Been eating a home made modified version of Yakisoba, and its completely awesome!
One two three...
Brian Joseph Johns
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.
For your information, the character Helayne Ying aka the Butterfly Dragon, she's Chinese, not Filipino with all due respect, though in one episode of Two Butterflies, there is a tribute to the superhero Darna.
Dragon Butterfly is Japanese and soon to make her first appearance in this new series...
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)
- The Return: A Friend and an Enemy (Finished May 25, 2026)
- Regroup and Recoup (Finished May 25, 2026)
Support Charity
Please support education and information access where you can in addition to these charities:
National Breast Cancer Foundation [Donate] [Hope Kit] [Women's Programs]
One of their top priorities is educating women on what they can do to be proactive with their breast health. Knowledge and early detection saves lives.
One of their top priorities is educating women on what they can do to be proactive with their breast health. Knowledge and early detection saves lives.
Help research that provides cures and support treatment for sick children.
Creating a world of possibility for kids and youth with disabilities.
The Cancer Research Institute
The Princess Margaret Foundation
Cancer Research organizations that combine the expertise of many different research firms and Universities to find innovative treatments and cures for Cancer.
The Cancer Research Institute
The Princess Margaret Foundation
Cancer Research organizations that combine the expertise of many different research firms and Universities to find innovative treatments and cures for Cancer.
David Suzuki Foundation
Through evidence-based research, education and policy analysis, we work to conserve and protect the natural environment, and help create a sustainable Canada. We regularly collaborate with non-profit and community organizations, all levels of government, businesses and individuals.
Through evidence-based research, education and policy analysis, we work to conserve and protect the natural environment, and help create a sustainable Canada. We regularly collaborate with non-profit and community organizations, all levels of government, businesses and individuals.
Donate directly to FireAid today to help us start rebuilding our community. Direct donations will be distributed under the advisement of the Annenberg Foundation and will be distributed for short-term relief efforts and long-term initiatives to prevent future fire disasters throughout Southern California.
United Nations Fund
United Way Worldwide
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
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!
United Way Worldwide
Two organizations whose contribution of expertise, human and financial resources and volunteer efforts provide humanitarian solutions to real world problems the entire world over. These charities operate worldwide. The United Nations Fund supports the various programs part of the United Nations' global mandate, as much a foundation as it is a roof around the world.
World Veterans Federation (Under Reconstruction) [Wikipedia]
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.
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
The Reeve Foundation provides programs for research, uniting Scientists and Specialists from many different fields to find treatments for spinal cord injury translating them into therapies and support programs.
For over 60 years, Heart & Stroke has been dedicated to fighting heart disease and stroke. Our work has saved thousands of lives and improved the lives of millions of others.
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.
Wikipedia
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.
Humble Bundle
A video gaming storefront benefiting a vast variety of different Charities in the United States and United Kingdom (hopefully soon to be expanded to include other areas of the world?). By software their software bundles and choose which Charity your money benefits and how much of your money benefits that Charity. See? Gamers can do their part too.
Wikipedia
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.
Humble Bundle
A video gaming storefront benefiting a vast variety of different Charities in the United States and United Kingdom (hopefully soon to be expanded to include other areas of the world?). By software their software bundles and choose which Charity your money benefits and how much of your money benefits that Charity. See? Gamers can do their part too.
Multiple Sclerosis is a degenerative disease currently affecting an estimated 2.3 million world wide. By donating you are contributing to effective research in finding a cure and tipping the scales of MS research to change lives forever.
If you're a resident of Ontario then please consider supporting Building Better Schools.
Other Ways To Help Using Your Computer
Join World Community Grid
https://www.worldcommunitygrid.org
Join BOINC
https://boinc.berkeley.edu
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.
 |
| Alicia Westin is Night Style in this AI concept rendering which was derived from a 3D rendered image created here at Shhhh! Digital Media on Daz3D Studio Pro and Lightwave 3D. Courtesy Google AI Studio and Perplexity AI (prompt engineer). |
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 destruction and office rubble, until there arose a voice from the beyond the hole in the wall outside.
It was a familiar voice, at least to Alicia.
The Return: A Friend and an Enemy
 |
| Helayne Ying is the Butterfly Dragon in this AI concept rendering which was derived from a 3D rendered image created here at Shhhh! Digital Media on Daz3D Studio Pro and Lightwave 3D. Courtesy Google AI Studio and Perplexity AI (prompt engineer). |
"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. Alicia could have sworn that she winked at her from behind the mask.
"Well your trust is misplaced. This woman here, your friend. Alicia. She's responsible for the spate of vandalism against businesses throughout the city, not to mention she's been stealing company secrets from her own place of employ. I don't think that the word trust applies here," Torman responded, adjusting the glasses on his face.
