by Brett Baker
She could again hear that symphonic chorus transposed over the sounds of the city. Finding a spot to settle in, she soaked it in and let it fill her. Rin didn’t understand the significance of the music. She just new she wanted more of it.
But she wasn’t there long before Watanabe appeared. “What are you doing up here?” he asked.
“Listening” Rin replied.
“You’re hearing that music again?” Watanabe offered as he settled down on his haunches next to her, and listened.
Rin nodded wordlessly.
“Have you ever heard it?” Rin asked finally.
Watanabe shook his head.
“What does it mean?” Rin asked. “That I can hear it but nobody else can?”
“I don’t know for sure,” Watanabe replied. “But I think it indicates that you share a very powerful connection to the multiverse.”
“What do you mean?” Rin asked.
“Most theorists like to believe that the universes of the multiverse are like bubbles in a drink, all coexisting at once. But that’s because those of us who have actually traversed the multiverse are few and we’re not a very chatty group. Earth is the central nexus of the multiverse. I don’t understand why it is, it just is. I believe all universes coexist in the same location, they just vibrate at different frequencies, kind of like the strings of a violin. Those vibrations rise, crescendoing to forte, and fall to piano in turn, together forming a harmony and a melody in the celestial symphony of existence. That, my dear is what you are hearing; somehow you have tapped into the multiverse in its purest, most primal form.”
“But if you’ve never heard it, how do you know?” Rin asked.
“There are stories of a very select few who have heard the music. Special people who gained wisdom and insights beyond imagining, just from listening.”
They fell silent as they listened again, and Rin’s consciousness danced on the gentle lilting notes of the multiverse’s song.
“I’m scared” she finally admitted.
“Scared of what?” Watanabe asked in reply.
“Scared that the music will go away, and I won’t be able to hear it anymore.”
Watanabe smiled and he got to his feet. “I don’t think continuing to hear will be your challenge, Rin. The challenge will be understanding what you hear. I’m going inside now. Try to get some rest. We have a busy night ahead of us.”
******
Floating in an endless sea of sounds, Rin could see the sky above her, filled with endless, endless stars as the soft, playful music washed smoothly over her like a serenading lullaby. She had never felt such peace, such joy, such… union. It was as if the music was itself a being, and its presence somehow completed her.
But then suddenly it all changed. The music grew urgent and bombastic, and as if through some haze, Rin saw Lexi, with her hammer fighting the man named Sully that Watanabe had shown them. He was wielding a chain, twirling it around, and lashing out with it, which Lexi blocked with her hammer. Meanwhile, several men with blaster pistols came up behind them and loosed a volley of fiery death at Watanabe. He raised a shield of yellow energy, but didn’t see another man creeping up behind him. He pistol-whipped Watanabe across the back of his head, and as he went down, his assailant fired into him 6 times.
Rin awoke with a start, and pitched forward with a horrified gasp on her lips. But as her senses cleared over the next several moments, she found that she was still on the roof, but the sky had grown dark.
“What time is it?” Rin asked, and a holodisplay popped up, flashing 7:33 pm.
“I’m going to be late!” Rin said aloud as she leapt to her feet and rushed inside. She found Watanabe and Lexi talking in the living room.
“Ah good, you’re up” Watanabe said.
“I was just going to go outside and wake you” Lexi added.
“Remember, Sully is our objective,” Watanabe began. “Only bother with the rest insomuch as to get us closer to him. Are you ready?”
Watanabe and Lexi both looked expectantly to Rin, and she nodded, acquiescing to their expectation, but after seeing what she had seen she was hesitant. What should she do? Should she say something to Watanabe? But what if that didn’t happen? Would she look stupid? Would it mean that her dream was a fraud? And did that in turn mean that the music, which had given her the dream was a fraud? Still if she didn’t tell Watanabe, was he walking to his doom?
Frozen by indecision, she wordlessly followed them to the C-train, dreading the worst.
