DOPES:Punk Rock Ninja
The following is a Vic Savage short story by Jeremey. It is canon.
Punk Rock Ninja: The Big Break of Bones and Teeth
A Vic Savage Movie
Time: October 16 / 17, 1975 (NYC Bankruptcy Crisis)
Starring:
Vic Savage (Our Main Character and THE Punk Rock Ninja)
Martin Torrance (Vic's new drummer for his band The WereKicks)
Lucy Epstein (A new attorney and graduate of NYU Law works for the record label of which her father is a producer)
Nathan Liebowitz (Vic's Brother)
Abraham Beane (The Mayor of New York City)
Chapter 1: Big Plans, Bigger Dreams
Almost 3 years…3 strange dreamish years. It felt as though it had already been so much longer since he left his former life in Detroit behind. As his eyes sparked open he could feel himself on high alert, his years of training immediately going into action as if on instinct. Vic shot up only to find nothing out of the ordinary except the time. 3 a.m. Another listless night. Another nightmare seeing Mackie thrown over the roof of that building by the German Monster, Gerhardt Schrödendinger.
Sighing to himself, he took a moment to get up, stretch for a moment and peer outside of his window. The city below still felt foreign in many ways. Trading mile markers for boroughs had been a unique experience.
“What’s going on…” he mumbled to himself. The moon was bright, nearly full just as it had been that night years ago. He shook his head and smirked softly looking at the sky again, for a brief moment thinking of that idiot Mackie. “It’s alright man. It’s alright.”
KNOCK KNOCK KNOCK
“Who the hell is…’ stopping himself midsentence he realized there could only be one person at the door banging like this. “…he better not be drunk again, not tonight!” Turning around and getting to the door he looked through his peep hole to find his new drummer, Martin Torrance, banging on his door. Martin had been The WereKicks drummer for about 5 months. Vic was always particularly impressed with his musical talent, they were always on the same wavelength. In fact, between Martin’s rhythm and Vic’s crazy lyrics they had gotten themselves quite the following around the city. At least Vic was making enough now that he was finally able to move out of his brother’s apartment in Manhattan and find this place on his own.
His eyes adjusting to the dim light in the hallway, Vic noted pretty quickly that Martin wasn’t drunk, at least not with a look like that on his face. Vic with lightning fast precision unlocked all four of the locks on the door and opened the door with equal fluidity for Martin.
Martin, a six foot five gangly mess of a man with beatnik hair and visible traces of needle marks from a supposed past life, rushed in as Vic casually closed the door behind him. “What is it Martin, its three in the morning.”
“Vic! Vic! You are not going to believe this. I got a call from the head scheduler at The Warnimont!
“The where?” Vic replied rubbing the sleep from his eyes.
“The Warnimont! It’s a fancy schmancy music club on the Upper West Side. Now normally they’re not what I would call our typical fan but I guess someone put in a good word for us over there. They’ve got a bunch of big rock music producers in town for some conference and they think we could hit it big!
His adrenaline from his nightmare wearing off, Vic yawned for a moment before replying. “Let me get this straight Martin, we’re being offered a gig for music producers in Manhattan? Seriously? You kidding me?”
“No foolin’ Mr. Vic Savage sir! My dead daddy as my witness! He told me this ‘racket’ would never make it but the 70s are a different time! If that disco shit can make it big so can we! Look, Vic, you’re lyrics are poppin’! You speak to people man, it’s like you touch their worst fears and make it just another crazy thing in this world. Maybe it’s not for everyone but we only need to convince one producer to give us a shot man. Come on tell me you’re on board!
“I don’t know Martin, when producers get involved they think they’re in charge, they want to take over, change everything dumb it down for the masses man… that ain’t me. I won’t ever let that be me.” Vic said slowly as the nearly full moon seemed to shrine right through the window casting a full shadow into the room from behind him.
“Vic! In 5 months have I ever steered you wrong?”
“Is that a serious question Martin? You said, ‘Oh this apartment building is totally rent controlled!’ That was wrong. You told me, ‘Hey, there’s totally a place where you can practice your martial arts’, it was a kid’s karate class. Hell you even told me that ‘McDowell’s’ is the same as ‘McDonalds’ AND ITS NOT! Do you know how longer that photographer was out there waiting me for me to take a bite of my Big Mick? My stomach still hasn’t recovered…”
“Yeah yeah yeah but Vic have I ever steered you wrong on THE MUSIC.”
Vic cocked his head down and to the side, a big smirk stretching across his face. “Yeah Martin I guess you got me there.”
“GREAT!” Martin said nearly jumping out of his shoes in excitement. “Alright Vic! This is going be huge for us man! Big time here we come!”
“Okay Martin that’s great… but can I go get some sleep now?”
“Oh come on Vic sleep when you’re dead!” Martin said flamboyantly.
“Dead is what you’re going to be if you don’t get out of my house and let me get some sleep.” Vic replied with cold seriousness.