"If that's the case, then shouldn't the law be handling this situation?" asked Helayne of Torman.
"...Yes. That's where we were going to take her, after we wrapped up some loose ends. Now, if you'll excuse us, we've got some people to meet, and I'd personally like to beat the morning rush our traffic," Torman responded, turning to Valerie and nodding to her.
"Keep your hands on Alicia, I'll handle the butterfly girl," Torman said to Valerie quietly, who nodded in agreement.
Torman then turned to face Helayne as she hoved in the air just beyond the exterior wall of the office building, glaring down at them. He gestured with his hands, and attempted to alter the time/space she occupied, trying to send her backwards in excess of approximately three minutes.
Valerie and Alicia watched as he waved his hands hopelessly but to no effect.
"Hmmm. It worked earlier... She must have some kind of an immunity or something... I'll handle Alicia. Get her!" Torman yelled as he ordered Valerie, who immediately released Alicia.
Torman immediately began waving his hands at Alicia and bound her in a perpetual time loop. Alicia stood motionless, unable to move on her own.
Valerie charged at the butterfly, leaping out into the space far above the street below, colliding with her in mid air, where they began their brawl.
Helayne held onto her, trying to prevent her from falling to her death, while Valerie attempted to grapple Helayne, pulling her backwards as she struggled both against her arms and her wings. Helayne's wings suddenly became insubstantial, and yet were still visible and enough so that Valerie was able to move herself around behind Helayne, and get her arm around Helayne's throat.
"How are you still flying?" Valerie tightened her grip around Helayne's neck, trying to asphyxiate her.
"...loosen your grip and I'll tell you...!!!" Helayne struggled to breath through the strength of Valerie's clench as she drifted back away from the building and Alicia.
"...you're going to kill us both...!!!" Helayne pleaded with Valerie as she felt her consciousness slipping from her.
"I think I can handle a fall from this height. The real question is, can you?" asked Valerie of Helayne as she tightened her grip around Helayne's throat.
Helayne as a last ditch effort flew upward at an angle to the office where Torman was now vacating with Alicia, trapped in his time-loop. She then flipped Valerie over her head, grasping at her body as she reached the apex above Helayne, and then threw her at the office, trying to get her between the opening in the exterior wall.
Valerie struggled, even trying to grab Helayne's hand but missed and was tossed helplessly into open space as she plunged toward the office. Miraculously, she fell directly through the hole in the wall, hitting the floor hard enough to almost knock Torman and Alicia from their feet as they fled to the elevators.
Helayne then flew at Valerie as she got up and onto her feet. Helayne spun her lower body, leveraging her momentum to plant a kick in Valerie's solar plexus. Valerie flew threw the air, narrowly missing the broken doorway, through into the reception area just outside of Torman's office, hitting the wall and leaving a shaped impact in her form there upon.
Valerie leaned forward from the impact hole in the wall and stepped out, onto the floor.
"You're trying to save someone who ripped off her employers! Don't you get it!!!? You're playing for the wrong team!" Valerie brushed her blazer and pants off, and then walked confidently at Helayne as she landed in the office to confront Valerie.
"That's not for you to decide!" Helayne defied Valerie, holding up her arms in a ready stance with her legs separated just enough to maintain her center. Her wings expanded protectively around her sides, almost like additional appendages, ready for the coming fight.
"Look. I don't know you, but what you're doing is wrong. I'm here to stop you from taking her. She has to answer for what she did," Valerie held out her fists, preparing for the bout.
"Well we're both here doing what we believe is right, because I'm here to rescue her. You're neither justice nor the law, and if as you say she needs to answer, then relinquish her to the authorities. Not to goons like yourself," Helayne responded.
"Fine. Now that negotiations have broken down, lets settle this the old fashioned way. Shall we?" Valerie confirmed with Helayne, having some semblance of honour in this situation.
"Let's," Helayne responded, looking at Valerie with intensity through her mask.
Valerie moved first, throwing a punch that had plenty of force, but no experience or training. Valerie had been physically active during her school years, but yet not quite an athlete, nor did she have the physical resolve that the kind of violence they were venturing into tended to require.
Helayne's response was quick and precise, but only enough to deflect, protect and incapacitate. She blocked the punch, easily pushing it aside and then closed the distance enough to land a kick with the intent of sweeping Valerie off of her legs, failing to recall that Valerie's strength wasn't her ability to throw punches, but in her grasp.
