Description: Daisy and Tiger Mask join forces to try to help a little girl find her fat cat! On the way, they discuss the meaning of Justice and also that there's a world-reknowned criminal syndicate is kidnapping students to steal their DNA. In the end, neither Daisy nor Tiger Mask are a match for the little girl's detective abilities. Then, a criminal appears, and Daisy knocks him out in what is very reminiscent of a cunning martial arts manuever.
Things have been rather strange in Southtown of late. Stories of bizarre attacks on the local students have been coming in almost non-stop and this comes following hot on the heels of the uproar created by the sudden and unexplained dealings of the principals of these institutions. Add on top of that the frenzy of media attention created by the yet more sudden announcement of an inter-school tournament and you have a recipe for chaos. It's been all the local police force can do just to keep order.
Fortunately, a solution has presented itself!
While the cops hit the street to battle the rise of petty thievery, vandalism, and other such minor crimes that always accompany public events, Interpol has focused their attention on the more grave concerns that have cropped up in the shadow of this madness. Rumors of illicit back room deals with shadowy organizations are only the tip of the iceburg. Now there's this Atelier Medical group going around collecting information on people for who knows what purposes. Is it simple aggressive marketing strategy or something more sinister?
With these thoughts in mind, Daisy made her way all the way from France to begin her investigation. Things have been going pretty swell so far to her mind; but to anyone else it's probably a miracle she's even still alive at this point.
Her plane very nearly fell out of the sky after a clerical error resulted in too little fuel being provided for the trip and only the sheer luck of the runway being cleared at the time managed to see them safely to the ground. Naturally, Daisy slept through all of this, only to find that for some reason she didn't end up having to go through a lengthy wait for her luggage when she got off. Lucky~!
After that, she'd taken a taxi to her hotel, somehow ending up with a clinically depressed driver who had gone off his meds. Despite his best efforts to slam them into oncoming traffic, his reckless driving merely shortened the trip, saving her on fare! With the extra time to spare, Daisy had decided to get out and start work early!
Unfortunately, that's where her good luck came to an end. As she made her way through the busy streets of Southtown and finally began to approach one of the local schools, a Taiyo High according to the reports, she was accosted by an emergency of great import!
"Heeeere, kitty, kitty!"
Cupping her hands around her mouth to amplify the sugar-sweet lilt of her voice, Daisy calls out to the empty space around her as she walks at a steady but measured pace along the sidewalk. At her a side, a young girl who looks no more than six or so years old hurries to keep pace with the tall blonde detective. She too calls out, attempting to draw the attention of her missing pet.
"Mimiiiii! Come out! It's time to go home!"
Wearing a white karate gi and a ornate white tiger mask, black hair pulled back into a ponytail that's just a little above shoulder length with a white leather cord, Miki stares down at the street below from her perch four stories up.
Her sensitive ears catch someone calling... for a cat? Are they calling out her name? Someone's on to her!?
No, wait, that was Mimi.
But since there is no other justice to do, she might as well help with this missing cat. Perhaps helping a tiny human will be more satisfying than helping a tiny cat. There is certainly only one way to find out.
She jumps off of the building, does a flip midair, and lands in a kneeling pose with one first on the ground about ten feet in front of the six year old and the detective.
She looks up to meet the little girl's eyes. "What does your cat look like? When and where did you lose it?"
She rises to her feet, and dramatically clutches her right hand into a fist. "I ask because I, Tiger Mask, will help you find your lost cat the best I can!"
She looks over to Daisy. "No doubt you are also aiding in this search." She walks closer to Daisy, looks up at her, holds out her hand towards her. "Let's combine our forces to find this cat, before it gets too late and she gets sleepy!"
The sudden and dramatic entrance of the masked hero causes both the detective and the little girl to jump in surprise. Daisy's hand flies to her mouth as she gasps, which is better than in going to the gun at her side, whose presence she has done nothing to hide. The little girl simply freezes for a moment then looks up at the detective and emulates her shocked expression in the way that children do.
"O-oh my!" Daisy speaks in clear and perfect Japanese, each word flowing casually into the next in a lovely fashion, but her Western accent is impossible to hide. "Tiger Mask? T-this..." She pauses for a moment looking thoughtful but a light goes on in her head and she points a finger at Miki. "This must be one of those Japanese superheroes that I keep reading about!"
