Seamus
Voodoo Gnomes
ESCAPE FROM TOKYO!
Words: 3355
Words: 3355
Inspector Nakazawa: Mewn
Daniel Witchlow: Nate
Daniel Witchlow: Nate
The sound of muffled gunfire kept Nakazawa on his toes. He tugged the collar of his trenchcoat up against the cold wind that went cutting across the city from Tokyo Bay. The grizzled detective kept a low profile and went carefully. His gun was drawn and the safety was off. The inspector hadn’t any clue what to expect. As he moved slowly he noticed a young man coming charging towards him at breakneck pace. He wasn’t a Japanese kid but...he looked weirdly familiar to the detective.
“Hey! You ain’t....what’s his name? That Scottish guy. Ewan...MacGregor are ya? Who’s chasin’ ya kid? You ain’t looking so hot.”
Nakazawa beckoned the young man into a heavily sheltered alley way and stood looking vigilant with his gun at the ready. He slid an already rolled cigarette out of his simple but expensive silver case and lit it in one practiced motion.
“You wouldn’t have somethin’ to do with this crazy shit, would ya?”
Daniel blinked, surprised more by the sound of a friendly voice than the question about his identity. He got that a lot, and was used to it. However, what he hadn’t expected to hear, indeed he had had not even the slightest inkling that this man had approached him, was that question in the middle of the madness that was taking place all around him. After fleeing his apartment with his dog, shortly before it got bombed, Daniel and Bear the German Shepard had been running through the city trying to find Nathaniel.
Though he could always feel his significant-other’s power in the city, tonight he was worried. That power had winked out then come back profoundly changed...back into what it had been all the time they had been growing up. Something even more insane was taking place. He turned to the man, a wildly confused look upon his face and beckoned Bear to follow him.
“I’m not Ewan McGregor, the name is Daniel Witchlow” he said kindly, but on guard. “And by ‘all this crazy shit’ if you mean the bombings and my boyfriend running off to play hero, then no, I’m not really taking part. I’m just trying to get away...and keep him safe.” He gestured to the dog at his feet. “It’s been a long night. What are you doing here?”
Silver sparks began to dance around his fingers as he asked the final question, his power, normally so very carefully hidden, brought forth in case he needed to defend himself.
Nakazawa took a slightly longer draw on his hand-rolled cigarette but didn’t seem to register a great deal of surprise at the manifestation of power. He adjusted his fedora with one hand after having holstered his gun.
“Yer one of those Cerberus types aren’t ya? I gotta couple friends in yer organization. Relax kid I’m not gonna kill you. I knew ya had something to do with all this...”
The burly inspector waved his big hand around at the smouldering wreckage that surrounded them and gave Daniel a big, toothy grin. He bowed and then stuck his large paw out.
“Nakazawa’s the name. I’m a cop. Well I was a cop ‘til they threw me on some desk in Okinawa. Anyhow...nice ta meet ya. So yer boyfriend huh? Well my buddy in Cerberus swings that way too. Zakki Shihara- ya know him?”
“Swings that way?” Daniel raised one, critical eyebrow, wondering what exactly he had managed to stumble upon. It was as if he were talking to a man straight out of the past some time...he hadn’t heard swings that way in quite a while--if ever. He chuckled and, yes, the name did ring a bell. Nathaniel had mentioned it several times.
“Zakki Shihara...Zakki...” he stumbled, pretending to search, “you mean that good for nothing pretty-boy who ran of with Nate to Russia after he led him into a trap so that their mutual boss could do god-knows-what to my boyfriend’s soul? I don’t know him, but I do know of him, yes. Why do you ask? I don’t work for Cerberus...I’m--I’m a minstrel.” He finished, pulling an occupation out of his ass that might just cover what he actually did. It was weak...but there was always hope.
Nakazawa furrowed his brow. He took a hard look at Daniel and shook his head.
