by Will Wallner
"Taz, stop showing off." She said.
The man looked down at Taz and found him to be quite charming. He knelt down so he could match his eye level and reached out his hand.
"Dragon, it's nice to meet you. I've heard a lot about you." Taz slowly accepted the man's hand shake.
"I'm Malcom!" Malcom pushed Taz to the side and stuck out his hand to greet the stranger.
"Hey Malcom, I've heard about you too! Henna's been telling me all about you two." The man was slightly nervous around young children.
"Do you wanna play with us?" Malcom asked. The man considered the young boy's request and looked at Henna for guidance.
"Don’t look at me, girls aren’t allowed to play with them, according to Taz."
Henna watched, as the man tried, timidly, to play with Taz and Malcom. Even though he had no memories, it was easy to let his natural instincts guide him. It didn’t take long for the man to act as a boy, and the three of them chased each other through the orphanage gardens. He laughed with joy, as he teamed up with Malcom to take down Taz.
"It's not fair! That's cheating!" Taz wailed at the shame of being beaten in front of Henna.
"I thought you were the Crazy Dragon Warrior?" The man taunted Taz, while Malcom rolled over laughing hysterically.
"Enjoy it while it lasts, Malcom! You too, stranger man! I'll get you both when you least suspect it! Taz was so mad, but Henna couldn’t help but laugh at the sight of these three individuals, with such tragic pasts, having fun and playing around. It truly was a special moment.
10. INTERROGATION
Grunewald
Day 12 Month 4 Year 2037
The thick gray mist, which had covered Grunewald the day before, had vanished. Now the sky was a clear blue with light fluffy clouds. The seaside town had returned to its scenic charm, and no longer felt like it was haunted. The steel tomb, which had destroyed much of the docks, had been removed by MAW. Now, there was a gaping hole on the shore, filled with the remains of fishing boats and outdated marine equipment. The local townspeople had already begun to clean up the wreckage, with the mayor of Grunewald watching from a distance. The tragedy of the day before had been forgotten, and there was now a sense of optimism in Grunewald. That was for everyone, except a little boy. Taz kicked a mound of leaves, sending them high up into the air. They fluttered down like feathers, resting gently back on the ground, as if they'd never been disturbed.
"It's not fair! He said they would have stopped her from escaping this stupid town. We've looked everywhere, she's gone." He fell to his knees in despair. Nakita rubbed his back, trying to comfort him.
"That guy was just like every other man in my life, full of shi…" she paused to rethink her phrasing, "full of empty promises. Taz, when you grow up, don't be like him." She looked down on him affectionately.
"Yeah, well you promised we wouldn’t leave until we found her. Are you going to break your promise too?" Taz pouted his lips.
"I promised we'd find her, and we will, even if it takes forever." She sighed. The cool ocean breeze drifted through the narrow streets of the town. It wasn't quite summer yet, and the temperature was just a little too cold to be considered comfortable. Nakita's highly fashionable 'Tech City' clothing wasn't suitable for this climate. She rubbed her bare arms, trying to stay warm, looking amongst the stony cobbled streets at the old-fashioned wooden houses, hoping she might spot Moja somewhere in this desolate seaside village. "I hate this place." Nakita had been stuck in Grunewald for three days and was ready to get out of there as soon as possible. As she despaired about what to do next, she saw a familiar face approaching. "Ugh, that's all I need."
"Nakita! Glad to see you're still sticking around. Maybe now you'll have time to accompany me for dinner. I know a few baby sitters who can watch the kid while we dine at a beautiful restaurant, overlooking the ocean." Dante wore a sleazy grin and a tight-fitting, moderately expensive looking suit.
"Dante, if you find our missing dog, I'll have dinner with you every night of the week." She put her hands on her hips in a seductive way.
"Still no luck finding your missing pooch? I'm sorry to hear my damsel is still in distress." Dante took Nakita's hand. She was so tired of looking for Moja, she didn’t even bother to resist. " Nakita, your knight will save the day, and then I'll claim you as my princess." He kissed her hand and then reached for his cell phone. "I want to speak to the Mayor." He winked at Nakita, as he spoke loud and proud. She wasn't impressed, but needed all the help she could get to find Moja. "Oh, he's not in his office, well tell him Dante called with an important request. Tell him I'm offering a reward for the safe return of a dog that's gone missing. I want flyers printed and posted all around Grunewald." He clicked his fingers at Taz and held the phone away from his mouth. "Do you have a picture of the dog or something?" Dante asked discretely.
Taz pulled a small photo out of his pocket. It showed Moja at the Valley Village orphanage, surrounded by children, including Taz. Henna had taken the photo shortly after Hunter and Taz had found her on Mystic Mountain. He handed the photo to Dante.
"Alright, I'll send you a picture of the missing dog. See to it that it's posted everywhere, and that the Mayor knows I called." Dante hung up the phone. "Don't worry little boy, we'll find your dog." Dante spoke insincerely, as he roughly ruffled Taz's spikey red hair, waiting for some sign of appraise from Nakita.
