{"sf1_id":910557,"sf2_id":null,"title":"Josho's Revenge","author":"Volcan MacAingeal","words":20574,"posted_at":"2015-09-14T13:32:00.000Z","tags":["Death","Hokkaido Fox","Revenge","Samurai","Toronto","Violence","canadian","caribou","superhero","vulpine"],"url":"https://fse.anthro.fr/stories/910557-josho-s-revenge","original_url":"https://sofurry.com/view/910557","image_url":"https://www.sofurryfiles.com/std/thumb?page=910557\u0026ext=.jpg","description":"","content":"-Outside the city of\nToronto, Kameyama Manor-\nJuly 29th, 2015\n            Almost\na year had passed since the fateful day that the Yakuza were driven from the\ncity of Toronto. Nearly twelve months, since the day the head of the Kameyama\nfamily, Takeo, was defeated by a masked vigilante garbed in white and red, who\nbattled him on sovereign ground in his place of rest, besting him, and then\ndelivering him to the doorstep of the Toronto Police, along with enough proof\nof his crimes to put him away for two decades -two decades of shame and\nridicule.\n            Even now, Takeo remained imprisoned in the Toronto South\nDetention centre, without the possibility of parole -without the possibility to\nregain his honor. Doomed to rot away in the presence of dishonorable scum and\nvillainy, and not able to maintain control of his Empire, leaving it in the\nhands of his brother and nephew...\n            It could not be allowed to pass.\n            This was nothing less than an insult, and a dishonor to\nhis family! For Takeo to be forced to endure such indignity in the prisons of\nan inferior nation, surrounded by fools who had no purpose in life but to bring\nmisery to those around them by distributing drugs and beating one another\nsenseless in street brawls, it disgusted him. And there was only one man who\ncould be blamed for it; one wretched, white-clad man who appeared at random in\nthe night, and delivered shame to those who served a better purpose.\n               J?sh? sat on his knees before a\nlife-sized portrait of the masked hero, glaring at it between thick locks of\nhair that concealed his left eye, leaving only the right visible. The room\naround him was dark except for four candles placed neatly around him and two\ntorches on either side of the portrait, filling a small space with an eerie\nglow. His fists rested against his thighs, with no shirt covering his upper\ntorso, revealing numerous scars all over his body, scars that left bald spots\nwhere fur should have been, and a bushy tail flicked angrily behind him.\n               Slowly,\nwith his eyes on the portrait, J?sh? rose to his feet, the wooden sandles worn\nover his footpaws echoing across the wooded floor as he placed one foot down,\nthe second step softer as his weight pressed upon both. Slowly, with his right\nhand, he reached across his stomach to grasp the hilt of his sword, the brass\npommel and hilt reflecting the fire light around him as his foot slid along the\nfloor, back leg straightening as he stood with his front leg half bent, bracing\nhimself as the blade clicked free.\n               In\na fraction an instant, the sword was drawn, faster than the eye could follow,\nwith only a flash of metal reflecting from it along its path as any indication\nthe sword had been removed from its scabbard, and how it was now gripped\ntightly in the hands of the Hokkaido fox, standing frozen until the slash\nappeared in the portrait, and the lower half of the painting from the waist\ndown fell from the frame, crumpling to the floor in a still heap.\n               \"My\nmission is clear,\" whispered J?sh? in his native tongue as he stepped forward,\ngrasped the remaining half of the painting portrait of The Warp and pulling it\ndown from the hooks that supported it, hold it over the candle in front of him\nuntil the flame caught, watching with a deep, hateful stare as the image of the\nWarp slowly burned away in his paw. \"I will avenge Shisho Takeo's honor, and I\nwill return our family to power.\" He dropped the portrait to the floor, and\nstomped on it to quell the flames. \"I will kill The Warp.\"\n~~~~~\n-City of Toronto, Docks near National\nYacht Club, 12:02 AM-\nJuly 20th, 2015\n               Slowly,\nthe small yacht pulled up to the docks in the dead of night, gently approaching\nthe pier until they were close enough for one of the boat crew to jump down and\ntie the boat to the wharf and dropping anchor to secure it in place. Speaking\nin Arabic to one another, they quickly got to work offloading stacks of crates\nfrom the back of the boat, urging haste in their native tongue as another one\njumped down from the yacht and helped the first catch the crates as they were\ndropped.\n               One\nafter another the crates fell from the ship, caught by the two men on the\nwharf; they were making good time, but after setting each crate down their eyes\nwould dart around the docks, expecting at any moment to be spotted by a\nSecurity Guard or even someone working late out on their boat. The docks were\nclear, though; a window bought by the men they worked for, but the concern was\nalways there...\n               The\nlast crate was offloaded by the time one of the men on the wharf gruffly asked.\n\"Where is the truck? They're late!\"\n               \"He'll\nbe here,\" the other replied.\n               \"He\nbetter be; the leader will carve us into jackal food if we fail him!\"\n               A\nflash of light behind them; a blink, appearing and vanishing in an instant,\ncast their shadows across the wharf. They froze as a cold, stern voice spoke\ndangerously close to their ears. \"About this leader of yours,\" it said. \"I\nwant. His. Name.\"\n               Immediately,\nthe two men reacted, grabbing for wicked curved knives in their belts.\nCalculating their speed and waiting until they began to turn around, the white-clad\ncaribou vanished in another flash of light, reappearing in front of them and\ngrasping them both by the sides of their heads, bringing them together in a\nsatisfying 'thud!' before they both\nfell to the pier, groaning.\n               Precisely\nas he calculated, the other men on the boat were already reacting, drawing\nblades and guns alike; quickly, Warp zeroed in on the ones who had firearms,\nand vanished in a flash of light as the first of them brandished his weapon and\ntook aim, discharging the first bullet, only for it to strike the pier\nharmlessly where the caribou had been standing less than a second before, and\nin that same second, he appeared at the shooter's side and elbowed him in the\nface before grabbing him by the arm, twisting it painfully and dislocating his\nshoulder.\n               The\nrest were after him; Warp went for the gunmen first, one by one disarming them\nand breaking wrists or forearms to prevent them from going for their guns\nagain. When the last gunman went down, the knife wielders became his concern.\nOne rushed at him from the side; he caught slapped the man's arm aside before\ndelivering an elbow strike right to his face, dazing the jackal, and then\nteleported as the next one charged at him from the right. Warp reappeared\nbehind the charging furson, and nonchalantly kicked him in the buttocks,\nsending him stumbling towards the rail before going over, yelping in terror as\nhe plunged into the dark water.\n               'Six down, four to go,' he thought.\n               The\nnext knifeman ran at him, and took a few swings, each one Warp dodged until he\nblocked one with the armguard concealed beneath his gloves, and then snapped\nhis arm forward to jab the anthro fox in the nose; he saw the man's eye's tear,\nbefore he delivering a powerful left hook to the man's head, sending him\ncareening to the deck. The next two, these ones unarmed, charged at Warp from\nthe sides; he teleported away and let them collide with each other instead,\nboth of them groaning, before reappearing above them and striking them on the\ntops of their heads, his fists hitting hard enough to be felt even through\ntheir hats.\n               'Too easy,' though Warp. 'Just one left now.'\n               The last man, the same jackal he had\ndazed before, had recovered, but barely managed to set his eyes on Warp before\nthe caribou disappeared again. Powerful arms seized the jackal from behind,\ntwisting his weapon arm harshly and forcing him to drop the knife, before he\nsuddenly felt weightless, seeing blue light around him for only a fraction of\nan instant until colour and...\n               Open\nair.\n               He\nscreamed in terror as he suddenly realized he was on the top of a very tall building. \"What in the name of Allah am I doing up here?!\"\n               \"You're\ngoing to give me some answers,\" Warp said, sternly, holding the man up by his\narm, giving him a good view of the street twenty stories below. \"I know those\ncrates you offloaded are full of opium; where did it come from, and who is it\nfor?! TALK!\"\n               \"No!\nNo!\" The jackal protested, instinctively squirming as he stared in horror down\nat the street. \"I cannot betray him!\"\n               \"I'd\nmake a decision, friend; my arm's starting to get tired.\"\n               \"Never!\nI won't betray him; you don't know\nwhat he will do to me!\" The jackal\nprotested. \"Turning to wet paint on a street would be an act of mercy compared\nto his wrath!\"\n               \"GIVE\nME A NAME!\" Warp roared, deliberately loosening his grip on the jackal's arm a\nlittle to scare him; the anthro screamed and flailed, grabbing Warp's arm with\nhis other hand to steady himself.\n               \"I\ncan't! There's nowhere I'd ever be safe from him!\" The jackal screamed. \"You\ndon't understand; he is cruelty incarnate! I...\" The jackal slacked, his eyes\nslowly closing, and he didn't utter another word as his free arm released\nWarp's arm, falling limp to his side.\n               \"Dammit,\"\nWarp cursed before he pulled the man closer, wrapping his other arm around him\nand teleporting back to the pier, where he dropped the fainted jackal onto the\nyacht with two of his friends. He could hear police sirens approaching -someone\nmust've heard the shooting and reported it. He couldn't stay any longer, hoping\nfor one of them to wake up; he had to leave soon.\n               To\nconfirm his suspicions, he reached down and picked up one of the knives; an\nArabic jambiya dagger, a weapon of ancient design, with a wicked sharp curve,\nterrifying to even look at and absolutely deadly. He stared at the insignia on\nthe flat of the blade; a black crescent moon, just as he suspected. \"Desert\nMoon again...\" He said, raising his left arm slightly after dropping the\ndagger.\n               \"No mistaking it,\" Akio's voice spoke in\nhis ear.\n               Warp\nteleported from the yacht, leaving the men and the evidence for the police to\nfind, and reappeared on the top of the roof of the HCMS York, across the water\njust in sight of the boats, where he sat down on the edge and continued his\nconversation. \"This is the third time in the last two months I've managed to\ntrack down one of their operations; I keep taking out lieutenants, stopping\ntrucks, and knocking out boat crews, but no matter how many of these guys I\ninterrogate they never give me their leader's name; they truly do fear him more\nthan they fear death.\"\n               \"The way they go on it's like they believe\nhe is evil incarnate,\" remarked Akio.\n               Warp\ngrimaced, even though Akio couldn't see his facial expressions. \"Maybe he is,\"\nhe said. \"There's got to be something\nout there that can lead me back to this guy.\"\n               \"We'll get another chance, Dan. In the\nmeantime, come on back to the Bunker; I got something for you to test out.\"\n               \"A new invention, Akio?\" Warp asked.\n               \"Possibly one of my best ever,\" replied\nthe weasel.\n               Warp\nchuckled. \"That's what you said when you made my mask,\" he reminded.\n               \"I said 'one of', not 'the' best,\" Akio\nreturned.\n               Warp\nlaughed again before replying. \"Alright; I'm coming back. See you in two\nseconds.\"\n               Quite\nliterally, Warp was there in only two seconds, appearing in The Bunker after\nonly two teleportations -he had been too far away to make the trip in only one.\nWith his trademark flash of light he appeared in the bunker at the very center\nof the room, notifying Akio of his presence. The weasel looked up from his\nworkbench as Warp rematerialized in the room, looking over his shoulder at him.\n               \"You\nmake very good time,\" he remarked.\n               \"Benefits\nof being a meta-furson,\" returned Warp, taking off his mask to give his eye\nsockets some air, causing the nanites to recede back to the mask and remove the\nwhite coloration from his fur. \"What have you got for me?\"\n               \"This,\"\nreplied Akio, holding up a small metal object, square-shaped with a seam down\nthe center, and with two clips on the sides...\n               Daniel\nblinked at the item before looking down at his cape, grasping the buckle and\npulling it away from his collar to look at it, seeing it looked identical to\nthe object Akio was holding, only the two clips on the sides were hooked\nthrough the brass rings of his cape to hold it on. \"You made me a new brooch\nfor my cape?\" He asked, before adding humorously. \"It's not even my birthday\nyet.\"\n               \"Look\na little closer, shittakaburi,\"\nretorted Akio, giving him a scowl.\n               Daniel\nchuckled at how flustered his jest had made Akio before he did as he was told\nand took a second look at the brooch, examining it carefully until something\ncaught his eye; on the left half of the brooch was what appeared to be a lens.\n\"Look at that,\" Akio remarked, catching Daniel's attention and pointing across\nthe room to his computer monitor, in which Daniel saw... himself?\n               \"A\ncamera,\" the caribou realized.\n               \"Bingo,\"\nreplied Akio. \"With that on, I'll be able to help keep an eye on your cases; if\nyou need something for me to inspect, I can scan it through the lens of that\ncamera, rather than you having to bring it all the way back here. Chemical\nstuff or the like I'd still need samples, but say you need a coded message\ntranslated; I can do it right through that camera.\" He snapped his fingers. \"Sono y?na tanjun'na.\"\n               \"Nice... this could come in handy,\"\nagreed Daniel. \"But how did you fit all that into something only three\ncentimeters thick?\"\n               \"Nanotechnology\nis the way to the future,\" replied Akio. \"Nanobots only need programming, and\nthen they do the rest.\"\n               Daniel\neyed Akio with surprise. \"Just how many of those nanites do you have left after\nyou made my mask?