He rushed toward the bushes. A lumpy bush immediately sprang up, taking the shape of a human, and ran back toward a line of parked cars. Lit by the moonlight, Yasuke saw the leafy person’s form shift and transform into a sleek, metallic body that disappeared among the expensive cars.
“Kuso!” Yasuke proclaimed. “Did their body change shape?”
“They have some kind of body morphing ability. Did we not mention that?” Eve replied
“I do not believe you did,” Yasuke stated, still dumbstruck by what he had seen.
“Look out!” Eve shouted.
Yasuke turned as a second person, this one brown and rock-like, rose up from the ground and leapt toward him.Yasuke raised his blade as an antique katana swung down on him. Their swords clanged in the air and the rock person leapt back. Her face contorted and smoothed into a mixture of cream and black.
“You’re fast,” she admired. “Killing you will be fun.”
The rock person dashed away from Yasuke and disappeared into the dark. Eve swiftly made her way toward the fireworks. Yasuke kept his guard up and followed her closely, his ears strained to listen for any movement in the darkness ahead of them.
Suddenly, Yasuke screamed out in pain. Embedded in his shoulder was a long, black needle. Then Eve screamed out. A similar needle had flown out from the dark and embedded itself into her forearm. Yasuke turned his back on the tree line as another needle stuck into his other shoulder.
“I can’t see their attacks,” Yasuke grimaced. “We need cover!”
As if they had read their minds, Aiko and his guards rushed outside and surrounded them. The men linked arms and formed a circle around Yasuke and Eve.
“We will protect you!” Aiko shouted. “Move!”
Without question, Yasuke and Eve hurried toward the fireworks as the gangsters moved their protective circle along with them.
Aiko led the gangsters in a passionate chant, “Kasai is the fire that burns the world! Surrender or don’t, Kasai still spreads!”
Black needles flew out from the dark and embedded in the men’s backs and legs. They grimaced through the pain, but never broke rank. They only chanted louder, yelling defiantly into the night.
“Kasai is the fire that burns the world! Surrender or don’t, Kasai still spreads!”
As soon as they reached the fireworks, Eve grabbed a bundle and lit their fuses with the lighter. Behind her, one of the guards went limp and fell forward.
Aiko turned in time to see Sasha and Aria leap out from the dark, their skin now showing their true colors of striped cream and black. Aria was wielding two pronged sai while Sasha still held the katana. Both of their weapons were pointed directly at Aiko.
In a heartbeat, Yasuke’s blade was between them. He had hooked Aria’s sai and deflected Sasha’s katana all in one swift movement. In another movement, the women were both disarmed, their weapons flung back out of their hands by Yasuke’s skillful blade.
Eve held up the fireworks and let go as their fuses burnt to the base. They shot into the air and exploded in a variety of brilliant colors, briefly illuminating the dark valley in flashes of light. The two assassins stood and stared at Yasuke in awe, unmoving from their position.
A singular shout emanated in the distance. Then, a dull roar began to fill the valley. A waterfall of pirates rushed down from the ridge around the museum. They shouted their war cries and fired off their machine guns into the air, startling The Twins and sending a few partygoers running. In the mayhem, Yasuke knocked down The Twins with a sweeping leg kick. He pointed his sword in their faces, daring them to move.
The pirates soon reached Eve and Yasuke. They surrounded Aiko and his gangsters, shouting for them to drop their weapons.
“It’s okay!” Eve shouted back. “These guys are helping! It’s those two women you need to watch out for.”
The pirates made quick work binding The Twins’ hands and feet. The women made no attempts to resist or escape. They simply looked at Yasuke in silent wonder. Aiko, with hot tears in his eyes, grabbed his pistol and aimed it at Sasha’s face. The surrounding pirates stepped back in shock, leaving the two bound women on the ground, alone and helpless.
“Did you kill Daizo?” Aiko whispered through quiet sobs. He turned and pointed the gun at Aria. “Did you kill my father?”