"Dante, I appreciate you helping us." She didn’t want to encourage his advances, but also didn't want him to think she was ungrateful. "Taz, didn’t you say you wanted to check that one place on the edge of town?" Nakita used Taz as a buffer to keep Dante at a distance.
"What place?" Taz shrugged his shoulders. Nakita took a step towards him and placed her arm around his shoulder, in an apparently comforting way.
"You remember, don't you? You said we needed to go there as soon possible or something bad might happen." She applied some pressure and squeezed Taz, looking at him with an intense gaze.
"Oh yeah, now I remember. We better go check it out as soon as possible." Taz was used to lying and finally understood what Nakita wanted.
"Well, we better go there right now then." She released Taz from her grip. "See you later Dante, let us know if you have any luck." Nakita rushed to leave the area, dragging Taz hastily along with her.
"Goodbye my sweet princess." Dante enjoyed watching Nakita leave, just a little too much.
~
On the outskirts of Grunewald, just outside of the town's border, a black stealth vehicle was parked in the distance, overlooking the seaside town from a slightly elevated position. Inside the vehicle, a fat, greasy man, was snacking on some salty junk food. He savored every little bite, as he noisily chewed each individual piece from the foil packet. It was the only food he'd been able to eat all day, and he desperately enjoyed this moment of feeding his overweight body.
"Clyde, do you have to eat so goddamn loudly? Viper was still exhausted from his previous day of excessive work. Even if he was fully recovered, no amount of rest could give him the patience needed to put up with Clyde. "Why does it take so long to eat a small bag of that shit?" Viper just wanted some peace and quiet. Clyde was one salty bite away from having a gun pointed at his head, he froze mid chew, like a scolded puppy.
"Mr. Viper sir, I didn’t eat anything since yesterday morning. I need fuel!" He held the bag of snacks upside down, and peered through the narrow opening, to check he hadn't missed any. There were just a few crumbs left. "Can’t I just quickly go into the town and get a proper breakfast?"
"Because if Nakita sees you, or even worse, sees us together, it's all over. I need to figure out the best way to approach her." Viper looked out at the entrance to Grunewald. He desperately needed to find Nakita and interrogate her. According to Clyde, she had left Tech City with a mysterious man, who last night, had somehow destroyed an MAW combat vehicle and killed two MAW soldiers. It wasn't what he did that concerned Viper, but how he did it. The radiation detected at the scene of
the violence shouldn't have been there. Now having slept on it, the radiation tormented Viper even more than it did the night before. It made no sense, but the real dilemma he was facing, was how he should act on this information. He needed to speak to Nakita to find out more about the man who Clyde referred to as Hunter.
"This is torture, I'm so hungry!" Clyde whimpered in despair. He held the bag of snacks upside down once again and poured the last remaining crumbs into his gullet. One final piece of salty snack was stuck in deepest corner of the packet. Clyde desperately tried to shake it lose. He ruffled the bag, back and forth, until Viper had finally had enough.
"Give me that!" He snatched the bag away from Clyde and shoved it into his jacket pocket.
"How can you be so mean?!" Clyde whined like a wounded animal.
"If you don't shut up, I'll put you out of your misery." Viper gave him an ice cold stare. Clyde understood exactly what this meant, having received the exact same look from Mickey many times.
"I'll be good Mr. Viper." Just as Clyde was about to hang his head in shame, something caught his attention. "Oh my God! There she is!" He pointed to the entrance of Grunewald. Nakita and Taz appeared on the outskirts of the seaside town.
"Keep your voice down!" Viper admonished Clyde. "They won't be able to see us through the tinted glass, but still, shut your mouth." The stealth vehicle, for which Viper used to travel across Middle Continent at high speeds, was well equipped for surveillance and secrecy. Now Viper had to make a decision on how he was going approach Nakita. He could abduct her against her will, or he could try a more diplomatic approach. She had no idea who he really was. The last thing he wanted to do was startle her in case she fled. Maybe it would be the safest plan to approach her in a non-threatening manner. "I think I just need to go speak to her, wait here. Whatever you do, do not leave this vehicle." Viper knew if Nakita saw Clyde it would all be over. He left the vehicle and tried to put a calm, relaxed expression on his worn-out face. Just to make sure Clyde didn’t mess everything up, Viper locked all the doors on the vehicle. Now Clyde couldn’t leave, even if he wanted to. Viper walked towards Nakita and Taz, trying to look as natural as possible.
"Didn’t think I'd see you again so soon." Viper spoke loudly to make sure they heard him.
"You!?! What are you doing back here?" Nakita asked.
"Did you find my dog!?!" Taz felt a rush of excitement, as he thought a miracle might have happened.
"Your dog?" Viper remembered what happened yesterday morning. He had forgotten all about the boy's dog that ran off. He quickly used this forgotten information to improvise. "Actually, that's why I'm here." He calmly walked towards Taz and Nakita, trying to appear as natural as possible. "I felt bad about what happened yesterday, so I came back to help look for your missing dog. What was his name again?"
"Her name is Moja! But we've been looking everywhere and she's not here. Your men let her get away!" Taz was still mad at Viper.
