...Before a Fall: Part 4 "No Need for Conspiracies" Timothy Alan Weaver weaverta@email.uah.edu Synopsis: Peter Parker is still under house arrest by Pixy Misa, and Ramia plans out the demise of the Magical Girls OK folks, here's the legal stuff. "Mahou Shoujo Pretty Samy" and all of the characters in it are owned by AIC and Pioneer. "The Amazing Spider-Man" and all of the characters in it are owned by Marvel Comics. This is no attempt to cash in on your work and all done in fun. So please don't sue. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- New York City It was six in the evening when Sasami paid a visit to Misao and Ms. Amano. She had with her a family meal from a local fried chicken place. She felt guilty abandoning Misao to look for Misa and wanted to make it up to her by giving Misao and her mother a meal. Misao and her mother stay in a separate room from Sasami's family. Ms. Amano said it felt a little crowded sharing an apartment with Chihiro, Sasami, and Tenchi, and she wanted to get a separate room. She looked a little weird when she said that; as if she was in a daze. Chihiro and Sasami dismissed as jet lag. Sasami pressed the doorbell button. She waited a few seconds for an answer but didn't receive one. She was about to ring the doorbell again when Ms. Amano opened the door. She still had that vacant look in her face. "What do what want, Sasami?" asked Ms. Amano. "I sorry Ms. Amano," Sasami apologized "that I've haven't been to see Misao. I've been busy helping Tenchi with his homework." Sasami winced. Was that the best excuse you could come up with, stupid, Sasami thought. "I wanted to make up for lost time by giving her some gaijan food to try. We can all eat it together." "Absolutely not," Ms. Amano commanded. "Misao is sick, and this time she's contagious. I don't want you to get sick." "But I'll be careful, Ms. Amano..." "I SAID 'NO'!" Ms. Amano slammed the door shut. Sasami knocked on the door again. "You forgot the fried chicken." Ms. Amano reached from out of the room and took the food. She shut the door and thanked her for the food. Sasami hung her head down and walked away. Sasami looked like she was on the verge of crying. She had missed a chance to spend time with her friend, and now her friend was sick, but this time she couldn't be with her. Well, there was no use fighting it, she thought. She started walking back to her apartment when she saw a young boy leaning against the wall next to the stairway. "Ryo-ohki, what you doing here, and in human form?" Ryo-ohki straightened up, no longer leaning against the wall. "I'm been waiting for you, and they don't let pets in the building so I had to take my true form to get around. You probably want to go look for Pixy Misa, now that you can't stay with Misao." Ryo-ohki hoped that she would forget the whole matter if got to spend some time with Misao. Sasami nodded her head. She looked back at Misao's room looking worried. She wondered what her friend would do without by her side. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Peter Parker was standing in the doorway watching Aunt May and Pixy Misa cooking in the kitchen. Aunt May took some pieces of chicken and put them in the microwave. She set the microwave on defrost and the timer for ten minutes. While Aunt May was defrosting the kitchen, Pixy Misa was getting out a pan from under the sink. Aunt May gave Misa a roll of aluminum foil. "Cover the pan with this so you don't have so much trouble washing it after dinner, okay." Pixy Misa nodded her head. "Pixy Misa sure keeps her hostages close to her," Parker lamented to himself. Pixy Misa had been at Aunt May's side for the past three days. She hasn't shown any sign she was going to do any differently in the near future. No matter what, Pixy Misa was within ten feet of Aunt May. Why fight Spider-Man when its so much easier keeping tabs on Peter Parker's aunt. "Peter," screamed a voice. Peter snapped out of his intermission. "Peter," said Misa who was frowning at Peter, "Aunt May was talking to you." "Sorry, Aunt May" Peter apologized. "What is that you need?" Aunt May replied, "We're out of chicken seasoning. Could you be a dear and buy some?" "Sure, Aunt May. But could Pixy Mi.. er I meant Misao could with me." "Misao, you don't mind going with Peter to the grocery store do you?" Pixy Misa smiled at Aunt May, "Of course not Aunt May. Pety might forget if I don't go." Peter shuddered when Misa called His aunt "Aunt May". But it wasn't out of jealousy that made him disgusted. He was angry that Pixy Misa would use Aunt May to blackmail him. He forced a smile on his face and took Misa by the hand and walked out of the house. They took the bus to the store. Pixy Misa looked around the store for a minute and pulled Parker to the side and pointed to the tobacco product section of the store, "I need you to buy me a pack of cigarettes." Peter