“Well uhhh in that case, can I crash over here tonight? I may or may not have lost my rent money at the track…”
“God damn it Martin… fine blanket’s in the closet and you can sleep on the couch.”
Chapter 2: A Fateful Day with the Law(yers)
Vic managed to sleep well the rest of the night, waking up refreshed around 8:30 a.m. on the morning of the 16th of October, 1975. Vic walked over to the radio and turned it on while he got dressed. The weather looked to be a little dreary, probably rain the wind was crisp and filled the lungs tightly.
Vic went over and shook Martin awake. “Come on lazy, we’ve got to get moving. We have to meet your producer guy right?”
Vic and Martin went downstairs to get to their car but their street was filled with police sirens and cars racing up and down the street.
“Geez Vic what do you think is going on?” Martin said somewhat nervously.
“I’m not sure Martin. I’ll tell you what, take the car and head down to the club, I’ll meet you over there.”
“How you gonna get all the way to the Upper West Side Vic?”
“Don’t worry Martin I got it!””
“No way Vic! I ain’t leavin’ you so that you can go on your own today. I sure as hell ain’t gonna be on my own driving with a bunch of cops around.” Martin said nervously, hoping for sympathy.
“Fine…” Vic muttered to himself under his breath.
“Awww yeah! Time to get to see the badass do his badass things!” Martin replied excitedly.
They both got into the car and followed the cops at an inconspicuous distance until they found themselves outside the local borough court house. Vic and Martin got out of the car and ran into an alleyway outside of the vision of the detective on the scene, listening in on the radio.
“Dispatch we have a hostage situation, there’s an attorney being held captive, bunch of guys ran in and held up the place, they let everyone else go except the attorneys. We have no clear shots but there is a phone. Should we try to make communication?”
“Hey Martin… stay here, I’m going to get in there and get them out.” Vic whispered in the shadows of the alley.
“You crazy man? They could have guns and shit!”
“Martin, man, I’ve faced way crazier shit than some thugs with a gun…Here take this man.” Vic handed over a two way radio to Martin. “Whoa, Metropolitan Detroit PD? Where’d you get this?” Martin asked entirely surprised. “From an old friend man. You just use it to let me know if the cops go into the building. Buy me time.” With that Vic started climbing the walls using his dazzling sense of flash combined with his ability for stealth and quickly reached the top of the building looking down over the courthouse.
Martin got down to the ground in that quiet little corner of the alley watching and waiting for what would happen next.
Vic moved with a quiet and nimble grace from the top of the building down through the city blocks, going a roundabout way to avoid the police and generally be undetected. The courthouse was a deceptively small building with marble columns and a small statue of the blind lady of justice out front. From his new vantage point he could see the NYCPD on the other side.
Vic fell around to the back of the building and just like in his old rioting days broke a window in the back and snuck his way into the building landing himself in a storage closet. Peeking out the door he could see what looked like 2 men with semi-automatic weapons outside the courtroom’s main entrance. Thinking going out the front door a bad approach Vic looked around for another way out of the room before finding a ceiling vent leading up into the general duct work. Easily enough he took down the vent and snuck his way into the vent system.
The vent system took him directly over the courtroom where through a vent he could see what looked like a large gluttonous looking man with a strange looking weapon of his own. Then he heard a familiar voice that he couldn’t quite place.
“This is all wrong! She’s not supposed to be here. Let her go and take me, she’s done nothing wrong.”
The reply came back in a hissing sound “No! We will take our spoils and then we will deal with you…”
Just then a sound came through the two way radio. Vic fumbled for it making sure to keep it on low volume as to not be a distraction. “Hey Vic! Cops say they’ve got snipers in position and they’re going in 15 minutes if they don’t hear anything man.”
“Shit! Martin, man, I need a little more time.”
Keeping the radio on Vic easily heard Martin’s breathing get heavier and faster. “This is too close for comfort man… alright I’ll make a distraction for you.”
“Thanks Martin, do what you got to do and be safe.”
In a most serious tone the only thing Victor heard back in response was “… Yeah.” before the radio went silent.
Back in the courthouse however, not everything was going well. The fat man had now taken the women by the hair and thrown her hard into the judge’s bench.
Just then the two men from outside the room walked in. “Hey boss, time to hurry this up.”
“Very well!” The fat man cried taking his hands across the womans face, he almost appeared to be… smelling her or something. Vic’s instincts went into action and time slowed down. He saw the two men coming right underneath his vent and at that point he leapt through the vent crashing onto the two men. Quickly getting his bearings he took one man down with a quick punch kick combo that was superbly executed.
As Vic dealt with the first assailant the second one was poised to strike. Turning around to see his attacker Vic knew he had put himself slightly out of position to defend the blow. However before the strike could be completed, he was sent flying across the room by an expertly placed judo throw from behind. On the other side of that throw lied not only an unconscious criminal, but a man dressed in suit and tie, standing about 6’2” and in impeccable shape… with a voice that was now all too familiar.
