Adventures In Parodyverse: Center Stage Part 2 (UT#295 tie-in)

Part 1

Center Stage Part 2 (UT#295 tie-in)

    "I'm happy to hear the good news," Hatman heard Dream's voice from the hallway just outside his office. He didn't see who Dream was talking to but he could easily guess - Lara Night stopped to talk to him on the way in. It was likely the new information about Liu Xi.

    "Me too," Lara told him as she walked into the office. Dream was holding both her hands, seemingly after a hug had just concluded.

    "I hope to see her soon, I kinda miss her." Dream added. "Stay safe...and stay sexy, Lara."

    She giggled at that, and accepted a quick peck on the lips from Dream before he waved at Jay through the doorway and then went on his way.

    "You two are still close?" Jay asked suspiciously as he watched her sit across from him at the desk.

    "Yeah." she replied softly yet happily. Lara noticed a change in his glance, like he was suddenly embarassed to look at her. "Jay, don't let your mind run away from you. The truth is--" She gently brushed back her hair and spoke honestly. "I'm not into one night stands any more than you. I don't like to sleep with someone and forget. I formed a pretty good bond with him, and we've been talking a lot since. We talk about his kid, and April, and his upcoming wedding."

    Jay seemed a different kind of embarassed after that - the kind after learning the facts were a lot tamer than his own runaway theories. "Oh," he said. "That's...much better than I thought, I admit."

    "I guess I'm just like you," Lara said with a sly smile. "Your relationship with Chiaki."

    "You got me there." Jay mumbled as he sat down at his desk and began looking through the files lying there.

    "Got anything for us to do?" Lara stood and walked around the other side of the desk to see what he was looking at. She felt inwardly happy that he didn't seem to tense or become nervous as she moved close like he used to.

    Hatman looked at one of the files on his desk and smiled.

---

    Lara looked up at a sign above a small movie theater downtown that had closed long ago. The marquee and box office were still there but its purpose had changed recently to something new - Marvellous Marv's Wedding Chapel and Travel Agency.

    "Don't you think we should date for a while first?" Lara asked jokingly.

    "Very funny." Jay deadpanned. "It's actually the travel agency part that's important. Yuki found information that he may be arranging travel to other dimensions and layers of the Parodyverse. It's a possible route for the Parody Master or his soldiers to get here, so...here we are."

    "I thought you weren't going to go easy on me," she protested.

    "It's not easy," Jay pointed out. "There's a reason why Yuki didn't handle this one herself. She says every time she goes in it's just a wedding chapel and a few offices, yet hardly anyone works there and Marv is nowhere to be found. She thinks he's hiding the rest somehow. Yuki also said she thinks something sinister is going on here."

    Lara nodded. "That sounds more interesting. I guess we could pretend to be a couple who wants to tour the chapel and schedule the honeymoon at the same time."

    Jay smiled triumphantly. "It was either you or Yuki, and I don't think I could make it believable enough with Yuki to keep Marvellous Marv from becoming suspicious. Same with Liu Xi if she was around. And Lisa? Absolutely no."

    "Okay, let's go," Lara replied quietly. She sounded a little nervous about going into action, and almost walked ahead of Jay. "Oh, wait." She stopped suddenly. "We should hold hands or something. We could be an experienced couple so we don't have to go nuts with this, but we should look like a little better than friends."

    "Right." Jay nodded and took her hand gently, leading her through the entrance door.

    The old movie theater's lobby was still a lobby but transformed for other purposes. The box office was an empty glass box, and across from it the double doors to the former movie theater were open to a brightly lit chapel within. To the right were bathrooms and offices. To the left was another office and a former concession stand converted to a display case.

    "Can I help you?" a man announced. He was dressed in a suit and smiled like he worked on commission, probably because he did.

    "Hi," Lara replied with a smile. She looked at Jay as if to defer the rest to him.

    And fortunately, he picked up on it immediately. "We were told to ask for Marv," he said with a straight face.

    The salesperson frowned for a moment, but quickly regained his smile. "I'm sorry, Marv isn't around at the moment, but perhaps I can help you. Give you a tour of the chapel, set you up with a wedding or travel package?"

    Jay looked at Lara and smiled. She picked up the cue and smiled in return. "A tour might be nice to start with," Jay quickly said.

    "Splendid! My name is Stan, by the way." The salesperson shook Jay's hand, and then Lara's. "Follow me please, right this way." He started walking into the chapel as he said, "Stay close, you don't want to get lost. This old building is something of a maze."

    As he started walking he could feel Lara squeeze his hand a little tighter. She was uneasy about something, and while he had no experience with her unusual instincts he was sure he could trust them.

    The chapel itself was just rows of pews replacing movie theater seats in the small theater. At the front the movie screen was replaced by a wedding altar and decorations, and bright lights shone on all the walls and above the aisle. Everything had been painted either gold or white.

    "This is the wedding chapel," he said. "It's not much but we're improving it daily. And it can hold up to two hundred guests if you're willing to put up with a little crowding. It's very reasonably priced, and our rate includes the cost of the blood test and licensing."

