--===JUSTICE SEVEN===--
Justice Seven
Episode 5:
The Cybernetic Connector
_Author's Note:_ There is a significant amount of conversation in this
episode that would take place in Japanese. I do not speak Japanese,
nor do I claim to. I have done my best to emulate the 'politeness' and
style of Japanese speech, but I make no claim that it is authentic,
either. I do not have any Japanese-speaking friends, or I would have
consulted them on the matter. Please bear with me if you *do* speak
Japanese.
"Good morning, ladies and gentlemen, and welcome aboard
American Airlines flight 2880 non-stop from Tokyo to Mornington. Our
estimated flight time will be thirteen hours and twenty minutes, and
our estimated time of arrival in Mornington will be just before noon,
local time. Our cruising altitude today will be 38,000 feet, and we'll
be traveling at roughly five hundred knots. Please sit back, relax,
and enjoy the flight."
Akira Nazawa settled back into his seat and closed his eyes
as the airplane left the ground. He wouldn't go to sleep just yet,
though he would need to sleep over the next several hours in order to
make it through the day. He also needed food, and the cabin crew would
be serving breakfast in short order. He relaxed into the comfortable
first-class seat and sighed.
He'd never been to America before, and now they were going
to live there. *Well, at least my English skills are good,* he thought
to himself, but in Japanese, which he'd have to stop doing soon. He
didn't want to just 'make it' in America; he wanted to excel. To do
so, he knew he would need to fit into the American society, and he'd
been told many times that Americans resent those who live in their
country but cannot speak their language, and their language was English.
He opened his eyes as he felt movement next to him. He
looked over to see his mother fidgeting in her window seat. Among
other things, Yumiko Nazawa did not like to fly, and she was likely to
remain upset for the entire thirteen-hour flight. Akira reached over
and touched her arm. She looked at him, and gave a very slight smile,
then looked back out the window. He slipped his hand down to hers, and
she took it, squeezing tightly. He knew she was afraid, and uncertain,
and he wanted to take care of his mother. He left his hand in hers,
and rested his head on the seat, remembering how everything had
started...
-----
"Akira, your father and I would like to ask you something."
"Yes, Mother. What is it?"
"You are aware of the project that your father and I have
been working on?"
"I know that it is important, but you have not told me what
it is about."
"We are trying to find a way for people and computers to
communicate more efficiently."
"Ah. Yes, that is very important."
"Yes. But we are having a problem. All of our research
subjects are too old, and their mind rejects the new interface."
"That would be a difficulty."
"Yes. Akira, we cannot force you, but we were wondering if
you would be willing to help us with our project."
"Is it dangerous?"
"It should not be. No one has been hurt in any of our
experiments, though there is a surgery involved."
"I understand. May I think about it?"
"Of course. Let us know when you have decided."
"*Hai*."
* *
-----
* *
* It wasn't terribly nice of them to lie to me about the
danger,* Akira thought to himself. In fact, three of the subjects had
been seriously harmed by the experiment in the very beginning. The
last four subjects had not been harmed, but it had not worked with
them. His parents knew the project was close to being shut down, and
that was why they'd turned to him.
Akira didn't mind that they'd used him as a guinea pig.
The project had, in fact, been fun, after he'd recovered from the brain
surgery. The implant was inside his skull, so he didn't have any outer
signs of it at all, since his hair had long ago grown back to cover the
surgical scar.
*That first day was pretty interesting, though...*
-----
"Akira, this is Mr. Tadeshi, the director of the facility.
He wanted to meet you."
Akira bowed before saying, "How do you do, Mr. Tadeshi?"
"Very well, and yourself?" the man responded in kind.
"Quite well, thank you."
"I won't take up much of your time. I know you are
interested in beginning your project. I simply wanted to offer my
thanks for assisting with the experiments."
"It is my pleasure, Mr. Tadeshi."
The two exchanged a few more pleasantries before the
director left, and Yumiko led her son over to the computer lab. In the
lab, he saw a dozen large computers, and half a dozen standard PCs. He
gawked at the monitors, and the cabling, and all of the other equipment.
"What am I supposed to do, Mother?" he asked.
She handed him a small device. On it were two different
plugs, and a switch. "This is the transmitter that connects to the
implant in your mind. The switch indicates which type of computer
you're connecting to."
"But I see three positions on the switch, and only two
connectors," he said.
"The third is for the wireless protocol known as Bluetooth."
"Ah," Akira said, understanding. The two other ports were
recognizable to him as a USB port and a FireWire connector. "So, how
does it work?"
"First, you turn it on with the separate switch. Then, you
choose the type of connection you are going to make. After that, you
simply plug it into the computer. Before you do, Akira, you should
know that it probably won't make any sense at first, and it will
probably give you a very bad headache."
Akira nodded, and took a deep breath. "Which computer do I
try?"
-----
"Good morning. And what would you like for breakfast?"
Akira took in the cute blonde stewardess, but refocused his
thoughts. His mother was staring obliviously out the window, trying
not to deal with things.
"The scrambled eggs, for both of us, please," Akira said.
The young stewardess nodded with a smile, and then moved down the
aisle. Akira turned to his mother and put his hand on her shoulder.
Her body jolted, as if from an electric current. She turned to face
him, her eyes full of fear and uncertainty.
"Mother, you have to let it go."
"Oh, Akira. What are we going to do? I've never even been
to America." She spoke in Japanese, though her English was quite
good. Akira responded in kind.
"We'll make it. You'll see." She smiled at him, and it
was heartening that she trusted him. "I ordered you some scrambled
eggs." He knew she hadn't heard the conversation with the stewardess.
"Thank you, Akira."
Akira reached over and hugged his mother. He noticed how
tightly she clung to him. He was more than willing to support her.
They released after only a moment, not wanting to draw excess attention
to themselves. Most of the people on this airplane were American,
however, and probably wouldn't notice a mother and son embracing.
Breakfast was surprisingly good, for airliner food, and
Akira ate his with gusto. He noticed that his mother barely ate any of
hers, but he didn't comment on that fact. It wasn't yet time for such
things. He figured that she would be hungry enough by lunch time that
her body would force her to eat, and that would be good enough.
He wondered if his mother knew the thoughts he had about
her. Probably not, he judged, or surely she would have said something
by now. It had all started in the lab, of course...
-----
"Your father and I have to go to this dinner, Akira. Of
course, you are not expected to attend." That he would not be welcome
was the unspoken message that everyone understood.
"Okay. May I stay here and practice?" The interface he
had with the computers was something that was difficult for him to
understand, and he was still learning how to interpret everything he
saw.
"Of course. I will tell the security officer that you are
in here," his father told him. "When you are done, make sure to sign
out with him."
"*Hai*."
His parents had departed shortly thereafter, and Akira had
then chosen a computer at random to start practicing with. In truth,
he'd gotten quite good at it. He didn't want to go home because there
was nothing to do there. The problem with living in a government
facility was that he didn't have any friends who weren't busy working
on their own projects, and those were all adults, anyway. Akira was a
fourteen-year-old boy, and he needed something to do. Bored teenagers
are terribly prone to getting into trouble, and Akira was no exception.
After about an hour, he gave up on these computers, and
decided to leave. While he was walking out to the front desk to sign
out, he realized that there was another security desk here. It was
unmanned, at the moment, because the facility was essentially shut down
from its day's activities, with only a few scientists still around.
Akira snuck over to the security desk, and turned on the terminals
there. All of the cameras in the facility were digital, and their
video was kept on hard disk storage. The compression method used,
along with the quality of the video feed, meant that it didn't take up
a horrendous amount of space, and it kept all of the files readily
accessible.
The reason Akira wanted to be here was that he'd noticed a
FireWire port on these terminals. He assumed it was for some kind of
device to offload specific video information from. It didn't matter,
though; once he plugged his special interface device into the port, he
might as well have been plugged directly into the CPU.
Akira looked around. This system was obviously different
from the computers he'd been practicing on. Things were far more
organized, and very systematically placed. He could see, if he looked
behind his virtual self, a big electric wall, glowing red. That, of
course, was the security wall. Akira had bypassed the security wall
entirely because he was, after all, a 'hardware device', as far as the
computer was concerned. The facility before him looked very much like a
library. He moved into the aisles of "books", trying to figure out how
things were categorized here. He saw signs above each aisle, and it
took him a while to translate the code there into a building name. He
moved down the aisle for the building he was in, and he tried to figure
out what he was seeing. He found a whole section of books that bore
the room number of 'his' lab. There were other numbers on the books,
and he quickly translated those into dates. He pulled out the most
recent one, which was dated for that day. Opening the book, he saw
that it started in a dark lab. The video progressed in real time,
until he started flipping pages. As he did so, the video jumped by
minutes. He flipped quickly, and soon, he saw himself enter the lab
with his parents. He slowed it down, just to watch for a bit, and he
was satisfied that he knew what he was seeing. This was, of course,
terribly boring, and so he soon closed the book and put it back on the
shelf.
Moving out of that aisle, he looked up at each sign, just
to see what he had access to in this manner. He got his first surprise
when he came to the aisles that were labeled with the name of their
apartment building. It was within the complex, but he had not expected
there to be many security cameras there. However, he counted six full
aisles of footage, and that had to mean an enormous amount of data.
Moving down the aisles, he quickly realized that they were
organized by apartment number. He instantly began looking for his own
apartment, number 602. He found it, and then he had to interpret a
whole new set of codes, because there were at least six different sets
of camera data. He decided to pick one from each set, and discovered
that the different sets indicated each room in his family's apartment.
He was not as shocked as some people might have been that
his government was spying on him. After all, the program he was
involved in would be perfect for espionage operations, as he was
proving right now.
The last video he pulled was something that would affect
him deeply. He flipped it open to a random page, not really expecting
to see anything specific. What he saw was his mother, in the master
bathroom. She had on her bathrobe, and was turning on the water to
take a shower. The camera was located in such a way that it could see
into the shower, as well as the rest of the room. The cameras, he'd
noted, followed movement. He could only assume they were computer
controlled, since to have a person controlling each one all the time
would be labor-intensive to the extreme.
The camera remained centered on his mother as she removed
her robe, hanging it on the back of the door. Akira's eyes were glued
to the video as his mother stepped into the shower. The ventilation
system of the bathroom kept steam from building up, and he was able to
clearly watch his mother washing her naked body.
Her shower lasted ten minutes, and Akira was enraptured for
the entire period. Eventually, she had left the bathroom. Akira
closed the book, and was about to put it back on the shelf, when he
changed his mind.
One of the abilities this system gave him was the power to
transfer files to a special computer that sat in their apartment. This
computer was linked to him via a satellite connection. How they had
managed to give him the ability to transmit to a satellite, he'd never
asked, because he was afraid of the answer. He decided he wanted this
file, and so he uploaded it to his home system, where he could watch it
again at his leisure.
He downloaded a great many files of their home that
evening, before he exited the system and signed out. He would have a
full night of looking over these files. Since he knew he was being
watched, however, he would view them within his cyberworld. He would
never again use his computer the 'normal' way.
-----
Akira had worried, at first, that they would find out about
what he had done, and that he would be in serious trouble. He'd not
gone back to the security computer for weeks. He had, however, spent
many hours studying his mother. What had been merely intriguing to him
at first had become something of an obsession to the hormone-crazed
teenager. He'd even watched his parents screwing once, but that had
nearly made him sick. Looking at his father's naked body was not
something he wanted to contemplate.