“Victor?” Said the man.
“NATHAN????” Said Vic in equal parts surprised and disbelief.
Standing up straight Nathan straightened his tie before turning to the fat man. “If I may say Vic, dad would be disappointed, that was sloppy.”
“Almost as sloppy as that pathetic excuse for a throw… he should be at least another foot further than that.”
“Maybe, but I did save your ass.”
“Yeah… that’s right. Now who is saving who again?”
“Uhhh… excussse me.” Came the hissing voice of the fat man again. “I’m over here. And if you don’t move out of my way and let me go I will kill this young woman you see here.”
Vic stepped confidently forward, his brother Nathan stepping backwards slightly to allow his brother this moment. “Let her go and you don’t get the beating of your life.”
The man looked around nervously. “Fine… have it your way!” The fat man pushed the woman down to the floor and jumped behind the judge’s bench before emerging pointing his strange looking weapon at Vic and Nathan.
“VIC! GET DOWN!!!!” Nathan yelled before two bolts of energy shot out leaving holes in the wall behind them.
Vic dived just in time and landed in front of the woman, brown hair, blue eyes, pretty face. Vic snapped himself back to reality for just a second grabbing her hand and pulling her behind one of the gallery benches as the fat man shot off more rounds of his energy pistol. Vic looked at Nathan also stuck behind a bench moving backwards as each previous bench seemed to melt from the previous shot.
They looked at each other and gave each other a slight nod as they both stood up and immediately dashed for the walls. One was a punk rocker, the other a straight laced something or other, but they both had the same training.
In complete unison they ran across their respective side walls before leaping together and both landing a flying jump kick, both feet landing on either side of the man’s head, crunching together in the middle, both Vic and Nathan landed on their feet as the fat man fell forward to the floor, an elongated tongue sticking out his mouth and several teeth splattered on the floor.
“This…COUGH COUGH Thissss is what you chooosssse…You may have killed this gluttonous one, but the leader’s plan still moves. You have been seen and we will not forget your faces.” With that the man turned his pistol on himself and in a moment he glowed orange before his body turned to ash.
“VIC!!! VIC!!! THE COPS ARE BUSTING IN YOU HAVE TO GET OUT! VIC!!!!” The voice came through crystal clear on the radio as Martin yelled over and over again.
“I… I uh… I got you Martin. I’m getting the hell out of here.” Victor noticed as he was picking up the woman, still in shock from the experience, that the teeth were not normal in size… they were huge, much larger than what could have possibly been in the man’s mouth, and not only that but they were razor sharp to the touch. He grabbed them off the floor quickly and put them in his pocket.
“I’m following you Vic, where are the brothers Leibowitz heading?”
“Let’s get to my place Nathan, maybe you can tell me what the hell happened in here…”
Chapter 3: Big Break Gets Broken
With the female attorney in tow, the Leibowitz brothers snuck out of the building as easily as Vic had gotten in and were gone before the cops busted through the front door to find a pile of ash and two unconscious criminals with guns.
It took all night for the female attorney to recuperate from the trauma and exhaustion of her experience that day. Nathan and Vic had made small talk throughout the day, reminiscing about their time in Detroit and their Dojo. Martin too decided to cram into the already cramped apartment not wanting to be on his own after seeing dozens of New York City’s finest armed with heavy weaponry storm the courthouse.
After getting a good night’s sleep everyone woke up the next morning to a thud hitting the door and footsteps hurriedly running through the hallway. Vic and Nathan instantly jumped and ran to the door, seeing no one there and a newspaper, the New York Times with a headline reading “Mayor Beane To Do Unthinkable… Default”
“Yeah… this doesn’t surprise me. I was there in that courtroom to represent the interests of the Federal Reserve to ensure that our loans were paid back. I’m sure this young woman was here to do the same. We had gotten wind that the city was thinking of declaring bankruptcy. It’s been whispers for weeks now and we were both in that courtroom to try to get a preemptive injunction… when that entire situation flipped upside down.” Nathan explained calmly.
“Look Nate, man, I don’t know about this finance stuff, that’s always been your gig. What I want to know though is how the hell that fat ass with the burn pistol had teeth like this come out of his mouth. That makes no sense at all. People don’t have teeth like this man!” Vic said, his voice rising with a twinge of panicked confusion.
“Well, I’ll tell you what, when that bastard had me captive, I’ll tell you his breath was unlike anything I had ever smelled before.” A soft feminine voice exclaimed. “Thanks for saving me and… wait…” She stopped, looking around making eye contact with Vc, “You’re Vic Savage aren’t you! OH MY GOD!!!!! YOU’RE AMAZING! YOUR BAND? THE WEREKICKS? I’VE BEEN TO LIKE EVERY SHOW YOU’VE DONE!” She squealed in excitement.
