Do you want to be a fashion or outfit designer?
You are an inspired student of Wing Tsun who has ascended to protect the teachings of your temple...
You are a champion martial artist, representing your fellow humanity in an eternal competition to the death... FIGHT and Finish him!
Want to pick your champion and style and then bout against the other greats of martial arts?
Play Shaolin versus Wutang [On Steam]
Play Kings of Kung Fu [On Steam]
Wanna be a Captain or Admiral?
Warning: This episode deals with sensitive topics and is intended for a mature audience. Reader discretion is definitely advised.
Chapters
- Keeping The Muscle Firm (Finished April 5, 2026)
- Trust (Finished April 6, 2026)
- Matters of a Missing Formula (Finished April 6, 2026)
- Cut to the Chase (Finished April 6, 2026)
- An Appointment with Kyra (Finished April 7, 2026)
- Time: Friend and Enemy (Finished April 8 , 2026)
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Because Barris told me to put it here. If I didn't, he said he'd walk. Geez. Stardom really gets to some people's heads. Maybe I could kill him and bury his heart beneath the floor boards! Or I could encase him in behind a brick and mortar wall, for shaming my family name of Amantillado!
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The World Veterans Federation is a humanitarian organisation, a charity and a peace activist movement. The WVF maintains its consultative status with the United Nations since 1951 and was conferred the title of “Peace Messenger” in 1987.
I'd like to point out that it was the incredible Gary Sinese Foundation that brought the issue of Veteran's rights to my attention. I've always had little respect for those who'd forget the great contribution made by those who've risked life and limb to defend those values that so many of us espouse. Perhaps the true measure of one's principles are by that for which they'd risk their life.
"None can speak more eloquently for peace than those who have fought in war."
Ralph Bunche, Nobel Peace Prize 1950
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The ALS Society Of BC
ALS (also known as Lou Gehrig's Disease) is a progressive neuromuscular disease in which nerve cells die and leave voluntary muscles paralyzed. The ALS society provides a variety of programs to combat this disease and help those with it to survive.
Muscular Dystrophy Canada
Muscular Dystrophy Canada’s mission is to enhance the lives of those affected by neuromuscular disorders by continually working to provide ongoing support and resources while relentlessly searching for a cure through well-funded research.
Humane Society International
The Humane Society protects the health, lives and rights of animals the world over, ensuring that they too have a voice in this world. We are interdependent upon the complex web of life this entire planet over for our mutual survival. This is a world wide charity.
The Global Foodbanking Network
Ensuring that people the world over have enough food day to day in order to survive and lead healthy lives. In this challenging day and age services like this are becoming more and more essential. This is a world wide charity.
The Edgar Allan Poe Museum
Because Barris told me to put it here. If I didn't, he said he'd walk. Geez. Stardom really gets to some people's heads. Maybe I could kill him and bury his heart beneath the floor boards! Or I could encase him in behind a brick and mortar wall, for shaming my family name of Amantillado!
In all truth, there's a good chance that thanks to the works of Edgar Allan Poe, Samuel Clemens (Mark Twain), William Shakespeare, Jane Austen, Jonathan Swift, Mary Shelley, Robert Louis Stevenson, Herbert George Wells, Jules Verne, Dr. Seuss, Stephen King, Clive Barker and Pierre Burton (for The Secret World Of Og and his ground breaking interview of Bruce Lee) that all of us are literate. Actually that goes back much farther to the Phoenecians and their first 22 character system of symbols. Literacy is important. Really it is. Literally. It allows us to approach our employer at the end of the week (with a big club) and ask: where my money?! Math important too. It help us count our thirteen fingers and toes.
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The model for what may become the Encyclopedia Galactica, a complete reference and record of history, events and knowledge of humanity and its journey beyond. It is the encyclopedia of all that we know, what we surmise that we've known and will learn in the future. Yes, Wikipedia is a charitable organization of great importance. If you enjoy what I am doing here then please take the time to donate to Wikipedia. Surprisingly only 1% of Wikipedia's users donate yet the site serves pages to millions every day.
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Shhhh! Digital Media Presents:
The Butterfly Dragon - Heroes of our Own: Reimagined
by Brian Joseph Johns
Episode 12: Full Circle
Six years ago
Keeping the Muscle Firm
Abandoned Strip mall Storefront
Old Toronto
Toronto, Ontario, Canada
[Nepenthe - Juliana Barwick]
Myung stood behind Aikiko, the two of them sizing up the rusted metal door out back, in the receiving and service area of an abandoned strip mall, on Gerrard Street, a block east of Broadview Avenue, just shy of the heart of the City of Toronto.
"Maybe you should get it... I mean, its been a while for me. I haven't even been doing my stretches..." Myung suggested to Aikiko, who looked to her cautious friend.
"That, and your job is a bit more physical than mine... I mean the dominatrix thing," Myung added, trailing off as she finished her sentence.
"What's that supposed to mean?" Aikiko immediately turned around to face Myung.
"Exactly like it sounds. You're obviously in much better shape... that's all..." Myung tried her best to backtrack.
"I'm a penetration tester too you know. I've got corporate customers!" Aikiko had somehow become offended by Myung's words.
"Penetration... I bet..." Myung replied, nodding her head condescendingly towards Aikiko.
Aikiko suddenly turned around, and took a step back, thrusting her right leg furiously at the door. Once, then twice. With her second thrust kick, the padlock and bracket snapped, breaking in half and falling to the cement outside of the door.
"You know, sometimes you just...!!!" Aikiko clenched her fists, and when she realized she'd broken the lock, she turned to Myung once again.
"Way to go. Good plan. You had me fooled," Aikiko nodded to her, then turning back to the doorway, through which she stepped cautiously into the darkness.
"Who said anything about fooling you?" Myung responded.
Aikiko turned around and flashed her a fierce look.
"Just kidding..." Myung responded, now treading carefully as she followed Aikiko into the old commercially zoned studio storefront that used to house Hanshi's Dojo, and Sebomnim's Dojang.
Aikiko quickly produced a mini LED flashlight from her purse, and used it to navigate through the dark interior of their former martial arts school.
"Its sad, really. This is the kind of place that should have stayed. It was a part of community history," Myung reflected on her dedication to civic values as they trapsed through the remains of their former school.
"They clearly stated that if and when the great disaster befalls us, that we were to meet them here, under the first darkness of night..." Aikiko reminded Myung of their promise to Hanshi Morgan Hind, and Sebomnim Hoon "Tiger" Kwang.
"Maybe this isn't the great disaster?" Myung suggested.
"Sure. Like Helayne being grieviously injured in the service of protecting her friends isn't a great disaster. Maybe you should just turn around and go down the street to DeSantos Martial Arts and sign up there, and forget you ever trained here..." Aikiko said sarcastically, making a reference to the rivalry between the two schools.
"You're still sensitive about my remark..." Myung corrected Aikiko, both sticking close to her, and keeping her distance from her.
"Which one? About my being stronger because I'm a dominatrix, or your quip about penetration... testing...?!!! Look, I'm an intelligent and hard working woman trying to make sure in the interest of women everywhere that she gets taken seriously," Aikiko responded confidently.
"Aikiko, I worked all day too, but I left out the part about my day not being your typical Thursday. For one, I was the laughing stock of the courtroom when one of the defendants, a man looking at seven years without parole, pointed at my shoes to let everyone in the courtroom know that I had toilet paper stuck to my heels. Then, while working behind the processing desk, I had another defendant threaten my life because I accidentally spelled his name with an 'E' instead of an 'I'. I'm about at my patience' end with you! Look, lets just start playing on the same team again?!!!" Myung's patience wore thin and she expressed herself as fiercely as Aikiko might have in the same situation.
"Gotcha! Live by the pink, die by it too," Aikiko winked at Myung as she pointed at her head, very obviously indicating her (pink) brain.
Aikiko, who had point, was facing Myung as the last of her words left her throat.
There was a moment of sudden stillness, and something moved with speed and precision from the darkness of their former Dojo, the wooden floor still in place.
Aikiko's flashlight suddenly flew from her hand, flying through the air in slow motion as she backed up, barely dodging the fist that followed it.
Myung retreated into the doorway, while Aikiko cartwheeled backwards away from her attacker with the speed and precision of a ballet dancer. The flashlight landed on the wooden floor, rolling noisily for a moment until it came to focus upon a man in black garb, his face covered with an ancient veil, which Aikiko immediately recognized as a symbol of something much more dangerous. Sinister.
The man's hands slowly arrived at his waist, and to a pair of Sayas, one at each side. From the one on the left, he withdrew a razor sharp Tanto, and from the other he unsheathed an equally cared for Wakizashi.
[There is nothing for you here, young and mortal daughter of the Tanaka clan. Hell has declared war on heaven, and the lines are being drawn throughout the East, as they are in the West. Leave with your life today, or stay and die. The choice is yours.]
"田中一族の若き娘よ、ここにはお前にふさわしいものは何もない。地獄は天界に宣戦布告し、東方全土で戦線が引かれ、西方でも戦線が引かれつつある。今日、命を落とさずに去るか、留まって死ぬか。選択はお前次第だ。" man in the veil proclaimed in pre-dynasty Japanese.