After a few months, he had realized that they either did
not know what he had done, or the powers that were didn't care. It
hadn't taken him long to get back into that system, and this time, he'd
set up an account for himself, so that he could 'legally' enter the
security system from home. He spent many nights eavesdropping on his
parents, and many, many mornings watching his mother shower and dress.
He looked over at her now, sleeping fitfully in her window
seat. Her body fidgeted and shivered as she slept, and so he placed
his hand on hers. It seemed that her body immediately stilled, and her
sleeping was easier. She seemed to find his presence comforting.
*She's always needed someone to take care of her...*
-----
Akira's parents obviously thought he was fully involved in
the television program he was watching, or they would have gone to
their room to hold their discussion, which wasn't quiet enough for him
not to hear them. He was only fourteen, and he really should not be
listening in on an adult conversation, but he sensed the distress his
mother was under, and he wanted to know what that was about.
"They have offered me a promotion, Maseo," she told her
husband. "I would be working as lab director."
"I see," her husband responded. "And this troubles you?"
"Maseo, it would make me your supervisor."
"I do not have a problem with that, Yumiko."
"It would also mean that I would be responsible for
everything that happened in the lab. I would be the one making
decisions about hiring and firing, and I would also be responsible for
the direction our research takes."
"Yes. I know you would not enjoy such a task as that."
"Maseo, I do not wish to have such responsibility. I
cannot make those kinds of decisions."
"Yes."
"But if I do not take the job, I do not know who they will
give the position to. They might even bring in Taoka."
"Yes, that would be unfortunate."
"I cannot decide what I should do, my husband. Tell me."
"It is not likely that you would need to make split-second
decisions as lab director, Yumiko."
"This is true. I would have many days to make important
decisions."
"Then you could discuss them with me, correct?"
"Yes."
"It would not be very difficult for us to work together to
lead the lab."
"That is true."
"Then you should take the job, Yumiko. Together, we will
make the project work."
"Thank you, Maseo."
"It is my job to look after you, my wife," he said with a
smile. She responded with a bow, and a special smile of her own.
-----
*It was only a little while after that when they asked me
to become part of the project,* Akira thought to himself. *I bet that
was Dad's doing. Mom always followed his lead. Actually, more like
his instructions. I hope Mom is going to be okay. I'll have to do
what I can to take care of her now...*
With these thoughts, Akira drifted into sleep.
-----
"Okay, son, we're going to try the network access again."
"I'm ready."
"Now, remember: the computer you're trying to connect to
has an account for you, but you're going to have to figure out how to
enter through that account. Normally, you'd just log in, but no one
really understands how you're going to accomplish that..."
Maseo Nazawa's words were cut off by a loud alarm.
"What's that?" Yumiko cried.
"It sounds like a security alert," Maseo said calmly. He
walked to the intercom and called the front desk. What he heard made
him turn pale. He turned back to the other two. "Akira, you'd better
disconnect. Apparently, there are protestors inside the complex."
"Oh, my God!" Yumiko screamed. She ran to Akira, and, as
soon as he had himself disconnected from the computer, she pulled him
to her, shrinking toward the back of the lab.
"I don't know what they'd be after here. We're not doing
anything dangerous or even military." That their own project was the
subject of the riot never even entered his mind.
The security alarm continued. There were security
personnel in this building, but because the research was not considered
a matter of national security, they were not armed, and there weren't
that many of them. The crowd of protestors had easily subdued those
guards they had run into. Soon, they were beating at the door of the
lab, and Yumiko shrieked in terror.
Maseo tried to remain calm, and to think. Akira simply
waited; he would do what he was told. He had no training or experience
to handle a situation like this. It was at that moment that he wished
he'd taken up one of his country's many martial arts. As the door to
the lab began to give way under the weight of whatever the rioters were
using, Maseo turned to his family.
"Akira, help me move these cabinets."
Akira and Maseo pushed the cabinets aside to reveal a
door. Maseo wasted no time.
"Both of you, go down this hallway. It leads to a secure
facility where you can even escape the compound if necessary."
"What will you do?" Yumiko wanted to know.
"Someone has to move the cabinets back into place. I do
not expect the rioters will hurt one unarmed man. I will not resist
them, but I will not give them my wife and my son. Go now, before they
break through."
"Good luck, father," Akira said. Maseo smiled at him and
bowed slightly.
Yumiko and her son entered the hallway and began to run
down it as they heard the filing cabinets slide back into place. The
hallway ran on and on.
Akira looked back as he heard the cabinets being moved
again. He saw a throng of people. He ran faster, encouraging his
mother to do the same. They had to reach the end of the hallway, but
it stretched into the distance, without an end in sight. Taking the
chance to look back, Akira was horrified to see the crowd growing
closer and closer. He tried to run faster, but the protesters were
outrunning him. They grew nearer, and finally, he felt a hand on his
shoulder...
-----
Akira jolted upward, awakened from his nightmare. His face
was covered with sweat. The hand on his shoulder turned out to be the
stewardess.
"Are you all right, sir?" she asked politely.
Akira's eyes were wild for a moment, until he realized
where he was, and what was going on. He looked to the cute blonde, and
nodded.
"Yes, I'll be okay. It was just a bad dream."
"Sorry to wake you, but you were crying out. Also, it is
almost time for lunch."
"Yes. Thank you. I'll be all right."
"Okay." She wandered off to get ready to serve their
second meal on this interminable flight. He could feel his mother's
eyes on him.
"The dream again?" she asked in Japanese.
"*Hai*. It will go away eventually."
"Oh, Akira..." Her voice trailed off, because there was no
more to be said. He took her hand, and she squeezed. He leaned his
head back and closed his eyes.
That wasn't what had actually happened, of course. The
cabinets had never been touched, and Akira and his mother had reached
the secure facility quickly and safely. There, they had waited under
the protection of several guards armed with batons, until the rioting
had been repelled.
-----
"I am very sorry, Dr. Nazawa. The rioters had clubs and
chains. They were very angry. Your husband was... he did not have any
way to resist them."
"What happened?" she asked shakily. Akira was beside her,
and he wrapped his arm around his mother, already trying to protect her.
"He was beaten to death, Doctor. I am sorry. We weren't
able to reach him in time."
"But *why*? He said he would not resist them!"
"From the video, it looks as if they didn't care if he was
resisting or not. They came in swinging. They smashed everything in
the lab. All of the equipment is utterly destroyed."
"My God. Maseo..." Yumiko's knees gave way, and Akira
held her up until he could get her to a chair. He set her down in it,
and then he turned to the complex security supervisor they'd been
talking with.
"What will happen to the project?"
"That's not my responsibility, I'm afraid. However, with
all of the equipment trashed, it is likely they will close the project
down."
-----
"Ladies and gentlemen, this is your captain speaking. We
have just entered American airspace, and your long journey is almost
over. We should be touching down in Mornington in about an hour and a
half. Thank you for flying American Airlines."
"God, we're almost there," Akira said with a heavy sigh.
He didn't mind flying, but this was like slow torture. He was an
active kid by nature, and being cooped up like this did not appeal to
him.
Yumiko Nazawa had been either staring out the window or
sleeping for most of the flight. She was doing the latter of the two
now. Akira brushed her hair out of her face gently as she slept, but
she did not stir.
*It's amazing to think about moving to America, after
losing Dad. I know I'll be able to adjust okay, but what about Mom?
She didn't react one way or the other when they told us...*
-----
"How do you do, Mr. Yamato?" Yumiko greeted politely,
bowing.
"Fine, thank you. And yourself?" he responded.
"As well as one can," she replied.
"Yes. And this is your son, Akira?"
"Yes, sir."
"How do you do, Mr. Yamato?" Akira asked with a bow.
"Very well, and yourself?" Mr. Yamato said.
"Fine," Akira said, not really meaning it, but it was what
one was supposed to say at a time like this.
"I am very sorry for your loss," Mr. Yamato said.
'Thank you. I will miss my father."
"I understand that the project was coming along nicely
before this tragic incident."
"Yes, sir," Yumiko replied. "We have managed to get the
connection to work with Akira. We were still having some difficulties
with making network link-ups, but we expected to resolve that... but...
now..."
"Yes. Without your husband, we have suffered a setback.
Also, since the project is now in the media, and under scrutiny, we
would have a difficult time going forward. The protesters seem to
believe we planned to use this for internal espionage or other
nefarious acts. They aren't willing to listen to facts, and so we are
unlikely to receive government approval to go forward here."
"So the program will just be shut down?" Akira asked.
Mr. Yamato looked at him kindly. "Actually, no. Although
we cannot hope to continue the project here, where emotion is still
very high, we are hoping that you can continue your research elsewhere."
"Where do you wish us to go, Mr. Yamato?" Yumiko asked.
"America."
Akira's eyes widened. "You want us to leave Japan?"
"Yes. It is the best option. It will keep you safe, and
people will believe the project has been deactivated. We will still
provide you with research funds and of course, living costs. Since you
always kept the receiver computer at home, Akira, the project has not
actually lost anything of consequence as far as equipment goes. Some
data has been lost, but that can be regained, I am sure."
"You wish us to go to America." It was not a question, and
Akira could tell that his mother was overwhelmed.
"*Hai*."
"America is so large," Akira said in wonder. "How would we
choose where to live?"
At this point, Mr. Yamato pulled Akira aside. He glanced
over at Yumiko, but her eyes were cast down, and she was obviously lost
in her own thoughts.
"Akira, we are going to send you both to the city of
Mornington."
"That is a big city."
"Yes. There is a reason we are sending you there. We
would rather you kept this information confidential."
"I cannot have secrets from my mother," he replied
immediately.
Mr. Yamato said, "Yes, I know this. I do not expect you
not to tell her, but you might wish to wait until such time as she is
more able to deal with it."
Akira nodded in understanding. "Please, what is your
reason for sending us there?"
"Once you get to Mornington, we want you to contact a
teenager by the name of Luke Anderton."
"May I ask why?"
"Akira, around here, you have been considered normal,
because you live in a research complex. Out in the real world, they
will consider you to be unusual. They might even refer to you as a
'freak'. It would be best for you to remember that, and to hide your
special ability as much as possible."
Akira nodded. He had not considered this, but it made
immediate sense to him. "And this person?"
"Luke Anderton also has a special ability. He also hides
this from others."
"He can talk to computers, too?"
"No. His ability is different. When you meet up with Mr.
Anderton, there may be others with him, as well."
"How can this be?"
"I cannot tell you that. Just know that there may be as
many as five other people who have special abilities, as well."
"Six people, in one city?"
"Yes. I cannot tell you more, Akira. I cannot even tell
you exactly how to get in touch with Mr. Anderton. You will have to
work out some of the details on your own. Your records indicate that
you should not have too much trouble doing so, and your work here over
the last two years has been quite exemplary."
"Thank you, Mr. Yamato. When I meet Mr. Anderton, what do
I do?"
"I leave that up to you, Akira. I do not know what Mr.
Anderton and his possible associates are doing, nor what they plan. We
are sending you merely because it may help you to have others who, like
you, have something to hide, and will not judge you for your
difference."
Akira sensed he was not being told the entire truth, but
that was normal for him, and he accepted it without much discomfort.
He bowed to Mr. Yamato. "It will be as you say."
"Thank you, Akira. You leave in three days. Please pack
lightly. Everything you need will be provided for when you get to
America."
"Thank you, Mr. Yamato."
