Shadow of Nerima
Part 4
Kodachi's big show.
Ranma hummed quietly to herself while she cooked. She cheerfully went
about her work cutting vegetables for the large pot of water heating on
the stove. Nearby Nabiki Tendo stood watching the scene in fascination.
"You know Ranma, this dutiful housewife thing really doesn't suit you,"
she commented lazily as she leaned against the counter and popped a
potato chip in her mouth. She blinked and realized she hadn't acted this
way in years, not since Ranma had finally married her sister.
"I'm content," replied the red head firmly.
Nabiki sighed; she was acting more like Akane every day. "This isn't
healthy, you're a man remember?"
Ranma turned to look at her and smiled. "Nabiki, I'm not gay or
anything, but I know I'll never remarry, so why bother anymore? I'll be
just as happy this way than as a man now."
Nabiki tried to stop herself as she leaned against the counter again and
reached into the bag of chips. Ranma was hiding something, and she just
had to know what it was.
Soun entered the room and smiled at the pair. "Good evening Nabiki, you
should have said you were here."
The woman blinked at him and smiled. "I was just going too, but I saw
Ranma in the kitchen on my way so..."
"Of course, come on now. Let's leave him to his work," said the man as
he pulled her away by her arm. Nabiki made no move to protest but noticed
a serious looking glance between the pair.
"Daddy, I'm worried. Doesn't it bother you that your son in law is
acting this way?" said Nabiki as she sat down with the man at the table.
"What about his father? When he finds out about this, you just know he's
going to hit the roof!"
Soun sighed and rest his face in his palms. "Nabiki, do not worry so
much. I have asked so much of Ranma in his life and he has always come
through. He has more than lived up to his obligation to our family. If he
wishes to remain as he is I will not push him; please respect his wishes.
I fear it shall fall on you and Kasumi to carry on the Tendo line."
"I don't buy that for a minute Daddy, Ranma is up to something," replied
the woman curtly. "I don't know what it is yet, but I'll find out."
"Nabiki! Leave him be, you have enough problems as it is, leave us to
ours. I will help Ranma in any way I can, you know that," said the man
gently but firmly.
"All right Daddy, I'll trust you," replied his daughter dutifully. "For
now," she thought privately.
A short time later Nabiki left the Dojo for work. She slid into the seat
of her small car and drove off towards Tokyo. No more than two hours
later, she was in an office high up in a skyscraper near the center of
town. She sat at her desk and stared out over the city placidly. "What's
he up to? Damn, it's not gonna leave me alone now."
"Mrs. Tendo?" said the brunette who walked into the room, her secretary.
She was a pretty older woman in her late twenties, had a nice family too.
Unfortunately she was also cheating on her husband with one of the men
down the hall. Nabiki smirked to herself as she processed all this
information before speaking.
"What is it Kura?"
"You've got the meeting with Tokimi Industries at four o'clock, and the
Hikura Corporation called again about your audit," said the woman
pleasantly.
"I'll be down at the office on time, I've still got two hours right?"
The woman nodded in reply and Nabiki continued. "Tell those bastards the
audit has already been submitted and they can start packing for their
cells, they can keep their money. I don't need it." She gave an almost
predatory smile at this last phrase.
"Yes, Ma'am," replied the secretary as she walked over to the door.
"Kura, I need you to run an errand for me today," said Nabiki calmly as
she swiveled in her chair and tossed her an envelope. "Run these by Tokyo
National for me, I don't have time today."
The woman bowed and stepped out of the room. The pleasant smile widening
on her face, no doubt because she now had an excuse to slip down to her
boyfriend's office for a short time, "because traffic was so bad." Nabiki
stood up and pulled a wire out from the grating in the air conditioning
duct before opening a cabinet that sat behind her desk revealing a
television screen and recordable dvd player. She plugged the wire into
the dvd and smiled as the woman appeared on screen inside the man's
office. "You really should know better Kura, I do this sort of thing for
a living and you know it."
Nabiki worked as a consultant for large companies, uncovering corrupt
employees and performing audits to expose fraud and embezzlement. She
also worked a bit in espionage for major corporations, mostly freelance
work, but she was successful enough to gain a powerful reputation and a
nice office.
Kura was a good employee so she doubted she would ever need the disk for
anything, but thanks to the American influence over the past few years,
lawsuits were much more common. Besides, she saw how trustworthy the
woman was right in front of her. Nabiki sighed and closed the cabinet to
let the recorder do its work. She had no real desire to watch the woman
scream with a balding older man at the moment; perhaps later she would
review it though.