Valerie quickly got hold of Helayne with her other hand, before Helayne's leg had swept her feet from under her. The two of them fell to the floor together, Helayne continuing through with her momentum, employing Ukemi to be up and on her feet again, except when she was upright again, Valerie was still clinging to her and holding tight.
Helayne once again closed their distance, trying to get under Valerie's grip and take her from her feet, where she'd have no purchase from which to use her superior strength against Helayne, but Valerie anticipated the move and instead got her other hand on Helayne's other side, and then went limp, falling backwards, this time using the momentum and her strength to throw Helayne across the room into the brick wall of the exterior of the building.
Helayne hit it full force, sending bricks from the outside of the building plunging to the sidewalk below, one of them barely missing a morning commuter as she looked up. A Police car had just pulled up, with the officers getting out and forcing people away from the danger zone.
"Valerie! The Police are here! We have to go! Just make it quick, will you!!!?" Torman told Valerie as he hung up from the call he'd just received from the front desk of the building.
Valerie looked to Torman, and then to Helayne, who got to her feet, clearly dazed from her impact with the wall. Valerie then turned to Helayne and walked forcefully towards her, grabbing her with both hands, and slamming her into the wall again several times before throwing her through the adjacent wall, landing her in the still running shower in the bathroom, covered in drywall dust and debris as water ran down her costume. There she lay unmoving.
"I'm sorry. But what you're doing isn't right," Valerie shook her head as she spoke.
"Come on Valerie! We have to go!" Torman pleaded with her, as he pushed Alicia ahead of him towards the elevators.
Valerie looked once more to Helayne, unconscious and then returned to Torman's side.
"Look. I'm not going to do that for you again," Valerie told Torman in no uncertain terms.
"This, Valerie, is business. Don't commit yourself to anything that makes you inflexible to cut a deal. Lets cross that bridge when we get to it, alright?" he urged her as the elevator arrived.
"Still, I don't think..." Valerie began.
"That's right. I think. You do. That's the nature of the business we're in," Torman forced Alicia into the elevator and Valerie followed him just before the door closed.
"Why don't we take her and the evidence against her and give it to the Police outside?" asked Valerie.
"Because, this isn't connected to what they're here to do. They're protecting people from the debris from your fight with Alicia earlier. It would just complicate things, and besides, I already assured that we'd be there on time to hand her over to the correct authorities. Alright? Lets just let them do their job, and we'll do ours, looking out for our business," Torman convinced her, looking into her eyes seductively as he spoke to her.
"And then we'll have some time for us. Right?" she asked him again.
"Oh, we'll have lots of time, honey. Especially you," he smiled at her, kissing her on the forehead.
The elevator doors opened and they guided the time-loop bound Alicia to their car, seating her in the back while Torman told Valerie to take the passenger seat.
"I wanted to drive. It makes sense. Then you can do your phone calls and make your plans so we have time together later?" she asked him before getting in the car.
"Honey, I need you to ride shotgun. Just in case. You never know what the world is going to throw at us, and now that you're strong enough to handle almost anything, I'd prefer it if you were by my side," he said to her, getting in the driver's seat.
"Alright. But this is the last time. I want to go back to being your lady, not your thug," Valerie said to him sarcastically as he started the car and put it in drive.
They pulled out of the parking garage and headed south towards the Gardiner Expressway, as Alicia stared out from her time-looped space at a world that from her perspective was moving at a million kilometers an hour, everything a perpetual blur.
As they got onto the ramp, a pair of Police cars had spotted them and gave them pursuit onto the entrance ramp to the Gardiner Expressway.
"Are those sirens for us?" asked Valerie, looking in the rearview mirror at the pursuing Police.
"No. They can't be. What have we done wrong?" he asked her, looking to her innocently.
"Well, for one, we haven't rescinded her into legal custody, which means we're effectively kidnappers," Valerie responded.
"No we're not. Don't go throwing a negative perspective onto this, Valerie. We're liberating the company from someone trying to rip it off. You know, people like her are going to be the downfall of the market system economy, Valerie. We're doing the right thing by..." he didn't get a chance to finish his statement as the Police car pulled up beside his, and let fly its buzzer.
The Constable in the passenger seat looked over at Torman, clearly directing him to pull over.
"Ok. Ok. Let me find a place..." Torman responded, waving to the officer.
He slowed the car momentarily, and then hit the accelerator, speeding past the Police car and pulling ahead of it as it dodged strategically to avoid rear ending Torman's car.
"Honey, they're trying to stop us because they're clearly not on our side," Torman suggested to her.
"Torman! I am not going to stop those Police cars for you, and that is final!" Valerie responded as the car sped up to one hundred and twenty kilometers per hour, quickly passing other cars on the expressway.
