as he thought, 'Given the situation, I think it is best not to complain about my wrist. It is just sore. And it will be fine. Besides, he clearly has the skill to get us out of here, and to safety. So, I might as well go with the situation, and follow his lead.'
As Matthew grabbed the handle of his briefcase with his left hand, as he used his right index finger pointed at a white painted, four door, mid-level car, that right in front of him, on row over, and further away from Fabiola. Matthew dropped his right hand, he turned to look at Lee, as he commented, with slight sheepishness in his voice, “It's a company car. But, the battery has a full charge. It has an automatic transmission. The driver's seat is on its left side.”
Lee thought, 'Good. It is best to confirm which side the steering with is on. A mistake in getting that wrong, could cause us or lives, or worse. Though, this car is not what I was hoping for. But, still...' Lee replied, “Beggars cannot be choosers.”
Matthew realized the subtext of Lee's comment. He shrugged, as he flatly stated, “Hey. It runs. And it will get us away from that lunatic.”
Lee chuckled, for a few seconds. He then said, “You're right. Still, that woman right here is likely one of the least violent, nicest, and sanest members her group. She is just really pissed off at me... And admittedly... Justifiably so.”
Matthew asked, in a worried tone of voice, “Okay... From what you said, how dangerous is her teacher?”
Lee answered, “Let's just put it this way. Her teacher would not bother talking, after she found me. You would already be dead, by her hand. And I would be screaming, in pain, by now.”
Matthew inquired, “And what did you do to these women, to piss them off so much? You have to work at it, to get women this angry.”
Lee stated, “Well, for these two, I accidentally stripped their master of part of his manhood. And he is a person whom they both deeply love and care for.”
Matthew questioned, “How does one accidentally cost someone part of their manhood?”
Lee coyly answered, “A keyboard, some beers, and an all night anime marathon.”
Matthew asked, “What are the odds of me losing my own sanity, if I requested you to explain your comment to me?”
Lee shrugged, as he replied, “Hmm... Probably around fifty-fifty.”
Matthew groaned, as he stated, “I don't want to know. Just get us out of here.”
Lee said, “I am working on it.”
Lee then noticed from the noise that the number of ppg shots were increasing. He thought, 'Looks like that officer has gotten some help. And not all the officers went to face Roberta. Though, very soon, Fabiola will likely pull out of big gun. Then, things are going to get real interesting.'
'Though, we make have to wait a minute, or two, for a window to open, for use to get to Matthew's car.'
Lee stated, “We may be a minute here, until we have a window to run for your car. Don't worry, I know what I am doing.”
Matthew sarcastically retorted, “Those are famous last words.
Lee snorted, as he comment, “You are still breathing. Aren't you?”
Matthew conceded, “Fair enough. I will do what you say.”
Lee replied, “Good.”
The two men then sat in place, on the concrete floor, between some cars, as Lee patiently waited for his precognition, and his ears, to inform him of when the time was right to go for Matthew's white company car.
(_)
Over the course of the next minute, Fabiola occasionally popped up from her hiding place to fire a few shots from her MAG Sevens. With the weapons set to single fire, per trigger pull.
Meanwhile, a few more police officers has shown up to support their fellow officer. They shot from the hallway.
When the officers were not firing, they pulled back the metal door, to shield themselves from the buckshot of Fabiola's auto-shotguns.
Fortunately, none of the ppg shots had hit Fabiola, but the situation was starting to deeply frustrate the green haired woman.
From her cover, behind some cars, Fabiola was extremely upset, as she swapped out the five round ammo magazines, with full ammo magazines, loaded with buckshot. Which she pulled from hidden pockets in her dress.
After she placed the fresh ammo magazines into their housing, in the but of the shotgun, the internal slides of the shotguns automatically loaded a shell into the chamber of each weapon. Next, she placed the empty ammo magazines into one of the hidden pockets in her dress, to be reloaded later.
At that point, Fabiola connected the back of her shotguns to her gambler's rigs, under her sleeves.
With all that done, Fabiola held up her two shotguns, by their pistols grips. One in each hand, as she placed her trigger fingers against the trigger guards of the weapons. She thought, with annoyance, 'I had him, and these fools screwed it up. I would almost believe that Lee was counting on the police showing up, for this very situation. But, Lee could not be that good?... Could he?...'
'Still, I cannot get a clear shot with my shotguns. When I popped up to fire, the shut the door, and the buckshot keeps hitting the doors. I have But, I have something that can get through the door.'
She used the gambler's rigs on the undersides of her forearms to pull her MAG Seven shotguns back up into her sleeves. Then, with her left hand, she reached behind her back, from the top, back, of her shirt, behind her head, as she pulled out her big gun.
When she had pulled her big gun out, used both hands to unfold the stock, from the left side of the main part of the gun.
After the stock snapped in place, behind the rest of the weapon, she held the grip with her right hand, while steadying the weapon, by placing the palm of her left hand to hold the underside of the fore-end.
While she brought the butt of the weapon to front part of her right shoulder, she grin wickedly, as she thought, 'This is going to be fun.'
She the popped up out of her cover, quickly took aim at the metal door, the cops quickly pulled back for cover, and fired.
(_)
Nearby, Lee and Matthew heard a large explosion near the metal door to the police station.
Lee cursed under his breathed, “Shit. She has the China Lake.”
Matthew thought, 'Lee mentioned the China Lake before. I think it is a weapon. And from the sound of the explosion, a powerful weapon. I need to know more.' He quietly inquired, “What is the China Lake?”
Lee thought, 'Time to leave.' He pulled out his sunglasses from a pocket in his coat. He then put on his shades, as he softly said, “I will explain in the car. Just crouch down, and slowly follow me the car. You take shotgun, I got the driver's side.”
Matthew made sure his left hand had a firm grip on the hand of his briefcase. He nodded, as he replied, “Okay.”
Lee cracked a smile, as he thought, 'Now, for some fun.' He then pulled up his right sleeve.
(_)
With the officers gone from the explosion, blowing the door, and everything near it to pieces, Fabiola stood up, while she held her China Lake forty by forty-six millimeter grenade launcher in both her hands.
Fabiola cocked back the pump action fore-end, with her left hand, to eject the spent shell, and reload a new shell, into the chamber, from the ammo tube of the weapon. She did not bother to pick up the spent shell. As she had nowhere to put it, and back home, Roberta had access to more of the grenade shells that her weapon used.
Fabiola thought, 'I am tempted to pick up my shells. But, I am just thinking of how the police are going to try to make heads or tails of the old style ammo, to them, that I am using. And where the hell I got the ammo from. Let alone who I am... That thought makes me want to giggle, just thinking about it...'
'Now, where are those two men. They would not have been crazy enough to try to make a run for it. And get shot. So, they got to be here, somewhere.'
Fabiola turned around, with her back to the door, as she then saw, to her left, Lee crouching down, as he headed away from her, towards a row of cars to her left, from the row she was in.
Fabiola thought, 'The other guy probably ditched, Lee. That doesn't matter. I now have him. And Roberta will be proud.' She looked over at Lee, as she ordered, “Stop right there, Lee.”
Lee stopped.
Fabiola immediately walked out from between the cars, as she rushed over to him.
As Fabiola walked towards Lee, Fabiola kept her China Lake grenade, with the end of the barrel pointed at him, while the butt of the gun was firmly pressed against the front of her right shoulder.
Fabiola thought, 'Now I got him.' She warned, “Don't trying anything, or you will be in pieces.”
When Fabiola reached Lee, she noticed that he seemed be doing something with his hands.
Fabiola ordered, “Stop whatever you are doing.”
But, Lee ignored her.
When Lee seemed to swing out with his left arm, towards her, she took it as an insult, and she decide to kick him in the head with her left foot.
But, then she saw her left foot passed through him. Though, with her acrobat skills, she did not lose her balance as she planted her left foot on the ground, by her right foot.
Fabiola was confused, as she watched Lee stand up and disappear in a flash of light.
Fabiola then realized she had been tricked, as she loudly cursed, “Damn hologram!” She thought, 'I forget that Balalaika mentioned Lee had one of those things!'
Fabiola then heard a car started behind her, to her right, across the room.
She quickly turned around, to see the lights of a four door, white pained car, come to life.
The car immediately burst into motion, as he backed out, and then quickly moved forwards, down the lane it was in, away very Fabiola.
Meanwhile, Fabiola aimed her China Lake at the car, and she fired a grenade at it. But she missed, with the explosion destroying several cars, but the white car, due to the white car quickly made it to the ramps leading towards ground level.
(_)
Inside the moving white car, Lee drove the white car as quickly as possible down the ramp.
Matthew was riding in the front passenger see of his company car. He had placed his briefcase between his legs, on the floor in front of him.
Both of them had already buckled themselves into their seats.
As Lee kept his eyes on the path in front of him, he explained, “The student has a China Lake forty by forty-six millimeter grenade launcher. The good news is that it only holds four rounds. Three in the tube. One in the chamber. Of which she has already used, two. The bad news is we have to survive the next two shots.”
Matthew thought, 'Like we have to worry about that, now. We just on the way to the second floor. She was across the room. It is not like she can catch us, now.' He begged, “Slow down. But, we already lost her. So no worries.”
Lee pointed out, “No. We didn't lose her. She is going to climb down from the outside to the second level, and try to ambush us with the grenade launcher. If she misses, she will try the same thing on the bottom level.”
Matthew commented, “I know I called her a lunatic. But surely, she is not that crazy.”
Lee commented, in an even, though slightly annoyed tone of voice, “Since you are new at this. I am going to let that comment slide... Still, it is not that she is that crazy. It is just that she is that damn good.”
Lee then continued driving.
(_)
At that moment, on the third floor garage, Fabiola didn't have time to fold the grenade launcher stock, onto the weapon itself, as she quickly stuffed it down the back of her shirt.
Fabiola used the fore-end to reload another shell into the chamber of the weapon, as she swiftly headed for the outside guard railing of the floor.
She climb over it, and hung there with both hands. A second later, she let go. A split second later, ten feet down, she used her hands to grabbed hold of the guard railing on the second floor.
Fabiola hauled herself up and over the railing.
She had just enough time to stand up, and pull out her China Lake, as the white car passed by.
She fired, but she was a second to late, as the car ducked down the ramp, and the explosion did not stop, nor damage the vehicle.
Fabiola quickly reloaded the last grenade round her into the chamber of weapon. She then stuffed the launcher down the back of her her shirt, again.
She swiftly went to the outside guard railing, and she repeated the process to get to the ground floor.
(_)
Inside the car, Lee said, in a casual tone of voice, “Told you.”
Matthew thought, 'Okay. This guy knows way too much about the situation.' He demanded, “How the hell do you know this stuff? How do you predict what is about to happen.”
Lee smiled, as he casually answered, “I just come to except the craziest things possible that these women can do, and I plan for the women to do those actions. I have yet to be disappointed.”
Matthew commented, “That is insane.”
Lee countered, “No. This is reality.” He then began lightly chuckling at his private joke, for a few seconds.
(_)
As the car exited the ramp to the ground floor, Fabiola was there to meet them. She took aim, and fired the Chain Lake again, but she missed again. With her destroying some parked cars, but nothing else.
Fabiola mentally cursed, 'Damn. I regret never learning how to hit a moving target with this thing. Though, is there a way I can stop them.'
Fabiola then looked around, and she swiftly she realized, in thought, 'I am near the exit to this parking garage. They have to come through this exit, to leave the building. I still might able to stop them. But, how?'
A second later, she smiled, as she came up with a quick idea. She thought, 'I don't have time to reload. But, the bluff worked before, for my counterpart in the manga. And reading that manga was almost as strange as watching the anime about myself, and my friends. Doing the things we did. Still, I might as well try this bluff.'
As the white car turned, and entered the straightaway to the exit, she immediately stood between them, and the exit, as she held her China Lake with both hands, while she pointed the barrel end of her China Lake at oncoming car.
Fabiola noticed that instead of the car slowing down, the car was speeding up. She then saw through the front windshield, that Lee was driving with a huge smirk on his face. He was also using his left hand to hold up four fingers.
Fabiola suddenly realized, in thought, 'He knows I am out of ammo!'
Fabiola jumped out of the way, to her left, as she both discard the China Lake and had her MAG Seven shotguns come out of her sleeves. When she landed, she did a roll, that allow her to be back on her feet, facing the white car that was now driving away form her.
Fabiola then gave chase.
At that moment, the car immediately burst into the outside night air, with Fabiola running right behind them. Given they were using the exit, there was no automated tollbooth, with a lowered mechanical arm, and intercom, to talk to someone in the building, to let them in. Instead, there was a curved row of of metal teeth on the concrete exit. With the curved row of blades turned outward, so any vehicle that tried to enter that way would blow their tires. While those exiting the building had no such problems.
While Fabiola ran after the car, she began firing her MAG Seven shotguns at the back tires of the white car. The car turned to her left, driving passed the front of the police station, as Fabiola continued firing. But, neither tire blew out, as the car sped away.
As Fabiola ran out of rounds for her shotguns, she came to a stop, in the middle of the street. Though, at that time of night, there were no cars driving by.
Fabiola breathed heavily, as she watched the car drive away, down the street. She thought, with disappointment, 'Being the writer, he would know all about my China Lake, and how many rounds it can hold. Also, he likely knows about that manga scene. And being a master poker player, he knows when to call a bluff. Still, it was worth a try.'
Just then, Fabiola heard Roberta say, in spanish, on her encrypted radio, in a pocket, in her maids dress, “Report.”
Fabiola used her gambler's rigs to make her shotguns slide back up her sleeves. She then used her left hand quickly grabbed her radio from a pocket in her black long skirt.
She looked at the radio, in her left hand looked at her radio. She thought, 'I might as well give Roberta the bad news. Though, she is using the encrypted channel that she set up for the both of us. From the radios we are given by Balalaika. And she showed me how to switch, back and forth, from this channel, to the encrypted channel the others are using. And the reason for the secondary channel was that Roberta does not want our hunt to be disturbed by the others.'
'Still, I am going to have to give her the bad news, as I will retrieve my China Lake and get out of here, before more cops show up. Or, those cops inside, that Roberta did not run across, decide to check out what is going on, outside of the headquarters. Either way, I need to get out of here, as soon as possible. Now, to talk to Roberta and get the ball rolling.
Given Fabiola had already switched her radio to the encrypted secondary channel, she just pressed the talk button on her radio, as she answered her teacher, and good friend. As she did so, she turned and heading back into the exit of the parking garage to retrieve her China Lake.
(_)
In the white car, as Lee had it speed down the road, Matthew was confused, as he asked, “Why are we still alive? She had us dead to rights with those pistols.”
Lee kept his eyes on the road, as he calmly answered, “We are alive because those are not pistols. They are modified MAG Seven auto-shotguns, with gambler's rigs allowed her to pull them from her sleeves. Though, the shotguns are modified, in that the shotguns are self reloading. And with a possible automatic selector switch. Though, she was clearly using single shot mode.”
“Anyway, she loaded her weapons with buckshot that likely wouldn't penetrate the metal and plastic of this car. Also, she was likely was firing at the back tires...”
“Though, I do not understand why we don't have a flat, yet. But, I am not complaining.”
Matthew stated, “The tires are flat resistant. They can run fifty kilometers with holes in them, before giving out.”
Lee replied, “You better hope so, because we don't have time to change a flat. Nor, find another car.”
Matthew commented, “I will hope as much as I can.”
Lee let out a small laugh. He smiled, as he said, “Good answered. Now, which way to Edgars towards.”
Matthew stated, “Keep going straight. I will tell you when turn.”
Lee replied, “Okay. That is fine with me.”
Lee then kept driving the car at high speed, down the street.
(_)
Three minutes ago, on the third floor of the police stations, Barton, Maxwell, along with several other police officers held their ppg pistols, as they stood in a row, behind some desks, as they waited for the intruder to show up.
The attacked stuck with out warning, as she kept to the shadows of the wall mounted flood lights, while she fired her semi-automatic pistols.
Her enhance sight allowed her to see clearly in the shadows, without the flood lights bothering her.
Each shot was a kill shot, as she slaughtered her way through the police personnel.
Maxwell had just enough time to see Barton be shot between his eyes, before the maid was on top of him, and he was killed himself.
After everyone in the room was dead. She stand silent for a few seconds, as she used her enhanced hearing to listen. There was absolute silence in the room, and she did not even hear anyone in the room breathing, besides herself. She also, did not hear anyone coming from the hallways, or offices.
But, she did her noise coming from nearby.
She smiled in a feral, wicked manner, as she holstered her to Argentinian model nineteen twenty-seven Sistema Colt, based on the M nineteen eleven semi-automatic pistols, each of them had a forty round, modified Promag COL-A8 ammo drum clip attached to the bottom of her pistol grips. She then pulled out her combat knife, from its hidden sheath.
(_)
In a nearby, dark closet, on the third floor, Dresden was huddled in the back wall of the room, as he cried his eyes out at the death screams he was sensing with his telepathy.
Suddenly, the door opened to the closet opened inwardly, those Dresden was far enough from the door for him to not be hit by the door swing into the small room.
Dresden looked up, to see who it was. Though, with his telepathy, he already knew who it was.
There was enough illumination from the emergency lighting outside to allow him to see who it was.
It was Roberta, the Bloodhound. A living, breathing, killing machine.
Though, the woman's face was cast in shadows, as she faced him.
Dresden knew, from Lee's thoughts, not to scan this woman's mind.
Dresden continued to looked up at her, as he cried tears from his eyes, which ran down his cheeks. He pleaded, “I don't want to die.”
Roberta walked over to Dresden, and she knelt down to his level. It was then that Dresden saw she had that crazy, insane smile that promised death to all who saw it.
Roberta held up her bloodied combat knife in her right hand. She then up held, with her left hand, by the deadman's hair, the severed head of Maxwell in her left hand.
Roberta coldly demanded, in an even tone of voice, in english, “Where? Is? Lee?”
Dresden begged, “I know don't where Lee is. Please. I don't want to die.”
Roberta looked at the younger man, as she muttered under her breath, “Pathetic.”
She stood up, as she dropped the severed head by Dresden, while she still held onto her combat knife with her right hand.
Roberta turned around and walked out of the closet.
She closed the door behind her. Leaving Dresden unharmed.
Dresden leaned by down on the floor, by Maxwell's severed head.
Dresden had stopped crying, for the most part. He was very happy to be alive. And he was overjoyed by the fact he had already taken him short term memory wiping medication. In about fifteen minutes, he would mercifully forget the last, and worst, three hours of his entire life.
(_)
Right outside of the closet Dresden was inside of, Roberta stood in place, as she cleaned her combat knife off, onto her dress. When she was done wiping off the blood off the blade of the weapon, and onto the bottom part of her white apron, she away her knife its scabbard, somewhere on her person.
Roberta then pulled out her encrypted radio with her right hand. She turned the radio on, and she set it to the encrypted channel she has made for herself and Fabiola to use in private.
Roberta pressed the talk button with her right thumb, as she said into it, in spanish, “Report.”
A few seconds later, on the other end of the line, Fabiola answered, in spanish, “I had Lee, but he got away in a white, four door car, less than twenty seconds ago. He exited the front side of the building, with them turning left, and driving past the entrance of the front of the police station entrance. They have yet to turn down another street.”
Roberta quickly rushed over to the window of the room she was in. She noted that the room face the way front of the building.
She then looked out the window, and to her left, down the road. As she looked for Lee's white car, she saw the adjacent alleyway, to the right side of the main road, that passed by the front of the police station.
There were buildings between the roads, which were two or three stories tall. But, the police station overlooked those buildings, in that area of the city. And given the street lights, and height at which Roberta was looking, Roberta could still see the roads clearing enough.
A few seconds later, Roberta saw the white car driving away. The vehicle was only two blocks from the building. And the white car was heading for one of the local, main highways.
Roberta's continued smiling, as she thought, 'I am glad, that yesterday, I had Fabiola, and myself, memorize all the main roads in this city. And this time, Lee will not lose me so easily.'
Roberta stated, into the radio, in spanish, “I see him. You head back to the inn, and stay with the others. I will handle this myself.”
There was no reply, as Roberta thought, 'Fabiola, knows better than to waste time with needless chatter. And she will do as I tell her. Though, it is going to take her a few minutes, considering we left our reality devices back at the hotel, because we did not want to lose them, or have them stolen.'
'Besides, Revy, Rock, and the others would not leave us stranded here, because we are all friends.'
'Now, to do something I am not really looking for too. For, I have done this before, a few times, even before my... Enhancements. And I know I will not harm myself in doing so.'
Roberta then put away her radio, as she mentally prepared herself for the next action she was about to take.
(_)
At that moment, in the white car, that Lee was driving down the road. By then, both men had put on their seatbelts.
Then, something occurred to Lee, as he kept his eyes in front of him. He requested, “Keep an eye out behind us. We are not anywhere near the being clear of danger, just yet.”
Lee thought, 'Given the lateness of the hour at night, there is likely little traffic on the road. All the police will probably be converging on the police station in a matter of a few minutes. But, the maids will be long gone by then. On the bright side, I doubt there will be any cops between us and the Edgars Industries Complex, to try and stop us, in our high speed burn to safety.'
Meanwhile, Matthew did as Lee instructed. With his seatbelt still on, he looked to his left, between front the seats, and back at the police building. He then saw something strange. He stated, “I think I just saw someone burst through a third story window, and fall to the ground below.”
Lee stated, “Given we were just on the third story floor. Whom you saw was likely the Bloodhound. The purple haired maid. The green haired woman's teacher.”
Matthew commented, “I wouldn't worry. No one could survive a landing at that height.”
Lee countered, “She could. And she has. Even before she became a cyborg. She likely already spotted us. And she will be coming for us in something, real soon.”
Lee mentally reflected, 'We problem should have immediately turned onto another street, before she spotted up. Though, there is nothing we can do about it now.'
'Though, I feel we have just entered the big bad boss level of this game. And all we got to do to survive this is to make it to the finish line, before the boss reaches us. Personally, I always hated such timed chase levels in video game. Though, now that I facing facing such a situation in person. From a personal standpoint, I would rather run, than fight a walking horror like Roberta.'
Lee stated, “We need to put as much distance as we can, before she finds some wheels of her own. Too buy us some more time.” He then saw he was coming up to a four way intersection of the road, with traffic lights on all sides. He asked, “I am coming up to a light. Is there where we turn? Or, do you need me to go straight? Which way do I need to go?”
Matthew turned back around to look in front of them. He saw where they were, as he answered, “Take a right at the next light. Then, it is straight to the highway on ramp. From there we just keep going straight. Later on, the highway literally divides, with the far left lane ending at the Edgars Industries Complex.” He then turned back to look behind him.
Lee replied, “That is good to know.”
Unfortunately, as they came to the traffice light, the light had turned red for them. Though, Lee was not going to stop, just for a traffic light, with Bloodhound of Florencia on his trail.
Though, Lee was careful he ran the red light, while turning right. As he did so, he thought, 'The only good thing about this situation, is they while they use metric measurements, the roads are like in the U.S., where everyone drives on the right side of the road.'
Lee then noticed something, as he tried to apply the brakes. The car did slow down a bit, but not as quickly as it should.
As Lee sped the car back up, he commented, in a calm, and rational manner, “Matthew. Not to scare you. But, one of the student's shots hit brake line. I believe some buck shot bounce on the asphalt, and nicked the brake line under the car. I can feel that brake line is bleeding, and we are losing brake pressure as I work the brake pedal. Soon we are not going to have any brakes at all.”
While continuing to look behind them, Matthew stated, “So, we are going to have a high speed chase without working brakes?”
Lee joked, “Yea. Though, going at high speed sort of defeats the purpose having brakes during such a chase.”
Both men lightly laughed at Lee's gallows humor.
As they calmed down, Matthew deadpanned, “If this killer Bloodhound maid doesn't kill us, we are going to die at the sudden stop at my boss' headquarters.”
Lee countered, “Not really. I have experience with high speed chases. And I have learned how to drive, and safely stop, without having brakes.” He mentally added, 'Those were some fun chases at night, down the roads of Plata Podrido, during the time loop. Though, to be far, I should have been nicer to the brakes on my car, those nights. Still, I had those problems fixed after the time loop ended.'
Matthew inquired, “So, what are you going to do to avoid the sudden stop?”
Lee stated, “When we get close to the gate, I plan to let my foot off the pedal and coast into the complex. We will still likely have to hit something to stop, but it will be a slow speed collision. It will total the car, but as long as we have our seatbelts on, we will be fine.”
Matthew replied, “Okay. I will just have to trust you on this.”
Lee said, “Don't worry. You are in good hands.”
Lee then continued to drive then quickly down the road, to the highway on ramp.
(_)
While the Lee drove passed the red traffic light, outside the front of the police station, Roberta stood up from the ground unharmed, after landing on the street, with both her legs, and her right arm, being used as shock springs to slow her landing.
Roberta stood straight up, as she did mental check on her body to find that she has no injuries from the fall.
She then noticed that she was standing in the right lane of the street. The lane that Lee has been driving down, to get away from her student, and herself.
Suddenly, she saw headlights behind her, and heard a car horn honk.
Roberta turned around and saw a two door, two seat, cherry red, convertible sports car, with its top, and windows down, stopped right behind her.
The human man who was its driver's seat, on the left side of the car, was not wearing a seatbelt. The man loudly stated, in an annoyed tone of voice, in english, “Hey lady! Move out of the way!”
The man then saw, in his headlights, Roberta's lips curl into a toothy, slasher grin. The man immediately when silent with fear.
While the man was still too afraid to asked, Roberta calmly walked over to the driver's side of the car. She then used her right arm to literally grab the driver by the front of his shirt, and throw the driver out of the car. With the man landing onto the sidewalk, with only a few bruises. And the man did not even have time to turn off his car, and remove his keys from the ignition.
With the motor already still running, Roberta hopped over the driver's side door, and into the driver's seat. She found that car had an automatic transmission, located in the center console, between the seats. And the car was set to park.
Roberta set the car to drive, and she floored the gas pedal, as she sped away.
As Roberta felt the wind play with her hair, she continued smiling to herself. She thought, with eagerness and anticipation, 'Now, the true hunt begins.'
(_)
At that moment, in the white car, Lee had nearly floored the gas pedal, as they came up on the ramp, that allowed enter a six lane highway, on the right lane, going towards Edgars Headquarters.
Lee found he had no problems merging with traffic, as the ramp lane merged with the far right lane of the highway.
Lee saw that like the outer loop, there were street lights every fifty feet, or so, on each side of the highway, providing plenty of illumination for the drivers, from street lights set in rows, along the sides of the highway, and along the interior, concrete barrier median of the highway.
The highway had three lanes for coming, and three lanes going. Lee found that the road was modernly busy on both sides of traffic, with him staying in the right lane, except when he needed to pass.
Lee thought, 'Good. The semi-trucks are staying in the left and center lanes, like they should. And most of the vehicles in the right lane are going as fast as I want to go. We are going around eighty miles an hour. And I would guess, converting from kilometers, on the speedometer, to miles, in my head, that this cars top speed is between eighty-five to ninety miles an hour.'
'Though, that is fast enough. And since everyone is going this speed, I am going with the traffic, meaning I will likely not get pulled over, even if there is a cop nearby.'
'Also, this is nowhere near as bad as going through downtown Atlanta, Georgia, during rush out. Bumper to bumper, doing eighty-five miles an hour. Now, that is insane.'
'And I regret I cannot use their names. But, I do not know Matthew enough to mention Roberta, Fabiola, and the others by name, in front of him. Still, I need to remind Matthew to keep a lookout for Roberta.'
Lee kept his eyes forward, as he stated, “Look behind us, at those driving cars very fast, towards us. Look for a young, fair skinned woman, with long purple hair. That is the other maid. Or, more aptly, the Bloodhound.”
Matthew continued looking behind them, as replied, “Gotcha.”
Lee thought, 'Though now, that I think about it. This would be a good excuse to get to know a little more about you, Matthew. And it would help take your mind off of how dire our situation really is.'
Lee kept his eyes in front of him, and to his sides, as he requested, “Given you are now my lawyer, Matthew. I would like to know a little about you.”
While still looking behind them, Matthew stated, “There is not much to tell. I had a normal childhood. I became a lawyer to help my younger brother. For a few years, I got caught up in the drug culture. During that time, me, and a good friend I had, a mexican reporter, did a wicked burn at Babylon Five, while bombed out of our gourds. And we got away from the station right before the hammer was about to drop on us, and back to Mars.”
Matthew's lips curled into a wicked grin, as he continued, “Keep in mind, Mars is an independent, sovereign nation. And we don't have an extradition treaty with the Earth Alliance, yet... Hehehe... Last I heard from my reporter friend was that he was going on a Martian dust run. He disappeared after that... But, I miss him.”
“Anyway, I got clean, won a few major cases for my brother, and those like him. Then, I got hired personally, as a lawyer to Edgars Industries, by Mister Garibaldi, himself. I think the main reason he hired me was that I had the balls to freely admit to his face what I did in Babylon Five. He laughed during my story, and for a few minutes after I finished my story, about what my friend and I did there.”
“Finally, after some time there, I was assigned to your case, and we find ourselves here, being chased by unstoppable killing machine.”
Lee could not help be laugh a little, as he happily thought, 'Fear and Loathing in Babylon Five. I am going to have to keep him around just hear the backstory to that one.'
As Lee calmed down, he stated, “Well Matthew, you are the exact type of lawyer I want. I want someone that can appreciate the concept of taking refuge in audacity.”
Without turning to look at Lee, Matthew said, “Thank you, Lee.”
Lee commented, “You're welcome. Now, keep an eyes out, while I do our best to get us to your boss, as quickly, as possible, and in one piece.”
Matthew replied, “No problem.” Matthew then continued looking behind them, Lee drove them down the highway.
Two minutes later, Matthew saw the purple hair woman in the distance, as she drove a cherry red convertible sports car towards them. With the roof and side windows down on the vehicle.
Matthew thought, 'With her long purple hair waving in the wind, she is not hard to spot.' He commented, “Lee, you were right. She's here. I see her coming up fast in a red sports.”
Lee looked in the rearview mirrors. He saw that she was weaving through the lanes, as she passed by cars and trucks. She was about a fifty yards from them, and closing. He stated, “I see her.”
Matthew continued to look at the red sports car that was coming on them. He said, “As your lawyer, I highly suggest we go faster.”
Lee stated, “I have the gas pedal almost to the floor.”
Matthew continued looking behind the Bloudhound, as he asked, in a deadpan tone of voice, “Then, how can she be gaining on us so fast?”
Lee flatly answered, “Simple. She is in a high-end sports car. We are in a medium level piece of crap. Here. Turn around, and take the wheel. I think I can solve our problem. If I don't, then in about twenty seconds, she is going to be on top of us. And then it is over. So, just don't disturb me. I only got one shot this.”
Matthew quickly turned around to look at the road in front of them. As he grabbed the steering wheel, with his left hand, Lee let go of the wheel.
Matthew steered the car, while Lee kept his foot on the gas pedal.
Lee pulled the level on the left, bottom side of his chair, and he set his chair to lean all the way back. He then was facing the closed sunroof of the car. He quickly opened the car's sunroof. Next, he pulled out the last grenade that he stole from Jayne.
Without taking his eyes off the road in front of them, from the corner of his right eye, Matthew saw the strange looking grenade. He asked, “You had that the entire time? And the police security sensors, nor the telepath, did not pick it up?”
Lee kept his visual focus on the open sunroof, as he stated, “Mister Dresden did know about it. But, he realized the seriousness of the situation. And this grenade is so different from the standard weapons the sensors are designed to pick up, that they did not realize what it is.' He thought, 'Along with my reality device and hologram device. Though, I was counting on that.'
Matthew thought, 'The mysteries just continue to pile up on of this man. But, this is not the time for such questions.' He commented, “Okay. Though, I still don't know what are you doing?”
Lee requested, in a sarcasitc tone of voice, “Stay quiet. I am using the force.” He thought, 'Or more like my precognition. Though, I have never done this before with a grenade. And if I am not careful, I could get us killed.”
Lee closed his eyes, as he held the grenade in his right hand.
He internally felt for the right time to prime and throw his explosive weapon.
Suddenly, he sense the moment was at hand. The right exact moment. He quickly used his left hand to turn knob on the top of the grenade, priming its eight second fuse. Right after priming the weapon, he tossed the grenade in an underhanded throw, out of the sunroof.
(_)
A few seconds ago, twenty-five yards behind Lee and Matthew. In the same far right hand lane, Roberta was driving her red sports car, towards Lee and Matthew's white car.
There were no vehicles between the two men, and Roberta.
Roberta thought, 'I can see that Lee is the one driving. And I could shoot them both right now. But, what would be the fun in that? I think I will drive them off the road, then I will handle them both.'
Then, Roberta further pressed down the gas pedal, to more quickly gain on the two men.
Suddenly, she saw something small come out of the top of the white car in front of her. With the small object landing on the front, right side of the windshield, between the hood and the window wipers. Right in front of Roberta.
Roberta immediately realized it was a small grenade, as she quickly ripped off the driver's side door, and jumped out. She came rolling to a stop onto center lane of the highway. She then laid there, on her back, as she wait for the explosion to happen.
Fortunately, the streets lights allowed other drivers to see her in the middle lane, and the red car, in the far right lane, that was slowing down.
The vehicles drove around into the far left lane, to avoid hitting her in the middle lane, and the burning car in the far right lane. Though, none of the vehicles stopped to check on Roberta.
A second later, the grenade went off, and caused the car to explode. Fortunately, there was no one, nor any vehicles near the red sports car, when it exploded.
While laying face down on the road, Roberta smile wickedly, as she thought, while feeling slightly impressed with her prey, 'Not bad, Lee. Not bad at all. There is nothing more invigorating than a challenging hunt, lead to success. And you are proving to be a worthy challenge.'
(_)
At that moment, up the highway, in the white car, Lee closed the sunroof. He then set his chair back up, as he took the steering wheel. With Matthew letting, and leaning back in his seat, as Lee took the steering wheel with both his hands. Matthew then looking in the right side, door mirror, at the vehicle that Lee had just destroyed.
Lee saw there was not vehicles in front of him, for about a hundred feet. So, Lee took the opportunity to look his rearview mirrors to see that the smoke remains of red sports car had come to a stop, as it was on fire, in the same far right lane they were in. Though, Lee did not see Roberta. And that greatly worried him, he also felt relief that Roberta no longer had transportation to catch them with.
Lee put his attention back in front of him, as he thought, 'Well, that is that. Now, to get to Edgars Industries headquarters, before Roberta finds another set of wheels. I hope Roberta did not seriously harm, or kill, the person she stood that red sports car from. Though, I will still have Matthew play lookout.'
Matthew looked over to his left side, at Lee, as he said, “I am still surprised you had a grenade all this time.”
Lee continued looking down the road, as he smirked. He stated, “It worked, didn't it? It's over.”
Then, Lee saw a tiny glint of white, from the corner of his right eye, in the center rearview, of the car.
Lee looked over at the mirror to see Roberta standing in the middle of the road, to their left. She was tiny in the mirror, but the vehicles were driving around her, to avoid hitting her. And in the street lights, Lee could see the white apron around her waist as clear as day.
Lee then saw that Roberta had start running towards them. He stated, with a mild sense of dread in his tone of voice, “Or, maybe not... Take a look behind us, and let me know where the maid is heading near.”
Matthew looked behind him, and between the front seat. He saw that by then, Roberta was running as fast as the cars were driving on the road, which were doing around eighty miles an hour. Matthew exclaimed, in a mix of fear, disbelief, and surprise, “She is not human!”
Lee quipped, “You just figured that out, Matthew? So, do you have any weapons on you?”
Matthew turned around to face Lee, as he replied, “What do you mean?”
Lee stated, “That grenade was my last weapon. We need something, or we are screwed.”
Matthew leaned down, and grabbed his briefcase from the floor, between his leg. He then leaned back up, set the briefcase on his lap, with two the numerical combination locks facing him. He set the proper three digit numbers of the two locks. He then undid the locks, and opened the briefcase.
Matthew then pulled out something, from his case, that he carefully set on his lap, in front of his briefcast. He closed the case, shut the locks, and place as brief case back between his legs.
With his left hand, Matthew carefully picked up the item in his lap, as he stated, “One of the rangers lent me this, right before I went to the police station, to meet with you.”
Lee risked a look to his right side, to look at what the item was. He saw that it a ranger fighting pike, that was collapsed to its four inch long cylinder mode.
Lee looked back at the road, as he stated, “Not what I had in mind. But, it will have to do. Hand it here.” He kept his left hand on the steering wheel. He held out his right hand, as he looked back at Matthew and the item in Matthew's left hand.
Matthew carefully set the weapon into Lee's right hand, with the center button facing up, in Lee's right open palm. As Matthew let got of the compressed staff weapon, he cautioned, “Careful not to hit the center button. Which I turned to face up.”
Lee closed his hand around the weapon, while paying special attention to not press the center button. He looked back at the highway in front of them, as he said, “Thanks for the reminder.”
Lee continued to pay attention to the highway in front of them, and Roberta closing in behind them, by glancing at the rearview mirrors, as he thought, 'Now, I have a weapon. The question is how I am going to use it? At least, I have a few minutes to think of a plan, before Roberta reached us. But, none of the plans I am coming up would work in the manner that Matthew and I would survive, and get away. And I cannot sacrifice Matthew, because he is the key meeting Garibaldi. And getting Garibaldi's help would buy me more time for my larger plans of escape.'
Lee took a risk to take a closer look at the collapsed pike, in his right hand. He used his right fingers to careful adjust his hold of it in his right hand, to where it the cylinder was held long ways in the palm of his hand, with the red button in the middle facing up, to where he could press it with his thumb. Lee then looked up at the road in front of him.
Matthew then looked back just in time to see the running maid jump onto the roof of a nearby car. He stated, with worry evident in his tone of voice, “She just jumped onto the roof of a car. She really isn't human! We are screwed!”
Lee turned to Matthew, as he snapped at his lawyer, “Either nut up, or shut up. I need you keep an eye on where she is at. And where she is going.”
Matthew thought, 'I don't know the term, but I know the meaning. I have got to get a hold of myself, and do my part of this job. Or, we are dead. Or, worse, at least first for Lee. From what the green haired woman said.' Matthew then kept track of Roberta, as he calmly stated, “She has now jumped onto the bed of a pickup truck.”
“Now, she is on the roof of another car.”
“She just made it onto a taxi.”
“And now she is on the trailer container of a semi.”
“She is not on the hood a mini-van. I am surprised that roof could support her landing. They were not made to handle that type of strain... Now, she has jumped onto a full sized van.'
Matthew kept updating Lee, as Lee continued to keep the car in the far right lane.
Their car soon came up to being parallel to green semi-tractor-trailer truck, to their left side. The truck was hauling a standard steel trailer container box, with the truck being in the middle lane, next to the right lane Lee and Matthew's white car were in.
(_)
Roberta jumped from vehicle roof top, to vehicle roof top. With some of her jumps being measured over a hundred feet. Even with wind resistance, Roberta had no problems perfectly landing each time.
While Roberta continued to jump, she saw that she was getting closer to Lee's white car. She smiled, as she thought, with mild amusement, 'This is kind of fun. And the wind resistance is not that bad.'
'Now, I know why Revy finds jumping from high speed boat, to high speed boat, so much fun. Still, this is a lot more dangerous, than doing that. Because unlike jumping boats, which if one misses, the person hits the water, and gets wet. I miss, and I will eat asphalt. Still, I will just have to be more careful. And I would gloat about this to her. But, she is not one to take gloating well.'
Her smile turned feral again, as she continued her thoughts, 'Now, to capture my prey.'
Roberta than jumped on top the trailer container that was beside the white car, to her right, that Lee was driving. She walked up the top of the container, to line up her next jump.
(_)
At that moment, inside the white car below, Matthew yelled, “She just jumped onto the top of the cargo contained right beside us!”
Lee cursed under his breath, “Damn. We're out of time.” As he partly looked to his left, at the container, and he suddenly realized that he was driving beside trailer part of the green semi.
Lee then started to formulate another plan.
A few seconds later, Lee finished his plan, as he thought, 'That could work.'
Lee quickly used the controls on the door by him, to his left, to lowered all four of the electronic side windows of the car.
As the open window began to blow air into their car, Matthew asked, “What are you doing?”
Lee kept his left hand on the steering wheel, as he used his right hand to undo his seatbelt, and remove it. While he did so, he flatly stated, “Minimizing debris.”
Matthew replied, “Huh?”
A second later, both of them heard the noise, and felt, as Roberta landed on top of their car hood roof.
Lee gripped the collapsed pike in his right hand, more rightly, as he gripped the steering wheel with his left hand. He also steered the car exactly where he wanted to go, as he ordered, “Undo your seatbelt, and duck under the dashboard, right now.”
Matthew did so.
At that moment, outside, on the roof of their car, Roberta pulled her two Argentinian model nineteen twenty-seven Sistema Colt semi-automatic pistols from her person. Each of her pistols had a forty round, modified, Promag COL-A8 ammo clip, attached at the bottom of her pistol grips.
Roberta then immediate started firing at the engine, in the front of the car.
Lee saw the shots being made into the hood in front of him. He swiftly check to see that Matthew had removed his seatbelt, and ducked under the dashboard, in front of him. Which, Matthew had done so.
Lee then quickly ducked to his side, over the center console, as he steered the car, to his left, between the front landing gear of the trailer itself, and the back tandem axles, and wheels, of the trailer.
Lee knew the car was to tall to clear the trailer, and that was what he was counting on.
(_)
Outside Roberta realized what was happening, as she immediately jumped up, to her left, and over the top of the trailer, while the white car's hood was sheered off.
The front and back windshields detached with the roof, in single pieces. And with the side windows lowered, there were no glass shards created, to rain down on on Lee and Matthew on the inside of the car, due to the maneuver Lee presently did.
As Roberta was in the apex of her arc, over the trailer, she saw just was she expected. Below her, Lee's white car exited into the far left lane, she smiled as she held her guns ready.
Roberta's grin turned more feral, as she thought, ''Just what I expect you to do, Lee. Nice attempt to try to lose me. But, it will not work. Now, I have you.'
Roberta's timing and aim was excellent, as she planned to land right into the backseat of the Lee's white car.
While falling, she kept her trigger fingers on the trigger guards of her weapons.
But, as she fell closer to the car, she noticed Lee was holding something with his right hand above the center console of the car. With the thumb side of his first facing to Lee's side. Also, the item's top and bottom was uncovered, as Lee gripped the item by the sides, with his right fingers and hand. With the bottom of the item placed flat against the top of the console.
(_)
At that moment, in the car, Lee was leaned back up, and he looked up at Roberta's slasher smile, with a smirk on his face.
For one brief moment, their eyes met, as Roberta was close enough to see passed Lee's shades, and into his eyes.
And a second later, at the last possible moment, Lee used his right thumb to trigger the fighting pike, in his right hand, to expand.
The weapon, popped up like a spring, hitting Roberta in her stomach, and knocking the wind out of her, while wiping smile off her face, as the blow ejected her away from, and behind, Lee's white car.
At the same time, the staff also ejected itself from the car, and fell onto the road, behind them.
While going back up into the air, the blow also caused Roberta to let go of her pistols, as she land onto the highway with a thud.
The graceless fall caused her to roll a few times, on her side.
As Roberta sat up, Roberta turned and watched the now topless white car, speed away. As she got her breath back, she placed her right hand where the weapon had hit her on the stomach.
She admitted to herself, “I actually felt that.” She then quickly mentally checked herself, as she thought, 'Though, I don't think the blow, nor the landing did any serious damage to me. I will have a nice bruise for a couple of days, where that thing hit me in the stomach. But otherwise, I should be fine. Now, I just need to figured out how to catch up with Lee, again, without run. Because that running and jumping, while fun, was starting to tire me.'
Roberta then realized something, as she mentally wondered, 'Why are not any cars driving around me.' She turned to her left and behind her to see. And what she saw to her left, caused me to smile.
Roberta continued to smile, as she thought, 'Yes. That will do just nicely. But first, I need to quickly collect my weapons. Considering time is of the essence, I will not need them for this next part. So, I will check on their later.
Roberta then got up, and swiftly located and collected her two pistols off the road.
(_)
Meanwhile, the human, male, driver of the green semi-tractor trailer truck saw the whole event play out, from his rearview mirrors, as he immediately turned the trail to his right, and he began to stop, as the white car cleared under his trailer. As a way to get the white car away from his truck and trailer, to minimize any more risk of someone getting hurt in an accident.
A few seconds later, as the truck driving had his semi come to a stop, he noticed the white, roofless car, with to men in it, drive away.
The truck driver thought, “Damn idiots. They are going to get themselves, or someone else killed.'
The trucker then noticed the news helicopter, in the air, to his upper left, that fly away, as it followed the damaged white car.
The truck driver cracked a grin, as he thought, with amusement, 'But, idiots that are likely going to get caught.'
Though, given the way the truck driver stopped, blocked the middle and right lanes.
And due to Roberta landing in the left lane, the vehicles in the left lane stopped to avoid hitting Roberta. This block all three lanes of traffic on that side of the road, creating grid lock.
It was then that the truck driver noticed Roberta laying on the road.
The trucker thought, with worry, 'Oh hell. She was likely thrown from the car. I need to see how hurt she is.'
The truck driver immediately put his semi into park, undid his seatbelt, and began to get out of his large semi-tractor-trailer truck. The trucker was in such a hurry, he did not remove the key, and he left the driver's seat door open, as he got out.
It took about a minute for the driver to make his way out of his vehicle, and onto the highway, to see if he could help that women that had landed on the road.
By the time, the trucker had gotten out, with him on the road, approaching the women in a black and white dress, he saw the woman just leaned up from the road, as she had items in her hands. Though, the woman's back was turned from the trucker. And due the shadows of the street lights, the trucker could not see what the woman was doing.
The woman then started putting her items away.
(_)
Roberta had quickly collected her pistols off the road. She found that the cars behind her had continued to stay where they were. Considering, with their headlights, they saw that she had been collecting her pistols off the road.
As Roberta faced the concrete divider, on the left lane of the road, she holstered her two semi-automatic pistols.
Roberta then heard a male voice, behind her, inquire, with concern, in english, “Lady, are you alright?”
Roberta thought, 'I am glad someone was nice enough to check on me. I see this place does have a few kind people in it.
With her hands empty, Roberta turned around and she saw the truck driver approached her, to see if she was alright.
Roberta grinned wickedly at the man, and she saw that it was the semi-tractor-trailer trucker that had come to help her. With the man leaving the left driver's seat door open, and the truck idle.
Roberta happily thought, 'This is even better. At least, I won't have to yank him from his truck. And he likely left the key in it. So, I will just leave him on the road, unharmed.'
Roberta continued to grin wickedly, as she looked at the truck driver. She answered, in english, “Thank you for you concern. I soon will be.”
(_)
Less than a minute later, Roberta closed the door to her new vehicle. And she back on the road, in the green semi-tractor-trailer truck that she had taken from the driver. She quickly used her knowledge of vehicles, to put the transmission in gear, and drive the truck on the road, towards Lee and Matthew. With her quickly building speed in her large vehicle.
Though, Roberta left unharmed driver stranded on the side of the road. And the cars behind the truck, ignored the truck driver, as traffic started back up.
Roberta just gave the trucker driver one of her slasher smiles. The trucker took one look at Roberta's smile. He said, 'Keeps in the ignition. She's all yours.' He then turned and walked to the far right side of the highway, to the emergency lane, as Roberta ran for the open driver's side of the truck.
As Roberta drover down the highway, she moved to the center lane. And she also found that the truck had a near a full tank of whatever it ran on. That mean she could floor the pedal and not worry about fuel, as she made up for lost time, in her hunt.
While Roberta drove, she smiled, as she thought, 'This hunt is not over, yet. Not by a long shot.'
(_)
Meanwhile, a few minutes ago, in the white car, after Lee had just ejected Roberta from the car, and passed by the left side of the truck.
Lee continued to drive down the left lane of the highway, as he turned back to look at the road ahead of him.
Lee did not bother to buckle himself up.
Also, from the corner of his left eye, Lee noticed something, but he intentionally paid it no mind.
Lee calmly put both hands the steering wheel, as he said, in a relaxed tone of voice, to Matthew, “You can sit up now. And don't bother with the seatbelts. They were likely damaged in that little stuck of mine.”
Matthew leaned up, and he did as suggested. He did not buckled himself back into his seat. Though, he turned to Lee, and he saw that Lee was making great use of wearing his sunglasses at night. To break the wind off his eyes.
Meanwhile, Matthew did not have that luxury, as he had no glasses on himself to wear. But, given the clarity of the air, he could still see ahead of them, without it stinging to much.
Matthew thought, 'Lee is like Corey Hart. I wear my sunglasses at night. I guess there is a reason to do that. I wish I thought of bringing my sunglasses. Oh well. Now, where is the Bloodhound? And why are we not dead? For that matter, where the roof of the car?'
As Matthew looked around, he saw the Bloodhound was nowhere in sight. He then noticed Lee was snickering, as Lee kept looking down the road.
Matthew asked, “What are you snickering about?”
Lee continued looking down the road, he thought, 'Because, from the corner of my eye, I saw you looking around. No doubt, you are wondering where the Bloodhound is. And why we are still alive. Thought, I better coming up with another reason, for my snickering. Because, telling you that would be rude. And I know just what I want to say. With you, my captive audience.'
'Also, I noticed our little stunt stopped traffic behind us. So, that is good as well. With the Bloodhound likely quickly recovering from that. It will still take her a few minutes to find some more wheels. And with luck. That will give us more than enough time to reach fortress, Edgar's Industries, the literally army inside, and Garibaldi, himself, before she can get to us.'
'But, I better answer you now. Before you ask me other questions, which are harder to answer, for both of us.'
Lee kept his eyes on the road, as he stated, “I was just thinking about the weapons and equipment our pursuer is using. I got a good look at her weapons, as she was trying to literally get the drop on top of us. Most people focus on her slasher smile. But, I was taught to focus on the firearms. And I am surprised that she still is using those Promag ammo drum clips.”
“The Argentinian model nineteen twenty-seven Sistema Colt semi-automatic pistols is based off of the model M nineteen eleven semi-automatic pistol is a good quality weapon. And it uses quality ammo. The point forty-five ACP bullet. I have actually have the privilege of firing that exact model pistol when I was younger.”
“The pistol itself was original used by the Argentinian military and police during much of the middle part of the twenty century. And I am sure that to this day, it is considered one of the finest semi-automatic pistols ever made. And it fires very smoothly. It does not have much of a kick to it.”
“Also, the pistols use single-action action trigger system. Meaning the hammer has to be cocked for the trigger to fire it. But, knowing the Bloodhound's preference to have her weapons modified, she might have had her weapon customized to have double-action trigger systems. Meaning the trigger can pull back the hammer, and fire the round in the chamber.”
“What I like about that model pistol, and I am sure the person who is after us likes as well, is the way the safety systems work. It has a grip safety. Meaning that on the upper back part of the grip, there is a release for the hammer. If you don't fully grip the pistol, you cannot fire it. And it has a slide safety, for when the hammer is cocked back. With the slide safety located on the left upper side of the grip, for use of the right thumb, to toggle on and off.”
“Still, the slide safety is of a much older design. And it shows its age this way. In that it does not have a decocking function. And the slide safety will only lock when the hammer is already cocked. There is a really good reason for this. The hammer of the pistol is so small, and without a decocking function, if someone tries to manual cock the hammer, it can slip out of the persons fingers, and misfire. With the slide sliding back, and shredding the fingers and hand of that person.”
“So, the slide safety was designed to lock the hammer when the hammer was cocked back. And someone would not have to uncock the hammer, to use the safety. This was a smart design feature for the people at Colt, whom designed and made the weapon, to fix the minor design defect with the hammer.”
“Thought, I realized this a while ago, without having that type of misfire. That one should never try to manually cock hammer of that Sistema, by the hammer. Always, use the slide to cock the hammer.”
“Also, even though, like the original nineteen twenty-seven Colt, the Sistema had fixed front and back, open sights. Since this woman has a preference for modifying her weapons. Her colts likely have adjustable back sights.”
“Now, on the other hand. As good as the colt and ammo is. The forty round Promag COL-A8 ammo drum clip, on the other hand, had problems, both with not fully feeding the ammo, and it was knowing to cause the pistol ammo to jam in the chamber.”
“Still, her Promag ammo drums clip are different than the standard COL-A8 ammo drums. The standard COL A eight is a completely black plastic ammo drum, and clip. While, her ammo drums had a clear plastic, back casing, allowing her to see how much ammo she has left. Don't ask how I saw that. It is a long story. Anyway, it is very likely that her ammo drums are modified. And when she had those ammo drum modified, she had those flaws and defects fixed as well...”
“And that would take a master gunsmith to do... She likely used her former master's family resources to get the equipment, and help, to make the modifications to her weapons. That would explain where she got her other more interesting pieces of hardware. Such as the China Lake, for her student. I checked. Those things are rare, and hard to come by, even when they are produced by a third party.”
“Though, given the size of those ammo drum clips, with her being able pull out her pistol so quickly, with the pistols being ready to shoot, I do not want to know where she hides those weapons on her person.”
“That being said, I think she should have stayed with using the original seven bullet ammo clips, because she could really pulled off that dual, Desperado, Banderas, dual pistols popped out of both sleeves, into the hands, at the same time, trick. Very cool.”
“But, she always preferred more firepower over style and finesse. Which is definitely an interesting contrast to her student, whom prefer finesse over firepower. Not that I am going to argument those points with her. Even if she was not trying to kill us. Because, she has results with her methods.”
Matthew looked at Lee, as he listened to his client's comments. Matthew responded, in a confused tone of voice, “Huh?... What the hell are you talking about?... How do you know what you know?... Who the hell are you really?”
While still looking forward, toward the road in front of them, Lee smirked, as he thought, 'All wonderful questions to answer.'
He continued to smirk, as he happily commented, “I'm a user. Though, you can call me, Frankenstein... And you're my navigator... Bwahahahahaha!...” Lee's voice become more causal in its tone, as he continued, “Still, I really wanted to keep that staff. It is not as cool as a lightsaber, but it is worth having. Too bad I had to lose it to the Bloodhound. But, it was a good trade off. We are still both breathing.”
Matthew agreed, “You got that right.”
Lee commented, “Besides. We are being watched. With the roof off, there is a helicopter behind us, to our upper left. But, don't look directly at the camera. The viewers don't like that. And it is best not to allow them to get a direct look at our faces.”
McCormick simply replied, “Okay.” He then sarcastically thought, 'Just great. Even if I don't look at the helicopter. Which I don't plan to. Eventually, I will be identified, and everyone will connect me to this mess. Though, I will deal with that later. Right now, I want to get this job done, demand a much deserved, immediate vacation, and go home.'
While they drove down the highway, even with the top and windshields gone, Lee found the wind resistance was not that bad at the high speed they were traveling at.
Lee thought, 'At least I have my sunglasses on. And even with them on, I can still see fine. Due to the street lights and headlights of my car. Though, I still have the brake issues. Slowing down it going to become a real issue soon. I will just have to pop this think into neutral and coast our way down.'
(_)
A minute later, Matthew saw something in front of them, as he stated, “I see the lights of gates, concrete walls, buildings in the distance.”
Lee then noticed the lights coming from a few miles out from the Edgars Industries Complex, as well.
Lee also saw the lights outline Edgar's complex in the distance. Soon, they came into view, where they saw the buildings were lit up like Christmas tree of orange lights. There was the main, very large, very tall, building in the center of the headquarters. With small buildings surrounding it.
Lee could also see the orange lights that ringed the fence of the complex.
Even the orange lights around the gates, on that side of the complex, peeked out of the distance.
Lee thought, 'We are getting close. Now, to make better use of my lawyer.' Lee ordered, “Get on your cellphone, and tell Edgars security that we are coming in hot. And we are going to need armed guards ready at the gate. Along with any other firepower they can bring to the table.”
Matthew he pulled out his cellphone. He then dialed the direct number to Edgars security, that he knew of.
While Matthew put the phone to his right ear, to wait for the other end to pick up, he inquired, “Do you think she is not going to give up?”
Lee kept his eyes on the room, as he flatly replied, “That bitch does not know how to give up.”
Matthew said, “I was afraid you were going to say this.”
A second later, Lee heard Matthew say over the phone, “This is McCormick. I have the client. And we are coming in hot.”
Lee thought, 'The ball is in my lawyer's court, now. I just hope he can convince them to do as we request.'
As Matthew had his conversation on his phone, Lee was not fully passing attention to what Matthew was saying, as he drove the down the road.
As their car cruised down the highway on the left most lane their side, Lee noticed that the two lanes to his right separated from his lane, and veered to the right, around the large complex.
At the same time, Lee noted the far two left lanes of the oncoming traffic veered to the right around the complex.
As this happened, the lane they were on, the far left lane, and the nearest lane of oncoming traffic to his left merged into a two lane road. Though, the street lights continued every fifty feet or so, on the sides of the road.
Lee yelled, “Homestretch, babe!”
Suddenly, they heard a large horn blow behind them.
Lee mentally cursed, 'Oh no. I just jinx myself.'
Matthew heard the horn, as well.
With the cellphone still to Matthew right ear, and Lee keeping a first hand on the steering wheel, both of them turned around, the two men look between the two front seats, and behind them, to see a green semi-tractor-trailer truck, hauling a trailer container behind it, going a high speed towards them, and gaining on their car.
Through the left driver's windshield window, they both saw that Roberta, with her slasher smile, was at the steering wheel of the truck.
As both of them turned back to face the road in front of him, Matthew kept his right ear to the phone, as he put his right thumb over the microphone of his cellphone. He turned to Lee, as he listened to the other end of the line. He flatly stated, towards Lee. “Damn! You were right! She does not know when to quit!”
Lee then noticed a red light on the dash board instruments behind his steering wheel.
Lee said, “I got worse news. The heat gauge is red lining. She shot the radiator, or whatever keeps the engine cool from the friction of its gears. The engine is going to seize any second.”
By then, they were literally a mile from the gates of the complex, as both men saw the gates begin roll open for them.
Matthew then heard something from the other end of the line, that made him frown. He kept his thumb on the microphone of the cellphone, as he commented, in a strong tone of disappointment, and slight anger in his voice, “Damn it! I got more terrible news. They say they are opening the gate. But, they will not do anything else.”
Lee turned his head to his right, as he looked Matthew in his eyes. He stated, in a deadly serious tone of voice,“If they don't bring out their big guns right now, we are all dead!... Give me the phone.”
Matthew quickly handed Lee the phone.
Lee kept his left hand on the steering wheel, as he took the phone with his right hand.
Lee looked back in front of him, as he held the phone to his right ear. He yelled into the microphone of the cellphone, “Ah hell! Ah hell! Ah hell!”
Lee then hung up the cellphone, by flipping it close. Next, he tossed it back to Matthew, whom caught it, and put it away, in one of his pockets.
Lee thought, 'Ah hell, in Minbari means, continuous fire. Given that was Sinclair's catch phase, I am sure he added it to the Minbari language when he became Valen, when he time traveled back a thousand years ago, in this reality. Still, I am gambling the security officials will mistake me for a ranger talking to them. And my comment will trick them into pulling out their big guns. By shutting off the cellphone, I heighten their concern for our wellbeing.'
Then, Lee saw something else happen in the distance.
'Looks like it worked.' Lee thought, as he began laughing.
Matthew saw the same things that Lee did, as he asked, “Are those what I think they are?”
Lee smirked, as he replied, “Oh yea, babe. Get ready for some fun. Bwahahahahahaha!”
Suddenly, the back left driver's side tire exploded, causing the car to spin forward in a counterclockwise rotation, due to the right back tire still gripping the road.
Lee quickly turned his steering wheel partly turned to his left, into the turn, while he applied the gas, as he gaining control of the car's spin, to make it continue to going towards the gate. With the blown out left back wheel partly acting as a pivot for the spinning.
While doing so, Lee continued laughing like a madman, Matthew started to scream like a little girl.
Lee thought, 'I am so happy I spent some time in that time loop learning how to control spinning cars. Now, to increase me fun.'
On the second turn around to face Roberta, Lee decide to do something, while he gloated.
(_)
Ten seconds ago, in the driver's seat of the semi, Roberta was smiling. She watched at the began to car spin out, and her truck was getting closer and closer to her target.
Roberta thought, 'All I need is his brain intact.'
Roberta focused on the car, as she was sixty meters from the car. Then, forty meters from the car.
But, when she reached twenty-five meters, she noticed that Lee was laughing.
And then on second turn, when Lee faced her, he smirked, as he was looking right at her, while using his left hand to give her the middle finger.
Through the windshield, Roberta also heard Lee yell, “Roberta! You're fucked! Bwahahahaha!”
Roberta was more confused, than angry, by her targets insult against her.
Roberta then looked above the car, and towards the gate, and tall concrete fence.
On the columns on the large outside wall concrete walls that line the complex in front of them, she saw gun turrets popped up and aim at her.
She immediately dropped her grin, as her eyes widen, and her pupils contracted in fear.
She swiftly opened the driver's side door, as she jumped to the dirt ground, on the left side of the road, just in time to avoiding thousands of rounds of fire from the gun turrets.
The rounds were not PPG plasma rounds, but armor piecing rail-cannon spikes that fired over the white car, and shredded the semi, and quickly caused the vehicle to explode.
Right after the truck exploded, the container behind it rolled onto it side and skidded to a stop, it blocked both lands of traffic. As it Roberta, and came to a stop, nearer to the gate. Though, it the container was more on the right of the road, than the left side. With the container knocking done a one of the street lights, set every fifty feet, on the right side of the road.
And given the way the contain set, with the left lane not being completely blocked, this allowed Roberta a field of view, of her target, and the open gate.
A second later, the firing stopped, and Roberta got to her knees, as she watched as her prey escape her grasp, by his car spinning passed the gate.
A few seconds later, as the gate closed behind her target, Roberta howled in fury, “LEEEEEEEEE!”
Roberta then started to take deep breaths, as she started to force herself to calm down. She thought, with annoyance, and rage, 'Being angry right now will not help me, for the moment. And I partly regret finally seeing this series, that this reality is about. Because I now know who Michael Garibaldi, what the fortress in front of me is, and that Garibaldi controls it. And what I do not know about this location, is worse. I do not know what traps and resources Garibaldi has waiting for intruders...'
'As such, I cannot follow Lee inside. And it will take some well thought out planning to make it inside and reach Lee. So, I will have to escape, and find Rock. I will let her come up with a plan to capture Lee. She is good at planning. She already caught Lee once, at the factory. She can do so again.'
Roberta then looked around, as she continued her thoughts, 'But, first, I need transportation.'
Roberta then saw something in the distance, to her left, opposite to the road beside her. She smiled, as she thought, 'They will do. And I vaguely recall this situation.'
She then quickly escaped, be crawling, to avoid being shot by turrets, as she headed for those she saw in the distance. So, she could get a ride, the meet up with the rest of the Rock and Revy's group. And they could then figure out how to get Lee out of the fortress he had made it into.
(_)
At that exact moment, Lee and Matthew spun forward into the inside courtyard of the Edgars Industries Complex.
They came to a stop, as their car slammed into a large water fountain, in the center of the clearing.
The side that was slammed was Matthew's side. But, their car has lost so much momentum that neither of the two men were harmed, even without their seatbelts on.
Lee noticed that the gates had closed behind them, and the Bloodhound was nowhere in sight.
Lee's laugh had become a light chuckle, as he happily thought, 'I beat Roberta. I beat the Bloodhound. I beat the most dangerous badass I know of in the entire multiverse. I rock!... Boss level completed. My reward. I get to live free for another day. And that is all I want, for right now.'
'Still, I wonder if Matthew is alright.'
Lee then turned to Matthew, as he noticed that Matthew was still screaming.
Lee casually thought, 'If he is screaming that loudly, and clearly, he will be fine.'
Lee used his right hand to tap Matthew lightly on Matthew's left shoulder.
This got Matthew's attention, as he stopped screaming, and he looked over at his client from hell.
Lee smiled, as he calmly said, “Relax. It is over. We are safe now. For the time being.”
Suddenly, several dozen Edgars security guards, in their uniforms, ran out into the courtyard and surround the white car Lee and Matthew were in.
They all had their ppg pistols drawn, and pointed at Lee, as the two men in the car look at the guards.
Lee and Matthew turned to the security force, as Lee casually said to them, “Hi guys. Nice to meet you. I want to let you know that Mister McCormick, here, has been a wonderful legal representative. Whom has offered good, sound advice, in my time of need.” Lee turned to look at Matthew, as he continued, “And I hope retain his legal services in the future.”
Matthew turned back, to look at Lee, as he flatly stated, “Dream on! I am getting out of here before they come back. I hear that Centauri Prime is nice this time of year.”
Lee then noticed he was starting to come off his several hours long adrenal high. He felt that he was fading fast into unconsciousness.
Lee commented, in a disappointed tone of voice, “Anyway, it was good to meet you, Matthew...” He turned to the security forces, as he continued, in the same disappointed tone of voice, “And you all, as well. But, unfortunately the cancer is really kicking my ass right now, so I am going to take a nap.”
Lee then passed out.
Matthew looked at the guards, as he demanded, “Somebody help me out of this deathtrap, and away from this lunatic. I am going to the boss right now, or I am going to scream again.”
A few seconds later, one of the guards checked to see that Lee was actually asleep. The guard that did so gave the others the all clear signal. And they put away their pistols. Next, they began to help both Matthew, and an unconscious Lee, out of the totaled white car.
(_)
A few minutes later, on a nearby hilltop, outside the gate, that Lee and Matthew had just come in, and that had closed behind them. And away from the Edgars Industries Complex. Four women of the past, dressed in casual clothing, had just finished watching the last part of the chase that had play out, with their binoculars.
The Hell Sabers of the past then lowered their binoculars, as they looked at each other.
Past Revy was dressed in a red leather outfit, with black boots. Past Shenhua has her usual clothing of white coat and red qipao. Past Sawyer was in a purple a black goth dress outfit. And Part Roberta was wearing blue jeans, and a white t-shirt.
By them were three motoslaves in motorcycle vehicle mode, and Past Arcee in her motorcycle alt mode.
Past Revy turned to Past Roberta, as she commented, “Your future self looked pissed. And you look, or will look nicer, and more human again, when your upgrade your cybernetics.”
Past Roberta said, “Thank you. I wonder why I am so angry?”
Past Sawyer spoke up, with her electrolarynx choker around her neck, “You are only that angry when you are seeking revenge. Therefore, it is best not to find out. You risk creating a paradox, while denying your future self her rightful vengeance.”
Past Shenhua agreed, “Sawyer is right. Have patience. You will clearly learn all the whys and hows in the fullness of time.”
Past Arcee, in motorcycle alt mod, said, “Listen to them, Roberta. Besides, we have a job to do. Three down. One to go.”
Past Roberta replied, “Alright.”
Past Sawyer then realized the numbers did not add up. She inquired, “Three?”
Past Revy explained, “Arcee had to find and get Marcus Cole from cryo. That is why we are late getting mister money bags here. And with a fortress like that, we are going to have to plan on how to get him.”
Past Sawyer then remembered their report. She shrugged, as she replied, “Sorry. Slipped my mind.”
Past Shenhua said, “Don't worry. It happens.” She then noticed that Past Revy had spaced out a little bit. She teased her redheaded friend, “I bet, I know what you are thinking about?”
Past Revy looked over at black haired friend, as she admitted, “Yea. I am thinking about Rock. We gave Rock and the others that vat a week ago. I am happy that Chang is giving us this mission to take my mind off of my problems. I wonder what Rock is going to look like when she comes out as a woman? Will she look like she did in the Boys and Girls omake? Like Dutch and Benny. Will her breasts be as large as her counterpart?”
Past Sawyer commented, “I won't worry so much about that. It is any personality changes that occur for her, that you should be concern with. Which from what I understand, are minor?”
Past Revy responded, “Yep. The only changes are making her comfortable in her new gender, and becoming bi-sexual. Both are pluses in my book. It lets us continue our relationship after we capture her, and do so more minor loyalty brainwashing. And girls, I will be honest with you, I was bi long before I met Rock. I have been openly looking at nude magazines of women around Rock, Dutch, Benny, and Janet for years. They would have to be blind not to figure out that I was already bi.”
Past Sawyer giggled. She then said, “Speaking of the Boys and Girl omake. That short animation showed more than just what the guys would look like as girls. It showed what some of us girls would look like as guys. And I finally worked up the nerve to ask. Girls, which do you find to be hotter as a guy. Balalaika? Or, Roberta here?”
Past Roberta when slack jawed, in response to Past Sawyer's comment.
The others laughed as Past Roberta's expression, as Past Roberta quickly composed herself.
Past Revy giggled a little more, as she commented, “Now, that is a dangerous question.”
Past Shenhua said, “Roberta. Now, don't take this to mean there is anything between us. But, I don't care for rough features that the male Balalaika had.” She turned to Past Roberta, as she stated, “And so I found your male form to be hotter.”
Past Roberta turned to Past Shenhua, as she replied, “Don't worry about it. Personally, I find Balalaika’s male counterpart to have a charm to him.”
Past Sawyer admitted, “I have never been very picky on that sort of issue.”
Past Roberta inquired, “What about Eda? Her male counterpart was not that bad looking.”
Past Revy reminded Roberta, “Her male counterpart looks too much like that Russell, whom organized that whole freakshow circus attack on me, Rock, Janet, and ironically Eda, during the time Janet first came to town. Eda even ironically ended up being the one that killed Russell.”
Past Sawyer agreed, “Yea. Russell was a real jackass. And we never actually got fully paid for that job afterward. And those medical bills were expensive.”
Past Shenhua shrugged, as she commented, “At least, Lotton helped with our medical expenses, and he got us to some doctors, in the first place.”
Past Revy commented, “While I have seen our anime, and read our manga, I didn't know that. So, he saved your lives, and he helped with medical bills. No wonder you kept him around.”
Past Shenhua smiled, as she replied, “Yes.”
Past Sawyer smiled, as she said, “Of course.”
Past Shenhua stated, “He has his uses. Just not as a fighter. So Revy, how about you? Our fearless leader? Which do you find hotter?”
The Past Sawyer and Past Roberta also turned to face Past Revy, as they waited for her answer.
Past Revy leered towards her friends, as she joked, “Get me drunk enough, and I might answer that question.”
Past Sawyer, Past Shenhua, and Past Roberta just laughed at Past Revy's joke.
Past Arcee listened to all this, as she thought, 'I don't know whether to be happy that I don't have to deal such intimate relationship. Or, envious that I cannot... Then again, maybe I can, with my shutdown extra parts in my lower abdomen. I will look into that, when things finally settle down. I have no reason to be in a rush.'
Past Sawyer then noticed that Future Roberta has been crawling towards them.
Future Roberta soon reached the base of the hill. She then stood up, dusted the dirt off her clothing, and she started walking the rest of the way to the Hell Sabers.
Past Sawyer continued to look at Future Roberta, as she stated, “Heads up girls. Past Roberta from the future it coming towards us.”
The women present, turned their attention to Future Roberta, as well.
A few seconds later, Future Roberta reached them.
For a few seconds, there was silence, as Future Roberta looked extremely angry, and the Hell Sabers remained silent, so as to not risk her fury. She then suddenly deflated, as she greeted them, in a casual tone of voice, in english, “Hi girls.”
Past Revy said, “Hi Roberta. Nice to see you looking as healthy as ever in the future.”
Future Roberta replied, “Thank you.”
Past Roberta walked up to her future counterpart.
Next, the Roberta of the future and Roberta from the past looked at each other for a few seconds.
They both then said, in unison, “This is weird.”
Future Roberta added, “This is my second time doing this. And it is even weirder for me.”
Past Roberta commented, “I see that we upgraded our cybernetics to look more human.”
Future Roberta took her left, white glove off. And she used her human looking artificial looking left hand, to rub the skin around her human looking artificial right eye, or her face.
Future Roberta stated, “These are pure aesthetic changes. A combination of BGC and Star Wars medical technology. We can still do all the all the same things we did with the old cybernetics. Actually, these are better, now that I have a sense of touch with our artificial parts. It is nice being able to feel all the my fingers and toes, now. Both original and artificial. And there is no pain involved in normal sensations, except when I injury myself. Still, the reason for the change is that after I returned to the master, I found my robotic looking parts did not fit the motif of the Lovelace house.”
Future Roberta then put her left, white glove back on her left hand. And she dropped her hands to her sides.
Past Roberta shrugged, as she agreed, “No argument there.”
Arcee said, “I have a question for you, Future Roberta.”
Future Roberta turned to Arcee, as she said, “Go ahead.”
Past Arcee questioned, “Considering we, including our Roberta, just watched those turrets kick your ass, why didn't you remember those turrets were there?”
Future Roberta sheepishly admitted, “Because I got caught in the heat of the moment, and I forgot.”
Past Arcee replied, in a sympathetic tone of voice, “It happens.”
Past Sawyer commented, in a comforting tone of voice, “Sorry you didn't catch you prey.”
Future Roberta turned and look at the fortress, in the distance. She coldly said, “There will be other opportunities.” She then turned back to her friends of the past.
Past Roberta commented, “Though, I did not hear what you screamed, after you escaped the truck. I have never seen myself as furious as you were a few moments ago... Except when the young master is harmed in some way. Or, when the old master was murdered.”
Future Roberta turned to her past counterpart, as she cryptically answered, “My target has harmed the young master in a way we could not have foreseen, nor prevent. But, do not let it trouble you. The young master is still happy and healthy.”
Past Roberta inquired, “So, you do not want to give me the name of those loathsome scum that has harmed our household?”
Future Robert coyly responded, “As much as I would prefer to answer you. I cannot.”
Past Arcee spoke up, in a concerned tone of voice, “Roberta... Our Roberta... Listen to your older, wiser self. She clearly has the situation handled. We do not want to create a paradox.”
Past Roberta looked around and saw her future self, along with Revy, Shenhua, and Sawyer nodding in agreement with Arcee.
Past Roberta muttered, “All things in the fullness of time.”
Past Revy asked, “So, what brings you here, Roberta?”
Future Roberta had an embarrassing expression on her face, as she sheepishly admitted, “I left my reality device at my hotel room, and I need a lift.”
In response, all five of the Hell Sabers giggled, for a few seconds.
As they calmed down, Past Roberta then said, “I will take you to your hotel.”
Future Roberta commented, “I remember that too. But, none the less, thank you. Still, you are going to have to just drop me off. You cannot stay.”
Past Roberta casually responded, “No problem. If I cannot trust myself, who can I trust?”
Both Robertas giggled at little.
Past Roberta then turned, and walked over to her motoslave, in motorcycle mode. She got onto her motoslave. She put on her helmet, which was laying on the seat of her motorcycle. She let her long purple hair running down the back of her helmet. When she was ready, she started the engine.
Just as Future Roberta was able to walk over to Past Roberta's motorcycle, Past Revy requested, “Wait Roberta.”
Future Roberta stopped, and turned to Past Revy.
Past Revy walked over to Past Arcee. She picked up her helmet, off the seat. She turned to Future Roberta, as she stated, “Here. You will need this.” She then tossed Future Roberta, her helmet.
Future Roberta caught the helmet. As she looked over at Past Revy, she responded, in a kind tone of voice, “Thank you. And I remember my past self, here, returning it to you, after I dropped myself off.”
Past Revy replied, “No problem.”
Future Robert than turned, and walked to the motoslave that Past Roberta was on.
As Future Roberta sat behind Past Roberta, she turned to Sawyer. Future Roberta answered, “To answer your question, Sawyer. Which I overheard, as I came here. In such a situation, I found Revy as a guy, in real life, to be the most attractive of us girls.”
Past Revy heard future Future Roberta's comment. Revy inquired, with surprise in her tone of voice, “I get turned into a guy in the future?”
Future Roberta smirked towards Revy, as she coyly stated, “Only for a little while. And only because you wanted too. In the future, you made no secret to your close friends, that when is comes to the ass, you prefer to be the pitcher, than the receiver.” She then put on Past Revy's helmet, with her long purple hair running down her back.
Past Arcee, Past Roberta, Past Shenhua, and Past Sawyer giggled, as Past Revy was left speechless.
Future Roberta then turned the front of the motorcycle, as she let a genuinely non-crazy laugh, while Past Roberta drove her away, and down the highway, on her motoslave.
While riding behind her counter, down the hill, she placed her arms around the front of Past Roberta waist, while keeping Past Roberta's long hair between their bodies, to keep it from waving in Future Roberta's face.
As Future Roberta's arms brushed up against the bottom of Past Roberta's large breasts, Past Roberta said, in a joking manner, into the encrypted intercom system that links all the Hell Sabers' helmets, in spanish, “Careful. Those are still real.”
Future Roberta replied, in a humor tone of voice, into her helmet's microphone, in spanish, “I know. And they still are, when I have them. Also, from this point of view, I am starting to appreciate how big they are. And I even remember myself tell you this, when I was in your position.”
As they made it down the hill, and road through the open field, towards the highways, Past Roberta smiled under her helmet, as she commented, “Oh, this is going to be a fun ride for the two of us.”
Future Roberta agreed, “Yes. I remember that it was.”
Past Roberta inquired, “Good. So, where are we heading to?”
Future Roberta answered, “We are heading for the Black Sheep Inn. It is about twenty minutes away. And I will give you directions. Though, we might want to try to avoid the police, considering I just killed a whole lot of them.”
Past Roberta commented, “I will do my best to avoid the police. And though, I am sure you had a good reason in doing so, our long purple hair, and your maids uniform, are going to stand out. So, I have to ask, are we going to get stopped by the police.”
Future Roberta said “No. I don't remember that happening. We will just stick to the back roads and alleys, and we should be fine.”
Past Roberta agreed, “Good idea.”
Future Roberta then directed her past self towards the hotel, the Black Sheep Hotel. Where she was staying at, with the rest of her friends, from her point in time.
(_)
From the hilltop, in the open field, the other Hell Sabers watched, as the Robertas left in the distance, and down the field, until the reached the highway, and soon disappeared.
Past Sawyer commented, “With Future Roberta here, it is likely our counterpart, and our friends counterparts are here, as well. And after whomever this Roberta is after. And with her prey in that fortress, where our target is... This could cause problems. We could easily create a paradox.”
Past Arcee stated, “The chances of that being the case are very high.”
Past Shenhua agreed, “Sawyer and Arcee both have a point, Revy.”
Past Revy stated, “Don't worry. I have a few ideas. I will tell state them when our Roberta gets back. Though, the situation just means we will not be going after our target, personally.”
Past Sawyer inquired, “How much damage are we talking about?”
Past Arcee said, “That is a good question.”
Past Revy answered, “Just the main building of that fortress. Or, which ever building the target is in. At least we are sure that the target has not left that area, yet.”
Past Arcee commented, “My sensors would have detected the target, if he left the area. Instead, he is high up, on the main tower of the building.”
Past Revy calmly stated, “Good. Anyway, I don't want to wreck these domes and hurt the people here... Except for those whom foolishly get in our way. And I have a feeling that my future self would not lose much sleep over myself accidentally killing whomever that Roberta is after. As long as she and I knew we were responsible for said death.”
Past Shenhua complimented, “That is a very mature attitude to take, Revy.”
Past Revy smiled, as she replied, “Thank you. And this way we can still capture our target, alive, and breathing. A win-win for us.”
Past Sawyer cracked a smile, as she commented, “I agree. This sounds like a lot of fun.”
Past Revy said, “Girls, I am sure you agree.” Her lips curled into a wicked grin, as she continued, “Caught when we are through. We will have rocked the foundations off that fortress our target is hiding in.
The Hell Sabers then patiently waiting for their friend's return. Fifty minutes later, their friend, Past Roberta, to return. After Past Roberta had returned, they teleport away, to their hideout, in the dome, where Past Revy would give them her plan. A plan the others found that they liked.
(_)
Around forty-five minutes before Lee made it into Edgars Industries Complex, inside the Black Sheep Inn, another group women were having a friendly meeting, over some drinks.
Black Sheep Inn was located in a downtown area of Mars Dome One. The establishment was hotel and bar restaurant, with a medieval motif.
The hotel was huge, in depth and width, with the building being twenty-six stories high.
This was the meeting spot the Rock and Revy decided on for their friends. And the place for all of them were staying at, while they were on the Mars of the Babylon Five reality.
And it was one of the few nicer hotels in Mars Dome One that took gold as payment, without need of IDs. And the hotel staff knew better than to ask questions about their clients.
When the women and men of Rock and Revy's group returned to the inn. By teleporting their vehicles, from the factory complex, on the northern edge of town, to a nearby, empty, multilevel garage, whom security system they had hacked, and the camera system they had loops. Once their vehicles were properly parked, they went to the hotel, and then their hotel suites. Where they got cleaned up, showered, dressed, along with a few other things. Such, as Revy replacing the barrel on her damaged pistol, and fixing it to where it worked like new.
Since they did not want to stand out, they wore casual clothing, such as shirts and pants, and tennis shoes. Except for a few of the women in the group that wore skirts, and slippers. Even Balalaika, B, and Shenhua dressed casually.
After they were finished getting cleaned up, the eight teenage adult women had gone to their rooms to get some sleep. Or, at least that is what they told their parents. Though, there parents knew their children would not do anything to foolish.
The Bebop and Serenity crews headed elsewhere, together, after they told Rock and Revy they would be trying figure how to capture Lee on their own. But, they would keep Rock and Revy in the loop.
Rock and Revy commented that was fine.
The rest of Rock and Revy's group met at a large rectangular table, in the hotel bar.
Since they wanted to relax, and talk to each other, half of them didn't even have their radios on them. And the other half, has their radios turned off.
And while no one knew where the Knight Sabers were, Rock was sure she could peacefully contact the Knight Sabers, with their radios, concerning when they had found Lee. To include the Knight Sabers in their hunt, so they would not have any more problems, again, with the eight armor suited women.
Though, Rock wanted to wait until she had some leads on where Lee currently was at, before contacting them. Along, with Rock trying figuring out a peaceful ofter to the Knight Sabers, to prevent the mercenaries from betraying them, when they did all capture, Lee.
Given the lateness of the hour, besides Rock and Revy's group, the restaurant was empty. And the bartender was about to close the restaurant, but the women were able to convince him to stay open.
And so, only the Lagoon women, and their friends were having some drinks, as they talked with each other, in english, at a single, long, rectangular table, in the main room of the restaurant.
At the long rectangular table, as they talked, most of them were drinking bottles of beer, with a few exceptions. Such as Revy having some rum in a glass. Though, for the other women, such as Balalaika and B, they were having bottles of beer, with low alcohol content, though high quality in taste.
Also, as soon as the bartender brought them their orders, he immediately left the room. He instincts told him that should have nothing to do with the obviously strange, crazy, deranged looking women.
Though, the bartender did occasionally come back into the room, to act as their server, to refill their drinks, in the hopes of getting a decent tip, in gold, and their bar tab paid for, to warrant extending the hours to his establishment.
At one end of the table, Rock sat at the end of the table. Revy sat to left side. To her right side, Dutch sat, then Janet, then Benny.
Akira sat by Revy, followed by Natsuru, then Ranma.
To Benny's right was Eda and then Aeryn.
Across from Aeryn was Violin.
Balalaika sat at the other end of the table. B was to her left side. Beside B was Lotton. To Balalaika's right side was Sawyer. Beside Sawyer was Shenhua.
Beside Lotton was Violin. And beside Shenhua as Aeryn.
Currently, the women were trying to decide what to do next.
Rock sipped her bottle of high quality beer, as she mentally reflected, 'At least the Knight Sabers' leader, Sylia Stingray, was open to negotiation. Meaning, I could probably work out a deal with her group. And I am more than happy to have them help capture, Lee... Now, we just need to find him.'
As Rock set her bottle down in front of her, at the table, her attention was brought back to the conversation, when she heard Balalaika complain, “I cannot believe that fool would insult me like that. How could you live with him for so long without realizing that he is the writer?”
Lotton turned to Balalaika, as she answered for her group, “Lee is very good at hiding in plain sight. For Lee, it is all about reactions. He knew we were looking for him. He baited us. But, he also realized we would be looking for someone stressed out and terrified. I mean think about it. He knows who we are and what we are capable of. A sane man should have been completely scared out of his mind...”
“And were we wrong about the state of his sanity. The guy is as crazy as Roberta on a bad day. He is just polite about it. We should have realize that when Lee was insane, when he willing to played chicken with the car he was driving in, with us in it, while he had the headlights off, driving at high speed, down a dark road, at night.”
Balalaika turned to Rock, on the other side of the table. Rock noticed this, as she commented, “In our defense. We were drunk at the time, and he was our designated driver.”
Balalaika raised an eyebrow, as she calmly said, “You will have to tell us about that story some time.”
Lotton stated, “We will. And, by the way, he won that game of chicken. Still, instead of doing what we expected the writer to do in our presence, Lee did the opposite. He played dumb, while being easy going, and polite. But, he did not let us walk all over him. The poker player angle should have been a major tip off. He liked to have poker scenes in his stories. But, by learning poker, he taught himself how to literally display grace under fire, even in the most insane of situations.”
Revy stated, from across the table, “If River had not lied to us at the beginning, by giving us a false alibi for Lee, then we would have likely figured out it was him, very quickly. Still, why did River do that, in the first place?”
B stated, “Why does River do anything? Sometimes, she can be crazier than you, Revy. I know her. Trying to understand her, or him, is not possible.”
Revy looked over at B. She shrugged, as she conceded, “Perhaps.”
Lotton agreed, “No argument there. River was the one that forced Chang into dating her. And she knew what Chang had done beforehand, and those were clearly the reasons she was interested in him. Those are not the actions of a rational mind. Still, back to Lee. Lee also knew us well enough to know which buttons to push to get us to dance to his tone. He can even do this with a single word, or a simile.”
Janet pointed out, “The man used a simple smile to throw us off his trail when we cornered him, by Eda and Yolanda's food truck.”
Balalaika asked, “And how did he do that?”
Eda stated, “That will take some explaining by me. Yolanda and I set up a burger van to try to trap the writer. We did not know Lee was the writer. And well, the weeks dragged on, and Lee was always so polite...”
Dutch spoke up, “She slept with him.”
Balalaika shook her head, as she deadpanned, “Why am I not surprised?”
Eda defended, “It was only a one night stand.”
Janet spoke up, “Still, weeks later, when Benny, Janet, and I, came to town, Lee used that one night stand to throw us off. At the time, we figured that anyone that knew Eda's history would not be crazy enough to sleep with her.” Her voice turned flat, as she continued, “We were wrong.”
Lotton stated, “That was not the only time he pulled something like that on us. I asked Lee about who his favorite author was. He answered with the author, H.P. Lovecraft. And yes, I asked him some questions, he is a fan of that man's works.”
Balalaika noticed that Dutch, Benny, Janet, Rock, Violin, Akira, and Natsuru, all paled a little, at Lotton's comment.
Benny slowly said, “Lee is a fan of H. P. Lovecraft. The man that created cosmic horror fiction. The type of monsters that if a person even sees the very sight drives the witness insane. And he played with our lives. I hope none of his inspirations for what he did to us came from Lovecraft, or we could have ended up a whole lot worse than we are.”
Lotton quickly reassured them, “I triple checked Lee's stories. There is only one mention of such a monster in his stories. The mention is in passing. And that monster is, Unicron. And there is only one of him in the entire multiverse. And he sticks to the Transformers realities. So, we are fine there. Also, after I captured Lee, at the factory, he confirmed that he did not use Lovecraft's material in his stories. So, relax.”
Balalaika noticed the members of their group that had panicked were starting to calm down.
Balalaika thought, 'I wonder what else they talked about.' She asked, “So, you talked to Lee, while you lead him to the rest of us?”
Lotton looked over at Balalaika, as she casually answered, “Yes. We talked about a few things.” Lotton then shrugged, as she continued, “And we agreed on a number of them.”
Balalaika inquired, “Such as?”
Lotton commented, “Well, for starters. Lee stated that his alias was Ello Gray, with Gray using an, a. The alias is an anagram of the word, allegory. And allegory can mean, symbolism.”
Violin questioned, “Like what Lee did with Scorpius' name at the beginning of book four of his stories?”
Lotton responded, “Exactly. He even referenced that. His own work.”
Janet commented, “That was arrogant of him.”
Lotton said, “Perhaps.”
Benny asked, “Symbolism for what?”
Eda answered, “The name, and the play on the letters of the name, is the symbolism. First, and foremost, Lee is a writer. He would love to create a useable alias, and let that name, itself, be the symbolism for his actions.”
Janet stated, “Now, that is a mind screw.”
Eda shrugged, as she commented, “Yes. He seems to love mind screwing more than actually screwing.”
Janet casually said, “Everyone has their little kinks.” She mentally reflected, 'I am not going to judge him on this, considering he let my little kinks slide.'
The other member of the Lagoon family giggled a little at Janet's comment, and the private joke that went with it.
Dutch then stated, “Quiet true.” She turned to Lotton, as she inquired, “So Lotton, what else did you two talk about?”
Lotton answered, “Well, we also agreed that a pregnant woman should never been given a weapon, while in labor. Especially, a fully automatic weapon, while said woman is enduring labor.”
Aeryn turned to Lotton, as she flatly accused, “You are talking about me? Aren't you?”
There was some light giggling from the other women at the table.
Lotton looked over at Aeryn, as she admitted, “Yes. Though, we both agreed that you pulled off that awkward situation, very well.”
Aeryn conceded, “It is nice that both of your saw reason, concerning that matter.”
Lotton replied, “I assure you. We did.”
Dutch questioned, “What else did you to talk about?”
Lotton looked over at Dutch, as she stated, “Well Dutch, Lee admitted that he does deserve an ass-kicking for what he did to us. But, given how some of us don't know the meaning the word, restraint, he does not intend surrender to us. Because, he would like to still have his ass afterward.”
There was a some mild laughter from a few of the women at the table.
Rock commented, “I guess that is progress. And I will keep that in mind, the next time we chat with him.”
Janet looked over at Revy. She smirked, as she asked, “I wonder which one of us he was talking about?”
Revy looked over at Janet, as she lightly growled at the blond woman.
Janet quickly looked over at the women on the far side of the table, from Revy.
Aeryn commented, “Well, at least he agrees he needs to be punished for his crimes. And it is fortunate that very little Lee has done had been fear inducing. I see from the, Lovecraft, reactions, that Lee also has a talent for causing fear. And I will say that I have read Lovecraft's works, and your fear is well warranted.”
Violin looked over at her spouse. She then looked around the room, as she said, “I will admit. Showing my wife those stories was not one of my more intelligent decisions. What worries me is that she enjoyed those stories.” She then looked back at Aeryn.
Aeryn looked over at Violin, as she stated, “I was just impressed with Lovecraft's works. Given the level of technology humanity had at that time, I was surprised how imaginative his stories were, when it came to aliens, and other beings from beyond Earth. That man was truly someone ahead of his time.”
Lotton commented, “That being said, it is good that Lee also has a sense of humor.”
Aeryn calmly agreed, “True. It is good that Lee also has a talent for humor. Such as the time he sent a one word message to keep us, at the Devil's Hotel. That was hilarious.”
B asked, “What was the word?”
Rock blushed, as she answered, “Tex-Mex.”
Balalaika asked, “Who, or what is, Tex-Mex?”
Shenhua answered, “I am not sure you want to know. But, we will tell you. Tex-Mex is an alias of the person that created the Black Lagoon series. And that is the alias he uses to draw porn. And yes, he drew some of us in that way, as well.”
Akira spoke up, “Good porn. I might add.”
B started laughing.
Balalaika thought, with a mild sense of melancholy, 'My life gets more insane with each passing moment.'
Shenhua mentioned, “Tex-Mex even listed our breast sizes, for those of us that were originally women. If it makes you feel better Balalaika, you have the third largest pair of breasts here. Janet is number one. And Roberta is number two on the list.”
Balalaika casually stated, “That is nice to know.”
Eda looked over at Revy, as she said, “Lee mentioned something to me, Revy. He said that I am two cup sizes bigger than you. Is that true?”
Revy turned to Eda, as she growled, “Yea. Though, I don't feel like testing that theory. But, it also means, for him telling you about such things, that I am going to make Lee scream louder in pain, than I had already planned.”
Eda teased, “Come on, Revy. You are not that bad looking. I just happen to have it more in the chest department.”
Revy warned, “Don't push it, Eda.”
Eda thought, 'Lee is probably right. A black Irish joke concerning Revy might getting me killed by her. I think I will stay quiet for the moment.'
A thought occurred to Benny, as she commented, “Wait a minute. When we were pregnant, I know we all went up a cup size, except for Janet. I know. We measured ourselves, a few months after we had the kids. When we found our normal bras did not fit. That includes you, Revy. So, you are only one cup size smaller than Eda.”
Benny's comment made Revy feel slightly better. Revy shrugged, as she conceded, “I guess you are right. And that does make me feel a little better.”
Janet heard their comments, as she though, 'I am glad Revy feels better, and that my husband mentioned that. Also, I believe it is best that I do not gloat on this matter... Wait a minute... Is that what Akira meant?' She turned to Akira, as she said, “So Akira. All those years ago. When I first returned to Roanapur. Right before that Roanapur bikini contest. When you said I had the largest rack on the island. This is where you got your information from?”
Akira turned Janet. She gave her a leering smile, as she stated, “Yes. Though, I did not mention the rest because it would be to awkward a conversation.”
Janet, replied, “Perhaps, it is for the best.” She thought, 'Still, why didn't Revy and Rock tell us about this?' She looked over at Dutch and Benny, as she mentally wondered, 'And from the looks on their faces, they are wondering about that same question.'
Janet then joined Dutch and Benny, as they turned towards Revy and Rock, as they confronted their two friends on the matter.
Dutch asked, “Why didn't you tell us?”
Revy casually answered, “We didn't want you to do something stupid, like we caught Rock doing.”
Revy instantly realized she had just spilled the beans on that secret, as her eyes widened and she place a her both her hands over her mouth.
Benny, Dutch, and Janet looked over at Rock, as everyone at the table knew that it did not take a genius to figure out what Rock had done, considering Rock was already blushing. And Rock's face had suddenly turned a deeper shade of red.
While Benny, Dutch, and Janet started laughing, Janet said, between laughs, “And you had the gall to make fun of my tastes, when you caught me doing the same thing on the internet, back at the island.”
Rock sheepishly defended, “They were really good, and tasteful pictures.”
This caused her friends to laugh even harder.
Everyone else had also heard both Revy and Rock's comments, as they joined in on the laughter.
As the laughter went on, Violin teased, “Rock, you dirty, dirty girl.”
A few minutes later, everyone calmed down and the conversation continued.
Dutch realized something that Eda has said. She turned to Eda, as she asked, “You actually talked to, Lee? At the factory?”
Eda looked over at Dutch, as she admitted, “Yes. I did speak to Lee, as well.”
Dutch inquired, “And you didn't capture him?”
Eda shrugged, as she responded, “I did not feel like fighting someone that can dodge bullets, and play us for chumps. And I got some answers from him, on some interesting questions I had.”
Janet asked, “Anything useful.”
Eda answered, “Not for this situation. But, I did let slip that we know about the time loop.”
Shenhua thought, 'So, did I. But, I am not going to say anything about it.'
Sawyer overheard Eda as well, as she mentally reflected, 'At least, I don't have to bring that issue up.'
Ranma stated, “Well, that is just going to make him run even harder.”
Revy commented, “That is kind of obvious.”
Eda said, “Let's be honest. I don't think he can run harder than he already has.”
Janet shrugged, as she conceded, “You may have a point there. So, how did he take the news that we knew what he did during the time loop?”
Eda said, “He didn't panic. And he took the news well.”
Janet replied, “That is nice.”
Eda mentioned, “I think someone told him, beforehand. And I don't think it was at factory. Because, from his reaction towards me, he clearly had time to digest the information.”
Benny commented, “Interesting.”
Revy said, “It really doesn't matter. All that means is he now knows how much deeper in shit he is in with us.”
Eda said, “It is not that deep.”
Revy countered, “Deep enough.”
Balalaika spoke up, as she stated, “While both Rock and Lee's indiscretions are interesting. B and I have more important matters to inform you of.”
Balalaika and B then looked at each other, as B used her right hand, and Balalaika used her left hand, to hold hands together.
Balalaika stated, “B and I have an announcement to make. We are both two and a half months pregnant.”
Both of them let go of their hands, and used their pairs of hands to pulled up the front of their own shirts, to show, everyone, that they both had a small, but noticeable bump on their otherwise flat stomachs.
There was dead silence for three solid seconds, as every looked at the two lovers.
Then, those originally of the Lagoon reality, happily said together, almost in unison, “Congratulations!”
As B and Balalaika tucked their shirts back and sat back down, they said, almost in unison, “Thank you.”
Aeryn turned to Violin, as she said, “You know, we have been talking about having another child.”
Violin turned to Aeryn. She smiled at her wife, as she offered, in a casual manner, “Honey, you had the first child. Anytime you want to get some instant man packets, I would be more than happy to spread my legs, and let you put a baby in me. Though, I do hope I stay pregnant long enough to enjoy it. To feel the baby move around within me. Sebacean pregnancies are so quick.”
Aeryn grinned, as she agreed, “You are correct on that.”
Meanwhile, Lotton, Shenhua, and Sawyer looked at each other.
Lotton silently mouthed the words, “Yes, or no?”
Shenhua and Sawyer grinned as they both nodded. Lotton returned their grins.
Janet looked at Balalaika and B, as she asked, “So, did you use the same trick we did to get pregnant?”
Balalaika smirked, as she casually responded, “Please... Do you also think I lack imagination? Like Lee mistakenly believes... No. What we did was simpler, much more neater, and organized... Much more... Russian. We used some of those man packets, and we went a few weeks into the future, and impregnated each others future self.”
Janet complimented, “Simple and inventive. Talk about doubling you pleasure, and doubling your fun.”
B leered towards Balalaika, as she commented, “Yes. The best part was that we were both able to enjoy that event from two different points of view, and genders. And as man, Balalaika can be a very gentle lover.”
Balalaika turned to B, as she blushed, in response to her lover's comment.
Natsuru turned to Balalaika and B, as she said, “I think you will find the experience of being pregnant together, to be enjoyable. We did. Except for the births.”
Balalaika let the scar on the right side of her face shine in the ceiling lights above then, as she commented, “I am no stranger to pain. And neither is B.”
B smiled towards her friends.
Natsuru said, “I am sure you will both be fine...” She then looked over at the other side of the table, towards the Lagoon family, as she commented, “Still, as fun as that is to learn, such joyous news, I have a question about one of Lee's accomplices. Whatever happened to Police Chief Del Soto? I mean, I heard you mention to Lee that you did not kill him. So, what happened to him?”
Revy answered, “When we finally confronted Pedro, he was very forthcoming. Pedro told us everything he knew about, Lee. While he also provided us with some useful material, concerning Lee. So, we let him go. By now, he is likely back at his job in Plata Podrido.”
Akira said, “I am glad you were feeling merciful.”
Revy stated, “Well to be honest, the way Chang talked about Pedro made it sound like the guy was barely keeping the city in one piece, with his police force. And the fact Pedro did not go to pieces when he was inches from Roberta, in slasher smile mode, earned him points in my respect book. Speaking of which...”
Revy turned towards Balalaika, as she said, “Sis, you should stop by and visit Plata Podrido sometime. Chang is doing a good job of making it into another Roanapur. I think I might start vacationing there after we are finally done with, Lee. And I am sure I am not alone in my plans.”
Rock shrugged, as she commented, “Well, I don't have anything better to do.”
Dutch stated, “Neither do I.”
Eda said, “You two are not alone on this.”
Ranma teased, “I don't think that world could handle us, Revy.”
Revy countered, in a happy tone of voice, “Ah, come on now. Wouldn't that be wild? A Roanapur in a reality that has the Black Lagoon as a fictional series.”
Natsuru said, “You know. That is both scary, and interesting, all at once.”
Aeryn asked, “But, what happens when those in that town figure out who we really are?”
Revy smirked, as she commented, “That is when the real fun begins.”
Janet inquired, “Speaking of Chang. Lee confirmed what Chang told us. That Chang figured out Lee was the writer, on his own. And we know River knew. And so did the Police Chief. Do you know of anyone else in that Plata Podrido that might have already figured out who Lee was? And who we were?”
Rock asked, “The Rats Nest bartender might have known. In both case. By the way, did anyone of you catch her name?”
Revy said, “No.”
Most of those at the table shook of their heads, or shrugged their shoulders.
Rock commented, “That is odd. It is like she didn't want anyone to know her name.”
Violin stated, “River likely knows. She spent half her time there, as Sam. But, I doubt she would tell us.”
Revy commented, “Still, that place was almost as fun as the Yellowflag. Even the bartender wasn't even afraid me. And I am sure she realized I was dangerous.”
Ranma suggested, “Revy, I suggest you drop this line on inquiry. There is no more Yellowflag. Still, the Rats Nest is a nice bar. Though, if you did dig into that bartender's past, you risk getting thrown out in one of the few bars that lets you be their customer.”
Revy admitted, “You're right, Ranma. I will drop the subject.”
Rock thought about the Rats Nest bartender, 'Let's see. She doesn't take crap from, Revy. Hell, sometimes she looks like she hates Revy, when Revy is not looking at her. She is armed with a firearm, under her bar counter. A semi-automatic pistol. No one messes with her, even thought she is very sexy, slender woman of average height. There are some vague similarities between the Rats Nest and the Yellowflag. But, it is more of just a general feeling both establishments gave off. A friendly place that could be dangerous, if you let it.'
'And her looks. She is asian, but she speaks english with skill that comes from years of experience. She has black hair. She is twenty-something, and physical fit... Actually, I have never seen her sick... Just like us... And that black and white Ao Dai she wore at the dance... An Ao Dai is a Vietnamese dress... She's Bao!'
Rock then started laughing.
B leaned over towards Lotton, as she asked, “What is Rock laughing about?”
As Lotton looked at Rock, from across the table, she answered, “I think Rock just figured out who the bartender is.”
As Rock's laughing turned into small fits of giggling, Revy asked her, “Alright, spill. Who is the bartender?”
Rock forced down her giggles, while she still smirked. She turned to Revy, as she answered, “No. It is too juicy to spill.”
Dutch asked, “How juicy?”
Rock answered, “Think as juicy as when I figured out years, beforehand, when I saw Bob in his female form, whom had come back to the past, from years in the future, to see her past male self, and myself talk. And you all agreed, after the fact, that it was a good idea for me to keep that secret, because when I told you, everyone got such a huge laugh.”
Revy agreed, “Yea. That was worth waiting for. Keep your secret, Rock. I look forward to finding out, later.”
Rock smirked turned into a warm smile towards Revy, as she said, “Thank you. And let us just say that when everyone here find out, I believe many of us will become regulars there.”
Revy returned Rock's warm grin, as she responded, “Then, it's a date.”
Balalaika asked, “Speaking of which. Where would be a good place to get a drink in that city? When I dropped my kid out of me, I plan to get drunk in celebration of our children's births.”
B commented, “She won't be alone in getting drunk, during that celebration.”
Dutch teased, “Well, have fun. And I am sure you will have plenty of trusted babysitters, on hand, for you kids, when you do have that party.”
Balalaika and B chuckled a little at Dutch's comment.
B commented, “Fair enough.”
Revy stated, “There are two decent bars in that town. There is Rats Nest. Which really is similar to the Yellowflag bar. As I said, I don't know the bartender's name there, though. But, she is definitely tough, since she runs it by herself.”
“Then, there is the bar and restaurant in the Devil Hotel. They have karaoke singing almost every night. And an old man, named Melvin, is the main bartender there. But, that place is a little more upscale, and I found out the hard way that violence is not tolerated there. Not even for us.”
B requested, “Please explain.”
Revy said, “The first night we can to that town, and check into the hotel. We all went to the restaurant to get some dinner and we started for some drinks. Though, no one got hurt. I got so drunk I tried to shoot up the place.”
“Then, I was by the bar counter. And I turned by cutlass Melvin, from across the counter, from him. But, from across the counter, Melvin swiftly took my cutlasses. For doing that, I just over the bar counter, and I tried to attack him. And he handed me my ass, forcing me against the counter, while putting a night to my left eye. And finally, he threatened to have us thrown out of the hotel if what I did happened again. Though, he did return my cutlasses to me the next morning, after I sobered up. I honestly think the man just doesn't want violence in his bar.”
Sawyer smirked, as she commented, “Yes. He literally put Revy in her place.”
B complimented, “That is not bad.”
Balalaika said, with intrigue in her tone of voice, “Interesting. Not many people could take you, Revy. Even when you are drunk. Let alone survive the experience. I would like to know more about this Melvin.”
In response to Balalaika’s request, Akira, Ranma, Natsuru, became visibly uncomfortable.
Balalaika noticed them change of body language, from across the table. She turned to the three lovers, as she inquired, “Is there something you three would like to add about Melvin?”
Ranma, Natsuru, and Akira noticed that Balalaika's question was directed towards them.
Akira mentally cursed her current luck, 'I got to come up with a passable lie to save Melvin's manhood... Lee must have felt like this every second, of every day, back at the Devil's Hotel... Wait a minute. Lee likely knew about Melvin, and he still helped him. That was nice of him. I will just take a page from Lee's playbook. The simplest lie works the best. And a little truth at the end will help.'
Akira lied, in a casual manner, “We had a fling with him, one night. As far as he was concerned, we were three beautiful women. Why would he would object? He was nice in bed. And he was nice to us, afterward. So, we are just concern about his wellbeing. And the unwanted, potentially negative attention, which he does not deserve.”
Balalaika questioned, with skepticism in her tone of voice, “And why would you three do that? From what I understand, you three rarely invite others to join in on your nightly fun.”
Both Ranma and Natsuru has been paying attention to what Akira was trying to do, by providing cover for Melvin.
Ranma thought, 'I see where Akira is heading on this. Smart thinking. Now, to help with the lie.' Ranma added to the lie, “The fact the man is not afraid of anything. I find fearlessness like that to be very attractive.”
Akira thought, 'Good. Ranma picked up where I was heading.'
Revy stated, “He is brave. I will give him that.”
Natsuru thought, 'Now, to help these two conclude our lie.' Natsuru finished for her two loves, “And Melvin is really packing a lot, down south. If you know what I mean.”
There were a few giggles around the table.
Balalaika was not one of the women that giggled. She commented, with interest, and a hint of eagerness, in her tone of voice, “Oh, that just means I will have to meet with this, Melvin.”
Akira depressingly thought, 'Damn. I will try to warn Melvin, the next time I see him. We will figure something out for him, then. Of course, if Balalaika gets to him first, it will not be the end of the world for him. The three of us have been there... And being a woman is not that bad.'
Balalaika commented, “By the way, some of my... subordinates already visited Plata Podrido. While very brief. They said they enjoyed their stay there. And that, like Revy said, the city reminded them of Roanapur.”
Violin asked, “Why were they there?”
Balalaika casually said, “One of my members went AWOL.”
Revy cracked a grin, as she said, “Someone finally jumped ship from Hotel Moscow?... It was bound to have happened, eventually.”
Akira thought, 'I still might be about to help Melvin in another way.' She commented, “I didn't remember seeing any of your men at the hotel?”
Rock stated, “I do remember meeting some russian woman...” She then realized who russian women were, as she looked over at Balalaika. She inquired, in a stern tone of voice, “You didn't?”
B answered for her lover, “She did.”
Balalaika calmly said, “Old age can push people to do many things they would otherwise not consider. In exchange for a second chance at life.”
Eda stated, “So, you changed your men into women? Chang already did that years ago. Still, I would not have wanted to be at your base when that time of the month rolled around for your subordinates, for the first time, for all of them, at once.”
Balalaika had to decency to look away from Eda.
B responded, in a weak tone of voice, “It was not a pleasant event. Balalaika and I had the foresight to have them be disarmed a few days beforehand, when the first symptoms appeared. But, we all made it through. Still, after the changes were made to them, I finally revealed who I was to them. They took the news quiet well.”
Eda raised an eyebrow, as she looked over at B. She asked, “How well?”
B said, “Some of them laughed, on and off, for a week. The worst part was some of them still joke about my relationship with Balalaika, for a while. Which we allowed. But, nothing else came of it.”
Eda casually suggested, “You should have just told them up front.”
B firmly replied, “That we agree on.”
Rock said, “Well, I am happy to hear that everything worked out for your group.”
Benny inquired, “While I am sure everyone is find with your people, Balalaika. Let me guess, the guy your after refused your offer, and he ran?”
Balalaika said, “It was more like an order.”
Rock sadly commented, “I sometimes wonder if you know the difference.”
Balalaika sighed. She conceded, “You may have a point, Rock.”
Janet said, “I would hate to be that guy.”
Ranma thought, 'The best way to help Melvin is to figure out what her plans for him are? Though, that is kind of obvious. But, it is best to check. Given we have the opportunity, right now to so do.' She asked, “So, what are you planning to do when you catch this wayward member of yours?”
Balalaika smirked, as she stated, “Convince him to change his mind.”
Ranma questioned, “And what if he still says, no?”
Balalaika commented, “I doubt at that point, he will.”
In response, Ranma sighed, as she shook her head a few times.
Revy inquired, “So, was what you did to your men connected to why did you got pregnant, Balalaika? I don't know about B here, but you never struck me as the motherly type.”
Balalaika turned to Revy. She raised an eyebrow, as she retorted, “Look whose talking.”
Everyone else at the table erupted into roars of laughter.
As the laughter died down, Revy conceded, “Okay. You got me there, sis.”
Balalaika explained, “To answer your question. Yes. It is all due to my comrades. I came to realize as the years passed, that I just been going through the motions. This has been going on all the way back to before we even came to Roanapur. And I had unknowingly did a disservice to my subordinates, by dragging them with me.”