\"\n               \"A\nlittle vial of them, but more than enough to make all kinds of gadgets,\"\nreplied Akio. \"Besides, they're self-replicating too; I'll never run out.\"\n               Daniel\ngrimaced, nodding his head. \"The Chinese sure can make some interesting stuff,\"\nhe stated.\n               \"And\nthen I perfect what they put together,\" added Akio, cockily, a big grin on his\nface.\n               \"Don't\nget a big head now, Akio, this Bunker's too crowded for it,\" Daniel teased.\n               \"Daniel,\nif you weren't twice my size, I would kick your face.\"\n               \"I\nthink you mean 'kick my ass', Akio; that's what we say here in the west,\"\nreturned Daniel as he removed his cape and began to attach the new camera\nbrooch.\n               \"Right...\nwell anyway; the brooch has the same traits as the old one -the clasps are just\nmade of thin plastic so they'll break if your cape gets hung up or someone\npulls on it, so that it can't be used against you. The camera also\nautomatically adjusts to night-vision in low-light conditions, so I'll never\nlose the feed. But it only has a battery power of about four hours, so we'll\nhave to use it sparingly or it'll run out.\"\n               \"How\ndoes it charge?\"\n               \"Same\nas any cellphone; hook it up to a universal charger and it's ready in twenty\nminutes.\"\n               \"Great\nwork, Akio,\" complimented Warp as he finished replacing the brooch, and then\nadorned his cape. \"I'll pick you up a burger when I go back out on patrol.\"\n               \"Delicious!\"\n               All\nof a sudden, the lights went out, and the room suddenly became completely\nblack, except for a pair of emergency lights that kicked in seconds later,\nfilling the room with dim, red light that only barely illuminated the\nexasperated looks on both their faces.\n               \"And...\nsome diesel while I'm at it,\" he added.\n               \"My\nnext invention ought to be a new power source for this place,\" remarked Akio.\n               Fortunately\nfor Warp, he didn't work the next day, allowing him to stay out as late as he\nneeded to and sleep in, as well as get into costume at dusk. Appearing on a\nroof near the CN Tower, where he stood on the edge of it, feeling the wind\ncaressing his form, blowing his cape around his legs as rushed all around him.\nHe reached up to his collar, tapping a button on the side of the brooch,\neliciting a faint click.\n               \"Test\nin progress, Akio; how's it looking?\" He asked into his left glove.\n               \"Looking good; the feed is so clear I can\nalmost count the lights on the tower, except for the glare,\" replied Akio. \"I'd say it's a success.\"\n               \"Good,\" replied Warp, switching off\nthe camera before gazing at the sky for a moment, resting a hand on his hip.\n\"Well, time to get started with my patrol.\"\n               \"Hold that thought, Danny,\" Akio stated\nsuddenly. \"Looks like you might have\nsomething already; a disturbance on the roof of Stanley Terrace -someone has\nset fire to the rooftop.\"\n               \"On\nmy way,\" replied Warp, turning his attention to the west and vanishing in a\nflash of light.\n               Less\nthan a second later, Warp was on a neighboring building overlooking Stafford\nStreet, directly across the way from the building designated by Akio, in an\narea of Toronto known as King West Village. The building in question, where the\nfires could be seen, was a large complex overlooking the Stanley Off-Leash Dog\nPark, only two blocks from the East Liberty Medical Center. 'Well, if anyone's hurt, I don't have to\nworry about a hospital being too far away,' he thought,\nsemi-optimistically.\n               The\nfires were visible even from his perch, but they didn't look very big, or like\nmuch of a threat to the building either. Curious, he teleported over to the\nbuilding, and stood on the perch, overlooking the fire. It was spread out\nrandomly across the roof, and didn't appear to be spreading -and for good\nreason, as there was nothing actually burnable on the roof. It was made of concrete,\nand the flames were nowhere near any electrical lines, indicating the cause was\nnot a short in the wiring.\n               Suddenly,\na smell caught his nostrils; he inhaled deeply, breathing in the smell but not\nable to identify the substance, though he noted it had some sort of alcoholic\nsmell to it, but didn't see any sort of booze on the roof. He stepped onto the\nroof, and felt his hook sink into something... gelatinous. \"Ew!\" He lifted his\nhoof, looking at it, and seeing a copper-coloured substance dropping from his\nhoof. \"The hell is this?\" He asked, curiously, reaching down and dabbing the\nsubstance with his finger, lifting it to his face and smelling it again; it\nwasn't a substance he could identify, but the flames were emitting a similar\nscene as they burned.\n               \"So,\nthis gel is the ignition source,\" he muttered to himself, examining the flames\ncarefully as he shook the gel off of his glove and hoof.\n               At\nthat moment, he noticed something. The flames were not randomly spread across\nthe rooftop; they were forming a pattern... He started surveying the patterns,\ntrying to decipher them, when suddenly the door to the roof flew open, and\nseveral fursons garbed in firefighter gear poured out onto the roof, hauling a\nlarge fire hose with them, and taking aim at the flames!\n               Warp teleported into their\npath promptly. \"Hold it!\" He screamed at them, waving his arms.\n               They\nlooked at him incredulously. \"Hold it? For what; we've got to put this out!\"\n               \"It's\nnot a random fire; please, just give me two seconds!\" Warp begged before\nturning back to the flames and reaching up to activate the camera on his cape\nclasp. \"Bunker; screen capture, now!\"\n               The\nlead firefighter looked back at his fellows. \"Are we really going to take\norders from this vigilante?\" He asked.\n               \"Brother,\nI've seen the guys this guy has hospitalized; don't get on his bad side,\"\nanother replied.\n               \"Done!\"\nWarp called suddenly and stepped out of the way. \"Go ahead!\"\n               \"Let\n'er rip!\" The lead fireman urged, and the crew braced themselves as they opened\nthe hose for the water; immediately, the water rushed out of the mouth of the\nhose, and blasted over the rooftop, choking the flames as the powerful streams\nwashed away the gel.\n               \"We\ngot it,\" the lead fireman said, before lifting up his visor and turning to\nWarp. \"Mind telling us what that was about?\"\n               \"Those\nflames were ignited using some kind of flammable gel,\" replied Warp. \"But that\ngel wasn't just spilt up here; someone spelled out a message with it.\" He\npointed at a burn on the concrete. \"Look at that; that's the kanji symbol for 'ni',\nin the Japanese language.\"\n               \"What\ndoes 'ni' mean?\" One of the firefighters asked.\n               \"Sadly\nit's only a particle, so by itself it may not actually mean anything in our\nlanguage; each kanji is like a word on its own, but can be combined to create other\nwords. Unfortunately I don't have a very good grasp of the language,\" he\nreplied. \"But, I know someone who does.\" He studied the area of the burn. \"What\nI would like to know, though, is what the gel-like substance they used to write\nthis message was.\"\n               \"Oh\nthat's an easy one,\" the lead fireman stated. \"Flammable gel's not hard to make\nif you have the right products; common household stuff at the right proportions.\nWith some rubbing alcohol and a couple of other things it'd be easy to make a\nflammable gel.\" He stared at the burn. \"But to spell out a message in this\nstuff; that'd take hours! Whoever did this has the patience to stand around\nwatching paint dry.\"\n               \"I'll\nget it translated and find out just what that message was,\" stated Warp as he\nwalked towards the ledge of the building. \"Pretend you never saw me up here.\"\n               \"Hey\nwait a minute, you can't just...!\" The fireman didn't even finish before Warp\nvanished in a flash of light, leaving the fire fighter in the midst of his\nsentence, hanging with his mouth open. He shook his head in annoyance. \"Damn\nsupers; flashy entrance, flashy exit... quite literally with this one!\"\n               Warp\nreappeared on another building several blocks away, overlooking the waterfront\nof Lake Ontario. Now that all was quiet, he sat down, and raised his left arm\nto mouth level to speak into it. \"Akio; any luck?\"\n               \"You were right; it was kanji,\" replied\nAkio. \"These guys used some harsh kanji\nin this; 'ore-sama' is not something you use for just anybody.\"\n               \"What\ndoes it say?\"\n               \"Let's see... translating it to English it\nsays...'I challenge The Warp, in the place of'... wait, what?!\"\n               \"What's wrong?\"\n               \"A lot! It says 'in the place of Takeo's\nfall'.\"\n               Warp's disguised eyes widened in\nrealization, feeling memories flooding back into his mind, of his battles with\nthe Yakuza, sabotaging their operations until he learned the identity of their\nleader and confronted him in his penthouse home in Toronto. \"Takeo... the\nYakuza boss I captured; Takeo Kameyama?\"\n               \"Whoever left you this message, it seems,\nwants you to meet them where you defeated him in combat,\" stated Akio. Warp\nheard a grunt of disapproval from the weasel through his earpiece. \"I don't like it, Daniel... I'd stay away\nfrom there.\"\n               \"They started a fire on a roof just\nto get my attention,\" Warp reminded his friend. \"Next thing might be something\nmore serious; there's no telling what lengths they'll go to in order to get me\nto do as they want.\" He shook his head. \"No... I have to go there; can't risk\nthe entire city just out of caution, at least not until I know what I'm dealing\nwith.\"\n               \"But it's obviously a trap!\"\n               \"I know it is,\" assured the caribou.\n\"But at least I'm expecting it, and we know I can't be restrained.\"\n               \"I know... but still... just please be\ncareful.\"\n               \"Don't worry; I will,\" promised Warp,\nbefore shutting his eyes and thinking back to the night of his battle with\nTakeo Kameyama, at his penthouse suite and office, in a building he had\nconstructed himself in the Toronto Financial District -the Azuma no Shinboru\nTower, a fifty-story building from which Takeo had run his operations in\nToronto, renting out forty of the fifty floors to dozens of businesses, while\nusing his business as a supposed 'Savings and Loan' outfit as his cover. He had\nalso made the tower his personal home; the top three floors were residential,\nwith condominiums for his lieutenants and a luxurious, Asian-style penthouse on\nthe very top floor.\n               No\none had any clue who Takeo Kameyama -or other way around if one were to choose\nto say their names as they do, really was behind the wealthy philanthropist and\nman who lent money to those who needed it. Those who couldn't pay back the money\nwere often found dead in Lake Ontario, or not found at all, but the police had\nnever been able to connect Takeo to it. Warp, however, as Daniel Tonraq, had;\nhe'd followed the accounts of those who had accepted money from Takeo back to\nthe source, figured out who worked for him, and worked his way up from there,\nuntil confronting Takeo himself in his very home.\n               It\nhad been a hard-fought battle. The middle-aged Hokkaido fox had been a worthy\nopponent; skilled with a blade, experienced and precise, but not as fast or\nstrong as The Warp. Eventually he was able to defeat him. As a last act of\ndesperation, Takeo had pulled a gun on Warp and shot him, but the armour\ncreated for him by Takeo had been enough to stop the bullet of the compact\npistol he had used, and so Warp delivered the final blow, knocking him\nunconscious and achieving victory. From there it had been a simple manner of\ndelivering Takeo, Akio's confessions and the right evidence to the police.\n               Now,\nit seemed, someone from Takeo's outfit was ready to exact revenge.\n               Finally\ngetting a mental picture of the penthouse, he vanished, journeying across the\ncity to face unknown odds.\n~~~~~\n               The\nsuite was illuminated as Warp made his entrance, appearing in the living room\nof the penthouse home and touching down on the hardwood floor with both hooves\naudibly, standing perfectly still as he slowly and carefully surveyed the room\naround him, ready to teleport again if he was attacked, fully expecting an\nambush at any second. He was ready for angry Yakuza to leap out of the shadows\nwith swords and guns alike, filling the suite with lead and steel...\n               But\nit never came. There was nobody in the room. The entire room was lined with\ncandles, giving it a dim, ominous illumination, but a clear view of every\ncorner. There was no one in there, except for one person, straight ahead of\nhim, seated on a cushion by the big, round window at the far end that peered\nout to the city streets beyond. They were down on their knees, feet tucked below\nhis backside, with a sword lying across his lap. His back was to the window,\ncovering his front in shadow as the moonlight beamed through into the room,\nbathing him in an eerie glow.\n               The\nstranger's eyes opened, revealing the faint shine of a nocturnal species as he\nraised his head to gaze at Warp. \"You arrived,\" he stated plainly, the Japanese\naccent of his voice thick. \"You have courage to accept my challenge.\"\n               \"You\nleft me a rather clear indication of how much you wanted to see me,\" Warp\nreturned in a cold tone. \"Though I have to say, I'm surprised; normally when\nsomeone sets a trap, there's a lot more than just one person there when it's\nsprung.\"\n               \"A\ntrap?\" The shadowed fox asked, sounding insulted. \"I need no such cowardly\ntactics,\" he stated as he slowly began to rise to his feet, but set his sword\ndown on the cushion upon which he'd sat before stepping forward. \"And I do not\nneed more men; I called you here as a challenge. Others would only get in the\nway.\"\n                He stepped enough into the candle light that\nhis face was revealed, although half of it was still somewhat shadowed by his\nscalp hair, but just like Takeo himself, Warp was speaking to a Hokkaido fox,\nwho looked like a much younger version of the old crime boss; a white vulpine\nwith silver hair and the typical slanted eyes of a person of Japanese birth.\nWhat stood out on his face however was a scar running from the rear of his\nmuzzle but vanished behind locks of hair that obscured his left eye. \"This is a\nbout between two warriors, and only two.