Post by dragonaces on Jul 5, 2006 8:57:42 GMT -5
NOMAD
Rude Awakening
Rude Awakening
Two weeks ago…
I’m sitting in a park, watching Bucky play on the swings. She’s still a baby but she moves like a teenager, running around and climbing on things. Seems like we’ve been here a long time we should probably get going soon. It’s been nice to just be able to sit here and not have to chase after bad guys. Of course I spoke to soon. The sky seems to open up, a black cloud tears into the clear blue and a giant gloved hand reaches for Bucky! I scream, but my voice is gone…I try to run to her but am pinned down! I hear her call for me, speaking my name clearly…
"Jack!” It echoes in my mind as everything fades to black.
One week ago…
I open my eyes for what seems like the first time in years. How could that be, I just saw Bucky be taken from me. Bucky! I panic, where could she be? My vision is blurred and I don’t have the strength to get up. It must be the affects of some sort of toxin. I see colors all around me blended together as my vision struggles to make sense of it all. I struggle to bring my hand to my eyes in an attempt to rub them back to clear vision…success! I hear voices, an adult male and a young female. They headed in my direction as soon as I moved my arm. I try to sit up but pass out instead.
Today…
I don't remember much. It's hard to recall what happened yesterday...no…it feels like yesterday, but according to Bucky it was two weeks ago. She came to me looking for my help; I don't know if I can help her but I'm willing to try. She's not Bucky anymore either, she answers to Alexis Monroe...yes Monroe. It seems that after I was put in the freezer she went to the orphanage under my last name; I was taking care of her at the time she was found. She's still Bucky to me.
While I was working on my rehabilitation, which went quickly thanks to the serum that runs through my veins, I learned what I needed to learn about being thawed out. Bucky...Alexis, is a senior in high school now and has been seeing some shady individuals hanging around her school. Pushing drugs, selling guns...creating anarchy. She said her school used to be a quiet place until these goons showed up and started brainwashing students, targeting the burnouts and turning them against the popular kids. It’s a good strategy because from what I remember, burnouts already hate the popular ones so they don't need much encouragement from the start.
I asked her if it would’ve been easier to just tell the cops rather than sneak inside a top secret facility, get past security and haul my numb carcass home. She said fifteen years was a long time for her to see me again. Really? It’s been that long? I’m not up to a hundred percent health yet but I can move enough to get by on my own. Of course being a hundred percent for me is more like two hundred for a normal man. I’ll be able to hang around the school yard and find out what’s going on as long as I avoid confrontation today. I should be able to do the research I need before bringing these guys down.
I wait in the parking lot, hidden between a row of cars where I can see all the action. She told me to keep they usually conduct their business behind the bleachers of the football field. The best place to oversee that is in the student parking lot which is at the top of a hill that separates it from the field. There are all sorts of cars here; you could almost tell which ones belonged to whom. New cars, sports cars, road rats, and patch jobs. It was like vehicle segregation the way they were all parked.
I hear the school bell ring off in the distance, time to prepare myself. I need to avoid being seen by the students and still keep an eye out for the contraband gang. I figure I have some time before any students actually make their way out this far, even if they do they’ll be in a hurry to get back before their late for their next class. Movement catches my eye down by the bleachers. Two guys dressed in suits, black slicked back hair and sunglasses top off the costumes. They emerged from the bushes about ten yards back from the schoolyard.
One student meets them. Hard to make out any physical features from up here. Long sleeved gray shirt under a black t-shirt. Ripped jeans. That’s who their targeting…the one’s who are most type cast for the role of rebel/addict. After the deal goes down and the kids make their way back to class, me being the idiot I am decide to get a closer look. I keep reminding myself not to get too involved on my first day out but watching today’s youth be corrupted by a couple of scumbags really gets on my nerves.
I have about forty-five minutes before the next class gets out, that should give me enough time to circle around their exit point in the bushes. When I get down there I hear the two men talking…in Japanese! It all sounds very familiar to me and very unprofessional:
“<What is the obsession with this school anyways?>”
“<Who cares we’re being taken care of as long as we keep doing what we’re told.>”
“<I care, we’re risking a lot by being here. Ever since nine eleven the schools are taking their security seriously.>”
Mental note: ask Bucky what ‘nine eleven’ stands for.