“That ain’t somethin’ Zakki would do, kid. Whatever else happened to yer boyfriend I doubt Shihara led him into a trap. I’d be way more likely to distrust that boss of his. And really, junior, a minstrel? I think ya gotta be able ta do better ‘n that. Anyhow it seems like yer in a kinda difficult space. I might be able ta help get you outta here.”
His gun was shifted to a more utilitarian grip that would allow him to easily squeeze off a few shots if necessary. I sure hope this kid’s on the level. I’d hate to shoot him he thought with some discomfort.
Daniel blushed and looked down at his dog who, despite all the chaos going on around them, wagged his tail and whined sympathetically. Really, he could have done better with that make-up-an-occupation-on-the-spot thing, but his mind way scattered and clearly that was the best it could have done at the time.
“Fine,” he said, “so I’m not minstrel...that was just--that was just bad. I’m an engineer, to say the least, think DoD contracts and crap and you’ll know why I’m not allowed to really give way much more than that.” He frowned as he considered the man’s other comment.
“Well how should I know about that,” he said exasperatedly, “I mean, all I have to go on is poor Nate coming home and venting about the most wild things, then, one day he comes home with that story and suddenly unable to do things with that bow of his and instead reach into people’s minds and muddle about in their memories. It’s a very...one sided perspective, I guess you could say.”
He shook his head, half in dismay, half in disbelief at the numerous memories. He really needed to start hanging out with others from the spiritual community if he was at all going to get any of this straight.
“In the end though,” he said finally, absently stroking his dog’s head, “I am in a bit of a pickle here. Any help would be very, very welcome.”
“Well okay then. Let’s get outta this alley and head back to my car. Watch yer ass out there and stick close. I ain’t gonna be able to deal with the guys with the magic at least not without a distraction.I guess as long as I can see ‘em and they don’t vaporize me I c’n still put a bullet in ‘em. Nice dog by the way.”
The grizzled detective put a big hand on the dog’s head and scratched gently before tugging his fedora down a bit more and making sure his gun’s safety was off. He threw his cigarette down and stomped it out. Nakazawa looked both ways out of the alley and motioned with his gun.
The odd trio began moving down the sidewalks carefully scanning for any potential danger. Tokyo was suddenly not the safe place it had once been. Oddly the stocky inspector was in his element here.
“Yeah, he’s a good boy,” said Daniel as he followed the man and whistled to his dog to follow. Space seemed to bend and twist around the young man as he moved, drawing his lean frame into the shadows of oblivion and making him all but invisible. He followed the other man out into the alleyway always keeping behind him and slightly to his right as he had somewhere heard was proper. He didn’t notice that Bear was doing the same to him. Smart dog.
Everything was going smoothly as the trio slunk down the shady alleyway towards the gleaming headlights of the car they could just make out at the end, when, without warning, something landed heavily in front of them. Something with two feet, two hands and a head.
“My, my, my...what have we here?” asked the shadow figure.
Bear whined anxiously.
The heavy set detective’s gun came up and levelled at the shadowy man’s head.
“Ya might wanna back off buddy. My finger’s kinda itchy on this trigger and I just might make yer head splatter like an overripe melon so what say ya just go the other way like a good boy.”
Nakazawa was waiting for any excuse to shoot this guy and he hoped Dan was gonna be able to tackle him if he was full of weirdo magic. All I need is one shot buddy, just one shot.
Soft laughter was followed by the sound of not one, but two safety's clicking off, then, suddenly, the trio was facing the gleaming barrels of two Beretta 9mm. It was an ominous sight. Daniel shivered and quickly brought up his power. But, it wasn’t quick enough.
Just as Dan’s power reached it’s not insignificant maximum, two shots rang out from the Berettas and suddenly Nakazawa’s hat was lying in the dirt, two perfect circles through the top. It was a grizzly sight. Daniel grimaced.
“I don’t think so, buddy,” said the disembodied voice of the shooter. “You keep your power down and out of the way or this guy gets it.
“Ok,” said Daniel compliantly, lowering it then raising it again in a flash and sweeping an arm up in front of him. Ropes, ropes made of the very fabric of space and time, sprang from the space surrounding the man, wrenching his arms to the side and holding him tight.