\"\n               \"Daniel, turn on your camera; I want to see\nthis guy,\" Akio buzzed in Warp's ear.\n               Warp\ndiscreetly raised his hand and pretended to adjust his cape, but switched on\nthe camera on the brooch without the stranger noticing. \"And who are you,\nexactly?\"\n               \"You\nwill know me as J?sh?, Hand of the Master,\" returned the fox. \"I have come to end\nyour life, Ghost of Toronto; to avenge how you shamed Kameyama Takeo.\"\n               \"I\nhave no reason to fight you,\" Warp stated, crossing his arms over his chest.\n\"It would be a simple matter for me to just leave you here and carry on with my\nnight. I'm sure you've heard, I cannot be restrained; I can be gone in a flash.\"\n               \"Indeed...\nbut you can be lured,\" retorted J?sh?.\n\"That is why you came here, isn't it? You fear what I will do to this city if\nyou continue to ignore me.\" He scowled. \"I will go to any lengths to avenge the\ndishonor you have caused my family.\"\n               \"What\ndishonor?\" Warp asked. \"Are you referring to when I defeated Takeo Kameyama in\nfair combat; you consider that a dishonor?\"\n               J?sh?'s\nscowl deepened. \"You will speak of him with respect,\" he stated.\n               \"I\nwill not speak with any respect in regards to him,\" retorted Warp. \"He covered my city in blood, violence, drugs and\ndestruction, and I brought him to justice. Just as I will do to you if you dare put anyone here in danger.\"\n               \"The\nworld belongs to the strong,\" J?sh? stated firmly. \"And the Samurai and their\ndescendants are, and always will be strong. If your city is incapable of defending\nitself from us, then it is weak, and right for claiming.\"\n               \"That\nisn't the way the world works anymore, sir,\" Warp argued further.\n               \"I\nbeg to differ.\"\n               This\ntime, it was Warp's turn to scowl, uncrossing his arms and letting them fall to\nhis sides, rapidly losing his patience with this outlander. \"This country was\nbuilt by the hands of foreign nations,\" stated Warp. \"And since then it has\nbecome a haven for people from all corners of earth; where people can escape\nthe troubles of their countries, and come where they can be safe and treated\nlike people and not like insects.\" His fist tightened with anger. \"But groups\nlike you bring the terrors of your own countries here to Canada -the very\nthings immigrants from Japan left there to escape, you bring here, and then all\nsense of safety is gone. \n               \"They\ncome to build brighter futures for themselves, yet people like you make\nescaping the terrors of they left behind follow them even across the largest\nocean,\" his scowl was deepening. \"I can't stand your kind, using my homeland's\nleniency and understanding for your own selfish gain.\" He jabbed his thumb\ntowards his chest. \"This symbol, the Maple Leaf, isn't just something growing\non a tree; it's a beacon to those who wish to be people and not cattle to scum\nlike your boss; it is for that reason they come here, and for that reason I\nfight for them.\"\n               J?sh?\nscoffed at Warp. \"Moving words,\" he retorted. \"But words mean nothing; the only\ntruth and path of the future is decided by strength and skill of arms, and by the\nhonor of those who have it. You can speak all you want, white-clad warrior, but\nI did not come here to talk. I came to kill you, and I will not rest until the\nman who ruined the honor of our clan lies dead at my feet.\"\n               Warp\nsnorted. \"I can see there'll be no reasoning with you,\" he said, placing his\nright fist into his left palm and cracking his knuckles audibly. \"So I'll have\nto knock some sense into you; let's get this over with.\"\n               \"Gladly,\"\nretorted J?sh?, switching his stance sideways to a more defensive posture with\nhis right leg and arm held forward, right arm defending low while his left was\nheld high, in front of his face.\n               \"You're\nnot using your sword?\" Warp asked as he switched to his own stance, pushing his\ncape behind him and holding both fists up at cheek level, similar to a boxer,\nbut his arms were curled tightly. \n               \"You\npossess no weapon; unless it becomes clear I cannot best you on equal ground, I\nshall battle the same,\" returned J?sh?, plainly.\n               Warp\narched and eyebrow, and even grimaced a little. \"Huh. For a Yakuza enforcer,\nyou have traits I could like,\" he admitted, and reached behind him on his back\nbehind his cape, where he removed the two sets of bolas he brought with him and\ntossed them to the floor. \"In that case, this round will solely be\nhand-to-hand.\"\n               Slowly,\nthe two began to circle one another, their eyes meeting as Warp's hooves and J?sh?'s\nsandals clicked audibly against the floor with every sideways step, discreetly\nmoving closer to one another by the second. During this time, Warp was able to\nsize up is adversary, and determine what he was facing in this fight. J?sh? was\nshorter than him by precisely six inches, giving Warp a three-inch reach\nadvantage over his adversary. However, he clearly felt out of place without his\nsword; this guy did not battle without a blade in his hand often.\n               Nevertheless,\nhis first attack was swift and effective; lunging forward he struck out with a\nstraight punch aimed for Warp's chest, which was met by a palm strike from\nWarp, diverting it, and then the caribou retaliated by delivering a straight\npunch of his own, using the strength of both arm and shoulder to attack, but J?sh?\nproved to be quite quick to react, leaning his head aside to suffer only a\nglancing blow to his furred cheek, before pulling away, spinning on his heel\nand striking Warp in the chest with a back fist strike.\n               Warp\nwinced, stumbling back from the blow. 'Good\nstriking power,' he thought. 'This\nguy may not have much muscle mass but his fist feels like getting whacked with\na claw hammer. He's been trained well.'\n               J?sh? attacked again, this time with\nkicks; he raised his leg to unleash two consecutive kicks at his opponent, one\nat the thigh, the second higher, towards the head; Warp backhanded the first\naway, blocked the second with his arm, and then delivered a mid-level kick\ndirectly to J?sh?'s flank stumbling him, and followed it up with a spin and a\nback-fist strike of his own, aiming for J?sh?'s collarbone with enough force it\nmight have taken the fox off of his feet, but the attack never landed; somehow,\neven with his gaze angled downward, J?sh? somehow perceived the incoming\nattack, putting up one hand to block it, before, in a lightning-fast motion,\nseizing Warp by the arm with both of his own and turning himself about,\nbringing his foot up to connect with Warp's thigh as his hooves left the floor\nand was thrown over J?sh?'s head.\n               Warp\nit the floor hard, winding him somewhat, but just as J?sh? rushed in to deliver\na stamping attack to his face, he triggered his teleportation, appearing above J?sh?\nand twisting around in the air, ensuring he would land feet first, and\ndelivered a falling punch to J?sh?'s shoulder, making him buckle with the force\nof the fist backed by the caribou's weight as he returned to the floor.\n               J?sh?\ntumbled forward, tucking in an rolling away from Warp before he sprang back to\nhis feet and spun around to face him, eyeing his suspiciously. \"I see... so\nthat is why you are called 'The Warp',\" he stated. \"You're a meta-furson; a\nteleporter, apparently. Now I see why my oji was no match for you.\"\n               \"Isshun matte, did he just say 'oji'; his 'uncle'?\" Akio's voice buzzed in the comm with\nclear surprise.\n               \"You\nnever said you were Takeo's nephew,\" Warp remarked, without directly addressing\nAkio, but asking essentially asking the same question. \"Now suddenly why you\nwant to kill me makes more sense; it's personal revenge.\"\n               \"Who\nI am is irrelevant; even if Takeo-san had not been my uncle and I were assigned\nthis mission by another, this battle would still be going on,\" J?sh? stated\ndismissively. \"Now, resume the fight.\"\n               \"Kuso\n? !\" Akio swore, suddenly. \"Daniel, I think I just figured out who this man is! This man is infamous\nin the ranks of the Yakuza; a ruthless killing machine!\"\n               Warp pretended\nto return to his defensive posture when he was really bringing his gauntlet\nclose enough to whisper into it. \"If I run, he'll hurt more people. Besides,\nthe fight has barely started; I'll be fine.\"\n               \"But Daniel...!\"\n               The conversation was cut short as J?sh?\nmoved to attack again, letting out a bellow of fury as he crossed the floor and\nattacked Warp with a hook punch towards his head. Warp put up his fist to block\nit, and J?sh? winced as his fist connected with Warp's hidden gauntlet, and\nWarp retaliated with a horizontal elbow attack with his other arm, catching J?sh?\nin the side of his muzzle. The fox struck back with a reverse punch, delivering\na painful strike to Warp's exposed side as he stepped away, buying him a\nprecious second to attack with a front-kick, fast as the striking of a cobra.\n               The\ntrading of blows carried on; Warp was surprised by how J?sh? was able to read\nand respond to his moves so well, as if perceiving the attacks just as they\nbegan to happen. Nevertheless, though, Warp had the advantage; he was stronger,\nlarger, and fast enough to deliver strike after strike, and soon J?sh? was\nhaving the worst of the fight. Warp deflected a punch and successfully threw\noff J?sh?'s balance; even if he could have perceived what was about to happen\nnext, he could never have dodged it.\n               Warp\ndelivered two jabs to J?sh?'s face that stumbled him, no doubt making stars\ndance across his vision, before following it up with a left-handed punch to his\nstomach to wind him, and finishing it with a mighty uppercut that sent J?sh? an\ninch off of the floor and falling hard onto his back with a grunt, and lay\nthere struggling to gather his breath, while Warp stepped back to a minimum\nsafe distance, three meters away, and watched him, waiting to see if he would\nget up to continue the battle as he too panted for air. \n               For\na while, J?sh? was still, laying there motionlessly on the floor, the only\nsound from him the panting for breath as he struggled to gain his second wind,\npaws resting gently on the floor. Eventually, his eyes opened, and he stared at\nthe ceiling, a stern expression still on his face, but not one of anger or\nresentment to losing this first round with Warp. Rather, he seemed to come to\nan understanding about something, and slowly sat up, groaning as the soreness\nof his bruises set in, continuing to breath loudly.\n               \"I\nsee clearly now,\" said J?sh? as he brought his feet under him and slowly,\ntantalizingly, stood up until he was back at his full height, all the while his\neyes remained shut. \"I see now why Takeo-san was unable to defeat you himself;\nskilled as he was it seems your drive to rid your city of people like me is\nstronger than mere skill.\"\n               \"Is\nthat supposed to be a compliment?\" Warp asked, rhetorically. \"Or are you\nwilling to put an end to this nonsense and just leave?\"\n               \"Don't\nget the wrong idea, teleporter,\" returned J?sh?, making his way over to the\ncushion where he had been sitting before. \"My words are merely my acknowledging\nof your great prowess; even with all my training, I will not defeat you in a\nmere contest of skill, for in that we are even, but you are much stronger, more\ndetermined... motivated.\" He reached down to the cushion, picking up the sword he\nhad left there, but did not remove it from its scabbard. Rather, he fastened\nthe scabbard to the belt of his robes. Even as he turned around, he kept his\npaw on the scabbard, holding the blade securely. \"The first round is yours, but\nthe second begins now...\" He faced Warp, dropping low in a stance that said he\nwas ready to charge. \"You shall now face the power of a Samurai blade!\"\n               Warp\nstood his ground, but Akio was practically screaming at him all of a sudden. \"Daniel! Don't let him draw that sword; take\nhim out, hurry!\"\n               \"That sword won't cut through my\ngauntlets,\" Warp said, directing the response at Akio, but it was heard by J?sh?\nas well.\n               He\nresponded in kind. \"Then I shall use it to carve out your heart!\" He said\nbefore he hollered with fury and charged at Warp, crossing the room in just\nthree long strides before he turned, ready to draw his blade.\n               Warp\ncalculated the angle which the sword would come from, rapidly determining\ndistance and angle in his mind, and then raised his gauntlet to block the blade\nas it was being drawn; if he interrupted J?sh?'s first swing it would disrupt\nhis opening attack, and possibly throw him off. He waited, watching for that\nsword to be drawn...\n               He\nnever even saw it leave the scabbard as his arm suddenly went ablaze with\nwhite-hot agony. Warp screamed in a mix of horror, pain and disbelief, reeling\naway from J?sh? from the sheer force of whatever had hit him and grabbing his\narm, feeling as though it had actually been cut off, and even looked at it as\nif he'd only find a stump, but his arm was still attached. His glove was split\nover where the glove hit, revealing the titanium arm plate underneath, which\nwas dented. Dented. The strongest\nmetal known to living fursons, and it had just been dented by a sword being\ndrawn, digging into Warp's forearm.\n               Warp\nhurriedly got his bearings as he realized J?sh? was still on the attack,\nbringing his katana attack for another strike, which Warp blocked with his\nother gauntlet. It didn't hurt as much that time, but he still felt the blade\nhit. J?sh? was coming at him on a whole new level this time, attacking not only\nwith precision -every swing a death blow if it was not stopped, but with speed\nthat left Warp no opportunity to counter-attack, making him duck behind his\narms repeatedly, trying to keep the attacks to his bracers and not to his upper\narm where he was practically unprotected.\n               'So fast!' Warp screamed in his mind. J?sh?\nhad not displayed this much speed before in their contest of martial prowess;\nit was as if having a sword in his hands had brought out the true warrior,\nbringing him to a whole other level. Sure, J?sh? had been fast in the first\nround, but Warp had not even seen that sword leave its scabbard, or see it hit\nhis gauntlet, as though it was drawn and something otherworldly had struck him\nwhile it was leaving the sheath. He had been overconfident, believing that just\nbecause he had defeated countless Yakuza 'swordsmen' already, that this would\nhave been just like those times, but no; J?sh? was in a league of his own, far\nbeyond anyone in the Yakuza Warp had ever faced...