Kura walked across the marble floor of the bank and smiled as she passed
by the security guard. She walked up to one of the desks and smiled at
the man who looked up at her. "Good lord!" he gasped.
She blinked and looked down at herself. "Pardon?" She spun around and
gasped as a cloud of purple smoke wafted through the main doors of the
bank sending people scurrying away in confusion. All out panic erupted
through the room as five black clad figures walked calmly into the room
armed with assault rifles. Every one seemed to suddenly freeze at the
sight of the weapons the room became deathly silent save for a few
frightened whimpers.
A woman dressed in a purple and green business suit with long flowing
purple hair immediately followed them. It looked like her face was
painted white and a cruel looking grin plastered her face as she waved
her arms dramatically. "This isn't the grocery store!" she scolded the
small red and black ninja-clown who stood next to her.
"There wasn't one between here and the hideout mistress!" pleaded the
ninja.
"I wanted to egg the bank presidents office; maybe we'll come back
later, and do it when we're through," she sighed.
"Yes mistress," said the ninja.
Kodachi turned and saw most of the customers staring blankly at the
group. "Don't just stand there! Run around and panic! Go call the police
or something!"
Sasuke nodded to the men surrounding them and they spread out through
the bank herding everyone behind the counters. "Mistress, the alarms will
probably be hidden behind the counters."
Kodachi nodded and waved over two of the men, "Start setting up." She
walked over to the massive metal door that led to the safe and smiled as
she pulled the unusual firearm off of her hip. It looked like an
oversized revolver with a boxing glove on the handle. "Everybody cover
your ears!" she called out dramatically before pulling the trigger. The
glove shot out and slammed into the door falling to the ground with a
soft thump. "Oh well, we'll just have to use the torches I guess. Ho ho
ho ho ho ho ho!"
"Mistress, we have captured the bank president," noted Sasuke.
"So what?" she looked at the man one of the henchmen brought forward. "I
don't need this lowborn simpleton to get into that safe."
"Yes mistress, but he knows the combination. He says it will be faster
and he'd rather we didn't cut the door off, it's very hard to replace,"
said the Ninja quietly.
"Oh very well," muttered the woman looking slightly disappointed.
Mere moments later they found themselves looking at walls and walls of
money. Kodachi snorted, "Not much here is there?"
Kura sat silently near the back of the crowd and stared as one of the
bank tellers repeatedly pressed the silent alarm button under her
workstation. The hostages were huddled together behind the teller's desks
and waited patiently, many of them in tears for the horrible ordeal to
pass.
She glanced at some of the men working over the door. They appeared to
be placing some kind of tanks over the entrance. All of them were wearing
brown leather gas masks that seemed terribly outdated. She glanced away
nervously as one of them looked towards the crowd. She noticed that no
one was guarding the group directly, just standing around nearby.
Kodachi blinked as the men worked on loading the money into bags quickly
and quietly. The set up of the bank was complete and several minutes had
passed. Her unnatural grin seemed to widen as several police cars
screeched to a halt in front of the building. Several officers emerged
from the cars and immediately started to demand for their surrender. "How
quaint," she commented. Turning towards the crowd of people she smiled
and spread her arms out wide. "The cavalry has arrived, fear not we shall
be leaving you soon!"
Sasuke stepped forward with the phone in his hands. "Mistress, it's for
you."
"Oh my! Who on earth would be calling me in a place like this?" Her face
lit up. "Is it Ranma?"
Sasuke blinked, "No mistress, it's the police."
"Really, calling up a girl they hardly know! How impolite!" she gasped
and took the receiver in her hand. "Hello, Black Rose speaking..."
Hiroshi and Daisuke stepped out of their squad car and gaped at the
spectacle before them. It was a virtual circus; police cars, news vans,
and a crowd of civilians all waited outside the bank. "What the hell is
going on? I thought this was some kind of bank robbery," commented
Daisuke. Sayuri stepped out of the back of the car and glared at them.
"It is, the news media heard about it from the radio and hauled butt
over here. Those jerks, bank robberies don't happen much any more,"
commented the woman as she brushed passed them and walked through the
crowd towards the officer in charge.
"What's the status Captain?" she asked the man hunching over a blueprint
of the bank with a swat team standing around him.
"Finally decided to get out of the office again Chief?" asked the man
with a smirk. "I suppose this will look good when you try for
commissioner? I know you've had your eye on his office since you became
Chief. You're already one of the youngest woman in Japan to get that
position, isn't that enough?"