-----
"Ladies and gentlemen, we are making our final approach
into Mornington International Airport. The temperature is seventy-two
degrees, and it is a sunny day. Please fasten your seat belts, and
bring your seats and tray tables into the full-upright, locked position
in preparation for landing. And thank you for flying American
Airlines."
Akira felt the hand holding his squeeze far more tightly.
Yumiko knew that the majority of accidents happen on takeoff and
landing, and she was just as scared now as she had been at the
beginning of the flight. Akira leaned over and hugged his mother with
his free hand. She held onto him tightly for a few seconds.
"I love you, Akira," she whispered in Japanese.
"I love you, too, Mom," he responded, giving her an extra
squeeze before letting go. He leaned back in his seat, simply waiting,
while his mother trembled, looking out the window.
It wasn't too long before he felt the *thump* of the wheels
on the tarmac.
*Welcome to the United States, Akira. It's game time.*
...---=== http://netwolf.wolfpub.org ===---...
"Luke, do you think we've... Mmmm. I can't talk when you
do that."
"And this is a problem?" he asked with a smirk. Lori
swatted him playfully.
"Okay, okay, I'm sorry." Luke removed his hand from the
sensitive spot it had been sitting in. "What were you saying?"
"I'm trying to remember, you turkey. Oh, yeah. Do you
think we've found all of us? I mean, it's been two weeks since we
found Jim and Jen, and we haven't had a hint of anyone else at all."
"I don't know, Sweetheart. I never expected that there
would be six of us all clustered in one city like this. That can't be
coincidence, you know?"
"Yeah," she said, a slight quiver in her voice. "What do
you think it means?"
"That, I have no clue. No idea whatsoever. If I were the
suspicious type - "
"Which you are," Lori interjected happily.
"Which I are, yes," Luke agreed with a chuckle. "Then I
would say that someone *put* us here. But that just leads to a damned
conspiracy theory, and I hate those. The government can't be
responsible for everything weird that happens."
"True."
"But then, that leaves the question of *who*. Oh, I know!
God decided to put us here to clean up Mornington and redeem the
people!"
Lori giggled at his theatrics. "Um... I don't think that's
it."
Luke deflated in an over-exaggerated manner. "Damn, and
here I was ready to proclaim myself Pope."
The two laughed about it, without coming to any answers.
It was hard to find any importance in it at the time.
...---=== http://netwolf.wolfpub.org ===---...
"Okay, first order of business: has anyone gotten any hints
of others at Highlands, or anywhere here in Mornington?"
There were shakes of the head and general negative
mumbles. Claire asked, "Mimir, how long do you expect us to keep
looking?" They had agreed that, in order to get used to using the
names, any time they were discussing business, they would refer to each
other by their codenames.
"I'm not sure. It seems odd that we all came together so
quickly."
"Does anyone else find it strange that we are all in the
same school?" Hercules asked.
"It is odd, yes. At least, I *think* it's odd. Hell, who
knows? Maybe there are mutant-types springing up all over the country,
and we just don't know about it."
Loki said, "And there's no way for us to find out, is
there? So why are we worrying about it?"
Atlanta said, "Because it's better to be prepared than to
be caught with your pants down."
"That depends on who's doing the looking," Loki shot back,
leering over at Nightingale. She studiously ignored his look. The
rest in the room grinned patiently. They'd grown used to Loki's
advances toward Nightingale, and, though she professed to hate him,
they'd been caught together on more than one occasion.
"Okay," Mimir said. "Just keep your eyes open, is all I'm
saying. There might be others of us out there, and we need to know if
there are."
"Can we move on to new business, now?" Aurora asked.
"Yeah. We have a problem." The group stirred at those
words. "Our problem is this: we have money... Shadow, how much?"
"One hundred thirty dollars, so far."
"Okay, it's not a lot, but it's mounting fast. We need to
open a bank account. The problem is that we have to expose someone to
the bank in order to do that."
"I thought that was my job." Loki said.
"It is, but the problem is that the bank will want to see
ID, and you don't have any for anyone but yourself."
"We could ask my mom to do it," Aurora offered.
"I'd thought of that, Aurora," Atlanta replied. "But the
problem, as Mimir pointed out to me, is that it still gives them a
starting point. It gives them someone to track down."
"True."
"I haven't yet come up with a way to beat this one," Mimir
said. "If any of you have ideas, let's hear them."
"What we need," Hercules said, "Are fake birth
certificates."
"Explain," Mimir requested.
"Well, what we need are false ID's for Loki, right?" There
were nods of agreement. "The easiest way to get those is to make the
DMV make them for you. But the DMV will require a birth certificate as
proof of identification."
"You're suggesting creating whole identities, rather than
just bluffing the bank?"
"Right."
"That might work... if we can figure out how to make up
fake birth certificates."
"It shouldn't be *too* hard," Loki said. "The DMV probably
doesn't waste time running down every birth certificate to make sure
it's valid. If we can copy a real one, and just change the
information, then that should be good enough to get past them."
"You hope," Nightingale put in.
"No risk, no glory," Loki responded.
"Okay. Herc, Loki, you guys look into creating some false
identities. Let us know what you come up with."
"You got it," Hercules replied.
"Last order of business. We have a job request, but it
is... outside the rules, shall we say."
"Who do they want dead?" Loki asked with a smirk.
"Not *that* far outside. They want us to steal an answer
key to a test."
"That's not really ethical, is it?" Aurora asked.
"No. Which is why we haven't taken the job yet. I wanted
everyone's input, first.
"Hey, it's money. If they're stupid enough to pay for the
test answers rather than just take the time to study, I say bilk them
for all they've got."
"But what does that say about the MDSA?" Aurora shot back.
"It says we get the job done!" Loki responded. He didn't
like being challenged.
"Okay, you two. Back off. Loki has a point: since we're
not using the results ourselves, it's less of a problem for me. Truth
is, if *we* can get the test answers, so can they. We're just safer
doing it, because we have a few more tricks. *But* Aurora is right:
this sets a tone for the Mornington Detectives and Services Agency, and
we have to decide if that's a reputation we wish to have."
"How much money are they offering?" Hercules asked calmly.
"Our usual fee," was the response.
"No," was Herc's immediate answer. "If we're going to be
breaking rules for them, they need to pay *at least* double. If we get
caught, we get into trouble, and it draws too much attention to us. If
they're not willing to pay extra, then they can do it themselves."
Aurora looked at him. "You're going along with this?"
"J... Aurora, look at it this way: these are the kinds of
people who are acting up, causing trouble, and generally making
people's lives at school miserable. What do we lose by making sure the
bastards graduate, and so get *rid* of them?"
She looked at him for a long moment. "I hadn't thought of
that."
"Okay, so... we charge them double for breaking the
rules... does anyone have any further comments?" No one did. "So, I
have approval to accept this job?" There were nods from everyone,
though Aurora's nod was a little weak. "Okay. Loki, since you have
the least amount of problem with this job, you get to do it."
"Fine," he said, showing contempt for the others.
"That's it, unless anyone has something they want to talk
about." There was no real response, and so Mimir assumed that things
were going well enough to adjourn the meeting. "Okay. See you all at
school, then."
-----
"I'm still not entirely sure I like us doing this one," Jen
said to Jim as they walked to the bus stop.
"I know. But let's face it: this isn't really a 'big'
offense, and if the dipshit wants to pretend he knows it instead of
actually knowing it, well... it's not like that kind of behavior is
going to get him into Harvard, now is it?"
"No," she said with a grin. "I suppose you're right. I'm
just not used to breaking the rules."
"I think Loki is."
"That's obvious."
"So, we'll let him do the hairy ones."
"Works for me."
The two walked a ways further without talking, but they
were holding hands constantly now. Finally, Jen felt she needed to
mention something that had been bothering her.
"Jim, why doesn't your sister like me?"
"Huh?"
"Laura. Every time I see her, she gives me this look, as
if she just sort of doesn't want to be around me. What did I do?"
Jim hesitated for an entire block before answering her.
"She's jealous."
"Of me? Why?"
"That's complicated, and you might not want to know the
details."
"If it involves you and me, I want to know all about it."
Jim moved over to a bench, and they sat down.
"The bus doesn't come down this street on Saturdays."
"I know. This might take us a little time to talk about,
and I'm not going to do it on a cross-town bus."
"Oh. Okay."
Jim looked across the street, at an empty construction
site. No cars passed during his pause in conversation. Jen simply
waited, knowing that he would tell her when he was ready.
"Just before you and I met, right at the beginning of the
school year, my sister and I... our relationship changed."
"Changed how?" Jen asked softly. She wasn't demanding
information, but merely pointing out that she didn't understand.
Jim hesitated for another very long moment before he looked
her in the eye and said, "We became lovers."
Jen stared at him in shock. She could tell that he was
totally serious, and that he was now trying to decide whether or not he
should continue. Jen, however, couldn't quite wrap her mind around the
thought.
Seeing that she needed a bit of time to digest this
revelation, Jim decided to fill the silence with a little background
info. "See, Laura and I have always been really close. Then this
year, it all started when I had to beat up this guy for hurting her.
She kissed me that day. Well, one thing led to another, and, well...
we started sleeping together.
"Then, when I met you and we started dating, I had to stop
that. I think she feels a little like she's been dumped."
Finally, Jen's mind had caught up with the conversation,
and she'd latched onto something he'd just said. "Had to?"
"Had to what?"
"You said you *had to* stop sleeping with her. Why?"
He looked at her funny as he said, "What do you mean, why?
I was dating you. I wasn't going to cheat on my girlfriend."
"But you were cheating on your sister, sort of," she said,
not entirely seriously.
"Well, I couldn't exactly date my own sister. Society
frowns on that."
"Yeah. Damned prudes," Jen said. It was her turn to look
away. Deep inside, she held two emotions. One was a sense of joy that
he had thought enough of her to abort a relationship that she knew had
to mean more than what he'd just told her. The other was her distress
at taking away from him something that had almost certainly made him
happy. Jen desperately wanted him to be happy.
She considered what she should say or do at this point.
There was an obvious solution to the problem, of course, but she wasn't
sure he would understand what she was saying. She wasn't sure she
could be clear enough in communicating her desire to him. She knew,
though, that she had to try.
"How long has it been since you've slept with Laura?" she
asked quietly.
"At least a month, I guess. Probably a little longer."
"We were supposed to go to a movie tonight, right?"
"That was the plan..." he said warily.
She turned to face him fully. "I want you to do something
for me. Instead of taking me to a movie, I want you to go home and
spend the evening with your sister. And I want you to take her to bed,
too."
Jim looked at her, and it was his turn to be shocked and
confused. "Jen, what are you saying?"
She hurried to quell the fear she saw in his face. "No,
no, I'm not dumping you. I don't ever want to lose you. But I want
you to be happy. I want you to be as happy as you can possibly be.
Not just content or satisfied, I want you to be so happy you can't
imagine a better life. That's how you make me feel just by holding my
hand.
"I know you're happy with me. You've told me that a
thousand times. But I don't want to take away anything that makes you
happy. If being with your sister makes you happy, I want you to have
that."
Jim sat, stunned, for a few more moments. Finally, he had
to ask, "And if she'd been someone else?"
"Anyone else. You don't even have to tell me about them.
Jim, I love you. Somehow, I think I will always love you. And I will
sleep better at night knowing that you are as happy as I am. If
sleeping with the Queen of England makes you happy, go for it."
Jim shuddered at the image that produced, but smiled at his
girlfriend. He embraced her, and they kissed warmly.
"I love you, too."
"I know that," she answered softly.