\n               Seconds\ninto the fight, Warp thought he might have gained an upper hand when he managed\nto deflect the sword enough to throw a counter-attack, lunging forward with a\npunch to J?sh?'s face, which the fox somehow read he would do and leaned his\nhead out of the way before he brought his sword up to strike, until Warp threw\na second punch; a hook fist from the fox's left, going behind his sword to hit\ndirectly into J?sh?'s left eye. The fox's glance shifted to the fist; he saw it\ncoming too late, and it was too close for him to evade, the knuckles going into\nthe eye upon pushing back his hair and impacting with the socket...\n               What\nhe felt his fist hit did not feel like an eyeball. It was too hard, like metal.\nJ?sh? barely even grit his teeth from the hit either, when a punch in the eye\nwas excruciating, especially with enough force to pop a blood vessel. Yet that\nwas not what occurred; J?sh? recovered from the punch faster than what should\nhave been possible, pushed his sword forward before yanking it downward, delivering\na contact- cut to Warp and successfully cutting through his Kevlar uniform,\nopening a wound in his flesh and staining his uniform.\n               Warp\nscreamed in pain, grabbing the wound with one arm, until J?sh? carried on the\nattack with a horizontal slash; Warp tried to put up his gauntlet as he noticed\nJ?sh?'s stance, but the fox was too fast, cutting above Warp's elevating arm\nand delivering a second slash across his chest, severing the maple leaf symbol\non his chest in half as once more blood flowed out of the wound. The two\nconsecutive cuts left an inverted '7' shape on his chest, and as the blood\npoured forth from his injuries, it rapidly turned the areas around them red,\nstaining his white uniform.\n               Warp\nfell to his knees, clutching the open lacerations on his chest with his arms,\ngritting his teeth and clenching his eyes at the searing pain wracking his\nchest. It had been a while since he'd received cuts like this; the pain was\nfamiliar to him, and he managed to suppress it enough to glare defiantly at J?sh?,\nwho was raising his sword up to deliver a final blow, face contorted with rage\nand his furious yell loud enough to rattle a window as he held the sword over\nhis head and brought it down towards Warp's.\n               Possibly\ninches from Warp's skull, the caribou suddenly vanished, sending the sword into\nthe wooden floor, cutting into it as easily as foam, and as J?sh? stood there,\nstunned, for a split second, Warp appeared behind him, back to him, before the\ncaribou mustered all of his remaining strength to spin himself on his hoof,\ndigging it into the floor. J?sh? began to turn, both hands on his blade to\ndeliver another slash, but by a fraction of a second, Warp managed to complete\nhis circle first, and struck J?sh? in between the eyes with the back of his\nleft fist.\n               J?sh?\nrecoiled from the hit, his swing completely off, flailing uselessly as Warp\ndrew back his hand and let J?sh? finish his turn, the sword glancing harmlessly\nover his head as the fox stumbled. He still had his eyes on Warp, though, and\nas the caribou tried to follow up his counter-attack with a straight punch, the\nfox ducked under it, wound his sword back, and brought it down for an overhead\nslash. Warp reacted quickly, crossing his arms in its path and catching it with\nhis gauntlets.\n               The\ntwo fell into a deadlock, their eyes burning into one another as Warp grit his\nteeth through a mix of strain and agony, fighting the pain in his bleeding\nchest while trying to hold back J?sh?'s sword, while J?sh?, fangs bared,\npressed his sword with all of his strength, bringing the edge of the blade\ncloser to Warp's forehead by the second...\n               Suddenly,\nthere was no resistance. One flash of light later, and the Warp vanished; J?sh?\nfell forward, once more burying his sword in the floorboards. He quickly\nrecovered, brandishing the blade once more as he surveyed the penthouse around\nhim, expecting another sneak attack from The Warp, but it never came. The\npenthouse had suddenly become quiet, all of the candles continued to burn, and\nthere was not a sign of the white-clad Canadian meta-furson to be seen.\n               \"COWARD!\"\nJ?sh? roared as it became clear the Warp had retreated, leaving the enraged\nsamurai alone in the skyscraper...\n~~~~~\n               Warp\nreappeared in the bunk rather noisily as he clutched his wounds and collapsed\nagainst a workbench, growling with pain as he lost his footing and fell to one\nknee, one hand across his chest and the other resting on the workbench for\nsupport, leaving a blood-stained handprint on the metal surface. He struggled\nto breathe through the agony in his torso, trying to staunch the bleeding with\nhis hand.\n               All\nof the ruckus caused by Warp's return to the bunker caught Akio's attention\nimmediately; he whipped his head around at the sound of clamour, and saw the\ninjured caribou at the bench. In a split second, Akio was on his feet and\nrunning across the room to Warp's side, feeling the old paramedic mentality\nkicking in as he dropped to Warp's side. \"Daniel! We have to get you into the\ninfirmary!\"\n               The\ncaribou didn't argue with him; he knew that he was in danger of bleed-out if\nthe lacerations on his chest were deep enough. They wouldn't know until they\npulled off his uniform and took a look. With Akio supporting him, the two\nrushed into the infirmary, where Daniel laid down on the cot, staying still as\nAkio hurried to remove his uniform, pulling down the zippers that ran from his\ncollar to the end of his sleeve, hidden under a folding piece of cloth,\nremoving Warp's gloves in the process.\n               When\nthe second zipper was undone, Akio grasped the front of the uniform and slowly\nlifted it free. Warp grit his teeth as the shirt front was slowly peeled away, feeling\nknives in his flesh as it tugged at his fur and skin, resisting the urge to\nyelp as he felt several strands of fur pulled free, which sent prickly pain\nshooting across the nearest laceration. When the shirt was fully away, Akio\ndarted over to the table where their emergency medical items were kept for\nsituations like this.\n               Warp\nlay back as Akio returned to his side, carrying stitching tools, ibuprofen and\nalcoholic disinfectant, and watched as the weasel cut away the rest of the\nuniform with a pair of scissors, opening it to fully expose Warp's chest,\nseeing the terrifying lacerations left by the sword of J?sh?. The weasel\ncringed, but didn't stop his work, urgently applying alcohol to a cloth and\ngently dabbing it at the wounds to clean and disinfect them, with Warp once\ngritting his teeth and snarling through the process, but staying as still as he\npossibly could to let Akio work. The alcohol helped staunch the bleeding as\nwell, slowing the loss of blood.\n               \"You're\na lucky man, Daniel,\" stated Akio. \"This horizontal cut in particular; if it\nwasn't for your armour, it could have gone much deeper.\" He tossed aside the\ncloth he was using, replacing it with another which he dowsed in the alcohol to\ncontinue application. \"The one on your side missed anything vital but you won't\nbe making any sharp movements for a while or you'll tear it open.\"\n               \"But\nJ?sh? is still out there; I still have to stop him,\" Warp returned.\n               \"In\nthis state? You'll collapse halfway through the fight, and then you won't be\nwaking up at all,\" Akio stated in protest. \"You need, at the very least, a few\ndays to let these slashes heal; I can stitch them but if you move around too\nmuch you'll pull them open again. J?sh? will have to wait.\"\n               \"He won't wait,\" stated Warp, his gaze\ndrifting to the ceiling as he thought back to his encounter with J?sh?. \"He\nwasn't just some contract hitman, Akio... he was out for blood; he wanted\nrevenge, for when I defeated Takeo.\"\n               \"I\nalready figured that part out,\"\nreplied Akio as he sterilized a needle, looping a thread through it.\n               \"I've\nnever faced anyone like that before,\" Warp continued. \"He wasn't just skilled,\nhe was fast; not super-speed fast, but it like his arm moved like lightning\nwhen he drew that sword. He drew it so fast I didn't even know it was out until\nit hit my bracer.\" He looked down at his right hand. \"Feels like it fractured\nmy arm.\"\n               \"Does\nit still hurt?\" Akio asked, looking at Warp's hand.\n               \"Somewhat,\nyes.\"\n               Akio\nset down the needle and thread, reaching over and lifting Warp's arm, slowly\nand gently removing his glove, seeing the dented titanium bracer inside, eyes\nwidening at the sight, but he didn't look at it long, setting aside the glove\nand examining Warp's arm closely, gently feeling from his hand to the wrist,\nand finding a darkened spot of skin beneath the fur at the middle of the\nforearm. \"No fracture,\" he said in assurance. \"But it looks like that padding\nstill needs some work. You've got a big flowering bruise here, possibly as deep\nas the bone.\"\n               \"Well,\nspeed equals mass, after all,\" Warp remarked, raising his arm to look at it. \"I\nfelt that impact all through my arm... that much force behind a sharp blade, he\ncould've cut me right in half.\"\n               \"He\ncould have cut three of you in half,\" remarked Akio as he began stitching,\ngoing slowly to try and spare Warp some discomfort.\n               Warp\nglanced at him curiously. \"On the comm, it sounded like you knew something\nabout him,\" he stated.\n               \"Not\nmuch,\" admitted Akio. \"But he was the subject of some talk among the members;\nTakeo's nephew, training in Japan to be the Kameyama Clan's greatest warrior;\nthe name J?sh? itself means 'Rise'; he was intended as a symbol, and the means\nto bring the Yakuza to absolute power in the west, ousting all other crime\nfactions; they made him to be their ultimate weapon.\" He paused as Warp winced,\nthough it was just a reaction to the pinpricking of Akio's stitching. \"He only\ncame out to Toronto once or twice before but I never saw him; 'slaves'\napparently had to keep their head down so low when bowing to the heads of the\nfamily that all they can see if their feet.\"\n               Akio\ngrinned. \"He wears a size eight, by the way,\" he said in jest, chuckling.\n               Warp\ngave him a stern look.\n               \"Sorry,\"\nAkio returned, continuing. \"His real name is Kameyama Masaru, the first-born\nson of Takeo's brother, Kameyama Ren.\"\n               \"Do\nyou think Ren is the one who sent him after me?\" Warp asked.\n               \"Doubtful;\nRen has too much to gain from his brother's removal from power,\" replied Akio.\n\"Besides, Ren is a coward; he'd never do anything that could bring the man who\nshamed his brother to his door.\" He cocked his head at Warp. \"No... more likely\nAkio has taken this upon himself. He probably feels his family being forced to\nflee Toronto is a shame on his family's legacy; they're descended from some of\nthe greatest samurai in history, and are proud -perhaps obsessively so, of that\nlineage. Akio has been raised in the olden ways of Bushido; going into battle\nand dying for his master is the greatest fate he can embrace.\"\n               \"But\nsince I put Takeo away, he now feels he failed his master?\" Warp asked.\n               \"Something\nlike that, yes,\" replied Akio, nodding. \"So now he feels the only way he can\ncleanse the family of this shame is by killing you.\"\n               Warp\nthought back once to his fight with J?sh?, particularly to the moment his fist\nhad connected with the fox's eye. \"There's something else,\" Warp continued.\n\"During the fight, I landed a hit on J?sh?'s eye; it felt like I punched a\nlarge marble.\"\n               Akio\nlooked up curiously. \"A glass eye, maybe?\" He suggested, before perking up.\n\"Or...\" he began.\n               \"Or\nwhat?\"\n               \"An\nocular implant,\" said Akio. \"A sophisticated piece of technology, no doubt. I\nhad heard somewhere that he had lost his eye in training, and his sister -a\ngenius of technology, possibly even better than me, built him a replacement\neye. The eye could have other functions besides returning J?sh?'s sight to him;\nif only you got a look at it.\"\n               Warp\nglanced down at the brooch of his cape. \"...Maybe I did.\"\n               Akio\nglanced at Warp, and then followed the caribou's gaze to the opened brooch of\nhis cape, still lying across Warp's collarbone. He stared at the brooch for a\nmoment before a big grin stretched across his face. He triumphantly raised his\narms, accidentally pulling the needle and thread in his hand in the process,\nand bellowed out. \"I'm a GENIUS!\"\n               \"Aah-owww!\"\nWarp growled as he felt his flesh being pulled from his body, casting a glare\nat Akio that could have stopped a clock.\n               \"Oops...\"\nAkio muttered, meekly, slowly lowering his arms. \"Uh... sorry Daniel.\"\n                Later...\n            Warp, mask off and back in his true\ncolours as Daniel Tonraq once again, looking almost mummified by the gauze\nbandages on his torso covering the stitches, stood by, watching over Akio's shoulder\nas the two reviewed the footage of the fight with J?sh?. Though the footage was\nsomewhat choppy -do excuse the pun- as they watched, some parts of it had good,\nup-close looks at J?sh? himself, including of the second he drew his sword;\nthey watched with keen interest as the fox rushed forward and pulled the blade\nfree of its scabbard, but didn't even see J?sh?'s arm moving as a flash of\nmetallic reflection shot across the view, followed by some sparks generated by\nthe sword's impact with Warp's bracer.\n            \"Slow that down,\" Daniel stated.\n            Akio rewound the footage, bringing\nit back to only a few seconds before the draw, and slowed it down, letting the\nfootage play again. They watched with narrowed eyes, and saw J?sh?'s arm moving\nonce more, but it was still a blur as it moved, once more with the brief glint\nof metal. \"That's fast,\" Akio remarked.\n            \"What speed are you running that?\"\nWarp asked\n            \"Half-speed,\" replied Akio. \"I can\nreduce it further but his arm's going so fast I don't think the camera can even\nfollow it.