“Bear, stay! Inspector Gadget dude, get him!” Daniel’s distress and effort were obvious in his voice.
“You ain’t got no idea how much pleasure this gives me, kid. Bright boy here wrecked my hat. I’m gonna wreck his face now.”
The sharp report of Nakazawa’s massive Desert Eagle echoed through the alleyway and the figure slumped to the ground with a thud. The inspector grinned and then grimaced as he picked up his damaged hat.
“I liked that hat. I really liked that hat. “
As they walked past the shadowy figure’s body Nakazawa gave it a kick.
“Serves ya right for ruinin’ a guy’s hat.”
“Clearly,” said Daniel as he walked past the corpse, retracting his power as he went. He hadn’t intended to let Nakazawa see that he was capable of that much, let alone the much more he was as well, but life or death of a potential friend, the young engineer knew what he’d do. He was grateful for the help after all. Bear snarled at the body as he went by before returning to trot contentedly at Dan’s heels.
Reaching the car without further incident, Daniel tried the handle of the Mercedes. It was locked.
“This thing got keys, man?” He asked, gesturing to the locked door. “You don’t mind dogs, do you? I’ll pay for any shed hair removal that has to be done if we get out of this.”
Nakazawa hit the automatic unlock and nodded encouragingly at Daniel.
“Nah dogs are fine. I don’t mind ‘em at all. Let’s get the fuck outta town before any more nasty surprises pop up.”
No sooner had these words left the heavyset man’s lips than a gang of men emerged from another shadowy side street. There was a feeling about them that made Nakazawa think they were more of the same freakishly empowered people who seemed to have overtaken the city.
“Remind not to open my fat trap again, Danny boy. Come on guys wouldya gimme a break? I just cleaned my goddamn gun and all you guys are makin’ me fire it. “
Apparently the leader of this group was disinclined to be helpful. A strange shadowy mass began concentrating above the man’s head and taking the shape of a massive fist. The man punched the air and this huge hand flew into the front of Nakazawa’s precious Mercedes Benz. The front grille caved in and the inspector’s eyes went wide.
“The hat was bad enough but my car? No one does that to my car.”
The Desert Eagle came up and Nakazawa pulled the trigger without hesitation.
“I hope ya like how lead tastes.”
Silver fire pouring from his body as he brought up his guard, Daniel flicked a hand casually at the ruined Mercedes. With a screel of unbending metal space warped and twisted, altering the car’s frame so that it was whole again. He glanced from Nakazawa to his victim and chewed a nail. He wasn’t used to such cold killing, but decided that he had better get started.
“There,” he said anxiously, “problem solved. What do you say we all just walk away?”
“I don’t think so,” said a voice an instant before a fireball came streaking towards Bear, who, caught in the act of getting into the car couldn’t do anything. That was all it took for Daniel to drop any sense of reason. Someone could attack him and get away with it, but if someone attacked Nathaniel or his dog, well, they would pay.
Cold fury overtook him and silver fire brightened the alleyway into an unnatural noon as Daniel dropped all restraint. With a sweep of his arm he bent space away from his dog, diverting the fireball into a nearby building. Flaming debris rained down over all of them, but nobody moved.
“Like I said,” he growled, voice trembling with rage, “why don’t we all just walk away before anyone else has to die? But,” he continued, “if you touch my dog again, death will be the least of your worries.”
Hoping he sounded braver than he felt, Daniel continued his staring contest with the gang of men, three of them he could see now in the unnatural noon of his power, and waited for somebody to move.
Bear whined.
One of the men gave a loud shout and stepped forward. Nakazawa felt a strange tugging in his gut as the man lifted a hand and pointed his finger. There was an electric charge in the air that made the veteran cop nervous. Without hesitation his finger gently but firmly squeezed the trigger of his massive gun and sent a bullet into the head of the man.