-----
His family was a little surprised to see Jim arrive home so
early, and without Jen in tow.
"Hey, Sweetheart," his mother greeted. "Something go
wrong?"
"No, just a change of plans, is all. Jen wasn't up to
going out tonight. She's a bit tired, and wanted to spend the evening
resting."
"Oh. Well, I hope she's okay."
"She'll be fine. So, what're we having for dinner?"
-----
"Whatcha watching, Sis?"
"Just a dumb movie."
He sat down next to her and said, "If it's dumb, why are
you watching it?"
"There's nothing better on." They were in the den, where
there was a smaller television. The big TV was in the living room,
where their parents were.
Jim slipped his arm around his sister's shoulders, and she
leaned against him, sighing happily. He held her like that for a
while, neither of them saying anything, and both of them half-watching
the movie. Laura finally felt the need to talk, because the movie was
horribly dull.
"So, what happened between you and Jen? You guys always go
out on Saturday."
"Nothing serious. She just asked me to do something else
tonight."
"Oh. Things okay between you two?"
"Oh, yeah," he responded with a smile. "Things are just
fine."
Laura smiled at her brother. "That's good. I'm glad you
found someone."
Conversation lapsed at this point for several minutes.
Laura, finally fed up with the movie, decided to get ready for bed.
"Well, this is just stupid. I'm going to go take a
shower. See you in a bit."
*You most certainly will*, Jim thought to himself. He
nodded at her, and counted to ten before getting up to follow her. He
kept his distance from her until she went into her bedroom to disrobe.
He was quickly up the stairs and into his own room, to do exactly the
same thing. He had his clothes off and his bathrobe on in just a
minute, and then he waited patiently until he heard his sister go into
the bathroom and close the door.
Slipping out into the hallway, he stopped at the bathroom
door to listen. He could hear her moving around, and then he heard the
shower door open. Soon, water was running, and the shower door soon
clicked shut. He waited for one minute, letting the shower door fog
over, as he knew it would, before entering the bathroom. He took off
his robe and hung it on the back of the door, and then moved to the
shower.
*Good thing she didn't want to take a bath.* The bathroom
had both a large shower stall, and a huge bathtub, but he didn't want
to imagine how they would have had sex in the tub. *Maybe I'll find
out someday.*
Without hesitating, Jim opened the shower door. Laura was
facing away from him, wetting down her front. She heard the door open,
but didn't turn around. The door closed, and then she felt strong
hands on her waist. She smiled as he stepped up behind her, pressing
his body fully against her. She could feel his hard cock pressing
against her lower back.
"Jim? What are you doing?" she asked with a mischievous
smile.
"Just following my instructions," he said before kissing
the base of her neck. Laura sighed at the feel of her brother against
her. His hands slipped forward and up, gently cupping her breasts.
His fingers caressed her skin, seeking out and finding her nipples.
She moaned softly at the feel of his hands upon her.
"Oh, God, I missed this," she said in a half-moan. Jim
continued to kiss her neck, then slid up to her earlobe to lightly
nibble on it. Laura moaned a little louder this time. She slowly
turned her head, and Jim got the idea. Soon, their lips were pressed
together in a passionate kiss. His hands continued to massage her
breasts, and she was enjoying the moment.
As they continued to kiss, Jim slipped one hand off her
tit, and down between her legs. Laura moved her legs apart so that he
would have easy access. Her body shivered, and she groaned, as his
fingers slipped along the side of her clit. His fingers plied her
pussy lips, sending tingles throughout her body.
Jim took his other hand, and reached down to adjust
himself. He slipped his cock in between Laura's thighs, and it rested
against her cunt. He could feel how hot she was for him, and that
excited him. He was ready.
He had to break their kiss, so that she could bend over
slightly, making entrance easier. She looked back over her shoulder at
him, and had to express her concern.
"Jim? What about Jen?"
Just before he slid his cock inside her, he said, "Whose
instructions do you think I'm following? I told you she asked me to do
something *else* tonight." With that, he slipped his dick inside of
his sister's hot, waiting hole. Laura groaned at the feel of it. Jim
sighed with a smile. He loved Jen, but he had missed his sister's
attentions. He buried himself inside of her, and then he paused. He
just enjoyed the feel of her warm pussy surrounding his dick.
"I love you," he told her, leaning fully against her.
"I love you, too," she said, surprised that he'd so easily
say that to her. She mewled as his hands moved back up to her tits,
softly kneading them. When he started to move inside her, she moaned
more loudly. His dick slipped in and out of her at an easy pace. Jim
didn't want to hurry; he'd missed his sister's body, and he wanted to
make this last. In his mind, he thanked Jen for her... kindness? He
wasn't sure why she had given him the freedom to sleep with any woman
he wished. Not that many women wished to sleep with him, of course,
but...
His mind refocused on his sister as her cunt began to
ripple along his shaft. She was groaning loudly now, and he did have
to worry about that. If their parents caught them...
Jim pulled out of his sister, and she whined in
disappointment. He turned her around, and pressed his lips to hers.
His tongue slipped into her mouth, and soon their tongues were
dancing. This position was a little awkward for sex, but it was
quieter. Then, Jim thought he could do something, and maybe Laura
wouldn't pay attention.
Jim grasped Laura's legs with his hands, and with his
mind. Lifting upward, she got the idea, and wrapped her legs around
his waist. In this position, Jim slipped back into her waiting cunt
easily, and Laura moaned into his mouth. Jim made sure to keep his
sister supported with his telekinesis as well as his hands. He began
to move inside her again, enjoying the feel of her entire body moving
up and down against him. The hot water from the shower washed over
them, adding to their pleasure.
Laura was groaning loudly into Jim's mouth now, and her
hands were holding his head tightly, pressing his mouth strongly
against her own. Their tongues continued to slip wetly against each
other as their bodies moved together.
Jim pounded into his sister faster and faster, too excited
to control himself at this point. Laura was just as aroused, rippling
her pussy along her brother's dick, holding herself against him,
wanting to feel every inch of his body. She was in ecstasy, and she
was close to the brink.
Finally, she couldn't stand it anymore, and her body was
seized by her massive climax. She screamed into Jim's mouth, and her
back tried to arch, pushing herself more firmly against Jim's body.
Her pussy squeezed and milked his cock, hoping for his spunk.
Jim's cock was sending tingles all throughout his body, and
he just couldn't hold back any longer. He spewed his cum deep inside
his sister, and the two clutched at each other, lost in their world of
lust and pleasure. For several moments, they grunted and writhed
against each other, until finally they both began to come down from
their orgasms.
Jim very slowly let his sister's legs slide down his body,
until she was once again standing on the floor. His cock slipped out
of her pussy, but the pair did not separate. They held each other
under the running water, just wanting to be together, now that they had
sated their carnal desires for the moment.
*Good thing our system never runs out of hot water,* he
thought to himself. He held his sister gently, enjoying the feel of
her arms wrapped around him, and how her head rested against his
shoulder.
Finally, Laura looked at him. "So, Jen knows about us?"
"Yeah."
"When did you tell her?"
"This afternoon. She wanted to know why you kept glaring
at her," he said lightly.
"Oh," Laura said, blushing slightly. "Did she take it
well?"
"She's the one who told me to do this," he reminded her.
"She... is willing to share," he said in a very limited explanation.
Laura smiled at him impishly. "I'll have to find a way to
thank her."
Jim kissed her sweetly. Laura responded in kind.
...---=== http://netwolf.wolfpub.org ===---...
Akira was disappointed, but not surprised, that his mother
and he had separate rooms at the hotel. It was a fairly nice hotel,
and that was okay, since they would probably be here for a couple of
weeks trying to find a house. The Japanese government was paying for
everything, and would continue to do so, within reason. They wanted to
continue the project, and so Akira would have access to whatever
resources were needed to do that.
The good thing about the hotel was that it had an 'internet
cafe', and so Akira had easy access to the internet, which he figured
would be the easiest way to try to locate Luke Anderton. A flip
through the phone book had turned up three Andertons, and they were,
unfortunately, all located in different parts of the city. He could
have just called each one, looking for Luke, but he didn't want to do
that. He wanted to have some idea of who he was dealing with before he
revealed himself.
There were six high schools in Mornington, and they each,
thankfully, had a website. Highlands was only the second school on his
list. The school had a highly organized site, and it listed many of
the clubs and teams the school had. Looking through the listings, he
didn't find Mr. Anderton listed at all. He was just about to leave,
when he caught a link at the bottom of the page. "This website
maintained by the Highlands Computer Club". He clicked the link, and
it immediately took him to the page for the HCC. The page, he noted,
was very organized, and it was one of the better sites he'd seen. He
quickly found a link for membership, and there, the first name on the
list, was Luke Anderton, chief programmer.
*I didn't expect it to be this easy.*
This told Akira two things. First, he knew which area of
the city they needed to move into, and second, he knew that Luke was
definitely into computers. That meant they had something in common,
and that would help him make a connection with the other boy, without
having to just walk up to him and introduce himself.
*Good. Now we can move on to step two.*
...---=== http://netwolf.wolfpub.org ===---...
"Okay, so, what kind of house are you looking for today?"
the realtor asked politely.
"Um, I don't really..." Yumiko stammered. She felt very
uncertain of herself. Akira, seeing an opportunity to continue on his
'mission', and also to help his mother, jumped in.
"We need a two or three bedroom house in the Highlands High
School District."
Yumiko looked at her son in surprise, but didn't question
his authority to make the statement. She simply settled back, letting
someone else make the decision.
The realtor looked at him, at his mother, and then,
realizing that he was the one she needed to deal with, turned back to
him. "Okay. That's a somewhat pricey neighborhood. Do you have a
price range you'd like to stick with?"
"Upper mid-range house. Nothing too ostentatious, but
comfortable." Akira knew that the Japanese government was paying for
the house, and he also knew that real estate prices in Japan were so
far out of whack that he could have bought the most expensive house in
the city without them batting much of an eye. He didn't want to stand
out like that, though.
"Okay. We have several houses that will fit that
description. Will you want to look at them all today?"
Taking only a brief glance at his mother, he responded, "We
don't have anything else to do."
"Very good."
...---=== http://netwolf.wolfpub.org ===---...
"That's the last of it, ma'am. You sure did buy a lot of
stuff from us."
"We're new to America. It would have been too expensive to
ship our old furniture here."
"I suppose that's right," the workman allowed. "Which
country you from?"
"Japan," Yumiko answered politely.
"Yeah? Well, welcome to the good ol' U.S. of A. You have
a good night, now."
"Thank you."
Akira watched the man walk down to his truck and depart
before he said anything at all. Turning to his mother, he asked, "Did
you get everything you wanted?"
"No," she said sadly. "They didn't have some of the things
I wanted."
"We'll try to find them. I might be able to find what you
want online."
"That would be wonderful. I don't want to abuse our
government's generosity, however."
"Mom," Akira said, taking a tone he had never quite taken
with her, one of superiority. "Even with the cost of the furniture, we
haven't spent half of what a house half this size would cost in Tokyo.
They said they weren't worried about our expenses."
"That is good to know," she said. She had never once
questioned him about why the government was talking to him instead of
her. She was content to let him deal with it, and that was obvious.
The new house suited Akira just fine. It was far larger
than any home he'd ever lived in. Once he'd told the government
representative why he wanted to live in this area of town, they had
agreed immediately, and had given him an upper limit on spending to
purchase and furnish the home. He hadn't come even close to that
amount yet, and probably wouldn't, even with all the electronic
equipment they had to buy. He would need several types of computers to
continue their work. The real trouble was that he was not yet as
proficient a programmer as his father had been.
