Next part of the flashback saga
Dylan hauled Aaron into a bone-crushing bear hug upon sighting him at the terminal. After a wheeze, Aaron locked eyes with Dylan, and his demeanor switched in an instant. “Fill me in, chum.”, Dylan whispered. “Better to do that on the road.”, Aaron breathed, with a wave to his car parked across the street. The two piled in, and the car made its shambling way to Fort Harrison, heading toward Lakeview. “I want to take you up on your offer, but I need to do something first.” Aaron’s husky voice broke the very long, very pregnant silence. “The ‘something’ frightens me…”, Dylan remarked. “I’ve come up with a plan to imprison this demon-cop, and we hopefully won’t be hearing from him again. In order to execute the demon, though, I’m going to need some help.” Dylan nodded. “Anything for you, old friend. Name it.” Aaron gulped. “Get me in contact with the leaders of the Church of Scientology.” Dylan shot bolt upright in his seat. “Excuse me?! Are you daft? Do you have any idea what forces you would be mucking about with?” Aaron nodded. “I plan to take advantage of Clearwater’s Japanese underground in this plot, too. I’m going to make a lot of enemies, but both groups have resources that I need.” Dylan shook his head. “You’re just asking for death, dear boy.” “Maybe, but if there’s a chance we can keep the populace safe from that… thing, it’s worth it. He’s already killed enough.”
Dylan hauled Aaron into a bone-crushing bear hug upon sighting him at the terminal. After a wheeze, Aaron locked eyes with Dylan, and his demeanor switched in an instant. “Fill me in, chum.”, Dylan whispered. “Better to do that on the road.”, Aaron breathed, with a wave to his car parked across the street. The two piled in, and the car made its shambling way to Fort Harrison, heading toward Lakeview. “I want to take you up on your offer, but I need to do something first.” Aaron’s husky voice broke the very long, very pregnant silence. “The ‘something’ frightens me…”, Dylan remarked. “I’ve come up with a plan to imprison this demon-cop, and we hopefully won’t be hearing from him again. In order to execute the demon, though, I’m going to need some help.” Dylan nodded. “Anything for you, old friend. Name it.” Aaron gulped. “Get me in contact with the leaders of the Church of Scientology.” Dylan shot bolt upright in his seat. “Excuse me?! Are you daft? Do you have any idea what forces you would be mucking about with?” Aaron nodded. “I plan to take advantage of Clearwater’s Japanese underground in this plot, too. I’m going to make a lot of enemies, but both groups have resources that I need.” Dylan shook his head. “You’re just asking for death, dear boy.” “Maybe, but if there’s a chance we can keep the populace safe from that… thing, it’s worth it. He’s already killed enough.”
“Fair enough,” Dylan sighed, “What is this grand plan, and what will you be needing?” “One of the legendary Totsuka-no-Tsurugi, for starters. Specifically, the one that killed Orochi.” Dylan put his hands on the dash. “Full-stop, pump brakes, take several sizeable steps backward… what makes you think such a blade is even real, let alone here in Clearwater?” “Let’s just say a friend told me.”, Aaron said coolly. “Okay, what else, then?”, Dylan asked, afraid of the answer. “I’ll need an alien weapon I’d heard of before, if it’s real. There are whisperings of it in extraterrestrial communities on the web, and if anybody has it or can get it, it would be the Church of Scientology.” Dylan hummed pensively, a cold sweat coating his brow. Aaron continued. “It’s a trap of sorts. Specifically, it finds the closest black hole, and creates a wormhole in the fabric of space to deliver a trapped subject to it.” “Do you have any clue how ridiculous this is all beginning to sound? This is some real shark-jumping, if I do say so myself.”, Dylan said with a chuckle. Aaron gave a stone cold reply. “All the sharks have already been jumped, man. There is a demon-possessed cop running around killing people, and it’s my fault. The media is covering it up, but it’s only a matter of time before people figure it out and panic. Any straw is worth grasping at this point.” Dylan shook his head yet again. “What shall you do if you cannot procure these weapons?” Aaron thought over the answer for a second, then cleared his throat before speaking. “If that’s the case, then I’ll kill the cop. That will make me the demon’s new target, and I can at least try to atone for letting that thing run amok as I have.” Dylan’s fist hit the dashboard hard, shaking the car a bit. “Why?! Why are you blaming yourself?!”, he cried out. Aaron ignored him and put on the right blinker. The car turned slowly into the empty lot in front of what had once been a costume shop.
After the pair waited for a few minutes in silence, a rather unassuming black sedan rolled up and parked haphazardly. A woman whose shock of messy blond hair and piercing sky-blue eyes stood in stark contrast to her smooth ebony skin stepped out of the car without shutting off the engine, and walked over to their car. Aaron got out slowly, and she handed him a box. “If my information is correct, this is the tsuka.” Aaron nodded. “Thank you, Tanya. I hope you’re right. If this works, we’re going to avert one hell of a disaster.” He opened the small box while Tanya watched. A very simple guard for a Japanese sword sat within. The guard was shaped like a plus symbol with two elongated arms, having no special decorations to speak of. The thing would not have looked out of place on a standard-issue blade for foot soldiers in ancient Japan. The space around the guard was darker than it should have been, as if it was sucking in light. He closed the box, then slid it into his pocket. “So… it is real?” Dylan gasped. Aaron shook his head. “Don’t know for sure yet. This tsuka isn’t normal, for sure, but who knows if it’s the one we need.” He turned toward Tanya as she strutted back to her car. “Anything else, give me a call. I’ll be able to pay handsomely next time.” She nodded back coolly. “I know what you’re trying to do, Aaron Emmerich. My prayers are with you, and so is my assistance, pay or no pay.” Aaron simply smiled as Tanya got into her car and sputtered off down Missouri. “What shall we do now?”, Dylan sighed, “We’ve no leads, no clues, and certainly no other contacts.” Aaron got back into the car and slammed the door shut quickly. “You’d be surprised, bud.”, he quipped. The car swung around through the lot and out toward Missouri Avenue. “We’re headed to the beach.”
The drawbridge leading to Clearwater Beach from Cleveland Street was just coming back down as Aaron’s car eased past the Harborview Center. “Ah, good.”, he muttered mostly to himself, “We missed the Show Queen. That thing usually takes forever to pass by.” Dylan nodded. “It is quite a wonderful day out, though.”, he remarked. “The captain narrates all of the landmarks during the day, and at night, this delightful gent serves as the disc jockey.” Aaron shot him a sidelong glance, and Dylan knew to shut his mouth. The car rumbled over the drawbridge slowly, seconds after it had finished descending. The bridge shook just a bit, but Aaron shrugged it off. A second shake elicited a worried glance from Dylan. The third shake came seconds later, and the bridge groaned and began moving upward. Both men ditched the vehicle as it slid down the slope and back into Downtown Clearwater, then trained their loaded pistols on the unnaturally jerking bridge once they were at their feet.
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