“Uhhh... thanks… I mean I love fans but I’m really just glad you’re okay.” Vic said reassuredly. Nathan nodding his head in agreement. “
“Anyway, I’m Lucy Epstein and I’m an attorney, I work for my dad’s record studio and I was there for because”
“Because of the bankruptcy proceedings?” Nathan interrupted.
“What? Bankruptcy proceedings? No, I was there because City Hall has been using music from our record label without permission around the city, pairing announcements with our artists’ music and I was there to ask for an injunction against the city.” Lucy said, still somewhat confused. ‘What is this about a bankruptcy proceeding?’
Nathan than handed her that morning’s edition of the New York Times and Lucy’s expression went from confused to straight scared.
“No way! The City is going to declare bankruptcy? But… but the city can’t do that! It needs permission of 51% of its creditors to do that and no way are the New York City banks going to buy that!” Lucy said dismissively
“They can when you have people like the City Comptroller and the City’s lead attorney banging down doors in Albany you don’t.” Nathan replied. “The state legislature has been keeping this quiet for over a month but that bill was passed and signed by the Governor already. The City is going to default and the New York Times somehow got wind of the story. I’m sure this is not how City Hall planned on telling people.”
Martin piped up “Whoa guys this is all way over my head, I’m going to go out for a smoke I’ll be back.”
“Alright Martin that sounds good.” Vic said. As the door shut behind Martin the group’s conversation continued for a couple extra minutes when gun shots were heard outside, looking down from the window Martin’s body was carried off into a van with loudspeakers blaring Dreaming a Dream by the Crown Heights Affair
“THAT’S OUR MUSIC! THOSE BASTARDS!” Lucy yelled out the window while Vic and Nathan rushed downstairs only to lose the van in the distance.
“Well Nate, what do we do now?” Vic asked exasperated.
“How important is this guy to you Vic?” Nathan responded coolly.
“Very Nate… he’s my drummer.”
“Come over to my house, and bring her with us, she might make a good distraction. I’ve got an idea.”
Chapter 4: Uhhh My Brother is a WHAT???
30 minutes later Lucy, Vic and Nathan were approaching Nathan’s apartment on the Upper East Side. A swanky place, Vic had always assumed he had afforded it on his attorney salary.
“Lucy, Vic, I’m about to show you two something that can never leave this room and if this wasn’t about you being kidnapped and your best friend, I’d have left you both and went back to work.” Nathan said with the first hint of nervousness Vic could ever recall.
As they entered Nathan immediately made for the master bathroom and peeled away one of the tiles revealing a strange computerized terminal taking a long glass tube with a strange lightly glowing crystal that pulsed in a strange rhythm, a rhythm that brought nightmares back to Vic immediately of that night in Detroit as pulses of electricity raced into the air.
“My name is Nathan Leibowitz, and I am a special agent for a black ops unit of the CIA designed to cover up evidence and maintain security in events related to the supernatural and extraterrestrial. About a year ago we found a machine in Detroit planted by Russian scientists with the warped idea of communicating with aliens. This was located inside one of the tubes used to power the device. We obtained it and I’ve kept it safe ever since. I… I’ve also been ordered to keep an eye on you Vic to make sure that you suffered no ill effects from exposure to it. I’m so sorry I couldn’t tell you before. But I need you to believe me that this thing could be key to finding your drummer Martin.”
Vic stood, his mouth agape in complete shock as Lucy burst out into laughter. “This has to be the craziest two days of my life! First I get kidnapped and then I get kidnapped again by a whacko and his brother who thinks he’s a super spy who fights aliens... what kind of luck!”
“This is no laughing matter Ms. Epstein. In fact, the reason why the teeth weren’t human I believe is because they come from something else. Weird things have been going on in this city. Politicians seemingly changed their attitudes overnight, even the Mayor a judicious man, I’ve been told has been holed up in City Hall for weeks, not even leaving his office during this bankruptcy crisis to even go home. I know this is crazy but I need you to trust me, it’s the only way we’re going to find your friend.” Nathan pleaded.
“Okay, one, I was there that night when that thing went off. If there’s any chance it actually worked… we have to know. I’ll deal with you dropping this on me later Nate. In the meantime should Lucy stay here so she doesn’t get hurt?” Vic asked.
“No… she’s our bait. Look Lucy you said your dad was some type of music producer or something right?” Nathan asked.
“Uhhh, yeah. My dad is a pretty big music producer here in the city. It’s how I got my job, I just graduated NYU law about a year ago and I was in that courtroom to protest the city’s usage of our material.” Lucy said still not sure what was going on.
“That’s right, the city is using your work without your permission and they know you were complaining about it. My guess is that they’ll try to take care of the problem either by finding you, or finding the source of the problem and with the entire city about to go nuts over this bankruptcy thing it provides pretty clear cover. Where’s the studio? The address.”
“Jungle City Studios, West 27th” Lucy said her mind coming around to the possibilities. “Are you saying I’m in danger? Is the company in danger?” Lucy asked frantically.
