Chapter 4 “Officially Freaked Out”
“Forget barbeque,” Suki exclaimed. “I’m going for deep fried.”
Kotaro’s eyes went humorously wide when Suki lifted the flamethrower in his direction. She pulled the trigger and set the closest three ghouls aflame.
All of the ghouls… even the ones the flames hadn’t reached yet, suddenly broke out in a chorus of inhuman screaming before they all burst into flames. Suki and Kotaro could only watch with confusion, as they all seemed to melt, leaving only partially intact skeletons behind. The basement was filled with loud clatter when the bones hit the ground.
Suki giggled unable to control herself, “Tastes just like chicken.”
Kotaro gave her a weak smile but he wondered why the ghouls suddenly, for lack of a better phrase, dropped dead.
“I don’t know about you, but I’m not going to look a gift horse in the mouth,” Kotaro managed before he dropped down on his butt.
Suki turned off the flamethrower and gingerly walked past Yohji to reach Kotaro’s side.
“Think you can walk out of here?” she asked sympathetically.
Kotaro nodded and, with Suki’s help, regained his footing and the two walked over to Yohji’s unconscious form. They got the detective hoisted up between them and very slowly climbed the steep staircase. Once at the top, they maneuvered their way through the rest of the haunted house, thankfully not running into any more animated corpses. They finally found the back door of the old house and stepped out into the fresh air.
“We need to get Yohji back to the agency,” Kotaro whispered. “He was bitten by one of those freaks.”
“You’ve got a few of them yourself,” Suki responded wondering why she didn’t need to carry both of them. By the looks of Kotaro, he was worse off than his partner. “You’re not going to last long.”
“Yeah, but I can handle it… this idiot can’t,” Kotaro hedged, hoping Suki would just take his word for it. They tried to never show their powers to humans… not even Suki, but he had a feeling they had slipped up enough that she had somehow caught on. It wouldn’t surprise him. Suki was intelligent enough to put two and two together. If she did know… she was wise enough to never let on.
Suki simply nodded, accepting his explanation and got them back to the waiting Hummer.
Once Yohji was laid out in the back, Kotaro looked up toward the camera on the light post and tapped his earpiece. “Kamui, are we still connected?”
“Yeah,” Kamui answered, knowing what Kotaro was thinking. “Will you and Suki circle the building to make sure no one wandered around back?”
“Sure, but why?” Suki asked not wanting to leave Yohji.
“Because Amni says the building is slowly catching fire,” Kamui answered, thanking the gods for small favors.
“Look at it this way,” Kotaro said with a small grin. “At least there won’t be any clean up.”
Kamui smiled and watched the monitor as Suki and Kotaro agreed to meet back at the Hummer then disappeared from sight. They had left the vehicle’s back door open and he could see Yohji inside. Kamui gave a thankful sigh when Kyou appeared and glanced up at the camera.
Knowing he didn’t have to say a word, Kamui simply watched as Kyou laid his hand directly above Yohji’s wound. An electric blue light flashed from Kyou’s palm briefly, then faded. Glancing back up at the camera, their boss once again disappeared from view.
Kamui knew Yohji wouldn’t be fully healed, but recovered enough to be completely out of danger. He smiled as he watched Yohji crawl out of the vehicle and lean against it as he held his hand to his injured shoulder, no doubt wondering why he had been abandoned. For a moment, Yohji looked like a lost kid. Kamui remembered the Hummer had a two-way radio mounted to the dash.
“Hey Yohji,” Kamui called out.
Yohji flinched when his name was called and quickly looked around. Finally realizing it had come from the vehicle, he slowly crawled into the front passenger seat. “Yeah squirt, what’s up?”
“Just wanted to let you know Suki and Kotaro are staking out the perimeter to make sure there isn’t anyone or anything else wandering around,” Kamui explained. “Go ahead and lie down in the back again, get some rest.”
Yohji nodded, not realizing Kamui wouldn’t have been able to see him at that angle and got out of the Hummer. He walked around to the back once more, and literally crawled in. He was asleep in seconds.
Turning his attention to another monitor, Kamui looked for Shinbe, wondering what he had missed. He blinked at the chaos that was going on. Where the hell was that pervert anyway?
