Crossover Earth '98

Pariah: Second Wind

Scott Schimmel

"Excuse me," said Zander in unaccented Japanese. "Might I trouble you for some chopsticks, please?"

To her credit, the waitress spent only a moment gaping at him in surprise. "Certainly, sir," she replied. In English. "One moment, please."

"Rubbing it in a bit, aren't you?" Kyousuke asked, after she'd left.

He shrugged. "Maybe, but it's irritating. I've spent half my life in either Japan or China. It'd seem odd not to use chopsticks."

"She couldn't have known that." Kyousuke shrugged. "Well, at least you were polite about it, I guess. I'd hate to not be able to come back, you know. This is much nicer for conversation than that diner of yours, don't you think?"

Zander smiled wryly, running one hand along the tatami mats that covered the floor, then the cushion where he knelt at the low table. "Yeah, it is," he admitted. "Brings back memories, doesn't it?" His friend nodded, and he continued, "The 'Silver Moon,' eh? How did you find out about this place?"

"You remember my father?"

"The overworked salaryman? Sure."

"The man who built this place was his history teacher once."

"No kidding..."

"True, Zan." Kyousuke still pronounced the nickname with an "ah" sound, even after spending years in New York. "He'd fought in the war, but he was wounded early in his service. By the time he healed, the war was over." He shrugged. "So he became a teacher. Taught history until the late seventies, then suddenly moved here with his family, no one knew why. I think I met him once, right before he left."

"You think?"

"I was five at the time, give me a break. Anyway, I don't remember too much, except I thought he had really creepy eyes. When I first came here and met him again, I thought he must have seen too many things with those eyes, and moved to try to get away from them."

"Wow." Zander struggled to find something to say that didn't feel inadequate. Without much success. "That's so... sad."

Kyousuke shrugged eloquently. "That's life, Zan. Besides, I think he did pretty well here. He seemed happy enough."

"That sounds as though..."

The other man nodded. "He died, yes. About two years ago."

They lapsed into silence as the waitress returned, carrying a small tray. She efficiently served them, setting bowls, cups, and tea on the table, presented Zander with his chopsticks, and withdrew.

Kyousuke lifted his cup of tea and smiled at Zander. "Itadakimasu," he said, and drank. Zander echoed the word and action alike. "See? Isn't this better than that black stuff you're always drinking?"

"Okay," said Zander, "I admit it, you were right. Now stop gloating." Kyousuke grinned at him, and he continued, "By the way, that reminds me..."

"The hero business?" asked Kyousuke. "I thought that would come up. What happened?"

"Well, the day we met, the police arrested a man named Dennis Marquand on suspicion of the robbery."

"Oh? I missed that story," he remarked.

"I nearly did, too. Anyway, his alibi checked out, but I decided it might be a place to start, at least."

"So you went to confront him about this robbery? The one the police had already cleared him of?"

"Of course I didn't confront him. I just followed him."

Kyousuke shook his head. "Of course, how obvious."

"Well, I couldn't risk alerting him if he really was the thief, and if he wasn't, I wouldn't be bothering him."

"Do the words 'invasion of privacy' mean anything to you, Zan?"

He allowed himself a chuckle. "Consider it detective work. Besides, a secret identity has to be good for something, right?"

"That's something, all right..."

Zander nodded. "Anyway, I followed him for a while one night, and..."

"You found his secret hideout?"

"Well, no."

"Caught him in the act?"

"No."

"What, then?" Kyousuke asked.

"As I was saying... I followed him for a while one night, and he went to dinner."

"Oh, that's bad..." Kyousuke smirked. "What'd he do, skip out on the check?"

"Can I just tell the story?"

"Okay, okay, sorry... but this better have a point to it."

"I'm getting to it. Anyway, he goes to dinner. Now, the restaurant wasn't an especially fancy place, but it wasn't McDonald's, either..."

"I really don't see what you're getting at."

"Well, I thought it'd take a while for him to eat, so I decided to give up for the night, do the usual patrol, and look up Marquand again some other time. But," he added, forestalling the interruption he saw coming, "Not long after that..."