“Yeah Lucy that’s what I’m saying and I think this is a chance to see if these things are connected. Maybe this has gone higher than we originally thought.”
Vic looked up at Nate and Lucy nodding slightly. “Let’s do this.”
Nathan took the tube and hit a couple of buttons on the panel and a small film was released that he wrapped around the tube for a moment before putting it away.
“We don’t’ understand this technology super well but I’m pretty sure this will help us identify whatever it is that’s around. Next stop the studio?”
“You’re damn right let’s go.” Vic said as he confidently strode away from the room.
Chapter 5: Breaking Bad... Records
In the car, on every radio station the people of New York City were being woke up to the sounds of a possible bankruptcy and it had the entire city in a panic as people rushed stores for everything they could find, even buying guns and ammo thinking that police protection might be suspended.
After about an hour they finally got to Jungle City Studios to see the strange tube glowing more brightly.
“I think we’re on the right track…”
“Yeah Nathan, I guess so. So we just going to walk up to the front door?” Vic asked.
“That is what she’s here for.” Nathan trailed off.
The three of them got out of the car and walked up to the front door and entered. Lucy calmly greeted the woman at the front door explaining that the two others here with her were outside counsel and didn’t need to be chaperoned. The lady politely nodded and let them into the room.
As they walked past one of the recording studios Vic heard the familiar sounds of drums, guitars, and piano banging away. Vic found himself stopped for a moment just looking into the recording room, the producer working with the band hard at work. Vic felt the twinge in his chest, he had dedicated his youth to the zenmakashi ninjitsu style, passed down to his father for his work to help Japan recover from World War 2 but his soul had been about the music. All those years his older brother had studied beside him, he was slightly jealous that his brother was seemingly able to put that behind him and chase his dream but clearly that wasn’t the case.
“Vic… Vic!” Nathan whispered. “Come on!”
Vic shook himself away from the window and into Lucy’s office.
“Look, its pulsing more strongly, where are you, where are you.” Nathan mumbled to himself taking the tube and running it around. “It’s pulsing more frequently this direction.” His body pointed back towards the studio.
Vic immediately ran back into the studio and saw the band stand up.
“Sorry gents, I uhh… I was just inspired by what was going on in here I wanted to jam…” Vic said halfheartedly.
Lucy ran in quickly behind and covered his nose. “Oh no… that smell! VIC IT’S THEM!”
“Well I guess we’ll just have to kill everyone here on our way out now.” The guitarist then stood up and let out a horrific lizard like scream as his skin bulged and his neck elongated as though his muscles and frame were stretching his skin to their limit.
“Nate… buddy, I uhhh… I think I might need a little help in here…” Vic said a little sheepishly as Nathan came into the room. “Yep… definitely thinking you might need help with this one.”
Almost out of instinct Nathan and Vic went back to back into the room each taking on two of the giant muscle heads teeth flying as the producer screamed and left the room. After taking a couple shots the drummer fell backwards into the drum set and began to pull out a weapon. Lucy looking from the sidelines yellow out to duck and she ran and dove tackled the creature back into the wall and took his gun from his unconscious body.
“NOW! EVERYBODY STOP!” Lucy screamed. Everyone slowly backed off before two of the men attempted to bum rush Lucy. Panicked she closed her eyes and felt the trigger pull back in her hand twice only to open her eyes and see two piles of dust where before had been men. Vic took the opportunity to knock one of them out while Nathan got on top of the guitarist pounding him mercilessly until finally he bent over and whispered something inaudible to the man creature and standing up.
“Good news… this one told me where your friend is.” Taking the gun he shot the third band member who was unconscious instantly vaporizing him. He then took out a large device and began to press numbers on it before holding it up to his ear. “Yeah this is Number 0187 Delta Omicron Phi Epsilon. I have a pickup for extraction. It’ll require full knowledge replacement… Yes I understand that’s hard with today’s news but that’s what your job is. Now get it done.”
Nathan looked up from his conversation. “Now that that is over with. According to this piece of trash, your buddy Martin is in a bunker at city hall. I guess these punks like to play dress up.” Looking at the last man bloodied and beaten but muscles still gorging from his skin. “What the hell is this…” Nathan trailed off.
“You said this is under control right? Then I’ve got to go get my friend.” Vic said hurriedly.
“No reason to go by yourself, Vic, family never goes alone.” Nathan said, smiling for the first time in what seemed like forever.
“You know you’re not leaving me here either” Lucy spoke up blast pistol in hand.
“Don’t argue with the lady with the gun, especially when she’s pointing it at you.” Vic said playfully as Lucy still held the gun up and towards Nate.
“True enough! Let’s get going.”
Chapter 6: City Hall
In the car heading towards city hall, Nathan pulled out a city business visitor’s badge. “Alright Lucy, ready to play city attorney? You’re our best chance in. We’ll follow along and play with you. Once you get us past initial security we’ll see if we can’t find our way into this little bunker of theirs.”