"If I thought it was, I never would have made it this far. The office
does have something to do with me being her I'll admit, but I wouldn't
miss this for the world. A real bank robbery? In this day and age? In
Japan no less?" The man smiled at her reply and spread the sheet out.
"We've got their list of demands here. It's a bit unusual..." said the
man with a slightly worried tone in his voice as he handed the page over
to her. "They're smart, none of them have come near the windows and
doorways and we haven't gotten a look at any of them yet. We've got
people moving into place on the roof here." He pointed to a place on the
blueprint and smiled. "This bank has a large glass ceiling. We should be
able to pick them off from above."
"A dozen eggs and some toilet paper?" Sayuri looked up at him and
frowned. "Is this some sort of joke?"
"Yea, on us," commented Hiroshi.
"Does this say Black Rose?" said Daisuke as he snatched the paper away
from the Chief fearlessly.
She glared at him for a moment and was about to shout when he put his
hand up in her face. "Doesn't that sound familiar to you Sayuri?"
The woman blinked and stepped back as what he said registered. "It does!
You don't think?"
"I always knew she would crack one day," muttered Hiroshi as he looked
into the glass doors of the bank. "You'd better send those men in with
gas masks sir."
The Captain looked at him and blinked. "You three know something?"
"It's just a suspicion really, it could be just a coincidence. If we're
right there's no doubt in my mind she'll use some kind of gas or poison,"
agreed Daisuke as he followed his friend's gaze. "Kodachi Kuno, it has
been a long time hasn't it?"
The crowd started getting restless as a large purple helicopter appeared
overhead. "No wonder they didn't ask for a way out. This list of demands
was meant to confuse and delay us!" shouted Sayuri.
The Captain was already on the phone. "Get me some air support now!" He
turned towards the swat team and barked his orders. "You're going in now!
Get your masks ready and rush in through the front doors. Use tear gas to
shake them up and get them before they get into that chopper!"
The sounds of faint gunfire from the sky caused everyone to look up and
the crowd to collectively scream. "Sir! We've lost contact with all the
snipers!"
"Damn it!" screamed the Captain as he tossed his hat on the ground.
"Wipe them out! I don't care about bringing those bastards in anymore!"
The men nodded and clasped their hands together before getting into
gear.
Inside the bank Kodachi smiled as the body of a black clad police
officer fell to the ground along with most of the glass ceiling above
them. "Well boys it looks like our ride is here!" She waved up at the
copter and received a signal back as the pilot waved his arm out the
window. Sasuke pulled several canisters from his clothes and sent them
all across the bank. The emitted a purple cloud that enveloped the entire
room leaving a purple haze throughout the bank. The hostages coughed but
remained unharmed by the cloud as Kodachi tied the bags of money to the
ropes that had been let down by the men in the chopper. "Hold them off
boys, I know they're coming through! Ho ho!" she watched the bags rise
from the ground as they were pulled up by the men in the chopper.
Screams erupted from the hostages as the windows shattered as several
gas grenades blew through the doors of the bank. Several moments passed
in silence, Kodachi smiled and waited until several figures became clear
through the thick cloud of haze. She glanced over at the hostages and
noticed several of them had started to giggle, it was spreading quickly
through the huddled crowd.
The men on either side of her started to fire their weapons into the
crowd of police, knocking some of them down, but most managed to find
cover behind the various potted plants that lined the entrance to the
bank. She grabbed a rope and hooked it to the belt she was wearing under
the suit, along with the rest of her henchmen losing two as they rose
slowly into the air pulled up by the men above. Before she got very high
she stared one of the police officers in the eyes directly as she pulled
some sort of remote control from her belt and pressed the button.
Instantly the men were covered in some sort of liquid they jumped in
shock just as the criminals vanished into the still thick cloud of haze.
It was slowly clearing out due to the holes in the windows now, but it
was clear that the villains had escaped.
Kodachi smiled as she rose into the sky as she always new she would. The
feeling was glorious, the horrified unstoppable laughter of the hostages
below laughing themselves to death. The thrill of escape, and knowing the
fate that awaited the officers below. Everything was working out
perfectly. She paused for a moment when she was pulled into the chopper
and noticed her henchmen screaming at something as they pulled away from
the bank's roof.
"Mistress! A police helicopter!" cried Sasuke over the noise of the
blades above them.
"Sasuke! Glove!" she called firmly. The ninja handed her another boxing
glove with a smiley face painted onto the fist. She loaded it onto the
front of her gun and smiled as she cocked the hammer back.