\"\n            Daniel leaned back and rubbed his\nchin. \"Footage that slowed, and we still can't even see him drawing that\nblade,\" he said, already doing the math in his head. \"He must've had that sword\nfully drawn in one-tenth of a second at least, but there's no one in the world\nwho can draw that fast.\"\n            \"Except for Kameyama Masaru, it\nseems,\" replied Akio as he rewound the footage again. \"Wait a second...\" His\neyes widened and he tapped the pause key. \"I got it!\" He pointed at the screen,\nto a little, faded blue dot barely visible from the distortion of movement. \"Look\nthere; that little blue spot here, coming from his left eye.\"\n            \"I see it; is that it?\" Daniel\nasked.\n            \"Let's see if I can enhance the\nimage,\" replied Akio. His fingers danced fluidly across the keyboard, switching\nbetween there and the mouse as he made several adjustments to the footage. When\nhe was finished, the image still was not completely clear, but it was enough\nthey were able to make out a metallic object, lodged in the eye socket of the\nHokkaido fox, uncovered by the act of draw-cutting his sword, causing his hair\nto sway and revealing the little blue glow of the eye. \"There it is.\"\n            \"You were right; an ocular implant,\"\nstated Daniel. \"A very expensive looking piece of technology, isn't it?\"\n            \"Nothing the Yakuza couldn't\nafford,\" returned Akio. \"Let's see if I can get any closer.\" He zoomed the\nimage further, zeroing in on the center of the eye, and continued to enhance the\nimage further. Unfortunately, due to it being so pixelated by the zoom, it was\nextremely fuzzy, not letting them see much of the eye beyond the blue light it\nemitted... or at least nothing Daniel could see, but something had definitely\ncaught Akio's eye. \"Hey... there's something in there.\"\n            \"I don't see anything,\" returned\nDaniel.\n            \"I'll see if I can run an analysis\nof it and cross-reference it with today's technology; could be significant,\"\nsaid Akio, before once more going to work; several windows popped up on the\nscreen, filled with words and coding that made no sense to Daniel, but Akio's\neyes danced across them as though he were reading a comic book, until finally,\na new window came up, revealing what appeared to be a circuit board, blue in\ncolour and riddled with highly complex patterns of silvery wiring. \"Kuso yar?,\" he cursed.\n            Daniel had known Akio long enough to know that whenever\nhe said 'Kuso' it meant something serious. \"Is that some kind of computer\nchip?\"\n            \"The latest and most advanced in military microchip\ntechnology,\"\nreplied Akio. \"The LSR-9047 'Hunter'\nchip, designed for missiles.\"\n            \"What does it do, exactly?\" Daniel\nasked.\n            \"It was developed by the Americans a\nfew years ago, as a step in their smart-missile technology, created as part of\na highly advanced tracking system,\" explained Akio. \"When the missile is locked\non target, the microchip allows the missile to stay locked on that target at\nall times, even if it moves. Picture this; the missile is locked onto a fleeing\narmoured personnel carrier that is stationary at the time of launch; if the APC\nsuddenly starts moving, then the tracking systems in the missile continue to\nfollow it, and allow the missile to steer itself after the target, compensating\nfor any changes in direction. \n\"Even if the APC goes into a cave or a tunnel, the\nmissile will still adjust its angle of approach to keep chasing them. The\nmicrochip does all this by allowing an onboard computer to calculate and\npredict a target's path depending on speed and direction, and then auto-pilots\nthe missile accordingly to make course corrections while in motion; the\nprogramming is all on that chip.\"\n            \"I thought the American\nsmart-missile technology used global positioning to track its targets?\" Daniel\nasked.\n            \"Some of it does, but even that\nisn't without flaw,\" Akio explained further. \"GPS systems can be hacked, cannot\nsee through the top of caves, or in the case of a JAVELIN missile, the target\ncould relocate itself beneath cover where the missile can't follow it if they\nsee it coming, but this technology rectifies that as basically allowing the\nmissile to track its target and follow it all by itself. All it needs is a\nlaser or an input command to show what its target is, and then it'll do the\nrest.\"\n            \"I didn't think microchips were\ncapable of this kind of function,\" admitted Daniel. \n            \"Technology evolves as much as we\ndo, my friend,\" Akio stated. \"Even the bow and arrow is still enhanced today.\"\n            Daniel nodded, admitting Akio had a\npoint. \"Okay, so... what is this piece of military hardware doing in a man's\nskull? And does it benefit him in any way?\" Daniel inquired.\n            \"Well, the microchip was intended\nfor combat against vehicles,\" Akio said, leaning back in his chair and meshing\nhis fingers together as he rocked back and forth. \"But with the proper tweaking\nand some additional enhancements, using some tech that has appeared over the\nlast few years since the chip was developed, it could be reconfigured for\ncombat against living targets.\" \nHe looked at Daniel. \"If I'm right about that, then\nsomeone implanted with this chip could literally read their opponent based on\ntheir movement; say you draw your arm back to throw a punch, the device with\nthe chip will literally make a prediction on where your fist will go, or if\nyou're using a gun, it could predict the trajectory of which the bullet will\ntravel, so that if you move at just the right second, you can actually dodge\nthe bullet before it fires. Your movement would have to be very sudden and\nperfectly timed, but it is possible.\"\nDaniel nodded again, but then looked blank. \"That\nexplains a lot,\" he said. \"I thought J?sh? just had really good reflexes, but\nthere were times I swear he was able to evade my attacks before it should've\nbeen possible to perceive what I was going to do; driver reaction time dictates\nthat a mind perceives danger in zero-point fifty seven seconds, and has about\nthat long to react to it as well. A man or woman with years of combat\nexperience can perceive enemy attacks by reading bodily movement, something\nthat takes years of practice. \n\"With this ocular implant though, it's like he\nperceives an attack in half that time, because now he knows exactly what the\nattack will be; against opponents vastly more experienced than him, this would\nmake him equally dangerous, because it gives the illusion that he has skills\nthat, at his level of experience, he shouldn't have; that makes him both\nintimidating and a difficult opponent to defeat.\"\n\"But you were still able to beat him in the\nfist-fight, right?\" Akio asked. \"Maybe the microchip isn't perfect; maybe it\ncan't always read every movement?\"\n\"Possibly,\" agreed Warp. \"Even if it did, I'm\nlarger and stronger than him, and the chip probably only picks up attacks\nwithin his overall line of sight, so at that I suppose it depends on how good\nthe depth perception and peripheral of that eye is.\" He suddenly grinned.\n\"Which means, he has a weakness.\"\n\"What're you thinking, Dan?\"\n\"If the ocular implant is still limited to basic\nline of sight, that leaves me a complete one-hundred and eighty degree\nblind-spot where I can attack him,\" said Daniel. \"During the fight, I used my\nteleportation to warp behind him, and when I appeared he wasn't even turning\naround; he didn't know about my powers, and he clearly didn't sense me when I\nattacked from behind.\"\nHe turned to face Akio again. \"So, the secret to\nwinning this fight, is to not meet him on his terms; I fought him fairly,\nman-to-man, but if I'm going to beat him, I may have to fight a little bit\ndirty; pull out all the stops to defeat him.\"\n\"You can't possibly be thinking of going after him\nagain tonight?\" Akio asked, baffled.\n\"Not tonight, no,\" admitted Warp.\n\"And not tomorrow, either! Lacerations like those,\nyou'll need at least five days before they seal up enough you can risk anything\nstrenuous, and ten before they seal completely,\" Akio argued.\n\"Five days may not be an option,\" stated Daniel,\neyeing Akio sadly. \"J?sh? wants me, and he'll do whatever it takes to draw me\nout. We've seen what he can do -what lengths he'll go to. We don't know just\nhow desperately he wants his revenge; just leaving him to run wild will put\ncountless people at risk.\"\n\"At least wait out the weekend,\" Akio pleaded. \"If\nyou go after him now, you could tear those stitches and hurt yourself even\nfurther, not to mention any other injuries he could inflict upon you!\"\n\"I know, Akio,\" Daniel said gently. \"But like I\nsaid, J?sh? may not give me much choice. I don't know how desperate for revenge\nhe is, or the lengths he'll go to for it. I won't let innocent people be cut\ndown by him on my behalf.\"\n\"At least wait two days, or three,\" Akio pleaded.\n\"By then the cuts should be mended enough they'll be at less risk of tearing open\nagain if you get into a fight.\" He stood up, approaching Daniel and placing his\nhands on his shoulders. \"Please Daniel; just try and wait for as long as you\ncan.\"\nDaniel gave Akio a weak smile, moved by the\nweasel's concern for him. He brought up a hand, placing it on Akio's arm and\nnodded to him. \"I will try, Akio. That's the best I can promise you.\"\nAkio nodded, and then heard his watch beep,\nprompting him to glance at it. \"Huh. Five o'clock already,\" he said. \"Short\nnight, wasn't it?\"\n\"Seems so,\" replied Daniel. \"I suppose if J?sh? is\ngoing to make another move, it won't be when the sun is about to come up.\"\nAkio turned back to face him, nodding at him. \"Good\ntime for you to go home then, and try to mend,\" he insisted.\nDaniel nodded to his friend. \"Thanks Akio, for\neverything,\" he bade before stepping back. \"As long as nothing comes up, I'll\nkeep resting at home.\"\n\"I'll hold you to that,\" stated Akio. \"I'll see\nabout repairing your uniform, but with all that blood and those cuts, I might have\nto dispose of that one and just make another.\"\n\"Good thing I keep a spare one, right?\"\n\"Right... sleep well, Daniel.\"\n\"Bye.\" And with that, Daniel used his teleportation\nto return home, leaving The Bunker to let Akio settle in...\n~~~~~\n-Saturday morning, Toronto\nRCMP Precinct-\n            Officer Robert Miles, better known\nas 'Bob' to his coworkers, was  assigned\nto the front desk at the precinct that night, monitoring arrivals and\ndepartures and taking calls for the other officers who were out on patrol. He\nhad just returned from his coffee break, pulling out his daily report sheet and\nmarking down his time of return. The middle-aged, slightly overweight badger\nsighed before reaching for his mug of espresso and taking a sip of it, brushing\nthe residue off with his thumb after setting it back down.\n            \"Hate working the front,\" he\nmumbled.\n            He heard the front doors slide open;\nhe looked up to see someone walking in. A fox with pale fur and silvery hair,\ndressed in old-fashion eastern clothes -not anything Bob was familiar with,\nwith long, oversized sleeves and baggy pants, all made of fine, blood-red silk.\nHe walked, wordlessly, up to the front desk, the only sound he made being the\nfootfalls of his wooden sandals, clacking on the floor with every step.\n            \"Good evening,\" Bob said as the man\napproached, marking down the time of arrival on his report. \"May I help you\nwith anything?\"\n            \"You can deliver a message for me,\"\nthe fox replied as he reached the window, glaring at Bob from between the steel\nbars. \"And I don't care how you do it. Tell The Warp that I demand he return to\nfinish his battle with me.\"\n            Bob looked up at the fox as if he\nwere crazy. \"Excuse me?\" He asked.\n            \"Did I stutter?\" The fox asked.\n            \"Look, sir,\" Bob began, remaining as\npolite as possible as he stood up from the desk to look the man in the eye; the\nfox was almost a full foot shorter than himself, and so without looking down\nhis nose at him, he met his gaze. \"We do not work with the Vigilante known as\nThe Warp; standing orders are for him to be arrested on sight. If you were in a\nfight with him, then you should be here to report it, not trying to get back\ninto it.\"\n            \"I told you what I'm here to do,\"\nthe fox returned plainly, his glare deepening. \"You're going to get my message\nout there, as I've requested.\"\n            \"Do I look like Canada Post to you?\"\nBob asked, starting to lose his patience. \"I'm not your errand boy, sir; I...\"\n            Faster than Bob could blink, a sword\nhas appeared in the fox's hand and was thrust through the bars, pushing into\nhis kevlar vest and roughly shoving him against the back wall behind the desk.\nInstinctively, he put up his hands, but dared not move another muscle after\nthat as the fox stuck his arm through the bars to maximize the reach of his\nblade, pinning Bob where he was.\n            \"I'm giving you two choices,\" the\nfox stated. \"Deliver my message with your heart still beating, or I can run you\nthrough right now, and let the media do it for me; you don't have to be alive\nfor my message to be delivered, so do not test my patience.\" He pushed the\nsword harder to emphasize his point. \"And when you relay my message, be sure to\ninclude, that every night the Warp does not return to finish my challenge,\nblood will be shed; the longer he makes me wait, my organization will thin out\nthe population of this wretched pile of western filth, until it drowns in\nblood. \n\"I am patient, but I will not rest until he pays\nfor ruining the honor of my house, and anyone who gets in my way will feel the\nedge of this blade rending their head from their shoulders as well.\" He\nlightened the pressure a little. \"Do I make myself clear, officer?\"\n\"Bob?\" A voice asked from the corridor on the left\ncalled, both the fox and the badger turning to face it, and spotting a male\ngrey wolf in uniform, staring dumbfounded at the scene before he drew his gun\nand aimed it at the fox. \"Drop the blade, now!\"\nThe fox pulled back his sword, deftly slipping it\ninto the scabbard and making for the front door, walking briskly towards the\nsliding doors. The wolf shouted for him to halt as Bob collapsed back, panting,\nagainst the wall, hurriedly gathering himself and following after the second\nofficer to pursue the assailant out the front door, both of them with\nGlock-19's in hand as they headed through the magnetically locked access door\nand charged after him.\nThe fox was out on the street by the time they\ncaught up to him, and both aimed their guns. \"Hands in the air, right now!\" Bob\nyelled.