“You guys and yer freaky powers make me nervous. I don’t wanna splatter anyone else’s head today so why don’cha just pack up and move on? My trigger finger’s a bit jumpy again. Anyone else for a slug?”
The bear-like detective didn’t hold anger in his voice. There was just the calm assurance of a man who had a task to do and wouldn’t hesitate in getting it done. He looked coolly from face to face almost daring someone to make a move.
For a moment that seemed like an eternity, nobody said anything, nobody did anything, nobody even breathed. Then, without the slightest warning; no flaring of reiatsu, no motion at all, six fireballs blasted forward from one of the men towards Daniel, Nakazawa and Bear. Both men managed to get out of the way in time, an impressive feat for a human like Nakazawa, but a simple task for a man with Daniel’s power. However, the dog, though he tried valiantly, was not so fortunate and got hit, full on, by one of the blazing creations.
The agonizing sound of his best friend in pain rang in Daniel’s ears, rang and rang. It was a sound that wrenched his heart and clouded his mind with a red fog of rage. It was an utterly consuming emotion, blinding and dizzying in its intensity. What had Bear ever done to anyone other than be the best and most reliable companion to two men who needed that sort of solidarity in their lives? Why would someone even take aim at such an innocent creature. It was beyond comprehension to the engineer as were many other things past that point. All he knew then was pure, unadulterated hatred and rage like he had never experienced before.
Blindly, without concern for his body he jumped at the stocky man who had flung the fire. Whirling through a front handspring, he caught the man’s chin with his heel and quickly reversed his momentum. The man’s head snapped back on his spine with a sickening crunch and went flying through the air to smash, helplessly against the concrete face of a building so hard that the solid surface cracked and crumbled.
But Daniel wasn’t nearly finished.
Landing on his feet, he brought up his power and the air began to grow heavy with the weight of his rage. He flung his right arm out in front of him and clenched his fist. Space bent around his slender frame and that current, now made visible, moved in a rush toward the fire thrower. What happened next was too fast to see, but the sound, the revolting squelch of flattening human remained as Daniel used his power to compress the other man’s body beneath fold of the fabric of space. Breathing heavily he turned to the remaining two men.
“Leave.”
Nakazawa was barely able to follow the blur of motion and rage that Daniel became in the instant that his beloved pet was charred by the deadly fireballs. He considered himself lucky to have survived the onslaught himself and now his patience was worn right through with these guys. He fired a shot right at the feet of one of the men.
“You heard him. Fuck off. I’ve got no problem turning your heads into hamburger. On the other hand I could just let my friend loose on you. I think you pissed him off and clearly he likes to snap necks when he’s pissed off.”
The rough-featured inspector kept his gun trained on them. He still had two shots left and with his aim it wouldn’t be any problem to finish these bastards off. A part of him was terrified by the sudden and deadly violence Daniel had exhibited. He was clearly full of a boiling morass of repressed rage just itching for an outlet. Nakazawa was glad he wasn’t the recipient of such aggression.
The remaining men didn’t need twice telling. With expressions of the utmost surprise and horror, they turned tail and ran. In the ringing silence that followed, Daniel moved over towards where Bear lay, expecting the worst. However, when he got close, he could see that his dog was still breathing! Though Bear was missing a leg and his fur was blackened, the fire had cauterized the wound and had, in a way, saved the dog’s life.
Immediately, Daniel began to feel sick about what he had done to the man, but right then, all he cared about was getting his beloved pet to a vet. He picked up the wounded dog, who gave him a couple feeble licks and piled into the back seat of the car with his animal.
“You think we can stop by a vet on the way out?” he asked Nakazawa.
“Kid if you can find any vet who has the balls to stay open in this madhouse I’ll gladly stop. Good thing you put the fear of...whatever...in those guys. I wasn’t sure we coulda taken much more of them. Good work with the...the..”
Nakazawa vaguely waved his hands around as he climbed behind the wheel of his newly re-assembled Mercedes Benz and quizzically raised an eyebrow as he turned the key. The car started instantly and sat rumbling on the street. Daniel climbed in and shut the door with a solid clunk after settling Bear carefully in the back seat.