replied, " What is wrong with you? You're too young to smoke." "You're right. I shouldn't ask you do something so immoral as buying cigarettes for a minor. " Peter was quite surprised. Could it be that his blackmailer has grown a conscious? "I know Spider-Man wouldn't do something like that. Peter Parker would but not Spider-Man. Isn't that right, Spidy." I guess she doesn't have a conscious, thought Peter. "I'm actually would like to buy you some smokes. Maybe you'll get lung cancer and died." "Just buy them." Peter went inside and asked for the cheapest pack they had. The cashier asked for some I.D. Peter gave her his student I.D. Once she looked at it, she gave it back to Peter and pointed to a sign that said "MUST BE 19 YEARS OR OLDER TO PURCHASE ANY TOBACCO PRODUCT", and the cashier said, "and not a day before your 19th birthday." Peter explained the situation to her. Misa frowned upon hearing this. "You still own me a pack. You can pick me up one from a vending machine," said Misa. A beeping nose came from Peter's pocket. "Peter!" said Pixy Misa. "Could you PLEASE turn off that dang beeper?" Peter fiddled around with the spider tracker inside of his pocket. He switched it off, knowing full well that Pixy Misa wasn't going to let him go. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- "Sasami, can we go home now? It's almost sunset and Chirio's is starting to worry about you. This is New York City. It's as large as Tokyo," protested Ryo-ohki as he was perched on top of Samy's back. Sasami responded with a shush as she flew around looking for Pixy Misa. Sasami replied, "I know this is New York City, and it's got millions of people here, but we can find her here if we look hard enough." "I think this job is too big for us." "Yeah, Ryo-ohki, it's too rough for a magical girl. We need to let the REAL SUPERHEROS handle the bad guys here. Whose side are you on anyway?" "Yours Sasami. But you need to calm down and not get into a fight with Spider-Man on your mind. You're letting this get to you. I mean, you just snapped at me on the assumption I was questioning your abilities. You saved the whole world from that computer guy. I don't think Bugboy could of done the same thing even with a whole army at his side. Why you want to prove your worth to him is beyond me?" "It's not just him it's..." Sasami became silent for a second when she heard gunshots. She looked down hoping it was Pixy Misa but was instead a car chase. "Why now? Why not after we find Pixy Misa?" Samy swooped down towards the high-speed chase." Panic erupted in the street as a suped-up black van flew down the road at 100 mph while being chased by four squad cars. Pedestrians screamed while trying to get out of the way of the modern-day desperadoes that were fleeing the scene of a jewelry heist. The robbers made a sharp turn into a narrow two-way street with the four squad cars in pursuit. Suddenly, the lead squad car began to swerve out of control. The driver hit the emergency blinkers and put on the brakes. He hit a parked car along the curve and blocked the way for the other three squad cars. Inside the getaway van, the leader of the group, a tall muscular man with pale skin and hair wearing a black leather suit, turned the driver, who was in a ski mask and military fatigues, and congratulated him. "I have to hand it to you, Hank, I didn't think your brother-in-law would be able to get his buddies off our rear ends," he said. The other two thugs, who also wore ski masks and military fatigues, complimented him over his use of connections in the police force. The driver commented, "Well, Tombstone, Mom told my sister he was no-good even if he was a cop. We just give him a cut of the loot, and he'll make sure the police won't get on our tails." "Yeah, but can your brother-in-law save you from me," called out a voice from behind them. The driver brought the van to an abrupt halt and all four crooks turned their heads to see a young girl lying on the floor face first into a bag of jewelry. She got up, brushed herself off, and spit out some precious stones from her mouth. She then picked up a weird-looking cat from out of the lap of one of the thugs in the back. "How dare you corrupt law enforcement so you can steal from hard working people. The mahou shoujo Pretty Samy will not stand for this." The thugs just stood them for a minute staring in disbelief at Pretty Samy for a minute. Their eyes were wide open and looked like saucers, and their mouths were opened almost drooling at the shock of this strange looking child which suddenly appeared in the band. Then a barely noticeable noise was coming from the mouth of the thug on the left. He made the same noise again, but this time it was a little louder. Finally, the thug no longer restrained himself, and started laughing. The thug on the right and the one in the driver's seat were letting themselves go and falling