2-22

The lady in the blue suit from Owls lab was on the tv. She was pulling what looked like an aircraft carrier into a port by a chain. I was kind of impressed, that was quite the feat. I wasn't sure I could do that. Amanda had come over and we were sitting on my couch watching the news. The little raccoon was running between us begging for chips. I pulled the last chip from the bag I had and held it out, he grabbed it with his paws then hurried over to Amanda and tried to share it with her. “I was kind of worried for a while that the mess of the world was going to spill over into Swivel City.”

“That wouldn’t have happened for quite some time. I know Owl pretty well now and it would have been six or so months for it to spread here.” I replied to Amanda.

“Whats it like out in space?” She asked.

I gave her a glance, she had the raccoon in her lap and was playing with it. Rolling it around and scratching its ears. “To me it was boring, I think Owl had a different opinion. She was running from one thing to the other. To me I just sat around and waited for something to happen or for us to get home.”

“Did you see anything interesting, visit any planets or things like that?”

The raccoon scurried away from Amanda's hands into my lap. I took the chip bag and stuffed my hand into it. I spread my fingers and pulled back, opening it wide then I stuffed it over the raccoons head, “There was this one place that had giant monsters the size of buildings. Owl made a mech for the locals and let them fist fight it.”

I was about to continue when the little square com Owl had given me quite some time back chirped from the table to my right. I gave Amanda a glance then grabbed the raccoon where it was fighting for its life with the chip bag and passed him over. I reached over and palmed the com and gave it a glance, “Looks like I am needed.”

Amanda stood up, pulling the bag off the raccoons head and I stood with her. I reached down and pushed a button on the remote shutting off the tv while Amanda wandered towards the door, “Not going to disappear for a while this time?”

I followed her to the door and out into the hallway, “I sure as hell hope not.”

She let out a chuckle as she headed to her apartment, “See you tomorrow then."

I gave her a wave and headed for the roof. A glance at the com showed me where to meet Owl and a few quick jumps I dropped off the side of a building. Space twisted before my feet touched the ground and I landed in her lab. She was sitting at her computer doing some work so I walked over to her, “What do you need?”

“Do you feel up to knocking some heads?”

“What for?”

She gave out a sigh and pushed away from her desk, turning to face me fully, “I had some agreements with people that they decided not to hold to. We left the planet for a bit and they decided it was a good time to slip the leash.”

“And your asking me to go beat them up because…?”

“I could do it myself.” She replied, turning back to the computer. “You will just make it a whole lot faster.”

I gave her a shrug, “Sure I don't mind. Where are Guardian Wannaniki and Lahrya?”

She started typing on her computer, “Guardian Wannaniki is either in space or flying around the globe trying all the food. Lahrya is somewhere in the lab studying our language so she can read things.” She gave me a quick look, looking my form up and down, “Liberty Prime might stop by and try to help you. Make sure her helmet survives.”

I frowned, "What's so special about her helmet?”

She opened one of the draws on her desk and pulled out an ear piece, the same kind that I wore to Angle City. She held it out to me and I took her from her hand and stuffed it in my ear. “She uses it for navigation. I don't want to have to go and bring her a new one.”

Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

I gave her a nod and Owl reached over and pushed a button on her PC. Space twisted around me and I appeared in a courtyard surrounded by balconies made from a light brown stone. There was a small fountain in the center and four entrances along each wall. I saw quite a few people walking around the place holding guns. They looked very surprised to see me.

I pulled my kiseru from my waist and packed the bowl of it with some herbs. I bit down on the mouthpiece and brushed my thumb across the bowl, sparking the herbs with a bit of chi and taking a pull. I blew out the chocolate smoke then asked, “So who do I need to beat up?”

The people around me started pointing their guns in my general direction and the sounds of them racking their guns echoed out. “Anyone who looks like they need a beating.”

I took another pull from my kiseru and gave a slow nod as the people started screaming at me to do something. “Target rich environment then.”

I pushed off with my left foot and with a twist of chi I landed on the balcony near one of the guys with a rifle. I crouched down and set my hand on top of the rifle. The guys eyes got really wide and I jerked it out of his hands. That turned out to be a bad move, the gun went off and sprayed bullets into the dirt of the courtyard. That set everyone else off and soon there were bullets ricocheting everywhere. Some guy started screaming and people eventually stopped firing, I tossed the gun in my hand into the courtyard. It hit the ground with a clack and went off one more time.

