[LNH/ACRA/WRIMO] Anal-Retentive Archive Kid: A Judicious Use Of Overkill #8

[Saxon Brenton]

Anal-Retentive Archive Kid: A Judicious Use Of Overkill - part 8
     
A Legion of Net.Heroes miniseries for the RaccoWriMo writing month 
Written by and copyright 2010 Saxon Brenton
     
     
     Several hours passed - or from the point of view of Anal-Retentive 
Archive Kid, were allowed to pass.
     Elizabeth Greenvale had regained consciousness and was regretting 
it.  She was not only gagged but also imprisoned with manacles that 
chained her within what looked like some vaguely mystic diagram.  She 
didn't recognise the setup, or the people who were guarding her.  
Ironically for someone who was a vampire she had no interest in the 
supernatural, and in fact her active aversion meant she hadn't even seen 
Hollywood mockups of Asian mysticism from the likes of _Big Trouble In 
Little China_.  
     A tide of fear, perhaps even of panic, began to rise in her and she 
struggled against the chains.  Surprisingly this made no difference.  When 
Elizabeth was in a frenzy her strength increased manyfold, and mere iron 
chains should not have been able to hold her.  Certainly not chains this 
thin.  She trembled with growing apprehension.  She was trapped.
     
                   --~~~=====~~~--
     
     Anal-Retentive Archive Kid watched from the sidelines of being a 
half-second out of sync with the proper flow of time.  Elizabeth looked 
freaked, and all things considered he didn't really blame her.  For all 
that the black woman was - by default of her undead biological state - a 
supernatural entity, she had also immersed herself in the identity of 
being a daysider to an extent that she avoided not just the supernatural 
but also the superhuman in general.  Not all daysiders went that far of 
course, but she was essentially a peaceful person and didn't do fight 
scenes if she could help it - neither the stylised 'And now Mr Bond...' 
confrontations of the supervillains, the more thuggish brawling of 
crime syndicates, nor the territorial posturings of those supernatual 
beings who fully embraced the nightsider schtick.
     She probably wouldn't be happy knowing that he had deliberately 
waited a few hours in order to spring a trap on the newly ascended spirit 
of the head of the Clan.  Of course, ARAK hadn't originally anticipated 
this outcome.  It had simply turned out to be the most effective way of 
dealing with the situation once he had become aware of what the oyabun 
was up to.  Still, for Elizabeth's peace of mind it might be best not to 
mention it at all, and let her perhaps draw the conclusion that this was 
a dramatic last minute rescue.
     If it occurred to her at all.  She'd probably still be so hyper that 
she wouldn't think through the timing of the rescue at all.
     The evening vista looking out from the balcony over New York was 
impressive, but wasn't something that ARAK could afford to be distracted 
by.  Instead the Legionnaire turned his attention back to the other 
participants, where they were standing, and mentally double checked where 
he would need to be, and be, and be.  There were various gang members, 
including a number of high ranking ones such as those of Oyabun Sukoyoza's 
biological family, plus Mr Tokufuja as the magician master of ceremonies.
     The sorcerer was dressed simply but well in a business suit and tie.  
Unlike many branches of Japanese mysticism onmyodo sorcery wasn't tied to 
a specific religious tradition and therefore didn't require any ritual 
costume.  Like ARAK himself, Mr Tokufuja seemed to be methodically double 
checking that all was in readiness.  All the material components and all 
his ritual preparations.  Among the many esoteric ingredients this 
included such traditionally paradoxical items as the breath of a fish and 
the teeth of a bird.  And in Elizabeth's case, the blood of a vampire who 
didn't drink human blood.
     Anal-Retentive Archive Kid mused darkly on that.  There was a 
concoction available over the counter at chemists called Vampisol(tm) for 
daysiders like Elizabeth.  It allowed them to withstand the light of the 
day, and naturally enough had been named after the similar brew that had 
been the McGuffin in the movie _Vampires In Havana_.  In order for its 
mystical properties to work it required the vampire imbibing it to be 
'dry'.  In other words, to not drink the blood of other sentient beings.  
Not only would this make Elizabeth exactly the type of vampire that Mr 
Tokufuja required, but it would have made it childishly simple to extort 
the information of who was using it from chemist staff selling the stuff.
    There was stirring from the front.  Mr Tokufuja and his assistants 
were preparing to start.  ARAK checked his watch, then nodded to himself.  
One of the assistants held up a small brass gong and struck it once, the 
signal that the ceremony to raise the late Oyabun Sukoyoza to demigodhood 
was about to commence.
     And it was time for Anal-Retentive Archive Kid to launch his 
carefully prepared gatecrash.  With any luck this wouldn't be spectacular. 
He didn't think he could afford to have another run-in like the one he'd 
had with that shadow ninja.  Certainly not against almost a hundred armed 
gangsters at once.
     
     
=====  
Character credits: 
     Everyone here created by me.
     
Author's notes:
     Part of the back history I created when Elizabeth first appeared was 
that in the Looniverse the version of Vampisol(tm) that allows vampires to 
withstand sunlight requires them to be 'dry'.  There are probably other 
ways of dealing with sunlight as well, because this is the Looniverse and 
the Looniverse is chock full of wonderful, silly, eclectic, Silver 
Age-style weird sh!t.
     
     
-----  
Saxon Brenton   University of Technology, city library, Sydney Australia
     saxon.brenton at uts.edu.au     saxonbrenton at hotmail.com
"These 'no-nonsense' solutions of yours just don't hold water in a complex
world of jet-powered apes and time-travel." - Superman, JLA Classified #3