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> Adventures in Parodyverse - Saving the Future Part 5.1
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> Liu Xi’s cell phone rang.  She looked at the display - it was Jay, calling from his office.  She rolled her eyes and answered.
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> “How did it go?”  Jay asked.
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> “It was easy.”  she replied.
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> “Good.”  Jay replied.  “Maybe you’ll make new friends.  Solve some of the urban legends.”
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> “I like the friends I have now.”  Liu Xi told him.
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> “More friends, then.”  Jay changed his phrasing.
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> “Okay, maybe.”  Liu Xi shrugged unconsciously, though it was useless since she was on the phone.  “And I will look for your urban legends.  I’m coming back soon...I can show you which classes I will take.”
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> “I look forward to it.”  Jay said.  He was about to hang up, but then Liu Xi stopped him.
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> “Hey...maybe you should take one or two classes too.”  she said.  “It would give you something different to do.“
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> There was silence at the other end of the line.  It was hard to tell if he was considering it or shocked at the suggestion.  “I’ll think about it.”  he finally said.  “I’ll see you when you get back.”
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> With that, Liu Xi hung up her phone and headed to the edge of the campus to buy a few books, and then hail a cab.
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>
> ---
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> An hour ago, Liu Xi Xian was afraid, but still in control.  It was an odd feeling, walking toward the administration building on the campus of Paradopolis University.  The campus was a stark contrast to much of the neighborhood surrounding it - everything was shiny, clean, well kept with lots of trees, green space, and shrubbery to give it character.  Outside its borders, however, the neighborhood was rather grubby and run down.
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> Dressed in casual jeans, sneakers, and a short sleeve shirt, covered by a jacket, she walked through the doors of the administration building, and followed the signs to Registration on the second floor.  She carried with her a letter of admittance granted to her only because Sir Mumphrey Wilton had written a recommendation for her, addressed directly to the Dean.
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> The booklet of classes she took from a table next to the registration office was overwhelming.  Liu Xi began looking through it quickly, trying to find any classes she might like to take.  She wrote down the numbers next to them on a piece of paper, before transferring them to the final registration form.  Then she took them to one of the registration agents.
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> It took an hour to complete the whole process, and by then Liu Xi was emotionally and physically drained.  Having to switch a few classes because they were full, or weren’t allowed, or because she missed some that were required.  As she left, though, she held in her hand her first college class schedule.  She would only be going a few hours a day - being restricted in the number of classes, since she had no educational references - but she still felt somewhat accomplished.
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> ---
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> Lara Night seemed almost a little hurt as she looked at Dan Drury, and then at Yuki Shiro, who was staring back with arms folded.  She glanced at Hatman, but he looked away.  He definitely didn’t believe in what the others were doing, but with Yuki, you could never tell at first glance.  Al B Harper was busy looking at Yuki, his mind somewhere else.
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> “I didn’t do it.”  Lara replied with a shrug to Drury’s point blank question - whether she had moved Danny Lyle somewhere.  She was in Hatman’s office, but it felt more like a courtroom at the moment.
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> Al B Harper snapped back to reality long enough to say, “You’re the only one who could have, Lara, by process of elimination.  The way you transport people is non-dimensional.  You can also go straight through walls.  My detectors, cameras, and sensors are infallible.  It had to be you.”
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> Yuki’s serious look diminished somewhat as she butted in with more information.  “Al, you know, I’m a suspect too.  So is Anna and Hallie.  We can all bypass the sensors without being detected.”
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> Al’s face fell.  Drury shifted his cigar to the other side of his mouth and chomped on it.  Hatman looked up again.
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> “I don’t believe I’m saying this,”  Hatman contributed, “but Anna has no motive.”
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> “Unless someone asked her to.”  Yuki pointed out.  “And then asked her not to tell anyone.”
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> Hatman grunted, but didn’t reply.
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> “I knew we should have scrapped that android when we had the chance.”  Drury mumbled.