The small girl's eyes widen at this revelation and she clenches her fists, hopping up and down excitedly. "Wow, really?! Are you gonna help me find my kitty, lady?! Yay!"
Daisy accepts the hand and shakes it warmly in return then turns and smiles at the child. "Is that not wonderful? Now make sure you tell her what you told me."
"O-okay! Mimi is a big kitty! She's...um... well kind of fat. But she's got pretty white fur and black spots on her ears!"
"I prefer the term 'Ally of Justice'! But this is no time to quibble about details; we have a kitty to find."
Tiger Mask's grip is perhaps a little /too/ firm on that handshake, and would be a bit painful to most people, although perhaps not most fighters, but she releases it soon enough.
She nods gravely to the child. "Of course I will help!" She lowers her fist from the sky, and crouches down in front of the child. "But I need to know all the information you do so far, so we can search most effectively. Where have you last seen Mimi? Are there places she tends to go?" She looks up and over to Daisy. "Which areas of the city have you already searched?"
The overly tight grip causes Daisy to wince a little and she shakes her fingers out when the handshake ends, looking at the bruised digits with an unhappy pout. Her attention is diverted back to the topic at hand readily enough, however, and she puts a finger on her chin.
"Hmm. I am not very familiar with this city, so I cannot give you street names, but we have only looked for a few minutes so far."
The child holds up her arms to get attention and says, "Mimi doesn't usually wander off! She's a lazy cat. She's been missing all morning so I bet she's hungry! Maybe she's at a noodle shop!"
"Oh, noodles are very good. I had some earlier myself!"
Tiger Mask looks back to the child, and nods seriously. "I suggest we start back at your house, then, check if she's back there yet, and if she's not, move in a spiral outwards. Since she's a lazy cat, it is quite likely she has not gotten that far, but it is also entirely possible she is too lazy to get back quickly on her own. I can take the rooftops and get a higher angle on the city, and you and the policewoman can take to the streets and ask neighbors if they've seen her."
She stands up, places her hands on her hips momentarily, gazing off into the distance, then lowers her hands to her sides, and looks up to Daisy. "Do you approve of this plan, Miss Policewoman?"
"Sounds good to me!"
Daisy thrusts her hand into the air, smiling brightly, and the child does so as well, cheering with renewed enthusiasm. Apparently the idea that a fat lazy cat might not wander very far from home hadn't occured to either of them. Both the detective and the girl turn and begin to wander down the street back the way they had come before, calling out to the cat occasionally.
The sight of a foreigner in Southtown isn't entirely uncommon but law enforcement from out of town is. Most people do their best to move elsewhere as the loud pair come trouncing down the street but atleast a few stop long enough to be questioned on whether or not they've seen a tubby white cat with black eyes. None of them have.
While they are walking to search further along, a thought occurs to Daisy. She turns her head to regard the masked vigilante and once more assumes her 'I'm thinking' pose, finger on her chin.
"Oh! I suppose I should ask since an ally of justice might know these things. There have been a lot of reports of strange things going on here in town lately. Would you happen to know anything about that?"
Reading those arm movements, Tiger Mask also thrusts her fist into the air, almost in unison. It's something she quite likes to do; it seems properly heroic.
She's only one story up as she traipses across people's rooftops in what is probably technically trespassing, and looks down at Daisy at that question, but she isn't having much more luck locating the cat from above.
"...Strange things? That's a very wide category. There's always something strange going on in Southtown. Is there anything in particular you wish to know about? If you tell me what you're investigating, there's a chance I know something, or that I might be able to find out something." She nods her head. "I'm always willing to help further the cause of Justice!"
Hmm. Well, this presents a dilema. On the one hand, she needs to gather information about the goings on around Southtown of late. And who better to ask than a masked avenger for justice? But the same time, most of the things she knows are classified. She'd get in a lot of trouble if the wrong person heard about their suspicions and leaked it to hte press! She'll have to be sly about this.
"Well..."
Play it cool, Daisy.
"It is nothing to be really worried about."
That's right, nothing to see here folks.
"I'm sure you have seen reports on the news about the business going on at the schools lately? First a principal swap and now this tournament..."
The hook is out there, now for just a little bit of bait to see what bites.