Myung suddenly stepped forward from her slumber and refusing to remain helpless. She grabbed the man from behind, restraining both of his arms employing a Korean technique taught to her by Hoon Kwang nearly a decade earlier.
"Alright Aikiko. What is this guy? A Ninja? Talk to me!!!" Myung panicked as she felt the flexing of impossibly hard muscles beneath his black Gi.
"No. Not Ninja. He's Yōkai no yami no gādian-tachi..." Aikiko replied in mixed English and Japanese transliteration.
"A what?" asked Myung.
"He's a Dark Guardian of the Yōkai! A discarded spirit of Shinto who defends demons..." as Aikiko finished her sentence, she stepped forward and set forth a series of kicks, just of the Dark Guardian broke free of Myung's grip.
Aikiko's first kicked landed solidly, though to Aikiko it felt as if she'd struck solid concrete rather than flesh. Her second kick entirely missed the Dark Guardian's chin, as he bent backwards, away from it, at the same time headbutting Myung's chin behind him.
Myung fell backwards, instinctively recalling how to correctly roll. Miraculously, she was back upon her feet using the momentum provided by the Dark Guardian's own energy, though with her chin still throbbing from the impact.
Aikiko on the other hand dodged frantically as the Dark Guardian's bladed attacks flew one by one, backing her all the way across the floor to the closest wall, descending her into further darkness the more distant she moved from the flashlight on the floor. As it grew darker, her attacks blades seemed only to move faster and faster.
"Myung! Help!" Aikiko yelled as she hit the adjacent wall, having nowhere left to retreat.
The tanto came at her face, blade first, barely missing her as she shifted her neck to the side. The blade pierced the wall and then the concrete barrier like a hot knife through butter.
"Myung watched in horror as Aikiko struggled to keep up with the Dark Guardian's onslaught, suddenly realizing that she had to act.
She recalled Hoon Kwang's voice as he delivered a lesson to their class:
"Our art is based upon some very simple concepts that when applied correctly, can have seemingly fantastical if not overwhelming effect. Strength is force - how hard can you hit or resist. Endurance is sustainability - how long you can go without tiring. Agility is coordination and accuracy. But momentum...? its like the multiplication sign of the martial arts world. It takes all of those concepts I just described, and increases them many, many fold if you know how to effectively apply it. Imagine a line that intersects each of those concepts, and continues in the direction that force is directed, and you have momentum mastery..." Hoon Kwang's words echoed through her waking dream recollection of her training.
Myung took a few steps back, and then as the Dark Guardian continued his onslaught on the trapped and quickly tiring Aikiko, she applied the concept of momentum, causing herself to collapse mid-flight into a tight spin, ever increasing in rotational velocity until when she once again extended her leg and foot for the strike, the force of her relatively small motion was multiplied many times over.
It connected with the Dark Guardian's back, just beneath his neck. Aikiko simultaneously sidestepped, narrowly avoiding being pinned to the wall by the Dark Guardian's Tanto and Wakizashi, while giving Myung the opening to impact full force.
The Dark Guardian impacted the wall, piecing the drywall and colliding with the cement barrier, between units of the strip mall, hence crushing his face. He stood for a moment in an almost cartoon like fashion, as if he'd been pancaked to the wall, and then fell backwards to the wooden floor, as Myung landed, standing in perfect form for a moment until the pain of the newly acquired fracture of her tibia could no longer be ignored.
As the Dark Guardian lay on its back on the floor, unmoving, Myung fell, grasping her leg and trying desperately not to cry. Her face contorted as she stifled the pain.
Aikiko immediately grabbed hold of Myung's arm, hoisting it over her shoulder as she lifted her friend and saviour, attempting to flee with her before the Dark Guardian rose once again. By the time she was upon her feet with Myung dangling from her right shoulder, the Dark Guardian was standing ready, with both its Tanto and Wakizashi ready for another round.
He moved in on Aikiko, who backed away with Myung protectively, even stepping in front of her friend as she closed her eyes awaiting the final death strike of the demon guardian.
There was a moment of silence and inner reflection. Of peace and stillness.
But the end never came.
Instead, she opened her eyes to see two familiar faces, and a third unfamiliar face of a woman behind them. The familiar faces were those of Morgan Hind Hanshi, and Sebomnim Hoon "Tiger" Kwang.
Hanshi moved first, throwing a punch with his rock solid fist into the center of the Dark Guardian's chest, moving the unmovable object with an unstoppable force. When the Dark Guardian retaliated with a thrust of its Tanto, and slash of its Wakizashi, Hind Hanshi quickly took up his Sanchin form. His body became body armour. The Tanto bent under the force of the Dark Guardian's attack, folding as it impacted his skin. The Wakizashi's blade broke in two as the Dark Guardian attempted to eviscerate Hind Hanshi's central torso and innards.
"Not so tough without your weapons, are you?" Hoon Kwang then moved in on the Dark Guardian, kicking and punching at the demon guardian until it fell to its knees before Hoon "Tiger" Kwang.
"This soul is nothing now. Muryokuna seishin. An impotent spirit. Without purpose..." the woman who'd emerged from behind Hind Hanshi and Hoon Kwang revealed herself, enraging the former guardian of demons with her words.
It got up from the wooden floor and charged at her, though she did not even blink at its display of aggression.
She merely waved her hand, and it surreptitiously disappeared. Forever.
Myung suddenly felt immense relief to the injury she'd sustained as a result of her flyin kick attack on the Dark Guardian.
"Its gone. I'm better...?" she looked to her leg, which was no longer swelled or ailing her.
"You two haven't been practicing?!!!" Hind Hanshi immediately challenged them, looking first to Aikiko, and then to Myung, both of them dropping their gaze and chins in shame.
"You're not simply a few teenagers who after years of not having ridden, start bicycling once again. Martial arts isn't permanent or guaranteed. Its a discipline. A muscle, and like all muscles, it requires maintenance lest it become atrophied. You might remember scant details, like execution, posture and form, but your muscles and bones will get weak if you don't practice and maintain your body. You will certainly be injured when you try to excel at your former level. You were to be the butterfly's guardians, and yet you have become..." Hind Hanshi continued to grill them in disappointment.
"Free...???" Hoon Kwang suggested to Hind Hanshi, referring to both of their former students.
"There is no freedom from the martial arts. You're either dedicated or you're not. We almost lost you, and you almost lost the Butterfly!" Hind Hanshi raised his voice.
"They succeeded. They held the Dark Guardian off long enough for us to assist," Hoon Kwang insisted.
"You are both right. They simultaneously failed and succeeded. There is no sense in shaming them further, anymore than there's a point to lifting their spirits with the drivel of encouragement. If they understand the seriousness of the situation, as I'm certain they do, they'll include practice and exercise as part of their daily regimen. If not, then they'll join that demon guardian in his fate," the much older woman addressed them there in the room.
"And you are...?" Myung asked the woman.
"I am Ms. Huệ Vân," the elderly lady responded.
"You speak Japanese, and you know about the Yōkai, and yet you aren't Japanese...?" Aikiko addressed Ms. Huệ Vân.
"...I'm Vietnamese, but I've been around for a long time, and seen much over that time. I speak fifteen languages fluently, and know the secret history of the Butterfly Dragon, for I too was once a part of the protectorate," Ms. Huệ Vân explained to Aikiko and Myung.
"Now do you understand the seriousness of this situation, Kun?" Hind Hanshi addressed his students, purposely indicating their status in order to remind them of where they remained as a result of their neglect of their responsibilities.
Hoon Kwang reluctantly remained silent this time.
Trust
As she stood before Aikiko and Myung, Ms. Huệ Vân's elderly appearance slowly faded, her essence all but gone when another essence appeared. A woman, much younger and a bit taller. She stood upright and with poise before them, her red. Aikiko and Myung both stared in disbelief at the woman who now stood before them.
"This is one of the biggest responsibilities that you two will ever have in your lives, and if you can't protect the Butterfly Dragon before she's had the chance to emerge from her cocoon, then how can you ever hope to protect 赤子之心 [chì zǐ zhī xīn]?" Jinn Hua spoke to them softly but confidently.
"Sifu?!" Myung's eyes widened in disbelief at seeing their fallen former teacher.
"I'm so sorry Sifu..." Aikiko's eyes began to tear, though a part of her fought it, while another part of her embraced it.
"How...?" Myung asked, still in awe of what had just transpired before their very eyes.
"My sister of the spirit, Ms. Huệ Vân. As long as you still have her, I have one foot in this life, and one in the next..." Jinn Hua explained to Myung.
"How can we make up for this situation then? Our failure to protect Helayne?" asked Myung of Jinn Hua.
"It wasn't a failure, Myung, for if you hadn't experienced this, then you'd still be taking your responsibility for granted. It is only a minor setback in your life and not life's defining moment," Jinn Hua encouraged Myung, as Hind Hanshi rolled his eyes in disgust at the display.
"Your failure though almost cost us everything. You shouldn't ever take this moment for granted, because this is just the point where the real danger begins..." Hind Hanshi's words kept both students in check.
