The Fall of the Bloody Valkyrie (3)

True to his word, Reykjavik tried to decode the letter and mixtape. He passed the letter through each type of cipher or system he knew, crossing certain phrases with the songs to detect some kind of hidden meaning. He separated the mixtape on a digital level, looking for any unusual spikes or background noise.

He found nothing to suggest any kind of intention or pattern. If there was a code, and Reykjavik was 99% sure it didn't, it was one he couldn't crack.

No, Luphinus, this was not some kind of super secret and complicated code. Instead, the vigilante confessed her love for you before entering the clutches of death.

Reykjavik sighed again and went back to his laptop. "Once again…" he said, just to himself. "One last time, and if I can't find anything ..." He stopped, before pressing 'play'. The soft notes of a large brass band came through the speakers.

We will meet again,

I do not know where,

I do not know when,

But I know that we will meet again on some sunny day,

Keep smiling,

Keep smiling like you always do,

Until the blue sky takes the black clouds away.

~ XxX ~

There was a disposable phone in one of the disposable bags. One of the specially modified ones that Valkyrie used to call people without being tracked. It would be so simple to just pick up the phone and call Luph-Kakinomoto Yoshio. Momoko had been memorizing her personal number for months, maybe more than a year. At first she thought about calling him, to let him know she was okay.

But then ... she stopped. It had been a whole week since the explosion, and he would certainly be happy to know that she was alive, but then the next question that would come out of her mouth would be 'when are you coming back?' And that was not a question that she was sure she could answer at the moment.

Because she loved being Valkyrie. Total freedom to use her Telekinesis the way she wanted, jumping across the rooftops, the wind in her hair, a mask and a smile on her face. Struggling to protect others, always with fewer weapons, but never off-plan, could she really give up on all of this?

She was already in a way, bedridden for the next two months, at least. And Yuliya was so right, she had enough on her plate with Yuuko, a newborn would completely destroy any type of crime-fighting programming. It would take a long time before she could get back there, she could get rusty at that time, and in that line of work getting rusty most likely meant being killed.

Hamura got better, she remembered. New hero agencies were being created, children from Hamura entering Gran Rey with the intention of serving their neighborhood as soon as they graduated, or just seeking fame and money. The old camera hunters were replaced by heroes who cared and regularly patrolled the neighborhood. So she expected, but as always humans tend to disappoint when you least expect it. It would take a while for the public to fully trust professional heroes, but that would come with time. The police force also did a thorough cleaning of their home, getting rid of most, if not all, corrupt police officers in the district. At least, those she knew.

In fact, this was the perfect chance for Valkyrie to 'die'. To go out now and raise her children in the relative peace that she helped to raise. But could she really give up on being Bloody Valkyrie, and all that implies?

Momoko thought of Yuuko, the little girl so excited to go to school, telling Yuliya all about her day. She looked at the ultrasound scan in her hand. In the little life that now grew within her, full of potential.

For her children?

No doubt!

As for the letter she wrote ... well, she wouldn't regret never saying anything to him. And she will never have to hear him say 'no' by Kakinomoto Yoshio. Because let's be honest, what were the chances of him saying 'yes', really?

'I'm sorry about that, Luphinus… I'm sorry about that Kakinomoto Yoshio…' 'Momoko silently apologized, holding the phone in her hand. 'But my children come first.'

And that was the story of how the Bloody Valkyrie died.

~ XxX ~

Reykjavik did not fear many things, but this conversation ... he really feared this conversation. One would think that with his ... many eccentricities that the animal hero would like to be the bearer of bad news. They would be mistaken. Although the chimera creature had lower emotional intelligence than some and more than some empathy problems with others, he was not really a sadist. He liked to see humans squirm, he really didn't like to see humans, or other beings, suffer.

A part of him wondered if he was indulging in some of his usual emotional masochism, having invited Hero Number One to come back to his apartment to discuss his findings, instead of summarizing them in a phone call or email. This seemed to be a little cold.