Getting into a parking spot, Vic immediately snuck out of the car and reappeared moments later with a janitor’s suit. “I’ve got my own way in, we’ll tackle it from multiple fronts, you keep an eye on Lucy and you play it your way, and I’ll play it mine.”
Nathan nodded with a smirk. “That poor soul’s not dead is he? Damn nice work.”
“Of course not… but he will have a hell of a hangover tomorrow when he comes to.” Vic smirked and with that he disappeared into the shadows, leaving Nathan and Lucy to go their way, while Vic went to more familiar territory.
Vic now dressed in a janitor’s overalls took his keys and entered into city hall via a maintenance door leaving Nathan and Lucy to work their own way in. Entering into City Hall the normal hustle and bustle was noticeably absent. The inside looked like some military installation with NYPD getting ready to barricade doors.
“Yeah we’ve kept citizens calm but when this bankruptcy thing goes through tomorrow hell is going to break loose.” Vic overheard as he pretended to be getting supplies. He could see Lucy and Nathan entering through the front door and going through the usual security protocols.
Nathan, looking more dweebish than normal with a new set of eyewear along with Lucy explained that they were here to meet with the City’s Lead Attorney on ‘the important matter at hand’ and was waived through by security. Looking around quickly Nathan and Vic made eye contact long enough for them both to give each other a slight nod.
Vic began working the floor, trying to overhear different conversations while being as nondescript as he could be. Melding into the tenor of the room he perfectly went from location to location, not raising any suspicion about his cause or purpose, to everyone he was just another invisible janitor.
Seeing both of the occupants of the communications room leaving for a moment, Vic seized the opportunity to enter. He saw a letter being written on a typewriter. The letter designed to be read to citizens described how nothing would be changing for citizens and that city services would continue as normal. As he finished reading the letter Vic could feel a slight headache coming on, concentrating on being nondescript he hadn’t noticed music playing in the background. For some reason the combination of reading the letter with the music left Vic feeling strange, almost lifeless. Vic out of instinct reached over and turned off the radio, his headache immediately subsiding just as both of the original employees had walked back in.
“Hey, what’d you turn that off for?” One of them asked confused, stumbling slightly as he came back in reaching for the radio to turn it back on.
“Oh…uhhh… sorry man. Just an accident.” Vic picked up his broom and left the office and found himself moving back to his janitorial station. Those words, trying to keep people calm, combined with the music, what was going on? Unless the uses of music before by city hall were a test… but a test for what? Why didn’t anyone else respond when Martin was kidnapped? ‘Oh my god…” Vic muttered to himself, the picture coming together. “City Hall is using some weird combination of music and communication to affect people’s minds…”
Just then the power went out in City Hall and the emergency lights came on giving the whole building a creepy red glow. From his closet he saw what looked like 4 large man lizard creatures bringing an unconscious Nathan and a screaming struggling Lucy downstairs.
“Take themssss to the basseeement. Our timesss tablessss have shaannged.” A couple of the police officers calmly went up the stairs and grabbed them, taking them into an elevator on the opposite end of the floor from Vic. There had to be at least 12 or 13 people between Vic and that elevator and there was no way to know how many might be like those lizard things!
“Alright Vic, calm down, deep breath man…” Vic whispered to himself. One of the secret arts of the zenmakashi ninjitsu is the ability to ‘see’ your surroundings in darkness almost as well as you see them at night. There is an ability to nearly instantaneously memorize the layout of a structure, where everything is to the point where traversing it blindfolded and in bright sunlight are no different. This had never been Vic’s strong suit in training. Run up walls? Yeah. Karate chop someone unconscious? Sure. Blind sense? Not so much. But looking around, he could see that if he could disable the emergency lights, make things completely dark that he might be able to take out the opponents in the confusion.
“Please ancestors, don’t fail me now…” Vic prayed softly before taking the keys off the keyring on his janitor’s belt. Taking them off he had 12 or 13 improvised throwing devices, more than enough to take out the lights but he would have to be fast.
Vic stepped out of his office and time seemed to slow down. One….Two…Three…Four…Five…Six… Six lights, six keys, and almost six sounds of lamps breaking in near unison. He had did it and it was completely dark. “GET THE JANITOR!!!!” The cries rose from the now pitch black building. Victor took his first step in the confusion, felt the presence of someone, took him by the arm, and flipped him over, knocking him out and landing on a table… a table that Vic knew was there. Then feeling someone else coming, instinct said that his gun was drawn, he turned, pushed the table towards the on comer and heard what sounded like a thud hit the floor, a gun. His instincts were in their prime, he rolled picked up the gun, emptied the clip and now had a blunt weapon, a weapon he would use in the darkness to knock out eleven more men on his way to the elevator. For good measure he stopped again in the communications room and punted the radio, turning off that god awful noise.