on the floor laughing too hysterically to stand up. "I'm serious. I'm here to stop you from robbing anymore stores and throw you in jail," Samy protested. But the only response she got from the thugs was more hysterical laughter. She wanted a serious response from the thugs. Unfortunately, she got her wish when she felt someone dragging her out of the band by her pigtails. She was looking face-to-face to Tombstone (partially because he pulled her hair back). "You little s^&t," was Tombstone's only words to Pretty Samy before throwing her into the window of a nearby building. The inside of the store was cascaded with shards of broken glass flying inside the building hitting one of its occupants. Sasami stood up in a slight daze thanking the Lord above that she had a magic barrier surrounding her. She casted the spell "Pretty First Aid" on the innocent bystander that were cut by the flying glass. She stepped out of the broken window, raised her baton preparing to smite the man that just tried to make her a part of the building and began chanting the magical phrase. "Pretty Coquet..." cried Pretty Samy before she was rudely interrupted by Tombstone's left hook. She got back and tried the spell again. "Pretty Coq..." before Tombstone kicked her in the gut. "No wonder why they call him Tombstone," thought Sasami to herself. "His fists feel! like a slab of marble slamming into me." "I thought you wasn't to stand for me robbing hard working people little girl," Tombstone taunted Samy as she was scrawled all over the floor beaten and bruised. Tombstone spat on her and pulled his foot back to kick Samy when something from behind him grab his foot. Tombstone lost his balance and hit the ground. He turns to see what looked like to him a mutant boy with long, furry ears and a jewel in his forehead. The boy raised his hand pointing it at Tombstone. A ring around his arm filled with energy and fired at Tombstone's chest. The destructive energy only managed to knock the mob boss back a foot or two. Tombstone kicked the boy in the face with the bottom of his foot and set him flying across the street. Tombstone started walking towards him when he hears someone saying, "Pretty Coquettish Bomber." All that Tombstone saw was a giant pink heart with his name on it. Magical sparkles were all that occupied the space that Tombstone was standing in. Pretty Samy ran over to Ryo-ohki and helped him up. On his face was the imprint of Tombstone's boot. "Are you okay?" asked Ryo-ohki. "I'm fine," Sasami lied. She surveyed the area looking for Tombstone's accomplishes which fled in the getaway band once they saw what happen to their boss. Sasami saw a crowd of people gathered around the scene of the fight laughing and pointing at her. A little boy pointed to her and cried out, "Go home Sailor Moon and leave crime fighting to the real superheroes." Not now, thought Ryo-ohki. He just barely gets Sasami to turn to Pretty Samy as it is without people jeering at her. Sasami yelled, "I'm not Sailor Moon. My name Pretty Samy." The crowd wasn't paying attention to anything she said. One of the people in the crowd, an old woman turned to her right to an elderly man and said, "Honey, is that that Tuxedo Mask guy that always hangs out with Sailor Moon?" "It can't be him. He doesn't even have a top hat let alone a penguin suit on." A teenage girl standing by the old couple, their granddaughter, commented to everyone, "Well, he needs a top hat on to hide that bad haircut of his." Even more people started laughing and pointing at the two circus sideshow freaks. "Yeah, Sue," snickered a pimple-faced red-haired boy. "He does need a top hat on to hide that hair do of his." Ryo-ohki self-consciously began to feel the top of his head wondering what was wrong with his hair. A man standing by the side said, "he also needs a hat to hide those ears and birthmark on his forehead. Man, these mutants look weirder and weirder each day." "Samy, let's go. We got to for Pixy Misa," Ryo-ohki spat while looking at the crowd. "I thought you said..." "I was wrong, and you were right, Samy. Let's make them eat every word they said." -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Peter Parker sprayed the room down in air freshener while fanning the spoke out of the window. "Misao" finally managed to get her a pack of cigarettes. "Couldn't you do this somewhere else since Aunt May or me doesn't smoke." The smoke didn't bother Peter. He was use to tobacco smoke since working for J. Johan Jamerson who was notorious for his cheap cigars. He was more concerned that Aunt May would smell it. Misa blew smoke in Peter's face. "You do now if she asked." Misa then started coughing. "Alright, Pixy Misa. You had your fun. Now tell me what you're doing here." "All you need to know is at a certain day. You're going to take a short vacation from that dreaded job of yours long enough for me and