"Alright. I'll just out drive them then," Torman agreed, pushing the pedal all the way to the floor.
The car quickly sped up again, this time accelerating towards one forty, and then one fifty. They now passed the cars almost as if they were standing still, Torman aggressively weaving between traffic as they quickly approached it, until: there was a thud atop of the roof.
Torman looked to Valerie: "Honey, could you check and see what that was?" he asked her timidly, now trying get under her and make her appear to be unreasonable.
Helayne's masked face peeked down from the top of the roof, and smiled at Torman. She then turned and waved at Valerie.
"Hi? Wanna dance?" she asked Valerie from the other side of the windshield.
"Valerie? If not now, when?" Torman looked to her pleadingly.
When she didn't move, Torman then hit the brakes. The car quickly slowed, the Police car behind them slamming into the rear of the car, while Helayne kept going, flying off of the roof of the car narrowly avoiding the road as she took off up into the air again, circling back as Torman hit the accelerator. The car lurched forward again, quickly gaining speed until they were doing one sixty.
"You're going to get us killed!" Valerie said to Torman.
"Relax! I used to race mini-bikes you know..." Torman assured her.
"Alright. You're going to get someone killed!" Valerie responded.
"Not if you take care of her," Torman made the deal making offer to her.
"Alright! I'll do it," Valerie said reluctantly, opening the door of the car and climbing up and onto the roof just as Helayne's wings spread wide as she landed on the back trunk.
"Is this the passenger pickup area?" asked Helayne of Valerie.
"No. Its departures. Yours," Valerie said as she walked across the roof and stepped down onto the trunk to confront Helayne.
The Police cars sped up and were now behind Torman's car as he swerved to avoid being boxed in by the pursuing cruisers. Valerie teetered and fell off of Torman's car, Helayne quickly flying over to her and catching her, then flying her to the hood of the Police car where they both landed on their feet and began struggling against each other's strength.
Helayne used a technique to break Valerie's grip, then hitting her twice in the center of her chest to knock her off balance once again. Valerie fell backwards, but somehow managed to launch herself from the Police car over to the other Police car, landing firmly on the roof, denting it slightly and crushing the red cherries on its roof.
Helayne turned and waved to the two Police officers in the car from which she leapt, flying over to the other Police car where she confronted Valerie with a series of punches, catching Valerie twice with them. Valerie responded by grabbing hold of Helayne's arm and using her leverage to throw her at the guard rail, cringing when she realized what she'd done.
"Sorry!" Valerie yelled after Helayne, who quickly slowed before hitting the guard rail, her wings opening once again as she took to flight into the air, speeding around past the Police car and directly to Torman's car.
"Dammit! She cheated!" Valerie exclaimed as she leapt from the roof of the Police car to another car ( traveling at two thirds of their speed), and then to the other Police car, which was much closer to Torman's.
"Come on Valerie. Just take care of her and the cops and we're outta here!" Torman muttered to himself.
The sound of the rear windshield shattering broke his train of thought, and he watched in horror as Helayne ripped the back windshield from the car, tossing it into the passenger seat beside Alicia. Helayne leaned over upside down from the back of the roof and reached into the car, getting firm hold of Alicia's jacket and pulled her. She remained put as the seatbelt held her in place.
"Of all the things to get in the way..." Helayne cursed under her breath as Valerie slammed into her on the roof.
"Nice try butterfly, but now its time to say C'ya," Valerie said to Helayne as she held the butterfly by the chest of her suit by both hands.
"Not quite as poetic as I expected... but pretty good given the situation," Helayne responded to Valerie, bracing for impact as Valerie lifted her and slammed her down several times on the roof of the car, compacting it lower and lower as she did.
Torman inside of the car was forced to lower the seat as he drove, narrowly avoiding an oncoming car ahead of him. The car he'd avoided changed lanes and swerved to avoid collision, skidding out of control. Both Valerie and Helayne took immediate notice of the peril unfolding for the family contained with that car.
Helayne pushed Valerie aside and leapt into the air, flying off towards the car but not before Valerie grabbed hold of her legs and clung to her for dear life as they flew towards the car as it sped towards the guard rails where it would break through and plunge onto the Queens Quay some forty meters below. Certainly killing all in the car if that should come to transpire.
Helayne flew over to the car, getting over it just before it hit the guard rails. Valerie let go, falling from Helayne to the roof of the car. She grabbed hold of it, as it hit the railing, breaking through the barrier and sliding out over the edge teetering on the brink of falling onto the cars below. Valerie clung to the car roof as it fell. She reached out with her arm and grabbed hold of the ledge, hanging onto the iron rebar woven into the concrete, the car dangling from her left hand as she lost her grip.
