Leaves From The Jason's Logbook III

[Feinan]

This is backstory - back from the events of SOS-Con. It gives another incident that led to the Jason going forward with Yggdrasil. There will be
several parts to this - this is the first one. Opinions are welcome. Also - I have an incident in mind for another encounter with various zwilnik employees.
I'd like to know if I should put that one up - would people like to see what the Jason is like in full Mad Scientist Rant mode? Let me know, please. *grin*
On with the story.

---

Fate's voice sang from the earbud I was wearing. "Kevin, it appears there's a problem. You're currently one-third a Naruto."

My eyebrows went up as I paused for a moment in my exploration of the dealers' area. "One-third a Naruto?" Clotho answered, "What she
means is, you're currently a sanbi."

I blinked, one hand going to my waist to stroke the brown, furry 'belt' there. Then my eyes glanced around the room. "I know one tail...where
are the other two?"

With the girls telling me where to look, I was able to catch glimpses of the two people who were apparently following me. One was a guy about my
age...former age, maybe late thirties or so, dark hair and fairly well built. The other was younger - not quite fenkinder but close. Early college, if that,
I'd say. The kid was also dark-haired, and from the glimpses I could get of the two, I'd say they were related somehow. Both were in jeans and
t-shirts, but while that's normal fannish dress, the older man appeared slightly...disconcerted by the goings-on around him. Probably not a fan, then...or
else very new to space. Maybe both.

"OK. Fate, any more info on the two?"

"A bit, Kevin. The older one is Henry Jackson, and the younger is James Riley. Security footage shows them dropped off from a van earlier in the day,
and they checked into one of the cheaper hotels under those names. That's all I could find topside so far. I'm checking Earthside now."

I blinked. "Um....Fate? Far be it from me to question you, but...security footage?" When she replied, I could swear I heard her blush.
"Probably best if you don't know, father. Some friends of mine are doing the Earthside checks as we speak." There was a momentary pause, then she
spoke again. "They did find the two listed with driver's licenses under those names. New Jersey issue. Nothing immediately apparent on the younger
one, but Jackson has had some arrests. A few cases of assault, one death that was ruled self-defense. He was apparently serving as a bodyguard for someone, and
they were attacked." She hrmed softly. "Probability is high that these two are related to the zwilnik that we met a while back. Or something
similar."

I nodded thoughtfully. "OK. We need to find out what they want. Easiest way to do that..." I smiled slowly. "Hmm. We need to pick up a few
things. Lachesis? Could you send a drone to that one booth we went by a while back? The one run by the Gor fen? Then...." I outlined what I thought we
should do, and the girls made a few suggestions of their own. We continued to wander the room, the girls keeping my extra tails under surveillance as we worked
out our plan. When we were ready, I started off, away from the con proper. Keeping to busier parts of the corridors, I headed, not towards the hotel room I
took to be near the con, but the suite that the Martian terraformers had arranged for me on Phobos. Part of a retainer - I got a nice place whenever I needed
to stretch my legs and get off the Lightning for a bit, they got VERY good discounts on anything they needed me to make for them.

I kept up a steady pace, the girls' voices in my earbud letting me know that the two men were still following. Then I turned down a small, empty
hallway, one that curved around and hid the main corridor from sight after a few yards. I could hear the men starting to pick up their pace, and I turned and
waited. When they came in sight, they stopped, apparently startled that I was standing there ready for them. "Did you two want something?" I'd be
more worried, but the hall had been left dimly lit....and the shadows held a few surprises.

The older man snorted. "You the Jason? Heard talk that you were, but you don't look like what we expected." I nodded. "You heard right.
This is a recent biomod. What do you want?" The guy - Henry - frowned. "Couple things. We're trying to find out what happened to a...messenger we
sent to you. He was supposed to offer you a job. And we're to maybe get you to take the job, too."

This was my turn to snort. "You mean the rude bastard that threatened not only me, but my friends and family and customers? The one that wanted me to
make an enslavement drug?" James, the younger one, looked nervous, and Henry started to look grim as he realized that I had indeed met their messenger.
"I told him no. He wouldn't listen. When he started making threats, I introduced him to the concept that threatening a ship named from a battle
hymn is remarkably stupid." I gave a slow smirk. "I blew him out of space. You thought only the Professor had weapons-grade
handwavium?"

Both of the men had tensed up when they heard that particular little account of events. The older one reached into his pocket, and I went into alert mode as
well. I was pretty sure that we could disarm him if he had a gun or knife, but... When he drew out brass knuckles and slipped them on, I almost grinned in
relief. OK. That I could handle. Possibly even better than most, given what the 'wave had done to me. But with luck, I wouldn't need to. Henry spoke
up, "We're gonna have a long talk, looks like. Then you ARE gonna work for us."

I shook my head sadly as the two started towards me. "I have only one thing to say to that." They got a little closer, though the younger one
started to look curious, and asked, "What...?" I interrupted him before he could complete the question, and grinned at them. "Hey rube!" At
that, my girls went into action.

Two small toy cars zoomed forward from where they'd been hiding in shadows and slammed into the thugs' stomachs, drawing twin 'ooofs' then
gasps for air as they tried to breathe. Combined with that, two more toy drones each slammed into their shoulders a moment later. I'd already started
running forward, and as they bent around their abused stomachs, momentarily stunned by the sudden reversal of the ambushers being ambushed, I got in range. And
being conveniently bent up and off-balance, their heads were now in arms' reach for my new body. They really shouldn't have bunched together...I
managed to grab their heads and slam them together with a nice, satisfying 'thunk'...watching as their eyes actually rolled up and they dropped.

I breathed heavily, crashing from the adrenaline rush very quickly. "OK...that worked far better than we had any hope of praying for...and probably
wouldn't have at all if this new body weren't in a LOT better shape than I'm used to." I shook my head, "Helped that they didn't
expect us to be ready for them." Atropos agreed, "Got that right. So....call security, or..." I shook my head again. "No...not yet. I'd
LIKE to know who's after me. Let's do what we discussed." The door at the end of the hall opened, and Sumpter came out, the big drone we
brought to carry supplies. "Let's get these two inside and set things up." I managed to drag the two unconscious men onto the drone, and then we
headed into the suite, the door shutting behind us.

---

*grin* And here we see that the Jason uses toy drones as weapons too. And these are all improv. Wait until you see the NEW toy that he creates after this.
It'll be part of the Mad Scientist Rant story when/if I post that one.

So - I wonder what will happen to our poor thugs? People really shouldn't threaten mad scientists. Mad can be read several different ways, after all.
And when all apply, well....sucks to be you.