Thinking about his father caused a twinge of grief.
Leaving their home country meant that they were also unable to visit
his father's grave. He knew he would be able to cope, but he was
sincerely worried about his mother. Hopefully, she would be able to
deal with it as time went on. He hoped so.
"What would you like for dinner, Akira?" Yumiko asked him.
It was late, and they really didn't have the energy to
prepare a proper meal, so he said, "Why don't we order out?"
"Hamburgers again?" his mother asked tolerantly. Akira had
quickly fallen in love with Burger King food, which his parents had
never bought in Japan.
"How about pizza tonight?" Pizza was another food he'd had
only rarely.
"As you say," she said with a soft smile.
...---=== http://netwolf.wolfpub.org ===---...
"Good morning, Akira, is it? I'm Principal Garrett. I
understand you come to us from overseas."
Akira looked at the man and had something of a distaste for
him. He seemed polite enough, but that was the problem; he just
*seemed* that way. It didn't appear to Akira to be sincere. He bowed
slightly, anyway, and then kicked himself mentally. He would have to
stop doing that soon.
"Yes, sir. My mother and I just emigrated from Japan."
"Well, we're glad to have you here at Highlands. I see by
your records that you did very well in your school in Japan. Of
course, you realize that our school systems really aren't compatible.
Your classes don't translate to ours very well."
"I was aware of this, yes." Akira said politely.
"What we'll have to do is run you through some tests, to
figure out where to place you. Of course, we'll waive some of the
usual requirements, because you won't have time to complete them. You
can discuss all this with your guidance counselor after you finish with
the testing. It'll take about two days to complete all of the
standardized tests, because we don't want to swamp you with it all at
once."
"If you don't mind, sir, I'd just as soon take them all and
get them out of the way. I don't have test anxiety, and I don't find
tests any more difficult than regular school work."
Mr. Garrett looked at him with some surprise. "Well, we'll
see. Now, let's get you over to the guidance office so that you can
get started."
"Thank you, sir."
...---=== http://netwolf.wolfpub.org ===---...
"Well, Akira, these test results are amazing," Mrs. Bramble
said. "I've never seen a student score so high on these tests. How
old are you, again?" It was in his file, but she didn't feel like
looking.
"I turned sixteen a few months ago, ma'am," he replied.
"Well, that's really impressive. I discussed this with Mr.
Garrett, and we both talked to the state this morning. Your scores are
good enough that we are willing to put you in the senior class, if you
would like. We'll waive the usual mandatory graduation requirements,
except for two or three classes we'd like you to get in. What do you
think of that?"
What Akira *really* thought of that was, *One less year of
school*. What he said was, "That would be good, Mrs. Bramble. How
will this affect my college outlook?"
"Oh, I don't think it's going to hurt you any. You'll want
to get started on applications real soon, though."
"Yes, ma'am. What do we do now?"
"We have to work out a class schedule for you. Now, what
are your interests?"
-----
"Hello, can I help you?"
"Good day, Mr. Rutledge," Akira said, being extremely
cautious about his pronunciation, "I am a new student, and I have your
class." He handed the office form to the teacher, who looked it over
and nodded.
"It says here that you've had basic and intermediate
programming already."
"Yes, sir. In Japan."
Mr. Rutledge looked up at him. "I've heard about Japanese
schools. You could probably teach me something." He smiled. "Well,
there's a seat over there by Luke. He can show you the ropes." Mr.
Rutledge raised his voice slightly.
"Mr. Anderton?" Akira flinched as a boy with black hair
got up and came to the front of the class.
"What's up, Mr. Rutledge?" Luke asked his teacher.
"Luke, this is Akira Nazawa. He's just moved here from
Japan. I want you to get him up to speed on what we're doing, and get
him settled in, okay?"
"Sure thing! Hey, Akira. C'mon back." Akira was in a bit
of a daze as he followed the target of his search to the back of the
room. They sat side-by-side at a pair of empty computers.
*I certainly didn't think getting to meet him would be this
easy.* Though this was the only Advanced Computer Programming class,
and so he knew that Luke would be in it, he had figured that striking
up a conversation would be difficult. He thanked the Fates that he now
had an easy opening.
"So, how far did you get in programming in Japan?" Luke
asked. Akira turned back to him. It would be good to get a feel for
him before mentioning the reason for Akira's search.
...---=== http://netwolf.wolfpub.org ===---...
For the rest of the week, Akira and Luke worked together in
computer class, and Akira was becoming more comfortable with Luke's
attitude about things. He still wasn't sure how Luke would react when
Akira tried to talk with him about their special abilities.
On Friday, he decided it was time to find out. He couldn't
wait forever, and now was as good a time as any. He decided to talk to
him over lunch. Unfortunately, when Akira found him, Luke was sitting
with a very beautiful girl, and Akira wasn't sure he wanted to try to
have any sort of conversation in her presence.
"Hey, Akira!" Luke called upon seeing him. Luke waved him
over. "Have a seat! This is my girlfriend, Lori Darlington. Lori,
this is the new guy I was telling you about, Akira... sorry, how does
your last name go again?"
"Nazawa."
"Yeah. Sorry, I'm not very good with names."
"It is all right, Luke."
"How do you like America?" Lori asked.
"It is very different from Japan. But I think I prefer it
here. There is more to do, and less strictness."
"Yeah. America has always been kind of free-form in its
way of doing things," Luke said. "You doing okay, school-wise? I
mean, being a senior and all..."
"I am doing well, according to my teachers."
"Cool."
For a moment, conversation lagged. Finally, Akira got up
the courage to say, "Luke, there is something I need to discuss with
you, but..." Akira glanced at Lori, and Luke got the message.
"If it's not personal, then just go ahead and say it. Lori
and I don't keep secrets."
"It *is* personal, but it is about you, not me."
Luke looked at him a little funny when he said that, but
shrugged. "There's nothing about me she doesn't know, so just go ahead
and say it."
Akira looked at them both for almost a minute, and then
lowered his voice. "I know that you have a... special ability." Akira
had considered just how to word that. If he'd said that he'd been
*told* about Luke's ability, that would immediately tell Luke that even
more people knew, and that might panic him. This would not help Akira
at all.
Luke went a little pale, but didn't say anything. Akira
continued. "I also know that there might be others with you. I came
to Mornington to find you."
"Okay..." Luke said, unsure of how to handle this. He
knew, now, how the others must have felt about being approached. It
was a distinctly uncomfortable feeling. "What do you want?"
Akira looked at him calmly, and said, "An alliance."
Luke exhaled. "Okay. Why do you *need* an alliance?"
"You aren't the only one with a special ability."
"I see."
Looking to Lori, he said, "I think we need to call the
group together." She nodded. Luke took out his notebook, and wrote
down some directions, along with a map.
"Tomorrow afternoon at two o'clock, go to this address.
It's a junkyard. There's a big building there. Go inside, and it's
the first door on the right. You can meet all of the people who you're
asking for an alliance *with*."
"That is good."
"Can I ask what your special skill is?" Lori queried.
"I will tell you about it tomorrow," Akira said. He got
up, and took his lunch over to an empty table. He knew they would want
to converse, without him present.
"Oh, shit," Luke opined.
"Yeah," Lori agreed.
...---=== http://netwolf.wolfpub.org ===---...
Akira made his way through the junkyard toward the large
building, as he had been directed. He felt unsure of himself, because
he didn't know who would be waiting for him inside. Although he wasn't
afraid, he was wary. Soon enough, he came to the door and opened it.
It was dark inside, and he took a moment to allow his eyes to adjust to
the darkness. Looking to his right, he saw light coming from the
doorway he had been told to enter. Taking a deep breath, he walked
into the room.
Looking around, Akira saw seven people, only two of which
were familiar to him. The looks he saw on most of the faces were
friendly, but cautious. One of the three boys in the room, however,
seemed to be openly hostile. Akira wasn't sure what to make of that,
but he didn't have time just now to worry about it.
"Hey, Akira!" Luke greeted him from across the room.
Akira stepped further into the room before speaking.
"Hello. I'm not sure what to do now, so do you want me to introduce
myself, or do you want to introduce everyone else first?"
Lori was the one who spoke up. "Every other time we've
introduced ourselves first. It would be unfair to make you go first
this time."
Luke agreed. "True. Well, you know me, and you met Lori
yesterday, but do you know anything about the special ability you
alluded to yesterday?"
"No, I don't. I don't want to get into it just yet, but
all I knew when I came here was that I needed to find you. So, I don't
even know what your special ability is."
"Okay, then we'll do the whole speech." Luke stepped
forward and in a formal way said, "My name is Luke Anderton, and my
secret name is Mimir. My special ability is reading and writing
people's memory. Just to prove to you that I actually can do this,
your mother is very pretty."
Akira nodded at this, knowing that Luke had never met
Akira's mother. Before Akira could say or do anything else, Lori
stepped forward.
"My name is Lori Darlington. My secret name is Atlanta.
My strength, speed, and agility are all at least double a normal human
being's. Do you really need me to prove this to you?"
"Not really, there aren't too many people who would lie and
say they *are* a mutant."
Lori chuckled as she sat back down. Claire stood up, then
introduced herself. "I'm Claire Bullok, and my secret name is
Nightingale. As you might be able to guess, my special ability is
healing people. I'd show you, but there's nothing wrong with you at
the moment."
Everyone in the room chuckled as Claire sat back down.
Paul was the next person up, and it was Paul who had given Akira the
hostile look. That made Akira pay a little more attention to Paul's
introduction. Paul said, "I'm Paul Bell. They call me Loki. I'm a
shapeshifter, but I can only do mammals. That does include people,
though." Paul sat down without any of his usual smart-assed comments,
and that told the rest of the group, though not Akira, that something
was wrong.
Akira did notice that Jim, the next person to stand up,
gave Paul a strange look. The boy stepped forward and nodded at
Akira. "Hi. My name is Jim Matthews. My secret name is Hercules, but
I am not physically strong like my name implies. My strength comes
from the power of telekinesis."
"You can move things with your mind?" Akira said,
astonished.
Jim just nodded, a slight smile on his face at Akira's awe
of his ability. Jim turned to the girl next to him, and she stood up.
She nodded at Akira, but she didn't speak. Jim, however, did introduce
her.
"This is my girlfriend, Jennifer Young. Her secret name is
Aurora. Her special ability is to control the weather and
temperature." Jim immediately noticed Akira's stunned expression, and
smiled at him. "Yeah, it's a bit hard to get used to, but that's just
who she is."
"Doesn't she have the ability to talk?" Akira asked with
some embarrassment.
Everyone laughed as Jen blushed crimson. Finally, she
spoke up. "Sorry, I'm just a little uncomfortable around new people.
I didn't mean to be rude."
Akira bowed slightly at her, a smile on his face. "You're
not being rude. I didn't wish to appear rude later by not speaking to
you. I take no offense at shyness, I know how that feels."
Akira was glad to see Jen nod before she sat back down.
The last girl in the room stood up, and stepped a little forward.
"My name is Andie Miller. My secret name is Shadow. I
don't have any special powers. I'm Claire's friend, and I was with her
when she first found out about this group. That's why they asked me to
be a member."
Akira nodded at her with a smile, as he had everyone else.
