The Turn: Chapter Twenty-Two

The Turn

Chapter Twenty-Two

~Hypothetical Situations~

Two Years before The Turn

“What do you mean our team is on an extended vacation!?” Zara asked.

Sirius smiled, “I mean you will get your normal vacation days and some extra for your troubles.”

“Troubles!?” Zara questioned, “Forgetting your fake identity is trouble! This was an entire catastrophe! The guy in the suit told Mr. Peterson who we were! Do you not understand that this is the first mission that my team has failed!?”

“No one can keep a perfect record, Zara,” Sirius tried to be a comfort; “It just isn’t possible. Things happen.”

Zara opened her mouth to say more but she didn’t know what to say. She threw her arms up in defeat.

“Now, once we manage to retrieve the information that Naru swallowed, you can all go home. He could be coming out of surgery now and heading for the healing center. Hina too, I think.”

“Fine,” Zara turned toward the door.

She walked past Kaiba and Kiri, barely giving them any notice. Angered, she pressed the elevator button until it nearly fell off. When the door finally opened, she ran into Jekyll who was just getting back. She apologized quietly and went inside. Jekyll didn’t say anything in returned. When the elevator doors finally closed, he walked forward to talk with Sirius.

Sirius came out of his office, “Kaiba, did you get the reports from the rest of them?”

Kaiba nodded, “I debriefed them when they came back. Apparently there is a man in a black suit walking around spoiling things.”

“You think he’s the one behind all this?” Sirius asked

“Not sure,” Kaiba shrugged, “Naru said he was the limo driver. He said there was someone else inside but he couldn’t get a good look. It could be possible that the man in the limo simply told the driver to go in for him.”

“We need more information,” Sirius said.

“You can always send out spies,” Jekyll stated. He noticed the other two men slightly jump at his voice, “I’ve been standing here a while.”

“Right, my apologies, Doctor,” Sirius smiled.

Jeykll reached into his inner jacket pocket and pulled out a folder, “Here is my report. If that is all you need, I have a triple bypass surgery to prepare for. I left Naru’s laptop with cyber forensics.” He left.

Kaiba’s computer chimed. He sighed, “‘The DR may have killed again’.”

“He signed his work again didn’t he,” Sirius couldn’t help but smile, “Old habits die hard I guess.”

“It will keep the police busy, I guess,” Sirius said. He was willing to overlook the signature, “At least we know it was him who tossed a car down the side of a cliff.”

“Why would we ever get him confused with another Dr. Eon Jekyll?” Kaiba rolled his eyes.

Sirius shrugged, “You can’t be too sure, Kaiba.”

Zara walked quickly out of the elevator and toward the entrance. She didn’t have the patience to wait. In a hurry, she set her card on the front desk for the secretary to deal with and headed out the door. Zara walked out of the building and groaned. Chaud was standing at the foot of the stairs. She turned right toward the parking garage, walking fast as to out walk Chaud. Her anger was about at its boiling point.

“Will you quit stalking me!?” she shouted over her shoulder.

Chaud’s voice traveled from just behind her left shoulder, “I’m not stalking you.”

Zara walked faster, “Oh, believe you me, the coincidences are far too many for you not to be following me! Just quit it! Leave me alone!”

There was some silence as Zara entered the parking garage but Chaud’s presence still lingered.

“I know you’re still there!” Zara pulled out her keys from her pocket.

He fell back as Zara got to her car. Zara slammed the door as she got in. She deliberately tried to almost run Chaud over as she drove out of the parking garage. There was a part of her that was disappointed that she didn’t even get his foot. She drove home. Admittedly, she drove faster than she should have been in rainy or nice weather. When she managed to park she slammed the door and walked inside.

Inside her apartment, she sat on the couch and turned on the TV. Ever since they had landed, she just was in a bad mood. She couldn’t point out exactly what was irritating her. It was possible that it was their first failed mission but then again, it could just be the lack of sleep. By now, she had been awake for almost 24 hours minus the cat naps on the plane.

The poor remote nearly broke apart as she surfed through the channels. She didn’t know what she was looking for but knew what she didn’t want. Out of frustration, she turned off the TV and grabbed a bike helmet.

She rode her bike through Transaction Square toward the Puppetmaster’s shop. When she found that it was locked and closed, she angrily kicked at the door. Not wanting to go back yet, she got on her bike and rode down the small streets and alleys. Zara rode into a smaller square with a fountain in the middle. Her bike hydroplaned and she was sent sliding on the stone ground.