The car crept down the road as Nakazawa kept his eyes open for any vet who might be open. He doubted the likelihood given the destruction all around him. As they kept moving forward the Inspector was only glad to remain alive and be out of this insane city as quickly as possible.
“Hey! You ain’t....what’s his name? That Scottish guy. Ewan...MacGregor are ya? Who’s chasin’ ya kid? You ain’t looking so hot.”
Nakazawa beckoned the young man into a heavily sheltered alley way and stood looking vigilant with his gun at the ready. He slid an already rolled cigarette out of his simple but expensive silver case and lit it in one practiced motion.
“You wouldn’t have somethin’ to do with this crazy shit, would ya?”
Daniel blinked, surprised more by the sound of a friendly voice than the question about his identity. He got that a lot, and was used to it. However, what he hadn’t expected to hear, indeed he had had not even the slightest inkling that this man had approached him, was that question in the middle of the madness that was taking place all around him. After fleeing his apartment with his dog, shortly before it got bombed, Daniel and Bear the German Shepard had been running through the city trying to find Nathaniel.
Though he could always feel his significant-other’s power in the city, tonight he was worried. That power had winked out then come back profoundly changed...back into what it had been all the time they had been growing up. Something even more insane was taking place. He turned to the man, a wildly confused look upon his face and beckoned Bear to follow him.
“I’m not Ewan McGregor, the name is Daniel Witchlow” he said kindly, but on guard. “And by ‘all this crazy shit’ if you mean the bombings and my boyfriend running off to play hero, then no, I’m not really taking part. I’m just trying to get away...and keep him safe.” He gestured to the dog at his feet. “It’s been a long night. What are you doing here?”
Silver sparks began to dance around his fingers as he asked the final question, his power, normally so very carefully hidden, brought forth in case he needed to defend himself.
Nakazawa took a slightly longer draw on his hand-rolled cigarette but didn’t seem to register a great deal of surprise at the manifestation of power. He adjusted his fedora with one hand after having holstered his gun.
“Yer one of those Cerberus types aren’t ya? I gotta couple friends in yer organization. Relax kid I’m not gonna kill you. I knew ya had something to do with all this...”
The burly inspector waved his big hand around at the smouldering wreckage that surrounded them and gave Daniel a big, toothy grin. He bowed and then stuck his large paw out.
“Nakazawa’s the name. I’m a cop. Well I was a cop ‘til they threw me on some desk in Okinawa. Anyhow...nice ta meet ya. So yer boyfriend huh? Well my buddy in Cerberus swings that way too. Zakki Shihara- ya know him?”
“Swings that way?” Daniel raised one, critical eyebrow, wondering what exactly he had managed to stumble upon. It was as if he were talking to a man straight out of the past some time...he hadn’t heard swings that way in quite a while--if ever. He chuckled and, yes, the name did ring a bell. Nathaniel had mentioned it several times.
“Zakki Shihara...Zakki...” he stumbled, pretending to search, “you mean that good for nothing pretty-boy who ran of with Nate to Russia after he led him into a trap so that their mutual boss could do god-knows-what to my boyfriend’s soul? I don’t know him, but I do know of him, yes. Why do you ask? I don’t work for Cerberus...I’m--I’m a minstrel.” He finished, pulling an occupation out of his ass that might just cover what he actually did. It was weak...but there was always hope.
Nakazawa furrowed his brow. He took a hard look at Daniel and shook his head.
“That ain’t somethin’ Zakki would do, kid. Whatever else happened to yer boyfriend I doubt Shihara led him into a trap. I’d be way more likely to distrust that boss of his. And really, junior, a minstrel? I think ya gotta be able ta do better ‘n that. Anyhow it seems like yer in a kinda difficult space. I might be able ta help get you outta here.”
His gun was shifted to a more utilitarian grip that would allow him to easily squeeze off a few shots if necessary. I sure hope this kid’s on the level. I’d hate to shoot him he thought with some discomfort.
