The Reincarnator #2 (of 4)

Paranoid Much?

(That should do for a 'cover', shouldn't it?)

Notice for the faint of heart: the following tale isn't precisely what one would consider G-rated in nature. It contains a plethora of excessive and unnecessary violence, not to mention a surplus of other content that might see it burned, were it in a printed form, by the more fanatical elements of various societies across the earth. In other words, if violence, robots, and mad science offend you, you've been warned.

(That should do for a 'disclaimer', shouldn't it?)

***

Robert walked warily down the corridor, his eyes watching everyone and everything in his path.

After returning home from his rather unpleasant trip to London, Robert had been more than a little bit paranoid, imagining threats in every nook and cranny. It was bad enough in school, him giving everyone and everything the hairy eyeball, but then most people there figured him for a 'weirdo' anyway. Vampires never ambushed him in the locker room, of course, but at this point Robert would have preferred that.

Which was why he was wasting time in the local mall. His parents loved that he had seemingly gone to waste time like a 'normal' kid would, though in truth Robert was trying to be a better target in this highly public location. An hour of stalking the various kiosks and overpriced storefronts had earned Robert nothing but serious disappontment however, as no one or nothing tried to kill him.

Sighing, Robert eventually turned back towards the food court, and after getting some sort of orange and crushed ice concoction, had a seat. He continued to watch everyone passing him by, but aside from those youths with truly atrocious fashion inclinations, nobody really accosted him. In the slightest. As he prepared to get up and leave, someone suddenly tapped him on the shoulder - someone he hadn't even heard approaching!

Leaping out of his chair and into a combat stance, Robert blushed when he realized it was Tara!

Looking him up and down, she shrugged. "Paranoid much?"

"Oh, sorry Tara - I'm a bit jumpy today. Too much caffeine... I imagine?"

She giggled of course, as if Robert weren't about to punch through her skull or something equally horrible. "You forgot to call me tonight."

Even more embarrassed, since he had actually forgotten about this silly 'date' notion after the whole vampire attack thing *, Robert tried to think up a quick comeback. "Er, well, it's still technically Friday?"

Laughing again, Tara simply patted Robert on the head. "Well, I'm here now, so how about it? Want to maybe go see a movie tomorrow? And don't worry, I won't take you to a 'chick flick', either."

Sighing with relief, Robert returned to his seat. "That works. I can't usually sit through one of those - not without making fun, anyway. Bad writing, bad acting, and no 'fun'. If I wanted that, I could go watch some professional wrestling - there's just as much groping, and a lot more punching - if a bit too much Spandex ™."

Tara simply nodded at that. "True! So pick me up at the school at around sevenish, and I'll have a movie picked by then. Sound good?"

"Totally!"

Turning to walk away, Tara waved at Robert. "Until tomorrow, Robert. G'night!"

Robert watched Tara walk away again, his eyes drawn to the small of her back as she seemed to bounce and swish her way out of the food court. That was a really nice tattoo there.

***

Strolling home from the mall, Robert was kicking himself inside for forgetting about that phone call he was supposed to make. Hard to keep up appearances when you forget the basics, you know. Though his 'draw them out' strategy seemed to have failed utterly, Robert nonetheless kept his wits about him as he walked the two and a half miles back to his house, and didn't get jumped by anybody.

Not even a mundane mugger. Sigh.

Giving Samuel a call, Robert asked him if there were any weird happenings in the area his team was aware of, hoping that maybe something odd might stick out which would serve as a lead. Sadly, the investigators in Robert's employ had nothing to go on, aside from strange reports of a drunken, staff-wielding 'lunatic' over in Manhattan proper. Everything else was par for the course in the Big Apple.

And the staff-wielding wacko wasn't all that far out there, truth be told.

Once his parents were asleep, Robert put on his 'adventuring' outfit, which consisted of seemingly ordinary clothing with Kevlar ™ woven in, along with his katana, a few knives, and of course his compound bow. He may not have had it in Tunisia, but it would probably draw less attention than one of his Uzis tonight. Particularly with all the cosplay bow-slingers running around of late.

Pop culture, got to love it.

Taking a cab across the river, Robert made his way to Manhattan Island, and got out shortly after his arrival. He then began to walk the streets, having always loved the 'feel' of big cities at night - especially this one. Sure, he was too young to get into most locations of interest in such a metropolis, but just moving from one city block to another helped him to feel at ease. It always has, for him.

The he got a wary look or two from passersby, Robert went mostly unmolested for just over an hour. Things went swimmingly for Robert, until a car pulled up beside him on the sidewalk. "Hey, kid, you want to make some money?"

Looking at the sweaty old man leering at him out his car window, Robert fingered a knife hidden within his trench coat, prepared to throw it at a moment's notice. "I think I have that covered, thanks." Before he could walk away, Robert noted that the man's gaze suddenly turned upwards, but he found he couldn't see anything behind himself in the car's mirrored windows. Drawing his sword, Robert quickly thrust it behind himself!

"Aughck!"

Skewering the first vampire before it knew what hit it, Robert forcefully yanked upwards on the blade, bisecting his foe and leaving him cleaved in twain on the filthy sidewalk. The seedy man in the car next to him, freaking out at the site of this, floored the accelerator on his oversized black sedan and fled the scene as rapidly as his car allowed - which caused him to miss seeing Robert fight all the other vampires.

(in progress)

***

The Reincarnator #2 (of 4): Paranoid Much?
© 2012, 2019 Denny Hill 2, All rights reserved and so forth.

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