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"Sayonara"
The boxer
made his way out of Haggar’s office. Needless to say that he wasn’t in the
best of moods -- in particular, the fact that he had to go to Japan.
However, if it helped in finding Jessica quicker, he was all for it. Cody
took a look around the room, looking at the faces of several office
workers and staff members. They eyed him suspiciously, since he was in the
mayor’s office when the loud commotion had occurred. Cody fiddled for the key to Myrna’s apartment. It was nearly one o’clock and the ex-hero hadn’t eaten anything all day. It didn’t take a genius to figure out that he was hungry. Hopefully Dion would be up, so that they could go about finding some food and form a plan for their trip to Tokyo. The boxer walked into the dining area. Dion was indeed awake, proven by the fact that there was a katana sword pointed directly at his neck, with the young martial artist on the other side, ready to strike. “Cody!” He immediately pulled the sword back. “I’m sorry, I thought you were someone trying to break in,” he said in a surprised manner. It was pretty obvious that the young Filipino just gotten up, as his hair was all disheveled and he was still wearing nothing but the yellow shorts from when he went to bed last night. Despite being somewhat skinny, his body still had all the cuts. However, there was a small, but noticeable scar on the left side of his abdomen. Cody wondered where he got it from, but thought it would be best not to ask. “Practicing on my katana, huh?” Cody questioned. The young Filipino sported a guilty look on his face. Cody had to put on a grin. Dion took him way too seriously. He knew that Dion loved the katana sword. “It’s cool, don’t worry about it.” Dion took a couple more swipes in the air before sheathing the sword back in its case. “So what’s the story with Haggar?” Dion asked, taking a seat on the sofa. He leaned the sword against the end table and the sofa, so it wouldn’t fall. “Well, I’m pardoned, for now . . . and I, rather, we have a special mission,” the six-foot fighter started. “A mission?” as Dion bent forward, leaning his elbows on his knees. “Yep, right up your alley too . . . we’re going to Tokyo . . . tonight.” the ex-hero stated flatly. “Tokyo! Are you kidding?” Dion shouted excitedly. “Nope,” as the boxer took a seat on one of the dining room chairs. “We leave for Tokyo by private jet at seven o’clock sharp,” the boxer informed. “We’re to infiltrate the headquarters of some Japanese organization.” “What kind of organization?” Dion questioned suspiciously. “I don’t know, some group that’s giving supplies to the Mad Gears here in Metro City. Our job is to shut them down at all costs.” “Well, I’m not so sure about this infiltrating stuff, but I think this is going to be awesome. I live an hour away from Tokyo -- so we can stay at my house. I know all the connections in Tokyo, from the best restaurants to eat to the hottest strip joints in the city. I can take you nearly anywhere, -- and all for free or dirt cheap,” his partner informed enthusiastically. “Hmm, . . . this might not be a bad trip after all,” said Cody. “You said you can take me nearly anywhere, right?” the boxer asked with squinted eye. “Yeah,” Dion said confidently. “Wait a minute, you don’t really want to go to those strip joints, do you? What would Jessica think?” the young martial artist teased. Cody squinted his eyes and threw a Chinese relaxation ball that was resting in a box on top of the dining room table. Surprised, Dion quickly caught the ball and peered at the boxer with widened eyes. “Sorry,” Dion said, rolling the ball within his palm. “The reason I asked is because I learned that, Tokyo recently has been experiencing criminal activity -- courtesy of the Mad Gears. It think we should do a little investigating overseas,” he explained. “That shouldn’t be a problem. I know quite a few connections that’ll be able to help us out. Plus I have a car, so we don’t have to rely on public transportation. It’ll be cool to be home. I haven’t seen all my friends for awhile now. I wonder what happens when I’m away sometimes.” “I’m sure everything is fine,” Cody assured, “and I’m sure you’ll be a great help in Tokyo. We need to get packing, but first off . . . I’m hungry.” “Ditto,” replied the young Filipino, rubbing his stomach. “I’ll take a shower real quick. Hold up, will ya?” The two enjoyed a quick lunch at a local diner in the neighborhood. Good food at a reasonably good price. You couldn’t ask for a better deal . . . well, unless the food you’re getting is for free, but Cody and Dion were happy nonetheless. “I haven’t had a good cheeseburger in awhile,” Cody happily said, walking out of the diner. He brushed back his brown hair, looking at the cars that passed in front of him. “Well you better savor it. The burgers in Japan suck,” Dion replied, stopping outside. He