Daniel blushed and looked down at his dog who, despite all the chaos going on around them, wagged his tail and whined sympathetically. Really, he could have done better with that make-up-an-occupation-on-the-spot thing, but his mind way scattered and clearly that was the best it could have done at the time.
“Fine,” he said, “so I’m not minstrel...that was just--that was just bad. I’m an engineer, to say the least, think DoD contracts and crap and you’ll know why I’m not allowed to really give way much more than that.” He frowned as he considered the man’s other comment.
“Well how should I know about that,” he said exasperatedly, “I mean, all I have to go on is poor Nate coming home and venting about the most wild things, then, one day he comes home with that story and suddenly unable to do things with that bow of his and instead reach into people’s minds and muddle about in their memories. It’s a very...one sided perspective, I guess you could say.”
He shook his head, half in dismay, half in disbelief at the numerous memories. He really needed to start hanging out with others from the spiritual community if he was at all going to get any of this straight.
“In the end though,” he said finally, absently stroking his dog’s head, “I am in a bit of a pickle here. Any help would be very, very welcome.”
“Well okay then. Let’s get outta this alley and head back to my car. Watch yer ass out there and stick close. I ain’t gonna be able to deal with the guys with the magic at least not without a distraction.I guess as long as I can see ‘em and they don’t vaporize me I c’n still put a bullet in ‘em. Nice dog by the way.”
The grizzled detective put a big hand on the dog’s head and scratched gently before tugging his fedora down a bit more and making sure his gun’s safety was off. He threw his cigarette down and stomped it out. Nakazawa looked both ways out of the alley and motioned with his gun.
The odd trio began moving down the sidewalks carefully scanning for any potential danger. Tokyo was suddenly not the safe place it had once been. Oddly the stocky inspector was in his element here.
“Yeah, he’s a good boy,” said Daniel as he followed the man and whistled to his dog to follow. Space seemed to bend and twist around the young man as he moved, drawing his lean frame into the shadows of oblivion and making him all but invisible. He followed the other man out into the alleyway always keeping behind him and slightly to his right as he had somewhere heard was proper. He didn’t notice that Bear was doing the same to him. Smart dog.
Everything was going smoothly as the trio slunk down the shady alleyway towards the gleaming headlights of the car they could just make out at the end, when, without warning, something landed heavily in front of them. Something with two feet, two hands and a head.
“My, my, my...what have we here?” asked the shadow figure.
Bear whined anxiously.
The heavy set detective’s gun came up and levelled at the shadowy man’s head.
“Ya might wanna back off buddy. My finger’s kinda itchy on this trigger and I just might make yer head splatter like an overripe melon so what say ya just go the other way like a good boy.”
Nakazawa was waiting for any excuse to shoot this guy and he hoped Dan was gonna be able to tackle him if he was full of weirdo magic. All I need is one shot buddy, just one shot.
Soft laughter was followed by the sound of not one, but two safety's clicking off, then, suddenly, the trio was facing the gleaming barrels of two Beretta 9mm. It was an ominous sight. Daniel shivered and quickly brought up his power. But, it wasn’t quick enough.
Just as Dan’s power reached it’s not insignificant maximum, two shots rang out from the Berettas and suddenly Nakazawa’s hat was lying in the dirt, two perfect circles through the top. It was a grizzly sight. Daniel grimaced.
“I don’t think so, buddy,” said the disembodied voice of the shooter. “You keep your power down and out of the way or this guy gets it.
“Ok,” said Daniel compliantly, lowering it then raising it again in a flash and sweeping an arm up in front of him. Ropes, ropes made of the very fabric of space and time, sprang from the space surrounding the man, wrenching his arms to the side and holding him tight.
“Bear, stay! Inspector Gadget dude, get him!” Daniel’s distress and effort were obvious in his voice.
“You ain’t got no idea how much pleasure this gives me, kid. Bright boy here wrecked my hat. I’m gonna wreck his face now.”