The detective gives a brilliant smile up at Tiger Mask, tilting her head to the side in a quizzical fashion."Have you seen anything that might look like a world-reknowned criminal syndicate kidnapping students to steal their DNA in the area?"
Nailed it.
Tiger Mask nods slightly as Daisy talks about about reports about the principal swap and the tournament. She comes to a stop at this last revelation.
After a moment, she starts walking again.
"I have to admit, I hadn't been taking that stuff too seriously. It may be that's a... that's a..." She takes a deep breath, lowers her head and the volume of her voice slightly. "...a failure of Justice on my part."
"I'll look into it more carefully now. Talk to my contacts. I'd like to request a means to communicate with you, so I can keep you informed if something comes up."
She's silent for a moment. "If it turns out a world-reknowned criminal syndicate is truly kidnapping students to steal their DNA..." A pause.
"Tiger Mask's power alone may not be enough. I think this case may even be more serious than the missing person case we're currently working on."
She glances down at the kid. They... are talking about this stuff in front of a 6 year old right now. But clearly she doesn't understand as much as she thought she did about police procedure.
To be fair, Daisy's view on police procedure doesn't exactly match the textbooks. Or... any book really, unless you count the mountains of paperwork left in her wake. The kid stares up at them with wide eyes but it's pretty clear that what they're talking about is over her head. Even if she could remember such information long enough to relay it to someone else, they'd likely have no clue what she's talking about.
Something up ahead of them catches her attention, however, and she starts to insistently tug on the detective's skirt. "Hey, police lady, there's a noodle shop over there! Kitty might be inside!"
"Oh? So there is! Let us go and see, hmm? Perhaps we can all get some lunch while we look! Go on ahead and we'll be right over."
The kid nods and dashes off, leaving them alone for a moment. Daisy fishes a small card out of her breast pocket and offers it to the heroine. It turns out to be a business card, plain white with black lettering in a professional font.
Daisy Mallone
Detective, Criminal Investigations
International Criminal Police Commission
An image of the earth wreathed in laurels is embossed into the card with a sword pointed tip down through the top and offset by a pair of scales; the sword and scales of justice. The word INTERPOL is written across the bottom, denoting the emblem's ownership. A phone number along with some other contact information is also present.
"Feel free to send me anything you find! Or if I'm not available for some reason, just contact someone at Interpol and it will get to me!"
Tiger Mask stops as the kid brings up the noodle stand again, and comes to a stop on that roof. Watches her depart.
As Daisy takes out her card, she drops lightly off the roof, landing in a slight crouch, then straightens up, walks over to accept the card - bow, accept with both hands, carefully put it inside her kimono, bow again. Very formal for a super heroine.
"I'd give you my calling card, but... Justice doesn't have a phone number, and neither do I. But if I find anything, I'll definitely get in contact with you."
She's silent for a long moment.
"If you don't mind my asking, Daisy, why did you become a Interpol Detective? Is your heart burning with Justice? Are the hours good? Does it have nice benefits? Or...?"
Daisy returns the bow, though she does so a little flustered, not expecting such formality from a masked hero. She's quite skilled at the social graces of Japanese custom, however, and executes the move flawlessly. Seeing the silence as the end of the conversation, the detective turns to follow after the child, but the question causes her to pause and she slowly wheels back around to peer at Tiger Mask in surprise.
"Eh? You want to know why I became a detective?" She ponders that for a moment then smiles radiantly. "Well, because of my daddy, ofcourse! He is also a detective and when he used to tell me stories about all the bad guys he caught, well, I just got really fired up for some reason!"
Daisy clenches her fists and hunches over a little, her body brimming with sudden enthusiasm. It's apparent in her expression and her tone that the topic is one of her favorites.
"So I studied really hard and passed all these really difficult tests! T-there is a whole lot of things you have to know to be a detective! But it all paid off and now I get to help make the world a better place!"
Tiger Mask nods. "I can understand becoming fired up upon seeing - or in this case, hearing about - Justice. And it meaning even more because you're following in a tradition."
She starts to slowly walk towards the noodle shop as Daisy was before, because they should keep an eye on the kid probably?
"...really difficult tests? Sounds tough. But I suppose the Path of Justice is never easy." She turns her head back towards Daisy. "So for you, it's not so much about helping individuals, as it is about helping the world as a whole. You feel like a positive force in the world, and that makes you happy?"