Before anyone had to ask, Akira began speaking. "My name is Akira
Nazawa. I come from Japan. I was living in a research facility just
outside of Tokyo. I was helping my parents with the project when some
protesters broke into the facility. My father was killed in the riot,
and the government asked us to leave the country for our own safety."
Claire said, "That's so sad. I'm sorry about your dad."
"Yeah. That really sucks," Luke agreed. "So, this
project, does it have anything to do with your special ability? You
*did* say you had one."
"Yes. The project is what gave me my special ability. I
have an implant in my brain. That implant allows me to directly
communicate with computers. Any computer that has a USB, FireWire, or
BlueTooth port on it, I can talk to it directly."
"Damn!" Luke exclaimed. "That's fucking cool!"
Paul chimed in, "How in the hell do you do that?"
Akira pulled his connection device out of his pocket and
showed it to the group. "What I have to do is connect this to the
computer that I want to talk to. Once I turn this on, it sends a
signal to my brain. Well, actually, it sends its signal directly to my
*implant*, which sends its signal to my brain."
Paul and Luke both wanted to know more about this, but they
knew that the rest of the group wouldn't be interested, so they let it
ride for now. Still, they made a note to themselves to talk to Akira
about it later.
"So, do you have a secret name?" Lori asked him.
Akira shook his head. "I've never really thought of one,
no."
"Each of us chose our names from a character in mythology
or present day that we felt an attachment to. Do you have anything
like that?" Luke asked.
"Not really. Most of my life has been spent working in or
around labs. We studied mythology in school, but it didn't really
interest me at all."
Jen quietly asked him, "Did your project have a name?"
"Yes. My father always referred to it as the Cybernetic
Connector project."
"That sounds like a bit of a mouthful," Luke said.
Jim got a thoughtful look on his face, while he pondered
the possibilities. "Cybernetic connector... CC... 2-C... C-2....
C-squared?"
"C-squared. That has kind of a ring to it," Luke said.
Akira nodded in agreement. "C-Squared it is."
Paul finally couldn't take it anymore. "Look, is everyone
ignoring the obvious question here? How the *fuck* did you know about
us?"
The room grew very quiet as everyone looked from Paul to
Akira. The group was used to Paul being kind of a dick, but this time,
he had a good point. Everyone looked at Akira, waiting for an answer.
Akira hesitated for a few moments, looking and feeling very
uncomfortable. "That is one of the things that I wanted to talk to you
about. You see, when we were told to leave Japan, our boss at the
laboratory told us to come to Mornington, and he told me to look for
Luke Anderton, and that Luke would have abilities similar to my own."
"You're telling me that the Japanese government knows about
us?" Paul nearly screamed. The only reason the others weren't so
vocal is that they had been stunned into silence by the revelation.
"I have very little information. All I know is what they
told me. Specifically, they told me that Luke had some special
ability. They didn't tell me what it was, or even if they knew what it
was. The only other thing they told me was that there might be up to
five others with him."
That information really stirred the group up a bit. All of
them were concerned that anyone, especially a government, would know
about them.
Luke raised his hands and called for quiet. "Do you know
if our government knows about us?"
"I've told you everything that I know. Beyond what I said
I can only make assumptions. However, it was awfully easy for my
mother and I to enter the country. I can only assume that means the
U.S. government was involved in our immigration process. Now, that
could simply mean that my home government talked to your home
government about easing our immigration to get us out of the country,
or it could mean that they both know all about all of us. I simply
don't know."
Paul moved toward Akira. "How do we know you're telling us
the truth? You could be some kind of damned spy for all we know."
Akira held up his hands defensively, trying to calm Paul
down. "If I were a spy, wouldn't I have cooked up a better story that
would make you trust me rather than one that would make you distrust
me?"
"Maybe that's just what you want us to think," Paul replied.
Luke stepped between the two, not quite touching either one
of them but clearly forming a barrier. "All right, let's not have
this. Regardless of what Akira actually is, he has given us one useful
piece of information. That is that *a government* knows about us.
That's something we're going to have to deal with." Looking at Akira,
Luke continued by saying, "And, I hate to say it, but you are going to
have to earn our trust."
Jen stirred in her chair, ready to come to Akira's defense,
but Akira simply nodded at Luke. "I understand that you have no reason
to trust me. In your position, I probably wouldn't trust me, either.
Just tell me what I can do that will help you trust me, and I'll do it."
"We'll talk about it later," Luke promised. "Until then,
all we expect from you is that you won't talk about us to anyone. We
don't mention our powers, even to each other, outside of this room. Can
you agree to that?"
Akira nodded, and everyone, except Paul, breathed a sigh of
relief.
-----
When Akira went to bed that night, he lay there for quite a
while trying to figure out just what his government, and the American
government, for that matter, was doing. He knew that asking his mother
was pointless, because everything she knew, he had told her.
Unfortunately, he did not have access to people within the Japanese
government anymore, so he couldn't ask them.
Akira did manage to finally get to sleep, but his dreams
were troubled. They were jumbles of images, and none of it made any
sense to him. The dream images switched back and forth from Japan to
Mornington and back again, without any semblance of rationality or a
pattern. Akira tossed and turned in bed for a few hours, but he was
not getting restful sleep.
It did not matter, however, as he was awakened in the
middle of the night. At first, he wasn't sure what had woken him up.
He lay in bed for several minutes trying to figure out what it was that
had roused him from sleep. He was just about to turn over and go back
to sleep, when he heard his mother scream from her bedroom down the
hall. Akira recognized the scream as being the product of one of his
mother's dreams. She had had these nightmares several times since they
had arrived in America, but up until now, Akira had hoped that they
would go away on their own. He wondered if his own unease had caused
her to have bad dreams this night.
Once again, Akira had to decide what to do about his
mother's nightmares, and her general state of mind. There was a war in
his mind between himself as the child of a parent, and himself as a
teenager with a fantasy he would like to fulfill. There was also the
added factor that his mother did not seem capable of being able to run
her own life. It was another few minutes before Akira finally made up
his mind and got up out of his bed.
Akira left his bedroom without bothering to put on any
additional clothing. After all, he was only going to be slipping into
another bed; putting on clothes just to take them off seemed kind of
silly. He opened the door to his mother's room quietly and peered in.
He could see that his mother had been tossing and turning for most of
the night. The covers were twisted about her, and her hair was splayed
across the pillows. Akira moved into the room, closing the door behind
him silently. Padding across the carpet in his bare feet, he came to
the bed, and reached for the covers. When he pulled the covers back,
he could see, in the soft glow of his mother's nightlight, that she was
not, in fact, wearing any clothing. Although her back was turned to
him, Akira still found the view of her naked back and ass appealing.
Realizing that he had to take the chance now, or he never
would, Akira decided to remove his underwear before climbing into the
bed. He slid quickly across the soft cotton sheets until his hands
were able to pull his mother gently to him. As soon as she felt his
hands upon her, Yumiko rolled over to face her son. She was still
asleep, and she did not realize whose arms she was in. Nor would it
have mattered, at this point, for she was so distressed that any
comfort offered to her would have been gratefully accepted.
For his part, Akira was in heaven. He pulled his mother
tightly against his body, feeling her large tits pressing into his
chest, and his cock, which was hard as iron, pressing against her leg.
He gently caressed his mother's back as she settled into a more
peaceful rest. He, on the other hand, had a difficult time getting
back to sleep. After all, it isn't every day that you sleep nude with
your own mother. Finally, however, Akira's exhaustion got the better
of him, and he finally managed to drift off to some form of sleeping
rest.
...---=== http://netwolf.wolfpub.org ===---...
Akira awoke the next morning quite some time before his
mother did. He took the opportunity to slip out of bed, go to the
restroom, and return. Yumiko didn't even notice her son's absence, and
she had not moved while he was away. He slid his arms back around her,
moving gently so as not to wake her up. For several more minutes, he
enjoyed the feel of holding his mother in his arms.
When Yumiko finally began to stir, Akira did not let go of
her, but he loosened his grip slightly. Yumiko moaned softly at the
feel of hands on her body, though she still had no idea whose hands
they were. Slowly, she opened her eyes and saw her son looking down on
her with a soft smile on his face. Yumiko was confused, but she did
not stiffen or pull away from Akira.
"Akira? What are you doing in my bed?"
"You were having some really bad dreams last night. I
decided to come in and sleep with you to see if that would help you
sleep better," Akira told her, hoping that was a convincing answer.
Yumiko looked at her son with a mix of emotions. The first
emotion that faced her was the love she felt for her son. Along with
that, she felt embarrassment that she needed his support, as well as
gratitude for that support, and, she had to admit, that, in their
current position, she was beginning to feel a mild arousal being so
close to a male presence. She also knew that she needed Akira to help
her survive in this new country. Yumiko had enough troubles living on
her own in Tokyo, let alone in the middle of a foreign country. As
such, she felt indebted to Akira, and would give him pretty much
whatever he wanted in return for her sanity.
Akira took his mother's lack of a negative reaction as
enough of an encouragement that he decided to pull her more tightly
against himself. Yumiko came willingly, not resisting her son at all,
which only encouraged him to go further with his fantasy. He stroked
his mother's back gently, pulling her yet more firmly against his own
body. Yumiko mewled in pleasure, uncaring of who it was that was
making her feel that way.
Akira moved one of his hands from his mother's back up and
around to her chin. He used that hand to tenderly lift her face so
that he could look her in the eye. When Akira saw no negative emotions
in her expression, he leaned in. As soon as their lips touched,
Yumiko's eyes closed, and she brought her own arm around her son and
caressed his back, as he was doing to hers. Their lips moved gently
against each other until Yumiko parted her lips to allow her tongue to
slip out against her son's lips. It took a moment before Akira got the
idea and opened his mouth, allowing her tongue entrance. Yumiko
massaged his mouth and tongue with her own, gently coaxing his tongue
into her own mouth so that he could do the same to her.
As Akira became more aroused, he grew more bold, and he
slipped his hands down onto his mother's ass. As he molded and
massaged her ass cheeks with his hands, she moaned into his mouth,
letting him know that he was doing something right.
After a while, Akira decided to move to the next step. He
left one hand fondling her ass, but he moved his other hand around and
onto his mother's tit. Yumiko moaned again, encouraging Akira to
stroke the flesh of her tit more firmly, and this is what he did. His
fingers danced across the surface of her breast, eliciting a series of
moans from his mother and exciting him even further. The pair
continued to kiss for long minutes, building up to what both of them
knew was coming, and both of them were looking forward to.
Finally, Akira broke their kiss and rolled his mother onto
her back, rolling on top of her as they went. Yumiko naturally spread
her legs for him, so that he had easy access to what it was she knew he
wanted. Akira lavished kisses on his mother's neck and cheeks before
moving farther down her body. Soon, Akira came to her breasts. His
mouth sought out and found her nipple, and he ran his lips lightly over
it, causing Yumiko to moan out in pleasure. He kept up this wonderful
torture as his hand massaged her free tit, sending wonderful chills
throughout her body. Yumiko was soon writhing under her son, almost
lost in the pleasure she was feeling.
Akira, realizing that his mother was willing, and more than
ready, released her nipple from his mouth and straightened up. He
looked deep into her eyes, looking for any sign of displeasure or
rejection, but found none. Instead, his mother smiled up at him
softly, which he took as an encouragement to take the final step.
Akira reached down, and positioned his dick at the entrance
to his mother's pussy. Yumiko groaned slightly, and that almost caused
Akira to lose control, but he took a couple of deep breaths, and
managed to stave off his climax for the moment. Having himself
slightly more under control, Akira began to press in. As the head of
his cock slid inside his mother's cunt, Akira moaned, and Yumiko
followed suit. Akira moved very slowly, so that he would not lose what
little control he had too soon.