“They may have called me to join them, back in Russia. But, after I took back my position of authority, they became my responsibility. And I was the one that chose what would happen to us.”
“So, after the whole situation with Chang, and the fall of Chang's Tower, we continued our operations. We just became more mobile. The years passed, and I watched as my men grew older, while I stayed young.”
Balalaika turned to B, as she continued, “All them, except for B here, continued to follow me down the path I walked, without them really having much of a life for themselves. So, one day, I finally put my foot down and offered, or really, ordered them, to have a second chance at life. To have their youth restored, even as women, using those vats... Even though the Tower fell, I still had access to the technology and resources the Tower once provided.”
“And recreating those vats, chemicals, and technology, was not difficult, considering I had backups, software, chemical formulas, and plenty of wealth.”
Balalaika looked around the room, as she stated, “While, I was under Chang's control. Chang still paid us of Hotel Moscow, very well, in various treasures, for our services. That is why we did not hunt him, or her, at the time, after the Tower fell, and my mind was freed.”
Benny asked, “That is a good point. So, what brainwashing did you use our your men turned women?”
Balalaika answered, “I used the same basic programming that was used on Rock, B, and Chang. Just make they comfortable with their new gender, and allow them to keep their sexual tastes... Open.”
Lotton commented, “It is not that bad being a girl. Actually is it pretty good, barring monthly problems.”
Several of the women at the table, whom use to be men, and some of those that were originally women, shrugged, or nodded, in agreement.
Rock stated, “Balalaika, that was wise for you to only do that to their minds, and nothing else?”
Balalaika replied, “I trust my subordinates.”
Rock responded, “Good enough for me.” She turned to B, as she inquired, “And what about you, B? Why did you let yourself become pregnant? Were you pressured into it, like myself?”
B turned to Rock, as she calmly answered, “No. I did it for two reasons One, I helped Bob and Ed through their pregnancies, and it made me think about what it would be like to be pregnant. I am still surprised that Bob was mentally able to go back to living as a man a month after she gave birth. And he is now completely a she. With her only waiting that long to gender genders, to make sure her body at the time was going to be okay.”
“The other reason as to show the men... err women... Well, Balalaika is correct, subordinates, is a good term for this situation, and so is, comrades... Anyway, I wanted to show them that it was okay to be a mother. That they could still have families, and move on with their lives. As they say, lead by example.”
Shenhua complimented, “That is a good approach to take.”
B turned to Shenhua, as she replied, “Thank you, Shenhua.” She then looked around at her friends, as she responded, “And do not worry about the alcohol and smoking. I got her to quit smoking for good. And when it comes to drinking, except for the occasional beer for both of us. Like right now. We are not going to consume any serious amounts of alcohol, until after we give birth.”
Revy turned to Balalaika, as she teased, “What did B have to promise in bed, for you to do that?”
Balalaika turned to Revy. She gave Revy a mischievous grin, with a sense of wildness in her eyes, as she playfully stated, “Wouldn't you like to know.”
In response, Revy smiled, as she let out a laugh.
Shenhua joked, “Still, maybe the guy you are looking for is, Melvin. When he faced Revy, he used his combat knife with almost as much skill as I can with my knifes.”
Revy mentioned, “He also said that he was a veteran of an Afghanistan war.”
Akira thought, 'Oh crap. This is going off the rails.' She pointed out, “But, he said he was a veteran of the U.S.-Afghanistan war.”
B and Balalaika just looked at each other, as they smiled. They then turned to face the group, as Balalaika stated, with a hint of excitement in her voice, “We will most certainly be paying this man a visit.”
Akira thought, with worry, concern, and a sense of defeat, 'Oh no. They suspect that Melvin is the one they are looking for. And there is nothing we can do about it. And we cannot warn Melvin, because we will not cross Balalaika, and Hotel Moscow. Melvin is on his own.'
Dutch commented, “Well this has been a wonderful tour of our lives, but we still have the matter at hand. Finding Lee, and having our revenge against him.”
Janet stated, “The first step in doing so is trying to understand, Lee. That is how we caught up with him, here on Mars. And we almost had him.”
Sawyer countered, “Easier said than done. From what he said to us, during our group conversation in the factory, he clearly has a very different outlook on life than anyone at this table. River all but stated that.”
Aeryn commented, “Perhaps, Lee was faking his comments then. As a way to play with our heads?”
Revy looked around the table, as she commented, in a much calmer tone of voice, than she usually spoke with, “I doubt it.”
Everyone went quiet, as they turned to listen to Revy. Given she realize spoke in such a calm, well spoken manner.
Revy looked down, at the table, as she continued, in a sober tone of voice, “As someone that has been screwed over in life, one to many times. What Lee said in the factory had a ring of truth in it.”
Natsuru looked around the table, as she stated, “Revy may have a point. Given what Lee said, when he had his psychotic break, with Ranma, Akira, and I. What Lee said in the factory has the same vibe as what he said then, in the Devil's Hotel restaurant.”
Benny quietly said, “So, Lee really is insane. And not in a good way.”
Violin commented, “Yes. The guy is really screwed up in the head.”
Dutch stated, “After we are threw with him. We will find him some shrinks to help him. I am sure we can find a few good ones, to get his head straightened out. While I want revenge. When we are threw with Lee, I don't want him leave in a state of mind, where he will want to figuratively, or literally, haunt us.”
Revy looked up from the table, and towards her friends, as she said, in a more casual tone of voice, “That is a good point, Dutch. And he can join the club, on being crazy. We are still going to catch him, and have his ass for what he did to us.”
Janet stated, “Either way. It is clear. Given he likes to think several steps ahead. And he has the skills to implement those steps. To beat Lee, we have to out think him. We need to figure out how to out think him.”
Balalaika inquired, “I agree that the best way to beat Lee, is to figure out what makes him tick. So, did River read his mind? You did mention that River knew about Lee, and even helped him.”
Revy stated, “More than that. As you know, like Akira here, the crew of Serenity got a strange virus from Bob that allowed them the ability to switch genders with a sneeze. Along with extending their already long lifespans. This obviously included Chang.”
“Anyway, it seems that River was the first one to successfully track down Lee, before Lee baited us there.”
“I guess she used time travel to her advantage on that. Similar to what Eda here did, with Yolanda.”
Eda agreed, “That would be my guess, as well.”
Revy said, “Still, River clearly had her own plans. As a guy, River posed as a man named, Sam. And he befriended Lee. And I guess something went wrong, because as time passed, River grew more fond of Lee. Even to the point of aiding him against us. She flat out refused to help us, when we caught her.”
B commented, “When River does not want to do something, it is best to not try to force her.”
Revy responded, “Oh, I agree. River is almost as dangerous as Roberta. Still, Roberta and River almost fought each other, over Lee, until we all talked them out of it.”
“And here is the kicker. We also don't think Lee knew Sam was River, for a while. At least until sometime after the casino poker game between him, and River, as River. The way Lee acted before and during that game clearly showed, that at the time, Lee did not know that River and Sam were one in the same.”
Balalaika snickered, as she commented, “I guess even the deceiver can be deceived.”
Revy mentioned, “And River used a fake beard, as a man, to pulled off the deception.”
Balalaika snickering became giggling, as B joined her. A few seconds later, as the couple calmed down, Balalaika said, “Now, that is amusing. Still, even guile and subterfuge will only go so far. How does Lee get what he wants, when he wants it?
Violin commented, “That boy knows how to use manners and tact to get what he wants. It is not surprising that River came to like him. It is a matter of a thing called, Southern Hospitality. It is a culture thing. It would take some time to explain in detail.”
Janet looked over at Benny. Benny noticed this, and just shrugged an affirmative to what Violin was saying.
Balalaika replied, “No need. I have heard of the term, before.”
Aeryn questioned, “But, as a telepath, won't River know that Lee was faking his politeness?”
Violin looked over at Aeryn, as she responded, “Honey, who said Lee was faking his good manners? He may have been manipulative, but he was always polite, and even sometimes helpful when he didn't have to be.”
Eda heard Aeryn and Violins' comments, as she thought, with annoyance, 'We are just talking in circles. With some of us not willing to admit the ugly, or in this case, nice truth about Lee.'
Eda looked around the table, at her friends, as she stated, with a strong willed, though even tone of voice, “You all just don't get it. Lee is actually a genuinely nice guy, who made one incredibly stupid mistake. Screwing with our lives. And I am with River on this. Lee did not even realize what he was doing would actually effect anyone, until Scorpius came on TV, in his home reality, asking for the writer. Him.”
Eda sighed. She then continued, “Though... Okay... Even River and I both agree that Lee needs to be punished for his actions. Even Lee agrees with that. But, it does not need to be a severe form of revenge.”
“Counting the time loop, we have known him for over twenty years. And barring keeping his ass in one piece. He never took advantage of us, at a personal level, even when the opportunities presented themselves.”
“And barring a few pranks. Which, from what I understand, you deserved, for tricking him into eating those pot brownies. He did not trick us into doing anything that would harm us.”
“Outside of self-preservation, he did not violate our trust.”
“We need to take all this into account when we do finally catch him, and we punish him.”
Shenhua commented, “You slept with him. Of course, you would be bias towards him.”
Eda looked at Shenhua, as she counter, in annoyed tone of voice, “He wasn't that good. I just came to realize he is a decent human being. And as I just said. Lee clearly realizes his mistakes. And I think we should lay off much of the revenge we have planned for him.”
Rock conceded, “You raise some good point, Eda. We will talk about it.”
Eda turned Rock, as she calmly replied, in a grateful tone of voice, “Thank you.”
Eda saw Rock nodded once towards her. To confirm that she accepted Eda's gratitude.
Janet thought, 'Eda makes several good points. I might as well tell them I spoke to Lee.' She mentioned, “Well, after what Eda has said, just now. I have to admit that I did confront Lee. And Lee did talk me out of killing him at the factory complex. To the point of letting him go.”
Benny turned to her wife, as she asked, “You had him, and you let him go? How could you?”
Janet shifted uncomfortably in her seat, as she realized all eyes, at the table, were on her. She turned to Benny, as she answered, “I made a mistake in that I thought he was the cause of some of my personal problems. When he was clearly not.”
Balalaika inquired, “What do you mean?”
Janet turned to the rest of those at the table, as she asked, “How do I put this without sounding insane?”
Sawyer said, “Just say it straight out girl. At this point, what part of our lives are not insane.”
Benny stated, “Sawyer has a point, honey.”
Janet sighed. She then stated, “Okay. As you know, some of us are from the Black Lagoon anime timeline. And except for some minor difference between a few individuals, the manga timeline ran almost exactly parallel with our timeline. All the way to the Roberta's Blood Trail arc. The only major differences being. Their Revy kills a few more people, that probably didn't deserve it.”
Revy shifted uncomfortably in her chair.
Janet continued, “The final confrontation with Yukio and Ginji was different.”
Revy commented, “Yea. Our version of our fight was a lot more awesome. And that is from both living it, and seeing the anime version of it. When compared to reading the manga. Though, their version was likely most esthetically pleasing in that those two came dressed for their own funeral.”
Rock coughed.
Revy looked at Rock and saw that Rock was frowning at her. Revy quickly said, “Anyway, I get a kick out of the fact I helped teach Sarah how to slice bullets with her katana again. Though, Annie was a big help on that.”
Benny and Janet both turned to Revy, as they frowned at her. Both, neither said a word on the subject.
Revy just groaned, as she thought, “There is just no pleasing some people.'
B inquired, “Speaking of which. Is Sarah, or Molly ever planning on trying to have their revenge on us?”
Revy turned to B and Balalaika. She shrugged, as she replied, “Nah. They are both happy with their new lives.”
Balalaika looked over at Revy, as she casually said, “Good. I would hate to have to kill them again, and make you an enemy.”
Revy did not show a hint of anger, as she calmly said, “Yes. That would be a bad thing.” She mentally added, 'For you.'
Revy calm reaction startled both Balalaika and B.
Balalaika thought, 'I have never seen Revy act so calm, in the face of such an open threat. That scares me.'
And the rest of the group noticed Revy's reaction, as they went silent.
Violin thought, 'I have to do something. Or, one of us could ruin the wonderful mood we have going.' She said, “Moving on. You were saying, Janet. About the differences between the two timelines? Parallel universes? Unrealized realities?”
Janet looked back at the others at the table, as she went onto say, “Anyway, the other major difference is that their Roberta, unlike our Roberta, did not go the Monty Python Black Knight route.”
There was some mild chuckling from others at the table.
Sawyer commented, “Didn't Lee state in his author's notes that he picked the anime timeline because it gave him an excuse to turn Roberta, our Roberta, into a cyborg?”
Shenhua grinned, as she stated, “Yes. And I bet he is regretting that right now.”
Benny smiled wickedly as well, as she agreed, “Yea. He ego got the better of him, on that one.”
Eda shrugged, as she commented, “Actually. As in most cases. It is more like his imagination got the better of him. But, that goes without saying. And that is why I came on this hunt. But, I want us to capture Lee, before the maids get him.” She turned to Rock, as she inquired, “Though, would you have turned Lee over to the maids, if we had caught him?”
Rock looked over to Eda, as she answered, in a calm tone of voice, “Not until concessions were made on the matter of revenge.” She looked over at Janet, as she questioned, “Now, Janet, you were saying?”
Janet stated, “Yea... Well, given the similarities, it is logical that something mentioned in one timeline is true for the other timeline. Unless otherwise stated. What none of us realized, but Lee did, like the many Black Lagoon fans of his reality, is that the Black Lagoon manga series never ended. It is still being continued. And Lee told me that he used some of the information from a future storyline in his stories. Such, as my...” She shift uncomfortably, as she continued, “Nymphomania.”
There were a few giggles from the others that did not know that part of Janet's life.
Revy smiled wickedly, as she inquired, “And your gangbang rape fantasy?”
Janet looked downward, as she commented, “That too. Lee even mentioned that, almost word for word on how I describe it. It should be noted that Lee said that though I had some issues in the bedroom, he does not judge me, nor any of us for our little hang ups. It is actions outside the bedroom that he judges people for. He actually considers me quite sane, which is one of the reasons I let him go.”
Shenhua heard all this, and she felt like stirring the pot. She turned to Revy, as she questioned, “Revy, didn't you tell me that you, Rock, Dutch, and Benny, played out that fantasy with Janet.”
Janet, Benny, Dutch, Rock, and Revy all simultaneously blushed beat red.
Janet looked over at Shenhua, and back at Revy, as she accused, “You told her.”
Eda looked over at Revy. She smiled like the cat whom ate the canary, as she demurely stated, “Well Revy, we are all waiting for the details.”
The Lagoon family leaned up from their seats, and huddled over the table.
Dutch inquired, “In this situation, which do you think is worse? We tell them? Or, we let their imaginations do the work for us?”
Rock answered, “Given the imaginations of this crowd. It is best to tell them.”
Revy said, “I agree.”
Janet snapped, “I don't think you get a vote in this situation.”
Benny said, to Janet, “Janet, the cat is out of the bag. There is not much we can do about it now, honey.”
Janet looked Revy, with an evil glint her eye, as she commented, “There is one thing. For my next birthday, I have another fantasy in mind. It involves a women's prison, lesbian inmates theme. Where you play the woman lesbian, and I play the lesbian in the role of the man.”
Revy grinned, as she stated, “Hey sister. I have been in that situation. I can give you pointers. Though, during that time, I was the man in those roles. After I was through, the fingers of those women were never enough to satisfy them.”
Janet returned Revy smirk, as she said, “I know. Lee mentioned that too. Thanks for confirming that. It seems a lot more of our private lives have been made public than we thought.”
Revy immediately dropped her smirk, as she muttered, “Damn you, Lee.”
Janet giggled a little at Revy's response.
Rock requested, “Revy, just tell them the basics. That is the best damage control that we can do.”
Revy looked over at Benny, Dutch, and Janet, whom all nodded in agreement.
Revy said, “Alright.”
The Lagoon family sat back down.
Revy turned to those at the rest of the table, as she calmly explained, “Well, a few years ago, for Janet's birthday, we played out that fantasy for her in our S&M dungeon. She was in the role of the woman, and the four of us used instant man packet to turn male, and we acted out having our way with her. With her permission, beforehand.”
Rock mentioned, “Actually, several precautions were taken. Including the use of safe words. And safe signals, with hands and feet.”
Revy and Rock's comments only make the rest of the group more curious.
Violin noticed that from the looked on her wife's face, Aeryn was more interested in Revy's story, than Violin was personally conformable with. She thought, with mild worry and mild emotional discomfort, 'Sometimes, some of my wife's more... Interesting tastes worry me.'
Lotton looked over at the Lagoon parents. She raised an eyebrow, as she softly asked, “You have an S&M dungeon?”
Revy casually said, “Everybody needs an S&M dungeon. It is the perfect workout room for one's personal kinks.”
Rock placed her right palm onto her face, in embarrassment. She thought, 'Sometimes Revy's mouth goes faster than her head. And then her straightforwardness becomes an embarrassment for herself, and her family... Not that I would ever tell that to her face.' Rock then lowed her right hand, as she looked around the table.
Lotton deadpanned, “I bet.” She mentally added, 'I think it is best that I not mention that Shenhua, Sawyer, and I, also have an S&M dungeon, back at our home, on their yacht”
Benny swiftly mentioned, “Though, we are gentle. And it was more roleplay, than sadomasochism. But, I am glad my wife got that fantasy out of her system.”
Dutch deadpanned, “We hope.”
That caused everyone at the table, but the Lagoon family, to burst out giggling, for several seconds.
Janet whispered into Benny's ear, “You make both the best husband and wife that a woman could ask for.”
Benny turned to her wife. She warmly smiled at Janet, as she said, “Thank you, dear.”
As the others calmed down, Revy said, “Speaking of the manga timeline, I have always considered visiting my manga counterpart. If for any other reason than to freak her out.”
Rock firmly stated, “No. We agreed to leave that timeline alone. If for any other reason than to find out how our lives would have played out if Akira had never entered our reality.”
Dutch stated, “Rock is right. I don't think the sanity of our counterparts could handle learning about us. I barely could myself, and I was conditioned to mentally handle the change.”
Benny pointed out, “Besides Revy, if we did that, it would make us just as bad at Lee. As what he did to us. Maybe even worse than Lee.”
Revy shrugged, as she conceded, “You have a point there, Benny.”
B commented, “It seems that Lee understanding of multiversal mechanics is very thorough.”
Lotton stated, “That is not surprising. Considering the mechanics he stated in his stories. At the factory, he claimed he wrote from his own personal events and experiences with the multiverse. And I don't think those claims were baseless. We know he already displayed precognition. Both with his card tricks, and that bullet dodging on the roof. But, he claimed to also be able to mentally time travel, and temporally possess his counterparts in alternate realities.”
Eda stated, “I agree. I am not sure he was lying. Besides covering his ass, Lee never struck me as the type to just make stuff like that up like that. It is just to bold a claim to be believed. Even by us. So, it is likely true.”
Violin said, “Considering, I have had similar experiences. I think Lee might not be joking about that. It is possible, for him, writing those stories, was just a way for him to work out the theoretical concepts of what he was personally dealing with.”
“And not just the emotional baggage of his life in his own reality. There is not much material on the subject. I know. I have looked, in a few different realities. With most of the materiel being just shallow science fiction and fantasy.”
“Unfortunately, it is just to unbelievable for more people to grasp the concept of people visiting other realities in their dreams, and to actually physically mentally time travel. That might be why he wanted to learn physics from me during the time loop.”
B commented, “If it is true. Then, the likely reason he did not mentally time travel, to an earlier point in his life. To get out of his messes. Of not just us. But, his cancer. Was because he said it hurt a lot. To the point it damaged his soul.”
Violin stated, “Yes. That is a good reason not to do so. Along with avoiding a paradox.” She thought, 'Though, I am not sure how that works. Given Lee already claimed to have mentally time traveled into his past, and created a branch reality. And I am to tired to think about it, right now.'
Rock thought, 'If that is true. Then, he suffering similar situations as my experiences with the omake dreams. And so we have more in common than I realized. And that is likely one of the reasons that drew Lee's attention to us in the first place.'
Benny asked, “So, how does the gender bending fit in Lee's stories, fit into how his mind works?”
Lotton theorized, as she stated, “One of two ways. He liked that type of genre. Or, he has some really deep personality issues to work through. Or both. We now know from Lee that his personal life is as much a wreck as some of our lives.”
Revy commented, “That is an understatement. I didn't believe in God. Now, after all what we have been through, I am on the fence. But, Lee believes God is Evil. Or, at the least the God of his reality. I honestly his has a more negative outlook on live, that I use to have.”
Benny stated, “And that is saying something, Revy. When I think about it, considering we were his playthings, I am not sure which of those two options would be worse for us.”
Janet said, “I fully agree, dear.”
Lotton agreed, “You have a point there.”
Akira inquired, “On to more... comfortable matters. Where did he get that hologram projector, and that black car from?”
B answered, “I think I know. I remember a few months ago, when we all found out about Lee's stories. I was talking with the Lowe family. They had recently come back from the Total Recall reality with a few hologram devices like the one Lee used. Bob and Ed even mentioned that they planned to catch the writer as well, but not to harm him. Actually, they said they wanted to save him from us.”
B turned to Balalaika, as she said, “I hope you understand. It is just that I did not want to betray their trust.”
Balalaika turned to B, as she calmly replied, “I understand.”
B warmly smiled towards Balalaika.
Revy stated, “Considering how good of friends you are to the Lowe family, I am not going to fault you for that.”
B turned to look around the table, and she saw several of her friends nodding in agreement.
B stated, “Thank you. And this is not surprising, by the Lowe family, considering three of them were created by Lee, and Ed loved the life Lee gave her.”
Sawyer asked, “So, what exactly were their plans?”
B answered, “They were going the same route at Eda and Yolanda. To find the writer with his stomach. As such, they were going to start a diner. They even had a name picked out. I found the name humorous And from what they said, so did they. They seem to be on a Total Recall binge, right now.
Violin guessed, “The Last Resort Diner?”
B stated, “Yes.”
A few of the women at the table groaned at the their obvious oversight.
Violin commented, “Figures. I went there a few times, for breakfast. Good breakfast, and service. I might add. The prices were decent, too. Anyway, I thought they looked familiar. Though, they had the sense to pretend they didn't know me. And I now understand where they go their aliases from. And they were good aliases. Still, it was the only decent place in town that fixed decent scrambled eggs, grits, and sweet tea.”
Aeryn rolled her eyes, for a few seconds, as she thought, 'I sometimes do not understand my husband's tastes in strange food... At least by my Sebastian standards. And I still don't understand how a grit can be edible. Though, she does put up with some of my odder tastes, as well. So, I let things be.'
Shenhua commented, “I cannot believe they did that under our noses.”
Dutch flatly stated, “Clearly our noses need to be checked.”
A few of the women at the table groaned at Dutch's less lowbrow joke.
Revy said, “After becoming rich, I consider eating at such diners beneath me. And I bet that is what the Lowe family were counting on.”
Janet agreed, “You are probably right. And Lee likely realized that, as well. Now, that I think about it. I believe he spent some time there, on occasion. Though, I did pay not him much attention attention, when we drove by a few times for lunch, and we saw him, through the windows, eating lunch. I though he just liked the food there. Now, I believe he went there, because he believed we would not go there. So, he could have a safe place to think.”
Dutch commented, “Yea. I guess that would make sense.”
Benny asked, “So, what are we going to do about the Lowe family?”
Rock answered, “Nothing. They are our friends. And this is merely is a difference of opinion. They did not give Lee any weapons. Just a couple of toys to play with. They did not want him to harm us, just keep us away from him.”
Violin said, “I can go along with this. Just one point.” She looked over at Akira, “Hey Akira, would you like to visit the Lowe family, so we can find out where they shop for such nice toys?”
Akira turned to Violin, as her lips curled into a smile. She happily answered, “Sure. But, only if I can bring my two lovers with me.”
Violin joyfully responded, in a playful tone of voice, “I will bring Aeryn. We will make a double date out of it.”
Akira happily replied, “Sure. It's a date.”
Ranma, Natsuru and Aeryn just laughed at the two of them, for a few seconds.
As Ranma, Natsuru, and Aeryn calmed down, Revy said, “Getting back on topic. Where would Lee be? We still have to find out where the police took, Lee.”
Violin pointed out, “It is possible, that Lee could escape the police before we find out where he is. Remember, as far as they are concerned, he is just a rescued hostage that they wish to question.”
Eda commented, “Knowing him, he will probably talk his way out of there, and leave through the front doors.”
Lotton said, “There is a minor problem. The police likely have access to telepaths. Though, if Lee is desperate enough, and in a rush, he might decide not to lie to them. Instead, he would request a telepath to do a deep scan of his mind. That means that telepath, and the police will know nearly everything he knows.”
Benny countered, “If that happens, it is likely only the telepath will believe him. Cops are notoriously suspicious of those not part of law enforcement. And let's be honest, gender benders from fictional realities, after a man from another reality, is kind of hard to swallow.”
There was some giggling among those at the table.
Janet said, “Dear, you got that right.”
Dutch joked, “I know of horse pills that are likely easier to swallow.”
The giggling turned into mild chuckling from a few of the women at the table.
Eda commented, “With Lee's luck, if they hear even part of his story, they might try to have him committed. And the telepath, whom scanned his mind, being sent to the funny farm with him.”
The chuckling turned into laughter, from some of the women at the table.
A few seconds later, as the laughter died down, Akira suggested, “Well, if we are going to start looking. Let us take the simplest path. Let's see if there is any news about us on the TV.”
Akira stood up, and she walked over to the TV that was mounted on the upper corner of the wall, near their table.
Akira turned on the TV, from the button panel on the right side of the thin, widescreen TV. And the first thing they saw on TV was a tampon commercial. Akira quickly changed the channel to a local news station, that she knew of, after spending the night there.
Natsuru whisper to Ranma, “Half across the space, time, and the multiverse, and the first thing we see on TV is that. Sometimes I think the multiverse is just jerking us around.”
Ranma softly replied back, “You might be right.”
As Akira turned up the volume on the TV, every turned to listen, and watch.
As the new logo appeared on the bottom left of the screen. The logo being, 'MDNN'. As an off-screen masculine voice said, “The Mars Dome News Network.”
Then, the picture panned to a young, human, woman, with long blond hair, wearing a nice blue dress, with a mix of asian and caucasian features, as the off-screen masculine voice said, “With our anchor, Becky Haring.”
Becky said, “Good evening. Our top story are the two disappearance of Earthforce General Susan Ivanova, of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and Babylon Five Security Chief Zack Allan. INS news report reports...”
As the story unfolded, Violin said out loud, “I wonder what happened to them?”
Nearby, Shenhua and Sawyer shifted uncomfortably in their seats. Meanwhile, Revy did not show any signs of discomfort from the news.
As the news played out in the background, concerning the disappearances, which those at the table were not interested in, Balalaika turned to her friends, as she mentioned, “On another matter. That series Lee, Akira, mentioned. The Gargoyles series? What is that series about?”
Those at the table, looked over at Balalaika.
Akira answered, “It is a kitchen sink fantasy, make in the early to mid nineteen nineties. At least for our reality. Think everything, as in all genres, thrown into one series. Yet. While it was a cartoon. The characters, and plots, were very well thought out. Lee was not joking when he said the Xanatos clan was not to be crossed. And that the Xanatos' in-laws were maybe even more dangerous that the Xanatos themselves. This because many of them are literally physical gods.”
Lotton stated, “Akira is correct. As a woman, when Chang was in charge of her Tower, and her organization, through her male boomer double. She had her boomer double forbid anyone in her organization from going to the Gargoyles reality. I think the people of that reality scared her. And with good reason. They even scare me, as well.”
Balalaika stated, “Then, I will have to check out this series.”
Akira said, “I suggest we all do. It is a sixty-five episode series. Well, seventy-eight. But, at Lee pointed out, no one counts the third season as canon. There is even an alternate timeline, the form of a comics series, that branches at the end of the second season. So, the first two seasons are what you need to watch.”
Balalaika responded, “I understand.”
Meanwhile, a few of those at the table were also halfway paying attention to the TV.
On the TV screen, Becky reported the next item, “In other news. There is high speed chase this evening that lead to a shooting out in an industrial complex, on the northern, outer edge of the main dome.”
Eda turned to the TV, as she commented, “Hold. I think we got something here, on TV. I believe they are reporting about us.”
In response, everyone turned their attention to the TV, showing the news station.
On screen, Becky continued her report, “At this time, not much is known of the event. Except unknown aircraft were spotted during the chase. No suspects have been arrested, but a hostage was rescued, as well as guard that was hiding during the event. With the guard being the one whom originally contacted the police.”
Benny commented, “So, Lee did have the guard call the police.”
Dutch replied, “Yep.”
On screen Becky stated, “The hostage is known as Ello Gray. While the guard was released, the hostage was taken to a nearby police station, for questioning...”
The mention of Lee's alias, Ello Gray, caught everyone's attention, as they paid even closer attention to the news broadcast.
Janet smiled wickedly, as she stated, “We have him.”
Aeryn commented, “And all we need know is a city map, to figure out which police station is closest to the factory complex.”
Revy said, “Exactly.”
Violin commented, “Also, Lee probably got that key card from that guard.”
Aeryn nodded, as she replied, “That makes sense.”
Lotton commented, “I took Lee's key card from him. I looked at it later. And it said 'security' on it, in english. So Violin, you are likely correct about that.”
Violin looked over at Lotton, as she said, “Good work.”
Lotton replied, “You're welcome.”
On TV Becky used her right fingers, to touch her right ear, where her hidden earpiece was, cover by her long hair. She did this for a few seconds, while she stayed silent. She then lower her right hand back to her side, as she turned to look at the camera in front of her.
Becky then stated, in a firm tone of voice, “We are just getting reports in, that the police station in question has just been attacked. Reports state that a purple haired woman, in a maids outfit has attacked the station. We will keep you updated as events unfold.”
The news broadcast then switched to a commercial.
Benny cursed, “Oh crap. Roberta and Fabiola beat us to him.”
Revy said, “Knowing those two, there will not be much left of him, for the rest of us.”
Eda stated, “Don't count Lee out just yet.”
Sawyer suggested, “Do you think we should contact Roberta and Fabiola by radio?”
Shenhua stated, “No. Let's keep our radios off. They are not going to use them in their chase, unless they have to. Us contacting them might distract them. Also, if they catch Lee, we are not going to see them and Lee, again. At least a while for them. And we will likely never see Lee, again.”
“If Lee escape them. I do not want to risk their wrath, in them contacting us, by having the radio on. Or, us trying to contact them, at a very bad moment.”
“Instead, we will continue to leave our the radios turned off, or in our suites, as we have been. The excuse being we did not want to be disturbed. Which is true.”
Lotton complimented, “Intelligent thinking, Shenhua.”
Shenhua turned to Lotton. She smiled at Lotton, as she said, “Thank you.”
Balalaika agreed, “You have a point there.” She mentally added, 'This is why I only confronted Roberta, when I had an army at my side.'
Shenhua turned to Balalaika, as she commented, “I am glad you agree.”
Suddenly, a food commercial was broken in the middle of it, with Mar Dome News program coming back on.
Akira noticed this, as she stated, “The news program is back on.”
Everyone turned to the TV, to watch and listen to the news program.
On TV, Becky stated, “This is Becky Haring, reporting live. There has been a development in the police station attack. A white car is reportedly being driven at high speed down William Edgars memorial highway. The driver has been identified as Ello Gray. The man connected to both the early industrial complex incident and the police station attack. There is a male passenger with him, whom we have yet to identify.”
Janet said, “I don't believe it. The maids are after him, and he is still alive.”
Dutch commented, “Let us just be happy that the Lee is still breathing.”
Eda smirked, as she spoke up, “Told you, not to count Lee out, yet.”
On TV, Becky said, “And we do not know at this time as to why Mister Gray is driving at such high speed.”
Benny commented, “If you knew Roberta, the answer would be academic.”
There was some mild giggling from the some of the women at the table.
Eda commented, “It looks like the magnificent bastard Lee, versus the absolute badass Roberta.
Natsuru said, “I completely agree.”
Akira stated, “I would put it that way, too.”
On TV, Becky went onto say, “We are going to our eye in the sky, Tom Concord, who is on the scene, in our news helicopter.”
Revy stated, “At least, we will see what Lee is doing, right now.”
The TV program switched to a camera in the air, which was looking down, at a diagonal angle, with the car being to the cameraman's lower, forward right side. The camera eye zoned on on the six lane highway, to show a white, four door car, on the left driver's side, in the far right lane.
The white car was clear on the far right lane, as Lee drove pass the other vehicles on the road, in the other two lanes on his side.
On TV, an off-screen, male voice said, “This is Tom Concord, in our news helicopter, reporting live, on the scene.”
Off-screen, Becky asked, “What can you tell us, Tom?”
Tom answered, “Well Becky, we can report that with Mister Gray is an unidentified man.”
Becky inquired, “Do you think Mister Gray is involved with the police attack? Or, he was just using the situation to his advantage to escape, without questioning?”
Rock commented, “Likely both.”
On TV, off screen, Tom said, “That is unknown at this time. But... Hold on, I see another vehicle coming at high speed down the highway. I will turn the camera to get close up shot.”
The camera panned to behind the white car, and showed a red convertible sports car, with its top and side windows down, driving down the highway. As the camera focused, and zoomed in on the drivers seat, everyone in the room could see that it was Roberta, in her maids outfit, as her long hair, in a ponytail, whipped in the wind, behind her head.
On TV, off screen, Becky asked, “Is this the woman that is suspected of the attack of that police station.
On TV, off-screen, Tom stated, “I believe so, Becky. Given this woman, behind the wheel, matches the description of a purple haired woman in a maids outfit. I would say that Mister Gray is involved with the attack. In that he may likely be her intended target, with the police merely being in her way.”
Violin joked, “And who says there is nothing intelligent on the news.”
Several of the women burst out laughing, for a few seconds.
As the women calmed down, Revy got up from her seat, she walked to the TV and muted the volume. She turned and face the group of women, as she stated, “Okay, let's start placing bets here on if Lee can escape the Bloodhound, or not, in this chase? Since I doubt have a set of scales on me, U.S. cash only.”
Revy then pulled out a pen and notepad, from the pockets of her shorts, to write down everyone's bets.
Janet asked, “I know we discussed this outcome, a while back. For the betting pool. What odds were we going using, in this situation?”
Dutch stated, “Hundred to one odds in favor of the maid. Speaking from experience. No one escapes the Bloodhound.”
Rock countered, “Let us make is one sided. Twenty to one against Lee. But, for betting sake, two to one against, Lee. He did escape us tonight, and he then somehow got out of police station, with a car. I wonder if he can go three for three, in one night.”
Benny said, “Well, either way this goes. It is going to be entertaining for us.”
Revy stated, “Benny, you are preaching to the choir.”
Eda said, “Put a thousand dollars on Lee, for me. I am so looking forward to having that maid taken down a notch.”
Janet commented, “The super-human death machine, versus the nobody. It's suckers bet.”
Eda turned to Janet, as she commented, “Janet, you have spend time with Lee. And I would think that after the last few hours we had with him, everyone here would realize that when Lee's ass is on the line, he is full of surprises.”
Janet conceded, “You may have a point, Eda. But, I am still betting on the maid. Five hundred dollars for the maid, also.”
Benny said, “I agree with my wife. Fifteen hundred dollars for the maid.”
Janet looked over at Benny, and Janet smiled at her spouse.
Dutch commented, “Put two thousand on the maid, for me.”
Rock stated, “One hundred dollars for, Lee. I want to see if he can this pull off. So, we can catch him, later.”
As Revy wrote down everyone's bets, she compliment, “That is a good point, honey.”
Rock said, “Thanks, Revy. I am just thinking of the possible silver lining if Lee does escape tonight.”
Benny asked, “Do you think the Knight Sabers might try something?”
Lotton pointed out, “Not in a high speed chase like this, on TV. The Knight Sabers like to work in the shadows. And this event is very public.”
Benny inquired, “Yes. And given the Black Lagoon series exists here, in a few formats. I wonder if any one watching TV will recognize Roberta?”
Lotton said, “Given the series is a few centuries old. Except for a few diehard fans. I doubt it. And just a picture on the screen is not enough to remove reasonable doubt.”
Benny stated, “I guess we can hope for the best on this.”
Violin said, “Anyway. Back to the bets. I am with Rock on this. Five hundred on Lee.”
Aeryn turned to Violin, as she said, “I am going to have to disagree with you, honey.” She looked over at Revy, as she stated, “Three hundred on the maid.”
Violin turned to her wife, as she commented, “That is alright, dear.”
In response, Aeryn smiled towards Violin. The spouses then turned back to watch the muted TV.
Akira, Natsuru, and Ranma looked at each other. They nodded towards each other. After which, they turned to Revy.
Ranma stated, “We feel like being adventurous tonight. Two thousand five hundred dollars, each, on Lee.”
Balalaika said, “Two thousand on Lee. And that fool better not disappoint me.”
B said, “Same bet as Balalaika.”
Lotton commented, “Five hundred on Lee escaping the maid.”
Shenhua said, “Ten dollars for the maid. I will be the cheap one, tonight.”
Sawyer said, “Fifteen dollars for the maid. So will I.”
Revy finished writing down the bets, as she stated, “And three grand from me, on the maid.” She then put away her pen and notepad. She looked at her friends, as she commented, “I will leave the TV muted, so we can talk. Even no objects.”
No one said, anything for the next few seconds.
Revy then said, “Okay.
Revy left the TV mute. After which, she returned to her seat, and sat down in her chair. As she got comfortable, she turned to the TV, with the rest of her friends watching the news program, as well.
On TV, the camera showed that Roberta's car was quickly gaining on Lee's vehicle. They could clearly see the look on Roberta's face, which promised a painful fate for her prey.
Akira asked, “Is it me, or does Roberta clearly look more pissed off, then when she and Fabiola showed up at the Devil's Hotel, right after Lee escape?”
Dutch said, “It is not your imagination, Akira. She clearly is angrier.”
Akira commented, “Still, I do not know why she is so angry.” She mentally added, 'And I was not stupid enough ask her. It is no small wonder why Lee freaked when she and Fabiola came to town. I mean, if the maids were personally after me, I would be running as soon as possible, as well.'
Ranma commented, “I don't know why, either. And yes. She is angry... Very angry.”
Benny stated, “Roberta really has a hard-on to get Lee. More than we do.”
Natsuru agreed, “Akira, Ranma, and Benny have a point here. The question is. Why?”
Lotton inquired, “I wonder why, as well? Lee had me fix Roberta's body, and her mind. Of all of us, she clearly got the most from Lee's writings. I would think she would be thanking him for all he did for her.”
Sawyer commented, “I am not sure myself. Roberta did not tell me the details. When I spoke to her, this morning. But, she and Fabiola hinted it had something to do with Garcia.”
Ranma said, in an embarrassing tone of voice, “Of course... Lee gave Garcia the spring of drowned girl curse, like I have.”
Dutch commented, “I can see that upsetting them. Finding out Lee was the one that changed our gender upset us. But, that does not explain why their dialed their rage to full on, hell on earth mode?”
Revy's eyes went wide, as she exclaimed, “Oh, that it!” She then began laughing.
Rock turned to Revy, as she asked, “What is it, Revy?”
A few seconds later, Revy stopped laughing. Though, she still had a wicked grin on her lips, as she turned to Rock. She answered, “Roberta has always been a little touchy about matters dealing with menstrual periods. It is no surprised she and Fabiola would be pissed off at Lee, over making Garcia go through that every month.”
There were several groans across the table, as everyone realized what Revy was talking about.
Dutch look over at Rock, as she said, “Rock, you might as well cancel you plans on asking Roberta to hand over Lee. Because if this is over that, then she is far too angry to negotiated with, once she has her prize in hand.”
Rock turned to Dutch, as she responded, “I am starting to realize that.”
Ranma then corrected Revy, “Actually, every few months. Being a guy occasionally, and then a girl again, slows that cycle down, and makes its timing irregular.”
There were a few giggles from Ranma's comment.
Lotton recalled what Garcia was cursed in the stories. She commented, “That sad part is I honestly don't think Lee realized what was going to happen to Garcia when he wrote that line in book three.”
Eda stated, “I agree. Because no one, not even Lee, would intentionally hurt a nice boy like Garcia. And he certainly would never intentionally piss off Roberta and Fabiola. He not only knows how dangerous they are, he made them even more dangerous.”
Sawyer commented, “When is came to us, it was like he was always walking a mine field.”
Akira lips curled into a mischievous grin, as she joked, “More like a PMS mine field.”
Natsuru and Lotton giggle at Akira's private joke, with Lotton remembering having read that line in book one of Lee's stories. And Natsuru remembered Akira personally telling her that comment, in person, several years ago.
Shenhua turned to Lotton, as she inquired, “Do I even want to know?”
Whiled Lotton stopped giggling, she turned to Shenhua, as she answered, “Not really. It would take too long to explain the joke.”
Janet turned to Benny. She then looked around the table, as she said, “Like Benny pointed out earlier. Now, Lee has to face the super-badass he upgraded. Talk about poetic justice.”
Sawyer suggested, “Well, let's watch, and see what happens next.”
The group then turned their attention back to the TV, which was still muted.
Roberta, in the red two door sports car, was presently in the far left lane, right behind Lee, in the white four door car, and she was gaining on him.
After a few seconds of watching, they saw something thrown from the sunroof of Lee's vehicle, and the item hit Roberta's windshield.
A second later, Roberta bailed out of the car, into the middle lane, with the car still moving forwards.
A few seconds later, the car exploded.
Those present, at the table, realized what Lee had used to cause the explosion.
Sawyer said, in disbelief, “Lee had another grenade all this time?”
Eda smiled, in astonishment towards Lee, as she commented, “That man always has a card up his sleeve.”
Rock stated, “He likely didn't use it on us because it is not the type of weapon that is useful when surrounded.”
Benny questioned, “Speaking of which. As fun as this chase is. Lee never does something without a plan. He always knows where he is heading. So, where is he planning on going?”
Dutch commented, “Maybe we will find out.”
Violin inquired, “I wonder how she will catch up with him, now?”
Dutch calmly stated, “Even before the upgrades, she was fast... Just watched.”
Suddenly, the camera showed Roberta standing up, as cars moved out of her, and the burning ruins of the red sports car she had been driving, as they drove passed by, in the far left lane.
Those at the table, then watched as Roberta started to run down the street. Within seconds her running speed picked up to where she was keeping pace with the cars driving down the road.
Dutch grinned.
Violin admitted, “Not bad.”
Without warning, Roberta jumped off the road, and she soon landed on the roof of nearby, moving vehicle. She then began hopping from vehicle roof, to vehicle roof. With her sometimes landing on the tops of the trailer containers behind hauled by the semi-tractor-trailer trucks.
Revy muttered, “I wonder if I can do that? I know I can do it with boats.”
Rock overheard Revy. She turned to Revy, as she sternly stated, “Revy, at least in boats, if you, miss you hit the water. You miss with a car, you are hitting road at high speed. We are tough, but not invulnerable. You do not want to break your neck, and shatter your skeleton.”
Revy turned to Rock. She conceded, in an agreeable, serious tone of voice, “Good point.”
Rock replied, in a calm, supportive tone of voice, “I am glad you agree.”
Revy and Rock then turned back to look at the TV.
Lotton commented, “Benny, you know what I said earlier, about reasonable doubt, on Roberta's identity being made public here?”
Benny said, “Yea.”
Lotton responded, in a serious tone of voice, “Forget it. Because only the Bloodhound could do this, and make it believable.”
Benny stated, “Lotton, you are preaching to the choir. And it looks like Roberta is getting close to Lee.”
Roberta then jumped on top of the trailer container roof, right beside Lee's white car.
Seconds later, Roberta dropped onto the roof of Lee's car itself.
Right after she landed on top of the hood of Lee's car, Roberta pulled out her pistols, and she began shooting the car engine.
Benny stated, “It's over.”
Dutch said, “And she
Lotton commented, “I wonder how she hides those pistols, with her drum clips, on her outfit?”
Nearby, Sawyer said, “It has to be some holsters in her skirt. There is no other place she could put those pistols, and clips, on that dress.”
Meanwhile, Eda watched the TV, as she faintly said, under her breath, “Come on, Lee.” She then noticed something about Lee's car, on the screen, as she thought, 'Wait a minute, Lee rolled down his side windows? Why?'
They then watched as Lee drove the car, to his left, until the truck trailer, destroying the car's hood, while forcing Roberta to jump over the moving cargo container.
Just as Roberta was about to land onto the back seats of Lee's car, they watched her be suddenly ejected from the car with such force that she let go of her pistols.
As Roberta flew back in the air, they saw a metal staff fly away from the vehicle as well.
On TV, they also watched as Lee continued driving down the road, in his white car.
Violin said, with mild shock, “I don't believe I just saw that.”
Shenhua and Sawyer's jaws dropped at what they just saw.
Eda just lightly laughed, as she thought, 'Smart move, Lee. And by rolling down your windows, beforehand, you minimized any glass shards from hitting you, and your passenger.'
Balalaika stated, “I believe I may have to revise my opinion of this man. As him being more resourceful than I thought. Which was quite a bit to begin with.”
B nodded in agreement with her lover.
Dutch demanded, “What was that? And what did Lee just do?”
Violin commented, “I believe we will need instant replay in slow-mo to see what really happened there.”
Akira answered, “I believe that is metal staff that flew out of the car was a denn'bok. An alien ranger fighting pike that can collapse to a few inches wide. I don't know where he got it from, but Lee used it as a spring loaded weapon to knock Roberta away from his car.”
Lotton stated, “Now, that was brilliant. And he likely only had less than a few minutes to come up, and implement that plan.”
Janet turned to Revy, as she asked, “Do you think it is over?”
Revy replied, “Not by a long shot. Roberta does not know how to quit.”
Meanwhile, on the TV, the camera immediately panned out to show the green semi-tractor-trailer truck that Lee has been driving beside, stopped, on the road, as it blocked the middle and right lanes. While Roberta had landed on the far left lane, with her sitting up. With traffic stopping on all the lanes.
Janet commented, in jest, “Leave it to Roberta to stop traffic.”
No one laughed at Janet's joke.
Revy joked, “Well, those knockers on her chest. It is not very hard.”
No one laughed at Revy's joke.
As they watched Roberta get up and collect her pistols, they saw that the camera had passed over, as it followed Lee's car. But, the camera was continue to look at Roberta, as it was zooming in, while flying away. Also, it showed the trucker of the green truck involved with the accident, get out, to go check on Roberta.
Rock thought, 'The driver likely stopped due having seen Lee's stunt, and Roberta fall beside his truck. Still, what exactly did Lee just pull to get Roberta out of his car, so quickly?'
Benny commented, “At least, Roberta looks like she is going to be okay.”
Shenhua stated, “Yes. Though, some fool is getting out of his truck to help her. Though, commendable. It is still foolish.”
Benny replied, “True.”
Aeryn said, “He is going to lose that truck.”
Ranma stated, “He will be luck if all he loses is his truck.”
As the helicopter flew further away, the camera continued zooming out, to show Roberta. The screen also showed the trucker approach Roberta from behind, as Roberta holstered her pistols.
When the trucker reached Roberta. Roberta turned around and gave him her slasher smile. The trucker immediately turned around and briskly walked to the far right emergency lane, while Roberta stated walking for the open door to the green semi-tractor-trailer truck.
Then, the camera turned around, as it zoomed in to focus on Lee's while car.
Akira commented, “One look a that smile, and the sane immediately know when to walk away.”
Violin said, “I hear that.”
Dutch stated, “Well, it is academic that Roberta now has a set of new wheels. And big wheels at that.”
Rock thought, 'At least that innocent bystander is going to be okay.'
Natsuru commented, “She is really channeling her inner terminator, right now.”
Benny stated, “That goes without saying. But, I agree with you, Natsuru.”
Janet asked, “Does Roberta know how to drive a truck like that?”
Revy commented, “Yea. I have seen her do so, a few times. She just does not really get the chance to do so.”
Ranma stated, “Let's count ourselves lucky on that.”
Revy mentioned, “Actually. When she is not pissed off. She is a very safe driver.”
Dutch commented, “Interesting. I guess she likely chauffeurs Garcia around, when she needs to.”
Revy stated, “I would not be surprised, if that was the case.”
Everyone then turned back to look at the TV.
By then, the helicopter camera crew had zoomed in and properly focused on Lee's car. And those at the table got a good look at the damage to the car. The car no longer had a roof on it. And the front hood was riddled with bullet holes.
And the women could clearly see who was inside of the vehicle. And where in the car, they were setting. Lee had on his sunglasses, as he sat in the driver's seat, while he drove the car at high speed. And a brown haired, fair skinned man in the front passenger seat, to Lee's right side.
B asked, “I wonder who the man with Lee is?”
Balalaika commented, “So, do I.”
Rock said, “I would like to know, as well. And I feel sorry for whomever it is. Though, Lee's car looks like hell. Roberta shot up the engine, and it is now missing the roof. I would not be surprised if it did not give out, before whatever location Lee is heading to.”
Violin commented, “That is very likely.”
Aeryn looked at the man in the passenger side, as she questioned, “I also wonder who that guy is?”
Natsuru sympathized, “Whoever he is, that poor guy with Lee must be scared out of his mind.”
Akira said, “I would not be surprised if that was the case.”
Janet stated, “That is likely the most unluckiest guy on the planet. He is between Bloodhound and her prey. Given he has been with Lee through out the chase, by now he has to have idea of what he is facing, and he knows he's fucked.”
Benny agreed, “That is very likely, dear. Very likely.”
Ranma then noticed something about Lee, as she asked, “Is Lee still wearing his shades a night?”
Eda responded, “Yep. And given wind resistance at that speed. It is a smart idea. And the street lights still allow for Lee to see find on the road.”
The camera showed the passenger pulling out a cellphone, and calling someone.
Lotton asked, “I wonder who he is calling?”
Violin said, “Likely, he is calling for help from where Lee is planning to go to.”
On the TV screen, they saw as the road soon diverged to where Lee was on a standard two lane road.
Sawyer said, “Roberta better hurry up. I think Lee is closing in on his destination.”
Balalaika agreed, “Yes. We are likely going to find out where they are heading, in a minute.”
A few seconds later, the camera showed both Lee and the passenger, looking behind the car.
The two men then quickly turned back to face the road in front of them.
Janet commented, “They must have seen something really back, coming up from behind them.
Revy's lips curled into a smirk, as she stated, “And we can guess who it is.”
The camera panned to show the same green semi-tractor trailer truck, with trailer, that had been beside, earlier, gaining on them.
The camera closed in on the truck's cab, to show that Roberta's at the wheel, with a slasher smile on her lips.
Revy continued to smirk, as she said, “She's back in the game.”
Benny commented, “Damn. Natsuru, you were right. The maid is going full on Terminator mode on Lee.”
Natsuru said, “Told you.”
Dutch smirked, as she commented, “I just hope she doesn't kill him outright. That would just be to quick.”
The camera then panned back out, to view both vehicles. It showed Lee's passenger handing his cellphone to Lee, with Lee yelling something into the phone before hanging up and giving it back to the passenger.
Rock said, “I think Lee just pulled a card from his sleeve. But, I am not sure what.”
Eda commented, “The question is. What?”
Suddenly, Lee started laughing.
Shenhua asked, in a slightly confused tone of voice, “Why is Lee laughing?”
Dutch stated, “Facing imminent death can make a person act strangely.”
Sawyer countered, “No. That is not the laughter of a condemned man. I have seen plenty of them. That is the laughter of someone who just pulled something, on someone else. And I think in Lee's case, it is Roberta.”
Rock replied, “I agree. And we are about to find out what card Lee just pulled out against Roberta.”
Without warning, the driver's side, back tire exploded, causing the car to being spin in a counterclockwise motion down the road.
It was that moment that the passenger started screaming.
Violin said, “I don't know why Lee is laughing, but that passenger is clearly screaming.”
Lotton stated, “Yea. He is freaking out. And he has every right to be doing so.”
Benny commented, “While I didn't scream. When I was in his place, years ago. I did freak out, a bit.”
Dutch turned to Benny, as she said, in a comforting tone of voice, “And that was natural human reaction to such a situation.”
Benny turned to Dutch, as she smiled. She replied, “Thanks, Dutch.”
In response to Benny's comment, Dutch returned Benny's smile. The two women they turned back to watch the TV, with their friends.
Natsuru commented, “I got to admire that Lee's driving skills. It is not easy to maintain a controlled spin on the road, while going forward.”
Akira stated, “I didn't even know that it was possible?”
Rock said, “I have done it a few times. It is not fun to do.”
Dutch commented, “It just takes practice.”
Natsuru continued watched the TV, with everyone else, as she stated, “Oh. It is do able. The AD Police academy taught us how to do it. But, it is very hard to master.” She mentally added, 'Lee is likely using his precognition to help him, with that controlled spin.'
Then, everyone noticed that on the second turn of Lee's car, in the spin, when Lee faced Roberta, he shouted something to her, while he made a middle finger hand gesture with his left hand toward her.
None of them could believe what they were seeing.
Benny asked, in disbelief, “Did Lee just give Roberta the finger?”
Dutch said, in a calm tone of voice, “Yep. He isn't long for this world.”
Suddenly, they saw in the cab, that Roberta had dropped her smile, as she quickly threw open the left driver's side door, and she jumped out of the truck.
Seconds later, they saw shots coming coming over the car, and hitting the front of the truck.
The camera panned out to show Lee car, panning further to show the large gun turrets on the concrete walls, by the gate Lee was heading for.
Within a matter of moments, the turret gunfight destroyed the truck, causing it to explode. The trailer behind the truck tipped forward, as it fell onto its side, blocking both lanes of the road, while it skidded to a halt.
Lee's car was then shown spinning passed the gates of the concrete wall.
The gates on the road immediately closed, just before the news station feed suddenly cut to black.
With the TV news program switching back to the anchor woman, Becky Haring, and the sound still muted, the women at the table then turned to look at each other.
While feeling amazement at what she had just watched, Dutch stated, “Damn that chase was almost as crazy the torpedo against helicopter stunt we pulled. Almost.”
Janet said, “I don't believe Lee just beat Roberta.”
Eda smirked, as she stated, in an excited tone of voice, “Believe it, sister.”
Natsuru commented, “I know we are intelligent. So, I don't mean this to be insulting. But, I believe that Lotton was correct, in what she said last night. That we have drastically underestimated Lee's intelligence, and ability to outwit us.”
Lotton turned to Natsuru. She smiled, as she replied, “Thank you.”
Natsuru turned to Lotton, as she said, “You're welcome.” She then looked around the table, at her friends, as she stated, “And all night this man has been pulling escape artist level stunts with style. Yet. We know he wasn't trained to do all this, in the time loop. We accounted for the badass skills he learned them.” She mentally added, 'We hope.'
Lotton commented, “Actually, I am not so sure. Think about it. He wrote the stories. A lot of those stories dealt with how to quickly escape people. He is simply applying what he learned, to write those scenes, into his own life.”
Violin pointed out, “That man can think several steps ahead. You heard the news. He likely had that guard call the police. He planned his own police rescue, before trying to lose us in the industrial complex. And if we don't get him here, we might lose him for good.”
Rock stated, “You maybe right. He has only two major concerns. Us, and his cancer. He has to deal with the cancer soon. The problem is how does he plans to cure himself.”
Benny said, “We do not have a clue how he plans to do that. But knowing him, the cure will likely also aid him in his escape of us.”
Eda grinned, as she agreed, “Probably. But, you got to admit, that he has gotten so good at this, he can do it with the same level of style that we can.” She looked over at Revy, as she said, “Two-hands, you better have my money ready soon.”
Revy turned to Eda, as she said, “Fine.”
Revy thought, 'Even with the money I get from the losers, it is not enough to cover my loses. I have to pay out of pocket. And I was so sure the Roberta would catch him.'
Revy grumbled, “Damn you, Lee.”
Revy looked around the table, as she went onto say, in a normal tone of voice, “Okay losers, fork over your money.”
As the losers of the bet pulled out their money and handed it to Revy, the redhead pulled out some hundred dollar bills from a money clip in her shorts. Along with her pen, and the notepad she wrote down the bet on.
A few minutes later, Revy had received the money from the losers, and paid the winners what they were owed. And fortunately, she still has some cash left over, from her own pocket. She also put her pen and notepad back into her pockets, as well.
Revy thought, with mild relief, 'At least I don't have to go back to the island for some more funds. And that didn't hurt me to much in my wallet.'
As everyone sat back down, in their chairs around the table, Aeryn asked, “That place Lee entered. We did not see a lot that place. But, with defensive weapons like that, I would think it would be a fortress.”
Akira stated, “You are likely correct, Aeryn. Since the news report stated they were traveling on William Edgars memorial highway, I would guess Lee, and his friend, just entered the main headquarters for Edgars Industries.”
Akira looked around the table, as she continued, “For those that done know, Edgars Industries is an intergalactic corporation with a lot of power, and a lot of political pull. They are also one of the largest drug companies in the human areas of this galaxy. They are likely the ones that had the news broadcast stopped.”
Natsuru asked, with slight concern in her tone of voice, “At this point in time, isn't Garibaldi currently running that company?”
Lotton answered, “Yes. And that is probably why Lee went there. Garibaldi, in his fortress, is one of the few people on this planet with the power and resources to make even us stop and think for a few seconds. We won't be rushing into there until we are ready.”
Aeryn asked, “Who is this Garibaldi fellow?”
Violin answered, “She is talking about Michael Garibaldi. He is a major human badass in this reality. Though, he is retired military, he is not a hardcore fighter. He is more of the detective style badass. Though, he is fairly skilled at flying a starfighter. Or, I should say, starfury? He has been running the Edgars Industries corporation for around two decades. By now, he likely knows the company, and what he can do with it, inside and out.”
Ranma stated, “I have seen the B Five series. If we are going to take that place, to get to Lee, we are going to need to organize, and get some serious hardware.”
Rock said, “I think I can come up with something by tomorrow. But, I think we need to get a few hours sleep, before we make our next move.”
Aeryn replied, “Agreed.”
Balalaika commented, “It has been a long day.”
B turned to Balalaika, as she said, “We will get some sleep in a little while.”
Rock stated, “Okay. We will meet back in a little over four hours.”
Most of the women nodded, or shrugged, in agreement. The others just did not feel like nodding.
Just then, Fabiola rushed into the restaurant. She saw the women at the table. She ran to where she stopped ten feet from the table. She breathed heavily, as sweat covered her forehead, and under her clothing.
Between breaths, she asked the women seated at the table, “Did we get him? You were not answering the radio, nor Roberta. So, did we?”
The women looked over at her. Akira stated, “Nope. Roberta just missed him. She probably will be heading back here, in a little while.”
Fabiola deflated, as she her breathing started to ease. She said, “Okay. If you see her, tell her that I have gone to our room to get cleaned up. And I will be down here to meet her, as soon as possible.”
Akira replied, “Will do.”
Fabiola turned and left the restaurant, for the lobby elevators, so she head to her suite, get a much needed shower, and change her clothes.
After Fabiola left, the women turned back to look at each other, as Rock though, 'Now, is a good as time as any to contact the Knights Sabers.' She politely requested, “Well guys, I need a moment of quiet, as I contact the Knight Sabers. Before they decide to try to get to Lee on their own.”
Aeryn commented, “From what was just stated, that would be a very unwise idea.”
Violin agreed, “Yes. There is no telling what Garibaldi has in his fortress. And with his skills and guile, he might be able to defeat the Knight Sabers, even if they attack him with their full forces.”
Rock stated, “Exactly.” She then used her right hand pulled our, from her clothing, her encrypted, hand held radio. She turned it on, and pressed the talk button. She said, into it, in english, “Knight Sabers. Please, pick up.” She mentally added, 'I might as well state this in english. So, everyone here can understand what is being said.'
A few seconds later, on the other end of the line, Sylia replied, in english, “Yes, Rock.”
Rock said, “We know where Lee is.”
On the other end of the line, Sylia commented, in a dry tone of voice, “We saw the new broadcast of the chase, as well.”
Rock responded, “Yes. But, you may not be aware of identity of the man that controls the fortress that Lee just made it into. As such, please give me five hours to come up with a plan. Given the night Lee has had, he is not going to be in the shape to travel, for at least the rest of the night. I will contact you then, with a plan.”
A few second later, over the radio, Sylia replied, “Understood.”
Rock replied, “Thank you.”
Rock then turned off the radio, put it away, from where she had kept on her clothing.
Revy quietly said, “Well, that went well.”
Benny stated, “Okay. Now, that is done. We can talk about something a little more fun. You know, Lee is as crazy as Roberta. And he is about as crazy as the Mexican and the Lawyer.”
Rock asked, “Who?”
Dutch said, “Two guys we ran into, a while back. We just never told you about them, because we had our reasons.” She mentally reflected, 'Like some of the clues they dropped in their conversation with us.'
Dutch continued, “And while they are crazy. They are not crazy in the ultra violent way Roberta is. More like Lee's verity of crazy. In how creative and risk taking they were. We met them was soon after Revy and I rescued Benny, here, in Florida. We found ourselves in Caracas, Venezuela for a day. That night we went to a bar to get some drinks, and we got into a massive gunfight.”
Revy quickly commented, “That was not our fault, at all.”
There was some mild giggling from a few of the women at the table.
Benny stated, “Yes. Revy is right about that. It was the first gunfight, in a bar, that I was ever in. And yet, the Mexican and the Lawyer acted so calm. Like they had been through gunfights in bars, so many times, that it didn't bother them. The scary thing is that after so many gunfights in the Yellowflag, I can relate to them on that point.”
Akira asked, “Isn't Caracas where Fabiola, Roberta, and Garcia, are from?”
Eda mentioned, “And Rico.”
Eda did not show it on the outside, but she felt concern, as mentally reflected, 'Revy one time mentioned this bar fight. And what happened. Including, the Mexican and the Lawyer. And she even mentioned when. Though, Revy never gave me the details on where this the bar fight happened. And now that I know. If this is the bar fight I think it is. And it does fit the time line. Then, I may have had a hand in unknowingly starting that bar fight... Not that I am going to tell anyone here about my role in this mess.'
Dutch mentioned, “Yes. I guess so on, both counts. And it is an interesting tale. Even for us. About an hour after we got into the bar, and got some drinks at the counter, these two men enter the building, and they walk up to the counter, as well. And they start talking to each other. Then, Revy made a crack about them. And that is how our conversation started. They did not give us their names. They just called themselves, the Mexican and the Lawyer.”
Revy cursed herself, “Oh crap, I owe the lawyer two grand on a bet I made with him.”
Rock asked, “What was the bet?”
Revy stated, “That I would end up with a tightass Japanese man that preferred a suit and tie, instead
Natsuru guessed, “They were from the future?”
Dutch agreed, “Given some of the other stuff they said. Which Revy here likely do not remember. That is what Benny and I thought, as well. The morning after.” She turned to Rock and Janet, as she stated, “That is why we never told you two, nor anyone else about that night.”
Eda thought, 'Oh... This is getting interesting. I am going to love telling Yolanda about this.'
Benny stated, “Dutch and I felt it was best not to talk about it. And given the craziness in our lives, we didn't want to add even more craziness the mix.”
Rock said, “I fully understand.”
Janet commented, “It is best that you did not. So, I am sure there were other clues about them being time travelers.”
Dutch stated, “Yes. There were. the Mexican was the person that originally told me about Roanapur, and gave me directions to it. He even called it a gangsters’ paradise. And we all know for a fact that Chang occasionally called Roanapur that.”
Balalaika commented, “That is correct.”
Revy looked over at Dutch and Benny, as she stated, “I didn't know that those two were from the future. Not that I am upset about you two keeping that from me. But, that means they knew the effect that alcohol has on me. And the Lawyer still introduced me to rum. If I see that lawyer again, I am going to have words with that lawyer, over that.”
Ranma whispered to Akira and Natsuru, “Talk about a subtle form of corruption.”
Akira and Natsuru just lightly giggled at their lover's comment.
Benny stated, “That was not all. Some of the statements they made. Including a few quotes, raised some questions. Such as a quote, that the Lawyer said, that both of them claimed was a movie quote. But, at the time, it was just a book quote. Later, they did make a good movie out of that book in question.”
Violin asked, “What movie did he quote?”
Benny answered, “Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas.”
Violin commented, “That would fit their situation, so well.”
Shenhua asked, “Okay. They were crazy. But, how savvy were they?”
Dutch stated, “While those two men were crazy. We should all know. We have met a few. Those two were not as crazy as Lee. Though, they were just as smart, and savvy.”
Benny responded, “Dutch is right. For example, though we didn't know who she was at the time. During out conversation with them. Roberta walked in through the front door in combat fatigues, and military cap.”
Revy exclaimed, “Roberta was there?!”
Benny turned to Revy, as she answered, “Yea. You don't remember, because you have problems remembering people that you don't deal with everyday, or don't impress you in a fight. And at the time Roberta didn't do either.”
Revy sheepishly admitted, “You're right about that.”
Eda thought, 'So, Revy never gave me all the details of that event, because she doesn't clearly remember what happened. That figures.'
Benny turned to the rest of the women a the table, as she calmly stated, “Anyway, Roberta came to the bar counter. She was one side of those two at the counter. We three were on the other side. Soon after the Mexican and Lawyer saw her, the Mexican bought her a drink. And from what I could make out from the spanish they were saying to each other, it was her favorite drink.”
Lotton inquired, “Let me get this straight. This time traveler, whom likely knew who she was. At least good enough to get her a drink she liked? Meaning he also knew of her past, and he was still coming on to her?”
Benny answered, “Yes.”
Lotton flatly stated, “He is crazy.”
Ranma pointed out, “Garcia also has a relationship with Roberta, and he is not crazy.”
Lotton countered, “Oh, Garcia is likely crazier than most of us. He is just polite about it.”
Ranma conceded, “You may have a point there.” She then looked over at Benny, as she requested, “Please continue.”
Benny heard Ranma's request. She commented, “I would be more than happy too... So, looking back on it. This is one of the reasons we think those two are crazy. And the Mexican even doubled down, as he knowingly started putting the moves on Roberta. All the while knowing who she was, what she would become, and that the Colombian cartel was after her. And it was working. Honestly, I think if they had been given some more time together, she would have slept with him.”
Sawyer stated, in disbelief, “That man has a death wish.”
Shenhua turned to Sawyer, as she countered, “I won't be so sure. The audacity of knowingly trying to do so would likely be worth the attempt. Half of the dates I went on, in Roanapur, before I got to know you, and met Lotton, started that way. With the guy knowing who I was, and what I did, beforehand. I honestly admired those men for still having the guts to ask me out on a date. I did not take all of the ones that asked me, up on a date. But, I did admire them for asking. I even let them live, even if I turned them down. And most of those dates ended well. After a night of decent, to good, sex.”
Sawyer looked over at Shenhua, as she inquired, “And the others?”
Shenhua coyly replied, “Well, we will not talk about them.”
Sawyer inquired, in a strong, concerned tone of voice, “You didn't trick me into carving up a few of your living ex-boyfriends? With me thinking that Chang wanted them dead? Did you?”
Shenhua shrugged, as she casually said, “Hmm... Maybe one, or two...”
Sawyer accused, “Those are the ones you personally paid me in cash, for? Instead, of using the usual third party drop offs for the cash.”
Shenhua nodded, as she pointed out, “Though, given that was your previous job. At the time, I didn't see a problem.”
Sawyer explained, “The problem is, I don't like being lied to as to why someone is being killed. And who wants them dead... Though, I will have still done the job, since you paid me. I just like to know who I am killing for, before I do the killing, and disposal.”
Shenhua replied, “Good.”
Sawyer deadpanned, “Though, we are going to talk about this, when we get to our room, tonight.”
Shenhua sighed.
Sawyer turned to Benny, as she requested, “Now, go ahead, Benny.”
Lotton leaned over to whisper into Violin's right ear, “Could I bunk with you guys tonight?”
Violin softly replied back, “Sure. We even got an extra bed, in our suite, you can use.”
Lotton said, “Thanks.”
Benny went onto say “And then there was that stunt the Mexican pulled, soon after. When the local cartel members finally showed up, and came into the bar with their their automatic rifles. They were pointed their rifles at Roberta. They even called her Bloodhound at the time. And the Mexican, whom was right beside her, pulled his semi-automatic pistol on them, while saying some badass line. It went, something, armed bastards.”
With a smile on her lips, Balalaika calmly said, in an amused tone of voice, “He said. Don't move. You're surrounded by armed bastards... I have to admit that is a cool line.”
Akira said, “I have heard that line from somewhere, before. But, I cannot place it.”
Natsuru commented, “Same here. It is just been so long ago.”
Benny turned to Balalaika, as she inquired, with interest in her voice, “You were there?”
B answered for Balalaika, “Yes. We were on one side of the room, Chang and his group was on the other side.”
Balalaika commented, “To be exact, Those that attacked were members of the Manisarera Cartel. It their attack, on us, that night, which set me on the course to eventually destroy that cartel.”
Akira stated, “So, that's why you were so hostile towards that cartel, in the series?”
Balalaika grin became a little wider, as she answered, “Yes. And unlike others, I do still, clearly remember what was said that night. Though, I don't remember what the Mexican and the Lawyer look like. But, when the Bloodhound did show up Roanapur, I just had to lend a hand. I was already going to destroyed that cartel. So, helping the Bloodhound, that one time, was just icing on the cake.”
Revy inquired, “So sis, the whole reason you brought out the Vozdushno-Desantnye Vojska, that time, was?...”
Balalaika’s smile turned into a smirk, as she answered, “Yes. I did it just to stick to the Manisarera cartel. And to keep you two from killing each other. Also, though at the time, I had him beat up. I left Abrego alive, because killing him would have ruined the mood I had set for that day.”
Balalaika mentally reflected, 'Plus, with him left alive, and his cartel crippled back in South America, he would likely have remained in charge of the Roanapur branch. Which is what happened. Afterward, he knew never to cross me. Which he never did, after that.'
'And I allowed him a few impotent insults towards me, during the meetings of the families, because I knew, that he knew, that I know, that he would never try anything against me. And I got such a kick out of thinking about that fact.'
Benny commented, “I sometimes forget how vindictive you can be. But, you are practical, in your actions.”
Balalaika's lips curled into positively wicked smirk, as she turned to Benny. She replied, with a touch of warmth in her voice, “Thank you.”
Benny slowly inquired, with concern, “On which point?”
While still grinning, Balalaika said, “Both.”
Rock stated, “That being said. After all we know now. It would take an army to keep those two from killing other.”
Balalaika deadpanned, “That is why I brought an army, when I came to meet the Bloodhound.”
There was some mild laughter from some of the women at the table. Including, Revy, and Balalaika.
As those that laughed, calmed down, Revy looked over Rock, as she warmly smile. She said, “I will take your statement as a compliment.”
Rock turned to looked at Revy, as she returned her lover's smile. She replied, “Good. Because, it was intended as such.”
Balalaika turned to looked at the other end of the table, and the Lagoon parents, as she inquired, “Still, why did you not recognize the maid as the Bloodhound, when she came to the Roanapur, for the first time? That is not like you, Dutch. You are usually as sharp as I am, on such matters.”
Dutch answered, “Well, thank you for the compliment, Balalaika. But, at the time, we were more concerned with trying to survive her rampage. And the previous time we saw here, she was in green fatigues, a green military cap, with no glasses. And her hair was in a ponytail. The maids uniform, bonnet, glasses, and pigtails threw us.”
Benny agreed, “Yea. And when you are on the business end of one of her rampages. You are not thinking about the distant past. You are thinking about the immediate future. Or, lack there of. And she was a little bit more rational, back in Caracas.”
Dutch commented, “But, we did piece that part of the puzzle together, after she finished her second return to the city. After she was crippled, and when back, with Garcia and Fabiola, to South America. But, before Akira showed up.”
Benny mentioned, “Dutch and I talked about it in private. And we decided not to talk about it with anyone else, because it would have only complicated all our lives.”
Balalaika stated, “You would have been correct.”
Dutch and Benny then let out a sigh of relief, as they realized that no one would hold the secrets, they had just admitted to, against them.
Janet questioned, “So, you recognized Roberta, then, Balalaika?”
Balalaika causally answered, “Yes. After that night in Caracas, I kept tabs on her, from time to time.”
Akira inquired, “That is why, in the series, you so quickly realized Roberta was a soldier, and you called her, a rabid dog, then? You knew who she was, at the time?”
Balalaika said, “Exactly. And that was why I was so careful.”
Natsuru complimented, “Those were intelligent moves on your part.”
Balalaika casually replied, “Thank you.”
Nearby, Eda showed no outward expression, as she thought, with inward surprise, and concern, 'Oh no... It is the bar fight I was thinking about. I did accidentally have a hand in that bar fight. But, I was clearly not alone in lighting the match to that firestorm. I am just glad that I was only involved in a third party manner. And my friends here have no clue of my role in that night. And I hope they never do.'
'Still, it might be best not to think about such events. Especially at the casino, so River, nor someone, picks up my thoughts on such matters. And if River does already know, and she confronts me about it. I will just bribe her to keep her mouth shut, because she is nice to me.'
'Besides, it was years ago. Long before any of us knew each other. I was not intentionally trying to start that bar fight. And I was under orders... I should be fine. Especially, given they are just now letting Dutch and Benny offer the hook. Immediately after coming clean about their part in this mess.'
Dutch stated, “Damn. I guess nearly everyone was there. It must have been like a god damn convention for those two. And it explains, at the time, how the Mexican already knew nearly everyone in the room was armed.”
Sawyer said, “Which only shows how much crazier those two are.”
Janet turned to Revy, as she asked, “Do you remember any of that event?”
Revy turned to Janet, as she commented, “At this point, I only remember bits and pieces.”
Janet questioned, “Were you drunk, then? You did mention that you were introduced to rum there.”
Revy answered, “Actually, I was mostly sober.”
Janet asked, “Then, what do you remember?”
Revy responded, “Well, that was were I first saw Chang...” She turned to looked at Balalaika's, as she continued, “And sis here. And that is where I saw Chang use that dual wielding trick with his pistols. I loved that trick so much, it drove me to learn how to fight with two pistols at once. I even got the chance to learn a thing, or two, from Chang, himself.”
Nearby, Rock overheard Revy. She giggled. She then commented, “Talk about a closed loop.”
Revy turned to Rock, as she asked, “What do you mean?”
Rock looked over at Revy, as she inquired, “You didn't read all the stories? Did you?”
Revy admitted, “I read books one and two. But, I got tired. So, I just skimmed books three and four.”
Rock thought, with annoyance, 'That figures. I am impressed she had the attention span to read what she did.'
Rock calmly stated, “You remember that time I was with you three, when you were chasing Bob in Hong Kong, and you shanghaied that young police rookie to come with us, during that chase?”
Revy smiled, as she recalled those events of her life. She said, “Yes. Vaguely. I don't remember much of it, now. But, for some reason, I got a kick out of meeting the rookie. Though, during the chase, while he was sitting in back, between Sawyer and Shenhua.”
“And he completely freaked out. Though, we were nice enough to let him go, afterward. And except for frayed nerves, he was fine when we left him.”
Rock thought, 'I am not surprised she forgot. Now, to remind her.' She said, “Well afterward, I called the police station he was with. And I got in touch with him. I found out who he was. He was Chang.”
Revy questioned, “No shit?”
Rock confirmed, “Yes. You inspired him to learn how to shoot with two pistols at once. And he eventually did the same for you. With neither of you, at the time, realizing it was the other who inspired you. In a closed temporal loop.” She mentally added, 'Though, I am sure that Chang likely realizes it now, after reading those stories.”
Revy thought about what Rock said for a few seconds.
Akira, whom overheard Janet, Revy, and Rock's conversation. She turned Revy, as she commented, “Don't feel bad, Revy. There is so much material in those stories, that it is had to keep track of everything.”
Sawyer commented, “True. I read the stories, as well. And I remember meeting Chang in that chase. But, how would Lee know that Revy here would be inspired by Chang?”
Lotton stated, “He clearly didn't. But, given the way his mind likely works. He likely came from the angle that since it is a fact that Revy and Chang knew each other long enough, that Revy respected Chang. And the series hinted that Chang taught Revy. Lee probably found that it would humorous if Revy had accidentally inspired Chang in the first place, to learn to shoot to pistols at once. So, that is what he wrote.”
Sawyer agreed, “That makes sense, in a very twisted way.”
Just then, Revy then began laughing for a few seconds. As she calmed down, she stated, “Well, the irony of the situation is not lost on me.”
Akira teased, “The great Revy strikes again. Still, you both inspired me as well, so I am not one to talk.”
By then, the other women at the table had begun to pay attention to what was being said by Janet, Revy, Rock, and Akira.
Aeryn questioned, “In such a situation, who do we call teacher and student?”
Natsuru commented, “I think inspirations would be a better term for them.”
Aeryn responded, “I can see your point.”
Ranma commented, “Well the term, role models, would definitely not work for these two.”
Everyone at the table got a good chuckle out of Ranma's comment. Even Revy.
Revy was the first to calm down, as she said, without a hint of malice in her voice, “Okay, ladies. Laugh it up. And get it out of your systems.”
As everyone else calmed down, Dutch turned to Revy. She smiled, as she commented, “There is something poetic about you two inspiring each other to be badasses. Speaking of which, that night, the Mexican also kicked some ass. And he seemed to have acted like a teacher to us.”
“Especially, to Revy, here. And Roberta. He lead us to the back door, where a group of cartel members were waiting behind some cars, to kill anyone whom tried to escape that way.”
“After Roberta unloaded the rest of her gun, there were around twelve of them left breathing. That was when things got interesting. He literally demonstrated how to be a badass to us. Such as running towards armed men, and showing us how to effective use of a melee weapons in a close combat situation.”
Benny commented, “The Mexican was like a surgeon with his baseball bat.”
Dutch looked over at Benny. She agreed, Yea.” She then looked back at the rest of the them, as she continued, “Even Roberta, at the time agreed, with Revy that the Mexican was nuts to run into a possible line of fire. But, when it was over, he was unharmed, and the cartel members were dead. And after he did all this. He walked back to us with this insanely feral grin, that even scared Revy and Roberta.”
Several of the women lightly giggled at the thought of Revy and Roberta both being scared of someone.
Revy snapped, in a slightly elevated tone of voice, “I wasn't scared of him.”
The giggling got a little louder, for the next few seconds.
While the giggling faded, Benny smirked, as she said, “Yea right. I saw the look on both of your faces. That is the only time in my life that I have ever seen Roberta genuinely afraid of anyone. And you were just as scared as her.”
Revy admitted, in a normal tone of voice, “Okay. I was scared of him. With that crazy grin of his.”
Benny pointed out, “Where do you think he got that grin from?”
Revy thought over her friend's comment for a few seconds. Then, her jaw dropped. As she collected herself, she questioned, “You're kidding?”
Benny shook her head, as she responded, “Nope. They made a few jokes that allowed Dutch and I to have a few clues to figured out some things. They even mentioned the terms, two-hands, and the maid. The next morning, at sea, with you going on and on about learning to shoot with a pistol in both hands, at once.”
“Dutch and I figured you would become, two-hands. Figuring the purple haired girl would become the maid was academic. But, while we did realize that Roberta was dangerous, given the cartel did call her Bloodhound, in front of us. And they sent a small army after her. We did not see her do so much that night. As such, we didn't learn what the maid could really was until years later, when she first came to Roanapur.”
“And during that conversation on that boat, as we left Caracas the next morning, we both knew that if you two ever met again, it would end in a fight between the two of you.”
Revy asked, “Really?”
Dutch spoke for her friend, “Yes. Given your personality. You always look for a challenge. And having another badass come to town would be a perfect test for your skills. Unfortunately, as we were saying, when that happened, and you to finally met, we had other things on our minds. Such, as saving our own skins.”
Revy said, “That is understandable.”
Ranma questioned, “So, let me get this straight. These two guys from the future, that know you, show you how to be badasses? And they inspire you to become the badasses you are today?”
Revy looked over at Rock, as she admitted, “Pretty much.”
Benny said, “And from the way they talked to us, it was like they knew us for a while. But, I don't remember meeting either other them. Even to this day.”
Janet suggested, “Could they have met us from our futures? It would not be the first time that has happened.”
Benny said, “That is possible. Or, they are from a parallel reality of the Black Lagoon series.”
Dutch stated, “Well, right before the Mexican killed the last cartel member, he said something. I just cannot remember what.”
Revy stated, “The Mexican called himself the creature from the Laguna Negra... Hey, I did remember that part. And it was kind of a cool statement.”
Rock's jaw dropped at what her lover said.
Revy looked over at Rock, as she asked, with concern in her voice, “What is it?”
Rock collected herself, as she inquired, “Revy, Laguna Negra is spanish. Do you know what the english translation of it is?”
Revy replied, “No.”
Rock stated, “Black Lagoon.”
Suddenly, the realization of Rock's comment hit Revy, as her eyes went wide.
Natsuru stated, “The two of them are not a pair of time travelers. They are reality travelers.”
Benny stated, “Oh god. They are. While the Mexican was tearing hell out of those cartel members, the Lawyer kept going on and on how his friend was nothing compared to the crazy women from their home town.”
“Given the level of badass the Mexican was displaying, I asked if they were from hell. Because, I genuinely wondered if they were.”
“The Lawyer answered, no. But, that the devil likely owns a hotel there. The Devils Hotel. They are from Plata Podrido. He was talking about us. They are from our future. Not a parallel version of us. But, from our own future.”
Balalaika stated, “To add to your statements, Dutch, and Benny, I also suspect the Lawyer was the one, that set the spark to our standoff with the cartel, into a gunfight. And I believe he did so, intentionally.”
“Before the cartel arrived, for Roberta. I saw that that he had left the bar counter, with his bottle in hand. He went to sit at a table, near the entrance to the room.”
“While at the table, the Lawyer was met by three women that had entered the bar. I do not remember what the three women look like. But, I did remember they were women. And I am fairly sure that none of us were them. Even though, I don't recall their faces.”
“The cartel arrive, and the Mexican spoke to cartel leader. As he was protecting Roberta.”
“Anyway, the Lawyer looked like he was having a good time with the three women, whom sat down at his table. Even after the cartel had arrived.”
And after his friend made was protecting Roberta. The Lawyer was slowly pushing the bottle he had to the edge of the table. Until it eventually went over the edge and dropped to the floor. With the crash of the bottle on the floor, causing one of the cartel members to shoot, in response. And thus starting the fight. But, the odd thing was he started ducking under the table right before the bottle hit the ground. Like he knew what he was doing would cause the gunfight.”
“Which was kind of obvious. But still, it makes me wonder if he fully realized the storm he was about to create.”
Benny commented, “All evidence we have would point to the answer being an emphatic, yes.”
Balalaika nodded once, as she replied, “Well then. These two men are as crazy as we suspect.”
Revy asked, “When the Lawyer broke the bottle, did he use his forearm to push the bottle off the table.”
Balalaika answered, “Yes.”
Revy cursed, “Damn it. That is basically what I did to start the fight between the cartel members and Fabiola at the Yellowflag. When she first came to town. The two of them have no only met us, they have seen our series.”
Janet asked, “As strange, and juicy, as this information is. There is am important question we have not yet asked. Are we going to tell the Garcia, and maids about this?”
Lotton suggested, “We should wait on telling them. Garcia is too close to the maids. And right now, it is clear that the maids are not in a talkative mood. Especially after losing Lee. Fabiola here was just to tired to be vicious for, right now. And this information would only make them more... Unpredictable.”
Dutch stated, “I fully agree.”
Lotton looked over at Dutch, as she smiled. She went on to say, “Since this deals with people will we meet in the future. We will just way until the Mexican and the Lawyer reveal themselves to us. Then, we will tell the members of the Lovelace house hold what is going on. At the very least, by that time, we will have likely long ago sorted out this current mess, dealing with Lee. And, by then, the maids will have had time to calm down.”
Janet agreed, “We can hope.”
Benny said, “I like that your idea, Lotton.”
Balalaika commented, “I can go along with this.”
B said, “Yes. It is simple, and workable.”
Akira complimented, “I do admire a person that understands the better part of temporal mechanics.”
Lotton looked over at Akira. She smiled, as she replied, “Thank you, Akira.”
Akira returned Lotton's smile.
Violin stated, “I agree, as well. Though, it doesn't really matter at the moment. As Lotton pointed out. We will see them, eventually. We just have to wait. And we sure as hell are not tell the maids, right now. With them being so pissed off and focused on Lee. Also, since we all have the longevity to do so, we can wait. As such, for right now, we should focus on capturing Lee.”
Revy responded, “You're right, Violin. Now, before we head to our rooms, to get some sleep. There is one other matter we need to talk about, first.” Revy then looked over, across the table, at Balalaika and B. Her lips curled into a mischievous grin, as she said, “Sis, B, let us talk about when, where, and how, you two would like us to throw your babyshower.”
Both russian lovers became visibly uncomfortable at Revy's comment, as they watched the rest of their group turn to face them, with the other women wearing equally mischievous grins on their faces.
Balalaika quickly said, in a nervous tone of voice, “No need to do that on our account.”
B swiftly added, in an equally nervous tone of voice, “Yes. We are just fine.”
Revy mischievous grin curled into a smirk, as she said, “Oh. But, we insist.”
The two russian lovers tried to talk their way out of their embarrassing situation, with it becoming an increasingly losing battle for them, until they relented and allowed their friends to two a babyshower for the two of them.
With them all soon planning on heading up to their room, to get some sleep.
Though, through the entire conversation, no one had so far noticed the electronic bugs placed in the room.
(_)
At that moment, elsewhere in the Black Sheep Inn, a few stories up, inside Malcolm Reynolds hotel suite, Mal, his crew, and the Bebop crew, were listening in on the Lagoon group's conversation, as they recorded the event in its entirety. Both audio and video.
Mal had made sure to get a suite in the inn away from everyone, so prevent any prying, enhanced hearing, ears, from overhearing what they were doing.
The bugs in the restaurant has been places earlier that day. And the bugs were sending encrypted, wireless signals to an open laptop computer, that was set at the head of one of the two beds, in the room.
Currently, Mal, Zoe, and Simon were sitting on the bed, with the laptop computer, as they listening from the speakers on laptop, and white the video feed from the screen, to the conversation in the bar.
On the another bed, further away from the door, than the first bed, Kaylee and Jetta were on the bed working with some other electronics, that they had brought into the room, with them.
At the table and chairs, on the far sit of the room, from the door, sat Inara, Spike, Faye, and Jayne were sitting in chairs, around the table.
Jayne had almost fully recovered the blow that Lee made to his crotch.
The four adults were playing some poker, with money.
By Jayne's chair, near a nightstand on the wall, was his unloaded Vera weapon, ammo, and its severed barrel.
Surprisingly, Jayne was currently winning the poker game. With Spike having slightly less money than Jayne, on the table. Inara had a respectable about of money, as well. While Faye was about to go bust.
Inara shuffled the deck, and as she dealt the cards.
Spike picked up her cards, as she turned to Jayne. She flatly asked, “So, how are your balls doing, Jayne?”
Given spike one that last hand, she was the first one to bet for the current hand. She placed the bet into the poker pot, in the center of the table.
Jayne was next. Jayne looked at his cards, as he placed his bet. He then turned to Spike, as he answered, “I am still a bit sore. But, I will be fine. And it was my fault for not wearing a cup. Desperate people do desperate things, when cornered.”
Spike complimented, “It take a man to admit that.”
Jayne replied, “Thank you.”
Inara played her bet, as she looked over at Faye. She casually suggested, “Faye, you probably walk away when you still have a little money left.”
Instead of placing a bet. Faye took Inara's suggestion.
Faye folded her cards, and picked up what little money she had left on the table. As she pocket her money, on the right pocket of her yellow denim shorts. She looked up at Inara, as she agreed, “You are right, Inara. I should walk away while I still can. Though, I think I will just sit and watch.”
Inara calmly said, “That will be fine.”
Spike, Jayne, and Inara discards a few cards. And Inara replaced them with cards from the deck.
Spike looked at her cards, and saw that she now had a good hand. She raised the bet. She then turned towards Faye, as she commented, “I am surprised you are showing such restraint, Faye.”
Faye warmly smiled towards Spike, as she answered, “Don't be. While Lee may have screwed you. He helped me. He arranged for me to get help for my gambling addiction, and my debt problems. Both are now long since taken care of... I would not be able to hold a job at the casino if I still had a gambling problem.”
“Though, I am still unlucky with the ponies and the cards. But, that is another matter of skill, and luck, or lack there of. Also, Lee gave me a great lifetime, a nice fortune, and he arranged for my youth to be restored. And with that super-soldier serum, I, along with you, Jet, and Julia, are going to be young and healthy for a very long time.”
Inara looked up from her cards, as she asked, “So, why did you still try to kill, Lee?”
Faye pointed out, “I said he helped me. I did not say he was my friend. While Spike is. And what he did to Spike deserves a measure of retribution.”
Inara conceded, “Perhaps. But, a bullet is likely not the proper punishment.”
Spike admitted, “Well, thoughts of revenge do cloud one's judgment.”
Inara said, “I am glad you realize that.”
Jayne continued looking at his cards, as he placed his bet. He sternly interrupted, in annoyed tone of voice, “Are we going to play this hand of cards? Or not?”
Faye turned to Jayne, as she commented, “Just be happy we are not playing strip poker, with girls only. And with bikini tops and bottoms, under the clothing, for the players.”
In response, Jayne looked around the table, at the three women he was playing. He lecherously smiled, as he commented, “Personally, I get a kick out of those games. Even when I was one of the female players.
The others at the table laughed a little at Jayne's comment.
As they did so, Jayne thought, 'Unfortunately, there are ways to tell that a woman is sexually aroused. Before I could change genders back and forth, I thought that was not the case. With the only way to tell if someone was aroused was for men, with an erection... Boy, was I wrong. After we all started changing back and forth, I learned quick that one could tell a woman was aroused by their face blushing, her being wet down there, and breasts temporally becoming... More... Perky...'
'And the knowledge I got from changing genders helped my sex life a lot.'
'Of course, it did make those games at striped poker more interesting, because hiding one's sexual attraction at that game was very difficult.'
'But, those thoughts are for later. Right now, I need to focus on this game. Considering, I am currently winning it.'
Inara played her bet, as she said, in a joyous tone of voice, “Jayne, you always were one to know when to just relax, and have fun.'
Jayne smile turned more casual, as he rhetorically asked, “What is life without a little fun?”
Faye turned to Spike, as she commented, “Speaking of bikinis. After Jet was forced have the vat process, I am surprised she was so willing to go shopping for bikinis with us. You, on the other hand, I was not surprised, because you spent years as a woman. Jet, on the other hand, has not.”
Spike looked over at Faye, as she said, “Well, we were invited to those Lagoon bikini parties for the first time. And Jet could never turn down an invite to a good party.”
While sitting onto top of a nearby bed, Jetta continued working on some electronic with Kaylee. She did not look up from her work, as she stated, “You are right about that.”
Faye let out a laugh. She then agree, “True. And I had a great time.”
Spike said, “So did Julia and I. And speaking of those parties...” She turned to Jayne, as she commented, “Jayne, I heard that when you, and the rest of the Serenity crew, here, were first invited to the Lagoon bikini parties. That the girls here had to drag you, Simon, and Mal into the bikini shops, as women, to get you some clothing for those girls only parties.”
Jayne looked at his cards, as he showed no real emotion to Spike's claim. He casually said, “Well, you heard wrong. Yes. We were all women at the time. With Simon going willingly into that shop. I don't want to know what Kaylee did to get Simon to willingly go.”
“On the other hand, I was bribed. For a respectable amount. I might add. But, Mal had to be dragged in their by Zoe and River. The only two women in existence that the captain would never dare pick a fight with, at the same time.”
Nearby, Mal was doing his best to ignore their conversation.
Faye said, “I bet that was an interesting experience for all of you.”
Inara looked over at Faye, as she said, in a relaxed tone of voice, “Oh it was.” She turned to Jayne, as she complimented, “I was surprised to find, during that shopping trip, that Jayne has such good taste in styles and colors of bikinis. She picked out a few nice ones for herself. And couple for Kaylee, and I.”
Jayne stated, in a casual tone of voice, “Thank you. And well, all I did was think what I would like a woman to wear, but she was afraid to do so. And that is what I picked out for you, Kaylee, and myself.”
Faye and Spike burst out laughing at Jayne's bluntness. While Inara commented, in a dry tone of voice, “I retraced my previous statement.” She thought, 'Though, I still think the bikinis were nice.'
Inara's comment made Faye and Spike laugh even laugh louder.
As the two women calmed down, Faye said, “Not to sound insulting. But sometimes, I wonder which of you two were more the whore... Well, before you quit that profession, Inara.”
Inara thought, 'Well, I didn't exactly quit. More as, I presently manage the spa at the casino, and I don't do the sex part of my job. Though, a companion has a lot more skills than just sex. But, that is another matter. Now, for some payback.'
Inara smiled, as she responded, “None taken. And well there are a few things that I would never do for money, that Jayne here would still likely do for a payment, or two..”
Jayne looked at his cards, as he calmly retorted, “True. But, none of them involved me spreading my legs, for someone.”
Both Spike and Faye giggled at Jayne's comment, for a few seconds.
Inara actually found Jayne's retort to be funny. And she was trying hard not to show her response, as she thought, with amusement, 'I admit it. That was a good come back. And arguing will get us nowhere. There is something I would like to ask Spike about.'
Inara changed the subject, as she turned to Spike, as she commented, “I was wondering. Is there anything Lee could do, to make up for what he did, without dying, or suffering.”
Spike looked over at Inara. She shrugged, as she said, “I don't know. I will have to think about question. Still, I wonder why some of you admire, Lee? But, at least let us get this hand finished.” She played some money on the table, for the amount of the current bet, as she stated, “I called.”
Spike, Jayne, and Inara laid out their hands of cards.
Jayne has three of kind. Spike has a flush. And Inara had a full house, thus Inara won the hands.
Faye looked at the cards and she saw that she would have still lost the hand. She thought, 'I still would have lost that hand of cards. But, at least my life is better at the moment.'
After Inara collected the cards, and the pot, she looked back up at Spike. She calmly said, “Spike, that is a fair response. I am not sure about the others. But, I admire Lee for him being able to understanding the value of a calm facade... As skill that is rarely appreciated. And only mastered by a few people.”
Inara then became shuffling the cards for the next hand.
As Spike heard Inara's comment, Spike thought, with mild concern, 'Inara's statement could have been taken as a veiled threat. I am starting to understand how Inara can run with a rough crowd like the Serenity crew. She is as dangerous as the rest of them, in her own way. And she is a woman that I do want to intentionally upset. As such, I will give what she says some consideration.'
Spike commented, “I can see your point.”
Inara continued looked at her hands, as she shuffled the cards. She said, “I am pleased to hear that.”
A few seconds later, Inara had finished shuffling the cards, and she started dealing the cards again, for Spike, Jayne, and herself.
(_)
On the bed, furthest from the poker players, in the room, Zoe, Simon, and Mal were listening to the laptop speakers, and watching the video on the screen, of the conversation going on at the restaurant downstairs.
Zoe lightly giggled as she watched and listen to Balalaika and B fight a clearly losing battle, with Revy and their friends roping them into having a babyshower thrown for them.
Meanwhile, Simon chose not to respond to what he was view, coming from the hotel restaurant.
And Mal commented on what he heard and saw, “Well, up until the babyshower, that was an interesting conversation.”
Zoe looked over at Mal, as she said, “Yes sir. And we will have to send gifts to their babyshower... When we find out when it is. Now, we just need to get the security recordings of the places that Lee has been to.”
Both of them looked over at Simon.
Simon stated, “It won't be too hard. I have seen the Babylon Five series of the reality. We need to find out where the recordings are stored. Then, we teleport in, pull the data storage crystals they use in this reality, and teleport out. The problem will be the input for the crystals. Once we have them. The computer equipment that Chang uses at the casino does not use crystal inputs.”
On the bed, by then, Kaylee overheard them. She continued to work on the device in her hands, as she stated, “I looked into that. Jet and I found there was an electronics store that sold handshake technology between new and old computer systems. This equipment we are working on. We bought this equipment, with gold. And we have been working on it here, since we got back, after the chase.”
Jet held up a small electronic box, with wires coming out of it, with her human hands. She looked over at Mal, Zoe, and Simon, as she commented, “Not the first time I had to get old gear to work with new gear.”
Mal, Zoe, and Simon turned to Kaylee and Jetta.
Mal said, “Good. As soon as we have collect the information. Including, the audio and videos recording. We will head back to the casino, and I will report to Chang with it. While the rest of you either get some rest, or go back to your jobs there. Which ever you feel like doing.”
Mal thought, 'Though, since I am the one that will be teleporting us back to the casino. I will teleport us in the early afternoon. A little after lunch. Instead of right after we left, in the morning. Sometimes it is good just to yank Chang's chain a little. That even though we now work for him. We are not his blindly loyal servants, whom come to him at his beckoned call.'
'And Chang won't mind. As long as we return with what he wants, within a day of us leaving.'
Jetta turned to Kaylee, as she commented, “That is what I like about this new job. The flexible hours.”
Kaylee looked at Jetta, as she agreed, “That is why I enjoy working for Mal, and Daiyu, as well.”
The two women then went back to working on their electronic equipment.
Mal turned to the adults at the table, as he stated, “Irana, Jayne, Faye, Spike. I will give you twenty minutes to finish you game. And then we are heading out.”
The four adults turned to look over at Mal.
Inara said, “That will be plenty of time.”
Jayne stated, “That works for me, captain.”
Spike responded, “I am okay with it.”
Faye commented, “Since I am already done. I think I will freshen up, before we leave.”
Faye then got up from her seat at the table, as she calmly walked towards the door to the suite, that lead to the hallway. So, she could head to her own room. As the other three players turned back to their game their game.
(_)
Lee's Home Reality. Location, De La Plata Podrido, Mexico. Time, eight PM, local time, of the day after Lee has escape his reality. Place, Chang's private theater, inside Daiyu Palace Casino.
It has been had been less than a day since Lee escaped into another reality and it was currently evening at Daiyu Palace Casino.
Mal, the Serenity Crew, and the Bebop Crew, had returned to the casino, in the early afternoon, just after Chang, River, and Annie, as their guest, had finished their lunch in the penthouse dining room.
With them, they brought all the data crystals, video-audio records, and other information. Then, they spent the afternoon collating the data into a presentable form for Chang.
Chang had ordered River not get involved with her friends work. And Chang had other day to day business to deal with.
Meanwhile, Annie did not care to review such records. So, Annie helped Arcee with security, to allow Mal, Zoe, and Jayne to help Kaylee, Inara, Simon, Jetta, and Faye look over the records they had taken.
The only one of the group that had come back from Mars, that was not working on the data, was Spike. And she was acting as the pit boss for the afternoon. Until, they finished, and Jetta could relieve her, so she could spent some time with her young daughter, Julia.
It was the late afternoon by the time they had finished their work.
Mal personally brought their wealth of information. Which included transcripts, along with audio and video recordings of the night's events in the Babylon Five reality. To Chang, for him to review.
Currently, later that evening, at eight PM, Mal was having a private meeting with Chang, River, and Annie, Chang's private theater in the casino. Also, Arcee was summoning to the meeting.
When Arcee had to travel through the casino, in the view of the patrons there, she did so in motorcycle alt mode. Those that did not know better, thought she was a motorcycle controlled by remote. That she was a toy to show off, to the customers, by the casino management.
Arcee did not mind. They even staged some stunt jumping, and other motorcycle tricks with Arcee in motorcycle mode. Alone, without a rider. Surprisingly, Chang made a nice profit from the shows, and Arcee got to keep half of the ticket sales, for herself.
Meanwhile, as Mal was busy with Chang, others were going back to their usual jobs, or getting some rest, until they were sent back to Mars, to continue their hunt for Lee.
Zoe and Jayne were back at their security jobs. And as the two of them sat at their desks, in their large camera room they usually worked in, during the day. With a few of their subordinates. Jayne used the quiet time to repair his weapon, Vera, back to working order, by replacing the barrel with a spare barrel he had for his weapon.
Jetta was currently acting pit boss from the casino for the evening shift, after relieving Spike of that job, for the day.
Spike was spending time with her daughter, Julia.
Kaylee and Simon were having some private time, with each other.
And Inara, and Faye were getting some rest.
At the moment, in Chang's private theater, Chang and those he had invited to the meeting, had spend the last few hours reviewing the information that Mal, and he group had brought back, and put together.
The lights of the theater room has been dimmed for the viewing of the video on the large screen on the wall, in the front of the room. With the chairs facing the screen. And the room was fairly large, for its type. Also, the theater had nice, flat, red, carpeted floors.
The chairs in the theater were covered in black leather, and were heavily cushion armchairs. The chairs were not attached to each other, nor to the floor. The chairs could recline, and given enough space between rows to do so. And all the chairs were positioned to face the theater screen.
Chang was sitting in his chair, in the front row. There was a swivel dining tray table over his waist, connecting to a metal arm that went over his right armchair. On top of the dining tray table, was a laptop computer, and computer mouse, with the cord of the mouse attached to a USB plug on the laptop. His laptop was wirelessly hooked to the video and audio controls of his theater. Though, like all the wireless equipment in the casino, this signals from Chang's computers in the room were encrypted, as well.
Arcee was sitting on the floor, in robot mode, in an empty space made for her, by the left side of Chang's chair. To Chang's right sat River, then Annie. And behind Chang, to his right, Mal sat in a chair in the second row.
The human in the group were in their usual clothing. Chang was in his usual black suit. Though, he did not have on his long coat, nor sunglasses. Mal was his security uniform, which was his black suit and black dress shoes. Annie was in her shirt, pants, socks, shoes, robe, with her lightsaber clipped the right side of her belt. River was in a short-sleeved blouse, pants, socks, and tennis shoes.
They had already watched the videos and listened to the audio records, once, in silence, without comment.
And before even doing reviewing the video and audio records, Chang used the transcripts to figure out what to review first, and what parts were most important to warrant his attention. It saved Chang time, and made things easier to go through.
Chang began their first review for of the information with Black Sheep bar conversation. Chang then watched the video camera recordings they collected. Starting with the alien sci-fi convention, which Chang found as insane a concept as he thought it would be. Next, was the convention parking lot, where the Lowe family helped Lee. Some video cameras of the first car chase, which didn't offer any real information. After that, was the industrial complex videos and audio recordings, which were useful. Soon after, there was the police interrogation room recordings, and the police garage recordings. And finally, the second chase recordings, which was mostly from the news broadcast of the chase by the news helicopter crew.
Now, they were reviewing records again. And this time, Chang was doing it in a different order, to try to make further sense of the events of that night.
Currently, Chang had the four most interesting videos playing on the corners of the widescreen of the theater, at once. Two videos on top of each other, on both left and right sides of the screen. The large center square of the screen was left blank.
The screen on the theater wall was set to be a mirror image or the computer screen on his laptop. Right down to the mouse pointer.
For the moment, Chang had the audio muted.
The group had already watched each of the videos a couple of times for the last few hours. And Chang was now studying each video more closely for details on the inner workings of Lee's mind.
Meanwhile, River and Annie was having a telepathic conversation, as they sat beside each other. Given Annie was an empath, and River was a telepathic, this allowed each of them the rare opportunity to find someone to communicate their thoughts and emotions directly with, to each other, at a purely mental and emotional levels.
And even though they found that their personalities made them incompatible as lovers, they were still very good friends.
Annie telepathically said to River, 'See, I told you to have some faith.'
River smiled. Through their mentally connected, she replied, 'Thanks. Lee really shined that night.'
Annie telepathically responded, 'I know. Lee seems make new breakthroughs in creating and implementing crazy escapes plans, on the fly.'
Chang said out loud, “Girls. If you are finished with your conversation, I wish to included you on my summation of Lee's mind. Given I know you both like him, I figure you might want to be part of this conversation.”
Annie quickly asked, through their mental connection, 'Can he hear our conversation?”
River mentally answered, 'No. But, after being intimate with him for so many years, I have have a slight telepathic connection to him. He cannot hear our conversation, but he can sense we are having one.'
Annie telepathically complained, 'I still do not get whatever you see in him, or her, depending on the situation.'
River mentally answered, 'The same reason I find Lee interesting. Chang constantly surprises me. As a genius, being regularly surprised on a regular basis is a rare privilege. Still, are you ever going to forgive him for what he did to you?'
Annie shrugged, as she mentally responded, 'Maybe... Someday... Like I said this morning. I am already getting my sweet, golden revenge on him for he did to me. Without asking. And what he tried to do to me. But, the real part that grates on my nerves is that as an empath, I can sense people act against their nature. And that annoys me. While I admire those that do act in their nature.'
'For example, Lee sincerely tries to be a nice person, both in actions and emotions. While, on the other hand, when it come to Chang, most of the time, I sense Chang is just a jackass trying to act like a nice guy. Though, I will admit that Chang's nice guy act is sometimes genuine.'
River telepathically conceded, 'I will give you that one. Still, considering I literally use to be a crazy bitch much of the time... Of which, I am eternally grateful for you helping me back to being mostly sane... I tend to overlook what people think, and I judge them by their actual, intentional actions they take.'
'This is why I do not just read Chang's mind, for what he has to say, for a given moment. I want to see what parts of this thoughts he verbalize, and respond from there. Though, I will respond to his thoughts, if I deem them important enough.'
Annie complimented River through their mental connection, 'Interest. And given your telepathic nature, that is a wise course to take. Well, we better quit talking. So, we can get on with conversation with Chang. So, we can get this over with it. I have a date later tonight, at ten PM. And I don't want to be late.'
River telepathically inquired, 'With who?'
Annie mentally stated, in a casual manner, 'Yolanda.'
River mentally replied, 'Her?...'
Annie telepathically responded, 'She is one of the few people, who knows what is going on, whom still wants to be my friend, whom I have found to be old enough, emotionally mature enough, and still sane enough, that I can relate to. We have both lost things, and then regained them. She lost her right eye and her youth to a lifetime of service. I lost a lot more. We both have been given a second chance by Lee. And neither of us are going to waste this opportunity.'
'Still, this isn't a case of two lovers getting together. We are just two good friends that are lonely, horny, and we both need someone to screw for the night.'
River mentally giggled, 'Good luck. Though, aren't you suppose to be guarding me?'
While River felt emotional warmth from Annie, Annie mentally stated, 'We both know you are not going after Lee. Right now, he is safe in Garibaldi's base. And if you go, it will only make the situation more volatile, and likely distract Lee from his clearly well planned, long term escape.'
River mentally admitted, 'Good point. You are right. I won't go. Now, let us see what Chang has to say about Lee. And if I do not like what I hear, I will make Chang pay for it in bed with some very interesting role playing, that we occasionally do.'
Annie started mentally laughing, as she requested, 'Care to give me a few details?'
River telepathically responded, with a hint of mischief in her emotion state, that Annie sensed through their mentally connection, 'Sure. Keep in mind, my pet name for Chang in bed, depending on Chang's gender, is either Black Jade Bitch, or Black Jade Bastard. Either sounds fine for the needed occasion. And I find the acronym, BJB, for either way, to be funny.'
Annie mentally laughed even harder, to the point she giggled a little outwardly, which drew the attention of the others in the room. Though, the others people were polite enough not to response.
Annie caught herself just in time to present herself from bursting out laughing, out loud. She mentally said, 'We better stop, before we embarrass ourselves.'
River mentally replied, 'Agreed.'
Chang sensed their conversation had ended. He stated, “Good. Now, let us review.” He then thought, 'I hope Balalaika and B do not mind me secretly recording them and the others. It is just I am not sure that those two would have allowed such recordings of their personal lives. And I don't want them to make such a choice of conflicting loyalties, so I made the choice for them. I just hope they are not upset about it.'
River commented, “I think it will be alright. As long as we keep quiet about what we have learned.”
Chang thought, 'I hope you are right.'
Chang then used his mouse and keyboard built into his his laptop, on the dining tray, to bring the industrial complex video to the middle of the screen, which had been previously blank. Next, he set it to the place he wanted and turned on the audio.
It was a scene in the W.E. Convention conversation, during the sci-fi convention, in the atrium, where Lee talked to the dealer.
Chang commented, “This was a brilliant stalling tactic by Lee. And I want a copy of that live action Black Lagoon series for us. Also, the Lowe family can find the most interesting toys. I also think it would be wise to get a few of those hologram devices.”
Arcee stated, “I will look into getting both items. Though, from what I understand, that hologram device is rare.”
Chang looked over at Arcee, as he said, “Well, don't trouble yourself, if you cannot find the hologram device. And I am sure you can find that live action Black lagoon series.”
Arcee said, “Worse comes to worse, we can just borrow Akira, Natsuru and Ranma's copies of those videos, to make copies of our own. Since those three, along with Violin and Aeryn, made it no secret that they have that copy of that series.”
Chang agreed. “True. It would be obvious that Mal here, and the others, would tell me about that series.”
Mal commented, “That version of your series just proves there are levels of the multiverse that even we do not fully grasp. Fiction created, within fiction.”
Chang did not turn around to face Mal, as he said, “Yes. And this concept could be endless. Still, that it what I like about you, Mal. You are willing to take what you find out in stride.”
Mal replied, “Thank you.”
Chang then turned back to theater screen. He stated, “Another point is that we may have not realized just how far Lee's precognitive abilities can go. He states, as such, right here.”
Chang used his computer mouse, which showed up both on his laptop screen, and his theater screen, to select another video. He turned back on the audio with a simple keystroke. The video was the industrial complex on foot chase on the very north end part of the interior of the dome of Mars Dome One.
The video then started in the middle part of the screen, replacing the previous video that had been in the middle of the screen.
Everyone then turned the attention to the theater screen, as video began playing.