Shinbe pushed his way through the crowd barely able to hear his own thoughts. The all-girl band on stage must have spent a fortune on the acoustics for the music to echo in such a way. It was drawing one hell of a crowd and Shinbe was having trouble navigating around all of them.
He glanced up at the erotic beauty of the band and shrugged it off as he headed for Tasuki who was closer to the front. It wasn’t like Tasuki to forget what they were doing and stop to become a groupie.
One thing about Tasuki, he was a ‘by the book’ cop… one of the few left. He didn’t bend the rules for anyone, but had been known to look the other way during certain times… like the times they’d accidentally demolished buildings or destroyed vehicles or broken into certain businesses to find their prey. Yeah, his friend was a good cop.
Shinbe sighed when he finally reached Tasuki and looked at his assigned partner for the evening.
“Come on, you can leer at the beautiful women later,” Shinbe stated and pulled on Tasuki’s arm.
Shinbe got a shock when his own arm was nearly pulled out of its socket. Tasuki was standing there like his feet had been cemented into the street.
Tasuki gazed in awe of the scantily clad girls on stage… his mind surrendering to the hypnotic music that seemed to call out to his very soul. The Sirens… he sighed happily, what a lovely name for the band of women. Tasuki’s eyes glazed over and a goofy smile appeared on his face, not realizing he was listening to a true Siren song and had fallen under its thrall.
Shinbe waved his hand in front of Tasuki’s face but nothing fazed him. Looking around, he did a double take as the crowd fell silent and the movement of the spectators slowed almost to a standstill. Shinbe narrowed his eyes and looked up at the stage. The five women singing were now looking directly at him. Their expressions were far from friendly and he felt the power in their song amplify.
Turning away from the Sirens, Shinbe spotted a group of women going through the crowd, picking men at random and removing them. Fire blazed in his amethyst eyes as his sight allowed him to see the women for what they truly were… harpies. Shinbe felt sick to his stomach as he realized that the crowd gathered was a virtual smorgasbord and all those men had been invited for dinner... as the main course.
Shinbe whirled back around to face the stage, intent on stopping this at the source when he saw movement beneath it.
Leaving Tasuki there, Shinbe weaved out of the crowd and around the back of the stage. He blinked when he spotted Kyoko’s grandfather running wire back and forth under the stage and attaching it to various small boxes, planted not only on the stage’s supports but on the generator as well.
Shinbe ducked under the platform and made his way over to Grandpa. Tapping him on the shoulder, he quickly caught the fists Grandpa suddenly had aimed at him.
“Shinbe,” Grandpa said a bit loudly. “Sorry about that.”
Shinbe frowned, “Why aren’t you affected by the song?”
Grandpa grinned, “I can’t hear a word you’re saying, I got earplugs in my ears. Listen, I need you to give these singing bitches a sour note, then be ready to get Tasuki out of here.”
Shinbe nodded and made his way over to the console that controlled the volume and acoustics of the band playing. He glanced up and nodded when Grandpa gave the thumbs-up signal.
Throwing the switch, he winced, not only at the loud whining noise that suddenly came from the amplifiers, but the screaming of the Sirens as well. Shinbe wasted no time and ran over to Tasuki, this time decking him before throwing the man over his shoulder and getting to a relatively safe area, just as a small explosion ignited behind him.
The amethyst guardian had to laugh as he looked back and saw the expression on Grandpa’s face. Now he definitely knew where Kyoko got it from… they were both nuts. Grandpa pushed a button on the small box in his hand, blowing the stage to Kingdom Come.
“It’s official,” Shinbe stated. “Mr. Hogo is a pyromaniac.”
Shinbe didn’t have long to enjoy the small victory, when the harpies that had been weaving through the crowd suddenly surrounded him. They were still disguised as beautiful women, as scantily clad as the sirens had been onstage, but Shinbe could see the truth.
Setting the still unconscious Tasuki down on the ground, Shinbe lowered himself into a stance, ready to fight.
Grandpa quickly tucked the small detonator away and took the earplugs out of his ears.