"What does this all mean then, for us, our lives and for the world?" Aikiko asked of their mentors as Myung watched her speak her words.
When Aikiko was finished asking her question, Myung had the insight to ask another.
"What is it that we failed to protect, if we were too young and naive to understand it?" Myung added to their inquiry.
And in that moment, in another life, a teacher and a student continued the same discussion.
Helayne walked beside Sifu Jinn Hua, once again they were outside of the Temple and in the garden under the late morning light. Almost the opposite time of day from where Aikiko and Myung currently were.
"That is the real question Butterfly, isn't it? Why is it that in life, that we only learn of and truly understand our purpose, when we've all but lost the youth it cost us to acquire it? For instance, Aikiko and Myung. Two little girls who despite often putting others ahead of themselves, still experienced a life centered around them..." Jinn Hua began.
"As did I..." Helayne responded, though not as an automatic reaction in protection of her friends, but more as an insight into the fact that she was more like her friends than not.
"So I did the same too, never understanding the importance of what that hidden responsibility ever truly was, until I'd failed in it. What is it about us that makes us that way? Where we'd second guess ourselves every moment of our growing life, and in doing so, completely miss the point, only understanding it when we failed. Do you think the other side has moments of pause and reflection, considering the consequences of their actions, or their inaction?" Jinn Hua continued her answer for all of Aikiko, Myung and Helayne.
"When you say the other side, Sifu, you mean those who hold the view of destroying innocence?" asked Helayne of Jinn Hua.
"That's one way of putting it. That of others more so than their own," Jinn Hua elicited the distinction for Helayne.
"But don't we all stumble down that path in one way or another? Our commitment to others, versus our commitment to ourselves? Their needs and ours? Their desires and ours?" Helayne asked her, elaborating further.
"Yes, we all do, but some of us reflect more than others, and therein lies the true nature of who we are, and why it takes our failure for us to finally understand our purpose. Do you think that the person that injured you paused to contemplate the consequences of their actions, but even before that, do you think that they reflected on the idea of a self, that isn't separate from this world?" asked Jinn Hua, as they walked through the garden path towards a fountain somewhere near the center.
"He injured me because I was stopping him from achieving something that would cause harm to people I care about," Helayne recalled the situation as she stood protectively to shield her friends, as the bullets flew from Samias' gun.
"Do you think that what he was doing was right?" asked Jinn Hua.
"No!" Helayne responded immediately.
"Now do you think that he thought that what he was doing was wrong?" Jinn Hua continued along the path of the difference between the reasoning of Helayne and the one who tried to un-Helayne her.
"...no... I mean yes. Maybe he thought he could get away with it," Helayne replied after giving it some thought.
"Then, the difference between you and the one who tried to undo your friends, and you, is that regardless of how others value or don't life, those who act quickly and willfully must trust themselves in some way, for them to be able to not question their motives at every moment of their action would indicate someone who is very comfortable with themselves and their own decisions. Butterfly? You and your friends simply don't trust yourselves, because you seem to believe this idea of what is right and what is wrong is something that remains outside of you, when in fact, it has been there right at your core, the entire time," Jinn Hua smiled as they arrived at the fountain.
Back in our world, as Hind Hanshi and Sebomnim Kwang listened, Jinn Hua waited for Aikiko's and Myung's response to her statement.
"I don't do that. Do I?" Aikiko asked herself, looking to Myung and then Jinn Hua for an answer, hence illustrating Jinn Hua's exact point.
Aikiko and Myung both arrived at the same realization.
"Did I just do that?" Aikiko said as she realized.
"Why is it that we do that Sifu?" Myung asked Jinn Hua.
"Why? Because, you're letting someone else take responsibility, in an attempt to get as much as you can for yourselves and trying to measure what it is that you can and can't get away with in regard to that exchange, and the reason is because its my fault. Its Hind Hanshi's fault. Its Sebomnim Hoon Kwang's fault. We failed you. The three of you," Jinn Hua admitted openly.
"That's impossible, Sifu! I was responsible for every one of those choices I made... I was ignorant. I just didn't.... realize..." Helayne stood up from the edge of the fountain, where she'd been sitting with Jinn Hua.
"No. It wasn't a case of your lack of realization. It wasn't ignorance either," Jinn Hua assured them.
"It was trust... We didn't trust ourselves," Helayne spoke first of the three.
Then back where Aikiko and Myung were with Jinn Hua, they continued.
"...and in our lack of trust for ourselves... we were putting the responsibility onto you," Aikiko admitted.
"Maybe onto everyone else," Myung thought back to every one of the times in her life where she'd realized given her new awareness, exactly what had been happening.
"Butterfly? If the man who hurt you could do it without thinking about the pain it would cause you or your family or friends, why is it that you don't trust yourselves? That, is the difference, and when you know this..." Jinn Hua beckoned Helayne back to be seated with her on the ledge of the fountain.
Aikiko and Myung watched as Jinn Hua's visage faded, and Ms. Huệ Vân's presence returned in its place.
Matters of a Missing Formula
Alicia lay flat atop of a speeding van as it wove through traffic in the downtown core of the city. The van can skidding to a stop, allowing Alicia to use the momentum to launch herself up and onto the roof of the newly renovated building, from where she watched a scene unfolding beneath her from the safety of a skylight on the roof.
Inside of the building, the French girl that she'd met earlier, though where, she could not recall, was having a discussion with a man in a painter's uniform, when she spied three other men, each of them wearing balaclavas to conceal their faces, jump up and onto the loading dock of the warehouse where the French girl and the painter were situated.
Alicia heard yelling and shouting going on somewhere else in the building, and then the sound of crashing, as if someone were being thrown into walls or furniture. There was a conflict going on beneath her feet, and yet she still watched.
Aikiko and Myung emerged from another door at the far end of the warehouse, standing protectively in front of the French girl, just as the painter was shot from behind.
Aikiko and Myung closed in on the gunmen, as Helayne held off a fiercely aggressive MissGvious, who for some reason was dressed like a cross between an old school wrestler and a superhero, her suit appearing very much as if it were of bargain basement quality.
Helayne, who was dressed causally (a t-shirt with a butterfly embroidered on its front), was in melee combat with MissGvious, the larger girl forcing Helayne back as she defended herself with a mix of martial arts, none of which Alicia knew or recognized for that matter.
Aikiko and Myung had both managed to overcome two of the gunmen, but the third got into position between them and fired a shot that was aimed at the French girl, but that hit Helayne.
Alicia cried out in pain as she woke up in bed, realizing that she was at home, and that her experience had been a nightmare. A reconstruction of her mind's creative process with smatterings of her subconscious interpretation of the situation here and there. She sat in bed for a moment calming herself, only to be startled once again by the arrival of Barker and Mr. Frisker.
Barker's tail was wagging enthusiastically, while Mr. Frisker took a more stealthy approach, jumping up and onto the bed from the side nearest Alicia's pillow. He immediately lay down beside it and began purring very loudly.
"Not a moment of melancholy with you two around..." Alicia's frown was quickly replaced by a growing smile, which Barker was the first to notice, barking twice in response.
"Always happy to say good morning to the food dispenser, aren't you?" Alicia joked, and Barker responded with one yip, before turning around and running for the stairs, at the top of which she remained.
...
Sylvia was already at her desk across from Alicia's by the time Alicia had arrived and the sun still remained behind the five o'clock in the morning horizon.
"How's Sylvia this morning?" asked Alicia, dropping her purse and her phone on the desk before retrieving her lab coat from a nearby clothes hanger and adorning it.
"It's been a long day already. We got a call from my sister and she gave birth at three sixteen in the morning..." Sylvia announced to Alicia.
"Oh! Congratulations! Sooo...a girl or a boy?" asked Alicia as she pulled her seat out across from Sylvia.
"A boy. Healthy too. Needless to say I dragged my husband out of bed and we drove to the hospital at three thirty in the morning. So, in case you notice me lacking my usual enthusiasm, be easy on me," Sylvia joked with Alicia.
"Does he have a name?" asked Alicia, as she turned her chair around to face her computer screen and login.
"Ishaan. Its nice isn't it?" Sylvia responded with a smile.
"Very. So I take it that's going to make this time of year a very busy one for you over the next twelve years?" Alicia observed astutely.
"You're right. I suppose I should just get used it then," Sylvia replied, turning back to her morning emails.
Alicia grabbed her keys and opened her top drawer to pull a printed file from there within when she noticed that the sealed container within that held the remaining vials of the Series-Y, did not rattle or roll in the same way that they usually did during her morning routine.
She found the key to the contain, and unlocked it and opened the lid.
She sat there for a moment in complete shock at what she saw. All of the extra vials of her version of the Series-Y, all three of them, were gone.
He stomach lurched inside of her, and she felt the onset of a sudden illness as she fought to keep the contents of her stomach contained.
She then took a deep breath and exhaled slowly, closing the container and ensuring that it was locked. She then closed the drawer, making sure that it didn't open.
Sylvia, you didn't happen to see anyone poking around my desk, did you?" Alicia asked, trying to sound as casual as she could given the circumstances.
"I was the first one in, and there hasn't been anyone near this part of the office so far. Wait, Jason from human resources stopped by for a short chat, but other than that, no. Why? Did someone take your mouse again?" Sylvia responded, thinking trivially of it.