“<Maybe so, but we’ve got immunity. The police can’t touch us so long as Master Tatsu’o keeps us protected. He’s got people paid off so he can have us work undisturbed.>”
“<I still don’t understand why we’re setting this school up for a drug induced bloodbath.>” I can’t believe the things I’m hearing. Why does Master Tatsu’o sound so familiar? I feel so out of the loop.
“<There’s someone in the school that Tatsu’o wants dead and instead of just killing her, he figured he’d set it up like a random school shooting and make some money on the side.>”
Simple enough. Too bad it’s not going to happen. I step out of the bushes as though I were just passing through, “Excuse me fellas…is this a short cut to the gas station?” I need to get some form of reaction from them…see if they’re on the defensive about just hanging out here and talking in their native tongue.
They stop and look at each other and then back to me, trying to size me up. Find out if I’m really just a fellow who’s lost in the schoolyard behind the bleachers looking for the gas station. If they believe that then they’re dumber than I thought.
“No gas station.” One responded in a crude form of English.
“No short cut.” The other added. I had to stop myself from laughing, I almost felt as though I were in a bad karate movie.
“No kidding?” I chuckled, “I’ll be on my way then.” I started to walk past them when I was grabbed by the lapel of my jacket.
“You not go anywhere, you see too much.” I looked down at his grip on my coat…you don’t touch my coat.
“And you don’t see anymore.” I grab his hand and twist his arm, forcing him downward. I kick my boot up into his face, smashing his sunglasses into his eyes.
His buddy comes at me, waving his hands in the air like a madman…trying to confuse me. I step back, giving him what he wanted. Off balance and unable to defend myself he throws several hand strikes to my face and body. He’s fast. Faster than I am right now. I block two shots to my head and several make it through to my midsection. It’s been a long time since I’ve been hit and it shows.
The pain is more than I can handle and I double over in time to eat his foot as it sails into my jaw. I see a light flash before my eyes and pain streaks across my chin as I roll to the ground. Pulling myself up I take a kick to the stomach. I knew I should’ve waited…I need more conditioning before I start taking on the Japanese Mafia. That’s when it hits me. Well, that and another blow to the face, these guys are with the Yakuza! Headed by Japanese crime lord Tatsu’o. I was really confused now, what were they doing hanging around Bucky’s schoolyard?
Once they were done toying with me, they did a quick tie job on my ankles and wrists and then gag me with a rag. They go conduct business on the other side of the bushes and leave me waiting. Once I get my bearings back, I begin working my way out of the poorly done bindings. Instead of being their punching bag again I decide to high-tail it out of there. There will be plenty of time later to remind them of who I am.
I head back to my little safe-house that Bucky provided me with. It’s actually an old house in the back of her neighborhood that time forgot. The way she explains it, there was a double homicide that took place there years ago. Local realtors had tried to sell it but nothing they said could convince buyers to bite on it. Eventually they stopped trying to market it and weeds and bushes started to overtake it. Now I call it home as I climb in through the window.
The inside isn’t a reflection of the outside. I have exercise equipment in the living room and the rest of it is pretty much bare…but clean. Bucky did quite a bit to get this place set up for me. It only makes me realize even more how important getting me out of the warehouse was to her; she put a lot of thought behind it. I cleaned myself up and work some more on my rehabilitation exercises on the treadmill and the heavy bag. The next time I visit the school I would leave a calling card for Tatsu’o in the form of two well dressed Japanese thugs.
My workout was interrupted by Bucky climbing in through the window. I was shirtless and sweaty which immediately made me realize I needed new arrangements for her entering the house. I reach over for my black tank-top and slide it on, “Ever hear of knocking?” I had to be stern with her or she’d never get the point.
“On what, the wall?” She replied like a typical teenager would, sarcastically. “If you want to risk the house caving in?” I forgot I was dealing with an eighteen year old and not an eight year old. Of course just looking at her should be enough to remind me.
