Five Star Squadron Dairanger: Vol 1: The Five Stars. Chapter Five

Lakewood Mall.

Food Court 3:00 p.m.

The mood at the Mall was busy like any other Saturday afternoon; the hustle and bustle of customers walking in and out of the stores giving tribute to the all mighty dollar. On one end of the plaza, the smell of the various foods being cooked from the Food Court permeated part of the Mall while the teenagers from the local schools were hanging out in their usual cliques. The jocks were on the other end of the food court talking about their accomplishments on the field with their cheerleader girlfriends nearby whispering among themselves about how the starting players were outside of the field. Not too far away from them were the theatre students hanging out going over their lines for the latest production at the school while the Goths were doing their best to be opposite of the norm.

Nancy noticed the different groups of people and wondered what in the world did she get herself into by coming inside this place. She had seen American shopping centers portrayed on shows like Beverly Hills 90210 but this was nowhere near her expectations on what to expect. Not too far away from her she heard a group of students speaking in Mandarin about what they were going to do for Valentine’s Day which only made her feel a little lonely. Even though she was sitting right across from the silent Li who was more focused on the job at hand than she expected him to be given the situation.

“You know if you keep staring in the direction that they went; you’re just going to burn a hole in a store window.” Nancy laughed.

Li smiled softly and said, “I just want to make sure they’re all right.”

“No, you just want to make sure Angela is all right.” Nancy smirked, “Damn Xiao, if I did not know better I’d say she has you by the balls without even trying.”

“It’s not anything like that.” Li said, “It’s just I am trying to fulfill a promise I made a long time ago.”

“You have not changed one bit, Tommy.” Steve answered walking towards the table where the two were sitting followed by immediately joining in on the conversation, “If there are two constants in the world, one of them would be Tommy Xiao Li always prepared to get his ass kicked protecting Angela Steele.”

“You must be Steve Hart.” Nancy extended her hand out in friendship.

“And of course you’re Nancy Wu.” Steve grabbed her hand and shook it, there was something about this woman that made the hairs on his neck stick up, it wasn’t fear or anything of the sort. Yet, immediately he could tell that she was different.

Nancy smiled at Steve and immediately removed her hand and continued with the previous conversation. “He used to get his ass kicked protecting this girl?”

“Not all the time.” Li ignored his friend’s remark while he continued to scan the shopping center.

            “But it was a good majority of the time.” Steve continued, “You would always see him with blood all over his face and bruises on the rest of him all because he was trying to protect Angela from something he did.”

            Nancy laughed at the thought, “That hasn’t changed too much…Remind me to tell you some of the stories about him in Japan.”

            “Can we change the subject, please?” Li was looking a little embarrassed, “What the heck are you doing here anyway”

“I got a call from Nick.” Steve answered; his tone became sharp, “It appears that they have made their move.”

Nancy clasped her hands together while her face slowly contorted to show an almost malicious smile form across her face, “I was wondering when we would actually have a chance to bust some heads.”

“How’s Nick?” Li asked.

“They took Amika.” Steve said.

Li looked a little concerned when he heard that, for him it was not surprising that the Gorma would attack someone like that so easily. He looked towards Nancy and Steve and said, “We got to act.”

“We don’t even know where they will strike next, plus we got to figure out where they took Amika.” Steve answered.

“That doesn’t matter.” Li said, “We just have to make sure that those three are not attacked.”

Steve rolled his eyes, “You just want to save Angela.”

“That and what is going on are two different things.” Li’s tone became cold and focused, something Steve was not used to.

“Chin Mei and Kaku both think that there is something special about two of the three women. They are not sure what exactly, but we can’t let anything happen to them.”

Nancy answered.

“I think that one of them might be the last person we need to make the team whole.” Li answered.

Steve thought about that for a moment, the last member to make the team whole. If it was Angela, he kind of felt that his life would be more of a hurdle given that she already made his ROTC life a living hell. Part of him was ready to walk out of the mall and say ‘to hell with it’ but he knew that there was more at stake than his own personal problems.

“They went towards Miller’s Outpost.” Li moved away from the table and prepared to walk towards the store.

“So you are going for the direct approach?” Steve asked.

Li took off his glasses and stared coolly at him, “Something like that, but it does involve contact with our targets.”

Nancy put her hand on Li, “What do you have in mind?”

Miller’s Outpost

Mishelle nervously walked out of the fitting room dressed in a new pair of loose fitting Anchor Blue jeans that she was trying on. At first she nervously looked in the mirror at the way they looked on her, almost like one of the rappers she had seen on television, but she would have preferred to look more relaxed since she never was one to follow with the trends that almost everyone her age was trying to emulate. After she looked at herself with disdain; she slowly walked over towards the passage way where Angela was waiting while she looked for a shirt for her to wear while Lola just looked on at their friend, contemplating on what her answer should be.