(_)
On the screen, Lee replied, ““Well, Rocky-babe. In truth, this isn't my first time-warp twist with the multiverse. As you all know, I am a pre-cog. Partly experiencing alternate realities is just part of the package. And, when I start sensing the future and I can change it. But, that is not all. I figured out how to mentally time travel months into my own past and changed the future, creating an alternate reality, of my very own reality, in the multiverse. Though, mentally traveling back in time hurts like hell, because doing so damages my soul. With a level and type of pain that I cannot put into words. Which is saying something, giving my writing talents. And that is why I don't do it. But, I still know how to.”
“I have even, on occasion, had my soul travel to alternate Earths, where I possessed the bodies of my alternate reality selves. Each time, I usually spent from a few minutes, to hours, to even a day in one of those realities, before I safely returned to my own body, in my home reality. Yes, Rock, just like you with the omakes. And just like you, I suspect not all of the versions of my selves I possessed were male.”
“So, as you can see. I have dealt with multiversal issues long before I ever wrote the stories that involved any of you. That is one of the reasons I wrote my stories about you. Because I wanted to push the envelope of the genre, using my own life experiences as inspiration. I guess I pushed it too far. Though, doing so was still fun.”
(_)
In the theater, Chang stated, “We need to check this out. It if is true, then Lee has dealt with types of reality travel I dare not even imagine. I know from the stories that Rock experience something similar. And this is why Rock was sober for that month, back in Roanapur. With Lee likely basing that part of his stories from his own personal experience. Including, those reality dream traveling comments, dealing with Rock. Still, for Lee to experience the same thing is incredible.”
“Maybe Violin was right at the Black Sheep restaurant conversation. Lee wrote these stories to work out theoretical concepts of what he was personally dealing with. I doubt the irony was not lost on him.”
“That is likely why Lee was so obsessed with writing about us. With the action, the babes, and the characterizations in the Black Lagoon series, it was the omakes, in the sense of the Rock from our reality having to visit other realities, that ultimately draw his interest towards us.”
Mal questioned, “I don't remember the connection being made between our Rock, and the Rock in the omake being one in the same?”
Chang stated, “True. But, the omakes hinted that the Rock in them was our same Rock. The Rock in the omake acted like this had already happened a few times to him. And the omake Rock was always portrayed at the outsider in those omakes.”
“Rock doing the gender flip, Boys and Girls omake, made it very clear that Rock was found our reality, and she was freaked at her sudden gender change. Dreams can start from getting out of bed, which is what happened in that omake. And the story ended with Rock completely freaked out, and running, as the screen faded to white. Meaning Rock woke up.”
“The only way that could work is through dreams. And Lee made that connection.”
Annie thought, 'I am so happy I have seen and read these Black Lagoon series. So, I can be a part of the conversation. Though, I think Chang invited me, because I have a unique way of looking at things.'
Over their telepathic connection, River agreed, 'That is likely.'
Annie did not response in thought, as she verbally commented, “But, the question is. Given those dreams of Rock's were shown as stories in fiction in another realities. Are those dreams other realities, as well? And if so, does that mean most, if not all of our dreams?... Everyone's dreams, are realities onto themselves, that we can travel to? And create when we sleep?”
Chang complimented, “That is a very insightful statement, Annie. I think Lee had a point. He and Rock were visiting other realities. So, in at least some cases. People do not just imagine realities, when they dream. Their soul literally visits other realities. Though, this requires a level of philosophical thought that we don't have time for.”
“So, I will answer your questions the best I can. I know for a fact, that besides the Black Lagoon anime reality, the Black Lagoon omake realities exist. Even the manga, and Black Lagoon R, exist.”
“With the Black Lagoon R reality being a reality not where Black Lagoon existed, in of itself. But, where the cast of the Black Lagoon reality, live action TV series was filmed. The live action series that Akira, Natsuru, and Ranma bought at the sci-fi convention on Mars.”
“It might even be the case that Black Lagoon R reality, I visited, is part of the Babylon Five reality Mal just visited. With the two of us separately visiting the same reality, at two different points in that reality's timeline, and location.”
Mal stated, “That is an interesting possibility.”
Chang responded, “I know.”
Arcee asked, “So, you visited those realities?”
Chang stated, “Yes. I visited those realities, soon after River, Kaylee, and I finish built, and successfully testing out our reality devices.”
Annie inquired, “So, you did not visit those realities while you were running your Tower?”
Chang answered, “No. At that time, I did not want to risk another Chang, from another reality, trying to replace me, and take everything I had works so hard to build, away from me. But, after the fall of the Tower, and the gender change, and eventual gender bending ability. Along with River's telepathy. There was very little chance that any of my counterparts could try to replace me. And there was no reason in doing so. Since, I did not have any real material to have stolen from me.”
“I even had my reality device set to be password protected, with the numbers pad on it. So, there was very little risk for myself, in going to those realities.”
“And I let River know where I was going. If I did not come back in a reasonable amount of time. She could cover looking for me.”
River commented, “True. And I let him go, because I believed he needed a break from me.”
Chang went onto say, “And I appreciate that, River. And so, I visited them just to confirm those realities existed. I only only stayed for a few minutes in most them. But, I did spent some time in the Black Lagoon Boys and Girls omake reality. I even spent some time with that female Chang. And I showed her both my genders. And we had a great time that day.”
Mal flatly questioned, “You didn't sleep with your counterpart?”
Chang grinned, as he said, “Like you haven't considered doing that yourself. Though, we did use protection.”
Mal turned to River, as he asked, “And you are okay with this, River?”
River calmly commented, “Chang and I have an understanding. We just let the other know we are going to do it, with someone else, beforehand. That way, it might turn into a threesome, instead of a twosome.”
Chang continued smiling, as he said, “And we have had some interesting threesomes come about that way.”
Mal flatly said, “I don't want to know.” He then turned to face the large wallscreen in front of him.
The other four people in the room laughed, for a few seconds, over what was said.
As the adults calmed down, Arcee casually asked, “So, what was your counterpart like, Chang?”
Chang answered, “Much like myself. And that male version of Balalaika still called us, babe.”
Arcee let out a light laugh. She then commented, “Some things are a constant in the multiverse.”
Chang shrugged, as he replied, “Yes. And it could have been far worse for us.”
Annie stated, “Still, concerning that reality. I am surprised that instead of a straight gender flip, like the rest of the cast, that Revy was a male to female transsexual in that reality? And not just a man. That Revy looks close to our Revy, with a few obvious differences. I do not understand why the creator of that series went that way for the humor of that omake? Though, it was a good twist for the ending.”
Chang casually joked, “Well, Roanapur is in Thailand.”
Annie then got the joke, as she giggled for a few seconds.
Mal overheard their comments, as he said, “I don't get the joke.”
River casually commented, “Mal, you don't want to know.”
Annie turned around, to face Mal, and she lipped the words, in english, “Sex workers.”
It took Mal a few seconds to realize what Annie mention. When Mal did, he hesitantly replied, “Oh... Do I really want to know how you know that?”
Annie smirked, as she lipped the word, “No.” She then turned back around to face the front of the theater.
Chang commented, “Still, Lee's predicament does remind me of some of the teachings, of ancient chinese philosopher, Zhuang. One of the two principle philosophers, whose teachers were the foundation of Dao. Specifically, his teachings of transformation, in the forms of questions being. Is the butterfly dreaming it is a man? Or, is the man dreaming he is a butterfly? Or both?”
River strongly stated, in an even tone of voice, “Lee knows of that philosopher. When I was in disguised as Sam, I heard him mention, Zhuang, by name, while the two of us were are the hotel.”
Chang grinned, as he said, “I am not surprise. That man does live to do his research. Using what he knows about us, against us, is the only reason he is still free. And for Lee, in his reality, other realities, fiction, and otherwise, Rock was the only person he found with repeated experiences that Lee could personally relate to.”
“It all makes sense now.”
“Still, by writing the stories, he opened a door, that was already cracked for him, even wider. And the door swung both ways. He is like a mad writer, put into a mad scientist situation. Where his experiment got out of his control, and literally took on a life of its own. It is even possible that someone may have cracked this door open for him, a long time ago. And he just finally was able to push the door all the way open.”
“All of this warrants checking and researching, at a level even I am not conformable with.”
Annie stated, “Yes. There are some things that are best to be left alone.” Annie then groaned, in mild annoyance with herself, as she realized, in thought, 'I am starting to sound like Yoda. And except for my mother and Obiwan. Yoda was one of the closest people I had to a responsible parental figure... By the force, it is true. One does grow up to act like their parents.'
Annie then saw River giggle a little, as her thoughts. She thought, in a slowly deflated emotional stated, 'Yea, River. I admit that it is a little funny.'
From the corner of his right eye, Chang saw River giggled. But, when he saw River noticed him. River just shrugged, and Chang realized the shrug was a response to his and Annie's comments.
Chang did not both to think about his lover's response, because she would read his mind. So instead, Chang responded, “You are right, Annie. Still, back to the matter at hand.”
“From the records we have. Of even the small security room itself, of the factory. Before Lee even began his foot chase in the factory, he convinced that guard to give him that key card, to go hide, and to call the police. Lee even turned on all the lights. In the factory, to allow him to see his way around. And he disable the security system in a way that stalled, Benny, from using the video cameras around the factory.”
“Not bad. And it is clear that Lee planned his second factory escape plan, before he implemented his first factory escape plan.”
“Or maybe, Lee planned to use the police in a couple of different ways. He is definitely intelligent enough to do that. Depending on the situation. Such as he could use the police to confront Revy and the others, if they continued to chase him. With the second plan, having the police rescue him, like what happened. Or, in a different way. Such as him reaching the police by car, or by an underground tunnel.”
River commented, “That is very possible. Lee likes to keep his options open. He would not bring new players into the game, unless he could use them in multiple ways.”
Annie asked, “So, Lee considers all this one big game, to him?”
River said, “Yes.”
Annie thought, through her telepathic connection to River, 'If Lee considers this all a game, then he has lost some of my respect.'
River mentally responded, 'Don't be that way. Think about it. How else can Lee view all of this, without completely cracking up. A game has rules. And Lee just played to the rules he thought would keep him alive. And that is how he managing to stay relatively sane, in this insane, and extremely dangerous, situation, which he finds himself in.'
Annie conceded, in thought, through their mental connection, 'You are right. I will reconsider my thoughts on Lee considering this all a game. Because, Lee clearly realizes the seriousness of the situation he in.'
River mentally replied, 'Exactly.'
Chang stated, “River is correct. Lee told me to my face that he considers all of this one large poker game.”
Mal commented, “Then, this is one hell of a poker game. With the other players are pointing guns and knives at him.”
Arcee said, in a casual tone of voice, “I don't know. I have played more serious games.”
Mal turned to Arcee, as he groaned, while he said, “I don't want to know.”
Chang thought, 'We need to keep this conversation moving forward.' He commented, “Be that as it may. One of the reasons Lee convinced me not to turn him in was that he guessed correctly, when he told me I wanted to see the climax to his poker game. And he was right. But, I think his escape from this reality was only the first climax he is planning.”
River said, “You would likely be correct.”
Chang nodded once. He then stated, “Yes. And this means that Lee just considers this a continuation of his poker game. Lee has clearly mastered the ability to think several steps ahead of nearly everyone else. Though, Lee is making some serious mistakes. Such as wrongly accusing Balalaika of lacking an imagination. And pissing off Revy. Both of those insults are going to come back and bite him someday.”
River commented, “Well, I believe Lee did that to upset them to the point of affecting their aim.”
Chang conceded, “Possibly so, but those were still an unwise moves.”
Chang mentally reflected, 'And I need to look up the series, Breaking Bad, sometime. So, I can watch it, and find out who this Walter White is. To break bad, means to become a criminal. And it seems that Lee identifies with the character, Walter White, from that series. And I have a feeling this is not a good thing. Still, I need to keep this conversation moving on.'
Chang stated, “Moving on. I will be open, and admit that I find this next video terrifying, because Lee knows exactly who and what is after him.”
Chang then selected another video. The video was the interrogation room in the police station.
(_)
On the theater screen, the new video in the large middle section of the screen showed, the police station on Mars, inside interrogation room, as Detective Maxwell inquired, “Are you saying that an unstopped killing machine is about to attack building?”
Lee corrected him, in a sober tone of voice, “Actually, most like a bionic badass of an unstoppable killing machine, and her nearly equally badass adult student. And unlike Arnold, these bitches are not going to be nice enough to first stop and ask politely. They are not going to go, I'll be back. They are going to come in guns blazing.”
“Take for example, the lead woman that is coming here. The one with the purple hair. Yes, purple. And from what I can figure, that is her natural hair. The other woman's nature hair color. The student's hair color. Is green.”
“Anyway, the lead one once got into a fight with another woman, for four straight hours, right after she engaged in a massive, literal running battle, across a city, beforehand. Where she was chasing after the other woman, and her friends. And this was not a catfight in any way, shape, or form. This was a four hour long, knock down, drag out, bare knuckled brawl. With these two women being unnaturally strong for their size, with inside levels of endurance, while being able to take several hits from the other woman, and keep going.”
“This is the type of fight that would have likely send Rocky Balboa to a hospital after the first hour. And it went on for four straight hours.”
“And these women do not quit. Their mental and physical endurance borders on the fanatically insane. Before that fistfight, the other woman and this woman in question had just previously finished a gunfight, between the city spanning fight, and the four hour brawl.”
“Also, most people would say the fight ended in a draw, because both of them knocked the other down at the same time, and they stayed down. But, I say the woman coming for me, very soon, won that fight. Because in the end, she was still conscious, while the other woman was unconscious.”
“And this woman later topped herself when it came to being a badass. And she is likely one of the top badasses in existence itself.”
“Your Minbari Rangers wished they had her fortitude and toughness.”
“You ever heard of the term, beating a man to a pulp? She literally did that with her gloved hands, once. She killed that man, by pounding him in the face until everything above his lower jaw was a bloody stain on the floor. I am not joking here. There nothing left of his head.”
“That is not even close to the worst things she has ever done before.”
“She even one time decimated a small army, whom were equipped with late twentieth century firearms, while she was only using a flintlock, and a pair of muskets. Though, at the time, she with using SABOT rounds, along with being literally insane, due to lack of sleep, and being strung out on ritalin. Trust me. I was forced to take that shit as a child. That stuff will mess you up.”
“Still, that was before she became a cyborg, and she was given a physical enhancement serum that increased the abilities of the normal parts of her body.”
“And while the others after me are not as badass as her. They are either as equally badass as a ranger, or more badass than a ranger.”
Lee went onto say, in a completely serious, pleading tone of voice, “So officers, you have got to listen to me. I am being deadly serious here. You have to respect what these women, and men, are capable of. If you do not, they are going to kill you in horrible ways.”
The detectives just looked at Lee for a few seconds. They then started laughing at him.
Lee pleaded, “Please, don't tempt fate like that. It is a very bad idea... Still, after tonight, should you survived, you will remember these horrors, as just, the maids, for the rest of your lives.”
“Though, at the very least, you need to put this station on alert right now. They prefer to dress as maids. Their clothing is black and white, with white aprons. You cannot miss them. That is why they are nicknamed the maids. Also, they carry enough firepower in their clothing to start a small war. So, don't try to ask them to be searched, they will just pull their weapons, starting killing you all.”
“So, I am begging you. Please, let me go. All I need is a working car, with a full tank of fuel, recharged battery, whatever. Along with remote access to your station's speaker systems. With those two things, I can get get them to follow me, and get them away from all of you, that are in this building.”
By then, the two detectives had stopped laughing. Barton looked over at Lee, as he grinned wickedly. He disagreed, “I think not. I think what we have here is a crazy that caused a telepath to have a freak out. Not the first time I have seen that happen, in person. Instead, we will put you in lock up, until we can call the local asylum on come take you away.”
Lee's jaw dropped, as his eyes widened.
(_)
Inside the theater, Chang paused the video. He said, “Those two detectives are too dumb to live. And from Lee's expression, I would guess he realizes that. The only thing a person cannot account for is someone in a position of authority showing unexpected incompetence, and stupidity. And stupidity at that level means those two are not going to live very long.”
Mal pointed out, “Actually, from one of the logged police transmissions we got from the data crystals. An hour after the maids left the police station. One of the on the scene police radio broadcasts of the massacre, by a police officer, reported that those two men were among those killed by the a purple haired assailant. Whom, I am guessing, was Roberta.”
Chang responded, “My point exactly. Lee told them, outright, how dangerous the two maids were, and they ignore him. I will give Lee credit, he tried to save the folks in that station. They just won't listen. He even tried to stall Roberta. To give him time to get out. And to spare those men. I don't think there was anything else Lee could have done to stop that massacre. His plan was simple, and it should have worked. Get a telepath to deep scan his mind to confirm he had to leave for their own safety. He just did not count on the stupidity of law enforcement. As a former cop, I can tell you that stupidity can reach insane levels, at times, in such a profession.”
Arcee inquired, “What about the psychic? He clearly knows what is in Lee's mind. And he knows about us. What do you want done about him?”
Chang stated, “Nothing. The psychic was clearly deeply disturbed by what he saw in Lee's mind. And who could blame him. He is going to likely use that short term memory erasing drug, which he mentioned earlier in the recording. Soon after he left the room. So, he will forget everything he learned from Lee's mind and the horrible events afterward. He likely heard several death screams during Roberta's rampage of that building.”
River commented, “That is very possible.”
Chang said, “And I admire Lee on this point. Right before his telepathic scan, Lee guessed correctly that these telepaths had such drugs on hand. Lee did not want that man to suffer. And by the way the telepath immediately left, Lee likely allow him to read his mind, and Lee informed him to leave, go hide, and take one of those pills. By the way, did the telepath, Dresden, live through Roberta's rampage?
Mal answered, “Reports stated yes. But, as you guessed. He doesn't remember a thing.”
Chang replied, “Good. And this just further proves that Lee plans ahead. Another example is what we do not see, or hear. Lee knew he was being recorded in his room. He clearly waited until the maids cut the power to tell his lawyer, his plan. He needed a vehicle, and a place to run to. And he knew the lawyer would provide both.”
“And the way he obviously escaped was so simple. He was not under arrest, so when Roberta attacked, he and his lawyer just calming walked out the back door. If someone stopped them, Lee could give them the honest excuse that they were trying to get away from the person attacking the station. And his plan worked. Now, let us see what happens in the garage.”
Chang then used his laptop, and computer mouse, to select the garage video. And he then selected a part of the video he wanted to see.
He turned the audio off.
Chang turned to Arcee, as he requested, “Arcee, since the audio here is not very good, I would like you to read their lips.”
Arcee looked over at Chang, as she replied, “No problem.”
Chang then requested, “Also Arcee, please remind me that went Balalaika and B's stomachs start to more prominently display their pregnancies, for me to send them a congratulations card to them, with an offer for free dinner, and a free night in one of our nice honeymoon suites, for the two of them here, at my casino.”
Chang thought, 'That way. I can use their enlarged stomachs as an obvious indicator that they are pregnant. And I will not tip my hand that I had their conversation, in that restaurant, secretly recorded, without their permission.'
Arcee replied, “I will, sir.”
Chang said “I will also need you to deliver the card. I will even included hazard pay in doing so.”
Arcee smirked, as she found the situation humorous. She continued to smirk, as commented, in amused tone of voice, “I enjoy a challenge.”
Both of them then turned back to the theater screen.
The new video enlarged to the center of the theater screen, as the video showed the police garage.
The video showed the front sides of both Lee and McCormick crouching down, while they talked to each other.
Arcee lip read, in a calm tone of voice, “Lee says. Shit. She has the China Lake. The other asks what a China Lake is?”
Chang smirked, “I will give Lee credit. He does his homework.”
Mal asked, “What is a China Lake?”
Chang answered, “The China Lake is a forty by forty-six millimeter grenade launcher that can hold up to four rounds. Three in the tube. One in the chamber. It is a rare weapon that was made in the nation of the United States, for their military special forces. Fabiola is known to use same model grenade launcher. She used that weapon in the Yellowflag bar, in the Blood Trail arc of my reality.”
Mal then realized what Chang was talking about, as he replied, “Ah. Her hand cannon.”
Chang responded, “Yes. Her hand cannon. And when Lee heard the explosion, he didn't even have to look. He just knew what Fabiola had in her hands. That is what you call skill and know-how.”
Next, Chang fast forward to where Lee was speeding towards Fabiola while she pointed the China Lake at him, on the bottom floor of the police garage.
The video was angled to where it could see Fabiola back right side, with the car in coming from the background, while allow the viewers see Lee and Matthew though the front windshield of the white car.
Chang paused the video of Lee in the drivers seat. Lee was grinning wildly, while hold up four fingers with his left hand.”
Chang commented, “See. He is holding up four fingers to let her know that he knows she is bluffing. Not many people could pull that off. And the situation gets even better.”
Chang punched up the second car chase video, with no audio, as Lee threw his grenade at Roberta's sports car. He paused the video while the grenade as in midair.
Chang stated, “I would bet real money that Lee used his precognition to pull that off. There was also statements, from the radio recordings, by those present. That during the factory, on the roof, as Lee escaped Revy and others. While he ran, he was consciously dodging bullets. With him not even being hit once.”
River inquired, “So, you believe that Lee has reached Agent Smith level dangerous?” She mentally added, 'Lee might have.'
Chang looked over at River, as he answered, “Yes. He probably did something similar, when he fought Shenhua, earlier that night. And from Shenhua's accounts, by the radio records. Shenhua admitted that Lee almost beat her in a fight. With her armed with her long knives, and him unarmed.”
“As such, this means, that from practicing that poker trick, he has reached a point where he can consciously use his precognitive abilities. And that puts him at the same level of dangerousness as they rest of us. This only makes me even more interested in him.”
Chang thought, 'I already have a telepath, along with someone with empathic, telekinesis, and some precognitive abilities. I would love to add someone with pure precognitive abilities join my organization, as well. Especially, one who is polite, knowledgeable, very genre savvy, and has a well round, practical skill set.'
River turned to Chang, as she calmly commented, “Aren't you the greedy one.”
Chang turned to River. He smiled, as he mentally quipped, 'Ah River. You know that is one of my best personality traits.'
River let out a laugh, as she smiled.
Chang thought, 'But, it is also Lee's attitude that I like. Given what he has said, at that factory, of his personal life, and I feel there is even more to his past than that. Though, even through all that sea of shit, his idea of revenge against God is to live well. That takes willpower and stubbornness that I admire. No wonder he sometimes has a low opinion of how Revy turned out, when compared to her past. In his own way, he has been through just as much as she had. Still, Lee hinted that there was much more.”
“And that, you River, are keeping even bigger secrets about him from everyone. So, River, what secrets you are keeping from me?”
River commented, “Those are not my secrets to give.”
Chang thought, 'Okay.'
While Annie could not read Chang's thought. Her mental connection with River, she did sense what Chang and River were thinking. She turned to River, as she mentally replied, to River, 'That is a good answer, River.'
River turned to Annie, as she mentally replied, 'Thank you, Annie. And while I think Chang would understand, I doubt Mal would. And I am no sure about Arcee.'
Annie mentally stated, 'I agree with you, on all three points. I also suggest we find out what Chang is going to show us next.'
River telepathically said, 'Good idea.'
Annie mentally commented, 'Thanks. And Chang really does have a talent for narrating.'
River telepathically replied, “Yes. He does. It is one of his many talents.'
Chang turned to the theater screen, as he stated, “Now, let us continue.”
Everyone then turned back to the theater screen, as Chang fast forward the video, and restarted it, to where Roberta jumped on Lee car, with Lee having rolled down the windows of his car.
Next, Lee and Matthew had ducked inside the car, as Lee drove his car under the truck, cutting off the top of the roof of the car. This forced Roberta jumped over the truck, to reach her prey.
Then, as Roberta was about to land on the back seat of the car, Lee used the collapsed staff as a spring weapons to eject Roberta from his car.
Chang paused the video of the moment when Roberta was being thrown out of the white car, while letting go of her pistols, along with the staff being shown springing out of the car as well.
Chang commented, “I don't think this is so much a case of Lee using his precognition, as him just having really good timing on his part. By rolling down his windows first, it showed that he was planning to do this a few seconds ahead of when he did it. And it shows how much of a quick thinker he is, and how he can use the tools on hand to fight back against even a super-human badass like Roberta.”
Chang restarted the video, he noticed that after the other man leaned up, he asked Lee something. Lee answered, and he then started laughing.
Chang paused the video, as he inquired, “Arcee, what did they just say to each other?”
Arcee answered, “First, the other man asked why Lee was snickering. Lee talked about the weapons and ammo drums that Roberta used. Going into detail on a few points. Then, the other man asked who Lee really is. Lee answered, I'm a user. Though, you can call me, Frankenstein... And you're my navigator... Lee then started laughing.”
Chang thought over Lee's comment. He then stated, “The, user, comment is likely a Tron movie reference. The Frankenstein, and the navigator, comments have double meanings. Frankenstein can mean the fact that Lee was the one ultimately responsible for into a cyborg, super-soldier... Well, more than she already was... And Frankenstein can mean the main crazy, killer race car driver, from the film, Death Race 2000. Which is partly justified, considering the guy with Lee was clearly leading him to Garibaldi. With Edgars HQ being the finish line. Like the navigator's job in Death Race 2000. As such, all these references Lee made, fitting his situation.”
“Also, Lee's knowledge of our weapons, and abilities is truly impressive.”
Annie agreed, “I believe that it is a trait that should be admired.”
Chang grinned, as he replied, “I agree.”
Arcee stated, “Also, with one exception, it should be noted that Lee does not use any of our names, when he talks to the police, or his lawyer. While he does call Roberta and Fabiola, by their nicknames, as the maids, and the Bloodhound. And he does go into detail of their actions, he always keeps the names, and events vague. The exception being when he was on the phone with Roberta, where he used her real name when addressing her.”
Chang stated, “That is a good point. With that one exception being excused by the fact that Lee was trying to be polite, when talking to one of the scariest women in the multiverse. A woman whom is pissed off at him, and wants his hide. Still, Lee is smart. He won't use any of our names in front of others. Unless absolutely necessary. For two very important reasons. It might upset us. And it would only create more questions for himself, by those around him.”
Arcee agreed, “That was my line of thinking, as well.”
Chang said, “Yes.”
River then realized, as she questioned, “But, what about what was said at the factory? Could the security systems there have recording everyone's names being used. Especially, during that conversation Lee had with everyone.”
Chang commented, “I wouldn't worry about that. Everyone was talking then. And that will not immediately be a part of the police records. As it would be for the recordings of the police station. Also, Mal and the others, found that the audio for the security recording that the factory, was turned off. Likely to save on computer file size on their memory storage. We pulled the audio for that for those recording, from the radios. So, we are fine, on that matter.”
River replied, “Okay.” She thought, 'That is a relief.'
Chang said, “Now, let's move things along.”
Chang then moved the video forward to where Lee was on the cellphone, while Roberta was gaining on him and his lawyer, in their car.
Lee said something in the cellphone. He then folded it closed, and tossed it back to the passenger, whom caught it.
Chang paused the video.
Chang request, “What is Lee saying?”
Arcee stated, “He repeated the phrase, ah hell, three times.”
Chang stated, “If I remember my Babylon Five correctly. Ah hell, means continuous fire in, Minbari. He was likely talking to those at the Edgars Industries complex that dealt with the base's security. He then turned off the cellphone as a way to heighten the tension with the people on the other end of the line. To push them into doing want he wants. This is was a work of genius.”
River smiled, as she thought, 'I agree.'
Chang restarted the video.
Suddenly, Lee's car blew a tire and started spinning forward.
As thee car spinning in their car, they could see Lee using his left hand to give the bird to Roberta, as he said something.
Arcee giggled a little, as she calmly said, “Lee is yelling. Roberta. You're fucked.”
Chang, River, Annie, and Mal, could not help but giggle a little, with Arcee, concerning Lee's comment.
A few seconds later, as they calmed down, they watched as Roberta immediately opened the driver's side door, and jump out of the semi. A few seconds later, gunfire destroyed the large truck. The picture panned to the gun turrets on the wall that Lee and the other guy soon passed through the gate of.
The gate closed, and the video ended.
Chang commented, “I think everyone here agrees that it takes style, skill, and timing, to say, you're fucked, to Roberta, mean it, and live to tell about it. I am amending my order. I want Lee back alive and in one piece. Preferably, completely unharmed.”
Mal looked over at Chang, as he flatly asked, “Why?”
Chang turned around, to his right side, to face Mal, as he strongly stated, “Because, with only his wits, and a little help, Lee beat all of you at the same time. Then, he tricked the police into rescuing him. After that, he conned his way out of the police station, which ended with him simply walking out the back door. While getting a car and help in finding a place to run to, where we will not follow. And finally, he defeated both of the maids, and escaped everyone after him. With Lee ending up in a literal fortress, whom none of you will immediately follow Lee into. Due to all of you knowing better. Because that fortress likely has loads of unknown traps, its own army, and a very savvy, badass leader.”
Chang punctuated each word, with increasing strength, as he went onto said, “And. Lee. Did. This. All. In. One. NIGHT!”
Chang continued, with eagerness evident in his tone of voice, “Lee has just become one of the most dangerous badasses in the multiverse, without even throwing a punch. Lee has unknowingly achieved what I thought Rock might someday become. And given the change was so gradual, from hack writer to badass, over the course of decades. Remember the time loop. That Lee probably does not even realize how dangerous he has become.”
“If someone ever got their hands on Lee, and taught him how to stand and fight, he would make for either a powerful ally, or an extremely dangerous enemy, on par with the maids. I want him as an ally. I do not want him as an enemy.”
Mal pointed out, “But, he is dying of cancer.”
River turned to face Mal, as she stated, “The whole point of Lee going to the Babylon Five reality. From the Babylon Five Station to Mars. Was to disappear. It is very likely he already has a plan to cure himself of his cancer. I actually think I know what he has planned. Though, I would prefer to not state it until I am sure.”
Chang turned to River, as he said, “I don't need to know at the moment. And I am sure I will enjoy his solution, when I do eventually find out.”
River turned to Chang. She smiled, as she coyly commented, “Oh. I think you will.”
Mal asked, “Okay. Say we do catch him, alive, and mostly in one piece. How do you plan to keep him alive? He is dying of cancer.”
Chang looked over at Mal, as he commented, “Worst case scenario. We dump Lee into a vat, to cure Lee's cancer. And she will just have to learn to live with being a chick.” He turned to River, as he inquired, “River, do you think he will mind that?” He mentally added, 'I already talked to Lee about an offer like this. He was open to the idea. But, your support would be nice, to smooth the offer over for everyone else here.'
River looked at Chang, as she casually replied, “I think Lee would opened minded on such an offer.” She thought, 'Actually, she would welcome take a dip in one of those vats. And becoming a healthy, younger, woman. And that is a good idea, on your part Chang. To help me smooth things over with everyone here, on this issue.'
Chang said, “That is good to know.” He mentally added, 'Thank you, River.'
River smiled, in response to Chang's mental thanks.
Mal stated, “Even if you turned Lee into a woman. And you want Lee in one piece. Lee still deserves to suffer a measure of revenge for what he has done to all of us.”
Chang turned to Mal, as he sighed in disbelief. He responded, “I cannot believe you are still upset about the virus that gave us gender bending abilities with a sneeze.”
Mal admitted, “Changing into a woman grates on my male ego.”
Chang countered, “Well, among us, you are the only one with this ability, whom is bothers so greatly by it. And the tradeoffs are amazing. Besides being able to play both fields, we also are now virtually immortal. Due to aging very slowly in both our forms.”
“Also, soon after we learned of the stories and the writer, River here informed me that the girls loved what Lee did for them. Inara, Zoe, Kaylee, River, and even myself, had to deal with monthly periods. Be happy you don't have to deal with that either. Speaking from experience. I was stuck as a girl for a few years. Monthly periods are no fun.”
“I have even caught Jayne sometimes enjoying her female form. And not just in that way. Also, Kaylee and Simon, have more than once, come to River and I, for advise on love making.”
“But, I know what is at the heart of your problem with this ability. That one time, at that new year's party. You and Inara got drunk, while you were a man, and she was a woman. The next morning, you sobered up as you awoke in bed, nude, as a woman, beside Inara, as a man. And from the smell it did not take a genius to realize what you two did.”
Chang lips then curled into a wicked grin, as he continued, “But, it gets better. River looked into your mind. We know you remember all of what happened that night. And you enjoyed it greatly. Given Inara is a former companion, I admit, I am bit envious of your relationship with her. Still, you are presently too macho to admit that some times you like getting in touch with your feminine side.”
“This is also the reason why the only way you came to those Lagoon bikini parties was we had to drag you there. But, once you were at those parties. We could all tell that you were having a great time there.”
Mal deflated, as he looked away from Chang, and down towards his lap. He quietly replied, “Yes. I did.”
Chang dropped his grin, as he stated, “So, here is my offer. Would you like me to drag up, and inform everyone here, among your friends, in the entire casino, exactly how you like it as a woman, during sex? What gets you to scream like a banshee, when you are a woman. Because River told me that, as well? Or, will you be amendable to some compensation instead? And you will let the matter over Lee go?”
Mal looked up at Chang, as he became visibly uncomfortable. He remained silent for a few seconds, as he thought over Chang's veiled threat, and his offer. He then calmly stated, “I believe gold would go a long way to solving much of my hurt feelings.”
Chang said, “Good. We will talk about the amount, later.”
Mal pointed out, “Still, there are others we have to deal with. Such as the Knight Sabers. I do not know how they appeared there. And I don't know where they left, either. But, they are after Lee, as well. And there claim to vengeance is far greater than most of those currently after him.”
Chang stated, “We have a vast selection of resources to choose from, when it comes to those powersuited mercenaries. And I am sure they are still sore with me, as well. But, I am sure we can work something out with them.”
Mal responded, “Good luck with that. I am not going to let myself, nor my crew, get between you, Lee, and them. You can find someone else to negotiation with them.”
Chang casually said, “Do not worry. I have a few ideas.”
Chang mentally reflected, 'Given Natsuru, Akira, Ranma, Mikoto, Yurika, and Nodoka, know the Knight Sabers. And Natsuru having a history of employment with Lean and Daley. I may ask those six to help me deal with this matter. Or, if I am lucky, Rock, or Lotton, will work out a deal, that will lead the Knight Sabers to visit me, in a peacefully manner. To negotiate this situation, in a civil way.'
Mal commented, “Well, however you work it out with them, it is going to cost you some your wealth.
Chang said, “I know. But, to get them off my back, it would be worth it.”
Mal inquired, “I agree. Still, what about the maids? Given the personalities of those two, I have a feeling they would take your offer of gold as an insult.”
Chang agreed, “You are likely right.” He then smirked, as he continued, “Still, the key to convincing either of the maids to do anything has always been Garcia. I realized that after the events of the first time Roberta came to Roanapur, to save Garcia.”
“And this is the reason why, when Roberta returned to Roanapur, I immediately visited Garcia, when he and Fabiola first came to town. And when Fabiola brought the Lagoon members to us, I steered Rock into helping Garcia. This was very simple to do. Considering Rock and Garcia knew each other. When they first met, they seemed to have hit it off as friends. Even though, at the time, Rock was one of the hostage takers, and Garcia was the hostage.”
“And while Garcia may not like me. He still owes me over helping Roberta recover from her grievous injuries caused by the Grey Foxes, in the jungle, of the Golden Triangle.”
“I never called that marker in. Because someday, I knew I would need it. And Garcia knew who I was, when we made that deal to help Roberta. Roberta willing accepted my offer. With Fabiola going along with our deal. So, none of those three people can me, being me, against me.”
“As such, if Lee cannot solve his problems with the maids, on his own. Or, if we capture Lee. With the maids eventually confront us, we will bring Garcia here, with him coming here willingly, and unharmed. And then we will all talk. From there, we figure out the exact reasons why the maids are so dead set on getting Lee. And we will work out an arrangement with them that will placate their thirst for vengeance.”
River thought, 'I am tempted to tell Chang the reason the maids after after Lee. But, doing so would ruin the mood.'
Mal agreed, “That might work. Also, I won't worry about the Bebop crew, none of them really care about revenge against Lee. Except for Spike. And I have a feeling that Spike won't try something again, without your approval.”
Chang said, “I agree. Though, inform her if she is willing to let her issues with Lee go. I can offer her compensation, in gold, and other forms. Though, if the opportunity of a moderate type of revenge against Lee is offered. I may consider her and the others in the casino, that are interest in doing so, to take part in it. On top of what I am willing to give her. And this offer extends to you, as well.”
Mal responded, “Thank you. That sounds acceptable. I will inform Spike of this. And I think she will go for it. Considering that she already accepted a similar offer from Rock. Plus, unlike Rock, you are still allowing a measure or revenge, within reason.”
Chang said, “It is good policy to make sure the grievances of ones employees are settled.”
Chang thought, 'Some such matters need to be solved as soon as possible. And I have been meaning to do that for a while. But, I was waiting until this whole writer mess was settled, before approaching Spike with my offer of compensation for the trouble both I, and Lee, have caused her.'
'Though, now that it looks like I might end up having the writer here. I will adjust my plans accordingly.'
Mal stated, “I agree. And I can understand why Spike would be pissed. Due to being force to have a kid. Though, Julia is a nice kid.”
Chang inquired, “Yes. Julia is a wonderful child. And Lee did give Spike her lost eye back. But, that being said. While the other two are not after Lee's head. What are their feelings in general, on the matter?”
Mal answered, “Fairly positive. Faye likes having her youth restored. And we all know the events around Jet's gender change. Which was not Lee's fault. Though, she did get back her youth, and her original left arm and hand. And Jet is happy about that.”
Chang thought, 'I guess Jet finally let go of her past.'
Mal went onto say, “But, the most trouble you are going to have in protecting Lee, from those that know about him, and his stories, are still the Lagoon crew, and their friends.”
Chang scoffed, as he stated, “The Lagoon members are already good friends with Lee. They just don't realize it. You do not live around someone for twenty years without becoming friends of some type. If they were not friends, they would have kneecapped him when they had him captured at the factory. And I am sure that the others that were not there, at the hotel, during the time loop. Such as Dutch, Benny, Janet, Balalaika, and B. Will go along with what the rest of them will do with, Lee.”
“And from all of those after, Lee. I feel they will likely be the easiest to placate.”
Mal conceded, “I see your point. So, how do you plan for us to rescue Lee? Do you want us to go behind the Lagoon crew's backs, and get Lee, before they have a chance to mobilize, and capture Lee, themselves?
Chang answered, “No. I want you to be part of their crew, when they storm that fortress. That way, when they, or you, find Lee, you can rescue him. Be aware, the person in charge in that complex is a human man named, Michael Garibaldi. He is an older, bald, fair skin man, in good shape. He is also a genre savvy badass, whom is on par with any of us. And he believes in being prepared. I want you to impart this wisdom to the others, so you can all tread lightly, when you attempt to retrieve Lee. And to remind you. I want Lee to be brought here, unharmed.”
Mal asked, “Fine. What about those we meet in the building?”
Chang stated, “Make sure that you, and the others, let the people you run across, live. And do not harm them, unless it is in self-defense. If you have problems joining the group that will be storming the building. Tell Rock, I asked for this, with you offering your services to her, for me. She will go for it.”
Mel responded, “Rock might. To prevent blow back. Does this Garibaldi have access to reality traveling technology?”
Chang answered, “Not really. Outside of their hyperspace tech, they cannot cross realities. That is just crossing planes of their own reality. It is similar to the hyperspace gates in the Cowboy Bebop reality. Also, none of the current space fairing species, in that galaxy, have fully figured out how hyperspace tech works. Considering they all discovered it, or were given it by other species. Including, the humans. So, there is little risk of blow back from having living witnesses.”
“Though, there is one exception that I know of. An ancient race, known as the Vorlons, did create a gate into another reality, and they almost allowed a more powerful species than them, into their reality. A species that believed in eradicating all life that was not their own. But, the Vorlons did stop them, and they close the gate, in time. At great cost to their own species. And that gate was later destroyed.”
Mal said, “A lesson in the dangers of reality travel.”
Chang agreed, “Exactly.”
Mal inquired, “So, is there anything else you have to say about Garibaldi?”
Chang answered, “Yes. If you run across Michael Garibaldi. And you are able to talk to him in private, give him an invitation to meet me. And impart to him that my forces are only there to keep the girls from going too far. And should Garibaldi wife and daughter, Lisa and Mary Garibaldi, be there. Do not. I repeat. Do not let Garibaldi's wife, nor daughter, come to harm. Arcee will give you details on the Garibaldi family. Such as, what they looked like. After this meeting is over.”
Arcee said, “I would be more than happy to do so.”
Mal turned to Arcee. He then looked back at Chang, as he questioned, “Okay. I will do as you ask. But, is Garibaldi really that dangerous?”
Chang flatly stated, “Yes. He is. Keep in mind. On top of what I have already told you. You need to understand that Garibaldi is one of the few people in that reality with the means, intelligence, and savviness to reach us, and become a threat to us. If we give him reason to do so. That is something I want to avoid at all cost.”
Mal replied, “I understand. And I will make sure everyone else in our group understands that, as well.”
Mal thought, 'I will give Daiyu, or I mean, Chang, credit. He may sometimes yank our chains. And we occasionally yank his. Still, he has never asked me, nor none of my crew, to do anything that violates our personal codes and ethics. I believe that makes him an even more dangerous person. Though, he pays well, and the perks he provides at our jobs here are good for all of us.'
Chang responded, “Good. Now Mal, I want you, and the others, to get some rest here, at the casino. Tomorrow morning, you can return to the Black Sheep hotel, on B Five Mars, fully rested. And use the time dilation trick to where the others there think you were only gone for a few minutes. Also, rely my orders to the others.”
Mal replied, “No problem.”
Chang thought, 'While, you all showed up right after lunch. Instead of in the morning. It has been a pleasant morning at that casino. Also, things happen. So, I hold it against any of you.'
'Also, I think. To allow Jet and Spike to get some rest. And for shits and giggles. I might offer Annie to fill for the pit boss, on the gaming floor, for a few hours, tonight. Darth Vader as a pit boss for a casino. I would pay money to see that. Actually, I am more than willing to pay money to see that.'
River giggled a little, as she commented, “That might be tempting to see.”
Mal overheard River's comment, as he asked, “What would be tempting to see?”
Before River could answered, Chang inquired, “Annie would you like to play pit boss at the gaming floor, for a few hours, tonight? Standard fee I usually pay you for an assignment.” He thought, with amusement, 'It would be worth the money, just to see her do it. And get a video copy of the event.'
Annie pointed out, “Actually, I have day tonight, that started in a few hours.”
Chang responded, “Okay. I will just get someone else to fill in there. But, I would still like to see you play pit boss for a few hours, on the gaming floor, some time in the next few days.”
Annie thought over Chang's offer, for a few seconds. She then said, “Okay. We will talk about it.”
Chang pointed out, “Fine. Though, you will have to wear a dress suit, and dress shoes.”
Annie thought over Chang's comment, for a few more seconds. She then commented, “I will still do it. And I do have a that black dress suit and dresses, you had fitted for me, when you first hired me.”
Chang stated, “Good. Now, back to the matter at hand. Mal, before you leave, make sure you and Zoe pick up those special weapons I got for the both of you. You are likely going to need them.”
Mal complimented, “That is a good idea.” He mentally added, 'The only reason Chang didn't get one of those weapons for Jayne were that they are both hard to come by, and the energy packs for the are even harder to get. Besides, Jayne prefers projectile weaponry, and explosives. It seems that if it doesn't boom in some big way, he doesn't like it.'
'Speaking of which, Jayne should be finished repairing Vera by now. So, I don't have to worry about his griping, anymore, about that.'
Chang said, “Also, considering I had you both be checked out on those weapons, I am not that worry about you using them. Just don't lose them.”
Mal stated, “That will not be a problem.”
Chang responded, “I know it will not. Also, good luck. And if you don't mind, I need to speak to the others in private.”
Mal replied, “Sure.” He thought, 'There is no point in arguing about this. I will get with Arcee in a little while. On the details of the Garibaldi family.' He then got up from his chair, walked to the door to the wall, left side of the room, near the screen.
There were other doors placed around the room. But, that was the closest to him.
Mal then opened the door, walked through it, and closed the door behind him.
After Mal left the room, Arcee turned to Chang, as she asked, “What about Lee's lawyer, Matthew McCormick? He likely has a vague idea of what is going on.”
Chang turned to face Arcee, as he said, “I know I want him. I want you and Annie to jump realities and pick him up. At your earliest convenience.” He turned to Annie, as he continued, “If that is okay with you.”
Annie turned to Chang, as she commented, “Sure. By the time this is over, he might even welcome to come here. Given, he will be the only person left around, tied to most of the attacks that centers around Lee, on Mars Dome One. And I am sure he will realized that the local will be looking for a scapegoat to pin all this on.”
Chang stated, “Exactly.” He then looked in front of him, as he continued, “And do not harm him. He may have freaked out at the end, but as a new guy to the scene, he held it together better than Rock, nor I, ever did when we first got throw into such intense situations. And I cannot think of a more intense situation than facing the maids.”
Arcee said, “No problem.” Arcee turned Annie, as she inquired, “I know you have your big date tonight. And such nights for you tend to be very long, and very pleasurable, for both you and your partner. So, are you up for doing this tomorrow?”
Annie answered, “I should be. But, just in case, let's plan to make it an early afternoon mission.”
Arcee replied, “Works for me.”
River then telepathically said to Annie, 'Good luck with your date, tonight. And tomorrow's mission.'
As Annie talked to Arcee, she mentally replied, 'Thanks. So, were you happy with what Chang said?'
River telepathically answered, 'Yes. In a few hours, him and I are going to have a lot of fun upstairs.'
Annie mentally giggled, as she thought, 'We will compare notes out one separate sexual adventures for tonight, sometime, tomorrow afternoon. After I get back.'
River mentally teased, 'It is a date.'
Both women then telepathically giggled to each other for a few seconds.
Annie then went back to discussing with Arcee on their plans for their mission tomorrow. From how to find the lawyer, to how they are going to capture him.
Meanwhile, Chang leaned back in his cushioned chair. He thought, 'Though, I don't feel like talking about it, out loud. That conversation that Revy and Rock's group had at the inn, jogged my memory, a little. The Mexican and the Lawyer... Lord, I have not thought about that night in Caracas, in years. And I thank you, River, for not asking me about that.”
River quietly said, “No problem. You will tell when you are ready.”
Chang mentally replied, 'Good. I will see you in the little while.'
River said, “Have fun.”
Chang then used his laptop computer to turn off the theater screen, turned on the theater lights. Next, he logged off of his laptop, closed his laptop, pushed away his tray, and got up from his seat. After which, he walked out of the same left side door, that Mal exited from.
After Chang exited the room. With him shutting the door behind him. He was inside one of the main large casino hallways, on the ground floor.
Chang then turned too to his right, and started walking down the hallway. There was no one else around. Even Mal had left for somewhere else in the casino, as Chang mentally reminisced, 'As much as I care for River, I don't care to go into deep thought around her.'
'Now, where have I heard that, armed bastards, quote from?... Ah, it will come to me eventually. Still, I barely remember that night. I do vaguely remember seeing Revy pop her head up from the bar, and looking at me. She probably did get the idea to becoming two-hands, from seeing me using both my pistols at once. That makes sense, considering the next time we met, in Roanapur, she was able to convince me to teach her how to use two pistols at once.'
'Also, I do remember that night changed the course of several of our lives. To think that two guys, from another reality. This reality we are in. From our personal futures, had a hand in all of this. And they likely knew what they are getting into at the time. Since the two of them are from our futures, I am sure I will find out who they are, in time. And I look forward to having a chat with them. I might even offer them both a job. A person has to be knowingly crazy and skilled to pull off stunts like that.'
Chang smirked, as he continued his thoughts, 'And two of them, together, only doubles the fun.'
Chang then dropped his smirk, as he calmly reflected, in thought, 'It seems there is more overlapping with our past selves than any of us realize. Such as, what happened when I was a rookie cop in Hong Kong. I still remember that event very clearly.'
'I remember meeting Shenhua, Sawyer, Revy, and Rock, as a woman. I remember them kidnapping me. Putting me through a wild chase. My freaking out. Revy giving me that badass speech. Rock, whom early introduced herself, introducing me to Revy, Sawyer, and Shenhua. While stating that she was lovers with Revy. Them letting me go, at the end of the chase. And finally, them setting me on the course to become the badass I am today.'
'And from that day, I learned a lot. But, much of it I had to wait on, until I could start finding the pieces, to help put together, and understand what happened on that crazy day.'
'The first pieces came when meeting Shenhua, in the Triad, soon after I changed sides, from cop to crook, in Hong Kong. The two of us hit it off well as friends. But, nothing more.'
'Meeting Shenhua was one of the first points that I began to suspect that my life was starting to take a turn for the strange and adventurous. Not that I was going to complain. That was one of the reasons I became a crook.'
'And as the adventures began to happen. With both Shenhua, and I. One after another. I also began to suspect that I was in a fictional reality. The situations were both so dangerous, and in some cases, so damn funny, someone had a hand in their creations. And they were not just random events.
'As I climbed the ranks of the Triad we both belonged too, I eventually rose to the point that I was trusted with the control of our organization's holdings in Roanapur. When that happened, I made sure Shenhua came with me to Roanapur.'
'A week after we got to Roanapur, I started to go to those town those meetings, with the heads of the mafia families. Those were interesting meets. And from them, I learned a few things my superiors did not tell me about my predecessor. Whom previously control our holdings in Roanapur.'
'While I knew my predecessor retied, due to old age. What I was not told was that he was one of the first mafia heads to come to Roanapur, during the early seventies. And that he also set up the first modern smuggling routes for that city. He was sixty years old, when he came here.' And he only came here, as a favor to the head of the Triad I belong to. But, he could still kick ass.'
'Though, he prefered diplomacy, over violence. And he was one of the ones that had set up these meetings, when other mafias started showing up. Most of the other mafia head, at the time, were just like him. They could still kick ass, but due to their age, they were ready to be put out to pasture, by their organizations. Yet, for one reason or another, they came to Roanapur.'
'As others came to the city, my predecessor realized there was plenty of heroin coming out Golden Triangle for all of the families. And that a mafia war in Roanapur would not benefit the mafias in question. And such warfare would attract unwanted attention from both local and foreign governments.'
'For the most part, the other mafia heads agreed with him. And they became wealthy, as well. Unfortunately, the mafia heads were eventually replaced, one way, or another. And their replacements were less patient. But, my predecessor was still able to make the situation work.'
'And the other families heads like him, because they had good dealings with them. Due to that, the others gave me a chance. I did not now disappoint. I remained civil, but when one of the families tried to make a move on my organization, I taught them that doing so was a mistake.'
'And even though I was trying not to do so, because I found absolute peace to be boring, this was when I was ironically started to be known as the peacemaker in Roanapur.'
'Less than a year after arriving in Roanapur, and spending much of my take overseeing our operations in the city. With Shenhua, and my other subordinates help, I was well on my way to controlling the city. It was around this time I met Sawyer, as the cleaner. For the most part, Sawyer looked the same as she did then, in my past. From this, I quickly realized that I had met their future selves. And that it was a case of time travel.'
'While meeting Shenhua, and having our adventures caused me to suspected we were living in a fictional reality. When I met Sawyer, and recognized her. Combined with knowing Shenhua. This was when I first started to realized more firmly that I was in a fictional reality. Instead of these just being idol, baseless suspicions.'
'That being said. I made sure to keep in the good graces of both those women. Not just because they scared me. Even though, I employed both of them. Shenhua directly, as one of my chief assassins. And Sawyer as an independent, for body disposal. But, because I knew eventually, they would go back in time, and meet the younger self. And they would recognize my past self. And I did not want to give them any excuse for them to harm my past self.'
'I even met that junkie, Leigharch. And even those he partook the drugs too much. He was an artist behind the wheel. He was the perfect getaway driver. He was skilled, he had not fear of death, and if he was caught, he was so crazy, that no one would believe a word he says.'
'I hated the fact he finally overcooked his brain with his drug habit. But, by then, he and Shenhua were good friends. Though, I am not sure how good. And to keep Shenhua happy. And for such loyal service, from both of them. I did help Shenhua find a nice asylum in Thailand, to take care of Leigharch. Though, soon after the Lovelace members left Roanapur for a second time, he disappeared, as well... I wonder, he might be somewhere else in the multiverse, by now.'
'If so, I am sure I will see him again, someday.'
'Still, the years past. And few years later, after arriving in Roanapur, and around a month after that shootout in Caracas the Lagoon crew, in their PT Boat, the Lagoon, finally showed up Roanapur.
'And the Lagoon crew were not alone in the new members to the city, around that time.
'Now, that I think about it, Eda showed up around that time, as Yolanda's assistant, at the Ripoff Church, only days after I returned from Caracas. Yolanda even introduced me to Eda, a few days Eda first came to that island. And I am sure this is not consequence. But, I am going to leave the matter alone. Because, even after everything, I am still on friendly terms with Yolanda.'
'And I am probably one of the few people that realize how dangerous Yolanda is. I did some digging into her past. And I uncovered some things about her. In her youth, she was as dangerous as the Bloodhound. And while time and age slowed her down a bit physically, she only became more craftier. While in her youth, she could take down a small army alone. In her advanced years she learned how to get others to do the job for her, while appearing completely detached from the incidents in question.'
'And Yolanda has been in Roanapur far longer than me.'
'I remember, a month after Shenhua, and I, first came to Roanapur. Just a few days after meeting Yolanda, and getting acquainted with her. One of the other heads of the local mafias tried to extort and steal from the Ripoff Church. They personally threatened Yolanda.'
'The next morning, all the members of that mafia family, were found day, in their headquarters, in Roanapur. With all of them having suffered Colombian neckties.'
'And I know the Colombians did not do it, because I was meeting them the night before. And my alibi, along with the alibis of my group, were the only thing that kept the other mafia families from attacking the Colombians.'
'Abrego owed me big for that alibi. And I used that alibi, and the favor from that alibi, on occasion, to keep in him in line.'
'Also, there was no evidence found of who did it. The Colombians would not be that neat. Still, there was nothing of the incident that could be tied to Yolanda, nor the Ripoff Church.'
'It was that morning that I learned not to cross her. And I did everything in my power to make her my friend. Or, at least an ally.'
'I also realized that morning, that even in old age, Yolanda could still play the game, like the master she is. The Black Lagoon series only hinted at how dangerous she could be. I have seen her, on more than one occasion, use a single bullet, to make a car explode. She is really good at that trick. And one time, I watched her collapse an entire building, by emptying the magazine from her Golden Desert Eagle.'
'And now with her youth and lost eye restored. Along with the super-soldier serum giving her peak physical condition, combined her wisdom, experience, and skills, she could beat me at every level, if she wanted to. And we both know it.'
'I am just happy she liked her current life. And she does not feel like taking over. Because if she did. Even with my resources, I am not sure I could stop her.'
'And because Yolanda came to Roanapur before me. I do not know the details surrounding how and when Yolanda first came to Roanapur. And the reasons behind the Ripoff Church, nor how she started that business. But, I do know she was the one that started the Ripoff Church.'
'Though, I have a feeling that, even given her advanced age, at the time, she was not one of those that were put out to pasture. She likely came to Roanapur of her own free will, because she saw opportunities here, at a time when others did not. Not only through the drug trade, but also sales weapons to those of us criminals, smugglers, mercenaries, pirates, that were based in, and around, Roanapur.'
'Yolanda also did try to her best to stay out of the politics of Roanapur. She instead preferred to just sell her weapons to us, and help us smuggle our drugs through the area, for a small percentage of the profits from our sales.'
'And with her lifetime's worth various government connections Yolanda had build up, she likely had no problems getting the arms shipments, and drugs, she needed, to stay in business. While making a tidy profit, for herself, on the side.'
'I sometimes wonder, if Eda remembered Yolanda of herself, in her youth. And if Yolanda was not clandestinely groomed Eda, as her student and successor. Even if Eda did not even realize it. That would not surprise me one bit.'
'To that end, Yolanda is the only person in know of, that can do this game we play with more style and skill, than I. She just doesn't want to. She prefers now, to just relax and enjoy life. And I am very, very happy about that fact.'
'Still, a few weeks before The Lagoon crew came to Roanapur, Balalaika, and her Hotel Moscow showed up, beforehand. I do regret killing Balalaika and Hotel Moscow's Russian predecessors, in Roanapur, on the cargo hauler, Maria Zeleska. But, I had to. Considering they sent a hit out to personally kill me.'
'I knew the moment I heard Balalaika and Hotel Moscow came to town, they were trouble. People like this always are. Less than twenty-four hours, after showing up, they were already making their presence known. They were strong-arming a number of local businesses. They also killed a number of our lower ranking subordinates. And anyone that try to tail them.'
'And I do not know what they did to Chief Watsup, that day, but it scared him to the point that he ordered his police to leave them alone.'
'After a few day of this, the heads of the families, including Abrego, Chin, Verrocchio, and myself, collectively put our foot down, and we demanded that Balalaika come to our meetings.'
'Instead, she attempted to have us all assassinated. But, she did not take into account, we realized this was a possibility.'
'The building we met, I had designed and built for this situation. The building we met in appeared to be just a small coffee shop. Instead, it was a front, for those times when we had to invite a new mafia head to the party.'
'Here we were. The heads of the mafia, sitting around the table, having coffee, in full view of the street, through the windows. At the proper time Balalaika was suppose to come. We expected Balalaika to show up any minute.'
'Then, two unmarked cars drive up, and stop in front of the coffee shop.'
'It Hotel Moscow. They rolled down the windows facing up, and fired their PM sixty-three RAK sub-machine guns, which used nine by eighteen millimeter Makarov ammunition.'
'After the attack, I did some researched and I found this was a Polish a special forces weapon. Hotel Moscow was probably use those weapons as a form of cover for their actions.'
'Balalaika clearly was trying to make this appear to be a hit by a rival group that was not hers.'
'I believe later on Hotel Moscow gave one of those weapons to Lagoon Company, as part of a payment for a job. And that was one of the weapons Revy used to destroy Luak's ships in the Black Lagoon series.'
'Still, even if Balalaika had Hotel Moscow use their AK seventy-fours, with their five point forty-five by thirty-nine ammunition, it would have done them no good.'
'The walls and windows were fortified against such attacks. Under the veneer of the walls, the walls had steel plates. Each plate was rated to handle up to a fifty caliber. We placed lined the inside of the outer walls of the shop, with three layers of these plates'
'These were the same types of armor plating as the type that Bao used on his bar counter, at the Yellowflag. Actually, we sold him our scraps from this little venture, to make his armored bar counter. Though, we did give Bao a good deal on our offer. And he took our deal. And he paid us the full amount, up front.'
'Even at that point, a number of the subordinates of the various mafias, including Sawyer and Sawyer, like to go to the Yellowflag for a drink, on occasional.'
'So, keeping that man alive would only bring more harmony to my friendships with Shenhua and Sawyer.'
'Though, at the time, I arranged for neither of them to meet each other. And I kept them separate, for the most part. Because, I was not sure how they would react to each other. They might try to kill each other. They might become friends. They might even band together, to try to take me down.'
'And I admired both of them too much to want to see anything bad happen to them.'
'And with Sawyer where they full body medical scrubs, at work helped. So, when I eventually started sending Shenhua to drop bodies off for the Cleaner to dispose of, Shenhua did not recognize Sawyer. This was confirmed, years later, when I had the chance to review both the Black Lagoon anime and manga.'
'I am so happy, when they finally got together, they began friends, with Lotton helping to keep their friendship grounds and civil. Fighting may not be Lotton's forte, but Lotton does know how to play peacemaker when he, or now, she has too.'
'Now, back to the back to our first attempted meeting with Balalaika, and the ambush she sent as a response to our invitation.'
'Concerning the building we met, along with our armored walls, the windows were made of two layers of ballistic glass. Just over twelve centimeters thick.'
'So, the attackers watched as their bullets get caught in the ballistic glass, and not make it into the cafe shop.'
'Then, the russians had the audacity of not driving off., but instead they got out of their cars, with their ski masks covering their faces. While dressed in fatigues. As they approached the door.'
'When they approached the front door, they found the door was near solid steel, with wooden veneer. And with the door having three deadbolts, there were locked, at three different points of the door. The top, middle, and bottom.'
'Also, any flanking teams, trying to come in to the shop, from the back. They quickly found that the back doors, along with all the windows, walls, floors, and ceiling, of the shop, were equally armored.'
'And the Hotel Moscow members stood, looking at us, through the windows, while they were trying to figure out what to do next.'
'I just looked back at them, and smiled. Verrocchio raised an eyebrow at the absurdity of the situation. While Abrego and Chin just laughed.'
'At that moment, my men, along with the men of a few of the other mafia families,
popped up from behind the bar counter, behind us, with their weapons pointed at the attacker.'
'This showed the Hotel Moscow members that even if they got inside, they would only wind up dead.'
'A few seconds later, they realized they were not going to win this fight, and the attackers got back to their cars, and left.'
'We knew it was Hotel Moscow who did this. But, the way we countered their attack gave us all a good laugh.'
'And I think we were the only ones to ever beat Hotel Moscow, in a battle, without firing a shot. Though, we hurt them where it counts. Their pride. Their egos. We emasculated them. And I do not want to know how pissed off we made them. But, I am sure that most of them were upset. Especially, Balalaika.'
'Still, it was then, I decided it was time to take a more proactive approach in dealing with Balalaika. I would be the one to ambush her. But, I already realized this type of attack had to wait a few weeks, for me to set up.'
'Though, after that embarrassing event, Balalaika back off on us, because she was not sure how we would counter her next. And I used my time wisely, to lay my trap.'
'The night, about fifteen minutes before the Lagoon crew showed up, Balalaika and Hotel Moscow were at the docks. They were there under the false impression they were going to meet their contact from the Golden Triangle, to start work on creating their heroin smuggling routes.'
'My men and I then sprang our trap, in that moonlit night. Shenhua was there. I heard she and Boris had one hell of a fight between them, where they were ultimately forced to back off, to help their comrades. And while both sides lost men, in all honesty, it ended in a draw.'
'While the anime did not even show our fight. And the manga only showed a few vague pictures. The personal duel between Balalaika and I was epic.'
And this battle was one of the few times that I saw Balalaika dual wield against me. And she was good. I think she did so, as a way to mock me over my own dual wielding.'
'At the end of our battle, she was so good at dual wielding, she used her right pistol, to shoot the semi-automatic pistol from my left hand, while I used the pistol in my right hand, to hit her in her lower right side of her abdomen.'
'If I had been using a forty-fives, instead of my twenty-twos, that would have likely been eventually a fatal wound... But, oh well. Hindsight is twenty-twenty. And all that... Still, if she has not been using target ammo for her nine-millimeter pistols, the shots she hit me with, would have killed me, before I could get medical attention. So, when it comes to fate, I consider that a wash.'
'Though, I will give Balalaika credit. She had the foresight to use drum magazines, for her semi-automatic pistols, while I had my standard ten round magazines for my semi-automatic pistols.'
'The battle between Balalaika and I both, to us to the end of the pier, were we shot each other a few times. With Balalaika going over the edge, into the bay, while I was barely able to stand. With Shenhua helping me, as some of my men provided us cover, while the rest, including myself, escape. And I was able to get to some doctors in time for me to survive. And fortunately, I did fully recover.'
'Unfortunately, so did Balalaika.'
'The Lagoon crew pulled into port, right after Balalaika and I had concluded our fight, on the docks of the city. They saw Balalaika go into the bay. they saved Balalaika's life. With Dutch and Benny knowing basic first aid. And Revy was a quick learner, on the spot.'
'This is where Balalaika got the nickname, sis, from Revy. Lagoon company got Balalaika treated and to a doctor as quickly as possible. But, by then, Balalaika had lost a lot of her blood, and she needed an immediate blood transfusion. Fortunately, Revy was a compatible blood donor. And in a rare show of charity, Revy donated her blood, willing to Balalaika, without given compensation. After that, Revy consider Balalaika, her blood sister. And that is where the nickname, sis, came from. Balalaika allowed Revy to call her that, because she found it amusing, and she was grateful towards Revy, for Revy's part in saving her life.'
'I am happy that Revy's insanity has nothing to do with her blood. Because, an insane Balalaika would scare even me.'
'Also, I did not hold it against Lagoon company, for saving Balalaika's life. I action found it to be a good sign about their character, and personalities. The first thing they do, when they come to town, is safe a life of a stranger. That might have been a first in Roanapur mafia history. And I realized they did not know who Balalaika was, at the time. And I found that type of action showed they were worth keeping around, and giving a chance for independent jobs.'
'Also, I know for a fact that Balalaika felt a similar way, towards the Lagoon crew, over the situation. That she felt she owed Dutch, and the rest of Lagoon company, for saving her life. If nothing else, Balalaika has a sense of honor. It was why our two organizations rarely came to blows after that first fight... That and the fact that neither of us were sure we could take the other, in a fight, without being killed.'
'Though, it was then, after Balalaika and I, were laid up from our wounds, that I realized Balalaika's own weakness.'
'If Balalaika does sense weakness. She will try to exploit that weakness as quickly as possible. Such as the ambush at the cafe shop. But, if she is taken by surprise, and loses, due inventiveness she could not take into account of, she will back off.'
'Balalaika's weakness is she does not like dealing with the unknown. And I have used that weakness against her, on occasion.'
'Anyway, one act of charity, in saving Balalaika life, bought the three Lagoon members more good will than they would have likely gotten, any other way, when coming to Roanapur.'
'I do not believe in coincidence. To that end, that incident was one of the events, in my life, that helped prove to me that we were all living in a fiction reality. With Roberta coming to Roanapur for the first time, cementing my beliefs, on the matter. And that the members of that PT boat were going to be main characters in the work of fiction were were in. Though, I just did not realize by how much. Though, I did realize, that do to this, they had great potential. Potential I could use.'
'Also, I realized that Balalaika, and Hotel Moscow would have their roles as well. Along with myself, and my organization.'
'As soon as I was healed, after I had made a truce with Balalaika. Given, we were not in the condition to fight. I arrange for the Lagoon crew to come meet me.'
'Also, I know that Balalaika had a similar meeting, once she healed. When Balalaika met the Lagoon crew, I am sure she realized their potential, as well.'
'When the three Lagoon members were brought to me. They came willingly, and politely. Though, Revy still had that mouth of hers. Though, given my interest in them, since I realized they were going to be part of whatever fictional series we were in. And I recognized Revy as one of those that had kidnapped me, years ago, in Hong Kong. I let Revy's statements towards my organization, and myself slide.'
'Though, I bet Dutch and Benny thought I did so, because Revy had a hot body. While that was not the case, I let them continue thinking that.'
'And as Revy's teacher, I fully earned Revy's respect, and she did not insult me, nor my organization, afterward.'
'I found Dutch had the laid-back personality, that made for a good captain. Whom would do jobs for both of us. But, he would avoid the politics of our uneasy situation.'
'Dutch told me that he considered himself, and his team, to be just a delivery service that took their jobs to the extreme. Got a mild chuckle from his comment about his job.'
'I admit that Benny didn't seem like much then. But, even at the time, I could sense there was intelligence behind his eyes.'
'And when Revy and I met, we both recognized each other. I remembered her future self, from my youth. And she recognized me from that bar, during that night in Caracas.'
'While Revy was uncouth, from my meeting of her, in my youth, I knew she had talent. But, I already realize that no one had yet to teach her. Next, she asked me to teach her how to fire with two pistols as once. Like I can do. It was then that I realized that I was destined to her teacher. And we were in a temporal loop.'
'And while Lee's stories, are part of the loop. His stories do not account for everything. Such as that night in Caracas. But, those are mysteries for another day.'
'Do have to admit, Revy can really smile when she wants to. Like when I told her I would teacher her how to dual wield to pistols at once.'
'So, during this time, I would hire Lagoon company to do a few jobs, and they did well with all of them. And Balalaika would hire them for jobs and they did well. And other third parties would hire for jobs and they did well. Thus, allowing them to build their reputation in Roanapur as skills smugglers. They did not become pirates, until after I fully trained Revy.'
'And when the Lagoon was not take jobs, I taught Revy how to use two guns at once. Including giving her some pointers shooting while running. But, first I taught her proper gun safety. How to safely remove jammed bullets from firearms.'
'How to take apart various firearms, clean them, and put back together said firearms. I even got her a nice firearm cleaning kit, to do this with.'
'And those lessons show in how she using firearms. Such as when she is not using her pistols, while holding them, she keeps her trigger fingers set against the trigger guards, and not the triggers, themselves.'
'Along with this, I instructed her on the proper physical exercises she would need to get the most out of her shooting style.'
'And she followed those exercises to the letter, almost every day, she could do them. With those exercises really helping Revy keep her figure.'
'Also, I found that Revy was naturally extremely agile. And this played will for the style of gunfighting I taught her.'
'I even helped Revy acquire those customized Beretta ninety-two FS Inox nine millimeter semi-automatic pistols she uses. Which used a double-action trigger system, that allowed the trigger to pulled back the hammer to fire the weapon. And the safety lever on the back of the slide allowed for a decocking function for the hammer. Along with plenty of ammo clips, and ammo for her weapons.'
'I had those pistols custom made for her. And the reason I picked the ninety-two FS was that that pistol model was a step up from the Beretta M nine she was using, when I met. And since she was already comfortable using the M nine, I just got a couple of custom pistol that were a step up from the M nine, but still used the same basic design as the M nine.'
'Since, when I met Revy, when she first came to Roanpaur, she was using a Beretta M nine, with some skill. So, I decided to get her a customize weapon, of a similar model, that used the same caliber of ammo. Actually, the ninety-two FS was just the next update to the M nine series of semi-automatic pistols. With the hammer pin being enlarged, to keep the slide from ejecting backwards, if the slide cracked on the end, as it hits the back, while it ejects a cartridge shell.'
'I also made sure her new weapons had extended barrels. So, she could attach a suppressor to each of them, for quiet assassinations.'
'I even offered to get her some suppressors for her pistols. But, Revy has always preferred to do things loud and boisterous. To this day, the woman just does not appreciate the value of being subtle and quiet.'
'And unless she had too, she also preferred to fight alone. With the exceptions being some of Eda's schemes. The greed from those two have gotten them in trouble over the years, while they were in Roanapur. With someone having to get them out of trouble. Either with Dutch pulling rank as captain of Lagoon company. Or, when Balalaika, Yolanda, or I, were there with those two. To show them how it really is done.'
'Though, I am happy that Revy eventually realized that sometimes she needed help. I believe she first, finally learned this, when Roberta returned to Roanapur, on the hunt for the Gray Foxes. She realized that Roberta was to much to handle alone. So, she hired Shenhua and Sawyer to come help her.'
'I am very proud of Revy, that she finally learned this lesson.'
'And in that mission, Lotton ended up coming, as well. And I am glad he did. His actions saved Shenhua and Sawyer's lives. I may be one of the first few people, in my reality, to realize that Lotton is not to be underestimated.'
'Though, I was not happy how Revy got herself, and Shenhua injured, at the end. But, that was Shenhua's fault for coming along with Revy, in the first place. And both of them did eventually make a full recovery.'
'Speaking of Shenhua, the reason I kept her and Revy in the dark from each other, since Revy came to Roanapur, was much like why I kept Shenhua and Sawyer away from each other.
But, unlike Shenhua and Sawyer. I found that Shenhua and Revy were two much alike. I knew that if they ever met, their personalities would clash. Which possibility could end in a fight where one, or both of them would be killed, or permanently cripple.'
'Along with Sawyer, both those women were too valuable to me for me to waste like that. So, I schedule Shenhua's jobs, and Revy's training, to where they would never meet, and my plan worked like a charm.
'Though, due to that whole middle-eastern mess in my reality, my hand was forced on the matter. And I had to arrange it so that on Basilan island, Revy would meet Shenhua. Because, I needed my best people working on that mission. And Shenhua and Revy were two of my top people. Even though, Revy was with Lagoon company.'
'And from what Leigharch told me afterward. After he sobered up. And from what I saw later in my series, my fears were partly confirmed. Their personalities did clash. But, I was happy that is clash turned into a friendly rivalry between the two of them.'
'Also, I am glad that Shenhua fully recovered from her wounds, from both that whole Greenback Jane mess, and the Bloodhound mess. She has had a couple of close calls over the years. But, those were the worst.'
'And after the Bloodhound mess, Revy was out of action for a few weeks, as well.'
'While I thought their friendship has soured after the who Greenback Jane incident. After the Bloodhound mess, I realized there was still the possibility of friendship between the two of them. Along with Sawyer and Lotton become friends with Revy. Because all three of them came to Revy's aid to face the Bloodhound.'
'And I knew that the three of them knew the Bloodhound's reputation, beforehand. I gave After my first meeting with Garcia ended. Later that night, I arranged for Shenhua a copy of everything I knew the Bloodhound. And I told her to share this information with Sawyer and Lotton. Because they all lived in Shenhua's appartment.'
'I knew there was a chance they would run into the Bloodhound. And I wanted to make sure they knew what they were facing. Personally, in the hopes they would run. Which didn't happen.'
'Still, I am happy they got out of that mess alive.'
'So, while they were paid by Garcia, to take the job. They still knowingly knew what they were walking into, beforehand.'
'Though, back to Shenhua, Sawyer, and Lotton's possible friendship with Revy.'
I knew it was possible for Shenhua and Sawyer to become friends with Revy. With Lotton ending up a friendly acquaintances of Revy, and by extension the rest of the Lagoon members. And I found this to be true.'
'Lotton even ended up occasionally going out for drinks with Dutch, Benny, and Rock, along with Akira, in his male form, for various guys nights out. And they occasionally still go out drinking together, to this day.'
'And on Shenhua, Revy, and Sawyer becoming good friends. I realized all they needed was a proper experience to solidify their friendship. Though, I was not crazy enough to arrange such an event. Which could have badly backfired on me.'
'And I am happy I did not arrange that event. And it was Lee that arrange the event for me. That scene shopping between Revy, Shenhua, Sawyer, and Akira, in book one of Lee's stories did the job of solidifying their friendship better than anything I could come up with. And that was a funny read.'
'I am surprised that Lee later did that again. This time a male version, with past Bob, future Bob, and B, at the beginning of book three of his stories. But, Lee did a good job there, as well.'
'And unlike what some people think. I fully supported Shenhua when she decided to let Sawyer and Lotton move in with her, in her home.'
'Sawyer has always been a good freelance ally. And she could relate to Shenhua. And it is nice that Shenhua would have someone to talk too, on such matters. And as I hoped, they became good friends.'
'Also, I had no problems with Lotton being with those two, as well. While Lotton was a bit of a poser, he saved both their lives, and got them to a hospital. After Shenhua recovered, she asked me about him and Sawyer moving in with her. She also mentioned that she and Sawyer liked him. So, I said I didn't have any problem with them moving in with her.
'And all those things Lotton did for those two women earned him points with me. And Lotton even saved them again, against Roberta. That earned him even more points with me. When Shenhua told me what happened. And how Lotton saved her and Sawyer.'
'Anyone that is will to take one in the balls, from the Bloodhound no less, to save those two women, has earned my respect. But, I am glad that Lotton wore a steel cup. Though, Roberta still dented it. But, Lotton did recover a few weeks, later.'
'Also, I later learned that Lotton was the only person during the Jane chase that wore a bulletproof vest, on that job, and due to that, he was one of the few people to walk away from that battle under his own power.'
'It was clear that Lotton liked to be prepared.'
'And from what Shenhua later told me, and from watching the Robert's Blood Trail anime arc, and reading the manga, on how Lotton saved her and Sawyer's lives. And the fact Lotton survived both those battles in one piece, earned him several more points with me.'
'And considering all this, after Lotton showed me the dent Roberta's boot made in that steel athletic cup, I helped Lotton replace his steel athletic cup with a titanium athletic cup. Ouch. That kick also explained why Lotton wasn't able to was not able to walk straight for a week afterward.'
'And over time, I came to realize that Lotton was not the idiot he pretended to be. That there was brains in that head of his. Those were some of the reasons I signed off to letting Shenhua join the Raven Unit team he was forming, in exchange for a percentage of what they made.'
'And when Lotton finally dropped the mask of idiocy. Off screen, as it wore, at the end book one of Lee's stories. And he told me, in private, that he figured out my reality traveling research, along with the fact we had visitors from other realities. And he had videos of the event in question. I decided it was best to let him in my operation. And he did so well, that I eventually made him my second in command, for a while... That was a fun time for both of us... Though, I am not going to say that out loud, in case one of our victims overhears us.'
'Still, back to Revy. When I was training Revy, when I gave her those two ninety-two FS pistols, that I had custom made for her, she said she liked them. And since she considered herself a modern day pirate. In contrast to Dutch and Benny whom considered Lagoon company to be a delivery service. This was when Revy started suggestion to Dutch and Benny, they should branch out in to piracy. And from what I understand, neither of them were immediately opposed to the idea.'
'Revy even stated she wanted to call her new pistols, cutlasses. Like the sword cutlass that pirates used it use.'
'I went a step further, and suggested that she name her new pistols the, Praiyachat Sword Cutlass Specials.'
'Revy requested that I explain the name to her. And I had problem with doing so. Special, was for that they were custom made weapons. And Praiyachat, was a play on words for the name of the of the Chao Phraya river. With the Chao Phraya river being a major river in north Thailand, that went through Bangkok, the capital of Thailand, and emptied out into the Gulf of Thailand.'
'I also told her that the translation of Chao Phraya was, grand duke. And the river is also referred to as, the river of kings.'
'Though, I did not mentions to Revy, that since I considered myself king of Roanapur, I found it a fitting name for the pair of guns I helped my student acquired.'
'Revy still got a few good laughs out of my answer to her questions.'
'Revy then asked me why I named her weapons after a river. I told her that if she was going to play with the pirate theme, that she should go a step further. In that one of the strengths of a PT boat was that it was small, to the larger ships that it was designed to target. And that one of the tactics PT boats used was to hide in rivers, and lay in wait, to strike out at their large prey, at high speed, as they passed by, in a larger body of water.'
'And by using a PT boat, the Lagoon company were not just pirate of the sea, but river pirates, as well.'
'Revy got another good laugh out my comment. And when she finally calmed down she said she liked name of her pistols, which made me smile, in response. And she wanted to do a few more things to her pistols. What she told me she wanted to do, only make me smile even more.'
'We took the pistols back to the creator of it, to have some engravings made on Revy's weapons. First, silver Calico Jack, skull and crossbones, pirate symbols, inlaid in the middle of the white, pearl grips, of her pistols.'
'Revy also had both slides of her pistols engraved. On the left side of each of her slides, was engraved '9mm Sword Cutlass'.
'In the right side of the slides was engraved, on the left side, the model of the pistol. Mod 92F. As in modification. Then, a small Calico Jack symbol, in the middle of that side of the slide. And to the left of the Calico Jack symbol was the Thai inscription of the creator of the pistols.'
'I guess, like all artists, including sword makers. That gunsmith was so proud of his work, that he signed his name to Revy's weapons. With Revy and I both agreeing that it only made her weapons even cooler.'
'Once, I was sure that Revy was good another to use two pistols, at once, while moving, I then taught her how to use a rifle, grenade launcher. Along with other projectile weapons.'
'And after I was finished teaching her, I believe that Revy became one of the best sharpshooters I know of. And her skills with grenade launcher are impressive, as well.'
'While, in just basic long distance target shooting, Balalaika, and Roberta have her beat. It is not by much. But, when it comes to shooting moving targets at long distance, I think Revy has those two beat. She can use a rifle, while on a boat. Hitting someone, or something, on another boat. On the seas. With both boats bobbing in the water. While moving force. With a crosswind between both boats. And she hits her mark almost every time.'
'As her teacher, she made me very proud at the level of skill she showed in the use of the weapons I to wielded.'
'But, I did not just stop teaching her, there. As we finished her firearm training, I then helped her a bit with her hand to hand skills. But, she was clearly a brawler. And as long as I knew she could beat someone in a hand to hand fight, while she was able to take a punch, or two, herself, I was happy.'
'This was because I did not want to make her a master at hand to hand combat as well. Given her endurance at the time bordered on the fanatical. That four fight with Roberta proved that to be a fact. And with the super-soldier serum. She has gone beyond even previous physical limitations. If she became a master at hand to hand combat, she would be unstoppable.'
'And Revy is way to unpredictable to give that much power to.'
'So, I wanted her to not be as skilled as I am in hand to hand combat, in case she ever turned on me. Or, she went completely berserk. So if need be, I could still take her out. Quickly and as painlessly, as possible. Though, I am glad we were never put in that situation.'
'And when Revy has finished her training. With me confirming to Dutch, that was the case. The Lagoon members when on their first pirate run. A job I hired them for. And they accomplished their job with flying color.'
'After that, Lagoon company embraced their piracy. And they became known in the criminal underworld of Roanapur, as skilled pirates and smugglers.'
Though, they were always careful to not try to cross the families, when the took jobs. With Balalaika and I both being Dutch's confidants, when it came to background checks. Dutch had both our personal phone numbers. And when it came to such information, we both realized how valuable Lagoon company was as a third party in our game between each other. So, there were no problems for either of proving information to them, as long as doing did not conflict with our organizations, nor operations.'
'This information sharing, eventually lead to a few times that Balalaika and myself, shared information with each other, in private. Such as during the whole Vampire Twin mess. I am happy those two ended up being reincarnated as Rebecca and Yukio. They deserves a second chance. And I am happy that Lee gave them one. Along with Lee giving a few others a second chance, as well.'
'And even with her flaws, I found Revy, though a bit crude, to be a very good student. She was also nice to me, when I was teacher her, because she wanted to learn from me. And I found she soaked up knowledge and skills, of what she is interested in, very quickly. I will never say this to Revy's face. But, I agree with Lee. Revy is as intelligent as Rock. She is just not as knowledgeable, nor emotionally mature.'
'And while I did teach Revy. I never tried to come on, nor did a sleep with her.'
'At the time, though I am sexually attracted to women, I was not sexually attracted to crazy women. I guess I shared that trait with Lee.'
'Though, since getting involved with River, I amended my opinion, on the matter. But, still, I am wary of crazy women. Which is likely why I am still alive.'
'Not counting the kidnapping and chase, from future Revy, Shenhua, Sawyer, and Rock. While in the Hong Kong Police force, I saw plenty of examples of crazy, beautiful women destroying the lives of men. Some of them were even my friends. And the whole situation left a sour taste in my mouth.
'And while I liked Revy as a student, and a friend. I did not want to be her lover.'
'I was also was there, when Revy decided to finally come out of her shell, for a few months. And sexually experiment some. And with her doing this in Roanapur, it allowed her to jump in the deep end of sexual discovery.'
'The less I think about those events, the saner I feel.'
'Everyone who knows about what Revy did during that time. From Dutch, Benny, Balalaika, Boris, Bao, Rowan, and myself. We all agreed never to speak of those events, ever again.'
'And after a few months of Revy discovering that side of herself, she decided to go back to being celibate. As far as I know. At least until she met Rock.'
'I didn't know all the details. And I still don't want to know all the details. But, I do know that whatever Revy was doing was starting to become self-destructive. And, at the time, Dutch hinted that he staged an intervention, for Revy, and it worked. If that is the case, I am surprised that Dutch and Benny are still breathing. But, I am happy they are. And that Revy listened to them.'
'When I finished training Revy, I was tempted to invite her into the Triad. But, I did not do so for three very important reasons.'
'First, was that she was psychologically damaged. Even I could tell that some trauma in her past left her almost permanently pissed off and angry. The Triad would not tolerate the disrespect she would eventually show her superiors. And one of us would kill her, or try to kill her. Creating a mess for all of us, that would be involved.'
'Since Revy already took jobs from me, through Lagoon Company. And she respected me. If I wanted her to do something, I could already hire her as an independent mercenary. Which I did, on occasion.'
'And Revy was nowhere near the first person, I used as an independent, because while they were very skilled at what they did. These types of people just do not fit well in my organization, as a regular member.'
'With Shenhua being a rare exception.'
'One such example was Sawyer. Anyone could tell, from the scars and the voice box she used to use, that Sawyer had a mess of history. Though, she had her physical problems repair. Still, she was always polite and professional to her customers. And she is one of the best body disposal experts I have ever met.'
'Though, from what I understand, Sawyer never ate meat from the swine processing plant she used as a front organization. I didn't either. Too much long pork in their products.'
'Second, Dutch, and his Lagoon crew, did their jobs very well. And I did not want to wreck such a skilled team.'
'And third, I was not sure if I could control both Shenhua and Revy at the same time. Without brainwashing technology, that I did not have at the time. With Revy working for Lagoon Company, Dutch was the one that kept Revy in line. And I was grateful towards Dutch, for that. And I was able to keep Shenhua in line, without to much difficulty.'
'With Revy trained, things were still wild, but events moved along.'
'With all the players I knew about, in Roanapur. And a few I didn't. I just had to wait for the last player I knew about to show up. Rock. Though, I would have liked a previous warning on the Bloodhound. But, that was an oversight on my part, when I forgot, during the bar fight in Caracas, when the cartel leader called Roberta, the Bloodhound.'
'An oversight that I missed, but Balalaika did not. I am happy that Balalaika was not able to use my mistake there, against me.'
'Still, with everything else set. All I had to do was wait for Rock to show up. In the meantime, I decided that I would play peacemaker, to kill time. And the fact that I realized that the fates would conspire against me, if I try take to take out Balalaika and Hotel Moscow. So, instead of vying to be the godfather of this city, I solidified by credibility as peacemaker of this city.'
'And with Balalaika as my foil, it was never boring, in our own little cold war between our two organizations.'
'That was when I began to realize that Balalaika's and my luck was nothing short, than screwy. Neither of our two groups were able to get the upper hand, until I got reality travel, and by then, I had no interest in killing any of them. When I could simply use them for my own means.'
'Though, at the time, I had not intention of tipping my hand to anyone, as to why I did was I did. Nor, did I ever share with anyone, what my true agenda was, until after I discovered reality travel. With Lotton being my first confident. And Lotton never betrayed my trust.'
'While we were still vying for power in Roanapur, the other family head did not mind this, because, except for Balalaika, the others were afraid of me. Even though they would not openly admit it. And they knew, that I knew, that they knew, they were afraid of me.'
'Though, I did not fully create peace in the city, because much like Balalaika, I realized that peace would be boring, and it would lead to laziness, and making mistakes. And we had so much fun keeping each other on our toes, and stay sharp.'
'Then, around two years after the Lagoon company showed up. That crew finally brought Rock into town. I found out the details of Rock being in town, a few days after they played chicken with that military helicopter, with their PT Boat, and they won.'
'At the time, I didn't fully believe that story. Until, I saw the Black Lagoon series. And I still think that stunt was insane. But, it was cool.'
'But, I was troubled that reports stated that Rock was a man.'
'And while the Black Lagoon series did not show it, the series did omit to the fact that I had met Rock, long before the whole Basilan incident. Though, anyone with a brain, who watched the beginning of the eleventh episode, Lock'n Load Revolution, could tell, that because of how casual Rock was towards me. And that I did not introduce myself to Rock, in that episode. That we had met before. And we knew each other.'
'This is because, I had hired Lagoon company, a week after Chin was finally killed by Balalaika. But, before the Nazi arc. During that time, I had hired Lagoon Company for a few minor jobs, as an excuse to meet with Rock.'
'On the day I met Rock for the first time, I had invited over Rock, Dutch, Benny, and Revy, to my headquarters. And when we met, I introduced myself to Rock.'
'Yet, when I met Rock, though I did not outwardly show it, I was throw for a loop. When it was confirmed with my own eyes, that Rock was a man.'
'But, the male Rock and the female Rock, looked to closely alike each other, that I knew there was a connection between the two of them. And that while my memory of that kidnapping and chase in Hong Kong had dimmed slightly, I could tell that the two Rocks looked liked brother and sister.'
'During our first meeting, when I looked at Rock, I briefly wondered, in thought, if Rock did not have a twin sister. But, I realized that would not be the case, because Dutch told me, at that first meeting, between us, that he gave Rock his nickname. So, Rock was not his real, given name. And Dutch is not the type of person to give two people the same nickname.'
'And I could not ask Rock that question, of did he have a twin sister, without having questions raised by Revy, Dutch, Benny, and Rock, himself, as to why I would ask such a question.'
'And that question would have created a bad first impression between Rock and myself. Which was something I wanted to avoid.'
'I later had my organization do a background check on Rock, and I found that he was not related to anyone that would looked like his female counterpart.'
'And, at the time, I believed the male Rock could not have been the female Rock, because the female Rock was much smaller in body mass, and she has a much smaller bone structures to her physical frame. Those are things that could not be changed with the medical technology of my world, at that time.'
'So, I decided that since I would not going to be able to get any answers to the mystery of the two Rocks, I would just privately table any questions I had for a later date. Because, I knew that my answers would come in the fullness of time.'
'And over time, I found that I came to admire Rock, as a person, and for his mind. I saw much potential in Rock. Much of which Rock has already realized. And to this day, I still see more potential that Rock has yet to tap into.'
'We all then had some more adventures. And after Roberta and Garcia left Roanapur, for a second time, with Fabiola, Akira showed up.'
'When Shenhua mentioned Akira. She did not go into detail about Akira. She only said she had found a promising gunfighter that she, Sawyer, Revy were teaching.'
'And Shenhua stated that Lotton's plan, for Raven Unit, now had merit. That was why, I allowed Lotton to have his little time. And they proof almost as useful as Lagoon Company.'
'I respected Shenhua's privacy, to trust her judgment, and her privacy. And I did not ask her question about Akira. I did not look into Akira's background. And I allowed Lotton's Raven Unit to move forward, in exchange for thirty percent of the profits. And I knew that Lotton would not try to cheat me on the matter.'
'Also, the thought of Shenhua, Revy, and Sawyer, teaching anyone, together, scared me a little. And I did not want to risk digging for information, into the situation, only to upset those three women.'
'And I am glad I trusted Shenhua on these matters. My decisions, at that time, came back to reward me, ten fold.'
'Still, I did not fully understand what was going on, until after the bad girl bikini contest, when, I first laid eyes on Akira, as a woman.'
'After seeing the hot, blond caucasian woman, on the open stage, at that contest, and learning that she was the Akira that Shenhua knew. I wondered about her, out loud. I said that I though Akira look familiar. I did not realize until later, that this Akira was the same Akira from the Gacha Gacha Secret manga.'
'Dutch was beside me, and he heard what I said In response, he warned me that Shenhua was keeping secrets about Akira, for the sake of myself.'
'That only piqued my interest about, Akira.'
'So, I put out some feelers, to find out more about Akira. And I learned that there was also a black hair japanese man, named, Akira, that was with Shenhua, Sawyer, Lotton, and Revy.'
'And ironically, a few weeks after the bikini contest ended, it was Eda that was the most help on this. She sold me information on Akira. That information being that Akira could change genders with a sneeze. Back a forth. From a black hair japanese man, to a caucasian blond bombshell of a woman, and back again to a black haired japanese man. And in selling me this information, which I did pay her for. Given, her information usually pans out. Eda's greed finally caught up with her, later on.'
'That was when I realized I need Eda's claim confirmed, with someone I personally trusted.'
'I finally decided to talk to the one person I could trust, that knew what was really going on, and whom would not lie to me.'
'I privately talked to Shenhua about Akira. While I did not say where I got the information from. Because having Shenhua and Sawyer kill Eda would ruin my professional relationship with Yolanda. Though, I did say that I heard that Akira could change genders with a sneeze. And I wanted Shenhua to confirm, or deny that claim.'
'Though, she had hidden a few things from me. Even with our problems in the past. To this date, Shenhua has not once lied to me, about anything. I respect her for that. And she confirmed that both Akiras were the same person. That Akira did change genders with a sneeze.'
'I remained silent to her claim. I did not really believe her, nor Eda's claims, at the time. I mean unless someone saw that, first hand. Who would believe such a claim? But, I also did not believe that she was lying to me, either. So, I sent her back home, for the day, as I thought about what she said.'
'A few days later, Shenhua and I both met the future versions of Annie and John. After they left my casino, I realized who they were. They were from fictional realities. And they clearly knew us. The way Annie fought Shenhua, showed that Annie had fought her before. Or, in this case, she fought Shenhua, in our future. Meaning, they were from our future.'
'Meeting them confirmed that that my home reality was a work of fiction. And that ours were about to become a lot more interesting. And I was correct on that assessment.'
'Also, this revelation allowed me to suddenly realize where I remembered seeing Akira from. This was when I realized who Akira was. And I realized that it was time to have a personal, private meeting with Akira.'
'Later that night, I had my subordinates bring Akira to meet me later that night. I had some fun with the natto joke, and showing Akira my fictional collection. This allowed me to show Akira that I knew who he was. Then, I got to business. And from our meeting, I had many of my immediate questions answered by Akira. Including, that I learned from Akira, that the title of what my reality fictional series was called, Black Lagoon. And that we were from the anime timeline.'
'And I knew this opened up new possibilities for me. All I had to do was figure how to travel beyond my reality, and into other realities. I knew it was possible. I had just met two reality travelers earlier that evening. And at the time, I was speaking a third one.'
'Though, I knew better than to try to have Akira tell me how he did it. I knew from my genre savviness, that fate would not allow me to take a shortcut, and that if I tried, it would backfire on me.'
'I knew the only way for me to achieve reality travel would be to do it the proper way, and figure it out on my own. Or, in my case, hire some people who could do that job for me. And make sure they were well paid for the job, and not betrayed...'
'Well, not at first. Until, I went off the deep end, on my power trip, and I had them put through the vat process. Turned into women, and brainwashed to be loyal to me. But, that is another story. And I have since regretted my actions, and I have tried to make amends to those I had employed. Including, a number of them that I rehired, when I opened this casino.'
'Though, before I did started research on reality travel. I needed to confirm what Shenhua had claimed about Akira was real. So, so during our meeting, I requested that Akira change genders in front of me. And Akira agreed to do so.'
'While Akira was still clothed, I watched as Akira sneezed in front of me, and changed from a man to a woman. She stayed a woman for around a minute, before sneezing again, and changed into back into a man.'
'I remained silent as Akira did all so. And I looked Akira, in her female form, up and down, as I could hardly believe what I was seeing.'
'And after Akira changed back into a guy, and I let him go.'
'It was after he left that I realized that both Rocks were likely one in the same. That Rock would have his gender bent, sometime in his future. At the time, I did not realize, when, and how. But, those questions were eventually answered, as well.'
'As were the questions about our series, and why the events that happened after our series, occurred. And these questions were answered when we learned about Lee and his stories.'
'And when I learned of the writer, and his series, I knew I would eventually meet him. I knew that I did not need to seek him out. That he would come to me. Because, that is how these things occur. I just had to be patient.'
'And Lee was eventually brought to me, by Rock and River, over that poker game with River, at the casino. And I did eventually figure out that Lee was the writer, and meeting Lee only piqued my interest in him.'
'My only regret, concerning Lee, was I could not help Lee, before he was forced to escape into the multiverse, to flee the maids.'
By then, Chang has found himself standing, to his left side, by the clear, plastic wall, that made up the front part of the large enclosure, where he had his female tiger kept. With the enclosure across from the rear elevator bay of the casino.
Chang turned, and looked at the tiger, in the distance, passed the clear plastic wall, and further into the very green, lush enclosure.
At the moment, Chang saw that the tiger had not yet noticed him. Though, his pet appeared to be healthy as ever, as it was playing with some large plastic toys that were provided for her.
As Chang continued to stare at the tiger. He grinned, as he thought, with slight anticipation, in his emotional state, 'But, now that I have the maestro of this insanity in my sights. And I will not lose him. If the multiverse is a concert theater. I intend to have the best maestro around, for my full orchestra.'
'Now, I just need to see if my subordinates are able to find and capture Lee, before the others get to him. Though, I am not worried. I have hired the best. And Lee arranged for my friends to spend decades at bounty hunters. And we long since learned to excel at that profession.'
The tiger then noticed Chang, as she stopped playing with her toy. She turned towards him, as she looked over at him. And for a brief moment, their eyes met. Then, the tiger looked away from Chang, in a submissive fashion.
Chang continued to look at the tiger, as he went on with his silent reflections, in thought, while feeling amusement, as he wondered, 'So, what did your tiger's eyes see in me, that made you turned away? When you looked in my eyes, and into my soul, what did you glimpse? Did you see the conquering man? The superior woman? The savvy badass? Or, perhaps all three?...'
Chang then turned around, and headed for the back elevator bay, across from the enclosure.
When Chang reached the elevator bay, he used his key on the panel lock to summon the express elevator. Soon, he made it to the penthouse. And from there, his apartment living room.
Chang then sat down on his couch, as he did some more thinking on his life, and the situation he, and his friends, had found themselves in.
(_)
Babylon Five Reality. Location, Mars, Mars Dome One, Edgars Industries Headquarters, Main Tower Building. Time, hours after the highway chase between Lee, Matthew, and Roberta, on William Edgars memorial highway.
The sounds of piano music awoke Lee from his exhaustion, and ill health, induced slumber.
Lee slowly opened his eyes, as he looked around. He realized his sunglasses were off of his face. He also saw that he was lying on his back, on a long couch that allow him to stretch his legs fully. With his left side set by the back of the couch, and his head on a pillow, in front of the armrest.
Lee found himself in a moderately small office break room, with the door to the room, that lead to a hallway, left open. The door was across the room front him. And the only light came though the windows, from the sun, on the windows on the wall, next to him.
Given the reddish-orange color and brightness of the sunlight, Lee thought, 'I guess is it just after dawn.'
Lee leaned up, and he saw that he still had his clothing on. His hearing allowed him to tell that the piano, music, or more precisely, two pianos played together from well beyond the door to a hallway. Lee thought, 'That is an odd musical melody. Yes, it is vaguely familiar. Still, I need to check if I have everything on me.'
Lee quickly checked his person. He checked his pockets and his right wrist, which had had his digital watch, along with his hologram device, strapped on to. Also, he check to make sure his ring necklace was still on him.
Lee found that he had his lighter, and a few other things in his pockets. His watch on his right wrist, which he looked at for the time. And his ring necklace under his shirts, against his chest.
But, Lee realized he was missing items, as he thought, 'I am missing my reality device, my hologram device, and my sunglasses. The last two I can live without. It is the reality device that I need to find, as soon as possible.'
'Also, I need to remember that I am in unfamiliar territory. I may not be in a security cell, nor a medical bed. Which I am happy about. But, that does not mean I am out of danger. So, I need to remain calm, and take this slowly.'
'Besides, I am still a little tired from that chase last night. But, this nap helped.'
'Fortunately, I still got my watch. So, I know what time it is. My watch says that it is ten till eight AM. And though, given Mars' daily rotation is twenty-four hours, thirty-nine minutes, and thirty-five seconds. That is only a few minutes difference, per hour. Now much, if spread out over the course of a single day.'
'But, either way, Rock and Revy's group are still likely asleep. If I am lucky. I likely have little time. Also, this is a better situation than I expected to be in when I woke up. Now, let's see where the noise is coming from?'
Lee got up from the couch. He then walked out of the room. As he entered the hallway, he left the door to the office break room open.
Lee found the music was coming from his left side. He turned and walked down the hallway to his left.
Lee then cautiously walked, as he he followed the music down the hallway.
While he walked the hallways, he heard a man's laughter over the music.
Lee also noticed that all the doors to the rooms in the hallway were closed.
Lee could barely make out the voices over the music and the laughter.
As Lee got closer to the music, he heard a man yell, “Scotch on the rocks. And I mean ice!”
Lee kept walking, as he mentally realized, 'Wait a minute... I know movie quote... I recognize that voice... It is the actor, Bob Hoskins, in one of his best, and funniest, roles, ever... I got to see this...'
Lee quicken his pace in following the music down the hallway. He turned a corner, and he soon came to an open door.
Lee stop just outside the threshold of the open doorway. The door swung inward, to Lee's left side.
When Lee looked passed the doorway, he saw a to a very nice office, with the human man, Michael Garibaldi, sitting behind his nice desk, in his office chair.
Across the room from Lee, Michael Garibaldi had his head turned to his right, as he watched something on the wallscreen monitor to his right, with speakers playing at a slightly louder volume than Lee was comfortable with. And Garibaldi continued laughing at what he was watching.
Lee noticed that Garibaldi was a number of years older than during his time at Babylon Five. And he was bald. Yet, the years had been very kind to him.
Garibaldi wore a brown business suit. Though, he did not have tie in on his suit, and the coat of his suit was buttoned up.
In front of the Garibaldi's desk were two chairs, with cushioning on the seats of the chairs.
The lighting was from soft while, fluorescent lights mounted in ten feet high ceiling in the room.
Behind the desk was a black window, that took up most of the wall, in a rectangular shape, at waist level, going up, all the way to the ceiling.
Lee thought, 'That is likely a privacy window, that can be turned from translucent to black, by running electrical current through it. They have the same type of technology in my reality.'
'Also, Garibaldi looks great for his age. And being bald seems to work for him. Also, he is still in great shape, and he looks like he could live another fifty years, at least. That is good for him. Now, what about me?'
'I need to know where exactly I am in this complex? And where my devices are? So, I can escape. If I am polite, I can probably get what I need from Garibaldi and get out of here, before Rock and the others show up. I am sure they know where I am.'
'That news helicopter followed up all the way to the gate. And I am sure the news story has been repeated a few times. To the point Rock and the other saw it, and put the pieces together. But, they are still trying to figure out how to get to me.'
'Though, now to the matter at hand. I have a seeking suspicious as to why Garibaldi laughing. And at what.'
Lee then turned to his left, to see the wallscreen monitor was playing the movie, Who Framed Roger Rabbit. The scene it was playing was early in the film, about a minute before the duck versus duck piano scene was going to conclude.
Seeing Garibaldi watch that film, in the situation that Lee was personally in, hit Lee like a mental ton of bricks.
Lee thought, with disbelief, 'I knew what movie was playing, before I walk into the room. But, being in this entire situation is too much for me. I have finally gone totally bonkers. I do not see how this situation could get any crazier. And with an imagination like mine, that is saying something. Here we have Michael Garibaldi watching the live action, cartoon hybrid movie, Who Framed Roger Rabbit. Given he is a Looney Tunes fan, this is completely in character for him to do.'
'For me, this scene is beyond surreal. I am in a fictional reality, being chased by people from other fictional realities, watching a fictional man, from this reality, viewing a fictional movie about another man dealing with fictional cartoon characters in his reality.'
'The mind screwing is strong with this one.'
'It is official. I have passed the other side of the Twilight Zone. I have gone way beyond the Outer Limits. I have arrived where madness reigns, and sanity does not exist. This is impossibly insane. In this situation, if I completely cracked up, no one would hold it against me... Hell, most of those around me would likely not even notice... Still, I am stronger than that. I will just have to push forward, and pray there is sanity on the other side of this mess. Or, at least a pleasant type of crazy I can live with.'
A few seconds later, Lee and Garibaldi watched the wallscreen as one of the ducks on screen literally blew the other duck's piano away with a cannon.
Lee thought, 'Now is good time to get his attention.' He then used his left hand to lightly knocked on the open door. He then dropped his left hand back to his side.
Garibaldi stopped laughing, as he looked up at Lee, with a smile still on his lips.
Garibaldi continued grinning, as he calmly said, “Well, if it is not the man of the hour. Good morning, Mister Gray.”
Lee calmly requested, “Good morning, Mister Garibaldi. Do you mind if I come in, and sit down.”
Garibaldi replied, “Sure.”
Just as Garibaldi reached for his remote on his desk, Lee said, as he walked toward the man's desk, “Don't stop the movie on my account.”
Instead of stopping the movie, Garibaldi picked up his remote, and just muted the sound. Though, he let it continue playing on the wallscreen. He then set his remote back on his desk.
Garibaldi turned to Lee, as he asked, “So, you have seen the movie, as well?”
Lee sat down in the office chair to his right, with the view from the chair allowing him to directly see Garibaldi, and from the corner of his left eye, the movie playing the screen.
Lee focused on Garibaldi, as he calmly answered, “Of course. It is a very funny movie. With a good plot, interesting characters, and wonderful action scenes. I remember going to see it in the theater, as a child, when the film first came out.”
Garibaldi casually inquired, “So, you are a time traveler?”
Lee coyly admitted, “Yes. In a roundabout way.”
Garibaldi asked, “And you know about me?”
Lee plainly stated, “Of course, I know about you. And so do those that are after me. That is why that that woman that was after me, just outside, did not chase me into this compound. Even she knows how dangerous you are. Because, you are not just the most powerful man on this planet. Even given your advanced years, you are likely the greatest badass on the planet.”
Garibaldi grinned, as he replied, “Well, thank you for the vote of confidence. Might I ask why you think I deserve it?”
Lee answered, “Well, I admire and respect you for a number of reasons. Such as, when most people become as powerful as you are, they try to hide their vices. On the other hand, you are complete open about your vices. And yours are wonderful vices to have. By the way, I loved my time at that convention last night. I wished I could have stayed longer.”
He mentally reflected, 'I think it is best that I do not mention to you that I had a brief run in with your daughter.'
Garibaldi said, “Thank you. And I will try to be as honest as I can. I expect you to do the same.”
Lee complimented, “That is a good policy to have. Normally, I try to do the same. But, the situation I have been in has prevented me from doing so. And since you helped me, I will be completely honest with you. First, this is not how I planned to meet with you, Mister Garibaldi.”
Garibaldi's curled into a mischievous grin, as he responded, “Oh, but it is such fun to have the introduction done this way. Having the visitor wake up, where he does not expect to be, is a classic.”
Lee thought, 'While I don't think he is senile. I see that old age has made him more mischievous. But, in a good natured sort of way. So, I should be fine, on that matter. Though, he set this meeting up from that start. With him planning for me to wake up, and follow the sounds to his office. That is why the volume was slightly high than normal. Not bad. And at least he still has his sense of humor. I can work with him.'
Lee conceded, “That is true.”
Garibaldi inquired, “So, how should I address you? I doubt that Ello Gray is your real name. Matthew mentioned it was an alias. But, he was in too much of a hurry to give me any details.”
Lee casually answered, “Lee, is fine, Mister Garibaldi. By the way, how is Mister McCormick?”
Garibaldi continued smiling, as he commented, “You made quite the impression on him. I have never seen a man want to get off planet so quickly. And I known quite a few whom have felt that way. He said. And I quote. Either give me vacation time right now, or I immediately resign. But, either way, I am getting off of this red rock, right now.”
Lee lightly chuckled at Garibaldi's comment, for a few seconds.
As Lee calmed down, he questioned, “So, what did you do?”
Garibaldi answered, “Since I did not want to lose him, I gave him vacation time. Also, you saved his life, so that counts for something.”
Lee responded, “Thank you. I am glad he is okay, and he getting out of here. Also, when I woke up, I did expected to be either in a medical bed, with IV tubes hooked to me. Or, in a security cell.”
Garibaldi pointed out, “And why would I do that? The docs here say there is nothing they can do to save your life. Your cancer it too far advanced. You only have a month, or so, to live. And from what I can found, you did everything in your power to save the lives of those people at the police station. By the way, Mister Dresden survived, and he is going to be okay. But, he does not remember anything of what happened.”
Lee replied, “That is good to hear. I didn't want my problems to haunt him for the rest of his life.”
Garibaldi smile turned a bit more warm, as he responded, “I am glad you feel that way. And I have to say, your original escape plan from the police station was nothing sort of pure genius. I have never seen an escape attempt that started with a confession, by deep telepathic scan, as a way to get out of a police station. And it would have likely worked if those officers were not so dense.”
Lee inquired, “You have a recording of that conversation?”
Garibaldi grinned, as he answered, “Of course. Who do you think they signed the contract to Mars Gov, when they wanted to update their security system? Having the former security chief of Babylon Five, and the current CEO over one of the largest companies on the planet, oversee the job was just good PR for all of us. And I gave them a fair price, for the contract, at that. And I make sure that the job was done right the first time.'
Lee complimented, “Those are all good points. And that is how one should conduct business.”
Garibaldi replied, “Thank you. After I got finished with Matthew, I spent half an hour watching the security footage of you interrogation, the videos of the garage, and the outside cameras, as well. Which we will get to in a minute. But, back to your conversation with the police, and the cellphone call during that time.”
“You offered that woman on the phone everything, including your own head, to buy time, to get out of there. So, you could keep those in the building out of the line of fire.”
“You're, escape plan by confession, might have worked with me. Or, at the very least, I would have raised the alarm, for those at the station.”
Lee commented, in a halfhearted manner, “There is no accounting for stupidity.”
Garibaldi nodded, as he agreed, “You are preaching to the choir.”
Lee thought, 'I need to know where I am in this headquarters. And what he knows about my situation. Though, with this being the CEO's office, I doubt we are on the ground floor of a side building.'
Lee asked, “Two questions first. I guess this is your office. And we are high up on the main building, in the center of this headquarters?”
Garibaldi flatly answered, “Yes. You are safe for the moment.”
Lee countered, “After last night, I have come to realize that there is nowhere safe for me.”
Garibaldi said, in sympathetic tone of voice, “I know the feeling. I have had those moments, myself.”
Lee calmly inquired, “I have no doubt about that... Before we get to more questions. I need to know. Where are my devices?”
Garibaldi answered, “That remote thing is being studied in a lab near us. A few floors down. By a technician I trust. And the hologram device...”
Garibaldi held up his left wrist. He used his right hand to pulled down his left sleeve, to showed both his digital watch, and the hologram device beside each other, with his watch closer to his hand. After which, he lowered his left hand, as he used his right hand to pull his sleeve back down his arm.
Garibaldi continued, “Well, I am keeping this hologram device.”
Lee shrugged, as he casually said, “If having it helps convince you to help me, you can have it.”