"I can't hold it! My hand is sweating..." Valerie gasped as the car slipped from her grip.
The car fell, suddenly slowing and stopping just a meter above the road. Helayne hung onto the roof, and was struggling with all of her might to slow the car's descent onto the paved road. With a final breath, she let go, and the car fell onto the road on all four of its wheels, the family inside cheering for her, and hugging each other as they celebrated the second chance they'd been given.
Behind Helayne, Valerie's grip on the rebar became just as slippery, until she lost it, falling towards the pavement below. Helayne's senses immediately detected her and she turned and caught Valerie just before impact.
"I would have lived, you know," Valerie said to Helayne after she was in her grip.
"I know, but they wouldn't have. What you did was very selfless..." Helayne said to Valerie.
"You too..." Valerie agreed and they took a moment to realize that they were on the same side. Perhaps she was like Helayne. A woman with a foot firmly on each side and able to see the whole picture, rather than just one extreme side of it.
"I have to get my friend," Helayne said to Valerie, dropping her to the pavement safely.
"I know. And I have to stop you," Valerie responded before Helayne could fly away.
Once again, Valerie jumped up and caught onto Helayne's legs as she flew off to retrieve Alicia. By the time the two of them found Torman's car, he was far ahead of the pursuing Police cars but it was clear that there was a collateral cost to his dangerous driving, for several cars had collided and the expressway was now littered with accidents, trailing behind him and his pursuers.
"He's going to get someone killed, or possibly seriously injured," Helayne said to Valerie as they flew toward Torman's car.
"Get me to the car, and I'll help you get Alicia, but I'm not going with you," Valerie assured Helayne.
"Just help me get my friend out of there, and we'll go our own way... until we meet again, and we will," Helayne assured Valerie.
"Alright. Fair enough. We'll settle up then. Until then, lets get you your friend," Valerie suggested to Helayne.
"Lets do it. Maybe you'd reconsider your allegiances, given the evidence that he clearly has no intention to relinquish her into the hands of the law..." Helayne suggested to her in turn.
"He's my fiancé. That's a promise. That's the kind of promise that love is all about. I can't betray love," Valerie explained to Helayne.
"I hope that he realizes what he's got. For your sake," Helayne responded as they approached the speeding trio of cars.
"No. For his sake," Valerie reminded her, and Helayne somehow managed to smile over her response.
Helayne touched down on the roof, the two of them standing and facing each other.
"I'll get in and undo her seatbelt. If he asks, I'll say I thought I took care of you," Valerie assured Helayne.
"Alright. Good luck. You're really not such a bad person you know," Helayne said to her.
"I know," Valerie smiled back.
She then turned and slipped into the passenger seat through the now broken passenger window.
"Where is she?!!!" asked Torman of Valerie immediately.
"She's taken care of," Valerie lied.
"Alright, now we can lose these Police, and get to the pier," Torman said to Valerie as he focused upon the task of losing the Police trailing them.
Valerie leaned over her left shoulder and reached back, undoing Alicia's seatbelt.
"What are you doing?" asked Torman.
"Her seatbelt's broken..." Valerie once again lied to Torman.
"Keep an eye on her. I'm going to lose these cops," Torman quickly swerved and cut off another car, which then slammed into the side of one of the pursuing Police cars, the two of them hitting the guard rail in the middle of the expressway and coming to a crashing stop.
"Ha ha! That's one down baby!" Torman responded as he now focused on the only remaining Police car.
From the top of the roof, and near the back, Helayne suddenly reached down and into the car, grabbing hold of Alicia's jacket. With one firm pull, she extracted Alicia from the car and flew off into the sky.
"I thought you said you took care of her!???" Torman looked to her, now appearing very distrustful of her.
"I did! But she must have..." Valerie responded defensively before Torman cut her off.
"That's not good enough. That's not going to cut it if you want to make it to upper management! No matter, we've still got the formula," Torman asserted to her as he pulled off of the Gardiner Expressway, the Police car veering across two lanes to keep up with him.
As the Police car skidded across the expressway, it slamming into the diving barrier between the highway and the off ramp. The officer sat up in his cruiser, a small bruise on his forehead where he'd impacted the steering wheel. He looked angrily at his partner in the passenger seat, and then to the front of the car, as the radiator boiled over and steam started billowing forth.
"Don't say a word!" the officer turned to the officer in the passenger's seat.
"I told you to not to get over so far to the left," the officer in the passenger seat responded as steam poured forth from the front of the cruiser.
...
Torman exited northbound on Spadina Avenue and quickly circled back towards York Street.