“Shit’s almost as bad as disco…” Vic said pressing the button on the elevator. As he entered the elevator he noticed that the lights were on and immediately began smashing them hoping to have the element of surprise when he got to where he was going.
Chapter 7: The Lizard Faces of the Politicians
It took a surprisingly long time for the elevator to get to the bottom level. When it finally arrived and opened, despite Vic’s most thoughtful of maneuvers inside the elevator, when the doors opened everything was immediately bathed in a bright blinding light.
Vic stumbled forward and ducked to the side as his eyes attempted to readjust to the brightly illuminated surroundings. As his eyes finally got their normal vision back the bright light was turned down and a disgusting laugh was hear echoing throughout the area which he now recognized as a large rocky chamber.
“I ssssseee you’ve arrived.” A voice screeched from behind the light. “The woman told us everything after some persuading…” Inside the chamber Vic saw a bright police spotlight trained onto the elevator door but behind it in cages were an unconscious Nathan and a tortured Lucy also passed out. However there was one man behind the spotlight, and the man was none other than the mayor of New York City himself Abraham Beane. “You will not sssstop usssss. We are everywhere. Thissss ssssity will be the firssst to fall. In itssss chaossss we will ssssseee you fall to your kneessssss. Be grateful human… for you will get to sssssee the facesss of your new godssss before you die.”
With that the mayor stood up straight and his body began to bulge, like the others in the music studio, only it was larger, much larger. As he grew it seemed like claws grew from his hands and he ripped off his own face revealing a large lizard man frame. He rushed at Vic with incredible speed, grabbing him by the neck and throwing him into the rocky wall and Vic felt all the breath in his chest expunged as he fell from the giant lizard’s claws.
This thing’s sad excuse for laughter belted through the small underground bunker, echoing in every direction. Vic attempted to strike back with a couple of blows but the lizard seemed quite competent and prepared to defend himself but Vic managed to get back on his feet, still finding it hard to breathe.
“You undersssstand don’t you? You humanssss and your fearssss… Ssssso easssssy to manipulate… Give them a little peasssse and they will do anything you assssk. Even more so when you can manipulate their fearsssss with sssssily thingssss like musssic.”
At this Vic’s demeanor changed. “Music is many things… but it is not silly. It is something that helps us understand our emotions, it gives us context. It helps us escape from bad days and makes great days even better. It is a source of hope. And you’re about to see how hard music can kick your ass.”
Vic then felt his entire body surge with a power, memories of his training seemed to fuse with a deep punk rock rhythm. His movements began to feel rhythmic as if in connection to the music of the universe. The unique calm of the martial arts and the franticness of rock music were finally united inside of him, both at peace, empowering the other.
As the lizard roared and went for Vic’s throat, Vic could feel the tempo slow down and with it the sense of time itself as Vic moved like air out of the way and delivered a crushing counter blow to the lizard’s ribs feeling them shatter on impact, this moment of clarity broken by the howling screams of pain from the lizard creature.
The screams enough to wake up Nathan and Lucy both seeing Vic savagely beat the lizard creature seeing him finally fall.
“Vic!” Lucy cried. “The mayor, the REAL mayor, he’s in a side room off of here being kept.” Vic rushed over and saw a small wooden door that he smashed his way through before finding what appeared to be a starved husk of a man who resembled Mayor Beane. Helping him out of the room he had him lead on a cage while he helped Nathan and Lucy escape.
“Lucy take the mayor back upstairs. Get this bankruptcy thing under control. If that bankruptcy notice goes through and the city panics than those vans are going to play that stupid ass music and everyone is going to turn into slaves for these things like the guys upstairs were.”
Lucy nodded and took the mayor up the elevator.
“Hell of a job little brother.” Nathan said groggily still recovering from his slumber.
“Where’s Martin…” Vic asked worriedly.
“I… I’m sorry Vic. That thing… it ate him. It said something about finding a runaway and being rewarded… I didn’t understand, it was horrific, I’m so sorry…”
Vic just shook his head and a tear dripped down his face. “He deserved better man… he was a fantastic guy. Best drummer I ever had, good man.”
“VIC LOOK OUT!” Nathan cried as Vic managed to turn around in time to see the lizard creature make one final lunge. Nathan jumped forward putting himself next to Vic as they both simultaneously punched at the creature’s head. Side by side the brothers Leibowitz punched into the mouth of the beast and their hands appeared on the other side as the now headless creature fell flat on its stomach.
“Let’s get out of here…” was all Vic could muster before Nathan helped him to the elevator.
Chapter 8: Epilogue
3 weeks later Vic was back at Jungle City Studios with Lucy and Lucy’s father. “So Lucy tells me she’s a big fan, and you’ve got your talent together. I think you got a great new sound, I’d like to add you to the company, we’ll put you on tour immediately, and we’re going to make you big time!”
Vic smiled and happily signed the paperwork with Lucy’s help. Lucy gave Vic a smile just trying to let him know that things could get better.