Garibaldi smiled, as he replied, “Thanks. This is it like something from the original Total Recall movie. We have hologram devices here, but I have never seen one that functions like this.”
Lee commented, “That is because that device is from the original Total Recall reality.”
Garibaldi commented, “So, he was right.”
Lee requested, “Could you please back up to who you are talking about? And start from the beginning... Like, who is this, he, in question?”
Garibaldi said, “I might as well too you. You seem to appreciate the situation you are in.”
Lee complimented, “I know. And you are one of the few people on this planet that could appreciate the finer point of the situation I am in.”
Garibaldi chuckled, for a few seconds. He then said, “Thank you. And another person that would appreciate your situation would be the one that contacted me, last night.”
“One of my accountants, whom I personally know, last night, called me on my emergency line. He was using his vacation time to go to the sci-fi convention my company was sponsoring. He was the dealer you met. By the way, he want me to thank you for helping him get that big sell from those girls.”
Lee replied, “If you have the chance to see him again. Tell him, you're welcome, for me.”
Garibaldi responded, “I will. Anyway, he said, no joke, that the maids from the Black Lagoon reality were after you. Yes. I have seen a lot of old anime, and read a lot of old manga, as well. That is one of the better, classic series. Even though the series is a bit dated, it is petty good. Even the TV series is pretty good.”
“Yet, when I was talking to my friend, I realized he was serious. Because he has never been humorous with me. He has only been a professional. For as long as I have known him. To that end, he stated that he had personally met the maids two hours after you talked to him.”
Lee asked, with concern in his voice, “Is he alright?”
Garibaldi thought, 'Good. He is concerned about the welfare of others. Which confirms that his actions at the police station were likely genuine. That means he might be a decent person.'
Garibaldi answered, “Yes. They didn't do anything to him. And I honestly thought he had gone over the edge until reports started coming in, concerning that first car chase. I regret not looking at the convention security video feeds sooner. Still, I didn't get any video from the first chase. So, I have a question. Was it true that you actually were able to lose three hover-vehicles.”
Lee stated, “Actually, they are space-fighters. And I didn't lose them, so much as lucked out, that once they realized where I was going, they regrouped with the other people after me.”
Garibaldi thought, 'And I bet your plan on that chase was to count on that.' He responded, “Interesting. And that leads me to the battle at that industrial complex. You are aware that is my factory you lead that army into.”
Lee did not show it on the outside, but he thought, with worry, 'Ah oh. That also means he has the camera footage from the factory, as well. I best to fess up on the situation, so I don't dig myself into a deeper hole. Of course, I am in so deep that is might be quicker to get out by digging, than trying to climb out of the hole I have dug myself into.'
Lee quickly said, “Okay. I probably did fifty credits worth of damage to a computer mouse and keyboard. Another five hundred credits to repair a garbage chute at the roof. About four hundred in pipe repairs. And with another thousand in minor patch work, and door replacements in the building. So, round up to two thousand credits in all. Not counting the electricity bill.” Lee continued, in as slightly worried tone of voice, “I hope you are not going to bill me for all use of electicity. Because, I don't have the money for all that. I can come up with the rest, in likely a week. If left alone. But, that one, you are on your own.”
Garibaldi was quiet for a few seconds, as he thought with, amusement, 'Not many people keep a running tally of the damages they do. It does show he has a sense of responsibility.'
Garibaldi then grinned, as he responded, “Don't worry about it. Given the people that seem to be after you, I am surprised you kept the damages down to being so minor.”
Lee replied, “Thank you.”
Garibaldi said, “You're welcome. Still, neither I, nor my security officers, and technicians, can make heads or tails out of what happened, given, after your rescue, those hunting you literally disappeared before the police arrived on the scene.”
Lee stated, “This is because that is exactly they did.”
Garibaldi inquired, “Alien teleportation technology? I know there is some out there. In my lifetime, I have seen some examples of such technology. But, such technology is rare, expensive, very risky, and very dangerous to use. This includes both the use of such devices, and the politics surrounding such devices. Which why my company has nothing to with it.”
Lee stated, “No. This is not alien technology. But, good guess. Given your limited knowledge the situation.”
Garibaldi thought, with amusement, 'Which is quickly being solved.' He said, “Anyway, by the time you were rescued by the police, you had caught my full interest. And with you being at that police station, I saw an opportunity to bring you to me. I sent Matthew, with twelve rangers to come get you out of that police station and to escort you to see me. I am proud that Matthew succeeded. Still, I had no idea these maids were that tough.”
Lee commented, “No one usually does, until they meet them in person. Then, it is usually too late.”
Garibaldi continued his story, as he stated, “I guess that would be the case. I saw the video of their fight with the rangers, in the parking lot, across the street from the police station. With their gloved hands, they took down my rangers with ease. The rangers are lucky to be alive.”
Lee asked, “Well they recover?”
Garibaldi answered, “Physically, yes. There pride is another matter. And it was very clear those two women were on the warpath. Along with those at the factory. Given the massacre found in the aftermath of the attack at the police station. I do not need a video to confirm that purple haired woman cut through the police personal like a hot knife through butter, in an attempt to get to you. And the video from the garage. How did you know to buy time until for the police to arrive?”
Lee honestly admitted, “I didn't. I was working a different angle.”
Garibaldi asked, “And that would be?”
Lee thought, 'I might as well tell him.' He said, “I was going to distract her, to the point I drop my grenade. She runs one way for cover, we head the other way, for cover, while making a break for Matthew's car.”
Garibaldi responded, “Oh. That might have worked. Still, where did you get that grenade? And how did you get that grenade passed the security sensors at the police station?”
Lee thought, 'He clearly has not seen all the videos. He missed a few things. This is good for me.'
Lee stated, “I got the grenade off of one of those after me. The grenade is not of this reality. That is why it did not trip the sensors at the police station. And the telepath that scanned my mind, quickly realized I was going to need that grenade. That is why he did not say a word about it.”
Garibaldi conceded, “That makes sense. And you did need that grenade.”
Lee responded, “I know. And if Matthew did not have that Ranger staff on him. Along with his cellphone. With him leading us here. I would already been captured by them.”
Garibaldi thought, 'He is willing to give credit, where credit is due. Good.'
Garibaldi agreed, “Very true. And that is why. Along with to video showing maids that fit the general description of Roberta and Fabiola. I am going to give you the benefit of the doubt. By the way, that chase with the Bloodhound was one of the most insane things I have ever seen.”
Lee thought, 'It is nice you are giving me that benefit of the doubt. That makes you better than most people I have known in my life.' He said, “Yes. I guess it was. And I would please like a copy of that chase, to watch sometime.”
Garibaldi stated, “I may arrange that. But first, you are going to tell me how you know about the phrase, ah hell, means, continuous fire, in Minbari?”
Lee said, in a reassuring tone of voice, “Do not worry. I will tell you everything. And we will get to that.”
Garibaldi smiled, as he responded, “Good. Because Lee, I am starting to believe the maids from Black Lagoon are really here, inside the dome. And they are after you. Among others. And they seem stronger than ever.”
Lee commented, “That is because they are stronger. All of them are stronger than they were, before.”
Garibaldi stated, in tone of voice, far to calm for the situation at hand, “Well then... They would be the least of your worries, if you were not lucky enough that I pulled several strings to keep the police and press off your back... For now...”
Lee thought, 'That was a veiled threat. To let me know the power he currently has over me. Still...' He sincerely replied, “Thank you for doing so.”
Garibaldi calmly responded, “You're welcome. Now, can you sum up in one word, who, where, and how your problems started, in the first place?”
Lee was silent for a few seconds, while he in thought, as he looked at Garibaldi. He then looked over at the muted movie playing on the wallscreen monitor.
A second later, an idea instantly occurred to Lee, as he calmly turned back to face Garibaldi. Lee smirked, as he calmly said, “Yea... I actually can...” Lee then flatly deadpanned, “Toons.”
To be continued.
Badasses Of the Multiverse Book 5: “The Gambling Man.”
Volume 2: “Total Badass.”
Chapter 08: “The Siege Shuffle.”
By Paul Cousins.
Copyright Disclaimer: All copyrighted places, characters, items, and events, within the story, are held by their current owners. No profit is being made on this work of fiction.
(_)
Reality, Babylon Five Reality. Date, January Twenty-Ninth, Twenty-Two Eighty-One. Location, planet Mars. City, Mars Dome One, capital of Mars. Edgars Industries Headquarters. Main tower building. On one of the higher floors. Inside the office of E.I. CEO Michael Garibaldi. Time, after sunrise, nine ten PM, local time.
Michael Garibaldi sat in his cushioned chair, behind his desk, as he talked to his guest. The mysterious, reality traveler, Lee.
Garibaldi was in his brown suit. Lee was in his black suit.
Lee was sitting in the chair in front of Garibaldi’s desk, to Garibaldi’s left, with the other chair beside Lee's chair, to Garibaldi’s right, being left empty.
Barring one restroom break. The two men had been talking to each other, for a while. And while Lee did not give all the details of the situation. He have Garibaldi the basics. Including, the names of the individuals that after after him.
During the conversation, Garibaldi used his remote to stop the movie, on the wallscreen monitor to his right, so he could pay for closer attention what Lee was telling him.
As Garibaldi set his remote back on his desk, the screen had defaulted to screensaver setting, showing the 'EI' logo of Edgars Industries.
This action did not go unnoticed by Lee. And Lee continued with his explanations, while carefully answering Garibaldi's questions. Though, Lee subtly avoided answering a few questions.
Lee was presently answering the most recent of Garibaldi questions, “Yes. I believe that Fabiola was using her forty by forty-six millimeter China Lake grenade launcher. And it packed a punch.”
Garibaldi inquired, “What about the weapons the others were using? While the videos were detailed. Due to lighting, angles, and distance from the cameras, I could not get a good look at most of the weapons those after you, were using.”
Lee said, “The best I can figure most of them are usual their who hardware, and equipment. Except for those from alternate futures, to my own time.”
Lee then check his watch, he thought, 'My watch said it is eight fifty-eight. Though, I know my watch is slow, when compared to Mars local time. Still, I have been speaking to Garibaldi for over an hour. And while I said I would answer his questions. I only did so to a degree. I left out why they are after me. Specifically, my stories. Though, I have told Garibaldi other things about my situation, in detail. But, time is starting to run short. The women, and their friends, will eventually get here. I need to get the reality device and get out of here.'
Garibaldi commented, “It is no surprise that some of them would be using older hardware.”
Lee pointed out, “But, that hardware is still deadly to this day. Some guns, that are a century old in design, are still effectively used on the battlefield, in my time.”
Garibaldi replied, “True.” He thought, 'And I think I have all the questions I need from Lee, for right now. While he is clearly being cagey about some matters. He is being straightforward with the questions I have concerning for the here and not. But, I do not want him to believe that I fully believe him explanations, just yet.'
Then, Garibaldi change of tone, in his voice caught Lee's attention, as the older gentleman stated, with slight disbelief in his tone of voice, “So, let me get this straight. You are being chased by badass fictional characters from other realities. You, yourself, are from other reality. A reality where I, and this reality, are from a fictional series known as Babylon Five. And watching that series is where you learned the, 'ah hell', Minbari phrase from?”
Lee answered, “Yes.”
Garibaldi thought, 'Now, to ask some questions, dealing with myself, and those I care for.'
Garibaldi commented, “I will give you leeway on the fictional characters being here. The video, and audio, recordings back you up on that. But, I find it hard to believe this is a fictional reality. Can you prove your claim?”
Garibaldi mentally lamented, 'I have to ask this question, for my very sanity.'
Lee responded, “Yes. With a simple question. Did your wife let you keep your large Daffy Duck picture, of him screaming in frustration, above the headboard of your bed, like you had it in your quarters on B Five?”
Garibaldi thought, with a mix of concern, worry, and wonder, 'Oh boy. It is all true. Only a very, very close friend would know that. Or, someone from another reality. And I trust my friends completely. As such, I feel the reality angle is possible.'
Garibaldi cracked a grin, as he said, “Now, I believe you. And yes. She is a fan of the classics, as well. That is part of how we first met.”
Lee returned Garibaldi smile, as he guessed, in a playful tone of voice, “So, you shared your second more favorite thing to do in the universe with her, that allowed you to move on to doing you favorite thing in the universe with her?”
Garibaldi thought, with mild concern and amusement, 'Oh... This guy knows a thing, or two, about me. He also likely knows a lot about those after him, as well. No wonder he is able to stay one step ahead of those after him.' He said, “You do know me well.”
Lee joked, “Well, you are not the only one that doesn't like to deal with their personal life, due to it being too much trouble.”
Garibaldi chuckled for a few seconds. He then said, “I will also give you that one... I will have to see my series sometime.”
Lee thought, 'So, he is already planning figuring out, and then doing some, reality traveling of his own. I cannot fault him for wanting to do so. Though, I can warn him, on a few things about watching one's own series.' He cautioned, “While I understand, that can be an interesting experience. Be careful. A lot of the bad stuff that happened to you, and those you care for, are shown in that series.”
Garibaldi thought, 'I bet.' He responded, “I will keep in mind. By the way, did some of the episodes, on the data crystals, have a secondary audio channel on them. With the creators and cast commentaries?”
Lee said, “Yes. Some of the episodes do. But, some of the episodes. Not all of them. But, you will get a good chuckle from the commentaries. Though, we do not have data crystals were we are from. We have them on various video discs.”
“Also, buy a few extra copies, and do so right after the initial disc releases. The manufacturers whom made the discs did not do that great a job on the discs, and they start to degrade over time.”
Garibaldi grinned, as he stated, “Thanks for letting me know. And I hope the commentaries are enjoyable to listen too...”
“Now, moving forward. From what you told me, most of those after you are characters from the Black Lagoon reality. Along with the Cowboy Bebop and Firefly realities. Along with the Knight Sabers, of the Bubblegum Crisis OVA reality, plus for others with them, in hardsuits of their own, you have no been so forthcoming in talking about.”
“And not going into the gender bending aspect of the lunacy. These badasses have also had biological, and in one case, cybernetic upgrades. What lunatic would give them such enhancements? Even I know they are violent, borderline sociopathic manics!...”
Lee placed the open palm of his right hand on the front of his forehead, as he admitted, in an embarrassed tone of voice, “It seemed like a good idea at the time.”
Garibaldi flatly accused, “Well then, you're an idiot.”
Lee dropped his right hand to his side, as he looked over at Garibaldi. He casually commented, “That goes without saying. Hey, you wanted answers, and an invitation to this party. You got it. I freely admit that this is all on my head. I am just trying to stay one step ahead up them, in the hopes of losing them.”
Garibaldi pointed out, “While you might lose the others. Even I know you will never lose the Bloodhound. From the way she sounded on the phone. Which I have a recording of, as well. It is a company phone, after all. She will likely track you for eternity for what you did to her master. And I don't blame her for that. That is if your cancer doesn't kill you first.”
Lee said, “Don't worry. I have plans on appeasing the maids. But first, I have to cure my cancer. Which I think I know how to do.”
Garibaldi responded, “Good luck with that.”
Lee replied, “Thank you.”
Garibaldi said, “I am sure you have noticed that I have not asked you how you got into this mess. And why those women are dead set on capturing you.” Garibaldi thought, 'And when I subtly tried to ask you about those matters, you sidestepped and avoided those issues.' He verbally continued, “That is because my gut tells me that learning such things might risk my very sanity.” He mentally reflected, 'Though, it would not be the first time my sanity has taken a hit.' He went onto say, “And I also have a feeling that is why you left out that part of your story, as well.”
Lee thought, 'Actually, you have been subtly inquiring on those issues a few times. And I have been carefully steering our conversations away from those matters, when you did.' He complimented, “Your gut is very wise. So, let us table those questions as a, maybe later.”
Garibaldi agreed, “Okay.” He thought, 'You are not going anywhere, without my say so. As such, I can always find out this questions, later.'
Lee thought, 'Now, for me to ask the more important question of the hour.' He calmly asked, “So, are you going to turn me over to them?”
Garibaldi though, 'I admit that it is tempting. But, no.'
Garibaldi flatly said, “No. While I don't blame them for being pissed off at you. You have not lied to me once, since you got here. All are your actions reflect someone trying to safe his own ass, while minimizing harm to others. At your core, you clearly have a sense of responsibility and honesty. And those are the only reasons you are still here, and not with them, right now.”
Garibaldi thought, 'I have concerns of where you should end up, Lee. Because, I am fairly sure, if something happens to you on my watch, those after you, will come after me. And if you stay in this reality, with what I suspect you know about me. That could be a very bad situation for everyone involved.'
Lee began, “You are correct...”
Garibaldi interrupted, in a firm tone of voice, “I am not finished... Likely, the only reason you don't turn yourself over to them, is that you don't want to dying screaming, from a long painful death. Which, I don't think you deserve...”
“And oh... Don't get me wrong. I think those after you should have their pound of flesh from your hide. They just do not need your entire hide. Also, I know better than to try to contact them. They are not the type of people to negotiate.”
Lee just nodded in a confirmation, as he conceded in thought, 'Well, a few of them. But, the majority likely are not up to negotiating for my surrender. Especially, after some of the stunts I pulled, in my escapes from them, last night.'
Garibaldi continued, “That is what I thought. And while I do not know how you did it. I am not sure I want to know how you did it. We both agree that it might harm my sanity if I did. And given what you clearly know about them. Likely before you ever met them. I would guess that the actions you did to piss off those after you, big time, were done so, unknowingly, by you. And you are trying to make the best of this epically, bad situation, you find yourself in.”
Lee agreed, in a kind tone of voice, “Exactly. And thank you.”
Garibaldi cracked a smile, as he flatly responded, “Oh, don't thank me, just yet. I have other questions for you. I have some friends missing, and I was wondering if you know anything about their disappearances.”
Lee has a sneaking suspicion he knew what Garibaldi was talking about.
Garibaldi punched a few keyboard buttons on his desk computer and the wallscreen, to Lee's right, that had been showing the movie. The viewscreen suddenly showed pictures of Susan Ivanova, Zack Allan, and Marcus Cole.
Lee turned to his left. He looked at their pictures. And he both immediately recognized, and he was surprised at whom he saw. He turned to Garibaldi, as he asked, “They're gone?”
Garibaldi calmly said, “So, you know of them.”
Lee had the decency to turn his head, and looked away from Garibaldi, as he quietly cursed, “Damn...” He then looked back over at Garibaldi.
Garibaldi stated, “Well, I guess that helps lend credence to you claim of the Babylon Five series. While most everyone knows who Zack and Ivanova are, I am guessing you know who Marcus Cole is.”
Lee answered, “Yes. Marcus Cole was a badass Ranger, whom fell in love with Ivanova. Unfortunately, Ivanova was seriously injured, in battle, and Marcus used his alien device, on Babylon Five. The alien device was originally used as corporal punishment, by draining the lifeforce of one person to another. Marcus used his own lifeforce to safe Ivanova. But, it put Marcus into a death like state. Fortunately, Marcus was put on ice before he could actually die.”
“The alien device itself was found by an older, human woman, a Doctor Laura Rosen, whom brought the alien device to Babylon Five, to help people. Eventually, it wound up in the hands of the Doctor Franklin's medical staff. Whom did not use it. Barring one exception. When it was used once to safe your own life. And that is where Marcus stole it from, so he could use it on Ivanova.”
Garibaldi complimented, “Not bad.” He thought, 'He knows his stuff. But, all that information can be found in this reality. If one has enough credits. Now, to find out what else he really knows.' He requested, “Okay. Now, what else can tell that likely most people would not know?”
Lee calmly said, “Marcus Cole was a virgin, when he made his sacrifice to save Ivanova. Which likely makes him one of the oldest, male virgin, self-sacrifices, in the known multiverse.”
Garibaldi could not help but chuckle a little at Lee's commented. He then smiled, as he said, “You are correct. Ivanova once mentioned that to me. What else do you know?”
Lee deadpanned, “Enough to embarrass half this galaxy, and blackmail the other half.”
Garibaldi continued smiling, as he replied, “I bet.” He thought, 'His answers do confirm my concerns. I need to make sure, that what ever happens, Lee, here, leaves this reality. If the wrong person, of this reality, gets their hands on him. The knowledge they could gain from him could cause an interstellar war. Though, I still need to find out what happened to my friends.'
Garibaldi dropped his smile, while he tone of voice became serious, as he said, “Still, back to my friends that have disappeared. They disappeared a few days ago. I have kept their disappearances out of the news for as long as I could. To give my own personnel time to searched for them. Though, they turned up nothing.”
“But, the story finally broke several hours ago, about Ivanova and Zack's disappearances. Though, given what happened tonight with you, I think you might have a clue about what happened to them?”
Lee looked at Garibaldi, as he calmly inquired, “I am more than willing to help. But, I need more detailed information?”
Garibaldi answered, “No problem. We do have some basic descriptions on the suspects. After reviewing video recording. There was an unidentified woman, on Babylon Five, near where Zack's quarters were hours before he disappeared. The suspect is a slender, young, human, asian woman, with long, black hair.
“Also, a redheaded asian woman with her hair in a ponytail, and a petite, caucasian woman with short black hair. Both human. Where shown on video, to have had one hell of a fist fight with Ivanova, in Ivanova's office, at Earth Gov, on Earth.”
“My friend did not go down easily. But, they eventually beat her, and the three of them literally disappeared with her, before security could show up. That is why I am helping them handle this case. I have experience with the weird things.”
Lee thought, 'That is an understatement. I have enough details to draw a picture, and know where this is heading.'
Lee inquired, “And there were reports of a pink robot where Marcus was being store, on ice, in that cyro-tube?” He mentally added, 'Chang would not risk sending Roberta on such a delicate mission. On the other hand, Arcee can be surprisingly delicate and stealthy.'
Garibaldi accused, in a tone of voice that was to calm for the situation, “Yes, a large, pink robot was spotted in that cryo facility, on Minbar. So, you are connected to this robot?”
Lee thought, with a mix of anger and sadness, more towards himself, than anyone else, 'That is a yes. Damn it! The Hell Sabers are here. And this reality has become an alternate universe, because they were some of the ones that were part of the Babylon Five decommissioning ceremony.'
Lee mentally reflected, with a little bit of hope, 'Though, with them gone. That might be a sign that in this reality, the Babylon Five station will not be destroyed. But, that is a matter for another time.'
Lee then realized something that Garibaldi did not mentioned, as he thought, with concern, and worry, 'Garibaldi did not account for Roberta. Where is she? Though, I will have to work in that question, into our conversation. For right now, I might as well admit my involvement. While keeping my part, and what is going to happen to your friend, vague. Very vague. So, you don't kill me on the spot for what I have inadvertently done to your friends.'
Lee admitted, “Yes. I am. But, in a way you might find hard to believe.”
Garibaldi thought, 'After what we have discussed, so far. That is saying something.' He questioned, “I am not going to like answer? Am I?”
Lee responded, “No. Still, I have an important question for you. Did your security team, here, at any time, in the last few days, see a woman, with long purple hair, that wore sunglasses? Or, she showed she had a right cybernetic eye, left cybernetic arm, or right cybernetic leg? With her hair style being in a similar style as the way Roberta has her hair?” He thought, 'Because they are the person, from to different points in their timeline.'
Garibaldi stated, “Now that you mention it. Yes. Our security noted seeing a woman like that a day ago. She was on a blue and black motorcycle, and she drove the entire bypass around this headquarters. She then disappeared. She had on a helmet, but her long purple hair was in a ponytail, coming out from under the back of her helmet.”
Lee thought, 'Blue and black motorcycle. That is her motoslave. Oh crap. There are two Robertas on this planet at the moment. And one is after me. And the other is after you, Garibaldi. That is bad. And if they already captured those three, it makes since that they would be after you. You are one of the biggest badasses in this galaxy. And this is just after the end of the Babylon Five series... Well, right before they blew up the Babylon Five Station... But close enough... And Chang also did like to wait, when he could. Barring a few exceptions... Like Annie.'
'Though, Doctor Franklin would likely be fine. He is more a pacific than a badass. And Chang didn't go after aliens, for obvious reasons. Except for a couple of exceptions. Like Vash. Whom is a humanoid plant. But, a wonderful person. With Chang likely wanting to capture Vash, to study Vash's destructive angel arm weapons.'
'And Chang would not dare go after John. Because, the would risk alerting the first ones, beyond the rim, to Chang's existence. So, that means that Garibaldi here is likely the last target.' He sarcastically added, in thought, 'Luckily him... I better keep this simple and just tell him the basics.'
Lee stated, “Long story short. A group of humans from another reality are kidnapping the most badass humans in the multiverse, and I believe that you are their next target.”
Garibaldi thought, 'At least my family is not here. Now, for damage control.' He said, “Okay. Should I be worried for my family?”
Lee commented, “As long as they are not in this headquarters, they should be fine.” He thought, 'I hope you daughter is still at that convention, where she is safe. And I hope your wife is not here, either.'
Garibaldi responded, “Good. Neither of them are here.”
Lee thought, with relief, 'That is good to hear.'
Garibaldi tone of voice became more serious, as he continued, “And after confirming your connection to my friends disappearing. I changed my mind. I will get that back story from you, later.”
Lee commented, “And I will be more than willing to tell you. Though, we should agree. With both our asses currently on the line. This is not a good time to do so.”
Garibaldi stated, “Yes. I agree. But, I need to know what I am facing? Like you told me, what you are facing. You have only vaguely hinted at what I am also facing. But, I need to know. Worst case scenario? What can both our enemies bring to bear against us?”
Lee thought, 'While I best not give you too many details right now. I can still give you an idea of what was are facing.'
Lee answered, “First, we are facing two groups. One group after me. Another group, after you. They are connected in a temporal manner. And not to sound like a Vorlon. But, given the resources of who is after me, and the resources of who is after you, it is a shorter list of what we are not facing.”
Garibaldi questioned, “That bad?”
Lee said, in a straightforward manner, “Yes. The situation is about as bad as the Vorlons and the Shadows knocking on your door, at the same time.”
Garibaldi replied, with worry in his tone of voice, “That is bad.”
Lee agreed, “Yes. That bad. The good news is that I have a way of escaping this mess. And since you are caught in it, you need to come with me.”
Garibaldi questioned, in a serious tone of voice, “Before I decide to go with you. I need to know. Do you have the means to return me here, from wherever you are planning to take me too?”
Lee answered, “Yes. In an instant. With luck, those here will never even know you are gone.”
Garibaldi said, “Okay. I guess I will be coming with you, then. At least, until this mess blows over...” He then realized something, as he inquired, “Will it blow over?”
Lee stated, “For you, yes. Those after you are from the past, compared to those after me.”
Garibaldi asked, “Good. And after we are safe, you will tell me?”
Lee pointed out, “We may never be safe. Or, more aptly, I may never be safe, again. But, I will tell you what is going on, after I get our asses out of this specific fire.”
Garibaldi shrugged, as he casually replied, “Story of my life.”
Lee thought, 'And what a story that is.'
Garibaldi commented, “Though, I am starting to wonder if you are embellishing some. I am a very well connected, and powerful man.”
Garibaldi thought, 'The only reasons that I am considering coming with you. Is I am not sure how I can counter their their tactics. They kidnapped Ivonava, in the heart of Earthdome, and got away clean. That is no easy feat. I am not sure I could pull that stunt off.'
'Marcus was kidnapped from a secure cyro-facility on Minibar. Pull something over on a Minibari is almost as hard as tricking a Volrlon.'
'Zack was kidnapped in Babylon Five. I taught Zack everything he knew about security. And I personally designed the security systems and protocols currently used on Babylon Five.'
'This all leads me to believe that security measures I have here, are not adequate to protect myself from whomever is coming after me.'
Garibaldi then focused on Lee, as he thought, 'But, before I go anywhere with you, Lee. I also want to see if you truly realize the resources I can bring to bear here. There is nothing wrong with checking to make sure that the person one is trusting one's life to, is doing so with an informed decision.'
Lee said, “That I have no doubt about. That is why we are talking, instead of me running. Still, I do have an idea of how powerful a person you are.”
Garibaldi grinned, as he said, in a confident tone of voice, “You cannot imagine how powerful a person I am.”
Lee retorted, “Actually, I can imagine a lot. Which is literally why I am in this situation, in the first place.”
Garibaldi asked, “What could you have come up with to get you into this mess?”
Lee stated, “It is involves metaphysics. And as you have already guessed. The short answer is I messed with the lives of the wrong kind of people. Those after me. And they want vengeance against me.”
Garibaldi questioned, “That is how you pissed them off?”
Lee tone of voice became more serious, as he stated, “Yes. From a very indirect manner for me. And a very direct manner for them. It is a bit complicated. Still, you need to understand what you are facing. And what I believe you can bring to bear against them. Which would not be enough.”
“At the upper limit, those after me have friends that can call in Farscape Peacekeeper Commander Carriers. And those after you, can call in Star Wars Star Destroyers. Both of those types of ships are big, well armored, have powerful energy shields, and are loaded with weapons, that can turned the surface of a planet to char.”
“Your friends, with White Star Fleet, would have their hands full just taking down one of those types of ships. And that is not counting the types of starfighters, infantry armies, support ships, and other resources, our enemies could bring to bear, against us.”
“And the people that lead these armies are not idiots. They can not only outgun you, but they can out-think you.”
“It is even more serious at the individual level. None of those personally after me are idiots. They know what they are doing. And they are very good at what they do.”
“Your Rangers, as badass as they are, could not hand two of those after us. In a six on one battle. And from what is sounds like, both maids were just playing with the Rangers. Because they did not use their weapons, and they let the Rangers live.”
“On that matter, the attack on the police station was only an appetizer to the type of hell on earth that just one of these women could bring to the battlefield. And that is just one of them. When they are working together, full out, no holding back, I am not sure God itself could stop them.”
Garibaldi slightly grinned, as he suggested, “How about a nuke?”
Lee honestly answered, “It depends on how fast they could teleport out. Still, nukes have worked for you in the past. Your friend John Sheridan made great use of them. And some of the fans from my reality, nicknamed your friend, John Nukem Sheridan, for his liberal use of such powerful weaponry.”
Garibaldi could not help but let out a laugh. He continued to grin, as he said, “I will have to remember that nickname.”
Lee responded, “Go ahead. It is a good nickname to remember. But, we both know a nuke would be out of the question in this battle. And I will give myself up, before I risk harm to this domed city, and the people inside it.”
Garibaldi grin grew a little wider, as he complimented, “That is the answer I wanted to hear from you.”
Lee thought, with mild delight, 'Good. I passed his personal test. Now, to get down to business.' He inquired, “Good. Now, what type of defenses does this place have?”
Garibaldi answered, “This place has all sort of automatic defenses, such as projectile, lasers, and plasma, weapons, of several sizes, stationed and hidden throughout this facility. With all of them ready to pop out of their hidden housing, at a moments notice. Should I give the command. Which I can do so in several ways. What you saw at the gate, coming in, was only a taste of what I have to dish out.”
Lee grinned, as he replied, “Nice.”
Garibaldi said, “Still, considering who we are dealing with. And the massacre at police station. I ordered the complete evacuation of this place. Save for one technician I trust, whom is working on something for me. I don't mind losing the buildings. And items. They are insured. But, I do not want to lose any lives over this, if I can avoid it.”
Lee complimented, “You are a better man, than most people.”
Garibaldi grinned, as he responded, “Thank you. Also...”
Suddenly there was a ring from Garibaldi cellphone, in his chest, coat pocket.
Garibaldi used his right hand to pulled out his cellphone, unfolded it, and place it to his right ear.
As the same time, without looking, Garibaldi used his left hand to punch some keys on his desk, then changed the walkscreen, to his right, from pictures of his friends, to security video feeds.
Garibaldi looked over at the feeds. He did not immediately see anything. He then turned back to Lee, as he calmly said, into the phone, “Hello.”
A female voice, calmly said on the other end of the line, in english, “Hello Mister Garibaldi. First, we have no interest in harming you, nor those you care for. My name is Rock. I am the leader of the group after Lee. We know he is in your office, next to you. We would like to speak to him.”
While Rock had said this, both Garibaldi and Lee had been looked at each other. Lee noticed that Garibaldi had dropped his grin.
Garibaldi thought, 'They must be using themo-scans to see us. There is not much I can do about the fact that the human body puts out heat based radation. And if I had fully insulated the buildings of this complex, to where they could not be done. The annual electrical bill, for air conditioning for this place, would be equal to the the annual GDP of the entire planet of Mars. And even I could not afford that.'
'Now, to let Lee know what is going on. Though, since Roberta pulled a similar stunt with Matthew's phone. Lee probably already has an idea of what is going on.'
Garibaldi held then out his cellphone, and placed his left palm over the microphone of the cellphone.
Lee saw this, and Garibaldi watched at the younger man rolled his eyes slightly, for a few seconds. As Lee eyes returned to looking back at Garibaldi, he stated, “Let me guess. They found me?”
Garibaldi deadpanned, “Yea. They found you.”
Lee pointed out, “As I said, they are not idiots. I take it they want to speak to me?”
Garibaldi replied, “Yes. It is Rock, on the other end of the line. Though, I thought Rock was a man?”
Lee commented, in a sober tone of voice, “She was... Also, she is their leader... Well, one of their leaders. And she is one of the saner ones of their group.”
Garibaldi guessed, “And Revy is the other leader?”
Lee replied, “Yep.”
Garibaldi thought, with concern, 'Rock and Revy. Talk about a pair.' He inquired, with a hint of humor in his tone of voice, “So, you going to do the standard, stall them until you can think of a workable plan?”
Lee cracked a grin, as he shrugged. He causally said, “Hey. It worked for Captain Kirk, all the time. And it worked for you guys, plenty of times, back on Babylon Five.”
Garibaldi returned Lee's grin, as he agreed, with a bit of joy in his tone of voice, “You are right about that. On both points.”
Both men chuckled, for a few seconds.
A few seconds later, as they calmed down, Garibaldi said, “Well, here she is?” He then handed Lee his cellphone. He reached across the desk, to hand Lee the cellphone.
Lee took the phone in his right hand. He then placed his right thumb on the microphone of the cellphone, as he thought, 'At least Garibaldi did not set the cellphone to speaker option. He is respecting my privacy on this matter. That is good. Still, we need to know who we are currently facing?'
Lee requested, “I noticed that you turned the wallscreen to security video feeds. So, you are thinking along the same lines as me. While, I am on the phone, could you please quietly turned the viewscreen back on, and flip through outside the security cameras to find them. They would not call, unless the were already grouped right outside the headquarters, and ready for war.”
Garibaldi thought, 'If these people are as good at this game as Lee states, then he is likely correct. That is why I switched to the security video feeds on the first place'
He replied, “Yes. It is a good idea. And that is what I am planning to do that, anyway.”
Lee watched as Garibaldi used the keyboard on his desk to work on the video feed on the wallscreen by them. Along with the video feed, Garibaldi selected the GUI on the monitor screen, to the building security system, which was hard-lined to that monitor.
Garibaldi used the touch-pad on his desk, below his keyboard, to select the log in selection for the security video feeds. After which, he used his desk keyboard to punch in his personal password. To allow him full access to the security feeds. Where he only had a lower level access hardwired to his office. In case he was cut out from the main computers of the building, from his office.
Lee turned his head towards the viewscreen monitor, to his left, as he watched Garibaldi quickly flipped through the outside cameras, until he came to the one that showed Rock, Revy, and their teams, on in a field, outside the concrete walls of the Edgars Industries Headquarters.
Garibaldi punch up a closer camera, and used the zoom in feature to so those the people there.
Lee and Garibaldi saw the group that were after Lee, outside, in the grassy field, near a hill, about a hundred yards from the concrete wall that encircled the Edgars Industries complex. Near the one of the two lane entrances to the headquarters. But, they were over a two miles from the outer highway loop, that went around the headquarters.
The group was composed of Rock and Revy's group. Which was Rock, Revy, Dutch, Janet, Benny, and their five teenage, adult children. Ranma, Natsuru, Akira, and their three adult children. Roberta, Fabiola, Balalaika, B, Aeryn, and Violin.
From the grainy video of the members of Rock and Revy's group, Lee could make out that Balalaika and B had their sniper rifles with them. And Aeryn had what looked to be a large peacekeeper pulse burster cannon, in her two hands.
Also, six members of Serenity crew were there from the previous night, were present. The three members of the Bebop Crew. Lee could barely see their weapons on the video screen.
And the eight members of Knight Sabers. All in their hardsuits. And with there were eight, blue and black Typhoon II motoslaves. All of the motoslaves were in eight feet tall, robot mode, each of whom were holding large weapons.
Given their size, both Lee and Garibaldi could clearly make out the types of weapons the large robots were holding in their hands. Two of the Typhoon II robots carried long range, anti-material rifles. Four of the Typhoon II robots carried large gatling guns, with beta c-mag style magazines. And the last two Typhoon II robots each carried one large, ammo drum style, grenade launcher.
They entire group were spread out by about fifty yards in circumference. With a few of the members together. Most of whom seemed to be talking to each other.
Lee then noticed, on the bottom right part of the screen, the camera, which stated, 'east outer wing.'
Lee thought, 'Good. We now know where they are. And they all appear to be in one spot.
And most of them look ready for battle. Especially, the Knight Sabers. And while, I am still not sure on the weapons the Knight Sabers are all using. Specifically, the new members. Their motoslaves are definitely locked and loaded for war. And I would not be surprised if what I believe is true about those Typhoon IIs That they AIs have been upgraded, along with the hardsuits the Knight Sabers are wearing.'
'And those Typhoon are not the only ones that are packing some heavy weapons. Aeryn has a pulse burster energy cannon in her two hands.'
'The pulse burster weapon is one of the biggest, most powerful, badass, mass-produced, two-handed weapons the Peacekeeper's ranks have on hand. The weapon is as long as Aeryn is tall. And she knows how to use it, effectively.'
'The pulse burster weapon is composed of eight barrels. Each shot fires a power energy shot, that explodes on contact.'
'The weapon used an ammo cartridge clip that has fifteen energy rounds in it. Each round has enough energy for eight shots to be fired. One from each of it's barrels. Either, in one single combined blast, or in secession, as a large energy machine gun. This allows for up to a hundred and twenty shots per ammo cartridge.'
'And I am sure that Aeryn brought extra cartridges.'
'The pulse burster weapon was designed as an anti-infantry weapon, to penetrate choke points, and military pillboxes. And each shot it powerful enough to penetrate the armor plating of a modern tank, from my reality. As such, it can tear holes into these buildings. This makes pulse burster a great weapon for breaking this siege... Which is what we have, right now.'
'Given they are ready for war, and I do not see the Hell Sabers anywhere... Though, the Hell Saber members all know better than to create a paradox. It is best to handle the situation with care.'
Then, Lee noticed something else, as he thought, 'And except for the motoslaves, none of them brought their vehicles, nor zipcraft. Intelligent thinking Rock. That will keep things low key. And anyone that looks at you from the road might mistake you for some protestors, or something else. With the distance from the road far enough, not to make out the weapons you have you... Hell, they might even think you are having a picnic.'
Lee continued to look at the wallscreen monitor, while keeping his right thumb on the microphone of the cellphone. He plainly stated, “Well, they came in locked and loaded.”
Garibaldi also continued to look at the viewscreen monitor, as he responded, “I recognize many of them. And any doubt I had about you exaggerating, is pretty much dead. I fully believe you now.
Lee turned to Garibaldi, as he said, “Thank you. And do not use your rail-gun cannons on them, just yet. Let us hold them in reserve. We need to keep this civil, unless they start shooting. Agreed?”
Garibaldi looked over at Lee. Garibaldi said, “Agreed. And I am increasingly starting to understand situation you are in, and what you are facing. I do not want to make things worse. Maybe you can reach a peacefully solution.” He mentally added, 'Though, I doubt it.'
Lee honestly replied, “That would be doubtful.”
Garibaldi thought, 'Even he realizes that he probably cannot do that, as well.'
Lee then removed his right thumb from the microphone of the cellphone, as he thought, 'Rock is probably a local burner phone she bought to use just for this call. Benny, Janet, and Nene, are all good enough hackers to get Garibaldi cellphone number.'
'And they have scanners to see us with. And given, except for one, person, everyone else here is gone. It is a simply process of elimination as to where I am at, and Garibaldi is at. And give we are likely high up, they probably guess that we are in Garibaldi's office.'
'Still, it is best to be polite in this situation.'
Lee held the cellphone up to his right ear, as he greeted, in a polite, kind tone of voice, “Good morning, Rock. I hope you slept well?”
Rock said, on the other end of the line, “Good morning, Lee. And I did. So, how about yourself?”
Lee answered, “I am fine for the moment.”
Rock stated, in a kind tone of voice, “That is good to hear... Well, I am willing to admit that the last sixteen hours, or so, has been interesting. And after we lost you at the factory. We regrouped. We talked it over. And how about you just surrender. We promise not to kill you. And I promise, you will still have an ass, and your life, after we are done with you.”
Lee casually inquired, “So, Lotton talked to you about that?”
Rock answered, in a polite tone of voice, “Yes. And I am happy that you will at least admit to yourself, and others, that you deserve to be punished.”
Lee pointed out, “That problem is, I do not think you can keep that promise.”
Rock was silent for a few seconds. She then said, “Well, at least you do not say, no. So, that is progress. And to be fair. We are not that crazy about storming this fortress, because we have no interest in making Garibaldi, and his allies, our enemies.”
Lee responded, “I can see our point of view on this matter. But, the fact you don't want to attack this place, for very good reasons, does put me in a position to negotiate.”
Rock conceded, in annoyed tone of voice, “Yes. It does. So, what are your demands?”
Lee answered, in an arrogant tone of voice, “You all go home, and let me escape.”
Rock flatly replied, “That is not happening.”
Lee shrugged, as he responded, in a more casual tone of voice, “That was worth a try. Still, let us talk for a little bit. While we both finalizing our plans on how to deal with each other. There is no point in rushing.”
Rock responded, “I agree. More time works for both of us. And it is so pleasant for us to have our cards laid out on the table, while we talk.”
Lee commented, “Yea. Using the gambling motif can be fun.”
Rock agreed, in an amused tone of voice, “Yes. It is. I take it you are watching us on the security cameras?”
Lee turned to the wallscreen monitor, to his left. Though the camera feed, he saw Rock waving at him, with her left hand, towards the complex, while she used her right hand to hold her cellphone to her right ear. Though, the angle more of a sideways angle to the camera, to Rock's right side, due to Rock not knowing which hidden camera was taking pictures of her group.
A few seconds later, Rock dropped his left hand back to her side.
Lee looked back over at Garibaldi. He saw that Garibaldi had raised an eyebrow to the conversation Lee was having. But, he said nothing to Lee.
Meanwhile, Lee happily admitted, into the cellphone, “Of course. And I must say you have a strong showing. The firepower the Knight Sabers brought for the round of this game is truly impressive. And I find it flattering, concerning the fact that Aeryn would bring that Peacekeeper Pulse Burster, she has, for little old me. Yet, I am surprised that Roberta does not have her M eighty-two A one light fifty anti-material rifle, with fifty caliber BMG ammo, and underside, six tube grenade launcher.”
Lee saw Garibaldi give him a look of disbelief.
Lee lipped the words, “Blood Trail arc.”
Garibaldi lipped the words, in reply, “Oh. Got ya.”
Rock complimented, “Detailed as ever, Lee. And to answer your question. Early this morning, when got together, Revy asked that same question. And Roberta mutter something about not heading home, just yet.”
Lee inquired, with a hint of sarcasm in his tone of voice, “So, Roberta and Fabiola have not let their sweet, wonderful master know what they are doing, and what is going on, right now?”
Rock agreed, “That is my guess, as well. Also, since I shared a little. It is your turn to do so.”
Lee conceded, “Well, to to be fair, Garibaldi is keeping most everyone out of this fight. So, it is pretty much just those involved, plus Garibaldi. And maybe one, or two others in the various buildings. I am honestly not sure.”
Rock stated, “That is nice to hear. And just so you both know, we have no interest in harming anyone... Except you... And I forgot to mention, that earlier, we did make sure to have a long talk with the maids over the attack at the police station. And the subsequent chase... And they agreed to show a little more... Restraint towards our goal of capturing you... I think we have things handled at the moment.”
Lee turned to the wallscreen monitor to see that Rock turn to look at Roberta, and Fabiola. Both maids turned to Rock, with mild scowls on their faces. Though, there was no reaction from Rock, to their scowls.
Lee thought, 'I don't think Rock's talk had much effect on them. But, it is clear that Rock is not backing down either. This is good for both of us. Though, I don't dare try to use the knowledge that Garcia does not know what Roberta and Fabiola are doing, as blackmail material towards them. That has, backfire, written all over it. Besides, I detest blackmail... And it is best to be polite. Being polite is the only reason Garibaldi is even talking to me. Instead of already handing my ass over to them.'
Lee turned back to looking at Garibaldi, as he calming replied, to Rock, over the phone, “I hope you're right.”
Rock commented, “Still, it is best for you to surrender. You chances of a clean getaway are very slim.”
Lee freely admitted, in a casually tone of voice, “You're right about that. Though, it is just not in my nature to surrender, and give in. Still, I know better than to hope to rely on the conservation of ninjutsu. Because all of you are just too damn good at what you do.”
Rock agreed, with a hint of happiness in her tone of voice, from Lee's compliment, “You would be correct.”
Lee asked, “So, on a side issue. And I know I am stroking my ego a bit by asking and finding out. But, did I make the news, last night? Garibaldi hinted at it. But, I would like a confirmation.”
Rock answered, “Yes. And I must say, you are one crazy, though skilled driver, to get Roberta off your tail. And I have known a few.”
Lee smiled, as he stated, in a confident tone of voice, “After last night. I feel that I can safely say that I can now outrun the devil.”
Rock responded, in an arrogant tone of voice, “Perhaps. But, can you outrun us?”
Lee pointed out, “While I already admitted that you are holding a pretty strong hand in this situation. My hand is respectable, as well.” Lee looked up at Garibaldi, with the older man looking back down at him, as Lee continued, “As we both agree. I am in a fortress, controlled by one of the most genre savvy, badass individuals this galaxy has ever produced.”
Garibaldi smiled, as he lipped the words, “Thank you.”
Lee returned Garibaldi's smile, as he nodded once, towards Garibaldi's' direction.
Lee then bluffed, as he continued, “And I am sure you are worried that some of your friends may die in the attack. Such as from the gun turrets you likely saw shred that semi, Roberta stole, last night. Though, after everything, I am happy to see she made it out alive. By the way, it she okay. The resolution with these cameras is not that great.”
Rock stated, “Actually, Roberta is fine for the moment. And no. I am not worried. We already knew from infrared heat signatures in the building, that were is no army of guards in there. There are only a few of people in there, including yourself. Thank you for confirming that.”
Lee mentally reflected, 'That confirms that they have scanners and they can see us. And this is a reminder that Rock can think several moves ahead, herself. Also, I already have an idea on how she plans to reach me.'
Rock continued, in a smug tone of voice, “Though, as I said, I did order everyone not to attack the civilians unless they are attacked first. Also, even if you turn out the lights, we have infrared-night-vision goggles, on hand. And, along with those goggles, with our enhanced sight, which you gave us, we well still be able snipe all your turrets. Both outside and inside. From a distance. As we slowly close in on you.”
“And we both know, that after last night, that you are not going to call the police, again. Because, after the massacre at that police station, the police would more than happy to hold you responsible for that attack, and crucify your ass.”
Lee forced himself not to get angry, and to remain calm. He though, 'I forget how arrogant Rock can be, as well. Our pride is a falling that we both have. And I am sure we both realize for each other. And I will do the last thing she expects me to do.'
Lee complimented, in a casual tone of voice, “That is not a bad plan. That is something I might have thought up.”
Rock replied, “Thank you.”
Lee though, 'Now, to remind you of some of the dangers of the weapons in this fortress.'
Lee stated, “Also, if you do attack, it is likely that some of your group will get shot. PPG plasma rounds can do massive damage to internal organs and bones, while the surface wounds appear superficial.”
Rock calmly responded, “I will make sure my people get checked out, if that happens. But, it won't happen if you surrender. I will ask you again. Will you surrender?”
Lee answered, “No. Though, this situation does remind me of some of your life. Such, as that siege by the freakshow circus.”
Rock said, “Yes. I remember incident. And now I am the show-woman of this freakshow circus.”
Lee questioned, “True. Still, I wonder... How did I inherit your old life, Rock? I mean, I am even in a friendship with a crazy redheaded babe.” He thought, 'Though, she dyes her hair red.'
Rock flatly replied, “Karma.”
Lee said, “I guess... And for what it is worth, I did try to be your friend.”
Rock stated, “I know. That is the tragic part about all this. And if you hadn't done what you had done, we would be friends.”
Lee countered, “If I had not done what I did, we would have never met. And given your lifestyle as a crook, beforehand, your life would likely be over by now, along the rest of your friends.”
Rock conceded, “You are probably right. Still, that does not excuse what you did.”
Lee said, “I know. And I not asking forgiveness, just understanding.”
Rock responded, “I think I can give you that.”
Lee replied, “Thank you. And you know what, we are more alike in other ways.”
Rock inquired, “Such, as?”
Lee commented, “First, I do not say the following as a way to insult you. Nor, to belittle you. I still have the utmost respect for you.”
“That being said. I never mentioned this in my stories. Because I found it to damn depressing. And I am sure you realize this. That just like me, you can never go home again. Though, I am also sure you have not mentioned this to anyone else.”
“That like me, if you go home, you homeland's government will arrest you. But, for you. If you go home again. You will be arrested in connection to the murders over that mafia war that happened, during you last trip to Japan.”
“No matter what gender you are, your finger prints are the same. And your fingerprints are on that belly gun... The Accu-Tek pistol, which Balalaika used to kill the japanese gangster, Kousa, and the others in that building. Specifically, the pistol was shown, in the water, in full view, with the fingerprint from your right pinky finger is shown on the left side on the pistol, on the back of the slide.”
“On a side note, I must compliment you use of gun safety, by keeping you index finger on the trigger guard, and not the trigger of that pistol. While you prefer not to use guns. It is clear that Revy and Dutch taught you the basics of how to use a gun, and proper gun safety.”
“And I must agree with Balalaika that gun is an atrocious pistol. Like most belly guns, such pistols are not designed for long distance accuracy. And they have a shorter grip, which effects accuracy, even more so, when firing. And the lighter weight of the pistol, compared to heavier pistols, makes the recoil worse when firing the weapon.”
“Now, back to the topic at hand. I am sure that Interpol, and the local Tokyo police have identified your fingerprints as one of the three sets on that pistol. The other two being Balalaika's, and Morozumi, Kousa's bodyguard, whom owned the pistol.
“Of course, up until a minute after that murder, you had no idea, beforehand, that Balalaika was under orders to first destroy the Yakuza group threatening the Washimine group, and then destroy the Washimine group, as well. To be exact. Her orders, in her own words, were to make war, and burn it all to ashes.”
“And though, out of tact, I did not tell Molly this. I also did not mentioned this last night, by radio, because it was an open line, with Balalaika listening. But when Molly was Yukio, she did not help herself by planning to head to Roanapur, as her family's representative. And the situation was worse, due to Balalaika having wiretaps allowing her to learn of this plan ahead of time.”
“But, after all is said and done. You should know. That you should feel no guilt in asking Balalaika to destroy the Washimine group. Because she was going to do anyway. The only real mistake you made was trying to save a girl that clearly did not want to be saved.”
“And you cannot truly save those that do not want to be saved.”
“By the point of time, as which you tried to do so, she and Ginji were going to die violently. One way, or another. They had already set their path. And all you could have done was say a prayer for them, and leave them to their fates.”
“Also, it was them that kidnapped you, and dragged you and Revy into that final confrontation. As such, there was no way that their deaths were your fault.”
“So, you need to accept that, let go, and move on.”
Rock replied, “I already have.”
Lee stated, “Good. But, that is not all.”
Rock took the bait, as she questioned, “Really, what else do you have to say?”
Lee stated, “Something many people miss. But, I don't. On a subconscious level, you are always on guard.”
Rock asked, “And how would you know that?”
Lee answered, “That messed up dream you had about the whole Tokyo garage standoff, between you, Revy, Balalaika, and Boris. Where Balalaika had you pinned against the hood of a hood of a car, while she pointed her pistol right between your eyes. Meanwhile Revy drew down on Balalaika and Boris. And Boris was pointing his pistol at Revy.”
Rock commented, “That was a very tense situation for Revy and I. And it was a situation that was very hard for me to forget.”
Lee stated, “I realize that. But, in your dream, it was Chang that was pinning you to the hood of the car, and holding one of his custom Beretta seventy-six pistols to your head.”
“That dream was your subconscious reminding you of what Balalaika did in Tokyo. That Chang was just as capable of Balalaika, in pulling off a massacre, like what she and Hotel Moscow did in Tokyo.”
“Along with this, at the time, I am sure your subconscious reminded you that Revy was still somewhat of a danger towards you. Though, since then, she had gotten much better, when it comes her relationship towards you. And I am not just talking about how you to are lovers. But, you are also friends that completely trust each other.”
“Though, at the time, those were three of the five most influential people in your life. With Dutch and Benny being four and five.”
“So, at some level you were aware of how dangerous your life had become. I am not saying you did not already realize you were in a dangerous situation. But, you may not have realized how severe the danger was around you. Until Fabiola shot you, in the chest, with that blank round, after that whole jungle run.”
“And getting shot does put things in perspective for a person.”
Lee thought, 'And unlike you, Rock. At the very beginning of this chase against me. Before I even came to Mexico. I never had any illusions about the dangers I am in. Nor, did I have any illusions about how dangerous all of you badasses are, towards others, outside your group, including myself.'
Lee noticed that line was quite for several seconds.
Lee thought, 'Rock, I will give you your chance to mull over what I just said to you.' Lee then remained silent, as he allow Rock to say the next word.
Several more seconds later, Rock then said, in a calm tone of voice, “I admit you have made several points there. Thank you.”
Lee thought, 'Good. We are making progress in the right direction.' He kindly replied, “You're welcome, Rock.”
Suddenly, an explosion that lightly rocked the building that Lee and Garibaldi were in.
A few seconds later, there was another explosion, that lightly rocked the building.
Lee thought, 'What the hell?'
Lee looked over at Garibaldi. He saw surprise show on Garibaldi's face.
Lee continued his thoughts, 'From Garibaldi's facial expression. I can tell that he is thinking alone the same lines and I am. Now, to find out, who, or what caused the explosives. First, I need to check with Rock. And I hope it was from her group. Or, the problems Garibaldi and I have, had just multiplied by a factor of ten.'
Lee complained into the cellphone, “Not to ruin the mood. But Rock, I thought you had enough style to wait on attacking me, until after you finished gloating.”
Rock replied, in a confused tone of voice, “It wasn't us.”
Lee said, “Then please, hold on one minute.”
Lee continued to hold the cellphone to his ear, he placed his right thumb on the device's microphone.
Lee looked over at the man behind his desk, as he requested, “Garibaldi, please find out where those explosions came from.”
Lee saw that Garibaldi was already working his keyboard, as Garibaldi replied, “I am already on it.”
Garibaldi thought, 'I still want to keep an eye on Rock's group, so I will use split screen mode.'
The screens in his office suddenly showed several cameras in the complex, dividing the screen between them. The name of the location on the bottom right of the boxes on the screen.
There were fours, sectioned in quarters. In the upped left box, the camera continued to show the, 'east outer wing', with a close up to where Rock and her group were.
The upper right box show a camera of a tunnel system, with the label, 'west end waste tunnel B'.
The two lower boxes showed two camera angels that listed, 'west outer wing'. The lower left box showed a wide angle of the area. While the lower right box showed a close up of the area.
Both men saw what was coming from the west side of the complex, from the large outside walls of the concrete fence, and tunnel shown on the video feeds.
They recognized what the new attackers were, and from the looks of it, the attackers on the west end of the headquarters had already destroyed the rail-cannons turrets, on that side of the complex, before they could fully came online, take aim, and fire. Both the large ones that had popped up from the cylindrical parts of the concrete fence. And small large guns that popped in the tunnel system.
There attackers were also taking out the other automate weapons systems, as they were slowing coming towards the main, center building that Garibaldi and Lee were inside of.
Fortunately, the main building that Garibaldi and Lee was in was still a fair distance from the outer ring walls of the large concrete fence.
Garibaldi continued to look at the security video feeds, as he demanded, “How the hell did they get here unnoticed?”
Lee turned back to Garibaldi, as stated, “Each one has a reality device built into them. They can appear at once, at a seconds notice. And that is likely what they literally did.”
Garibaldi looked at Lee, as he sarcastically responded, “Lee, you really know how to create a rogues gallery.”
Lee sarcastically replied, “It's a gift. But, I think we can make this work for us.”
Garibaldi requested, “I would like to see how you plan to do that?”
Lee grinned, as he replied, “Just watch the master at work.”
Lee removed his right thumb from the microphone, with the phone still to his right ear. He said, into the cellphone, “Well Rocky-babe, the past versions of your lover, and her Hell Saber friends, just screwed the pooch. Sometime in their lives, they send a small army of boomers to attack this place, right now. I got combat and battle boomers attacking the west gate. And what looks to be boomer dogs coming up from the sewer system.”
“By the way, your girls are on the east gate.”
Lee mentally reflected, 'Damn. Chang is thorough, those boomer dogs are only from the BGC concept art. I vaguely remember that art showed a boomer dog having laser guns attached to their backs, like extra arms. Yet, those boomer dogs are only using their teeth and claws to take out those laser defenses. So, I think Chang probably was using a very early prototype design, when he had them made. Which makes sense.'
'Also, I can tell that the defenses are destroying a number of boomers inside and outside, and slowing them down. But, not enough to stop them.'
Lee verbally continued, “Anyway Rock, you might want to ask them what exactly they have done. So, we can salvage this situation.”
The line was silent for around minute. Rock then stated, “From what Shenhua and Sawyer tell me, that during the one month truce, when I was in the vat, the girls were sent here for Garibaldi, and a few others. And they saw present Roberta. After they did so, they all decided to use an army of boomers to get Garibaldi, and thus prevent the risk of a paradox by meeting us... And the worst part is that it has been so long that none of them, they don't clearly remember if they caught Garibaldi, or not.”
Lee sarcastically thought, 'Talk about a fun mystery.' He mentally reflected, with more seriousness, 'Still, I did wonder how they spent that month, or whatever. Given time dilation angles. And it figures Rock would get her information from those Shenhua and Sawyer.'
'Revy's memory is not the best about such little details. Even concerning ground assaults, if she is not directly involved. Though, Revy is likely nearby, listening to the conversation. So, she can stay up to date with the situation.'
'And from the look on Roberta's face, from the video camera feed, I saw a few minutes ago, is any indication, she is to pissed off to safely approach.'
'And now that I know who sent those boomers. Which was no great mystery. I think I know exactly how to make this work for Garibaldi and myself.'
Suddenly, over the cellphone, Rock sternly stated, “I know what you are thinking.”
Lee smirked, as he commented, “I already knew the Hell Sabers were after Garibaldi. Arcee, as a pink robot, is very noticeable.” He mentally added, 'Among other things. I think I will not tell Rock that they had been spotted in their other kidnappings.' He requested, “But still, thrill me with your brilliance.”
Rock stated, “You plan to force us into a situation where we have to fight the boomers, while you two escape.”
Lee complimented, “That is what I love about you, Rock. You can cut through the bullshit, and figure out what is really going on. And you have the guts to tell the other guy about it to their face. Anyway, the boomers are after us. If they get us, I'm dead, and we both know it. So, good luck, as all of you dance in the palm of my hand.”
Lee dropped his smirk, as he hung up the cellphone, by folding it up. He then handed the cellphone, across the desk, to Garibaldi.
As Garibaldi pocketed his cellphone, he commented, “You know, towards the end, that was quite an arrogant statement to make to her.”
Lee calmly admitted, “Of course. And it is doubly arrogant in that I was quoting what she had previously said in the Blood Trail. And while it is rude, and manipulative, it might throw her a bit off her game. Thus, buying us a little more time to make our escape...” Lee smirked, as he continued, “It is all just calculations. You just have to understand all the angles, to make the situation work for you. And I have become a master at that.”
Garibaldi thought, 'So, that is his game. And he freely admits that he uses his words to get the reactions he wants. That is arrogant of him. Also, I am sure he is thinking he can play me the same way. Though, it is best I not let him in on my seeing through his ruse. And he is a fountain of information, and skills, that I can use to get myself out of this mess.'
Garibaldi asked, “I can see your point. So, how deep are we in it?”
Lee deadpanned, “We are literally between a rock and a hard place... Pun intended.”
Garibaldi let out a laugh, as he got Lee's joke.
Lee dropped his grin, as his voice turned serious, as he continued, “But, all joking aside. You have an army of death machines, known as boomers, after your ass. And I have an even more dangerous army of badass babes after my ass. If you can find good news out of that, I would be surprised.”
Garibaldi shrugged, as he casually remarked, “Plenty of actions, and T&A, as they clash over who gets us.”
Lee cracked a grin, as he complimented, “Garibaldi, I love your positive thinking. And you are right. The good news is as long as we don't get caught in the crossfire, we might survive.”
Garibaldi requested, “Since you have more experience in this situation. Bottom line it for me. How screwed are we? And how do we get out of this mess?”
Lee stated, “Garibaldi, if they get their hands on you, they will screw you worse than the Bester and Psi Corps did. The good news is that Rock will likely not try to get to us from the outside of the building. Though, with their infrared equipment, they can see us, through the building.”
Garibaldi commented, “I already figured that was how they knew I was with you. Tough, that cannot be helped. Because I refused to live in a windowless environmental again. After living on Babylon Five, I have had enough of that.”
Lee responded, “I can sympathize with that. Also, Rock will likely send the Knight Sabers, and their motoslaves to deal with the boomers. That will mean their most heavily armed, and armored, members of their group will be busy fighting the boomers. And not your resources.”
“And Rock will likely have the Knight Sabers, along with a few others also covering this building, from all sides, to keep the boomers from trying to scale this building from the outside. Though, I would not worry about that too much, while the boomers can climb. It would take them time to do so. And they would be shot before they reached us. Also, while they are designed to hover along the ground, they are not designed for vertical flight.”
Garibaldi requested, “It has been years since I have scene that series, with those killer machines, and powersuited babes. So, refresh my memory. What are these boomers? What are these they capable of?”
Lee stated, “The seven feet tall, humanoid shaped, blue boomers are combat models. They have build in weaponry. And in battle, they are designed for infantry combat. The larger, brown boomers, with the right lances, are battle boomers. They are basically walking light tanks. Their lance has a machine gun and rocket launcher on it. They are tougher and pack more punch than the combat boomers, but they are not as physically agile, nor as mentally flexible as combat boomers.”
“The two types are mass produced models. And they do have some problems. While I am not sure about the battle boomers, the combat boomers have personalities, and can be talked to. Though, barring a few exceptions, they cannot be reasoned with, nor go against their programming.”
“And I know better than to try that.”
Garibaldi thought, 'So do I. Though, years ago, Jeffery had some luck reasoning with an alien weapon. But, I am not as good as Jeffery was. And he is not here, right now. So, I won't even try doing that.'
Lee continued, “Between the two types, they designed as infantry, and light armored ground assault. And barring a few exceptions, they will just make their way up the building from the inside.'
'I am not sure about the boomer dogs. But, if I was to guess, they look like they don't have much in the way of weapons, except their teeth and claws. They are likely designed for reconnaissances, and dealing with targets of opportunity.”
“Also, even though the boomers have larger numbers, given possible upgrades to the Knight Sabers had done to their hardsuites and motoslaves. Along with them being heavily armed, and there being eight members, and eight motoslaves. Twice the numbers and firepower than the originally had. And factoring in the human members have been given a super-soldier serum I would guess that the Knight Sabers can handle the boomers, and compensate for your defenses, without being seriously injured, nor killed.”
Garibaldi sarcastically thought, 'And these are the killer robots, and super badasses that are after us...' He mentally continued in a calmer emotional state, 'Still, I am starting to see the good news in all this.'
Garibaldi inquired, with a slightly happier tone of voice, “Okay. I am starting to see how you view the situation getting better. But, I am sure you also have a plan of escape?”
Lee answered, “Yes. And it is really simple. You need to take me to my reality device. We both use it, and we immediately escape to one of the few places none of them will immediately follow. And don't worry. The place is perfectly safe. As long as we land on dry land. And I am fairly sure I can accomplish that for both of us.”
Garibaldi thought, 'You comment does not fill me with confidence. Though, you are offering me a quick way out of her. So, I will my mouth shut on the matter.'
'And since I don't dare risk call in a shuttle. It will likely get shot down by one side of the other, after us, outside. So, you way is our only way. And it has something to do with that device you had. And you called it a reality device. As such, it is not hard to figure out what it does. Even though I have no clue how it does what it does.'
'Now, to take him to his device, so we can get out of here.'
Garibaldi got up from his chair, behind his desk. He stated, “The device is in a lab, seven floors below us. Still, how do you know I won't use the device myself, and leave you here to your fate?”
Lee thought, 'He likely said few floors below us, last time, to throw me. Should I try to escape and get to my reality device on my own. Not bad. Now, tell him why I am not worried about his possibly betraying me.' He smirked, as he stated, “Because I never told you have to work it.”
Garibaldi conceded, “Good point.” He mentally added, 'And him not mentioning that was clearly intentional on his part. This man is as sharp as he lets on, or sharper.'
Lee then realized something. He asked, “Are the defenses on this floor, are on the floor we are going turned on?”
Garibaldi stated, “No. There are no hidden gun turrets on the top ten floors, including this one and the one we are going to. I do not want risk assassinating my, and my family, with a similar keystroke.”
Lee inquired, “Okay. That is a good point. Also, given you stated the place was evacuated. And that your family is gone. Do you expect them back any time soon. We do not want to them to return here, in the middle of this mess. It is oversights like this, that can get people killed.”
Garibaldi thought, 'That is a good point. Fortunately, the answer is, no.' He answered, “No. My daughter is at a convention center, and my wife is also busy with some charity work.”
Lee replied, “Good. Just checking. And before we leave, we need to see that technician. I don't want him killed on my account.”
Garibaldi thought, 'I see he is still concerned with the welfare of others.' He said, “Don't worry, we will see him along the way.”
Lee thought, 'Good. And except for that one other guy. I don't have to worry about anyone else getting hurt, while I am here, on my account. And I am sure I can figure something out to save him. Still, I don't want to take someone I don't know about, with me, into the multiverse. That could have dire consequences for everyone involved.'
'Also, I wonder why he is here? My precognition is warning me that it is very bad for me. But, I don't see how?'
'Though, I will worry about that, later. Right now, there is one other matter concerning Garibaldi’s family, that need needs to take care of.'
Lee said, “Okay. And before we leave, I suggest you call your wife and child, and say goodbye to them. Chances are you will not see them again. For a while. Though, for them probably hours, to a day. But, for you, it might be months to years. Though, just in case it is longer for them. It is good to say goodbye.”
Garibaldi replied, “You are correct about that.”
Lee then turned to cameras on the wallscreen, as a thought occurred to him.
Lee thought, 'Oh no.' Lee commented, “Before we leave. Something just occurred to me. While I know Rock has hackers. Rock might have hackers get into the computer systems. And while we see the defenses work against the boomers, it is possible that Rock may have had the defenses on the eastern side, of this headquarters, turned off. And Rock is devious to have that done.”
Lee thought, 'That was a major oversight on my part. But, I cannot think of everything. Especially, at this high level of the game we are playing. I just hope that Garibaldi can fix it, before that oversight comes back to bite me in the ass.'
Garibaldi agreed, “You might be right. I will check right now.” He leaned down and typed on his desk keyboard.
Lee watched as the video camera feeds disappeared from the wallscreen monitor, and replaced by two dimensional map, of the complex, looking down. There were several red dots, on the yellow outline of the map, that showed the buildings, fences and other locations where the defensive were were at. The doors on the very western part of the wall were hollow circles, while the rest of the west side, up to half way into the building they were in, was solid red. But, the completely eastern half of the map, including the eastern half of the building we in, was blinking red dots.
Garibaldi leaned up and looked at the wallscreen. He stated, “Crap. You are right. The hollow circles show the defenses that the boomers have destroyed. The solid dots show the defenses that are still online. And as you have probably already guessed. The blinking dots show the defense weapons that have been taken offline.”
Lee thought, 'So, sniping the defenses was plan B, for Rock. And she allowed me to think it was plan A for her. Which would have them arriving here sooner than I expected. That is very clever of her.' He asked, “Can they be turned back on?”
Garibaldi said, “Not without my security team being here. And even if they were here, I don't think we would have the time to turn them back on, before either side got to us.”
Lee requested, “Perhaps it is for the best. And is just means we need to hurry. So, lead the way.” He mentally added, 'Besides, I don't want to kill Rock, nor any members of her team. And I still have a few ideas on how to slow them down.”
Garibaldi politely requested, “One moment, please.” He used the keyboard on his desk to off the wallscreen. After which, Garibaldi leaned further down on his desk.
Lee then watched as Garibaldi reached into the top side left drawer, to Garibaldi’s left, of Garibaldi’s desk.
Lee then saw the telltale yellow glint of gold in Garibaldi’s hand, before Garibaldi quickly pocketed the items in his left front pants pocket. While Lee only saw a corner of one of the small items, Lee could tell was it it.
Lee thought, 'Those are likely small gold bars. I guess somethings are universal.'
Garibaldi looked up at see that Lee noticed what he was doing.
Garibaldi cracked a grin, as he commented, “I don't like leaving, empty handed.”
Lee complimented, “That is a good policy.”
Garibaldi replied, “Thank you.”
Lee commented, “And gold is valuable in a number of human realities.”
Garibaldi remarked, “Of course. Gold and greed have a long history, together.”
Lee agreed, “Absolutely.”
Garibaldi then closed the drawer, and leaned up. He then walked around his desk, to his right side.
As he head towards the door, he walked pass Lee. He said, “This way.”
Lee silently got up, and he followed Garibaldi, as the older man lead Lee to the nearest elevator.
When the ended the hallway, Garibaldi turned left, and down the hallway, in the opposite direction from which Lee came toward Garibaldi’s office.
As they walked down the hallway, Lee followed behind Garibaldi, and to the older man's left.
As they continued walking down the hallway, at a conformable pace, Lee saw Garibaldi pull out his cellphone, unfold it, and dial a number.
Garibaldi then held his cellphone to his right ear. A second later, he said, “Hello Lise. We need to talk.”
Lee thought, 'Lise is Michael Garibaldi's wife. And I think it is best I stay silent until he is finished on the phone. I am in enough trouble with him, as is.'
Lee remained silent, as he listened to Garibaldi’s side of the conversation
Garibaldi said, “Yes. I am glad you are having a good time on at the botanical gardens show...”
Lee thought, 'So, that is where Garibaldi’s wife is. And that is likely in another part of Mars Dome One.'
Garibaldi continued, “Anyway honey. I have gotten into a bit of a rough spot. Don't worry. I am fine. Though, I am going to have to disappear for a while. But, I will try to return soon. And no matter what it looks like, I am alright...”
Garibaldi went onto say, in a loving tone of voice, “Thank you. And I love you, too.”
Garibaldi then hung up his phone.
By then, they had reached the two elevators, for that side of the floor, that were set side by side, with each other. As the two men came to a stop in front of the two elevators, Garibaldi press the down arrow on the wall, between two of the elevators.
Next, Garibaldi dialed another number. Afterward, he held the phone up to his ear.
A few seconds later, he said, “Hello Mary.”
Lee thought, 'That must be Garibaldi’s daughter, Mary, whom I briefly met at the sci-fi convention.'
The elevator doors, to their left, then opened up.
Both men walked into the elevator, and turned around to face the doors to the elevator, with Lee standing to Garibaldi’s left side.
While using his right hand to hold his cellphone to his right ear, Garibaldi used his left hand to pulled out a key from his pocket. He slid the key into the button he wanted to go to. Turned the key a quarter turn to the right, and pushed it in. That button lit up. Garibaldi then turned the key back a quarter turn, pulled it out. Afterward, he pocketed the key.
Lee saw where they were, from the fact the buttons on the rectangular panel all had numbers on them. And that the button corresponding to the floor they were on was lit up. Along, with the button of the floors they were on, the button of the floor that Garibaldi selected was lit up as well.
Lee thought, 'We are on the sixty-eighth floor. And we are heading for the sixty-first floor. There are seventy floors in all, on the panel. Not counting the basement levels.'
'And I would guess the top two floors are probably the penthouse area for the Garibaldi family to live in. Also, the top ten floors, including the penthouse levels, require a key to use. And I would guess that key is a universal key for the elevators. With other keys given to people, per the floor they are assigned to. And though that key is low tech and simple. It a wonderful security measure. Because, instead of hacking the elevator to get it to work. You have to have a physical key to get it to work.'
'And if the elevators are this low tech. Than I doubt the hackers can hack them, to shut the down. Which is good. Though, I am sure that Garibaldi has a way to remote control them.'
'Also, I do hope lock picking is not a lost art here... But, that won't stop those after us. The boomers can still rip their way through the elevator shaft. And while Rock will not send in full assault to get me, due to the boomer army outside. Instead, Rock will likely send small team, because defenses are down on their side of this headquarters. And given how high up we are, that team will likely take the stairs. I highly doubt Rock's team will try to scale the outside of this building.'
'In addition, the elevation we were currently at furthers validates my theory that Rock's group might be to worried about getting hit by boomers at a distance, while out in the open. And they will also be watch the outside building, to prevent the boomers from trying to scale the outside, to reach us.'
'On that note, I would not be surprised if Rock did not put Balalaika and B on sniper detail on this side, to guard the outside of the building, while asking the Knight Sabers to cover the west side, while they stall the boomers on that side of the complex.'
'Still, given their raw numbers, some boomers will get past the Knights Saber. And it is a far distance, it is possible, the boomers will reach us from both inside and outside. And the boomers use infrared as well. So, they know were we are. And with us being the only two of three people in the entire building, to start with, it is academic that we are the targets.'
As the elevators closed, Lee heard Garibaldi say, in a kind, calm, tone of voice, “I am glad you are having a great time...
Lee thought, 'Mary must been giving Garibaldi an earfull of how much of a great time she is having at the convention. Like any teenage daughter would towards the father she loves.'
Garibaldi stated, “Still, I have something to tell you. And I think you are going to need to sit down to hear it...”
“Well, it is not that bad... But, it is bad...”
Garibaldi continued, in a reassuring tone of voice, “I am going away for a while. Though, I promise, I will return. And everything will be fine...”
“Yes. I love you will all my heart, as well. Now, have some fun, honey. That is what life is all about.”
Garibaldi then hung up the connection, and dial another number.
A few moments after setting the cellphone to his ear, Garibaldi said, in a calm tone of voice, “This is Garibaldi. I need you to put my contracts on hold. I will be disappearing on my own. I will contact you when I need to you resume those contracts... Thank you.”
Garibaldi then hung up his cellphone, folded it back up, and pocketed the device, back where he kept it in his coat.
While the elevator continued moving down, Lee and Garibaldi both remained silent, as Lee thought, 'I believe that Garibaldi was just talking to a his contractor, that handles the hits he wants to taken out on people. Which, from what I understand, he rarely ever does.'
'And most of these hits are from not immediately hits. Instead, the people, in question, are on a list. The list composed some of Garibaldi's few living enemies. With the hits on the list only taking effect, if something should ever happen to Garibaldi, or his family. Should something happen to any of the members of the Garibaldi family, hitmen would kill his enemies on that list.'
'Unless Michael Garibaldi stopped the hits in advance. Such as now. And it makes sense for him to contact the hitmen, to put the hits on hold, so as he does not needlessly stir the pot, and make the situation worse for everyone, by accidentally having those hits go forward, due to his planned disappearance.'
Just then, Lee felt the elevator stop. A second later, the doors opened.
As they exited the elevator, Lee let Garibaldi take lead.
A few seconds later, the elevator doors closed behind them.
Lee walked at Garibaldi walked out of the elevator section, then turn to the left, in an adjoining hallway. Lee then follow Garibaldi.
As they walked down the hallway, Lee saw that all the doors to his sides were close. Also, Lee noticed some strange vertical, six inch lines, on the walls, every so often. Both on the floor they were on, and on the floor they had come from. The lines were a slightly different shade of color, than the wall colors. And the lines ran in parallel, down both sides of the hallway.
Lee thought, 'Hmm... I will have to ask Garibaldi about those lines, later. Still, there is something I need to say to Garibaldi right now. And I need to mean it.'
And as they walked, Lee sincerely apologized, “I am sorry I screwed up your life, Garibaldi.”
Garibaldi continued looked ahead of Lee, as he commented, “To be honest, I am surprised something like this has not happened sooner... And we should be reaching our destination, any second now.” He thought, 'At least, you are willing to apology over you part in this mess. Though, you have no exactly told me what you are part in this mess is about.'
Lee thought, 'Well, at least he was polite about my apology.'
A few seconds later, Lee saw them approach an open door, down the hallway to his, and Garibaldi’s left.
Garibaldi then walked into the room, with Lee right behind him.
Lee also decided to leave the door open, to the hallway.
As they ended the room, Lee saw that it was a lab, with white fluorescent lighting, from the ceiling lights, turned on.
To Lee's right was a long, wooden, rectangular island, that went down to the floor, with several drawers on all sides. The island ran along the room, to the far wall, with a six foot gap between the far wall and that side of the island.
Beside the island was with a human, male technician, in a white lab coat. Lee could see the man was working on something, on the table. With him using his tools, while having his back to the wall bordering the hallway.
In wall in front of the three men were two large paned windows to the outside. And from the morning sunlight, Lee could see cityscape outside, with the dome walls in distance.
On the far wall, to Lee's right, was a sealed, pear of metal doors. And to Lee's left, along the wall, were sets of shelves, with electronic equipment, tools, and books.
The floor was white linoleum tile.
Lee asked, “Which way does the window face?” He thought, 'Because, given I woke up in a room in this building, and we have been turning down corners a few time. I am not exactly sure.'
Garibaldi answered, “The south side. Like my office.”
Lee replied, “Good. Also, are those windows bulletproof?”
Garibaldi answered, “Unfortunately, no. Only the top three floors have bulletproof windows. All the windows below those floor are just rate for wind resistance.” He thought, 'Though, I have been slowly updating the security on this building for the last several years. I was scheduling the window replacements later this year. I guess I am a day late, and a dollar short.'
Lee mentally cursed, 'Damn.' He calmly replied, “Okay.”
Garibaldi said, “Now, let me introduce the both of you to each other.”
Garibaldi turned to the male technician, whom overhead Garibaldi.
Lee saw the technician lean up from the island table he was working at, and looked at the other Garibaldi, and himself.
Lee saw the human man was a moderately tall, but lean, fair skinned man, with black hair, in a short ponytail, tied back in a black scrunchy. The man wore a long, white lab coat, and he appeared to be in his mid-thirties.
Garibaldi gestured to the man, with his right hand, as he stated, “This is Bernard Maximilian. He is my chief technology researcher. And he agreed to stay and work on something, while I had the rest of my headquarters evacuated.”
Bernard turned to Garibaldi, as he kindly said, “It is alright Mister Garibaldi. I do not mind.”
Garibaldi mentioned, “And he is very polite...” Garibaldi then gestured to Lee, with his right hand, as he continued, “Bernard, this is Lee. Our guest.”
Bernard turned to Lee, as he said, “It is a pleasure to meet you.”
Lee looked over at Bernard, as he replied, “Likewise. And we need to discuss a few things, before you get back to work. But, I believe you employer would be better fit to explain the situation.”
Garibaldi overheard Lee's comment, as he thought, 'Yes. And my employee would take the situation more seriously if I told him, instead of Lee. That is a nice move on your part Lee.' He turned to Bernard, as he calmly said, “The headquarters is are under attack.”
Bernard raised an eyebrow, as he questioned, “Again... So, that is what rocked the building a few minutes ago?”
Lee thought, with amusement, 'So, this is not the first time this headquarters has been under attack. And the personnel has some experience with that. That really do not surpise me. But, it is a matter for another time.
Lee turned to Bernard, as he stated, “Yes. And we are on our what to escaping. But first, we need to know you plans of escape?”
Bernard answered, “There is a trapdoor right where I am standing. The button is at the bottom of the island, by my feet. The trapdoor leads directly down to a closet on the next level below us. And in the back of the closet is access the saferoom. This secret saferoom is one of the most heavily armored locations in the building. I should be fine there, until this blows over.”
Lee said, “Okay. If that is what you want to do.” He mentally added, 'If the boomers sense myself, and Garibaldi leave, they will likely teleport. And Rock's group has not interest in this man. So, as long as we are gone, he should be fine. Plus, I cannot take an unknown person with us, for several reasons. Also, he states he has experience in this headquarters being attacked, so I will trust his judgment, concerning this attack itself. And he clearly has a plan, and knows what to do during this attack. Still...' He turned to Garibaldi, as he commented, “He is your employee. It is your call.”
Garibaldi flatly stated, “I am taking a huge gamble going with you. And I not risking someone else.”
Lee inquired, “Good answer. And let's not waste time. So, where is my reality device? Also, what is Bernard working on here, that is so important?” He thought, 'I have been wondering that.'
Garibaldi looked Lee, with a slightly embarrassed look on his face, as he began, “Ah.. Well...”
Lee realized the subtext of Garibaldi comment. He flatly interrupted, “Oh no, you didn't?”
Lee quickly marched over to stand beside Bernard, as he to looked at what Bernard was working on.
On the island table, with tools set aside, Lee saw that Bernard had almost completely taken his reality device apart.
The device was outside its housing. With its parts and electronic tools sitting on the island beside it. Also, Bernard was holding a couple of electronic tools as well.
As Lee completely took look at the dissembled reality device, with mild shock, Garibaldi continued his explanation, in a calm tone of voice, “We wanted to know how it worked, and what it did. And scanners would not tell us, heads, nor tails, about it. So, I had it taken apart. Though, my friend here should be able to put back together, long before those after us, get here.”
Lee looked at up at Garibaldi, with a look of disbelief on his face. Lee flatly accused, as whine, “Oh, come on, Garibaldi. You have been in this game long enough to know that Murphy Law's will screw you when you least expect it.”
Garibaldi conceded, “Yes. This is my fault.”
Lee request, “Next time. Just ask, first.”
Garibaldi replied, “Okay. I will” He mentally added, 'He took that bit of bad news better than I expected.'
Lee looked back at the dissembled reality device, as he grimly thought, 'I really am in my freakshow circus situation. Like Rock, Revy, Eda, and Janet. Eda was lucky that during her siege, of that Greenback Jane arc, that the only problem she had was the getaway boat was late. But, that was her fault for not calling Dutch in advance. Where in this situation, not having access to my immediate getaway is not my fault.'
'And this is far more complicated than that. I may have imagined these reality devices, but I intentionally kept how they worked vague, because I am not a quantum physicist... Well, technically, after the math and science courses that Violin taught me in the time loop, I could be... If I wanted to... Still, I don't know how these things work. And I am way over my head, if I try too...'
'Why, oh why, am I constantly forced to do things the hard way?'
Lee muttered, in a quiet, though whiny tone of voice, “No matter the life. No matter the reality. It is never the easy way. Why is that? Can't I just get a break for once in my life? Or, is every single event in my life going to be like pulling teeth?”
Garibaldi overheard him. He chuckled. He then replied, “I know the feeling.”
Bernard commented, “So, this is a reality device? As in traveling the multiverse? And you two are planning to use it to escape from those attacking the base?”
Lee turned to Bernard, as he thought, 'This dude is sharp. I will give him that.' He answered, “Yes. But, I don't think is a wise idea for you to come with us.”
Bernard looked at Lee, as he agreed, “Neither do I. You are not the only ones that studied such subjects. Besides, I have a family here that depends on me. Also, I get the feeling that whomever is attacking this place is after both you, and Mister Garibaldi, because his statements reflect he is coming with you. And they are not after, myself.”
Garibaldi stated, “Exactly.” The other two men looked at Garibaldi, as he continued, “That is why I hired Bernard here. He is smart. He is a quick learner. And he knows better than to jump feet first into a problem, without looking prior to doing so.”
Lee turned to Bernard, as he guessed, “And you likely already memorized how this device works?” He mentally reflection, 'Why jump in the deep end of the multiverse, when you can just take your time, and wade in the shallow end? This moment this mess is over, you will likely begin work on your own device. And you will take your sweet time in doing so. And you will be care each step of the way.'
Bernard turned to Lee, as he admitted, “Of course.” He turned to Garibaldi, as he commented, “And I can replicate the technology?”
Garibaldi responded, “Good. But, keep that to yourself, until I get back.”
Bernard replied, “Yes sir.”
Lee thought, while feeling concern, 'There is not much I can do about Bernard knowing how this technology works. Though, if he can figure out how the technology works to fast, I can probably, eventually figure it out, as well. I just don't have the time right now to do so. And I need to get him to work for us. So, we can get out of here.'
Lee politely requested, “Still, I need you to put this thing back together, as quickly as possible. And have it in working order.”
Bernard looked at Lee, as he calmly stated, “It is going to take time.”
Lee calmly said, “Then, set a speed record. Because we do not have long, before those after us, reach us.”
Lee mentally lamented, 'I have to calm down. This guy is my only ticket out of here. Upsetting him would be counterproductive. And it is no wonder my precognition was screaming. And with our luck. Chances are, Bernard, here, won't be finished until the very last moment... I am going to have to squeeze every second I can, to stall the assault on this building, from both sides. Luckily, I have some ideas on how to do that.'
Bernard replied, “Okay. It should take me only little while to put it back together.”
Lee said, calm tone of voice, “That will be fine And I know you cannot test this device. But please, let it be in working order.”
Bernard stated, “When I get finished, the electronics will be functioning to the point the device should work.”
Lee commented, “That is all I can ask. And look at it this way. You get this fixed on time. I am sure when you boss gets back, he will want you to continue research on this. And that means funding for more toys for your labs.”
Garibaldi overheard this, as he thought, 'I see that Lee is going with the carrot. And I agree with his strategy. So, I will help. Besides, he is right about that.' He stated, “That is a promise, Bernard.”
Bernard looked Garibaldi, as he commented, “I know. Our lives and my reputation is on the line and I won't disappoint you, Mister Garibaldi.” He then leaned back over, as he started using the tools in front of him, on the island, to put the disassembled reality device back together again, as quickly as possible. While still making sure the device would function.
Lee said “Good.” He then turned back to Garibaldi, as he inquired, in a casual tone of voice, “First, how long until they get here?”
Garibaldi stated, “If they use the windows, about twenty minutes. But, I don't think either group will. So, say thirty minutes, with change.”
Lee looked at his watch. It was ten five AM. He thought, 'Factoring five minutes to get here, and the time for the discussion, I would say we have twenty-five minutes.'
Lee then looked back at Garibaldi, as he questioned, “Okay. While they can see our body heat. Can they see and hear us with your camera system?”
Garibaldi answered, “No. One of the first things I did was CEO was separate the cameras and microphones for security from everything else. The surveillance system of this headquarters is hardwired to only be viewed from monitors on the top ten levels of this building, and the security office. That is why they have not shut it down, like the weapon defenses, on half the complex. Also, there are no microphones in the camera security system.”
Lee thought, 'You probably got tire of people bringing down your camera system. Or, wiretapping your conversations.' He complimented, “Good job.”
Garibaldi replied, “Thank you.”
Lee thought, 'Now, to see what other options we have. He requested, “Now Garibaldi, if you can give me access to the security system here, I might be able to buy us five to ten more minutes. I have a few ideas that we might be able to use to slow down those coming after us.”
Garibaldi thought, 'It is clear that Lee is always planning. Not a bad thing, I just have to be watchful of him. Still, we could use those minutes.' He said, “Yes. Over here.” Garibaldi then walked over to the open door to the hallway.
It was then that Lee noticed a wall mounted wallscreen monitor, like the one that was in Garibaldi’s office, right beside the door, on the inside of the room they were in.
Lee thought, 'I must have missed that, when I walked inside the room. Just a lesson that even I can miss one or two things. Every now and then. And in the game we are in, that can prove fatal.' He then walked over to join Garibaldi by the wallscreen.
As Lee joined Garibaldi by the monitor, Garibaldi said, towards the monitor, “Garibaldi. Alpha-three-nine-six clearance.”
Lee thought, 'Garibaldi likely prefers a to use a keyboard, because his voice can be recorded. But, this situation is too dire to look for a spare keyboard here. Also, these wallscreens do have microphones, and cameras. Not counting other such surveillance hidden in this room, and through the headquarters. But, just like Garibaldi, the situation is too dire to worry about being recording by hide security cameras, and microphones. I will just play it by ear.'
'Also, I find it ironic that Babylon Five series showed that even with gun control, and a complete surveillance police state, on the station, did not mean that someone was watching the cameras, and listening to the microphones all the time. But, such things did record all the time. But, that is something to ponder later, when our asses are not on the line.'
Lee saw that the monitor then displayed a GUI interface that provided a series of selections to choose from.
Garibaldi tapped the screen to high light a list that was labels, 'building defense'.
Garibaldi continued to look at the monitor, as he asked, “So, what do you have in mind?”
Lee also looked at the monitor, as he answered, “It depends. I am sure that this place has other defenses that are not automatic, to prevent civilians from being trapped, and allowing them to escape.”
Garibaldi responded, “Yes. Though, usually my security team is given discretion on such matters.”
Lee said, “I am sure. Though, with them gone, we will have to do the jobs, ourselves. Let's run down the possibilities. So, let's start the ball rolling. Does this place use a halon, or carbon dioxide fire suppression system?” He thought, 'If so, that will not slow down the boomers. But, it will slow down Rock's group. Because they will have to wait to air each room out, one by one. Because such systems remove the oxygen in the rooms.'
Garibaldi answered, “No. We use water. A sprinkler system. We even have hoses tied to water towers higher up in the building. It is low tech, but the water tank is located near the top floor, and also partly acts as a ballast to the building.
Lee thought, 'Oh well. Still, the water system might be even more useful.' He stated. “Good. That is even better. Can you get me some electrical extension cords, as well?”
Garibaldi stated, “Yes. They are in a nearby storage closet, in the hallway. You must really have something in mind.”
Lee cracked a smile, as he coyly responded, “All in good time. Now, does your building have security barricade doors that can slide out of the walls. I think I noticed a few lined vertical line sections on the walls, as we made our way down here. But, I was just not sure if that wasn't the where the sections of the buildings, on each floor were bridged together?”
Garibaldi thought, 'So, he knows a little about construction. I will just file that for possible later use. I just been going up with those upgrades, floor by floor. I just having reached my office and apartment levels yet, on the top floors.'
Garibaldi said, “Actually, those places are where security barricade doors slide open. They are two doors that slide from each side, and lock together in the center. They are stationed about every fifty feet along the hallways. And the only reason they are not defaulted on, are as you stated. We prefer to arr on the side of caution, to allow civilians a chance to escape. With security using them to trap the attacks, while given time for the civilians to escape.”
Lee guessed, “And with security not here, the barricade doors all still open?”
Garibaldi replied, “Yes.”
Lee asked, “No problem. How much can these doors take?”
Garibaldi admitted, “Not a lot. They were designed to withstand plasma hits, not raw physical attacks.”
Lee countered, “Still, let's just shut them all, anyway. And we should be able to do so from here. That will at least slow them down for a few more minutes.”
Garibaldi said, “Okay. Let uss see if we can do that.” Garibaldi then used his right fingers to punch a few buttons on the wallscreen. He stated, “We do have a problem. I don't have access to the east half of them.”
Lee thought, 'Look's like Rock's hackers stuck again. Still, I am not going to complain.' Lee requested, “Then, just drop the doors on the west half. What other defenses you have on the west wing?”
As Garibaldi set the barricade doors to close, he answered, “Basically what you already saw on the camera. Outside automated projectile and energy weapons. Inside, automated lasers guns and PPG guns, every twenty feet, hidden in false ceiling tiles, until used. Also, there is laser grid in the stairwell and elevators. And they are already one. At least for the west wing... And the doors are shutting on the west wing of the building, as we speak.
Lee inquired, “Okay. Also, can we manually close the barricade doors on this floor?”
Garibaldi stated, “Yes. There is a numerical pad, in hidden panels, by each side of the barricade doors.”
Lee responded, “Good. On this floor, how many barricade doors between us and them?”
Garibaldi answered, “Three on each side.”
Lee said, “We can work with that. Remember, all we got to do is delay them. Also, can you control the elevators from that monitor?”
Garibaldi responded, “Yes. I can control where they go. But, those hackers can override my controls.”
Lee thought, with a mix of worry and relief, 'I guess I was wrong. And we got lucky on that. Still, let's see if my idea for the elevators can pan out.'
Lee pointed out, “That depends. Do you have to manually reset the elevators emergency drop locks, that protect it from falling if the cables are cut?
Garibaldi thought, 'He has a point there.' He replied, “Yes... And I can I set them off from here.”
Lee requested, “Then, send all the elevators to go three floors below us, and lock them there. They will had to tear into both the bottom and the ceiling to get to us. Also, they may mistake the floor, or two above the elevator, as the floor we are on. Which will buy us some more time.”
Garibaldi thought, 'Now, that is down right devious. Lee, I am starting to realize why those after you, are having such a hard time catching you.' He complimented, “Good thinking. And what about the stairwell?”
Lee turned to looked at Garibaldi, as he said, “We will get to that in a minute. But, before we handle that. I need to know if you have anything on hand, here, that we can use to slow them down?”
Garibaldi turned to Lee. He smiled, as he answered, in a relaxed tone of voice, “Don't worry. I have plenty of toys for this party, already on hand.” He then started walking towards the large metal doors, on the far right side of the room.
Lee walked with Garibaldi stand by the doors, beside him, to Garibaldi’s left.
Lee saw there was a key pad by the metal double doors, to his left.
Garibaldi quickly reached over and tapped a number code on it.
Then, Garibaldi and Lee quickly stood back, as the doors automatically unlocked and opened towards them.
Then, the lights inside, from the ceiling. Lee saw that it was the size of a wide closet, that was not very deep.
To Lee's left, Lee saw PPG pistols mounted in place on twos, that were a foot wide. There was eight PPG pistols in all. And Lee saw that unlike other PPG pistols, these had trigger guards on them. Also, on the third row, below the first two were several energy caps for the PPG pistols. And on the fourth row, as the bottom was clip on holsters for the PPG pistols. The hostlers were leather, and were designed to be used for either left, or right, side without a problem.
To Lee's right, Lee on the foot long right row, there was PPG rifles, which trigger guards as well. Three in all, in the one foot long row. The rifles had straps on them. On a second row below the PPG rifles were more energy caps. And on a row below that were a set of sheathed combat knives.
In front of Lee, on the eight foot wide row, Lee were three large PPG machine guns, with folded tripods. They were mounted one on to of the other, in three rows. The machine guns were four feet long. And there four large PPG caps for it, on a bottom, fourth row.
Lee though, 'Not bad. We can use these weapons. I think I will go for the pistols. Also, while I am not great with dual wielding two pistols at once. I am fair at that skill. And pistols are better in close quarters combat. But, I want to have more than one, so I can pack more punch.'
Garibaldi stated, “As I am sure you overheard. This is not the first time this headquarters has been attacked. And I keep a weapons locker like this, on every level. Just in case. I just wish we had time to get to the large weapons arsenal. Where I keep various types of grenades and explosives.”
Lee commented, “I would guess, given these are the places you are studying unknown technology, you would want to keep in potential types of explosives out of the area.”
Garibaldi responded, “Exactly. And I guess this weapons locker will have to do... By the way, that reminds me...”
Garibaldi turned to his right, as he asked loudly, “Hey Bernard. Do you want a weapon? I know you are checked out for one. Considering, I was the one that taught that class, that day.”
Bernard did not look up from the island table, as he continued working. He replied, “No. I will leave the fighting to the professionals”
Garibaldi let out a laugh. He then turned back to look at Lee.
Lee looked back at Garibaldi, as he inquired, “If this is a weapons locker to you. What is an arsenal?”
Garibaldi looked at Lee, as he replied, “Something I can outfit a platoon with.”
Lee commented, “So, for you, pretty much was every other home, in the deep south of Dixie would have what you concern a weapon arsenal?”
Garibaldi inquired, “Huh? Where are you from? And when?”
Lee answered, “Southeastern United States, during the early twenty-first century.”
Garibaldi commented, “And I thought that gun-nut culture was a historical cliche.”
Lee smirked, as he stated, “Not in my reality. BWHAHAHAHA!”
A few seconds later, as Lee calmed down, Garibaldi inquired, “Now, lets get you equipped. First, given you previous comment, I take it you have experience with firearms?
Lee answered, “Yes. Actually, a lot. Though, mostly for target practice. But, I have no experience with PPG weapons. The experience I have is with older firearms. Mostly from the twentieth century.”
Garibaldi cracked a smile, as he said, “Then, this will not be hard for you. In loading and unloading the PPG pistol energy cap is much like loading and unloading a semi-automatic pistol magazine.”
“Instead of loading the energy cap at the bottom of the grip, you load it in the back, where the hammer would be, if it was a firearm pistol. You insert and twist it a quarter turn to the right, and when you here the charge up hum for a second, it is read to go. Though, there is a safety catch on the left side, up top of the grip. Just like the pistols of your time, the red dot means it is ready to fire. Right beside the safety is the select fire dial. S for signal shot per trigger pull. B for three round burst. And A for automatic. After you take off the safety, just aim, and pull the trigger.”
“Also, if the hum after putting in a PPG energy cap lasts for more than a few seconds, pulled the cap out immediately, or pistol will likely explode. Because, it is a bad energy cap.”
Lee replied, “Okay. And does a PPG have a kick?”
Garibaldi answered, “A little. But, nothing like the pistols of your time.”
Lee joked, “The future can spoil people.”
Both men chuckled a little at Lee joke.
As they calmed down, Garibaldi stated, “Also, I need to explain the power dial to you. The button on the right side of the pistol, above the grip is where the power dial is located.”
“The dial goes from low to high. The most powerful the shot, the less ammo you will get from each energy cap. For a normal energy cap, Low is twelve shots. Medium is seven shots. High is four shots.”
“Though, these energy caps are top of the line, and have double the energy capacity. So, they have double the amount of ammo. Also, these PPG pistols and rifles are some of the best quality PPG weapons made. They have five settings, instead of three. The other two setting, is medium-low and medium-high. They are between low and medium settings, and medium and high settings, respectively.”
“Also, do not try to switch the dial while firing, that is a chance it will cause the PPG to explode in your hand.
Lee responded, “No problem. Now, what are those large cannons in front of us? Are those PPG weapons?”
Garibaldi answered, “Yes. They are PPG machine guns. And they already have energy caps in this. Those are the bottom are just spares.”
Lee asked, “Okay. So, are those large machine guns, with the tripods, automated?”
Garibaldi responded, “Absolutely. You just set them up at a choke point and it will fire at anything that moves in.”
Lee said, “Good. We can use them for that. But, where do you think it would be best to put them?”
Garibaldi answered, “We have three, so two of them in the lab, pointed at the window. It is the only way to cover that window safely. And one is not going to handle the job, if those death machines come through there.”
Lee replied, “I agree And we will have the third one in the hallway, right outside, pointed towards the west end of the building, to give those boomers trouble.”
Garibaldi complimented, “Good idea. They are the greater danger.”
Lee said, “Yes. Those killing machines are playing for keeps. But, keep in mind that the Rock's group are trying to use non-lethal means. And if we kill them, all bets are off.”
Garibaldi thought, with annoyance, 'Why do things have to be so complicated? Though, Lee does have a point there. And Rock and her friends are only after Lee. I do not want to get on their bad sides.'
Garibaldi responded, “I will keep that mind. Also, I suggest you set your PPG pistol to medium-low. A head shot from that setting with kill. But, a body shot will not. And that will give you twenty shots at that setting. And I will set my rifle to low, given it has more powerful shots.”
Lee replied, “Okay.” He mentally added, 'That is good to know. And he is getting a PPG rifle. He likely wants to have the option of having a strong punch to his shots, if he needs it. And he might, against those boomers.'
Garibaldi inquired, “Still, are you sure PPG rounds will hurt these boomers?”
Lee answered, “They should. These killer machines are designed to take projectile and laser hits. They are not designed to take plasma hits, like from our PPGs. And their nervous systems are similar to humans. So, they should go down after a few shots. But, aim for the head. We cannot take chances.”
Garibaldi replied, “I can follow that logic.”
Lee stated, “Good. Now, here is my plan. We get two electrical extension cords, first. Then please, lead me to the eastern stairwell. When we are finished there, we will come back for the automated machine guns. Two for the room. And finally the third tripod in the hallway. I will get the third one, myself, while you manually close the barricade doors leading to the lab.”
“We will use one PPG machine gun being the last line of defense for that on the west side of the hallway, against the machines. And we will handle the humans ourselves. If they reach us, before we are gone.”
Garibaldi thought, 'Not bad.' He replied, “Good plan. Now, let's get our weapons.”
Lee said, “Fine with me.”
Lee reached over, on the left side, and he picked up two clip on holsters. He clipped one holster, on each side of his belt.
Lee then picked up one PPG pistol, and energy cap. He found the PPG pistol did not weight much, compared to the semi-automatic pistols he was use to. He set the crescent dial, on the right side, to medium-low. He then put the energy cap into the back of the pistol, and turned it a quarter turn to the right. He heard the hmm that lasted a second. Next, he looked on the left side set the rate of fire to single shot. Afterward, right side the fire selector, he turned off the safety. Finally, he carefully holstered the weapon in his right waist holster.
Lee did the same thing to another PPG pistol, and when that pistol was ready, he holstered it in his left waist holster.
Meanwhile, Garibaldi, picked up a PPG rifle. He set the weapon to medium-low, and the fire selector to single shot. He then picked up an energy cap, that had been on the row, below the row of rifles, and loaded the cap into the weapon. After he heard the hum for a second, of the weapon being primed, he turned the weapon to the right side, and turned off the safety. Finally, he slung the strap of the weapon, over his right shoulder.
Lee noticed that Garibaldi was ready, as he thought, 'Now, that I think about it, I better hedge my bets for later.' Lee then reached in front of Garibaldi, to the right side of the weapons locker, and he grabbed a combat knife, which was sheathed in a black leather scabbard. He tucked the scabbard end of his new knife in the back of his pants, under his coat, as he thought, 'Now, I am ready.'
Garibaldi noticed Lee do this, but he said nothing.
Lee turned to Garibaldi, as he requested, “Now, before we get the cords, and head to the eastern stairwell. I need to know where is the fire-hose near the eastern stairwell?”
Garibaldi looked over at Lee, as he answered, “The hose on that side of the floor is by the stairwell. The other hose on this floor is located by the western stairwell.”
Lee replied, “Good. That is perfect.”
Garibaldi said, “I think I know where you are going with this. And I think it is brilliant. Also, the closet with the electrical cords are this way. Also, there are plug outlets nearby the stairwell. Just follow me.”
Garibaldi quickly turned, and walked out of the room, and into the hallway, with Lee following him.
(_)
Two minutes later, Garibaldi had briskly lead Lee to the eastern stairwell.
They had already stopped by the hallway storage closet, and now, each man carried an orange, wrapped, hundred foot long, pronged, power-cord, on their left shoulder.
As they reached the shut door to the entrance to the eastern stairwell, on that floor, Lee drop coil of cords, onto the group. Garibaldi saw this, and he did that same.
Lee thought, 'Now, where is the fire-hose.' he quickly looked around, and he saw wall mounted box, with a windowed door, that had the fire hose, which was folder back and forth, on itself.
Lee thought, 'Good. There it is. And not a second to lose.' Lee turned to Garibaldi, as he requested, “Please, go unwrapped that fire hose, and bring it here.”
Garibaldi silently did as requested. He walked over, opened the glass and metal case, and unwrapped it.
Meanwhile, Lee walked over to the metal door to the stairwell, which was clearly marks as the eastern stairwell entrance.
Unlike this factory doors, the doors in the building, including the stairwell, had door knobs and hedges.
Lee opened the door, and looked in the stairwell.
He found the stairwell to be fairly well illuminated by the lights running along the walls.
As Lee looked around he thought, 'Good. Given the boomers on the west end of the complex. Rock's group will not likely risk going to the western stairwell, and risk facing both the boomers and the active defenses on that side of this place. Also, this trick will likely not work on the boomers. So, there is not point in trying it on the western stairwell. Besides, there are plenty of defenses on that side of the building.'
'And while I am fairly sure that Knight Sabers will be outside, fighting. One or two might accompany Rock's group, into the building, and up these very stairs.'
'Since, it is likely that most of the Knight Sabers will be busy dealing with the boomers outside, with their motoslaves. That does not mean all of them will be. And I can guess which Knight Saber will be coming in Rock's group. That being Nene, the combat hacker.'
'Rock will ask Nene to come along for the very fact she realizes she might need a hacker in the group. And by asking Nene, Rock can keep Benny and Janet out of the line of fire.'
'So, I need to plan accordingly.'
' Fortunately, this staircase is what I was hoping for. Stairs leading up in a square, clockwise, corkscrew, fashion. The steps have not holes in them, and are made of concrete. Also, the open space, in the middle is three feet, by three feet, square. Plenty of room to slide down a rope. But, it is too tight for a hardsuit to use their jumpjets. Or, someone to just attempt to jump up, with super-strength. So, they will have to take the stairs. Which will be very slippy, real soon.'
'Also, metal railings, that are connected, and running down the stairs, from around the center, are just what I need.'
'Since hardsuits are insulated, they are the only ones that will be able to come up here, first. With the rest of the group waiting for Nene, and maybe one other, reaching my trap, and disabling it. Then, the others will soon follow still. Doing it that way will take time from them, and buy us more time.'
'Now, to get back to work.'
Lee turned, and walked back further into the hallway. He saw that Garibaldi had brought the fire-hose over to him. With Garibaldi setting the end of fire-hose near the electrical cord, as he continued to unwind it.
Lee looked at the other man, as he said, “Good job. Now, just hold tight a moment. I will soon have a task for you. But, first I need to make sure I can do this.”
Garibaldi leaned back up straight. He looked at Lee, as he replied, “Okay.” He then walked over to a nearby wall, and leaned back on it, as his PPG rifle was slung on his right shoulder.
Lee quickly walked over to the cord he had dropped. He then sat down, and pulled out his new combat knife, from the back of his pants, with his left hand. Next he picked up the female plug end of his cord, with his right hand.
Lee was careful, as he first cut off the female end of the plug. He then stripped that end of the plug of its the orange, rubber, sheath down by around twenty feet.
When Lee finished, he saw three wires, in three separate rubber sheaths.
One blue wire. One red wire. And one green wire.
Lee thought, 'Well, green is universally ground. And since red is never used for common return, it has to be the hot wire. And blue is the common return. Also, that reminds me, I need to ask Garibaldi some things.'
Lee inquired, “Does this stairwell go to the ground floor? Or, to the basement?”
Garibaldi continued unwinding the hose, as he answered, “Ground floor. We have a separate set of stairs for the lower levels.”
Lee thought, 'That is better news than I had hoped. At least, the boomer dogs will not have a directly path here, on the western staircase.' He asked, “Okay. And what voltage is the AC electricity in this place?”
Garibaldi said, “Two twenty, with low amperage.”
Lee replied, “Thanks.” He thought, 'Okay. Two twenty is better than one twenty. And with the low amps. This trap will shock them. But, it will not likely kill them. Now, I will not need the ground, as I finish stripping the other two wires.'
Lee then cut the green wire to where the three colored wires went back into the sheath. He then stripped the red and blue wires, starting at the end of the exposed wires, by two feet.
When Lee finished, he looked up at Garibaldi, as he said, “Take the male end of your cord, and find a nearby plug, and plug it in. But, do not plug it into my power-cord.”
Garibaldi replied, “Okay. I will.” He turned and went to his power-cord, as he thought, 'Lee clearly has a plan. I might as well got along with it. But, we are burning time doing this. Also, I need to be careful to get my cord, and not Lee's, so I don't accidentally electrocute him.'
When Garibaldi reached the cord, he leaned down, and picked up the male end of his cord. He made sure it was his cord, and Lee's cord, so he wouldn't accidentally electrocute Lee.
Next, Garibaldi leaned back up, and walked to the nearest hallway wall socket he could find, as his cord unwrapped itself, behind him.
Meanwhile, Lee sheathed his knife, got up, and pulled the stripped part of his cord with himself, as he walked down to the stairwell. As he walked, his cord continued to unwind.
He carefully walked down a flight of stairs, he then bent down, and tied the red wire at the top of the corner railing, while making sure the wire touch the concrete. Lee got up, and walked down another flight of stairs, with the blue wire.
He then bent down, and tied the blue wide at the bottom of that corner railing, while making sure the wire was touching the concrete floor as well.
Lee stood up. As he made his way back up, he thought, 'At worst, I trip the breaker to just this small section. But, if my plan works, I will delay Rock's team for a little while.'
When Lee reached the hallway, he saw Garibaldi was standing there, by the doorway. With Garibaldi already plug in his cord.
Lee stepped to the side, to allow Garibaldi to see into the stairwell.
Garibaldi looked into the door, leading into the stairwell, and the wires there were inside he. He then turned to Lee. He commented, “Okay. I see you are building an electrical trap.”
Lee turned towards Garibaldi, as he stated, “Yes. I am. And this trap should work. Or, trip the breaker for this small part of the building. If it works, it will slow them down.”
Garibaldi asked, “I agree. It is worth the risk. How long until you are done?
Lee replied, “A minute. Maybe less. All we need to do now, deals with the fire-hose, and the electrical cord.”
Garibaldi pointed out, in a calm tone of voice, “Well hurry. We have a lot to do.”
Lee then walked over to the end of the fire-hose that was connected to the wall.