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> “It’s not her fault.”  Hatman reiterated, only more loudly this time.
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> Yuki gently gripped his shoulder.  “I know how you feel Hatty, but the fact is she’s a suspect.  We can’t prove she wasn’t involved yet.”  She turned her attention back to Lara.  “Or you.”
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> “You’re right Yuki.”  Lara responded.  “Though I can help Anna at least.  Danny isn’t in the mansion, and Anna’s been here all day.  So she couldn’t have moved him.”
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> “And Lara was talking to me for a while.”  Hatman added quickly.  “I guess it’s possible for her to transport Danny while talking to someone else but I doubt it.”
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> “What about Liu Xi?”  Yuki asked.
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> “Signing up for classes at Paradopolis University.”  Hatman explained.  “I called her while she was in the registration office.”
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> “Oh?”  Yuki smiled.  “Good for her.”
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> “So Lara here is still kind of a suspect.”  Drury summed up, “Because of her far-reaching talents.”
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> “But I doubt it.”  Hatman hastily added.  “Besides, Lara tends to leave this electric ozone smell when she transports someone away.  It doesn’t last long though.”
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> Drury ignored him.  “We have Hallie, and we have a lot of possible outside influences.”
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> “Not to mention the possibility of multiple parties working together.”  Yuki pointed out.
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> Drury frowned.  “Which means Anna is still a suspect.  She wouldn’t have to leave the mansion, she could have pulled Danny out and handed him off to someone.”
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> “Anna doesn’t trust easily.”  Yuki noted.  “If she handed him off to someone, it would have to be one of us, or maybe Visionary or Kerry.”
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> “What about the Hooded Hood?”  Lara asked.  “What about the Doorman?  When the Moderator changed things, he could do that kind of stuff.  What if he actually existed first, and created the Moderator?”
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> Silence fell over the room for a moment.  Drury switched to a new cigar.
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> Hatman finally stated the obvious.  “We might be too late already, then.”  He looked at Lara and surprisingly said, “Stick around, Lara.  If you’re right about this we’re really going to need you.”
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> Lara nodded once, and then she and Yuki filed out of Hatman’s office.
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> Drury tapped his watch obnoxiously.  “Tick-tock.  You’re running out of time, Hatman.”
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> Jay Boaz sighed imperceptibly, his shoulders stiffening.  He would be walking around like that for a while until this mystery is solved.
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> ---
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> Liu Xi Xian entered Jay’s office, carrying a new backpack, and she was smiling.  That seemed to cheer him up a little bit, seeing her again, but she could still tell that he was painfully stiff.  She then noticed that Dan Drury was in his office as well.
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> “Just who we were waiting for.”  Drury growled as he munched his cigar.
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> She backed up against the door, keeping one hand on the handle in case.
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> Jay quickly reached out to her.  “Don’t be afraid, Liu Xi, we just need your help.  Danny Lyle disappeared without a trace, and we need to know how.  You’re an elementalist, and have been reading about arcane magic.”
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> Liu Xi thought a moment and came up with one answer.  “Maybe he woke up for a second and denied he was in jail.”
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> Jay and Dan Drury looked at each other.  Jay then shook his head quickly.
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> “Okay, I’ll look for you.”  Liu Xi agreed.  She took Jay’s hand gently, but then looked back at Drury with disdain.  “But he has to wait here.”
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> “Hell no, I’m not waiting here.”  Drury insisted.
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> Just for a moment, Drury saw Liu Xi’s middle finger, before she and Jay vanished from sight.
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> ---
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> “That wasn’t very polite.”  Jay scolded Liu Xi when they appeared in the basement of the Lair Mansion.  “You know he’s just going to come down here eventually.”
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> “Yes, so I have to think quickly.”  Liu Xi walked into the boring, small cell and paced around a bit.  She looked at the I.V. that was keeping Danny sedated, and the bed he lied in as she was shaking her head slowly.
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> “Is there a reason we ditched Dan Drury?”  Jay asked as he followed her.
