"It don't have to be pretty," Madi grunted. The stitches just needed to hold everything in the right place until he could heal up in a few hours. He should have been incoherent with pain, but the more kanji he'd had burned onto him, the stronger he became. Since he was also the first white man to have the honor of being an Iron Guard, the fact that he was the only one of them strong enough to bear over a dozen kanji pissed the other slant-eyed bastards off to no end. "Hurry up. I don't want to look all busted up when we report in."
The heat from the kanji was making him sweat. He had them carved into his back, chest, legs, and arms. The downside of so many brands was that he couldn't really feel anything anymore. Madi had taken to hurting himself just for fun. He'd actually enjoyed getting shot on this mission. The brief pain had reminded him that he could still feel anything at all. It had taken forever to drive back to the hotel from the Grimmy's podunk town, and he'd relished the suffering every mile of the way.
Once Yutaka had him closed up, the Summoner prepared a circle, so they could confirm the success of their mission. This was no normal circle either, and Yutaka was having to draw the most intricate of magical kanji in special ink made from human blood and demon smoke on the floor. Telegrams and radio could be monitored, even the best codes could be broken, but nobody could eavesdrop on this communication, plus it did have another added benefit. Madi washed up and put on some clean clothes so he could be presentable.
Twenty minutes later he stood in front of a glowing blob floating in the center of the hotel room. The surface rippled like water, finally solidifying into a view that Madi recognized as the Imperial Council Chambers. Madi marveled at the clarity of the link; it was almost like looking through a door into another room of a house. He had to admit that Yutaka was an artist. Madi's personal gifts tended to be more direct.
Madi was taken by surprise by who appeared in the rift. It was the Emperor's chief advisor, Lord Tokugawa himself, Chairman of the Imperial Council, and de-facto leader of the Imperium. Madi and Yutaka bowed with the utmost respect. Madi had not expected the big boss, and felt a little giddy from the excitement. It was late in the evening in Tokyo, but everyone knew that the Chairman never slept.
The Chairman appeared to be a man in the physical prime of his life, but the word around the Council was that he looked exactly the same when he first arrived at the Japanese Court forty years ago. It was rumored that he did not eat or drink either, but that he was sustained on Power alone. He was regal, handsome, distinguished, with jet black hair, wearing a western suit tonight, but with the red sash badge of his office around his waist. Madi had personally seen the Chairman's displeasure cause his enemies to weep blood. He'd seen the Chairman heal the incurable, kill the unkillable, break the laws of physics, and warp the fabric of reality with his mind.
Madi only respected one thing, and that was strength. You were either weak or strong. Whoever was the strongest was therefore the best, and no one could be stronger than the Chairman. He'd never believed in his father's god, only in the Power. The strongest wouldn't preach about mercy, peace, forgiveness, or any of that bullshit. That was all sissy talk for the weak to pretend that they still mattered. The Chairman was force. He was going to inherit the world, crush the meek, and Madi planned on being at his side when he did.
The Chairman was all business. "It is done?"
"Yes, Chairman," Madi answered enthusiastically. Yutaka stepped forward, deferentially, and passed the parcel containing the device through the rift. It flickered, but Yutaka's spell was perfect, and the package landed softly at the Chairman's feet. No living thing could pass through a fold in space except for the wretched Travelers, but a master magician could send through small bits of matter, and Yutaka was certainly a master.
"Very good, Iron Guard," he said, and Madi felt his chest swell with pride. He bowed again.
Another figure scurried into the bottom of the rift, retrieving the package. Madi recognized one of the Cogs from Unit 731, the Chairman's special science group. Even after all of the things that Madi had done, those weirdoes still gave him the creeps. They'd been the ones to modify his body into the perfect killing machine he was today, and that had been years ago. Their work had come a long way since. He'd seen the camps in Manchuria, the experiments they were doing to the people they'd enslaved, and the things they were turning Actives into.
The Chairman must despise weakness as much as Madi did.
"Our spies should be giving us the position of the final piece shortly. You will return to California immediately. Await further instructions." Madi didn't know who was feeding them information from the Grimnoir, but he didn't need to know. Madi was a weapon that just needed to be pointed in the right direction.
Sullivan stepped gingerly from the train platform. He was running his Power just a bit, easing gravity's pull, and that made walking much more comfortable. His injuries weren't life threatening at this point, but the last thing he needed to do was push it, rip something open, and start bleeding all over the place.
Heinrich was procuring them transport to the little town that Sven Christiansen lived in. Garrett was helping to make sure Sullivan didn't tumble down the ramp. He paused to catch his breath and to admire the scenery. The mountains were huge and brown.
He felt a strange sensation a moment later, something odd, but familiar. Sullivan paused, scanning the crowd, but couldn't see anything out of place. The whistle blew and the North American Pullman began to chug away.
"Sullivan? You all right?" Garrett asked.
It was like… he wasn't sure, just instincts kicking in, as if he were walking the deep woods, and everything had gotten too quiet, like there was a dangerous predator hidden somewhere in the trees. The sensation faded.
He shook his head. "Naw… I'm fine. Let's go."
Madi watched the station out the private train car window, scowling. The hair on his arms had just stood up.
"What is it?" Yutaka asked, suspicious.
"I don't know…" Then he saw the broad-shouldered fella standing at the end of the ramp next to a short, dumpy man in glasses. "It can't be…" he muttered, placing one hand on the warm glass. "Well, I'll be damned."
Jake.
Yutaka stood up and moved to the window, trying to figure out what was going on. "Trouble?"
"You have no idea…" Madi muttered. There was no way it was a coincidence, damn Lenny Torrio for ever talking to him to begin with. If he hadn't already killed Torrio, he'd kill him again, and make it hurt more this time. Madi despised weakness and worshipped strength, but Jake was something different, one of the strong who felt the need to protect the weak, and that made him dangerous. "Summon a demon. Have it follow the big man." Mar Pacifica, California They ate breakfast in what Francis called the nice dining room. Faye thought that it was a little ridiculous to have a chandelier that obviously cost more than her Grandpa's farm, but she did have to admit that it was very sparkly. The food consisted of a bunch of items that she'd never seen before with names that sounded vaguely European.
General Pershing was in his room. Apparently he no longer ever left his bed, not that it mattered, since the Healer, Jane, said that his stomach couldn't handle solid food anyway. Other than that, everyone else that she'd met so far was gathered around one end of the enormous table, and there were enough seats remaining for another twenty people.