"We lost them. Told ya we'd lose them. Now we've got to ditch this car..." Torman said to her, though most of what he was saying was intended for himself.
"I thought you said that the Police were after her, not us," Valerie responded to his plan as he pulled over to the side of the road to ditch the car in a back alleyway just off of Front Street and Blue Jays Way.
"They were, until we refused to hand her over. She's committed a very serious crime, so she was supposed to given over to the custody of a very serious agency," Torman responded, shutting the car down.
"So now the Police are after us?" Valerie confirmed with him.
"Honey, this is a difficult situation. I know, but we've got the key to our future here in this attaché case. All we have to do is make it to the pier, and meet with our contact and we're done. You're done, and we can both go on with the rest of our lives," Torman assured her as he made certain that he was not leaving any identifying items behind in the car.
"There's a pair of steel cutters in the glove box. Grab them and empty the glove box of everything," Torman ordered her as he got out.
She threw him the cutters and he went around to each end of the car and clipped the license plates, collecting them and dropping them into the same bag that Valerie had used to dump the contents of the glove box.
"Is this how our life is going to be? We're going to live like fugitives?" asked Valerie of him.
"No. This is just a temporary precaution until we meet up with our contacts. Look Valerie, could you at least give me some credit. I've gotten us this far and we're so close to the end of all of this. Just hang in there and trust me. Like you're my fiancé. Remember?" he smiled at her, planting a delicate kiss upon her forehead.
"...alright. Its just that sometimes, you push things a little too far..." she held onto him, voicing her fears.
As they stood embracing each other just outside of the car, he checked his wrist watch over her left shoulder.
"Lets go," he said, breaking away from her and closing the door on her car.
She watched and knew at that moment, that he'd also closed to the door on their lives together.
And yet, she followed him in the hope of proving her own suspicions wrong.
Regroup and Recoup
Helayne landed atop of the downtown condominium tower, her wings fizzling and dissipating as they folded themselves over and disappeared into her back, producing an electrical hum as they did.
Alicia found her footing, and had come to after her ordeal of being thrust into a time/space loop. She stagged and swayed, and then looked to Helayne, her face still hidden behind her mask.
"How are you?" Helayne asked her.
"If we ever go to that theme park again, I urge you NOT to go on that ride, unless you're feeling nostalgic to see your breakfast again," Alicia responded to her, explaining her dilemma very well.
"I take it that you didn't get what you went there for?" Helayne asked her.
"How did you know? How did you even know where I was?" Alicia asked her, still somewhat dizzy and in shock.
"Jinn Hua told me. She told me everything I missed while I was gone," Helayne explained to Alicia.
"A friend?" Alicia asked of her.
"A teacher. A mentor. She also explained to me how your formula saved my life. Rebuilt me from the inside out, which explains a lot," Helayne replied, looking at her own hands with her new eyes.
"I like the costume. How'd you come up with that so soon?" asked Alicia.
"It was for a costume ball I went to last year. Some friends in the fashion industry. When I awoke from the hospital, Jinn Hua had already filled me in by that time, so I just up and left. Went home. Got suited up, and spread my true wings for the first time in my life. I mean I had to help my BFF. You know how it is," Helayne said thoughtfully to Alicia.
"Yeah. I do. Its good to see you again," Alicia's smile and glow returned, finally having had a chance to speak with her high school friend.
"Lets do this in my condo unit, before they send someone up to the roof to check on reports of a giant butterfly," Helayne began towards the edge of the building top, walking around the edge until she was lined up with her own balcony. Her and Alicia then jumped down onto the balcony, finding that the balcony door was already unlocked.
They slid it open and heard the television a short distance away.
"Are you married? Do you live with someone now?" asked Alicia of Helayne.
"No on both counts..." Helayne told Alicia as Alicia retrieved her mask from her pocket and adorned it.
The two of them rounded the corner of the hall into the open concept living area/kitchen, where they spied a young woman seated on the sofa, munching a bowl of popcorn as she watched the ending of the movie Titanic.
"Monique?" Helayne said aloud, causing the girl to jump up from the couch, sending the bowl flying and the popcorn everywhere.
"Helayne...?" Monique now faced her, her eyes and face wet with tears.
"We can explain..." Helayne immediately realized that she was still wearing her costume.
"Yeah. Grown women always wake up at nine in the morning and get dressed up in cosplay outfits. Its perfectly reasonable," Alicia added sarcastically.
"I let myself in with your keys. I tried finishing the rest of the painting work at West Meet East, and even supervised the construction crew in the cleanup after the Police combed the crime scene. I ran out of things to do, so I came here. Your fridge is almost empty by the way," Monique wiped her eyes in the joy and shock of seeing her employer alive once again.