“Dang it!” she shouted.

“It tends to happen when you bike that fast in the rain,” a familiar voice said softly.

Zara looked up through the rain drops. Puppetmaster offered her a hand. She accepted and pulled herself to her feet. Her bike looked alright but her arm…

“Oh, dear,” Puppetmaster looked at the large scrape on her arm. Fresh blood was streamed down her arm in the rain.

“I’m fine!” Zara tried to pull her arm away from him, “It doesn’t hurt!”

“Come on, there’s a coffee shop over there. They might have a first aid kit,” Puppetmaster started dragging her toward the shop.

“I don’t—my bike!” Zara said as she resisted.

“Shuppet, stay here and watch the bike,” he said to the doll sitting on the edge of the fountain.

Puppetmaster dragged her into the shop. The girl at the desk gave them the kit and they went back out and sat at a table beneath an awning. Puppetmaster worked carefully to patch up Zara’s arm. He was quiet for a few moments as he tended to her. Shuppet sat quietly in the rain. Its clothes were soaked through and through. Zara sat quietly as she waited for Puppetmaster to finish. He finished tying the bandage and smiled at her.

“Are you feeling alright?” he asked.

“No,” Zara confessed.

Puppetmaster smiled sympathetically, “Tough day?”

“We failed in our mission,” Zara stated, “and it was my fault.”

“How so?”

“I was completely useless! When my team needed me the most, I couldn’t be there for them! They probably hate me,” she said the last part quietly.

Her eyes watered but she kept a stern face. Puppetmaster sat and waited, thinking carefully about how not to make the situation worse. Zara looked up at him after a while into the silence.

“Well,” she stated.

“‘Well’, what?” Puppetmaster smiled.

“Aren’t you going to say something?” Zara sighed, “Do you think it’s my fault for getting us in to that mess? Was there something different that I should have done? Can you just say something?”

Puppetmaster thought a moment, “Hypothetically, let’s say there was this black panther. And let’s say that this said black panther made friends with a hawk, a snake, a little harmless looking kew, a dragon; not those bulky dragons, one of those small snake-like dragons, and a rather large poisonous scorpion.”

“Scorpions lose their poison the larger they are,” Zara critiqued the hypothetical situation.

“Well, this one didn’t. This is my hypothetical situation. You have no right to pick it apart.”

Zara looked at him skeptically, “Fine.”

Puppetmaster smiled, “Now say this hypothetical panther says to her hypothetical friends that they should all go on a hypothetical adventure, hypothetically. Her hypothetical friends are all hypothetically on board with the hypothetical idea. So this hypothetical group of friends head of on this hypothetical journey but on this journey, they run into some hypothetical trouble. This hypothetical trouble runs into them, not them looking for trouble, because a hypothetical hyena with an evil hypothetical plan sent his fellow hypothetical bat minions to delay their hypothetical journey.”

“Hyenas? Bats?”

“Shush! The point is, in this hypothetical situation, if the hypothetical hyena tries to hurt the hypothetical panther and friends, whose fault is it that they hypothetically fail this hypothetical journey? The hypothetical panther who all she wanted to do was hypothetically succeed in their journey or the evil hypothetical hyena who sends his hypothetical bats to cause the hypothetical friends trouble?” Puppetmaster propped his head in his hands as he smiled back at Zara.

Zara herself was having a bit of trouble sorting out what Puppetmaster was saying. All the hypotheticals were tumbling over each other, “Honestly, I lost you at hypothetical.”

“I could repeat it if you want,” Puppetmaster laughed.

Zara, despite her mood, could keep a straight face, “No, that’s all right. I see your point.”

“Do you?” Puppetmaster tilted his head a little.

“Well, you’re saying that it isn’t my fault. If the New Order really wanted to hurt us, there was little we could have done to prevent it. Do you think they hate me though?”

Puppetmaster shrugged, “You’d have to ask them, hypothetically of course.”

Zara smiled, “Of course.”

Puppetmaster looked out to the fountain, “We could get poor Shuppet out of the rain. He’ll give me the silent treatment again.”

“Who would have thought?” Zara said sarcastically, “Dolls giving people the silent treatment? No way.”

Puppetmaster glanced at her, “They do talk. One just needs to know how to listen.”