\nThe fox stopped, and stood perfectly still,\nelevating his gaze towards the sky. \"I had hoped I could deliver this message\nwithout problems,\" he stated. \"You two do not want to pursue this.\"\n\"I said,\" Bob warned, disengaging the safety of his\nGlock. \"Hands. In. The air!\"\n\"Don't make him ask again!\" The wolf called.\nThe fox sighed. \"You men of the west really are\nfools,\" he said, slowly turning around to face them, his hands hanging at his\nsides. \"I guess God has to place the fools somewhere, does he not?\"\n\"Taze him,\" Bob instructed.\n\"Gladly,\" returned the wolf, holstering his gun and\nreaching for another item on his belt; another gun-shaped item, which crackled\nwith electricity as he tested it.\nThe retaliation came out of nowhere.\nThe fox elevated his arms as if to surrender, and\nsuddenly there were compact pistols in both paws, appearing out of his sleeves.\nTwo shots rang out at the same time, both officers buckled, crying out in agony\nas blood exploded from their shoulders and knocked them down, sending them both\nonto their backs; the wolf banged his head against the pavement and saw white,\nwhile Bob fell against the steps leading up to the precinct, suffering a jolt\nthat made him drop his gun.\nAs the guns disappeared back into the fox's\nsleeves, he sighed. \"I do so find\nguns distasteful,\" he muttered. \nBob groaned, putting a hand over the bullet entry\nwound, and then grunted as he felt a wooden sandal on his chest, the fox\nstaring down at him coldly. \"I gave you my request; deliver it, or don't. If\nyou don't make the right choice, this\ncity will start seeing a decline in how many living souls dwell here,\" he warned.\n\"And another thing; make sure you keep your cohorts out of our way. The battle\nwill be between me, and The Warp, and only us. No one... interferes.\"\nWith that, he lifted his foot away from Bob's\nchest, turning his back on the cop and resuming his walk. While his back was\nturned, however, the wolf officer found his second wind, returning to his feet.\nHe'd lost his gun tazer, and his pistol had fallen out of its holster, leaving\nhim with only one weapon; his baton, which extended with a flick of his wrist\nafter drawing it, and he set his eyes on the fox.\n\"No, Frank; don't!\" Bob pleaded.\nThe fox looked over his shoulder, spotting the wolf\ncoming at him with the baton, and immediately spun around his hand on his\nsword. Neither Frank nor Bob saw the blade leave its scabbard, but faster than\nthe eye could follow, the fox drew the sword, cut across the man's stomach, and\nwhen his blade stopped, fully draw and with its wielder's arm extending to\ntheir right, blood was thrown from its edge, spattering onto the pavement, and\nmore of it spilled out from Frank's stomach, along with some other pieces that\ndid not belong outside...\nThe fox touched his sword to Frank's sleeve as the\nwolf stood, frozen in place, eyes wide in shock and mouth hanging open as he\ngrunted, unable to scream. The fox pulled back his sword, wiping off the blade\non the wolf's sleeve, and then brought it around to his other sleeve, wiping\noff the other side of the blade with that one, before turning around and\nsheathing the sword in one deft motion.\nIt was then that the RCMP officer dropped, wetly,\nto the pavement.\nBob, in a surge of adrenaline, was up on his feet,\nand ran to the wolf's side. \"Frank!\" He cried. \"Don't you die on me now, you\nhear me?!\" He reached for the radio transmitter on his shoulder, squeezing it\nto add pressure to the button. \"Officer needs assistance; officer down!\"\n~~~~~ \nDaniel groaned as he heard his radio alarm clock\nbuzzing as he lay comfortably in his bed, roused awake by repetitious, loud\nbeeping that would carry on forever no matter how much he wished to. He rubbed\nhis eyes with one hand while reaching over to the clock with his other, trying\nto tap the snooze button to at least get a few extra minutes...\nPain lanced across his torso as his pectoral\nmuscles moved. \"Yeow!\" He yelped, sitting up sharply, only to feel more pain\nfrom moving too sharply. \"Son of a bitch...\" He growled.\nHe looked at his chest, checking his stitches to\nmake sure he hadn't pulled any too hard. There was no blood, nor a sign of any\ntearing, but the pain had been sharp and sudden. \"Damn... why couldn't my\nsuperpower have been regeneration like Pierre's?\" He muttered as he reached for\nthe clock, seeing no point in snoozing any longer since he was now wide awake,\nand switched off the alarm, changing it to radio as he yawned and stretched as\nbest he could without pulling at his stitches.\n\"...garding\nthe death of a police officer outside the RCMP 6th precinct at\napproximately 6:00AM this morning,\" the newscaster said.\nDaniel stopped yawning instantly, his mouth\nactually snapping shut, and he turned to look at the radio with an expression\nof horror as he feared what was to come next.\n\"Officers say\na man came into the precinct armed with a long blade and two handguns,\nthreatened and assaulted two officers, and then while fleeing the scene,\nexecuted 2 year RCMP Officer, Franklin Cardenas. Authorities have released no\nfurther details than that, but they did say that the culprit was asking for the\nnotorious vigilante known as 'The Warp' by name. Why he would go to the police\nfor that is beyond this reporter, but we believe that there may be some\nconnection between this assailant and the vigilante, one that sounds quite\npersonal.\"\nDaniel launched himself out of bed faster than\nperhaps he should have, ignoring the pain in his chest as he dashed over to his\ndresser, finding his phone in its charger and dialling the Bunker before\nholding it to his ear, listening as it rang.\n\"Konichi'wa?\"\n\"Akio, did you hear the news?\" Daniel asked.\n\"Damn it...\nfigured you'd hear it too,\" Akio returned.\n\"You knew already?\"\n\"I sleep with\na police scanner over my head; of course I knew.\"\n\"Point taken. Do you have any other info regarding\nthe incident?\"\n\"Daniel, you\ncan't go back out there with those cuts!\"\n\"This is J?sh?'s work, Akio; it has to be,\" replied\nDaniel. \"None of the criminals in this town are bold enough to kill a cop right\noutside their precinct -I know this.\" He sighed. \"I told you, Akio; J?sh? is\nnot going to let me wait until I'm healed.\"\n\"Alright,\nalright, give me a second to check police and hospital records.\"\n\"This just in\n-I've just been handed this. An anonymous message, apparently intended for The\nWarp himself,\" the radio chimed, drawing Daniel's attention back to it. \"'If you are out there, listening, Warp, I\nwould meet with you. Come to the place of our first meeting, where you... fell\nupon the hood of a car to break the fall of a young woman, ten o'clock\ntonight'.\"\n\"Daniel, did\nyou get that?\" Akio asked.\nDaniel raised the phone to his ear again. \"I think\nI did,\" he replied. \"And I think I know who left it for me.\"\n\"Daniel...\"\n\"Akio,\" the caribou interjected. \"I don't have a\nchoice. I have to meet with him... and I have to go back and finish what I\nstarted with J?sh?.\"\nAkio was silent for a long moment before speaking\nup again. \"After you meet with him,\nwhoever it is, stop by the Bunker before you go off and do something stupid.\"\n\"I have to stop there to pick up my uniform\nanyway,\" Daniel pointed out.\n\"I'll\nprobably be busy,\" returned Akio. \"Going to need\nevery hour for what I've got in mind for you.\"\n\"Akio, I'm sorry; I know you're worried about me,\"\nsaid Daniel. \"But J?sh? is not going to stop long enough to let me heal. My\nlife is not worth more than that of the Toronto citizens, but to him, vengeance\nis worth more than every life in Canada. He walked into a Police Precinct,\nkilled an officer, and just walked out; anyone who can do that and live to see\nthe light of day is more than the RCMP can handle. That is where people like me\ncome in; the ones with only their own rules.\"\n\"I know,\nDaniel,\" returned\nAkio. \"I just don't want to lose the only\nperson I know who isn't out to kill me for betraying the Yakuza.\" He added\nhumorously. \"Who else is going to bring\nme a burger every Friday night?\"\nDaniel allowed himself a light chuckle. \"See you at\nthe base tonight,\" he said, before they both said goodbye and hung up.\n~~~~~\nDressed in civilian clothes, Bob walked slowly\nacross the plaza leading up to the CN Tower, heading into the adjacent park as\nhe had described in his message. If the Warp had been listening when that\nanonymous message was played over the airwaves, than only he would know where\nit was directing him to, as only Bob himself and one other cop had seen him\nland there that night; the rest had been focused on a certain monster using the\nCN Tower for its personal jungle gym and hostages in an elevator.\nHe reached the spot where it had happened, near the\ntrees lining the stone path leading up to the foot of the tower. Nothing\nremained of the incident that night, but Bob remembered it well. The exact\nplace where the car had been, and how the Warp had risked his life and his\nmobility to break the fall of a woman going through the bottom of an elevator,\nonly to get up and walk away from it. Hardly something you simply forgot.\nNow, Bob was back, and looking for the vigilante,\nsending him a message he might not even respond to -given how many people were\nprobably out for his blood, he'd be smarter not to. But it was the only way\nthat Bob could think of to get in contact with him; he had to know what the\nstranger had said, but the moment Bob had told the chief about the message\nintended for the Warp, he had forbidden him to let it be set loose on the\nairwaves, believing it would make the city think that the RCMP were actively\nworking with a fugitive. \n\"We'll deal with this guy our way -the right way,\" he had said. \"Not giving\nthat flag-ripping freak the satisfaction of believing we need his help.\"\nHe hadn't seen how fast that fox had drawn his\nblade.\nAnd he hadn't watched one of the 6th\nPrecinct's best men get disembowelled.\nThis was beyond them; they could not stop this guy.\nBut there existed somewhere in the shadows of Toronto that could. Or so, Bob\nhoped at least. The way the fox had spoken to him that morning...\n\"I'm warning you now, Officer,\" a voice spoke; Bob\nlooked around, trying to find its source, but could see nobody anywhere; the\nvoice sounded like it was coming from behind him, but when he looked, turning\nin a full circle, no one was there. \"If this is some elaborate ambush to\ncapture me, it won't work. I can be gone faster than any police officer can\neven pull the trigger of their gun.\"\nBob breathed a sigh, calming himself after the\ninitial jump-scare. \"This isn't an ambush,\" the badger called. \"None of the\nother cops at the precinct know I'm here.\"\n\"What about your partner; the one who was with you\nthe night we met?\"\n\"So you do remember\nme then,\" said Bob.\n\"'Come to the place of our first meeting, where\nyou, fell upon the hood of a car to break the fall of a young woman',\" the\nvoice reiterated. \"Most of the cops there that night were barely paying\nattention, except for you and him.\"\n\"He got transferred,\" assured Bob. \"He works over\nin Yorktown now, in operations against what's left of the Russian mob. Say, how\ncome you haven't gotten over there yet?\"\nAs if on cue, a spontaneous flash of light erupted\nin front of Bob, making him jump backward and fall flat on his backside with a\nstart. Looking up, there stood the white and red clad vigilante caribou,\nstanding with his arms crossed over his chest as he stared down at the police\nofficer, a toneless expression on his pale face. \"Not even I can be everywhere\nat once, officer. My range is limited.\"\n\"With the way you pop in and out like that,\ncould've fooled me,\" returned Bob as he stood up and dusted off his pants.\nWarp's gaze narrowed. \"Why did you want to see me?\"\nHe asked. \"You risk your badge coming to talk to me, you know that.\"\n\"I'm off-duty, talking to a guy heading to a\ncostume party,\" Bob replied. \"They can't prove it's anything else even if one\nof them did follow me.\" He impatiently shifted his feet. \"Now look, I'm here\nbecause some fox with a samurai fetish showed up at the precinct last night;\nyou hear about that?\"\n\"Only that someone attacked the precinct, and\nexecuted an officer,\" replied Warp. \"A white-furred Hokkaido fox with silver\nhair, carrying a katana and wearing a crimson samurai kimono; was that him?\"\n\"Right on the money,\" returned Bob, crossing his\narms. \"Frank Cardenas... been on the force two years; made a record number of\narrests before he was past rookie. One of our very best; just got married last\nyear to the single mother of two kids that he saved from a stalker on his ninth\nweek.\" He shut his eyes in disgust. \"I watched his intestines spill out onto\nthe sidewalk, when he tried to catch that guy. I didn't even see the blade cut\nhim.\"\nWarp eyed him sympathetically. \"I'm sorry,\nofficer.\"\n\"Yeah, me too,\" returned Bob. \"The bastard came\nthere because he wanted a message delivered to you, Frank and I happened to be\nthe guys closest to the front desk -I was at\nthe desk, even. He put that sword right up against my chest, and told me that\nif I didn't relay his message to you, he'd drown this city in its own blood.\nSaid that you're to finish your battle with him.\" He put his hands on his hips.\n\"You want to tell me why this guy is so obsessed with you?\"\n\"His name is Masaru Kameyama,\" Warp replied.\nThe name Kameyama struck a chord with Bob, making\nhim pause and look at Warp thoughtfully before raising one hand and waving a\nfinger. \"I remember that name... Takeo Kameyama; the guy you dropped on our\ndoorstep last year?\"\n\"The very same,\" replied Warp. \"Masaru is his\nnephew, and a member of the organization he once led. He views Takeo's defeat\nas a shame to his family, and seeks to cleanse it by killing me.\"\n\"And I'm guessing,\" began Bob, \"that when he said\nyou already fought him, and showed up at our precinct instead of at the\nhospital... things didn't go your way.\"\n\"Not so much,\" admitted Warp. \"He's one of the most\ndeadly opponents I've faced.\"\n\"You know where to find him, don't you?\" Bob asked.\n\"I do,\" replied Warp.\n\"Then tell me,\" stated Bob, giving Warp a hard\nlook. \"I'll round up a SWAT Team right now and go get him. I want to bring that\nguy in my...\"\n\"You can't,\" interjected Warp. \"And I won't tell\nyou.\"\n\"Why not?\" Bob asked, harshly.\n\"You said it yourself,\" said Warp. \"He killed one\nof your best officers, in a single slash that was so fast you couldn't even see\nthe blade, right? That's because he can draw it faster than even the fastest\nathlete in the world can evade. Clearly, kevlar doesn't stop that sword of\nhis.