quickly turned around to head back to the apartment, but suddenly bumped into a guy wearing a yellow jacket and a blue visor. “Hey, watch it kid,” the guy shouted. He stared directly into Dion’s eyes, ready to beat the crap out of the young martial artist. “J!” shouted Cody, recognizing him. The outfit totally gave it away. “What are you doing here?” “Cody!? What the . . . I’m outta here!” the guy screamed. He shoved Dion toward Cody. The young Filipino fell down, but Cody was able to regain his balance. J had ran off, trying to get away as fast as possible. “Damn, after him!” the ex-hero yelled. He leaped over Dion and started chasing after his suspect, leaving his partner behind. Dion got off the ground and proceeded into running after J along with Cody. “He has to have information,” the boxer thought to himself, as he remembered beating J to pulp in the slums when the Mad Gears had first kidnapped Jessica. He was even wearing the same outfit, how ghetto was that? Pedestrians quickly moved out of the way of the speeding bodies, looking back as if they had never seen anybody run before. “For heaven’s sake watch out!” J collided with a nun, walking slowly on the sidewalk. She fell over, but the punk continued running as if nothing happened. Cody darted around her, not bothering to help her up. He was set on catching a possible Mad Gear member. Dion was disappointed that no one help her up and decided to play the part of the Good Samaritan. “I’m sorry Sister. Please forgive both of them,” he pleaded, helping her up. The nun was more in shock than hurt. “Thank you,” the nun said as Dion ran off. In an effort to escape his pursuers, J quickly cornered into an alley. Unfortunately, it didn’t work the way he had planned it, as the ex-hero was still hot on his trail. The alley was a long straightaway, lined with graffiti-marked garages and metal trash cans. The speed humps didn’t necessarily make for a smooth run. J was still a good distance ahead of Cody, but the boxer was closing in. Dion was still trailing behind, but was quickly catching up. Without warning, a car began pulling out from a garage. J was already ahead enough to narrowly escape being crushed by the teal Chrysler Seabring. He was confident that he would lose them now. In shock, Cody slowed down and rolled over the back hood of the car. However, in doing so, it put more distance between him and J. Dion was further away when the car came out and simply somersaulted over the car and landed cleanly on the other side, catching up with Cody. The driver of the car stepped looking at them with a “what-the-fuck?” expression. “I thought you were ranked number one in your province for track and field?” boasted Cody, now running alongside his partner. “I was!” shouted Dion. “Watch this!” Cody thought he was just joking around with that statement, but before he knew it, Dion bolted with a burst of speed. In less than two seconds, the young Filipino was already fifteen feet ahead of Cody. The boxer slowed down to an eventual stop, with his mouth agape. He literally could not believe how fast he was running down the alley. Dion’s arms and legs were nearly a blur. His chest stood up high and he was quickly closing in on J, who was nearing the end of the alley into a T-intersection. J attempted running faster, putting everything he got into his legs, but he wasn’t much of a runner, especially with his smoking habit. Dion was about five feet away from him and at just the right moment, leaped into the air, tackling J from the back. The impact sent them both straight into the brick wall where the alley had ended into the intersection. J hit the wall first, softening Dion’s impact a little. J slumped down to the ground, knocked unconscious, and Dion bumped off, falling hard onto the concrete alleyway. Within seconds, Cody had reached the intersection and helped his partner up. “Wow,” Cody said in amazement. “I’ve never seen anybody run that fast. Are you okay?” patting his counterpart’s back with a smile. “I’ll be fine,” he said in a breathy voice, taking in large amounts of air. He rubbed his shoulder, as it stung from the impact of the brick wall. “You stay here, I’ll call Lucia to take him in for questioning.” Cody jogged his way toward a payphone at the other end of the alley, while Dion sat down next to the unconscious J, leaning his back against the brick wall. “Serves you right for trampling nuns, punk,” he said out loud. A beautiful morning turned into a foreboding evening. It was drizzling a bit, but it was terrible. Cody was tired, but the day was far from over. He and Dion had gone back to Myrna’s apartment when Lucia showed up at the scene to take J in for questioning. They had finished packing and were on their way to the police department to check on the interrogation process. Cody was uneasy going straight into the building. Who knows how many cops would have tried busting