“Thanks for the tip, Amni,” Grandpa whispered. A few nights prior, the psychic had sent him a dream message about the events set to take place. Luckily Grandpa had the explosives on hand to do what Amni had suggested. Now that it was done, he needed to get Tama out of here.
He paused when he saw Shinbe fighting off a group of women he’d seen taking the men away. Tasuki was out cold on the ground behind him. Grandpa ran across the street where the young man was laying and hoisted him up. He saw Shinbe’s expression of gratitude and quickly left with Tasuki thrown over his shoulder.
“Grandpa!” Tama’s voice came from closer than the safe distance grandpa had sent him to.
Grandpa looked up when he saw Tama running toward him with a worried expression.
“Is Tasuki okay?” Tama asked, skidding to a stop beside them.
“Yeah, he’s fine… heavy as hell, but he’s fine,” Grandpa reassured him.
“I am awake you know,” Tasuki muttered groggily.
“Oh, if that’s the case…” Grandpa dropped him on the ground.
“Aw… damn!” Tasuki grunted then glared up at the elder man. “Did you have to drop me?”
“Did you have to pretend to be unconscious?” Grandpa demanded.
Tasuki pressed his fingers to the bridge of his nose, trying to fight back the nausea and headache. He felt like he was on a hangover from hell. “Did you even check to see if I was awake? Obviously not, I woke up when you threw me over your shoulder and I wasn’t about to tap you on the butt to put me down.”
Grandpa made a disgusted face, “I’m glad you didn’t.” Turning to Tama he added, “This pansy isn’t going to do us any good in his current state… he’s borderline retarded. I need you to do your grandpa a favor, take him to Suki over at the haunted house. She’s most likely got the Hummer out tonight.” He looked around knowing the real battle hadn’t even started yet. He also knew Kyoko would never forgive him if Tama was injured.
“The Hummer?” Tama asked with wide eyes. “She must be in one of those moods again.”
A demonic screech was heard in the distance and Grandpa looked back to see Tama still hadn’t moved to do what he was told. “Now Tama!” Grandpa yelled.
Tama nodded, wandering what was up. He put his arm around Tasuki’s waist so the man could lean on him, then glanced back once more to see grandpa already distracted.
“I don’t see why he always babies me and gives me the safe jobs,” Tama grumbled as Tasuki swayed against him. Wanting to hurry so he didn’t miss the action, Tama took a short cut down one of the alleys. “I’m not a baby, damn it,” he continued muttering. “I can kick ass too. Look at Grandpa and Kyoko. What did they think I was doing when they went to bed at night? Watching Grandpa’s porn?”
Tasuki sighed and reached up to his ear. Taking out the earpiece, he gave it to Tama, “It’s for you.”
Tama took the earpiece from Tasuki and put it in. “Hello?”
“What the hell are you doing watching porn?” Kyoko yelled in his ear. “You’re not experienced enough to participate in a fight like this, nor are you old enough to be watching porn.”
“Come on Kyoko,” Toya soothed. “He’s a man, he’s bound to have some tendencies.”
“Yeah, let the kid grow up knowing all about it,” Kotaro offered his two cents.
“This isn’t your little brother,” Kyoko growled wishing the earpieces where separate, instead of linking together like a gangbang. She cocked an eyebrow wandering where the hell that saying had come from.
“I’m Kotaro and Toya’s brother.” Shinbe stated a little out of breath as he paused during his fight. “And I watch porn.”
“WHAT,” Suki growled into the com-link.
“I’ve asked you many times to join me.” Shinbe smirked as he knocked one of the harpies to the ground and quickly straddled her wiggling body.
“I thought you were joking, you damn pervert,” Suki exclaimed.
“NO ONE JOKES ABOUT PORN!” everyone except Kyoko and Suki shouted.
Shinbe grunted when the harpy brought her legs up and kicked him several feet across the pavement. “Could we please stop speaking about such pleasant pastimes? It’s very distracting and causing me to get my ass kicked by a girl.”
“Shinbe, what the hell are you doing?” Toya asked out of morbid curiosity.
Shinbe grunted again as the harpy slammed into him and he found himself in the same position he had been in a moment ago… but this time he was looking up. “Fighting!” he snapped.
“Fighting what?” Toya growled wanting details.
