by B.A. Savage
Chapter Eleven
Betty is anxious but waiting patiently for Mark to leave. Usually by this time every Friday he’s gone to Rick's Pub to shoot darts and drink beers, but this Friday he’s still at home an hour longer than usual. This Friday is a very special Friday for Betty. She gets to see her mother for the first time in over ten years, the whole time she believed her mother to be dead. She has packed all her necessities into two sports bags and one purse. Betty has had to control her excitement for the last week since she found out because she’s afraid Mark might do something stupid to ruin it. Paranoia has already kicked in that maybe Mark knows but she still waits patiently for the time to come.
Finally Mark comes into her room unannounced as usual, and delivers the same speech he usually does when he leaves.
“You ain’t to go nowhere. When I call you better answer the phone and no fucking company, got it?”
She does her part in this routine. She nods. Mark goes downstairs, chugs the last of a beer and leaves. She waits until she can no longer hear the truck's loud music before she jumps with joy. “I’m free!” she yells. She looks over all her things one last time to make sure she has everything. Then with bags in hand, she heads to the bus stop only a few blocks away. She arrives at the bus stop only to see the back of the bus pull off.
With no way to contact Jack and her mother at the park, she decides to walk it. It’s only two miles, She’s full of energy and they already know Mark was leaving late, thanks to Jack’s “Wrong number” phone call earlier. About a half a mile into her journey, she has to walk through a poor part of town, known for its late-night activities. Luckily for Betty it wasn’t too late, so there was only a handful of pimps, whores, and dealers out. None paid her any mind; most were either too drugged out or busy setting up shop. As she strolls with a skip in her step, a black Mercedes Benz pulls alongside and decreases its speed to her walking pace. She notices and tries to pay it no mind, but then the black tinted window rolls down halfway.
“Hey girlie, wanna have some fun?”
She ignores him. He repeats himself. She once again ignores him and she picks up her pace. He asks, “Come on girlie, let’s get toasted and wasted.”
Without looking and still continuing her stride she says, “No, thank you. Please, leave me alone.”
The man won’t take no for an answer, “Come on girlie, I got lots of money and drugs.”
Finally really frustrated, she stops. The car stops with her. She looks at the back window and leans forward to try to get a look at the jerk, “Look asshole! I don’t have time for this!”
The tip of what looks like a straw sticks out the back window and blows a dart that hits her in the neck. The drug starts to take effect immediately and she starts to fade in and out.
“Quick, grab her ass and put her in the trunk. Finally I will get the respect I deserve.”
She fades out, then back in to the trunk slamming down.
Katsuya sits in his secret 100th floor office behind his desk with his back to the door.
“Yes I assure you, now you have the family’s full support. Yes tomorrow at noon will be perfect, brunch it is, we’ll discuss all... hello? Hello?”
Katsuya pushes the buttons on the phone trying to figure out why the phone stopped working.
“What? Grieving so much that you forgot to pay the phone bill this morning?
Katsuya turns around to find Century uninvited in his hidden office.
“What are you doing here? How dare you show your face after all you have cost me! I want you out of my office now!” He tries to buzz security.
“Surprised I found your little office huh? Wasn’t hard to find. And the phone? I cut it off so we could have an uninterrupted meeting, a meeting of my fists to your face.”
“How dare you come and threaten me after you let my father be murdered?”
“Oh, kill the act Kats! I figured it out, stop me when I’m wrong. You see I hate things left in the dark and this mission had too many things unexpected. Like how did she manage to get into the building so many times and even into the ventilation system undetected. So I came here early in the morning to investigate because I had no intention of resting until I found Shadow. And guess who else had no intention on resting either?”
Katsuya still has an angry look on his face but is paying full attention.
“You! At 6am, only hours after you were embracing your dead father’s headless body.”
“Some people grieve in different ways.”
“I agree but four hours of grief followed by fourteen hours workday. I don’t think so.”
Katsuya’s look changes from anger to no expression at all.
“Then I started thinking about her disappearance ten years ago. What would make the mob risk losing a 100% effective, million dollar killing machine built for the sole purpose of eliminating the crime families, just to explore a tomb that wasn’t supposed to exist? Something worth more than her, maybe something that would make someone invincible. This item, if retrieved would give the bearer endless power, but with eleven board members ahead of you and an average membership’s being a lifetime, you would have never been chosen to use or even probably touch it.”