He then let the hose slide through his hands, to his right side, with the hose both sliding in his hands, while being guided in the direction he was taking it. Lee continued doing this until he ended the stairwell. He then set the hose continued to slide in his hand, as he took it down a flight of stairs.
When Lee reached bottom corner, of that flight of stairs, where it turned, Lee pulled out his knife, and cut the hose, completely part, at that point. He then sheathed his knife. Next, he then leaned over, as the position, the part of the hose, that was still connected to the wall, to where the opening was hose was set right behind the exposed red wire, and pointed down the next flight of stair, where blue wires, several steps down.
After which, he picked up the loose peace of hose, leaned up, and pulled the loss hose back up with him, to the hallway he had just come from.
Lee walked by Garibaldi, as he dropped the loose hose. He went over to the box the fire-hose had been in, with that end of the hose still connected to the shutoff valve, in the box.
Lee then turned the small wheel, a full turn. He heard the water moving through the hose, as he though, 'All I want is just need a steady flow. I don't need, nor want to turn it all the way on.'
Next, Lee walked back over to the stairwell. He saw the water was just gushing out of the host, and down the stairs, with enough water to wet the entirety of each step, and corner, as it went down to the ground floor.
When Lee reached the hallway, Garibaldi was waiting for Lee, in the same place he had been before. By the door to the stairwell.
But, Lee saw that during his absence, Garibaldi had retrieved the female end of the uncut power-cord.
Garibaldi held the female end of the electrical cord he had just plugged in, in his right hand.
Garibaldi commented, “I take it you are going to need this.”
Lee came to a stop a stop by Garibaldi. He looked at Garibaldi. Gave Garibaldi a warm smile, as he complimented, “I enjoy working with competent people that can see when a plan is coming together. And whom know what I am going to need next in my plans, before I have to make a request.”
Garibaldi turned Lee's smile, as he replied, “Same here.”
Lee gently took the female end of Garibaldi’s cord with his right hand.
Lee then bend over, and picked up the male end of his cord, with his left hand.
Lee leaned back up straight. He looked over Garibaldi, whom was looking back at him.
Lee said, “Now, the moment of truth.”
Lee plugged both cords together. After a few seconds of nothing happened to the lighting, Lee commented, “I guess it work.”
Garibaldi stated, “Either way, we have other work to do. Let's do the tripods next.”
Lee agreed, “You're right.”
Garibaldi then turned and started heading back towards the lab.
Meanwhile, Lee dropped the plugged in cords to the floor, and he followed Garibaldi to the lab.
As they walked back to the lab, Lee looked at his watch, and he saw they has spent ten minutes doing all that.
While they walked, Lee thought, 'To much time was spent doing this. We have to hurry.'
(_)
A minute later, they reach the lab, and the weapons locker.
Lee silently watched as Garibaldi pulled out one of the PPG automated machine guns.
Lee pulled out one of the weapons the same way Garibaldi did so.
Lee held the PPG machine gun in his hands, while keeping the barrel of the weapon facing away from Garibaldi and Bernard. He thought, 'These things are not that heavy. Just big. Though, I will have to be careful, when handling them.'
Lee then noticed Bernard, at the island, in the back of the room, has he was still putting the reality device back together.
Lee thought, 'Please, finished before they get here.'
Lee turned to Garibaldi.
Lee watched as Garibaldi to his PPG machine gun and brought it to the center of the room, between the island and the large windows.
Garibaldi then set the tripod and machine gun, with the barrel of the weapon facing the window.
Lee even noticed Garibaldi lean down and push buttons on a panel on the left side of the stock of the weapon. While making sure he stay behind the weapon.
Lee did the same thing. As he set the tripod mounted weapon down, beside the other weapon, to Lee's left, while facing the window. Lee pointed the barrel towards the windows. Next, he leaned down, pressed the same buttons on the left side of the stock, of the weapon he was setting up.
As Lee leaned up, he saw both weapons were fifteen feet away from the window, five feet from the island, behind them, and side by side. The two automated weapons also had a clear field of fire to the large windows.
Lee then noticed Garibaldi standing next to him, as the older man silently watched Lee set up his PPG machine gun.
Garibaldi asked, “Any problems?”
Lee answered, “No. But, I am concerned these weapons might harm anyone that came in, after we escape.”
Garibaldi explained, “Not to worry. Given you do not want to shoot the humans after us. The settings on those buttons I set are so the weapons will not shoot humans. Though, there is a setting for not shooting humans and aliens. But, I am not taking any chances the sensors might accidentally decide to not fire on the boomers coming after us.”
Lee said, “That is a good call.”
Garibaldi responded, “Thanks for the vote of confidence. Now, they way the system works is that the weapons have three forms of sensors. A standard camera with pattern recognition for shapes and colors. Like human shapes, and normal human skin tones. A motion sensor. And a heat sensor with pattern recognition for shapes, and heat signatures.”
“Any two of the heat signatures, shapes, or colors, that does not line up with human, will be fired upon. Otherwise, it should not fire. My company makes these weapons. And this safety system is a wonderful selling point. Also, the local police and military does not use thermo-camoflage gear, as a standard practice, so these weapons should not fire on them.”
“There is also two other safety features. Unless otherwise set, if it sees a human in the line of fire, it stops firing. It has pressure points on the bottom of the tripod. If the tripod is moved, or the weapon is picked up. The weapon locks, and cannot be manual used, unless its systems are reset. So, if the weapon is knocked on its side, it will not automatically fire.”
“Still, these weapons are great for holding a choke point. They are able to turn, and pivot on all points, from their base. Thus being able to lock on the target, and fire within less than two seconds. With a rate of accurate, sustained fire that is almost unmatched for any weapon of its type and size.”
Lee thought, with amusement, 'I swear. I think he is giving me the sales pitch, in the hopes I buy one, later. Still, I love working with a man who comes prepared. And I think it is best I don't mention that boomers' fusion system. With them fusing other electronics and weapons, to their bodies and using them. Including, firearms. We are already in a stressful enough situation, as is. I don't want to add to that.'
Lee stated, “Good. Now, please start closing the barricade doors. While, I will get the third PPG machine gun ready. I will wait to turn it on, until you get back... Just in case.”
Garibaldi replied, “Okay.” He then turned, and rushed out of the room.
Meanwhile, Lee went back to the weapons locker.
As soon as Garibaldi left the room, at the island table, Bernard did not looked up from his work, as he casually asked, “Lee, who are you really?”
Lee did not turn to the other man, as he cracked a grin. He thought, 'I guess it makes sense that you want to ask that question, when your boss is out of earshot.' He coyly answered, “A man out of time and space, in so many ways... Now, please get back to work.”
Bernard chuckled, as he continued working on putting back together Lee's reality device.
(_)
A minute later, as Lee carried the third, and final PPG machine gun with him, into the hallway, he saw Garibaldi walked passed him, and towards the west end of the floor.
Lee turned towards the west end of the hallway, as he saw the last set of double barricade doors had closed behind Garibaldi.
Lee did not let this distract him, as he walked over and set the tripod mounted weapon up, about ten feet from the western barricade door.
Lee thought, 'That was quick. But then, with our asses on the line. We have to be quick. Also, those doors shut quietly.'
Nearly a minute later, just as Lee finished setting the weapon up, on its tripod, with the end of its barrel facing twenty feet from the western barricade door, he heard footsteps approaching him, from behind.
Lee turned around to see Garibaldi walking up to him.
Behind Garibaldi, Lee saw the nearest eastern barricade doors were shut tight.
Lee mentally noted, 'That last eastern set of doors is less than ten feet from entrance to the lab. This is literally spitting distance from where I plan to take cover from behind that island. That is way too close to have a firefight with those expert gunslingers.'
'And I will not have to lean out the door, to keep them at bay. But, I better hope either, Bernard gets my reality device fixed, beforehand. Or, they arrive just as the boomers do, from the west side of the building. Or, we are screwed. Because, I am pretty sure we will not be able to hold off the boomers for long, either.'
'Still, I better finish with this weapon, so I can talk with Garibaldi.'
Lee quickly bent down behind the weapon, and he punched the buttons on the stock.
As Lee leaned back up, Garibaldi reached him.
Garibaldi stated, “That is the last set barricade doors. I cannot think of any thing else we can do.”
Lee said, “I agree.”
Garibaldi mentioned, “You know. This situation reminds me of an old sci-fi horror movie, from your time period. It was simply titled, Aliens. The sequel to the movie, Alien.”
Lee thought, with concerned, 'Why did he have to mention that movie, by name?!... Considering those horrors exist in the multiverse, I don't even want to think about them. Just like the works of Lovecraft. I just don't want to think about those creatures, either. But, that movie does point out some problems we might have.'
Lee deadpanned, “Yea. The director's cut. Where the automatic defenses hold off the monsters for a while.”
Garibaldi responded, “Yes. I like movies where it is soldiers versus monsters. Been there. Done that myself. Usually, the soldiers win, as long as they have the firepower, manpower, and they know what they are dealing with, beforehand.”
Lee agreed, “Yes. The only monster movies I respect are the ones were the people set against the monster are armed with gun, or some other time of firearm, they know to properly use.”
Garibaldi said, “I agree.”
Lee suggested, “Well, if you like those types of movies, I suggest you track down the movie, Dog Soldiers. British Soldiers versus werewolves.”
Garibaldi replied, with mild amusement in his tone of voice, “Seen it. And it is a good movie. Though, it is a bit dated.”
Lee shrugged, as he said, “Well, for you, it would be. Me, on the other hand. No. I found soldiers versus werewolves to be cooler than werewolves versus vampires, and soldiers versus alien monsters.”
Garibaldi commented, “I can see your point. And I have personally face things far worse than any of those types of monsters.”
Lee calmly stated, “You are one of the few people that can honestly make that claim. Still, the movie you first mentioned does raise a few questions with our situation. Such as, the characters in that movie did not take into account the ventilation in both above and below them, in their siege. Do we have to worry about our ventilation ducks?”
Garibaldi answered, “No. The ventilation ducks are to small to get into.”
Lee responded, “Good. Still, should we be concerned if the killing machines might break through ceiling? Or floor?”
Garibaldi stated, “The floors and ceilings of this building are made of concrete that is reinforced with titanium bars, in a lattice work. If they try to come through the floor, or ceiling, we will hear them them long before they even start to make it onto our floor.”
Lee inquired, “Okay. Do these walls have any metal in them, to prevent people form just busting through the walls?”
Garibaldi answered, “Yes. Two centimeter thick, vertical, titanium bars, set every twenty centimeters in the walls. As rich as he was. William Edgars could not afford solid metal reinforced concrete walls, for a fortress this size.” He thought, 'And I have been updating it, ever sense I became CEO of this place.'
Lee said, “Okay. We can still work with that. And it is unfortunate that PPG rounds don't go through walls.”
Garibaldi inquired, “Why is that?”
Lee commented, “Because those that are after me use guns which use bullets that will go through walls.”
Garibaldi calmly replied, “I will keep that in mind.” He thought, 'That is a very good point. I have to keep in mind that those coming for us use a wider, and more dangerous, variety of weapons than I have experience defending against, in a close quarters gunfight.'
Lee responded, “Good. Now, let's head back to the lab and wait for the storm, while hoping you employee can finish the job, before this shit storm fully hits up.”
Garibaldi inquired, “Yes. Let's hope so. By the way, I noticed something about you, Lee, that I need to ask you about. For a guy who is dying, and facing an army of pissed off, badass women, you seem pretty happy?”
Lee smirked, as he stated, “I am probably the happiest dead man walking person you will ever meet. Given I am in the late stages of cancer and I have a badass army breathing down my neck. I know that more than likely I am going to die one way or another.”
“But, I have broken through the realities. I have defeated my enemies time and again. I had proven to myself that anything is possible. And so what if my body is about to die? I still have my soul. I know reincarnation is real. The possibilities for myself are still wide open. I honestly look forward to what role I will have in my next human incarnation. So, there is no reason for me to worry about the long term. I just have to make it through the short term.”
Garibaldi complimented, “That is a good way to look at your situation.”
Lee replied, “Thank you.” Lee then turned and started walking towards the lab door, with Garibaldi following right behind him.
(_)
A few seconds later, as they walked into the lab, Lee turned to Bernard, as he asked, “How is it coming?”
Bernard did not look up, as he responded, “Slowly be surely.”
Lee sarcastically thought, 'That response does not fill me with confidence. But, I need to know how much time was have left?'
Lee looked at his wrist watch. It stated ten twenty-nine AM.
Garibaldi noticed this, as he inquired, “How much time do we have left?”
Lee looked up and towards Garibaldi, as he answered, “By your estimation, about ten to twenty minutes.”
Garibaldi said, “Okay. So we do have a few minutes.” He turned towards the interior wallscreen monitor, by the open hallway door.
Lee noticed this, and he turned in the same direction as Garibaldi.
Garibaldi stated, “I suggest we see what the others after us are doing.”
Both men then walked over to the wallscreen. Garibaldi quickly changed the monitor to show a four was split screen, with four different camera feeds.
Garibaldi then used his fingers to page through all four feeds, very quickly, until he found what he wanted to watch, on what was going outside of their floor.
Lee and Garibaldi then saw something happen on one of the feeds, that made Garibaldi said, “Well, that is interesting.”
Lee commented, “I guess we don't have to worry about those boomer dogs anymore.”
Garibaldi agreed, “Yes. Let us count our blessings.”
Nearby, Bernard continued working, as he said, in a humorous tone of voice, “Amen to that.”
Lee looked over at Garibaldi, as he complimented, “That is what one more thing I like about you Garibaldi. You hire people with a sense of humor.”
Nearby, as he continued working, Bernard cracked a smile over Lee's comment.
Garibaldi looked over at Lee, as he responded, “Yea. Having those around me with a sense of humor, helps keep me sane.”
Lee replied, “I agree. That can help.”
Garibaldi offered, “Since we got a few minutes to kill, anything you would like to talk about?”
Lee cracked a grin, as he answered, “Matthew... Babylon Five Station... Wicked burn...”
Garibaldi smiled, as he questioned, “He mentioned that to you?”
Lee answered, “You would be surprised what people would say when they are running for their life, for the very first time.”
Garibaldi shrugged, as he casually said, “Actually, I would not be suprised. I have seen it first hand. And, given how wild that story is, I don't think you would believe me... On second though, given the screwy situation we are in, you likely would. But, it is not something I would talk about while sober.”
Lee guessed, “And since you are a recovering alcoholic, I am never going to find out what happened, during that event, from you?”
Garibaldi responded, “Exactly. Though, from what Matthew told me, it was very funny, and very strange. But, you will not get me to gossip about my own personnel.”
Lee thought, 'I have to admit, that is a good policy for Garibaldi to take.' He conceded, “Fair enough.”
Garibaldi mentioned, “Still, you might someday get the story from Matthew. But, I suggest you don't ask him about it. He was a good friends with that journalist of his. And talking about brings of a lot of mixed feelings for him. Concerning he has not seen his journalist friend in years.”
Lee said, “You have a point there. And I will respect his privacy.”
Garibaldi inquired, “Good. So, have you been in any battles before.”
Lee admitted, “Only a few gunfights.” He thought, 'Of which, happened last night.'
Garibaldi commented, “Well then, you are about to get a real taste of war. So, don't lose your nerve.”
Lee flatly said, “Don't worry. I won't. Also, believe it, or not. I try to avoid violence.”
Garibaldi responded, “After last night's chase though Mars Dome One, I believe you. And since you kept calm throughout that entire situation, I am not afraid of you going to pieces in the coming firefight.”
Lee replied, “Thank you.”
Garibaldi said, “Your welcome.”
The two men then turned back to look at the video feeds from the wallscreen monitor.
A few seconds later, Garibaldi noticed something on one of the camera feeds, as he commented, “Well, it looks like your electrical trap is working.”
Lee said, “Yes. Now, let's see how long it takes them to get through it.”
Garibaldi suggested, “Want to bet on it?”
Lee replied, “Nah. That would be a bad way to jinx the situation.”
Garibaldi said, “Agreed.”
Both men then went back to watching the camera feeds, as nearby, Bernard continued working on rebuilding Lee's reality device.
(_)
Roughly twenty minutes ago, a few hundred yards outside the east gate of the Edgars Industries Headquarters.
The others saw Rock quite fold up her cellphone, and pocket it. Though, they could see from the look on her face that she was not happy.
Rock mentally cursed, 'Damn! I can not believe Lee would put us into this situation. And that arrogant bastard also had the audacity to thrown my own words in my face.'
Rock then forced herself to calm down, as she continued her thoughts, 'Still, Lee was right about what he said, concerning my homeland. I can never go back to my homeland. Also, he was correct that I never told anyone about that. And though his words on that subject bought me no real comfort, he did make a few good points.'
'In addition, he stated the exact fingerprint and placement of the fingerprint. And that he correctly guessed that Dutch and Revy taught me how to use a gun, and proper gun safety. Which is kind of obvious that they would have done so, given the line of work we use to be in. With those two giving me some interesting gun lessons.'
'And these are also reminders of how Lee's mind works, when it comes to the details.'
Rock then cracked a grin, as she thought, in a more happy manner, 'I wish we could play this type of game, between I and Lee, under less serious stakes. Because it is clearly so much fun for both of us to do this. Due to us both enjoying such challenges.'
Meanwhile, among those near Rock were Aeryn and Violin.
To pass the time, the retired veteran, Sebacean soldier was doing the final checks on her pulse burster, when she noticed that Rock had finished her conversation on her cellphone. Aeryn looked up at Rock, and saw that her current leader went from being unhappy, to cracking a smile.
Aeryn inquired, in a firm tone of voice, “Rock, what is going on?”
Nearby, Violin over heard her wife, as she looked over at Rock, she thought, 'I think I will keep quiet and, for once, listen. Because, I am not real sure what the best way to handle this situation either... Besides, given my super-strength, speed, and durability, if I speak up, I might end up of getting volunteered into fighting those boomers with my bare hands. And I have no interest in doing so.'
Inside Violin head, Harvey commented, 'That is what I like about you, John. You still know when it is good time to back away.'
Violin mentally responded, 'But, with our luck, we are going to get sucked into this battle, one way, or another.'
Harvey mentally suggested, 'Then, we need to volunteer for something that does not put us on the front lines. Before we are assigned to the front line.'
Violin mentally complimented, 'Good idea.'
At that moment, Rock looked over at Aeryn, as she asked, in a calm tone of voice, “You heard the question, I asked Shenhua and Sawyer about, concerning the boomers?”
Aeryn answered, “Yes. Though, I admit I was not fully paying attention to the conversation.” She mentally added, 'I figured you would brief us before we moved out.'
Rock said, “Well, in the past, Revy and her team members, that worked for Chang, during their time in the Tower, sent an entire army of combat and battle boomers after Garibaldi. And they are attacking the other side of the this complex, right now. If we want to capture Lee, alive and relatively unharmed, we are going to have to slow down that army of boomers, on the other side of this place. While another group goes in and gets him.”
Aeryn shrugged, as she responded, “With this group, that should not be a problem. But, I wonder why Lee has not escaped, yet?”
Rock said, “I am not sure.” She mentally added, 'Even Lee is not arrogant to stick around just to inflate his ego. He knows how dangerous boomers are. He is not going to intentionally get himself into a situation, with him caught in the crossfire, between us and the boomers. Also, he has tried not to kill us, and instead, he resorted to running and using nonlethal means when he confronted us.'
'That means that the reality device he stole from me, might not be working. Or, he doesn't have it. And there is a quick way to check.'
Rock then reached down, and she grabbed the infrared binoculars that were hanging by a cord, around the her neck, with the binoculars resting on her chest, right below her breasts.
Rock then held the binoculars up to her eyes, with both hands. And she looked the binoculars towards the top of the center tower of Edgars Industries Headquarters.
She saw, on the sixty-eighth floor, two heat signatures, which Rock could tell were men. With both men heading towards the some elevators.
Rock that, 'So, Lee and Garibaldi are heading somewhere...'
She then looked eight floors down, to the sixty-first floor, where the group had previously spotted the only other personal in the building. And Rock could make out the person was a man as well.
Rock thought, 'And the two of them are probably heading to this other guy we saw earlier. I admit that none of us paid much attention to him. I now believe that was a mistake.'
Rock used her binoculars to zoom in on the man, and she saw that the man was in what looked like a researcher lab. The man was leaning down, over an island table, working on something.
Rock mentally guessed, 'From the look of the way the man is moving his arms, and hands. And he clearly using tools that infrared is not picking up. I would guess he has likely taken something apart, and he is studying it. And what is the item that Garibaldi would keep someone here to study, while sending everyone else away?... My stolen reality device...'
Rock's lips curled into a wicked grin, as she continued her thoughts, 'Meaning Lee does not have the reality device on him, and he was stalling, until he can get to it. But, I would bet money, that he does not know the device has been taken apart. And that is going to be a fun surprise for him to learn.'
'I wish I had realized this, when we first looked at that building with our equipment. And before Lee hung up on me.'
'I should have known that other guy would not be here, unless Garibaldi had him doing something important. Such, as study the reality device. I could have used this as leverage against Lee. Lee might have surrendered to us, if we called his bluff, and informed him the reality device was taken apart. And he would have believed me. Because I would tell the truth on such an important situation.'
'Lee knows that I prefer honesty in my negotiating tactics... Oh well, that is in the past. Now, we just need to get to him, and the others, before the boomers do.'
Aeryn noted that Rock had been looking through her binoculars for several seconds. She inquired, “What do you see?
Rock heard Aeryn's question, and she thought, 'I think it is best I not tell the others that the reality device Lee has is not working. That will just make them rush in faster. And we need level heads in this situation, or someone is going to get seriously hurt, or kills.'
Rock removed her binoculars from her eyes, and allowed them to drop back down, to her chest. She turned to Aeryn, as she answered, “Lee and Garibaldi are on the move. They are heading for the heading for the sixty-first floor, where the other heat signature showed a person being in the building.”
Nearby, Revy overheard this, as she turned to Rock and Aeryn. She commented, “Well, it figures that Lee would want to try to help everyone he can, get clear, before he escapes.”
Rock mentally conceded, 'That is a good excuse. But, I am still sticking to the reality device not working theory.' She turned to Revy, as she said, “Perhaps. But, either way, it is now a race to get to Lee.”
Revy smirked, “I have always loved races.”
Rock quipped, “Except in bed.”
Aeryn giggled at Rock's joke, for a few seconds.
Revy took Rock's joke in stride, as she commented, “What can I say? In enjoy foreplay.”
Rock shrugged, as she said, “I know. So do I. Still, I need a minute to think of a plan.”
Revy complimented, “Go ahead. You have a flair for thinking outside the box.”
Rock replied, “Thank you.”
Rock looked back at the tall, center tower of the headquarters in front of her, as she thought, 'Now, to come up with plan. While taking into account Lee's point of view, and possible plans that Lee may come up with to slow us down, and buy time. Because, once he learns the reality device is not working, he is going to use ever stalling tactic he can, short of using lethal towards us. And except for the maids, and the Bebop crew, last night. We have been playing softball with getting him. And he has returned the favor.'
'Still, he will do all this to buy time for that man working on repairing the device. I know Lee was intentionally vague on how reality devices work. Because even he does not know how they work. While we do. And we are going to keep that a secret. So, he will employ the next best thing, and have the guy that took apart the device, put it back together again. All in the hopes that it will still work.'
'And if the device still is not working, when the researcher is finish. In all likelihood, Lee will surrender himself, and the others to us, before he allows the boomers to get him, and the others.'
'But, I am not going to gamble that the device will not work. I am going to go from the point of view that it will work. And that we are working under that time limit, along with the race to get to him, Garibaldi, and the researcher, before the boomers do.'
'And if Lee escapes into the multiverse again. I have no idea where he will go. Though, I am sure, given he is crazier than we are... Never thought, in my entire life that I would say that about someone, considering the crew I run with... Though, taking his insanity into account, he will likely go to a location that we will not immediately follow him to. Because we will consider that location too dangerous to go to.”
'In addition, given the boomers are after Garibaldi, Lee will convince Garibaldi will be going with him. Which would likely not be that hard. And this means that Lee will have a savvy badass with him, to assist and aid him. That will only makes the situation more difficult in catching Lee.'
'So, we must catch Lee here, or we may never get another chance at catching Lee, again.'
'Though, I have gotten to the point, I have no serious hard feeling towards Lee. He has played this game well. And while what he did to us, in his writings was wrong. Eda and River are right. He didn't realize what he was doing at the time would effect real people. Plus, he has always been polite to us. And given Annie likes him, that means his manners towards all of us are genuine.'
'Yes. I want to punish him for what he has done to us. But, like I told him. I intend for his punishment to be something he will survive and recover from. And I would do my best to keep my promise. And I think I could get Chang, River, and Annie, to help me keep that promise. Given Chang and River agree that Lee needs to be punished. And while Annie just thinks Lee needs to be left alone. She will go along with the other two, if it helps Lee in the long term.'
'And I don't I blame Lee for using the situation of having two groups coming for him and Garibaldi, at the same time, to his advantage. And we both know that the presence of a small army of boomers, scrubs our full on assault plans. But, that does not mean we are going to just cut Lee loose, just yet.'
'I will just send in a smaller team. But, they will have to go in from the inside, from the bottom. If I try to have the girls teleport to the top, and scale that building from the outside, the boomers might see them, and snipe them at a distance. I just cannot take that risk.'
'Also, we know for a fact, from the infrared equipment, and our research this morning of the Edgars headquarters, that the top to floors of that main building is the Garibaldi private home. And I don't want to know what traps Michael might have in those two floors. So, they are going to have to go in from the bottom, and work their way up. Using the stairs. Because the elevators are too risky.'
'The only reason we did not hack the elevators was the it might make Lee and Garibaldi both even more unpredictable and dangerous. But, I am sure Lee will soon do something to elevators, to stop us, and the boomers, from using them. While using the elevators to his advantage.'
'Along with this, Lee likely already has plans to deal with us, and the boomers separately. And he has already probably guessed we will take the stairs closest to us, and he will do something to slow us down that way. And what he has in mind for the boomers will likely be very destructive towards the boomers that come after them.'
'Fortunately, we know where they are heading. And those I have in mind for the team going after Lee, Garibaldi, and that other person, will not get easily winds by climbing those started. Still, that is going to eat time. And time is the only thing that Lee needs right now. Not that I can do much about it at the moment. Because my primary consider is to not get anyone I care about, killed. Lee is actually a secondary objective.
where the are going.'
'But first, before we go after into that building, we are going to need another team to slow those boomers down. Otherwise, this mission would be suicide mission.'
By then, all of those presents had been informed by each other, that Rock was finally going to come up with a plan to capture Lee. And they had already turned their attention towards Rock.
Revy asked, “Had enough time for a plan?”
Rock looked over at Revy, as she replied, “Yea.”
Revy casually questioned, “Good. Given this is my screw up, what are we going to do, Rock? I know we are going in. But, I want to know how you want to play this. Even I admit those boomers are too dangerous, not play this carefully.”
Rock thought, 'What a minute, since this is the Hell Sabers fault, I wonder?' Rock asked, “Revy, since you and your other team members are the ones that sent the boomers. It is possible those boomers will not attack you, or the other members?”
Revy stated, “No. They will attack me and anyone else, with deadly force, in the target area. Which I believe is the complex itself. In the field, we used IFF devices to make sure the boomers would not attack us, and list us as friendly. There were two located in our hardsuits, and one on our person. Chang liked to be prepared. And before you ask, I doubt any of us have ours. My is back home, in a drawer, somewhere in our bedroom.”
Rock thought, 'IFF. Identification, friend or foe system. It is a simple system to use, and makes sense for Chang to have used it. Unfortunately, the combinations to the codes are too complex to break right now, in time, to help. So, back to my original plan.'
Rock responded, “Okay. In that case, before we go in, we need another team to slow those boomers down.” She turned to Sylia, whom was nearby, as she requested, “Sylia, I know how much the Knight Sabers want to capture Lee. But, your group is best equipped to stop those boomers. Or, at least slow them down.”
In her white hardsuit, with her helmet on, and face plate down, Sylia had been silently listening to the conversation between Rock, Revy, and Aeryn. Sylia turned to directly face Rock, Revy, and Aeryn, as she calmly agreed, “You are correct. What do you have in mind?”
Rock stated, “A classic flanking move. Go around to the other side of the building, and attack their flank.”
Sylia said, “That will not be a problem.”
Aeryn held up her pulse burster as she requested, “I would like to go, as well. I did not bring this thing around just to stand back and watch. Still, the pulse burster is not a close quarters weapon. It is better when used out in the open.”
Violin mentally grumbled, 'I hate being right.'
Harvey mentally replied, 'Ah, don't worry. If we time this right, we can still make this work for us.'
Rock thought, 'If Aeryn was a guy, I would think she was bringing that weapon along because she was trying to compensate for something. Maybe, she is actually doing that, right now. But, I am not crazy enough to say that out loud. And I have a feeling that weapon is probably more destructive then it appears. Though, Sylia will have to have the find word.'
Rock said, “Since Sylia will be the one leading this mission, it is ultimately her call.”
Rock, Aeryn, and Violin then turned to Sylia.
Sylia asked two seemingly innocent questions, “It depends. What combat skills do you have? And how much battlefield experience have you had?
Violin spoke up, “Don't ask. It would take her literally all day to answer those questions.”
Sylia looked over at Aeryn, and Aeryn just simply shrugged, in response.
Sylia turned to Violin, as she questioned, “And you are?”
Violin answered, “Violin Cephon Shinmyou Crichton, the reincarnation of John Crichton. This is my wife, Aeryn Sun Crichton.”
Sylia responded, “Ah, you are that reincarnation from Lee's stories. And you are both originally from the Farscape reality. Good series.”
Violin and Aeryn replied, in unison, “Thank you.”
Sylia thought, 'It took me a moment to recognize them. While John, or should I say, Violin is the most dangerous of the two. As John, Violin was responsible for some very, very destructive actions. And as Violin, and part alien super-soldier biology, she also now has the physical abilities to back up her intelligence and creativity.'
'Though, now that I recall. Last night, Lee warned Violin not to fight us. That was very wise of him.'
'And Violin has clearly not spoken up, until now, because she realizes how dangerous this mission is. And she does not want to end of fighting the boomers, herself. I cannot blame her for that.'
'As for Aeryn. She is a good foot solider. And with that weapon, we could make use of her. But, she will have to be careful.'
Sylia stated, “In which case, you may come. But, I am not sure how we can transport you. I am planning to fly and hit them hard at point blank range. But, without powerarmor, I don't feel it would be safe for you to come with us, in that manner. Both the boomers and the complex's defenses would be too dangerous for you to be that close to the battle. I would prefer for you to cover us from a distance.”
Aeryn calmly said, “I agree with your assessment.”
Sylia thought, with relief, 'It is so enjoyable to deal with such reasonable people. Still, we do have a problem with getting her there.'
Violin thought, 'Now, is my chance.' She stated, “We can use one of our reality devices to teleport to the west side, on the outside of the complex, beyond the gate. Away from the boomers. The boomers have already likely broke through the concrete walls surrounding this place. And made it into the courtyard of the complex.”
“We will use that opening to fire into the complex, towards the boomers flank, as Rock suggested. And because we will be outside the perimeter of the complex, it is very likely the defenses will not target us. Or, at least the defenses that are still standing on that side of the headquarters.”
“And as my wife here, kicks ass and takes names, I will stand guard, by her, in case a boomer does show up, unexpectedly. With that boomer being too close to us, for her weapon to use her weapon safely.”
Sylia asked, “Do you think you can handle fighting a boomer?”
Violin honestly admitted, “I doubt Winona, my pulse pistol, is not going to do much against those things. But, I can take one or two of this boomers down, at once, with my bare hands. Though, I really do not want to test that theory.”
Sylia thought, 'Neither Aeryn, nor Violin are idiots. They clearly taking this situation very seriously.' She complimented, “Wise thinking. Aeryn, you will provide artillery support, while Violin guards you. But, I want you to both to wait until three minutes until after we start our attack, before you join in. So, we are the first to draw their attention.”
Sylia mentally added, 'This way, I will not have to worry about Aeryn. And it will be one less problem for me to deal with, in the coming battle.'
Violin said, “Sure.”
Aeryn's lips curled into wicked grin, as she replied, “No problem.”
Inside Violin's mind, Harvey complimented, 'You volunteered for the task that keeps you off the front lines, but allows you to protect Aeryn. Without your wife taking offense to you doing so. Good job.'
Violin mentally said, 'Thank you.'
Revy commented, “Speaking of defenses. How many hits do you think you hardsuits can take from the lasers and other weapons in that base, before you go down?”
Sylia looked at Revy, as she thought, 'As loath as I am to admit. She has hardsuit experience. And it is a good question.” She responded, “That is a good point. And our hardsuits can probably take a few laser blasts. Though, I doubt that will be a problem. The boomers have likely already destroyed most of the outside defense grid on that side of the building.”
Aeryn agreed, “True. But, it is nice to think ahead.”
Revy replied, “Thank you.”
Sylia thought, 'I like the way this woman thinks. I think my team, and her, will work together well. And I might as well tell them...' She commented, “Also, my team and I are trained to avoid being hit. We like to stay mobile as much as possible.”
Revy responded, “I can appreciate that.” She mentally added, 'Considering, that is how I like to fight, as well.'
Rock had been listening to the conversation. She thought, 'Good. That is settled. Now, to handle the next part of my plan.' She turned to Balalaika and B, as he stated, “Balalaika, B. Please. I need you to keep your sniper rifles at the ready, so you can cover the main tower, and keep those boomers from scaling that building. I know you can only cover this side, along with the north and south side. And that the building is a fair distance from here. But, do you think you can take out those boomers with your weapons?”
Balalaika and B both heard Rock, as they turned to face her.
The two russian women unslung their sniper rifles. Balalaika state, “While I know we can hit them from her. I am not sure we can penetrate their armor from this distance.”
Rock thought, 'I think it is best that I ask no more from these two. Also, I am tempted to ask those two to go with the team I am going to put together, to enter the building. But, with both of them pregnant, that is not an option.'
Rock said, “That will be fine.” She then turned back to Sylia, as she request, “Sylia, if we have problems with boomers on this side of the complex, we may have to contact you for assistance.”
Sylia stated, “That should not be a problem. And I shall also keep a watchful eye on the west side of the main building.”
Rock replied, “Good.”
Meanwhile, Balalaika and B walked closer a little closer to the headquarters. Until, the rest of the group were at least ten feet behind both of them. Then, as they stood side by side, with Balalaika being to B's right side, they both got into kneeling positions, beside each other, as they uncovered the caps covering the front of back optics of their PSO-1 scopes, on their SVD Dragunov sniper rifles.
Then, they brought their rifles to their right shoulders, as they looked threw their scopes, at the main tower building of the complex.
Due to the fact they were being asked to cover a distance that was further than their sniper rifles were designed for, meant they had to be as steady as possible. The most steadiest position for using a rifle was in the laying down, on the stomach, in a prone position. With the standing position being the most unsteady.
But, because they pregnant to the point their stomachs started to show. And they did not want to lay on their stomachs. Along with them having to look at an upwards angle, the prone position would not work for them. So, they took the kneeling position. With one knee on the ground, and the other leg being crouched, with the foot flatly on the ground. And because they were using their right shoulders to place the butt of their weapons against, it was their left knees they placed on the ground, near their right foot, that was also placed squarely on the ground.
The two lovers then began their vigil, to watch for any boomers that may try to scale the outside building, from the three sides the couple could cover from their vantage point.
Revy looked over at Rock, as she smirked. She stated, “Babe, it doesn't take a genius to figure out who you are going to appoint to lead the team going inside.”
Rock turned back to Revy, as she said, “You're right, Revy. You are the one that is going to lead the team going inside.”
Meanwhile, everyone had been attention to conversation being held between Rock, and those she was talking with, on dealing with the current situations. And there were a few groans among those in the crowd that had heard of Revy's appointment as leader of the team going in.
Revy looked around her friends, and allies, as she barked, “Hey!”
The groans quickly silenced.
Revy then turned back to Rock, as she said, “Thank you, Rock. Though, who do you have in mind to come with me?”
Rock answered, “Well, let us make this a volunteer mission.”
Revy agreed, “Works for me.”
Rock looked around the group, as she casually said, “Okay. Who wants to come on this questionably insane, highly dangerous mission?”
About twenty feet from Rock and Revy, Mal and Zoe had been one of the many people present that had heard Rock's request for volunteers. The two war buddies looked at each other, then they looked back towards the two leaders of the current operation they were a part of.
Mal thought, 'Now is our chance.' He stated, “I would like to join in on this hunt.”
Zoe said, “So would I.”
Rock turned towards them, as she questioned, “So, you two want to go?”
Zoe answered for Mal and herself, “Yes. And we will even be willing to take orders from Revy.”
Rock grinned as she thought, 'Now, let's see how much they want this.' She responded, “It would be worth it, just to see you two do that. So, you are in?”
Zoe calmly said, “Yes. And thank you, Rock.” She mentally reminded herself, 'Mission before personal snarkiness. No matter how tasty the bait is.'
Mal replied, “Yes.”
Rock thought, 'Those two much really want to go. Neither of them took the bait, and back talked me on my comment.'
Rock stated, “Good. You are both in.”
(_)
Nearby, Jayne had watched Mal and Zoe volunteer. He thought, 'I am glad the captain did not volunteer me, as well. I draw the line as fighting killing machines. Unless I am forced too. You cannot have revenge, if you are dead.'
Lotton was standing by Jayne. She whispered, to Jayne, “Jayne, why are those two volunteering for this mission? I though you guys had more sense than that?”
Lotton mentally reflected, 'Even I am not going to volunteer. Personally, I like Lee, and I do not think it is worth running into a boomer, to capture him. Especially, an army of boomers that I had a hand in the production of. I have not interest being trapped in a, destroyed by her own creation, situation.'
Jayne turned toward Lotton. He looked down at the much shorter woman, as he softly said, “Well, from experience. The best I can tell. The captain sometimes gets a wild hair to do something dangerous. And Zoe, being the good little soldier, goes with the captain, to make sure the captain does not get himself killed.”
Lotton shrugged, as she replied, “That figures.”
Jayne said, “Yea. And I don't mind.”
Lotton asked, “Why is that?”
Jayne answered, “It is moments like this that allow me to realize the fact that I have the more sense than anyone else in my crew.”
Lotton nodded a few times, as she agreed, “I can go along with that.”
Jayne said, “This is not the first time something like this has happened. Where the captain does something foolish.” He mentally added, 'But, at least he didn't try to drag us all in, this time.' He verbally continued, “And I highly to doubt it will be the last time.”
Lotton suggested, “Okay. Now, let's see who else is going to be a part of that team, next.”
Jayne replied, “Agreed.”
Both Lotton and Jayne turned back to looked at Rock, and those around the black haired, japanese woman.
(_)
At the moment, Roberta and Fabiola, in their black and white maids outfits, were standing midway be between Rock and Jayne.
Currently, the two maids looking over at Rock.
Roberta stated, “I will go, as well.” She turned to Fabiola, as she commented, “But, you will stay here, in case any boomers show up, and attack this group.”
Fabiola looked over at her teacher, as she said, with a disappointed in her tone of voice, “Fine.”
Both of the maids then looked back at Rock.
Rock looked over at the maids, as she thought, 'No point in arguing with her. I could not stop her, even if I wanted to. Plus, she is right, that is why I am holding Akira's family back. In case the boomers do show up here.'
'Also, while I am sure the we, and our kids, along with Balalaika and B, can handle a boomer, or two. I don't want to take any unnecessary chances. Besides, none of us want to send our kids into the battlefield. Instead, I will only send those with the experience, know-how, and the equipment to do so.'
'Though, it is best to remind her of a few things, first.'
Rock stated, “Okay. You're in. But, you will behave and not kill, or torture any people. Not even Lee. Until after we bring him to Lagoon island.”
In response, Roberta smiled towards Rock, as she replied, “That will be fine.”
Though, Roberta's response did little to ease Rock's concern with her going along with the team that would capture Lee.
By then, Sawyer and Shenhua approached Rock and Revy.
Rock and Revy turned towards Sawyer and Shenhua, as they came to a stop a few feet away from them.
Both were dressed in their usual clothing, with Sawyer having her chainsaw carried on her back, by a strap. While, Shenhua has here various knives hidden within her clothing.
Sawyer commented, in a calm tone of voice, “As much as firepower is a good thing. You may need someone to cut through things.”
Shenhua requested, “I would like to come on this hunt, as well.”
Rock said, “True. You are both in. And I want to come, Shenhua, in case you have to get into a melee, close quarters fight.”
Shenhua said, “Thanks.”
Nearby, Lotton noticed this. She turned to her two lovers, as she said, “Good luck.” She mentally added, 'And I hope you both come back safely.'
Shenhua and Sawyer turned to Lotton and they warmly smiled at her. Lotton saw this, and returned their warm smiles. The two women then turned back towards Rock.
Meanwhile, Revy thought, 'I guess the old Hell Saber team is back together again. Except for Arcee. But, I guess a girl cannot have everything.'
'Though, I am not going to mention the Hell Saber name out loud, with the Knight Sabers in earshot. Even I realize that it is best not to remind them that for a while, thanks to Lee and Chang, we were their hardsuited, bad girl counterparts.'
Rock then realized something, as she thought, with worry, 'Oh crap. I forgot. I asked our resident hackers to turn off the buildings defenses. The boomers already have a head start, with nothing to stop them. I need to correct this as quickly as possible.'
Rock then turned to the three hackers, Benny, Janet, and Nene, whom were about twenty-five feet from her, to her right. She requested, “Benny, Janet, Nene, I know I asked you to turn off the headquarters defenses, but I need you to set it so that the western defenses are turned back on, and active, while the defenses on the eastern left turned off. We need to buy ourselves time to reach Lee and the others, before the boomers do.”
At that moment, Nene has been standing, in her red and pink hardsuit, by Benny and Janet.
Benny and Janet has been sitting on the ground, with two laptops, linked to Nene's hardsuit, as the hacked into the Edgars' computer system. Nene has been using her hardsuit as a wireless router for Benny and Janet's computers.
And the three of them had found that they did their jobs well, when they worked together.
Benny and Nene has been doing most of the work, with Janet paid attention for any signal triangulation for them, and possible computer viruses.
At that moment, all threw hackers turned to Rock. Benny smiles, as she stated, “We are way ahead of you. And already done.”
Janet explained, “We were about to turn the defense system completely off. But, the moment we heard you state that boomers were here. With senors showing them on the western end of the complex. We starting doing just what you requested.”
Rock smiled, as she felt relief. Rock compliment, “Good job.” She thought, 'This is why I like working with competent people that know me. They can anticipate my requests, before I make them... Within reason. Now, to see if we can find out what is going on, while blinding Lee and Garibaldi.'
Rock inquired, “While I want the defenses to remains on. Can you turn off the camera system? I don't want to let them see us coming?”
Benny answered, “No. We found that the surveillance system is separate computer network, from the defense system. And we cannot access it. They can see us, but we cannot seen them.”
Rock responded, “Can't be helped. We have to remember that Garibaldi has years of experience of successfully dealing with off the wall security problems, such as the problems we, and the boomers, are presenting him.”
Benny agreed, “Yes. And he is likely the only person in the multiverse that can make that claim.”
Rock replied, “You are probably right about that.” She thought, 'Still, we need to move on to what we can do. And there is one other matter I need to ask from them...' She requested, “Also Nene, I will need you to go with Revy's group, as well.”
As Benny, Janet, and Nene, heard Rock's request, Nene disconnected the wires, running to the USB ports on their laptops, to the right gauntlet of her hardsuit. With the wires recoiling into her gauntlet.
Nene turned to Rock, as she questioned, in a curious, though firm tone of voice, that lacked no fear what so ever, “And while do you want me to go?”
Rock answered, “For a few reasons. One, while you have combat skills, your role, and your suit's role are not front line. You will not be missed in the coming fight outside, with the boomers. Also, you have hacking skills that Revy's group are going to likely need.”
“I need a hacker on her team. Also, you have a combat suit, while Benny and Janet do not. Plus, you suit offers a few advantages that can help Revy's group, if they run into environmental hazards.”
Nene conceded, “I see your point. But, Sylia will have to make the final decision.”
Rock and Nene turned to Sylia. Sylia answered, “Go with them, Nene. They will need you more than I do.”
Rock stated, “Good.”
Nearby, Benny and Janet folded their laptops closed, and stood up. Benny smiled, as she whispered into Janet's left ear, “I do not mind not going into a battlefield.”
Janet smiled, as she softly replied back, “Same here. Better her than us.” She mentally added, 'I am so happy I could help Benny and Nene with their hacking. Benny taught me well. Also, I seem to have hit it off well with Nene, as a friend. I think it is because I have a striking resemblance to her friend, Lisa Vanette, from the Bubblegum Crisis series. I have seen the series. And I wonder if my looks where inspired by Lisa's character?... Ah well. Just one of those mysteries in life I may never get an answer too.'
Rock looked around, at her group, as she stated, “Okay. Just to double check. Here is the overview of the plan. Sylia's team, with their motoslaves. Along, with Aeryn and Violin, will head out to flank the boomers, on the west end of the complex.”
Rock turned to Sylia, as she said, “We will give you fifteen minutes to get their attention, and draw any of their forces, that may have come close to the east end of the build. At the end of the f Revy and her team will enter from the east end of the building.”
Sylia responded, “That will be fine.”
Rock looked over at Revy, as she stated, in a serious tone of voice, “Also, Revy, I want you and your team to be careful. Just because the security system is turned off, does not mean that it cannot be turned back on. I know Lee does not want to kill us. But, that do not mean that Garibaldi, and the other guy with them, might not try to do so, if Lee cannot convince them to do otherwise.”
Revy replied, “Understood.”
Rock turned to Nene, as she questioned, “Did you hear all that, Nene?” She mentally added, 'I can tell from the system that those three had going, that Nene was the one that was providing access to the security system of that building, for her, Benny, and Janet. Without her here, there is nothing really Benny and Janet can do to monitor the situation with their computers. So, I am going to have to rely on her skills. But, I am not worried. I am fairly positive that Nene is that good.'
Nene answered, “Yes. I will keep an eye on the computer system, as we make it through the building. It should not be a problem.”
Rock replied, “Thank you.” She turned back to Revy, as she stated, “Also, along with capturing Lee, if you find Garibaldi, and the other person in there, you are to rescue them, and anyone else you find that is not a boomer. I do not want any people killed in this battle. If we can help it.”
Revy shrugged, as she casually said, “I wasn't planning on playing hero today. But, since I cleaning up my own mess, I am not going to complain.”
Rock said, “Good.” She then turned to Sylia, as she inquired, “Does my plan sound good to you, Sylia?”
Sylia calmly answered, “Yes. It is a good plan.” She thought, 'I am starting to realize why Rock commands so much respect from those around her, even though she is clearly nowhere the fighter, that most of them are. That being said, she is an intelligent planner, whom pays respect where respect is due.'
Violin suggested, “Since this is going to be a rescue operation. Why don't we just contact Garibaldi again, and offer to rescue him, and anyone else there, in exchange for, Lee?”
Rock looked over at Violin, as she stated, “After all our actions last night, I don't think Garibaldi will go for it. Plus, Lee has likely already convinced him that he is worth saving.”
Molly, whom was standing near the maids, had been listening to the conversation, she spoke up, “Lee is like a small devil, whispering sweet lies, into someone's ear.”
Roberta and Fabiola slightly smiled at Molly's commented.
Rock turned to Molly, as she responded, “Exactly. Lee has been in there for hours. And Garibaldi is the type whom might take our offer as an insult. We go in, rescue him, anyone else, and capture, Lee. He can thank us, afterward, for saving his ass.”
Violin shrugged, “Well, it was worth asking.”
Rock looked back towards Violin, as she replied, “I agree.”
Violin gave Rock a warm smile, as she said, “I am glad you think so.”
Eda was standing across from the maids, with Rock in-between them. She commented, “Speaking of which. While you have mentioned this, Rock. It should be repeated for the more stubborn members of those here.”
Eda looked at Mal, Roberta, the Knight Sabers and Revy. She went onto say, “You should go easy on Lee, and Garibaldi. Given, all night, Lee has tried to use non-lethal means to slow us down, or stop us. Lee knows we want him alive. And he has returned the favor. He also realizes that killing us will only make things worse for him. The only exception to this was when he was dealing with Roberta, here.”
Eda turned her head towards Roberta. With Roberta frowning at her. Eda ignored Roberta's reaction, as she looked back at Rock. She casually continued, “And that is completely understandable.”
Everyone turned to Roberta, as they slightly tense up, as they saw Roberta frown. Roberta noticed their body language. Her frown turned into a grin, as she happily thought, 'At least they all remember who they are dealing with.'
Roberta looked at Eda, as she responded, “I will give you that one.”
Everyone then relaxed a bit.
Eda turned to Roberta, as she replied, “Okay.” She turned to Rock, as she stated, “As such. Lee has probably already convinced Garibaldi to use non-lethal means to slow us down. We should continue to do the same.”
Rock looked over at Eda, as she responded, “Agreed. And I already realized that. Still, it is best to be cautious in this situation. Though, we will try to take them down through non-lethal means.” She looked around, as she questioned, in a firm tone of voice, “Everyone, hear that?”
Revy halfheartedly responded, “Yea... Alright, you don't need to tell us a third time. We will do our best to play with kid gloves, when reach them.”
Rock looked at Revy, as she thought, 'I may love you, Revy. But, I am not taking any chances with you get pissed off and trigger happy. We will only have our fun with Lee, after we capture him. Not before.'
Meanwhile, Revy turned to Priss, whom was twenty feet from her, in her blue hardsuit, and helmet
Priss noticed, as she turned to face Revy, while asking, in a flat, annoyed tone of voice, “What?”
Revy flatly requested, “Don't get killed. I still want to settle the score with you for damaging my cutlass.”
Priss responded, in an annoyed tone of voice, “I won't think of it. Because, I am so looking forward to kicking your ass.”
Revy snapped back, “Dream on.”
(_)
Nearby, Linna, in her green hardsuit, was standing by Dutch.
Both women were watching Priss and Revy snap at each other.
Linna turned her head towards Dutch, as she calmly asked, “Is Revy always like this?”
Dutch casually responded, “Yes. Is your blue suited friend always like that as well?”
Linna answered, in a deflated tone of voice, “Uh huh. Priss has always been like this. Let's just be happy they are not being grouped together.”
Dutch deadpanned, “Amen to that.”
Several feet away, Sylia turned to her group, that had scattered among the crowd, and whom were talking to the others in the crowd.
Sylia said in both her radio, and through her speakers, “Knight Sabers. We are heading out.”
Linna looked over at Dutch, as she said, “Showtime.”
Dutch replied, “Good luck.” She mentally added, 'I am happy I am not going into that war zone.'
Linna said, “Thanks.”
Linna then turned towards seven of the other Knight Saber, besides Nene, as they all walked towards their motoslaves.
The other people present then watched as the seven of the motoslaves in robot mode open, to show they were exo-suits, for the hardsuite women.
Sylia, got into motoslaves that had large rifle in its hands. Priss, Leon, Linna, and Mackie got into the four motoslaves that used large machine guns. Kate and Daley got into the motoslaves that carried hand held grenade launchers.
With the eighth motoslave being another motoslave that was holding a rifle.
As the seven Knight Sabers got in their motoslaves, Violin step closed to Aeryn, as Violin pulled out her reality device.
Aeryn silently looked over at her spouse, as she smiled. Violin then press the red button on her reality device, which instantly teleported them to the opposite side of the complex, outside the gates and concrete walls. Along with being away from the boomers. There, the two lovers would wait for the Knight Sabers attacked, before they would offer fire support.
A few seconds later, everyone else, that was still present, watched seven of the eight motoslaves closed again, around the hardsuited women. Then, the eight motoslaves took into the air, by the horizontal ducted fan rotors, that were attached to the motoslaves, by the back of the shoulders, by pylons. With to ducted fan rotors per motoslave.
Rock viewed the Knight Sabers use their motoslave to fly into the air, towards battler. She then looked at analog wrist watch, on her left wrist.
She then looked back at the Knight Sabers, flying away, as she thought, 'Fifteen minutes until I send Revy and the others, inside the building. I hope no one is killed... Other than the boomers.'
(_)
Within less than a minute, the Knight Sabers had reached the boomers, and engaged them in battle, at near point blank range. With the seven Knight Sabers dropping out of their motoslaves, as they, and motoslaves, attacked the boomers. The motoslaves mostly used their weapons at a distance, at the boomers that were not directly fighting the Knight Sabers.
Though, the motoslaves were programed to take out the boomers in hand to hand. And they were mo than capable of fighting the larger, brown battle boomers to a stand still. But, their primary programing was to defend the Knight Sabers, even to the point of sacrificing themselves for their masters.
And given there was literally a hundred, or so boomers, it was likely the motoslaves would not be around for long.
Still, the boomers were very spread out, and not all of them were engaging the Knight Sabers and their motoslaves. Also, this number of boomers was still within the ability for the seven Knight Sabers that were present, along with their upgrade hardsuits and motoslaves, to handle. Especially, given the Knight Sabers had all be exposed to Chang's super-soldier serum, which enhanced their already formidable fighting abilities even further.
So, at the moment, the Knight Saber were focused on surviving, destroying, and containing the boomers. In that order.
Meanwhile, Aeryn and Violin teleported on field, on the west end of the complex, far away from the boomers and the concrete fense.
The two lovers then started making their way closer to the battlefield. And three minutes later, Aeryn joined in, on the battle, from a distance, with her pulse burster. While Violin stood behind Aeryn, to guard her wife.
(_)
Ten minutes later, as the battle continued, Violin stood behind and to Aeryn's right side, as she followed her wife closer to the battlefield.
Currently, they were still outside the perimeter of the Edgars complex, with Aeryn providing very skilled, long range support to the Knight Sabers, and the motoslaves.
While they were at a far distance from the fighting, due to their alien heritages, their eyesight was more than good enough to clearly see the fighting for the distance they were at.
Though, Aeryn did use a peacekeeper eye enhancing device, called an oculars. Which was an advanced alien type of binoculars. The oculars was a single metal shaped band device, that wrapped around the person's head, like a hair band, that was place around the back of the head. With the opening open part of the device resting right over the user's eyes, on their forehead.
The oculars improved Aeryn's aim a bit more. Thus, allowing her to make more precise shots with her pulse burster.
As Violin watched her wife use her pulse burster, at a distance of two hundred yards from the nearest groups of boomers, she was impressed with her wife's marksmanship abilities.
Violin thought, 'Damn, I love it when I get the chance to watch my girl at work. Especially, when she had an open field to fire her weapon from.'
Harvey mentally commented, in a happy manner, 'Yes. This is perfect popcorn material. Mores the pity, we don't have any popcorn.'
Violin giggled. She mentally pointed out, as she physically shrugged, 'At least we can enjoy the show.'
Harvey mentally agreed, in a joyous manner, 'Hear. Hear.'
Meanwhile, to avoid being an easy target, Aeryn walked to right, at an upward diagonal path. When she reached about twenty-five feet began walking to her left, at an upward diagonal path, until she reached around twenty-five feet. She then walked back to the right, in an upward diagonal direction.
Aeryn continued this zigzag direction, towards the battle, with Violin kept up with her, from behind.
As Aeryn did this, she provide a combination of artillery, and sniper support fire for the Knight Sabers and their motoslaves. Depending on the selector setting on her weapon. Sometimes, she fired a single shot, which killed a single boomer, for those boomers that were close to her allies. Or, she switched settings on the fly, to fire a grouped burst of shots, at once, destroyed several boomers at once, in explosions of energy. When those boomers were grouped together, thought away from her allies.
The accuracy Aeryn was displaying, each time she pulled the trigger was incredibly precise. In all the shots she had fired, She had yet to miss a target, while harming her allies, in the middle of the fighting. And she has been pulling the trigger of her weapon as often as it could cycle through her weapons recharge rate.
This gave Aeryn a kill ratio that was higher than any single Knight Saber, or motoslave, in the current battle.
At the moment, Aeryn was destroying a number of boomers that had tried to circle around, and out flank the Knight Sabers, behind them.
Aeryn easily dispatched the robotic killing machines.
Though, there was one minor thing about Aeryn, which slightly troubled Violin. Violin saw that Aeryn had a slash style smile on her lips, as she did her job.
As Violin looked back at the boomers in the distance, she thought, with mild concern, 'Damn. The only time I have seen Aeryn smile like that was after some really good sex. She is really getting into this battle.'
Harvey suggested, in thought, 'Let your wife have her fun.'
Violin mentally agreed, 'Of course. And I agree that it is best not to talk to her, right now. I don't want to ruin the good mood she is in.'
Harvey mentally replied, 'That would be a wise decision.'
Violin mentally commented, 'Also, I know that pulse burster is one of the most cumbersome peacekeeper weapons there is, to use. And Aeryn is wielding her weapon with the skill a surgeon using her scalpel.'
Harvey mentally pointed out, 'She has had a lot of practice.'
Violin mentally responded, 'Yes. She has. Still, I need to go back to checking to make sure no boomer tries to attack us, directly.'
Harvey mentally said, 'Good idea. Though, at the rate your wife, and those combat suited mistresses are destroying the machines, very soon, there will not be many of them left.'
Violin mentally responded, 'Let us hope so.'
Violin then continued to stand guard for Aeryn, behind her wife, as she kept up with the Sebastian badass.
(_)
In the distance, in the heart of the outside battle, in the west courtyard of the Edgars Industries Headquarters, Aeryn's combat skills did not go unnoticed.
Sylia did not let her thoughts distract her from her fight, as she used her left wrist blade to slice through one of the brown battle boomers, only to follow up her attack, with an attack with her energy cannon, in the underside palm of her right hand, that destroyed the head of a blue combat boomer.
The battle continued, with Sylia fighting more boomers, as she mentally reflected, 'I am pleasantly surprised by Aeryn's skills in this battle. When I first read Lee's stories, and researched the other people Lee mentioned in his stories, I thought Lee was embellishing on Aeryn's combat skills.'
'I see I am mistaken. And I will have to revise my opinion, and threat assessment, of Aeryn, to be equal to her lover, Violin.'
After destroying two more boomers, Sylia then risked a look around, at her subordinates, as she saw they were all holding their own, but a few of the motoslaves had already been trashed.
The robots had been destroyed due to their programing to protect the Knight Sabers, before themselves.
Both of the motoslaves that used rifles were destroyed. One of the motoslaves that use galting gun was seriously damaged, but still functioning.
Another two were mildly damaged, but were still able to fight. Those two being one with a grenade launcher, and one with a gatling gun. While three were undamaged. Those three being, two that used gatling guns, and one that used a grenade launcher.
Meanwhile, the Knight Sabers were in good shape.
Sylia checked the heads up display on the interior her visor, which showed that Linna had a crack on the right shoulder of her armor.
The mechanical finger manipulators in the right gauntlet of Leon's hardsuit was damaged. But, not her right hand.
Sylia guessed was likely due to Leon punching a boomer, even thought her right gauntlet was not designed to do so.
But, the rest of Leon's hardsuit, and built in weapons were fine.
Sylia mentally reflected, 'I may had to add a knuckle boomer to Leon's right gauntlet, if she keeps using that gauntlet for punching. But, better the hardsuit be damaged, than her.'
Meanwhile, Priss had a crack in the left front side of her upper leg armor. But, the crack did not damage the internal hardware, and Priss' right leg was fine.
And Mackie's stomach armor took a blow that cracked the armor there. But, her hardsuit still functioned and she was uninjured.
Kate's, Daley's, Nene and Sylia's own hardsuit were fine.
As Sylia continued fighting, she thought, 'I am glad all my girls are fine. I could careless about the motoslaves. I can always build more motoslaves. I am just happy that none of my team members have been harmed.'
'And I am glad that the others convinced me to included Kate, Mackie, Leon, and Daley, into my new eight member team.'
'While, I was sure Leon would make a good fighter. I was pleasantly surprised with the potential that Mackie, Kate, and Daley, showed in hardsuit combat training. Though, I am sure the super-soldier serum was a factor in those results. Still, they are fast learners, and they will take orders from me.'
'And though Mackie is now a woman, she still sometimes peeps on the Linna, Priss, Nene, and myself, when we are naked. Though, I thinks she does it mostly as a way to tease us, in a jovial manner. I guess some things don't change. While other things can change people drastically... Such as motherhood... And I am sure our eight teenage, adult children are doing fine, back home...'
'But, those matters are meant to be thought about, at another time.'
'Right now, I wonder how Nene is doing with Revy's group? At least our suits communications still work well at this distance. So, I will know if there is a problem with Nene, as second after it happens. Still, I am sure Nene will be fine. Though, I am concerned with the crazies she is currently having to work with.'
'But, revenge is never easy...'
Sylia then went back to destroying boomers with her team.
(_)
A few minutes later, on the opposite side of the complex, Rock looked at her analog wrist watch, as she thought, 'It is time.' She looked over at Revy, whom was looking back at her. Rock said, “Happy hunting.”
Revy smirked, as she said, “Thanks.” She then looked at her group, whom were nearby, and composed of Roberta, Shenhua, Sawyer, Zoe, Nene, Mal, and Revy, herself.
Revy shouted, in a confident tone of voice, “Alright ladies! We are moving out!”
Revy and the others then turned and started jogging towards the main building, in the center of the
As they jogged towards the closest gate into the complex, Mal thought, 'I would say something about being a guy, but then Revy and the others might make me sneeze, and actually be one of the ladies in this fight.'
When they came to one of the eastern gates, Sawyer make short work of it.
The group then continued on their way towards the main, center building, of the Edgars Industries headquarters.
(_)
Seven minutes later, outside the eastern walls of the complex, Balalaika and B were covering the building, as the others talk around them talked amongst themselves.
Meanwhile, Rock held her infrared binoculars with her right hand, as she used them. She noticed something happening on the sixty-first floor, specifically the eastern stairwell. She saw what she guessed, from the heat signature, that water was now running down the stairs.
Rock thought, 'Lee, is doing something there. I'm just not know what. And I think he is setting a trap for the stairwell my team is going into. I will radio them the warning. But, there is not much more I can do.'
'I wish I could have sent more people inside. But, four of those fighters are experts in range weapons and combat. Shenhua for close quarters fighting. With Sawyer being there to deal with obstructions, and assisting Shenhua, in fighting up close. And Nene for computer support, and there to aid in environmental hazards.'
'It is unfortunate, that there is too many obstructions of me to see the battle on the other side of the complex. I have not heard anything on the radio. But, that just means that the Knight Sabers have their own encrypted channel they use to talk amongst themselves.'
'And speaking of which. I almost feel sorry for the boomers, for siccing Aeryn on them... Almost... But, shooting at things really does make Aeryn feel better. And Violin will be with her, to make sure she is fine. Besides which, given Aeryn weaponry at the moment, can literally bring down a building, and Violin's own abilities, are even more dangerous, I did not feel that it was safe having them go with Revy and the others. Putting those two in the situation of possible close quarters combat is asking for trouble.'
'And I realized a head of time, when I saw the large weapon, that Aeryn teleport to Moya, to get it. And be back five minutes later. At least for us. I knew she was going make herself an active part of this siege, one way, or another. I am just lucky that she volunteered to help the Knight Sabers destroy the boomers on the other side of the complex.'
'Also, Aeryn and Violin have been known to destroy buildings, cities, planets, before. For the sole reason of having been cornered. I am not going to give them the excuse to inadvertently cause a disaster here. Instead, I am going to channel their destructive tendencies to where they will be most useful to us...'
'Well... I guess I might as well warn my team. And at least Benny, Janet, and Nene hacked into the computers, and turned off the automated defenses on this side of the fortress. So, Revy and the others don't have to worry about that problem.'
Rock pulled up her radio with her left hand, and press the talk button.
(_)
Three minutes ago, Sawyer had just used her chainsaw to break through east entrance doors of the main town building of the complex.
As Revy's group entered the building, they found themselves walking into one of the lobbies of the building. They saw that the most lights in the lobby were on. And the room stretched for a hundred feet in each direction, going inside the building, before it hit the walls, and started connecting to hallways and rooms.
The lobby was a standard business building lobby, with a few pillars around the lobby, that acted as support beams for the floor.
The group then continued walking for about ten seconds, Mal and Zoe noticed the others had suddenly stopped in their tracks.
As the two browncoats watched as the others pulled out their weapons. The two veterans pulled out their usual pistols, as well.
Zoe turned to Revy, as she asked, “What is it?”
As Revy and the others turned to looked deeper into the lobby, and they pointed their weapons in that direction, Revy answered, “We hear foot steps, approaching us fast. And they are no human footsteps.”
Nene checked the heads up display on the inside of her visor, as she stated, “Sensors state they are boomers, but and they are not humanoid.”
Suddenly, they saw six boomer dogs emerge from a hallway in front of them, across the lobby. With the boomer dogs immediately charging towards them.
The boomer dogs were each around the size of a hundred pound dog.
The boomer dogs did not appear to have any weapons, but they bared their teeth as they charge at seven armed adults.
At that moment, the dogs were about eighty feet from them.
As Revy looked at the cyberdriod animals, she smiled a feral grin. She sadistically thought, 'Finally, some action that Rock won't complain about.' She ordered, in a casual, relaxed tone of voice, “Girls, put these dogs down.”
Roberta, Revy, Mal, and Zoe, used their pistols, along with Nene using her the lasers in her gauntlets, to make short work of the boomer dogs. And the boomers were completely destroyed before any got within thirty feet of them.
Far out melee range of Shenhua and Sawyer weapons.
As the boomer dogs laid on their sides, destroyed, Nene confirmed, “They have been deactivated.”
Revy replied, “Good.” She lamented in thought, 'I do miss all the perks of having a hardsuit. The armor, enhanced strength, weapons, and sensors were so much fun to play with... Why did Lee has to get us such wonderful toys, and then take them away. That is one of the many reasons I want to kick Lee's ass.'
Shenhua turned to Revy, as she complained, “Revy, why didn't you save some for us?”
Revy turned to Shenhua, as she said, “When it comes killer robots, we cannot take chances. We will play, who can kill the most, later.”
Shenhua thought, 'She's right.' She shrugged, as she replied, “Agreed.”
Sawyer calmly inquired, “Personally, I don't mind you killing those machines before they reached us. And they must have come in front the west end. But, how did they know we are here?”
Nene answered, “They use infrared sensors to find us. A while back, while my friends and I were fighting Genom, in Megatokyo, I hack from Genom computers, and I got a look at their designs. These boomer dogs are prototypes reconnaissances boomers. They have a good sensor package. But, the only weapons they have are their claws and teeth. And they are lightly armor. So, from what I see, with my hardsuit sensors, it looks like Chang did not change the design, much.”
Roberta thought, 'As someone that is sometimes haunted by the past, I believe it is best not to remind Nene of her past, given our direct hands in wrecking her previous life.'
Roberta changed the subject, as she calmly asked, “How is the fight with your friends going?”
Nene used her heads-up display on the interior side of her visor, to pull of a status report on her friends hardsuits and health. She stated, “From the data I am getting, everyone is fine... Even your friends... And they are all really kicking some serious ass.”
Roberta responded, “That is comforting to hear.” She menially added, 'Good. I got her to think about something else. And it is always nice to meet other strong women. Especially, polite ones. Such as Nene here. I might like to get to know her, and a few of the others, later. If we can bridge the gap over what Chang and Lee made us do.'
Nene commented, “And we are lucky that we did not run into the other types of boomers out there.”
Mal turned to Nene, as he asked, “So, that is why they went down so quickly. Still, how dangerous are the other types of boomers out there?” Mal though, 'While Bob showed us the Bubblegum Crisis OVA series, years ago. A first hand report goes a long way, in situations like this.'
Nene turned towards Mal, as she commented, “Very dangerous. If you see them. Get to cover, and aim for their eyes. And if they suddenly open their jaws wide, duck, because they have a powerful energy cannon in pops out from the roof of their mouths. Also, if you seen panels open up on their chest, find the best cover you can get, because that is a heat weapon that will literally cook you in seconds. And that is just only two of the main weapons those monsters have. And those are the combat boomers. The battle boomers are even more dangerous and destructive.”
Mal replied, “Got you.” He mentally added, 'I am glad I asked. Chang was right, we are going to need those special weapons, he got for us.'
Revy inquired, “Now, where are the stairs?”
Nene turned, as she used her mechanical right index finger manipulator, in her right gauntlet, to point towards a metal door that was fifty feet to the group's left. She stated, “Sensors show that the closest set of stairs are right here.”
Revy commented, “Good.”
Nene mentioned, “But, I am registering water on the other side of the door. And the stairwell stop here, on this floor, with the water collecting right behind the door.”
Roberta turned to Nene, as she asked, “Water?”
Nene looked at Roberta, as she said, “Yes. Water.”
Just then, Rock said over the radio, “Revy, girls, I think Lee has set a trap for you in the stairwell.”
Nene said, “I believe Rock is correct. I am also detecting electricity as well.”
Revy used the discocker on her pistols to uncocked her pistols. She then holstered them. Next, she unhooked her radio, from her belt, as she pressed the talk button. She then calmly said, “Don't worry, Rock. We got this.” She then clipped her radio back onto her belt, were it had been.”
Revy asked, “Can we just shutdown the electrical grid? Or, water system?”
Nene answered, “No, on both counts. Even if I was able to turn off the water system, which is likely part of a none computer fire-system, the steps are still wet and electrified. And I don't dare try to cut off the electricity, because, along with my friends, and your friends, the automated systems on the west side of the complex, are the only things holding the boomers back.”
Revy muttered, “Damn.”
Zoe suggested, “Could we head for another set of stairwell?”
Mal calmly said, “I really don't want to get that close to the battle outside.”
Zoe replied, “Point taken.”
Nene stated, “Actually, my sensors state that the barricade doors throughout the west end of the building have been closed. It would take too long to get to another stairwell. Plus, the automated defenses are turned on for that side of the building.”
Sawyer inquired, “It makes sense for Garibaldi and Lee to do that. But, then how did these boomers get here?”
Nene commented, “They must have come into this building, before the barricade doors closed. The barricade doors are not automatic. And they were not turned on when we hacked into the system. Though, we made sure to turn them off on this side of the building. But, we will probably run into them on the sixty-first floor, given they can probably be manual turned on, one at a time.”
Nene stated, in a colder tone of voice, “Also, these reason the boomer dogs attacked was that they were probably ordered to look for witnesses and kill them.”
Nene turned to Revy.
Revy noticed Nene looking at her. She conceded, “Well, in our former line of work, what did you expect?”
Roberta thought, with annoyance, 'Leave it to Revy to drop a verbal grenade in the situation. Though, we are better fighters than Nene. She has a hardsuit, and this could go bad very quickly, if we are not careful.'
Nene said, with her voice like ice, “I am just happy you are no longer in that line of work.”
Revy shrugged, as she inquired, “Yea. I am happy about being more than being a hired gun. Besides, you Knight Sabers are mercenaries. So, where do you get off judging us, for the same line of work?”
Nene said, in an unexpectedly casual tone of voice, “Oh, I am not judging you. I was just wondering how you would react to me just silently turning my head towards you, after I made such a comment.”
Revy realized she had been had. She let out a laugh. She thn thought, 'Yep. Nene, here, is a genius.' She complimented, “Not bad.”
Nene replied, “Thank you.”
Roberta thought, with relief, 'That went better than I expected... Not that I am complaining.'
Sawyer pointed out, “Still, someone has to disarm Lee's trap.”
Mal joked, “I don't feel likely getting electrocuted.”
Revy turned to Mal, as she stated, “Not to worry. Nene's hardsuit is insulated.” She turned to Nene, as she said, “Nene, I need you to climb those stairs, as quickly as possible, and disable that trap.”
Nene looked at Revy, as she responded, “It will take me a several minutes. But, I should be able to do it.”
Revy replied, “Good.”
Nene then walked a few feet towards the stairs, with the group behind her. She then held out her right gauntlet, towards the door, which was still several feet from them. She order, “Everyone, stand back. And be ready to run, if the water starts coming this way.”
Nene gave the rest of her group few seconds later, to take a more few steps, further back, from her position. She used the lasers in her right gauntlet to quickly slice through the door to the stairwell.
Fortunately, the door quickly collapsed into several metal pieces, and fell apart in a mater of a couple of seconds. And luckily there was only a few inches of water that had built up behind the door. Also, due to the slight sloping, of the marble tiled, steel reinforced concretely floor, all the water moved towards the exit, With none of the water coming anywhere close to reaching the group.
Nene turned towards her group, as she said, “I will try to be as quick as I can. And I will radio you when I have the disarmed the trap.”
Revy said, “Okay. But, remember we are on the clock. It is a literally race to the top. So, hurry. As fast as you can.”
Nene replied, “Of course.”
Sawyer kindly said, “And be careful not to slip.”
Nene replied, “Don't worry. I will be careful.”
Nene then turned back towards the stairwell, as she briskly walked toward entrance to the stairwell.
A few seconds later, Nene made it to the stairwell, and she turned, and started walking up the stairs, as water flowed down them.
Nene looked up the stairwell, as she thought, 'Sixty-one floors up. Along the wet stairs. In a hardsuit, with heels. I am just glad the super-soldier serum gives me the stamina to climb this stairwell, without exhausting myself. And the serum has also helped with my balance and agility.'
'Still, I cannot just used my jump-jets to make my way up the center. The center open space is too tight. But, I can use my suit's enhanced straight, to jump from corner, to corner, up the stairs. So, this will not take to long.'
Nene started jumping for corner, to corner, up the square path, of the staircase.
As she did so, she thought, 'At this rate, I should be up their in ten to fifteen minutes. I could do this in five, if I was not having to be careful with my landings, due to the concrete steps being wet, and possibly slippery. Still, I am making good time.'
Nene then quickly made her way up the stairs.
(_)
Twenty minute later, she made it to the sixtieth floor of the stairwell.
Nene was not even winded, she saw the sign for the sixtieth floor. She thought, 'Well, the one thing this super-soldier serum did, that I like, was given me a great bod, with extreme endurance, that allowed me to retain my youth for decades to come... And I am so happy I am not even tired... Still, I am going to torture Lee for the rest of what he did to us... Now, where is the power cable and water coming from?'
'I am one floor below the floor where Lee is. The cable for the electricity has to be nearby. I know I did not miss it. Now, where is it?'
Nene's heads up display immediately used her hardsuit sensors to point out some a cable that was split, and connect at two different points, on the low part of a nearby railing, to her left, only two flights of stairs of stairs.
Nene looked across, and slightly up, from where she was standing, and she saw the cable, with her own eyes.
Nene thought, 'This will only take a moment.' She then used her right wrist laser to cut the cable when he was still completely sheathed together in orange rubber.
She then quickly made her way up the stairs. As she ended the sixty-first floor, she swift found the fire hose box. She briskly walked over to the fire box, where she used the valve to turn off the water.
Nene stated, into the radio that built into her suit, “The water is turned off, and the power cable to the trap is cut. You can come on up, now. But, watch your step.”
Nene then looked at the barricade doors in front of her, as she continued, “Also, it looks like I was right about those barricade doors, on this floor. Sawyer, we are going to need your chainsaw.”
Sawyer replied, over the radio, “Okay. We will be there in a few minutes.”
As Nene waited, she thought, 'I don't see a plug by the panel, and I don't have time to try to rewire. We are just going to have to force our way through. But, I am going to wait for the others, before we do anything. Just in case my sensors are missing any other traps that Lee and Garibaldi may have laid.'
(_)
Two minutes later, outside the east side of the complex, as those present continue to talk to themselves. Save for Rock, whom silently looked at the complex, with just her eyes. Along with Balalaika, and B, whom were sitting in kneeling position, while using their sniper rifles to help cover the main building of the complex.
Rock then overheard, Spike, Faye, and Jetta, talking, nearby.
Spike said, “I still say, we should have brought our zipcrafts, and gone to get Lee ourselves. I mean, Jet, Faye, we know exactly where the bastard is. We can just fly up there and get him.”
Rock thought, 'I need to defuse this situation, now.' She turned to them, as she calmly requested, “Spike. Faye. Jetta. Could I have a moment of your time?”
The three women turned to Rock, as Jetta said, “Sure Rock. What do you need?”
Rock calmly asked, “Are we all in agreed that we want to take Lee alive, without harming anyone else?”
Faye answered, “Yes.”
Jetta conceded, “Of course. Though, it is a fair question, after the stunt we pulled at the factory.”
Spike halfheartedly replied, “Yea...”
Rock said, “Then, here me out. The reason I did not want us to bring our vehicles was I wanted this to be low-key. I did not want to attract any unwanted attention. Your zipcraft, especially, would attract unwanted attention. If you flew up there, the local authorities would pick you up on radar. We are just lucky that last night, we were in a location the local police really didn't care about. But, here in the headquarters of likely one of their largest tax revenue producers, on the planet, they will come running, if they think something is up.”
“Likely, the only reason they haven't is that Garibaldi has kept them away, due to him have an idea of how dangerous we are.”
“And I am sure that this place has anti-air defenses. And even with the defenses down, your zipcraft are not designed to do the type of assault you are planning.”
“In addition, the only weapons one your vehicles, that can take out that window, without risk of harming those inside, is the Hammerhead's harpoon gun.”
“And your vehicles are single person vehicles. Meaning, only one of you could go up there. And your zipcraft are not designed to hover by a building, and allow you jump onto the building. Though, I am sure you have probably done that before. Still, that would bring up other problems.”
“Those problems being that neither Lee, nor Garibaldi, are idiots. From what I saw on my infrared binoculars, they set a trap for the boomers, and anyone else, trying to get at them, from that large windows in room they had decided to make their stand in.”
“If you tried to get to that room, that way you are thinking about, you would be sitting ducks for Lee and Garibaldi to take you out. Or, as the very least, damage the Hammerhead.”
“Along with this. Do not even think of landing your vehicles onto the roof. The top to floors of that building are Garibaldi's personal residence. There is no telling what personal traps Garibaldi might have set up there. We already know that Garibaldi knows better than to tie his electronics to one system. That is why we cannot shutdown, nor hack into the video system.”
“So, going in from the ground floor is the only realistic option. Besides, do you really want to face those boomers? Because, I don't.”
Rock mentally reflected, 'That is why I didn't go with them. Because if they do face those boomers, I would be more a hindrance, than an asset.'
Faye shrugged, as she replied, “Not really.”
Jetta pointed out, “Bob showed all three of us the Bubblegum Crisis OVA series. I have absolutely not interest in facing those monsters.”
Spike shrugged, as she commented, “I don't want to fight those killing machines, either.”
Rock thought, 'Good. At least, they know the seriousness of facing those killing machines.'
Rock casually responded, “Good. I am glad we are on the same page.” She then turned back to look at the main tower of the Edgars Industries headquarters, in the distance.
As the three women turned back to each other. Jetta commented, “And that folks, is why she is in charge of this operation.” She mentally reflected, 'Until Mal and Zoe take off with Lee, to Chang. While we disappear back to the casino, as well.'
Just then, everyone's attention was brought to the forefront, as they heard gunfire. All of them turned to see Balalaika and B firing this sniper rifles. But, after a few more shots, both of the loved stopped firing.
Balalaika cursed, “Damn it!”
Rock turned to them, as she asked, “What is it?”
Balalaika and B turned behind them, to look at Rock. B answered, “There are a dozen combat boomers climbing up the south side of the main building.”
Balalaika mentioned, “And while we are getting good hits on them. We can even see the dents on left on their heads. Our cartridges are not penetrating the boomers armored heads, at this distance.”
B said, “And the boomers are just ignoring our hits, and continuing up the building, at a steady pace.”
Rock calmly stated, “We knew that was a possibility, and we planned for it. But first, I need to check with what is going on, before I contact the others.”
While Rock turned towards the building, Balalaika and B stood up. The two russian lovers slung the slings on their rifles over their shoulders, as they stretched their legs.
Meanwhile, Rock pulled up her infrared binoculars, which were slung below her chest, and she held the binoculars to her eyes. As she zoomed in, she could see the heat signatures of the dozen combat boomers climbing up building.
Rock thought, 'I would guess the boomers were around the twentieth floor. And they even got the right side of the building, to come into the room, that Lee and the others are in. Meaning they see them, as well. And they are likely planning to crash into the large windows, of the room that Lee Garibaldi, and that other man are in.'
'Now, let's see what else is going on inside the building?'
Rock looked into the building, with her infrared binoculars.
She could see Revy's group making their way up the eastern stairway, with Nene on the sixty-first floor.
Rock also saw the heat signatures of a mix of combat and battle boomers slowly making their way up the west side elevator shafts, and west side staircase.
Rock mentally reflected, 'Revy and her group is already making their way up. And Nene is wisely waiting for the rest of her group to arrive, before she continue further down that floor.'
'But, the boomers, both inside and outside, are making their way up the building.'
'I would guess that the boomers are at about the fortieth floor level. But, the boomers seemed to be going slowly. And I guessed that the streaks of heat that surrounded the boomers in stairwell, and elevator shafts, were lases from the defense systems, in those location.'
'And due to this, the boomers were more slowly making their way up the stairs, as they take out the defenses, one at a time, before advancing further up.'
'Though, how the boomers are doing concerns me for several reasons.'
'One thing about boomers that separates boomers from other killing machine, is that they were programmed with a measure of common sense, in a lot of ways. Even to the point that their personalities, and sensors, allow them to enjoy some foods and drinks. Such as beer. They won't get drunk, but they can enjoy the taste of such drinks.'
'As such, they have been fighting the complex's defenses all the way. And because of this, they are taking things slowly. As far as they are concerned, there is no rush. They want to get Garibaldi in one piece. And rushing in will likely get Garibaldi killed.'
'Though, while these boomers on the inside of the building have slowed down, the ones on the outside have no such problems. But, at the rate they are climbing, the boomers on the inside are going to get to Lee and the others, before the boomers on the outside do.'
'And I noticed the defenses are not attacking the boomers scaling the building.'
'I would guess that it seems that the building defenses were not designed to fire up at the outsides of buildings. Nor, were they designed to fire at those scaling the buildings.'
'This is probably an intentional security design on Garibaldi's part. So no one could just hack into the defenses, and try to destroy the buildings themselves, with their own defenses. And that if the building's defenses were highjacked, Garibaldi could still have a means of escape, by getting outside the building, and hanging off the wall, until help arrived.'
'Now, I need to see if Sylia can stop those boomers on the outside. But, either way, Revy, and her group, is going to need to hurry.'
'Fortunately, it looks like that are going to beat both groups of boomers. But, it is going to be close.'
Rock lowed her binoculars back onto her chest. With her left hand, she unhooked her radio, off her belt, and pressed the talk button. She stated into her radio, “This is Rock. Sylia, we have a dozen combat boomers climbing the main building, on the south side. If they are not stopped, they will reach Lee, and the others with him, within half an hour.”
Over the radio, Sylia stated, in a slightly rushed tone of voice, “I apologize, Rock. But, we have our hands full at the moment. You are on your own.”
Rock thought, 'Yea. A few boomer stragglers that got past them, are nothing, compared to the army of boomers they are fighting.' She calmly responded, into her radio, “Understood. Revy will will have to deal with the situation. Revy, did you get all that?”
Revy replied, from her own radio, “Yes. Where are they?”
Rock answered, “They are just above the twentieth floor, and slowly climbing. Also, there are boomers in the western elevator shifts and staircase, but the building's defenses are slowing them down. I can see you, as well. At the moment, your group's speed, and the boomers speed, is almost neck and neck, with both groups of boomers. Though, you have a slight lead.”
Revy responded, “Okay. We will just have to hurry and get to Lee and the others, before the boomers. Though, we may have to teleport out.”
Rock stated, “If you do so, just head to Lagoon Island, at the proper time, with the three men. And we will then sort out everything there.”
Revy said, “No problem.”
Rock then clipped her radio back to her belt. Next, she pulled back up her infrared binoculars, so she could see what was happening in the main building.
(_)
At that moment, inside the eastern staircase, Revy's group, barring Nene, had been walking up the wet stairs at a hurried, but cautious pace.
Though, they had stopped, when Revy got the call on the radio.
As Revy clipped her radio back onto her belt, she looked back at her group. She stated, “You heard, Rock. Double time, people. And don't slip, or you will have to answer to me.”
Zoe mentally reflected, with concern, 'And I thought the captain was reckless. Revy puts the captain to shame in wanting to get to the target. Still, at least this concrete is rough, even when wet, that it still retains most of its traction.'
'And personally, I could care less about revenge on Lee. I am just trying to keep the captain from getting himself killed, while trying to claim that reward Chang posted on Lee. As far as I am concern, Chang has the right idea about hiring Lee. Anyone that can play this intelligent, savvy group, for chumps, while remaining polite, and mostly non-violent, it truly worth keeping around.'
The group then started making their way up the wet stairs, at a faster pace, they they were before. While they were mindful of trying to prevent themselves from slipping and falling on the wet concrete stairs. With them gripping and using the inside and outside railings, to speed up their accent.
(_)
At that moment, in the technology research lab, on the sixty-first floor, Garibaldi and Lee were looked at the wallscreen monitor, by the entrance to the hallway.
To their right, the door to the hallway was left open, and to their left, Bernard was at the island, working on rebuilding the reality device.
The monitor was split into four quartered sub-pictures, which showed four different video feeds in and around the building.
The upper left video showed a camera in the eastern stairwell, from an angle that showed the open door to the sixty-first level
The two men watched as Nene, in her red and pink hardsuit, stood in the hallway. After she had disabled Lee's trap, she walked into hallway, and just stood by the door to the stairwell, as she waited for the rest of her team to reach her.
And a few seconds ago, Garibaldi had switched to a camera in the eastern stairwell, at a lower level, and the two men had the other six members of Revy's group, including Revy herself, making their way up the eastern stairwell, to meet Nene. Garibaldi, then switched back to watching Nene, given she was on the floor they were presently on, and thus she was greater threat. Given she was the first to reach their floor.
As Lee looked a the wallscreen, he thought, 'Okay. That is not a bad group to send after me. And I am happy that I guessed correctly. With Nene being the only Knight Saber sent with Revy's group. And from this group, I think we can delay them a little longer, in a firefight, if we have to. Unfortunately, they are only a third of our problem.'
Garibaldi continued looking at the viewscreen, as he commented, “It looks like you friends got through your trap, and they are going to be here in a few minutes.”
Lee watched the viewsceen, as he responded, “And they are not alone.” He then used his right index finger to point at the other three video feeds on the wallscreen monitor.
At the moment, the two bottom screens showed the interiors of the two western elevators.
The two men watched as a large, brown lance from a battle boomer, ripped open the bottom of one of the elevator, while two pairs, of two blue claws, ripped into the bottom of the floor of the other elevator.
Soon, both video feeds showed boomers straying to rip through the ceilings of the elevators, until the feeds were both cut off, within seconds of each other, from the damage done to the elevators.
Garibaldi commented, in a slightly disappointed tone of voice, “Guess they are not taking the bait, and checking the lower levels, first.”
Lee pointed out, “With their infrared sensors, it was a long shot, anyway. But, I am surprised your laser grid did not stop them?”
Garibaldi stated, “Well, to be honest. It was a weak laser grid. Government regulations would not allow me install any laser grid that could cut the cables. They will harm human, or alien, flesh, but not the armor of these things. And with the more powerful defenses around the building, I did not argue the case, because I did not think I would ever need them.”
Lee calmly replied, “Just chalk it up as a learning experience, and move on.”
Garibaldi responded, “Yea. I will. And what about those boomers on the outside?”
Lee deadpanned, “I know.”
And on the upper right screen, Lee and Garibaldi could see another camera feed. This camera feed showed the south side of the building they were in, from an outside camera station on a nearby building, in the complex. They could even see the window of room they were in, from the camera.
They also saw that there were a dozen blue combat boomers scaling that side of the building, up, towards their location.
Currently, the boomers were currently around the fiftieth floor of the building.
Though, Lee could make out that some of the boomers had dents on the left sides of their heads.
Lee thought, with disappointment, 'I guess the Knight Sabers are too busy to stop a few loose boomers. And from those dents on the left sides of the boomers' head, the dents were likely made from bullet coming from the eastern side of the complex. I would bet money those dents were made by Balalaika and B's sniper rifles. Unfortunately, while the two of them can clearly hit the boomers' heads at this range, their ammo cannot penetrate the boomers' thick, armored skulls, from this distance.'
'And those boomers scaling the building worry me the most, because the only thing between us and them, are two large windows, two automated machine guns, and this crummy island table... Oh well, we will have to make do. Fortunately, even though combat boomers are walking weapons platforms, they prefer to do things with their hands, and melee weapons. And they want their target alive.'
'So, they are likely going to try to just make their way through the machine gun fire, to reach Garibaldi. Because, they are programmed to know that this room is too close quarters for them to use their energy weapons, without risk of seriously harming, or killing Garibaldi.'
'Though, combat boomers have the option of being equipped with lasers on their forearms. But, those weapons are easy to spot, and I don't see any of those weapons on the combat boomers that coming after us.'
'Even though I didn't write it, I guess Chang figured that combat boomers did not need such weapons, given all the weapons that were already build into those killing machines.'
'Still, those boomers will kill Bernard, and myself, if they get passed the automated machine guns. Fortunately, that is why Garibaldi and I are armed... But, I really don't want to find out how many boomers we can take out before, they reach us. I would much prefer just to escape into the multiverse.'
Garibaldi looked over at Lee, as he commented, “I thought you said they would not be scaling the walls?”
Lee turned Garibaldi, as he responded, “I freely admit that I overestimated the Knight Sabers abilities to contain them all at the ground level.” He thought, 'There is a first time for everything.'
Garibaldi requested, “Okay. And I am sure you see good news in this situation?”
Lee calmly stated, “Actually, I do. The good news is that the boomers in the elevator and stairwell, along with group after me, will probably get to this outside hallway, at the same time. They will stall each other, and that machine gun will help even the odds, by aiding those after me.'
“Also, we will use the island for cover against those that come in from the window. Still, we best get ready, right now.”
Garibaldi countered, in a matter of fact tone of voice, “Nice plan. The problem is that island would suck as cover. It would be like taking cover behind a cardboard box... Actually, it this thing is made of particle board. And those things will tear through it like it was nothing.”
Lee pointed out, “The boomers want you alive. And their weapons are too destructive, in this enclosed environment, for the boomers to use them. We can use that to our advantage. And I would prefer some cover, than nothing at all.”
Garibaldi conceded, “Point taken.” He then looked over at Bernard, as he commented, “Bernard, the party is about to get started soon. Get your items, and put them, and yourself, on the floor, between the island and the interior wall.”
Bernard did not looked up, as he responded, “Yes sir.”
Lee turned to looked at the technician, and his work.
Lee could see that Bernard was almost finished, as he inquired, “By the way, how long is it going to take to finish device?”
While Bernard was transferring the mostly assembled reality device, and his tools, to the floor, by his feet, he did not looked towards Lee. As he was much more focus on making sure he did not drop the items he was working with.
As Bernard did this, he calmly answered, “We are down to a matter of minutes. Fifteen minutes at most.”
Lee mentally grumbled, 'That is still not fast enough. And the only reason I don't threaten him is that I know that all it will do is make him go slower, and it will push him to betray me.' He calmly requested, “Please, do what you can, as quickly as you can.”
Bernard casually replied, “I will.”
Lee turned back to Garibaldi, as he commented, “You get by Bernard, and guard him. I will be beside you, nearer to the door. I will cover the door, you listen out for the window. But, we need to stay down, before they show up, because I don't want stray shots harm either of you.” He mentally added, 'Nor me.'
Garibaldi looked over at Lee. He said, “No problem. We should know when the boomers outside when we heard the windows shatter, and the machine guns open up.”
Lee thought, 'Given the dire situation we are in, I might as well tell them.' Lee mentioned, “One other item. I am precognitive.”
Garibaldi inquired, “Interesting... How good are you at your ability?” He thought, 'Lee would not mention that unless it was important to the situation.'
Lee calmly said, “I say that, in all seriousness, I can dodge bullets. Actually, that is what I literally did at the factory.”
Garibaldi thought, 'And I though I had a handle on this guy. He clearly likes to hide a lot about his skills from me. Also, that is a skill one would not boost about, in this situation, unless he was telling the truth...'
'Still, as I guessed. Lee likes to hide what he can do. He would only mention this, if me knowing about his ability would be useful to him.' He questioned, “And what bearing does this have for our current situation?”
Lee stated, “When the boomers get here, pay attention to me. If I am not having to cover the door, I may pop up, to fire towards the window. When I do, you do the same. And when I go back down, you do the same. My precognitive abilities will inform me of the right time to do this. That way, we can buy some more time, by firing, while minimizing the risk of us being shot.”
Garibaldi responded, “I understand.” He mentally added, 'Even Lee can truly dodge bullets. Which, given the last twelve hours. I am willing to believe Lee on his claims. Still, we need to focus on the matter at hand.'
Garibaldi stated, “Okay. Let's get ready.” He then turned, and headed over to Bernard, as he unslung his PPG, with him holding the rifle grip with his right hand, and the fore-end held with his left hand.
Lee quietly followed behind Garibaldi, as he pulled out his PPG pistols, from their holsters.
Both of them left the viewsceen on, as they took their positions. With all three men crouched down, between the island and the interior wall of the room.
Bernard was on the far end of the group. With Garibaldi in the middle. And Lee on the other end, that was closest to the door to the hallway.
(_)
Eleven minutes later, the rest of Revy's group walked into the sixty-first floor hallway, from the eastern stairway. Fortunately, none of them had slipped on the wet concrete.
Both Zoe and Mal were breathing heavily, while Revy, Sawyer, Shenhua, Roberta, and Nene, were not.
Zoe commented, “Sir, I am honestly thinking of taking Chang's offer for the same serum he gave these girls. Because they are not tired.”
Mal replied, “I won't blame you, if you did.”
The other women present just giggled a little, as they looked at Zoe and Mal.
Revy then inquired, in a casual tone of voice, “You guys still up to this?”
Mal looked over at Revy, as he answered, “Yes. We just need few moments to catch our breath.”
Mal then turned to gaze at the barricade doors, as he continued, “And I think we will be fine, by the time you get through those doors.”
Roberta looked at the doors, the back at the group, as she commented, “If we can get through them?”
Sawyer held up her chainsaw, as she said, “It should not be a problem. The barricade doors slide from both walls. And I doubt they go all the way into the wall. I will just cut on one of the corners, and Nene should be able to push them through, with her hardsuits's strength.”
A wrist blade popped from Nene left armored wrist, as she said, “I can do more than that. You take the left side, I got the right side.” She mentally added, 'I would prefer to destroyed the right door, that way, when the door comes down, I will be facing further into the hallway, to my side, instead of with my front. That way, if there are other traps, I will be a smaller target, and my side armor will take much of the glancing force, which is safer for me on several levels. Than taking a direct blow to the chest, or stomach.'
Sawyer replied, “That works for me.”
Mal turned to Nene, as he inquired, “Why don't you just use your laser, like last time?”
Nene gazed as Mal, as she commented, “They burn a lot of energy. And I would prefer we go in carefully.”
Sawyer looked at Mal, as she mentioned, “From my own hardsuit experiences, I already knew that. That is why I didn't ask.” She turned Nene, as she inquired, “Still, how many of these doors do we need to take out?”
Nene looked at Sawyer, as she answered, “My sensors say we have three sets of barricade doors, until we to get the room they are inside of. Also, the boomers have to get through three barricade doors, as well. And there is some sort automated machine gun, on a tripod, after the third door. Though, it is pointed towards the west end. It is likely meant to take down the boomers, and not us.”
Shenhua commented, “Lee will likely want to even the odds, so that we ended up fighting the boomers that are coming the other way. To buy himself some more time.”
Nene stated, “My thoughts, exactly. On the last door, we will just take down the right side door, which is opposite to the door to their room. With their room being to our left. Because, from what I saw, the last barricade door to their is around three meters from the open entrance to their room. They likely left the door open intentionally. From their heat profiles, I can see are armed. And it is clear they were watching us from a camera system, before they moved for cover. So, they know we are here, and who to expect.”
“Also, there are to other ground mounted automated machine guns in the room Lee is in. Like the one in the hallway. With them pointed at the windows. Behind the machine guns is an island table, with the three men between the back of the island and the inner wall.”
Revy commented, “Lee is likely trying to find the best cover, for all of them, from all sides.
Nene replied, “I agree.”
Zoe said, “It sounds like Lee has all his bases cover.”
Sawyer commented, “Well, Lee clearly does live by the rule, knowing is half the battle.”
The others just looked at her. Sawyer thought, 'They don't get the joke. And I hate explaining a joke to someone. But, I guess I am going to have to, in this case. At least vaguely.'
Sawyer stated, “It's a nineteen eighty's pop-culture joke. And I don't feel like explaining it to you.”
Zoe moved the conversation forward, as she questioned, “Moving on. Can we turned off the video system?” She mentally reflected, 'The first rule of combat is to cut off the enemies' eyes and ears. Though, I wonder why Rock and the others have no done so, yet?'
Nene thought, 'She must have missed that part of the conversation.' She answered, “I can not. They are defaulted to be left on. And I am sure they already know we are here. So, there is no point destroying them.”
Zoe shrugged, as she thought, 'I guess that makes sense.'
Revy cracked a wicked grin, as she commented, “So, they know we are coming, that just makes the hunt even more fun.
Roberta smirked, as she agreed, “I am with you on this, two-hands.”
Shenhua asked, “Nene, you said that Lee and the others had moved for cover. What are Lee, and the others doing right now? Also, do you see any other traps? And have the boomers made it to his floor yet?”
Nene answered, “Right now, the three men are crouched down, behind an island table, and the interior wall, in a room, further down the hallways. Lee is covering the door to the hallway. Garibaldi is the man in the middle, and he is likely going to cover the windows. And the third man, is on the other side of Garibaldi. That man is doing something on the floor. But, I don't know what it is.”
Mal asked, “If you had to guess, what does the third man look like he is doing?”
Nene answered, “Using tools to put something together on the floor... The reality device! That guy took apart, and he is trying to put it back together, while Lee and Garibaldi buy him time.”
Revy smile became slightly wider, as she said, with glee in her tone of voice, “So, that is why he hasn't reality jumped yet. He can't. Lee is trapped here, and he knows it. And now we do to.” She mentally added, 'I wonder if Rock already figured this out... If so, I guess she didn't tell us, because she didn't want to us to rush in here. Which is a smart move.'
Mal grinned wildly, as he said, “That is so nice to hear.”
Sawyer mentioned, “Garibaldi has always been an inquisitive man.”
Sawyer then noticed everyone just staring at her.
Sawyer commented, “What?... When I saw the series, I liked it. Even though we kidnapped a few of the people here. It didn't mean I didn't respect them.”
Nene deadpanned, “What do you do with those you don't respect?”
Shenhua said, “Don't ask.”
Roberta turned to Sawyer, as she said, “Don't feel bad at about that, Sawyer. It is a good series. After we left the tower, I showed it to Fabiola and the master, both of whom liked the series, as well. All three of us found it to be very well put together.”
Sawyer turned to Roberta, as she replied, “Thank you.” She then turned to the rest of the group, as she commented, “It is likely at some point that Lee was asleep. A night, like the night he had last night would wear anyone out. And Garibaldi had his reality device taken from him. With Lee not knowing the device was disassembled, while he was talked to Rock. If that was not case, Lee might have tried to be more negotiable with Rock, as they talked on the phone.”
Shenhua agreed, “Very likely.”
Revy said, “Now, let's get the bastard before he slips through our hands, once again. When it comes to Lee, he won't shot to kill, and he knows that we know that. And because of that, it is going to be a very quick fight.”
Sawyer pointed out, “Hold it, Nene still had not answered all of Shenhua's questions?” She saw Shenhua smile, as she continued, “We need to know about other traps that we might be facing?”
Revy agreed, “Good point.”
Nene answered, “There are none for us. And automated machine guns, are the only traps I see for the boomers. Likely, they are a last ditch effort to delay the boomers.”
Zoe pointed out, “We still need to be wary of such weapons.”
Nene agreed, “Yes.”
Zoe inquired, “Are the automated weapons capable of turning around to shoot us?”
Nene answered, “No. I don't think it has a full three hundred and sixty degree's, in turning. And as Revy pointed out, Lee doesn't want to kill us. And he likely convinced Garibaldi to do the same thing.”
Roberta stated, “Though, they are corners, they might change their minds. But, either way, we also need to know where the boomers are?”
Nene answered, “The boomers scaling the wall outside, are about ten floors down. But, the ones coming up from the inside the building, on the western side, are about to make it to this floor, from the elevator shafts, and stairwell.”
“The good news is. As I said. Like us. There are three sets of barricade doors, between them, and those men. But, that, and the automated machine gun, will not hold them for long.”
Revy stated, “Then, we don't have much time, and we need to hurry.”
Sawyer said, “Yes. Let's get this party started.”
She then turning on her chainsaw, and started walking towards the barricade doors, as Nene followed behind her.
The two women made short work of the barricade doors. With Sawyer chainsawing the left door, as where it met the wall. While, Nene used her wrist blade it cut through the right door, at where it met the wall.
Given they were cutting both sides, where the two doors met the walls, they did not both to cut the center, where the doors met, and locked together.
Nene then used her hardsuit raw strength to push the doors forward, and down to the floor.
After the first two double-doors fell, the two women moved onto the next set of barricade doors.
Meanwhile, the rest of Revy's group were behind them. And they pulled out their weapons, and readied themselves for battle.
(_)
A couple of minutes later, Garibaldi, Lee and Bernard crouched down beside each other, with their backs to the island. Lee and Garibaldi had their weapons ready, while Bernard continued to work on the reality device.
They had left the door to the hallway open, so they could cover the hallway, see who was coming. Lee was closest to the door, which Garibaldi being between Lee and Bernard.
Lee thought, 'At much as I would like to use that viewscreen by the door, to see what it happening. It will be to close for the action. And I would be completely wide open. It is best to stay down, and fire from here. At this angle, I can hit into the northern side of the hallway, near the barricade doors And all I want to do is stall them. Besides, their bullets would pass between the titanium bars in the wall, and though the walls. So, shooting from the door, would be unwise, unhealthy, and would likely get me killed.'
Lee then heard Sawyer's chainsaw starting to cut through the last eastern barricade door.
Lee looked at the open door to the hallway, as he tightened his grip on his PPG pistols. He said, “Looks like we are facing the girls first.”
Garibaldi stated, “Okay. You handle them. I will cover the window, when those monsters crash the party.” He mentally reflected, 'I would be tempted to give Lee up to these girls, at this point. But, I doubt they would go for it.'
Lee continued looking at the door, as he said, “Okay... And Bernard, how is the device coming along?”
Bernard answered, “We are down to a few minutes, until it is ready.”
Lee replied, “Good.” He mentally added, 'We still might escape... Even thought we are cutting this really damn close, in so many ways.'
Lee stayed down, as he made it to the end of the island, near the open doorway that lead to the hallway.
Next, from his vantage point, he watched as end of Sawyer's chainsaw came out of the northern most barricade door, from the top, where the door met the wall, and made it all the way down, to the floor.
After that, Lee watched as the chainsaw then came down between the doors, where the two doors that composed that set of barricade doors, met, and locked together.
When Sawyer finished, Lee watched the door tip forward, that finished. He then saw Sawyer for a second, before she backed away behind the other door, that was still standing.
Lee thought, 'They are leaving the other door up, as cover. That is very smart of them. Well, I might as well say, hi, and try to stall them. And hope they don't kill me, as they return fire.'
Lee held out his PPG pistols in front of him, as he took aim. He then yelled, “Hi girls! Sorry about this! But, I want to live!” He then fired both his PPG pistols at the north hallway wall, beside the open, where the destroyed barricaded door had been standing.
Beside Lee, Garibaldi could not help but chuckle a little at what Lee said and did. He thought, 'In my entire previous career as a security professional. Never have I once met a suspect that greeted me, apologizes in advance of shooting at me, and then fired at me. I guess that is a first time for everything. And I just hope his plan works, and he doesn't get us killed, or worse.'
Meanwhile, beside Garibaldi, opposite to Lee, Bernard was nearing completion to repairing the reality device, as he had heard what Lee had said, and then he heard Garibaldi chuckle. He thought, 'I am beginning to believe that that my boss, and this other man, are crazy. And if I was to guess, so are those after them. When I joined this company, it was to have a nice, stable, steady paycheck for my family, and I. Not to get into adventures. That is why I am taking the trapdoor, instead of going with them, somewhere in the multiverse...'
'Let someone else do the adventuring. My adventuring ends at watching a vid. Which I can turn it off any time I want.'
Bernard then continued to work on repairing the reality device, as quickly as possible. Though, slow enough that he knew he would not make a mistake, which could likely get them all killed. If he could not get the device to work right.
(_)
Thirty seconds ago, in the eastern side of the hallway, outside the lab, on the sixty-first floor, Sawyer had just finished remove the door to her right. As she watched the flat down, she quickly backed away, to where the rest of the group was standing.
Sawyer turned around to see that her group had their weapons out, and ready. Though, those in her group that were using firearms, were pointing their weapons towards the ground, and they had their trigger fingers resting on the trigger guards and not the triggers of the weapons.
As Sawyer came to a stop, by the left side of the hallway, behind the standing door, she turned off her chainsaw. Sawyer then thought, 'I think I just saw Lee. And he is armed.'
A few seconds later, the group heard Lee yelled, “Hi girls! Sorry about this, but I want to live!”
From the viewing angle they were at, the group saw Lee fire a few warning shots into the wall, on the other side of the hole they had made in the hallway.
Sawyer mentally reflected, “Yep. He is armed. And only he would be polite enough to apologize to us in advance, before firing a weapon as us. I don't think he wants to piss us off. He just want to keep his away from him.'
Shenhua commented, “I don't believe Lee shot first.”
Roberta shrugged, as she said, “I guess Lee prefers death, over capture.' She mentally lamented, 'And I had such lovely torture plans for him.'
Revy pointed out, “Nah. He is just buying time. Those shots hit the wall. He don't want to hit us.”
Mal commented, “So, who is going to disarm him?”
Everyone turned to Nene. Nene quickly pointed out, “This armor is designed for physical blows, along with energy and projectile hits. Years ago, Sylia, Mackie, and I studied the plasma weapons this reality uses. Even at low levels, my suit will not completely protect me from the blasts.”
Roberta said, “Don't worry, Nene. You have done enough alright.” She mentally reflected, 'Besides, you have been a nice person, and I really don't want to see you hurt. The only person I want to see hurt here is Lee.'
Revy stated, “I will handle him. Besides, I want another crack at him.”
Roberta deadpanned, “Who doesn't?”
Zoe seconded Revy, as she agreed, “I like that idea.” She thought, 'If Ms. dodge bullets wants to get him. I say more power to her.'
Revy then turned towards the barricade door that was still standing. She walked over to it. She came to a stop, right behind the door that was still standing. She faced the north wall, as she yelled, “Hi Lee! Glad you finally decided to stand your ground!”
(_)
Meanwhile, in the lab room, Lee had just heard Revy, as he remain crouched between the island and the interior wall.
Lee thought, 'It figures that Revy would be the one doing the talking for her group. And this just confirms that Rock made her leader of this group, instead of one of the others. But, better her, than one of the other ones, like Roberta. Well, I might as well reply before I piss her off enough to shoot at me.'
Lee yelled back, “Not much choice in this situation! And before we get into it, I freely admit that I know I cannot beat you in a gunfight!”
Revy happily responded, in a loud tone of voice, “Good! Then surrender, before the boomers get here!
Lee loudly conceded, “As tempting at it is! Not happening!”
Revy yelled, “How about you, Garibaldi?! We promise to get you, and your friend, out of this mess, unharmed?!”
Garibaldi loudly replied, “Unfortunately, I have to say no! My honor would never allow it! Besides, I always wanted to see what was on the other side of the looking glass!” He thought, 'Like the Alice in Wonderland stories.'
On the other side of Garibaldi, from Lee, Bernard heard all this. Bernard thought, with worry, 'Oh lord. These two are nuts. And I don't dare try to surrender. Because these people don't know me. And I know this, Lee, will likely kill me.'
While still covering the entrance to the hallway, Lee said, “Thanks, Mister Garibaldi.”
Garibaldi looked over at Lee, as he replied, “No problem, Lee.”
Revy pointed out, “Be careful what you wish for, because you may not like what you find!”
Garibaldi strongly replied, “I'm willing to take that risk!”
Lee then saw Revy start to put her head around the barricade door, to see them. Lee quickly fired a few shots with the PPG pistols, at the north wall, towards the floor, on the other side of the barricade door that standing. The shots were far enough not to hit Revy,'s head, but close enough to force Revy back behind the standing barricade door.
(_)
At that moment, in the hallway, Revy ducked back to the left side of the hallway.
Behind Revy, the rest of her group watched what happened.
Mal smirked, as he said, “Careful now. You don't want to get your head shot off.”
Revy giggled. She then said, “Those shots were way to far to hit me. As I said, Lee doesn't want to kill us.” She then mentally admitted, to herself, 'Though, he is starting to annoy me... Well, more so than usual.'
Revy then noticed that Lee was firing two shots at once. She realized, as she asked, “Are you dual wielding two pistols?!”
Lee sarcastically replied, “Yea! What?! Redneck can't dual wield?!”
Revy inquired, “Akira said you were not that good at dual wielding pistol?!”
Lee answered, “I am okay at doing it! I am just not at your level! Though, at this range, I don't have to be!”
Revy agreed, “Good point! Now, let me show you how to properly use a pair of pistols at once!”
She then popped her head around the opening, and fired both her pistols, are right above Lee's head.
Though, Revy aimed above Lee's head, inside the lab, Lee precognition warned him to duck. Lee instantly did so, as the bullets pass far over his head, and the island table he was standing beside.