*******
It was only a small door set into a stoop in the side of a building alongside an alleyway with a pair of very large, foreboding men standing on either side of it, and a blue holosign that said Club Indigo above it. From up here on the street, one could hardly even tell that there was anything happening inside.
Led by Watanabe, Rin and Lexi approached, and as the bouncers at the door saw them coming they stepped forward to bar their entry. However with a twist of Watanabe’s wrist, the two bouncers were lifted off the ground telekinetically, and hurled away from them. Rin and Lexi looked at one another, exchanging a look of surprise as they descended down the steps, passed through the doorway, and entered the club.
As they reached the basement of the building, the steady pulsing beat of the club filled their ears. In this sound, Rin heard the same beat from the ethereal chorus, giving the electronic pounding of the club even extra weight. She steeled herself, knowing full well that a violent confrontation was coming. Even still, she debated whether to tell Watanabe what she saw, while her fear gripped her and held her in check.
The club was in a large brick basement, and dominated by a central dance floor composed of panels that glowed from below, changing colors as the music changed tone. Closer to them was a bar and an arrangement of cocktail tables on a raised section of flooring, and on the far wall was a doorway leading further in to whatever may lay beyond.
It was still early, so the club had only a few patrons, mostly sitting at the tables.
“There he is” Watanabe said, spotting Sully at the bar. As Rin and Lexi looked over they saw him typing into a holokeypad as one of the robotic bartenders rolled past him busily scrubbing a freshly washed glass.
“I’ll handle this” Lexi said as she walked forward toward Sully.
“Lexi wait!” Rin said reaching out to grab Lexi and stop her, but Watanabe thrust out his arm between them.
“Let’s see how this plays out” Watanabe said as Lexi continued forward, sidling up to the bar next to Sully.
“Cinnamon Bliss, please,” Lexi said as the bartender rolled up to her. It nodded in acknowledgment of her drink order.
Sully looked over and his brow furrowed. “Aren’t you a little young to be in here? What’s your name? I’m calling your family to come take you home.”
Suddenly, Lexi reached out and grabbed Sully by the testicles and squeezed.
“Liar!” Lexi barked, her eyes burning with an inner flame. She knew exactly who Sully intended to call, and it wasn’t her family. “My name is Lexi Halloran, and as for my family, they’re right over there.”
Bent over, his nether regions throbbing in Lexi’s merciless grip, Sully looked over in the direction that Lexi had indicated and as his eyes fell on Watanabe, they grew even wider than they had been before. This look of recognition wasn’t lost on her.
“You know him?” Lexi asked in a demanding tone. “Tell me everything! And while you’re at it, tell me about your boss, Markus!”
Then suddenly, at least a dozen burly, armed men came rushing out of the doorway on the far wall, running across the dance floor, which caused the few dancing patrons to clear out. As they ran up to the confrontation at the bar, they drew a variety of blaster pistols on Rin, Lexi, and Watanabe. Seeing this, the rest of the patrons at the bar and cocktail tables ran for the exit as well.
And all else fell silent in the club for a long moment save for the pulsing electronic beat of the music, which continued unabated.
“Wow!” Lexi said with a smile and a mean glint in her eyes as her gaze returned from the guards back onto Sully, “being manhandled by a girl. This has got to be soooo embarrassing for you! If I were you, I would tell us what we want to know so that we can be on our way.”
“Trust me” Sully replied, through clenched teeth as he braced himself against the pain, “There’s no way you three are walking out of here alive unless you release me right now!”
“That’s just not going to happen” Lexi replied, squeezing even harder. “Not until we have what we came for.”
Sully yipped like a lapdog. “Pier 41!” he cried. He’s on his yacht, pier 41 Commercial Docks.”
“See, now was that so hard?” Lexi said as she released his crotch.
Sully stumbled a step, hunched forward, his hands on his thighs. “What are you doing you idiots? Take them down!”
Then the room descended into anarchy as blaster fire erupted all around them. Lexi summoned her hammer. She spun it before her like a baton-twirler, deflecting a barrage of blaster fire. Rin drew close to Watanabe, stepping under a forcefield of golden yellow energy, which absorbed all the blaster fire directed toward them.