Eventually, Akira was fully buried inside his mother. The
couple rested together, enjoying the feel of what both of them knew was
an illicit relationship. Yumiko smiled at Akira, letting him know both
that it was okay, and that she was pleased with him. Akira smiled
back, but his expression was slightly forced, in that he was still
worried about firing too early.
"Don't struggle so hard, Baby," Yumiko said. "There is
always tomorrow."
Akira smiled broadly at his mother, for she had just told
him in no uncertain terms that they would be able to do this many times
in the future. He leaned down on his elbows so that he could kiss
her. As their lips touched, he began to slowly move his cock within
her pussy.
Yumiko moaned at the feel of him inside of her. Though it
had been only a short time since the death of her husband, this was not
an activity they shared often, and so she felt no regret sharing it
with Akira. As Akira's tongue danced within her mouth, his dick began
to move more forcefully inside of her cunt, and she was enveloped by a
warm sense of joy and peace. She wrapped her arms around her son's
body, drawing him down to her and allowing her breasts to press more
firmly against him.
Akira moaned at the feel of his mother's body. It was his
first sexual experience, and he had been completely unprepared for the
exquisite sensations and overwhelming emotions that would flood his
mind during this experience. He knew he wouldn't last much longer, and
that was upsetting, because he wanted to give his mother a wonderful
encounter.
Yumiko sensed that her son was disconcerted, but she knew
there was nothing she could do about it. She only hoped that future
experiences would allay his worries about this first time. She was
perfectly happy with what her son had given her, and she felt it was
her duty to make him happy. She rippled and squeezed the muscles of
her pussy, gripping his prick in velvety tightness. Akira groaned at
the feelings this caused in his body.
It wasn't long before Akira could not control himself, and
began slamming his cock deep inside his mother. His hips were moving
furiously, and he was grunting with each stroke. Yumiko's hips
swiveled up to meet each of his down strokes, and she moaned in
pleasure, urging her son on.
Akira held out for just as long as he could, but he simply
could not hold back any longer. With one final thrust, he came inside
Yumiko, blasting his come deep inside of her. Yumiko let out a loud
moan, and gripped her son more tightly throughout his orgasm. Akira
moaned loudly as he came down from his high. Fearing he would collapse
on top of his mother, he rolled to the side, reluctantly slipping from
her warm cunt.
Yumiko, fearing that her son would be upset about his
performance, rolled toward him and took him into her arms. She kissed
him repeatedly, hoping to let him know that she was in no way
displeased. Akira embraced her in return, still enjoying the feel of
her body, even though he couldn't yet make love to her again.
"Akira, that was wonderful. It has been a long time since
anyone has made me feel that good."
Akira kissed his mother softly before he replied, "I just
wish I could have lasted longer. I know I didn't... uh... ' bring you
off '."
"It wasn't important for me to enjoy myself this time.
This was your first, and you did very well. I enjoyed it very much."
With a warm smile on her face, Yumiko continued, "And I hope there will
be a chance for you to do better in the future."
"Count on it."
...---=== http://netwolf.wolfpub.org ===---...
"Hey, Mom!" Jen greeted her mother.
"Well, hey, Jen! What're you doing here?" It was odd that
Jennifer would visit her mother at work, but they needed some
information.
"Nothing much. This is our friend, Akira. He's from
Japan."
"Hello, Mrs. Young," Akira said properly.
"Hi, Akira."
"Mom," Jen said, lowering her voice, "We need some info."
"Jennifer..."
"This is important, Mom. It's about... what makes us
different."
Stacy's eyes narrowed. "What do you need?"
"A home address."
"For who?"
"Matthew Purvis. He drives a gray Chevy, if that helps."
Stacy turned to her computer and did some typing. The
computer took only a few seconds to spit out the information.
"There's only one Matthew Purvis listed. And yes, there is
a gray Chevy listed in his name. Why didn't you just try the phone
book, Sweetheart?"
"He's not listed."
"Ah. Was that all?" She noticed that Akira had copied
down the address from the screen.
"Yeah, that was it. We've gotta go. I'll see you at
home. Love ya."
"I love you, too, Sweetheart. Say hi to Jim for me."
Jen blushed as they left.
-----
The group was waiting in the park when Akira and Jen
arrived. Jen handed the info to Luke.
"That's all you needed, right?"
"Yeah. Paul, you call him, and get him out of his house."
"Right. Then I've got somewhere to go."
"Fine. See you later."
As Paul walked off, Akira finally said, "He really doesn't
fit well with the rest of you."
"Paul's a pain in the ass," Claire said bluntly. No one
defended him against her position.
"Anyway," Luke said, getting back on track, "Lori and I
will go to his house and look for pictures, and anything else he might
have."
"I'd better go with you," Jim said.
"Why?" Lori asked, a half-second before Luke could.
"Well, do *you* know how to pick a lock?" Jim asked with a
smile.
"Good point," Luke conceded. "Okay, so it'll be four of
us. Akira, you stay in the car when we get there, as a lookout."
Akira was the only one of them old enough to drive, and he had wasted
no time in obtaining his driver's license. He nodded in agreement.
"Let's get going."
-----
The trio walked up to the empty home somewhat hesitantly.
It wasn't yet dark, and they were worried about being seen. Jim
stepped up to the door and rang the bell, as a matter of show, in case
anyone was watching. Then he slipped his hand down onto the doorknob,
concentrating on what he was doing.
"What if he locked the deadbolt?" Lori whispered.
"Shhh," Luke responded.
Jim's mind reached into the lock and freed the tumblers.
The door swung open for them. Jim looked back at Lori and smiled.
"Don't *borrow* trouble, okay?" He then gestured her
inside. "I'll wait here, to act as an extra set of eyes on lookout. I
don't know what you're looking for, anyway."
"Okay," Luke agreed. "Hopefully, this won't take too long."
Luke turned to join his girlfriend, who had already made
her way out of the living room and down a hallway. She flicked on
lights in three rooms before she found the one she was looking for.
"God, what a slob," she said in disgust. "You think we'll
be able to sort through this mess?"
"Well," Luke said, staring at the massive disarray of
papers strewn everywhere. "Why don't we start with the filing
cabinet? Maybe he does organize the important stuff."
"One can hope."
Luke walked over and opened the top drawer. The cabinet
was full of file folders, neatly labeled. It took only seconds to find
the one marked "Darlington". He pulled it out and set it on top of the
desk. Lori looked over his shoulder as he opened it, and they saw a
prepared article, and several pictures of her. Nodding to himself,
Luke closed the folder, and prepared to leave.
"Wait a minute," Lori said. "What if there are other girls
in this cabinet? What if he's doing this to a lot of women?"
"What do you want to do? Search the entire cabinet?"
"Let's just look at a few of the files, okay?"
Luke relented, and they each pulled out a file. It was
immediately clear that each one was, in fact, the same type of article.
"How many women has he done this to?" Lori said in
frustration.
"We can take these and burn them..." Luke offered.
"No, that's not good enough. He could still bluff his way
through it."
"He's not going to be around all that long..."
"No," Lori said emphatically. "We need to return this
information to these women. They need to *know* it's over."
Luke sighed. "That's going to be problematic, Lori."
"No, it's not. We mail these back to them, with a note
saying where we got it, and we simply sign it as 'from the MDSA'. That
will enhance our reputation, right?"
Luke had to admit that it would.
"So, let's get these together, and get going."
"Yes, ma'am," Luke said with a smile. Lori kissed him to
ease the wound of losing the argument, as he always did.
...---=== http://netwolf.wolfpub.org ===---...
"All right, we've checked his house, and we've taken all
the files we could find that were obviously blackmail material. We're
going to use some of our income to mail these back to the people. That
will spread our name, and give us a reputation for helping people."
"Yeah, but helping them for free," Loki objected.
"Call it an introductory offer, Loki. Besides, these
people didn't ask for our help. We can't very well charge them for it."
"I suppose."
"Okay, so, now that we're safe from this bastard,
C-Squared, it's your turn. You want to be a part of the team? Then
here's your challenge: Get rid of this asshole. Permanently.
Preferably without killing him, okay?" Mimir added with a chuckle.
"Okay," C-Squared said, a frown on his face. "You don't
want much, do you?"
"Too much for you, big guy?" Loki taunted.
C-Squared ignored him. "Okay, if we want to get rid of
him, the first step is to get rid of his job. You can't make him go
away if he's still employed here."
"How do you plan on doing that?" Hercules asked.
"I've got an idea..."
...---=== http://netwolf.wolfpub.org ===---...
Akira followed Jen, Claire, Jim and Luke into the main
office of the *Mornington Sun*. Claire asked the receptionist where to
find the classified ads office, and they moved in the indicated
direction.
The group burst into the office, chatting and laughing and
generally making an annoyance of themselves. This did not include
Akira, however, who remained quiet, and at the back of the pack. He
followed the others up to a desk where a young lady was sitting. He
paid particular attention to her computer. He stood behind it, out of
the way, as the others clustered around the desk.
"Can I help you?" the lady asked politely.
"We want to place an ad," Claire gushed, overdoing it,
Akira thought, but then he wasn't yet familiar with American society
enough to understand what she was doing.
Instead, Akira took the opportunity to look down at his
feet. At least, that's what it looked like he was doing. What he was
actually doing was locating the USB port on the back of the lady's
computer. Once he'd found it, he bent forward, supposedly to look at
her screen, but what he was really doing was plugging his connector
into the available port.
As the others chattered on, distracting and annoying the
office workers, Akira merely leaned against the desk quietly, hiding
the connector he'd plugged in. In his mind, he was traveling through
the *Sun's* computer network, which was almost entirely unprotected
within their LAN. He found the central server within seconds.
Akira was distracted when the lady said, "Do you want to
place anything in the ad?" She had obviously been talking to Akira.
At least he had learned to pay attention somewhat to the world around
him while he was walking through cyberspace. He almost had time to
respond.
"Oh, don't mind him," Claire bubbled. "He's just our
driver!" She rolled her eyes theatrically, and then they carried on
with the ad.
Akira returned to what he was doing. He didn't have time
for a whole lot, but he had just enough time to do what he needed.
Seconds later, he pulled his mind back out of the network, and then he
slipped his device off the computer and back into his pocket. Luke saw
Akira wipe a stray hair out of his face.
"And that will run for a week, right?" Luke said, letting
the others know that it was time to leave.
"Yes, sir. That will be $28.52."
Luke paid the money, and they all walked out the door.
*Step One, accomplished,* Akira thought with a smile.
-----
"So now what?" Luke asked once they'd gotten back to the
junkyard. They were referring to the old building as "the clubhouse",
and they'd done quite a bit of work, including installing a computer
and some broadband computer lines.
"What I did was just to check on a couple of things, and
then give us a superuser account. I didn't have the time to do
anything else. Now, we can work at our own pace, since I turned off
accounting on our account, and they won't be able to track us unless
they are very, very good."
"So? What does that get us?" Paul asked derisively.
"Do you know what the fastest way to get a reporter fired
is? Public opinion. The second-fastest way is to make the editors
think that the reporter was trying to sneak something by them. Who
here is the best writer?"
"I probably am," Jim said.