Daisy is quick to follow along, her high heels clicking on the sidewalk in a errant fashion as if the woman's gait isn't entirely steady. She smiles once more, nodding in response.
"Well, sure! Who doesn't like to help out? I'm not special. Kids help out their parents by doing chores, secretaries help their boss by doing paperwork, the garbageman helps out by keeping the city clean... everyone helps out in their own way, right?"
Her expression dims a little. "But sometimes there are people who don't like to help out. Those who chose to be mean and steal or hurt people. It's my job to make sure those people get brought to justice!" Daisy's smile returns as if it were never gone. "And that's how I help out!"
Up ahead, the kid reappears from inside of the noodle shop. Her tiny arms wave in the air frantically and she bounces up and down, calling out to both of them. "Heeey! Police lady, Hero Lady! I found Mimi!" As if on cue, a rather sizable furball saunters around the corner of the building. Judging by the ears and tail that protrude from either end, this is supposed to be a cat, though it looks more like a furry bowling ball. Mimi plops down on the pavement beside her owner looking rather smug, as cats are want to do, despite the trouble she's caused.
"Yes. There are people like that too. I don't understand why some people choose Justice, and others choose, evil, though."
Tiger Mask shakes her head then nods at the kid as she announces she found her cat.
"Excellent work! This time, you were the best detective and hero!" She sounds entirely sincere - her plan was more or less useless, after all.
"Take pride in this! However, don't ever hesitate to accept or ask for help if you think you might need it. We're all in this world together, and it's better to have help and not need it than need help and not have it."
...Maybe they could use the kid to help find that world-reknowned criminal syndicate?
...Probably not the best idea.
"A pleasure working with you two. But I don't have time to stop for lunch. There's other things I should be doing." Like getting back to class, maybe? Lunch break is going to be over pretty soon.
She runs over towards a nearby two-story house, falls into a crouch, and leaps up onto the roof.
Daisy claps excitedly for the little girl and gives the cat a stern look. "You shouldn't wander off like that, Mimi! You will make your owner worry!"
The cat peers up at her for a moment curiously then simply purrs and starts to groom herself. Typical. The child just looks happy to have found her pet so the detective lets it go at that. Another crisis averted.
Instead she turns to wave to their ally of the afternoon, giving her a cheerful smile in parting. "Fare well, Tiger Mask! If you find anything, let me know!"
Should she really be encouraging a young girl like that to engage in vigilgante justice? Probably not. Would trying to dissaude her from following her calling have any effect? Probably not. Best to take the path of least drama in this case. It will be better to have allies than enemies while she's on unfamiliar turf.
With the day beginning to move along, she figures it's about time to get her tiny tag-along back to her home before her parents start to worry. Daisy turns to kneel down, reaching out to pat the cat on its head. "Okay, Mimi, it's time to get you home."
Several things sudden start to happen all at once. There is a scream from nearby, high and shrill. The door to the noodle shop nearly explodes off its hinges as a tall muscular youth shoulders his way out of the small establishment. He moves at a dead run, a pair of women's purses clutched in his arms, clearly stolen from patrons within.
However, in his hurry to leave the gangster didn't notice Daisy crouched just outside the door. With his head turned to grin menacingly at the victims of his latest crime, the young man slams into her side just as she kneels down. The reaction is almost comically bad. The thief, completely unprepared for this obstacle, goes tumbling head over heels through the air, limbs flailing wildly in sudden panic. He has no time to react to this turn of events and with a dull thud he crashes square into a newspaper dispenser head-first, knocking himself out cold.
Daisy goes sprawling for her part in the exchange, landing roughly on her butt on the sidewalk with a bewildered look on her face. "Eh? W-what was that?" A few moments later, both purses land in her land, one after the other, and by the time the victims have stepped outside, she's left standing with the contraband in hand while the perp lies unconscious on the ground nearby.
"Hey, that lady stopped the thief!"
"Wow, that guy's a brute, she must be really strong!"
"Hey, I think she's a cop! Talk about quick reflexes!"
Daisy looks around wildly as a round of applause breaks out from the small circle of people that have suddenly come running, her expression one of surprise and confusion.
"Eeeeeeh?!"
Log created on 19:25:11 01/15/2015 by Miki, and last modified on 22:50:22 01/15/2015.