him back into jail for their fifteen minutes of fame. Luckily for the ex-hero, Mayor Haggar had informed the police department that he had been pardoned and was now working for the Metro City Undercover Agency. Yet, he still received some dirty looks from a couple of the officers. The boxer didn’t care though. He wanted the same thing they did, to put the Mad Gears out of commission. A frustrated Lucia walked out of the interrogation room. She rubbed her eyes and plunged into the cushion seat near her work desk. “Well? What did you get out of him?” asked Cody, leaning both arms on her desk. “Absolutely nothing,” replied the investigator, looking up toward him from her chair. “What!” he exclaimed. “You mean I busted my ass running for nothing!” interrupted Dion. “He has to know something Lucia,” the boxer complained. “Let me go in there. I’ll make him talk,” he threatened, his arm muscles tense. “He’s already gone,” replied the investigator. The duo both looked at her with widened expressions -- that ‘how could you have done that?’ look. “Guys, come on. You chase after him and knock his lights out by tackling against a brick wall. As far as I know, J hasn’t done anything wrong. By law, we can only hold him for two hours. Once those two hours are up, we’re forced to release him unless there’s evidence that he’s involved in some sort of crime. I’m sorry, but there’s nothing I can do.” Lucia got up from her chair and walked toward the restroom. “Fuck! I can’t believe this shit,” Cody said angrily. “It looks like the only answers we’ll be getting will be in Tokyo. Come on Dion, Haggar’s waiting for us by the landing strip.” The duo disappointedly walked through the precinct to the emergency landing strip. Haggar was waiting outside in a tan trench coat with a brown file folder in his hands -- the one that Cody had left in his office this morning. “Cody, you left this in my office this morning. I’ve put all the information I could gather about your mission in it. The jet will fly you to the Tokyo International Airport. One of my Japanese associates will meet you at the landing zone and provide you with whatever you need. This is a covert mission. The Japanese government doesn’t know anything about this . . . only top officials in the police department know about your operations. Fail and we risk causing an international crisis. Good luck, Cody.” “That’s it? Good luck?” asked the boxer. “That’s all you need. Don’t make me regret my decision for keeping you out of jail,” said Haggar. Cody gave him a cold stare and made his way into the jet. Dion made his way toward the jet and looked up to Haggar, who peered down at him with an emotionless face. He clearly stood at least a foot taller than the young Filipino. Dion was more shocked at the sheer size of the mayor more than anything. “Come back in one piece,” the mayor said to Cody’s partner before turning around and walking inside. Dion hoisted his bag atop his shoulder and climbed into the small jet, closing the door behind him. Setting their stuff down and taking a seat, the plane made its way down the runway and took off. Metro City was now nothing more than a bunch of lights below, crawling like miniature fireflies. The interior of the jet appeared to be first class. There was even a small bar. Cody would never have thought that Haggar would have rented them a jet like this. The pilot guided the jet through the slight turbulence of the storm and then gave the clear for the duo to freely move about. Cody got up and pulled up a chair next to a round table. He opened up the brown file folder that Haggar had given him. He began reading through the mission briefing. “Geez, I feel like I’m 007 or something,” he thought. Dion walked over to the bar to grab a glass of water. Cody decided to skip through the introduction crap and go to the actual meat of the mission. He began reading the statements out loud, so that Dion could hear them. Taking in a gulp, the young Filipino quickly spit it back out. The boxer looked at him strangely. “What? Say that again? -- what you were reading.” Dion said, a worried tone in his voice. “The organization you and your party will be infiltrating is called the Society of Deibiddo. That’s what it says on the paper,” Cody said to Dion. “WHAT!!!” Dion screamed. “What?” Cody asked, looking at him strangely yet again. “Aw hell no. You did not just tell me that. Please tell me you did not just say that. Why the hell didn’t you tell me we we’re infiltrating the Society of Deibiddo?!” he protested. “I just found out right now. I would’ve told you if I knew,” he tried explaining. “I can’t believe it!” the young Filipino said, pacing back and forth. “We’re going to die,” he said sarcastically. “So much for me living till I’m fifty. This mission is going to be SUICIDE!” he shouted. Needless to say, he was quite upset. “Dion, calm down. We are not going to die. They’re just another