“A harpy,” Shinbe punched the harpy in the face, feeling no guilt.
“Good,” Suki stated. “I’ll get my pom-poms and cheer for them and hope they kick your porn-watching ass.”
Tama’s eyes got as wide as saucers as he took out the earpiece and gave it back to Tasuki. “You work with weird people,” he informed the cop.
Tasuki grinned, “Don’t I know it.” He was glad the world wasn’t so tilted anymore and his hangover effect was dissolving. He rubbed his chin wondering why it felt bruised.
A sound from further up the alley made them both stop in their tracks. It was completely silent except for a dripping noise and what sounded like rats scurrying back and forth. Suddenly the lid of a garbage can blew off like someone had lit a cherry bomb. Unfortunately, it also made the garbage in the can go up with it, spraying trash everywhere.
Tama and Tasuki quickly moved out of the way just in time to avoid the ‘rain’. They moved again when another garbage can took off like a rocket toward the sky and didn’t come back down. This was followed by an insane, high-pitched laughter.
“Um Tasuki,” Tama said quietly. “What the hell is that?”
A tiny creature about a foot tall ran out into the middle of the alley and seemed to dance around for a moment before stopping in mid motion with both arms and one leg in the air. It slowly turned its large head around and grinned at them, showing two rows of abnormally long razor-sharp teeth. Its skin was like that of a frog, gleaming in the dim light.
“Oh shit,” Tasuki exclaimed. “It’s a gremlin.”
“A what?” Tama screeched. “You mean like the movie?”
Tasuki shook his head, “No kid, this is the real thing. However, they have been known to put on lipstick and smoke cigars on occasion. These guys make the movie characters look like a bunch of hyperactive three year olds.”
“How do you get rid of it?” Tama asked seeing the gremlin still hadn’t moved from its off-key position.
“Well, that’s one thing the movie had right.” Tasuki said. “Ultraviolet light kills the little buggers.”
Suddenly the alley was filled with a horrible whistling that sounded almost like a television show Tama had seen once about two FBI agents finding out the truth behind alien contact.
“Run!” Tasuki exclaimed taking Tama by the hand and running the other way.
“Aren’t we going to fight it?” Tama demanded while trying to keep up with the older man.
“You can’t fight a gremlin like that,” Tasuki stated. “They’ll turn you into hamburger with those claws if they get hold of you.”
The insane laughter was following them and Tama looked over his shoulder. He screamed when he saw the gremlin right behind them.
“Tasuki!” Tama shouted becoming hysterical.
Tasuki stopped abruptly and withdrew his 9mm. Pulling Tama by the arm behind him, he aimed the weapon and fired just as the gremlin took a running leap at them. The bullet went in and out of the creature, knocking it back a good ten feet. He lifted Tama on his back and took off running again.
“That only bought us a few seconds,” Tasuki shouted back at Tama. “We need to get to the others.”
They entered another alley that would take them straight to the block the haunted house was set up on. Tasuki slid to a stop when he saw the gremlin standing in their way. The bullet hole was visible in its belly and it was panting heavily.
“Okay,” Tama whispered. “I’m officially freaked out.”
Tasuki took a step back, at a loss about what to do. He’d lost his ear piece somewhere in the alleys and couldn’t call for help. The gremlin was closing in on them, humming that awful tune again. Suddenly something fell on it and the song abruptly stopped. Tasuki and Tama blinked before they laughed in relief. The very garbage can the gremlin had launched just a while ago had finally come back down.
“Is that irony or what?” Tama asked.
They stopped laughing however when the song slowly started up again.
“Not good, not good, not good!” Tasuki exclaimed and took off running again before the critter could emerge.
They skidded back out onto the street, thankfully directly across from the haunted house. Not daring to glance behind them, they rushed across the street and back behind the house where the Hummer was sitting. Kotaro and Suki were standing at the back door of the vehicle, leaning in a bit.
“Hey,” Tasuki called out.
“What the hell happened?” Kotaro asked looking up. “We heard this crazy-assed laughter, then nothing.”
“Gremlin,” Tasuki said.
Kotaro grimaced. “I hate those things.”