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> “He’s an ass.”  she summarized as she continued circling the cell.  “Did you know this room comes apart?”
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> “Comes apart?”  Jay felt a chill as he asked that question.  He was almost afraid of the answer.
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> She brushed one side of her hair behind her ear and began to think about how to rephrase that.  “You know how you can build a model house, and make it so the roof comes off and the walls come out so you can reach things?”
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> Jay frowned, and nodded as he understood.  “We should tell Yuki.  How did you know that?  And how would someone...take it apart?”
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> “A lot of the basement rooms in here are like that.”  Liu Xi informed him.  “And...I don’t know how, I just know it can.”
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> “Like a movie set.”  Yuki Shiro interrupted as she entered the cell as well.  “This smells more and more like the a setup to me.  A setup by some cosmic being.”
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> “Let’s not jump to conclusions just yet.”  Jay suggested carefully.
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> “I didn’t agree with Lara before.”  Yuki continued on anyway, “But I’m starting to believe it.  Looks like someone set up the dominoes and is waiting for someone to bump into the first one to start them all falling.  Someone who really knows what they’re doing.”
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> “Like the Hooded Hood.”  Liu Xi contributed.
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> “Or his son.”  Jay speculated.  “Did it occur to anyone that Danny may have learned to set up contingencies on his own?”
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> “Yeah.”  Yuki replied softly.  “But I hoped to god it wasn’t true.”
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> That’s when four SPUD soldiers quickly filed into the dungeon cell, their weapons trained on Liu Xi.  Dan Drury pushed his way through them.
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> “What’s going on here?”  Yuki asked angrily.  “You have no right to bring your storm troopers in here!”
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> “The deadline hasn’t passed yet, Drury.”  Jay tried to rephrase that more politely.
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> “Maybe not.”  Drury growled, “But hers sure has.”
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> Liu Xi looked shocked as Drury pointed directly at her.
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> “What are you talking about?”  Jay asked, anger starting to creep into his voice.
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> “Your Chinese friend just demonstrated that she can get in here, past all the defenses.”  Drury pointed out.  “She just went right to the top of the suspect list.  By the power vested in me by the U.S. Government, Liu Xi Xian, I place you under arrest.”
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> “God dammit, don’t you listen?”  Yuki yelled at him, “She wasn’t even here!”
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> “Get out of my way!”  Drury warned Yuki.
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> As they continued arguing, Liu Xi looked at Jay sadly.  “Will you straighten this out for me?”  she asked.
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> He nodded.  Jay knew that meant she was going to flee.  Under the circumstances he understood completely.  They were dealing with irrationality here.
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> “I’ll be with the one person who made you feel safe.”  Liu Xi whispered to him cryptically.  She vanished from sight.  Jay knew she meant the Psychic Samurai.
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> Drury cursed.  He pointed at Jay and threatened, “That deadline’s coming up fast.”  he said.  “If it passes, and we don’t see either Danny Lyle or Liu Xi Xian...you’re going to jail.”
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> He then pointed at an open-mouthed Yuki Shiro.  “And you’re going to jail!”
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> Yuki pushed through the soldiers, towing Hatman behind her.  There was the sound of a door slamming.  It took a few seconds for Drury and his troops to realize that they were now locked in the cell.
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> “Now you’re in jail.”  Yuki told them with a satisfied smile.
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> Jay put his face in his hands, and sighed.
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> “I want to see if you can get out.”  she went on.  “If you can, it makes you a suspect, Drury.  If you can’t...well...”  She shrugged, and tugged Hatman along behind her as she left, ignoring Drury’s threats as she went.
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> TO BE CONTINUED?
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> -- Story written and copyrighted (C) 2008 by Jason Froikin, and may not be 
> --    reprinted without permission.  
> -- Yuki Shiro designed by Jason Froikin, based on designs by Masamune Shirow
> --  Liu Xi Xian and the Psychic Samurai are original design by Jason Froikin
> --  Lara Night is an original creation by Jason Froikin
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