gang of street punks. Why are you so worried?” the boxer asked. He couldn’t comprehend the reasons for Dion’s sudden change in temperament. “No, . . .” he laughed in a disenchanted manner. “I don’t know from who or where Haggar got his sources from, but I will guarantee you that this is NOT just another gang of street punks.” The young Filipino walked around the perimeter of the jet like a race track. “The Society of Deibiddo is the most feared faction in Japan. They make the Triads look like a church assembly. This organization has existed for ages, and it’s more than a simple organization -- they’re a cult. They claim themselves to be the perfect society -- one in which everyone is equal. The thing is, you only have two option when they ask you to join -- join or die. Most people join, but don’t realize that they’ll become brainwashed, almost like they way they do to you in boot camp. They train you to become murderers. All the members are excellent fighters, but their knowledge of the black arts are what makes them deadly. The have the power to control fire -- a green fire which they can form into weapons. It’s rumored that twenty-four percent of the total death count in Japan is attributed to them.” “Hold on. If they’re that much of a threat, why doesn’t the police stop them or something?” Cody asked, finding the story Dion was telling hard to swallow. “That’s just the thing. They’ve influenced the government since it’s beginnings. Feudal lords have paid dues to them in exchange that they don’t overthrow them. Throughout the centuries, it has been the same, but has fallen under obscurity, being held from public knowledge as to not create any panic. The government is too afraid to do anything and remain silent about the matter.” “So how do you know so much about these guys. I doubt they taught you this in history class,” the boxer joked, sitting with his feet on the table. “When I was a little kid,” Dion started, lying down on the soft-cushioned sofa, “my grandfather and I would play detective. He would tell me the scenario and the clues, and he would have a list of suspects. We’d try to work together to see if we could figure out who done it. He would go check in Tokyo and asked me to come back in a couple to days to see if the suspects were indeed the guilty party -- and if they weren’t, we’d keep trying. About every three months, we would start on a brand new case, but we promised not to tell anybody. It was our secret game -- and I never did tell anybody --” “Until . . .” Cody finished. “Until my grandfather never came back. That’s when I learned that he was really a secret agent. How odd is that? A full-blooded Filipino working for the Japanese government. Anyways, I had always thought that he made up those missions, but I believe he actually did work them and I was actually helping him out. The last case he had been working on was dealing with a cult . . .” “And let me guess . . . it was the Society of Deibiddo,” the boxer interrupted. “Yes. He had told me a lot of information about them . . . and told me that they were a very dangerous group. Like I said, I never thought it was for real, so I wasn’t really scarred for him. My grandfather told me that if something happened to him that I should keep our game a secret. That’s the real reason why I started learning the martial arts, so that one day I could go and beat the crap out of everyone of these guys, but as I learned more about the martial arts, the more I forgot about my primary motive and began appreciating it for its way of life , rather than its way of destruction.” “Wow. I guess I really don’t need to read this, huh?” Cody stated, pushing the stack of briefing papers aside. “It’s interesting that you mentioned why you started to practice the martial arts. It’s not all that dissimilar from myself. My father was an alcoholic. He used to beat my mother and I when he came home drunk on several occasions.” He got up and walked over to the second sofa opposite the one Dion laid in. He took a seat an resumed. “He filed for a divorce when I was fourteen and left us, but he left a threat: that he’d return one day and kill both of us. So I started getting into boxing and soon after kickboxing, so when that day ever did come, I’d be ready for him. However, I was so angry that I wanted to search for him and kill him myself, but over the years, I’ve managed to release some of the pain and anger.” “Hmm, I guess martial arts has influenced both our lives,” the young Filipino pointed out. “I don’t know Cody, you got me all riled up about this mission now. This was my grandpa’s last case and look where he ended up. The Society is not one to be meddled with.” “It’ll be fine. We’ll talk about it when we get to Tokyo,” assured Cody. Dion turned around, his back facing Cody. “Wake me up when we get there,” he said aloud and soon fell fast asleep. It wasn’t long before Cody did the same. |