The women said nothing. They looked back at him with dull expressions, hardly seeming to acknowledge his presence. Aiko’s finger trembled toward the trigger.
A soft hand gently touched Aiko’s wrist. He turned to see Eve standing beside him.
“Aiko, it’s over,” Eve whispered.
Aiko gulped, “Not Mike?”
Eve shook her head. Aiko wiped away his tears and lowered his gun.
“Thank you, Eve.” He turned to Yasuke and stood up a little straighter. “And thank you, samurai. If you did not stop these assassins I would certainly be dead.”
“That might not be so bad,” Yasuke replied coldly.
Aiko raised his finger to Yasuke’s face, ready to unleash an angry retort, but he looked to Eve and thought better of it. He sighed heavily and lowered his finger.
“We have both lost people dear to us,” Aiko said. “Only several days ago your grandfather, the great protector of Unmei, passed on. Tonight, his lifelong rival, my father, passed as well. It seems fitting, does it not? We were both raised to hate each other, yet tonight we have done more good together than my father ever did in his entire life. Let us stop this silly fighting that we inherited from our ancestors. Let us continue in this life as friends.”
“You are as bad as your father ever was,” Yasuke grimaced. “Your actions tonight mean nothing to me. I know as soon as the sun rises you will be back to your old ways.”
“That is not true. I am not my father,” Aiko whispered. He turned to the gangsters with hot tears in his eyes and shouted, “I am not my father! This violence and bloodshed has gone on long enough! From this point forward, Unmei and its people are under the protection of Kasai!”
His crew looked back at him with confused surprise. Several clapped unenthusiastically.
“I’ll never trust you,” Yasuke growled.
Aiko put his hands on Eve and Yasuke’s shoulders.
“As our mutual friend says in her song ‘Love Is Just A Quickie,’ ‘never say never.’ I would be honored to someday earn your trust. Until then, I have work to do as the new leader of Kasai. Perhaps we can use our resources to make this island of ours a little better. There will be no more Mikes as long as I am around.”
Siren and Deimos snickered quietly to each other, but Eve was moved by the impact she had on the young gangster. She smiled warmly at him.
“You’ll be great, Aiko,” Eve said. “I believe in you.”
“You honor me,” Aiko responded, bowing deeply. “If you will excuse me, I must tend to my father’s body. I trust you will take care of the two assassins. Normally we would take them to a controlled facility for questioning, but I think that is behind us now.”
“Don’t worry, we got it from here,” Captain C stated.
He motioned to the two pirates who had been in charge of carrying Yasuke through the forest. They groaned in understanding and ran off to find the chair.
◊ ◊ ◊
The sun was beginning to rise as Deimos, Siren, Eve, Yasuke, Captain C, and the pirate crew arrived where they had hidden their boats. Their trek back to the beach had been much quicker this time around as they were able to take the museum’s road all the way to the coastline. The absurd sight of a samurai, a man with robotic legs, two women tied to a chair, and several dozen pirates walking down the beach went unnoticed by the early commuters on their way to work. Deimos wasn’t sure how he would explain their party to any passing police officers and was thankful that he didn’t have to.
Eve walked ahead with Yasuke as the other member
s began to head for the boats. To their right was Unmei, nestled snugly in the mountainside overlooking the ocean. Eve admired the quaint village as the sun drenched it in warm, morning rays.
“It’s beautiful,” she said quietly. “I can see why you want to protect it so badly.”
“Maybe you can visit sometime,” Yasuke said, blushing. “If you wanted to.”
Eve smiled.
“I’d like that, but I have a feeling we’re going to be busy for a while with this whole villain war thing. I’d love it if you could come along. You would be a huge help to the team.”
Yasuke looked back at the two pirates loading The Twins onto a boat. Deimos was fiddling with his robotic legs and Captain C was laughing uproariously at Siren revealing the golden turtle shell she had nabbed from the museum on their way out. They were not the people Yasuke had thought they were. They were loyal, good-hearted, and a little crazy, like a family.