I looked around at all the people. It didn't look like anyone got hit and some of them were peaking up from behind cover. I shrugged my shoulders and knelt down while spinning. The guy i stole the gun from wasn't ready for me to bury my fist in his face. His nose crunched and he dropped, I rolled with my momentum and ended up on the balcony. Turning to my right I started sprinting to the next person, he wasn't in any better position to receive me either.

I lashed out with my fist and it sunk into his stomach. I continued the spin and lightly tossed him over the balcony into the courtyard. The next few people were ready, kind of. A slight leap and I was running on the wall near the ceiling. I pushed off and shot around a corner, above all their sights. Only one of the three guys had any form of situational awareness. His eyes got big as I sped around the corner and he tried to bring his gun up to shoot me.

I kneed him in the face, there was a crunch and he started to drop. I slammed my foot into the ground, rooting it and spinning my hips to the side kicking behind me. I hit the second guy and he shot off my foot and slammed into the wall next to us. The third guy swung his gun towards me and I stepped into his guard. I caught the barrel with my left palm and pushed upwards, making him raise the gun high and towards the ceiling. Curling my fist I drove it forward into him, her let out a whoosh of air and shot down the hallway. A bunch of people cane running out of the corner and unintentionally caught him. I looked at the rifle in my hand and tossed it into the courtyard.

I cracked my knuckles and took a pull from my kiseru. Blowing out the smoke I stepped forward and continued, this was going to take awhile fi I didn't want anyone dead. A few hours later I was sitting on top of a tank thing, it didn't have a gun, it had a laser. The thing got one shot off and melted a chunk of the building I was looking at. I hit it once with my staff and turned it into a paperweight. I chewed on my kiseru and waited for more people to show up. People were picking themselves up from the beating I had given them and were limping around. The earpiece I had on chirped and Owl spoke through it, “Your done.”

“Thats it?”

“Yes. they called me ten minutes ago but you looked like you were having fun.” She replied.

I shrugged and hopped off the tank, “It was an amusing waste of time.”

“Do you want to go back to Swivel City?”

“Sure. What do you want me to do with this earpiece?” I asked.

“Keep it. You might need it in the future and I can easily replace it.”

Space twisted around me and I looked to the sky, it was starting to get light out. I had just enough time to take a shower before I was needed at the dojo if I hurried. Amanda wasn’t on the front steps when I made it to the apartment building so I hurried to my apartment and took a shower before jogging to the gym. I turned around the back of the dojo, heading to the back door and saw Jane sitting on my chair. She was staring at the ground and didnt hear me approach, “Whats up?”

She jumped a little and looked up to me. She looked like she had been stressing about something all night, “I am just worried about the dojo.”

I looked at the building then back to her, “Why? What's wrong with it?”

“I have come to enjoy it and my old masters will burn it to the ground if they get the chance.”

“Is this about that letter?” When she nodded I waved her off and headed to the back door, "Don't worry about that. It's handled.”

I forced the back door open and flicked ont he lights as she followed me. “How is it handled?”

“I scared them. They wont attack here.” I replied as I entered teh dojo and started setting things up.

Jane started helping me lay out mats and set up punching bags, “How can you be so sure?”

I paused and gave her a look, “Well, you know them better than me. Why don't you tell me. What would it feel like to be them and have me as a prospective enemy?”

She worked for a little bit before answering in a low voice, “It would be terrifying.”

“Yea. I expect that when I show up for their little challenge they will just surrender. Victor running into one of them and getting into a fight tells me how hard they were looking for me.”

We started unfolding the mats and she asked in a whisper, “What if they don't surrender.”

“Then they will probably try dropping the mountain their little base is on top of me. It's going to be a right pain either way. I will have to run there and back every day to get it all sorted out.” I continued.

She paused where she was working and really looked at me, “You are not worried about them dropping the mountain on top of you?”

I let out a huff, “the most that would do is piss me off and slow down their future beating.”

I paused and really thought about it. I was going to have to let Owl know what was happening or at least take my ear piece. I am sure she would at least teleport me out if I asked nicely. I would survive but getting out would be a pain in the butt.