The sharp report of Nakazawa’s massive Desert Eagle echoed through the alleyway and the figure slumped to the ground with a thud. The inspector grinned and then grimaced as he picked up his damaged hat.
“I liked that hat. I really liked that hat. “
As they walked past the shadowy figure’s body Nakazawa gave it a kick.
“Serves ya right for ruinin’ a guy’s hat.”
“Clearly,” said Daniel as he walked past the corpse, retracting his power as he went. He hadn’t intended to let Nakazawa see that he was capable of that much, let alone the much more he was as well, but life or death of a potential friend, the young engineer knew what he’d do. He was grateful for the help after all. Bear snarled at the body as he went by before returning to trot contentedly at Dan’s heels.
Reaching the car without further incident, Daniel tried the handle of the Mercedes. It was locked.
“This thing got keys, man?” He asked, gesturing to the locked door. “You don’t mind dogs, do you? I’ll pay for any shed hair removal that has to be done if we get out of this.”
Nakazawa hit the automatic unlock and nodded encouragingly at Daniel.
“Nah dogs are fine. I don’t mind ‘em at all. Let’s get the fuck outta town before any more nasty surprises pop up.”
No sooner had these words left the heavyset man’s lips than a gang of men emerged from another shadowy side street. There was a feeling about them that made Nakazawa think they were more of the same freakishly empowered people who seemed to have overtaken the city.
“Remind not to open my fat trap again, Danny boy. Come on guys wouldya gimme a break? I just cleaned my goddamn gun and all you guys are makin’ me fire it. “
Apparently the leader of this group was disinclined to be helpful. A strange shadowy mass began concentrating above the man’s head and taking the shape of a massive fist. The man punched the air and this huge hand flew into the front of Nakazawa’s precious Mercedes Benz. The front grille caved in and the inspector’s eyes went wide.
“The hat was bad enough but my car? No one does that to my car.”
The Desert Eagle came up and Nakazawa pulled the trigger without hesitation.
“I hope ya like how lead tastes.”
Silver fire pouring from his body as he brought up his guard, Daniel flicked a hand casually at the ruined Mercedes. With a screel of unbending metal space warped and twisted, altering the car’s frame so that it was whole again. He glanced from Nakazawa to his victim and chewed a nail. He wasn’t used to such cold killing, but decided that he had better get started.
“There,” he said anxiously, “problem solved. What do you say we all just walk away?”
“I don’t think so,” said a voice an instant before a fireball came streaking towards Bear, who, caught in the act of getting into the car couldn’t do anything. That was all it took for Daniel to drop any sense of reason. Someone could attack him and get away with it, but if someone attacked Nathaniel or his dog, well, they would pay.
Cold fury overtook him and silver fire brightened the alleyway into an unnatural noon as Daniel dropped all restraint. With a sweep of his arm he bent space away from his dog, diverting the fireball into a nearby building. Flaming debris rained down over all of them, but nobody moved.
“Like I said,” he growled, voice trembling with rage, “why don’t we all just walk away before anyone else has to die? But,” he continued, “if you touch my dog again, death will be the least of your worries.”
Hoping he sounded braver than he felt, Daniel continued his staring contest with the gang of men, three of them he could see now in the unnatural noon of his power, and waited for somebody to move.
Bear whined.
One of the men gave a loud shout and stepped forward. Nakazawa felt a strange tugging in his gut as the man lifted a hand and pointed his finger. There was an electric charge in the air that made the veteran cop nervous. Without hesitation his finger gently but firmly squeezed the trigger of his massive gun and sent a bullet into the head of the man.
“You guys and yer freaky powers make me nervous. I don’t wanna splatter anyone else’s head today so why don’cha just pack up and move on? My trigger finger’s a bit jumpy again. Anyone else for a slug?”
The bear-like detective didn’t hold anger in his voice. There was just the calm assurance of a man who had a task to do and wouldn’t hesitate in getting it done. He looked coolly from face to face almost daring someone to make a move.