"We need to write up a false story, that we can put under
Purvis's by-line," Akira said. "Can you write something good and
juicy, but completely false? Maybe even something that comments on the
editors of the paper? We want them to be so angry that he won't be
able to explain the article away as 'not his'."
Jim nodded. "I think I see what you're getting at. I'll
give it a shot."
"Then what?" Luke asked Akira.
"Then we can log into their system and swap our fictitious
article for his real one, or someone else's that's about the right
length, if he doesn't have one in tomorrow's paper. They have already
'approved' the paper, but it won't run until midnight, just in case any
last-minute breaking stories come in, I guess."
"How do you know all that?" Lori asked.
"I saw their schedule in the computer."
"So, let's help Jim write up that article. He's not nearly
heartless enough for this," Luke said with a smile.
...---=== http://netwolf.wolfpub.org ===---...
"You expect me to believe you didn't write this? I
recognize your *style*, Purvis!" the editor screamed at him. Purvis
was standing before him, white as a sheet. It wasn't just a job that
might be ending here; if he were accused of backstabbing his editor, it
was his career that was over. No paper in the country would touch him
if he was fired for this.
"Sir, I didn't write it! I swear! Why would I do this to
you? I've had a good career here."
"That's what I asked your accomplice in the copy room. He
said he didn't know anything about it, either. Problem is, he's the
only one with access to the files down there. I notice you two are
pretty chummy, too."
"Sir, I-" Purvis stammered.
"Save it. You're out of here. I'm not putting up with
this shit from you, or anyone else! Do you have any idea what this
makes the paper look like?" The editor picked up the paper and began
reading. "The *Sun* refuses to do any real reporting, but it is clear
that even their outdated editorial practices and unwaveringly poor
staff can't deny this forever." The editor threw the paper down and
glared at Purvis. "I've seen you write words just like those, Purvis.
Don't lie to me. I want you out of here in less than an hour, or I'm
calling security and having your ass thrown out. If you're lucky, I'll
have them do it from the first floor, instead of the twelfth."
Purvis moved out of the office, stunned. *I've just lost
ten years of my life. Who the fuck did this?*
...---=== http://netwolf.wolfpub.org ===---...
"Phase One complete," Akira told the others quietly as he
sat down with them. It wasn't unusual for Luke and Lori to sit
together, nor was it odd for him to join them at lunch.
"Yeah, I saw that this morning. Purvis got canned from the
paper for yesterday's little 'slip-up'. Good work, Akira," Luke said
in a whisper.
"What's next for our good friend Purvis?" Lori asked, a
glint of revenge in her eyes.
"We've taken his job," Akira said. "Now it is time to take
his freedom."
"Akira my man, I like the way you think," Luke said with a
smile.
...---=== http://netwolf.wolfpub.org ===---...
"Hi, guys... hey, Akira," Stacy Young greeted her guests.
The kids had come down to the station again to see her. She lowered
her voice and said, "Jen, I can't break the rules again for you... not
this soon. You'll get me into trouble." While she was talking to Jen,
she wasn't paying any attention to Akira, who had slipped behind her
computer.
"Not a problem, Mom. I don't need you to do anything at
all. We just...uh..."
Jim jumped in to save her. "I just wanted to come down to
say hi. I wanted to see where you worked."
Stacy gave Jim a warm smile. "That's sweet. Well, this is
it. As you can see, it isn't much, just a desk and a computer
terminal." A computer terminal that Akira was already rifling through
in his head.
"Nah, you've got one of the most important jobs here. How
do the guys out there know who's a troublemaker without you in here to
look it up in the system?"
"Jim, Sweetheart, the guys in the field have their own
computers to look stuff up. I mainly work for the detectives."
"Well, that's even more important! Dealing with the really
big stuff!" Jim was trying to be as cheering as he could, even though
he did believe what he was telling her. Her job *was* important, and
he knew it, perhaps even more than she did. It was, however, hard to
make it sound like it wasn't ass-kissing.
"Okay, what do you want?" she asked with a grin.
"Well..." Jim said, dragging his words out.
"Out with it, James." He actually flinched at that. *No
one* called him James.
"Another of your homemade pizzas would be nice this
weekend..." he said hopefully. Jen looked at him with a horribly
concealed giggle.
Stacy didn't even try. "Now, after that pitch, how could
anybody refuse?" she replied with a laugh. Jim smiled widely.
"I knew you'd see it my way!" he said happily. He could
see that Akira was nearly done. "So... Saturday, or Sunday?"
"I think Sunday. I wouldn't want to interrupt your normal
dating schedule," she replied with a wink. Jim blushed, and Jen
squeezed his arm warmly.
"Thanks. My girlfriend will appreciate your consideration,
I'm sure," Jim said, as if he wasn't talking about Jen. Jen elbowed
him, and he grabbed at her. They ended up in a hug, and then they
kissed quickly. Stacy turned her head so they wouldn't see the smile,
and the look of envy, on her face.
Akira finally finished up, and disconnected before looking
at his watch. "Oh, wow. Guys, we need to get going if we're going to
make it before the show."
"Yeah, okay. Mom, I'm going over to Jim's, if that's
okay. Laura can drive me home."
"Be home by ten, Honey."
"Sure thing, Mom. Later." She gave her mother a kiss, and
then the trio left the police station. Akira gave them a thumbs-up,
but said nothing about what he'd done.
...---=== http://netwolf.wolfpub.org ===---...
"Yes, can I help you officers?"
"Walter Willis, you're under arrest."
"Who?" Matthew Purvis replied in confusion. His hands were
roughly pulled behind his back, and cuffed.
"What's the charge?" he screamed, forgetting in his panic
that they had addressed him as someone else.
"How's jail breaking grab you for a start? Then there's
the stuff you're already convicted of, such as murder. Now use your
right to remain silent, will ya?"
Purvis was stunned. He had no idea what these people were
talking about. "Look, my name is Matthew Purvis. I can prove it! I
have ID in my back pocket!"
The other officer pulled Matthew's wallet out, and opened
it. "Wow, this is a pretty damned good forgery, Willis. Thanks for
admitting to another crime."
"I didn't forge the damn thing! I got it at the DMV!"
"Really? Well, make sure to tell the detectives who your
accomplice down there is. We don't want that kind of thing going
unchecked," the officer said, mocking Purvis as they dragged him off to
their patrol car. The neighbors were watching, saw him leave screaming
his innocence. No one stepped forward to help him.
-----
"Walter Willis, a convicted serial murderer, was
apprehended today in Mornington. Acting on an anonymous Crime Stoppers
tip, they found the man, living under the name Matthew Purvis. Willis
escaped from Marion Federal Penitentiary some twelve years ago, at the
age of twenty-three. Now thirty-five, Willis has been remanded to the
custody of the US Marshals for return to Marion, to serve out the
remainder of a life sentence, without the possibility of parole."
Jim turned off the television and looked at Jen, who smiled
at him before giving him a warm kiss. The two hugged there on the
couch, and Jen scrunched herself against her boyfriend.
"Well, that's that, right?" she asked.
"No. Akira has one more step planned, but I'm not sure
what it is."
"Wow. He really wants to prove he's one of us to Paul and
Luke." She looked at Jim a little crossly. "Is he proving himself to
you?"
"Baby," he said gently, "He never had anything to prove to
me. You trust him, and that was good enough."
She hugged her boyfriend again, knowing that he didn't say
things *just* to make her feel better. If he said it, he meant it.
That was one of the reasons she loved him.
...---=== http://netwolf.wolfpub.org ===---...
"How in the world did you get him arrested?" Lori wanted to
know.
"Really, I didn't," Akira answered. "When I was in the
police computer system, I changed his picture and fingerprints, which
were already in the computer, with the name of someone already wanted
for a long time. Then Luke called the police and told them where to
find him."
"But you weren't in the computer all that long," Jim
objected.
"It did not take long; the police computer is very well
organized."
"Works for me," Luke said. "So, that's that?"
"No," Akira said, shaking his head. "If we leave it, they
will figure it out."
"What else can we do?" Jen asked.
"We must make Matthew Purvis disappear now. Right now, he
is in jail, but his identity still exists. We must make his identity
go away."
"How the fuck do you plan on doing that?" Paul scoffed.
"I need to get into the hospital computer system," Akira
answered. Paul smiled wickedly at him.
"So, you need my help after all. I'm sure Wanda can help
us with that."
"Good," Akira said, nodding.
...---=== http://netwolf.wolfpub.org ===---...
"Hey, Sweetie," Wanda said quietly when she saw Paul come
into the office. "I didn't know you had an appointment today."
Paul glanced around only perfunctorily before kissing her,
right there in the lobby. "I don't," he replied, afterward.
"Did you come all the way up here just to kiss me?" she
said with an impish grin.
"Well..." he said with a smile.
She giggled. "What do you need?"
Paul motioned to Akira. "This is Akira. He's... a
friend." The pause did not go unnoticed by either of the other two.
"He needs access to the hospital computer. Of course, while he's busy,
we could..."
"Okay, okay... you didn't *have* to bribe me. But since
you offered... Akira, the computer's right there. Have fun. I know I
will!" she said, leading Paul off to an exam room.
Akira shook his head as he plugged into the computer
system. He could have simply used the keyboard, but this way no one
would realize he was actually using the computer. He leaned against
the wall, not even looking at the computer.
In his head, he was already inside the system. He found
the portion of the network devoted to the medical examiner's office.
In a matter of a few minutes, he had filed, and pre-dated, a
certificate of death for one Matthew J. Purvis, deceased. This would
show that Purvis had died a year ago, thus removing the link between
him and Walter Willis entirely. Now, if Purvis tried to declare his
innocence, the police would see that he was claiming to be a dead man.
Matthew Purvis no longer existed.
...---=== http://netwolf.wolfpub.org ===---...
"What the fuck are you talking about?" Purvis screamed.
"Look, Mr. Willis, this charade isn't going to get you
anything," the court-appointed attorney said calmly.
"My name," Purvis seethed, "is Matthew John Purvis."
"Sir, according to the hall of records, the man named
Matthew Purvis, with the social security number and driver's license
number you gave me, died over a year ago. Sir, if you're going to
continue to lie to me, there's no reason for me to be here. I'm sorry,
but the case against you, Mr. Willis, is completely unbreakable. Your
appeals have already been strung out. Escaping from prison didn't help
any, and hiding successfully for twelve years only makes the DA look
like an idiot. They're in no mood to be lenient with you."
"I am not Walter Willis!" the man screamed.
The lawyer sighed. "I don't think we have anything more to
talk about. Guard!"
The lawyer left, and the man stared down at the table in
shock.
"All right, Willis, let's go."
It took a long moment, but Willis finally stood, and turned
to follow the guard.
...---=== http://netwolf.wolfpub.org ===---...
"Good work, Akira!" Lori enthused.
"Damn, man, even I didn't think you could pull *that* off!"
Luke said.
"Yeah, you did okay, I guess," Paul admitted, with no
enthusiasm whatsoever.
Jim walked over to him, because someone needed to make it
'official'. He stuck out his hand. "Welcome to the team."
-----
"I'm home, Mom!" Akira called out. Yumiko came out of the
kitchen to greet her son. She embraced him warmly, and they kissed
passionately for some moments.
Finally, she broke the kiss, and said, "How was your day?"
"Oh, it had its interesting moments," he said. "I kind of
joined a club today."
"That's good, Akira. I'm glad you're making new friends
here."
"Yeah. What's for dinner?"
...---=== http://netwolf.wolfpub.org ===---...
...---=== http://netwolf.wolfpub.org ===---...