Chapter 8

David did not like what he was seeing. He was able to use the pin he had given Rose as a homing beacon, making it easier to shift his awareness to her vicinity whenever he wanted to and wherever she was. Unless she was in a suppression field.

And she was about to be in a suppression field for a long time.

While she was meeting with the other negotiators, and speaking to them in a language he didn't understand, David gave them a quick going over. He found one strange thing: one of the men was wearing nose filters. Sophisticated ones, at that. Whatever that was about, it couldn't be good. He went inside of them and used his transmutation abilities to open channels in the filters, rendering them useless.

He was just about to check the man's brief case when they stepped into the room. David recognized the kind of room, and beat a hasty retreat outside before the field inside came on.

He kept his location outside the room, fixing it in his mind so that he could go back there with little trouble. Since he was not projecting any illusion of himself, nobody would notice that he (or at least, the focus of his telesense) was there. He had the whole evening free, and would not suffer from the time difference since his body was still back home.

The field in the room came on, rendering the room opaque to him (and uncomfortable to look at). After a good imitation of forever - even though it was less than ten minutes - the field went off. He looked around outside the room and noticed that all but two of the people in the office were unconscious.

The two exceptions were very strong looking, well dressed business men. One carried a briefcase, the other some tools. Both carried guns of some sort, and both wore nose filters and night vision goggles. David assumed that the lights were out, a situation that did not hamper his telesense.

The men went into the room and to the man with the nose plugs. One prodded him, but he was as unresponsive as the rest seemed to be. They swapped briefcases with him, carefully positioning the new one where and how his had been. While his cohort did that, the other one put a piece of paper under the briefcase of Rose's father. The one without the briefcase picked Rose up and carried her out the door.

David followed them to the emergency stairs, looking closely at Rose as he did. She was as unconscious as the rest, but seemed otherwise ok. After they opened the door, but before they got to the stairs, he used the "dart drug" trick he had learned from Angel. As he had hoped, the one carrying Rose sort of collapsed, rather than dropping her or falling on her. Their bodies blocked the door open, which was also as David had hoped.

Using the approach he had learned helping the little girl with the poison needles in her, he went through Rose's body and found - and eliminated what he could of - the blood borne effects of the knock out gas. He gave her a strong jolt of adrenalin - one of the few stimulants he was familiar enough with - and formed a small illusion of himself in front of her.

"Huh? ... Wha?" she tried, eloquently.

"It's me, David. No time to explain. You need to go down the stairs to the landing after next. You're in danger, and there's only so much I can do."

Rose nodded groggily, and climbed to her feet. While she started toward the stairs, he went back to the room, and spent a couple of moments in the briefcase of Rose's father. He barely got out before the power came back on and the suppression field snapped back to life.

He caught up with Rose, and saw that she was approaching a landing. He dropped his illusion and went through the door on that landing. The good news was that nobody was nearby or looking at the door. The bad news was that the door opened into an office area rather than a corridor. Even with that, he decided it was a good risk.

He reappeared to Rose, and told her to go through that door quietly. The door was locked, but he was able to remedy that in short order. They made it to the front door of the office suite with no trouble, but saw that there were a lot of people standing around outside, apparently talking to each other.

It was all gibberish to him. "What are they talking about?"

"The blackout, and the alarm. Apparently, a lot of police are in the office two stories up, and people are hoping they'll release the elevators soon."

David, who had faded out again, took a quick look and reported "They seem to have done so. At least one of them seems to be operating normally."

He guided her to the working elevator, and she did her best to blend in with the crowd waiting for it. While David couldn't quite manage a full body sized illusion at that distance, he did disguise her face and hair. After another eternity or two, they were able to board an elevator for the descent to the lobby.

Rose's father came around slowly, to find himself face to face with a policewoman. She asked him a question - at least, he thought it was a question - in a language he didn't understand. "I only speak English," he groaned.

He looked around for Rose, hoping she would translate for him. When he didn't see her, he grew alarmed. "Where's Rose? Where's my daughter?"

In heavily accented English, the officer explained that Rose was not in the room when they arrived, and they assumed they would find her elsewhere in the office. She went on to question him about the events leading up to his unconsciousness. At her suggestion, he checked his briefcase to see whether anything had been disturbed or taken. Everything seemed in order, except for his business cards. Since they weren't important, he didn't bother mentioning that part to her.

When he had a moment, he looked at the cards. The second to top one had been changed. There was a logo there, with the letters CP sprouting wings, and a somewhat cryptic message: "Rose safe, free. Feign ignorance." He knew the message had to be from Rose's winged friend David. He slid the card back into the stack, then went back to dealing with the situation.

When he moved his briefcase, he noticed a piece of paper under it. He pulled it out and read it. It said that Rose was alive and safe - for now. He was not to tell the police, or anyone else, about the note. And that the people who had arranged things had a similar hold on one of his opposite numbers.

Their involuntary agent would utter a code word sometime during the negotiations. In response, he was to agree to whatever the agent proposed. If the agent gave another code word, he would suggest that they adjourn for the day.