As Lee leaned back up, he saw that Revy had duck back behind the barricade door.
Lee then heard Revy yelled, “Those were my warning shots! We know that your reality device is currently busted! Surrender, now!”
Lee thought, 'Shit! They figured it out! How?... Of course, Nene's hardsuit had infrared sensors. And it wouldn't take a genius to figure out what Bernard is working on... And that was likely the only warning I am going to get from Revy... What am I going to do?... I need to be honest. They got me dead to rights. I might as well surrender while I have time.'
But, just before Lee was about to open his mouth, everyone heard the sound of banging coming from western end of the hallway.
Lee grimly thought, 'It figures the boomers would show up, right now. Well, it looks like it is too late to surrender now.'
Lee turned to Garibaldi and Benard, as he stated, “Get ready guys. The monster killer robots have arrived.”
Garibaldi replied, 'Thanks for the heads up.”
Bernard kept working on the reality device, as he joked, “It is too late to get off this ride?” He thought, 'If I am going to die. I can at least say I cracked a few jokes, as well.”
Lee's lips curled into a wicked grin, as he stated, “Way too late.”
Bernard replied, “I was afraid you would say that.”
Lee then kept his wicked grin, as he likely chuckled at Bernard's response, for a few seconds.
And so the three men then began to mentally preparing themselves with facing the imminent attack of the boomers against them.
(_)
On the eastern side of the wall, Revy looked around the door, and towards the far end of the hallway. She saw brown lance tear through the barricade doors, from other end of the doors.
Revy immediately recognized the lance, as she thought, 'Crap! The boomers are here.'
Revy then watched, as the front battle boomer ripped off the barricade doors fulling. That was went the automated, PPG machine gun, on the tripod, twenty feet in front of the doors, start fire precise body shots at the boomers heads and chest.
Revy saw that the power level from each plasma blast was so strong that, while the boomers did not explode. Nor, show any serious outward injury, save for minor scorch marks. After one or two shots, the internal injuries to the electronic and organic components were so great that the boomers instantly stop moving, as the fell over, and were deactivated by the hits.
But, Revy did see other battle boomers and combat boomers behind boomers that fell.
These boomers just climbed over, or pushed out of the way, their fallen brethren, and continued forward, as the machine gun kept firing away at the killing machines.
Revy then ducked back behind the door, as she turned to looked at her group.
Mal guessed, “The boomers are here?
Revy answered, “Yes. But, the good news is that that energy machine gun is taking out the boomers where they stand.”
Nene stated, “Unfortunately, there are more coming. Too many for that machine gun.”
Roberta asked, “Can we take them?”
Nene answered, in a disappointed tone of voice, “Not really. It is too confined in here me to fight boomer. Trust me, close quarters with even one boomer is very dangerous. Even with a hardsuit. And my lasers will damage it. But, I have only enough energy to take down only one or two boomers. And my sensors states that machine gun will only slow them down for about another minute.”
“Though, from what my sensor shows, the energy weapons that Zoe and Mal's have, that are currently holster, under their coats, have the best chance of likely taken down most, if not all the boomers that are heading our way.”
Roberta thought, 'And we can probably handle the rest. So, we are not defeated, yet. Still, I wonder what weapons, Nene is referring too?'
Zoe cracked a grin, as she said, “I was wondering when one of you would notice we had these beauties.”
Zoe and Mal holstered the weapons in their hand. Next, they both of them each pulled out a firearm from two other holsters from their clothing. The held their new weapons in their right hands.
Revy was the first to recognize the weapons in the veterans' hands. She questioned, “Star Trek Federation phaser pistols? You brought phaser pistols with you? And I didn't even notice.”
Mal commented, in a humorous tone of voice, “And our shoulder holsters were a good place to hide them in.”
Shenhua asked, “Where did you get those weapons from?”
Zoe answered, “Chang got them for us,”
Shenhua deadpanned, “Why am I not surprised?”
Sawyer said, “Be happy for this turn of events. We should be able to take down several boomers with just those two weapons, with ease.”
Mal smiled, as he said, “Now ladies. Please, step out of the way, and let the professionals do their jobs.”
Roberta thought, 'It is so tempting to wipe that smile off his face. But, Sawyer is right. His and Zoe's weapons are our best bet to take down the boomers, and capture Lee. Still, there are a few things those two need to know about those killing machines...'
Roberta looked at Zoe and Mal, as she calmly stated, “The large brown boomers take precedence, in most cases, in being destroyed first. The lances on those large brown boomers' right arms have a machine guns and a rocket launchers built into them.”
“Also, as Nene said, early. If one of the blue boomers suddenly opens it's mouth, to fire its energy cannon, or popped up the heat panel on its chest, fire on those boomers first. Those four weapons will take us out in a few shots, even with the barricade here for cover. And head shots are your best bet here.”
Zoe said, “We will keep that in mind.” She mentally added, 'I am glad we are using the phaser pistols Chang got from us, instead of our usual weapons, like we had last night.'
Mal mentioned, “Just remember to set your weapons for medium setting. We want to take down as many as possible, while not running out of ammo for these things.”
Zoe looked at Mal, as she answered, “Already done, sir.”
Mal and Zoe then walked over to the barricade door. They then leaned around the door, with Mal standing, and Zoe kneeling, as they started shooting at the boomers. With each of them taking down a boomer with each shot they made.
(_)
At that moment, in the lab, between the island and the interior wall, Lee continued to watch the hallway.
Lee had already heard the PPG machine gun in the hallway come to life, a few seconds ago. He then then saw Mal and Zoe popped around the barricade door in the hallway, as they started to fire their weapons at boomers, across the hallway.
Lee immediately recognized the weapons, due to the streaks of red energy, long with the sound, and the way the weapons were shaped.
Lee quickly moved back closer to Garibaldi and Bernard, as he thought, 'Crap, Mal and Zoe have phasers. Fortunately, they are going after the boomers, and aiding that machine gun in the hallway. But, if they see me, one of them will likely switch their weapon to stun, and knock me out. And I cannot afford to be unconscious at this point in the game.'
Just as Lee came to a stop right beside Garibaldi, Garibaldi turned to Lee, as he ordered, “Status report.”
Lee continued to watch the doorway, as he answered, “Well, the boomers broke through the last barricade doors on the western side. The PPG automated machine gun is holding them off, with the help of energy fire from the humans after me. We have a minute, to a minute and a half.” Lee then turned to Bernard and Garibaldi, as he turned to the technician, as he inquired, “Bernard, how long on the device?”
Bernard continued working, as he answered, “Between thirty seconds, to two minutes.”
Lee stayed silent, as Garibaldi said, in a comforting tone of voice, “Just get the job done. I have faith in you.”
Bernard did not looked up, as he commented, “Thank you, Mister Garibaldi.”
Garibaldi smiled, as he replied, “You're welcome.”
Suddenly, the three men heard the two large windows, across from them, in the lab, being shattered. A second later, the two automated PPG machine guns stationed between them and the window, roared to life, signaling that the combat boomers that had been scaling the outside wall, had finally their room.
Garibaldi commented, “I guess the final members of this party just got here.”
Lee joked, “Yes. Coming through the window is so stylish these days.”
Garibaldi and Lee chuckled a little at Lee's joke.
Nearby, Bernard remained silent, as he re-doubled his efforts to get the reality device finished. He thought, 'If I am right. Once I finish this device, I just need to use the trapdoor under me, and disappear into the saferoom, a floor below. While both these armies follow Mister Garibaldi and Lee into the multiverse.'
Meanwhile, Garibaldi then saw Lee has turn around, with his front of the island. Garibaldi did the same, as he guessed, “So, when do we play the galaxy's most extreme version of the game of whack a mole? With us being the moles?”
Lee used his precognition, as he commented, “Any second now. Just follow me lead. You aim for the head of the boomer in front of you. I will do the same.”
A few seconds later, Lee's precognition alerted him it was the proper moment, and he then immediately popped up from the island, with Garibaldi down the same. Both men stood their ground, as they quickly took aim with their weapons, and fired at the heads of the two closest boomers were at.
The two boomers were just climbing inside, from the window ledges, and onto the floor, three feet below them. The boomers had not even gotten back to their feet, yet.
There were two other boomers lying on the floor, ten feet from the automated machine guns.
Lee and Garibaldi hit their marks, with Lee seeing the two boomer fall to the floor, dead, as he ducked down behind the island, for cover.
Garibaldi saw Lee duck down, and he did the same.
Garibaldi stated, “At least we now know our hand-held PPG weapons work on them.”
Lee agreed, “Yea. Unfortunately, not counting the four that are already down. There are eight other combat boomers trying to get in from the outside. And eventually, one side, or the other, in the hallway is going to win, and we are going to be overwhelmed.” Lee mentally added, 'At least the machine guns took two of them out. And we took another two of them out. That is eight to go, from the window. But, I don't know how long we can handle this.'
Bernard overheard this, and he realized where the conversation was heading. He said, “I am almost done. About thirty seconds.”
Garibaldi and Lee responded, in unison, “Good.”
Lee turned to his right to see though the hallway, as Mal and Zoe continued to fire at the boomers coming from the western end of the hallway.
Lee also realized something, as he thought, 'I am not hearing the machine gun from the hallway any more. Meaning the boomers have gotten past it, and the only thing holding them back is Revy's group. We have got to get out of here as soon as possible. But, I have to focus on keeping that window covered...'
Lee faced in front of him, at the island, as he said, “We are coming down to the wire. Ready for another round?”
Garibaldi replied, “Sure.”
Lee then used his precognition, and when he felt it was the proper time, he popped up from behind the island, with Garibaldi right beside him. Lee fired his PPG pistols at the head of a boomer climbing into the building, while Garibaldi used his PPG rifle to fire at the head of a boomer, that had just stepped onto the floor.
Both were kill shots, and Lee noted there there were another two boomers on the floor, making eight dead boomers in all.
Lee then ducked down, with Garibaldi doing the same.
Lee thought, 'Eight down. Four to go.'
Suddenly, on the other side of Garibaldi, Bernard yelled, “Done!” He then head out the reality device for Lee and Garibaldi.
Lee immediately dropped his pistols, as he turned to Garibaldi and Bernard.
Lee then reached passed Garibaldi, as Bernard handed him the reality device.
Lee said, “Thank you, Bernard. Now, get out of here.” He then looked at the device, as he thought, 'It looks intact, and Bernard strikes me as the type of person whom would be honest about finishing something. So, this should work, or Garibaldi and I are about to be dead, or worse.'
Bernard cracked a grin, as he responded, “No problem. Good luck. See, you later, Mister Garibaldi.”
Garibaldi turned to Bernard, as he replied, “You to, Bernard.”
Bernard then pushed his tools away from him, opposite to where Garibaldi was next to him. After that, Bernard turned toward the island in front of him. He used the front of his right foot to pressed a button on the bottom of the island, by him.
A second later, the floor opened up under him, as he immediately slid down to the closet in floor below. With the trapdoor closing a few seconds later, behind him.
Lee turned to Garibaldi, as he said, “Garibaldi, we need to discard our weapons. Where we are going, we won't be able to get ammo for them. And we don't want to contaminate the past of an alternate Earth.”
Garibaldi turned to look at Lee, as he inquired, “And then when and where would that be?... Though, we really don't really have time for this.”
Lee hastily stated, “I agree. And to answer you question. The late Earth during the twentieth century. Still, to many eyes and ears to get more detail.”
Garibaldi said, “Understood.” He mentally added, 'Lee is right. I am going to have to lose the PPG weapon. Besides, mine is almost out of ammo. Also, the weapon would be out of place, and to hard to hide on me. Still, Lee has that combat knife, and we have our wits. And, Lee is also right that we don't want the others to overhear where we are going. And we need to get their, right now!'
Garibaldi then set his PPG rifle down, beside him, opposite to where Lee was.
Garibaldi looked over at Lee, as he asked, “Do I need to get any closer?”
Given Lee and Garibaldi were less than a foot from each other, Lee continued to look at Garibaldi, as he answered, “No. We are close enough, as it.”
Garibaldi replied, “Good.”
Lee then held the reality device, as he began to think of when, where, and what reality he wanted to go too.
(_)
At that moment, almost twenty-five feet from them, two more, of the last four, blue combat, climbing the outside of the wall, made it up to the window. Given the boomers had been monitoring their brethren being destroyed by the automated machine guns, the two boomers had come up with a plan.
One would sacrifice itself, so the other could capture the target.
As both boomer made it over the ledge of the window, the combat boomer to Lee and Garibaldi’s right had it's back thruster vents open up. The thrusters were located in the boomer shoulder blades. They were horizontal, rectangular slits, that ran down three rows, on each side.
As the thrusters opened up, the boomer burst forward, through the air, towards the automated PPG machine guns.
The boomer took several plasma hits. A second later, its lifeless form crashed into the two machine guns, knocking them off their tripods, and shutting them down.
The dead deactivated. boomer then skidded to a stop, at the front wall of the island table, that Lee and Garibaldi were behind.
This cleared the way for the other boomer in the room, along with the two boomers behind it, to rush forward, over the island, and capture their target. While, eliminating the single witness, left in the room, by the target, that the killer machines saw with their infrared sensors.”
(_)
At that exact moment, Lee precognition screamed at him that it was time to leave that very second.
Lee mentally realized, 'That crash was the machine guns being taken out. We need to go now.' As he held the reality device, he had finished thinking of the time, place, and reality he wanted to to go. And he was very specific on where they would land, in the location he mentally thought of.
Lee then looked up, just as he pushed the red button on the reality device. He saw combat boomer heading over island, towards them.
But fortunately, Lee and Garibaldi disappeared into the multiverse, right before the boomer was about reached them. With the boomer still mercifully far enough away, to not travel with them, to their next destination.
(_)
At that moment, in the hallway, outside the lab, Mal and Zoe suddenly watched all boomers they saw disappear.
The two war veterans stopped firing, as Mal asked, “What is going on?”
Behind them, and the standing barricade door, Sawyer asked, “What do you mean?”
Mal and Zoe turned to face the rest of their group, as they holstered their phasers.
Zoe stated, “The boomers suddenly disappeared. Not that I am complaining.”
Roberta guessed, “Damn. Lee and Garibaldi are gone.” She then holstered her pistols.
Mal and Zoe then noticed that Revy follow suit, by holstering her pistols. Shenhua sheathed her knives. And Sawyer turned off her chainsaw, and slung it across her back, by its strap.
Nene stated, “Roberta is are right. Sensors show that Lee and Garibaldi are gone.” She thought, 'It is so tempting to throw a fit about losing Lee. But, I must remember that I am a better women than these girls. And I am sure, that later, Sylia will come up with a plan to catch Lee. This is only a delay, not a defeat.'
Meanwhile, Zoe thought, 'That figures. So close, and we almost had Lee. The irony being that the captain and I would have immediately teleport Lee, and anyone else with him, away, before the others realize it... I guess, there goes our reward... Oh well... At least Chang can be understanding about these sorts of things.'
Shenhua asked, “And the third guy with them?”
Nene said, “I tracked him to the floor below. There is a trapdoor in the lab. I cannot get a heat reading from him. I would guess he is in some sort of saferoom.”
Sawyer turned to Revy, as she asked, “Do you want to go after the third guy?”
Revy looked over at Sawyer. She shrugged, as she replied, “No. He is not important. If he was, the boomers would still be here. And I have no interest dragging an innocent bystander with us.” She thought, 'I would never hear the end of it, from Rock, if I did.'
Roberta pointed out, “He did help repair the reality device.”
Revy said, “That doesn't matter. He was just doing his job. And he clearly had enough common sense not to want to go with those two. That earns him points in my book.”
Roberta shrugged, as she replied, “You have a point there.”
Zoe inquired, “As fun as those questions are. I would still like to know where the army of killing machine went?”
Roberta turned to Zoe, as she coyly answered, “Back to our past?”
Zoe looked over at Roberta, as she politely requested, “Could you please elaborate?” She thought, 'I hate it when I am the one kept in the dark.'
Revy answered, “Garibaldi was the boomers' target. With Garibaldi gone, the boomers immediately teleported back to Chang's tower. At least those that were still functioning.”
Sawyer commented, “Chang did not want these boomers to just go rampaging through the multiverse for their targets. If their target escaped into the multiverse, they were to go back to the tower, report on what happened, and then await further orders.”
Revy said, “Yes. Even we are not foolish enough to let boomers loose on the multiverse, without some control over them.”
Zoe deadpanned, “That's... nice.” She thought, 'It is so tempting to start in on that subject with them, but we just don't have the time.'
Meanwhile, Revy ignored Zoe sarcastic remark, as she thought, 'I need to know if everyone else is alright?' She stated, “I need to talk to Rock and the others.”
Everyone else in the hallway became quiet, as Revy pulled out her radio. She then spoke into it, “Is everyone okay?”
Over the radio, Revy and the others heard Aeryn's voice say, in a calm, professional tone of voice, “There are no causalities on our end. Violin, myself, and the Knight Sabers will be fine. Though, they wrecked their motoslaves. Still, we are wondering why boomers disappeared, all of a sudden?”
Revy responded, with her radio, “We will get to that in a moment. Rock, how is your end?”
Over the radio, Rock answered, “We are fine? How about you?”
Revy thought, 'Good.' She answered, into her radio, “We're alive. But, Lee and Garibaldi got away. That is why the boomers disappeared. They were pre-programed to return to the tower, if their target, such as Garibaldi, jumps to another reality. Even we didn't want boomers chasing after people, across realities.”
On the radio, Sylia complimented, “That is wise programing.”
Revy inquired, over her radio, “Thank you. Would about the third person?”
Over her radio, Revy commented, “From what we understand. The third person dropped into a saferoom on the floor below us.”
Over the radio, Rock stated, “Leave him be.”
Revy thought, 'That is just what I was thinking of doing.' She replied, into her radio, “Of course.”
Over the radio, Aeryn asked, “Why would Lee take Garibaldi with him?”
On the radio, Rock stated, “That is probably how Lee got Garibaldi to go along with his plan. Lee likely didn't tell Garibaldi too much, But, he would have told him enough that Garibaldi would not want to take his chances staying here, nor turning to us, for help.”
Violin broke into the conversation, with her radio, “Also, Lee would not want to see anyone else hurt for his negligence. Besides, Garibaldi is a diehard otaku. That convention we went to last night. Which Garibaldi was the one funding. Proves that. Also, the B Five series out right showed he is a Looney Tunes fan. The thought of traveling the multiverse would appeal to his fanboy side. And I am sure Lee realized that. Lee also might have played that angle up, to entice Garibaldi into helping him.”
Over her radio, Revy agreed, “True. And even I will give Lee credit, that when given the opportunity, he was willing to at least save one of his unintended victims.” Revy looked over Nene, whom looked at her, and shrugged. Revy then looked over at Roberta, whom was looking back at her. Revy continued, into her radio, “We need to take that into account. And while we will torture Lee for what he did to us. What we do to him may not be too horrible.”
In responded, Roberta just snorted.
Nene thought, 'I will give Lee credit. He did save at least one of his would be victims. While trying his best not to harm us. Though, he did slow us down. That will not stop of from finding him, and punishing. Still, like Revy. We will take what he has done here, into account, when we do punish him.'
Nearby, Sawyer had been quietly listening to the conversation, as was everyone else, that was by Revy. After hearing Revy's last comment, Sawyer thought, 'Revy openly acknowledging Lee saving Garibaldi, and her considering leniency for Lee, is a good sign for Lee. Considering she has been one of the more vocal members of our group, demanding to make Lee pay. And I admire what Lee did, by saving Garibaldi. While not harming us. Lee truly is not that bad a person. He has just been very foolishness.'
'Now, to find out where he went.'
Sawyer then pulled out a small tracking table that she had stuffed under the back of her pants, under her shirt. She was careful not to harm herself, from the teeth of her chainsaw, which was slung by its strap on her back, while she reached for the tracking device.
Meanwhile, over the radio, Sylia stated, “Onto more pressing matters. We likely need to leave as soon as possible. The authorities will likely soon come. And we do not want to be here, when they arrive.”
On the radio, Rock agreed, “You are right. We have overstayed our welcome.”
Over the radio, Sylia commented, in a disappointed tone of voice, “It is unfortunate, we cannot stay long enough to remove these boomers bodies, the pieces of our motoslaves, and technology they hold, before the local authorities arrive.”
Revy replied, on her radio, “It cannot be helped.”
On the radio, Rock pointed out, “This reality is already very advanced technology. And boomer, and motoslave technologies will no give those that study it here that much of a technological edge in this reality.”
Over the radio, Sylia responded, “Then, I can live with this situation. Still, we must find Lee, and I guess, Garibaldi, as well.”
On the radio, Rock requested, “I agree. Revy, could you please find out where they are heading?”
Revy looked over at her group, to see that Sawyer had pulled out a tracking tablet.
Revy cracked a grin, as she said, into her radio, “Already on it.”
A second later, Sawyer saw, on the screen of her tablet, the read out stating, what reality, where and when the two men had gone too. She thought, with disbelief, 'You have got to be kidding me. Lee really is insane.'
Sawyer looked up at Revy, as she said, “We have a problem.”
Revy did not use her radio, as she asked, “What is it?”
Sawyer told Revy and those around her, when, where, and what reality, Lee and Garibaldi had gone to.
Revy agreed, “That is a problem.” Revy stated, into her radio, “Rock we have a problem on where, when, and what they are at.”
Over the radio, Rock inquired, “Lee and Garibaldi did not disappear? Did they?”
With her radio, Revy answered, “No. Lee took Garibaldi to Akira's home reality. And from what Sawyer is telling me, they are in the middle of Jusenkyo. And from the date, it is in the past. Likely even before Ranma became cursed, there.”
(_)
At that moment, on the eastern side of the headquarters, in the field, outside the complex, Rock stood looking at the main building, as she heard what her lover had just told here.
Rock turned to look, across her group, where was at Ranma. Ranma was standing around, talking with her family, Akira, Natsuru, Yurika, Nodoka, and Mikoto.
Rock mentally cursed, 'Damn. I sometimes hate being right.'
Rock then turned back to face the tower, as she forced herself to calm down, as she said, her the radio, “That is unfortunate. Lee knows we are definitely not going to immediately follow him there. It is too dangerous a place for anyone to go. And Lee knows this. But, I doubt we are lucky enough for Lee to curse himself. And he would make sure Garibaldi did not accidentally curse himself.”
Revy over the radio, continued her lover's commented, “And since we know the reality, the when, and the where, they are. We don't have to immediately follow them. We have plenty of time. So, instead, we can just use our reality devices to teleport back to the inn. To our rooms. Where we will get our stuff. Check out. Go get our vehicles. And then we all meet back home, at the island, a day after we first left for De La Plata Podrido. Once there. We will figure out a plan to catch up with Lee.”
Rock complimented, into her radio, “Good plan.”
(_)
At that second, in a hallway, on the sixty-first floor of the main tower of the Edgars complex, Revy stood there, with her group, as she replied, into her radio, “Thanks.”
Revy happily thought, 'I love it when we are in sync, like this.'
Revy then noticed Roberta continuing to look at her, with an unreadable expression on the Bloodhound's face.
Revy mentally reflected, 'I better find out if Roberta is going to go along with this.' She asked, “Is this okay with you?”
Roberta answered, in an even tone tone of voice, “It is fine.”
Revy thought, 'She is not happy about this. But, she will go along with it. For now.' She replied, “Good.”
Revy used her radio, as she stated, “I will see you girls back at the inn. Also, for time line wise, just keep in mind, a day after my group left Lagoon island, in my family's home reality, to originally go after Lee, in De La Plata Podrido. At noon, local time. Don't worry. It will work. I have done similar jumps in the past.” She then clipped her radio back onto her belt.
Next, she turned to the rest of the group, as she said, “Okay, ladies. The mission is officially over. As I am sure you just heard. We are going to head to the Blacksheep Inn. Then, we go get our vehicles, and head for my home island. Where we can figured out what to do next, to catch Lee... Any problems with that?...”
She noticed a few of the people with her shook their heads, but none of them verbally replied.
Revy said, “Good. Now, let's get out of here.”
Within the next few minutes, or so, everyone that was part of Rock and Revy's group, or a member of the Knight Sabers, used their reality devices.
Those that were staying at the Blacksheep Inn, teleported to their rooms, at the Blacksheep inn, where they collected their belongings, check out, retrieve their vehicles, and then head to Lagoon island, themselves.
Though, for those leaving the inn, most of them teleported to their homes, in the various realities, to drop off their luggage, and vehicles, before heading to Lagoon Island, a day after the Lagoon family had first left to find Lee, in De La Plata Podrido.
This include Mal, whom headed for Chang's casino, in Lee's reality.
For those in Lee's reality, it was only a few minutes after Mal had previously left. Two mornings after Lee original left his home reality. Mal then dropped off his few belongings that he had taken with him, along with his vehicle. He then updated Chang and River on what was going on. And finally, Mal headed to Lagoon Island.
Fortunately, Mal found that Chang was understanding, as Chang found the entire situation humorous.
And so, everyone soon made it to Lagoon Island, where they would come up with their next plan to capture Lee.
To be continued.
Badasses Of the Multiverse Book 5: “The Gambling Man.”
Volume 2: “Total Badass.”
Chapter 09: “Lee's Folly.”
By Paul Cousins.
Copyright Disclaimer: All copyrighted places, characters, items, and events, within the story, are held by their current owners. No profit is being made on this work of fiction.
(_)
Reality, Akira's reality. Time, last twentieth century. Location, in the middle of Jusenkyo, China. Time, mid-morning.
It was mid-morning, as a light foggy mist surrounded them. Though, the fog was clear enough to allow them to see their surroundings. And the weather was slightly cool, but slowly warming, as the day went on.
The first thing Lee did, was to check to see that both he and Garibaldi were sitting, next to each other, on a large strip of land, in the middle of the curse pools, with bamboo stalks rising from the water, that surrounded them.
Garibaldi was to Lee's left side. Lee still had his reality device in his hands. Also, Lee was in his black suit, with red tie, and black dress suits. While Garibaldi was in his brown suit and brown dress suits, without a tie.
Lee pocked his reality device, into his left pants pocket, as he thought, with relief, “Good. We are both on dry ground. Just as I had planned. Still, that was way too close. But, I better get my bearings. And warn Garibaldi about this place. Before we head out. Also, we have been so busy, I did not have time to find out what shoes Garibaldi wears. And those brown dress shoes look got on him, with his brown suit. He pulled off his CEO look, very well.'
Lee then looked around, he saw the cursed pools around them, and saw the mountains, in the distance, around the valley they were in. And closer to them, he saw bamboo stalks that were coming up from the water of the cursed pools.
Lee then looked up, at the sky.
While it was foggy, Lee could see make out the sun in the sky.
Lee thought, 'Given the weather. I know it is morning. Because fog like this only happens in the morning. And this fog is light enough that I can see the sun through the fog, along with where the pools are. So, I can use the sun as a compass. And taking into account of that. To my left is the west and to my right is the east. Now, to figure out the best way out of here.'
Lee then looked around himself, again. Only this time, he looked as far was he could through the mist.
Fortunately, the mist was not that thick, at ground leave. Though, the sky was cloudy. And Lee could see in the distance.
To Lee's left, in the western distance, he saw mountain walls, and cliffs over looking the cursed springs.
Though, to Lee right, in the eastern direction, Lee saw hills and forests meeting the cursed pools of water.
Behind Lee, to the south, were some mountains that went up in slopes, as they bordered the cursed springs. And in front of him, to his north, Lee saw that the springs bordering a large clearing.
And while the location was dangerous. Taking into the whole view, as a while, with the springs, with the forests, the cliffs, and the mountains in the distance. With the area shrouded in mist. The area was quite a sight to behold.
Lee thought, with mild amusement, 'If it wasn't for these pools being dangerously cursed with magic, I would actually find the sight before me to be very relaxing, peaceful, and beautiful.'
'Now, how to get out of here?... If I remember the Ranma half manga correctly. Especially, the later half. We go to the northeast.'
'When, Ranma and Genma first came here, they came from a forest. Which is to the east. Though, given the Jusenkyo Guide's house, and the path entrance to Jusenkyo, are located in an open space, away from the cliffs. And that open space appears to be in the north. And the forest is to the east. We should head to the northeast, to exit this place.
'Also, from looking around, I would guess Jusenkyo is not that big a place. Likely, a few miles across, in all directions. So, even if we go very slowly, as we carefully navigate around the springs, on dry land. We can still get out of here, within an hour, or so. We just have to be very careful.'
'Now, to check on Garibaldi.'
Lee looked over at Garibaldi, as he asked, “You okay?”
Garibaldi turned to Lee, as he stood up. He then faced Lee, as he looked down a the other man, whom was sitting next to him. He answered, “Yea. Where are we?”
Garibaldi thought, while feeling mild wonder, 'I did not feel a thing, as we jumped through realities. It happened in an instant, and we appear to be fine. That is both interesting, and comforting. Though, my gut tells me that Lee bought us to somewhere very dangerous, so I need to be on my toes... Still, I am sure Lee will eventually warn me of any dangers here. If I am patient... And Lee would not bring us here, unless we could handle this place.'
Lee stood up, as well. When Lee was completely standing, turned to Garibaldi.
Both men looked at each other. Lee used both his hands to reach out, to his sides, as he gestured around them. He smiled, as he stated, with a bit of excitement and wonder in his tone of voice, “Welcome to the cursed springs of Jusenkyo.”
Lee then dropped his hands to his sides, as he continued, in a more serious tone of voice, “And do not let this scenic view full. Do not. I repeat. Do not fall into any of the springs. The springs are cursed. Magic is very real here. And these springs are under a magical curse. Part of the name of each spring, tells which spring has which curse, among the springs of this place.”
Garibaldi thought, 'That name rings a bell. But from where? And I still don't exactly believe in magic.' He requested, “Even after our escape by teleporting. I am not really keen on believing magic. But, after the morning I have spend with you, I am willing to give you the benefit of the doubt. Also, refresh my memory, of where we are?”
Lee looked Garibaldi in the eyes, as he answered, in a direct, and serious tone of voice, “Okay. I know this is hard to swallow. But, you need to take my word at face value. Because I am not going to test this. And you have to be very, very careful. The reason being that anyone that falls into one of the springs, takes the body of the whomever, or whatever first drowned, or at least were immersed, in that specific pool of water.”
“Such as, if you fall into spring of drowned dog. You take the body of a dog. If you fall into spring of drowned girl. You take take the body of a girl. There are also personality curses. If you call into spring of drowned monk, you take the body and personality of a monk. Though, I doubt you take their memories, as well.”
'Also, those cursed with animal forms retained their human mind, and personality.”
“The way to reverse the curse is to be splashed with hot water. And cold water activates that curse.”
Garibaldi then remember where he heard of the cursed springs before, as he commented, “Ah... Ranma Half series?”
Lee replied, “Yes.” He happily thought, 'I am so happy that Garibaldi is so genre savvy that I don't have to explain every little detail to him.'
Garibaldi looked around himself, as he saw he was on dry land, surrounded by pools. He turned back to Lee, as he stated, “I will be sure, to be careful.”
Lee said, “Good.”
Garibaldi looked around, again, for a few seconds. He then turned to Lee, as he commented, “So, this is Jusenkyo. The area looks nice. If the springs were not cursed, this would be a nice place to visit.”
Lee agreed, “My thoughts exactly. Though, this is not just a Ranma Half reality.”
Garibaldi asked, “What do you mean?”
Lee thought, 'I might as well tell him this much, due to us being in this reality.' Lee answered, “This is more crossover reality, of a Ranma Half composite series. A blending of the manga and anime. Birdy Decode anime. Gacha Gacha manga, Kampfer anime She-zow cartoon. The Street Fighter franchise. Futaba Change manga. Though, the ending of the Futaba Change manga does not exist here, due to not being able to fit with the rest of the series for this reality.”
Garibaldi thought, 'Now that is a strange combination of series, to be in one reality. And most of those series dealt with gender bending. One way, or another... Which given the insane mess we are in, and how some of those that are after us have had their genders bent, I am not surprised about... Though, I would like to know how he know this?...'
Garibaldi questioned, “And how would you know all this?”
Lee coyly said, “It is literally a long story.”
Garibaldi inquired, “Okay. We will get to that in a minute. Still, I am sure you didn't plan to just jump to another reality, right away? You planned to come here, for at least a little while. No one just comes here on a lark. Unless, they are an idiot, like Genma. And I retract what I said about you, before. You are clearly no idiot.”
Garibaldi thought, 'Actually, given some of the stunts you pulled. Including, the some of the ones I was present for. I would say quite the contrary. You are a genius. And I believe you already know that. Though, you are smart enough to downplay you intelligence, when you are dealing with others. So, we all underestimate you. Which I am no longer going to do.'
Lee thought, 'Yea. I may have to come clean with Garibaldi. And given where we are, he will not think me insane. And I doubt he will try to dunk me into a spring. He is the type of guy that would kill a person outright. Besides, he will not risk dunking himself in a spring. Plus, during my entire time with him. I have been polite and helpful toward him. Meaning he won't likely harm me, even after I tell him everything. Still, I need to answer his question, before he suspects something is up.'
Lee calmly stated, “Yes. I did plan to head here, a while back. For a few different reasons. Including avoiding my enemies.
Garibaldi said, “Okay. I can see that. While I do not think you are an idiot. You are insane to bring us here. Because only a lunatic would follow us.”
Lee replied, “I admit that was the line of thinking I was using.”
Garibaldi thought, 'And I actually admit that line of thinking. Now, how do you plan to get us out of here?' He calmly inquired, “Fine. And given how much trouble we went through to get here. I have a feeling that the way you plan to get us out of here, is not with you little toy, that brought us here.”
Lee responded, “You are correct. I do have plan to get out of here. That plan being that we will walk out of here. I already know where I plan to jump realities from. And it is not here. This is due to them being able to track us. But, the longer the time, between when we jump, and when they start tracking us, the long it takes for them to find us. And this lag applies to distance in location of reality jumping, as well.”
“And they cannot jump exacting where we arrived. Though, they can come within a few miles of us. Unless, they have a specific place in mind, and they have been to that location before.”
Garibaldi guessed, “So, that is why you went from Babylon Five to Mars. You tried to lose them.” He thought, 'That was not a bad plan. I wonder what went wrong?”
Lee responded, “Yes. It was a good plan. But, they knew me too well. And they correctly guessed where I was going.”
Garibaldi complimented, “Well, I give you an, A, for effort.”
Lee replied, “Thank you.”
Garibaldi inquired, “You're welcome. So, which direction are we going?
Lee stated, “Northeast.” He used his right hand to point towards the northeast, as he continued, “This way.” He dropped his right hand back to his side, as he went onto say, “Until we reach dry land. It should take us an hour, or so, to make it out of here of these cursed springs. Though, we must be careful. And as such, we will do this slowly.”
“Also, keep in mind the dirt near the spring might be lose. So, keep to the middle of these strips of land. And be mindful of any boggy mud, on the land, that we need to avoid. I am not sure if the mud will transfer the curse. So, don't take any chances.”
Garibaldi replied, “Gotcha. I will keep that in mind.”
Lee turned to northeast, as he began to walk, as a slow, but steady pace. Due to him being mindful of staying on dry land, and avoiding the pools around them. As they navigated the cursed springs.
Garibaldi followed behind Lee. With him being just as mindful as Lee. As he followed Lee, he thought, 'I might as well find out where he is leading me, too.' He asked, “So, where are we heading?”
Lee kept his focus on carefully following the dry land in front of him, while avoiding the springs, as he kept in the same general direction. Because the strips of land did not go in a straight direction. Still, the sun and the distant surroundings provided Lee with the general bearings on which direction he needed to take, to keep going northeast.
As Lee did this, he coyly said, “I would prefer to keep our destination secret, for the time being. Though, as long as we obey the rules there, we should be fine. Still, once we are out of this place, I need to find someone, and ask him some questions. Then, we head for the departure location, and find a nice place, time, and reality, in the multiverse, to relax for a day, or so.”
Garibaldi thought, 'I still need to know if you plan to deal with you cancer. Or, if you are going to arrange for me to bury you.' questioned,' Garibaldi inquired, “Fine. But, what about you cancer? Or, do you plan for me to organize your funeral arrangements?”
Lee answered, “Don't worry. I already have that problem worked out.”
Garibaldi kept his eyes on where he was going, and where he stepped on dry land, as he followed Lee. He replied, “Good.” He mentally added, 'At least I don't have to worry about that. Still, I need to know more about about you, Lee. When faced with two sieges at once, with no quick escape. I just watched you use one siege against the other siege, to buy us time to successfully escape. And I will get some answers, for my questions, right now'
Garibaldi requested, “Lee. Since, I am this deep in this mess, with you. And we have the time. You might as well tell me the why and how you originally got into this mess?”
Lee kept his back turned to Garibaldi, as he continued on his way, while he though, 'He is going to keep asking me, until I tell him. But, I need to make it clear, that he is not going to like what I have to say to him.' He commented, “You are not going to like what I have to say.”
Garibaldi responded, calm, yet direct tone of voice, “At this point, it doesn't matter if I like what I am about to hear from you, or not. I still need to know.”
As they continued walking, Lee signed, as thought, 'I might as well tell him. At the very least it will kill some time.'
While Lee had his back turned to Garibaldi, the older man did notice Lee sighing.
Garibaldi thought, 'Oh. Given my experience in dealing with suspects, when they tell me something I am not going to be happy about hearing. I can just tell from Lee's sighing, that this explanation is going to be a big one. And I already know I am not going to like it. I can just tell. Still, I need to know. And I need to remember. That no matter what. Until I figure out how his reality device works.'
'And I cannot dunk him for anything that he says to me, that either makes me angry, or frustrates me, due to his idiocy. And I have learn since learn that geniuses have been known to do some galactic level acts of idiocy.'
Lee calmly began, “Well, if you want to know, I will tell you. How it began was so... Mundane... Yet, like most epic, life altering mistakes, it began with a simple idea...”
And so, as Lee and Garibaldi carefully, and slowly, made their way out of Jusenkyo, Lee then told Garibaldi about his stories, how he came up with his stories, what his stories were about, where he posted them, how his stories effected those after him, how some of those he had wronged came looking for him, what he did in response, and how he ended up with Garibaldi as a traveling companion.
To be honest, as they careful made their way out of the area of the cursed springs, Lee was mild surprised that Garibaldi did not try to dunk him on the spot.
(_)
Reality, Black Lagoon anime reality. Date, A day after the Lagoon family left to originally go after Lee, in Plata Podrido. Location, Lagoon Mansion, on Lagoon Island. Time, one ten PM, local time.
It was a sunny, warm day, on Lagoon Island, with a light breeze coming off the sea.
It had been an hour since Revy's group, and the Knight Sabers had reunited, after all of them had left the Babylon Five Reality, and come to Lagoon Island in the Black Lagoon anime reality.
Given the number of people in attendance, the Lagoon family decided to have their meeting in a clear area, in their large gym, inside the Lagoon mansion.
While most of the visitors came in their usual clothing. The eight members of the Knight Sabers came in their hardsuits, with their helmets on, and visors down, over their faces.
Everyone else did not make it an issue of the Knight Sabers coming into the Lagoon home, while being overdress. Though, they noticed the hardsuits were slightly damaged, from their battle at the Edgars Industries headquarters. But, the hardsuits were clearly otherwise still functioning.
Currently, everyone was gathered around Rock, in a forum style conversation, which was being stated in english. The people were all standing, in a group, as they listened to Rock, whom was standing a few feet away from the group.
At the moment, Rock was reviewing what they knew about Lee, and Garibaldi, and how best to approach the situation in capturing Lee, and retrieving Garibaldi, without harming the older man.
While most of those there, were mixed together, the eight Knight Saber members stood separated from the others, as a group.
Inside her hardsuit, Linna looked around the place with her sensors, as her helmet remained facing Rock. As she scanned the place, she said, over their internal, encrypted radio system, in japanese, “These people sure do have a nice place here.”
Priss commented, on their private channel, in japanese, “No kidding.” She mentally grumbled, with bitterness, 'And Lee is responsible for most of this. While he gave us the shaft. Though, we have achieved our wealth on are own. Still, this is one of the many reason Lee deserves an ass kicking!'
Linna complained, “Though, I don't see why we had to come to meet them like this?”
Kate said, over their private channel, in japanese, “I agree. Coming in a business dress would better in this situation. We need to look as professional as possible. These people are use to dealing with brutes. Not professional business women.”
Linna agreed, “You have a point there.”
Mackie said, on their encrypted channel, in japanese, “As long as it is not a skirt. I could care less.”
Leon mildly complained, on their radio channel, in japanese, “I just want a shower.”
Priss agreed, “That makes two of us.”
Nene commented, on their encrypted channel, in japanese, “Be happy that these upgraded hardsuits are not like the old ones. These have environmental controls, such as AC, and heating. So, we are not sweating a river in these things. Soaked, smelly hair is no fun in these helmets.”
Daley said, on their radio channel, in japanese, “No kidding. Personally, I am not complaining. Though, I am be taking a bath when we get home.”
Mackie agreed, “Same here. And at least the worst we had in that battle were a few bruises.”
Daley replied, “Yea. That is a good thing.”
Mackie questioned, “So, sis. Linna and Kate have a good point. Why are we still in our hardsuits?”
Sylia stated, over their private channel, in japanese, “I don't fully trust the people... Besides, we are still on a mission.”
Kate conceded, “Good point.”
Leon inquired, “I take it that is why you immediately dragged us all from the battlefield, to here?”
Sylia answered, “Yes.”
Nene asked, “So, are we going to bug this place?”
Sylia said, “No. We already know all we can from them. And they clearly could care less about keeping secrets. And being caught planting bugs here would only cause problems for us.”
Daley agreed, “Yes. We are fine for the moment. So, let us not rock the boat.”
Sylia replied, “Exactly.”
Meanwhile, Rock was finishing her summation, in english, “While Lee was able to use the two sieges against each other to escape. We still know where, when, and what reality, he is at. We just need to figure out a safety way to approach that area. Which will not be a problem, with those here.”
Rock turned to the Knight Saber, group. She inquired, in english, “So, Ms. Stingray, do you have anything to add to what I was discussing?”
Sylia had been paying attention to Rock, as she had talked to her subordinates. She thought, 'I am glad I was paying attention to the outside conversation.' She stated, through her suit's speakers, in english, “Yes. I do, Ms. Okajima.”
Rock thought, 'Sylia is one of the few people to call me, Ms. Okajima. Also, it is not surprise she knows my real name. And it is nice to talk with someone who understands how to be formal, and well mannered.'
'Though, she, and her friends, did come... Overdressed for this meeting. Not that I am going to fault them for doing so. They still don't fully trust us. And I don't fully trust them. But, this discussion is a good start to our building trust between each other. And I have dealt with rockier situations than this, and come out on top.'
Sylia continued, “While knowing all this is good. The primary matter is catching Lee. With finding Garibaldi being a secondary matter. Given he is Lee's accomplice. Though, I do not hold Garibaldi's actions against him. And I think we all agree that if we all continue going after these two men, in such a large group, that it would become counterproductive. As such, we need only sent a smaller group after him.”
Janet turned to Sylia, as she inquired, with a hint of sarcasm in her tone of voice, “Are you nominating yourself, and your team?” She thought, 'I would not be surprised if she tried to do so. But, if that is the case. She is not going to get away with it.'
Sylia turned to Janet, as she tactfully replied, “As flattered as I would be for my team to go after Lee. I believe we may need to pair the group down to only a handful of people. Two or three, at the most.”
Janet thought, 'Touche.'
Sylia went onto say, “We need people who are expert trackers, can travel light, that can throw Lee off his game, and won't kill him on sight.”
Benny turned to Sylia, as she commented, “Well, I can say that the maids would fit three out of those four of those qualifications. The problem is, they would likely kill Lee, in a very painful manner, as to capture him.” She then turned to the Roberta, and Fabiola, whom were standing together, as they paid attention to the conversation.
Roberta calmly said, “Perhaps not. I am starting to agree that we all have a right to vengeance against Lee. And I will concede that it would be rude to deprived you of your vengeance, just so I can have my own personal vengeance against Lee.” She thought, 'At the very least, the Knight Sabers deserve as much a chance at revenge, as our master, Garcia.'
There were a few light giggles from Roberta's comments, for a few seconds.
Roberta continued, “As such, there is enough of Lee's ass to go around. So, if you want us to go after him, we promise not to immediately kill him, and instead we will being him back here. So, we can all decide how to deal with him.”
Rock turned to Fabiola, as she inquired, “And what is your opinion in this matter?”
Fabiola looked at Rock, as she answered, in a calm, though slightly annoyed tone of voice, “Like Roberta. I realize that we deserve a shot at that bastard. And if you agree not to cut us out on our revenge, we will deliver him in mostly one piece.”
Revy turned to Fabiola, as she questioned, “Define mostly?”
Roberta turned to Fabiola, as she answered for her student, “Lee will be conscious, when we bring him here. Though, by then, he might be missing a limb, or two.”
Revy looked at Roberta, as she said, “As long as it is not his head, I could care less. And if Lee is missing such body parts, the vat process will regrow, and repair such injuries.”
Roberta pointed out, “Plus, it would make Lee not only a woman, but more durable to the punishment we will in inflict on her.”
Revy commented, “Exactly. I see you are understanding my thoughts on this manner.”
Revy and Roberta then shared wicked grins with each other. Though, most of those that saw the two women grin at each other, were slightly unnerved by the sight.
Benny thought, 'Whenever those two agree, it tends to be an unnerving situation for everyone else, that is present.'
Rock thought, 'This is probably the best promise I am going to get from the maids. Still..' She stated, “Try to bring Lee back in one piece. And don't harm Garibaldi, unless you have too. And if they do surrender to you. Don't harm them. We can punish Lee, when he gets here.”
Roberta replied, “Fine. I will do my best not to harm Garibaldi. And if Lee surrenders, without a fight. I will not harm him, until after we have bought him back here, for all of us to decide his punish.” She turned to look at Fabiola.
Fabiola turned to Roberta, and she understood Roberta's unspoken question. Fabiola stated, “I can live with that.”
Both maids turned back to look at Rock.
Rock replied, “Good.” She thought, 'That is much. better.'
Dutch asked, “So, who will take the two of them to that dangerous location?” She thought, 'When I went there, to buy those instant man packets. I stayed far away from the pools. I would go near those pools even in a hazmat suit.'
Ranma looked over at the maids, as she said, “I will take with them. We will use my reality device to teleport them both to entrance of Jusenkyo, a few hours after Lee and Garibaldi arrive. But, I am will then leave. Not just because I don't want to alter my past. Creating a paradox. But, I am not going anywhere near those springs.” She turned to the maids, as she suggested, “And you should avoid them, as well.”
Nearby, Spike was quietly listening to the conversation, as she thought, 'I am so happy that Chang already told us about Jusenkyo, when he offered those instant man packets to Jet, Faye, and I. And those are packages offer such fun for us three. Though, we do try to keep are friendship platonic. We all agreed we work too well together to risk wrecking that by screwing each other.'
'Still, even Mal, and his crew, know about that place. And I am sure we all would agree that is too dangerously a place for us to go. I may want Lee's hide for what he did to me, but I am not following him there.'
Roberta and Fabiola turned to Ranma. Roberta stated, “We will. We already know how dangerous they are, from learning about your life. If Lee is still in the middle of those springs. We will wait for him, and Garibaldi, outside of the area. And if he and the older man has left. We will follow them. Worst case scenario, we know he will eventually use his reality device. And we will just track him to the next reality he plans to go to.”
Ranma calmly warned, with a touch of seriousness in her tone of voice, “That is all well and good. But, I highly suggest you be careful while there. Do not pick a fight with anyone there.”
Fabiola casually responded, “Yes. We know about the Chinese Amazon, kiss of marriage and kiss of death rules. We saw and read both versions of your series, Ranma. When we first met, I did not realize you had lead that crazy a life. Even before Lee got his hands on you.”
Ranma shrugged, as she said, “Yea. I have lead an interesting life.” She mentally added, 'That gets more interesting by the day. Still, I would like to know. Given she did not know about me, when we met, during our chase front Chang, and those of her Tower.' She asked, “So, when did you see my series?”
Roberta commented, “Soon after we returned home, from Chang's Tower, Garcia brought us copies your anime and manga series. He did so to help explain his curse to us. And that is where we learned those amazon rules from. Among other things.” She mentally asked herself, “Though, I wonder where, and how, the master learned about Ranma's series?'
Ranma thought, 'Interesting... Still, it is good. I wish I had known those laws beforehand I first went there. It would have saved me a lot of trouble. Still, that is not enough. My series is fairly long. And I need to make sure they know of the other dangers, as well.'
Ranma stated, “The amazons are not just the dangerous people there. There are some very powerful people there, than can hurt even you, if you start trouble there.”
Roberta looked at Ranma, as she said, “Don't worry. When we learned of your series. We learned of all of it. Including, the Musk, the bird people, along with various other people in the area. We know what we are walking into. And we will be sure to be on our best behavior, while there.”
Fabiola just nodded once, as she agreed, “Yes. We will.”
Ranma replied, “Okay.”
Rock stated, “Fine. You three can go after Lee and Garibaldi. While we wait for you to bring them back. Though, try to be only gone a few hours for us.” She thought, 'Considering the Bloodhound is legendary in always tracking down her prey. Even Lee. I have no problem with them going after him. As long as they keep their agreement not to kill Lee. And I just hope Lee and Garibaldi have enough sense to surrender to them, and avoid being hurt.'
Fabiola said, “We will keep that in mind.” She then looked back at her teacher, as she inquired, “So, when do we leave?”
Roberta looked Ranma, and then at Fabiola, as she questioned, “Does leaving in a hour, or two, sound good for you?”
Fabiola answered, “Yes.”
Ranma said, “Yes. I good with that.”
Revy said, “Then, that is settled.” Everyone looked over at Revy, as she continued, “Now, we can deal with other matters.” She then turned to Priss, as she went onto say, “Such as kicking your ass.”
Priss noticed Revy was talking to her. Priss turned her helmet towards Revy, as she held up the right gauntlet of her blue hardsuit, in a fist. She challenged, in english, “Bring it on.”
Nearby, Linna thought, with mild annoyance, 'Leave to Priss to ruin a wonderful meeting. Still, this Revy seems to be just as bad at lack of having manners,'
Dutch looked between the two women, as she quickly stated, in a flat, calm tone of voice, “Ladies. Heel.”
Everyone looked at Dutch, including Revy and Priss. With Revy scowling at Dutch.
Dutch mentally noted, 'Oh hell. Revy is giving me a dangerous look. And I bet, under her helmet, Priss is doing the same. I need to make this quick, before someone gets hurt here, and our home is wrecked.'
Dutch calmly pointed out, in a strong, though even tone of voice, “If you kill each other, you will not be able to have your revenge on, Lee. Besides, there are far more civilized way to handle this. Such, as just a simple sparing match, without weapons, on the mats nearby.”
Dutch then used her left hand to point to some blue mats that were put together, in another clear area of the gym. The blues mats were large, three feet by three feet square. Each mat was an inch thick of cushioned padding. And the mats were laid in grid pattern of thirty feet by thirty feet. There was also another set of mats a little further away from the group. With the closed set of mats being around fifty feet away, across the room.
Everyone turned to look at the mats, including Revy and Priss, while Dutch dropped her left hand to her side.
Dutch thought, 'Good. They seem to like the idea.'
Nearby, Balalaika was standing by B, as they looked at the mats.
Balalaika then turned back to look at Dutch, as she thought, 'That is what I have always liked about Dutch. He, and now she, knows how to handle crazy people, whom are prone to violence. And if Priss is as good as I suspect she is, this should be as good as fight, as the four hour fight that Revy had with Roberta. Though, I hope this fight does not last that long.'
Meanwhile, Rock was watching the whole situation, as she thought, 'Dutch has the right idea. Experience had taught us that there is no point in trying to convince those two not to fight. So, we can at least minimize the danger. And a simple sparring match will not get either of them seriously harmed. Though, I will make sure there are some rules before they fight. Still, we got to convince them this is a good idea... Because, it is either that, or we hold back Revy, while the Knight Saber drag Priss away.'
Rock commented, “Dutch is right.” Everyone turned back to look at Rock, as Rock continued, “If you want to fight. Let's keep it civil. Take it to the mats.”
Rock saw Revy's facial expression relax.
Rock thought, 'Good. She is listening to reason. I hope Priss is doing the same.'
Revy shrugged. She casually said, “Works for me.”
Priss replied, “Same here.” She looked over at Revy, as she stated, “Besides, I have been looking forwards to this, long before you have. I am so going to kick you ass for wrecking our city, kidnapping us, and having us impregnated.”
Revy looked at Priss, as she thought, 'I may want this fight. But, she is taking this way too personally.' She defended herself, “We were brainwashed. Besides. When you get down to it. That is all Lee's fault.”
Priss begrudgingly thought, 'She's right. Though...' She stated, “Well, I still want to kick your ass for you part in this mess.'
Revy said, “If that is the way you feel.” She cracked a grin, as she continued, “It's your funeral.”
Rock flatly stated, “Hold it. In this coming sparring match. There will no killing. Nor crippling of each other. Such as no headlocks.”
Revy and Priss then looked back at Rock.
Revy inquired, in a curious tone of voice, “And if we don't?”
Rock looked Revy in her eyes, as she said, in a straightforward manner, “We will hold you down, and tie you up.” She then looked over towards Sylia, and the rest of the Knight Sabers, as she continued, “And Ms Stingray will drag you away from here, Ms. Asagiri, to avoid violence between our groups.”
Sylia warned, in a calm, though warm tone of voice, over their private channel, in japanese, “As much as I sympathize with your feelings, Priss. Rock is correct. We will drag you out of here. The mission is more important than personal vendettas. Even against Lee, Revy, or anyone else.
Everyone saw Priss silently lower her helmet down, in a sign of defeat.
Rock thought, 'Good. What ever Sylia said in on their private communications systems. It is clear that Sylia agrees with me.'
Revy said, “Okay. I will go with you, on this Rock.” She turned to Priss, as she thought, 'Because I really want to see which one of us is better.”
Priss conceded, in an even, though unhappy tone of voice, “Fine. I can live with those rules.”
Akira looked over at Rock, as she asked, “So, are we going to bet on this?”
Rock turned to Akira, as she answered, “No. Because we all use different currencies. And let us not risk any further harder feelings between us.” She mentally added, 'Besides, if there are bets on this, the pride from Revy and Priss will make them drag this battle out. And I don't want to see Revy in another brutal fight, like that four hour match she had with Roberta, that one time. Which ended in a draw. And nobody one their bets.'
Rock saw from the group, some of the people shrug in indifference to her comment.
Akira replied, “Okay.”
Nearby, Balalaika thought, 'I am not going to fault Rock's reasons. She is right. And I realize she is trying to smooth things over with the Knight Sabers. That is a wise decision on her part.'
Revy said, “Let us get this started.” She then started walking towards the mats, about fifty feet way from them, with Priss walking right behind her.
The rest of the group followed behind them.
As they walked Leon said, through her speakers, in english, “This should be good.”
Nearby, Dutch overheard Leon, as she said, “I agree.”
Revy and Priss soon came to a stop in front of the blue mats, with the rest of the group walking around the mats, to get better views of the coming match.
As Revy and Priss stood in front of the mats, Priss removed her helmet, allowing her long brown hair to fall out of her helmet. She then turned to Nene, whom was right beside her, and she handed Nene her helmet.
Nene quietly took Priss' helmet.
Priss then opened up her hardsuit, which evenly split open from the upper chest, back, and shoulders, all the way down to the waist.
Next, Priss climbed out of her blue hardsuit,, with the hardsuit joints locked, in a standing position.
As Priss completely got out of her hardsuit, and stood on the floor, everyone saw she was only dress in her full body pink, softsuit. Which only exposed the head and hands.
Priss then turned to Nene. She picked up her helmet, and set it on her hardsuit.
Finally, Priss turned to face Revy, as she waited for her opponent to get ready for their fight, as well.
Meanwhile, Revy took off her shoulder holsters, with her pistols in them. She set her holstered weapons gently on the floor, besides the mats. She then took off her black fingerless gloves, and set them by the holsters. She thought, 'I don't want to be accused of having my gloves be weapons.'
She then leaned up, as she looked over at Priss. She then noticed the blue haidsuit. She mentally reflected, 'That is a nice hardsuit. And the blue color works for her.'
Revy commented, “I have to admit. Hardsuits are very stylish. But, the only thing I never understood was why the softsuits were pink? I would have preferred red, or black.”
Nearby, Sylia said, in a matter of fact, tone of voice, “Next to white, pink is one of my favorite colors.”
Mackie commented, through her speakers, in english, “At one point, she ran a lingerie shop, as a cover. That says it all.”
There was some laughter among those present, which lasted for a few seconds.
Revy thought, 'Well, that answered my question.'
As everyone calmed down, Sylia said, with her hardsuit's speakers, in english, for the benefit of everyone there, “I will conceded that point to you, Mackie.”
Priss looked at Sylia, then at Revy, as she agreed, “I am with you on that one. Also, you have nice hair.”
Revy responded, “Thank you. You have nice hair, as well.”
Priss ran her right hand ran hand down her hair, as she inquired, “I appreciate that. And I only shampoo, and occasionally use conditioner. How about you?”
Revy answered, “About the same.”
Priss questioned, “I have been thinking about putting my hair into a ponytail, like yours. What are your thoughts?”
Revy commented, “I think it would work for you. But, you are not going to steal my hair style.”
Priss said, “I won't dream of it.” Her lips then curled into a wicked grin, as she stated, “Now, I am going to kick your ass.”
Revy smirked, as she responded, “We'll see.”
Both women then walked onto the blue mats, until they were on opposite corners from each other. With everyone else standing around the mats, and staying at least three feet from the mats. So, they did not risk being hurt by the two women.
As Rock watched both women get into position, she asked, “Are you both ready?”
Revy and Priss continued to looked at each other, as both of them said, in unison, “Ready.”
Rock stated, “Then, begin.”
Revy and Priss then charged at each other, with their friends cheering them on.
As Revy and Priss started fighting, in a bare knuckled brawl, Dutch briskly walked around to Rock. She the gently tapped Rock on her right shoulder.
Rock looked over at Dutch, and she saw the taller, brown haired woman, motion with her shoulders, and head, to follow her.
Rock and Dutch then calmly walked through the crowd, and away from the fight.
But, their actions did not go unnoticed, by someone else in the crowd.
When Rock and Dutch got within twenty feet from the crowd, they came to a stop, Dutch was a few feet from Rock, as both of them looked at each other.
Both their enhanced hearing allowed them to clearly hear such soft spoken words.
Dutch whispered, “You know, we need to to settle things with these women, as soon as possible. Or, this situation could become more explosive, very quickly.”
Rock softly inquired, “I fully agree you, Dutch. Do you have any ideas?”
Dutch quietly said, “From what I saw of Benny and Janet's video collection. They are mercenaries. We might be able to buy them off. At the very least, doing so will help the situation between us.”
Rock softly replied, “That is not a bad idea. But, it will likely cost us.”
Dutch quietly inquired, “I can live it costing us a little. As long as we are fine afterward. So, do you want to take point? Or, do you want me to?”
Rock whispered, “I think I might do a better job. But, you can assist.”
Dutch softly complimented, “I am fine with that.”
As the two women turned around, towards the group, they saw Sylia, in her white hardsuit, and helmet on, standing between them and the crowd around the fight.
Sylia was facing them, with her visor up. This allowed Rock and Dutch to see her brown eyes, and the front tuft of her blue hair, under the faceplate of her helmet.
Dutch and Rock also noted that Sylia's eyes had a cold, though not icy, strength to them.
Sylia calmly requested, “Make your offer.”
Rock thought, 'How did she figure we were talking about her?... Oh right. Enhanced hearing, further enhanced by electronics. I know she heard every word we just said. And she is very sharp.'
'Also, I know I am not going to get the drop on her. She is a genius and a shrewd business woman. And as a mercenary leader, electronics engineer, and legit business woman. I know I am not going to be able to lie to her... She will catch any lie I say to her... And I am not going be able to trick her. So, I might as well be straightforward, and honest with her.'
Rock said, in a normal tone of voice, “For the trouble we have caused you, in our part of this mess. We offer you five, four hundred troy ounce, good delivery, gold bars for each of the eight of you. Forty bars in all.”
Sylia flatly stated, “Sixteen. Not eight. Do not forget our daughters. Also, we could use some reimbursement for our destroyed motoslaves, and repairs to our hardsuits.”
Rock thought, 'She has a point there. And I was stupid to forget her children.' She responded, “I apologize for overlooking your children. And you are right about the motoslaves, and repairs. How about five gold bars for each of your sixteen family members? Plus, another four for repairs and replacements. Eighty-four bars in all. If that is alright with, Dutch, here?”
Sylia said, “That will be a good start. And apology accepted, for the oversight.”
Rock thought, 'Translation. She is forgives me oversight, but not what Revy and the others did to her, and her friends. And she will still want more. But, it will likely be reasonable. Though, before we do anything else on this matter, I need to run this part by Dutch.' She turned to Dutch, as she inquired, “Is this fine with you?”
Dutch looked at Rock. She then turned to Sylia, as she said, in a normal tone of voice, “I can live with that.” She mentally added, 'That is only a minor dent in our wealth in gold and other treasures. Also, I could probably talk to Lotton, to help convince Shenhua and Sawyer to pitch in. Though, I am not going to approach Roberta on this matter. And if it gets these powersuited, mercenary women off our backs on this. It would be well worth the price in gold.”
Rock offered, “Okay. You said that was a start. I will sweeten the deal. I know a few of your members use to be men, like us. We use instant spring of drowned packets to temporally change back to men, with cold water. Hot water reverses it. We are willing to give you a hundred of the packets. And put you in contact for our supplier. If you want more. So, you and your friends can play both ends of the field, if you want.”
Sylia grinned wickedly, as she questioned, “What makes you think we don't already use those packets. And I must say, those are fun to use. Though, one still had to use a condom. So, as to not get pregnant, or make someone pregnant. Among other things.”
Dutch cracked a grin, as she said, “Great minds think alike.”
Sylia happily replied, “Exactly.”
Meanwhile, Rock thought, 'That figures.' She inquired, “Okay. So, what else do you want from us?”
Sylia dropped her smile, as she flatly stated, “We want a measure of revenge on Lee. When he is eventually found. Though, we will make the concessions that we will not leave him killed, nor crippled, when we are finished with him. So, others may have their revenge on him, as well.”
Rock thought, 'Of course. She does not want her members to accidentally kill, or cripple Lee, and risk those seeking revenge on him, to come after her, and her friends, and their families. Still, there is room to negotiation.' Rock said, “Done. On the condition you agree to the same type of revenge that we do to Lee.”
Sylia responded, “Given your imaginations, that will be fine. Also, we heard that Chang opened a casino. Among other things, as compensation for Chang's part. We would all like spend up to a month, free there, once a year, in some quality suites. Along with this, we wish for a measure of monetary compensation from him, as well. Since, next to Lee, he was the mastermind of all this.”
Rock stated, “You will have to take that up with Chang. But, I will come with you, to help you with your meeting with him.”
Sylia replied, “Thank you.” She mentally reflected, 'Rock and Dutch are clearly trying to smooth things over with us. And that is good. It gives me an excuse to convince the others to put the past behind them. We may be on a mission, but that does not mean we cannot do multiple things at once. Besides, I do not want this to cause problems between us, Natsuru, and her family.'
'On that thought. When I go with Rock, to see Chang. I will take Kate's suggestion, and come in a business dress. Chang will not try any tricks with me, due to him knowing better than to cross me, a second time. So, I have little to worry about, from him, and his friends. Also, I would be tempted to take Kate with me, to see Chang. But, everything I have learned about Chang states he prefers a more relaxed environment for a negotiations. While Kate prefers a more ridged business environment, when it comes to negotiations. And their two personalities might clash and cause problems, which I want to avoid.'
Dutch look over at crowd, as she saw the backside of Lotton, Shenhua, and Sawyer, whom stood together. Dutch thought, 'I might as well ask the question.' She then turned back to Sylia, as she inquired, “And what of Lotton, Shenhua, and Sawyer? Especially, Lotton. She was Chang's second in command.”
Sylia flatly stated, “Nothing. While Priss may feel differently. I am willing to acknowledge that the women that kidnapped us were brainwashed.” She turned to looked at Roberta, as she commented, “And we are not going to confront Roberta, concerning this matter.”
Sylia thought, 'Given how dangerous Roberta is. I do not want to confront her, and her student. Doing so, would make me enemies of them, the Garcia Lovelace, and by extension the other people here. It would be a no win situation.'
Dutch complimented, “That would be a wise course to take.”
Sylia turned back to look at Dutch and Rock, as she went onto say, “And as for Lotton... From what we understand, she has served as the assassin and cleaner's maid, for several years. That is punishment enough.”
Dutch and Rock chuckled a little at Sylia's comment, for a few seconds.
As they calmed down, Dutch thought, 'No arguments that. And from that I am sure I will be able to confidence them to help with our payments. Still, I wonder...' Dutch raised an eyebrow, as she inquired, “So, you have seen the Black Lagoon series?”
Sylia returned Dutch's eyebrow raise, as she casually answered, “Of course. Natsuru and her friends brought it to us the day they came to visit us, after we were freed from the tower. That was even stated in those insane stories, which Lee wrote. I believe these matters were discussed at the end of Book Two.”
Rock thought, 'She has read the stories. Given how she and her friends are after Lee. I am not surprised by this.'
Dutch thought, 'So, she has read those stories. Given her intelligence, it would make sense that she would read those stories. And she would make sure her friends read those stories. Before they would confront Lee. And I do vaguely recall the scene she was a part of, at the end of Book Two.'
Dutch conceded, “Yes. It is a long story. And not easy one for us to read. Let alone think about.”
Sylia calmly said, “I fully understand.”
Dutch thought, 'Of course. You, of all people, would understand. Though, I need to know if you, or any of the others are after as much revenge, as Priss.'
Dutch use her right hand to point over at the fight, as she asked, “So, are all of you so hot to trot on revenge, as you brown haired friend over there?” She then turned back to Sylia, as she dropped her right hand, back to her side.
Sylia turned to Priss. She then turned back to look at Dutch and Rock, as she plainly answered, “No. Priss has always been a bit of a hot head. But, motherhood has done much to temper her rage. As I am sure motherhood has had a similar effect your, Revy.”
Rock admitted, “You're right about that.” She thought, 'Dutch seems to have taken over. And she is handling Sylia, better than I have. I think I will let them talk, as I listen for any useful information that came be used to smooth this situation over, even more so.'
Sylia pointed out, “But, we all still want a measure of revenge. The eight of us agreed that we would have our pound of flesh, and then move on. And that is the way I would prefer it to be.”
Dutch politely complimented, “That is a good approach to take. I share such feelings on the matter.”
Sylia replied, “Thank you. And it is a pleasure to know that you agree with me on this.”
Dutch inquired, “Likewise... Though, what of your daughters? Do they want revenge as well?”
Sylia answered, “They could care less about Lee.”
Dutch replied, “Good.” She mentally added, 'That is one less problem for us to worry about.'
Sylia raised an eyebrow, as she asked, “And what of your family? And friends?”
Dutch thought, 'Well, fair is fair.' She honestly answered, “We have mixed feelings on the issue. But, like you, we also want to move on from our revenge, and go back to living our lives.”
Dutch mentally realized, 'This would be a good opportunity to get some information, that I am sure both Rock wants to know, as well.' She questioned, “So, how did you learn about Lee, and his stories?”
Sylia calmly said, “I apologize. But, I am not at liberty to answer that question.”
Dutch thought, 'Meaning she is working for someone that knows about us. Though, there is not much we can do about it, right now. All we can do is let the situation play out for later, and hope the mystery does not burn us, until then. Still, there is another question, I have. ' She commented, “And let me guess. Along with this, you are not at liberty to tell us how many people know about Lee, and his stories?”
Sylia answered, “No. I am not. But, I will say it is a select few.”
Dutch responded, “Alright. I will take what I can get.” She mentally added, 'Well, at least it is a few. And I have a feeling that Sylia's definition of, a few, is likely less than a ten, outside her own personal group. But, that does not mean her boss did not tell others. With her not being informed on such matters. Though, as I said. I will take what I can get.'
Sylia calmly suggested, “Now, let us go return to watching the fight.” She thought, 'I still want to see how Priss handles herself against Revy. It may have a bearing on her future training regiments.'
Rock look at Sylia, agreed, “That is a good idea.” She thought, 'I would like to see how Revy handles Priss. She always likes challenge.'
Dutch thought, 'I agree. Let's head back to the fight, before one of us accidentally says something that ruins this peaceful arrangement.'
Dutch replied, “Yes. Let's do that.”
The three women then turned, and walked back over to rejoin the crowd.
A few seconds later, as Dutch, Rock, and Sylia reached the crowd. They noticed that only a few of the people in the crowd turned their heads towards them, as they approached. And even then, those people quickly turned back to watch the fight, without commented on their presence.
(_)
From the crowd, Lotton had turned her head to see Rock, Dutch, and Sylia rejoin the crowd. As she turned her head back to the fight, to avoid any of the three of them noticed her.
Lotton thought, 'I wonder what those three were talking about?... Thought They were probably trying to smooth things over between our group and the Knights Saber. Which would be good for all of us. I will to Dutch about it, later. She always one to talk to me, about such matters, while we have a few beers. She really is a good person to drink with. Calm, pleasant, easy going. I can see why Benny and Janet like to be with her.'
Lotton turned to Sawyer and Shenhua, as she continued her thoughts, 'Though, I have my own lovers, as well. And we really don't want to mess up what either of us have. So, we keep things platonic Unless, all six of us agree to do something, together.'
Lotton turned her attention back to the fight, as she mentally reflect, 'On another matter. Revy and Priss are really going at it... Though, I could care less. But, the fight is making Shenhua and Sawyer happy, and that is what matters to me.'
'And even with the Bloodhound after Lee. It looks like we won't be seeing Lee, anytime soon. And I am not going to put my life on hold until we catch them. I think tonight, when the three of us are in private, it would be a good time for us to talk about moving forward with our future plans.'
(_)
Meanwhile, Rock, Dutch, and Sylia soon made their way to where they could see the fight taking place on the blue mats.
The three women then saw that Revy and Priss were each giving as good as they could take. They had been mostly punching each other. With a few kicks, knees, elbows thrown in, between the two of them.
And many of the members of the crowd continued to cheer either on Revy, or Priss.
Still, many of the people there noticed that the fight, on the mats, was reminiscent of the fistfight Revy once had with Roberta.
As Dutch watched the fight, she commented, “Damn. If this is like last time. This could last for a few hours.”
Sylia viewed the fight, as she stated, in an dry tone of voice, “I doubt it. I trained Priss not to allow a fight to drag out for too long.”
Dutch inquired, “Then, I wonder how she plans to stop this?”
Sylia lips curled into a slight grin, as she replied, with a bit of mirth in her tone of voice, “Just watch.”
(_)
Nearby, the maids were standing together, as they watched the fight. Roberta whispered into Fabiola's right ear, in spanish, “I will be honest. This is more fun to watch than to participate in.”
Fabiola softly replied, in spanish, “I agree.” She thought, 'Good. This means that Roberta is finally calming down from the previous night's events. And going back to the way she usually is. When she is not the warpath. And while I enjoy our time together, on this hunt. She can be hard to talk to, when she is like that.'
(_)
At that moment, on the mats, Priss and Revy backed away from each other, as both women wanted to get a good look, to size the other up, for a few seconds.
Each noticed the other was not breathing heavily. Also, except for a few mild bruises, they both were uninjured. With most of the mild bruises being to their faces.
Revy thought, 'At this rate. We will be fighting each other until dawn tomorrow.'
Priss thought, 'Damn. We are both too tough to take out in a single blow. And she is giving as good as she is getting. And with the super-soldier serum, we will likely be in this fight for a while.' While continuing to look directly at Revy, from the corner of her right eye, she saw the two maids. She continued her thoughts, 'And from I recall, of the Black Lagoon series. That was before this bitch got the super-soldier serum, she fought the Bloodhound over there, to a standstill, for around four hours straight.'
Priss then turned his fulled attention back towards Revy, as she continued her thoughts, 'I do not even want to think about the type of endurance this redheaded demoness now has. We both may be able to take it, but I really do not want to go through an endurance fight with her.'
'I may want revenge on her, and some of the others. But, I don't want to become a punching bag to do it. And I doubt she wants to take a pounding over her pistol, that I damaged...'
'Besides, Sylia will not allow me to have a fight like this drag on for much longer. Also, it will win me points with Sylia, if I offer her to surrender. Though, I doubt Revy will take my offer. As much as I am loath to admit it, this bitch is too much like me to just roll over and quit... Still, it is worth a try...'
Priss looked at Revy. She smirked, as she asked, “Had enough, yet?”
Revy met Priss' gaze, as she returned the brown haired woman's smirk, while she stated, “I haven't even broken a sweat, yet. Don't tell me you're a lightweight at this?”
Priss held onto her grin, as she responded, “Not at all. I just wanted to spare you a lot of embarrassment.”
Revy kept her smile, as she spat out, “Yea. Right. Let's get this on.”
The two women then charge back at each other.
As they continued to trade blows, Priss thought, with annoyance, 'Looks like I will have to end this the hard way.'
When Revy threw her next punch with her right hand, as her right arm extended, Priss sidestepped to Revy's right. As Priss did so, she gripped Revy's right forearm, with both hands, as she quickly step around Revy, while forcing Revy's to twist her arm, to where it was behind her back, in a lock.
When Priss was completely behind Revy, she continued to grip Revy's right forearm, with her own right hand. While doing so, Priss then quickly, and firmly gripped the top of Revy's left shoulder, as she pressed Revy in a downward motion by her left shoulder.
Between the pain of her right arm being put in a armlock, and the force on her left shoulder, Revy was force down into a kneeling position, with her left knee and right foot, on the mat.
Priss the pressed her advantage, as she forced Revy to lean forced in that position.
While in pain, due to the position her body was in, Revy thought, 'Not, again. This is like that time I fought Bob. And there is no way out of this hold that will not mess up my right arm.'
Priss leaned forward, on top of Revy, as maintained her body lock over Revy. She demanded, “Give up. I have had a broken arm before. It is not worth it.”
Priss then twisted Revy's right forearm arm very slightly, to increase the pain slightly, as a way to physically punctuate what she said.
Revy grunted in pain, as she mentally berated herself, 'She is right. My ego is not worth a broken arm...'
Priss then felt Revy relax her right arm, as Revy said, “I yield.”
Priss let of Revy, as she leaned up, and took a few steps away from her. Priss replied, “Good.”
Revy quickly brought her right arm around to her chest, as she used her left hand to rub her right arm. She thought, with relief, 'I will kick her ass, later. Right now, I am happy to not have a broken arm.'
Revy then stood up, and turned around to face Priss.
As both women stood, looking at each other, everyone could see that both women had minor facial bruises from their fight.
At that moment, Rock was on the side of the mat, with Revy to her right, and Priss to her left. She thought, 'Now, to make sure this is over.'
Rock then walked up to the mats, as she turned to the crowd around her, as she stated, “Okay. The fight is over.” She then turned back to Revy and Priss, as she inquired, “Are we going to have any more problems from you two?”
Priss and Revy looked at Rock, with mild indifference in this expressions.
Priss said, “I will not cause any problems.”
Revy answered, “I can live with the situation, for now.”
Benny looked at Revy and Priss, as she thought, 'That went better than I expected.'
While both women turned, and headed off the blue mats, towards their belongings, Revy looked over at Priss. She smirked, as she said, “Still, this isn't over.”
While they continued to walk towards the edge of the blue mats, Priss looked over at Revy. She returned Revy's smirk, as she responded “Not by along shot.”
Benny thought, 'Spoke too soon. And nothing good can come from this rivalry.'
Meanwhile, Balalaika thought, 'I guess it is a case of, be careful what I wish for. Still, they were not harmed. And there can always be a rematch. And watching those two get into it, now again, should break the monotony, at little...' She then place her right hand over her slight extended, pregnant stomach, as she continued her thoughts, 'At least until I have to deal with more personal matters.'
Nearby, Yurika was standing by her two sisters, as she asked, “So, what now?”
Nodoka looked over at Yurika, as she suggested, “Well, if anyone is hungry, we can have some lunch.”
Nearby, Nene turned the three sisters, as she said, with her hardsuit's speakers, in english, “I was waiting for someone to mention lunch.”
By Nene, Linna thought, 'Nene and her stomach. Some things never change.'
Mikoto turned to her two sisters, as she said, “That is one.” She looked out, around the crowd, as she casually answered, “Anyone else hungry?”
Linna thought, 'To be honest. I could use something to eat, as well. And I don't care what Sylia says. We are going to eat with them. They won't try something this way. It is clearly not their style.' She took off her helmet, as she turn to face the sisters. She said, in english, “I could use a bite to eat.”
Sawyer agreed, “Same here.” She then turned to Rock and Dutch, as she said, “As long as it is okay with our hosts?”
(_)
Nearby, Mackie turned to Sylia, as she asked, in their hardsuits internal communications system, 'Can we, sis?”
Leon commented, in communications system, “I don't think it is going to hurt us to have lunch with them.”
Daley commented, with their hardsuits internal radios, “I think this could be a good experience for everyone.”
Kate stated, with their hardsuit radios, “Daley makes a good point. And I am with them on this.”
In japanese, “Fine. And you can take off you helmet. But, leave you hardsuits on.” She thought, 'Besides. I was wondering what we were going to do for lunch, as well.'
(_)
Meanwhile, Dutch and Rock notice the rest of her family, and the others in crowd looking at them.
Dutch cracked a grin, as she stated, “Hey. I learned a long time ago. That if done properly, food can solve a lot of problems.” She mentally added, 'And it will at least smooth over the situation a little bit more.'
Dutch went onto say, “So, let's get some lunch. Fortunately, we have everyone.” She then saw a number of people smiled at her, as she thought, 'After we haven enough food to feed everyone here, for a month. And I am happy that everyone else is happy, at the moment. And those Lagoon parties are good experience in dealing with feeding a large group of people. And considering most of the people here, barring the Knight Sabers, and have been to those parties, this should not be a problem.'
Yurika turn to Dutch, as she gave the older woman a warm smile, which she saw Dutch notice. She said, “There we have it. Our host says it is okay for us to have some lunch here.”
Nearby, Roberta whispered Fabiola's right ear, in spanish, “We will restart our hunt for Lee, after lunch.”
Fabiola turn to her teacher, as she softly replied, in spanish, “Thanks. I am kind of hungry.” She mentally added, 'Besides. Experience has taught me that Ranma does not travel well when she has an empty stomach.'
Right before Revy and Priss exited the mat, where their shoulder holster, black gloves, hardsuit and helmet, were located, both women turned to those talking about lunch.
At that moment, Revy and Priss reached the end of the mat, as they stood and looked down at their belongings. Though, both of them had been paying attention to the conversation, over lunch.
Revy turned to the group, as she said, “Yea. Let's get some lunch.” She thought, 'We should have enough food and drink in the pantry for everyone.'
Priss looked at the group, as she agreed, “Works for me.”
Revy turned to Priss, as she thought, 'I wonder.' She asked, “Care for a drinking contest?”
Priss turned to Revy. She shrugged, as she commented, “Honestly. I prefer not to get drunk. So no. If you want a rematch. It is not going to be at a bar table.” She thought, 'At least our drinking habits are different. And I would guess so are our sexual tastes.'
Revy returned Priss' shrug, as she replied “It was worth a shot.”
Nearby, Eda heard that exchange, as she thought, 'I am so happy that Priss did not take up on Revy's challenge. Revy was literally asking for trouble.. I am also happy that Yolanda and I wonder researched a number of the very series that are connected to our situation. So, we know who is who... Still, after lunch, I better head back the Plata Podrido, to let Yolanda know what is going on... I think she will be happy that Lee has so far, escape capture by us.'
Meanwhile, Sarah look at sisters, as she inquired, “Do we have enough food for everyone?”
Dutch over heard Sara, as she turned to the tanned skinner, blond woman. Dutch answered, “We should have enough for everyone.”
Kristina held out her reality device, as she said, “That doesn't matter. We can always go for take out, anywhere in the multiverse, we want.”
Everyone who heard Kristina's comment, chuckled at what she said.
As Dutch chuckled a little, she happily thought, 'That's my girl.'
By then, everyone nearby had calmed down. Dutch said, “Come on everyone. The kitchen and dining rooms are this way.”
Dutch then let the others towards the dining room, or kitchen, as Revy collected her holsters, pistols, and gloves. While Priss got back into her blue hardsuit.
Though, Priss did not put on her hardsuit. Fortunately, she could still activate it to where she would move and walk unhindered. She then carried her helmet, as she followed the others to another part of the mansion, to get such lunch.
(_)
Later that day, Dutch was able to talk to Lotton, Shenhua, and Sawyer, privately. And the three lovers agreed with Dutch to help the Lagoon family, in their compensation, With the three lovers paying forty bars of gold, half of the amount of gold, at the agreed upon weight and quality. Considering it helped them get out of trouble with the Knight Sabers, as well.
Though, this was only a drop in the bucket for Shenhua, Sawyer, and Lotton's wealth, as well.
And later that night, Lotton, Sawyer, and Shenhua, privately discussed even more important matters, concerning their future. And they all decided to move forward with their plans.
(_)
Reality, Akira, Ranma, and Natsuru's home reality. Place, Jusenkyo, China. Date, the late twentieth century. Time, the middle of the morning. An hour after Lee and Garibaldi had first arrived in that reality.
For the last hour, the two men had carefully navigated the springs, while Lee continued his story, as he took front in leading Garibaldi out of the springs.
Fortunately, both men displayed their genre savvy to their fullest, as they were very careful, and neither had any trips, nor close calls that would have sent them into a curse spring.
And both men had noticed the fog had mostly clearing, to become a sunny day. With the temperature slowly warming up a bit, into a warm day, with a light breeze coming off from the mountains, and into the valley they were in.
And through all this, Lee had yet to finish his telling Garibaldi, the hows and whys, they both ended up in Jusenkyo, from when Lee began writing his stories, to their present circumstances. Though, to be fair, it was a very long story. Or, several stories. Depending on how one looked at the situation. Or, situations.
Meanwhile, Garibaldi silently paid attention, as Lee was given him the unvarnished truth of Lee's past, while he paid attention to he stepped, while he followed Lee.
And while Garibaldi had problems with handling some of what Lee stated. He stayed quiet.
The reason Garibaldi stayed quiet, was that he figured it was best to let Lee talk. And he could respond, after they were out of immediate danger.
At the moment, the two uncursed men finally reached the edge of the cursed springs, and safely walked out onto fully dry land.
As they exited the spring, they continued walking about twenty feet, forward, further onto dry land, when Lee came to a stop.
Garibaldi stopped six feet from Lee.
Lee turned to face Garibaldi. And he saw the springs behind Garibaldi. He thought, 'This should be far enough from the springs for us to safely stop, and for me to figure out the next part of my plan. But, first I need to finish my story. Lee then finished his story, “And so we jumped to this reality, navigated the cursed spring, and here we are.”
Garibaldi looked at Lee, as he said, in a slightly disbelieving tone of voice, “So, let me get this straight. You wrote a story that effected, and harmed, a number of people across the multiverse, include myself, and my friends? And now some of them found about you, and your stories, and they came after you? And the only reason they did not capture you in the first place was that they did not know your identity? Nor, what you look like? And you were able steal one of their reality devices, out from under them, and skip town a few minutes after they realized who you were? And mere seconds after they confronted you? With you then leading them on a chase from Babylon Five, to Mars Dome One, to my factory, to the police station, to my headquarters, and finally here?”
Lee shrugged, as he casually responded, “That pretty much sums it up.”
Garibaldi ranted, with more annoyance, than anger, in his tone of voice, “Well, I have heard of stupid mistakes, before. But, this takes the cake. How dare you play god with multiverse? And the people living in it?”
Lee took offense, as he thought, 'Well, Garibaldi took the news better than I expect he would. Still, I find his tone of voice annoying. Given, everything I have done to help him.'
Lee sternly stated, “Hey. I honestly thought that I was just playing with characters that didn't really exist. At the time, I did not know I was harming people. And my mistakes have been far less malicious and intentional than some of the actions your close friends have committed?” He thought, with a mix of annoyance, and slight anger, 'If he wants to place this game. So can I.'
Garibaldi growled, “Such as who?”
Lee flatly said, “Delenn.”
Garibaldi demanded, with anger in his tone of voice, “What did she do? And this better be good.”
Lee let out an evil laugh for a few seconds.
Garibaldi's anger quickly turned to worry, due to Lee's sudden laughter. He thought, with concern, 'That type of laugh is never good. And it is also a sign of underlying mental instability. Of course, I have to admit that being crazy is kind of a sane reaction to the situation we find ourselves in.'
Lee then looked into Garibaldi's eyes, as he stated, in a calm tone of voice, that was far too serene for the situation at hand, “She never did tell any of you? Did she? I mean, she told Lennier. But, that man would rather die than reveal such a secret about her.”
Garibaldi thought, 'Whoa. This has to be one juicy secret.'
Lee continued, “Still, I have always found redemption to be meaningless unless one openly admits their mistakes. But, I see that Delenn has not told any human of her secret. That is understandable. And at least she told G'Kar, to his face about her secrets partly causing the Centauri bombing of the Narn homeworld. So, I know she has the courage to reveal this secret, as well. Though, back on track. As you know, she was on the Grey Council?”
Garibaldi thought, 'If he is comparing this secret to the bombing of Narn. Then, it is bad. Still, I have to know.' He calmly replied, “Yes.”
Lee said, “What you do not know was that Delenn was Dukhut's second. Dukhut was the teacher, Delenn was his student, and successor on the Grey Council. When he died, she became a member of the Grey Council. And her first act, as a member of the Grey Council, was to be the deciding vote to go to war with humanity, that started off the Earth-Minbari war. Along with this, she was the one who ordered the Minbari to show no mercy, and order the Minbari to kill every last human.”
There was silence between the two of them, for a few seconds, as Lee allowed Garibaldi to digest the news.
Garibaldi thought, 'Lee would not lie about something like this. It is just to bold to do so. As such, it has to be true. Which means so many bad things that I do not want to contemplate them, right now.'
Garibaldi sadly stated, “Ah no... I always figured there was some dark skeletons in her closet. But, not that dark.”
Lee thought, 'Since you changed your attitude to me, I will soften the blow a little.' He commented, “Well, to be fair. At the time she was grief stricken. And she made that decision right after Dukhut died in her lap. And she soon regretted her vote, and on ordering no mercy towards humanity. To that end, she was instrumental in stopping the war, and having the Minbari surrender at the Battle of the Line.”
Garibaldi agreed, “That does soften the blow... A bit.”
Lee said, “It gets better. After some memory regression, she learned that while Dukhut was laying on her lap, dying, he was trying to tell her that she was one of Valen's descendants. Whom we both know was really, your good friend, Jeffrey Sinclair.”
Garibaldi sarcastically said, “That is just peachy...” He cracked a grin, as he continued, “Still, after I learned what happened to Jeff, from Ivanova. To this day I get a small chuckled whenever I heard a Minbari praise Valen. And the Minbari like to praise Valen, a lot.”
Lee rolled his eyes for a second, before looking back at Garibaldi. He stated, “You probably got miles of laughter from that ironic twist of fate.”
Garibaldi grin widened slightly, as he commented, “Oh, I have. I always knew Jeff would do something great in his life. And while being Commander of Babylon Five was a nice feather in his cap. I always thought he would eventually become president of the Earth Alliance... Though, literally becoming Christ of an alien species is still up there.”
Lee responded, “I agree. Though, back to Delenn. I should state that she soon realized her mistake, and she was instrumental in stopping the war. And she has tried to make amends, since then.”
Garibaldi thought, 'Okay. That was not as bad as I thought it would be. Now, back to a few important questions that I need answered, before I decided what to do with you, Lee.'
Garibaldi inquired, “Okay. Now, I have danced around the important question. So, I need to know more about my series. What is the Babylon Five series about? Is it anything I should be embarrassed about?”
Lee thought, 'Good. He finally directly asked questions about the B Five series, itself.'
Lee answered, “Well, first of all, you have nothing to feel bad about. The Babylon Five series was a very good series. Very political. It was about the first six years of Babylon Five's history. Though, in honestly, the series mostly dealt with years two through six. And there were movies made, and books written, as well.”
Garibaldi stated, “Along with planning to read your stories, Badasses Of the Multiverse. I will have to see that series some time?”
Lee said, “You will probably get the chance to do so. Though. As I said before. Be aware that watching one's own series can depress people, and reopen emotional wounds.”
Garibaldi replied, “Thank you for the reminder.”
Lee asked, “So, when you make it back. And I am sure you will. What are you going to do about Delenn?”
Garibaldi flatly answered, “Nothing. I know there is life after death. And I have a feeling that Delenn will have to face her victims in the next life. Though, I sincerely hope that her actions since then help to balance the scales. Because I do agree that she does have much to answer for.”
Lee thought, 'Yea. During the B Five episode, Day of the Dead, Dodger returned from the dead for a night, in your quarters. Given that, I admire your position on Delenn.' Lee complimented, “That is a very mature way to handle the situation.”
Garibaldi responded, “Thank you. Still, do I have to worry about these women coming after any more of my friends?”
Lee answered, “I doubt it. They don't go after aliens, and they only want badasses. And while your friend, Stephen Franklin is courageous, he is a pacifist.”
Garibaldi said, “That is good to know, Now, onto the matter of this reality traveling. In theory, I could visit the Looney Tunes reality?”
Lee stated, in a serious tone of voice, “Yes. But, don't even think about it. Do you really want to unleash that madness on the multiverse?”
Garibaldi was quiet for a few seconds. He then stated, “No. I guess not. And those realities are too dangerous for humans to visit.”
Lee agreed, “Exactly.”
Garibaldi inquired, “So, did you hear about the planned destruction of Babylon Five?”
Lee answered, “Yes. Sad to see it go.” He thought, 'I even remember seeing it in the series, itself. But, I don't want you to know that. Given the changes that have happened, might mean that B Five might not be destroyed. Though, given those changes are your friends being kidnapped. Which is partly my fault. I do not want to talk about this, and remind you of what happened to your friends.'
Garibaldi mentioned, “You know. I tried to buy Babylon. And I almost did. I had the money for it. I had the reasons. With some minor structure changes, it could be hyperspace worthy. And it would make a great terraformation supply base, for long range missions.”
“The interior green zones of the ship could have been outfitted for agricultural needs. We could have created two different biospheres, with ease, on B Five. Red and Green sectors had enough open area to keep a hundred thousand people fed all year round. The larger Red Sector could have been staple crops. While the smaller Green Sector would converted for growing tropical fruits. We could have even allowed gazing for cattle and other livestock. And the lower levels could have been converted to factories and refineries.”
“And Blue Sector's docking sections were already in place. So, all of this could have been done with little start up capital, in comparison to the scope of the project. Actually, with them decommissioning the station. It would have made it cheaper for us, because they would have gutted everything we don't need. We would have been able to move in, and start renovating the place on our first day there.”
“I even had my company crunch the numbers. Refitting the station for hyperspace and remodeling for our needs would actually been less than the purchase itself.”
Lee complimented, “That would have been a great idea. So, what stopped you?”
Garibaldi answered, “I had most of the alien governments lined up. And even John was on board. But it seems that, barring a few exceptions, the Minbari believe that once a tool has finished its use, it should be destroyed.”
Lee replied, “That figures. And John had to keep his wife happy.”
Garibaldi said, with disappointment in his tone of voice, “Exactly.”
Lee commented, “Still, I find that so hypocritical. I mean they used Babylon Four for their great war. And after your friends stole it for the Earth Alliance.”
Garibaldi replied, “Yea. I know... Hey, what a minute. How did you know about that?... Oh right, you saw that, in the series.”
Lee said, “Yea. And it was a great two part episode.”
Garibaldi asked, “And that was when Jeff went back in time... So, you likely saw Jeff as Valen. What does Jeff looked like as a Minbari?”
Lee answered, “He wears the bone crest quite well.”
Garibaldi shrugged, as he replied, “Okay.”
Lee mentioned, “If it makes you feel better, in the supplemental, book material to the series, it is hinted, through a temporal fluke, that Ms Sakia was reunited with Mister Sinclair... Well, Valen, in the past. And they lived a good life together.”
Garibaldi gave Lee a warm smile, as he kindly responded, “Yea. That does make me feel better. And that explains that note that Marcus mentioned he found, on one adventure.”
Lee thought, 'Oh second thought. I might as well tell him.' He stated, “Yea. That is the one I am talking about. Also, at the very end of your series, which did not happen in your reality, the Babylon Five station was shown being blown up.”
“But, given the history of your reality has been changed, with a number of you missing, for that scene, in watching it get blow up, at the decommissioning ceremony, It is possible, that in your reality, at least, the Babylon Five station might not get destroyed.”
Garibaldi replied, “Let's hope so.”
Lee casually questioned, “Besides, considering your friends did steal Babylon Four, why didn't you think about stealing Babylon Five?”
Michael responded, “Well, to be honest. I did think about it. But, I could never figure out a way to make a clean getaway.”
“Sure, Babylon Five is just a speck of dust, when compared to the size of the galaxy. But, the logistics of evacuating, and moving a five mile long space station. Without anyone else noticing. Is kind of tricky. Especially, when you have the space station, in question, is parked in orbit around one of the most technological advanced spy planets in the known galaxy.”
Lee said, “Yea. Epsilon III. And Draal is a good friend of Delenn's. And he is not going to allow you to steal that station out from under him, and risk politically embarrassing Delenn.”
Garibaldi said, “My point exactly.” His voice then turned serious, as he questioned, “Now, about my friends that were kidnapped?... Were they?”
Lee looked away from Garibaldi, as he quietly said, “More than likely, yes. But, Gomez and that planet's government did help take care of them.”
Garibaldi stated, in a firm tone of voice, “The only reason I am allowing you to continue breathing, is because my friends will likely be relatively fine. But, you still have a lot to answer for.”
Lee then looked at Garibaldi in his eyes, with such intensity, that Garibaldi then realized he had a nerve.
Lee stated, with increasing loudness, with each word, “I didn't know. I didn't know! I DIDN'T KNOW!” He then went into say, in a more normal tone of voice, with sadness and regret in his tone of voice, “Unknowingly, or not. What I have done weights heavily one me, every moment of every single day. And I know that even if I escaped those after me. I can never escape what I have done, and move on with my life. My existence. Because at every turn. EVERY TURN! The multiverse likes to remind me of how horrible, how evil, how sadistic, a person I am, WITHOUT EVER REALIZING IT!”
“I am not even a human being. I realize that now. That I never was a human being. I never was a person. I am just a thing. A thing to be abused by those around me. To know only suffering and pain. Always and forever, a thing to be hurt by everyone else! For eternity. From everyone and everything. From the top, down. From gods to viruses! With no rights of redress.”
Lee went quite for a few seconds, as he then ran his hands from the front to back of his head of hair, while he looked down. While he also shook a little, back and forth with his body.
After which, Lee dropped his hands, and he went still, as he looked back up at Garibaldi's face.
Garibaldi could see from the expression on Lee's face that he was become more upset by the moment, but Garibaldi realized that Lee was not become more upset towards Garibaldi, but towards himself.
Lee said, in a voice that was beginning to break, with him being so upset that his voice was chocking up, “I have thoughts and emotions. I have feelings. Contrary to what everyone else believes. I have a sense of right and wrong. I always have. I have a soul that can be hurt. And continues to be hurt by everyone and everything around me. So, how many times must I say that, I'm sorry, for what I have done? For existing? For being born? How many times must I apologize? I just wanted to write a story to maintain my sanity. Like nearly every other tortured soul that has ever EXISTED!”
Lee give Garibaldi of look of sadness and disgust, as his eyes watered slightly, on the verge of tears. As he continued, in a shaky tone of voice, “It just so happens, that on top of the cancer God afflicted me with, that God hates me enough to have those I wronged come after me. I mean what about the people that create the really sick shit? The twisted lemons. The dark subjects of porn. I could go on, day after day, listing all the horrible things other people have created, that are far, far worse than anything I have ever wrote, imagined, or even dreamed of.”
Lee voice become more upset, as he began to shed tears, while he stated, “At least, as screwed up as my stories are, I tried to create some happy endings. Compared to the downer endings I could list. But, I am the only one called on my actions. I am the only one singled out for what I have done. And nobody else. NEVER ANYBODY ELSE! Such literal god damned hypocrisy. Always me that is judged. Always me. Never thee. Never thee! Why is that?” He brought up his hands, with his palms facing upward. He then lower his face into his hands. After which, he quietly said, “Why is that?”
Garibaldi thought, while feeling pity for Lee, 'I have completely misjudged Lee. I thought he didn't care, about anyone else. Nor, what he had done. Clearly, the case is quite the opposite. Lee can really hide his emotional state from those around. But, he still has them. And they are right under the surface.”
“And he is a real mess on the inside. He is really hurting a whole lot on the inside. This whole situation has been slowly gnawing away at him, from the inside. Internally eating away at him, since he likely first learned that what he did effected real people across the multiverse.'
'And I don't need him to go to pieces on me just yet. After hearing him confess what he had done, to me. I was planning to dump him, and steal his reality devices. But, given his cancer, and he clearly is effected by what he has done. I will dump him where he can get some help. Like one of the better places and times in a Star Trek reality. Though, for right now, I just need to get him to calm down some.'
Garibaldi carefully said, in a comforting tone of voice, “Okay. You have a point there. And my friends are likely alive. Healthy. With a few kids. And they are all strong individuals. They will recover from what happened to them. And they will likely work together, to do so. Like the others you have mentioned. And they will be fine. Also, I am sure I will see them, again. Along with any kids they have. So, I apologize for threatening you like that. It is clear that you feel guilty about what you did. And you likely would have done things differently, if you realize you were playing with real people's lives, before you began your story.”
Lee looked up from his hands, while he used his hands to wipe away his tears. And he blew his nose on the front right side of his coat, as he forced himself to calm down. Garibaldi saw Lee's expression was calmer, as Lee quietly said, “Thank you. And you are right. If I had known that the multiverse was real, before I began my stories. And that real people would be effected. I would have done things differently. I may have even tried to create paradise for everyone. Though, that would have likely been a very boring story.”
Lee then dropped his hands back to his sides.
Garibaldi thought, 'Good. He has calmed down.” He responded, “Even so. It is sometimes the thought that counts... Well... Moving forward. Since you know all this, you wouldn't happen to know what happened to John?”
By then, Lee had mostly calmed down, as he looked at Garibaldi's face, with Garibaldi look back at Lee's face. Lee stated, in a normal tone of voice, “Yes. But, it is kind of complicated. Short answer is, he is elsewhere by now.”
Garibaldi requested, “Try me.”
Lee explained, “Think of what happened to David at the end of the film, Two Thousand One, A Space Odyssey.”
Garibaldi replied, “Oh...”
Lee said, “Yea...”
Garibaldi then looked around them. First at the cursed pools, then at the mountain ranges around them. He said, “But, you know what. I am now pretty far out there, as well.”
Lee joked, “Well, I assure you. My reality device is not full of stars. But, it will get you to the stars.”
Both men laughed at Lee's joke, for a few seconds.
As they calmed down, Garibaldi turned to Lee. He said, “Thanks. I needed that laugh.”
Lee responded, in a reassuring tone of voice, “You're welcome. By the way, you might it interesting, the creators of reality were inspired by the russian ship in the sequel movie, two thousand ten. That is where the design for your Omega class destroyers came from.”
Garibaldi said, “Honestly, I am not surprised by that revelation. I am starting to see how the gears seem to fit. In that, I am beginning to realize which fictional series I have seen, or read, have inspired my own reality.”
Lee stated, “Yea. It can get real screwy when one starts seeing how all the pieces fit together. Just don't let that knowledge drive you crazy. It has nearly done that to me, a couple of times.'
Garibaldi flatly replied, “I won't let that happen to me.”
Lee said, “Good. And as I said before. I am sure you will make it back home, and to your family.”
There was silent for a few seconds, between the two men. Then, Garibaldi commented, “You know. This would be the place where one us would say something foolish, and jinxes our situation.”
Lee calmly replied, “I know. Instead we are just going to continued walking out of this place. Find the person I am looking for, head to the departure destination I have in mind, and then leave this reality.” He mentally reflected, 'Though, the person I am looking for, is here. The person being the Jusenkyo guide. I need to find the Jusenkyo guide here, and ask him a few questions, before I leave this place.'
Garibaldi complimented, “Good idea.” He then thought, 'I wonder who he is looking for?' He then walked a few steps closer to Lee.
Both men turn around, with their backs to the cursed spring. With Garibaldi being to Lee's left side. But, they were about to each take a step, away from the cursed pools, when they heard a splash behind them.
Both men turned and looked at each other. Then, Garibaldi dispassionately commented, “Don't you just hate when you know universe is screwing with you? And there is nothing you can do about it?”
Lee calmly agreed, “Uh huh. And it is the multiverse, now. Not the universe. You have walked into new levels of being screwed over.”
Garibaldi said, “Yes. We both know we cannot live with ourselves, if we don't find out what is happening behind us. So, let us get this over with, and see what is happening behind us.”
Lee replied, “Agreed.”
Both of them turned around and saw a human floating face down in one of the cursed pools that made up the outer ring of the cursed springs, with the person's head facing the two men. With the person being only thirty feet from them, to their left side.
Lee immediately realize who it was, and what spring that was, as he thought, 'Of all the times for this to happen, it would be now. Still, we can save that person. But, we just have to be careful. And I got to come up with a quick plan to do it. Before this person actually drowns.'
'Fortunately, the spring is on the edge of the other springs. So, we have that going for us. And I believe using the bamboo stalks to reel the person to us, to the shore, would be our best bet. It should only take us a couple of minutes, to do this. Far below the six minute barrier for brain death. And we will use our coats to dry her off, to keep the cursed water off of us, as we resuscitate this person.'
Lee then noticed the look of destination forming on Garibaldi face, as he continued his thoughts, 'Oh no. I know about that looked means.'
Lee immediately jumped in front of Garibaldi, as he looked at his friend in the face. Lee quickly grabbed Garibaldi by his upper arms, as he stated, in a strong tone of voice, “Hold it! I know what you are planning to do! Wait! Stop! And give me a couple of seconds! We can just need to think this through! We still have time to rescue this person, while staying dry, and maintaining our safety.”
But, Garibaldi ignored Lee, as he began to struggle with Lee. Garibaldi loudly responded, “Get out of my way, Lee! There is no time!”
Even though Garibaldi was several years older than Lee, he was still in great physical shape. While Lee was severely weakened by the cancer ravaging his body, with Lee being little more than a flesh covered, breathing skeleton.
Within a matter of seconds, Garibaldi was able to overpower Lee, and pushed Lee to the ground.
Though, Lee's quickly recovered and got back to his feet. But, he knew he was too late to stop Garibaldi.
Lee watched as Garibaldi rushed over, towards the spring, with the unconscious person was in.
While Lee scowled from being upset, he thought, with a bit of anger and frustration, 'Damn it! Garibaldi had to just react, without thinking. And decide to rush in, without thinking. So, he could be the hero. And if I am right about a theory I have, he is going to need help pulling that person to shore. Still, I am not taking any chances with my belongings.'
Lee immediately sat up, as he made a pile on the ground beside him, by first kicking his shoes, and socks. Taking off his coat, with his reality device in it. He took off his wrist watch. Undoing his belt and pants. Taking off his pants, and sheathed combat knife. He undid and removed his tie. Quickly unbuttoning, and removing his white dress shirt. And finally, he reached under his t-shirt, and pulled out his ring necklace, with him placing the necklace on top of his clothing.
Lee then jumped back to his feet.
Lee did all this in under ten seconds. With Lee presently only wearing his white t-shirt and underwear.
And at that moment, Lee turned, and he saw Garibaldi reach the spring, then immediately dive into the cursed water, after the person.
As soon as Garibaldi jumped into the cursed water, Lee rush over towards the magical spring in question, with the two people already in it, as he thought, 'Well, I was planning to do this anyway. So, there is no time like the present.'
(_)
Nearby, as Garibaldi dove into the spring, with him hitting the water, and becoming wet, Garibaldi noticed, from looking at the drowning person, whom was floating on their stomach, that the person in trouble had suddenly gotten a lot bigger, along with Garibaldi owe clothing becoming larger, as well.
Just after Garibaldi came back up to the water's surface, Garibaldi starting swimming over to the person. But, while Garibaldi did leg paddles, Garibaldi found the shoes and pants that Garibaldi wore slid off the body, and quickly sunk to the bottom of the spring.
Garibaldi mentally cursed, 'Damn it!... But, I will worry about that, later. My first concern is helping this person. And this person is to big for me to just turn over, and tread water backwards, with one hand keeping the person's head above water, and the other hand being used, with my legs, to paddle us to shore. I will just have to hope I can turn this person over, and drag this person to shore, before brain death sets in.'
'At least, the person's head is facing the direction of the short I came from.'
As Garibaldi got a grip on the person's body, on the person's right shoulder and upper right arm, Garibaldi heard a splash from behind. From the corner of Garibaldi's left eye, Garibaldi saw a person swimming towards them.
But, Garibaldi was so focus on the person whole was drowning, to look at the other person, while thinking, 'That must be Lee. And he is here to help.'
Garibaldi noticed that Lee soon made it to the person, as well, on the person's opposite side, with Lee grabbing the person's left shoulder and upper arm. Lee then pushed the person over, onto the person's back. Garibaldi help.
As soon as the person was floating on their back, Garibaldi grabbed the person's left upper arm and shoulder, with Lee quickly grabbing the person's right upper arm and shoulder.
A second later, both of them paddled the person back to shore.
Less than twenty seconds later, they made it to shore that faced away from the strings. They would dragged the person, head first, onto the dry ground, until the person's feet, which had socks and black boots, was about two yards from the spring they had just come from.
Garibaldi then looked own at the large much bigger person, as Garibaldi swiftly turned the person over, to the person's right, onto their back.
Garibaldi saw that the person lying on their back, was a slender, blond, girl, in her late teens, moderately sized breasts. She wore a yellow turtleneck shirt, under an open, blue denim jacket. She also had on blue jeans, a brown leather belt, and black socks, over black boots.
Garibaldi did not even bother to think much on the matter, are Garibaldi quickly started doing CPR over the girl's shirt, due to Garibaldi not having a knife to cut the shirt, with it taking to long to try to remove the shirt, or rip open the shirt.
From the corning of Garibaldi's eyes, on the other side of the teenage girl Garibaldi was helping, Garibaldi noticed the other person, who Garibaldi guessed was Lee, back off, a few feet, as Garibaldi continued to do a series of chest compressions, and then mouth to mouth, then back to chest compressions. Back and forth, to work the girl's lungs and heart back to starting on their own, while providing oxygen for the brain and other organs.
As Garibaldi did this, Garibaldi noticed the girl was not wearing a bra, but Garibaldi could care less on the matter.
Less than a minute later, the girl coughed, and starting breathing. Though, the girl was clearly out of it, though not unconscious. Garibaldi then girl rolled her to the girl's left, on her belly, so she would not risk drowning on the fluids still in her lungs.
Garibaldi thought, 'I think she was only under for maybe two minutes, at most. Likely less. And I do not see any bruises on her head, so I think she will be fine. Also, after the girl wakes up, we will find out who she is, and get her some help, before we leave this reality. And given the time travel aspects that reality travel clearly has. And those after us are not going to follow us here, any time soon, for us. There should be plenty of time to do so.'
'Unfortunately, it appears that none of us have any spare changes of clothing. Nor, anything to dry ourselves off with. And I lost my shoes and pants. So, it looks we are stuck in these wet clothes. But, at least I have my shirt, coat, underwear, and shock.. Also, it is turning into a warm and sunny day. So, Lee, this girl, and I should be fine, and not catch a cold.'
'Now, to thank Lee for helping to save this girl.'
Though, when Garibaldi looked up and at the person across the teenage girl, Garibaldi did not see Lee. Instead, Garibaldi was looking at a small, young, fair skinned girl, with black hair that went down just below her neckline, whom was wearing an oversize, white t-shirt, that went down to her knees.
As Garibaldi continued to look over the small, young girl. Garibaldi noticed that the girl appeared to be around the same height as Garibaldi was.
Garibaldi asked, in a confused tone of voice, “Who are you?”
The girl calmly said, in a young, female voice, “Keep in mind, Mister Garibaldi. I did warn you about the springs, beforehand. And I tried to stop you from diving in for the kid. If you had given me about thirty seconds, I would have completely figured a much better way to save her, that did not involve us diving in after her.”
Garibaldi replied, in a confused tone of voice, “Huh?”
The girl rolled her eyes for a few seconds. She then looked back at Garibaldi, as she casually suggested, “Look down at yourself.”
Garibaldi did so.
A few seconds later, the resulting girlish scream, with echoed off the mountain sides, in the distance, was loud enough to wake the dead.
(_)
Lee remained standing as she wiped some cursed water from the front of her brow, with the back of her right hand. While she did so, she calmly watched as Garibaldi freaked out.
Garibaldi was pacing back and fourth, away from Lee, and the teenage girl, while Garibaldi said over and over, in a hurried, young, female voice, “I'm a girl! I'm a girl! I'm a girl!”
Lee thought, with slight amusement, 'Of all the gender bending scenes have I ever created. I never wrote lines as cheesy as this...'
Lee then looked down at down the teenage girl, whom had short blond hair, that went almost to the back of her shoulders. She was average height, with a slender build.
Before they had rolled the girl onto her stomach, Lee has seen her face and chest. The blond girl was quite pretty, with respectably sizes breasts, for a teenage girl her age.
The moment Lee had seen the girl's face and hair, Lee immediately had recognized the girl.