“What do you think?” Mishelle asked seeing Angela shake her head no in disapproval.

            Lola on the other hand was a little more direct, “You look like you’re a Fly Girls reject.”

Mishelle’s face contorted to convey her dismay at her friend’s remark, “You can be a real bitch sometimes.”

Lola feigned a look of surprise and retorted, “You asked my opinion, don’t get all upset with me if you don’t like it.”

“Whatever…” Mishelle said walking back towards the dressing room.

“Hey, did you guys hear about the strange attacks that the police have been reporting?” Lola tried to change the conversation.

“What kind of strange attacks?” Angela asked.

“Well there have been reports on the news that people have been disappearing all over Long Beach. The only thing that’s left is their personal belongings.”

“What is so strange about that?” Mishelle yelled from the nearby stall.

“The fact that there are no real signs of struggle or anything, the whole fact that their personal belongings are the only thing that is left has the police baffled.” Lola said, “I think that there might be a killer on the loose attacking people and dragging them off in a van and leaving their remains off of International Waters.”

Angela raised her eyebrow and took a long gaze at Lola, “You are sounding ridiculous. That is the last time I am ever having you come over and watch those damned slasher movies.”

“What is so ridiculous about that?” Lola asked, “Look at Ted Bundy, he looked like a normal man, but in reality he was slashing up beautiful women and leaving them dead all over the country. Or what about John Wayne Gacy…”

“It figures that you would only get stranger as time goes by.” Li answered from behind Lola.

Angela immediately froze in shock at the voice that was coming from behind her. At first she did not know what she should do; it had been a long time since she had seen Tommy Li, but there was no real way of expecting to see him in the mall of all places, specifically right now. She slowly turned around and took notice of the man that was standing there before her. She remembered him looking a little dorky in the way he dressed and acted, but there was something different about him and she could tell right away by how he dressed himself, he still looked like he was still living in Tokyo, right down to the way he styled his hair.

Li let a half hearted smile show on his face as he saw Angela Steele standing in front of him. He felt his heart racing slightly as he looked at her from underneath his glasses and stuttered, “It’s been a long time.”

Angela dropped all her pretenses and rushed up towards the stuttering Li, wrapping her arms around him smiling as she tightly held on to him, “I can’t believe it’s you.”

Tommy tensed up when she grabbed a hold of him, it felt good to feel Angela hug him. It felt good to have some kind of physical contact from another person that did not mean that you would have to fight for your life. Slowly, he began to relax and smile to himself at least knowing that she was all right for the moment. 

Lola rolled her eyes at the sight of her friend hugging him and took notice of the two people that were standing behind him, immediately she recognized Steve Hart and dismissed him but the young Asian woman got her full attention. She eyed the woman carefully watching her stand quietly while she noticed Li and Angela hugging for a little bit. Was this woman Li’s girlfriend or relative? Why was she just standing there like a bodyguard? Too many questions went through her head and she didn’t know where to begin except the one place she always liked to begin, antagonizing Tommy.

“You still look as dorky as ever, Li.” Lola said pushing the two apart, “Since when did it look cool to look like a reject from a Hong Kong action flick?”

Li slowly turned back towards Lola and smirked, “Around the same time you made it look cool to be more masculine than most men.”

“You no good son of a…” Lola started but was immediately stopped by Angela.

“Look, can we forego your usual digging into someone for just one moment?” Angela looked at Li for a moment, “I have to agree with Lola a little bit Thomas; you do look a lot different than you did a couple of years ago.”

“Well living in Japan does that to someone.” Li answered politely and took a look at Angela and her current look. He remembered her being a little tomboyish in her fashion sense but how she dressed now surprised him immensely but he chose not to comment on it right now since there were still other things on his mind.

Angela took notice of Nancy standing behind him and asked, “So are you going to introduce your friend back there?”

“Yes, this is Nancy Wu.” Li answered, motioning to Nancy to move close so she could introduce herself to Angela and her friend.

“It’s nice to finally put a face to the friend Xiao has told me so much about.” Nancy smiled, extending her hand out for Angela to shake.

“What has he told you about me?” Angela asked while she shook the young woman’s hand.

“He said that you were one of his closest friends out here and that’s all, unless he was mistaken about it?”  Nancy asked.

“No, not at all.” Angela said.

Mishelle finally walked out of the fitting room with the jeans in her hand. She still felt a little upset that she really could not find a pair that she really wanted for herself. She took one more look at them and just left it back at the counter where the unwanted clothes were kept and immediately noticed Angela and Lola talking to Steve Hart and his two friends which one of them she recognized immediately at the wayward Tommy Xiao Li and he guessed that the other woman was a friend of his.

“Tommy Li.” Mishelle said looking at Li who immediately stared at the woman calling out his name.