a friend of mine to teach Samy a lesson." "No!" thought Peter. "That little girl is going to get killed. And it maybe my fault." Peter felt sick to his stomach. It was an old familiar friend: guilt. He cringed to the memory of the last time he felt the pit of his stomach protesting to his vanity and foolish pride. Worse. Someone else paid the ultimate price for Peter's sin, and it looked as if history would repeat itself. Peter then heard the door being unlocked. Aunt May found out about Misao's bad habit despite Peter's best efforts. "Misao. What do you call yourself doing?" Aunt May shouted. Not giving Pixy Misa a chance to answer back, Aunt May grabbed her by the ears leading her out the door and into the hallway. Peter panicked and tried to get Misa away from his aunt out of fear the magical girl wouldn't tolerate being spanked. "Aunt May let me take of this." Peter was sweating, and his voice was stressed. "You mean like standing there and doing nothing." "You were the one who said not to upset her." "I didn't mean let her run while. If she lives under this roof, she'll live by the rules as everyone else. No one is allowed to smoke her, especially young girls." Aunt May took her to her room and locked the door behind her. Peter heard Aunt May's hand up against Misa's gluttous maximus and ouch's. Peter knew Pixy Misa was going to kill his aunt for sure. He pulled out his Spider-Man mask when he realized the whole time he didn't feel his spider sense. It should of went off when Aunt May decided to the lay the law down on Pixy Misa. Peter Parker decided to trust his spider sense and wait and see what happens. Aunt May walked out of the room, and pulled Peter's ear in a likewise manner to the way she did Pixy Misa's ear. "Do something useful once in raising Misao and make sure her nose stays in that corner until I come back. I have to pick up groceries." To Peter's amazement, Misa was standing nose to the corner. He feared the little brat would do bodily harm to his elderly aunt. He strolled over to a chair and set it next to Pixy Misa. He set down and getting himself comfortable for her interrogation. "Pixy Misa, why didn't you..." "What sort of animal you take me for Spider-Man. I wouldn't hurt your aunt." "You're planning to kill Pretty Samy aren't you?" Spider-Man rebutted. "That made me think you could do the same to my aunt." "We don't need to kill Samy to complete our goal. We only need to humiliate her enough to disqualify Tsunami. We know that Pretty Samy told you everything. I disappoint Aunt May didn't I?" "You certainly not going to get a gold star for this, PM." "I really wish I didn't make Aunt May mad at me." Pixy Misa wiped her eyes. "Spider-Man, I meant Peter, do you think Aunt May will let me stay here anymore now she saw what I'm really like?" Peter noticed that when she asked that question, she sounded desperate, as if she was afraid she would be abandoned. She really did like being with Aunt May. Spider-Man couldn't help but to pity this poor child. For a split second, Peter forgot that she was the ten-year old brat blackmailing her. "No she won't. I've done much worse, and she let me stay. And I was never as pretty as you." Pixy Misa smiled. "Thank you, Peter. And to anyone else besides Aunt May, it's 'sexy' and not 'pretty'." Well, that ruined this Kodak moment, thought Peter. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Titan "You wanted to see me, Ramia?" Kasady asked. He took this meeting with Ramia as an opportunity to look inside her headquarters which he was denied access to previously. Carnage wished he really didn't. The interior of Ramia's headquarters had a laverously decorated chandelier over her desk, the various painting hung around the perimeter of the room, and several statues of Ramia in various dignified poses all of them bearing the crown of the queen on Juraihelm on their brow. Ramia's chair and desk had embedded in them precious gems encrusted in gold. "Don't you think this overdoing it on the creature comforts. I mean we're only using this place for a temporary base until you boot Kamikaze out the running for queen." "Please, Mr. Kasady, as the future queen of Juraihelm, I can not expect to stay overnight in some thrown up tent like a common foot soldier." Ramia paused for a second thinking of her, the one who always wanted her to muck through the mud like some pig despite the fact that she was in line for the throne. "But I digress. I brought you here to take care of some other loose ends." Carnage stared at Ramia wide eyed with his face red, his mouth twisted, and his teeth gnashed. His symbiote was reverting to its true form. "Wait a second, you said I only had to knock off Pretty Samy." "Calm down Kasady. This isn't any big deal. Besides you'll love to do this job. You remember when Pixy Misa gave me that backtalk a week ago." "So!" "I'm afraid she's starting to become