For a moment that seemed like an eternity, nobody said anything, nobody did anything, nobody even breathed. Then, without the slightest warning; no flaring of reiatsu, no motion at all, six fireballs blasted forward from one of the men towards Daniel, Nakazawa and Bear. Both men managed to get out of the way in time, an impressive feat for a human like Nakazawa, but a simple task for a man with Daniel’s power. However, the dog, though he tried valiantly, was not so fortunate and got hit, full on, by one of the blazing creations.
The agonizing sound of his best friend in pain rang in Daniel’s ears, rang and rang. It was a sound that wrenched his heart and clouded his mind with a red fog of rage. It was an utterly consuming emotion, blinding and dizzying in its intensity. What had Bear ever done to anyone other than be the best and most reliable companion to two men who needed that sort of solidarity in their lives? Why would someone even take aim at such an innocent creature. It was beyond comprehension to the engineer as were many other things past that point. All he knew then was pure, unadulterated hatred and rage like he had never experienced before.
Blindly, without concern for his body he jumped at the stocky man who had flung the fire. Whirling through a front handspring, he caught the man’s chin with his heel and quickly reversed his momentum. The man’s head snapped back on his spine with a sickening crunch and went flying through the air to smash, helplessly against the concrete face of a building so hard that the solid surface cracked and crumbled.
But Daniel wasn’t nearly finished.
Landing on his feet, he brought up his power and the air began to grow heavy with the weight of his rage. He flung his right arm out in front of him and clenched his fist. Space bent around his slender frame and that current, now made visible, moved in a rush toward the fire thrower. What happened next was too fast to see, but the sound, the revolting squelch of flattening human remained as Daniel used his power to compress the other man’s body beneath fold of the fabric of space. Breathing heavily he turned to the remaining two men.
“Leave.”
Nakazawa was barely able to follow the blur of motion and rage that Daniel became in the instant that his beloved pet was charred by the deadly fireballs. He considered himself lucky to have survived the onslaught himself and now his patience was worn right through with these guys. He fired a shot right at the feet of one of the men.
“You heard him. Fuck off. I’ve got no problem turning your heads into hamburger. On the other hand I could just let my friend loose on you. I think you pissed him off and clearly he likes to snap necks when he’s pissed off.”
The rough-featured inspector kept his gun trained on them. He still had two shots left and with his aim it wouldn’t be any problem to finish these bastards off. A part of him was terrified by the sudden and deadly violence Daniel had exhibited. He was clearly full of a boiling morass of repressed rage just itching for an outlet. Nakazawa was glad he wasn’t the recipient of such aggression.
The remaining men didn’t need twice telling. With expressions of the utmost surprise and horror, they turned tail and ran. In the ringing silence that followed, Daniel moved over towards where Bear lay, expecting the worst. However, when he got close, he could see that his dog was still breathing! Though Bear was missing a leg and his fur was blackened, the fire had cauterized the wound and had, in a way, saved the dog’s life.
Immediately, Daniel began to feel sick about what he had done to the man, but right then, all he cared about was getting his beloved pet to a vet. He picked up the wounded dog, who gave him a couple feeble licks and piled into the back seat of the car with his animal.
“You think we can stop by a vet on the way out?” he asked Nakazawa.
“Kid if you can find any vet who has the balls to stay open in this madhouse I’ll gladly stop. Good thing you put the fear of...whatever...in those guys. I wasn’t sure we coulda taken much more of them. Good work with the...the..”
Nakazawa vaguely waved his hands around as he climbed behind the wheel of his newly re-assembled Mercedes Benz and quizzically raised an eyebrow as he turned the key. The car started instantly and sat rumbling on the street. Daniel climbed in and shut the door with a solid clunk after settling Bear carefully in the back seat.
The car crept down the road as Nakazawa kept his eyes open for any vet who might be open. He doubted the likelihood given the destruction all around him. As they kept moving forward the Inspector was only glad to remain alive and be out of this insane city as quickly as possible.