Lee continued to look at the teenage girl, lying on her back, as she thought, 'Yep. That is Garcia Lovelace. She looks like her own sister. And she appears only a few years older, than she was in the series, which is not surprising. If my math is correct. From the timeline, she is probably around seventeen, or eighteen, years old.'
'And now that I think about it, this is the exact moment when Garcia got cursed in my stories. Which puts me in my own stories. Which is a mind screwed I really do not want to think about, right now. Because Garcia is going to formally meet me in a few minutes. And this means that Garcia knew about me, for all these years. And she clearly kept it a secret, given the maids clearly did not know I was the person they were looking for, back in Plata Podrido.'
'Then again, Garcia likely won't have the chance to see my male body. So, she would not know what my nature birth form looks like.'
'Though, now that I think about. Garcia would have to keep the secret. And I will still have to use the Lee alias, because that is what Garibaldi refers to me as. So, Garcia kept the secret...'
'Ah hell... I will worry about this, later. I have enough problems, as is.'
'Still, at least her hair is not very long, and in curls, like it was in Black Lagoon Boys and Girls omake.'
'Now, to check something else out, about myself. Or, should I say, new self?...' She smiled, as she happily continued her thoughts, 'I like that term. New self. It just rolls of the tongue. Though, I be check myself, while there are not other immediate problems. Just to make sure my theories were correct.'
Next, Lee held out her arms and hands. As she looked at them, she saw they had a normal flesh tone, and they were sickly, nor boney, like the cancer had made her male body, including her arms and hands. They were also smooth, hairless, young, small harms and arms.
Lee mentally reflected, in a happy state of mind, 'And it appears that I am healthy again. With smooth skin, that has no body hair. The only hair I have, for right now, is on my head. Just as I thought my new body would be. And I don't have to worry about shaving anymore. Neither my face, as a man. Nor, my legs and armpits, later on, like some naturally born women do. And, now that I sure about that, I might as well get the next part done, while I still have the opportunity to do so.'
Lee turned and briskly walked over to her pile of clothing. And from the top of it, she picked up her ring necklace. She quickly undid the knot of the string. As soon as she removed the string from the ring, she held the ring in her left index and thumb.
After that, she held out her right hand, and she used her left fingers to slid the ring down her right fourth finger.
As soon as the ring slid all the way to middle of proximal phalange of her fourth finger, where the ring stop.
As Lee let go of the ring, with her left fingers, she held out her right hand. As she looked at the ring jewel on her finger. The golden ring was encircled with small jewels on the outside, but it felt smooth on the inside. And the ring fit her forth finger like a glove.
Lee continued to look at her right hand, as she thought, 'Just as I expected. My ring fits like a glove. And if I am right, along with a few physical bonus perks, I am now locked in this cursed female form, no matter how much hot water I am exposed to. But, I will test that, later. For now, I still need to check to make sure it will stay where it at. I don't want this to come off accident years later, with me losing it, and being exposed to a splash of hot water splash, with me then likely experience a painful death, within minutes.'
Lee then used her left fingers to try to gently remove the ring. But, it would not move one bit.
Lee thought, while mild exhilaration, 'It is not budging one bit. It is stuck on there. Good. I am now going to live. Even though I am much younger than I planned after being, when I cursed myself. Though, even at this age, as long as I am careful, I will now have a full life ahead of me. In so many ways. And with this form, I can simply disappear, with no one coming after me, and ever finding me, again.'
'Also, the ring is conformable on my finger. It is snug, but not tight. And given this thing is magical, it will likely grow, as my finger goes, so it will never become tight.'
'Along with this, should worse come to worse. And I do need to remove this ring. I can do the Frodo method, with a knife. I can live with losing a finger. But, if I did that, I need to make sure I have a back up plan ready to lock my cursed form, beforehand. So, I would not be splashed with hot water, and die from the cancer I have has been slowly killing.'
'Also, I wonder if my cancer will stop in my other form, now. Though, my aging does not stop in either form. That is unlikely. And I am not going to test that theory to find out. I am healthy, and I am not going to risk going back to dying.'
'Besides, I am going to focus on the good things of this situation. And best of all those things is that I still retain my mind and skills. So, I will be fine.'
She then looked over at Garibaldi, and the sleeping teenage girl, as she frowned slightly. She thought, 'Still... I have to help Garibaldi, and Garcia. But, after that. I am gone to live the life I have only ever previously dreamed of doing.'
Lee then saw Michael stop shouting, as she ran towards to the spring they had pulled the teenager from.
Lee thought, 'I better follow her, before she does something even more foolish.' Lee then quickly followed Garibaldi.
A few seconds later, reached the spring, and came to a stop, near the edge. Garibaldi then leaned down and looked at her reflection, as she said, “I am not just a girl, but a young girl. And I have my hair back.” Michael ran her right hand through her full head of brown hair, that went to her neck line.
Just then, Lee came to a stop, to stand beside the brown haired girl, to Garibaldi's right side.
Lee turned to the other young girl, as she stated, “And if you are lucky, the curse might allow you to keep your hair in your male form.”
Lee thought, 'Though, I am not really sure. But, if the lack of beard, as a man. And the lack of body hair on the female form, save for the pubic area, during puberty and afterward. Due to gender changing back and forth. Is any indication. The answer is, yes. It is clear the magic of these types of gender changes prefer the person effected having hair on their head. So, Garibaldi baldness, as a man, may have just been cured. It might even stay brown, in both forms, and not turn white in his much older, male form.'
'Though, if Garibaldi wants to be bald. Then, Garibaldi will just have to shave his, or her, head. With both forms then being bald. Though, I doubt that Garibaldi will want to do this.'
Garibaldi dropped her right hand back to her side, as she continued to looked at her reflection. She replied, “I hope so. It would be nice to get something out of all this mess.”
Lee leaned down, and looked at both her and Garibaldi's reflections, as she commented, “I agree. And I was afraid this would happen. It looks like we are both around six years old. This is the spring of drowned girl. Not the spring of drown human female. Since we are no longer young in our male forms, not only did our genders change, but our ages got severely reset to where there is no question of being a girl. It is magic, after all. And these springs do have a sense of humor.”
“This is why I wanted to speak to the guide before I took a dip in this spring. But, it appears that at least I am now healthy. And on the bright side, we look to be slender, and in good shape for our age bracket.”
Lee mentally added, 'Also, I still have black hair. Just like before, with the instant girl packets. And just as I thought. The instant packages are a lot weaker than the full curse. So, with the packets, the age difference was less extreme.'
Garibaldi leaned up, as she turned to Lee. She asked, with surprise in her tone of voice, “You were planning to turn yourself into a girl?”
Lee leaned up, as well. She then looked over at Garibaldi. Next, Lee held up her open right hand, with her fingers pointing up. After that, she used her left index finger to point to the ring on her right forth finger.
Lee warmly smiled, as she said, “Yes. And I believe I have also just locked myself in this female form, as well.” She then dropped her hands back to her sides.
Garibaldi questioned, in disbelief, “And you locked yourself in this female form, too?”
Lee pointed out, “Yes. Remember, I have cancer. Or, had cancer. You said it, yourself. I had only a month, or so, to live. This is my hail Mary play. And even with the drawbacks. Due to the extreme youth reset. I am not complaining, because my plan seems to have worked. The good news that you know this series. Along with me reminding you of the rules of these curses. For you, hot water will return you to your natural body. But, cold water will change you back to being a girl. Due to this, the curse is manageable.”
Garibaldi stated, “I realize that. And I admit that there are not many places back on Mars where I can be splashed with water. But, I am sure there are a few that I have not taken into account of.”
Lee commented, “Yes. You are likely going to become a water magnet, in both forms.”
Garibaldi responded, “I know. And I can take precautions. But, that still does not change that fact that I did not want to be a girl, in the first place. Especially, a girl this young. I cannot even have fun in a body that is this age.”
Lee reminded Garibaldi, as Lee said, in a calm tone of voice, “I am in the same boat as you. And I know it sucks that you have a choice of either being an old man, or a very young girl. Still, our female forms will age naturally. And eventually, you will be able to have some real fun in your female form.” She the continued, in a more serious tone of voice, “Though, all in all seriousness. When your female form gets older, be careful not get pregnant.”
Garibaldi conceded, “I will. You make a good point there. Remember, I have a teenage daughter. And I constantly worry about her getting pregnant at her age.”
Lee replied, “Of course.”
Lee thought, 'And I be you do background checks on everyone your daughter meets. Both male and female. Especially, those her age. Because, you are not going to take any chances, when she begins someone home to meet with you. Though, I need to explain to you, that this situation is not that bad. Compared to other possibilities would could have been facing.'
Lee commented, in a comforting tone of voice, “Besides, this situation not that bad for us. It could be a lot worse. At least we are not cursed to have the bodies of animals.”
Garibaldi agreed, “True. But still, this strangest day of my life. And given the life I have lead, that is saying something.”
Lee said, “I know. At one point, you were the chief of security at one of the strangest crossroads in known existence.”
Garibaldi replied, “Exactly.”
Lee suggested, “Still, don't say that too loudly. The day is young. We don't want to jinx ourselves, further.”
Garibaldi shrugged, as she replied, “Good idea. Though, we are still screwed. My pants and shoes went down into the spring. And my gold bars were in my pants”
Lee responded, in a supportive tone of voice, “Don't worry. I am sure we will figure something out.”
Garibaldi asked, “Okay. But, first. What about a cure for these curses? Such as the spring of drowned man.”
Lee said, “Trust me. Do not try to find a cure here. What passes for fate and luck will not let you. Nor I. Nor, our nearby friend. Get cured any time soon. All you might end up mixing curses with another curse. As I stated before, being a cute girl, it not that bad.”
Lee then gave Garibaldi a girlish smile, as she teased, “And right now, we are both clearly cute.”
Garibaldi conceded, “Fine. But, girl or not. If you pout, I will deck you.”
In response, Lee playfully stuck her tongue out at Garibaldi, for a second.
Garibaldi took the gesture in its intended jest, as she happily replied, “If I only had a camera.”
In response, both of them chuckled, instead of giggled, which was an eerie sight, given they were both currently in the bodies of young girls.
As they gradually stopped chuckling, Garibaldi asked, “So, do you know who the girl is?”
Lee answered, “Yes. And you are not going to like the answer.”
Garibaldi guessed, “You caused this, didn't you?”
Lee gave an embarrass express on her face, which made her unintentionally look even more cute, as she sheepishly admitted, “Yes. That is Garcia Lovelace.”
Garibaldi questioned, in a concerned tone of voice, “Of the Black Lagoon reality?”
Lee answered, “Yes. And he is a few years older than he was at the series, because of how events played out in my stories.”
Garibaldi inquired, “Events played out?... How is Garcia tied to this?...” Garibaldi then realized, as she accused, “You wrote this very scene? Didn't you?” She mentally added, 'And I don't even want to think about the implications of what I just said.'
Lee winced, as she said, “Yes. In the stories I created, I vaguely wrote, as in I mentioned the event in passing, in a dialogue scene, at the end of book three of my stories. With the event happening during the events of book two. Years after the event. Where Garcia Lovelace tried to help his friends, and his first reality jump accidentally ended up falling into the spring of drown girl, in Jusenkyo.”
Garibaldi raised an eyebrow, as she flatly commented, “No wonder Roberta and Fabiola are after your ass. Roberta only hinted at that in her phone call to you, at the police station.”
Lee responded, in an exasperated tone of voice, “I know. And I never gave any real details. And I certainly did not intent to endanger Garcia's life, by nearly having him drown.”
Garibaldi sighed, which looked cute on her face. She then calmly replied, “I believe you.”
Lee said, “Thank you. And just so you know. I respect that kid. Garcia has been through a lot. For both himself, and his friends.”
Garibaldi demanded, in an even, though forceful tone of voice, “Then, why did you curse him?” She thought, 'Still, Lee is right that Garcia has been through a lot.'
Lee admitted, in a sad tone of voice, “Because I wanted to Garcia to attend a nice, tropical island, girls only bikini party, with the other members of the cast. Including, Roberta, and Fabiola. And I admit now that was a stupid thing for me to have done.”
Garibaldi thought, with surprise, 'There seems to be no end to Lee's stupidity. She proves Albert Einstein's statement that stupidity is infinite.' She stated, in disbelief, “You bet it was. And you have the most twisted imagination that I know of.”
Lee flatly responded, “I am willing to admit to that.” Her voice then became more relaxed, as she continued, “Still, on the bright, given we saved Garcia's life, I think with her help, I should be able to smooth things over with the maids. Or, at the very least, just work off what I owe them, over this, in trade.”
Lee grimly thought, 'Though, now that I think about it. I could have just had Garcia use some instant girl powder at those Lagoon bikini parties. And if Garcia, or the maids figure that out. I am likely back to square one with them... Still, they like to do things directly. So, if I don't mention it, I should be fine.'
Garibaldi flatly stated, “You better hope so. And you are right. Garcia has been through a lot. You better also hope that she can handle being a girl.”
Lee answered, “Garcia is a strong willed person. I am sure she will be able to handle it. And I wrote it so she does get home. As long as she does not take any unnecessary risks, she will be fine. Also, I wrote that when Garcia makes it home, Roberta and Fabiola will be there to help her.”
Garibaldi responded, “Good... But still, if this is Garcia of the past. Why were you not already captured by now? Even if you look different now, won't the maids know who are you were ahead of time, from what Garcia will likely learn about you, from us, in the next little while?”
Lee complimented, “Those are good questions. I asked them, myself. And the answer to both questions is not necessarily complicated. It is possible that Garcia will keep this all a secret. Or, Garcia will give some other explanation. It depends on how these next few hours play out.”
Garibaldi asked, “Okay. But, are we taking him... Her with us?” She mentally added, 'If the answer is no. You will regret it.'
Lee answered, “Yes. I am not ditching my ticket off of the maids' shit list.”
Garibaldi cracked a smile, as she thought, 'Good. You at least see the logic of the situation.' She agreed, “Yea. I can see the logic in that.”
Lee replied, “I am glad you agree.”
Suddenly, from behind them, both girls then heard the teenage girl scream, in spanish, “Ack! I am a girl!”
Lee though, 'Good. Sleeping beauty is awake. And like I said. Since we saved the blond's life, when the maids find out, they will lay off their revenge against me. I may get the crap beat out of me by them, but I will likely otherwise be fine when it comes to them... The others, I don't know... Still, it is best we deal with the matter at hand.'
Lee said, “Let us go check on, Garcia. And help her calm down.”
Garibaldi nodded a few times, as she agreed, “Good idea.”
The two girls then turned around, Lee to her left, and Garibaldi to her right.
They saw Garcia had rolled onto to her back, and that she was sitting up. The two girls took several steps forward, to where they were standing in front of the blond teenager, looking at Garcia's face.
At the moment, Garcia was looking down at her wet self. With her wet clothing leaving very little to the imagination, as the clothing hugged her figure, including her respectively sized breasts, for a girl her age.
And given how short Lee and Garibaldi had become, they were only around a foot taller, than the teenage girl, at head level, as the blond girl was sitting on the ground. The two younger girls stood side by side, with Garibaldi standing to Lee's right side.
Lee thought, 'I need to calm her down. And the truth, in small measures, will help with that.' She calmly said, in spanish, “Relax Garcia. We will explain everything. And the good news is that your condition is temporary, and easily fixed.”
Lee saw Garcia looked up at here, as Garcia started to visibly calm down.
Lee thought, 'Good. My words got through to her. Now, to find out if she is okay?...' Lee asked, in spanish, “Besides being a girl, are you okay? Are you injured?”
Garcia did a mental check of her body for any injuries, and found she had none. Though, she thought, 'Except for being a girl, I am fine. ' She looked at both young girls, in their oversized, wet, male clothing, as she continued her thoughts, 'I need to find out who these girls are, and help them? Afterward, I will then move on to my mission of helping Roberta and Fabiola. But, first I need to know where I am? Who these girls are? And what has happened to me? And from their clothing. Perhaps us?'
Garcia answered, in spanish, “I am fine.”
Lee thought, 'Good. We won't have to carry Garcia out of here. Now, to make a small request.'
Lee changed to her native tongue of english, as she requested, “Okay. And could you please speak in english. It would be easier for my friend and I.”
Garcia replied, in english, “No problem.”
Garcia then looked around herself, as she immediately realized in thought, 'I am in Jusenkyo.” She then looked down at her chest, as she mentally reflected, 'I have been cursed with spring of drowns girl. That is what this little girl meant. Hot water will temporally change me back to male. Then, cold water will change me to female. Back and forth... What a minutes.'
Garcia looked back at up the two younger girls, in much bigger male clothing. She continued her thoughts, 'These are actually to much older men. And they are cursed with spring of drowns girls... Oh. Now, I remember, I hit the water and blackout. And these to fished me out. I need to thank them for saving my life. Still, I need to figure out how did I wound up here, of all places? And falling into the spring of down girl, pools of water?'
Garcia said, in a humble tone of voice, “Thank you for saving my life.”
Garibaldi replied, “You're welcome.”
Lee commented, “More than happy too.”
Garcia asked, “Now, how did I end up in Jusenkyo?”
Lee thought, 'She knows about Jusenkyo. So, she likely knows about the Ranma Half series, and how the curses works. That saves us a lot of time for explanations. And I now have the opportunity to get some answers to some questions I have for her. I always wondered why Garcia started his journey and how? Considering I was vague and never wrote those parts. This would be a good time to ask. But, I will do so in a minute, or two. First, we need to introduce ourselves, and work from there. Though, I might as well check.'
Lee inquired, “We are not sure. But, just to check. Do you know how the curses work, Garcia?”
Garcia casually answered, “Yes. Hot water, and cold water. I just need some hot water to turn back into a boy. Though, not boiling. And cold water will turned me back into a girl.”
Lee thought, 'Good. That clears up our first problem.' She said, “Good. And at least it is warm enough, that we are not freezing ourselves in wet clothing.”
Garcia shrugged, as she halfheartedly replied, “Yes. At least, there is that.”
Meanwhile, Garibaldi silently stood by, while she listened. She thought, 'I think I will let Lee handle this. Though, I feel I may have to pick up the pieces, later. I am just not sure which of them will go to pieces first. Given some of these things Garcia has been thought. This could push him. Well her, right now. Over the edge. And I almost pushed Lee over the edge, earlier, for calling her on some of her stupidity, which harmed some of my close friends.'
Garcia then realized, as she thought, 'Wait a minute. The black haired girl just called me by my name. How did she know my name? And she talking to me is not acting like a usual young child. Which confirms they are probably older than they look. And from what clothing they have one, they were likely male, before they took a dip in that pool. Just like me. Though, I best ask the more obvious question, first.'
Garcia asked, “How did you know my name?”
Lee answered, “It is literally a long story.” Lee noted Garibaldi mildly groan beside, to her right side, as she continued, “But, long story short. I know who are you. You are Garcia Lovelace. You are here because you were trying to help your friends fight Chang.”
“The good news is that we are from your future. And we know that things will work out on their own, without your involvement. You just need to focus on getting back home. Fabiola and Roberta will both return to you, soon after you get home. With both of them being fine.”
Garcia felt relief, as she responded, “That is nice to know.” She mentally admitted to herself, 'That is one less problem to deal with. And I really didn't have of a plan at this point. It was sort of jump feet first, without looking. And now, due to that, I am a girl. Though, I doubt I have much to worry about, concerning this. Still, there is one thing I need to know.'
Garcia stated, “Okay. So, in the end, who solves this mess, and stops Chang?”
Lee flatly answered, “Rock.”
Garcia stated, “Well, as scummy as his tactics can be, if anyone could stop Chang, it would be Rock.' She thought, 'I just hope this time, that no one ends up shot, like me. Or, maimed like Roberta. Due to Rock's plans. And not to confirm my suspicions about these two people in front of me.'
Garcia inquired, “So, who are you two, little girls? And what are you doing out here?”
Garibaldi calmly answered, “Like you, we are cursed. As you can guess. Since we saved your life. We got cursed dragging you out of the spring of drowned girl. We are actually much older men.”
Garcia thought, 'That confirms that. And I might as well apologize about that.' She said, in a sincere tone of voice, “Oh... Sorry about that. I did not plan on landing here?”
Garibaldi thought, 'I don't want her to blame herself for this. It is not her fault. It is Lee's fault.' She replied, “It is okay. And I don't hold this against you.”
Lee paid attention to Garibaldi. She thought, 'Garibaldi is right. We need to make it clear that we believe her and this is not her fault. It is mine.'
Lee stated, “We believe you. And this is not your fault.” She mentally lamented, 'It is my fault. Not that I am going to tell you that, just yet. But, saving your ass should get me either part way, or all of the way out of the doghouse, with your maids. Though, I will have to still work at getting out of the doghouse with you. Though, I am sure I can, with time and effort. Now, to explain the situation to you, Garcia. Without me actually confessing to anything.'
Lee continued, “We both were forewarned of the dangers, and we still jump into the cursed spring to save your life. And it seems that curse has a rubber band effect. In that older men, and I guess women, are turned into younger girls. While teenagers, such as yourself, are about the same age in both gender forms.”
Garcia agreed, “From looking at you two, right now. That is what I would guess, as well. So, who are you?”
Garibaldi introduced herself, “I am Michael Garibaldi.”
Garcia responded, “The only Michael Garibaldi I know of is Michael Garibaldi of the Babylon Five series.”
Garibaldi shrugged, as she casually commented, “That would me. Michael Garibaldi, CEO of Edgars Industries.”
Garcia thought, 'She must be from right after the series ended.' She said, in a slightly excited tone of voice, “Oh... Wow. I am a big fan of yours, Mister Garibaldi. I am Garcia Lovelace.”
Garibaldi calmly replied, “Nice to meet you, Garcia.” She mentally added, 'And I think we will deal with the whole fictional series issues, in a minute.'
Lee casually stated, “Yes. Garibaldi is from the distant future, of that reality, from when you are thinking of. And I am, Lee. You would not have never heard of me. Yet.” She mentally added, 'Which is a good thing for everyone involved.'
Garibaldi mentally noted, 'So, Lee is now calling me, Garibaldi, instead of Mister Garibaldi. I wonder how much of the manners he displayed back on Mars, was just a front to save his own hide. Still, he did save us, so I guess that is the important part that counts.'
Garcia said, “Nice to meet you, Lee.” She thought, 'I have a feeling that she is tied up in this mess. Somehow. Someway. Still, I can get the full story from Garibaldi, later. I trust Garibaldi. He, or currently, she, is not a liar. And she prefers to do things on the level.'
Lee thought, 'Now, to find out how Garcia got here?' She inquired, “Though, we are from your future, I hope you do mind telling us how you ended up here? Because, we don't know that part.”
Garcia shrugged, as she said, “It's a long story.”
Garibaldi chuckled a little, from Garcia's comment, as she thought, 'More than you know.'
Lee cracked a smile, as she suggested, “Same here. But, we are not going anywhere, anytime soon. So, let us compare notes.”
Garcia responded, “Okay. Fair enough. A few weeks after I sent Fabiola to bring back Roberta, from Roanapur, I had not heard word from Fabiola since she left. And I began to go worried...”
Lee thought, 'If I remember correctly, that would be a few weeks after Rock, Fabiola, Megatron, and Annie, escaped from Chang's Tower.'
Garcia continued, “And considering my two bodyguards, and close friends, had failed, I decided that directly contacting Chang would be a bad idea.”
Lee agreed, “And it would have been.”
Garcia sarcastically thought, 'Thanks for the vote of confidence.' She said, “So, I started doing some research on what had happened, and what as currently going on, in Roanapur. And what I found startled me. It seemed that whatever was happening there, was causing people to flee the city, like rats leaving a sinking ship. And that Chang was in the middle of that mess.”
Lee thought, 'That would be correct.'
Garcia went onto say, “Fortunately, due to so many fleeing people, this allow me all me to some information, piecemeal, from those people. Though, third party contacts. Unfortunately, I was unable to confirm any of this information, because I was unable to reach my contacts in Roanapur.”
Lee inquired, “Lagoon company?”
Garcia answered, “Yes. I found that the phone number to Lagoon Company was disconnected.”
Lee said, “They got captured. But, Rock soon escaped. And in the end, things turned out okay for them.”
Nearby, Lee and Garcia noticed Garibaldi snorting at Lee's comment.
Garibaldi thought, 'That would be a twisted concept of using the term, okay. Given Rock, Dutch, and Benny, ended up being turned into women. But, they along with Revy, and Janet, did ended up rich and they started a family. With no real problems afterward. Except for not catching you, Lee. So, I guess they would be, okay. To quote Obiwan, from the Star Wars movies. From a curtain point of voice.'
Garcia thought, 'Given Garibaldi's reaction to Lee's previous comment, I feel that Lee is not telling the whole truth. But, that will be another thing I ask Garibaldi about it, later.'
Garcia responded, “I guess that makes sense. Chang did show an interest in them. Now, back to my story. When it came to my own adventure. My first big breaks came in a small package, and a name.”
“It seems that before things started take a turn for the weird in that city of sin, someone in Roanapur was selling a special type of weapon, by the dozens, on the streets of that city. I soon got my hands one of those weapons. I believe it was Chang whom was behind the selling of these devices. I have no prove. But, it would be Chang's style. And he would be one of the few people there that could do so, and pull it off, without getting caught.”
“And I acquired the weapon from a person who sold it to me. That person had come from Roanapur, all the way to my home, three weeks after Fabiola left.”
“The man had heard of me, and how my maids liked to use unusual and powerful weaponry. And he believed he could me a quick buck. He told me the reason he was able to get it pass customs, was that the customs officials did not look for such types of weapons. Then, he showed me what it was. It was a metal cylinder. It did not seem like much, until he ignited.”
Lee calmly guessed, “A lightsaber?”
Garibaldi looked over at Lee, as she asked, in a serious tone of voice, “Chang had access to lightsabers?”
Lee looked Garibaldi, as she smirked, as she commented, “And Star Destroyers... Let's just say that Chang took piracy to a whole new level.”
Garibaldi thought, with concern, 'If Chang has access to all that. That means that Lee did not tell me everything. And I have got to read Lee stories, as soon as possible. If for any other reason, than for the safety of my own home reality.'
Meanwhile, Garcia thought, 'Star Destroyers, also?... Okay. It is clear that Lee is connected to this mess. And if I play my cards right, I can find out more about her, and how she fits into this mess. Also, she confirms that Chang was the one behind the selling of these lightsabers.'
Lee and Garibaldi then turned to Garcia. Garcia noticed this, as she stated, “Yes. It was a lightsaber. And its blue blade was quite a sight to behold, in person. The man in question even showed me that it was real. By him using it to cut through large stone, behind my home. The man then showed me how to turn it off and on. Finally, he offered to sell it to me, at a hefty price. I gladly paid the price for it. In gold. And the man then left.”
Lee asked, “What did you do with your lightsaber?”
Garcia answered, “It is in a hidden safe, inside my home.”
Lee complimented, “It is intelligent that you did not take the lightsaber with you. Those weapons are vastly more dangerous than guns. Especially, for those not trained to use them. They can just as easily slice through the wielder, as the intended target of the wielder.”
Garcia said, “I realized that when I saw it cut through stone.”
Lee thought, 'I wonder.' She questioned, “Did Roberta ever teach you how to use a gun?”
Garcia answered, “Yes. She also taught me proper gun safety, and maintenance on weapons. She even taught me how to use a knife in combat, along with some hand to hand techniques. I just prefer not to use a weapon. And I do not care for violence.”
Lee thought, 'That makes sense. I mean, sure. Having Fabiola as a secondary bodyguard is nice. But, also knowing that, if need be, Garcia could defend himself, would likely put Roberta's mind at ease. And while I am not planning on fighting her. For several good reasons.'
'This also means I should not get into a fight with her. Especially, given her physical advantages in size and strength. Also, I am not use to this much small, physically weaker body. Putting me at a disadvantage. The only advantage I still have in a fight, is that I can sense my precognition still working. And that is not one hundred percent fool proof.'
'Still, I need to keep this conversation moving. While I compliment Garcia's prefer approach in her tactics.'
Lee complimented, “There is nothing wrong with that. Guile can get you are far as a gun. If not further. If you know what you are doing.”
Garibaldi chuckled a little, as she commented, “Yea. Lee here would know that.” She thought, 'And that would be an understatement for you, Lee.'
Lee turned to Garibaldi and frowned. She thought, with a bit of sarcasm, 'Thanks for blowing one of my few remaining advantages in this situation.'
Garibaldi noticed that, as she turned and smirked towards Lee. She thought, 'I am not going to let you play your girls with a nice person, like Garcia.'
The two younger girls then turned back to look at Garcia.
Garcia watched all this, as she thought, 'Interesting. So, this girl understands the art of guile, as Rock and I do. Garibaldi even confirms that. And from Lee's reaction to Garibaldi. It is clear that Lee did not want me to know this about herself. This means Lee might try to use me for her own ends. I will have to be wary of her. But, I need to continue with my story, before she grows suspicious of me.'
Garcia stated, “Thank you. And continuing my story. I must say. It is something else to hold such a weapon in my hands, that I suspect came from a fictional reality. But, there was no other explanation. From Roberta, I had contacts with weapons experts. And all of them stated that they knew of no such weapons existing on my world. And even if it was a top secret weapon, why would someone, of all places, be selling them in Roanapur, to people off the street. It did not make sense, unless that person was just doing that as a very twisted joke.”
“And we all know how twisted Chang's humor can be.”
Lee commented, “I know.” She thought, 'First hand.'
Garibaldi said, “You are preaching to the choir.”
Garcia thought, 'So, both of them know about Chang's personality, as well. Interesting.'
Garcia cracked a smile, as she went onto say, “And with that impossibility in my hands, I started to put the pieces together. But, that was only one piece of the puzzle, that I had gotten my hands on.”
Garibaldi guessed, “The name you spoke of?”
Garcia cracked a grin, as she said, “Yes. It seems that that a month after my friends and I left Roanapur, for a second time, a person showed up in Roanapur. The person's name was Akira Hatsushiba. The interesting rumor I heard was that the person changed genders with a sneeze. From a black haired japanese man, to a blond haired caucasian woman. And that was not all. She had somehow got mixed with with Lagoon company, and the mercenaries that Revy hired to help me, during the second time I can to Roanapur.”
Lee confirmed, “That is pretty much all true.”
Garcia thought, 'Lee, you clearly know a lot about this. Though, I do not know if you are unknowingly tipping your hand. Or, if you have an ulterior motive. Either way, I will find out the truth, from Garibaldi, later. In private.'
Garcia said, “Interesting. And with my new lightsaber, on a hunch, I did a search online, for the name, Akira Hatsushiba. And I found a fiction manga titled, Gacha Gacha Secret. The manga is about a japanese teenager, with black hair, that changed from a boy, to a slightly younger girl, caucasian with long hair, due to a technological accident. Though, the manga was in black and white. So, I was not sure the girl has blond hair, or not. But, it was close enough to lead me to believe the Akiras were one in the same.”
Lee thought, 'You have always been an intelligent person, Garcia.' She stated, “They are the same, Akira. Only, Akira was an adult when he came to Roanapur. Long after Akira's series ended.”
Garcia thought, 'Interesting. And I wonder if my theory is correct, on who opened Chang's eyes to the great realities around us? And if you are being so open about this, Lee. I might as well just directly ask you my questions.'
Garcia inquired, “I am correct in assuming that Akira's presence tipped off Chang as to the existence of multiverse?”
Lee answered, “Yes.”
Garcia stated, “That explains a lot. That this is what set Chang on his course to figuring out how to travel between realities in the multiverse.”
Lee replied, “Correct.”
Garcia said, “And I came to that conclusion, as well. While I was still doing my research on Chang. And with that piece of the puzzle in place. I did some research on the gender bending genre, and various fictional series. To see if there were anymore clues to the situation. I learned about the Ranma Half series. Both the anime, and manga. Along with a few other series. But, given where we are, I believe that I delved a little too deeply in my research.”
Lee casually replied, “That happens to the best of us.”
Garibaldi thought, 'Isn't that an understatement, for all three of us.'
Garcia said, “Well, since the rumors are true. I guess it is true that when Akira first came to town, he lived mostly as a man, only to later start living as a woman.”
Garibaldi turned to Lee, as she asked, “Is that going to happen to us?”
Lee turned to Garibaldi, as she answered, “Not unless you want it to.”
Lee then looked between Garibaldi and Garcia, as she continued, “Don't worry about it. You both are very well grounded, sane individuals. You are not going to start to want to live as girls. So relax. Besides, Akira was never that sane to being with. And when Revy, Shenhua, and Sawyer, got their hands on him. They took Akira to places, and had Akira experience things that are best left unsaid.”
Lee thought, 'Even I did not write some of those scenes. I wrote before and after. But, not the scenes themselves.'
Garibaldi commented, “I will take your work for that.” She thought, 'Lee, truly does have a twist imagination. And I will find and read her stories, as soon as possible.'
Garcia thought, 'It sounds like Lee has a hand in these matters. I need to find out how she is tied up in all this.' She replied, “Okay.”
Lee went on to say, “Anyway, beforehand, Akira had experience living as a girl, part time. So, living as a girl most of the time was not that big a stretch, for her. You two, on the other hand, like being male. And I doubt either of you will start living as girls just because you turn female with splashed with cold water.”
Garibaldi thought, 'Lee has a point. And I might as well be polite to her on the matter.' She said, in a warm tone of voice, “Thanks. I really needed to hear that.”
Garcia replied, “Same here.”
Garcia thought, 'That is actually comforting to know. And from what I read of the Gotcha Gotcha manga. Lee is correct about Akira. Finding a spanish translation of that manga was difficult. Though, I am glad I found copies of those manga volumes, translated into english, online.'
Lee responded, “No problem. Besides, Akira lived in Roanapur for a while. That place will play with a person's head.” She thought, 'Even with those that just write about that city.'
Garcia agreed, “Yea. That place could corrupt a saint.”
Lee requested, “No arguments there. Now Garcia. Please continue your story.”
Garibaldi and Lee then turned to Garcia, as the blond teenage girl continued her story, as she said, “Now, as Lee confirmed. From what I learned, Akira was stuck in Roanapur for a few years. And she lived there, until one day, a few years after she first arrived there, she disappeared.”
Lee said, “She went back home.”
Garcia replied, “I thought as much. With that piece of information, I decided I need to see what was happening to Roanapur. While, I did not dare go there, I hired a captain of a Thai fishing boat, sailing in the Gulf of Thailand. On the east coast of that nation. To take some pictures of Roanapur, from a distance. A few days later, he made port, and he sent me the negative of those pictures, via two-day mail service.”
“When, I got the negatives, in the mail, back home. I had them developed by someone I trusted. When I saw the enlarged photos I had made, of those negatives, I quickly noticed why nearly everyone fled that city. Chang had built a blue circular pyramid, with a base that was the size of a small city. It was nearly the size of Roanapur, itself. And the structure was high enough to break through the clouds. It was known only, by the locals, as, the Tower. Or, Chang's Tower.”
Garibaldi realized what Chang's Tower was, as she questioned, in slight shock, “Chang build his own Genom Tower? Where did he find the funds for that kind of operation?”
Lee turned to Garibaldi, as she stated, “I told you that Chang to piracy to a whole different level. He and his allies plundered the multiverse for riches. From there, all it takes is time, effort, and know how.” She then turned to look at Garcia, as she said, in a slightly calmer tone of voice, “Now, please let Garcia continued.”
Garibaldi thought, 'I am really going to have to read Lee's stories. A lot clearly happens in them. Also, that explains why the Knight Sabers are after Lee.'
Garcia thought, 'Given everything else Lee knows. I am not surprised that Lee know this, as well.'
Garcia stated, “You are correct. It took me a while to backtrack to what the tower was. And original origin of the tower. But, given the size and shape, it was the same as Genom Tower, from the Bubblegum Crisis OVA. It was then, I realized that Chang likely had tech from not only the Star Wars reality, but the Bubblegum Crisis OVA reality. And after reviewing the Bubblegum Crisis OVA series, I realized how dangerous Chang had become, due to having access to such technology. Such as boomers, hardsuits, and motoslaves.”
Garcia thought, 'And if we are lucky, that is all what Chang had access to in that reality.'
Garcia continued, “As such. This confirmed my earlier belief that I should not confront Chang directly. Though, I am not really sure how Chang kept that his headquarters off the news for so long. Nor, how he kept the various governments at bay.”
Lee stated, “At that time, Chang gained a lot of wealth, combined with some blackmail, with the right connections, can go a long way in keeping things off the news, and keeping the various governments from knocking on Chang's own door.”
Garcia thought, with concern, 'More and more information from you, Lee. Either Lee worked with Chang. Or, she is somehow deeply connected to Chang's operation, in another way. Either way, she is dangerous, and not to be trusted. Though, I am getting a lot of information from her. While, she clearly already knows most of the information I am giving her.'
Garcia said, “I will take your word on that. Still, that left me with a problem. I could not confront Chang directly. Yet, I could not go around him. Then, a few days, after I received the negatives in the mail. Nearly, four weeks after Fabiola left. I had some unexpected guests show up at my home.”
“I was sitting at a table, having lunch on the patio, when three men, in white lab coats suddenly appeared in front of me.”
“I was alarmed by their presence, until they quickly stated, in english, that they were not there to harm me. They said that we could help each other.”
“I gave them the benefit of the doubt. And I am glad that I did so. They told me that they were part of the large group of researchers and technicians that were hired by Chang, to do research and development on multiverse travel. That Chang has started to institute a policy that would have enslaved them to him. And they use their skills to fake their deaths in a lab explosion, with their prototype reality jumping machine they were working on.”
“One that did not use a portal, and instantly sent someone to another reality.”
Lee thought, 'That is probably one of the prototypes that is a technological bridge between the large portal systems, and the remote sized reality devices. Similar to Megatron and the Hell Saber's teleport devices.'
Garcia continued, “And instead, their machine teleported them to me. Right before they set their lab to explode.”
“I asked them, that even with the explosion, how they planned to fool Chang, into thinking they were death?”
“They answered that they expected that the report on the lab explosion would determine that the reason for lack of body parts after the event, was while being kill in the explosion, they were teleported to another part of the multiverse.”
“And Chang would not have expected them of just teleporting to the other side of the planet.”
“And given the length of the time they were with me, I believe their ruse worked. Because Chang did not sent anyone to come look for them, nor attacking my home.”
Lee thought, 'That is good. And it sounds like those technicians faked their deaths, and escaped, before Chang had all his technicians brainwashed and changed into women, so they would be loyal to him. Well, her, at the time. I believe that fits the timeline of book two of my stories.'
Garcia went onto say, “Then, they told me what was going on in that horror show of a tower. They confirmed my worries to their fullest... And beyond... They told me about the kidnappings. The vats. The brainwashing. The super-soldier serum, which I am guessing that Roberta has been given?”
Lee thought, “So, you know all this. Since that is the case. There is no point in denying, nor sugar coating was Chang had done. And by extension, what I have done. Though, I am not going to confess my crimes to you, yet.' She stated, “Yes. She is going to be young and healthy for a very long time.”
Garcia said, “I will consider that a silver lining in this whole nightmare. Still, worst of all, was when the technicians mentioned the breeding projects.”
Garcia and Lee then noticed Garibaldi flinch at the mention of the breeding project.
Garcia thought, 'I would bet that is why you came here, in the first place. You were running from Chang's forces. And this would be one of the few places I can think of that someone would have to be insane to follow you too. Still, on the matter of Chang...'
Garcia inquired, in a concerned, slightly bewildered tone of voice, “How could Chang be so evil? I met the man once. He didn't seem that evil. Evil. Yes. But, not that evil.”
Lee answered, “It was more of a case that Chang was on evil fanboy powertrip.”
Garcia responded, in a depressed tone of voice, “Oh... Sadly, I can see that when it comes to Chang.”
Garibaldi thought, 'Sadly, so can I. It is canon that Chang was an evil fanboy, in the Black Lagoon series. He just did it with style. And giving him access to the multiverse, as his personal playground, would be like sending a dust fiend on a permanent high. It would be bad trip for everyone involved.'
'And while it is clear that Lee know regrets her actions. I wonder if Lee was on a powertrip of her own, when she wrote those parts of her stories?... I think that is very likely. Considering, while she hides it well. She can be very arrogant. Such as, when we were on Mars. When she talked to Rock on the phone. The way she talked to Rock on the phone, in my office. Before we are attacked by the boomers, that were after me. She acted like she was in complete control of the situation. Which she later learned she was not.'
'I believe she still thinks she is in control of this situation. With her given out information, in small portions, in an attempt to control Garcia's actions. But, I can tell, by Garcia's responses, and reactions, that Garcia is not falling for it. I will talk to Garcia later, in private, over the matter. And we will decide what to do with Lee, then.'
Garcia went onto say, “Also, these three men were very forthcoming with me, on other matters that I wished to learn. And in doing so, they showed a lot of trust towards me.”
“Included in what they told me, they informed me as to what happened to my friends. To my relief, they stated that neither of my maids were part of the breeding projects. And that while Roberta worked for Chang, Fabiola was on the run from them, somewhere in the multiverse.”
“Then, they said they believed I would help them. And they were correct. And though, they did not tell me how they knew about me, to the point of them trusting me as much as they did. To a point that was far beyond just would they should have done from reading reports, and hearing rumors about me, that likely circulated around Roanapur. And I have a feeling that you both have this answer to this question.”
Garibaldi said, “Yes. And we will get to that information in a minute.”
Lee agreed, “Yes. We will.”
Garcia responded, “Thank you. Anyway, they made me an offer. I would hide them, in exchange for their help. This included what they told me. And them building me a reality traveling device. I agreed to their deal, due to the fact I wanted to help save Fabiola, and free Roberta.”
“But, now that I know it all worked out on its own, I now realize my actions were all in folly. And I was on a fool's errand.”
Lee kindly said, “It is the thought that counts.”
Garibaldi smiled at Lee using what she has said to Lee, earlier, to help Garica.
Garcia responded, “I hope so. And so, I gave them funding to building a multiverse device. I set them up in a house, near my home. Due to limited funds, and lack of resources, they could not create a portal system. Though, they were able to build me a teleporter device, like the one they used to escape the tower from.”
“And what surprised me was that it only took them only a week to build. They stated they had been building such technological devices for so long that it was second nature to them.”
Lee thought, 'When skills reach that level, people can do amazing things, very quickly. And when Garcia here gets back, those three will likely be working for him in some other capacity One does not get rid of such helpful people.'
Garcia continued, “But, there was a catch. They warned me that it was a one way trip. They could send me anywhere I wanted to go. But, they could not bring me back. So, I had to wisely chose, beforehand, where I wanted to go. Still, I was sure I would be able to make it through.”
Lee thought, 'So, the device really was similar to Megatron, and Hell Saber's teleport devices. Only, the traveler could not take the device with him, or her.'
Garibaldi mentioned, “Don't worry. We have a reality device that can take us any place, time, and reality, we want to go.”
Lee rolled her eyes, as she thought, 'I will let that one slide. Because I was going to tell her, anyway.' She looked back at Garcia and Garibaldi, as she thought, 'Still, Garibaldi did not tell Garcia where our reality device is. So, there is that.'
Garcia said, “Thank you, again. That is reassuring. And as I thought, I would not be stuck here. Speaking of which, the technicians informed me of the way reality worked. Just think of the reality, time, and place, you want to go, and the use the device.”
Garibaldi smiled as she thought, 'So, that is how to use Lee's reality device.'
Lee saw Garibaldi smile. She did not show any reaction to her friend's smile, as she thought, 'I guess the cat is out of the bag on that one. There is not much I can do about it now. Considering I am not planning on ditched either of these two people. Because, that would only make things worse for me, in the long run.'
Garcia stated, “Also, there was another problem. Due to this being a prototype, while the technicians promised me it would get me to when and where. I wanted to go. The technicians said that they could not guarantee that I would teleport at ground level. That I might appear several feet above my intended location, and fall to the ground. So, they suggested that wherever I think of, that I should focus being over a pool of water. But, not a large body of water, because I might wind up in middle of an ocean. So, that is what I did. I thought of a pool of water to be teleported over.”
“And that is why I traveled light. So, when I hit water, I would not be weighted down. So, I would not immediately sink. I just didn't guess landing in water, at a height that be so painful, and knock me out. Though, I am happy I missed those bamboo stalks.”
Lee commented, “Yes. Count yourself lucky. And anything above ten feet, if you land wrong, you are going to feel it. And, considering you landed, while facing down, it seems you likely did a partial belly flop, which knocking yourself out on landing. But, you appear otherwise unharmed.”
Garcia said, “And I am happy about that. So, when I used the teleporter device, I stepped to the teleporter pad, thought of where, when, and what reality I wanted to go to, and activated the device.”
“Next thing I know. I am over four meters above a pool of water, looking down at the water coming out me. And when I hit, I blacked out. When I woke up, here, on the ground, I found I had been changed into a girl. Then, I sat up, and saw you two had approached me. Then, we are here.”
“But, what I don't understand, is how did I ended up here? I was focusing on my one major lead in the multiverse. Akira. Whom, from what I gathered from his manga. Which I read a complete, english translated version of, was a nice, understanding person. Along with him being reported to be friends with Lagoon company. And I believed she would likely help me. And with Akira's aid, given his access to reality travel. I would not be stuck in his home reality, for long.”
Lee stated, “You would be correct. She and her friends, from her home reality, helped Rock take down Chang, and his organization.”
Garcia thought, 'Lee, you keep referring to Akira, as female. Though, in both the manga, and in Roanapur, Akira lived as both male and female. And Akira was born male. It sounds like you personally know Akira. But, I will deal with that matter, later. Besides, I have other questions, for you.'
Garcia responded, in a slightly confused tone of voice, “Okay. That being said. These is still the matter of that fact that I was thinking of going to Akira's home reality. Not the Ranma Half reality. So, how did Akira wind up in the Ranma Half reality?”
Lee explained, “The Akira you were thinking of existed in a composite reality of a number of other series. Including, the Ranma Half series.”
Garcia responded, “Oh... That explains how I ended up in this reality. But, not how I ended up in Jusenkyo, itself? Over the spring of drowned girl?” She thought, 'Though, I think it best I not ask her how she knows that this reality is a composite reality?... Just another question for Garibaldi.'
Lee stated, “When you visualized where you wanted to go, you thought of a pool of water, and you must have accidentally also been thinking about gender bending aspects of Akira character. And so, when you entered this reality where Jusenkyo existed, you ended up landing in the spring of drowned girl. Also, you are in the past, because in some part of your subconscious, you were thinking about going into past, as some point in time, of your personal future.”
Lee mentally reflected, 'And I had something similar happen to me, as well. Right now. When I used my reality device, to take Garibaldi and I here, in Jusenkyo of the recent past. I must have subconsciously thinking of you, Garcia. And how I cursed you. Also, that is not surprising, give that had happened to a few of the characters in my stories. Though, I make sure to think of landing on dry land, less than an inch off the ground.'
Garcia commented, “I guess that makes sense. And you are right. I was also thinking that maybe later, I would go into the past, to save both my parents. Among fixing a few other things.”
Lee thought, with a bit of sadness, 'I better just tell Garcia the bad news now. Before she learns the truth, the hard way.'
Lee stated, in a sober tone of voice, “As much as I like to say that would be okay. You cannot do that without risk of creating a reality destroying paradox. Though, take heart that there is life after death. And your parents are together. And reincarnation exists in your reality. So, either way, you will likely be re-united with your parents, eventually.”
Garcia thought, 'I doubt Lee would lie about this. It is too depressing for her to lie about this.' She choked back some tears, as she said, in a sad tone of voice, “I will do as you request. And I guess I can live with the fact I will someday see them, again. One way, or another.”
Meanwhile, Garibaldi thought, 'Well, that is a sad thing to say. But, I believe that Lee was only being honest. Considering, I am guessing she wrote the rules, from her stories, on those matters. And I have a feeling that she used that reincarnation rule already. With her likely creating that as an escape clause for anyone that was killed. So, she could to bring them back to life with little effort. I wonder if I have seen any such people? Still, I think we need to tell Garcia about the Black Lagoon series.'
Garibaldi turned to Lee, as she said, “As much as I would prefer not to mention this. We have to tell, Garcia, about her series.”
Lee looked at Garibaldi. She sighed. She then stated, in a slightly depressed tone of voice, “You're right. Do you want to handle giving her the news?”
Garibaldi said, “Yes.” She thought, 'I might as well. You have told her almost everything else.'
Lee replied, “Okay.”
Garcia asked, “What do you two want to tell me, that is so important?”
The two younger girls looked at Garcia.
Garibaldi said, in a calm, sober tone of voice, “I don't know how to put this. But, you know how you know me from that Babylon Five series?”
Garcia calmly replied, “Yes.” She mentally added, with worry, 'I don't like where there is going.'
Garibaldi said, “Well, you are from a reality that is a work of fiction to us. It is titled, Black Lagoon.”
Garcia thought, 'I can just guess what that series is about. Considering, I know of a boat called, Lagoon.' She requested, in a slightly sad tone of voice, “Please, explain.”
Garibaldi then found herself at a loss for words, as she thought, 'Now, that I think about it. I am honestly not sure how to explain this to Garcia, without doing some emotional damage to her. Which I don't want to do, under any circumstances. I best turn to Lee for help. Though, I don't trust her. She clearly has a handle on such matters.'
Garibaldi turned to Lee.
Lee noticed Garibaldi looking at her. She turned to look at Garibaldi, as she offered, “I will take over from here.”
Garibaldi replied, “Okay.” She thought, 'On second thought. I might as well. Considering Lee has done such a good job, so far.'
The two little girls looked back at towards Garcia.
Lee calmly stated, “Well, Garcia. As you probably have guessed. The series centers around Lagoon company and Roanapur, Thailand. There is both a manga and a anime series. Both series begin the same way. Rock is kidnapped by Lagoon company. And it goes all the way to where you and Fabiola bring Roberta back to your home, for a second time, in Venezuela. After your run through the jungle, with Major Caxton, and his men.” She mentally added, 'I will just omit that the manga continued from there, with the Wired Red Wild Card. Considering that storyline does not happen in Garcia's home reality. And has not direct bearing on her life.'
Garcia looked down at Lee and Garibaldi's faces, as she let out a deep breath, while sighing. She then said, “Given what I have already learned. I am not really that surprised. Still, I need to know, what is the difference between the manga and anime? And which one am I from? Or, is it a compose of both series, like this reality?”
Lee complimented, “Good questions. And to answer you, you are from the anime reality. The main difference between the manga and anime is that way Roberta was left at the end. In the manga, she was not that severely injured physically, while in the anime... Well, you already know how badly she was injured. And in both versions, Roberta had mental scarring from her ordeal.”
Garcia sadly admitted, “Yes. I know. That is why I made my deal with Chang, in the first place. He promised to help Roberta.”
Lee said, “I know. And it is a good choice that will reward you and your family, ten fold. And the good news is that Chang kept his promise. Among other things, in his brainwashing, he mentally repaired some of Roberta's mental scarring. And her missing body parts have been replaced. Though, they are now robotic looking. But, I know for a fact she later replaces those parts with more human looking components.”
Lee thought, with pride, and a bit of righteous indignation, 'While the maids are after me. My comments here are for Garcia's benefit. Not my own.'
Garcia retorted, “I could care less what she looks like on the outside.” She mentally added, 'I am more worried about how her mind is. And I know the other servants of the manor will just be happy to have Roberta and Fabiola return home.'
Lee calmly complimented, “I know. And that is what makes you are a good person.”
Garcia responded, “Thank you. And I need to know. When Fabiola and Roberta return, will they be like they were before they left? Do I have to worry about Roberta being brainwashed.”
Lee answered, “Roberta will be deprogrammed by the time you see her again. And her personality will be back to the way she was before your father was murdered. And Fabiola will be a bit more mature. And I know for a fact they feel the same way about you. In that they don't care how you look on the outside. They care about what is on the inside. They will still care about you.”
Garcia said, “Thank you. I find that news, comforting.” She thought, 'Curse, or no curse. At least I know we will continue on with our lives. And as much as I want to cure this curse, right now. I know better than to stay around this place. It is just too dangerous.'
'I fear mixing curses, or getting an animal curse, or personality curse, than being a girl. At least, I am in control of myself in this form. And I am human. That is a plus in anyone's book.'
'Besides, if Roberta and Fabiola can deal with being a girl. So can I. And at least my breasts are still small enough that they are not being pinched by my shirt. Though, they are still a noticeable in size.'
'Though, I do need to know how much they know about us. Which, from what Lee has hinted, is a lot.'
Lee sincerely replied, “You're welcome.”
Garcia inquired, in a concerned tone of voice, “So... I also need to know. How much do you know about me, at a personal level?”
Lee thought, 'I might as well honestly answer her question. Besides, I am coming to enjoy summations.' She answered, in a kind, thought slightly arrogant tone of voice, “I know a lot about you, Garcia. And you probably won't like what I have to say.”
Garibaldi stated, “That would be an understatement.” She mentally reflected, 'Considering Lee, that you have been able to be one step ahead of everyone, throughout your entire ordeal. Though, eventually you will make a mistake, and miscalculate. And in this game, you can win a thousand victories. But still, all it takes is one defeat for you to permanently lose. And I just think you made that mistake and miscalculation with Garcia and I.'
Garcia thought, 'If Garibaldi is agreeing with Lee, then Lee must be telling the truth. And I am starting to see that Lee is wearing a mask with us. But, I can tell there is much arrogance slipping out from underneath that mask. And it is clear that Lee likes to keep her secrets. But, her arrogance causes her to giveaway more than she would like for others to know. I can use that to my advantage. Now, to bait Lee, through his arrogance.' She skeptically questioned, “Okay. Like what?”
Lee casually said, “Well, such as in the past, when you returned to Roanapur. During your hunt for Roberta. When you finally found Major Shane Caxton, and his men, in that alley. You had a mind for murder and revenge then. And that is where you found that corpse in the trash can, whom was holding that pistol you took, and pulled on those men. I believe that deceased person was likely a Malaysian police officer.”
Garcia inquired, “While, I am sure you likely saw that event, from watching that series, I would like to know how you are so sure of the person's origins?”
Lee stated, “That is easy to answer. The pistols you used was a five round, Smith & Wesson, model thirty-six, thirty-eight caliber, Chief's Special, revolver.”
“These pistols were issued to plain clothed detectives belonging Royal Malaysian Police special branch, as intelligence, and the criminal investigation division. From the nineteen seventies, all the way to the turn of the millennium. When Malaysian government replaced the Chief's Special, with a Glock Seventeen. And the events that happened to you are dated in the middle of nineteen ninety-five, AD.”
Lee thought, 'Interesting. The long version of the Glock Seventeen is the model pistol that Eda used. Which is the Glock Seventeen L. Also, there were others side characters in Roanapur that used standard Glock Seventeen pistols. It is possible there were several other undercover agents in Roanapur, than the usual upper level suspects. That place may have actually be a having a small cold war with the various government powers. But, those are thoughts for another. I need to focus on the matter at hand.'
Garibaldi thought, 'So, this Garcia Lovelace is from the turn of the last millennium. Interesting. I know the Black Lagoon series was set in the nineteen nineties. But, I forgot exactly what year.'
Lee continued, “While a few other nations, such as Japan, Norway, and the U.S., used that pistol in the their police department. The Malaysians also issued those pistols to their intelligence officers. And Malaysia is not that far from Thailand.”
“The plain clothed Malaysian officer, whom was likely from the intelligence branch. Considering this happened outside his native country. Likely went Roanapur to investigate a case, there. Or, it could have been a drug, or other smuggling, deal gone bad. You never know, considering the people that go to the city.”
Garcia nodded in agreement, as she commented, “Yes. A city of fools. Most are brought to the city by greed. And whom are more than likely to be soon parted from both their own money, and their lives.”
Lee complimented, “You are quite the poet, Garcia.”
Garcia replied, “Thank you. I do enjoy writing poetry as a hobby.”
Lee replied, with intrigue in her tone of voice, “Interesting.” She thought, 'Oh the irony, considering I am a writer.'
Lee calmly said, “To continue. The officer literally wound up dead in a trash can, after likely fleeing a gunfight. We know this because if he body was dumped, they would have taken his gun. Instead his gun was still handing from his fingers. So, he likely fled those that shoot him, lost those people, before he succumbed to his wounds, and collapsed face forward into the trash case.”
“And it must have been only a couple of people, because there was ammo still in that gun, for you to use... On the other hand, the person have have reloaded, before he died. Which is just as likely...”
“Still, either way, with the trail of logic we have, we know the people after the officer did not find him because the model thirty-six is a nice pistol to have. And to some people, the pistol is a collector's item.”
Garibaldi thought, 'Yea. It would be a nice slugthrower to have.'
Lee went on to say, “And we know the man collapsed face forward, because the gun was hanging from the man's right fingers, with the interior or the right arm facing the inward, against the trash can. If the man had collapse backwards into the trash can, the arms would be outward if the victim had fallen backward.”
“And that is where you found him holding his pistol between his cold, dead fingers.'
Garibaldi thought, while she felt slightly impressed with Lee's deduction skills, 'That is some pretty good detective work by Lee. Not bad. Not bad at all.'
Lee continued, “Which is kind of ironic, considering you pointed that weapon at someone that was in intelligence work.”
Lee thought, 'Though, there were two other people in the Black Lagoon series that did use the Chief's specials. But, one was, Elroy, whom retired, and operated outside of Roanapur.'
'And the another person, whom was a citizen of Roanapur, that did have a Chief's Special revolver, was Torchy. Not Claude, but a drug junkie. And his mind was so wasted from the drugs he took that I highly doubt Garcia got his pistol from him. Because Torchy would have never made it out of a gunfight alive. Let alone escape to the point he still had his pistol in his fingers, before he died from his wounds.'
Garcia pointed out, “It could have been one of the punks that Revy and the others killed. Though, I do not really clearly remember them, myself.”
Lee though, 'Not a bad possibility. But, it is incorrect.' She explained, “Actually, it wasn't one of their weapons. First, the series showed some detailed scenes of those foolish punks. They were using shotguns, automatic rifles, semi-automatic pistols, and a few grenades. They would consider it beneath themselves to use a five round revolver... Which shows they did not have any taste in firearms...”
“And I call them foolish, because after the Lagoon siege debacle, they should have known better than to take freelance work, as a large assault force, in attacking a location.”
“Speaking of which, did Revy, Rock, or the others, ever mention that siege?”
Garcia answered, “Actually, I believe they did. But, it was a comment in passing. And I did not ask for details.”
Lee stated, “That siege is shown in your series as well. Several months before your return to Roanapur, an out of towner, from Florida, tried to pull...”
Then, something occurred to Lee. She looked down at her feet and the ground, as she muttered, “He to be a snow bird. Or, a son of snow birds. Or, an undercover fed. Considering he recognized Eda from a previous formal government function. A redneck, good old boy would know better than to try the crap he attempted to pull.”
Garcia questioned, “What are you saying? You're mumbling.”
Garibaldi thought, with interest, 'She really is. I think Lee hit her own emotional nerve. She is from the southeastern United States of that time period. And Florida is a state of that area. So, she found it annoying that someone from that area, did something foolish, even if that person, and those events happened in another reality.'
Lee caught herself. She looked up at the two other girls, as she answered, “Oh... Nothing...” She mentally berated, with concern, 'How could I be so foolish, and lose myself in my thoughts... Could this young form be effecting my mind. If so, I am in real trouble. Still. Though, I am in trouble, there is nothing I can do about it... I think it is best I ignore my previous actions, and just move forward. While not worrying about what I just did.'
Lee continued, “Anyway, this guy hired a bunch of freelancers to catch a woman. And Lagoon company got mixed up in the mess, and it turned into a seize against Revy, Rock, and a few others... Long story short, the three people that Revy hired were among the handful of known surviving members of the attacking team.” She mentally added, 'Though, I am sure a few of those that went into the water. Or, just missed the boat, beforehand. Likely survived, and they made it back to the shore, in Roanapur.'
Garcia commented, “No wonder she hired them. If they could survive her, they stood a good chance of surviving Roberta.”
Lee responded, with slight excitement in her voice, “Exactly. Second. That alleyway was littered with bodies. The alleyway you confronted that special forces team in, only had you, that team, and the corpse in the trashcan. Besides, the fight you are talking about, is the one where Revy, Shenhua, and Sawyer, were tearing into the punks, and FARC members. Where you and Fabiola ran from, and into another alleyway, where you two were ambushed by another FARC team. You then fled into the building, opposite from where you came, in that alleyway.”
“A few seconds later, Roberta made her way down a hallway, right beside the room you where hiding in. Roberta then walked up some stairs, and looked out the window, with her compact mirror, on the other side of the building, into an alleyway, where she saw the special forces team. That alleyway was opposite from where you came from. Because, no dead bodies were shown in those scenes.”
“You likely got turned around in the building that you fled into. And after what you experienced in that building, you were not thinking clearly for a little while after that. But, you and those cared for made it out alive. And that is the important part.”
Garcia admitted, “You are right. And I was a little spaced out there, for a while. But, I recovered fairly quickly. Though, with your explanation, I am wondering.” Garcia looked over at Garibaldi, as she asked, “Who is this girl? Sherlock Holmes' little sister?”
Lee lightly giggled, as she thought, “I will take that as a compliment.'
Garcia looked at both Garibaldi and Lee, as she thought, 'Clearly this girl, Lee, did not just watch the series I was in. She studied it. And her detective skills are on par with Sherlock Holmes. No wonder Michael Garibaldi is with her. She is likely the one that helped Garibaldi escape, from wherever they had come from. I need to know more about her, and I need to see my own series. Though, I am sure it will be emotionally painful for me to watch.'
Garibaldi looked up at Garcia's face. She shrugged her right shoulder, as she casually answered, “I am starting to wonder that, myself.”
Lee commented, “I just have a good eye for the details.”
Lee saw the two other girls look towards her, more intensely. Lee quickly realized that they were looking passed her. She inquired, in a matter of fact tone of voice, “Let me guess. Right behind me, there is a heavy set, middle-aged, chinese man, whom is wearing an olive drab Mao suit and pants, along with shoes, and a black newsboy cap, on his head, that has an upright yellow five pointed star on the front of it?”
Garibaldi complimented, “Damn. You're good.”
Meanwhile, Garcia stood up, in response to the presence of the stranger.
Lee cracked a smile, with her lips, as she responded, in a relaxed tone of voice, “Relax. It is just the Jusenkyo guide to these cursed springs. And please let me do the talking.” She thought, 'He likely heard Garibaldi's scream reverberate throughout the valley. And he has probably heard that type of scream enough times to know what it means.'
Garcia said, “Go ahead.”
Garibaldi stated, “Yes. Go ahead. Because I wouldn't know where to begin.”
Lee smile widened a bit, in response to the other two girls' statements. She thought, 'All too easy.'
Lee turned around. She saw the chinese man was six feet from her. She continued smiling, in a warm manner, as she said, in chinese, “Hello. First, we know of the springs, and how they work. The reason two of us are cursed is because we had to jump into the spring of drowned girl, to save the third.”
The guide responded, in chinese, “Let me guess. The blond?”
Lee inquired, “Yes. I am correct in assuming you have already guessed that I, and the younger girl with me are older men? And that older men and women that are cursed from the spring of drowned girl, physically become very young girls?”
The guide said, “Yes. Around six years old, to be exact.”
Lee thought, 'So, I was right. While the instant girl powder made me a girl in her late teens, this springs made me, and Garibaldi, around six years old.'
Lee then turned to looked at the Garibaldi, and Garcia, as she thought, 'Also, now that I get a better little look at Garcia, it appears that Garcia is around sixteen, or seventeen... Seventeen and a half... Maybe.'
'That makes sense timeline way. Garcia was between twelve to thirteen during the Black Lagoon series. So, a few years for book one to happen. And few years for book two to get started and going to the point that Roberta and Fabiola went on their adventure, and Garcia went on his adventure. Garcia is not eighteen yet, considering I mentioned his eightieth birthday, after he was cursed. And that is going to be a fun time for all three of them. That being Garcia, Roberta, and Fabiola.'
'And since she, as a he, was around that age, just like Ranma, the age in both her gender forms are parallel. That is both good and bad, depending on how one looks at it. Still, we are going to need this man's help, for the next part of my plan to work.'
Meanwhile, the guide noticed Lee's ring on her right forth finger, though he did not say anything on the matter.
Lee looked back over at the guide, as the guide looked back down at Lee's face. Lee stated, “We are going to need some help, and a guide. But, I do not believe we have much to trade.”
The guide said, “Not to worry. Half the fun of this job is meeting interesting people. Such as yourselves.”
Lee replied, “Thank you?” She mentally added, 'That makes since, considering the guide helped, or more aptly, will help Ranma and Genma. And Genma is the type of person that is just as likely to steal from someone, as pay them for a service.'
The guide stated, “Happy to assist.”
Lee inquired, “By the way, do you know english? Or, spanish?” She thought, 'I am sure he knows japanese, considering Genma and Ranma don't know a word of chinese. Which got them into their mess in the first place.'
The guide answered, “I know enough english to understand what is being told to me. And I can speak some of it. But, I do not know spanish.”
Lee replied, “Okay.”
Lee took a few steps to her right. She then turned to the others, to allow herself to see the three other individuals, at once. She answered, in english, “The guide will help us. Also, he knows enough english to understand you. But, he does not know spanish.”
Garcia said, “That will be fine.” She mentally added, 'And I do know chinese. And a few other languages. Besides spanish, and english. Not that I am going to let you know this, Lee. Though, I will let Garibaldi know, later.'
'And Lee, it is interesting that you have no way to pay the guide. Which is not surprising. Given you have been acting, it is likely you were planning to rely on Garibaldi, and his wealth... Well, her wealth, to see you through. Though, that seems not to be the case, right now.'
Garcia had her right hand, by her right side, across the right side pocket of his blue denim jacket, as she felt the items in that pocket, which she was checking for. She continued her thoughts, 'And at least I still have my gold coins. And my small pistol. Not that I am going to say anything about my coins, nor weapon, until I get to know you and Garibaldi a little better.'
Lee turned to Garibaldi, as she commented, “And Garibaldi, these forms are around six years old.”
Garibaldi looked over at Lee, as she responded, “I figured that out already.” She thought, 'Though, it is not to have that confirmed by an expert.'
The guide said, in slightly broken english, “Please, come to home. For help.”
The three girls turned back to look at the Jusenkyo guide.
Garibaldi said, “Okay.”
Garcia commented, “Just lead the way.”
Lee stated, in chinese, “I need a minute to gather my belongings.”
The Guide replied, in chinese, “No problem.”
Lee turned around. She then briskly walked away from the group, and over to her pile of clothing.
When Lee reached her piled of clothing, she kept her back facing the other three people there, to block their view of what she was doing.
Lee then took of her wet t-shirt and underwear. The three others were polite enough to overt their eyes.
Next, Lee put on the white, button up shirt. After she rolled up the long sleeves. She buttoned up the shirt, which when down to her knees.
After she finished with her shirt, she put on her pants She rolls up the leggings of the pants, to where they were right above her ankles.
Afterward, she buttoned the waist button, and zipped up her pants. But, she did not tuck in her shirt.
Lee's belt was still through the belt loops of the pants, around the pants waistline. She then pulled the belt tight around her waist, to measure her new, much smaller waist size. She then kept track of that place on her belt.
She reached down, and pulled out her knife, and notch a new hole at that place on her belt. She then sheathed her knife.
Lee then slid the belt through the belt buckle and pants loops, until she reached the other end, where the new notch was and buckled the belt there. Afterward, she looped the slack of the belt though the pants looked.
Next, Lee put on her socks, to protect her feet. But, she found that her shoes were way to big for her now much smaller feet. So, for the moment, she let her shoes be.
After that, She even checked and found that the wrist strap on her watch now to big for her hand. Though, Lee considered that a minor inconvenience.
Lee then gathered her items, including her wrist watch, reality device, and lighter. She put the items into the front pockets of her pants. She then tucked the sheath of her combat knife into the back of her pant, under her shirt. Which not go unnoticed by the others.
She then went over and picked up her wet t-shirt, and stuffed her shoes, and underwear into it.
She arranged the holes of her shirt, to where she gripped it by all four openings at once, with her right hand. The waist, neck, and both arm holes.
She then picked up her coat with he left hand.
She turned and briskly walked back to where Garcia, Garibaldi, and the guide were standing.
As she approached the three other individuals, Lee saw the other three people were looking at her.
When Lee reached them, she held out her coat, toward Garibaldi, as she calming stated, in english, “Here, Garibaldi. You need to get out your wet clothing. And this coat should be a good substitute.”
“Now, please take off your clothing, and put this on. It will go down to your knees. And I know without underwear, it will be a bit drafty. Especially, while dealing with different parts down there. But, it will go to down to your knees, and keep you very warm. So, that is a small matter.”
“And don't worry about modesty. The guide raised a daughter. Garcia is going to need to get use to seeing those body parts on her. And I could care less.”
“Also, hand me your clothes. I will put all of our wet clothing into my shirt. I will carry them. Because I don't want to left a trail behind us.”
The guide thought, 'So, this person knows I have a daughter. That is not surprising, given that is not a secret, for those that take the time to learn about these springs, and those that watch over the springs.'
Garcia thought, 'So, they are still worried about someone finding them. I wonder if it is my friends are after her. My friends could even be from the future, like them. With them more likely after Lee, for her connection to Chang and his Tower. With Garibaldi's somehow getting mixed up in this, by accident. That that would make sense. And not leaving anything behind, would be a proper precaution, from being tracked.'
'Though, if it is Roberta, then Lee is doomed. And given what she already admitted to know, she liked already realizes that.'
Lee turned to Garcia, as she said, “I apologize. But, I don't have any dry clothing left that could help you.”
Garcia turned to Lee, as she thought, 'I will give you credit, Lee. At least, you are being nice. And what you are doing for Garibaldi. And what you said to me. Is earning you a few points with me.
Garcia responded, in a kind tone of voice, “It is okay. It is the thought that counts.” She thought, 'And at least Lee is thoughtful enough to help Garibaldi.'
Garibaldi thought, 'She is right. And she is using Lee's words. Like Lee used my words. I need to get out of these wet clothes. And this was one of my favorite suits. Well, at least the upper half of my suit. Which no know longer fits, at the moment. But, neither does this coat. Though, at least the coat is dry.' She took the coat from Lee's left hand, and gently set it on the ground.
Lee, Garcia, and the guide, then politely overted their eyes, away from Garibaldi, as she quickly changed out of her wet clothing, and put on the coat. Though, she left her socks on to protect her feet from the ground.
She then picked up the coat, and put it on. Next, she rolled up the sleeves of the coat.
Garibaldi also took the hologram device that was loosely on the wrist she had on it, and she stuck into her pocket. She thought, 'I will keep this. I think might need it, later'
Next, Garibaldi buttoned up the coat, from the buttons on the bottom of the coat, that were in front of her her upper legs. Fortunately, the buttons allow the entire coat to enclose her body, from her chest, down to her knees.
Garibaldi was finished dressing, as much as she could, with her limited selection. She turned to the three other individuals. She calmly said, “You can look now.”
As the other three people turned to look at her, she bent down and picked up her wet clothing.
Lee realized what Garibaldi was doing, as she opened up the bottom of her wet shirt, to stuff those clothes into it, next her own belongings that were inside the shirt.
As soon as the two young girls were finished, Lee held her wet t-shirt closed completely close, again. Lee then turned to the guide, as she stated, in english, “I believe we are ready to go.”
The guide turned to Garcia and Garibaldi, whom both nodded in agreement, towards him.
The guide looked at all three girls, as he calmly stated, in english, “This way to my home.”
The guide then started calmly walking in a direction that was to the north of the cursed springs.
As Lee, Garibaldi, and Garcia, followed the guide, they soon noticed that the guide was walking on a path, that ran parallel with the magical pools of water, though the path was soon over a hundred feet from the pools. With them slowing going further from the pools, as they continued on their current path.
The three girls did not say anything, as they casually followed behind the Jusenkyo guide. They walked beside each other, while they kept a distance of about ten feet behind the guide.
Garcia was in the middle, with Garibaldi was to her left, and Lee to her right.
They then made the short journey to the Jusenkyo guide's home.
(_)
Ten minutes later, they reached the guide's home.
The three girls followed the guide to the front door to the guide's home.
While the home was not large, it was not too small, either.
The guide used a key and unlocked the door. The guide then opened the door, and walked in, the three girls followed inside, with Lee being last.
After Lee walked inside, she gently shut the door behind her.
Lee looked around, at the moderate sized room, with tables, chairs, shelves with books, and a couch. She thought, 'This must be his living room. While simple, it is clean, and well kept. Now, to deal with the immediate problems. Such, as this shirt filled with clothing, and shoes that no longer fit us.'
She then walked over to a corner, and set the full shirt down.
As she leaned back up, she saw Garcia turn to looked at the guide.
Garcia said, in english, “Thank you very much, for your hospitality.”
The guide turned around to face them, as he cracked a grin. He replied, in english, “It is my job. But, you're welcome. And would you care for some hot water?”
Lee thought, 'I best take over from here.' She politely requested, in english, “Not at the moment. Though, if you could provide some clothing. That will be nice. We are not picky.”
The guide turned to Lee. He said, in chinese, “Fortunately, I kept some of my daughter's older, smaller clothing. But, your blond friend it to big for her current clothing. I will see what I can find some of my own older clothing for her. When I was young, and much slimmer. And I believe I can get you, and your brown haired friend, something for your feet.”
Lee replied, in chinese, “Whatever you can provide, will we would be most grateful for.”
The guide just smiled, as he thought, 'I thought as much.' He then turned, and walked deeper into his home.
Garibaldi turned to Lee, as she asked, “Where is he going?”
Lee turned to Garibaldi, as she answered, in english, “He has gone to see if he find some clothing, and shoes, for us.”
Garcia flatly commented, “I really don't want to wear some hand me downs.”
Garibaldi looked up at Garcia, as she stated, “Beggars cannot be choosers.”
Garcia looked at Garibaldi, as she commented, “Actually, my clothing is over halfway dry. And my clothing still somewhat fits me. As such, I think I will keep my clothing on.” Garcia thought, 'It is at least my clothing.'
Garibaldi said, “Okay. I wish I could do the same.”
Garcia shrugged, as she replied, “I know. Still...” She turned to Lee, as she asked, “Lee, why did you not want the guide to bring us hot water, yet? I would think you would at least want us to change back into guys.”
Lee turned to Garcia, as she calmly stated, “Bad idea. First of all. We have no readily available supply of hot water. And you will likely get hit with cold water by the end of the day. So, you might as well stay as girls.”
Garibaldi looked at Lee, as Garibaldi begrudgingly agreed, “Lee, has a point.”
Garcia said, in a slightly embarrassed tone of voice, “Still... I need to pee.”
Lee picked up on this emotional discomfort in Garcia's voice, as she plainly stated, “There is nothing to be embarrassed about. You need to know how to do this. And the best way want to know, is to ask. And I will tell you how.”
Garibaldi thought, 'And how would you know. Though, I am kind of afraid to ask. And I honestly, don't want to know.'
Lee went onto say, “After you get some fresh clothes, and are dry. Get a paper tissue. Walk outside. Find a private place, that is not windy. Drop your pants, and underwear, to your knees. Do a squat, with nothing between the bottom of your crotch and butt, and the ground. Then, relax the same muscles you do as a guy to pee. When you are finished peeing. Use the tissue to either dap, or wipe front to back, at the wet part of your crotch. Do not wipe back to front, because a habit like that, in the long run, can lead to an infection down there. You don't want that. And I am not sure how such an infection will translate when you change back into a guy.”
Lee thought, 'Even Natsuru's book was kind of vague on the subject. I think because, wisely, none of them wanted to find out.'
Lee continued, “Still, when you are dry down there. Stand up, and pull back up your pants. Discard the tissue, and you are done.”
Lee continued, “Keep in mind that pee is sterile. So, you really don't need to worry about washing your hands.”
“And note, that for a girl, when peeing outside. There is not such thing as down wind. If there is a wind, you will get more wet, if you don't find somewhere to squat that breaks the wind for you.”
Garcia said to Lee, in a suspicious tone of voice, “You clearly know a lot about this subject?”
Lee smirked, as she commented, “I know a lot about everything.”
Garibaldi said, “Well, it sounds about right. I do vaguely remember my wife saying something like that to our daughter, when she was a toddler and we were potty training her.” She thought, 'And Lee is right. That is the kind of information we both now need to know.'
Lee admitted, “Also, I admit that I need to test some hot water on myself. So, I can check to see if I have locked myself in this female.”
Garcia asked, with slight disbelief in her tone of voice, “You locked yourself? Why would you do something like that?”
Lee admitted, “Yes. I liked myself, with my ring, on my right ring finger. Long story short, I was dying of cancer, but this female form is healthy. So, as long as I am locked, I get to live.”
Garcia conceded, “I guess that is understandable.”
Lee said, “Thank you for being considerate, and understanding.”
Garcia smiled in response. She then questioned, “Since, you are so knowledgeable. Do you think I need to wear a bra?”
Lee answered, “Unless the jiggling of your breasts causes your chest, or breasts, to hurt when you run, or move around. Or, there is soreness in that location afterward. Then, the answer is, no. You don't. And it will be a long while before you need to worry about sagging issues.”
“Besides, I doubt you are going to be able to get a bra from the guide. At this point in time, the man's daughter is still fairly young. To the point that you are to big for her daughter’s clothing. He is seeing if anything of his own older clothing may fit you.”
“Also, there would be no point in trying on another woman's bra. Because your breast size, and the guide's daughter’s breast size would be different. A woman's bra size is unique. No two breast sizes are the same size. And the adjustments and fittings for a bra have to be specific for each woman, for said woman to be conformable in wearing her bra. That is one of the reasons why bras tend to be expensive.”
Garcia replied, “Oh...” She thought, 'I guess I won't have to worry about that, right now.
And I really don't know why Lee would learn such information far in advance of being cursed. Unless, her reasons for being cursed were more than just saving me, and curing herself of her cancer. Which is very likely.'
Lee stated, “My best suggestion is to wait on getting a bra until you get back home. Then, have Roberta and Fabiola go shopping with you. They can help pick out some bras for you.”
“And let us be honest. Roberta has a fairly large set of breasts of her own. And I even got a good look at Fabiola, when I met her recently. As an adult. She is not that far behind Roberta, in that department. They would know a thing, or two, about bras.”
Garcia could not help be crack a lecherous smile, which looked cut on her female face, as she agreed, “You would be correct about that.” She thought, 'And so, my friends really are after you. At this point, I am surprised you are not more worried about your situation... Unless by saving me, you plan for me to help you out of your mess. I just might. Depending what I learn about you. Though, I doubt you realized I was hear at the time. Still, I don't want you know that I realize any of this.'
Lee returned Garcia's smile, as she thought, 'Garcia is many things. But, even as a she. She is still a teenage... And now to sweeten her mood some...' Lee commented, “And given how kind those two can be to their friends, when they are not on the warpath, I am sure you will have a great time.”
Garibaldi chucked a little at Lee's comment, as she thought, 'Those two taking Garcia shopping for bras, and other unmentionables. Even if they didn't tease Garcia, that would make for a hilarious scene to read...' Her chuckling died in her throat, as she continued her thought, 'Oh... So, that is how easy it is to think of ways of playing with people's lives. No wonder Lee was able to dig herself into such a deep hole, and not even realize it... And I must become more respectful towards the characters in fiction that I am entertained by. Because, I am beginning to realize I am in the same boat as they are.'
Garibaldi then suddenly when quiet. Though, neither of the other two girl present, noticed this.
Meanwhile, Garcia was silent as well, for a few seconds. Her smile then turned warm, towards Lee, as she stated, “That is a pretty good idea. We three would probably have fun doing that.”
Garibaldi reacted casually towards Garcia's reaction. While, Lee did not react at all.
Garcia happily thought, 'Roberta and Fabiola have always been nice. They would not make fun of me, while we shopped for such items. And that one night with Fabiola was... very pleasant. Not that we are ever going to breath a word of the night to anyone. And we did use condoms... So, no chances of any lasting problems...'
Garcia thoughts became more concerned, as she mentally realized, 'Wait a minute... The way Lee stated that... When she said. When they are not on the warpath... Meaning that they currently are on the warpath... So, I was right. Roberta and Fabiola are after her... She even stated that she recently met Fabiola... And I guess she was able to escape them... For now...'
'But, why are those two wonderful women after her?... Even with Chang's connection. Those two would not be so crazy about coming after her. To be honest, it sounds like Chang didn't do anything to Fabiola. He left me along. And he helped Roberta... Hold on... She said she was from the future... But, still why?... The only reason they would come after someone would be if Lee harmed anyone in my household... Such as myself... Such as me being cursed...'
'Somehow, Lee had a hand in me being cursed... Yet. She saved me. Maybe Lee did plan to be here, to save me. And that was not coincidence. She might have saved me, to help get Fabiola and Roberta back off on their revenge against her. Lee clearly is arrogant enough to try something like that.'
'Though, if they from the future, after Chang is defeated, how would Chang be able to come after Garibaldi?... Of course, time travel, across realities. Chang from my present is after Garibaldi. While Lee, from my future, was fleeing my friends, from the future, when Lee bumped into Garibaldi. And Lee decided to help Garibaldi, due to her own actions being partly responsible for why Chang is after Garibaldi in the first place.'
'But, if Roberta and Fabiola are after Lee, why hasn't she been captured, yet. I would likely tell them of what happen here. And that would surely tip them off as to who Lee is, and they would have already captured Lee?... Unless, I decided not to tell them anything... But, I would have to have a very good reason for not telling them... Of course... To prevent a paradox.'
'I am coming to dislike time travel. Especially, when it is time travel that is applied to the multiverse, itself.'
'Still, I need to confirm all this with Garibaldi, before I decide what to do concerning Lee. And I cannot let Lee realize I know this about her.'
Garcia remained calm, as she patiently waited for the guide to return.
And from the looked Garcia saw in Lee's face, she could tell that Lee was none the wiser.
The three girls then remained silent for about a minute, until the guide returned to them.
As the guide walked into the living room, they saw he was carrying some folded clothing, and other items in his arms.
The guide moved to the couch, where he set the clothing down, and divided them up to three groups.
The guide then picked up one group of clothing, with a pair of small black slippers on top, and handed them to Garibaldi. The clothing comprised of a simple yellow short sleeved t-shirt, and black cloth pants, with a drawstring at the waistline. There was no underwear in the clothes.
Garibaldi took the clothing, as she said, “Thank you.” Then, not even caring, as she got of the Lee's coat, set it on a nearby chair. And she then took off her socks, and she quickly began putting on her new clothing.
Meanwhile, the guide intentionally ignored Garibaldi, as he turn back to the couch, picked up another set of clothing, with a small pair of black slippers, and handed the items to Lee. The clothing was like the clothing Garibaldi was handed, only different colors. The clothes comprised of a simple short sleeved red t-shirt, and a blue set of pants, with a drawstring at the waist.
Lee gently took the clothing, as she said, in chinese, “Thank you. And nice color selection.”
The guide replied, in chinese, “You're welcome.”
The guide then picked up the last set of clothing. Which was a large set of folded clothing, which he held out for Garcia to look at.
Garcia saw that the clothing was a purple shirt, black cloth pants, with a drawstring at the waist. Though, this was made for a man, whom was slimmer than the guide currently was.
Garcia thought, 'I guess the guide was slimmer in his youth. And of course he does not have a bra for me. Just as Lee had predicted. Still, I am going to keep my current clothing on. As it is mostly dry. Though, I might as well be polite about this.'
Garcia said, in a kind tone of voice, “Thank you for the offer. But, I think I will keep what I have on.”
The guide smiled at Garcia, as he stated, in english, “No worries, sir. We all prefer to wear our own clothing, and not the clothing of others.”
Garcia let out a soft laughed. She returned the guide's smile, as she replied, “I know what you mean.”
The guide the put that clothing back on his couch.
Nearby, Lee thought, 'I might as well do as Garibaldi did, and just change out of this clothing. Still, while I can do with out the underwear, the lack of socks concern me. Also, how are my socks holding up?'
Lee looked down at the soles of her socks. After checking the bottoms of both her feet, she saw there were more holes than socks on the soles of her feet.
With both feet planted on the floor, Lee thought, 'The dirt and rocks along the path tore into my socks. But, better the socks, than my feet. Though, I might as well lose them.'
Lee began by taking off her socks. As she did so, from corner of her eye, she saw that Garibaldi had just finished putting on her yellow t-shirt, with her just finish putting on her pants, trying the drawstring on them, and tucking in her shirt. She then saw Garibaldi has already taken off her socks, which were on the floor, by her. And she about to put on her pair of slippers.
Lee mentally reflected, 'I guess Garibaldi has the same problem. Still, I just hope the clothing fits. Especially the shoes. There is nothing worse than ill fitting shoes.'
Lee quickly undressed, and she set her discarded clothing on a nearby chair. While Lee did so, the other three in the room, noticed Lee set her combat knife onto the top of her clothing pile. Though, no one said anything about her knife.
Lee then slipped on her new red t-shirt, and blue pants. She adjusted the drawstring, and tied it, to where her pants would not slip off. She also kept her shirt untucked. Next, she slipped her feet into the black slippers, and took a few steps with them on.
Lee thought, 'Okay. The clothing, and shoes are a little loose. But, not to loose. And the interior lining of the slippers seem to be made for a someone use without socks, nor stockings.'
As this went on, Garibaldi soon finished putting on her new slippers. She found that her new clothing and new slipper fit okay. When Garibaldi was finished getting dressed, she dug out her hologram device, from a pocket in Lee's coat, and she put it in a pocket in her new pants.
Lee noticed that Garibaldi had turned to her coat, and she had pulled her hologram device, from a coat pocket. Garibaldi's then stuff the device into the front right pants pocket, of the black pants that Garibaldi wore.
Lee thought, “So, she did not loose the hologram device. Good. Still, I need to do the same as her.”
Lee then turned to her pile of clothing, and pulled put her belongings, such as her lighter, wrist watch, and reality device. She put them in the side pockets of her pants. She then stuffed the sheath in the back of her pants, under her shirt. As she had done before.
When Lee was finished, she turned to Garibaldi as she asked, in english, “How do the not clothes fit?”
Garibaldi turned to Lee, as she answered, “The clothing and shoes are a little loose, but I can live with it. How about yourself?”
Lee stated, “About the same.”
Garibaldi looked down at herself, as she commented, “At least this clothing is very utilitarian. I can live with wearing it.”
Lee smiled, as she replied, “I am glad to hear it.” She thought, 'I kind of like this style, myself.'
Lee looked over at the guide, whom was looking back at her. She continued smiling, as she mentally reflected, 'Now, to thank our host.'
Lee continued to smile, as she stated, in chinese, “Thank you for the clothing, and shoes. They fit fine, and we are happy that you could provide these items for us.”
The guide replied, in chinese, “You're welcome.”
Lee thought, 'I need to ask if his daughter, Plum, is here? Though, I have to be mindful to continue to not mention, Plum, by name. And Plum's mother is never mentioned. So, I will not even bring up the subject of Plum's mother.'
Lee asked, in chinese, “Please, pardon me for asking. You said you got you clothing from your daughter. Is you daughter here?”
The guide calmly answered, “No. She is with some of her friends, at their home.”
Lee said, “That is nice.”
The guide agreed, “Yes. It is.”
Garcia thought, 'Even though I did not take the guide up on his offer of clothing. We still need to repay this man, for all he had done for us. And I believe I am the only one with anything of value, to give him.' She then used her right to reach into her right side jacket pocket.
After which, Garcia walked up to the guide, as she said, “For your help.”
As the guide look over at Garcia, the teenage girl used her left hand to gently grip, the guides left open hand, and bring it up. She turned the guide's left hand face the palm upward.
Garcia used her right hand hand to palmed a gold coin she had, into the guide's left hand.
As Garcia let go of the guide's left hand, the guide looked down at the gold coin in his left hand. The guide smiled, as he quickly pocket it.
The man turned to look at all three of the girls.
The guide happily said, in broken english, “Thank you very much, honor customers.” He thought, 'Now, this is a payment worth taking.'
Lee noticed what Garcia did for the guide. She thought, 'So, Garcia has some gold coins. That is nice. And now that payment is no longer an issue, we can move forward. Still, I would be surprised if most of the guides pay comes from the government. With him acting as a park ranger of sorts for the Jusenkyo area.'
'Speaking of which. I guess now is the best time to request this. I did need to do this, before I leave this place. And there is no time like this present.'
Lee turned to guide, as she requested, in chinese “I could use some hot water, and some cold water, now. I need to test out something. And do not worry, I will disrobe, before I do so. Though, could you please show me to your bathroom. I will like to do my test there.”
The guide thought, 'If what I suspect is true, then I need to speak with the others. But, I first need to make sure.' He said, “That will be fine. This way.”
Lee turned to Garcia and Garibaldi, as she said, in english, “I will be back in five to ten minutes.”
Garibaldi deadpanned, “Don't worry. We will be waiting here.” She mentally added, 'Considering you have the reality device. It is not like we are going anywhere without you.'
Lee ignored Garibaldi's sarcasm. She looked over at the guide, as the guide then lead Lee though a hallway, and to the interior bathroom of the home.
As Lee walked inside the bathroom, the guide turned to her, while stating, in chinese, “The hot water heater is currently turned off. You can get cold water from the faucet. And it will only take a few minutes for me to warm your water, in the kitchen. And bring it to you. I will be back soon.”
Lee simply nodded once in acknowledgment in what the guide had said.
The guide turned, and left Lee in the bathroom, with the door open.
Lee looked around and saw that it was a simple bathroom, with the floor level, eastern style toilet. With a roll of toilet paper attached to a toilet paper holder, on the wall, beside the toilet. There was a sink, with a faucet, and bar of soap on it. Along with a mirror on top of the sink. Nearby was a tub, with a faucet. And there was a closet, in the room, with the small door open to it, to reveal stacks towels, and other bathroom supplies.
Lee thought, 'This is not a bad set up. Considering this place is so far out in the boonies. Now, to wait for a my water.'
(_)
Five minutes later, the guide walked back to the bathroom, with a kettle full of water.
The guide held the kettle of water by the handle, and he set it beside Lee, on the floor.
The guide then looked over at Lee, as he said, in chinese, “Not to worry. It is not boiling. It is just warm enough to reverse the curse.”
Lee replied, in chinese, “Thank you.”
The guide inquired, “Why do you want to change back, considering you have no clothing for your male form?”
Lee thought, 'I might as well tell him.' Lee held up her right hand, for the guide to see, as she calmly said, “Actually, I believe the ring on my right forth finger is magical. And the ring on my finger has locked my curse. But, do not worry. I intentionally put this ring on, knowing what the ring might do. I just wanted to test to see if that was the case. Or not.” She then dropped her hand back to her side.
The guide asked, in a confused tone of voice, “But sir. Why did you do such a thing?” He thought, 'It might actually be one of those rings.'
Lee flatly answered, “It is a very long, and personal story. I will let you know, if I am locked, in a minute.”
The guide just nodded, and shut the door, to the bathroom, with him waiting outside, behind the door.
Lee quickly disrobed, and set the pile of her clothing to the side. She then went to get one of the towels, and set it by her clothing pile. Afterward, she picked up the kettle by the handle, with her right hand, and she walked over to the tub.
Lee poured a bit of water onto her left hand, and found she that while it was very warm, it was not scalding hot.
Next, she leaned her head over the bathtub, and poured the hot water over her head, with the water draining out of the tub.
Lee immediately noticed that she had not changed in size.
As she set the kettle down, on the floor, beside her, she looked down at her body, to see that she was still had the body of a young girl.
Lee thought, 'Guess I am stuck like this... Oh well. I was planning this from the start. So, no worries there. Now, to dry off, and get dressed.'
Lee walked over and grabbed herself a towel. With only her head wet, it took her less than a minute to dry off. She then set her towel on the lip of the tub.
Next, she grabbed her clothing, and she quickly got dressed. When she finished getting dressed, she slipped her feet into the black slippers.
Given how short she was, her head did not clear the sink, so she could not look in the mirror. Nor, did she have her comb with her. So instead, Lee did her best to part her hair, and set it, with her hands.
After that, she walked to the door, turned the knob, and found the guide there, waiting for her.
The guide looked down at her, as he asked, “So, are you locked in that form.”
Lee looked up at the guide's face, as she answered, “Yes. Now, let's go check on the others.”
The guide did not respond, as he turned and let her back to his living room.
While walking, the guide thought, 'So, it is one of those rings. I am going to have to tell them about this girl, and that ring.'
A few seconds later, they reached the living room. As they came to a stop, Garcia, and Garibaldi turned to them.
Garibaldi asked, “So, are you now locked in that form?”
Lee turned to the two other girls, as she answered, in a casual tone of voice, in english, “Yes. I'm locked. Now, let's get out of here.” She turned to the guide, as she requested, in english, “Will you please take us to the amazon village.”
Garibaldi asked, “Why would we want to head there?”
Garcia agreed, “Yea. Given that whole kiss of death, and kiss of marriage thing for outsiders, I would think we would want to avoid that place.”
The guide listened to them. He thought, 'So, they know about those rules. Good. That will save them a whole lot of trouble.'
Lee looked over at the two girls. She smirked, as she stated, “Those after us would be crazy to follow us.”
Garibaldi conceded, “Good point.
Meanwhile, Garcia did not show it on the outside, as she thought, in anger, 'So, you are planning on trying to get Roberta and Fabiola in trouble with the amazons. Through use of the amazon laws for outsiders. That pisses me off.'
'And I will admit that given some of the abilities and powers of the strong amazon women there, they would be a threat to my friends. Still, two can play at that game. I may not tell Roberta and Fabiola about what happened here. So as to prevent a paradox. But, I can subtly warn them in other ways. Such as when I get back home, I will use my curse an excuse to show Robert and Fabiola the Ranma Half series. Both the anime and manga.'
'That will be a good way to subtly warn them. And being forewarned is being forearmed.'
'And in all honesty. They might actually enjoy that series. It is lighthearted series, for the most part. Along with being absolutely hilarious.'
'Then, when they come here, looking for Lee. They will be forewarned of the knowledge and dangers here. And not just of the amazons, but Jusenkyo, and other possible threats, in this area, to avoid.'
The guide said, in english, “Honored sirs. I would be more than happy to take you there.” He thought, 'It save me a trip there, by myself. And they will be able to see this girl, and that ring, for themselves.”
Garcia asked, “How long will it take?”
The guide answered, “A little over an hour.”
Garcia halfheartedly said, “Fine. Lead the way.” She thought, 'Now that I think about it. I believe it is best that we get moving. There is a risk, that if I meet this Roberta and Fabiola, of my future, it might cause a paradox. Or, at the very least, the meeting will raise questions from them that I am not ready to answer, just yet. Plus, I don't want to risk us imposing anymore on the hospitality of this kind man.'
'Still, I got to pee. But, I will just pee, sometime, while we are making our way to the amazon village.'
As they headed for the door, Garcia saw an open box of paper tissues. Garcia slowed down, so she would be last to the door. Then, with the backs of the others turned to her, she grabbed a couple of the paper tissues, and she pocketed them.
A few seconds later, Garcia rejoined the others at the front door of the guide's home.
Lee was in front. As she reached the door, she gently opened to door, and walked outside, first. Garibaldi followed right behind Lee. Then, the guide. And finally Garcia.
Once outside, the three girls moved away from the door. They stood beside each other, as the guide then turned and shut the door behind him.
After the guide used a key to lock it. After he pocketed his key, he turned around to face the three girls. He said, in english, “This way.”
He then turned, and started walking in a direction that went further away from the cursed springs.
The three girls soon followed behind him.
(_)
A little over an hour later, Lee, Garcia and Garibaldi, has been following the guide. As the guide lead them through arch of a gate, they saw they had now entered a small village. The walls that the gate was attached to were made of stones that were painted white. With the stone walls being around ten feet high.
The three girls walked beside each other, as the followed behind the guide, into the small village.
Lee took note of her surroundings, as they came up to, and pass through one of the gates, into the amazon village.
Lee saw that the arch of the gate itself was a basic wood roof, with a pitch of an equilateral triangle. With the roof line ran parallel with the white stone wall. The sides of the arch was wood that was panted red, with the roof of the archway painted brown. And the ridge and eaves the roof of the arch painted green.
Lee thought, “The size of the gate entry under the arch is not that large. I would estimate that the interior of the rectangular archway is around ten feet high, six feet in depth, and sixteen feet wide. Which would allow someone to easily drive a care through. But, no where near the size to allow a large, semi-tractor-trailer truck to pass through.'
Lee also noticed that there were two, open doors to the interior sides of gate. The hinges of the door were located in the center of the interior sides of the arch. The doors were made of a lattice work of iron bars, with a large latches at the ends that attached together went closed. And the doors swung inward, towards the village, so the hinges of the doors would not be damaged from the outside, when closed and locked.
As they continued walking, further into the village, Lee looked around, while she thought, “So, this is the amazon village. It looks nice.'
Lee saw that the buildings in the village were made of wood, and paint white white on the sides, and brown on the roofs. The homes were also moderately large. With some of the buildings being two, or three, stories high.
Lee also saw that around her, and in the far distance, that the village was enclosed on all sides. Either by the painted white stone walls, or, natural rock walls, that acted as barriers to the outside world.
With the outer stone wall fence of chinese amazon village to to run up, flush, against the natural rock walls.
Throughout the village, Lee also saw women, men, and children, in casual clothing for the time, and area, going about their daily business.
A few of the villagers had turned to look at her, the guide, Garcia, and Garibaldi, for a few seconds, before going back to what they were doing.
Lee happily thought, 'Good. We are not attracting too much attention. And soon, I will get Garcia and Garibaldi, to walk with me, and duck behind a building, out of sight. Then, we will leave this reality, for another reality. Though, I still trying to decide where. Perhaps, I will let Garibaldi and Garcia make some suggestions. They are both intelligent, savvy people.'
Lee then saw, in the distance, a group of four large, vertical log poles, planted in the ground. The four vertical logs were attached by ropes, to a large, long horizontally placed log, which was suspended in the air.
Lee continued her thoughts, 'So, that is where the amazon's hold their annual martial arts contest. With the winner getting to eat a feast, prepared for them, in advance of their victory. And this is where Ranma got himself. Well at the time, herself. Into trouble with Shampoo. Ranma's stomach got him, or her, into a whole lot of trouble, during the run of her series. And when it wasn't Ranma's stomach that got him, or her, into trouble, it was Genma's stomach. And Genma did lead a hand in eating some of that feast, without permission.'
'That being said. Though, since this is the past. I need to make sure to avoid the elders. Especially, Cologne. That old, wise woman is way too sharp for us to risk meeting. She will pick up on something being off about us, almost immediately.'
Then, Garibaldi broke Lee's train of thought, as she stating, “Remember. No fighting.”
Lee halfheartedly said, “Amen to that.”
Garcia replied, “I was never one for fighting, if I can avoid it.” She mentally added, 'I have always preferred guile over violence. That is probably why Roberta and Fabiola put up with me.'
Lee thought, 'I might as well ask them where they want to go. But first, I need to know if they are ready to go.' Lee asked, “So, are you to still up for traveling? Or, are you too tired, after that walk?”
Garcia stated, “I am not tired.”
Garibaldi said, “As much as I hate to admit it. I have more energy now, than I have had in years.”
Lee replied, “Good.” She mentally reflect, 'Then, we won't have to stop here, for either of you two to rest, for a little while.'
Garcia asked, “Do you think it would be a good idea to resupply here?”
Lee answered, “No. For obvious reasons. We can resupply after the jump.” She thought, 'The longer we stay here, the more trouble we will have with the locals here.'
Garibaldi said, “I am with Lee on this.”
Garcia responded, “I have to agree with you. Though, I wanted to check with you first.” She thought, 'While I may not like you, Lee. You are clearly knowledgeable on such matters. And getting a second opinion never hurts.'
Lee replied, “No problem.”
A second later, the guide came to a stop, in the middle of a clearing, in the village. With the three girls immediately stopping behind the guide.
The guide had stopped due to him seeing a couple of middle-aged amazon women, in great shape, standing nearby, as they faced each other, while talking to one another. One woman had brown hair, the other woman had dark blue hair.
As the guide looked at the women, he thought, 'Now is my chance to inform them about this black haired young girl, and her ring.'
The guide then turned around to face the three girls, as he said, in english, “Good luck to you, sirs. I hope you have pleasant journeys. But, business to conduct with locals. And I must then return home.”
Lee kindly said, “Thank you for your help.”
Garibaldi looked at the guide. She used her right hand to lightly pull at the top of her shirt, as she commented, “Yea. The clothes are not that bad. And have a save trip home.” She then dropped her right hand to her waist.
Garcia said, “It was nice to meet you. And have nice day, and a safe trip home.”
The guide said, “Thank you. To you three, as well.” He then turned, and calmly walked away from the three girls, and towards two amazon women. The older amazon had dark blue hair, and the other amazon had brown hair. Both of them wore similar amazon clothing styles, in different color combinations. With the local amazon clothing style being shirt, pants, and slippers.
The guide quickly looked behind him for a second, before looking back in front of himself. He saw the three girls he had just left did not seem to mind what he was currently heading towards the amazon women.
The guide thought, 'Good. They are no alarmed by my actions. And I plan to be gone from here, before any problems can occur.'
When the guide reached the two women, the two women turned to him, as the older woman, the one with dark blue hair, asked, in a kind tone of voice, in chinese, “What do you need guide?”
The guide answered, in chinese, “I have just brought a few people that have been cursed by the springs. They are under the girl curse. Two older men, and one teenage boy. They all speak english. And I believe the black haired girl has one of your rings. And that she knowingly used it to lock herself in her new, young, female form.”
Both women each raised an eyebrow, as the dark blue haired amazon replied, “Really? Please, tell us more.”
The guide then did as requested, and he told the two women his tale of meeting the three girls, just outside of Jusenkyo.
(_)
Meanwhile, among the group of three girls, Garibaldi then commented, “You know what. We forget to ask his name.”
Lee commented, “If he had wanted us to know his name, he would of told us.” She thought, 'And to my knowledge, that man was not given a formal name. Though, give how crazy his life likely is. He probably does not share his name with strangers. And the only reasons we know his daughter's name is Plum. Because, when the guide was kidnapped. She went to Ranma for help, and she introduced herself to Ranma and Ranma's friends.'
Garcia said,“Yes. Let us not look a gift horse in the mouth.”
Garibaldi stated, “When you put it like that, I see your point.”
Lee felt pressure building in her bladder. She turned to Garcia and Garibaldi, as she said, “I apologize for this. But, I now have pee.” She looked around, and she saw a set of outhouses, several feet away, to her left. She used her left hand to point at them, as she continued, “And I will be heading there. I will be back a minute. Then, we will find a place in private to leave.” She then dropped her hand back to her side.
Garcia replied, “Take your time.'
Garcia thought, 'I am glad I went on our way over here. It was different. But, not to much trouble. And I did need those tissues. But, I did as you told me to, and everything was fine. And since you and the others were nice enough to wait for me, so I will wait for you.'
Garibaldi said, “No problem. We will be waiting for you, right here.” She thought, 'I guess is makes sense she would want to leave, as soon as possible. But, bodily functions take priority to traveling... I made sure I didn't need to go. At least for a while. Before I logged some flight time hours in a Star Fury, during my days with Earthforce. And going before one leaves is the best, and least embarrassing option there is.'
Lee turned, and she walked away from the two other girls, at a hurried pace, towards the outhouses.
Garibaldi, and Garcia watched Lee get of earshot, and enter an outhouse, with the door shutting behind the black haired girl.
Garcia thought, 'So, Lee is planning on us leaving as soon as she gets back. Now, is my chance, to speak with Garibaldi. I don't know when we might get another chance to talk, without Lee, nearby.' She turned to Garibaldi, and she looked down at Garibaldi head. She asked, in a gentle tone of voice, “Garibaldi, I have a few questions for you?”
Garibaldi turned to Garcia, and looked up at the blond girl's face. She shrugged her right shoulder, as she casually said, “Sure. Go ahead.”
Garcia inquired, in a direct, even tone of voice, “How is Lee responsible in connection to me being cursed? Along with this, what are her connections to Chang, and his organization? Whom have harmed my friends, and is after you. And who exactly is after her? And do they people after her, include my friends, Roberta and Fabiola?”
Garibaldi grinned wickedly, as she stated, “Oh. You figured that out on your own? I'm impressed.”
Garcia responded, “Yes. And thank you. That is why I waited until Lee was away to ask you for any details you can provide, on the matter.”
Garibaldi stated, “Hey. It is completely reasonable that you don't trust, Lee. Neither do I. The only reason I have gone along with her schemes this far is that she has been helpful to me. Still, to answer your questions. You know how Lee said that her explanation for your questions would literally be a long story?”
Garcia replied, “Yes.”
Garibaldi calmly said, “Lee meant that literally. As in our problems with Chang are part of a long story, that Lee personally wrote.”
Garcia raised an eyebrow, as she calmly requested, with interest in her tone of voice, “Do tell.”
Over the next minute, Garibaldi explained the situation to Garcia, in a brief summary. As she did so, she watched as Garcia's face turned more grim by the second.
As Garibaldi finished, she offered, “I will tell you more, when we have more time. And more privacy.”
Garibaldi could tell that Garcia was holding back her rage, as she commented, in an even tone of voice, “I understand. And I will patiently await you full explanation.”
Garibaldi replied, “And I am more than happy to give it.'
Garibaldi mentally lamented, 'Damn. Lee told me something similar, when I started asking him, well now her, some question. I am starting to sound like Lee. That is not a good thing. Though, it does show that Lee is not so different than us. And that if things had been different. We might have ended up on a path similar to her own. That is why I changed my mind, and decided to go easy on her. That and the fact, she bailed my ass out, and she has tried to save lives, while trying to flee for her own life. So, while she is clearly manipulative, she does value the lives of other people.'
Garibaldi then took a closer looked at Garcia's face and body language, as she continued her thoughts, with concern, 'Though, we do not have time for me to tell her everything. It looks like Garcia wants to kill Lee over what Lee has done to her, and her friends. Not that I hold it against her for wanting to do that. But, this is not the time, nor place for such violent revenge. And I will have to remind Garcia of that... Still, later on, we can steal that reality device Lee has, and ditch Lee in someplace that is nice. But, not too nice. And then we will head off on our own adventures, while we search for a cure for our curses.'
Just then, from the corner of her left eye, Garibaldi saw one of the amazons that the guide was talking to, had turned towards them, and starting walking in their direction. The amazon was a middle-aged women, in great shape, whom had dark blue hair.
Garibaldi did not turn to look the amazon, as she thought, 'It looks like one of the women here wants to talk to us. It is best not to alert her that I have already noticed her coming towards us. And I think as long as we don't have a misunderstanding, and avoid any combat, we should be fine talking to them. Though, we may need a translator. Unless they know english.'
When the amazon reached the two girls, the amazon's said, in very good english, “Excuse me. My sisters and I would like to discuss with you about the other girl you are accompanying. The young raven haired girl with the gold and jeweled ring on her right ring finger.”
Garcia and Garibaldi turned to look at the amazon woman that was calmly standing beside them.
The two girls saw that the amazon was a pretty middle-aged woman, with an athletic build. She dark blue hair. And she wore a bright purple shirt, blue pants, and simple brown slippers.
Garibaldi thought, 'She is not a bad looking woman. And the fact she speaks english solves a lot of our problems in talking with her, and her friends. So, I think I will let Garcia do the talking, because when she looks at us. She likely sees just a six year old girl, and an older teenage girl. And in cultures such as this, with Garcia appearing to be the older person between us, she should be the one that speaks for us.'
Meanwhile, Garcia dropped her facial expression of anger, to a calm, neutral expression. She thought, with concern, 'I need to calm down. This is not the time, nor place for anger. And Roberta taught me how to channel my anger, when I needed too. And even though I want to make Lee suffer. Vengeance can wait until we are alone. For right now, I need to see what this woman wants to know about Lee. And I might be able to use that to my advantage against Lee.'
Garcia took a more calm facial expression, as she inquired, in a polite tone of voice, in english, “What would you like to know?”
The amazon kindly asked, “Do you know where she got her gold ring from?”
Garibaldi shook her head, as Garcia answered, “No.”
The amazon calmly said, “Then, we need to talk about your friend, and that ring she is wearing.”
Garibaldi said, “We are open minded to what you to say on the matter.”
The amazon gave the two girls a warm smile, as she replied, “Good.”
Garibaldi thought, 'Hmm... I have a feeling they are planning to do something to Lee. If that is the case, we might not have to dirty our hands. But, if that is the case, there is one thing they need to know, first.'
Garibaldi commented, “Though, if you plan to do anything to her. Be aware that she is a master escape artist.” She mentally reflected, 'And that is an understatement.'
Garcia looked over at Garibaldi, as she thought, 'Intelligent thinking, Garibaldi. And I believe you are helping to set Lee up, to get her out of our hair. And I am more than happy to aid you.'
Garcia looked over at the amazon woman, as she mentioned, “Yes. From what little time I have spent with her, she clearly likes to think several steps ahead of everyone else. But, I have know people that that. And once one knows what to look for, a person can use those skills against such people.”
The amazon did a simple nod towards Garibaldi and Garcia, as she calmly said, “I believe so, as well. And thank you for informing us.”
Garibaldi thought, 'Also, we need to tell them about Lee's knife.'
Garibaldi stated, “Also, she has a sheathed combat knife hidden in the back of her pants, under his shirt.”
I appreciate that warning. Now, here is what I would like to do with your young friend.”
The amazon then explained the situation to them, about Lee.