\" He reached up and rubbed his chest. \"I learned that the hard way myself\nwhen I faced him last night.\n\"But if you go after him with a SWAT team, then\nthat takes his attention off of me and brings whatever power the Kameyama\nfamily have left in this province right down on the Toronto RCMP. You have the\ntraining, they have the numbers; you'll run out of men long before they do. Let\nme deal with Masaru; the less people get caught in the feud between him and I,\nthe better.\"\n\"You know that isn't how this works,\" stated Bob.\n\"That's the way it'll have to work,\" returned Warp. \"You can't defeat him; I don't even\nknow if I can stop him. But I will\nnot let Toronto be endangered by a personal vendetta.\"\nBob eyed Warp quizzically. \"Are you talking about\nme or him?\"\n\"Both,\" Warp replied without hesitation, a firm\nlook on his masked face. \nBob growled in frustration, pacing on the spot for\na moment before he looked at Warp again. \"By everything I swore by there's\neight different things I should be arresting you for right now, not the least\nof which being obstruction of justice for not telling me where to find that son\nof a bitch.\"\n\"Then why did you pass this message on to me?\" Warp\nasked. \"Why did you not simply leave it, and let the system do its work?\"\nBob scowled as he turned his gaze to the sky. \"I\nguess the world is just becoming that strange,\nisn't it?\"\nWarp smiled. \"Strange indeed,\" he said.\n\"You just make sure you bring that guy to us,\nunderstand?\" Bob asked. \"The 6th deserve to be the ones to charge\nthis guy after he took out one of our own.\"\n\"Just make sure your gun is holstered when I bring\nhim to you,\" replied Warp. \"And, if all goes well, he'll be on your desk before\nthe night is out.\"\nBob actually allowed himself a small smile, but\nstill groaned. \"I'm probably a fool for this,\" he said. \"But I wish you luck.\"\n\"Thank you, Officer...\"\n\"Miles,\" he replied. \"Robert Miles.\"\nWarp nodded to him, and ended the conversation\nthere as he once more vanished in a flash of light.\nWarp reappeared at The Bunker, seeing Akio sitting\nat the workbench as he had been when he'd been there earlier. This time, when\nhe arrived, the weasel turned to face him, eyeing him curiously. \"How did it\ngo?\"\n\"Wasn't a police trap,\" replied Warp. \"But we've\ngot one ticked-off police officer who wants a shot at J?sh? himself; I talked\nhim down, but I can't be sure of how long he's going to wait. I've got to take\nJ?sh? down before the RCMP tears through the city looking for him or they'll\nget caught in the crossfire.\" \n\"Why are you so certain that they can't handle\nMasaru?\" Akio asked. \"He may have lightning-fast reflexes and a cybernetic eye\nbut he's still just a furson; a bullet in the right place will kill him just\nlike any other.\"\n\"You know as well as I do the Yakuza won't let that\nstand,\" replied Warp. \"The police may have put away Takeo, but the one they\nwant is the one who took him down. That means I'm their only target, and it\nneeds to stay that way or there'll be an all-out war in our streets. I think we\nboth know the cops don't have the numbers to take on the second-largest\ncriminal organization in the world.\"\n\"Yet you can, all by yourself?\" Akio asked.\n\"One man can journey where a thousand cannot,\"\nreplied Warp. \"What that means is, it's a lot harder to find one man, than it\nis to find a group -especially one that lives in buildings marked with their\nnames over the front door. They can find the cops, but they cannot find me; the\npolice need warrants, I need only a location. That's what makes me a much\ngreater threat to them; there's no limit what I can do to them, and there's no\none they can blame for that on the legal system. As long as I keep it that way,\nthe people of Toronto are much safer.\"\nAkio grimaced. \"Sooner or later, Daniel, the cops\nare going to target you. Especially if they run out of real criminals to go after you; people like Mr. Miles may be\ntolerant of your presence now -especially with giant gremlins and modern-day\nsamurai running around in their city- but you're still just a vigilante to\nthem. So why insist on doing this?\"\n\"Because if I don't, who will?\" Warp asked plainly.\n\"My powers are a gift. I trained to use it to the best of my abilities. And\nthis is how I will do it.\"\nAkio stared at him for a moment before releasing a\nlong, tired sigh. \"Well I'm never going to be talking you out of going out\nthere tonight,\" he said. \"So, it's time I show you what I've been working on\nall day; it's a little messy but it'll be helpful.\" He turned to his work\nbench, picking up a beaker full of a beige-coloured substance that barely moved\nas Akio lifted the beaker. \"It's the best I could come up with on short\nnotice.\"\n\"What is it?\" Warp asked.\n\"Basically, glue,\" replied Akio.\n\"Glue?\" Warp asked incredulously. \"You've been\nmaking glue?\"\n\"It's a different kind of glue,\" replied Akio. \"You\never notice the only thing glue ever really sticks to is your fingers?\" He\nmotioned for Warp to take off his shirt. The caribou was skeptical, but he\ncomplied, unzipping the sleeves and letting his outfit fall open, but grasped\nhis belt with one hand so that it wouldn't be dragged down and leave him\nstanding in his underpants, letting Akio approach him and dip a little, smooth\nwooden stick into beaker. \"What we have here is a type of glue that eventually\nmelts into the skin; completely un-harmful, designed to patch up hurt soldiers\nin the field.\"\n\"How come you never tried using it before?\" Warp\nasked.\n\"Because I'm not sure I got the 'dissolve' part\nworking,\" replied Akio. \"If I didn't, you'll have to peel the glue off. And\nit's going to feel like you're waxing your fur.\"\n\"I'm not afraid of pain, Akio,\" Warp pointed out.\n\"You've never had your back waxed by your friends\nwhile you were peacefully sleeping in your dorm room at the University of\nTokyo,\" returned the weasel.\nWarp tried to hold back his smile, but as the image\nof Akio being waxed in his sleep crept into his mind, it wasn't long before he\nwas snickering. \"Holy shit, someone actually did that to you?\"\n            \"Hai,\" replied Akio as he stared to apply the glue, using the little\npestle to smooth it over the stitched cuts on Warp's chest. \"It felt like a\ngiant wasp stung me.\"\n\"I'll bet. So what'll this glue do for me?\"\n\"It should help keep you from pulling your stitches,\nor if any do rip it'll staunch any bleeding,\" replied Akio. \"Just try not get\ncut anymore.\"\nWarp nodded. \"I'll try,\" he promised. \"Last time, I\nmade the mistake of fighting J?sh? on equal ground; he caught me off guard with\nhis speed and that skill with a blade. This time, however... I'll be ready.\"\n\"Have a plan, do you?\" Akio asked.\n\"Yes,\" replied Warp. \"I think I know how to take\nhim down.\"\n~~~~~\nJ?sh? was sitting exactly as he had the previous\nnight when he had first battled with the Warp, his back to the window that\npeered out to the city beyond, the lights casting his entire body in shadow as\nhe sat there, scowling and fuming as he waited for his opponent to return.\nAlready, he was considering what he would do if he didn't; if the police\nofficer failed to deliver his message to The Warp, then he would start with the\n6th RCMP Precinct in Toronto, for their open defiance of him; if\nthey didn't believe him a threat, they soon would know otherwise.\nHis anger was seething, threatening to overtake\nhim; not only had The Warp shamed his family, he had fled from him in the\nmiddle of their battle, rather than accepting his fate and defeat. To be so\ndesperate to preserve his own life; he was not worthy of the praise the city\ngave him, nor the fear he had instilled into the Yakuza leaders.\nAs J?sh? contemplated this, a flash of light\nilluminated the room; the fox looked up, and saw him, standing there just as he\nhad when they had met the night before, but instead of seeking out his presence\nin the penthouse, he was looking straight at him, his dead-gray eyes showing an\nexpression of great displeasure as he glared at J?sh?. Those eyes showed more\nthan any words the two might have spoken to one another at that moment; that\nwas the look of a man driven by purpose, with a hint of anger in them -nowhere\nnear as much as J?sh? was filled with and controlling, but nevertheless, that\nstare along told J?sh? that the Canadian warrior was ready to finish what they\nhad already begun.\n\"That westerner policeman made the right call,\"\nJ?sh? stated as he stood up from his cushion, a hand already on his sword.\n\"This fight is between you and me, Masaru\nKameyama,\" Warp stated firmly, giving J?sh? pause as he heard his true name\nbeing spoken. \"You shouldn't have gone after the RCMP.\"\n\"Says the man who fled like a frightened child,\"\nretorted J?sh?.\n\"There's no shame in running away if you know you\ncannot win,\" Warp returned. \"Something we westerners struggled with in our\nbeginning. Do you think the Americans saw every battle they fought down to the\nlast man against the British during their revolution?\"\n\"Spare me your words, scum,\" returned J?sh?. \"I am\nnot here to talk about your western foolishness; when you enter battle, you see\nit through to the end. Either let your enemy fell you, or fell yourself if he\ndeems you unworthy of being executed by his blade. That is the way of a true,\nhonourable warrior.\"\n\"Then you have a twisted sense of honour,\" returned\nWarp. \"One that died three hundred years ago when the era of the Samurai\nended.\"\n\"The Samurai are eternal; honor does not die, and\nso long as it exists,\" he put his hand upon his sword. \"So too does the\nSamurai.\"\n\"If you were truly any sort of Samurai, you'd know\nwhat the Yakuza do is nothing that they would have ever supported,\" Warp\nreturned. \"I may not know your culture as well as I wish I did, but extorting\nmoney, spreading drugs and violence; I know that that was not the way of the\nSamurai. If one of them were to look upon you now, they'd die of shame knowing\nwhat their name is now associated with.\"\n\"As I told you before, this world belongs to the\nstrong,\" returned J?sh?. \"My master was strong, until you made him weak. Now by\nmy honor I must restore the good of his name, and that begins with your end.\"\nHe jabbed the hilt of his sword with his thumb, freeing it from the scabbard.\n\"Now, prepare yourself; this time, we fight 'till the last breath. You will see\nthis battle through, or I will see this city burned to the ground for your\ncowardice.\"\nWarp shut his eyes for a moment, his breathing\nsteadying. \"You're right,\" he said. \"This does\nend tonight...\" He reached behind him, producing a long rod from a holster\non his back, which at the touch of a button, suddenly became longer as its two\nends extended to a five-foot long staff of metal. \"When I'm finished with you,\nMasaru Kameyama, I'm going to find where the rest of your associates are\nhiding, and I'm going to drive them out of Canada for good; I won't tolerate\nyour presence in my country any longer.\" He spun his staff before adopting a\nsideways fighting stance, the tip aimed halfway between the ceiling and J?sh?'s\nhead. \"This madness is over.\"\n\"Then you are finally ready,\" stated J?sh?,\nreadying himself to charge. \"This will finally be the battle I expected from\nyou.\"\n\"You'll be getting far more than that,\" retorted\nWarp. \"Last time I fought you as an equal. This time, I fight you as the thing\nyour uncle and his associates feared everytime they walked in the open.\" His\nscowl deepened. \"This time I battle you as the Ghost of Toronto.\"\nWithout another word, J?sh? unleashed a battle cry\nand charged at Warp, sprinting across the room towards him with his paw on his\nblade, ready to perform his signature draw-cut that had ended many battles\nbefore they had begun, his wooden sandals thundering on the hardwood floor as\nhe charged. The grip on his blade tightened as he neared Warp, time seeming to\nslow for both of them...\nHe drew.\nA flash of light reflected off of his blade as it\nswung.\nHe reached his full swing, his arm fully extended,\nbut he had hit nothing.\n\"You may be able to draw that sword faster than the\neye can perceive,\" Warp's voice spoke from behind him; when he looked over his\nshoulder, he saw the caribou standing on the opposite side of the room,\ncompletely untouched. \"But I can teleport just as quickly.\"\n\"You... dodged my sword,\" J?sh? said in disbelief,\nan expression of shock on his face. \"No one has ever evaded my draw-cut\nbefore.\"\n\"No one you fought can departicalize themselves and\nreform at another location in less than a millisecond,\" retorted Warp. \"As I\nsaid before...\" He returned to his previous stance. \"You're fighting me on my terms now.\"\n            J?sh? bared his fangs at Warp before\nhe gripped his sword with both hands and charged at him again, delivering a\nvertical slash to him that he blocked with his staff before kicking J?sh? in\nthe stomach to knock him back. With that, he lunged forward himself and swung\nat J?sh? while he was off balance, but the fox quickly found his footing, his\nocular implant detecting the trajectory of Warp's oncoming attack, and he\nparried as needed to deflect the weapon, before attempting to counter by\ncircling his blade around and slashing at Warp.\n            But the caribou took one hand away\nfrom his staff, using the hidden gauntlet to block the sword, and leapt away as\nJ?sh? brought the sword around to attack again, slashing at his legs, but\nmissing. The fox growled at his failure to land a strike again; Warp was\nproving to be just fast enough to meet him on equal footing in combat, dodging\nand parrying his attacks with deft and skillful movements, showing his talent\nwith the quarterstaff. The way he attacked with it was like using a naginata,\nattacking with a blade mounted at the top. \nBut Warp's staff did not have a blade; instead he\nhad refined the technique to make full use of the reach of his weapon, using\nthe speed of the balanced armament to further his advantage. He was much taller\nthan J?sh? and had the longer weapon, many times leaving the fox too far away\nto counter-attack. At one point in the battle, as Warp lunged at him after\navoiding a stab, J?sh? stepped out of the way, and grabbed the caribou's cape\nto try and pull him back towards him.\nThe breakaway clasp of Warp's cape did just as it\nwas supposed to; as soon as the cape was pulled taut, the two halves of the\nbrooch separated, leaving him little more than just slightly off-balance from\nthe sudden tug on his collar, and J?sh?'s initial surprise saving him from\ntaking advantage of it when the cape pulled off so easily. Angrily, J?sh? threw\nthe cape aside, letting it fall to the floor, before resuming his duel with\nWarp, once more their weapons clashing in the dimly lit room.