"No... My mouse is fine. I guess I just misplaced it..." Alicia's hopes of an easy solution quickly faded.
"What? I mean if you tell me, I might be able to help you find it?" Sylvia responded encouragingly.
"...would you believe me if I said: my mind?" Alicia responded carefully, trying to change the subject.
"Now that I can believe. Having a cat and being allergic to cat hair was my first clue..." Sylvia smiled, again thinking nothing of it.
"Mine too..." Alicia got up from her chair and began searching her desk.
A distance from her, from on the other side of her cubicle, Alan watched her carefully before finally speaking:
"Good morning Alicia! How are you today?" he asked her.
"Fine. And yourself? Did you manage to get a hold of Katya and Victor?" asked Alicia of Alan.
"Its on my list of things to do. Look, do you have a moment for a meeting? In my office. I'll make it quick..." Alan asked her, seeming overly optimistic compared to his usual constriction of resources.
"Sure..." Alicia made her way around the cubicle and out into the hall, following Alan to his corner office.
There within she took the seat across from his desk.
"So what's got ya curious Alan?" asked Alicia, doing her best to conceal her state of mind and mounting concerns over the where abouts of her Series-Y formula.
"Just wanted to find out about your progress in evolving the Series-Y. Have you taken any steps to isolate gene packages 1138 through 01812?" Alan confirmed with her.
"We're still waiting for the approval from Health Canada on our Series-Y snapshot. I can't make changes until we get approval from our base genetic model and the RNA factors. You should know that, Alan?" Alicia responded, suddenly suspicious as to why he'd ask her such a specific question about the Series-Y, and especially one for which he already knew the answer.
"Our shareholders are getting very anxious, and they've been pressuring me, to be honest. I just wanted to get a direct answer from one of our most promising, and attractive researchers..." Alan addressed her in a way which he'd never addressed her before.
She once again found herself struggling to keep the contents of her stomach contained. Not because Alan wasn't a particularly handsome man, for despite what some might have regarded as quirks insofar as his appearance was concerned, he was an attractive man in other ways.
Alicia had always remained comfortable with him however, due to the fact of his professionalism. His statement was an indication to her, that he no longer valued the sanctity of their professional relationship, and was now infringing upon it with a personally motivated demeanor.
That however was not at the core of her concerns. What had truly irked her, was that directly after her discovery of the missing vials of the Series-Y formula. Her version of it. The formula she'd used to turn herself into her secret alter ego: the New Scientist.
Now, with that formula missing, if anyone pieced it together that the only way they'd need to use it was to inject it to one of their secondary inbound arteries, the world's troubles might be amplified a thousand fold. A million fold. Nine billionfold.
She found herself once again thinking about Walton Norler, and how he'd approached her to investigate any suspicious activity originating from the very research center for which she worked. He'd had no suspicions about her, or the possibility that she might be the mysterious blonde haired woman who'd been wading through industrial saboteurs, seeking to profit from exploitation of the country's ambitiously growing tech sector.
He'd just come to her as a result of his better than average intuition about people. He was Walton Norler. The Walton Norler. He was the man who'd rescued business from itself and made it about people. About the planet. About the future. About trust.
He trusted her. He didn't even know her, and yet he trusted her.
"Is everything alright?" Alan asked her, leaning forward slightly to ensure that she was paying attention.
"...shareholders... eh? They're really interested in this level of thing? What we do you mean?" Alicia confirmed with the man she'd once trusted, knowing now that he was lying to her.
Norler was one of them. A shareholder and simultaneously, answering to them, and yet, he was nothing like Alan. Norler was a spokesperson for the shareholders for a reason. A good reason. Alan was dealing with something... someone entirely different.
"I mean... that they've put a lot of money into this project Alicia, and the bill has arrived on my desk, and I'm here to collect. If anything about the Series-Y comes to mind, that you feel you should come clean about, I'll be here. Waiting to collect the bill..." he said to her, leaning back in his chair, knowing now that they both knew the same thing.
"Alright Alan. If anything comes to mind, you'll know. Believe me, you'll be the first to know," Alicia said to him, revealing for the first time in her life, and edge she'd wielded since losing Leland.
Cut to the Chase
Alicia had told Sylvia that she'd needed to run out for a bite, having missed breakfast. Sylvia found it strange that Alicia would bring both her purse and her night bag with her, leaving her desk cleaned and spotless as if she'd not intended to return to it. Not in twenty minutes, or ever again for that matter.
She was in her car, driving, no, speeding south on Victoria Park, taking a left onto O'Connor Drive, for she'd known it to be a good shortcut to the downtown core without having to drive all the way to the Don Valley Parkway.
She placed her phone in the dashboard cradle, and pressed the interface, dialing a number marked as Veterinary Services.
"Norler speaking," Walton Norler answered her call as he still lay in bed, his voice emerging through the speakers in her car.
"Hi Norler. Alicia Westin here. Got a moment to talk?" she asked him nervously.
"Sure thing Alicia. I was already up, so don't worry about calling me at five fifteen in the morning, but I'm all ears for you. What can I do you for?" he asked her sincerely, but certainly groggily for he'd been sound asleep during the first two rings of her call.
"Who is it?" she asked him directly.
"Who is what? The board chair?" he confirmed with her, now confused.
"Don't play with me. Level with me. Trust me. The one who has been breaking down the value of worthy investments with the help of a gang of thugs until they're penny stocks, and then buying them up, using those same thugs to escalate their value and selling them for millions. Level with me. Who is it?" Alicia asked him directly and fearlessly, for she was testing him.
Could he truly be another Leland?
There was a pause on the phone, and then Norler spoke, losing his public appearance voice, and becoming someone who'd let her in.
"I knew you were good, Alicia, but I had no idea that you'd be that good. That fast. That's always been my greatest strength, and my greatest weakness. People, and knowing them for the best of them, and the worst of them. We've been having a problem with the board, and there's a power struggle happening. The other shareholders, they contacted me to find someone to find out what was going on. I had my suspicions, but it took a couple of months, until one of the ledgers revealed that Torman, had been doing lots of inside investing, and then isolating his investments from the board. He'd then sell them for millions in his own personal sales, and that made him a force with which to be reckoned. Given the fact that you don't have access to the same files that I do, there's only one other person who could know what you just revealed to me. You're the mysterious NS, aren't you?" he asked her.
"Where's his office?" Alicia asked Norler, mostly ignoring his question.
"Who's office?" he asked her.
"Torman. Where's his office?" she asked him again.
"Why? Are you going to go in there and beat him up? We can't do it that way, Alicia. We have to do it this way. With logs and ledgers. With numbers and accounting..." Norler urged her to come to her senses.
"I don't think that you understand how serious this situation is," Alicia said to Norler, with a strain in her voice as she turned from O'Connor Drive onto Broadview Avenue south.
"Look Alicia, there's no situation that is ever too difficult to handle with negotiation and perseverance..." Norler urged her once again to come to her sense.
"Norler. He's got the formula," Alicia said to him.
"Who? What formula?" Norler now sounded confused and lost once again, and this time it was she who was the voice of reason.
"Torman. He's got the formula..." Alicia replied, turning right onto Danforth Avenue and heading for the Don Valley Parkway south.
"What formula? What are you talking about Alicia?" Norler asked again for the last time.
"The formula that made me into the mysterious blonde haired woman the press know as NS!" Alicia spun the wheel and turned down the entrance ramp onto the Don Valley Parkway south.
There was a long pause on Norler's end, and then he spoke. Frantically at first, but he answered Alicia's question.
"Bay Street. King and Bay. Southwest tower. Suite 3007..." Norler told Alicia the address to Torman's office and by the time he'd finished, the line was dead.
An Appointment with Kyra
Alicia had parked in a pay lot a block from King and Bay, and from there she'd donned her legendary black trench coat and her shirt with the crudely rendered letters: NS on its front, keeping her jacket closed as she walked the distance along King Street east towards the south west corner of Bay.
She'd pocketed her mask, reasoning that she'd only need it when there was no choice but to go full incognito. She'd simply use her improved awareness and senses to ensure she was never directly in the viewport of any security cameras until after she'd donned her mask.
When she finally arrived She stepped through the big doors, the soft soles of her boots barely making a noise as she walked across the foyer and for the security desk which was occupied by a rather husky looking twenty-seven year old man in uniform.
Alicia immediately caught his eye, and he watched her carefully (perhaps even a lot more so than was necessary) as she approached. She smiled, keeping her trench coat closed tightly near her chest line and threw on the charm.
"Hi... Dick..." she greeted him, immediately catching his name tag.
"I'm here... early... for an appointment..." Alicia spoke, awkwardly addressing the security guard.
"Where is your appointment, and what time?" he asked her.
"Torman Financial, though he might be listed under Tynan and Associates, and the appointment is for... 9 AM..." Alicia explained to him, smiling in a most charming way and batting her eye lashes at him.
"You do realize that its five twenty, right?" he asked her, a look of skepticism now on his face.
