------------------------------------------------------------------------ The Dirty Pair (and Company) in R E U N I O N S by Larry Mann and Ryan Mathews ------------------------------------------------------------------------ "Versatility is an essential component in the successful execution of any mission. The agent must be capable of a high level of adaptability and have the capacity to improvise quickly and effectively to suit any situation presented for analysis." -- from the Proposal for the 101-E Project* [ *Paraphrased from the standard WWWA Criminal Trouble Consultant Training Manual, Version 2.2.1. Public access version downloadable from amber.meizuri.wwwa. (Anon FTP: 145.300.20.5, /pub/docs) ] --------------------- S T A G E T H R E E --------------------- > A.D. 214303.20; 21:49:23 > Planet Bydon, City of Ekana [Scene: The city of Ekana, nighttime. It is pouring rain. Cut to the outside entrance to a second-story apartment, as a pretty, dark-haired young lady in big round glasses, a summer dress and matching hat, all soaking wet, knocks on the door. An older woman inside opens it.] OLDER WOMAN Yes? YOUNG LADY Ma'am? Can I please use your phone? My car broke down, I don't know my way around, and it's dark, and-- OLDER WOMAN Oh, goodness, look at you! You're soaked to the bone! Come in, come in! YOUNG LADY Thank you, ma'am, thank you so much! [Cut to inside as the girl walks in.] I'm so sorry to impose. OLDER WOMAN That's perfectly alright. You just sit down and let me get you a towel. [As she walks off:] Where are you from? YOUNG LADY Brightonville. I was supposed to fly up, but my flight got cancelled due to this terrorist scare. [The woman returns with the towel.] OLDER WOMAN Here you go. Brightonville? That's a long way from here. What brings you to Ekana? YOUNG LADY I'm starting classes at the University. OLDER WOMAN Really? What are you planning to major in? YOUNG LADY Hyperspatial physics! I've heard they have a great program. OLDER WOMAN You don't say! My husband is a professor at the University, and he teaches hyperspatial physics! YOUNG LADY [excited] No way! Could I meet him?! OLDER WOMAN I'm sure he'd love to meet you! HENRY! VOICE What is it?! OLDER WOMAN There's a future student of yours here who'd like to meet you! [A balding old man comes into the room.] PROFESSOR Well, well! I'm always glad to introduce myself to the new class. I'm Professor Jacobs, and you are...? YOUNG LADY Sandy! Sandy Wilson! [They shake hands.] PROFESSOR So, is there anything in particular that drew you to my field of study? YOUNG LADY Yes. Half-warp. [The Professor pales.] PROFESSOR H... h-half... warp? YOUNG LADY Yes. I'd like to know everything you know about half-warp. PROFESSOR [nervously] I... I've never really heard the term before. Look, I'd really better get back to my work... [The young lady gets up, taking off her glasses and giving her hair a toss. She's Shasti, of course.] SHASTI [menacing] Oh, please don't leave just yet. There's *so* much you can tell me. PROFESSOR Doris, I believe you should show this young lady the door. DORIS (OLDER WOMAN) But, but it's raining... PROFESSOR Doris! DORIS You'd better go dear. When Henry gets like this-- [The instant Doris touches Shasti's arm, Shasti grabs Doris' arm and snaps it in two. Doris screams in pain and drops to her knees. Shasti grabs her around the neck, produces a knife and holds it at her throat.] SHASTI Tell me, Professor, do you love your wife? PROFESSOR Oh, Jesus, I beg you, please don't hurt her-- SHASTI Half-warp, professor. PROFESSOR I'll tell you! I'll tell you everything! Just don't hurt her! SHASTI That's more like it. [Shasti pushes Doris onto a coffee table and arranges the woman's hands on top of one another.] DORIS W-what are you doing? SHASTI Now, you stay put! [Shasti jams the knife through both hands, nailing her to the table. Doris screams again.] PROFESSOR Sweet Jesus...! [Shasti walks right up to the Professor, face-to-face.] I'll tell you everything, I swear! SHASTI Oh, I know you will. [Shasti pulls a cable from her pocket