When the amazon was finished, Garcia and Garibaldi formed wicked grins on their lips, as they informed the amazon woman of what what they knew of Lee. Though, both wisely did not mention reality travel, nor any details that was connected to reality travel. And they did mention their names, nor Lee's name, to the amazon woman.
(_)
A little over a minute later, Lee exited the outhouse. After gently shutting the outhouse door behind her, she started walking back towards her two friends.
As Lee walked at a casual pace, she thought, 'The one thing about being a girl is that it take a few minutes to pee. Especially, when I had to take a minute just to find a comfortable position to sit down, to pee from. Still, at least they had toilet paper, so I could dry myself down there. And it was a western style outhouse. And not a hole in the ground, where I would have had to squat down at, to pee.'
As Lee continued walking, her precognition warned her of danger, just as she saw two shadows form over, her head, from behind her.
Lee tried to run, but the two amazon women behind her, were too quick. They swiftly grabbed her. And in a matter of a few seconds, they had already tied her up, with one of their ropes binding around her arms and chest together, with her arms being at the her sides of her chest. While they also tied her ankles together.
Lee then found herself, laying on her stomach, on the grass and dirt, with two amazon women gently holding her down, by her back, as they knelt to the ground, to each of Lee's sides.
Though, Lee was not in any paid, she found the position slightly uncomfortable. And it was slightly uncomfortable to look up from that position. Though, Lee was able to look up, and to her right side. And she found that her head was pointed towards Garcia and Garibaldi, whom were looking back at her, from several feet away.
And in the distance, Lee saw the Jusenkyo guide calmly walking away, and toward the gate where they had come into the village from.
Lee thought, with worry, and slight confusion, though with no fear, 'What the hell is going on? I don't think I broke any of their laws. And I am not about to scream, and make a scene. That will only make things worse for myself. Though, I still have to know what is going on?... But, I think the guide has the right idea, in leaving before something happens.'
'And at least, as they jumped me, I saw that it was two amazon women that were capturing me. So, I did not resist. Because, I do not need a pair of amazons after me, over the kiss of death matter... Now, let's see how well they tied me up.'
Lee slightly struggled against the ropes, to check to see how loose they were. Though, Lee did so in a matter that would appear as if she was involuntarily trying to stretch her limbs. So as to not alert her captors, whom were sitting right above her, to her sides. And whose hands she felt on her back.
Lee thought, 'Nope. I am not going to be able to wiggle out of the rope. Though, fortunately these ropes are are not too tight, but tight enough that I won't be able to free myself, any time soon. This means they have likely done this before. With is no surprise.'
'Fortunately, I what the two women looked like, as they were turning me around, to tie me up. One of them is a middle-aged amazon woman with dark blue hair. With the other woman being a slightly younger amazon woman with brown hair. They are not teenagers, so they are likely to act more rational. And because of this, I might still be able to talk my way out of this mess... And if not, at least I have my knife for later.'
Lee then felt as one of the women pulled out her sheathed knife, from where it was hidden, in the back of her pants, along her waist line, under her untucked shirt.
The women then threw the knife away from Lee, to her right side, away from Garibaldi and Garcia.
Lee thought, with even more worried, that bordered on fear, 'Oh no. I did not feel them touch me on my lower back, where I hide the knife. So, the only reason they would know that knife would be there, would be if Garibaldi and Garcia had told them about it. Meaning Garibaldi and Garcia betrayed me...'
Lee felt a mix of slight anger and bitterness, as she continued her thoughts, 'And after saving both their lives... Ungrateful bastards...'
Lee focused on Garibaldi and Garcia, whom were still in their cursed forms. And realized her grammatical mistake, as mentally reflected, 'Well, for right now. They are ungrateful bitches... And they would not be the first such ungrateful bitches that are after me.'
'But, they are the first people to so thoroughly capture me, so quickly, in a way that I do not have an escape plan ready for. So, I need to find out why they betrayed me so quickly? So, I can at least learn where I made my mistakes at, and not repeat them.'
Lee continued her thoughts, while beginning to feel genuine fear, 'If I have the chance not too. With amazons, one never knows.'
Lee looked directly towards the faces of Garibaldi and Garcia, whom were looking back at Lee's face. Garibaldi and Garcia has neutral expressions on their faces. Even though the two girls were several feet away from Lee, given there was no wind, Lee was sure they would hear her voice, as she calm asked, in a disappointed tone of voice, in english, “Why?”
Lee saw both Garcia and Garibaldi smirk towards her, as Garibaldi commented, “Well, if you have to ask that question, that means in all your planning, you didn't see this angle coming.”
Lee forced herself to calm down, and remain calm, as she thought, 'She's right. I should have never gloated to her about my calculations and angles, in manipulating people and situations to my benefit. And I should not have been so detailed in my explanation to her about my stories, and why those people that are after me, want revenge against me... Still, it is best that I remain calm, and for me to try to make the best of this situation.'
Lee calmly requested, with disappoint in her voice, in english, “Could you please explain your actions? And why you are doing this? Starting with when you decided to betray me?”
Garcia answered, in a slight arrogant tone of voice, “Certainly. While you were using the restroom, I got to talking with her?...” She looked over at Garibaldi, as she inquired, “I hope you don't mind me using female pronoun?”
Garibaldi looked over at Garcia, as she casually responded, “None taken. And it is best we don't use our names, anyway. So, we will just use the proper gender pronouns, depending on our gender forms.”
Garcia said, “That will be fine.”
(_)
Meanwhile, the dark blue haired amazon woman was kneeling by Lee's left side, across from her brown haired friend, as they held gently held Lee down. The two women silently listened to the conversation, as the blue haired woman thought, with mild joy, 'I am glad I and my friend here, took foreign language lessons when I was younger. Because, the conversation between these three individuals is becoming very interesting.'
'And I am glad I already sent a runner to go get our leader, before we even tied up this girl. So, she can handle this mess. Because, I am not sure that I can. Due to this, I think it is best I just let this play. Given we are only interested in the black haired girl, and not the other two.'
(_)
Both Garibaldi and Garcia looked back at Lee, as Garcia went onto say, “And Garibaldi mentioned that you are responsible for much of the problems that my friends, and I, are in. Including this curse.” She then used her hands to gesture towards the front of her chest, and down to her stomach, and waist. After which, she left her hands remain relaxed, to her sides.
Lee thought, with mild annoyance, more towards herself, than those that just betrayed her, 'So, Garibaldi told her, behind my back. I should have seen that coming. Well, I might as well be straightforward about this.'
Lee admitted, in a direct tone of voice, “Everything after you, and your two maid friends return from Asia, to South America, with your older friend crippled and maimed, is my fault. Though, I did repair your older friend's mind and body. Along with restoring her youth.”
Garcia complimented, in an insincere tone of voice, “That is nice. But, that nowhere near makes up the rest of what you have done to us.”
Even though Lee realized she was in a really bad situations. Lee thought, with mild amusement, 'It is poetic. And somewhat ironic. That of all the people I have faced. It turns out that the two people that have finally taken me down, is the nonviolent teenage badass, and the much older retired badass.'
'And Roberta and Fabiola that are after me are from the future, when Garcia is an adult. And those two women still feel that Garcia is not mature enough to handle his own affairs. Because they came after me, behind Garcia's back. Without informing Garcia. After this, it is very clear that Garcia can handle his, or her, own problems. Even at the younger age that Garcia is currently at.'
'And it is tempting to mention that I am not responsible for cursing Garibaldi, but I pointing that out, at this time, will only make myself look worse in their eyes. Still...' Lee grumbled, at a normal tone of voice, “I admit that I did not see this coming. Though, I should have seen this coming. I just have one question for both of you. Why didn't you two just wait until I was asleep, and steal my device, and ditch me, then?”
Garcia answered, “Well, the amazons here came over to talk to us, about you.”
Garibaldi commented, “The dark blue haired woman that is holding you can speak very good english.”
To Lee's left, she heard a woman's voice plainly say, in english, “Yes. I know your language. And thank you for the compliment.”
Lee saw Garibaldi look up, and to Lee's left, as Garibaldi responded, “You're welcome.” She then looked back down at Lee's face.
Lee sarcastically thought, 'That is just great. It means that I am going to have to be even more careful about what I say, while I am here... Though, that could work in my favor, later on. If plan A, in getting everyone around me to let me go, does not work.'
Garcia commented, “And the nice lady here stated that they have an interest in you. Something about the ring on your right forth finger, that locked you in your current female form.”
A mixture worry and mild fear broke through Lee's poker face, as she thought, 'Oh no...'
Garibaldi finished for her friend, as she stated, “And well. Since we both realized that you are nothing but trouble. And the fact you now the body of a little girl, with no way to change back. Not that I blame you. It was this, or the cancer killing you. We decided to leave you in the care of some people that are interested in you.”
Lee's voice dripped with sarcasm, as she said, “I am deeply touched.”
Garibaldi and Garcia responded to Lee's sarcastic remark, by lightly laughing, for a few seconds.
As they did so, Lee took a good hard look at them, together, in their cursed forms, as she mentally realized, 'It is them...'
As the two girls stopped laughing, Garibaldi noticed the look on Lee's face. She questioned, “What it is?”
Lee remained silent for a few more seconds.
Garcia inquired, in a slightly arrogant tone of voice, “Nothing to say?”
Lee casually said, “Actually, I was just reflecting on a minor temporal event that happened to me a while back. For me, the event has already happened. For you, it has yet to happen. Basically, as a girl, you beat me up my male past self. With a friend of mine, along with our blond friend here stopping you from your continued attack on me.”
Garibaldi could not help be giggle at the mental image Lee's comments caused her to form in her mind. She then said, “I looked forward to it.”
Lee conceded, “Yea. And I consider that one of the low points of my life.” She then looked over at Garcia, as she stated, “And after this and that, I consider us even.”
Garcia coldly stated, “We are not even close to even.” She then conceded, in her normal tone of voice, “But, this is a start.”
Lee casually responded, “Glad to hear it.”
Garibaldi said, “Now, we must go. But, we need something from you, first?”
Lee thought, 'I already know what it is. And for now, it is best just to let them have it.' She calmly stated, “The item is in my left front pants pocket.”
Garibaldi said, “Thank you.”
Lee coldly stated, “I just don't want you to pat me down, while I am like this.”
Garibaldi replied, with just a hint of warmth in her voice, “I understand.”
Garibaldi then walked over, and in front of Lee's head. Garibaldi turned to her right, as she looked at the dark blue haired woman face, whom was kneeling beside Lee, while keeping her hands on Lee's back.
Garibaldi saw the dark blue haired woman looked at her, as Garibaldi asked permission, in a kind tone of voice, “May I please get the item I need from the girl you are holding down?”
The amazon woman casually replied, in english, “Go ahead.” She thought, 'I have a feeling that it is best we just let these two get what they need, and leave. And it is clear that this girl's manners, she must older than her physical body shows. That is not surprising. The guide did said that this girl, and the one we are holding down, are two older men that have been cursed. Along with the blond teenage girl being a cursed boy as well.'
'And their curses are a reminder as to why, barring special circumstances, we are told not to go to the Jusenkyo. Because it is a dangerous place to go.'
'Though, I do wish the teachers would teach the younger generations about Jusenkyo in more detail. Instead of just saying that it is dangerous place to go too. And that it should be avoided.'
Garibaldi leaned over Lee's head, as she used her right hand to reach into Lee's front left side pants pocket. A second later, she felt the reality device, and she gently pulled the device out of Lee pocket.
Afterward, Lee silently watched as Garibaldi leaned up, turned around, and walked back over to stand with Garcia. Next, Lee saw Garibaldi turn around, to face her, as Garibaldi held the reality device in her hands.
Lee thought, 'I am screwed. And I know it. But, I need to check on how much Garibaldi and Garcia know, on to use that device. Or, they could have a similar situation as I wrote the Lowe siblings to have in book four. It is better they know how to work it, and go where they want. Than to randomly bounce around the multiverse. That is just asking for trouble.'
Lee inquired, “I take it you put two and two together, from Garcia’s story, on how to reality travel?”
Garibaldi turned to Lee, as she plainly answered, “Yes. Think of a time, place, and reality, hold that thought, and press the red button on the device.”
Lee thought, 'Good. Garibaldi understands exactly how to use the reality device. That means they will likely not get lost.' She complimented, “You always did have an eye for details.”
Garibaldi replied, “Yes. I do. And so do you. See you later. And good luck.”
Garcia looked over at Lee, as she said, “I would say this was fun. But, I just want this trip to be over.”
Lee commented, “Don't worry. I already wrote the ending. As I said. You will see your friends again. With all three of you being in good health. And I kept what I wrote vague enough that you should be able to choose how it plays out. By the way, your eighteenth birthday is going to be real fun. Very adult fun. And I was vague with that event, as well.”
Garcia realized the subtext of what Lee was saying. She smirked, as she stated, “I look forward it, then.” She thought, while being happy, 'That means this trip is not going to be very long. Considering my eighteenth birthday is not that far off.'
While Lee did not show it on the outside, inwardly she thought, with a bit of evil, 'Yea. Be happy for the moment, Garcia. For while I am okay with facing this. For betraying me, I am going to let you to find out the hard way that you will now face monthly periods, like natural women... On the other hand, it is going to be a while for Garibaldi, and my, female forms to reach that point...'
'I knew that before I went into the spring of drowned girl, and then locked myself in this form. And given Garibaldi is married, and has a daughter, those matters on rattling in the back of her head, as well. Though, she probably does not want to mentally acknowledge those issues, yet. Let alone mention them out loud...'
'Still, there is one thing I have to ask of them. Especially, Garcia. And I have to keep this vague, for all our sakes.'
Lee calmly stated, “Though. There is one other matter, I need to discuss with you, before you abandon me here. To prevent a paradox from occurring. I need you both to keep all that you know about me, a secret from everyone. Especially, the maids. Until after they return from their hunt for me. You will know when the time is right, with the time periods reaching parallel when you, when they mention my name, and a city called De La Plata Podrido. With them admitting to losing me at Jusenkyo.”
Lee thought, 'Because, after whatever the amazons do to me. There is not way the maids are going to find me. Plus, they will be tracking my reality device, not me, as I am, now.'
Garcia thought, 'A city called, Of The Rotten Silver. I guess it would make sense that Lee would be from such a city. From the name of the city, it sounds like it would be almost as corrupt as Roanapur. Still, I can understand Lee's reasoning for her request. And it seems that from writing her stories, that Lee has gained a firm understanding of temporal mechanics across multiple realities. Which worries me a little. Considering she is trying to manipulate Garibaldi and I. With all three of us knowing that we have to do what Lee wants. Or, it could cause even problems for all of us.'
Garcia coldly stated, “I will do as you ask. But, not for your sake. But, for the sake of my friends. Considering it sound likes everything turns out okay, for them, in the end. I can live with keeping your secrets.”
Lee thought, 'You would be correct... For the most part...'
Garcia questioned, “Though, you still think you can lose them?”
Lee stated, “They are tracking reality jumps. And they would never guess that I would be betrayed and stranded. Especially, by you, of their past. Instead, they will just guess my plan, as you have. And they will just follow you, without knowing you ditched me here.”
Garcia conceded, “I guess that makes sense. And if they find us, we will talk. And they might even call off the hunt for you. Should they learn what happened to you. Though, I believe I will at least tell them that you are taken care of. And leave it at that.”
Garcia thought, 'And because Roberta and Fabiola clearly went behind my back to hunt for you, I believe it would be best not to ask Roberta and Fabiola any uncomfortable questions.'
Lee complimented, “That would likely be best. You truly are better person than most people.”
Garcia remarked, in an even tone of voice, “I know. That is why I am not going to kill you, myself. But instead, I will leave you here, and let the locals deal with you.” She looked above Lee, and to the amazons holder Lee, as she continued, “However they want.”
Lee hear the two amazon women both her, slightly giggling. As the amazons noticed Garcia was talking about them, as Garcia looked at them.
Lee gave Garcia a weak smile, as she said, “Given how all our luck runs. I might be getting the better end of the stick, here.”
Garcia turned back to Lee, as she responded, “Perhaps. Either way. Goodbye.”
Garibaldi looked at Lee, as she said, in a sincere tone of voice, “Nice meeting you. And I do we wish did not have to part this way. But, I believe it is for the best... For all of us. Also, thank you for opening my eyes to much greater realities. No pun intended. I thought that my life had already peaked, but thanks to you, I realize that my life has only just begun.”
Lee responded, “You are welcome. And have a safe trip.” She thought, 'Okay. At least Garibaldi is grateful for what I have done for her.'
Garcia turned to Garibaldi, as she requested, “Please, get us out of here.”
Garibaldi looked over at Garcia, as she said, “With pleasure. Do you have any time, place, and reality, in mind?”
Garcia was quiet for a few seconds. She then suggested, “Star Trek Federation Earth, during the Next Generation period. That that place, time and reality, sounds like a good start to this trek.”
Both of them giggled a little at Garcia's joke, for a few seconds.
Lee held back a giggle of her own, as she thought, 'They look like a couple of giggling school girls, from different grades. That is wrong on so many levels.'
As they calmed down, Garibaldi agreed, “Yes it does. I always wondered why they called the Earth of that reality, paradise?”
Garcia said, “Then, let us find out for ourselves.”
Garibaldi complimented, “Good idea.”
Garcia commented, “I suggest we head to New Orleans, Louisiana, of that reality.”
Garibaldi guessed, “Sisko's Creole Kitchen restaurant?”
Garcia grinned, as she answered, “Exactly.”
Garibaldi returned Garcia's grin. She shrugged, she suggested, “Well, if we are going to New Orleans. We might as well go during Mardi Gras.”
Garcia happily stated, “I like that idea.”
Garibaldi said, “I am glad you do. Besides, I am in the mood for some gumbo, for lunch.”
Garcia commented, “I never had that type of food before.”
Garibaldi explained, “It is a slightly spicy, tomato based soup. You will probably enjoy it.”
Garcia gave Garibaldi a warm smile, as she agreed, “I think I will. Though, we don't have any real money for that reality. I just have some gold coins. And we both know from DS9, that gold is worthless there.”
Garibaldi returned Garcia smile, as she pointed out, “That is a good point. I am sure we will figure something out. Besides, they don't use money on that Earth, at that time.”
Garibaldi thought, 'And while Gold maybe worthless in that reality, at that point in time. I am sure those gold coins will come in handy in other realities. Now, let's get this show on the road.'
Garibaldi requested, “Now, get close to me. So, we can do this together.”
Garcia took a step closer to Garibaldi, to where they were standing side by side. She said, “Okay. And if we do need to barter. I am more than happy to use some of my gold coins to help us. For their historical value.”
Garibaldi complimented, “Now, that is a good point.” She mentally added, 'And Garcia. I don't mind that you were secretly holding on to some gold, just in case. That is not a bad move on your part. Now, to head out of here, and to where, when, and what reality, we want to go to. I need to focus, to do this right.
Garibaldi then thought of the time, place, and reality. She held that thought, as she pressed the red button on the reality device.
A split second later, Lee watched both girls disappear.
Lee looked back down, to her right side, as she place her head in a more comfortable position. She thought, with a bit of sadness, 'Well they're going. With my ticket out of this reality.'
Lee tried to look on the bright side of her situation, as she continued her thoughts, 'Though, at least, I don't have a crick in my neck, from straining my neck in the position I needed to see them with.'
Lee thoughts then turned more grim, 'Still, Garibaldi and Garcia are about to go have a nice gumbo lunch, while I am left to proverbially stew in my own problems here... The party left without me. The story of my life.'
Lee forced herself to calm down, as she continued her thoughts, with more seriousness, 'Okay. Let's review my current situation. I was just betrayed by two people I had risked life and limb to help. I have been captured, and tied up by chinese amazons. For reasons I don't really understand, at the moment. And I just lost my only ride out of this reality.'
'The good news is that it could be worse. I did plan for this happening. I just did not expect it to happen so soon. That when I came to this reality, I made sure this was the composite reality that Ranma, Akira, and Natsuru are from. And this place has the resources to build reality devices. And reality travelers live on this planet. Or, will soon live on this planet. Considering this is the past, before the events of book one. So, I got time to grow up a little. At least physically. And I know where to find these reality traveler's at. Or, at least their friends and relatives. Whom will eventually put me in touch with them.'
'Now, for my more immediate problems.'
'I just have to make it through this capture, to where I will wait for the opportunity to escape, without actually defeating any of these women. So, I avoid the kiss of death. This should not be so hard for someone with my skills, and patience. From there, well...'
Lee then realized a few problems she was going to have, after she escaped. As she mentally reflected, with worry, 'I might have a little trouble. A child in a foreign land. Especially, a girl. With no money, is not a good position to be in. But, as an outsider, my other options, in staying in this village, with these amazons, are likely worse.'
'Still, I need to see how the next few hours are going to play out for me. And from there, I will make my long terms plans.'
'Though, first thing is first. Let's get this ball rolling.'
Lee said, in chinese, “I may look like a child. But, I am a much older person. And I realize you have captured me, with no way to quickly escape. I will not run, but could you please, at least, sit me up. Lying face down in the dirt is no fun, for anyone.”
A moment later, Lee heard a much more mature, female voice, that was not the voice of the dark blue haired woman, state, in a casual, though curious tone of voice, in chinese, “My. My. My. What do we have here? This is no way to treat a guest. Especially, one whom has show such remarkable restraint. No pun intended. So, do as she requests. Sit her up. And turn her around to face me.'
The two amazons women whom had been holding Lee down, picked her up, turned her around, and sat her down on her butt.
Lee then saw whom had ordered the two women to do so.
Lee saw that the woman in front of her was only a few feet tall, and skinny, from the look of her hands. And she appeared to be very, very old in age. She had blue-green eyes, and flowing white hair, that went down her back, and with the hair being long than she was tail.
The woman wore a green shirt that was several times to big inside for her small frame. With the shirt acting as a robe that went below her feet. Her shirt had red trimming, and a yellow encircled cross on the front center of it. She also wore a red headband across her brow, and down the sides of her face, in front of her ears, that pushed her hair away from her face.
The woman was currently holding tightly to a six foot long, brown, wooden cane, with the top foot of the can having gnarled, curled end.
The women tightly held her cane from the upper half of the staff, with her hands and legs, with the can resting along the right, front side of her chest, as the bottom part of the staff was planted in the ground, the woman balancing
While the women did this, she showed remarked balance, as the feet her body was a feet feet above the ground, as she balanced and steadied herself with the bottom, flat end of the cane.
Also, given she showed little effort in have the bottom of the staff on the ground, as she stayed up right, with her feet almost yard above the ground.
This balancing act showed the that the woman's experience was profound, and her strength belied her age.
Lee immediately recognized the woman, as she sarcastically thought, 'Just great. This woman is Cologne. The leader of this amazon village. She is at least three hundred years old, and still a powerful fighter. With immense spiritual power, and wisdom. Which she has gained over the centuries. And even at her advanced age, she is still likely one of the sharpest, and most intelligent people that I know of in the multiverse... Well, at least I am in the hands of someone that not actually evil. She is just very, very crafty. And she has a wicked sense of humor.'
Cologne said, “I am Cologne, the leader of these Amazons.”
Lee thought, 'Now, to see if I can get myself out of this mess.' She responded, in a pleasant tone of voice, in chinese, “Hello Cologne. I already know who you are. If I have done something to unknowingly offend your people. I sincerely apologize. And I am willing to make reasonable amends.”
Cologne said, “You done nothing to offend any of us. It is just that my sisters over did it, a little, when the two other girls mentioned you were an expert escape artist.”
Lee thought, with relief, 'Good. This could be actually turn out to be a misunderstanding. Where I might be able to convince Cologne to let me go. Still, I best be honest with her. She can likely spot a lie, a mile away. I would not be surprised if she is psychic. She can likely read auras. She might even have telepathic and empathic abilities. If she does, I am already screwed. So, I am not going to worry about that possibility.'
'Though, either way, I am not going to tell her everything. I am going to make her work for it. Like any girl would do.'
Lee conceded, “I admit that I have some experience in such endeavors.”
Cologne raised eyebrow, as she smiled. She replied, “Really?”
Lee thought, 'She knows I am older than I look. Though, anyone that would have listened to the recent conversation I had with Garibaldi and Garcia, would realize that. But, I am not going to state that out loud, and confirm that fact in public.'
Lee just shrugged, as she said, “Yes. You could say I have lead an interesting life. Though, I doubt my life has been no where near as interesting as yours.”
Cologne commented, “Perhaps... But, I will learn more from you, soon enough. In private.”
Lee thought, 'I have feeling that a private talk with her will not bode well for me. And my precognition confirms that. Still, there is nothing I can do about that, for right now.'
Cologne turned her attention to the two amazon women to Lee's sides, as she calmly order, “Bring her to my home. But, keep her tied up.”
Lee thought, 'There goes my plan for convincing her to untie me. Though, perhaps I should feel flattered. She does consider me to be an escape artist.'
Lee heard the blue haired amazon woman say, in chinese, “I will take care of it.”
Lee forced herself to remain calm, as she continued her thoughts, in a more logical manner, 'It is best I not fight them on this. Struggling would ruin the wonderful first impression I am having with their leader, Cologne. And I can use that first impression to my advantage.'
Lee felt two hand picks her up, and carried her and carried the woman's over shoulder. From the look of the hair on the woman that carried her, she saw that it was the dark blue haired woman, that was carrying her.
Lee looked behind her, to see the brown haired amazon woman walking away from them, as they made their through the village, while other women and man, they passed by, looked on.
(_)
A few minutes later, Lee heard a door open, behind her. She then watched as the woman carrying her walked into a building.
Soon, the dark blue haired woman stopped, and gently set Lee down, on the floor, in a sitting position.
Lee looked up to see Cologne using her cane, to stand there, in front of her. Lee looked around to see she was in a very nicely furnished living room. And she also saw that the only other person in the room, besides Cologne and herself, was the blue hair amazon woman, to Lee's left side.
Lee then looked back at Cologne.
Cologne turned younger, middle-aged amazon woman, as she calmly ordered, “Leave us.”
The blue haired woman then turned around, left the room, for the outside. With her gently closing outside door behind them.
With only the Cologne and Lee in the room. Cologne looked down at Lee, as she hopped down from her staff, and onto the wood flooring of the home. With Cologne holding the bottom of her staff, with her right hand, while leaning it against her right shoulder.
Lee saw that there were only a few feet between Cologne and herself.
Even while sitting, Lee had to slightly look down at Cologne's smaller form.
Cologne inquired, in a slightly amused tone of voice, “Now, who do I have here?”
Lee plainly answered, “A cursed individual, whom knows she is in a whole lot of trouble.”
Cologne chuckled for, a few seconds. As she calmed down, she smiled, while she said, “I will give you this. You are a lot brighter than most of the guests I meet here.”
Lee calmly replied, “Thank you.”
Cologne responded, “You're welcome. Also, I noticed when you are speaking my native tongue. Though, you have a slight taiwanese accent. Where did you learn chinese from?”
Lee thought, 'There is no point in lying about my language skills.' She answered, “As you have guessed. A taiwanese lady taught me.”
Cologne said, “Well... That island does produce some interesting people.”
Lee thought, 'You don't know the half of it... Or, maybe you do. I don't know how much traveling you have done in your long life. Though, it was likely a lot. Considering you had no problems getting to Japan, in the future. Even at your advanced age.'
Cologne asked, “Besides your speaking skills. How good are you with reading and writing my native language?”
Lee answered, “Cantonese and Mandarin are decent.” She thought, 'Shenhua really knows chinese, and not just her native version.' Lee said, “But, while I can write chinese characters very slowly, my penmanship was never my strong suit. In any language.” She mentally added, 'Which is ironic, considering I am a writer.' Lee verbally continued, “I prefer to type, than to write long hand. I find it much easier. Though, I have little experience in typing chinese. I have mostly typed in english. Which is my native language.”
Cologne questioned, in a calm tone of voice, “We will work on that. Also, I listened to your conversation, from a distance. After I was informed about you. I showed up around the time you were tied up. From what was said, it sounds like none of the three of you are from this place. Also, it seems that your two friends took something from you, and they used that item to suddenly disappear. Please, explain yourself? And where you are from?”
Lee thought, 'I am willing to bet she can tell if I lie. I might as well be honest. I still might be able to talk my way out of this. Since, I am not crazy enough to fight them. Though, I need to keep this as simple an explanation as possible.'
Lee coyly answered, “We used an item, that the other two took off with, to get here. My item is similar to the magical Nanban mirror, only with a wider selection of locations to go to.”
Cologne asked, “And how do you know about that lost relic?... Oh. Time travel.”
Lee said, “Something like that.” Lee sarcastically thought, 'Now, that I think about it. I don't believe it was a good idea mentioning that magical mirror. Still, I may be able to barter my way out of this mess.'
Lee offered, “As you can guess. I am from the future. And I can offer you knowledge of the future, in exchange for my freedom”
Cologne casually responded, “My dear. I prefer not knowing the future. Such surprises, as what the future brings, are one of the few joys I left in my life.”
Lee thought, with disappointment, 'Well, that offer was a bust. Though, it does explain, why most of the time, she just stood back and watch the chaos from a front row seat. Though, I might as well be polite about this. So, I can at least stay in her good graces.'
Lee said, “Then, you have much joy to look forward to in the future.”
Cologne commented, in an amused, and curious tone of voice, “What an interesting response.”
Lee thought, 'Yes. It is. And sense we are talking about time travel. There is a question I need to ask, so I can find out exacting where I am in the timeline.'
Lee inquired, “I have a question for you. While I am from the future. I do not know the exact dates on the events that happen to you, in the future. So, to gauge when in time I am located, at this moment, I was wondering is you could kindly tell me how old is you great-grand daughter, Shampoo?”
Cologne scowled slightly. Her voice took as suspicious tone, as she questioned, “To answer your question. She is fifteen years old. Still, what does my great-grand daughter have to do with the future?”
Lee thought, with worried, 'I hope I didn't get on her bad side, with that question. Though, I got my answer. And I can still smooth things over.' Lee plainly stated, “In several months, to a years time, her life, and your life, are going to become much more interesting.”
Cologne dropped scowl, as she smiled. She said, in a casual tone of voice, “I look forward to it.”
Lee thought, with relief, 'Good. She calmed down some.'
Cologne asked, “So, why did you curse yourself?”
Lee honestly answered, “I was dying of cancer. And this was the only way left for me to cure my cancer.” She mentally added, 'Among other issues that are now solved with the gender change.'
Lee saw look of pity show Cologne's eyes, as the older woman calmly stated, “That is understandable. Also, in addition to locking you in your cursed form. As long as you keep that ring on, you will not change back. Also, that ring will keep you healthy. Along with boasting your physical abilities, and longevity, a bit.”
Lee thought, 'Given how deep I am in, it is best I don't ask Cologne how she knows about my ring. And she just confirmed my hopes of locking my cursed from. Still, I need to know what her plans are for me.'
Lee calmly inquired, “So, what do you have planned for me?”
Cologne calmly said, “Nothing horrible. Though, there are likely a few things about your cursed body that you may not be aware of.”
Lee deadpanned, “I know about monthly periods, sexual intercourse, where babies come from, bras, and having to sit to pee. Though, all but that last one I don't have to worry about for a number of years.”
Cologne chuckled for a few seconds. She conceded, in a casual tone of voice, “Well, at least you know a few things. But, none of those were the subjects I was talking about. While gender change from the cursed springs will not change you mental gender, unless you want it too, the extreme youth your body change has been given you will cause personality changes.”
Lee thought, 'I don't like where this is going. But, I need to remain honest.' She admitted, “That possibility occurred to me. So, could you please explain?”
Cologne stated, “Well, even though the curses, barring the personality curses, do not directly effect the personality of those that are cursed. The body itself can, due to factors of change in hormone levels, and the maturity of one's brain. For those with animals, and those made very young, when a person changes back into their original form, it reset the equilibrium of their personality, back to the way they were.”
“While you have very good reasons in doing so. Because you locked yourself into that six year old, female form, there is no way to reset the equilibrium of your personality. You now have the physical brain, body, and hormone levels, of a six your old girl. And due to these biological changes, which you have undergone, you will soon slowly start to think like a six year girl. Both in lack of judgment and hyperness. But, you will still retain your memories.”
“This will cause problems for you, as you grow up again. The combination of having the memories of an adult, and the personality of a child, will likely lead to extreme social isolation, and possible, eventual insanity.”
Lee mentally grumbled, 'Forget escaping. This is bad. Very bad. This could be the reason I have been off my game since I was cursed. My younger, child brain could already be effecting my mind. I am clearly no longer as sharp as I once was. And looking back, I noticed that Garibaldi was acting a bit more childish than usual, with her sniping remarks. So, we are both effecting. But, Garibaldi will changed back soon, into an old man, for a little while. As such, his mind will eventually find a balance, and be fine. While I am forced to be locked in this form...'
'Though, to be honest. This is the way I planned it. And I have no regrets on cursing myself and locking myself in this from. Barring the very young age, I finally feel comfortable in my own skin and that is such a wonderful feeling.'
'Also, this kind of reminds me of female gender forms of Stan and Lewis Lowe. If they stay female for four days or more. They start acting crazy, like their mother use to be. Until, they changed back.'
'And I realize that as time passes, I am going to become more childish with each passing day. Which does not really scare me, but it does concerning me for several reasons.'
'Also, I see now that I have been to open, and making to many assumptions with Garibaldi and Garcia. And doing so cost me. And being childish, in the situation I am in, will either get me killed, or worse. And I have unwilling gone the isolation route, as I grew up the first time. I do not want to go through with that again.'
'Perhaps Cologne has a solution to my problems. I will just listen, to see if she presents an option, so I do not have to request one.'
Cologne mentioned, “Also, that ring will slow down your age by half. So, you are going to spend twice as long as a child, and teenager, before you reach adulthood.”
Lee stated, the obvious, in a sad tone of voice, “This is not good.” She thought, 'On top of everything else, I did not plan to be a child for that long. I guess, a bit, is a lot longer for a woman that is over three centuries old.'
Cologne said, in a soothing, motherly tone of voice, “Yes. But, not to worry. This is not the first time this has happened. We have experience in dealing with people in your situation. We have even development a method to help people like you.”
Lee thought, 'I don't like the way she is approaching her solution.' She inquired, with worry evident in her voice, and on her face, “Help in what way?”
Cologne calmly explained, “My people have a special type of shampoo, used in conjunction with pressure points located on the scalp, which allows us to sealed the memories of those we use it on. Depending on what pressure points are applied on the scalp, while using the shampoo, we can select what memories are sealed. Sometimes just the memories of specific person, or event, that the user knows, all the way to sealing a person's entire memory.”
Lee thought, 'I remember this from the Ranma Half series. And she clearly plans to do this to me.' She stated, “Formula one one four.” She calmly though, 'And formula one one nine reverses it. Or, extreme stress can reverse the effects. Though, I am not going to say that. Given, you might not like the idea that I know the cure. Even though I won't remember it, after you brainwash me.'
Cologne questioned, with slight interest in her voice, “Ah, you have heard of this technique?”
Lee calmly answered, “Yes. And I can see how that shampoo could also be useful in helping a person deal with, and move on from a traumatic event.”
Lee could tell that Cologne was impressed by her comment. Cologne responded “Yes. It has been used in that way before. And since you know that much. You likely also know the process is painless?”
Lee casually replied, “And the technique will leave my hair feeling silky smooth, for a little while.”
Cologne warmly giggled, for a few seconds. She then mentioned, in a relaxed tone of voice, “That is one of benefits of the technique. And what I will do is seal your memories. Which will leave you as a child, whom has no memory of her past.”
Lee grimly thought, 'And I bet with no memories, for such children, this also allows you to mold their personalities, as they grow older. Though, there are limits to even that. In many cases, a person's likes, dislikes, and reactions to stimuli are inborn. Though, I wonder how I will turn out in this situation?...'
Lee then remembered an event that happened to her in her recent past. She thought, with annoyance, 'Damn it! Due to being on the run from Rock, Revy, the maids, and everyone else, I completely forget, until now, about the chinese amazons, I met, that were from the future... So, this is how that happened. And I am trapped in my on temporal loop. I do not want to create a paradox. And I cannot really disagree with Cologne's logic in doing this. Though, I am not happy about it.'
Lee conceded, “I will admit that I see your logic. But, I am not happy about this.”
Cologne stated, in a kind tone of voice, “Look on the bright side. You will get to experience being a child, again. This is not such a horrible fate.”
Lee countered, “As a female outsider. I know the laws of this village. One stupid fight later, and I get the kiss of death.”
Cologne stated, “No. Because you will have no memories of your past, you will be adopted in to the tribe. As I said, we have done this a few times. Both girls, and boys. And we have figured out how to make it work. Sometimes the person doesn't even originally know our language, and we have to teach it to them. While you do know our language. And not to worry, even with your memories sealed, you will retain all your skills. You will just have no the knowledge on how you gained your skills.”
Lee inquired, “I will admit that does not sound too bad. And what happens when I ask about my birth family, and old memories?”
Cologne answered, “We will say you have been with us since birth, you hit your head, and you no longer remember your past from before the accident.”
Lee stated, “That should work. And I understand what you are saying. I will not fight the process. But, I ask for a minute to remember.”
Cologne asked, “Of what?”
Lee sadly answered, “I want the last memories I know of, as myself, to be about my family, and my friends.”
Cologne replied, “That will be fine.”
In response to Cologne, Lee began recalling everything she knew, and remembered, of her family, and friends. Including her friends in De La Plata Podrido, Pedro, Melvin, Bao, and especially, River.'
As Lee did so, she watched a Cologne hold her staff with her right hand, as she used her left hand to pull out, from her clothing, a small bottle of shampoo, labeled one one four.
Lee thought, 'She likely knows the hidden weapons techniques that Mousse excels out.' She then went back to recalling some of the better times she spent with her family and friends.
Cologne complimented, “Those are very wise thoughts, young one. And you are certainly young, no matter what age you really are. Still, take comfort with the knowledge that this technique is not permanent. It can be easily reversed. And we will usually make the offer to do so when the person affected reaches a level of mental maturity to handle the truth. Usually, when the body is around twenty years old.”
Lee dispassionately said, “That is comforting. Also, I have another question.”
Cologne casually requested, “Please, state it?”
Lee said, “I used one of the village's outhouses before I was captured. I was wondering, do you have indoor plumbing?”
Cologne let out a laugh. She then stated, with joy in her voice, “Given you were once a man, and you are now a girl, I can see how and why you would ask that question. To answer your question. Yes, we have indoor plumbing. Everything for hot and cold running water. To sinks, tubs, showers, and toilets. From towels to toilet paper. Including all the items associated to staying clean. And the toilets we use are western style toilets.”
“Along with those items, we even have access to modern feminine hygiene products. Of which, you will need to use such items, in a few years.”
Lee responded, “Thank you, for being so understanding. I really needed to ask that question.” She mentally added, 'And thank you for answering a few more questions that I didn't feel like asking.'
Cologne requested “That is not a problem. Now, what name do you go by?”
Lee answered, in english, “Lee.”
Cologne walked over behind Lee, as she responded, “Then, you will be named, Dongmei.”
It took Lee a moment to realize what the name meant. She inquired, “Winter plum?”
Cologne said, “Yes. We already have someone nearby named, Plum. Which is what the name, Lee, means in my native language. So, I picked something more fitting. Winter, for your real age. And Plum, for your name.”
Lee though, 'Now, I know where the name came from.' She agreed, in chinese, “It is a fitting name for someone in my situation. And I know of the girl you are talking about, whom is named, Plum. She is a kind girl whom loves her father very dearly, and whom I wish only the best for.” Lee then sadly concluded, “Still, for myself, it is going to be a very long journey here.”
Cologne kindly responded, “Take heart. We will help you make friends. And you will learn much. Including how to become a great fighter. You seem like that type whom does not give up. Even now.”
Cologne's comment caught Lee off guard, as Lee hesitantly inquired, “How did you guess?”
Cologne stated, “You have not done anything to provoke us. I am sure you are were thinking along the lines of being polite, until you saw an opportunity to escape, in a manner that would not appear as a defeat towards my people. Now, that you fully realize the situation you are in, with you new girl form. You also realize that what I am about to do to you will only benefit you.”
Lee halfheartedly admitted, “You are right.”
Cologne was already behind Lee. She had her staff in her right hand and the bottle of formula one one four in her left hand. She set down her staff, against a nearby chair.
Cologne plainly asked, “Now, are you ready, Lee?”
Lee took a deep breath and slowly let it out. A few seconds later, she answered, “Yes. I am ready, Cologne.”
Cologne opened the bottle of shampoo. She then began to apple the formula one one four to Lee's black hair, and scalp. Thus, beginning the memory sealing process, on Lee.
Lee last thoughts were, 'I have to admit, this feels pretty good. River might like this.'
A minute later, Dongmei felt her hair was silky smooth. Dongmei looked over at Cologne, whom was now standing in front of the younger girl.
Cologne could see innocence showing in the young girl's eyes, that were not there before.
Dongmei childishly asked, in english, “Who are you?”
Cologne mentally lamented, 'Now, here comes the hard part.'
The older woman then started untying the younger girl's ropes, as she checked to make sure the Dongmei still knew chinese, which Dongmei did. Cologne then began spinning her tale for the Dongmei. All the while, Cologne was mentally formulating the best ways to integrate Dongmei into her village, as seamlessly as possible.
(_)
Babylon Five Reality. Date, January Twenty-Ninth, Twenty-Two Eighty-One. Location, an upscale residential district in Mars Dome One. Time, around noon.
Inside the bedroom of Matthew McCormick's upscale, highrise condo, Matthew was presently finishing his preparations in getting ready to leave.
Matthew had returned to his home a few hours ago, after his boss, Michael Garibaldi, CEO of Edgars Industries, had given him the vacation time, away from his job, that Matthew had strongly requested.
And while Matthew had not slept in the past thirty hours, or so, he was still wired from what had happened to him the previous night.
Also, even though Matthew was had not slept, when he did get home, he immediately headed for his bathroom to shave, shower, and change his clothing. After which, using a computer in his home, he electronically paid for some first class tickets offworld, to Centauri Prime.
Then, Matthew had gotten ready, by packing to large suitcases, on his bed, in his bedroom. As he packed, he had the TV turned on, in his bedroom. The TV was a viewscreen on a wall, located across from the foot of his bed. He had the TV turned to a local news station.
At first the news was talking about the police station attack, last night, which Matthew almost became a casualty of.
In addition, the news only briefly mentioned incidents dealing with two highway chases, and an attack on a factory on the north end, of the interior of Mars Dome One.
Matthew knew that he was a part of the second chase mentioned. that Matthew was a part of. Though, barring the original live broadcast of the second chase. The news did not go into details of these three incidents. Nor, were any names mentioned in the review news story, and further re-airing of the footage of the chase Matthew was in. And Matthew found out that the only name mentioned by live broadcast of the second chase, was Lee's alias, Ello Gray.
Matthew chalked this up to his boss telling the news stations not to cover those incidents. Of which, Matthew was grateful toward Mister Garibaldi for.
Both, Matthew realized that all these events must have been connected to his most recent, client, and the client he had dumped the quickest, Lee.
But, at the moment, Matthew could care less about Lee, at the moment. Presently, his mental state was in survival mode. And he was leaving as quickly as he could.
Though, a few hours after Matthew had left Edgars Industries Complex, the news then reported that Edgars Industries main headquarters had been attacked, and CEO Garibaldi has gone missing. The police officially stated that they had no leads, and no suspects at the moment. Though, it was reported that Lise and Mary Edgars had been accounted for, elsewhere on Mars Dome One, and they were both completely fine. Though, no details were given of where those two women were currently located.
Also, there was a brief mention of a technician that was found in a safe room, in the main, center building of the Edgars Industries Headquarters. But, the police soon had the journalists keep quiet on that, as well. With the police stated that was an unofficial lead.
And, except for those facts, since the first reports of the attack on Edgars Industries, the news had been doing nothing but repeating what had already been reported. With the news anchors talking mostly about how this would effects of E.I. CEO Michael Garibaldi being missing could have on the planetary economy, galactic politics in Mar gov's dealings with the Interstellar Alliance, and who could possibility had done it.
The irony was that the police had no suspects because it was publicly known that CEO Garibaldi had very powerful, and he had even more powerful friends that went all the way to the top of the Interstellar Alliance on Minbar. Also, it was an open secret Garibaldi had done a thorough job of making sure everyone knew not to mess with him, nor his family, and friends. And for others after him to only challenge his company in the legal, civil ways of capitalism.
As such, everyone knew that to attack him was for that person to practically pick a fight with the galaxy itself.
Though, after the night that Matthew had, Matthew had a vague idea of who was responsible for the Edgars Industries attack. And in Matthew's opinion, anyone insane enough to pick such a fight was to be avoided at all cost.
After Matthew finished packing. Matthew used a remote to turned off his TV. He then toss his TV remote onto his made bed. And he turned his attention back to the two suitcases on his bed.
As he checked both suitcases for what he needed, he thought, with concern, 'It is good that the old man gave me time off. But, in reality, this is my resignation. It is just that no one is going to realize it, including the boss, until I am literally halfway across the galaxy.'
'I am escaping while I still can. And I am not planning leaving a forwarding address. If the chairman cannot handle these people. No one can. So, I have got to get out of here, before whomever is after Lee comes for me, as well. Or, the law catches up to me.'
'Though, I regret I cannot call my family, to let them know what happened. Especially, my younger brother, Ian. Because, I am not going to drag them into this mess.'
'Well, I believe my suitcases are ready. I have my passport and other identifications ready. I have the printed receipts for my first class tickets to Centauri Prime ready. I think when I get to Centauri Prime, I will spend a week, or two on that planet. Relax and decompress some, before I move on.'
'It really is a nice time of the year to visit there. And I have a few friends there that will help me convert my credits to Centauri ducats, for a ten percent fee off the top. And give me false identicard, and other records. So, the law cannot track me with my credit chit record, nor identicard. Fortunately, Centauri ducats are considered currency in many locations, including a number of human colonies on the rim. Because those colonies need alien commerce to survive.'
'After all that is done, I will head for the rim. For a human colony on the edge of known space. That is as far as I can go, with the resources I have. I just hope it is far enough.'
'And even if I don't get a job as a lawyer. I am still young, intelligent, and healthy. If need be, I can get a job doing something else.'
'Fortunately, I have the credits to pull this plan off. And I stuffed these two suitcases with clothing, and everything else I hold dear, because I am not coming back here. All because I want to make sure that who is after Lee does not get to me. And if they don't, the police may try to charge me as a scapegoat for what happened last night.'
'Still, I am so happy, the news and the authorities have yet to identify me from the chopper video, during that chase. I am glad I took Lee's advice, and I did no look directly at the chopper, and its vid-camera. Still, I think my boss had a hand in that. But, with him gone, that is going to change very soon.'
'I know when it is time to leave. And it is an hour passed my time to leave.'
'And if the law doesn't catch me, I am afraid those violent and crazy girls might. As a way to tie up loose ends. Which I am to them.'
'Though, if the law does catch up to me, I can try the same thing that Lee tried. Get a telepath to read my mind about what happened. Because, no one is going to believe me, if I just tell them the truth.'
Matthew looked at a digital clock on his night stand, by his bed, to the right side of the bed. It was twelve ten PM.
Matthew then turned back to look at his suitcases, as he thought, 'It is twelve ten PM. My shuttle flight is not scheduled to leave for close to another two hours. But, it is going to take me an hour to get from here, to the transport tube station. And then take the transport tube to the spaceport. And I want to be in my first class shuttle seat with time to spare.'
'And I do look forward to my first class cabin and amenities, on the luxury liner I booked. It was not cheap, but if I am going to spend a week traveling in hyperspace. I figure I might as well do it in style.'
'It is tempting to charge it all to my company credit card. But, I feel that Garibaldi will come back someday. And he is one of the few people I feel could track me down, no matter where I went. So, I am just paying for all this myself, to prevent a reason for him to come looking for me.'
'Now, to get out of here.'
Matthew closed both he suitcases. He made sure the combination latches were firmly holding on both suitcases.
Then, he used each of his hands to picked up each suitcase by the handle.
Matthew thought, 'Damn. These things are heavier than I expected. But, I am not going to complain.'
Next, Matthew made his way out of his condo, bedroom. With him stopping, and sitting down his right suitcase, so he could turn off the light to his bedroom. Before before picking that suitcase back up, and continuing through his living room.
The sunlight from large windows in his living room provide enough light that there were no interior lights on in that room, for him to turn off.
When Matthew made it to the door to the hallway, he set down the suitcase in his right hand, used his right hand to open the door, walked to into the hallway, picked up, and moved his right suitcase into the hallway, gently closed the door behind him, pulled out a key, used the key to lock the door, put away his key back into the pocket he had it in, picked up his right suitcase with his right hand, turned around, and headed for the nearest bay of elevators on that floor.
As Matthew walked down the hallway, with a heavy suitcase in each hand, he thought, 'Now, to get to my new company car, in the nearby garage, and get out of here.'
(_)
Five minutes later, Matthew made it to the third floor of a multi-level parking garage, that was attached to the back end of the high class apartment and condominium complex he had been living in.
Matthew held both his heavy suitcases, to his sides, by their handles, as he walked towards the company car he drove home in, which he had replaced the company car with, that Lee wrecked, and totaled.
As Matthew made his way towards he new car, which was several car down the row, straight in from of him, nearly to the other side of the garage floor, he thought, 'I am so happy that Garibaldi decided not to charge me for the cost of that car Lee wrecked. That man can be so understanding. And he has a wonderful sense of humor. I just regret that the events beyond both our control have forced me to no longer be able to work with him. And I have to leave under such questionable circumstances. But, a man has to do, what a man has to do.'
While Matthew continued walking, to his left, he passed by a pink motorcycle, with a woman, sitting on the seat of the two wheeled vehicle. The woman wore a brown leather pants, brown leather zipped up jacket, with brown leather boots, brown leather belt, brown motorcycle helmet with the visor down, and the end of a metal chrome cylinder was hooked to the right side of her belt.
Matthew looked at the woman, and the motorcycle for a moment, as he walked by them. He then turned back to his car, which was further down the right row of the parking lane her walking down.
While Matthew walked, he thought, 'You don't see motorcycles like that every day. And that rider cuts a nice figure.'
Just then, Matthew heard a giant footstep hit the ground, right behind him.
Matthew turned around to see a giant, pink robot, whom was barely able to stand up straight, without hitting the ceiling of the parking garage, whose head was looking down at him, and the robot was less than six feet from him.
The women in brown leather, kept her helmet on, as she stood behind, and to the right, of the robot.
Matthew dropped his suitcases, as his mouth went slack jaw at what he saw.
Matthew thought, 'And I thought after last night, that nothing could surprise me any more. Boy was I wrong... I guess I waited too long to escape, and those psychos from last night, sent their friends after me.'
Due to the looked on Matthew's face, the robot started laughing for several seconds. While Matthew could hear the woman slightly giggle under her helmet.
As the robot calmed down, she commented, in english, “You should see the look on your face. Your expression is hilarious. You humans always crack me up.”
Matthew collected himself enough to reply, in a slightly confused tone of voice, “Huh?”
The robot introduced herself, in a pleasant, electronic, tone of voice, “I am, Arcee. I am here to take you someplace else. And I see you are even packed for the occasion. I love with it when someone we are sent after is ready to go, when we meet them.”
Matthew was still slightly in shock from the surreal situation he found himself in, as he flatly questioned, “Are you here to kill me? Like that crazy women tried to kill us, last night?””
Arcee scoffed, “Oh please. I try not to kill those that make me laugh. And I will say, given the events of last night, and this morning, that I agree that you probably needed to ask those questions. And the answer is quite the opposite. I am not here to kill, nor you harm in any way.”
Arcee noticed Matthew relax a bit, as he inquired, “Is this about Lee?”
Arcee answered, “Partly. But, it is mostly about you. We saw the recordings of you during that chase. And for the most part, you held yourself together well. Considering it was likely your first outing in an intense, life or death, situation, you did a good job.”
Matthew cracked a smile, as he replied, “Thank you.”
Arcee happily thought, 'Good. He is now in a pleasant mood. And this is a perfect opportunity to make him the offer Annie and I were sent to give him.' Arcee stated, “I am here to offer you a job, to begin the greatest adventure of your life.”
Matthew responded, with a bit of sarcasm in his tone of voic,e “Let me guess. It is an offer I cannot refuse?”
Arcee smirked, as she said, “It is nice you humans still appreciate the classics of your culture. Now, pick up your suitcases. We have places to go, and people for you to meet.”
Matthew asked, “Before we leave, I have a few questions. First, might I ask where you are taking me?”
Arcee casually responded, “I don't mind answering any of your questions. The trip will only take less than a moment to reach. We are going to another reality, on an alternate Earth. In the early twentieth-first century. On an eastern city island in Mexico, on the Gulf of Mexico, near the U.S. state of Texas.”
“The place we are going to is a casino called, Daiyu Palace Casino. We are going there, you will be assigned a suite, at the casino, to drop off your belongings. Then, you will be lead to meet the owner, and my part time boss, Chang. When we get there, he will figure out what job we can use you for. And you will be paid well for your services.”
Matthew flatly stated, “If this job involves committing violence, I am not interesting.”
Arcee responded, “Fair enough. And not to worry, it will not be a violent job. That is my department...”
The woman with the helmet on, coughed.
Arcee turned her head in the direction of the woman. She turned back to look at Matthew. She stated, “And my partner's department, as well. After which, you can get some sleep in your assigned suite. My sensors tell me you have no slept for a while.”
Matthew stated, “After last night, I am still a bit wired.”
Arcee commented, “That is completely understandable.”
Matthew honestly said, “Yes. And thank you for answering my questions. That is all I wanted to know.”
Arcee happily replied, “Glad I could be of help. Now, pick up your belongings, and take a few steps closer to me, and we will be on our way to your new life.”
Matthew mentally reflected, 'I always thought that wicked burn on B Five was going to be the highlight of my life. I guess I was wrong.'
Behind Arcee, Annie had just stood back and watched. As a master of the force, she did her best not to laugh at some of the events she just saw in front of her. She thought, in a relaxed frame of mind, 'Arcee has just now shown she can pull off a good plan, that she created. With me just here to help, if need be. Though, she wanted to see if she could pull this off on her own.'
'And she has done so. She is really impressing me with the level social skills she is displaying in getting Matthew to willing come with us.'
'She also already shut down the security system to this garage, so there are not records of us being here. And considering I sense no one else here, there are no witnesses, as well. Which is good for everyone.'
'Along with this, Arcee bet me that she could doing this kidnapping with a sense of humor, and style, while still pulling it off. With me just staying back, and watching. I guess I lost this bet. I now owe her five U.S. dollars. Though, to see this, it was well worth it.'
'Now, to head back to the casino.'
Matthew picked up his suitcases, and he walked closer to Arcee and Annie. At the same time, Annie took a few steps closer to Arcee, as well.
Arcee then used her internal reality device to transport all three of them back to Lee's Reality, in back garage of Daiyu Palace Casino. At one PM local time, in Del La Plata Podrido, three days after Lee had originally escaped Lee's home reality.
(_)
Lee's Reality. Location, De La Plata Podrido, Mexico. Time, Three days after Lee left his reality. Place, inside the beach resort of the Devil's Hotel, inside hotel restaurant and bar.
It was the middle of the afternoon, during an off hour for business in the Devil's hotel restaurant and bar. With no one else usually inside in the restaurant of the Devil's Hotel, except for the bartender, Melvin, during this time of day.
Melvin used this time to do some basic cleaning, and other chores around the room.
At that moment, Melvin had his back turned to the bar counter. Melvin was in the section of the bar counter that faced the left wall, with him being near the center of the length of the counter.
Melvin had a rag in his left hand, as he used his right hand to grab a bottle off the wine shelves set against the wall that was designed to hold bottles on their side. He then wiped the dust off the bottle with the rag, and then gently placed bottle back where it was sitting on it's side, on the shelve, before he picked it up.
Melvin then repeated this with other bottles on the shelves in front of him.
While Melvin continued to do this, one bottle at a time, he thought, 'I haven't seen Revy, and the others, since the morning after Lee left. Likely, I will never see them again. And that is fine with me. I have found those crazy women, and I, do not mix.'
Just then, he head a someone move the bar stool to sit down, across the bar counter, right behind him.
With Melvin's back turned, he set the bottle her had in one hand, back on the shelf. He placed the rag on an empty hole on the shelves.
Melvin continued to have his back turned to the new customer, as he calmly stated, in spanish, “I will be with you, in a minute.”
There was no response few seconds, Melvin thought, 'The person must be an english speaker.' He calmly said, “I will be with you, in a minute.”
A second later, from behind him, Melvin heard in a familiar female voice calmly say, in russian, “I did not come here for a drink.”
To Melvin's credit, he did not tense up, as he immediately recognized the voice. He casually lied, in english, “I apologize. I do not speak russian.” He thought, with worry, 'Shit! She found me!... She finally found me... How?... It doesn't matter at the moment. All that matters is getting out of here in one piece...'
The woman complimented, in english, “Not bad. We have been watching you from a distance, since yesterday. You hide your accent well. And dying your hair blond, and growing the goatee were nice touches. You even fooled some of my subordinates. You own friends. That is hard to do. Though, the knife training on the roof was what finally convinced us. Anyone could recognize those moves, if they know what to look for. It is good to see you, Private Yurick.”
Melvin quick turned around, to his left, as he swiftly used his right hand to reach for his loaded, Tokarev, semi-automatic pistol, which was located in a holster, under the bar counter, near him. There was already a bullet in the chamber, with the weapon ready to be fired at a moments notice.
But, when Melvin turned around, he saw a dozen russian women, in causal clothing, including B, standing behind Balalaika. With Balalaika sitting at the counter. Balalaika wore her red dress, and olive color, military greatcoat.
Melvin had immediate stopped reaching for his pistol, when he saw that, except for Balalaika, the women whom were pointing their AK Seventy-four automatic rifles at him, and around Balalaika.
Melvin slowly stood up straight, while he slowly moved his hand to his sides.
Melvin mentally cursed, 'I forgot how damn quiet we can be... And there is a Blues Brothers joke somewhere in this situation. Though, I don't feel like telling it... I have been friends with Pedro for far too long... Will, I might as well say, hello.'
Melvin said, in russian, 'Hello guys. Or, should I say, girls?” He then looked directly at Balalaika's face, as he added, “And hello to you as well, Balalaika.”
Balalaika inquired, with slight amusement, in russian, “Not captain.”
Melvin responded, “Not for five years.”
Balalaika said, in amused tone of voice, “Fair enough, Yurick. Still, I have some questions for you. The first being. When did you know that Lee was the writer?”
Melvin honestly answered, “Not until about five minutes before he left.”
Balalaika questioned, “Why didn't you tell anyone?”
Melvin replied, “I owed Lee. He helped hide me from you, when, as you pointed out, some of our friends here, came looking for me. Also, he helped me with a bit of trouble, in dealing with Revy.”
Balalaika asked, “What kind of trouble?”
Melvin thought, 'I best tell them. Though, I need some assurances, first.' He requested, “You have to keep Revy, and those close to her, from learning this. It could cause all of us, all sorts of problems, if Revy learns about this.”
Balalaika inquired, “How so?”
Melvin explained, “Long story short. The rest of the women took a day long trip to tour some ruins, on the mainland. It was only Revy and I in this bar. I did not want her to get drunk, so early in the day. So, I suggested that I try, on Revy, some past life regression techniques that I had learned, while here.”
“And I found out that in a past life, Revy was Jack Sparrow. Yes. The pirate captain. Jack Sparrow. And when the Jack personality emerged, Jack would not go back into the box.”
Everyone remained silent towards Melvin's pun.
Melvin went onto say, “So, I went to Lee. Lee can be a real miracle worker. I don't know how. I don't want to know how. But, Lee got that genie back into her bottle, and Revy went back to normal, before the others returned. And I owed Lee a big favor for that.”
Balalaika giggled, while her women remained stoic.
Melvin thought, 'Another thing I like about being on my own. I can actually show some emotion in situations like this, within reason, without getting into trouble.'
Balalaika said, “Interesting... I believe I will have to keep that piece of information from them. And yes. That would be a marker worth paying.”
B lowered her AK Seventy-Four, and slung it on her rifle. The others women did the same.
Melvin did not show it on the outside, but inward, he happily thought, 'Good. They stopped pointing their weapons as me. This is a good sign. Not that I am even going to try anything right now. They still out number me. And they are a faster and stronger than I am.'
B inquired, “So, Revy was Jack Sparrow in a previous life?”
Melvin answered, “Yes, B. Or, should I say, Boris?”
B replied, “Either name is fine with me. Besides being a woman is not that bad.”
Melvin noticed some of other women behind Balalaika nodding in agreement.
Melvin replied, “I will take your word for that. I like the way I am. That is why I ran.”
B smirked, as she stated, “You sound like a friend of mine, whom was named, Bob. Of course, once he gained the ability to change back and forth, Bob found that he liked what being a woman has to offer.”
Melvin thought, 'Of course, Bob Lowe. I wonder what happened to him, and his family? Though, it is best that I don't mention that I read those stories, nor seen the Black Lagoon series.'
Melvin responded, “I may have to meet this Bob sometime. Anyway, I considered my silence during Lee's escaped, as my clearing my debt with Lee. I hope you don't mind.”
Balalaika complimented, “We do not. From what we have found out. You have conducted yourself honorably during your stay here.”
Melvin replied, “Thank you.” He mentally added, 'Now, to find out how they found out about myself being here?' He asked, “So, how did you find out about me?”
Balalaika responded, “When it comes to Revy, and her friends, few things escape my attention. And we put the pieces together.”
Melvin agreed, “Yes, those women don't know how to keep their mouths shut.”
Balalaika said, “True.” She thought, 'At this point, I am surprised that this entire world do not publicly know about them.'
Melvin thought, 'Now, to conduct business, over some drinks.' He asked, “So, will you be having your usual, Balalaika?”
Balalaika answered, “None of us will be having anything to drink. Besides, I am pregnant.”
Melvin replied, in an even tone of voice, “Congratulations.” He thought, 'I don't need to know the details. And I don't want to know the details... Still, I need to make myself clear about where I stand with them.'
Melvin calmly stated, “That being said. I am not coming back. I have made a good life, for myself, here. And I have no intention of leaving this wonderful town. I like it here. This town is like Roanapur, only the local police have a bit more backbone. And they are able to keep the violence to a minimum, while allowing the vice. I know this personally, because I am good friends with the chief of police here. By the way, he loathes bribery, and he will take offense to being offered a bribe. Also, the general attitude for the people of this town is more... Practical... Than the more violent portions of the population of Roanapur.”
Balalaika said, with interest in her tone of voice, “That is intriguing. I may have to check this city out, in further detail, at a later date. That being said. I never said that you had to come back to organization. Still, I do have an offer for you.”
Melvin raised an eyebrow, as he calmly responded, “I am listening.”
(_)
At that moment, further into the island town of De La Plata Podrido, inside the police station, Chief of Police Pedro Del Soto sat in his cushioned chair, behind his desk, in his private office. His office door, and blinds to his window, looking out into the main room of the police station, were both closed.
Pedro was looking at his computer screen, on the left side of his desk, as he reviewed the police reports, on his computer, that had been put into station's computer network, during the last few days, in which he had been gone.
Pedro was currently wearing his usual clothing, and he was armed, with his usual holstered pistols. Though, his coat, and hat were on his office coat rack, and shades were folded, and placed on a clear area of his desk, of the right side of his desk.
Though, reviewing the police files did not bring him much comfort. And not because of the report themselves. Not much had happened during his absence, which only seriously harmed, nor killed on his island.
What was bringing down his mood was him mentally reflecting on the events of that last few days of his life. And the actions he had to take during those few days.
While Pedro was unharmed from his ordeal with Roberta, Revy, and Fabiola. He was still a bit stress out over the what happened. But, he quickly recovering. And he would likely be back to himself, by the end of the present day. Though, he was not fully recovered, yet.
As Pedro reviewed the police reports, he sadly thought, 'Well, I am glad my boys that stayed here, during my absence, were able to keep this city in one piece. And the fact that no one was reported killed, nor seriously hurt, during that time, makes me feel better.'
'On that matter, I feel bad that I, and half the force, that were in the know, had to drop everything, and leave like that. But, those that stayed are professional enough not to ask me questions about why we did so.'
'And the reason I came back here, to my job, was that Revy, Roberta, and Fabiola caught me, literally with my pants off, the morning after I ran from town.'
'I should have known better than to think there was anywhere on this planet that I could successfully hide from them. Still, my running did give them time to think on how they would handle me. And they didn't kill me. Nor, maim me. Nor, even harm me. Because I fully cooperated with them. And they were not interested in me. They were solely interested in Lee.'
'Though, I did not like doing so. They wanted information on Lee, and I willingly gave it to them. Because I knew if I did not, they would torture the information out of me. Without me being about to do anything to stop them.'
'I also didn't like secretly recordings my conversations from Lee, without his knowledge, nor permission. But, I knew that if it all went to hell. Like it did. Those recordings on those memory cards would save my ass. And those recordings did.'
'Always have backups. Just in case.'
'I gave them one of my memory cards, while telling them which files on that memory card, that they would most likely be interested in. Doing so kept my ass out of the fire. Still, they also questioned me. And I answered every question they had, with complete honesty.'
'That was the longest four hours of my life. And given my job, and the lift I had lead, that is saying something.'
'After they were through with me, I watched as Revy pulled out a small remote device, I guess her reality device. With the maids standing by her, as she teleport them to somewhere else. With them being gone in the blink of an eye.'
'Then, I spend the next half an hour decompressing from the situation. Next, I got cleaned up, dressed, and left my safe-house, in the car I had, for the nearest town. After that, I made my way back here, to my home town. And that journey took a while.'
'The reason I returned to this town was that since they found me, there was not point in hiding.'
'Even they wanted me, they could find me, no matter where I went on this planet. And we all knew that.'
'So, I felt that it was best that I return to my job.'
'Though, with them looking for information on Lee, lead me to believe that Lee escaped them. Which made my confrontation worth it. Given how creative, savvy, and outright insane, Lee is. Once Lee had a reality device in his hands, the girls are never going to catch him. So, Lee and I still had the last laugh.'
'When I finally got home, early, yesterday afternoon. I took a nap at my home, for a few hours. Afterward, I woke up around three, and I returned to my job here.'
'Just over an hour into my return to the police station, I got a phone call from my superiors on the mainland, and I caught hell on the phone, from them. For leaving on such short notice.'
'The excuse I gave was that I caught wind that there was a hit out on me. With half my force volunteering to be decoys, as I escape town to deal with the matter personally. I then told them that I took care of the problem, and that is why I returned. They bought my lie. Though, there was more truth to my lie than I am comfortable with.'
'And there is probably the fact they have yet to find someone who wants to replace me at my job.'
'After that phone call was over, I talked with my local contacts, to check things out around town, as I started taking stock of the situation I was in. An hour later, I learned everything seem to be okay with the population of the town. Except, that I am now down to half my work force, so my resources are stretched a little thin.'
'Though, that is my fault. And a few of my men that ran with me have finally started trickled back into town, and to their jobs.'
'In a few days, I will start trying to contact the others, to get them to come back to town.'
'But, I feel those that did return are still very scared of the situation. And they would likely bolt at the first sign of trouble from anyone from outside this reality.'
'And I cannot blame them, if they ran again, because I ran in the first place. They say lead by example, and I have tried to do that. But, we had to escape. We were justified in running. If we did not run, the maids might have attacked the station, looking for me. And most, if not all of us, would have been in body bags by now.'
'I am glad that did not happen.'
'And later that afternoon, I started getting some information in. First, I learned that all the women after Lee, at the Devil's Hotel, had checked out of that hotel, and they disappeared the morning after Lee and I left town.'
'I then had some of my men conduct a few interviews with the employees there. And I learned a few things, from the witnesses statements that further proved that Lee escaped.'
'The clerks on duty, that evening, said that Lee checked out stated they saw he left, and the women soon exited after him, into the parking lot. A few minutes later, the women came back, without Lee, and the clerks stated their expressions ranged from angry, to upset, to disappointed, as they headed for the hotel restaurant.'
'So, I think Lee must have finally stolen one of their reality devices, and escaped from them, right after they found out who he was.'
'Given Lee literary talents, that is a poetic way for him to escape.'
'This is further backed up, by reports that two women dressed in maids outfits came into the hotel several minutes after the other women returned. And they immediately headed for the bar. Which means they not only struck out. But, someone told them where the bar was, ahead of time.'
'Which means, that likely one of the women of Revy and Rock's women accidentally spilled the beans on the writer and his stories, that set the maids off after the writer. And when they came to the city, they were heading for the Devil's Hotel, to meet up with the others, to get some answers, as they were looking for the writer.'
'The maids clearly did not count on Lee recognizing them, before they learned who he was. And that one mistake was all Lee needed to be one step ahead of them.'
'And if the maids already knew, ahead of time, they would have showed up with Revy, Rock, and the others. Instead, they showed up later. Meaning, no one told them about the stories, to begin with.'
'I wonder if Rock and Revy's group caught in flack from the maids, over keeping those two in the dark... I doubt it. The maids are close friends with the rest of them. And Rock and Revy's group could have used the very good reason that the two of them would have likely torn this city apart looking for the writer.'
'These are all good signs. It means that both Lee got away. And it confirms that the Rock and Revy's group, that came to the Devil's Hotel, did not tell the maids, because they knew the information would send the maids on the war path. Which it did. Rock and Revy's group did not want unnecessary bloodshed. Further meaning that they wanted to avoid violence.'
' Also, I fully believe that Chang and his group did not tell Roberta and Fabiola either. Nor, did they likely tell Garcia, because he is too close to the maids. As such, Garcia would likely not keep secretes from his close friends.'
'Though, I didn't ask for the hotel video recordings, from the Devil's Hotel, because is Chang and his subordinates are still around. As such, I don't want to dig too deep on this. He might catch wind of my investigation, and I cannot handle him, right now. It is too soon for a confrontation between us. Way, way too soon for me to even come close to handling him, and his organization. And we both know it.'
'It is just that Chang is polite enough not to push the matter, as along as I don't push first.'
'But, all this is enough circumstantial evidence to point that Lee is now escaped somewhere into the multiverse.'
'And I wish him luck. If there is anyone that can escape those women, it is that scoundrel.'
'Yet, there are other questions that concern me.'
'This morning, my officers told me that someone has been spotted driving Lee's pink Cadillac. I ordered my boys to leave the driver of that vehicle alone. But, the details of who that driver is, both worries me, and confuses me.'
'It was reported that a red headed woman was driving that car. And from the pictures my boys took, the person was clearly River. And she was using the keys to the car, instead of hot wiring it.'
“How the hell did she get the keys to the Cadillac? The only one with keys to that car was Lee. And Lee is as scared of approaching River as I am.'
'There is a big, key piece to the puzzle missing in this mess.'
'Speaking of which, Sam is missing. But, if Lee is gone. There is no telling where the redheaded drifter has gone too... Redhead... Nah... It couldn't be... But, she can change genders with a sneeze.'
'And once Chang came to town, Sam had disappeared from time to time. Lee even occasionally complained about that, during our nightly meetings at the Last Resort Diner.'
'Still, Sam had a beard?... Of course. It would be a fake beard. River is that brilliant. A genius. And she had access to a reality device, which included time travel. Meaning she could have shown up in our recent past, to set up set up shop, to wait for Lee. In a similar fashion, to what Lee told me that Yolanda and Eda did.'
'Also, that would explain how Sam and River were in the same place, at once, at the talent contest. And given the way Sam and River were acting. In that situation, Sam was the past self, and River was the future self. With River caught in a minor temporal loop.'
'At least it was not a major temporal loop, like what Lee, and the rest of us, on the planet, got caught in, for several years.'
'But, that would mean that telepathic, genius, redheaded babe was playing Lee and I from minute one... Yes. She is crazy enough to try a stunt like that. And she is clever and intelligent enough to pull it off.'
'And as Sam, River was polite to me and Lee. So, I am going to let her con slide. Besides, this means River likely had everyone else fooled, as well. And I was the only one to figure it out on my own... Damn. I love being genre savvy.'
'Still, I am tempted to speak to Melvin about all this. Since I am sure he could fill in same of the blanks I have. But then, I would have to admit that I knew he was a former member of Hotel Moscow. Give who we are both connected too, that could cause problems for both of us.'
'And given I am not going to ask Chang, River, and their people, all my leads, on Lee, are now exhausted. So, I guess I will just have to hope for the best, for Lee.'
'But, even though my list of leads have run dry, that doesn't mean I should give up. I did put one of my officers on a stake out, in an unmarked car, with heavily tinted windows, in the front parking lot of the Devil's Hotel, near the road, on the other side of the parking lot, from the main hotel entrance. While Revy and Rock's group have left, I figure it might be best to keep an eye on the place.'
'And even with Revy and Rock's group gone, I am going to have to deal with Chang and his crew. And with the casino they started, they are clearly planning on staying here. And with my force is cut in half, I will have to handle them in a wise, and cunning manner. Which I am more than capable of doing.'
'Also, I will have my boys avoid the casino, whenever possible. I ordered them. That if there were problems at the casino. I was to be contacted, and I would handle situation, personally.'
'Still, most of the men and women left here, except for those that have returned, don't have a clue who Chang, River, Revy, Rock, and the others are. And if I try to tell them. They will think I am insane. Then, they lose all respect for me. Next, I will likely lose my job. After which, I would soon be committed to a lunatic asylum. And finally, my replacement would likely do something stupid, to cross Chang, or one of the others, and everyone still working at this station will wind up dead.'
'So, in this case, I will have to handle the situations that arise with delicate care.'
'Though, that old saying really is true. In the land of the blind. The one eyed man is king.'
'But, that is an issue for tomorrow. For now, I just want to get back into my daily routine.'
Just then, there was a knock at Pedro's door to his office.
Pedro said, in spanish, “Come in.”
The door opened, and one of his police officers walked inside. The office stopped three feet in front of Pedro desk. The officer stood there, as he looked at Pedro's face, while he waited to be acknowledged.
Pedro calmly asked, “What is it?”
The officer answered, in spanish, “We have a report that just came in, from our man at the Devil's Hotel.”
Pedro quickly requested, “Give me all the details.” He thought, 'There are too many things that could happen at that hotel, for me to just guess at what this man is talking about.'
The officer stated, “Two minutes ago, a group of women were seen exiting the front of the hotel, and into two unmarked vans, parked beside the front entrance. The bartender, Melvin, was seen leaving with the women.”
“The women were all fair skinned, and appeared to be in their mid-twenties.”
“Most of the women were wearing casual clothing, and carried automatic weapons.”
“We believe the woman with long blond hair, pulled back in a ponytail, was their leader, due to her not visibly carrying a weapon. And the fact she wore a red dress, and olive colored greatcoat, while they others were wearing more casual clothing. And Melvin was seen talking to her, as they got into second van.”
Pedro thought, 'I can already guess who those women where. And who there leader is. But, I need to confirm it.' He asked, “Any distinguishing marks on any of the blond woman?”
The officer said, “Yes, sir. The blond woman had a large scar running down the right side of her face.'
Pedro forced himself to remained calm, as he thought, 'Damn it! Balalaika, and Hotel Moscow have finally come to town. And they found, Melvin. Though, with luck, they will now be leaving town, as well. Still, this confirms what Lee and I suspected, from what Melvin hinted at, towards Lee. That members of Hotel Moscow have undergone the vat process. Turning Balalaika badass army, into a empowered badass army.'
'Now, that is a truly scary thought...'
'And, even though I feel sorry for Melvin, I am so happy I am not on that woman's radar. Though, I need to check on one another thing, dealing with this matter.'
Pedro question, “I take it that we got this report because our man in the field followed my orders?”
The officer responded, “Yes. He did not interfere. No matter what.”
Pedro stated, “Good. Inform him that he is likely alive because he followed my orders.”
The officer inquired, “Yes sir. And are we going to do anything about helping, Melvin?”
Pedro answered, “No. Nothing will be done on our end. He is beyond our help. But, if you feel like praying for him. Go ahead. Either way, thank you for informing me. Tell, the officer currently assigned to that stake out duty, there, that he did a good job. And, barring needed breaks, I want him to remain at his post, until he is relived, at the end of his shift.”
The officer replied, “Yes sir.”
Pedro stated, “You are dismissed. And please shut the door behind you.”
The officer turned around, and exited the room, with the officer gently shutting the office door behind him.
Pedro leaned back in his chair, as he mentally reflected, with a bit of sadness, 'I am going to miss you, Melvin. You were a good friend.'
'But, I have a good idea what is going to happen to you. Still, better you, than me. Though, I would toast you at a bar, with a drink, after my shift is over The problem is that the only two places I like to go for a drink, are from you, and the Rat's Nest.'
'And with you gone. That leaves the Rats Nests. Unfortunately, there is currently no Rats Nest to have a drink at, because the bar was blown up. With witnesses stating the people that exited through the front of that inferno were the two women, in maids uniforms. One had purple hair. The other had green hair.'
'It seems that when those two women come to a new town, they end up destroying at least one bar.'
'Still, why did it have to be one of my favorite bars?.. Though, given the time of day that the Rats Nest bar was destroyed, and when I got that message from Lee, about the maids being in town, that bar was likely where Lee spotted the maids, with those two badasses being none the wiser.'
'Yet. Either way, I am still out of a bar to go to for a drink.'
'But, I am glad I learned yesterday, that the bartender there got out, alright. And from what I understand, she is already working on getting her bar repaired. Knowing her, that will not take long.'
'So instead, tonight I will head home, and open a nice bottle of whiskey, and quietly toast you there, Melvin. My dear friend.'
'Though, I wonder how the Rat's Nest bartender is doing right now?'
(_)
Meanwhile, across town, Bao, the owner of the Rats Nest bar, was in the living room of her home, in one of her cushioned recliner chairs. The chair was not in a reclined position.
At the moment, Bao was wearing a red t-shirt, black pants, and tennis shoes, along with underwear, bra, and socks.
Currently, she on the phone, as she finished up her plans to rebuild her bar.
Bao spoke the wireless phone, in fluent spanish, “Yes. I just got off the phone. My insurance will pay out immediately. The good news the firefighters got their in time to stop the fire from spreading from the main storefront area of the store. And the inspection, after the fire, showed that explosion only took out the main room itself. The structure, and most of the adjacent rooms, and roof itself, are still mostly undamaged.”
“Yes. That is why the building is still standing. Because I had the floor, and walls poured with steel reinforced concrete. The walls were basically concrete blocks with a wooden paneling veneer. Along with this, I included fireproofing materials on the top and sides of the concrete walls.”
“Yes. I like to plan ahead. So, when can I expect you to start work?”
“Yes. We are using the same design the building had before. And I have a spare copy of the engineer approved prints that I can give you.”
“Good. I will see you this Monday.”
Bao then hung up her wireless phone, and set it back on its base, on a small table next to her.
While Bao leaned back in her chair, she thought, 'Well, that is one problem I don't have to worry about. And from what I understand Revy, her friends, and the maids, have left town. Likely for good... I say good riddance. That only leaves Chang, and his organization. I figure I will be fine, as long as I keep my head down.'
Suddenly, there was a knock at the front door.
Bao thought, 'I wonder who is at the door?'
Bao got up from her chair, and walked to the door.
She looked in the peephole.
Bao saw that it was Chang, dressed in his usual black suit, black long coat, and sunglasses, standing on the concrete walkway, in front of the main entrance to her home.
Bao thought, with mild annoyance, 'Speak of the devil. And if I don't open the door, he might break down my door down.'
Bao calmly unlocked and opened the door, to see that Chang was the only standing outside her doorstep. Bao also noticed a nice black, four door sedan car parked in front of her front yard, on the street, by the curb, near her driveway, where she had own her car parked.
Bao thought, with mild amusement, 'At least he came here alone. Maybe he wants a date... Hahahah...'
Bao said, in english, “Hello.”
Chang smiled, as he casually said, in english, “Hi Bao. Long time, no see.”
There was silence between the two adults, for several seconds, as they looked at each other, while deciding what to say next. As they thought over what their reaction should be.
Chang thought, 'This meeting will be good stress relief, after the morning I had at the casino. First, with meeting Sylia Stingray, and Rock. And then the meeting I just concluded with Matthew.'
'For the first meeting, I was given a ten minute warning, ahead of time, by phone, for the meeting, before they would show up. Though, at least when they arrived, Sylia was civil. And she came her a dark blue business suit and skirt. Which matched her hair. And not a hardsuit. And they came through the casino, to my office. Instead of teleporting directly to my office.'
'Those were both good signs.'
'Though, she did request that River and Annie not attend our meeting. Which means she clearly knows who works for me, and what their abilities are. And I would expect nothing less from a genius, such as Ms. Stingray.'
'But, I gave into that request.'
'When I met with them, Rock informed me of their deal. Which amounted to Sylia requesting some compensation over my part in what I did to her, and her friends.'
'Given the amount and terms Sylia requested, I was more than willing to agree to her deal, since was not that much, in that long run.'
'The terms of the deal were a free month at the casino, once a year, including services, for them. For all sixteen of them. In some nice suites. They pick when they will take this vacation, during each year. And they can break that month into small increments over the course of a year.'
'Along with this, I gave them two hundred, four hundred troy ounce, pure gold bars. Which is only a dent in what I now have. And I found this to all be a small price to pay, considering the payment took their bull's eye mark off my back.'
'Though, I did state the casino staff and I would not be responsible for any money they lost when they gambled in my casino. And that they would have to behave themselves, while staying at this casino.'
'Sylia agreed to this, on the concession that Annie and River leave her, her family, and her friend, alone. I said I was okay with that. Because, I was fairly sure that Sylia, and the others in her group, are not planning on taking me up on vacationing at my casino. They just wanted the gold, and other concessions, as a minor form of of revenge against me.'
'With the revenge over the month's stay, once a year, at my casino, as something to hold over me. With Sylia thinking I would worry that she and her friends might show up at any time... Well, I refuse to worry about such matters. And instead, I will focus on the fun I am about to have with my dear old friend, Bao.'
'It is unfortunate, that Sylia and Rock refuse my added monetary offer, for them to stop their revenge on Lee. But, it was worth a try. And they did not take my offer as an insult. They were both very polite concerning their decline of my offer.'
'And right after we reached an agreement, Sylia requested that I pay her. I did so. I called Mal up to my office, and had him escort Sylia to one of my casino vaults. Which, after the two of them left my office, I contact some people guarding one of my treasury vaults, under the casino. And I started them setting out the two hundred gold bars for Sylia, for when she got there.'
'Meanwhile, Rock used her reality device to return to Lagoon Island, to be with her family and friends.'
'Half an hour later, Mal informed me that after Sylia checked the gold over, with a hand held device. Which, from the way Mal described it, I suspect was a tricorder. She then used her reality device to teleport herself, and the gold bars, to wherever in the multiverse she headed for.'
'I suspect Sylia went to a secondary location, with her gold, then she teleported to her primary location, where her headquarters was likely located. So, I could not track her with my equipment.'
'And I am not going to try to track her down. It is not worth it. I have other matters to deal with. And I am not going to risk starting a fight with someone I just paid a fortune towards, to leave me, and mine, alone... Damn. I am starting to sound like, Mal... But, not in a bad way.'
'Though, I was already previously informed on what happened to Lee. Mal and the others, informed me how he escaped those after him, and where he went. And I found Mal and the others took losing them, and my reward for Lee's capture, very well.'
'Also, from what I was told, during Lee and Garibaldi's escape, Lee displayed his skills again. When he faced with two sieges. He used the sieges against each other, to buy time himself to escape. Not bad. Not bad at all. And he even took Garibaldi with him.'
'Still, I don't ever remember sending the orders for Revy and the others to capture human the Babylon Five. It is possible that my boomer double at the time glitched and did that behind my back. Though, if that is the case, I worry what other glitches my boomer doubles have done, during my time at my Tower. As I periodically replaced and disposed of my doubles, when they start to ask squirrelly.'
'But, that is a matter to worry about, for another time.'
'And before Rock left, she let me know the reality where they last tracked Lee to... Jusenkyo, of the same reality Akira, Ranma, and Natsuru are from. In the past, a few months before Ranma was originally cursed to turn into a girl.'
'This merely confirmed what Mal and his friends told me. And it confirmed my suspicions, on how Lee would cure himself. And since I do not want Lee to get caught, I didn't tell any of them that they are now searching for a person of the wrong gender... With Lee likely cursed to turn into, and likely locked into the form of a woman...'
'Though, I will keep this theory to myself. I do not want River to accidentally read my theory, from my mind, and go after Lee, on her own. Because, I already have a plan to send her to help find Lee.'
'I plan to send her to Lagoon Island, to help find Lee.'
'And I have no doubt that River will support my plan. She does enjoy a good plan, as much as Lee and I do. Especially, one that benefits her and those she cares for. Which is the case, here. And I don't mind that she cares for Lee. As long as she continued to care for me, as well.'
'I find jealousy is be such a poor trait for a person to have.'
'And with Lee now a woman. The others will lose track of Lee. And in a month, or so, their time, of them having not luck in finding Lee. I believe Rock and the others will welcome River's help, after losing Lee completely. That way, when they do eventually find Lee. Which I have no doubt they will... That is the way these things happen... River will be there to help protect Lee, and mitigated the situation for Lee.'
'And I have full faith River can handle such a situation on her own. I will request we stay in touch with each other, to help formulate a plan, for when she finds Lee. To help get Lee out trouble with Rock, and the others.'
'And this was only my adventure for this morning.'
'I had another adventure this afternoon. Just after one PM, Arcee and Annie had returned from the B Five Mars. Even though they were planning to do this yesterday, something came up, and they decided to do the mission today. They let me know, about this, yesterday afternoon, and I was okay to put the mission off for a day.'
'Besides, this mission only took a matter of minutes, for me, and those in this reality. Though, they were likely on that Mars for a few hours, to find and capture Matthew. From what I understand, and later saw of him, Matthew was both unharmed, and with his luggage in hand. I don't know how they got him to pack for the occasion... Or, more likely, they caught him on his way out of town.'
'And I am so looking forward to see Annie in a black suit, as the gaming floor pit boss for a shift, in a few days. It will be worth the money. And if it works out, and she likes it. I may hire her on a part time basis as pit boss. Though, I will pay her an saner hourly rate, than her usual fee. And I am doing this as a way to subtly show her, that if she gets tired of her current job with me. There are other jobs she can have at my casino.'
'But, those are plans in the future. Not now.'
Chang became happier, as he continued his thoughts, 'I find that one of the great joys in my life is to have competent, skills, individuals working for me. It makes all the difference in the type of organization I run.'
'With Matthew in hand, when Arcee, and Annie, reported by our internal casino phone system, that Matthew was here, in the back garage. I had Zoe come to the garage, to take him off Arcee and Annie's hands. Zoe then escorted Matthew to a nice suite, that I assigned for him. Where he could drop off his luggage.'
'I picked Zoe to escort Matthew because she is better at handling people, whom are in high stress situations, than Mal, Jayne, or my other subordinates.'
'After Matthew left his luggage in his new suite. Zoe gave him his key card to his suite. Zoe then escorted him up to my personal office.'
'When they got there. I was waiting for them.'
'I sat behind my desk, as Matthew and Zoe stood in front of me. I politely ordered Zoe leave, and head back to her usual duties. After Zoe left, I explained the basics of the situation to Matthew. That he was now in another time, place, and reality, in the multiverse. I told him the basics of who I was. And what my organization was. I even showed him my gender bending abilities. Sneezing on command to change me to a woman, and then back into a man.'
'His reaction was one of mild surprise, which only impressed me further. For him to show such a mild reaction proved that he was the type of person I wanted to work for me.'
'Matthew did ask me why I wanted him? I told him that after the nerves of steel he displayed the night before, that I wanted to hire him on the spot.'
'Then, I told him what I wanted from him. That being I wanted his skills as a lawyer, to draw up contract, and advise me on legal matters.'
'While he was polite during the conversation, I could tell did not like the situation I had forced him into. But, when I quote his monthly salary, in gold. And the benefits and health plan. He quickly came around to liking the idea of working for me.'
'After some small talk, I used my cellphone to contact Zoe, to return to my office, and escort him to the hotel restaurant, to get some lunch. After they left, I left for the garage, got a black sedan, and came here.'
'Also, I am so happy that Ranma came by, during our meeting the morning after Lee left. When we all gathered, as they got ready to go after Lee. She brought that magic lamp with her. And the smoke allowed me to remember all the wonderful things that River and I did while in the time loop.'
'Being a gender bender, with a gender bender lover, is a wonderful thought. Especially, given how creative and imaginative we both are.'
'I think, as a way to return the favor to Ranma, I will give her family a free week, in a few nice suites, in my casino. Along with free use of the spa her family's stay at my casino.'
'And it was wise of me to make sure that River and Annie were not at that meeting. For obvious reasons. They did not trust River. And the others would have all but demanded Annie go, so she could use the force to find Lee more quickly. Which Annie did not want to do.'
'Still, Lee got a way. Though, I will find him. It will just be a while. And this just means that others will likely not find him first. I think after the heat dies down a little, I will allow River to leave and search for Lee. Though, we need to do some talking on our planning on the matter, before she leaves.'
'Now, back to Bao. I bet, she is now worried about me knowing who she really is. But, she is definitely doing a good job of hiding her emotions. I admit that. It always took quite a bit of effort to upset Bao. It was just that Revy had a talent for doing so. I only the other hand, just want to have a little fun with Bao.'
Meanwhile, Bao show not outward emotion, as she thought, with concern, 'Damn. Chang knows it is me. Nothing I can do about it now, but work through the situation. Though, I am glad I did start reading Lee's stories, Black Lagoon manga, and watch the Black Lagoon anime, online.'
'Modern computers, torrents, and high speed internet access, are wonderful inventions.'
'And while it took most of the passed two and half a days, I did finish watching the Black Lagoon anime, and reading the Black Lagoon manga, up to the latest manga issue releases.'
'I must say, the english dub, and the english translation are pretty good. And I found myself, in the anime timeline, and my manga counterpart, were portrayed fairly.'
'Though, I must say in the latest manga storyline that Rock and Revy's counterparts are being their usual foolish selves in helping that chinese spy. But, I am not going to say that out loud. I wonder how that storyline is going to end. But, that is a matter to ponder, later.'
'Still, I have only just finished book two of Lee's stories. And while I am now starting understand why Revy and the others are after his hide. And that the imagination he used to create his stories, only confirms his insanity. Though, Lee had inspiration. Those omakes prove Tex-mex is not a complete pillar of sanity, either.'
'At least now, I have an idea of what Chang, and his new organization are capable of. And with luck, I will be finished reading that book series in the next few days, before I start the remodeling of my bar.'
'Still, I need to deal with Chang, before he starts to cause me problems, like he and the other mafias did in Roanapur.'
Bao calmly inquired, “Hello Chang. How did you figure out it was me?”
Chang answered, “I have my resources, and some people mentioned that the way you ran the Rats Nest bar reminded them of the Yellowflag.”
Bao responded, “Damn. I was worried about that. And you are one of the sharpest people I know. So, it is not surprising you would figure it out.”
Chang replied, “Thank you.”
Bao thought, 'I have already had my bar wrecked this week. I don't want to have my home destroyed, as well. So, I need to take this outside. Just in case there is a fight. Still, I wish I had gotten my gun before answering the door.'
'Though, I am not going to turn my back on this snake. And at this distance I can probably take him, before he and pull his weapons. Not that I am going to gloat about it. I know better than to let my opponents know my skills and abilities. Unless them knowing benefits myself.'
Bao politely requested, “Let's talk outside.”
Chang shrugged, as maintained his slight grin. He casually replied, “Fine with me.”
Bao then shut her front door behind her, as she and Chang walked out onto Bao's front yard.
As they continued walking side by side, as a casual pace, with Chang to Bao's right side.
Bao looked around, as she thought, 'I don't see anyone outside, right now. And doubt I will, at this time of day. Considering, it is a weekday. With children having school, and adults having work. And given the private conversation I am having with Chang, right now, that suits me just fine.'
Chang looked over at Bao, as he complimented, “By the way, you look hot as a woman.”
Bao cracked a grin, as she looked at Chang's face. She said, “And so do you, when you are a woman?”
Chang snorted, as he commented, “I guess my gender forms do look like brother and sister.” Chang thought, 'It is possible that Lee told Bao about his stories. Along, with the Black Lagoon series and omakes. And that I am a gender bender. With Bao already meeting me in my female form, as well. So, she is probably more knowledgeable about the situation than she lets on. Not that it really matters. Though, Bao always was one to know when it was best to keep a secret.'
Bao then came to a stop, and turned to Chang.
With his enhanced hearing, Chang heard Bao's steps stop. He came to a stop, as well, as he turned to look at Bao.
Bao stated, “Yes. Once you know it is possible to completely change gender. It is easy to tell.” She mentally added, 'And I have known since Akira showed me back in Roanapur. Also, that is not all. And fortunately, I have a good excuse for knowing you can change into a woman, that does not involve knowing about the Black Lagoon series, nor Lee's stories.'
Bao continued, “And even I saw you a few times at the Tower, as a woman. I learned from those I served drinks to, that boomers were in many cases designed to look like humans. After that, it didn't take a genius to figure out that, as a security measure, you were pretending to be one of your own female bodyguards, with a boomer double in your place. In your place, I might have done something similar to what you did. At least, on that single issue.”
Bao thought, 'But, I would have likely not changed myself into a woman. Not that I mind presently being a woman, now.”
Chang complimented, “You always were sharp, Bao.” He thought, 'And this does not disprove that you know the truth about Lee, his stories, and the Black Lagoon series. But, it is a good excuse, that might throw someone else off your scene.'
Bao thought, 'Now, to find out why you came to my home?' Bao questioned, “Thank you. So, why you here? I doubt that this is just a social visit.”
Chang answered, “When I learned that it was you that was the one that ran the Rats Nests. I just had to come see you. And I heard the maids blew up your bar... Again.”
Bao flatly responded, “I seems to have become a running gag with them.”
Chang said, “I know.” He mentally added, 'And that, running gag, comment, confirms that you likely know most of what is going on. Now, to make my offer.'
Chang's voice took on a sharp edge, as he continued, “And I just wanted you to know that, if you want, I could help you rebuild your place.”
Bao grimly thought, 'This is how it starts with the mafia. As a way to control someone. Offer the victim the rope to hang herself with. The only reason I didn't do anything in Roanapur, was that there were more of them than me. And that I had nowhere else to go. On the other hand, here I have options, in ways Chang likely does not realize.'
Bao thought, with more aggressiveness, 'And now would be a perfect time and opportunity to teach this man a lesson he won't soon forget.'
Bao smirked, as she commented, “You think you actually scare me.”
Chang returned Bao's smirk, as he casually responded, “Of course.”
Bao offered, “Okay... How about a little sparing match. Just for the hell of it. It will allow us clear the air between each other.”
Chang smile widened slight, as he responded, “Sure. I could use a good workout. And after everything you survived in Roanapur. I knew you were a badass. And I always wondered what you were capable of.”
Bao stated, “Thank you. Now first, a few, reasonable ground rules. This is not to the death. We walk away with no hard feelings. And, before we fight, you lose your coat, glasses, and your two pistols.
Chang said, “I can agree to those terms. And I am going to kick your ass.”
Bao commented, “Let us see what happens.”
Chang then walked over to the hood of his black sedan car. He took off his long coat, and laid his coat, on it's back, onto the top of the hood.
Chang then set his sunglasses onto his coat.
Next, from this holsters, behind his lower back, in double-holsters, on his belt, he pulled out his two Beretta seventy-six semi-automatic pistols. With the pistols' custom golden chinese dragon symbols, and chinese etchings, inlaid into ivory grips of his pistols. He set the pistols on top of his coat.
Finally, he took the left end of his coat, and folded it over the pistols and glasses. So no one would see his items.
Chang turned around to face Bao. He then calmly walked back to Bao.
A few seconds later, Chang came to a stop, about six feet from Bao, whom was facing him, with both adults standing in the middle of the cut grass of Bao's friend lawn.
Chang cracked a grin, as he said, “Are you sure you want to do this?”
Bao returned Chang's smile, as she answered, “Absolutely. I have been wanting to do this, since the mafia families first set up shop in Roanapur, and gave me, and my customers nothing but trouble.”
Chang guessed, “I take it that you didn't like us coming Roanapur?”
Bao flatly answered, “No. I originally came to Roanapur because, at the time, it was just a small, out of the way, fishing village, that no one would notice I was in. I planned to live the quiet life. Instead, you criminals turned that town into a madhouse.”
Chang grin turned into a smirk, as he casually joke, “What is life, without a little insanity?”
Bao flatly stated, “This.” She then charged at Chang.
Chang's smile grew wider, as he had planned for Bao to rush at him. He thought, 'Ladies first. Then, I knock on your ass, and we call it a day.'
When Bao reached Chang, with her right fist, she threw a punch at his face.
Chang block it, while returning in kind.
But, to Chang's surprised, Bao block his blow, and went for his stomach, with her left knee.
Chang sidestep, to his left, while going for a shoulder blow to Bao's right shoulder.
Bao duck under the strike, as she circle around to face Chang. While, throwing another punch, and she finally landed the first blow of the fight. Which was a glancing punch to Chang's lower jaw.
Fortunately, at the last second, Chang was able to lean back, to he avoided the worst of the blow.
Chang immediately took several steps back from Bao, as Bao firmly stood her ground, and she did not follow Chang.
Chang thought, 'Bao, clearly knows how to fight... This might actually be fun.' He complimented, “Not bad, Bao. I didn't realize you were this good.”
Bao calmly said, “Only hotheads show off. Now, let me show you what I can really do.”
Bao then rushed at Chang.
As Boa reached Chang, both of them started trading blows, blocks, and dodges, with Bao constantly pressing her attack, forcing Chang to take step, after step, backwards.
Given their enhanced reflexes, their speed, their movements were hard to see with the naked eye.
Both of them mostly using their fists, but neither were afraid to mix some elbow, knee and foot work into their attacks.
Chang hit Bao in the upper side of her left jaw, only to have Bao immediately return with a blow to Chang's stomach.
As both of them started making contact hits with each other, neither show any sign of wearing down.
This went on for a solid minute, before Chang was about to get a quick knee to Bao stomach, which knocked her onto her back.
Instead of landing, on the ground, flat on her back, Bao quickly did a backwards somersault, that allowed her to land on her hands. Bao continued the backwards roll, until she landed on both feet, and jump back up, to stand at her full height.
Chang did not press his advantage, as he watched Bao swiftly get up into a defensive stance.
And for the moment, there was a lull in the fighting, as both adults noted that neither of them were even breathing heavily.
Chang thought, with mild surprise, “She's good. Bao is very good at this. She is much better at this than I expected her to be. But, the good new is the fact she got into the defensive stance. Meaning she not that crazy about continuing the fight. Unfortunately, with the super-soldier serum, both of us have been exposed to. Neither of us are doing any seriously harmed to the other, nor are we close to tiring. Though, there is one question I need to ask her, before we continued fighting.'
Chang inquired, with slight annoyance in his voice, “Is this going to turn into a four hour fight, like Revy and Roberta once did?”
Bao cracked a grin. She shrugged, as she casually said, “Well, you could always give up.” She charged at Chang.
Chang started laughing, as he stated, “Then, take your best shot.” He then rushed at Bao.
As the two of them met again in combat, both of them fought even harder than before.
After another two straight minutes of intense fighting, Bao caught Chang in a blow to his stomach, which temporally knocked the wind out of him. She immediately circled around Chang. As she did so, she did a sweeping kick to the front of Chang's lower legged, forcing him onto his knee, on the soft dirt.
Bao then swiftly moved behind Chang, and put him in a headlock, with her left forearm around the front of Chang's neck, her right hand gripping her left wrist, and her head resting against the back right side of Chang's head. Though, Bao allowed the headlock to be just loose enough to not make Chang pass out.
As Chang got his second wind back, he realize in thought, 'It's over. I am on the ground, Bao has me in a headlock. But, considering she still has me in a headlock, I don't think she is finished, just yet.'
Bao leaned her head, to beside Chang's right ear, as she casually stated, “You know, Chang. As I am sure you guessed, by now, about me. That I have always liked keeping secrets. Because those secrets kept me alive. Such as none of you in Roanapur ever knew the truth about my past. Not you. Not Balalaika. Not Dutch. Not the blonds at the Ripoff Church. And certainly not that redheaded bitch, Revy. And there was a good reason for that.”
“Given Revy, and most of the others crazies, that for some reason decided to be my customers. And you mafia heads forced me to keep on as customers. Almost all of them had competitive natures. If they had learned of my past, one of those lunatics might have challenged me to a fight. A type of fight, where it didn't matter if I won or lost. It would still cause me problems, either way. But, given you are one of the saner people I know of, I am going to level with you.”
“As I am sure you know, I was a veteran of the Vietnam War. I was a member of the ARVN. As in the Army of the Republic of Vietnam. I made not secret about that.”
Bao voice took on a measure of pride, as she continued, “But, what you, and everyone else do not know, was that I wasn't just some nobody private. I am a graduate of the steel refinery. A member of the Biet Dong Quan. A ARVN ranger.”
Chang's eyes went wide, as he thought, with worry, 'Wow. That is a surprise. I admit that I have completely underestimated, Bao. She might actually be a tougher badass than me... And I am not talking about her physical abilities. The ARVN rangers were on par with those of Hotel Moscow. She could probably give the bloodhound a workout.'
'I had no idea that Bao was such a badass. No wonder she kept this secret from everyone. If Revy found out about this, she would have wanted to challenge Bao, just on sheer principle. And those of us in the various mafias might have actually tried to forcibly recruit him.'
As Chang composed himself, he said, “So, that is how you survived so many bar fighters in Yellowflag.”
Bao did not relax her arm lock on Chang's throat, as she stated, “Yes. And at the end of the war, I was slightly crippled from some chest wounds, to my sides. So, I was not actually at a hundred percent, when I lived in Roanapur.”
“But, I was still able to survive in that shithole your mafias turned Roanapur into. Also, just so you know, my training and combat experience is on pair with the members of Hotel Moscow. And I would guess the Bloodhound as well. I just preferred to keep that part of my life to myself.”
Chang thought, 'That confirms that. Though, I wonder...' Chang asked, “So Boa, how did you end up in Roanapur? At the end of that war, I read that most of your friends in the vietnamese rangers were either executed, or worked to death in so-called re-education camps, by the communists that overran your nation, after the U.S. tucked its tail between its legs and ran.”
Bao coldly answered, “Most of my friends did die those ways, at the hands of those butchers. After the U.S. abandoned us. But, I did not. I was in Saigon at the time of my country's fall. The only reason I was there was because I had just finished recovering from the very chest wounds that cause me problems later in life. Those wounds required a few surgeries to fully repair, to the point I could report back to duty. But, I recovered. And just in time, too.”
Bao's voice turned sad, as she continued, “As the hammer dropped a day after I checked out of the hospital. Those days were a very hectic time. And while most of my friends wanted to stay and fight, I knew a losing battle when I saw one.”
Chang mentally reflected, 'That is another survival trait that has served you week in both Roanapur, all the way to here, in De La Plara Podrido.'
Bao went onto say, in the same sad tone of voice, “There was no point in dying needlessly. Instead, I planned to escape, and continue with my future plans, of finding a good job, finding a good wife, and starting a family. But, you mafia organizations wrecked my plans... For a while... Still, I might start a family here. Though, I wasn't planning on being the one that got pregnant. But then, you do what you have got to do. Though, have children is still far off in my future plans.”
Chang said, in a supportive tone of voice, “There is nothing to feel bad about that, on that matter.”
Bao casually responded, “I know... Fortunately, as I was looking for a way to escape my collapsing nation, I ran into Caxton, and he bailed my ass out. If he hadn't, I would have likely been killed in that losing battle. Or, imprisoned and worked to death, by those communist bastards... Like so many of my friends in the corps, that did not escape the country.”
Chang thought, 'Lee did mention that Caxton and Bao had a past. I even vaguely recall he rewrote a few comments in his, well now her story. And it would make since, in an insane sort of way. Considering they were both fought on the same side, during that war.'
Bao continued, “And even though I was slightly crippled, which I didn't fully realize, until years later. I made it though, and to my destination. Roanapur Thailand. When I reached there, I was able to deal with my wounds, and I lived a peaceful life. I was even able to start up a business. The Yellowflag bar. Everything was fine, until you mafia members showed up.”
“Then, there were all those crazy adventures. Then, you starting playing with the multiverse. Around that time, I saw the proverbial writing on the wall. So, I escaped into the multiverse, only to be captured, by your forces, and I was dropped into one of those vats of green goo.”
“Though, later on, soon after I ended up here. After I got use to being a woman. I realized that I should be thanking you for that process, that turned me into a woman.”
Chang thought, 'Okay. That was not the reaction I was expecting.' He asked, in a confused tone of voice, “Why? I thought you would hate me for turning you into a woman?”
Bao answered, with amusement in her tone of voice, “No. I don't hate you for doing that to me. You see, that vat process not only turned me into a woman. You also fix all my health problems. You even restored my youth. And even though I am now a woman, I have never felt physically better. And I am back to my old badass self. And I have you to thank for that.”
Chang sarcastically thought, 'I think I did a great job in fixing, Bao. The good news is that she is happy about the situation. And given the way she acts, I have no doubt, that over the years, she has gradually overcome any loyalty brainwashing to me that the vat process provided her. Not that I was planning to test that theory.'
Bao stated, in a happy, and eager tone of voice, “I will tell you another little secret. Thanks to you. Right now, I could take Revy, and most of her bitches, in one on one, combat. Though, I just prefer Revy, and the, others not know that.”
Bao tone of voice turned to ice, as she went onto say, “So, I am going to tell you this, just once, Chang. Play your games. Have your fun. But, this is not Roanapur. And I am no longer old and crippled. If you try to get me under your thumb, I will kill you. And if I do come after you, I doubt you, nor any of your friends could stop me.”
Chang thought, 'Just when you think you know someone. Talk about secrets. And the strangest part is that all fits. I have completely misjudged the situation. Still, Bao is a good bartender, and runs a bar that Revy, and her friends enjoy going too. So, I won't push the matter.'
'I guess she was the one to put me in my place. And not the other way around.'
'Though, I need to defuse this situation.'
Chang calmly said, “Fine. I understand. Your secrets are safe with me.”
Bao cracked a warm smile, as she happily responded, “Good.” She then let go of her headlock on Chang's neck.
Bao took a few steps away, as Chang stood up, and turned around to face her.
Chang cracked a smile, as he stated, “I will admit that if I had known you were this much of a badass, I would have done more with you.”
Bao said, “I know. That is why I kept my past a secret. Besides, I like being a bartender. And I am pretty good at it.”
Chang responded, “Very true. And I can appreciate your choice of jobs. Still, I have to know. You stated you were fine with me turning you into a woman. You are not upset at all, about that?”
Bao shrugged, as she responded, in a casual tone of voice, “No. The trades offs make up for it. Though, Lee did mention that you had magical packets that could temporally turn a woman into a man. It would be nice to have some fun, the other way, for a change.”
Chang inquired, “So, I take it that you figured out Lee was the writer? And Lee didn't just tell you?”
Bao coyly answered, “Something like that. Lee and I had a wonderful chat.” She thought, 'And I see that Lee was correct in what he told me.'
Chang questioned, “So, you are not upset with Lee, either?”
Bao commented, “No. It was clear that Lee did not realize what he was doing, at the time. And he answered all my questions. And I am not upset with him, because he is a good, polite customer, and a wonderful tipper.”
Chang agreed, “That he is. And in a few days, I will sent over someone, to deliver you a box of a few dozen of those packets, to play with. The way the powder works is to mix the powder with cold water and splash yourself for the gender effect. A large cup of water is enough to do the trick. Hot water reverses it. One packet equals one shot.”
“Also, you can get a woman pregnant using that. And in theory, yourself. If you are not careful. Because the packet does not reset your monthly cycle.”
Bao responded, “Thank you. And I appreciate the warning. Also, you are welcome to come by the Rats Nest when it is rebuilt.”
Chang said, in a slightly happy, relaxed tone of voice, “I look forward to it.”
Chang thought, 'If she is willing to put this all under the bridge. Then, so am I. Besides, it was a fun fight. And I rarely get to have a workout like that. Given River and I care too much to go full force. Spike is busy with her daughter, Julia. And the others, at the casino, are not skilled enough to match me like that, at full force.'
'I may have to ask Bao to do this some other time. And I will send Bao some of those instant man packets in a couple of days.'
Chang then turned around, and he walked back to his car.
When he reached the hood of his black car, he unfolded the left side of his coat. He then picked up and holstered his pistols. Next, put on his glasses, and his long coat.
Afterward, Chang walked over to the left driver side door of his car, he pulled out his keys, used his clicker to unlock the door, opened the door, got into his car, and closed the door. He soon started the car, and he drove away, down the street, in the right hand lane.
As Bao watched Chang drive away, in his black sedan, she thought, 'Well, that fight was not that bad. Also, it was fun putting Chang in his place.'
'I will be sore for a little while. But, so will Chang. Though, we will both recover. And it seems he kept with the rules I laid down, before the fight. And he is not upset. So, all in all, I am doing better than I thought I would, than I expected I would, after our meeting, just now.'
Boa grinned, as she continued her thoughts, 'And my love life is going to get more interesting. And I do miss being able to pee while standing up. Now, I am going back inside, and work the arrangements and plans I will need to rebuild my bar.'
Bao turned around, and she headed for her front door. As soon as she made it to the threshold of her front door, to her home. She opened the unlocked door, and walked inside, with her closing and locking the door behind her.
(_)
The end of Badasses Of the Multiverse: Book 5: “The Gambling Man”: Volume 2: “Total Badass.”
To be continued in Badasses Of the Multiverse: Book 5: “The Gambling Man”: Volume 3: “Dynasty.”