"Yes. I do. I just thought it necessary to be here early. I don't want to waste the time of any money people you see and..." Alicia fumbled, frantically looking around for a way she could bypass this obstacle to her goal.
"I'm sorry M'aam, but we constantly have problems with the homeless trying to sneak in and other miscreants who certainly would say anything to charm a security guard who is clearly overworked and under paid," he responded to her, now clearly in distrust of her story.
When Alicia found her opening and the clear path she needed to pursue to get to the stairs, she looked in the other direction, squinting as if looking at something in disbelief a short distance away.
"Grimes? Here? In Toronto? She really rocks that outfit!" Alicia said as she pointed, the security guard immediately spinning his chair around to take a look.
The moment his back was turned to her, she was gone and running full tilt almost making barely a sound.
"You have some wild imagination Miss... 'cause I don't see..." by the time he'd turned back around, she was gone.
He quickly got up, looking around when he caught site of her on one of the security camera monitors. By that point, she was wearing her signature domino mask and her full costume was now very apparent.
The security guard stood there in shock for a moment, and then got on the security camera panel, trying to review the security footage to see if he'd gotten her real face on video. He fumbled through his pocket for his phone, and then dialed his company's security dispatch hotline.
"Its Richard down at King and Bay! I'm going to need backup and lots of it! Its the NS girl!" the security guard yelled frantically into the phone.
"The what? Oh... you're kidding right?" the dispatcher asked him.
"No. I'm not kidding, and I might have gotten her real face on video... get the Police... the army... whoever you can get here right now!!!" he yelled into the phone and then hung up.
When he'd cued the video back to his conversation with the mysterious blonde haired lady, her face was obstructed as if she was standing strategically in the only place where the reflection of the big foyer lights blurred the camera's image via a lens flare.
"That can't be..." he cursed as reviewed the footage looking for any spot where the image was clear.
By that time, Alicia was through the door of the stairs, and taking entire flights two leaps at a time. Within two minutes, she'd arrived at the thirtieth floor, and was barely working up a sweat and still breathing casually.
"Ok. I've got about ten minutes before the SWAT team gets here and that should give me enough time to do a thorough search of his primary operating office... I get the formula, get out through the window. Scale the side of the building acrobatically until I'm at a safe distance to make the jump, and then I work my way back to my car and call Norler with the good news..." Alicia said to herself, getting herself both organized and psyched up for the task ahead as she approached the giant oak door.
There within the corner office, furthest back from the entrance, an open concept office with cubicles and a coffee station for the support staff between the corner office and its current occupant, a security panel began flashing, indicating that someone had entered the office through the giant oak door.
The person observing the silent security alarm, immediately picked up a cellphone from the desk and dialed the security company.
"Hi. This is Valerie Aspen calling. I'm calling to let you know that there has been a terrible hoax. I'm working in my office and it appears that someone tried to SWAT us, claiming there was some kind of emergency. Well, I'm in the office and there isn't..." Valerie addressed the dispatcher of the security firm.
"Can you give me your confirmation code. Its a six digit code you received when you became tenant..." the dispatcher asked for Valerie's confirmation.
"Yes. Yes. I know. Its 193402..." Valerie responded calmly as she heard someone shuffling around in the area with the cubicles.
As the dispatcher confirmed her code, Valerie kept her eyes on the door to the corner office.
"That code checks out. We'll call the Police and let them know it was a hoax. We're sorry for the inconvenience. Is there anything else we can address for you today, Miss Aspen?" the dispatcher asked her.
"No. That will be fine. Have a nice day," Valerie smiled and then hung up, waiting for the inevitable.
She heard the sound of a plastic bottle of hand sanitizer hitting the floor, followed by a stack of cups from the water cooler. Valerie put her hand to her forehead, shaking her head from side to side.
Another minute in (Valerie actually checked her watch) and there came a very non-intrusive tap on the door to the corner office.
"Come in. Its open," Valerie raised her voice enough so that she was certain that she would be heard.
"Oh..." Alicia responded from the other side of the door, opening it slowly and peeking in, in her mask and all.
"Hi. Uhhhh...?" Alicia said, at a loss for words.
"I'm Valerie. Valerie Aspen, but Kyra is fine in this situation," Valerie replied.
"Oh. Kyra then is it. Uhhh, I need to find something in here, and you don't have to worry. I'm not going to hurt you or anything, but I really need something that your boss stole from the company who paid for it. So, if you don't mind, I'm just going to take a quick look around, and then I'll be gone..." Alicia said to Kyra.
"No," Kyra responded calmly.
"I'm sorry? I don't think I stated that was an option. You've obviously seen me on the news I'm assuming?" Alicia tried to use the infamy of her reputation to intimidate Kyra, who seemed very unimpressed.
"I said no, and I meant it," Kyra picked up her phone and began playing Block Blast [On Android] [On Apple].
Alicia leapt with ease from the entry way of the door across the entire distance of the office, landing atop of the desk and standing intimidatingly over Kyra, as she sat in her chair. What happened next, Alicia had no way of anticipating, for it happened almost as quickly as her terrorizing leap.
Kyra moved with such force and ferocity, that Alicia did not expect it, not did she move in time in order to avert what resulted from her miscalculation of the situation. Kyra had Alicia by her legs, and casually used her as a hammen upon the curved outcropping of the desk that held the mouse pad and mouse.
Kyra hammered down with Alicia, twice, crushing that portion of the desk, though somehow pushing the LED monitor aside and leaving it undamaged. Kyra then tossed Alicia to the floor in the center of the room.
"You were saying...?" Kyra was on her feet by that time and walking around the other side of the desk to face her.
Alicia shook her head as she lay on the floor, a bit frazzled by what had just transpired but still very functional. She flexed her core and flipped herself back up and onto her feet.
"Someone's been getting into the sauce..." Alicia said, now realizing that there was at least one other person who'd become initiated into her world.
"Oh, is that what you call it?" Kyra responded.
"Its dangerous. Its untested. It could cause you serious harm!" Alicia tried to reason with her.
"Oh, that's very obvious in the way you've been gallivanting around the city in your little outfit, stealing assets from the company to build your own little nest egg..." Kyra indicated to Alicia that she was onto her.
"Stealing company assets? Are you kidding me? I was protecting the company! Undoing a great injustice!" Alicia suddenly felt very unappreciated for all of the effort she'd put into Tynan and Associates.
"Save it for the courts..." Kyra stepped over to the credenza wrapping her arms around it on one end, and picking it up and wielding it like a baseball bat.
"What are you going to do with that?" Alicia asked her, and by the time she'd reached the last word of her sentence, she'd become the baseball.
The credenza impacted her, sending her flying to the far wall of the office and very nearly through it. She left a catcher's glove indent in the wall, several drywall screws piercing her jacket from the outside, though leaving her skin unblemished.
She fell from the wall's impact crater onto the floor, charging at Kyra in attempt to dive for her legs. Kyra wound up once again and hit Alicia with it, cracking it nearly in half as Alicia went flying through the bathroom door, hitting the wall and bouncing off of it and onto the tiled floor.
Kyra threw the credenza, tossing it aside with little effort, leaving it leaning on an angle against the far wall as she made her way to the bathroom.
"So, its a trip to the little girl's room is it?" Kyra asked as she stepped into the bathroom.
Alicia wielded the door, charging at Kyra door first, and forcing her into the counter, holding her there with every ounce of strength that she could muster. Kyra after getting her bearings once again, pushed back, forcing Alicia into the shower (still holding the door). Kyra then jumped in with her and they began ramming each other against the tiles, eventually breaking the plumbing, sending a constant stream of water flowing from the nozzle, soaking both of them to a degree.
Alicia finally managed to get Kyra off balance, enough so to push her back out of the bathroom doorway and back into the corner office. She then delivered a spinning kick against Kyra, sending her flying through the oak door to the office, the upper part of the door barely hanging on my a few fibers and part of the hinge.
"Had enough?" Alicia asked Kyra, very much appearing a mess of water soaked drywall dust.
"Oh I was just getting started," Kyra responded, appearing relatively unscathed and only a little water logged by that point.
Alicia threw a flurry of punches untrained punches, purely using the fighting style that she'd developed intuitively after months of breaking up Torman's gangs throughout the city. Kyra, took a few hits, but once again remained undamaged and unmarked. She waited until Alicia had tired herself out, and then punched her, sending her flying against the only undamaged wall. Alicia hit the wall, and then fell forward onto her face unmoving.
When she was conscious once again, she was seated in a chair (the very one in which Kyra had been seated before their meeting). Kyra's immense strength kept Alicia firmly pressed into the chair as she looked around examining the room, trying to figure out how long she'd been out.
The morning light illuminated the cloud of still settling dust and debris, as if what had caused the catastrophe that had befallen the office had only just ceased moments earlier.
"If your hands are getting tired, you can relax your grip. Its not like I'm going anywhere..." the lady in the seat addressed her captor.
"You've got that right, but I'm not releasing you. I know that you're a clever girl and a tricky one too, Alicia," her captor asserted, leaving the negotiatons open very much like the business professional she was and one who'd closed numerous business deals throughout the course of her early career.
"Girl Guide's honour?" Alicia held up her hand.
"You were a Girl Guide? I could see that," remarked her captor.