But then the shooting stopped without warning as every one of the guards surprisingly found themselves struggling against their own strength. Slowly, the guards turned their weapons on themselves until within moments, each of the guards were pointing the barrels of their weapons against the roofs of their own mouths.
Then suddenly, Sully shouted and leapt out from behind the counter swinging a chain at Lexi. She turned and raised her hammer, deflecting the blow. Sully’s cry drew Watanabe’s and Rin’s attention. Seeing Lexi now fending off Sully’s attacks, Watanabe thrust out his hand and restrained him.
Sully was unable to move, but the strength of his will was far greater than the combined will of the assembled guards. This began to tax the sizeable reserves of Watanabe’s own will. The guards began to break free, regaining control over themselves and their weapons. As they resumed fire on Watanabe and Rin, Rin realized the moment she had been dreading was fast approaching.
Lexi leapt forward with her hammer, striking Sully with a powerful blow. Sully raised his arms, somehow absorbing the majority of the impact as he slid back on his heels toward the bar.
Lexi’s sudden blow broke Sully free of Watanabe’s control. As the guards rushed toward Watanabe and Rin, Watanabe’s shield disappeared, and he turned to face them.
Sully rushed in, twirling his chain around, and lashing out with it Lexi blocked it with her hammer. Meanwhile, five men with blaster pistols came up behind Watanabe and Rin, loosing a volley of fiery death at them. Watanabe raised a shield of yellow energy, but didn’t see another creeping up behind him. Rin, however, knew this was the moment she had seen. She turned and faced the man. As he raised his weapon, her body moved of its own accord, leaping forward, and lashing out with her foot. She struck him across the jaw, knocking him to the floor as his blaster pistol flew out of his grasp and slid across the floor with a clatter.
As a chorus of electric guitars ground out a pounding melody to join the pulsing electronic beat, they were joined by a barrage of rapid-fire notes together creating a frantic harmony at the exact moment that the rest of the guards swarmed Watanabe and Rin, closing to hand-to-hand range.
Rin’s body sprung into action, dodging attacks from the front and behind like a ballet of death. She struck, leaping up in a spinning kick that plowed across multiple opponents at once. She simultaneously grabbed one opponent by the arm as he charged at her and flipped him into another opponent behind her. Finally as her last opponent came rushing at her from behind, she thrust her elbow into his abdomen, rotated her arm down so that her fist struck him in the crotch, and then brought her elbow up into his face. Suddenly, without even fully realizing what had happened, Rin found herself standing in the midst of more than a half-dozen unconscious bodies.
The guards didn’t fare any better against Watanabe. As they punched and kicked all around him, they found their blows being blocked telekinetically. Watanabe moved easily in their midst, expertly maneuvering so he never gave any of them a clean shot at his back. As one struck, Watanabe lifted him off the ground with his telekinetic might, hurling him into another, then another, then another. Finally, when that unfortunate guard was inevitably tossed away like an unwanted ragdoll, only two remained. As Watanabe faced them, they realized the true power of their opponent. They looked at each other, then turned on their heels, running for the exit, only to be lifted off the ground telekinetically, and bashed together several times until they too fell into unconsciousness.
Lexi faced off against Sully while Watanabe and Rin dismantled his guards. She smiled. “You can’t win against us. You know what Markus made us into. But you can walk out of here under your own power or be wheeled out on a stretcher. The price for waking out under your own power is to tell me everything. How do you know Watanabe? Why did Markus do this to us? ...everything.”
“That’s not going to happen little girl!” Sully shot back angrily. He charged, swinging his chain overhead then lashing it out at her.
Lexi sidestepped the attack, pivoting on her heel. She spun, swinging her hammer with all her might. She struck Sully in the side so hard she she could feel a crack, He flew right between Rin and Watanabe, and was planted halfway through the wall beside the exit.
Lexi, Rin, and Watanabe all looked at one another, and shared a grateful look of relief, then the trio became aware of the distant sound of sirens approaching.