\nWhen J?sh? managed to find an opening and thrust\nhis blade at Warp again, the caribou once more disappeared. Reacting quickly\nand without even moving from his spot, J?sh? spun his blade around, putting the\nback of it beneath his left arm and with a twist of his hips to the left,\naccompanied by a push of the sword pommel, thrusting it behind him.\nHe felt the satisfying bite of his sword tip\nmeeting flesh, along with Warp crying out in pain. \"Fool me once,\" J?sh? said\ncoldly, looking over his shoulder at the caribou; the blade had stuck into his\nside, not deep nor finding anything vital, but it had slowed his opponent. \nImmediately, J?sh? followed up on it, returning the\ntwo-handed grip on his weapon and spinning around, swinging his blade with\nblinding speed towards Warp's neck. The caribou predicted the attack, bringing\nup his staff just in the nick of time to block the sword, the two weapons\nclanging as the katana hit the metal rod, imbedding itself halfway through it\nand almost severing it in two, and Warp noticed, sent quite a jolt through\nJ?sh?'s hand; the grip on his sword loosened, just slightly, but that instant\nwas all that he needed.\nWarp pulled sharply on his staff before J?sh? could\nreaffirm his grip on his katana, and it was successfully pulled free of his\npaws, the fox's eyes widening in horror as his weapon was suddenly taken from\nhim, slipping free of the staff before clattering to the floor several meters\naway. Warp took advantage of the shock to kick J?sh? square in the chest and\nsend him flying onto his back, and then discarded his staff, the weapon too\ndamaged to risk using any longer. \nJ?sh? sprang back to his feet, the upper half of\nhis robes falling loose as he rose. He shrugged it off, letting it fall free from\nhis body and exposing his torso, riddled with scars from past wounds, leaving\nmany horizontal, vertical or diagonal bald spots in his fur, within which\ngrotesque, old wounds could be seen. What had this man subjected himself to\nthroughout his life? And that wasn't all; as he pulled his arms free of the\nsleeves of his robe, two spring-mounted, concealed pistols, Walther P1's to be\nexact, could be seen hidden on the inside of his arms, once covered by his\nsleeves.\nWarp expected him to resort to the pistols, now\nthat he had just lost his primary weapon, but much to the caribou's surprise,\nJ?sh? actually removed the spring devices from his arms and let the weapons\ndrop to the floor. He still had one visible weapon, though; a blade on the back\nof his belt that Warp had not seen before, but just like with the pistols, he\ndid not draw it; he raised his fists, ready to continue the fight.\nWarp wound up his arm before he teleported to him,\nappearing right in his face and delivering a punch that J?sh?'s ocular implant\ndid not have time to process, his fist striking J?sh? squarely in the cheek.\nJ?sh? retaliated with a kick to Warp's flank, stumbling him slightly, and then\npunched him in the jaw, which sent Warp reeling from the surprisingly hard\npunch. He recovered quickly, and saw J?sh? going to retrieve his sword.\nReacting fast, Warp teleported ahead of him, grasping the sword before hurling\nit point-first up to the ceiling, where the blade stuck itself into the\nrafters, higher than J?sh? could reach.\n\"How dare you touch my blade?!\" J?sh? roared before\nhe continued the lunged in with another punch.\nWarp put up his arm, letting his gauntlet take the\nhit, before he teleported again and jabbed J?sh? in the back of the head,\nmaking white flash across the fox's good eye and staggering him. While J?sh? was\nopen, Warp made his final move, stepping forward before he pivoted around, his\narm tensing as he held it half out, and then landed a powerful spinning\nbackfist strike to J?sh?'s face, sending the fox off of his feet and spiralling\nfeebly to the floor, a dull sound marking his impact with the floor.\nWarp stood in that position for a moment, his fist\nstill where it had struck J?sh?'s cheek, until he let out a long, deep sigh to\ncalm himself, and stood up straight, turning to face J?sh? with a hard stare.\n\"You're finished,\" he stated, firmly.\n\"This fight is over.\"\n\"No...\" J?sh? growled defiantly, shaking his head\nto clear it, pushing himself up on his hands and trying to stand back up.\n\"You... have not beaten me yet; I still draw breath!\"\n\"I have beaten\nyou,\" retorted Warp. \"You can't continue this fight in your condition; that\nstrike alone was almost enough to give you a concussion.\" As he spoke, he\ngrabbed one of the bolas on the back of his belt, letting it unfurl in his hand,\nthe two brass spheres hanging low by his waist. \"And now I'm taking you in.\"\n\"I...\" J?sh? retorted, grasping the blade on the\nback of his belt as he finally manage to get to his feet. \"Will not...\" he said\nshakily, slowly drawing forth the short blade -a tanto, to be exact. \"Let you\nshame me...\" He grasped the blade in both hands, Warp standing ready as he\nanticipated an attack, already whirling the bolas in his hand. \"Like you shamed\nmy uncle... I will not be imprisoned in this wretched land!\" He turned the\nblade around, teeth bared as he faced it towards his stomach.\nSuddenly it became clear what he was about to do.\nReacting fast, Warp teleported to the side, and\nhurled the bolas in his hand for J?sh?'s arms. A second of hesitation is what\nhad bought Warp what he needed as the enraged fox held the dagger in the ready\nposition; the bolas whipped around J?sh?'s arms, spiraling as the high-tension\ncord in the spheres uncoiled from inside of them, the balls spinning\nhypnotically around his arms before one of them struck him on the nose, making\nhim reel and growl as they forced his arms together, unable to bend them, and\nfinish the ritual sacrifice known as Sepukku after dropping the tanto in the\nprocess.\nWarp appeared at his side and delivered one last\npunch that sent him off of his feet, falling to the floor hard and spewing\ncurses at Warp in his native tongue. \"You deny me everything! You shame my\nfamily, and you shame me! Then you take the chance to cleanse myself of your\nshame away from me!\" He looked on the verge of tears, his face so contorted\nwith anger as he glared daggers at the caribou from below. \n            \"You don't get off that easily,\nMasaru,\" returned Warp, coldly as he produced his other bolas and, after\navoiding a kick from the fox, used it to bind his legs, effectively hog-tying\nhim with the nearly unbreakable cords. \"You're in Canada now, and you'll face\nCanadian justice, not this misguided sense of self-cleansing that died a long\ntime ago. I'm taking you to the RCMP, and you're going to be sharing a cell\nwith your uncle.\" He reached down, sharply pulling J?sh? to his feet by the\nscruff of his neck. \"I hope the reunion goes well.\"\n            J?sh? was spewing all kinds of\ncolorful words at Warp in both Japanese and English, some of the former he\nunderstood, but ignored every one of them as he hauled J?sh? over to his cape,\npicked it up, and tucked it under his arm before the two vanished in a flash of\nlight from the ruined penthouse...\n            At the 6th Precinct, less\nthan an hour after Warp's battle with J?sh?, the fox was found tied up and\nlying on the desk of Officer Robert Miles, along with note plastered to his\nface that read 'You'll find the rest of the evidence at the following address';\nnaturally, the address led back to the unused penthouse where the two battled.\nThey collected J?sh?'s guns, discarded kimono top and removed his sword from\nits imbedded position in the ceiling, returning to the Precinct with all of\nthem in tow to be put on showcase in the evidence room.\n            Analyzing samples of the blood on\nJ?sh?'s sword, which they sprayed with luminol to reveal past samples, they\nfound the blood belonging to Officer Franklin Cardenas, and the two pistols,\nboth non-registered firearms with recent GSR coating the sleeves of the kimono\ntop were all they needed for a conviction, with of course, a witness statement\nfrom Officer Robert Miles. Even though The Warp had been the one to bring in\nJ?sh?, which by all accounts should have had him released, the fox's actions\nthe night before were enough for them to hold him.\n            \"One katana sword,\" the keeper of\nthe evidence locker said as much into a recording device he held as he did to\nBob as they went over the items collected at the scene. \"Composed of forged\ntitanium, tempered with folding methods commonly used in the forging of swords\nin Feudal Japan, two unregistered restricted firearms, model Walther P1 compact\npistol, one Tanto blade, and a blood-red kimono robe, composed of silk commonly\nfound in Japanese fashionwear. Probably pretty comfortable too,\" he added\ndryly. \"All of this, property of one Masaru Kameyama, AKA J?sh?, nephew to one\nTakeo Kameyama, former head of Yakuza operations in the city of Toronto.\"\n            \"Whom he will soon be joining,\"\nstated Bob. \"Doesn't matter he has twenty lawyers show up to represent him;\nthis evidence is solid.\"\n            \"Defense will still argue he was\nbrought in by that vigilante you know,\" the keeper warned. \"Could hold some\nsway.\"\n            \"Justice is a set of scales, my\nfriend,\" stated Bob, smiling as he turned to leave. \"A pound of lead against\nsix pounds of gold, and we're bringing home the gold. The bastard who killed\nFrank is going nowhere.\"\n            \"Speaking of which,\" the keeper\nasked. \"How uh... how did his wife take the news?\"\n            Bob looked over his shoulder, eyeing\nhim ruefully at the question. \"How do you think she took it?\" He asked,\nirritated.\n            \"Sorry,\" returned the keeper.\n            Bob let out a sigh, and continued on\nhis way out of the evidence locker, feeling the need for some air. He made his\nway to the stairs, climbing all the way up to the top floor before following\nthe last flight to the roof access, greeting several other cops on his way up,\ncongratulating him on his success at finding the evidence to convict the\n'wannabe samurai' they called him. Bob returned their greetings half-heartedly,\nforcing smiles and waves until there was nobody else, and then exited through\nthe rooftop door, wedging it open as he walked out onto the roof, feeling the\ncrunch of the pebbles beneath his feet as he crossed over to the ledge, placing\nhis hands upon it and staring out to the city beyond.\n            It wasn't quiet for long before a\nvoice spoke from behind him, his heart nearly leaping out of his chest at the\nunexpected intrusion. \"Officer Miles.\"\n            Bob spun around, and saw none other\nthan the vigilante standing five feet away, looking back from him from the\ndarkness of the inner part of the roof. Bob put a hand over his chest and\nsighed. \"Dammit, man,\" he said. \"My heart's in enough trouble from the pounds\nI've been putting on lately; I don't need you accelerating my risk of cardiac\narrest by scaring me to death.\"\n            \"Sorry,\" returned Warp. \"How did\nJ?sh?'s arrest go?\"\n            \"Swimmingly, so far,\" replied Bob,\nputting his hands on his belt. \"But the lawyers haven't come yet; see what\ndirty tricks they have to play when we meet in court.\"\n            \"Not even the Yakuza can use the\nlegal system to free J?sh? with all the evidence you've collected,\" assured\nWarp. \"Just make sure that the right judge is on the job; one that can't be\nbought.\"\n            \"Not really my call, but I'll see\nwhat I can do,\" returned Bob, shaking his head. \"I can't get Frank's family out\nof my mind, though... widowed two years ago, married one year ago, and now\nwidowed again; poor Stephanie's heart probably can't mend itself too many more\ntimes after this.\"\n            \"I know how she feels,\" assured\nWarp, sadly. \"Sometimes the pain never really goes away... especially not when\nyou lose two so close together.\"\n            \"Is that what drove you to put on\nthat mask?\" Bob asked.\n            \"You know I can't tell you that,\"\nWarp returned. \"The less you know about me, the better.\" He expressed a\nconfident look as he continued speaking. \"We may not be on the same team,\nOfficer, but we're both on the same side; of that, I can assure you. If you guys\nshould ever catch up with me I will respectfully accept my fate... but until\nthen, I have my own war to fight, and it's somewhere the police cannot go.\"\n            \"I know,\" returned Bob. \"But hey,\nyou're uncatchable, right?\"\n            \"Maybe I am,\" replied Warp. \"Or maybe\nthe one who can catch me just hasn't revealed them self yet.\"\n            \"I pity whoever that fool is,\"\nreturned Bob. He then noticed the dark spot on Warp's uniform, eyeing it with\nsome concern. \"You're hurt... do you need first-aid?\" He asked.\n            Warp waved it off. \"I'm okay; the\nwound was shallow,\" he assured Bob before tugging at his uniform a little.\n\"Bi-woven kevlar gives some protection at least, especially from swords not\nreally meant for stabbing.\"\n            Bob nodded. \"Kay,\" he said, and then\ngrimaced. \"You've earned my respect, man, and at this point I believe this city\nreally does need a man like you,\" the badger said. \"You know, there's this\ngroup out there, officially sanctioned by the United Nations, called the Bureau\nof Superheroes or something like that; they put guys like you on jobs like\nthis. Have you ever considered joining them?\"\n            Warp shook his head. \"I operate only\ncity-wide; they operate on a global scale,\" he replied. \"I only want my home to\nbe a safe place for those like Franklin's children to be raised in. When the\ntime comes that this city no longer needs their guardian 'Ghost', I will\nhappily take off this mask, and live my life normally.\"\n            \"This city's a big place,\" Bob\npointed out. \"Not the biggest on Earth, but still the biggest in this country.\nHow long do you think such an endeavor will take?\"\n            \"As long as it has to,\" replied\nWarp, walking around Bob and over to the roof ledge, which he jumped up to,\npreparing to depart.\n            Before he could, Bob spoke again.\n\"Thank you,\" he said. \"For everything you've done for this city so far. It's\nlike you said; we're not on the same team... but I believe in what you've\naccomplished.\"\n            Warp looked over his shoulder at the\nofficer, the light breeze blowing through the streets making his cape sway.\n\"And that gratitude is all I need to keep going,\" he said, before he jumped off\nof the roof, and vanished once more in that flash of light, leaving the\nsatisfied cop to smile happily for just a moment before he started to head back\ninside."}