“Is that what you wore to school?” She stood before me wearing a revealing halter top and a skirt so short it made me wonder how she sat down and still allowed the boys to use their imagination. Quite frankly, she looked like a tramp.
“This isn’t about me and what I wear to school, this is about you and those guys hanging around the bleachers pushing drugs and selling guns.” She folded her arms across her chest and looked at me like I was the child.
“Well it wouldn’t kill you to wear something a bit less revealing. You go there to learn-“
“-and not pick up guys, yeah…I’ve heard.” She said; half interested as she cut me off. Apparently she’s gone through this song and dance many times before.
“Maybe you should’ve listened then, whoever told you knew what they were talking about. You’re asking for trouble by dressing like that, too much negative attention.” I picked up a towel and wrapped it around my neck to help dry off the sweat, the air was still in this house and it was hot inside and out.
“Good, I like attention; at least I’ll be getting it from someone. It’s not like you’ve been there for me.” Ouch, that was a cheap shot and I don’t think I deserved it, but there is a lot that she doesn’t understand because she was so young when she was taken away from me.
“I didn’t have a choice; I was locked in the freezer against my will. What happened all those years ago was beyond my control, if I was given the chance I would’ve done my best to be there for you.” This was getting off track, I needed to talk with her about a student the Yakuza are after and here I am arguing about dress code with a girl whose diapers I used to change.
“Whatever.” She turned her back to me and put her hands on the heavy bag, leaning her head against it. “What did you find out at the school?”
“Nothing really, except the guys pushing the stuff are part of a Japanese mafia called the Yakuza.” Her black hair was pulled up enough for me to notice the Japanese symbols tattooed at the base of her neck. They looked familiar, but right now I couldn’t place their meaning, I tucked their images away in the back of my mind so I could look them up.
“The Yakuza? What are they doing at my school?” She asked half-heartedly.
“I don’t know, except I heard them talking that they are looking for a particular student and they want her dead.” I walk around to the other side of the heavy bag so I can look her in the eyes, “Do you know of anyone in your school that may have crossed paths with a mafia crime lord?” I looked at her but she wouldn’t make eye contact with me. “If you do, I need to know because she’s in a lot of danger and needs to be warned. These people are not to be toyed around with and your school is about to be turned upside down in order for them to get to her.” Still no reaction from her.
“I’ll ask around partner, we’ll get to the bottom of this.” Suddenly she sounded half interested…and partner? No way, she’s too young and vulnerable. I had to get her out of harm’s way.
“No, it’s best that you stay home from school for the next couple of weeks. At least until I figure out what’s going on.”
“Please," she retorted, "if something happens inside the school, you’re not going to be able to get close. You need me to be your eyes and ears inside that school. You stay on the outside, I’ll handle whatever happens behind closed doors.” She gave me a stern look as if suddenly it wasn’t any of my business.
She turned and walked away, climbing back out of the window. I looked away and returned to my re-hab. Then next day I went back to the school to take a second look at what was happening. I also wanted to get a layout of the school grounds, if anything was going happen regarding this school, I needed to be prepared. I had to know this area better than the Yakuza, who I’m sure have already done their homework.
As I make my way across school grounds, mapping it all out in my head, I couldn’t help but remember that there were deals constantly being done behind the bleachers between every class. Near the end of the day I decided to take a crack at saving at least one student from being brainwashed by those imported goons. Sitting on top of the bleachers I wait for the Yakuza to emerge from their hideout in the bushes. As they make their way towards me I remain crouched so I can keep the element of surprise.
They stop right where I can see the tops of their heads, now was my chance. I had to do it before any students arrived to prevent the word from getting around that there were gang fights going on. I stood up from my place and jumped. Something caught me and I swung down hitting my back against the metal support beams. Looking up I saw a masked individual holding onto the back of my coat.
“Not so fast Mr. Monroe…I’d like to have a word with you.” I should’ve been left in the icebox.
Next: “Jack in the BOX!”