After he read the note it disappeared, leaving a rapidly disappearing residue.

It was going to be a long, hard day.

Rose had to get away and hide. She was conspicuously neither Japanese nor an adult, so somewhere quiet was probably out of the question. She needed crowds of people, preferably including a lot of people about her own age.

She made her way to the nearest station, paid at the kiosk (which talked, much to her relief) and got on the first train she could. Safely (well, relatively safely) seated, she took stock of her resources. She had a small guidebook, which she had planned to read during her breaks so she could plan out her later sightseeing and shopping. She had some local money - not a lavish amount, but enough for her likely immediate expenses - and a little American money. Out of recent habit, she had a few sanitary supplies as well. And a pen and a small notepad. Not much, all told. But it was better than nothing.

Her non tangible assets included her language abilities, her education, her youth, sex, and general health. Not the stuff of legends, but it would have to do.

She got off a couple of stops later, and got on another train. She hoped that would help throw anyone who tried to follow her off the trail. That train she rode to Tokyo, to an area her guidebook had recommended for teens.

Mini-David popped in to let her know that her father was safe, and that he knew she was safe. It would not be safe for her to contact him or her family for a while, or to go back to their hotel. Even the police were out for the time being - no telling who might be on the "wrong side". She would have to disappear and lie low for a day or two, until things blew over.

It was like a scene out of a nightmare. Now that she thought about it, it was a scene from a recent nightmare. She was in a strange city, where most of the signs were incomprehensible, and all of the people were strangers. Customs and social behaviors were subtly different, and she didn't know the rules. And she was being chased by strange men in suits. Dangerous men, on their home turf, who could be anywhere.

She wanted to hide, but she knew it would be even more dangerous to try. She wanted to blend in, but she stood out with her western face and American clothes. She wanted to go for help, but she didn't know who she could trust. The government might be involved. Some of the police might be involved. Or they might have been fed some misinformation about her. The phones, even the eComs, might be tapped or monitored.

Anyone she saw or spoke to - anyone who saw her - could be a part of the problem.

More than anything else, she wanted to be safely home, surrounded by her family and her powerful friends.

She did the only thing she could think of - she walked along, acting like she was window shopping, and listened. Most of the conversations were surprisingly unexotic. They were the same kinds of things she would have expected to hear at the mall. The names and so on were different, but the gist was the same.

She got very nervous when she caught parts of some conversations about finding "her" (or even "him"), but after a moment or two of frantic concentration she was convinced that she was not the person any of them were talking about.

Finally, she caught something that might be useful.

"It's not fair! Here we are, a team of super powered morfs, and our lives are boring. Boring! We should be having adventures, fighting the bad guys, saving the world ... that kind of thing. What do we get? Homework and cram school." The boy had red orange hair, and stood almost a head taller than the tallest of the girls.

"You've been watching the tube too much." The blue haired girl chided. "Besides, we're not a team. We're friends, sure. And we have powers. But teams train together. They are organized and have formal rules and things. They don't just hang around together and wish for something exciting to happen."

The third girl turned toward Rose. Hey! This is a private conversation here! Eavesdropping like that is rude! A shout would not have carried half as far - or as clearly - as that thought did. Obviously a telepath.

But could they help her? Would they help her? She was tired, scared, and - despite the occasional appearance of Micro David - alone in a strange place. A place that was altogether too much like a recent half-remembered nightmare. They seemed like her only hope. The fact that they seemed to be about the same ages as her friends David, Lena, and the rest seemed reassuring as well.

Summoning up her best abilities with communication and persuasion, she suggested that helping her with her problem might provide just the excitement they were looking for. She outlined the problem, and waited as they argued over helping her.

In the end, it came down to a sort of shrugged "Why not?" Not exactly the enthusiastic support she would have liked, but she would take what she could get.

"First, a makeover." Yuko, the tallest of the girls with straight black hair, said with a half smile. "That face just won't do."

As she raised her hand, Rose understood. "You're a bio elemental." It wasn't a question. "One of my friends back home is, too."

Yuko nodded, and then waved her hand about six inches in front of Rose's face. Rose felt a skin crawling sensation over her face, just like those some people had described. When it stopped, she looked at her reflection in a store window.

A stranger looked back. Her skin was a different color - a little less pink, a little more yellowish tan. Her eyes were very different, their new brown color peeking out through typically Japanese epicanthic folds. Even her cheeks and lips looked different. While she was looking, the rest of her skin changed color to compliment her face.

"Rose?" a familiar voice asked, next to her ear.

"Yes, David. It's me." She saw that the others were looking at her like she had a screw or two loose. "Could you let my new friends see you?" She held out her hand, palm up.

Mini David appeared over her palm, and waved at the startled teens. Kohaku, the boy of the group, caught himself starting to wave back and quickly dropped his hand.

"I have good news and bad news," David told her. He waited as she translated for the others. "Your father knows you are free and safe, but he has to pretend you have simply vanished. I will keep watch over you two, though there is not too much I can do at this distance. He suggests that you find somewhere to hole up for a day or two, while he works things out."