“We’ll find another drummer in the interim. When you’re ready to find a permanent replacement for The Werekicks let me know and we’ll make sure to do all the media work on our end… Vic… I’m so sorry about Martin.”
“I know Lucy, thanks for trying to help me out. It’ll get better. I know it will, it just takes time. I’m getting good at leaving cities after shit goes down.”
“Well Vic, at least you leave this time with friends who will follow you no matter what.”
“What does that mean Lucy?”
“It means I’m no longer an attorney on staff, but your full time producer. I’m here for you and we’re going to make it together, that’s a promise. Martin would have wanted that and I’m going to help you do it.”
“Sounds great Lucy.”
Just as Vic finished Nathan walked in, no longer on crutches after whatever happened on his end that wound up with him in that basement.
“Vic, congratulations on your tour man, that’s awesome, mom and dad would be proud.”
“Thanks man, I appreciate it.”
“Umm… Look Vic, there’s something else I need to talk to you about. Lucy can I talk to my brother alone for a minute?”
“Sure Nate, take your time.” Lucy said, leaving the office and locking the door behind her.
“Vic, you’re going on tour and you’re very talented. Obviously you know what I do and I’m not some attorney here in Manhattan. I want to ask you to help me out, to help the world out to be honest. Your skills have progressed incredibly and with this tour thing it provides a perfect cover. I’d like you to join a new agency that’s being put together. Your tour would be a great cover, we could have you investigate happenings on the road, coordinate tour dates with where your help might be needed. We need to know how deep this thing goes. If what that thing said was true, than they could be everywhere but we won’t know until we investigate and there’s precious few people we can trust. Please Vic, this could be your big break in more ways than one.” Nathan pleaded bordering on desperation.
“Fine, fine Nate. I’ll join up with your guys and kick this shit out of lizards ON MY TIME when I’m on tour you got yourself a deal.” Vic smiled before hugging his brother.
“Alright, well I’m going to get out of here I have a lot of work to do, I’ll be in touch.” And with that Nathan left the room leaving Vic alone in the office, guitars everywhere. Vic Savage and the Werekicks hit number one on the charts by early 1976 and by then Vic was hard at work breaking many more bones and many more teeth, the true birth of a Punk Rock Ninja.
Pre-Credits Final Scene
No better place for Vic’s tour to start than in his hometown of Detroit. It felt like he had left this place much longer than a couple of years ago the way everything looked. After the riots the town cleaned itself up pretty nicely.
There was one place he had to visit before going anywhere else this cold Michigan night. He found himself at the old Brigands place, he entered calmly, baseball hat on to cover up and politely ordered a drink.
“Definitely new management…” Vic muttered to himself. Flashbacks to that night in 1973 erupted, standing outside of here, being a part of the riots… He could still see everyone’s faces, Brad, Mindy, Mackie… even that monster Gerhardt. “My jaw still hurts from that sucker punch…” Vic laughed silently to himself. Vic turned and looked to his left and saw the one thing that looked the same in this place, an old arcade cabinet. He saw a kid playing at it, flashing back to the brawl again he remembered that same arcade cabinet in that same place and the kid there now looked like an older version of the same kid a couple years ago.
Vic got up and went over to the cabinet with a couple of quarters. “Hey kid, next games are on me. Have fun… don’t forget to do your homework at some point.” Vic smiled at the kid. “
“Hey thanks man I appreciate it.” The kid said not even looking up.
Vic chuckled and left the building, looking behind him one last time before moving into his future, the last thing he could hear was the kid inside saying “Damn… next time I’m going to beat this game I swear…”
Post Credits Scene.
The camera cuts to Vic’s brother Nathan in a dark room sitting at a small metal table with a device that appears to look like a large cellular telephone similar to Zack’s cell phone from Saved by the Bell.
“I understand that this phase didn’t go as expected however there was an unexpected third party that had to be accounted for and the initial target lost control causing a radical disruption to the plan. I can confirm that contact was made but not with the anticipated party.”
Pause as he listens to other side of line that audience cannot hear.
“No, I don’t think Victor is a good candidate to join us however, I do have a plan that will remove him from the equation. I will have him chasing ghost stories and phantoms for so long that he won’t be able to interfere with your plans.”
Pause again as he listens.
"Darington? No I haven’t. Unfortunately, since he left Columbia he has gone completely dark. I believe he is still in the city so I’ll stay here in New York until I can confirm otherwise… Yes doctor, I understand another mathemagician could be…yes… yes sir, I… Your orders are understood sir. No I do not need that monster’s assistance. I will find him and make sure he isn’t a threat either. Understood.”
He then looks down at a CIA confidential file, opening up it details the creation of a new team to investigate paranormal activity, the D.O.P.E.S with three names listed currently. Brad B. Wulfgar, Victor Liebowitz, Dr. David Darington. “Better to find them and promote them into obscurity today so they can’t interfere with the plans of tomorrow.” CAMERA CUTS TO BLACK.