and plugs one end into the socket behind her left ear.] I'm sure of it. [She grabs the Professor by the neck and plugs the other end into him. He screams.] - - - [Cut to a hotel's front desk. The clerk looks at a holo of Shasti, while a pair of wet Lovely Angels look on hopefully.] CLERK Nope. Sorry, never seen her. KEI Drat. Well, thanks anyway. [The Angels leave the hotel, opening their umbrellas before heading into the rain.] KEI How many more to go? YURI About twenty, I think. KEI Aw, man. This really sucks. You do understand that this is pointless? Shasti would never let herself be caught this easily. YURI You know what Darryn said. We're not trying to catch her right now, just flush her out. And besides, the hotels are real close together. KEI I wonder how the others are doing. YURI Why don't you check in and find out? KEI Good idea. - - - [Scene: a comfortable office on an upper floor of a skyscraper. Nene works, jacked in via her interface sockets, at what appears to be a hastily assembled system of computer terminals and monitors: the cords lie all over the floor like spaghetti. Daphne watches over Nene's shoulder while she works. Andrew admires the view from the window. Rumiko has passed out on a couch. Daphne's com-earring beeps.] DAPHNE Daphne here. KEI (VOICE) This is Kei. Just thought I'd see how things are going. DAPHNE Pretty good. The planetary government loaned us an incredible setup. I guess their unconditional love for me has its advantages. We have access to just about everything. NENE And what we don't have access to, I can hack into! Hee hee! KEI (VOICE) Yuri and I have about twenty more hotels on our list. Let us know when you find anything, okay? DAPHNE Will do! Daphne out. [Rumiko yawns, stretches, and wakes up.] RUMIKO Mmf. I miss anything? DAPHNE Hey, there! Welcome back to the land of the living. What, didn't you sleep much last night? RUMIKO That, and space lag. Where's Darryn? NENE He left without you. Said he didn't want to wake you up. RUMIKO That sweet little dope... ANDREW I feel so worthless here. Isn't there something I can help with? DAPHNE Nope, not until we get Shasti on the move. Just sit tight until then. NENE OOH! Neat! I got some stuff back from my Kuan Yin hack! RUMIKO You hacked into their database? Isn't that rude? I mean, they are one of our best clients. DAPHNE It was sorta my idea. Kuan Yin was one of the least cooperative companies when I was fixing the economy here. I figured they could be hiding something about that research center that got blown up. RUMIKO "JONIN Brainware Package". Looks nasty. Some kind of martial-arts enhancement program? NENE Looks like it was still in development when the place went kablooie. Wow. Says here the guys testing it could shatter metal with a touch, walk on water, deflect bullets, liquify rock... RUMIKO They've gotta be kidding. I mean, stuff like that's impossible, right? DAPHNE Sounds like a combination of martial-arts and psionics. Like the legendary masters of ancient Earth-Asia. They were supposed to be able to kill you just by touching you. RUMIKO Yeah, but that was all myths. NENE It also says nobody survived longer than five minutes with the device activated. DAPHNE Still, even if it doesn't work, something like this would be worth a lot of money to the right buyer. At the very least someone could adapt it into a deadly program for a android. RUMIKO Then that's it. That must be what Shasti was after. [The terminal beeps.] NENE Got something else. I've been running a scan on all resources for anything related to half-warp, then having Bydon's main neural computer make connections against all UG and local databases. RUMIKO That'd take years! NENE Well, normally, yeah, but I've been fiddling with this new algorithm. Also, I probably got lucky. Let's see what this one is... [She pulls up a new screen.] Wow. DAPHNE What? NENE This is a list of all scientists known to have worked with Lord Robin. They scattered after Kei and Yuri blew his fleet up. Most that have been found since then have turned up dead, probably assassinated. But look here. [She points to the screen.] RUMIKO News articles? Each about some person being found in a vegetative state? NENE Yup! 