"What the hell good is that gonna do? They got guns on that thing!"
cried one of the henchmen. Kodachi grabbed him by his shirt and threw him
out the door before re-aiming. She pulled the trigger and the glove shot
forward as the police chopper moved up beside them.
Instantly the helicopter exploded in a ball of flames and went spiraling
into the streets of Tokyo. Kodachi's copter swung violently from the
explosion; somehow everyone managed to remain inside. They flew off away
from the city leaving any possible pursuit behind.
Inside the bank the swat members stared in horror, as the smoke became a
light haze. In front of them were the hostages, all fifty-three of them.
All of them were laughing as if they heard the funniest joke in the
world. "What the hell is this?" commented the lead man. He felt something
strange in his mask and turned to see the man next to him giggling to
himself. The mask slowly slid off the man's face and he watched in horror
as another one of his men started to titter as well. "Kuruba! Why is your
mask smoking?" he looked at his companions and bolted for the door. "Get
out of here now! Our masks are burning off! Move, move!"
"What about the hostages!" cried one of the yet unaffected men.
"Pull back damn it!" cried the man as he forcefully pushed the
hysterically laughing man in front of him and out of the deathtrap bank.
Outside the crowd watched as the remains of the swat team; only seven of
fifteen remained unharmed and unaffected. Three men literally laughed
themselves to death, leaving behind a death grin that would send chills
down the spines of millions of Japanese that evening. To say nothing of
the fifty-three victims still inside the bank, all of them with the same
look on their faces. Absolute terror, with a horrible, painful looking
smile.
Several days later Sayuri looked over the report and forced her hands
through her hair. Daisuke and Hiroshi stood in front of her desk. "I want
this monster found."
"Yes Ma'am," the said quietly.
"The tear gas we used activated the toxin in that smoke. If the media
finds out about any of this we'll end up murderers. That bitch used some
kind of special acid to eat away the latex masks they knew our men would
be using. She knew how we'd react!" the woman slammed her fists down
against the table in frustrated anger.
Kodachi smiled as she leaned back against the large pile of money.
"Whew! That was close, I had no idea they'd think to put snipers on the
roof! Good job Benny!"
The man simply nodded his head in acknowledgement and said nothing. He
new better than to correct her about his name. Besides, as much as this
job paid him, she could call him whatever she wanted.
"What to do next?" she said looking thoughtful for a moment. "Bank
robbing is fun, but I need something else to bite into... I know! Mass
murder!"
"We did that today mistress," Kodachi looked at him in confusion and he
cleared his throat. "The hostages?"
"Oh, yes... well, be a nit picker then," she snorted. "Those police sure
are bothersome, so lets just get rid of them. How does that sound? Ho ho
ho ho ho ho ho ho ho!"
Sasuke sighed. "Very well mistress."
Soun Tendo sat with Ranma and closed his eyes as they enjoyed early
afternoon; Ranma had a cup of coffee in his hand and had just woken up.
"Saotome, have you seen the paper lately?"
"No, I don't care about the paper," replied Ranma simply. He had no
desire to converse right now.
"It's rather interesting, these murders, that tragic bank robbery. I
think someone should look into this, it's getting out of hand," commented
Soun offhandedly.
"That's what the police are for," snorted Ranma.
Soun opened the paper and started to read it. "Yes, I suppose so."
The headline of "Police Baffled!" stared Ranma directly in the face. He
looked at the page and smiled despite himself, perhaps he could see what
he could find out. "I'm sure I can beat something out of some of the
local scum," he thought privately. He wasn't quite sure what he'd do if
he did get any information though. After all, all he really wanted was to
scare muggers and killers; bring a little justice to the world. He didn't
really want to save it.
Ranma merely sat and drank his coffee, thinking for a long time after
that.
Nabiki Tendo hung her head and cried silently as she overlooked the city
as the sun set over Tokyo from her office window. The police had visited
her an hour ago and confirmed her fears. She was dead. A cold fear
gripped her heart as she realized that could have been her in the bank
instead. She had been a good employee and a not so trusted friend at
times. Still Nabiki Tendo hated to not be in control, whoever had taken
Kura away from her, would pay dearly. The only question was, how? She sat
for a long time and tried to think as she drank the contents of her
liquor cabinet almost dry.
TBC...
Next time: More Shampoo and Mousse. Kodachi plots against the Japanese
police and Batman tries to get some information on her, without much
success.
C&C to Carrotglace@juno.com