uncontrollable, and I won't risk all that I worked for by putting up with her antics. So here's want we'll do. I'll turn Pixy Misa back into her true identity just as the start of your fight with Pretty Samy, and you'll just have one little girl to kill." "Wait a sec. Wouldn't it be better to have Pixy Misa help me kill Samy and then kill her." Ramia shook her head. "Not' um. Doesn't work that way for two reasons: one, deep down inside, Pixy Misa can't commit cold-blooded murder on Pretty Samy and might turn on you in the fight. That's because her other personality is Samy's best friend which leads me to reason number two. It would break Samy's spirit and inhibit her ability to fight if she sees Pixy Misa turn into Misao before her very eyes and see you strike her down. If Samy's the forgiving type, she may even try to defend Misao that would leave her all the more vulnerable. It's perfect. Just remember. Take out Misao out first if you can. She'll run from the fight and try to call the police. Samy won't go anywhere. If anything, she'll follow you. If you can't kill Misao first for any reason, just concentrate on killing Samy, and we'll kill Misao when she tries to make contact with her mother, which is under my control. Oh I almost forgot. Take care of Samy's furry little pet. He's like my brother,! Rumiya; he's really a Juraihelmian in animal form. He know some offensive magic as well but is no ways as powerful as Pretty Samy's." "In speaking of your brother Rumiya, what are you doing about him?" "If he gets in your way...well...it won't take any imagination to know what you will do to him. But I know my brother is a coward. The most we have to worry about is that he runs to Tsunami and rats on me, but not before I show her some entries in his diary that he planned to have me crowned the queen so he can kill me and take over Juraihelm for himself. I've already had the entry forged in the diary which my brother thinks is just misplaced." Carnage had a bewildered look on his face. "He's awfully young to frame for treason. No one'll believe a little kid would plan something like this." "I was his age when I arranged to have an assassin do in my uncle for trying to talk the one hundred and eight priests into selecting his son Seiryuu to be trained for the crown." "I like you Ramia," Carnage lied. Ramia closed her eyes making a feline-like smile. "I'm glad you do." Cletus Kasady didn't know whether to kill her for being so spoiled and shallow or to commit suicide for working for someone like this. He sat down on the ground for a second and turned into Carnage. "It's time to get off of daddy for a minute and get your stupid lesson for today." A black tendril wiggled its way out of the strands of red fibers that made up the symbiote and took a place in from of Carnage. "Did you see the lady Daddy was talking to? It may seem like at first glance she would make a great mommy, but looks can be deceiving." Carnage started stroking the mass of black tentacles. "What Daddy thought was a fellow killer was in reality just one of the various slimeballs that would hire Daddy and his working class friends to do jobs for them that they didn't want to do for themselves either because they had a goody-goody reputation and no rap sheet they wanted to keep it that way or were so snobbish they thought they were too good to get blood on their hands.! But Daddy going to fix her wagon, and give you your pick of internal organs to snack on. You would like that wouldn't you." The black symbiote because excited and started changing shape. "I thought you would. Now get back on Daddy, and be patient. I have a present for you in addition to Ramia's innards." -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- The Nexus of All Realities "It would seem that envy and jealousy is contagious among humanoids," the Watcher commented to Madame Webb who was viewing the fight between Samy and Tombstone. She doesn't reply to the Watcher's analysis of the situation for fear she made the wrong choice for this assignment. Pretty Samy is no longer fighting to protect the innocent but rather to prove to the world her worth as an individual. Her coach, Ryo-ohki, is no help to getting Sasami's priorities straight but has wounded pride as well. She thinks for a second. She needs a humbled champion; one not in the hero business for himself but for his fellow man. She knows one that just came up. He had just got a rude awakening when his adversary is now sleeping under the same roof as he is. He may now be receptive to reason. Madame Webb floated over to the Watcher with a smile on her face. "I have an ace up my sleeve." "Who is this ace, Madame Webb?" "Believe it not, he's the one who infected Pretty Samy with the pride-bug, Spider-Man." End of Part 4 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- I hope you enjoy the fic. Please send all C and C to either !