He turned back toward Unmei, crestfallen.
“I can never leave.”
Eve leaned in and kissed Yasuke softly on his lips. Yasuke flinched, expecting a follow-up punch to the gut, but it didn’t come.
“Never say never,” Eve whispered.
She turned and skipped away down the beach. Yasuke watched from his spot as Eve boarded a boat with Deimos and Siren. She waved goodbye to him, and he waved longingly back. He continued watching even after her boat was out of sight, letting the cool sea breeze blow on the spot where Eve had kissed him.
Finally, when the sun had already risen well into the sky, he turned back to his village and began the hike home. He was halfway up the mountainside when he stopped and smacked his hand into his face.
“I forgot to ask for her number,” Yasuke grumbled.
CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO
Now that the ‘game’ was over, The Twins’ behaviors changed drastically. As soon as they were carried out of the forest, their calculative glares were replaced with wide-eyed wonder. Each new sight was more magnificent than anything they had ever seen before in their reclusive lives. When they came into view of the ocean, they were nearly brought to tears by the overwhelming vastness of it. They had no idea that one thing could be so truly immense, and its sheer presence made their hearts race. It was nothing like what they had seen in the limited picture books Doctor Isaac had provided them when growing up. Somewhere very deep in their brain, neural circuits were rapidly firing, causing a cascading effect that began to break down years of conditioning.
It didn’t take long for Deimos to locate the trackers embedded in The Twins’ shoulder blades. With some help from Veronica, the trackers were removed and destroyed. It still didn’t answer the question as to how The Twins located them in the first place, but Deimos breathed a little easier knowing they were no longer broadcasting their location back to Hans.
After locking The Twins in the brig, which in reality was a very secure broom closet, Captain C gathered his crew in the galley for a mandatory meeting. Sparing no details, he relayed the information Deimos and Siren had given him about Hans and Crymson Tech.
Surprisingly, his crew took the news of Hans’ involvement in the decades-past massacre of their captain and crewmates quite well. Some were too tired to be angry, others didn’t even hear because they were seated too far back, but those that did hear and weren’t too tired appeared pleased. They now had something of Hans’ to begin their revenge—The Twins.
Despite their collective lack of imagination on what that revenge might be, the pirates were content enough with the cards in their hand and all sauntered off to bed. Only Captain C, Deimos, and Siren remained in the galley to discuss their next steps. Eve was also present, but only physically so. Now that she was back on the ship’s Wi-Fi, her eyes were glued to her phone, scanning everything she had missed in the past several hours.
After Deimos and Siren were joyously reunited with Professor Paws, who had spent the majority of the time they were gone sleeping, there was some debate on what to eat. They ultimately settled on Deimos’ idea of waffles, and while ravenously digging into their early morning meal it was Captain C who first mentioned the issue of The Twins.
“My concern is that they will snap back ta their murderous selves and try ta kill us all,” he stated through a syrupy bite of waffle. “That broom closet was meant ta hold brooms, not ninjas.”
“Is everything a ninja to you?” Deimos asked.
“If it moves like a ninja and kills like a ninja, it’s a ninja.”
“Write that down. That’d make a killer song.”
Siren interjected, “We will certainly need a secure facility to keep them in. Perhaps one that will also be big enough to house all of your crew and Eve’s henchmen while we figure out a plan of attack for this Hans problem.”
“Like a lair?” Deimos asked hopefully. “Do you think any of Eve’s henchmen have a big enough apartment to hold all of us?”
“They don’t,” Eve muttered without looking up.
“We could always use me da’s island,” Captain C offered.
Deimos’ jaw hit the floor.
“Are you serious? You have an island? A pirate island?”
Captain C rubbed his beard in thought.
“I suppose it be a pirate island, considerin’ me da were a pirate and it’s his island. Remember how he was goin’ ta a secure location ta move his crew? Well, he had found a newly formed island bout a hundred miles off the coast of Baja California that was big enough fer his entire fleet.”