"It didn't last, but I've still got the booklet. Valerie, right?" Alicia responded.
"One and the same," Valerie responded curtly to Alicia.
"Sooo... how is it that an intelligent, business minded woman like you ends up with a guy like Torman?" asked Alicia of Valerie.
At that point, at the front of the office, the doorknob slowly turned. The slight motion involved caused the entire door and part of the door frame to collapse onto the floor, revealing a handsome dark haired man of five foot ten in a fashionably classic suit with a briefcase in his hand. Miraculously, neither the door nor the door frame hit him as they fell.
"Why don't you ask him yourself?" Valerie responded to Alicia's question.
"Good morning ladies. You two look remarkably well considering what obviously unfolded in here earlier," Torman stood in the doorway assessing the damage.
"Its not as bad as it looks," Alicia replied.
"Its worse," Valerie added an edge of sarcasm.
"Tell me, how is it that two adult women can in this day and age resort to violence in situations like this?" asked Torman of them.
"Well technically speaking, neither of us hit one another," Valerie replied.
"True. It was more either of us hitting the furniture or the walls or the bathroom. Even so, the formula healed us before you got here," Alicia added.
"Its still violence and something I assumed was far beneath you Alicia, though funny you should mention the formula because that's going to be the topic of our cosy little meeting here today," Torman stepped over the debris and destroyed door frame and walked over to a countertop on the adjacent wall from the bathroom to where a coffee maker set to auto-brew had just finished brewing a fresh pot of coffee.
"Can I get you ladies a cup of coffee?" he asked them, looking over to them for the first time since he'd arrived.
Alicia was a blonde haired, blue eyed beauty in her mid twenties with the physique of an olympic athlete. Her pink lips underlined her sculpted facial features and accented her cute yet sharp nose. Her toned body was quite visible even beneath her tight fitting black pants and red shirt, across the breast of which was inscribed the letters "NS" in a somewhat crude and simplistic manner. Over the shirt she wore an expensive looking black trench coat which fell down to her knees. It appeared to be quite weathered.
The woman standing in the chair behind Alicia and holding her in place, was equally one to behold, her long straight auburn hair framed a pale compact face, complete with her soft brown eyes and perfect complexion, a mole just east of her nose, accenting her deep red lips. She wore a stylish business suit, the top three buttons on her blouse open, and much like Alicia's trench coat, her suit was spotted with patches of dust and wear and tear given the events that had previously unfolded.
"Why don't you let Valerie, get that. Isn't that how you usually do things Torman?" asked Alicia of him, quickly doing away with his polite gentile routine.
"Heh heh heh... You are a funny one Alicia and clever from what I've heard. Now you know as well as I do why Valerie can't release you, but that doesn't mean that the three of us can't enjoy a cup of coffee together now, does it?" he put his briefcase down and pulled three cups from the cupboards just above the undamaged counter. The only untouched place in the entire office.
"So what does the NS stand for on your shirt? Nitwit Secretary?" asked Torman of Alicia.
"Nice Smile. Mine, so I've been told. One sugar, one creme please, secretary Torman," Alicia requested, both bluffing about the initials on her shirt and throwing Torman's insult right back at him.
"Very sharp wit. Your coffees are on their way," Torman responded as he stirred their coffees, then carrying them one in each hand over to his desk where they were currently situated.
"Not my desk too...?!!!" Torman got a glimpse of the gaping hole in his desk, nearest Alicia.
"It wasn't me...!" Valerie quickly responded.
"Yeah, but you zigged when I thought you were going to zag..." Alicia responded to Valerie's having outted her as the culprit.
"What about the bathroom and shower? That was all your fault!" Valerie reminded her.
Alicia looked back towards Valerie, a scathing smirk on her face as she spoke:
"What was I supposed to do? You came at me with the bathroom door and that was just after you checked out your batting average on me with the credenza"
"The shower too?" Torman paused after having placed their coffees on the only unoccupied space on his desk given the lack of real estate thereupon.
"What about insurance? Wouldn't that cover this?" asked Alicia of them optimistically.
"There's no insurance coverage for something like this," Valerie replied to Alicia.
"Torman's a crook. I'm sure he'll figure out a way. I mean, he already figured out how to buy his way onto Tynan And Associates' board of directors, didn't he?" Alicia asked the two of them.
"I earned my way onto the board fair and square," Torman lied to them both as he finished making his coffee and returned to the desk.
"Ok. How are we going to do this?" asked Valerie of Torman.
"Get a firm hold of her, and pick her up from the chair. Walk around the desk to the other side, keeping her away from me. Put her in the guest chair and I'll get over to my chair and we can get this meeting under way," Torman advised Valerie on their relocation issue.
Valerie's hands slid down to the end of Alicia's shoulders, and then down her arms, pinning them both to her sides. Valerie then easily lifted Alicia up from the chair, keeping her legs facing away from her while walking around the desk, carefully avoiding Torman and ensuring that Alicia's legs were out of kicking distance from him as well. Torman then awkwardly made his way around to his desk and sat in his chair, placing his coffee on the desk and his briefcase beside him as Valerie sat Alicia in the guest chair across from him.
"Now. How many other people have you told about this formula of yours?" asked Torman of Alicia.
"None. I'm still trying to figure out how you found out about it?" Alicia responded, looking up to Valerie pleadingly.
"Hence why she was poking around here in the wee hours and exactly how I caught her," Valerie directed her attention at Torman, hoping that he'd acknowledge her having thwarted Alicia's corporate espionage.
Valerie loosened her grip, and Alicia immediately took advantage, kicking the desk and launching their coffees into the air, one hitting Valerie square in the face and scalding her, the other just narrowly missing Torman.
Alicia then launched herself into the air and through the window behind Torman, Valerie having lost her grip. She quickly scaled the side of the building using window ledges and flag poles and had almost escaped when she was suddenly back in the chair, Valerie with her grip firmly on her arms, Torman facing her, his eyes deadly serious. It was as if her escape attempt was only a dream, though she swore that she'd truly just escaped.
"That almost worked but as you can clearly see, I have countermeasures against that sort of thing. Don't try that again," Torman said to her with a fierce look in his eyes.
"How'd that happen...? I clearly got away...?!!!" Alicia asked him when she suddenly realized the truth.
"Her-cules behind me here obviously already used the formula. It appear that you used it too... You can somehow rewind time... like an instant replay..." Alicia now knew that they'd had the formula for longer than she'd assumed.
"Who else did you tell about the formula Alicia?" Torman leaned back in the chair and put his legs up on the desk, taking a sip of his coffee.
"How did you find out about it in the first place?" asked Alicia of Torman.
"I'm the one asking the questions here!" Torman became angry momentarily, and Alicia could have sworn that she felt the entire building rumbling.
"Look, I just want to bring this miracle to the world, and you want to use it for your own personal gain. Ironic that you accused me of being a crook, when you're the one who has been galavanting around the city, stealing from and sabotaging local businesses," Torman asserted himself, then looking to Valerie, who seemed to throw him a skeptical glance.
"Valerie, you have no idea what she's been doing since she created this formula. She tested it on herself against Tynan policy. She's trying to fund her own research firm so she can steal the formula, when we can bring this to the world and make a change for the better. Cure Cancer. Muscular Dystrophy. Spinal Bifida and many other diseases," Torman said exactly what he knew that Valerie wanted to hear.
"He's lying! He's taking the words right from Walton Norler's mouth. I've been trying to bring down your corrupt network of thugs who've been facilitating your illegal hostile takeovers of struggling businesses for the last three years!" Alicia broke, never realizing that she was being played by Torman the entire time who'd just tricked her into revealing her playbook.
"She's been stealing from these companies to fund her own private firm, where she has plans to get rich, while ripping Tynan And Associates off of their formula!" Torman leaned forward in his desk, opening his briefcase and throwing a printed list of companies and various criminal statistics in Valerie's direction.
Valerie examined the list with one hand, keeping a hold of Alicia by the back of her neck with the other.
What Torman didn't tell her was that these companies were his holdings. He'd acquired them all at extremely undervalued pricing. Well below market and projected value. According to the figures Valerie was seeing, it was as if the value of these companies suddenly dipped from a much higher projected net worth.
"These companies' values crashed just before you bought them...! That's a little circumspect, Torman," Valerie read between the lines.
"They crashed because of her sabotage. I rescued them when they were on the brink of folding. I revived them, saving them from the damage this woman caused to their value. She's trying to pass the blame off onto me, like I'm the ring leader of a network of criminal thugs," Torman explained to Valerie, who looked to him again, asking herself how she could question the man with whom she'd been romantically involved since her teen years.
"That's exactly what you are!" Alicia responded aggressively.
Valerie looked to Torman and then to Alicia, now disgusted that she'd been so easily tricked by someone that she barely knew.
"You had me fooled, Girl Guide!" Valerie turned her skepticism towards Alicia.
"Don't you see? He's playing you! He's been playing Tynan And Associates since he joined their investment strategist team and the board!" Alicia pleaded with Valerie, neither woman truly knowing the other.