The last analysis of the mixtape and the letter produced no more results than the first time. There was no indication in Reykjavik's mind that it had been anything other than a simple confession of love.

He had just explained this to Luphinus, and Yoshio nodded in understanding.

"I suppose it was a little forced to want to think it was a secret code. However, it would support the idea that it is hidden somewhere healing from its injuries, rather than a covert operation." Hero number one meditated, taking both evidence and gently placing it in his coat pocket.

Reykjavik looked away for a moment, before meeting the colleague's eyes directly. "Luphinus, I think we should consider the idea that Valkyrie is not really hiding."

The other hero shook his head, still thinking. "No, we would be receiving reports of any confirmed sightings in Hamura. Hell, even unconfirmed sightings would get the media's attention. But it makes sense, nothing but the strongest healing mutations would put Valkyrie on its feet so quickly." Still in the middle of a thought, Luphinus turned and looked out the window. "I have already spoken to the top five in the country, and those who are not bound by doctor-patient confidentiality say that they have not helped anyone with the description of Valkyrie or alleged blast-like injuries. Of course, there is always the possibility of clandestine clinics."

'Oh dear, he really is so involved with this.' Reykjavik thought sadly about that fact. "No, Luphinus, you misunderstood me. I think the investigation needs to start taking steps to look for a body. If nothing else, divers checking the waters at the crime scene itself."

This caused Hero Number One to stop talking and his gaze to freeze. "... This is not funny, Reykjavik."

The animal hero in question bowed his head in confusion, he was not telling a pinch or trying to be funny. "What?"

"I know you have a slightly distorted sense of humor from everyone else, anyone with your background would have it, but that is not at all funny." Luphinus had his back to him, so Reykjavik couldn't see his face. His voice, however, was cold and dismissive. Completely out of character for the man the genius knew.

The implication that he would not take his job seriously aroused Reykjavik more than any accusation of cruelty to animals. The animal hero had to remind himself that Luphinus was not in a good place now, and that making one of his ... pranks would only get him in more trouble than it really was worth.

"I'm not kidding, Luphinus. In an investigation, all necessary and logical steps must be taken. Not even checking would be a waste of police time and resources."

Luphinus looked at him, a kind of cold rage lurking in his eyes. Reykjavik could feel his hair stand on end, but he refused to back down.

"If it wasn't about Bloody Valkyrie, if it wasn't whoever was at the site of the explosion, if it was another watchman, would you at least consider what I was saying? Which is something we at least have to check?"

The taller man looked away first, his body language going from a confrontation to a fall in a few seconds. "I ... apologize for my words Reykjavik."

Yoshio left the apartment without saying anything else. Kakinomoto Yoshio was too polite to slam the door behind him, but the soft 'crack' was much less satisfying to hear.

~ XxX ~

Kakinomoto Yoshio took another two months before he really believed that Valkyrie had died.

When he was a child, he read comics. In them, he realized that the authors often tried to build suspense with many cliffhangers. Ask readers 'Oh, did this character survive this !?' As if they don't already have half a century of tradition behind them, detailing how easy it was for them to survive this kind of thing. Each time he started to get nervous about losing one of his beloved comic icons, Yoshi would come back and read other stories, making sure that they survived much worse.

His reaction to Valkyrie's death was something like that.

Valkyrie? Valkyrie was in the middle of it all. The first time they met, she was trying to defuse a bomb. When that didn't work, she threw it out the window, let it explode, and jumped out the same window not even thirty seconds later. That kind of first impression, combined with the dozen other near-death experiences that he has seen her go through in the past five years, has transformed her into an almost immortal Valkyrie in Yoshi's mind.

Then, Luphinus was in a state of disbelief for almost two months, completely convinced that the Bloody Valkyrie had escaped and was simply recovering in an ultra-secret location. Or that the whole explosion was staged, and all of this was a kind of long and deep operation, which would probably take weeks or months or even years to complete. So, he had to intervene with no less than three major villain incidents in Hamura, without at least a spark of Valkyrie's involvement.