The night was quiet -- for this city, at least -- as he soared high above the midtown boulevards, touching down briefly on the rooftops in between leaps. There was something therapeutic about this sensation of flight, the air rushing past, the ground far below. Pariah careened from building to building, occasionally bouncing off the wall of one of the taller skyscrapers, mind clear, senses alert.

That didn't stop him from being surprised when a figure appeared on a nearby rooftop, almost directly in front of him. A man. Dark blue bodysuit, grey cowl, boots and sash. A flash of silver on the chest -- a circular design of some sort. A brief glimpse of red hair... maybe just an optical illusion. A sudden, reflexive shift to a combat stance, as the man became aware of Pariah's presence. A stance Pariah recognized.

Thief. Martial artist. Teleporter. Perhaps Marquand wasn't to blame after all.

They had seen each other. The man in blue would no doubt teleport away, if Pariah gave him the chance. He didn't intend to do so.

Time seemed to slow for him as he threw himself into the air again. His left hand snaked beneath his cloak, throwing it back as his body hurtled forward, grasping his katana at the top of its sheath.

The distance was closing, and the man in blue was beginning to react. Pariah could swear the man was fading away before his eyes, seemingly blurring and distorting around the edges. He grasped the hilt of his blade with his right hand, holding the sheathed weapon before him as he descended toward the rooftop.

He had only one chance, and he focused all of his will on it. Sweat broke from his pores at the intensity of the effort. Pariah poured himself into the blade, and became one with it, body, mind, and spirit.

With a loud kiai shout, he unsheathed the katana, blazing more brightly than ever before with the violet fire of his life energy. In the same motion, he struck, lashing out with the weapon even as he landed. Soul and steel burned through cloth and flesh with ease, scoring a deep wound across the other man's chest.

The man in blue flickered, but he collapsed, unconscious from shock, before he could complete the teleport. Simultaneously, Pariah drove the blade home into its sheath.


Kyousuke blinked at him. "Man, you were really cutting that one close. Weren't you afraid you'd kill him with that?"

"I didn't want to let him escape again. It's sheer luck that I ran into him that night. But you're right, I came pretty close to killing him."

"Kami-sama. What did you do?"

Zander shrugged. "I got him to a hospital as soon as I could. Then I let the police know."

"Kami-sama," Kyousuke repeated. "What did you tell them?"

"I didn't stick around. Just left a note for Officer Hewes, and went. The police don't always look too kindly on us, you know. Especially after... incidents... like that night. I can't risk getting arrested, and I'd hate to end up fighting against them. Particularly near a hospital. So I thought it might be best this way."

"Makes sense, I guess. Stupid, mind you, but I can see where you're coming from."

"Thanks for the confidence."

"Hey, any time." Kyousuke smiled. "Someone's got to keep your ego under control."

"Please. I'm the most modest person I know..."

His friend joined in, and the two finished in unison. "...And proud of it!"

Kyousuke chuckled. "At least you've still got a sense of humor. I take it he didn't die."

"No." Zander frowned. "He escaped."

"What? You've got to be kidding me..." Zander shook his head. "You mean, after all that, he... How?!"

Zander sighed. "As soon as he woke up after the surgery, he just got up and left."

"Didn't they have a guard on him? They couldn't have forgotten the nullifiers, to take care of the teleportation..."

"Oh, they didn't, and the guard didn't do any good. The guy just stood up and walked away. Through the wall."

"Kami-sama."

"That about sums it up. It's going to be a pain to catch this guy and keep him."

"So, what now?" asked Kyousuke. "Back to Marquand?"

"Nope. The fingerprints matched Marquand's, but they questioned him while this guy was in surgery. He couldn't be the one responsible."

Kyousuke laughed. "So you're looking for his evil twin?"

"Yeah, basically." Zander grimaced. "This is getting too much like a bad anime for my tastes."

"Relax. If this were an anime, he would have disintegrated into a pile of dust or something after you hit him with that slash. What was that, by the way, a Soaring Lark stroke?"

"Almost. I never did quite manage to get that one down..."

"You know, your katsudon's going to get cold..."

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