"What about the rest of my family?"

"Lena let them know the situation. They are safe for the moment, and the others are looking out for them."

Somehow, that sounded ominous to her, but she could also "hear" the implied "don't ask" under it. "so what am I supposed to do?"

"Well, for starters you could introduce me to your friends."

Embarrassed, she did so and translated greetings back and forth. Once he was confident they would help her, he vanished.

"And now..." Aoi, the blue haired girl announced dramatically, the boy flinched and the three girls chorused "Shopping!"

Rose wasn't so sure. She liked shopping as much as the next girl, but... "I don't have much money with me. And I don't dare use any credit - they'd find me in a nanosecond."

Maki, the green haired telepath, looked her in the eyes. "Are you good for it?"

"Of course I am. Well ... my folks are, anyway."

Maki looked at her seriously for a moment. Then she grinned. "No problem then. Let's go!"

What followed was a whirlwind familiar throughout the civilized world: teenage girls shopping, with a token boy to carry the bags.

While there was as much of the other girls trying things on as there was looking for things for Rose, they were remarkably efficient as far as their token male could figure out. Some of the styles and cuts were a little different than Rose was used to, but they had her looking like one of them in no time.

Rose had a brief moment of disorientation when the girls insisted she try on some oddly cut shorts. It wasn't the shorts themselves (although they were disconcerting). It was the name: "Dromedaries". At first, it didn't translate. Then she realized that the word wasn't in Japanese. It was in English, with a decidedly Japanese pronunciation.

"They will make you look more Japanese. No American girl would be brave enough to wear them, I bet. You have some weird ideas about sexiness over there." Maki shook her head. "You guys would not believe the things I have seen in their heads!" She rolled her eyes.

Rose still wasn't sure, until they pointed out three other girls about her age, all of whom were wearing the fashion.

Rose shrugged. "When in Rome..." she muttered, pulling them on and handing the tags to the others. They were right about one thing; nobody looking for an American teenager would give her a second look in those pants.

She made sure that she transferred her pin to her new outfit, pinning it in place where it would not be easily visible to the casual observer. Somehow, that seemed important.

They paid for the clothes, and bundled her clothes into a shopping bag. They left the store, and moved to an unoccupied bench. Then they started in on her makeup.

Yuko looked at her watch, and swore quietly. "I have to run. My danna" (some sort of title, which didn't translate) "will be very disappointed if I am not there and ready when he arrives." She shook her head and dashed off.

Rose was confused. The untranslated title carried some sort of sexual and business connotations, but also something else - something she didn't have the concept of. It was not that Yuko was someone's mistress, or some kind of prostitute, but there were similar elements.

Maki read her confusion. "I thought you said you could learn languages. What's the problem?"

"If there's a concept I don't know, I won't understand the word for it."

Aoi, looking exasperated, muttered "Ignorant American culture..." and Kohaku just shook his head.

Maki was a little more understanding. "Have you ever heard of Geisha?"

Rose noticed that the term didn't translate, but she did understand it. Somewhat. "Only in the movies. And even I know better than to trust that."

"Classically, they were a highly skilled combination of entertainer, hostess, courtesan, and what you would consider a mistress for pay. They were not prostitutes, like some of you westerners tend to think, but many did have sex with their client as part of their duties."

Rose could tell she was oversimplifying a much more complex concept, but at least she was following the explanation.

Maki noted her understanding, and continued. "Earlier in this century, the new realities of business and our culture gave rise to a new variation. The men of wealth and power didn't have as much need for personal entertainers, and it was more appropriate for wives or employees to serve as hostesses at formal functions. But the concept was too powerful a part of our culture to just fade away as a historical novelty."

She took a moment to gather her thoughts, then continued. "Women's roles had changed. We were always a part of the power structure of business and government, but only in a limited way. Now we became much more integrated into those power structures. We could head multinational corporations, and not just as figureheads."

"Girl power!" Aoi grinned.

Maki nodded, then continued. "At about the same time, MORFS took hold of the world. Some people gained abilities that the powerful found useful. Telepaths, bio elementals, technopaths, cyberpaths, and so on could be powerful allies. Human nature being what it is," she paused a moment, then shook off whatever she was thinking, "they felt they needed a way to gain control of such people. They weren't stupid ... mostly ... so they knew that any attempted use of force would be counterproductive, and ordinary employment is subject to poaching by others."

She grinned. "It's not clear who came up with the idea, but there are stories that it was an Okami..." another word that did not really translate. Maki noticed her confusion and took a moment to explain. "Think of a convent. There are nuns and novices, and over the whole thing is a Mother Superior."

Rose looked a question at her. "Don't ask." Maki replied lightly but firmly. Rose accepted her desire to avoid talking about where she learned about convents.

Maki continued. "The convent is called an okiya, the nuns are geisha, the novices are maiko, and the Mother Superior is the Okami." She grinned. "Anyway, this particular Okami was apparently smart and ambitious. She wanted to reach beyond what she saw as a dead end position."