It turns out that the criminal element of the neighborhood was smart enough to put the puzzle pieces together, even when Luphinus refused to open the pandora box. Valkyrie had had worse problems before, he told himself, and she always came out on top.

Bloody Valkyrie, no matter what the situation, always come out on top.

Yoshio was still able to remember where he was when he really accepted this painful truth. It was early evening and he was listening to that mixtape for the thousandth time, when he accepted the terrible and bitter truth. There was a candlelight meeting in Parque Hamura, with a few dozen people. Yoshi slowed down out of respect and was about to walk away before he heard what someone was saying.

"-Although she is not a hero in the conventional sense, Valkyrie was a hero for each of us. With her efforts, she tried to make life in the neighborhood a little better for all of us."

Yoshi suddenly felt rooted on the sidewalk, unable to turn, as if his feet were trapped in the depths of the earth. They were talking about how much Valkyrie meant to all of them. How she had touched their lives.

A teacher, talking about how she will never feel safer than when Valkyrie took her home, talking to her about Russian literature and making her laugh at her double-meaning jokes. How she finally mustered up the courage to press charges against her stalker over those hikes.

One man said that the only reason he was alive to see the birth of his grandchildren was because Valkyrie had had a CPR when he had a heart attack.

Two teenagers, a light-haired boy and a dark-haired girl, both wearing uniforms from the Ryuuken Academy, Yoshio recognized his uniforms belonging to Japan's newest Heroism Academy, although he had his own peculiarities. The girl explained that her friend could not speak now on medical orders, but explained that Valkyrie had restored her faith in the heroes.

"I never met her in person, but she looked super cool!" A childlike laugh rose in the middle of the audience, he saw a little boy of no more than three or four years old sitting on his older brother's shoulders.

That was when it happened. At that moment, there at the candlelight vigil, an impromptu funeral for a woman who deserved much more, was when he heard that she was dead. He wept in the company of strangers, no one there judging him because no one had a dry eye at the time. Luphinus ran back to his apartment, back to the letter and spilled every word, making no mistake. She really loved him, and he really loved her, and when she finally got up the courage to say something, she was blown up in hell soon after. Kakinomoto Yoshio never had the illusion that life was really fair, but did it have to be a bitch?

Years later, he vaguely wonders how he would have reacted to her confession if there had been no explosion. He probably would have been so weird about it, that Yoshi knows for sure. He probably would have gone out to try to do some hero work to try to give himself some mental space. Saving other people usually puts things in perspective.

Yoshi doubted that he would have been able to discover his true feelings in time for that meeting on the roof. He was not blind to his own shortcomings, he could be stubborn, stupid and always trying to keep any kind of negative or uncomfortable emotion buried deep within him. But every now and then, he let himself wander through the 'what if' realm and wondered how it could have happened.

The hero imagines himself landing on a roof in Hamura, rubbing the back of his neck because he was sure he was about to break his best friend's heart. He imagines himself looking at Valkyrie in the light of the setting sun, matching his hair. Her face would definitely turn red with activity and have some hilarious or moving story about what she had done, unconsciously reminding Luphinus how much she cared for others and how a hero's real purpose was to protect those weaker than yourself. Yoshi imagined that at such a moment, he would suddenly realize that he was really in love with Valkyrie.

And he would tell her. Valkyrie smiled, that shy and soft smile that she received whenever someone did something good for her that she didn't expect, and she never expected anyone to do anything good for her. She would probably call you an idiot. Valkyrie would then take off his domino mask, and he would see those deep, violet shiny eyes that he remembered when they first met. They would talk, into the night, absolutely no secrets between them as they started the rest of their lives together.

Kakinomoto Yoshio knew he was an absolute idiot, and now he would never hear Valkyrie tease him about it. Never.

Oh, God, she's really gone.

And that was the story of how the Bloody Valkyrie died ... along with a part of Luphinus' heart.

-XxX-