“Come on,” Suki said. “Let’s get Yohji back to the agency. Then I can come back and pick everyone else up.”
Kotaro closed the back door while Suki got in the driver’s seat. Tama got in the back seat with Tasuki and looked back at Yohji.
“Is he going to be okay?” Tama asked. He’d never cared much for Yohji, but didn’t exactly want to see him hurt either.
“He’ll be fine.” Kotaro said, getting in the passenger seat. “A little sleep and he’ll be good as new.”
Suki turned the ignition and frowned when the Hummer wouldn’t start. She turned it off and tried again, but no luck.
“Damn it!” Suki exclaimed. “It was working fine a minute ago.” Grumbling, she got out and popped the hood of the vehicle. “This is the part of the job I hate.”
“But you look so good covered in motor oil,” Kamui chirped.
“And you would look real good in tar and feathers,” Suki said with a promising grin at the mounted camera.
Kamui gave a quick laugh then thankfully fell silent. Suki lifted the hood and leaned forward to get a good look at the engine. She squinted in the dim light when she saw something move. An involuntary scream escaped her when a gremlin leapt out at her.
“Suki!” Shinbe shouted over the com-link.
When he heard the sounds of a struggle, Shinbe decided to end this. Glaring at the harpies surrounding him, he opened his left hand and let a massive ball of energy form around it. His hair danced in the breeze, giving him the appearance of an avenging angel. He swung his hand toward the harpies and the bright flash of light filled the square.
For the briefest moment… a translucent pair of amethyst wings appeared almost like an after image of lightening, expanding across his back. The image vanished and so did Shinbe as he took off running down the street toward the haunted house. He could now hear Kotaro yelling in his ear with what sounded like Tasuki in the background. At least one thing had gone right… Tasuki had obviously made it back to them in one piece.
Suki threw the gremlin off of her and stood up. She was sporting a number of deep scratches across her face, neck and shoulders from the gremlin’s sharp claws. The demon righted itself and shook its head before snarling at her. Suki refused to run from it, as that was its hint that it was time to play. For a gremlin, playing was a deadly thing. The scratches stung like hell and it only served to piss Suki off.
“You want to play hardball?” Suki demanded and snarled back at the creature. “Fine by me.”
The gremlin pawed at the ground, much like a bull getting ready to charge before running at Suki full tilt. She reached into a pouch strapped to the back of her belt, and took out a small flashlight. When it jumped toward her again, Suki lifted the light and shined it right in the gremlin’s eyes. It screamed and flew past Suki, clawing at its eyes.
Suki stalked over to the creature and stomped her foot down, holding it in place. “Don’t mess with me… I would have thought you all had learned that by now,” She ground out and shined the flashlight on its head.
The creature screamed again and wiggled around, trying to get away from the ultraviolet flashlight. The gremlin’s head suddenly exploded, sending tissue, among other things flying, splattering against Suki’s body.
“Mind blowing… isn’t it,” Suki stated and lifted her foot off the gremlin.
She put the flashlight away and turned back to her teammates and Tama. Unable to control herself, she started laughing. Kotaro had a ball bat in his hand, Tasuki had his gun out, and Tama was actually laying down on top of the Hummer, staring mortified at the dead gremlin.
“Hey Kamui, save this picture, this is funny as hell!” Suki exclaimed.
“You got it,” Kamui said. “But be warned… you’re in this picture too.”
“SUKI!” Her name ripped through the air, startling all of them.
Suki raised her gaze and sighed when Shinbe ran around the corner of the house and straight for her.
“Shinbe wait!” Suki exclaimed and held her hands out in front of her.
Shinbe didn’t pay attention and swept her up in a hug. “Thank goodness you’re all right.”
“Put me down Shinbe,” Suki ordered. “Your clothes are gonna be a mess.”
“My clothing isn’t as important as you are,” Shinbe stated.
Suki blushed then sighed again. “Even when I’m covered in gremlin guts?”
Shinbe suddenly stopped and looked down. He abruptly released Suki and stepped back in horror.
“EWWWW!” Shinbe exclaimed before grabbing her and pulling her right back into his arms, “Wait, does this make me a dirty boy?”
It was Kotaro and Tasuki's turn to go, “Eww!”