"I rescued Tynan And Associates from the bear pit, and I'm going to see that the formula is going to reach the medical industry as the cure we project its going to be," Torman addressed both women, though only one of them was fooled.
"What are we going to do with her?" Valerie asked Torman.
"The only thing that we can do. I've made arrangements to rescind her into the custody of the SIA. The Special Investigative Agency, and they'll bring her to justice with the material evidence I've accrued against her," Torman explained to Valerie.
"And where do I fit in?" asked Valerie.
"I'll need you to make sure she ends up in their hands, safely..." Torman assured her.
At that moment, a phone inside of the right pocket of his suit jacket began ringing.
He reached into the pocket with his left hand, and put the phone to his face and answered.
"Speaking," Torman responded.
"You have her?" asked Alomera Constanza Zekestes.
"Yes. She's secured. Ready for delivery," Torman assured the man on the other end of the phone.
"Good. Then bring her to Warehouse 3A at Port Pier near the waterfront. What about the formula?" asked the man with the deep voice.
"I don't have it yet. I'm going to bring that to you directly when I do," Torman lied to him.
"Do you really think it wise to be taking such a risk when we're this close?" asked Zekestes of Torman.
"I've got all of the bases covered," Torman assured him.
"She can't come with you. She's a liability," the man with the deep voice told him.
"I know," Torman held his hand over the phone, and blew Valerie a kiss.
"Everything's been arranged. We'll be taking Alicia to the Port Pier in the downtown just off of the Queen's Quay, to a warehouse, where we'll hand her off to the SIA..." Torman smiled at Valerie.
"And then we'll talk about those future plans we were discussing... Our engagement party? Our wedding?" Valerie reminded him.
"Yes. Absolutely. I wouldn't have you any other way," Torman smiled and returned to his phone conversation, holding up his index finger to Valerie, urging her to be patient.
"Be there in one hour and don't bring anyone else. We'll take care of them both at the same time," Zekestes hung up and Torman pocketed the phone.
"Alicia, you're about to learn what real justice is. Let's get going, Val. Be careful with her," Torman smiled at Alicia menacingly.
"What about my coffee?" asked Alicia.
"Bring it," Torman responded.
"What about the office?" asked Valerie as she carefully hefted Alicia from her chair.
"I've got a crew coming in today to get started on repairs. Should be finished in a couple of weeks. In the meantime, we can do most of our business from home," Torman lied, smiling as he packed up his briefcase.
"Does that mean we'll have some personal time together?" asked Valerie, as Alicia reached for her cup of coffee.
"Absolutely! We'll have plenty of time for each other," Torman lied again as he led the way through the rubble until there arose a voice.
A familiar voice.
Time: Friend and Enemy
"Excuse me? You've got a friend of mine, and I'm not leaving without her..." Helayne's voice broke the silence as Torman and Valerie forced Alicia through the rubble on their way to the door.
"Hel..." Alicia stopped herself before finishing Helayne's name.
"Oh hell... how did I get myself into this mess...?" Alicia quickly covered up her slip-up.
"Trust you, my friend. I do," Helayne said to her encouragingly.
"Don't tell me. The Human Butterfly? How come you come you're flying when your wings aren't even flapping?" Torman raised his voice as he asked their newly arrived threat.
"Because I don't need wings to fly, but they look good. Too good," Helayne winked at Alicia, who face went from a frown to a smile as she was reminded of their days in school together.
"If you want your friend, you're going to have to come and get her," Torman challenged the arrival of their adversary, stepping protectively in front of Valerie and Alicia, imploring the woman with the Butterfly Wings into the office.
There was a moment of reflection in her eyes, as if she'd considered something of grave consequences very carefully, and then she moved, almost quicker than the eye could see, though Alicia, Valerie and Torman all saw her approach very clearly.
She flew forward, into the opening through which she was addressing them. The very same opening Alicia had made when she'd tried to escape from Valerie and Torman, only having found herself to become part of some kind of instant replay power Torman possessed.
She flew in through the opening and her wings disappeared into her back as Torman did his thing, and that was when things got really strange.
Torman was all of the sudden thrust into pitch blackness, alone and in a perpetual darkness for as far as the eye could see. There was no instant where time became altered at his will. It all suddenly disappeared, and he witnessed the spectacular, in much the same way Helayne had in the timeless Temple of the Butterfly Dragon.
Two incomprehensibly large serpentine Dragons of the Eastern variety, one as bright as all the stars in the universe and the other as dark if there were none.
The spoke and said exactly the same words that Helayne had heard the first time they'd addressed her:
"Mortal, you have damned yourself with knowledge that you were not meant to wield. There is a price, and it will weigh upon your soul, in the Record of All and the Books of Change. Be aware of this fact, and be wary..." they both spoke in unison, their voices impossibly loud, so much so that Torman felt as if his ear drums might burst at any moment.
And then his instant-replay began.
Helayne was reflected back to a moment before she'd attempted her entry into the room, Torman standing in front of Valerie and Alicia, rubbing his nails on his shirt as if shining them.
"I guess you weren't up to it..." Torman said to the Butterfly lady, then directing Valerie to continue with Alicia as he turned towards the elevators.
By the time he was facing the door, the Butterfly lady was now instantaneously in front of him.
"How long were you there?" he asked her, having a completely different comprehension of time than most everyone on the planet.
"Long enough to be waiting, and I wait too long for this," Helayne said as she grabbed Torman's wrist and twisted him around to wield him like a prisoner in much the same way that Valerie was wielding Alicia.
She held Torman's arm behind his back, his hand pointing along his spine towards the ceiling, his hand twisted clockwise to its maximum extent.
"Valerie? Got any ideas?" Torman begged her, now relying entirely on his fiancè's business education and natural ability to get him out of the situation.
"Uhhh... Butterfly lady? They're going to play a game of numbers with us, negotiating. Torman as you now already know, can play with time, which is a pretty fundamental quality of the universe not to mention the implications something of that nature has with regard to Entropy being the one true indicator of the direction of time..." Alicia frantically tried to explain the dynamics of their negotiations.
"Could you say to me again so I know you what mean?" Helayne replied to Alicia, causing Torman to shake his head.
"Oh no. Here we go..." he said, Helayne suddenly hoisting his arm up a bit more tightly, causing his to wince.
"Look, its clear that we the people we're holding have exceptional value to the people we're keeping them from, while the threat of releasing them is roughly balanced. If we both let them go at the same time, we should be able to get out of here without further destruction or fighting, at which point we can deal with this situation in a better suited environment," Valerie used her business negotiating skills and addressed Helayne.
Helayne though, was no spring peach herself. She looked to Valerie and replied astutely:
"Oh. You very tricky. You boyfriend, he can make time go backwards. If we let go at same time, he can make time go back, meaning we no have equal deal value..." Helayne hoisted Torman's arm up even harder this time.
"Ow!" he cried.
"Alright. Good point. Honey? Promise her that you won't use your instant-replay ability to cheat..." Valerie urged him.
"Hello? Valerie? Are we even on the same team? How can my abilities be cheating, if they're my abilities? Does that mean we should have told Steven Jobs that he should tone down his marketing genius a tad bit so the rest of the business world could catch up? Or that we should have told Bill Gates to give up his patents on the BIOS microcode to IBM, just so his upstart Microsoft wouldn't benefit from his own vision?" Torman was a far superior manipulator, and easily bought the trust of Valerie, Alicia and Helayne simply because of their innocence.
Valerie nodded affirmatively to Torman's words, with Alicia and eventually Helayne all agreeing with similar head nodding and remarks such as "good point" and "remarkable insight".
"Alright. Its agreed. Lets do this. On the count of three. One. Two. Three..." Valerie let go of Alicia, and at the same moment, Helayne let go of Torman, but the effect happened almost immediately.
Both Valerie and Torman were no longer there. What was even more baffling was that the office was no longer the remnants of a battlefield. It was pristine, as it was when Alicia had initially arrived, and yet, it was now nine thirty. The holes in Alicia's jacket were gone, and she was clean and dry.
"Nice! That was amazing negotiations Helayne..." Alicia greeted her friend with a smile.
"I negotiate too good. I dance too good too," Helayne responded, secretly referring to her play time on Dance Dance Revolution Disney Grooves [On Wii and Switch].
"But that doesn't explain how everything was reverted back to the way it was when I got here," Alicia responded to Helayne.
"Alicia. You need to know, that what he did, have great cost to him. Too great," Helayne explained to her.
"But how? I mean its the formula that gave him that ability. It somehow tapped into an aspect of his biofield that allows him to use his body energy to manipulate time. His Quantum frame, or everyone else's," Alicia explained to Helayne.
"He rewound time to before his girlfriend arrived here in the office, which means that he knows everything that will happen, from back to where he rewound his time until now," Helayne reasoned with Alicia.
"Which means that he still has the formula, and that he's going directly to Warehouse 3A at Port Pier near the waterfront. There's a helicopter landing pad there, which means he's likely leaving with the formula. We have to stop him!" Alicia urged Helayne.
To be continued in The Butterfly Dragon: Heroes of our Own Reimagined: Episode 13 - The Return of the Dragons
Written by Brian Joseph Johns
Credits and attribution:
Artwork: Amy Wong, Wendy Pusey, Ghastly, Birdman, Brian Joseph Johns, Daz3D, Unreal Engine...