Katsuya sits silently saying nothing.
“But if she was armed with this object and programmed by you to kill everyone else, everyone who was originally involved with the program, you would look innocent of all the wrongdoing. Then you would be left with the item and sole control of the company. Am I right so far?”
Katsuya says calmly, “Continue.”
“I figured that the almost ten-year gap had something to do with the tomb being trapped in time. I figured that the first group failed but someone must have re-opened it and she escaped then, so it seemed like only one day to her. But the one thing I don’t understand is why did you have your own father killed? No one even knew he was alive?”
Katsuya stands up with his usual confident demeanor, “Bravo, Mr. Century. You are good, better than I thought. You are correct in everything. I didn’t plan the seven-year hiatus but everything else was calculated including my father’s death.”
“But why?”
“I didn’t tell you all lies, my father did turn states evidence, and because of that he ruined the family name. Yes, we kept our name and membership but we lost all our power because of my father’s cowardly act. We were the joke of the families. I had always dreamed of running the family one day, but my dad’s disgrace made us as powerful as a third rate street gang.”
Century stands speechless.
“And being the family leader he decided to fake his death and all these drones followed along. So my father ruled from the background and was scared to make any real moves because of fear of exposure.”
Century asks, “But your own father?”
“He was a cancer that infected the rest of the board, so I created the Shadow project and put together a plan to remove them all with their own help, to bring back pride to the Katsuya Family name!”
“You have truly lost it!’’
“No, Century, that’s where you are wrong! I have gained it all and soon I will have the item that will make me invincible. No one can oppose me!”
Century charges him, grabbing Kats by the shirt.
“Have you forgotten about me?”
Katsuya smile a grin that is the equivalent of spitting in his face.
“What about you? I told you from the beginning I was testing you. You don't kill unless it’s absolutely necessary because nothing is life threatening to you. A man who cannot die has no need to kill in defense. So what about you? You won’t kill me!”
Century grins, “But I will hurt the hell out of you!”
The office doors fly open as a huge networking machine on wheels crashes through them. Before Century can react, the momentum drives Century and the machine through the window.
Shadow is now standing in front of the desk, Katsuya behind it demands, “About damn time! Give me
the gauntlet!”
She removes one of her gloves. Century, who was dangling on the side of the building starts to climb back in.
Shadow rolls up her sleeve and reveals a golden gauntlet.
“Finally the gauntlet of Shoko is mine. Finally, I will get the respect I deserve!”
As she reaches to put the gauntlet on the table, she has another flashback. Betty Jean is leaning forward toward the black car to tell the man to get lost, a tip of a blow dart sticks out of the partially rolled down window. Behind it is the face of Jun-Jin Katsuya, twenty years younger. The words, “Finally, I will get the respect I deserve” echoes in her head. Shadow snaps back to the present as she places it on the table. Katsuya reaches for the gauntlet. Shadow in one quick motion draws her sword from her back and cuts off Katsuya’s out stretched hand.
“Ahh!” screams Katsuya as he jumps back and falls in his chair.
“Yooooooouuuu.... YOU!!! Screams Shadow, now breathing heavy.
Pain, shock, disbelief, confusion, and many other emotions cross Katsuya’s face, “What? What?”
Shadow swings her sword cutting the desk into two, Century at the broken window watching.
“You... stole... mom... you stole my mom!”
Katsuya can’t comprehend what she is trying to say. He wraps his nub in his jacket that was on the back of his chair.
“I... was... no prostitute!”
Katsuya’s eyes open wide as he remembers that day over twenty years ago.
“You took everything! Everything!” She lunges at him as he screams. Century turns his back to the action. It only takes seconds before Katsuya cries no more.
Century looks out at the full moon, “What a beautiful night. I guess weird things do happen on the full moon.”
Shadow walks up and stands beside Century. Without looking over she says, “Sorry... for... everything.”
“No problem, it was the most fun I had in while, so it seems that the gauntlet restored your memory.”
“Kinda.”
Shadow just stands slightly looking at the moon with him, he asks her, “So, what are you gonna do now?’
Again without looking she says, “Rest.” Then does a swan dive out of the broken window. Century turns his back; he can’t stand to watch another person die so soon. He goes over to the remains of the desk and what remains of Katsuya, “Well, at least I got another artifact for all this mess.”
He searches the debris, no sign of it. Century stands up, “Until we meet again Shadow, good luck.” Then he walks off.