“Mish.” Li answered smiling with respect, “It’s good to see you again.”

Li and Mishelle knew each other since elementary, back then she was what the students at school would consider the type of person who would not let anyone get hurt. Occasionally he was one of the people she would save and later berate for his actions. Yet she was one of the few friends that he knew would also be there if there was something wrong. She walked up to her old friend and hugged him and taking a long look at the way he looked compared to her last memory of him: A skinny looking kid with a ponytail, buttoned up short sleeve shirt and large lens glasses that made him look more like the type of person who would get beat up in an instant. Instead she saw a little bit of that child but there was something determined behind that façade.

“Will you ever call me by Mishelle?” She asked smiling at her old friend.

“Someday.” Li answered and hugged Mishelle.

“So, Thomas.” Angela said coyly her green eyes felt like they were staring straight through Li’s soul, “How long have you been back in town?”

He answered, “About two days.”

“And you didn’t even leave me a message that you were coming to town?” Angela asked, her voice rising slightly showing that she was a little stunned that he had been here and not even given her fair notice that he was back in town.

Li looked nervous when he heard Angela’s voice rise slightly; there was one thing about her that really bothered him, and that was she sometimes had a temper that could become volatile in a matter of seconds, but he still kept his composure and told her, “It was unexpected.”

“What do you mean unexpected?” She asked getting a little closer towards Li.

“It’s a family matter.” Li said being to the point.

Angela’s voice lowered an octave and she asked, “Does this mean you will be going back to Tokyo when you are done here?”

Li couldn’t look at her when she asked him that; but he answered quietly, “I don’t know yet.”

“Is that why you didn’t tell me you were here?” She asked.

Li continued to look away and said, “I didn’t want to get your hopes up.”

Angela felt a little hurt when he told her that he wasn’t sure how long he was going to be in town. She slowly looked back at him and answered back almost like her words were venom., “If it doesn’t interfere with whatever it is you have to do; come over to my place and see me if before you leave.”

“Angela, wait…” Li said but was stopped by the look of hurt in her eyes.

Angela brushed past Li and Nancy with Mishelle and Steve following her. Lola on the other hand took a look at him and said, “You have always been an asshole when it came to her; when will you realize that she worries about you?”

“I know she does.” Li answered Lola in a way that he never talked to her before, “But I don’t want to hurt her; she doesn’t deserve that.”

“You’re hurting her with the things you say and do.” Lola said and shook her head leaving Li with one more pearl of wisdom before she left to find her friend, “You should have stayed in Japan.” 

Nancy shook her head at Li and said, “She’s right, you can be a real asshole sometimes.”

Li turned back to his teammate and said, “So, you’re gonna side with Lola on this?”

“Well, yeah!” Nancy started, “Look at what you did, we were supposed to keep an eye on them and you decided to let them run off.”

“With Steve.”

“Wi….” Nancy started but stopped when she heard Li’s comment, “You planned it that way?”

“I am not as stupid as I look, huh?” Li said smugly.

“I wouldn’t go that far.” Nancy started, “I mean you wouldn’t even look at the woman and you expected that to go well? I thought she was someone you cared about?”

“She is.” Li said, “The further away she is from all of this, the better I will feel.”

“Sou Hai.” Nancy sighed, “Sometimes I even wonder how you and…” 

Don’t even finish that sentence.” Li said coldly as Nancy stopped herself, “Don’t even bring her up.”

Nancy took a moment and said, “Is that why you decided to be that way towards Angela?”

Li didn’t say anything at first but instead of answering her question he just said, “Let’s just do what we have to do.”

Nancy let Li walk a few steps ahead of her while she just looked on at him with a hint of pity in her eyes. She had known Li for a few months since she ran into him in Japan and found out that he was a member of the Dai Tribe like she was; but where she had been willing to learn what she had been chosen to do; her partner was a little more driven by his reasons to fight. Especially when it came to protecting the people he cared about.

From what she was told by Li’s friends in Tokyo; he was in love with a woman named Misato Komuro and she was killed in an incident that was known by the Japanese Press as the Shin-Ju Massacre. It was considered to be a horrific attack on a Japanese school as 50 people were killed when a mysterious assailant. The truth of that matter was a Gorma attacked his mother, followed by his girlfriend and the school. It was up to Li to be the one to confront it, he managed to repel the creature before it caused further harm; but he hasn’t forgiven himself for what happened to his classmates or those close to him. Pushing away some and forcing himself to fight on.

She thought Li was being an idiot right now especially after the whole Angela ordeal; deep down she knew he was happy to see her but she thought that he could have at least handled it a little better than just play a coward and use that as a way for them to make sure she and the others would be all right. She walked out of the store and followed Li who was already heading in the direction that Steve and the others had left, wondering to herself if her friend would ever be normal.