“The police will be here shortly” Watanabe said. “We should leave.”
Rin and Lexi nodded, and they hastily made their way up the stairs and out into the chill night air, disappearing into the busy city streets.
III
Rin, Lexi, and Watanabe crouched behind the fence posts. The waves of Lake Michigan rolled up onto the shore as they came in on the rocky breakwater, and pier 41 lay before them. Lexi peered out from behind her fence post, using the zoom feature on her goggles to get a better look.
It wasn’t hard to figure out which boat was Markus’s. Only one boat was berthed at the entire pier, and the large, armed men patrolling the decks and guarding the gangplank were a dead giveaway.
“I see six men total” Lexi said in a calm voice. “All armed, but no sign of Markus himself.
“Alright” Watanabe replied. “ Markus will be far more dangerous than Sully, so no running in without a plan this time.”
“I thought that whole thing at the club went well” Lexi said pouting. “And why didn’t you tell us that you and Sully knew each other?”
“We don’t know each other” Watanabe replied. “He only knows me by reputation. But now is not the time for that.”
“Sure, shut me down again!” Lexi muttered in a frustrated tone.
Rin, while glad that Watanabe had survived the fight, despite what the music had shown her, couldn’t help but feel confused by this turn of events. Had she successfully thwarted what might have happened, or had what the music had shown her simply been false from the start, and all her worry been for nothing?
“Rin are you listening to me?” Watanabe asked suddenly, interrupting her train of thought.
“Sorry” Rin replied.
“Whats wrong?” Lexi asked. “You’re not listening to music again are you?”
“No” Rin replied.
“Well whatever it is, just forget it for now” Watanabe instructed. “We’ve got a job to do.”
“Wait what are we doing?” Rin asked realizing she had missed Watanabe laying out the entire plan.
“Just follow my lead” Lexi said, “and be ready to attack when their backs are turned.”
Rin followed Lexi as she strutted up the pier toward the two burly bald men armed with blaster rifles who guarded the gangplank.
“Excuse me gentlemen” Lexi said as she approached, Rin following closely behind doing her very best to look confident, but f
ailing miserably at it. “My sister and I have always wanted to see a yacht. We were wondering if we could ask the owner for a tour.”
“Get out of here” one of the guards, a hard-eyed man with a couple of days of beard stubble growing from his chin said.
“There’s no need to be rude” Lexi replied.
Meanwhile, Watanabe swam through the water under the pier, and came up on the opposite side of the yacht. Reaching up he grabbed the handrails, and silently lifted himself out of the water and onto the deck, coming up behind one of the guards that had walked by on patrol not but a few moments before.
Watanabe tapped the guard on the shoulder, and as the man turned he stood back and crossed his arms.
“Who the hell are you!?” the guard cried, raising his weapon. He pulled the trigger, releasing a torrent of blaster fire. It was absorbed by Watanabe’s telekinetic forcefield.
Hearing the sudden blaster fire, the two men guarding the gangplank turned.
“Now!” Lexi cried, summoning her hammer. She bashed the guard with the chin stubble, knocking him back into the water.
Rin charged forward, her knee crushing the other guard right in the small of his back. His rifle fell to the deck with a loud clatter.
“Well you have served my purpose” Watanabe said to the third guard. Thrusting out his hands, the man was shoved telekinetically off the deck and into the water below.
“What is going on up there!?” Markus cried from below as the remaining three guards converged on Watanabe’s position with their rifles raised menacingly. They could hear his footfalls on the steps as he ascended from below decks, dressed in silk pajama bottoms, and an open silk bathrobe. And as he emerged from the hatch, his eyes fell on the interloper who stood surrounded by armed guards.
“Watanabe” Markus said. “I should have known you would come for them.”
“Wait, you know Markus too?” Lexi asked across to Watanabe as she and Rin emerged onto the deck on the opposite side of Markus. “And you tried to play it off like you didn’t? Why?”
Markus turned and faced them, but his face was a mask of composure, not revealing even a moment of surprise.