"So... Uhhh... about the hospital. When did they release you?" Monique continued as Helayne made her way to the closet and retrieved a broom and dust pan to begin sweeping up the popcorn.
"They didn't. I left..." Helayne said as she began sweeping the popcorn by the pile into the dust pan before dumping it into an environmentally friendly bag.
"Alicia, right? I'll get that..." Monique went for the popcorn bowl at the same time as Alicia, and the two of them hit their heads together. Alicia barely noticed the impact while Monique grabbed her head in pain.
"Oh! I'm so sorry! I..." Alicia quickly checked up on Monique.
"I'm fine... Really... I was just watching Titanic again... for the tenth time..." Monique gushed as she rubbed her head.
"Lets put something else on..." Monique quickly grabbed the television remote and switched from the DVD player to the news.
"...Police are still tight lipped about the situation, but the internet is alive with buzz over the sightings..." the newscaster's voice emerged from the television as the news scene cut to a smartphone video of a giant butterfly flying high above the streets just outside of a downtown building.
The video zoomed in as close as it could, while the mysterious butterfly lady floated high above them as she looked into a damaged section of the wall of the building.
"This coincides with this security camera image of the mysterious blonde haired lady, who was spotted by security in the same building. Police haven't commented as to whether the two incidents are related, but one thing is certain. The city is drawing a lot of attention as this situation unfolds... This is Janine Bennett for CBC news..." the reporter signed off and the scene returned to the news desk.
"Oh my gosh! That wasn't! It couldn't have been!" Monique looked to Helayne and Alicia, and then back to the television, and then back to them again as Helayne got the last of the popcorn into the bag.
"Monique, we need a moment. Is there something you could do in your own condo unit?" asked Helayne of her friend and employee.
"Yes... but I ran out of food and I haven't had time to go shopping..." Monique admitted honestly.
"So instead you came to my condo and ate mine?" Helayne deposited the bag full of popcorn and began checking her fridge and cupboards, perhaps trying to change the subject in order to distract Monique from what she'd just seen on television.
"Yes... I was going to visit you today... but that doesn't explain what I just saw on television. That was clearly you, and you're the mysterious blonde haired girl. The one with the NS on her shirt. What's that stand for by the way? Not sincere?" asked Monique of them, putting her hands on her hips.
"Not quite. Would you buy nerd scientist?" Alicia offered.
"...or never shops... for her own groceries...?" Helayne looked accusingly to Monique once again, trying to detour her from her current pursuits.
"That doesn't answer my question! What is going on? Why did I just see you two on the news, one of you flying around like its an everyday thing, and the other who has been galivanting around the city in a mask vandalizing companies? What gives?!!!" Monique demanded once again of them.
"Monique! Sit down! We're going to have a meeting. Right now," Helayne said, sliding her mask from her face as she went over to the fridge and retrieved a tupperware container full of leftover spring rolls from before her hospital stay.
She smelled them, and when they seemed alright, she took one and offered the container to Alicia.
"Thank you! I was just going to say how hungry I... Right. The meeting," Alicia began as she removed her mask, then hungrily biting into a spring roll to recoup some of her lost energy.
...
Helayne and Alicia had explained everything to Monique. About their time together in high school. About their graduation. About Helayne's martial arts when she was a youth. About Jinn Hua and the halfway point between life and death.
About Alicia's formula and its incredible effect upon their bodies. About Torman and his company buyout scams: how he'd amassed such a large fortune. About how Torman had discovered the existence of the formula and stole it from Alicia's workplace at Tynan and Associates Medical Research Facility.
About how both Torman, and his fiancé Valerie had taken the formula, imbuing them with incredible abilities almost too far fetched to be believable. About how Alicia had attempted to infiltrate Torman's office, only to be intercepted by Valerie, who'd made short work of her with her incredible strength and Torman's ability to wield and shape time itself.
About how Helayne had arrived just in time, before they'd made off with her to allegedly rescind her into the custody of agents from an unknown agency. About how Helayne had rescued her after pursuing their car on the Gardiner Expressway, essentially escaping with Alicia thanks to Valerie's secret assistance.
About how they had to get the formula back before he was able to reverse engineer it, and use it for the dire purposes of his own ends.
"That's pretty unbelievable you know, and that's coming from someone who still believes in Santa Claus..." Monique responded to their story.
"The issue isn't as to whether you believe it. The issue is that we can't let him get away with that formula..." Helayne asserted to them both.
"He can't be allowed to reverse engineer it. The consequences would be... disastrous..." Alicia added.