Deimos was practically drooling.
“A secret volcano pirate lair!” he exclaimed in disbelief. “Am I getting an erection? I feel like I’m getting an erection.”
Siren whispered, “You’re not.”
“Well, anyway,” Captain C continued, “I got no problem with you lot staying there. Hell, I would feel better if ya did. This whole villain thing is new to me and I don’t know the first thing about setting up a base.”
“A lair,” Deimos corrected him. “And don’t worry, I have literally dozens of ideas already.” He let out a girlish squeal. “I’m going to make it look so cool! A pirate lair, babe! Wait until the boys hear about this!” A look of despair crossed his face. “Oh no! My boys! I almost forgot we left them with The Buzzard. I hope they’re all safe. Hans probably has all of his forces out looking for them.”
“He doesn’t,” Eve muttered from her relaxed position in the corner.
“How do you know that?” Deimos asked.
“Because you’re both trending right now.”
Deimos stared blankly back at Eve. Despite being an expert in computer science, he didn’t know the first thing about current Internet culture. Eve sighed and rolled her eyes. With an over-exaggeration of effort, she dragged herself from her spot and moved next to Deimos.
She held up her phone and scrolled through pages of what she would later describe to Deimos as ‘memes.’ There were thousands of Photoshopped images of Deimos and Eve beating up Hans, Hans performing degrading acts on Triceratop and vice versa, Deimos destroying the Crymson Tech headquarters with one rocket-powered kick, and about a thousand other things that Deimos didn’t fully understand.
“Why are there so many photos of me online?” Deimos asked.
Eve sighed again and shook her head.
“Ugh. You’re so old. Before we left I had my social media manager start an online campaign proving your innocence. She wrote a blog post with everything you told me about Hans and Crymson Tech and posted the videos my followers took the other day when Triceratop and that frog guy killed my posse. She also Photoshopped some images of you to show what happened through pictures. It went viral and a bunch of other people online started making their own images so you’re kind of a meme now.”
Deimos still stared blankly at Eve. She rolled her eyes and opened up her browser and went to the Los Rebeldes Times website. The headline read,
“Crymson Tech CEO Fraud? New evidence exonerates former villain Deimos.”
“Is this what you understand, old man?” Eve shouted, shoving the phone into Deimos’ face. “Read your damn boomer news.”
Deimos ripped the phone from Eve’s hand and hurriedly scrolled through the article. It referenced the blog that Eve’s manager had written as well as the public movement that sprung up in response to it. It further went into detail covering new evidence that the head of Hans’ security team, Ezekiel Walsh, or as the Internet had dubbed him ‘horn man,’ was responsible for the death of dozens of innocent civilians. This all only piled onto the fact that Hans had provided no evidence for the attack on his board members earlier that week and that even the police appeared uneasy answering questions on the matter. This wasn’t something Hans would be able to talk himself out of. The public was turning on him in a big way.
“I don’t believe it!” Deimos proclaimed. “Eve, you’re incredible!”
Eve grabbed her phone and slumped back into her relaxed position.
“Yeah, no shit.”
◊ ◊ ◊
Thousands of miles away, or the better part of a day’s journey via jet-powered pirate ship, Harold, Glenn, and Terry were nearing their breaking point. Working for The Buzzard was grueling and the three aging henchmen had not performed manual labor to this degree in decades.
The Buzzard and his henchmen had constructed a rather impressive fleet of attack planes over the years, many of which were secured in an underground facility by the Los Rebeldes docks. With only one working elevator into the facility, each plane needed to be loaded and unloaded individually, wheeled out while under cover, and finally secured into the shipping vessel. The work was spread out among the two dozen henchmen that The Buzzard had under his employ, but the exhaustion set in quickly. Glenn, Harold, and Terry devised a rotation in which one of them would nap for an hour while the other two worked. Whenever it was Harold’s turn to nap, Glenn and Terry would secretly work an extra half hour or so in order to give Harold more time to sleep.
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