Tools: Daz3D, Corel Painter, Adobe Photoshop, Lightwave 3D, Blender, Stable Diffusion (Easy Diffusion distribution), InstantID, Sadtalker, Google Colaboratory, Microsoft Copilot (Windows 11), Hitfilm, PhotoPea (a great web based Photoshop stand-in if you're on a low budget or in a pinch), Borderline Obsession...
DeepSeek AI for suggestions on exercises to improve aspects of describing scene and settings with a more sensory focused grammar.
InstantID by: Wang, Qixun and Bai, Xu and Wang, Haofan and Qin, Zekui and Chen, Anthony. Research Paper Title: InstantID - Zero-shot Identity-Preserving Generation in Seconds.
Sadtalker by: Zhang, Wenxuan and Cun, Xiaodong and Wang, Xuan and Zhang, Yong and Shen, Xi and Guo, Yu and Shan, Ying and Wang, Fei.
Research Paper Title: SadTalker: Learning Realistic 3D Motion Coefficients for Stylized Audio-Driven Single Image Talking Face Animation.
Gratitude: Our Mentors, Senseis, Sifus, Sebomnims, lifetime inspirations, family, friends, the Nomads (ask Stanton about that one), the Music, the Movies, the Theatre, the Arts, ASMR, (both YouTube and Bilibili and the many other creators on those platforms), the Gaming and Developer communities and of course, the audience.
Martial Arts (in the words of real experts and at least one comedian): https://brucelee.com (home of the real Dragon and an entire family of inspirations), http://iwco.online International Wing Chun Organization (International presence of a very scalable intensity martial art, protected and developed by Shaolin Nun Ng Mui) and the alma mater of Jinn Hua's own specialized variation thereof, https://iogkf.com International Okinawan Goju-Ryu Karatedo Federation (even Hanshi had his teachers), https://itftkd.sport International Taekwondo Federation (Here there be Taegers), https://tangsoodoworld.com Tang Soo Do World (the path of Grandmaster Chuck Norris), https://www.aikido-international.org International Aikido Federation (how else would Navy Chef Steven Seagal liberate a Nimitz Class Aircraft Carrier from a team of hijackers?), https://www.stqitoronto.com Shaolin Temple Quanfa Institute (The City Of Toronto's own Shaolin Temple), https://www.enterthedojoshow.com Master Ken's Ameri-Te-Do presence (If we can't laugh at ourselves, then we can at least laugh the loudest at others, and other Zen)
Thank you to the divine Miss M and to Hirose of our Own for the inspiration for the character Aikiko Tanaka. May they always embody the empowerment of women and their self determination.
Magic (performance, illusion and perhaps the real thing): Magic Week Archive (I'm currently growing this section so stay tuned)
Special thanks to Aitrepreneur, Mickmumpitz, Hugging Face and the YouTube educational content producers, including those catering to the AI content production pipeline and of course AlphaSignal.
Shi Heng Yi Shaolin Training For Self Mastery
A reknowned Sifu under whose tutelage you can study the theory and practical applications of the Shaolin Arts for health, physical and mental wellbeing in every day life
Shi Heng Yi Shaolin Training For Self Mastery
A reknowned Sifu under whose tutelage you can study the theory and practical applications of the Shaolin Arts for health, physical and mental wellbeing in every day life
Jesse Enkamp: Karate Nerd
Jesse, a reknowned Sensei who runs his own dojo, explores the world of Martial Arts, traveling to many exotic locations to meet practitioners of a variety of different arts
Sensei Rokas: Martial Arts Journey
A reknowned Sensei of Aikido who in seeking to understand the roots of Aikido and its applications, seeks to stress test its effectiveness in a number of real world situations while studying its history
Iaido: Train For Katana Mastery Like Samurai
The original weapons focused curriculum under which Samurai became masters of their art
Extensive courses for calisthenics and body strength, stamina and flexibility
Special thanks to Captain Crunch and his wonderful sister!
Special thanks to Bandcamp for giving indie music artists a home under one roof
Something to give you perspective: The very first teacher had no formal education, didn't graduate and was self taught, but only because they had no other choice. We do.
Tools: Daz3D, Corel Painter, Adobe Photoshop, Lightwave 3D, Blender, Stable Diffusion (Easy Diffusion distribution), InstantID, Sadtalker, Google Colaboratory, Microsoft Copilot (Windows 11), Hitfilm, PhotoPea (a great web based Photoshop stand-in if you're on a low budget or in a pinch), Borderline Obsession...
DeepSeek AI for suggestions on exercises to improve aspects of describing scene and settings with a more sensory focused grammar.
InstantID by: Wang, Qixun and Bai, Xu and Wang, Haofan and Qin, Zekui and Chen, Anthony. Research Paper Title: InstantID - Zero-shot Identity-Preserving Generation in Seconds.
Sadtalker by: Zhang, Wenxuan and Cun, Xiaodong and Wang, Xuan and Zhang, Yong and Shen, Xi and Guo, Yu and Shan, Ying and Wang, Fei.
Research Paper Title: SadTalker: Learning Realistic 3D Motion Coefficients for Stylized Audio-Driven Single Image Talking Face Animation.
Gratitude: Our Mentors, Senseis, Sifus, Sebomnims, lifetime inspirations, family, friends, the Nomads (ask Stanton about that one), the Music, the Movies, the Theatre, the Arts, ASMR, (both YouTube and Bilibili and the many other creators on those platforms), the Gaming and Developer communities and of course, the audience.
Martial Arts (in the words of real experts and at least one comedian): https://brucelee.com (home of the real Dragon and an entire family of inspirations), http://iwco.online International Wing Chun Organization (International presence of a very scalable intensity martial art, protected and developed by Shaolin Nun Ng Mui) and the alma mater of Jinn Hua's own specialized variation thereof, https://iogkf.com International Okinawan Goju-Ryu Karatedo Federation (even Hanshi had his teachers), https://itftkd.sport International Taekwondo Federation (Here there be Taegers), https://tangsoodoworld.com Tang Soo Do World (the path of Grandmaster Chuck Norris), https://www.aikido-international.org International Aikido Federation (how else would Navy Chef Steven Seagal liberate a Nimitz Class Aircraft Carrier from a team of hijackers?), https://www.stqitoronto.com Shaolin Temple Quanfa Institute (The City Of Toronto's own Shaolin Temple), https://www.enterthedojoshow.com Master Ken's Ameri-Te-Do presence (If we can't laugh at ourselves, then we can at least laugh the loudest at others, and other Zen)
Thank you to the divine Miss M and to Hirose of our Own for the inspiration for the character Aikiko Tanaka. May they always embody the empowerment of women and their self determination.
Magic (performance, illusion and perhaps the real thing): Magic Week Archive (I'm currently growing this section so stay tuned)
Special thanks to Aitrepreneur, Mickmumpitz, Hugging Face and the YouTube educational content producers, including those catering to the AI content production pipeline and of course AlphaSignal.
Shi Heng Yi Shaolin Training For Self Mastery
A reknowned Sifu under whose tutelage you can study the theory and practical applications of the Shaolin Arts for health, physical and mental wellbeing in every day life
A reknowned Sifu under whose tutelage you can study the theory and practical applications of the Shaolin Arts for health, physical and mental wellbeing in every day life
Shi Heng Yi Shaolin Training For Self Mastery
A reknowned Sifu under whose tutelage you can study the theory and practical applications of the Shaolin Arts for health, physical and mental wellbeing in every day life
A reknowned Sifu under whose tutelage you can study the theory and practical applications of the Shaolin Arts for health, physical and mental wellbeing in every day life
Jesse Enkamp: Karate Nerd
Jesse, a reknowned Sensei who runs his own dojo, explores the world of Martial Arts, traveling to many exotic locations to meet practitioners of a variety of different arts
Jesse, a reknowned Sensei who runs his own dojo, explores the world of Martial Arts, traveling to many exotic locations to meet practitioners of a variety of different arts
Sensei Rokas: Martial Arts Journey
A reknowned Sensei of Aikido who in seeking to understand the roots of Aikido and its applications, seeks to stress test its effectiveness in a number of real world situations while studying its history
A reknowned Sensei of Aikido who in seeking to understand the roots of Aikido and its applications, seeks to stress test its effectiveness in a number of real world situations while studying its history
Iaido: Train For Katana Mastery Like Samurai
The original weapons focused curriculum under which Samurai became masters of their art
The original weapons focused curriculum under which Samurai became masters of their art
Extensive courses for calisthenics and body strength, stamina and flexibility
Special thanks to Captain Crunch and his wonderful sister!
Special thanks to Bandcamp for giving indie music artists a home under one roof
Something to give you perspective: The very first teacher had no formal education, didn't graduate and was self taught, but only because they had no other choice. We do.
This content is entirely produced in Toronto, Ontario, Canada at 200 Sherbourne Street Suite 701 under the Shhhh! Digital Media banner.
This content is entirely produced in Toronto, Ontario, Canada at 200 Sherbourne Street Suite 701 under the Shhhh! Digital Media banner.