"Yeah. I could see that. I mean people healing instantly from sickness and injury. People living longer and healthier lives. Yeah, that would pretty much suck for the whole world. I mean, what next, world peace? Wouldn't want that," Monique responded sarcastically to their implication.
"You don't understand. He wouldn't use it to heal people. He'd use it to create an army of people to follow him and his lead. We'd be quickly outnumbered and unable to stop him, while he'd eventually be able to get control of the entire world," Alicia laid it down in as plain terms as she could manage for Monique.
"This sounds to me like you're holding onto a power that you don't want to share with everyone else!" Monique responded, beginning to question who the real monsters were.
"Monique, this isn't about healing others. That's what I've based my entire career on. Research to find that perfect cure for degenerative diseases. For cancer. For Muscular Dystrophy. For any of a whole host of related illnesses, but doing that requires doing that alone. Not giving people something whose side effects create the means for great destruction..." Alicia explained to Monique.
"Monique, do you know why martial arts training is such a disciplined and regimented practice? Because martial arts should never be like a gun. A gun is instant power to kill, without the discipline. Martial arts is a process, where a person becomes so finely tuned with their body and mind, that they can seriously harm others, but by the time they've acquired that ability, they've learned to value and respect life in such a way to wield that power with the responsibility that it requires," Helayne explained to Monique.
"We can't give them a formula that gives them power without the discipline and the respect for life to wield it. That would be like giving everyone a gun. The instant power to take a life. Within hours of having such power, people would instantly be using it to settle their grievances with others. To get even for past grudges. To collect up on debts and to shore up competitive differences. There would be nothing but chaos, except amongst those who follow a man like Torman. He'd organize them, and then use them to acquire world power, and wield it in such a way that respects nothing about what I was trying to achieve in designing the Y-series formula in the first place," Alicia pleaded with Monique to see their side of things.
At that moment, there was a knock on the door.
"Get on the balcony. I'll answer it. If its the Police, then fly away..." Monique offered to them as all three of them stood.
"We'll stay on the balcony to be sure you're alright," Helayne assured Monique as the two of them put their masks on again.
Helayne and Alicia went back out and onto the balcony through the sliding door, as Monique went to the front door and checked the security monitor. Someone had their hand over the camera.
"Who is it?" Monique asked through the door.
"Its us! Aikiko and Myung! She's all over the news you know!" Aikiko's voice could be heard through the door.
Monique quickly opened the door and let the two of them in.
"The coast is clear!" Monique yelled to them out on the balcony and they returned to the living area shortly thereafter.
"Nice outfit! Where are the wings?" Aikiko checked out Helayne's costume.
"They're rental. I had to return them or lose my deposit," Helayne replied sarcastically.
"What's N.S.?" asked Myung of Alicia.
"Nothing special... obviously..." Alicia responded to the lack of attention she was receiving with regard to her own costume.
"We spoke with Hind Kyoshi and Sabomnim Hoon Kwang. They need to meet with you," Aikiko told Helayne.
"More teachers?" asked Alicia.
"Exactly. Are they up to date on the situation?" asked Helayne.
"They knew more than we did. They said you'd need help, so here we are," Myung offered.
"Did Torman and Valerie indicate where they were going?" asked Helayne of Alicia.
"Something about a warehouse by Harbourfront Pier," Alicia told Helayne.
"That's right across the street! There's a commercial building there with a few stores, then there's a warehouse across from it to the west. Its connected up to its own dock. They use it for small transport throughout the Lake Ontario region. No connection to Tynan and Associates though," Alicia explained to them.
"Why don't we take them there? Get the formula?" Monique suggested as if she were a part of what was about unfold.
"We? No, no, no. You, my friend are going to stay somewhere nice and safe, while the big girls go and take care of this," Helayne said to Monique in a somewhat condescending manner.
Aikiko put her hands on her hips.
"What does that make us?" she responded to Helayne.
"Accomplices... if we get caught. Or worse... if we get caught by Torman. This is way too dangerous for any of you," Alicia urged them to accept that fact.
"Let us make that call. We could be your eyes and ears, while you do the hands on work, not to mention, you could use a hacker on your crew," Aikiko suggested.
"And a court stenographer trainee... clerk... former intern..." Myung added.
"I won second place in a talent show once!" Monique offered her unique skillset to the task at hand.
Helayne and Alicia looked at each other from behind their masks.
"Alright, but from a safe distance, outside of the warehouse..." Helayne looked to them each in turn, and then to Monique.
"And no costumes..." Alicia finalized the rules of their participation in the delicate operation.
To be continued in The Butterfly Dragon: Heroes of our Own Reimagined: Episode 13 - The Dragons Rise
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.