"We had an important job to do and she must have slipped past us. That's why I decided to come back to make amends. I'm sorry." Viper knelt down so he could look Taz eye to eye.
"I thought you were some high-ranking MAW officer? This doesn’t seem like the type of thing you'd waste your time with." Nakita raised her eyebrow in suspicion.
"I had a few days leave coming up, so I decided to take a little break from my official duties." He stood up and spoke to Nakita. "To be honest, since I came here yesterday, I wanted to spend some quality time in this scenic little town. Most of my work with MAW is spent in military bases. It's not often I get to experience such calm beauty." He looked into her eyes. It was impossible for him not to be attracted to her.
"First Dante, now this guy, give me a break." Taz rolled his eyes. He knew exactly what Viper was thinking.
"They're all the same." Nakita responded. She found Taz's accurate perception surprisingly impressive. She laughed gently and gave a slight nod in agreement to Taz. She didn’t care if Viper noticed. "I suppose if you're here, you might as well help us look for Moja."
"There's no use, we already looked everywhere, she's gone." Taz had already given up hope, but unlike yesterday, he wasn't overcome with sadness. As a young child, who had experienced great loss during the war, Taz had a high resilience to adversity. He'd already begun to accept the fact that he might never see Hunter or Moja ever again. "What will we do if can't find her?"
"I promised Hunter I'd take you to Valley Village. There's that woman, Henna, who's expecting you." Nakita didn't was to push Taz too hard. She was willing to spend as much time looking for Moja as Taz needed, but she knew after searching the previous day, they'd never find her. "But I promised we'd find Moja before we left Grunewald, so we can keep looking for as long as you want."
"There's no point, we both know Moja's gone. I bet I'll never see Hunter again either. Maybe all that's left is for me to go back to Valley Village." Taz was now thinking it might be nice to see Henna again. She was his first love after all. "I know I'm just a nuisance for you, Nakita. You don’t have to look after me anymore. I can go back to the village by myself."
"If I wanted to leave you, I would have done it already. Sorry Taz, but we're sticking together." She winked at him. Even though they had only recently met, she wanted to take care of him. Maybe it was seeing her boyfriend Mickey treat Taz so brutally, or maybe it was the thought of the countless other children who'd been abducted by Mickey's gang, while she pretended to have no idea what was going on. It was only a few days ago they were standing on top of a skyscraper in Tech City, as Hunter threw Mickey to his demise. Nakita had been caught up in the conflict, and that explosive encounter with Hunter, had made her emotionally vulnerable in the aftermath. She still wasn't sure how she really felt about Hunter, but one thing was certain, she wanted to do right by Taz.
"Sorry to interrupt, but who's this Hunter you're talking about?" Viper was looking for any opportunity to get information about this mysterious character.
"He's my friend from Valley Village, but he abandoned me here in Grunewald a couple of days ago." Even though he started to feel better, Taz was still mad at Hunter. He was mad at everyone.
"Oh, I see, I thought maybe it was your boyfriend or something like that." Viper turned to Nakita with a boyish grin on his well-worn face.
"Are you sure you came here to help look for Moja? Because it sounds like you have something else in mind." She'd had enough unwarranted advances from Dante. Now she just wanted to focus on getting Taz home safely.
"Can’t blame a guy for trying?" Viper coolly held up is hands in defeat. As he did so, something fell out of his jacket pocket. Before he could retrieve the item, Nakita picked it up off the ground, recognizing what it was.
"You dropped your snacks." She handed back the empty foil wrapper to an embarrassed Viper.
"Whoops, I meant to throw that away." Viper tried to act as calmly as possible. "I don't usually snack on crap like this, but I didn't get much of a chance to eat yesterday. It was a very long day." He shoved the packet back into his pocket, ready to kill Clyde.
"Yeah, I can imagine." She laughed gently. "To think that ship wreck at the docks was only just yesterday. Feels like it was already a month ago. We've been looking for Moja nonstop since then. I'm totally exhausted just thinking about it." Nakita reached up with her arms and stood on her tip toes, stretching her curvaceous body. She looked like a cheerleader, loosening up before her performance. It was clear she was trying to accentuate her feminine curves.
"Tell me about it." Viper grinned at her, picking up on the signals she was putting out. "That ship was just the start of it. You wouldn’t believe how crazy the rest of my day was."
"Oh, really? Why don’t you tell me all about it?." Nakita took a playful step towards Viper, so there was hardly any space between their bodies. She looked right into his eyes with a seductive gaze, and couldn't help but giggle, out loud, at how obvious she was making her sexual advances. Viper froze at the sight of this beautiful wom
an, who had thrust her face, no more than an inch away from his. He couldn't even say a word as Nakita slowly licked her plump red lips and whispered. "I'm sure you did your duty like a good boy." It was like a scene out of an adult movie. Nakita had transformed into a sexually charged beast in the blink of an eye. Perhaps it had been a while since Viper had experienced the passion of a woman, because while he was transfixed with the idea of acting on his male instincts, he didn’t realize Nakita's hands had reached inside his jacket. Before he knew what she was doing, Nakita had her hands on his gun.