    "What kind of exotic destinations does your travel agency offer?" Jay asked, getting to the point of Yuki's report. "We're very interested in faraway exotic places."

    "We're kind of like explorers." Lara added happily. For extra effect after she said that, Jay hugged her around the waist.

    The salesman seemed convinced. He smiled admiringly at the two of them. "We can do packages to the Carribbean, or Asia, Australia. Pretty much anywhere in the world."

    True to her claim moments ago, Lara walked directly toward a door at the back of the chapel in the corner near the altar. "Where does that go?"

    "We have a special dressing room in case a couple wants to bring their own clergy," the salesperson smoothly replied. "We also have special dressing rooms for the bride and the groom."

    Seeming to interpret that as an endorsement, Lara opened the door and headed through it. The salesperson didn't object so Jay followed her through the doorway as well. Both of their hearts sank when they realized that the three rooms the salesperson described were there as he said.

    But then there was a fourth door that said 'Keep Out' in red letters. "What's that?" Jay asked.

    "The basement," the salesperson said. "Nothing important down there but we don't want people wandering in there and falling down the stairs so we put up that sign."

    As if on an ill timed cue, the Keep Out door opened and a man stepped through. Both Lara and Jay recognized him as Marvellous Marv, but he didn't acknowledge either of them as he walked past.

    "There's Marv now," the salesperson said, watching Marv leave. "He seems busy though, we'll try and meet up with him later."

    By the time the salesperson turned around to talk to Lara and Jay again, the two were gone. He frowned to himself and took a small radio out of his jacket. "Anyone on this channel, we have a code six."

---

    The basement was completely dark, and from somewhere deep within there was the sound of slowly dripping water. There was an occasional orange flicker that seemed like a distant flame trying to put out some light but being suppressed somehow.

    Lara led the way through the basement. She had the better night vision, especially considering that she was able to generate an electrical flicker within her eyes which gave them the characteristics of night vision goggles. Of course that made Jay uneasy whenever she turned around and glanced at him and looked like a cat caught in a flashlight beam.

    The two walked toward the flickering flame, noting a lot of heat as they moved closer and closer to it. They finally turned a corner and found what looked like a giant boiler, only the flame in it was so hot that the metal surrounding it seemed to waver from thermal distortion of the air around it. The flame licked through its air port once in a while, scorching the outside of the metal door containing it. Thick steam pipes were routed away from it.

    "Well that's unusual," Jay admitted.

    Light suddenly flooded the room, not extremely bright but enough to stun Lara's vision. She gasped and closed her eyes as the lights came on.

    "I'm okay," she whispered as Jay rushed to check her. "I just need a sec."

    Jay turned around when he noticed someone there - it was Marvellous Marv.

    "Seems you've strayed off the path," Marv said calmly. He looked past the two of them at the boiler.

    "We were looking around and we got lost," Lara said as she finally cleared her eyes. "We came in here because we saw light."

    "Just another couple, eh?" Marv asked suspiciously.

    "Yes, we're planning a wedding," Jay looked at Lara and put one arm around her waist. Oddly enough he didn't have to lie to say that - it was Dream who was getting married to April Alice Apple.

    Marv's eyes narrowed. "You two don't really look like a couple." It sounded like an accusation.

    Lara looked up at Jay and, purposely without hesitation, kissed him for a couple of seconds. Gently, so he wouldn't get the wrong idea, but outwardly it seemed convincing enough.

    But Marv seemed even less convinced. He had a dark, threatening look that betrayed his calm.

    "That's an interesting boiler," Jay noted, trying to distract the former fake television psychic. "Did you build it yourself?"

    "Funny thing about this boiler." Marv calmly walked up to it and opened the scorching hot door with his bare hands, allowing the flame to come out and lick the front of the metal boiler.

    "I have a bad feeling about this," Lara whispered.

    Marvellous Marv looked at the two of them darkly as he added, "For Legionnaires and their cute blonde friends...it also doubles as an exit!"

    Before Lara could protest, Marv grabbed ahold of her and sent her tumbling through the opening into the flame. She screamed at first, but then her voice cut off as she vanished.

    Jay reached behind him for a hat but his hands were shaking and he was too slow. The salesperson he met earlier grabbed him from behind and shoved him forward so he too disappeared into the flame.

    "That should take care of it," Marv noted as he closed the metal flame door and dusted off his hands calmly.

TO BE CONTINUED?

-- Story written and copyrighted (C) 2006 by Jason Froikin, and may not be
-- reprinted without permission.
-- Liu Xi Xian, Yuki Shiro, Lara Night, Chiaki Bushido (Psychic Samurai) (C) 2006 by Jason Froikin, all rights reserved
-- All other characters property of their respective owners

Post By Anime Jason Fri Nov 03, 2006 at 11:51:19 am EST	Subject Adventures In Parodyverse: Center Stage Part 2 (UT#295 tie-in)

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