'Cuz someone scanned the guy's brain without asking. Each of these guys matches the description of one of the scientists. And take a look at this: [She points to another item.] Just two months after Lord Robin's fleet was destroyed, a person who looks just like another one of his scientists started teaching hyperspatial physics at Ekana University. Guy's name is Julius MacCombe. DAPHNE Gee, we'd better warn him. Gimme his address. [Nene calls up the data while Daphne opens her com-link.] This is Daphne. We need someone to head to 1612 Akinod Lane, Apartment 12- B. There's a good chance Shasti's after a man at that address. His name is Julian MacCombe, but he's going under the name Henry Jacobs. [Cut to Darryn.] DARRYN I'm only two blocks away! I'm on it! KEI (VOICE) Yuri and I are on our way! [Cut back to Rumiko.] RUMIKO I'll try calling the guy. Maybe this isn't as bad as it looks. [Darryn arrives at the apartment, gun drawn, and knocks on the door. There's no response. Darryn speaks into his wrist.] DARRYN This is Darryn. I'm at the apartment. I'm going in. [The door opens, revealing Shasti in a black bodysuit.] SHASTI Why, Darryn! Isn't this a nice surprise! [Darryn brings his gun up. Her arm a blur, Shasti rips it out of his hand, causing him to wince in pain.] Darryn, Darryn. And I thought we were such good friends! Remember all the good times we had at the academy? [Darryn says nothing.] Please, come in. [She gestures her welcome.] [Cautiously, Darryn moves inside, making certain to face Shasti. The Professor lies slumped against a wall, staring blankly into space. Doris, still nailed to the coffee table, is dead, her neck broken.] DARRYN You monster... SHASTI Tell me, Darryn. Are you still as good as you used to be? DARRYN What do you mean? [Shasti levels the gun at him.] SHASTI I'm going to count down from five. Then I'm going to kill you. [Darryn stares at her in disbelief.] Five... Four... [Darryn readies himself.] Three... Two... [Darryn yells and attacks. In one unbelievably fast motion, Shasti drops the gun, blocks Darryn's thrust, and drives her foot into his stomach. She then whirls and slams him to the ground.] You know, Darryn, I wasn't planning to do this until much later. But seeing as how you're here, and how you're so perfect for the job... - - - [Rumiko screams.] RUMIKO Oh my god! DARRYN! DAPHNE What is it?! RUMIKO He's engaged Shasti! It's our telepathic audio link! He just SCREAMED over it!! - - - [Cut to Kei and Yuri, in a car. Kei is driving.] DAPHNE (VOICE) Kei! Yuri! We need you there NOW! KEI Understood! [Kei floors it, dodging cars, and takes the wrong way up a one-way street, arriving at the apartment. They run up the steps to the second floor.] YURI You better put her in, Kei. KEI Yeah, I guess so. [Kei pops in the Deirdre-plug.] DEIRDRE (KEI) Hi, guys! What's up! YURI We're in pursuit of Shasti! [They reach the apartment and go in. Darryn is on the floor, pale.] KEI Darryn! [She runs to him, but he waves her off.] DARRYN Just...missed her. Ran left. Go... [The Pair bolt out the door and run down the balcony.] YURI There she is! [Shasti is climbing up the fire escape. She pauses briefly, smiles and waves.] KEI She's mine! [Kei and Yuri reach the fire escape. Kei starts to climb up after Shasti, then stops.] DEIRDRE (KEI) What are you doing? KEI I'm going after her! [Kei moves forward again, then stops.] Dammit, will you stop that! DEIRDRE (KEI) Shasti's walking into a dead end, Kei! She wouldn't do that unless she had major backup! YURI She's right, Kei. She must have friends on the roof. [An engine roars, and an aircar is seen flying away.] KEI Now we got 'em! [She touches her earring.] Daphne? We're looking for a black aircar-- [The aircar explodes. Several people fly safely away with jet-packs, scrambling in all directions, losing themselves between the buildings.] Shit. --- END STAGE THREE --- >>> NEXT >>> "Darryn's gone."